Last week my parents came to visit me in Asia. We had a blast.

Our family went on a motorcycle ride up Vietnam’s coast, fed friendly elephants in Thailand, and visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Plus we did a bunch of other cool stuff too.

Everyone had a really nice time, and it was a great vacation.

In fact, all of 2016 has been fantastic (haven’t had a bad day yet), and 2017 looks even better. Because of this, I got to thinking. Why is everything always great and how can you reach that point?

After much thought, I came to a simple conclusion:

Try Something New Every Month

(Motorcycle Ride Along Vietnam’s Coast)

Arthur Schopenhauer once said, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” The same concept applies to setting goals. You can’t achieve it if you don’t know it exists.

This is why it’s important to expand your worldview and try lots of new things.

Pick some activity (hopefully one that’s weird and you know nothing about) and do it daily for one month.

Here are some of the 30 day challenges I’ve done within the last year:

• Learned to play the board game Go, which even harder than Chess.
• Used Codecademy (it’s free!) to re-learn HTML programming.
• Ate dinner at a different restaurant every night and learned about the Michelin rating system.

(Authentic Chinese Food)

• Used a “Power Tower” to do 10 dips and 5 pull-ups every time I walked in or out of my bedroom.

(The Best Home Gym Equipment You Can Own)

• Learned some basic phrases in Chinese.
• Kept a journal written entirely in “Masonic Cipher”

(No Woman Can Resist An Amateur Cryptographer)

• Made my own “home study course” by watching Every Frame A Painting and learning how to think like a filmmaker.
• Walked everywhere.
• Gave $5 to every poor person I saw.

You can do whatever you want for these challenges, but the key is to try something new or unusual. Most people get stuck in their comfort zone, becoming so complacent that it’s impossible to escape.

Even things that might initially seem boring or dumb turn out to have a hidden layer of depth to them. In 2014, I wanted to learn how to become a better writer. That seems mundane on the surface, but I ended up discovering an entirely new skill-set (copywriting) which has made me money ever since.

Closing Thoughts

You’re often one trip the museum, documentary film, or non-fiction book away from uncovering something life changing.

Taking a 30 day challenge is a tiny investment (usually less than an hour a day), but the payoff is huge.

By the end of the month you’ve learned a whole new skill, gained a unique perspective on something, or discovered an entirely hobby that interests you. Additionally, you’re constantly growing as a person and expanding your comfort zone.

Incorporating new challenges into your life makes it impossible for you to stagnate into some humdrum routine. Instead you’re forced to stay moving as you work to achieve all new goals each month.

By the time this article is published, we’ll be at the end of October. Set a November goal for yourself and follow through with it.

The results will surprise you.