Over the last few months I have watched multiple YouTubers attempt various 30 day challenges to push themselves to try new things and address neglected areas of their lives. I have always been intrigued by the idea, so when my friend recommended we try a challenge, I couldn’t say no! We decided to tackle fitness and do ab workouts every day for the month of April.

Why did I want to do a 30 day challenge?

“People lose their way when they lose their why” - Michael Hyatt

The main reason I wanted to do a 30 day challenge was to improve my discipline and force myself into the habit of doing one small thing towards a goal. Another reason was that since we entered lockdown due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I felt like I had become lazy and was just sitting all day on my computer or the couch eating and watching tv. Prior to the pandemic I was regularly training 4 days a week and generally leading an active lifestyle. I felt like I was slowly losing my passion for fitness and wanted to use this challenge as a way to remind myself why I stared working out in the first place.

Takeaways & Lessons Learned

This challenge has been extremely useful and taught me a few things some of which I already knew, but experiencing them first hand has helped crystalize them in my mind:

Systems > Goals

“You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems” - James Clear

A while ago I read Scott Adam’s excellent book “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life” and was introduced to the idea of systems and goals: “A goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don’t sometime in the future. A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, its a system. If you’re waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it’s a goal.”

For the past few years I have set various personal and professional goals; I have achieved a few but missed plenty. I realized that my success had more to do with the system I followed than the goal itself. The goal provided a direction, but without executing a well thought out system, I made no progress.

This 30 day challenge was a great reminder of this idea because I wasn’t thinking about getting abs, I was simply concerned with doing the day’s workout. My success criteria was whether or not I executed my system.

Even this blogpost you are reading right now is a result of following a simple system of writing for 30 minutes everyday. For months I failed to publish anything because I had a mush of ideas and goals without a concrete way of getting there.

The lesson here is simple, use goals to define your direction, design a system and focus your time and energy executing. Once you commit to the process, the goal will take care of itself.

Don’t break the chain

Jerry Seinfeld, one of the most successful comedians of all-time was once asked for advice by a young aspiring comedian. Jerry’s advice was to write a joke every day and cross out each day on a giant yearly calendar; “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”

A day before the challenge started, I printed a sheet with each day’s workout and crossed out each day with a giant X after completing it. Seeing the Xs accumulate made me feel proud about the effort I was putting in and think twice about breaking the chain.

Don't Break the Chain!

Don’t Break the Chain!

If something is important to you, do it first thing in the morning

During the first week of the challenge, I made it my priority to complete the workouts early in the day. Early in the morning, my energy was high, and my brain was clear; it had yet to be bombarded by the hoards of thoughts, news, and brain junk that the mind filters throughout the day, making it easier to put on my workout clothes and get started.

Unfortunately as I progressed through the challenge, I started putting off the workouts later through the day. Feeling exhausted and low on energy after a long day of work I found it harder to get myself to exercise, I made up excuses and sometimes stayed up till 1 or 2 am because I procrastinated on doing the workout. This made me realize that life will always be unpredictable and you can’t control everything that happens, but if you own your morning and use it to execute on your most important goal, you can get a lot done!

Small consistent efforts beat massive one-off efforts

Prior to this challenge, I would occasionally train at home and do long workouts involving cardio, weights and bodyweight exercises. While these sessions were effective, I found myself dreading them and looking for excuses to put them off. Transitioning to a small workout each day has been liberating since I don’t feel the dread of exercising for a long time. All I need to do is a simple 15 minute workout. My brain is less likely to come up with excuses when the time commitment is this small!

Accountability works

Having a friend to do the challenge with held me accountable numerous times during the month. The thought of skipping a day crossed my mind but knowing my friend has already completed the workout for the day motivated me to get it done. Don’t underestimate the value of a great accountability partner!

Moving forward

I started this 30 day challenge with the goal of improving my discipline and reigniting my passion for fitness. While I didn’t get abs, I remembered why working out is important to me. I realized I enjoy having sore muscles, I like the conformation that I worked hard and that my body is getting stronger as a result. I am also happy to report that since the challenge ended, I have exercised every day and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. Moving forward, I am going to do more 30-day challenges in order to try new things and address neglected areas of my life. Stay tuned for updates!