30 Days Is More Than Enough to Change Your Life
I don’t know about you, but I often find myself struggling with the challenges of modern life. Wouldn’t you agree?
I don’t know about you, but I often find myself struggling with the challenges of modern life. Wouldn’t you agree?
Doomscrolling, information overload, overeating, procrastination, lack of physical activity, an abundance of choices, and decision fatigue — just to name a few.
In a world that often promotes quick fixes to things, committing to a 30-day challenge can kickstart your self-improvement process and trigger a chain reaction, improving your habits, mindset, confidence, and overall well-being across different aspects of your life, leading to long-lasting results and self-fulfillment. Let’s explore the mechanics around the method and share some of my personal experiences with it.
Why 30 Days?
A month is short enough to feel achievable but long enough to form habits. Some research suggests it takes about 21–30 days to make a new behavior stick long-term. Also, it’s easily measurable and you can take that success and use it to SPARK your belief that you can change any domain of your life.
Choose the scale of your change
If you’re a complete beginner when it comes to changes, I would suggest that you think about the behaviors or bad habits you want to change, write them down in your notes or on a piece of paper, and then assign a number to each, a number which will indicate the order of their execution. Just pick the one that you want to start working on first but you’re also confident enough that you can make work (if you don’t think about yourself as a beginner, pick 1 to 3 habits). Don’t pick your worst habit(s) yet. Remember-we’re aiming for a balance between an easy win and the usefulness of overcoming this bad habit. This win will ignite a SPARK in you, that will give you the much-needed confidence boost, and use that momentum to start working on your other bad habits.
The challenge
As I mentioned before, the actual challenge shouldn’t be too hard, so look at one example of a bad habit you might want to change and what can you do during the 30 days. The example is for Doomscrolling / Social media addiction.
First, you need to check how much time you’re spending on your phone, doing unnecessary or unproductive activities. On iPhone, the menu you’re looking for is in the Settings app, called ‘Screen Time’. On Android most often it’s named Digital Wellbeing. Go into that menu and check the time you’re spending on your social media apps. Next, you should decide if you actually want to completely stop using social apps, or if you want to leave some room for ‘brain-rotting’ as named Word of the Year 2024 by Oxford University. As a first challenge, I’d suggest that you not completely scratch it off but maybe decrease it drastically by 80% let’s say. Personally, I’m not a fan of extremes.
Week 1: Awareness & Preparation
Set Limits: Reduce phone use by 15–20% and establish daily screen-time goals.
Remove Temptations: Delete distracting apps and move others to folders.
Create No-Phone Zones: Ban phone use in the bedroom, dining table, or other areas.
Plan Substitutes: Identify alternatives like reading (Medium articles ;)), journaling, or meditation.
Week 2: Building Momentum
Morning Rule: No phone for 30 minutes after waking up.
Set Time Blocks: Schedule specific times for checking the phone (e.g., 15 minutes mid-morning, afternoon).
Replace Habits: Use waiting times for mindfulness or engaging in hobbies instead of scrolling.
Introduce Rewards: Reward yourself for staying within screen time limits.
Week 3: Deepening the Practice
Digital Detox Days: Plan one screen-free day or afternoon.
Extend No-Phone Zones: Include all meals and social gatherings.
Add a Replacement Activity: Spend your freed-up time on a creative or physical hobby.
Accountability: Share your progress with someone or use an accountability app.
Week 4: Sustaining & Solidifying
Stick to Routines: Automate morning and evening phone-free times.
Refine Limits: Reduce screen time further and set up app usage limits strictly (by your phone’s usage tracking app).
Celebrate Wins: Reflect on how reducing phone use has benefited you.
Plan Maintenance: Set long-term boundaries, like weekly detox hours or apps.
That’s just one example but I think it applies to a lot of people. But the actual challenge is not the point of this article, as I mentioned. What’s important is you, taking the first steps and using that to change other aspects of your life — therefore the SPARK.
(If you want me to help you out with the implementation of the challenge, just hit me up in the comments. We can also try to see what other bad habits you would like to resolve)
The Spark
I call it a spark because what does a spark do? It starts a process. By completing a simple challenge you will find yourself fulfilled and confident that you’re in control. You just had to create a structure, a process. We want to use the momentum of that and start another challenge. Actually, the next endeavor is not necessarily to be a removal of a bad habit but it can also be self-improvement by taking courses, learning something new, business, art, working out, you choose. Just take the momentum of your win and ride it into the next one.
Winning leads to more winning
Our nervous system is attuned to biochemicals and winning leads to a certain brain mechanism triggering a release of a chemical called ‘serotonin’. This chemical then empowers us by making us more confident that we can win again. It also makes us happier. The popular Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson proposes a great example of this by sharing his theory about lobsters and their hierarchy. Of course, his example is regarding competition between lobsters but I got to tell you — I don’t think there’s a big difference between winning against an adversary, in the face of another person, and an adversary in the face of our own mind, which I’m afraid the latter is much more often causing us trouble.
I challenge you to try it yourself. Let me know what challenge you’ll start with and how it goes!