A monthly challenge is a great way to improve your success to stick to new habits. The not too long and not too short window of time makes you test something new without committing for too long. You’ll learn a lot about yourself!
The March challenge for Rise Set Go! was:
- 17/20 Meals
- Meditate
- Work out 3 times per week
Check out the post here.
17/20 Meals
I learned so much about food tendencies after tracking meals for most of the month. Here are a few findings:
- I eat at least 3 good meals a day, but I thought I was more disciplined with my snacks. Some days I have 1 extra snack but rarely 2. I found that the main reason for this is that I tend to ignore my hunger while I work.
- My tendency is to eat junk food like chips, popcorn or cookies during the weekend or at night when I have more time to wander around the kitchen.
- Having unhealthy food available makes it easier for me to continue the bad habit.
Why is this important? Acknowledging the issue is the first step to find a solution. Although I was successful with the 17/20 challenge, in April 2021 I’ll make some adjustments. More on that below.
Meditate
I had 17 straight days on the first 17 days of the month and used the Headspace App. Then, daylight savings! My routine was shaken by not being able to go to sleep earlier.
This was definitely a fail because I was not able to do it for the full month, but I felt great while it lasted. I woke up more relax and fell asleep with a nice happy feeling.
Workout 3x per week
Same as meditation, not successful. I usually wake up at 5 am to workout. After daylight savings, my body just could not wake up at the new 5 o’clock. It took me around 10 days to adapt to the new schedule, here is how I did it:
- Week 1 and 2: These were a success and I was able to workout 3 times each week.
- Week 3: I did not workout. The first few days I focused on just waking up before 6, hanging out in the living room and reading until my body got used to the new “timezone”.
- Week 4: Successful again and worked out 3 times that week.
Adaptation to external factors is a key to continuing our good habits
Although I failed to work out on week 3, it was a big challenge to push my body to start the new bedtime routine at 8 am, read 8:30 to 9 pm and turn the lights off at 9 pm to be able to not snooze the alarm at 5 am.
April 2021 Challenge
So what is April’s monthly challenge?
No junk food
This is step 2 after March’s challenge. The plan is to not eat food with very little nutritional value, like chips, popcorn, cereal, cookies, etc.
No buying
I was anticipating this one and I made sure I bought things that I really needed for April projects before March ended. This step includes not buying nice to haves but still buy groceries, pay for gas, etc.
Plan 2021 vacations
Vaccination is gaining momentum in Canada and I want to make sure I prepare for the time when I am safely able to travel. I am not sure where and when I want to go at this moment but I should be able to decide that this month.
Also, check out February 2021 Monthly Challenge.
