14 Rules for Life to Move Ahead and Make Progress

Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it. Life is the only game in which the object of the game is to learn the rules. Understanding the game of life and making  simple rules for living make a difference. It not only helps you to overcome the obstacles but also to move ahead and make progress in life. We all have rules we live by. In this post; I am going to share with you rules for life, which have helped me to move ahead and make progress in life. These are guiding principles for success in life.

Rules for Life # 1 – Wake up early

Wake up early in the morning. I have personally tested this and it has resulted as life changing habit. I found this morning time is the only time, which I could give to myself. That too without distractions. The practical advantages of waking up early are obvious. You will have more time for morning rituals, which I have covered in details in my post  – 7 things to do before 7 AM in the morning to improve quality of your life .  It’s important to have a mindful routine and morning rituals in place to make sure your mind and body are happy right from the moment your day starts. So, rising early is foundation for getting progress and success in life.

Rules for Life # 2 – Read daily

Readers are leaders. You should read everyday. Reading daily is an important aspect to progress and grow in life. It has a significant number of benefits. Just like any other muscle of your body, your brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy. Reading expands the mind and give you more ideas. Reading daily augments your knowledge and acumen. It helps you to grow mentally, emotionally and psychologically. Studies have shown that reading keeps you mentally stimulated and reduce stress; it keeps your minds young, healthy and sharp. Reading daily motivational and inspirational stuff  boost your mental health. Reading daily also improves your vocabulary; boosts your memory; enhances the analytical skills; build up the self-confidence, helps you socialize and develops critical thinking skills. It helps you to improve your overall personality.

Rules for Life # 3 – Balanced diet

Eat well and have balanced diet through out the day. Eating a balanced and healthy diet is the key to maintain good health and keep your body in optimum condition. A balanced diet provides the nutrients, calories, proteins, minerals, vitamins and water; which your body needs to work effectively. It helps to energize your body, keeping you active and productive. Without balanced nutrition, your body is more prone to diseases, infections, fatigue, mental illness and low performance.

Rules for Life # 4 – Love yourself

Loving yourself changes everything. Self love or Self compassion is of utmost importance for living well and have progress in your life. Self-love is not simply a state of feeling good. It is a state of appreciation & respect for oneself that grows from actions that support your physical, psychological and spiritual growth.

Rules for Life # 5 – Judge less

Try to become less judgmental in life. During my life coaching sessions, I have found many people expressing that despite their best efforts, they are unable to stop judging others. Judging a person does not define who they are, it defines who you are.  Making judgement and assumptions based on a glance or a glimpse, most of the times does not gives you true picture. When the things get unfold in due course of time and you look back, you find that your judgement was wrong. It makes you feel guilty, less confident and inferior self esteem.

“Judge nothing, you will be happy. Forgive everything, you will be happier. Love everything, you will be happiest.” ~ Sri Chinmoy

Related: 31 Life rules to pursue and be more conscious about the real meaning of life

Rules for Life # 6 – Be yourself

Be yourself and don’t try to change the way you are. An original is always  have more worth than a copy. Everyone in this world comes as a package. In this package few things are good and few bad. No one is perfect and everyone has some weakness.

Never run to fulfill the expectations of others. The moment you change yourself to cope with the expectations of other; you start expecting the same from others. And, when these expectations are not fulfilled, you start feeling bad.

Rules for Life # 7 – Set Goals

Goal-setting is important to have focus and progress in life. The journey towards success in life begins with a most important step goal-setting. I have found 90% of the people don’t have defined SMART goals.  If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably lose the direction end up somewhere else. Goals give you the direction and path way to move ahead.

Rules for Life # 8 – Positive Attitude

With positive attitude you become optimistic about situations, interactions, and yourself. Always keep positive thinking..! People with positive attitudes can remain hopeful and see the best even in difficult situations. Have a positive attitude and look for the bright side of things.

Rules for Life # 9 – Network

Networking skills are given less important than it really deserves. No business school emphasize on development of this skill for success in life. Networking skills are crucial to anyone intending to grow and progress in life.

Networking involves establishing and developing long-term relations of mutual benefit with people you meet in different places. I understand that when your calendar is already overcrowded with work appointments and family commitments, the last thing you want to do is make small talk with strangers. But, it has numerous benefits like broadening an individual’s view of life, increase in confidence, less anxious feelings, reduced stress and enhanced knowledge.

Rules for Life # 10 – Fail fast

Failing fast is a approach where you give yourself the freedom to fail; but at the same time learn something new out of each failure. This helps you to succeed faster next time. Here you don’t have fear of failure and you learn from your mistakes made.

When you want to grow and progress in life;  you’re willing to take risks and evolve. The only way to evolve and change is to fail. To achieve success, you must experience numerous failures with the goal of revealing a bigger picture.

Watch this motivational video on Failing Fast, learning and execution for success

Sharpen you saw and keep learning new skills. It will help you not only at professional level, but at personal level as well. If you won’t reinforce your skill sets to cope with fast changing surrounding environment, you won’t be able to survive.

Rules for Life # 12 – Meditate

People who meditate generally lead happier lives than those who don’t. When I said meditation, most of you must have imagined and created a picture in mind, where you are zoning out on a woven grass mat somewhere. But it is far beyond than that; when you become expert in mindfulness. Meditation is the habitual process of training your mind; to focus and redirect your thoughts.

Through mindful meditation in your day to day activities, you can get almost immediate benefits of it. Meditation reduces stress, controls anxiety, boosts emotional/mental health, enhances self awareness, lengthens attention span, generates compassion, reinforce kindness, helps in fighting addictions; and improves your overall health.

Rules for Life # 13 – Get a Guru

Getting a Guru or mentor in life will help you to move ahead and make progress. Everyone of us have felt the necessity of a guru in our lives one time or the other. None of us are capable to do everything on our own. Someone who is more knowledgeable, intelligent and successful in life will definitely make a difference in our lives too.  The meaning of the word “Guru” itself express everything.  ‘Gu’ means ‘darkness’ and ‘ru’ means ‘removal’. So the Guru removes the darkness from your life and enlighten your journey with wisdom.

Rules for Life # 14 – Spend wisely, save money and invest

Spend wisely in life. Always ensure that your cost of living is less than your own income..! Keep tracking of your earnings, budgets and expenditure. Save money and have financial freedom. You should have enough savings to meet your short and long term  goals. Start saving and investing early in the life. In due course of time you will see the magic of compounding. Figure out which habits drains your budget and eliminate them. Do not spend money on non value adding and less utility things.

Over to you now, please share below in the comment section, rules for life that have helped you to become the outstanding person you are today.

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