For years I hung on to bad habits that made my life a lot harder than it needed to be. While I was a positive and optimistic individual, I continued to cause myself a lot of discomfort and suffering because of my habits.
I started living a better life when I replaced negative habits with positive habits. I had to change my ways and practice healthy mental, emotional, and physical habits every day to get to a place where life was pretty great- even when things weren’t going my way. Sure, I still have some good days and some bad days but these days there’s more good than bad and the bad aren’t usually all that bad.
I’m going to tell you what worked for me, but feel free to come up with your own positive habits that improve your life. It’s not too late to start creating positive habits in your life.
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11 Ways to improve your life today!
01. Be grateful
Gratitude is the cure for what ails you- no matter what’s going on in your life. If you pause the hustle and bustle and be thankful for the good stuff you realize your life is actually pretty good- even great! There’s always something to be thankful for.
02. Be happy
Think you need life to go your way to be happy? Think again!
Often simply making the conscious choice to be happy makes you feel a little happier. So does smiling! If you want to be happy, smile more. 🙂
03. Be kind
Do you feel like you’re usually at odds with the people in your life? Being kind is a wonderful way to improve your relationships. Everyone deserves kindness- don’t you?
Kindness towards others is sure to improve your mood, too!
04. Mind your business
A lot of suffering you cause yourself happens when you worry about what everyone else is doing or not doing. You cause yourself pain by trying to advise, convince, and control other people. Focus on living your own best life and you’ll suffer a lot less.
And while you’re minding your business- stop worrying about what everyone else is thinking and feeling, too. Ninety percent of the time what someone else is thinking or feeling has absolutely nothing to do with you or what they think about you. It’s not about you- really, it isn’t!
05. Do something different
You’re never going to get different results by doing the same thing. If you don’t like how your life is going, try something new!
Say “no”, say “yes”. Ask for help, ask for more responsibility. Speak up, shut up. Whatever you would normally do, try a different approach- you never know what will happen if you haven’t tried it!
06. Don’t judge
People label life events as positive or negative but many situations are really neutral- neither good or bad but your judgment makes it so.
Cut off on the highway- so what? Why is your life suddenly deemed bad because of this minor annoyance? Your co-worker was late for work again? How is this really your problem unless you make it your problem?
That goes for pre-judging, too. You know, when you decide how something will go before it happens? What, you’re psychic now? Remember, a positive outcome is just as likely as a negative one.
07. Stop complaining
The more you focus on what’s wrong, the more life feels all wrong.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- stop complaining. You’ll be so much happier, I promise!
08. Put yourself first
You deserve a good life and the only person that can make that happen is you! The way you make it happen is by putting yourself first.
Now I’m not talking about putting yourself first at the expense of others, but you can take good care of yourself and meet your own needs before the needs of others.
09. Take care of yourself
Self care is the most important thing you can to do create a great life! People often look to others to meet their needs but that never really works, does it?
Yes, you need other people sometimes, but if you can’t be what you need for yourself then chances are no one else can be that for you. For example, if you don’t love you, you can’t really accept love from others.
10. Be confident
Confidence doesn’t come from being perfect or getting it right the first time; confidence comes from doing your best and making progress.
11. Just be
Sometimes you have to stop and just embrace this moment. Yeah, you have goals and ambitions and you want to improve your life- great!- but it’s okay to just be. After all, you’re a human being, not a human doing.
If you found this post helpful, I think you’d love my book – it’s full of content just like this! Check it out here!
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I love your comments! Have you tried any of these tips to improve your life? How did it work out for you? Do you have any other life hacks to share?