15 Good Daily Habits That Will Improve Your Life
Have you heard this habit quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle?
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle
You don’t expect that when you keep making bad choices, you will get a positive outcome. You have to try to form habits that will help you get to your goals. No matter what they are whether it is health, work, or family goals.
What are Habits?
The definition of habits according to the Oxford dictionary is a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. They are things you do frequently, knowingly or unknowingly that have formed part of you.
Examples of habits I do are shaking my legs, I know it is a bad habit but because I am so used to it, I do it unknowingly. Another is biting my nails, this one I have really been trying to stop. But anytime I find myself tired, anxious, or distracted I bite my nails. These are some of the bad habits I have been doing from my childhood and now I still find it hard to stop.
How habits are formed
Habits are formed slowly whether consciously or not. When you try doing the same things over and over every day before you know it becomes part of you. If you are trying to form a habit or habits, don’t rush to start all at once you won’t be able to keep up.
So, start slowly in building these 15 good daily habits I will be sharing. Try showing up each day doing them, you can start with 2 or 3 depending on you. No matter how small your actions are, over time there will be transformations.
How to track habits
How and what habits you track are dependant on you, there are ways you can track your habits. So, there are lots of habits tracking apps online, you can try them and see what works for you.
You can also track your habits manually, with a bullet journal, notebook, or even a habit tracking template.
15 Good Daily Habits That Will Improve Your Life
Smile at yourself
I know this sounds weird but I want you to give it a try. When you wake up in the morning and you see any mirror around your house, just smile at yourself. You will be surprised by the joy that just comes from seeing your beautiful face and smiling. Also, you can go further by saying some positive affirmation to yourself, this will lift your spirit for the day.
Get ready for the day
You may have heard about this habit and may not want to listen. Probably because you work from home or you feel it is not important.
But for real, there is just something about having your bath, doing your makeup, and changing to a nice outfit, not your PJ. It makes you feel more productive and ready to accomplish all your goals for the day.
Put on sunscreen
I know you didn’t expect this one right? but it is important because when your skin looks good you will also feel good about yourself.
Self-confidence is important plus exposure to the sun can cause burning and premature aging. So, during your daily skincare routine don’t forget to put on your sunscreen.
Plan a day before
I know some people take a few minutes from their mornings to plan their day. But for me, I feel planning the night before works better. It helps relieve me of the stress of not knowing what I have to do the next day, sometimes I feel not planning a day before makes me not sleep well.
Because my brain is thinking of all I have to do the next day and trying not to forget anything instead of me writing down my to-do and clear my brain of that.
So the night before, take your time to write down your list of things to do the next day, the meals you will be preparing, outfits to wear, etc.
Go outside
When you wake up in the morning take a few minutes and go outside. See the sun rising up and soak up its goodness, just go out to receive all the fresh air. You can go for a walk or even have your coffee or tea outside on your balcony.
Give someone a compliment
Have you heard that what you put in the universe is exactly what you receive? As you go about your daily activities try to compliment people, by putting a smile on their faces you feel happy too.
You know how happy you feel when a stranger tells you they like your hair, or how you look or something. You immediately smile, thank them and you are happy and it even boosts your confidence, so share the love.
Make your bed
You would have also heard this habit, making your bed is the first task of the day. There is this saying that if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
Making your bed makes you feel you are ready to start your day, plus it makes your room look tidy. You may not also want to crawl back to a cleanly made bed until bedtime.
Hydrate yourself
During sleep your body gets dehydrated so it is important to take water when you wake up from sleep. You can add lemon to your water as it has lots of benefits you can read more about the benefits of lemon water.
You can also use some water tracking apps or water tracking bottles.
Learning to say NO
This is one area I really struggle with as an empath, you have to try to stop people-pleasing. Take hold of your life, if there are things you can’t do or will affect your own schedule just nicely say NO.
This is a form of self-care and I tell you, you need to be selfish sometimes. You can not be everything to everyone your mental health is a priority.
Clean your home
Cleaning your home daily is an important step to keeping your home tidy always, you don’t need to spend hours every day cleaning.
What you can do daily is set a 10–20 minutes timer depending on the time you have, pick up things around the house and do a little cleaning. Once the time is up, you stop, you will be surprised how much work you are able to do.
Read before bed
This is one habit I never do but I know I should, reading is not one of the things I like doing. I know it bad even when I start I fall off the habit so if you can, trying reading before bedtime.
It helps expand your mind and knowledge and also helps you sleep faster than watching movies or staying on your phone.
You can try reading for specific hours in a day or some pages a day. We are halfway down the 15 good daily habits that will improve your life and I hope you have seen 1 or 2 habits to add to your routine?
Meditation
Take some minutes in your day to meditate, it helps reduce stress and helps you manage your mind. There are different forms of meditation. For me, I have been trying consciously to do my morning devotion.
Get up immediately
When your alarm goes up, try as much as possible not to go back to bed. Some people recommend keeping your alarm in a different room from where you are sleeping so you will have to walk to the other room to switch it off.
For me I have decided to take my mornings slow, so when my alarm rings I wake up but still lay in bed for a few minutes before getting up.
Daily Gratitude
You have to be grateful every day because waking up every day is a gift. Take your time and write down at least 3 things you are grateful for and I bet you will find yourself happier every day.
Celebrate your wins, whenever you accomplish things or hit a milestone in your life celebrate it. This will make you happy and you will want to put more effort to accomplish more because you will get to celebrate it too.
Get at least 8 hrs of sleep
Experts recommend that healthy adults get an average of 7 to 9 hours per night of sleep because it has lots of health benefits. So try sleeping that long daily.
FINAL THOUGHTS
These are the 15 good daily habits you can add to your routine to help improve your life. So tell me in the comments which ones you practice and the ones you will want to start implementing. Remember, you must not do it all at once, just start small and build from there.
THANKS FOR READING!!
