When was the last time you challenged yourself? even if its  a small one. I know it’s been a while for me. Until now. I was talking with my older brother the other night, and during the conversation he mentioned that it had been a while – months in fact – since he had some sweets . He has quite a sweet tooth, as do I , so this isn’t easy. So when he put forth a challenge that i couldn’t go a month without them, i decided take him up on it. For the month of November, we won’t consume any sweets. It’s a gentlemen’s bet. I believe I can do this. In fact, If you see me out on the town and catch me breaking the challenge, I’ll give you $20.

What does this include, you wonder? Soda, candy,  sugary coffee drinks (like my mocha), cookies, cake, pie, ice cream – basically anything that is bad for you and consumed during the holidays. Juices and lemonade are fine. In anticipation of November 1st, I was tempted to binge a little. I came up with the idea of a cupcake crawl, and even tweeted about it, to see if there was any interest from others. A few people liked the idea, but nobody agreed to participate. This was for the best. Binging just isn’t healthy. I still had the craving though. Fortunately, I was able to extinguish that desire by watching an episode of the Biggest Loser. Seeing the amount of sacrifice and motivation they need to overcome their current condition is humbling.

I could stop there. However, I could also use this opportunity to do another, complementary challenge. Not eating sweets for a month is preventing me from doing something bad. I decided to take on a challenge that would make me do something good. This one was inspired by my friend Anthony Stevens. He recently challenged himself to exercise for 100 consecutive days. He did it!  An admirable challenge to be sure. However,  I’m going to start with 30 consecutive days of  exercise. I can re-up at the end of the November right? Besides, i like that the 2 challenges will line up with one another.

To be clear, both challenges begin on November 1 and end November 30. Do you want to participate in either one (or both) of the challenges? If so, write which challenge you want to do in the comments. Let’s work together on this.

Smarter men than I had challenges and experiences in their lives. From those, they learned a lesson. They managed to take that lesson and distill into a compact piece of wisdom. Below are 10 of my favorites.

• “Chance favors the prepared mind” –Louis Pasteur
• “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward” –Ellen Glasgow
• “Think you can, think you can’t; either way, you’ll be right” –Henry Ford
• “The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his” –General George S. Patton
• “Fortune and Love favor the brave” –Ovid
• “The superior man is modest in his speech, but excels in his actions” –Confucius
• “The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind” –William James
• “Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is mystery, Today is a gift – that’s why it’s called the Present” –Unknown
• “The way to develop self confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you” –William Jennings Bryan
• “To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are” –Anon