Everyone wants to do better, the trouble is knowing how to do it. From being on top of your game at work to making enough time for your friends and family, it can feel like there’s not enough time to work on self-improvement - but there is. Here are six things that are worth doing every day.
Count your lies
Before you start defending yourself - yes, you do lie every day. Whether you say that ‘your phone died’ when someone confronts you about a text you haven’t responded to, or you pretend to know a movie/song/film/tv series that someone brings up at work, we all lie every day. Try counting how many times you don’t tell the truth and have a go at reducing that number every day.
Free-write
This one can take as little as five minutes. Free-writing is putting pen to paper - writing anything (and everything) that comes to your mind without stopping to think. Don’t worry that you’re not the next Hemingway, the quality of the writing itself isn’t important. Do this for as long as you can - that could be five minutes or half an hour depending on the day. You’ll be surprised by how much easier it is to be proactive about your goals and aspirations when they’re written down on paper.
Sleep properly
The importance of this one can’t be underestimated. Getting enough sleep improves your decision making, supports your immune system, helps your learning capabilities and enhances positive thoughts. It's a no-brainer - getting seven to nine hours of sleep every night and watch the difference it makes to your life.
Meditate
Alright, this might not be everyone’s cup of tea - but meditating is a remarkably effective tactic when it comes to self-improvement. Meditating is linked with an unbelievable amount of health benefits: increased happiness, improved concentration and a clearer vision of your goals. Getting your zen on can also reduce anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue. Give it a go.
Spend time in nature
Spending time in nature is more important than you think - walking in nature, for example, directly improves your happiness. It also reduces your stress levels, makes you more creative, improves your memory and might even make you a better person. For all those benefits, it’s worth making a little bit of effort to spend more time in nature. You don’t need to be Bear Grylls to take a walk through the park at lunchtime.
Get some exercise
Getting exercise is one of the secrets to a good life and if you’re reading this, you’re probably one of two people: the person that already has an exercise routine sorted or the person who’s tried a thousand different classes, routines and schemes with little to no success. For the latter, here are some achievable ideas: cycle to work, drop a tube stop and walk the rest of your journey, do jumping jacks in front of the telly.
There you have it, six things that we think are well-worth doing every day. We think all of these are easily do-able as part of even the busiest schedule. Take on as little or as much as you like - you’ll only know what works for you by giving it a go.
All of our blog articles are reviewed by our Medical Director before publication.
