4 Benefits of Taking Challenges for Growth

I started taking challenges recently, at the beginning of November 2023. I had only two reasons for that at the moment: I like to try something new, and I badly wanted something to share with others.

The third challenge is up to start in a week, and I put the idea under the stress to check if it is really worth doing. That’s only a thought experiment.

1. Personal development and self-improvement

It was easy to jump on the train of challenges. But follow those challenges every day isn’t a peaceful walk. The first challenge was especially of demanding. Walking 20,000 steps a day takes time, mental and physical energy. It hurts.

But overcoming pain, incorporating activity into your daily routine, accomplishing tiny goals every day is not only rewarding. It makes you a better person: people trust you as you keep your word; you become a more interesting person and always have a story in your pocket.

2. Increased resilience and adaptability

You take a new challenge every 30 days, and in the beginning you feel some stress, sometimes you can feel even fear. But time passes and it becomes a norm. I can’t judge as a specialist about that, but I personally feel much better now.

3. Expanded comfort zone and increased confidence

Not only others trust you, you trust yourself as you didn’t give up, even when it was a tough time.

The more challenges you’ve accomplished, the more confident you become. You know yourself better now. You know your borders now and how to push those borders further.

Every single challenge helps gain new experience and expands your comfort zone. You don’t want to hide in your favorite corner with a smartphone or a laptop, you rather go out and find other interesting people.

4. New skills and knowledge acquisition

That’s the most obvious benefit. And the reason I started taking challenges.

My last challenge, 25 Spanish words a day, helped me to learn 750 new words. That’s amazing, as I couldn’t learn so much in Duolingo for two years. And that’s extremely useful for me as my family moved to Mexico.

I think in a long term taking challenges helps you not only gain knowledge but also discover new areas, find your passion, and maybe even your destiny.

Taking a new challenge you don’t oblige yourself with doing that the rest of your life, so that’s a gift of experimenting. No strings attached, only possibilities.