Being on top of your life is not easy. However, I’d like to posit here that it’s simple. While ‘simple’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘easy’, I think these seven foundational habits shouldn’t be too difficult to follow since they’re everyday tasks that just need more focus and attention to implement. However, if they were just as easy as breathing, then there wouldn’t be so much difficulty for many people out there to stay on top of things. Take this as both a guide and a reminder of what’s truly important in life — the basics are always the best.
This is not as much of a guide as it is a journal entry on my ongoing learning and development as a human being. I do have to admit that as of this writing, I haven’t been on top of my habits. However, I realized that having picked up a few of these habits actually helped me become more productive and conscientious. They’re not complicated procedures, but simple daily tasks that 21st century urbanites have become lazy at. You can leave meditation and yoga for later; just get better at these seven foundational habits as your own cognitive behavioral therapy.
All you have to look at to know my current mental state is my posting frequency — I post more when I’m doing well, I don’t post when I’m depressed and unmotivated. Perhaps I wrote this to motivate myself into writing more ‘evergreen’ content that may be relevant for everyone. I’d like to get a better handle of what people want to read about on this blog without me getting too generic or clickbait-dependent. Maybe I’ll expand on this idea in the near future.
The 7 Foundational Habits, Split into 4 Sets
Clean and Cook
Clean up after yourself, not only because it’s something you should do, but also because having clean surroundings will make you feel less like garbage. You can keep your things organized, minimize dust and debris in your surroundings, and prevent germs from festering. Cleaning is both prevention and cure — you prevent illness and social inconvenience, and you help cure one more thing that may be hindering you in life.
Cleaning is caring. A home becomes filthy due to neglect. I’ve been to enough broken homes wherein its denizens have long stopped caring. The parents hate each other, the children persist in limbo, and the house reflects that dysfunction. Don’t let that be your state of living and clean your domicile. Whether it’s your room in your parents’ house, your college dorm, or your dream home, keeping it clean can reflect and even improve your character.
Cook your own food, preferably good food and not junk. Not only do you get to eat and survive, but you also control your own diet. After all, you are what you eat, so you’ll be able to learn how to effectively control your body composition by simply choosing to cook and eat what’s good for you, as well as make it delicious for you. When you work for your sustenance, you better appreciate it instead of mindlessly shoveling it into your lonely mouth.
Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that cooking for yourself is dumb. Let’s say you’re well off enough to Doordash, Uber Eats, GrabFood, or FoodPanda every meal to your door. Even if it doesn’t hurt your wallet, it will eventually hurt your life and health as you don’t take control of what goes into your mouth. If you work to earn your keep, you should cook your own food. Only edgy idiots think cooking food is merely a slave’s task.
Read and Write
Read books and enrich your life with stories and knowledge. Perhaps reading bores you and puts you to sleep, but that’s not a bad thing. You can just read before bedtime if so, and you still get to absorb and enjoy whatever you wish to consume. You can also listen to audiobooks if that better engages your interest. In any case, you can only have good output if you also have good input, which is why you should read.
You don’t need to finish every book you pick up. Like with movies, shows, and YouTube videos, you’re not obligated to go through every book like it’s homework. You can skip chapters, skim over boring parts, or just stop reading if you don’t like the book. It doesn’t make you a bad person and you get to enjoy books like any other form of media. Whether you read to get smarter or just to escape reality for a while, it’s a good habit to stick to.
Write a daily journal to track your progress in life and have an outlet for your thoughts and feelings that are not meant for others to know. Writing a diary entry is much like a prayer — you meditate on your hopes and dreams, blessings and regrets, and how your life is affected by the people and situations around you. Letting all that out regularly makes sure you don’t just bottle everything inside, only for all that bitterness to suddenly burst out.
Perhaps you get comfortable and proficient enough to write for other people to read. Becoming a writer means becoming a more thoughtful and empathic person who tells stories and shares knowledge to others who are willing to read or listen. Whether you’re a writer or just a regular person who keeps a journal, taking even a few minutes each day to put your words down on paper or screen can help your mind grow and your soul find relief.
Move and Hydrate
Exercise regularly so your body won’t get bogged down by malaise and ill health. Movement is medicine, not only for the body, but also for the mind. As the saying goes, “A healthy person has many wishes; a sick person only has one.” Even if you end up having a terminal illness somewhere down the line, living an active life in the meantime is still worth it because the world is beautiful and being alive is nice if you’re not stuck in bed.
There are fools who think exercise is for suckers because we won’t live forever anyway. That’s like saying it’s not worth eating food and breathing oxygen anyway since life is pointless. Even if there seems to be no point to this existence, you still have to make it a pleasant and productive enough stay on this earth. Also, if you feel like shit, you also tend to act like shit. Whether you lift weights or just go for a walk, moving around helps your body recalibrate and your mind refocus.
Drink enough water because the human body is mostly water. If you don’t hydrate sufficiently, your body dries up and your mind slows down. Much discomfort and ill health can be prevented simply by drinking enough water and getting enough electrolytes each day. That frequent headache and lethargy you may be having could be a sign of your Starbucks intake being bad for your health. Caffeine is a mild diuretic — perhaps it makes you sleepy because you’re so dehydrated all the time.
Not coffee, tea, milk, or wine alone. Drink water — fresh, clean, and mostly flavorless water. Maybe you’re addicted to juice or soda because the liquids you imbibe have to give you a dopamine hit as well. And yet, if you drink more pure water and less flavored water, then perhaps your body will get detoxified enough that you’ll crave having a party in your mouth every minute or so a lot less. Water is what you need, so drink at least a couple of liters of it each day and not much else that may contain sugar or other compounds.
Sleep Well
Get enough sleep so your body heals and your mind resets. To hell with those people who just quip “I can sleep when I’m dead” like it’s a powerful mantra. You’re no good at your work if you’re tired and drowsy. You can’t trust the sleep-deprived with decisions and responsibilities. But even if you don’t have obligations, lacking sleep all the time can compound over time, harming your health and decaying your mind.
Ideally, you sleep at the appropriate time and wake up early so you can get things done in the morning. Various peoples throughout history have done just that and were mistaken for being lazy because they didn’t choose to work under the hot noonday sun because they weren’t stupid. But if you can’t Jocko Willink your way through life, just be sure you can get 6-8 hours every night. Your brain, body, and immune system will thank you.
Bonus Eighth and Ninth Habits
Adding another habit here may seem like it’s too much and I may have clickbaited you with the title. However, this last habit set can enrich your life in many ways and give greater purpose to the previous seven habits.
Socialize and Serve
Spend quality time with family and friends to remind yourself why you’re alive. Being alone can make you a cynic or a nihilist, while having connections and making memories can keep you from succumbing to existential dread and spiritual rot. It becomes harder to find connections as you get older, which is why keeping family and friends close is an achievement.
Perhaps you don’t have as warm and loving a family as some more fortunate people out there — I’m in a somewhat similar situation. With that, you must make a goal out of finding someone out there who can serve as that loving family in some way. Of course, you’ll have to work on yourself first so you don’t pass on trauma to them as well. A big part of working on yourself is finding a way to forgive and get closer to your family somehow.
Serve others to find greater purpose and meaning. Perhaps why we get depressed and become nihilistic is because we become trapped in our own bubbles, always overthinking and not doing enough. Individualism and exceptionalism have disconnected us from the community, and it’s time to get back to the people. You’re fortunate if you happen to have good neighbors, but most city people don’t. That’s why we’re seeing more and more urban shut-ins.
Even if you don’t like your neighbors, you may be able to find a group or organization out there that aims to help other people. If you believe altruism to be stupid, that’s your problem. Jesus didn’t have to die on a cross, Muhammad didn’t have to heed the call, and Siddhartha didn’t have to leave the palace. They did those things because they realized that living only for themselves got them and the world nowhere. They served, and we should return the favor.
Why Did I Write This?
Moreover, why was it worth writing about in the first place? These tips are so simple that I can imagine many people being offended after reading all that. There’s nothing revolutionary or innovative about doing basic things consistently. Once again, as I learned from someone who was wise beyond her years, ‘simple is not easy’. The innovation here is consistency, and being able to remember them in pairs can help with that.
This can be seen as a supplement to the five pillars I previously discussed in this blog. Cleaning and cooking soothes the heart, reading and writing boosts the mind, moving and hydrating strengthens the body, and sleeping well rests the soul. Meanwhile, socializing and serving enhances all of the above.
I saw this YouTube video that professes to fix your life in 14 days.
I realized that I was already on my way through my own process. I then thought of further simplifying the process, not having to slowly guide people through two weeks of telling them to get up and move around. I happened to be cooking dinner while listening to the video, which turned on a lightbulb in my head.
What I was already doing at that moment was in line with what the video was discussing. I just had to hammer in the importance of what seems basic.
When in doubt, review your basics. You may be missing out on key details that are easy to overlook most of the time. The most basic and obvious tend to be the most important, so it’s crucial to be mindful of your habits.
Got Feedback?
Have something to say? Do you agree or am I off-base? Did I miss a crucial detail or get something completely wrong? Please leave whatever reactions, questions, or suggestions you may have in the comment section below.
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