“The trip of a thousand miles starts with one step.”
Lao Tzu
“The distance is nothing; It is only the first step that is difficult. “
Madame Marie du Deffand
A positive change in your life does not have to be about making a huge leap.
But I believe that belief is one of those things that stop people from improving their lives and world.
A simpler way that more often results in the actual action that is being taken and new habits that are determined – at least in my life – is to take smaller steps, but many of them.
So today I want to share 10 fast habits that can help you change your life in just 2 minutes a day.
Because of these small steps you can start building habits that become stronger and can change your life over time in ways that you may not be able to imagine now.
To remember to actually do one of the things below, I recommend writing a simple memory.
Put it on your bedside table so that you see it when you wake up every morning. Or place the note in your workspace so that you see it early in your day.
If you want and, if possible, turn off the small habit after a week or two and do it for a few minutes a day.
1. Just start working on your most important task for 2 minutes.
I use it every week for at least one day.
On some days I just don’t feel like working with work. I would rather stay lazy on the couch.
So on such days I just start working on my most important task for 2 minutes.
That’s the deal.
The thing is: Getting started is almost always the most difficult part.
After I started moving and who went to work for 2 minutes, it is usually fairly easy to continue working on that task.
2. View and appreciate your day at the end.
If you do good things and get things done during the day, you can Increase your self -respect. If you think about that, you have done that.
So take two minutes from the end of your working day. Appreciate what you did and what you thought.
That is what I will do when I have finished this article and working day.
3. Set a low bar for happiness for the day.
One thing I like to tell myself when I wake up in the morning is: “Have a low bar for happiness today.”
As I tell myself this and try to keep it in mind during the day, I appreciate things more.
The food, my work, the weather, the small events of the day do not become daily things, but something I feel happy that I have.
The small or something can be that you naturally consider, becomes something that I often pause to take and appreciate.
But if I get happier in my daily life for the smaller things, does that mean that I get unmotivated to keep working on the bigger things?
No.
This way to look at my life actually feeds me with more energy and inspiration, life becomes lighter and I feel less inner resistance while I explore both small and larger things and work.
4. When stressed.
When you catch up stress, when you start to feel anxious, irritated and or anxious, you take 2 minutes.
Sit down.
Breathe through your nose and do it quite deep with your belly.
Focus on only for your breathing for those 2 minutes. Nothing else.
This will calm your mind and you can resume your work in a more focused and relaxed mood afterwards.
5. Open your senses for what is here now.
Pull yourself from the past where you experience an old conflict and drag you further down a depressing spiral. Get yourself out of the future where you introduce a catastrophe during your next meeting, date or presentation.
Put yourself and your attention where you really are. Here and now.
Do this by sitting for 2 minutes.
See what is right in front of you.
Listen to the birds and cars outside.
Feel the sun through the window to your clothes and skin shine.
Feel the small design of one of the windows.
Be completely here with all your senses for those 2 minutes.
This will relax your mind and body. Thinking will become easier. And an optimistic point of view will feel more natural.
6. If you feel the need to judge that someone is being tightened instead.
If you feel the need to assess someone you know or may not know, take 2 minutes. Ask yourself these two questions:
- Which parts of this person can I see in myself?
- How are he or she fun?
Why do that instead of judging?
Because nobody wants to be assessed in a negative way and can do this to the people in your life, it doesn’t help to build good relationships.
Moreover, the amount you have a tendency to assess others often, often no matter how much you assess.
So help yourself to lead a more positive life in those two ways by pausing when you feel the need to judge and then choose something better.
7. Think for a moment and give someone a real compliment.
Spend a minute with coming up with something that you really and really appreciate about someone in your life and that is in the same room as you at a certain point during the day.
Spend the other minute or less to tell him or her the compliment.
She or he will be happy. You will feel good about yourself and you will probably also get some positive feelings of the now happy and complimated person.
It is a good and small way to build more positive relationships.
8. Cuddle.
It is a small thing, but physical intimacy can reduce stress and make us feel good. So spend 2 minutes of your day cuddling.
Just like compliments, it can be a simple way to build warmer and more positive relationships with all kinds of people in your life.
Just use common sense before you start hugging.
9. Be interested instead of interesting.
At the start of a conversation or to break the ice, you spend two minutes asking one or a few questions about someone you talk to and his or her life.
Note and don’t just wait for your turn to talk again.
The interest you give will probably be returned and you can Start not only to build a good conversation, but also a giving and satisfactory relationship For you two, regardless of what kind of relationship it may be.
10. Mix things.
Try the opposite …
- Have the vegetarian dish if you always go for the meat.
- Walk away from a stupid conflict instead of making it worse.
- Let one thing go if you often stick to things.
- Say yes to something spontaneous if you often say no and stay with your daily routine.
Take 2 minutes or less in one common or negative situation in your life today, pause for a short reflection and then make a decision that is unusual for you.
Make it a habit to mix things to have more fun. To grow your life in small or larger ways. To add unexpected experiences.
To make it easier and easier to get out of your comfort zone in general when it is really necessary.
And to feel alive.