Here Are 6 Effective Tips To Master Your Mind & Live Your Best Life

It sounds pretty appealing. Yet, in reality, honestly, not many of us are actually devoted to mastering our minds and living our best lives. Just ask the guy at Taco Bell next time you pull up to grab your food. Ask him, "are you devoted to mastering your mind and living your best life?" and wait for a response. Any response. Because I promise you it won't be the answer you're looking for. And it's not because you're asking some fast-food employee, but because at least 90% of us aren't setting aside the necessary time needed to become masters of our minds, shaping the lives that suit us best. 

Ask yourself, do you want more from life? Is this all that there is? Or, hidden away, buried beneath some self-limiting beliefs, is there a version of you that knows that theirs more to life? If so, then this post is definitely for you. 

Here are the 6 things that I do to bring out that "inner-me" - the version of me that continually chases the good in life.

1.) Start your morning off right

If you want to gain control of your life, start by being intentional about how you spend your mornings. If every day brings new opportunities, then you might as well prepare yourself for the day ahead. How? Start by doing something active. Get your blood flowing. And whatever you do, don't hit snooze. Get out of bed as soon as you wake up - without complaining. In totality, it's all about getting yourself "psyched" for the day ahead. Here are some good ways to do so:

• Exercise/get the blood flowing.
• Develop a daily gratitude ritual
• Meditate (before checking your email)
• Read at least 20 minutes a day

It doesn't really matter what you pick. I personally try and mix a little of everything into my morning, but it's all about preparing yourself for the day ahead. Refusing to stay on auto-pilot. Becoming the creator of your life, not the surveyor. Choosing to take control. And everybody's different, so what works for me might not work for you. But find something that does - that gets you psyched-up - and do that every morning.

2.) Plan your day the night before

How do you spend your evenings? Especially after a hard day's work? Do you reflect on the day in your journal? Meditate or do some yoga to unwind? Do you read a good book, write, or study a topic you're passionate about? OR are you more likely to crack a cold beer, slouch into the couch - or on your bed - and complain about the day? You can probably tell where I'm going; the way you spend your night is crucially important because it determines how you spend the following morning. 

• If you spend some time reflecting in your journal in the evening, you're more likely to be intentional with what you do in the morning.
• If you spend some time meditating or doing yoga in the evening, then you're more likely to do it in the morning.
• If you spend some time in the evening studying or focusing on your passion (instead of mindlessly sinking into the television), then you're taking the necessary steps to escape the mundane and live your dream life! Sounds amazing. 

If you decide to become more intentional with how you spend your evenings, then you'll do the same with your mornings and the same with your life! 

3.) Prioritize the priorities and forget the rest

If you're anything like I was, then you likely have too many priorities, and when I say priorities, I mean tasks because, let's be honest, can you really tell the difference between a task and a priority? 

A priority is essentially something that has to get done. If not, well, you'll reap the consequences. 

A task is more or less a chore - something that you should do, but the consequences won't be as dramatic if you don't. 

Learn to differentiate your tasks from your priorities by deciding what's truly important and what's not. When reviewing your "priorities" for the day or days ahead, ask yourself, "Is this truly important?" and, "if I don't do this, what will be the consequences?".

By learning to tell the difference between a task and a priority, you're ultimately giving yourself leverage because now you can prioritize your priorities, focusing on what's most important at any given moment. You'll find that only 20 percent of what we do brings over 80 percent of the results in any given scenario in life. In work, in relationships, in all areas of your life. Find your 20 percent - whatever gives you the results you want - and focus on that continually. 

4.) Use a Journal 

When it comes to mastering our minds and living a better life, what better way to do so than to use a journal actively? I mean, think about it. The purpose of any journal is to reflect. Not only on your day but, as days turn into weeks and weeks into years, you gain the opportunity to reflect on your life as a whole. 

Throughout the years, I've done my best to maintain a consistent journaling habit. If not every day, I would write in my journal at least during every major event. Now, after almost a decade of journaling, I've built up a decent catalog of my own personal autobiographies. At any given time, I can look back and reflect, except I don't have to rely upon the poor judgment from faulty memories - due to a lifetime of smoking brain cells - because it's all right there, in my journal(s)! 

I can ask myself questions like, is this really important to me? Is this something I could continue to pursue? And, how likely is it that this will affect/benefit me in the future? 

By reviewing my journal(s) and asking those quality questions, I'm effectively determining whether or not my life is on the right path, and if not, then I can use what I've learned to tilt my compass.

"The quality of our questions determines the quality of our lives." - Tony Robbins

5.) Find a hobby 

I've had many times in my life where, at one point or another, I'd find myself in the 8–5 grind with little to look forward to after work or on the weekends besides a cold beer and maybe some video games. And the thing is, once you find yourself in this cycle, and the longer you encourage it, the harder it gets to get out of it. That's when you find yourself complaining about work, complaining about life, complaining about everything because you neglect to focus on the many things that life has to offer. 

Whenever I find myself in the cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat, I find a hobby. It doesn't matter what it is. I find something that brings even the slightest bit of enjoyment, making it a hobby. Doing so, for one, breaks the cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat. Suddenly it becomes work, eat, hobby, sleep, repeat. And, if you're lucky, your hobby could inspire something inside you and eventually introduce a whole new line of work - a whole new cycle. And eventually, even more hobbies. 

The whole point here is that you don't subject yourself to a life of mediocrity. Even when there seems like nothing else, theirs always something to do. Life has so much to offer, so don't let it go to waste. Find pleasure in the little things. Find your passions. And:

6.) Eliminate distractions

What are distractions? Well, to me, at least, distractions are things that take up my time but don't provide any actual value or benefit to me. Like unnecessary work-related meetings, or even those annoying surveys after you call customer service - I just spent 3 hours on the phone, and you have the audacity to ask me about a survey? 

However, the most common distractions in life are the times we said yes when we'd rather have said no. The good thing is that you have the power to choose whether or not you'll let those distractions take over your life. Start now by focusing on your priorities and only committing to what you want to commit to.