Elle’s Edit: 10 Habits To Develop NOW

If you are anything like me, you are a creature of habit.

I touched based on this a bit in my “How to get out of a rut”  post but to me being in a routine makes me feel heck of a lot more accomplished. People say that it takes 20 days to build (or is it break?) a habit. Not entirely sure (LOL I’m the worst) which one is correct but either way, I think it is 100% true. When I start incorporating something into my routine I shockingly get really excited about it and then I become competitive with myself to keep it going and make it part of my life. I mean, this is easier said than done and isn’t the case for all things that I want to do (ahem… exercise, meal prep, etc) BUT it is possible if you put your mind to it.

I wanted to come up with a list of 10 habits to dvelop that you can start incorporating right now and I believe it will make you an even better version of yourself! So let’s get to it shall we?

10 HABITS TO DEVELOP RIGHT NOW

Sunscreen

My Mama wasn’t lying when I was younger about how important it is to protect your skin at a young age. I remember when I was little and we went to the pool at the club and I would be smothered with sunscreen and sit there like a slug in complete pain for THIRTY whole minutes until I could jump in the pool with my friends. It was the absolute WORST but boy do I thank her now. I’m grateful my parents took sunscreen so seriously at a young age because my friends whose parents didn’t are now regretting it with their dark spots on their skin. (THANKS MOM). But as you get older, especially in your teenage years if you were anything like me you wanted to be tan AF. I’m talking wearing 8 SPF (I’m cringing typing this) only and barely would reapply. Sure it would get you so tan but did you know you can get tan while wearing 30 SPF? Shocker, huh? I quickly realized that was the case and I even incorporated sunscreen in my daily makeup routine. All my face makeup has SPF and when it is summer I make sure I have sunscreen on all the time. Living in the city and constantly being outside it is so important to do this and protect your skin, arms, face, legs, etc. Your lack of wrinkles when you are 80 will be thanking you now, trust me!

Use vacation days

Okay, this is kind of a weird one but did you know many Americans (idk the stat to be honest) don’t use all their vacation days? When I was in college I laughed because who wouldn’t want to use all their vacation days? But once you make it in the real world, it is hard to take a vacation. You constantly have things going on and it is hard to schedule time off because you will be missing meetings, important deadlines, calls, you name it. However what I promised myself is when I do take vacation days, I make sure I use them fully. I never check my work phone or email because when I’m off work, I’m off work. I really mean it. We all need a break to recharge and employees that take time off for themselves in the long run perform better.

Self care

You have to love YOURSELF first before loving anyone else. You can’t incorporate any of these 10 habits that I am discussing without thinking about being a better version of yourself. Self care is so important! I’m talking about using eye cream, moisturizer, get your nails done, get your eyebrows done, a facial, you name it! Honestly do anything that you love that makes you feel relaxed and pampered. We are stuck with our bodies our whole life so today is the day to start treating it like how well you treat others.

Tell your family daily how much you love them

This one is so important. It does not take long at all but tell your family and friends how much they mean to you DAILY. I always text my parents in the morning and right before bed, tell them a bit about my day and end it saying I love you. Those 3 little words go a very LONG way.

Learn to relax

If you know me, you know I’m very impatient and can’t relax for the life of me. When people say that they meditate every day I am genuinely so impressed. Like how can I make my mind and body relax? I have no idea. A couple of years back I tried so hard to do yoga because I heard it was good for your soul but I never went back. My mind wonders like no other and I’ve accepted that I won’t be the relaxing type. Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated because home girl needs some help.

Exercise

Like I said before, you have one body only and you need to keep it going your entire life. Exercise is not only good for the physical benefits but the mental benefits as well. When I was in a previous job that I wasn’t thrilled about, I would let my frustration out at the gym. It is so hard to make exercise part of your life so I would encourage you to find something that you enjoy doing and just go for it. For me, I love Soul Cycle and it really helps going with a friend (I’m looking at you, Dana) and having them hold you accountable.

Surround yourself with the right people

Much easier said than done. I’ve always been the person who preferred to have 10 best friends instead of 100 friends. I like to think that I’ve been pretty lucky in the friend department and haven’t really had to deal with the “toxic” friendships. The reason why is that if people treat me in ways that I don’t like to be treated, I don’t let them be my friend anymore. I’m not afraid to tell someone that I don’t like how I’m being treated because if you don’t, you will get walked all over and not have that genuine friendship that you deserve.

Stay positive
I have to admit, positivity is one of my strengths. The word positive has always showed up on my report cards and my performance reviews as I got older. Why? Well why not. Why be a negative Nancy and not enjoy life when there is so much out there. We are so blessed with the life we have and when you take a moment to step back and realize how hard some people have it, you will be grateful for what you have. Positivity is also contagious. In my last point, I said get rid of the people that don’t make you happy. If you surround yourself with miserable people you will not be happy yourself. It is as easy as that!

Watch the news

You are at the point in your life when you have to become involved in the world and understand what is going on. I can’t tell you how uneducated it is when someone in the business world is talking about what happened yesterday and half of the people have no idea what is going on. Sorry if that sounds harsh but are you living under a rock? Social media makes it so easy to give us a snippet of what is going on but it is up to you to dig deeper if there is anything that either interests you or you want to learn more about. I watch the news every morning when I get up, I read the Skimm, check online a couple times a day, and then of course stay connected on Twitter. There are also podcasts (the NY Times has a great one) that goes into detail on one topic during that week of an important news story! No excuses!

One act of kindness each day

“It is all about the little things” is something that we catch ourselves saying when something so small makes our day. It could be giving a coworker a compliment, telling a friend good luck before a presentation, buying someone coffee, holding a door for someone, or as simple as this..saying thank you! We can all make this world an even better place if we do one simple act of kindness each and every day.

What are some things that you want to start doing?

Thanks for reading Elle’s Edit. If you have any topics that you would like for me to discuss, feel free to email me at elle@itscasualblog.com. I would love to hear from you! xo