Challenge Yourself — What Does It Really Mean?

Challenge yourself is a motto we are hearing mostly from self-improvement gurus. And nowadays, this motto is increasing its followers more than ever before. People want to challenge themselves every day to work on their goals and reach success.

People see this as a daily routine, as something they need to do no matter how. Actually, this is surprising to me. Because I don’t think challenging yourself is something that easy. Unfortunately, this is why people are facing huge disappointments when they didn’t get the result they wanted.

I am not saying you have to stop challenging yourself and take life as it is. But you need to be ready, physically, and mentally. Ask these questions to yourself before jumping in at the deep end:

• Do you understand what exactly it means to challenge yourself?
• Why do you challenge yourself?
• What can you challenge yourself with?

I can’t say I am an expert about it. I still try to challenge myself every day for so many different things and I fail frequently. But I also know that consistency is the key to success. After struggling with fear of failure for so many years, I finally understood what does challenge really means and every day I am ready for it.

So, in this article, I’ll try to explain the real meaning of the challenge yourself motto. Plus, I will give you some clues on how to challenge yourself and reach success from my own experiences.

Disclaimer: Everything I wrote below depends on my experiences. Things can change when it comes to your journey. So, this is not a certain recipe that heals everyone.

Don’t forget: There is nothing wrong with stealing ideas from others, but only you can prepare a recipe that is special to your situation.

What Does It Mean To Challenge Yourself?

I will bum you out by saying this truth: Challenge yourself doesn’t mean you will have fun. No, my friend, it is not fun at all. It is something bothering you all the journey long.

So, if you don’t feel bored, annoyed, or even offended, I beg you to rethink the thing that you are challenging yourself with. Because if you are not feeling any of them, actually, you are not challenging yourself. You are just trying to do “something new” in your comfort zone.

Yes, I am going to use that well known “comfort zone” thing. Because it is the reality. You need to get out from that place you prepared for yourself and face new struggles. This is when the real growth, improvement, success starts.

“Growth is outside of the comfort zone. Challenge yourself.” — Brian Tracy

Personally, I’ve had a difficult time understanding this reality. But finally, I noticed that everything that I am trying to challenge myself was something in my comfort zone. The truth was I was lying to myself about it. Inherently, I was trying to stay in my comfort zone. Why wouldn’t I? I was secure there.

Does it sound familiar?

If so, it is okay. Don’t start to blame yourself so quickly. The reason behind all of these is not you. Your brain is responsible for all of these. According to researches, our brain creates common shortcuts to spend less energy. And this can cause bad decision-making.

Now, you can start to blame yourself if you still are not convinced to take serious action about this. Your brain is under your control and if you want to challenge yourself, you need to change your habits.

So, as a closing for this section, I think I need to finish with this. Challenge yourself mean that you need to do something that matches your ultimate goals and it should annoy you while you are doing it.

Why Do You Challenge Yourself?

The reasons behind challenging yourself can change from one person to another. I’ll give you my reasons below. I believe you’ll find some similarities with yours:

• Needs of improvement.
• The satisfaction of success.
• Needs of adapting yourself to changes.
• Adding a purpose to live.
• Living life with fulfillment.

These are the reasons for me. Even though I fail, I keep challenging myself. Because I know that a challenge can bring out my best. It is like an addiction for me, but a healthy one.

But why should you challenge yourself, right? Why do you need to do something that will annoy you if there is a comfortable option? To be honest, you don’t have to do anything if something is not bothering you.

But if you are someone who fell into the trap of self-growth, I am sorry but you have to get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. You’ll do it even though I didn’t say this anyway. Because you already know:

• The burning feeling inside you is not going to leave you alone until you find a way to improve yourself.
• A challenge has the power to bring out your best about anything that you want to achieve and this is what motivates you.
• Once you put something that will annoy you as a target in front of you, there is no way to find peace until you get things done.

What Can I Challenge Myself With?

I am not going to give you a list full of certain methods. Everyone has their own needs. This is why you need to prepare your own recipe that will work for you. However, I will give you a list that covers the main topics. This list will help you to find things to challenge yourself that will help you to get out of your comfort zone.

You can challenge yourself with these:

• Quitting bad habits. (smoking, water-wasting, shopping, etc.)
• Living a healthier life. (eating healthy, having a workout routine, putting a better sleep cycle, etc.)
• Increasing your income with side hustles. (writing a blog, stock photography, affiliate marketing, etc.)
• Expanding your horizon by learning new things. (a new language, coding, reading, etc.)

Above all of these, I think the most challenging thing is having goals, putting them into a plan, and living your life according to that plan. This is how you challenge your life.

What Are The Benefits Of Challenging Yourself?

Challenging yourself hard, bothering, annoying. During the process, you feel like you can stop challenging yourself at any moment. You also know that leaving is not an option. Because you can feel the point where you get rewarded for your hard work is close enough.

But what will you see at the end of the journey? What are the benefits of challenging yourself? Here are some:

• A challenge is a rebellion against your procrastination.
• Each challenge you call is a victory over your laziness.
• Methods that you create for each challenge you want to succeed in are a plus on your productivity.
• Each mistake you do while you are challenging yourself is learning.
• A successful challenge is proof of yourself about what you can achieve.

This was all. In this article, I tried to explain what exactly means to challenge yourself. Also, what kind of actions you can take to understand either you challenge yourself or fool yourself. I hope this article will help you to find yourself on your journey.

If you have any comments about the article please don’t forget to share them below in the comments!

Originally published at https://www.howtomotivate.me on January 24, 2021.