A couple of years ago couple of different things in my life coalesced into idea. First of all, I had a lot of time on my hands. It was during the covid shutdown, so I pretty much worked when I wanted to and take breaks when I wanted. Almost everything was shut down so there was nowhere to go. Next, on my youtube feed I was being shown a lot of videos that had 30 day challenges. The challenges were physical, like doing 100 push-ups a day for 30 days or a 1000 jump ropes a day for 30 days, things like that. I was skeptical of the claims they made. Before and after photographs that did not seem very realistic to me. I didn't believe that a person could gain so much muscle or lose so much fat in just 30 days, no matter what they did. Next I happen to hear a couple of people talking about their New Year's resolutions.
The problem with New Year's resolutions is almost nobody keeps them. Most people give up on them in a month or two. There are several reasons for people giving up. Often they are unrealistic of impossible (Loose 30 pounds in 30 days), not specific enough (Find a new job, new housing or learn a new skill), or not a measurable behavior (live healthier.). The most common reason for people failing is that they are trying to make a life time commitment (stop an addiction for the rest of your life).
Failing a resolution is not good for your self image. Failing every time makes you see yourself as a failure and make you less likely to improve in the future. Succeeding in a resolution makes you feel better about yourself and more likely to try to continue to try to improve yourself in the future. That is why I think a 30 day challenge is better than a life time resolution. Set a goal that is achievable.
On a personal note, I have no personal experience with chemical addiction. I suspect that a 30 day challenge is too much for an addict and they might have to reduce it to just a 7 day challenge. In 12 step programs you are told that your addiction is a moral failure, that you are powerless to change it and that every time you relapse is evidence of your weakness and moral shortcomings. Instead of tearing youself down, build yourself up. Once you prove to yourself that you can go for just seven days without smoking, you feel better about yourself and ready to take on a longer goal. If you find that you can't go a week with out your addiction, try three days. Train youself to succeed.
The goal should be measurable and it should be specific. Not, "I will live a healthier lifestyle." Instead, "I will set this much time aside for exercise", or "I will do a set amount of a certain exercise." Not, "I will find a new job." Instead, "Every day I will either pick a new target job or go into a target job to apply. Not, "I will learn a new language". Instead, "I will learn a set number of words, or study for a set time.".
Tell someone to make you accountable. When I moved to the Santa Cruz area I had a roof over my head but it was unsustainable and I had no income to move to a better place. I went to the Homeless Garden Project more to get connections to find a job than to get housing. While there we had weekly group meeting and regular individual meetings with a social worker. The group meetings would have a theme like "where was the last place you felt safe," or "what does wellness mean to you." Those kind of themes didn't seem very productive to me so instead I would talk about what I had done the last week and what I would do the next week. One time I told a social worker that I am not good at setting goals and that I procrastinate too much. She pulled out a long list of goals that I has set at the meetings and followed through with. I hadn't thought about it at the time, but stating the goals at the meetings made me more likely to follow through. I didn't want to go to a meeting and say, "You know those things that I said that I would do last week? Yeah, I didn't do them." Telling a group that I had not finished my goals would reinforce a negative self image. Telling them that I finished the goals reinforced a positive self image and made it more likely that I would continue to follow through with goals.