If you’re like me, you always strive to be more creative, have better ideas, take more action, and be more effective. I’ve tested the following habits consistently over the past few months, and they definitely help.
Some of these may seem obvious, and we know they’re good for us, yet they can be difficult to fully commit to. To get past this, it helps to look at them from different angles–to understand the full scope of why they are good for us, and to tackle them in small chunks, consistently.
1) Read
When you read, you’re consuming the thoughts of another person. Think of it as if you’re listening to somebody tell you about their experience. On top of that, reading is essentially exercising your brain. It subconsciously expands your vocabulary and strengthens your left-brain. Merely being exposed to words and stories on a regular basis helps your left brain connect your own words and stories when the time comes. After reading every day for a week, you’ll find yourself thinking, writing and speaking more eloquently without much effort.
2) Run
Apart from the obvious benefits of exercising, running is a powerful mental exercise. The most value comes from using your mind to push past the moment your body tells you to stop.
This may seem obvious. But the next time you go for a run, when you get to the point where your body starts complaining, consciously push yourself harder for 1 minute. You’ll stretch you limits physically and mentally, growing more in that 1 minute than in the rest of the run combined.
3) Journal
Albert Einstein enjoyed sailing during his adult life. He was known to entertain guests out on his sailboat. However, whenever the wind would die down, he would often ignore his guests and feverishly write in his journal until the wind picked back up, when he would shift his attention back to the people around him. For this reason, Einstein was regularly described as a “compulsive scribbler”. He would draw pictures, write questions, ideas, or anything that came to his mind. It was his way of organizing his ideas, and it served him well.
Everybody has their own way of making sense of the ideas in their head. Putting them down on paper is one way to progress an idea from being abstract to concrete. I’ve carried a small journal around with me for almost a year. It’s a part of my life for which only I get to create the rules, and I use it to gain clarity and make sense of my thoughts.
4) Live in the moment
Many entrepreneurs seem to have an automatic problem-solving mechanism constantly running in their brains. This makes sense, because there is always a potential for improvement and innovation, and entrepreneurs are the ones who take on that responsibility. However, any amount of creative success can be meaningless without emotional fulfillment behind it. For this reason, temporarily replacing your problem-solving brain with a more perceptive and present mindset is vital when it comes to consistently producing results. There must be a balance.
Every day, find time to let your worries and responsibilities slip away. It’s harder than it sounds, but can be done by appreciating the details of a sunset, spending time goofing off with friends, meditation, etc. Temporarily shutting off your problem-solving mechanism opens up space to feel gratitude, happiness, and to re-calibrate the why behind your hustle.
It’s tough to start a new habit because it always seems so daunting. This becomes a catch-22, because if you challenge yourself to do too much, then it will be too daunting to start, but if you challenge yourself to too little, you won’t reap much of the benefit.
Start with small, bite-sized chunks. You can build it up later once you get into a consistent routine. For example, challenge yourself to run every day for 2 weeks. Even if you run for 3 minutes one day, it counts as a win. The consistency of action is more important than the quality or quantity of each chunk of action itself.