13 Sensible Daily Habits

Go to bed early and get up early.

Staying awake while tired will make you feel more tired and irritable the next day. It’s almost never worth it to stay up late watching t.v. or getting extra work done. You’ll be more efficient if you start your day earlier and you won’t have to live with the hangover of being tired from the night before.

Start your day off in silence.

No phone, t.v., internet, stressful conversations, etc. Enjoy the quiet of the early morning. Pray, write down your thoughts, read a book.
Drink plenty of water. Especially in the morning.

Drink two glasses of water upon waking up, before eating anything.

Drink a glass of water 30 mins before every meal and 1-hour before bed. If you’re going to drink something with a meal, hot water or tea is better for digestion.

Don’t wait too long to get up and start moving around.

After you’re done with your quiet reflection time, go for a walk or do some things around the house. Sweep the floor, put things away, etc. Do some light stretches or joint mobility. These things will help wake the body up and remove stiffness. It will also energize your mind and establish a mind-body connection. You’ll feel better and it’s good for you. Exercise also helps inspire better idea generation and build confidence in your abilities.

Consume fewer calories.

Especially simple carbs (things containing refined sugar). Only eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re 80% full. If you’re feeling hungry, it might be dehydration. Drink water first before eating anything. Consume a high fiber diet — all-bran cereal in the morning is a good start. Fiber counterbalances the negative effects from highly processed and sugary foods. It also fills you up. So does food that is high in protein and fat. Fat doesn’t make you fat, carbs and sugars do. Delay eating in the morning as long as you can.

Limit your time on the internet, the t.v., texting, listening to the radio, etc.

They are addictive and distracting. You’ve got better things to do and better messages to feed yourself with.

Limit your exposure to the news.

The news focuses on negative events, because negative events are more rare than positive events. The news is more about entertaining you than informing you. Entertainment is what keeps you coming back, and you coming back is everything to them. Most of what the news informs you about are things you don’t need to know and much of it is biased and inaccurate.

Save and invest your money.

Maintain a budget, where you keep track of every dollar you spend. Allocate every dollar at the beginning of the month to a particular expense or savings category. Keep expenses as low as possible. Borrow as little money as possible (preferably none). Don’t incur credit card debt, as the interest rate is far too high. If you insist on using debt to buy a car or renovate your home, use a line of credit instead of a credit card. As for investing, beware of mutual funds, hedge funds, bonds, and crypto-currencies. They’re inferior to index funds that track the broader stock market. Or learn to invest in individual stocks for the long-run (invest in companies that have a “durable competitive advantage” (Buffett). Don’t short stocks and don’t use options. Also, all get-rich-quick schemes are wrong-headed, ignore them.

Don’t have arguments with yourself or with others.

Keep mental dialogues to a minimum — breathe, pray. And don’t let real arguments with people get heated. De-escalate as much as possible.

Be a listener more than a talker.

You’ll learn more that way. You’ll have fewer arguments. And people will respect you more.

Live as though you’re valued by God and treat everyone as though they’re equally valued by God.

We’re all sinners and saints. You may have made your peace with God, but you’re not perfect and neither is anyone else. Don’t expect them to be.

Live as though everything you have is a bonus, rather than a right.

Anything you have can be take away. Even your very life can be extinguished in a moment. Be thankful, always, for what you have. And don’t brag.

Tell your spouse and children everyday that you love them.

Tell them with words and with actions.

Dan Pedersen

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