Ideas for Thought

This is incredibly terrifying. I always hated the idea of people reading my work, be it homework, personal ideas, or really anything I wrote, thought, or felt. I am trying to expunge the semi-closed off profile I show the world. So in the spirit of this, I want to let go and put my thoughts out on the free market, if you will join me.

I’ve always adopted the concept of growing a stronger self. Many people I currently follow and read have the same mentally, albeit different ways of approaching it. People like James Altucher and Elliot Hulse talk about different aspects of self-improvement and preservation. I want to go down that route and want to achieve the ‘strongest version of myself,’ as Mr. Hulse explains it.

The ideas I want to share are those that I have gathered from various sources that have helped me through some tough times, as well as, changed the way I perceive the world. So here goes, my ideas on how to achieve a better life.

A) Do something you love everyday

Do at least one thing you enjoy doing everyday. This is quite self-explanatory. It can literally be anything you love. Paint, draw, write, read, workout? Really anything. Something that releases that valuable dopamine into your brain. You need to do something that brings you pleasure, AT LEAST ONCE A DAY.

B) Count your Blessings

Be grateful everyday. When I have a particularly horrible day or things just aren’t going right. Sometimes I even develop a built level of anxiety about work, school and the the big “L” (Life). I find it best to list the things that I am grateful for in my life. Write them down and recite them. It really puts into perspective how privileged you are. I always think to myself, things can get much worse than this.

Shit can always go more downhill. So really sit down and try and focus on making a list of things you are grateful for.

C) Sleep Everyday

I’ve come to realize that sleep is one of the most important things in my life. The importance of 8-10 hours of sleep. I feel energized and ready to tackle the world after a full night’s sleep. I can never understand the people that can live on 5-6 hours of sleep. I mean, who are you really kidding? You can’t function on that. Or well, maybe you can. I’m not an expert, but I can tell you, that I can’t function on that.

Sleep prepares you to tackle the world. It allows you to tackle the naysayers and pessimists. Which leads me to my next point.

D) Avoid Negative People

There was a point in my life where I only had negative people in my life. Bad people that brought me down and shut me up. Really, it contributed a lot to ‘younger’ pessimistic being. I’m changing, I feel myself changing. I need to change.

Avoiding negative people is so incredibly important to me and should be to you. I have a very high criteria of people I choose to surround myself with. It’s unhealthy to have people put you down and shut you up. It’s unhealthy to have people constantly disregard your thoughts and feelings.

This pertains to anything really. Bad friends, family, girlfriends/boyfriends, past intimate relationships, etc. You need to cut these people out. If they don’t provide you with a morsel of positivity or production, cut them. They are more reliant on you, than you are to them.

E) Do Something Creative Everyday

This is something that I have only recently adopted. Doing something creative everyday has really helped me expand my mind, in terms of thinking outside that proverbial ‘box.’ Read, write, draw, paint, sing, play an instrument, etc. Anything that will develop that right side of your brain.

Personally I try to read and write everyday. Of course, this is quite hard especially between work, school, and a little morsel of my social life. But I fit it in. It’s important. It’s helped me think of solutions and new ways to approach situations for which I found myself stuck in the past. I continue to make the same mistakes. Pursuing ex-girlfriends and trying to salvage old relationships. But this my creative side screams to me, to find new ways to cut them out, safely, of course.

This also promotes new ideas, thoughts, and feelings/emotions. Ideas…which leads me to F.

F) Write down Ideas Everyday (At Least Ten)

James Altucher, one of the most influential people in my life is the one I took this idea from. I currently write down a list of ten things/ideas everyday. It can consist of anything. Inventions, improvements to modern items, things to be grateful for (on those bad days), app ideas, business ideas, outsourcing ideas.

The theory behind this is simple really. Writing down ten ideas a day TIMES 365 days yields 3650 ideas. That’s a crapload of ideas. One is bound to be good (It’s just the laws of probability at this point). And what if maybe some of those days, you’re particularly motivated and write 15 ideas? The more the merrier, I say. Writing down ideas goes hand-in-hand with the creative portion, I talked about earlier, as well!

Mr. Altucher talks about the idea muscle which like any other muscle needs to be worked out to improve. This is your way to be an, as James puts it, ‘idea machine.’

So there you have. This is not an exhaustive list. There’s plenty more to come, but this is something that I thought might be helpful to start with. I plan on expanding on everything here in future posts.

I still have extreme anxiety as I think about ending this post. The idea of hitting publish looms over my head. What will the world think? What will my readers think? Am I crazy/insane. Do I even have anything to offer this world other than my consumption for food and water?

Really at this point, it doesn’t matter. I’ve written all this and there’s no sense in hitting delete. Time is too precious to me and spending this much time typing this post just to delete it? Ugh, I can’t afford to waste time.

I don’t know how to end this. Should I just stop writing and hope you come back for another post later? In all honesty, I don’t know. So I will end on something James Altucher wrote out in his last post, “And if I don’t get sick, then I will try to be thankful. And I move onto the next thing I can do. The next place where I will try to find love, creativity, and fulfillment.”