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Have you ever thought that there has to be more to life than just having to go to work to pay the bills? That’s exactly why I wrote how to improve yourself in 7 easy steps.
Many of us go through life living each day with no true purpose. Not planning what our day is going to be like. Later on, those days becomes weeks, months, years, decades…and then we die. We may wonder in our dying bed, “What happened to my life?”. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to die with any regrets in my life!
Luckily many years ago at work, someone sent an e-mail with some motivational thoughts by a truly remarkable person that I had never heard of. It really touch me very deeply, and I even saved the e-mail to my desktop so I could read it every morning before starting to work.
The author of these powerful provoking thoughts was Robin Sharma. After seeing how just some his thoughts touched and inspired me from that e-mail, I’ve gone to read his books, listen to podcast, webinars and done his courses. He has truly helped changed my life for the better!
He has such powerful energy that is really contagious. When you listen to him, you immediately feel uplifted and see that there is hope for yourself. What I love about what he teaches is that it’s very practical advice and you can start applying many of his principles right away.
I’ve learned so much from Robin Sharma that it would take many posts to talk about it. However, below I’ll be give you an “appetizer” on some powerful principles I’ve learned from him.
1. Continue Learning
Some people may think that just because they are done with school that they don’t have to learn anymore. Others may feel that learning is a waste of time or money, since they went to college and they were not able to use the degree in the “real world”.
Yes, we can go to college and get a degree, but let’s not forget about our personal development. Our society is mainly focused on just teaching us things with the purpose of getting a “job”. However, what about learning personal development so when you die you can see that you lived an extraordinary life?
Robin has taught me that I can continue growing as a human being. That I have the ability to craft my life for a better future. Just because my past was not good, that does not mean that I’m cursed to live that way for the rest of my life. I have within me genius, I’m one of a kind, and that I have very important gifts to share with the world!
“Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.”
Robin Sharma.
2. Gratitude
Years ago, I was listening to some of Robin Sharma’s teaching and he talked about gratitude. He was the first person who taught me to write down what I’m grateful for.
This may seemed like a very ordinary thing, but I can’t express how powerful it is. When I sit down to write what I’m grateful for, it’s like one gratitude leads to the next and the next. I’m on a roll, and feel so abundant and grateful for all the good that is flowing in my life.
We have been taught by society to be negative, so at first it may seem challenging to write down what we are grateful for. However, this is just a matter of perspective. We can see things as challenges or as opportunities.
We can just start to write 3 things that we are grateful for. For example it could look something like:
- I’m grateful that I have a roof over my head.
- Thank you life for the clean water I have to drink.
- I’m so thankful that I can read.
Some people may feel that they have to wait for something amazing to happen in their lives to be grateful for. Yet, I’ve noticed that it’s usually the small ordinary things in life that I’m the most grateful for.
3. Protect Yourself From Energy Vampires
Energy vampires was a new concept for me. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a person who sucks out your energy. So after you are with them for even just a few minutes your feel exhausted.
I was so used to having energy vampires in my life that I didn’t even know it was a thing. That was the reason why I felt to drained after being with certain people.
Try this little experiment. For the few next days be really aware of the people you spend the most time with (friends, coworkers, family). Then after having a conversation with them for just 5 minutes, see how you feel.
- Are you uplifted after being with them?
- Do you feel about the same?
- Or do you feel very tired and just want to go to sleep?
See how many of them fall into the last category, these are the energy vampires. These are the type of people you want to stay away from, or spend the least amount of time with. They will drag you down.
I love myself so much that I’ve eliminated those energy vampires from my life (including some family members). You can send them love from a distance, but having them near you is not helping them nor yourself.
4. Exercise
The first thing I do in the morning is exercise! Since I wake up early, my body if very sleepy and I could easily fall back to sleep.
To make sure I exercise, I prepare the night before:
- I have my shoes and exercise clothes ready for me to put on when I go to the bathroom in the morning.
- There is also a full jar of water ready for me to drink to help wash away toxins in my body.
- On my computer, there is an exercise video ready to just hit play (this helps save time trying to search what to watch). I also have a motivational video playing next to it.
After doing some intense interval training, then I’m ready for some yoga!
As Robin teaches, when you exercise in the morning it helps release the feel good hormones dopamine and serotonin, and at the same time it helps reduce cortisol.
Therefore exercising is not only helping me stay in good shape, but it’s helping me produce these amazing hormones so I don’t have to fall back to sleep, and it gives me energy to start my day!
5. Wake Up Early
This was a very interesting concept to grasp at first. However, after practicing it for a while I completely agree that getting up early in the morning is a game changer in my life!
Yes, it’s not easy at first getting up early. However, I just think of the benefits such as:
- Most people are still sleeping early in the morning, so this is the perfect time to work on myself since there is less noise around me.
- With less noise there are less distractions, so I can really focus more on what I’m doing such as meditating or exercising, reading, etc.
- It ensures that I work on myself first before I’m ready to start to work, this has really helped my productivity.
- By working on myself first, I don’t have to worry if I’ll have “time” to exercise, do yoga, read, meditate, etc. they have already been completed.
- My days get longer, and I’m able to accomplish more.
It just feels good that I was able to “conquer the mattress” and that I did not give in. With this small win early in the day, it gives me the confidence to go and tackle other goals.
6. Schedule Your Day
I had never heard before about scheduling my day…You mean I get to plan my day so things don’t just happen by chance?
When we were in school, it seems that homework and going to classes is all we had to do. Society in a way had created a schedule for us. Then when we go to college, our classes are all over the place, so one day to the next may look different. This is when we first have to learn how to manage our time.
Many of us are not taught how to organize our day, so we accomplish less and get very frustrated saying there is not enough time.
Robin taught me the following:
“The things that get scheduled are the things that get done. ”
Robin Sharma
What a powerful concept! We all have 24 hours, but if we truly take the time to plan our days, it’s amazing how much more we can accomplish. Works for weekends as well. This ensures I get the most out of my days off.
There is no worse feeling than ending your day, and wondering “What happened, where did my day go?”. Then we get all sad that we did not get a chance to do so many things we wanted to do.
We don’t’ have to go through life as though we are just blown by the wind here and there. We can truly take the time to plan our days ahead to ensure that we do the things that truly matter.
7. Follow Your Passion
This is a very powerful idea. You may feel stuck at a job that you hate thinking that there isn’t a way out. Or if you got laid off, you may wonder what you are going to do next?
Just think the following:
Within you there is genius that is waiting to emerge. Why spend the best years of your life living someone else’s life? Why are you working long hours just to help fulfill someone else’s dream instead of working on yours.
If you lost your job, I’m truly sorry, I’ve been there and know how it feels. However, instead of worrying about what is going to happen, you can turn it around and think what gifts or talents are waiting to come out of you? Sometimes loosing a job is a way for the universe to show us that we are meant to be somewhere else.
I love how Robin says :
“ Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.”
Robin Sharma
How many people at your job are showing up to work like zombies? They are walking, but it’s as though they are dead inside. They are miserable being there, but are not willing to look for something better. Are you one of them? I’m sorry to say that there is no such thing as “job security”, that is just a myth. So you may as well do something that you love and are passionate about.
If a company is doing really well, there is a chance that the owner may sell it, leaving you at the mercy of the new owners. There are also possibilities of a merge happening, and no matter how hard you worked, you could loose your job. Also, the industry that you are working on could complete be gone over night.
I had a coworker that was offered the job of her dreams at a different company, but she didn’t take it because it was supposed to last for only a year. She wanted something more “stable”…about 2 months later we went through a merger and she lost her job. That was really sad. She used to get up at 3:30 am every day to get to work, and even came to work while having pneumonia. Then just like that, the company let her go.
Go after what truly makes you happy since there are no guarantees that you will have a job. Follow your passion! If you need to have a job while you’re working on your dreams then do it. But make a commitment to yourself that you will do something that makes you get up in the morning with “fire in the belly”, eager to start the day!
You are a precious living being and you deserve to be happy. You were put on this planet for a reason. Don’t die with all of your gift inside of you. We need them!
Conclusion For How To Improve Yourself
Life is so precious. With it are good times and bad times. There will always be people that come in and out of our lives. However, the only person that will always be with you is yourself.
Make sure to take really good care of yourself. Even if you had a really hard life, that does not mean that it will always be that way. Today can the be beginning of a new life for you. You can truly become a better version of yourself!
Robin Sharma is considered to be one of the top 5 leadership experts in the world. His work is embraced by rock stars, royalty, billionaires and many celebrity CEOs.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. It is truly my wish to be of benefit to you.
Remember there is only one you. Celebrate yourself! Let the real you come out and show all your magnificent gifts to the world!
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This is really good stuff. Personal and inner development really is the most powerful way to improve your business/work life success. I love Robin Sharma’s advice in this area. This advice from him really struck me:
“ Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.”
I really like the story you shared about the coworker who didn’t want to take a risk and instead played it safe, but how playing it safe actually made her end up losing out in the end. Everything is temporary, so we have to reach out and go for the things that are meaningful to us. We don’t want to live our life full of regrets because we always chose ‘survival’ over actually living. Because the truth is one day we are not going to survive, and then we’ll wonder if we ever truly lived!
I’m so happy that you enjoy it! Yes, “ Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.” is a very powerful quote. That’s why I think that’s important to live our dreams now and not just wait for the “perfect opportunity”; if not we’ll be waiting our whole lives. Robin Sharma is a phenomenal teacher, he has really helped me a lot, so now it’s my wish that others will benefit from his teachings. Thanks for stopping by, have a great day! 🙂