
What are 30 Day Challenges?
Back in 2011, I was inspired by a TED Talk by Matt Cutts about the 30 Day Challenge and decided to embark on my own. (If you haven’t watched it, Matt explains it better than any summary I could muster):
Uhh… Why?
Hopefully after 30 days of doing something worthwhile, you can maintain a good habit and incorporate it into your life. These challenges test your personal motivation and I think are most valuable when they’re not explicitly restrictive in nature (e.g. cutting out soda, sweets, caffeine, etc). I try to design these challenges to produce content or try new things.
30 Day Challenges Completed so Far (Jan 2020)?
- Epic 30 Day Challenge (Nov 2012) + Reflections
- 30 Day Health Challenge (May 2013) + Lessons Learned
- 30 Day Cooking Challenge (Nov 2013) + Impressions
- 30 Day Fitness Challenge (Dec 2013)
- 30 Days of Haiku Every Day (July 2014) – Lasted 6 months
- 30 Lists of 30 Challenge (Nov 2014)
- 30 Questions of the Day (Sept 2015)
- 30 Actions of the Day (Mar 2016) + Part 2
- 30 Day Drawing Journal Challenge (Oct 2016) – Daily for a year, but still on-going at least twice a month
- 30 Day+ Summer Sabbatical (June 2018) – 30 Selfies with 30 Friends
- 30 Days of Drawing Evie (Mar 2019)
Ever since completing my 30 Under 30 milestone of accomplishments, I have stretched myself to come up with a pretty crazy 40 Under 40. One of them is completing 40 30-Day Challenges.
New List of 30 Day Challenges?
- 30 Days Being Sober Curious (2020) – Completed + Reflections
- 30 Day Coronavirus Cooking Challenge (2020) – Completed!
- Contacting 30 Idols (2020) – Planning
- 30 Day Evie Whiteboard Challenge (2020) – In Progress
- 30 Days of Origami (2020) – Planning
- 30 Days Cutting Back Phone Usage (2020) – < 2 hours a day – Collecting Data, but also hard to do
- 30 Days of Making Mindmaps – Planning
- 30 Days of Printed Photos – Planning
- Appreciating 30 Friends’ Successes (2020) – Planning
- 30 Days of Architecture Whiteboarding
- 30 Tourist Days in NYC
- 30 Days of Healthy Cooking Recipes
- 30 Days of Recording a Podcast
- 30 Days Replacing YouTube with Masterclass and Khan Academy
- 30 Days of Drawing a Comic Book
- 30 Days Learning Survival Techniques
- 30 Days Trying 30 New Skills
- 30 Day Saitama Workout
- 30 Days of Palates
- 30 Days of Exotic Cooking Recipes
- 30 1-second EveryDay videos
- 30 Day Coding Challenge
- 30 Days of Volunteering
- 30 Days of Singing 30 Songs
- …
I tried making a List of 30 to create 30 of these 30 day challenges to complete, but it proved much harder when I wanted them to be significant to the next few years. I’m still coming up with more ideas and open to suggestions!
~See Lemons Execute 30 Day Challenges
This is very interesting Clemen. I am curious to see what I can set out as a goal for 30 days and develop new habits – whether for personal growth, professional development, or diving into social change work. Excited to explore your other posts and learn more.