Ranking 21 Widely Recommended Habits from The Worst to The Best
The #1 isn’t waking up early, meditation, or exercise
“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us”
— John Dryden
No doubt habits are crucial — their repetition determines your entire life.
But if I had a dollar for every habit article I’ve stumbled across, I’d be a zillionaire.
Who has the time, energy, or willpower to develop all the habits gurus love recommending?
Don’t worry; I’ve got your back.
I’ve gathered 21 commonly recommended habits and ranked them into a tier list.
C-Tier: Not Even Worth Trying
Don’t waste your time with these habits — skip ahead to the next section(s)
21. Chanting (Toxically) Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations work only when you have conviction in them.
Reading The Secret and mindlessly rehashing, “I will succeed!”, is worse than chanting hogwash seated in a clandestine cult’s ritual circle.
20. Piling on A Ton of “Productivity Apps”
Most productivity apps are “pro-distractivity” apps.
Disable all push notifications. Turn on airplane mode. Switch on an internet blocker. Use grey mode — that, my friend, is peak focus and productivity.
19. Making Detailed Plans for Everything
The longer you craft meticulous plans for even minor things, the less you’ll achieve.
Action coupled with speed is the shortcut to success. This doesn’t mean diving headlong.
It means understanding the utter futility of planning without execution.
B-Tier: Worth Trying At Least Once
Not everyone might benefit from these — try these to see if you can.
18. Walking 10,000 Steps a Day
While my fitness routine is demanding enough to keep me ripped year-round, walking can help the average busy joe.
10,000 steps will burn around 300 to 400 calories — and spread throughout the day, it won’t even feel like exercise. Track your steps with a fitness band or your smartphone.
17. Using a Calendar To Schedule Your Time
I abhor video calls, meetings, and scheduling stuff on a virtual calendar.
But I understand how it's helpful to schedule non-urgent tasks and serve as a necessary reminder — especially if you work a 9 to 5 whose life elixir is Google calendar.
16. Intermittent Fasting
The biggest benefit of intermittent fasting is how it frees up your schedule.
When you cram all your meals into a 4, 8, or 12-hour window, the rest of the day is yours to work distraction-free.
Also, the fasting period can elevate your fat metabolism, reduce insulin resistance, and relieve the digestive system.
15. Waking up Early
One distraction-free peak-energy hour in the morning beats 5 yawn-packed midnight hours.
Early mornings are amazing to get your non-negotiables out of the way — so a work meeting running late or a last-minute date won’t interfere with them.
But if your schedule or lifestyle design doesn’t allow you to sleep early, this will be detrimental.
14. Taking Cold Showers
Cold showers work. Period.
They boost your immunity, increase your stress tolerance, reset your mind slate, cultivate discipline, and provide a “F*ck you” energy boost.
The cons? Difficult to pull off in cold countries and being consistent with them is no joke.
13. NoFap
NoFap should have been #1 on this list — but it didn’t make it to the throne for 2 reasons:
- It’s only relevant to men — especially young men.
- It’s stupendously hard to start and stick to — taking months and years before you finally start pulling long streaks.
Also, apart from the godlike positives, there can be negatives — acute anxiety, excessive energy, insomnia, etc.
A-Tier: Habits Worth Sticking Seriously To
Now, we’re getting into serious territory — where the pros far outweigh the cons.
13. Making Your Bed Every Morning
Popularized by Admiral McRaven, this 1-minute habit sets your day off to a positive start.
Achieving this minor task reminds you that the little details matter and triggers a chain of productive tasks — building a surging wave of positive momentum.
And when you’re reeling with that feel-good exhaustion, you’ll have a made bed greeting your sleep.
12. Flossing Your Teeth
Once you master the technique, flossing takes less than a minute — there’s no excuse to skip this micro-habit of a boon for long-term oral health.
Stock up on scented floss, throw one in your bathroom cabinet, and your teeth will thank you twenty years later.
11. Having a Well-Designed Morning Routine
How you spend your first 2 hours dictates the other 22.
Whether you wake up at 4:30 AM to the rising sun or at 12 PM for brunch, you need a refined morning routine — one that will wake you up, fill you with positivity, and rejig your energy stores.
10. Digital Minimalism
We check our phones a whopping 160 times a day — letting it suck dry our dopamine, time, and energy.
Spending around half of our waking time glued to our devices, we’ve become complacent, withdrawn, entitled, and unhealthy — mentally and physically.
Optimize your smartphone and PC for undistracted productivity — and enjoy the bliss of offline existence.
9. Writing (Online)
Writing is a cathartic way to boost self-awareness, express your emotions, clarify your thinking, improve your grammar, build an audience, and earn money.
If writing online feels too vulnerable, write for yourself — the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius’ private little diary is a global bestseller.
8. Scheduling “Deep Work” Time
A McKinsey study found deep “flow” work to boost productivity by a whopping 500%!
As Tim Denning rightly said, one hour of deep work a day will transform your life — Cal Newport’s amazing book “Deep Work” is a great place to start.
7. Investing Your Savings
The power of compounding is mind-boggling.
Investing just $100 every month for a realistic 8% yearly growth, you’ll end up with around $200,000 in 80 years!
The sooner you start investing, the crazier the compounding magic — no wonder almost every middle-aged person regrets not starting early.
6. Spending Time With A Loved One
Be it your aging grandmother or your adorable baby brother with their toothless smiles, spend time with them.
Conducted by Harvard, the longest-ever study on happiness in history had one astounding conclusion — quality relationships are king for long-term joy.
S-Tier: Non-Negotiables For a Lifetime
These keystone habits will ripple into every aspect of your life — and trigger an ocean of other positive habits.
5. Meditation
In today’s high-octane world of hyper-connected busybodies, we’ve forgotten the power of solitude and silence.
Meditation is a modern-day superpower — to develop higher self-awareness, reduce anxiety, feel more fulfilled, become calmer, and rewire your brain.
Even if it’s 2 minutes, start — then, gradually increase the duration.
4. Critical Thinking
Butterscotch or Chocolate? The safety of a boring 9 to 5 or the uncertainty of your exciting passion? Buy the latest iPhone or invest in the S&P 500?
All of life is a series of choices — that demand decisions — which necessitate the ability to think.
Mapping real-life problems to mental puzzles, abstracting them to a conceptual level, and weighing the solutions — while steering clear of the innumerable biases.
The top 3 ways to improve your critical thinking skills: Introspection, listening, and writing.
3. Devouring Books (And More)
In today’s TikTok world of 8-second attention spans, the ability to read books is an unfair advantage.
“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”
Nothing rivals books in terms of the sheer amount of knowledge, wisdom, imagination, and thinking skills they grant you — long-form articles and podcasts come close.
Be it fantasy fiction or spiritual self-help, start with the books you find interesting — try less interesting books once you’ve developed a reading habit.
2. Working Out
Transforming my physique beyond recognition rewired my mind, self-image, and life perspective.
Apart from the well-known health benefits, working out puts your self-esteem on steroids and kindles a fire to level up in every area of life.
Be it going to bed early, eating clean, or staying physically active, fitness injects disciplined structure into your life.
1. Bullet (Plus Gratitude) Journaling
Bullet journaling is the puppet master that controls the strings of all the other habits.
The simple act of planning your day, jotting down your thoughts, and expressing gratitude works wonders for your life — in both the short and long run.
Unlike regular journaling, Bullet journaling is swift — in fact, my optimized template takes less than 2 minutes!
This habit’s sheer ROI got it to this tier list’s throne — just 2 daily minutes for potentially life-changing productivity, fulfillment, and success.
