13 Things I learned on a 30 Day Challenge

This is post #30 from the 30 Day Personal Finance Challenge: Boost Your Financial Health with a Daily Tip

Horray Horray, it’s Challenge Completion Day!

Exactly 30 days I ago I started the Personal Finance Challenge! On one side, I was challenging you to put in shape your finances. On the other side, it was for myself to force me to write a blog post a day.

I had no idea how I was going to pull it off with a full-time job but I went for it anyways. – Kate App

Today’s tip for you is to set yourself for a challenge! You know best what is the ONE THING you have been procrastinating or wishing to do, but you never had the time for. You know what you need to do.

Commit yourself to the goal, and see how it works for 30 days in a row! I promise, it won’t be easy but you will learn tons about yourself.

My learnings

In the meanwhile, here are my learnings from the last 30 days:

Time management

1. I don’t need a whole day to write a post! I cut the time to approximately 90 min! For the first 4 posts in the blog, I needed special preparations and a dozen of rituals to sit and write. Now that I was under time pressure, I had to cut the crap and write the post – no excuses and no distractions.
2. I actually have a lot of free time! The challenge gave me focus and I started evaluating the events and commitments I was giving my time to. I cancelled many social events, but kept my gym and sauna sessions – so good!
3. You know these weeks or days which are gone and you don’t even know what you did? Well, with a challenge, the time feels much richer and when you look back, there’s something to be proud of.

New skills

1. I became a semi-pro designer using Canva – the online platform which democratizes design. Most of my blog header pictures are made with Canva.
2. I write much better, grammatically correct texts, thanks to Grammarly – the world’s most accurate grammar checker.
3. I learned how to boost a post on Facebook.
4. I learnt how to embed a Pinterest board in a blog post – see the result: How Pinterest Will Help You Make Your Dreams Come True.

Productivity

1. I experienced and learned tons of productivity hacks at a Productivity Day. If you happen to be in Berlin, Germany, it’s a MUST! This day I wrote 5 blog post drafts and put together a blog promotion strategy.
2. I developed an effective blog post workflow – 6 steps to publish the blog post + 2 more steps to share it on the EyesOnTheGoal Facebook page.

Discoveries

1. I discovered the Side Hustle School podcast, for everyone who wants to create a new source of income without quitting their day job.
2. I discovered Brain.fm – advanced AI music composer to boost mental performance. It is amazing for focusing and getting things done.
3. The beginning is the hardest. After the 3rd day, everything becomes easier. I had a major meltdown on day 1. I reminded myself that this was supposed to be fun, and I chilled out. Which immediately made me capable of sitting down and writing again.
4. I absolutely need to get my 7 hours of sleep a night.

Conclusion

This challenge was a crash course in blogging for me. I absolutely loved it! I have quite some few personal finance topics lined up. This is just the beginning. Stay tuned to some more advanced money stuff!

I want to thank all of you who supported me, read and shared the posts!

You guys are awesome!

I hope you are having as much fun as I do and I am glad we are together on the road to financial freedom.

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Photo by Maxime Bhm on Unsplash
Header made with Canva