How many times did you say yes to someone and then forget about it the next day?
How many times were you successful in meeting your New Year’s resolution?
Why do we always say we don’t have time to do something?
I would guess that we would say “many times” to all these questions.
If you’re reading this, I want you to take a moment and think of your daily habits and action. These habits and action have brought you to where you are now, and most of the time, you were not aware of it.
We are used to our routine of waking up, taking a shower, brew coffee and go to work. By end of the day, we go home, turn on the TV and/or browse Facebook and YouTube. Deep inside we want to do something else, probably plan for a vacation, pursue a hobby and all that, but we are too stuck to our routine to do so.
Once we imagine the effort required to do such things, then we’d rather go for small rewards of sleeping, Internet surfing or unconscious eating.
Success Comes From Small Actions
Not so long ago, I learned about habit stacking that resulted to good productive results. I was so discontented with my life for a while because I was so frustrated in pursuing things that I love. I was always in a hurry and not taking small steps and actions to gradually meet my goals.
Putting up big goals at once is so stressful. But starting with small habits or routines to achieve them is one creative way to build on them as you realize its importance day-in/day-out.
Create habits that uniquely matches your life or what you want from it. Try to set habits for short term goals, mid term and long term.
This a broad topic so I’ll try my best to give ideas by sharing with you my own habits at the moment. In all honesty, since I did this, I was able to balance my body chemistry and have a healthy mind.
I hope you can get something out of it.
Morning
5 min – I wake up and brush my teeth right away. Doing it gives me a quick boost out from sleeping.
15min – I sit down and meditate. I used the Calm app for guidance. It clears my mind. This habit gives a long term effect on a balanced mind.
15min – I listen or say affirmations. These affirmations are my fuel in starting my day with positivity, gratitude and getting ready from whatever challenges I will encounter for the day. This keeps me going and motivated throughout my life.
60min. – I follow a daily workout towards my goal to finish a marathon this year. I just downloaded a program online and follow it. The thing that excites me in working out is the podcasts that I follow especially about business and technology in Spotify. Overall long term health benefits plus learnings and ideas you get from Podcasts.
15min. – Journaling. I usually log whatever feelings I have– anxieties, worries, excitement and it keeps me sane. Also, it gives me a different perspective on things, enabling me to find solutions from time to time.
15min. – Check my emails and messages. I only do these once I have done all my habits above. My notifications are normally turned off and check them only 3-4 times a day by batch. By doing this, you get to keep focused on important things for the day.
This is my morning routines, I usually wake up around 5am and my day is already complete when I have done all these before I go to work.
Lunch
60-120min. – I always look forward to writing and engaging online. I usually write these kind of posts with my after meal coffee in a Starbucks outside the office. Writing is one of the things I love and who knows? I might just write an epic article about something that might turn out as a book.
Writing also clears my mind as I get ready for my next meetings in the afternoon. It’s took me a while before I learned that lunch time is my best time to write.
I tried writing early in the morning and late in the evening and it always didn’t work for me because normally I was always excited to workout in the morning and am too tired at night.
Try to find what works for you.
Night
60min. – my first activity after work is to connect with my loved ones. I usually eat dinner with them, call/Skype them when they are away or just basically sit down, listen and talk.
An hour of undivided attention and small actions like these lead to improved relationships.
60-90min. – There’s a little guilt about this, but I do watch Netflix or play PS4 from time to time. To me, this also gives me a good transition from work to life.
60min. – I read about current events, ebooks or learn about a certain topic. Right now, I am reading Crushing It by Gary Vee and studying about podcasting.
30min. – My last habit for the day is to prepare my workout attire in the morning. When I have trouble sleeping, I meditate again and visualize my ideal day the next day.
Weekly
I also have a hunger for creating art. It can be either photography, music or sketching. Right now, I was able to convince my daughter to sing and record songs for me every Saturday while on her summer vacation. Again, it can be an epic product that I can share or probably monetize later on.
I do biking and long runs as well on weekends.
Others
I also have the a habit of taking down notes and reminders. When I commit to someone that I will get back to them, I have a note to remind me to do it. This gives you credibility and and dependability.