My 21 Day No Complaint Experiment

If your mind is anything like mine, you may find that sometimes you simply can’t bear to sit and meditate.

I had struggled with this for some time – my overactive negative mind made it difficult for me to sit with my thoughts.

I tried walking, which sometimes worked but there’s another technique that I found even more useful…

I have consumed a lot of content over the years and had forgotten about the power of this little exercise which offers an alternative to more serene meditation techniques.

I first heard about the “21 Day No Complaint Challenge” from Tony Robbins and I was reminded a couple of weeks ago by Tim Ferriss.

The challenge is exactly what you would expect – no complaining for 21 days.

It’s not easy but it’s a real game changer for your mental state if you can stick to it.

Step 1 – Put a rubber band around your wrist.

Step 2 – When you find yourself criticising, condemning, complaining, gossiping or judging (yourself or others), swap the band to the other wrist and start the 21 days again.

There is a small caveat – if you notice yourself criticising, complaining or judging, you must immediately offer a solution to avoid starting again.

For example, if I find myself complaining about sitting in traffic every morning, I will immediately offer the solution of starting out 10 minutes earlier to avoid starting over.

Another example – when I start judging myself for procrastination, I immediately work on putting systems in place to create good habits.

This practice helps to force my awareness, become more precise in my thinking and rewire my brain for positivity.

I also find myself becoming more solution orientated when challenges arrive instead of complaining and dawdling.

The band around my wrist acts as a constant reminder, it works even better if it’s a bright colour.

Although this challenge is simple, it is extremely difficult.

Your primal brain will always look for negativity and danger, it’s what kept us alive on the savannah but, unfortunately, in our modern world, it can be a mind melting curse.

Using the above technique can help rewire your brain to become more positive, optimistic and allow for greater mental clarity.

It did for me anyway.

For any further insights into my 21 day no complaint experiment, drop me an email and I’ll respond as soon as I can.

Until next time.

Gareth.