Five years back if someone would have told me to implement a few habits that will have immense return on investment, I might have ignored him.
Cut to three years back in 2020 when covid hit the world. At that time I was inspired to read books. Though this inspiration was short term (*but now I am reading consistently), it left an exceptional mind shift. In this short term I read Atomic Habits (Huge Thanks). It inspired me to build a few habits. And I left with WHAT habits!!
At that moment I needed someone who could tell me WHAT habits should I work on building. Watched a few videos on YouTube, and yes I started with the minimum.
I am sharing seven habits on which you can start working. They aren’t specifically habits, they are more of practices but you’ll have to turn them into habits. You can commence by choosing any one or two.
Start Documenting Your Life
Begin with documenting your life, own a diary, share your everyday experiences. Documenting life keeps us on track, most people begin their walk to their goals by writing them down.
Turning pages of your journal, watching recorded videos and reading your posts will give you a different level of joyous feeling. If not joyous, maybe a few lessons from mistakes!!
How to start documenting your life?
Most of us aren’t comfortable to be out. We don’t want to expose ourselves, mostly because we are afraid of leaving a negative impression. But that doesn’t mean we should never document, there are options, we can do it privately & publicly.
Publicly by starting a Youtube channel, start writing on the internet (personal blog), podcasting if you are comfortable with speaking, a lot of people are doing it they are also making fortunes with it.
Privately you can document your life by doing any of shown below;
- Begin anonymous personal blog
- Share everyday moments & publish privately on YouTube [at most 2-3 minute videos]
- Start journaling
By blogging, you can connect with like minded people on the internet and later choose to expose yourself. With YouTube you can master the skill of speaking in front of a camera and putting ideas as video. By journaling, you can develop skill of writing.
For Inspiration: Watch this ted-talk
Read atleast 4 Books this year
Reading books is a perfectly rated suggestion. You can learn from other’s mistakes or life changing ideas. What else would you need to succeed? (of course you’d need to work).
Why Should I Read Books?
- Reading develops empowering belief systems
- They introduce us to life changing ideas and spawn new ideas in our brain.
- It develops cultural understanding
- Reading reduces stress
- Undoubtedly, it enhances knowledge, etc.
That seems very low. Yes, that’s a low number. But that’s where one should start. Read four books that will teach you something ( act on those lessons) or which you find interest in.
How to start reading books?
To begin reading books, start by choosing a book that excites you (fiction, non-fiction or biography doesn’t matter), then schedule 15 minutes everyday (whatever time you find relaxing, in my case it’s sunset). Remember to keep distractions away, especially mobile phones.
You’d need discipline to make this a habit. In every case little discipline is needed.
Check few of these beginner friendly books;
- The Promise They Made (fiction)
- Eat, Pray, Love (fiction)
- Atomic Habits (non-fiction)
- The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (non-fiction)
- The Alchemist (fiction)
Detach yourself from excess entertainment
Building this habit will immensely boost your productivity and give you more time to invest in the life you want to build.
GenZ is the most impacted generation by entertainment. And the primary reason for this is inappropriate media (content) consumption.
Entertainment has only one primary purpose: to relax us. And it’s okay to consume it to destress us. But consuming for most time of the day will reverse its impact.
Why not consume entertainment excessively?
Entertainment industry, whether online or offline, is now mostly driven with the intent of economic growth; maximum people or platforms don’t care about how negatively it will impact their customers/users. They are primarily focused on getting your attention/time.
In entertainment industry, you have to be a producer to create a dream lifestyle, being a consumer will move you nowhere.
Consuming entertainment brainwashes us, which prevents us from thinking creatively and strengthening knowledge in specific fields, etc.
For eg; Watching comedy shows, cringy youtube videos, web shows that provide no value, scrolling social media, visiting stand-up shows everyday, etc.
How to detach from excess entertainment?
- Limit watching T.V.
- Track time of entertainment consumption.
- Use time blocking while consuming.
- Limit use of social media.
- Think twice before buying every subscription, etc.
Start watching courses that you find interest in
There are several mini courses that can teach basics about a specific topic. I started watching them on LinkedIn, Coursera & YouTube. Those courses caught my interest and I was curious to learn more about them. After watching and properly taking notes I learned a new skill.
I accept I have become weak in few of those skills because I didn’t practice them regularly, but I do have basic understanding of them.
Main purpose of this habit is to learn something new everyday. And my version of watching these courses (YT Marketing, SEO, UI Design, Story Formation, Blockchain & NFT, etc.) was a great investment of time for me. I replaced my bad habit of consuming entertainment with watching courses. (Remember, mastery requires you to stay consistent with one thing!!)
Start running & weightlifting
When we see a physical change we strengthen our beliefs. Which is why when we see our muscles grow we keep pushing ourselves until we gain astonishing packs. This is a good way to build muscles. Though, with intent to gain six packs is the wrong approach to see better health. Instead we should create identity of a healthy person.
Fog eg. ask question “what would a healthy person do?” in this situation.
Running and weightlifting are basic exercises to begin with. Basically, if you are one who has an inactive personality, this is the minimum you should start practicing to stay in shape.
Research has shown that weightlifting reduces depression symptoms. Weightlifting has shown a sudden boost in testosterone levels.
This habit has to be part of your lifestyle, if you are conscious about the importance of good health.
Join a social circle that has common values & long term desires
If you are one of those, don’t interact much and have a circle of specific friends. Maybe being around people who have dreams, goals and values that you admire would also inspire you.
We are the result of five people we hang out with. So deciding those five people earlier will be an advantage.
Okay but this can’t be part of a HABIT!! Yes, but being consistent with them can be a habit. Our untrained brain has a tendency to catch comfort, so it avoids tricky movements, chances are it will put us alone. So try to connect with like minded or those who inject joy in you.
Staying around such people also reduces chances of anxiety.
Be more Kind this year
Kindness means thinking about the needs of others before our own. Kindness can make the world a happier space.
Yes, being kind is a habit. A kind person doesn’t feel satisfied when others fall or fail. Saying, “don’t worry everything gets better”, “I am for you if you need anything” or “can I help you?” are habits.
How to be more kind?
Keep in mind to never hurt someone intentionally. Being kind is way different from being a people pleaser. Ways to be kinder;
- Call someone & tell them how much they mean to you.
- Smile & say hello to others.
- Share with others without being asked.
- Give genuine compliments.
- Treat someone a cup of coffee/tea/juice, or anything.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Well, all of the listings above are takeaways only. You have to make the decision, no one is coming to push you, only you can push yourself to- wake up early and jog, to finally start working on a side project, to start public speaking class or to finally propose your crush.
I would recommend you start reading ASAP, you’ll be surprised with its incredible impact.
This practice will be easier when you opt to implement them month by month. Or just whatever suits you, also read atomic habits for better understanding of habits.
Have an exceptional 2023 All the best✨🐱🏍