Eat the meals you would prepare if you were receiving an important guest. You are your most important person. Cut back on meals that take no time to prepare and require no dining table.

Do the exercise you already know and enjoy. Do reps that you can sustain daily. Just make sure you break a sweat. Avoid fast-acting exercise or slimming elixirs.

Make time to be still for one hour every day. Embrace whatever comes to disturb the stillness – thoughts, alarms, itches or sleep. We mindlessly give most of our time to others. One hour for self is a bargain that pays exponential dividends.

Go often to anything and anyone that makes you happy, and you will more easily recognise the gifts in every experience. Shorten your exposure to joy killers. You become what you expose yourself to.

Too many people start initiating debits immediately after their accounts get credited. The amygdala would be in full swing, and you are bound to make choices that undermine your long term advantage. Any pause in action leads to better control of the amygdala (This is why a pause during a meal can help check if you are satisfied, otherwise you leave the table feeling bloated). Disconnect your days of credit from your days of debit – a one week time lag is enough.

– Osasu Oviawe