Time passes swiftly. The month begins, and in no time, it comes to an end. If we do not challenge ourselves enough, we soon get stuck in a rut, and there is no fun in life.
As the year progresses, it’s easy to fall into a set routine and let the days go by.
But nothing changes if nothing changes. Setting certain challenges and fulfilling them makes our days interesting, and intentional and also improves our confidence in ourselves.
You might think the year will pass on without you doing much of anything, but there is still time.
More than how you start the year, what matters is how you end the year and there is still plenty of time to end the year making the most of it.
Choosing some challenges to do for the rest of the year is a perfect way to do just that.
Whether you’re looking to focus on yourself, give time to your well-being, improve your skills, or simply shake things up, there are some challenges for you to help you do that.
Allow yourself to move out of your comfort zone, establish positive habits, and end the year with a sense of accomplishment and personal growth.
Ready to transform the rest of your year? Let’s dive in!
1. No Phone in the morning challenge
Table of Contents
Goal: To break the habit of using the phone the first thing in the morning and instead save that time and energy to be more mindful and intentional with your time.
How: Simply don’t use your phone in the morning.
- Keep it inside your drawer or in the other room before you go to bed the previous night.
- Use your phone only once you are done with your morning routine.
P.S Healthy Morning Routine: Things to do before 8 am
2. No phone after 8 pm challenge
Goal: To quit using phones and social media way past bedtime and instead create a relaxing bedtime routine.
How: Set an alarm for 8 pm when you have to give up your phone and keep it somewhere else.
- You can also use the help of someone else, like your mother, or your spouse and ask them to join you on the challenge.
- Or you can ask them to take away your phone at 8 pm and give it to you only the next morning.
3. Phone fast challenge
Goal: To do a digital detox and reduce screen time to pursue other meaningful things in our day.
P.S. I am currently doing this phone fast challenge and honestly, it’s been so freeing. I feel much more content, have so much more energy and my mind feels so much lighter.
How: If you have no work commitments, then go phone less for the day if you can and use it only once in a day.
- Lock your phone in a safe or in your almirah, or give it to your loved one and ask them to give it to you only once a day to be used for less than an hour.
For the rest of us who are a working professional, here is how I am doing my phone fast:
- I bought a keypad phone with no internet access and have kept my main calling SIM card over there so that people from my work or others can still reach me on calls.
- I am currently using only that keypad phone which is strictly only to call.
- I keep my other main phone locked up inside my drawer and use it only once in the evening while going to the gym because I need to listen to music, and also to get an update on my messages from friends and colleagues once a day.
You can do the same.
I am off social media and off WhatsApp and trust me, there is nothing you miss out on really.
I am now able to do so much more and with ease. Planning on doing it for the rest of the year.
4. One-hour Morning Routine Challenge
Goal: To spend one hour out of the 24 hours for yourself, for your growth, your learning, your nourishment, and your self-care.
How: After you wake up in the morning, do not use your phone and instead devote the first hour or the first 90 minutes after waking up solely to your growth and nourishment.
You can journal, read, meditate, do yoga, exercise or anything that feeds your energy and your soul.
Here is a Doable-one one-hour morning routine
5. Eat that Frog Challenge
Goal: Eat that frog means to do that hard thing first or early in the morning so that once it gets done, you can spend the rest of the day as you like and at ease.
How: Whatever that frog might be, whether it is a creative project, a work project, writing that you want to do, or anything that you are likely to keep procrastinating through the day, get it done first thing in the morning every day.
The challenge is to get into the habit of eating that frog every day.
6. Creativity Challenge
Goal: To create more than consume and create something you want to do every day. Choose a creative activity—writing, drawing, photography—and do it daily or weekly. You can share your progress on social media for accountability.
How: Set a time to get into the creation mode every day.
7. 10 pm bedtime challenge
Goal: To go to bed early by 10 pm every night so that you can be in charge of the next day wonderfully and start it with intention.
How: Get into the habit of eating your dinner early and finishing all your household chores early so that you can be in bed by 9 pm and then spend the rest one hour reading, journaling or praying.
- Notice how you are spending your time or what is consuming your time in the evening and cut the distractions to go to bed early.
- Challenge yourself to go to sleep by 10 pm for the rest of the year.
Here is a simple guide to sleeping early by 10 pm
8. Minimalism Challenge
Goal: to declutter your life both physically, digitally and mentally and be purposeful about what you want to focus on and give your energy to.
How: Set some goals for the rest of the year that you want to declutter. Remove anything that doesn’t serve you or is making your mind, your space and your life heavy.
You can choose little spaces and areas that you want to declutter every day such as:
- Declutter your phone
- Declutter your wardrobe
- Release a habit that is no longer serving you.
- Declutter your refrigerator
- Declutter your car
- Declutter your kitchen or any area of your kitchen and so on.
Then be mindful about the things that you buy and need and challenge yourself to limit your spending.
9. Daily Meditation Challenge
Goal: To build a solid inner self that remains calm and composed and can handle all life’s challenges with equanimity
How: Start with 5 minutes of meditation every day and then gradually increase it.
- Sit comfortably, relax and simply focus on your breath going in and out.
- You can try 21-day meditation challenges on YouTube, listen to guided meditation or simply peaceful meditation music.
I love listening to hand pan music, Nordic music and flute music for my meditation.
Meditate every day for the rest of the year and see what changes you can see in yourself.
This morning i did this Morning Meditation by Louis Hay and got reminded of all the things to be grateful for that we take for granted.
10. Daily Journaling Challenge
Goal: To get into the habit of journaling our day, our feelings and things we are thankful for every day so that we can recount the blessings more and live with more awareness.
How: Write down the best things that happened in the day every day and bless each activity.
- Write down 5 things you are grateful for every night
- In the morning, write down whatever you are feeling and thinking that comes at that moment and pour it out on the pages. Share your thoughts, your feelings or whatever.
Here is my guide on how to start journaling.
P.S. I have created a 21-Day Journaling Guide for Self-discovery, growth and healing.
If you haven’t taken any other challenge of mine, you can join this challenge.
You will receive journal prompts and guidance from me for the next 21 days to inspire you every day.
11. Daily Reading Challenge
Goal: To set reading goals such as reading 10 books for the rest of the year.
How: Commit to reading 10-20 pages every day or for 20-30 minutes every day.
- Instead of reaching your phone, keep it on aeroplane mode or silent mode and read that book.
- Set a routine to read every day after some activity that you already do- for example, read after your morning tea or coffee, read every day after dinner as you get into bed.
- Be flexible even if you miss it and commit to it again.
- P.S 10 Books that changed my life
- How I make time to read everyday
- 10 Best Books to read in the morning
12. Daily Yoga Challenge
Goal: To focus on the movement of the body more than gaining or losing weight. To improve on your flexibility and give yourself the space and time in your day to calm your body and mind.
How: Choose a 10-20 minute Yoga video on YouTube and do it every day in the morning or evening.
- I am currently doing a 30-Day Yoga Journey- FLOW by Yoga with Adrienne and I am loving it.
- You can challenge yourself to do monthly Yoga challenges for the rest of the year so that you can enter the new year feeling more calm, relaxed and strong.
- P.S How I made myself love working out
Other Yoga Channels you can try
13. Daily 10,000 Steps Challenge
Goal: Increase your movement and physical activity
How: Challenge yourself to take 10000 steps every day. You can use a fitness tracker to track your progress and be motivated.
14. No Complaints Challenge
Goal: To be more mindful of your speech, inculcate a habit of blessing and gratitude and remove complaints and criticism from your speech.
How: Go without complaining for a full day or even for a full week.
- Practice it week after week till the rest of the year to enter the new year with a positive spirit and mindful and loving speech.
- P.S. Do not be disheartened if you find yourself complaining on your own. That’s a natural habit that we have picked up over many years and it will take time to go away.
As you live with more awareness and become mindful of yourself, you will be able to go without complaining fully.
What matters is that you remember to remember and catch yourself complaining.
When you do, stop yourself and you are on the path to progress.
15. Intentional and Slow Living Challenge
Goal: To be more mindful, and intentional with our days and do each activity without rushing, but in calm and wholeness.
How: Be more graceful with our bodies- for example, walking gently, as Thich Hat Hanh says, “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet”
- Slow down the pace of how you do things-whether working, cooking, cleaning, dressing or anything else and do them slowly, gently and mindfully with relaxed awareness.
- Live slowly through the day and strive to do whole tasks.
- Finish a task fully with ease and in a relaxed composition and only then move on to the other.
- Pause more often and be graceful.
P.S More inspiration:
- The Power of Graceful Movement in life on wellbeing
- A manual of slow living- 8 practices to slow down
- 10 ways to slow down a busy mind
16. Learn a New Skill Challenge
Goal: To keep levelling up your knowledge and skill about things.
How: Do not let not knowing stop you from learning how to.
- Dedicate sometime in the day or in a week for the rest of the year to learn something new.
- Choose what you want to learn- whether it is simply for the sake of engaging in a new hobby such as learning to play the guitar, learning embroidery, etc learning a skill to make some extra money or simply learning to increase your knowledge in the area.
It is learning that makes us young and learning that makes our lives interesting.
- P.S 20 Things to learn in your 20s in order to thrive
- Hobby ideas to start this year
- 30 things to learn when bored at home
17. Zero Waste Challenge
Goal: To reduce your environmental footprint and be a good citizen of the Earth.
How: Avoid using single-use plastics, carry your bag when you go shopping, reduce unnecessary consumption, reuse things and compost your kitchen waste.
Aim to do this for a day then for a week and then for a month.
It just requires a little more awareness of how we are doing things every day.
18. Healthy Eating Challenge
Goal: To eat healthy and nourish your body with more natural foods
How: Cut out on processed food
- Cook your meals.
- Cut out sugar and dairy.
- Include more fruits and vegetables in your diet
- Plan your meals
19. Self-Care Challenge
Goal: To take care of yourself better and give time for your well-being to love yourself more and show up in the world in your best version.
How: Give yourself some time in the morning every day to recharge yourself in some way, whether by yoga, meditation, journaling or anything.
- Take care of your face and body. Moisturise daily and love your body.
- Be kind to yourself and do more things that bring you joy and lightness in your being.
- Here is a 30-Day Self Care Challenge by me
20. Random Acts of Kindness Challenge
Goal: To become a kind and loving person and accumulate more good deeds for the rest of the year.
How: Perform one small act of kindness each day—help a neighbour, smile genuinely, compliment someone, donate something, help someone or so many other things.
Final Thoughts
So these were some of the challenges that you can take on yourself for the rest of the year.
This would be a great way to make the most of the remaining months.
Choose your challenge. I hope it helps you bring a change to your days and help you finish the year with a renewed sense of purpose and accomplishment.
Also Remember, it’s not about perfection but about progress.
Try to remain flexible, be kind to yourself and enjoy the process.
Celebrate the small wins and cheer yourself for every little challenge completed.
You will then be able to start the year on a wonderful note and begin anew.
You might also like:
Leave a Reply