#43 x51 simple lifestyle changes for happy freelancing

Over the last x5 years I’ve experimented and tried a lot of different lifestyle hacks from a lot of different people.
I’ve spent hours unpacking viral posts from gurus on social media.
I’ve read stacks of books on lifestyle design, philosophy, business optimization, personal development and more.

They all love to focus on the one secret that led to their success.
But in my opinion there is no one secret to success.
There’s no sudden shift, or moment that the correct behaviours suddenly materialise into your idealised life.
Rather, it’s lots of little things throughout your life and work that stack, and slowly shift you towards the life you want.

None of what I’m about to share will surprise you.
None of what I tell you is new.
In fact most of it is just good ol’ common sense.

I like to say it’s possible to build the life of your dreams over one day.
It’s just that it takes lots days strung together to make it happen.

Life happens one day at a time,
So the only way to have the life you want is to start living it.

Tiny behavioural shifts accumulate, compliment and multiple each other to lead to a good life.
So try this for me:
treat your life as an experiment.

See what works for you, ditch what doesn’t.
Build the ones that work into your routines and habits.

Here’s are some that worked for me, in no particular order.
Life is always changing on us, so I’ll add any others I find along the way.

1. Exercise within 10 mins of getting up
2. Only do x1 thing at time
3. weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reviews
4. Read every day
5. important work first, admin last
6. Hire a VA for your most monotonous admin tasks
7. Get a dog
8. Get a cat
9. Maybe some chickens, or a goat.
10. Walk in the morning
11. Open a Moneybox account, invest as much as you can every week.
12. Pick up bullet journalling for 5 mins at the end of every day
13. Keep a list of everything that makes you feel good.
14. Keep a list of everything you want to avoid.
15. When you hit a problem, create policies and stick to them.
16. Design your schedule, and stick to it.
17. Take a 3 min break between each task.
18. Take your break in a beanbag or a hammock.
19. Alternate between knowledge work and physical tasks
20. When you find the right person, commit.
21. Turn on focus mode, set a 5min limit on social apps
22. Use Freedom.to to block social most of the day
23. Don’t watch the news
24. Stop carrying your phone in your pocket.
25. Schedule DND mode most of the day
26. Turn off dot notifications for everything
27. Limit yourself to only one social platform
28. Do the hardest task, first thing in the morning
29. Take 5 min breaks between tasks
30. Carry a notebook and braindump your stresses
31. No TV before bed
32. Invest in noise cancelling headphones
33. Set up Calendly automations
34. Find x3 things you’re good at, stop selling everything else.
35. Raise your prices, or ask for a raise.
36. Find better clients.
37. Ask your customers how you can improve
38. To avoid overwhelm, organise your life in a second brain
39. Don’t waste time on paperwork
40. Stop trying to sound like a lawyer in your emails
41. Set up a group chat with x3 people. someone behind you, someone at your level and someone ahead of you
42. Get a 1-1 mentor. (I’m here if you need me)
43. Once a week, go somewhere new, do something new
44. Stop leaving your emails open
45. Don’t respond to work out of hours or on days off. period.
46. Take responsibility for everything.
47. Close all your tabs
48. Get a focus timer
49. Write a 5 year plan, review it every year
50. Start writing, literally anything will do.
51. Call back (vetted) enquiries as soon as you can.
52. Always quote slightly higher than you feel comfortable with.
53. Track your habits

This collection of behaviours can become habits that move you little by little, day by day,
towards a life you want.

You probably don’t realise how many habits you have – good and bad.
The longer you keep up a habit, the more entrenched it becomes.

Good habits move you towards what you want.
Bad habits make it harder to get where you want.

It’s important to cull your bad habits before they become fully formed,
and start building the right habits which will put your life on easy mode. ✨

If you want to live life in “easy mode”, then you have to put in the effort to simplify it.
But don’t rely on your willpower.
Your willpower is a weak and fickle resource.

Sometimes you have to force the change on yourself to make it stick.
So if you need to,
make your life a little bit harder in the short run,
to build habits which make life easier in the long run.

Binging too much Netflix? Cut the subscription
Spending too much time on social media? Lock your apps for certain times of the day.

Remember… your daily routine = your life
So don’t try to make massive changes, just small shifts.
That’s how you build the life you want.