Becoming Mindful Together #43
I do the Whole Life Challenge every 6 weeks. I started in 2018, so I’m on my 6th round of participation on a team. If you’re unfamiliar, you can check it out here. It’s basically 6 weeks of becoming mindful in 7 habits.
I have a love/hate relationship with the challenge.
What I love:
- “Playing” with a team of honest friends and their friends to encourage, console and work our way through the 6 weeks
- Becoming more mindful in 7 important areas of health and well-being (nutrition, exercise, mobilization, sleep, hydration, well-being and reflection
- That it is a challenge and VERY rewarding when I’m winning
- That over time as I’ve “played” I’ve incrementally and consistently gotten better in all the categories so it’s sustainable
- That I set my own goals based on what I want. Sure, they have guidelines, but there are no expectations other than what you want to have happen over 6 weeks
- That I stay accountable to my team, it’s convenient and app based, so the bar is low, but connected in a convenient way
- That it’s nothing like a diet or exercise plan, it’s about health and well being and it works for me
- That it’s made me really present to decisions throughout my day in all the categories and I’ve got choice and have been better at choosing well
- That doing it makes me move, sleep, drink, eat better, reflect and be present when I’d rather not and that discipline has transferred everywhere
- That I’m doing it with friends and family and that is inspiring
- That over time it really works and doesn’t feel like deprivation (mostly)
What I hate (or dislike at times, I don’t’ really hate it or I wouldn’t keep doing it!):
- That it’s revealed areas where I was completely out of touch with reality – I thought I slept plenty and I didn’t. It’s been great progress for me to realize that it’s been a conscious effort to increase to 6.5 hours with consistency over nearly 18 months
- That I didn’t realize how easy some of the categories were for me and how challenging they are for others – I took that for granted, but also found that’s where I could be a great teammate
- That I can live without cheese – or at least greatly diminish my consumption
- That I miss it when I’m not actively doing it and I also long for it to end near the end of 6 weeks so I can refresh my scope
- That I have to effort at getting sleep and I wish I didn’t
- That habits are challenging to break and it takes time and patience with the discipline it requires
I’m better because of this app/game/community. I don’t know that it’s for everyone, but it works for me. I’d love to learn more with you and hope you’ll join us if this is interesting to you. Our team name is the same as our podcast: Intentional Greatness.
What’s your “hack” for instilling new habits? Please share so we all can learn and grow together.