How to implement a 30 day writing challenge

In the middle of October I challenged myself to a 30 day writing challenge. But you could pick any creative or craft challenge. My goal was to write for 30 minutes every single day. If I had stuff going on for a particular day I wasn’t allowed to batch up posts ahead of time or catch them up after the fact. The point was to establish a daily habit of writing, no matter what was going on.

So on October 18, 2020 I issued myself the challenge. And 30 days later I’ve successfully attained that goal, and am thinking about how I can incorporate more of it into my life.

How I started my 30 day writing challenge

With my day job taking precedent on most days, I began toying with the idea of doing my stuff first, before I ever started my day job workday.

But this would also mean getting up early, something I’ve done and have been forced to do for work, but not something I choose to do otherwise. While I’ve had pockets of my life when I’ve gotten up a little earlier to do some morning rituals, I can’t say I ever had it as a consistent life habit. I’d do it for a while, fall off the wagon, get back on, fall off again for months, you get the picture.

So when I thought about implementing my morning routine and adding to it, it was quite a commitment from this not-an-early-riser gal. Or so I thought.

Getting up early

Instead of getting up between 7:30-8am each morning to start my day job, I decided to get up around 6:30am and do my stuff….before the day job. Eventually 6:30 turned into 5am, but I’m jumping ahead.

While the 30-minutes of writing was the actual 30-day challenge, I incorporated it into my morning routine, which ended up becoming a bonus habit. I had read that writing in the early morning hours before the disruptions of the day began could be powerful, and creative. So I committed wholeheartedly to getting up early and doing my thing.

There were even a few days during this 30-day window that presented a potential obstacle: we did an overnight backpacking trip. Both times, I brought along my iPad and wrote in the car on the drive down (it was a 2-hour drive), and then wrote in the car on the drive back home the next day. I had developed a commitment and discipline figuring I could do this for 30 days.

writing desk for 30 day writing challenge

My morning routine

I bring up my morning routine because it is what made the 30 day writing challenge possible. My morning routine now consists of 1 hour and 20 minutes broken down as:

15 minutes journaling (not counted as part of my writing challenge; this simply clears my head),
10 minutes reading (this is nonfiction, self improvement, productivity, etc; no fiction)
10 minutes goal review – this was added when I moved from the 6:30 to the 5am wakeup call
30 minutes writing – this was also added wen I moved from the 6:30 to the 5am wakeup call
10 minutes yoga
5 minutes meditation

Every time I execute a good morning like this I feel so much better. I don’t always feel like getting out of bed in the mornings, but I know I’ll always be grateful that I did because I end up having such a good day. I’m more focused. I’m determined. I’m motivated.

Setting up a writing space

So I staged my mornings to get up before work and write. I decided to set up a writing spot. Something that was other than just sitting on the couch, or sitting at my day job desk. I wanted something 100% devoted to my writing to help develop the ritual. I know everyone may not have this luxury, but I wanted to try something different.

So I culled my basement of inherited furniture and discovered my older brother’s desk he had when we were growing up. The desk is simple and functional, and was built by my dad.

I curated a corner in one of our extra bedrooms, that’s been converted to my day job’s office, partial yarn storage and fabric storage, few extra pieces of furniture for temporary storage, and scrapbook supplies among other items. A kaleidoscope of room functions.

My writing spot happens to be right next to a window, though most mornings I have the blinds closed since it’s so dark out. On top of the desk is my laptop, a candle, a container of pens, pencils, scissors, a place for a drink, and my list of writing topics for the week, along with a pad of paper with random notes and ideas that come to me during my sessions as a place to jot them down so I can focus on writing.

My writing rituals

Each morning I fire up the candle, have a drink in it’s spot, and decide on which of the topics I have the urge to write about that day. And then I set a 30 minute timer on my phone.

From there, the writing usually flows. I might be writing about a new pattern I tried, a new pattern I created, something I organized, or anything that fits within the realm of my blog topics. Sometimes the writing isn’t great. And that’s okay. Other times its meteoric. Sometimes the not-so-great posts end up getting scrapped eventually, but other times I can use pieces and parts from a few of them to pull together a relevant post.

I also dug up an old bulletin board and have it above my desk, converting it into a vision board of how I would like to curate my life. This is one of the quotes on it:

Your soul has always known who you are. That’s why it keeps tugging at your heart, begging you to listen. — Rachel Hollis

And so I write. Every. Single. Day. There have already been days of challenge but now that I’ve completed this 30-day challenge, will I continue it? Absolutely! And because it has been such an amazingly productive experiment, I’m adding 30 more minutes to my morning routine for additional blog tasks.

10 strategies I used to implement a successful 30 day writing challenge

What have the game-changers been for me for establishing this new habit? These are the steps I think impacted my success the most:

Knowing (and connecting with) my why – I’ve wanted a creative and successful blog for a very long time and for a lot of different reasons. Knowing that I could squeeze in just 30 minutes every day felt like I was winning the day before it even started. And once I did it a few days, it really did make me feel like I wanted to get out of bed in the morning.
Discipline and willpower – don’t get me wrong, there were a few mornings that laying in bed just felt sooooo good. Warmth. Cozy. But I knew I wouldn’t really sleep since I was awake enough already. So why lay there and waste the time when I could make today an amazing day. And to do it before my day job just felt like a cool little secret.
Having a plan and setting a dedicated time – I knew my schedule every morning. And while you could mix it up if you wanted, I like the ritual of routine. Knowing I lose mental capacity throughout the day, I knew it had to be early, but also worried my brain wouldn’t be fully engaged yet. So I do some or all of my other morning routine activities before I do the writing.
I also found it extremely helpful to have a writing space setup as a symbol for doing the writing. Nothing fancy or big. Simplicity was key for me. Having my writing topic picked out, or at minimum a fresh list of ideas sitting at my writing desk, was instrumental in using those 30 minutes most effectively.
Setting the challenge that it must be daily. If I miss a day, I have to start over. Talk about motivation! And it tapped into my slightly competitive spirit.
A candle. It’s a symbol of me calling on my muses. Good energy. Good mojo. A positive and soul-warming experience is about to unfold.
Good sleep habits. Getting to bed by a certain time the night before, and sustaining that schedule for multiple nights in a row. Keeping a good sleep schedule I’ve learned is crucial. I’m a 8-hour-a-night kind of gal, meaning I need 8 hours of sleep. So if I’m going to bed at 10pm, 8 hours later is only 6am. I say “only 6am” because I’m usually online for my day job by 8am. As part of going to bed the night before, it helps for me to visualize actually wanting to get out of bed in the morning. This was something I learned from Eben Pagan. And it was a game changer for me.
Just writing. I decided that I would just write. That day’s writing might be crap. And that was okay. But it was the habit of writing every day that I was trying to establish. And since Babe Ruth didn’t hit a homerun every time he was up to bat I was okay with the fact that there was no pressure to make a viral post. Just write. Write from the heart. And these morning hours have been really good for stirring up the creative muses.
The 5AM Club, by Robin Sharma. This was the biggest inspiration behind this whole thing, especially the writing part. I was apparently ready for its message and in a place in my life where I was ready to commit and implement. Without it, I don’t believe I would have incorporated any of the writing work or goal work into my morning routine. And it’s made just doing a morning routine that much more solid.
Being humble and grateful for the writing experience. Not getting cocky about thinking I have this thing all figured out, but being grateful to the writing muses for showing up with me every day, and for allowing words and thoughts and feelings to flow. I’m a big believer of never forgetting where you came from.

Final thoughts about a successful 30 day writing challenge

While we are all kindred crafters here, there are plenty of other facets of our lives too. How could you use this experience to inspire a new habit in your life? Maybe, like me, it’s a habit you’ve tried before but just didn’t quite succeed at. What small but significant things could you put in place to increase your success rate? Remember, sometimes it’s the little things —- some people might think my candle couldn’t have possibly been a game changer. But for me it was. It’s part of the ritual and helps me get in the zone.

Do you have a morning routine? What rituals do you have? Leave a note in the comments below! Let’s inspire each other for new and fresh ideas.