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12 30-Day Challenges That Will Change Your Life

Jessica Stillman
5 min readDec 21, 2021

For some people, the best way to change a habit is with baby steps. They start incredibly small to avoid terror and procrastination and gradually work their way up from there.

But others are more the dive-right-into-the-cold-water type. For these folks, the best way to change your life is through a quick, sharp shock that promises both excitement and an instant peek at what a new lifestyle can offer.

If you’re more the latter type, 30-day challenges might be for you. By pledging to make a big change to your life for just a month, you get around the paralyzing fear of failure and the unknown by setting a definite boundary for your project. You also fire up your competitive instincts and offer yourself a real preview of a possible new life that might tempt you to continue your project once the month has passed. And what better time to start one than the start of a new year?

So what kind of changes are amenable to 30-day challenges? Tons of them. Here are some ideas culled from a variety of threads on question-and-answer site Quora, as well as an excellent James Altucher post on the topic.

1. Negotiate once a day.

“At a Starbucks? Ask for 10 percent off, for instance,” suggests Altucher. Not only will this help you get over a fear that holds many…

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Jessica Stillman
Jessica Stillman

Written by Jessica Stillman

Top Inc.com columnist/ Editor/ Ghostwriter. Book lover. Travel fiend. Nap enthusiast. https://jessicastillman.com/

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