The 10 Day Change Challenge
A wise person close to me said that I should always be working to improve myself, to be in a constant state of positive construction. So I’ve been experimenting with ways I can better myself and winded up creating the 10-day change.
The ten day change challenge began when I had over-analyzed and daydreamed about a mobile game I liked a lot to the point of infatuation.
See, I’ve learned that I have an obsessive personality. If I like something, I’ll keep daydreaming about it, watching it, and over-analyzing it to the point where I talk and think about it everyday.
Now, my obsessive personality doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If I obsess over positive goals I have for myself or others, this is actually a wonderful trait to have!
It’s just when I obsess over pointless things, like video games or mistakes I’ve made, where my obsession can become negative.
So back to what I was saying earlier. My game obsession had become so bad I didn't focus on much else, and there were much more important things to do in life than daydream about the plot of a video game. I decided that for the next ten days I wouldn’t play, watch, talk, or even THINK about that game.
So the next day I followed suit. Whenever I started thinking about the game, I would make sure to focus on something else. There were times I wanted to talk about the game to friends, but I stopped myself, because I knew one ‘comment’ could become a half-hour rant.
Despite what you may think, the beginning of the challenge isn't the hard part. In fact, starting is easy. The most difficult part is the middle and towards the end.
At the beginning of the 10 days, I’m excited and determined to make a change in my life. I have lots of built up WillPower stay goal-bound. But in the middle, my usual habits spring up. I’m urged to play the game to see what new updates have occurred. I’m urged to talk about the game with a friend. I have to push my trembling lip back into place and remember my goal: To beat the obsession.
In the end, It worked! When the ten days concluded, I had made new habits to the point that the game barely crossed my mind. My friend was asking me to talk about it!
I decided to try the 10 day challenge on more things. When I started obsessing over a show, I took 10 days of not even associating with it and boom! Didn't even think about it. Yes, this show didn’t disappear and I still see it around sometimes, but I don’t obsess over it. Whenever somebody brings it up I switch the topic or focus on what we’re doing or where we’re going. (I don't like the show anymore as I realized it was a bad influence.)
The 10-day change is extremely effective, but it isn’t perfect. At one point, I tried to tackle one of my biggest problems: my overindulgence in daydreaming. As a writer, daydreaming comes easy and naturally to me, but I do it so often I don't wanna stop, even when I’m at the store or cooking. So, I used the 10-day change challenge to try and limit how much time I spend daydreaming to an hour in the day and as I’m drifting off to sleep.
While I did learn things about myself like why I imagine so much in the first place, I didn’t have the self-control to keep myself from imagining. The first day was easy, but the rest of the days I got bored or overwhelmed and fell back into old habits, barely following the 10-day rule.
I’ve also found that this challenge works best in 10 days. A week doesn’t really do it. I tried a seven day challenge where instead of listening to the same songs I listen to everyday, I’d avoid these songs and listen to other artists and songs. By the time the seven days were over I went right back to listening to the usual music artist and my favorite songs from them. It’s just something about ten days that really pushes me to form new habits and turn and approach things a different way.
Overall, the 10-day challenge helps me get over things and incorporate good habits into my life. I invite you to try it too! Want to add something new to your daily routine? Trying to stop obsessing over something? Try the 10-day challenge, and see what you get out of it!
My latest novel, Shook, is being published to Hive in parts! See all released chapters in this post.
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
Follow me on Twitter!
I also write on Tumblr!
