Habits That Will Improve Your Life this New Year
Sometimes life can feel like is bad on all fronts: your work is stressful, your personal life is not where you would like it to be and your personal health has been neglected. Not achieving your goals and fulfilling your potential will make you unhappy and will cause you to feel down.
This happens to everyone from time to time. This does not have to be your life, you can change it! You can better yourself. It will take a lot of work, a lot of courage and a lot of grit, but if you keep going and believe in yourself, you are going to achieve your goals and be the best version of yourself.
Here are some good habits to improve your life in the New Year, which will help you reach your goals when it becomes hard.
STOP MAKING EXCUSES:
Part of taking ownership of your life and reflecting on how you got to an unhappy state is understanding how you are enabling your poor decisions.
Stop making excuses, and start owning your life and pushing yourself to do the work. Happiness takes work; you are the only one in charge of it.
STOP TAKING THINGS PERSONALLY:
A lot of the time when we feel that we are been judged or criticized by someone else, we are actually not. Since we are each inside our own head, we are acutely aware of our flaws, weaknesses, and insecurities. However, other people, for the most part, are not. Therefore, you may think that you picked up on some criticism from a co-worker, when the reality is that they were not talking about you at all.
STOP SACRIFICING WHAT YOU WANT:
Instant gratification is satisfying, but not when it is at the expense of long-term goals, especially goals that will help build your self-esteem and help make progress towards your goals. Stop sacrificing substantive happiness that will bring you consistent and lasting joy for superficial, momentary happiness, which will fade quickly and ultimately extend unhappiness.
EXCERCISE:
If you need to feel better at this moment, go change your clothes and go get some exercise. Endorphins make you happy; they release stress and help clear your mind. If you want some perspective, go work out first then revisit the issue. Chances are your emotions will be stabilized, your mind will be sharper and you will have less anxiety than you did before you got some exercise. Therefore, if you panic and feel overwhelmed get some exercise before you make a decision. You will make a decision that is less reactive and more grounded in reason than emotion.
ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS:
If you find yourself wasting a lot of time staring at various screens, constantly checking social media or mindlessly doing things on your phone, start trying to monitor those habits. Whatever your go-to distraction is, start managing it so you can be more productive and stop wasting time.
Following these habits will make you feel better physically and mentally.