My life got an upgrade when I...

gm #hive fam! I hope your week is off to a great start. I'd like to share a few things that improved my mindset and quality of life in the past few months. They didn't cost a dime.

Sold my Car

When I started my business, I decided I wanted to live close to where I work. So I looked for an apartment and and office in the same neighborhood.

The closest I could find was a mile away. So I walked a mile in the morning and a mile in the evening.

Last December, we got really lucky and were able to move into a bigger studio only two blocks away from where I live! read bout it here: Day 1 in the new studio

So, I decided to sell my car and invest that money in my business.

Now I get to enjoy my daily walk to work and this is the view:

The morning air is cool and clean, and no traffic!

Well, sometimes there's traffic. Today I got to see the goat man with about 30 well behaved goats!

worst traffic jam I've had all year 😄

Not dealing with traffic is a huge deal. I can get a good nights sleep, wake up with enough time to eat a healthy breakfast and leave 5 minutes before an appointment if need be and I don't have to deal with stressed out commuters.

I don't blame people being at their worst in traffic. People are rushing, stressed about work, bills, kids.... but removing myself from that environment helps me start every day with a positive attitude and a clear mind.

And if I wake up really early, I get an extra bonus. This is the view from the studio at dawn:

Wrote a post about this amazing sunrise: An amazing city sunrise! & some inspiring thoughts that came with it

Recognized my time is my most valuable asset

I heard a podcast by Naval Ravikant titled How to Get Rich without getting lucky.

But it has nothing to do with getting rich quick and it's free; definitely not a paid how-to scam. It's more about tips on how to develop habits that will help you build wealth and hopefully some passive income to reach financial freedom.

One of the things he talks about is giving yourself a very high hourly rate. For example, I like to think I have a rate of $500/hr. That way, I can concentrate my time on high-value activities only, and If I can outsource a job, I will. This also means I rarely do time-wasting meetings, I don't waste time DMing back and forth, and I do my best to design processes and automate my business.

Here's a version of the How to Get Rich without getting lucky recordings I found on the Tube:

Started developing daily habits, like journaling

I read that the great emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus had the habit of daily journaling.

I started hearing about the benefits of daily journaling. These went from being able to keep track of what we do and charting our progress, to getting a bird's eye view of our lives.

One of the tools I started using to do this is Notion.so. It's a free and incredibly powerful tool for note-taking, journaling, planning, etc. You should totally check it out.

Anyway, through daily journaling in the morning, I'm more likely to start my day with a positive, grateful attitude, pay attention to life's details and set goals for the day.

There's a bunch of different ways to journal, so just go ahead and start and make adjustments along the way. You will find what works best for you.

Recognized coffee is the ultimate key to life

image source

This is a no-brainer and an absolute truth. Once I realized this, my life became better.

Seriously, I just enjoy grinding my coffee beans and making this delicious drink every morning in my french press :)

Have an awesome start of your week fellow Hivers!