Get rid of negativity
We all had, at some point, a friend who was constantly negative, a friend who always saw only the bad side and interpreted things in the worst way possible. Staying away from drama will save us so much time in the long run and will also help us keep a steady good mood.
"When someone tells me no, it doesn't mean I can't do it; it simply means I can't do it with them. " - Karen E. Quinones-Miller
And not only that. Staying away from toxic people will make us doubt ourselves less, will make us take more and better decisions, and will also help us to build back our own image. Because there is a high chance that if we stayed around negative people, they’ve chipped away at our image, making us look and feel less than what we actually are.
Take it easy
You know how they say: "Rome wasn’t built in a day".
Whatever we have in mind, we have to take it slowly and accept that we can’t make big changes overnight. Once we accept this and have realistic expectations, we will find more joy in our work towards our plan.
"When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things. I just want to get at it slowly, but carefully and thoroughly, with the same attitude I remember was present just before I found that sheared pin. It was that attitude that found it, nothing else. " - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig
Once we start to rush something, there are higher chances that we will fail, because all important and valuable things will take time to build, and we also have to search for joy in that. We should try to learn how to love the process as well as the end result. Because the end result may give us satisfaction for a short time, but the process is most likely to take a lot of time, entire years, maybe even the rest of our life.
Appreciate what you have
Most of us are in a neutral mood at best throughout the working week, and we get to relax only on the last two days of the week. Sometimes, not even then. We really have to start making the best of every day. It can be a small thing, like helping someone or doing something that really gets us thinking that this life is indeed worth living.
"It's not that we spend five days looking forward to just two. It's that most people do what they enjoy most on those two days. Imagine living a life where every Saturday and Sunday are yours. Make every day your weekend. Make every day a play-day... " - James A. Murphy, The Waves of Life Quotes and Daily Meditations
The joy doesn’t come only from relaxing. We can find joy even in our work. If our work can’t bring us any joy, then we should consider changing it. Or, if it’s not possible at the moment, then we should appreciate at least some parts of our work.
Maybe our colleagues are good or even great. Maybe the place is very clean and welcoming. Maybe the way we handle things will attract the respect of others. It can be anything; we just have to find it and appreciate it.
Do something for your future self
Let’s imagine ourselves 10-20-30 years in the future. What can we do now that will represent a good thing for ourselves in the future? Maybe it’s just putting some money aside and then investing it at the proper time. Maybe it’s just doing some exercises that will help us keep in better shape when we get older. Maybe it’s saying something good to someone that will make us feel no regret years down the line.
"Action from your future, not toward it." - Richie Norton, Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping
Whenever we have to do something important, we should think of how it will translate in the future. Maybe making a very big purchase now will put us in debt for the next few years, and it will just add more stress to our lives. In that case, we should consider whether we’re better off without that purchase.
And this applies to literally everything. As long as we can think of the future, we are bound to make better decisions. Let's face it: a lot of people don't think things through, and a lot of people will later regret their actions.Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but years down the line, they will realize that their decisions were very poor.
We need to change something
There is a high chance that we’re not in the best place that we could be, so in this case, we need to make a change. Maybe it’s about our finances, maybe it’s about our love life, our relationships with others, or it’s about our fitness level.
It’s not very hard to put our fingers on our problems. The hard thing for most of us is the start. We know what we have to do, but somehow we manage to postpone it, and some of us can’t seem to start the changes that we are supposed to make.
"The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. " - Albert Einstein
The way we live today is the result of how we lived and how we interpreted things in the past. Sure, there are other things like luck, but we shouldn’t focus on what we can’t change.
What we can change is our perspective, and that means a lot. More than we think. Because our perspective dictates how we live our lives, what choices we take, how we react to situations, and so on. So, we should try to adopt the healthiest perspective that we can, a perspective that will benefit us.
Conclusion
First, we have to get rid of the negativity in our lives. Maybe the negative part consists of some friends or even our partner. The second thing is that we have to be grateful for what we have today and take pride in what we can do.
Each one of us can excel in something, even if, at the moment, it’s about keeping a place clean. We should do a good job and be happy with how well we did it. The third thing is to think about our future selves and do something that will help us years down the line.
And the last thing is to try and change what we can and avoid stressing out about the things that are outside our power.
Cheers!
