7 Easy Habits That Can Solve 85% Of Your Problems

“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”― Archilochus

As we live our daily lives in the modern age of technology, we realize that more and more of our lifestyle has been stripped of its discipline and focus. Society has become a fast-paced whirlwind of notifications and pings that we constantly fail to give the proper amount of attention to what is needed to fulfill our most valuable goals.

The Greek poet’s words ring true today: we don’t rise to the level of our goals; instead we fall to the level of our habits.

While goals are important to have, we need to also remember the process of achieving such goals. If you can find joy and love through the daily grind, then that is where anyone can find ultimate satisfaction, no matter what happens.

Let’s discuss 7 simple habits that can change your life in dramatic ways.

1. Your Non-Negotiable Rules

A bit of discipline can go a long way. And without knowing it, all of us have things that we MUST do versus what we WANT to do each and every day. Whether it is taking care of your pet, feeding your kids, having time for meditation, or even drinking coffee, these are called your non-negotiables.

Want to know mine?

Morning non-negotiables:

• Drinking water
• Prayer
• Breakfast
• Self-care

Evening non-negotiables:

• No food one hour before bed
• Stretching
• Self-care
• Plan for the next day
• Prayer

Identify what your non-negotiables are so that you can schedule around them. Sometimes the ability to move forward in life is to make sure the most important things are taken care of first. Then we can have time for the things we want to do.

2. Prepare The Next Morning At Night

Have you ever caught yourself just struggling to even get out in the morning and running out the door?

Have you dreaded every night to even think about the next morning due to all the stress and chaos that is about to incur?

Preparing every night will solve these problems. No matter how busy your evening may be, you still have time to wash up (well, I hope at least most of you do :) and prepare for bed. So just invest 10 minutes out of your evening to prepare your morning plan. When you have everything planned, your mornings will become much simpler and you will reduce stress in your life.

Using an effective planning system can come in handy, whether it is on your computer, phone app, or paper. It can be as simple as just making a basic list of what needs to get done.

In the end, decide a format to plan because just doing this simple task can make your mornings more streamlined.

3. Make A Routine

If you develop a morning and evening ritual, you will definitely find yourself with more time in the day to complete any task. And you will have less to think about as fatigue can come from just deciding what to do. Take some of your non-negotiables and develop them into your daily ritual.

Here is my morning routine:

• Wake up
• 10 minutes of making my morning energy and protein shake
• 10 minutes of prayer and self-reflection
• 30 minutes for breakfast
• 40 minutes for my self-care routine of washing up, skincare, and makeup

Here is my evening routine:

• 30 minutes of stretching
• 30 minutes of self-care
• 10 minute plan for the next morning (as we discussed!)
• 10 minutes of prayer and self-reflection
• 6–8 hours of sleep

4. Finish The Quickest Tasks First

Many times we psychologically stress ourselves out about taking the next steps to complete a task. It may be due to a lack of time or just laziness, or it can be due to a fear of failure that prevents us from achieving what needs to be done. Just taking the first step can always be challenging in accomplishing our goals. And ending up in a cycle of procrastination, no matter the reason, can be a big demotivator.

• Make a list of all your tasks for the day.
• Then prioritize the ones you can complete in 5 minutes or less.
• Put the 5 minute tasks on sticky notes.

Finish those first as they often are the simplest and easiest and throw each sticky note away. As you gain momentum from these small achievements, you will easily be able to progress to more difficult and time-consuming items as you become more focused.

5. Temporary Abstinence From Media

Social media, YouTube, and TV can be an endless exploration of addictive content. While I am an avid user of social media and streamlining it for my own goals, I have definitely noticed that I could get lost with the constant news feed of events and notifications that are being posted every second. It’s easy to go down this mind-numbing spiral of consumption like Alice falling through the rabbit hole of abyss.

Many social media platforms and apps have the ability to keep track of how long you have been online. Find those numbers in their settings and try to reduce them by 1 hour.

If YouTube or TV is something you are addicted to, the best way to keep yourself accountable is to keep a timer of when you use your phone. Then reduce your consumption time by 1 hour.

Freeing up just 1 hour of time can give you the ability to achieve more in your day.

6. Implement The 80/20 Rule

Otherwise known as the Pareto Principle, the rule basically states that 20% of tasks will yield 80% of your desired results.

For example, when it comes to time, be focused singularly during that time on whatever task you are on (studying, working, etc). The benefit will be that you will have even more time to use since you did not allow any distractions. A focused 1-hour of time will result in more productivity than 4 hours of unfocused time doing the same task.

Invest most of your energy and time on tasks that will maximize results as well as productivity.

7. Get More Sleep

I learned early that not having enough rest can create havoc on my mind and body. I realized I was one to deny myself of something that can improve my life in areas of health, skin, weight loss, etc. And sleep is essential to having the focus that is necessary to even implement your routines or the 80/20 Rule as we discussed.

I always try to set a goal of a minimum of 6–8 hours of sleep.

Sometimes we forget that getting back to the basics can actually dramatically improve our lives and productivity. We often get lost in juggling just life and appointments alone.

Stop drowning in life… now.

Apply just a few of these sensible and practical rules for just 90-days. You will see yourself get rid of bad time-wasting habits and help you reach and achieve your greater life goals.

Let me know in the comments your non-negotiables, morning and night routines, and results from any of these simple habits!