It’s that time again; when you’re supposed to set goals and come up with new year resolutions that will change your life. But setting new year habits is actually a more powerful way to make sure that you stick to your resolutions, especially if they’re simple and easy to do – the blue-footed booby way!
New year habits must be easy
A key thing to remember is to always implement a new habit that is achievable for you. If you’re stuck on new year habits to establish in the new year, here are six simple ones that will transform your life:
Blue-footed Booby Success Formula: 6 steps to New Year habits that will transform your life
- Journal before bed
Journaling has so many benefits, but can seem like a huge time commitment. Just journaling your thoughts before you go to bed can help improve your sleep quality. You can simply jot down:
- Your goals for the next day (one study found that people who did this fell asleep 37% faster)
- What you’re grateful for (this is a key part of our recipe for happiness)
- Any negative thoughts (dump it and forget it) – or any positive experiences (which increases your awareness of cool things that happened)
Just doing this simple exercise will help improve your mental health. Best of all, you’ll stop fretting about the things you have to do tomorrow and catch those much-needed zzzs.
- Sit in silence for 10 minutes a day
You all know how important meditation is but we’re often put off by the implied time commitment. Even one minute of silence every day can have profound mental health benefits!
Whether you do a guided meditation or you just sit quietly in a comfortable spot for 10 minutes a day, you’ll be more present and more mindful, experience less stress and anxiety and you might even be more productive as a result.
- Prioritise sleep
We all know that getting enough sleep is important for both health and happiness, but do you actually prioritise your sleep? For better quality sleep, avoid screen time at least two hours before you go to bed, don’t eat late, and make sure your room is comfortable, dark, and cool.
- Take a 15-minute walk in nature
Nature is an amazing and under-appreciated resource that’s free and available to everyone, at any time. A 15-minute walk in nature will help reduce anxious thoughts, increase your personal happiness, and improve your mood. Nature walks are one of the easiest and most accessible life hacks to improve your day.
- Have a laugh
Laugh out loud at something, anything. Play a practical joke, watch a funny clip, find a funny saying or quote, laugh at yourself, laugh at a stand-up comedian… whatever you do, get one good laugh in your day and you’ll start feeling happier and more adjusted, even when you’re going through the dark stuff.
- Perform an act of kindness
Just one act of kindness will make you feel more connected and less cynical about life. Whatever it is, do something for something or someone else, whether human or animal. Intentional acts of kindness make you feel good about yourself, help you feel like part of your community, and can even help you find meaning in what can be a pretty dark world.
Performing an act of kindness helps improve your physical health by increasing your ‘love hormone’ (oxytocin) and reducing the ‘stress hormone’ (cortisol).
New habits that stick
To make habits that stick, you have to make any new habit achievable and easy. That’s why the above habits aren’t an hour of exercise or 45 minutes of meditation. These goals are too big for most people, let alone boobies like us.
Bite-sized habits are easily adopted and easily implemented into your daily schedule. You can even tie them into something you’re already doing like after you brush your teeth, you can do a 10-minute meditation. This ensures they stick.
If you try any of these new year habits, please share your experiences in the comments below or shoot us an email. We’d love to hear the weird, wild, and incredible ways your life has changed as a result.
PS: Don’t forget to join the blue-foot flock!
