6 UNDERRATED CHANGES YOU NEED TO MAKE TO UPGRADE YOUR LIFE
The human brain needs 66 days to install a new habit. It spends 22 days each unlearning, learning and then imbibing the action, before it becomes automatic. It’s 23 days into the new year and officially 21 days since I started to form a new habit that has upgraded the quality of my mornings since I started it. I’ll be sharing it, and 5 other habits that I’ll be imbibing this year and I think you should too. Nuff said. Let’s go:
1. START YOUR DAY EARLY
24 hours is such a long time, but you think it’s small because you wake up by 11 am. Six hours later, it gets dark, so your mind registers those 6 hours as your “day” (which should be 24 hours) and before you know it, it’s midnight and you haven’t even showered for the day. One of the things I love about early rising is, you get more hours – so instead of the 6 hours that you normally have before dark, you have about double that. It feels like two days in one, and all things being equal, you can get twice as much work done in a day, and eventually, in your life. (This particular one was for me to hear. I’m taking notes too lol.)
2. SPEND TIME AWAKE BEFORE REACHING FOR YOUR PHONE
No, you can’t use your iPad. Why would you even ask me that?! No gadgets. None. And no, you can’t check the time with it, use your watch or clock. Grab a book. Do your morning routine. Spend time honing your craft. This helps you spend more time with yourself before you go out into the world. It builds your self-awareness, your confidence, your self-esteem. You cannot be tossed around when you get out into the world because you have built a solid self-foundation. 100/100 Highly Recommend.
3. REDUCE YOUR SCREEN TIME
It’s tempting. I know. You pick up your phone to check out the current market price of the iPhone XS and five hours later, you’re on YouTube watching how to teach Spanish to termites. It’s hard. I know. You drop your phone because you realize how much you’ve lost and you decide to continue working, then you realize you still don’t know the price of the iPhone. You need to make conscious effort and it takes discipline. Thankfully, there’s an iOS feature that helps with this. By the time you’re locked out of your phone once or twice, you will hear word and be smarter with your screen time and be more productive.
4. TAKE TIME OUT OF YOUR DAY FOR GRATITUDE
One minute is enough. The lyrics of “Count your blessings” didn’t speak one lie. There are so many things you don’t know you have until you intentionally point them out to yourself. Gratitude helps you see that your efforts are paying off. It encourages you when you see stuff that you could only see in movies at some point lying carelessly in your wardrobe. It fuels you, gives you reason to look forward. You need that positivity in your life. You owe yourself that much.
5. SPEND MORE TIME OUTSIDE
My current M.Sc. thesis is on Biophilic design which basically is built on the theory of Biophilia – man’s inherent inclination to be in steady contact with nature. You aren’t made from concrete; you’re made from dust. Go outside fam. Spend time outside walls for at least 30 minutes cumulatively every day. Your body rejuvenates itself and would sing your praises everyday for that.
6. CULTIVATE A READING CULTURE
Stop rolling your eyes at me dear. I can see you. Don’t worry, I understand why you want to sleep off on me, that’s why I saved it for last. The entire point is, keep learning EVERYDAY. Make it a point of duty to learn at least one new thing everyday and with time, make it two, then three. The best way to do this is to read – articles, blogs, dictionaries, whatever. These days, technology has made it a lot easier with audiobooks, podcasts, YouTube, etc. Whatever you do, please learn every day, because the day you stop learning is the day you start dying.
LOL. I sounded so intellectual in that last line. Damn. Is there any new habit you’re going to try? Let me know in the comment section below.
Till next time,
Alma.
Recommended Text: The 5 a.m. Club by Robin Sharma
Recommended Podcast: On Purpose by Jay Shetty
Recommended App: Any.do
All pictures were taken by Sipo of STJ Photography
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The new habits I’m inculcating this new year are taking time to be grateful and spending less screen time when I wake up (especially on that Twitter drug). Thank you for sharing this. I began a mindfulness journey and consciously began counting the things I’m thankful for at the end of each day as part of my daily exercises. It makes an even greater difference than I expected!
Alma Asinobi
WOW. This is a big one. I’m so proud of you. Thank you for sharing!
Alma Asinobi
Thank you so much!
Alma Asinobi
Aww, I’m so touched by this. I really love doing things in peace when the world is asleep. It’s so refrehing. I totally get that. Also, thank you for placing such value on my content. I’m happy you’re happy!
Eromonsele Emmanuel
My phone! Ah. I’ve got to learn how to really stay away from it but then there’s social media.
I need help!
Thanks for writing this.
Ini Pirisola
Great read
Daniels Daniella
Nice one,I got cracked up when I saw ‘ how to teach Spanish to termites’.
Solabomi Oyebiyi
I plan on reducing my screen time this year. I’ve recently been logging of IG before I slept until 12pm the next day on Sundays till 5:30pm
Alma Asinobi
This is such an amazing step!