21 Actual Ways to Improve your life in 2021 (Really make improvements) Part 1
By The Eff there’s another one of these articles
Quick Summary:
Want to Improve your life?
Most improvement articles are drivel
Here are 21 actual actions you can take right now to make huge strides across finances, fitness and happiness
There is no cost to you, but as an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases
I challenge you to Improve Your Life by using each of the 21 items for 21 days and make 2021 your best year.
Now this is not your typical drivel. These are 21 actionable items you can immediately put into practice to improve your life. Each is something you can track.
Nowhere on here are you going to find feel-good nonsense like ‘get to truly know yourself’. What the eff does that mean? I thought I knew myself? Do I need to go be shaolin monk and pass a test with a mystical dragon to get a medallion or something?
No where on here are you going to get easy items that don’t achieve a goal like ‘listen to a TED talk or podcast’. However, after watching some lady talk about being buried in a mushroom suit and listening to some comedian complain about cars…when does all the health and money start coming in?
Finally, lets jump in on 21 Items that will improve your finances, fitness, and overall mental health.
1) Stop Complaining (The Top Life Improvement Tip)
Serious. It does nothing.
Serious. No one wants to hear it.
Serious. In all of human history today is the most plentiful and prosperous time.
Serious. You literally have a little magic box that fits in your hand that gives you more power than the richest kings of the past. Men used to spend fortunes building grand libraries to house fractions of the info you have. People used to work for months of the year to grow fruit. You literally can order fruit out of season on your magic box and get it delivered to your door.
There is all the opportunity in the world. If you are complaining you are wasting time you could be spending on any of the other 20 items below. Additionally, it leads you to subconsciously feel like a victim and start to give up.
2) Eat Your Veggies (Easiest life improvement tip to implement)
Eat 1lb of veggies a day. (Refer to rule #1)
I will make this easy for you:
Go to grocery store
Go to frozen food section
Buy 7 bags of 1lb frozen veggies – preferably organic
French fries don’t count
Eat 1 bag a day for the week
Repeat
Why Frozen?
Won’t spoil
Pre-chopped & Measured
Cheaper
Picked at peak freshness and flash frozen so tend to have more nutrients & freezing process washes off pesticides
I don’t care how you eat them, just eat them. Mix it in other food. Load up with hot sauce or cheese. Don’t care eat them. At some point you want to stop needing the extras. However, until then, just get them down.
Rarely is an option easier, cheaper, and healthier. Get organic. The price difference isn’t much on frozen. Eating veggies can only help improve your life by giving you nutrients, fiber, and helping to eliminate toxins.
I typically get riced cauliflower stir fry and spinach. I will mix them up and use as a rice substitute.
3) Buy Cryptocurrency
If you don’t own crypto yet….why not?
I assume the only reason is because it is new and scary and people make it complicated.
Go to Coinbase. Open an account. Buy some. Use money you don’t need, even if $100 total. See how it isn’t scary.
(Don’t @me nerds with all the reasons CEX go against the concept of crypto and you need to go swap coins P2P and use cold storage hardware wallets….gas fees…Sk/Pk etc etc. The biggest barrier to this getting more widespread is nerds thinking someone who never purchased a coin should be overwhelmed with that)
Now, spend some time and learn a bit about crypto. It isn’t going away.
YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO STORE YOUR CRYPTO OFFLINE - crypto on an exchange is not yours.
High transaction fees?
That is fixed by signing-up at Coinbase, then you can sign-up for Coinbase Earn, a separate service offered to get coins by watching videos, for instance. There is over $100 of earnable coins out there. Therefore, more than enough to cover fees.
Are you dividend investor and want some yield?
Go here. BlockFi will offer 4-10% yield on coins. The ‘stable coins’ are tied to US $ and offer 10% today. However, it isn’t FDIC-insured so this isn’t a bank account. But 10% is a lot bigger than 0.01% and you can get a sign-up bonus.
Lastly, maybe you want to diversify but don’t want to read white papers on altcoins?
There are services that let you choose one or many trader’s portfolio to copy. Select the person and the amount and your portfolio will automatically copy the trades made in that portfolio for you.
4) Lost Fat (Life Improvement Tip that likely helps with all others)
Yes. You are too fat.
Stop making excuses.
There are items on this list to help – eat veggies, have fiber, lift weights, go for a walk, & sleep better.
What most people need is the PUFAA diet. It is highly technical diet that usually sells for $1,000s, but I will give it to you for free. It is where you “Push Ur Fat A** Away” from the table and go do something besides eating junk.
Note – this doesn’t say lose weight. If you are doing it right, you should be putting on some muscle. You want to have low fat, not be anorexic. (Note-guy above likely has an overweight BMI and an underweight on his shirt size).
Fat produces its own hormones which lead to higher estrogen. Second, Fat makes you heavier which makes you more tired. Third, your body stores all the crap it wants to eliminate in your fat. You will have more energy, more focus, feel better and look better by losing fat. Resulting in your quality of life will improving
5) Stop Watching the News
It is awful for your mental health. It isn’t even informative. Therefore, unless there is a way you are directly profiting from it, just turn it off. There are better ways to be informed and quicker.
6) Create (First fluffy life improvement tip, but read on)
Create what?
Doesn’t matter. It can be doodling, experimenting with dinner, writing stories, anything. Everyday, create something.
We all consume too much. Flipping on the switch to produce something reframes how you view the world.
Producers are successful. It extends to all areas of life.
7) Get Outside
Vitamin D. Fresh Air. Circadian Rhythm. Red Light. I could name a bunch of sciencey reasons. But honestly it just feels good.
Go outside, stand barefoot in the grass, get at least 10 mins of nature.
I don’t care if you are in the deepest city, find a tree in the sidewalk and stand in the mulch.
If you can, pop your shirt off to up your vitamin D.
Working from home? Get off a video call, dial in on your phone and walk around outside.
You will feel better. Your mood can’t help but get better. With so many people cooped up in masks it is not natural way to live.
8) Lift Weights (My favorite Life Improvement Tip)
At least 3 days a week, lift something that is heavy for you.
No Gym? No problem, do bodyweight. Push-ups, prisoner squats, lunges, and crunches. Get a pull-up bar or find a tree and do pull-ups…heck you can jam a towel under a door and do pull-ups off a door if you are in a pinch (I am not responsible for any home repairs).
Can you do 30 push-ups, 10 pull-ups and 60 bodyweight squats right now? If not, it means you are weak, fat, or likely both. You don’t need a gym, just start doing simple bodyweight exercises and try to do more reps today than yesterday.
Complete noob? Make a rule, every time you go to bathroom you do as many push-ups, squats, and pull-ups as you can. Just 1 set of each.
You can do the above 30/10/60 strength test? Good. There are infinite different types of bodyweight workouts. Go online and look up prisoner body weight workouts. There are some seriously jacked guys doing just bodyweight work.
Are you able to get some equipment? Even better. On a budget? Get TRX bands, ab wheel, and weighted vest.
The reason you can’t open the pickle jar isn’t because you don’t have access to a gym, its that you are being lazy and making excuses.
9) Drink Water
You know you need to hydrate. You have heard it over and over. Just do it.
But don’t use plastic bottles unless you want to grow some little puffy breasts and then immediately get cancer in them…I use this Stanley IceFlow Bottle and drink at least 4 full containers of ice cold water throughout the day. You should drink 16oz first thing upon waking since you are very dehydrated from the night.
However, the only times you shouldn’t be chugging water is during your meals as it messes with digestion. Get all your drinking in between meals.
Chapped lips, tired, foggy-brain, dry skin, and muscle weakness are all side effects of mild dehydration.
10) Find a Second Income Stream
Lockdowns showed that even high paying jobs can quickly go away unexpectedly.
You don’t want to only have one income stream. Doesn’t matter what it is. Find a second source of income.
Rental properties. Dividend stocks. Side hustle. Sales. E-commerce.
You want to find something that you can rely on to bring some money in if you suddenly find yourself out of your main work. Then even if you are fully-employed, a second income stream helps you get ahead, especially if you use it to pay off debts and then to save.
11) Cook More
Restaurants were closed. What a perfect time to learn how to cook.
Even if you aren’t Gordon Ramsay, you can make amazing food super easy with one of the many food box services.
I use sunbasket. It is a bit pricey but the quality is good. There are many cheaper options. 5 nights a week, a home made meal is cooked that is restaurant quality but much healthier.
Pick a few meals. Try different cultural dishes (I found I really enjoy the Indian and African meals and discovered spices like sumac).
The directions make it easy. You will be healthier and pick up some cool tricks. (Did you know taking all the skin off an orange is called supreming?)
12) Hanlon’s Razor
Hanlon’s Razor is the less quoted of the World Champion tag-team Razor brother (citation needed). Occam’s Razor is the genesis of K.I.S.S. – keep it simple stupid
Hanlon’s Razor states “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”.
However, I generally use it to remind myself “most people are generally good”. Or “Give people the benefit of the doubt”. It will make your day more pleasant if you don’t think everyone is trying to eff with you. (Ok – you caught me, I also think people are stupid a lot of the time, but at least then you feel sorry for them. If you think they are trying to ruin your day it gets you angry).
13) Add a Fiber Supplement
Start slow here. Especially if you are following #2 Eat your veggies.
Start with 1/2 a serving for a few days and work up slowly until you are pooping regularly. I typically add in 3-5 servings a day.
There is a host of benefits of psyllium. It is the primary way of removing toxins. Psyllium will help you lose weight, benefits for your heart health, blood profiles, diabetes, against colon cancer. Psyllium is a unique form of fiber that makes it best for gut health. It is a prebiotic to help with gut bacteria.
This isn't a sexy supplement, but this is vital as no one gets enough fiber.
Here is the top choice – Yerba Organic. It is like 15 cents per serving. Throw it in some yogurt, or protein shake, or oatmeal. It is easy to add into your diet.
Conclusion:
These are tips you can implement today. Each will help you make vast improvements in your life.
Part 2 will cover the remaining tips.