The title of this article is the easiest thing to write and by far the hardest thing to do. First off, challenging yourself means different things to different people. Then, actually following through with a challenge is its own challenge.
But, the potential benefits are so astronomic that I have to argue for it. You have to get out of your comfort zone, out of the cacoon that you’ve created for yourself, making you think that you need a transformation in the first place. But to get the thoughts rolling for how you might want to challenge yourself, I figured it’s easiest to start with my journey. I don’t recommend this, as it’s quite insane, but it might inspire you.
So, for my transformation, one of the key challenges that I put in front of myself was called “365 New Things.” Now be careful, you get what you ask for. I was aiming to avoid a breakdown about turning 30, so shortly before that dreadful day, I challenged myself to do 365 things that I had never done before.
Being the nerd that I openly am, I made an Excel spreadsheet. The day before I turned 31, I had 372 things outlined on that spreadsheet. Now mind you, not every item was some mind-blowing thing. But it was the year where I traveled to more countries than I had ever before, ate foods that I had never tried, shared experiences with people that I had never had, and overall started finding out who I was as a person.
Challenge yourself to find yourself. And look, as long as you don’t do anything stupid, which obviously you shouldn’t, you might not get some earth-shattering transformation, but you’ll have more stories to look back on.
