30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

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30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by !saak (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 2:39 pm

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The Daily Challenges!
Day 1: It'll Be The Best Month Ever! Creating Your 30 Day Action Plan
Day 2: Assessing Your Life
Day 3: Design Your Ideal Life
Day 4: Mapping Out Your Life
Day 5: Create Your Vision Board
Day 6: Create Your Action Plan
Day 7: Take Action on Your action Plan
Day 8: My Little Review
Day 9: Your To-Do List

Day 10: Habits & Routines
Day 11: Face Your Frustrations
Day 12: Take a Pitstop
Day 13: Declutter
Day 14: Carousel Boutique, C'est Magnifique! Create Your _______ Room
Day 15: Mirror, Mirror: A Day of Reflection
Day 16: A Day of Gratitude
Day 17: Your Elements of Harmony. What do you stand for?
Day 18: Getting Your Cutiemark: Discover Your Purpose
Day 19: Books! God I love books! Dear Princess Celestia, make your Life Handbook!

Day 20: Relationship is Magic
Day 21: Friendship is Magic
Day 22: Cultivate a new Habit
Day 23: A Random Act of Kindness
Day 24: Beyond the Rainbow: Expand Your Comfort Zone
Day 25: Level Up!
Day 26: Pitstop Part Two
Day 27: 99 Buckets of Lists on the Wall
Day 28: Let Go
Day 29: Dear Princess Me...



Introduction
Hi, and welcome to the 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge :party:

This started out as a challenge I issued to Perpetual Lurker in the Rainbow Unicorn Sunshine thread, but as more people voiced their interest in joining it soon outgrew the thread. So here we are!

What is this challenge?
The 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge is a 30 day long course of sorts designed to help people get truly in touch with themselves, help them create intrinsic goals and improve the general quality of their life.
The goal is to give people a boost towards becoming a better person, to foster growth, reflection and make them excited about living their life.

This is about figuring out who you are, what you think is important and what you want to achieve in life. You will reach into the absolute core of your being and discover what makes you tick. You will be confronted with things you're not happy with, both on the surface and deep within your self.
But it's important that you commit to this, because you are important. This is about you learning how to live a fulfilling life.


How did you come up with this?
It's a mishmash of different things I picked up over the years. The 'trigger' was the challenge issued to Daionus the 23rd on SA not too long ago, the 'gunpowder' a cocktail of a similar workshop I followed and things I learned in university.
That workshop was largely online, but it's since been taken down, I however still have the notebook I made during it so I'm reverse engineering some of the challenges :)


Who is this for?
Anyone can join! It doesn't matter how old you are, where you live, what you do, whether you're a dad, a daughter, still living with your parents. Nor does it matter if you're generally happy, unhappy or somewhere in between. This challenge is timeless and something you can do at any point in your life.


What's the Challenge going to look like?
Starting tomorrow I'm going to post a question and/or exercise each day for 30 days. These tasks will take around an hour to complete each. Some might take longer, others might be shorter, that totally depends.
Set aside time to complete them, especially if you have a busy schedule. This is going to be your priority for the next 30 days.

You will assess your life, set short term and long term goals, nail down what you think is important in life und so weiter, und so weiter!

Tasks will be online the day before, unless I say so, so keep an eye out!


Why are you doing this?
Because I want to make people happy and have a positive influence on the world! :party:


What are some things I need to look out for?
- Resistance means you need to keep digging. You might think "I've done this before" or "this isn't relevant", but if you're avoiding something you need to pay extra attention to it as it's an area you will learn from the most.
- You will need a notebook. This is going to be your workbook. It doesn't have to be physical, you can make it digital, but it is more fun.
- Feel free to spend as much time on your tasks as you want.
- Things will pop up in the next 30 days that will distract you, when they do simply remember why you're doing this.
- There are no wrong answers, there are no failures.
- It's not a race, it's not about completion. This is all about you and you decide your pace. Even if you miss a task you can always do it the next day!
- You're free to share what you learn and do, but if you don't want to that's perfectly okay too!
- Have fun! Go all out on every task, you have nothing to lose and everything to win :)

What do I do with the notebook?
Your notebook is going to be your personal journal, your workbook, your reflection repository and whatever else you'd like it to be!
This is where you're going to record your results. Don't throw it away after finishing! It's going to be a real treasure after we wrap things up!

A few pointers
- Feel free to personalize your notebook with pictures, stickers and whatever you can think of. Like I said, it's going to be a big personal treasure, so why not make it look like one!
- On the cover, or the first page, write down your name and the starting date.
- On the 2nd page, write a personal note. It can be encouragement for the next 30 days, what you hope to gain, or whatever you feel like.
- Bring your notebook anywhere, if it's physical put it in your bag. Having it with you means you can read through it and see how far you've come. Plus it'll stay at the top of your mind.
- For people doing this digitally, there's: Google Drive, Evernote, Microsoft OneNote and Dropbox and Windows Journal

I'm joining in too by the way:

Image

That's it for now, if you have any suggestions, feel free!

We start tomorrow! Let's make this happen! :yay:
Last edited by !saak on Wed May 15, 2013 1:57 pm, edited 14 times in total.

Snow Drift

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Snow Drift » Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:11 pm

Alright then. I'm game.

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Hi. (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:19 pm

:party:

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My handwriting is the worst. This is gonna be great.

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Kiith Soban (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:23 pm

Excellent OP and a really interesting concept, Isaak. I like to think I've figured out my goal in life already -- help people understand the mathematical patterns and laws of universe we live in -- but there's other stuff I haven't figured out yet, so I'm considering participating in it.

Edit: Already have a pocket notebook and a pen which I carry around at all times. Now I'm really, really considering participating in it.

BTMcG

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by BTMcG » Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:52 pm

I'll pick up a notebook on my way to work. This is definitely going to be a thing. :-D

Ponder

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Ponder » Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:37 pm

After putting my name and date on the inside cover, I sat and stared at the first page for what felt like a half hour. Even thinking of something to put on the cover was a chore. Everything that came to mind was either delusionally saccharine or prematurely defeatist. I decided on "You deserve happiness," even though I'm not sure if I believe it yet. But I hope to by the end of it. That's the whole point of this exercise, right? The first steps are the hardest, huh?

Day Zero:
Image
Image

Bought a big box of crayons a while ago, and haven't done anything with them yet. Time to put them to work.
Looking forward to seeing what this does for me. Also looking forward to seeing what this does for the rest of you.
Last edited by Ponder on Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by concerned reader (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:37 pm

I'm in for this fo sho dawg man g yeah

Gravenstein

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Gravenstein » Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:56 pm

I'll probably fail miserably at this, but at least I've got a buttload of notebooks I can use for it! :party:

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by !saak (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:57 pm

Eeeeeee!!! You're all amazing already :awesomedash:
Gravenstein wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:56 pm
I'll probably fail miserably at this, but at least I've got a buttload of notebooks I can use for it! :party:
Actually:
- There are no wrong answers, there are no failures.
:)

ScionVyse

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by ScionVyse » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:00 pm

I'll probably join up on this as well. This seems like it'll be a hell of an experience and I've got issues that this could help with. Heck, said issues are partially why I've never really posted on this part of the forum before. :modesty:

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by !saak (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:08 pm

I just wanted to add that if people decide to jump in at a later time that's cool too! :)

Demeh

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Demeh » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:12 pm

I wouldn't really have anything to write down myself, but I'll hop in and out this topic for moral support :flutterunsmith:

CapacitorPlague

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by CapacitorPlague » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:12 pm

I've tried exercises like this before, but it usually wouldn't work out because I'm not great at sticking to something over a period of time. If nothing else, this should help me with that. :modesty:

I'm in! :pinkietoot:

Throbulator

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Throbulator » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:13 pm

The idea of signing up for this and writing messages to myself makes me feel anxious. So I definitely need to sign up for this. :jingo:

Timber72

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Timber72 » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:18 pm

I'll wait and see how much effort this requires, but I might join in for the easier exercises. I really don't feel like writing 1000+ word essays.

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by !saak (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:22 pm

Oh my God, I didn't know this would get such a big response! :awesomedash:
You're making me so excited, but I should really sleep.
Twilight wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:18 pm
I'll wait and see how much effort this requires, but I might join in for the easier exercises. I really don't feel like writing 1000+ word essays.
You decide how much you write. There are no minimum or maximum counts and certainly, absolutelytutely no judging :)

I'm off to bed, catch you beautiful people on the flipside!

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Vulin (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:23 pm

This looks like a thing I could end up doing.

Demeh

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Demeh » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:26 pm

Isaak wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:22 pm
Oh my God, I didn't know this would get such a big response! :awesomedash:
You're making me so excited, but I should really sleep. You decide how much you write. There are no minimum or maximum counts and certainly, absolutelytutely no judging :)

I'm off to bed, catch you beautiful people on the flipside!
It's 23:30, it's way too early to sleep :twonk:

doodlesplat

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by doodlesplat » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:27 pm

Twilight wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:18 pm
I'll wait and see how much effort this requires, but I might join in for the easier exercises. I really don't feel like writing 1000+ word essays.
And don't forget that you aren't doing this for anyone else; the benefit is all yours. Even if you don't feel like writing much for posterity, participate in the activity itself anyways because it is the process that matters.
:iamapony:

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by !saak (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:30 pm

doodlesplat wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:27 pm
And don't forget that you aren't doing this for anyone else; the benefit is all yours. Even if you don't feel like writing much for posterity, participate in the activity itself anyways because it is the process that matters.
:iamapony:
Absolutely! It's about getting started, building up momentum, giving yourself a boost.

Sleep for reelz nao~

Ponder

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Ponder » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:35 pm

Seeing what other people write will help me feel less self-conscious for sharing my entries, but I don't want anyone to feel obligated to. Since the RUSP thread has had a lot of sharing of similar experiences in it, I thought that putting your entries out there would generate discussion and support where needed. I'd suggest blanking out any sensitive information, since this is still a public forum.

However, if you guys feel this is a bad idea, and we're better off keeping our eyes on our own paper, feel free to tell me to shut up about it. :modesty:

Star Platinum

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Star Platinum » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:51 pm

Hell yeah we're doing this. :cool:

Ashenai

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Ashenai » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:52 pm

PonderSketch wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:35 pm
Seeing what other people write will help me feel less self-conscious for sharing my entries, but I don't want anyone to feel obligated to. Since the RUSP thread has had a lot of sharing of similar experiences in it, I thought that putting your entries out there would generate discussion and support where needed. I'd suggest blanking out any sensitive information, since this is still a public forum.

However, if you guys feel this is a bad idea, and we're better off keeping our eyes on our own paper, feel free to tell me to shut up about it. :modesty:
I've done this before, and let me assure you that if you do it honestly and don't evade or resist the hard stuff, there will almost certainly be pages of that notebook that end up being too painful, too private, or too embarrassing to share. I just wanna reassure everyone that it's very normal to sometimes end up with something that you're not ready to talk about, and in the long run it's better to accept and explore those facets of yourself than to censor yourself for the sake of ending up with something that's appropriate for sharing.

That said, when you do feel comfortable sharing something, input from other people can be awesome and helpful. :)

Mordja

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Mordja » Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:04 pm

I won't be participating because I'm too much of a flake to commit to anything and, conversely, I'm too busy at the moment. That said, great thread idea and I wish everyone the best of luck! :yay:

Ponder

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Ponder » Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:06 pm

Ashenai wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:52 pm
I've done this before, and let me assure you that if you do it honestly and don't evade or resist the hard stuff, there will almost certainly be pages of that notebook that end up being too painful, too private, or too embarrassing to share. I just wanna reassure everyone that it's very normal to sometimes end up with something that you're not ready to talk about, and in the long run it's better to accept and explore those facets of yourself than to censor yourself for the sake of ending up with something that's appropriate for sharing.

That said, when you do feel comfortable sharing something, input from other people can be awesome and helpful. :)
Good call. So, "Feel free to share, but don't feel like you need to share everything." Right?

Ashenai

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Ashenai » Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:12 pm

PonderSketch wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:06 pm
Good call. So, "Feel free to share, but don't feel like you need to share everything." Right?
That's how I see it. But this is Isaac's thing, he's gonna be your* guide, ask him!

*Or maybe our guide. I'm still thinking about whether I wanna do this. It's been a while since I went through this particular mill, and it's hard but very rewarding!

Tears

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Tears » Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:29 pm

This sounds pretty interesting, I'm in. Maybe it's the self-discovery, maybe it's because I picked up a notebook the other day that I was wondering what to do with, because it's not really practical for anything but I like it.

There can be two reasons :gotcha:


I already know there'll be a few work days within the 30 days where I'll almost definitely flake on it, just because there will genuinely not be a spare minute between waking up, sobbing quietly to myself in a corner around lunchtime (lunch will be a bread roll I will eat while walking), and going to bed. But I'm going to keep to this as best I can. Nice idea, Isaac! :yay:

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Kiith Soban (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:06 pm

Okay, I've decided to participate, but first I gotta look for a larger physical notebook. In the meantime, I'm going to write my first entry here, and later on I'll transcribe it to the notebook itself. Some entries are probably going to be very personal, including this one, but I'd like to at least include it. For some reason, it feels wrong not to. Any comments and criticism are very welcome.
April 14th, 2013
KS

For most of your life you have thrived on challenging yourself and antagonizing those who claimed you couldn't succeed. You've survived through sheer anger and hatred, which drove you to the academic and personal accomplishments you have always wanted, and above all, you have lived with a well-defined purpose for over five years. Yet I am sorely disappointed in you. All you've accomplished is rendered meaningless by your selfishness, your inability to interact and form friendships with more than a handful of people, your lack of discipline regarding study and your ignorance about yourself. You have sailed this far with nothing but talent to propel you forward. Even when the winds began to weaken, your refused to row, and now you stand still, refusing to do anything about it. In the next 30 days, you will attempt to learn as much as possible about yourself in order to find a pattern in the disorder that dominates your mind. At the end of it, if all goes as planned, you will know more about your issues than before, and will be in a better position to engage them. Do not think about giving up because you are nervous or unhappy. You have done it too many times to count. It's time to put a stop to it.

Daionus The 23rd

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Daionus The 23rd » Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:22 pm

As someone going through a mod challenge that's a semi-voluntary but shorter version of this, Here's some suggestions:

-use HabitRPG
-Learn how to make something
-Volunteer
-Donate blood & platelets
-Donate plasma
-Study a lagnuage
-Learn CPR/First Aid

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Weird Autumn (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:46 pm

I think I'll hop on and at least try to take part in this, mostly just 'cause I'm curious to see what it'll be like. Maybe I'll learn something, maybe I won't, but even if I end up flaking out a couple of days in or something it should be interesting. I don't really know how I plan to actually do it just yet but I figure I'll just wing it and figure out what'll work for me once I hit the first prompt. I've got plenty of physical notebook that I'm not using lying around (I keep getting them for school and then basically never taking notes in them) so I should be able to come up with something regardless.

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by londonarbuckle (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:59 pm

I should probably try this so I guess I will. :pinkieshrug:

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Mir (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:21 pm

Yeah sure. Why not?

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by diribigal (?) » Sun Apr 14, 2013 11:24 pm

Mir wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:21 pm
Yeah sure. Why not?
I'm using a google drive document because I don't hand write things.

Aracat

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Aracat » Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:37 am

What the hell, let's do this. The fact that I feel some amount of trepidation about this means that there's at least one thing to learn.

e:
Another program you can use if you've got a pen input method is Windows Journal, which seems to come with the OS on everything more recent than Vista.

That said, I think writing by hand in ink or marker is going to prevent one from overthinking - the ease of editing with digital media makes it far too easy to go back and change things around rather than focus on the topic. What you write when doing this might be a stream of consciousness (and you'll have a written record of your thoughts as they change), or perhaps in the process of composing your next sentence, you'll have to think more about your thoughts before committing them to paper.
Last edited by Aracat on Mon Apr 15, 2013 5:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by !saak (?) » Mon Apr 15, 2013 5:06 am

Ashenai wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:12 pm
That's how I see it. But this is Isaac's thing, he's gonna be your* guide, ask him!

*Or maybe our guide. I'm still thinking about whether I wanna do this. It's been a while since I went through this particular mill, and it's hard but very rewarding!
It's as much your thing as it's mine! :)

This is a personal journey you're embarking on, while there are other people involved who can give you encouragement, there's no obligation to share what you learn.
If you think others might benefit from it or you're superhappy with it, feel free to share. If you want to keep it yours and yours alone then that's ay-okay too!
Working on the first task at the moment, so stay tuned :party:
Aracat wrote:What the hell, let's do this. The fact that I feel some amount of trepidation about this means that there's at least one thing to learn.
Being able to recognize that is an important skill. Awesome you're acting on it! You and the other people who mentioned this!
Another program you can use if you've got a pen input method is Windows Journal, which seems to come with the OS on everything more recent than Vista.
Added this to the OP.

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Jill (?) » Mon Apr 15, 2013 5:59 am

I'm game I suppose.
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(evernote4lyf)

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Venusy (?) » Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:24 am

With apologies re: my chicken scratch:
Image

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Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by londonarbuckle (?) » Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:27 am

Uh can I rip out my first page and make a new one? Or does that run counter to the spirit of this project?

Srs question.

Gravenstein

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Gravenstein » Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:49 am

Image
Image

durr how do i camera :v:

Ashenai

Re: 30 Days of Life Improvement Challenge

Post by Ashenai » Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:54 am

londonarbuckle wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:27 am
Uh can I rip out my first page and make a new one? Or does that run counter to the spirit of this project?

Srs question.
Don't destroy what you've done; you might want to come back to it later, from a different perspective! Just turn the page, and make the next page the new first one.

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