Are you wondering how to give a great handshake? You have come to the right place! Here are the seven steps to give a proper handshake.
Seven Steps To Give A Proper Handshake
The good news is that you can learn to give a great handshake. Here are the seven steps to giving a proper handshake:
- Make eye contact with the person you are shaking hands with.
- Be sure to use your right hand.
- Give the other person a nice, firm handshake.
- Remember to follow the two-second rule. You do not want to make the handshake awkward.
- Be sure to smile.
- Give the other person your greeting.
- Say the person’s name or address them correctly by their title.
You can practice these seven steps to properly handshake with a friend or family member. You can even practice a handshake with something you can hold, like a hand gripper. You could even get a mannequin hand to practice on.
Secure Single recommends:
-
The Dangers Of The Hive Mind
-
15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
-
Strategies For Singles To Survive A Recession
Summary
A proper handshake tells someone a lot about you. A bad handshake can show you are insecure, soft, or overcompensating. A handshake may be simple. But a handshake is a crucial skill to master.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Society encourages people to conform. Popular culture tells you to keep up with the Kardashians, influencers, and neighbors. You give up your individuality as a person to get lost in the ocean of the collective. By joining the collective mentality, you enter the hive mind. Here are some of the dangers of the hive mind.
It is best to invest in yourself
The Dangers Of The Hive Mind
What Is Hive Mentality?
A hive mentality is when someone falls into groupthink. You get your validation by going along with the crowd. Being part of the group can make you feel like you are part of something important or being helpful.
You may have problems making your own decisions. You give up your ability to make choices by listening to someone in a position of supposed “authority.” Within that group, you find answers from someone in authority and those who make up that group.
Following the hive mind is easier than standing up for yourself. It is best to do your own thing. It is best to go your own way.
What Are Some Examples Of Groupthink?
There are many examples of groupthink:
- Thinking you must go out with your friends to drink.
- Watch sports to keep up with the guys.
- Watch the latest television show that everyone is talking about.
- Thinking that you need to be part of a political team (Republicans, Democrats, et cetera).
- Being a band fan and identifying yourself as part of their fanbase(Swifts, Beliebers, Deadheads, Barbies, and Maggots).
Another example is thinking that college is needed for success. There are plenty of ways to be successful without going to college. Yet, society and people often tell you that college is required to succeed.
The Internet, digital courses, and just being able to educate yourself on whatever you find of interest and then discover a way to monetize it will set you apart from most people who go to college.
Leaving The Hive Mind
The best way to leave the hive mind is to start to know yourself and invest in yourself. You can begin to know yourself by spending time in solitude. Contemplation is a vital way to start to learn more about yourself. Another way to practically try new things is to learn about your interests, skills, and passion.
You can learn more about yourself by:
- Figuring out what you enjoy and do not enjoy doing.
- You can find your passion or obsession.
- Something that you want to do to make money from.
- Learn to think for yourself.
- Learn critical thinking skills.
You can discover your passion/obsession. You can then find a way to make money from it. You can continue to make someone richer as an employee or go into business for yourself.
You can learn essential critical thinking skills. Basic critical thinking skills include being able to have a civil debate, argumentation, and being able to recognize logical fallacies.
You can then invest in yourself through:
- Self-education.
- Health.
- Relationships.
- Skills development.
- Personal development.
- Increasing your income.
Self-education is one of the most critical skills of self-made millionaires.
You can focus on your health by dieting, exercising regularly, and going to the gym. You could go for a walk every day.
You can spend time with your friends, family, and people you enjoy in your community.
You can work to hone your skills. You can become a master of a set of skills to separate yourself from others. You do not need a fancy degree to show you are skilled in something.
All of the things I learned to do I did on my own, not in college: digital marketing, writing a book, Amazon Ads, copywriting, and sales. None of my college classes taught me those skills. I learned them because I was interested in them.
I did invest in some digital courses, but those were outside of college. They are from successful entrepreneurs in their own niches. Those were the people who I wanted to learn from, not from a professor.
As an employee, you have a maximum threshold that depends on your field. In some careers, you may be able to live comfortably off of that. In other fields, you may not even be able to get by due to wage stagnation, inflation, and the cost of living.
You always want to look for ways to increase your income. That could mean taking on a second or a third job. It could mean starting a side hustle. The problem with side hustles is that you may not enjoy them and only do them for the money. That means you may not be able to do them long-term.
The better option is to figure out what you enjoy doing. You can then turn it into a business. As you learn business skills and earn revenue from your first one or two products or services, you can then expand by delegating tasks you do not enjoy to create more products and services. You can then build an entire team around you. You can make a business around your obsession.
With the Internet, you can reach anyone who uses the Internet to purchase from a larger online store. A business no longer needs to only cater to a segment of the population in the town where it is located. Monetize and build a business around your passion to leave the job you may hate.
Secure Single recommends:
-
Chipotle Raises Prices: Simple Burrito Recipes For One
-
What Is Childfree?
-
12 Ways Popular Culture Idealizes Marriage
Conclusion
You can continue to be a member of the hive mind. Or, you can start to go on a journey of self-discovery to discover what drives you. Only you can know that. Society and the group mentality can prevent you from learning about yourself.
It is then up to you whether you want to remain in the employee model or take a risk and move to the business model.
Your life. Your choices. Your rules.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Are you wondering if you should end a friendship? Are you worried about having a conversation with your friend? Are you unsure of how to end a friendship? Here are five strategies to end a friendship.
Why Do People End Friendships?
People may end friendships for many reasons. People may not see a friend frequently enough, so they lose touch. You may experience a falling out.
You may no longer be interested in the same types of things as you want. You may have matured while your friend has not. There may be disagreements that the two of you could never work out that continue to arise in the friendship.
No matter the stories or experiences that you may have, you can decide which of these five strategies to end a friendship works best for you.
5 Strategies To End A Friendship
Social Media
You can talk to your friend over the social media on which your friend is most active. Social media is the most impersonal of the five. You want to describe to them why you want to end the friendship.
After you get them to understand your position on ending the friendship, you will want to block them across all your social media.
Text message
You can send your friend a text message. If your friend texts often, this may be the best way to contact them.
You can make your point. Answer any questions. You can then block your friends from social media and phone contacts.
Phone call
You can call your friend over the phone. You can know what you plan to talk to them over the phone.
You can prepare a script for the call that you can use. Telemarketers use scripts. You can apply this strategy to end a friendship.
Video Call
You can have a video call over Skype, Zoom, or on your phone or social media that allows for video calls.
A video call is a compromise between communicating via messaging and in person.
In-Person
You can have the conversation in person. An in-person conversation is the most direct way to end a friendship. You will have less control than being on a phone or social media. The exchange happens in real time.
The main benefit of ending a friendship in person is that you can read your friend’s nonverbal body language. Nonverbal communication plays a critical role in human communication. Understanding what your friend is saying non-verbally can help you better understand what they may think about you wanting to end the friendship.
Solutions
You want to utilize the medium that your friend is most active on. You want to have your reasons ready for why you want to end the friendship. You want to prepare for any pushback. You do not want to be afraid to stand up for yourself. If you have concluded that it is best to end a friendship, then unapologetically do it.
I have lost touch with my college friends. I blocked two of my former closest friends across my social media and on my phone. They were negatively influencing me. One would only talk about drinking and entertainment.
My other former friend was manipulative and used me to advance himself. He did that while saying that he was helping me.
Please be sure to be clear on your why. Stand up for yourself. Tell your former friend “No”. Walk away and start to live your best life.
Secure Single recommends:
-
Singles Do Not Need An Artificially Intelligent Boyfriend Or Girlfriend
-
A Return To Self-Responsibility
-
Introduction For Singles On The Different Types Of Savings Accounts
Conclusion
You will experience that friendships naturally end over time. You want to determine the reason why you have decided to want to end a friendship. It is up to you to determine how much you tell your friend. You could block them today across your social media and devices or choose to get together at a location of your choosing to end the friendship.
You will feel better about yourself once you end a friendship that does not benefit you. I know ending those two friendships immensely helped me. You can take the next step by choosing one of these five strategies to end a friendship today.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Friendships fade over time. Loss of trust in friendship can play a critical role in a relationship ending.
On The Loss Of Trust In Friendship
Trust Is The Foundation Of Any Relationship
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines trust as an “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth or someone or something.”
Trust is the foundation of any relationship. It is earned. Trust can be easily lost and never recovered.
It does not matter if it is with a friend, family member, or an acquaintance. You have nothing without trust.
Trust is earned by institutions, too. People continue to lose faith in institutions. People and institutions can become toxic.
Signs Of A Toxic Friend
When you are not confident that your friend can help you or wants to spend time with you, there is no reason to stay friends. If a friend shows signs that you are in a toxic relationship. Consider ending your friendship with that person. Some telltale signs of a toxic friendship include:
- You lose self-esteem and self-confidence.
- You feel your friend attacks, demeans, and does not support you.
- You struggle to be yourself around the toxic person.
- You discover that you both bring out the worst in each other.
- The toxic person blames you and never takes responsibility for their actions or choices.
Breach Of Trust
Another issue that may arise with a friend that can lead to losing trust in a friendship is when your friend breaches your trust. They may gossip about you. They may have told a secret to someone. They may have done something you consider unforgivable.
Since trust is so critical to any relationship, and they breached it, it is up to you to decide to end the friendship. You have a few options for ending a friendship:
- You can block them across all your social media.
- You can cut them entirely out of your life.
- You can talk to them to discuss why you want to end the friendship in person or over a phone or Zoom call.
Cut That Friend Out From Your Life
If you identify one or more signs that someone in your life is toxic, cut them out of your life! It does not matter the reasons why you are friends. By being toxic, your friend has made you lose trust in the friendship. Ending a toxic friendship can help you to feel better about yourself.
Natural To Lose Friends As You Mature
There is nothing wrong with losing friendships as you become older. Your interests and skills naturally change. You may be connected and “friends” with people from college, but you never actually talk to them. If you move to another state or country for a new job, you will find new friends to develop a community.
Secure Single recommends:
-
The Power Of Going Your Own Way
-
The 50/30/20 Budget For Singles
-
Learn How To Remove Toxic People From Your Life Like An Expert
Conclusion
Contrary to popular thought, there is nothing wrong with ending friendships. That is especially true when you have lost trust in a friend. Make the wise choice. End the friendship. It will save you pain rather than working to keep the friendship going.
James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free.
Society emphasizes romantic relationships and not internal validation. Single people must deal with this problem. How can you live your best life single? You have come to the right place! Here is how to be single in 2023!
How To Be Single In 2023
Secure In Yourself
You want to be secure in yourself. The worst thing you can be is insecure. Insecurity shows others that you lack confidence, are unsure of yourself, and are susceptible to being manipulated by others.
There are different ways that you can be secure in yourself. You can be emotionally secure. You can be financially secure. You can be prepared for a disaster.
You can become emotionally secure by understanding your emotions. The six common emotions that people experience are happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprise. You can learn to handle your emotions. The more you allow your emotions to direct your life, the less control you will have in reaching your goals. It would be best if you learned to handle your emotions.
You want to learn the basics of personal finance. Financial education is not taught to most people. This is a problem. The fact that many families do not understand or teach their children this is an issue. You deal with finances every day. You go to the grocery store. You buy something online.
You also want to spend time to learn how the financial system works. Understanding how the financial system works can help you better understand money. You can then follow the basic steps of money management.
You can also prepare for a disaster. You do not need to become a prepper, but you can do some basic things to give you peace of mind. You can have at least one to three months’ supply of canned or emergency food stores where you live. There is nothing wrong with being prepared. It does not mean that you are paranoid. It can help you feel more secure since you are ready for things beyond your control to protect yourself while other people are not.
Focus On Yourself
It would be best if you learned to focus on yourself. Society tells people to focus on other people and things. You are often told to work in groups. This is common in college classes and group work projects. The problem with always doing things in a group setting is that it implicitly teaches you to put others in a group before yourself. You can then expound this to caring about the community and society instead of caring first about yourself.
A group, community, society, and country are abstract concepts. You, as a single individual, are concrete. They are external outside of oneself.
The more you listen to what other people tell you about what you must do to get a job, be a good person, or be successful, the less you focus on yourself. You are the only person who knows yourself. You can learn from people, but you are a unique individual with different skill sets.
You want to learn your strengths, weaknesses, and what you are passionate about. You then want to find a way to make money from it.
For the longest time, I believed you must go to college to get a good job. I misdirected my focus because I thought the lie about the higher education system. Rather than focusing on my strengths, I was worried about attaining the right expensive pieces of paper. My strengths are writing, synthesizing information, and understanding how a website works (especially search engine optimization).
Granted, that was not presented as a viable career option since the knowledge and content economy was still starting when I was in college. There are many ways to make money online once you put in the hard work, pay attention to your skills, and be creative. Work hard and smart to escape the nine-to-five job that you may hate to become your own boss. The Internet gives you options to create passive income streams.
Financial Literacy
Being single is a time to learn to be financially literate. The schools and the higher education system do not teach students financial education. Many parents do not teach their children because they are often financially illiterate. Yet, you use money every day.
The basics of financial literacy are not to have any debt, to save money, and to invest money.
Debt is the financial equivalent of slavery. This is because you become subjected to high-interest rates and may eventually reach a point where you can never pay off your debt. If you have debt of any type, from student loans to credit cards, you must first pay off your debt.
You then want to save money. Savings accounts continue to pay low rates of interest. For this reason, it is best to find a high-interest savings or money market account. You can then start to save a percentage of every paycheck into your savings account. This will help you to build wealth over time slowly. Once you have enough money saved to cover a year’s worth of your fixed expenses, you can start to invest.
There are different types of investment. You could invest in the stock market. You could invest in real estate. You could invest in commodities. You could start a business—the more risk you take with investing, the higher your potential return. The stock market is on the lower end of the risk-taking g spectrum. Starting your own business is on the high-risk side of the risk range.
Tell People ‘No!’
You must learn to tell people ‘No’! The longer you continue to say to people ‘Yes’ to things you are not interested in or do not want to do, the more you waste your valuable time and attention. You cannot please everybody. You do not need to please anyone.
Your greatest competition is with yourself, not with other people. The sooner you realize this, the better your life will be. Your competition is not your friend, co-worker, or another business. It is with yourself.
The sooner you recognize that you can turn down people, the more you will get your time back. You can then direct your time and attention to bettering yourself.
Go Your Own Way
It is not selfish to look out for yourself and go your way. Self-interest is natural. You naturally want to improve yourself. There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself, from how you look to your interpersonal relationships to your financial situation. But sometimes, to do that, you must turn inward.
When you focus inward, you begin to learn about yourself. If you do not know yourself, other people will easily use you. You can start to stand up for yourself. You can work on yourself. You can work to reach your goals. You can take responsibility for your life. You can go your own way.
Secure Single Recommends:
- 15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
- 3 Ways To Increase Your Value As A Single Person
- How Mindset Affects Success
Summary
Society is full of distractions. You are tempted to direct your time, attention, and resources toward others, not yourself. The best thing you can do is to focus and invest in yourself. Make a point to learn to manage your money and become financially literate. Do not be afraid to tell people ‘No’ and to go your own way.
You are the one who is responsible for your choices and future. No one else is. It would be best to acknowledge that reality or continue believing in society’s narrative that focuses on external validation.
Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free to receive more content like this directly in your inbox.
Society tells young people to focus on romantic relationships instead of focusing on themselves. Young people often get caught up in chasing the latest thing, whichever it may be. They feel social pressure to conform to people around them. You can stop listening to the mixed messages from society and embrace the power of going your own way.
The Power Of Going Your Own Way
Self-Improvement
When you go your own way, you can start to focus on self-improvement. Self-work is the process of becoming the best version of yourself. You care more about self-work than about pleasing other people. Some of the ways you can invest in your self-development are:
- Health
- Social Skills
- Money management
- Increase your income
- Focus on things you can control
Your health is vital to your well-being. You can work toward your goals if you have health problems. You can consistently follow a diet and exercise. You can see a doctor to help you deal with other health issues.
You will slowly, over a period, notice your life improving. This is because you have begun focusing on the things you can control.
Focus On Internal Validation
You can start to focus on internal validation rather than external validation. Typical forms of external validation include romantic relationships, wanting more material possessions, and caring about status. The problem is that you can only control yourself.
You cannot control another person regarding dating or a friendship. You could be dumped by a significant other or a friend for any reason. You may never even learn why.
You may receive temporary happiness from buying the latest gadget, watching the newest movie, or going to the newest restaurant or bar alone or with friends. The problem is that there is always another new shiny object that comes along. You cannot keep up.
You may care about your status. You may receive value from how many likes you receive when you share a picture on Facebook or Instagram. You may worry about how big your audience is on YouTube or TikTok. You may care more about your number of followers- some may be bots and fake accounts- but the large digits make you feel good about yourself.
You can start to work to reach your life goals rather than caring what others think about you. The longer you continue to care what other people think about you, the longer you stay where you are. The best things happen when you take risks.
The more risk you take and begin to recognize that you can achieve your goals, the more self-confident you will become. Self-confidence will then affect your personal, social, and professional life.
Your time, attention, and money are precious. Do not waste them on people or things not worth your time or money. Start to invest your time, attention, and money to improve yourself!
Practice Self-Responsibility
You can begin to practice self-responsibility in your daily life. You will begin to see signs of your life improving as you start to accept responsibility. You will notice that you begin to reach the goals that you set for yourself.
Some basic ways to practice self-responsibility are to follow a budget, go to bed and get up consistently, and list the steps needed to complete a goal.
Self-responsibility has been lost today as most people want to rely on an external force outside of themselves. It could be always blaming others and having a victim mindset. It may be an employer. It could be the government.
Once you start to accept responsibility, you will see your life change. You can become one percent better daily by practicing self-discipline to help you achieve your goals.
Find Ways To Increase Your Net Worth
Society does not teach you how to increase your net worth. The education system teaches you only how to be an obedient student, which prepares you to be a compliant employee. That is great for employers but not for you.
Your salary can only grow so much as an employee. You also must deal with the human resource department, annoying coworkers, and listening to a boss you probably do not like. If you are entrepreneurial and unafraid of taking risks, you could start your own business.
One of the best decisions you could make is to go into business for yourself, which is the best way to increase your net worth. It requires more risk, but you will learn valuable lessons as a business owner. You will make many mistakes. You will learn how to work with people. You will learn how to read and budget for a business. You will learn how to develop a product and service to sell to your customers.
The Internet has made it easier to start a business today. You simply need to file with your state. You must determine the fastest way to generate revenue and build a profitable business.
Go Your Own Way
It is in your self-interest to go your own way. You are the only person who is responsible for you. No one else is.
You can be a follower or a leader by going your own way. By going your own way, you are acting in your self-interest. You are deciding to do what is best for you. You choose to be a leader.
Many people may tell you not to do something, but if it goes against your interests and intuition, do not listen. One of my biggest mistakes was not listening to my gut. It delayed me from publishing a book by at least a few years.
Society does not care about you. The financial system actively works to prevent you from becoming financially secure. It is in your interest to learn how the financial system works so that you can better understand money. You can then learn how to make money.
Do not be afraid to go against the crowd. Reject conformity. Reject mediocrity. Reject modern society. Choose to invest in yourself. Go your own way.
Secure Single recommends:
-
15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
-
How To Use Failure As A Learning Experience
-
12 Reasons Why Young People Should Not Go To College
Summary
You may experience many pressures to fit in with other people. Those are forms of external validation. Start to focus on internal validation. Work to set realistic goals and aim to reach them. Accept self-responsibility for your life and learn the art of online business. Do not be afraid to go your own way in a culture that wants you to be mediocre.
Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free to receive more content like this directly in your inbox.
Popular culture presents being single in a negative light. Singles are pressured to date, marry, and find their soulmate. There are no soulmates. Yet, society tells singles that they cannot be happy until they are in a romantic relationship.
There are many reasons to enjoy being single. This is an incomplete list. Here are ten reasons why being single is awesome!
Ten Reasons Why Being Single Is Awesome!
Focus On Yourself
You can begin to focus on yourself. You must know yourself before you can start to reach your goals. You will likely struggle to reach your goals if you do not know your strengths and weaknesses.
Once you know your strengths, you can learn your likes and dislikes. The things that you enjoy doing will help you.
You can then start to pursue your passion. What you obsess over will often overlap with your strengths.
You can then find a way to monetize your strengths, interests, and what you are passionate about. That is the perfect combination.
You will likely live happier if you can figure out those four things. Many people work jobs that they hate. You can avoid that by discovering what drives you and making money. You can make money either as an employee or as a business owner.
I have worked many jobs that I have disliked. Many were some types of random sales jobs. I have sold Nespresso machines, and printers, and delivered food with Grubhub. The one thing I have always enjoyed doing is writing. My writing has dramatically improved since I began to take it more seriously. I am now preparing to self-publish my first book.
The best thing you can do is to focus on yourself. That is how you can reach the goals that you set for yourself. Focus and invest in yourself!
Solo Travel
You have the freedom to travel solo anytime you want. It could be simply visiting the nearest nearby town or city. You could plan a trip to see a nearby state. Or, you could rent or buy an RV to see your entire country.
You could also travel solo abroad. What countries have you always wanted to visit? Make a list. Make it one of your goals to see some of those countries before you die.
Traveling alone can help you develop confidence. You may spend the entire trip by yourself. Or, you could spend the trip traveling with a group.
Focus On Your Health
You can focus on your health. Health plays a vital role in your everyday life. Your health affects your productivity.
You can improve your physical health by regularly exercising, going to the gym, getting Vitamin D from the sun, and following a diet. These are some basic things that can help you to feel better about yourself. It takes time to lose weight and follow a diet. You will feel and look better when you do. Improving your personal health can positively affect your mental health.
Your health is one form of wealth. You want to start to value your health.
Self-Love
You can practice self-love. There is nothing wrong with learning to love oneself. If you do not like who you are, you will most likely not enjoy life.
You can start to love yourself for the unique person you are. You have innate value as an individual. Once you start to live out self-love in your life, you can begin to develop self-confidence and experience happiness in your life.
You do not need a significant other to be happy. Your happiness does not come from other people. You are responsible for your own satisfaction.
Learning to love yourself, despite your flaws, is one way to live a happier life.
Self-Education
Self-education is a vital skill that anyone can learn. Self-study is one of the critical skills that many self-made millionaires develop over their lifetimes. Self-learning means being curious and open to learning new things about yourself and the world.
The education system teaches you the bare minimum. In many cases, it only teaches you knowledge that the authorities have approved that you can learn. That means you are not reading or learning about things people in power want you to know.
Self-education is critical to your success and developing self-confidence in your field or expertise.
Self-Confidence
Singles must develop self-confidence. Being confident can help you in your daily life, from interacting with people at the grocery store to wanting to spend quality time with someone. Self-confidence also plays a vital role in your professional career.
If you are not confident, it shows. If you are timid and insecure, it is a sign of a more strong-willed person that you can easily be manipulated. I have experienced this in my own life with some friendships in my past.
If you doubt yourself, other self-assured people will find ways to use you for their ends. You can be a confident single.
Discover What Makes You Happy
You want to discover what makes you happy. You can be comfortable single. You do not need to be in a romantic relationship to be satisfied. You can find happiness and meaning in life without dating or being married.
You must know yourself to figure out what makes you happy. That requires you to go on a journey of self-discovery to understand what you are passionate about, your unique skills and interests, and how you enjoy spending your time.
You are responsible for your happiness. No one else is. You definitely do not need a significant other to experience bliss.
Learn Time Management Strategies
You can learn essential time management strategies. Time management techniques teach you self-discipline and self-responsibility.
A simple way to gain more time each day is to go an hour later each night. The next day wake up an hour earlier than you usually would. You will gain two extra hours doing this.
Another strategy is to make a to-do list of what you need to get done for the next day. Make the list manageable. Only list three to five things. One can be a larger task that may take a couple of hours. The rest may be simple things like responding to emails or running errands.
Set short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. When you set goals, you plan what you want your future self to look like in one month, six months, a year, and even a decade. You will set yourself apart from most people if you set yourself goals, then follow through on accomplishing your goals.
Money Management
You can work to get your financial life in order. You can learn the basics of money management. The education system does not teach the basics of personal finance to students. Many parents do not even teach their children the essentials of money management.
You can learn the basics of personal finance and get ahead of many people. Here are some of the basics of money management.
You do not want to be in debt. Common ways that people get into debt today are having student loans because they decided to attend college, leasing a car they cannot afford, and spending more than thirty percent of their income on rent.
You can learn to follow a budget. A popular budget is the 50/30/20 budget. Another budgeting strategy is the 60/30/10 budget. You want to learn to differentiate between your needs and wants. A budget can help you to understand that vital distinction.
You can start to build an emergency fund. A standard first financial goal is to save $10,000 in an emergency fund. That is not a lot of money today, given inflation and the rising costs of goods and services, but you need to begin with a basic goal. You can then aim to increase it to one year’s salary or cover your cost-of-living expenses for a minimum of one year.
You can begin to think long-term and save and invest money for your retirement. You can save a percentage from each paycheck in a high-interest savings or money market account. That account will be only for retirement. You will not use it for anything else. You can start small by putting five to ten percent of what you make into that account. As you make money and age, you can increase the monthly percentage to at least ten percent.
You can then invest in the stock market and other retirement accounts as you become more financially literate. You can start to find ways to increase your net worth.
Find Ways To Increase Your Net Worth
You want to always be on the lookout to find ways to increase your net worth. In most careers, you eventually reach a peak and cannot raise how much you can make in your field. You may need to consider learning new skills to move to another career path.
You can also invest at least ten percent of your monthly paycheck into the stock market. This is a strategy to help you to diversify some of your money outside of your savings account, where it is losing its value compared to inflation. You may be able to keep up with inflation, depending on your investing strategy and how well your investments do.
The purpose of the stock market is to maintain and grow your wealth. It is not a vehicle to become rich.
You could consider starting an online business. A business is the greatest investment vehicle because you can continue to find new products and services to sell to your audience and customers. Making an Internet business usually costs less than starting a brick-and-mortar business. You can then reinvest your business profits into another venture or reinvest in the stock market.
The Internet provides several ways to make money today if you own an online business:
- Advertisements
- Monthly subscriptions
- Merchandise
- Digital and physical books
- Digital products that you can sell on an e-commerce website.
You are responsible for finding new ways to increase your income. You are
Secure Single Recommends:
-
12 Reasons Why Young People Should Not Go To College
-
Investing Versus Speculating
-
15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
Summary
These are ten reasons why being single is awesome! You can focus on yourself to reach your goal while becoming the best version of yourself. You can do that by improving your personal and financial well-being. You can also enjoy the freedom of being single to solo travel and see the world. It is up to you to learn the basics of money management and to find ways to increase your net worth.
Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free to receive more content like this directly in your inbox.
Consistency is critical. Consistency can help you to build good habits. Consistency can help you to reach your goals. These are seven reasons why consistency is important.
7 Reasons Why Consistency Is Important
Build Self-Confidence
First, consistency helps to build self-confidence. Consistency boosts your self-confidence because you start to see results. You notice these small changes become large ones that positively impact your life.
Many people lack self-confidence. This may be because they expect big things to happen instantly or have been beaten down into submission by society. They have limited themselves to what others and society have said they are capable of. In doing so, they never pushed themselves or learned consistency. This results in a person having no self-confidence.
It may be that your pants are looser from regularly going to the gym. It may be that you were able to create another income stream by working to build a YouTube Channel or Substack. It may be working to improve your speech so that you are more confident talking to people.
Start small. Be consistent. Over time you will start to see small results, which will help to build your self-confidence. Self-confidence is vital. Self-confidence is also attractive.
Help You Reach Goals
Second, consistency can help you reach goals. There are three types of goals: short-term, medium-term, and long-term. A short-term goal is something you want to accomplish over the span of one month to a year. A medium-term goal is an objective you want to reach in one to three years. A long-term goal is a grander ambition you want to accomplish in three to five years. You can then have goals that can take longer to achieve. These could be a project you build over a decade or over your lifetime.
Develop Self-Discipline
Third, you develop self-discipline. In a society that wants everything now, self-discipline is looked down upon because it can be challenging. You must learn to tell yourself “No.” You have to give up pleasures for a time to reach a goal.
Discipline will help you continue to do something you may or may not want, even when you lack motivation. That is why self-discipline is critical.
Self-discipline is invaluable because it is a trait that will continue to help you throughout your life. Self-discipline is a habit. Self-discipline can give you an edge over others who are inconsistent in their lives.
[bctt tweet=”Self-discipline is freedom. It is hard, but the outcomes from practicing it over time are beneficial. ” username=”@secure_single”]
Build Momentum
Fourth, you will start to build momentum. Being consistent every day helps you to build momentum, which will help you to achieve a goal. You work little by little on the project you are working to complete until it is done.
For example, you may want to write a book. The first step to writing a book is getting the first draft done. You can start by having a rough outline of what you want to cover in your book. You can then write 500 words a day until the first draft of the book is complete. You must edit it. You will need to find a formatter. You will need to hire a cover designer. Your book will then be ready to self-publish. But the most challenging part is finishing the book. It could be another big project you have always wanted to do or may be working on.
Momentum helps you work steadily until you have achieved what you set out to do. You can think of momentum as a snowball. It starts from nothing. The snow then becomes a small snowball. The further it rolls, the larger it will become.
Create A Rhythm
Fifth, consistency helps you to get into a rhythm. There is rhythm in music, dancing, and in life. You can work to build your life rhythm through consistency. As you start to be disciplined, you will create a rhythm to direct your life.
You will create a rhythm as you become consistent with waking up, going to bed, and running errands. This rhythm will also help you to develop habits.
Your day or week will feel off when you miss something you have consistently done. You may feel bad if you do one less thing than you usually do. It could be posting a video, writing an article, or a podcast on a schedule.
A rhythm can help you to have less stress. It can help you to be more productive. A rhythm can help you to be happier. A rhythm can help you to be freer.
Develop Good Habits
Sixth, consistency can help you to develop good habits. According to a European Journal of Social Psychology study, the minimum time to establish a habit took 18 to 254 days.
You can work to change your bad habits to good habits. According to the study above, changing a habit can take up to a year. Healthline notes that the 21 days to develop a habit goes back to a book by Dr. Maxwell Hertz called Psycho-Cybernetics.
Understanding that making a habit takes longer than 21 days is vital. You can use this knowledge to help you to form good habits over time. As you practice consistently changing a habit, you will be more relaxed if one takes longer than another to become a habit.
Developing good habits are critical to success. Good habits can help you to manage your finances better, get along with others, and improve your physical health.
Improve Your Health
Seventh, consistency can improve your health. When you consistently follow a diet, exercise, or go to the gym, you will notice your body change slowly over time. You will begin to lose weight. You will be able to sleep better. You will be able to walk or run longer compared to when you first began regularly exercising. You will notice that you will be able to lift more weights.
Recommended – 15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
Summary
Consistency plays a critical role in success. It helps you from developing good habits to helping to build momentum to reach a goal. Self-discipline is fundamental to consistency. With self-discipline, you will be consistent.
[bctt tweet=”Consistency requires self-discipline. Self-discipline leads to a life of freedom. ” username=”@secure_single”]
Secure Single is now on Substack. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack to get powerful self-development strategies sent directly to your email.
In a society that wants everyone to be mediocre, you can work to become the best version of yourself. This will help to set you apart from others. These are ten ways how you can become the best version of yourself.
10 Ways To Become The Best Version Of Yourself
These are ten ways to become the best version of yourself.
[bctt tweet=”You can become the best version of yourself once you accept self-responsibility and start to set goals.” username=”@secure_single”]
Self-Discipline
First, practice self-discipline. Discipline leads to freedom. It sounds counterintuitive, but it is true. When you start to be disciplined in your life, you will find that you will begin to reach your goals.
Some simple ways to start practicing self-discipline are to make your bed each morning, get up and go to bed regularly, and work to reach your goals. Self-discipline is a necessity if you want to achieve any goals you may have for yourself.
Recommended – How Self-Discipline Changed My Life
Set Goals
Second, set goals. If you do not have goals, you will remain where you are. You can set realistic goals for yourself.
By having goals, you are challenging yourself to work to complete a project or a task by a deadline. With each goal that you achieve, the more confident you will become.
You can break your goals into short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. This will allow you to manage your time better while you work to accomplish each objective you want to achieve.
You can learn to set goals, plan strategy, and apply resources to reach your goals.
Money Management
The third way is to learn the basics of money management. You can track how much income you have each month and how much you spend. You can start to follow a budget, which will help you manage your money better.
The first thing you can do is start to pay off any debt you may have. Second, you can build an emergency fund of whatever you think is reasonable as an emergency expense. Third, you can start budgeting money into your savings account. You can then begin investing some money once your regular costs are covered.
Passive Income Streams
Fourth, you can learn to make passive income streams. You can work to slowly leave the nine-to-five job that you may hate and transition to doing something that you enjoy. One of the great things about the Internet is that it has made it more accessible for people to make passive income.
When starting, you want to make passive income streams matching your strengths. Passive income streams also take more time to build compared to receiving a paycheck from an employer for exchanging your time for money.
Surround Yourself With Like-Minded People
Fifth, you want to surround yourself with like-minded people. If you have goals, but your other friends don’t, then you may want to consider finding new friends. If you can’t immediately make new friends who have the same goals, you want to improve yourself to surround yourself with people who have goals like you.
[bctt tweet=”The people you choose to spend time with are a reflection of you. They can either reflect positively or negatively on you.” username=”@secure_single”]
Time Management
The sixth way is time management. You can start to value your time. When you value your time, you will start reaching your goal. You can begin to list the tasks that need to be done in order of importance. You can also devise a strategy that works best for you to organize your day.
The strategy that I have come up with that works best for me is to do my tedious tasks in boring tasks in the morning, creative tasks in the afternoon and evening, and work to complete one large task. By doing this, I also allow myself to work to achieve a goal.
Priority Management
Seventh, you can begin to manage your priorities. You can list your top three to five priorities that you need to do the next day. You can then list what you want to get done for the following day. You could also list what you want to do soon. These are some ways to start to manage your priorities better. You can reach your goals as you manage your time and priorities better.
Self-Education
Eighth is self-education. The reality is that college does not prepare you for the real world. The purpose of education, and the higher education system, is to make you a good obedient employee.
Self-learning is how you develop skills and improve yourself. You can continue to improve by learning about an area of knowledge that you find exciting and honing your skills. You always continue learning. You are a lifelong student when you embrace self-education.
[bctt tweet=”Self-education is empowering.” username=”@secure_single”]
Recommended – 12 Reasons Why Young People Should Not Go To College
Take Risks
Ninth, you can learn to take risks. Taking chances is how you grow as a person. When you stay in your safe bubble, you remain where you are, and you are static. In contrast, when you take a risk, you force yourself to learn new things and become uncomfortable.
[bctt tweet=”You only improve yourself when you are uncomfortable. Comfort is the enemy of greatness.” username=”@secure_single”]
Develop Skills
Finally, you must continue to develop skills. You will always need to hone your skills to remain competitive in your industry and among your workers. You will want to continue to build your skills in your personal and professional life too.
You could use some of your skills to take on a second job or a side hustle to earn extra income. You could even decide to use your skills to start a business.
You can always work to improve yourself, from improving your skills to finding ways to increase your income to use your time better.
Recommended – 15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
Summary
These are ten ways to work to become the best version of yourself. It is up to you to decide whether you want to improve yourself. You can start to invest in yourself to thrive as a single person.
Secure Single is now on Substack. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack to get powerful self-development strategies sent directly to your email.
You may be wondering if you should start to practice self-discipline. Self-discipline plays a critical role in success. This is my story of how self-discipline changed my life.
How Self-Discipline Changed My Life
Self-discipline changed my life for the better. Below I explain how I was before and after I began to practice self-discipline.
Before Practicing Self-Discipline
Before consistently practicing self-discipline, I depended on society’s institutions and people. I thought that going to college would prepare me for a traditional career. By allowing my future to be controlled by others, I did not want to practice self-discipline or work on myself. I thought that if I went along with the system that things would turn out all right.
I often went to bars with friends on the weekends or watched a sporting event when I was done studying. I was more focused on temporary entertainment rather than practicing self-discipline. I cared more about what people thought of me during this time and
I went to college because I thought that was what you should do to get a traditional job. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Political Science. I then thought I should move into informational technology (IT) because I enjoyed digital marketing. I later decided to go to graduate school to get a Master’s in Cybersecurity and Information Technology. Tech was also becoming the cool field of the time. After I moved from Denver to Seattle, I thought I had finished graduate school, but a couple of years later, I received an email saying I had one class left. It was not worth my time or money to finish since, by then, I finally had my priorities in order: my website.
I did not practice any time management skills outside of studying. I would usually sleep into the late afternoon after the semester was done. I did not manage my priorities. I admit. I was lazy through most of my twenties. While I did work part-time sales jobs while I was in college, I was passive during college. That was true both in my personal and professional life.
I expected things to happen to me rather than making things by practicing self-discipline and self-responsibility.
Recommended – How Self-Discipline Can Improve Your Life
After Practicing Self-Discipline
After I started practicing self-discipline was a bit too late. I discovered that going to college and graduate school did not help me to find a career. I finally started to take my website more seriously and discover ways to monetize it. I had been treating my business like a hobby rather than as a business because I thought I could work on it after I had a “real job,” whatever that was. As a result of taking self-responsibility for my life and practicing self-discipline, I began to get my life in order.
I started to get up early in the mornings. I would go to bed around ten or eleven and wake up around six am. I began to focus on self-improvement and to work to reach my goals.
Recommended – How Is Self-Discipline The Key To Success?
3 Ways How Self-Discipline Changed My Life
I learned priority management. Once you manage your priorities, you can begin to reach your goals. When you have no priorities, you will continue to remain stuck. Once I decided on my priorities, I could devise a strategy to accomplish the goal.
I learned time management. My strategy for managing my time is to do boring tasks in the morning, creative tasks in the afternoon, then work toward one large task. The tedious tasks include responding to emails, making phone calls,
I start to set and reach my goals. You will be part of someone else’s agenda if you do not have goals. That is why it is critical to have goals. You can set different types of goals:
- Short-term goal (day to one year)
- Medium-term goal (one year to three years)
- Long-term goals (three years to ten years or longer)
With social media, television, and two-day shipping, people are now used to having their wants immediately met, which harms long-term thinking.
[bctt tweet=”Goals also help you to think long-term rather than short-term. Long-term thinking can drastically help to improve your life.” username=”@secure_single”]
Recommended – 15 Habits To Build Wealth For Singles
Summary
If you are stuck where you are, self-discipline can change your life. Self-discipline is the first step toward success. Once you are self-disciplined, you will begin to improve your life in small ways. Self-discipline leads to a life of freedom.