Have you been thinking that something’s gotta give? A lot of us want change, but aren’t sure how to get there. How can we be happier, more successful, more confident, more secure? It starts with a solid foundation of positive habits. I’ve collected the five most important positive habits you need to get started on the life you’ve always dreamed of!
1. Ditch those negative thoughts!
Having a positive outlook will change your life. Trust me, I have been in a spiral of negative thoughts and felt the effects! You can get stuck in a pattern of only looking at the dark side, and before you know it, it has crept into every part of your life. That’s why ditching the negative thoughts had to be the absolute first thing on the list.
The first step to building positive habits is kicking out the bad ones. Negative thoughts will discolor everything; you could have the best relationship or job but with the wrong attitude it won’t matter. If you’re focused on the bad side of things, you’ll feel unsatisfied no matter what.
It’s important to remember that you always have a choice. You have the power to choose whether you see things in a positive or negative light. Although you can’t always control your circumstances or the world around you, what you can control is how you react to it.
One way of pushing negative thoughts out of your mind is by focusing on gratitude. Being grateful for the things in your life will make you happier in the long run. Try beginning the day by contemplating five things you are grateful for each morning. It might be difficult to start this habit, but pretty soon you’ll have more than five each day!
2. Get active!
Another thing that will help turn your life around is to get moving! Exercising releases endorphins, which can help make you happier. The most successful people make it a habit of exercising every day. When President Obama was in office, he worked out six days a week!
The good news is you don’t have to run a marathon to reap the benefits of physical activity (unless you want to, no shame on your marathon game!). Simply squeezing in some movement wherever you can will certainly add up. Try taking walks on your breaks at work, meeting up with a friend for a hike, or taking the dog out more often. You’ll find these activities are often enjoyable and give you an extra boost of energy.
If you need help getting moving, try a fitness tracker like a Fitbit. It can vibrate to remind you to get up and move. You can also ask other people to keep you accountable. Maybe set up a walking group at work or meet a friend at the gym. Movement doesn’t have to be a drag, it can be a fun part of your day!
3. Say positive affirmations
So you’ve started clearing out negative thoughts from your mind and replacing them with gratitude. Continue building these positive habits by focusing on empowering affirmations. What’s an affirmation? It’s something that you say over and over again so it becomes ingrained in your being. If we constantly focus on the negative, those beliefs will get enshrined into our personality and become toxic. But if we dedicate ourselves to positive affirmations, we can experience the life-changing magic of believing in ourselves.
A positive affirmation can be anything that we repeat to encourage or support ourselves. The way you talk to yourself is important! Maybe you’ve heard the saying “I am my own worst critic”. Try being your own best cheerleader. Think of an affirmation you can focus on that will push out negative thoughts and bring good ones in.
Some examples of affirmations are “I have everything I need to be successful” and “I get to choose my own life” and “I deserve happiness and respect. Today, I am going to respect myself and others”. You can use these as inspiration or make up your own. Choose words that have meaning to you. If you’re going through a difficult time, your affirmation may be reminding you that the tough time is temporary.
The way we talk to ourselves is extremely important. Use your self-talk to build positive habits.
4. Take time away from the screens
How much time a day do you spend looking at your phone? We are all guilty of this! Whether it’s a laptop, phone, iPad, whatever, we all spend way too much time staring at a screen. While there are tons of benefits of our digital lifestyle (including the ability to connect with people around the world and find supportive communities online!), there are also some benefits from unplugging.
Be sure to give yourself a break from your devices, which will help you sleep better and be more interactive with the people you’re around IRL. By stepping away from the screens, you can reconnect with yourself and your environment, which is so easy to lose track of when you’re wrapped up in clicking and swiping.
This is one of the most important positive habits, but I know how hard it is! By putting away our digital distractions, we are forced to get real with ourselves and those around us. It can cause us to be more self-reflective (because we have moments to be “bored” when we’re not staring at a screen) and force communication. This may be difficult and uncomfortable, but I assure you it’s necessary to be your authentic self. Don’t run away from these interactions, instead let yourself be the free, true woman you were meant to be!
5. Check in on your goals
Do you start each year with a list of goals? Once you’ve written them down in January, do you ever revisit them? It’s way too easy to write down ambitious goals and then lose track of them over the year. We get distracted by all the minutia of everyday life and don’t check in our progress. We lose the forest for the trees.
Try keeping your goals fresh in your brain so you are more motivated to actually work towards them. Keeping your goals easily accessible will help you put together a plan for achieving them. You can write down your goals on a whiteboard, keep them in your phone, make a computer spreadsheet, scribble them in a journal, or do all of the above! If you actually write down your goals somewhere, you are much more likely to achieve them. So take note of your goals and hold yourself accountable!
We all want to be happy, successful women, right? It starts with positive habits. The five habits I’ve listed above are truly the ones I find most important for introducing a long-lasting, radical impact on your life. Start practicing these habits and I promise you’ll experience an incredible difference. And when you do, I want to hear about it!