I know, another self-improvement thread right...but I think the misc needs this now more than ever right now. I was motivated to post this after watching the video below, which I recommend. He has a strong Christian/Catholic leaning, but even if you aren’t religious don’t let that deter you because he outlines a great total system structure.








Body:


- start with a great nights sleep. This aspect affects not only the body, but the mind as well. Aim for 7-8 good hours of sleep/night. Sometimes you may need more when you’re worn down, but 7-8 is a good goal for each night.

- do strength training. Something lots here do, but perhaps a lot have fallen off this year. And actually, this is another thing that spills over into mental health. If you’ve slacked off and are in a worse spot emotionally, your mental state isn’t just due to the stress of the year. It’s compounded by the fact that you’ve simultaneously removed a key stress buster from your life. Get back into a good routine and go smash some weights.

- go for a walk every day, or at least most days if possible. I know this will be more difficult this time of year, but that just makes it more important to take advantage of any days with decent weather. He recommends avoiding headphones while walking, and I would agree with that since in addition to the physical aspect of walking, unplugging and taking in the natural world should be another goal

- eat clean foods. Another that should be a no-brainer, but one we often get into habits of overlooking. Everyone probably has a different idea of what “clean eating” looks like, and everyone here has probably had periods when their diet was completely dialed in. From my personal experience I think an IF approach with at least a 14 hour window makes me feel better. And now I’ll throw in a diet that most here probably haven’t heard of or tried: the AIP diet.

https://unboundwellness.com/the-ulti...-the-aip-diet/

I followed it strictly for a month last year and felt great. I still do it occasionally for a week or so at a time just to minimize inflammation...but not to get off track, find a diet that makes you feel better and stick to it for the most part

- minimize alcohol intake. It’s ok to have an occasional drink, but if you feel the desire to get drunk you should find out why then work on addressing whatever is making you feel that way. My intake has been up and down over the years, and was higher than normal earlier in the year. My sleep got really bad, to the point where I was convinced I had sleep apnea. After having a sleep study apnea was ruled out, so I cut out the alcohol and my sleep has improved drastically. Taking care of this aspect will probably help you with the first goal- improved sleep




Soul:

- are you praying every day? Do you have a relationship with God that allows you to speak with Him at any given moment? If not, then prayer should be added to your routine. Out of all the time we all waste every day I’m sure you can find time to include this habit. I think the youversion app is a great tool to assist with this.

https://www.youversion.com/

Download the app on your phone and look around. It offers Bible plans for basically anything life might throw at you, and makes it easy to stick with. If you aren’t Christian I would still recommend going in with an open mind, but if you are adamantly against it you should still seek God in other ways.


- find a good church. For many people here this will be difficult, so perhaps a good starting point would be to make it a habit to watch an online sermon once/week. With more churches than ever streaming their services you have more options. As times goes on though, I would recommend viewing sermons from local churches with an intention of attending in person at some point.


- remove sin from your life. Yes, we will all stumble, but a continued effort should be made to minimize our sins. And with things more stressful than ever, these vices only become more tempting. Pornography, sexual promiscuity without a meaningful relationship, alcoholism, and drug use should all be minimized/removed. Luckily, doing the things leading up to this tip; sleep, exercise, walk/outdoor time, and prayer habits make removing these things much easier than you imagine right now. All the things listed(and others you may experience like gluttony, sloth, etc.) only serve to drag you down and make you more likely to stumble in other areas. Cleaning up the sinful aspects of your life must be included in a total system overhaul.

- for dads...you are the head of the household. You should be the spiritual leader and the one who leads by example. If you constantly stumble, are on your phone half the time, playing video games for hours on end, or just not being as engaged as you should then you are failing. Assume your role and take it seriously, because the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of your family is affected by you not just for this year but for the rest of their lives. Even if it starts with something as simple as saying the blessing before meals(or if things are really bad..simply having meals together as a family) you need to be moving in the right direction so that your family can follow you in the right direction.



Social:

- get to know your neighbors. In today’s world we are more isolated than ever, but at the same time there are more people than ever...with most of them wanting more connections with like-minded individuals. Networking in your neighborhood is good for mental health and is also a basic advantage with all types of things. Going for a walk will help with this, and there are also apps out there designed to connect neighborhoods together, which helps with security and a sense of community.


- make sure you can defend your home. If others live with you this is more important, but even if you live alone you should be able to protect yourself. What that means may look different to other people, but make sure you have a defense plan in place.

- besides defending your home, make it more secure through a security system and cameras.

- consider taking classes in boxing, Muay Thai, or jujitsu. In addition to the social advantages of relationships this will make you more confident/less stressed in many situations.

- develop a savings account. You should have easily accessible funds in case of an emergency. How much may be different for different people, and some things on this list cost money so you’ll have to balance and prioritize how you want to go about checking off each aspect if you are lacking in certain areas. If you don’t have a savings plan you should, and it should evolve along with you in order to remain sufficient.

- live in an area where the values of your state/community match your own values, or at least match them to a substantial degree. If you are funding programs that go against your beliefs, or feel that you as a person(or your way of life) are being attacked then it may be a sign that you should move. Obviously this isn’t as simple as purchasing a gun or a doorbell camera, but simply developing a plan, researching destinations, and moving in the right direction can go a long way towards making you feel better about your current situation. And obviously you will have to weigh the social impact of moving against your current situation... in other words what would it do if you move away from friends & family vs. how much does it mean to live in a better area.




Digital:


- minimize your screen time. Just as you don’t eat sh!t food all day and expect to feel good, you shouldn’t expect to take in bullsh!t news and online arguments all day and expect to feel good. This includes video games which drain time and flood your body with stress hormones. Additionally, shaving time from this area frees up tons of time to spend in other more productive areas. There are lots of apps than can help with this.


- home firewall. Your network should have at least some type of added protection. Firewalla is a good intro product to get used to monitoring your network.

https://firewalla.com/


- use browsers that are more respectful of your privacy. Brave is a good one. Lots of other browsers share your data, making it easier for them to pull you in or sell you some bullsh!t you don’t need. They are getting better at making social media & apps addictive, and getting better at advertising to people to make purchases. The less they know about you the better your chances are avoiding those traps.

- on a similar note, use a search engine that is more private. Using Brave and searching through google is pretty counter-productive. Use an engine like duckduckgo to improve your odds even more.

- use a better email...he recommends proton mail. I have no experience with it(and have admittedly used gmail for years), but his suggestion is something I will look into, but I don’t use my personal email much anyway.

- isn’t mentioned in the video, but I recommend occasionally checking the app privileges on your smartphone. Make sure nothing is allowed to access your mic. Don’t grant access to your photos. Ensure that the access of the app is minimal and relevant to its purpose. Otherwise it will collect all types of data and share it with pretty much any entity willing to pay a few pennies for it. And I say check it occasionally because I’m not sure the access can’t change through updates or other means.














And there you have it. A good start to moving towards a better and healthier life.

Definitely some good points but don't agree with all of it and seems to be missing a few things. Meditation is much more beneficial than religion for me at least

Dot for later

Will Rep on rc

Yeah, I had a good meditation habit for years and I definitely think it was helpful. Adding it to the list would be good for a lot of people, especially if you deal with an overactive mind and anxiety.

Thanks, OP. Really great post

Why not both?

minute and a half in he wants us to pray in foreign language, wat is dis ?

Not religious, not against it just has never been something I found helpful

Thanks! Looks great!

pretty good, except compiling tips like this does not help because you mix them and forget. A conscientious, comprehensive structure helps more because you do not overlook things.

Might as well give a list of 'earn ph.d.s in 18 fields to know how to approach different stressors'. Not a realistic system.

That’s easy...



Simply add “develop a conscientious structure to incorporate these habits into your daily life” as the first point listed before the bullet about improving your sleep.






And then at the end add “ earn ph.d.s in 18 fields to know how to approach different stressors”.

Negged

younger miscers GTFIH and learn

Awesome thread, skimmed through a bit of it. But will definitely keep this on an open tab to read in further detail later

Thanks man

totally agreed with every points. already doing all of it except the digital part. most of my work consists of reading/researching so i'm still glued to my screen 7-8hours a day but when i'm done that's when life begins.

also would add:

-no fap and or no porn. (or atleast trying a no fap month every now and then. addiction to masturbation/porn exists be aware of it)
-drinking A LOT of water
-stretching everyday (dynamic and static, either a few hours before sleepin or first thing in the morning) this one goes along with the "training a martial art" if done correctly.

Lmao @ yawnfest church shiet.

I was raised catholic.... Would literally rather watch paint dry.

would also add:

pick a new skill to learn and give yourself a timeframe/deadline to test yourself. it can be anything (instrument, singing, cooking something special, mastering a new sport,...) but you should be learning a new skill EVERY year.

I agree with most of this stuff. However, if your neighbors suck like mine then that's a no. As well, I disagree with the religious take.

Good post. I'll watch this the next time I'm feeling uninspired. I already know I should be doing most of this stuff, but I am weak-willed, inconsistent, and prone to constant backsliding. I have to hit myself over the head over and over again with the same information.

I'm Catholic and have heard of this Taylor Marshall guy before. It's funny seeing someone mentioned on the Misc. who I have also heard my devout aunt talk about. From what I've heard he's hardcore against modern developments in the church and is extremely opposed to the pope. It sounds like he goes perhaps a little too far.A lot of boring activities are good for you. The sacred isn't supposed to be exciting.

Great addition and one that I planned to add myself, so I’m glad to see others bring it up. If you have a lot of the other stuff dialed in then learning new things is really great for development. You included a lot of good examples and I would add learning a new language to your list(even if it’s a programming language). Exercising your mind is critical just like exercising your body.

Good list OP.

you forgot rule 22. print out list, wrap it around your hand, proceed to fist yourself

Meditation helps with a lot. grounding you, removing stress, improving insight, .. You also need leadership structure, because overlooking some pressures can lead to problems.

That’s rule 23. Rule 22 is stop crying. You should always stop crying before you fist yourself.

Damn straight y’all bitches better be praying ya heard

It isn't interesting, either.... Nor is it fulfilling. As a 8 year old kid I couldn't force myself to like it, and as a middle aged adult I have better things to do.

Maybe when I'm 90 I'll give it another go (unlikely)

A lot of these points are common sense but hard to do especially if you live in big urban cities. Personally, work-life balance is the hardest, especially with virtual work. There's no boundary between work responsibilities and family responsibilities.

Pretty long winded way of saying what Zyzz already taught us

Disregard females
Acquire aesthetics

Agreed, and I think avoiding time sinks is probably one of the most beneficial ways to help with that balance. Once you set screentime up on your smartphone to track how much time you spend on it, or monitoring how much you play video games, it’s easy to find ways to put more time back into your day.