We all try to develop good habits nowadays, and sometimes it may not be easy, especially for young adults. Being a young adult, you’re discovering your interests and figuring out what your future would be. When a person goes through these stages, they can quickly fall into bad habits, making them unmotivated and have less energy towards the goals they want to achieve. These past two years, I’ve witnessed many practices of mine that led me to develop bad habits but also have brought me to good ones as well. Here are five different habits that I’ve learned in my life that helped through my early adulthood so far.
This is something I still struggle with to this day, but I’ve been training myself to wake up early as often as I can. I find this a huge benefit because waking up early does help you become more motivated throughout the day and can create more time to get things done. It can also help you develop a good morning routine and have you prepare yourself to get through the day a lot easier. I struggle to do this, but I try to find something to do in the morning, so I will be energized to get tasks done. What I usually like to do is to go to Daily Mass and go for my run before I start anything else. Sometimes, I have work in the morning, and that helps me get my day started. Doing any task where you have to get up and go somewhere does help you stay organized and help get things done quicker and easier.
I also sometimes struggle to find time to read but mainly because I get distracted easily from my phone. In a past blog, I have spoken about how toxic social media is, and how easy it is to spend hours on your phone than reading a book for a few minutes. Sometimes, I try to place my phone in another room, which motivates me to either read, pray or just sleep. I also recently bought a box with a timer, where I can place my phone in that box, and I won’t be able to use my phone until the timer runs out. Lately, I haven’t been using it, but during the school year, I have. Mainly because I found it really easy to be lazy in college and it might feel like your phone is the only way to get through the day. But in reality, it really isn’t. Just scrolling through your phone all day does make you feel unmotivated and you’re not really getting anything done. Reading books does make you motivated and inspires you to do more and feel more educated. Of course, it is fine to be on your phone once in a while, but having that as your only way to “kill time” shouldn’t become a habit.
This one might be the hardest out of the five. Mainly because prayer can be challenging if you’re not used to it. I grew up not praying as often, so having to switch from hardly praying to have more time in prayer can be difficult. Also, knowing the true reason for prayer can be difficult to know when you’re in the moment. If I were to describe prayer, I would say it is a time to develop a relationship or conversation with God. Also having the ability to spend time with Him and counting the blessings you have in your life and others around you. Having a strong prayer life with God is a great step knowing that you can do anything, as long as you do everything for the glory of God and keeping Him as your number one priority. What I love to do is to attend daily Mass in the morning and serving on the Altar (If you want to learn more about the Catholic Faith, check out the blog on “Why I’m Catholic”).
It is very easy to be disorganized, especially when you’re juggling multiple things at once. While it can be easy to think you can just remember everything and not have to write it down, the truth is, that would just make you more stressed and overwhelmed. For example, when you have multiple assignments all at once, it is easy to just look at each class individually and try to see if you could just remember to do it. But in reality, you cannot remember everything, and you might end up forgetting or close to forgetting something you need to get done. In my senior year of high school, I remember I struggled to write what I needed to do, and my time management wasn’t that impressive. There was a time I struggled to balance my responsibilities and my schoolwork where I sometimes missed either the assignment or forgot to do something I needed to do at home. Of course, those things can occur once in a while, but they shouldn’t be happening often. Later on, I realized how important it is to make sure everything I need to do each day is written down so I keep everything organized and feel less stressed.
Sometimes we struggle in finding time to relax and have time off from responsibilities we do on our day to day basis. There should be a time during the day where you can just relax and not worry about anything. We all need that once in a while to heal and reflect on our lives.
Like I have said earlier, developing good habits can be challenging, but it doesn’t mean it can't be done. Instead, it will become something you just do with a little bit of effort and will be the best for you in the long run.
- Wake up early.
This is something I still struggle with to this day, but I’ve been training myself to wake up early as often as I can. I find this a huge benefit because waking up early does help you become more motivated throughout the day and can create more time to get things done. It can also help you develop a good morning routine and have you prepare yourself to get through the day a lot easier. I struggle to do this, but I try to find something to do in the morning, so I will be energized to get tasks done. What I usually like to do is to go to Daily Mass and go for my run before I start anything else. Sometimes, I have work in the morning, and that helps me get my day started. Doing any task where you have to get up and go somewhere does help you stay organized and help get things done quicker and easier.
- Read More Books
I also sometimes struggle to find time to read but mainly because I get distracted easily from my phone. In a past blog, I have spoken about how toxic social media is, and how easy it is to spend hours on your phone than reading a book for a few minutes. Sometimes, I try to place my phone in another room, which motivates me to either read, pray or just sleep. I also recently bought a box with a timer, where I can place my phone in that box, and I won’t be able to use my phone until the timer runs out. Lately, I haven’t been using it, but during the school year, I have. Mainly because I found it really easy to be lazy in college and it might feel like your phone is the only way to get through the day. But in reality, it really isn’t. Just scrolling through your phone all day does make you feel unmotivated and you’re not really getting anything done. Reading books does make you motivated and inspires you to do more and feel more educated. Of course, it is fine to be on your phone once in a while, but having that as your only way to “kill time” shouldn’t become a habit.
- Have Time in Meditation and Prayer
This one might be the hardest out of the five. Mainly because prayer can be challenging if you’re not used to it. I grew up not praying as often, so having to switch from hardly praying to have more time in prayer can be difficult. Also, knowing the true reason for prayer can be difficult to know when you’re in the moment. If I were to describe prayer, I would say it is a time to develop a relationship or conversation with God. Also having the ability to spend time with Him and counting the blessings you have in your life and others around you. Having a strong prayer life with God is a great step knowing that you can do anything, as long as you do everything for the glory of God and keeping Him as your number one priority. What I love to do is to attend daily Mass in the morning and serving on the Altar (If you want to learn more about the Catholic Faith, check out the blog on “Why I’m Catholic”).
- Time Management
It is very easy to be disorganized, especially when you’re juggling multiple things at once. While it can be easy to think you can just remember everything and not have to write it down, the truth is, that would just make you more stressed and overwhelmed. For example, when you have multiple assignments all at once, it is easy to just look at each class individually and try to see if you could just remember to do it. But in reality, you cannot remember everything, and you might end up forgetting or close to forgetting something you need to get done. In my senior year of high school, I remember I struggled to write what I needed to do, and my time management wasn’t that impressive. There was a time I struggled to balance my responsibilities and my schoolwork where I sometimes missed either the assignment or forgot to do something I needed to do at home. Of course, those things can occur once in a while, but they shouldn’t be happening often. Later on, I realized how important it is to make sure everything I need to do each day is written down so I keep everything organized and feel less stressed.
- Have time for yourself
Sometimes we struggle in finding time to relax and have time off from responsibilities we do on our day to day basis. There should be a time during the day where you can just relax and not worry about anything. We all need that once in a while to heal and reflect on our lives.
Like I have said earlier, developing good habits can be challenging, but it doesn’t mean it can't be done. Instead, it will become something you just do with a little bit of effort and will be the best for you in the long run.