Looking to improve your habits and be happier in 2022?
Wanna say goodbye to the wrong habits?
If you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, then this post is for you. Here I’ll share with you 10 healthy habits to practise in 2022 for a happier life.
But first, a few basics.
How to build healthy habits and stop doing bad ones
The thing is, you can start creating good habits anytime you want, but the beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to do so.
The key will be to stay motivated.
That said, here are a couple of tips to get started!
- To create a healthy habit, make it as easy as possible to practise it at the beginning. For example, if you want to get in shape this 2022—and you know you’ll have a tough time getting started—then prepare your clothes the night before. That way, you’ll be taking the first step into making your goal a reality.
- To stop doing a bad habit—like checking your phone every 5 minutes—make it difficult for you to do so. Put your phone in another room, or pause your social media for one hour. You’ll see how much work you’ll do during this time.
Want to learn more about changing habits?
I strongly recommend the books Atomic Habits by James Clear, and The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The first, gives you practical steps into building good habits, and the latter explains the science behind them. Both books complement each other very well.
10 Habits You Need for a Happy Life in 2022
Here are some of the habits that successful people practise every day. I’ve been practising them for a while, too. And although I’m still a work in progress, they’ve been key to my personal growth and health.
1. Drink your water
A good hydration will help your body stay healthy and your skin glowing. Six to eight glasses of water a day is the ideal amount to drink.
To make this habit easy, fill two bottles of water first thing in the morning, and then put them in a place close to you. This way you’ll remember to drink your water throughout the day.
And if you don’t like to drink water, there are two more ways you can hydrate.
One is by eating foods rich in water like watermelon, cucumber, oranges, strawberries, and berries. Plus, they’re rich in vitamins and antioxidants.
And another is by drinking tea—preferably decaffeinated like green tea, which is rich in antioxidants and has a lot of health benefits.
2. Wake up early
Wish you had more time to exercise, learn a new skill, or work on your passion?
Waking up early is the ultimate secret to creating more time.
Not an easy one, I know. Otherwise everybody would do it. But by discovering the ’why’ you want to get into this habit, you’ll get the motivation to practise it.
One effective way to start getting up early is by going to bed early. Then, by waking up 15 minutes earlier every day until you reach 1 hour (if that’s your goal).
3. Move Your Body
Let’s face it. Many of us spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer. So it’s important to take regular breaks to move our body.
For example: go for a 15-minute walk, stretch, take a bike ride if it’s summer, or play in the snow in winter.
No time to exercise? Do a daily 2-min. workout first thing in the morning! And during this time, do 30 sit-ups and 30 push-ups. Simple, right?
So, move your body this new year! I know you can afford 2 minutes of your day to do so.
4. Do a Mind Dump
Writing down your goals, thoughts and things to do, is a great habit that gives you clarity and helps you stay organized.
You can use digital tools or good old pen and paper to do this.
I like using web apps like Trello, Asana or Google Calendar to schedule my tasks, set reminders and write my goals.
And I also have a little notebook on my nightstand to write my ideas and things I’m grateful for—using good old pen and paper to do this is so therapeutic, don’t ask me why. 🙂
5. Organize Your Space
The thing is, you can’t feel focused or happy in a messy place. Organizing your space is a form of self-care that will help you get clarity, focus and calmness.
So here’s a tip to get organized daily: set a 25-minute timer to do the basic daily chores—like making your bed, taking out the trash, and tidying up your desk. And for the monthly or weekly chores, assign responsibilities to each family member. That way everyone is involved in keeping a neat home.
6. Meditate
Life is already busy and with so much digital noise our senses get easily overwhelmed. Meditation is a powerful practice that helps you relax, stay focused, be more creative and patient.
In other words, it helps you protect and improve your mental health.
To get started with meditation you’ll need a calm place, to remove distractions, close your eyes and focus on your breathing.
The more consistently you practise it, the more you’ll stay connected with yourself and make the best choices in each moment.
Here’s a nice and easy guided meditation with Marie Forleo—I strongly recommend it :)!
And if you want to learn more about this practice, the book Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty is a must! It’ll give you practical advice to meditate and live a more meaningful life.
Recommended for you: How to beat the winter blues with mindfulness
7. Learn something new
Remember when I said to find out your ‘why’ behind waking up early?
Well, this new year, take a moment to reflect on what you enjoy doing, what you do better than anyone else, or what’s something you’ve always wanted to learn.
Let’s say you’re very good at cooking. Well, you can improve that skill by signing up to a course, or start a food blog to develop that passion.
The point is to get into the habit of learning something new—or working on a superpower—that makes you feel alive.
8. Unplug
As of 2021, overall media consumption among U.S. adults is estimated to be around 11.1 hours. Insane, right?
But it makes sense: we grab our phone the minute we wake up, we scroll it mindlessly throughout the day, we use our desktop, watch TV, and we go to sleep staring at our phones. Our face is glued to a screen the entire day.
This has to change!
So commit this year to disconnect from technology as often as possible. Start by leaving your phone in another room while you work, sleep, cook or talk to someone else. Then, silence your notifications so you can focus on your most important tasks.
Let your brain rest so it can thrive!
9. Get enough rest
Rest is such an underestimated habit. Just because you’re not productive while you’re taking a break, doesn’t mean you don’t need it.
But nowadays many people work remotely—which is great because we save time and money.
The problem is, there’s no separation between work and personal life. And sadly, companies aren’t worried about making their employees overwork.
That said, it’s important to set your limits to recharge. Make time for downtime, take regular breaks and sleep well.
10. Nurture healthy relationships
Whether online or in real life, the people we spend time with, has an impact on our mood and mindset.
This new year ask yourself who makes you feel happy, inspires you or encourages you to be better. Nurture family relationships and connect with people who have a positive influence in your life.
Then, avoid those who take away your energy: do a clean up your social following and politely say no to commitments with negative people.
4 Things You Need to Know About Changing Habits
- Habits take about 21 days to build.
- You can skip your new habit once. Just don’t miss it more than twice. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to build it again.
- Leave room for spontaneity and change. Life will happen and sometimes there are events that will break our habits. For example, seasonal changes, holidays, the arrival of a new family member, etc. Create habits, not restrictions.
- Start with small habits rather than big ones—they also have the power to bring you massive results.
Let’s Sum Up
It’s the start of a new year, the perfect time to choose what we want to improve in our lives. And practising the right habits will help you become the person you want.
Here’s a recap of our 10 healthy habits for a happy life in 2022:
- Drink your water
- Wake up early
- Move your body
- Do a mind dump
- Organize your space
- Meditate
- Learn something new
- Unplug
- Get enough rest
- Nurture healthy relationships
With that said, please allow me one final cheesy quote to wrap up this post:
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
Jim Ryun
What habit will you choose to practise this year? I’d love to know!
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