Okay, I’ve finished roughly a year of 30 day challenges, and now I’d like your help picking new ideas. So far, I’ve done:
- 30 days with no TV (May)
- 30 days of 10,000 steps each day (June)
- 30 days biking into work (July)
- reading 15 books in 30 days (I only made it to 12) (August)
I took September off. I had a bunch of work I had to focus on.
- 30 days with no Microsoft software or operating systems (October)
- 30 days without Robert Scoble (November). I like Robert a lot; this was kind of a no-op/easy 30 day challenge to force me to find additional people that I’m interested in online.
- 30 days with no caffeine (December)
- 30 days with no Twitter or FriendFeed (January)
- 30 days with no iPhone (February)
- 30 days with no sugar (March). That was hard. My wife and I did this one together and it was the roughest.
- 30 days without replying to external email (April). This one was hard and I wasn’t perfect, but I got in much better balance on time spent on email.
- 30 days with no Facebook (May). This one was another easy one for me. I never used Facebook that much in the first place.
So what should I do now? So far I’m playing with two ideas:
- no email after 10 p.m. Email remains the biggest part of my life where I lack balance, and I still need to get it more under control.
- read 50 pages a day. This is one that my wife has been doing, and she’s been enjoying it.
Other possibilities include:
- 30 days as a vegetarian.
- read the Bible (or the Qur’an) in 30 days. I’ve never read either all the way through.
- 30 days of trying to learn to play guitar.
- meditate 10-15 minutes a day for 30 days.
- try one new thing a day for 30 days.
- draw something everyday for 30 days.
- try polyphasic sleep for 30 days.
- go 30 days spending as little money as possible.
- learn as much of a new language as possible in 30 days.
- 30 days to get my finances in order (I haven’t really paid attention to financial stuff as much as I should).
- try to write a novel/book in 30 days.
- write down one thing I’m thankful for each day for 30 days.
Okay, those are a few that I’ve come up with. Tell me your suggestions and then I might put up a poll to let people vote. 
{ 387 comments… read them below or add one }
No caffeine
30 days with only getting news from printed newspapers and magazines?
Please, dont do this one:
- 30 days with no Twitter or FriendFeed (January)
I would suggestion this one:
- 30 days biking into work (July)
Think green, save the planet
I think you should try 30 days of being an early-riser. Waking up far earlier than you normally would, say 4-6am or so? Depending on what time you normally get up.
See how much more you can get done in the day.
Another challenge I’ve read good things about in the UK – but you would probably never write about – is 30 days of intimacy (hugging, intercourse, dating). A number of studies were done on it and it proved to bring couples much closer together.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
How about.
Spending 30 Days ENTIRELY in the cloud. No using ANY software on your PC apart from the OS/Drivers. You can only use Browsers/Extensions and WebApps.
30 days of 100 press-ups
Andrew
ok… seriously.. bring flower(s) to your wife every day for 30 days. =)
(comment censored because downstream might not turn out cool… yes do THAT w/ wife for 30 days, every day)
Make love to your wife everyday for 30 days, it’s harder than you think.
30 days of planting 1 native tree per day.
30 days of Bikram yoga. (Hot yoga.)
Hi Matt, from your new challenges I would pick the vegi thing first. It’s easy and gives you a good feeling to go on with the other ones.
I for my self reduced the amount of meat in the last 6 months and the amount of sweets I eat. It’s still not as less, as I want to get someday, but it makes me smile sometimes. I wish you the same.
seoux
I think you should work as an SEO for 30 days. Try to promote a brand new site without using any tools or techniques that people outside of Google don’t have access to. See what it’s like.
If you married, What about 30 days like a single man ? LOL
30 days programming in Android
I suggest 30 days as a vegetarian – more like vegan – no dairy/cheese, etc.
For some motivation see:
http://www.ravediet.com/whatsinfilm.htm
It was aired PBS and is pretty informative.
Also “Eat to Live” or “Eat for Health” by Joel Fuhrman M.D.
Chris
Of note, Matt, if you read the Bible, including Old Testament (1,184 pages) and New Testament (403 pages), you are pretty much pushed to read 53 pages a day, so you would get both done at once. Another idea, which I like, is to try reading the Book Of Mormon, which not only is a companion scripture to the Bible, reinforcing many of its teachings, but it’s only 531 pages, so you would not only get new stories about a very interesting religion, but only be driven to read just under 18 pages a day.
Reading it also will help you meditate (which you mentioned) and try something new (which you mentioned). I’m serious. I promise that you will find stories in the book that you will never forget – which are as fascinating as the prophets of the Old Testament and the miracles of the New Testament. So give it some thought. If you don’t have access to a copy, I’ll get you one.
30 days on a raw diet.
I myself have been experimenting with it and doing it.
Feels amazing and so much lighter. It is almost along the same line as your 30 day vegetarian diet but food is not cooked (no meat). I also like the previous poster’s idea of hot yoga. That is also on my list to do next.
- 30 days to get my finances in order (I haven’t really paid attention to financial stuff as much as I should).
How about 30 days of Dave Ramsey? Pick up his Book (and better yet, his course on Financial Peace) and do that.
30 days without any white bread at all!
30 days without pasta, rice or potatoes!
30 days without lying! Very difficult- I tried, but I failed!
Whats about a blogpost every day? You could ask us for topics and make a kind of special topics month..
The two you’re toying with sound good but I’m intrigued by trying to write a novel/book in 30 days. Even better if you serialized it here on the blog – chapter by chapter.
How about 30 days of learning something new about the Arts every day? For example, you could use the “Random article” function on Wikipedia till you get to something art-related (and detailed enough) that you had no knowledge of, and then read it all the way through.
30 Day photography challenge – then post to flickr or picasa for everyone to see
to get the idea if you haven’t done this before look for 365 challenge / project in either sites ..
I do like your learn to play guitar idea though ..
I read this yesterday and think it might be a good suggestion (now if only I had your wife’s email address)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1282729/Will-doing-EVERYTHING-wife-tells-turn-perfect-husband.html
30 days of no Google. JK
I like the one new thing a day one. I might actually try it. I might actually copy this whole thing from you all together.
How about 30 days of not repeating any meals you have previously eaten.
hi matt. hope you are well.
30 days as a vegatarian is good or I would say combine it with 50 pages a day. Spending such quality time with your wife would be great
This would help you when you ask her for a Visit to India.
One 30 day challenge that you will never be able to do – ” 30 Days without Google search” I can’t
All the best
Rakesh
I agree with the 30 days of Bikram Yoga, this is a 90 minute hot yoga class. I think 30 days of that in a row could bring major changes.
I like the 30 days as a vegetarian and drawing something everyday…I might try one of those.
I suggest 30 days going to bed early enough to get a full 8 hours of sleep. If you want to try polyphasic sleep, you should have a control period of solid nightly sleep to compare to.
OK, I thought about it, and tried to come up with something off the wall – June is the anniversary month of John Wayne’s death – watch 31 JW movies, one for each year since his departure from this planet
- Watch a new documentary everyday for 30 days? You can solicit ideas or just go through the last 30 Academy Award winners. Or you could go through AFI’s top 100 films and if there are enough films you’re missing, you could do that as well
- Draw or paint everyday, either one new work per day or a multi day project like painting a room in your house
- Read a new short story every day (Saki, Twain, Verne, Poe, Henry?)
Upload 30 new videos about private stuff to YouTube (1 each day).
Have you ever seen Seinfeld’s “The Contest“? Enough said.
30 days without saying ‘you know’ or ‘it’s like’
I would encourage you to read the Bible in 30 days. This could potentially be life altering!
But don’t start at Genesis 1:1, but use a reading plan like http://docs.purposedriven.org:8088/docs/sr/ft_PDL30DayBibleReadingPlan.pdf
This will give you an introduction. And find a good church where you can ask you questions which can arise from reading the Bible.
You will find out that the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life the Universe and Everything is not 42…
Good luck!
Marc
Meditate 30 days… that idea is good!
30 site reviews.
Learn to juggle 3/4/5/6/7 balls/flaming torches/chainsaws within 30 days.
Eat a food or try a drink you’ve never eaten/drunk before everyday.
First thing that came to my mind was also the newspaper suggestion from Dan but what about 30 days without any written news.?
Do you and your wife both speak a foreign language? What about talking only in this language for your 30 days? Can be pretty hard sometimes. I tried it with my girlfriend for a few days but we quit because of some family affairs.
- 30 days without a cell phone
- 30 days waking up with a Sleeptracker http://www.sleeptracker.com/
- 30 days vegan (more extreme than vegetarian)
For email specifically (some of these overlap):
- 30 days of Wave: email autoresponder says you’re only checking Google Wave
- 30 days checking email on iPad only (to avoid writing too much)
- 30 days two hours email a day
- 30 days without email notifications (have to check email manually)
- 30 days with a personal virtual assistant
- 30 days with Windows Live Hotmail
I vote for meditation.
read the Bible (or the Qur’an) in 30 days.
Loving the 30 days concept.
I’d suggest using it for trying out different things that you might want to be part of your life. Sort of like A/B split testing.
Which makes me happier? More exercise? Or less meat?
Along those lines, I like the vegetarian thing. Trick is doing it in a healthy, tasty way. (Yes, it’s easily possible to be an un-healthy vegetarian.) I tried that a while back. As a result, I still eat meat, but less of it.
Another one would be – get a proper night’s sleep every day for 30 nights.
30 days of using an alternate search engine (Yahoo, Bing, Ask, etc. – pick one).
I’m not sure you could swing this during work, but perhaps during non-work hours. I might have to try this myself, though I imagine it would be challenging.
For a real challenge, try the meditation. It’s harder than going without sugar and will really raise some awareness within and about yourself.
I’m with The Missus – 30 days of yoga.
Hi Matt,
I would like to suggest few list:
1. 30 days Plant a Tree and take care of those.
2. 30 days without servant(s)/maid(s). (Do your own Work as much as possible.)
3. 30 days save some penny (from your daily needs) and at the end of the period donate it to some charitable trust.
4. 30 days actively participate for some Social cause. (eg: Clean and Green world or Save Natural Resources or Against Terrorism.)
5. 30 days Be in touch with all near and dear.
I’m inspired by your list. I’ll start experimenting on me.
Thanks for sharing
30 days with 1 random act of kindness a day
You’ve done lots of things to balance yourself and help your company and others on the web — bet it would feel great to help some others. If not that, then meditation — that’s always my goal, because I need more quiet time to balance myself, but I don’t make it a priority so it never happens.
Each day, listen to a track of the White Album, played backwards. Randomly parse five seconds from each backward track and display Android voice search results.
What about 30 days reading only french stuffs? (in french of course)
Matt,
In the larger scheme of things I think it’s good to regularly vary the challenge between micro vs. macro issues, immediate vs. long term health, and matters of the body, soul, and spirit.
So I really like the challenge of 30 days of reading through the Bible. Reading the entire Bible in 30 days is quite ambitious, so I’d rather challenge you to thoughtfully read through the New Testament in 30 days. Perhaps annually you could challenge yourself with a major world religion, tackling the Old Testament in some future month.
Only consume Italian food, water and red wine (optional on the wine) each day for 30 days, keeping a blog diary for every day, whilst also avoiding email between the hours of 21:00 to 05:00
30 random acts of kindness to strangers. One each day.
30 days of planting trees. plant 1 or 5 or 10 trees every day for 30 days. if cant then at least make sure somebody does in your name.
30 days in Sweden. Consider yourself invited to the amzing Ramlösa Brunnspark to be a guest with me and my family: http://jardenberg.se/annexet/
Seriously!
30 days of using Bing as your primary search engine for duties not directly connected to your position at Google.
30 days coding in only with one exotic programming language and writing a style guide for it.
I vote against “read the Bible (or the Qur’an)”, I’ve done it and it’s not much bang for the buck.
I vote for new language (not programming language right?), if done right (immersion would be best, but Rosetta might be up your alley), as that is something that can dramatically change how you think if you become a true polyglot (and more languages makes it more so, in my experience).
Try 30 days only listening to Barbara Streisand music.
30 days without talking
vegetarian or draw something every day sound interesting
if you’re going to do a novel in a month do it in november for nanowrimo
Hi Matt,
Take your wife and come to Brazil for 30 days in July. You can work in Sao Paulo Google’s office and join us on the @search_labs (www.searchlabs.com.br)
If you decide to try writing a novel in 30 days, you should save that for November and participate in NaNoWriMo! That way you can connect with a community of people in your area who are working towards the exact same goal. It makes the entire process a lot more enjoyable.
Go vegan for 30 days. Vegetarian is too easy. It may be difficult at first, but I bet by the end of the 30 days you will be more focused than ever before.
how about saying yes (if reasonable) for 30 days.
What about having fun for 30 day all day and night long ?
Don´t say no to nothing;-)
Almost better than spending the least money possible, I would say an exact amount of money for 30 days, about $ 200 for 30 days.
Greetings!
Hey Matt, what about 30 days without using Google to search and using Bing instead?
Matt, that’s a great list.
Here’s my top 5 recommendations, some weird, some reasonable:
5. 30 days with no music listening (no i(Pad,Pod,Phone)
4. 30 days with daily charity decent donations
3. 30 days with Internet Explorer 6
2. 30 days of reviewing random startup sites
and
1 30 days with no porn
I hope you chose at least one of them during this year.
Learn to play guitar. Did you know that the world’s greatest guitar teacher, Frank Longay, is located in Santa Clara?
30 days with no electronic payments (debit/credit cards) Cash and old school checkbook only.
Well – since nobody else will say it… and both yourself and your wife seem to enjoy doing this together, how about 30 days of abstinence? You know… no SEX for 30 days?! (Including self-sex)
Bet this one gets caught in a spam filter!
Hi Matt
I suggest 30 days of holidays in a quiet place of south west of France, beach, surf, relax, good food and no Internet access… ready ?
You could try an ipad on the beach… to confirm it’s flying like a freesbee… during 30 days… ready ?
Or 30 days to backlist Google.com on Bing.com…?
“Hey Matt, what about 30 days without using Google to search and using Bing instead? ”
That would be funny, but I assume Matt would also need to take off from work to make that possible.
I say, go for the bible.
I vote 30 days of the Bible (start to finish, it’s on my list – however, I someday want to do this in a language I am learning, all the basic vocabulary of any language is contained in this book.)
Quran not a bad idea either, I know nothing about this book.
If I were to do a non-spiritual thing, what about learning to draw – if you did this you could illustrate a lot of your points you write on this blog.
30 days without any car … this one might be quite hard. Maybe two exceptions : work and food shopping
Awesome accomplishments. Not sure in the end what some of the accomplishments proved other than you have superior willpower over me.
How about no internet for 30 days…
Hey Matt,
How about 30 days of vegetarian eating no fish or dairy.
Cheers,
Heguiberto
My suggestion is smth like:take everyday at least 30 pictures and put them online.
Would love to see you read the Qur’an
Although I would recommend going for contextual version as it helps you understand the meaning behind each verse.
30 days off (I mean real holidays).
.
I pretty confident that would be your best 30days ever
30 days of tracking your personal transportation mileage (plane, train, automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, foot)… then calculate and offset your transportation carbon footprint.
To make up for your grievous mistake from last May, you should watch an entire television series like the Sopranos in 30 days.
Weird, nobody mentioned the “30 Day Positivity Challenge” above. Look for the positive side in all life situations for 30 days. The exciting twist behind this is that if you let even one negative thought enter your mind for those 30 days, you’re back to Day 1. If a challenge is what you’re looking for, this is it.
30 days of running. I will be doing this one.
I also like the idea someone else posted of getting up earlier than usual.
I suggest 30 days of only watching LEGEND OF THE SEEKER reruns on Hulu.
30 days of gifting to strangers. Find one person each day that you can help by buying them a meal, helping kids in hospital, etc. 30 ways to change people’s lives.
Since there’s a rumour that Google is phasing out internal use of Microsoft Windows OS, how about 30 days on Linux?
abbmuscles.visible=true in 30 days
i did it too.. This may sound silly, but even if i wasn’t fat i didn’t *see* my 6 pack, and others have it with no exercise.. So then i got angry, and got them myself 
Personally I’d be interested in your results to trying Polyphasic Sleep for 30 days, as I’ve been considering taking on that challenge myself.
We just got done with 30 days of no corn — came about after watching Food Inc and realizing just how subsidized the corn industry and how that effected the food supply… No Corn = no foods with corn products (Corn Meal, Corn Syrup, Corn Chips, etc.) The only exception was baking powder which contains corn starch — that would have been a challenge with kids.
June – 30 days dedicated to fundraising for children (eg. fundation or some scientific research organization for children’s diseases).
I was reading this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children’s_Day
Definitely go vegetarian. This way the challenge isn’t just good for you, it’s good for the environment (especially if you continue to eat less meat after one month, which you probably will).
How about drinking 2 pints of water a day for 30 days – nice and healthy
Assuming you dont speak an asian language already, my suggestion is to learn to read Thai. Why Thai?
Even though Thai is a tonal language, written in a unique alphabet, once you have mastered the alphabet, and a few basic rules you should be able to speak aloud 90% of Thai words.
The basic facts are, 44 consonants representing 21 distinct consonant sounds in 3 groups. Lots of vowel groups that can appear, before, above, after of the leading consonant, or in all 3 positions. 5 tones.
See learnt 2 words already!
And some simple rules. E.g. ผม; ผ=p sound + ม=m sound, when no vowel asume o = pom, which means I, and hair
Learning the basics of an Asian language is a enlightening experience, and the first time you read another alphabet, its like the first time you understood C++ source…
There are lots of free resource on the web to read Thai, lots of twitter users, and lots of interesting facts about the language.
(e.g. notice that in Thai as in many other languages the tonel markers look similar to the digits 1 ่,2 ้,3 ๗,4 ๋ , some on their side.. )
Good luck, on whatever you decide…
Justin
30 days of:
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
No credit card.
Kundalini yoga with your wife.
Making a new contact everyday.
Helping me SEO my website
~ Caleb
Read the bible, it’s completely hilarious.
Seriously.
30 days of sunrise meditation of 15 minutes
I would go with the 30 Photo challenge. Take a picture every day for 30 days and post to a public Flickr/Picasa account.
It would be nice if you can show a new open source software which you would use for 30 days.
May I suggest that you try writing a short note to your wife each day that contains some affirmation, compliment, or other relationship building message? I purchased some cheap valentine cards and use them as the note cards. I think you will find the benefits are tremendous. I find that this regimen helps me to avoid taking my wife for granted as much as I am used to doing.
What about 30 days with reading and trying to understand (!) the complete ingredient list on food you buy? (I only worry that the complete food industry might get banned from Google’s index after that…)
How about 30 days only eating food that was around 10,000 years ago…you know fruits, vegetables, meat, nuts.
Depending on the level of difficulty you’re willing to accept…
30 Days of Vegetarianism
30 Days of Raw Food
30 Days of Vegan-ism
Personally I think the raw food diet is more challenging and more rewarding than the other two.
30 Days drinking only Kombucha tea!!
Learning multiplication table 11 to 20
Try going vegetarian for 30 days. I’d be really interested to know how you get on and what you think.
I’d recommend trialling it on a more permanent basis but take a gradual approach to it… stop red meat first, then white meat and fish. I feel much better for it.
It’s also been interesting for me to try avoiding dairy and wheat. I feel better than I have felt for years. I seem to cope on very little sleep a lot better now and that’s probably my main downfall with trying to live a healthy life style now.
Your 30 Day Challenge – I would encourage you to read the Bible and here is an easy idea…read Proverbs, found in the Old Testament which has 31 chapters. If you picked a month with 31 days, you just read that chapter for that day of the month. If the month has only 30 days than read the last two remaining chapters on day 30. Proverbs is a great book of wisdom which is the overall theme of the book.
My other idea is do the first 30 days of P90X! I just finished my first 90 and feel like a million dollars. (This is not a shameless plug.)
30 Day Challenge. Eat RAW food only.
30 days of trying something new every day is a good one. How about combining that with exploring your local environment? 30 days of dates with your wife to some place new every day? Or 30 days of talking to someone new from a different walk of life every day?
You could also do 30 days of doing something charitable every day. Donations alone shouldn’t count though, so you’d have to actually go out and give your time for a cause.
Matt,
A (30) day bucket list would be in order!
Joe
I absolutely agree with Eric Burdo… 30 Days of Dave Ramsey. Your finances will be rocking in no time!!
Hey Matt,
I like the 30 days to learn guitar challenge. Or, 30 days to learn piano would be good too. either of the two, we want a recital on day 30.
Cheers and good luck with whatever challenge you choose!
How about learning X New Words every day for 30 days, where X can be 2, 3, maybe 5?
I, of course, think you should try 30 days without Google Search, since you already braved 30 days without Microsoft =) What about trying to become a Weekday Vegetarian? I found that to be a much easier Lenten vow than giving up meat completely for 40 days.
-Mark Johnson, PM @ Bing
30 days to figure out why do you love your wife
Read the the Qur’an and the meaning of the Qur’anic term.
Immediately upon awakening, meditate for 20 minutes for 30 days. More and more research is showing the benefits of meditation.
Polyphasic sleep is a fun one. Personally I tried it and have now settled into a routine of 4.5 hours per night plus two 25-minute naps on the bus to and from work (aided with Sleep Machine Lite on my iPod Touch). On the weekend I sleep normally for the extra time with my wife. I have also done full polyphasic sleep (difficult even with extra naps, and finding places to do two at-work naps is not fun) and the 3h sleep / 3 nap variant (mostly annoying due to finding a socially-acceptable place to nap during lunchtime; if I could find such a place I’d do this one).
I’ve heard many times of people complaining about needing more time. Well, this is one way to do it. If you decide to do it, definitely contact me; there seem to be very few successful polyphasic sleepers around.
I would vote for eating vegetarian, or weekday vegetarian or no red meat – whichever you think would most likely carry over to a long term trend. But to add a suggestion, how about no beverage container waste: no disposable cups, no bottled/packaged beverages. For any exceptions made, you keep the trash/recycling to the end of the month.
If you are going to write a novel, join http://www.nanowrimo.org/ which sponsors a National Novel Writing Month in November of each year.
polyphasic sleep for 30 days. If you can pull this off you’re a legend…know lots of people that have tried it but never actually heard of anyone who actually managed to do it. Followed a very interesting blog by a guy who did it for 8 weeks, but overall he wasn’t successful. The glove is thrown….
I like read the Bible in 30 days. Just fyi, you can get a free New Testament online that has footnotes to help you understand the verses. This New Testament is awesome! Even if you don’t pick this challenge you can still get the free New Testament here: https://www.bfa.org/OrderStudyBible.aspx and if you want to set up a reading schedule you can do that here: http://www.readhisword.com/
I also like the idea of 10,000 steps a day for 30 days and someone’s comment about no corn for 30 days. It’d be hard considering how much corn is in our foods we buy everyday and probably don’t realize.
I like this idea though. You’re inspiring me to do one of these things and pick something new every 30 days. Great idea! Glad you’re writing about it.
30 days of homemade eating – not restaurants, no packaged dinners, etc.
30 days of new eating – a new food every day
30 days of mobile web browsers only
30 days of movies – a theatre trip each day
You should spend 30 days building links, and then penalize yourself at the end
30 without saying the world GOOGLE. Top that!
How about 30 days without driving – you must walk or bike everywhere you go.
How about 30 days without sex?(not even sex with ur self) I guess this will end your 30 days chalenges for sure
Be a better man in 30 days (courtesy of the art of manliness). Gives you a little variety but challenges you still.
I liked the:
30 good deed days
30 days of 8 hours sleep (tried it – very hard!!)
30 days photography
30 days drinking 2 liters of water a day – this is really a great health tip
My father used to smoke, but he always had one month a year when he didn’t, just to prove to himself that he could stop if he wanted to. Which month? February – the shortest month!
So, if you smoke – try a 30 days no smoking
Whatever you do, I just love the idea of monthly improvement ideas.
Good luck !
Here’s an easy challenge: read the Tao te Ching in 30 days. You can bang it out in a couple hours. Understanding it may take a bit longer…
30 days without JavaScript.
30 Days of Cloud Computing – See if it’s possible. Load Chrome OS or some lite-weight OS on a spare laptop and see if it’s possible to “Live Exclusively in the Cloud”!
Do it!!
Add 30 how-tos your how-to section.
From the list you’ve put together, I would vote for the meditation experiment. Meditation is incredibly centering, and I say that as a converted skeptic.
Here are some other ideas:
-Watch one episode of Morgan Spurlock’s “30 Days” daily (har!)
-Do a social activity with friends daily
-Go to the gym daily
-Use a virtual assistant for 2 hours daily
-Take notes only on paper
-Severe salt restriction (e.g. under 1,000 mg) daily
How about taking an hour break everyday for lunch and doing something active. I had a problem of eating while I was working and never actually taking a lunch break. I have been taking an hour every day and either jogging on the breach and relaxing at the pool for 20 minutes after or paddling out 1/2 a mile to catch a few waves for the past 30 days
I have way more energy, more relaxed and am actually able to focus on getting a lot more done. I feel great so I am going to keep this habit!!
How about 30 days of not using Google for search?
30 Days of NO blog or forum posting.
Ok, one exception… legal or work required functions.
Ooops, that is two expections. But you get the idea. You will refocus your energy on other projects and (more importantly) realize which blog/forum posts were really meaningful or important.
Rank my site #1 for 100 competitive keywords in 30 days
Seriously, it should be the try polyphasic sleep for 30 days. I’ve always wanted to hear about this one and the experience.
Do a dance a day. It’s really good exercise. If possible make it a different dance a day, to use difference muscles.
30 days of helping those less fortunate than yourself.
Something like
30 days of being a “BIG” brother. bbbs.org
This is is eay Matt, .and healthy………….be a vegetarian for 30 days, even better a vegan!!!
How about 30 days where you don’t put any plastic into landfill, 30 days where you don’t consume anything “new” in terms of clothing or household goods. (Buy anything you need secondhand) or spend 30 days reducing the trash you throw out into landfill by 75%.
Could be an interesting challenge!!
Other people have said this already, but I highly recommend doing a novel in 30 days, but save it for NaNoWriMo in November! It’d be great to get that program more popularity among programmers.
No plastic (credit card) or Paypal or electronic bill pay. Pay Cash or Money Order.
I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years, so I would lean toward that one. But actually, I think that spending little money for 30 days would be a good thing. I would take it even further- spend NO money at all for 30 days. It would really force you to be creative and reuse/recycle etc.
I vowed to read the Bible in one year a few years ago. My life changed that year in a permanent way. Best thing I’ve ever done. It’s the most read book in history for a reason and I think everyone should give it at least one go in their life (sooner than later). I agree with former comments though that if you really want to he anything out of it, just read the new testament. Paul’s writings have high enough idea density to make this a significant undertaking.
A bunch of people have already mentioned this, but the 30 day bikram yoga challenge can be pretty rewarding—my girlfriend had just finished one when I first met her. I suppose it doesn’t necessarily need to be bikram though/.
-=.
Hey Matt
I’m looking forward to seeing what you ultimately choose. You’ve done “30 days with no Microsoft software or operating systems (October)”
How about going 30 days Google Free in your personal life. I know you can’t let go completely since you work for them, but you can in your personal life.
This is your new challenge:
- June 2010: 30 Days of smoking
- July 2010: 30 Days without smoking
30 days studying and trying sincerely to understand a viewpoint you object to strongly: creationists, anti-abortion protesters, tea party activists, terrorists, New York Yankees fans … (OK, that last one’s a bit extreme).
I’m not particularly religious but have a graduate degree in history so I’d be inclined to read the Bible or Qur’an. Both would be a monumental task in 30 days but even if you didn’t succeed you’d come away with your own perspective on documents that guide or influence the daily lives of many millions of people.
How about 30 days without complaining at all? (stolen from Tim Ferriss)
Here’s one I’ve been meaning to try myself. 30 days of eating only food that was grown or raised within 150 miles of your home. You can give yourself 5 exceptions for items that aren’t locally produced such as coffee, sugar, olive oil, etc. Naturally this works better during a month when you aren’t travelling.
30 days of learning how to skate on a longboard. Another way of commuting, increase balance, cardio, and it is easy to do, you get better with practice.
hop
Try not emailing after 10pm or getting your finances in order. They seem to be areas in your life that needs a bit of attention, this looks like a good opportunity.
I bet you can’t go vegetarian for thirty days
How about reading the Book of Mormon in 30 days. I’ve read the Bible and the Koran and they’re both excellent. Although, I think you’ll be more surprised and have an even greater impact if you read the Book of Mormon in 30 days.
It’s Summer time. How about doing some outdoor activities?
Thanks for sharing this. I will grab some ideas doing for myself and my wife
I was going to suggest no sugar, but since you’ve already tried that, how about 30 days with no trash – just recyclable materials. It’d be quite the challenge, but what a difference a month could make!
Try 30 days without purchasing any items made in China.
Try and take an interesting photo each day. Upload them to your Picasa web album. You’ll never look at the world the same again once you start looking at everything as a photographer does. You may end up like me, and start to carry a camera everywhere with you (a real one, not your iPhone).
This is a bigger thing than it sounds.
Try the “vegetarian” or the “spending less money” challenge.
With European governments taking all these austerity measures, the “spend less money” challenge will help the global economy as well.
)
Hey Matt !
Why don’t you try to PUT SMILE on peoples face till 30 days (at-least 2-5 people a day). This will help you to SMILE and let others smile too. You might get bless by God (If you believe in that). Else from your list I like the Vegetarian one.
Jaydip
After reading through the comments I wanted to add that I love the idea of 30 days of saying Yes. It has to be harder than you’d think! The counter to that would be 30 days of saying No! How empowering!
How about 30 days of gratitude. – Every day reach out to someone and give them a meaningful thank you or make note of something/someone you’re truly grateful for.
And this last one is much harder than you’d think. I know, I tried it. One real, honest, look you in the eyes and notice you, kiss that lasts more than 5 seconds every day for 30 days. Does wonders for your relationship.
Great ideas from everyone!
Man, the polyphasic is the biggest one for see if it will work and put your productivity down or up.
30 days.. to make each day a special day for your wife… imagine the Return on Investment on this one
how about 30 days with buying 1 gadget (or phone apps) and review each day ….rather than torturing yourself…maybe this round you work on something enjoyable
how about 30 days no meat?
Hi, Matt, you can try come to Playa de Gandia (Valencia, Spain) in July for your holidays, and stay 8 hours in the beach each day! You can get a beatiful brown skin.
Your welcome!
=:.)
your new 30 day challenge would be to live with out writing on your blog http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ lolz…
- 30 days no google search
- 30 days new blog: after the 30 somebody will win the new blog
- 30 days only bing
- 30 days barbecue every day
- 30 days no fastfood
- 30 days using the only nokia 3210 cellphone
learn how to do some break dance move’s in 30 days. We wanna se you dancing man!
The most pleasurable, but possible the most difficult: make love every day
10-15 mins of meditation a day will cure just about every problem you have.
Hi Matt. How about 30 days “batting for the other team” – helping a charity get “the most they can” from Google. I’m thinking SEO, Adwords, Website Optimiser, YouTube presence, Analytics etc etc. I know it’s a bit work-oriented, but would make a great case study for every charity out there! Of course, I’d suggest The Children’s Trust, based here in the UK
jd
I’m surprised the ‘no sugar’ thing was the hardest thing so far. I have bought 1kg of sugar in the past 3 years, purely to put in the coffee of guest, otherwise i have no need for it. It’s a habit i guess or maybe i’m just lucky not to get sweet cravings.
as for the new challenge, i think 30 days spending as little as possible is worth a try. It’s something i occasionally try after feeling guilty for buying lot’s of new toys and gadgets and it amazes me both how hard it is (yet rewarding too) and how little people really NEED to get by. Sure society is built on consumerism but in the long term, a frugal lifestyle is probably the best thing to do for the planet.
I read the Bible in one *year* and felt that I was going faster than reasonably possible to get much out of it. I’d recommend a subset.
If you decide to go for learning a new language, take a look at the tips Benny gives at his blog “Fluent in 3 months”
Good luck!
- 30 days of trying to learn to play guitar
And of course we want to hear the result! Rock and Roll baby!!
Do you know spanish? Maybe you can learn this language in 30 days.
I’m on awaking 1 hour earlier every day
Hello Matt,
I have read your post and all the comments. From which I like some
.
Your idea to read Quran or Bible or you can choose Ramayan, Geeta as well is good. You can do plantation every day and take care of it.
From my suggestion you have to take atleast 30 min. of time a day for 30 days and spend them with orphaned children, showing care, playing with them, make them happy.
I am sure this moments will include in the most happiest and memorable moments of your life.
I think you like this idea and give it a try.
30 days connecting to your family, and finding your roots
For eg.: Just a phone call to a distant relative. Other day a lunch with a closer one, asking them about their life. Maybe you can ask old ones to talk about your grandfather’s grandfather.
Possibly draw a family tree as big as you can.
Hi! How about “30 days barefoot”?
Easy, No email after 10pm!
What about 30 days in Dublin, and bring the Sun again?
Bible for 30 days..
yeah
replace obama for 30 days
How about reaching out to 30 people you haven’t seen or spoken to for a while… part of the work/life balance…
Here is my challenge to Mr. Matt Cutts. Try 30 days without using any search engine!
try to write a book in 30 days
Great ideas …… i really like if u will able to finish any 1 of them..
and about my suggestion ..
- try one new thing a day for 30 days.
it will help you to become jack of all trade
Hi Matt,
It is interesting to see that you are open minded enough to be willing to read Quran.
However, I do not suggest you start reading Quran because you will not be able to understand or fully grasp concepts (religious concepts, infact). I recommend reading “The Bible, the Qur’an and Science” by Dr. Maurice Bucaille. It is a famous book and it will serve as an introduction to Quran.
It is my first time I am writing to you, reading is also my favorite past time, I will be more than happy if you can suggest something to me also.
Thanks.
30 days of always telling the truth, no white lies, no lying just to be polite. I expect this would be harder than anything you’ve tried before.
Try 30 days of only using an iPad for any web browsing you do outside the office.
I’d like to throw my $0.02 behind the meditation. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while and I’d love to hear your approach/experiences with trying this.
Hi Matt,
how about a virtual around the world in 30 days visiting as many different websites from different countries in that time, you could even do a running commentry / blog about the best ones you see (and maybe find out how good Google translate is about each language).
wow… 30 days with no tv? mmm. try 30 days with no internet… hahaha
30 days with no drink containers thrown into the trash — only reusable, returnable or recyclable containers allowed, but only if you really reuse (glasses, cups, mugs), return (does something like this exist in the U. S., returning glass or PET bottles for cleaning and refilling to retrieve a deposit?) or recycle (e. g. glass and PET bottles into the proper recycling containers).
Hi Matt,
Try out at least 1 good deed in every day for 30 days – I´ve tried and it feels great
30 days of making a difference. Volunteer for a different (or same) charity every day..
Polyphasic sleep ftw – I’d be really curious to see how you get on.
@arsene 30 days using only IE 6 would be a bit too harsh.
30 days without an alarm clock. This will force you to go to bed when you’re tired and wake up when you’re fully rested. Worried about getting up early enough in the morning? You’ll have to go to bed earlier. This is one of the biggest health areas where we (Americans) can improve our overall well-being.
A picture of yourself every hour for 30 days. Then turn it into a picture every second 12 minute flip book/movie.
30 days taking a picture every hour wherever you are, while you are not sleeping.
…would make a “story of your life”
Matt, you’re going to laugh at this one or adopt it.
Buy yourself a nice box of writing paper and a pen that feels comfortable. For the next 30 days, write someone who has made a difference in your life. Write them a real letter. On paper. With a live stamp–no stamps.com for you.
After you run out of some of the more obvious choices, maybe your wife has a relative who encouraged a certain hobby or attribute. Write that person. Reach out on a personal letter writing campaign to the people who changed your life–teachers, old bosses, co-workers, maybe someone who you didn’t work with, but was always cheerful.
As much as we jump into the cloud, as much as we Kindilize (I want credit for that term) print, as much as we use create Gmail boxes that never fill and hold the stories of our recent past, nothing beats a letter written by someone longhand.’
That’s why politicians rank individual letters higher than other forms of communications.
That’s why someone keeps a shoebox full of old love letters.
That’s why a parent never throws away the Hallmark cards their kids gave them.
The sentiment is important, but the gift is the time that you take to create a lasting memory for someone. Go for it, Matt. Step away from the keyboard.
Hey Matt,
I think you give 10 – 15mins meditation for a month. I am sure you will love it ! Its a process which can help you rejuvenate and doubles our normal imaginative thinking. I feel its more like a investment.
Regards
Sri
Hummm…30 days going to mass (they have mass every day). I’ve been Catholic all my life and have a difficult time with that one. Should make for interesting schedule adjustments.
Here’s a different thought. Each day for 30 days track down someone of a religion or spiritual faith that is not your own. Talk with them about their faith, with the intention of understanding their faith from their point of view. You’ll find that, even if you double up on the same faiths with different people, you will learn new perspectives that will inform your own faith as well as learning how similar all these beliefs really are.
Give up plastic! See dumpplastic.org . The idea is to give up any new plastic purchases for Lent next year. But 30 days around that time would also be good.
Interesting your challenges. I want to do the same and documented on my blog!
I’d recommend going with your idea of Reading the Bible in 30 days.
I vote for 10-15 minutes of meditation each day. I do it each morning with my b/f every day. We start by reading an inspirational book (so we get our reading done too), then we meditate together. It’s wonderful to connect with your mate this way and to your own higher self.
Bonnie
30 days of no swearing!
Hi Matt,
invest in your relationship:
- 30 days of making your wife coffee \ tea in the morning
- 30 days of eating dinner \ lunch together
- 30 days of cooking the whole meal / 1 dish for her
- 30 days of sitting with your wife to talk – no emails / phones / sms in the middle
- 30 days of writing your wife 1 reason note, why you love her
+1 for reading the Book of Mormon!
Oh, I would love to read a novel by Matt Cutts, but I think “novel” is defined as a fictional story. What I would love is for Mr. Cutts to write a book about his experience at Google, inside scoop on original algorithms back in the day and what some of the stories and thought process is to providing users the best results. If you were to write a novel, how about a fictional story of a SEO guru working at a search engine company that ended up dominating the world.
I just came across your website and LOVE the 30 day goals. I work really well with specific goals, too. My ideas for another 30 days were:
-meditate/pray for a certain amount of time (saw that that was one you are already thinking of)
-liked your idea to read 50 pages every day.
-talk to a stranger every day for 30 days
-don’t spend money for 30 days (do some serious grocery shopping first)
I’ll check back to see what you decide..
Save the 30 days of writing a novel for November and do NaNoWriMo.
Alternatively, I suggest: 30 days of taking notice of strangers and approaching and striking up a conversation with a person you would otherwise not even notice.
Learn as much of a new language as possible and then apply it.
Swim 10 laps a day for 30 days at your local pool or body of water. This can be done almost anywhere your travels might take you.
- try polyphasic sleep for 30 days.
30 day vacation!
My vote is to spend 30 days both vegetarian and cheese-free. When I tried going vegetarian, I found I just ate a lot more cheese. Best to cut both out if you can.
30 Days of living without a goal. Simply being present at all times
Hy !
30 Days on the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago). And after 1000 kilometers you’re born again
I forgot something, Sorry :
http://30daystosantiago.com/
The best way to stick to diet changes is to make food that is super delicious. My suggestion is to try cooking a new, healthy and delicious recipe for 30 days straight. Each day you should have attempt a recipe in either the protein, carb or veggie category. At the end of the 30 days, you’ll have 10 balance meals that you can prepare yourself. Cooking is one of my passions, or you could do culinary school. Just a thought.
30 days to learn every note on a guitar…open position through the 12th fret.
Standard tuning…E A D G B E…here’s a hint, the 12th fret is also E A D G B E
and then you can prove / disprove a theory that guitar playing is like learning to type
-An apple a day. Ha!
Limit (or expand) the number of photos you take for 30 days.
Take one and only one photo per day. Plan each day’s one photo.
To change it up – Maybe you could rotate thru all the photo taking devices you have.
The 30 day Challenge: Everyday plan/shoot one photo – using various devices – share results with us daily.
You could learn to play a few songs on the guitar in a month, I think that would be worth the effort Matt.
Hi guys,
You should try reading the Bible and only listening to Inspirational Music for 30 days. I guarantee that you will feel like a totally different person after those 30 days.
Maybe I should do this one myself.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
Hey Matt,
I would suggest trying polyphasic sleep.
Back in college I had a nice polyphasic sleep schedule where I’d sleep a core 2 hours and then take two 30 minute naps at intervals throughout the day.
It was amazing because as soon as you fell asleep, you’d hit REM and be super charged for the remainder of the day.
You’ll be surprised to see how much you can get done with 2 – 4 extra hours each day – just think of it as more time to spend with family and friends or work on new projects that you’ve been putting off.
Also, since you’re up later you can meet all kinds of really cool people that are on the net during the early hours.
One word of warning however, your body does need sleep and a prolonged sleep schedule like this could have health effects but if you’re only doing it for 30 days you should be fine but I’m not a doctor (just had to put that out there).
Have you tried No Masturbation/Sex for 30 days ?
Very tough .. been trying to attempt it for the last 4 years and succeeded only once…
30 days no carbs !!!
lose the belly
Hi Matt
We just completet a 2 month web assisted sports project with 4′500 employees who walked 10′000 steps every day together in teams…
The project was a real success and it was a great community spirit within this plattform… Web-assisted fitnes improvement works…
-> This was a non-profit project financed by the government…
Best regards,
Jonas
Matt,
i was thinking to say, 30 Days without Google
. But it would be the ever challenging as not being on job is something very difficult, until or unless you get paid for leaves. As i got in Getmore 
.
What about trying,
- 30 days writing your day experience about biking to office and spending less bucks.
Both are good for your health and finance.
- read the Bible (or the Qur’an) in 30 days.
- do 30 days round about on social media and blogging.
- 30 days eating boiled vegetable and no soda at all.
bike to work! or plant a tree
Hi Matt,
This is interesting.
Is it possible for u? no use of inernet either on pc or on iphone. Try to do it and tell me the difference
smile at everyone you walk past for 30 days – this will be tough in London
Learn to play Poker in 30 days.
50/50 studying & playing. I think there might be more in common to your job at google than you think
30 days eating a fresh food, you have never tried before, can be anything, meat or vegetable or baked but no packaged sweets.
Read the bible!
how about only buying or eating local, no big box, no chains etc
Hi Matt,
This is my first attempt to contact you, your work interest me allot and I do attempt to keep up with your vids on your tube, keep the good work up.
30 days no google search
30 days using Bing.com
30 days of using google voice search ONLY
30 days away from a computer
30 days without technology
30 days with a blackberry
All the best
Sal
30 days w/o googling
30 days to learn Spanish or Japanese
Plant 30 different things in your garden.
Matt – how about an 8×30 – no eating after 8PM and minimum 30 minutes of activity daily
No algo changes for 30 days
.
Learn a new word every day.
Start off with “widdershins”
30 days completely, 100% lactose free. It’s a lot harder than you think. And you’ll be surprised what rubbish they stuff into the most unlikely of Trader Joe’s ingredients.
30 days off work?
no food for 30 days – I have done this personally
30 days of abstaining from relations with the wife (tried to word it politely)
I vote for meditation. It’s amazing the impact this can have. You’ll notice small changes in your way of thinking that make a huge positive impact on your life. Hopefully you’ll grow to love it and keep it up.
What I did recently, which you inspired by your 30 day challenges, was go 30 days not eating out at a restaurant or bar. Saved money and cut calories. It was great.
I did this one after having heart failure 3 years ago. Lower your sodium intake to 2000 mg per day. It was very difficult at first but now our entire family is healthier and lighter too.
30 days of trying to learn to play guitar. If you do not play the guitar already a little bit, I can assure you this is a tough one.
Harry
30 days without blogging?
Hey Matt, how about 30 days with a consecutive blog posts! You would get me back every day instead of my once a week checkup.
I like meditate 10-15 minutes a day for 30 days or 30 days of yoga. You will not believe what can do for your mind (and your body)
I would love to do this too!
Seconding Jessica’s idea – a handwritten, on-paper, in an envelope with a stamp thank you note every day for 30 days. Could be an old teacher, that person at the supermarket that is especially nice, or whatever.
What about 30 days as a vegetarian – it’ll help you get really healthy.
I also like the idea of reading 50 pgs each day or what about 30 days without my iPod/iPad.
What about not using Windows at work for the next 30 days?
30 days of staying away from all Major / Minor Google Updates
Hi Matt,
As a challenge . . . Read the Bible cover to cover in just 30 days.
Go for it and i believe you can do it.
Move to Microsoft for 30 days and help them with Bing
Or leave IT for 30 days and do another job which has no computers.
Hi,
here are suggestions:
- 30 days without meat
- 30 days without eggs and milk
- 30 days without newspappers
- 30 days without sex
Cheers,
Pavel Sergeev
Wow, lot of responses already. I’m impressed by this idea, gonna start this as well. I think I’ll begin with “reading 15 books in 30 days”.
However, I got a new one for you:
- 30 ideas to make the world a better place in 30 days
Two ideas – either 30 days of running or 30 days of walking or running a different route to explore your neighborhood each day from the myriad at WalkJogRun
30 days without any negative conscious energy – thoughts/emotions/actions
“Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world.”
-ALBERT EINSTEIN, The Evolution of Physics
“The human mind is a channel through which things-to-be are coming into the realm of things-that-are.”
-HENRY FORD
Help one person each day.
Begin with your family, your parents, aunts or oncles. Next help your neighbours and if you “dare”, help some strangers you meet incidental.
I would be very courious to read your stories
30 days of learning Riverdance – a bit of Irish dancing and then you could run a nice podcast for us
30 days in WOMEN’S Underwear! YIKES
meditate (at least) 10-15 minutes a day for 30 days, more if you feel like it’s helping you.
How about 30 days of following your intuition – learning to hear it, feel it, accept it “No Questions Asked” and letting your intuition guide you for 30 days.
Hi,
My first choice
read the Bible
is good for your soul
Best regards,
Vinicio
30 days without google search
you may use bing or yahoo
no google
this is a hard one
Hello Matt.
I think you should give a homeless person $100 everyday for 30 days(come on i know you get paid well
). What if one of them parlayed that into getting off the street?
30 days without using Google Search! That is a hard one.
A month long trip to India?
I like the idea of reading the Quran .. if you decided to do that I would be more than happy to send you a Free copy of English Translation from the most trusted source – from Almadeena Almunawara.
Thanks,
Nabil
Here is an idea.
30 days starting conversations with strangers in public places. You could even do this one with your wife. This is a really fun one.
Peace,
Darren L Carter
I vote for trying polyphasic sleep for 30 days. That sounds like a really cool thing to try.
For 30 days, you must do 1 thing a day that will help children’s experiences with search.
Hello Matt
I’ve found something to do.
Write a love poem to your wife every day for 30 days.
I’m glad she’ll be.
30 Days without google. this will be an interesting thing. isnt it.
I am thinking 30 days of the P90X workout would be much more fun than 30 days of walking steps. It was a life changer for me. I might give that 30 days without Facebook a try.
Good luck, Jamie
I would think about doing the 30 days vegetarian or 30 days vegan if you have never tried either before – but if you really want to challenge yourself, try only eating living (raw) foods for thirty days!
Hey Matt, I like your idea about writing a book in 30 days but that’s easy. I’d challenge you to write, publish and sell 10,000 copies of a book in 30 days. I know it’s possible, especially if you take advantage of all the technology you are immersed in. I’d be happy to mentor you through it. Mash
30 days drawing people’s attention to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico
I’d suggest 30 days of sleeping in. Don’t set any alarms just let yourself wake up naturally for the whole 30 days. I’m sure you’ll feel like a champion after all that sleep. You may even be able to train yourself to wake up at a set time without an alarm if you need to do so (work etc).
Or 30 days without listening to the same music.
Great idea to set yourself a 30 day challenge in the first place, good stuff.
Hi Matt. Try this one – cook for your wife for 30 days. I am sure you will score some brownie points for this one.
Don’t use Google or google apps during 30 days !
Hi Matt,
You can try it,
-Go 30 days spending as little money as possible.
I also suggest you to go with it,
-30 days as a vegetarian
Try the “writing a book in 30 days” in November with these guys: http://www.nanowrimo.org/
What about something green:
no lights in on rooms I am in for 30 days, or unplugging laptops/TVs/other stuff when not in use for 30 days.
or
create as little trash as possible for 30 days.
And I totally think you should do the “spending very little money” one. You will be AMAZED by how much money you have when you put yourself on an austerity plan.
Franz posted what I’d suggest. Go out of your way to help other people each day. Doing something nice for someone the world has turned cynical or bitter can have a snowball effect.
Instead of reading the Bible (certainly a noble task), how about actually putting into practice 30 teachings/commands of Jesus? I think you’ll find this the most difficult of your 30-day challenges and the most life-transforming.
well I may be selfish but here’s my suggestion. try to go to one random website and suggest its webmaster how to improve to get traffic. hehehe Thanks.
Watch some new art everyday.
30 days doing P90X. It’s a tough one!
How about this: If you’re a right-hander, do everything with the left hand for a week (or vice versa). Teeth brushing, eating & drinking, preparing food, open tins, open wine bottles, pour from milk/measuring jugs, using pencils….be careful and use use left-handers scissors…:)
It’s proven that you develop new brain synapses if you try this long enough!
try 30 days without things made in China
not if you work at the same time as well.
reading the bible in 30 days isn’t even possible
Hi why don’t you try saying yes to people you usually say no, once a day .. more is dangerous
How about no cell phone for 30 days…
Sounds like you’re easily up for the New York Times “Unplugged” challenge! http://nyti.ms/9ZYIxF
I’m trying to decide what to do. I already deactivated my Facebook account a few weeks ago, and that’s been an easy one. Maybe I’ll go for no cell phone for a few days. I see you already did that for 30 days, and that’s impressive! Hmm…
Try helping one random person online with their website every day for thirty days. I know alot of people could use a 30 minute chat with you (including me).
I think this is the most useful one that you can try.
“Try to write a novel/book in 30 days.”
We wont have to search around for Matt’s SEO tips and suggestion
- listen to 1 new music album every day for 30 days
- only cold water showers for 30 days
Do not shave, bathe, or shower for 30 days.
Just kidding, please don’t do this. It would just be too cruel to your wife and others around you.
Try writing 750 every day for 30 days. Neat site to do it at: 750words
- try one new thing a day for 30 days.
i like this one. cuz each day is a new day. when after 30 days of trying one new thing each day, and look back, you will find it very interesting and fruitful~~
if you do choose this, please share with us
Hi, Matt:
I vote
go 30 days spending as little money as possible.
as it makes you see the world or yourself or your friends or your future…very differently…
You have to know a lot of Chinese migrant workers earn about 1,000Yuan per month with very hard working in a very expensive city.
Sometimes you need see standing in the positioin of bottom people.
It is a great idea for you are standing in your position to listen what your readers to suggest you what is best advanture for you as you got about 300 more free heads…to think. I read these suggestions and I found many of them are quite good, some of them are even better than your suggesion.
May I suggest you donate the money which you save from “go 30 days spending as little money as possible” to author wanglili to support her to write independently as all the good articles are writen by independent heart such as Art of War, historical Records…Tang Poem…Memoir of a stone…Memoir of a Chinese migrant worker…? and independent authors are very hard to survive today.
According to xinhua web news, we know China Gov pays 200 China Gov hired authors 0.7 Billion Yuan per year. In fact, these 200 authors get much more as there are a lot of fund coming to them. at the same time, America Gov and many other countries Gov somehow join China Gov to pay more to those 200 authors.
Indedent authors normally dont have these opportunities. and also they are very hard to get payment from their writings. In Tang Dynasty China, a lot of rich are huries to buy poems from poets like today rich are huries to buy luxury so that Tang Poets can survive and Tang Poems are gold in China Culture history. but today, people no matter rich or poor are hurried to buy LV, Prada…as luxury and want free from authors.
People say, at today, human being dont need literature any more, but
Can you imagine what is going on when human being speak like Google translation or Hillary free internet talk in Chinese?
and,
May I suggest you to learn from author wanglili Art of War or Historical Records every day for 30 days via skype or …Google Talk so that you can have a better war? or you can offer author wanglili accomodation at your home to learn from her Art of War or Historical Records every day for 30 days?
by the way, thanks for this post, I will learn from you to have my challenge. it is really good for human being not to do something for a while which we do every day or quite often or use to do..
Become a competitive eater at a professional level in 30 days
30 Days away from Google related activities hmm.. like your Google Powered Cell or Away from Google SEO even away Google Search Engine.
30 days without salted products.
Fresh natural products (veggies, fish, …) have more than enough salt for our requirements…
The food might seem tasteless at first, it does take some time to appreciate the real flavor of things
This one might be as hard as your 30 days without sugar! I would love to read your experiences about your 30 days without sugar!
Take care!
Another food related challenge is to stop eating cereals, and process foods (kind of following a Paleo Diet)
What do you think about 30 days without working ? Easy ? Difficult ? (Stupid?)
What do you think about the recent reports that Google is moving away from Microsoft Windows (original source for this I think was the Financial Times) in light of your MS-free 30-day challenge?
I’d say draw something every day for 30 days. Creating art is a wonderful way of stimulating the right side of the brain. Think of it as cross-training for the brain, since most of us use the left side primarily (hence it gets the more of a “brain workout”).
When will the poll go up?
Why not learn 30 new words over the month? Better yet, 30 words in 30 languages in 30 days. The ultimate tri-fecta (no pun) intended. Keep smiling Matt!
How about 30 days of using only public transit? Public transit, or walk.
I think i really good idea is doing a picture a day!
either a portrait, or a picture of where you’ve been or what you’ve done that day!
Im starting a 365 day one which will be alot harder! =]
Definitely go for the guitar option! Nothing is sweeter than dedicating a good 30 days to learning how to play a few tunes on your guitar (electric or acoustic), and showing off your new talent when you’re confident enough to play – and yes, you WILL want to show it off. Nothing is cooler than the guy/gal that can jam out on command! (Plus, it gives you an excuse to buy a guitar if you don’t already have one
going to give u a kinda easy task …
what about
30 days without Coke products? (diet coke , diet pepsi no nothing?)
what do u think…
i choose to read the Qur’an in 30 days, i think you will enjoy it.
i prefer to read also Scientific Miracles in the Qur’an.
The Cowboys and Cowgirls that belong to DFW-SEM in Dallas, Texas suggest that you learn to ride a horse in 30-days.
Try p90x for 30 days. It’s a 90 day program but you’ll see and feel the results in just 30. I didn’t make it all the way through but am going to give it another shot.
30 days of salad
Hi Matt
)
How about 30 days without talking to the wife
- Sorry, I was just thinking about myself
Or
30 Days of reading these blog comments (there’s so many)
O.K. my best one, 30 days without a computer.
Whichever task you choose, I wish you all the best wish it.
Ken
30 days without swearing
Vegan for 30 days.
30 days of learning about a new country every day (for about 10-15 minutes each day).
30 days of brushing your teeth after lunch (as well as in the morning and the evening).
30 days of doing push-ups and crunches in the morning or evening.
30 days of cooking your own dinner.
30 days of no computer / iPhone / other device that bring you online, before you arrive at work.
Spend 1 hr a day on charitable activities for 30 days. You’d never regret it.
If it was me, I would go for 30 days of vacation. I expect that would be tough to do for a working stiff, but that would be my goal.
I think the best would be to take a 30 day holiday from Google. Its hard but hey, you deserve a holiday!
This is a must, I’d move it to the top of the list:
- 30 days to get my finances in order (I haven’t really paid attention to financial stuff as much as I should).
Check out Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover (it changed our lives).
But if you don’t do that, I vote for: 1 SEO video per day for 30 days.
30 Days without TV would have been the hardest for me. Then going without sugar. Wow, I admire you for both of those.
For the next challenge, how about volunteering an hour of your time per day to a charity?
Please dont do go “30 days spending as little money as possible” – we are in a crisis already. Do the veggy thing – I did it for 10 years: was very good for my health.
Br, Andreas
30 days with no 30 days challenge
Meditation
How about reconnect with an old friend or relative every day for 30 days. Pick up the phone and call anyone you haven’t talked to in over 2 months.
30 days of animation!
I’m new to this site but I love this idea (yours, not mine)!
30 days reflecting the word: strategy
30 days vegetarian. Worked for me.
30 days of getting rid of the sites that disguise themselves as something innocent and lure kids to them, only to open up as hardcore porn. Pages that are getting ranked for absolutely nothing but a bunch of porn photos on a non-porn designated site.
People work hard to get their sites ranked with real content, only to be shoved aside by this garbage.
This is impossible to pick. How about using yet another under appreciated Google tool:
Google Moderator !
We’ll be able to vote on it.
30 days without mentioning Google, either verbally or in print. =)
The novel would be interesting …
30 days without getting mad!
Anything that goes wrong, just tell yourself that “this is the way god wanted it to be”
There are a ton of suggestions here, whatever you choose it should be fun and should be beneficial. Now I don’t know if you ever done this, but here is my idea. Which ever one you choose, I would add, you film it and post it on youtube.
Anyway, here are some of my ideas…
1. 30 days in a wheelchair. (Just to experience what is like)
2. 30 days of doing one act of random kindness.
3. Posting a decent post to your blog for 30 days. (Just a Decent Informative Post about Something You are Passionate about)
4. For 30 days doing something outside of your comfort zone. (If your brave enough)
I’m sure I can think of more, but don’t want to make this comment too long.
Thanks Matt
Mark
definitely try 30 days as a vegetarian!
it will be a good detox for you and good for the environment too :>
What IF.. 30 days without opening your blog. That means, finding alternative ways for us to communicate with you.
It’s been mentioned twice, but I’d definitely re-affirm and say at some point you should really try Raw Food for 30 days. The benefits are amazing and you may just stick with it after your 30 days are up. I went raw because I got ill, and not too long ago at that, and I can tell you it has completely cut my sugar cravings and other bad habits
Mind you, you may need a juicer to help you out on that.
Good luck in whatever you choose!
30 days of Windings. Change all fonts to Windings.
Or 30 days of vegetarian
Hi Matt
30 days using Herbalife products. The gain in speed, productivity and happiness is massive.
Hey, better late than never
My suggestion – smile and say ‘hi’ to absolutely everyone you see. Will change your life, I guarantee!
30 Days of reading the Book of Ephesians (In the Bible, I suggest the ESV Bible) everyday.
30 days without talking about SEO at all
30 days without adobe flash enabled in your browser.
Apple seems to think the world doesn’t need flash so it would be interesting to see if it is even possible to go 30 days without it.
(I’m an android user so I don’t need to worry about not seeing 100% of the internet
30 days contacting old acquaintances you knew at some point
30 days of trying a different cuisine every day.
How about reading the Book of Mormon for 30 days? It’ll change your life in a huge way.
Try spending 30 days without a computer/laptop or I mean to say without internet and see if this impacts your life in a big/small way or not.
Note how many places you have the word “try” in your prospective challenges. Replace the word “try” with “fail” in each place: 30 days of failing to learn to play guitar, fail at one new thing a day for 30 days, fail polyphasic sleep for 30 days, etc. After all, when your goal is to try, failing is perfectly acceptable. Words matter!
My suggestion: 30 days helping a small nonprofit organization to improve its web presence. You can blog and give advices after the experience
30 Days with no internet? Ok, that would be really tough…
hello sir,
I have to at least Meditate 10-15 minutes a day. It is very good for all purpose.
30 days without say one word to any body, how it is.
30 Days in bare feet. Feel the world.
Feed one different hungry child each day for 30 days.
- read the Bible in 30 days. I’ve never read either all the way through.
How about practicing stand up comedy for 30 days! lighten up your normal routine
I vote for draw something everyday for 30 days… creativity is a good thing. All drawings must be posted… obviously… for the fun and proof factor!
30 days of the Bible for sure. Learning about the God is nothing more beautiful that that. It’s going to be a huge gain for you.
- write down one thing I’m thankful for each day for 30 days.
You could even do something you’ve learned each day for 30 days.
This could coincide with writing a book in 30 days. Each day you write something you learn or are thankful for you could publish as an insightful book for others.
This might be funny or greedy but what you think about 30 days with no google?
I think no one can do it!
Read Quran and you will experience the mental peace that I can guarantee no other thing in this world would give you.
Try 30 days “without liquor”
I would suggest a challenge worthwhile, something that improves your health, knowledge or otherwise is benificiary for you… and mankind.
Like planting a tree a day, use as little electricity a day as possible, say or do something that makes someone (different everyday) really happy.
You should wait til November, and then do this http://www.nanowrimo.org/. It’s essentially, write a novel in 30 days. But with a community and friendly emails
Read the Qur’an. You wouldn’t regret it.
I personally think the “write a story/novel in 30 days” is a great one. I participate in NanoWrimo every November, which is where you write a 50,000 word novel in a month. But yours wouldnt have to be that long = )
Hey Matt,
How about 30 days of 1,000 star jumps daily?
That could get extremely tiring, though, so I won’t insist! :p
Try Ramadhan. I’m not Muslim, but I’m an American living in Malaysia, so I have decided that I will try it. Go an entire month without food or beverage during daylight hours. You are only allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING while the sun is down. For me, this means I will be starting my days earlier to fill up with food and water to last me until after sunset.
How about ’showing the act of kindness’ for 30 straight days. We are all busy and selfish (blame it on the economy or busy work or family life)…so do something nice to someone every day for 30 days.
How about only having cold showers for 30 days