Ten Micro-Habits to Start Now to Improve Your Life
Here, we are all about living a simple life, enjoying our day, and being productive. We know we need to do things to improve our health or self-improvement, but we do not make time to do so.
We go on with our day-to-day with our old habits and say we will start our new health journey or our better version of ourselves tomorrow or on Monday.
To make a change, we need to eliminate our old habits and start new, good ones.
One of the best ways to do that is by adding micro-habits to our daily routine.
What is a habit, and how long does it take to make a new habit stick?
A habit is something we do daily with very little thought and comes like second nature. For example, you wash your hands after you use the restroom. You fasten your seatbelt as soon as you get into your vehicle.
In the book Atomic Habits, author James Clear states on average, it can take more than two months for a new habit to become automatic, and it also depends on the person and the behavior. How can we make a good habit stick? With a micro-habit.
What are Micro-Habits, and why are they helpful?
A micro-habit is a small, simple daily action that requires little effort and helps you achieve significant results. By implementing micro-habits in our daily lives, we can achieve our bigger goals.
Along the way, we lose motivation if we do not see results or get busy and return to our old habits.
Micro-habits are helpful because they are small, simple actions that require little time. Thus, it is easier not to lose motivation or to make time for these micro-habits.
10 Micro Habits to Improve Your Life
Depending on your goals, you can implement a micro-habit to achieve any goal. Write down a few things or areas you want to see improvement in or would like to do more of in your daily life.
Then, implement them in small increments into your schedule. Need some ideas on some micro habits?
Below are ten micro-habits I do daily to help improve my life.
- Do not disturb
From the moment we wake up and go to bed, we are constantly distracted by our phones, emails, social media, and text messages. If you want to get more things done, turn off your phone’s notifications for a certain amount of time per day. You can turn off your notifications for at least 30 minutes daily.
These 30 minutes can give you plenty of time to focus on yourself or be productive at home or work. Once you are used to going 30 minutes daily without notifications, you can add more time with the notifications off.
Eventually, you can put your phone on Do Not Disturb for everything except your family if you want to. Having my phone on Do Not Disturb all the time has helped me get things done and be in the moment with my loved ones.
- Open your window blinds
There are so many benefits of opening up the window curtains or the blinds in your home as soon as there is daylight.
Letting natural light in will help improve your mood and can be helpful for productivity. Getting sunlight helps signal your brain that it is time to get up and get moving.
Opening up the blinds or window curtains to let natural sunlight can also help lower depression and anxiety. We need Vitamin D, and it is essential for those who struggle with mental health as it can increase dopamine levels.
Read my blog post, 25 Bad Habits You Need to Break Before 2025
- Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning
We all know we need to drink plenty of water throughout the day. Yet, we do not make time to do so. We had gone without water for at least 8 hours when we woke up. So, we need to hydrate first thing in the morning.
Leave a glass of water in your restroom so you can have one as soon as you wake up. If you forget or do not have a chance to drink more water in the morning, at least you will have one glass first thing in the morning.
Drinking a glass of water in the morning can boost your mental clarity. Leaving you with less brain fog.
- Make your bed
You always hear this to make your bed, yet you do not take the time to make your bed. Depending on your schedule, you can make your bed as soon as you get up, which takes you little to no time, or you can make your bed before stepping out of your room.
Making your bed daily and first thing in the morning will make your room look tidy, and you will accomplish one little task to make you feel productive.
It will also help to make your bed to keep you from going back to sleep.
- Wash your dishware as soon as you are done using
As soon as you are done using dishware or silverware, take the time to wash them and let them dry instead of letting the dishes pile up in the sink. If you have a dishwasher, rinse, place it in, and run it before bed.
By doing this, you are avoiding having a bunch of dirty dishes by the end of the end, leaving you with more work to do. I hand wash my dishes and leave them to dry on one side of the sink. Before bed, I do my night routine, which includes putting away all the clean dishes.
- Instead of putting it down, put it away
A micro-habit to implement to help you keep a tidy home is to put things away. When you walk in, put your work bag and shoes in the entry closet. Instead of taking your dirty clothes off and leaving them on the floor, take them off and place them in the dirty basket. This will save you time later when you are cleaning or picking up.
- Plan your day
Planning your day should not take you a long time but will help you stay on track with your everyday. Make it a habit to take a few minutes before bed or in the morning to plan out your day.
Write down one task that needs to be done and two small ones you can do if you have time. I do one cleaning task a day. I have a cleaning routine, so I know what needs to be done daily.
- Get your clothes ready for the following day
Getting your clothes ready for the following day saves you time in the morning. If you work out first thing in the morning, leave your workout clothes and shoes in the restroom for a quick change of clothes.
If you work outside your home, leave your work clothes hanging closest to the closet door, along with the shoes you will wear. Doing this the night before will save you time and avoid decision fatigue.
- Reading
There are many benefits of reading a book. It can help increase your intelligence as well as your vocabulary. Reading a book before bed can help you sleep better. If you want to make time to read a book daily but it seems like you have no time to read, start by reading for five minutes or just a few pages per day. If you read for five minutes per day, seven days a week, you read for a total of thirty fives minutes.
- Wake up earlier
I know this is probably one of the hardest things for all of us to do since we all enjoy our sleep. Try to wake up 5 minutes earlier for a week. The following week, wake up another 5 minutes earlier. Keep doing this weekly until you get to the time you want to start your morning.
There are many benefits to waking up earlier and setting a morning routine you can enjoy. We can get at least one task done before everyone else wakes up and have time for ourselves to do self-care, exercise, or one of the things on this list.
Final thoughts
These are ten micro-habits you should implement daily to improve your life. You could implement many more micro-habits daily, but starting off with these ten will help you stay on track to improve your life. Then, consider adding more micro-habits when these are already part of your daily routine.
Want to learn about habit stacking?
Read 10 Habit Stacking Ideas to Improve Your Life
Related post
Embrace Simplicity: 10 Simple Morning Habits to Transform Your Day
Comment below and let me know what micro-habits you plan to add to your day.