Friday 14 October 2011

6 ways to START living a Revolutionary Life by Alicia Curtis



This is a guest post from Alicia Curtis, Founder Revolutionary Lives.

So you want to live your Revolutionary life, but not sure where to start?  Here are six key areas to start your journey.



1.  What’s your revolutionary ambitions?



Most people’s goals suck.  Why?  Because what most people write down as their goals, is not what they truly want and won’t make them happy.  It doesn’t make sense does it? Let me explain.



Most of us have been so influenced by advertising, the media and popular culture to believe that being a certain size, rich and famous will make us happy.   That’s what we want, right?



Unfortunately that’s not what will make us happy.  In fact, the research says that if we follow these extrinsic rewards, it will actually make us depressed and unhappy.  Crazy, huh?

So what should our life purpose and revolutionary ambitions include?

Again, the research says, in particular Edward Deci who wrote the book Why We Do What We Do says, if we follow more intrinsic goals such as building better relationships, building mastery in our talents and having a purpose that is bigger than ourselves, our level of happiness increases.  Easy...want to try it?

Where is your life purpose at? What goals are you striving for?

2. Are you the master of your talents?



We are led to believe there are ‘born geniuses’ or ‘overnight successes’.  The reality is mastery takes time.

So if you are going to invest your time in building mastery, what are you going to focus on - your strengths or your weaknesses?   According to Gallup research, ‘each person has greater potential for success if you focus on who you are already - your natural talents’


But even your strengths take hard work! Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers found that the difference between average and extraordinary is about 10,000 hours.   Are you in it for the long haul?   These days, we expect success so quickly and are not willing to take the long term view.



Don’t put your talents to waste. What are you doing every day to strengthen your talents?

3. Movement every day!



We are meant to move! But everything in our world is built to allow us to stay still - remote controls, cars, escalators!



We’ve so gotten used to the ‘I’m too busy’ excuse that we put movement and exercise on the bottom of our list.



How would you feel though, if you did move every day! Yes, I said every single day!  If you did, you would find out that our body and mind works better when you move -  we think better, we eat better and we feel better.



It’s not just about exercise, it’s about finding more ways to move everyday.  Here are some simple ideas - instead of having coffee with a friend, why not go for a walk, visit a new park every weekend,  try new active hobbies like tennis, hiking or swimming.  Find the movement that you enjoy and have fun with it.



4. We are what we eat!



I would like you to challenge what you eat!



Brian Johnson, a modern day philosopher said “why is it ok to go out drink beer and eat chicken nuggets but weird to drink green juice and eat sprouts?”



What you eat has been influenced by how you grew up, the media, what’s convenient and what gets stocked at the supermarket.   But what if we made an effort to look beyond all of this.

The latest food research such as Joel Fuhrman, MD who wrote the book Eat to Live and The China Study by Colin Thomas PhD and Thomas Campbell MD tells us to eat less of all the foods that are popular and convenient - less refined foods, animal products and sugar and more water, whole foods and dark green leafy vegetables.   Just start with small changes such as only drinking water during the day, having a veggie-packed salad for lunch or not buying sugar laden products.



A lot of what we eat is defined by what we know.  Try a new recipe every week!  Go book yourself into a cooking course and expand your knowledge about cooking and nutrition.

5. Meditation metamorphosis



I have to admit took me a long time to get what meditation is about. Now it excites me! 



Just like you go to the gym to work on your muscles and endurance, meditation is exercise for your mind.  It allows you to practice controlling your thoughts.    You meditate not for the 15 - 30 minutes of quietness, you meditate for how it makes you feel for the rest of the day and the strength it teaches you about controlling your mind.



The benefits of meditation are extraordinary - less anxiety, decreased chances of depression or anger, boost in your immune system, better focus and increased your wellbeing. And all this can be attained in just eight weeks of consistent meditating!



It’s not easy though.  It’s pretty hard to control your mind and your thoughts in the beginning.  But like anything, with practice you get better!

6. Be a Revolutionary Role Model



We need people to make the world a better place. Think global, act local.  What are you doing to become a better social citizen?



Are you taking care of the animals and environment around you?   Could you volunteer at your local homeless shelter?   Perhaps you could help out at the local primary school?  There are limitless ideas to help the world become a better place.



I would ask yourself what are you passionate about? And how could you use and practice your strengths to help the community.   Share your passions, talents and leadership with the world.
 
Alicia Curtis, Founder Revolutionary Lives. Alicia can also be contacted on +61 (0) 8 9313 2880 or alicia@aliciacurtis.com

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

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