Karl's Blog: Change Your Life in 30 Days?

One good online friend of mine is Steve Pavlina.

On his site, he chats about the ease of trying out a new pattern or habit for just 30 days. And how it isn't necessarily as difficult as you might think.

It's really quite surprising how quickly habits can be gained -- or dropped.

A few years ago, I began taking our family dog Billy out for a walk each day. Initially, it was a chore. Then it became a habit.

Now, a day simply wouldn't be whole without us both taking in a fresh walk together!

So, what could YOU try out for just 30 days?

Here are a few tips from Steve's site:

* Give up TV. Tape all your favorite shows and save them until the end of the trial. My whole family did this once, and it was very enlightening.

* Give up online forums, especially if you feel you're becoming forum addicted. This will help break the addiction and give you a clearer sense of how participation actually benefits you (if at all). You can always catch up at the end of 30 days.

* Shower/bathe/shave every day. I know YOU don't need this one, so please pass it along to someone who does.

* Meet someone new every day. Start up a conversation with a stranger.

* Go out every evening. Go somewhere different each time, and do something fun -- this will be a memorable month.

* Spend 30 minutes cleaning up and organizing your home or office every day. That's 15 hours total.

* List something new to sell on eBay every day. Purge some of that clutter.

* Ask someone new out on a date every day. Unless your success rate is below 3%, you'll get at least one new date, maybe even meet your future spouse.

* If you're already in a relationship, give your partner a massage every day. Or offer to alternate who gives the massage each day, so that's 15 massages each.

* Give up cigarettes, soda, junk food, coffee, or other unhealthy addictions.

* Become an early riser.

* Write in your journal every day.

* Call a different family member, friend, or business contact every day.

* Make 25 sales calls every day to solicit new business. Professional speaker Mike Ferry did this five days a week for two years, even on days when he was giving seminars. He credits this habit with helping build his business to over $10 million in annual sales. If you make 1300 sales calls a year, you're going to get some decent business no matter how bad your sales skills are. You can generalize this habit to any kind of marketing work, like building new links to your web site.

* Write a new blog entry every day.

* Read for an hour a day on a subject that interests you.

* Meditate every day.

* Learn a new vocabulary word every day.

* Go for a long walk every day.

I might just take up one of these challenges during January of 2007. And, naturally, I'll keep you posted.

Read the full "30 days to success" article at Steve's site by clicking here.

Labels: inspiration, self-development