This Year… Make Your Life Better… Every Day!

Most people are disappointed for what they have achieved in life within a year. Actually, you can start changing your life for the better this year! It is not really difficult to make and begin the changing. What you just need is to have a plan, execute it, and keep reviewing it to ensure you are on track to achieve your goals.

Here are 7 tips that should help to improve your life:

1. Start at home by sorting out what you want, and don’t want, in your closet, kitchen, refrigerator, garage and garden
Tidy your home! Go to your closet. Take out the old clothes that you never wear in years. Keep what you really want and need to wear in this year or so, and give the rest to charity.
Then go to your living room, windows and kitchen. Start cleaning the floor, vacuum the carpet, clean the window glass or mirror with using glass cleaner. Wash the dishes, mugs and clean your stove, oven and microwave.
Finally, take out all the garbage in the trash can. Do all these a little every day, rather than once a month. Afterward, you will have a much nicer home with clean and much more space every day. Plus you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping the needy.

Go to your fridge! Do you have a lot of old, out-of-date stuff in there? Just take them out. Make sure it is only fresh and healthy food you put inside.
Make up your garage! Bin the rubbish, and store the ladder, tools, or whatever, neatly. Start placing those in its place and in order. You may suddenly find you even have room for the car!
Tidy your garden! If you are lucky enough to have a garden, make it nice and regularly maintain it. You will enjoy it much more, and it will help keep you fit as well!
By doing these things, you will even find that it helps you to have a clear, fresh – and tidier! – Mind. It is a great way to start your new life.

2. Create Your Plan
What is the purpose of your plan? What are your goals for the year? You have to decide what you want to accomplish in the short term, midterm, as well as the long term (over a year). Write it down. This should include your financial targets as well. Make sure you have the income, and the security of income, you need.

3. Look after Yourself
It is true we cannot do things right if our health is not in good condition. So enjoy regular walks, or perhaps even challenge yourself to go jogging a few times a week (Take medical advice as appropriate). Of course, you could maybe play sports that you like. Good exercise can be great fun!
Eat and drink healthy food. Vegetables, especially organic vegetables, fruits, whole meal bread, fish, non-fat meat, etc. Drink more mineral water daily.
Avoid drinking too much beer or alcohol as this impairs your mind. A good diet will give you a better life, and often a longer one.
Remember, little changes can make a great change!

4. Read more nonfiction than fiction books
Read good articles which suit your needs. I recommend you read the stories of successful people, as that will motivate you to do as they have. Make notes on what you have read, as that will help you absorb and understand it better. A great mind is an inquisitive mind.

5. Appreciate yourself for what you have done and accomplished
Give yourself little rewards as you achieve your goals. This will make you feel much more confident that your plan is working. You will feel a better person. Indeed, you will be a better person!
Of course, inevitably, sometimes your plan may not work as you hoped. Don’t fret! You can simply revise the plan and get back on track. It just needs a little work and positive thinking to carry on.
Don’t work all the time! You need to entertain yourself by, say, going to the movies, hanging out with colleagues or friends, going to the places that make you happy every weekend, and so on. This will make your mind fresh again and ready to execute the plan in the following week.

6. Get enough sleep
Your body is working the whole day. It needs a rest and sleep. You need to have a quality of sleep. Set the time to go to bed and to wake up. Follow this rhyme every day and stay disciplined. This will regenerate your mind, passion, and ideas clearer.

7. Do meditation
Meditation is helping your ideas and plans not only in your mind, but also in your heart, and loving them.
Do this meditation 15 minutes before you go to bed.
Imagine what you have achieved today, how much you appreciate your work of today, and what you are going to do tomorrow. All the burden, resistance and fear for what you are going to do next will be diminished. You will have a big burning desire to move forward in the following day.
Therefore, follow the 7 tips above, and you will change and improve your life to be better, and with good habits this year.

About the Author
Ramunsyah Utama is a Financial Planner for an insurance company in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is working hard because he cares that people have a good plan – for assurance, and for life!