There is no such thing as instant improvement in life. Instead, you can only grow yourself. And as you know in agriculture, growth can only happen little by little over time. Bare eyes won’t be able to see the growth of a tree daily, but over the years it will grow to a big tree.
Similarly, you grow yourself little by little everyday. The things that you do daily may seem small and insignificant, but overtime people will be surprised to learn how much you have growth in life.
Therefore, to improve your life, the focus should be on the small things you do daily. The key word here is daily. If you do not have the persistence to do these small things consistently, you won’t be able to see the results over the long term.
So here I’d like to share 22 things you can do daily to improve your life. Of course, you may not be able to do them all at once. Just start with the ones that benefit you most. Or, if you have done many of them, consider doing the ones that you haven’t done yet.
Here they are:
- Be observant of what is going on around you. Open your eyes and ears. This way a lot of fresh ideas will come to you.
- Take notes of every idea that comes to your mind. Never let any idea goes uncaptured.
- Try to learn something from the people you meet. Find something you can learn in their words, their attitude, or even their mistakes.
- Bring a book or magazine wherever you go. This way you can use any gap time for reading.
- Allocate a minimum of 30 minutes to read a book.
- Meditate. It improves your clarity which in turn improves your effectiveness.
- Take time to reflect on your day. What have you done right? What have you done wrong? What can you do to improve yourself?
- Drink water a lot.
- Exercise.
- Read a collection of quotes. I like to use Random Quotations.
- Choose a quote of the day to ponder and apply. Preferably, it should come from your personal list of quotes which contains the quotes that resonate most with you.
- Take notes of every expense you make. This is an effective way to keep your finance under control.
- Do something for the first time. Either find something new you have never done before, or find a new way to do something (e.g. taking a different route to work). This is to increase your mental capacity.
- Effectively read online articles.
- Use timer to help you actually do what you need to do. Actually doing is the key to productivity.
- Learn to use a tool, either to improve your skill with a familiar tool or to learn a new tool. A good start is to learn the keyboard shortcuts of the software you usually use.
- Take time to review your life purpose and goals, preferably before doing the main activities of the day.
- Rise early.
- Listen to educational or motivational audio program when you are doing activities which do not need full concentration. Examples of such activities are exercising, driving, and queuing.
- Be grateful for your day. Being grateful helps you develop a positive attitude toward life.
- Read a random article from Wikipedia to expose you to new things you may never know before.
- Have fun. Having fun helps you be passionate about life.
Comment by Donald Latumahina
11 31. October 2007, 8:17 pm o'clock |
HP,
Looks like we have similar idea about taking notes and reading quotes! I like the way you apply it to writing, since I’m a writer myself.
Comment by HP van Duuren
10 31. October 2007, 12:16 pm o'clock |
Thanks for your post, there are a lot of interesting tips here!
Especially the ‘Taking Notes’ does appeal to me because I like to write and taking notes is an important ingredient for writing. Also the idea to read a collection of quotes does appeal to me aswell, that is why you can find
a lot of Quotes on my blog.
Sometime ago I had a post - written from the perspective of a writer - about the (article) ‘Idea Generating Procedure’ (BTW you can also find some interesting quotes about ‘captivating ideas’ at that post as well.)
You can find the post at:
All the Best,
HP
Comment by Donald Latumahina
9 22. October 2007, 11:14 am o'clock |
Taylor,
Yes, it’s a great tool. And I like the advice in your post: “Be an active observer”. That’s exactly how we can effectively learn from others.
Comment by Taylor @ ImprovLifestyle
8 22. October 2007, 10:11 am o'clock |
I love number 3. I just wrote a post on it!
Learning from others is something that not many people would admit to doing, but it’s a great tool: to see what works, and is positive for others, and integrating it into your life.
Comment by Donald Latumahina
7 20. October 2007, 9:56 pm o'clock |
Thanks for tagging me, Lawrence! I will check it out.
Comment by Lawrence Cheok
6 20. October 2007, 1:08 am o'clock |
Hi Donald,
I’ve added you to my list of tags to join in Alex Shalman’s “Caring Compassion Charity”.
The idea is for you to write about something you’re passionate about. You would link to me and I would link back to the originator. It’s a good way to build networking. You can find my article post here:
A Purpose Driven Life
Comment by Donald Latumahina
5 18. October 2007, 9:13 pm o'clock |
ak5,
Great ideas! I’ve never experimented with polyphasic sleeping plan, but it does sound interesting. Thanks for all the details you provided. I also agree with what you said about circadian rhythm.
Fareed,
I know some people who listen to audio program while driving, but I agree that it’s not for everybody. Generally it is safer not to listen to audio program while driving unless you know what you are doing.
Comment by fareed
4 18. October 2007, 4:14 pm o'clock |
Great compilation, Donald!
Regarding #19 - I’m all for audiobooks and podcasts, but I would not recommend any listening while driving. Driving requires 100% of the drivers attention.
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