Do you feel like life flies by and all you can do is watch? Do your days seem to become shorter and shorter because of all the things you have to do? Is your life not as exciting as it used to be when you were a kid? I feel you. It's not the lack of time that's causing your misery, but rather how you spend it. I bet you've watched people on YouTube carry out their perfect morning- or evening routine and have felt jealous because 'why not me?'. Maybe you haven't, maybe you're just here to pick up some new ideas for habits to form in your already existing habit-plan. These habits are easy to do, not hard to follow along with and fit any scheme.
Overview
(click to go there)
Number one: Exercise
Alright, you get it, exercise is healthy. It releases plenty of hormones (like these) inside your brain and is proven to make you feel better. Not only will you get in shape mentally thanks to the hormones, your physical appearance will change too, making you look more healthy. That, in turn, makes you feel accomplished. Luckily for you, we've got a lot of inspiration right here so you can get right into feeling great.
If you're not that into powerlifting or doing heavy cardio exercises like running or using a bicycle to get your body heated, there's always the lower intensity cardio exercises like walking a few blocks or through a forest. It doesn't matter what type of exercise you do (unless you have certain goals you want to achieve), as long as you're relatively consistent with said exercise. Don't walk for four hours once and then dip for a month, it's more important to have that consistency. So if you do exercise twice a week for 15 minutes but you're consistent, you're essentially doing better than those four hours a month. For all I care you dance your ass off to just dance, if that's your preferred type of cardio.
Number two: Meditating
Now, don't scroll away. Meditating has a bit of a bad reputation, but it's incredible once you give it a shot. You won't get the feeling of calm right away because as with everything, meditating takes some practice. You know what they say, everything great in life comes from the effort that has been put in to gain it. To gain that calmness in your mind, you have to sit down and do nothing for a few minutes.
Don't give up if you're not there yet, there's been way too many times where I figured it wasn't for me (I read an article that people with non-neurotypical brains have a harder time doing it so I took it as an excuse not to meditate for a few weeks) but eventually I got there. You will too, guaranteed.
Number three: Making your bed
I'm dead serious. If you're not making your bed everyday already, start doing it. Making your bed is usually the first thing you do in the morning. In doing so, you unconsciously tick it of your inner to-do list, making you feel accomplished right from the start. It then becomes easier to start your other habits, or maybe even morning routine. It takes less than five minutes and has great benefits, so it's a win/win habit. Besides, who doesn't like coming home to a made bed, ready for you to sleep in right away. It looks 100% better than the ball of blankets you come home to if you don't.
Number four: Reading
It doesn't have to be a personal growth book on how to improve your life or a book that teaches you how to be a better listener, you could read whatever book you enjoy most, as reading itself stimulates your brain enough on its own. You could read a fantasy book or a romance novel and get your brain going just as well as any other book would. It's not so much the content of the book but the reading itself that's important. Try swapping half an hour of social media or other useless screen time for half an hour of reading.
Read books you like, it'll greatly help with the resistance you might have against reading if you haven't read that much if at all in a while. It being fun is the most important thing of all, since you will be more likely to stick to the habit.
Number five: Sleep
Sleep is probably the most overlooked habit. We all do it anyway, why would it be a habit? Simple, make it a habit by having a set time when you go to bed and wake up. It's one of the most important habits you can have, sleep being the reason why you are or aren't productive or even happy in a day. It affects us so much that not having slept well in a while can seriously impact your life by attacking your mood, your brain and can even make you physically ill. The time your brain gets the most out of sleep is between 10 pm and 2 am, the last one being the time a lot of people go to sleep at. Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a night, anything above or below that range might make you feel tired and unhappy.
Some good ways to improve your sleep are
Set a schedule – go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.
Exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day but no later than a few hours before going to bed.
Avoid caffeine and nicotine late in the day and alcoholic drinks before bed.
Relax before bed – try a warm bath, reading, or another relaxing routine.
Create a room for sleep – avoid bright lights and loud sounds, keep the room at a comfortable temperature, and don’t watch TV or have a computer in your bedroom.
Don’t lie in bed awake. If you can’t get to sleep, do something else, like reading or listening to music, until you feel tired.
Number six: Plan your days
This might seem counterproductive to a free lifestyle but in reality it gives you more freedom. By planning your day you get a sense of knowing what to do rather than thinking of it as you go. Planning gives you suggestions rather than dictating your day. At least, if you do it well. Don't plan every minute of every day but don't go to vague either. There's a sweet spot between the two that you can only find by trying it out for yourself, but there's some lines to go along. For example, decide your morning routine. Make it no longer than an hour and plan only the big chunks. If you want to do the 20/20/20 method from the 5AM club, as mentioned in the 10 books you need to read post, you plan the move, reflect and grow into your day, each twenty minutes.
The picture underneath contains a planning that has gone through many trials (and errors) and is a good reference to build your day after. Here is a detailed post on how to make a planning.
Number seven: To-do lists
To-do lists give you a sense of what to do that day, much like a planning. To do lists are often more detailed than your planning. The reason why to-do lists are so good is because the main cause of unproductivity is not knowing what there is to be done, leading you to stray away towards distractions rather than what you actually should be doing. The best time to make one is either after you wake up or before you go to bed, both having other reasons for effectiveness.
Don't overload your to-do list, though, because too much to-do points cause clutter and make it harder to focus and prioritise. Put the most important ones on top and work your way down to the less important tasks.
Number eight: Eat your meals without screens
This one may seem normal to some people but a lot of people might not like this one. This includes no watching television while eating dinner or any other meal, same as eating your lunch while finishing up some work on your laptop. Not only can it make you eat more because your attention is elsewhere, it's also just a waste of your food because you won't experience it that much.
Here's some great info about why not to eat with screens on.
That concludes the 8 habits to become happier.
Remember, habits take time to build. Usually around 60 days before you're used to it and 90 before it's a habit. Don't give up when you miss a day, just pick it back up the next day. It's nothing to be ashamed about, building habits is a hard thing. With time, you can do anything. You can either spend the next 90 days building a habit or making excuses, it's up to you.
コメント