The Challenge
Challenge = Growth = Change
In your own life you will already have examples of successfully eliminating things that don’t help you and incorporating things that do.
There was a time when we all thought it was ok to wear diapers, or let mum wash our clothes and pay for our food, for most adults that has changed over time as we slowly build our view of who we are and how we do things.
Think back to all the other changes you have made along the way. Maybe they were about gaining or replacing a habit that didn’t serve you well. Popular ones to spot and notice are those affecting your eating, your money or your relationships.
Perhaps you have changed your relationship with drugs or alcohol perhaps with work or relaxation. Maybe you’ve lost some friends along the way who no longer bring out the best in you
Maybe you’ve put the effort in and gained some qualification or skill you needed to become the you that you wanted to be.
Most of us don’t realise how much we have evolved or how much we could evolve if we took on a more conscious approach.
The Challenge programme introduction
Listen to it as you read on.
Get the Challenge here
You can find an overview of exercises video at the end –
Challenges work
A 12-week challenge is not a new thing. 12 weeks is a proven timescale that has worked for millions of people. Bill Phillips Body for Life is a great example where thousands of people have made a difference by working through a challenge together.
Our take on the Body for Life results is that many people were able to achieve the body they never knew they could have in just 12 weeks of focussed effort.
People from all walks of life in all circumstances have transformed their worlds in 12 weeks. They have changed things they thought they could change and some things they thought were fixed fixtures of their life. With focus we all have the power to change in a short space of time. Fitter, stronger, slimmer, richer, you name it you can make a change in a short space of focussed activity.
See the video results from one of Bill Phillip’s annual challenges here
Focus gets results.
This challenge is about aiming a short burst of focussed activity at making a change to the amount of distraction you experience internally. It’s a good place to start if you want to make some real changes in any other part of your life. Once the Monkey is onside everything is easier. A reduction in distraction enable you to focus more effectively and an on side Aligned monkey will provide more power, energy and know how to get the job done.
Future challenges become easier because reduced distraction allows you to focus where you chose more effectively.
Elsewhere we have talked extensively about the cause of all internal distraction, that Monkey voice inside you that interrupts what you are doing and can lead you astray.
This challenge is designed to minimise distraction by changing the nature of the relationship with your Monkey to:
- Reduce the level of the interruptions
- Change the focus of the interruptions from negative to positive
- Improve the timing of the interruption
Challenge Formats
- Good challenges have clear measures in place they let you see changes you have achieved in real time and also allow you to demonstrate results at the end of the challenge period. These are a before and after snap shot and all good challenges have some sort of log that allows you to record progress.
- Good challenges have a fixed start and end point with a set duration.
- Good challenges provide a clear path to follow for their duration
This challenge guide provides you with these three key requirements and will in future add in the benefit of a community where you can share progress, hints, tips and encouragement. The relationship survey gives you those all important Before, During and After measurements that will let you see your progress and power you all the way through to the end of the challenge.
We are also creating a Facebook group to share challenge experiences here
Your Monkey
When we start out on a challenge, we need to know the basic parameters or assumptions. For some challenges the basics are obvious and reflect how we believe the thing works:
- To become richer we spend less, make more or both.
- To become thinner we eat less, move more or both
With respect to the Monkey most of us have just accepted the inevitability of the voice in our head. We accept the nature and timing of the interruptions and assume we have to put up with it.
For this challenge we adopt five new assumptions covered in more detail in our book the Misaligned Monkey.
- The Monkey is really trying to help
- The Monkey doesn’t know how to help
- The Monkey can be reasoned with
- Forming a new partnership will materially affect the nature timing and impact of the interruptions.
- We can turn the existing distraction into a positive force to help us
Just as we accept that we can be richer by spending less and / or earning more we accept the possibility of changing the level of internal distraction through building a better relationship with its cause. All distraction is ultimately internal, after all whatever happens outside only becomes a distraction or interruption if we build on it internally. By forming a working partnership with the root cause of all your internal distraction- your Monkey – you can significantly change your experience and performance in any sphere of interest.
Get the Challenge here
Change exercise overview
Links