In the first quarter of 2019, I learnt and unlearnt, and relearnt to re-understand.
Ok, that might be a little confusing.
What I simply mean is I’ve learnt afresh life lessons I knew before, through a fresher outlook and/or application. In this post, I’m going to share some of these lessons with you . I hope that it helps you too from a fresh perspective as you continue the 2nd quarter of the year.
People Are Usually Not What They Seem:
This is clearly something most of us know.
At least I knew before now.
However over time, I’ve come to rely on my intuition greatly in judging character and in the past I’ve been more right than wrong. However this year, I have met and encountered persons who epitomise this saying and it has made me question if intuition can truly be relied upon in judging character. I met a couple of people whom at first seemed like amazing people on the surface but soon found out I had judged wrongly. This made me mindful of the need to be more indifferent when I meet people in future and rather than figure out who I think they are, I let them show me over time. I suggest you do same too in new relationships. Mindfully try not to get too attached to anyone regardless of how impressive they seem at first, until over time they show you who they are as you get to know them better. If you stay aloof internally and not get too attached to anyone new, they will not be able to shock or surprise you, even if they act disappointingly.
Waking Up Early Really Does Help Get A Lot Done:
Typically, I am not a morning person. Thankfully also, I work for my self and have help so prior to now waking up before 7 am wasn’t my thing, at all; Except I have an appointment or a deadline to meet. However I stumbled on a thread earlier in the year and decided to challenge myself to wake up two hours earlier, and see then what happens. The result? More productivity and ability to squeeze in more time for things- like reading, reflection, praying, which I used to postpone till later in the day and often times end up not been able to do, or at least as much as I would because of tiredness from the day’s activities. The overall impact of waking of early is really profound. The cumulative extra 2hrs, or 1:30 mins after a month, 6 months and even a year amounts to great progress. Truth is I still struggle and sometimes wake up 5:30, or minutes to 6am, but every day it gets easier, even as the consistency accumulates. I also try these days as much as possible to go to bed in good time. 6-7 hrs of sleep for me is key for optimum functionality.
Consistency Is One Of The Major Keys To Success:
I knew this already but underrated it in some ways. Many philosophers and successful people have been quoted to say consistency trumps talent. And a person who is consistent in any activity will over time do better than a person who is talented in same activity but does not work on their talent. In the last sub topic above, I talk about how the cumulative extra two hours of waking up early will amount to great time invested in something valuable like – reading, praying, critical thinking, planning and strategising, reflection, meditation etc, or a combination of activities. The only way the hours can cumulate is CONSISTENCY. Waking up early on somedays shouldn’t be the norm, but making sure to do it everyday.
Agreed on some days your body or mood revolts, still show up, in this case wake up early anyway. Now you may not be able to commit two hours like you normally do, but on such days, even 30 minutes, or even 10 will do. The most important thing is showing up, and making effort even when you don’t feel like it. In fact, the true test of being consistent is showing up, or engaging in an activity when you don’t feel like it in the least. On such days, just making the effort counts. And before you know it, your little effort will start to grow again, and then reach your normal tempo or even exceed it. Using me as an example, I did not feel like writing today at all. But I’ve recently decided to challenge myself by trying to write for at least 10 minutes daily to flex and improve my writing muscles. What I’ve found, on days like today is that sometimes what is necessary is the effort. Once you start, you’ll find your tempo.
Consistency Without Learning Could Result In Stagnancy:
Without learning, Consistency could breed stagnancy and mentally draining monotonous routines that could lead to diffidence. For consistency to really propel you to success, you must commit daily to ensuring that you are better than the person you were yesterday. Commit to learning, stay curious, ask questions, read books. As much as doing the same thing over and over can be great, without conscious effort at self development and growth, you can become stuck in a monotonous circuitry that can even overtime affect your mental health. So while making effort to be consistent and show up, make effort to to improve in all areas, and get better daily.
Time Really Is The Most Valuable Thing There Is:
If you value money, then you should value time more and spend it judiciously.
The last sentence above you just read, did it make sense to you?
Yes? Good.
Because the few seconds you spent reading it is gone forever and can never be recovered. So if you had spent those few seconds reading or doing something meaningless, that doesn’t add value to you in anyway it’s gone too.
The biggest problem many of us have is that we don’t fully understand the value of time, and the fact that that it is worth way more than money. Everyday, every minute spent draws us closer to our death date. And when we postpone things and procrastinate, we are pushing forward those things to a time when we could do other things. Of course this is not to undermine the role of God’s timing in things or the fact that somethings are destined to be done at a latter date, the point is just to emphasise how important and valuable we should see time, and treat it as such. If you lose money in say a business deal for instance, you can make that money back, and even more. But if you waste or lose time in doing something meaningless, that time is gone forever and cannot be recovered.
No doubt we have all at one or the other lost valuable time on something, but going forward consider carefully and keenly what/what takes your time and if it adds any value to you. Remember also that you are not promised tomorrow so taking advantage of the time you have now is key to making the best of your time here, and making effort to leave your footprints in the sands of time.
These are so some of the key lessons I’ve relearnt and put into better perspective this year. I hope it helps you as it has me, and propels you to improve the quality of your life and do better.
Thank you for sharing. I recently took the decision to spend less time on Instagram and more time reading.