During the month of february, I took part in a challenge of my own creation, along with around 50 other men that follow my Instagram page. The challenge consisted on commiting, for exactly 28 days, to a series of seemingly simple daily tasks related to physical self-improvement. I won't get into the details on this post, but if you want the whole story or if you're interested in doing the challenge yourself, check out my Instagram page.
This challenge made me realize some things about human psychology, and about the multiple benefits of challenging oneself to do hard things.
Those are the things that I want to share in this short post, also seeking to provide a sort of closing chapter to the whole experience of this pilot challenge that was much more succesful than I would've thought.
THE RULES OF A CHALLENGE
I've found that most men end up stuck in their lives because they attack their self-improvement plans half-heartedly and vaguely. Any habit worth having won't come easily, and it will take extreme discipline for it to become natural. Most men sincerely want to be better, but they end up failing because they don't define the rules of the game they're about to play. It's important that any goal that you set is definite and can be broken down into smaller, daily goals. If your goal is to lose 50 pounds in a year, you'll reach august and still feel as though you have enough time. You won't realize you've failed until a whole year has passed. And you won't be motivated day to day, because the deadline seems so far away. If, however, you took that same goal and you broke it down into daily habits (for example running a mile every day), you'd have a very honest way of tracking your progress and knowing when you've failed with inmediacy, which in turn allows you to pivot, try again, and do it better.
I'm a disciplined person, and yet, it was costing me to adhere to a healthy sleep routine, get enough daily steps, etc. During the month of february, I did all of those things religiously, for many reasons, one of the main ones being that I knew that if I skipped a day, I would never forgive myself. Because if I missed a day, the challenge would be failed, and no amount of mental gymnastics would get me around that.
If you are having trouble improving your life, make of it a challenge: set clear rules, set a deadline, and even assign a prize for success or penalty for failing. These are "tricks" that actually work.
ACCOUNTABILITY
I managed to complete the challenge succesfully in no small part thanks to all the guys that took part in it. The groupchats were by far the most succesful part of this challenge: 50 men motivating, supporting, and helping each other out. Some experienced, some newbies, all over the world. That's amazing. I loved seeing the group chats filled with positivity and with men pushing other men to be better. The world needs more of that. It is highly motivating, and most importantly, it keeps you accountable. There was no way I would fail those guys that put their trust in me.
Having a group of friends holding you accountable all but guarantees your success.
Virtual friends are good for this, but you should try to have a much closer, much more real group of male friends with which to perform these types of challenges together and with which to pursue self-improvement and growth.
A grouop of male brothers, commited to worthy goals, is rocket fuel for a man.
THANK YOU
YoTo all of those that took part in the challenge, I have thanked you before and I'll do it again. You guys gave life to the challenge and I hope it was something good, honest, and worthy of your time.
I'll do more challenges in the future.
God bless,
Simple Men
Speaking of creating stuff, I just launched my online store with some original (and pretty cool) designs. If you'd take a moment to check out the designs and purchase something of the store if you like them, it would be greatly appreciated. --> SIMPLE MERCH
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