We are creatures of our environment.  Not that long ago we were hunting for all of our food, and foraging for all of our vegetables.  We were waking up, living to survive, and had limited access to other humans around the planet.  Today we can order all our food on our phones, deliver fresh and hot meals to our houses, we can watch TV while playing chess with someone on our phone on the other side of the world, and we can video call our family to wish them happy birthday.  Times have changed.  Our environment has radically changed.

If a creature is in an environment and simply exists without conscious thought, the environment largely dictates how your life unfolds.  You blow with the wind.  While that is all fine and dandy, blowing with the wind in a modern environment may put you on a path far less superior than one you *could* have lived.

Living diligently is simply becoming conscious of your environment, realizing that environment shapes a lot of how we behave, learning the importance of how to live a good life, and taking deliberate action to steer the outcome.  While life can’t be controlled fully, we can certainly change how we behave, where we live, what we pay our attention to, who we spend time with, how we learn, what we work on, and how we work.  These decisions are the most important decisions of our lives, because they are our lives.  Our life is what we do.  Our life is how we think. Our life is how we live.

Living diligently is coming up with strategies to life, games to play in life, goals of life, and attempting to shape life to how you want it.  It is making life what you want it to be.  It is largely choosing how to exist.

Certainly there are factors far outside of our control that arise in life often, from the very beginning of our existence.  But within the things we can control, those can radically change the trajectory and outcome of our life.  A few things that can change how you live your life:

  • Exercise – people mention it often and there are gyms in every city in the world now.  Our modern environment doesn’t require us to hardly move at all, so diligently spending time each day working on your body is vital to living a good life and having the energy it takes to seize each day we have.
  • Friends/family – learning how to make friends, how to socialize, and working to improve relationships is vital. Choosing wisely who you spend time with and how you spend your time with them is key.  Most opportunities in life arise from the people you know.
  • Create – humans evolved to create, to provide, to contribute.  Build stuff you need, build stuff other needs, create value for the world.  The world needs more entrepreneurs to solve the worlds problems that the government is incompetent to handle.  Plus, creating is fulfilling, fun, and rewarding.
  • Be kind – we all share this rock together for a short period of time.  Genuinely wish the best of everyone you interact with.  Be generous, be kind.  The more we work together, the better off we all are.
  • Learn – learning is important because it makes you more effective – you’re able to understand the world slightly better and therefore make better decisions, share what you know, and hopefully use that information to drive curiosity or help improve your life and the people around you.  Reading is one of the easiest ways to get access to some of the brilliant thinkers minds throughout history – and books have never been more abundantly available.  Podcasts and audiobooks also work.  Constantly be actively learning – dedicate time to learning each day.
  • Time yourself – if you don’t measure it, you can’t change it.  Most people think they spend 3-4 hours a day on their phones, when in reality they spend double that.  Considering how abundant the information is on your phones and other screens, it is important to time it and moderate it so it doesn’t deteriorate your mental health.
  • Get outside – spend more time outside than inside each day.  Get sunlight into your eyes to set your circadian rhythm.  Breath fresh air, focus your eyes far away, smell the roses.
  •  Know the game – what is your goal in life? Know what game you’re playing. If you’re trying to make money, there are certainly better and worse ways to make money in the world.  If you’re trying to find a partner, come up with a strategy of who you want and how you’ll meet them.  There are better and worse strategies to live life and diligently knowing your strategy is vital.  If you don’t have direction then how can you move anywhere.  Bias towards action, it’s where we learn most.

Don’t let your environment be random, and your life just blow in the wind.  While it can work for some people, it rarely does.  Diligently think about what kind of life you want and how to get it, then constantly take strides each day to get there.  Remember, consistency is key.

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Patrick

Web Developer
I write for fun, I travel for fun, and I enjoy learning. I hate sugar-coating things. Understand the world in reality, not by dogma. Question everything.
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