Lifestyle Taya Bregant Lifestyle Taya Bregant

Best Skills And Habits To Have As A Student

Back to school season is here which is why I have dedicated the month of October to exactly that: Helping you settle back in into a functional and enjoyable school routine and making sure that you both learn the most in this period and also make a lot of memories and fun of course.

As part of this larger theme, we will first begin today with exploring what are some of the best general skills and habits which students can have in empowering their academic lives as much as their personal lives and priorities because both are important.

For ease of understanding, I have divided these skills and habits into 5 separate categories, namely habits and skills benefiting you studies, your health, your finances a as student, your social life as well as your personal growth, which we cant neglect.

As a student myself, I hope that you are able to pull out something useful from todays topic and that as a student it is able to help you out during your years of studies

My intention today: Provide you with a practical and useful breakdown of the best skills and habits which you can work on building as a student to help you both in your studies and person life.

THE BEST SKILLS AND HABITS

CATEGORY 1: STUDIES

Following a revision plan

One way to make your revision as efficient as possible is to make a plan for how you aim to approach your studies, namely what you will be revising when, and for how long. This ensures that you have adequate time to cover all content and that you will be well prepared for when the exam comes around. Additionally, I would really recommend making an effort to revise even just a little bit every day because effort really does build up to results. It doesn't have to be a lot, but even just making an effort of 10–20 minutes of revising a topic you have previously covered can have a massive boost in your memory and retention of that knowledge which doesn't only help with preparing you for exams but helps you remember something for the rest of your life, not just school.

Revising with active recall

Active recall is the process or study method by which you actively test yourself on a piece of material by trying to remember and recall what the answer or solution to a certain question was. This is much more effective than just rereading a set of notes or highlighting because, in those instances, your brain isn't very actively involved in trying to remember information. So instead, approach your learning as a set of quiz questions to enhance your studies with.

Efficient note-taking

Often times the mistake we make while taking notes from class or reading materials is that we either simply write down too much or that we plainly copy and paste information which leaves us with barely remembering anything. Instead, try to first always inform yourself of what information will actually be tested and is absolutely crucial for you to know. Then for the actual note-taking, first reread a section of some literature and then extract the relevant parts and put it into your own words. It also helps to add in diagrams or visual representations since sometimes it is easier or more efficient to draw something than to explain it in words.

Fine-tune your focus

As a student when you have a lot going on in your life with different priorities and things asking for your time and energy, it is super important to be able to find periods of deep focus, especially when it comes to your studies. Identify in what kind of environment you work and focus best: is it a quiet room? A bustling coffee shop? Do you work best alone or study in groups? Is your best focus at night or is it in the morning? All of these things impact your ability to focus so play around a bit and see with what you are most productive.

Asking as many questions as possible

When you have the opportunity to ask something because you are curious about it or because there is something you don't understand about it, do it because you won't regret it. Maybe it will just be an interesting conversation with your professor but it might also open some other doors or opportunities you may previously didn't even foresee. Asking for help with something or admitting that maybe there is a topic you don't understand fully takes a lot of strength, but to be willing to step up and work on these weakness areas that you may have is one of the best skills to practice.

CATEGORY 2: HEALTH

Prioritizing good sleep

I know that sometimes, especially during your years spent as a student, it is hard to fit in consistent good quality sleep, but trying to make a regular effort of it can do wonders for your body and mind. Good sleep is absolutely essential for having proper energy the following day, in regulating your hormones, in helping your memory and also keeping your cardiovascular health in check among other things. I know that sometimes you just can't, sometimes you want to go out and party or stay up late with your friends which is totally understandable, but at least a couple days per week make an effort to sleep well.

Learning to cook

Learning to prepare some of your own meals as a student can both be very friendly towards your wallet but also towards your health since you have more control of what and how much you are eating. I know that it takes a bit more time and organization to fit in some cooking, but aim to have at least one meal prepared at home every day, whether it is a breakfast you enjoy in the morning or a satisfying and nutritious dinner you prepare later on in the day. Experiment with new recipes and ingredients, or try preparing a meal together with your friends to make it more fun.

Finding some sort of movement you enjoy

Keeping active is essential for our health but especially as a student, taking part in some form of exercise which you enjoy is both incredibly important for your health and well-being but also as a way of de-stressing and potentially socializing with your own friends or having some time for yourself. It doesn't matter what kind of movement you do, just let it be something you find enjoyable and that you can keep at least some level of consistency with.

Managing your stress levels

One of the best and vital skills that you practice as a student is to find ways of how to best deal with your stress, because there definitely will be periods of stress in your academic journey as well as later on in life. Some people de-stress through exercising as I mentioned above, some people do it by having a night out with their friends, or others do it by spending some time alone recharging or doing something they enjoy like doing something creative or reading. The choice is yours, the point is just that you find activities which relax you and that you can make use of them during any stressful periods.

Keeping your mental health in check

Sometimes throughout your studying journey, you will find moments that you struggle or that you need some support or assistance with something. In those moments it is crucial to be able to reach out to someone or some resource to be able to help yourself with what you are struggling with. Whether it is a conversation with a professor or a close friend on something that you don't understand or consulting with a parent or other resource for something that is worrying you. I acknowledge that it is not easy to ask for help about something but if it is costing you your happiness or other measures of wellbeing, then please do.


CATEGORY 3: PERSONAL GROWTH

Learning as much as you can

This applies especially while you are a student because it is literally your occupation to learn. However, the real goal is to actually never stop learning and to continuously approach life with the mindset of a student. Ask as many questions as interest you, educate yourself through books, videos, and podcasts, or attend lectures or class discussions. Pick up a new hobby or something you are interested in and you will see how much you will learn by doing something. Treat your ability to learn as a privilege and as something you get to do instead of it being something you have to do.


Keeping your hobbies around

Hobbies provide a great way to explore something else which you are interested in, to meet new people or as a method of de-stressing. There are many different kinds of hobbies, some active such as sports, some creative such as painting or drawing for example, or hobbies can even be something you enjoy from the activity itself such as reading or baking something sweet. Try to find some time every day or week to fit in some hobby or hobbies you enjoy and you will see how much more fulfillment you will add into your life.

Getting to know yourself

Your years spent as a student are some of the most vital and formative years of your life which will be a grounding for your life later on, such as what kind of career you want to pursue or what you enjoy doing with your time. So put some time aside each week to get to know yourself, namely, identifying what you value as a person, what your current priorities are, and what goals you are striving for are some great ways to start here.

Challenging yourself

Aim to challenge yourself every day or as frequently as possible because when you push yourself out of your comfort zone (even though it is hard or scary), is when you actually grow as a person and expand your limits of what you believe you are capable of doing. Identify what you spend most time doing each week or working on and for each of these activities, consider how you could challenge yourself to be 1% better by next week.

Cultivating a growth mindset

Without a doubt, there will be moments in our academic journey that we will feel discouraged, unmotivated or very judgmental of ourselves or feel that we are not enough, but the good news is that this can be overcome. A growth mindset is one which allows you to see your mistakes or setbacks as opportunities for you to learn and become better. Similarly, seeing other people succeed and win at something isn't an incentive for you to feel down about your own abilities or progress journey, but an opportunity for you to learn from them and have a person in your life by whom you are inspired. It is about a shift in perspective that enables you to overcome all sorts of personal obstacles you may be facing in a much more effective way.

CATEGORY 4: FINANCES


Budgeting and saving

Your years spent as a student are some of the best years to practice how to better handle and manage your money as well as for learning how to budget your expenses. Each month, depending on your income and average expenses, it's useful to determine budgets for how much you, for example, want to be spending on groceries, eating/drinking out, personal things, gifts, etc. This gives you a bit more peace of mind when it comes to your spending since you know how much you are able to spend instead of worrying whether you have gone over budget and then lost track of your spending.

Debt management

Some of us entering university do so by taking out a student loan which afterwards has to be paid back within a certain period of time. Depending on whether or not this applies to you, it is good for you to familiarize yourself with concepts such as interest rates applying to student loans for where you live and what are some methods now or later for how you could start making some money on the side to put towards repayment of these loans.

Smart spending

Nowadays there are many things in our environment that urge or invite us to spend our money alongside following trends and wanting to in general fit in with our friends or the world around us. To become smarter at spending your money, one way, as I discussed previously, is to learn about how to budget and save your money, but also to determine the reason why you want to buy what you want to buy. Is it because you are following a certain trend, because you want to fit in with your friends because you feel down or sad? Determine the reason and also consider whether you really need this item and will make good use out of it, instead of just impulsively buying whatever you like for no particular reason.

Financial literacy

The financial world around us is evolving every day, and with that, it is important to keep up with it. To begin with a better understanding of your finances and the financial institutions of this world, spend a little time each day or every week learning something new about this field. Perhaps check out a trustworthy website to explain to you how you can get a student credit card, educate yourself on student loans and scholarships, increase your knowledge of how to start investing your money when you are young, or even just learn new words when it comes to this domain. Every little piece of knowledge that you acquire can be of use here.

Investing

While it is true that the younger you start investing your money into some form of commodity, the larger your returns can be, it is also worthwhile to first consider how you will even approach such activity and to only experiment with as much money as you are also okay with potentially losing since there is always an element of risk involved here. This again comes to the element of learning and educating yourself on this topic before beginning, where nowadays you can find many videos or websites online to explain this to you or even diving into books, podcasts or webinars can be a great way of how to expand your understanding of this.

CATEGORY 5: SOCIAL

Making time for your friends

One of the best parts about your university experience or your time as a student in general, is the amount of opportunities you have to be able to make friends and meet new people, either through your academic institution, via any extracurricular activities you do or even just by going out and seeing who you meet. Having a close-knit group of friends or even just one close friend can have one of the biggest impacts on your well-being and happiness, so making an effort to introduce yourself to someone or to ask someone if they would like to do something together with you, can be one of the most worthwhile uses of your time.

Making time for your family

Of course the quality of time which you spend with your family can also not be underestimated, since they are usually the people who know you best and are there for you in times that you need support or someone to speak to. So in the case that you are studying somewhere away from you family, make an effort to keep in contact with them and to also make some time each month or year to spend time with them in person.

Keeping in touch with long-term friends

In my experience, especially when it comes to switching school environments or moving to a new country, there are of course moments for you to make new friends but it is also important to not neglect your past friends that you may have met in a previous stage of your life and if that friendship still resonates with you, to invest some time and energy into it. I am not saying that you have to keep in constant contact with everyone you meet, but with those people that you resonate with, staying in contact with them in the long term can be very worthwhile since you never know when your two paths might come together again in the future

Being a thoughtful friend

One of the qualities I admire most in friends and one which I also try to do a lot myself, is to be more of a thoughtful friend. For example when we try to surprise our friend for their birthday, when we make an effort to call or text them, or when we remember their favorite coffee order and get it for them. I really do believe that in the end, the accumulation of these small thoughtful actions can be extremely rewarding for ourselves and also for the person doing them, so it is a double sided win.

Finding moments to have fun and destress

Even though there most likely will be moments throughout your studies when you might be under pressure, nervous or stressed out about an exam, a project or a change in studying the location, it is key to be able to find moments in your day or week to de-stress yourself and to fit in moments for fun and leisure, however, those may look like to you. Oftentimes, we get so wrapped up in our own thoughts and heads that we make our problems appear bigger than they really are and end up spending so much energy stressing out about something that in the end wasn't that big of an issue after all but we just needed a change in our approach or mindset in it. So remember, to take things a little lighter and remember that no matter the situation, it will be okay and you will get through it.

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Becoming The Best Version Of Yourself

We all aspire to become better versions of ourselves than we were yesterday, living in alignment with our values and intentions. Striving for personal growth and progress can sometimes feel more overwhelming and challenging than necessary, which is why I've written a concise guide that simplifies the process of continuous self-improvement.

I hope that today's post inspires you to find practical ways to enhance yourself as an individual, making this journey as accessible and actionable as possible because we all aim to evolve into better versions of ourselves.

I hope you find this post enjoyable and valuable.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF?

Becoming the best version of yourself is a highly individualized journey that encompasses various aspects of personal growth, ultimately requiring you to live authentically in alignment with what resonates with you at your core, which includes honoring your values, preferences, and boundaries, without compromising your identity for the sake of others; the key is to prioritize activities and processes that empower you and nurture your well-being.

Your best self is a unique creation, tailored to your aspirations, and not necessarily mirroring the expectations of those around you; the objective is to continually refine your own vision of what brings out your true potential and keeps you on the path of authenticity and self-improvement.

Remember that your perception of your best self can evolve over time; it's not a static state but signifies ongoing personal growth and development.

To achieve your best self, it's vital to take charge of the aspects of your life that are within your control; while we can't control every facet of our existence, focusing on enhancing the areas that are manageable sets you on the road to success.

Finally, acknowledge that the path to self-improvement is not always smooth; life is inherently imperfect, and we can't have total control over every circumstance. However, it's crucial to remain committed to your personal growth journey, even in the face of challenges, and give your best effort, knowing that not everything will always go as planned.

HOW TO BECOME THE BEST VERSION OF YOU


Prioritize Your Health

  • Sleep: Sleep is essential for overall health and well-being, allowing the body to rest, repair, and consolidate memories while promoting physical and mental health.

  • Movement: Exercise is crucial for maintaining physical health and overall well-being, improving cardiovascular fitness, building and maintaining muscle strength, managing weight, and enhancing mental and emotional health.

  • Nutrition: Nutrition is vital for sustaining health and providing essential nutrients for energy, growth, maintenance, and disease prevention.

  • Stress management: Stress management is necessary for maintaining mental and physical well-being by reducing the negative impact of chronic stress on the body, promoting emotional resilience, and improving overall quality of life.

  • Social well-being: Having a social circle is important for emotional support, companionship, and a sense of belonging, contributing to mental and emotional well-being and providing a valuable network in times of need.

Establish The Fundamentals

  • Develop discipline: Having discipline and self-management is important for achieving personal and professional goals, maintaining consistency, and making responsible choices leading to long-term success and well-being.

  • Define your core values: Defining your core values is important as it provides a clear and meaningful framework for decision-making, goal setting, and living a life that aligns with your authentic self.

  • Practice having a growth mindset: Having a growth mindset is crucial as it fosters a belief in the ability to learn, adapt, and improve, leading to increased resilience, motivation, and personal development.

  • Prioritize what matters to you: Prioritizing what matters to you is essential because it allows you to focus your time, energy, and resources on your most meaningful goals and values, leading to a more fulfilling and purposeful life.

  • Let go of limiting beliefs: Letting go of limiting beliefs is important because it empowers personal growth, fosters a positive self-image, and opens the door to new opportunities and achievements.

  • Be compassionate towards yourself: Being compassionate towards yourself is important for maintaining mental and emotional well-being, reducing self-criticism and stress, and promoting self-acceptance and resilience in the face of life's challenges.

  • Visualize your future self: Visualizing your future self is important as it provides motivation, clarity, and a sense of direction to work toward your desired goals and aspirations.

Start Prioritizing Your Own Personal Growth

  • Start showing up for yourself: You are responsible for your progress and actions, so you must make the effort to show up for yourself because no one else can be you.

  • Create empowering rituals: Rituals and routines that work for you can be incredibly empowering and effective, helping you get into the right mindset, set intentions, and carry out tasks with minimal hesitation or procrastination.

  • Work on your strengths: Identifying and working on your strengths allows intentional self-improvement, helping you become better at what you already excel at or venture into learning new skills and knowledge.

  • Embrace failures and mistakes: Embracing failures and mistakes is important for personal growth, learning, and resilience, as they provide valuable lessons and opportunities for improvement.

  • Challenge yourself every day: Challenging yourself daily is important for personal growth and skill development, fostering adaptability and a sense of achievement.

  • Set and go after your goals: Setting your goals and guiding the direction of your life empowers you to feel in control of where you are headed and how you get there.

  • Celebrate small victories: Focusing on celebrating small meaningful victories boosts motivation and proves you are headed in the right direction.

Master Time Management And Productivity

  • Just get to doing it: Simply put, don't delay things you want to do because getting something done is about starting and finishing it through.

  • Remove distractions: Controlling and limiting distractions is essential for focus and productivity, especially when trying to complete tasks.

  • Time yourself during tasks: Deciding in advance how long to complete a task forces you to finish it within that time period and reduces procrastination.

  • Practice calendar blocking: Visualizing your weeks or days and ensuring you can feasibly complete tasks scheduled for a given day or week is crucial for productivity.

  • Stop looking for shortcuts: Acknowledge that self-improvement takes continuous effort, patience, and hard work, so focus on enjoying the process of becoming the best version of yourself as much as possible.

Take Care Of Your Personal Relationships

  • Accept help from others: Accepting help promotes collaboration, strengthens relationships, and enables personal and collective progress.

  • Keep in touch with people who matter most to you: Maintaining strong connections, fostering emotional support, and nurturing a sense of belonging and well-being are crucial.

  • Help other people become the best version of themselves: Supporting each other's self-improvement and personal growth can be a mutually beneficial and rewarding process.

  • Give back to people and society: Giving back to society contributes to community well-being, addresses social needs, and fosters a sense of purpose and interconnectedness.

FINDING MOTIVATION

Becoming the best version of yourself demands daily effort and a continuous drive for self-improvement, which may initially seem daunting due to the requirement for discipline and consistency. Nevertheless, the rewards and results are undoubtedly worth the journey.

To enhance your chances of success, it's essential to uncover the underlying reasons for making these life changes and, importantly, to find ways to make the process of self-improvement as enjoyable as possible. This ensures not only a more enjoyable journey but also increases the likelihood of sticking with it and achieving the desired results. Maintaining discipline and consistency hinges on understanding your motivations and setting rewards and milestones along the way.

When it comes to motivation, we can categorize it into two common types:

Intrinsic motivation: This type of motivation arises from within yourself and is driven by your own beliefs, values, and priorities. An example is your desire to grow and improve as an individual simply because you find the process personally fulfilling or enjoy the challenges it presents.

Extrinsic motivation: In contrast, this motivation is triggered by external factors, which can be positive or negative. Examples of positive reinforcement include receiving rewards, verbal praise, good grades, or positive results. Extrinsic motivation can also be driven by the desire to avoid negative consequences, such as punishment or criticism.

Balancing both types of motivation is ideal to ensure a well-rounded and sustainable drive for self-improvement.

Additionally it is important to note, that often we incorrectly think that we need a boost of inspiration or motivation to get us to do something where actually just starting something, will itself give us the motivation to continue going. Therefore motivation is actually sourced from action itself instead of having to first wait for motivation to do something.

KEY IDEAS

If you want to continuously become a better version of yourself, then you have come to the right place. In todays blog post we are discussion exactly that; everything it takes for you to become that leveled up version of yourself which you desire and strive for.

REFERENCES

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Overcoming Your Fear Of Failure

Being afraid of failure also known as Atychiphobia can be a very debilitating feeling and condition which can impacts various aspects of our well being as well as our own accomplishments and rate of personal growth.

I am interested in exploring this notion today because I think that much of society is nowadays concerned with some sort of ideal “perfect” life which tells us how to live and work properly and does not leave much room for making healthy mistakes (being “imperfect”) and learning from them.

In this way, being afraid of failure and striving for a perfectionistic way of living slows down our development as a person because we are so concerned and preoccupied with how others perceive us that we forget who we really are, what we enjoy doing and most worryingly we become afraid of making mistakes, effectively ceasing growth as an individual.

In this blog post, my aim is to explore the causes of having an irrational fear of failure, learning how to spot it in our life as well as what are the wellbeing related effects of it and how we can best overcome it so we can return back to our best selves.

I hope you enjoy ☀️

CAUSES

  • Critical upbringing: If during your childhood, your parents or care givers were very critical and unsupportive of what you did or wanted to do, this can later on translate into having a fear of failure since you could never as a child live up to their expectations.

  • Family history: Phobias, anxiety and depression can increase the likeness of developing a fear of failure later on.

  • Low self esteem: People which start out with a lower self esteem are much more likely to experience having a fear of failure.

  • Traumatic experiences: If in your upbringing or past you have experienced abuse or severe punishments when you have done something wrong and failed at something, then this makes you much more likely to be afraid of making any further mistakes down the line because of the repercussions linked to failing at something

  • Definition of failure: What we define as failure and success if often based on our own expectations or the expectations of others, where if these expectations are too high you may find it very hard to live up to them and a result feel that the risks off trying something new are too high so you do not end up doing anything at all.

  • Genetics: Being prone to anxiety has been shown to be genetically linked which further increases the chances that you develop Atychiphobia.

  • Perfectionism: In perfectionism, people set themselves very high expectations and standards to live by where by they believe that if they make mistakes they will be seen as not perfect causing them to fear making mistakes. Alternatively, perfectionists may have the fear of not reaching their own high standards and as a result also experience a fear of failure.

HOW IT SHOWS ITSELF

Some of the most common signs of being afraid of failing at something include:

  • Being frequently angry or irritable

  • Caring a lot about how other perceive you

  • Being pessimistic about life

  • Being prone to procrastination if something seems challenging

  • Finding it hard to accept constructive criticism

  • Being worried that you will disappoint others if you fail

  • Thinking that your own imperfections and minor let downs will make people think differently of you

  • Telling others that you will probably find anyways in order to keep the expectations of others low

  • Underestimating your own abilities so that you avoid feeling let down by yourself

  • Placing your self worth based on what others think of you

ITS EFFECTS

When having a strong fear of failure, the following consequences are most common:

  • Taking part in self sabotaging behaviors which further impair your progress

  • Feeling shame, inadequacy or disappointment

  • Procrastination

  • Having low motivation

  • Experiencing a decrease in self esteem

HOW TO OVERCOME IT


Below you can find a couple of pieces of advice which can help you with overcoming a fear of failure:

  • Identify what is causing it

  • Break down large ambitious goals into small and actionable steps

  • Developing a growth mindset

  • Reaffirming to yourself that you are enough

  • Doing or starting the project or idea you have been putting of

  • Having a strong support system of friends or family which you can fall back on

  • Be mindful of your alcohol and caffeine consumption to not make you stress or anxiety or worse

  • Get the basic health elements in check: Good sleep, a balanced diet and taking part in some daily exercise

  • Become aware of the things you can control within your life and what is our of your control

  • Planning ahead and visualizing obstacles ahead of time

  • Redefining your idea of failure

  • Asking yourself what is the worst possible outcome that can come out of doing this?

🧠 KEY IDEAS

In this blog post we have discussed the subject of fear of failure, where we first explored what causes it, how it can be observed, the effects of fear of failure and lastly, how to overcome it in order to become your best self.

✏️ REFERENCES

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How To Make The Most Out Of Your Everyday

Often times we are simplify bombarded with so much information in terms of what we should do, shouldn't do and how we should aim to overall live our lives. While all of this information is valuable and can be applied to our lives, I wanted to make this process more simple and summarize all the main ways in which you can ensure that you make the most out of your every day. When individual successful days accumulate, it results in successful weeks and months and an overall meaningful and achievement full year.

If you want to master your every day, you have come to the right place 😊

TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST USE OF YOUR DAY



PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS



  • Prioritizing good quality sleep the night before: Ensuring a solid 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Struggling with sleeping well? If you want to learn more about this topic, you can do so here and here.

  • Don't begin your mornings with rushing: Create time for yourself in the morning so that you can properly get ready for the day in what ever form that may be. Be kind to yourself. Also do not begin your mornings with going straight to your phone or listening to emotionally charged news; These things should come later on in the day.

  • Spending time with people you love: This can be a good friend, colleague, family member or a significant other; Social connection is important for general wellbeing.

  • Finding ways of connecting with nature during the day: Spending your breaks outside, going for an outdoor walk, run, hike or visiting a botanical garden. I recently wrote a blog post about the importance of spending time in nature and you can find it here.

  • Finding moments to express your appreciation and gratitude for anything that comes: This can be done by explicitly saying it to someone in person or over phone or simply writing it down somewhere. Being able to forgive yourself and other people you hold grudges against.

  • Be mindful of your media consumption: Avoid mindless time sapping activities such as endless social media scrolling. Focus on creating more yourself instead of just consuming all the time. When you do consume media, be mindful of what you consume, how often and how it is impacting your wellbeing. Read more about how to manage your relationship with social media here.

  • Implementing daily movement and exercise: This is key for keeping your body and mind in a fit and functional state that enable you to feel energized, focused and strong throughout the day. I have written before about the great benefits of exercise here.

  • Taking valuable breaks during the day: This is for resting and recharging your body and mind for everything they enable you to do. Supply them with replenishing foods, water and down time.

  • Learning to disconnect from technology when needed: This is key in such a highly connected environment as the one we currently live in. Disconnecting is needed to properly evaluate your general well being, reflecting over situations or decisions or just generally being able to take a restful break.

  • Living more in the present moment: Practices such as meditation and expressing of gratitude have been shown to improve the quality of our presence of the present moment. This also means to focus on doing one thing at a time instead of multitasking with 5. By truly being in the present, you will feel so much more fulfilled and genuinely alive in the moment while making more memorable memories.

  • Challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone: This is something than can be done every day in small ways or in more significant amounts during a week or month. Exposing ourselves to these uncomfortable emotions is key for the development of personal resilience and reaffirming of our abilities and self esteem. You wont regret it.

  • Reenforcing a positive mindset throughout the day: Up keeping a positive mindset is beneficial not just for your own wellbeing throughout the day but also helps to inspire and uplift other people around you. By having a more optimistic outlook, you are attracting more opportunities and dealing with challenges in a more proactive way

  • Doing something which excites you: A hobby, your job, past time occupation, an idea you have wanted to pursue for a while etc.



WORK RELATED CONSIDERATIONS



  • Setting 3 daily tasks which you will accomplish during the day: Accomplishing 3 things fully each day is a lot better than trying to fit in 20 different things and maybe getting one parts of different tasks done. Make sure these tasks are aligned with your long term goals and vision of where you see yourself.

  • Start with doing the hardest thing first: Get out the most daunting or unpleasant tasks first and you will walk around with lighter shoulders afterwards.

  • Improving on a skill or learning something new: This can be done though reading an article or book, watching an interesting video, practicing a skill, listening to a podcast or audiobook, attending a workshop etc.

  • Managing distractions and interruptions ahead of time: This is crucial if you want to be able to stay focused for considerable periods of time. This also goes to say to stop checking emails as they come in.

  • Spending times of the day in moments of deep focus: This does not just help with making considerable progress towards your goals and accomplishments but is also a highly prized ability - staying focused - in todays society, giving you a advantage over most people around you.

  • Creating and sticking to a routine which works for you: We often hear that well established routines are upon which all successes are founded upon, which is true because success often times means doing something over and over again (staying consistent) while making small improvements each time

  • Determining in advance how long something should approximately take you: This is the basic principle of Parkinson's law which explains that how long a task will take you in reality is based on how much time you give for its completion. The more time you give, the more time it will actually end up taking.

  • Staying organized in a way that is functional to you: I understand that people work best in different enviments of organization but having some guideline of where to store things, how to label and be able to locate things within your environment is I think essential for anyone and can be applied with so many different items and areas of life

  • Planning out your day the night before: This includes setting the 3 things you will get done, planning in your breaks, times for meals, social events and other things which make you excited during the day. If a task or event is slotted into your calendar with a specific time and set duration, it will get done.

🧠 KEY IDEAS

Throughout this blog we discussed several different ways of how to make the best use of your day, when it comes to both personal and work related consideration, in order to make your day meaningful and productive.

✏️ REFERENCES

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Self Development Taya Bregant Self Development Taya Bregant

Principles And Questions To Carry With You Through 2023

Todays topic was partially inspired by the book that I am currently reading; “Best Self” by Mike Bayer, where the aim of the book is to analyze 6 main areas of your life (Social, Personal, Health, Education, Relationships, Employment and Spiritual Development) and figure out what in these areas you are currently doing good with and what you still want to improve on. I like the book because it is full of interactive writing exercises and I like how it is structured, which makes it easy to follow along and make the best use out of the genuinely useful chapters.

For this reason, I wanted to write up a list of general life principles that I think everyone can benefit from following/ incorporating more often into their lifestyle and also a include a practical list of questions aimed at enhancing your own personal discovery.

Wishing you pleasant reading ahead 😊

GUIDING PRINCIPLES


Focus on doing your best instead of aiming for perfection

  • This is something that has become some wheat of a mantra for me, or something that I regularly repeat myself. I find that it is easy for me to get caught up in perfectionistic ideals where the goal is to do something absolutely right instead of focusing on learning and growth.

  • I find that this mindset can be very debilitating and genuinely slow down your progression as a person because

    1. It makes you fear making mistakes which means that in theory you are afraid of learning and making progress - You essentially choose to stop living. You fear mistakes because they are a sign of you not being perfect in something which is an irrational thought in the first place because “perfection” in itself is a subjective experience.

    2. It is a very unrealistic expectation to put onto yourself, meaning that when you do make a mistake (which we all do), you start obsessing over these little imperfections and you can become a very harsh critic on yourself.


Be your authentic self instead of changing yourself to fit others

  • This is an idea that is partially inspired by the book that I am reading and also my general experiences at university. I think that at the start when you are settling into a new environment and don't know many people, as soon as you do make a connecting with someone you can sometimes become very clingy and over dependent on that person for your social life. As a result you may start changing parts of yourself such as appearance, behavior or personality so that you can fit in more with that person or group, and feel less left out.

  • This makes sense to a degree as we all want to belong, but ask yourself is it worth the cost of loosing your real self? Would you prefer people to know you for your real self and enjoy being around that version of you or a made up facade you put up when you are around them?

  • I now consider it to be more important to be my genuine self when I am around people, meaning that I act, talk and think like the person I really am instead of someone I pretend to be. This makes it easier for me to attract other like minded people and see who I genuinely enjoy spending my time with.


Take things one by one and learn to take the time to slow down

  • This is a principle that often gets forgotten about, especially in the business of the every day, but I really believe that it is essentially to at least once a week or once a day find a moment to slow down a little bit. It can be for as little as taking 5-10 minutes for deep breaths in the morning or having a more laid back weekend afternoon. It is up to you, but implementing some more stillness into your life will help you with:

    • Reducing your levels of stress (Read more about stress here)

    • Better stress management for future stressful events

    • Becoming more aware of your thoughts and feelings in the present moment

    • Finding it easier to introspect and find out how certain things make you feel

    • Finding more enjoyment in the little things of everyday life

  • Life already happens fast enough around us, so why not take some time to momentarily slow it down?

  • I have also written about how to find more peace and tranquility in daily life here


Be mindful of your thoughts and the way you talk to yourself

  • I find the idea of negative self talk quite interesting because it makes me think, why would someone want to effectively be working against themselves? Against what is good for them? This essentially means that you are your own obstacle to your growth.

  • So, if you do find that, that you are someone who struggles with low self esteem and experiences chronic negative self talk such as “I suck at this, I will never be (x), I cant possibly do that, I am a failure etc.) then I would say the first step is to become aware of the thoughts you are having and when you get them. Consider what triggers this negative self talk for you; Is it when you are on social media browsing and comparing yourself to others or is it when you feel lonely and lack a support system?

  • Next, try to aim for developing a more open and growth orientated mindset where you reframe the negative things you say into more positive messages such as “I can do anything I put my mind and energy towards, I am just the way I need to be”. The more you practice these positive self affirmations and messages the more your mind will genuinely start believing them and as a result your confidence and what you achieve will greatly improve.

  • If you wouldn't say to someone else what your current negative self talk says to you, then don't say those things to yourself. It is only feeding into negativity when really you deserve to treat yourself like you treat any other person you really love - with love, belief and support.


Put your full presence and energy into any activity you intentionally choose to spend your time doing

  • This is a powerful thought because often we find ourselves multi tasking with different things or even if we are just doing one thing, we feel like our mind is in 100 other places and thoughts. Because of this, I think it can be beneficial to say to yourself that whatever you will be working on today or within the next x amount of time, you will choose to focus exclusively on that, and all other things will wait for after.

  • This will not only improve the quality of your work and sharpen your thought process behind these tasks (reducing the number of time consuming mistakes you make), but also shorten the amount of time it takes you to get something done.


Take care of yourself first and then everything else

  • This is often heard as some what a cliche but it does carry truth to it. If you find that you are not operating from your best level of self (poor sleep, low energy levels, distracted thoughts etc.) then not only will this make it much harder to tackle anything you have going on that day but also make it much harder for you to help others and maintain good social relations.


You feel much more fulfilled when you don't just live life for yourself but you live it by being of service to others

  • Often we might start dong things from a personal gain standpoint where we are doing things exclusively to benefit ourselves in what ever way that may be. While it is important to do things which bring benefit and pleasure to you, it is equally important that what you are doing, is also serving others in some shape or form. Any job or activity can be seen as solving a problem or meeting a need that people have, with which you are providing help, utility and service.

  • We all want to feel like we are valued and that we are working towards something bigger than just ourselves because when we find that balance of doing something which lights a spark inside you while also creating work that is meaningful and useful to others, that is where true happiness and fulfillment are found.

  • Go beyond yourself and ask yourself in what ways can you be helpful, useful or generally of service to to others in your everyday (it can be small or big)


Genuine happiness and satisfaction can not be obtained through external sources alone

  • Nowadays it is very easy to be convinced with the idea that sustained and long term happiness ands satisfaction can be bought through external means such as material goods, fancy lunches and having a surplus of everything. While everyone needs a certain level of materialism to be content and meet their needs, an excess here will not make you any happier especially when we are talking about being genuinely satisfied by your life.

  • The point I am trying to make is that while materialistic goods can spark temporary moments of joy and happiness, it is only a short term fix that quickly wears off leaving us thirsty for more; What was previously the goal for us is no longer enough and so we continuously want more.

  • This is a sign to reevaluate your priorities and really consider what brings you genuine long term happiness. Most often, true happiness arises both from internal sources such as having a good level of self esteem and attitude towards yourself as well as your environment such as the people you surround yourself with and the experiences you live.


Quit complaining and be proactive about your problems instead

  • Quite a simple statement but one that we often forget, since we are all sometimes victims of this.

  • When it comes to problems that you do have control over, you either have the option of continuing to complain about it and nothing changes or you choose to act and solve that problem so that it no longer bothers you.

  • When it comes to issues that are outside of your circle of control, then you can either place less importance on those problems/ decide to accept it and move on with our life or if you really do care, then do what you can to get into a position where you do have a influence over the issue and try to resolve it that way.


No one has a perfect past, so learn to make peace with anything that might be troubling you and learn to move on

  • Linking back to the previous point, with any traumatic, negative or unwanted experience in your past, you have the ability of analyzing your emotions towards that particular event and then coming to the stage where you have analyzed the problem enough that you are ready to accept that it is a thing of the past and can move on from that experience.

  • Of course it is useful to learn out of any negative experience, but being stuck in a permanently negative state of rumination or regret is also not the point, so make peace with your past and - It will almost feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders and you have gotten a fresh new energetic start.


Never choose to stop learning and growing in life

  • This links a lot to the first point I made in this list, where we often think that as soon as we have stopped going to school or getting a formal education, that we have learnt everything that we needed to and we can stop learning.

  • I think this is a wrong approach, especially since each year our world is becoming ever more complex, interconnected and fast paced meaning that new information, products, technologies, ideas, theories, solutions and advancements are coming out. So if we really want to feel like an integrated unit within a society, it is our job to stay up to date as much as possible and continuously absorb new information around us. Be like a full time “sponge”; thirsty for knowledge.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS


Because I believe that reflection is a very powerful and genuinely useful tool to learn how to use, I wanted to write a list of general reflective questions which you can use at any time and I think are relevant to any individual, whatever stage in your life you might currently be in.

These questions are meant for your own personal introspection and to get to know your current strengths, weaknesses, points to improve on and trying to identify what kind of life really resonates with you. You can even answer these same questions every couple of months or at the start of each year to see how your own answers change as you learn more about yourself.

If you are additionally interested in the process of journaling and reflecting, I have written the following blog posts on this topic:


  1. What are your top 5 core values and do you currently live through those values? If not, how could you change that, or is it that those values are not your true values?

  2. Consider what actually matters most to you in the end? What actually makes a “good day” good for you?

  3. Which beliefs/ mindsets, old routines and genuine fears are holding you back from doing what you genuinely want to do and living your best life?

  4. What would your ideal day look like? What would you spend your time doing and who would you be with?

  5. What are activities that make you feel truly alive and when was the last time you did them? How could you do them more often?

  6. What are the constructive habits that you want to build and unhealthy habits you want to let go of?

  7. What are some things you currently want to make a change about in your life (Work related, personal, hobbies, health, relationships, attitude etc.)

  8. What are things which are currently worrying your mind? Are those worries and fears rational and if so, what would be the best way for you to manage them?

  9. In what ways am I living life authentically and true to me right now? In what ways do I still have to create alignment between what I currently do and who I really want to be?

  10. Who are people that genuinely inspire you and continue to fill you with new uplifting energy?

  11. What are some things or people you could not imagine living without? How can you take them less for granted and express gratitude for them more often?

  12. What would my absolutely ideal life look like? (Where would you live, your occupation, family?, hobbies, social circle etc.)

I hope that you were able to get some genuinely useful tools and insight through todays post and that it helps you on your own reflective personal growth journey.

Feel free to adapt any of the questions above to make them more suitable or specific to you.

Thank you for taking your time today to read this ☀️

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