Look around. Is this how you want to live your life? Are things untidy? Perhaps they are even out of kilter.
Spend two hours today tidying an area up completely. Make it happen in a drawer or on a counter, in a bathroom or the spare room.
Don’t leave it to slowly, almost imperceptibly, get worse. Take a small area and make it ideal. Then find another area and do the same. Keep doing small but noticeable beautifying projects.
What one thing could you do differently, starting today, that could make a nice difference in your life?
What could you eliminate from your day? Or what could you adjust to make the outcome you want more likely?
Don’t buy sugary or salty snacks or treats and keep them in the house. Keep cherry tomatoes and hummus instead. When you think you are hungry, pour a cool glass of water. Set your morning wake up bell to 15 minutes earlier and then get up and do 30 push ups and sit ups.
Get things ready now or in the evening before bed so it is easier to make the changes happen tomorrow.
Each time you set up your environment to win, your future self smiles and remembers how clever you are. That’s a nice feeling.
The environment is an important topic for many. Yet often people will be discussing ways to reduce emissions while drinking. Put that can back! And that bottle of whatever.
People forget that the main cause of pollution and emissions is people consuming things. So look at what you are consuming and reflect on how things could be different.
I’m an advocate of being sensible and practical and reducing all unnecessary consumption. Every time we consume something, it creates a chain of events of disruption, pollutions and emissions. The can or bottle you are holding in your hand while at your own home is likely to be unnecessary.
When I am at home or in an office, I try to drink water from the tap. As much as I would like to have a different drink, I try to use the one that is contributing the least to greenhouse gases. This is often plain tap water.
No kettle required. No heat needed to boil water for a hot drink. It’s very simple. No machines created to dig up metals and minerals. Those materials then aren’t required to become cans or bottles. If they do, they are then filled, shipped and distributed locally. It feels like an awful lot of effort to get some flavoured water in you.
If you actually want to help reduce emissions, put that can back!
When you have a hole in your clothes or a button pops off, do you mend it, have it mended, recycle it or bin it? Do you save time or the environment?
We have a skateboard which has stiff wheels. Maybe the ball bearings need replacing. Or maybe it is the wheels. More lubricant does not seem to do the trick. The options are to get rid of the skateboard and buy a new one for £30, or keep it and try to fix it.
If we keep it and fix it, we need to spend time on finding and ordering new parts. Then we need to go collect the parts or have them delivered. Once we have them, we need to get tools out and spend time replacing the parts. Hopefully that solves the problem.
The parts might cost £10 and then there is delivery or pick up costs, such as petrol. Then it depends on what you consider your time is worth. You may see it as a monetary value per hour or simply the value of having an hour of time to yourself in a busy week. Either way, there is a cost to you.
So whether it is mending a shirt or a skateboard, we all make these assessments about our time, money and the environment.
Do you save time or the environment?
Conscious changes can be difficult to make. Not all of them of course. But making adjustments in our life can be quite difficult and mentally challenging.
A few examples of things many people try to do, and often struggle with and stop are, losing weight, quitting smoking, drinking less, waking up early, meditating, exercising, saving and finding a better job. There is a formula for each one of these, though few people want to follow it.
Often people want to do it their own way. Or they will adjust the body and not the mind. You can simply quit smoking, but if you still see yourself (your self image) as a smoker, you are very likely to pick up the habit again.
Changes that happen naturally are sometimes easier to accept. Examples are growing up, ageing and progressing through primary school. So try to make things happen naturally or set up your environment so it feels natural.
Remember to modify your self image so you can accept the changes before or while they are happening. For example, immerse yourself in the daily thought that you are an early morning person and soon you will find waking up early is a breeze. Set up your environment to assist with this with a good wake up system and earlier bedtime.
Making adjustments in our life is worthwhile and easier than we want to acknowledge.
Freedom of choice is a powerful thing. Selection is critical in choosing your health, your career, your partner, your income, your thoughts and actions.
Sometimes people don’t realise there are choices. Or they know but are so dismissive of all of their other known choices that they stick to only one. You select the input for your life. You decide which media you choose to follow and influence your thoughts and philosophy.
Just like a media outlet chooses which story goes up as the lead story, you choose the thoughts you want to focus on. The media outlet employees find the ideal picture to accompany their story and the angle they have selected to run with.
We often unconsciously go ahead with certain thoughts and actions because they feel good and are comforting. We call the same friends, read the same news and watch the same shows. Sometimes we need that. But to grow, we are better off mixing it up a little. Go learn something new or different. Become a bit uncomfortable. Select things you wouldn’t normally choose.
I do that a lot with news, views and foods. I have rarely had a bad experience and I always find out more about myself and the world.
Selection is critical. Be wise as you improve your environment.
If you care about the environment and the impact that you have on it, start doing something simple. Use all the ink in your pen.
Use up the resources that you buy. We donated a lot of pens and pencils a few years ago to the local school and charities. We have found / acquired a few more since then. Many are half used. I’m on a mission to use up the remaining ink in those pens and then recycle them as possible.
Some pens we would donate to the school but I am not sure whether they will take them at this time. I’ll have to check.
And although we don’t have a lot of excess things tucked away in drawers and cupboards, we are going through everything at the moment. I’ve become mildly obsessed with removing things that are no longer being used or not useful to us.
We encourage the children to pass things on that other children might enjoy. And those items we do keep, we tend to use them intensely until they are so used up they need to go into a recycling program or the rubbish.
I know many retailers need us in their shops (or browsing their online shops) right now. Definitely spend when you can on things that are required, especially in smaller shops. But also try to use up, donate or recycle all those things you already have.
Use all the ink in your pen. The planet will be better for it.
Do you know who the greatest influencers are in your life? Who is your oracle, guide or core five and what impact are they having on your life?
Of course, when you are very young, the answer is whoever raised you. You don’t have a lot of say in the matter. This is predetermined for you and can evolve depending on the social structure surrounding you.
However, when you are a teen, you can influence the decision of who you would like to follow or listen to. Certainly, once you are in your 20’s you get to make all the choices, at least for most people.
So if you are reading this post, you are probably of an age that you can decide who to follow. It is worth taking the time to write down who you listen to, watch and read on a daily basis. Note which newspaper you read and the specific journalists too. Which people do you gravitate to at work, at home and on your commute (current or old one).
Make a note next to the sources about how they make you feel. For example, some sources of information may make you cross, inspired, determined or calm. Get clear on what you get from following them. And what you are not getting. Would you like more or better?
If you want to see into your future, be clear on who is your oracle, guide or core five. At that point, you will be better able to decide if these are your desired tribes and if this is a track you want to continue on.
I eat what is on my plate, so I don’t take more than I’ll comfortably eat. Waste not, want not is a phrase that I reflect on frequently. I really don’t like to waste resources, whether it’s food, financial, energy or products.
Having grown up on a farm, I am clear how much energy and resource is used to create milk and then get it to your fridge. The amount of tractor fuel required to cut, rake, bale and transport hay to a barn for storage is significant. There is also an amount of energy consumed in running a barn, such as lights, milkers and gutter cleaner.
We would then have a milk truck collect the milk and bring it to the factory. Here it would be processed and packaged and shipped to a store near you. You can then simply pick the milk off the shelf, take it home and pop it in the fridge.
I have seen people then drink some but not all of it. If it then sits out and gets a bit warm, some people will throw it down the sink. I find that tragic, as I know how much has gone into getting that milk there in the first place. It seems like a complete waste of our earth’s resources. I would rather drink it, chill it in the fridge again before consuming it or use it some other way.
I think like this for all resources. Whether it is using all the toothpaste in a tube or all the ink in a pen, it makes good environmental sense.
Waste not, want not, is a proverbial saying that was first noted in 1772.
Perhaps these unusual times will encourage us to be more appreciative of each resource we have and use it more efficiently.
Three of the best ways to get great results are:
Motivation is great, positive, and easier in the short term. Though a day or a week might be all you can handle before it wears off.
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
Zig Ziglar
Discipline is difficult. It is about overcoming what you want to do and doing what you should, regardless of how you feel. You just do it. Although, it does get easier in the longer term as you train your brain and it simply becomes a habit.
Environmental modification makes everything easier. You won’t need motivation or discipline to spring out of bed at the alarm or stop you from pushing the snooze button. If you place your alarm on the far side of the room and ensure the volume is up high, you will have no choice but to wake up. You’ll race across the room to turn it off but that will have got you out of bed.
And if your running or gym gear was left out, beside the alarm, it would be so easy to just slip into it and head off for some exercise.
If you want to modify what you consume, simply don’t buy things you are trying to stay away from (chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol). It’s a lot easier to exercise self discipline when you have to leave the house to get something you may be craving. By the time you get yourself out of the house to buy the item, your motivation for change, and your growing self discipline, may have kicked in and you’ll be able to stop and head back home without making an unwanted purchase.
Set yourself up to win today. Modify your environment first. Look around and see what you can change right now. It will make using your motivation and self discipline so much easier and more effective.
