Life-Changing Habits That You Can Practice Within One Minute
By: The Essentialist
Tags: Self Improvement, Life, Stoicism, Habits, Productivity

Habits are difficult to stick to. When I start building a new habit, I often find myself at a position where I ask myself why I am really doing this. It feels like we are lost in the midway. The end goal which we were envisioning, which became the very reason why we started this process, is no longer useful. Because how you go on the Journey of building a habit is itself a habitual process. And we always focus on the quality and the type of habit but never on the process which is essential for it to become a habit.

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Another reason is, we envisage large goals. We are often told that to change our lives and build good habits we need to make monumental changes. But that is a blatant lie. James Clear, Stephen Guise, BJ frog, in their respective books namely Atomic habits, Elastic habits and Tiny habits talk about the importance of distilling the big goal into small achievable targets, and each target into daily accomplishing tasks. This not only saves us from the act of instantly giving up when we imagine ‘How difficult it is?’, but also makes it easier to stick to the process. And a matter of fact, You always find the love between the Journey.

The essence of TIny habit is equivalent to a single drop in the big ocean. The Drops makes the Ocean. Tiny habits make big habits. Being on this journey of self-improvement for some time, I have adopted the following habits that do not require you to break any extra sweat but will certainly improve the way you are living your life.

1. Drinking at least a glass of water after waking up

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You don’t need my pep talks to realise The importance of Water in your life. While it is a fact that we do not pay enough attention to the amount of water we are consuming every day, it is only when we are thirsty we realise that we should keep up with this habit of drinking water frequently. But is there a specific reason I am advising to drink water after waking up, or I just watched some of Matt D’Avella’s videos?

See an average human sleeps between 6–7 hours daily. This is more than 1/4th or 25% of your day. Now even if I drag myself here by considering that ‘having water’ is the last thing you do before going to bed, you still have a long enough time between which you are completely dry. Now you might be questioning that during sleep our body is relaxed and we are not involved in any kind of activity, so our body might not need it. Again, Lie alert. The involuntary processes of the body are still doing their part and the blood is still flowing in your body.

Drinking as soon as you wake up will recharge the body. It is like an alarm to the voluntary cells to wake up and start working. Fun fact- Even though drinking more during the winter season has its consequences, I suggest you still drink at least 7 litres of water every day.

2. Not using Electronic device while it is charging

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We are bound to use electronic gadgets for a major part of the day. Now more than ever since studying and working are all in front of one screen, it is just inevitable. I know it’d not be the best advice to take a break from gadgets altogether, even though I kind of believe one must do that at some point in their lives. You can, however, give your device some doses of ‘Power naps’.

Note that Charging a device is an organic process, it takes time and your device is in a working state. By using it, you are not just burdening the device with the extra work, you are making it hard to charge by doing the counter process since charging and discharging are going parallelly and it can destroy the performance of your battery in the long run. Taking a nap while your device is taking its own will give power to both the device and you.

3. Folding hands and being Grateful before taking your first bite of a Meal

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If you are reading this while having a meal, stop right there. First, finish your food and then continue. If you are busy with your phone while your meal is getting cold, remember this:

Gratitude is an attitude. It is the cheat code to happiness as Mark Manson puts it. Being grateful not just makes your character good, it makes you humble and kind. This pandemic is a slap of realisation in many ways if not less. One such lesson I learnt is, the meal I am having right now, not everyone is having it. Not everyone is lucky enough to get it without doing practically nothing, not everyone is fortunate enough to get to choose about what they eat, not everyone can add an extra flavour of dessert in their meal, not everyone can afford to skip this meal, knowing that this might be their last.

BE GRATEFUL. To your family, your parents, to the people who are making it possible that you get the resources to you, to the people who are the reason you are safe, to nature who is providing us with all this after everything we humans have done in return.

4. To smile while Interacting with someone

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Your face is a small microcosm of your personality. It is a mask, which if you allow, can show exactly what you are, or else can deceive others with it as well. But as a wise man rightly said:

“You can fool some people all the times, and all people sometimes. But you can never fool all the people all the time.”

When we are interacting with someone, it is a connection. Two people trying to communicate with each through a medium both understands and can convey their message through. That sounds a bit old school but when we realise that speaking to someone is much more than a waste of your time, it makes us, well grateful, to have someone to talk to. Smile is a way of giving them the gesture that you are happy and involved and you value this conversation. It gives them hope, that even in if there is adversity, it will pass as well. Well, I know this is quite ironical since right now you can’t actually show your face to everyone. But hey! The home is always a good place to start.

5. Ask Yourself → Is it Necessary?

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Someone who read and discovered about Stoicism in this period of staying home, I found this question a must before, you act, or even react. If you are somewhat like me who takes most of the actions just because, you wanted to, because you are tempted to, because you were in the so-called ‘flow’ state where you just acted without even thinking about it, you should introduce yourself to this filter before you act.

Ask yourself, whatever you are doing right now, or about to do, is it necessary? Are you compelled to do it? Is it in your control not to go any further? Are you doing it because you find it useful, or just because someone said you will? Is it in the virtues you believe in? Is it making you better, or just making you feel better?

These questions are like the filters you apply on Amazon. They will sort things out a little if not completely. Of course, you will find the answer as ‘No’ sometimes or most of the times, and there may be times when you still want to do it, and that is completely okay. But by introducing yourself to this practice, you will realise you are making better choices, you will say No to a few things which you wouldn’t have it you haven’t questioned yourself like this. You will find that you are prioritising, something you must do to lead a satisfying life. And Bonus, it is an opening channel to dive deep into the eternal sea of Self-reflection and Consciousness.