Do you want to improve your life? Whether you’re looking for new relationships, opportunities, a more vibrant social life, or a stronger financial portfolio, the most significant external changes begin with an internal change.
In this guide, we’ll give you 10 ways you can make your life better, today. After all, if you’re reading this article, you have the motivation today.
Read on to get started.
1. Respect Your Body
You could have the best partner, best friends, and best job in the world, but without your health, you won’t be able to enjoy it much. So we’re starting our list with respecting your body.
You don’t have to shell out a fortune to join a gym or go buy the most expensive all-organic food you can find. Just follow these simple rules to respect your body and start improving quality of life today:
- Get enough sleep
- Eat healthily
- Drink plenty of water
- Exercise
Early To Bed, Early To Rise
Ben Franklin is known for this quote:
“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
We can all agree that Benny lived a long time ago and that this quote is applicable to anyone, not just men. We also recognize that some folks can’t go to bed early because of work or other commitments.
Try to snag seven hours of sleep each night so your brain and body can perform.
Eat Healthily
Eating your fruits and veggies isn’t just about keeping your weight in check, but these foods also ensure we get the right nutrients.
Healthy snacks can be tough, especially if you have to go to work all day–but make the commitment to yourself today to eat healthy if you want to benefit your life.
Stay Hydrated
Your body and brain need water to survive, but staying hydrated also offers additional benefits, like moisturizing your skin. Drinking six to eight glasses of water each day can help you feel your best.
Get Moving
The key to keeping up with an exercise regimen is choosing activities you enjoy that fit in with your lifestyle. Take some time today to decide what your workout plan will be.
2. Set Goals
If your goal is to win the lottery and go shopping with friends every day, that sounds like fun–but it doesn’t sound realistic. It’s also not particularly attainable. Therefore, it’s not a great goal.
If you want to feel successful–and be successful–set goals that are:
- Attainable
- Realistic
Those new to goal-setting might want to try something small, like saving a nominal amount each week.
3. Express Gratitude
If you’re able to read this article, chances are you have something in your life worth being grateful for. Starting your day by expressing gratitude makes life better:
- It sets you up for positivity
- It lets others know you appreciate them
- It fosters a mindset of helping others
- It prevents the grass-is-greener syndrome
4. Stay Positive
Gratitude is great, but when things really don’t go your way, staying positive can reduce stress and help us find new opportunities.
For example, someone who gets in a fender bender can say they’ve had a terrible day. But if no one was hurt, that’s a positive. No matter how bad the situation, try to find some positive way to frame it.
5. Live in the Present
People spend more than 45% of their time thinking about things other than what’s happening in the here and now. What a waste to spend almost half our time dwelling on things we can’t affect!
Make a conscious effort to focus on what you’re currently doing. Not only will you see a rise in productivity, but you’ll probably see a rise in the enjoyment of the task as well.
6. Let It Go
Like a famous ice princess sang in a recent Disney film, let it go. Impact those elements of your life that you can, and let the rest be what it is. If you can’t control it anyway, why stress over it?
Easier said than done, right? A great way to learn to let it go is to spend a few minutes a day meditating. Meditation offers so many benefits, not the least of which is better cognition, which leads nicely into our next point.
7. Learn Something New Each Day
It doesn’t matter if it’s something small, like learning a new vocabulary word, or something more significant like how to replace the brakes on your car–but learning something new makes the day feel more productive. It makes life more exciting and makes you more exciting at cocktail parties.
There are tons of way to learn, and even more to learn about. For a double benefit, you could learn something new about yourself. Find out more about how you can learn about yourself.
8. Improve Your Life with Intentions
It’s true that what we put out into the universe comes back to us. This is called the law of attraction and if you’re wondering how to improve your life, you really can start with good intentions.
Keep in mind you have to act on them, too. Intending to wake up to a pile of money or find yourself in the arms of the perfect mate isn’t going to suffice if all you do is sit at home and watch TV all day.
9. Start Each Day with a Vibe
Choosing to have a good vibe for the day can make a difference. It won’t dictate everything that happens to you every day, but it can help you deal with situations as they unfold.
10. Don’t Compete
If you’re still thinking, “Yeah, but what about improving my life like Jane who has everything I want?”
Life isn’t about who is richer or who had a baby first. If you’re competing with your friends, you might miss out on how to make life better. Celebrate others’ successes and strive toward your own, but realize that you’re not in competition.
There’s plenty of success-pie for everyone to have a slice–and maybe seconds.
Chime In!
We’d love to hear what you think. Do you have ideas to improve your life? Have you tried these ideas? What happened? Tell us your story in the comments below and then share this article with your friends.