The key to greatness lies in people’s daily routine. Great health doesn’t come from running one marathon. A successful business is not built in one day. A genius mind does not come from reading a single book. Most goals you want to achieve requires a long term commitment to something, usually requiring daily attention. And during the past year, I’ve been looking at the differences between unsuccessful people and successful ones, and most of the differences I see, are in either their general mindset, or the way they live their daily lives.Here are 5 things you should be doing every day, if you’re serious about improving your physical and mental health, general well being and success in the long run.

BE ACTIVE

People are way too inactive in the modern world. We’re sitting all day at school, in the office at work, then in the car as we drive around, and when we finally get home and feel tired, we often spend the day in the couch or in front of a computer. On average, we sit 9.3 hours per day, which is even more than we spend sleeping! Some scientists even believe that the damages from sitting over 6-8 hours daily, may be just as harmful as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Studies has even shown that too much sitting can literally cut years off your life, and even regular physical activity can’t reverse the damages done to your body.Therefore, get into a habit of working out regularly, as well as generally staying more active during your day. Try to get at least 3 workouts a week squeezed in somehow. If you’re short on time, try a 10 minute workout, or just do some pushups. I also recommend finding a sport or activity you enjoy doing, may it be basketball, martial arts or waterskiing. Also get into the habit of taking some breaks with walking during long sitting hours at work, or get a standing table, take the bike to work, talk to the local store instead of the car, and other ways to be more active. Find ways to get some physical activity every single day. Just make it a habit to be more active in your daily life, and you will feel both your health, energy levels, body and mental health improve over time.

MEDITATE

I’ve found meditation to be one of the most powerful tools you can implement in your daily routine. The benefits of meditation practice includes decreased stress, anxiety and worry, improved mood and relaxation, increased mental strength and focus, and stronger immune system. It’s an extremely helpful tool, both in personal and professional life.Implementing meditation into your daily routine isn’t really that hard. You don’t need 30 minute sessions. 5 minutes sitting on your office chair, focusing on your breath literally enough. You can even just try to practice mindfulness as you wash your hands in the morning, or while drinking your coffee. Just bring your attention to the present moment at different points during the day, sensing your body and the environment around you. Make it a habit to do this every day, the rewards will be seen in both your work and personal life.

READ AND LEARN

Strive to learn and grow a tiny bit every day. Read an interesting article, a few pages of a book or do some research about a topic that interest you. Just try to learn something, whatever it is, every day. It can be from books, from courses, from YouTube videos or basically anything. Just set aside a tiny bit of time to learning every single day – and you will see your life improve on so many levels. It doesn’t matter if it’s just 10 minutes, or even 4 minutes. Strive to know a tiny bit more every day than you did the day before. As Warren Buffett said; “The more you learn, the more you earn.”

PLAN AND THINK

Set aside a little time every day to just plan, think, and solve problems. Whether it is just planning dinners for the week, what to buy your friend for birthday, how to structure your meetings for the coming days, or any other problems you need to find solutions to – set aside some time for it.Even if it is just 10 minutes a day, it will take away the burden of having these things churning in the back of your head all day, while you’re with friends, or even when trying to sleep at night. If you don’t have any apparent issues to tackle, write down 10 ideas for your business, or brainstorm other similar things.

JOURNAL

Make it a habit to jot down some words from each day. Write down some things you are grateful for – something that made you happy that day. Something you accomplished, or something funny somebody said. Doing this has amazing effects, and I cannot recommend it enough. I personally use the DayOne app on my MacBook. Keeping a journal also makes it easier to track progress, and reach goals you’ve set. You also start to think more consciously about how you’re spending your day, making you ask important “why” and “how” questions. A journal is also a great way to look back at other things you have already accomplished, making you motivated to work towards your current goal.These are all habits I see among happy, healthy and successful people. Try to adopt these into your own daily schedule, and stick to it, and you will see results in all aspects of life over time.

‍Resources:

‍http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/much-sitting-linked-heart-disease-diabetes-premature-death-201501227618

‍http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/20140407/sitting-disease-faq?page=2

‍http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2015/05/08/sitting-too-long.aspx‍

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/meditation-heals-body-and-mind