Note: This article is by author March Chernoff, who gives us 6 tips to improve our daily lives and regain self-confidence.
It is not enough to acquire knowledge for self-development unless your understanding changes how you spend your life daily. It means that you are in your place, which is what happens with most people.
The strength of daily habits is that you do not immediately see the results of the change; instead, it takes time for you to realize that your life used to be different. It would be beneficial to give your daily routine some serious thought, precisely the simple things you do every day. These actions are what define your identity. Regardless of your circumstances or definition of success, following these easy daily habits will help you achieve all the results you desire in life. Success does not come to you by accident but develops over time due to your daily routine.
Failure happens the same way: Simple everyday failures that you don't learn from accumulate into opportunities for self-development, leading to catastrophic failure.
For example, you start a company and fail to:
- Verify accounts.
- Make the necessary contacts.
- Listen to your clients.
- Create something new.
- Do the simple, necessary things.
Then suddenly, you discover that your project has completely failed, and the reason is your daily habits, not because of an unexpected disaster. Your life is like your business; your daily routines gradually determine your failure and success. Even practices that seem insignificant can significantly impact, for better or worse.
So, now think about whether you're managing your habits to help you succeed, whether they're leading you to failure, whether your daily habits are serving your purpose or making things worse. Suppose your daily habits are not in your interest. You will find in this article a set of tips on simple daily habits that will improve your life to a great extent. Each of these habits gradually strengthens your weaknesses, common weaknesses for many. What we mean by weaknesses here is a set of simple things that we do daily, but it leads to feelings of stress and hinders our progress in life.
But we must emphasize that this article aims to make you make simple but fundamental changes in your daily behavior, which means that you must apply each of these tips separately and gradually as you make one change in your life every day. Then, each change leads to other changes.
6 Tips that will radically change your life in 6 months
These tips should be applied gradually:
1. Focus on just one task
Answer these questions honestly:
- Do you browse social media when you're in a meeting or spending time with family or friends?
- Do you make time for lunch, or do you eat it while driving or on your way somewhere?
- Are you addicted to watching TV, even when you have another job?
- Do you send text messages from time to time while driving your car?
What results from the habit of doing several things at once is a gradual decrease in your productivity and happiness in the long term because when you get used to distracting yourself by working on several things at once, you can rarely focus well on one task. This significant decline in focus leads to a feeling of despair.
We will use the analogy to illustrate this idea when the magnifying glass reflects sunlight on a group of dry leaves; nothing will happen if this lens remains shed for a whole year, even if the sun glows in the middle of the afternoon as long as you continue to transfer the lens from one sheet to another, but if you point the lens on one of these papers, it will ignite, and the flame will move to the pile of other papers and all of them will catch fire.
This is an example that illustrates the effect of focusing on only one thing and what you must understand is that your role is similar to that of a magnifying glass and that you must decide to focus on only one task without combining it with another task.
Once you do that, you will find that you accomplish a lot of work in record time, become closer to achieving your goals, improve your relationships, and ultimately improve your life.
2. Wash dishes as soon as you finish eating
The habit of washing dishes is not a metaphor or just an analogy. You should wash dirty dishes after you finish your meal and wash your cup after you drink your morning coffee; you should not leave dirty dishes in the tub or on the table and postpone washing them for later.
This habit is essential because when you get used to washing the dish immediately after finishing the meal and persevere for two weeks, you will find that the dishwashing basin remains clean. Later, you will find that the entire kitchen stays clean, and you will get used to packing your clothes after taking them off, doing some stomach exercises every morning, eating healthy food, and so on.
Do these things separately, and you will gradually begin to learn self-discipline. You can accomplish anything you start, but for a start, just begin washing the dishes as soon as you finish the meal and do it consciously and gladly.
3. Write your diary daily for 15 minutes or less
British writer J. K. Rowling, American rapper Eminem, and famous American presenter Oprah Winfrey keep a diary, which helps them make constantly positive changes in their lives. Journaling helps them review what they have done during the day and learn from their life experiences.
If you want to achieve a goal in your life, you will need a plan, and writing your diary is like your plan to achieve the goal. You can write in your journal what you did during the day, what you tried to accomplish, what mistakes you made, and much more.
Diaries generally help you review what you've done, write down important ideas, and plan your following goals, as people rarely practice this habit for its importance and ease of use.
This morning, I wrote my diary for 15 minutes. I wrote about events that happened to me in the past, and still grateful for them. I also wrote about events that still bother me. While I was almost done, I came up with the idea for this article you are reading. It was a wonderful idea because I had not yet decided what to write for readers today.
I also came up with some great ideas for a meaningful relationship that I had been neglecting for a while, which encouraged me to send a text message to someone I was interested in. I had been thinking about calling for a long time, and communicating with him led to planning to spend next Sunday together.
So, as you can see, the time you spend meditating and journaling not only helps you feel positive but also strengthens your focus, makes you innovate, and gradually changes your reality. When you have clarity in thinking and seeing, you can do any task at best, improve your relationship with yourself and others, communicate with them more effectively, be motivated to do things, and ultimately improve your life.
Given all these benefits, taking time each day to write a journal is a critical activity that improves your quality of life.
4. Consciously let go of illusions in your life
Most of the things we desperately try to hold on to as if they were real, realistic, and a fixed part of our lives are not so, and if they are, they are not entirely fixed; they are variable, temporary, and sometimes just a figment of our imagination.
Life becomes much easier when we understand this fact. Imagine that you are blindfolded and located in a swimming pool, and you are trying hard to reach the edge of the pool that you think is close, but in fact, it is never close. Your attempt to reach the edge of the pool that you imagine makes you nervous and stressed because you are trying to reach something that does not exist.
Imagine now that you realize that there is no edge to this tub, and there is only water around you, you will be able to consciously choose between continuing to strive to hold onto something that doesn't exist or relaxing and allowing your body to float on the face of the water.
Ask yourself these questions every day:
- What are you desperately trying to hold on to in your life right now?
- How does this hard work affect you?
Then, imagine that this thing you're trying to keep isn't there, and imagine yourself letting it go and relaxing.
5. Give up trying to change what you can't
Only some things are worth trying to change, but most are not. There is a saying: “If you want to control animals, give them more pasture.” Most meditating coaches use this wisdom to make apprentices understand how much their lives can change when they give up wanting to change everything.
Instead of putting all your effort into trying to control something, relax and allow it to take its natural course. Things will often go well, you will get what you want, and you will feel inner peace simultaneously.
This wisdom applies to many aspects of life. Giving up trying to change things means that things will go in a way that fulfills your desires and without much effort, and then you will have more time and energy to work on the essential things and the things that you can control, and one of them is undoubtedly your mental attitude to life.
This style of letting go doesn't mean you're giving up. Rather, it means you're giving up the frantic quest to change people, certain situations, and outcomes. It also means trying your best and putting your knowledge into practice without expecting life to go a certain way.
When you give up trying to change what you can not change with your desire to accomplish something, your energy is doubled when you complain about reality and desperately seek to change it. This method of giving up brings you inner peace and a sense of joy, which will undoubtedly be reflected in your external life.
6. Practice gratitude before bed
When you focus on things you wish you had, you lose the sense of happiness that comes from the things you already have. And you will never experience happiness unless you are grateful for what you already have. As a result, leaving out the wonderful details of your life turns everything into a stressful tragedy.
Here's an exercise in gratitude that has produced amazing results for hundreds of interns and people we've given coaching to over the past ten years:
Every evening before you go to sleep, write down three things that went well during the day, stating their reasons and briefly explaining each of these things
Humans spend exorbitant amounts of money buying the latest electronics, homes and expensive luxury cars in the hope that they will feel happy. This is a free alternative that achieves great results.
Famous psychologist Martin Seligman discovered that after giving participants this exercise to practice with commitment for a week, the participants were 2% happier. However, through follow-up tests, the participants' happiness continued to rise significantly; they were 5% more satisfied after a month and 9% happier after six months.
Most surprisingly, while participants were asked to do this exercise for just one week, most continued to write down things they were grateful for because they were pleased.
Personally, I started practicing this exercise years ago on the basis that I would continue it for only one week, and I still do it today.
In conclusion
Restoring your self-confidence is very important and is one of the most important benefits of practicing the abovementioned habits. My wife Angel and I lacked confidence in our ability to achieve positive results in our lives before we started applying these daily habits. We have failed many times, and we were so disappointed with ourselves that we subconsciously began procrastinating doing the tasks we promised ourselves to do.
We have lost our self-confidence and abilities because we have continued to fail, and it is like someone who lies to you constantly and eventually loses your confidence in them. The solution, in most cases, is to regain your self-confidence gradually through simple things and small steps, which are these daily habits.
The process takes time, but improvement happens as quickly as you stick to it and is generally one of the most important life-changing things you can do for yourself.
Add comment