In any ancient text, motivational pamphlet, bestselling book, or blog post about growing and improving oneself, there is a pretty consistent, foundational piece of advice. It’s explained in a thousand different ways. It’s simple and it’s seemingly common sense in theory, yet in practice it requires a great deal of discipline and attention.
John Maxwell, a bestselling author who primarily writes about leadership, put it nicely when he said:
The secret to success is found in your daily routine.
The secret to success is found in your daily routine. It may sound like the inside of a fortune cookie, but the idea is not one that should be underestimated. Then again, neither should fortune cookies.
By now, I am sure you know what is meant by great success being built on daily habits, but it is one thing to know it and another to practice it. Changing our habits is SO hard for plenty of reasons. Our existing routine, even if it’s a bloody bad one, is comfortable. It’s easy because it’s second nature. It puts us at peace even when everything around us is changing and scary. Yet it could also be the chronic killer of our hopes and dreams.
It sounds harsh because it is. We have such limited, precious time on this earth and how we choose to spend our seemingly transitory moments or mundane everyday activities ultimately determines the kind of lives we live and the kind of people that we are. The days are long but the years are short. How much you grow during those years and where you end up is a direct result of the daily habits you choose to spend your time engaging in now.
Luckily, there are so many wonderful habits you can adopt that are personalized to you and how you wish to live. Once you get over that (probably arbitrary) 21 day hump of breaking an old habit and implementing a new one, what’s on the other side could be an extremely fulfilling daily routine. One that not only enhances your relationships, career and well-being on a daily basis, but also one that propels you into the growth you can look back on years from now and be proud of.
Developing a daily routine that genuinely inspires you and feels authentic to who you are and want to be requires lots of experimenting and tweaking. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. You can find a million suggestions for little ways to optimize your routine and this article contains some of those million suggestions.
These are just a few of the habits I have practiced for years that have thoroughly impacted my life. Implementing a daily routine containing these activities has undoubtedly made me a better friend, student, employee, and partner, all while allowing me to learn more about myself and the world. They, among others, are the key pillar of the growth and success I have experienced over the past few years. Hopefully they serve as a good guide to help you in creating a routine that you love.
Start A Gratitude Journal
As the self-proclaimed self-help junkie that I am, I have tried a lot of different morning routines. I mean A LOT. At one point in my life, I attempted rolling out of bed to do fifty jumping jacks (to get pumped up of course) and slam a celery juice before my body could even recognize I was awake and protest. Spoiler alert: that habit did not last long and probably traumatized my body for eternity.
Of the many ways I have tried to optimize my morning routine, one habit has stuck with me and has truly impacted my life. Yup, you guessed it, writing a gratitude journal. This idea may sound cliché, but for good reason. Writing down three things I am grateful for while I sip my morning coffee really helps to put things in perspective and reminds me that, no matter what life may throw at me that day, there are at least three things that I can genuinely be thankful for.
This intentional devotion to considering the little and big things in life that I have to be grateful for is especially important in the hustle-focused world we live in today. Each day I find myself wanting to do more, be more, achieve more, gain more, and so on. And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to strive for growth and success (if there is, forget I wrote this post), the never ending cycle of seeking “more” is exhausting and littered with disappointment. Reminding myself every morning of the beautiful gifts that I already have gives me the peace and focus I need to make the most of each day without falling victim to the anxiety that comes with a scarcity mindset.
The thought of having to muster up three grand things to be grateful for may sound demanding, and I get it. When I first started writing in my gratitude journal about three years ago, one week in I felt like the epitome of the privileged, ungrateful, 21st century brat. I had already written down the major things in my life I was grateful for and couldn’t brainstorm any others. Yet that was actually the point at which this habit really made a difference because it challenged me to think outside of the box and think of even the most simplest things in life that I am usually subconsciously immensely grateful for.
Seriously, some of my favorite, most inspiring journal entries were those that sounded like they were written by a cavewoman. “I am grateful for the sun, fire, and food”. So simple and yet for the rest of the day I swear the sun seemed that much more special to me. You will be shocked by the seemingly endless number of things you have to appreciate when you make it a habit to consciously write it down. Creating this abundance mindset has been critical to my growth and success over the years, and I hope it propels you in the same way.
Pro Tip: To take your gratitude journal up a notch, try writing down the thing you’re grateful for and then writing WHY you are grateful for it. This practice helped me further understand myself and my values while giving me an even deeper appreciation for the gifts in my life.
For example, instead of leaving your entry at “I am grateful for the wonderful dinner I had with my friends last night”, try “I am grateful for the wonderful dinner I had with my friends last night because I love building relationships and nourishing my body”.
Listen To A Podcast While Getting Ready
Ah, podcasts. The holy grail of effortless learning. I’m truly convinced that there isn’t a single topic that you cannot find podcasts on, ranging from short to long, funny to serious, formal to conversational, informative to inspirational. As much as I love to sit down with a good book to read (more on that later), there is something so satisfying about finishing a vacuum session with newfound knowledge of the ethical impact of AI on the judicial system.
Adopting the habit of putting a podcast on while I am getting ready or doing random tasks was a huge game changer for me. The time I normally spent karaoking to the same song I heard five times that morning (no shame) turned into time spent getting inspired and learning about subjects outside of my work that really interested me. As much as I hate to admit it, I often feel guilty for taking time away from my studies or work to expand my mind and delve into completely random topics. Podcasts alleviate this by allowing us to thirst our quench for obscure knowledge and motivation while doing the tasks we would need to be doing anyways.
We live in a world of endless, ever changing information. Expanding our horizons and unceasing our journeys for learning is not only a meaningful pursuit, but a necessary one. We owe it to ourselves to discover new ways of thinking and consider both age-old and novel stories and ideas. Routinely listening to podcasts is a wonderful step to take towards getting outside of your own bubble and enriching your life and mind. And, if nothing else, it could make you a very dangerous trivia player or an interesting party-guest.
Who knows, you may even hear a story that changes your life forever. It would be pretty epic to be able to say you decided to build a life-saving medical device or a multi-billion dollar philanthropic fund while flossing one morning.
To get you started, here are a few of my favorite podcasts at the moment!
- Freakonomics
- Hidden Brain
- Ted Radio Hour
- How I Built This
- Rise & Conquer
- Curiosity Daily
- Stuff You Should Know
- The Mindset Mentor
- Intelligence Squared
Read A Nonfiction Book In The Morning | Read A Fiction Book In The Evening
Let’s be real- I couldn’t write an article about self improvement without including at least one section about reading. We all know the powerful, magical benefits that consistently reading has when it comes to working on yourself. But hopefully this methodology of squeezing your pages in daily is something that you can consider when looking to elevate your routine.
To paraphrase Kevin Gates, I got two books- one for the pragmatic and one for the magic. I cringed writing that but my hope is that it makes a point. Years ago, I decided that I would always be reading two books at a time. One book would be a nonfiction that inspires me or teaches me something new, and the other would be a fiction book that I could get lost in. I would read the former in the morning/daytime and the latter I would save for the evening.
When I begin the day by reading something powerful or informative, I am immediately putting myself in a headspace of being open to learn and grow for the rest of the day. If I am reading a self help or inspirational book, it gets me pumped up first thing in the morning without requiring me to resort to a painfully cheesy mirror pep talk, although I usually follow up my reading with one of those anyways. Choosing a book that speaks to you and leveraging its nuggets of knowledge when your mind is freshly awake can do wonders for day. If you opt for a biography or an informational text, you will be compounding your knowledge daily.
While those nonfiction books that make you want to drown yourself in caffeine and claim the world as yours are a great addition to your morning routine, if you’re anything like me, they could be detrimental to your nighttime routine. If I read a single page of a motivational book in the evening, I can forget about sleeping soundly, or at all. And, as is the case with reading, I need not go into the importance of getting quality sleep.
Ending the evening by reading a fiction book right before bed, and doing so consistently, sends a signal to my brain that it is time to unwind and escape the busyness of life with a light read and a deep sleep. Doing so can help get your mind off of the growing mental to do list you reiterate in your head enough to be able to get enough sleep to actually accomplish it efficiently the next day. In addition, reading fiction can be beneficial to your self improvement journey because rest, self-care and enjoying life are (shocker) equally as important to growth as any amount of hustling could be.
Substitute Pinterest For Other Social Media Platforms
Three years ago, I deleted Snapchat. One year ago, I deleted Instagram. I haven’t looked back since. The thing that we all know and yet turn a digital blind eye to is that, although social media has its perks, there are many ways in which it is a breeding ground for comparison, toxicity, and mental distress. Not to mention it can be a major time waster. While I am not suggesting you go as rogue, grandma-style as me and rid yourself of your presence on the internet (or more importantly, its presence in your mind), I do suggest researching the negative effects it can have on individuals and society as a whole. If you need a place to start, I recommend watching the Social Dilemma documentary on Netflix. Juicy stuff.
Significant, life-changing self improvement cannot be achieved while living in the confines of comparing your journey to others or molding yourself into an idea of “success” that you may be flooded with on your social media feeds. Not only are such practices bad for your mental well-being, but they also strip away the time and energy it takes to cultivate your own unique path towards fulfillment.
So what I propose as an alternative to deleting the coveted accounts you’ve spent years building is to be more mindful of your social media use and choose your platforms wisely. Maybe instead of opening your phone to check out that “amazing” camping trip that your “friends” “forgot” to invite you on, opt for opening Pinterest and searching for fun new recipes or crafts to try. Or download the DuoLingo app and compete with your friends to see who can learn how to say “the bill is on her” quicker in French for your next lunch at the bistro.
If you really cannot bear the thought of sacrificing your beloved time spent on social media apps, I would suggest at least being cutthroat about the type of content you are exposing yourself to. By intentionally seeking out accounts from different points of view, walks of life, body types, etc., as well as informational and inspiring accounts, social media can be levered to enhance your life and aid with self improvement.
While these are just a few of the many, many, many habits one could adopt to ensure they are cultivating their best selves daily, I hope that they offer some initial ideas for ways to make a change in your life and start maximizing your precious time on earth. What is most important is building out a daily routine that makes you feel alive and allows you to grow beyond any limiting beliefs or lifestyle habits that may be holding you back.
The last critical part of building a daily routine for self improvement is to leave it open to change. And it should change- often and dramatically. And we should celebrate that because change is human. Life happens and it is important to give yourself the grace and flexibility you need to let your habits, values, and goals transform as you do.
Love Always,
