Try something new for 30 days - Matt Cutts
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares his transformative experience with 30-day challenges, inspired by Morgan Spurlock. He discovered that dedicating a month to new habits made time more memorable and boosted his self-confidence. From daily photography to biking for fun and even conquering Mount Kilimanjaro, he learned that persistence and small, sustainable changes lead to lasting impacts. He encourages the audience to seize the next 30 days to try something new, emphasizing the power of short-term commitments to long-term goals.
Takeaways
- 🔄 Embracing change: The speaker highlights the idea of trying something new for 30 days to break out of a rut.
- 📅 Time significance: 30 days is identified as a manageable period to establish or eliminate a habit.
- 📸 Memory enhancement: Taking a daily photo for a month made the time more memorable and provided a clear recollection of specific days.
- 🚴♂️ Boosting self-confidence: Engaging in 30-day challenges led to a noticeable increase in self-confidence, transforming the speaker's lifestyle.
- 🏔️ Overcoming limits: The speaker's adventurous spirit was ignited, culminating in hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, a feat not previously imagined.
- 💡 Desire to achieve: The importance of desire is underscored, suggesting that with enough motivation, one can accomplish anything for 30 days.
- ✍️ Novel writing example: Writing a novel in a month is achievable by committing to a daily word count, as demonstrated by the speaker's experience.
- 🌙 Sacrifice for success: The secret to completing the novel was staying up late to meet the daily writing goal, even at the cost of sleep.
- 🎨 Creativity in identity: Completing the novel allowed the speaker to identify as a novelist, showcasing the power of creative achievement.
- 🍬 Temporary vs. sustainable: The speaker learned that while big challenges are fun, small, sustainable changes are more likely to persist.
- 🛑 The rebound effect: Giving up sugar for 30 days was successful, but the challenge was to maintain the change beyond the 30-day period.
- 🏃♂️ Call to action: The speaker encourages the audience to seize the next 30 days to try something they've always wanted to do.
Q & A
What inspired the speaker to start the 30-day challenges?
-The speaker was inspired by the Great American philosopher Morgan Spurlock, who encouraged trying something new for 30 days.
Why is 30 days considered the right amount of time to add or subtract a habit?
-Thirty days is believed to be just about the right amount of time to establish a new habit or eliminate an existing one, as it is long enough to see progress but not too long to be overwhelming.
How did the speaker's perception of time change after starting the 30-day challenges?
-The speaker found that instead of months flying by and being forgotten, the time became more memorable, especially when taking a picture every day for a month.
What impact did the 30-day challenges have on the speaker's self-confidence?
-The 30-day challenges helped the speaker's self-confidence to grow, transforming him from a computer nerd to someone who enjoys biking to work and even hiking up Mount Kilimanjaro.
What is the significance of writing sixteen hundred and sixty-seven words a day to complete a novel in 30 days?
-Writing 1,667 words a day for 30 days is the strategy used by tens of thousands of people during November to write a 50,000-word novel from scratch, which is the basis of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
What advice does the speaker give for successfully completing a 30-day challenge?
-The speaker suggests that if you really want something badly enough, you can do it for 30 days, and for writing a novel, the secret is not to go to sleep until you've written your words for the day.
What was the outcome of the speaker's attempt to write a novel in a month?
-The speaker successfully wrote a novel in a month, calling it 'The Next Great American Novel,' but admitted that it was awful.
How does the speaker feel about his new identity as a novelist?
-The speaker feels empowered by his new identity as a novelist, as it allows him to present himself differently in social situations, such as at a Ted party.
What did the speaker learn about making small, sustainable changes during his 30-day challenges?
-The speaker learned that small, sustainable changes are more likely to stick compared to big, crazy challenges, which can be fun but less likely to become long-term habits.
What is the speaker's final question to the audience, and what is its purpose?
-The speaker's final question is 'What are you waiting for?', encouraging the audience to take action and try something new for the next 30 days, as time will pass regardless.
Outlines
🚀 Embracing New Challenges for 30 Days
The speaker begins by expressing gratitude and sharing their personal journey of breaking out of a rut by undertaking new challenges for 30 days, inspired by the American filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. The concept revolves around trying to incorporate a new habit or eliminate an existing one, such as news watching, within a month. The speaker discovered that this period is ideal for habit formation. They reflect on the increased memorability of time through daily activities like photography and the growth in self-confidence resulting from these challenges, transitioning from a computer nerd to an adventurous individual who enjoys biking to work and even climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The narrative emphasizes the power of determination and the feasibility of achieving goals within 30 days, as illustrated by the example of National Novel Writing Month, where participants aim to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days by writing a set number of words daily.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡30-day challenges
💡self-confidence
💡new habit
💡subtract a habit
💡Morgan Spurlock
💡Mount Kilimanjaro
💡writing a novel
💡sustainable changes
💡memorable
💡novelty
💡John Hodgman
Highlights
The speaker was once stuck in a rut and decided to try something new for 30 days, inspired by Morgan Spurlock.
The 30-day challenge concept is to add or subtract a habit within a month, which is believed to be enough time to form a new habit.
The speaker found that time became more memorable when engaging in 30-day challenges, such as taking a daily picture for a month.
Participating in more challenging 30-day challenges led to a noticeable increase in the speaker's self-confidence.
The speaker transformed from a computer nerd to an adventurous person who enjoys biking to work and even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
The speaker discovered that with enough desire, one can achieve anything for 30 days, exemplified by writing a novel in a month.
The secret to writing a novel in 30 days is to write 1,667 words daily and not go to sleep until the task is completed.
The speaker humorously admits that the novel written in a month is not great but serves as a conversation piece at parties.
Small, sustainable changes are more likely to stick compared to big, crazy challenges, which are less likely to be maintained.
The speaker humorously describes the immediate return to old habits after giving up sugar for 30 days.
The speaker encourages the audience to take advantage of the inevitable passing of the next 30 days to try something new.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of starting a 30-day challenge with something one has always wanted to do.
The transcript showcases the transformative power of committing to a 30-day challenge for personal growth and habit formation.
The speaker's personal anecdotes provide a relatable and motivational narrative for the audience to consider their own potential 30-day challenges.
The transcript highlights the psychological impact of 30-day challenges on self-confidence and the ability to overcome perceived limitations.
The speaker's experience with writing a novel in 30 days demonstrates the feasibility of large goals when broken down into daily tasks.
The transcript concludes with a call to action for the audience to reflect on their desires and take steps towards achieving them within the next 30 days.
Transcripts
thank you
a few years ago I felt like I was stuck
in a rut
so I decided to follow in the footsteps
of the Great American philosopher Morgan
Spurlock and try something new for 30
days
the idea is actually pretty simple think
about something you've always wanted to
add to your life and try it for the next
30 days
it turns out 30 days is just about the
right amount of time to add a new habit
or subtract a habit like watching the
news from your life
there's a few things that I learned
while doing these 30-day challenges
the first was instead of the months
flying by forgotten the time was much
more memorable
this was part of a challenge I did to
take a picture every day for a month and
I remember exactly where I was and what
I was doing that day
I also noticed that as I started to do
more and harder 30-day challenges my
self-confidence grew I went from Death
dwelling computer nerd to the kind of
guy who bikes to work
for fun
even last year I ended up hiking up
Mount Kilimanjaro the highest mountain
in Africa I would never have been that
adventurous before I started my 30-day
challenges
I also figured out that if you really
want something badly enough
you can do anything for 30 days
have you ever wanted to write a novel
every November tens of thousands of
people try to write their own fifty
thousand word novel from scratch in 30
days
it turns out all you have to do is write
sixteen hundred and sixty seven words a
day for a month
so I did by the way the secret is not to
go to sleep until you've written your
words for the day
you might be sleep deprived but you'll
finish your novel
now is my book The Next Great American
novel
no I wrote it in a month it's awful
but for the rest of my life if I meet
John Hodgman at a Ted party I don't have
to say
I'm a computer scientist no no if I want
to I can say I'm a novelist
so here's one last thing I'd like to
mention I learned that when I made small
sustainable changes things I could keep
doing they were more likely to stick
there's nothing wrong with big crazy
challenges in fact they're a ton of fun
but they're less likely to stick
when I gave up sugar for 30 days
day 31 looked like this
so here's my question to you
what are you waiting for I guarantee you
the next 30 days are going to pass
whether you like it or not
so why not think about something you
have always wanted to try
and give it a shot
for the next 30 days
thanks
foreign
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