Do These Things in 2024 To Transform Your Life And Make You Unrecognizable
Most New Year advice is filled with vague and useless advice that doesn’t have the power to transform your life.
They often go by the principle of doing more with your time or drastically changing your life to forge a new path for yourself.
However, such immediate and intense change will not last long enough to make a meaningful difference in your life.
So no more of that. I’m taking my own approach and I’m simply improving upon things I was already doing, but finding a way to do it differently in a better way. Here are my examples you can use to create your own goals for a better you.
Stop Spending Start Investing
Spending is a one-way street. Once you buy that bag of chips, or that massage chair, or that flat-screen TV, your money is gone. Forever.
“Saving money is the gap between your ego and your income, and wealth is what you don’t see.” — Morgan Housel, The Psychology Of Money
So now that you have more money from spending less, what should you use it for? You should use that money for investing. Feel free to invest in stocks, real estate, or Roth IRAs, but the most valuable form of investing is investing in yourself.
Because ultimately, you are your best asset, and investing in yourself is the most profitable form of investing there is. Use your time and money to learn valuable skills, new languages, and communication tactics that will bring you success.
Investing in your own skills will be one of the biggest investments you have ever made, but the value you will be able to provide for others in a few weeks, months, or years will be the most beneficial for you both financially and personally.
Stop Thinking Start Doing
Nothing gets done when you are planning.
You can find the best tutorial on how to do a dumbbell curl, but you won’t get stronger until you lift weights. You can read all of the best investing books, but you won’t be good at investing until you put money in. You can memorize the entire Ikea instruction manual, but your cabinet won’t be built until you start assembling.
Sometimes, you have to start when you’re not ready. Otherwise, you are at risk of being trapped in analysis paralysis and quit before you start.
The only way to learn is by doing, not by thinking. If you don’t believe me, try to learn how to shoot a basketball perfectly by only watching how-to YouTube videos instead of spending time on the court. Yeah… not so easy.
Trust that you will learn as you go and know that the only way to get things done is by doing.
Stop Scrolling TikTok Start Reading
Replace that Instagram Reel, that TikTok video, or that YouTube Short that is eating away at your attention span. Social media provides no value to your life and only causes depression, anxiety, and loss of focus.
Instead, redirect some of those many hours wasted from social media to reading. Read books, like Atomic Habits by James Clear, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, or Show Your Work by Austin Kleon which will not only teach you a good work ethic and self-discipline but also have the power to change your worldview.
I quit social media for three months now and during that time I have read almost ten books. Reading every day has been a habit that has significantly improved my well-being and knowledge of the world, so I urge you to give it a try.
At the time I am writing this, I am reading Ultralearning by Scott Young and I highly recommend you check out this book as well.
Stop Dabbling Start Committing
Do you have a hobby that you have always wanted to be good at or a side business that you have always wanted to develop?
2024 is the year to turn your hobbies into your passions.
If you enjoy writing, don’t just write whenever you feel like it, commit to writing every day. If you enjoy playing chess, commit to practicing a little every day. If you enjoy your side hustle, commit to putting more effort so that it can replace your job.
By committing, you will be able to narrow your focus and dive deeper into the areas you truly love so that you can enjoy them at a higher level with more fulfillment.
If you happen to have a lot of hobbies, that’s fine. Just make sure to identify which ones are purely for fun and which ones you have intentions of committing to. That way, when time becomes scarce, you will understand your priorities and make sacrifices when necessary.
Stop Staying Up Start Waking Up
The easiest way to lose control of your day is by not controlling your morning routine. This includes when you wake up and what you decide to do in the morning.
When you have the habit of staying up late every day, you make it difficult to control when you wake up and the energy you have to perform your morning routine. This will severely affect your productivity for the rest of the day and hamper your willpower to make hard decisions.
So control your bedtime. Sleep at the same time every day and try to sleep before midnight. It is also essential that you get seven to nine hours of rest and not more or less. By controlling your bedtime, your wake time will fall in place and your morning routine will be undisturbed to make the most out of your day.
Once you have mastered the discipline required to wake up early every day, you will find that you can achieve anything you want and participate in deeply focused work that was not previously possible.
Stop Distracting Start Focusing
Put your phone away and block all social media sites. Today’s age is the age of distractions, and the willpower required to stay focused is greater than ever.
Being distracted has both environmental and mental factors. Luckily, you can control both of them. To start with your environment, don’t work in the same place you sleep and work away from all distractions, including your phone, TV, and even other people.
Whenever you find yourself procrastinating or getting distracted mentally, take a walk. After your walk, commit to an hour of undistracted work. To achieve this, I like to set a timer where I work until the timer runs out.
I advise not to set a timer for more than 90 minutes to prevent burnout and to take a half-hour break to give your break some rest. After all, sprinters need some rest after a race and you are just a mental sprinter.
Stop Being Influenced Start Influencing
Being influenced by your peers is only natural. Humans are social creatures and we tend to absorb the behaviors of those around us.
And while we can limit how much we allow ourselves to be influenced by others, it is important to surround ourselves with people who support us and can raise our standards. I’m not telling you to remove all of your friends, but you should stop talking to those who are friends solely for a transactional purpose or who are there just to use you.
Surround yourself with people who are all at or above your level.
If you are surrounded by geniuses, you will want to become a genius.
If you are surrounded by athletes, you will want to become an athlete.
If you are surrounded by technology innovators, you will want to become an innovator.
Besides stopping yourself from being influenced by bad sources, learn how to influence other people. Learning how to get people to listen and act in a common interest is where true power comes from.
Influencing others is not hard, but it requires a lot of work on yourself and a lot of skills to manage people. Only once you can influence others will you be able to do what you want.
Final Words
2024 is a year of promises and resets. How you choose to spend your year is ultimately up to you, but you must keep in mind that change does not happen overnight.
Be patient, be persistent. Only then will you find true success in molding your habits to become the person you want to be.
So get out there and put in the work. Make 2024 your year.
