The Power of Habits
Start These 6 Life-Changing Habits and Set Yourself Up for a successful 2020
“As it is not one swallow or a fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy...." "...these virtues are formed in man by his doing the right actions.”
Today I want to share with you 6 life-changing habits to create before 2020 that will help you make a profound lifestyle change and create the life that you want over the next few months. So if you wanted to wait until the clock strikes midnight on December 31 to begin new projects, set new goals and adopt new habits this post may change your mind (and I hope it will!)
But the real question is, are you ready to make a healthy lifestyle change?
Are you determined to level up your life and happiness so that you can successfully navigate life?
Do you want to embark on New Year’s Resolutions a little earlier than usual?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you’re ready! Well, let’s get right to it then.
Here are 6 powerful habits you can start today to change your life before 2020.
So set yourself up for your best year ever, starting right now!
Download Your FREE Printable Worksheets for Self-Improvement!
“Turn down the volume of your negative inner voice and create a nurturing inner voice to take it’s place. When you make a mistake, forgive yourself, learn from it, and move on instead of obsessing about it. Equally important, don’t allow anyone else to dwell on your mistakes or shortcomings or to expect perfection from you.”
1. Challange Your Inner Critic
How do you speak to yourself? What is the tone of your internal dialogue? Are you kind or mean to yourself? Is listening to your inner voice a pleasant experience or rather a torture?
If your inner dialogue makes you feel pretty miserable about yourself it’s time to change this. It’s time to address, challenge and silence your irrationally harsh inner critic. It’s time to evict the bully in your head and rent your mental space to your best friend! You don’t need a negative, pessimistic, punishing voice in your head. You deserve better! Besides, there is absolutely NOTHING good about negative self-talk. It won’t motivate you for better results. but only limit your abilities and stop you from reaching your full potential. So if you are constantly indulging in negative self-talk hoping that it will give you positive results… it’s never going to happen. Only positive self-talk can motivate you, help you overcome life struggles, build a healthy relationship with yourself and unlock your full potential.
Your self-talk is an incredibly powerful force because it shapes your perception of reality and affects all areas of your life. So use this force to your advantage. Stop degrading and punishing yourself. Stop self-loathing. Challenge your harsh inner critic. Start cutting out of your vocabulary all the negative phrases and replace them with positive affirmations. Go stand in front of the mirror, give yourself a big smile and start talking to yourself in a kind, uplifting and positive way. Stop beating yourself up and start navigating your life with kindness, self-respect, and self-love. Work on your relationship with yourself.
Remember that there is only one person you spend your whole life with… and that is YOURSELF. For this reason alone, it’s better to be your best friend than your worst enemy, right? So start making friends with yourself!
Tips to master Your Inner Dialogue
- Start journaling for better understanding of your internal dialogue
- Start paying attention to your inner monologue
- Distinguish between your negative self-talk and your inner critic (The former is judgmental and harmful and the latter one can be really beneficial, in terms of developing self-consciousness and self-awareness.)
- Notice, address and challange your negative self-talk (write down all the nasty, unkind and nagative words you tell yourself and examine the evidence)
- Replace negative beliefs with positive affirmations and realistic statements
- Practice self-compassion and self-love (go on a date with yourself)
- Start a gratitude practice (start a gratitude jar)
- Use the power of your words and create a positive reality
2. Live in the Present Moment
So often we live in psychological time constantly thinking about the past and worrying about the future instead of focusing on the present moment. But the truth is that there is no past and no future. All we have is now. All we have is the present moment.
So don’t ruin the authenticity of the present moment dwelling in the past, you don’t live there anymore and stop worrying about the things that haven’t happened yet. Accept the beauty of not knowing what happens next.
Use the time to your advantage but be present. Learn important lessons from your past experience and plan for the future but avoid overthinking and over-scheduling because it will create excessive worrying and unnecessary suffering. Instead, focus on the present moment and start building foundations for your future self.
Tips To Practice Being Present
- Focus on the present moment. Accept what you can’t change and control what you can control. Accept what life is and let go of a sense of injustice. Give yourself permission to feel and experience the authenticity of life. Guide your life with mindfulness and create your own momentum.
- Connect With Nature - contact with nature is highly beneficial to our physical and mental health, it keeps us grounded and mindful. As creatures of nature, we need undeniably and organically daily contact with Mother Earth.
- Practice Gratitude Being grateful equals being humble, honest, respectful and authentic. (Start a Gratitude Jar - Every day write down what you are grateful for and add these “Gratitude Notes” to your gratitude jar.)
- Practice Self- Compassion - treat yourself like you treat people you truly love. Build a strong and healthy relationship with yourself (there is only one person you will spend whole life with and that person is YOU.)
- Feed your passion and keep your dreams alive in the face of reality
- Unlock your creative potential (The best way to do it is through observation, connecting with nature, interacting with others and fueling your passion. Personally, I like to train my creative mind through journaling and communicating with my inner child because I really believe that our inner child is our source of creativity and infinite potential.
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
3. Start Living a More Minimalistic Lifestyle
This whole new culture of materialistic capitalism gives us this illusion that the more valuable goods we own the more valuable people we are. This is this bullsh*t most social media influencers try to sell us. Everywhere you look you see ads with all these high on dopamine, too beautiful to be real models with a plastered smile on their faces telling you that you REALLY need to buy a particular product (usually overpriced) BECAUSE your happiness depends on it. No, that’s not true. That’s a BIG FAT LIE.
Only non-materialistic life goals lead to happiness. A new car won’t help you to achieve a sense of belonging. The latest smartphone model won’t buy you respect or approval. This new insanely expensive little black dress won’t buy you, love. Money can’t buy true happiness. Or unconditional love. Or authentic friendship. Or freedom. Or a real human connection. The timeless, universal values are not for sale. And will never be. If your goal is money you will never have enough. If you are trying to fill a void in your life with material things it will never work out. If you value more possessions than life experiences you’re setting yourself up for a life filled with unhappiness.
Money is not the goal nor the material possessions are. That’s why it is so important to understand what quality, emotion or experience are you really looking for in your life.
Practical minimalism leads to greater happines. It happens because the less you become attached to material things the most peaceful and happier you are. Why? Because you become free.
Tips to Become a Minimalist (Practical Minimalism)
- Practice Gratitude
- Practice Self-Reflection
- Reconnect with Nature
- Make Space for Spirituality
- Spend More Time with Your Loved Ones
- Go for a Mindful Walk
- Wake up Early and Watch the Sunrise
- Engage Yourself in Pleasurable and Joyful activities
- Donate
- Buy One Used item Instead of Buying a New One (I love buying used books with someone else’s notes)
- DIY Gifts for Your Family and friends
- Buy Less and More Mindfully
- Get Rid of Negative Emotions
- Forget about multi-tasking and embrace the power of single-tasking.
- Do a Digital Detox
- Spend Quality “Me Time”
- Get Your Priorities Straight
- Declutter you external Personal Space
- Declutter Your Mind and Free Your Mental Space
- Be Assertive and Practice Saying “NO”
- Stop Procrastinating - Manage Your Time Wisely
Best Posts About Achieving Goals:
- Get into the Habit of Being Seriously Organized Before 2020. HERE
- 8 Simple Steps to Set Yourself Up for a Successful 2020 HERE
- Powerful and smart ways to manage your time efficiently and effectively HERE
- 5 steps to success in achieving your goals HERE
- The ultimate way to overcome procrastination and become a highly productive person HERE
- 10 powerful life-changing healthy morning rituals HERE
- 6 Simple Ways To Live A Healthier Lifestyle HERE
- How To Start Eating Mindfully HERE
- Put Yourself In A Positive Headspace HERE
- The science of motivation HERE
- 10 simple ways to bring mindfulness into your daily life HERE
- 10 powerful habits to boost your confidence HERE
4. Own Who You Are
Looking for excuses and playing the victim card is something we all do for a variety of reasons such as to manipulate others, justify our own bad behaviour, escape taking responsibility for our mistakes or avoid things that overwhelm us. We all have times when life feels hard; when nothing is going according to plan, everything seems to be falling apart and we just feel extremely completely overwhelmed by the complexity of our problems. At such moments, playing the victim and blame others for our mistakes, actions, or problems seems very convenient, doesn’t it?
And as far as I don’t see anything wrong if this “victim game” is used as a little excuse or a momentary lapse of weakness from time to time in minor matters only, I do think that having a full-time victim mentality is an extremely self-destructive habit that keeps us stuck in blame, extreme pessimism, and overwhelming negativity. That’s why you have to be careful not to fall into this trap of making up excuses every single time you feel vulnerable, insecure or just not in the mood. Trust me I know what I am talking about. I used to suffer from victim mentality for most of my life until I chose to assume responsibility and regain control of my life. So be careful with making excuses, because you really don’t want to pass for a truly miserable person who would rather drown in self-pity than find a solution to their problems. Instead, take responsibility for your life, embrace the creator’s role and create a life you want.
Tips to Own Your Sh*t
- Develop a Growth Mindset
- Create a Clear Vision for Your Life
- Create a Healthy Daily Routine
- Build A Healthy Relationship With Yourself
- Practice Self-Reflection
- Break Out of Your Comfort Zone
- Break Through Self Limiting Beliefs
- Face Your Fears
- Work on Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence
- Practice Patience
5. Create Space for Ease and Clarity
Overthinking and over complicating things create stress, mental tension, and exhaustion and we all know how these ingredients ruin the taste of our everyday lives. So instead of wasting your time and energy on unnecessary non-critical decisions focus on your main goals and top priorities.
Stop overthinking and overanalyzing every single aspect of your life because it makes your current reality much more complex than it ever needs to be. Instead, create convenience and simplicity over your goals and actions for a happier and more fulfilling life.
Remember that perfection does not exist and you can create an amazing outcome without knowing exactly what you want to achieve. You don’t need to have everything figured out now; you can change directions at any time. So put yourself in motion, get inspired, take advantage of unexpected opportunities when they present themselves and accelerate your personal growth.
Tips to Create Space for Ease and Clarity
- Celebrate your achievements (Celebrating achievements is crucial for your success because it boosts your confidence, increases your self-esteem and activates happy chemicals in your brain! It’s worth the effort!)
- Practice Mindful relaxation (Dedicate approximately 8 hours a day for your side projects and relaxing activities. But don’t spend 8 hours laying on the couch and watching TV. Instead, find your ways to relax productively, for instance, go to the gym, develop your skills, learn something new, gain inspiration or spend quality time with your loved ones.)
- Practice mental self-care (do a digital detox, master single-tasking, keep a journal, meditate, practice being decisive)
- Declutter your external personal space - you cannot navigate your life if you’re surrounded by a complete mess.
- Get inspired (You can find an incredible source of inspiration literally everywhere you just have to adopt a hunter-gatherer behavior and observe your surroundings. Don’t wait for inspiration but find it yourself by reading self-help books, blogs, and articles or just listen to your favorite music.
- Adopt a healthy diet - eat for nutrition instead of just for pleasure. (post on Mindful Eating HERE)
- Get quality rest (Dedicate 7-8 hours a day for a quality rest. Don’t sacrifice your sleep to accomplish more work in a day because it won’t make you any more productive. Compromising sleep will negatively affect your mental and physical performance. So make sure you get enough sleep.)
6. Cultivate Gratitude
Have you ever thought that the things you take for granted are the things others are praying for? We really don’t pay enough attention to that. We don’t appreciate things that deserve our gratitude the most. We just assume that if we have something, know somebody or experience a certain feeling it will last forever. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try we cannot maintain our pleasant status quo forever. Because the universe has always its plan, and this plan is always in motion. The higher-order running the universe hardly gives us any time to prepare for what is going to happen next. And we all know that sometimes everything changes within a fraction of a second. Without any warning. Without any time for preparation. And if we want to survive we need to adapt to new reality immediately. There is no time to lose. Every second is precious. This is the exact moment when we realize what is really beyond our control. Then we start to think that we should have been appreciating more all we had. We should have been more self-conscious, self-aware, thankful and grateful for the good things and the lack of bad ones. Life proves us AGAIN that we never miss a good thing ‘til it’s gone…
Stop taking things for granted and start practicing gratitude.
Tips to Practice Gratitude
- Practice Mindfulness - focus on the present moment
- Meditate
- Practice Mirror Technique Exercise (Stand directly in front of the mirror, look straight into your own eyes and give yourself a pep talk. Reflect on your worth and value.
- Practice Mindful breathing
- Keep Gratitude Journal
- Start Gratitude Jar
- Spend Quality Time with Loved Ones
- Be Spontaneous (Express yourself & share your positive feelings with others)
- Learn to Say “THANK YOU” and do it!
- Connect With Nature - spend more time outside / take a walk
- Allow Yourself to Be Vulnerable - don’t be afraid of embarrassing yourself
- Help Others Selflessly without expecting something in return.
- Cultivate “Il Dolce Far Niente” - indulge in pleasant idleness
P.S.
Stay Positive
Be Mindful
and Test Out These Habits Before 2020!
xo Kate
