Mirth and Motivation

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Helen Keller

Motivation Mondays: 12 Life Hacks for Living Well

12 Life Hacks for Living Well: Simple Monthly Lessons for a Healthier, Happier Year

At Church on Sunday, my pastor spoke about developing a spirit of discernment to help us choose when to speak up and to do it mindfully. He raised some key points that stood out for me and even made me laugh because sometimes I need to remind myself to let things go. Some of his vignettes were the following:

But you may ask, what does that have to do with the 12 hacks for living well? Everything. Every day, we are bombarded with ads and messages to do and be more, and we internalize them and give them life, either verbally or internally. Both can impede our progress and affect our ability to live well on our own terms. We are constantly being told how to improve our lives: Exercise more. Sleep more. Spend less. Save more. Declutter. Meditate. Travel. Drink water. Eat your vegetables. Call your mother. Put down your phone. While most of it is good advice, the longer I live, the more convinced I become that living well isn’t a checklist, and it isn’t about doing everything perfectly.

My own life has taught me that lesson repeatedly, and yet, like everyone else, it is an uphill battle to shut out the noise, choose mindfully, trust the process, and stick to my action plan. I’ve had chapters I planned and chapters I never could have imagined. I’ve experienced joy and loss, good health and health challenges, achievement and disappointment. I’ve been an educator for much of my life, yet some of my greatest lessons have come not from a classroom but simply from living. Over time, I have learned that it is never too late to surprise yourself and that living well is a choice we can make at any stage of life. We can start today!

I didn’t become a marathon runner until I was 62. It was not on my to-do list. Had I told a younger version of myself that I would someday run marathons around the world, I’m not sure she would have believed me. Life does that. Life reminds us that we are never quite finished becoming.

Over the years, I’ve come to believe that some of the most valuable changes we can make are surprisingly simple. They aren’t really “hacks” in the traditional sense because there are no shortcuts to a meaningful life. Instead, they are small practices and shifts in perspective that can make life healthier, calmer, richer, and more fulfilling. In short, they help us simplify our lives. So instead of trying to transform everything at once, what if we focused on just one idea each month? What if we borrowed task/time and neuro-agility chunking from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and applied it to our one-task-a-month goal? We would train our brain to break tasks into doable plans/chunks each month so that, in twelve months, we complete twelve practices, with the results opening doors to twelve opportunities to live a little better.

Below are my 12 tips/tasks/hacks, each assigned to a month of the year. Of course, you don’t have to stick to the month; it is simply a guide. Begin today!

 January: Begin Before You’re Ready

How often do we postpone something because we don’t feel ready? We wait until we have more time, more money, more knowledge, more confidence, or less fear. I’ve learned that we don’t always become confident and then begin; sometimes we begin, and confidence follows. That lesson became very real for me when I started long-distance running later in life. I didn’t begin because I was convinced I could run a marathon. I began with uncertainty, curiosity, and plenty of questions about what my body could do. I started anyway. What about you? Did you jump feet first into a task or a new direction? How is it going, and what are you learning along the way?

A perfect moment to start a business, take a class, travel somewhere new, change careers, write that first page, or pursue a long-held dream will rarely arrive. Sometimes courage is simply deciding to begin while you’re still a little afraid.
Life Hack for Month #1: Choose one thing you’ve been postponing and take one concrete step toward it. Not ten. One. Start today.

February: Invest in Your Relationships

The older I become, the more clearly I understand that our relationships are among our greatest forms of wealth. Our friendships need attention, our families need nurturing, and our treasured relationships need time. Sure, life gets busy, and it is surprisingly easy to assume the people we love know how we feel. Let’s make it a habit to tell them anyway. I’ve lost people I loved deeply, and loss has made me more conscious of the importance of appreciating people while they are here. This year alone, I lost several close friends, including my best friend, Linda, from my childhood days.

Call the friend you’ve been meaning to call. Have dinner with your friends and family without staring at your phone, and send the thank-you note you’ve been putting off. Celebrate someone’s success and listen without immediately trying to solve a problem. Don’t wait until someone is gone to tell everyone how wonderful they were; tell them now, and when necessary, put that muzzle on before you say something you will regret in the heat of anger. As the popular saying goes, give people their flowers while they can still smell them.
Life Hack for Month #2: Reach out to someone you care about simply because you care.

March: Move Your Body Every Day

Movement remains one of the greatest gifts of my life. For me, movement has included dance, martial arts, golfing, yoga, swimming, jogging, hiking, and eventually long-distance running. But living well doesn’t require anyone to run 26.2 miles or even one mile. Bloom where you are planted and embrace what interests you. You can take a leisurely walk. Do daily stretching or dance in your kitchen, garden, swim, practice yoga, ride a bicycle, or take the stairs when you can. The ball is in your court, and the choice is yours, so do it.

Through my own experiences, I’ve learned that our bodies may have limitations, but limitations don’t automatically mean inactivity. We can learn to work with the bodies we have rather than constantly wishing for different ones. The best exercise isn’t necessarily the one that burns the most calories or earns the most applause. It’s the one you enjoy enough to keep doing. Consistency is key, and as long as it gives you joy, do it. Don’t get caught in the social media FOMO trap. You are not missing out on anything. Choose how you wish to move because movement can strengthen the body, clear the mind, and lift the spirit. It reminds us that being able to move at all is something worth appreciating.
Life Hack for Month #3: Find a form of movement you genuinely enjoy and make it part of your life.

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