Month: November 2010

There are so many things I want to do in the short time I’m here. Some of these things scare me, some will challenge me and others are just plain fun.

Unfortunately, life is very short and the older I get the quicker time seems to pass. I’m quickly realizing that I probably won’t fit everything in. So how do I choose? How do I pick which things to go for wholeheartedly and what things to leave to someone else?

It comes down to a simple question: “When I’m 80, will I regret __________________?”

The blank could be not doing something or choosing to do one thing over another. It’s a simple question and it comes in really handy.

Next time you find yourself struggling over whether or not you’re going to do something ask yourself that very question: “Will I regret this decision when I’m 80?” If the answer is no then go ahead with your decision. If it’s yes think about how you can make it happen or stick it out until you’re done.

Life’s too precious to have you get all the way to the end and say “damn I should have done that when I had the chance” or “I really should have let that go” or “I can’t believe I didn’t take the opportunity when it was presented to me”.

Live your life to your best capability. Here are a few areas that you could try to challenge yourself in. Some of these you may have thought of yourself, some of these will be new but what I hope is that it gives you a push to do more and be more with the life you have left.

1.Work

Have you ever changed jobs? Have you thought about changing jobs? How about your career? The possibilities are endless when it comes to how you make a living. Maybe you’ve toyed with the idea of becoming an entrepreneur and working for yourself. Will you regret not giving it a chance? Or will you regret going for it?

2.Food

Have you been eating the same food for the past 20 years? Have you always wanted to try something new but haven’t got around to it yet? Are too afraid to try it because “Oh I don’t like chickpeas”. Go out on a limb and give it a shot. Get a cookbook full of exotic recipes and work your way through it. Make a point of going to different types of restaurants when you go out for dinner.

3.Exploration

Do you spend most of your time in the office only to leave your chair to travel back home again where you sit down, watch TV, and “relax”? Try getting out more. Turn off the TV and get outside. Go on a walk or a hike or a drive. Is there somewhere local that you’ve never been? Too often we see a lot more of foreign places than we do of our own back yard.

4.Risk

Like to play it safe? Worried about things going wrong? It’s been my experience that everything always works out. Try something risky like changing careers or quitting your job and working for yourself. Pick up and move half way around the world and see what it’s like in another culture, another country or another hemisphere.

5.Doing something crazy

Walk home in the rain in your business suit. Join a polar bear club or sing along with a busker in the streets and see what happens. Be a back up dancer at a karaoke bar. There are a lot of crazy things you can do. Keep it clean, be respectful and I’m sure you’ll find you get a burst of energy and excitement from doing it.

6.Being nice

Do something nice for someone else out of the blue and just because. Don’t expect anything in return. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, donate food and toys to an animal shelter. Plant an extra row of vegetables in your garden and donate the produce to a charity. We all think we’re nice people but actions really do speak louder than words. Think about it.

7.Quitting something

We all know that when we say yes to one thing we are saying no to something else. If that committee you’re on isn’t providing you a sense of fulfillment or accomplishment as it once did, quit. Quit the soccer team if it’s no longer fun, quit grad school if it’s no longer what you want to do. Quitting is usually seen as a negative thing and to be avoided. However, being deliberate and thoughtful in what you are resigning from will open a large chunk of time that could be better spent.

There are a lot of areas of our lives that unless we really take time to think about them we keep with the status quo. Living life on auto-pilot can be boring and may lead to a life with relatively few rich experiences. I have made it my mission to live deliberately and with purpose so I can look back with, hopefully, no regrets. So far so good …

Written on 11/21/2010 by Sherri Kruger. Sherri writes at Zen Family Habits, a blog celebrating all things family. Sherri also writes on personal development at Serene Journey, a blog dedicated to sharing simple tips to enjoy life

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.

Dr. Seuss

US author & illustrator (1904 – 1991)

1-The Glass If Half-Empty Or Half Full

Whatever way you look at it is how it is. Every situation you are in can be seen from a negative or from a positive perspective. I don’t like negative people, so I always try to see everything from a half-full perspective. It makes life more enjoyable!

2-Complaining Gets You Nowhere

Life is unfair. Get used to it. Sometimes you are the underdog and you get handed the crappiest hand out of everyone. Complaining about how unfair or how difficult something is will not make your life better. It’s going to make you suffer and it’s going to cause others to get seriously annoyed with you.

Don’t complain. Take action and change what’s bothering you!

3-There Is No Free Lunch

Promises of free gifts, free education, free money…99.9% of the time they are a trick. There is always something attached to it, because hardly anyone does something for free.

Don’t count on a free lunch, work hard for your own success. Every now and then you may get lucky and someone will genuinely offer you a free lunch, in that case, enjoy it!

4-Easy Success Doesn’t Exist

Overnight success or instant millions only exist if you win the lottery or inherit a fortune.

Yeah you might get lucky sometimes, or have an amazing idea like the creators of Youtube did. Most of the time it takes a damn long time and a lot of hard work to achieve success. This is not a bad thing, and it’s not a problem at all. Just be prepared to work hard.

5-Girls Are Awesome

Haha, kind of random. But I love girls. They’re so…girly and feminine. They have this awesome energy that makes me feel so alive.

Yeah they can be dramatic, and illogical and confusing…but that’s the biggest reason why they are so awesome. Life would be rather dull without girls

6-Failure Teaches You A Lot About Yourself And The World

Even though I’m just 24, I’ve succeeded and failed more times than most people have in a lifetime.

Initially I always thought that failure was devastating, that it meant I was not a worthy human being and that I should bury my head in shame. Luckily I learned that failure is an essential part of growth and success.

The more you fail, the more you learn and the closer you get to succeeding.

The most important thing to remember about failure can be summed up in this fantastic quote by Will Smith:

“Don’t let failure get to your heart and don’t let success get to your head”.

7-Not Everything Has A Happy Ending

Life is not the movies, and bad things can happen to you. You can get sick, you can have accidents, you can get beat up, you can lose money.

Once again, don’t let it get to you. Keep your heart stainless. If things get bad, move through it as best you can and stay optimistic.

8-There Are Some Really Bad,Evil And Nasty People In The World

Unfortunately not everyone is good. There are some truly nasty, destructive and hateful people out there. They will purposely go out of their way to make you miserable or to destroy what you are trying to build up.

Stay away from those kinds of people and if they don’t want to listen, kick their ass (just kidding)

9-There Are A Lot Of Good People In The World

I would say that there are much more good than bad people. While most people may be inherently good and on a neutral level, there are also many people who go out of their way to make a difference.

These are the kinds of people that you want in your life. Make friends with them, respect them and try and be one of these good people yourself.

10-You Can Live With Less

You don’t need a mansion in every continent, or a Ferrari, or $10 million in the bank.

Although money is certainly nice to have and something to strive for, you can be perfectly happy with a small apartment, great friends, an awesome girl and enough money to pay the monthly bills.

11-Friends Are (Very) Important

In fact, I’d go as far as saying that having a couple of true friends in your life is absolutely essential to your happiness. There’s nothing like having a friend who you can count on, who will do anything for you and who’s always keen to hang out or start an adventure with you.

If you have these kind of friendships, don’t let them fade. Hold on to them because they are priceless!

12-There Is Always Someone Better

There is always someone who is better than you in everything. Even if you are the best in the world at what you do, it’s just a matter of time before someone comes along who will be better than you.

This is not a bad thing at all. Try your best and strive to keep getting better, but don’t get hung up and frustrated because there are others out there who are better than you. That’s going to make you miserable.

13-Even When You Think You Suck, You’re Awesome

There will be times in your life when you feel like a useless douchebag. You may think you suck at something, you may think you are a failure or you may feel like the biggest idiot in the world.

Truth is that everyone feels that way sometimes. No matter how much you think you suck, there are people out there who look up to you and who respect you. You still have awesome qualities…so don’t ever forget that. You’re already perfect!

14-Treat Others As You Want Others To Treat You

Do you believe in karma? Well, whether you do or don’t, I really believe that you will get treated in the same way as you treat others.

If you’re a good person and you’re nice to others, this will likely happen to you. If you’re an ass to people and treat them like crap, at some point it will feel like the whole world is turning against you because you will get back what you sent out.

You will reap what you sow. So sow positivity!

15-Always Expect The Unexpected

Hardly anything ever goes as planned. That’s life and that is what makes life awesome.

You never know at what point your perfect life is going to crumble or at which point your crappy life is going to turn awesome. Try to think about possible situations that could happen and be prepared how to act in case those situations occur.

16-Your Ego Is Your Downfall

Your ego is a nasty thing. It can cause arrogance, over-confidence and stupidity if you’re not wanting to admit you are wrong and still carry on going.

I have learned that it is best to remove my ego from all situations. If I’m doing something purely for validation or pride…I ask myself if there is any other reason why I’m doing it. If not…then it’s just my ego wanting attention and I usually don’t do it.

17-You Can Learn Something From Everyone

No matter how smart or how dumb someone may seem, I really think that everyone has some golden nugget of wisdom to share. Whether it is a way of eating, a handy little trick to get something done or an age-old wisdom…never think that you can’t learn something from someone.

18-You Can Make Something From Nothing

You can start off with absolutely nothing and build a massive empire. You can create products or items that millions of people across the world will use.

You can write articles that hundreds of thousands of people will read. If you can imagine it, you can create it.

19-It’s Nice To Help People

One of the most rewarding things to do in life is to help someone else improve their life in some way.

If you can share your knowledge or skills with someone. Even just help someone out with a place to stay or a loan for them to start a business, you can make a world of difference.

Sometimes a smile is all it takes for you to help someone have a better day.

20- Work Smarter, Not Harder

Ridiculous hard work usually makes you more successful than others.

What will really make you successful beyond your wildest dreams is working ridiculously hard following the smartest and most proven to work methods.

I can work really hard and dig a huge hole in my garden. Will that make me successful? No! (Unless I find gold). But if I work really hard on creating something that everyone needs, that is going to make me wildly successful.

Work smarter, not necessarily harder.

21-Never Stop Learning

Life is one constant school. From the moment you are born you start to learn, and I think the biggest mistake a person can make is to stop learning.

Always keep reading, books are awesome. Keep interacting with people, make connections, learn new skills. Keep trying new things, do something that you have never done before.

22- Fight Club Is The Most Awesome Movie Ever

Out of the hundreds of movies I have seen in my life, my best and favorite still reigns as Fight Club.

It has inspired dozens of bloggers to write articles about it. I’m pretty sure it has inspired thousands of men around the world to change their lives. On top of it all, it’s a movie you can watch every year of your life without it ever getting boring!

23-Your Health Is Everything

All the success, fame, money and friends in the world mean nothing if your health is so bad that you can’t enjoy life.

Take good care of your body and your health by exercising, meditating and eating healthy!

24-Good Or Bad – It’s Awesome Being Alive

I don’t understand people who say “Life sucks” or “Life is unfair”.

Life is the most awesome thing that you have…ever. Yeah it may be difficult, it may seem impossible to get anywhere and you may have been dealt crappy cards.

But as long as you are alive you have the possibility to achieve anything you want. The mere fact of being able to see, smell, hear, touch and taste is incredible.

Enjoy the awesomeness of life, and appreciate every moment that you have!

posted by Dirk (Diggy) the writer behind UpgradeReality.