The year is almost over and I feel really inspired to take the reins and do something epic. Why now? I’ve been spending a lot of time during quarantine reading personal development books instead of watching shows. Some of the standout books include: Atomic Habits by James Clear, 131 Method by Chalene Johnson, and Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo.

It’s not only books— I finished reading all of the daily blog entries from Cassey Ho’s 90-day challenge, listening to personal development podcasts like Goal Digger by Jenna Kutcher, The Chalene Show by Chalene Johnson, and Optimal Living Daily by Justin Malik.

These resources have ignited my desire to end the year with a bang. There are roughly 3 months (90 days) left in the year. This is plenty of time to start a challenge! My birthday is on New Year’s Day and I would like to start my birthday on a high note. Two years ago, I did a similar challenge where I spent 6-weeks working out and eating well. Sadly, I wasn’t very happy during those 6-weeks due to the restrictive nature of the program. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the results, but I just didn’t enjoy the process. This time around, I want to develop habits that I can bring into a lifelong practice and I also enjoy ending the year doing something for myself.

So what am I going to do? Cassey’s 90-day challenge is the closest to what I’m hoping to implement towards the end of the year. In her challenge, she focused on blogging daily, dancing more, weekly self-care, and improving her health and fitness. I mean, who doesn’t want more of that in their life? She was even dancing more. It’s almost like Cassey laid a framework for me.

She included a ton of daily tracking to stay accountable and have a data-informed way to monitor her performance such as water intake, activity, mood, sleep, and meals. Seems like a lot right? It’s actually not a major jump for me. I’ve already been tracking the following:

1. Water intake
2. Meals and snacks
3. Daily mood
4. Daily wake time
5. Apple watch

I’ve witnessed the benefits that these habits have had on my mood and wellbeing. Now I’m ready to take it to the next level!

For this new journey I’ll start tracking the following:

1. Dancing
2. Daily blog post or social media post
3. More detailed food tracking and meal planning
4. Number of hours slept

Some of the previous things I was habit tracking have graduated into full-fledged habits. With wearing my apple watch for instance… I’ve been tracking this daily for the past few months and have been really consistent with it. So I feel comfortable removing it from my habit tracker in order to introduce and develop new habits.

Here’s a breakdown of everything I’ll be doing.

DAILY

1. Gratitude journal – remember to be thankful and stay positive
2. Meal logging – this habit will help me understand what foods are the best for me. What foods are highly inflammatory? Which ones make me feel great and have sustained energy. I already track my meals but I haven’t been paying attention to the way my body reacts to specific foods.
3. Rollover health habits – Water intake, daily mood, and hours slept (instead of daily wake time). For the most part, I already track the three things. I used to track wake time, but I feel that I might be sleep schedule has been out of whack. Some nights I wake up in the middle of the night and it’s very disruptive. I think tracking hours slept will help me reset and determine new target my wake and sleep times.
4. Blog post or social media post – This might seem excessive, but I want to have a daily accountability check and diary of the process. Blogging is like journaling. I think it will be a bit therapeutic to go on this journey. I was really inspired by Cassey’s casual approach to her blog check-ins. I’m not sure if I want to include or substitute shorter social media posts like Instagram stories or reels for blogs. For now, I’d accept either to accomplish this daily habit.Bonus benefit: some blog posts can be repurposed for Youtube, Podcasts, TikTok, or Instagram. They would be a guide, list, or template for other purposes. Plus, I get to practice writing!
5. Dance – Finally, this daily habit that is a bit of an oddball. It’s not your everyday habit. I’m adding this in because I love dancing. I’m happier when I dance and it’s great cardio. Some of the routines are quite challenging which helps build my stamina, memory, and cognitive abilities.

That about sums up my 90-day goals.
Today is September 21 and that will set my last day of this journey on December 21.

If you started a 90-day journey what would yours include? Let me know!