30-Day Habit Challenge to help your goals
Hey everyone and welcome to The Alternative South. Today I’m talking about a 30-day habit challenge that you can start implementing this year. With it being the start of a new year this is the perfect time to actually start doing a 30-day habit challenge. They can sometimes be very helpful and actually fun to do. If you’re the type of person to make new year’s resolutions then this would be a great thing to start with. I say this because they can help you stay on track with some of the resolutions you’re wanting to accomplish.
I know that there are quite a few of you who are wanting to change some bad habits as well. For me I know I’m wanting to stay off of social media. When it comes to my blog it’s a little bit different but I’m only allowed to get on them with my computer and not my phone. This really helps because I’m only on my computer for a couple of hours a day if that. It’s where my phone comes into play that I tend to get into trouble.
So, now I’m working on a 30-day no social media challenge so I’m not constantly on my phone all day every day!
What is a 30-day Habit Challenge?
Have you created a new years resolution that requires you to work on it almost every day or nearly every day? A 30-day habit challenge is a challenge that will help you create a habit out of your new year’s resolutions and to be able to keep track of it.
Let’s say your new year’s resolution is to start working out this year. You will keep track of it in either your journal or your calendar. There are quite a few calendars now that actually have them. But you would either just write down the workout and mark it if you did it that day. If you’re wanting to tone up certain parts then all you have to do is write arm workout, leg workout, or whatever else you want to tone up and then just keep track of it for the next 30 days.
Why Should you create a habit challenge?
If you’re really wanting things to change this year then creating a 30-day habit challenge just might help with that. Usually, they are able to keep you on track with what you want to accomplish. The only thing is that you really need to figure out what you want to accomplish this year and figure out what habits will help you accomplish that goal. There’s an example of this in the last paragraph when we talked about working out this year.
More people quit their goals within the first couple of months of the year, so creating a 30-day habit challenge would be a great way to give you an incentive. You’ll just need to have some self-discipline!
If you don’t want to do 30 days then you could potentially start a
Challenge ideas
Here is a list of habit challenges ideas that you can start implementing at any time of the year. You don’t have to wait until the very start of the year to actually start doing these. I think that’s where people start to mess up a little bit. If you’re wanting to do this then you can start doing them at any point in the year!
Self-love
A Self-love challenge can actually be tied with a Gratitude challenge, Journal challenge, and Self-care challenge. Who here doesn’t need a little bit of self-love added to our lives?
All we have is ourselves. I know that sound a little bit morbid but hear me out! Some of us do have family and close friends. Even though we do have them we don’t completely have them. They can be the best people in the world and try to help you as much as they can, but people are selfish. For the most part, people only have themselves on their minds.
Every once in a while people do think about others and want to help. The only problem is that we constantly think about what we can do for ourselves and how we can improve our lives. It doesn’t always necessarily mean that they don’t care about you but it’s impossible to think about the well-being of others ALL of the time.
So, it’s a good idea to work on your self-love because sometimes no one can love you as much as you can love yourself.
Tidy up Challenge
If you’re anything like me then you have a lot of trouble sticking to cleaning up a little bit before going to bed. This is definitely something that I really need to work on.
Don’t get me wrong our home isn’t dirty but we do have some things that are on the floor and tend to stay there. That’s something that I want to work on. I know having a little bit of a messy home is what contributes to my depression at times. I suck at trying to find homes for things so they tend to stay on the floor until I can actually figure something out.
If you’re anything like this then this is your sign to start working on this as well.
Sleep Challenge
I know a lot of you probably struggle with sleeping or at least getting to bed on time. If you’re struggling with falling asleep then I would maybe look into talking to a doctor about it or either doing some research about it. I say that because I can’t exactly give any tips on how to fall asleep.
If you’re just staying up too late or if you’re wanting to start waking up early then this is a good start on keeping track of that. You can always readjust your sleeping even though it may be kind of hard at first.
This is actually something that I did last year and it was probably one of the best things that I did!
No spending challenge
A no-spend challenge is something that we are going to try working on this month. For the last two months, we have been spending a lot of money eating out and we kind of need to stop. I think it’s partly because we had spent almost the entire year restricting ourselves from eating out period.
We have been trying to save money and we have been trying to get our credit card paid off. We are the kind of people that like eating out. Mostly because we enjoy it and we really don’t like to cook. It’s a bad habit I know.
So maybe for the next couple of months, we’re going to try and cut back a lot and see if we can get more of our credit card paid off and see if we can put more money into our savings! This is always a good thing to do no matter if you have a good income coming in or not.
Savings Challenge
So this kind of ties into the no-spending challenge. If you’re doing that I would probably try incorporating this along with it.
We have created an amount that we want to try getting our emergency fund up to and hopefully we can work on getting up to that by the end of the year. Our amount is 5,000 but it might be a little bit different for you.
Meal planning
If you’re trying to cut back on eating out this year then this might be a good idea to start doing. I think part of our problem with eating out all of the time is that we never know what to eat. We eat the same things all of the time at home.
So, for the past couple of weeks, this is something that I have been trying to work on. I have got about two weeks’ work of dinner ideas but I think I’m going to work on getting it to about four weeks worth of ideas.
This way we’re not constantly eating the same thing and things can be changed up a little bit. If we wind up trying new recipes and then liking them then maybe it’s something I can grow a little bit.
Social Media Cleanse
Having a social media cleanse could be one of the best things that you could do! It would probably be more beneficial for those who are constantly comparing themselves or who are dealing with depression and anxiety.
Granted this is a good challenge for just about anyone because staying on social media all of the time isn’t really good. When we first started getting social media I did not think that we would get to a point where we are constantly on it all of the time.
Now that we are I kind of wish we could go back to where we aren’t. That was when I felt like we sat down and talked to each other more.
Having a social media cleanse is something that I have been working on since last month and it is probably has been one of the best things that I have done. I’m not comparing myself nearly as much and I’m not comparing my son nearly as much. On top of that, I’m not constantly getting on it. Before I started doing this I was constantly checking social media even though I barely talk to anyone on there in the first place.
I barely get any notifications on there either. Despite that, I still check on there constantly. It was getting to the point where I was getting tired of it and I wasn’t really being present. If anything you should at least stop so you can be more present in your life and your family’s life.
Self-care Challenge
If you’re anything like me you barely take care of yourself. You just don’t really have the time or you don’t really know what to do.
This is something that I’m really going to try working on this year. I’m a stay-at-home mom who is thinking about homeschooling so I don’t really get any time to myself. This is definitely something that I want to work on and figure out something once a week to be able to do on my own.
Whether this is a movie or going shopping or even going somewhere to take pictures. This is something that I kind of have to do in order to keep my sanity. If you’re in the same boat then I’m sure this is something that you need to work on as well.
This is a great 30-day habit challenge whether you’re a parent or not because I’m there are a ton of you out there who put a lot of focus into work or something else.
Fitness Challenge
This is something that nearly everyone starts in the new year and then they don’t stick with it. I think working out is one of the new years resolutions that almost everyone struggles with.
Making working out a challenge could probably make it a little bit easier. I know I’m the type of person who likes checking things off. So, doing this might make it a little bit more fun.
No only creating a challenge for working out you might also want to work on what you want to do each day. It seems a lot of people try to do the same thing each and every day. I’m sure boredom and mindset are the reason why everyone quite so fast.
Making this a challenge could turn this into a habit!
Gratitude Challenge
Having a gratitude challenge can be a good thing if you’re dealing with depression and anxiety. I know it has helped me.
I get that this is a bit cliche and a lot of people recommend it but there is kind of a reason for it. This is something that may not work for everyone but you’ll never know if it works if you don’t try it. And when I say try it I mean actually give it a chance. It has the possibility of changing your mindset and actually making you the better version of yourself.
Having gratitude isn’t that easy either. There are days when it can be really hard to figure out what to be grateful for. The more that you do it the easier it will end up getting and your perspective about things can actually change. This is one that’s completely worth it if you’re wanting to change the way you think.
Reading Challenge
A reading Challenge is something that I do every single year over at Owl Book World. It’s a simple concept where you can try reading a certain amount of books every year.
My aim is usually around fifty books each year. But you can also do a monthly reading challenge where you can read a certain amount of books during the month. Or you can use the 30-day challenge to get to a backlog of books.
That’s pretty much what I have been working on. I have been accumulating a lot of books that have just been sitting there. I’m kind of tired of that and I want to work on it more. So, I’ll definitely create a reading challenge this year where I can work on catching up with books that I have been meaning to read.
Budget Challenge
It doesn’t matter if you have a really good income coming in or not. Having a budget challenge is a good thing for just about anyone to do.
This is something that my husband and I are working on so we can get an emergency fund built up. After that, we’re going to try and save up for other things. We just have a lot of things that we need to cut back on so we can do this.
Something that can kind of tie into this is learning how to coupon. With nearly everything going up I don’t think it really matters how much you’re making. Groceries in general are just getting expensive. So in the next month, this is definitely something to try and learn.
If I can do it then I know you can do it too!
Journal Challenge
This is a 30-day habit challenge that I thoroughly recommend to nearly everyone who is dealing with anxiety and depression. I can even begin to explain how much this has helped me since I started doing it last year.
Last year I was pretty depressed and I had anxiety over EVERYTHING. I was tired and stressed. It was getting to the point where I just had enough. It finally got to the point where I started writing down how I was feeling. Since my family was getting tired of me talking to them about it and we really couldn’t afford for me to go and actually talk to someone about it I needed some sort of outlet. Journaling helped out a lot!
It was something that I didn’t really have any hope in and didn’t think would help at all. But I needed something and so I tried it. Little did I know that when I was actually consistently trying it and writing it actually helped. It helped me get things off of my chest and learn what exactly I can work on. There’s no way I’ll let this overcome me and you shouldn’t let it either!
Are there any 30-day habit challenges that you may have heard of that have caught your interest? Let me know in the comments what ones you’re planning on doing this year! If you liked this post then check out my list of bucket list ideas.
