The Quickest Way to Improve the Quality of Your Life
The monotony of life can catch up to you quickly. Once you’ve checked all the boxes from graduating high school and college and getting a good job – it becomes a conscious effort to make life meaningful and fulfilling for yourself.
Meaning and fulfillment are not things that just happen in life. They come to fruition because of a conscious effort to do so. As I reflect on my life, there have been many opportunities where life forced me to rise to another version of myself.
I didn’t like it at first. It felt uncomfortable. It was new, but I knew I needed to change internally before my life could change externally.
As I continued to grow, it became very apparent to me that my daily habits ultimately determined the quality of my life. I had to start identifying the habits that were no longer serving me vs. those that aligned with who I wanted to become.
Well, a question remained stuck in my head: who did I want to become? I wasn’t sure then, but I knew I yearned for a better version of who I was. It wasn’t until I started taking an objective view of my life that I realized the happiest, fulfilled, and most content versions of myself all stemmed from integrating a few positive habits that naturally overflowed into other areas of my life, including – my relationships and work.
When good habits, such as a morning routine, were established – I felt a gentle flow into my day that allowed me to get into bed in the evening and say to myself, “I had a good day.”
When my day felt unfulfilling, sporadic, and all over the place – it was usually tied to how I woke up that morning. There was no flow or control, and I felt pulled by every distraction and demand. And minor stressors would influence me internally more greatly.
As the saying goes, who we are now is because of past behaviors. But who we become will come from our current behaviors.
The quickest way to improve the quality of your life
So, what’s the quickest way to improve your quality of life while cultivating the person you intend to become in the future? I’ve found from personal experience that it derives from a few essential habits:
Implementing a morning routine and continuously cultivating a worthwhile future vision for yourself.
We are creatures of habit. Our body craves them throughout the day; most of the time, we are unaware of them. Implementing a morning routine to kickstart your day takes advantage of your body’s craving for routine and habits.
Most importantly, it sets the tone for the rest of the day. Good days start with great mornings. And when you wake up with a morning routine, it has a domino effect into every other routine throughout your day—everything from making positive eating decisions to your productivity while at work.
This is what’s known as a keystone habit. As Charles Duhigg writes in The Power of Habit, a keystone habit can reprogram other routines in your life. Thus, improving the quality of your life.
For example, starting your day off with a meditation session or exercising can give you a feeling of accomplishment, sufficient energy, and calmness heading into your busy day.