#TeachIt March 1

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March 2026 marks the 75th consecutive month that Jeff Neelon, Jaclyn Donovan, and I have completed a 30-Day Coach4aday Challenge. For this milestone month, we’ve chosen to focus on teaching. Each day for 30 days, we will share one lesson, principle, or insight gained from the previous 74 challenges—calling it the 30-Day Coach4aday Teach It Challenge. For each of us we believe that our own personal growth increases when we share it.

“Teach It” 30 Day Challenge Guidelines

In past challenges, we invited others to join us, though participation has been limited. This month, the three of us will return to January 2020—the very beginning—and move forward to the present, reflecting along the way and sharing a life lesson or insight from any month with one another.

Here is how we will do it.

1. Identify the principle, insight, or lesson from a previous 30-Day Challenge-identify the Challenge also.
2. Teach that lesson to each of us.
3. Share the conversation by posting on social media with the hashtag #Coach4adayChallenge

Day 1-Sugar Free Challenge Lesson

Of all the previous 30-Day Challenges the absolute most difficult for me was the Sugar Detox Challenge that took place in January 2022.

Taking this on there were different levels of changes and adaptations I had to make.

I want to start out by showing you the chart that I adhered to

The first three days were agonizing because my plan included eliminating all natural fruits in the first 72 hours. After that fruit was okay. Other challenges you might complete a task and be done for the day this lingered over me constantly. When completed it changed a lot of my habits including staying clear of soda, adding sugar to my coffee, and becoming a label reader.

This challenge could not have been achieved without the support of my wife who shopped and cooked meals that allowed me to stay Sugar Free.

Another valuable technique was utilizing the acronym DEAD. You can read about that at this link.

Adopting this habit for 30-Days did show measurable results. Here is a summary

WEIGHT-At the start of the challenge I weighed 188.8 lbs.-during the 30 Days I reached a low of 178.4 lbs. on Jan. 26th and finished the month at 180.2 lbs. my total weigh change was 8.6 lbs. 

BLOOD PRESSURE-My wife had ReliOn/Wrist Cuff BP Monitor that I used 3 times a day. I use the middle daily reading and recorded it. On January 1, 2022, my average BP was 134/76. After two weeks the readings stayed constant in the 120/70 range. My final reading on January 30th was 115/60. This month did not see me exercise regularly. I only walked 18 holes once the entire month due to weather and obligations.

SLEEP-This was a data point that did not move much but there were some subtle changes. What I tracked were the following. A. How long I slept. B. How many times I got up to use the bathroom? C. What was the length of time in between interruptions?

At the end of December, I was sleeping 8.5 hours on average and waking twice most nights. Usually, the interval between sleep interruptions was about 3.5 hours. The biggest change was not in length of sleep or interruption intervals but was the number of interruptions. For the entire month I only had three (3) nights where my sleep caused me to get up twice. Most nights it was only once and five (5) nights no interruptions. I still slept on average 8.5 hours a night.

Might not be the first challenge anyone wants to take on but I’m glad I did it.