A brand new year, and only 9 days into it we can find ourselves looking for a change. A new year in our minds is a clean slate, a fresh pallet where we can explore ourselves and really challenge our brains. Rather than dreaming about all of the glorious things you could do, try doing little things that will benefit your life with hardly any effort. Let’s make 2018 the best year yet.

I challenge you to try these 8 simple things that will change your life – for the better!

Get up and go no matter how tired you think you are

No matter what, get your ass out of that bed as early as possible and get some exercise in! Yes the first 4 minutes of waking up might seem like a never ending horror movie however once you’re up and ready you’ll feel fabulous. Walking, running, yoga. Whatever your jam is do it! Exercise is a powerful tool in your happiness. Releasing endorphin’s and getting your vitamin D from the sun early in the morning sets you up for a good mood. Remember a happy morning makes for a happy day.

Eat breakfast

Has everyone here heard the expression “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”? If not – google it. For those of you trying to lose weight and skipping breakfast to save on the calories you’re doing it all wrong. You need to fuel your body in the morning especially if you’re exercising as well. Another problem with skipping brekky results in going to work hungry and what does hungry turn into? “Hangry” a term widely known as, hungry angry. Think of it as a car, once your tank runs out you’ve got to fill it, right? Fill your tank every morning and you’ll notice a change in your mood. I can assure you in this case food really does solve our problems!

Read more books

Getting lost in a book opens your mind right up and shuts the world right out. I recently read a book called Holding up the Universe by Jennifer Niven (can’t recommend enough) Back to the point anyway I was able to escape every little thing going on around me just by getting so lost in this book. It was amazing! Find yourself a book you think can get you hooked like this one did with me. It’s very relaxing and especially good for helping you sleep if you read a few pages before bed.

Take some “me time” out to enjoy your own company everyday

Spending time alone is an easy way to get you relaxing. Take a bath or walk the dog, you’ll soon find simplicity in your own company. It’s a nice way to have some down time to reflect on everything around you with no distractions.

Write down goals

Unfortunately there’s only so much information our memories seem to hold. How can we achieve our goals for the year if we don’t remember what they were? Write down at least 5 goals at the start of the year, if you achieve all of these before the end of the year then write down more. Put this list somewhere you’ll see it everyday, the wall, the fridge, wherever you think you’ll see it the most. Setting goals gives us something to work towards and motivates us to try and get there. Everyday we should be striving to improve ourselves one way or another. Goals are our purpose, without them we’d just be pondering around this world not knowing what we’re doing or where we want to go.

1 thing you’re grateful for, everyday

Sometimes the best things in our live’s can go unnoticed. To remember the little things, try to think of one thing you’re grateful for everyday. Write it down and don’t use the same thing twice. There’s little things in life you’ve just got to love and we often forget about those things. They don’t need to be extravagant, simple remember, like “the sand between my toes” it’s the little things you’d miss if they were no longer there.

Start making “phone stacks”

Firstly, let me explain what a phone stack is. When I’m out with a group of friends and everybody has their mobile phones on them, we like to avoid the distractions that come with them by stacking them all up on top of each other. We often make bets such as whoever breaks the phone stack first has to pay for dinner. Just to make grabbing your phone a little less appealing. Think about how often you sit on your phone scrolling through “social”  – not so social media. If you’re sitting at a table with a group of friends get your head out of that device and look around you. Interacting with others is an important part of having a happy and free mind, don’t let your phone take that from you.

Go to bed earlier

Okay, we’ve all done it before. Binge watched our favorite TV series until 2am and had to get up for work at 7am THE SAME DAY. Remember how crappy you felt? Make a designated time for your binge watching TV habits, try limit it to 2 hours a day if you can. Going to bed earlier makes for a blissful night’s sleep not having to worry about how many hours you’ve got until work. You can get up earlier and actually feel refreshed. The earlier you hit the hay the earlier you can get up and make the most of your time before work.

I hope you’ve all got some good ideas and start making a change to your life today! If you do give any of these things a go I would love to hear about how it’s going for you! Please leave a comment below. 2018 come at us!

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