We all get frustrated from time to time. Life can be overwhelming, even for the most astute-minded individuals. Without understanding where our lives are headed and why they’re headed there, the tough times can seem overbearing. Usually, we want to throw our hands up in silent resignation and utter the words, “I give up.”
It’s not difficult to overcome some of our natural tendencies to slip into a state of marginal depression. You can improve the quality of your life by making a few small adjustments to your routines by altering your behaviour and your way of thinking.
1. Be Happy
Make a list of 10 small things that you enjoy doing, and make sure that you do at least one of these things every day. Your list can include things such as the following:
- Eating your lunch outside.
- Calling your best friend to chat.
- Taking the time to sit down and read a novel by your favourite author for a few minutes.
Laugh out loud - Have a good laugh at least once a day, get one of those mobile apps that has a different joke for every day, or stop by a website that features your favourite cartoons.
2. Eat Healthy Food
Create a list of 10 healthy, easy to fix breakfast meals. Create a list of 20 healthy, easy to fix meals which can be eaten for lunch or dinner. Instead of carbonated drinks, drink water. Buy 100% natural juices instead of the kind with added sugar and preservatives.
Choose one food that constantly sabotages your efforts to eat healthier—whether it’s the decadent cheesecake from the bakery around the corner, deep-dish pizza, or your favourite potato chips—and goes cold turkey.
Keep a food log. This will help you to identify where you’re deviating from your planned menu, and where you’re consuming extra calories.
3. Get out in nature
You probably underestimate how important this is. (Actually, there’s research that says you do.) Being in nature reduces stress, makes you more creative, improves your memory and may even make you a better person.
4. Meditate
All it takes is 15 minutes of mindful meditation to achieve this habit. Sit quietly and be present. Don’t think about the past or the future. Don’t dwell on things or worry, just be in the moment. Sit silently with your eyes closed and listen to the sounds around you. Feel the air moving in and out of your lungs, the warmth of the sun on your shoulders, the coolness of the breeze moving across the room, and so on. Just be present. That’s all it takes.
5. Vitamins & minerals
There are so many health benefits to ensuring that you get the proper vitamins and minerals every single day, that they’re too long to list. Ensure that you’re taking at least one daily supplement to receive the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs every single day. These are necessary for all types of optimal mind & body functioning.
6. Face your fears
That's how you conquer them. Don't dismiss them; face them. Make a list… saying, Here's what I'm afraid of. I wonder what I could do to change that. Face your fears today.
7. Personal Development
Make it a point to learn at least one new thing each day: the name of a flower that grows in your garden, the capital of a far-off country, or the name of a piece of classical music you hear playing in your favourite clothing boutique as you shop.
If it’s time for bed and you can’t identify anything you’ve learned that day, take out your dictionary and learn a new word. Choose a book that requires effort and concentration and read a little of it every day.
8. Boost your willpower
You don't have to keep doing what you've been doing for last so many years if it's not yielding the benefits you want. Pick a new destination and go that way. Use your willpower to start the process. You don't have to repeat last year. Invest it now in the next year. Watch it make the difference.
9. Refine your goals
Start the process. Set some higher goals. Reach for some higher purpose. Go for something beyond what you thought you could do.
10. Stop complaining
A couple of years back, Will Bowen gave a purple rubber bracelet to each person in his congregation to remind them to stop complaining. “Negative talk produces negative thoughts; negative thoughts produce negative results”, says Bowen. Whenever you catch yourself complaining about anything, stop yourself.
11. Admit your mistakes
Sometimes you have to admit them to others. Here's one of the best phrases in the English language: "I'm sorry." Those words could start a whole new relationship. They could start two people going in a whole new direction. Admit your mistakes to yourself. You don't have to babble about them to everyone in the neighbourhood.
12. Invest your profits
Profits are better than wages. Wages make you a living, profits make you a fortune. Could we start earning profits while we make a living? The answer is yes.
13. Believe in yourself
You've to believe in the possibilities. You've to believe that tomorrow can be better than today. Believe in yourself. There isn't a skill you can't learn; there isn't a discipline you can't try; there isn't a class you can't take; there isn't a book you couldn't read. So believe in yourself that… I can do it.
14. Time Management
Take a notebook with you everywhere in order to keep your mind decluttered. Record everything, so that it’s safely stored in one place—out of your head—where you can decide what to do with it later.
Identify one low-priority activity which you can stop doing for the next 5 days, and devote that time to a high priority task instead. Use the information that you gather in order to create a time budget: the percentage of your time that you want to devote to each activity that you engage in on a regular basis.
15. Live with intensity
Invest more of you in whatever you do. Be a little stronger; be a little wiser. Step up your vitality contribution. Put everything you've got into everything you do and then ask for more vitality, more strength and more vigour, more heart and more soul.
16. Find your place
If you just work at a job, find the best place you can serve well, and sure enough, they'll ask you to occupy a better place. Keep doing a job well; do the very best you can. That's your best way out.
17. Disciplines
I can't give you much better advice than that because disciplines create reality. Disciplines build cities. A well-disciplined activity creates abundance, uniqueness and productivity.
18. Fight for right
It’s extraordinary to be able to say: “I fought for my kids; I fought for what was right; I fought for good health; I fought to protect my company; I fought for a good career that would bless my family. I fought a good fight.” It's good to fight the encroachment. Opposites are in conflict and you're in the middle. If you want something valuable, you've got to fight for it.
19. Be social
Connect with someone new every day, whether it’s by greeting a neighbour you’ve never spoken to before, following someone new on Twitter, leaving a comment on a blog you’ve never commented on before, and so on.
Practice active listening. When someone is talking to you, remain focused on what they’re saying, instead of rehearsing in your head what you’re going to say next. Paraphrase what you think you heard them say to make sure that you haven’t misinterpreted them, and encourage them to elaborate on any points you’re still not clear about.
20. Sound Sleep
Getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night is critical to your vitality. So many important functions take place in the mind and body when we sleep. It’s our body’s chance to rest, unwind, and recharge. While we’re consciously out, so to speak, our unconscious mind and body are busy at work restoring, recharging and re-energizing.
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