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Why Challenges Help Us Get Stuff Done
Big goals, small steps, and community are key
Have you ever felt that your days are just dragging on? Then, someone invites you to a 10-day challenge, and you get excited and start working on your project again? How did that happen?
There’s a reason why challenges help us get stuff done — and once you understand the mechanisms, you can apply them yourself.
When I talk about ‘challenge’, I mean an event that has a clear outcome — run a marathon, write a book proposal, lose weight— and a short expiration date. A challenge is often run by coaches to offer a motivational boost and training. Typical challenges are 5, 10, or 30 days long. Good ones have key ingredients that can help you overcome sluggishness and take action.
For example, I’ve joined a 30-day challenge to discover my future self and improve my productivity with Dr. Benjamin Hardy. Each day, I received a video with a short task — and take action. During the challenge, it was impossible to get sucked into the daily grind.
I’ve now run writing challenges for 7 or 30 days — short, intense programs to learn new rituals and get your writing momentum back. And it works every time:
- you focus on only ONE thing to remove clutter
- you commit only for a set amount of time to make it doable
- you have a community and coaching to hold you accountable
It’s almost magic — only it isn’t.
After analysing the feedback from my own challenges, and those I’ve joined as a participant, I’ve realised the secret ingredients of challenges that are necessary to make them work.
You create a strong vision
“The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.” — James Clear, Atomic Habits
Challenges help us to envision our future selves. For example, when we sign up for a challenge, we envision how finishing our project or aim will look like after 30 days. This is a powerful tool to create motivation and optimism. The more we visualise where we want to be, the more we will want to take concrete steps.
