This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 1299, the number one reason people fail at 30-day challenges.

By Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com, and I'm just a molecular personal narrator,

reading to you every day, including holidays. Today's post comes from Steve Pavlina

about 30-day challenges, which is very fitting since I recently started 30-day challenges for you,

or for people on my weekly newsletter email list at oldpodcast.com.

This month's challenge is random acts of kindness that just started.

Steve has some good tips of sticking with it. For now, let's get right to it as we optimize your life.

The number one reason people fail at 30-day challenges by Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com.

Many people fail with 30-day challenges, usually not making it past the first week,

and the number one reason for failure is that they didn't make a crystal-clear commitment

to do a specific activity for all 30 days. Giving your mind a clear enough commitment is a key

to success with 30-day challenges. Committing to five minutes per day of a specific activity in a

specific location at a specific time of day is usually a lot more effective than a vague commitment to

do some exercise each day. A clear commitment is binary, either you did it or you didn't.

There's little or no wiggle room to give yourself credit for non-compliance.

If you say you're going to exercise for 30 days in a row, then does walking count?

What about cleaning? Decluttering? Crochery shopping? If you racked up some credits on your Apple Watch

for moving a bit, will you count that as your exercise for the day? If you were to ask 10 different

people if you successfully completed your challenge for the day, would they always agree?

If it's not certain that every reasonable person would agree, your challenge definition is

probably unclear. If your definition of success is vague, it's almost a given that you'll see

your standard slip as you go, and within a week or two, your 30-day challenge will have faded

...