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A few years ago,

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I felt like I was stuck in a rut,

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so I decided to follow in the footsteps

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of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock,

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and try something new for 30 days.

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The idea is actually pretty simple.

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Think about something you've always wanted to add to your life

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and try it for the next 30 days.

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It turns out,

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30 days is just about the right amount of time

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to add a new habit or subtract a habit --

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like watching the news --

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from your life.

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There's a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges.

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The first was,

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instead of the months flying by, forgotten,

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the time was much more memorable.

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This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month.

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And I remember exactly where I was

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and what I was doing that day.

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I also noticed

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that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges,

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my self-confidence grew.

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I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd

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to the kind of guy who bikes to work --

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for fun.

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Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro,

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the highest mountain in Africa.

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I would never have been that adventurous

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before I started my 30-day challenges.

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I also figured out

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that if you really want something badly enough,

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you can do anything for 30 days.

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Have you ever wanted to write a novel?

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Every November,

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tens of thousands of people

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try to write their own 50,000-word novel from scratch

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in 30 days.

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It turns out, all you have to do

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is write 1,667 words a day

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for a month.

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So I did.

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By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep

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until you've written your words for the day.

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You might be sleep-deprived,

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but you'll finish your novel.

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Now is my book the next great American novel?

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No. I wrote it in a month.

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It's awful.

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But for the rest of my life,

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if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party,

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I don't have to say,

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"I'm a computer scientist."

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No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I'm a novelist."

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(Laughter)

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So here's one last thing I'd like to mention.

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I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes,

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things I could keep doing,

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they were more likely to stick.

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There's nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges.

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In fact, they're a ton of fun.

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But they're less likely to stick.

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When I gave up sugar for 30 days,

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day 31 looked like this.

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(Laughter)

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So here's my question to you:

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What are you waiting for?

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I guarantee you the next 30 days

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are going to pass

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whether you like it or not,

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so why not think about something

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you have always wanted to try

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and give it a shot

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for the next 30 days.

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Thanks.

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(Applause)