I don’t know about you, but the very idea of trying one of those trendy “365 days of…” challenges makes me run screaming for the hills! So, I came up with some bite-sized “One-Week Challenges” instead. I get the same sense of accomplishment without all the pressure. Check them out!

First, I know this feels very much like a New Year’s post that I maybe forgot to publish back in January, but it’s not. I actually held off on it because I didn’t want it to be just another resolutions-type thing. I find resolutions incredibly stressful!

Besides, literally every single day (every second, really) is the start of a brand-new year. I mean, it takes 365-ish days to get from March 29, 2021 to March 29, 2022, right? Jan 1st is just the start of a new calendar year. 😀 The point is, you can start these challenges any time you want. You also don’t have to do all them. Seriously, they’re just for fun, so pick & choose what works for you. No pressure at all.

Fun One-Week Challenges to Try

I tried to make these all social media-friendly (and somewhat hashtaggable), but honestly, I never share them on social. I just do them for my own sense of accomplishment.

1. Learn a totally weird and random new fact every day.
2. Play a new casual game (like Gordon Ramsay’s Chef Blast) every day. Save the ones you love, delete the rest.
3. Celebrate at least one unique holiday or “national day” every day for one week. I use Brownielocks for inspiration for this one.
4. Give a genuine compliment to at least one person each day. Even better, give 7 compliments a day for 7 days!
5. Be kind to yourself. You should do this every day, but if you’re like me and suffer from low self-esteem, spend one week saying only positive things to (and about) yourself.
6. Start every morning off with GOOD news only for one week. There are a few sites that only share happy stuff, so just search “good news” on Bing (I found better results for it than Google).
7. Better yet, go on a total news detox and skip it for a week. If anything really major happens, you’ll still hear about it, don’t worry.
8. Listen to a song from the year you graduated high school every day for a week. #Nostalgia
9. Read yesterday’s horoscope every morning for a week. See if it came true. (If you read today’s, you could end up self-fulfilling the “prophecies”).
10. Gather up 7 things to donate every day for 7 days. At the end of the week, either make an appointment through something like Pickup Please (to support veterans) or take them to a place that really needs whatever you’re donating.
11. Skip your morning latte from the coffee shop (or whatever you usually buy every day) and donate the money you save to your favorite cause.
12. Pick 7 of your favorite charities and share their mission & donation page on social media each day (one a day). This is a great way to help them out even if you don’t have money to spare yourself.
13. Shop from small businesses only every day for a week.
14. Go one whole week without complaining about anyone or anything on social media. It’s harder than it sounds!
15. Spend the week REALLY learning about a different culture. Go beyond just reading a Buzzfeed-style listicle about it or trying one recipe on “multicultural night.” Read books or blogs, watch movies, or listen to podcasts created by people that are actually from that culture.
16. Take a walk in a new place every day for a week. Drive to a different park, neighborhood, or hiking trail each day. It doesn’t have to be a long walk. Even just a 15-minute stroll counts.
17. Watch a movie from your childhood every night for 7 nights. This is going to give away my age, but my list includes Neverending Story, E.T, Princess Bride, Breakfast Club, Stand By Me, Goonies, and Space Camp.
18. Write in a journal every night for a week. You may like it so much that you keep doing it! If you need some ideas on what to write, check out my favorite self-discovery journal prompts.
19. Challenge yourself to a “business brainstorming” week. Every single day, come up with one new idea for something that could make you some extra money (or even become your next full-time job). Don’t edit or hold back. Sometimes, the most “harebrained ” ideas are the most lucrative.
20. Write “thank you” notes to teachers who made a real difference in your life. If you can find your old teachers online, actually send them the notes. If not, consider it an exercise in gratitude.
21. Take mental pictures instead of real ones for a week. We spend way too much time looking at life through the lens of a camera (or through a screen if you use your phone’s camera).
22. Start every morning with laughter for one week. First thing in the morning, read a funny story, listen to a humor podcast, or whatever else truly makes you laugh out loud.
23. Learn how to say a phrase in 7 different languages. Pick a phrase- anything you want- and learn how to say it in one new language a day each day for a week. It doesn’t sound like much, but it gives you an appreciation for other languages and exposes you to new cultures.
24. Take “my world as it really is” pictures for a week. Stop snapping Instagram-worthy shots of your avocado toast and start snapping your real life. Years from now, your grandkids won’t care about that toast picture, but they’ll love seeing what your home, your car, even the inside of your fridge really looked like “back then.”
25. End each night on a positive note by listing three good things that happened to you that day. On a really bad day, something as simple as “my coffee tasted really good” counts.
26. Have a “permission to quit” week. We get into this mindset that we shouldn’t try new things because we don’t want to be “quitters” if we don’t like it. So this week is all about trying them without putting pressure on yourself to keep going if they’re not for you.
27. Eat the alphabet week. Pick one letter and include foods that start with it in every meal. Note the word “include.” You don’t have to go crazy and ONLY eat foods that start with that letter. 😀
28. Challenge yourself to a “get organized” week. Keep it low-pressure by just organizing one tiny thing a day. A drawer, a bookshelf, a corner of your kitchen, or even the apps on your phone.
29. Purge something negative from your life every day for a week. Remove toxic “friends” from your social media lists, unfollow “interests” that make you angry, and so on.

Again, these are meant to be totally no-pressure, so do the ones you like and skip the rest. If you get halfway through the week and decide you’re not having fun…well, hey, you still completed challenge #26, so pat yourself on the back! 😀

If you can think of any other fun one-week challenges that I should try, let me know! Have fun!