I recently read a book by Matthew Kelly, The Rhythm of Life. In it he states that when making decisions in life, especially important ones, the number one question to ask is:

“Will this make me a better version of myself?“

I love that! Another book by Jim Collins describes it slightly differently. He states you want to make decisions that will take you from being “good” to being “great.” Life is short and I’ve decided that I want to be GREAT at the things that I’m most passionate about in life and I also want to become the best version of myself.

Here is my list of what I try to do to achieve that goal:

1. Can’t find time to exercise? Wake up earlier and do 20 minutes of a cardiovascular activity that gets your heart rate up. The only rule is that you have to be sweating by the end of the twenty minutes.
2. Take two hours every Sunday (or best day for you) and plan your meals for the week; cut up fruits and vegetables; cook meats; get the crockpot going with some chicken and vegetable soup; anything you can do so you don’t say to yourself on the way home from work – mmmmmmmm, I wonder what I should pick up for dinner?
3. Live within 70% of your income each month; take the remaining 30% and divide into 3; give 10% to charities of your choice (it truly is more blessed to give); put 10% in your savings account; put 10% toward debt reduction; if you can’t do this you are living above your means.
4. Shut off the TV for good; there can be no better way of freeing up time and reducing stressful feelings that comes from watching stressful TV events.
5. Write down EXACTLY what it is that you want from life in detail; write down personal and professional goals; read those goals aloud each and every day and visualize yourself achieving those goals.
6. Try to bless at least one person each and every day; doesn’t have to be a big deal – smile at someone, complement them, listen to people’s needs and try to respond when possible.
7. Eliminate ALL high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils from your diet; by doing this you’ll easily eliminate 50% of all bad foods on the market.
8. Eat in MORE often; we eat too much; and we really eat too much when we go out to restaurants; eat out one to two times per week (and that includes lunch and dinner); open up those cookbooks buried in your cabinets and start experimenting.

So tell me, what are you going to do to become the best version of yourself?

Tags: Diet, Exercise, goals, life choices, self improvement, stress

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 9:10 am and is filed under Diet, Exercise, Healthy Lifestyle, Recommended Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.