At the start of 2021, I’m sure we have all heard the phrase “New Year, New Me” at least once already! Many people use January as a great time to wipe the slate clean from the previous year and start fresh with good intentions. The mindset of starting again at the beginning of the year makes us all more determined to achieve our goals. We make New Year’s resolutions about everything from trying harder at school to eating more healthy food.
But the idea of 365 days stretching ahead can sometimes be overwhelming. 30 day challenges are a popular way of trying to meet our aims chunked together in a smaller time frame. Many of us will have heard of Movember and Veganuary, but here are a few different 30 day challenge ideas (minus the catchy names!)
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Limit Social Media
We’re starting with a big one! There is loads of research supporting the idea that extended social media use can be damaging to our mental health. Not only that, but spending hours of our day staring a screen as we scroll and swipe can affect our eyesight. By looking down all the time, we also miss all the amazing things going on around us IRL.
Give yourself a time limit on your social media, that you can only use it for, say, 30 minutes a day. There are even apps you can use to help regulate this. You can set your parameters and it will shut you out of programmes if you go past your given time limit. You’ll be amazed how much more real interaction you have with the people around you. If you’re feeling really strong, try going cold turkey and cutting it out completely for a great 30 day challenge!
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Random Act of Kindness
This is one of our firm favourites. The idea of a random act of kindness is that it isn’t the same thing every day, which means you can get really creative. Try to do at least one thing for someone different every day for a month. This could be anything from setting the table for dinner without being asked, offering to walk your neighbours dog for them or helping your teacher tidy the classroom after a lesson. Helping others makes us feel good about ourselves, which is a pretty awesome way to start the year. Keep a list of all the different good deeds you do to remind yourself.
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Every day is a school day
Try to learn something new every day. That could be a new random fact – Did you know that there are 336 dimples on a standard golf ball? Or how about a new word? Like Elucidate: “To make something clear or to explain.” You could use this challenge to expand your vocabulary in another language. Or how about picking a country every day and learning 3 interesting facts about it? Did you know that Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world? It is also the country that invented the baseball glove back in 1883, and has a total of 198 jails, including the worlds smallest!
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Give up a bad habit
This one is a toughie. We all have those habits that we know we shouldn’t do, but just can’t seem to help ourselves. It might be biting our nails, leaving cupboard doors open or snacking on something extremely sugary whenever we read a book. Whatever your habit might be, for 30 days try to make a decided effort not to do it. If you catch yourself doing it, you could try fining yourself 10 pence per offence. Not only will it hopefully help you break your bad habit, but you might end up with some money saved at the end. Win win!
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Dance every day
We all get so weighed down with responsibilities and obligations every day. It can be easy to forget to have a little fun sometimes. So mark out at least one point in your day when you can just let loose and dance like no ones watching. Even just 3 and a half minutes of un-structured bopping about is guaranteed to make you smile. You could try grooving to a song you’ve never heard before, or switching to a completely random radio station and boogieing away to the first song you hear. This is a great one to do on your own or with others.
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Challenge your students
For something a little bit different for your students this new year, why not contact WiseUp Team Building to see what we can offer. Our broad range of problem solving activities are an educational and fun way to try new challenges and develop good habits. Tag us on socials @wiseupteam and let us know if you try a 30 day challenge – as long as it’s within your time limit of course!
Image Source: WiseUp Team Building
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