Useful LIM Life Habits
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Assuming you have the Big Questions addressed (What am I creating in life?), one can begin to work backwards and apply useful habits on shorter timeframes, such as:
Yearly
- Choose and set goals and accomplishments aligned with who you want to become, who you want to spend time with, and what your life contributions will be.
- Choose and plan vacations and relaxation periods, so you'll have fun things to look forward to.
Monthly
- Choose and set smaller goals that clearly move you towards your quarterly goals.
Weekly
- Make a schedule, determine where your productive blocks (or "achievement islands" as Koch calls them) will be; check your planner and eliminate surprises.
- Save & invest regularly: create a secure financial future.
Daily
Certain habits, repeated over a lifetime, deliver disproportionate rewards [1]:
- Get up early: spend the first quiet hours working on your true long-term priorities, improve health, feel prepared for the day.
- Prioritizing: choose what's important to do every day, and stop being driven by outside events and people.
- Meditation: increase your own inner clarity, solve problems.
- Exercise: boosts your health, attractiveness, self-esteem.
- Learning: maintain and enhance your mental agility and sharpness.
- Altruism: doing one selfless act per day boosts your own happiness.
- Nurturing: doing something for loved ones strengthens the relationship.
- Gratitude: giving thanks makes everyone feel good.
- Generosity: also makes everyone feel good.
- Relaxation: setting aside regular downtime will likely boost your creativity. As Koch notes, this means no email, no cellphone, no pager, no distractions.
- Never lying: keep life simple, cut anxiety, and build your reputation.
- Never worry: either take action or take no action; worrying is useless.
- Seek LIM in everything: always ask yourself how to get more with less, and you will do so.
| [1] | Koch, Richard (2004) Living the 80/20 Way Chapter 2, is where most of these Lifetime High-Payoff habits come from. |