ACHIEVE WHATEVER YOU DESIRE

  • Home
  • About
  • About Johan
  • Contact

NEW YEAR – REFLECTION AND DIRECTION FOR 2016

December 30, 2015 by Johan

NEW YEAR – REFLECTION AND DIRECTION FOR 2016

The last couple of years I’ve taken the last day of the year to reflect. What have I done this year? What did I achieve? What people are important to me? Who should I spend less or more time with? What have I done the last week? The last month? How much money do I have left from last month, last year?

A good indicator of my next 365 days, is how I spend the average week today. If I’m constantly out of time to write and improve my work. Completely drained of energy after work. Missing brazilian jiu-jitsu practice. Not enough time to read interesting biographies of great people. There is a high probability that I will stay, tired and out of time for the whole next year.

 

What is really awesome, is that it’s rather simple to change. Not easy, but simple.

 

Just by taking 15 minutes to write some, read some, research some, Is VERY IMPORTANT. It’s a statement to yourself. That you will change! You are taking the necessary steps to achieve your dream. Let’s say I write for 15 minutes on Monday, 6 minutes on Tuesday, 22 minutes on Wednesday, 45 minutes on Thursday, 5 minutes on Friday, 90 minutes on Saturday and 120 minutes on Sunday. It adds up to 303 minutes! That’s five hours work. 20 hours in a month.

It might sound negligible. But it’s the catalyst for greatness. It’s a snowball that starts as a tiny ball. Just a handful of snowflakes, barely filling the palm. But given time, day after day, week after week, month after month, 365 days later. That’s 263 hours you’ve worked towards your dream.

 

 

Make every minute count. Because it could be your last.

Today I had lunch with my best friend. The one person that made me who I am today. He’s had an hell of an year. He’s lost two people really close to him. And a third he found out, after he was about to deliver the news of his own loss. I’m so sorry for him. One of them I was really close with and had helped me a lot in the gym. Make every minute you are alive, count. Do what you are passionate about as often as you can!

 

Every attempt we make, or situation we end up in. Will make us stronger or weaker.

 

By taking time to reflect. It helps us see what underlying behavior made us end up here. How we came to be where we are right now. The reason I’ve been stuck in the past, not going anywhere. Is because I didn’t have goals. Or I had goals but didn’t write them down. I didn’t have a clear action plan of what habit I should follow to achieve this goal. I just expected to get results from mindless repetition of the same action. It could work in some cases. But I had not thought it through and reflect on why I am doing this.

 

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

-Albert Einstein

 

 

This week I went to the library to lend “Think and Grow Rich”. This book has so many great things in it. I haven’t reread it fully yet, but what I would like to share are some questions you may want to ask yourself of the past year.

Picture of the book Think and Grow Rich

 

  • Have I attained the goal which I established as my objective for this year?

 

  • Have I done as best as I could, or could I have done even better?

 

  • Have I done as much as humanly possible?

 

  • Has the spirit of my conduct been harmonious, and cooperative at all times?

 

  • Have I allowed myself to procrastinate to my disadvantage and if so, to what extent?

 

  • Have I developed my personality and if so, how?

 

  • Have I used my time wisely by budgeting it, my costs, my income, and have I been conservative in these budgets?

 

  • How much time have I spent on unprofitable endeavors, that I could have done better things?

 

  • How may I use my time more wisely and be more effective the coming year?

 

  • Have I been guilty of any conduct which was not approved by my conscience?

 

 

These are 10 of 28 questions and many more worthwhile thoughts. It’s made a big impact on me. Especially the part of autosuggestion where you re-affirm your plan morning and night. In short:

Tell yourself what you want to achieve. What you are going to offer in turn. That you will practice what you know now. Until a plan realizes before you, showing how to achieve it. Then act upon it! Knowing that you will achieve your goal. With a calm and relaxed mind, there is no other way that you will achieve your goal. Write it down. Read it every morning and evening. Believe it.

 

Let this past year be a reminder

Whenever you feel the urge to procrastinate. Squash the thought and DO what you REALLY want. You are here reading this. You know what you want. You know what you need to do. You have my permission to do it. If you don’t find immediate success, just try again. Try it until you become a little better. Have faith and persistence.

When you are persistent, the magic starts to happen. When I first started my martial arts practiced. For the first 60 days. I just wanted to quit. It was so hard. Everyone was so good. I couldn’t do anything. Every day I wanted to give up. To quit. I gave up hundreds of times to the people I practiced with.

 

But I had faith and persistence

Knew this is something I had to do. So I showed up. Every week. Two or three times. Up to five times when possible. And I reaped the rewards. Now it’s 600 days later and I’ve overcome the urgency to quit. It’s much easier now then 599 days ago.

That urge to quit is still there, but now more like a fly that is easily squashed. When it used to be a huge lion roaring in my face making me tremble.

Picture of christmas tree

Take this last day of the year for self reflection. Find what went well. Practice what you need to achieve your desires. One small step every day.

 

PS. Remember,

Life is a fun game, and then we die.

Filed Under: Self inventory Tagged With: Achieve, bjj, Desire, Habit, Highly effective habits, Money, success, Wealth

Highly effective cleaning habits

December 28, 2015 by Johan

Highly effective cleaning habits

Something that is a priority in my own life is how I keep my house and myself. Having my bed made, apartment clean, well groomed and showered. Is a statement to myself. That I have my life in order. Ready to do more important things. I can have friends over without being embarrassed.

By making my bed every day. Taking care of my dishes after dinner. Hanging all my clothes or putting them away. Arranging my books in neat piles. Saving important mail I’ve received. Throwing away newspapers. Shows persistence and dedication. That all areas of my life are important to me.

If I would let the dishes pile up, have clothes lay about and a dirty bathroom mirror. It would affect my willpower to do greater things. It makes it easier for me to take that next step towards my dream.

 

Here are seven highly effective cleaning habits I use and hope you will find them useful.

 

A) Make a list of what needs to be done and check them one by one.

Picture of my list of cleaning tasks

By writing a list you get a overview of what needs to be done. Make sure to do boxes in front of the text and preferably make room for outline of an up arrow. The box is there to encourage you to complete the task and check it. The up arrow is for something you have resistance to doing. But you do it anyway and give yourself a “level up” when you’ve accomplished it and get to fill it in.

Picture of my journal with level up arrows

Think on difficult problems as a skill to level. The more you do it, the easier it gets. You could apply this to everything you do. Some days my journal is filled with five level ups stacked above each other and that feels great!

 

What I do every day:

  • Wash the dishes.
  • Wipe the dinner table.
  • Wipe  bathroom sink, mirror and toilet.
  • Hang clothes that could be used again or put away to be washed.

 

What I do every week:

  • Empty trash cans.
  • Wipe kitchen cabinets.
  • Wipe living room surfaces.
  • Vacuum and mop the floors.
  • Wash my clothes and bed sheets.

 

What I do every month:

  • Clean behind the stove.
  • Wipe all door handles and around them.

 

 

 

B) Practice mindfulness

A simple trick I use is to simply focus on this one task. I just do this one thing until it gets done. I don’t plan what next item on the list is. Or thinking about what I’m going to do at the gym. Or anything else. I just focus on my breath and what I’m doing. Most of the time I get completely lost in my thoughts and two minutes later I realize that I’ve lost my focus. That I told some imagined story or made a plan after I get done cleaning. That’s fine, I will just focus again on my breathing and the task I’m doing. Sometimes I get lost five times in one minute. Sometimes more! But that’s okay. I just acknowledge I got lost in my thoughts and focus again on my breathing.

Picture of a monk sitting down meditating

Practice mindfulness every moment to get more things done

This might be unfamiliar at first. But with practice I’ve come to love it. It puts me closer to achieve flow. Total immersion in the task makes me feel more alive. Intune with myself and my surroundings. It makes the task easier to accomplish because I’m not in a rush to accomplish twenty other things at once. Practice mindfulness helps me be calm.

+Every time you do the dishes, practice mindfulness. Feel each plate you wash. Just focus on this plate and get it clean. Put it away. Focus on this plate you are about to wash. Feel it completely. Wash it with care. This builds your mindfulness. By being more mindful you learn how to handle high stressful situations better. When you feel you are about to be overrun by worry or doubt, take a deep calm breath and focus on it.

 

 

C) Take instant action

By doing things immediately you train yourself to take instant action. As soon as you notice something that needs to be done, take instant action and get it done. This is a powerful technique to build. It gives you confidence to achieve other great things. That you are not a procrastinator, but a DOER. Every instant action you take compounds into effortless action.

Example: I didn’t wipe my bathroom mirror regularly before. I did it when I noticed it was dirty. At that point it had probably been dirty for a week but I hadn’t noticed it. My mind was so used to my surroundings. That I didn’t notice how it gradually got worse and worse. Until it finally hit me, how dirty it was.

Now I wipe my mirror and bathroom sink after every shower. The humidity of my shower helps me loosen the dirt to easily be wiped of with a towel or paper. Super easy and takes less then 30 seconds.

> You will have a spotless mirror and sink every day.

>> While you are at it, wipe your toilet with paper on the top, seat, outside and inside.

 

Be prepared and clean things before they get dirty.

 

 

 

D) Set queues when you need to do x.

Something that have helped me a lot. Is setting queues for when I will clean things. Automating good habits helps me a lot! Here are some examples:

Right after dinner >>> Do the dishes! By doing it immeadleaty after dinner I build my habit of taking instant action.

Before or after a girl comes over >>> Take out the trash! This makes me also wipe the important areas in the bathroom like mirror, sink and toilet. If I don’t have a girl over I make sure to do it at least twice a week.

Every Saturday morning >>> Water my plants! That’s the only day I have “off” from work and have a relaxed morning with focus on mindfulness. Do most of my cleaning in the morning or noon. Once a week is generally enough.

After I’ve watered my plants >>> Vacuum and mop the floors! While practicing mindfulness. Take extra care to focus on my ritual of vacuuming and mopping the floor. I see it as a ritual.

 

By creating a ritual of cleaning habits, it makes it easier to follow through. Even if I’m dead tired after work and just had two hours martial art practice. I do my dishes after I’ve eaten. If I would let it go as I do once in a while it creates a ripple effect in other areas of my life. For example when I don’t do my dishes and let it be. Next day I will have to do it, but I don’t feel like it. So I cook dinner with my other kitchen ware and let it be again. The third day I need to buy food and prepare my lunch for the next day. But I feel even less of doing it now. So I cook some frozen vegetables and beans from the cupboard. Now the fourth day I have a ton of dishes to wash, and my refrigerator is empty, and I have to prepare my lunch for tomorrow that I have no food for.

When I just do my dishes, I happily prepare my lunch for tomorrow and notice early when it’s time to shop grocery’s. Be persistent and it will pay off.

 

 

E) Remove clutter

 

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

-Henry David Thoreau

 

Having many possessions is a indicator of a cluttered mind. With every thing we have, there is a responsibility of upkeep. If I have a lot of furniture and small things. Every piece of furniture and stuff needs to be cleaned. With less stuff, I need to clean less. Saving me time for more important things.

Every Saturday I take out a big trash bag and look at my stuff and question myself, “what can I be without?”

Every time I make it a mission to donate one thing. Sell if it has value. Or just trash it.

By doing it every Saturday I free myself of possessions.

+Sell your tv. It made me 10 times as productive and less likely to procrastinate.

+All the commercials made me want to buy things I really didn’t need.

 

 

F) Set a goal of when I’ve done x, I get to do fun Y!

Y, is your fun reward after you’ve done x. Practice this when you are really struggling to complete something. Take a minute to visualize what you need to do. Visualize what you will do afterwards as a reward.

Your reward could be anything you want. Reading a good book. Going to the gym to hit your chest. Call up your girl or go out and flirt with one. Try to implement it in other areas of your life.

What stops you from doing X?

How can you make it easier to do X?

Do X >>> Do fun Y!

 

 

G) JUST DO IT

 

 

Filed Under: Highly effective habits Tagged With: cleaning, Highly effective habits

Subscribe to my mail list

If you want updates and get more great content, subscribe below!

Recent Posts

  • Why you urgently need to start a business this year
  • NEW YEAR – REFLECTION AND DIRECTION FOR 2016
  • Highly effective cleaning habits
  • How the daily practice could help you as it has helped me
  • The daily practice to reinvent yourself

Recent Comments

    Categories

    • Being present
    • Desire
    • Health
    • Highly effective habits
    • Rants
    • Relationships
    • Self inventory
    • Wealth

    Tags

    5 minutes Achieve bike bjj cash cleaning Desire Earn more f-you money faith Girls Gym Habit Health Highly effective habits Lifting Meditate Money own boss Procrastination save 70% skills Start a business Strength success Three chapters a day Wealth work

    Archives

    • March 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015

    Copyright © 2022 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in