At the risk of sounding too harsh, I'll admit that I was expecting some kind of groundbreaking insight on improving my life. Instead, all I got was the same generic "exercise" and "laugh more" bullshit. Gosh, perhaps I should just tickle myself!<p>At the abstract level, I find it a bit depressing that the blogosphere seems to be chock full of people who regurgitate common knowledge and attempt to present it as something new. There seems to be very few people who have unique insights worth following and sharing.<p>My rule with my personal blog has always been: don't write it if it is not new, original, or at least somewhat interesting. This is perhaps why I stopped doing it. :P
here's a list that i've compiled over the years.<p>Daily Habits:<p>get rid of idle internet time<p>morning self reflection: what structual and systemic things can be improved today (improve one of the systems)<p>mental excercise: pick a subject, try to come up with 40 ideas.<p>go over goals<p>learn 1 thing before work (could be done in 15 min of reading)<p>throught the day, stop and classify thoughts as "useful" , "not useful"<p>do the hardest thing first.. before breakfast..<p>step out of the comfort zone at least once. (challenge promotes growth)<p>work on verbal communication (5-15 min practice)<p>get at least one thing done and off the TODO list<p>1 HR of quality reading<p>while being at work, WORK (be results oriented)<p>spend some time to clear mind clutter and BE IN THE PRESENT<p>short term sacrifices for long term rewards (expenses, nutrition, excercise)<p>plan out next day in advance (next week, month)<p>before taking any action (or not taking action) project forward (30 seconds, 5 minutes, day, year, 30 years) would you be better off with different choice.<p>recharge emotional energy
I think the best reason to laugh is: you're laughing. You're exposed to something funny. Humans connect over laughter and funny things. How do you build your sense of humor if you aren't laughing?<p>I had a roommate last year that moved to Austin from Iraq. He was self-conscious and had trouble socializing. I introduced him to some of my favorite American TV comedies like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". The transformation in his sense of humor was incredible.<p>One of my favorite things to do before a date is to watch something that makes me laugh. Totally changes my mood.
I really believe that expressing gratitude every day has a positive effect, so much so that I made a clojure-based site, <a href="http://gratefulplace.com/" rel="nofollow">http://gratefulplace.com/</a> (and wrote about the code at <a href="http://www.flyingmachinestudios.com/programming/dissecting-gratefulplace/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flyingmachinestudios.com/programming/dissecting-g...</a>).<p>For the past year I've spent a few minutes every morning thinking about what I'm grateful for and it's had a big positive influence on my life. I'm definitely happier.
I agree with most of the commentators below (especially enraged_camel)... I mean did the blogger put any actual thought into writing this post or did they just copy paste stuff that umpteen other blogs have regurgitated over and over a million times ?<p>I exercise regularly and it definitely helps me in other areas of my life but I wont just advise "exercise daily" as the solution to anyone and everyone who has any questions about getting better.<p>What has worked for me so far is to set just 1 concrete goal for the year or 6 months and break it down into the smallest possible pieces and act on it daily.<p>What doesnt work...
1. Setting too many goals... I mean cmon are you going to start mediating, execising, going out in the nature, maintain a gratitude journal daily ? Sure maybe for 3 days..but once the novelty/willpower wears off, you will be back to square one...<p>2. All or nothing... Either you exercise daily or you quit..All of us get trapped into the perfection trap and end up doing nothing.. I would rather exercise/meditate/scratch-my-ass 2-3 times a week until THAT becomes a habit.<p>3. Giving up at the first sign of failure and blaming yourself...
Too many people say to themselves "Oh I went on a diet but I ate that cookie..I am a failure... might as well eat the entire box and start afresh from tomorrow"/ "I just dont have the discipline, I am giving up"..
Know that you will fail a few times before you get the hang of it..which goes back to #2...dont focus on perfection, focus on progress.<p>That's it... Just 1 goal to be broken into smallest possible pieces...something you can act on daily...or perhaps a few times a week...
This seems like a great excuse to pimp my startup! <a href="http://Beeminder.com" rel="nofollow">http://Beeminder.com</a> is a goal-tracking tool where you have to keep all your datapoints on a "yellow brick road" to your goal or we charge you (actual money). It's less perverse than it sounds though -- you can think of it as a fee for a service that happens to be waived if you never actually needed its kick in the pants.<p>It's perfect for things you want to commit to doing daily. In fact, it's all about that, as opposed to StickK which is not so data-oriented and just has weekly reports.<p>Our litmus test for whether you should beemind things like in TFA is:<p><pre><code> 1. How certain are you that you *want* to do this?
2. How certain are you that you *can* do this?
3. How certain are you that you *will* do this?
</code></pre>
If your answers are "absolutely", "definitely", and "given historical evidence, not entirely" then you'll probably think Beeminder is super great.
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document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(jq);<p>Am I the only one who's turned off by this number? I understand that's what you're supposed to do and doing this is a nice way to get a bump on your traffic but being bombarded by the links just gives me the feeling that the entire content is there to do just that, rather than conveying any useful information.
I would put writing right up there too. It forces you to think creatively and/or analytically and you become a better communicator. Communication can not be underrated as a key to successful relationships.
Exercise 30 minutes.<p>Spend at least 15 minutes journaling the events of the day.<p>Spend at least 15 minutes planning out your schedule and goals for the next day.<p>Punch a velociraptor in the jaw.*<p>Each some greens.<p>*Optional