Chris O.Imagine an immense staircase sprawling out in front of you. The steps furthest away seem impossibly distant, and no matter how much you want to reach the end and get to where you are going, the task ahead seems insurmountable. Then realize that no matter how difficult that upward trek seems at the outset, that all it takes to make progress on your goal is a single step.
It’s the same thing with habits. Creating new, positive habits can help you utterly transform your life. We are a product of our choices. Good choices culminate into a better whole. The trick is to get into the mindset of making positive changes in your life, and sticking to them. Things only become routine if you do them routinely. The longer you keep it up, the easier it is to stick with it.
Here are ten daily habits that can help you transform your life — for the better.
Journal Every Day
Journaling, the act of putting your ideas, thoughts, and current feelings on paper, can yield a greater benefit than you might realize. Daily writing can actually serve as a strong cognitive exercise. That’s right: putting pen to paper is like doing jumping jacks for the mind, it can help strengthen your memory, build discipline, and build your writing skills at the same time. Best of all, the more you do it, the longer and greater your journal becomes. You can track your growth — day-to-day — and see just how far you have come since you made writing routine.
Learn a New Skill
Dedicating yourself to learning a new skill each day can have a cumulative effect that changes your life for the better. Whether it’s learning a new musical instrument, picking up a fun new hobby like painting, or even coming to grips with a new language, you will be all the better for it.
Take Good Care of Your Teeth
There’s a reason your parents kept bugging you to brush your teeth. According to the Mayo Clinic, there is a link between good oral health and overall health. So brush and floss every day — it could just save your life.
Regular Exercise
Did you know that, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), people who don’t exercise are at a greatly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as chronic diseases such as cancer, obesity, hypertension, and depression. None of those sound like much fun (especially depression, which is essentially the opposite of fun).
However, an increase in physical fitness reduces your risk of premature death, and lowers your chances of suffering from all of those aforementioned ailments.
But just how much exercise is enough to yield those benefits? According to the Mayo Clinic, people should aim to get a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity in each week (that’s about 20 minutes per day). Barring that, they should get at least 75 minutes of “vigorous activity” in instead.
Moderate activity can include anything from walking, biking, swimming, and climbing the stairs, while vigorous activity is presumably whatever Tom Cruise gets up to in the “Mission Impossible” franchise.
Get Outside
Being among nature is not just for woodland creatures. Being outside can help improve your mental health, lower anxiety, and combat stress. Take some time to explore nature however you can, and breathe in some fresh air.
Early to Bed, Early to Rise
There is nothing worse than trying to gut your way through work after a lousy night of sleep. There is truth behind the phrase, “early to bed, early to rise.” Getting a healthy amount of sleep is easiest when you give yourself adequate time, and a comfortable environment, for you to rest in. Avoid eating right before bedtime, and try to shut off all your screens at least an hour beforehand.
Unplug from Social Media
Too much screen time — especially on social media platforms — can do more harm than good. If you find yourself spending hours at a time surfing through Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or watching endless YouTube Shorts or TikTok videos, it may be time to set daily limits on your social media use.
Take a Vacation
Did you know that most people don’t use their paid vacation time each year? According to the Washington Post, over 60% of Americans don’t use all of their paid time off each year, and more than 5% don’t use any paid time off at all. While many pride themselves on their hard work ethic, if we aren’t taking adequate breaks, the quality of that work suffers. Take the time to get your head right, and come back to work refreshed and ready to go.
Reading
Digging into a real page-turner isn’t just good fun, it’s also shown to decrease stress and improve concentration and focus. So, the next time someone tells you to relax, just sit on the couch and crack open a good book. They might be confused by your response, but no one can argue with the results.
On top of improving focus and decreasing stress, books are also the universal carriers of knowledge, and can help you learn new skills and see new perspectives (except for the “Twilight” and “50 Shades of Grey” series, those might actually have the opposite effect). Learning also makes anyone sleepy, so books are a great way to improve your bedtime routine.
Conclusion
Making positive changes in your life, and then sticking to them, can be difficult. However, overcoming that difficulty can come with great rewards. You do not want to be stuck in the same rut in life — hardly ever improving, and not changing no matter the benefit — when the solution is out there, waiting for you to embrace it. It’s time to make a change, and it’s time to build some life-changing habits. Let us know what you think of positive habits below, and make sure to check out our other blogs for interesting reads and inspiration.
