7 OF THE BEST DAILY HABITS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE
One of my most important daily habits? Starting off with a quote. This is my current favourite...
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” - Oprah Winfrey
Attitude is so important when it comes to going after the life you want. And if you want to lead with a positive attitude then you need to take control of your day. That’s where daily habits come in.
In this post, I’m going to share the 7 daily habits that I believe will do just that and help you change your life for the better.
What Is A Habit?
If you’re new around here you may not know my obsession with all things habits and change. Well let me tell you - it’s significant.
First let’s remind ourselves of the definition of a habit.
Habits are tasks that we practice throughout the day which allow us to start routines and keep us from having to make too many decisions. And the less decision-making we put ourselves through, the easier it is for us to take on the bigger moments that need a little bit more brain power.
When you have a lot of good personal habits and limit the bad, you are building that infrastructure for an amazing life. That’s why I’m so obsessed with this topic.
I know I have found the best habits that help me have the right attitude every single day. They have taken me from someone aimlessly wandering through a boring existence, and have turned me into a high-performing and ambitious designer of my own life.
That’s why I want to share them with you today.
Daily Habit #1 | A Self-Care Ritual
I talk about this a lot over on Instagram. This not only helps you start your day with your best foot forward, but it also improves your mindset.
There’s a post on the blog here in which I’ve talked about my morning routine in more detail, but it includes a number of different daily habits including:
Getting a workout in
Having a good breakfast and drinking water
Gratitude journal and daily affirmations
Personal development through reading a book
This routine is mostly the same each day (which is what makes it a routine). But it also changes every once in a while; sometimes I’ll read a couple of pages, sometimes I’ll read for a bit longer.
But those things that are there no matter what make me feel really good, because it makes you realise that you started the day on your own terms.
This is why in the Free 4-Day Mini Training Series I’m hosting this week, there’s a whole day dedicated to habits, activities and routines. Find out more info and join the free series here.
There used to a time when I’d wake up, roll over in bed and either hit snooze or engage with my phone next to my bed which is a TERRIBLE idea.
Snoozing is bad, we all know that. But looking at your phone to decide how you feel about your day based on what other people have tweeted? No thank you.
My self-care morning ritual is one of my essential daily habits that is my holy grail and it’s the best tip I could ever give you.
Daily Habit #2 | Move Your Body & Track It
We’re not going to call this exercise, we’re going to call it MOVING your body. But tracking it is also important. When I exercise, I want to feel like I’ve accomplished something by doing it, not just the good feeling of exercise.
I want to know how many calories I’ve burnt, I want to log it in in my app and mark it as a habit that I’ve done.
That way if I get asked, “do you work out 3-5 days a week?” I can say, YES I do.
There is a lot to be said about tracking your exercise and it’s the same for dieting too. Start logging what you eat and it’ll open your eyes about how much you eat every single day.
But the key is to move your body and track it at least 3-5 days a week. When it comes to weekly habits, that has changed my life.
Daily Habit #3 | Time-Restricted Eating
Let me start off by saying that I don’t do this currently and I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. But it does work for the right mindset and is becoming a lot more popular.
Time-restricted eating is only eating during an 8-hour period of the day at least 5 days a week. It’s basically a form of intermittent fasting. So you fast for 16 hours, five days a week.
This helps you to understand how much you’re eating throughout the day by having a very focused period of time that you do this.
The point of all this is that when your body is in a “fasting state” (not eating for a period of time), your body starts to use your fat stores, instead of waiting for you to take them in and then storing them. So while you’re eating they’re being stored and while you’re not eating, they’re being burnt.
I know lots of people who have used this method and they said it has changed the way they think about food, they look at snacking differently and they feel better every single day.
Daily Habit #4 | Reading
When it comes to daily habits to improve your life, reading is one of the best ones.
I love that I am in a stage of my life that means I love to read. Especially because science is proving that readers are rocking it.
Not only are they successful and going after the life they want, but they also have a longer life.
This habit is amazing.
If you admire someone, want to learn from someone or if you just want to talk to someone - read their book! Yes it’s not the same, but you get to know people on a very deep level.
And if you are a content creator, you should never sit down with someone you want to interview or someone you want to collaborate with, without reading their book.
This is a pro networking tip too. You can really break ground with someone if you do your research.
Reading is one of those positive habits that has changed my life in a lot of ways, especially from a mindset standpoint. We’re not always right, we don’t always have the answers - and other people do.
Daily Habit #5 | Reach Out To 5 People
This habit is one that I have to remember to do and it can be hard sometimes because I’m introverted and I like to sit in my office to do my work. But if you’re looking for daily habits of successful people, you can bet they’re networking every single day.
This allows me to be a high-performing, connected person, while also working from home. I am at home a lot, I talk to my dog for most of the day so as you can imagine, I need to connect with humans.
My husband is one of those people first thing in the morning and when he comes home. But there are lots of people we meet in life and if we don’t follow up on those relationships and nurture them, it’s very easy to lose track of them.
I try and reach out to around 10 people every single day, usually on Instagram. You might want to send a “just because” text to 5 of your friends.
Doing this has changed my life because it keeps me connected to other people and it helps me find new opportunities. Here are a few conversation starters:
I was just thinking about you
I have something you might like to see
What are you struggling with and where do you need the most help with that
The key is to customise it. Doing that every single day will make you the most connected introvert who works from home that there could ever be.
Daily Habit #6 | Evening Task Review
This won’t come as a shock to you if you’ve been around here for a while. Reviewing my tasks on my calendar every night is one of those simple daily habits that has the biggest impact.
I have to look at my calendar because I schedule EVERYTHING there (click here for a full tutorial). Looking at my calendar gives me a good way of knowing what I need to be prepared for.
This has also allowed me to be a lot more efficient with my time. Knowing what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it makes you hyper-aware of the time you actually have in your day, and that’s what I do every single night.
It makes me go into the next day prepared without having to do as much preparation as you would think. It’s more overwhelming going into something that you haven’t given a lot of thought to, if your schedule is getting busier by the day.
You just have to know what’s coming, when you have to do it, and how much time you have to do it so that you can be much more effective.
That is one of those daily habits that has completely changed my life. I know for a fact that I have been able to do more over longer periods of time because I am focused on the short period of time.
Daily Habit #7 | Evicting Devices From The Bedroom
If you bring your phone into your room after a certain time, it’s a slippery slope. Don’t even bring your phone into your bedroom when you know it’s time to shut things down.
Tuck it in, plug it in, put it away. And when the alarm goes off, that’s what makes you get out of bed because you have to walk into the room your phone is in and you turn it off.
At the weekend it’s different because it’s the weekend. But even on those nights I’m so habitual about looking at my phone so that I can get a good sleep, that I don’t look at it.
Sleeping with your phone in another room, limiting any lights or devices in your room and having that self-awareness is so valuable.
It helps you be healthier in your mind, you don’t know what people are doing all the time and that helps you get a lot more done.
So if you are saying you want to take your phone to bed with you, you’re basically saying you want to take the whole world to bed with you. All their ideas, all their problems, all their opinions and I don’t know about you, but I don’t have enough room for that.
Those are my 7 daily habits to change your life and since we started with a quote, let’s finish with one.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.” - Audre Lorde
Now I want to hear from you - what is something you wish you could change in your life? Leave that in the comments below.
And just another reminder that if you love the idea of simplifying routines, building habits and being self-aware, I’m running a Free 4-Day Mini Series next week called How to Simplify Your Social Media Strategy and Sign More Clients in 4 Days. It’s going to teach you how to simplify your social media marketing strategy so you can attract your idea client, sell your product online and increase your income and impact. Be sure to join the series here so you don’t miss it!