My Year of 30-day challenges
I hope that 2019 is treating you well so far and you had time to pick your word of the year. If you just signed up to my newsletter and would like to know more about “one word of the year” check out my post called: “One Word”
Some of you may know that since July of last year, I’ve been doing monthly 30-day challenges and some of them were more successful than others.
Here are some of the challenges I tried:
- 30 days of yoga — this one was also a successful challenge
- 30 days of doing nothing for 15 mins — total fail! I could not get myself to sit and just be in the moment.
30 days of color palettes — it’s a current challenge and it seems to be a successful one as well
30 days of Haiku — this one is a hit or miss. I’m not consistent enough to get to 30 haiku poems. So far I wrote 20 haiku poems and when the inspiration hits I add new ones to my collections
- 100 days of showing up. I lasted about 60 days and after that lost the passion for it and stopped.
- 30 days of color in Procreate — this one was also a successful one for me. I learned a new skill. I wanted to learn how to color in Procreate for a while but always used a technique I’ve already known until I made a point to stop the cycle.
30 days of crappy critters — I’ve always wanted to draw animals. I’ve been resisting drawing them because I was afraid and told myself that I can’t draw animals and they all will be crappy and I won’t be happy with them. If you want to know how I finally broke the cycle and started my “crappy critter project” you can listen about it on the Creative Sandbox Way podcast where Melissa interview me and inspired the Crappy Critter Project
These are only a few challenges I took on since July last year. All of them taught me something new about me and about how to choose a perfect 30-day challenge and be successful at it!
Tips for a successful 30-day challenge
- Start small
When deciding on choosing a challenge it all comes to how big it will be. Evaluate how much time do you have. It’s best to pick something that can be done in 15 minutes or less. You can strive for a longer one but make sure you have that time available.
If you are not sure if you can accomplish a 30-day challenge pick a shorter time frame. You can start with 3 days, 7 days or 10 days and extend it to 30 days if you think it’s something you want to pursue.
2. Brainstorm
Take a piece of paper and a pen and write all the challenge ideas you come up with.
Before you write them all down ask yourself:
- what do you want to accomplish at the end of the 30 days?
Do you want to practice a technique, like coloring in procreate or using watercolors, or maybe you want to learn to draw a certain theme: flowers, animals or urban landscapes.
Make sure to pick one thing. Do not combine 2 or more new things in this challenge. If you want to learn watercolors paint things you already know how to draw or sketch, in my case, it would be flowers. If you want to learn how to draw animals pick a tool that you already know how to use, like a pencil or ink.
Trying to learn two or more things at the same time maybe discouraging, especially when you do not see progress or not like the results. Focusing on one thing will help you improve and achieve the results you want.
3. Have a plan.
I’ve noticed that I started to succeed when I planned ahead. For example, for my 30 days of crappy critters, I made a list of critters I wanted to draw, for my color palette challenge I picked the images I want to use ahead of time. This made the deciding process so much easier and took less time on the day of. Instead of trying to come up with a critter or researching what I want to draw I already had a list of ideas and the only thing I needed to do was to pick something.
4. Schedule it
Any time I thought that I will remember to do my daily task I failed and only when I started scheduling them in my calendar I was able to follow through.
5. Make it simple
Pick a challenge that you can do anywhere. If it’s writing a poem a day have your notebook on hand in your purse. If it is sketchbook practice take your sketchbook and pen/pencils/watercolors with you.
I found that having my tools ready at hand makes it easier to start. If you want to practice painting with paints, have them out along with the paper and brushes. Getting your space ready every day may take oo much time and you’ll run out of time to actually make the painting.
6. Look ahead
Don’t plan your challenge when you know your month will be overwhelming and filled with lots of activities, for example, November and December might be a bad time to fit in a challenge or summer time when your kids are at home and need all your attention. So make sure that you will have enough time to accomplish your daily practice in the following 30 days maybe 40 days.
7. Don’t give up
If you miss a day or two, don’t worry about it. You can catch up. Or if you think you will not have enough time the next day but you have extra 15 mins to work ahead, use that time!
Many of us run into some scheduling issues and unexpected things will come up, sometimes the universe is playing against us and we have to be ok with that. It doesn’t matter that your 30-day challenge took you 40 days as long as at the end you have learned a new skill and did end up with a series of 30 pieces to show for it.
8. Track it
One thing that made it easier for me was tracking my challenges. Before I started using my tacking sheets I always lost track and never remembered which day it is and how many I still have to do. So to help me with that I made daily trackers and used them every time. The cool thing I’ve noticed about trackers was that they kept me motivated and excited about crossing off another day!
9. Celebrate Your Accomplishments
It is important to celebrate when you are finished with the challenge, but make sure to celebrate small milestones as well. Reward yourself with a delicious treat when you hit 10 days, or maybe when you get through the mid mark reward yourself with new paints, brushes, pens, whatever you would like!
Daily Tracker Freebie
To jump-start your 30-day challenge I have for you this printable tracking sheet! Download Here
I also just added my set of twelve 30-day tracking sheets to my Etsy Store, and if you more of a 100-day project kind of a person you will find a tracking sheet for that as well.
