A Bold 30 Day Challenge To Boost Employee Happiness

Like most people, you might be sitting at a desk working a 9-5 job right in the gullet of Corporate America.

For a lot of people, that can get old. Real quick. Not in a bad way‚ but doing the same thing all the time, every day, coming to the same desk, same people, aching lower back -- it's all the same. It is what it is, but like‚ give me some draaamaaaa.

At Kinetix, we have something special to keep things interesting around these parts that boosts employee morale, brings excitement, and is challenging. We love to keep our people on their toes.

We do a thing called Zen-etix, a clever little play on "zen" and "Kinetix"!

Zen-etix is a monthly meeting that promotes positivity, happiness, wellness, perspective, etc. It's like a monthly wellness hour that covers different aspects in life, like (finance, health, mental health, goals, etc.)

And when we all get together, the "work shields" come off, regular people enter, and we exchange ideas, thoughts, questions, etc. Like therapy, if you will.

Each month is a different topic:

• Finance month -- how to save money
• Fitness month -- how to achieve those healthy habits
• Goals month -- how to set smart and achievable goals
• Gardening
• Blogging + social media month
• Etc...

So for September, our theme is the 30 Day Challenge.

Sounds simple, right? It's actually, dare say, challenging. 

This is how the 30 Day Challenge works: you choose something that you're going to do for the next consecutive 30 days. We're inspired by this here TED talk and the video goes into more detail about how it changed this guy's life.

Here are some examples of what our team members are doing for their 30 Day Challenge:

• Using cash only; it's been proven that people spend 30% less if you limit credit card use
• No cheese (sounds impossible to me, but you do you.)
• Eat one healthy meal a day
• Wake up an hour early for "me" time
• Train for a half-marathon
• Study 30 minutes of a new language on duolingo.com a day
• Write on my personal wellness blog every day, Mon-Fri (this one is mine)
• Run every day
• Declutter email every day
• Call an old friend every day + rekindle friendships
• Cut back on caffeine and increase water consumption
• Do yoga 3 times a week

We all message and support each other using Slack, too! It's an awesome accountability system to help each other achieve our goals. It's been an incredible process so far. Every day we ask our accountability partner if they've met their goal for the day, how they're doing, how can we help, etc.

As mentioned, my goal is to write on my blog every day, Monday through Friday, for the next 30 days. I'm actually inspired by my boss who is an A-lister in the HR world (Kris Dunn; you might not know him, but you've definitely heard of him), and he writes on his personal blog every day and has done so for the past 7-8 years. I know. That's a smack ton of writing.

But I'm competitive and I want to see what can come from it. Not saying I'm going to be an overnight success after 30 days, but I know nothing bad can come from it. My boss says consistency with content is what sets apart the best from the rest.
So here I go. 

Why should you do the 30 Day Challenge at your company?

• It builds relationships between your employees
• It gives you and others the opportunity to learn more about each other
• Cultivates a culture of support and encouragement
• Gives employees a sense of purpose and something bigger than just what's at their desk
• Encourages teams to make positive changes in their life. It can only make them a happier, healthier, and engaged employee!

Considering people spend more time at work than they do at home, it's important to create a culture of family, fun, and growth.

Start planning on introducing the 30 Day Challenge to your company to start October 1.

Your people will love you for it.