8 Hidden Habits To Live Your Healthiest, Happiest and Most Fulfilled Life with Robin Sharma #471

1. Eliminate “I’ll Try”

Remove the phrase “I’ll try” from your vocabulary, as it signifies lack of interest, fear, or an escape route. Instead, either commit to getting the job done if interested, or don’t do it at all.

2. Commit to Getting the Job Done

Cultivate a mindset of simply “getting the job done” for any endeavor, whether it’s a marathon, healing, or starting a business, especially in a world where many give away their power.

3. Practice Absolute Personal Responsibility (APR)

Embrace “Absolute Personal Responsibility” (APR) by asking yourself “What am I doing to create this?” and “What are my choices?” in any situation, rather than complaining, blaming, or excusing.

4. Just Start, Don’t Complicate

When seeking to make changes, simply begin without overcomplicating the process; choose one commitment and apply it consistently.

5. Cultivate Four Interior Empires

Focus on developing four interior “empires”: mindset (psychology), heart set (emotional life, awe, wonder, grace), health set (physicality, energy, vitality), and soul set (spiritual life, connecting with heroic self).

6. Strengthen Self-Relationship

By working on your mindset, heart set, health set, and soul set, you build a stronger relationship with yourself, which in turn positively influences every other relationship in your life.

7. Balance Positivity with Real Feelings

Practice positive thinking, but do not ignore or swallow native human feelings like anger, disappointment, shame, sorrow, or frustration during difficult times, as repressing emotions can lead to a “field of hurt” and dis-ease.

8. Process Pain Before Positivity

Allow yourself to process through pain, jealousy, or sadness, rather than immediately shifting to positive thinking, as this emotional release is a necessary step before naturally moving towards positivity.

9. Confront Emotional Pain Directly

Instead of running away from a broken heart or other emotional pain, run into it and build intimacy with the pain, sorrow, or anger, as pain can be an incredible purifier and lead to release.

10. Heal Personal Wounds

Actively work to heal your emotional wounds and past hurts to prevent projecting that pain onto innocent people in your present life.

11. Release Resentment for Productivity

Avoid collecting resentments, as being full of resentment creates a barrier that blocks intimacy with your creativity, productivity, and prosperity, sabotaging elite performance.

12. Journal for Emotional Processing

Use journaling, specifically by asking “What will I let go of?”, to process and metabolize resentments and anger, allowing you to feel and heal emotional wounds quickly.

13. Forgive Your Past Self

Forgive your past self and avoid self-recrimination for mistakes, recognizing that all past experiences have served to sculpt you into who you are today.

14. Connect with Your Heroic Self

Build a stronger relationship with your heroic self, which is your truest self and voice of wisdom, while simultaneously learning to quiet the voice of your egoic self.

15. Embrace the 5 AM Club

Get up early, ideally at 5 AM or before the sun, to experience a unique form of wealth, peace, and set an intentional tone for your day, which yogis call Brahmamurta.

16. Create Upward Spiral of Success

Engage in a disciplined morning routine (like the 5 AM Club) to create an “upward spiral of success,” where a great start to the day leads to better choices, increased joy, and improved sleep, ultimately crafting a better life.

17. Start Day with Sweaty Exercise

Begin your day with sweaty exercise to release beneficial neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which enhance focus, and BDNF, which promotes neurogenesis and quicker processing.

18. Practice MVP (Meditation, Visualization, Prayer)

Regularly practice Meditation, Visualization, and Prayer (MVP) as part of your routine, as these practices can contribute to increased energy, longevity, and potentially prevent telomere shortening.

19. Practice 5-Question Morning Maximizer

After your morning workout, use a journal and coffee to answer five questions: “What am I grateful for?”, “Where am I winning?”, “What will I let go of?”, “What does my ideal day ahead look like?”, and “What do I need to hear at the end?”

20. Cultivate Daily Gratitude

Regularly write down what you are grateful for, as gratitude serves as a powerful antidote to fear and helps you recognize your inherent richness.

21. Acknowledge Micro Wins Daily

Reflect on and acknowledge your “micro wins” or “1% wins” each day, as this practice provides energy and protects your sense of hope.

22. Visualize Ideal Day

Envision and write down what your ideal day ahead looks like to infuse your day with intentionality and focus.

23. Identify Daily Priority

Ask yourself “What is the most important thing I have to do today?” to bring focus and direct your attention amidst noise and busyness.

24. Choose Daily Quality to Showcase

Reflect on and decide what positive quality you want to showcase to the world each day, guiding your interactions and behavior.

25. Write Intentions and Prayers

Write down your intentions and prayers, as this act of “prayer on paper” is heard by your subconscious mind and helps refocus your mindset and manifest your desires.

26. Connect with Mortality Daily

Each morning, connect with your mortality by imagining the last hour of your life and what you want loved ones to say, writing a paragraph about it to help you live more purposefully.

27. Start Small with Morning Intentionality

If a full morning routine feels overwhelming, start with just five or ten minutes of intentional activity, as even a short period of self-investment can make a significant positive difference in your day.

28. Keep Phone Out of Bedroom

To avoid the temptation of checking your phone first thing in the morning, keep it out of your bedroom, as its addictive nature makes it very hard to resist otherwise.

29. Avoid Negative Morning Content

Refrain from consuming negative news or superficial social media content first thing in the morning, as it can make you reactive and less present with loved ones and colleagues later in the day.

30. Beware of Unintentional Morning Routines

Recognize that even an unintentional morning (e.g., checking news/feeds) constitutes a routine, and if it involves negative inputs, expect consequences like reduced energy, negativity, and lower creativity and productivity.

31. Prioritize Rest and Recovery

Adopt a work pattern of intense bursts of elite performance followed by dedicated periods of rest and recovery, as this is how the most productive people operate, allowing for memory crystallization and new connections.

32. Recognize Rest as Necessity

Understand that rest is not a luxury but a necessity for optimal brain function, memory crystallization, problem-solving, and preventing the depletion of “assets of genius.”

33. Live in Seasons of Work and Rest

Structure your life into seasons of intense work and seasons of dedicated rest, recovery, and enjoyment, which can apply to yearly cycles or even daily rhythms.

34. Increase Rest for Productivity

If you have much to accomplish, dedicate more time to restorative practices like meditation, as increased rest and recovery can lead to even better work.

35. Avoid Dominant Hustle Culture

Recognize that hustle and grind culture becomes toxic when it completely dominates your life, rather than being a part of committed effort and hard work.

36. Read More, Use Phone Less

Reduce phone usage and dedicate time to reading books that enrich, inspire, and reveal new possibilities, as reading is a conversation with the author that builds wisdom.

37. Create a “Walking University”

Incorporate a “walking university” into your routine by taking a one-hour nature walk while listening to podcasts or audiobooks, combining physical activity with continuous learning.

38. Deep Dive into Resonant Books

For books that deeply resonate, acquire both audio and hard copies; listen to the audiobook multiple times for easy consumption, and then “study” the physical book for deeper engagement.

39. Curate Positive Environment & Inputs

Clean up your physical spaces, add beauty like flowers, and replace toxic or negative media with enriching content such as psychology, history, poetry, or art, to input positivity and consequently output positivity.

40. Practice IPOP Principle

Apply the “IPOP principle” (Input Positivity, Output Positivity) by consciously choosing to consume positive content and experiences, which will naturally lead to outputting positivity.

41. Be “Selfish” for Self-Improvement

Dedicate time to a strong morning routine for your own benefit, being “selfish” in a way that makes you more inspired, wise, and energetic, and commit to it for at least 66 days to install the new skill.

42. Leverage Neuroplasticity for Growth

Recognize and leverage the brain’s gift of neuroplasticity, its ability to adapt to new conditions, to continuously grow and install new skills and habits.

43. Value Self-Development as Wealth

Recognize that continuous self-development and personal growth are invaluable forms of wealth that money cannot buy.

44. Find Meaning in Your Work

Reframe your perception of work to see it as more than just a job, recognizing that all work inherently contains meaning, an opportunity to serve, and the ability to achieve amazing things.

45. Identify & Prioritize Life’s “Mount Everests”

Identify your personal “Mount Everests” and key priorities, focusing on the eight forms of wealth: personal growth, wellness, family, craft, financial freedom, social network, adventure, and service.

46. Be a Perfect Moment Creator

Intentionally seek out and create moments that fill you with awe, wonder, joyfulness, and peace, as these experiences constitute a valuable form of wealth.

47. Reverse Engineer Life for Moments

Confront your own mortality and intentionally reverse engineer your life to prioritize and create “perfect moments” that bring awe, wonder, and joy, rather than solely focusing on material success.

48. Practice Daily Savoring

Cultivate the habit of savoring everyday moments, such as drinking coffee, by putting away distractions, being fully present, and appreciating the sensory details and experience.

49. Embrace Sunshine for Wellness

Prioritize getting sunshine to boost vitamin D levels and reduce inflammation, contributing to overall wellness.

50. Practice Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku)

Engage in “forest bathing” (shinrin-yoku) by communing with nature, smelling flowers, and observing trees, as this practice calms you down and promotes well-being.

51. Gain Perspective with “How Could This Be Worse?”

When faced with a problem, ask yourself “How could this be worse?” or “Has anyone died here?” to gain perspective and realize the situation is likely not as dire as it seems.

52. Choose Associations Wisely

Be mindful of your associations, as you tend to adopt the dominant emotions and behaviors of the people you spend time with; avoid “energy vampires” and naysayers to prevent your life from becoming a “mess.”

53. Identify and Release Joy-Degraders

Identify the three people who degrade your joy and the three who elevate it, then find the courage to release the “energy vampires” and “dream stealers” from your life to foster significant positive change.

54. Communicate Without Blame

When addressing difficult relationships, initiate candid conversations by expressing “here’s how I’m feeling” without blame, as this approach encourages the other person to listen rather than become defensive.

55. Speak Truth with Respect

Communicate your truth and feelings to anyone, ensuring that your message is always delivered with respect, which allows for honest yet constructive dialogue.

56. Practice Selective Association

If candid conversations don’t lead to change in toxic relationships, practice “selective association” by loving those individuals from afar and reducing contact to protect your well-being.

57. Exit Toxic Relationships

If a relationship is truly toxic and destructive, do yourself and the other person a favor by ending it, as this is an act of radical self-growth.

58. Heed Red Flags in Relationships

Recognize and heed “red flags” in relationships or at work, as ignoring concerning behavior and wishing it away can lead to significant problems and wasted years.

59. Believe People’s Actions

When people reveal their true character through their actions, believe them rather than engaging in wishful thinking about who you hope they are.

60. Practice Daily Service

Actively seek opportunities each day to make the lives of other people a little better, as service is a fundamental form of wealth.

61. Perform Three Daily Acts of Service

Aim to perform three acts of service each day, no matter how small, as it takes “so little to make someone happy” and gives a gift to both the recipient and yourself.

62. Seek Small Opportunities to Help

Look for small, simple ways to make someone happy, such as buying an extra treat for hotel staff or offering a sincere compliment, recognizing that these minor gestures have a significant impact.

63. Respect Service Workers’ Space

Show respect for service workers, such as hotel housekeepers, by tidying your space (e.g., putting towels in the tub, making your bed, leaving a tip), recognizing them as fellow human beings.

64. Live Fully, Die Empty

Live your life to its fullest by pursuing your “personal Mount Everests” and key priorities, stripping away accessories, and avoiding postponement, so that you “die empty” of unfulfilled potential.

65. Use Mortality as Inspiration

View death not as negative, but as a powerful tool for inspiration, prompting you to live more purposefully and strip away non-essential activities.

66. Embrace Life’s Shortness

Connect with the inherent shortness and unpredictability of life to live more “to the point,” stripping away non-essential “accessories” and focusing on what truly matters.

67. Act Now, Don’t Postpone

Embrace the philosophy that the best time to start something important is now, rather than waiting for ideal conditions, as procrastination delays growth.

68. Overcome Procrastination

Recognize and actively combat the human tendency to massively postpone important life actions, such as spending time with family, getting fit, or pursuing passions.

69. Learn from Past, Don’t Dwell

View your past as a school for learning and growth, rather than a prison that locks you in, to avoid falling into victimhood.

70. Revisit Past Podcast Episodes

Use breaks (like summer holidays) as an opportunity to explore a podcast’s back catalogue, listening to missed episodes or revisiting favorites, as you may hear different things and ideas will land differently because you have changed.

71. Appreciate Your Health

Appreciate your health as a precious form of wealth, understanding that its true value is often only recognized when it is lost.

72. Maintain Childhood Sparkle

Cultivate a sense of adventure and wonder, striving to retain the childlike sparkle and readiness to take on the world throughout your life.

73. Observe Emotional Growth

Pay attention to how your emotional responses change over time, noticing when things that once bothered you no longer activate you, as this indicates significant personal growth.

74. Choose Your Reactions

Realize and internalize that you always have a choice in how you react to every situation, empowering you to take charge of your emotional responses.

75. Seek Serenity as a Luxury

Strive for serenity in your life, recognizing it as a valuable new luxury and a key indicator of living a rich life, even if life isn’t perfect.

76. Understand Penham Principle

Learn about the Penham principle, which describes the five forces that shape your programming and filter on which you see the world, to gain insight into your conditioning.