7 Things Your Future Self Will Thank You For
It’s not productivity, waking up at 5 am, or cold showers.
You can do so much today that will impact tomorrow, and improve your life in ways you never imagine.
There’s much more control we have over our lives than we think. If we’re dissatisfied with something or want to improve, we can do so today for a better tomorrow.
It’s not the big changes that make a difference, but tiny changes practiced consistently.
Here are 7 things that you can do right away and your future self will thank you for it.
1. Curating Your Digital Feed
My Instagram has everybody on mute minus dog accounts. I also download the app once in 1 to 2 weeks so I don’t mindlessly scroll.
Try this — follow people who teach or inspire you, and mute everybody else (if you must follow them). I did this on Twitter and it changed what I see, feed my head, and interact with.
If you spend half your day feeling inadequate, poor, or like a failure just because of what you see online, that's a terrible way to live.
You can stop this self-sabotage.
2. Avoiding Online Wars
I doubt ten years from now you’ll feel successful about the time you proved your point on a Twitter war or Facebook comments section.
People have way too much free time. Do you want to be one of them? Do you really think you can change somebody’s years of conditioning and opinions with your comments?
It’s a waste of energy.
I control my urge to be sarcastic, funny, or even to prove a point when I get trolled online. It’s tempting, but you have to be mindful of where you put in your energy.
Because there’s limited time and energy you have in a day.
3. Sunday Dopamine Detox
We anyway live in a hyper-stimulating environment where our days are filled with tasks and decisions to make.
Get rid of it just one day a week.
Give your brain a rest from the dopamine it releases.
I avoid Twitter on Sundays and refrain from checking my mail so I can have one day with no reactions produced from the online world. It helps me be more present in real life.
4. ZZZ
Sometimes I feel I’m a 55-year-old stuck in a 25-year-old’s body.
I don’t enjoy late nights, like to wake up early-ish at 7:30 am and am adamant to get a good night's sleep. Sleeping well just makes me feel energetic, so why not?
According to science, 8 hours of sleep helps your body rejuvenate and your brain rest, amongst other benefits.
“Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day — Mother Nature’s best effort yet at contra-death.” ― Matthew Walker
Walker, in his book Why We Sleep, also says that
humans are the only creatures who delay their sleep cycle for no reason at all.
5. Sustainable Healthy Living
I wanted to shed 55 lbs but I am also a foodie. So I tried one thing — eat healthy ‘most’ of the time. That means no running away from junk and consuming it in moderation.
Nearly 8 years later, I’m thankful for it. Going for a fad diet would’ve given me quick results but the effects of the diet go away when the diet stops.
This way, I can say I’m genuinely healthy. My body feels good, fuelled, well-fed. I look and feel great!
Focus on sustained healthy eating over extreme diets. It won’t give quick results but pays off long term.
6. A Reflection Method
It doesn’t matter whether you journal, meditate, or take a walk. What matters is that you do at least something to reflect. To spend time with yourself.
If you want to live a better life, you need to know yourself first.
And knowing yourself is more than knowing what's your favourite pizza topping. I won’t tell you what it is, because, like meditation, everybody has a unique journey.
Maybe start with just a 5-minute weekly reflection? Every weekend, write down:
- How was the week?
- What worked and what didn't?
- What will you do differently?
- Goals for the coming week
It’ll align you to your goals better. And you can try various methods to see what you enjoy the most.
7. Loving
’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. — Alfred Lord Tennyson
Love, and love fiercely.
Love with all your heart, because how does bitterness help, anyway?
Your anger and jealousy towards others are only hurting you. You criticising yourself isn’t doing any good. Feeling self-pity about where your childhood went wrong doesn’t change it.
Fill your heart with love because those bitter emotions only make you feel worse and change nothing. And love helps.
Do what it takes, but heal yourself because all those negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions haven’t done you any good.
I use affirmations for this and supplementing it with an online yoga practice helped.
We have it in us to make tomorrow better for ourselves. These things don’t even require a lot of time, just an intention.
An intention to take greater control of your life.
An intention to be responsible for your own happiness.
Because if you give these two remotes to somebody else, happiness will seem to be a far off destination in this thing called life that is so brief, anyway.
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