10 microhabits that will transform your life | Ingenuity and delight

With every new job, relationship, habit (whatever), I consider learning in small steps. You didn’t come out of your mother’s womb knowing how to walk, much less run, right? First, you stood there, for months, before turning around, then crawling, then standing up, before staggering a couple of steps and everyone around you cheering. You got goose eggs on your head and bruises on your knees, you fell and stumbled for years, but you finally learned to walk and now you probably take for granted how easy it makes your life.

The same process of slow and steady learning can also be applied to these life-changing micro-habits. The trick to making a habit stick is to start now, start small and, above all, start in general.

Here are ten of my tried and true micro-habits that will make you feel more organized and in control in a wildly unruly world.

1. Ask yourself: “What is the best thing you can do?”

When I have the option of waiting a few seconds to hold the door open for someone, I do it. If I can spend five extra minutes in Savasana, I’m all for it. If my friend has been struggling with a difficult pregnancy, I consult her. Because? Because that’s the nice thing to do.

Doing something good is not about recognition; is a reminder many times a day to do something kind both for others and for yourself, especially when no one is looking. You will condition your brain to think thoughtfully, no matter how small the action. However, remember: if “good” takes advantage of you, your time, or your generosity, then it is not good to begin with. Know your limits.

2. Enforce a one-minute rule.

Credit to The happiness project to the author and very intelligent woman Gretchen Rubin for this rule of life. It’s easy: if a task takes less than a minute to complete, go ahead and do it right away. Recycle the junk mail, hang up your coat, reply to that text, close the silverware drawer, screw the lid on the peanut butter.

It’s easy: if a task takes less than a minute to complete, go ahead and do it right away. Recycle the junk mail, hang up your coat, reply to that text, close the cutlery drawer, screw the lid on the peanut butter.

Most of these mundane tasks take just a few seconds, but when combined together, they can quickly become overwhelming. “I’ll do it tomorrow” becomes another “I’ll do it tomorrow” and then “What’s one more day?” Don’t even think about it. Do it now.

3. Add one more.

Include one more vegetable on your plate. Drink an extra glass of water each day. Learn one more phrase in Arabic. Once those one more Make it part of your routine, consider adding (you know where this is going) one more.

4. Know how much money you have.

Knowledge is power, even if that knowledge reminds you how terrible your credit card debt is. Having financial security and confidence starts with constantly having an accurate idea of ​​how much money is in your accounts. Get in the habit of checking your accounts frequently, whatever that means for you. Once you have a better idea of ​​how much money you have, as well as how much you’re spending, you’ll make more informed decisions whenever you’re tempted to spend frivolously.

Keep in mind (and this is coming from someone with major money anxiety!) that there’s a fine line between monitoring your accounts and obsessing over every penny. I’m the biggest proponent of financial education, but when the markets crashed this spring, I removed the shortcut to my financial advisor’s site from my browser and chose blissful ignorance over the stress of something I couldn’t do anything about. Understand what you can and can’t control and focus your attention on what you can, like saving money for an emergency fund or not buying that impractical jumpsuit.

5. Write it down.

Do you really think you’ll remember that funny thing your little one said at dinnertime this morning, much less in a couple of decades? And why do we trust our brain, which has gone through enough lately, remember exactly what we need at the grocery store to make that Alison Roman recipe?

Every time that little “I have to remember that” flag in your head starts waving, write it down immediately. That could mean dates, gift ideas for the hard-to-shop for people in your life, restaurants you want to visit on your next date night, or anything else you’re likely to forget. Make lists, lists, and more lists, whether with pen and paper the old-fashioned way or in the Notes app on your phone.

6. Organize your calendar weeks, months and, if applicable, years in advance.

Routinely spending time organizing your online calendar helps you see important happenings, like upcoming bills, birthdays, and events, weeks and months in advance, signaling to you to prepare.

On my Google calendar (bless that piece of Internet gold), green events indicate when scheduled payments come out of my bank accounts. Four times a year, additional green events remind me to pay my quarterly taxes, two weeks before they are due, so I have some wiggle room to get my money in order. My yoga instructor’s birthday is celebrated every December 10th until 2023. There is a work project I need to find out about in early summer, but I would never remember it on my own; everything related to work is color coded. I put oil changes on my calendar weeks before I need them, so I have them on my radar in case my schedule gets full and I have to postpone it.

7. Bring one thing with you.

My nightstand would be overrun with a collection of water glasses, tea cups, and kombucha bottles if I didn’t carry one every time I went to the kitchen. When your hands are free, ask yourself, “What can I take with me?” Apply this to a given room, your office or your car, any area of ​​your life that can quickly become overwhelmed by clutter.

8. Learn to prioritize your future self.

Sounds boring, doesn’t it? It won’t be boring when you can retire early and lounge on Spanish beaches all day because you’ve made decades of decisions to get there. On the other hand, a lifetime of living in the moment can be self-destructive and harm all kinds of health in the long term: physical, mental, relational and financial.

Take a micro-moment to consider it. What could be the consequences of having unprotected sex with him? I have to drive home. Should I have one more drink? Do I buy these shoes or contribute to my IRA?

The good news is that sometimes the crazy decision is what is best for your future self. Sometimes 2:00 a.m. frozen pizza is the forward-thinking option, if it helps you not have a hangover tomorrow. Learn your perfect, and probably ever-changing, balance between what you need now and what you’ll need in the future.

9. Being rejected more.

Today I was rejected no less than four times. I didn’t feel good per se, but I recovered faster than the last four rejections. What is there to lose? Remember, the worst thing you can say, whoever you are. they It’s, it’s not.

If there is one lesson that I am learning repeatedly it is that we have to ask for what we want in life. Sometimes you understand it, sometimes you don’t. But you have to ask.

If there is one lesson that I am learning repeatedly it is that we have to ask for what we want in life. Sometimes you understand it, sometimes you don’t. But you have to ask. Whatever you want, career-wise or relationship-wise, undergo rejection exposure therapy, microdosing yourself with being told “no” over and over again. It will make the occasional “yes” even more satisfying.

10. Take advantage of frustrating moments to practice your patience.

We’ve all been there, in the coffee shop or at the bank, behind the seemingly slowest person in the world. In those moments, when there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no need to get angry, I say to myself, “What a perfect time to practice your patience.”

Apply the phrase to frustrating moments, too, like when your potty-training toddler has an accident or you’re tempted to write a sarcastic work email. Breathe a few times. Observe your surroundings. Have some perspective. And yes, practice your patience.