Level Up Your Life: 10 Daily Practices for Growth

Due to the personal development trend brought forth by Gen Z culture, habits have gained immense popularity in recent years.

Furthermore, owing to the plethora of books published in recent years, one that has gained immense popularity and holds a special place in my heart is Atomic Habits.

Primarily, the objective of this movement is to seize authority over your life. For ages, individuals have been existing on autopilot and conforming to societal norms without scrutinizing how they utilize their time.

With the increasing recognition of mental health, investigating our habits has become essential in addressing these issues and understanding their root causes.

The unrealistic habits movement

The extensive discourse surrounding habits and attention devoted to it has incited ample examination of top achievers, well-known figures spanning from celebrities to CEOs, entrepreneurs as well as investors within the public eye.

These podcasts, books and YouTube videos promoted numerous habits and routines that are unattainable or impractical. Moreover, they could induce anxiety and physical stress thereby defeating their intended purpose.

If waking up at 5am doesn’t work for you, there’s no need to do it.

There is no obligation for you to take action. Your priority should be tuning in with your mind and body, carefully selecting only those habits that serve as a benefit specifically tailored to you.

The 10 habits that improved my life

Today, I intend to share with you a compilation of habits that I have sifted through from the countless ones widely embraced, practiced, experimented with and fine-tuned in my own life.

Let’s start without any specific order.

1. Tips for Better Sleep Hygiene

As I embarked on my personal growth journey, there were several areas that demanded my attention: physical fitness, social interactions and dietary habits. However, improving the quality of my sleep was an aspect which seemed to be at bottom of the priority list.

Instead of sleeping, I always chose to have fun by partying, watching Netflix and movies, going out or reading.

After hitting a plateau with my fitness and diet, I adopted a dog. As many are aware, canines generally retire for the night early on and usually do not sleep in. This circumstance compelled me to depart social gatherings earlier than usual, make rest a priority, and hit the sack sooner due to being roused quite early each day by my furry companion’s schedule.

The main points to remember from this are:

Follow the natural circadian rhythm of your body by sleeping earlier and waking up earlier.

• It is recommended to sleep for a minimum of 7 hours and a maximum of 9 hours, with the ideal duration being around 8 hours.
• To wake up feeling refreshed, aim to end your sleep at the completion of a full 90-minute cycle. Therefore, set your alarm for a time that coincides with the conclusion of one or more cycles.
• It is advisable to maintain a slightly lower temperature in your bedroom compared to the rest of your house.
• As you sleep, ensure that your bedroom is devoid of light.

2. Building a Daily Exercise Routine

Numerous research has been conducted, highlighting the advantageous effects of physical activity on your body and mind.

During my training, I noticed that it provided me with some useful benefits:

Discipline can be rewritten as “control or orderliness in behavior.”

• Relief from stress and anxiety
• An objective / Aim
• Dopamine can be rephrased as “A neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure and reward in the brain.”
• Energy – the ability or capacity to perform work, such as generating power.
• Reworded: The driving force behind one’s actions or desires.

Incorporated into my regimen for training and exercise are three to four strength-training sessions of no more than an hour each week, a once-a-week boxing class or swimming laps routine, accompanied by walking 10.000 steps every day.

After conducting personal trials and studying advice from experts like Andrew Huberman, I highly recommend scheduling exercise sessions in the morning prior to work. Doing so can promote sustained energy throughout the day, prevent afternoon fatigue and excessive caffeine consumption, boost motivation levels for daily tasks, and enhance overall mood.

Ensure that you integrate it into your habits whenever it is feasible for you to do so.

3.The Best Time for Coffee

Just like you, I consider coffee as my favorite morning ritual and primary source of energy. Giving up this beloved drink is not something that would ever cross my mind.

Over indulging in caffeine is a genuine issue and can have negative effects. To prevent multiple coffee cravings during lunch or later in the day, wait 1-2 hours after waking up to drink your initial cup.

In an amazing depiction of habit formation, Atomic Habits explains how every habit is prompted by a cue. Typically, for instance, waking up acts as the trigger to head for coffee. Manipulating these cues allows you to introduce or eliminate habits from your routine.

As a case in point, I utilize the cue of waking up to initiate getting dressed and heading over to the gym. Subsequently, upon returning home, I prepare for my job. Once 9:00 rolls around and my laptop powers on, this serves as an indication that it’s time for me to indulge in my coffee ritual. Generally speaking, since awakening at approximately 7:00-7:30 AM each day affords me about one or two hours prior to partaking in said beverage.

4. The Power of Prioritized Lists

This is an extremely useful tool that can be used in the morning to start your day or at night after you finish your day.

I noticed that the primary advantage of this is its ability to relieve me of a significant amount of mental burden, resulting in reduced stress levels.

The reason for this constant effort is to ensure we remember and avoid forgetting our tasks, which requires us to constantly pressure ourselves. However, by writing them down and planning ahead, you can ease into your workload with peace of mind knowing that nothing will be overlooked – allowing you to enjoy the ride as each task is accomplished one after another.

Although it’s not always straightforward to plan my day due to the demands of work and personal life, I’ve devised a technique enabling me to schedule tasks that fall into different categories such as those necessary or desirable. Using this approach makes it easy for me to allocate specific time slots with ample buffer intervals in between where required, ensuring adequate space is available for unplanned surprises.

5. The Power of Timeboxing

I have previously written about the timeboxing technique, which is also frequently utilized by many high achievers like Elon Musk.

Essentially, this involves scheduling a specific time for each task. To illustrate, I dedicate the hour between 11:00 and 12:00 to reading emails exclusively without any other distractions. This method guarantees that you won’t perform haphazardly but instead complete your assignments with undivided focus; hence making it more fulfilling in the end.

The idea of multitasking is a complete falsehood. Our brain can only give its full attention to one task at any given moment.

6.  Simple Habits for a More Fulfilling Life

I’m also grappling with this issue. Perhaps it’s a trait common to males, but research indicates that men don’t excel at incorporating this behavior into their routine.

Developing a morning and evening self-care routine is not only beneficial for enhancing skin, hair, and wellness but also an impactful habit.

A self-care routine in the morning can signal to you that your day is beginning, and it can serve as a prompt for adding another habit like hitting the gym or going for a run.

Your mind will unconsciously get ready for tasks, making you feel prepared. This can boost your productivity, especially when working from home.

Your evening routine serves as a signal that the day is concluding, prompting your brain to unwind and produce more melatonin in preparation for sleep.

This habit is already great, but it becomes even more beneficial when connected with other habits.

7. Limit Exposure to Bright Light Before Bedtime

The circadian rhythm is an innate feature of your body that was originally synchronized with sunlight during the prehistoric era. However, in contemporary times we no longer structure our days around natural light sources and instead often expose ourselves to bright artificial light from electronic devices well into the night.

When night falls and the hour grows late, our body will initiate melatonin production, a hormone that aids in rest. However, if you engage in activities such as watching TV or using your phone before going to bed, it can inhibit the release of this essential element leading to sleep disturbances like insomnia or restless slumber.

8. Cultivate the Habit of Daily Reading

Although I am aware that you have heard this many times, allow me to elucidate.

I disagree with other advice I have come across online suggesting to “read a few pages a day.” This guidance is not authentic and reflects non-avid readers. One should refrain from reading just for the sake of it, or merely to increase their yearly book count. Instead, reading ought to be deemed necessary for gaining knowledge and promoting development.

A piece of advice that is more precise would be:

Make it a habit to read every day!

Stop reading when you fully grasp the concept instead of going through 20 pages which may only cover half a chapter, or spending 30 minutes on it- equivalent to one and a half chapters.

Consider reading a single idea. It’s possible to read an entire chapter, alternatively stick with one comprehensible concept. If it takes merely a page and you understand the whole notion, that’s exceptional progress for today! You now have something stimulating to ponder over and absorb mentally.

9. Embrace Regular Journaling for Personal Growth

It’s worth noting that I didn’t imply daily writing. This is because my focus isn’t on the conventional “Dear Diary, today I did this and that” routine but rather delving deeper into your emotions and inner self-expression.

Write in your journal whenever you feel the need to. Focus on organizing and expressing your thoughts clearly.

Currently, what is causing me to feel uneasy?

What is causing my stress or anxiety?

About what am I feeling good?

For what do I currently feel grateful?

What is my current emotional state?

The aim is to gain a better comprehension of you and process your sentiments and emotions.

10. Prioritize Daily Meditation for Inner Peace and Clarity

Here’s a habit that I have added “every day” to.

Find the meditation that works best for you, though.

The aim is to achieve silence, calm your thoughts, and clear your mind. Refrain from thinking or engaging in any activity; instead, concentrate solely on breathing or another focal point.

For various individuals, meditation can hold different meanings. It could involve transcendental meditation, yoga practices, breathwork or even a simple walk in nature. To illustrate my own means of meditating:

• Transcendental meditation can be rephrased as the practice of reaching a state beyond normal consciousness.
• Breathing techniques or exercises.

Out of my habits, these are certainly the ones that have added the most value to my life.

Keep in mind that there is no competition, and there’s no one-size-fits-all plan to adhere to. Discover what suits you best by trying new things. Eventually, you’ll come across something that clicks with your individual needs. It requires patience on your part as well.