Even Better

(photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash)

Each day of May, I present to you a different Healthy Habit. I hope that you get some good ideas to implement for yourself. I am choosing topics that are of interest to myself, as I plan to implement these into my daily living. As my parental chores wind down with the completion of their tax return (going in the mail tomorrow), I now have more free time for myself. After spending nearly every waking hour helping them for several years, it is a shock to my system that I’m left with no set agenda or plan for myself.  It’s time to get back on the horse, and re-create a new life, a new way of living; One that truly encompasses aspects that are deeply important to me.

In effect, I have a clean slate to build my life over. This will be a process. Slow and steady wins the race. When I saw that this Ultimate Blog Challenge was starting, I felt that this would be the perfect way to get started. First, I am beginning a new daily writing habit. And second, I’m putting down in words those healthy habit areas that I’d like to focus my time on.

During this new phase I plan to create a mission statement, a brief summary of my life focus. This process includes identifying my core values, and ensuring that my values line up with my beliefs. Then as future opportunities arise, I can ask myself if this new opportunity is in alignment with my mission statement.

Then I would like to create some long-term and short term goals within a variety of life categories (i.e., health, career, financial, hobbies, family, social, etc.). It is easy to spend a majority of our time on just a couple of life areas. And at times, that may be necessary. However, balance is a key aspect of maintaining health.

And from there, I will identify specific tasks associated with each goal. The specific tasks will get entered on my calendar. And I will identify due dates too. Dates can always be changed in the future. But having the due dates in my consciousness will help me move forward towards my goals, and reach them.

An overarching goal I have is to continually make improvements to my everyday moments. Thus, as I go through my daily tasks, (some long-time habits, and others brand new), I would like to ask myself a question…

“How can I make this moment even better?”

By asking myself this question often, I can use my creative side to make improvements. I can make tweaks to my daily processes, revamp them, or blow them up and start over.

Many of my daily habits have been done the same way for years. Are these habits truly necessary at this point in my life, or are they just being done because I have always done things that way? I want to know.

What defines a better moment? Of course that is different for everyone. But here are some examples: consistent growth, more efficiencies, making the task fun, establishing priorities, cultivating good habits, greater creativity, and investing in self.

How can I make this even better?

Perhaps I will start by creating a morning routine upon waking, as well as a nighttime routine before bed. For example, I’d like to make time for meditation, journaling, stretching, deep breathing, etc. Initially, I have two ideas on how to make time for each of these. Each morning I give myself a set timeframe (i.e., half hour, hour) and break down the tasks in ten minute increments. This way, in just a half hour I can complete my stretching , meditation, and journaling. Or, another method might be to do just one task each morning for a half hour, i.e.,  journal on Sunday and Wednesday, stretch on Monday and Thursday, meditate on Tuesday and Friday, etc. And with some creative time I may come up with other ways to fit in all the important tasks that I desire.

To summarize some points…

Be clear… create a vision.

Establish priorities.

Cultivate good habits.

Create a routine/structure.

What works for someone else, might not work for you, so pay attention to how you feel as you take action steps. And ask yourself…

How can I make this moment even better?