Let me preface this article by saying: I only started using Reddit in the second half of 2016. I am still not down with all the lingo and strange abbreviations, but I am getting there!

Now, allow me to start this article by saying: Reddit is great! The site itself comes across as a really simple, basic interface – but the people, and the information these people give out on a daily basis is phenomenal.

On my short time using the social media platform I have found incredible life advice on the topics of self-improvement, discipline and productivity which I had to share with the BE|PRIME community. So without further ado: Here are the 3 best pieces of advice I have received from Reddit this year!

Number 1: Ask Yourself Reflective Questions – by Brie_88 (thebrieblog.com)

In this post Brian discusses how reflecting and asking 7 simple questions about his day has led to big changes in his life over time. See the questions below.

What did you do well? What can you improve on? What did I enjoy? What kind acts did I do? What has been on your mind? (What has been distracting your thoughts?) What interesting ideas did you have? What’s the big picture?

Although I personally like to order and word my daily questions differently (I usually put my big picture goal first), this is a great template for anyone to use to improve their self-awareness. Being conscious of your actions, emotions and desires is an incredible methodology toward self-improvement.

One point that Brie_88 lists here, which I consistently forget to utilise is point 6. I always find I have interesting ideas all the time and never anywhere to write them. Taking the extra time to write down these ideas is incredibly powerful.

Brie has a sleek looking blog with some great and valuable content so I encourage you all to check it out!

You can see the entire Reddit post here!

Number 2: The Power of Creating Lists – by Choosehappinessguy

A common theme in many of our articles at BE|PRIME is focussed on putting your thoughts on paper (much like post number 1 mentioned above). Our tools page provides you with just that – planners to help you organise what you need to do and stop you from ever forgetting what you need to do.

In this post on the Subreddit r/decidingtobebetter, Choosehappinessguy reminisces –

“When someone would tell me something along the lines of ‘write down your goals’ or ‘make a to-do list’ I would scoff it off as a cliché”

Being around people that were more successful then himself, constantly reiterating that advice urged him to start the process of list making. The result?

“Waking up every day and seeing those things I wrote in dark marker ingrained it in my brain.”

I chose this post as one of my favourites – not necessarily because it taught me something new – but because it strongly reaffirmed and reiterated the necessity of this habit. Sometimes you can start to forget the purpose behind your habits and having these reminders can serve as a significant validation for your actions and your time allocation toward these task.

You can see the full Reddit post here!

Number 3: Motivating Yourself Through Manufactured Urgency – by colehatter (colehatter.com)

Out of the 3 articles I have noted in this post, I think this one actually made me think more than essentially reaffirming habits that I already have. Cole discusses the ability for one to manufacture urgency in order to manifest the motivation to do what needs to be done through two major sources:

Urgency through ‘Hope for Gain’

Focus on the benefits of completing a task. Make the result of completing the task seem urgent by writing it down or taking the time to visualise it.

Urgency through ‘Fear of Loss’

This one sounds dark, but it can be used to great effect. Think about the worst possible situation that could arise from NOT completing a task you set yourself. Create an urgency in your mind through your desire to not end up in this situation.

I had never thought of motivation as ‘urgency’ specifically, but looking back I realise that all the planning, list forming, tools that I have put in place to manifest and maintain my motivation are exactly that; tools that create an urgency to DO something.

You can see the full Reddit post here!

Having never used Reddit until 2016, I didn’t realise the value that we can find in its archive. Every single day, people of all walks and levels of life are posting their best ideas for success and also their biggest struggles on this platform. If there is good, free information out there – why aren’t you taking advantage of it? Use these 3 posts I have highlighted above as a starting point, but I recommend that you do your own searching and investigation to find posts that truly resonate with you, your goals and your purpose.