First, realize that you actually cannot do everything... - Deepstash
Mood Boosters: Put Yourself in a Happy Mood

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The power of gratitude and positive thinking

Ways to improve your mood

Simple daily habits for a happier life

Mood Boosters: Put Yourself in a Happy Mood

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First, realize that you actually cannot do everything you should. You can't even do everything you want to do. That's okay, that's just the normal constraint of living in a world where time isn't infinite.

Therefore, it's totally okay to acknowledge that there's a trade-off between different pursuits. You might want to meditate an hour every day, but recognize that this will cut into your gym habit. Or you might decide that waking up early is going to cut into your social life.

I won't decide which you ought to prioritize-that's for you to choose. I'm not even consistent with how I make this choice. At some points in my life, I've prioritized my health and fitness, other times my social life, reading or some other activity. While, in theory, there's enough time for everything, in practice there are almost always trade-offs.

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Productivity guilt

Wake up at 5am. Read a book a week. Exercise every day-but make sure it's high-intensity or it doesn't count. Journal. Meditate. Volunteer.

Living well sounds exhausting. Maybe it's just easier to flop down and watch Netflix?

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Ego depletion

Is it simply the case that your energy is limited, and if you put in effort in one area of your life, you're necessarily sucking it away from another area?

This is a common view, but the research shows it's actually a lot more complicated. Roy Baumeister helped develop the view of

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Second, make a distinction between a lack of inertia and persistent exhaustion from an activity being more hassle than help . If you push yourself to the gym, but feel good after you went, that's good. On the other hand, if you constantly feel exhausted by everything, you might b...

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Except ego depletion hasn't stood up as well as a scientific concept after more rigorous replications. Indeed, there's research that shows that the way you think of your own willpower affects its depletion. If you believe ...

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The first kind of fatigue doesn't seem to match up with the energy metaphor much at all. In this case, you think the activity will be exhausting, but when you actually get going, it doesn't feel so bad. The effort is all in the starting, not the doing.

This is the kind of feeling you want ...

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Other curated ideas on this topic:

Doing 'everything'

You cannot do everything you should. It is okay to acknowledge that time for one activity means less time for another.

In theory, there's enough time for everything - in practice, there are always trade-offs.

Values and Meaning

A core concept of self-improvement is considering the purposes themselves.

  • It is considering what you ought to value in life. You might want to change some of your vices and enhance your virtues. You might decide happiness is the meaning of life or how you fe...

4. Identify your trade-offs

4. Identify your trade-offs

Unexpected surprises will crop up and threaten to throw your whole project out of scope and off schedule. In those moments, you’ll be glad that you identified your trade-offs early on. Your trade-offs allow you to see where you have the most wiggle room available in a project, should you need to ...

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