Goran Yerkovich
Dec 27, 20184 min
Updated: Mar 31, 2020
From Sex to Laughter, Stress and Bad Partner Choices, this Top 12 List is one to avoid for your 2019 ahead. Where ever you live, we all seem to have those friends who are continuously sabotaging their own lives. And the crazy part is, they probably already know it.
But sometimes lists like this one can help remind us of ways we might be sabotaging our own lives too.
Or help us find the words to tell the ones we love and care about most what they might be doing to themselves.
Hopefully the 'they' doesn't include you.
But if it does, there are plenty of Inspired Tips to help you take action today.
The-inspired's Top 12 List of Ways We Sabotage our lives.
1. Sex - They place ‘sex’ as their highest priority in life.
INSPIRED TIP: Sex is beautiful, but keep it in perspective. Don't be willing to sacrifice everything for it. And don't neglect things like your Life Foundations.
2. Confidence - They make major life decisions without asking friends, family or mentors for advice first.
INSPIRED TIP: It's okay not to have all the answers. The smartest people I know are constantly asking those around them for recommendations and advice.
3. Planning - They don't think ‘planning for the future,’ i.e. career, goals, or finances, applies to them.
INSPIRED TIP: With 2019 just around the corner, now is a good time to start planning your work goals, passion projects, and financial objectives for 2019.
4. Laughter - They laugh less than 5 times per day. Kids in comparison laugh over 300 times per day. As adults we fail to prioritize and fun.
INSPIRED TIP: Plan to see your best friends each week. It's good for your health!
5. Stress - They stress easily. Life is a dance. Not a life sentence.
INSPIRED TIP: Talk to those you can trust about what is causing you stress. Try meditation for 10 mins each day to get started.
6. Principles - Have principles, apply them. Don’t bend. Which door will you choose?
INSPIRED TIP: When you have a choice to make, and you choose the harder path because it's the right thing to do, you are applying your principles. In the long run, you’ll be respected for your clarity of purpose. And your integrity.
7. Motivations - They don’t understand what motivates them: money, power, prestige, or helping others. According to CareerBuilder over 53% of Americans hate their jobs.
INSPIRED TIP: What really motivates you each day? Are in living within your motivations and if so, does it give you real, lasting happiness?
8. Bad Partners Choices - They marry or are dating the wrong person and they know it. Luxembourg, in 2016, had a whopping 66% divorce rate. USA was 46%. Canada was 48%, France 54%, and Spain was at 56%. But Portugal takes the prize for highest divorce rate in 2016 at an astonishing 71%.
INSPIRED TIP: Material things will lead to dead ends. And so will material people.
9. Living Alone - They live alone and don't prioritize spending time with real life people daily. Mental health issues are on the rise globally in direct correlation with single occupancy dwellings, which accounts for almost 30% of residence of Vancouver, Canada, where I live.
INSPIRED TIP:
Plan your days to include activities with and around others. Join club or activities that inspire and motivate you to keep move forward. The bigger the city often means the higher the rate of loneliness.
10. Healthy Internal Dialogue - Stop being so hard on yourself. The World Health Organization estimates over 300 million people suffer from Depression, and even more from Anxiety.
INSPIRED TIP: Medication is not the answer. We humans once lived in tribes. We were never designed to be alone. Tips to improve your inner voice.
11. Goals - They fail to set big crazy audacious goals to work towards in their near and long term future.
INSPIRED TIP: We Sapiens were designed for crazy adventure and incredible challenges. THINK BIG. Keep moving forward.
12. Be a Good Neighbour - They don't make effort to be a good neighbour. Harvard University's almost 80 year study on Happiness determined that living in a strong, connected community is a major factor for a long, healthy, happy life.
INSPIRED TIP: Host a potluck with your neighbours. Offer them a hand when they need it. Say hi when you walk by. Get to know your neighbours soon. It will be one of the best things you'll ever do.
NOTE: Thanks to neuroplasticity, that is, our brains ability to learn through repetition over time, you'll start removing these elements of self-sabotage in just a two or three week period, as healthy new habits replace the old ones.
I hope that helped someone out there. Thanks for reading.
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And for those celebrating the season, Merry Christmas!
Goran Yerkovich