Seize The Short Month

The next 28 days could change your life.

February’s a weird month.

Just 28 days long, and it feels like there’s never much going on in the month of February.

A few years ago I noticed that every time February rolled around, I found myself just passing the time, waiting for March.

Dumb.

So I decided to make a change and take advantage of the short month.

Now, when February rolls around I set a personal challenge. I pick an activity or a task and I challenge myself to complete the activity/task every single day.

For example, last February I realized I’d been slacking off on the cardio. So I challenged myself to perform some cardio every single day during the 28 days of February.

The length and duration didn’t really matter. The act of getting the job done every single day made all the difference.

Fitness author Dan John has a saying: “If something is important, do it every day. If it’s not important, don’t do it.”

In my younger days, I never realized how powerful this principle could be.

In fact, I would do the exact opposite.

For example, if I had to write a book report in my younger days I’d have chosen to work for 8 hours straight on a Saturday rather than devote 30 minutes a day to the project every single day.

But there’s something magical about working on a project every single day without allowing yourself the luxury of a day off. You fall into a routine and after the month is over you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish.

So I challenge you to join me and seize this short month. Pick an activity/task and challenge yourself to perform this task every single day without missing a single day for the entire month.

You don’t have to pick an overwhelming task: In fact, smaller goals work better with this challenge.

Here are a couple ideas to get you started:

* Keep a food journal and write down what you eat every day.
* Spend 15 minutes a day stretching.
* Go for a 10 minute walk every day.
* Meditate for 5 minutes a day.
* Wake up without slapping the snooze button.
* Write down and review your goals every morning, noon and night for 28 days.

As you can see, none of these tasks are particularly overwhelming. But that’s the beauty of this challenge. You pick something small but the results seem to compound quickly because of the daily effort.

If you feel like sharing your goal for this challenge, leave your thoughts in the comments.

As for me, I’m going to knuckle-down and make a big push towards getting the new book done. I commit to spend 30 minutes per day working on the new book and I will do this each and every single day during the month of February.