10 Rules That Changed My Life

Sagrika Oberoi
4 min readJul 19, 2022

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Photo by Fuu J on Unsplash

We often forget how little things can have a greater impact on our lives, it’s truly said that every phase of your life demands a different you. Therefore, shedding the layers of your old self and evolving with time is so important.

Constantly changing life events and experiences help our body and soul to grow.

There are a few rules I followed in my life that helped me with everything from fitness, career goals, and relationships, to my mental health. They might help you as well. so let’s dive in

Here are the top 10 rules that changed my life

  1. It’s better to be an hour early than to be a minute late —

Back in college, I was chronologically late to everything from classes to birthday parties, and sometimes even on important days like exams.

I knew at the back of my mind that reaching on time is important, but it never bothered me until I had the realization that reaching late means that you don’t respect people’s time or you aren’t reliable enough, this made me change the way I looked at the time.

I now leave early calculating the time required to reach using google maps plus some buffer time (for the unexpected things that may come your way)

2. Calling people by their first name during the conversation —

I don’t know about you but I find this small tip fascinating.

People like to hear their names. They hear you more attentively and are hooked to the conversation. This tiny tip helped me have better conversations and build stronger relationships.

Try it for yourself and see the change.

3. Action precedes motivation —

A little step towards your goal is far better than sitting and waiting for the motivation to strike. As author, Dr. Robert McCain says “The common misconception is that motivation leads to action but the reverse is true “action proceeds motivation”.

You can wait around to get motivated or get moving. It’s really simple, let me explain. If you want to read a book w/o procrastinating for days in a row allow yourself to indulge for 5mins. you will see yourself reading a few pages. The same applies to everything you do.

4. Saying No to caffeine first thing in the morning —

You must have heard the concept of bed tea at least in my home it was quite prevalent until I started having gastric issues, and bloating, on a regular basis.

I now start my mornings with lukewarm water and my health has improved significantly, I feel more energetic throughout the day.

5. Don’t think you’re too old to achieve your goals —

I believe as long as you keep learning from your failures, and continuously work in the direction of your goals. you can achieve anything. There is no time frame for you to be successful. keep doing what you love and be less bothered by others.

6. Making learning a priority —

Staying hungry for knowledge, and learning new things every day with openness transformed my life.

You know when you have a mindset of “I know everything” and get comfortable with it. That’s where your downfall starts. Accepting the fact that you don’t know will open new doors of opportunities for you.

You learn from people around you, I stay attentive during conversations(of course not in the gossip) and try to find if the other person has something valuable to share and don’t mind noting it in my phone or a diary.

7. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable, embrace the change and keep growing —

Doing something new, different from your usual stuff.

It can be solo traveling, hiking, striking conversation with complete strangers, or starting a side hustle, by doing this you constantly challenge your identity and belief, forcing yourself to be what you are not and in that stage, you get to know a lot about yourself. The idea is to break pre-existing notions about yourself.

8. You are responsible for your own life —

I started taking charge of my life and saw a tremendous change.

A little mindset shift had a huge impact on my life, change happens when you go from being a victim of your circumstances to taking action towards the life you want. I know I am the creator of my reality. I have stopped lying to myself, stopped the negative self-talk, and most importantly stopped giving excuses.

9. Moderation is the key —

After suffering a chronic illness for more than a year I started paying attention to my health and made serious changes in my lifestyle, activity level, and food choices. But guys we are humans and not robots. I was being too hard on myself.

So, instead of forcing myself 100% of the time and being agitated, I found doing things in moderation really helpful. I eat what I want to and still maintain an ideal weight using this simple rule.

10. Being nicer to people around

Everyone has their own share of problems, Nobody has a perfect life. we never really know what the other person is going through. being rude and judgy can only add to their suffering.

So you should give grace freely and openly.

Thanks for Reading!

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Sagrika Oberoi

Researcher and writer, passionate about improving my life, Talks about personal growth, health, lifestyle and spirituality.🌸 connect- bysagrikaoberoi@gmail.com