Habits can either ‘make or break’ us in our lives. They can either assist us towards success, or can be a hindrance and drag us towards failure. Habits, whether good or bad, are unavoidable and are a part of our all our lives. They can ultimately have the power to shape our lives, and are a big part of who we are.
Establishing good habits is no easy task, not even for the very successful. The struggle is real when it comes finding ways to make good habits become part of our routine. Being proactive and consciously trying to build good habits is extremely important.
Focusing on becoming proactive instead of reactive will increase our chances creating good habits. It’s better to make goals for positive habits, rather than to try and eliminate our routines with bad habits.
What good habits should we be proactive in trying to create?
Establishing good habits is a positive thing, no matter what they are. Eliminating the bad ones are also very beneficial. However, focus your efforts in establishing these 12 habits into your daily routine, and you will feel invigorated, strengthened, and ready to take on the world.
1) Be Positive.
Negative thoughts never feel good, and never leads to happiness. On the other hand, positive thoughts do feel good and will lead to a higher state of happiness. The mind is a powerful thing, and we can master it to allow us to accomplish more in life.
As we become more positive, we will feel more control over our emotions. We will argue less, love more, see the light in all things, and live life in a happier state. This will allow us to become better entrepreneurs, parents, spouses, friends, and people.
2) Be Thankful.
Being thankful needs to be a daily thing, and not just when it’s Thanksgiving. It’s easy to get caught up in all the negativity and focus on what we don’t have in life. However, as we focus on what we do have, it starts to make life much more enjoyable. Being thankful will not only make us feel better, but is actually good for our health.
At the end of each night, repeat out loud three things in which you are thankful for. This will force your mind and flood it with positive thoughts, which will then lead you to a happier state as you go to bed. My wife and I have been doing this for the last few years, and it’s become one of the better pats of my day.
3) Have Charity.
Charity is a powerful thing. It’s actually pretty contagious. The interesting thing about charity is typically the person who benefits the most, is actually the person giving it. Charity does something to us, it invokes emotions and makes us feel as if we are on could 9. It automatically boosts our morale, and strengthens our emotional well-being. We tend to view the world in a better light when we are in a charitable mood. Charity is not only serving others, but it encompasses patience, kindness, love, and loyalty. . Striving to be charitable each and every day is hard, but the positive benefits will pay off exponentially for both you and those which you help.
4) Smile.
Science has proven that smiling creates endorphins. Each time we smile our neurotransmitters release the endorphins throughout our body. Endorphins are proven to help relieve pain and induce feelings of pleasure and euphoria. It’s quite simple, the more we smile, the happier our state of mind will be.
5) Get Organized.
If you’re an entrepreneur, then your life is probably going 100 different directions. You have the bills to think about, your company, your family, social life, your image, and a ton of other things. Your life is getting pulled in so many directions at the exact same time.
Take 5 minutes each morning, and organize yourself for the rest of the day. Make a detailed list of what you need to accomplish, and list them in order of relevance. By doing this, you will learn to organize your days better, which will not only allow you to accomplish more, but it will ease the stress of feeling like your in so many directions.
6) Wake up early
A Biologist from Harvard found that early risers are more proactive during the day.
Waking up early is proven to enhance ones productivity. There are less distractions in the morning, therefore allowing you to accomplish more. Arising early has proven to aid us in being more optimistic, positive, and upbeat. Establishing a habit of waking up early will ultimately allow your days to be more meaningful than when waking up late.
7) Go to bed early
Science has proven that more rest helps lead to better brain functions and being more alert. Going to bed early allows us to rest both physically and mentally, which helps us get the recharge we need for the next day. Studies claim that proper sleep also aids in weight loss as well as strengthens our immune system. Experts say we should ultimately aim to get between seven-eight hours of rest each night. Avoiding distractions like browsing our digital devices in bed will allow our minds to wind down and fall asleep easier.
8) Exercise
Everyone knows that exercising is essential for maintaining a good weight, and improves our physical health. However, people don’t realize the powerful effect that exercising has on our emotional well being. Josh Steimle, a renowned speaker, writer, and entrepreneur, wrote an article titled “Why Exercising Is a Higher Priority Than My Business”.
Josh states “when I exercise, that makes me better in every role I have, whether it’s as a husband, father, friend or entrepreneur. If I were to stop exercising because I felt that being a good business owner was a higher priority, then ironically I would end up a worse business owner than I was when it was a lower priority”.
When we get in a solid exercise routine every day, we will see ourselves become better entrepreneurs, parents, spouses, and friends.
9) Serve others
Serving others aids to our happiness. A team of sociologists tracked 2000 people over a five year period and found that those who identified as “very happy” volunteered at least 5.8 hours per month. Other studies have shown that those who give back and serve others will have a higher sense of happiness, health, and sense of well-being. Helping others can be done in a variety of ways, we just need to look for opportunities to serve others.
10) Set goals
Goals are created with the purpose of helping us achieve more in life, whatever it may be. We need to constantly set goals if we want to continue to progress and accomplish more. If we are not setting goals, that means we are not striving to progress, which means we will most likely not accomplish any more tomorrow than we did today. We need to create daily goals, weekly goals, and monthly goals. Our daily goals need to support with our weekly goals, and our weekly goals need support our monthly goals. Ultimately, this is the secret to becoming better today than we were yesterday, and becoming even better tomorrow than we were today.
11) Focus
The world hasn’t ever had so many distractions as it does today. Today our focus competes with Facebook, snap chat, Instagram, ESPN, Bleacher Report, work, family, Netflix, TV, and so much more. We are constantly trying to do too many things at the same time, ultimately not allowing us to fully invest ourselves into one task. Multi-tasking is not a bad thing, but we need to make sure we give the proper things our full commitment and focus.
How many companies are you trying to start? How many ideas are you trying to experiment with? How many diets are you trying to do? How many TV shows are you trying to watch? How many people are you trying to date? We are never going to be successful with anything we do as long as we are sharing our time. Focus on the task at hand 100%, once completed, move on to the next task. It’s better to be 100% successful with one thing, rather than 5% successful with 20 different things. When you are in the office, focus on being in the office. When you are with your family, focus on being with your family. When you are at school, focus on being at school. Learn how to focus your time on one thing at a time and watch your results take off like never before.
12) Live In “The Now”
Living in “the now” means to live and love the present moment. How many times do we not enjoy the true pleasures right in front of us because our minds are distracted with thinking of either the past or the future. Time is something we cannot control, and whatever we are enjoying at the moment will eventually come to an end. We must learn to enjoy the present day, the present moment, the present opportunity, and love it. If we are always thinking about what may come tomorrow, we are going to have a lot of failed today’s. Learn to live in ‘the now’, and your emotional well being and productivity will sky rocket.
Bringing It All Together
By being proactive and establishing these essential good habits, you will lift your emotional well-being, raise your happiness, and skyrocket your productivity and love for life.
Originally published at medium.com