You’ve got to choose some non-negotiables in your daily life. It’s not what you do once in a while that forms your life and gets it going in the right direction, it’s what you do daily.
The great news is – If you don’t like your life, you can change it!
There’s a rule of 5 that John Maxwell talks about that I’ve worked to incorporate in my life. I don’t always do them, which is why I’m not fully where I want to be in life, but I’m closer than I was before I started out on this endeavor…
He’s a best selling author who comes out with books regularly, so his daily 5 are:
- He Reads
- Files
- Thinks
- Asks questions
- & Writes
One of my main mentors is Terri Savelle Foy. She’s a Christian motivational speaker who helps people create vision boards and move toward their dreams and call of God on their life. She has this high high voice that people make fun of her for and say she sounds like a mouse, yet she goes forward and doesn’t let it hold her back. & Now her voice is her trademark. Look her up on YouTube. She’s encouraged me a lot!
Her daily 5 that I work to incorporate in my life are:
- Spend time with God
- Listen to a motivational message
- Exercise
- Read 20 minutes a day
- Review your dreams and goals
10 Life Habits for 2021 & Forever:
1 – Stop Speaking Death, Speak Life.
- To test if you are speaking in the right direction for your life, finish your phrases with “and that’s just the way I like it”. Example: I can never lose weight.. and that’s just the way I like it! “I could never afford that.. and that’s just the way I like it!”
- Stop complaining. Do a 1 day then 1 week then 1 month no complaining challenge. It will change the way you speak.
- Don’t gossip.
- Don’t speak negative things over yourself. Even if they’re true right now, speak to who you want to become, not to who you currently are. The most important voice in your life after God’s, is your own. God’s should be the most important but often we value what we think about ourselves over what He thinks about us.
- Don’t speak against people of God.
- Turn your anger to prayer instead of a negative response. Turn that energy into prayer and trust that God will turn things around for you. Anger doesn’t accomplish much but prayer does a ton!
2 – Make a vision board with pictures of where you want to go.
Choose 7-10 goals for the year. Add pictures to bring that dream alive. Put a picture of the kind of body you want, the amount of money you’d like to make, a place you’d like to visit, the job you’d like to have.. pray over these and ask the Lord to give you the vision he has. You can get a lot of things in life in your own strength, but we want to be on God’s path, not our own. Don’t be scared to dream though. If God isn’t in something, you can ask for it, but be okay if God doesn’t bring it to you. But for the things that God would like you to have, the Bible says “You have not because you ask not.” Don’t stand still because you didn’t ask.
3 – Make a long term dream book or board as well.
Things that might take longer than 1 year. Maybe a 5-20 years vision board. You can put these pictures outside of your 1 year vision board just so you see where you’re ultimately going in life. You can put the dream on one page and the fulfillment picture of it on the other. Maybe you want to be a speaker so you photoshop yourself on stage, then you take a real photo of when you’re speaking on stage later. Some of your hardest work you will do in life is taking the time to sit down and dream and pray out where you believe God is leading you in your life. A lot of people want things but very few will sit down and do the mental work to write the vision. The people who consistently do are the ones who succeed.
4 – Morning Routine.
Most of the greats will tell you that their morning routine is their secret to success. You just can’t get away from this one. You need to protect your first hour or so of your day. They say the first 5 minutes of your day can determine the tone of your day. Don’t let your mornings get away from you. Terri Savelle Foy recommends an hour morning routine that consists of: 20 minutes of prayer (Bible, prayer), 20 minutes of exercise, and 20 minutes of reading every morning. It’s a great jump start.
5 – Get your body in shape.
Do whatever it takes. Being overweight or untoned makes us insecure and it takes too much of our mental attention. It can cause depression, bad self-image, and also make you not as attractive to the person you’d like to attract. Don’t put if off any longer. It take like 1-2 years to get your body looking good. Or less if you get a trainer and are disciplined with your diet. Don’t make more excuses for looking poorly. You can do it. I’ve worked on my body and I’m happy I did and I’m going to work on it more. You’ve only got one body. Take care of it. Look awesome, finally.
6 – Get Mentors.
Whether they are online or better yet someone you can actually talk to. The 5 people you’re closest to have a big impact on your life. Choose the prominent voices in your life wisely. People are so prideful. We all want to be self-made. Quit that mentality. No one successful, even you, are not really self made. Our parents shape us, our teachers, our friends, our pastors, people we are inspired by.. We all learn from somewhere, from everywhere. The point should not be to get to the top of the mountain and say I had no help. Mountain climbers and marathon runners often have teams helping them get to the finish line anyhow with food, water and supplies. We should get to the top of the mountain with others if possible. The point of life is not for us to shine, but to be at a place where our lives affect other people in a positive and godly and helpful way. Nobody cares if the medic was self made or not, they care that you saved their life. The biggest successful people pay big money to have someone encourage them and guide them in the right direction. Mentors are often the luxury of the rich. Think about it – financial advisors, health coaches, marriage councilors, personal sports coaches.. I’m eager to get as many good voices leading me as I can. Sometimes it’s just hard to find the right ones. Ask the Lord to lead you to the right people. God definitely leads me to the next person to follow or book to read. Sometimes it’s pretty supernatural. God knows what we need and where He’s leading us. Ask Him to lead you.
7 – Read Regularly.
Zig Ziglar, one of my favorite mentors, was known for reading for 3 hours a day for year. President Trump, another one of my favorite people, apparently was known for reading for 4 hours a day for years and later it led him to becoming the President. Warren Buffet is said to read 8 hours a day. I don’t know what he’s reading, maybe stock charts, but you can see a pattern. Leaders don’t just keep regurgitating what’s already in their heads, they keep learning and pulling in new information to make better and more prosperous decisions. Your mind is your garden. Feed it. Water it. Fertilize it. Change it. If you don’t want to read that’s okay.. just be okay with being small potentially your whole life. That may sound harsh but it’s pretty true. Learn to love learning. Learn to love reading. If you don’t want to read or have trouble reading, get audio books. Get video courses. Find mentors on YouTube, or do all of it. Books are your best friend. Above all get the Word of God in you. If you only studied the Word of God and embodied it and became like Christ, your life would be a success. A good starter habit is to read 10 pages or 20 minutes a day. You will end up reading like 10 200 page books a year when most people only read 1 book a year and some maybe 1 book ever after college. You would have most likely been better never going to college, where people often learn to hate reading, and have just done self study in the areas that interested you.
8 – Get in control of your finances.
Figure out where you are. How much are you in debt? What’s your credit score? What are you financial goals? Do you want to buy at a house at some point? How much do you want to be making? How much are you wasting each month? How much are you spending on food? How much will your taxes be? How can you get write offs? Do you want to start your own business? Do you want to be working at your same job anymore? Your job is so much of your life. If you don’t like it, trust God to transfer you into the line of work you will enjoy. You’ll enjoy doing something and if you’re hating your daily life, that’s not God’s will for you. First work on your perspective and be thankful for what you do have and give your best at your job, then start developing your skills to transfer into another field work you will enjoy. Start speaking towards it. Write it down. Ask people who’s hiring or how to that start a side business that will eventually overtake your current job. Don’t quit cold turkey. Be wise but start dreaming and working toward your new life. & Don’t go into debt except for maybe a house, if you must. Some people, like the Duggars, sell cars until they can get the money for their first house. I love the Duggars. I got to spend New Years Eve with them and learned that.
9 – Focus on your family & friendships.
Life can be pretty lonely if you’re just pursuing your goals. At the end of the day, you need to have people to love and celebrate with. Don’t get too isolated and selfish with your life and time. You need people whether you think you do or not. I’ve gotten very isolated at times. It’s a mistake. Sometimes you go through stuff – heartbreak, lonliness, depression, anxiety, and you pull away from everyone. I know I have. But you have to not let yourself stay in your shell. Sometimes you don’t always have love in your life like a boyfriend, but you have love all around you in your family and friends. Investing in your friends lives can really make you more happy. I know for me when I’m helping people I’m happier. When I pull away for a long while, I’m not as happy. I’m just thankful my family puts up with me and my phases as I’ve been learning how to find happiness in life. Happiness comes from giving of yourself and loving God and people. Happiness does not come from seeking happiness. If you don’t know that yet, you will learn it. It can take a long time to figure that out, but hopefully I just saved you some years. Learn to like who God made you even while you’re not perfectly who He intends you to be yet. God needs your personality type on this earth or He wouldn’t have made your personality. Even though you’re selfish sometimes, learn to accept that you’re not perfect and start changing your selfish habits until one day you will like more of who you are. But know that God is working on you, life is maturing you, and you’ll get there someday hopefully.. but you can enjoy who God made you now. Stay humble, say you’re sorry often, and start serving the people around you and praying that God works out the ugly in you until you’re prettier inside and out.
10 – Start using your gifts.
Lately I’ve gotten to feel like I’m wandering.. so I decided to analyze the gifts God’s given me and asked myself what I enjoy doing, and I’m writing again. I’m a writer. A songwriter, a card writer, and a blogger. It can feel like there are more important things I should be doing, but this is what I enjoy doing and often neglect, so I’m doing it. God gave me a gift. I”m not the best writer, but I’m working on it. My grammar isn’t the best, but I’m working on it. You improve with use. We were all given a bunch of talents. I also like to cook and that’s a gift I can give to people every day. I’ve been working at becoming a better “chef”. Just start doing what you’re good at. Start giving your gift. It doesn’t have to be someone else gift. I’m not the highest IQ in the world – my brother just beat me 3x in a row in connect 4, I’m okay with that. I’m not sure how that happened and I will beat him next time, but I have other gifts he doesn’t have and I’m going to make sure I identify those to get my self esteem back up. Kidding. Point is, we often look at someone on stage and want to be them, but public gifts come with their price. Just enjoy who God made you. If you like making cakes do it. One day I will join you in that. Write down your gifts and start using them. Your gifts are to be given. They are from God and it’s your job to build on them and be a good steward of them. Today someone is writing a hit song. I’m a writer but I don’t have my guitar out so maybe I won’t get a hit song. Good things come to people who are diligently working on their gift set. I’m going to get my guitar out and ask the Lord for a great song. It might take a while but if you consistently use your gift, it will grow and will be worth money or admiration. And it’s fun! It’s one of the joys of life. Just know that your gifts are not just to make you look good, though that happens, they are meant to lift others, bring joy, and glorify God. God loves to see what we do with what He gives us. We are His children and it gives Him joy to see us using our creativity. He is a creator and we are his offspring.
If you do these things, you’re going to have a better year. It’s a lot of work to go the next level in life, but it’s possible and you can do it! God will lead you – just seek Him first. God will let us fail as long as we decide to, but He will always help us when we decide to man-up and become focused and disciplined. Discipline brings joy. When you start trusting yourself to fulfill the promises you make to yourself and others, you respect yourself and other people start noticing as well. It’s like when someone starts getting in shape, everyone notices and their opinion of you goes up. When you start following through on the things you want to do in life, it’s going to feel good and you’ll probably want to keep on that track. We all fall off the wagon, but get your 5 morning habits that you keep coming back to and it will change your life.
Happy 2021!
Camille Harris
