30 Challenges

30 Days
Zero Excuses
Written by Adrian Iliopoulos
Copyright © 2015 - 2020 by Adrian Iliopoulos
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be
reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express
written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief
quotations in a book review.

•2•
To every single one of you who decide to transcend your limits and
pursue a more meaningful reality.

•3•
 Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………….…………………………………………………………5
Challenge No. 1: Sleep At Least 7 Hours Every Night…………..……………………7
Challenge No. 2: Wake Up Early……..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…..…...…..10
Challenge No. 3: Morning Workout…………………………………………...…………..13
Challenge No. 4: Take a Cold Shower Every Morning……………………………..15
Challenge No. 5: Take Care of Your Skin………………………………………………..17
Challenge No. 6: Eat Healthy and Prepare Your Meals in the Morning…….19
Challenge No. 7: Eliminate Clutter and Tidy Up Your Environment………...23
Challenge No. 8: Meditate for 15 Minutes Every Day…………………………...…26
Challenge No. 9: Gain Knowledge in a New Topic…………………………………..29
Challenge No. 10: Play Brain Training Games….…………………………………….31
Challenge No. 11: Take Care of Your Style……………………………………………..33
Challenge No. 12: Conquer Self-doubt, Fear, and Negativity…..………….……35
Challenge No. 13: Practice Small Talk………………………………………………..….38
Challenge No. 14: Don’t Check Email Before You Finish Your Most
Important Work………………………………………………………………………………..…40
Challenge No. 15: Use the Pomodoro Technique to Increase Your
Productivity…………………………………………………………………………………...……42
Challenge No. 16: Network Better - Send One Networking Email Every
Day……………………………………………………………………………………………………..45
Challenge No. 17: Use the “2-Minute Rule” Throughout Your Day…………..48
Challenge No. 18: Work on Your Posture and Practice Power Posing……..50
Challenge No. 19: Cultivate Your Assertiveness……………………………………..53
Challenge No. 20: Stop Arguing…………………………………………………………….57
Challenge No. 21: Be Honest….……………………………………………………………..59
Challenge No. 22: Learn to Listen………………………………………………………....61
Challenge No. 23: No Alcohol, No Smoking, No Drugs…………………………….63
Challenge No. 24: Play for One Hour Every Day…………………..………………...65
Challenge No. 25: Express Gratitude toward Yourself and Toward People
in Your Environment…………………………………………………………………….……..67
Challenge No. 26: Write in Your Journal Every Day…………….……….….……..69
Challenge No. 27: Create a Task List…………………………………………..….……...71
Challenge No. 28: Read for One Hour Every Day………………..………….……….74
Challenge No. 29: Face Your Shadow ……………………….………………………...…77
Challenge No. 30: Enjoy Small Victories………………………………………………...80
Annex I: This is How Your Day Will Look Like.…………………...………….……...83
Annex II: Note for Your Weekends..………………………………………………………86
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………..87
The Badges………………………………………………………………………………………….88
Sources……………………………………………………………………………………………….90
About The Author………………………………………………………………………………..92
Medical Disclaimer………………………………………………………….…………………..93

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 Introduction
Hello, and welcome to “30 Challenges – 30 Days – Zero Excuses.”
First off, I want to thank you for deciding to purchase this book. It
feels always humbling to know that someone has been inspired by
my words and wants to change his or her life because of me. I can
assure you that although this book doesn’t follow my usual writing
style, meaning it is written in a more simple and practical way, it is
packed with information and knowledge that will prove invaluable
along the way.
The goal of this project is quite straightforward:
- Get rid of your bad habits.
- Reinvent yourself.
- Establish self-ownership.
I created this project initially for myself because I was tired of
wasting time and energy on a daily life that was abstractly defined. I
wanted to find a way to improve my productivity, organize my
schedule, and achieve a healthy work and life balance.
These challenges didn’t come to me organically. They were all
inspired after careful consideration of habits and practices
evangelized by extremely influential figures.
People like Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, Carl Jung, and Tim Ferriss,
to name but a few.
The challenges are divided into three main categories: Mental,
Physical, and Social.
They are all picked strategically to have an immediate impact on the
way you experience your day-to-day life.
I can assure you that after these 30 days, you won’t be able to
recognize yourself and the progress you have made as an individual.
How It Works
In each chapter, I explain a different challenge you need to
accomplish every day.
The challenges are 30 in total, which means that you need to
complete 30 challenges every day for 30 days.

•5•
This might sound intimidating, but the purpose of this book is to
challenge your limits in an attempt to revamp your personal story.
The best way to approach the challenges is as follows:
1) Read every challenge carefully.
2) Prepare yourself for the requirements set for every challenge.
3) Organize your daily schedule based on the instructions
provided in the end of the book.
4) Get started.
Also, bear in mind that you are not alone in this.
So many people have already started to enjoy the benefits of this
project.
I am one of them and I’ll be there at every single step of your journey.
If you ever need someone to motivate you and provide guidance and
advice along the way, don’t hesitate to contact me at
[email protected].

•6•
 Challenge No. 1: Sleep At Least 7 Hours Every
Night
It feels odd to me how much people underestimate the importance of
sleep nowadays.
I have experimented with sleeping patterns quite extensively and I
have come to the following conclusion:
Sleep is one of the best cures for any mental roadblock you
might be facing.
I just can’t recall the countless times I have been in the midst of a
creative challenge or I was facing an emotional rollercoaster and
decided to stop whatever I was doing, take a good 7-8 hour sleep,
and, the moment I woke up, I was ready to face my challenge from a
fresh perspective.
What most people fail to understand is that sleep works as a tool to
clear the brain’s short memory storage.
In a study conducted at UC Berkeley in 20071, the researchers found
that fact-based memories are temporarily stored in the hippocampus
before being sent to the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which may have
more storage space.
The brain has a limited amount of energy at its disposal, and it
appears that it must choose between two different functional states:
awake and aware, or asleep and cleaning up. You can think of it like
having a house party. You can either entertain the guests, or clean up
the house, but you can't really do both at the same time.
There is nothing worse for your brain than underestimating its
capacity and processing power. Just like you would reboot your
computer when you experience lagging, the same way you should
reboot your brain when you see that it fails you.

•7•
If you want a more detailed analysis of the mechanics of sleep, you
can read my article here.
Now, to get the most out of your sleep, I would suggest the following:
1) Sleep at least 7-8 hours. Getting the right amount of sleep is
important in being alert the next day. Several studies have
found an association between getting seven to eight hours of
sleep and optimal cognitive performance.
2) Sleep in total darkness. Daylight directly inhibits the release
of melatonin in your brain. Melatonin is a natural hormone
released in your blood when darkness occurs and helps your
body feel less alert, thus making sleep more inviting. Therefore,
I would strongly recommend “reinforcing” your room with
window blinds or really dark curtains.
3) Stop hitting the snooze button. A lot of people think that by
hitting snooze they will get a chance to finish their natural
sleep cycle and wake up feeling rested. Unfortunately, that's
not the case. After you hit snooze and drift off, your brain starts
its sleep cycle all over again. When the alarm goes off a second
time, you're likely at an even deeper, earlier part of your sleep
cycle, which results in your feeling even worse than you did
initially.
4) Get a good mattress. If you already have a good mattress,
you’re all set. If you’re sleeping on something that’s thin,
lumpy, or too small, try to invest some money on a new one. A
good mattress improves your posture and allows the body to
feel more comfortable.
5) Keep your room cool. The temperature of your bedroom also
affects your sleep. Most people sleep best in a slightly cool
room (around 65° F or 18° C) with adequate ventilation. A
bedroom that is too hot or too cold can interfere with the
quality of your sleep.
6) Put you phone on airplane mode. Radiation emitted from cell
phones can increase the amount of time required to reach deep
sleep cycles and decrease the amount of time spent in
those cycles.

•8•
Optional:
1) Download the Sleep Cycle app. The Sleep Cycle app [not an
affiliate link] tracks your sleep patterns and wakes you up
during light sleep. Waking up during light sleep allows you to
wake up naturally rested.
2) Buy melatonin supplements. If your natural melatonin levels
are low and you experience trouble reaching deep sleep stage,
melatonin supplements can help you improve your sleep cycles
and sleep better. In most cases, melatonin supplements are safe
in low doses for short-term and long-term use, but be sure to
consult a physician before consuming them.
3) Try sleep meditation. Use guided meditation to gradually
enter sleep mode and enjoy a deep, restorative sleep. Through
guided sleep meditation your muscles will relax, your
breathing will become slow and deep, and your common daily
thoughts will be replaced with rich, dreamlike imagery. My
favorite app for this purpose is calm.com [not an affiliate link].

•9•
 Challenge No. 2: Wake Up Early
Since I finished high school, I have always been a late riser.
I guess having to wake up at 6am every day for almost 12 years
prompted me to compensate for this perpetual lack of sleep by
waking up really late.
During my early university days, I would mostly stay up until 5am
either hanging out with friends or playing video games. Even the
mere thought of having to wake up early to attend a lecture or to run
an errand created immense feelings of distress within me.
Waking up late made me feel free.
This feeling, however, didn’t last long.
I soon realized that waking up late affected my productivity. Even if I
wanted to believe that I can have an abstract learning schedule, the
results didn't really prove my belief.
I eventually graduated from university and, although my grades were
good, I knew that, if I wanted to, I could have done much better.
I knew that I could be way more productive than I was, I just didn’t
know how.
After my graduation, I started working for a big consulting firm in
London. Obviously, the job followed the standard 9-5 trajectory,
which forced me to change my sleeping habits and prompted me to
wake up earlier than I was used to.
However, all these years of being used to sleeping late didn't really
allow me to go to bed earlier than 2am, which resulted in reduced
energy and motivation throughout my day.
It wasn’t until recently that I realized the benefits of waking up early
combined with a good 7-8 hour sleep.
•10•
To be honest, it all happened by accident.
One day, after having stayed out late the previous night, I was feeling
extremely tired and I fell asleep around 8pm.
My body woke me up naturally around 5am. Surprisingly enough, I
was feeling quite rested and ready to kick off my day.
It was still dark outside and, although it felt kind of strange, I decided
to prepare a big breakfast and dive into an article I wanted to publish
the next day.
The feeling I experienced that morning was “earth-shattering.”
I can’t remember ever being able to focus so immensely and enter
working flow so easily.
I finished the article in half of the time I usually needed and I felt that
I could keep producing work at that pace for at least 4 more hours.
It was the most productive day of my life.
Since then, I started waking up before 7am every day and I can
honestly say that this was a pivotal moment in my personal and
professional development.
After some research, I realized that I am not the only person who has
realized the benefits of early rising. Benjamin Franklin famously said:
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and
wise.”
Productive people are, very often, early risers.
Numerous articles can be found online that suggest that morning
people are more proactive2, get better grades3, and that many of the
most successful CEOs wake up by 6am.4
Waking up early is one of the most important challenges during these
30 days and one that should be followed meticulously.
Now, because a huge part of this 30-day challenge will be your
morning ritual, you need to make sure that you have enough time for
it between the time you wake up and the time you need to start work
or university.

•11•
The morning ritual can be found at the end of the book and consists
of your morning workout, a cold shower, cooking, and some other,
mainly mental, exercises to get you started for the day.
This will take you approximately 3 hours to complete, depending on
how fast you can cook and how focused you will be during your
workout and the other activities.
You can decide for yourself whether you want to wake up anywhere
between 5am-7am, although I would strongly advise you to wake up
at 5am in order to have enough time to complete all activities
included in the morning ritual.

•12•
 Challenge No. 3: Morning Workout
The sound of the alarm clock in the morning can be violent, I know.
This violent ringing can disrupt your emotional state and can
potentially affect your mood.
Even if you have enjoyed a good 7 to 8-hour sleep, your mind will
need some time to recover and grogginess will affect your
motivation.
Your morning routine, however, requires a fully alert and positive
mindset from the very moment you wake up.
And this will be fueled by your morning workout.
The morning workout is a circuit-style bodyweight workout that will
be performed right after you leave your bed (of course, you can wash
your face, go to the toilet, and drink a huge glass of water first).
It’s programmed strategically to wake up your nervous system, get
the blood flowing, kick your hormones into overdrive, and introduce
a massive amount of oxygen to your body, thereby shooting your
brain into productivity mode.
If you are not used to this type of training, it might seem a bit
demanding at first, but, eventually, you will realize that it can become
habitual.
You create the expectation that your body has to perform the second
it wakes up. It may resist at first, but, with practice, it'll fall in line.
With regard to the nature of the training, to be efficient and effective,
the workout should consist of the following exercises:
60 pushups (3 sets of 20)
60 sit-ups (3 sets of 20)

•13•
 60 body squats (3 sets of 20)
These should be performed within 20-30 minutes with 1-minute
intervals between sets and 2-minute intervals between exercises.
Training is affected by how fit you are. That is, if you aren’t that fit
and you feel that 60 repetitions are too many, you can reduce the
repetitions to 30 and increase the intensity of your workout by 5
repetitions each day. Within a week, you will reach 60.
If, however, you are quite fit and you find that 60 repetitions are not
that challenging, you can increase the repetitions to 100.
Keep in mind that this is just a workout to help you wake up and start
your day with more energy and drive.
This is not a replacement workout for your regular weight-lifting
routine (if you have one).
If you are an experienced weight lifter, this will work great as a
complementary workout to your regular routine.
If you aren’t a regular gym residence, this routine will help you get in
shape and give you the required boost to start visiting the gym on a
more regular basis.
Alternatives
If this style of working out doesn’t cater to your personal
preferences, you can consider 20 minutes of yoga or cardio as an
alternative.

•14•
 Challenge No. 4: Take a Cold Shower Every
Morning
Cold showers have played an important role in many cultures and for
various reasons. From the ancient Greeks and Romans, to Native
American tribes, Japanese Shinto practitioners, and the
Scandinavians, cold water plunges have long been part of traditional
rituals.
They are used for building psychological strength, cleansing the
spirit, improving health, and rejuvenating one’s whole body and
mind. Therefore, I consider the cold shower an integral part of your
morning routine.
Especially when trying to build intrinsic motivation, a cold shower
can wake up your whole body and work as a great tool to help you
start getting things done. In our comfort-oriented modern culture,
the benefits of cold water have long been forgotten. I will list here the
most critical:
1) Improves blood circulation. Good blood circulation is vital
for overall cardiovascular health. Healthy blood circulation can
also speed up recovery from a heavy workout. Alternating
between hot and cold water while you shower is an easy way to
improve your circulation. Cold water causes your blood to
move to your organs to keep them warm. Warm water reverses
the effect by causing the blood to move toward the surface of
the skin.
2) Improves your mood. A 2008 study called “Adapted cold
shower as a potential treatment for depression,” published
in Medical Hypotheses5, presents the interesting hypothesis that
depression may be caused by “a lifestyle that lacks certain
physiological stressors that have been experienced by primates
through millions of years of evolution, such as brief changes in

•15•
 body temperature (e.g. cold swim), and lack of ‘thermal
exercise’ may cause inadequate functioning of the brain.” The
evidence seems to support the hypothesis. Exposure to cold
water increases the release of noradrenaline, a chemical that
mitigates depression. Practical application showed cold
hydrotherapy to relieve depressive symptoms effectively.
3) Improves the overall health of your hair and skin. Hot
water tends to dry out skin and hair. Cold water can make your
hair look shinier and your skin look healthier by closing up
your cuticles and pores.
4) Strengthens immunity. According to a study done in 1993 by
the Thrombosis Research Institute in England6, individuals
who took daily cold showers saw an increase in the number of
virus fighting white blood cells compared to individuals who
took hot showers. Researchers believe that the
increased metabolic rate, which results from the body’s
attempt to warm itself up, activates the immune system and
releases more white blood cells in response.
Starting with cold showers is not an easy thing. It will take some time
for your body to adapt to the water temperature and this needs to be
done gradually.
1. Start off with lukewarm water.
2. Wash your body and hair.
3. When ready to rinse, gradually turn it down to cold.
4. Spend at least 30 seconds to 1 minute under cold water.
5. Make sure your bathroom has a good room temperature,
especially during winter, because your body needs to recover
after the cold shower.

•16•
 Challenge No. 5: Take Care of Your Skin
While the cultivation of our inner world can be a lengthy process that
ensues dynamically and gradually as we age, the refinement of our
outer world can materialize within a shorter time frame. A person’s
overall appearance is subject to a distinct set of rules and variables
that can be influenced with minimal effort as soon as a concrete
strategy is in place.
This strategy doesn’t need to be something extremely sophisticated.
It needs to encompass an accurate understanding of social influence
and it can be summarized in the following sentence:
An attractive and respected appearance is an amalgamation of a
great sense of style and a well-groomed image.
This powerful dyad has always been the cornerstone of an alluring
image and its connection to a person’s inner world is very relevant.
Being well groomed communicates that you actually care about
yourself.
Not necessarily in a narcissistic and self-centric way. But more in a
way that allows others to feel that you put effort in improving aspects
of your being.
A well-groomed individual is a conscientious individual. That is
because grooming is a task that includes a lot of research, planning,
and incorporation in one’s personal routine in order to reap the
benefits that it can offer. Ergo, grooming becomes the quintessential
activity for improving one’s outer image and the way this image is
projected to the world.
One of the most important parameters of grooming is skin care.
Taking care of your skin will be part of your morning routine during
these 30 days and will be performed right after your cold shower.

•17•
My suggestion is to apply the following products on your skin:
1. Charcoal soap or high-quality cleanser. Charcoal soap works
to clarify and detoxify your skin without drying it out. It draws
out dirt and impurities from your skin and it constitutes a
quality alternative to any trivial soap or shampoo you use to
wash your face or body.
2. Moisturizer. Make sure to rub moisturizer gently on your
face, especially around your eyes and forehead where wrinkles
more commonly appear. If you’re especially worried about
tired, weathered eyes, use an eye cream – not only will it
reduce and prevent future wrinkles, but it will also reduce bags
and puffiness.
3. Sunscreen. The sun can be very dangerous for the skin. A
quality sunscreen creates a critical layer of protection for your
skin and prevents the issues that constant exposure to sun can
beget.
With regard to recommended products, I have listed some below, but
I suggest that you do your own research.
You can find many reputable brands out there but make sure to buy
products that are natural.
Using synthetic chemicals in your daily skin care can be just as bad, if
not worse, than digesting unnatural ingredients in food.
You can find the recommended products here:
Moisturizer [affiliate link]
Cleanser [affiliate link]
Charcoal Soap [affiliate link]
Sunscreen [affiliate link]

•18•
 Challenge No. 6: Eat Healthy and Prepare Your
Meals in the Morning
Nutrition will be one of the most critical parts of this 30-day
challenge.
You need to make sure that your body and mind are constantly
nourished in order to perform well.
And this can only be achieved by following a well-organized nutrition
plan.
You will focus on consuming healthy foods that can boost your
overall energy levels and, at the same time, help you build a well-
shaped body.
I have experimented a lot with different nutrition plans and this has
helped me create a rough guide that can be adjusted, depending on
your goals and nutritional needs.
I will divide this section into two parts. In the first part I will cover
what foods you need and what your nutrition plan will look like.
In the second part I will focus on the preparation and how to
consume the foods you need throughout the day.
Part 1
First off, let’s start with foods you should definitely avoid:
Sugar
Grains
Seed and vegetable oils
Trans fats
Artificial sweeteners
“Diet” and “low-fat” products

•19•
 Highly processed foods

Put simply, you need to stay away from industrialized products and
focus more on natural ingredients.
Here is a list of products you should enrich your diet with:
Organic meat
Fish (preferably fresh)
Free range organic eggs
Organic vegetables
Organic grains
Nuts and seeds
Potatoes
Rice
High fat dairy
Fats and oils
Tea
A lot of water

Now, because everyone has different goals, there is a generic rule of

thumb you need to use depending on whether you want to lose or
gain weight.
Lose weight: 60% protein, 20% fat, and 20% carbs.
Gain weight: 50% protein, 20% fat, and 30% carbs.

If you want to lose weight, you need to focus on consuming more

protein and healthy fats and less carbs and calories. At the same time,
you need to be on a caloric deficit, which means that you need to
consume less calories than the average suggested daily caloric
consumption, which is 2000 calories (~1700 calories is a good
starting point).
The trick with losing weight is to fight the main source of your
problem, which is being hungry most of the time.
During these 30 days, we will reduce the number of unhealthy snacks
you might be eating and instead focus on consuming low calorie/low
carb foods on frequent intervals to appease your appetite.
If you want to gain weight, however, you need to eat a lot. You will
focus on consuming a healthy combination of carbs, protein, and fat,
but still maintain a healthy balance between the three.

•20•
The usual rule here is that you need to consume around 2,500-3,000
calories per day and that your diet should consist of roughly:
100g Carbohydrates
120-140g Protein
80g Fat

This is not an easy task, because I have always been a hard gainer
myself, and I have come to realize this can’t be achieved without a
well-organized plan.
Part 2
When it comes to organizing your meal plan for the day, preparation
is key.
During these 30 days, you will have to complete 30 challenges every
day. These are a lot of challenges, which means that your day needs
to be structured in a way that will allow you to have enough time for
all of them.
Eating is a critical part of our daily life and we spend a lot of time
eating and preparing our meals.
In the following 30 days we will try to reduce the preparation time to
a minimum.
Cooking will be part of your morning routine.
In the morning, you will prepare all your meals for the day. This
process will take approximately an hour to complete, but, I assure
you, it is worth every second.
Before you start with your challenges, I want you to create a list of
groceries that you need for your week.
You need to buy all these items either at the beginning of the week or
go shopping during the week, but no more than 2-3 times in order to
save time.
After you do that, you will write the meal plan for the week and stick
it on your fridge.
Now you know what to eat every day and you are ready to prepare it
in the morning.

•21•
You will also need some plastic containers to store the meals and also
keep them in your bag during work or college.
Your work or studies will consume almost 8 hours of your day, which
means that during these 8 hours you will need to consume at least
one big lunch and two healthy snacks.
You can leave the rest of the food at home to eat when you are there.
This process is extremely efficient and will alleviate the constant
confusion associated with your being unprepared and having no idea
what to eat.
It will also save you money and time, and teach you self-discipline
and planning.

•22•
 Challenge No. 7: Eliminate Clutter and Tidy Up
Your Environment
Did you know that the longer a person touches and spends time
around an object, the greater the value they assign to that item?
According to Lifehacker7, “these conclusions were derived from two
studies where people attended an auction and were told that they
would be bidding on coffee cups. Before bidding on the items,
subjects went around a room inspecting the average, nothing-special-
about-them, coffee cups that were going to be put up for sale.
Observers found that ‘examining an item for longer periods of time
resulted in greater attachment to the item and thus higher
valuations.’ Meaning that the longer a subject touched and observed
a coffee cup during the inspection period, the more likely he was to
buy the cup and pay even more for it than its sticker price.”
This incredible finding suggests that simply by touching an object,
and spending time with it, increases the likelihood that a typical
consumer will buy a product—irrespective of if the consumer has a
need or previous desire for the product.
The psychology behind this behavior probably has its roots in our
childhood and the way we deal with attachment in general.
The reason I mention this is that if you're someone who struggles
with clutter or if you are making unnecessary purchases, it's a good
idea to keep this science in mind.
Clutter is present in every aspect of our lives. From our office to our
kitchen and from the streets of the city we live in to the places we
visit for holidays, the propensity of every human to consume stuff
just makes clutter an indispensable part of the world we inhabit.

•23•
We really don’t do this on purpose. Time changes the meaning of
things and you simply accumulate stuff you don’t really need
anymore.
The point is that keeping everything around you current and relevant
is a process that requires a very structured and responsible way of
living.
When you decide, however, to put order in your life by starting with
your home environment, the rewards are immense.
The sweep-up, the reordering of your books, the filing of documents
you no longer use, all those little decluttering exercises, create an
incredible sense of freedom and clarity that accompanies a
decluttered space.
Tiding up and decluttering will be a daily challenge during these 30
days.
Here are some points to consider when you decide to put an order in
your personal space.
1. Think in Reverse. If you would lose everything, what would
you definitely buy again? I would suggest organizing your
items in two categories – the ones you definitely need and the
ones you don’t need that much. This will help you realize the
importance of the items in your life and also identify the ones
you use more often.
2. Think of Your Things in Terms of Utility First, and
Sentimental Value Second. There is a certain aspect of
emotional attachment that you should always consider when
decluttering. There comes a point in our lives where we need
to realize that we have to move on and that includes getting rid
of items with no practical use.
3. Think minimal and search online for nice minimal office
spaces to get ideas. It’s not a surprise that minimalism and
minimalistic design have gained steam over the last ten years
or so. There is a feeling of tranquility and calmness entailed in
minimalism and people crave such feelings when it comes to
their personal space. I would suggest researching some
minimalistic office spaces online to get inspired while trying to
create the perfect office for you.

•24•
There is also a great book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying
Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing [affiliate link],
which is worth reading.
It is a #1 New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your
home from Japanese cleaning consultant, Marie Kondo. Marie Kondo
has developed the revolutionary KonMari Method, which is one of
the most famous methods for simplifying, organizing, and storing.

•25•
 Challenge No. 8: Meditate for 15 Minutes Every
Day
Some years ago, I came across the following quote:
“Meditation is concentrating the front of our mind with a mundane
task so the rest of the mind can find peace.” –Gene, Layer Cake (2004)
The profundity of this sentence really struck a chord with me.
Meditation constitutes one of the most fundamental daily practices
one can adopt and its benefits can’t go unnoticed:
First, meditation constitutes a defense mechanism for your mind
since it can help it find an escape from our fast-paced world.8 In our
technology-driven society, we are constantly bombarded with
distractions. Smart phones, social media, news platforms, and
several other channels have become an integral part of our reality.
The increased amount of input we receive each day can dramatically
affect our mental state. Meditation can help us engage in mental rest,
which is much needed in order to perform effectively in our modern
society. It restores our brain’s balance as well as our sense of overall
calm and well-being.
Second, meditation can increase your attention span and focus.
Meditation acts as a mental workout for your mind, which is
analogous to how muscle building works for your body.9 Our focus is
a very delicate skill that requires training to be mastered. If you
experience difficulties interacting with people or concentrating on
single tasks for a long time, you definitely need to work on your
focus. Meditation is the most pertinent exercise in that respect.
Third, meditation can help you feel comfortable in your own skin.
The constant stream of input we face each day often carries messages
of what we’re supposed to think or feel. Random people express their
opinions as if they were facts. Advertisers try to convince us that

•26•
buying “top class” products will make us feel more alive, and so forth.
Meditation allows us to be alone with our own thoughts and discover
what we really think about the world and ourselves.
Forth, meditation can help you relax and be in the moment. Being
present is a very understated term in a person’s life. Presence can
help you disengage from “frivolous problems” and allow your mind
to become immersed in the totality of the moment you are
experiencing. Moreover, being in the moment can help you:
Be sharper
Enjoy interactions more
Enjoy “boring” tasks more
Be more self-amused
Draw good emotional state from within
Meditation is a mental training that enables you to control your own
thoughts, instead of letting others control them. It creates a deep
inner discipline and helps you emit a healthy vibe that allows you to
identify your sense of self-worth.
It goes without saying that meditation should be practiced daily to
experience all its benefits. During these 30 days, meditation will be
part of your morning routine.
Although there are many ways to practice meditation, for the
purposes of this challenge I will list here the two most effective ones:
Guided
This is one of the most popular forms of meditation and it involves a
person who will mentor you through the meditation process by using
her voice as a guide.
Usually, this person is trying to calm you down, by narrating an
imaginary situation where you feel safe and protected. The guide
resembles your inner voice that can help you focus on your breathing
in case you can’t do it yourself.
There are numerous apps or websites you can use for guided
meditation. My favorite one is by far Sam Harris’ “Waking Up,” but
really good ones are also Headspace and Calm.com.

•27•
They are very well designed and they also give you challenges to
work on each day to make the meditation process a regular practice.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation seeks to quiet the thoughts clamoring for
your mind and direct your attention to one thought or sound that
serves as your “anchor.” Your anchor could be the sound of water
flowing, the repetition of a word, or even your own breath.
It is normally performed in 15-30 minute sessions. It’s a wonderful
tool for relaxation and it can act as a starting point for spiritual work
or another form of meditation.
Simply observe the sensation of the breath entering your
nose/mouth, filling your lungs, and then being released through your
nose/mouth. As thoughts intrude your mind, try to dismiss them and
get back to focusing and observing your breath.

•28•
Challenge No. 9: Gain Knowledge in a New Topic
Our world changes at an unprecedented pace.
We are experiencing a pivotal moment in the progress of humanity
and this is reflected in the technological advancements and in the
different schools of thought that emerge.
We are all citizens of the world and our possibilities are endless.
Knowledge is easily distributable and anyone can have access to
different sources that can offer a plethora of information and
opinions.
As a person living in this drastically changing environment, you
should be able to understand and deeply comprehend this shift.
Therefore, you need to be up to date with news and events that are
happening in the world and also be able to follow topics that are
outside your area of expertise.
During your morning routine, or your commute, you should dedicate
20-30 minutes to stay up to date with news or delve into areas that
you find interesting but never had the chance to explore.
My suggestion is to not focus on many areas simultaneously because
this will cause information overload and you won’t be able to process
the newly acquired knowledge efficiently.
My rule of thumb is that I usually explore a new topic every 2-3
months.
Let’s say I want to discover the world of Bitcoin and be able to
discuss it at a competitive level. I will read relevant Bitcoin sources
every day for 2-3 months.

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The next 2-3 months, I will pick another area that interests me, and
so forth.
During these 30 days, you won’t be able to become an expert on
Bitcoin, if you choose this topic, but this process will help you make
this idea a practice.
You should be the one deciding which areas to explore, but based on
personal preference, some interesting topics include:
Philosophy
Entrepreneurship
Marketing
Psychology
Finance
Trading
Economics

When reading big news agencies, I would strongly recommend to

read with an open and critical mind. Get information from many
sources and also follow renowned bloggers who possess a level of
expertise in the topic you are interested in.
These sources are extremely valuable and can sometimes offer
insider information, which would otherwise be impossible to find.

•30•
 Challenge No. 10: Play Brain Training Games
My week has been pretty hectic so far. On Monday, I was responsible
for a busy coffee shop and had to remember a range of coffee and
snack orders for a constant stream of customers.
On Tuesday, I had to use my peripheral vision to locate a range of
uncommon bird species.
On Wednesday, I had to guide a gardener to a safe path and rescue
him from some garden monsters and that was before I had to think of
as many words as I could that begin with the prefix "auto."
That is what the world of brain training games looks like.
For the past months, I have been completing a series of computer
games designed to test my memory, numerical reasoning,
concentration, and spatial awareness.
It all started as a way to satisfy my curiosity, but, eventually, I ended
up enjoying them immensely after I realized their numerous benefits.
This curiosity didn’t come by accident, though.
While growing up, I came to understand that my brain is my most
important asset.
This asset requires excessive care and training to function properly.
During these 30 days, I made sure to involve challenges that will
increase your brain’s mental dexterity and processing power, like
meditation, listening, and reading, but I believe that brain-training
games can also help tremendously.
There is a lot of debate going on with regards to whether or not brain
training games can enhance cognitive function. Based on my
experience, I can confidently argue that I have noticed increased

•31•
brain activity and ability to process information faster after, let’s say,
half an hour playing with Lumosity, the most popular game training
service out there.
The increased difficulty of the puzzles, while progressing to more
advanced game stages, can unquestionably improve your attention,
memory, and problem-solving simply because you need to be
extremely concentrated to succeed.
Brain training games will be part of your morning routine and will be
played during the end of the routine to improve your mental
dexterity before you go to work or college.
You just need to be careful to limit the amount of time you spend
playing to 10-15 minutes, otherwise, you will risk mental fatigue and
depletion of energy required for your work or studies.
Below you will find my favorite brain training apps:
Lumosity [not an affiliate link]
Peak [not an affiliate link]
Elevate [not an affiliate link]
Brilliant [not an affiliate link]

They all:
Have great user interface.
Have very interesting games.
Are programmed in a way that can help you work more on
your weaker mental skills.
Monitors your progress.
Allow you to compare your skills to other players.

•32•
 Challenge No. 11: Take Care of Your Style
“Style is the answer to everything.
A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing.
To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing
without it.
To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art.”
-Charles Bukowski
One’s personal style is a fundamental aspect of their identity.
The way you dress communicates a lot to the world around you.
I am not a style expert but, from reading social cues, I have come to
understand that stylistic preferences can affect one’s psychology and
overall approach towards life.
We are tribal creatures and our style allows us to make a statement.
We show that we belong somewhere or that we are unique in our
own way.
Style helps one understand one’s personal preferences and
orchestrate what kind of image he or she wants to project to the
world.
This image not only reinforces one’s ability to evaluate his or her
worth but it also helps one attract people with the same worldview
and mindset.
Your style is, essentially, your first point of connection with others.
In the next 30 days you will attempt to immerse yourself in the style
of your choice (if you haven’t done so already).

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How to choose your style depends totally on your personal
preferences and what makes you feel comfortable in your own skin.
But make sure that the style choice is yours and not what a norm or
trend attempted to impose upon you.
There are numerous style guides out there to draw inspiration from.
As a rough guideline bear in mind the following:
1. Fit is the quintessential tenet of a great style.
2. Simplicity trumps complexity.
3. Focus on enhancing the details of your outfit.
4. Shoes can make or break an outfit.
5. Don’t get caught up in trends.
6. Avoid logos as much as possible.

•34•
Challenge No. 12: Conquer Self-doubt, Fear, and
Negativity
“A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the
ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself.” – Alexandre
Dumas
A great lesson I have learned through all these years of investing in
my personal growth is that, apart from becoming more attuned with
who I really am, I have also become more aware of the profound
ways in which I limit myself.
I have come to realize that my thoughts, more so than my
circumstances, sabotage my freedom and evolution.
I am the one who allows my insecurities and fears to grow into tidal
waves of worry that could potentially wash my dreams away.
I am the one who constantly delays my own progress by
procrastinating or postponing instead of taking action.
I am the one isolating myself from others so that I needn’t risk real
connections or so that I can enjoy my comfort zone.
I am the one responsible for my own self-doubt, fears, and negativity.
That’s a pattern familiar with many people.
Oftentimes, we decide to engage with an ambitious endeavor that
could engender a better, more refined, and more enjoyable reality.
And oftentimes we fail.
Why?
There is usually one reason behind it - lack of control.

•35•
We fail to focus on things we can control and we instead focus on
things we can’t.
During these 30 days, this will come to an end.
You will assume complete control over your life.
You will crush self-doubt, fear, and negativity.
You will become the orchestrator of your symphony.
The beginning of the day is when we have the most energy to pursue
our dreams and immerse in activities that can improve our life
quality.
We can’t allow negativity, self-doubt, and fear to sabotage our
pursuit.
We need to dive into those activities with a fresh and positive
perspective.
Every day, at the end of your morning routine, you will take 2-5
minutes and stay in front of the mirror.
You will look at yourself, smile, and repeat the following sentences
three times:
I am the orchestrator of my own symphony.
I am at peace with my past, my present, and my future.
I believe in myself and I define my sense of self-worth.
I believe that anything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough.
I see opportunities where others see impossibilities.
I take risks.
I challenge my limits.
I am focused.
I know that nothing is unrealistic.
I give a damn.
I have big dreams.
I take action.

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 I create.
I learn.
I grow.
I am [Your Name] and I fear nothing.

•37•
 Challenge No. 13: Practice Small Talk
This challenge aims to help you achieve something quite crucial for
your day-to-day interactions.
It will put you on track to become an initiator of conversations and
also help you build social momentum.
The social momentum part is paramount. You can’t really create
meaningful conversations and connections without having social
momentum and this can be easily achieved through effective small
talk.
But before I delve into the mechanics of small talk, I want you to
know that I totally understand that, for most of us, engaging a
random person in small talk is not the best feeling in the world.
Whether this stranger is a person you like, an interesting contact at a
networking event, or just the stranger waiting next to you at a bus
station, mustering the courage to initiate a conversation,
unfortunately, collides with our fear of exposure.
Even for extroverts and socially calibrated people, this fear is there
and it will always be.
But that’s okay.
My experience has shown that no matter how self-conscious I might
feel about a “cold approach,” most people usually feel just as shy and
insecure as I do.
Once the conversation starts “warming up,” we tend to overcome the
initial awkwardness and we can move on to a more comfortable
stage.
People love to talk, especially about themselves, and are typically
flattered when someone pays attention to them.

•38•
Just be present, smile, hold eye contact, and everything will be fine.
Now, with regard to the challenge, you need to initiate small talk with
4 people every day. More specifically, I want you to start a
conversation with 2 strangers and 2 acquaintances (close friends
don’t count).
You can decide for yourself who these people will be, but a suggested
action plan looks like this:
Morning
During your commute from home to work or university, I want you to
stop at a coffee shop that is not extremely crowded and, after
ordering your coffee, initiate small talk.
Ask the barista about their day and make a compliment about their
hair or outfit.
If you feel that the discussion flows, stay more because this will boost
your confidence. When you feel that the discussion fizzles out, tell
them that you need to leave and wish them a great day.
During Work or University
Approach a colleague or a student in your class and ask them about
their day. Bring up a work or class related topic and discuss it with
them while being polite, keeping eye contact, and smiling. Again, as
discussed above, if you feel that the discussion flows, stay more
because this will boost your confidence. When you feel that the
discussion loses steam, tell them that you need to leave and wish
them a great day.
At Some Point after Work or University
Depending on how your schedule is structured, try and emulate the
morning interaction, but in another place like a mall, a bar, or a small
shop. Don’t return home unless you have initiated small talk with
another stranger.
This daily exercise will not only improve your social skills, but also
your networking skills.

•39•
Challenge No. 14: Don’t Check Email Before You
Finish Your Most Important Work
If you are one of those people who check their email constantly, I can
totally empathize because I was also like that.
The first thing I used to do after waking up was to turn on my phone
and check my emails.
Then, I would check again during my commute to work and then
again after sitting at my desk and turning on my computer.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Throughout the day, email checking was
my usual resort whenever I was facing a creative block or feeling
unproductive.
I was email-obsessed.
At some point, however, I realized that this needs to stop because it
was severely affecting my creativity and overall performance.
So, I developed a very simple, yet incredibly effective email-checking
system that helped me get rid of my toxic email-checking habit.
This system will be an important productivity challenge during these
30 days and should be followed persistently.
The system consists of the following two parts:
Part I - Never Check Your Email in the Morning
Checking your email first thing when you get into the office each
morning is problematic because it can give you a false sense of
accomplishment.
You answer 15 emails and you feel like you’ve done a lot of work, but,
in reality, you only finished the least important task of your day.

•40•
When it comes to email, ignorance is bliss. If you have something
important to complete, I have these five words for you: Do not check
your email.
As soon as you reach your office, work on your most important task
until you finish it.
Any new information you might absorb can cause mental fatigue and
inability to reach working flow.
You can’t control everything, but you can control your own
self-made distractions.
Part II – Check your email once after you finish your most
important task and one more time after you finish the rest of
your tasks.
Most of the time, I don’t even need to do that. I add email checking as
the final task in my to-do list for the day (we will talk about the task
list in another challenge).
This way, I use email as a way to finish off my working day. I also
enjoy it more because it becomes part of my daily tasks and it gives
me a sense of accomplishment when I am done with it.
Exceptions:
If you are part of a huge project that requires constant interaction
with your managers and your colleagues, then you should create a
specific rule in your inbox to inform you for email received only by
those people.
Ultra-productive people don’t allow e-mail to be a constant
interruption. In addition to checking e-mail on a schedule, they also
take advantage of features that prioritize messages by sender.
They set alerts for their most important contacts and they save the
rest for after they finish their most difficult tasks.

•41•
Challenge No. 15: Use the Pomodoro Technique
to Increase Your Productivity
Most of the challenges suggested in this handbook focus on the time
spent outside your work.
I understand that working is a big part of your life and that for at
least 8 hours per day you will be devoted to it.
The problem, however, is that from all these 8 hours, usually 3-4
hours, or even less, are considered extremely productive.
Although we do our best to focus on our most critical tasks and
experiment with different productivity methods, most of the time we
“succumb” to external distractions.
Facebook, emails, meetings, phone calls, lunch breaks, and various
other distractions that exist within our workplace are constantly
sabotaging our work, and our productivity suffers as a result.
During these 30 days, this will come to end.
Apart from the task list (will be discussed in another challenge),
which will help you categorize your tasks and shift your creative
energy towards deep work, we will also employ another powerful
technique that can help you enhance your productivity.
This technique is called “The Pomodoro Technique” and it is
considered one of the most popular productivity methods that exist
out there.
The Pomodoro Technique was invented in the early 90s by
developer, entrepreneur, and author Francesco Cirillo.10 Cirillo
named the system "Pomodoro" after the tomato-shaped timer he
used to track his work as a university student.

•42•
The methodology is simple. When faced with any large task or series
of tasks, break the work down into short, timed intervals (called
"Pomodoros") that are spaced out by short breaks.
This trains your brain to focus for short periods, helps you stay on
top of deadlines, and also become more productive. With time, it can
even help improve your attention span and overall concentration
skills.
The Pomodoro Technique is quite straightforward. More specifically,
you only need to follow these 5 steps:
Choose a task to be accomplished.
Set the Pomodoro to 25 minutes (the Pomodoro is the timer –
you can find a Pomodoro Timer on Amazon [affiliate link], but
you can also use your phone).
Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on
your sheet of paper.
Take a short break (5 minutes is okay).
Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break (15-20 minutes).
The idea behind this technique is that it helps you find a healthy
balance between your work and your breaks.
Doing work without a break can lead to burnout and taking
inconsistent breaks can distract you from your working flow.
Another huge parameter of the technique is that it presupposes that
no unrelated distractions are present during the work; that is if you
are doing your work on your computer, you should focus on the
programs and websites that are relevant to your work. The rest of
the programs and websites should remain closed.
No Facebook, no Twitter, no news sites, no email.
If, for any reason, you need to interrupt your task because a meeting
is scheduled or because something unexpected comes up, you need
to either end your task right there or inform the party who distracted
you that you need to meet them later. If you decide on the latter,
Cirillo suggests the "inform, negotiate, and call back" strategy:
1. Inform the other (distracting) party that you're working on
something right now.

•43•
 2. Negotiate a time when you can get back to them about the
distracting issue in a timely manner.
3. Schedule that follow-up immediately.
4. Call back the other party when your task is complete and
you're ready to deal with their issue.
You can use this strategy as a rule of thumb, but you can also
improvise depending on your workplace and profession.
The Pomodoro Technique is not a panacea. I picked it as the
suggested productivity method because it is well-structured and
detailed.
For me, it has been very effective and it has helped put an order in
the way I work and organize my tasks.
You can use variations of it depending on the nature of your work.
The rules that you should follow are:
Eliminate distractions
Work in short periods
Take regular breaks
Negotiate unexpected distractions

•44•
 Challenge No. 16: Network Better - Send One
Networking Email Every Day
I have a confession to make. Networking has always been my Achilles
heel.
I find it way easier to go out alone to a bar and meet people than to
attend a networking event and interact with the attendees.
The dynamics are different, but there is also something very crucial
we need to ponder when it comes to networking events.
Networking events take place because they aim to bring people
together and help them benefit from each other.
Usually, networking events happen for business purposes, but, in
business, the underlying principle is this: For someone to become
interested in you, you need to have value to offer.
This is probably the most important lesson I have learned after years
of attending business networking events. If I don’t know how to sell
myself and have some value to offer, I am just wasting my time there.
So, the main idea is to always think of what you can give first.
Always look for opportunities to do something for someone, such as
sharing knowledge, or bringing together people who could benefit
from each other.
Do not be transactional about networking.
Do not offer something because you want something in return.
Instead, show a genuine interest in something you have in common
with the other person.

•45•
Once you have established a concrete understanding of this principle,
networking makes more sense.
Being the one who offers value first communicates that you actually
care and people usually appreciate that.
The networking challenge for the next 30 days is to contact a
different person you are interested in meeting, or creating a deeper
connection with, every day and offer something.
This can be a piece of information, a drink, a lunch, a connection, or
anything you believe that the person will appreciate and will
encourage them to become interested in you.
I can’t know who is really important to you and your reality, but
think of people who:
Can help you in a skill you are pursuing
Can help you in a field you want to shine.
You are genuinely interested in and you just want them to
know.
Some examples include:
Some of your professors.
Some of your professors’ assistants,
Colleagues who you admire.
An old acquaintance of yours who can introduce you to more
people.
A person who is an expert in a skill you want to develop.
A person you follow on the Internet and you admire.
After 30 days, you will have contacted at least 30 people and, most
likely, at least 50% of them will contact you back. Just be careful not
to lose track of them. Also, don’t offer to meet them if you don’t really
have time.
The purpose of the networking challenge is mainly to challenge your
comfort zone and help you understand the mechanics of networking.
Once you get used to this, you can move on to the next level and start
building your relationship with them.

•46•
This is not an easy task, but I will list here some tips suggested by
Silicon Valley’s most notorious networker, Adam Rifkin, in an
interview he gave to Barking Up The Wrong Tree:
Good relationships are built little by little, and there are no
shortcuts, so do not try to push the relationship to progress
faster than is natural.
Because relationships are progressions, follow-ups are
important. It’s okay to follow up by email, but keep in mind
that the other person’s inbox is probably swamped, so s/he
may not respond even if s/he reads the email. It’s okay to email
again, even if you have not heard back. Over time, every
interaction contributes to a deeper relationship, even when
there isn’t always a response.
You’re not going to be able to check in with everyone all the
time. So prioritize the people you’d most like to be influenced
by, and look for special opportunities to reconnect with them
regularly — not just birthdays and anniversaries but whenever
you learn a piece of information, find a job listing, or make a
connection that could be relevant to them.
Once in a while, think of two people who should know each
other but don’t, and introduce them. Follow through with them
later to learn from whether that introduction was worthwhile,
so you can get better at making introductions. Practice!
Imagine you got laid off today. Who are the 5-10 people you’d
write to for advice? Make sure to invest in those relationships
regularly, not just when you have an urgent need.
Look at the 5-10 people you’ve spent the most time with in the
last 3 months. Are you happy with the way they’re influencing
you? If so, find another person who belongs in that group and
invest in that relationship. (If not, change the way you’re
spending your time! How you spend your time determines so
much in your life.)

•47•
 Challenge No. 17: Use the “2-Minute Rule”
Throughout Your Day
Crushing procrastination will be a huge part of our 30-day journey
and, during this period, we will be using different techniques I have
discovered online to help you eliminate procrastination and make
good habits stick easier.
One of these strategies is called the “2–Minute Rule” and it was first
introduced by James Clear, who is a famous blogger covering habit-
building practices.
The purpose of the “2–Minute Rule” is to help you overcome the
initial resistance associated with your completing tasks you don’t
deem enjoyable.
The main idea behind the “2–Minute Rule” is this:
Most of the tasks that you procrastinate on aren’t actually difficult to
do; you have the talent and skills to accomplish them, you just avoid
starting them for one reason or another.
The 2–Minute Rule overcomes procrastination and laziness by
making it so easy to start taking action that you can’t say no.
There are two parts to the 2–Minute Rule:
Part 1 — If It Takes Less than Two Minutes, Then Do It Now
This precious piece of advice is suggested by David Allen in his
bestselling book, Getting Things Done - The Art of Stress-Free
Productivity.11 If you take a minute to consider how many things we
put off that we could get done in two minutes or less, you will be
amazed. Typical examples include:
Taking out the garbage.

•48•
 Washing your dishes after you eat.
Cleaning up clutter.
Creating your task list.
Cleaning your email box.
Part 2 — When You Start a New Habit, It Should Take Less than
Two Minutes to Begin with It
When it comes to habit-building tasks, the most difficult part is the
take-off - that brief time frame in the beginning of the task until you
get immersed into it and, eventually, reach flow state.
Whatever the situation you face, force yourself to stay in the task for
at least two minutes, even if you find it extremely difficult to do so.
In many ways, getting started is more important than succeeding.
This is especially true in the beginning because you will have a lot of
time to improve your performance later on.
In our 30-day period, you will came face to face with the challenge of
procrastination and laziness many times throughout your day.
The two-minute rule can act as a mind trigger to help you battle
trough them.

•49•
 Challenge No. 18: Work on Your Posture and
Practice Power Posing
I want you to close your eyes for a second and think of two different
life scenarios.
1. You succeeded in a personal endeavor and you feel excited and
confident.
2. You were treated unfriendly by someone and you feel hurt and
powerless.
Now I want you to imagine the two different poses you would adopt
in these scenarios.
In the first one, your success and excitement will prompt you to open
up and feel comfortable in your surroundings.
In the second one, you will most probably close up and engaging in a
more defensive stance.
These are two instinctual, non-verbal behaviors that can be observed
in every living human being. They are poses we adopt mechanically
and are a result of different environmental and evolutionary factors.
Body language experts suggest that non-verbals govern how other
people think and feel about us.
The real question, however, is, do our non-verbals govern how we
think and feel about ourselves?
As a matter of fact, there is some evidence that can support this idea.
When something or someone makes you smile, you feel happy. On
this account, try and force a smile for around 20 seconds. It is
possible that you will feel happy afterwards.

•50•
When it comes to power, it also goes both ways. When you feel
powerful, you are more likely to adopt a power pose. But when you
decide to adopt a power pose on purpose, you will most likely feel
powerful as a result.
Amy Cuddy, who is an American social psychologist known for her
research on stereotyping and discrimination, emotions, power,
nonverbal behavior, and the effects of social stimuli on hormone
levels, has done an extensive research trying to justify this concept.
More specifically, she focused on whether the way our minds can
change our bodies can be analogous to the way our bodies can
change our minds.
What she discovered is that, as a matter of fact, it can.
In her research, candidates were asked to adopt first a power pose
and later a weak pose.12 Afterwards, she measured the level of two
specific hormones in their blood, testosterone and cortisol.
Testosterone is a hormone found primarily in males and it is
associated with confidence and assertiveness. Cortisol is the main
hormone released in response to stress.
What Amy Cuddy discovered was that, after the power pose, the
candidates showed high levels of testosterone and low levels of
cortisol in their blood, and after the weak pose the exact opposite.
This finding leads us to believe that there is significant evidence to
support that our body can influence our mind.
And that is why power posing and a good body posture will be one of
your main challenges during these 30 days.
Both can severely impact your confidence, assertiveness, and the way
you interact with others.
A good posture also reduces the risk of arthritis, prevents muscular
pain, and keeps your joints in their correct alignment, thus improving
your overall health and physical condition.
Power posing will be part of your morning routine before you leave
for work or school. I want you to be considerate of your posture at all
times. Be mindful and try not to slouch or revert to bad posture
habits.

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Also, whenever you feel weak or sad about something that happened
throughout the day, take a two-minute break and practice a power
pose.
You can find many different power poses by doing a simple Google
search on the term.

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 Challenge No. 19: Cultivate Your Assertiveness
I decided to pay close attention to assertiveness because it is an
attribute that oftentimes perplexes people.
Assertiveness isn’t actually an attribute. I would better describe it as
a mindset. It is a mindset that, when adopted properly, can
significantly boost one’s influence and confidence.
However, because the idea of assertiveness usually causes confusion,
let me demonstrate assertiveness in a graphical way:

As you can see, assertiveness is the sweet spot between passivity and
aggression.
This is very crucial to fathom because most people fail to identify this
sweet spot and usually end up equating assertiveness with
aggression. Assertive does not mean aggressive.
Assertiveness is a combination of healthy confidence, and the ability
to stand up for yourself and your rights, but without disrespecting
the rights of others.
When you’re assertive, you are direct and honest with people. You
don’t expect people to read your mind about what you want. If
something is bothering you, you speak up. If you want or need

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something, you ask. You do all these while maintaining a calm and
civil demeanor.
It is also important to note that assertiveness won’t always get you
on the positive side of things. People will almost certainly disagree
with some of your requests and opinions, but it is within their right
to do so. When this happens, a well-calibrated person never loses
temper or control. You understand others’ opinions and embrace a
“let’s just agree to disagree” frame of mind. Being assertive doesn’t
mean that you will always get what you want, but it means that you
feel freer because you will know how to express what you want.
Now that you have a more concrete idea of what assertiveness
actually is, it is time to get a bit more practical and suggest some
useful ways that can allow assertiveness to emerge as a natural
constituent of your character:
1. Harness the Power of Body Language
Assertiveness, like most of the behaviors associated with confidence
and influence, is principally demonstrated in a non-verbal way. The
major ingredients of non-verbal assertiveness are eye contact,
tonality, and posture.
Eye Contact
Keeping eye contact while communicating your need is crucial to
eventually satisfying it because it demonstrates how serious you are
about it. This is, however, a very elegant process and there is a thin
line that separates aggression from assertiveness when trying to do it
right. Micro-expressions can easily betray your intentions and
miscommunicate your message. A relaxed eye-contact that sub-
communicates a degree of calmness and compassion is usually a
great way to go.
Tonality
Tonality needs to be deep, slow-paced, and subtle. Additionally, the
intensity of our message is bolstered when combined with the right
amount of playfulness and humor. It goes without saying that the
temptation of adopting a more aggressive tone will always be
present. Managing to escape this point, distinguishes people who
really understand assertiveness from those who don’t.
Posture

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A great posture is a strong non-verbal indicator of confidence. We
mentioned already, in the power posing challenge, that standing in a
posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident, can affect
testosterone and cortisol levels in the body, thus having an impact on
how successfully we can get our message across.
2. Justify yourself only when it is absolutely necessary.
Justification is oftentimes deemed as a weakness. Influential
characters rarely justify themselves. They know that their opinion is
strong and they try to base their views on reason and logic. This way
of communication does not require justification.
Justification of our actions is only necessary when we know that we
did something wrong. It could happen that, in the heat of the
moment, our behavior became emotional and we disrespected
someone that didn’t deserve to be treated as such. In such a
happenstance, a mature person knows how to resolve the issue by
justifying their actions.
3. Pay Attention to Your Frame
Another crucial characteristic of an assertive character is their ability
to understand and, eventually, hold an assertive frame. This simply
implies that you should be able to stand by your arguments and
speak up for yourself. By no means am I promulgating that you
should initiate verbal confrontations whenever you are attacked or
provoked. What I am suggesting is that you should be able to control
your emotions and try to communicate support for your opinions
with thorough and respectable arguments.
4. Carefully Manage Your Emotions
A pattern identified among passive and aggressive people is that both
groups fail to understand other’s intentions, hence they react
emotionally. Aggressive people, for instance, fail to understand the
frame communicated by others, thus ending up exerting their
will through physical, mental, and emotional force.
Passive people, on the other hand, because of their inability to
understand other’s views and opinions, constantly submit their will
to the will of others. They try to please everyone in a very indigent
way that eventually makes both themselves and their surroundings
uncomfortable.

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Drawing from the two extreme behaviors demonstrated by
aggressive and passive people, we come to understand the
importance of assertiveness. Assertive people embrace the balance
between passivity and aggression, but in an emotionally intelligent
way. They understand that, although it is important to care for
others, firstly, you cannot please everyone and, secondly, you cannot
satisfy other people’s needs if your own needs are unsatisfied.
The four above-suggested methods comprise, in my opinion, the
cornerstones of an assertive character.
Cultivating your assertiveness is a bigger challenge that can be
broken down to smaller ones. I decided to introduce assertiveness as
a single challenge because it needs to be viewed from a holistic
perspective and all methods need to assert a degree of continuity
during any interaction.

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 Challenge No. 20: Stop Arguing
I want you to imagine the following life scenario for a second.
You are having a walk with your partner on a beautiful, sunny beach
and you are both loving it.
You are exchanging stories about your past and you are both
listening to each other with compassion and interest.
At some point, they mention something that upsets you.
You can’t control yourself and you respond to them with a slightly
aggressive tone.
They can’t leave your response unanswered and they reply with a
very provocative comment.
You are a very proud person and you decide to answer back.
They feel hurt and start getting emotional.
The arguing lasts for hours and your seemingly beautiful day is
ruined for good.
I guess that you have experienced a similar situation numerous times
in your life.
Arguing is a very common practice among couples and also among
people who are close to each other.
Blame it on familiarity. Blame it on our overly emotional characters.
Blame it on our feeling betrayed. It doesn't really matter.
What matters is that it constantly happens and that it constantly
disturbs our emotional state.

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When it comes to arguing, what most of us fail to understand is that
arguing is nothing more than an attempt from the individual to
satisfy his or her ego.
No one really cares if salmon has more protein than turkey or if New
York has a better nightlife than Los Angeles.
We argue because our ego dictates that we need to prove ourselves
right. We associate our ego with our sense of identity and when this
is challenged we are afraid that the whole substrate of our being will
be convulsed. We view arguing as a game of power that we
desperately try to win. If we lose the argument, we feel weak and
shamed.
This is, however, the most destructive approach one could adopt.
Arguing isn’t a game. Arguing is nothing more than a way to waste
creative energy.
During these 30 days there is no room for wasting energy. This
energy should be used for other challenges, which will prove
extremely beneficial for your personal growth.
Arguing should be avoided at all costs.
Firstly, you need to make sure not to initiate an argument if someone
provokes you and, secondly, you need to make sure to remain calm if
someone disagrees with you.
I suggested in the assertiveness challenge that you should try and
demonstrate assertive behavior by carefully managing your
emotions.
If, for any reason, someone in your environment decides that they
don’t like this behavior, you should ignore them.
You have nothing to prove, especially to people who can’t interact in
a civil manner.
Again, arguing is nothing more than a way to waste creative energy.
You have a limited amount of energy at your disposal throughout
your day. Learn to use it wisely.

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 Challenge No. 21: Be Honest
Honesty is one of the hardest things to achieve and probably one of
the trickiest challenges in this 30-day period.
Being honest is a trait that characterizes self-aware and self-
confident individuals.
As Warren Buffet framed it very elegantly:
“Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don't expect it from cheap people.”
Honesty is so expensive because it is predicated on a very important
truth we usually fail to identify: Honesty gives you clarity of intent.
An honest person is absolutely fine with who they are and have the
ability to communicate their needs clearly and congruently.
Being honest gives you freedom of expression and allows you to form
stronger connections because people can see who you really are.
Additionally, and also most importantly, being dishonest, hoping that
you will avoid the consequences of the truth, or that you will not hurt
someone else’s feelings, is the most questionable behavior you could
adhere to.
You actually hurt people close to you when you are not honest with
them and prefer to present them a “fabricated” version of you.
By being honest, you give them a choice. Whether they will make the
right choice is their responsibility.
People who tend to be more dishonest than others, typically, don’t
have concrete personal values and boundaries. Dishonesty comes
from seeking to take things from others rather than to give or to
genuinely connect with people.

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Once you have learned to recognize the dishonesty in yourself, you
will start to see the beliefs, experiences, and behaviors that caused it
in the first place. Don’t blame yourself or your upbringing. Recognize
the pattern and try to break it.
This is how you do it:
1. Establish your values concretely. Prioritize and reevaluate
them as often as necessary. This will allow you to build strong
personal boundaries that you won’t let others, and most
importantly, yourself, violate.
2. Live more consciously and responsibly. We tend to become
less and less honest as we become exhausted, distracted, or
inundated with information. When we learn to live consciously,
we are less likely to be swayed by the twists and turns of life.
3. Establish a sense of purpose in as many things you do as
possible. A sense of purpose will create a counter-balancing
rationale on why you should act honestly. It’s this sense of
purpose that you should be true to, rather than random
impulsive desires that fill your days.
4. Take feedback from others. You take feedback so that you
can tweak and fine-tune how you communicate your intentions
to others. Most of us fail at conveying exactly what we want
because we depend too much on words and we don’t know
how to calibrate our style according to others. Use people’s
radar for insincerity as a mirror to judge your actions. Because
we are all more adept at sensing dishonesty in others than in
ourselves, we must use others’ reactions to better effect.
5. Seek and cherish each “moment of truth” that all of us
eventually encounter in life. We all must testify in front of
others at some point. Testify, a word coming from the Greek
origin of holding your own testicles as tokens of truth that can
be taken away if you are proven to be lying, has strong
implications to our honesty. We all experience rejection and
pain at some point in life. However, these moments shouldn’t
be just avoided, they should be sought out. In these moments,
we can only experience truth. Our truths. In these moments, we
will learn the most about ourselves down to the core.

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 Challenge No. 22: Learn to Listen
Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our
attention.
Ergo, the most basic and powerful way to connect with another
person is to listen. Just listen.
Listening isn’t just a skill. Listening is actually a powerful weapon in
our distraction-oriented world.
Even before the age of digital distractions, people could remember
only about 10% of what was said in a face-to-face conversation after
a brief distraction, according to a 1987 study that remains a key
gauge of conversational recall.13
Researchers believe that our listening skills have been reduced even
more since then, because of the rise of multitasking and the
digitalization of our lives.
Additionally, most people can think more than twice as fast as the
average person talks, allowing the mind to wander.
The failure to listen well not only prolongs meetings and discussions,
but can also hurt relationships and damage careers.
Nonetheless, it is possible to improve our listening skills—first, by
becoming aware of the ways we may tune others out.
The most common reasons we fail to listen are:
We are busy thinking about what we want to say next.
We listen only long enough to figure out whether the speaker's
views conform to our own.
We filter and judge others' talk based on pre-existing
assumptions, expectations, and intentions.

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 We are distracted by our phone or other outside stimuli.
Learning to listen better, whilst in a conversation or a meeting, will
be one of your challenges during these 30 days.
I consider listening such an important skill because individuals who
know how to listen are considered more knowledgeable, respectable,
and likeable.
Listening will also help you manage your emotions better, absorb
more information, and, eventually, create deeper connections.
Here are a few tips on how to be a better listener:
Before a conversation:
• Clear your mind of distractions by doing “brain dump” - make notes
or task lists you can easily pick up again later.
• Make a list of questions or topics you want to cover, to prevent
forgetting during the conversation.
• Plan in advance to limit the time you spend talking to 20 or 25% of
the conversation.
• Drop any assumption you might have of what the other person will
say.
• Ignore, or turn off phones, other mobile devices, and computers.
During the conversation:
• Take notes to stay focused while listening.
• Rephrase what you think the speaker said and ask if you're on spot.
• Ask clarifying questions to sharpen the focus of the conversation.
• Notice the speaker's body language and facial expressions as
potential sources of meaning.
• Use pauses to reflect or draw out more information.

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 Challenge No. 23: No Alcohol, No Smoking, No
Drugs
I won’t lie to you.
This 30-day challenge will be tough.
During these 30 days, you will be pushed to your limits, you will face
resistance, and you will think of quitting countless times.
Therefore, we need to make sure that, apart from your brain, your
body will also be a valuable ally throughout this arduous endeavor.
Alcohol, smoking, and drugs can all offer a temporary sense of
pleasure, but, at the same time, their effect on your body can be
harmful.
All these substances fill your body with toxins that severely affect the
way it operates, and can take a heavy toll on your overall
performance.
Additionally, long-term consumption can increase the risk for heart
diseases, liver inflammations, weakened immune system, and even
cancer.
If you aren’t consuming any of these substances, then I salute you. If
you are, however, then you need to make sure that you will stay away
from them for the whole duration of these 30 days.
Even if it feels difficult in the beginning, you will start realizing the
benefits of this process within the first few days.
You will feel healthier.
You will feel stronger.
You will feel more alive.

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You will put a lot more energy into the rest of the challenges.

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 Challenge No. 24: Play for One Hour Every Day
When we are children, we all know how to embrace the magic of play
in our lives.
As we grow up, we begin to lose our sense of play.
Play is the idea of engaging in something just because you like it.
You can let yourself go and get lost in the creative process that play
elicits within you.
The essence of play is that it cannot exist unless you are present,
grounded, and somewhat loose. Loose in terms of freeing yourself
from all restrictions and limitations, free from stress and fear.
When we grow up, play slowly starts to disappear. It is replaced by
work, which is actually the opposite of play. Work is something
serious, something that, in general, people hate. Work doesn’t help
people let loose, but, instead, forces us to get caught up in our heads.
We are not playing anymore. We are not present anymore. We are
not in the moment anymore.
Play boosts our optimism, increases our positive emotions, and, if
performed with others, gives us a sense of belonging and community.
According to Dr. Stuart Brown, the head of the National Institute for
Play14 (yes, it’s a real institute), “although we think the opposite of
play is work, it’s actually depression.”
Play is also essential to having healthy relationships with others. To
quote the National Institute for Play:
“Play refreshes a long-term adult-adult relationship; some of the
hallmarks of its refreshing, oxygenating action are: humor, the
enjoyment of novelty, the capacity to share a lighthearted sense of
the world’s ironies, the enjoyment of mutual storytelling, the capacity

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to openly divulge imagination and fantasies. These playful
communications and interactions, when nourished, produce a
climate for easy connection and deepening, more rewarding
relationship – true intimacy.
Take play out of the mix, and like the oxygen deprived cyanotic, the
relationship becomes a survival endurance contest. Without play
skills, the repertoire to deal with inevitable stresses is narrowed.
Even if loyalty, responsibility, duty, and steadfastness remain,
without playfulness there will be insufficient vitality left over to keep
the relationship buoyant and satisfying.”
Play should be an important part of your day and will be one of your
30 challenges during these 30 days.
It will be the first item in your evening routine because it will help
you relax after a stressful day.
Play can be manifested in many ways but it is up to you to decide
what type of play you enjoy the most.
You don’t need to overcomplicate things. Just think of an activity you
enjoy doing and perform it for one hour.
Some examples include:
Video games
Sports
Music instruments
Watching a sports game
Becoming intimate with your partner
Roleplaying games
Fantasy games
One thing to note here is that you need to be extra careful not to lose
track of time and exceed the one-hour limit because you will not have
time for the remaining challenges. Play is beneficial but it is also
addictive. During these 30 days, we will refrain from addictions.

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 Challenge No. 25: Express Gratitude toward
Yourself and Toward People in Your
Environment
Aesop said, “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.”
I guess that this famous ancient Greek storyteller had a good reason
to say that.
Gratitude is one of the hallmarks of a life well lived. It is a virtue that
profoundly impacts our personal happiness and the quality of our
relationships.
The problem, however, is that we rarely realize that. Although
gratitude could be an important part of our everyday lives, we rarely
take some time to express it both towards ourselves and also
towards people who have helped us in some way.
I remember, from a very young age, I had a very vague idea of what
constitutes gratitude and how to express it properly. I often criticize
my parents for not being able to help me understand its importance
and how much it can impact our relationships.
I have been touched by small acts of gratitude by people in my
surroundings many times, thus understanding how much it can
positively affect my perception of them.
On the other side, there are numerous times when I have expressed
my gratitude to others and they simply didn’t respond to my act. This
left me with a feeling of confusion, and somehow discouraged my
attempts to express my gratitude toward others in the future.
Another great confusion with regards to gratitude and the way we
experience it is that, sometimes, we take it for granted and we ignore
expressing it.

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We often assume that people either get thanks from others or that
they just somehow know how grateful we are for what they do. We
are usually wrong on both counts.
Gratitude is also inextricably bound to the virtue of empathy. It
shows that we’re paying attention to the acts of service people
perform for us and to the difficulty entailed in these acts.
As I mentioned before, gratitude is also something we share with
ourselves. It is always nice to expect it from others, but how often do
you express self-gratitude for all the hard work and the things you
have achieved in your lifetime?
Personal gratitude really affects your mood and motivation.
Every day, during your evening routine, you will take some time to
express personal gratitude for what you achieved during your day
and also personal achievements of your past.
Write them on a piece of paper and take some time to reflect on
them.
You will also create a list of people you will express your gratitude
towards next time you see them. These can be family members, your
girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse/partner, your close friends, people who
have helped you in the past, and even people who offer their services
to you online or in person.

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 Challenge No. 26: Write in Your Journal Every
Day
I always wanted to start a journal.
I guess it was a need manifested by my somewhat romantic and
poetic nature mingled with my eagerness to self-reflect and log my
memories.
I also thought that by starting a journal I would be the true
protagonist of my story. Or that, one day, somebody will find it and
publish it or cherish it as a valuable piece of my history.
It took me years to start one and it wasn’t until recently that I filled
the first pages.
I didn't write anything special. I just documented some scattered
thoughts and drew some weird sketches. Things that emerge
organically when I am lost in my thoughts.
And that is more than enough, I guess.
Journaling is probably one of the most effective practices for personal
expression.
The words you choose reflect your emotional state and help you
release your anger and pain or elevate your happiness and
excitement.
A journal also empowers your creativity and self-discipline.
It can be quite a challenging task, especially for people who are not so
familiar with writing. But I can assure you that, once you get
immersed in the process, you will enjoy it immensely.
If you face a writing block, don’t get discouraged. Keep it simple. Just
write about your day. Some days might be pretty routine, but other

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days you might feel more philosophical or you might face a problem
that will require you to write more in-depth entries. Just write what
comes naturally to you on that day.
You will see that, once you start writing and eventually reach writing
flow, the process will absorb you.
Also, something extremely important to have in mind is to never
assume that your life is boring. You are the protagonist of your own
story and everything you do, even if you consider it dull or mundane,
should be expressed through appreciation and grandeur.
This mentality will not only impact your journaling but also your self-
esteem and self-gratitude.
Now, with regards to the practical aspects of journaling, throughout
these 30 days you will be filling your journal entry during your
evening routine (this will be found at the end of the book).
I would strongly recommend a physical journal instead of using your
phone or your computer.
My suggestion is to buy an old-school journal and also a nice pen to
write with. Physical writing can help you disengage from the digital
world and the vintage nature of your tools might inspire you to write
more.

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 Challenge No. 27: Create a Task List
After experimenting with different productivity systems, I realized
one important and unquestionable fact:
Our brain has limited processing power at its disposal throughout the
day. Most of us don’t realize that. We think that we can consume
endless amount of information and that the brain will still function
properly.
That is a crucial mistake most of us make when we decide to
introduce efficiency and productivity to our lives.
In our overly digitized age, it’s quite common to become distracted
by random sources that, most of the time, are irrelevant to the actual
work you need to do.
The necessity for an effective time management and productivity
system is more pertinent than ever.
In challenge No. 15 we introduced the Pomodoro technique, which
can help you work in a more structured way.
In this challenge, we are going to introduce a simpler but extremely
potent productivity method: the task list.
World-class productivity guru, David Allen, mostly known for his
renowned time management method “Getting Things Done,” suggests
that the best way to keep moving through your personal tasks is to
get them all out of your head and onto paper as quickly as possible,
so that they are manageable and prioritized.15
Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to
our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts
are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our
creative potential.

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So, the purpose of this challenge is to create a daily task list that
focuses on your work or your studies. You don’t need to add your
challenges in that list because I have created a separate list for that.
Both lists are going to be evaluated in the evening (during your
evening routine) and, after that, you are going to create a new list for
the next day.
There are two things you should have in mind while creating the list:
1. You should definitely create the list the day before. This is
crucial because, firstly, you release your mind from the worry
of creating the list in the morning and you enjoy a more relaxed
sleep. Secondly, because in the evening you can better evaluate
your options based on your progress the day before.
2. Your list needs to be very specific and shouldn’t include more
than 5 tasks every day. I mention 5 tasks because people
usually overestimate their time management skills and
eventually end up finishing less than 2-3 of them. This doesn’t
really help with the “enjoy small wins” mentality, which will be
discussed in challenge no. 30.
Here is an example of what a well-formulated task list looks like
(random daily task list from my schedule):
- Edit 5 minutes of video
- Promote content in social media and other channels
- Fix WordPress bug
- Answer emails
- Contact partners
The tasks here are quite random, but also quite usual for my daily life
because they are all related to my main activities, YouTube and
blogging.
They are listed by level of importance, which suggests that I am not
allowed to move to the next task until I complete the previous one.
I seriously can’t stress how important this is.
Mainly for three reasons:
1. I learn to focus and eliminate distractions.
2. I don’t procrastinate.

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 3. I experience the feeling of accomplishment once the most
important task is finished and I enjoy the less important ones
more.
If you get distracted or start procrastinating, don’t feel overwhelmed.
Just gradually come back to the most important item on the list.
You can use my task list as a guide and adapt it to your own working
schedule. If you are a student, for instance, your task list could look
like this:
- Finish exercises from Chapter 2 of subject X.
- Watch 1h lecture on subject X and take notes.
- Explain with my own words what I learned (this reinforces
learning).
- Plan my studying schedule for the next weeks.
- Answer my emails.
If you are a professional, you can emulate my task list and replace the
first task with your most important task for the day.

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 Challenge No. 28: Read for One Hour Every Day
“Read an hour every day. This works out to about one book per week,
fifty books per year, and will guarantee your success.” –Brian Tracy
Why is it that the most successful and enlightened people emphasize
on the importance of reading?
Many would argue that reading has always been the most popular
way to acquire knowledge and to gain access to the ideas of the
greatest minds in the world.
I couldn’t agree more, but there is another thing we rarely pay
attention to when we evangelize the importance of reading.
Reading can help you develop your most important thinking types.
These thinking types can be categorized as follows:
1. Critical thinking. The mental process of objectively analyzing a
situation by gathering information from all possible sources and
then evaluating it from a holistic perspective.
2. Implementation thinking. The ability to organize ideas and
plans in a way that they will be effectually carried out.
3. Conceptual thinking. The ability to find connections or patterns
between abstract ideas and then piece them together to form a
complete picture.
4. Innovative thinking. Generating new ideas or new ways of
approaching things to create possibilities and opportunities.
5. Intuitive thinking. The ability to take what you may sense or
perceive to be true and, without knowledge or evidence,
appropriately factor it in to the final decision.

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All these types of thinking are incredibly valuable in today’s complex
landscape.
In such a landscape, the ability to ponder possibilities, see patterns
and connections, and look at the same data in new and innovative
ways represents a real antidote to complexity.
This can be achieved by constantly acquiring a stream of knowledge
that only books can provide.
Warren Buffett, the man commonly referred to as the greatest
investor of the 20th century, was standing in front of 165 wide-eyed
students from Columbia University some years ago.
One of the students raised his hand and asked Buffett for his thoughts
on the best way to prepare for an investing career. After thinking for
a moment, Buffett pulled out a stack of papers and trade reports he
had brought with him and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day.
That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.
All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”
500 pages is an exaggeration, but the idea that knowledge works like
compound interest is a fact.
Reading will be part of your evening routine.
If you are already an avid reader, an hour of reading during the
evening will feel effortless to you.
If, however, you aren't a habitual reader, this might be a bit trickier.
Reading requires a state of mind wherein you surrender to the
narrative.
My advice would be to start small and then keep building up.
By small, I mean 30-40 pages a day. 30-40 pages is small enough that
it’s not intimidating. Most people can finish reading 20 pages within
30 minutes, which means that you can easily finish 30-40 pages
within an hour.
Finally, 30-40 pages may seem small but adds up fast. It’s a
great average speed.
If you follow this pattern, you will finish 3-4 books within these 30
days, which is a huge achievement.

•75•
You will be surprised by the amount of knowledge and the ideas you
will accumulate from these 3-4 books. And I am quite confident that,
after you start, you won’t be able to stop.
Below, you will find some great books I suggest for these 30 days.
Most of them belong to the self-growth domain and have played a
huge role in my personal and professional development. If you have
already read them, I trust your ability to find similar ones to read.
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb
The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

•76•
 Challenge No. 29: Face Your Shadow
“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-
personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without
considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves
recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real.
This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.” —
Carl Jung, Aion (1951)

Our shadow is essentially our dark side. A dark side that is concealed
or camouflaged in a painful attempt to protect an image that fits the
narrative we decide to espouse. Through social conditioning, we
come to construct a façade that can keep the substrate of our
constructed identity stable so that we can keep feeling safe.

The most effective way to deal with one’s shadow is to assimilate it.

Regardless of the idiosyncratic nature of one’s shadow, the process of

assimilation has always been universal and it is represented by the
following sequence:

Encounter -> Merger -> Assimilation

As you can see, assimilation can’t occur if the stages of encounter and
merger don’t take place first. That is certainly a heroic act, for the
angst entailed in this process is immense. We are not talking about
watching a scary movie here or trying spicy food. We are talking
about facing the deepest realms of our self. There is nothing scarier
than that. But there is also nothing more rewarding than that.

In an attempt to make the assimilation of the shadow a less onerous

process, I came up with a narrative that I follow almost on a daily
basis and allows me to be in a more aware mental space regarding
•77•
my inner world.

This narrative is comprised of three significant questions I ask and

whose answers can consequently lead to the state I seek. They are as
follows:

How often do you question the nature of your reality?

Your shadow, due to its dark nature, is constantly forming a cloud

over your judgment. This cloud can never disappear, but it can
certainly abate through meticulous introspection and cultivation of
wisdom.

You need to have your eyes open to a vast array of influences. Don’t
let the monotony of everyday drivel and shallowness define what you
are and what you do. Push back against anything that attempts to
hinder your personal-development and orient yourself towards what
is morally good.

How do you orient yourself towards what is morally good?

We negotiate and debate and exchange verbal tantrums in an attempt

to defend our point of view and our position in the dominance
hierarchy of society. Some people do that in a more ethical way and
in order to defend goodness, and I am a huge admirer of these
people, but most just keep perpetuating banal attitudes and
approaches.

And it is the banality and triviality of existence that needs to be dealt

with in order to identify what is morally good. Actually, it is the
combination of that and the ability to showcase common sense in the
face of trivial matters. With common sense, the discovery of a
solution to most of our problems could be accelerated dramatically.

Life might be an amalgamation of complex instances but our

cognitive apparatus is more than capable of making sense of them.
All it takes is to offer clarity to our judgment and common sense is
imperative in that respect. Especially when it comes to orienting
ourselves towards what is morally good.

How do you offer clarity to every facet of your existence?

•78•
Clarity is paramount when it comes to the betterment of our living
conditions.

In order to ameliorate something, you need to understand its

mechanics. Maybe something isn’t working well because a part that
comprises the whole of it is actually malfunctioning. When we break
down the whole in parts and fastidiously examine these parts, we can
discover details about systems that are usually obscure.

Then we can go back to the system itself and look at how what we
discovered can improve the performance of the system as a whole. A
bottom-up approach is always more effective and usually more
meritocratic, thus empowering the parts to work synergistically for a
common cause.

Clarity manifests itself in that way. When you allow the part to
discover all its nuances and all its capabilities, you end up with a
reinforced version of it that can offer more to the whole. Humans
operate like that and the dawn of the Internet made that idea more
vivid.

We experience a collective awakening that can, perhaps, lead to

collective enlightenment. Information becomes widely accessible and
we can improve our error-correcting mechanisms just by asking and
gathering as many views as possible. That right there is the essence
of clarity. And its only obstacle is the shadow.

A person who clings to outdated and ill-defined views will only

reinforce the shadow and stagnate in a swamp of confusion.
Incessant knowledge-seeking is the name of the game. A game we
should all prepare to play.

These three questions will need to be answered every day during this
30-day period. They constitute an effective remedy against the
deleterious effects of the shadow in your life and should be
approached diligently.

Shadow assimilation will be part of the evening routine. Please refer

to ANNEX I for more details.

•79•
 Challenge No. 30: Enjoy Small Victories
Teresa Amabile is a professor at Harvard Business School and mostly
known for her research on the impact of progress in the performance
of individuals.
By collecting diary entries from 238 people at seven companies,
Amabile generated 12,000 person-days of data on moods and
activities at work.19
Her finding suggested that nothing contributed more to a positive
inner work life (the mix of emotions, motivations, and perceptions
that is critical to performance) than making progress in meaningful
work. If a person is motivated and happy at the end of the workday,
it’s a good bet that he or she achieved something, however small.
The striking conclusion is that a sense of incremental progress is
vastly more important to happiness than either a grand mission or
financial incentives.
In another recent research among U.S. entrepreneurs, by the
business scholar Saras Sarasvathy,20 was found that “whatever they
tell you on TV's Dragons' Den, the successful entrepreneurs rarely
made long-range business plans, and scorned market research. They
went for quick wins – a few sales, then a few more – instead. Their
philosophy was ‘ready, fire, aim.’”
Breaking big challenges into smaller chunks isn't original advice.
What the above-mentioned studies try to emphasize is that our
perception of achievement is quite distorted in real life.
Our constant pursuit of achievements that will place us in a position
of value in the eyes of others, somehow disorients us from the idea of
achievement itself.

•80•
Since our early childhood, our acts were incentivized by the reward
we would receive from our parents or caretakers. These results could
have been tangible, or intangible meaning that they could be
manifested in the form of an appraisal or a present.
Whatever we did, we did it because we wanted to experience a
degree of praise and admiration from our environment; a praise that
would eventually give us strength and motivation to keep doing what
we were doing.
The degree to which this praise and admiration was received varies
from individual to individual. The fact is, however, that the need for it
was always there and it will always be.
Our ability to recognize its importance substantially affects our
performance in our day-to-day endeavors.
Having big goals and aspirations is vital because it gives you a vision.
Celebrating small goals and victories is what will eventually
materialize this vision.
And that is why enjoying small victories will be one of the challenges
during these 30 days.
The way we will monitor your achievements will be two-fold:
1. You will need to complete the 30 challenges spreadsheet every
day and tick every challenge you managed to accomplish.
2. You will need to complete your task list for the day, as
mentioned in challenge 29, which is assembled the night before
and focuses entirely on your work or studies.
Although the idea of completing all challenges and tasks might sound
overwhelming, I made sure to design a daily schedule (can be found
at Annex I) that will make your tasks and challenges easier to
manage.
Have my guidance in mind and use your willpower and self-discipline
as your fuel. After a few days in your endeavor, you will realize that
the challenges aren’t just manageable but you will keep craving them
day after day.

•81•
This page is intentionally left blank.

•82•
 Annex I: This is How Your Day Will Look Like
Congratulations for reading through the challenges. I hope that you
read every challenge carefully to understand their mechanics and
also the impact they can have on your life.
Now it is time to structure them properly, otherwise it will seem
overwhelming to accomplish all 30 of them every single day.
We will divide your day into four major parts:
Morning routine
Commute-Work-Commute
Free time
Evening routine
Morning routine
The morning routine is probably the most important part of your
day, because, during that time, you set the foundations for the rest of
your day.
During the morning routine, we will focus on challenges that aim to
galvanize you, motivate you, inspire you, help you focus, and give you
strength to continue your day fully energized.
This is what your morning routine will look like:
Wake up anytime during 5-7am.
Perform your morning workout - Duration: 30 minutes
Take a cold shower - Duration: 10 -15 minutes
Take care of your skin – Duration: 5-10 minutes
Cook and eat – Duration: 45 minutes-1 hour
Clean and eliminate clutter – Duration: 15-30 minutes
Meditate – Duration: 15 minutes
Read articles – Duration: 15-30 minutes
Play Brain Training Games – Duration: 15 minutes
Take care of your style – Duration: 15 minutes
Read your “Conquer your fears” speech (Challenge No. 12) -
Duration: 5 minutes

•83•
Your morning routine will take approximately 3 – 3.5 hours to
complete. This is like a warm up that will activate your brain and also
allow you to start your work completely awake.
Commute-Work-Commute
I have calculated 10 hours for your work and commute to help you
organize your time better. This, however, can change depending on
your schedule and responsibilities.
During these 10 hours, you will focus on most of your social and
productivity challenges.
More specifically:
Small talk with a barista – During commute
Pomodoro Technique – During work
Small talk with a colleague – During work
Check email – During work (after you finish your most
important tasks)
Send networking email – During work (after you finish your
most important tasks)
Small talk with one more person – During commute
During this time, you will also need to make sure to accomplish
challenges that might occur any time during the day. These
challenges are:
Take care of your posture and use power posing whenever you
feel weak.
Use the 2-minute rule.
Listen.
Be assertive.
Don’t argue.
Be honest.
Eat every 3 hours.
Free time
Free time is a 2-hour timeframe after you finish work.

•84•
During this time, you can decide whether you want to work out, hang
out with some friends, or just chill.
The most important thing to have in mind is that, during these two
hours, one of them should be extremely enjoyable. This is the hour
where you play.
The nature of the play depends solely on you. You might decide that
working out is considered play, for instance.
Whatever you decide, make sure to have fun with it.
Evening routine
After such a long and intense day, you will use the evening routine as
an opportunity to wind down, self-reflect, and calm your mind.
The evening routine will last for about 2 hours and the challenges
included are:
Eat dinner – Duration: 15 minutes
Celebrate small wins – Duration: 5-10 minutes
Write in your journal – Duration: 10-15 minutes
Answer the three shadow assimilation questions (challenge 29)
– 5-10 minutes
Perform self-gratitude – Duration: 5-10 minutes
Create task list for the next day – Duration: 10-15 minutes
Read – Duration: 45 minutes – 1 hour

•85•
 Annex II: Note for Your Weekends
The challenges will continue during the weeekend.
You will most probably stop working, which means that you could
probably skip the Pomodoro Technique (or use it in another project
you work on during weekends) but the rest of the challenges need to
be pursued as usual.
Weekend means more free time and more time socializing.
Use this time wisely to do things that you love and to meet new
people.
During the weekend, you can actually perform most of your social
challenges, like being honest, initiating small talk, listening, etc.
If you plan to go out late, you can perform your evening routine
before going out in case you come home tired and you only want to
sleep.

•86•
 Conclusion
Sustaining an effort is the most important thing for any ambitious
endeavor. The way to be efficacious is to learn how to do things right,
then do them the same way every time.
Over the length of these 30 days, a correlation will emerge between
the effort you put into completing these challenges and your overall
potential as an individual.
It may not show from one day to the next, but, in the long run,
superior effort will be reflected in the way you perform and the way
you experience your day-to-day events.
There is a surprisingly subtle distinction that differentiates the
examined life from the unexamined one. That subtle distinction is
reflected in small habits and daily rituals.
These small habits and daily rituals might seem overwhelming, they
might tire you, and they might push you to your limits.
But there is one thing about them that I can absolutely guarantee:
They work. And after these 30 days, you will be amazed by the
progress you have made as an individual.

•87•
 The Badges
To make the challenges more fun and worth pursuing, I decided to
create some badges that will be assigned to the challengers,
depending on the effort they put into the challenges.
If you complete 28-30 Challenges per day, you are a:

If you complete 25-27 Challenges per day, you are a:

If you complete 20-24 Challenges per day, you are a:

•88•
If you complete less than 20 Challenges per day, you are a:

•89•
 Sources
[1] Yasmin Anwar. “An afternoon nap markedly boosts the brain’s
learning capacity.” UC Berkeley News Center. February 22, 2010.
[2] Courtney Rubin. “Why Morning People Rule the World.” Inc.com.
July 14, 2010.
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/07/research-says-
morning-people-are-more-proactive.html
[3] Robert Preidt. “College Night Owls Have Lower Grades.” ABC
News. June 10, 2008.
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=1
[4] Tim Dowling, Laura Barnett, Patrick Kingsley. “What time do top
CEOs wake up?” The Guardian. April 1, 2013.
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start-day
[5] Nikolai A. Shevchuk, “Adapted cold shower as a potential
treatment for depression.” Medical Hypotheses. April 1 0, 2007
[6] “Medical Advice You May Never Take.” Stlurgentcare.com.
November 11, 2013. http://www.stlurgentcare.com/doctor-is-in-stl-
blog/medical-advice-you-may-never-take
[7] Erin Doland, “Why you hold on to clutter.” Lifehacker.com.
September 9, 2010. http://lifehacker.com/5511865/why-you-hold-
on-to-clutter
[8] David M. Levy. “The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Training
on Multitasking in a High-Stress Information Environment.”
University of Washington. May 28, 2012.
[9] Lorenza S. Colzato. “Meditate to create: the impact of focused-
attention and open-monitoring training on convergent and divergent
thinking.” Institute for Psychological Research and Leiden Institute
for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands. April
18, 2012.
[10] Alan Henry. “Productivity 101: A primer to the Pomodoro
Technique.” Lifehacker.com. July 2, 2014.
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technique-1598992730

•90•
[11] David Allen, “Getting Things Done.” Penguin Books Ltd.
December 31, 2002.
[12] Amy Cuddy. “The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes
Social Evaluation.” Harvard Business School Working Paper. June 26,
2015.
[13] Sue Shellenbarger. Tuning In: Improving Your Listening Skills.
The Wall Street Journal. July 22, 2014.
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1406070727
[14] The National Institute for Play. http://www.nifplay.org/
[15] David Allen, “Getting Things Done.” Penguin Books Ltd.
December 31, 2002.
[16] The Week Staff. “The internet porn 'epidemic': By the
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numbers
[17] Simone Kühn. “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity
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[18] Nofap.com. http://www.nofap.com/
[19] Teresa Amabile. “The power of small wins.” Harvard Business
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wins
[20] Leigh Buchanan. “How great entrepreneurs think.” Inc.com.
February 1, 2011. http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/how-
great-entrepreneurs-think.html

•91•
 About The Author
I am Adrian Iliopoulos, an essayist, YouTuber, and self-growth
enthusiast.
I share most of my thoughts on “The Quintessential Mind,” an
intellectual blog and YouTube channel that focuses on self-
development, philosophy, psychology, culture, and business.
It was created in an attempt to make sense of the world around me.
Each article and video braids the complexity of the big questions with
an elaborate and well-articulated narrative.
My hope is that through my writings people will discover their truth,
embrace reason and logic and lead more interesting and meaningful
lives. The results so far have not disappointed. Enjoy the journey.

•92•
 Medical Disclaimer
The author of this book, Adrian Iliopoulos, is not a doctor.
The contents of this book, such as text and suggested products, are
intended for informational and educational purposes only and not for
the purpose of rendering medical advice. The contents of this book
are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice,
diagnosis, or treatment.
Please consult your physician for personalized medical
advice. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified
healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical
condition. Never disregard or delay seeking professional medical
advice or treatment because of something you have read in this book.
Before taking any medications, over-the-counter drugs, supplements
or herbs, consult a physician for a thorough evaluation.
This book does not endorse any medications, vitamins, or herbs, nor
do we condone the use of illegal drugs or using drugs for an
unintended purpose.
A qualified physician should make a decision based on each person’s
medical history and current prescriptions. The medication
summaries provided do not include all of the information important
for patient use and should not be used as a substitute for professional
medical advice. The prescribing physician should be consulted
concerning any questions that you have.
Please check with a physician if you suspect you are ill. NO LIABILITY
WILL BE ASSUMED FOR THE USE OF THIS BOOK. The information
contained is not intended for medical advice. You should always
discuss any medical treatment with your Health Care Provider.
In a medical emergency, call 911 immediately. This book does not
recommend or endorse any specific test, physician, product,
procedure, opinion, or any other information provided in this book.
Reliance on any information provided by this book is solely at your
own risk.

•93•
•94•