30-Day Experiments
Top Tip To Build New Habits, Improve Health and Achieve Personal Growth
30 day experiments: The Goldilocks of habit change
Short enough to minimise resistance. Long enough to seed baseline consistency.
The perfect time period to refresh outdated behaviours and beliefs and try on the identity and habits of the person you know you want to be.
30-day experiments are less bootcamp, hell-and-back endeavours, more gentle daily actions. Tentative first step habit building on your change journey.
They give you just enough time to gather data and choose your readiness to continue on the path.
I’ve completed more than ten 30-day experiments, each one comprising simple, daily actions, habits so easy you can’t say no, in the following areas:
Fitness: Yoga, Sea swimming, Gaelic football, Tennis
Wellbeing: Gratitude journaling, Daily short meditation, Forest bathing
Healthy Diet: Hydration, Time-restricted eating, Plant-based, 0 alcohol, sugar, coffee
Personal Growth: Writing streaks, Professional up-skilling, Social connection
I’ve kept some going, sea swimming, minimal sugar and writing, as regular practices. Some are time-scheduled. I commit to Dry January annually.
Others (looking at you, yoga and Gaelic football) have fallen away.
That’s ok. It’s not a marriage decision. On the one hand, these 30-day experiments let you trial healthy habits for body, mind and spirit. They allow you to uncover the best-fit activities for you.
In my experience, as well as tonnes of research on habit-building, the real impact of these 30-day experiments is more significant and far-reaching.
It gifts you the discipline of consistency and the subtle opening up to the freedom and scope of different behaviours, a different identity.
Since 2020, I’ve transitioned from the occasional hot summer’s day dip to a year-round sea swimmer. Without a doubt, this has boosted my physical resilience and my self-belief in taking on new challenges.
If you can peel off your clothes in January to plunge into the numbing chill of the Atlantic, you know you can overcome other tricky situations.
2. The achievement of completing a 30-day experiment is a massive confidence enhancer.
My 30-day writing streak turbo-charged my self-belief in my ability to complete work. It made writing a consistent habit. I now feel differently about writing-Excited, Energised. I no longer feel not good enough, my perspective has changed and I see writing as a process, a continual showing up. It’s moved me from writing as a hobby to identifying as an online writer.
3. Physically, it’s enhanced my health and fitness
The easy daily addition of drinking more water and eating more plants meant my sugar intake dwindled to the occasional square or two of dark chocolate. Combined with walking with friends, I’ve way more energy.
Over to you. I’d love to hear your experiences of what 30-day experiments you’ve tried and what’s worked for you.
