On April, 1 I announced the birth of The Monthly Challenge. And yesterday I successfully completed the first one! Well, we’ll talk about the successful part in a separate video. But I did complete it and I’ll be sharing the biggest the takeaways, the pros and cons, and even some unexpected epiphanies with you very soon.
That being said, it’s become very apparent that challenging yourself works. It creates a positive shift in your life and it’s a great way to tackle the issues that you’ve been meaning address for a looong time.
And those are exactly the kind of things that you should start with. Stuff that’s been bugging you for a while, been tripping you up, been cunningly sucking your energy out. Or plain and simple – try doing something that scares you the most. As a general rule, the bigger fear you’re willing to overcome, the more growth and fulfillment you can expect.
You can keep reading this blog post for more details or watch the video. They contain the same information.
You know what’s surprising: I was challenged trying to come up with a new challenge for this month. I do have a list of things I want to try and every time I have an idea I make sure to create a note on my phone. But nothing felt like the right fit at this time.
So what’d I do? I googled.
Of course, there are numerous articles with ideas for good habits. Let’s go over a few.
Drink water upon awakening – already doing it;
eat healthy breakfast – been preaching about my green smoothie for years;
vitamins – taken religiously;
meditate – hello, I think I can teach meditation at this point;
exercise – I hope you joined one of my Insta Lives to exercise together;
walk 10 000 steps – I take 2 hour walks every single day once I’m done working (usually around 5-6 pm these days), rain or shine, quarantine or not;
daily to-do list – I need a shoot a video about how that little habit has changed the flow of my days completely;
reading – I finished 4 or 5 books last month (as a nice side effect of the challenge that I was doing in April);
journaling – I always do when it’s called for.
You get the idea.
Those habit lists made me feel good like I’m on the right track. By no means have I arrived at some magical place where you are all perfect and everything you do is healthy and good for you – no. I view it as a journey and an opportunity to learn more about life and about myself. To see what I’m made out of, what I’m capable of, what my limitations are, and things of that nature.
So, in the spirit of pushing the boundaries and exploring possibilities, here is what I have in mind for my second challenge that will run through the month of May.
I’m pronouncing May The Declutter Month.
Now, why decluttering? A couple of reasons. There have been multiples studies done on how the environment we are in affects us. And the correlation is quite significant. To a point where if you simply put out more bottles of water everywhere around your apartment, you’ll end up drinking more water.
You don’t even need to do anything specific to increase your water consumption: no reminders, no conscious effort – nada. It’ll happen by itself, simply because you are surrounded by water. By the way, the same is true for chocolate. And cookies 😉
Similarly, if things are messy in your outer world guess how it affects your inner world? That’s what I’m talking about: less mess and overwhelm, more clarity, and peace.
And the second reason I want to dedicate this month to decluttering comes as a realization from April’s challenge. I want to create more space. Not just physical space, mental space too. It dawned on me: space creates miracles. I mean it quite literally.
Decluttering home space is pretty self-explanatory but I do want to comment on cleaning up virtual spaces. That, first and foremost, means zero inbox. Let me tell you: it is going to be a piece of work! I think I have around 25 000 unopened emails. Gotta go through all of those and keep it at 0.
The presumption of this challenge is that by creating physical and virtual space I’ll also create mental space. I’m hoping that one month of following this new schedule will be enough to do the trick. But I guess I’ll never know if I don’t try.
That being said, I invite you to join me on this journey and see for yourself if you can find anything of real value here.
The game plan is straight-forward: starting today and all through next week I’m decluttering and for the remainder of May I’m maintaining that order.
I’ve said it in the first challenge but I’ll remind you here of a few mindset tricks.
The mindset
1. Play along
First, approach it as a game that you are choosing to play. The health inspection is not going to come, check all the surfaces, and lower your grade 🙂 If you are in a hurry and you need to come home, quickly change into something new and run, then do it. No need to stress about it and hang every piece of clothing on a rack. Just throw and go. But make sure you take care of it when you get back home. Again, it’s a game, you are just choosing to keep everything clean and tidy for your own good.
2. THIS TOO SHALL PASS
Tell yourself that it’s not forever, it’s only 30 days and then you’ll get back to normal and create the mess of your lifetime 😉 Although, let’s hope your new normal will be better than your current one.
3. SPREAD THE WORD
Let people who might be affected know what you are up to and ask them to adjust accordingly. If you have a roommate or a partner who is messy, hopefully, they’ll be understanding. Of course, it’s best if they support you but don’t put yourself into dependence from outside support. Recognize that first and foremost you are doing it for yourself.
And that’s about it.
As always, I’ll be sharing my progress on Instagram so if you aren’t following me yet, go ahead and do it now. I’ll also publish a separate blog post with takeaways and conclusions once this challenge is over.
Thanks for spending these few minutes with me.
XO,
Peter
