Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of people want their car to last for many years, but do not realize that it takes routine and proper maintenance to make this happen. Without proper maintenance of the vehicle, and with poor driving habits, a car will quickly start to break down and start to suffer from mechanical issues.
Fortunately, it does not take much to properly maintain your car and practice good driving habits that will keep your vehicle running for a long time. This is not only extremely important when you purchase a new vehicle, but also good practice when you purchase a used vehicle as well. Even if you purchase a used vehicle that until this time has not been properly maintained, you can still extend the life of your car by starting to provide routine maintenance.
Many people seem to want to wait to take their car to a mechanic until something is wrong with it. They'll wait until it's not driving right, or making a funny sound, because they do not want to put out the expense of going to a mechanic. This however often ends up costing them a great deal more money than they actually would have spent by taking their car to a mechanic for routine maintenance.
Taking your car to a qualified mechanic for routine maintenance and tune ups will greatly help to extend the life of your vehicle. A mechanic has more knowledge and skill about what needs to be checked on a vehicle, and is better at checking the car for potential problems than the average car owner is. A mechanic is able to run diagnostic checks on a car that can help to catch problems your car may be having before things get really bad.
Practicing good driving habits will also help to extend the life of your car. There is no need to drive your car aggressively, which can quickly have negative affects on your cars performance. Driving at high speeds, waiting until the last minute to brake and other aggressive driving tactics will all drain the life from your vehicle. Drive less aggressively and more responsibly and you will help to extend the life of your car.
Providing proper and routine maintenance to your car from a qualified mechanic and practicing good driving habits are not that difficult to do and will dramatically increase the length of life your vehicle has. When your car is operating at peak performance, it puts less wear and tear on your vehicle, which will help to keep your car from breaking down. If you want your car to last for many years, practice these two habits and you'll have your car for a long time.
Can Friendships Extend Your Life?
As a publisher of assessments, I am always looking for the next trend or tool we can offer our clients. Not long ago, I was completing an online health assessment that claimed -- based on your lifestyle, health practices, and background -- to predict your life expectancy. Well, that piqued my curiosity.
I was not surprised to see many of the common factors we all acknowledge, such as smoking, lack of exercise, and eating platefuls of my favorite Hungarian Salami -- but I never guessed what was next. More beneficial than sufficient sleep and moderate exercise was this: the companionship of close friends. This item alone would significantly increase my life expectancy. I'm not talking about a month or two; the difference was calculated at several years, depending on my level of active friendships. Here's what the assessment asked me to do next: not only did I have to list the quantity of good friends but the quality, as well. I'll explain this in a minute.
In our busyness of life, one of the foundational items that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle is our friendships -- not our friends. Recently I called one of my good friends. As is typical with many of us today, it had been some time since we had talked or gotten together. One of the comments that came out was that no matter how infrequently we connect, we still consider each other good friends. In fact, we confirmed that we had a low-maintenance friendship. Is that an oxymoron?! How can you have a low maintenance FRIENDSHIP? Isn't that contrary to the meaning of the word?
Webster's definition of a friend is: 1. A person attached to another by affection or regard or 2. A patron or supporter. Friendship is: 1. the state of being a friend.
If you look at the definitions closely, you see activity in the meaning of the words. The state of BEING a friend infers motion or connection, not status. I feel I have many friends -- but are they active friendships?
After I took that health assessment, I started to distinguish the difference between friend and friendship. Why? Because apparently my life and yours literally depend on it.
Based on that health assessment tool, having active friendships (significant connections -- in hours, not minutes -- every week) added over 5.5 years to my life expectancy grid.
For me, this is one of the Aha! moments that can grab you by the throat and get your attention.
One of my new favorite words in life is intentionality. Our lives are almost always a reflection of our choices -- no more, no less. What this research is proving with obvious common sense, is that friendships matter. Not only do friendships enrich our lives, they extend our lives, too.
So I've decided to intentionally extend my life expectancy by BEING a friend. How about you?
Action Steps
1.How many friends do you really have?
2. Are you happy with your level of friendships? If not, think of 3 ways to increase your BEING a friend to others.
3. Be proactive. Give people a call. Suggest options and possibilities of getting together.
4. Make the process fun and enjoyable, not burdensome.
5. Be aware. When you are in that moment of enjoying a special time with a friend, observe how that makes you feel; sense the good health and balance the experience is bringing you.
6. As a challenge, see how many people's lives you can extend this month/year by BEING their friend.
Both Kenny Jones & Ken Keis are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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