“It’s New Years Eve- do you know what your resolutions are?” said in the voice of the famous “It’s 10 PM, do you know where your children are?” PSA
A few weeks ago I came across a reddit thread asking “What’s something small you can start doing today to better yourself?”
It’s a good question explored in thousands of books. So I grouped the most common and popular answers together into themes and paraphrased them for easier processing:
Productivity
- The Rule of 5: if it takes less than 5 minutes to do a task when you see something, and you’re not already mid task, just get it done.
- Make progress on *something* every day; focus on having non-zero days. See this post.
- Start thinking in long-term (~five years), medium-term (a month to six months) and short-term strategies (one day to a week).
Mental Health
- Stop berating yourself. Be nice to yourself!
- What did you do today that was good? And, what good thing happened to you today? Recognize and cherish the good (no matter how small).
- Be aware of the narratives we make up in our heads that only cause distress or anger. Example from the thread: “My friend hasn’t texted me for 3 days, she must be growing tired of our friendship!” It’s way more likely your friend is just busy as opposed to being upset at you.
- Go for a walk, even just a short one. Has physical health benefits too!
- Donate/throw out/sell old stuff you no longer use.
Physical Health
- Don’t expect crazy fast results when you start dieting or working out. Have realistic expectations- it will take time and that’s OK.
- Drink more water and less soda. (This was said a lot!)
- Do some pushups every day (from my own experience, start with *anything* you can do, even half a pushup, and keep going every day)
- Stretch. Seriously, do it.
Cleaning
- When you wake up, do your bed; it will give you a sense of accomplishment to start the day.
- Before you sleep, do your dishes; waking up with a clean kitchen is a great feeling.
- Donate/throw out/sell old stuff you no longer use.
- Clean out your fridge.
- Everyday, set a timer for 10 minutes, during those 10 minutes, clean. When the timer rings you stop what you are doing.
- If you’re in one room you get up to go to the bathroom or kitchen, take something with you (trash, a dirty dish, etc).
- And, of course, floss.
Have more? Leave them in the comments!