A new year is often seen as an opportunity to reflect on the past year and make changes moving forward. My advice? Instead of making unrealistic New Year’s resolutions on a whim, consider your current habits and how they affect your life now. By making small adjustments to your existing routine, you will be able to make tangible changes and see a lasting impact on your future trajectory.
Over the past year, there were times that I was so busy, I found myself having to schedule my showers! This hectic lifestyle led me to buy pre-arranged meals and stay up till 2 am only to wake up again 5 hours later. While I was accomplishing a lot in some areas of my life, I was sacrificing in other areas. I was disconnecting from things that I loved like spending time in the kitchen and with my loved ones. This wasn’t the life that I wanted to lead. I decided that it was time to start reinvesting in my relationships, in my cooking, and most importantly… in myself.
One afternoon, my aunt sent me this video and I believe it’s helping me to change my life and its course, one morning at a time. The advice here is so simple: “If you want to change the world, start by making your bed.”
This seems like a crazy statement… but once I actually started doing it, I found that oddly enough, it worked!
In this blog, I give you a list of FIVE habits to change your life, which has become my fuel for change, driving my passion, staying organized, and fulfilling my commitments.
First, WHY is this important?
By focusing on one small task, like making my bed, I’m able to start the day on a positive note without making excuses for a simple job. With this small gesture, I have more control and structure for the rest of my day. Developing this habit has helped me to calm down so much! Instead of becoming overwhelmed by the daunting task of planning my entire day first thing in the morning, I am able to take the first small step in organizing myself on my own terms and the rest follows.
Habits Vs. Goals
Habits are any repetitive behaviours that are part of your daily or weekly routine. On the other hand, goals rely on willpower and self-discipline. You can set small goals to make it a habit. Once something is a habit, it comes as second nature and doesn’t feel forced; because of this, habits can help create lasting positive change.
Are you also finding yourself always stuck in the rat race and not truly enjoying your life? Follow at least one or all of these 5 Habits to Change your Life TODAY.
1. MAKE YOUR BED
- By doing this, you’ll feel a sense of pride by having one thing done right off the bat to kick off your day.
- No matter what happens in the day, you checked off one thing on your list, and that’s an accomplishment!
- Plus, it’s always a nice feeling to uncover your bed at the end of the day.
2. WRITE DOWN INTENTIONS
- Think about your week overall, and imagine: what is it that I want to complete by the end of this day?
- For me, I write down my goals and prioritize them on the spot – top 3 things that must be done.
- I use my Passion Planner where I get to see the big picture and dive into the nitty-gritty of daily planning. I noticed this really helped me streamline my thought process and prevented me from getting overwhelmed.
- If you are working on making a habit stick, use my custom goalsetter – this is exactly how I started changing my habits.
3. LEARN SOMETHING NEW
- Taking the time to learn something new gives us a self-fulfilling purpose in personal and professional development on the daily.
- For me, I have a 45-60 minute drive to work, every day, both ways. I downloaded “Podbean” and sought recommendations from my community to make my drive more exciting.
- I now listen to one to two podcasts a day, which makes better use of my time. It allows me to keep learning or stay motivated, and to open up to new lessons and ways of thinking.
4. EAT AT HOME AT LEAST 5 TIMES A WEEK
- By making this a standard for myself, I find new ways to be creative in the kitchen and treat myself and my food better.
- I reduce waste by using what I bought at the grocery store. I save money in the process, but also save the environment. Win-Win!
- It gives me a great deal of accomplishment and satisfaction when I get creative with seemingly random ingredients and create something delicious.
- Just the other day, I had this chickpea roti at home. I tasted it and it was a little spicy and had an amazing flavour of fennel/cumin integrated throughout. I ended up using it to make a curried tuna melt with cooked tomato, zucchini, spinach and green onion. Had I not been inspired by the chickpea roti, I would have most likely made the tuna melt the same ol’ way that I always have.
- If hearing this example has inspired you to be more resourceful with your ingredients, I’m certain I can help. I’ve helped many others develop basic skills in food literacy and cooking sense. They are now able to apply these skills to make meals without a recipe in a matter of months.
5. PRACTICE SELF-LOVE
- Keep your heart and mind open!
- Reassure yourself that you are totally accepting of change – things come up and change the “plan” and that’s okay!
- Just like a GPS, take a minute to recalculate your “route” and continue on this journey that you can call YOURS. No one else needs to be steering the wheel! 😉
That’s it, folks! These are the top 5 surprising habits that have changed my life, and will certainly change yours too!
No matter what habit you’re working on incorporating, the key is to break it down into smaller, more manageable and less intimidating steps to accomplish it. For example: instead of trying to find the time to finish a book in a whole sitting, try to find the time to read one chapter. This will make it easier for you to accomplish your goal and facilitate transforming it into a habit.
To help you do this, I’ve created a custom Goalsetter Poster.
- Print it and post it on your wall in a visible spot (your office, bedroom, etc…).
- Write 1-3 small goals you want to make consistent in your life.
- Track your goals daily for 2 weeks, by checking it off every day when you accomplish your goal.
- Doing this will help you visualize your goals, see your progress, and start looking forward to adding that check at the end of the day.
