What are you going to do today that will boost your energy and motivate you to do more? Chances are you are going to drink some coffee, check your email and go do a job someone else created for you. Wait, but what if you had designed this day for yourself? What would “work” consist of? Life is short and you deserve to get some benefit out of each day. That’s where your personal challenges come into play. The truth is success breeds success and action breeds action. So, the more successful things you do today, the more successful things you’ll do tomorrow!
First, we need to discuss will-power because it is said to be a finite resource (1) and it must be leveraged if you want to live with intention. You’ve always been told you should make your bed in the morning, but why does this really matter? Your choice to take time and complete this task can help jump start your motivation and build up the strength of your will power. These small daily tests may not seem like much, but remember that the next time you avoid chewing out your supervisor over that same pointless spreadsheet, or manage to relax and breathe as you unknowingly become a closely followed pace setter for the Daytona 500 on the interstate. This is called using will power and we need a lot of it to survive!
Now let’s take this a step further and harness some of this new-found self-control to create intentional challenges each day. These small challenges should be designed to help you further develop, respect and enjoy all aspects of your daily life. The key is to keep them basic, mildly difficult, rewarding and unique to your life. If you have a large challenge you’re working on, these small challenges could be the steps to accomplishing that as well.
Here are a few challenges that I have used over the past few months that worked out well:
- Stand all day except for putting on shoes, eating, driving and using the restroom
(Really wasn’t so difficult and I felt accomplished at the end of the day bragging to my Girlfriend!)
- Fast for 20 hours
(This one was difficult in the beginning, but my girlfriend and I do it weekly now and the benefits are many!)
- Call or contact a loved one every day for a week
(This is an easy for me as I call my Father daily)
- Send hand written thank you/love notes to your family or close friends
(I really enjoyed this one and could tell my siblings appreciated it. I always keep cards for sending!)
- Give 5 nice greetings to strangers throughout the day
(This is a daily thing for me now and I love it. It is nice to see the smiles.)
- Avoid social media or email for 24 hours
(Liberating and nerve racking all at once, but so important!)
- Read at least 10 pages of a book in 24 hours
(I read much more than I used to because of this and thoroughly enjoy it.)
- Write a heartfelt page in your journal or diary
(When I do this I think of telling a story and this helps me write more heartfelt)
- Reorganize a part of your home and give things away or throw them out
(Freeing and liberating to see the clutter gone. Plus, I’m building my garage out as a training studio)
- Show your significant other or a friend you love them in 3 different ways in 24 hours
(My Girlfriend is awesome so she makes it easy for me.)
These are only a few of the infinite number of ways you can challenge yourself each day. By choosing to get focused and staying grounded in this often distracting and shallow world you can avoid wasting your will power. Write out a list of 10 challenges and begin choosing the path you set for yourself. You have the ability to overcome any challenge, but can you build you build the will power? Stop giving your energy to all of your obstacles and heartaches today and start challenging yourself to create a happier and healthier way of living!
