Daily Habits That Will Build Success In Your Life

January really slipped through my fingers, I can’t believe that it has ended that fast. This month has been about clarity for me. Seeking clarity in what my goals are for this year and how I want to spend my time. Decluttering and resetting my mind for clarity, peace and focus. Once a week, I have been focusing on one thing that will help me get better. Whether that is to build up my foundation or set me up for success in multiple areas of my life. I have realised that when I don’t do my non-negotiables: daily devotionals, eating well, training, stretching, and reading etc. I feel that I lack of energy and something is missing from my day. Here are five daily habits that I have done for years that have helped make a difference to my days.

Building Faith Habits

I was born into a Christian family and always attended church growing up. However, I never felt that I had a personalised relationship with God until I was 21 years old. I wanted to take a break from going to church to figure out if this was for me. That break gave me space to decide whether I wanted to have a relationship with God. I took that break once I got to college before deciding that it was something that I valued.

Starting my mornings with my Bible devotionals, prayer and worship is an important part of my day. It’s a time that I get to pray for my day, lay out my worries and listen to God. In 2020, I turned more to my faith as the fear of the unknown really took over me. This is my number one habit that helps me plant my feet. Starting my day in worship and feeding my soul with love gives me the strength to seize the day.

Training & Stretching Are Healthy Habits

As a powerlifter and a lover of movement, exercising is a habit that I have been doing consistently for years. There is something special about training that makes me feel alive. When I don’t exercise for a long time, I don’t feel like myself. It is such an integral part of my day. Movement is not only a gift, but also breathes more life into me. It helps to improve your core stability and muscle imbalance. You build strength and muscle mass. That energy helps you perform better in other areas of your life.

Exercise has a skill set that can be transferable to other areas of your life. For me, I found confidence through fitness. That grew into something more once I started powerlifting – a strength that I couldn’t have imagined. With lockdowns becoming a norm right now, exercising in the comfort of my own home safely highlights the gift of movement even more.

Strong I am but flexible I am not. This month, I have intentionally started flexibility training to help me release tension in my calves. I want to become more flexible overall. I have been wanting to do the splits for years. That requires a type of training that I am not used to doing. At the moment, I have been dedicating 15 minutes of stretching after my training sessions. In addition, 30 minutes of deep stretching after my walks on my rest days. I aim to keep this up so I can finally do the splits. Also I hope to transfer this flexibility skill to my powerlifting sessions so I can increase my squat depth. Stretching is also therapeutic is some kind of way, I can clear my mind and focus on just that.

Gratitude hour

This is one of my new habits that I started the beginning of this year. Sitting down intentionally with a journal noting down my wins from the previous day is something I have never done before. Speaking out loud what I am grateful for each day, along affirmations for the day does feel weird. Through the rush of excitement, I was ready to jump into it. However, I learnt earlier on that I had to take time to start this as it was new.

During the second week, I struggled getting this done because I didn’t have a set time to do this. I was doing it whenever I felt like it. That meant that some days during that week I had to play catch up. After scheduling time to sit down and practice gratitude, I feel like I have this locked into my routine. Cultivate an attitude full of gratitude, I love saying this phrase to myself. It keeps me grounded. That phrase has taught me that no matter what is happening outside, I have so much to be grateful for.

Meditations

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday provides me with some uplifting philosophy. Meditations, in general, pushe me to dig deeper in the morning. I will forever be a student of life. This book of meditations on wisdom and learning about the art of living, from stoic philosophers, is something that I’m glad that I started. At the back of my journal, I use these daily teachings as prompts for me to write my takeaways. It has really made me question some things that I do unconsciously and take more effective action. I know that it is early days butI am nervous to see how much my mindset will shift.

Reading Leisurely

Am I the only one that struggled to get back into reading after college and/or grad school? I used to love reading as a child. It has taken a lot of effort to get back into consistent reading as an adult. I went from reading one book in 2018, three in 2019 and 10 in 2020. I’m making progress and I’m hopeful that I will get back to this habit sooner and later.

Reading for at least 20 minutes a day in the evening as I wind down before bed relaxes me. It takes me away from my phone and other distractions to slip into a new world. I’m currently finishing my first book of 2021. Then it’s purely fantasy and Afro-futuristic books for the next two months. I have Daughters of Nri by Reni K. Amayo and Love In Colour by Bolu Babalola next in line.

If you enjoy reading, what books are you currently reading?

Eating For Enjoyment

This one might seem strange because we should all be eating everyday. Last year, I slipped up when it came to eating my meals regularly. It really showed me that when I don’t have my meals planned in advance, I struggle to hit my macros. Eating is a culinary experience not just for you but for your tastebuds. There is something special to me about eating meals regularly. I’ll call it a habit that has made a difference in my life over the years. As someone who is into fitness, I’ve learnt so much about the role of food in relation to training.

Having a routine, especially in these series of lockdowns, has kept me focused on the things that matter to me. Prioritising eating all my meals each day allows to do all the other habits that are important to me.

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There are other habits that make a difference to my day but these five are the main ones that help build a foundation for the others to follow. Placing each of these habits into either my morning routine or my evening routine helps me to start and end my day in peace. If you are aiming to start building a routine or a new habit, start out small. Forget about the end result and focus on the process and getting it right.

Until next time,

Folakemi