12 Things You Can Do In One Day to Improve Your Life" by Neil Strauss

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:47:44 -0800

New Year's resolutions are a great way to set your intent for a positive, fulfilling year of growth and accomplishment. But, on the other hand, when the year ends, if you haven't completely fulfilled your resolutions, it can be frustrating. This usually happens because people's resolutions are often too vague, and don't include practical steps that lead to a clearly defined goal.

So today, by all means, make your usual big-picture resolutions.

But, in addition, I'm going to suggest you make some "sub-resolutions."

Each of these sub-resolutions is designed to give you a long-term benefit (some of them even for a lifetime) with a minimum amount of time and effort.

In fact, each of these sub-resolutions can be completed in anything from a few minutes to, at the very most, a few hours.

For most of you, many of these items fall into the category of things you've "been meaning to do." Since chances are that you've already accomplished at least a few of the items on the list below, there's no reason why you can't take half a day this week and get at least six more of the items below done.

So, in the interest of the betterment of your future, the management of your life, and the fresh start of a new year, here are:

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TWELVE THINGS YOU CAN DO IN ONE DAY TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE
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1. Call your cell phone provider. Ask if you can get a better calling plan based on your usage. This way you can afford to do the next item on this list.

2. Subscribe to a newspaper or magazine. Choose a topic that you don't know about - be it fashion, culture, politics, science, or technology - and sign up for the best periodical covering that topic. Rather than choosing an the most popular magazine, select one that offers the most in-depth and interesting coverage, like Wired for technology or Foreign Affairs for politics or Mental Floss for general culture or New Scientist (which last month had a handy
article on how to win at rock paper scissors) for science.

3. Get a passport if you don't have one. If yours has expired, get it renewed now. You don't want to get stuck at home while your friends are enjoying some great concert at the Acropolis in Greece. If you're a U.S. citizen, just go to most post offices with two acceptable photos of yourself, proof of U.S. citizenship, and a valid form of photo identification. You can find more information at http://travel.state.gov/passport

4. Register your full name as a web domain if you haven't yet.
You never know when you're going to want your personal website.
If www.Neil.com (or whatever it may be) is already taken, don't worry - there are alternatives.

For example, let's say your name happens to be James Joyce. And you discover that www.jamesjoyce.com is already taken because you just happen to share your name with one of the greatest authors of the 20th century. No problem. Just hyphenate your name, and get www.james-joyce.net or www.james-joyce.org. Or choose less common TLDs (or end letters) like jamesjoyce.ws. You'd be surprised by what you'll find at those sites. And you can get own for your very own name for less than the price of a meal at www.godaddy.com, www.networksolutions.com, and elsewhere.

5. Get business cards. Don't have a business? It doesn't matter.
Sites like www.vistaprint.com will send you 250 free ones (though there's a shipping fee of $5.45 or so). Never hurts to look professional. And when you get to Day 20 of Rules Of The Game, these will come in particularly handy.

6. Sign up for US Airway's e-Saver, Southwest's Ding!, American Airlines' Net SAAver, or any other wackily-named airline program that offers last-minute, low-cost travel options so you can take quick weekend getaway whenever you feel like it. Flights can be as low as $15.

7. Check your credit report for identity theft, or any other misinformation or errors that could harm your financial status and options. U.S. consumers are entitled to one free check a year at www.annualcreditreport.com.

8. Back that shit up. Most people don't take the time to do this, and regret it later. So copy your entire hard drive onto an external drive immediately; if possible, download a program like Achronis True Image that will simplify the restoring process and regularly make backups.

Also backup personal data on your cellphone, PDA, and any other device. While you're at it, make photocopies of your credit cards, passport, drivers license, social security card, birth certificate, and other important papers. If you keep a journal or anything similarly irreplaceable, photocopy that. Keep these in a safe deposit box, parent's house, locked file cabinet, or any other secure location. They'll be invaluable in the event of theft, loss, fire, dinosaur attack, or any other unplanned disaster.

9. Look through your refrigerator and cabinets. Read the labels on the food. Give anything high in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, and sodium to someone you don't like (just kidding). Then make a list of healthy alternatives, go to the grocery store, and restock. Here's what the government says you should do in a grocery store from now on: http://www.nutrition.gov/index.php?mode=whole_story&story_id=161

10. Make an appointment to get a physical exam from a trusted doctor.
Head off any potential medical problems that may hinder an active, fun year. Also recommended: make an appointment with a dentist to get your teeth cleaned if you haven't done so in the last six months. You may also want to call for an eye exam if you haven't had one in the last four years. (Make sure you get a second opinion if any of the above tries to talk you into any costly procedure.)

11. If you want to improve your appearance, you've probably already resolved to work out or join a gym. So here's a sub-resolution:
Buy a suit. (Or a dress if you're a woman.) But don't just get any suit. Get one that's slightly closer to the size you want to be this year, whether it be a little bigger or a little smaller than your current measurements. Try it on every morning as a reminder to yourself to stick with your fitness program; until, one day, it fits perfectly, and you wear it out and feel like a million dollars.

12. And as long as you feel like a million dollars, you might as well figure out how to make a million dollars. You can find out how much money you'll need to tuck away here: http://partners.leadfusion.com/tools/kiplinger/savings01/tool.fcs

Afterward, you should know just exactly what you're worth so you can figure out where you stand financially at the start of this year.
You can do so here: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/networth.html.

Phew. That looks like a lot. But set half a day aside, and knock them off the to-do list one at a time. You'll wake up the next day a new man. (Unless, of course, you're a woman.)

Alright, get cracking.

And have a great 2008.

Talk to you all soon.

Best,
Neil

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Why Am I The Way I Am?

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:16:59 -0700

Why Am I The Way I Am?

I’ve been labeled stubborn, a perfectionist, a hen-pecker, a hard worker, a worrier, obsessive compulsive, and that I’m my own worst critic.

Why do I act this way?

When I was 19, my first internship in the entertainment industry was at an all black production company. It was a time I affectionately refer to as, “7 black guys, and me.”

These were all amazing people. A couple of them were suburb kids, but the majority of them overcame poverty, strife, drugs, and other obstacles to become producers and executives.

The President of the company was pretty impressive. I’ll never forget one day, we were talking, and I had screwed up doing something and I apologized, because growing up in New England, I thought that’s what you did. You apologized and moved on. Instead of accepting the apology, he turned to me and said, “Don’t apologize, just do better.”

These people had more to live up to than just good intentions. They felt they had a responsibility to their communities and to their families, but more importantly, to themselves. They felt they had to accomplish more because of where they came from, and the only way to do that was to work harder than everybody else from back home. They had to accomplish what they set out to do, or else there was no point in doing it.

That summer, working with these amazing people had a very profound impact on me. It taught me that at the end of the day, all the good intentions and apologies in the world won’t change anything if you have nothing worthwhile to show for it.

It doesn’t matter how you want to act one day in the distant future, or what you wanted to achieve when you did that thing last weekend but didn’t get around to the big matters at hand. All that matters is what you accomplish right now!

So, I am in a constant state of asking myself, what am I doing right?

What could I do better?

How will what I do benefit the people around me?

What am I excited about in my life?

Who do I love and who loves me?

What am I doing that’s great and worthwhile?

What is not perfect yet?

What am I willing to do to make it the way I want it?

How can I do what is necessary to get the job done and enjoy it?

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12 Things You Can Do In One Day to Improve Your Life" by Neil Strauss

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Why Am I The Way I Am?