It's a new year which means it's time to ditch some of the unhealthy habits we might have been practicing last year and implement some healthier ones. Recently, I found this Reddit thread where u/cauliflora_pinia asked people to share their best, most impactful habits. The responses in the thread are pretty great — here are some of them.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
1. "I just moved out of my parent's house and I was reading tips on Reddit. The best one I ever read was 'Set a timer for 10 minutes every day and clean. Once the timer ends you’re done.' You’d be surprised how much cleaning you can get done in 10 minutes."
2. "The habit of following through. What you start, finish. What you set out to learn, become the master."
3. "Deleting TikTok and watching movies without distraction on my phone. Maybe it's not everyone's problem but it helped my ADHD so well — especially not littering my brain with social media seconds after waking up."
4. "Avoiding drinking sodas and drinking more water."
5. "Putting yourself first. Saying no, and setting boundaries are all worthwhile habits and NOT selfish."
6. "Something I try to do (not perfect here) is when I make a mistake, I try not to generalize it and say things like 'I’m so stupid' or 'I can’t do anything right.' It’s one mistake. I do hundreds of things correctly every day."
7. "When I get angry or get in a heated argument, I stay silent. This saved a lot of relationships and honestly, it takes practice it's not easy to not wipe the floor with someone's dignity but overall it's worth it."
8. "I always separate my laundry after I'm done wearing it instead of after it's been on the floor or in the closet for days. Nothing is more annoying than having to flip all my socks back when I do laundry, so I just do each pair when I'm done. Seems silly but is way less frustrating long term."
9. "Edit your stuff. Owning less stuff means needing less space and using less money and energy to house and maintain items you own. I start every season with hangers backward in my closet. When I wear it, I turn the hanger around. Anything not a 'special occasion' item with a backward hanger is donated or sold through consignment. Same with other stuff in my house. If something is stored in a box and I haven't rotated it out seasonally, it gets donated or sold so someone can actually use and enjoy it."
10. "Limiting all screen time."
"Same. Got a library card over the holidays, took out a book so instead of opening up a social media app and doom scrolling, I pick up my book."
11. "Every time I sign up for a new food place's app or rewards program, I put in a random birthday so the rewards are spaced out through the year and I get random enjoyment instead of feeling pressure to choose which (if any) birthday rewards I want to use."
12. "I treat my savings account like a bill. No matter what is happening I put the same amount of money in it every week."
13. "This year I finally got in the habit of being honest with everyone 100% of the time. You don’t realize how many white lies you tell people around you day to day. But it’s just a bad habit. When a coworker asks you, 'How are you?' And you say, 'Good, how are you?' out of habit, you just missed an opportunity to have a deeper conversation and make a better connection with one of your peers. Instead, tell them how you actually are. 'I’m ok, a little stressed because I spilled my coffee on the drive to work,' is how you’re actually feeling. You’d be surprised how caring most people actually are if you’re more open with people. I can’t believe how much this improved my life, conversations, and relationships with people. It makes them more open too, builds trust, and just feels good. I would find myself lying for no reason at times, when I didn’t even have to lie, just to make myself seem easier to deal with. This just makes life harder."
14. "Washing the dishes in the evening so that you wake up to a clear sink. It surprisingly does good things to my mood in the morning."
15. "A day of rest each week. It can be any day that works for you. I try to plan my job, studying, and cleaning to allow for one day where I can sleep in and take life slowly. This made a lot of difference to someone like me who felt driven to accomplish as much as I could each day."
