12 More Daily Habits “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle My article 24 Daily Habits has been an amazing success, so I thought I would follow it up with another 12 Daily Habits that I try (I’m not perfect!) to do and that you may consider incorporating into your life. 1. 2. 4. Kakuro as ways to stimulate my brain and have fun. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. back will often do. 11. 12. The 5 Daily Rituals That Will Make You Happy You know what percentage of people are really happy? Not “oh, life is pretty good”, I mean people who are flourishing. They feel their lives are fulfilling, meaningful and brimming with potential. Via The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work: Only 17 percent of the adult population is said to be flourishing, fulfilling their potential for happiness, success, and productivity. Less than one in five. I’ve been accumulating the research on happiness for a while. Well, one expert finally put it together into a simple 5-part formula. Christine Carter is a sociologist at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center which studies the psychology and neuroscience of well-being. So what’s this formula to find your “sweet spot” of happiness — without completely overhauling your life? Take Recess + Switch Autopilot On + Unshackle Yourself + Cultivate Relationships + Tolerate Some Discomfort = The Sweet Spot Okay, but what do we actually need to do? Don’t worry; it’s pretty easy. Do less.
Lucid Dreaming “It’s the only way to fly.” Lucid dreaming is the experience of being completely aware within a dream that you are, in fact, in a dream. This realization leads to complete power for the dreamer, allowing him/her to go anywhere and do anything in their dream. You might have had this happen to you once or twice in your life, but chances are the dream didn’t last very long. This is because as soon as people get excited from realizing they have achieved lucidity, they tend to wake up. 1) Master Dream Re-Call Before you can lucid dream, you have to be able to remember that dreams that you have so that you can improve your technique. Second, figure out your method for recording your dreams when you do remember them. If you are having trouble remembering dreams even with these methods, you can set alarms to wake you up during your REM sleep cycle so that you will always wake up during your dream. 2) Carry Over Some Consciousness 3) Reality Checks 4) Final Tips Stuff To Do In Your Dreams
Practice five key concepts to improve your EQ The University Record, May 22, 2000 Practice five key concepts to improve your EQ By Britt Halvorson Do you have a high EQ? Emotional intelligence (EQ) was the focus of a Workplace 2000 program led by Janell Kilgore, a staff counselor in the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. People often feel uncomfortable when discussing their feelings because they think negatively of expressing emotions or see them as problematic, especially in the workplace, Kilgore commented. “IQ is not the determining factor for success,” Kilgore said. According to Kilgore, understanding and practicing five key concepts can improve your emotional intelligence. Knowing one’s own emotions Recognize and name emotions you feel; understand why you feel that way; and distinguish between feelings and actions. Motivating oneself When considering how to productively harness your feelings, practice some emotional self-control and delay gratification, Kilgore advises. Recognizing emotions in others Managing emotions
The Daily Routines of Geniuses Juan Ponce de León spent his life searching for the fountain of youth. I have spent mine searching for the ideal daily routine. But as years of color-coded paper calendars have given way to cloud-based scheduling apps, routine has continued to elude me; each day is a new day, as unpredictable as a ride on a rodeo bull and over seemingly as quickly. Naturally, I was fascinated by the recent book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. As I read, I became convinced that for these geniuses, a routine was more than a luxury — it was essential to their work. A workspace with minimal distractions. A daily walk. Accountability metrics. A clear dividing line between important work and busywork. A habit of stopping when they’re on a roll, not when they’re stuck. A supportive partner. Limited social lives. This last habit — relative isolation — sounds much less appealing to me than some of the others. And that of course is what a routine really is — the path we take through our day.
7 Steps for Achieving a Super Simple Life This is a guest post by Joy from Just Plain Joy. When I started Just Plain Joy, I wanted to create an outlet for exploring and defining a simple life. I decided I wanted to pursue a simpler life for several reasons – I wanted to save more money to invest in my child’s future, I wanted more time to spend on the things that matter most to me, and I wanted to reduce my impact on the environment. The benefits of simpler living have been overwhelming – I worry less about finances, I spend less energy keeping track of my possessions, I have a greater appreciation for natural beauty, I am less concerned about status, and I’m enjoying life! My 7 steps for achieving a super simple life Simple has many interpretations. clutter-freedebt-freeorganizedgreen Here are seven steps for achieving a super simple life based on these four concepts: 1. The first step to physically simplifying your life is to get rid of the clutter. The second step to physically simplifying is to get organized. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Gradual Organization: How to Go from Slob to Productive Photo by Yvestown. By [post_author_posts_link] I’ll admit it: I used to be a slob. Looking at the way I run my life now, it would be hard to recognize my prior messiness. Carrying around a notepad to “capture” any tasks or ideas at any time.Using a simple combination of a to-do list and calendar to record events.Waking up at 5:30 each morning.Maintaining a goals binder to track big projects.Completely overhauling my diet and exercise habits to have more energy.Creating daily goals lists to chunk out work for the next day.Using weekly to-do’s to stay ahead on important work.Batching my e-mail and web time from a few hours to 30 minutes a day.Splitting up my work and free time–letting me boost my productivity while ensuring I get a day off every week. Since I began writing about productivity and improvement at my own blog, I’ve been asked by a lot of people how I made such a dramatic switch. Are You Running a Race You Can’t Finish? Permanent Productivity The Foundation Comes First.
10 Creative Rituals You Should Steal Benjamin Franklin made sure to end every day by asking “What good have I done today?” Maya Angelou only wrote in tiny hotel rooms. Jack Kerouac made sure to touch the ground nine times before writing. Sustained creativity doesn’t come from a flash of brilliance or a single afternoon of inspiration. It comes from a consistent routine that serves as the bedrock for getting things done. Venture capitalist Brad Feld takes a week off every three months: The most impactful thing I’ve done is to take a week off the grid every quarter. Read the entire interview here. Former Obama campaign CTO Harper Reed the importance of the daily “retrospective”: [The presidential campaign] had a really good team dynamic that relied quite a bit on the “retrospective” meeting at the end of a project that allowed us to stop and say: “What was it like to launch? Read the entire interview here. Best-selling author Cheryl Strayed on the importance of writing daily: Read the entire interview here. How about you?
100 Ways To Live A Better Life You don’t like your life? Change it! Change your life for the better! Don’t have any clue on how to do it? Here’s a list of 100 ways in which you can improve your life. Feel free to add yours in the comments. [ Update: There is now an ebook based on this! Without further ado, let’s go. 1. You’re human. 2. Maybe you got hurt by somebody. 3. We’re doing a lot of stuff on autopilot. 4. Don’t wait for other people to impose discipline on you. 5. Reach out. 6. Shaking your comfort zone will often create a lot of value in your life. 7. You are, in a vast proportion, what you eat. 8. Write down you feelings, your ideas, your goals, your activity. 9. Whatever you say to yourself in the morning, it will most likely come true during the day. 10. Traveling long distance is incredibly rewarding. 11. Your life may be so boring and fade because… err, you made it like this? 12. Be your own boss. 13. Clean up your desk. 14. Challenge your mind. 15. Rather than disagree. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.
Ms. Hyde Park The Daily Routines of 7 Famous Entrepreneurs & How to Design Yours Our daily routines can make a huge difference to how healthy, happy and productive we are. I’ve recently tried adjusting my own routine in the hopes of getting more done and wasting less time in-between tasks or activities. While it’s important to understand how your own brain works and what routine will suit your body best, I always find it interesting to see what works for others when planning something new for myself. Amazing routines of 7 successful entrepreneurs In the hopes of building the best routine I could, I did some research on the daily routines of some of the most successful people I know of. They certainly inspired me to think about different parts of my routine – perhaps they’ll be useful to you as well. Jack Dorsey, CEO Square & Founder of Twitter In this video interview with Twitter and Square co-founder, Jack Dorsey, he explains his daily routine as he juggles a full-time role at both companies. The only way to do this is to be very disciplined and very practiced 1.) 2.)
Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life “Simplicity is the peak of civilization.” – Jessie Sampter By Leo Babauta A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person. For me, it means eliminating all but the essential, eschewing chaos for peace, and spending your time doing what’s important to you. It means getting rid of many of the things you do so you can spend time with people you love and do the things you love. However, getting to simplicity isn’t always a simple process. If you’re interested in simplifying your life, this is a great starter’s guide (if you’re not interested, move on). The Short List For the cynics who say that the list below is too long, there are really only two steps to simplifying: Identify what’s most important to you.Eliminate everything else. Of course, that’s not terribly useful unless you can see how to apply that to different areas of your life, so I present to you the Long List. Make a list of your top 4-5 important things.
Things To Keep In Your Car to Remain Frugal Is your car stocked for anything? Do you keep extra supplies in your car to help you remain frugal when you are out and about? Even if it is just the driver you need to take care of, it still helps to be prepared. Planning ahead for the unexpected will help you to remain frugal. Other things that I keep in my car are magazines that I get in the mail. Towels and wipes can also be used if you have a flat tire. Keeping snacks in the car is a real lifesaver for us. Having a map in the car will save you money as well. Everything I have listed here can be easily kept in a small bag and thrown in the trunk or back seat.