Squeezing every bit out of life can seem overwhelming. Especially stuck at home.
We arenât given a game plan when we get out of the womb.
We just learn what our parents do and follow them for a good 18 years.
95% of our behavior, speech, way of walking, physique is from our parents and 85% of the decisions we make in our twenties define our life.
No pressure at all.
We are a different person as we get older, start to live alone and pro-create but we are also them for a majority of our lives.
But sometimes listening to your parents might not always be the smartest move. Of course, they have the best intentions for you but since they grew up in a different era, dealt with easier or more difficult circumstances, were exposed to a whole new environment so on and so forth, itâs not right to compare.
Viewing ourselves like our parents at our age is like comparing apples to oranges. They are similar in their respects for being fruit but they are unique in their many ways.
This isnât a debate about who has it harder. We all go through challenges in our life and if you havenât, you arenât living.
I wonât count that as one of the 8 ways to make the most out of life since it should be obvious.
Itâs important to have challenges. School bans failure and making mistakes. We memorize facts that go in one ear out the other in order to get a degree written in Latin script that has no meaning behind it unless you know how to use it.
Who knows, maybe you paid your way into college or spent thousands of dollars on tutors to practically take the entrance exam for you. There are many ways to cut corners and thereâs no doubt students have done it.
But without getting jealous or comparing yourself to them, whatâs in your control is to put in what you get out. The hard truth about chlalnges is that they happen when we least expect them.
Iâm not talking about an extra mile you have to run in your Barryâs bootcamp class, Iâm talking about serious challenges, financial hardship, loss, heart ache, etc. As weâve witnessed during this pandemic, we must plan for the worst hope for the best and majority of the world doesnât do that so they only learn once they are forced to change through brutal challenge. Thatâs one way to learn a lesson. Not a terrific way to live but does have a supportive ground to get you pumped.
I wonât consider these crazy stunts or anything. They are activities that will help you push out of your comfort zone, guaranteed fulfillment and lead to no regrets, the best feeling because who wants to be comfortable with regrets anyway? I would rather be uncomfortable with no regrets so letâs get started.
#1: Be Selfish
Your sole priority in life is to take care of yourself. When you spill something on your pants, you donât wait for someone to clean it for you unless you are 2, you do it yourself.
When you get into an argument, you donât ask someone to step in your place and resolve it for you, you do it as as result, you must be selfish and take care of yourself to take on those moments of life.
They are expected to happen. We donât want them to but mistakes happen and we must get over them and deal with them properly to be there for ourselves first.
Taking time to rest isnât being lazy, it is necessary for growth. Workaholism and burnout is real. Donât let Musk tell you that sleeping on concrete Tesla factories working 2â3 hours a day is going to make you healthy.
Health is all you have. Without it, you canât do anything.
Donât take it for granted because you donât realize how much you need and love something until its gone.
#2: Eat Better
As I always say, health = wealth. No, eating broccoli wonât grow money on trees, but it will give you:
-Extra few years of life which means more investment opportunity
-More energy to meet people, gain more experiences and actually live better
-Feel healthier, pay lower in medical bills and insurance
-Just feel better and you! Thereâs nothing that cna replace that feeling.
You are waisting your money by eating fast food. Itâs cheap and will haunt your health. Spend the extra few dollars on organic whole foods to save life down the road. Youâll thank me in 50 years.
Resist short term gains a.k.a crap for long term rewards (a.k.a life).
#3: Take More Breaks and Breaths
Being selfish isnât selfish. We have 1 priority in life and itâs ourselves. What we feel weâre in 100% control of. It starts with perspective and our mind.
Breaks are necessary for growth. Without them we cannot function. Iâm not talking about a 2 month hiatus, Iâm talking about 20 minute power naps to make you feel rejuvenated, a nice walk in the park to spark curiosity and calmness and some quality unplugging to start plugging into what you really need in life which is experience outside of fake social media and screens.
Itâs never lazy, itâs necessary.
Taking breaths is the same deal. It doesnât mean sitting in a classroom pretending to meditate. Itâs paying attention to your breathe, doing what makes you feel alive and rested and feeling special inside without anyoneâs approval.
#4: Work for Free, Pleasee
If you always expect a reward, then youâll never be given the chance to prove yourself and seek better chances. The best opportunities I got were for free. Especially as a student, it isnât your responsibility to make money, itâs to learn so take that chance to explore, make mistakes because failing is a privilege.
School doesnât allow it so do it outside the cold walls.
Now, Iâm not saying you wonât have a great life if you donât fail, we donât purposely do it instead we do it for fun and it happens naturally.
Donât time your mistakes or miss out on opportunities because you are afraid to fail.
Working for free will give you that comfort because free means:
-No expectations
-No boundaries
-No limits
-No temptation
-No frustration
-No pressure
-No money tied up
More often than not, itâs the resume that needs fixing not you.
Before you do the job, you have to do the job.
#5: Think About Thinking
When was the last time you took the time to just have a thinking period and reflect on how far youâve come in your day? Instead, with the extra time we have on our hands, we resort to social media, more screen time, othersâ opinions and usually eating due to boredom.
But what about you?
Once again, never think itâs selfish or embarrassing.
Itâs important to be alone and acknowledge your thoughts.
We arenât taught in school how to control them. Our mind is a dangerous place. Donât get caught up in it.
Instead think about what you are doing and deviate from negativity when it hits. Excuses donât lead you anywhere, control does.
#6: Do and Wear Cheap Things
When you live the frugal, minimalist stealth wealth lifestyle, you become less clueless, spoiled and start living.
You appreciate what you have.
The more you own and accumulate, the more trouble you have with dust, security, selling and most importantly, keeping it.
Less =Â More.
Gratitude = Joy not the opposite.
Junk and depreciating assets such as luxury goods, cars, wallets, fancy $30k Rolexs can be gone in an instant and will only fake you into thinking youâre becoming a better person. Instead youâre becoming worse trying less as your stuff is speaking for you instead of your true character.
Cheap doesnât mean it will break tomorrow and looks hideous. Cheap means an investment. Buy something today that you will be able to keep next year in almost same shape.
#7: Live in An International City
Gaining perspective and experience are one of the most vital things in your life. They will open your mind to discovering new things and you wonât be so close minded.
Just by meeting someone across the world, you experience a whole new side of culture and yourself.
Believe it or not, you uncover more about yourself when you are somewhere else.
Just think about it.
The places you spend the most time in currently, your bedroom, kitchen and office/bedroom, arenât changing you. You rarely do any deep thinking and different things in there, just tasks that are habitual.
Itâs all the same.
But if you reach and branch out to somewhere different, you will become different.
Becoming different doesnât mean dying your hair pink and getting tattoos, it means shifting your way of thinking to now uncover what only the 10% of true successful believe believe in.
Experiences = best use of money along with investing in yourself.
I can only imagine how crowded every destination in the world will be post-CovidâŚ
Look out for creeping gauged airline fares!
#8: Sleep On It
Whenever I make a mediocre big decision, letâs say buying an investment piece of clothing such as a $200 cashmere sweater, I take 24â72 hours before I make a move.
Iâm not into quickie sales and drop shipping nonssense.
If something goes in less than 2 hours, let it go. That means it wasnât for me anyway.
Itâs a pain to return something and companies are making it harder these days to do so not allowing it at certain stores after a certain date.
After the e-commerce holiday shopping spree this year, Amazon and Walmart had seen record number of returns. Itâs time consuming, costing brick and mortars a couple hundred million per year to deal with pure money down the drain.
With hoarding and returns on the rise, less = more. Donât overcrowd your life because a messy environment = messy life.
Save yourself energy and money so wait before a purchase, except for food if youâre starving.
Life is as complicated as you make it seem.
You project how you feel and your perceptive is everything.
These days are tough. We are going through 2 pandemics, a mental and health crisis but these are all free, low cost and in fact literally and figuratively cheap things to do at home, outside in your car, on your balcony, you name it, you go for it.
No excuses allowed.
Go live your best life.
Now.