The four pillars of wellness and other lessons from the Two Percent New Year Challenge
Have fun, don't die, and let us know what you learned.
Post summary
We’re pulling lessons from the Two Percent Challenge. I’ll cover:
The four pillars of wellness I considered while creating the challenge.
Two big surprises you all gave me during the challenge (we were all tough and not tough in surprising ways!)
Five challenges that stuck with me that I’ll be incorporating into my life more often.
An ask: What challenges were your favorite and why? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
Housekeeping
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Audio/podcast version
The Post
Fridays are always reserved for our signature posts like Burn the Ships, Gear Not Stuff, The Expedition, and our AMA.
But today is a rare fifth Friday of the month. It also happens to be the final day of the Two Percent New Year Challenge—so we’ll be covering four things: the pillars of wellness I considered while making the challenge, ways you all surprised me, what challenges stuck with me, and an ask.
I loved the chat and seeing how you tackled each challenge, encouraged each other, and cursed me for certain challenges. (Sorry I’m not sorry ).
Whether you completed just one challenge or all 23, thanks to everyone who participated.
Let’s roll …
The philosophy of the challenge
I explained the two flaws of most New Year’s resolutions in this post.
In short:
They push us too far out of our comfort zone, too fast, for too long.
They’re hyper-focused and ignore the supporting tools and foundations needed to support change.
I designed each challenge to be difficult but not extreme. That fixed our first problem.
To fix the second problem, I considered four pillars of well-being when designing the challenge. You can use these pillars to guide your wellness approach. They are:
Movement: Are you moving your body enough and in ways that support your long-term goals, health, and well-being?
Mindset: Are you doing things that expand your psychological comfort zone?