Presently I am partaking in a few 90 day challenges; shoot one video a day for 90 days, write one blog post a day for 90 days, bounce for 15 minutes on my rebounder in the morning for 90 days, follow my friends 90 day wealth conditioning challenge online, practice temporal tapping on myself to release habits and bring in new behaviors, for 90 days . . .
I used to think it was 21 days to rewrite patterns but it seems everything has jumped up to 90 days, in my reality anyway.
However, I’m happy to do them all. I’m finding that all these ‘little’ challenges create great moments of focus through out my days.
I am in the process of learning about online marketing – a brand BRAND new area of study to me. For the past 7 years I have been moving very slowly whilst naturally healing myself from bipolar disorder. Through that journey I have been learning how important it is for me to keep grounded in the NOW, how not to ever move too fast (which equals immediate un-grounding) and how to remain balanced whilst flowing the intensity of life through my system. There’s been lots of healing, sleeping and recovery for me in the last 7 years. And now I’m challenging myself with being able to learn something utterly brand new so that I can start working, earning and supporting myself again.
It’s so important for me to be free in my work; to work at my own pace, in my own rhythm, in my own space. The idea of being directed around by someone else flares up my manic and depressive tendencies like a bad rash. I can’t go back to that, I wouldn’t last 5 minutes. I would freak right out! I need to be my own boss.
This concept frightens the crap out of me! I feel well out of my comfort zone. But, one never masters something new unless one starts.
Hence why I have so many 90 day challenges on the go – little marker posts that show me I’m doing and completing something that is for my good. Daily goals. That might sound lame but I’m transitioning from being completely unscheduled and just following the needs of my body and psyche, into being someone with discipline and structure. I’m trying to bring in a very foreign idea of routine back into my life, in a way where I’m not going to totally reject it – routine has to make sense and feel good to me.
So, the idea of grabbing the new skills that I’m taking on board and popping them into little bite size nuggets to digest day by day for 90 days helps my brain accept the direction I’m moving in. 90 days to get my body and brain used to practicing and flowing in this new direction. I’m warming up and gently knitting together the habitual circuits in my brain around these new behaviors. That all feels so much more digestible than “I have to understand the entirety of internet marketing NOW!” Shit. That makes me want to puke.
So 90 days. I can handle 90 days. Tomorrow I’m going to add something new to my 90 day list. Once each of my new practices hits the 90 day mark it’ll wired into me anyway. I’ll either carry on it’s practice, or, I’ll just move about with it’s new coding structured into my DNA!
I love the analogy of learning to ride a bike, this is something I clearly remember. Being on the bike with stablisers was easy peasy! Taking them off and trying to find an yet unknown balance was freaky as hell – wobble, wobble, wobble fall, crash, cry, try again, wobble, wobble . . . It’s scary and you feel equally resistant and eager to learn. You’re trusting the adult who’s encouraging you. (Awh! I’m feeling for my younger self right now!) and then comes that magic moment – you get on, you take off, you lift your feet to the peddles and you just start riding and your whole body seems to have got the message of how to stay upright in this new way of balance. Something changed. All of a sudden it makes sense to your body! And before you know it you’re riding freely and happily! And then you’re riding without even thinking about it! And then you’re riding with your eyes closed if you’re nuts like me (I don’t do that anymore, that was mania)
Wouldn’t it be nice if (and, it IS) learning how to master internet marketing is just like learning to ride a bike. Wobbly as fook to start but then before you know it, you’re riding freely (and if you’re really into it you’ll be eager to practice and tweak new skills all the time)
Ah! Everything new is scary and unknown in the beginning. But before you know it you’re on your way to mastery. May we all be blessed with the ability to enjoy every moment of our endeavours, even these overwhelming ones in the beginnings. Appreciation and patience are KEY.
Here’s to 90 day re-conditioning challenges!
90 is the magic number x