habits - how to change my lifestyle??

your goals are very similar to mine. i suggest taking very small steps for each thing you want to learn or improve especially if you've never done them before. i think the reason why we start doing things and never make them a habit is because we expect too much of ourselves to begin with. exercising is a lifestyle change and we cannot expect ourselves to fully embrace its challenges from day one. again, start small. walking is a great way to start a new healthy habit. even if that means parking on the opposite end of your destination to give you more walking distance. also keep in mind that doing something and liking to do it is completely different. if you want to learn to play the guitar, forget about mastering it or playing a song really well. learn chords first. do one chord everyday for a week. next week practice that same chord and add a new one to continue practicing for that week. continue this until you know all chords by heart. after that, you may find that you hate having those calluses on the tips of your fingers and instead want to learn to play the piano. reading more also takes time depending on the books you want to read. find one book, read everyday for 20 min., hell, give yourself 10 min. maybe do this after you've gotten ready for bed or during toilet time. the cool thing with books is as you read, you'll start to enjoy the story and find yourself not wanting to put it down. soon you'll have completed one book. continue on to the next book. mindfulness is an awareness strategy that you can practice everywhere at any time. ellen langer is a social psychologist who is a pro at mindfulness. she'll teach you easy, practical ways of of applying mindfulness to your daily life. you can listen to this podcast while driving in your car. as for everything else, just apply the same concept. start small. find creative ways to start small. try this ted talk. i thought it was interesting and easy to do. remember to reward yourself afterwards for every small thing you've accomplished.

/r/selfimprovement Thread