How To Create A Morning Routine That Changes Your Life Through high school and the first years of college I always had problems sticking to habits and getting things done. I can still remember sleeping in and postponing or canceling all the stuff I knew in my heart I needed to do to accomplish my goals. During one year at university I procrastinated so badly on my reading, instead prioritizing sitting inside and playing Football Manager most of the days. When exams came around I knew I had no chance of passing them and therefore had no point showing up. I even went as far as lying to my flatmate and telling that I was going to school to take my exams but ended up staying in a group room at Uni the whole day and reading news instead. Not showing up and flunking those exams cost me around 10 000 $. I was ashamed of my lack of willpower and for my lack of purpose in life. I knew that I could do better and I was getting increasingly more worried that I was going to continue down this path of self destruction. Examples of this can be:
These 15 Small Lifestyle Changes Will Improve Your Life Today We’ve all been there at one point in our life. We are stuck in a rut or been living a life that we know we can make more of. Problem is going about the right changes to make those improvements. It is not an easy road but with these 15 small lifestyle changes, you can get out of your rut and improve your life today. 1. In today’s world, we want news fast and information now. Most of us think that these are great ways to unwind until they occupy not minutes but hours of our time. Instead of gluing yourself in front of the TV, take twenty minutes to try one of the following: Read a bookWrite an article or blogLearn a foreign languageMeditate If these don’t suit you, find something that will encourage your personal and professional growth. 2. Life is full of numerous situations involving gray areas. 3. Running is not only good for you, its free. 4. You know who you are. As much as you like the taste of Diet Coke to get you through the 2 p.m. wall, soda is terrible for you. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
How to Better Yourself There are so many things in your life that you want to get better at, but for some reason you keep falling short of your own (an other’s) expectations. Why is that? The problem is that we tend to try to better ourselves all at once, rather than concentrate on one important thing at a time, allowing ourselves to build up momentum over months and years. One day at a time turns into a lifetime of change and getting better. We can eventually become a better overall person if we have a day to day plan and stick to it. Here is how to better yourself, one day at a time. Identify your strengths and weaknesses First, to better yourself on a consistent basis, you have to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. SEE ALSO: 42 Practical Ways to Improve Yourself Pick a topic to work on Now that you have a list of things that you are strong and weak at, go through the list and choose one simple thing you want to get better at. Wake up early Be accountable
How to motivate yourself Do you know what most motivational “experts” hope you’ll never find out? The stuff they teach is total BS. When was the last time a motivational poster changed your life? (“You know what, yes, I WILL dream a little bigger today!”) Does seeing this on your newsfeed help you reach your goals? Never. How motivation actually works Motivation comes in waves. But then, tomorrow comes. We sit down in the same place we sat yesterday — where we were on fire and ready to go and… nothing. That is how motivation works. What can we do instead? One of my mentors, BJ Fogg, who runs the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford, says we should assume that our “future self” is going to be lazy with no motivation. In other words: Motivation DOESN’T work. Here’s how to use systems to keep yourself going even when motivation slumps. Step 1: Plan for failure Successful people aren’t luckier than most people. Almost anyone who’s been successful has a similar story of failure before triumph. Step 2: Put it on your calendar
Overcoming Procrastination : 3 Unconventional Tips That Work “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt” — William Shakespeare1 There’s this Dutch survey that says 95% of people are chronic procrastinators. I think the other 5% are liars. EVERYONE procrastinates sometimes. "How do I get over my bad habit of procrastination?" That question - or some variation of it - is one of the most common queries about the topic of productivity ... We’ve all got our own little reasons for procrastinating… I've got this make-it-or-break-it project to work on right now... And it goes on and on ... Some of us can jump off the procrastination train and get to work immediately ... The vast majority however, end up flying into a shiny but non-essential task like a moth in a bright room... Any of the above sound familiar? If yes, then stay with me ... because you, my friend, are about to learn some very unconventional (and super powerful) methods for getting over procrastination. But we'll talk more about that in tip #2. #1.
Writing a Letter To Your Future Self Writing a letter to your future self is an exercise which I thought of back in 2006. It was inspired from when I chanced upon the Yahoo! Time Capsule project (website is now dead). Essentially, this is similar to the concept of a time capsule, where you write a personal note to your future self, seal it and only open it at a future moment in time. There are no restrictions on the time duration either — it can be one year later, three years later, five years later, 10 years later, or even 20 years later! Why Write a Letter To Your Future Self? Doing this exercise can be a really insightful experience. Just imagine writing a letter to your future self five years from now, then opening it at that exact moment five years down the road to read the message that the past you left for yourself. As you read the letter in the future, you can assess how many things match up (or not) vs. your expectations in the past and think about why that’s the case. What To Write About Look at today’s date.
5 Reasons to Write a Letter to Yourself (and How to Do It) In high school, my English teacher had everyone bring in a self addressed envelope. She gave us some paper and told us to write a letter to our future selves. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I realize now that she was doing us all huge favor. She was giving a gift to our future selves. After we wrote the letters, she took them and said she would mail them in five years, just as most of us would be graduating from college. I will never forget reading that letter when it came back to me, exactly five years later as she had promised. This is an incredible exercise to do no matter how old you are. 1) Cultivate gratitude. One of the best things for your emotional health is to practice gratitude regularly. This letter is a message in a bottle. Fill it will positive affirmations and appreciation for the person you are. 2) Increase self-awareness. Do you ever go back and scroll through your old Facebook posts? All of your quirks and thought patterns will show up as plain as day.
How To Rewire Your Subconscious Mind in 3 Easy Steps Years ago, when I was just starting my career as a physical therapist, I worked with stroke patients at a major rehabilitation hospital in New York City. Every day, I would help patients out of bed and into the hallway– where we would practice the basic skill of walking. With each step, I would direct the patient’s attention to the essential mechanics: foot placement, step length, knee/hip position. It could easily take a few minutes to walk 10 feet. One thing became clear early on: the patient absolutely had to focus their attention on each step or they would lose balance and fall into my arms. They had to use the immense power of the conscious mind in order to take one simple step. Something that just days before had been an easy, automatic activity, was now tedious and difficult. And it was here in the hallways of a hospital that I fell in love with the brain. This organ allows you to walk down the street, while talking on the phone and sipping your coffee at the same time. Observe.
6 Ways to Stop Feeling Demotivated and Get The Work Done We all feel it from time to time. We feel demotivated. We know we have to do the work. We even know what to do, but we just aren’t doing it. Heck, we even supposedly have a passion for it! Getting the work done can be tricky. 1) Remember your WHY and feel it For every piece of work or art created, there is a WHY behind it. What is yours? From time to time the work tends to overwhelm us. Go back to it. 2) Take it step by step It’s often easy to feel overwhelmed whenever we think of the big picture. This is where we overwhelm ourselves. You have to do one small little thing at a time. So take it slowly. 3) Keep it simple always As a writer and blogger, I tend to overwhelm myself thinking that I need to learn all the different tactics in order to gain readers and make money. They work, but I’ve learn that you have to keep it simple. The idea of keeping it simple first would allow you to work on a consistent basis along with your WHY. 4) Drop it all and take a break Don’t be afraid to do this.