This is perhaps the most common topic of blogging. I thought about whether to write this piece or not. I convinced myself that there must be atleast one reader out there who would benefit from my life lessions in some way. And I did it for that person.
Here is the list.
- Go to the less crowded place. Have you ever scrolled past your photos gallery only to smile looking at a bunch of them? Chances are, experiences and memories make us far happier in the longer run. Weird, new, shocking memories. And better memories happen through unusual encounters. This is not a travel advice. This is an advice to try out things which are outside of limelight. The lesser crowded coffee place, the store only a few visit, the cinema place with muted attendance, or the neighbour nobody speaks to.
- Good relationships is good life. Ah. This one is the most basic yet most impact. Connections are your support system. When life breaks us down, and it does for everyone, all we want is someone to be genuinely interested in us. Not solve anything, but just listen to. The basic of any relationshoip is reciprocity. Humans are selfish by nature. We are programmed to think our us and our wellbeing first . When we get outside of that thought process and think genuinely about the very few we care about, that creates a relationship. It is a plant we have to nurture throughout our life. This is difficult task. Thus, very few people can afford to have more than 4–5 good relationships. Choose them. Invest into them.
- You MUST do something different to get something different . We are creatures of habit. All habits are equal — good or bad. The initial threshold
- Sleep and rest — If you sleep normal, you’re lucky. You’ll be amazed by how many people have sleep related issues. There is an entire medical domain for sleep disorders. And this is increasing.
One of the best drivers of sleep is physical exhaustion. The common issue with modern life is being so mentally exhausted that feel there is no time for physically tiring yourself. Mental exhaustion will mostly keep you browsing more. Physical exhaustion will get you to hit bed. Go out, no matter how bad the day was! - Never eat till you are full — You must have read stories about a few Japanese and asian cities, where the average life expectancy is more than 100 years. The simple secret to this — Eat only 80% of your hunger. You can either get into complicated methods of calorie counting and macros, or you can just keep a little bit of hunger with you all the time. And move more. That’s it.
- Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Bad things will happen. They happen to EVERYONE. You can be sad, but never sorry. Life resembles a lot like stock markets. No matter how bad the downfall is within a certain timeframe, it eventually gets better and breaks its previous highs.
- Be creative every day. This is not as intimidating as it sounds. You make the bed every morning, fold it a little differently. The coffee, learn a new way of making it. Writing mails — Learn a few concepts of business writing and use them in 2 mails. The mind needs its dose of exercise. Mundane tasks don’t help.
The best of all — Write 10 ideas in a sheet. 10 ideas on anything. A better amazon delivery, on startups, new ways to blog. Think about all the ways you can improve the things you use in your daily life. There are no good or bad ideas. The more we think, the more the idea muscle gets exercised. You’ll be an idea machine in 6 months. Ideas are money. - Read- Reading is slowly becoming a vanity metric. Everyone loves to flaunt the number of books they have read. It is a status game now. Still, this is one of the better status games, if you are actually doing it. Most people say they read, but very few actually do it. Occasional flipping of a few pages over the weekend doesn’t count. Reading is a habit. It has to have a fixed schedule which is non compromisable. Should also have an intent — learning, upskilling, or general destressing.
How will you get the time for it — Just check your screen time.You’ll fnd plenty of time there Watch a series less. Read a fiction as an alternative.
Read classics. Google “Lindy effect” - Cut down on news, sugar, social media and processed food. I won’t elaborate on this much. Don’t aim 0. No body can do 0. It’s a myth. Aim to lessen every week. If you have to stick to 4 principles, let it be these. You will only get better. Try it. I have done 3. Yet to conquer processed food.
- Don’t listen to generic advice. Generic advice is written or said to sound smart. For every such advice, there is a counter advice that exists. It is equally sound. Working hard or working smart. More meat Vs Less meat. Slowing down Vs Hustling more. There will always people influencing others basis what they believe in. The solution is simple in that case — do what suits you. Chances are, that might not be the best path. But there are rarely any best paths.
