“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us” – John Dryden
I have previously written about how the habit of exercising every day has helped me tremendously. Doing something every day is such a powerful way to form a habit that I thought I would make a list of 24 habits that are worth doing on a daily basis. Note: I have divided these into morning, day and night although some could obviously be under different headings.
The Morning
1. Wake Early: I am a big fan of waking at 5am and spending time working on myself before going to work. I have written more about this habit here.
2. Exercise: when I had the goal of exercising 4 times a week I found it was very easy to tell myself I will exercise tomorrow instead. Setting the expectation of daily exercise removed this as a potential excuse and I have since reaped the benefits of this daily habit.
3. Review or (even better) Rewrite Your Goals: each day I try to get closer to achieving my short, medium and long term goals. Starting the day by reviewing or rewriting my goals means that I have better awareness of them throughout the day. As Robin Sharma says:
With better awareness you can make better choices and when you make better choices, you will see better results.
4. Read and/ or Listen to Motivational Material: in the morning a whole day of endless possibilities lies ahead. I motivate myself to play my best game by reading and listening to inspirational books/ audio books.
5. Visualise the Day Ahead: I like to take a few minutes to shut my eyes and visualise what I want happen in the coming day. It’s amazing how often my desires become reality when I do this.
6. Write a “To Do” list: I like to write out a list in my diary of the important tasks I need to do that day. As they are completed I put a line through them. So simple, yet so effective.
7. Check the News Headlines: I think it’s important to have an idea of what is happening in our community and the world. Also if don’t at least check the main stories, I find it is easy to feel left out of conversations throughout the day.
8. Take a Multivitamin: I try to eat a well balanced diet, but taking a multivitamin daily reassures me that I obtaining the proper amount of vitamins and minerals that I need (**Update: see comments).
9. Tidy Up: a cluttered house can lead to a cluttered mind and fuzzy thinking. I find it’s best to stay on top of things by tidying up each day.
10. Take Time to Look Good: it’s a reality of life that people judge us by our appearance. I take a few minutes each morning to ensure I go out into the world looking the best I can.
The Day
11. Put First Things First: Many people have their day controlled by tasks that are urgent , but not necessarily important. Examples include interruptions, some email and some phone calls. The habit of putting first things first is about organising and executing your life around your deepest priorities.
12. Connect with Nature: I find spending time outdoors in nature is great for my sense of wellbeing. I have written about this here.
13. Blog: blogging makes me think and write – two things that I can’t get enough of each day. I have written more about the benefits of blogging here.
14. Snack Well: I substitute the chips, candy and chocolate with fruit, vegetables (carrots and celery are great to chomp on) and nuts.
15. Be Proactive: being proactive means showing initiative and taking the responsibility to make things happen. Whenever I want something to happen, I ask myself: what can I do to make this happen?
16. Ping a Friend: I try to send a quick email or text to a friend each day. It’s a great way to stay in touch with friends when I am extremely busy.
17. Save: I save at least 10% of each paycheck. A great way to find the money to save is to break it down to a daily amount, for example $10-15. By taking account of the Latte Factor I find it easy to save this much.
The Evening
18. Have Family Time: on a typical workday I won’t see much of my partner and son, so I believe it’s important to, at the very least, be there most evenings. Family time is about quantity and quality.
19. Floss: This is essential to reduce tooth decay and gum disease. Why wouldn’t you want to have the best smile possible?
20. Wind Down: I try to switch off the computer and the TV about 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime and let my brain have some down time after a long day. I sleep far more peacefully when I do this.
21. Review My Day: I find this is a great way to hold myself to account for taking action throughout the day. Did I get closer to achieving my goals? Did I complete my to do list? Did my day go as planned? If not, why not?
22. Read: I love to read and do so continuously throughout the day. I find it is especially good to read just before to going to bed. Just makes sure it’s a relaxing book, and not one about nuclear physics (see habit #20).
23. Say I Love You to My Family Members: don’t just assume that your family members know you love them. I say these words to my partner and son at least once per day.
24. Go to Bed At A Reasonable Time: the first habit of this list (waking early) begins by going to bed at a reasonable time and getting a good nights sleep.
The Blogging Blog
excellent
Really Its too good ……………I like it ………….i will try to spent my remaining life this way …….cause m so impressed about this experience
Thanks a lot for this blog!
I recently found out that some one close to me but a few years younger is having a baby and plans to get her own place etc. I began feeling somewhat useless as I’m a 22 year old, still in uni, who really doesn’t do an awful lot if I’m honest. I decided I had to make some changes in my life, to become more productive etc and figured and the easiest way to make a change was simply to start developing habits which may in the future flower into something else, a bigger better change perhaps. Although most of these things probably fall under the ‘common sense’ umbrella having some one actually say ‘Try these things, it worked for me so why not?’ it makes them seem a lot more valid and worthwhile. I’ll start doing most of these I think :D
A great article ; I just want to suggest u 02 things:
First : Add 05 minutes of prayer to God, Allah ( any religion in which you believe) or if you don’t believe/follow any religion then just thank to your parents for giving you this wonderful life. Make this the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. It will give me great mental relief and give you the positive energy.
Second: – Daily spend some time in meditation may be 10 to 15 min.
Just an advice; follow it for a week and give me the feedback on my email id
Great article Peter. Mohit I loved your additions
Hai,
The post is good. Actually, i most impressed in the 23rd sentence.
i.e. Express our love to family members, that point i liked very much, because in the busy schedule, each and every one of us never expressed our love expressions orally, they just think that the family members could understand their affection by wavelength. So they forget to express.
But understanding the affection of love in wave length is second and next part. But it is also one of ur duty to express kind is very important to life to make smooth going family when, without forgetting to express the same..
Its really good one. I am implementing it . Thanks a lot for listing in single piece
Express our love to family members, that point i liked very much, because in the busy schedule, each and every one of us never expressed our love expressions orally, they just think that the family members could understand their affection by wavelength. So they forget to express.
THANK
Thank you Very much…………Really very useful………present some more articles teekey………
Really good suggestions to implement. It can make work look easy.
Great tips!
I find very important that you dedicate time for your family too.
Too often our lives are just work centered and we forget those elements in your life, which are the most important.
Let me add these two to the list:
1) Meditation
2) Gratitude
First one gives you time by yourself whereas the other opens your eyes to see, that you have lots of good in your daily life (and which you should appreciate).
Timo
Great additions Timo. I’d like to add “limit alcohol” to the list. Cory countryman
Those are very good habits. Just instead of taking a multivitamin, I would rather eat fruits and vegetables and eat nutritious food anyway. I never stop a day without making a to do list for the next day. I used to workout in the morning, which is much better as in the evening.You made me try to start again to work out in the morning.
Hi,
I am new to your site. Barrie recommended your site to me.
I am glad to see all these rules on this post. It reminds me of my own daily lists of rules. I have deliberate transformed my action plans to rules. I believe that rules have the added power to really push us to the limit. If rules are broken, what do we get? Punishment right? I will punish myself in positive ways if I fail any of the following rules though. More often than not, the fact that they are rules compels me to action on them. Enjoy my list of rules for my PERSONAL success:
Run 5km everyday.
Eat at least two pieces of fruit everyday.
Only one cup of coffee everyday.
Do my daily meditation exercise everyday.
Listen to inspiring music every morning.
Write down and release key emotional feelings every night.
Kiss my family goodbye every morning before going off to work.
Kiss and hug my family intensely whenever and wherever I meet them after work.
Say I love you to my wife at least ten times a day.
Surf the net for pictures and information about my adventures everyday.
Insert details into my adventure plans everyday
Clear any piece of work from my office everyday.
Write and publish one blog post for Life Architects everyday.
Comment on ten blogs before I sleep everyday.
Develop additional details on my personal development programmes everyday.
Read one new inspiring story everyday and write a short reflection about it.
Visualize Vision Points and read Personal Mission Statement everyday.
Do not eat out personally everyday.
Every payday save $100 dollars into E-Saver account for kids.
Avoid ERP everyday.
Read for at least 30 minutes everyday.
Plan for at least 30 minutes everyday.
Good list!!!! I like it a lot! I will be implementing your listto my daily routine. Very healthy habits!!
It is funny how in life when you are reaching and searching for strength or valuable advice it hits you square in the face. I am a 37 year old male in Georgia and have been soul searching for a while and looking on the Internet for quality advice……. This is the best site I have found!
It is writtenin normal, everyday language making it very easyto follow. I love the lost of 24 habits. I can relate and feel very confident that I can implement each one of them in my own way. I am a task master and constantly have to feel organized. This is the perfect road map for me to tap into my inner self and follow a Personal Mission Statement for success and true happiness!!! You forndesigning this blog. It helps me greatly!!!
Thank you Peter, great tips! I follow many of the same ones daily too. If I had to add anything, I would remind everyone to be careful of what you read and watch — when you give your passive energy and time to something, you are endorsing it; thus we must be responsible in our entertainment choices.
Nice … im searching for healthy daily activities.. i found this.. and it is so help ful. lets see how much i can able to do. :)
some great ideas. I would add visualising a better world and my commitment to that,
reflect on how to give back to nature (we live in a parastic materialist world of taking),
eating natural, good quality food that doesn’t inflict suffering on me or other beings as far as is possible.
Very good. tnx
Flossing???….arghhh but i hate flossing!….lol
and i hate multivitamins..lol
excellent
I’ve just come across this blog. I love it. It’s totally in sync with my list-making, improving ethos. Great list of habits here, I’ve now tweaked a few of mine and added some to my 2012 list. Thanks
there a big relation between what you said and time management, well said :)
I wanted to thank you for these simple, but often overlooked, words of advice and wisdom. I have written them down and am going to incorporate them into my life.
Important to balance your diet and mutli vitamins are not all the same. The ones to take should have prostate helpful ingredients like Saw Palmetto.
Bwahaha!
Is it too late to tell you how much I love you?
Thanks for the words. Your blogs are a fantastic help.
-Kara
Men can take multivitamins, just make sure they have NO IRON!!!!
I really liked the blogs. I don’t know if I can keep track of 24 habits, but I’ve got a place to start. Change is always good and can bring out the best in you if you watch it.