Many people believe that changing our life has to be hard. While, of course, it requires determination, dedication and discipline.. it doesn’t necessarily have to be hard. I’m of the belief that changing your life is as simple as adding in new, healthier, habits. We don’t have to strain ourselves to let go of poor or unproductive habits! When we make space for new habits – the old ones simply fall off. Here are easy daily habits that can change your life!
As a reminder: I am not a doctor, nor do I claim to be! Any claims in this article are based on my personal experience and research. Please read my full medical disclaimer before engaging with my content or anecdotes. Also, as a reminder, this post contains affiliate links to certain products and I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you!) if you make a purchase based off of my suggestions.
Easy Daily Habits That Can Change Your Life
Easy Daily Morning Habits That Can Change Your Life
Start Your Day with Gratitude
Reflecting on the things you’re grateful for helps to cultivate a positive, abundance mindset. A positive, abundant mindset sees opportunity and seeks the good in things. Practicing gratitude first thing in the morning cultivates your mindset for the day! Starting your day with gratitude is a very easy daily habit that can change your life.
Meditate Before Getting Out of Bed
When you meditate first thing in the morning – you ensure you start your day on a mindful note. Typically, the way that we start the day carries throughout the entire day. Starting on a mindful, peaceful note can carry peace and mindfulness throughout the day.
Get Fresh Air upon Waking
Getting fresh air upon waking is a super easy daily habit that can change your life! There are so many benefits of fresh air in the morning. Fresh air in the morning can:
•increase your oxygen intake
•lift your mood
•increase your energy
•enhance your focus and concentration
•reduce stress
•support your respiratory health
These benefits make fresh air upon waking a great way to start the day. Setting a positive tone for the day and setting yourself up for success.
Set an Intention for The Day
Setting an intention for the day gives us purpose and direction. It also can help guide our decision making process throughout the day. I believe intention to be one of the most powerful changes we can make in our life! When we have intention, we have purpose.
Drink Warm Ginger Tea First Thing in the Morning
Warm ginger tea is a great way to start your day. As a natural anti-inflammatory it can alleviate indigestion and reduce bloating. It also is great for our digestive system and supports our immune system. It also warms us up on the inside and promotes better blood circulation. This boost can help with energy levels in the morning! Drinking warm ginger tea first thing in the morning is an easy daily habit that can change your life.
Make Your Bed Each Morning
Making your bed in the morning is important as it creates a sense of order and accomplishment right at the beginning of your day. This sets a positive tone for productivity and organization. Setting your bed first thing in the morning also keeps things visually orderly. A clean and organized home can help support a clean and organized mind!
Stay Phone-Free for at Least the 30 Minutes
Avoiding your phone for the first 30 minutes of your morning helps you ease into the day without distractions. Many times there can be news, social media posts or even text messages or emails that can throw our energy off. I suggest staying off of the phone for at least the first hour of the day. However, being phone free for even the first 30 minutes allows you to focus on a mindful start to your day. This makes it a very easy daily habit to change your life!
Get Some Morning Sun
Exposure to morning sunlight helps regulate your circadian rhythm, enhances your mood, boosts vitamin D production, and improves sleep quality, contributing to better mental and physical health. Talk about an easy daily habit that can change your life! All you have to do is walk outside.
Put Your Feet on the Ground
While you’re getting some morning sun – put your feet on the ground! Grounding yourself by connecting with the earth (simply walking barefoot on the ground) helps reduce stress and supports emotional stability. It can also create a sense of connection with nature, which aids in overall well-being. Putting your feet on the ground in the morning is a super easy daily habit that can change your life.
Stretch Your Body (But Not For the First Hour of Waking!)
Stretching improves flexibility, relieves muscle tension, and increases blood flow throughout the body. This easy daily habit can reduce the risk of injury and enhance physical comfort throughout the day. Waiting until an hour has passed to stretch allows your body to wake up naturally. We tend to stiffen up during sleep and moving too much straight away can sometimes do more harm than good.
Stop Skipping Breakfast
Having a nutritious and balanced breakfast provides energy and nutrients to kickstart your metabolism and supports stable blood sugar levels throughout the day. This can promote both better mental and physical performance.
40 Easy Daily Habits That Can Change Your Life
Easy “Any Day – Any Time” Habits That Can Change Your Life
Don’t Let Your Dirty Laundry Pile Up
Laundry is one of those chores that is never really done. Even when you’re totally caught up with laundry – by the end of the day you’ll have more dirty clothes in the hamper. Letting your dirty laundry pile up can lead to having to do 3-4 or even 5-6 loads in one day. Between washing, folding and putting laundry away.. 2+ loads makes it a GIANT chore. Trying to tackle laundry, as it dirties up is a simple and easy daily habit that can change your life. I try to do a load every other day or so to stay on top of my laundry.
Limit Screen Time
There are more and more studies every day that tie high screen time to mental health struggles. No sense to over-explain this one! Limiting your screen time is a super easy daily habit that can change your life.
Smile More!
It might seem too simple but smiling can actually reduce stress! Smiling releases endorphins (natural mood boosters). There’s also a bunch of science behind “the motivational power of a happy face”. Smiling can almost trick our brain into being positive! Simply smiling might be the easiest of these easy habits that can change your life.
Make Space For Your Feelings
Honoring your feelings is so important. When we deny our feelings they can find their way to lodge in our body. Those unfelt feelings can lead to muscle tension, emotional ups/downs and heaps of other physical and emotional ailments. I wrote up an article about how to removed stored emotions in the body and lose energetic weight. I also wrote my favorite places and spaces to feel my feelings. A safe space to feel is just as important as feeling itself!
Move Your Body Daily
Piggybacking off of making space for your feelings is moving your body daily. When we move – we move energy. Feelings can be energy within our body. The benefits of moving our body goes much further than just moving energy around. Moving our bodies daily can benefit us through:
•building muscle strength and flexibility
•reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases
•releasing endorphins, supporting our mental health
•support our immune function
•aid in digestion
•improve quality of sleep
•boost our cognitive function
•aid in strengthening our bones
•improve our quality of life
Movement doesn’t necessarily need to be intense exercise, either! Simply going for a walk, gardening, keeping up with household chores, swimming, stretching, yoga, dancing or going up/down stairs can be beneficial daily movement.
Cook More Meals at Home
Cooking more meals at home is, first and foremost, more cost efficient than eating out. When we choose to cook at home we can also ensure that there are better quality ingredients going into our meals. Cooking for ourselves, at home, is also a great practice
Create a Daily Breath-Work Practice
Incorporating a daily breath-work practice had benefits both on mental and physical well-being. Deep, intentional breathing helps reduce stress, increase oxygen levels in the body, and improve focus. It also promotes relaxation and can lead to better sleep quality. There’s nothing quite as easy as breathing! A breath-work practice is a super easy daily habit that can change your life
Align With Your Natural Circadian Rhythm
Aligning with your body’s natural circadian rhythm can improve your energy levels, mood, and overall health. By syncing your daily activities with your internal clock, you’ll experience improved sleep quality, enhanced productivity during waking hours, and a greater sense of well-being. I’m so passionate about aligning with your natural circadian rhythm that I wrote an entire article on why and how to do it.
Spend Some Phone-Less Time in Nature Daily
Spending time in nature is good for our mental, physical, and emotional well-being. Choosing to spend your time in nature disconnected from the phone gives you an opportunity to connect deeper to nature.
Set a 10 Minute “Quick Tidy Up” Daily Timer
Taking a short period each day to tidy up your home can have positive impacts on your mental clarity and overall sense of well-being. It creates a more organized and peaceful environment, which can help to boost your mood and productivity. I like to try to “beat the timer” and make it a quick game to clean and tidy up as much as possible in just 10-minutes. You might be surprised at how much you can accomplish in 10-minutes! A 10-minute habit is a super easy habit that can change your life.
Read or Learn Something New
Daily learning and reading can lead to personal growth and mental stimulation. It keeps the mind active and engaged. This can enhance our mental capabilities while also expanding our intelligence. Reading or learning something new daily can lead to boosted self-confidence and a more open mind.
Connect with Loved Ones
Nurturing relationships with loved ones is essential for emotional well-being. Regular connection to loved ones adds to a sense of belonging, strengthens bonds, and provides emotional support. Connecting with loved ones can also lead to increased happiness and a greater overall sense of fulfillment.
Prioritize Self-Care
When we neglect self-care we send a subconscious signal to our mind, body, and soul that we aren’t worthy of taking care of ourselves. This makes daily self-care crucial for maintaining physical, emotional, and mental health. Self-care isn’t just massages and manicures, either! It includes activities like exercise, proper nutrition, relaxation, and mindfulness. Regular self-care practices lead to improved mood, increased resilience, and a greater capacity to handle life’s challenges. Engaging in self-care is a great and easy daily habit that can change your life.
Practice Effective Time Management
This is something I’ve been working on for years! My time management skills haven’t always been the best. Efficiently managing your time can lead to increased productivity but more importantly: reduced stress. For me, the latter is why I worked on adopting effective time management as an easy daily habit that can change your life. I was constantly running late, which made me stressed! That stress would activate my “fight or flight” response. Being chronically late, and having poor time management skills, was one of the things I stopped doing to support my parasympathetic nervous system. You can read more about the parasympathetic nervous system, or our “rest and digest” response here.
Practice Random Acts of Kindness
Engaging in acts of kindness, even small ones, has a positive impact on both the giver and the recipient. Random acts of kindness can create a sense of community and compassion. This can lead to increased feelings of happiness and a greater sense of purpose. Putting a smile on someone else’s face with a random act of kindness is an easy daily habit that can change your life.
Learn a New Word Every Day
Expanding our vocabulary enhances communication skills and our mental capabilities. Learning a new word daily can lead us to a more articulated and expressive vocabulary – enhancing both our writing and conversation.
Engage with Your Creativity (Draw, Write, Craft, Paint etc.)
Engaging with our creativity can give us a space to express ourselves but also a place for an emotional release. Engaging with, and expressing, our creativity can stimulate the brain, encourage problem-solving skills, and provide a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Painting is one of my favorite ways to engage with my own creativity. I don’t, typically, aim to paint anything in particular. I like to just let my feelings take over the canvas and colors. I consider it an almost “unhinged” expression of my emotions.
Try a New Healthy Recipe
Trying a new healthy recipe is one of my favorite things to do! When we try new recipes we exit our comfort zone, boost our creativity, and can spice things up (pun intended😅).
Ask for Feedback
First and foremost, asking for feedback helps to nurture an open-mind. An open mind leads to growth! Asking for feedback can also:
•increase our self-awareness
•help to identify biases or blind spots
•aid in learning
•enhance our performance
•strengthen our relationships
•create clearer communication
•validate us!
•aid in conflict resolution
•enhance our decision making
•increase the quality of our work
•improve our leadership skills
•cultivate trust
•help us to become more adaptable
•increase our self-accountability
You might enjoy some of my other articles:
•8 Small-ish Changes that Had BIG Impacts on my Well-Being and Mental Health
•How To Effectively Use Affirmations
•How A Simple Gratitude Practice Changed my Life
•Common Mistakes People Make When Trying to Change Their Life
Celebrate Small Wins
Recognizing and celebrating small achievements gives us a boost of self-confidence. This self-confidence can help reprogram our subconscious mind, reinforcing a positive mindset and encouraging progress toward larger goals. It’s not ego to give yourself credit for your accomplishments! When we recognize and celebrate our wins, however small or large, we stand firm in our belief for ourselves.
Express Yourself
Openly expressing your thoughts, feelings, and opinions is essential for personal authenticity and healthy relationships. It promotes self-awareness, strengthens communication skills, and fosters deeper connections with others. This easy daily habit leads to greater emotional well-being and a more fulfilling life – which can definitely change your life!
Easy Daily Habits That Can Change Your Life
Easy Night-Time Habits That Can Change Your Life
Create Your To-Do List for the Following Day
Setting yourself up for success, the night before, is one of the easiest daily habits that can change your life! Before I get into bed each night I spend 3-5 minutes with my planner, going over the day ahead. This can help with effective time management (one of the daily habits I mentioned earlier). It also helps us to increase our productivity, rush less, increase accountability and most importantly to mentally prepare for the next day.
Reflect on the Day You Just Had
Taking a few minutes in the evening to reflect on the day we just had is a great, easy daily habit that can change our life. While it might seem like a very simple practice (hello, I said “easy” daily habits for a reason!) it can have heaps of benefits for mental, emotional, spiritual and even physical well-being. Some of the benefits of reflecting on the day we had before bed:
•provides us with closure
•an opportunity for gratitude
•release any pent-up emotions
•promote relaxation aiding with improved sleep
•a chance to reassess our goals
•enhances mindfulness
•procures problem-solving insights
•improve self-awareness
•celebration of achievements
•enhance decision making
•shifts perspectives
Stay off Screens for at Least an Hour Before Bed
Reducing exposure to screens (phones, tablets, computers, TV) at least an hour before bed is an easy daily habit that can change your life. The blue light that is put off by screens can hinder the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep. The constant news-reel and social media updates also keeps our minds active which poor preparation for pre-sleep!
Plan Your Outfit for the Next Day
Planning your outfit for the next day is a super easy daily habit that can change your life. Putting aside your outfit for the next day may seem simple but it can make your life easier! It can help you to avoid rushing in the morning, add to time efficiency and more importantly: reduce stress.
Dim the Lights or Light Candles
Using soft, warm lighting in the evening can mimic natural sunset conditions and promote relaxation. The red light from candles can also help your eyes to prepare for sleep. I also really like to use a red light device, instead of LED blue light, as the sun goes down.
Set a Bedtime and Stick to It
Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends! Consistency in sleeping/waking times can help to regulate the body’s internal clock and supports your natural circadian rhythm.
Wind Down Slowly
About an hour before bedtime, start winding down your activities. Limit screens, communications and engagements. This slowing down can signal to your body that it’s time to prepare for sleep. Nearly 45% of the global population doesn’t get quality sleep! Creating a good environment that supports solid sleep and giving yourself time to wind down is a great and easy daily habit that can change your life.
Easy Daily Habits That Can Change Your Life
I’d love to hear what some of your daily habits are! Do you find that having a routine and healthy habits help to keep you on track in life?
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