My Ankle Break Story

My Ankle Break Story.

If you've broken your ankle and want to bypass the detailed story and go straight to shortened version with advice/tips, see here: 

Friday, October 17, 2014

It's Friday evening, 5 pm. I was headed north - always a good way to head in Minnesota.

I was working in the Twin Cities and headed for my parents house for the weekend, meeting my older brother Tom there to pick up my 12 year old nephew Drew and taking him in bow hunting with me. I was excited as I had just finished another work week and looking forward to a weekend of hunting and family.
Those who live in the cities and hunt up north know this excitement.

Always excited to
head north!

I arrive earlier than the boys so I bring in my bags, refill my water bottle and grab some snacks for the deer stand. The AC/DC I was blasting on the drive up still has me pumped up. Drew calls me to tell me they're almost here, he's excited too. I decide to get a little silly and make Drew laugh by putting some eye liner under my eyes like a football player getting ready for a game. I hear Tom and Drew pull up, I go out to meet them with my hat on backwards, black marks under my eyes - Drew laughs at my silliness. Tom laughs, shaking his head at younger sister.

Drew and I drive the short distance down to "The 18", a beautiful 18 acre woods, part of my parents 82 acre "backyard". Tonight we will be hunting a 16' Buddy Ladder stand - a pretty common stand that two people can sit in.

We get everything we need out of the Jeep. I grab my bow, backpack and quiver and look over to see Drew empty handed. I was raised that if I saw someone who their hands full and you don't, help them out, grab something. I want my nieces and nephews to do the same so I remind Drew of Grandpa's saying and hand him the backpack and my quiver. I take my bow and we head towards the stand. We walk about 100 yards through brush, up and down some hills before we arrive at the stand.

The stand is 16 feet in the air so I have Drew go up the ladder first, I stand at the bottom watching him go up. Once I see he's nearing the top, I start going up. I get over halfway up and that's when it happened.

The next part all happened so fast.

It must've been the motion of both of us going up the stand, both of us putting our weight on one side of the ladder, still not sure? One of the legs of the ladder dug into the ground while the other went in the air, turning and starting to spin the ladder. Before Drew and I knew what was going on, our weight leaned to that one side and we started swinging as well. I looked up and hoped Drew was already on the platform where he could hug the tree rather than jump. I yelled "hold on Drew!! Try to hold on!"

The motion is so fast. I am only holding onto ladder with one hand, the other hand is holding my bow.

I am forced to jump.

I jump.

I land, but it's not normal. It's really rocky, uneven and hard. I am laying on my stomach, hands on both sides of my head, like if you were to get down in push-up mode. But I have this heavy pain my foot, wait, my ankle, my leg? 

I look down, my boots are in a small pile of logs.

I feel major pain. I instantly know this isn't going to be a "dust yourself off and get up" situation but before I can even think about the pain, I am interrupted by my own thoughts, "Drew! Oh my gosh, where's Drew?!"

"Drew!?" I yell. No answer.

I brace my upper half up on my elbows to see if I can see above the brush and shrubs around me.

"DREWWWW!!!!!!!!!" I yell with more volume.

I am starting to panic. I listen and hear moaning.

"Drew??"

I strain my neck and see Drew hunched over in the fetal position.

More moaning coming from Drew.

My heart stops. Wait, Drew had my arrows. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, is he bleeding? Does he have an arrow in him? Panic is setting in. My mind goes to worst case scenario.

This time I'm all business and he must hear it in my voice, "Drew Thomas, you need to answer me. Are you ok? Do you have an arrow in you?"

He replies immediately, "Whattt??" The tone of his voice lets me know he thinks I'm crazy.

"Nooo. No, I'm ok Auntie, but I landed in the pokeys and it really hurts."

I put my face into the ground in relief. Thank you Jesus.

"Ok, ok Drew, I'm over here, but I think I've broke my ankle or foot. I can't move."

He kinda pops his head up from fetal position to realize I'm not kidding.

We need help. My phone! I think I brought it. I lean up on one elbow and use my other hand to unzip the chest pocket. I slip my phone out and call my parents home number.

"Hello" answers my mom.

"Mom, hi, it's Joey. I think I broke my ankle." I say. Way to get straight to the point, eh?

The swelling begins

"What?!!" If you knew my Mom, you can totally picture her at the phone reacting to my words.

"Can you or Dad just come down to The 18? Drew is ok from what I know so far but I don't think I can walk."

To our luck, Tom and his wife Kari were checking a deer camera down on the land and were not even 1/2 a mile a way. When they got the call from my mom, they turned around and came down to the stand. Not even 5 minutes later, Dad and Mom arrived.

We explained what happened, they checked Drew out and asked me more questions.

Eventually we got over to the back of the van when Dad started to loosen up my boot. My eyes got big. Dad, what are you doing??? He said he needed to look at it before we decide what to do.

My worked on the laces and the tongue of the boot to get it extremely loose before he slide it off.

I bite my teeth together and scrunched my face in pain. Woweeeee - that hurt!!!

Then the sock.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.

Ok, the boot was off. The sock was off. 

The next feeling was so weird. It felt like someone was blowing up my ankle like a balloon.

And as we watched it over the next couple minutes, it looked like it too. 

Arriving at the ER

What time is it? It's 6:30 pm now. 6:30 pm on a Friday.

Clinic is closed now. Looks like Emergency Room is our only choice.

They grab my bow, backpack, etc. and we head back to my parents.

There they help me transfer from the back of the van into the back of my Mom's Honda CR-V. I sit in the back seat because we've got to get this foot up, I can feel it swelling by the minute.

My Dad grabs a bunch of the living room pillows (classic Dad move) and props my foot up.

It's a 30 minute drive to the nearest ER. We get checked in and as they wheel me towards the room, a nurse says in passing, "Let me guess, flag football?"

Kinda confused, I reply, "Nope, deer stand."

We get into the room and they transfer me from wheelchair to hospital bed.

A nurse comes in, checking blood pressure and other stats.

"Flag football?"

I'm thinking to myself, what is with the flag football comment?

She points to the spot right below her eyes.

What? Ooooh!! It finally dawns on me that I still have the black under my eyes.

I laugh at myself how this must look. "Ooooh, the black marks? Yah, I don't do this every time I go hunting. I just did it to be silly and make my nephew laugh." Just stop already Sarah.

They do some X-rays and confirm it's broken. They can't say whether or not it'll require surgery but they do know I have to wait until Monday morning to see the foot/ankle specialist.

Until then, they put me in a half plaster hard cast with tons of fluffy padding and ACE wrap and give me crutches.

For the next two and half days, I am under the order of RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

I grew up in a hunting family and since it's October, we're right in the middle of hunting season. We've got bow hunting (deer), duck hunting and pheasant hunting going on so it's pretty likely that people are going to be in and out of the house. This Saturday was no exception. Everybody was checking in on me in between checking deer cameras, food plots, grandkids coming over, etc. I was sitting on the big oversized stuffed chair in the corner of the room, looking down on his huge oversized leg, half ace wrapped, half plaster cast. I was bumming. This was not fun. Drew walks in, I ask him how he's doing today and we chat a little bit. I say to him, why don't you go grab Auntie's bow and I'll meet you out at the picnic table? My mom yells from the kitchen, "Sarah JoAnne, what did you just say???" I smile at her as I crutch towards the front door.

Loaded up in Jeep, one boot, one big sock!

I make it to the picnic table on crutches, lay them down and put my foot up across the bench section. I grab my bow, check the sights and do an overall look over on it. Seems ok. I grab the practice arrows, pull back first one, shoot, annnnd it's good. Within that 6 inch bulleyes area. I pull back 2 more arrows, both are within that 10-12 inch diameter.

I'll take it. Good enough for a kill shot. I'm still in it.

I make up my mind, I'm going out.

My older brother Tom (Drew's dad) is doing some arrow practice as well. I holler over to him about 30 yards away, "Hey Tom, mind if I take the ground blind tonight?"

"You're kidding me," he replies.

My mom thinks I'm nuts at this point. She's probably right.

Nonetheless, I get loaded into the back of the Jeep, head down to the land and we back up to the ground blind. 

Even following doctors orders,
 ankle is propped up on 5 gal
Home Depot bucket. 

We get the ground blind set up and I put one arm over my Dad's shoulder and the other arm over my sister-in-law Kari's shoulder. We even follow doctors orders by bringing an extra Home Depot 5 gallon bucket down to elevate my ankle.

Kari and I are sitting for a while when I catch something out of the corner of my eye. A small doe!
For the first time in over 12 hours, my focus isn't on my ankle. And holy cow, my heart is beating!

"Kari! There's a deer. Look." I say under my breath with urgency. She looks.

"Should I shoot it?" I say. She nods and says yes.

I manage to sit up a little straighter in order to pull back the arrow. I am pulled back, waiting for it to stop. I look through my sights, trying not to pay attention to how fast my heart is beating. It stops.

I pull my trigger release.

(Arrow whizzing/jet sound)

I got it. I saw the neon fletching colors whiz by when it took off.

I got it! I got it!

I am quickly brought back to the reality that I can't get up as quickly as I usually would. Kari calls to notify the boys. They come down to the land. We manage to get me out of the ground blind (it involves some quick moves that cause pain. The boys arrive and come to congratulate me, even though we all know we have to find it first. But it's pretty cool, I mean, I just got my first deer with a broken ankle, that I had just broke not even 24 hours prior. I kinda felt like a bad ass.

After being upright, standing in prairie grass on crutches, I start to feel a heavy pulse feeling - it's not in my heart anymore, it's in my ankle. And it doesn't feel good.

I instruct the boys where the deer took off to and Kari goes with them to track it.

I wait by the vehicles. Ugh, the excitement drains and is replaced with pain. My ankle really hurts.

I wait more. Kari comes back first. It doesn't look good. She shakes her head, they didn't find anything yet. Now this really sucks. The sun is starting to set, it's getting harder to see and it's getting cooler. I wait until the rest of the family gets back, same news: no deer.

Noooo. I feel like crap. No deer hunter wants to wound a deer. We shoot to kill. We don't want to put the animal through drawn out pain. To know I didn't accomplish that is a crappy feeling.

It's now dark. My dad informs me that with the temperatures that evening and overnight, if we find the deer first thing in the morning, in the light, the meat will still be ok. So we head home.

I get in, put my ankle up immediately and get ice on it. The boys reassure me we'll find it in the morning before going up to bed. I'm bumming. This whole ankle thing succcccks.  

Sunday, October 19, 2014

It doesn't take me long after waking up to remember we have a deer to track. Tom, Kari, the girls, Mom, Dad, my brother Michael and his girlfriend Taylor all join us down on the land.

I start out with them but quickly learn that 10 ft in prairie grass on crutches is equivalent to 500 ft. on foot for everybody else. I am not going to be able to keep up. I get into uneven ground that takes more effort than it's worth. Not to mention, these crutches are killing my armpits (yes, then I must be doing it wrong). Ok ok, I go to the car and sit on the hood. I wait, thinking about the whole situation, not feeling too proud.

My Dad comes out of the woods and tells me to grab my Buck Knife. 

"Did you find it!?" I ask excitedly. My heart rises, but Mr. Pokerface won't give me a yes or a no.

He makes me follow him. I let him know how long it's going to take and that it doesn't feel good. He lets me know his daughter is going to tough it out. I start to slow down and I'm now whining of pain. He stops, walks back to me, looks me in the eye, trying to hold a his poker face but his eyes show excitement when he tells me they found my deer and I am not missing the sight of finding it. 

Eeeekkk!!!!!! They found it!!

That news excites me to keep going. It feels like 12 miles on crutches. I know I'm exaggerating and being a baby. I finally come up on it. There it is! I got it! My first deer!

We take photos and I thank everybody for their help. Now it's time to elevate and ice this ankle, I have an appointment with the ankle specialist in the morning.

Monday, October 20, 2014

10/20/2014

I meet with the ankle specialist Monday morning. My ankle does not look good at the appointment (see photos). He shows me the X-rays and where the break is. It's going to require surgery. Dangit.

The swelling needs to go down a considerable amount before surgery can happen.

We schedule it a week out. I am on strict orders to get this swelling down.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The surgery goes well, two screws are put into my ankle.

Over the next 12 weeks, I go through casts and walking boots.

I still walk with a limp, especially in the morning, after a long drive or anytime I'm sitting for a long period without being on it.

Since then...

I broke my ankle when I was 28. I am 31 years old now, writing this just a week before my 3rd ankle surgery.

The reason I sat down to write about this event was because I had no clue what was to come. It's been a long four years with this ankle trouble. I've had so many questions and I just wanted to know what others have done. The story you read was more detailed for the hunters but if you have questions or want tips/advice, visit: Breaking Ankle - what I learned.

Note:

-- For those of you wondering why I was carrying my bow up the ladder -  I know, I know, I've already been lectured. I have tied my bow with a string on the ground upon reaching the stand, climbed to the top and then raised/pulled it up in the past but the string broke a couple weeks before I hadn't replaced it yet so I had gone up the ladder carrying my bow the last couple times.

-- Also, I have never worn a safety harness with hunting from a tree stand. I have heard stories and the harnesses just seem to do more harm than good. Maybe with the 20'+ stands but 16' is the highest any of our stands is at so we've never monkeyed with them.

SaraHHouse365 | Breaking Ankle - what I learned.

SaraHHouse365 | Hardware Removal

More photos:

Tracking a deer on crutches feels like 23 miles
 (even if it's only 50 yards)

Huge thanks for my family for helping track the deer!
(and helping with everything in general)

My first deer! (with a bow)

1st appointment with ankle specialist

Day 2 of Thankfulness - my family

Day 2
My Familia

If you know me, you know I'm big on family. My family consists of the two who started it all, my parents, John and Barb. My parents have been married for 36 years and are just as silly as the day they met.
I fall 3rd in our 4 siblings.
My brother Tom and his wife Kari have 3 children: Drew, Ben and Faith
My sister Ruth and her husband Rich have 2 children: Luke and Avery.
My little brother Michael (aka Lar) is 25 and dating.



With our family growing and now up to 5 grandchildren, it's an occasion when we're all together.

My parents both came from rather large families - Mom was one of the babies of six and Dad was one of the oldest of seven. I have around 20 cousins on each side of the family.

Family teaches you many things. Mostly, these are the people you are stuck with so you better learn to forgive and move on. Unlike friends who you can have a fight with and go a while without speaking and avoid, family is unavoidable (eventually) and you're stuck with them. Resolution is a must.

You share the last name and so to some point, a reputation. Respect your family by keeping your name clean.

My family is constantly helping each other out. There is no marks or record of who helped who and when. It's just something we know as a duty. Whether it's gathering wood together to prep for winter, nursing your sister-in-law back to health, taking the kids so you can have a date night, we've always been there for each other.
I'm very glad my Dad has instilled this "giving to each other" value in our family.

When I shot my deer this last month, my family was the first one there celebrating with me.
It wasn't the best shot yet they gave me more praise than deserved.
They were also right there when it came to track and gut the deer. I wouldn't have wanted to share the experience with anybody else.

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SaraHHouse365 | Better together. A balanced diet of authentic relationships.

SaraHHouse365 | We are blessed.

Learn how to pay compliments.

 

 

Questions to Discuss Before You Get Married

Questions for Engaged Couples
-- Questions to Discuss Before You Get Married
General
Family of Origin
Self Image
Time and Chores
Money
Parenting
Spirituality and Religion
Sex
Conflict

General

Will you change the
 toilet paper roll?

Why are we getting married? Pregnancy, financial security, loneliness or wanting to get out of the family home are not valid reasons to get married.

What do we as a couple want out of life?

What do you think we'll be doing in thirty or forty years?

How often do you drink?

Have you ever hit someone?

Do you think it is important to be faithful to one another?

Do you have a criminal record?

Family of Origin
What was your childhood like?

Was your family an affectionate one?

Do you think we will have problems with your family during the holidays?

What values do you want to bring from your family into our marriage?

What do you like and dislike about your family?

what do you like and dislike about my family?

What do you like and dislike about your parents' marriage?

What do you like and dislike about my parents' marriage?

Self Image

How would you describe yourself?

How do you think I see you?

Am I a jealous person?

Do I have trust issues or feel insecure?

How important is affirmation to me?

Do I handle compliments well?

What is your love language?

Do you think we listen to one another well?

Do you think it is important to know one another's physical and mental health histories?

How important do you think self care is?

We are Blessed.

We Are Blessed.



SaraHHouse365 | Family isn't always blood
SaraHHouse365 | Better Together

Faults of Humankind

Remember that the faults of humankind are pretty evenly distributed among all of us. Why can we so easily overlook in ourselves the faults we are quick to spot in others? It is easy to be objective when it comes to criticizing our friends, family members, and business associates, but it is far more difficult to be honest about our own shortcomings. Only when we recognize that we are all human, with the same faults and failings, do we begin to develop that wonderful quality of tolerance that enables us to accept others as they are and ask nothing in return. Replacing faultfinding with “goodfinding” is never easy. But when you become one who always compliments instead of criticizes, you become the kind of friend we would all like to have. Permanent link to this post: Remember that the faults of humankind are pretty evenly distributed among all of us.

101 Ways To Live Your Life To The Fullest

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs (101 Most Inspiring Quotes of All Time)

How do you feel about your life today? Are you living every day in exuberance? Do you love what you’re doing? Are you excited every single moment? Are you looking forward to what’s coming up next? Are you living your best life?

If your answer to any of the above is a no, maybe or not sure, that means you’re not living your life to the fullest. Which really shouldn’t be the case, because your life experience is up to you to create. Why settle for anything less than what you can get? You deserve nothing but the best. In the past years of my life, especially since after I pursued my passion in ’08, I’ve been living every day to the fullest, filled with joy, passion and rigor. It’s an amazing experience that I want you to experience that too.

This is a list of 101 timeless principles I use to live my best life, and I hope they’ll help you to do so too. As you live in alignment with them, you’ll find yourself becoming more conscious, more alive, and more importantly, experiencing life on a whole new level. Be sure to bookmark or even print out this page and refer to it daily to guide you to your best life.

Here are 101 ways to live your life to the fullest:

1. Live every day on a fresh new start. Don’t be held back by what happened yesterday, the day before, the week before, the year before, and so on.
   
2. Be true to who you are. Stop trying to please other people or be someone else. It’s better to be an original version of yourself than an exact duplicate of someone else.
3. Quit complaining. Don’t be like the howling dog, always howling and never doing anything. Stop complaining about your problems and work on them instead.
4. Be proactive. Stop waiting for others around you to do something and take action yourself instead.
5. Rather than think “what if”, think “next time”. Don’t think about things you can’t change (namely what has happened and thoughts of other people) or unhappy things because these are disempowering. Instead focus on the things you can action upon. That’s the most constructive thing you can do in any situation.
6. Focus on WHAT vs. How. Focus on WHAT you want first, before you think about HOW to do it. Anything is possible, as long as you set your mind, heart and soul to it.
7. Create your own opportunities. You can wait for opportunities to drop in life. Or, you can go out there and create your own opportunities. The latter is definite and much more empowering.
8. Live more consciously each day. Stop sleepwalking through life. Your life is something to be experienced, not coasted through.
9. Be committed to your growth. In the Map of Consciousness, there are 17 levels of consciousness – from Shame to Enlightenment. The higher level of consciousness you are in, the richer your life experience. Achieving higher consciousness comes from your commitment to growth.
10. Know your inner self. This means knowing who you are and what you represent. Be clear of your personal identity.
    
    Image ©
11. Discover your life purpose. Set the mission statement for your life; one that will drive you to life your life to the fullest.
12. Live in alignment with your purpose. What can you start doing immediately that will let you live 100% in alignment with your purpose? How can you live true to your purpose within every context/situation/environment you are in, every second of the day?
13. Set your life commandments. Define your personal commandments to live your best life. What adages and principles do you want to follow in your life?
14. Discover your values. Values are the essence of what makes you, you. Read article #11: Discover Your Values in Personal Excellence Book (Volume 1) on the importance of values, my values and how you can create your own.
15. Hold yourself to the highest conduct. Every one of us have our own set of ethics, principles and moral codes. Live true to them every day. Also, live in full alignment with your purpose (#11), commandments (#13) and values (#14).
16. Design your ideal life. What is your ideal life? Design it. First, assess your life at the moment via the life wheel. Then, ask yourself what it takes to live a 10/10 life (in all 10 areas – career, health, love, social, etc…). What is the life that will make you the best person you can ever be? Set your BHAGs – big, hairy and audacious goals! There are no limits in life – only those you set for yourself!
17. Stop putting life on hold. Are you putting any parts of your life on hold? What is one area of your life you have been putting off/avoiding/denying? Uncover it and start working on it.
18. Create your life handbook. Your life handbook is your life-long personal manual to live your best life – from your mission statement, your values, your long-term goals, short-term goals, personal strengths, blind spots to address, plans, among others. Create your book first then build on from there.
19. Set your goals. After you design your ideal life, set your 5-year, 3-year and 1-year goals. The more specific your goals, the better! Read the 10 principles on how to get winning goals.
    
    Image ©
20. Take action on your goals and dreams. Create an action plan with your strategy, plan and immediate next steps. ESPER: 7-part Goal Achievement series is a great tool to get you started.
21. Create your bucket list, i.e. things to do before you die. Then, get out to achieve them.
22. Don’t do things for the sake of doing them. Always evaluate what you’re doing and only do it if there is meaning behind them. Don’t be afraid to quit the things that don’t serve your path.
23. Do the things you love, because life is too precious to spend it doing anything else. If you don’t enjoy something, then don’t do it. Spend your time and energy on things that bring you fulfillment and happiness.
24. Discover your passion in life. What sets you on fire? Go out there (and explore inward) to know what you love to do.
25. Make your passion a full-fledged career. Then, start pursuing it. Stop working in a job you are passionless toward. Quit your job when you are ready to do it full-time.
26. Turn your passion into a huge success. Turn your passion into a multi-million dollar business. Better yet, make it a multi-billion dollar one.
27. Learn from criticism. Be open to criticism but don’t be affected by it. Criticism is meant to help you be a better person. Learn from it.
28. Be positive. Is the glass half empty or half full? How about neither? It’s actually all-full – the bottom half is water, the top half is air. It’s all a matter of perception. Take on empowering perceptions, not those that bind you. If you can see the positive sides of every thing, you’ll be able to live a much richer life than others. Purge unnecessary negativity from your life.
    
    
29. Don’t badmouth other people. If there’s anything you don’t like about someone, say it to him/her in the face – otherwise, don’t say it at all. It’s not nice to do that.
30. Be empathetic. If everyone only see life from his/her own perspective, we’ll forever be close-minded and insular. See things from others’ shoes.
31. Be a compassionate person. Show compassion and kindness to everyone around you
32. Develop 100% self-belief. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Remove your limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering ones (In Days 26-27 of Be a Better Me in 30 Days Program, you identify your limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering ones). If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you?
33. Let go of unhappy past. This means past grievances, heartbreaks, sadness, disappointments, etc.
34. Forgive those who may have done you wrong in the past. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize it was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes
35. Let go of attachments. Don’t fixate yourself with a certain status, fame, wealth or material possessions. These are impermanent and will ultimately disappear one day when you die. Focus on growing and living life to the fullest instead.
36. Let go of relationships that do not serve you. That means negative people, dishonest people, people who don’t respect you, people are overly critical and relationships that prevent you from growing.
37. Spend more time with people who enable you. Hang out with people who you compatible with, like-minded people, people who are positive, successful, strong achievers and positive for your growth. You are after all the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
    
    
38. Build genuine, authentic connections with people around you – strangers, friends, family, colleagues, business partners, customers/clients, etc. Spend more time to know them better and foster stronger connections.
39. Connect with an old friend. There is no end to the number of friends you can have. Reach out to people from the past.
40. Do a kind deed a day. What is something you can do today that will make the world a better place? Go and do it.
41. Help other people who are in need. Voluntarism is one outlet. You can also start with your friends and family.
42. Help people when they least expect it, without reason. You don’t need any reason to help others. Do it because you want to. Share the love with everyone.
43. Go dating (if you’re single).
    
44. Fall in love ♥
45. Review your life. Set a weekly review session to assess how you are doing for your goals and your life. Review your purpose once every 3-6 months too so you know you’re on the right path.
46. Overcome procrastination. Procrastination is a huge waste of your time (and your life). Get rid of it once and for all.
47. 30 minutes a day. Set aside at least 30 minutes every day to work on a quadrant 2 goal that, when you achieve it, will bring about the biggest source of fulfillment and happiness in your life
48. Get out there and make new friends – whether in your workplace, online, friends’ friends, social groups, etc. Read: 10 Tips To Make New Friends
49. Make deeper connections. Beyond making new friends, aim to make deeper connections out of them. Read: How To Have More Best Friends in Life
50. Be your advisor (from the future). Imagine you’re the future you, 5 years later. How would you advise yourself? Write it down. Now, apply them. Check out Future Prediction Exercise article in Personal Excellence Book (Volume 1), which teaches you to predict your future, then learn from it.
51. Write a letter to your future self. Actually, write 3 letters – for yourself in 1, 3 and 5 years. The longer the letters, the better. Envision how you’ll be like in the future. Make each letter a minimum 2 pages long. Now, seal them and put them in a safe place. Set it in your calendar so you’ll know to open them when it’s time. This will inspire you to work your hardest and achieve your maximum results in the time period.
    
    
52. Declutter. Start from your computer, then your table, your room, your bag/wallet, and your home. The more you throw the unwanted and old stuff away, the more room you’re creating for new things to enter.
53. Keep learning. There is something to learn from everything you see, hear and experience. This includes your mistakes and past misshaps (if any). Learn to interpret each event objectively. Focus on what you can learn from it so you can apply them moving forward.
54. Keep developing yourself. Equip yourself with a huge breadth of knowledge. Learn different skills, pick up different hobbies, study different fields.
55. Keep upgrading yourself. Equip yourself with a huge depth of knowledge. While you can usually only level up to 99 in video games, in real life you can level up to infinity. Go for further studies if need be. Develop your skills. Level up. Build your >10,000 hours in each skill.
56. Try new things. What’s something you’d normally not do? Get out of your comfort zone try something different. It can be something simple like taking a new bus route, trying a new food item, picking up a new hobby, or something bigger like studying a different field, picking a new skill, traveling to a country you’ll never visit, etc. You set your own limits.
57. Get yourself out there. This applies for everything. (a) Get out there geographically. Go out, travel and explore the world. Set sail into the sea. Go backpacking by yourself and visit as many countries as possible. Get on a road trip and visit the different places that come out. (B) Get out there situationally. Stop sticking to routines and comfort zones. Try something different. (c) Get out there in life. Stop watching TV and living vicariously through the TV characters. Go and live the life of your dreams.
58. Be the absolute best in what you do. Go for the #1 position in what you do. If you want to spend your time doing something, you might as well be the best in it. Strive for the best – you don’t deserve anything lesser than that.
59. Don’t settle. In the same lines as #58, don’t settle for less. Don’t settle for someone you don’t like as your partner. Don’t settle for a job you don’t like #25). Don’t settle for friends who make you feel like a lesser person (#37). Don’t settle for a weight you are unhappy with. Go for what you really want.
60. Stretch yourself. What are you doing now? How can you achieve more? Set bigger goals. Explore your limits and break them.
61. Embrace new ideas. Don’t mentally limit yourself; Let your mind be a breeding ground for new ideas. Read: 25 Brainstorming Techniques.
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62. Create your inspirational haven. Turn your room into a place you love. Do the same for your work desk. Get rid of things that make you unproductive. Surround it with things that inspire you and trigger you to action. Read more: How To Create An Inspiring Room
63. Behave as your ideal self will. All of us have an ideal vision of who we want to be. How is your ideal self like? How can you start to be that ideal self now?
64. Set your role models in life. With role models, you become much better than you can be by yourself. I personally am inspired by Tyra Banks (for her passion for helping women build their self-esteem and changing notions of beauty), Ivanka Trump (for her success, intellect and beauty), Donald Trump (for his success and drive in life), Oprah (for being who she is), Lady Gaga (for her talent and not being afraid to be different), and many more. Seeing them and what they do reminds me of what I can be and what I can do, so they drive me on to greater heights.
65. Get mentors and/or coaches. There’s no faster way to improve than to have someone work with you on your goals. Not only will they drive you to achieve more for yourself, they’ll also share with you important advice which you can use to create even more success for yourself. Many of my clients approach me to coach them and the net result: they achieve significantly more progress and results in their life than if they had worked alone.
66. Uncover your blind spots. The more you uncover, the more you grow, the better you become.
67. Increase your consciousness. The more conscious you are, the more evolved you become.
68. Ask for feedback. As much as we try to uncover our blind spots(#66), there will be areas we cannot identify. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective. Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively. Day 17 of Be a Better Me in 30 Days Program: Get Feedback From Others is about getting feedback from others so as to uncover our blind spots.
69. Generate passive income. Create passive income streams so your income is not tied to the time you spend on your work. Of course you’ll still continue to work, but only because you want to and not because you have to.
70. Help others live their best lives. There is no better way to grow than to help others grow. Ultimately, the world is one. We are all in this together.
71. Get married / Start your family / Have kids!
72. Improve the world. There are many things in the world that need your attention and help. Poverty. Disaster recovery. Illiteracy. Children in need. Depleting rainforests. Animal rescue. Endangered species. How can you do your part?
    
    
73. Spearhead a humanitarian cause/organization you are passionate about.
74. Give more value than you receive. There is so much unspeakable joy that comes from giving. And when you keep giving, you’ll find that you actually receive a lot more in return, in spades.
75. Be big picture focus. You can either set your eyes on the big things or get hung up by the nitty gritty details. The former will help you get a lot more out of life than the latter. Focus on the big rocks in life and put first things first (Quadrant 2 tasks). Practice the 80/20 rule – focus on the 20% things that give you the 80% fulfillment in life.
76. Be clear of your end objective. What is the end goal you seek? Is what you’re doing bringing you there? If not, put it aside. As long as you keep taking on things that meet your end goal, you’ll eventually reach there.
77. Go the 80/20 route. For every goal you have, there are different paths to achieve it. Pick out the 80/20 path, i.e. the most effective path that brings you there the fastest with least amount of effort.
78. Prioritize (80/20 actions). As you embark on the 80/20 path for your goals, focus on the important tasks and cut out the less important ones. That means do the 20% actions that give you the 80% results.
79. Live in the moment. Are your thoughts wandering around all the time? Calm your mind down. Be present. The only time you’re ever living is in this moment. Meditation helps to remove mental clutter.
80. Relish in the little moments. Snuggling under warm covers on a rainy day. Ice cream on a hot day. A kiss with your loved one. Being with your best friend. A walk by the park. The breeze on your face. Quiet, alone time. Watching the sun rise/set. Soak in all these little moments of life. They are what make up your life.
81. Take a break. Being the best also requires you to take breaks when needed. Make sure you rest when needed. Doing so lets you walk the longer mile ahead.
82. Stop wanting things a certain way. I wrote a 3-part series before on the downsides of perfectionism and how to overcome them. Be firm on your end goals (your objective goals) and your ideals, but let go of the fixation that things have to be a certain way. You’ll realize it’s by doing that that you achieve what you want.
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83. Focus on creation. Think about what you can bring to the world, and create that.
84. Don’t criticize or judge others. Respect others for who they are.
85. The only person you can change is yourself. Stop expecting others to behave in a certain way. Rather than demand that others around you change, focus on changing yourself. You’ll be happier and live a more fulfilling life this way.
86. Embrace gratitude. Be grateful for everything you have today, and everything you will get in the future.
87. Express gratitude. Let the people who’ve touched you know of your gratitude toward them. You’ll be surprised what a little act like this can do. If you don’t tell them, they’ll never know.
88. Let loose and have fun. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance in the rain. Run barefoot and feel the ground underneath your feet. Release of your self-imposed shackles and be free :D.