AIBU to ask you if a daily habit has transformed your life?

[CarlyWarly1980]

Just that, really..
Do you have a daily habit that has transformed your life for the better? A friend recommended a book along these lines but am I being unreasonable to think a daily habit can't really transform your life?
My friend has said the new habit of drinking water and putting on mascara every day helps her feel confident and think clearer improved her skin and helps her concentration. So I'm asking others on here AIBU to think one habit done daily can't really "change" your life?

Water, water, water..

I agree with myself to do 15 minutes of exercise daily..then often just continue on to an hour. Whatever the amount, I must move my body daily.

Even if I’m not going out teeth, face and clean outfit. My mental health suffers if I don’t take care of my body.

[quote Manolin]@Glitterkitten24

04:50 Gently wake, stretch and look at the sunrise bouncing on the walls (doesn't work in winter)
05:00 Swing out of bed, throw jeans and shirt on, grab phone walk downstairs, flood the house with light (open all curtains if winter, summer they stay open at night). Put phone on charge, turn computer, printer, etc on and fire up software and start running any new updates. Get preparation out of the way.
05:10 Fill and boil kettle and make tea
05:15 Open doors and windows to let some fresh dawn air in (during May it was warm already), quick walk round garden, chickens out, check all is well outside, drink tea in garden observing nature. Hoe the flower and veg beds as it cools.
05:45 Go into office and start work, get one big piece done first, Farming Today on radio in background (I am not a farmer)
08:00 Wake everyone else with tea, make lunch for later and have breakfast
08:30 Work through to 13:00 (grab a coffee some days around 11:00)
13:00 Lunch and open post
13:30 Start work again
17:00 Finish
17:00 House chores, tea in garden, garden chores, start dinner, family time
19:30 Dinner, relax
22:30 Bed

Winter routine is similar but less time drinking tea in the garden!
Weekends start at 05:00 but not normally 'work-work', but I still take tea round at 08:00, 09:00 in winter.

We drink a lot of tea I realise.[/quote]
That sounds horrific. 😳

@thistimelastweek

Pelvic floor exercises. Not pissing your pants truly changed life for the better.

😂😂

I've only ever stuck to a couple of changes really long-term, but they are small and really made a big impact on my life...

1 - I never ever (ever, ever, ever!) use the snooze button anymore. Over 10 years ago I had such a bad habit of snoozing my alarm I could almost do it in my sleep and often ended up either late or rushing. So now I set the alarm for when I actually need to get up (a battery alarm clock and no mobile in the bedroom as that's too tempting too!)

2 - when I was still working in the office (pre-lockdown) I prepped everything the night before. I hung my outfit up on the bedroom door, prepped my lunch and then put my handbag, laptop bag and my empty lunch bag together on a shelf near the front door... I had to do this with the lunch bag as if I put my lunch inside it in the fridge, more often than not I'd forget it and have to buy sarnies from the canteen, but even I don't go out the door with an empty lunch bag!

Mind you, now I'm working from home, the second one has gone out the window somewhat as I don't need to be quite as organised and any meetings I have, we are all much less dressy than when were in the office

I've restarted with the Michael Mosley time restricted eating and mediterranean style diet and am already feeling better for it (first few weeks of lockdown I stuffed myself with carbs washed down with wine )

Loving reading about what everyone does - just bought the Atomic Habits book and found Adrienne yoga, so I'll be trying to get some new habits going

I've got into the habit of multivitamins after breakfast, 2 litres of water per day, moisture am and pm and lip balm after brushing my teeth.

However I need help with my sugar addiction/craving...... does anyone know of any podcasts/mindset changing apps

I've been running on sugar for 18 months since my daughter was born and never had a sweet tooth before but I'm really terrible now and can't seem to stop myself.

Like others I have really enjoyed this thread - thanks everyone!

I think, like most of us, I have a lifetime of good and bad habits. The long ingrained good habits I don’t even think about but of course they have really added to my life. Things like cleaning as I go, sleep routine, no alcohol at home unless having friends over and journaling feel so easy now as I have done them for so long.

Changing the bad habits has been so hard but finally over the last 12 months I think I have made some credible progress. I shifted my focus from trying to achieve big changes and improvements, instead I now focus on one thing at a time. It’s taking a long time but I’m getting there.

My sweet tooth and sugar cravings are my absolute downfall. In August 2019 I focused on one thing only, kicking the 1litre per day Coca Cola habit. It was soooo hard, 11 months and 14 days later I have not had even one sip. The withdrawn headaches had to be experienced to be believed

I then moved onto chocolate (multiple bars per day) and for one month it was the sole focus. Now, I have a chocolate treat once a month. The cravings are still there but I am managing to work through them.

I then moved on to white bread, again a month long focus. Have not had a bite since. And then it was the turn of crisps, another month long focus. Have had crisps only once since then.

And then it was biscuits, haven’t had one since. You get the idea....

I know some of you reading this will wonder why I didn’t do all together - it was simply too much. I would have failed as I had many times before.

From 1st August, my focus is on water. Small first step will be 1 Litre per day everyday for the month.

Journaling is the back bone of habit improvement for me as well as helping with general life organisation - from my experience it’s absolutely worth trying.

I would also recommend Miracle Mornings and Atomic Habits as reading material. I found both very helpful.

Thanks for all the great ideas, it’s got me thinking about September focus already.

Advice to anyone starting new habits based on this thread - do it small. If you try two minutes of yoga before bed every night there's a much higher chance you will be doing 20 minutes a day this time next year than if you try doing 20 minutes a day from day 1.
This is great advice (on a really fabulous thread - thank you @CarlyWarly1980)
I have some reasonably good habits, eg phone is always in the kitchen at night; I have started my day with a mug of hot water and lemon for about 30 years now, I walk about 6-7km a day. But I can see there are lots more I could do, so I'm going to try (not all in one day, mind)
a) a bit of yoga in the morning - I was in a good yoga habit, but have lost it and would like to get it back
b) drinking more water during the day
c) the 8:16 fasting thing - I would like to read up a bit on this, so any reputable website recommendations would be welcome

@Manolin you said

"Oh, I understand. I wee in the flower beds on a cool morning. I find if I wee in the vegetable patch the broccoli tastes funny. smile"

Sorry @Manolin, I don't understand your comment at all.

At best, you've misunderstood me, at worst, you are mocking me , with a play on the word "weed*

Either way, not kind

Don't think they were mocking you, just making a joke. I wouldn't read any ill intent into it!!

Yoga ..doesn't have to be a full on sweat fest every day . But get my mat out and do something has been life changing

Oh and magnesium every night !! Life changing !! Sleep a deep restorative sleep.

So far I'm alcohol free and I'm already feeling clearer headed. I'm aiming for 30 days no alcohol.
I need to try exercise daily now..
Wish me luck... And good luck to all of you trying with something new too. Also a Habit Tracker might help you not break the chain. Its from Bullet Journalling but may help people stay on track. Google it for ideas. I'm going to draw one out for my no alcohol challenge! Have a great day everyone! ☀

really good thread thank you. I'm def going to take some of the tips.

I know that for me:

Getting up an hour earlier than the rest of the house - I have a quiet coffee and thinking about chores/jobs etc
An early morning run
Daily gratitudes and affirmations and intentions etc
Yoga
Fasting
Meditation

Those all really work. I'm not good at doing them every day though, and need to use my early morning for something other than thinking about the jobs for the day. I think I have the Miracle Morning book somewhere. I'm also going to read some of the habit books and work out how to set a habit.

Otherwise I'm going to find some daily vitamins. Wfh during lockdown has pretty much destroyed me. I'm exhausted at the end of each day and my work-life balance is shot. I need to redress that a bit. (a lot),

What a great thread!

My habits are mainly work related but I have carried them over into home too. Around 5/6 years ago I was really unhappy at work, and started listening to the audiobook of ‘The Happiness Project’ on my drive to and from work (still listen to the podcast on occasion).

Two strategies she suggested that I consistently use at work are the power hour - prioritising all the little tasks that can be accomplished quickly, and dedicating an hour to them. I do this once a week and it has transformed my life at work. I pick an hour each week and dedicate time to all my little jobs (I am a teacher so can’t often use my time like this).

I also spend some time at home in the early evening (not really an hour, just 30mins or so) before DD goes to bed going around the house picking up all the bits and bobs that are in the wrong place or need tidied away and put them back in the right place. Sounds silly but means everything is all tidy before DH and I have dinner so we can get on with our evenings without having to do any tidying up.

The other thing I took from THP was a kind of mantra ‘be kind to your future self’. Essentially I try to make my own life easier for tomorrow - so, I always write my list of priorities for work for the next day before I leave for the day, make sure little bits and bobs that shouldn’t really be left are done, do boring tasks properly to avoid having to redo them (mainly dull admin tasks!).

I like lists and control and have realised during lockdown while at home more that lacking these routines are causing me a bit of stress.

I have read all the other posts with great interest, I am not so good at carrying over habits to my own actions/behaviours at home so I would like to put some of the ideas into practice, especially about drinking less Diet Coke and snacking!

Fab thread, thanks OP!

Rather than buy the Miracle Mornings book - which many of the Amazon reviews say are mostly filler - simply Google SAVERS Hal Elrod and you can find the ideas summarised quickly. I did this last night and started this morning!

16:8 fasting is this a permanent thing? So never eat except in an 8 hour window? Just having toast having had cereal already at 7,30 and realise this may be why I don't lose weight 🙄

Yes, and amazingly, you don’t feel hungry at all in the morning during 16:8 (I have found that having carbs or sugar in the morning makes me want more sugar and carbs throughout the day as an addict looking for drugs).

Which brings another good habit, avoid sugar as much as you can in a regular basis (the odd cake is ok but cutting regular sugar consumption like a spoonful of sugar in tea, makes a big difference)

Shameless placemarking

Yes I'd agree with Mother after a while you tend not to feel hungry in the morning and yes to reducing sugar and carbs, makes an enormous difference to how your body functions.

Starting one - daily 1/2 hour walk with the dog (more if I have the time and the weather cooperates) and
Ending one - quitting smoking cold turkey several years ago after being a smoker for 45 years. So yes, I would say that any change you ever make starts with one small change, making it a habit and keeping with it until it becomes part of you and then moving on and making other positive changes or giving up a negative habit. I am planning on resuming practicing yoga next. I gave it up years ago when I my kids were little and now that my daughters are practicing it I realize I miss it and want to start again.

Lobsterquadrille2
Wanted to say well done

Things I'm winning at -

• Writing a list of jobs for the day and keeping the planner open so I see it regularly. Crossing them off as I go makes me feel so positive.
• 'Sorting' the kitchen before I go to bed - coming through to clear surfaces is lovely

Things I've started today

• Standing on one leg - right leg 34 seconds before falling over, left leg 3!

Things I want to add tomorrow

• Filling my water bottle and actually drinking it
• Squats as the kettle boils.

Things I'm thinking of adding

• 30 minutes of craft every evening

Fab thread. It has inspired me to set 3 new habits for myself this week

1. Leave phone to charge in kitchen overnight
2. Be in bed for 10pm
3. Drink more water

Three days in and I've remembered to cleanse, tone and moisturise my face/neck each morning and night.

I've had 4 or 5 glasses of water a day (working towards 6!).

Haven't managed the 20 minutes cleaning/de-cluttering per day but had an awful headache Monday and Tuesday afternoon/evening so I will blame that! I will also blame that for not sticking to my 16:8 diet those two days (had chocolate in the evening) Feeling much better today though so onwards and upwards!

For those asking for yoga recommendations.. Adrienne is Fab .. also Lesley Fightmaster/ Tim Sinesi/ HMF Yoga all have free yoga classes for every level. Vinyasa is faster, Hatha has longer holds but can still be challenging .. also the downward dog app is free. Any amount of time from 10 mins is worthwhile .. it's called a practice because you just have to keep chipping away. I listen to my body as much as I can - today I was shattered because the dog kept me up at night last night so just did what I could but felt better for it - part of the practice is learning to be kinder to yourself and know a little is better than nothing. Wim Hoff breathing technique is great for some and reminds me very closely of a yoga breath technique ..