Want to achieve big results in a short period of time? Silly question, right? Of course you do. Lucky for you and me, this is simple to do.
The best way, arguably, to achieve massive success in any area of your business and life is to follow a 30-day Challenge. The formula for a successful, game changing 30-day challenge is simple:
The 4 Step Formula for a Successful 30-Day Challenge
- Choose ONE* key area where you’d love to or need to make significant improvement. For example, you might want to become consistent with publishing on Facebook . *Be warned, choosing more than one area to work on is the best way to scatter your focus and decrease the likelihood of success.
- Commit to 30 days of consistent action. Create a contract with yourself by writing down WHY you are committed to taking action daily for 30 consecutive days. Make sure to include what you’ll gain if you successfully complete your challenge. Will your business grow? Will you impact more people’s lives in a positive way? Will you feel more confident and competent? Be specific and make it exciting. People don’t stay focused when their goals are weak and uninspiring.
- Sign this contract and date it so you have a clear start and finish date.
- Post your “why” statement in a place where you can see it every morning and evening. This is critically important because you will have countless distractions pop up over the course of the 30-day challenge. If you don’t keep your why in the forefront of your mind, these distractions will take you off course and stop you from achieving your goal.
An Example of a Successful 30-Day Challenge
Scott Stratten – social media and business expert – speaks about this in his book Unmarketing. He tells the tale of how he was unsure if Twitter was a viable business networking tool. After dabbling with Twitter for a while, Scott decided to give Twitter a final chance by doing a 30-Day Twitter Challenge. With about 2000 followers, he decided he’d virtually live on Twitter. During this time, he tweeted constantly, seeking to connect, share content and grow business relationships.
At the end of the 30-Day Challenge, he had over 10000 followers. More importantly, he grew his business and started becoming seen as a Twitter expert.
He stated after the challenge, “I made better and stronger relationships in that time span than in all the time of using all the other social networking sites combined. I had built a loyal following, booked speaking engagements, and gained consulting clients, without ever pitching a thing.”
So what are some key takeaways from this?
- 30 Days is a small investment that can pay big dividends. You are worth it and your business is as well.
- Have a clear focus: Scott concentrated on testing the usefulness and viability of one social media tool … Twitter. He wasn’t testing 6 social media tools at once. It was Twitter and only Twitter. He kept clear on why he was testing Twitter as well. He wasn’t tweeting for fun, he was experimenting to see if Twitter could be a valuable tool for growing his business.
- Put in the work: Scott tweeted over 6000 times during the month. Yes, that’s a LOT. You don’t have to do that many, but don’t dabble. For example, if you’re blogging, commit to doing 30 posts and posting 30 comments on others blogs. Whatever tool you choose, work on it everyday for 30 days.
- Stick to it for the full 30 Days: Scott didn’t give up after 5 or 10 days. He kept persisting until the 30 days were complete. Oftentimes, I’ve seen businesses and organizations on the cusp of great success stop their 30 Day Challenges because they weren’t getting results fast enough or they got distracted with other tasks. Successful businesses and individuals stick to it.
Take on a 30-Day challenge of your own. Do you want to see if blogging works for you and your business? Facebook? Video? Pinterest? Instead of being scattered, distracted and overwhelmed, select one tool, determine the business goals for testing it and go for it. Be a scientist, experiment, learn, explore. After 30-Days you might be pleasantly surprised.
Are you with me?
