This
time of year it’s easy to be overwhelmed by well-meaning advice. Everyone seems
to have a solution to your procrastination or a remedy for your lack of
motivation. Unfortunately, most advice is either too general or irrelevant
because it doesn’t address your main concerns.
I’ve
spent the last year trying to hone in on some of the best tips and tricks I’ve
learned to stay ahead and maintain a positive mindset.
Here are 30
straightforward reminders and tips to help you supercharge your life in 2018:
1. Get the basics
right.
Take care of your body, your mind and your soul. Make a list of what you know
is good for you and what you know is bad for you in each category. Consider
ways to reduce the bad and increase the good.
2. Reduce
distractions that sap your energy. When you’re planning big changes, it’s easy to
get pulled into many different directions. You get excited about a certain idea
which pulls you down the rabbit hole into numerous other directions. Focus on
one thing at a time.
3. Make a new friend. Start a
conversation with a stranger in the elevator. Compliment someone. Provide some
positive reinforcement. Do something without expecting anything in return.
4. Smile more. Smiling takes
less effort than frowning. It’s also scientifically proven to make you feel
better even if you don’t necessarily feel like smiling.
5. Walk 30 minutes a
day.
Just 30 minutes of exercise a day can help you stimulate your immune system,
increase your metabolism and improve your mood.
6. Do one push-up
for every year old you are. Or do twice as many sit-ups for every
year old you are. Making sure you work the muscles in different parts of your
body stimulates hormone production and helps increase fat burning.
7. Find your
intrinsic drivers. Intrinsic drivers are what inspire you based on
internal motivation, rather than external motivation. Find something you think
of as beautiful, peaceful, relaxing. Embrace it. Appreciate it. Try to
understand why you like it.
8. Speak to an old
friend. Reach
out in an email, a text, a phone call. Check in and just let them know you’re
thinking about them.
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”
– Woodrow T. Wilson
9. Invest in your
health.
Join a gym. Buy some type of sports equipment or clothing that is comfortable
and that you enjoy being in. Consider joining a pick up sports team.
10. Study something
that interests you. Buy a book about someone you admire. Pick a time
period that you’re fascinated with. Make a point of becoming an expert on
something that matters to you.
11. Teach someone
something. Take a topic, any topic, and try to break it down
into its component parts so that you can teach someone how to do it. The
concentration and the effort it takes to teach someone something is often
exactly the kind of effort that is required to truly understand it for
yourself.
12. Delegate to
someone. Find a task that needs to be done that you could
do. Don’t do that task. Instead, look for someone you can ask to help you. Pay
them or ask them for a favor. The key is to learn to delegate actions to
others.
13. Meditate. Mindfulness and meditation are
trending right now, but that’s not the reason you should consider adopting a
meditation practice. The real reason is that meditation will help you focus on
your key goals while cutting out the noise in the world around you.
14. Learn to manage
your personal finances. One of the biggest causes of stress that we as
humans experience is the pressure to make money and control our finances. There
are tons of free resources available online to help you learn about finances
and help get your money in order.
15. Read more. No, I’m not
talking about reading your Facebook News Feed. Read more books. Try to read a
book a month, either fiction or nonfiction. At the beginning of the month
choose a book and break down the number of pages. See how many you have to read
a day to finish… then get started.
16. Cook at home at
least 5 days a week. Cooking at home is cheap, easy and fun. You can
hone skills in creativity and planning all at once, and it’s a great way to
save money.
“My New Year’s resolution is to stick to a good workout plan that will
keep me healthy and happy.” – James Lafferty
17. Sell someone. No, not into human bondage. Sell
someone on an idea or a product. Learn to market yourself and your skills.
Everyone sells as they move through life, but most of us are average
salespeople.
18. Hone your
principles. What principles define your life? What are your
strongly held beliefs? Be honest with yourself and what principles you feel you
must uphold.
19. Embrace the
power of positive thought. Listen to positive audio tapes, surround yourself
with positive people. Look at the positive side of life. Easier said than done,
but truth be told one of the best ways to improve your mood is to look for
sources of positive mood and inspiration.
20. Practice
willpower. Habits are formed over time. Willpower is one of
the most important habits you will ever build, so it is integral you continue
to practice it through all aspects of your life. Look to the stoic philosophers
for a primer on how to tackle this.
21. Write better
hooks. A
hook is the bit of a song that catches a listener’s attention and repeats your
core message in an intriguing way. Similarly, in writing a hook is the quirky
or fascinating intro that makes readers want to continue to read. Think about
your own hooks and how you can get people interested in what you have to say.
22. Don’t sweat the
small stuff. We often become obsessed with daily minutiae and
avoid thinking about the big picture. Don’t let yourself worry too much about
the small day-to-day struggles. Instead, put your head down and get to work.
23. Don’t overthink
the big stuff. Too often we avoid taking leaps of faith because
we’re worried about making a mistake on something big. We don’t buy the new
house. We avoid marrying the person we love. We put off going to the doctor for
that regular scan. Try not to overthink the big decisions (or seemingly small
decisions) that may have larger ramifications. If it’s not overly dangerous or
illegal, take the plunge and go for it.
24. Learn a new word
a day.
Increasing your vocabulary helps you see the world in different ways and makes
you rethink your core beliefs.
“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by
falling over.” – Richard Branson
25. Become a moderate. Extremists are
divisive and often at odds with a large portion of the population. Look for
ways to bring people together through collaboration and consensus rather than
through division.
26. Think bigger. Many self-help
books talk about setting big goals or envisioning massive success in your
lifetime. If you want to become a true leader and attain greater
fulfillment. Look for ways to think beyond creating success in your
lifetime. Think about the legacy you’ll leave for future
generations.
27. Learn universal
processes. Assess how you work best and find ways to carry
standardized processes over into other aspects of your life.
28. Develop support
structures. What do you do if things aren’t going according
to plan? Do you reach out to friends for support, meditate on the problem
alone, or use some mixture of different coping mechanisms? Be aware of what
works for you, and what doesn’t.
29. Don’t compare
yourself to others. We fall into this trap far too often. We use
others as a benchmark for our own progress, but we must remember that it is
unhealthy to put too much weight on comparisons, as everyone has their own
background and their own perspective.
30. Know when to let
go. At
the end of the day, you must try your best and let the cards fall as they may.
All you can do is put your heart and soul into your effort and learn from the
results.
By McVal Osborne
Kindly Note : All ideas and materials presented herein are
for informational and educational purposes only, and is not intended for
commercial or trading purposes. Neither does it mean to misguide anyone. Kindly
make informed decisions on your own risk. Neither livettcelearn.blogspot.in
website nor any of its owner shall be liable for any errors or delays in the
content or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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