Yes, I mean you can start using them right NOW (well, after your read this blog post!)
It’s been almost two years since I started getting really into personal development. Of course, my personal development journey is not even close to perfect. It was filled with lots of trial and error.
However, the time came when the habits and practices that I’ve been implementing in my life actually became the most effective ones and ended up becoming an automatic part of my life.
While also inspired by the book, Good Vibes, Good Life (please note this is not an affiliate link in any way, I just really love the book!), I began to feel how implementing these practices and habits that are going to be mentioned, helped me in a lot of ways.
They’re listed down below, and starting tomorrow you can start implementing them! There are even small action steps included so that you can make that first small step in making the change!
1) CONTENT DIET
I’ve mentioned a few times in this blog that our diet is just not the food that we physically eat.
It’s also everything that is put into our mind.
It is everything we read, watch, listen to, and even who we hang out with.
Our mind is a powerful thing. Our mindset is what brings us forward, or bring us up.
Yes, it’s fun to watch TV shows, movies, go on social media, and even watch YouTube videos. But whether we like it or not, it’s going to have an effect on our mind.
It’s like eating food in general. When you eat healthy food, what do you get? A healthy mind.
What about if you always eat unhealthy food? The junk food? What do you get? The opposite of a healthy body.
It’s the same exact thing with our mind. The more junk and negativity we put into our mind, the more negative it becomes. On the other hand, the more positive and inspirational content we put in our mind, the more positive it becomes.
I’m not saying to never watch TV shows again, you certainly can. Just like a normal diet, you can have junk food and dessert every now and then, but you’d have a limit. Same thing with content that is not necessarily the best for our mind.
Action Step: To start a content diet, do an audit of everything (I mean everything) you listen to, watch, read, and who you hang around with. You can do this for at least a day, but from personal experience, about five to seven days is a good number to have an accurate analysis. By the end of the audit, think 5 years down the track on who you will become if you continue to consume those things. If it doesn’t look like something you want. then it may be time to switch up the material.
This was what I had done when I wanted to get a good idea on what content I was currently consuming.
Read more on this topic through past blog posts:
Our Diet is Not Just What We Eat
Digital Habits for Growth & Happiness
2) Take Regular Rest
A lot of the YouTube videos I watch nowadays are now emphasising strongly on taking breaks and rest to prevent burn out… and thank goodness!
The truth is, you need unproductive days so that you can have more productive days (pretty ironic, I know). For this to make sense, let me give you an analogy.
Think of your phone – your phone does a lot of things for you… I don’t even have to list it.
But, just like a normal human being, it’s hard for the phone to do stuff, if the battery is low and almost about to die. SO of course, you just leave it alone and charge it, giving it “rest”.
And guess what, it’s the same for us human beings! We do a lot of stuff, whether we’re juggling studies and a job, or have a busy career… whatever that may be, we do a lot of stuff during our day. Regardless, it is hard for us to do the things we need to do if our battery is low and almost about to die (not literally!). So just like leaving our phone to charge and rest, we rest to recharge.
So here’s a little thing that I like to do, that I definitely recommend you consider doing as well:
- Every day, ONE hour of rest (minimum).
- Every week, ONE rest day.
- Every month, THREE days (in a row!) rest days
- Every quarter, ONE week off from everything, aka a rest day.
Let me tell you, I recently started doing this and it made my productivity so much better! I promise you, my productivity did not decline in any way when I took these rests as stated. In fact, before I even did this, I had so many days where I full on burned out.
The best part is that while you take your rest, it’s non-negotiable to not work! What’s so mindblowing is that while you’re taking rest, you may find yourself wanting to work again. During your rest, you may find that you have that drive and more motivation to do work and that’s what we want!
When I did my recent one week quarter off, I did things completely non-productive. I did spontaneous adventures, I went to the beach, did a coastal walk (thankfully this was all before lockdown). During that week, I felt even more motivated to work. When I started work I felt completely refreshed and my work quality got better.
Action Step: Figure out what time works best for you to have:
- ONE hour of rest a DAY
- ONE day of rest a WEEK
- Three days (in a row) of rest a MONTH – FYI this works best as a 3 day weekend
- ONE week of rest a QUARTER (every three months)
While this is my personal opinion for a good number, you can revise it as much as you like! You can figure out a good number that works best for you, which doesn’t give you TOO much rest (to the point where you get too comfortable with not doing anything)l, but not TOO less to the point that you burn out.
3) Surround Yourself with Inspiration
Now, this sort of links back to #1 where we talked about the content diet.
Whether you work, study, have your own business or side hustle, you are for sure going to face some challenging times. Of course, you do need some inspiration to keep on going through them.
And how do you find the inspiration? It links back to the content diet.
You read, listen, watch material, surround yourself with those who uplift you and encourage you, so you feel inspired to keep on going.
On the other hand, if you consume negative content instead, it’s highly likely that we are going to feel discouraged, and more unmotivated. If we continue that pattern, it’s common sense that we would move towards the direction of giving up rather than to keep going on.
That’s why, surrounding yourself with inspiration, whether it’s through a book you’re reading. a podcast you’re listening to, or even surrounding yourself with friends who brighten your day would really help.
Learning about other people’s challenges and how they got through them for me is very inspiring. When I listen or read stories that demonstrate resilience through failures and roadblocks, I feel inspired and reassured that my setbacks are not final.
I encourage you to do the same. Doing that on a regular, even on a daily basis would fill up that tank of inspiration. It would give you the drive to keep doing what you’re doing, and feel good about it all.
Because let’s face it, our brain needs a lot of inspiration. Our mind tells us a lot of things, gives us a lot of thoughts. When they’re negative, we need something to rebuke that.
Action Step: Before and even during times where you’re feeling unmotivated and uninspired, pick up some books, listen to some podcasts, watch motivational videos, read articles (like the ones on this blog 😉 ) and even just some quotes. Even connect with some friends who motivate you!
4) Healthy Diet & LOTS of Water
We are now talking about a normal diet where it’s actual food.
In the book Good Vibes, Good Life, it says a really good quote that says:
“What you consume, consumes you; what consumes you controls your life”
This is both for the content diet and the regular diet.
Whether we like it or not, what we eat and drinks affects how we feel. And how we feel, affects the way that we act.
I am guilty of this. Whenever I eat food that is not the healthiest, I feel sluggish, sleepy, and moody. And if I feel any of those things, it affects my work performance; whether that is studying, working, or doing my blog!
While those foods tastes good in the moment, once I eat it, it tends to dampen my mood. Have you ever felt that way too?
It’s nothing new honestly. We’ve heard it since birth to have a diet full of greens, vegetables, fruits, and protein. We’ve heard it all before.
And also, WATER! It’s not new because it’s been a health advice to us since birth. We can go to any doctor and they will say that water is important.
I’m not going to go in detail on why we should eat healthy (because it is all common sense; unless we go to a doctor and they give us a specific reason otherwise). But ultimately, both the content diet and the real food diet is a big contributor to how we feel, which contributes to the actions that we take. It’s something to be mindful of.
Action Step: If you don’t believe me, then you don’t have to LOL. But try the audit like the content diet. Take note of the food that you eat on a daily basis for maybe a week, and note down how you feel after it. I did this before and the results surprised me. When I did some replacements with the food that I initially ate, I noticed a change in my mood.
5) Gratitude
Honestly, this is the most simple habit, but it’s so effective.
Just by being grateful for three things in the morning once you wake up. and three things before you go to bed, it makes a big difference to how you see things.
And it’s not just about being grateful during the good times… also the bad times as well! What do I mean to be grateful during the bad times?
Well, when things get challenging, that’s when we need gratitude all the more. Whatever it may be, there are still so many things that you can be grateful for.
You can be grateful for the roof over your head, that you are breathing… everything counts! Nothing is too big or too small.
This is definitely a daily habit. You can write what you’re grateful for, or say it in your mind. The more times you do it, the more automatic it becomes. And it’s always an amazing feeling when a good habit becomes part of you and your system.
Action Step: Very simple! Just list three things you’re grateful for first thing in the morning, and before you go to bed. Try it for 21 days, see what happens.
6) Feel (not suppress) your emotions
I’m not a fan of “toxic positivity” where they say to be positive no matter what, don’t let negative experiences happen, never be negative. Honestly, from my experience it does more harm to my mind than good.
It may or may not be the same for you, but when I have a negative thought, I become more negative when I try to make it positive and surpress that negative emotion.
It’s easy to assume that once we get a negative thought, we ignore it and move onto positive thoughts. For me, it always felt like I was trying to trick myself into thinking that everything is fine, when the reality is right in front of me. It felt like the most toxic thing ever.
Instead, this is what I’m going to mention to you… feel those emotions. Let yourself feel whatever you’re feeling. If you accept and feel the positive and happy feelings you have, why not the negative?
This is not to say that you can always be negative. It’s more about acknowledging our emotions, understand why we’re having that emotion, and then once we had acknowledged and understood it, then we can make the changes to help us not have that emotion anymore.
I’ll give you an example – As I am writing this, we were in lockdown. When I felt really moody a few days ago, instead of swiping it with positivity, I just acknowledged that I was feeling moody.
Once I felt that emotion, I had a clearer headspace to understand why I was feeling moody. It turned out, I was feeling moody because it was lockdown. There were countries in the world that was out of lockdown, and I felt upset about that. Once I understood that it was the reason I was feeling moody, I made the action to not look at things that intrigued it.
It all links back to the practices I mentioned. The content we consume, the food we eat, surrounding ourselves with inspiration… it all contributes to how we feel.
Action Step: From now on, whenever you feel an emotion that is not “happy” or “positive”, just acknowledge it and feel it. When you’re ready, reflect on why you had that emotion. Then, take it from there. Be kind to yourself!
7) Awareness of the Present
From that same book, they mentioned this eye opening quote:
“Every second you spend thinking about the next moment, you avoid embracing the present. Ensure your life isn’t lived entirely in your head”
It’s true that when we think about the past, we miss the present. When we think about the future, we miss the present.
Yes, it’s important to reflect on the past and learn from it to grow into a better person, but we shouldn’t dwell on it all the time.
The same with the future. It’s important to plan for the future and set goals, but we shouldn’t worry about it most of the time.
My personal story here is that whenever I find myself not present in the moment, I think of the time I had cancer when I was young.
I think about how God didn’t allow me to survive that for me to just worry about the past and the future. I think about how God blesses me with a new day, every day, and I’m grateful for that. I want to show my gratitude to him my living in the moments he blesses me with.
That’s also where gratitude comes to place as well, where you’re grateful for every moment you’re blessed with. Especially the ones right in front of you.
It’s Progress Over Perfection here!
For all of the personal development practices that had been mentioned above, if there was one thing that I had learned while implementing them, it is that it’s always going to be progress over perfection.
What I mean by this is that we are only measuring how well we are doing these personal development practices by the progress and not the perfection.
Let’s face it, when we’re delaying trying things because we’re waiting for it to be perfect, or we’re afraid that it’s not going to be perfect… we are not taking any steps forward!
BUT if we are just starting them anyway and progressing small steps, at least we are taking steps! Focusing on progress over perfection allows us to take smaller steps, rather than taking no steps at all.
So just take the first small step. You can go as small as you need to. You can take your time if you need to. Just start and keep progressing!
-Lauren 😊
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Related Articles:
Ultimate Personal Development Checklist!
The Essential Habits for Personal Development!
Bad Habits to Break During Personal Development
Digital Habits for Growth and Happiness!
Our Diet is Not Just the Food We Eat
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi, this is Lauren! I’m a law grad from Melbourne, Australia. On laurenbarri.com, I create content on all things personal development, productivity, self-care, and habits! I am super passionate about these topics because of how they helped me in all areas of my life, and I want to share it with others!
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