Everyone aspires to grow, enhance their surroundings, and strengthen their connection to reality, but many struggle to figure out where to start. To help, I’ve put together a list of 120 practical ideas that can inspire your personal development journey. Remember, this list is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s simply a collection of things I know can help — most of which I have personally used or continue to use. These 100 ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of ways to begin transforming your life.
My only advice is to start small and work your way up to more the more challenging tasks. If you decide to pick something from this list, take the time to research it. There are countless books, videos, and even courses available that explain how to implement these ideas and detail the benefits they can bring to your life. I wrote a blog about the power of Google to change your life. Leverage its power to explore these concepts and start levelling up. With infinite resources at your fingertips, the possibilities are endless.
Not only will the items on this list help start to grow your life and your character as they come, but going through the process of researching them thoroughly , testing them out and generating your own insights, will help you develop an ability that will enhance your entire life — the ability to be resourceful.
120 Pieces That You Can Add To Your Life To Transform It
- Blue light blocker glasses (enhance sleep)
- No caffeine 10 hours before bed (enhance sleep)
- Drink 2L of water everyday
- Get up from chairs with only one leg (general leg strength)
- Walk barefoot whilst at home (improve foot strength and general health)
- Read books (click here for list of some great starting books)
- Start a daily meditation habit
- Start a journalling habit
- Start asking and answering questions about yourself and life
- Start consciously challenging yourself in small ways
- Sit on the floor and stretch out a bit everyday (especially if you sit for work)
- Add cold water to the end of your shower
- Set an alarm to get 10-15m of sun at midday
- If you sit for work, get up and take a 5m walk every 30-45m
- Listen to binaural beats at the end of the day
- Practice squatting and balancing each week (general health)
- Get a note taking app to contemplate, ideate, question, set goals and plan
- Be honest as much as possible, especially when it’s difficult
- Cut out one habit slowly
- Go for a walk
- Learn to sit properly
- Sit on the floor more
- Reduce alcohol intake
- Reduce sugar intake
- Reduce caffeine intake
- Only consume olive oil and no seed oils
- Take some nootropics
- Always get up and down from the floor without using your hands
- Learn a skill
- Develop a deep work routine
- Start a conversation with a stranger
- Sit in complete solitude for an hour each week
- Don’t eat within 3 hours of going to sleep (enhance sleep)
- Develop a short morning routine
- Wake up at the same time everyday
- Have a wind down period before going to sleep
- Watch a documentary about a country completely different to yours
- Join a yoga class
- Get into running
- Eat more powerful nutrition
- Go out and socialise with friends
- Listen to podcasts
- Create something meaningful to you – ANYTHING!
- Make your bed and clean your space regularly
- Learn to look after a plant
- Observe yourself in your life and write down what you discover
- Save a portion of the money you make every month
- Learn to choose the option that is emotionally difficult (this is often the best one for you)
- Ask people questions about themselves when you speak to them
- Perform a selfless gesture for someone you know
- Perform a secret selfless gesture for someone and don’t tell them about it
- Start a new hobby
- Learn to breathe deeper throughout your day
- Use psychedelics consciously as a tool for growth
- Practice visualisation
- Develop Yoga Nidra habit
- Do Wim Hof breathing
- Practice the Sedona Method
- Practice feeling deeply into all emotions
- Deeply figure out what it is that you want in life (journalling, questioning, contemplating and experimenting)
- Figure out your life purpose
- Practice food fasts (short and long)
- Take pride in designing the space around you
- Become a lifelong learner
- Practice mindfulness
- Stop buying things to impress people
- Learn about cognitive biases
- Learn about strategic thinking
- Become decisive
- Develop a growth mindset
- Learn to program your subconscious mind
- Practice leadership as best as you can in small situations
- Learn about the opposite sex and how they work
- Learn to listen deeply to what people are saying
- Learn about human nature and how to deal with people
- Only use glass bottles and containers as much as possible (health)
- Organise regular periods in nature
- Avoid debt as much as possible
- Remove all forms of smoking
- Curate playlists of music that you love that you can use to set specific moods with
- Practice and develop better concentration
- Develop awareness of the link between what you eat and how you feel
- Develop awareness of the link between how you sleep and how you feel
- Learn to observe everything openly without judgement
- Get a good alarm clock so you don’t have to have your phone during sleep time
- Place habits you want to build in your environment to create visual cues
- Read biographies about powerful humans
- Remove blame, criticism and judgement from you life
- Figure out your love languages (improve relationships)
- Get your body strong in a healthy natural way
- Do some art
- Practice spirituality
- Develop your own cultivated process to destress
- Develop your own cultivated process to deal with difficult emotions
- Learn to act in accordance with what’s good for the long-term
- Practice abstaining from things periodically to avoid attachment
- Contemplate your death
- Develop open-mindedness
- Learn to experiment with your own life
- Come up with a list of 100 questions you want to answer about life
- Wake up earlier
- Start a gratitude practice
- Learn to prepare meals for yourself (learn a new recipe per month)
- Track your expenses for a month and build awareness around your expenses
- Create a vision board
- Limit your consumption of negative news
- Learn to set boundaries
- Practice daily affirmations
- Take a break from social media
- Watch documentaries about inspiring topics
- Plan your week every Sunday. Use daily to do lists for key tasks in the week
- Practice delayed gratification
- Do a digital detox day every second week
- Explore minimalism. Declutter things you don’t use or need
- Write a list of your strengths and weaknesses
- Learn about your personality type
- Develop a list of your deepest values in life
- Learn to express yourself authentically
- Learn about things that are counter-intuitive
- Try experience something outside of your comfort zone
This list could go on and on and on. Try and see if you can contemplate and come up with some more ways that you can personally improve your life.
Where to go next?
Iteratively add piece after piece to your life, and watch as the momentum builds. These pieces will start to synergise together and create an unstoppable force that is your growth and the deepening of you connection to reality and ability to create the life you want. Write out 20 of these that you are interested in, do your research and then spend the next year implementing them one by one. When you are done, pick some more and repeat the process. Your entire life will change and you will never regret doing this. You will be surprised as to how some of these things will affect your life for the better and you will underestimate all the new changes and understandings will develop throughout the journey. Go through the process and let it all unfold. It will be one crazy journey!
Always remember… if you implement effort in a direction long enough, something will happen. What makes it exciting is that you can’t always anticipate what that something is.
It might be better than you ever thought possible 😉
#20
