This week we are going to build off of week 1s challenge to wake up every day at the same time to an alarm clock without hitting snooze.

This week, we’re going to wake up 30 minutes earlier. Don’t say I didn’t warn you that the challenges would build off of each other 🙂

Again, the rules are you need to use an alarm clock and no snooze button. By the end of the week, you need to be waking up 30 minutes earlier. Whether you want to jump right in and start w/ 30 minutes or work your way up to it by the end of the week is up to you. Personally, I am going to jump right in.

Of course, if you’re getting up 30 minutes earlier I would also highly recommend that you start going to bed 30 minutes earlier as well. Sleep experts do still recommend 6.5-8 hrs of sleep a night – even for adults.

What will you do with your 30 minutes in the morning? I’m planning to continue the meditation habit or try to do some working out.

There will be no “new” habit on Coach.me this week as we can continue to use week 1s habit. Looking forward to seeing the early risers!

Hope everyone who participated in the 1st 2 weekly challenges has had great success, and is excited for this weeks. Feel free to continue to keep up the previous challenges as there may be future ones that build off of them 😉

I have the feeling that some of you have already dismissed me as a new age wacko from the title of this weeks challenge alone, but there have been plenty of studies that have shown the long term benefits of meditation. Whether your goal is reduced stress, increased relaxation, or clarity of purpose meditation may just be the key.

Speaking frankly this has been a habit I’ve tried to build up for quite some time and have had little success sticking with so I’m hoping this challenge and all of you will help to keep me accountable.

But where to start? There are a number of apps out there and I’ll list a few I know of below. I’ve also read numerous blog posts and listened to a number of podcasts on the subject so a quick “google” should point you in the right direction. At the end of the day it all seems to boil down to this…

• Find a quiet place
• Sit still
• Count your breaths
• When your mind wanders (and it will), return to your breathing

To join the challenge follow this link or go to my goal page where you can find it and join in. Each day when you complete your meditation, be sure to “check in” on coach.me.

Some apps to help with the meditation habit:

• Calm
• Headspace
• Buddhify
• Meditation Timer

Hope everyone who participated in the 1st weekly challenge had great success, and is excited for this weeks. Feel free to continue to keep up the 1st challenge as there may be future ones that build off of it 😉

For week 2 the challenge is to journal daily. Whether you call it a journal, diary, log, or chronicle the point is the same: to record your daily experiences so that you can reflect back on them. Plus, someday it may be interesting for your kids or family to read about your daily life after you’re gone.

But what to journal? Anything you want really, but here are a few ideas:

• Your feelings or workout
• What you had to eat
• What you did that day
• What you’re grateful for
• That you’re doing this crazy weekly challenge some guy named Mark came up with

But where to journal? Choose what you will, but my preference is the Day One app for iPhone and Mac. Other options could be Evernote (cross platform), Journey (Android), or good old paper and pen.

Again, you may be asking what the challenge is if you’ve been a long time journaler, but if you’re like me you may have tried and stopped or been quite inconsistent. Here’s a chance to build up that consistency, and like the 1st weekly challenge this may be a foundational habit to challenges coming up. 😉

To join the challenge click here or go to my goal page where you can find it and join in. Each day when you complete your journal entry, be sure to “check in” on coach.me.

I would like to invite all of you to a little series of weekly challenges! Doing something for a day doesn’t provide much benefit. Asking to do something for an entire month may be too much…

But we can all do something for a week. Who knows. You may like it!

My goal is to post each challenge on Sunday right here on MarkJacobsen.net and provide a link to the goal on coach.me where you can check in each day, chat with others participating in the challenge, and follow your progress.

At the end of the week, if you want to keep up the challenge as a regular habit keep it around. If you want to just move onto the next do that.

What are these challenges going to be? Who knows. Some may be easy. Others more difficult. They could be heath, diet, or productivity related. They may even be categorized as something else.

Your first challenge is to go out and download the coach.me app from the iTunes App Store or the Play Store, create an account, get logged in, and follow me so I know you’re playing along.

The first challenge will be posted Sunday.