Well, I completed another challenge! This will be the third one that I’ve completed and there are actually a lot more coming at ya in the coming week or so.
The challenge this time was to read for 30 minutes every day. This may not seem like the most arduous or exciting challenge, but it turned out to actually have a powerful effect on my life.
Here was my problem when it came to reading: I would always have the urge to read and then read fervently for a few days. I would be super excited, usually finish a book, and then just stop reading until something really piqued my interest again. The problem? I don’t want to be an on and off reader, I want to be a person who reads every day and finishes a lot of books every year. So, to solve this, I set about forcing myself to read for 30 minutes every day.
Here’s the rundown of the challenge:
Dates: June 25 – July 25
Days Missed: 2
In this post I’m going to go over:
-What this challenge looked like in my life
-Issues in keeping the 30 day challenge going
-Benefits that I noticed in my life
Before I start, I am going to rate this 30 day challenge in terms of difficulty and benefits. Here goes:
Difficulty
This challenge was not super difficult to do once I made time for it…but I will say that 30 minutes is a fairly big chunk of waking time! I had to augment my schedule a bit sometimes to fit it in.
Benefits
The scale of the benefits for this challenge were surprising! I ended up finishing 3 books and getting halfway into a fairly big book. 2 of the books had a big impact on my view of the world and my view of this blog. One of the books was about the state of America and it really moved me. The final book was an autobiography that I just can’t put down. Not only am I reading more, but the reading is having a positive effect on my mindset.
What This Challenge Looked Like In My Life
So what did 30 minutes of reading look like? Well, most of the time it looked like me reading for 30 minutes before going to sleep. And that is awesome because I usually spend that time Netflixing or Youtubing. It really helped me get into a calmer place before falling asleep.
But what about the times when I didn’t read before bed? Well, I made it work. I found myself reading to the backlight of my kindle on a road trip to Lake Tahoe. I found myself reading on the beach. I found myself reading during a few cozy afternoons on the couch in my room.
By forcing myself to read, I was finally able to achieve my goal of being a daily reader! It seems simple but for some reason it took me a long time to get to this place.
Here are the books I read, ranked by how much I liked them (and I recommend them all!)
Issues In Keeping the 30 Day Challenge Going
To be honest, there weren’t a lot of issues keeping this one going. I love reading and I was lucky enough to read 4 amazing books over the last 30 days. It wasn’t like I was slogging through books just because I wanted to keep this challenge going.
The fact that I only missed 2 days is proof that I didn’t have many issues with this one! My other current challenges have many more missed days.
Benefits In My Life
I feel like I have covered this already but basically the benefits were…I read more! I became the daily reader I always wanted to be.
I’m really hoping to continue this habit moving forward. I’ve continued my meditation practice and am looking to do the same with this challenge!
Leave a Reply