How to Optimize for Positivity!

Newton’s 3rd Law Applied to People
Apply this lesson to your life for more positivity, happiness and wins in life!

I can hear you thinking:

“Ugh, not physics! I’ve had enough of that crap in school…”

No worries, I wasn’t exactly a fan of science in high school either, so I’ll keep that part short. That way we can skip straight to the life lessons that you’re here for!

Newton’s 3rd Law:

For every reaction there is an opposite counter-reaction.

When it comes to our lives, I like to rephrase it like this:

“Whatever you consume is also what consumes you!”

Examples

Take playing video games for instance.

Nothing wrong with it when you’re playing casually and you make sure that you put the important things in your life first. However, the consumption of video games can quickly spiral into something that consumes the person as well.

Here’s why:

You might play for an hour or two on a day, however the real issue in this case would happen outside of that time. For example, you might find yourself laying in bed thinking about the daily quests that reset in 11 hours, how you’re this close to that new set of armor, overthinking your 75th epic defeat by that boss and so on.

The key is this:

The things we consume during our days don’t leave us instantly!

Afterward, there’s almost always a period where that thing is still in the back of your mind!

Another example:

Let’s say that someone cuts you off in traffic, you have an argument with your asshole boss or you’ve been watching some angry debate-like videos on TikTok. In those cases, you might find yourself getting triggered or angry way easier throughout your day.

It’s because your mind is still in that angry state.

The content you consume, the way you spend your time, the thoughts you let run your mind and so on become the things that dictate the emotions we feel on a daily base!

What to do about it?

You might be thinking:

“Cool story Maikel, but how does this info help me?”

My first suggestion would be to start using your #1 superpower: Self awareness. Because the truth of the matter is that you cannot change any behavior or solve a problem when you don’t understand it!

Think about these questions and preferably write out your answers:

• What kind of content do I consume on a daily basis? How does each type of content make me feel afterward (not during) consumption?

• Are there any routine activities I’m doing that I hate, give me anxiety or cause (severe) negative emotions? Can I avoid these or limit time spent doing them? How can I handle these situations better to keep my piece of mind?

• Who are the people I spend a lot of time with? After an interaction, do I feel better or worse? In general, do I feel they lift me up or keep me down?

• Which activities bring me a lot of joy, not just in the moment but afterward as well? Is there a way I can fit these easily into my days somewhere?

• How would I structure my ideal day that perfectly balances my goal of achieving my dreams with optimizing for positive emotions like pride, satisfaction, confidence and happiness?

These questions will help you identify where your focus and attention flow towards during your days and where you think it should flow toward.

First Things First, Literally

Once you’ve taken that audit, here’s the simplest thing you can do:

Look at the routine that you have after waking up. Maybe you pick up your phone (and snooze it 17 times) and immediately feel overwhelmed by all of the notifications. Maybe you tell yourself “Ugh, I hate having to get up for work” or something like that.

Is your routine putting you in the right state of mind?

If not, one of the best things you can do is to transform the first couple of minutes of your day. During this time do something that puts you into a positive state of mind to tackle the day with.

Remember:

What you consume is what consumes you.

When you take the time to deliberately consume more positivity, more inspirational material, more positive habits (like exercise), you’re going to put yourself into that state of mind that lasts even after you finish it.

And it snowballs from there!

When you’re feeling better, you make better choices.

When you make better choices, you’ll have better actions.

When you take better actions, you’ll get better outcomes.

And when you get those, your experience of life completely differently! You’ll notice you’re feeling a lot better, enjoy it more and get more of the things you desire out of life!

Here are a few ways to prime yourself in the morning:

• Write or review your goals for the day (my personal fave)

• Read something that inspires or educates you

• Listen to a podcast or YouTube video that does the same thing

• Do some (light) exercise

• Journal, write things you’re grateful for, or similar

• Some (guided) meditation

These are just a few suggestions of things you can do to start your day on the right foot. Feel free to experiment and have fun with this, try out your own ideas as well and see how it transforms your day!

You ARE the Darn Algorithm!

Let’s talk about social media and the “nEgAtIvE iMpAcT” is has on us.

The truth is that social media is just like a hammer: It can either be used to construct wonderful things, or it can be used to demolish things instead. Because it all depends on how you use it!

The good news?

You are in control of the algorithms on social media!

Social media isn’t out there to completely control you, they’re focused on 1 thing: To keep you on their platform so that they can earn more. And to accomplish that goal, it will serve you content it thinks you will like.

Meaning that the content you’ll see depend on your own behavior.

Try doing these things: 

1. Take note of everyone you follow and then unfollow, remove or block the pages and people that don’t add anything to your life.
   

2. Subscribe to or follow people that do bring more positivity to your life. Watch or read their content, like it and leave a comment or two.
   
   Sidenote: You can follow me on YouTube and IG here.
   

3. Reinforce this by using the search bar to find content that helps you become your best self. Actively search for content that inspires and educates, follow a few creators and interact with the content.
   

4. And lastly, and this is the difficult part, use your willpower to interact less and less with the content that you want to move away from.

Here’s what will happen:

Within a few hours to a few days, you’ll notice that your feed suddenly looks a lot more positive. You’ll see less of the content that triggers you. You’ll have education at your fingertips and social media will have a positive impact!

Remember that you ARE the algorithm, use that control!

Have some free positivity on the YouTubez!
To kick off your revamp of social media, try these positive suggestions:

Over to YOU!

We’ve been over a lot, but now it’s time to implement what you’ve learned!

Here are my top suggestions for today:

1. Take the time to audit your time, focus, habits, daily activities and social media usage. Get a good overview of the activities that you do on a daily basis so that you can then optimize around it.
   

2. Take back control over social media! Maybe cut it out, limit your time on it, or use the hack I shared above to turn your feed in something way more positive.
   

3. Consider the first couple of minutes of your mornings to put you in the right state to start your day off well. This video gives you my complete morning routine.
   

4. With the audit you’ve done, see if there are moments in your day where you can practice activities that benefit you or quit some of the habits that detract from you being your best self.

You got this my friend!

• Maikel