Life: No Hacks, Only Practices

Everything you do in life requires time and energy… Everything. There’s no way around that fact.

Everything you decide to partake in requires a decision, on your part, to engage in that activity.

Hacks sound great and some can certainly be time saving in some instances but I think that it can mislead people at times… or, people end up misleading themselves when it comes to ‘hacking life’ or ‘hacks’ for life.

People always want shortcuts in life. And, in the end, there is definitely value in what others have to offer in terms of plans and steps a person can take in order to ‘hack’ life and save their valuable time and energy in the process of using these ‘hacks’ in their every day life.

However, what I want to point out is that these ‘hacks’ STILL require time and energy. It’s going to require time and energy to look up these strategies and it’s going to require time and energy to implement these strategies in your life and it’s still going to require time and energy to maintain the hacks or changes you’ve decided to implement in your life.

There are two things we can never escape in life and that is time and it’s also energy input. Both are necessary to do anything in life. Even if you decided to avoid things that require your time and energy input that could positively benefit your life you’re still choosing an alternative that IS consuming your time and energy.

One thing we don’t think about enough is that our time and energy inputs indicate what we VALUE in life. The results we are getting in our life is a reflection of the time and energy we input into the different areas of our life.

If we’re not aware of this fact we won’t see that any possibility is within our control. We won’t see ourselves as having any control in our life if we’re not aware of or conscious of the fact that it is our time and energy inputs that dictate the results that we see and have in our lives.

If our results are not a product of our time and energy inputs then who’s responsible for the results we have if it isn’t us?

A Practice To Start To Tackle Change:

1. Take responsibility for the results that you have in your life. This doesn’t mean being critical of yourself or putting yourself down for not having what you want. It simply means take inventory of where you are at. Use compassion and patience when reflecting on where you are in your life. Judgment serves no purpose but your habits and routines have been working to get you where you are right now.
2. Categorize: Break down your life into categories that are meaningful to you so that you get to honestly see where things are currently. When we decide we want to change we have a tendency to get so excited that we just want to jump into things but, most of the time, things don’t last because we haven’t taken the time to reflect on where things currently are so that we can better understand where we want things to be and then come up with a plan on how to get there. Examples of categories you might want to use are Physical health, Mental health, Spiritual health, Relationships (spousal, friends, kids, etc.), Business/Career. Under each category you write down list behaviours, feelings, and thoughts you practice regularly in each of these areas.
3. Now that you know how things are and where you ‘stand’ in different aspects of your life brainstorm/think about how you want things to be and don’t set limits on what’s possible in any aspect of your life. If you’re willing to put in the time and energy to practice activities and behaviours then anything is possible.
4. Take the most important things that you’ve written down and write dates next to each one. This will help you sort your list into short term and long term goals for your life.
5. Now that you have the listed the outcomes you want in a particular area of your life, work backwards and write down steps that you can take that would lead to the result that you want. You see, most of the time we have an idea of how we would like things to be but then we don’t consider the time and energy components that we need to invest in and practice in order to get different results in our life. Tip: don’t try and do everything all at once. Start with even changing one thing at a time. Whatever you believe is going to work for you. There is no right way but keeping things simple definitely helps.
6. Keep a list of your top priorities with you at all times, whether it’s on your phone or on a piece of paper in your pocket. Post them around your home or have them on your computer screen. You need to remind yourself what you’re working on, what you value and you need to practice them daily. Consistency is key in creating sustainable change in your life.

Remember this: there is no failure, only practices you have and the feedback you get. Be committed to practice and be open to the feedback you receive. Your time and energy commitment is absolutely essential to create change in your life. Lastly, you’ve got to believe it’s possible. If you don’t believe then how do you ever hope to achieve it.