Things to Keep in Mind in Daily Life

• Avoid coffee or tea after 1 PM.
• Do not drink fluids after 8 PM.
• Avoid anything that stimulates your emotions before bedtime.

On the Bed

Dim the lights and make sure the room is dark. Ensure the temperature is comfortable and the bed is comfortable.

Steps to Help Fall Asleep

The Podcast Approach

Listen to broadcasts for 30 minutes. There are many good broadcasts that are not too exciting and can help you fall asleep. I find audiobooks extremely helpful.

The Memory Game

I don’t remember exactly where I picked this up, but I never fail to fall asleep quickly with this method. Try to name an object — something that has nothing to do with your life. Remember it, then come up with another. The second object should also be unrelated to your life and unrelated to the first object. Then repeat the objects you’ve chosen so far, confirm that you remember them, and come up with a third object, and so on. Restart the process when you can no longer correctly recall the objects you’ve chosen. Don’t make it too easy — the objects you choose must be completely irrelevant to you and each other.

• Play video games. Play a lot of them—choose the ones that get your heart racing, that make you feel like you’re in another world, or that make you feel like a hero. Keep playing until you feel a genuine urge to do something concrete.
• Gradually reduce the time you spend on video games, and begin to allocate some time for reflection. An effective way to do this is to take a walk and talk to yourself about your thoughts and feelings. If one walk isn’t enough, take more. Watch some movies, read some books, and reflect on your life. Try to identify what you truly want to do and what you want to achieve.
• Once you have a clear vision of your goals and aspirations, gradually cut back on the time you spend on movies and books, and start dedicating time to concrete actions.

Depending on your situation, recovery may take a long time, but you will eventually find your way back to the right path. This approach might seem to violate the principle of Be Focus, but sometimes pure stimulation is a way to pull yourself out of depression.

Life is but a grand bargain. We barter our very vitality—the slow ebb of strength, the fraying threads of memory, the waning sharpness of mind —in a quest for meaning itself. Perhaps that meaning lies in contributing to human civilization, in the constant endurance of hardship, or simply in the ordinary.

I have clear and well-defined goals, and my life is intentionally structured around them. Outside of essential daily obligations, all of my time and energy is dedicated to these goals.

Only when I have a clear destination in mind can I truly strive. Otherwise, my daily life gets bogged down by meaningless tasks.

A life unguided by a distinct purpose, and unpropelled by true endeavor, will first find itself bogged down in the mundane, and at last, be utterly consumed by it.

Embrace a simple life. The less I own, the less I have to worry about; the fewer possessions I have, the less energy I spend maintaining them. Only through a truly minimalist lifestyle can I dedicate my time to what genuinely matters.

I constantly ask myself: “What am I doing? Is this making a real contribution to my goals?” The moment I feel my focus drifting, I decisively get back on track and return to what truly matters.

An incomplete change is no change at all. Trying to push a ball out of a pit. Pushing it halfway, three-quarters, or even ninety-nine percent of the way—it makes no difference. You must commit fully and push it all the way. If my effort is intermittent or incomplete, the ball will just roll back to the bottom, making all the energy spent before utterly wasted.

Constantly challenge the way things have always been done. More often than not, they are simply the inertia of the past, not a blueprint for the future.