Wellness

Discover the power of habits

BY KIM RAAIJMAKERS

With all the “to do” lists and responsibilities that we have every day, what gets done relies a lot on the habits that we have. In Jim Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, he states “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems”. Even if you are completely focused on what you want to achieve, if you do not have the right habits in place, you will fall short.

Habits are the compound interest of personal achievement. Your habits include productivity habits, lifestyle habits and relationship habits.

Habits that help you, such as exercising each day you want to expand to get maximum impact. Habits that keep you from achieving your goals, such as the time spent scrolling social media, are habits that you can learn to adapt. Empower yourself in the best possible way by transforming bad habits into habits that SERVE you and move you closer to your goals each and every day.

“Kim, I am going to make the changes I need to make with my willpower” is something that I often hear from clients and friends. Jeez, even I have said that in the past, fully believing what I said. Willpower is only a good tool if you know how to use it AND you need to be aware that your

willpower diminishes over the day. With each decision you make and with each choice you are confronted with, you use a portion of your daily quota of willpower. There is a reason why for example Barack Obama had so many similar suits - so he had one less decision to make! If you want to change your habits and create a new one AND you are determined that willpower is the way to do it, then make sure that you set out to practice that new habit first thing in the morning, when your willpower is strong. Also choose one new habit to create, continue to practice this new habit until one day you are doing the habit without even thinking of it! Alternatively, if you are looking for a better success rate in creating healthy habits, you will need to put in the work. Essentially, a habit is a behavior that you have done so often that it becomes automatic. So choose the behavior that you want to achieve, make it as easy as possible to do, repeat as often as possible and make sure that you reward yourself each time you have completed the behavior. When you start, it will take a lot of conscious effort for you to perform this habit, overtime though – it will become as natural to you as breathing – and then the

results will also start flooding in! 

Finding HappinessDuring a Pandemic

BY MATT BIGGEN

The global pandemic has hit hard, and its repercussions are being felt across the world. In addition to posing plenty of issues for the economy and people’s career choices, it is also making personal lives a good deal more difficult as well. Due to lockdown rules and social distancing restrictions, it is clear that a lot of people are struggling with a lack of connection.

Many people are finding this time tough, and mental health issues continue to rise as people struggle to come to terms with the way life has changed in recent time. Finding happiness during a pandemic is never easy, but it’s not impossible!

Reassess What Matters to You One of the most positive things to come out of this pandemic is that it has caused us to reassess the way in which we live our lives, and the things that matter to us. Due to lockdown restrictions people have been spending more time at home with their families, and less time at work or out socializing. Of course, these things have their place and are important for balance in life, but we have an opportunity to refocus our family values and home life, and this is an important part of finding happiness amid stress, worry, and terrible events.

Don’t Make Money Your Driving Force It might sound a cliche, but not making money the driving force behind your life, and your decisions, is one of the best ways of being able to find happiness. When it comes to life and work, you need to focus on what makes you happy, what your interests are, and what you are passionate about. This should drive your life’s direction, and it helps you to feel less stressed and more content in your life as a result.

Connect With People Via Video Video has taken on special significance in the midst of this pandemic. Whether it’s companies having team meetings via Zoom, or friends connecting on House Party, video chat has opened so many doors for us. It has allowed us to communicate with friends and loved ones even though we remain unable to see them in person. This constant contact and communication is one of the best ways of finding happiness at this difficult time.

Appreciate What You Have

So many of us don’t appreciate what we have in life and how blessed we are, and COVID-19 has caused a lot of people to understand this better. Appreciating what you have and what you are able to do, even the little things, can make such a difference moving forward. This will help to make you a happier and more fulfilled person, and you will start to focus on what you have already rather than what everyone else has. Pursuit of happiness is something that is difficult to quantify, and it varies from individual to individual. But it is clear that these are some great ways of being able to work on trying to make your life a little happier and find that shred of positivity to hold onto when things start to get tough.