So by this point, I realized that I had the ability to design my own life. 

To think critically, and reflect on myself. 

And continue evolving into a better and better version of myself. 

Once the noise was blocked, and I started questioning myself less, it was just a matter of doing. 

And I wanted to DO as fast as possible. 

Looking back at everything now, it was just a matter of doing the process, as intelligently as possible. 

• Intelligent means giving myself a positive feedback loop to learn from quickly. 

• Intelligent means doing the habits that are most effective for me. 

• Intelligent means taking the best lessons I’ve learned from others, and applying it. 

  • And most importantly, doing this all in a balanced manner so I don’t burn out.

So I want to share my growth process, as concisely as I can. 

The things I mentioned before was the foundation. 

And this chapter is about DOING the process, as effectively as possible, and as uniquely to you as possible. 

Different things work for different people,

and this is crucial to understand because I got stuck in just listening completely to other people and trying to fit that piece into my puzzle. 

So before sharing the 3 things that helped me grow tremendously, I wanted to talk more about the personal context in which growth occurs for people. 

Because from everything  this is the one thing about this process that I would love my younger self to know.  

A fundamental lesson that I’ve learned about Growth, is that, it’s all about the

Ecosystem that I develop for myself - and how I maintain it. 

My Ecosystem ...is my choice. 

I repeat... everything in my ecosystem, is MY conscious choice. 

I can choose to eat well, to sleep well, to setup my room in a way that relaxes me

I can choose to work out, and what type of exercise I do

I can choose to learn new things every day, and I can choose what to learn

I can choose to meet new people, to create what I love to create the most, to share it with the world, to surround myself with positive people 

I can also choose, to distract myself. 

To stay at a job I don’t like, to stay in a body .. that I don’t like, to surround myself with people that limit me

This is so important to understand. 

It’s also important to understand that there is no perfect ecosystem. 

There are just my efforts to continuously identify how I can improve it, and take the actions to do that.

A mistake that I used to make so often, was to wait ford the perfect time, the perfect opportunity

“When I get X, then I’ll start working out.”

“When I get that position, then I’ll be happy”

The perfect opportunity and time ….  just ….don’t exist

The only thing that exists, is the moment right now. 

The only thing that I can do, is DO, do shit, right now. 

Then tweak it, and improve. 

Start now, learn from I did, refine it, improve, do more. 

The process only started when I started to take action.

Then after 6 months, my ecosystem improved. 

I was happier, I was feeling better, I was meeting more people, I was getting closer to a better life. 

And 1 year after that, it improved even more. 

And my ecosystem was more aligned to who I am, to what I wanted to do, and where I wanted to be. 

And just learning this for myself, I realized that if I had this power, then everyone has the power to level up in their life. 

If you’re listening to something like this, YOU especially have this power. 

Because you’re already on the path of growth, and things will only become more clear from today onwards. 

This is what makes life so exciting! 

There were so many times on this path, especially at the beginning, when I was getting stressed. 

I put pressure to change everything, all at once, immediately. 

Then I blamed myself when things weren’t working out and new habits weren’t forming. 

But at some point, I realized that this is a process. 

Where the only way is up. 

It’s not supposed to be stressful. 

That’s why it’s so important to take a wider perspective on things once in a while. 

I used to do this mostly in the morning or night, and sometimes on a Sunday evening. 

I took a wider perspective. 

I saw the small steps I was taking every day, that got me closer to a better life. 

And it became fun. 

I mean….I get..to design my OWN life. 

I used to love playing video games growing up, but THIS is the realest video game that I could ever play. 

The world we live in, is insane. 

There are different continents , hundreds of different cities, cultures, billions of people, BILLIONS, and endless opportunities. 

You’re currently sitting as your own character. 

With your body, your home, your friends and family, your traumas, your job..the good the bad.

All of it. 

Now take that, and design your ideal life. 

It’s become harder to do this because the world has so many distractions within it. 

But it’s easier because we have all of the resources to do it. 

It’s just a matter of realizing it, and doing. 

Making as many, small, right choices as you can everyday. 

So by now, we know a few things. 

• Growth is good. Growth is evolution, it’s purpose. 

• And, we know the things that cause growth 

• And we know its just a matter of doing the process 

Now in order to do it better, 

• We need to learn how to avoid distractions, through developing self-awareness which we discussed earlier. 

• And we need to do the process faster, by doing it smarter

There are 3 ‘smart’ things that worked for me, to make growth faster:

1. Planning & Reflection

2. Doing Powerful Habits

3. Seeking Mentorship 

(1) PLANNING AND REFLECTION

First on Planning:

Not just planning my day, my month, my goals, but planning my life. Regularly, 

So almost every day, on the smaller things 

But

There were a few times, maybe once a year, where I did a deep dive on where I currently aim, where I want to be by when, and what my ideal life looks like. 

Then I was able to reverse engineer the process, with daily and weekly actions. 

I had this habit of getting caught up in the daily grind, which is essential because im  living in the now, but it was so important to have a VISION of where I wanted to go, and if those daily actions I’m doing is taking me closer towards that vision, farther away from it, or literally nowhere. 

So I would strongly recommend anyone, if you don’t already, to make this longer plan once a year. 

And this plan should involve two things:

• It should involve things out of your comfort zone, slightly. 

• And it should be proactive

Be proactive and think about how you want to look in a year, where you want to live, what you want to create with your career, the people you want to surround yourself with 

Actually WRITE it down. 

Document it somewhere

And refine it over time. 

It is very important to have some sort of a planning and reflection process, and look at your life in the bigger picture once in a while. 

I write on pen and paper, then I took it to Google Docs so I can even pull it up at any time, and find the inspiration again. 

There were so many times where I had to pull it up to refocus, when I felt the stress was getting to me. And I felt like I was getting nowhere. 

But keep in mind, this is not the be all end all plan and vision for your life. 
This is just the starting point, that you will refine over time. 

You just need to start somewhere. 

And the process of planning is very simple: 

• Write down a plan and vision, 

• Take small steps towards it 

• Reflect

…………………………..

• Tweak the plan a bit

• Take more small steps, maybe in a slightly different direction

• Reflect deeper. 

…………………………..

Repeat. 

Reflection: 

  Now I also want to share my process of reflection. 

Because this is very damn important. 

To develop a Growth Mindset, you need to give your brain feedback. 

And you need to learn from your own feedback. 

My current process of self-reflection involves three things: 

1. Writing on paper 

2. Talking, either to myself through audio recordings, or other people. 

3. Documenting on a computer through Google Docs 

And I do all three at the same time. 

I can have a thought, write it down, make an audio recording about it, and then document it in a specific google doc. Or vice versa. 

And I do this because I found that each method of reflection offers me something different. 

First of all, Writing

• Makes you smarter … period. 

• It exercises your mind in many different ways 

• You remember and process what you physically write

• It heightens awareness, it shows you things you would never have been aware of

• All I had to do is sit my ass down, knowing its good for me, and do it

• And do it again

• And when I think that I have nothing to write, all the more reason to do it

• Because at that moment, I was lacking awareness

• And writing made me aware of things I needed to know, at that moment. 

Talking to myself allows me to

• Save a stream of consciousness in the moment, when I’m most passionate about it, and it develops my thoughts even deeper. 

• It’s also pretty easy to whip out my phone at any time, and just record something. 

• If it’s a good thought, I can listen to it again and take it to a Google Doc and do something with that reflection. 

• If not, its just good to stream out my thoughts as it gives me clarity. 

And talking to others

• Gives me new perspectives because everyone has their own opinion and wisdom, 

• I have mentors, I have family, I have friends, and I talk to each person about different things. 

Lastly, typing things on a google doc

• Give them a proper structure,

• It records every detail and most importantly,

• I can decide what to do with that information later.

And each time I do one of these,

it instills the thought or idea deeper in my mind. 

 But the key for getting results, is to take ACTION on your ideas and plans. 

Which brings us to the second part, Powerful Habits. 

(2) POWERFUL HABITS

One of the most powerful things I ever heard, came from my first mentor. He said:

“No matter where you are in life, you are always 6 months away from being a completely different person” 

It’s a matter of doing the right work and following the right habits. 

There are certain habits that are just AWESOME to do for every human being 

I’ve seen them common in so many people, so these are what I wanted to share. 

From the context of, this is the best process to start this for yourself. 

And the best tips I had to make these a part of my life. 

The first is sleep, because SLEEP is the foundation to everything

To health, to discipline, to prioritizing what matters 

And we are sleeping for a third of OUR LIVES

The truth is, 99% of the world aren’t sleeping properly. 

But I was slowly able to significant improve my sleep, not perfect it, that’s impossible,, but it is really easy to significantly improve your sleep. 

But the key is to do it one step at a time, and slowly change your sleeping habits. 

There are things that you can immediately do to improve your sleep:

• Darken your room. Buy blinds online that you can cover the windows with, 

• Try Magnesium for a supplement because fuck taking sleeping pills,

• Buy blue light blocking glasses, and where them whenever you look at a screen or phone a few hours before sleep, 

• Ideally, don’t look at your phone an hour before sleep. 

Also, manage how you wake up:

• Keep a glass of water next to you and drink it in the morning, 

• Wake up and get light. Move. 

• Avoid looking at your phone first thing, because this will throw your brain off. 

The key is to not try everything in one day, fail, and give up. 

Slowly keep at it and one day, you will wake up feeling like a champ. 

Just make a plan of this, by following Step 1 of this chapter, and then just do one step at a time. 

Beyond sleep, I’m going to share 4 powerful habits that changed my life. 

• Reading

  Everyone wished they read more, including me right now 

  We have thousands of years of knowledge sitting on our bookshelves, or online, and its crucial to learn more everyday 

  Self development books helped me transform my life, 

  But the key was that I actually applied what I learned in my life

  • And I did this by doing it one step at a time, and keeping a pen and paper with me to take notes on anything I resonated this while reading a book

  • And just doing it before I slept because it helps me get ready for sleep 

Keeping it bedside next to my lamp 

Trying different times and ways to make it easier for me is the most important thing 

• Exercise

  After I started reading, I started to go to the gym because I read that this was the best way to increase confidence. 

  My confidence was very low, and it slowly increased with every gym session and small gain. 

  • Physical exercise is typically the catalyst for motivation with most of the successful people that I've met.

    • And after I made it a consistent part of my routine, I started to try out other things like rock climbing and dance classes

      And I realized that I don’t have to go to the gym 4 times a week. 

    • There are so many different types of exercises, so my best piece of advice, is try out new things for a few weeks, and find what works best for you. 

      Gym, Yoga, Sports, Dance, Gardening, whatever

• Yoga

  Three. I saw this girl leave a yoga studio, and she had the most blissful look on her face, and I was like, I want whatever she's having, so I walked PYC studio in Mississauga and that introduced me to the life changing practice of Yoga. 

  • Once again, I only discovered the benefits after keeping it up for a few weeks, and constantly reflecting on my journey 

    It trains the mind, body and soul all at once, it is accessible at any level, there are endless resources online, and the coolest people do Yoga. 

• Meditation

  4th. I met a future mentor of mine, who was the most at ease person that I’ve ever met, to this day, and I asked him what his secret was. 

  He told me that he takes a magic pill every morning, 

  Its called Meditation. 

  I am not going to talk about what the benefits of meditation are. 

  As of today, most people know them already, and soon we will start to see it taught widely across school curriculums. 

  And there is a reason why so many ‘successful’ people do it

  But there is also a reason why so many people find it difficult to start

  …  It’s because of how distracting the world and our daily lives have become

   That was my biggest challenge when I started

  But because of everything I recently added to my life, I knew that I had to stick to it even though I felt nothing happening for like the first 3 months. 

  But after keeping up with it, it clicked. 

  And I found MY OWN FORMS of Meditation that worked for ME. 

This is the key. 

There are thousands of ways to Meditate. 

• Discover the best app for you,

• Discover your favorite instructors,

• Discover best Youtube videos,

• Discover the best time for you to meditate,

• Discover a community or friends to hold you accountable 

And just do it. Because it makes your brain better. 

Now it's not as if I discovered my life purpose at that point in time.

But I did realize something very important that is also luckily very simple.

  I don't need to have everything figured out and know exactly where I’m going, I just need to simply, do things that make me happy, now. 

 The only thing is, I had to move my ass and find them first.  

But there is one important caveat here. 

When I first got into self development, it brought me to a certain level, but there was a moment where I was so into my habits and routines, to the point where I wasn’t enjoying my life, and I was just trying to micro-manage it. 

Then I stopped doing most of them completely. 

And it took me almost a year to get back into rhythm. 

I was impatient at the start, I tried to bring them all back together at once, I failed. 

I had to re learn the same lesson, again 

But when I focused on the fundamentals of one step at at time, they all came back into my life and I developed a healthier relationship with them. 

I know now that my sleep cant be perfect every night, that I cant do certain habits sometimes, and that’s okay. 

Because in the grand scheme of things, the trajectory is positive and upwards. 

And to do that, I had to develop a healthy relationship with the process. 

I achieved this my constantly tweaking my morning routine, and doing these habits at the best time that fit my schedule. 

I read before bed, and tried to complete my meditation and yoga first thing in the morning because it positively impacted the rest of my day, I put my phone on airplane mode an hour before bed and turned it on after I meditated in the morning 

So its just about continuously tweaking and trying. 

Make a plan of the habits you want to develop, do them, tweak it, and try differently. 

(3) MENTORSHIP

And lastly, Mentorship. 

We are surrounded by billions of people, and we can learn from every single one of them. 

Something that they learned throughout their lives, or something about ourselves. 

Of course this isn’t entirely realistic, because we only resonate with a certain number of people. 

But its about meeting as many people as you can, and finding those people you resonate with. 

For every discipline that I entered, every industry, or interest that I had, I found a mentor. 

It took time and effort. 

It took many rejections.  

But the time was repaid back in huge ways, because I was able to expedite my learning. 

What Mentorship comes down to, is very simple, 

It’s about (1) Access and (2) Asking 

Access is crucial. 

So from your existing networks, from going to events and meeting people, you can Google and find people you resonate with, but the easiest way to find mentors I found is from LinkedIn. 

It has hundreds of millions of professionals from around the world on it, but it just depends on how you Ask them. 

Second, is Asking. 

Asking is a skill that takes time to develop. 

I used to be very scared of asking people for things, because I was shy, I had social anxiety, but also because I had a fear of rejection. 

It took years of challenging my comfort zone, reading, and self-reflection to realize that it doesn't matter. 

While its easy to say this now, it doesn't take away how real the fear was when I was younger. 

You can’t just listen to people’s advice to overcome your fears. 

But you can find the right direction, and then its all about taking the right actions to give your brain proof that the fear isn’t real. 

So just take those steps one at a time. 

• Just ask

• Seek feedback and ask better next time. 

So to conclude, 

• Start the growth process, of becoming the best version of yourself, now. 

  There is no other time. 

  Time is the most precious thing we have, and we are running out of it every second. 

• But in order to best use your time, 

  • Have a solid plan, constantly reflect, and tweak it over time

  • Start practicing the powerful habits that you know are good for you. One step at at time. Focus on the small wins. 

  • Seek Mentorship and always be learning from others. 

All of these things will expedite any growth process. 

And doing them all at the same time, will make it exponential.