Wednesday, July 28, 2010

30 Habits that Will Change your Life

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Developing good habits is the basic of personal development and

growth. Everything we do is the result of a habit that was previously

taught to us. Unfortunately, not all the habits that we have are good,

that's why we are constantly trying to improve.

The following is a list of 30 practical habits that can make a huge

difference in your life.

You should treat this list as a reference, and implement just one

habit per month. This way you will have the time to fully absorb each

of them, while still seeing significant improvements each month.

Health habits

Exercise 30 minutes every day. Especially if you don't do much

movement while working, it's essential that you get some daily

exercise. 30 minutes every day are the minimum recommended for optimal

health.

Eat breakfast every day. Breakfast is the more important meal of the

day, yet so many people skip it. Personally, I like to eat a couple of

toasts in the morning along with a fruit beverage.

Sleep 8 hours. Sleep deprivation is never a good idea. You may think

that you are gaining time by sleeping less, when in reality you are

only gaining stress and tiredness. 8 hours are a good number of hours

for most people, along with an optional 20 minutes nap after lunch.

Avoid snacking between meals. Snacking between meals is the best way

to gain weight. If you are hungry, eat something concrete. Otherwise

don't. Update: for clarification, I mean don't eat junk food between

meals, but eating real food it's ok.

Eat five portions of fruits and vegetables every day. Our body and

brain loves getting vegetables and fruit, so I highly recommend eating

as much of them as possible. Five portions is the dose that's usually

recommended by many health associations.

Eat fish. Fish is rich of omega 3 and other healthy elements. At least

one meal per week of fish should be enough for getting all these

nutrients.

Drink one glass of water when you wake up. When you wake up, your body

is dehydrated and needs liquid. Make the habit of drinking one glass

of water after you wake up in the morning. Also, drink more during the

day.

Avoid soda. Soda is often one of the most unhealthy beverage you can

find. Limit your consumption of soda as much as possible and you're

body will be grateful for that.

Keep your body clean. I don't advise spending your day in front of the

mirror, but a minimum of personal care does never hurt.

If you smoke, stop it. There's no reason to smoke anymore, and quitting is easy.

If you drink, stop it. Same as above. Don't think that alcohol will

solve your problems. It never does. The only exception is one glass of

wine per day during meals.

Take the stairs. This is just a hack that forces you to do a minimum

of exercise. Instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs.

Productivity habits

Use an inbox system. Make the habit of keeping track of all the ideas

and things that comes to mind. You can use a notebook to do this, and

then sync everything on your computer.

Prioritize. If you have a list of things to do, where do you start?

One way is to prioritize your list. If you are in doubt, ask yourself:

"If I could only accomplish one thing today, what would it be?"

Plan, but not too much. Planning is important, and you should decide

in advance what you are going to do today or this week. However,

planning for more than a few weeks is usually inefficient, so I would

not worry too much about that.

Wake up early. Waking up early in the morning is a great way to gain

extra time. I personally like to wake up at 5 am, so that by 9 am I

have already accomplished what otherwise would have taken me many

days..

Check your email only twice per day. Email can easily become an

addiction, but it's usually unnecessary to check it every 10 minutes.

Make an effort and check your email only once or twice per day, see if

the world will still rotate as before after you try this.

Eliminate unimportant tasks. Being busy all day does not mean you are

doing important stuff. Eliminate every activity that's not important,

and focus on what really matters.

Clean off your desk and room. Having a clear room and desk is

important to maintain focus and creativity.

Automate. There are a lot of tasks that you need to perform every day

or every week. Try to automate them as much as possible.

Set strict deadlines. When you do something, decide in advance when

you're going to stop. There's a rule that states that you will fulfill

all the time you have available for completing a task, so make an

habit of setting strict deadlines for maximizing your productivity.

Take one day off per week. Instead of working every day, take one day

off per week (for example sunday) where you are not going to turn on

your computer. Use that time for doing recreational activities like

going for a walk.

Personal Development habits

Read 1 book per week. Reading is a good way to keep your brain active.

With just 30 minutes per day you should be able to read one book per

week, or more than 50 books per year.

Solve puzzles. Quizzes, word games, etc. are all good ways to exercise

your brain.

Think positively. You are what you think, all the time.

Make fast decisions. Instead of thinking for one hour wherever you are

going to do something, make your decisions as fast as possible

(usually less than 1 minute).

Wait before buying. Waiting 48 hours before buying anything is a

tremendous money saver, try it.

Meditate 30 minutes per day. A great way to gain clearness and peace

is through meditation. 30 minutes are not a lot, but enough to get you

started with meditation.

Career habits

Start a blog. Blogging is one of the best way to put your word out. It

doesn't have to be around a specific topic, even a personal blog will

do.

Build a portfolio. If your job is creating stuff, building a portfolio

is a great way to show what you are capable of. You can also

contribute stuff for free if that applies to your work.

What do you think? What are the habits that changed your life?

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