30 Habits that Will Change your Life

Health habits

1. Exercise 30 minutes every day. Especially if you don’t do much movement while working, it’s essential that you get some daily exercise. 30 minutes every day are the minimum recommended for optimal health.
2. Eat breakfast every day. Breakfast is the more important meal of the day, yet so many people skip it. Personally, I like to eat a couple of toasts in the morning along with a fruit beverage.
3. Sleep 8 hours. Sleep deprivation is never a good idea. You may think that you are gaining time by sleeping less, when in reality you are only gaining stress and tiredness. 8 hours are a good number of hours for most people, along with an optional 20 minutes nap after lunch.
4. Avoid snacking between meals. Snacking between meals is the best way to gain weight. If you are hungry, eat something concrete. Otherwise don’t.
5. Eat five portions of fruits and vegetables every day. Our body and brain loves getting vegetables and fruit, so I highly recommend eating as much of them as possible. Five portions is the dose that’s usually recommended by many health associations.
6. Eat fish. Fish is rich of omega 3 and other healthy elements. At least one meal per week of fish should be enough for getting all these nutrients.
7. Drink one glass of water when you wake up. When you wake up, your body is dehydrated and needs liquid. Make the habit of drinking one glass of water after you wake up in the morning. Also, drink more during the day.
8. Avoid soda. Soda is often one of the most unhealthy beverage you can find. Limit your consumption of soda as much as possible and you’re body will be grateful for that.
9. Keep your body clean. I don’t advise spending your day in front of the mirror, but a minimum of personal care does never hurt.
10. If you smoke, stop it. There’s no reason to smoke anymore, and quitting is easy.
11. If you drink, stop it. Same as above. Don’t think that alcohol will solve your problems. It never does. The only exception is one glass of wine per day during meals.
12. Take the stairs. This is just a hack that forces you to do a minimum of exercise. Instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs.

Productivity habits

1. Use an inbox system. Make the habit of keeping track of all the ideas and things that comes to mind. You can use a notebook to do this, and then sync everything on your computer.
2. Prioritize. If you have a list of things to do, where do you start? One way is to prioritize your list. If you are in doubt, ask yourself: “If I could only accomplish one thing today, what would it be?”
3. Plan, but not too much. Planning is important, and you should decide in advance what you are going to do today or this week. However, planning for more than a few weeks is usually inefficient, so I would not worry too much about that.
4. Wake up early. Waking up early in the morning is a great way to gain extra time. I personally like to wake up at 5 am, so that by 9 am I have already accomplished what otherwise would have taken me many days..
5. Check your email only twice per day. Email can easily become an addiction, but it’s usually unnecessary to check it every 10 minutes. Make an effort and check your email only once or twice per day, see if the world will still rotate as before after you try this.
6. Eliminate unimportant tasks. Being busy all day does not mean you are doing important stuff. Eliminate every activity that’s not important, and focus on what really matters.
7. Clean off your desk and room. Having a clear room and desk is important to maintain focus and creativity.
8. Automate. There are a lot of tasks that you need to perform every day or every week. Try to automate them as much as possible.
9. Set strict deadlines. When you do something, decide in advance when you’re going to stop. There’s a rule that states that you will fulfill all the time you have available for completing a task, so make an habit of setting strict deadlines for maximizing your productivity.
10. Take one day off per week. Instead of working every day, take one day off per week (for example sunday) where you are not going to turn on your computer. Use that time for doing recreational activities like going for a walk.

Personal Development habits

1. Read 1 book per week. Reading is a good way to keep your brain active. With just 30 minutes per day you should be able to read one book per week, or more than 50 books per year.
2. Solve puzzles. Quizzes, word games, etc. are all good ways to exercise your brain.
3. Think positively. You are what you think, all the time.
4. Make fast decisions. Instead of thinking for one hour wherever you are going to do something, make your decisions as fast as possible (usually less than 1 minute).
5. Wait before buying. Waiting 48 hours before buying anything is a tremendous money saver, try it.
6. Meditate 30 minutes per day. A great way to gain clearness and peace is through meditation. 30 minutes are not a lot, but enough to get you started with meditation.

Career habits

1. Start a blog. Blogging is one of the best way to put your word out. It doesn’t have to be around a specific topic, even a personal blog will do.
2. Build a portfolio. If your job is creating stuff, building a portfolio is a great way to show what you are capable of. You can also contribute stuff for free if that applies to your work.

My Out-of-Boredom Tribal Mix

On one boring afternoon here in the office, I decided to record a mix of the previously downloaded tribal house. Its not that perfect but I think its worth the share. Just click the link below.

Click Me

Enjoy.

10 Office Rules You Must Know

10. Never walk without a document – People with documents look like hardworking employees headed to important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they’re headed for the cafeteria. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they’re headed for the toilet. Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you really do. Read more

Work at the Moment: Recalling 30DC

Its 2:30AM here. I’m currently taking a sip of my coffee and staring at the PC monitor pondering what to write for today’s blog update. I was thinking of writing a Zendikar Standard constructed deck but words and idea won’t pop in my head. I better switch to something more interesting….. Read more

Bored and Currently Listening To…

Yes, I’m currently bored. Not because its Friday but because I’ve got no client again. It was sudden and unexpected and he got no other choice. Oh well. Its been a week since my last task. The good thing though is that it gave me time to update my blogs, do some research and somehow update my ears with the latest Electro and Funky house music.

Here’s what I’m currently listening to as of the writing of this post, Funky House Music London. Enjoy and happy weekend all!

Sidetracking and Getting Out of It

This is a repost but I think it is important to share this again with you guys as I know you’ve also experienced it. Original post dated December 28, 2008.

Lately, I’m feeling like being sidetracked and getting confused on my priorities. I can’t get myself to just focus on one task or goal. Things are just coming in so fast that its really hard to know which one is right and I always ending up doing something useless and waste a lot of my time.

I think I need to rearrange my thoughts and priorities and start on which is most important (work/career? courting the girl? magic cards?). I decided to look for solutions at Google and here’s something I found which I think would be a great help. It’s from Simple Productivity Blog dot com and it is entitled 5 Ways to Get Back on Track. I’ll quote below the 5 ways suggested.

Awareness
The first step to getting back on track is to know that you are off track. Usually if I am in the middle of something, I will take a deep breath and ask myself if this is what I am supposed to be doing at that moment. If it isn’t, the awareness can be enough to bring me back to where I need to be.

Wrap up in X Minutes
After I realize that I am sidetracked, and I am fairly close to being finished with the task that distracted, I tell myself I have 5 minutes to finish. I then set a timer. The timer keeps me honest, and puts a deadline on that allows me to finish quickly.

Wrenching Away
If I don’t realize that I have been sidetracked, and I have proceeded to use large chunks of time on something unplanned, I generally force myself to drop it where it is and move on. I also find that in order for this one to work, I must physically remove myself from the site of the distraction. For example, if I went to the computer to print out a list and 2 hours later I find I have spent the time surfing, I will stop, turn the computer off, and go to another room where I have something that needs to be done. This is not a gentle method, but I find it necessary to combat large amounts of lost time.

Write Up, Move On
In the case where I find myself doing something that has value, and would not be easy to get back to, but would take more than 5 minutes, I make some notes at the physical location I am at, and then walk away. For example, if I got sidetracked inventorying the freezer, I leave a sticky note on the freezer with the shelf I left off on. I can then go back to it easily after I have completed my other tasks.

Go With It
Sometimes (rarely), I will realize that I’m distracted, but the thing I am doing has value. I will assess what I need to do between the time and bed, and how much work I have to do. Then, if time permits, I will allow myself to go with the distraction. This method works well for me on weekends or days when I have large amounts of free time, and few must-do tasks.

I hope I can get myself to practice and apply this one. *Sigh*