Why Am I Doing 30 Days Challenges?

I can almost hear the naysayers: "ok, Dragos, enough with this non-sense, you've been clogging our feeds with your stupid 30 days challenges for years now, maybe it's time to relax now?"

First of all, I can understand such a reaction (mind you, I never got something like this, but I'm sure some of my followers felt this way, just didn't have the time or energy to verbalize it). If you follow such a challenge from "outside", it may be tiring and it's this vibe of coerced activity that may make the whole thing feel "forced" or "unnatural".

Well, like I told you, I can understand that.

But second, I'm really happy to inform you that I'm doing 30 days challenges for a very simple, yet fundamental reason: they just work.

It's not only writing 30 days challenges. I did 30 days challenges for changing my diet. I started with a small, easy to forsee goal, something that can be achieved during 30 days, and just stayed with it. One of these challenges went so well that I was able to completely change my diet for years after doing it.

I also did a 30 days challenge when I first started intermittent fasting (this is different than dieting, this is just squeezing your meals in a very narrow timeframe). Guess what: after trying my first 30 days of intermittent fasting I entered a year long period in which I ate only in a 4 hours interval every 24 hours. It's been tremendously good for my health.

I also started 30 days challenges for journaling, and I still keep my journals from more than 10 years ago.

I started 30 days challenges for running and, since then, I ran not only a few full marathons, but also quite a few ultramarathons (one of them having 221 kilometers) and even a few 24 and 48 hours races.

So, how these challenges work and why are they so useful?

Let me explain:

1. You Don't Commit Too Deep, Or For Too Long

Many times, when you set a specific goal, you have the ability to already see you "there", on the other side of your new "you", but you simply lack the energy, or time, or the focus to actually become that new "you". Motivation is just not enough to sustain profound transformations. Motivation is like the sugar in the cake, it makes you feel high for a while, but once you metabolized it, you feel drained and exhausted (and resort to more sugar to reinstate the exhilarating feelings, but that's another story).

Well, if you commit for a much smaller portion of the big goal, one that can be realistically squeezed into 30 days - it's just a month, after all - your chances to actually stick with the task are way higher. Sometimes you may feel tired, or bored (I felt that a millionth time during my challenges) but you know that after 20 or 10 more days the ordeal will be over.

2. You Still Have The Freedom To Back Up

At the end of those 30 days you may or may not stick with the new habit that you want to acquire, and that's just wonderful. You're not forcing yourself into it. You already did it for 30 days, so no feelings of shame or regret. You tried it and you got a glimpse of what it feels to do things that way. And now you can decide without any pressure if you want to keep at it or not.

I find this freedom of choice fundamental. I may just have some unconscious commitment issues that I have to work on, but believe me, the fact that I can choose my path as often as I want (while still staying true to my personal values) is paramount for me.

3. Discipline Beats Motivation. Always

That's just a little bit of a remodeling of number 1, above, but from a different angle. I found that in any activity that you undergo, discipline is way more effective than motivation. You don't brush your teeth out of motivation, each and every day. You brush your teeth by habit, almost not thinking about it. You brush your teeth because, at some point in your early life, somebody (probably your parents) imposed this discipline on you.

The melting of these activities from "one off" into "permanent", with the glue of discipline is still fascinating for me. The longer you stay in positive habits, the better you'll feel and the more positive habits you'll form. It's a virtuous circle.

So, next time you're seeing another 30 days writing challenge on my feed, and feel a bit annoyed by the upcoming stream of posts, just come back and re-read this post.

I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.