Day 30 of the #30days60secCoreChallenge !!!

Finally, it is done! 

The Hashtag challenge has been an interesting observation and a fascinating social experiment. About a month ago, on National Day in fact, I was tagged by Ming Hung on the #30Day60SecCoreChallenge. Ming Hung was probably inspired by the 22 Push Ups challenge, which he was already doing for a couple of week. I gamely accepted the challenge and thought that this could provide me a means to test a few things: 

A. I have not really used the video camera function for my LG G5. With the onslaught of video content materialising in the likes of Instagram (videos and stories), as well as Facebook (live, video, etc.) I wanted to see if it was easy for me to take a short video and post it online. 

B. I had a Youtube channel which I created many years back, but did not really use it as a repository for my video feeds. I wanted to see if it would be easy to store the videos onto Youtube and then do a cross-post onto other platforms. 

C. I was reading an article about Social Proof, and wanted to see how receptive would my friends and acquaintances be with being tagged. Would they be inspired to do the Core Challenge as well? If they did, would they be game enough to post it online? If they were tagged, would that make them more receptive towards such a challenge.

Mind you - the challenge by itself was not a difficult one. It was a "60-second" challenge, which meant that all it took was just a minute to execute. The variation of exercises could be a simple series of sit ups, or even a one-minute plank. Hence, it was something easily executable by almost anybody. ​

Nevertheless, I discerned the following categories of respondents: 

A. The Spontaneous and the Sporting. There would always be a small group who would react positively to the challenge. They would not only attempt the challenge, but create the Hashtag and also post it on their social media platform. They are enthusiastic 

B. The Shy ones. This category of folks liked the idea of the challenge, and they were inspired enough to attempt the challenge in the comfort of their homes. However, they were reluctant to post any video of their attempts online, possibly because they were afraid of being judged, or causing a "wrong impression". Others were not confident if they were able to execute the challenge and hence did not want to post their attempt. 

C. The Flash in the Pan. This group would oblige with the challenge and would try to do it and post it online. But after one or several postings, they would be distracted by their daily affairs and would stop posting. This group are likely the ones that make the effort (to oblige) as they were tagged or were reminded, but the act of doing the challenge was more for their friends, and not for themselves. In short, they did not put in place a challenge to themselves to complete the challenge. 

D. The Can't-be-bothered. This group is likely a majority, and would have paid some attention on such a challenge, but would prefer to remain passive and not partake in the challenge. A portion of this group might eventually try the challenge if there were enough people attempting it. 

E. The Cynical. The cynics would form an opinion quickly, and probably a negative view of the entire movement. Likely responses would be "they have too much time to spare", "what's this silly challenge all about". Notwithstanding, the cynics do not always stick to their notions, and with time, their opinions could evolve more positively (or negatively, for that matter). 

Another fascinating discovery was that, with social media, it was possible to reach out beyond a geographical constraint. In fact, we realised there were people as far as China or even USA attempting the #30Days60SecCoreChallenge as well. This bodes well for individuals or groups who would like to initiate a movement to spread positive habits to others - you never know how far the reach could get! 

​#livethechange!