8 Simple Ways to Get More Out of Life

Grab your daily opportunities. They say opportunities knock your door only once. But my belief is that opportunities, small and big, come and go everyday. It’s just that each one is different from the other. Life presents us with opportunities every time the sun rises,and it is our duty to make the most of them. It can be a chance to make a new friend or to get a new perspective of life or even a chance to express your love.

Play hard at work. Give out your best. Forget money, forget being recognized. Just go out and do the best that you can deliver. It isn’t just something that you do for your organization - it is a gift you give yourself. How would you feel about yourself at the end of your most productive day? The more you give, the higher your self esteem goes.

Fail more. Great people fail more than ordinary people. They fail in business, they fail in relationships, they fail in life. But they come to realize that failure is an essential ingredient to higher achievement. Most people I know live out their lives in their soft corners playing it safe. But soft corners are not always comfortable. The more you use your couch, the more uneasy you are going to feel using it.

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did - Mark Twain

Life is meant to be lived like an adventure. And I don’t know any person who loves the dull monotony of living the same life for 20 years or so. When you take risks, you are bound to fail a lot of times. But the big idea here is that a few successes here and there should come your way.

Remember that you craft your life everyday. Your days are your life in miniature. There is no such thing as an unimportant day. The words you speak, the thoughts you think, the food you eat and the choices you make however small, are actually defining your destiny. You march towards your best life every single day. All achievements are small, progressive, everyday acts.

Learn to handle success. Success breeds complacency and the best individuals and organizations lose their hold when they are very successful. How many times have we seen good restaurants cut down on their service when they become successful and busy. People often rest on their laurels and forget the very things that got them to the top. Remember that with success comes a responsibility to do more. Start being humble and devote yourself to quality.

Appreciate simple pleasures. Drive a BMW, wear Prada, dine at the most expensive restaurant in your city and make tons of money if these are the things that make you happy. These material pleasures make the journey of life more delightful and there is no wrong in enjoying them. But please don’t forget to appreciate simple pleasures that pass by, like an evening breeze, or a beautiful sunrise, or a leaf in the fall wind or a gaze at the night sky full of stars. Some of the best pleasures are simple ones and you can make your journey more fulfilling and happy by paying attention to smaller things that happen around you.

Make time to think. Every single day, however busy I am, I set aside some time to think and reflect. I take a walk down the lane or just sit in my room for atleast an hour to unwind and unleash all the wild thoughts running through my mind. For me, silence has taught more lessons than anything else. And at times (mostly during weekends), I sit half a day doing this. I believe this is the best way to let my imagination loose. This ‘think time’ will provoke some amazing ideas and inspire some big dreams.

Go that extra mile. Success begins on the extra mile. The single most common difference between ordinary people and extraordinary individuals is that the latter ones do a little extra at the end. Champions in sports are standout examples for this. Today, this moment, promise yourself that you will do more. Give more love than what is asked for, work a little more than what you get paid for, push a little farther and stretch a little more to get to your goals. And I will assure you that there are few feelings as good as the one you’ll get when you go that extra mile.

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man. Except he is braver five minutes longer - Ralph Waldo Emerson

(Article inspired from Robin Sharma’s The Greatness Guide)