Some of the best mental breakthroughs I’ve had in my life have come from the shortest videos I’ve found on YouTube.

Below are three videos which have had a profound impact on my life:

Try something new for 30 days – Matt Cutts
Time: 3 minutes 27 seconds

After watching this inspirational video, I was craving for the next month to begin so I could start my 30-day challenge journey. My first challenge was one which Matt Cutts recommended – the photo challenge. It was to take one photo a day for 30 days. Many of them I posted to my blog (yup, the one you’re reading now) with their location, my take, and why it was important to me at the moment that day. While it was pretty easy as far as 30-day challenges go, I began to feel myself growing.

At the end of the 30-days, I developed more awareness of the world around me, I found a passion for art, and I even found more confidence in myself. The life I now live, five years after first watching this video, is paramount to what it would be without the video. I’ve done the photo challenge, three Whole-30 challenges, a vegetarian challenge (turns out it doesn’t work for me), a new recipe challenge, a fitness challenge (I have now worked out basically 5 days a week for the past 4 years), and so much more.

This video not only led me to try a lot of new things in life that I wouldn’t have considered otherwise, but I also started a blog series around them, talked about the topic at many Toastmasters speeches, and even got to experience the fruits of my labors in different ways than I knew possible. For example, completing the fitness challenge led me to climb Mount Washington with several friends and train for a half marathon – two things which I never even considered with my realm of possibility beforehand.

 

How to start a movement – Derek Sivers 
Time: 5 minutes 41 seconds.

I loved this video so much. Not only is Derek informative, but his clever use of supporting video footage was exceptional.

This video inspired me to cultivate my own thoughts on the topic, found here, “The Unspoken Power of a Great Follower.”

Responding To Stress - Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski
Time: 1 minute and 30 seconds

If you’re alive, you’ve encountered stress. I found what matters most to me is understanding what stress looks like, how to deal with it, and the best yet -how to thrive from it. This short video delivers a huge punch when it comes to better understanding how your brain works under stress.

November 12, 2018 Update:

Adding another video in here:

Practice This For a Few MINUTES Each day – It Will Radically Change Your Life – Vishen lAKhIANI

Time: 10 minutes 45 seconds

For a while there, the internet was filled with content like “5 Morning Routines from Top Tech Execs” and “10 Tips to Being Your Most Productive Self.” At first, I ate these up. They were like food for body or puzzles for my brain. They were incredible and a lot of what I learned, I applied.

Then I got bored with them and realized that while there was some advice in there, it wasn’t the 10x growth I was looking for in life. Then I found my career coach.

My career coach and I talk a lot about mental states (not quite like this), and that is how 10xing your happiness, your success, your growth — everything really, is actually possible.