100 push ups: started it yesterday. I broke it down into 4 sets of 25. No problem! I haven't done the push-ups yet today, but I imagine it will be much harder as I woke up sore from the day before, and I just completed a nearly 6-hour canoe trip to buy food so I won't starve this week.
Korean diary: actually I had nearly done a straight month of this already before I made it a challenge. I send the diaries to my girlfriend 민정 who checks them and sends me her diary in English. It's a nice way to keep in touch across the seas, and also study Korean and English. Pretty easy and routine for me by now, but that probably means I'm not trying hard enough to challenge myself when I'm writing them. I should probably strive for harder grammar structures, and new vocab.
Message old friends: This one is a good challenge, and I recommend it to anyone who would consider it. I've been using primarily Facebook (email in the case of one friend I know who doesn't use Facebook very often). So far I've probably gotten replies from more than half of the old friends I contacted. Some people respond immediately and others straggle in the next day, or a couple weeks later. Either way, I can almost always expect a new message every time I log into Facebook, and I expect I'll probably still be getting messages from some straggles well after this challenge is over.
I've caught up with friends, and been surprised by what they've told me they are doing with their lives (I think most people leave the most important things off of Facebook status updates). It has also prompted some meetings. On average, this is one of my quickest daily challenges, and has a great payout for that effort.
Picture every day: In the beginning, I really enjoyed this one. I took some good pictures, I thought. And I learned more about my camera in the first couple of days than I had since the entire time I've owned it (nearly 2 years). But this last week's photos felt a bit hurried to me, like something I was doing just so I could check it off the list. We'll see how the rest goes.
TED Talks: This has become one of my favorite things to look forward to every day. The funny thing is, my opinion of TED has not really changed - I still think they are among the best things to watch on the internet. But now I am actually watching them, instead of just thinking that I should. I highly recommend this as well. If you're stuck wondering where to begin with 900+ videos on that site, this list is a good place to start. I've watched most of them by now, and have yet to be disappointed.
Update this blog: This is one, like the picture challenge, can vary. I like today's post idea, but I am often struggling to squeeze something worthy of posting out of my often barren brain. However it is a very nice way to organize the challenges I'm doing, and I usually refer to the blog to see what it is I actually have to do today.
Overall I am very pleased with the 30 day challenge idea, especially during periods of time when structure in my life is otherwise lacking. I plan to keep doing them a long while, even after I start a new job. I would recommend this to everyone.
As my spotty memory recalls Matt Cutts once saying in his TED talk: "The next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why don't you do something you've always wanted to do, golf ball sandwich."
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