1 Read this Article until the End & Execute
I’m not kidding… Having the vague knowledge of what you should be doing isn’t enough.
Instead, take yourself seriously for once and self analyze your reality as we go through the list. Pause when you need to, take notes if you have to and then figure out how you can start acting on this new-found knowledge.
Most people think success is something miraculous, when in reality is just planning and execution!
Do not brush these off as self-evident, because they are not.
Treat my article seriously and you’ll find that little changes add up.
By the end of my article you should have all the answers you need to make a considerable difference, so no more excuses!
2 Stop Expecting Others to Solve your Life for You
Does it seem difficult to improve your life? Are you worried? Stressed? Tired?
We all are! We’re all dealing with stuff, yet only some choose to get off their asses, off the couch and do something about it. Chances are, you put yourself into this mess you find yourself in and even if you didn’t.
Nobody’s gonna miraculously drop down from the heavens in order to make everything perfect for you. You’ve been alive for long enough to know that:
Change only happens when YOU CHANGE!
So take this opportunity to have an honest conversation with yourself:
What are the biggest issues in your life right now?
Which ones can you realistically solved if you pushed yourself?
Then make it a priority to get it done!
We have this tendency to feel overwhelmed because problems tend to stack up and bleed onto each other, up to a point where you feel paralyzed.
And don’t want to deal with any of them, hoping they would all just go away. The truth is that they don’t… they just grow more.
But chances are, you have what it takes to solve at least some of them.
START SMALL! And build momentum! Sooner than later you’ll find that it’s easy to improve your life one domino at a time.
3 Clean Up your House
You want to do something today that’s gonna improve your life for the better? Clean your environment. Start with your desk, then your room and then go for your entire house.
There’s a feeling of pride when you look back and how much order you put in the chaos that was before to improve your life. You feel powerful, because your actions are actively changing your environment for the better.
Deep down, we all prefer order to chaos and cleaning up your house is just that first push that gets you moving in the right direction!
What can I clean about myself next?
With this frame of mind and this initial win you’re ready for more.
4 Quit Sugar, Oil & Bread
This is gonna be a shock to your entire system.
You’re probably addicted to processed sugar and don’t even know it. Unless you have health issues and medications causing weight gain, chances are, you eat fried food waaaay too much.
And if you’re dealing with body fat issues it’s not that you’re big boned or that your genes are making you fat… You’re just stuffing the hole in your mouth with too much unhealthy shit.
I get it, exercise is hard, maybe it rained one day last week and that’s the only time you felt motivated to go for a run… Statistically speaking, it’s harder to pick up a new habit than begin managing an existing one.
Instead of soda, drink water.
Instead of fries, get a salad.
Instead of bread or pasta – go for more water and vitamins.
If you brute force your body all of a sudden with these changes, it will push back. You’ll feel tired, unmotivated and maybe even grumpy…
But every time you make the right choice for yourself you’ll get a little smirk on your face and a feeling of: “Holy smokes I’m back at the wheel of this machine I call my body. “
Aren’t you bored of eating the same food that you know ain’t right for you? You should also start paying attention to salt and the amount of alcohol you’re putting in.
Here’s the secret to being just a bit healthier than you are right now:
Stop eating as much junk food & drink more water!
It’s really that simple! Drink some water right now… I’ll wait!
Oh and by the way, I was a certified Nutritionist and health coach for years… If you need help, visit my website here. It’s called; Bookernutrition.com
5 Start Reading a Good Book
Or at least one that inspires you to be more than you are right now.
You’re probably not reading enough and it shows! You’ll find that you value yourself and your time more, when you read. Exposing yourself to other people’s journeys allows you to draw wisdom from their experiences.
You get richer with every book you read!
But there’s always that question: “But Larry, what should I start with?!” I’ve made plenty of blogs and posted articles for every possible mood or part of the journey you find yourself in. They are on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and this website for your perusing.
6 Reach Out to an Old Friend you Haven’t Spoken to in a While
Remember when you used to think that you’re gonna change the world together, but the world ended up changing you?!
Relationships fade away if you don’t maintain them. Not for bad blood or anything, they just do, we drift apart due to being more and more absorbed into the trivialities and struggles of everyday life.
One message or phone call, can rekindle a dying relationship.
Do it right now and see what they’ve been up to. No need to be fancy, just let them know you were thinking about them. It signals that you still value the relationship.
If you’re feeling like it, you might even take him or her out for drinks or food.
You won’t believe just how amazing it feels when you reconnect with someone you’ve always vibed with and it will definitely improve your life.
7 Limit your Social Media and Entertainment Intake
This might sound stupid because one of my business’s entire business model relies on you consuming my content throughout all my media channels.
I’ve noticed that the first and last thing people do these days in their lives is check social media. They don’t get out of bed. For the first 30 to 45 minutes of they day, they keep scrolling and looking at this artificial reality people are showcasing on their profiles. Then when the night comes, they do the same.
Look at the way we live!
This need to fill what feels like empty time with something, with anything no matter what it is, is breaking society apart. People are binging Friends for the 3rd or the 4th time…
No wonder most people struggle to understand who they are, what they’re passionate about or what they should do with their lives, when they never put any time into figuring out the answers to these questions.
You’re getting shiny colors with a pre recorded laugh at the expense of who you are!
Cut social media to 30 minutes per day, 30 more for entertainment and see how your life changes when you’re left with yourself.
8 Make a Plan for Tomorrow
…and then for the day after… and for the week after… and so on.
You know why you don’t do more to improve your life? Or why you don’t get more done?
It’s because you don’t plan on what you have to do. You just have a vague idea of what you expect to happen at some point in the foreseeable future.
A plan is different! It forces that wishful thinking into the realm of reality. Start with tomorrow! Create a schedule for yourself and plan out your day. Try to be specific.
Make sure to include some things you’ve been postponing; you can even include the 30 minutes for social media and the 30 minutes of entertainment as a rewards towards the end of the day if you feel like it.
Find a time slot to listen to the audiobook you just downloaded or read a couple of pages.
The moment you start planning your day, you’re taking control of time!
This is how super successful people manage to get so much done in the same 24 hours in the day as everyone else.
9 Wake Up at the Same Hour Every Day
Going to bed earlier has the benefit of allowing you to wake up a bit sooner than usual and tackling some of the tasks on your day plan way before you’d normally be awake.
Yes, I’m a big proponent of cutting down sleep time to at most 5 or 6 hours per night. Although I still consider myself a night owl, I’ve found that productivity usually drops after 2 am, no matter how hard I tried justifying it.
Waking up at the same hour every day, usually 11 am for me, allows me to get more done before 5 or 6… the end of business, than the average person does in a generic 9-5 job; leaving me with 12 more hours to focus on whatever I find that brings value to my life.
Whenever I’ve got too much on my plate, I might even rejoin the 9 AM club, but in my experience, running on only 4 hours of sleep every single night isn’t a sustainable strategy.
10 Meditate for 20 Minutes
You know that 4 out of 5 people have a daily meditation practice in their lives right? This isn’t a coincidence.
Meditation isn’t magic, is like cleaning up your room, but inside of your head.
It allows you to be more organized with your thoughts and find creative answers that bring you value; and the best thing, it’s only 20 minutes.
Through meditation you’re taking back control of your emotions. People will try to push your buttons, but you control the narrative now.
You’re way more aware of how you’re reacting to what’s happening currently and how to improve your life to a state better than before and if you do it long enough you’ll find gems hidden within yourself that you never knew before.
11 Figure out Where you’re Wasting Money
If there’s one overarching idea that governs this article is that of CONTROL! Because control is power.
Your ability to improve your life is what makes life incredible, otherwise you’re just trapped, going through the motions, dancing at whatever tune is playing.
Control comes from understanding what’s happening!
The better understanding you have of what’s going on around you, the more power you have to alter it.
Now let’s control your money, so the first step is to have a clear understanding of what’s happening.
How much money are you making & where does it go?
If you ever begin monitoring your spending you’ll be shocked of how bad you actually are with money. You’ll quickly find ways to more efficiently stave your spending habits.
And for some of you I have known, know, or spoken with, this will be the first time you’ll have excess capital.
What you do with it is what makes all the difference!
12 Identify One Way you Can Earn More
Since the title of this article is about things you can do right now that can improve your life, let’s take a couple of minutes and focus on your income.
You’re either an employee or a business owner. Either way, I want you to start thinking about ways you could bring more money home.
For employees, it’s pretty straightforward:
Ask for a raise! It’s probably been a long time since you got one and chances are your workload has increased since. If that’s the case, find the right time and ask for a 20% raise.
Most of you might now know this, but employers can justify a 10 to 20% increase every year, if the employee performs well, just because it would be more time consuming to find and train someone else.
If you don’t think that you deserve a raise, head into his or her office and let them know that you’re interested in earning more.
And are ready to take on more responsibility, they’ll jump at the opportunity to give you more work.
For business owners, it’s a bit more creative, but it usually falls into one of the following hats:
- Up-selling your existing customers
- Marketing better to bring in new customers
- Creating a new offer for a different market segment
Take a moment to think about everyone of these 3.
If it all fails, you can always take a look at what you’re currently doing and figuring out, if there’s anything you could do more efficiently and earn more by saving costs.
Think automation and leveraging volume.
Hope this helps!
13 Identify What Makes you Happy and What Doesn’t
Most people never take a minute of their lives to think about this simple question, so congrats. In all honesty, you might be the first person in your family to sit down and genuinely think about the way you experience life.
Make a list! Put down the things that you are doing that bring you happiness and joy. Write them down.
Then do the same for what doesn’t make you happy, the things that you wished happened less.
Now take a good look at this list!
The secret to winning at life is doing more of the things in the first column, and less of the ones in the second.
Don’t brush this off lightly, it’s usually these simple things like writing them down that makes all the difference. The moment you try to put them down in writing you’ll realize it’s harder than it seems.
Because to get to the good stuff you have to be honest and dig within yourself!
At the end you’re left with a good reflection of what you should shoot for.
14 Keep Track of your Goals
At the beginning of the year you set some goals for yourself. What happened to them? Did you forget about them? How many did you hit? How far along are you with the remaining ones?
You can only improve what you can measure!
Tracking your progress allows you to understand what went wrong with some of them and what went right with others. If you want to do something today that’s going to improve your life you can begin through this type of analysis.
With less than 3 months left of 2022 as of posting this article, you’re gonna be faced with another “New Year New Me” situation.
And unless you want to repeat what happened this year, you might want to better understand your past actions. Yeah, I know it feels like work, but only through real work will you make real progress.
So stop fucking complaining about it to yourself or others that have to be annoyed and bothered by you and make some moves!
15 Write Down 5 Things you Wish to Accomplish in the Medium Term
Now that you’ve analyzed and have a decent understanding of why you failed to meet your goals, you can finally begin to focus on what’s ahead in your life.
I want you to find 5 goals, no more, no less, that can be achieved in the next 6 months.
Don’t go overboard, you’re not gonna make your first million in the next 6 months if your net was 50K last year. Instead, focus on specific things that could impact your life.
Like taking your kids to the movies once a week, reading 1 book per month for 6 months, taking on more responsibility at work and finally getting that raise etc.
Anything that makes sense for you.
Write these 5 on a piece of paper and stick them above your desk, so that every time you go to work, your are reminded of them.
I don’t think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.