The August Challenge, and Successful July Challengers!

Hello fellow Challengers!

First of all, thanks everyone for participating. I've had a lot of fun reading your reports, even if I haven't had as much time as I'd like to interact with everyone. But you guys have been truly inspiring!

The August Challenge is about to start ... I'm going to start the forum now ... so go there to sign up! Good luck to everyone in August!

Now, I'd like to get a few success stories to share on Zen Habits, looking back on the July Challenge. So if you had a fairly successful July Challenge, and you wouldn't mind me sharing a little info on you (just a paragraph), please leave a comment on this thread or email me.

Thanks everyone!

Hi Leo.
My challenge was pretty boring and easy, but you're welcome to use it if you like. I put some little comments in the threads as we went along about how my perspective on my project (Goal: No forums or RSS reading from work computer) changed over time as the habit formed.
Taxgeek

Great! Thanks for that.

Any other takers? Smile

Goal 1 - to do morning routine 17 for 20
Goal 2 - 10 minutes decluttering 11 for 20
Goal 3 - 10 minutes housework 15 for 20

I'm happy for you to use my challenges. I started part way through but here above is how I got on. I know I wouldn't have done this well if it wasn't for this forum. It encouraged me to do the tasks and the habits are slowly forming. I didn't do so well on the decluttering but did do over 50% so that's quite a bit of rubbish chucked out. I'm looking forward to continuing my amended challenges in August

My challenge was to read books at least half an hour a day since I really like to read but often don't take the time for it (I think things like these cry for a habit change Wink

). I accomplished my goal every day what feels really great! The first days of the month I tried to take on two challenges, but I realized that this could become too much since I was really busy with university stuff.
For August, I will continue to report my habit changes from June (do sport everyday) and July (reading books) as I think this really helps sticking to it. In June, I was successful too (29/30) but I had to take a break since July 14th because of an injury. So this will be a good way to jump on the wagon again. Additionally I will take a new challenge: working towards my goal of doing freelance work besides studies.

Great! Thanks guys! I will be doing a post on Zen Habits within a day or so.

Leo, I posted this in the last week or two - if any of it is helpful, feel free to use it:

Although I've hit most of my Challenge goals imperfectly (except quitting Diet Coke - that was absolute, although I had a tapering off plan for that month) since I first started doing these - I think in March - great progress has been made on each of them, and that's the most important thing:

I now get to work a full hour to an hour-and-a-half or more earlier than I used to;
I've lost a solid 4 or 5 pounds and haven't gained it back;
I sleep much more than I used to during the weekdays;
I've quit drinking Diet Coke!

Wow! And, as a bonus, I've developed a nice morning practice (most days) of meditation, writing morning pages, and doing some self-development or spiritual reading.

The most important thing for me (besides posting here) is keeping the goals real simple and doing only one new one each month. This month, my new one was sleep 8, and I have the long-term carryover of losing 1# a week, for a total goal of 20 pounds (I think it'll take me a while to get there on that one, as I resolve my "issues.")

Leo, you can use anything I post here any time. Attribution would be nice.

- orcmid

I just wrote the post on the August Challenge earlier today (it's coming out in a few minutes) and as I was writing it, I realized it was getting too long ... so I decided to scrap the part about successful July Challengers. Sorry about that! I hope I didn't disappoint anyone too much.

However, I might do a separate post on this later, and if I do, I will definitely use you guys. Thanks so much for volunteering!

I'm going to post this (even though I know it is late and irrelevant to your Zen Habits post, Leo) because I am so pleased with the results of my July Challenge. Even though I didn't meet the challenge itself (in terms of doing my German study consistently every day), I did a lot more than I would have without the Challenge. Sometimes just setting the goal can be a great boon to productivity.

I just returned from Austria and had a very successful festival...largely because my German was so much better. It was better than some people who have higher positions than myself (and therefore would find German even more helpful to them). So, I just wanted to say thanks!

I don't have an August challenge (largely because it is the middle of the month)...but my newest goal is weight loss. Smile

Eating Austrian desserts for two weeks will necessitate that.
Very Happy

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REBECCA