These 5 Habits Will Help You Do Everything Better

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?Over the course of the last several years, I've spent every waking moment trying to find the best habits that are the most efficient for my time and energy that will give me the greatest return on my investment. I've "wasted" time left and right experimenting on my own with habits that were useful and some not so useful. I've spent countless hours in masterminds with some of the world's smartest people and regularly have conversations about habits with guests you would recognize on my Global Top 100 Humans 2.0 Podcast.

I am interested in meta-habits. Habits that don't just help me do the literal activity better, but help me get better in everything that I do in life at once.

1. Eating "Healthy"

When I talk to my parents about the importance of nutrition and food they are always a bit hesitant to believe the words that I'm saying. Why? Because in the '70-'90s there was no such thing as nutrition. You would wake up in the morning and eat cakes, cookies, pints of fructose water and nobody would say a word. Or maybe the conversation would be all about gaining weight or if you eat too much you'll get fat. Matter of the fact is I don't care about weight because it's just a symptom of an underlying issue. However, most people care about their weight because it's what the outside world sees. I learned this when I was over 220 lbs trying to fill the hole in my soul with junk food on junk food on junk food.

When I say eating healthy - I mean eating no processed foods. No foods that were designed by a scientist that have artificial dyes like Blue 4 or Red 57 or sugar or industrialized oils like Canola, Soy, Corn, etc. Food that is completely natural like vegetables, animal products, fruits, nuts, and seeds that humans have not created or artificially processed and unrecognizable to our body and mind.

Why will eating healthy improve your life in every aspect?

• Better Sleep.
• Less Addictive Behavior / Impulses
• Better Focus & More Cognitive Energy
• Could Alleviate Depression & Low Energy / Mood
• Could Alleviate Anxiety & Nervousness

Eating healthy is a daily challenge. Each time you pick up your fork and decide to eat something that is healthy or not healthy is an investment towards longevity, health, happiness or disease, metabolic dysfunction, potential mental health issues, and short term gains sacrificing life long results.

2. Meditation

"We don't meditate to get better at meditation. We meditate to get better at life." - Emily Fletcher, Founder of ZIVA

Who could know that spending 10 or 20 minutes doing nothing...could help you for the rest of the day?

I have written extensively on meditation in previous articles and podcasts and could not vouch for it enough. My article "What Meditating for 1163 Days Taught Me About Myself" goes in-depth about how meditation has personally changed me and what it could do for you.

Meditation gives you superpowers that nothing else can like:

• Meditation Makes You Realize There Isn’t Just One Voice In Your Head
• Meditation Creates Time for Authentic Decision Making
• Meditation Enables You to Become an Architect of Your Thoughts
• Meditation Alleviates Stress To Open Up Room for Focus
• Meditation Teaches You How to Cope with Deep & Daily Pains

3. Managing Your Relationship w/ Pain

What do you do when you feel uncertain?

What do you do when you feel bad?

What do you do when you don't like yourself?

What do you do when you are in pain?

What do you do when you are confused?

I don't know about you but sometimes when an uncomfortable situation pops its head up in my life, I might go with the flow and make unconscious decisions that I made when I was a kid to deal with the pain in my own way rather than take the right path.

It's about finding new ways to cope with the pain that is more sustainable & healthy compared to your potential negative previously existing coping mechanisms.

Examples:

Impulsively eating when bored or sad ---> Journaling & gaining clarity over thoughts

Frequently engaging in sexual activities ---> Building a meaningful relationship

Spending time down in your head ---> Going for a walk or visiting the gym

Having a drink or smoking something ---> Doing a group activity with friends

4. Embody Your Truth (Inside & Out)

Sections 1, 2, 3 will help you become your truth everywhere you go and become a universal beacon for the main values and mission you stand for on this planet.

Sometimes I'll be at an event and meet someone that I've known online for a while and they may or may not be completely different from how they try to represent themselves. Perhaps it's someone who preaches the importance of kindness yet they seriously insult people for no reason or someone who's considered a marketing expert yet you can tell they actually have no deep understanding and just read off a script.

You don't want to be one of those people.

Not because of what others will say about you but how you will think of yourself.

This is not a concept or some conceptual framework you read in a book, this is a habit. It's not easy to embody the truth of who you are in the physical world and your internal spiritual world.

Practical application of this habit looks like:

• Saying what you truly feel vs Saying what you think the other person in the conversation wants to hear from you.
• Hearing something you truly disagree with and staying quiet vs Getting up and expressing your opinion in a room filled with those that don't agree with you.
• Working the same job you've always worked because in your 20's you got a degree for it vs Entering a new field that you really want to be doing with your life.

5. Keeping The End In Mind (Death)

Any philosophy that mentions how you should live your life but does not factor in death, is missing a crucial and fundamental piece of existence that makes it go round.

The biggest fear of the human psyche is death, that we will perish one day and what exists in front of us will no longer be available. It’s easy to dismiss what I just said as stupid maybe because you’ve never thought of it from this perspective before. Here’s the thing, why do you think every single major culture, religion, community on planet earth has thoughts on the afterlife? 

Whether it’s Christianity’s heaven & hell or Hindu’s belief in reincarnation, every well-established community has created somewhat of a solution for this element. And when you are born into a society where this fact has already been established, you may never even think about it and take it for granted. And if you haven’t thought of it before you may have a very deep sense of fear that you have never thought of in your conscious mind. 

I don’t have anything negative to say about any religion but having other people think for you, especially generations and generations of people’s thinking passed down is a straightforward recipe for a lifelong filled with fear, dread, and confusion. We can learn from ancient traditions, cultures, and perhaps try to assimilate some timeless wisdom into our own lives with our own understanding.

If you are an unconscious individual and try your best to not think about big ideas or yourself in the greater context of the world and existence...you may have never thought about this before and may have never found this out until you are on your deathbed. But odds are if you are reading this book, that’s not you. You need to address your deep psychological beliefs that you may have never thought of before in your life. You need to live with the belief that one day you will die and everything and everyone you do cherish and value will be gone. This doesn’t mean you need to fear death at all but come to terms with it. 

Practical application of this habit looks like:

• Daily reflection on death, legacy, and what purpose it conveys.
• Cherishing moments with loved ones and dropping the non-important ones.
• Working on projects that are deeply meaningful to you and your legacy.
• Building deep relationships with those around you.
• Setting reminders on your phone that our days are numbered.

My Upcoming Book - Screw Being Shy 

In my book, Screw Being Shy I will guide you with the proper conceptual frameworks and practical application based on the science of what you can do to create your own path out of social anxiety and not being a prisoner of your mind and not wait on other people in life to open the door for you. 

Releases March 14, 2020 to be notified enter your email in on my website: markmetry.com

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