Category Archives: 30 day challenge

My 30 day corona lock-down challenge

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My 30 day corona lock-down challenge
30 day corona lock-down challenge

In this article I want to share my newly formulated corona virus pandemic 30 day lock-down challenge. Here in Ireland as we head towards the end of October 2020, we are back in lock-down to prevent the further spread of Covid-19. We are at what we call level 5 which is the highest level of lock-down. All non-essential retail businesses have closed. We are confined to our homes and are not supposed to leave unless for essential work or to buy essential supplies. We can travel up to 5 kms from our homes to exercise. The winter is approaching and last night as I write, October 24th, we turned our clocks back one hour. All of a sudden the long dark nights are here. The lock-down is due to last for 6 weeks. I have decided I need a focus and need to do something really positive during this lock-down.

The news

Too much of the news is particularly discouraging at the moment. As I see it from my Irish perspective we have three main news stories (below). You will have others to add to the list depending on where you live in the world. We have many important things happening in our world right now but they tend to get drowned out by the big stories of the day.

1. Covid-19
It’s all rather depressing. The news is dominated about how many new infections there are on a daily basis, how many have died etc. Endless pundits and experts debate what the figures mean.

2. Brexit
The UK left the European Union in January 2020. The transition period will end this year. Will we have a deal going forward from 2021? Brexit is an exercise in folly as far as I am concerned and I don’t see any real benefits for the UK. In fact Brexit will probably hasten the break-up of the UK. From an Irish perspective we would certainly have wanted to maintain the status quo with the UK as a strong voice in Europe. I read during the week that there is a petition to name a massive lorry park in Kent for up to 1,700 trucks, after Nigel Farage. How apt!

3. The US elections
Let us hope the American people will do the world a favour and send Mr Trump home from the white-house. We can then have a break from the endless drama and distraction he creates. Overall he has shown very poor leadership on so many important issues such as dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, tackling racism and addressing climate change.

Corona 30 Day Challenge

As I have outlined above Ireland is on a Covid-19 lock-down and the news is all round pretty disheartening. To make the most of this lock-down I have decided to take on another 30 day challenge. I really enjoyed my last one in July. This time around I have decided to read for one hour per day for 30 days. I have a bookshelf full of books but I realise that I don’t spend enough time reading. My free time can easily be absorbed by any of the above news items and more. Add to that the endless distractions of social media. It is so easy to glance at my phone and realise later that I have wasted the last 5 – 10+ minutes of my life. Do that a number of times a day and the minutes build up! Why should I care about the latest antics of ‘The Donald’, Borris or anyone else. I want to use my time productively to develop myself and learn new things.

Join me!

Please join me in this 30 day challenge. Post the books you are reading over the next 30 days and what you are learning. I will also do the same. Keep an eye out for updates as I progress through the 30 days. I will keep you posted on my progress on the Life is a Laboratory Facebook page. I am starting my 30 day challenge today 26th October 2020.

30 Day Challenge Introduction

Have a look at the above video introducing my last 30 day challenge. You can read how I got on with my last challenge here. Here is the template from the course that I will use to track my Corona 30 day lock-down challenge progress: 30-Day-Challenge-Template_Final. I am really looking forward to getting started. Again please do join me in the challenge and post your progress here or on Facebook.

Best wishes,

Tom

P.S. The 30 Challenge is an assignment in my course ‘Goal Setting 101 – How to Set and Achieve Goals 2020’. Please click here to find out more about the course and watch the free course preview. I look forward to seeing you on the course!

Does a 30 Day Challenge Work?

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Day 18 out of 30 update

On July 1st I started a 30 day challenge on improving my online marketing skills and knowledge. How well does a 30 day challenge work? The 30 Day Challenge is an assignment from my course: ‘Goal Setting 101 – How to Set and Achieve Goals 2020’. In this blog post I want to give a 30 day challenge progress update as I am just over half way through my challenge. Since I started the challenge I have been spending at least one hour per day taking courses on digital marketing and implementing ideas in my business. I am currently on day 18 of the challenge and so far I have not missed a single day. In fact I estimate that I have actually spent 45.5 hours on the challenge so far which way more than double the time input I was supposed to have given at this stage. I am extremely happy with my progress and what I am learning.

Tracking my progress

One thing that has really helped me stay on track is having a very clear record to fill in and record my daily progress. Each day I record what I am doing and the time spent. Importantly I also record what lessons I am learning. This is very motivating and I don’t want to miss a single day. Therefore if you track your progress carefully it really does help in making a 30 day challenge work.

  • My 30 Day Challenge in Action

As you can see from the above copy of my 30 day challenge record sheet I am learning loads as I go along. You can download a copy of the template I am using here:

30-Day-Challenge-Template_FinalDownload

What I have learned so far

A key thing that I have learned is that a sole focus on results can be really frustrating. For example I have really worked hard on improving my YouTube account. I have added thumbnails, key words, tags etc. to improve Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This type of effort is tedious and slow (as I have noted on my record sheet a number of times). I don’t yet see any change in my results from this effort. Views have not increased. That is why it is really important to focus instead on inputs and be really happy about that. In my case that is the minimum of 1 hour per day spent learning and working on the task. I have to believe that results will come later. I think of Jim Collins and his book ‘Good to Great’ and the what he calls the Flywheel Effect. Success at anything is like pushing a heavy flywheel. It turns very slowly at first and takes a lot of effort. We have to keep pushing and eventually the flywheel builds momentum.

Best wishes, Tom

P.S. I will be giving a full analysis of my 30 day challenge when it is completed. If you are feeling stuck and lacking momentum on any of your goals try a 30 day challenge to get you unstuck! The 30 Challenge is an assignment in my course ‘Goal Setting 101 – How to Set and Achieve Goals 2020’. Please click here to find out more about the course and watch the free course preview. I look forward to seeing you on the course!