- Cultivate your focus. Here’s how:
- Work on a task single-mindedly. Multitasking isn’t a virtue. Your mind isn’t designed to multitask. When I multitask, I usually get little things done. When I singletask, things get completed pretty effectively.
- Your mind will sneakily look for distractions. That’s normal. Acknowledge your wandering mind and refocus on your task.
- Focus on things which are reasonably beyond your comfort zone. So that you can grow. Solve challenging questions. Study helpful topics. Challenge your pre-existing beliefs.
- When you master the ability to focus, you get into flow state much more easily. Your learning curve will increase exponentially. You’ll be an effective learner and productive hustler.
- I hope you see that the opportunity to practice focus is everywhere. Focus is an invaluable asset. Cultivate it.
- Read. Here’s how:
- Most people don’t read. Some read for pleasure. Few read to improve their behavior. To improve your life, read with the grand objective to improve your behavior.
- It’s easy to intellectualize the things you’ve read, and that’s required. But most people are trapped there, almost forever. You have to go beyond that. You want to have both the theory and practice. You want to internalize those wisdom. Don’t simply stop at understanding something intellectually - make it a part of who you are.
- Assess yourself and identify your current bottleneck. If you procrastinate recently, read books about procrastination. Understand the mechanism of procrastination deeply. If you want to be more financially-literate, read books like Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cash Flow Quadrant and The Millionaire Next Door. I’ve read those books again and again. Good results do happen.
- Highlight important text. Make your own notes. Challenge the author’s point of view if necessary. You don’t have to agree with everything the author says. Cultivate your own thinking ability.
- Most importantly, revisit your books from time to time. New wisdom will be explored. That’s what I consistently experience.
- Reflect. Here’s how:
- It’s impractical to aim to be a perfect human being. It’s more practical to be the best we can be, and reflect from our mistakes.
- You have to accept that mistakes are unavoidable. In fact, mistakes are our silent mentors. Just make sure you don’t make the reckless and foolhardy ones. That’s a different story.
- Identify behaviors which weigh you down and consciously decide to behave better next time. For example, if you waste too much time on the bed, make a conscious decision to literally jump out of the bed once you wake up.
- I was stupid. I used to make my reflection sessions into self-sabotaging sessions. Don’t do that. You can’t change your past. Accept it and look forward.
- Imagine you applying reflection on your career, relationship and the skills you want to build. Man, you’ll be able to go much further.
- Feel good. Here’s how:
- You don’t want to feel bad, do you? Well, understand that it’s you who fundamentally determines how you feel. In other words, inner work is required.
- Practice gratitude. No matter how good or bad your life is, there must be something to be grateful about. This morning, I am consciously grateful that I am alive, the sun is bright and my car engine starts smoothly. You get the point.
- The ability to feel good is a skill. Build that skill, so you don’t have to depend on low-conscious things like alcohol, party and junk food to feel good temporarily.
- I’m not suggesting you to abstinate from alcohol, party and junk food all together. You can enjoy those things, as long as you don’t make them as your only source of good feelings. Put this crucial understanding into perspective.
- You can feel good at anytime. Anytime. The question is, are you actually willing to make it happen?
- Exercise. Here’s how:
- Pick up some physical activities you like and do it for at least three times per week and 30 mins per session. Better yet, exercise daily.
- Have fun while exercising. Be present in the moment. Put all other things aside.
- Health is wealth. To verify, you may ask those wealthy people laying on the hospital beds. I’ve asked them. Yes, they said health is wealth.
- Don’t mix up exercising with competition. If you jog, there’s no need to be the fastest runner in your town. Just jog, sweat and enjoy. Your goal is to be healthy, not to win medals.
- Make friends through exercising. It will be fun. Also, a number of them may become your best buddies or confidants someday.
I practice these habits consistently, and my life’s improving
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Take my advice, this habits will not only improve your life but will also make you healthy and rich.
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Take my advice, this habits will not only improve your life but will also make you healthy and rich.
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- Read books. Just one book a year is enough to get your mind working better. Belive me and start reading how to win friends and influence people.
Adding Amazon link for buying book : Buy How to Win Friends and Influence People Book Online at Low Prices in India- Wake up and start Running. Even 10 mins of warm up/running is good enough for long term health benefits. You don’t need a treadmill, you don’t need to go to joggers park, do it at your home just by your bed by running at same place.
- Have a goal in life. Are you waking up without a goal ? what are you doing in your life ? where do you want to reach ? office ? have a long term goal in your life. It can be anything like a better career or something you want to achieve. Make a plan and do it.
- Make new friends. Life is full of people, having more friends means more opportunities in life.
- NEVER lend money to anyone, it will destroy your friendship and make you very poor very fast.
- Forget all "get rich quick" ideas. Get rich slowly - it works
- Start investing. Dont just save money, start investing in mutual funds and properties. You will understand only when you start doing it.
- Never "play the stock market" ... it is no better than playing a casino.
- Backup plans. Always keep a backup plan, don't get conformable with your job.
Automation is eating jobs. More machines means less human work.- Stop using credit cards. Avoid using credit card for small things. You are actually taking loan and paying interest. Just think about it. Pay for it immediately
- Make your parent happy. Don't just buy stuff online for only you, you should be buying for parents also. Think about last time you made your parent happy with something. Its your job.
- Always listen. Everyone has a story to tell and not everyone is a good listener. Be a good listener and people will love you for that.
These are 5 things that had instant effects on improving my life which I still stick to.
- Waking up at 4 am
I have written this in another post and received quite a lot of comments asking how I do it and how I manage my sleep. So here is how I do it.
Firstly, waking up this early can be the most difficult thing in the world. I mean early morning is when we are in our deepest sleep. The world is quiet, the air is fresher, the atmosphere is cold. If its too cold, your body temperature under the blanket must have produced the coziest temperature for you to sleep.
Before I started waking up at 4 am, I tried 7 am, then 6 am, then 5 am, and then 4 am. Waking up at 7 am and 6 am is no different. The sun is already up (in my country) by 6 am. I didn’t feel I was up early. Then I tried 5 am. I noticed that for me to have the highest motivation, energy and drive, I had to be at my computer by 5 am. I then tried 4 am. Was the most difficult thing on the first day but by the third day, waking up at 4 am was the thing I was looking forward the most when I slept the day before. Ok ok so this is how I do it.
Firstly, I go to sleep the night before, wanting to wake up the next day at 4 am. I also started deleting the word ‘alarm’ from my dictionary and replaced with the word ‘opportunity’. This trick works by the way. When my opportunity clock goes off at 4 am, I decide the longest I can be on bed is 5 seconds. I count to five and get up on my feet. Yes you have to stand on your feet. I then drink some water, go to the bathroom and brush my teeth. There is something magical about the toothpaste that makes me wake up. I then go out to my terrace and meditate there for 10 to 20 minutes. This is my favorite part of the morning. The world is quiet, the air is fresh, in a tropical hot country, the outside temperature at this time is just comfortable. You can do this on your balcony or even in your apartment. I would advise you to step out of your house or building and breath some fresh air at this time. Just 5 minutes will do. I then do the ‘Seven Minute Workout’ (the scientific one). For 7 minutes this is quite effective. Then hit the bathroom and watch a TED Talk while I’m on throne. I take a shower, grab a coffee and start my work at 5 am or before.
When you are up this early you know you are up for a reason and it motivates the hell out of you. You know you are up before any one else because your tasks are so important. It drives you to focus and work the most productive hours of the day.
2. The 5 x 5 x 5 rule
I read this on internet and somewhere on Quora too. This is an emotional skill that will make you take good decisions. It works like this. When something happens, ask your self these three questions. Will it matter in 5 minutes? Will it matter in 5 days? Will it matter in 5 years? You see, a lot of our decisions are based on the five minutes. We tend to forget that there is something called time and future. Lets say that some drunk vomits on you in the train. Firstly, understand that s/he is not in the right mindset. Then ask the questions. Will it matter in 5 minutes? Hell yeah!! You will stink. Will it matter in 5 days? Probably if you missed a dentist’s appointment and you cant get your teeth cleaned for another week. Will it matter in 5 years? You will probably be laughing at the incident with your friends in 5 years. Making wise decisions is one of the best perks of being emotionally intelligent.
3. The 5 minute rule
Lets say something happens or you do a mistake and there is nothing you can do about it. Well there is always something you can do if it is a mistake by you. You can always avoid repeating it. Anyways how this works is, you understand and believe that there is no need stressing on things that won’t change what has happened. Stress can be the essence of all diseases. What you do is you decide that you will think of the matter only for the next five minutes. Set your stop watch and think whatever you want to think within the 5 minutes and repeat in your mind that you have to move on when the 5 minutes are over. When the time is over you put the matter away and move on. I've tried this countess times. It works like a charm. Remember, the point is to minimize stress which is the cause of many diseases.
4. The 10 minute call
We all have people who love us dearly in our lives. Love which we take for granted. I try to dedicate 10 minutes of my life every day to connect with these people. In general a person won’t even understand how happy s/he will make her parents (especially mom) happy by giving a call every day and checking on them. Our parents have gone through and continue to go through a great deal of effort to make sure we get the best. They don’t ask us anything in return. This is in general by the way - I know a lot us have a difficult time with the parents too. In my case, my wife and my parents are the best things in the world. When I quit my job and dedicated my full time to developing what I am doing, I lost my connection with a lot of people. My visiting intervals to my parents started getting longer. Call intervals got longer too, until one day I realized that I might not get the opportunity to call them tomorrow. The thought of regrets I would have if I ever feel I didn’t give them the love they deserve was overwhelming. I've been calling them every day ever since, and it does make my life better in a very special way. I dedicate this time not only to call them but just to say hi to some friends I've lost keeping in touch too. It feels good to talk to these people.
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Source: Quora.com- Never multitask. Concentrate on one task at a time. If you do more things at once, all of them will be subpar quality.
- Never argue with unintelligent people. You will not accomplish anything and will waste your time, plus you will get very frustrated.
- Never get involved in gossiping. There are people who love talking behind other people’s back and talk about what other people do, how they live, how much they make, etc. It is all wasted energy and time.
- Never make impulsive decisions. Go to sleep and make your decision the next day when you are calm and you are able to calculate your risks with an objective mind.
- Never go to bed angry. Try to make peace with the loved one or friend you had an argument with. According to reasearch, “during sleep, the brain reorganises the way negative memories are stored, making these associations harder to suppress in the future.”
