Resolutions come and resolutions go (usually about two months into the new year). And it’s nothing to be ashamed of, but big changes need to start as small changes to stick. Matt Cutts has the answer.
30 days is the perfect amount of time for thought experiments and personal challenges. When you start measuring months in personal challenge, the months matter. Suddenly, January 2016 isn’t just January 2016. It’s that 30 days you took a picture everyday. It’s that 30 days you spoke a second language every morning for ten minutes.
You can do anything for 30 days, because there’s a stopping point. There’s a moment it’s going to end and you can survive until then. No matter what the challenge is.
For example, thousands of people spend the month of November writing a 50,000 word novel each year in a challenge called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Are those books the next great American novels? Absolutely not. They’re written in a month! But they’re complete. You can add that to your skill set, to your life experience.
And the big challenges are fun. They’re great stories. But small changes are likely to be sustainable. Cutting out sugar completely? That’s something that might not stick. But meditating each morning before work for ten minutes? That practice just might last. It just might change the way you walk through the world, permanently.
Matt Cutts sums up his Ted Talk with a challenge. “The next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not. So why not make them count?”
