We have all had unique experiences, lessons, failures, and teachers that have brought us to this point in our lives.

We are all so different yet weirdly similar. We all carry knowledge that can change the lives of others.

Here are some of my own, I hope you enjoy :)

1. Learn to be a listener

The art of listening has become vastly underrated and underused. This is unfortunate but allows for a greater impression. Since most people are either uninterested in what you have to say, distracted or simply waiting there turn to speak, a good listener is always a pleasant surprise.

2. Learn to be a master communicator

There are so many forms of communication and language. We learn the basics in school and then pick up on stuff as we interact with the world. Communication is vastly different for everyone. We all have our own mannerisms, undertones, speed, style, and definitions. This can quickly lead to miscommunication (especially with so many mediums for communication - texting, email, chat, phone, video call etc).

Pay attention to this as you grow and become a deep listener as well as an efficient and clear speaker in order to effectively communicate with others. This will take you far not only in your personal and social life but also in your professional career.

3. Improve your vocabulary

The more tools of language you have the easier and more efficiently you can communicate. You will also come across as more intelligent to others, which will give you confidence. Read often and whenever you come across a word you don’t know, look it up or ask someone.

I first wrote ‘increase your vocabulary,’ but then thought to myself, more words isn’t better. Instead, more efficient and powerful words lead to fewer words necessary to communicate the same thing. Improve, don’t increase. Yay!

4. Learn emotional intelligence

You cannot ‘control’ your emotions. Therefore, you must have awareness around them and understand how to leverage them. Whenever you get mad or frustrated, take a deep breath, look around you, and consciously assess why you are feeling that way. What caused this emotional reaction and why? Remind yourself that it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, everything will be okay. Now, what is the best way to move forward? This type of thinking can be used with most negative emotional reactions. Use every emotional breakdown as an opportunity to analyze your triggers and practice emotional intelligence.

5. Work towards being wise

This includes to 4 bullets above and adds experience, knowledge, and patience to the mix.

6. Learn but don’t overlearn

It would take you 60,000 years to read every book if you read a book a day. Today all of this information is also spread across an exponential amount of platforms such as online and offline articles, videos, podcasts, online courses and so on. There is an endless stream of information out there. Keep things simple and stay focused when it comes to learning. If you don’t, you will easily get overwhelmed and lost in the content.

7. Fast

Fasting (in every sense of the word) is a powerful exercise that we rarely practice anymore. ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ is more of a marketing tactic than it is a fact. ‘Snacking’ is also a marketing tactic. Our body has to do a lot to break down food.

When it shifts over to digestion mode, it takes energy away from other parts of your body such as healing. Going days or weeks without eating can be extremely beneficial for the body and soul. I am going to try out the 'Master Cleanse' otherwise known as the 'lemonade diet' in the coming weeks. You can give me a follow if you are interested in seeing how it goes.

Also, social media and other content/technology fasts can keep your brain under your control and clear the noise and clutter.

8. Practice balance

Everything in moderation still holds true. Practice balance in all aspects of your life. You will know and feel when things are out of balance.

9. Be an action taker

Learning becomes pointless if we do not apply it. Take action on things!

10. Schedule it

Often times when we don’t schedule it, it doesn’t happen. Get a planner or calendar and plan things out.

11. Fail forward

We never get anywhere unless we fail. It is the quickest and sometimes the only way to learn the deepest lessons of life. Embrace failure as a teacher.

12. Zoom out

Sometimes we forget that we are temporary beings living on a floating ball in the middle of tons of other floating balls. Routinely put things in perspective for yourself and remember what really matters.

13. Ask questions

As children, we ask tons of questions. The world is new and exciting to us and we want all the answers! Somewhere in our growing up, we lose this quality. We start to feel as if we should know most things so we are embarrassed to ask. I frequently embarrass myself by asking ‘stupid questions’ and could care less. Majority of the time someone else is unaware as well.

14. Don’t procrastinate

The molasses of our lives. The kryptonite to our dreams. Don’t do it! It’s one of the most common human flaws and can make a substantial impact on our lives if we can eliminate it. This takes practice, but create your day and your habits around your most efficient methods for productivity and focus. Once things are optimized (ie: deep, intense creative work from 9 am - 1 pm), then you must make sure that you put due dates on tasks and knock them out as soon as you can.

The longer you wait the more things build up in your head and the harder the task becomes (in your head). In the infamous words of Shia LaBeouf…wait, Nike: JUST DO IT!

15. Plan but keep things flexible

If a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favorable.” - Seneca.

Get a planner that works for you. Keeping your short-term and long-term goals in mind, roughly plan out your weeks. Know that things are always changing and keep your plans and mindset about said plan flexible and open to change. This will make the inevitable and necessary pivots far easier and quicker.

My favorite planner by far is this one. I live by it. I explain how to use it and provide pictures here.

16. Track and analyze your life

There are many tools to help with this. I created a habit tracker to see how I am doing every month, you can download it here.

Track your sleep, your water and food intake, your time spent in front of a screen etc. I am not saying do this all the time forever, but you’ll need to collect this data so you can get a snapshot of your life and create the right strategies for moving forward. What gets measured gets managed.

17. Create good habits

I don’t know about you, but I am obsessed with habits. They are the code behind your life and you are the developer. Once you decide where you want your life to go and what you want it to look like, you can build habits (code) that will support that design. These codes are far more vulnerable to error than actual computer code. Therefore, you must build them strong and track them.

18. Break bad habits

Just like you would track a good habit, track the bad ones as well. So if your bad habit is staying up late watching Netflix, put an ‘x’ on each day that you do it. This will allow you to see your progress and improve month over month. You can also use my HabitTracker for that.

19. Let your body heal

Our bodies are unbelievable machines. We often get in the way of the natural healing process. Practice things like fasting and getting good, deep sleep consistently. Simply do this more (or far more) than you do harm to your body (junk food, sleep deprivation, overeating, substance abuse) and you will heal back to a healthy, thriving state that will be able to fend off invaders.

20. Give compliments

When you give, you receive more than you know. Sometimes I think we forget that we all have stuff to give (for free). “The best things in life are free” holds true depending on the person and their perspectives on life. I challenge you to give a compliment to someone today. Make it authentic and meaningful and watch their face light up.

21. Show appreciation and gratitude

Appreciate what you have and express daily gratitude. This image is a perfect example.

22. Journal

Tim Ferriss explains it best.

23. Meditate

If you’ve never tried, or tried and failed, that’s okay. In fact, there’s almost no other outcome initially. Like any other skill, meditation takes practice (lots of it). But the benefits can come quickly. Use an app like insight timer to help guide you through different meditations. Home to more than 4,750,000 meditators, Insight Timer is rated as the top free meditation app on the Android and iOS stores. The trick is staying consistent.

24. Stretch your muscles

Most of us live largely sedentary lifestyles. This is due to the way our society works. We are typically sitting and hunched over in front of a screen for hours. Over time this leads to your muscles turning into pretzels. Make a habit of stretching or yoga to stay limber, pain-free, and young.

25. Lift weights

‘Use it or lose it’ has never applied to anything more. The benefits of exercise are unbelievable. Not only to the body but also the brain.

26. Sweat

Sweat is a great way to measure how hard you are working your body. A rule of thumb is to sweat every day no matter what. Run, walk, jump rope, bike, do pushups, burpees, jumping jacks…whatever you need to do to sweat every day.

27. Get your heart rate up

Doing both HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and Steady-state cardio have powerful impacts on the body. When you force blood through your arteries and veins, it stretches them out and keeps them flexible. Healthy, flexible veins will mean the difference between a heart attack that kills you at 60 and a slight headache that goes away after a few hours.

28. Breathe

We all have time for a breath, or 6. Studies show that 6 deep breaths has dramatic relaxation effects. Whenever you are stressed or frustrated, take 6 deep breaths. To take it a step further and hyper-oxygenate your body, practice the Wim Hoff breathing method (it’s different but super powerful and amazing, trust me)!

29. Give as many hugs as you can

When you hug someone (authentically), you transfer and receive a little bit of energy. Social connection is essential to our survival and hugs are a great way to get a small dose of it. They are free, you might as well!

30. Smile

It tricks your brain into being happy and can be a nice little gift for the people around you.

31. Eat organic

It took me a while to fully understand the importance of this. It was hard when I was younger to ‘afford’ organic foods. I quickly realized how essential it is to properly fuel your one and only body with high quality, clean fuel. If needed, change other areas of your life to make room in your budget for $20–50 extra dollars per week.

32. Listen to good music

Music has been proven to have a profound effect on the human brain. It’s been proven to heal and grow the brain, create new neural connections, increase creativity, increase motivation, treat memory loss, aid in drug addiction, reduce anxiety, lower cortisol levels, and release dopamine, thus improving mood.

33. Create routines and rituals

Morning, daily, and nightly routines have helped me drastically with my health and productivity. Your body gets used to what it does consistently. If you want to read more, place your book on your bed so you’ll be more likely to read it before bed. If you want to meditate, create your ‘zen zone’ or ‘meditation station’ and make it a ritual.

34. Rain app for sleep

If you have trouble sleeping, try downloading a rain app that makes soothing rain sounds while you sleep (with a timer).

35. Find mentors

What better way to learn how to accomplish your goals/dreams than from the mouth of someone who has already done it? Get out there and find mentors for different aspects of your life. Pay them, provide them with your services for free, buy them coffee etc. Whatever you need to do to invest in yourself. This will often times cut years or decades off of the time it takes you to succeed.

36. Build deep relationships

We are all humans just trying to live happily and make an impact on this planet. We become far more powerful and capable when we team up with others. Whether it’s a professional/entrepreneurial relationship or a personal/intimate relationship, it’s hugely important to living a full, meaningful, deep life.

You truly are who you hang around. When the people around you are lazy, unhealthy, and negative, you will slowly become that way as well. On the other hand, if you are around driven, healthy, positive people, you will be far more likely to become that way yourself. #osmosis.

37. Cry

When one cries, it is typically an overwhelming sense of emotions that your body simply can’t contain. Whether they are happy tears or sad tears, this means you are living a deep life. If you are crying because of a hard, sad, or frustrating situation, that means you have probably hit the bottom of that low and will now be motivated to work your way out of it or move on.

If you are crying out of joy, happiness, or simply an amazing experience, it means you're living a beautiful life with deep, purposeful meaning. Embrace the tears, sometimes it’s a beautiful way to cleanse the soul.

38. Embrace pain

Similar to the one above, pain is a reminder that you are living. Life is the most beautiful gift yet we often forget that we beat the unbeatable odds of being born. If you stub your toe, get sick, or have a headache, try your very best to see it as a reminder that you’re living and it’s not always going to be sunshine and rainbows. And that is okay.

39. Get outside

Take in the big red ball. The sun brings life, get outside and absorb its amazing power.

40. Get in nature

We often go days, weeks, or even months without even touching this beautiful blue ball that keeps us alive and thriving. We have paved a lot of the surfaces that we travel on. We have chopped down many of the trees that help us breathe. We have polluted the air with our manmade toxins and chemicals.

As much as you can, get back to your roots (literally) and touch nature. The effects are far greater than you will ever know or understand.

41. Keep your phone out of your bed

Sleep is such a sacred thing that we desperately need after a long hard day out there in the world. Bringing your phone into bed disrupts that and often leads you down the rabbit hole of endless scrolling. Not to mention the EMF’s that are unnatural to our biology and can cause everything from an out of sync circadian rhythm, all the way up to cancer.

I turn mine on airplane mode every night at least 20 minutes before bed and put it across the room from my bed. This makes it harder to bring into bed and requires that I get up out of bed in the morning to turn off the alarm.

42. Batch check email

Ahhh the ‘ol check the inbox(s) every 5 minutes trick. This will slowly destroy you. Keep the inbox far, far away until it’s time for a batch check. Similar to how you don’t do a load of laundry until you have a laundry basket full of dirty clothes, don’t check your email until you have enough to dedicate some focused time and energy to it.

Shifting gears is hard, shift gears less and you’ll increase productivity and focus. I check mine at 9:30 am, 12 pm, 2 pm and one more time at 5 pm. (Thanks for this one Tim Ferriss).

43. Practice minimalism

Less is more. Keep your life simple, there is no need to collect ‘stuff’ that you used once and serves no purpose in your life anymore. When our lives are cluttered, our mind and soul is often cluttered as well.

44. Keep a budget

Money management is essential to a stress-free, happy life. The simplest fundamental that many people forget is to live within your means. How much is coming is vs. how much needs to go out and how much do you need to save/invest. Get help if you need it and get things in order so you are saving more every year.

45. Keep in touch

Over time, we lose touch with some of our closest friends. In a time when communication has never been easier, we forget to make this a priority. I like to schedule time for personal phone calls with close friends and try to see them as much as possible.

46. Travel

Get out there and see the world. You will learn how big it actually is, how small you actually are, and how amazing it is to be alive. Do it now, don’t wait. #noregrets

47. Always have something to look forward to

Plan things for later in the month or year that you can look forward to. This keeps life interesting and exciting. It also helps you focus on the now when you know you have things in the future that are set in stone.

48. Don’t chase money

Yes, money is a powerful tool. It’s essential in this life. Just ask someone living on the street, or with huge debt from medical bills how important money is. I am by no means saying you shouldn’t have or pursue money, but I am saying that it should never drive your decisions.

I understand desperate times call for desperate measure and you may have to do what you have to do to survive, but less dramatically speaking, it will lead you down the wrong path if it’s what drives you.

It’s a tool and a variable that should be taken into account when making life decisions and goals but should never be the sole reason. Okay, I think I dragged that on a bit…haha.

49. Limit coffee intake

Make sure you aren’t going into ‘energy debt.’ When you are tired during the day it either means you are not sleeping enough, you aren’t sleeping well, your circadian rhythm is off, or your lifestyle/diet has led to inefficient energy creation within the body.

Either way, stop drinking coffee to combat this. Stop digging the hole even deeper and fix the underlying problem. This will make life far more enjoyable. Everything in moderation my friend.

50. Limit sugar intake

For a 2,000-calorie diet, 5% would be 25 grams. Limit daily sugar to 6 tsps (25 g) for women, 9 tsps (38 g) for men. Yet, the average American consumes 19.5 teaspoons (82 grams) every day. That translates into about 66 pounds of added sugar consumed each year, per person. This will kill you unless you lower your intake.

51. Find your sweet spot

This is what my whole brand is built around. Your sweet spot is when your skills, passions, and purpose collide to create your unique genius that must be shared with the world. Most of us never even attempt to look for it. Sign up for my Milestones Monday Newsletter to get list-only information and tools about how to find your sweet spot (includes habits, goals, health, branding, marketing, growth).

52. Phase your day

This is a great way to stay focused and productive throughout your day. I go in depth on how you can do this in this answer.

53. Focus inward for the deepest answers of life

As a society, we like to live on the surface. We look outward and compare ourselves to others to find happiness. This will always lead to dissatisfaction in the long-term. Learn to focus inward. Look into your internal universe for guidance. I expand here.

54. Don’t compare yourself to others

Stop mindlessly scrolling through social media and other platforms. What is the point? Does this truly bring you happiness? Or are you actually just getting jealous of other people’s highlight reels and feeling unaccomplished? As mentioned above, take social media fasts at least one day a week (or more - try going for a week)!

55. Practice solitude

“Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well-ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop where he is and pass some time in his own company.” - Seneca.

When was the last time you sat with your thoughts, without distraction, for more than 5 minutes? Days, weeks, months, years? Stop filling your brain/mind with information and create your own. Showers and commutes are great times for this. If you can, do this in nature occasionally. You will find you are far more clear and creative.

56. Love yourself

“You, yourself, as much as anybody else in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”

“Demonstrate love by giving it, unconditionally, to yourself. And as you do, you will attract others into your life who will love you without conditions.”

Couldn’t have said it any better.

Much love my friend,

Miles