7 Baby Steps to Self Development

I have always wanted to make waking up early, exercising, meditating and eating healthy  an integral part of my life. I am sure most of us have these in our Self Development bucket-lists. While some have successfully included a few in their routine, most of us have failed. A month ago, I realized that it was high time I took positive ownership of my life and began my research for Self development.

There is no point starting away with hefty, boring and difficult things right? It is better to start small, accomplish our goals step by step, gain our footing and then take bigger steps. So, this is what is about to happen over the next few days:

• I have taken up #BARATHON – A blogging Marathon where I will be blogging on alternate days starting 17th June.
  
• I will be providing tips on different facets of Self Development on all 7 days.
• Do not venture into them all at once as they could overwhelm you. Take them a few at a time. I will try my best to guide you.

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Today (Or the day you choose to begin), being the Day 1, I have 7 simple steps to Self Development, each of which takes only 15 minutes or lesser. If you put your heart and soul into it, you can start with all of them together.

1. Wake up, Make Your Bed, Brighten up Your Room (Time required: 2 Mins) –  Easy right?

Image Source: Jeff Finley

Making your bed is the first thing you do after you wake up and so, completing the task no matter how tiny it is, gives you a sense of accomplishment. Open the curtains, breathe in some fresh air and bask in the sunlight. Now you have triggered a good mood, made a neat bed and set a happy tone for the day.

2. Water Therapy (Time required: 5-10 mins) – Do not let the word ‘Therapy’ frighten you. All you need to do is, drink 3-4 glasses of water on an empty stomach. A few of the benefits being:

• It purifies your blood and keeps your skin healthy and clear.
• It helps in flushing out toxins from your body
• As your grandparents might have told you, it helps in your bowel movement, prevents constipation and indigestion.
• It helps the body fight against infections

Initially, it will be difficult to drink four glasses. Start with 2.5 glasses and increase the quantity every five days.

 

3. Make a Daily To-Do List (5-10 mins) – Once you freshen up, make a list of things you wish to accomplish that day.

• Put all of those tiny, huge and in between things in the list. This prepares you for the day ahead.
• Allot time limits for each of these activities and prioritize them.
• Mark each activity as and when you are done with it.
• Try completing all the activities on the list.

4. The Two Minute Rule (2 min per activity) – Now that you have a To-Do list, finish off all the activities that can be done in less than 2 minutes immediately. Returning calls, replying mails, sending important texts etc are the trivial things we tend to put off since they require less time. Eventually, we end up forgetting them. Instead, be done with them and then move on to the bigger ones.

 

5. Read/Watch a Motivational Piece (Time: 10 mins) – Try including this in the morning so that you feel motivated and look forward to your day. You get many motivational pieces and videos online. You could go for any of those. Rob Dial, Jay Shetty and Sean Stephenson are a few I follow on FB for some drops of motivation. This single activity broadens your mind and gives a positive outlook towards life.

 

6. Go Gadget Free – You wake up and, even before you open your eyes, reach for the phone. This is more of a request. This doesn’t take your time, instead saves it. Please do not open your laptop, phone or any electronic gadget for the first 1 hour of your day. If you are striving for Self Development, you need to ensure that there aren’t any distractions and that the beginning of your day is productive. Remember,

Your first hour sets the tone for your day.

The Gadget free period was an idea I got from Tara Nair‘s blog. 🙂

 

7. Keep a Gratitude List (5 min) – Keep a journal and at the end of each day, list down 3 things that happened during the day that you are grateful for. A very simple exercise. If you have to repeat any during the following days, it doesn’t matter. Continue doing this for a couple of weeks and you will notice yourself becoming more grateful and happier for all that the life has bestowed upon you. 🙂

Evidently, all the above points are very easy and doable. Do not look at them as a set of 7 tasks. Instead, approach them one at a time and you’ll easily sail through them. The only difficult part will be the gadget free time. You will get past it in a week. I assure you! Just wake up and make things happen! ❤

Image Courtesy: Dan & Lynn Ventura

Do let me know if you are taking up this Self Development Challenge and the results. Chime in your suggestions and ideas that I could incorporate in my routine. This is easy for starters, isn’t it? 🙂

 

Linking this post to the BAR-A-THON edition 2 at Blog-A-Rhythm