Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to try out one of the myriad
Speaker 1: challenges floating around on the internet. These short term guided
Speaker 1: projects are a great way to get new ideas, and
Speaker 1: that is true whether you stick with the projects or not.
Speaker 1: Around the start of the new year, many self help
Speaker 1: experts run challenges. I signed up for a lot of these,
Speaker 1: the Frugal Woods, Uber, Frugal Month, Apartment Therapies, January Cure,
Speaker 1: Jeremy Derbergh's Begreed. I ran my own time tracking challenge
Speaker 1: during the first week of January, as I do every year.
Speaker 1: I joined another mother runners Many Happy Miles Club. Now
Speaker 1: I will admit that I have a business reason for
Speaker 1: all this. I'd like to see how other people do
Speaker 1: email marketing and their courses. But I find it fun
Speaker 1: personally too, because these challenges or day by day plans
Speaker 1: are also a very easy way to shake things up
Speaker 1: and get some new ideas. For instance, the Many Happy
Speaker 1: Miles program sent me a suggested workout for a recent
Speaker 1: Monday morning that involved doing hill repeats. I planned to
Speaker 1: run from eight to eight am anyway, So I decided
Speaker 1: to do a slightly different route than my usual default
Speaker 1: loops and run up and down a hill located next
Speaker 1: to a nearby nature preserve. I did that four times.
Speaker 1: It was a little out of the ordinary on a
Speaker 1: wet winter morning, but I quite enjoyed it. More importantly,
Speaker 1: I remember it this time didn't slip through my fingers.
Speaker 1: I probably wouldn't have tried a different run without the suggestion.
Speaker 1: Now I should be clear here I am not doing
Speaker 1: all the suggested workouts. In some cases with the challenges,
Speaker 1: I'm not planning to do many of the suggested activities
Speaker 1: at all. For instance, I'm pretty frugal already, so I
Speaker 1: am not going to argue with my husband that he
Speaker 1: needs to comparison chop for eggs at three different grocery stores. However,
Speaker 1: in the Frugal Woods case, the Uber Frugal Month challenge
Speaker 1: links to old blog posts from say, two thousand fifteen,
Speaker 1: that I never would have dug up on my own.
Speaker 1: And these can be still entertaining to read and more
Speaker 1: upbeat and interesting to read while I'm feeding a baby. Then, oh,
Speaker 1: coronavirus headlines. Since many challenges are free or at least
Speaker 1: relatively cheap, they can be worth it even if you
Speaker 1: get one good idea or get motivated to do something
Speaker 1: that you might not have done otherwise. Maybe you finally
Speaker 1: sort through that band of old mittens or that overflowing juncture.
Speaker 1: Maybe you set up automated transfers to your retirement account. Well,
Speaker 1: that would be a huge one. Or maybe, like me,
Speaker 1: you just try a different workout now. I would caution
Speaker 1: that for all of this you have to know yourself.
Speaker 1: I am perfectly happy to pick and choose from anything
Speaker 1: people tell me to do guilt free. But if you
Speaker 1: know that you are going to feel bad if you
Speaker 1: don't do absolutely everything you are told to do in
Speaker 1: a challenge, then you should either skip these sorts of
Speaker 1: programs or choose just one to focus on at any
Speaker 1: given point. That way, you don't get overwhelmed. No one
Speaker 1: is going to clean out their entire apartment, save thousands
Speaker 1: of dollars, finish a new training program, and read War
Speaker 1: in Peace all at the same time, or if you do,
Speaker 1: you should be hosting this podcast, not me. But if
Speaker 1: you're willing to take what you like and leave the rest,
Speaker 1: then there is very little to lose. So why not
Speaker 1: ask friends for suggestions, or watch to see if people
Speaker 1: mention challenges on your favorite websites. You just might light
Speaker 1: a fire under yourself to go further with a project.
Speaker 1: Or hey, you might find a running route that you'd
Speaker 1: be willing to run again. In the meantime, This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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