It’s January 2, 2021, 9:23 AM here now and I’m sitting in my kitchen in front of my laptop staring at the window and sending gratitude to the universe that 2020 is over. Actually, it’s just a ritual that I do in my mind to condition myself in thinking that today is a great time to start over and to focus on life-enriching habits to build in 2021.
Most of us have sad and horrible stories to share about how our life went last 2020. Personally, I did experience a loss/huge decrease in income/sales in 2020. However, I am choosing to move forward and to look at what I could improve in my life to help me stay on track with my financial and personal goals despite the odds.
Yeah sure, there’s a new strain of COVID found in other countries and there’s a possibility of going through lockdown again, but honestly, it’s beyond my control.
And I’d like to focus on what I can control in my life. One of the things that I have decided to focus on is to build habits that can help me reshape my future.
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker Click To Tweet
I’d like to share with you the habits that I want to build and improve on to help enrich my life in 2021 and beyond.
Wake Up in the Morning and Be Grateful
If there’s one thing that I have learned in my years of existence, is that despite the calamities, sickness, struggles, tears that I have experienced in my life, there’s always something to be thankful for. The fact that I am still waking up every single day means, every single day, I have the chance to improve my life.
This is a very simple habit and fact of life that we all have taken for granted. Not everyone is given another day to experience life.
This is one of the life-enriching habits that I will continue practicing for as much as I can.
Practice Yoga and Do Some Physical Exercises
I am aware that Yoga is not just another form of physical exercise. It’s way more than that. But the physical activities done during a Yoga practice can help improve my lower back stamina. I have been experiencing lower back pain in the past year perhaps due to a lack of physical movements.
Late this year, I bought a Yoga mat and I do Beginner’s Yoga with the help of Youtube tutorials I found online. This is one habit that I want to ingrain in my life.
Aside from the benefits that I feel on my physical body, I am also noticing that I am very calm during my Yoga practice and I enjoy it a lot.
Show Up at Work Consistently
One of the best things that I learn from Personal Finance (PF) Twitter is to show up at work consistently regardless of what you do in life. I am self-employed and I do have full control of my time. However, most of the time, I revert back to my old habits of just slacking off since I don’t have anyone else to answer to. I don’t have anyone managing me but myself.
When I’m feeling lazy, I just play games online or I just watch Netflix which is fine. However, I’m noticing that I’m doing it more and more often than produce content that will benefit me in the future.
This is one of the biggest challenges that I want to overcome this year. I’d like to be consistent in producing content both on my blog and on my online stores. I’ve lost a lot in 2020 and I’d like to regain those back.
Practice Morning Meditation
One of the things that I have also started late last year is practicing a few minutes of meditation every morning and before I go to bed. One of the outputs that I’m hoping to regain is calmness. I believe that when I’m calmer, I make better decisions in life. I noticed in my past years that most of my bad decisions were created when I was so emotional and when I lost control of the situation.
Continuously Learn and Improve
One of the things that I have started doing last year but failed to do consistently is watching Youtube tutorials about blogging and about business. I usually do this before I go to sleep and it’s one of the last activities that I always do in my day. I have observed that I learn so much quicker at night perhaps because it’s quieter and I get to focus more on what I was watching.
I have sort of given up on reading books because I was having a hard time retaining my attention to what I was reading. I am more inclined to finish a video tutorial because it’s somewhat interactive.
A lot of things that I have implemented on this blog came from video tutorials that I have found on Youtube.
Follow my Budget (Business)
For some weird reasons, I don’t have any problems following my personal budget (cost of living) but I am having a hard time following the budget for my online stores. Perhaps the reason behind this is that I have not really paid much attention to it.
I am a frugal person and I always spend below my budget for my living expenses. However, when it comes to purchasing new inventories, I always exceed my monthly budget because most of the time, I was afraid that I might miss out on an opportunity to profit. This is something that I know I need to work out because, at the end of 2020, I realized that this what drained my cash.
Sales is low last year and yet, I continuously increased my inventory which may be a bad thing considering the current economic situation due to the pandemic.
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Eat Healthily
As I grow older, I noticed that my metabolism also becomes slower. I think my weight gain this year is also the reason why I am experiencing pain in my lower back. I have always been thin and lean my whole life and in 2020 I gain considerable weight.
This is something that I have to keep on practicing this 2021 and this is one of the life-enriching habits that I want to continue on doing for the rest of my life.
Stop Worrying
Aaaaaggh! This is my worst habit ever that I really really really (really) like to get rid of. I’m a chronic worrier. I worry about the small things and the big things. I worry about the past, the present, and the future. This is probably the most debilitating thing in my life that I hope I get full control of.
Whenever I start worrying about something, I tend to stop in my tracks and do nothing because sometimes, the worries and fears override my entire system.
I have to practice the art of letting go especially of thoughts that are about the past and the future that I know are both out of my control. I have to keep on reminding myself that the present moment is the only thing I have and the best time to correct my past and prepare for a better future.
Pay Myself First
This is something that I was planning to do last year before the pandemic hit. My online selling business was doing good in the first quarter of 2020 and it made me realized that saving money while growing my business could be both done at the same time. However, the pandemic hits us and we all know what happened next.
This 2021, I will try to save even a small amount of money every month while still funneling back most of the income to help the business continuously grow.
Stay Frugal
One of the life-enriching habits that I learned in the past few years is how to live a frugal life without feeling deprived. And I plan to keep on practicing living a frugal life in the next few years.
Living a frugal life is one of the reasons why I stayed afloat despite the economic hardships that we all experienced in 2020.
Life-Enriching Habits to Build in 2021 Click To TweetRelated Posts:
How about you, what are the life-enriching habits that you want to build/continue on doing in 2021?
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