206_How to Become the Best Version of Yourself

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 206

How to Be the Best Version of Yourself

There are many aspects to the concept of sustainability and having a regenerative lifestyle. As you could most likely guess, the planet would be just fine without people. But without people there is no culture and no economy.

However, our modern economy has largely lead us down the wrong path. Consumerism has both consumed our lives and our planet. As we get closer to a true environmental disaster many people feel helpless to do anything about it.

But part of a sustainable life is being productive, being mindful of the impact we have and having happy life. The best way to accomplish all of that is to learn how to be the best version of yourself.

So join me for E206 How to Be the Best Version of Yourself

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E206 How to Be the Best Version of Yourself

Right out of the gate this week, I want to let my listeners know that I am going to change my  format a bit. For the last couple of months I have been starting each episode with the sustainability question of the week. I am going to change that to the sustainability tip of the week, which will be discussed at the end of each episode.

So for now I want to start out with the good news story of the week.

By now we are all familiar with the stories of extreme weather events. And those events in Asheville, North Carolina are no different. With 80% of the riverfront being destroyed, hundreds of roads, homes and businesses completely demolished, it will be decades of recovery if it ever returns to normal.

But, a group of people decided to give back to the community. Several big names in the music industry such as Luke Combs, Eric Church, Sheryl Crowe, James Taylor and Keith Urban packed the Bank of America Arena in Charlotte, NC with more than 80,000 people. Carolina Panther’s owner David Tepper, whose foundation already donated, $3 million to relief efforts offered the stadium pro bono in order to host the event.

The event generated $24 USD which is to be donated to hurricane relief efforts. Luke Combs, a well known country singer, who was raised in North Carolina stated, “This will undoubtedly go down as the night I am most proud of in my career. Being able to give back to the place that gave me so much.”

Events this large typically take 1 to 1/2 years to organize. This benefit concert was put together in three weeks.

So, this weeks round of applause goes to the hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina. 

You may laugh when I tell you that as I was writing this episode I change the name three times. I kept coming across new material that I thought was relevant which took this podcast episode in a different direction. You may also be thinking that I am supposed to be discussing sustainability topics. Consequently, you may be curious as to why I would even produce an episode about personal improvement and how to live your best life. 

If you remember the three pillars of sustainability are less formally known as people, planet and profits. As you have heard me say before, I think the planet would be just fine without the people. But without the people there is no society, no culture and no economy. A big part of having a sustainable society is having a culture of people that are happy and productive with a good quality of life.

Unfortunately, consumerism has slowly crept into our culture over the past few centuries. Businesses have grown into corporate giants with enough power to influence the economy and even the political atmosphere of an entire nation. While consumerism has resulted in advancements in technology and improved quality of life it has largely lead us down the wrong path.

Most of us now look at what is going on in the world and likely feel powerless to do anything about it. While I can understand those kinds of feelings, there is actually a lot that we can do for ourselves and our communities.  And one of the best things we can do is to become the best versions of ourselves.

That thought process is the underlying motive of producing this episode. Instead of running scared or acting like a deer in the headlights, we need to be happy, healthy, and confident in ourselves and in our lives. That is the only way we will have a healthy and sustainable planet. And what follows in the episode is a combination of personal experience and shared information from some smart people that coach others along to have a healthy and productive life.

When I was in my professional program at Colorado State University my life was extremely busy. It was common place for me to start my work and studies at 6 AM and not finish until 9 PM. Needless to say, with that kind of schedule, many things in my life went by the wayside. I just had no time.

While the lack of time for certain things was disappointing, there were other things that ceased to exist in my life that actually had a positive impact. One of which was network television. That was 1993. To this day, I do not watch TV.

After school was finished I went through an extremely long period of time where I almost completely ignored the world. But one day during a discussion with a good friend of about current events in Colorado, I asked a question about the governor. He looked at me rather strangely and said, “He has been out of office for seven years. Maybe you should think about getting your head out of the trees.”

This was the point when I decided that maybe it was important to pay more attention to the world. After all, I love to travel and maybe I should keep current on world events. Unfortunately, the most common way for me to do that is to check up on the news media.

That said, I asked myself one day of all the notable things that go on in the world everyday, who makes the decision on what we hear about? Obviously someone has to do that because it’s impossible to report on everything.  But a quick review of the news media easily reveals that 95% of what we hear is either negative or geared toward sensationalism. A perfect example is airplane crashes. Far more people die in car accidents every year than plane crashes. But, plane crashes are much more sensational so that is what makes the headlines.

But this is consistent with what I experience every time I decide to check in on the news just to try and keep track of world events. What I see is never ending comments on climate change, an impending volcanic eruption, yet another weather disaster, the best places to live in the event of a nuclear war, predictions on when a large asteroid is going to strike planet Earth, another mass shooting. So the pattern that emerges is constant bad news. And guess what, some of it is true.

Constantly listening to the news media has similar affects as the constant bombardment we get from social media. If all we hear about is bad news and the latest on tragic events, it produces anxiety and stress, depression, and the belief that the world is inherently evil and dangerous and we are powerless to do anything about it. Furthermore, such exposure fosters a pessimistic outlook, makes us cynical and distrustful, and we become desensitized to all the good things that go on in the world.

And since the great outdoors is turning into the great indoors, people spend more and more time in front of one screen or another. And since humanity is fascinated with tragic events and entertainment we tend to focus on social media, television, watching the news, or playing games.

The global average daily screen time is 6 1/2 hours. In some countries it is as much as 9 hours per day. This of course affects our view of the world and life in general not to mention that we are increasingly disconnected from the natural world and anything else that is going on around us. Imagine if you spent 6 hours a day focusing on your health, exercising or participating in your community.

It should therefore be no big surprise that the rates of depression and mental illness are on the rise. Approximately 1 in 4 adults are diagnosed with a mental illness in any given year. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that 46% of people will experience a mental illness during their lifetime. Nearly 70% of Americans are on at least one prescription medication.

But I do think the challenge for most people is that we tend to conform to societal norms without even thinking about it. As the old saying goes “You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with.” Consequently, we tend to do things and pick up habits that may not be in our best interest. This is especially true when it comes to social behaviors.

What can make things even more challenging is that we live in a society and culture that is extremely well connected. We are constantly bombarded with messages about who we should be, what we should be doing, what we should aspire to be, and how someone else is obviously leading their best life.  Consequently, we compare and despair, focus on the wrong things and go down the wrong path.

But what we do everyday, what we are exposed to, what we listen to, who and what we allow in our lives is all a matter of choice. We just need to make better choices.

A perfect example of this is what I do sometimes when I go to the supermarket or some other public place during the busy part of the day. Whenever I do this it always seems as if the majority of people around me are taking about their personal problems, issues with their neighbors, or their employer that they don’t like. In other words, something negative. And since I don’t want to hear this I either put in ear plugs or I listen to some pleasant music.

By doing so, I am the one in control of what I hear and experience. And this is just one of the things you can do to become the best version of yourself. And this leads me to my first tip.

Avoid the News and limit your screen time

Statistically 95% of the news reports are negative and 90% of the headlines are geared toward sensationalism. Because we live in an overly connected world if something unfortunate happens on the other side of the planet we hear about it 10 minutes later. Every catastrophic event, war, nuclear threats, tragic events get posted almost immediately.

You have to ask yourself whether or not being bombarded with such strongly negative input on a regular basis is a good way to improve your outlook and quality of life. How does this actually add any value to your life. And the answer to that it does not.  So, stop allowing yourself to be pelted with this type of negative input everyday.

The best thing you can do is limit your screen time and take a break from the constant negativity.

Track how you spend your time

Just like anything else, you will never realize what you are doing and how you are doing it unless you keep track of it and make yourself accountable.  If you are going to make a budget in order to save money, the first step is to keep track of your expenses. If you are going to cut down on your food waste, the first step is to track how much you are wasting. If you want to cut down on how much trash you are producing inventory your garbage and understand exactly what you are throwing away. So it is with your time.

Keeping track of how you spend your time will help you to cut out the things that are not productive. It will help you to achieve your goals, it will keep you on track financially, and actually save you money. If you keep track of your discretionary hours you will be surprise to learn just how much time you can come up with for more productive and positive activities.

Get regular exercise

The benefits of regular exercise have been well documented. Regular exercise will help you to control your weight, it improves your mood, boosts your energy, helps you to sleep better, and helps to prevent a long list of chronic and mostly avoided health problems. And it increases your chances of living longer.

If you want to look better than 80% of the population, then get on a regular exercise program.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

In our busy world of today, it is easy to become overwhelmed. We all have days when every thing in our lives seems to be going wrong all at the same time. Some days it feels as if we are fighting battles, fixing problems, and minimizing damage all day long. But the reality is that most of the things we worry about really don’t matter.

Your annoying work colleague will soon leave, if you are fighting an illness it will resolve, the noisy neighbors will soon stop partying. Keep things in perspective and consider  your problems and challenges as a learning opportunity.

Have a Positive Mindset

If all you have going through your mind is frustrating, angry thoughts then that is what you are going to get. Keep a more positive mindset and you will be surprised how what you wished for will manifest itself around you.

The well know Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can, or you can’t-you are right.”

Control Your Actions and Reactions

Let’s face it, the world is a troubling place these days. People are stressed, worried about their futures and worried about the planet. But I am sure you have heard it said that it’s not about what happens to you but how you react to it. You can’t control the world but you can control how you react to it. When you react well to something, you control the outcome. Controlling your reactions promotes self-regulation, self awareness, improves emotional resilience and reduces your stress and anxiety. If you learn to keep a lid on your emotional reactions no matter what happens, people will respect you and may actually be somewhat afraid of you.

Educate Yourself

Be a life long learner. Take a class. Read good books on a regular basis. Try something new. Travel to a place where you have never been. All of these things will help you become more aware, open minded and help you maintain a positive perspective.

Too many people get stuck in the rut of doing the same things over and over again and accomplishing nothing. Don’t just beat your head against a brick wall and keep doing it because one day you expect it not to hurt because you keep on doing it.

As a way of life, adopt the attitude of continuous improvement through education. This way you can leverage the one thing you always control-how you use your mind to develop yourself.

Do What You Say You’re Going to Do

There significant, clear implications on your life  when you follow through and do what you say you are going to do. Keeping promises and following through with commitments and agreements affects your integrity, your reputation, and even your success. If you follow through with what you say, people will come to view you as a reliable person.

But, it goes beyond that. Doing what you say you are going to do also applies to your personal goals. If you set a goal stick to it.

The well known Jimmy Dean once said, “Do what you say you’re going to do. And try to do it a little better than you said you would.”

Start building your future

We all have goals and aspirations, sometimes for some pretty lofty things. But most of us push things off as wishful thinking and never follow through and make it happen. Accomplishing what you want takes time, commitment, and sometimes learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Sometimes you have to take a risk.

Ghost everyone and focus on yourself

This is something that most people have trouble doing. It is because as humans we are very social creatures. But sometimes you need a break from the rest of humanity and need to focus on yourself for awhile. You don’t have to compete with anyone. You don’t have to play games. The only thing you are trying to do is be a better person than you were yesterday.

You likely remember what I said earlier in this episode about a long period of time in my life when I ignored the world. I literally ghosted everyone. I had been in school for 9 years, I was working constantly on building the homestead and had numerous things going on in my life. I needed some time for myself. I can tell you it was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself.

If you are dissatisfied, unhappy, mad at the world, and need to make some changes, ditch everybody and just work on yourself. You will never regret it.

Summary

Far too many of us get caught up with just getting by in life. We do the same things day after day. We perhaps work a job that we are not satisfied with. We never do anythings new or make new friends. Some of us practically never even leave the state where we live.

It should be no surprise by now that our planet is in trouble. The best way to make this world a better place is to be the best version of ourselves. So track how you spend your time so you can be more productive. Get rid of all the negative input in your life and stop listening to the news and limit your screen time.

Keep a positive mindset and don’t sweat all the day-to-day annoying things that really don’t matter in the big scheme of things. This is part of controlling your actions and reactions. By all means be a life long learner. Build your integrity with friends, family, coworkers and yourself by doing what you say you’re going to do. This will have many positive impacts on your life and give you the confidence to build whatever future you want. And if you hit a brick wall and are constantly frustrated with things, ghost everyone and work on yourself.

So, that’s about it for this week folks. I want to start closing out this episode by discussing the sustainability tip of the week. It is very simple.

Think twice before shopping.

As you likely know by now, everything we do has some sort of an impact. That includes the products we purchase. Everything we purchase has an environmental footprint, from the resources collected to produce it to the pollution emitted to manufacture it to the packaging that ends up in the landfill and finally disposing of the product itself.

You may think this can be prevented by recycling or composting at the end of a products lifecycle. But that does not prevent the environmental impact that has already been done upstream. But some of this can be prevented by purchasing second hand products, borrowing something instead of purchasing something new, buying a product with a lower impact, or simply don’t buy anything at all.

If you think you really need something, wait a week, better yet wait one month before purchasing. This will allow you time to decide if you really need it or to find an alternative.

Now in closing I just want to say that regardless of what is going on in the world, focusing on self improvement is something that is always beneficial. But it will also help you to live a more positive and productive life. So take the time and effort to work on yourself.

I want to close this episode with a quote from the well known actor Samuel Jackson.

Samuel Jackson once said, “My dear friend, clear your mind of can’t.”

With that said, I hope you will join me next week. Until then, always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.