Last week, I started a challenge to do one thing I love every day. The goal is that if you establish this habit in 30 days, it will be engrained–you’ll love life a little bit more, feel a little less chained to your desk, whatever. I figured I could use a little more fun in my life.
The few weeks before I started the challenge were kind of, well, challenging for me. In fact, I had planned to start the challenge a few weeks prior, but truthfully, I couldn’t think of something I loved to do for 30 days. It didn’t even have to be different every day. But I couldn’t think of one thing. I was stuck in an overwhelmingly busy period in my life and I seriously couldn’t even figure out what I wanted to do, much less do it.
I’m now 7 days into the challenge, and–no surprise here–I’ve had a fabulous week. I have put aside things that weren’t a priority or weren’t going to make me feel good in exchange for things that would.
Here’s what I did this week that I love to do:
Day 1: Played the fiddle
Day 2: Woke up before the kids and worked out (and read a little and enjoyed a cup of coffee by myself)
Day 3: Woke up before the kids and read (and worked out later that day anyway, and played the fiddle)
Day 4: Doodled (and played the fiddle, and woke before the kids, and worked out)
Day 5: Hung out with friends (and doodled)
Day 6: Doodled a note to someone who needed it (and played the fiddle, and hung out with friends)
Here’s what did surprise me:
- adding in more things I loved during the day didn’t mean I was less productive. I still achieved everything I needed to logistically (like doing the dishes) and at work. There were days where I took an extra few hours of time to do the things I loved. And I still got all the shit done that I needed to on top of that.
- I didn’t just do one thing a day that I loved. I pretty much ended up doing 3 or 4 things. And this was coming from a month before where I couldn’t even think of 3 or 4 things I loved to do. Period.
You know what this tells me about you?
- That you have more time in your day than you think. I promise you do. There is a shift in priorities that happens when you do what you love, and you do retain the things you truly need to do. And you realize a lot of crap that you ultimately don’t need to do.
- When you spend time doing what you love, it starts a chain reaction. You feel better, so you look for more things to do that keep you feeling this way. You find ways to work more efficiently so that you can fit more of what you love into your day. You make better decisions, you don’t end up spending time doing things that don’t make you feel good, and you lose guilt… your day simply runs more smoothly AND you’re happier. Who can argue with that?
Want to join me? Just post one pic a day of you doing something you love with the hashtag #dreamsmatter (then the day/30). It doesn’t matter when you start. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t take pictures of it every day. Just commit to doing it, and don’t let a day go by where you slip up. There will be a transformational shift when you realize there was a lot of junk in your life and not enough fun.
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