10 Simple Practices That Will Help You Get 1% Better Every Single Day

What is the meaning of life?

To become a better human being every single day.

“Each person’s task in life is to become an increasingly better person.” - Leo Tolstoy

How can we improve each and every day? We create procedures that will aid in our gradual advancement. Consistently taking little steps. This is the way to a fulfilling existence.

Focus on the following 10 practices, and you will begin to see consistent improvement in your life.

1. Meditate

The reason why meditation comes first is obvious.

Although we have all heard that we should meditate, I really feel that it is essential to progressing each and every day.

Stillness is a result of meditation. You have some quiet time to focus on your body and breath. It's time to get to know oneself and become conscious of both your mental and bodily states.

This self-awareness is the starting point for progress. How can you expect to advance in any meaningful way if you don't know who you are?

Develop a regular meditation practice by following these 4 steps:

• Start small: Aim for 5 minutes, or even just one minute if you think that’s all you can commit to. The goal is to commit to a time period that you can maintain consistently—ideally each and every day.
• Decide on a time of day to practice: It's much more probable that you'll meditate consistently if you set a time and do it at the same time every day.
• Commit to this practice:Even if each meditation session has its own advantages, the true power of meditation comes from regular practice, which builds over time.
• Utilize supports:The options to help your practice are countless. An app for meditation is one of the most easily available supports. Even while it might not seem like "traditional" meditation, utilizing an app can be immensely beneficial, especially when you're just getting started.

2. Journal

Continuing from the previous point, spending time by oneself in silence while keeping a notebook is an opportunity to get to know yourself better and discover your true self.

You can reflect, make plans, and concentrate on your thoughts and ideas by keeping a journal. to constantly strive to be a better person than you were yesterday. This is how you make progress each and every day.

It can be beneficial for you to journal twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.

The peace of the morning is the ideal time to think about your goals, weigh your options, and make plans for the day.

A excellent moment to reflect at the end of the day is on what went well, what you could do differently the next day, and how you could be more compassionate, patient, and valuable. You can evaluate your life to see if it has been consistent with your ideals and whether your mission has been achieved.

Choose a journaling format and style that are right for you. Perhaps you prefer using a pen and paper. Perhaps a document on your PC is what you prefer. Maybe a mobile app might work best for you. Choose a practice that speaks to you, then stick with it.

3. Monitor your input and be grateful

It matters greatly what we let into our minds.

As a result, it's crucial to be aware of your morning input. Do you browse social media sites? Observe the news? Have you read texts from friends whining about their lives?

Or do you read or listen to something upbeat and inspiring?

This small change can have a profound impact on how your day develops.

A terrific time to think back on all you have to be thankful for and celebrate in your life is in the morning. Consider the home you slept in, the friends and family who help you, as well as the fact that you even managed to wake up.

We must constantly remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be alive and express our gratitude for what we have been given. When you awaken, keep this in mind.

Marcus Aurelius said,

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

We can't help but feel thankful if we think of every day as a bonus day to live, love, and do the things we enjoy. By adopting this perspective, you may make sure that you live each day with awareness.

It's important to be conscious of what you're allowing into your head throughout the entire day, not just in the morning.

You can't expect to get better and evolve if you are continually being held back by negative feedback, thus this is essential to going forward each and every day.

Similar to this, frequently reminding yourself of everything you already have and developing thankfulness will enable you to keep working hard and developing while also understanding that you have enough and are enough. You are enough now and always.

4. Take 6000 steps every day

Your body needs to move.

Additionally, walking can be the most significant form of bodily exercise. Consider how our forebears farmed, hunted, and traveled everywhere they went. We have evolved to live in this way.

We must look after our bodies if we wish to advance.

Moving also gives us a deeper understanding of who we are and what it feels like to be in this body right now. It is an effective type of meditation. You can't help but feel your lungs filling and emptying with air. sun exposure to your skin. the grass that is under your feet. You must be present in this moment and within yourself in order to move.

Therefore, movement is a tool to aid in your daily growth and progress.

You'll maintain good physical and mental health, have more insight into who you are, and have more clarity about your goals.

If we don't take care of our bodies and minds, we can't expect to keep developing and progressing. Every day, you should move.

5. Get outside

Connecting with the universe, the force greater than ourselves, is what it means to be in nature.

Nature has existed much longer than humans have and will continue to do so. The trees you can see have gone through much more than you have. They have experienced some of the worst adversity the world has ever known. The ability to connect with history can be found in nature.

This kind of connection to nature serves to remind us of how little our place in the cosmos and how little we actually understand. In perspective, it puts things. It brings us low. Because these trees were here first and know much more than we do, we must appreciate nature.

The sense of peace and contentment that comes from being in nature is something I believe we've all experienced. Even according to science, observing nature can instantly calm down our fight-or-flight reaction. We are naturally aware of the health benefits of being in nature.

But nature is also crucial for our health. Chris Kresser explains,

“Contact with nature is an integral part of our well-being as humans…. While we evolved outdoors and amongst nature for most of the last two million years of our species’ existence, the movement to a largely indoor environment has been a recent development for humans. Much like our diet, our physical environment has changed drastically in a comparatively short amount of time…. Our relationship with nature is a vital component of our wellbeing, and one often neglected due to the concerns of modern life. In order to more fully address our health and wellness as humans, we must consider the biological appropriateness of our environment to be just as important as that of our diet and exercise choices.”

Get outside each and every day. Make time in nature a priority. It will help you feel better and put things in perspective so you can keep going forward.

6. Read

Do you read often?

I hope you find the time to read every day. even if it is only a single page.

The most accessible instrument we have for personal development may be reading. Anyone in the world, living or dead, can teach us something. Those who have previously accomplished what we desire to accomplish can teach us something. We can gain knowledge from the accomplishments and failures of others.

Moving forward requires being a lifelong learner. How can you improve if you're not always learning something new?

Give reading a high priority during the day. Read a book for 15 minutes in the morning. Take an audiobook with you while you travel. During your lunch break, read a piece of web content. Find some time to read, please.

7. Reflect and measure

We must constantly evaluate our life and track the crucial indicators.

With reflection, anything is possible. You test something, think about it, then repeat the things that worked and avoid the ones that didn't.

In this way, you will develop.

As was mentioned above, journaling at the end and beginning of each day is an excellent approach to accomplish this. Write down your day's strategy in the morning. Consider what worked and what you will do differently tomorrow in the evening. You can drastically improve your life in just a few minutes per day.

At the conclusion of every week, month, quarter, and year, perform this. Growth will inevitably occur.

“End your week holding a five-minute meeting with yourself and review what’s working and everything making you miserable. And do more of what works.” — Thomas Oppong

Record the most significant aspects of your life, such as how much weight you squat, how many dates you have each month, how often you phone your mother, and how many consecutive days you meditate. Decide what matters to you the most, then pay attention to it. You might be more lost than you think.

“If you’re not tracking the key areas of your life, than you’re probably more off-course than you think.” — Benjamin Hardy

How to Consciously Design Your Ideal Future

8. Eat well

Always take good care of your body.

Without a body, we are powerless to do anything. Always put your health first. Running yourself ragged won't get you anywhere.

Make the time to eat wholesome foods, and ensure that you are eating enough. Our bodies require fuel, and not just any fuel.

• Eat adequate protein (aim for 30g each meal)
• Eat loads of plants — vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds
• Drink coffee — it’s full of antioxidants (drink decaf if you don’t like caffeine, or black or green teas which have a smaller amount of caffeine)
• Avoid processed and refined foods

Only eat what our cavemen ancestors would recognize

9. Incorporate hormetic stressors

You need to put your body under stress if you want to grow stronger and more resilient.

And using hormetic stressors is the most effective approach to achieve this.

A hormetic stressor is anything that, in little doses, strengthens you but will kill you in large doses. Consider activity, fasting, heat, and cold.

Cold showers

They’re awful.

Nothing I say will make them less awful. But, they’re very good for you.

“A 2007 research study found that taking cold showers routinely can help treat symptoms of depression often more effectively than prescription medications. That’s because cold water triggers a wave of mood-boosting neurochemicals, which make you feel happy.”- Benjamin Hardy, How to Consciously Design Your Ideal Future

Norepinephrine, a hormone and neurotransmitter involved in attention, mood, and focus as well as pain, inflammation, and metabolism, is released as a result of exposure to cold.

I hope it's becoming clear to you how effective cold showers are.

Thankfully, we won't have to endure a lengthy cold shower. Even a brief 20-second exposure to cold water has been shown to have advantages, despite the fact that the data is undoubtedly inconclusive.

Heat

A similar mechanism underlies how exposure to heat works.

Norepinephrine, which improves mood, reduces inflammation, and increases focus when exposed to heat, is also released.

Additionally, heat exposure has advantages for:

• Toxin removal
• Exercise recovery
• Muscle gain
• Fat loss

• Metabolism

Exercise

Exercise

Although we've already discussed mobility, our goal in this situation is to put our body under a lot of strain.

Strength training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are excellent strategies to put your body through stress so that it will recover stronger (as long as you take adequate time for recovery).

Try to fit in some type of moderate to vigorous exercise each week.

Fasting

Our bodies gain so many benefits from fasting.

It seems like fasting has numerous positive effects, including weight loss, improved cardiovascular health, increased cognition, and Alzheimer's disease prevention.

Without food, your body begins to rely on its own fat reserves, which it uses as fuel. The health benefits of ketones, which your body may start manufacturing, are numerous.

Your body releases hormones like norepinephrine, human growth hormone, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (like the heat and cold mentioned above).

In order to make room for new cells, your body will get rid of old or damaged ones through a process known as autophagy, which is similar to a spring cleaning.

10. Pay attention

Simply by paying attention, you can learn a lot.

Listen intently when others are speaking. They probably know at least a few things that you don't, so simply listening to them can help you grow and become a better person.

I work with an older Burundian woman, and up until recently, I never really paid attention to what she had to say. But the other day, I forced myself to be in the present and paid close attention. I also discovered that she has had a life unlike mine and that she is incredibly wise and well-rounded.

She revealed to me, "When I was 15, my father was killed in front of me." Your time with your parents is a gift from God every day. Celebrate each day with them and never take your good fortune for granted.

This was a really helpful dose of perspective on a Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.

In addition, one of the best presents you can give someone is your attention. Everyone just wants to be heard and understood. You have the ability to influence not only the lives of those close to you, but also your own.

This is how you will move forward every single day.

“When you love someone, the best thing you can offer that person is your presence. How can you love someone if you are not there?” -Thich Nhat Hanh

“Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.” - Epictetus

We only need to strive for 1% growth each day if we want to keep developing and improving as people. I'm done now.

You can take the baby steps required to reach this lofty objective by including these 10 habits throughout your day.

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