The 1 hour a day challenge will change your life and allow you to grow as a person. All you have to do is reserve an hour to do something for yourself. What do you do when you have an hour of free time? Do you work, check emails and / or social media, text, do chores, or do you plan ahead and schedule your next busy day?  In a busy society where it is considered unimportant to rest, relax, and do things for ourselves that are not considered productive, we tend to neglect doing the things we want to do for ourselves.

We also seem to forget the importance of self-growth and learning. Instead, we live from day to day in a routine or even a routine in which we are busy doing everything we have to do to the point where we forget to take even an hour for ourselves. This is where the 1 hour a day challenge comes into play … will you sign up?

What is the 1 hour a day challenge?

The 1 hour a day challenge was created by Benjamin Franklin, who essentially lived through this challenge. He spent 1 hour every day doing something different and meaningful that allowed him to reach a goal to provide himself the time and opportunity to learn and grow as a person while having that time just to himself.

Time for oneself is something that many people simply no longer do, much less seek time for it;  instead, we rush around, trying to get everything on our schedule every day. Franklin, however, valued this time as an opportunity to do whatever he wanted and woke up every day and asked himself, “What will I do today to feel good?” Similarly, I ended each day by asking “What have I done today to feel good?”

What is the purpose of the 1 hour a day challenge?

The purpose of this challenge is simple: you set goals and you meet them with the time you spend on a daily basis. The point is to learn and keep growing as a person rather than letting your life take over. You can see it as a reminder not to let life go by. 

Think about it: we work, we do what we have to do, but we don’t always do what WE want to do.  We often say, “Maybe later,” but we never really go around and act accordingly. We seem to let our dreams, goals, and time slip by because we have better or more productive things to do.

Without realizing it, this means that life simply slips away because we put our personal growth, exploration, and time to ourselves on hold. The 1 hour a day challenge is designed to remind us to grow as a person and do things for ourselves in life that make us happy .

What happens when you do the challenge for 1 hour a day?

For some people, setting aside an hour to do things for themselves is difficult. It is a task that leaves them unsure where to start or what to do. If this is a struggle you face, break it down into segments of 20 minutes each, where you can do something different at each interval or the same thing, only at three different times of the day. Over time , it will get easier and it will come naturally to you.

Many people don’t really feel the need for the 1 hour a day challenge because they already live life doing things for themselves, where they are constantly growing and ensuring they have their free time. In that case, good for you and keep it up because you’re doing it right. After doing the 1 hour a day challenge long enough, you may not need to do it because you will do what you please more often.

Some people will easily cope with the 1 hour a day challenge. For them, it will be a little piece of peace and relaxation as they do whatever they please. Maybe they won’t do anything to improve themselves and just use that time to take a break from work or boring tasks. But even that is a good thing: relaxation is necessary for both the body and the mind.

No matter how you handle the 1 hour a day challenge, your everyday life will be easier and you will get to the point where you want more than an hour, and for good reason! You should always be growing and learning as a person while doing things for yourself.

Common objectives

Some common goals of challengers are: read a book, exercise more, walk X steps, immerse yourself in nature, redecorate a room, watch a TV show, learn to draw or paint, spend more time with music, learning a sport or musical instrument , spending more time with the family, or not having a phone for an hour. There are many more things you can do: the sky is the limit; it’s just up to you to choose one and make yourself happy while doing it.

No matter how big or small your goal is, it is still very important and is something you must do for yourself. Set aside an hour of your day to do what makes you happy and what you want to do. This will not only allow you to learn and grow as a person, but it will also allow you to be happier and feel more accomplished, not to mention that you will do something new, that will take you out of your daily routine.

When you start doing this challenge, you will realize how it becomes a necessity for you. You want to organize your schedule in such a way that you can organize your life and your family in such a way that you have that time to yourself. And remember that doing so is not selfish at all, quite the opposite. If you do something good for yourself, then you will realize that you will be better with yourself and with others … of course, this will allow you to have a better self-esteem and perform better in all aspects of your life.