Three rules to own your life.
Want to run your own life instead of twisting yourself into impossible shapes by trying to live the way someone else thinks you ought to? Follow these three rules to take control of your life. Which is as it should be.
Own your time. Most people treat time like it is unlimited and pay no attention to how they use it. Life is finite and the sooner you face that fact, the better life gets because you start doing what is necessary to become the best you can be instead of wasting time on things you can’t control.
Start by saying ‘no’ to at least a few things that don’t add value to your life. Use that time to figure out what makes life meaningful for you. You will then start using your time more wisely, working on what matters to you. Time keeps flowing. Grab every moment and squeeze as much as you can out of it to create the life you want.
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” – Theophrastus
Take care of your health because nobody else will. Not because they don’t want to but because they can’t. Besides, everyone has their own priorities and will be looking to enhance their life, not yours. Don’t allow their priorities to take over your life. A good way to spend time is to use some of it to get healthier. Remove yourself from situations that don’t enhance your life. Volunteer. Spend more time outdoors. Eat better. Getting healthier physically and mentally gives you the energy and motivation to own more of your time and live more joyfully. As I mentioned in earlier posts, it lays the foundation for a good life.
“When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.” – Herophilus
Eliminate, don’t accumulate. Defeat busyness by eliminating and simplifying. Removing physical clutter frees up mental space too. Do you genuinely enjoy an activity or do you participate because of FOMO? Do you need to spend hours following the news or can you scan the headlines once a day and use the extra time working on something else? Simplifying your life instead of cramming it with things you don’t need instantly improves your sense of wellbeing.
“Besides the noble are of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.” – Lin Yutang
What about the money? When you action these rules, your life will transform and the money will follow. It becomes more of a side benefit rather than a dominant force in your life or something which causes worry. Picture a gold mine. Crowds of miners work hard to mine the gold for a wage but very few venture into unfamiliar areas to discover gold veins by themselves. When you follow these three rules, you will enjoy testing your limits and discovering more of life. And when you venture out, gold veins, undiscovered or ignored by others, will open up to you.