Each year I keep a very detailed journal. I keep track of lessons learned, quotes, and advice to reflect on for the next year.
Today, I am going to give a rare opportunity. I am going to open my journal and show what lessons I learned from last year.
I believe that we should all try to continuously improve. If we stay stagnant, we will fall into the same (often bad) routine. Journalling is the way I am able to be a “better Dave” each year.
Read the list below, and take what you can from my reflections. The more I can share with other Chronic Illness Fighters, the more we are able to grow together.
1. Practice Going First
No matter the circumstance, I continue to remind myself to go first. Last year, I came to a very interesting revelation. There are so many moments in my day where I meet new people, and so often I pass with no regard to how their day is going. I started to smile first and say hello. This small action alone has brought so much joy to my life. People really open up when you are the first to let down your guard.
2. Ask the question: What would it look like if it were easy?
For chronic illness fighters this is a tough concept to overcome. There are many physical ailments that cause things to be difficult in our lives. When I reflect on my year, I come to realize that I continue to take the hard path to success. I put my heart and soul into achieving my goals, when sometimes I need to step back and ask myself “what would it look like if it were easy”? How can I change my circumstances so that I can put the least effort into an activity while achieving the biggest results? Start to take a step back from activities and brainstorm how you can make them easier.
3. The things that would get you fired when you start are the same things that give you lifetime achievement when you are older.
Doing things different does not always bring failure, sometimes doing things different brings the most success. People’s success is a direct reflection on the choices they make when they start. I constantly remind myself to look for ways to do activities in my work and personal life that will drastically make my life better. How can I be more productive while working half the hours? The only way is to start making decisions that are radically different than everyone else.
4. Saying “you are busy” is never an excuse. It shows you are out of control.
There are 24 hours in the day. Have you ever sat down and tracked your time? I did last year and it was miserable. I spent so much time doing absolutely nothing and yet I found myself saying “i am too busy”. Being busy is just an excuse we make for not prioritizing our time correctly. Any time you find yourself saying “i am busy” it just means you prioritized your tasks wrong. Sometimes we say we are busy when we really have just prioritized laziness over anything else.
5. Look at the cost of not taking action as much as the cost of taking action
Throughout last year, I would look at my goals and what it would take to achieve those goals. What I missed is understanding the driving factor behind what would happen if I did not succeed in achieving those goals. What if my website never gained traffic? What would that mean for the millions of people I never got to help? There is always a cost for not achieving your goals.
6. What would it look like if you woke up every day to live a life worth living?
A simple but profound question that I needed to start asking myself. Everyone has those days where is it difficult to wake up in the morning. This question helped me reflect on why I am excited to get out of bed each morning.
7. You are defined by your rituals.
Go to bed late watching movies? Eat unhealthy food? Decide to hit the snooze button? There are so many rituals that I reflect on and ask myself if these rituals are in favor of my mission in life. If these rituals are not in favor of my goals, than maybe I need new rituals.
8. Being normal is easy, being great takes motivation.
Especially when I reflect on my work culture, I see so many people who are considered “good” at their job. It is easy to fall into a routine that results in basic performance. It is in the moments where we go above and beyond that we find greatness.
9. Pause once a day to understand your body, emotions, and how your body is reacting.
I am a huge advocate of meditation. After reading a few books on meditation last year, the best principals was that we need to reflect on how our body is feeling. If I feel tense it is due to a bad emotion. Your body reacts to your feelings. I now pause once a day to check in and course correct on my emotions if I am feeling out of sync.
10. Act on impulses, they are normally right.
If there is ever a moment in my life where I have regret, than I have failed. I do not want to look back at my life and look at a life of regret. If I have the urge to be the first person on the dance floor, I act. If I have an urge to take a trip, I book the trip. Life is to short to live in regret.
11. Always give 120%, you never know what tomorrow might bring.
With Multiple Sclerosis, as in many illnesses, I never know what tomorrow will bring. If I am going to do something, I have learned to go “all-in”. For me it is very simple, it is either a “hell yes” or a “no”. There is no giving a partial effort.
12. You have the power to change yourself when you cannot change the situation.
Last year, during certain situations, I let my emotions get the best of me. This year I have learned from my mistakes. Emotions (good or bad) are byproducts of how I react. If I can not change the situation to make it better, I need to change my perspective of the situation and the emotions that follow.
13. Always re-visit your goals. sometimes people and situations try to keep you where you are.
There is always someone else who has achieved my dreams. Throughout this year, I plan to remind myself of this fact whenever I feel down. We all get caught up in our situation, but if others have succeeded so can you.
14. Everyone is self-made but only the successful will admit it.
Those who fail and those who succeed all have one thing in common: their actions influenced their results. The lesson I take from this quote is that I need to work hard because either way I only have myself to blame for my success or demise.
15. Strive for the top because the bottom is overcrowded.
I wrote this one day last year and it really resonated with me. Why be the same as everyone else? We can all be unique and succeed in our own way. There is no reason to settle for average, and I don’t plan on it.
16. Thoughts create actions. Control your thoughts and you will control your actions.
Did you know that humans have 50,000 thoughts a day? What happens when all of those thoughts are negative? Once I was aware of this fact, I started to be conscience of what thoughts I have each day.
17. Be careful of the labels you give yourself because it defines your life.
I am lazy. I am unathletic. I am sick. I am crippled. The labels we give, lead to the lives we live. Especially with chronic illness, it is critical that I have positive self labels.
18. Negative emotions are action signals.
OK, ill admit it, I had some days where I was really upset last year. I would start to be negative and start to think of the worst case with my illness. I think we all have these days. My goal this year is to take those negative emotions and use them as ways to drive action in things I can change in my life.
19. What are your life metaphors?
Life is life a box of chocolates. A classic metaphor. What is yours? Think of a metaphor for how you want to handle life. This is a great tip I received last year and I plan on making metaphors for all aspects of my life. Think of them as guidelines for my life.
What did you learn from last year and let me know below!
Dave
