Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days

Over the last few days I have been umming and ahhing about whether to commit to 30 Day Blog September.   If you don't know what I am referring to then check Good Reason Blog.

There will always be excuses for taking on any challenge in life and I was manufacturing a few for myself.  Then I stumbled across this neat TED talk by Matt Cutts (never heard of him before either?) and realised I had nothing to lose.  Except of course pride if I didn't complete it - but I will complete it!  So win-win!!

Here are some examples he gave of 30 day challenges.

The interesting thing for me is that it was a 30 day challenge that gave me the inspiration to kick off this blog.  It all started with November 2008: Supermarket Free Zone.  Then there was December 2009: Non-fiction read-a-thon.  Followed by January 2009: Regular Exercise and February 2009: Consumer Detox, which I actually carried on past the end of the short month for the next 18 months.

I guess my vegan apprenticeship is a kind of challenge but it is bigger deal than a monthly challenge for me.  Though I think a vegan 30 day challenge would be a pretty cool experiment for those who have never tried it.  Or, for those a little less keen, maybe a "Vegan day once a week for a month", or even a "Vegan dinner one day a week for a month" would be a great challenge to set yourself! 

I really enjoyed setting myself those challenges and the motivation it gave me to do something different.  Unfortunately I did not get around to setting myself any more monthly challenges after those first four months.  So here is just the push I needed to get started again.  Not saying I will set a challenge every month (2012: monthly challenge every month year???) but I am going to do it more regularly than I have for the last couple of years.

Cutts says that when he started setting himself monthly challenges "instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable."  That sounds good to me!