8 Positive Habits That Will Impact Your Life

The new year has me doing quite a bit of reflecting. The truth is the latter part of the year has been rough. More circumstances beyond my control require a lot of my time and energy to deal with.  And of course, they’re all things I’d rather not have to deal with.

The reality is life happens whether we’re prepared to deal with it or not, but having positive habits in place can help us through those rough patches life sometimes brings.

There are certain habits I’ve developed that have helped me deal with unplanned circumstances and there are other habits that I really need to break and replace with more productive habits.

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8 Positive Habits to Implement in the Coming Year

I recently read the book “Getting to No: How to Break a Stubborn Habit,” by Erwin W. Lutzer. In the book, Lutzer makes the point that sinful habits cannot be broken without replacing them with righteous ones. It’s not enough to just eliminate bad habits, we need to replace them with positive habits.

This is great advice!  Although getting started is the hardest part of changing and replacing habits, the truth is the only way to get started is to just do it!

Will you join me in starting one of these habits today!

1. Be consistent with your habits

Creating positive habits requires consistency. After all, even the best plans will fail without consistency. No matter what it is you want to accomplish or implement in your life, it’s going to require consistency. This is never truer than when it comes to forming habits.

But consistency doesn’t have to be as hard as it sounds.  Really there are only four key parts to achieving consistency:

• Picking a consistent time that you treat as an appointment
• Finding a consistent place
• Creating a routine and;
• Seeking accountability

By implementing a habit of consistency, all of the other positive habits will fall into place.

2. A Daily Walk/Exercise

Honestly, there’s nothing that clears my head quicker or helps me deal with stressful situations with clarity and reason, than getting outside for a walk. Getting outside always improves my mood and energy.

There are times I am great at this, but then it seems like when I need it most, is when it suddenly goes by the wayside. As I try to figure out why this is, it comes down to consistency.

Plain and simple, forming a daily habit of walking and exercising requires consistency in getting off your bottom and going for a walk.  But to do that it is so helpful to actually schedule it on your daily calendar.

When I actually put a regular walking time on my schedule, I make it happen.  Try it and see if doesn’t help get you out that door.

3. Prayer/Meditation

This will look different for different people. For me, it’s about taking time each and every day to be in the scriptures and in prayer. I have a pretty consistent habit of being in the word each day. However, I would like to develop a more consistent habit of prayer.

Prayer has a huge impact on my attitude all around. When I am praying for some difficult circumstance in my own life, I always end with a sense of peace and less worry. Even when I am having a difficult circumstance in my own life and I take the time to pray for others, I always end with that same sense of peace because I have removed the focus from myself to others.

The point is to have some consistent daily time to reflect and feed your soul.

4. Drink More Water

I fully confess that I have a serious coffee addiction. The problem is I really enjoy my coffee and know that it is not something I will be giving up anytime soon, if ever. But one of the biggest problems with my coffee addiction is that I reach for my coffee mug much more often than I do my water glass.

But let’s face it, drinking plenty of water throughout the day makes us feel so much better.  Naturally, when you’re physically at your best you’re much more productive.

If you want to develop the habit of increasing your water intake, let me share what has helped me.  One of the things I have done to be better about drinking more water is to make a habit of regularly carrying a pretty water bottle with me everywhere I go.

This has helped so much that even if I am home for the whole day, I still fill my water bottle so that it’s handy.  You’d be surprised at how easy this makes it to stay hydrated. I also try and make a point of only drinking water with my meals.

These are simple little things, but drinking enough water throughout your day is huge for your health and well-being.

5. Keep a Daily Gratitude Journal

It’s tempting to look around and see what everyone else has and what you don’t, but all this does is leave you feeling ungrateful and dissatisfied. Rather than comparing your life to someone else, being grateful for what you do have is what will inspire you to live the life you really want to have.

There are so many benefits to a regular habit of gratitude. This is one of the positive habits I really want to be more consistent with this year.

Having a gratitude journal doesn’t have to be complicated. I’ve had a dedicated journal that I have used, but the truth is I tend to be less consistent when I do that.

Rather, what I find the easiest way to be consistent is to jot down a few things I am thankful for directly in my planner. There is a space in my planner to make a few notes and I use that area to write down what I am grateful for that day. I do this each evening when I am planning out the next day’s events. You can get a free copy of the planner I use here.

If you want to develop a daily habit of gratitude, find something that will work for you, that will allow you to be consistent in jotting down a few things that you are thankful for each day.

6. A Consistent Bedtime

This is without question going to be the hardest habit for me to implement. I am by nature a night owl and I’m an introvert, so I love the quiet alone hours I get in the middle of the night. Even when I try to commit to going to bed at a reasonable hour, it’s so easy for me to just continue working later and later.

I feel like I am so much more productive during these late-night hours. But when I push myself till late at night it results in no “downtime” so I know I need to work on this! I lose track of time in the evening and am always crashing into bed, exhausted!

At the same time, lack of consistent sleep affects my energy and concentration the next day. Even when I get my second wind late in the evening, I am not at my pique throughout the day.

Going to bed at a consistent time makes all the difference. When I do, I have all the energy I need to stay productive throughout the day. I promise you’ll find you’re much more productive when well-rested, even as a night owl!

7. Make My Bed

The power of a made bed is nothing short of amazing. Studies have shown that bedmakers are happier and more successful than those who don’t make their bed. Not sure, check out this article from Psychology Today. According to the article:

“71 percent of bedmakers consider themselves happy; while 62 percent of non-bed-makers admit to being unhappy. Bedmakers are also more likely to like their jobs, own a home, exercise regularly, and feel well-rested, whereas non-bed-makers hate their jobs, rent apartments, avoid the gym, and wake up tired. All in all, bedmakers are happier and more successful than their rumple-sheeted peers.”

That is some fantastic encouragement to develop the habit of making your bed each day. When you add this to the fact that even if the rest of your bedroom is in complete disarray, a made bed suddenly makes the whole room look a lot better, this is a great habit to develop.

8. Set Realistic Expectations

Just as no new habit can be formed without consistency, no habit can be maintained without realistic expectations in implementing the habit. Building new habits is tough! It requires being intentional.

One of the problems with trying to create new habits is that it is easy to get discouraged and go back to old routines when we have even a minor setback. This is why I really want to make sure that I am setting realistic expectations for all that I am doing.

I often try to change too much at once instead of taking small baby steps, which lead to lasting results. Not only that, but I am hard on myself and expect more from myself than I would anyone else. I know that I can’t and should not try and do it all.  All of this is why I want to develop the habit of setting reasonable expectations for myself.

It is so important to give yourself grace when things don’t go as planned. There are going to be times you cannot get to bed at the time you set or you miss your daily walk.

Learning to be flexible and having reasonable expectations is so important to actually accomplish goals. This is definitely something I’ve been working on! I’m attempting to build a looser weekly schedule so that I have time to focus on these important positive habits.

For further reading: Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

What positive habits are you hoping to implement in your day-to-day life?