Today I will be sharing with you 20 habits to change your life.

Habits have the enormous power to make or break us in life.

Whether our days are primarily made up of good habits or bad ones, the evidence will show itself in our health, happiness and productivity.

Clearly negative habits are much easier to adopt than positive habits.

Positive habits require discipline and routine, but once we design a life that consists primarily of good habits we begin to move through our days with more ease and consistency.

There is less effort required once we have created systems that lead to positive results and outcomes.

Today I have put together a simple guide of 20 positive habits that can have a dramatic effect on your life if put into practice.

20 Habits to Change Your Life – Ultimate Guide!

Get enough sleep

Sleep deprivation contributes to all forms of problems including irritability, anxiety, depression and weight gain. Prioritise enough sleep.

According to experts, most adults need 7-9 hours a night. According to the National sleep foundation, the appropriate amount of sleep for adults may range from 6 to 10 hours of sleep.

With experts saying you need between 6 and 10 hours of sleep how do you know how many hours of sleep you need?

Do you feel rested when you wake? Are you able to wake up without an alarm or easily get up when the alarm goes off?

These are signs you are getting enough sleep.

Feeling fatigued is a sign that you need more sleep. During times of emotional and physical stress, we often need extra sleep.

Early morning routine

Never underestimate the power of a solid morning routine.

A morning routine not only sets your day up for success, but if planned accordingly, it can create additional time in your day to work towards your goals.

This is the magic about mornings.

The time is yours, because it’s happening before the busyness of the day hits.

Beginning a morning routine is one of the most important habits to start right now.

Waking up early is tough (I’m not really a fan either), but it is so worth it.

Spend less time on social media/internet

With the advancement of technology this day, people tend to spend more time on social media than real people.

Social media has taken over the world, people tend to use it for different things. Social media and the internet have made so many people rich but let’s not forget the fact that it has made some not useful.

People spend hours on social media without doing anything. Spend less time on social media and you will see the result you get on a daily basis.

If you have something important to do, I will advise you to get rid of or delete the apps and focus on your business. Use social media in your spare time when you are not using it for business.

Celebrate your wins

Make it a habit to celebrate your wins. High fives might seem cliché but there’s magic in the movement.

If you don’t believe me, check out one of the most popular TED talks of all time by Amy Cuddy.

Make a habit of saying the right thing to yourself and others with your body language.

Small tweaks can bring about big changes.

And, have a little fun, too. Life’s too short for anything less.

If you can, encourage celebrating wins in your workplace, too.

A change in office culture, to one of support and congratulations, will have an uplifting effect on the energy and mood of any workplace.

Mood is contagious so make sure the right one is catching. You won’t just be changing your life; you’ll be changing the lives of those around you.

Declutter

Whether it’s your car, your closet or your bedroom, it’s time to clean things out.

We often overlook the fact that clutter is actually a form of mental and physical constraint.

There is a sense of harmony that comes from things being neat and orderly and this has psychological benefits.

You don’t have to be an “OCD” type all the time, but the mere act of cleaning and decluttering is extremely calming and liberating.

A lack of cleanliness and organisation often leads to elevated stress and depression.

It also suggests low self-worth as your outer world is a reflection of your inner world.

You’ve most likely heard the saying: out with the old, in with the new.

Make space for new opportunities to flow into your life by releasing items that keep you tied to the past and see if it doesn’t have a positive effect on your happiness.

Practice gratitude everyday

Focusing on gratitude will instantly shift your mindset to positive.

No matter what is going on in your life, you have the power to shift your focus to gratitude.

I also encourage the use of a gratitude journal – Every day write down or even just note in your mind at the end of each day, focus on everything you’re grateful for in your life and also how those things impact your life.

Always aim for at least 3 things.

Here’s some examples from my own journal:

• I am grateful for the increase in traffic to my website today
• I am grateful for the nice walk I had with Jo and Alfie (the dog) today
• I am grateful for seeing the twins today

Try to make your gratitude note specific to today. So rather than me writing I’m so grateful for everyone who visits my website.

I would write, I’m so grateful for all of the people who visited my website today, and I’m especially grateful for the lady who took the time to leave a message saying how helpful my post was to her.

Gratitude is life changer when practiced regularly.

Exercise

Exercise is one of those habits that everyone talks about. It makes you roll your eyes when you hear or read about it. Like what else is new? Exercise is good for you.

To me, exercise is a very important habit physically and mentally. I especially notice how much it impacts my life when I don’t do it.

I become stressed, I’m also reactive and it shows in my relationships, in my work and in the decisions I make.

I can’t seem to stay clear and objective when I don’t do it. Plus, I just feel tired and ache all the time.

So, I try to make exercise a part of my day whether it would be by walking for at least an hour, going to the gym, stretching, running or doing an at home workout.

It has become a part of my life and it fits naturally. If it’s still not a part of your daily routine, just try it.

Meditation

I can’t stress how life changing meditation truly is! You may have tried it and not liked it, or you may have not done it for longer enough to see the results.

I urge you to create a daily meditation practice if you want to create a calm mind, body and life.

There are numerous studies proving the benefits of meditation on stress, depression, anxiety and even physical health!

Practice Mindfulness

When you practice Mindfulness you expand you consciousness which brings you peace of mind.

I can’t explain how much this practice has changed my life. When you’re mindful your life will transform massively.

By living in the present moment, you become at peace with your past thoughts and illusions made up in your mind.

Observe your thoughts, become at peace with them, take away the emotional attachment.

When you find your mind wandering, revert back to the present moment.

The more you live in the present moment, the mind quickly loses control over you. The mind is a tool that should be working for you, not controlling you.

This takes a lot of practice, as your mind has spent so many years in control. The mind has been projecting its illusions on you all your life.

Purchase a book, research it on YouTube. The Mindfulness practice is life changing when used consistently and persistently!

Set goals, but enjoy the process of working towards them

I try to live in the present moment as much as possible in my life, but how do you focus on the present while you’re busy working toward your goals for the future?

It’s an interesting paradox that I struggled with for a while.

Over time, I realised that you can set goals for the future, but you have to be present and focused while you’re working to accomplish them.

I used to always rush through projects just to get them over with, but I realised that’s not a good way to live my life.

Instead, I told myself to enjoy the process a little bit more.

When you’re always rushing through things in order to move on to the next project, you miss opportunities to be creative and produce your best work.

These days, I try to be more present when I’m working on something.

Reflection is important, so I’ve started doing weekly and monthly check-ins with myself to stop myself from charging ahead into the future.

Forgive

By forgiving someone, you are moving forward in your life. This can release you from misery and from holding onto the past. Forgiveness has helped me with living in the moment.

Instead of holding onto grudges and disappointments, I have used this time to focus on more beneficial things that can improve my life instead of bringing it down.

Self-care

No matter how crazy life gets we all need to make time for self-care. Spending time loving yourself is important for our physical, mental and emotional well-being.

When you take care of your needs, you feel nourished, content, in balance and this supports your ability to feel at peace. Self-care builds resilience in times of challenge.

Self-care is self-love. When you identify what nourishes and feeds your soul, and as you provide this for yourself, you feel loved.

It’s important to assess how much self-care you give, especially if you have recently (or if you have for a prolonged time), felt emotionally or physically drained or exhausted.

Self-care is also a learned behaviour. We are shown how to do this early in our lives as it is modelled by our caregivers and taught to us.

You may need to teach yourself self-care if it is something that you have not learned.

As self-care becomes a naturally occurring daily habit, your positive feelings about yourself grow immensely – and you feel autonomous as you are able to care for your needs.

This is important for you to have a healthy relationship with yourself. You need to love yourself too!

Listen to podcasts

Podcasts are literally my favourite. They are easy to access and can help you escape from reality for a little. By listening to podcasts you are staying informed and growing as an individual.

I optimise my time by listening to them while I am working or getting ready for my day in the morning.

Drink more water

A simple yet vital daily requirement, drinking water. This not only hydrates you but improves your bodily functions, preventing headaches, washes out toxins from the body, and helps with weight loss.

Drinking water can solve other problems such as clearing skin issues and providing mental clarity. One way to drink more water is to keep a water bottle with you at all times so you can hydrate yourself throughout the day.

I personally like to drink room temperature and hot water; this helps with digestion.

Smile more

A simple smile has more influence on your day and others than you may think. Smiling improves your mood and you can even trick yourself into feeling better. Next time you are upset and frowning force yourself into smiling, it will make you feel better.

Volunteer/Give back

Not everyone has spare change to hand out to everyone. If you do, great! But there are a variety of other ways to help others without spending money.

You can give them a meaningful compliment or even volunteer to help them with something such as washing their car.

There is absolutely nothing to lose in this situation, this habit will not only make the other person happy but you will feel good as well!

Make your bed

At the risk of sounding like your mom, please make your bed. Not only will it feel good to get into a made bed at night, but it’s important for the success of your day.

Making your bed first thing every morning means one small win before you even have a cup of coffee, which subconsciously will motivate you to achieve thousands of small wins throughout the day (and you know what they say about small wins: they lead up to really big ones).

Plus, Gretchen Rubin found in her research that it’s the easiest and most common daily habit you can do to boost happiness.

Listen

You learn so much more when you are listening instead of speaking. By listening you can build a relationship with the other person because they will notice you seem interested. Also, you learn something new from each person you meet, why not take advantage of this and learn from their stories. Plus, you may be missing out on a good laugh by not listening!

Read books

Reading just 30 minutes a day over time will produce amazing benefits. I hear you – “What? I don’t have 30 minutes a day to read!”

Well, quite honestly, I think we spend at least that amount of time on other activities like social media or television each day.

Plus, I would add that we really cannot afford not to acquire this habit. Reading 30 minutes a day would mean that you could probably get through 2-3 books in a month and 24 to 36 books in a year!

That is amazing! Think of all you could learn in one year by cultivating a simple daily habit of reading.

Always learn new things

Learning never stops – even though some people stop learning as soon as they are done with their education.

However, the only way to survive in this world and stay on top of things is to be adaptable and continuously learn new skills and gain new knowledge.

With all of the information and books available online nowadays, it’s very simple to do this.

20 habits to change your life – Final thought

It’s worth it to note that we still have down days even if we’re the best at implementing these actions. It’s a part of life. However, these daily actions will help make those stormy days a little less dark, and make it so much easier to weather through.

Also, these habits don’t just create happiness, but also can be life changing in what you can achieve. With a brighter outlook, more energy and a positive mindset, the possibilities for our lives are endless!

What are you doing to live a better life?

I would love to hear your thoughts on what you are doing to change your life in the coming days and years!

If you have any questions please reach out to me via adam@adam-lawrence.org. I would love to hear from you!

I really hope you found inspiration in this article.

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Adam

Hello! My name is Adam and welcome to my space on the internet. Here you can find me writing about subjects such as spiritual growth, self-discovery, wellbeing, addiction recovery and mental health. Please connect with me on my journey and join the community!