10 Lessons from Doing the 100 Day Challenge

I finally completed my 100-day challenge three days ago, which was publishing a blog post every day for 100 days.

I can’t believe I actually finished the challenge, but here I am.

Depending on your perspective, 100 days can be long or short.

Putting it in perspective of our lifetime, 100 days is nothing, right?

It’s almost too embarrassing to make such a big deal out of the 100-day challenge over the course of an 80+-years lifespan.

But boy, wasn’t it long? Ha.

80% of the time, I enjoyed it.

Then there was 20% of the time when I fought the temptation to skip it.

No one would notice it. No one would care. Why are you doing this to yourself?

The barrage of thoughts enticed me to ignore my self-imposed obligation and just… hide.

The entire challenge was a battleground between me and myself.

(Isn’t that always?)

I’m proud I fought back, all the way, against the wicked side of me, even if, on those days, I settled for a very thin content.

So, reflecting on the time I spent, here are 10 lessons from doing the 100-day challenge.

10 Lessons from Doing the 100-Day Challenge

1. Time doesn’t Care

I got super conscious of time.

Not only does time go fast, it’s also indiscriminate.

Whether I was ready to publish a blog post or not, the time ticked away.

Time is impersonal and deeply uncaring unless I make it personal and care enough to do something meaningful instead of wasting it away.

Without a self-imposed challenge, though, I wouldn’t have been so conscious of time every single day!

2. Bah… to Clarity in Thinking

So if you read my blog post about this challenge, you know what I wanted out of this challenge.

I wanted to get clarity in my thinking because my thoughts used to get all jumbled up.

I’d write 4000+ words when 1000 words are too many, for example.

After 100 days, I can’t say I’ve improved much on this (sadly).

Now I’ve learned that I need more practice than 100 days.

Bah…!

3. Feedback on the Quality of the Writing

Not long before starting this challenge, someone rated my writing a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 with the comment “very poor.”

Even though I knew I wasn’t good at writing, it was still quite a blow, not to my ego, mind you (I knew I wasn’t good!) but to my blogging plan.

The same day, someone else said, “…an 8 or 9 out of 10.” “It is very well written.”

That restored my faith. Ha.

I was eternally grateful for the encouraging comments.

I also thanked the person for his critical comments, which had stopped me in my tracks for a few split seconds.

But I knew then that no matter what, I wouldn’t give up.

4. My Naivety

One thing in common among a few blogger and writers I admire is that they’ve been writing for what seems like forever.

Some majored in creative writing and worked as writers in publishing and marketing.

They’ve learned and honed their skills for years.

Expecting miraculous improvement after 100 days of writing?

I was naïve.

Sure, we always hear and read about outliers who do exceptionally well in a short time.

But I will not use that as an excuse to give up.

5. Difficult Things are More Useful

I’m not saying writing is the most difficult thing in life, because it’s definitely not.

But I found it tough to write good enough content to publish every day.

I also realised that that’s probably why it’s a useful skill to develop.

I mean, the most valuable and worthy things are difficult to master, right?

If you aim for something easy, all you are doing is ego-stroking like a 6’2″ dude playing basketball against a midget, chest thumping after winning on a slam dunk.

So I’d choose difficult things over easy things any day so I could become more useful and valuable.

6. The 100-Day Challenge is a Fast Lane to Habit Formation

You might think 100 days isn’t exactly fast.

But think of it this way:

If you start a challenge with no deadline, you’ll most likely give up.

So you set out to run every day? You’ll probably give up after a day or 10 days.

Now, change it to run every day for the next 30 days or 100 days.

You have a better chance of seeing it through.

No matter how good your intentions are or what ideal results you’re visualising, it’s easy to give up on a goal without a deadline.

100 days may seem long, but it’s very effective in forming habits as you see the end getting closer each day and therefore less likely to give up.

For this reason, I frequently do 30-day challenges, starting at the beginning of the month.

Lots of them have become habits now.

Oh, I have a Google calendar printed out right where I can see every day.

I’d drawn five stars in blue pen each day after publishing a blog post during my 100-Day Challenge.

Seeing lots of blue stars had motivated me to keep going.

7. Privilege

Some days were tough.

A few times, I published a blog post at 11:30 p.m., nearly missing it.

To combat this, I tried to remind myself that it’s a privilege to do what I’m passionate about.

I’m genuinely grateful to live in the present, the most peaceful and technologically advanced time in history, where information and opportunities are abundant.

There’s no time to complain about anything, that’s for sure.

8. Why Not?

If you’ve been thinking about starting something but you’re holding yourself back, tell yourself, “Why not?” and just do it.

I could have given up when I got a 4 out of 10 on my writing or when comparing myself to successful bloggers or writers.

But you know, the life journey we’re on isn’t about how to be better than someone out there.

It’s about finding what you are passionate about and becoming the best you possibly can.

It’s also the fairest game you’ll ever play.

Think about it.

When you focus on getting better than yesterday, your only true competitor is you.

And the best thing about it?

You already know everything about you.

It can’t get any fairer than that, right?

So remember, it’s only you against you; tell yourself, “Why not?” and just do it.

9. It’s Only the Beginning

There was a time when I couldn’t wait for my 100-Day Challenge to be over. I’m only human. Ha!

But as I was approaching the end of the challenge, I decided to continue to write every day while publishing it less frequently.

I realised that it’s the only way to improve.

So it turned out that my 100-Day Challenge was only the beginning.

10. Happiest Moment

Here’s the happiest moment of my 100 days of publishing a blog post every day:

I remember uttering “wow” and smiling a big smile… when I saw someone buy a book from my recommendation for the first time!

This book literally changed my life, and I was SO happy for my reader.

Since then, many more people have bought the same book.

I REALLY hope the positive things (that happened to me) happen to everyone who bought it.

I’ve lived with an inferiority complex for as long as I could remember, which has catastrophically affected every area of my life… until this book!

Around the same time, I also started using One Powerful Mantra and added more positive affirmations to my daily routine.

If you’re carrying similar baggage like I am, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Another book I wish I’d read much sooner (and if you want to master your finances), read this.

Both are dirt cheap.

Yet, it’ll be your best investment ever.

You can read all my book reviews here.

I’m so behind on writing my book reviews; I’ve read tons but haven’t got around to it yet. Make sure you check back, as I’ll be adding more book reviews.

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Final Thoughts

I’m happy I’ve completed my 100 day challenge, publishing a blog post daily, and kept a promise I made to myself.

My writing may not have improved in leaps and bounds, but even with minuscule improvement, it’s progress.

And that means my present-self has won my past-self (yay!).

It’s a pivotal part of personal growth, focusing on continuous improvement, not delayed perfection.

My Favourite Writing Tools

Grammarly (Free) – a great writing tool. Help you with spelling and grammar errors. It’s SO worth it even if all you do is writing an email or on social media.

BlueHost – get a super easy and reliable hosting plan from BlueHost. They also give you a free domain name for one year. Sign up here and start your blog in a few minutes.

Namecheap – get a dirt-cheap domain name if you change your mind and fancy a new domain name later (like I did).

Tailwind – an absolute must-have for Pinterest to schedule hundreds and thousands of pins and save tons of time. Sign up here and get one month free!

Mailerlite – another must-have to create email marketing campaigns: sign up forms, landing pages, surveys and so on; free up to 1,000 subscribers.

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