How different habits have influenced my life and well-being

Another morning, but this time it’s a bit different. I’m sitting behind my computer where I spend most of my days working. The place behind my computer is also the place where self-improvement happens, every day.

As a person, who truly believes that self-improvement has an enormous impact on my life, I start my days by watching videos which bring new value to me. Sometimes I replace watching videos with reading books or articles.

Lately, I have understood that writing down valuable things from videos, books or articles help me to think through the content I consume.

If something brings new value and matches my interests, I’m more likely to do these things with enjoyment.

All these activities I mentioned above are good habits I have built for myself. These are the habits that have stuck to my lifestyle with the self-improvement over time. I’m always improving myself and it feels like life is throwing these good and bad Habit bubbles at me and be like:

Hey Marty, take this! And this! But what about that habit?

Sometimes these habits may be bad ones and it’s important to make a difference between them. I struggle with overworking sometimes. Everything I do is really interesting to me and it’s really easy to get lost in the work.

I have to convince myself to take more breaks while working because of their beneficial side. Taking breaks while working helps me to refresh my mind and obviously, a fresh mind comes up with better ideas and solutions.

Last month, I decided to focus on building new habits for the whole month. These habits I have built so far are great, but I know that there’s even better life waiting for me. The question was— do I want to live a better life with the better version of myself in the main role? My answer was obvious:

Of course! I want to live a better life! What do I have to do?

I have a little notebook where I write down my goals. I used the same notebook for self-discovery back when I was discovering myself inside, but I think it’s a whole new article. On the cover of the notebook lays three words:

Really Good Thoughts

Seems like that notebook fits perfectly for its purpose because personal goals, self-discovery, and building new habits consist of really good thoughts.

Anyways, I turned the page. Just a blank page looking at me again, waiting to be fulfilled with thoughts and words that impact someone’s life, mine. I asked myself one simple question before I wrote down habits I wanted to build:

What version of myself do I want to be in the future?

That question was enough to start writing down new habits I want to build. Of course, it took me some time to think about the future version I want to be. I know my goals and I know my dreams. Let’s put these two together and let’s add a bit of the future myself. The whole picture became pretty clear.

Now, let’s start building these new habits. I’m ready!

Read more articles on Medium. Reading articles in fields I feel interested in would help me to improve my English and expand my vocabulary. Now, I wake up every morning and read all the 5 articles Medium has suggested. Reading has helped me to improve my English and become a better writer.

Replace coffee and soft drinks with water. I was focusing on becoming healthier, it was something I wanted to change. This one was hard at first. Having all these temptations around me everywhere I go. No, I didn’t give up. I am used to drinking only water now and I feel better, too.

Go to bed earlier than 10:30 PM and wake up at 6:30 AM. I understood that if I want to be productive during the next day, I need some good sleep. I need the time for my body and mind to refuel themselves. Sleep is important.

Write down daily goals each morning. Sometimes I wrote down my daily goals but then again, there were days when I didn’t and these were the worst days because I didn’t have any overview of the things I wanted to accomplish. Now, before I write my daily goals down, I ask myself:

What a perfect day would look like to me?

Then I will write down these things that are important and what I have to work on during the day. It has helped me to get my things done on time.

Replace unhealthy diet with a healthy diet. I wanted to have an overview of the foods I ate during the day. I started with having three proper meals during the day. Now, I know exactly what I’ve eaten and I feel less hungry, too.

I can guarantee that building new habits is not easy at all. It requires great self-discipline and the will to change your life for the better. If I didn’t have that great self-discipline and the will to change, I would have never built these new habits and I wouldn’t be here writing this article.

It was challenging for me. Sometimes I had to force myself to complete some of these habits during the day even if I felt like I don’t want to.

You know why you have to do it. Why do you complain?

Over time, I didn’t have to force myself anymore and I didn’t complain anymore. It’s hard in the beginning, but later, I was proud I made it because these five habits positively influenced my life.

I’m happy to live the life I have now and I’m happy to be myself. I have to remind myself it’s just the beginning of my journey. I still have so much to learn, so much to do and so many habits to build. Just, I live in the moment.

My Experience With Building Habits was originally published in The Ascent on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.