Lastly, there is a fundamental mismatch between the way our brains are wired and this behavior of exposing yourself to stimuli with intermittent rewards throughout all of your waking hours. It is one thing to spend a couple hours at a slot machine in Las Vegas, but if you bring the slot machine home with you and you pull that handle all day long from when you wake up to when you go to bed, there are adverse consequences. We are not wired for it.  It short circuits the brain and we are finding that it has actual cognitive consequences; one of them being the pervasive background hum of anxiety. 

If you talk to mental health experts on college campuses they will tell you that along with the rise in ubiquitous smartphone use and social media use on the college campus, came an explosion of anxiety related disorders on those campuses” (Dr. Cal Newport, Tedx, https://youtu.be/3E7hkPZ-HTk).

So what is the solution? If you find yourself spending too much time on social media how do you take a break? Quitting cold turkey is not the answer. Start instead, by cleaning up your newsfeed. Scroll through Facebook and Instagram and ask yourself: did that scroll make you feel better or worse off? If your answer is better, that’s completely fine! If it is worse then unfollow those people’s posts that make you feel that way.

30 Day Challenge Day 19 of 30

Start A Journal

Now you’re thinking I’m crazy but bear with me. If your life is worth living it’s worth recording. Start writing notes in a notebook or in a google drive document about what you have learned today, this week or this year. Reflect on your past and your current challenges and successes and you’ll find your entries as valuable resources to look back on in the future when you are going through tough times. Write about the good and the bad! It all will be useful down the road. 

30 Day Challenge Day 18 of 30

what are you grateful for?

What is the first thing that you do when you wake up? Do you reach for your phone and check facebook, instagram, or email? How does that make you feel?
When you start your morning by looking at your phone before you’ve even gotten out of bed, something happens that changes your outlook on the day. It no longer becomes you writing your own show, creating your own story, living your own life. Instead, it becomes you reacting to someone else’s show, especially if you check social media first thing in the morning. Instead of looking at what you have and how lucky and grateful you are to be where you are, social media promotes a different biochemical response in all of us.
This biochemical difference is what makes us look at other peoples perfect pictures online and feel like we are missing out. It makes us focus on what we don’t have instead of being grateful for what we do have.
The key to happiness and fulfillment is plain and simple: be grateful for what you have and find ways to give to and help others. So for the next 12 days try something different. Instead of checking your phone first thing in the morning take that same 5 minutes to Write down 3 things that you are grateful for each morning. They can be 3 experiences from the past that have changed your life for the better. Is there a person in your life that you are grateful for? Is there a certain toy, car or object that you are grateful for? Is it a certain life experience? A vacation, adventure, job or skill that you have developed? 
Now sit up in your chair, close your eyes for 5 minutes, take 10 deep breaths and think about those 3 things that you are grateful for. Think about them in detail, step into the moment as if you were there again at that peak moment and feel what it feels like to be grateful. After 5 minutes is up reflect on what you are feeling and write it down in a journal.

30 Day Challenge Day 17 of 30

Start Planning an adventure!

Is it your dream to travel around the world!? Do you have a friend that feels the same way but you don’t think you can afford it? Well the good news is you can if you start saving! Start planning and saving now! Planning a trip is half the fun and with new tools like google flights you’ll be amazed where you can travel if you save that $5 you spend at Starbucks every morning. $5 a day can get you on a beach in paradise within 6 months! Start planning your adventure today! These pictures are from a trip I took with my best friend to hike the Grand Canyon and Angels Landing in Zion National Park. It was an incredible experience! There is so much to see in this world you just have to go see it!
Even if you can’t travel somewhere you can still experience adventure all around you! What can you notice today on your way to work or school that you haven’t noticed before? Look out the window what’s out there that you may have taken for granted? Nature’s beauty is all around us and all of it is break taking. Take a moment to stop and smell the roses. Notice something you’ve missed on your normal routine and continue to seek out adventure even In a picture or and let your imagination run wild!

30 Day Challenge Day 16 of 30

Start reading a book

There are books out there on every topic! Find a topic that you are passionate about and read about that. This also won’t take any extra time. Just change up your routine slightly. Instead of falling asleep in front of the T.V. replace 10 minutes while you’re laying in bed to read. If you really have trouble reading then listen to audiobooks while you work out or are commuting to and from work or school. Here’s a list of a few great books to get started:
1) The Charge by Brendon Burchard 
2) Start With Why by Simon Sinek
3) The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
4) Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg
5) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
6) How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 
7) Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl 
8) The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
9) Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
10) The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
11) Unlimited Power By Tony Robbins
12) Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

30 Day Challenge Day 15 of 30

Ask yourself empowering questions

Are you having a rough day!? Well let me help you turn that around in 30 seconds! We can make our selves feel any feeling at any moment in time no matter what. We can go from feeling sad and depressed and lonely to feeling ecstatic, loved and appreciated in one second! We can go from being totally stressed out to being totally relaxed in a second! We can even go from being lazy and sluggish to motivated, driven and ready to tackle the world in one second! How? It’s all about mastering this thing between your ears called your brain! The quickest way to do this is by using Empowering questions! We are constantly asking and answering questions in our mind every minute of every day. Do you ask yourself empowering or dis-empowering questions? 
Do you constantly ask: “Why do I have to go to work/school today” Or do you ask yourself: “How can I make today a great day” Ask and you shall receive! Change the quality of the questions you ask yourself and you’ll change your life. 
How can I make today a great day?
How can I make this better?
What can I learn from this?
How can I get this project done and ENJOY the process?
What is one thing that I am looking forward to today/this week?
Who’s day can I make better today because I was a part of it?
What am I excited about?
What/who am I grateful for?

30 Day Challenge Day 14 of 30

set a fitness goal

Have you always wanted to complete a 5k? A Half marathon? A Full marathon? Well what are you waiting for? Now is the time to act! Click HERE:
https://www.active.com. 
https://runningintheusa.com 
to find a race near you. Find one and recruit a friend or family member to sign up for it with you! Commit yourself to this and give yourself adequate time to prepare. Schedule one month out and you’ll be surprised where you can go. I went from off the couch to a half marathon in 6 weeks! If I can do that you can to! Message me if you need a training guide and I can point you in the right direction. 

30 Day Challenge Day 13 of 30

Turn off all social media notifications!

One of the toughest challenges yet! But by far the most stress relieving! Turn off all of your social media notifications on your phone and laptop. I understand that this is a huge leap but it will significantly lower your daily stress level. Your phone won’t be buzzing every single second of the day and you’ll be less apt to check it and more focused on the activity your working on. You’ll spend less time worrying about what others are doing and more time living in and enjoying the moment! Test this out it is super easy to disable the notifications just go to your phone settings, notifications, then find the app you want to disable notifications for and do it! Comment and follow below and let us know how its going! 

30 Day Challenge Day 12 of 30

Phone time Awareness

Building on yesterday’s progress, Consider how often you check your phone. Next time you get a text message time yourself how long it takes you from the moment it buzzes, to the time you have responded and put it back down and resumed your previous activity. For me this was on average 2-3 minutes. Those minutes quickly added up! So I decided to leave all my texts, notifications and e-mails alone until certain times of the day. I check and reply to them at 8am, 12noon, and 5pm. That way I have scheduled time to focus on those activities instead of them interrupting me during the work or school day and I have been much much more efficient with my time. 
So come up with few activities that you can replace screen time with. If you had an extra 3 hours of your day back each day how would that impact your relationships with your wife, your friends, your family or your children? How could you use that time to get into better physical shape? Learn something new?

30 Day Challenge Day 11 of 30

Live your dreams instead of watching other people live theirs!

I was an avid binge watcher on Netflix in college. Watching television shows and movies would inspire my mind to think about doing things that I saw on that screen one day but I never took action towards those desires. I just told myself that I didn’t have enough time or it couldn’t be done. When, in reality, I would have enough time if I stopped spending 3-4 sometimes 6 hours per day in front of my laptop or the television screen! If I instead replaced those hours with books and podcasts to get educated on the things that I wanted to achieve my bounds would truly be limitless. About how much time each day do you spend watching television? Now add that up per week? Per month? Per year!? How about playing video games? Drinking heavily? Stopping a productive activity to have a smoke break? What else could you be doing with that time? Learning a new skill, planning an adventure, surprising a loved one, calling a friend, going on a walk, working out, reading, unplugging and truly relaxing, playing a board game with a friend, volunteering at a food shelter, playing with puppies at a pet shelter, seeking out a mentor, going on a drive, playing a sport, the options are endless! 

30 Day Challenge Day 10 of 30

Don’t click the snooze button!!

Exercise is so important because it is time you set aside for yourself. It allows you 20 minutes to prepare for your day, clear your head and think about what is most important to you. Do you want to exercise but you just can’t get out of bed each morning early enough to do so? Well let me show you how! 
Try these four simple steps to get your day started:
1) Set your alarm for the exact same time every morning M-F. This will train your body to get into a routine. It may seem difficult at first but after two weeks it will be so much easier to get out of bed!
2) Put your cell phone/Alarm across the room on a dresser so that you have to get out of bed in order to turn it off.
3) Put your workout shoes and clothes right next to your bed so that you literally step on them when you wake up to turn off your alarm. This will reinforce the idea of going to work out and all of your stuff needed will be right there so you will have no excuse about wasting time getting everything together.
4) Reward yourself for getting up and working out! Is there a certain food that you love to eat in the mornings? For me it was cinnamon sugar granola mixed into Greek yogurt with fruit. On the days that I got out of bed to work out I always rewarded myself with that treat as part of my breakfast. The KEY here is to reward yourself ONLY when you get up and workout. When you don’t, then don’t let yourself have the reward. That’s one extra thing that will continue to entice you to get up and out of bed every morning.

30 Day Challenge Day 9 of 30

instead of scrolling through pictures of puppies on Instagram, Volunteer to walk a real dog at a local pet shelter!

Instead of scrolling through pictures of puppies on Instagram for an hour, go to a local dog shelter today and volunteer to walk a real dog! It will take the exact same amount of time, no extra monetary costs and you will get 10 times the enjoyment out of it! You will be giving back to your community, exercising, meeting someone new and best of all you get to play with a real dog instead of just looking at pictures of them! If you don’t live near a shelter is there a neighbor with a dog who could use your help walking it? Click HERE: https://www.petfinder.com/animal-shelters-and-rescues/search/ 
to find a dog shelter near you!

30 Day Challenge Day 8 of 30

Learn something new!

Have you always wanted to learn a new language?
To learn how to cook a favorite dish?
To learn how to play a certain sport or instrument? To learn about a certain country or period in history? What better time than now to go for it! This activity will require no extra time. If its learning a new language buy the audio tapes (or check them out from your library) and listen to them on your daily commute to/from work or school or while you’re working out. If it’s reading about a new topic or learning a new skill then substitute the first 15 minutes of T.V. time tonight to learning how starting that activity. Buy the book, research the topic, find out how you can get started! 

30 Day Challenge Day 7 of 30

Be Spontaneous! Surprise a friend or SIGNIFICANT other

Be spontaneous! If you’ve got a friend or significant other in your life surprise them today by doing something spontaneous with them!
-Take them out to dinner
-on a picnic (keep it simple grab Potbellys and a blanket and go to a nearby park)
-go see a movie
-rent a fancy hotel for the weekend in the city to escape the daily rush -go to the zoo, a museum, art gallery, aquarium, street festival -go see a play, comedy show, symphony -go ice skating
-go see an outdoor concert
-reenact your first date
-go camping -get dressed up and go to a super fancy restaurant for fun (if you don’t order alcohol meals are often more reasonable)
-go skiing -go on a helicopter ride (check Groupon its cheaper than you think)
-plan a vacation
-sit on a park bench and stare at the city lights -enjoy nature go on a hike -sip and paint -play a board game

30 Day Challenge Day 6 of 30

Exercise for 20 minutes today!

Do you feel tired and like you’re barely making it through the day!? Do you constantly watch the clock until it strikes 5pm so you can race home pop on Netflix and veg out? The KEY to having more energy, more vibrancy and more vitality is to take at a minimum 20 minutes per day to exercise. We all can improve our physical health by exercising as little as 20 minutes per day. Before you come up with excuses let me make it clear that EVERYONE has 20 minutes. Think about how much time it takes you to send a text message? 2-3 minutes from the time you pick up your phone until you put it back down and resume your previous activity. So if you feel overloaded just leave 10 text messages to answer later.
-Start with your daily pushups your age plus one.
-Then go for sit ups your age plus one -and get a mile in each day! 
Enjoy the process!

30 Day Challenge Day 5 of 30

How Can you make one person’s day better because you were a part of it?

Every day I ask myself how can I make one person’s day better because I was a part of it? This resulted in a huge mental shift because I was no longer thinking about myself, I was thinking about others and how I could help those around me. When you start doing good for others others will do good onto you. It all comes full circle! So I challenge you to do the same! This could be as simple as holding the door open for a stranger, sending a letter in the mail to a friend, surprising a loved one with flowers or chocolates, or volunteering at a local food shelter. Let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out!

30 Day Challenge Day 4 of 30

No phones at dinner

Next time you have dinner with friends or family leave your cell Phone in the car, in another room or keep it in your pocket the whole time. Make a rule with whoever you’re having dinner with to do the same! Put all the cell phones in a basket in the corner of the table and don’t touch them until after your meal is complete. Focus on connecting with those around you! You’re out to dinner because you want to spend time with that person so make it quality time! Don’t be distracted by your phone. 

30 Day Challenge Day 3 of 30

Physical Fitness

Physical Fitness is where this transformation ultimately begins! So i will show you some quick tips of how to jump out of bed every morning and exercise. I’ll expand on this each week but to start, when your alarm goes off get out of bed and do your age plus one in push-ups or sit-ups and BREATHE deeply while doing them. This takes less than 3 minutes and it will wake you up much better than a cup of coffee. 

30 Day Challenge Day 2 of 30

Call a friend that you haven’t talked to in the past 6 months

Don’t text! Actually pick up the phone and call then or have some fun with it and FaceTime them! Keep it simple just call and say “Hey just calling to check in, I haven’t talked to you in forever how have you been?” Comment below and let us know how it goes! 

Day one of our 30 day challenge!

Keep Your Phone in Your Pocket For The First 15 Minutes You Are Out With Friends

Simple: if you’re going out for dinner or drinks with friends tonight put your phone in your pocket for the first 15 minutes and resist all temptation to pull it out for at least 15 minutes! You’ll be amazed at what you notice, how much more attentive you are to the conversations and how much more connected you’ll feel to your friends! Give it a try and tag us in a photo or comment below to let us know how it went!