You've heard this phrase before, right?
Well... I think there's an even better phrase...
And I would even extend that statement into...
How we choose to spend our time, largely does sum up the essence of who we are here on Planet Earth, doesn't it?
And thus, if what we are doing each day is uplifting, supportive, expressive, loving, and healthy...
That's my philosophy, and that's exactly why I chose to create this list of my most influential daily activities.
I work from home and thus, I've really had to learn how to live optimally.
Working from home is great freedom, but with that freedom comes great responsibility.
You have a responsibility to influence yourself and operate in a disciplined manner.
After years of learning and improving, here are a few of the secrets I've uncovered for myself along the way - and you certainly don't need to work from home to utilize them!
Webcam journaling has been by far one of the positively influential things I've ever included into my life.
I started practicing this form of journaling about five years ago when I was dealing with extreme depression.
At the time, what I was dealing with felt unbearable and at the time I didn't have many people to talk to.
So I started to talk to my webcam... and then something incredible happenened...
I started feeling better!
And it totally took me by surprise.
It didn't matter if someone was actually listening or not - the mere fact that I was being recorded was enough.
From that point onwards, I began webcam journaling every day.
After doing it so many times, I've figured out a process that works really well for emotional processing:
1. Share a few things that you are grateful for
2. Share your uncensored perspective of the world. Be honest and sincere with yourself.
3. Talk about what you're excited to do today.
4. Talk about how you're going to execute those exciting things.
It's really simple, easy, and only takes about 5 minutes to successfully complete the process.
After spending 7+ years in pre-med, medical school, and various alternative healing seminars I can full-heartedly say that if someone were to just insist that the world drink more water, then some HUGE percentage of our health problems would likely dissolve.
It sounds crazy, but in my experience, it's the truth.
It conducts electricity... and we are electrical beings.
We are also made up of 60-80% water...
It's literally majority shareholder of our body!
It's also a lot more difficult for your brain to perform mental and emotional processes when it's depleted of water.
I always keep a huge jug of water by my side and I'm constantly sipping on it throughout the day because of these mere facts!
Movement is one of the most important aspects of living.
If you are not moving, what are you doing?
The simple truth is, our body is constantly in motion...
Our heart never stops beating.
Our lungs never stop breathing.
And our mind never stops processing.
It's not!
Thus, when you stop moving, your body AND mind pays a considerate price.
This is exactly why I'm constantly moving throughout the day.
Here's a few of my favorite ways to move...
Last year I really struggled to exercise consistently.
This year, I've decided that I'm going to exercise every day, but I am going to do it in a way that ensures I stick to this new habit.
Thus, I have two simple exercises that I perform daily: push ups and sit ups.
On odd days of the month I'll do push ups and on even days I'll do sit ups.
I'll perform at least 50 reps a day and my rep count is constantly increasing as my endurance does.
I imagine that by the end of the year I'll likely be close to 1,000 reps a day!
I discovered skateboarding few months ago.
My girlfriend had a skateboard, I tried it out one day, and I fell in love with it.
I love skateboarding because it's mix between running and walking.
You don't have to get all sweaty, but you still can get in a good work out.
Here's a video of my buddy Kai and I skating around our neighborhood lol.
It's also great for your neuro-physiological system, as you are required to really focus on balancing while also staying aware of your environment.
I'll usually skateboard in between work tasks or chores.
It's a great way to break up the day and it makes me feel alive and free!
Most of us have experienced yoga before.
If you haven't, you need to at least give it a chance (try hot yoga!).
Yoga is probably the ultimate way to inspire movement in your body.
My favorite yoga move is the cat cow.
I perform this move every single day because it's incredibly beneficial for your back.
It helps to get motion into the vertebral joints and it keeps your cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae (aspects of your spine) in alignment.
The spine is so important because it houses the nerves that are sent from your brain and sent to every organ in your body.
When your spine is out of alignment, it impinges the nerve supply, and thus inhibits the flow of information.
If you have less information reaching you heart - that means your heart will not be operating at its highest potential.
Same goes with your internet connection... if there is less information flowing through your ethernet cord, your internet connection will be bottlenecked.
Thus, in a body sense, this is why taking care of your spine is incredibly important.
The more information flowing from the brain to the body, and vice versa, the better.
If you could just do one move to improve your body's health, the cat-cow would be it.
Everything I've mentioned here is a habit, however, the reason I can keep them as habits is because I track them.
Thus, I have a google doc excel sheet that I look at every morning when I wake up.
Here's an example of what it looks like:
My goal each day is to complete all of my habits.
There's a fair amount of habits I have, so I try to keep each habit very simple and easy to execute.
This way, it doesn't ever feel like a burden, and the more I do them, the easier it is to continue doing them.
As I master a habit, I'll increase the intensity of it.
Such as with my push up / pull up habit: as I gain endurance, I increase the reps.
Tracking my habits has made all the difference for me.
One of my major goals this year is to produce soul-based media content that supports my very existence.
When I discovered Steemit late last year, I knew it was the platform that would get me there.
Thus, I now spend a significant amount of my waking life working on Steemit to achieve this goal.
The number one thing I've learned on here thus far is the importance of consistency.
Consistency is required in three major areas:
Content production is the obvious one.
We need to be producing content at least 5 times a week.
And it needs to be top notch.
When you're putting out your best effort on here, you shine.
And since this platform is still relatively new, you can really stand out, simply by showing that you care.
Engagement is probably another obvious one.
When people comment on your posts, you need to engage with them.
Yes, it gets overwhelming at times, especially when you're already putting a lot of effort into your content...
But if people are taking the time to read and provide value on your own content, then you sure as hell better value those people.
They are offering you an opportunity to thrive.
By nourishing your followers and engaging them, your channel will thrive!
Last, and certainly not least, is the one that many newbies on here will likely not realize right away.
If you know me on Steemit, then you know I'm a comment slut haha.
Look at my profile banner, you'll see that I've already posted over 1,467 times...
And keep in mind that I've only been posting regularly since December 2017.
I try to treat a comment like it's my own channel post - because it is!
The more value I can add to it, the more I stand out as a unique individual, and also, the more value I add to the platform as a whole.
@ackza.
I like this comment because it not only demonstrated a very personal touch to what he had written in his post...
But it also demonstrated that we were exchanging services.
In a nutshell: he had asked for someone to create him an animated banner for his channel. I created one for him and he generously upvoted my posts and sent me SBD.
We not only exchanged perspectives, but also services!
This is, in my opinion, the royal road to success on Steemit.
With that being said, this is the tracking sheet that I use:
It's simple:
I track the content I'm posting on my channel and how much SBD I'm accumulating for each one. My goal is at least 5 solid posts per week and to attain at least 25 SBD (something achievable as I'm just starting out).
I track the amount of times I'm commenting. My goal is to comment at least 10 times a day on my feed's posts and 10 times a day on new Steemit posts within a tag that's relevant to my channel.
Lastly, I track how my channel is growing based on the number of followers I have at the beginning and end of the day. My goal is to gain at least 75 followers per week.
All of these activities have a significantly positive influence on my day and are aligned with my yearly goals.
I believe that if you take a big goal, break it down into small chunks, then take those chunks and turn them into tiny slivers, then do those tiny slivers each day - you will be successful.
That's why I'm so habitually focused every day.
It's what brings me life and keeps me keepin' on!
Ready for Part 2?
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about any of these habits!
I am always more than happy to help, support, and share my own experiences.
Cheers friends!
@axios
@axios channel today. You deserve to be your very best! All photo credits can be found by clicking on the photo
