If you think that the quality of your life is equivalent to your standard of living, well, you are wrong. Now do not get me wrong, your standard of living, which essentially equates to your income does have marginal effect on your quality of life, but it is definitely not the full picture. There are certain ways that you can positively influence the quality of your life. Increasing things like income is much more obvious to people than such things like increasing their happiness, health or even vitality. Money seems cut and dry, you either have more of it or you don’t. It is quite easy to quantify but how about the rest i.e. health, happiness, vitality, leisure? All these are also very important aspects of the quality of your life. So, how do you go about improving all these?
If you desire to increase the quality of your life, you must do so by adopting good habits. It is important to eliminate bad habits and form good ones. Good habits have the power to help foster an increased level of happiness, vitality, health, income, leisure etc. It just won’t happen overnight and in order to increase the quality of your life, here are top 10 habits to imbibe:
1. GRATITUDE: Develop the habit of spending 15 to 30 minutes every single day listing off what you have to be grateful for. Often times, we spend time dwelling on those things we are unhappy about and until we lose something we took for granted, such as a person, freedom, health, job etc., we do not realise just how good we have it. Consciously wake up every day grateful to God for everything that is working in and all around you.
2. LOVE: If there is one sure habit to develop in building overall happiness, it is the act of connecting and spreading love. Take time to pick up the phone and let someone know you appreciate them. Show them love and kindness.
3. LEARNING: Learning is critical and has a huge effect on the quality of our life. It allows us to grow, mature and gain experiential knowledge of the world. It allows us to put life into perspective, and ultimately achieve our dreams by laying groundwork for our personal and professional lives.
4. BREAKFAST: I believe you’ve heard it before; breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And it’s no lie. The benefits of eating breakfast every single day greatly stretch into an increase in memory and weight loss, and also lowering of LDL (bad cholesterol). Your body needs a healthy, balanced and nutritional breakfast to help it operate optimally throughout the day.
5. TIME MANAGEMENT: People who effectively manage their time have an increased amount of energy and vitality. Managing your time demands daily attention and a pursuit of the important over the urgent. This means delineating your tasks so that you are pursuing those all-important long term goals and not simply reacting to the urgent matters that come up in your day.
6. SLEEPING WELL: Getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night is critical to your vitality. So many important functions take place in our mind and body when we sleep. It is our body’s chance to rest, unwind and recharge. Multiple studies have suggested that not only does sleep help to improve things like memory, it also helps boost the longevity of life, increase awareness and spur creativity.
7. SAVING: It takes adhering to a strict schedule of saving over a long period to get ahead. This money isn’t just for emergencies, it’s money that needs to be used when the right opportunity for investment presents itself. At least 20% of your income should be saved, in order to build up your funds for investment opportunities.
8. ORGANISING: “Clean house, clean mind”. Consciously spend few minutes of your leisure time to organise your surroundings. Clean up your desk, throw things you no longer need away. You will be shocked at how much this habit with increase the quality of your life.
9. NETWORKING: One of the major ways to boost the quality of your life is by socialising and networking. Networking does not have to be just for business, you can take interest in other people’s lives, volunteering etc. You will be surprised at how much of it comes right back to you.
About the Writer: Eniola Adeniji is a woman after God’s own heart, a motivational Writer, Speaker, Fashion and Photography addict. She is also a Business Developer, Social Media Manager and the founder of Woman Of Value. She blogs at ennmae.wordpress.com
