Recognize that you are 100% responsible for your emotional experience and how you feel, as you are the one generating it, which leads to personal power and freedom.
Consciously construct your identity around being a learner, valuing your willingness to admit error and grow, so that criticism becomes an opportunity for empowerment rather than a threat.
Counter self-criticism by responding to your own suffering with mindfulness, kindness, and the understanding that imperfection is part of the common human condition, which improves both physical and emotional health.
Recognize that your power and freedom come from the stories you choose to tell yourself about your life, allowing you to react positively even to negative events.
Shift your definition of success from external achievements (money, status) to an internal state of peace and comfort in your own skin, regardless of external chaos, to avoid a perpetual waiting game for happiness.
Prioritize building better habits and systems (inputs) rather than solely focusing on desired outcomes (outputs), because fixing the inputs will naturally fix the outputs, leading to consistent success.
Understand that happiness is your events minus your expectations, so cultivate acceptance of life as it is and set realistic expectations for people and situations to find greater contentment.
Actively seek and sit with discomfort, recognizing that emotions are temporary and that a willingness to endure discomfort builds resilience, makes you feel more alive, and fosters growth.
Acknowledge your finite time and make conscious choices about how you spend it, rather than passively letting things happen, to live an intentional life.
Recognize that only a few things are truly essential amidst trivial noise, and make it your life’s job to discover, invest in, and protect those essential ‘diamonds’.
Every morning after brushing your teeth, high-five your reflection in the mirror without speaking, to physically demonstrate self-respect, worthiness, and encouragement, which triggers dopamine and positive neuro-associations.
Actively become aware of your unconscious thoughts, behaviors (e.g., complaining, blaming), and emotions (e.g., guilt, anxiety) by naming them, to prevent reverting to old, hardwired patterns.
After identifying what you no longer want to be, rehearse in your mind who you do want to be, how you want to think, act, and feel, practicing these desired emotions until you can evoke them on command.
Understand that forgiveness is a gift you give yourself to release hatred and liberate yourself from being a prisoner of past hurts, rather than being about forgiving others for their actions.
Change your perception of failure from a negative endpoint to a positive and necessary part of growth, like ’training’ or ’lifting to failure’ in the gym, which empowers you to take risks and persevere.
Actively practice breathing as a fundamental tool to connect with your internal state, recenter yourself, and mitigate physiological stress responses, especially in distracting environments.
Actively carve out moments of downtime and stillness, going out of your way to be alone with your thoughts, as a lack of solitude can be a major stressor and contribute to unhealthy coping mechanisms like emotional eating.
If you experience compulsive behaviors like emotional eating, journal about what happened emotionally that day to identify the underlying triggers and unconscious drives to change your emotional state.
Before speaking, ask yourself if your words are kind, important, and necessary, and if they are not, choose to remain silent, to cultivate more intentional and positive communication.
Allow yourself space to process difficult emotions and reflect on ’living losses’ (loss orientation), while also engaging in enjoyable, less intense activities (restoration orientation), oscillating between both for well-being.
Integrate and align what you think and believe (head), what you feel (heart), and what you are doing (hands) to create a coherent path to success and consistent action.
Recognize that if you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them, so consciously choose to stop defending or reinforcing your perceived boundaries.
Challenge the notion that how you feel about yourself is based on what you think someone else thinks of you, and instead pursue your truest, most authentic self and goals.
Focus on three aspects of mindset: what you believe is possible, what you believe you are capable of, and what you believe you deserve, as these beliefs determine your actions and outcomes.
Distinguish between unavoidable pain from external events and suffering, which is the choice to replay pain over and over in your head; consciously choose not to reinforce negative emotions by replaying painful memories.
Recognize that seeking your worth from external sources (money, likes, validation from others) stems from self-rejection, and instead practice physical habits that demonstrate self-respect to bring your worth back home.
Cultivate tolerance for the discomfort of imperfection and practice ’exposure with response prevention’ by deliberately allowing things to be imperfect, challenging the belief that terrible outcomes will occur.
Reframe interactions with ‘obnoxious’ or difficult people as opportunities to learn, seeking lessons from these experiences.
When receiving criticism, even if intended to hurt, reframe it as valuable ‘gold nuggets’ or ‘bricks’ that you can use to build and grow, rather than deflecting it.
Understand that busyness acts as an anesthetic, preventing you from feeling and processing change; intentionally create space in your life to allow yourself to feel emotions safely.
Recognize the societal tendency to rush towards a future state of peace; instead, consciously incorporate moments of slowing down and deep breathing into your present life to experience peace now.
Strive for full presence in conversations and activities, free from worries about the future or self-consciousness about others’ opinions, to deeply engage with the moment.
When feeling rushed or in perceived danger, pause and question whether the threat is real or merely a perception, allowing you to respond more calmly.
Understand that significant achievements and transformations are the result of consistent, often unglamorous, hard work undertaken over long periods, so cultivate patience and resist the urge for quick fixes.
Make firm commitments to consistent actions as an act of self-love, and recruit community support for accountability to stay on track with your goals.