In this world, everyone wants to live a great & pleasant life. But, it can happen only if we understand the game of life, follow its rules, and play it well.
When we learn important lessons of life, keep them in our mind, and follow them when situation demands so, life becomes simple, enjoyable and a positive experience.
Whereas, when we live in ignorance, violate certain rules, and do too many mistakes, then life become complicated, full of problems and a painful journey.
Following are 11 simple & practical tips which can help you to make your life a pleasant and beautiful journey :-
1. Keep your body healthy and fit
We need to keep our body fit till the end of our life. From smallest to biggest jobs we need it, that’s why it’s said that “Health is the real wealth”.
Human body is a pure machine, if you know basic details about how it works, and follow them consistently, your health will mostly remain good.
Following are some basic factors which influence human body, take care of them :-
- Lifestyle – Waking up early ( before 6 am ) and sleeping early ( before 10 pm ) is the best thing. If you can’t do this, at least maintain a consistent schedule, because fluctuating your sleep and life cycle too much is not good. It confuses the natural clock of body and harms the functioning of many parts of body.
- Diet – Eat healthy and nutrient rich food like fruits, cooked vegetables & cereals, milk products etc. in right amount according to need of your body and lifestyle. Avoid overeating, junk food, smoking, alcoholic drinks as much as possible.
- Exercise – From jogging to yoga, and gym to sports, everything is helpful. Here, following right methods and consistency is the key. Just 30 minutes of exercise can keep you fresh and strong for entire day.
- Sleep – Doctors recommend 6-9 hours of “good quality” sleep for an adult. It heals the body and prepares it for next day. It’s simple and powerful, both for body and brain. Never compromise with it, unless it’s unavoidable.
- Nature – Clean air, pure water & sufficient sunlight is very important for body. Most of us don’t notice, but we consume lot of air when we breathe, its quality plays a significant role in functioning of our internal systems. So, if possible, try to get some fresh air & sunlight every day.
2. Make your mind healthy and strong
Life keeps throwing new challenges & opportunities every day. How well a person can face a challenge depends on his/her level of mental strength.
If you understood the importance of below mentioned qualities and worked on growing them to a high level, your life will change forever. Take a look at them :-
- Enjoyment – We don’t have to be very rich, famous or intelligent to enjoy life. Simple things like spending quality time with family & friends, watching our favorite movie/ TV show, listening to nice music, playing some outdoor game, remembering our positive memories etc. can give us lot of joy. Sometimes, we blindly run towards distant pleasures and ignore those which are already available.
- Calmness & Focus – Pay attention only to things that actually matters in your life, don’t waste your time & energy in doing useless tasks. Don’t overload your mind with irrelevant information & think only when you really need it. Mind will always remain calm, relaxed & smoothly focused on essential things.
- Courage & Confidence – When a courageous person faces a threat, he doesn’t keep thinking about his probable harm & problems it will bring, he tries to find out a way to avoid being harmed & then take calculated risks. That’s how he faces problems boldly. Confidence comes with capability, which comes with knowledge & practice. Lionel messi can be confident about scoring a goal on football ground, but, can he be confident about scoring a century in a cricket match ? Most probably NO, unless he has some hidden talent !!!
- Self-control & Self-discipline – Having strong control on what we see, listen, say, eat & drink can save us from all kind of harmful things in the world. Deep analysis and thinking about the impact of an action on our life can help in developing smooth & strong self-control. Self-discipline makes our entire life well organised & systematic, it also makes life simple & stable.
- Hard work & Patience – Working hard to achieve goals & waiting till right time to enjoy the fruits is almost a rule in every field of life. Many successful people whom we know through TV & Internet, work 8-15 hours a day , and it generally takes them 5-10 years to reach a high level of success.
3. Become a smart & intelligent person
When we talk about intelligence, many people start thinking about Einstein, Newton, noble prize winners, businessmen, chess players etc.
But, intelligence is a very broad and dynamic thing. It’s not limited to math, science, office tables and heavy books.
Intelligence is basically about the strength of certain parts of our brain, which are involved in doing specific and different functions.
So, a painter, writer, actor, footballer, politician, businessmen, scientist, banker, farmer etc. all have different types of intelligence.
We need a certain level of intelligence in every job that we do, both in our personal and professional life.
Here is a set of simple brain skills, growing which can boost your productivity and efficiency in a significant manner :-
- Decision making & Problem Solving – What to do ? “ Eat a burger & cold drink , or follow the diet suggested by dietitian” , “ Continue further studies or get a simple job quickly ” , “ Complete my pending projects or watch a football match & enjoy ”. We take such decisions frequently in life, good decision making skills can help a lot. On the other hand, Problem solving skill helps to find the root cause & possible solutions of a problem.
- Planning & Management – Planning helps us in preparing for things like job interviews, tough sales targets, holiday trips, date with a girl, daily schedule, future goals etc. whereas management teaches us how to distribute & utilize available resources in a well organized manner.
- Reasoning & Analysis – Reasoning skills grow by using logic, questioning basic assumptions, trying to deeply understand established theories, instead of blindly following or accepting them. Analysis is the art of breaking down a big piece of information in to many small parts, then deeply examining each part to understand the entire topic in a step by step manner.
- Imagination & Creativity – Close your eyes, think about something related to your past, present or future ; Imagine real locations, objects, people, activities related with that situation ; it will take you closer to reality of that moment. It helps in understanding or predicting things more accurately. To boost creativity use existing ideas or objects and merge them to create a better one. For example, we use milk, water, coffee powder, sugar and heat to prepare coffee, which is a more advanced level of liquid food.
- Memory & Concentration – Memory is the art of storing, retaining, and recalling a piece of information from our mind. Avoiding overloading of mind, being focused while doing a work, deeply understanding different aspects of a subject, using the information stored in our mind frequently, are some simple ways to boost our memory. Doing interesting things, working at a noise-less and clean place, doing 1 work at 1 time, doing some meditation ( 10-60 minutes ), getting good sleep etc. can improve our concentration level.
4. Make yourself a virtuous & nice person
In simple words, a person who has good habits, wisdom & purity in his mind, and, who helps others, is a virtuous person.
We love to spend some time with a nice person by talking / playing with him, even watching him from a distance is a good experience. Due to some reason it gives us some joy.
Nice people are able to enjoy their own company, as their minds are full of positivity, wisdom, maturity, good thoughts, & pure feelings.
Following are some virtues which you can acquire, and then improve the way you think and feel :-
- Self honesty & Open mindedness – A simple formula here is, tell minimum lies to others , only when it’s difficult to speak truth due to some reason, but, don’t fool yourself, try hard to face every good & bad truth of your life. Being open-minded is about accepting new ideas to improve our existing knowledge. It helps us to grow as a person.
- Humbleness & Forgiveness – Even when you have all kind of success & pleasure in life, be thankful to people who have helped you, behave well with others, and, stay miles away from arrogance. Humbleness is about “keeping your feet on ground even when you are flying high in the sky“. Don’t scold or insult others for small mistakes, forgive them the way you forgive yourself. But, be careful with those who intentionally harm you.
- Love & Admiration – At least love those who love you, it’s better to love those who have nothing to do with you, and, it’s great to love those who hate you ( it’s very difficult, seriously ). But, be practical, don’t go and start hugging random people. Just having some warmth in behaviour is enough. Admire & encourage others when they do something good or challenging. They will get some motivation, and you will get some joy & respect. But, don’t do formal & plain flattery.
- Tolerance & Contentment – Having capacity to tolerate any type of problems of life like physical, mental, social, financial sufferings etc. is tolerance. It makes us wiser and saves us from getting disturbed by small issues. Contentment is about appreciating and being satisfied with what we have in our life. So, while it’s good to work hard for a better future, it’s also important to enjoy our present.
5. Acquire good knowledge about life and world
Knowledge is a very powerful tool for life, as it helps us in facing different situations of life well, in understanding the world in which we live, and in making ourselves a broad-minded person.
Gaining knowledge and learning is a never ending process, it’s not limited to school, college or job.
We can learn small things everyday, which will become a huge collection of information within few months or years.
Following are some basic tips about how to collect and use knowledge :-
- Sources – We can learn things through any medium like books, magazines, newspaper, TV, movies, internet, conversation, or anything else.
- Topics – Basic knowledge related to topics like body, mind, brain, human behaviour, ethics, society, religion, culture, politics, science, technology etc. is helpful for most people. But, you should also learn things related to your specific needs, which depend on your nationality, society, religion, age, education, employment, health, personality, interests etc.
- Standard – Any standard ranging from low to medium to high is fine, as long as it’s enough for your use and easy to understand. For example, if you want to drive a bike of 150 cc, it’s useless to read the user manual of a 1000 cc bike.
- Amount – Mostly, collect only that information which you will use in next 1-2 years, in adequate amount. Too little won’t be enough, and, too much will be a wastage of time & energy. Decide it for yourself.
- Rate – It depends on your lifestyle, schedule, requirement, and capability. It can vary from 30 minutes to 3 hours per day, for most people. Learning at a normal pace is good, running too fast often leads to stress and confusion.
- Learning – While reading, listening or watching something, we should keep our mind focused, alert, unbiased, patient, & active to understand things clearly. Quality of our analysis will decide the quality of lessons which we will gather.
- Retaining – Keep revising the knowledge on a regular basis ( daily/weekly/monthly ). Avoid plain memorizing of words & lines, instead, focus on understanding the concepts ; it’s simpler & stronger way of keeping things fresh in mind.
- Using – Knowledge we gather is in basic or raw form, so, we have to modify it according to need of the specific moment, to make it practical.
6. Make enough money and use it well
Money is very important for our basic needs like house, food, clothes, education, health etc. and for our more advanced needs like furniture, gadgets, vehicles, luxury, entertainment, show off ( just kidding ) etc.
In many ways, money can help us in fulfilling many of our dreams.
Though, being a millionaire is not required to fulfil needs and desires of most people , making sufficient money is almost compulsory for everyone.
Following are some tips to improve the health of your financial life :-
- Earn enough – Choose a right job after looking at your education, skills, mental qualities, financial status, interest etc., then gain sufficient level of expertise in it for initial 2-5 years ; now combine hard work, smart work & consistency. Financial success will be at your doorstep.
- Spend thoughtfully – “Money is powerful, it can make lives or destroy them”. Use money carefully to arrange best possible lives for yourself & your family. But, always stay away from foolish, unethical & illegal things like addiction to comfort, overspending, alcohol, drugs, prostitution, gambling etc.
- Keep growing – Improving the quality of effort & expertise, increasing the scale of work, thoughtful investment in private sector etc. can make you lot richer in future. If you try well, then your rented 2 BHK apartment at 25, can get replaced by a luxurious villa at 35. Not too fast, but nice.
7. Build a network of positive relationships
Our interaction with other human beings lead to creation of different relationships with family, relatives, friends, neighbours, office colleagues, and others.
Relations are mostly about give and take. Generally, we want some kind of physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, social,or, financial benefit from others.
By behaving in a responsible and intelligent manner, we can create a strong network of positive relations, which can act as a support system for our entire life.
Following are some tips to develop positive relations with others :-
- Give – Do your part of duty in a responsible manner. Don’t become selfish & think about others. Help others whenever possible. Remember, your attitude will decide the behaviour of others with you.
- Get – Understand what’s your fair reward, demand it in a proper way without any hesitation. If someone is selfish or disrespectful, then, either change your approach with that person, or, reduce his importance in your life.
- Priority – Find out how important a person is in your life. Then, spend your time & effort on him accordingly. Never ignore crucial people, and, don’t waste your time for less important people.
- Optimum level – Don’t overload your life with too many useless or formal relations. On the other hand, living in an isolated world can also be quite boring and tough. Be wise & maintain right balance.
8. Become socially and politically aware
It’s true that majority of our life is limited to family, friends, neighbours, relatives, job, TV, internet, smartphone, travelling etc.
But, it’s also true that our life gets influenced by the big and powerful systems, which exist in this world.
Society and politics are two such powerful systems, which exist in every part of the world. These are full of rules or traditions, which directly or indirectly influence the life of people in a strong way.
So, it’s wiser for us to be aware of those rules and traditions, and choose our actions accordingly.
Following are some tips to improve your social and political life :-
- Participate in change – Best thing is to actively participate in the process of a positive social or political change. If that’s not possible, then, provide maximum support to others who are involved in it. Because, a positive change will help the entire society or nation, including you.
- Beware of red lines – Think twice before doing anything which is strictly opposed by law or society. Because, if you are caught, you will have to face some serious trouble or punishment. If you think you are right, and, law and society are wrong, then, either find a clever way, or, take a bold risk. But, be very careful.
- Utilize systems – Social and political systems are created to help people. If we try, we can benefit a lot from the authority and resources, which they have. For example, government can help you a lot through education scholarships, health insurance, cheap loans, technical progress, strong security, changing bad laws etc.
9. Use religion in an intelligent manner
Since its creation, religion has been a matter of debate. Some people criticize it for spreading superstition and for making people dependent on religious figures.
Whereas, some people appreciate it for spreading awareness about more important issues in life, and for strengthening the moral values in people.
Despite lot of controversies which have happened in past, religion has managed to remain important for a considerable no. of people.
But, you can focus on things which can be useful for improving your life.
Following are some tips to utilize the positive aspects of religion :-
- Become broad-minded – Regularly visiting religious places & reading scriptures can help us to understand issues like universe, god, incarnation, cycle of life and death, right & wrong etc. This knowledge can change the attitude of a person towards life and world.
- Strengthen values & ethics – Religious teachings give lot of importance to being morally strong. We can use them to grow virtues like honesty, compassion, love, self-less service, contentment, humbleness etc.
- Benefit from meditation – Most religions promote some form of meditation. Science has found it to be good for body, brain and mind in different ways. Indirectly, it can help a person to improve his personal or professional life. Try it yourself !!!
10. Stay close to nature
Modernization sometimes takes us away from nature, which is not a very nice thing.
Human life is strongly dependent on nature. It’s wiser to stay as close to it as possible.
Nature can give us a lot in terms of health, great feelings, wisdom etc., but to get them we will have to invest some basic effort.
Here are some simple ways to transform your life with nature :-
- Use natural resources – Fresh air, morning & evening’s sunlight, fresh water, fruits, vegetables, flowers etc. can help us a lot. These are good for our body & mind.
- Visit natural places – Visiting natural places with our family or friends can fill us with positivity, energy, and freshness. Mountains, lakes, waterfalls, sea beaches, city parks, or even roof of our house, can be nice options for such nature-contact.
- Observe natural creatures – Observing the actions and behaviour of animals & birds can be a very interesting and learning experience. It’s surprising to see that many of them show some emotions and behaviour patterns which are found in human beings. For example, puppies play games with each other, just like human babies.
11. Don’t read and forget, follow some lessons
Is this first article about living a great life which you are reading ? For many of you, answer is NO.
Often, people read some life changing article after every few days. But, even after that, their life don’t really get changed too much. Main reason behind it is lack of proper implementation.
Just 8-10 hours later, most people won’t remember most of the tips they have read here. 8-10 days later many people will forget that they ever read any such article.
For getting some genuine benefit from this article, use these simple tips :-
- Understand it properly – Don’t just read words, understand their meaning properly. Because it’s a long article, you should leave parts which are less important for you and focus on sections which are relevant for you.
- Modify the knowledge – These tips are generalized for a big group of readers. You can relate these suggestions with situations of your life, & modify them to get a more practical version.
- Revise important concepts – If you found something in this article very useful, you can revise it whenever needed. Just bookmark this post, or save it in desktop.
Final words
Try to live a better life by being a stronger, smarter & wiser person.
Don’t keep looking at problems, shift your focus on finding solutions.
Grow yourself in a step-by-step manner.
All the best !!!