Keep Reminding Yourself

While it’s obvious we need to exhibit a certain amount of self-control while choosing what we put in our bodies, that is not the whole story.

If we educate our bodies and learn about nutrition, longevity and how our individual bodies function, we could be eating a lot healthier.

There is a lot of stuff available for us to do that makes us feel better instantly. Watching TV, going to the beach, drinking alcohol, smoking, and almost every other activity that seems pleasurable to us, giving us temporary pleasure in a jiffy. When we keep doing that, the long term effects are bad, and we feel older, weaker, sicker, while not having any achievement in our lives.

This is a natural process of a slow movement towards disorder, is also the second law of thermodynamics, called Entropy.

As a child, you’re taken care of by others. Hence, you assume that someone is responsible for you.

When you grow up, you are responsible for you. So never look at others when you’re unhappy. Instead, accept your unhappiness, and then do something about it.

There’s a big chance the people in your environment don’t strive for the same things as you. Many people live a timid life. People who don’t want anything from life and who spend their time watching tv.

Don’t give your time to those people. You might become one of them.

It's up to you to define what a good habit is. This critical to forming new habits. 

To find your why, your reason to change, just ask yourself this: “Will habit x improve the quality of my life?”  Answer that. And then, adopt habits that bring you closer to the things you want in life.

We overestimate ourselves most of the time. And that's one of the reasons we try to do so many things at the same time, in a short period.

We can achieve a lot over a long period. So focus on one thing at a time. Stack one habit on top of the other, one by one.

• Put aside your feelings so that you can concentrate only on the other person’s perspective.
• Use open ended questions that can help you draw out the interests and motivation that the person may not be verbalizing.
• Be clear about your own position and the weaknesses it has.
• Remove any personal intentions you may have, so as not to project them on to the other person.
• Using what you know about the person, their background, their mood, their intentions and expectations,  imagine how they are seeing the current situation.
• Validate their position by paraphrasing back to them what you think their position is.

When you break it down, almost every aspect of business involves an element of negotiation. 

By honing your perspective taking skills, you are much more likely to come up with solutions that are acceptable to all parties.

All of the habits that you have right now — good or bad — are in your life because they provide a benefit to you, even if they are bad for you in other ways.

And because bad habits provide some type of benefit in your life, it's very difficult to simply eliminate them. Instead, you need to replace a bad habit with a new habit that provides a similar benefit.

• Choose a substitute for your bad habit. 
• Cut out as many triggers as possible. 
• Surround yourself with people who live the way you want to live.
• Visualize yourself succeeding and avoid negative self-talk.
• Plan for failure and find things that can help you bounce back when you make a mistake.
  

• Propose “moonshot” ideas, knowing that 90% of them will get shot down, but that if one of them gets accepted, it will be a huge boost to your career.
• Be excessively bold in your dating life, stating exactly who and what you want.
• Buy difficult books expecting that most of them won’t be useful to you, but also that, occasionally, one will completely change your life.
• Say yes to every invitation knowing that most of the events/people will be boring, but that occasionally you’ll meet someone really interesting.

Most of us are afraid of messing thing up. But we rarely ask, “Would I regret that failure?” If the answer is “no,” then that is absolutely a risk you should pursue.

Sometimes, the right decision becomes crystal clear when put into these terms.

But that doesn’t mean we should follow through on every single thought that pops into our mind.

Every time you start thinking about future events or start making mental movies, keep count on a post-it note or a small piece of paper. Be aware of your thoughts. But don’t follow through.

• Don't buy the stuff you can't afford.
• Live below your means
• Get rid of things when they take up the space you need. Donate or recycle them.

Make yourself accountable for what you do or don’t do. You don’t have to do things to prove something to others.

Make a To-Do list with your goals, intentions and proposed actions, and try to stick to it.

If we are not honest in our communication due to any internal fear, we are not taken seriously. People can tell when we are not honest.

There is no need to hide anything or play the victim card. Honesty seems difficult as it requires humility, but if followed, it is easier to be self-disciplined.

• It improve self-awareness.
• It allows you to understand and see things from a different point of view. 
• It allows you to respond, not react.
• It facilitates a deeper level of learning.
• It improves confidence.
• It makes you challenge your assumptions.

• STOP: Take a step back from life or a particular situation.
• LOOK: Identify and get perspective on what you notice and see.
• LISTEN: Listen to your inner guide, the innate wisdom that bubbles up when you give it time and space to emerge.
• ACT: Identify the steps you need to take moving forward to adjust, change or improve.