1. Exercise.
Yes, you don’t need to exercise more than 20 minutes a day to keep fit.
Do bodyweight exercise, which can be done anywhere at any time. You don’t need special equipment or a special place for them.
The benefits of even just a short burst of intense exercise includes increases in endurance, metabolism and calorie burn rate. Intense training also builds willpower and self-control.
Finally, exercise is a keystone habit, one of the very few discovered by scientists so far. A keystone habit is a habit that incites you to develop more habits. People who exercise regularly are more likely to take better care of other aspects of their lives. They start to pay attention to what they eat and drink; they have more energy which frees up new creativity; they are also more concerned about their spiritual and mental wellbeing.
2. Meditation.
This habit is a shortcut to knowing yourself. A daily 2-minute meditation session is an ideal way to start a lasting habit. Practice it for 2 minutes for 10 days and the probability that you will stick with meditation is over 90%.
Benefits include self-awareness, self-knowledge and a positive self-consciousness. Your self-talk determines your self-image, your beliefs about yourself and affects your actions. Meditation can make you aware of your negative self-talk and become the first step to your new life. Those who pay attention to their internal dialog are more likely to succeed than those who neglect it.
3. Gratitude.
Gratitude is a powerful force. Practice it just a few minutes a day and you can rewire your brain from pessimism into optimism within a month.
4. Journaling.
Journaling is a priceless tool for self-analysis. Many of the most successful people throughout history were journaling: Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and Napoleon Bonaparte to name just a few. Even 5 minutes of journaling a day has been shown to produce positive results.
5. Read.
Read just one page a day (about a minute for the average reader) and you can read more than a book a year. Multiply it by 5 and you can finish in the top half of the population.
6. Give thanks.
Writing a thank you note does not take more than five minutes. If you wonder why it would make such impact on people, consider the last time you received such a note yourself?
7. Smile. Praise. Appreciate.
Shawn Achor, who studied happiness for over a decade, discovered that the only reliable happiness predictor is relationships. The more meaningful relationships you have, the happier you are. There is no simpler way to express your warm feelings toward other people than smiling. So appreciate people and be genuine at that.
