The Number One Way You Can Improve Yourself Today
One of the things I am constantly trying to do in my life is improve. There are many ways to do this in each area I want to improve. If I want to lose weight, lose fat, and/or gain muscle, I know I can lift weights, do cardio, and change my diet accordingly. If I want to have more relationships I put myself in social situations and push myself to meet new people and social circles, or even just build upon the relationships I already have in my life. If I want more money, I have to either work harder or work smarter in some way to increase my income. I made these all sound very simple, and the truth is that they are not that simple. There are small steps, tactics, methods, and techniques to doing each that can very well make the process successful or not. The one way I most improve my life in anything that I undertake to do is this: READ.
If you are not reading regularly, then start. Education, and more importantly, self-education is the number one way to ensuring success or improvement in any area of your life. I have purchased and borrowed books, read blogs, looked at internet forums, and talked to people better than myself to improve in all 3 of these areas and that is how I continue to approach each one every day. I have always done this to some extent throughout my life, but I remember having an epiphany about it a while back. It came while (no surprise) I was reading!
I was reading Mark Cuban’s blog and he listed reading as possibly the biggest key to his success. He said that he thought that since every book and magazine out there was just sitting there for anyone to pick up that everyone would have all of this information and it would be worthless. But then he noticed that no one consumed the amount of information he did, and that he could compile it and come up with brilliant ideas for his business and his life. He said he still averages around 3 hours of reading time a day. I realized at that time I read a lot and that the more I read, the more valuable ideas I got. If I read AND implemented what I learned, then I got even more.
It really takes a lot of effort for some people to admit to themselves that they need to improve something in their life and sometimes twice as much to actually getting around to doing something about it. Taking the time and effort to actually get a book or do a Google search on a subject and read up on how you can improve is that first big step. If you really want to fix that nagging issue in your life, here are a few pointers:
1. Make a list of things that you are unhappy with or would like to improve. Identify which one irks you the most and make a conscious decision to get that area of your life handled and under control.
2. Begin your search: ask some friends who have conquered a similar problem, do an internet search, go to the bookstore, or drop in at the library. Find out the best book or books to read and get some information on how to improve yourself in that particular area. Buy or borrow.
3. Actually READ! Read all at once or a chapter a day, whichever you are comfortable with. If you get good ideas (which tends to happen when you’re reading), write them down and go over them at your leisure.
4. Develop a plan to implement. This could be a diet/workout regimen, a social calendar with missions to meet new people, or a plan to get a raise/start your own business.
5. Implement the plan and make observations. Experiment a little bit. Notice what works and what doesn’t and start phasing out what doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to ask someone you trust for help if you need it. If you don’t have anyone, consider getting a mentor.
6. Continue to read and feed yourself good information and come up with ideas for what you are trying to accomplish. More knowledge can only give you new perspective on your quest.
So go out, pick up a good book, and take action to making things better for yourself. It’s your life and you only get one, so make it count!
An oldie but a goodie…
This is a video somebody put together with Tony Robbins telling Sylvester Stallone’s story. It’s really inspirational and you can take a lot away from it. I know I did.
Stallone got thrown out of talent agency offices hundreds of times, got rejected and belittled because of his voice and look, faced poverty and homelessness, went through a divorce, and even had to sell his dog just to get by.
BUT, he knew his outcome and kept relentlessly pursuing his dream and the rest is history.
A couple of points:
1. Don’t be afraid of but learn from rejections.
2. Go after what you REALLY want.
3. Decide what your outcome will be, don’t settle for less, and adjust your approach if necessary along the way.
Enjoy the video!
Clark
Take back your life by kicking clutter’s A$$
Okay, I had a few ideas swimming through my head for what to write about today. But I have been writing about some more serious topics for the last week or so and I wanted to have a little more fun. This is something that I’ve been doing lately as well, so it’s definitely on the brain as of late.
Clutter. We all have it at some point and just don’t think about it. My house has been very cluttered for the last year. My grandmother’s house is very SCARY. I love her to death, but her place has always been a bit cluttered. The last time I went there a few months ago, I could barely get around the house. This place is huge AND it has a large amount of clutter. I realized recently that my place was starting to fill up a bit with a bunch of junk that I just don’t need any more. Then I remembered how her place was and how I would like it NOT to get to that point.
I arrived back from my Iraq deployment over a year ago and left a lot of my gear down in the basement. A good friend has just recently acted out and helped me get motivated to undo this clutter in my house. He helped me clean up and organize my basement and I just notice how much better I feel. I seriously FEEL better PHYSICALLY just because one section of my house is organized, clean, and navigable.
So right in line with my small-chunk approach, I am now working on other areas of my house, a bit at a time. My friend helped me clear out a bunch of old crap, junk furniture, old broken electronics, and other garbage. We loaded it up in his truck, took it out to the dump and threw it into garbage heaven. A large mental weight was lifted at that point. We then came back and organized all my deployment gear and got the basement looking very neat and spiffy. I still have a lot of junk in my basement but now it is organized junk and I am going to be looking at getting rid of a lot of it in the near future via yard sales and eBay.
I also cleaned up and organized my upstairs bedrooms. I have a very workable guest room now that is still being used a little bit for storage, but at least I would have a place for a friend to crash if necessary. Next on the agenda is getting the rest of the house done, a room at a time.
The reason I am posting about this as it relates to personal development is exactly what I wrote earlier. I honestly FELT a hundred times better just after getting a few sections of my home cleaner and more organized. Just think how good I’ll feel when I have the whole place done and into a workable system where I can maintain it!
The point here is that I believe we all have a little clutter in our lives from time to time. Sometimes we notice it right away and clean up. Other times you tend to overlook it and that leaves the possibility of procrastinating, letting it grow, and then just blocking it altogether. I knew there was clutter but I honestly didn’t realize how bad it was affecting me until after we were finished. It’s a very refreshing and accomplished feeling to get your life in order. It motivates me to do more of the same to get more of that feeling as I walk through every part of my home.
Here are a few things you can do to win back your life from the clutches of clutter:
1. Clean and organize one room or area of your home per day. If you have a small house or apartment this won’t take long (lucky you!). If you have a larger home, it can be very overwhelming. The small-chunk approach will help you get past this. Just do one room every day as time permits. If you need help with some things, ask a good friend or family member. Within two weeks, you will have a very organized and workable living space.
2. Throw out, give away, or sell things you know you don’t need. Take all that old crap that has no use to the dump. Give away those clothes you never wear ever to charity (and get a tax deduction slip for it!). Sell those items that have value but that you don’t use by having a yard sale or by putting them up on eBay (and make some extra cash to take yourself out as a reward). Clear up space for yourself!
3. After you finish organizing your house, take a long hard look at it. Would you invite people over for a get-together or a party? If you wouldn’t, keep organizing until you see it as a place where you’d like to hang out. If your organization is good but your house is ugly or unfashionable, get a style-savvy friend’s opinion on where to make improvements. There are also plenty of articles and videos on the internet about home improvement and strengthening the appeal of your home. Making your home comfortable enough to have others over makes it feel twice as comfortable for you.
4. Keep a weekly routine of touching up and cleaning up around your house. Once it’s organized you want it to stay that way! There’s also plenty of ways to work smarter and not harder. Refurbished robotic vacuums are pretty reasonable online these days. A once-a-week cleaning binge will give you the peace of mind that comes with having an organized living space.
5. Start applying this organization mentality to other areas of your life that you KNOW are in need of it. If you need to clean up your office or cubicle, do so and then set up a maintainable, repeatable system to keep it that way.
6. Enjoy your organized and clutter-free life. Take yourself out or throw a party at your place with the money you made from selling your stuff.
Here’s to taking your time to get organized right now so that you can have more time to enjoy life later. Cheers.
Clark
