It's what you do every single day that makes a difference

If you're looking to make improvements in your life, it doesn't matter what you do once in a while. It's what you do every single day that makes a difference. Sometimes the simple changes in a routine or behaviour are what create radical improvements. 

The greatest impacts in your life start here, below are a few steps you can take to change the direction of your life. Simple but effectively.

1. Add one personal item to your to-do list each day.

This is specially important if you're very ambitious and only focus on work/university related tasks. By adding something personal to your to-do list for the day you'll be able to create that life-work balance that allows you to remind of the importan things in life.

If you're unsure what personal items you could add, an example would be calling a long term friend that you haven't heard from in a while or talking to your parents, going to your favourite restaurant, hitting the gym, whatever it is, make sure you find time for it each day.

By not putting important tasks away to be focus on work you'll be able to be more productive in the long run. The incentive you get from a happier life and enjoyable task that breaks routine and work will give you more motivation to push forward. 

2. Limit the junk food you bring into the house. 

Health is always an important subject and usually gets put away or ignored due to other commitments. Junk food is usually the fast option due to price and practicality. However, if you want to improve the way you live or the way you look, usually if you remove certain foods from your diet you'll be just fine. Not saying you can never eat ice cream ever again or eat a piece of cake but by limiting the amounts of junk food you bring into the house, you'll be in a much better place to reject those items.

Start by having healthy options and things you can make good meals out of, anything you'd like that is easy to make and not too bad for your health, if you have that around you and no chocolate put away in a cupboard you're always more like to pick the healthier option instead of going out to get junk food.

Don't be too hard on yourself though, start small, start reducing and limiting foods as you see fit. What's important is to start. 

3.  Write out a physical to-do list before you go to bed.

Sometimes finding motivation can be hard. You can feel lost and overhwhelmed with the things being thrown at you everyday. To help you fight that and making sure you always are a step ahead, before going to bed write down a to do list.

A to-do list written down physically can help knowing where you're going the next day. If the first thing you see in the morning are the goals and tasks for the day you'll start feeling more motivated to begin your journey throughout the day than you would if you had to waste a few hours thinking on what you needed to do. Figure out what you need what to do the day before so you can utilise your time more effectively the day after. 

4. Take at least ten minutes each day to be still.

Now, this is one advice that can easily be ignored or feel like a joke. It's not. Medidation doesn't get enough credit. Nowadays everything is on the move no one ever stops. We're always on our phones, always listening to music or watching something. Doing something. 

Every day for 10 mins take that time to do nothing, to just acknowledge what's happening in your life and analyse it. Take some time to breathe in the changes you made throughout the day or the day before and relax. 10 mins are vital for your well being as it will help you to be grateful, appreciate the small things. By having that time to appreciate everything happening instead of just doing nothing and feeling stuck on a loop, you'll start seeing life from a different perspective and enjoy it more. 

5.  Leave your phone on silent and upside down at all times.

Something that effects everyone these days is how a simple notification can disrupt a whole thought process. If you have those notifications on, turn them off now. They're not that important. When you're trying to work or be around people you like, work or University will always be there to bother you, so take time to be fully focused or fully in the moments and just enjoying the experience by not having outsiders ruin it.

Turning it upside down will also make sure you're not seeing the screen light up as soon as that notification comes up. Instagram isn't gonna live your life for you, tik tok isn't the one hanging out at the party with your friends, realise whats happening and actually ignore your phone, use it when necessary and then put it down. Cutting down on screen time will also make sure you have time to do more tasks that require you to engage in brain activity like, reading a book. 

References:

Practical Wisdom

Matt D'Avella