50 Days Live Self-Improvement Challenge to Become My Best Version; You Are Welcome to Join Me
What is more painful than knowing something is dying inside you? A part of your soul. A part of your dreams. A part of what makes you alive.
Today when I am writing this article, I have everything that I always wanted, be it money or love for my passion and above all love from each one of my Medium readers. I can guarantee, if you were ever at my place, you would have declared yourself as the ‘happiest’ person on the planet. YET!
Yet, I am not content. I am not satisfied. Sitting alone makes me feel pain in my chest as if I am physically ill. WHY?
Because something is dying inside me. And that is my biggest potential. I know what I am capable of and what I can achieve but I am not doing my best because I am just too comfortable with where I am and what I have.
I am not greedy to have more money but I know my dreams don’t end here. I am happy to be a Medium writer but I also want to write a book. I look good but I want to feel good in my body. I am in my early 20s but my body feels and acts as if I am in my early 30s. I read a lot but I also want to learn a lot more things like learning different languages, exploring the world, and achieving everything I dream of.
And guess what?
I have time but I don’t make time to work on my future goals and become my best version.
I believe I am not alone in this. We all get comfortable once we achieve even one small goal. And after that, we just create an imaginary world around us. A world where we are achieving more but when we come back to reality and realize that
“We could have achieved more and we deserve more but we couldn’t have any of it because of ourselves”
How does it feel then? It feels empty and painful as if something is dying inside us. A part of our soul and all dreams vanishing into thin air.
Lately every now and then, I was trying to improve my routine but after a few days, things used to go back to normal. So, I decided to take on a full-fledged challenge with a master plan of how I will achieve what I want and setting clear goals as to what I expect from this 50 days challenge.
This 50-day challenge or should I say THE PROJECT 50 is purely about becoming my best version along with unlocking my biggest potential. There are 7 rules that I need to follow for the next 50 days to achieve the desired results.
The rules and the benefit of each rule are as follows:
7 Rules for 50 Days to Become Your Best Version:
1. Wake Up Before 8 AM:
I like the peace, calmness, and beauty of the early morning. The sweet rays of sunrise, the softness in the air, the dancing trees, the birds singing, and a lot less crowd to pollute your thinking. How beautiful, isn’t it?
But I also love the coziness and warmth of my blanket as if inside my blanket, I am safe, relaxed, and away from all the worries.
Though we cannot have the best of everything. To have one thing, we have to sacrifice all the other options. The choice, however, remains in our hands. So, what do you select?
I choose to wake up early from now on. I choose to see the sunrise. I choose to start my day before my alarm bleeds in my ears.
I usually wake up at 9 AM so I am going to start waking at 7 AM for the first few days, gradually at 6 then perhaps at 5 AM. If I directly jump at 5 AM, I wouldn’t be able to last it for long as my body is used to waking up at 9 and sudden changes never last anyway. Hence, I am going to train my body and mind slowly but in a way that this new habit lasts forever.
If you already wake up at 8 or before 8, try to wake up an hour early. The bottom line is to challenge your body so you can get out of your comfort zone.
2. Have a Morning Routine:
‘It doesn’t matter at what time you wake up, what matters is what you do after waking up”
Now, even if you learn to wake up early but spend the morning scrolling social media or worrying about everything that could go wrong then it’s better for you to just sleep late.
A morning routine sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you spend your morning mindfully, the rest of the day is going to be peaceful as well. It is what Robin Sharma says in his book The 5 AM Club, ‘how you spend the first hour in the morning decides the functioning of your whole day”
Hence, decide how you would like to spend the first hour in the morning. Do you want to go for a morning walk or do you want to stay at home and work on your biggest task of the day for a straight hour?
Whatever you decide, make sure you do it mindfully with peace in your mind. I would suggest you not use your phone for the first hour in the morning and don’t be in touch with the external world. Let the first hour just be for yourself so you are ready to face the world and you can also build a strong relationship with yourself.
3. Read 10 Pages Everyday:
Bill Gates spent years reading hundreds of books, researching and talking to the experts of the world to finally be able to publish his book, ‘How to Avoid a Climate Disaster’
But you can get all that information in less than 400 pages by reading his book. That’s the power of books. Books help you to get the knowledge that an author spent years experimenting with and learning. You no longer need to meet Bill Gates or anyone else for that matter to know their wisdom, it’s available within these pages.
So, if you can do just one favor for yourself, read 10 pages every day of any book that excites you. I would suggest you read a book that belongs to your profession so that you can learn from your industry experts while grasping many other benefits of reading books like improving memory, critical thinking, improved vocabulary, better sleep, more wisdom, and whatnot.
4. Exercise an Hour Every Day:
How ironic it is that the more relaxation we give to our body, the more tired it feels. Why?
Because our body is not designed to just rest, eat and sleep. If you are not active, it can create mental fog along with creating many diseases for your body to suffer. Perhaps, this is the reason why the human lifespan is decreasing day by day.
And I am a live example of it. I feel tired, and lazy all day long. My body is screaming for help and I am still in my bed all day long. But enough is enough. As per the 4th rule, I am going to exercise for an hour every day in any form I like.
I would like to keep the format flexible like dancing, walking, Yoga, or anything I like as per my mood. The bottom line is to keep the body moving so that it doesn’t get damaged.
5. No Junk Food/Alcohol: A Healthy Diet:
Moving your body isn’t enough if you are not mindful of what you eat. As per ancient Indian wisdom, food is like medicine. However, these days, food is more like a pleasure. And who am I to say anything?
I love burgers, fries, pizza, and anything that is practically a slow poison for my body. I have been big on junk food for the past 1 year and I can now see the effect on my body and my skin. My skin is so dead and I feel lazy throughout the day as if I am old.
Why? Because I eat food that doesn’t give me energy but rather takes away all my energy.
Hence, the 5th rule of this 50-day challenge is to avoid junk food and eat healthy meals. I will cut off junk food completely for 50 days while eating at least one healthy meal every day. Start small and then level up because consistent slow progress is better than rare great days.
6. Learn New Skill for an Hour:
I read a book called, The Age-Poof Brain a few days back which is all about how you can keep your brain young even if you are getting old. The author says in the book that ‘the secret to a healthy brain is learning new things every day”
But can you remember the last time you sat to learn something new? I cannot but I want to learn some new languages, calligraphy, and a lot more things so I am deciding to devote the next 50 days to learning something new.
Learning something for an hour every day is way more beneficial than binge-watching Netflix or Instagram reels or TikTok. So, here is the 6th rule of learning something new every day for an hour. The source to learn something is my favorites YouTube, SkillShare, or Masterclass.
7. Track Your Progress in Your Journal:
If you don’t analyze your performance, how will you know if you even made any progress? Hence, the seventh rule is to track your progress every day in your journal. It will be more like recording the 50-day challenge as a memory.
Besides, at the end of the day when you will write about the progress you made, you will feel proud of yourself which will increase your self-esteem, boost self-love and create a whole new image of yourself in your own eyes.
Conclusion:
I am very excited to hop on this challenge and come out as a stronger and best version of myself. I know I can do this and I owe this to my future and 10-year-old self. I will keep you posted on my progress so be ready to get some kick-ass content in the next 50 days. I challenge you to take this challenge as well if you want to meet a new version of yourself because bab, you deserve it.
