Information overload.
You live it every day – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You’re more informed and connected than ever.
Yet, if you’re honest, you’re probably feeling more distracted than ever.
More lonely. More restless.
According to studies done by Barna Research:
- 71% of people feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to stay up to date.
- 36% of adults stop what they’re doing to check a text or message when it comes in.
- 35% of adults think their personal electronics sometimes separate them from other people.
Being hyperlinked changes every aspect of our lives – and often, not for the better.
THE QUICK SUMMARY – Someday is Not a Day in the Week by Sam Horn
Are you:
• Working, working, working?
• Busy taking care of everyone but yourself?
• Wondering what to do with the rest of your life?
• Planning to do what makes you happy someday when you have more time, money, or freedom?
What if someday never happens? As the Buddha said, “The thing is, we think we have time.”
Sam Horn is a woman on a mission about not waiting for SOMEDAY … and this is her manifesto. Her dad’s dream was to visit all the National Parks when he retired. He worked six to seven days a week for decades. A week into his long-delayed dream, he had a stroke. Sam doesn’t want that to happen to you. She took her business on the road for a Year by the Water. During her travels, she asked people, “Do you like your life? Your job? If so, why? If not, why not?”
The surprising insights about what makes people happy or unhappy, what they’re doing about it (or not), and why…will inspire you to carve out time for what truly matters now, not later.
Life is much too precious to postpone. It’s time to put yourself in your own story. The good news is, there are “hacks” you can do right now to make your life more of what you want it to be. And you don’t have to be selfish, quit your job, or win the lottery to do them. Sam Horn offers actionable, practical advice in short, snappy chapters to show you how to get started on your best life ― now.
A SIMPLE SOLUTION
According to author Sam Horn, you don’t need to quit your job, win the lottery, or walk away from your responsibilities to make your life more of what you want it to be.
There are things you can do right here, right now, to be happier, healthier, and more fulfilled.
There are steps you can take to make your life more fulfilling.
It’s time to hack your life by tapping into proven best practices, expedite results and discover a shortcut to success.
Make your “one day” Day One.
The Ten Life Hacks are actions you can take to create a more fulfilling life, sooner, not later. Please note: These hacks are a framework, not a formula.
LIFE HACK 1: Evaluate Your Happiness History
LIFE HACK 2: Generate a Today, Not Someday Dream
LIFE HACK 3: Abdicate Outdated Beliefs and Behaviors
LIFE HACK 4: Initiate Daily Actions that Move Your Life Forward
LIFE HACK 5: Celebrate What’s Right with Life, Right Here, Right Now
LIFE HACK 6: Affiliate with People Who Have Your Back and Front
LIFE HACK 7: Integrate Your Passion and Profession
LIFE HACK 8: Negotiate for What You Want, Need, and Deserve
LIFE HACK 9: Innovate a Fresh Start
LIFE HACK 10: Relocate to Greener Pastures
Sam Horn, Someday is Not a Day in the Week
A NEXT STEP
According to author Sam Horn, the best way to make progress in making your “Someday” is to ask probing questions that prompt you to change – for good.
Listed below are sample questions for each of the ten Life Hacks listed above. Schedule at least thirty minutes a day for the next ten days, and reflect on the questions listed.
LIFE HACK 1: Evaluate Your Happiness History
Play hooky for a day.
- How would you spend your free day or afternoon? What would you do if the people you’re responsible for would be taken care of, and there would be no repercussions?
- What are three things you would not do on your day of hooky? Why?
LIFE HACK 2: Generate a Today, Not Someday Dream
Put a date on the calendar.
- What would you like to experience or achieve by the end of this year? What is your Today, Not Someday dream? When will you launch it? What “do-date” did you put on your calendar?
- Now, start filling in the W’s … where, when, who, what, and why. Who will you discuss this with so they can help you fill in the blanks so your dream goes from vague to vividly clear?
- Where will you post your dream so it stays “in sight, in mind,” and you are constantly re-inspired to do what you said you wanted to do?
LIFE HACK 3: Abdicate Outdated Beliefs and Behaviors
Let it go, let it go, let it go.
- How do you feel when you walk into your home? Where would your home rate on the “Clutter (1) to Clean (10) Scale”? How does that affect you? Do you feel guilty, stressed, or frustrated with how things have piled up? Or do you feel proud and at peace with how well-designed, organized, and beautiful your space is?
- How much time do you spend cleaning, repairing, buying, renovating your stuff? Is that a source of enjoyment, a burden and chore, or something in between? Explain.
- Are you ready to downsize your home and/or release some belongings? How will you do that? Who else does this have an impact on? How will you negotiate this with them? What could you do with the resources that would be freed up when you have less to take care of?
LIFE HACK 4: Initiate Daily Actions that Move Your Life Forward
Honor the nudges, and connect the dots.
- Do you make room for whims? Why or why not? When was a time you honored a nudge and acted on your intuition? What happened as a result?
- Do you think this is a lot of hooey? Does your intellect override your instincts? Or, do you agree that if we have a sixth sense that alerts us to what’s wrong, we also have a sixth sense that alerts us to what’s right? What are your beliefs about this?
- How will you honor the instincts that have your best interests at heart? How will you connect the dots, act on “coincidences” that beat the odds, and align with congruent individuals and opportunities that “feel right”?
LIFE HACK 5: Celebrate What’s Right with Life, Right Here, Right Now
Get out of your head and come to your senses.
- When was the last time you saw something as if for the first or last time? Describe what happened and what it felt like.
- Do you have a busy, stressful life? What is the ongoing impact of rushing, rushing, rushing— and always feeling “an hour late and a dollar short”?
- Would you say you have “juice” in your camera? Do you look at the world with fresh eyes? When, where, and how will you get out of your head and come to your senses?
LIFE HACK 6: Affiliate with People Who Have Your Back and Front
Launch your ship in public.
- So, what is that venture you want to launch? Who has supported you, cheered you on? What have they done to help you achieve your goal and do what’s important to you?
- Who has cautioned you, told you (“ for your own good”) that what you want to do won’t work or isn’t a good idea? What impact has that had on you?
- How will you take your dream public and give others a chance to jump on your bandwagon? Will you create a vision board and/or host a Today, Not Someday party? Where did you post your vision so it stays “in sight, in mind”?
LIFE HACK 7: Integrate Your Passion and Profession
Don’t wait for work you love – create work you love.
- Do you love your job? Do you feel you’re adding value and contributing? How so?
- If you don’t find your work satisfying, why not? What talents or skills are you not having an opportunity to use or get credit for?
- What are your Four I’s? How could you leverage them into a paying career where you get paid to do what you’re good at? What is your next step? Will you visit crafts fairs to see how other people have turned a passion into a profession? Elaborate.
LIFE HACK 8: Negotiate for What You Want, Need, and Deserve
If you don’t ask, the answer’s always “No.”
- When is a time you asked for something you wanted – whether it was a promotion, project lead, or pay raise? How did you prepare? What was the result?
- When is a time you waited for someone to “do the right thing,” act on your behalf, or give you what you deserved? As Dr. Phil would say, “How’d that work for you?”
- What is a situation you’re unhappy with right now? Which of the Four A’s have you used? How will you alter the situation by using the Five P’s of Persuasion to increase the likelihood of improving this situation?
LIFE HACK 9: Innovate a Fresh Start
Quit watering dead plants.
- Is the majority of your life out of your control and not to your liking? How so? Does this challenging time have a timeline? Can you “make your mind a deal it can’t refuse” so you are able to keep things in perspective?
- What do you currently do to maintain a positive perspective, to have something to look forward to in bleak times? How do you stay focused on what you can control?
- Are there dead plants you can stop watering? What can you quit that is compromising your quality of life? How can you innovate a fresh start if you are going through dark times to keep the light on in your eyes?
LIFE HACK 10: Relocate to Greener Pastures
Come full circle.
- When was the last time you were in your hometown? What memories did it bring back? Did you reconnect with people that influenced you? Did it catalyze a new creative direction that could be a satisfying full-circle way to come home to who you truly are?
- What used to light you up but now feels like it might be a retreat or regression to “go back there”? Do you worry it’s thinking small instead of thinking big? Could it actually be you’re going “home” to who you are at your core, your best self?
- Do you agree that we can be “at home” wherever we are and that “home” is a mindset, not a location? Where do you feel most at home?
Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 126, released August 2019
Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader
Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “excerpt” for church leaders. Each Wednesday on 27gen I will be taking a look back at previous issues of SUMS Remix and publishing an excerpt.
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