I’ve found that paying attention to personal challenges and streaks has bountiful benefits, and I will go into 3 of them in this post. But first, a couple of examples of what I’m talking about.

Challenges

Getting stuck in the routines and ruts of daily life is easy. One way to keep things fresh and interesting is to challenge yourself to do or learn new things. Things you’ve wanted to try, things that are a bit scary or intimidating, things you’ve put off.

For example, years ago, after a daylong caregiver self-care conference where I mentioned this, a family child care provider explained that she wanted to learn to ride a bike. When I asked why, she explained she wanted to be able to keep up with her 5-year-old daughter when they spent time on a nearby trail. Now that her daughter had learned to ride, she zipped down the bath, leaving Mom alone. She wanted to learn to ride so they could be together on the trail again.

I asked that she keep me posted. Over the next few months, I had emails about the ups and downs of learning to ride secretly so she could surprise her daughter. Eventually, she was confident enough to reveal her secret. Her daughter was overjoyed, and they pedaled off into the sunset.

Streaks

Streaks are ongoing challenges. Doing (or not doing) something every day, weekly, etc. Streaks may be short-term or long-term. For example, a while back, my wife, Tasha, challenged herself to do 100 squats daily for a month. She’d knock out 25 while waiting for her coffee to brew, another dozen later in the day while waiting for the microwave to ding, and so on. She was done at the end of the month, 3000 squats later. An example of a long-term streak is the daily dance streak we’ve both been enjoying. We’re approaching 2 years of dancing to one song each day–and have only missed one day.

Let’s look at those 3 benefits of personal challenges and streaks:

Arouses Feelings Of Accomplishment

There’s an immediate feeling of accomplishment as you successfully pursue personal challenges and streaks. You go from being stuck in a rut to feeling you can accomplish new things. Facing even small challenges and building short streaks can evoke feelings of accomplishment. As the challenges and streaks grow, so do the feelings of accomplishment. My personal experience is that those feelings radiate a positive outlook that can boost mood and mindset.

Increases Self-Confidence

As you meet challenges and build streaks, self-confidence increases. Even small successes spur a can-do attitude. This is a real boon if you’re feeling stuck in your routine. This newfound confidence can spark you to face new challenges and percolate into other parts of life. Most of us could use more self-confidence, and playing with personal challenges and streaks can make it happen.

Builds New Habits

Personal challenges and streaks make building habits easier. First, the repetition associated with doing something regularly helps hardwire new habits. Second, building any new habit is challenging. It requires getting out of your comfort zone and making a change. This is easier if you’ve successfully faced challenges and built self-confidence. Personal challenges and streaks flex many of the mental muscles needed to create habits.

Personal Challenges And Streaks Wrap Up

If you want to build new habits, accomplish things, and increase self-confidence, creating more personal challenges and streaks in your life can help. Two parting tips: 1) Start small, and 2) Be realistic. For example, deciding to do 100 pushups daily for the next year when you can remember the last time you did a pushup is a recipe for failure. Starting with 3 pushups a day for a week might be a better place to start.

I’ve planned future posts describing some of my past and ongoing personal streaks and challenges in the hope that they’ll build the content of this post.

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