The turn of the year is often used to make resolutions for the new year. The New Year’s resolutions. Drink less. Quit smoking. Sleep more. Decrease. More sport. And so on. We know where this is leading. Maybe you’re still motivated for a few weeks, but by March at the latest you’ll realize that it didn’t work out. The mistake is that you take on too much at once and get discouraged when things don’t work out the way you would like. The inner voices are already there that you are too weak to keep up with something like that. The trick is that you only do one thing for one month, commit yourself to it and don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work out for one day in this one month. Then you still have the rest of the month to get used to the new behavior. And after reading about this approach at Zen Habits, I found out that some of my colleagues have already tried so-called 30 Days Challenges: 30-day challenges don’t necessarily have to be behavioral changes. It can also be about acquiring a new skill. For example, I would like to learn to draw manga. And learn to speak Italian. Of course, I won’t learn Italian in a month. But I can build a habit of practicing Italian on certain days. I won’t be able to draw manga perfectly in a month’s time. But I can at least acquire basic skills if I practice every day for a month. Other potential 30-day challenges on my list:
- Mindful Eating
- Sports every day
- No coffee
- No alcohol
- vegan diet