They were just a few words on a phone screen but they set a chain of events that started a growth avalanche.

“I hope you continue playing the guitar and finding ways to challenge yourself.”

BAM!

As if I’d been struck with lightning, I asked myself:

“Do I challenge myself anymore on guitar?”

The fact that you’re reading this post tells me that you are trying to grow.  That’s awesome!

The question is: are you challenged?  For example, you may have a workout program.  But are you just going through the motions or tweaking your system to get the results you want?

You may be on a diet.  But if you are not seeing results is it possible that you need to adjust?

It may be your marriage.  You’re getting the big picture by now.

Something amazing happens when we begin to challenge ourselves.

But sometimes the challenge is starting.  Get it?  You have to play before you can challenge yourself.  If the challenge just remains an idea in your notebook nothing’s going to happen.

The challenge comes after you begin.  Otherwise you just have a good case of the Tomorrow Syndrome.  Tomorrow I’ll run.  Tomorrow I’ll start the new diet . Tomorrow I’ll get more spiritual.

So here’s how I challenged myself on guitar.  I chose to learn the most difficult piece of music by my favorite band.  Why?

After thinking about my friend’s encouragement, I realized that I had not been challenging myself on guitar at all.  Sure, I tried playing difficult passages and learning new songs, but there was something lacking…regularity.

That all changed when I practiced and practiced and practiced the same piece over and over again.  It was frustrating and I gave up more than once and almost gave up entirely.  But with persistence I learned the piece and now use it as a warm-up on a daily basis.

What is it for you?  Like me, maybe you’ve started and you challenged yourself, but do you continue to challenge yourself?

We can challenge ourselves in more than one area.  I challenged myself to eat differently this week and lost 10 pounds! More about that later.

Here are just a few techniques that I’ve learned lately.

A timer.  Yup, you read right.  Set a 25 minute timer on your phone and use that 25 minutes to focus on the challenge at hand.  No answering the phone, no texting or surfing, no working on a different problem.  Just 25 minutes of pure focus and work.

At the completion of the task you can take 5-10 minutes to divert and do things like eat, surf, nap, relax, exercise, whatever.

You’ll be amazed how much you start accomplishing!  It might even just mean taking 25 minutes to fill-out forms, work on taxes, pay bills, consolidate, etc.  But this practice is a powerful way to start and finish aggravating tasks.

Get an app.  At the recommendation of one of my virtual mentors, I downloaded Todoist and I absolutely love it.  It’s just a to do list app.  They also have a great blog!  I love this particular post on learning.

I know it doesn’t sound very exciting, but it’s exhilarating when you start completing small tasks on a daily basis.  For example, you can list your routine or challenge as a daily task and check it off each time you complete it.  There’s just something about writing things down.  And you can list projects as well and break them down into manageable chunks to work on.  Plus, there’s a Todoist blog with fantastic articles on topics from learning to productivity.

Calendar.  I know this doesn’t sound exciting, but it’s effective.  Simply block out times on your schedule to work on your challenge.  Again, things seem to stick more when you write them down.  Block out the times you’ll work on your challenge and stick to it.

Daydream.  I know this one sounds counterproductive but it isn’t.  You have to imagine the change before you can chase it!  Like most people you’ve probably been shunned for daydreaming but it’s an important daily practice.  In fact, what might happen if you scheduled a day once a month and a week annually to daydream?

Here are some questions to get you started that I came across on DerekSivers.org.

-Which were the top three best times in my life so far?

-What are my biggest regrets?

-What would I write a screenplay about?

-If I had the magic lamp, what would be my three wishes?  (This one resulted in powerful changes in my own life!)

-What does the most ambitious version of myself look like?

-What about the least ambitious version of myself?

-How can I be a better Dad?

-At what would I most love to be an expert at? (I love this one).

-Is there anything I can do without?

-How would my life be different if I was blind? Deaf? Paralyzed? (Powerful questions!).

To Recap.  If you want to grow, you have to challenge yourself in your pursuits.  You also need to be persistent.  There are many tools that you can use to create a productivity system.  Timers and Apps are examples of tools that you can use to grow quicker.  Finally, make daydreaming a regular part of your routine.  Imagine the pie in the sky and then build a set of stairs to reach it.  In my experience, if you do these things you’ll create an avalanche of Growth.