Best-Selling Author Tim Ferriss recently shared some fun challenges for a happier, healthier, and more productive life, a few of which are worth passing along:
21-Day No Complaint Challenge: Commit to 21 consecutive days of no-complaining. Wear a rubber band or bracelet on one wrist until you go 21 consecutive days without complaining. Each time you complain, you must switch the band/bracelet to the other wrist and start over. A complaint is defined as “describing an event or person negatively, without indicating the next steps to fix the problem.” For example, a wrist switch would be required for: “Geez, I waited at the post office for 45 minutes while this idiot tried to buy stamps. What a waste of time!” A wrist switch would NOT be required for: “Geez, I waited for 45 minutes at the post office while this guy tried to buy stamps. It was a waste of time. From now on, I’ll go in the morning before 10:00 a.m. to avoid the crowd.” A few of the rewards you can expect from this practice include: (i) Lazy thinking will evolve from counterproductive commiserating to reflexive systems thinking. Each description of a problem forces you to ask and answer: “What policy can I create to avoid this in the future?” (ii) You will turn off negative events by the tentative solution offered, promoting better sleep and more pleasant conversations with friends and colleagues. (iii) Training yourself to offer solutions on-the-spot will attract people and resources.
5-20 Minute Daily Meditation: Spend 5-20 minutes meditating each morning in a quiet space. I’d suggest using a guided meditation, many of which are available on the web for downloading onto your smart phone or device (e.g., Calm, Headspace, etc.). Focus on your breathing. Meditation has been proven to greatly improve productivity during the day while decreasing stress and anxiety. People who say they don’t have time for meditation need it the most!
5-Minute Journaling: Write for 5 minutes, after meditating in the morning, and again before you go to bed in the evening. In the morning, write 3 things: (i) “I am grateful for…;” (ii) What would make today great?; and (iii) 3 positive affirmations (e.g., I am friendly, happy, smart, strong, healthy, wealthy, etc.). Avoid redundancy in your gratitude list (e.g., family, health, home) by considering some of the following for which you are grateful: (a) an old or previous relationship (friend, teacher, sibling, coach, teammate, classmate, mentor, rival, etc.) that helped you in some way, (b) an opportunity you have today, (c) something that happened yesterday, and (d) something small or simple near you. In the evening, write 3 things you did today, and how you could have made today better. People who consistently practice this daily journaling describe it is a positive game-changer.
