30 Day Challenges: Yea or Nay?

I will admit, I’ve never been much of a fan of 30-day challenges. They usually promote extreme changes to your diet (“for the next 30 days, you’ll cut out all sugar, alcohol, refined carbs…”) or your exercise routine (“starting today, you’ll do 30 pushups every day…” - regardless of whether you’ve ever done ONE before). They seem to promote an all-or-nothing mindset, with little focus on long-term, sustainable change.

A while back, I kept running into a guy while circling the salad bar at Whole Foods. I joked that I seemed to be stalking him; he said, yeah, we seem to be going for the same items. He also said he had only a few days left on some 30-day program he was doing, and couldn’t wait for it to be over “so he could go back to his regular diet.” (I’m sorry...what? What was the point of the last 30 days?) I’m pretty sure I responded: “This is just how I eat.” I’m not in the habit of hanging around the salad bar at Whole Foods to promote my business (although, maybe I should?), so I kept my opinions to myself. And this conversation didn’t do much to change them.

But a different conversation with my own coach had me doing a little re-frame. I had always pictured these challenges as restrictive, and designed to “take away” from clients’ lifestyles. My coach suggested: what if the challenge was designed to ADD rather than subtract?

What if you want to get more sleep, or drink more water; eat more vegetables, or add movement to your day? A 30-day challenge might help you adopt those habits.

Most challenges have a “restart” feature, where the calendar resets to day one if you miss a day. With an “addition” challenge, you’ve accrued all the benefits from the days you did hit your challenge goal, and starting another 30 days might not seem so onerous. Would you feel the same about a “subtraction” challenge? Or would another 30 days of restriction seem like punishment, a sprint to collapse over the finish line?

I’ve learned lately that many times, the answer to questions about health and fitness is “it depends”. Am I a fan of 30-day challenges? It depends. Not if they are overly restrictive, all-or-nothing. If they add value rather than take away; if they promote habits that are specific, measurable and attainable actions that will move you toward your desired outcome; then I’m in.

What’s your opinion?