5 Simple Habits to Improve Every Major Aspect of Your Life

The best habits that have a chance to improve your life are the ones that are simple and easy to incorporate in your daily life.

These are 5 simple habits you can start right now to improve your life:

1. 1. Get a high quality sleep
   2. Review your day
   3. Spend time with positive people
   4. Read every day
   5. Have a focused spending plan

Our habits and actions are what defines us. Not our situation or even our current abilities. By definition habits are acquired modes of behavior that have become nearly or completely involuntary. To take control of your life you must learn to take control of your habits. And to take control of your habits you must take continuous and deliberate actions towards your goal, until those actions become your habits. 

5 SIMPLE HABITS TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

1. Get a high quality sleep

Getting a good nights’ sleep, most nights a week, is the first habit you should establish if you want to improve your life. This is the easiest habit you can adopt and in return you’ll get to see fast and consistent improvements in every area of your life.

Although this is by far not new information it’s the most overlooked one. There is a vast amount of research and evidence that proves lack of quality sleep leads to depression, impaired cognitive functions, dementia and even obesity. Yet so many of us try to survive the day sleep deprived.

But to thrive you must give your body and mind time to rest and recover. For every action, physical or cognitive, you need energy. And to perform your best you want your energy levels to be at their maximum. Quality sleep is the only way to recharge your energy stores.

Notice I mention quality sleep, not long sleep. When it comes to sleep, quality is far more important than quantity. 

TO GET A QUALITY SLEEP FOLLOW THESE FEW SIMPLE RULES

• • Stop eating at least 2 hours before sleep
  • 1 hour before sleep turn off all the screens and if possible dim the lights
  • Aerate the bedroom
  • Keep the temperature in the bedroom bellow 68°F (20°C) if possible
  • Black out the bedroom or use sleep mask
  • If you live in a loud household get earplugs
  • Go to bed before 11 pm

The improvements you will experience once you start sleeping well will amaze you. On top of having more energy you will also become more focused, motivated, calm, present, patient and optimistic.

 

 

2. Review your day

To get a thorough insight on how you’re doing, it’s smart to take a few minutes every day to review the day. Answer a set of questions and over time you will notice patterns. They will show what works for you and where is room for improvement. Also they will remind you of your goals and motivate you to do your best.

You can do this as a thought exercise. But if you do it in a form of a journal you’ll have added benefit of clearing the mind and reducing stress.

10 QUESTIONS TO REVIEW THE DAY

• Did I give my best today? (If the answer is no then ask Why didn’t I give my best?)
• What am I grateful for today?
• If I could repeat this day, what would I do differently?
• What was the highlight of the day?
• What was the lowest point of the day?
• Did I accomplish all of my plans for the day?
• What were the challenges I faced today?
• How did I handle them?
• What are my biggest goals?
• What are my priorities in life?

 

 

3. Spend time with positive people

All your hard work may be diminished if you spend your time with people that bring you down. If you notice someone close to you constantly complaining, but never doing anything about it, or making drama out of every situation. In a most loving and caring manner say their behavior is not helping them and is bringing you down and they need to stop it. On the other hand if it’s somebody you barely know and don’t really care about, well then matter is pretty simple. Just cut them out of your life. But if that’s impossible, because you work together, then at least bring down communication to a bare minimum. Instantly your life will become much more easier and less stressful.

Our brains have mirror neurons that help us mimic the behavior of others. Those neurons are important for development, education and relationships. And they are always at work. Meaning mirror neurons don’t decide which behavior is acceptable and which is not. They just pick up what they repeatedly see. 

Surround yourself with people that are positive and motivated. With people who have ambitions and goals. And your brain will mirror that behavior.

 

4. Read every day

If you want to gain new knowledge, perspectives, experiences, creative ideas and solutions then you must read.

Writers pour all their experiences and knowledge into books they write. By reading books all of that knowledge goes directly into your brain, and the brain takes it in as if it’s his own.

Develop a growth mindset and commit yourself to lifelong learning. Every day you have a chance to improve yourself in some way and learn something new.

Instead of wasting your time on endless scrolling, that leaves you feeling like a failure. Pick up a book and invest that time in your own growth. 

 

Check out this list of websites for downloading free e-books

 

5. Make a focused spending plan

For a majority of us budgeting just doesn’t work. It’s easy to sit and plan how much to spend on what but when it’s time to carry out that plan it just doesn’t go as planned.

But there is another approach to managing finances. It is called FOCUSED SPENDING PLAN. First start by tracking your expenses for 3 months. Then analyze your spending pattern and figure out what is important and what is unnecessary. Now cut out completely all the expenses you marked as unnecessary. This is the only way you will always have money for what is important.

 

 

FOR EXTRA CREDIT

-more habits to improve your life-

Eat clean

Your health is the most important asset you will ever have. Take great care of it.

The easiest way to care for health is to eat whole foods and avoid all processed garbage. Your body is not a garbage can so don’t treat it that way.

Take immediate action

Good ideas don’t come by often. And when one does you don’t want to let it slip away. So next time when an idea comes to your mind instead of overthinking it to the point of giving up on it, try materializing it immediately. There are only two ways to materialize the idea. One is to take an immediate action, no matter how small, that will mark the beginning of something new. Second is to write it down, with a nearest date and time for when you will start working on it.

This same approach you can apply whenever you have a task that needs to be done. Do it immediately or write down the nearest time when you will do it.

 

 

Increase your minimum

A long time ago I noticed that life will give you exactly the minimum of what you believe you need and deserve. Nothing more, nothing less. If you really want to improve your life you must increase your minimum and lower your tolerance for the current situation. If you want to live a great life with which you are satisfied and proud of, then everything less than that must become intolerable. As long as you are accepting your current situation you will never give extra effort to change it. And that extra effort is what will get the ball rolling for you. Increase your minimum and see life respond to it.

Learn to say no

How many times do you say yes just out of politeness or fear of what will happen if you say no? How many times did you fail to complete your task just because you said yes to somebodies’ request, although you knew you didn’t have time for it. To improve your life you must learn to say no when you don’t want or can’t do something, without feeling guilty about it. And say yes only when it really matters and to the people who matter. And other times offer advice or a later time, after you’ve met your priorities first.

 

This is self care in its truest form. It is not indulging your momentary wishes. But doing now what will benefit you further down the road. It is taking control of your life and doing your best day in and day out.

Do you have some simple habits that helped you improve your life? Share your knowledge with us in the comments, I would love to read about it.

 

Have a great day!