No one on this planet was born with the knowledge on how to live a perfect life free of mistakes and errors from birth till death.
We are bound to sometimes miss it and get it wrong.
In life, there is no getting to a stage where you will have a manual on how to make the right decision and do the right thing every time.
Even if you know everything, you are not a robot. You will trip once in a while.
This is not to encourage lethargy or a life of subpar quality that is totally devoid of virtues and principles, no.
You should learn every day and work towards being a better person in all areas of life.
Your life should be guided by principles that will elevate and improve the quality of your life, move you closer to your life goals, and shorten or eliminate unnecessary sufferings.
Here are ten lessons I learned in life:
10 Lessons Learned in Life
Effective time management
There will never be enough time to do all the things you want to do; so, you have to be wise in dividing your attention among all the life tasks you have to carry out.
It is okay to have hobbies and to spend time doing things you derive pleasure from.
After all, all work and no play causes misery to the soul.
If you want to actually make something of yourself, you have to prioritize those things that are of utmost importance.
It is wiser to focus on the things that will get you closer to your life goals.
To succeed and excel in any pursuit, be it academic, career, or even relationship goals, all depends on the clever use of your time.
Time is the most important currency. How you use it will determine how much money you will have and how happy you will be in life.
It is not just about doing things with speed, it is doing the right things at the right time and being selective about the things you spend time on.
We all have the same 24 hours each day, the essence is in how each person chooses to utilize their portion.
Managing your time effectively will make you orderly and organized.
Time is not just money, time brings money. It all depends on how you use it.
Discipline
Everything in life requires discipline – hard work, success, accomplishments and achievements all require discipline.
The degree of discipline you put into what you do will determine the output and result you get.
Simply, you reap what you sow. You cannot get a hundred percent result on a fifty percent level of discipline.
Being a person of discipline takes a lot of work, grit, intentionality, awareness and mindfulness.
Some people are lucky to be born with a sense of discipline, others have to work at it.
Either way, discipline is a muscle that needs constant development.
Financial intelligence
Only a few people in the entire world are truly and actually financially intelligent.
It’s why 1% of the world population control 82% of the wealth in the world.
You want to be financially savvy early enough in life, so you can make good money decisions for the rest of your life.
It is never too early to get your finances in order. Don’t say you still have time or you are still young.
Time will pass anyway, take advantage of it to improve the financial aspect of your life.
People who take advantage of opportunities are the ones who get ahead in life.
How can you even begin to recognize opportunities when you are don’t even have the right knowledge to see them for what they are in the first place?
Don’t be deceived, money is important. It is puzzling that we are least educated about the thing that all lives revolve around the most?
This is not greed or gluttony, it is the truth.
Money is a means and a tool, not an end in itself. It is not everything but being financially wise will definitely make your life easier and relieve you of some certain kinds of stress.
Educate yourself on various financial instruments and how to better handle your money.
Read books.
Listen to podcasts.
Make sure that all materials contain accurate information.
Avoid get-rich-quick schemes and ventures that seek to lure you to part with your money.
You don’t have to adopt a miserly lifestyle; treat yourself once in a while but not at the detriment of your financial wellness.
Go easy on yourself
Being easy on yourself is not the easiest thing to do especially if you are a perfectionist.
You are not a robot, you will make mistakes. Hold on to that fact. When you trip, don’t go hard on yourself.
Forgive yourself.
You will still make many more, forgive yourself in advance.
No matter how fatal your error is or how brutal your mistakes might seem, don’t be hard on yourself.
Be your own best friend.
Talk to yourself like you would, someone you care about and whose feelings you don’t want to hurt.
People who go easy on themselves live happier lives and are more confident about their abilities.
First, be comfortable with your negative emotions, then work your way through them.
Clear the critical cobwebs in your mind and settle in. Figure out what you are angry with yourself about or what you can’t forgive yourself for, whatever the case may be.
Believe it, you have to be your own therapist sometimes and guide yourself through the murky waters of the human psychology.
You can’t escape yourself, and you can’t run away from your own mind. Stifling your emotions or beating yourself up are the worst ways out.
Going easy on yourself is one of the basic tenets of self-actualization.
Self-actualized people are more successful in life, better performers at work and are generally better at handling life challenges.
Learn your lessons and move on.
Remember to have fun
All work and no paly is not just a saying nor a theory or a suggestion, it’s a fact.
There must be arenas from which you derive fun and joy in life.
It is important to be serious, but it is also beneficial to have fun; your soul will thank you, your heart will remember it, and your head will feel refreshed.
You will be happier to get to work and take on the world.
You can’t take on the world properly and appropriately if you are grumpy.
So, get regular doses of fun. Take up hobbies. Go out often. Laugh out loud. Don’t be all work and no play.
The art of self love
What does it mean to love oneself?
It means choosing for yourself only those things which are good for yourself.
Making the right decisions, being selective in everything you do and choose to involve yourself in.
It is also about associating with the right people, having foresight and discerning the consequences of each decision before you embark on them.
Go ahead, love yourself.
Eating right
If you want to live a healthy life, one of the things you would have to be intentional about is what you put into your body through your gut.
Your body system is made up of what you feed it, so why not do it right?
Ingest only those things which are beneficial and not harmful.
Make the right decision today to eat better and eat right.
Getting adequate sleep
I wish I had keyed into the importance of adequate sleep early in life.
It is okay to be an all-nighter once in a while but don’t make it habitual, that would be detrimental to your health.
Sleep is an established, tested and trusted mode of rest, relaxation and refreshment.
And guess what? It’s free.
Sure, you have a lot to do and snoozing away might seem like a frivolity and a waste of time. But truthfully, sleeping better will alternately move you closer to your goals.
Everything you do affects every part of your life.
When you get enough rest, your body system takes time to reset; you are better able to think straight, make better decisions and generally improve your moods.
Embracing positivity
Positivity is not just about endless and miserable hoping. Not just hoping against all hope, although it is part of it.
Positivity is, first of all, being smart to create constructive atmospheres around yourself.
Eliminate stressful situations, life is stressful enough.
Have faith that everything will work out for your good.
Positivity is like showers you sprinkle on life circumstances. If it is toxic, it will burn and ruin things.
On the other hand, if it’s pure, it will be refreshing and bring forth sprouts. The choice is yours.
Don’t be a fatalist, it won’t help you.
Be optimistic and look out for the good in situations. It will be hard at first because the human brain is not trained to be positive.
But you have to keep at it.
It’s a muscle, you need to develop it.
Practicing gratitude
Gratitude is a core appreciation of the good things in your life, your life circumstances, your journey, how far you have come, where you are going and how good things have turned out for you in life.
There is no big or small gratitude, you cannot weigh the things that make you happy and serve as sources of joy.
You can be grateful for the bad things as well, for the lessons they teach you and for who you become as a result.
Being constantly conscious of the things you are grateful for in life will keep you in check and make you not lose sight of how good you have it.
There will never be perfect circumstances and nobody will ever have it all, but no matter how bad things get, there will always always be something to be grateful for; it is an unchangeable universal law.
In conclusion, know what you want from life. If you don’t know where you are going in life, it won’t matter how many lessons you learn.
It’s okay to not have bearing for a while but take time to find out who you are and what you want to do. From there, chart your course.
That said, even though the consequences of your errors might sting, and sometimes, you have to live with the results even long after the lessons have been learnt, there is beauty in learning from our experiences, mistakes and other people’s experiences and mistakes as well.
Don’t be too hard on yourself for not having valuable knowledge earlier in life. We are all learners.