15 Life-Changing Habits To Change Your Life Around For Success in 2020.

 

So you are not happy with your life at the moment?

 

Maybe you feel too fat, too unhealthy, too stuck in a job that you hate, you smoke too much, you watch too much television, hell you even feel that that life is passing you by and you want to change?

 

Maybe it’s not you, maybe there is something else you want to change? A relationship? Where you live?

 

We all feel like this at some time or another. 

 

A crossroads in our life, a need to change something otherwise we become more and more unhappy with our life, and that’s no way to live.

I have been there and so have countless others.

 

However many of the things you might want to change are formed from habits we carry out every day.

 

You may not have considered it but we are the sum of our habits that we form over many years, some from childhood.

 

Some habits are good like cleaning your teeth, drinking plenty of water, to some that are not so good such as eating too many cakes and not eating enough fresh stuff.

 

Sometimes these habits are formed whilst in a new relationship, or from starting a new job and working in a new environment and they are necessary to fit in with other people.

If these habits are negatively impacting on your life, then you need to stop them and adopt some new habits to change your life around for your success this year.

This article should help do both, with some work from you.

 

Did you know that forming new habits to change our life around can take anything between 20 days to half a year (**Dean 2013).  It depends on many things such as:

 

-The person

-Their motivation to form a new habit

-The type of habit they’re trying to start for example a new exercise regime versus eating a new cereal.

 

Whether the habit is wanted or done out of necessity, for example following a strict diet for health reasons, verses getting your body ready for the beach this summer. Impacts on how they are adopted.

 

Dean references from his research about people forming habits and he says:

 

“…it took 66 days until a habit was formed.

As you might imagine, there was considerable variation in how long habits took to form depending on what people tried to do.

 

People who resolved to drink a glass of water after breakfast were up to maximum automaticity after about 20 days, while those trying to eat a piece of fruit with lunch took at least twice as long to turn it into a habit.

 

The exercise habit proved most tricky with ’50 sit-ups after morning coffee,’ still not a habit after 84 days for one participant. ‘Walking for 10 minutes after breakfast,’ though, was turned into a habit after 50 days for another participant”.

Taking action every day for something you want or don’t want, for example changing your life, either stopping an old habit or starting a new one can be hard. We are creatures of habit after all.

 

I personally recommend taking small steps to start the change. 

 

If you try to implement lots of new habits all at once, it can become overwhelming. And there is a danger you just give up.

 

Start with one new habit that you feel will have the biggest impact on your life and take it from there. 

 

This could be a change in diet or exercise or education of some kind. 

 

Something that you really want and are really focused on, this can lead to more successful changing of habits in your life.

 

An idea to help the success happen quicker is that you may wish to stop an unhealthy habit at the same time, so you have something new to focus on. 

 

This could be stopping smoking or drinking excessive alcohol or procrastinating in front of the TV for long periods of time.

 

I recommend starting small. 

 

In terms of exercise when I first started working out I set myself a five-minute limit. 

 

I put on a favourite song, which lasted about 5 minutes and did some weights or exercise for this time only.

Then over the weeks as I became fitter and felt more like I wanted to go further, I did a second song and carried on as before.

Then take it as far as you need to.

 

Try not to be too hard on yourself and don’t overwhelm yourself as this will make changing your habit or starting a new one more difficult. 

 

Likewise stopping smoking or excessive drinking; you can start to reduce the habit backwards, reducing it over a period that you’ve given yourself, such as three months.

 

So those are the foundations for the change, now for the juicy life-changing habits…

 

Here are the 15 life-changing habits to change your life around for your success this year.

 

They are based on my own experiences and those of my research and observations of people I have worked within health and social care.

 

1.Daily meditation:  Meditation should not be hard, people get hung up on the word. Spend 5 to 10 Mins a day just sitting.  Keeping quiet.  To let your mind drift and keeping it peaceful. 

You may like to sit in front of a candle and watch the flame whilst breathing into the count of three slowly, and breathing out slightly faster to the count of five.  

 

Keep it simple.

Meditation should not be complicated.

Meditation should be soothing to your soul.  Leaving you feeling calm and relaxed.

 

On a side note to this…If you want 3 exclusive meditations I’ve made to increase focus and success in your life I can share them with you here. Sign up here to my newsletter to get them this week.

 

2. Feeling gratitude for what you have: 

After meditation or during the day, or last thing at night thinking about what you are grateful for in your life at the present time. 

We are so focused on the things that we want or don’t want, but we forget to say what we are grateful for. 

 

Go on say thank you to someone for what they’ve done for you today. 

 

You’ll feel so much better and you begin to realise that you have a lot of great stuff in your life. 

Plus it also makes them feel valued and improves their own self-esteem.

 

It is a good thing to do.  It is also putting out good energy which then attracts great energy, back into your life.

 

3. Learn something new every day:  a good habit to get into and something that successful people do is they learn something new every day. 

 

This might be reading an article about something we are interested in finding the answers about. For example, starting a new business online, but it might be listening to a YouTube video about self progression or self-improvement.

But keep your mind active and keep it fed with new education. 

 

That is what successful people do every day.

 

 

4. Walk that body:  Walking or just being in nature or outside for at least 30 Mins a day is great for your mind and your body. 

 

Even if it is just walking the children to and from school or walking the dog, get out and get some fresh air. 

 

Walking and moving keeps your body exercised if you’re sitting down in your job, it gets you moving your legs and blood, it helps you think because you are focusing on something other than your work or your home environment. 

You are breathing in more oxygen and improving the circulation to your brain which can clear your mind, which can help you focus better for success in your life.

 

I often do quite a bit of thinking during this time if I am on my own, or if we are walking as a family, it’s a nice time to chat and laugh without distractions of TV’s, phones and other devices.

5. Drink plenty of filtered water every day:   Did you know that 60% of the human body is water?

 

Yep…If you move backwards and forwards really fast you can hear it swishing around inside of you!

 

Seriously though, the brain and heart are 73% water. 

So ditch the sugary drinks, the coffee, that diet coke, even the high sugar orange juice you have with your breakfast. 

 

Drink room temperature, or warmed, filtered water during the day. 

 

The NHS (in the UK) experts advise that, in climates such as the UK, we should be drinking around 1.2 litres of water a day.  That’s approximately six to eight glasses a day.

 

Water hydrates us. 

It flushes toxins from our body. 

It keeps our mind clear and working well.

 

Don’t waste your money on buying bottles of water, save the plastic, filter your tap water where possible, is just as good.

 

6. Set positive goals every day: Whilst you are lying in bed either before you drop off to sleep the night before or as you wake up in the morning, to go through the day ahead. 

 

Personally I focus on setting myself a couple of positive actions and goals that I want to achieve that day.

Successful people are action takers, productive people. 

They get things done.

How?

 

They take consistent and focused action and achieve their goals for that day.

 

Excellent Hint alert: Make an action list to give you focus and tick off the actions as you complete them.

 

7. Sleep is the best medicine:  The average body needs between 7 to 8 hours of sleep a day. 

 

I know that if I start dropping below that level I feel under the weather, groggy and irritable. 

 

In Ayurvedic medicine it is recommended that we go to bed between 10.00 PM and 6.00 AM, these are the hours that are the most rejuvenating for our bodies and when our biorhythms are programmed to follow natures rhythms. 

Ayurvedic recommends going to bed when the sun sets and arising when the sun rises.

 

How can we expect our minds and bodies to perform well for success if we are tired?

 

I always think of sleep like a bank account, the more you take out (less sleep) the less credit (the sleep benefit hours) you’ll have in your account.

 

8. Make Notes for Your Ideas: Someone once said to me that ideas are like leaves on the autumn wind.  They move around, come and go, and eventually disappear/turn to mush unless you sweep them up.

 

Successful people make notes. 

They write down the ideas that they have.

Any of these ideas could be the next successful breakthrough that you have in your life.

 

This could be a new business idea, an idea for a book you have been wanting to write, an idea for a solution to a problem you have been thinking about for months, or a new way to make your fortune.

 

Sometimes these ideas come to us as we wake in the morning, or dozing off to sleep at night. 

 

Sometimes they appear in the shower or whilst cooking tea.

 

I recommend keeping a notebook or having a note App on your phone that you can quickly speak into or note down, so you don’t lose that idea.

 

9. Work that body: You may notice that a lot of success habits mentioned here come from being physically fit. 

 

This is because in my experience of talking to others who are successful in their lives, and reading about those who are successful, multi-millionaires for example, they take care of their bodies. 

Strength work on the muscles, the body, helps to improve overall well-being and wellness of mind. 

 

Whether you have a rowing machine in the garage or you go to the gym a few times a week, there is no excuse.  Exercise and strengthen your body.

 

Your energy levels are boosted because exercise increases testosterone (the go-getting hormone) in the system and other chemicals such as endorphins, which makes us feel good.

 

If we feel good our minds work better. 

If our minds work better we function better in improving the success in our lives,  whatever that might be.

 

In addition, we can cope better with what life throws at us and stressful events don’t impact us as much when we exercise, that’s been my personal experience too. 

 

10. Be loving and compassionate every day:  These days sometimes I feel that it is uncool to be seen as a loving and compassionate human being. 

 

Everyone seems to want to be a badass. 

The drama and excitement of reality TV have impacted on people and how they think they need to act or react in their lives.

 

But love is our greatest gift, to love and be loved is I feel one of the main reasons we are here in these lives. 

 

If we can carry out our lives and days being the most loving and compassionate people that we can be, send out love to strangers, these can be loving thoughts, positive energy, love your children, your partner, family and friends is a good start. 

 

Even if they cheese you right off and all you want to do it slap them.

 

 

What you give out is what you will receive. 

 

If you want a definition of success I think showing love and compassion, is it. 

It shows you can rise above the details, the selfish inner voice that chats away in your head. The one that puts your interests and emotion before others.

 

This habit is a hard one, I work on it consistently every day, but the rewards are worth it;

Inner peace.

Inner calm.

Let the tiny niggles wash over you like water off a duck’s back. You’ll save so much more time and energy too!

 

11. Get your thoughts on paper: Writing, whether that is in a book or on an IT device can be a powerful pathway to your own success. 

 

We have mentioned making notes, but writing for short periods every day could be part of a blog for your business, it could be plans to change your life, it could be a way of getting down in the written word.

Tell the paper your emotions and thoughts, which could be very powerful and a positive release for you.

 

Seeing your thoughts written down can sometimes surprise you when I started blogging I was amazed about what came out of my mind; things that I did not realise were there.

 

Ideas that I did not realise I had.

 

Try it, you never know where it can lead you. You never know what is inside of you.

 

12. Stretch that body:   Yes another body habit. But this one is an important one. Trust me all successful people stretch.

 

For a couple of minutes every day, after a shower or before breakfast give yourself a good stretch. 

Do not overstretch if you are feeling stiff. 

 

Work up to deeper stretches over time. 

 

But keep your body supple.

 

Having a supple and more relaxed body improves health, reduces stress in your muscles, that strengthens your body, it can reduce neck and back problems over time with consistent stretching. 

 

A flexible body creates a flexible, more creative mind.

 

Join a yoga class or watch an appropriate yoga session online.

 

I stretch a couple of times a day; it keeps you well and healthy and I find that if I do not do it daily, my body feels tighter and more stressed overall.

 

13. Manage your money well: Successful people know what money they have coming in and what money is going out. 

 

Successful people manage their money well.

 

Be clear on payday about what you have to pay off, what you can save, what you need to pay out for the following month. 

Manage your money well and be focused on prioritisation about what you need to spend your money on. 

 

For example, going out with friends drinking can cost a lot of money, if you are focussed on changing your life around, whatever that might be you may need specific funds to do this, make some financial adjustments to achieve your life’s goals. 

 

An alternative could bring a bottle and have a get together at someone’s home. There are lots of ideas you can do to change your life around to create more money in your life. Check out an article I wrote on this here (my other site) How to Save Money – 15 Simple Ways to Start Saving Money Fast

 

 

14. You are what you eat:  Successful people are careful with what they put in their bodies. 

 

Whether you are Vegetarian, Vegan, a meat-eater or a fruit only eater, it does not matter to me. 

 

What matters is that you eat a healthy, varied diet of proteins, complex carbohydrates, fruits, salads, vegetables, healthy fats, and of course clean fluids like water and herbal tea.

Organic where possible and as your money allows.

 

Grow your own if you can. 

Junk food should be a tiny part, if at all, of your diet. 

Reduce or eliminate ‘refined’ sugar where possible. 

 

But be aware of what you are eating and how it makes you feel. 

 

15. Live for the moment: So many of us live in the future, however, the future does not exist. 

 

We only live in the present and exist in his present time. 

 

What I’m trying to say is that we tend to focus on what is coming up next… “next year I’ll be happier because, if this happens in five years, this will be good”

 

That type of thing.

We forget to enjoy the moment we are living in now.  That is quite sad. 

 

For example; How many of you are parents?

 

Do you spend most of your time worrying about what your children will be? 

 

Or what school they will go to? 

Or still, if they will get married? 

Will they be happy?

 

Sometimes as parents we are so worried about what will be, we forget what is now, we need to ensure we enjoy our children as they are now at this moment.

 

I see it so many times… parents focussed on their own life, their own worries, thinking of the future and forgetting to live in the now, they end up missing out on the fantastic stuff right in front of their eyes.

 

Likewise enjoy the great stuff that you have now, the events you are attending, the people you are talking to now. 

 

Enjoy the activity you are doing now, try not to think too much about the future, of course, make plans, but do not live in the future, be present, live now.

 

When you start to do this you enjoy life so much more and feel more successful, which impacts on the energy you put out and what you ‘give off’.

 

Even when having a walk outside, even walking down the high-street, take in the people, the buildings and their shapes, architecture, the colours of the sky, the smells, the sounds.

 

Don’t sit there worrying about the future, live for the moment.

 

Conclusion:

 

Whatever you feel your life is at the present time and the changes you feel you need to make are entirely up to you.  That only you can make a decision about moving forward for your own success.

That success can take many different pathways or forms dependent on the person.

 

Personally I wanted to get fitter and start my own businesses online, many of the above I have adopted to get me to that position.

 

Dependant on the success that you want, will determine the changes you want to make and your way forward.

 

You need to decide the new habits you have to take on, to get there. 

 

But sometimes major life event changes need different parts your life to come together at the same time, such as; diet, body strength, healthy mind, better sleep, to achieve those goals for your success.

 

Maybe you have other ideas about habits we can adopt for success, please leave your suggestions below we would love to hear them.

 

If you want to read more of my musings and articles have a look here on my blog on the Think Your Happy website.

So, what else can you do to change your life around?

What are you changing in your mind to create change within for success in your life?

Leave your comment below and let me know.

The Think community would love to hear your thoughts.

Take back control.

Create Your Own Success.

Jeff James.