Changing your life can feel intimidating at first. You have this great vision how your life should look like, but no idea how and where to start. But you have to start somewhere. Small habits done repeatedly can lead to big changes over time. To give you some inspiration I want to show you three habits I started doing regularly to change my life step by step.
Tracking expenses
The first habit I started that changed my life was tracking my expenses. I downloaded an app and started categorising my payments. Soon I got my monthly and reaccuring payments automated in the app and only had to track when spending money. This way I always had my housing expenses calculated into my budget. This was the first time I was able to instantly see where my money went and where I could save some to spend more deliberatly.
This tiny habit helped me immensly in developing a lifestyle i could and still can afford without sacrificing anything I really care about. All you do is write down how much you spent and for what. But as you see your remaining budget for the month or week instantly being adjusted you slowly start to question your spending habits.
Meanwhile the budget on my phone is all I care about in regard of spending my money. My actual bank balance just helps finding errors in my tracking. When my budget says I still got 93€ to spend for the last weekend of the month, I know for sure all my bills are paid. And I can treat myself with those 93€ or I can save some additional money.
Reading
Reading before bedtime is the second habit I want to highlight in this article. Instead of watching tv or looking at my phone I started reading almost every day of the week before going to bed. This helps me calm down and improved my overall sleep. I fall asleep much faster because I’m not fighting my natural sleep rythm by looking at screens. Not exposing yourself to the blue light is a proven way to increase your overall sleep quality. Due to this I am more energetic during the day and find myself being in a better mood as well.
Besides those benefits reading has a lot more to offer. It can increase your vocabulary, stimulate your imagination and can be entertaining as well. As I am used to reading books it’s almost like a movie inside my head. But so much more detailed than any blockbuster could ever dream of. You’re creating your very own AAA movie while delving into a new book. And thanks to modern technology I don’t need a lot of space to store all the books. I Just Download them onto my e-book reader and can easily have enough books to read for the next months on there.
And the final benefits of reading before bedtime is I get to cuddle with my girlfriend while we’re both reading. This way we have some quiet quality time together although we had a busy day.
Investing
After doing the first two habits for a while I started the third habit that changed my life. I had read books about investing and was able to accumulate some money I could invest, so I did. And since then I made it a habit to Invest some money each month whenever possible. This way i am to this day increasing my assets and building a second source of income. This income is independent from my job, my location, my health and everything else. In the long run this will give me the opportunity to retire easily and live comfortably. Maybe it will put me in a position where some luxuries can be payed thanks to those Investments. Having an emergency fund and some investments really helped with reducing stress and anxiety in my daily life as I now know I can live for a few month without having to decrease the assets. As a result I can enjoy life more and concentrate more on things I really want to do with my life.
Looking back the last couple of years I really changed my life step by step introducing new habits into my daily routine. From living paycheck to paycheck without having real plans for the future to planning for the next years. In the beginning I wasn’t convinced that small habits would lead to big results but now i am glad I started.
Until next time
JustMeOnline
JustMeOnline 