Creating New Opportunities For Your Life

Life sometimes gets too routine. We get stuck in patterns of habit that are sometimes not so healthy for us. This is why I have actively cut out several bad things from my lifestyle and inserted more than a handful of good things. There truly is nothing more powerful and magical in our lives then transforming them. This is why I started to create 30 day opportunities.

A 30 day opportunity is as simple as something you are or are not going to be doing in your life for the next 30 days. The best way to look at this is a tool that will change your life, create new experiences and allow for amazing opportunities.

"The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably, thought and act." - Orison Swett Marden

I suggest starting with one new lifestyle change at a time. After 30 days if you feel like the new ritual is simply not of value in your life then throw it out. If you do experience positive change, feel happier and have more energy then why not make this a lifetime habit?

Steps To Creating New Opportunities

• Write down your positive lifestyle change
  
• Share your challenge with family, friends and co workers. This will help you create accountability.
  
• Check in on a daily or weekly basis to write about how you are feeling, what has been hard and what you have learned. I found that writing about my challenges makes them easier and affirms why I am doing them.
  
• Start Small: Start off with something small. For example: if you have an ultimate goal of running a marathon, but you have not been exercising at all of the last 5 years then you should commit yourself to walking for 15 minutes / day for 30 days.
  
• Change Your Environment: Your environment has a huge influence on daily routines, your personality and your well being. Make sure that you change or adjust your environment to support your positive change, otherwise it will be much harder to achieve. Ask a friend or family member to either join in on your journey or at the very least support it.
  
• Have Fun: Most importantly make fun out of these changes.  Smile more, share the change and enjoy the moment. Look for what you are learning from this experience and how it may shape a new lifestyle that is happier, healthier and more positive.
  

My 30 Day Challenges For November:

• Walk, Bike, Yoga, Swim, Elliptical to Offset My Daily Runs
• Why: I have spent the last 6 months putting my body through severe physical stress. I have had at least half a dozen training runs that were longer than 20 miles, raced one marathon, completed a 50K and attempted to PR in a recent marathon. I did not complete this recent marathon and learned that my body needs a break. 
  
• Walk For 10-15 Minutes After Dinner For 30 Days
• Why: For years I have eaten dinner then headed straight for the couch. This will send a ripple through this routine and provide my body with a bit of a wake up before resting for the night.

Ideas For Future

• No swearing, say only positive or neutral comments
  
• Walk after dinner each night for at least 15 minutes [November]
  
• No running: Aqua jog, swim, cycle but no running, walking is ok - November would be good for this
  
• Meditate for 1-5 minutes per day
  

• No car for 30 days
  
• No candy, cookies or sweets
  
• No TV or Video
  
• No eating out!
  
• Draw an Eagle every day to compare improvements and changes
  
• Write negative thoughts down on paper for 30 days
  
• No social media

Again, have fun with this. Attach a positive feeling to each of your challenges and they will not seem so hard and daunting.

If you are going to make a commitment to creating a positive opportunity in the next 30 days then please do share it in a comment below.

Summit As Friends!

Scott

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