Everybody is quick to tell you to act like an adult to succeed in life, but there are many benefits to retaining some of your child qualities if you practice a productive balance between the two.
And no, I am not advocating you toss all your adult responsibilities aside and totally re-live your childhood you feel you were “cheated” out of like so many irresponsible ass clowns do these days hoping somebody will fix all their poor life choices.
You definitely want to be a responsible adult if you wish to live a fulfilling and meaningful life, but temper this by retaining those successful qualities you cultivated and practiced as a child.
Here’s how I try to keep a productive Adult/Child balance to achieve a great quality of life:
Think Like An Adult
This means looking at the big picture of your life and not just obsessing only on what is happening 5 minutes from now or agonizing over the past.
Having the mindset of always advancing and moving forward in some manner no matter what cards you are dealt in life.
It’s about having perspective. It’s about being in tune with how your actions reflect upon your success and happiness or lack thereof.
Having the ability to practice the lost art of being reasonable when confronted with life’s challenges.
Understanding that the world owes you nothing.
Behave Like An Adult
Cultivating the ability to take the “high road” in matters.
Taking self responsibility. Sometimes you may not be to blame for your circumstances, but you still must take responsibility to deal with those circumstances.
Ignoring what is trivial and nonsensical.
Paying attention to matters and people that further your well being and growth as opposed to what does not.
Refraining from painting yourself as an eternal victim – blaming everyone and everything for your woes.
Not expecting, pursuing and demanding instant gratification from all people and situations in life
Eat Like An Adult
With few exceptions, everybody knows what foods are crappy and what foods promote a healthy body, mind and robust quality of life.
What you eat affects how you feel, perform and to a large degree wards off disease and sickness.
Questionable powders, pills, procedures, potions, ridiculous health gurus who prey on the emotionally unstable and preposterous diets are no substitute for eating healthy foods consistently.
To live like a capable and respected adult, you need to eat like one. Period.
Love Like An Adult
Don’t play games with your love.
First and foremost, love and show self respect for yourself and never let anybody erode this belief and powerful outlook.
Love those people who demonstrate that they deserve your love.
Avoid loving those who emotionally or physically harm you as well as show you disrespect.
Remember that your love is a priceless commodity- don’t dole it out to the unworthy!
Work Like An Adult
Find your career calling in life and put forth your best efforts.
Your calling may change over time, but always exert passionate effort to what professionally interests you throughout your lifetime.
Don’t just bury yourself in busyness and clocking hours, but work smarter and develop more productive methods if your desire is success and above average earnings.
Learn from your work failures, build upon them and improve.
Become reliable, knowledgeable, trustworthy and a pleasure to be around for lasting success.
Focus Like An Adult
Successful adults have mastered how to channel their energy into productive, meaningful tasks without losing sight of how these tasks fit into the greater overall picture.
Respected adults have learned to develop and practice the discipline to manage their time and attention span productively.
Adults See Things To Completion
Successful adults have the ability to start a task and manage it from beginning to end.
I never take an adult seriously who is one of these types who always seem to be in a perpetual state of frenzied activity starting 100 projects and never finishing any while shouting to the world how busy they are.
Manage Emotions Like An Adult
Learn how to reign in your emotions and stay even keeled in your responses to whatever life throws at you.
Emotions are the spice of life, but don’t let them be the sole guide to base your decisions on in your life.
Plan Like An Adult
Make plans and follow through with them. Especially when they involve others.
Be on time.
Be considerate of other people’s time.
That’s how you earn respect. That’s how you succeed.
That’s what adults do.
Communicate Like An Adult
Respected adults can speak and write in a convincing and grammatically correct manner.
Even if you zoned out during English/Grammar class, make the effort to brush up on the basics if you ever want to position yourself for success and have the world take you seriously.
Be Self Aware Like An Adult
Stay rooted in reality and know what areas you are strong in and what areas you perform poorly in.
Gravitate toward those things you are strong in and strive to get stronger at them to become a sought after and valued expert.
Understand what things you are inherently weak at and don’t waste too much of your precious time trying to turn them into strengths.
You are much better served trying to turn your inherent strengths into greater strengths for life success and happiness.
Be socially aware of how you come off to others and what is deemed appropriate for a given situation and group of people.
Being original is great and going against the grain can often be rewarding, but you don’t want to be the clueless, socially inept weirdo who nobody wants to have around or deal with either.
Adults Need Character
Do what you say you’re going to do – then do it!
Have some type of socially acceptable moral center
Do right by others
Develop a solid reputation
Stand for something meaningful with integrity
Have stability – don’t change with the wind.
These are qualities that embody character – embrace them for a high quality of life.
Play Like A Kid
Adults need physical play time to balance out the rigidness and demands of modern life.
I’m convinced you need this in order to achieve that high quality of life you desire.
Not only will you get some exercise, but your mindset and mood are likely to improve as well.
Do something you enjoyed as a kid and re-connect with that feeling.
I still like to climb trees, swing from Tarzan swings, take hikes and explore new areas, run with the dogs, ride my bike over dirt mounds, participate in sporting events and just playfully goof around with the folks in my life.
As long as you don’t exceed your capabilities, try re-connecting with those activities you loved as a carefree kid!
Stay Curious Like A Kid
Always stay curious about things as an adult and never get so jaded and complacent that you think you know everything.
As kids, we were always curious about every aspect of the world we were exposed to and had a wonderful sense of wonder about things which fueled our growth and positive development.
These are great qualities to continue to practice and cultivate as adults if we wish to remain relevant, interesting and exciting to those around us.
Move Like A Kid
Losing our ability to move around and play like a kid is not a function of getting older or having your energy sapped by father time.
It is a function of making the poor choice of living a sedentary lifestyle and resigning yourself to the sidelines of life as you pile up aches, pains and miserable health that the moving population tends to avoid.
It’s never too late to improve your movement quality in some manner, but don’t wait too long as it really is a “move it or lose it” proposition.
Laugh Like A Kid
Listen to kids and their laughter is so genuine and contagious.
I know folks who never laugh or playfully joke around.
It’s no coincidence that they are miserable and mostly avoided by others given the choice.
I can’t teach you how to laugh and be playful in a respectful manner, but put some time into figuring it out and I guarantee your outlook and social interactions will improve!
Am I perfect with adhering to all these principles all the time? Hell no! But I try to come close even on those bad days we all have.
If you are not happy with certain aspects of your life, try practicing some of these tips to add productive balance and satisfaction to your existence.
Related: Listen To Your Body – It Doesn’t Lie
Related: The Secrets To Healthy And Happy Longevity
About Me
I pride myself on being a product of my own advice and the methods I practice enable me to be a powerfully active (often barefoot) student of physical culture who will not go quietly into the sunset since I have learned how to age gracefully by adopting sane eating strategies, staying strong and lean, moving well and pain-free and conquering nasty fat.
All without spending hours haunting gyms doing hours of sappy media endorsed low value exercises and gulping down expensive and questionable supplements.
I enjoy sharing my fitness training and health philosophies I practice that I have either adopted or tweaked from some of the fitness greats in history or designed myself.
Most of my adult life has been spent testing out and experimenting countless fitness methodologies filtering out and keeping the most productive methods that pay the most fitness dividends for my precious time invested and dumping those methods with the least value.
Your constantly learning fitness pal,
Mark Mellohusky
(Mellow Husky) mellow as in laid back and husky like the dog
There’s a sparkle in my eyes and iron in my thighs!
Seven Stars Fitness