6 Proven Tips To Make Your Journey From Mediocre to Magnificent (Much) Easier

It’s time to raise the bar from good to great.

Are you tired of feeling stuck and average?

You see your classmates landing jobs and proposing to the girls you both knew you could never marry.

Time changes everything. Not time in particular, but time changes our habits, and our practices change our perspective.

It’s a long shot, but if you start today, you’ll notice improvements by the next time you think about it.

People need to learn the right habits for themselves, even through experimentation. Because we only get to live 80 years less, applying every method we know isn’t an option. It’s when you apply the classic proven habits. With traditional psychological habits, anyone can turn themselves into an extraordinary person.

Remember that you have an extraordinary spark beneath your normal skin. Peel to reveal the freshness.

Below are six tested and true habits you can apply to become extraordinary in 256 days.

1. Build keystone habits

• Habits make or break your life.

According to Charles Duhigg, the author of the Power of Habit:

“Become responsible for changing the habit as soon as you notice it, and you shouldn’t wait for others to tell you to change.”

Most of us know our bad habits, but we’re too sick and weak to change them.

By the time you can modify your habits, you have drifted into the habit prison, where quitting a habit sounds sinful.

Instead of fighting yourself with bad habits, install good habits that simultaneously change your life.

These habits are also known as keystone habits, such as:

• Exercise
• Healthy eating
• Book reading

Keystone habits create a domino effect, which helps with your sleep, mental hygiene, and happiness hormones.

It’s like hitting two birds with (one) stone.

For example, as William H. McRaven says: “Make small changes. For that, get up and start with your bed.”

Your bed is automatically connected to your cleanliness, mental energy, and organized mental health.

2. The calm, Zen method

You’re either Zen or hyper. There’s no in-between.

In other words, you’re either too calm or too reactive.

In most cases, calm people don’t care what anyone thinks behind their backs. If you’re a person who regrets being tranquil or not saying the right thing at the right time, you fall under the “Not-So-Zen” category. This isn’t a good thing.

In other words, you have different reactions to different types of people/circumstances.

Change yourself. Become Zen, but don’t regret the outcomes.

In most cases:

• People would laugh at you
• You will regret saying anything
• You will feel embarrassed

Saying calm is the sweet zone.

You don’t want to hurt people you don’t even know deliberately. So, for that, always wear a calm Zen cape whenever dealing with everyone.

3. Cashew nut routine method

I loved using cashew nuts paste in butter chicken when I was a kid.

Out of 9 times, I spoiled the milk 4 times.

Cashewnuts in butter chicken are placed on low flame, or it turns into cheese.

As I was young, I did not know. That’s when I invented the cashew nut method.

Meaning we can celebrate or spill each victory.

For example, you got a promotion. Now you can either worry about not having any difference in your paycheck or be happy about your level change.

• The choice is yours.

If you are always happy, don’t worry about the world being on fire.

Mishaps happen, but if your future long-term plans are not affected by a slight change in your timeline, you are overthinking.

Take it simple. Don’t bombard your emotions with decisions you don’t have control over.

4. Cookie jar method

Reading the book by David Goggins, “Can’t hurt me,” I realized change is inevitable.

As a young man, David was overweight, and by looking at him at that time, no one could imagine David completing 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours challenge.

In other words, the first distraction is your brain.

For that, David Goggins coined a cool solution named the “cookie jar method.”

Now the cookie jar method has nothing to do with real cookies. The cookie jar method means recalling all your past accomplishments when you’re in a time of need.

Draw from your past good achievements when you feel low. Now, there’s no one in this universe without a proud moment.

So, what you have to do is compile your good accomplishments. When you feel low, draw from them.

5. For problem-solving: 5W+H

No, I won’t say I am not grounded in difficulties.

Or I am a problem attractor.

Maybe, I am a flower or that attracts problems (flowers). But these problems come every time.

For the ultimate problem-solving hack, I try the 5W+H method.

Whenever you have a problem, think about “why, what, when, where, and which” to dissect the problem from its core.

When you’re done with the Wtasks, hop on completing the H, which is how to solve it.

Since you’ve detailed information about what happened, you will understand how to solve it better.

5W+H is a method with a turning point that also makes you think if a problem is worth solving.

It’s where most problems get solved even without solving them. But you have to translate them first.

6. Rule of three

I usually listen to Vihan Chelliah.

His video recently taught me about the “Rule of Three” from the book “Getting Results the Agile way.”

According to the author, 3 is the lightest, most independent number in history.

• 5,7 and 11 are bigger hunts.

So, find three things you want to accomplish every day, every week, and every year.

Practice these 3 things daily. You can also separate them into short- or long-term sections.

For me, the first thing is always self-discipline, which includes exercising daily, eating a healthy diet, and praying.

• I allot two spaces for something unique.
• Right now, I am training myself to send cold messages.

When you improve yourself every day, the urge to improve drastically in the middle of the night fades.

Final thoughts:

If you look closely, even Mr. Bean adapted to the world around him.

Though he had funny solutions to his problem, for example, the furniture above his car, he continued experimenting with topics.

So, if you have fun ideas, compare them with your solutions.

This way, you can make your life easier by having a perfect share of fun solutions.

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