Have healthy hobbies that energize you. It is healthy to have interests that are different than your profession, but it is also healthy to be interested in your profession. If you don’t like what you do, good luck not burning out working 40+ hours per week for the next 20+ years of your life. But if you are consistently looking forward to doing something for your personal and professional growth, if you have hobbies that you enjoy doing and people you can share that excitement with, you’ll last much longer in whatever field you choose.
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Making better decisions
Each day is full of making decisions. The majority of them are easy and don’t even register with you when you’re making them. But some are monumental and can impact your future. So how do you consistently make the best decisions? Below are three ways I try to keep in mind to make the best decisions possible…
1. Always think of the long-term ramifications of your decisions. A good way to do this is to take emotions out of your decision-making process. Emotions are powerful, and if you only focus on what makes you feels good now, you may be hindering your future self. Sleeping in, not working out, not eating right, spending too much money on something you don’t need…these usually feel good at the time you’re making the decision, but if you take the easy or “feel good” option often enough, your long-term health will suffer.
2. Remove temptations. If you know that your self-control is weak when it comes to making certain decisions, try to stay away from having to decide. For example, if you have a huge sweet tooth, but want to lose weight, don’t keep sweets in the house. If you make unhealthy things inconvenient (or remove temptations), you will be less likely to do them. This is the opposite of number 3 (automation)…
3. Automate repetitive tasks. Do you have a hard time saving/investing money? Have it automatically withdraw from your bank account on the 1st and 15th of every month. Now you don’t have to remember to do something. Another way of thinking about this is to set up rules for yourself. By setting up rules, you don’t have to think about whether you should or shouldn’t do something. Some examples might be: not eating after 8 p.m. or before 6 a.m., wearing brown dress shoes with blue slacks, drinking 20 ounces of water as soon as you wake up, etc.
These are just a few ideas of how you can set yourself up to make better decisions on a regular basis. Do you have any tips that weren’t mentioned above? Feel free to share in the comments section below!
The Golden Rule
“But to you who are listening I say: ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you…Do to others as you would have them do to you.’” Luke 6: 27-31
This is The Golden Rule, taken straight out of the Bible. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Treat others the way you want to be treated. And in today’s world, where everything is politicized and people who have opposite opinions than you are considered “evil,” the best thing we can do for each other is to treat others how we would want to be treated – with kindness, compassion, and understanding.
It’s ok if someone believes something different than you. And instead of trying to shut down anyone who has ever made a mistake (which is everyone, including you), try forgiving them. It’s time to stop being deliberately disrespectful to others (we see this online the most, where everyone is a “tough guy”). Maybe try showing a little compassion for a change? Instead of refusing to listen to different viewpoints, try listening to opposing thoughts – actually listening, not just waiting for your turn to yell at them for not thinking the same way you do.
If you can be more kind, compassionate, and generous, all without the expectation of anything in return, the world will be a better place for it.
Forget perfect
Perfectionism is the killer of dreams. It kills dreams before they even get started because nothing will ever be perfect. If you wait for everything to be perfect to take action, or if you keep tweaking something and decide not to launch it because it’s not perfect, you’ll never end up doing anything.
Instead of waiting for perfect, just take action! Action is almost always better than inaction. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t overthink. Don’t let outside circumstances dictate what you can do. Just do it. You may stumble and fall along the way, but as long as you keep getting up and trying again, you’ll be ahead of where you would have been if you never tried. And who knows, maybe you’ll stumble over something better than you ever expected…
Luck and work
“Care and diligence bring luck.” – Thomas Fuller
Sometimes, you have to make your own luck. It’s not always the case, and it doesn’t always come easy, but if you work hard at doing the right things and treating people the right way, good things often come to you.
If you feel like you’re unlucky, that just means you have to work harder and focus on the positives around you. The world isn’t out to get you. It just is what it is. It’s not going out of its way to hurt or help you. You have to work as hard as you can, controlling what you can, and let everything else fall into place.
