Elvis Mang'unyi

• Start your messages/emails by addressing them by the name of their recipient, don’t just stop at hey or hi. Go beyond. Acknowledge the one thing that truly belongs to them. Their name. Even more so when you are replying. Through this, they are likelier to remember you than others.
• Send emails to yourself, in the future whatever it is that you are feeling right now, will disappear. Document this feeling. And share it with your future self, when you think you will be ready to process it again. Do not rely on memory.
• Do not try to remember anything, write down stuff. Put it on your calendar. Stick notes. Drop hints. Your brain is to be used to comprehend and process. Don’t waste it on trying to remember to-do lists.
• Smile at the mirror Love yourself. Wish yourself a good morning. Look into your eye and be grateful for the day. Tell yourself, you are enough. Everything is going to be ok. If you do not acknowledge yourself, no one else will.
• Meet someone new every week someone you have never spoken to. Never met. Never interacted with. Ideally, someone who is very different from you. They will help you see the world differently from how you know it.
• Brush twice our teeth are one of the most ignored parts of our body until they make us realize they exist! Plan for that to not happen. Brush before you go to bed.
• Read for 30 mins daily Do not set targets for how many books to finish. Do not feel the urge to show off the book you have just finished. Read, for the joy of reading. If you do not like the book, drop it and read another. But read. Everyday.
• Say thank you. Even when someone can’t hear you. Saying thank you is to have good manners. Being thankful is to have a good life. Pause a second to close your eyes and be thankful for someone who did something for you. Or thankful for what you have in life.
• Make inspiration a choice don’t leave inspiration to chance. Do something every day that leaves you inspired. That video, that song that quote, that podcast, that book, that person. Actively choose inspiration. The algorithms may never choose it for you!
• Invest every month the amount doesn’t matter. The market conditions don’t matter. How long you invest matters. How regularly you invest matters. No more excuses.
• Before emotions, bring numbers in Emotions will eventually play a key role in every decision. Before you let them take over, do the math. Should you buy the house or rent, buy the car or rent, take up that job or this, move abroad or stay here – start with the numbers.
• Do one thing every week where you are likely to fail We all fear failing. Practice failing and we won’t fear it anymore. Ask for a favour from a stranger, send a cold email, sing in public, give a mock interview. Practice failing. So that failing doesn’t hurt.
• Act on the thoughts that keep you up at night We all have ideas. Only a few of us have something to show. Do not let your best ideas die within. Take the smallest possible step that you can. DO is the start of DO EPIC SHIT.
• Breathe deeply through your nose, let go through your mouth. 2 mins every day. Our breath is EVERYTHING! Paying attention to it is the first step to realizing this.
• Dress well; wear perfume Just because you live by yourself, or are WFH, don’t act as if no one sees you. You see you. Feel nice, smell nice, for your own yourself.
• Compliment people It will feel awkward, but only to you. For the one receiving it, it might be the best thing they have heard in a while. Do not hesitate.
• Work out every day doesn’t need to be in the gym. Do something that you can commit to every day. Run, swim, walk, dance, jump, play – anything that gets your heartbeat racing and you sweating. Feel alive!
• Follow the POMODORO technique for work 25 mins of work 5 mins break Repeat After 5 such cycles, take a long 15 min break Helps you focus. Your focus is everything. Focus on the new IQ!
• Follow positive people Unfollow those who make you laugh at the expense of others. Unfollow those who make you hate the world. Unfollow those who make you feel ugly/unworthy. Unfollow those who make you lose hope. You’re the average of the 5 ideas you spend the most time with.
• Schedule your day. Including your “I will waste time” slots Set time aside for work. Also set time aside for no-work, for mindless scrolling, for random banter, for just chilling. You will anticipate that time. And will become disciplined about it eventually.
• Call your parents You have much lesser time left with them than you imagine. And once they are gone, you do not want to live with regret.
• Ask yourself every day, “what am I doing wrong, that I know I am doing wrong?” If you ask this question every day, you will find the answer to your wrong. You will know what you have to fix. The answer will not be the one you want. But it will be the one you need.
• When we pick something up for the first time, it is always hard. Our brain is active and it vividly consumes energy to navigate that path. Once it becomes a habit, our brain dispenses the least energy to accomplish it. Habits are nature’s way to conserve energy!
• I’ve been a student of habits for as long as I have known myself. Whether it was recording every waking hour of the day, since school, or reading (the same books over and over again, since that’s all I could afford), or thinking in numbers for everything. I am my habits.

By Ankur Warikoo