The 10 Things You Should Avoid Doing in 2019 to Have a Happier, More Productive Year
There are many small things that you can avoid and have a better life. Here are 10 of them.
Let’s not make any new year resolutions this time.
You know, those are just hypothetical promises — in most cases — you make to yourself. Deep down, you know that it would only be a few days, or weeks before you ditch it and go on to living in the same old way you did the last year.
So, no big promises this year. Just a few small things you can avoid doing which will help you have more happy times and get more productive.
It’s no sorcery that I’ll be telling you about, but I’ll try to make the implementations of the next ten things sound a little easier.
Here go the top 10 things you should avoid doing in the year that awaits you with open arms:
Sleeping More than 8 Hours
I know, I know. How can I even talk like that about your first love?
Pardon me, but you see, I’ve told you to spend 8 hours of your day with your better half. Don’t you think the other things in your life deserve the rest of your time?
Ask that to yourself.
To me, it doesn’t really matter as to when you go to bed and when you wake up. All that I care about is that you do not bestow your beloved with more than 1/3rd of your going-to-be frikkin amazing 2019.
Note that the time when you sleep should not affect your productivity, or makes you tired all day, or keeps you away from important activities throughout the day.
Just imagine how would it feel at the end of the year when you sit back to evaluate all that you’ve done, and then realize that you spent half of it sleeping. I’m sure that wouldn’t sound anything close to cool. You’ll just be wasting time that way.
So, avoid sleeping even a minute more than 8 hours. Okay fine, you can snooze your alarm once. But mind you, just once. Promise?
Ignoring Your Messed Up Bedroom
I watched a video of Admiral William H. McRaven giving a speech at the University of Texas at Austin where he stated,
“If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another…. and if by chance you have a miserable day you will come home to a bed that is made, that you made. And made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”
I was no different than most other people out there, but that one last sentence in the above snippet made one heck of an impact on me. And trust me, things have been much better. A clean and made up bed does give you a sense of accomplishment and makes you feel fresher.
Same goes with your room. A clean room, a clean surrounding, a clean surface to walk on will all add to the freshness of your mind and hence, make you more productive.
It would hardly take 5 to 10 minutes of your day but the impact would be largely felt by you, and those who pay you a visit.
And here we have the next thing on the list; avoid ignoring your messed up bedroom.
Wasting Too Much Time on Social Media
Video games are love. I agree. So stop frowning and read what I have to say.
We’re a generation that has learned to see the world through a 6-inch window that we hold in our hands. It has become next to impossible for people to spend a day without our gadgets.
Do I need to even mention this? We all know that we spend far more time on social media, video games, and collectively on our mobile phones than is necessary.
If you don’t like people, spend some time with nature, if you like being with animals, spend time with them, if you like hanging out with friends and family, go do it.
It will give you a sense of livelihood. It will help you see that there’s more to this world than just what you get to see on social media platforms. That the world is actually a better place if we try and see it that way.
Also, if you have been in the habit of reading through the comments section, stop doing it. They usually create a bias in your mind or fill it with useless thoughts, thoughts that don’t really mean anything to you.
Avoid wasting time on social media for a better view of this not-so-cruel world.
Crying Over Your Breakup
Withdrawal hurts. And I know it. But for how long?
I don’t tell you to just shut out every feeling and sit there, stone cold.
What I mean is, you’ve already wasted the past few weeks or months of your life crying for your lost love, how much more of your precious time would you like to waste for an asshole who left you for someone else?
I know you lose touch with your friends once you get into a relationship. And then going back to them after you’ve had a breakup seems very mean. But, believe me, if they truly are your friends, they won’t mind getting you back in the gang and help you recover.
You can also try and talk about it to your family.
Am I crazy? No.
There are a number of times when we think that confiding in our family members would be the worst choice but it mostly turns out to be the opposite.
Do whatever you need to do, just make sure you avoid crying over your ex in the year that follows.
Entertaining the Procrastination Monkey
I heard of the procrastination monkey in a Ted talk by Tim Urban.
This procrastination monkey resides within all our brains, it’s just a matter of how much we let it control us and our activities.
When the procrastination monkey sees that you’ve got a week to complete some work, it lets you relax until there’s too little time left to actually get done with the work.
Only then you realize what a trouble you are into.
Let 2019 be a reminder to your procrastination monkey that you no more have plans to entertain it. And it’ll be having a hard time residing within your brain.
Procrastination to some extent is okay, and we all do it. But there are so many of us who miss out on the greatest opportunities of our life just because we think that opportunities can wait for us. And hence, we sleep a “little more”, watch “one more” movie, go to “just one more” party, and eventually, be a loser for one more year.
Avoid it. Avoid being a loser for yet another year. Avoid entertaining your procrastination monkey.
Disrespecting People’s Opinion
While it’s fine to not agree to what others have to say, it’s certainly not to disrespect them for their opinion.
I’ve had this problem for a long time during my teenage. It did me the favour of getting me into arguments, fights and what not. And not one time did I see a good result out of it.
Now I’ve come to terms with not disrespecting others opinion, no matter how truly I disagree with them. I’ve vowed on not arguing with people whose opinion seem offensive to me. And you can, too.
Do it for once and you’ll get into the swing of it. You’ll realize how good it feels to actually set yourself aside from useless arguments. You’ll feel the bliss of it.
I don’t tell you not to differ in opinion with other — how can I, you ought to have your own sense of judgement for everything.
All I want you to do is just respect what others have to say. Try and understand their viewpoint. Maybe, just maybe, that they actually have some legit point.
And if they don’t, never mind. There are 7.6 billion people in this world and I’m sure you’d find many who agree with you.
Next year, vow to yourself that you will avoid wasting your time or spoil your mood in arguments that arise due to differing opinions.
Piling Up Your Dirty Clothes
Has it ever happened to you that you keep piling up your dirty clothes in the hope that you’ll wash it the next day and a day comes that you find a Mount Everest of clothes inside your room?
Quite often, right?
Piling up your dirty clothes not only make your room untidy and unhygienic but also add to your workload. And being the lazy person you are, why not be the smart kind of lazy and get done with them every now and then. After all, lifting 10 pounds 10 times sounds much easier than lifting 100 pounds at once.
Next time, be the smart kind of lazy, avoid piling up your dirty clothes and do your laundry on time.
Turning a Blind Eye to People in Need
You might have awed at so many people who you saw videos of helping others, but did you really think how good it actually would feel to help someone out with something?
If no, let’s do it in the next year. Let it be a year of helping at least 365 people in 365 days.
It doesn’t really matter if you help someone cross the road, donate a dollar, help someone with their homework, talk people out of their bad times, or just anything. All that I need you to do is… help.
We’ve become a generation of people who are too busy looking into our phone screens to know who’s in what situation.
You can take this challenge up for helping one person a day and finally stop being too busy, even though you are not.
Take this as a responsibility and avoid turning a blind eye to people in need.
Waiting for Your Phone’s Battery to Drop Below 15% Before Plugging it to Charge
Here we have something of your interest.
We all know the troubles we’ve landed into just because our phones died at the most needed time. And then followed a series of cuss words to our beloved phones.
But ask yourself, did your phone really deserve it? It was you who didn’t show enough care to your beloved and then you curse it for its irresponsible nature.
Just accept it, that you’ve been the asshole here.
It happens with all of us that we avoid charging our phones until our phone really starts to beg for it.
What you can do the next time is charge your phone whenever you have some free time and you’re sure that you won’t be using your phone.
For this habit of mine, I hardly see my phone’s battery draining below 20%.
If you want your phone to support you in your bad times, make sure you also help your phone not drain into its bad time.
I’m sure phones can be also be charged if they haven’t yet fallen tot eh 15% mark. So, avoid waiting for your batter to die before you finally charge your phone.
Ignoring to Take Responsibility
If you’ve read The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck, by Mark Manson, you probably already know of this.
But if you haven’t, this can bring about a great deal of change in your life.
There are so many things that happen in our life for which we hold other people responsible. Well, there’s nothing wrong in it. We are all the same way.
While they have caused us the trouble, it’s our responsibility to either keep on cursing them or tell ourselves to somehow get over with it and move on.
I’ve realized it to work well for me and I guess it would for you, too.
Taking responsibility for the way you react to everything in your life will give you great command over your mind.
Put more precisely, there can be a hundred different causes to your touble, but there can be only one person responsible for how things go on after the trouble has been triggered. And that person is you.
You need to take the responsibility of helping yourself grow over all the mishaps that take place in your life.
Time to avoid ignoring taking responsibilities.
Some Parting Thoughts
Stay as excited as you are for every new year.
Have yourself stuffed with the same amount of energy that you had last year, or maybe even more.
Prepare for a great party.
Toast to all the things that happened in 2018.
But also remember, 2018 was not your best year. 2019 can beat it by a great margin. All you need to do is make some small changes in your daily habits.
To a great year that holds great secrets for you, Happy New Year 2019.
