Top Tips For Self-Improvement & Well Being
We all suffer from lapses in motivation and lose focus over a period of time, myself included and whilst I am also guilty of not adopting some of the following points of advice, I must admit that I do try each day to practice what I preach. Take a few minutes to go through my list that will, hopefully bring a ray of light into improving your lifestyle and well-being. Spend a little time every day making some positive changes and like me, you’ll reap the rewards of some amazing improvements in the daily grind of life.
Kick Start Your Day Early
Make a habit of waking up early and having a good nutritious breakfast. Trust me in saying this will provide you with the much needed energy you’ll need throughout the day to also provide the fuel for adopting the rest of the tips detailed below. If you can squeeze in the motivation to do some exercise, you’ll find this will help turn the gears in keeping you active throughout the day. If you are family orientated, it’s a great idea to have breakfast with everyone present as this sets a positive mood and a good environment to exchange ideas and thoughts.
Organise The Day Ahead
Get yourself organised for the day ahead and plan accordingly by spending some time thinking about what tasks you need to complete during the day. I myself have a memory like a sieve so I have had to get myself in the habit of writing down what I need to do during the day and setting myself targets in order of priority. As my day evolves, I simply tick off each task that I have completed. The prize procrastinator that I can be sometimes, I find adopting this simple task helps me get things done with the added bonus of a huge feel-good factor of achievement at the end of the day. When the day ends, you may find that some of the tasks remain incomplete but you shouldn’t worry about this. Simply transfer any incomplete tasks over to the next day.
Always Take A Break From Your Work
Sometimes, your work can be quite monotonous especially If you spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen, sitting at a desk or doing whatever you do that your profession requires. The key thing is that you need to take a break not only in terms of the working day but also the more social hours. Get in the habit of switching off from work mode and engage in something that is fun and that you enjoy doing. I used to find it difficult pulling myself away from my laptop and that meant I didn’t go out as much but now that I have changed my ways, I wish I had adopted this approach much sooner in my life. Going out and socialising or taking an interest in something that you enjoy doing refreshes the mind, it resets the batteries and you’ll find more things to take an interest in once you’re on a roll. In my case, it was kayaking!
Accept The Things You Can’t Change
There are times when unpleasant events and experiences happen in our lives and we often try to change them or repair them in some way. Sometimes, though, it’s just not possible causing us sometimes spiral out of control in our thoughts and in extreme cases, feeling depressed. If you can understand and accept that there are some things beyond your control and that you simply cannot change them, you will learn to deal with adversity much better and as result, deep down, you’ll end up being a much better person. Acceptance of this allows us to find new ways of coping and bring calmness into our lives.
Be Giving & Generous To Others
Being giving and generous has a habit coming right back at you. Now by giving, I don’t mean financially but more along the lines of being helpful, giving advice, being courteous, smiling and generally helping other people because there may be one fine day where you’ll need the help of other people and they’ll be more inclined to come to your aid much more easily knowing you would do the same. It’s also a great way of making new friends and let’s face it, in this day and age, wouldn’t it be great if you met someone who genuinely wanted to help you out without any obligations or expectations?
Learn A New Tongue
Learning another language other than your mother tongue is one of the most effective ways to improve your command of the English language. My personal experience of learning Spanish at my comprehensive school educated me about grammar much more than my native English classes ever did. My thirst for learning languages continued and I was soon enroute to studying Ancient Greek which gave me a fascinating insight to some of the fundamental roots of the English language. So you see, from my own experience, as well as improving your knowledge of English, learning another language will more than likely prompt you to visit more foreign countries making your holidays much more fun by being able to speak to the locals in their own language.
Break The Chain & Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
If you are used to a certain routine in your life or a specific pattern, try doing something completely different each day. An excellent example could be that you have the same dinner at the same eaterie every Saturday evening. It would be so simple to try something new that would break your routine and expand your life experiences. A long while ago, I simply would not try Sushi because the thought of uncooked food put me off the idea. Then one day, a friend of mine convinced me to try Sushi and that’s when I discovered my love of Japanese cuisine. Sushi is now one of my favourite delicacies. The point is that it doesn’t just have to be about food. Only by willing to make changes that took me out of my comfort zone and routine was I able to find new experiences in my life that I really enjoyed doing.
Face Up To Your Fears & Tear Down The Walls
We’ve all experienced things that we really don’t want to do or feel a level of discomfort doing them. Obviously, the level of discomfort varies from people to people but we all need to start somewhere to confront our fears. A good example maybe that, although you want to, you avoid going to the gym in fear of being stared at which will affect your self-confidence. The best advice I can give is for you to muster up the courage, bite the bullet and in the famous words of Mr Nike – Just Do It! – Once you do, you’ll have done the hard work and in no time at all, your level of confidence will shoot up and lose the initial fear completely. In making such changes, you will exude a level of confidence that is apparent to others and that can only be a good thing in bringing down the walls.
Live For Today
Throughout your life, you’ll come across many people who will tell you set goals in your life and work towards achieving them. A while ago, I had a lengthy discussion with a successful businessman and philanthropist and as it transpired, he said that if you set goals in life and you achieve them, you’re quite often left with feeling of emptiness because the feeling never measured up to your expectations. I guess it seems that not only is there lack of satisfaction but in the process, you will miss out on so much of life’s wonderful experiences by trying to achieve something for the future. It’s not that you should ignore the future because it’s great to have a vision of where you want to be one day but you shouldn’t focus all your efforts in trying to get there. My own example is that I have a long term vision to live in Marbella and in the process, I spend many years foregoing many experiences by putting aside all that I earn. As a result, I can’t afford to go out, I can’t afford to live to a decent standard and I’m miserable because I’m not living where I want to. The alternative is that if I live with the idea that I want to live in Marbella one day and continue to live my life enjoying the experiences it brings me, I find myself more happier and content with the belief that if it happens, then that’s fine but if it doesn’t, I haven’t really failed at anything and during my life, who’s to say what wonderful experiences and opportunities I’ll encounter in the meantime?
This content was originally exclusively written for LinkedIn in 2015 by Max Chohan.
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MAX CHOHAN
Max Chohan is a professional literary communicator & visual content designer specialising in audience outreach through static & dynamic digital media. As a passive member of MENSA, he’s written thousands of mostly fact-based journals, articles and digital content covering a very broad subject base.
