What to do now to get the most benefit in 5 years

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

This question was asked by a Quora user. From more than a hundred answers, Lifehacker chose the most popular and significant ones.

1. Make each day memorable

In a TED talk, entrepreneur Dustin Garis talked about his journey around the world trying to find the answer to the question: "Where does time go?" He found a clue in Russia, where a researcher named Pasha told him:

Life is not the days that you lived, but the days that you remember.

After that, Dustin Garis seriously thought about life experience, about making every day memorable: put on funny socks, take a goat with you to TED and do other funny, crazy and memorable things that help distinguish one day from another.

To start doing this right now is a great investment in a happy future, and in the present too.

2. Don't waste time on social networks and computer games

This advice was found in every third answer on Quora. “Disconnect your Facebook account,” “Track how much time you spend on social networks,” users wrote.

More and more people are realizing how much time they spend on social networks and how it interferes with work and personal life. Try to track how much time you spend chatting and having fun on social media. You may be unpleasantly surprised.

If you spend about an hour a day there, there will be 1,780 hours in five years, which is 74 days. If you spend 15 minutes there, you get 456 hours or 19 days. This time can be better put to use, right?

3. Go in for sports

This is also one of the popular tips. The sedentary lifestyle that most office workers and freelancers lead can be a wreck in five years.

And sport is needed not only to maintain health, but also to live life to the fullest. Sport is a feeling of your body, young and strong, it is positive emotions and pleasure from movement. Life cannot be considered complete without sports.

4. Read

This is probably the most popular tip from Quora users. Read 15, 20, 30 minutes a day, read a book a week, read non-fiction and self-help books, read fiction - from classics to fantasy. Read, read, read.

Recognize other people's thoughts, because it is from them that you make your own.

5. Keep track of personal finances

Write down your income, expenses, and plans. This can be done in special services and applications, so it will take very little time to record. As a result, you will see where you spend unreasonably large amounts of money, how much is spent on loans and whether you can afford any serious acquisitions.

By making a clear plan for income and expenses, you can optimize your finances and start investing. This is another great tip, by the way.

6. Invest and learn more about finance

By choosing the right investment object, in five years you will be able to significantly improve your financial condition. But in order to find such an object and invest money correctly, you need to learn as much as possible about the financial sector.

Read relevant literature, learn useful personal finance management techniques, find workshops. This knowledge is needed by a modern person from school years, or at least from the moment he begins to earn money and independently manage his finances. If you haven't gained this knowledge, you need to catch up as quickly as possible.

7. Acquire independence from your main job

Great advice even for those who really love their job and work in a large company. Start a small business that doesn't require much investment. It can be some kind of services, wholesale purchases, investment, sale of handmade products - whatever. The main thing is that this additional work is not burdensome and does not require a lot of attention and funds from you.

The business may not generate a lot of income, but it will become your insurance against job loss and will help you hold out until you find a new one. In any case, with such a "safety cushion" you will feel much more confident and independent.

8. Make new professional contacts

If you want to build a successful career, connections are essential. They matter even more than your talents and skills. Therefore, start building professional contacts now.

And remember: the main thing is not how many VIPs are in your network of connections, but how many important people you have helped in it.

9. Acquire new knowledge, but do it wisely

Strive for new knowledge, never quit learning, but do not make education an end in itself. Knowledge is needed to apply it in life, and before you acquire a new skill or spend your time learning something, think about where this knowledge will come in handy.

10. Collect ideas

Some really worthwhile ideas just go missing because you didn't bother to write them down and forgot. Moreover, from a few insignificant ideas, something truly brilliant can be born.

Therefore, make it a rule to write down all the ideas that come to your mind, or even set a certain norm for yourself (for example, 10 ideas a day), and later disassemble them for viability.

11. Learn to translate ideas

If ideas are dead weight, there is nothing useful in them. Therefore, learn not only to invent them, but also to implement them. Practice this, and even if some ideas fail, in the end there will be an idea that will lead you to success.

12. Develop good habits

Even the strongest motivation fades over time, but habits remain. So that in five years you can boldly say that life is completely satisfactory to you, start developing good habits now.

13. Study psychology

Psychology will help you find out the true motives of both others and your own actions. You will learn to critically assess your emotional reactions, discern motives, and see the roots of the problem. You will be able to look at the same situation from different points of view, and this helps to find a compromise and build stronger relationships with other people. A skill that will help you both in your personal life and in your professional environment.

14. Explore new technologies

The older a person gets, the worse he perceives new technologies. Think about how older people handle mobile phones and computers. However, technological developments help us work faster and more efficiently.

In order not to miss out on the benefits, make it a rule to understand new technologies, even if they seem strange to you and not as convenient as the usual tools.

15. Learn to program

If you start learning to code now, after five years of practice you can write a useful program that can help you solve a problem. Learn different programming languages (Java, C ++, Python, R), master HTML, CSS, data mining and cloud computing.

16. Study math and statistics

Even if these items are not useful to you in your daily activities, they will help to change the usual way of thinking. Mathematics develops logic, abstract thinking, helps to see cause-effect relationships and approach a problem from different angles. Such skills are needed in any business.

17. Explore your talents and strengths

Perhaps your work does not allow you to realize your potential, and talents are left without attention. Explore yourself, discover your talents and find out where you are really strong. It is better to do this now in order to understand in which direction to move in terms of personal growth.

18. Don't Trust Easy Money

In most cases, easy money is either illegal or a scam. Strive not to make money doing nothing, but to find something you love so much that it will be easy and pleasant for you to disappear at work even all day long and make good money on what you love.

19. Conquer your fears

Fear prevents you from moving forward, breeds procrastination and laziness, forces you to retreat where you need to push. Find your fears, find out their cause and try to get rid of them.

For example, if you are afraid of losing your job, start a business that will provide you with additional income and become insurance, as in point # 7 of this list. This will remove fear and promote bolder ideas without fear of failure and subsequent dismissal.

20. Learn to talk on the phone with strangers

Some people feel uncomfortable talking to strangers on the phone. However, telephone conversations occupy an important place in the modern world. It takes practice to feel more relaxed. Try to get a job as an operator for a short time - work on the phone and get rid of fear and embarrassment.

21. Follow the news in the world

From the news, you learn about events that affect all spheres of life, prices for equipment and products, business opportunities, travel opportunities, new laws. It is useful to be aware of what is happening in the world in order to know what to prepare for. Well, as a bonus: you can always maintain small talk.

22. Travel

While traveling, you truly relax, fill with new impressions and ideas. You can think of every day you travel: they are all different from each other. You are really living: you are surprised, rejoiced, you learn. Try to visit new places as often as possible and do not spend your vacation at home.

23. Participate in volunteer programs

By participating in various volunteer programs, you get to know other people better. In addition, numerous studies show that volunteers are in better health and feel happier than those who have never been involved in such activities.

This is due to the fact that volunteers are engaged in meaningful work that is beneficial, they feel needed and expand their social circle at the expense of the same people - merciful, positive and willing to help others.

24. Appreciate friends and family

The older you get, the harder it becomes to make new friends. Therefore, try to stay in touch with old friends, get out of the house more often and do not forget to call them periodically.

25. Learn to be alone

Sometimes, for the sake of social approval and acceptance, a person cheats on himself - becomes what they want to see him. If you learn to be alone and stop being afraid of it, you will not have to communicate with just anyone, put up with people next to you who do not respect you and do not want to accept you for who you are.

26. Listen more than you speak

Get into this habit, it can be really useful. Firstly, you will have more new information that you had previously ignored while waiting for your turn to speak.

Secondly, people will start to chat with you with great pleasure, because everyone loves people who know how to listen. And thirdly, the less you say, the less likely you are to blurt out something unnecessary - something that you will later regret.

27. Set one goal per day

Set only one goal for yourself a day and do your best to achieve it. One clear goal that will definitely be accomplished is much more useful than a long to-do list that is 25% unfulfilled.

28. Start eating right

Learn how to cook healthy and tasty food, make yourself a menu and stick to it, only occasionally allowing yourself unhealthy goodies.

Start as early as possible, because eating is also based on habits.

Give up junk food now, and after a while you will not have to deny yourself a chocolate or French fries - you simply will not want this food, it will seem not only harmful, but also tasteless.

29. Trust yourself and your intuition

Learn to listen to yourself, pay attention to your real thoughts and feelings. No matter what other people say, you always know what is best for you.

30. Start a blog

It requires almost no investment. Just start a blog about what you are interested in, and share your discoveries, thoughts, experiments with people.

It will be a great hobby that develops creativity. Who knows, maybe the blog will become popular and will bring you that very additional income, or even replace the main one.