Inspired by the post 100 Tips for a Better Life I decided to make a current state of tips from my personal experience. I call this list
Tips For A Better Life 2020
because my plans are to give an update post after each year at the same time of the year, to see which tips I still use, which new tips I gained and which tips I dropped. I will call the future posts “Tips For A Better Life 2021”, “Tips For A Better Life 2022” and so on. Keep in mind this works for me for now and I’m open to change, nothing is fixed. Also only because this works for me doesn’t mean that this works for everyone, but you know from now on that this worked for someone else and you might just try out a tip if it works for you if you never ever heard of it before. This list is also totally unordered and uncategorized. I just write down what I experienced. Let’s go:
#1
Taking care of your diet. I tried a lot of different diets in combination with different fasting variants. It seems to be that I feel the best if I follow the 3-6-9 cleanse and avoid radical fats (oil, chicken, eggs, bacon, milk, yogurt, nut butter, avocado, etc), salt, drop protein supplementation. Get Vitamin B12 supplementation, don’t eat meat. Mainly plant-based food. That doesn’t mean I never make exception, but since I tried a 3-6-9 cleanse, I realized this seems to be good enough to feel good and still have energy, also in my routine I try to keep at least the medical medium morning cleanse (after waking up 500ml lemon or lime water, waiting 15-30min, 500ml fresh celery juice on empty stomach, waiting 15-30mins for a fresh fruit-vegetable smoothie (e.g. bananas, berry-mix, apples, carrots, tomatoes).
#2
Gym owners, personal fitness gurus, you name them will hate me for this. First of all you don’t need a gym, personal coach or a mobile app to stay fit, second all exercises are freely available on the internet. Buy yourself some gymnastic rings and install them at home. Buy some medium parallette bars. Also buy a pack of Resistance Bands and a Weighted Vest. Do the following: Monday Morning start with some stretching especially the legs 5-10 mins. Then do exercises with the parallettes. L-Sit 3 sets each set 12 Sec with 3mins breaks between each set (Why 3mins? read this). Then do some Swings in the best case with a planche also 3 sets and each set with 10 reps with 3mins break each set. Then do some push ups with the parallettes. This shold take around 35min-40min. After this go for a 10k run which should take around 1h (try to don’t track and don’t listen to music). So in total you will spend around ~1h 40m on Monday Morning, also you can try different exercises with the parrallettes (e.g. How To TRAIN with PARALLETTES). Why doing this long run on mondays? Becuase it’s a big challenge and if you achieve that challenge on monday, the rest of the week is easy going… Wednesday Morning start with a upper body warm up in combination with a squats. First start doing 20 reps of squats warm up with the lightest resistance band, then do 20 reps warm up of band pull aparts with the lightest resistance band. Then do the first set of squats with 15 reps with the weighted vest (add weights to reach you limit) in combination with a stronger resistance band, try to go to your limit but only so far that you can still achieve the 15 reps. Set a timer to 3mins break, but during that time do 20 warm up pull arms apart and over head reps with the lightest resistance band, wait until the 3mins are over. Do the second set of squats with 15 reps like you did in the first set. Set a timer to 3mins break, but during that time do 6-8 warm up reps of controlled external and internal rotations, wait until the 3mins are over. Do the third set of squats with 15 reps. Then do three sets with 15 reps of ring dips with a 3 min break between each set. Then do three sets with 10 reps of ring pull ups with a 3 min break between each set. Then do three sets with 10 reps of ring leg raises, more advanced combine with leg raises to the site, also here do a 3 min break between each set. The last set is to do three sets with 10 reps push ups with the rings, you can start with normal one then combine with doing more wide push ups for a bigger chest, also here with 3 min break between each set. You will spend around 45m-1h Friday Morning Do the same what you did on the Wednesday but add at the end three sets of Skin the Cat with at leas one rep, also do a break of 3mins each set. The whole workout on this day should take around 1h. Keep in mind to start small for all the days if you are not trained at all, also if something is to easy use an additional resistance band for the squats for example or use additional weights on the weighted vest. Do these exercises for 8-10 weeks and then do a one week break to let your body recover and just take a break, then repeat. I started doing this routine in march when corona took over and the gyms needed to close. See the result after around three months, but I trained already years ago. Have fun and start with small steps 💪
#3
If you work in front of a display, buy an adjustable standing desk and a good chair. Then alternate 2-3 hours between standing and sitting if you have to work for longer hours.
#4
Since sleep is really important, buy a good mattress in combination with a pillow that works for you. I tried sleeping without pillow and had in the beginning benefits especially for the back but my overall sleep was still not good enough, so I decided to go back to sleep with a pillow that just fits to me. Also regarding sleep I can recommend reading the book Why We Sleep
#5
Keep your sleep cycle to 7-8 hours and use the same timeframe each day, even on the weekends. Try to wake up without setting an alarm.
#6
Read what you love until you love to read. Reading a book lets you deep dive in a focused way without distraction into a topic.
#7
Learn to program and let robots work for you 👨💻 e.g. scraping and fill an app with content
#8
Since everybody has 24h a day and when someone ask me why I have so much time to do things, one reason is that I have no serious relationship, where some time needs to be spend. I save that time. Also no children or pets to care about. That doesn’t mean I don’t like having a relationship, pets or children, but it’s just a fact that this saves me time. You could argue that isn’t a tip for a better life, but if other things have more priority for the moment, then the amount of time you save you can invest in things you love to do, also you have more time to spend with friends.
#9
Surround yourself with positive people. Avoid toxic people even if it’s family or even if you knew these people long time ago. Accept that people change for the better or worse and then it’s time to let go.
#10
Don’t follow the news and social media, it’s too much noise. And people will tell you anyway about the most highlighted news…
#11
Take cold showers every morning if possible. To stay motivated and don’t get sick again.
#12
Meditate to calm down and just be. 15 mins each morning and each evening seems to be enough. First try to notice you whole body, notice your fingers, your hands, go on until you noticed every part of your body, then focus on the breath, 4 seconds inhale, 4 seconds break, 4 seconds exhale until the 15mins are over.
#13
Try to stop looking at displays at least 2h before bedtime.
#14
Be open to try new things out. You never know if what you try out is fun and if not then at least you tried.
#15
Travel to different places and countries to get out of your bubble (The Disadvantage is the air pollution, when you travel by plane, so also try to travel just by train to nearby countries…). What you read and watch in the media mostly doesn’t reflect reality. It’s just a snapshot. Even if someone tells you a story about his or her travels this story is about what he or she experienced as a snapshot at this time. Make your own experience. You will see the world with different eyes if you have travelled to different places and met people from other countries.
#16
Try to drink tap water if it’s possible for you.
#17
Use supplements like NAD-Booster, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2, Sulforaphane, Resveratrol, Omega-3, Zinc, Magnesium.
#18
Don’t judge someone after the first time you met him or her.
#19
Try avoid gossiping about people. Life is so much better.
#20
To be still connected and be focused just batch answer once a day and put your phone in another room or even in the basement until the next day.
#21
Delegate. If you don’t have the time and it’s cheaper that someone else can do the task for you, then do it e.g. let someone else write a blog post about a topic for a website… I can recommend for example Fiverr.
#22
Be honest. It’s just good for you in the longterm
#23
Try to do always your best. That also means remind yourself at every moment if something is good for you.
#24
If you live in a city, you probably don’t need a car. You save a lot of money and have less stress in general e.g. no reparation, tax costs. Ride the bike or use public transportation instead. If you need a car, just rent one for a day or call an uber or use an electric scooter e.g. lime.
#25
Try out to water fast for three days once a year. No matter how good the health benefits are, but it will teach you discipline and to be grateful for the food you can have every day.
#26
If you are talking to someone, put your phone away. Also disable all notifications of apps. Don’t let the apps control you, you should control the apps.
#27
Try to listen and understand the person you talk to.
#28
Try to not have money as motivator in mind. Money is something artificial. It doesn’t exist.
#29
If you try something out new don’t expect that you make big progress from one to another day. Be patient, it takes months if not years.
#30
If you make mistakes be self-compassionate and also say sorry. Nobody is perfect.
#31
Do Journaling every day and reflect. It could be a five minute journal or just writing down your thoughts. If you reflect you’ll be surprised what you’ve experienced in the time frame you reflect.
#32
If you have an idea talk about it. Get feedback from others. Everyone has a different opinion and maybe someone will tell you something you haven’t thought about…
#33
Regarding time I stopped watching TV, I’m not having a Netflix Subscription or anything similar. This saves a lot of time to create things.
#34
Create more than you consume.
#35
Allow yourself once in a while to make exceptions.
#36
Having Routines in the morning and evening can help saving time and avoid stress.
#37
Don’t label yourself. If you label yourself you limit yourself to the label.
#38
I left church (to stop paying church taxes) and basically have no religion. Why paying for something if you don’t use it. And only if nothing is written on paper that doesn’t mean you believe in nothing.
#39
Walk straight with your shoulders back. People will realize you different and talk to you different.
#40
Avoid alcohol and cigarettes.
#41
Say thank you.
#42
Try to see always the positive in every bad thing what happened. e.g. corona happened, you realized that you don’t need a gym to be able to train.
#43
Try to enjoy every moment you have. You never know if you will have the chance to experience that moment again. Remind yourself that you will die someday.
#44
If quotes motivate you just write them down on paper and put them somewhere where you see them everyday.
#45
Use reminders. Delegating things to robots… It will help you to be more reliable to yourself and to others.
#46
Use Alfred or a similar tool to have the latest things you copied in the clipboard always available to save time.
#47
Use the 20-20-20 Rule to avoid eye strain. You take a 20-second break from looking at a screen every 20 minutes. During the break you focus on an object 20 feet (~6 meters) (or just close your eyes) away, which relaxes the eye muscles.
#48
Use a reMarkable 2 to write down your notes and have them directly digital available.
#49
Try to read twice to make less mistakes.
#50
Have a sentence which motivates you to do things which you are first afraid of like “Welcome to the party”.
#51
Try to have no expectations. You will be less annoyed.
#52
Try some breathing methods for meditation or when you feel it’s harder to fell asleep.
#53
Write down what you have in mind in some kind of notebook where you have always access e.g. Evernote, Notion or even a paper notebook.
#54
Try to walk always the stairs instead using the elevator.
#55
Use noise cancelling headphones if you want to work deep and focused.
#56
If you feel tired in the afternoon take power naps. Set a timer to 20mins.
#57
Use a watch with a vibration for timers or alarms. No sound compared to sound leads to less stress.
#58
Try to take a walk outside every day for 30mins-1h.
#59
If you have the chance to do a 4-day work week. Try it. Working from Monday to Thursday and then you will have Friday to Sunday 3 days time to do whatever you want and recharge.
#60
If you don’t like something try to change. If you don’t change the situation will stay the same.
#61
Don’t change yourself for others because they expect that. Stay true to yourself as long as you don’t hurt anyone.
#62
You can’t change the past, so don’t look back. You can just learn from the past. You can still influence the future but therefore you have to do something NOW to influence it. So in the end everything brings you back to the NOW.
#63
If you want to pick things from the bottom don’t bend, squat down to pick things up. You train and at the same time you do something good for your back.
#64
Do work where the main motivator is fun and money at most secondary.
#65
Remind yourself that life is like a game. Then you won’t take everything so serious.
#66
Create something and put it out in the world. It doesn’t have to be perfect e.g. like this post. Nothing is perfect.
#67
Remind yourself that the way is the goal. You don’t want to look back at your life and regret that you didn’t do specific things. You want to look back with a smile 😁
#68
Stop watching live events and instead watch summaries of it. e.g Apple Event - November 10 with 49mins duration compared to a Summary with 10mins duration.
#69
Avoid following on social media. You will see things which reflects only a small percentage from a life of someone e.g. vacation pictures, tasty food, smiling people, etc. The truth is mostly that you don’t see the 99% of the rest of the story. Keep this quote in mind:
In the age of Facebook and Instagram you can observe this myth-making process more clearly than ever before, because some of it has been outsourced from the mind to the computer. It is fascinating and terrifying to behold people who spend countless hours constructing and embellishing a perfect self online, becoming attached to their own creation, and mistaking it for the truth about themselves. That’s how a family holiday fraught with traffic jams, petty squabbles and tence silences becomes a collection of beautiful panoramas, perfect dinners and smiling faces; 99 percent of what we experience never becomes part of the story of the self. It is particularly noteworthy that our fantasy self tends to be very visual, wheras our actual experiences are corporeal. In the fantasy, you observe a scene in your mind’s eye or on the computer on a tropical beach, the blue sea behind you, a big smile on your face, one hand holding a cocktail, the other arm around your lover’s waist. Paradise. What the picture does not show is the annoying fly that bites your leg, the cramped feeling in your stomach from eating that rotten fish soup, the tension in your jaw as you fake a big smile, and the ugly fight the happy couple had five minutes ago. - 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
#70
Have hobbies where you don’t have money as a motivator at all.
#71
Live minimalistic. Just buy what you really use everyday or often not only what you use once in a while. Also experiences, good friendships and being healthy are more important than owning things e.g. I have a small flat therefore I pay less than one quarter of my minimum income, therefore I think less about money and when you are not forced to think about money life seems to be better.
That’s it for now. Maybe there is more, maybe I forgot something, maybe something is unclear, maybe something makes no sense at all, but these 71 points help me right now to have a better life. Also this list is far from being perfect and it will definitely change over time. Why should it change? Because a lot of things took me years to figure out and a lot of times I thought I found something good and after some time I realized there is something better or it’s not really working out, but in the end that’s totally fine. Be open for change and accept that something you’ve believed in for so many years isn’t true or is just not working for you.
Maybe you can use and try something out for yourself from the list. See you in around one year.