What improved your life so much that you wish you did it sooner?

[MTF]

What improved your life so much that you wish you did it sooner?

Saw this question on Reddit and thought it was a pretty thought-provoking question that may lead to some interesting answers.

It can be whatever in any aspect of your life, both big and small things.

 

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[RobinVL]

Cool question.

I can name a lot of things but I think the winner for me it was breaking up my relationship a few years ago.

I thought it was holding me back at the time and in in hindsight I was 100% right. Really came a long way since then, in personal growth mainly.

What would your own answer be to this question?

 

[Aditya Gunjal]

What improved your life so much that you wish you did it sooner?

Saw this question on Reddit and thought it was a pretty thought-provoking question that may lead to some interesting answers.

It can be whatever in any aspect of your life, both big and small things.

I wish i knew this sooner(it still is soon but more sooner i guess.)
First of all if you want to accomplish something you should have a clear vision about it ( you are doing it or not doing it.), This is because when we have ambiguity about something ,we dont put much effort in it and simply get a casual attitude. Hence make poor choices and accomplish something average/mediocre.
Then after having a clear vision we should put maximum efforts in it. Anyone with constant efforts and right decision can accomplish something great.
In short words, if you jump in water, learn to swim/die trying, or simply just dont jump.

 

[Aditya Gunjal]

What improved your life so much that you wish you did it sooner?

Saw this question on Reddit and thought it was a pretty thought-provoking question that may lead to some interesting answers.

It can be whatever in any aspect of your life, both big and small things.

What about you sir? Any aspect of yours?

 

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[MTF]

I can name a lot of things but I think the winner for me it was breaking up my relationship a few years ago.

I suspect this may be a pretty common response. This, or quitting a job.

What would your own answer be to this question?

I'll post my response later as I need to think about it a bit more.

I wish i knew this sooner(it still is soon but more sooner i guess.)
First of all if you want to accomplish something you should have a clear vision about it ( you are doing it or not doing it.), This is because when we have ambiguity about something ,we dont put much effort in it and simply get a casual attitude. Hence make poor choices and accomplish something average/mediocre.
Then after having a clear vision we should put maximum efforts in it. Anyone with constant efforts and right decision can accomplish something great.
In short words, if you jump in water, learn to swim/die trying, or simply just dont jump.

Is there any specific example of this from your life?

What about you sir? Any aspect of yours?

I'll post my response later as I need to think about it a bit more.

 

[Mathuin]

Waking up early & exercising before work

Cooking more.

I imagine these will be common responses.

 

[yellowist]

Eating healthier, working out, reading more often. Really anything that just gets me off my a$$ and doing something more productive. Video games and jerking off is not time well spent.

 

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[Aditya Gunjal]

I suspect this may be a pretty common response. This, or quitting a job.



I'll post my response later as I need to think about it a bit more.



Is there any specific example of this from your life?



I'll post my response later as I need to think about it a bit more.

I am much younger in terms of age ,sir, but experience transcendence age thats why i am sharing this. As you said big small doesn't matter.
There was this exam held at state level (just like Olympiad but state level,you may be familiar with this) which was basically based on all subjects that we study in school with reasoning (intelligence) added. It is held in 2 standards mainly 4th std. and 8th std. and if you get into merit list you are considered scholar(lol) and given awards and some money.
Not to brag but i am pretty good in studies and also earned Olympiad medals. So it was my duty to apply for these exams and excel in it which i actually did in 4th standard.
Now comes the main part, after 7th standard I somewhat ignored studies ( i was studying but before exams only) and played a lot.(mainly cricket as it is played everywhere in india and we are not different). Then comes 8th std, i did not wanted to appear for this exam this time but as you know "asian parents" pressurized me to do so. Anyhow i appeared for exam but just for the sake of appearing. Didnt followed the schedule given by school coaching and did it with half efforts. Like i said i made poor decisions and got just good marks(18 marks less than merit). This was just the outcome, reaction was yet to come.
Everyone was disappointed including me, but somewhere deep inside i knew i never wanted to study for this exam and results reflected this. I never committed for it.
But this helped me a lot. After that i studied more in 10th std examination which i committed the most. (we call it boards examination, another precious exam in life of indian student) and got 95 percentage. And it is still helping me to take decision.
Now i am 12th paseed out(higher boards examination, another precious one lol). Want to study physics and research in it. Also invent something that will change the world.
Another example (fresh one), i appeared for CET (common entrance examination) held to get into reputed engineering colleges in state which would land student on average 10 to 20 lakh ruppes package (considered as success in india). I got 98.12 percentile in this exam and "would" have gotten into one of these Colleges but instead i choose to study science.

 

[fridge]

Getting tested/treated for sleep apnea due to a deviated septum from taking a hard knee to the nose in jiu jitsu, currently on a CPAP which helps tremendously. Before being treated I was so tired I was closing my eyes while driving, cranky as hell, and had 0 attention span. Have a septoplasty (deviated septum surgery) scheduled for later this year and couldn't be happier to get this fixed.

 

[doster.zach]

What improved your life so much that you wish you did it sooner?

Saw this question on Reddit and thought it was a pretty thought-provoking question that may lead to some interesting answers.

It can be whatever in any aspect of your life, both big and small things.

Buying a house

- Eat a lot healthier because making food is easier not having roommates "soaking" their old dishes for a week
- Food you buy isn't eaten by a roommate
- Working at night is no longer distracting with music and such
- Now can buy things from Home Depot / Lowes and keep them instead of just throwing things away because no place to keep it or you move every year or so.

I agree with the idea that houses are not financial assets, but my mortgage is as low as a two bedroom apartment thats even smaller than the house, and now I'm at keeping a decent chunk of that "rent" money.

 

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[fridge]

Buying a house

- Eat a lot healthier because making food is easier not having roommates "soaking" their old dishes for a week
- Food you buy isn't eaten by a roommate
- Working at night is no longer distracting with music and such
- Now can buy things from Home Depot / Lowes and keep them instead of just throwing things away because no place to keep it or you move every year or so.

I agree with the idea that houses are not financial assets, but my mortgage is as low as a two bedroom apartment thats even smaller than the house, and now I'm at keeping a decent chunk of that "rent" money.

100%, I don't think I could ever live with a roommate in an apartment again, what a nightmare. Thin walls, sharing a bathroom, constant disagreements/tension about living situation, dirty as hell dishes in the sink not cleaned for weeks, neighbors blasting music, literally no storage room. I'm buying a small 2br 1 ba house sometime early next year and excited to have my own room for storage/office area and not deal with a lot of the apartment problems.

 

[Issi007]

What improved your life so much that you wish you did it sooner?

Saw this question on Reddit and thought it was a pretty thought-provoking question that may lead to some interesting answers.

It can be whatever in any aspect of your life, both big and small things.

My morning meditation,

Never knew back then that there could be a way to raise awareness to such an extent,

Now, 20min of meditation in the morning and get so much productive for the day.

Really wish i knew this sooner !

 

[fastlane_dad]

All right I'll chime in!!

I always find these questions fascinating - AND I've had many discussions with friends regarding this.

I'm not sure if its my personality, mindset, attitude, personal philosophy or overall life beliefs --- that outside of a very 'hypothetical' I should of invested X in APPLE in 1982 .... there is never anything I wish I did earlier, differently or at a different time.

I am under the impression that I make decisions to the best of my ability , with the knowledge I have at all times. Sure, I get 'swayed' emotionally from time to time and might make a decision that I wouldn't have made if I continued to 'overthink' the problem - but in the end - I am NOT regretful at all of any of these actions or decisions either - again I made it to the best of my abilities at the time.

I have also been trying to be 'aware' and cognizant of learning to separate actions I can and cannot control. Getting into a car accident, it is easy to fall back on 'I should of taken a different route to work', or 'I should have not sped through that yellow light' thoughts - and I try to separate sometimes what I could have controlled or not in those situations. Maybe if I took a different route, I could of potentially been harmed MORE , or died instead! I do not 'wish' I would of done anything different in this case...because who knows what the outcome of that could have been.

So it's hard to visualize 'should of could ofs' - as I live a very unscripted life as is, and feel that I am in control of all of my decisions and actions (to the extent I can control them).

If I chose to go out and party and be hungover, and don't workout the following morning - I don't start wishing I didn't go out or had as many drinks. I know I made a conscious decision to put myself into that environment and take those actions. Maybe I learned that I didn't like the results of my going out and drinking --> then I iterate and work on not going as hard next time, or not going out with specific people! Sure - I have lessons (which is a huge part of life) - but never a 'I shouldn't have done that specific action' regret.

No one makes me 'act' against my will. Sometimes situations force you to do one thing or another - but these are all again with constructs I have created and setup for my life (i.e. can't go out or work on my fastlane business because I'm watching my newborn, etc).

So this is always a topic that I fail to understand completely or have a good answer for - again might be due to my inherent nature of 'being', conversations, and philosophy that I have developed over the years.

Of course my mind, mindset, philosophy and knowledge became more refined (and there's pros and cons to that as well!) over the last 20+ years, but I do not wish my 40 year old mentality, thoughts and actions on my 20 year old self (what fun would that be..?)!

At the end of the day I ask myself (in a meta way) - am I in a pretty good spot in life? If the answer is YES and keeps being YES - then all of my decisions, thoughts and rationalizations worked to my advantage, and I don't sweat the micro.

That all might be wrong, and maybe there is a better (for some purpose) - or different way of thinking, acting and living. This framework has been working for me for many many years.

Excited to follow thread and read any and all responses though!

 

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[Andreas Thiel]

Getting a job at a larger company.

 

[MTF]

Two that come to my mind now:

• Going back to combat sports. I used to train krav maga a few years ago and stopped when my coach was no longer available. In January of this year I got into MMA and it's been great. If I have a shitty day I always feel better after a tough workout (even if I don't want to do it before). I wish I started this immediately after stopping krav maga. I would have been a beast by now.
• Learning how to swim well, surf, and freedive earlier. I love being in the water and on a particularly good day it's as blissful as nothing else in my life.

There's also one more that I know in hindsight will be obvious. But I'm taking steps to rectify this as soon as possible...

Namely, living in a house in the countryside, close to a forest and nature in general, with a lot of land and privacy.

I now live in an apartment. While I have a forest right outside, I can't just walk outside in the morning and enjoy the nature first thing after getting out of bed. I can technically get dressed and go outside but it's not the same as having it just for yourself right out the doorstep. Being on the balcony is not the same as being on your own piece of land.

This, plus even if you have a nice apartment, you still have to deal with all the bullshit of sharing space with other people. I have loud neighbors, need to pay a lot in HOA fees, sometimes struggle to park my car, need to climb a lot of stairs (not bad for exercise but shitty if you're carrying anything large) and have very limited space. Then there's all the damn noise of the city and all the people around.

 

[MTF]

I am under the impression that I make decisions to the best of my ability , with the knowledge I have at all times. Sure, I get 'swayed' emotionally from time to time and might make a decision that I wouldn't have made if I continued to 'overthink' the problem - but in the end - I am NOT regretful at all of any of these actions or decisions either - again I made it to the best of my abilities at the time.

I don't think that anyone would disagree with that. Everyone makes decisions to the best of their abilities. This question is more like your current self reaching back to your past self than regretting bad decisions because you didn't make them to the best of your abilities at the time.

 

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[heavy_industry]

Training hard.

 

[SPM_ENT]

Hiring/being able to accept help where my own skills fell short. It's a fastlane to success to talk to someone who has the answers instead of trial and error to figure it out the hard way.

Secondly buying more Real Estate instead of flipping cars. Much easier with better returns and less work.

 

[Itizn]

drawing attention to myself

 

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[MTF]

drawing attention to myself

As in, you're doing it more now?

 

[Angler]

Putting my ideas, values, and beliefs out there despite the odds & internal resistant

 

[BaiAnrui]

1. Starting my own company (I know boring)

2. discovering stoicism, man this is a beautiful philosophy of life with lots of wisdom.
@MTF , you are also into stoicism right?

 

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[Matt Sun]

Agree with stoicism, reading The Shortenss of Life by Seneca:




3 things out of the top of my head:

Training with gimnastic rings. You can set them up in the beach, and there is a billion exercises to do with them.

Going whole foods plant based, paying attention/reading food labels. Doing stuff to eliminate heavy metals / parasites. Drinking tea. Learning of medicinal plants. I'm much more healthy at my 30s than I ever was growing up until my mid 20s.

Obvs wish I knew about the fast lane and the crazy and creative ability to create products that people love and give you $ for. To create value with your mind's imagination.

 

[heavy_industry]

@MTF , you are also into stoicism right?

Having a website called "discomfort club" is a strong indicator of that.

@MTF I was thinking about how strange it is for us humans that pleasure and pain are two faces of the same coin. Pursue only pleasure and you will get pain. Pursue pain and hardship and you will get satisfaction and pleasure.

We are very strange creatures living in a very strange world.

 

[Aditya Gunjal]

Having a website called "discomfort club" is a strong indicator of that.

@MTF I was thinking about how strange it is for us humans that pleasure and pain are two faces of the same coin. Pursue only pleasure and you will get pain. Pursue pain and hardship and you will get satisfaction and pleasure.

We are very strange creatures living in a very strange world.

What is MTF's real name?I googled for discomfort club and got a site which has founder named martin.

 

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[MTF]

1. Starting my own company (I know boring)

2. discovering stoicism, man this is a beautiful philosophy of life with lots of wisdom.
@MTF , you are also into stoicism right?

Yeah, stumbled upon it when I was still a teenager as far as I remember (or early 20s). Been practicing and studying it more often recently again.

Having a website called "discomfort club" is a strong indicator of that.

@MTF I was thinking about how strange it is for us humans that pleasure and pain are two faces of the same coin. Pursue only pleasure and you will get pain. Pursue pain and hardship and you will get satisfaction and pleasure.

We are very strange creatures living in a very strange world.

I think as with all things in nature it's not that strange. It's just that we need the right balance. You can't live without comfort but you can't prosper without discomfort, either.

What is MTF's real name?I googled for discomfort club and got a site which has founder named martin.

It's Martin DeDiscomfortarco.

 

[Aditya Gunjal]

Yeah, stumbled upon it when I was still a teenager as far as I remember (or early 20s). Been practicing and studying it more often recently again.
Yes sometimes i feel the commandment of control which sir mj has talked about in his book is taken from stoicism. Control what you can rather than thinking about what you cant.


I think as with all things in nature it's not that strange. It's just that we need the right balance. You can't live without comfort but you can't prosper without discomfort, either.



It's Martin DeDiscomfortarco.

 

[Aditya Gunjal]

Yeah, stumbled upon it when I was still a teenager as far as I remember (or early 20s). Been practicing and studying it more often recently again.



I think as with all things in nature it's not that strange. It's just that we need the right balance. You can't live without comfort but you can't prosper without discomfort, either.



It's Martin DeDiscomfortarco.

Hey no kidding but whats you name sir?

 

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[MTF]

Hey no kidding but whats you name sir?

I'll tell you if you send me your social security number, your penis length and circumference and share with me your most embarrassing secret.

What's the interest? It's creepy to ask people online for personal data if they don't want to share it.

 

[Aditya Gunjal]

I'll tell you if you send me your social security number, your penis length and circumference and share with me your most embarrassing secret.

What's the interest? It's creepy to ask people online for personal data if they don't want to share it.

Sorry sir if you are offended. I thought we communicate with our names but if you dont want to share it, no problem. Name is not an embarassing secret i suppose. Anyways i was just curious about it, i was not going to annoy you anywhere on other social medias(which i dont use).