Incorporating healthy habits into your lifestyle can have a profound effect on your personal and professional life. Successful people establish good habits and utilize them consistently in different fields and stages of their careers. It’s important that you start by setting smaller expectations for yourself. Developing these habits and slowly adding them to your routine helps you stay consistent, work harder, manage your time well, and achieve your goals more efficiently.
- Sleep – Most of us feel like we need more sleep but how many of us prioritize getting it? Studies show the average adult requires 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to be consistently productive. Without it you run the risk of burn-out. Try to create a routine of going to bed and getting up at the same time everyday and test how it improves your well-being over time.
- Wake up early – The more time we dedicate to being successful, the more likely we are to succeed. Rising early repeatedly appears among those who do well in life.
- Leave your comfort zone – Do something different, everyday. If every decision you make is a comfortable one, you’re missing out on opportunities for growth.
- Learn to say NO – Prioritize what is important to you personally and professionally and learn how to say no to things that hinder the success of those priorities. When you say no, don’t feel guilty about it!
- Listen – Inspiration can come from anywhere, so you need to listen. Listen to customers, former clients, children, drivers, people in the checkout lane. You never know who will help you solve a business dilemma without them even realizing it.
- Stick to your goals – Every business decision moves you either closer to or farther away from your year-end goals . Which is it? Remove emotion from the decision-making process by thinking about goals.
- Plan ahead – Get ahead of the game by planning for the future. Careful planning will allow you to analyse the situation and determine the right path for success. Having a plan in place before a deadline will help alleviate the stress of tying up loose ends in the midnight hour.
- Be grateful – Don’t explain away a compliment and don’t wish the good things away hoping for the better. Simply say ‘Thanks’.
- Move your body – To keep your mind active you need to keep your body active too. If your job has you sitting at a desk make sure you take regular breaks to stretch or get up and move around. Set aside time every week to exercise whether it’s getting your heart-rate up with a run, hitting the gym or talking a walk on your break.
- Find quiet time – Wake up early. Stay up late. Meditate. Practice yoga. Stare out the window… Use whatever technique suits you best but find a time when you can be left alone with your thoughts and listen. You may just find the answers you’ve been seeking.
- Unplug, often – A digital detox is a break from constant stimulation of media, emails and scheduling. It allows us to choose how we want to feel rather than how others make us feel. Adding these
Integrating small and easy habits into your routine can have remarkable results. Consciously developing good habits over time makes the actions easier to manage and perform regularly as part of your routine. Starting small helps you stay focused and gives you a better sense of achievement when you reach your goals.