There are some good habits to develop that will guarantee a successful and meaningful life.
Good habits benefit our physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health. These are the habits that get you closer to living your best life. Good habits help you become more productive and energetic. These habits help us move forward.
If you are unsure how to develop good habits, then you have come to the right place. But, first of all, definitions.
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What are Habits?
Habits are daily behaviors you do by default. These are the actions you repeatedly take that can shape you and can positively or negatively affect you. Many of them enable you to carry out crucial activities like taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and getting ready for work.
Interestingly, you follow this routine every day without thinking twice. In fact, according to research, 40% of everything we do is habits. Your unconscious daily habits create room for your brain to perform more advanced activities like problem-solving and analysis.
Everyone has habits, and several of those habits are activated every day. They can be classified into:
- Habits that are such a major part of your life that you hardly notice them, such as brushing your teeth or getting dressed.
- Good habits to develop to be more successful include eating healthy, exercising, and reading books.
- Habits that are harmful, like procrastinating, smoking, or overeating.
Good habits are those that get you closer to living your best life and are fundamental to becoming successful and happy. Yet, as significant as habits are, some lack knowledge of their capabilities.
And while much of the emphasis falls on bad habits to break, it’s just as important to focus on good habits to develop and cultivate in your daily routine.
SEE: Healthy Habits to Develop
10 Good Habits To Develop For A Better Life
1. Smile
Can you pause and smile before you continue reading this?
According to the Association for Psychological Science, you set a pace for living a happier life when you smile. A genuine smile, or what’s called a Duchenne smile, is one of the good habits to develop for spiritual, emotional, and mental peace of mind.
Smiling induces the release of molecules that help in fighting stress. The physiological state of your body determines the state of your mind. When you slouch or frown, your mind takes cues related to unhappiness and depression. However, once you adjust yourself by putting on a smile, you begin to feel a new level of excitement and vibrancy.
2. Be grateful for what you have
Gratitude is a time-tested pathway to success, health, and happiness. It redirects your focus to what you have from what you lack. Try writing a list of things you’re grateful for each day in a gratitude journal, or make it a habit to say one thing you’re grateful for when you sit down to dinner with your family.
It’s not uncommon to waste time thinking of what’s not enough. You become immersed in those daunting challenges. However, challenges justify the presence of hope. The only strategy you have to stop focusing on your problems is to focus on what you have.
3. Practice daily meditation
Your first step in your journey to developing good habits takes place in the mind. Your mind is like a control center for your life. It controls your moods, your actions, and how you live your life. If your mind is chaotic, you’ll live a chaotic life. If your mind is racing with negative thoughts, you’ll always see the worst in everything.
But with meditation, you take back control of your mind. You might notice a negative thought arising but instead of internalizing it, you can watch it come and pass.
That’s the impact of meditation. It gives you back your clarity, your focus, and your positivity.
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4. Eat a healthy breakfast
You might be fed up with hearing that breakfast is a crucial component of your day, but you are only fighting the truth. Starting your day with healthy eating is a good habit to develop and forms a crucial part of your life.
If you want to become more successful, you need to “break your fast” with healthy foods every morning. This habit is not difficult to form if you usually rush out the door every single morning. You can wake up early to fix yourself a meal so you don’t break down during the day.
5. Set daily goals with intentions
Setting goals is another one of the good habits to develop for a better life. Everyone has goals, whether they relate to business or their personal life, and the truth is that we’re all tending towards a particular direction.
Nevertheless, while long-term goals can offer you direction, it’s your daily goals that help you develop short-term goals that are essential for your success.
Long-term goals may not give you the motivation you need to keep on, but when you implement your short-term milestones daily, you become fired up, and you can overcome the challenges that come with taking on bigger tasks.
6. Spend some time outdoors
There’s one vitamin that colder climates like Winterfell are always low in but is essential to good health. That’s Vitamin D. And I mean the one you get from the sun, not the one you’re thinking about.
While going for a walk on a cold day may be less than ideal, spending time outdoors is crucial for good health. It’s not just the sun. The fresh air you breathe in and the ground your feet touch can help boost your mood and health. On warmer days, you can spend some time gardening or going for jogs around your neighborhood. This is one of the good habits to develop that can help you live a long life.
RELATED: Healthy Eating Habits You Should Adopt for a Better Life
7. Exercise daily
One of the good habits to develop is to exercise your body and muscles on a daily basis. You don’t have to run a marathon or lift tons of weights. You only need to engage in activities that oxygenate your blood and inject endorphins into your body, trying to squeeze in at least 15 minutes every day.
Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, manages to squeeze in some daily exercise into his already jam-packed schedule. He said:
“I wake up by 5, meditate for 30 minutes, seven-minute workout times three, make coffee, and check-in.”
He has said that he follows this routine every day as it gives him a steady state that empowers him to be more productive. If he can do it, then who are you?
8. Read thoughtful books
Good habits come from good knowledge. Ergo, it is hard to improve yourself if you don’t know what that looks like, how to attain it, or if it’s even possible. By reading books each night, you can learn new perspectives, new ideas, new skills, and so much more.
Education might be the secret to success, but you don’t need to go to school to become educated. All you need to do is read books every day. And, just so you know, there’s a book available on literally every topic you want to improve on.
9. Manage your time
Another one of the good habits to develop is learning to manage your time effectively. This goes a long way toward impacting your achievement.
Time management is what separates the successful from the rest of the world, as we all possess the same amount of time. How you leverage time determines your potential to succeed in life.
10. Pick up a hobby
Some say people should invest in three hobbies: one that keeps you fit, one that makes you money, and one to boost your creativity. Overall, this is pretty sound advice for anyone looking for good habits to develop.
SEE: 5 Ways to Improve Your Time Management Skills
Wrapping Up Good Habits To Develop
Developing good habits can help you transform your life for the better. Bad habits can lead you away from your own goals or worse – your happiness. However, by fostering good habits, you can inch closer to success, happiness, and the life you want.
By taking the time to invest in your personal development and looking for good habits to develop, you can become a better version of yourself.
