How to Build an Abundant Life with Sahil Bloom
by Intelligent Change
Building a life that you love can start by simply pausing, and taking inventory of the things in your life that you don’t love. For Sahil Bloom, that pause came in the form of a panic attack which triggered a personal rock bottom that led him to embark on a transformative journey of introspection.
In the second episode of The Intelligent Change Podcast, Sahil Bloom, investor, entrepreneur, writer, content creator and author of The Curiosity Chronicle—a bi-weekly newsletter sharing insightful tips to help you live a healthier and wealthier life—talks about his career journey, the rock bottom that made him decide to start his own business, and how to build a life of abundance—in the true sense of the word.
Here are the top five inspiring lessons that you can learn from this episode:
Lesson 1: Prioritise regular self-reflection
Prior to the panic attack that change the course of the rest of his life, Sahil Bloom admits to not being a particularly reflective person. “You spend the whole first part of your life climbing this one mountain that usually your parents have set for you, blindly. You're not really thinking about it, it's just a subconscious assumption that that's what you're supposed to do, and I was doing that” he says. By questioning societal expectations, you can pave your own path towards personal satisfaction and purpose.
Lesson 2: Identify your productive rhythm
You can easily produce higher-quality work by simply aligning tasks according to when your personal windows of focus and creativity are at their peak. Each person's optimal time may vary—it’s crucial to identify your natural circadian rhythm and your most productive and creative periods in the day.
“We all need to find blocks of time during our day where we can work and focus on our highest leverage activities, the really important things that are actually driving us forward.”
Lesson 3: Focus on small steps and keep yourself accountable
There’s tremendous power in making one good decision at a time, and building upon them gradually. “I am a big believer that no matter how deep you are in a whole, the first thing you need to do is just make one good decision—that’s it. When you're at the bottom of a hole, it can be very easy to look up and think that the road ahead of you looks so long that you might as well continue to dig deeper into the ground” says Sahil Bloom.
“The reality is, all you need to do is make one good decision. And then you make another one, and then you make another one and you create a string of good decisions.” By creating a string of positive choices and being accountable to yourself and others, you can make real progress and drive change.
Lesson 4: Redefine your idea of success
According to Sahil Bloom, the reason why so many people feel dissatisfied with their life is because they have a narrow definition of success. When crafting your personal definition of success, it’s important to take a holistic approach that encompasses various aspects of life, such as relationships, health, spirituality, and personal growth.
“There’s this thing called the scoreboard principle, which says that whatever you're able to measure and look at on the scoreboard ends up being what you focus on. Money has been the ultimate scoreboard for people, as it's so easily measured.”
By shifting the focus away from financial wealth as the sole scoreboard and incorporating the things that truly matter to you, you can create a more balanced and fulfilling life.
Lesson 5: Be happy, now
Throughout life, it’s easy to fall victim to the Deferred Happiness Syndrome—the common tendency to believe that happiness will only come once certain conditions are met, such as reaching a specific financial goal, acquiring material possessions, or achieving a particular milestone. According to Sahil Bloom, happiness in the future is worth less than happiness today.
“Most of us live life with that deferred happiness mindset. We’re going to do that thing that we’ve always wanted to do when we retire, for example. Well, what if we retire and we’re not in physical well enough condition to go and do that? I would much rather be happy and enjoy my life today.”
It’s important to find ways to experience small joys in the present moment and stop deferring all of your happiness to some future date.
The Intelligent Change Podcast brings you experiences of leading entrepreneurs, change makers, and innovators. Every Wednesday, join our founders as they discuss living with purpose, relationships, entrepreneurship, well-being, and much more.