Improve your life with micro habits. It is easy to lose sight of how your day to day life can impact your future. You will go through seasons of life where you are stuck on a loop of monotony that makes you want to sell everything and frolic through the woods. Other times you will be so productive, energized and easy that you questions how you could get it all done.
If you are looking for ways to build healthy habits that contribute to your bigger life goals, Micro Habits are for you.
Micro Habits have the power to transform your life even with just 10 minutes a day.
What are Micro Habits?
Micro Habits are small daily habits you can implement in the moment the make you happy, get you closer to your goals and are something to look forward too.
10 Micro Habit Examples to Transform Your Life:
- No Phone in the morning or during meals
- Water before coffee
- Movement
- Breathwork
- Posture exercises
- Outside Walk
- Start a Hobby
- Music
- Tidy Your Space
- Vision Board
What Micro Habits are right for you?
Deciding what micro habits to implement through your day will vary person to person. My general tips are to take a look at a few areas of your life like health, career, home, finances and relationships and implement a daily habit that connects to your big goals. These micro habits can change as often as you need them too but for the most part you will start taking this actions that feel small, at sometimes even pointless, but it will add up to those big goals. Let’s discuss these 10 Micro Habits in more detail.
No phone in the morning or during meals.
Waking up without your morning doom scroll can help you set the day with new intentions. Of course some morning scrolls can bringing you joy but for the most our brains are flooded with so many different pieces of information the moment you open your phone in the morning.
Imagine waking up and taking the first 20 minutes to a full hour without your phone. Take your time getting ready for work, eating your breakfast (without a video) and be in the present moment.
The reason we are so connected (addicted) to our phones is because it gives us a distraction. You don’t have to think about the day ahead, any stressors and you might even be giggling to some animal video compilation.
The simple micro habit of leaving your phone alone for the morning and being present can help you start to learn to love spending time with yourself, your own thoughts, wants, wishes and dreams.
Water before coffee
This one is for my caffeine drinkers. Try to drink more water before your caffeine hit. Especially first thing in the morning. Drinking coffee on an empty stomach increase stomach acid which could lead to irritation. Other things like heartburn, increase cortisol and feeling nauseous can also happen. It is recommended to eat something before your coffee. You can also drink a half glass of water to stay hydrated.
Movement
Prioritize some kind of movement through out your day. This can be a step goal, a YouTube dance workout, or going to the gym. But moving your body regularly is beneficial to your health.
Breathwork
Use breathwork techniques like the 4-4-4 method to regulate your nervous system. Feeling your breath fill your lungs and exhaling will help your centrr your self when you are overwhelmed or anxious. Getting into the habit of taking a deep, purposeful breath is essential to your daily focus and well being.
Posture Exercises
Many of us are hunched over our phones, a desk or have very weak chest and pack muscles. Doing simple posture techniques right before bed, in the morning, during your after work doom scroll even for 1 minute will make a difference over time.
Outside Walk
Connecting with nature has many benefits and combining that with a walk (aka movment) is great. Fresh air and moving your body every day can improve your mood, reduce stress and boost your creativity.
Start a Hobby
Set time aside each day to work on a hobby. This can be five minutes or an hour. By being purposeful with your hobbies you will start seeing progress, building your confidence it what you are making which will make your feel good. Plus, a hobby can be a no-screen hobby that allows you to avoid comparing yourself to others and falling down a doom scroll.
Music
Listening to your favourite songs that bring you joy can immediately help improve your mood. Combine that with a dance party in your living room and your entire vibration can change. Music can influence your mood in a matter of seconds. Have a feel good playlist ready to go to throw on throughout your day. This can be your morning commute or while you get ready.
Tidying Your Space
Spending 5 minutes every night to reset your space so you can wake up in the morning with a clean and tidy place can keep you in better mood. When there is clutter and mess around us our brains also feel cluttered and messy. The best part about this is if you start tidying every night there won’t be a big overwhelming clean needed to get “caught” up because you manage it with short small tidy sessions.
Vision Boards
Lastly is vision boards. Every night before bed open up your vision board and stare at it. Envision yourself living that life. Talk to yourself as if you already achieved each thing on that vision board. This will be the last thing you do before bed meaning this vision of your life will be top of mind while you go to sleep.
What is the purpose of your micro habits?
Picking a few habits from this list or making your own is great but what is the real purpose behind micro habits. This is a perspective shift. Look really close at your life and see what small every day things you can change. It won’t change over night but if leaving your phone in your room while you make breakfast makes you feel better in the morning. That will compound over days and weeks and months to improve your life. Right now it seems small, micro. To some it might seem pointless to look so closely at your day to day but when you zoom out and look at the big picture called your life, those small things throughout your day are the tiny paint strokes, highlights, shadows in order to get a full picture. What are you currently using the canvas of your life? Is it a picture you want to be painting?
When to implement your micro habits?
Micro Habits are designed to be small actions. They can be five to ten minutes and you do them when you can. Some people will build a morning routine with 3 or 4 micro habits to start your day. Or you can pick three micro habits to implement throughout your entire day. It is up to you, your habits, and your schedule.
Looking at your day to see where you can insert a 10 minute micro habit could change your life. What Micro Habits are you going to add to your daily routines?