Thirty days. One small thing.

1. Choose a book you already have. Read for five minutes and stop at the end of a paragraph.
2. Read for five minutes, starting with the last paragraph from last time.
3. Read for ten minutes somewhere you don’t usually read.
4. Read for ten minutes with your phone in another room.
5. Read for ten minutes, then write down one sentence you liked.
6. Read for ten minutes and look up one word you weren’t sure of.
7. Read for ten minutes before you look at a screen today.
8. Read for ten minutes, then tell someone in one sentence what is happening in the book.
9. Read one page out loud — or under your breath, if people are near — then carry on for ten minutes.
10. Read for ten minutes at a time of day you haven’t tried yet.
11. Read for ten minutes, then flip back and find the best line so far.
12. Read for fifteen minutes. If today is busy, ten is fine.
13. Read something short and complete: one essay, one story or one long article.
14. Read for ten minutes and stop mid-chapter on purpose, so next time starts easily.
15. Halfway. Read for ten minutes, then note the page you are on and the page you started on.
16. Read for ten minutes in a different room from last time.
17. Read for ten minutes, then copy one sentence out by hand.
18. Read for ten minutes with a pencil in your hand, and mark anything you’d want to find again.
19. Read for ten minutes, then write down a guess about what happens next.
20. Read for ten minutes on paper if you have been reading on a screen, or the other way round.
21. Read for ten minutes, then look up one place, person or thing the book mentions.
22. Read for fifteen minutes with a drink you like.
23. Read for ten minutes, then check how your guess from day nineteen is doing.
24. Read the next ten pages, however long they take.
25. Read for ten minutes, then write one line about why you picked this book.
26. Read for ten minutes, and finish the chapter if you are close.
27. Visit a library, a bookshop or a shelf at home and choose your next book. Read its first page.
28. Read for ten minutes from whichever book you want today.
29. Read for fifteen minutes, then count how many pages you have read this month.
30. Read for ten minutes, then write down the best sentence from all thirty days.

Any pace and any distance counts. Choose routes and times you know are safe.

1. Walk for ten minutes, anywhere. Let your feet choose the route.
2. Walk for ten minutes and count the different trees or plants you pass.
3. Walk the same route as last time and find one thing you missed.
4. Walk for ten minutes without headphones.
5. Walk somewhere you would normally drive or ride to — or part of the way.
6. Walk for ten minutes looking up: roofs, windows, wires, sky.
7. Walk for ten minutes, then write down the three things you remember best.
8. Walk at a different time of day from usual.
9. Walk for ten minutes and take one photo of something ordinary.
10. Walk down a street you have never walked down.
11. Walk with someone, or call someone while you walk.
12. Walk for ten minutes and count every sound you can name.
13. Walk for fifteen minutes, or ten if the day is full.
14. Walk somewhere with a purpose: post a letter, return something, pick up one thing you need.
15. Halfway. Walk your day-one route again.
16. Walk for ten minutes and spot five different coloured doors.
17. Walk in whatever the weather is doing, dressed for it — unless it is stormy, icy or very hot, in which case any short walk counts.
18. Walk to the nearest bench, park or open space and stay there for two minutes.
19. Walk for ten minutes and notice who nods or says hello.
20. Walk for ten minutes as soon as you finish work or school.
21. Walk for ten minutes looking down: paving, cracks, drains, moss.
22. Walk a loop instead of there and back.
23. Walk for ten minutes and take one photo from a low angle.
24. Walk somewhere with trees, if there is somewhere near.
25. Walk for ten minutes, and take a different turning on the way back.
26. Walk for ten minutes and leave your phone in your pocket until you are home.
27. Walk to a place you would show a visitor.
28. Walk for ten minutes at whatever pace feels right today.
29. Walk your favourite route of the month.
30. Walk for ten minutes, then look back through the month’s photos.

1. Write one line about today. Any line. It doesn’t have to be good.
2. Write one line about something you saw.
3. Write one line that starts with “Today I noticed”.
4. Write one line about something you heard someone say.
5. Write one line about the weather, for someone who has never seen it.
6. Write one line about a smell from today.
7. Write one line about something that made you laugh, or nearly.
8. Write one line about a place you passed through.
9. Write one line of exactly ten words.
10. Write one line about an object in front of you.
11. Write one line about something you are looking forward to.
12. Write one line about someone you spoke to today, without naming them.
13. Write one line about the first thing you did this morning.
14. Write one line as a question you can’t answer yet.
15. Halfway. Read back your first fourteen lines, then write one about reading them.
16. Write one line about a sound from today.
17. Write one line about something that went better than you expected.
18. Write one line about what your hands did today.
19. Write one line that will still make sense to you in ten years.
20. Write one line about a colour you saw today.
21. Write one line about something small you fixed, finished or put away.
22. Write one line about the light where you are right now.
23. Write one line with no adjectives in it.
24. Write one line about something from this week you want to remember.
25. Write one line about something you changed your mind about.
26. Write one line about where you are sitting.
27. Write one line about a conversation you would like to have.
28. Write one line using only words of one syllable.
29. Write one line about the month so far.
30. Read all your lines from the start, then write the last one about what you found.

1. Clear one surface — a table, a shelf or a counter. Ten minutes, then stop.
2. Empty one bag you carry every day and put back only what belongs in it.
3. Sort one drawer. Anything you are unsure about goes in a pile to decide on later.
4. Put away everything that is out of place in one room.
5. Clear the floor of one room.
6. Sort the post, papers or receipts that have piled up.
7. Tidy the area by the front door.
8. Go through one shelf of a cupboard or wardrobe.
9. Delete ten photos, screenshots or files you no longer need.
10. Wipe down one surface you use every day.
11. Find five things to give away, recycle or pass on.
12. Tidy the place where you work or study.
13. Sort one box, basket or bag that has been waiting “for later”.
14. Clear one kitchen shelf or cupboard.
15. Halfway. Spend ten minutes on the spot that bothers you most.
16. Sort your chargers, cables and batteries.
17. Tidy the space beside your bed.
18. Unsubscribe from five emails you never open.
19. Sort one pile of laundry — or match the socks.
20. Take anything you have set aside to give away to where it is going, or decide when you will.
21. Tidy the inside of a car, a locker or a backpack.
22. Test your pens and keep the ones that work.
23. Find one thing that has no home and give it a place to live.
24. Clear the apps you don’t use from your phone’s home screen.
25. Spend ten minutes on the room you spend the most time in.
26. Sort one shelf of books, games or films.
27. Clean one window or mirror.
28. Tidy where the shoes and coats live.
29. Walk through your home and put back anything that has drifted.
30. Go back to the surface from day one. Ten minutes to put it right, if it needs it.

1. Find a word you have seen but never looked up. Look it up and write down what it means.
2. Look up a word you use but couldn’t define if someone asked.
3. Learn how to say “thank you” in a language you don’t speak.
4. Find a word for a feeling you have had this week.
5. Look up where one everyday word came from.
6. Learn one word from a job or hobby that isn’t yours.
7. Use one of this week’s words in a sentence, out loud or in writing.
8. Find a word for something you can see from where you are.
9. Look up a word that has two very different meanings.
10. Learn the proper name for something you usually call “that thing”.
11. Find a word that sounds like what it means.
12. Look up an old word that has fallen out of use.
13. Look up a word from a song, book or show that you didn’t fully understand.
14. Teach someone one of your words.
15. Halfway. Read back your fourteen words and pick a favourite.
16. Find a word for a colour you didn’t have a name for.
17. Find a word English has borrowed from another language.
18. Learn a word for a kind of weather or sky.
19. Check how to say a word you have only ever read.
20. Find a word for a sound.
21. Look up a word that has only come into use in the last few years.
22. Look up a word from the place you live or grew up.
23. Use two of your words in one message today.
24. Learn the name of a part of something: a shoe, a book, a building.
25. Find the opposite of a word you learned this month.
26. Look up a word you skipped over in a recipe, a manual or a form.
27. Learn a word for a way of moving.
28. Write one sentence that uses three of your words.
29. Pick the word from this month you are most likely to keep using.
30. Read your thirty words back, and use your favourite once today.

These are gentle everyday movements, not exercise advice. Move slowly, skip anything that hurts or doesn’t suit you, and follow any advice you have been given about your own body first. Swapping in a stretch you are comfortable with still counts.

1. Stand up, reach both arms overhead and hold for a slow count of five. Do it twice.
2. Roll your shoulders backwards five times, then forwards five times.
3. Turn your head slowly to look over each shoulder, three times each way.
4. Hold your arms out to the sides and draw five small circles with your hands. Then reverse.
5. Link your fingers, push your palms away from you and hold for a count of five.
6. Stand tall, reach one arm up and over to the side, and hold. Three on each side.
7. Pick your favourite stretch so far and do it twice.
8. Spread your fingers wide, then make a loose fist. Ten times.
9. Stand on one foot for a count of ten, with a hand on a wall or chair back for balance. Then the other.
10. Sit tall and gently turn to look behind you, three times each way.
11. Stretch as soon as you get up, before you pick up your phone.
12. Point and flex your feet ten times while sitting.
13. Stand with your back against a wall, as tall as you can, for a count of ten.
14. Do three of your stretches in a row, at whatever time suits you.
15. Halfway. Repeat the stretch from day one.
16. Clasp your hands behind your back and lift them gently for a count of five. Twice.
17. Tilt your head gently towards each shoulder and hold for a count of five.
18. Stretch after you have been sitting for a while.
19. Reach down towards your knees, shins or toes — wherever is comfortable — and hold for five.
20. Rise slowly onto your toes and lower again, ten times, holding something steady.
21. Put on one song and stretch any way you like until it ends.
22. Circle your wrists and ankles slowly, five times each way.
23. Reach both arms forward at shoulder height, round your upper back, and hold for five.
24. Stretch outside, or beside an open window.
25. Put four of your stretches together as a short routine and do it once.
26. Stretch in the evening, before bed.
27. Do your four-stretch routine again.
28. Show someone one of your stretches.
29. Do every stretch you remember from this month, slowly, one after another.
30. Stretch for two minutes, any way you like. That is thirty days.

1. Message someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. “Thinking of you” is enough.
2. Thank someone for something small they did recently.
3. Send someone a photo of something that reminded you of them.
4. Ask someone how something they mentioned turned out.
5. Tell someone one thing you like about them.
6. Reply to a message you have been meaning to answer.
7. Send someone a song, an article or a video they would enjoy.
8. Ask an older friend or relative a question about their past.
9. Congratulate someone on something, however small.
10. Tell someone you work or study with that they did something well.
11. Send someone a memory you share.
12. Recommend a book, a film or a place to someone who would like it.
13. Ask someone for a recommendation.
14. Write a note by hand — a card, a postcard or a slip of paper.
15. Halfway. Message the person from day one again.
16. Thank someone who helped you a long time ago.
17. Message someone you see often but rarely talk to properly.
18. Ask someone a question you have always wondered about them.
19. Send someone something that made you laugh.
20. Tell someone you are proud of them.
21. Check in on someone who has had a hard week.
22. Make a plan to meet someone, even if it is weeks away.
23. Answer a message with more than one line.
24. Introduce two people who would get on.
25. Send a voice note instead of a text.
26. Tell someone about something you are working on.
27. Thank someone who helps you regularly — a driver, a shopkeeper, a neighbour. In person counts.
28. Message someone from a group you have drifted away from.
29. Ask someone how they really are, and leave room for the answer.
30. Send one more message to whoever you most enjoyed hearing from this month.

1. Draw a cup, a mug or a glass. Five minutes, any pen, any paper.
2. Draw your own hand.
3. Draw the view from the nearest window.
4. Draw a shoe.
5. Draw something using only straight lines.
6. Draw a leaf, a plant or a flower.
7. Draw a key without looking at the paper.
8. Draw something in one minute, then draw it again slowly.
9. Draw the object nearest your left hand.
10. Draw something from memory: your front door, or a chair you know well.
11. Draw a piece of fruit.
12. Draw a pair of scissors or a tool.
13. Draw one corner of a room.
14. Draw something in one continuous line, without lifting the pen.
15. Halfway. Draw the cup from day one again.
16. Draw a piece of fabric — a sleeve, a towel, a curtain.
17. Draw a building you can see, or one you know well.
18. Draw only the shadows of an object.
19. Draw something tiny so it fills the page.
20. Draw something big no larger than a stamp.
21. Scatter some keys, coins or buttons on a table and draw them.
22. Draw a person from behind, or a pet asleep.
23. Draw your bag and what is in it.
24. Draw something with your other hand.
25. Draw a cloud, a tree or a skyline.
26. Draw a map of your street from memory.
27. Draw four quick objects, thirty seconds each.
28. Draw something you use every day but never really look at.
29. Draw anything you like, for as long as you like.
30. Lay all your sketches out together. Then draw your hand again and set it beside day two.