My 10,000 Hour Challenge

Some of you are likely to have heard of or about the 10,000 hour rule which was popularized in Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers'.
The 10,000 hour rule in summary, is a theory that suggests that in order to become an expert, or to gain mastery, in a field of one's choice, one must put in enough deliberate practice to get to that level...10,000 hours worth in fact.  
The term deliberate practice refers to practice where you are engaged and fully concentrating on what you are doing, not just messing around or doing what you like, but challenging yourself and pushing yourself to improve. 

There are mixed opinions when it comes to the '10,000 hour rule'. Some people are fully behind the concept 100%, whilst others are more on the skeptical side. I won't go into the arguments for and against as you can just Google them, but I will state my opinion on the theory.

I believe that it differs from person to person, different learning-rates and intelligence being a factor, also depending upon how you learn/the way you are taught.. I've heard that practicing 2 hours a day the wrong way is equivalent to 30 minutes practicing the right way, which is why 'deliberate' practice is mentioned, or 'quality' practice. I wouldn't say that 10,000 hours is a magical benchmark in which you automatically gain mastery status upon achievement of, but 10,000 hours is a lot of time put into a field of choice and so is feasible that you could become an expert. 10,000 hours whatever the outcome,is going to leave you in a much better position than when you first started. 

Intrigued with idea however, I decided that I would test out this theory for myself. I know that there is going to be a long road ahead and that it won't be an easy feat by any means, and is going to reveal how committed I can remain, and if I have enough self discipline for the task in front of me. If I do manage to get to the end of this long road (which I plan to), I'll be able to see if hard work really can get you to an all new standard.

To put into perspective about how much practice is required to meet the 10,000 hour benchmark, it will take you 10 years of practicing 3 hours every day of the year (365 days) to reach 10,000 hours...well 10,990 hours to be more precise. You can see the level of commitment that is required to achieve this ambitious landmark. Some inspiring and motivating present 10,000 hour challenges can be found here: TheDanPlan and DevinWilliams712.

So what is my 10,000 hour challenge? Well, some of you may be aware that I play the piano. I've managed to get past grade 8 but am definitely not an expert. I've never enjoyed practicing and have always found it a chore, so I would do the minimum I could get away with or none at all.

Around a year ago, maybe a little less, I quit lessons for various reasons. As a result of quitting lessons, I no longer 'had' to practice, and stopped playing almost altogether, familiarizing myself once or twice every couple of months before stopping again. 
However, I am now wanting to get into a consistent and self-disciplined routine where I see myself get to a much higher level.

I started the piano coming up to 10 years ago now, but because I hardy practiced - I would be surprised if I had even reached 1,500 hours of practice, and I'm guessing that around 500 of those hours is all you could say were 'quality' hours. So you can probably tell that even though I'm not new to this field, I still have so much to improve upon to even come close to an experts level.

The amount of determined practice per day that I'm going to aim for is 2-3 hours minimum. From only touching the piano a few times in the last year to setting myself a target of 2-3 hours of practice a day is going to be a big shock, but is something I'll need to get used to. 
I didn't want to do an hour a day as I felt that that was too little time to spend on improving, taking 28 years to finish!!! No, 2 - 3 hours seems like a good daily target, and I can always play much more than that if I feel like it. 

At the time of you reading this post I will be already 7 days into this monumental challenge. I will be giving updates to how I'm doing every 30 days or so.

Water Drinking Challenge

Aim: To drink 2 litres of water every day

Duration: 40 Days

Our bodies need at least 2 litres of water every day to keep ourselves hydrated. If you don't know about the benefits that your body gains from drinking lots of water, I'm not going to go into it on this post as I have already written an article about that which can be found here: 10 Reasons for Drinking Water. 


Seeing that I have just mentioned that our bodies need 2 litres of water a day, it should come of no surprise that this challenge is all about getting yourself to drink 2 litres of water a day. This challenge will have you drinking that amount for 40 consecutive days.
To give you an idea about how much 2 litres is, it is roughly equivalent to 8 average sized glasses. Before starting this challenge I would recommend reading a previous post of mine; 11 Tips to Drink more Water, for some ideas and advice to help you drink more water.

The goal of this challenge is to get you to drink 2 litres of water a day, however, this target is only a minimum so feel free to drink more than this if you can manage - don't go overboard though and don't drink too much water in one go. 

On a calendar mark down the day that you start this challenge, and for every day that you complete, cross that day off (to show that you have completed it). Once this string of crossed-off-days reaches 40, you will have completed the challenge. :)

30 Day Walking Challenge

In general as we get older we in turn start to do less and less exercise. As kids we are always wanting to be active and mobile but this wears off for many as we get older and other things take over as our commitments, leaving you not wanting to exercise or without enough time to do so.

People aged from 19 - 65 are advised to do two and a half hours of moderate exercise a week (walking for example), or 1 and a quarter hours of intense exercise (running for example) a week. 

With this walking challenge you'll be doing over double your advised exercise guideline.

Rules

1. You Must Complete the Daily Goal

This may seem like a very obvious rule as otherwise you fail the challenge if you don't complete the walking goals, however I feel like I should just make it clear that no exceptions can be made. If you are supposed to walk for 1 hour during the day and you walk for 59 minutes, although it may be tempting to allow yourself that, you shouldn't. 59 Minutes is not 1 hour and anything that is lower than an hour in length would mean failure if the challenge. 

The daily goal is a minimum set limit so anything that is lower than the minimum set goal is a fail, however, you may walk more than the daily walking plan if you so choose.

2. You Can't Split Walks up

You must walk the daily walking goal in one-go and may not split it up into segments. For example: If you are to have a goal to walk an hour in a day then you must complete this in one walk, you may not be allowed to split it up into (let's say for this example) 2 half-an-hour walks.

3. Walking Plan Choice

There is a choice from two walking plans. The first is a walking plan based upon a minimum set time you must walk for, the second is based upon a minimum set distance you must walk. Once the plan is chosen you cannot switch and must stick with that plan.

4. Ignore the Weather

You must carry this challenge out in whatever weather, so if it is pouring with rain so be it. Make sure suitable clothing is worn dependent upon the weather.

Walking Plan (Time)

Day 1: 1 Hour

Day 2: 1 Hour

Day 3: 1 Hour

Day 4: 1 Hour

Day 5: 1 Hour

Day 6: 1 Hour

Day 7: Rest

Day 8: 1 Hour

Day 9: 1 Hour

Day 10: 1 Hour

Day 11: 1 Hour

Day 12: 1 Hour

Day 13: 1 Hour

Day 14: Rest

Day 15: 1 Hour

Day 16: 1 Hour

Day 17: 1 Hour

Day 18: 1 Hour

Day 19: 1 Hour

Day 20: 1 Hour

Day 21: Rest

Day 22: 1 Hour

Day 23: 1 Hour

Day 24: 1 Hour

Day 25: 1 Hour

Day 26: 1 Hour

Day 27: 1 Hour

Day 28: Rest

Day 29: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Day 30: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Walking Plan (Distance)

Day 1: 4 Miles

Day 2: 4 Miles

Day 3: 4 Miles

Day 4: 4 Miles

Day 5: 4 Miles

Day 6: 4 Miles

Day 7: Rest

Day 8: 4 Miles

Day 9: 4 Miles

Day 10: 4 Miles

Day 11: 4 Miles

Day 12: 4 Miles

Day 13: 4 Miles

Day 14: Rest

Day 15: 4 Miles

Day 16: 4 Miles

Day 17: 4 Miles

Day 18: 4 Miles

Day 19: 4 Miles

Day 20: 4 Miles

Day 21: Rest

Day 22: 4 Miles

Day 23: 4 Miles

Day 24: 4 Miles

Day 25: 4 Miles

Day 26: 4 Miles

Day 27: 4 Miles

Day 28: Rest

Day 29: 6 Miles

Day 30: 6 Miles

30 Day Reading Challenge

The point of any challenge is to either get you to improve upon a certain something, create a new habit, or break a habit. This challenge is all about getting you into a consistent reading pattern whether you are familiar or unfamiliar with holding a book in your hand.  
Reading is a great thing to do as I've explained in a previous post: 10 Benefits of Reading and the best way you can improve your reading ability is by reading more. 

Rules

1. Pick a Book

The first thing for you to do is to pick out a book of your choice that you would like to read. It doesn't have to be anything in particular and so you are free to choose what you would like to read.

2. What happens if you finish the book before 30 days?

This challenge is based upon reading 1 chapter per day every day for 30 days. If your book however is less than 30 chapters in length then it is going to be obviously finished in less than 30 days, if this is the case for you then carry on reading 1 chapter per day but start with a new book. It's not important if you finish or don't finish the book you are reading in the 30 days, the more important thing is that you read a chapter a day. So if you do finish your book in less than 30 days just continue the challenge with a different book.

Beginner Reading Plan

Day 1: 1 Chapter  

Day 2: 1 Chapter

Day 3: 1 Chapter

Day 4: 1 Chapter

Day 5: 1 Chapter

Day 6: 1 Chapter

Day 7: 1 Chapter

Day 8: 1 Chapter

Day 9: 1 Chapter

Day 10: 1 Chapter

Day 11: 1 Chapter

Day 12: 1 Chapter

Day 13: 1 Chapter

Day 14: 1 Chapter

Day 15: 1 Chapter

Day 16: 1 Chapter

Day 17: 1 Chapter

Day 18: 1 Chapter

Day 19: 1 Chapter

Day 20: 1 Chapter

Day 21: 1 Chapter

Day 22: 1 Chapter

Day 23: 1 Chapter

Day 24: 1 Chapter

Day 25: 1 Chapter

Day 26: 1 Chapter

Day 27: 1 Chapter

Day 28: 1 Chapter

Day 29: 1 Chapter

Day 30: 1 Chapter

Advanced Reading Plan 

This is for those of you who would like a bit more of a challenge than 1 chapter per day. The same is true for this, if you finish your book withing 30 days then pick another book and continue with the remaining days of the challenge.

Day 1: 3 Chapters

Day 2: 3 Chapters

Day 3: 3 Chapters

Day 4: 3 Chapters

Day 5: 3 Chapters

Day 6: 3 Chapters

Day 7: 3 Chapters

Day 8: 3 Chapters

Day 9: 3 Chapters

Day 10: 3 Chapters

Day 11: 3 Chapters

Day 12: 3 Chapters

Day 13: 3 Chapters

Day 14: 3 Chapters

Day 15: 3 Chapters

Day 16: 3 Chapters

Day 17: 3 Chapters

Day 18: 3 Chapters

Day 19: 3 Chapters

Day 20: 3 Chapters

Day 21: 3 Chapters

Day 22: 3 Chapters

Day 23: 3 Chapters

Day 24: 3 Chapters

Day 25: 3 Chapters

Day 26: 3 Chapters

Day 27: 3 Chapters

Day 28: 3 Chapters

Day 29: 3 Chapters

Day 30: 3 Chapters

30 Day Pushup Challenge

After posting the 30 Day Squat Challenge for the ladies, I thought it fair to post one for the men...so here it is: the 30 day pushup challenge.
Depending upon how good you are at pushups will determine which challenge I think you should go for. If you can do 0 - 25 I would suggest trying the beginners 30 day pushup challenge. If you are someone who can do 50 pushups or upwards then I would recommend trying the advanced 30 day pushup challenge. For anyone who falls within the 26 - 49 range I would leave up to you to decide which challenge you should go for, in fact however many pushups you can do it's up to you which challenge you take on - just try to stay realistic about your abilities and don't go so far as to injure yourself.

The challenge is based on a number of reps & sets for you to complete per day. Many people who know about reps and sets won't need this explaining to them but for those of you who don't it's not something that is hard to grasp. Basically a 'rep' stands for a repetition, so if I were to do 10 reps of pushups that would mean that I have done 10 pushups - 10 repetitions.
A set is a group of reps. For example if I were to do 2 sets of 10 pushup reps that would mean I did two lots of 10 pushups. 

Beginners Pushup Challenge (30 - 90 seconds rest in between each set)

The number of sets is displayed first before the number of reps followed by the total of pushups.

Day 1: 2 x 10 (20)

Day 2: 2 x 12 (24)

Day 3: 2 x 14 (28)

Day 4: 2 x16 (32)

Day 5: Rest

Day 6: 2 x 20 (40)

Day 7: 2 x 22 (44)

Day 8: 2 x 24 (48)

Day 9: 2 x 26 (52)

Day 10: Rest

Day 11: 3 x 14 (42)

Day 12: 3 x 16 (48)

Day 13: 3 x 18 (54)

Day 14: 3 x 20 (60)

Day 15: Rest

Day 16: 3 x 22 (66)

Day 17: 3 x 24 (72)

Day 18: 3 x 26 (78)

Day 19: 3 x 28 (84)

Day 20: Rest

Day 21: 4 x 12 (48)

Day 22: 4 x 14 (56)

Day 23: 4 x 16 (62)

Day 24: 4 x 18 (68)

Day 25: Rest

Day 26: 4 x 22 (88)

Day 27: 4 x 24 (96)

Day 28: 4 x 26 (104)

Day 29: 4 x 28 (112)

Day 30: 4x 30 (120)

Total = 1,546

Advanced Pushup Challenge (30 - 90 seconds rest in between each set)

The number of sets is displayed first before the number of reps followed by the total of pushups.

Day 1: 2 x 20 (40)

Day 2: 2 x 24 (48)

Day 3: 2 x 28 (56)

Day 4: 2 x 32 (64)

Day 5: Rest

Day 6: 2 x 40 (80)

Day 7: 2 x 44 (88)

Day 8: 2 x 48 (96)

Day 9: 2 x 52 (104)

Day 10: Rest

Day 11: 3 x 28 (84)

Day 12: 3 x 32 (96)

Day 13: 3 x 36 (108)

Day 14: 3 x 40 (120)

Day 15: Rest

Day 16: 3 x 44 (132)

Day 17: 3 x 48 (144)

Day 18: 3 x 52 (156)

Day 19: 3 x 56 (168)

Day 20: Rest

Day 21: 4 x 24 (96)

Day 22: 4 x 28 (112)

Day 23: 4 x 32 (128)

Day 24: 4 x 36 (144)

Day 25: Rest

Day 26: 4 x 44 (176)

Day 27: 4 x 48 (192)

Day 28: 4 x 52 (208)

Day 29: 4 x 56 (224)

Day 30: 4 x 60 (240)

Total = 3,104

30 Day Squat Challenge

Quite recently there has been a challenge for women floating around the web that has gained much interest. It seems to becoming more and more popular, having Facebook, Tumbler, and other website pages devoted to it. I first heard about this challenge through my sister who decided to take it up, in fact it was yesterday she started. After hearing it from my sister I also found out that 3 female colleagues from work, well actually 2 colleagues as 1 of them has now got another job, so 2 colleagues and 1 ex-colleague has taken up this 30 day squat challenge. 
I hear that it is quite the challenge so prepare for some hard work!
So here is the plan:

Day 1: 50 Squats

Day 2: 55 Squats

Day 3: 60 Squats

Day 4: Rest

Day 5: 70 Squats

Day 6: 75 Squats

Day 7: 80 Squats

Day 8: Rest

Day 9: 100 Squats

Day 10: 105 Squats

Day 11: 110 Squats

Day 12: Rest

Day 13: 130 Squats

Day 14: 135 Squats

Day 15: 140 Squats

Day 16: Rest

Day 17: 150 Squats

Day 18: 155 Squats

Day 19: 160 Squats

Day 20: Rest

Day 21: 180 Squats

Day 22: 185 Squats

Day 23: 190 Squats

Day 24: Rest

Day 25: 220 Squats

Day 26: 225 Squats

Day 27: 230 Squats

Day 28: Rest

Day 29: 240 Squats

Day 30: 250 Squats

A useful motivational and tracking technique you can use to go alongside this would be the 'Don't Break the Chain' technique.
 

No Complaining Challenge Day 1

Recently I posted an article about the 'No Complaining Challenge' and said how I was going to have a go at it myself. I started on Thursday (11/04/13) and it is now a Monday (15/04/13), and yet I am writing about day 1? You may be wondering why I am doing so or maybe for some of you it's not a mystery? Well to put it bluntly: I complained! Argh! I was very disappointed in myself. 

At first it was fine, I was up early and ready to go. I was the only one in the house who was up and so talking was either to myself (thoughts out-loud I suppose) or minor comments to my dog, so complaining was easier to avoid. I spent the time getting ready for work. Once at work I noticed that not complaining became harder, mostly I think because of being around complacent colleagues, but still not complaining was manageable. After work I went to the gym and was fine throughout my workout, it was after whilst in the changing rooms that I made the complaint. I had bought some milk before heading to the gym as I had gotten a text from a family member requesting that I buy some while I was out. In the changing room the milk dropped out of my locker when I removed my bag and split...which lead to it leaking...which covered the changing room floor...which lead to my complaint. 

The next two days of the challenge went much better than the first and were absolutely complaint-free, it was the Sunday (yesterday 14/04/13) when the next complaint was made which would force me to start over. I was walking my dog at the time and was writing in my notebook (which you can read about the benefits of having here: Benefits of Writing a Notebook) when it started to rain causing my pages to get wet and causing my writing to cease, it was then a small complaint was made, and then another complaint a few seconds later about having made the first complaint.

Now today (15/04/13) is the restart of this no complaining challenge and has (so far) been complaint free. :) I think that I will be able to get further this time than previous as my recent failures have caused me to keep the no complaining rule in mind. I now have a much better understanding to how challenging this challenge is...roll on the next 20 days. :)

No Complaining Challenge

Complaining is such an easy and negative thing to do and so I am introducing this challenge, with the hope that you all try out for a learning experience as well as helping you to put off complacency. This challenge is called the 'No Complaining Challenge' and is exactly what you would expect from the title: not to complain. 

I think that whilst it's great getting people (myself included) to stop complaining, it is also a good idea for people to realise how easy it is to complain and how often they do it. I have noticed that as of recent I have been complaining more and is a habit that I am not fond of, therefore this challenge is one that I myself will try to carry out. 

I'm not just talking about those major complaints that you make but also those minor ones too. E.g. "the weathers horrible I hate it"! Also labelling someone with a negative comment such as: "(name not mentioned) is a rubbish singer, I don't want to listen to them" is not allowed. Now these may seem trivial to you but the aim of this challenge isn't to get you to become a mindless robot but to have a better grasp upon the amount of times a complaint is made by you and others - at the end of this challenge I'm hoping that people will think much more about what they're going to say instead of announcing a complaint.

A post that you may find helpful to read before taking on this challenge is: How to Stop Complaining. 

Rules

1. No Complaining

This golden rule to this challenge and is the most important one. Do not complain once, of course it wouldn't be a challenge if this was going to be easy so I expect people to break this one including myself (not on purpose)! If you aren't strict with yourself the only person you will be cheating is yourself and won't gain anything from the experience - so try your very best not to complain eve if it means stopping yourself mid-sentence to avoid doing so.  

Every time you make a single complaint, no matter how far you are into this challenge, you start right from the beginning. This may mean that you have to keep starting over but does an even better job at getting you to be thoughtful with your words. Even if you take a whole year to complete this challenge because of having to keep starting over and over, in the end the results will be good. 

The average amount of time it takes people who take on this challenge is 4 - 8 months!

2. 21 Days

You must keep this challenge up for 21 days, only doing it for 1-2 days won't pose the same challenge or have as big an impact upon the way you think and speak as 21 days will. Take note of the day you start (e.g. marking it on a calendar) and make note of when you finish.

Optional Rules

These are rules that you can either allow yourself to be bound to or not, they are fully optional and depends solely on the individual, you can include as many or as little as you want.

1. Duration

Instead of coping with this challenge for 21 day you can increase the amount of days to make it harder for you or to allow yourself more time to get into this good habit. A good step up I recommend would be to go to 35 days. This is a little over a month and it takes on average a habit 20 - 30 days to become cemented into ones life if practiced every day, so 35 (5 weeks) is perfect for making sure.

Then again hardly anyone completes this in the first 21 days as they normally will have to restart many times making it a lot longer so incorporating this rule is entirely your choice. 

2. Bracelet 

Will Brown is normally quoted as the originator of this technique and is a very simple and surprisingly effective one at that. The idea is to wear a bracelet and when you complain, take it off and place it around your other wrist and start again from day 0. 

3. Elastic Band

I've often heard of this technique when people are trying to break a habit, and that is to place an elastic band (or bands) around your wrist and each time you indulge yourself in this bad habit you in turn pull back and release the elastic band so that it snaps against your wrist. The idea of this isn't to cause yourself pain for the sake of it but that you come to associate this bad habit to the uncomfortable pinging of the elastic band(s).

4. Replace a negative with a positive

If you notice that you are about to complain or are on the verge of complaining then turn it into a positive and say it aloud. For example: "the weather is horrible" could become "we need the rain" etc.