5 tips to improve your life

There is a book titled “When they Zig you Zag” which is written by Simon Reynolds. Not sure how you can get it now but if you can buy it as its worth every penny. The book is full of awesome tips about how to not only improve yourself but your business.

I have reproduced a couple of these tips below but you should get the book as it has over 70 pages of these little gems.

Do your most important job first each day.

It seems so simple but hardly anyone does it! But doing this one thing will make you so much more effective. There’s an interesting story about this. In the 1930’s the steel magnate Charles Schwabb had a meeting with a young entrepreneur. This young man offered to teach Schwabb a way to increase his entire company’s productivity. All he asked in return was that Schwabb pay him what he thought it was worth.

The idea? Just write down the six most important things you should do each day and do number one first, before going on to number two. After trying this incredibly basic technique for a few weeks Schwabb sent the young man a cheque for $25,000.

Dominate meetings by asking questions.

This is a very powerful and little known fact. The person who asks the most questions is usually the one in control of the meeting.

The simple reason is that the questions have to be answered, and people naturally begin to direct their conversation to the questioner. The questioner thus becomes the focus of the meeting.

Try it, you’ll be amazed at how well it works.

Don’t drink tap water.

Drinking pure water is one of the best ways you can improve your general health and well-being.

Why? Because your body is over 85% water! Drinking tap water, which is often filled with chemicals, will over time adversely affect your entire system. Right around the world more and more people are purifying their tap water or choosing to drink fresh spring water, and are loving the benefits.

Spend half an hour a day thinking.

Thats right, just thinking. Sadly, most people do virtually no quality thinking in a year let alone in a day. As Henry Ford said “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably why so few engage in it”.

Most fortunes start which a great idea, and a lot of hard work. Most people have got the hard work bit right, they just didn’t spend long enough thinking of the right idea.

The founder of IBM, Thomas Watson, had signs put up around his company that said just one word: “Think!!!”.

Associate with the kind of people you want to become.

If you want to be a great musician, hang out with great musicians. If you’d like to become an excellent mother, associate with terrific mothers. If business is your thing, you’ll profit greatly by socialising with good business people.

Remember, you become like the people you associate with, and as the saying goes, “If you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas”.

Take a good look at the people you spend the most time with. Do they lift you up or bring you down? Do they inspire you or do you have to do all the inspiring? Are they quality people or riff-raff?

Be careful who you associate with. Your friends can affect your life more than you may realise.