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The Smallest Habits Can Improve your Life

These have changed mine

By Nicholas McKennaPublished 2 years ago 6 min read
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Photo by Kat Smith from Pexels

I don’t understand why people think they need to do these crazy and over the top routines to reform the way they live. Try following the Rock’s daily routine and most of us are destined to fail.

Multiple workouts a day, starting at 4:30 in the morning? I don’t know about you but that’s definitively not for me.

You may want to start small like drinking water before bed. It will keep the body hydrated and alert you when it gets up. Keeping your space clean is another small task you can do.

Even if you think that a cluttered office or desk makes it easier to work, it leads to mental clutter.

Starting small can be simple enough. Here are some other ways you can make small changes to improve your life.

Turn screens off

Netflix and other streaming services are addicting. These services want their users to watch more, so they’re business keeps improving but your health declines in the process.

Have times when you turn off your phone, laptop, or whatever you’re watching. This will help set a new routine and will become normal for you after you do it for some time.

This is a great rule for the dinner table. How many times have you been eating with your family, and no one is talking because everyone is glued to their own personal screen?

It takes away the personal time you would normally have with your loved ones and with a pandemic going on, it may be best to spend as much time as possible with family and friends.

You may also have found yourself eat a bag of chips on the couch while you binge the latest Netflix show only to reach into the bag and find nothing.

You don’t even remember tasting the snack half the time because your focus is what’s going on in front of you.

I don’t think its worth having the snack at that point if you can’t enjoy it.

Social media is another place that likes to suck it peoples attention. Today they have become a breeding ground for others to talk badly about people for their own amusement.

It’s not necessary and I don’t like that there’s a place for people to be hateful to others.

Instead of becoming upset or angry about this, unfollow the accounts that are making you feel this way. Its human nature to want to respond to hurtful comments but that’s just what the person commenting wants you to do.

Don’t play their game, end it by not returning to the account.

Phones are a major reason why some are not getting enough sleep as well. We stay up all night checking to see who liked our latest post on Instagram, or we don’t want to miss the latest gossip.

Start putting your phone in another room and put it in Airplane mode. 99% of the time, people don’t get a call at night.

You will begin to sleep better, leading to an improved morning routine. You may also wake up less stressed and ready to start your day.

Don’t over stress

With this busy world we live in, it can be hard not to multitask all the time. You think it’s productive but doing more than one thing at a time is not only distracting, it also makes us less productive.

To keep a grip on what you’re doing and to make sure you’re completing it correctly, do one task at a time. Don’t move on to the next task until what you’re working on is finished and it’s done the right way.

Breathing exercises can help with stress. One of the best ways to relax at any point in the day is to stop and take a deep breath.

We tend to do this subconsciously at times but it helps to realize when you are feeling overwhelmed and to breath.

A good technique is to breathe deeply and hold it for three seconds. Then release it for five seconds and repeat three to five times. Doing this before going to bed has helped me fall asleep quicker.

Another way to help with stress is the 20–20–20 rule.

This rule was created because humans have a habit of staring at a screen for half of their waking hours. It works by setting a timer for 20 minutes to look away from it for 20 seconds.

Blink while looking at an object in the distance.

The Pomodoro technique is also great for preventing stress and keeping up your productivity. Set a timer for 25 minutes. When it goes off, take a five-minute break to do anything but what you’re working on.

Repeat until your work is done. If you repeat this four times, from the fifth time on will be a longer break of 15–20 minutes.

Change Your Eating Habits

It might sound crazy, but people today don’t know how to eat. I don’t mean they miss their mouth but what they put in their mouth need to change more often than it does.

They also don’t know the feelings of being full or thirsty. Start drinking water before you have a meal. It will help with this problem.

Drinking a glass of water before eating can help you realize if you’re hungry and thirsty. Also, it can help prevent dehydration.

It’s easy to get carried away with a certain food group but the body is designed to digest a variety of nutrients. Try something new when you have the chance.

A common reaction to new things is to say that you know you won’t like it because of the smell or how it looks but you may be surprised if you tried it.

This is normal when kids look at vegetables. Vegetables have different colors, so they can tell us which nutrients you are getting. By mixing up different vegetables, we can reduce our chances of getting deficiencies.

People need to learn that you don’t get full at once. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for our brain to register how full we are after eating. If we don’t feel full, we tend to feel sluggish and irritable.

Some of us tend to keep eating until we feel sick but by then it’s too late. Taking a break from eating prevents this. If you are still hungry after waiting, then it may be time to get some dessert.

Final Thoughts

Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. Most people need something pushing them to get better and a challenge might be that something that improves your life.

Any kind of addiction is hard to battle, even a screen addiction, but its possible to overcome them.

For some reason, people believe that once they graduate from school, they don’t have to keep striving towards something. They become content with where they are after a certain point and that stops their growth.

You don’t have to make serious changes to your life but I believe we should always keep challenging ourselves to become better in one form or another.

Once we stop learning how to improve ourselves we become stuck and no one wants to be stuck anywhere in life.

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About the Creator

Nicholas McKenna

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