How a Challenge Can Build Engagement Habits

Since I moved into my own house in October, I’ve been wanting to get into a daily yoga routine but life has been…well, the end of a 21-year marriage is stressful even when it’s peaceful.

Enter January. The yoga app I subscribe to had a 31-day challenge that inspired me to sign up. Not to win, but because I hate losing enough I know I’ll see it through.

And I did. Not a day missed since. It worked brilliantly. ;)

In the middle of it though, I was looking at my membership and wondering how to get more people engaged - the perpetual community owner’s challenge. It’s a lot harder off social media for people to remember to show up.

…unless it becomes a habit.

I started trying to think of ways to help my people get used to logging in and the answer came to me: I’d build my own challenge.

So I did. With tears and love and a fervent hope that this challenge would change lives, I penned from the heart 29 unique lessons that teach philosophy, practical skills and how to merge the two with intuition.

You see, it’s about goats, but it’s not about goats.

Each day is a new micro lesson, building on the lessons that came before but also standing alone.

A daily commit for an entire month is hard if there is homework, so it’s important to remember that with few exceptions, your audience is probably very busy and the more extra work you pile on, the more likely they’ll burn out and fade away.

Instead, keep actions to a minimum, or run short challenges, but always keep in mind your audience’s ability to keep up. We know this stuff, we can sometimes forget that our audience needs more time to assimilate a concept.

Here’s a sample lesson that represents the reflection and thought-provoking slant, without a tangible action step they need to carve out time for.

Your goats don't give a shit about your politics.

They don't care about the news, the argument you had with your mother, the bills you're worried about, or the thing you said five years ago that still makes you cringe at 2am.

So why do you bring all of it to the barn?

Goats are prey animals. They read tension in your body before you even realize you're carrying it. When you walk in stressed, distracted, mentally somewhere else - they feel it. And they respond to it, even if you don't notice.

But here's the flip side: when you walk in fully present, something shifts. For them and for you.

There's a reason people talk about the peace they feel with their animals. It's not just the fresh air. It's that for a few minutes, you're actually here. Not replaying the past, not rehearsing the future. Just watching a goat chew her cud and noticing the way the light hits her coat.

That presence is healing - for you and for them. It creates space for the calm that naturally happens when we stop dragging our chaos into theirs.

Today's practice: Before you walk into your barn, picture tying your stress to a red balloon on the gate. All of it - the worry, the noise, the mental chatter. Tie it there. You can pick it back up when you leave if you want it.

Or you can cut the string and let it float away.

Woo? Maybe. Effective? Hell, yes. This is my peacefulness practice in a nutshell. It’s how I triage. It’s how I endure the high stakes pressure of running a business, mothering 4 kids and walking out divorce. Red balloons, my friends. Red balloons everywhere. 😆 (But most of them have floated off into the sky.)

Every day, an email goes out sending them to their new lesson. We engage with live chat and community posts. Every day, a little dopamine hit and some human encouragement to keep them invigorated and coming in to learn more.

By the end, they’ll have gained insights, a sense of belonging, some printables and a whole new perspective (if I’ve done it right).

And, answering to my engagement question, I now have an audience that has developed the habit of showing up. Some of them may choose to continue on through a paid membership.

They’ve learned, they’ve grooved the routine and I’ve gotten to know more of my people in a safe, private community container.

I’m already looking forward to building out the next challenge. 💪