avatarMofrad Muntasir

Summary

The web content advocates for dedicating sixty minutes each day to personal growth activities, including gratitude, physical exercise, learning, and introspection, to achieve significant life improvements over six months.

Abstract

The article titled "I Challenge You to Spend 60 Minutes on Yourself Every Day" encourages readers to commit to a daily self-improvement routine. It emphasizes that consistent daily action, similar to the discipline required for fitness, is necessary for growth in various aspects of life. The author debunks the myth of instant transformation, highlighting that visible results in any field, whether it's writing a novel, building a YouTube audience, or becoming proficient in swimming, require persistent effort. The challenge proposed involves spending one hour daily on activities that promote personal development, such as expressing gratitude, engaging in rigorous physical activity, learning new skills, and reflecting on the day. The article suggests that finding this time can be as simple as waking up an hour earlier, challenging the notion that there isn't enough time in the day. It also references WebMD's recommendation of 7-9 hours of sleep for adults, implying that sleeping one hour less can free up the necessary time for self-investment. The author shares personal benefits from being a Medium Paid Member, suggesting that the content available on the platform can aid in personal and professional growth.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the idea of achieving a significant goal in one simple action is unrealistic and misleading.
  • Consistent daily effort is portrayed as the key to achieving tangible results in personal and professional development.
  • The article conveys that everyone has the same amount of time each day, and it's how one chooses to use it that determines the potential for growth.
  • Waking up early is presented as a practical strategy for finding time to dedicate to personal growth.
  • The author suggests that reducing sleep by one hour, from 8 to 7 hours, is a reasonable sacrifice to make time for self-improvement activities.
  • Engaging in gratitude practices, physical exercise, continuous learning, and daily reflection are highlighted as effective

I Challenge You to Spend 60 Minutes on Yourself Every Day

And in six months, see if you can recognize yourself.

Photo by Annushka Ahuja from Pexels

“Chris Helmsworth, the actor who plays Thor, used to be a skinny kid. And one fine morning, he woke up, exercised for five minutes, and became as muscular as he is today.”

Sounds simple enough, right?

You and I both know that’s an absolute BS (I made it up just now.) What Chris, or anyone who’s become enviably fit, does is quite different, yet simple. Instead of exercising once in a lifetime and forgetting about it, they show up for exercises and diet every day — week after week, month after month.

Results Come After Massive Action

Getting fit comes with visible results. And as you can imagine, those visible results encourage you to do more. Just a look at the weighing scale can give you enough motivation to exercise again.

Other areas of life are not as black & white. The principle is the same — you need to show up every day consistently. But the results will come in different forms or shapes.

A novel writer will have to write page after page every day, for a long time, before she gets to a finished book. A YouTuber will have to make videos after videos until one day he sees audiences flocking in. A swimmer will be uncomfortable in water for days until one day — when it’ll feel like a second home.

You don’t get to that point until you put in the work. But there’s a problem.

“You don’t have enough time!”

How Many Hours Do You Have in a Day?

We are all blessed with the same number of hours in a day. That is life’s biggest equality. What you do with them is totally up to you. And that is where this sixty-minute challenge comes in.

Spend sixty minutes on yourself every day for six months. Do that and you’d only thank me afterwards.

If you don’t have sixty minutes for yourself in a day of (60*24) 1440 minutes, you need to ask yourself what kind of life you are living. You MUST readjust your daily routine.

What Can You Do In Sixty Minutes?

Not much, to be honest. But you can do just enough to get the taste of a life of growth. Begin with these four activities and you’ll see massive changes in your life —

  • Start your sixty minutes with a five-minute block for gratitude. Take 10 deep breathes, and then think of 3 instances when you were grateful. Transport yourself to that moment. Feel that gratefulness inside you. Let the power of gratefulness wash you from inside.
  • Spend thirty minutes on rigorous physical activity. Run, do HIIT, any sort of aerobic exercise, dance, or do resistance training. Your mind and heart live inside your body. When you’ll take care of the body, you’ll be taking care of your whole self.
  • Learn for thirty minutes. If you are a marketer, like I am, find articles or books, or courses that can make you better. Do you want to become a better writer? Buy a course. Find experts — directly, through a course or a book — and then learn from them.
  • At the end of the day, spend five minutes analyzing your day. What are you thankful for? What could you have done better? Are you a better person than you were yesterday?

You don’t have to find a sixty-minute block to do all of these. Your gratitude and exercise can happen together — early in the morning. Your learning hour can come later. And you can close the day with five minutes of introspection.

How Can You Find The Time?

While finding extra time might seem impossible, there’s one easy way of doing that. Wake up early!

On average people sleep for 8 hours a day — 1/3rd of their entire day. That means if they live for 60 years, they’d have spent 20 years of that sleeping. Maybe you will want a couple of years from that 20 for yourself?

WebMD says an average adult requires 7–9 hours of sleep daily. You can do it in 7 hours! Sleeping an hour less will open up an extra hour for you every day!

And obviously, if you follow productivity techniques, you might be able to squeeze more time out of your day!

Final Thoughts

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. It ends with a single step as well. But the underlying assumption is that you will continue taking steps consistently.

Otherwise, it’s just one step forward — not exactly a journey.

Since becoming a Medium Paid Member in September 2020, I learned a boatload about marketing strategy & data-driven marketing — resulting in better performance at my work & consulting projects. Articles on personal growth helped me become a better person. If you are not a member, become one by clicking the link below. It’s only $5 a month and the content you’d get is incredibly good.

A portion of your membership will go to support the author & other Medium contributors at no extra cost to you.

Personal Growth
Self Improvement
Personal Development
Continuous Improvement
Growth
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