How to Change Your Life for the Better in 52 Intentional Ways

How to change your life for the better is a blessing once you believe that you have the ability and the power to change. Are you ready to put that belief into action? There are fifty-two incredible ways to change your life for the better. One to introduce every week to see what works for you. So that you can transform your life completely and create positive life habits.

Embracing positive change by stepping out of your comfort zone may be required for achieving a better life. However, it’s worth it when you start changing bad habits and negative thoughts.

How to Change Your Life for the Better Respecting the Mind

Changes in the mind include transforming how you think about people and things in life and then changing your behavior accordingly. These suggestions help install positive change by creating a different mindset.

1. Establish Your Daily Routine

Following a fixed schedule is a component of success that’s relevant to accomplishing how to change your life for the better. Start by creating a daily routine that meets your individual needs. Separating your day into multiple schedules (morning/work/evening) may aid you with your success.

Being raised without a schedule to teach me basic responsibility and order has made establishing a daily routine as an adult much more difficult.

Can you relate? That’s scary as a mother, right? I mean, it’s our job to teach our children structure, so we must figure out a productive way and routine. So that we can lead by example.

2. Set Goals

Setting goals is motivating. They provide clarity and give you a sense of purpose and accomplishment as you’re able to check them off when completed. Establishing daily short-term and long-term goals is a significant part of how to change your life for the better. So create positive life goals and work towards them every single day. You’re the only one holding you back and you can do this. So let’s go.

3. Form Positive Habits

Setting goals is great, but forming positive habits is better. When you have goals such as drinking water or eating healthy, it’s better to develop those into positive habits over time.

Goals are temporary and rely on self-discipline. Habits are repetitive behaviors that are more manageable and easier to sustain. Ultimately, leading you to lead a healthy and happy life.

For example, I set a goal to drink nothing but water for 30-days and I completed it. However, surviving on coffee and soda most of my life, made it difficult. And I rewarded myself immediately with a soda! Terrible, I know.

Now, I’m focusing on developing drinking water as a life habit. Rather than depriving myself of everything but water, I’m drinking eight glasses of water a day. And if I want a coffee or soda, I’ll have it.

Honestly, it’s become easier to avoid soda because my cravings have changed. Also, my body thirsts for water now.

4. Practice a Positive Mindset

Positive thinking is a habit to become aware of and practice for it to develop into second nature. Remember that you’re a product of your environment. So if you’re constantly surrounded by negative people, it’s time to find new friends. Never let anyone still your joy.

5. Stop Complaining

Stop being a negative Nancy. Nobody likes that Debby Downer! And why would they? Who wants to be around someone who spends their entire day complaining about the world around them? If you don’t like something, fix it! I know, I know– easier said than done. Keep a complaint tracker in your journal and hold yourself accountable.

A great sense of reward comes with being aware enough of your behavior that you can document the good days. Especially when you begin living less of the bad.

6. Say Goodbye to Perfection

Because it doesn’t exist! Do you spend hours agonizing over how every little thing in your day didn’t run smoothly or as perfectly as you’d anticipated? I’ve been her.

I’m unsure why I ever anticipated a perfect day. After living nearly 15,000 days now, and never once experiencing perfection. Say goodbye to it ladies. You’re going to make mistakes and lots of them.

how-to-change-your-life-for-the-better

7. Focus on One Task

After being a server for many years, this is a more difficult feat in my personal growth. But our brains don’t have the ability to perform multiple tasks successfully because of their inability to focus on more than one thing at a time.

Multitasking reduces your ability to perform efficiently. Choose to focus on one task at a time and you’ll accomplish them more quickly and correctly. Also, it will reduce stress and get you going in your comfort zone.

8. Stop Making Excuses

Live a life of results, not excuses. It’s a much better life to lead. Once you have abandoned your idea of perfection it becomes easier to try new things. Don’t let your fear of failure dictate your life anymore! Stop making excuses and find productive ways to get going and experience incredible change.

9. Declutter Spaces

Clutter is a destructive force that affects your health in ways you may not even be aware of. In addition to stress and anxiety, clutter can lead to unhealthy behaviors like overeating. Underperforming is another condition of clutter. Create a new environment that will help you live your life in a productive way. Minimalism is a trending lifestyle, but it doesn’t need to be that extreme for decluttering to provide mental clarity.

10. Complete Brain Dumps

Feeling overwhelmed with constant chaos in your head? Declutter your mind by using a technique known as brain dumps! Grab a pen and paper and pour all of your thoughts out.

This is a great tool for helping you organize those thoughts and formulate a plan of action. Additionally, you’ll avoid weighing your friends down with the negative energy of unnecessary complaining. Log your brain dumps in your bullet journal.

11. Journal

Choose a journaling style and then make a habit of journaling. There are several different journaling styles including bullet, self-guided, prompted, and gratitude. Journaling helps you express and process your emotions in a healthy way. Additionally, people learn a lot about themselves when they stay faithfully writing in their journals. Furthermore, looking back at your progress in blessings is an amazing gift for later.

12. Create a Budget

And stick to it. This is the part about being an adult that sucks. But it’s imperative for successful adulting and relevant for how to change your life for the better. Here is a fantastic Budget Binder from Lemons and Lattes. The best part about this binder is that every year, you get the updates! So you’ll never need to buy it again!

13. Just Say No

Are you a people-pleaser? Girl, you best learn how to say no! There is not enough time, or energy in the day, to put a smile on everyone’s face. Say no to things that you can’t do. Or that you don’t want to do.

Doing things for others that you don’t want to do leads to disappointment and resentment. Telling yourself no will help you to avoid these feelings with yourself from developing as well.

Saying no to yourself about things you can’t afford, or circumstances you can’t control, will change your life for the better. It’s good for your mind, body, and soul to say no.

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14. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness means actively being aware of your thoughts, feelings, environment, and bodily sensations– moment to moment. Practicing mindfulness increases positive emotions while reducing negative ones. Try practicing mindfulness while showering, driving, or doing chores.

15. Unplug to Unwind

Turn off the electronics and hide your phone. Designate a phone space in the home and put it there after phone hours. Schedule phone time and hold yourself accountable.

We live in a society that is constantly buzzing with the energy of technology. It’s overstimulating and overwhelming. It causes anxiety and stress.

Unplug to unwind. Read a book, put a puzzle together, be a neighbor, play a game, and talk to your kids!

16. Love and Be Yourself

Be yourself, and don’t allow others to infringe on who that looks like. And above all, love yourself, in all your glorious imperfections. You’re not here to make everyone else happy. You’re here to cultivate happiness within yourself.

Love you. Be you. I guarantee others will love the real you. And some won’t, and so what? It’s impossible to get everyone to love you. So be you and embrace the ones that do.

How to Change Your Life for the Better Respecting the Body

Body changes that revolve around dietary, nutritional, exercise, and skincare practices for how to change your life for the better.

17. Eliminate Processed Foods

When you hear the term processed foods, I want you to instead identify them as, chemical-laden addictive foods. They are the worst dietary choices you can make. And they are responsible for health issues including obesity, cancer, and heart disease.

18. Avoid Refined Sugar

Excessive amounts of refined sugar can lead to weight gain, heart disease, and blood sugar problems. In fact, sugar can affect your cholesterol, and mood, and cause premature aging.

19. Eat Less Meat

A diet high in animal fats is dangerous to your health and poses risks such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, gastrointestinal disease, and death. Additionally, it can leave you feeling fatigued.

Start making lifestyle changes that naturally reduce your meat intake with diets such as the Mediterranean diet or the flexitarian diet.

Would you choose to completely challenge yourself with more applaudable changes and embrace vegetarian and vegan lifestyles? Kudos to all of you committed.

Eating less meat is becoming less of an option and more of a duty. Especially for the many people paying attention to the effects animal agriculture has on climate change.

In fact, animal agriculture is the leading culprit of global warming today. Commit to a 90-Day Challenge of Meatless Mondays to focus on how to change your life for the better. While also aiding in our planet’s health and preservation.

20. Drink Water

There are varying opinions on the amount of water you should consume each day. However, a general reference to follow is the 8X8 rule. That is 8 glasses of 8 ounces of water per day.

Some benefits of drinking water include boosting skin health, flushing toxins, and maintaining healthy blood pressure. Drinking a glass of water before a meal helps you to eat less and assists with weight loss.

21. Eat Breakfast

Breakfast is an extremely beneficial part of a healthy routine. It provides energy, and focus, and it helps kickstart your metabolism. So make breakfast your one constant at the start of the day and you’ll be on your way to breaking bad habits.

22. Choose Organic

Choose organic over Non-GMO. This ensures that no synthetic pesticides are used. A commonly used herbicide called Roundup, (also known as Glyphosate) has been linked to health problems including cancer.

There are several additional health benefits to choosing organic, including environmental. In fact, there is research supporting that organic farming is helping to prevent climate change.

23. Plant a Garden

Nothing beats the taste of freshly grown, organic fruits and vegetables from your own garden. And the reward of planting, tending, growing, and loving your garden is unlike any other.

Spend time with your food and quiet your mind for the experience. Gardening is a wonderful time to practice mindfulness. Also, it’s beneficial to how to change your life for the better. Serving purpose for the mind, body, and soul.

24. Cut Dairy

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD advocates for cutting dairy. He advises you to avoid it at all costs. We are the only species that drinks the breast milk of another species. Why is that?

Did you know that calcium consumption isn’t once what it was believed to be? Dairy consumption may cause cancer and is not as bone productive as we were taught in grade school.

In fact, countries with the lowest rates of dairy and calcium consumption have the lowest rates of osteoporosis. Additionally, dairy is a common cause of skin, acid, and digestive issues.

25. Establish Food Cutoff Time

Have you heard that eating after a certain time in the evening can be detrimental to your health? Research varies slightly about the exact cutoff time for consuming food in the day. Mainly because not all people maintain the same schedule. But ideally, if you can stop eating after 7 pm, you’re less likely to overindulge in binge-eating and junk food. And may experience weight loss.

26. Practice Good Hygiene

You only have one pair of eyes, one set of teeth, and a single head of hair. Take care of them. Love and respect your body it will make your life better. Responsibilities, like brushing your teeth and washing off your makeup, are excellent opportunities to practice mindfulness.

27. Daily Stretches

Stretching improves blood circulation while improving the range of motion around your joints. Furthermore, daily stretches can boost oxygen levels, and relieve stress, tension, and anxiety. Stretching also helps deliver nutrients that your muscles need to thrive.

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28. Exercise More

It’s no secret that exercise is crucial for living a healthy lifestyle. Finding which exercise is best for you is ideal for creating a realistic regimen. Speak with your doctor before implementing any drastic changes to your workout routine.

If exercise is difficult or foreign to you, try walking. Also, beginner yoga and tai-chi are perfect for an easier transition into your new lifestyle.

29. Take Your Vitamins

Multivitamins and supplements are beneficial to your health. Taking daily vitamins ensures that you’re getting the recommended daily intake. Besides, a multivitamin, I take a CBD supplement for my pain, stress, and anxiety.

It’s an amazing product that alleviates my neck and backaches. Also, I take Vitamin D 5000IU for mood and depression, and it helps immensely. Especially under the grey skies of Washington!

30. Quit Drinking

Drinking alcohol can literally damage every organ in your body. Furthermore, it increases your risks of life-threatening diseases, including cancer. It’s also responsible for irresponsibility, slowed reflexes, impaired judgment, distorted vision, and blackouts.

Minimal amounts of red wine are heart-healthy. However, if you can’t cut yourself off after one glass, it’s best to just say no.

31. Get a Massage

Massage is my favorite kind of therapy. Being my biggest tension and stress relief. Additionally, massage improves circulation, sleep, and flexibility. Also, it enhances immunity while purging your body of harmful toxins.

Change your life for the better by taking care of yourself. That includes taking time to stop everything you’re doing to melt away with a massage. Never quit taking care of your needs because you’re too busy caring for the needs of others.

32. Embrace Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is used for a multitude of reasons including, pain relief and stress management. As well as improving sleep quality and reducing anxiety. Fragrances vary from floral to seasonal. And each oil carries properties unique to its makeup.

Peppermint oil replaced headache medicine almost entirely in my home. Put a dab on your fingertip and lightly massage your temples and the base of your neck. Be careful not to get it too close to your eyes. It’s a tearful experience.

33. Be Rested

Getting adequate sleep is crucial to being a better you. As an adult, you should be getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Going to bed at a reasonable time and waking up earlier have been linked to wealth and success.

34. Hydrate Your Skin

Protecting and maintaining your skin’s barrier is important for skin health and beauty. Choose moisturizers with ceramides for optimal skin health.

How to Change Your Life for the Better Respecting the Soul

Making positive life changes for the soul includes spirituality, but it also entails feeding your soul’s passions and caring for others. I wouldn’t know how to change your life for the better without also addressing the soul.

35. Accept that Nobody Cares

That’s right, and it’s a tough break for those still believing that people really do. Of course, you have a few people in your corner. No one’s contesting that. But for the most part, nobody gives a shit about what you’re doing or going through.

People ask you how you are, most of the time— hoping for a simple response confirming you’re fine. Stop living your life for other people and turn all that attention onto you and your loved ones.

36. Say Daily Affirmations

Daily affirmations are used to establish positive thinking and boost your confidence. They are proven to help activate positive thoughts while helping people overcome negative thoughts. Step out of your comfort zone and say your affirmations in the mirror. Replace negative self-thoughts. Positive self-talk helps reframe your mindset to a positive one. So try practicing them every morning and stick with them to experience a healthy improvement in your self-esteem.

37. Express Gratitude

Gratitude is the language of your soul. Have you learned how to speak it? Keeping a gratitude journal is ideal because it allows expressing gratitude to become a mindful moment. Embracing different ways of expressing gratitude can include making lists, writing from journal prompts, and speaking it out loud. So explore the methods and adopt one that works for you.

38. Respond More, React Less

We tend to react without thinking instead of taking a moment of pause and responding. This can be detrimental to your well-being and those around you. Adopt a different mindset and let go of immediate reaction.

39. Listen More

Listen more and talk less. You never know how badly someone might need your ear. This is a much more difficult task for those of us who are chatty Kathys. Slowly raising my hand. Yeah, I am a talker. And to be honest, it’s gotten me into a lot of trouble. I’ve overshared and set myself up to be taken advantage of, and I’ve been played. If you can relate, stop it!

If you find yourself having tangents, apologizing for rambling, and constantly interrupting others, then you talk too much. And I promise you, if you’re always talking, then you aren’t listening and are missing opportunities to grow.

If you don’t grow, you’ll remain the know-it-all and nobody likes that person’s ignorance. Don’t be that person.

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40. Learn Something New

Learning something new things is essential for growth. Learn new things, create vision, or take up a new hobby. Go to YouTube to choose from tons of tutorials including sewing, cooking, and car mechanics. Read a book, watch a documentary, or attend a conference. The moment you stop learning something new is the moment you stop growing.

41. Start Today

Stop putting it off until tomorrow because we all know that tomorrow will never come. What is it that drives you? What are your passions? Is there something in your life that you’ve been procrastinating on until life provides a better time? Now. Now is the time. Life is too short to wait. Motivate yourself by creating a vision board with your short-term and long-term goals and set intentions every single day.

42. Be Charitable

We are created to love others, and that includes being charitable. And that doesn’t just mean at Christmas time when fake Santa’s ringing the bell. In fact, giving is much more than writing a check or pulling out a credit card. It’s a feeling in the heart. Being charitable can also be donating knowledge, services, and time.

Giving is the master key to success, in all applications of human life.

Bryant McGill

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

Luke 6:30 NIV

43. Feed Your Karma Bank

I’m sure you’ve heard the idiom, what goes around comes around? So feed your karma bank, baby! Experience the benefits of the law of attraction. If you’re consumed with nothing but negativity, you’ll attract another negative thought. However, if you promote positivity then you’ll be empowered by it, and all and all that makes life better.

44. Reduce Your Waste

Recently, my family and I began embarking on a waste reduction mission. Find productive ways to reduce and eliminate unnecessary waste. It’s already changing our lives for the better.

Being mindfully aware of our plastic and paper consumption has been eye-opening and motivating. Also, it has created unity within our family as we embrace our mission of waste reduction. We’ve found something to learn and talk about together.

45. Keep Few Friends

Ever heard the term, keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Forget that! Keep a few friends close, and everyone else at a safe distance.

I’m not saying to avoid acquaintances. Your life may be rich with coworkers, professionals, and other daily encounters. But keep those relationships simple.

Not everyone is entitled to know your business. In fact, most of them don’t care. So you’re only giving them something to gossip about later. Likely, with a side of judgment. No, thank you. Are you entertaining any false friendships?

Say goodbye to them! And all the emotional turmoil and drama that goes with pretending to like them because they are pretending to like you.

46. Delete Social Media

Say goodbye to viral illiteracy, fake news, and political unrest. Ditch the drama, frenemies, face-tuned images, and everything else that could go wrong. They’re destroying you by slowly chipping away at your self-esteem. Even if you don’t know it and for what?

Stop allowing insignificant internet likes, to determine your value and self-worth. Social feeds have given most of its users a false sense of importance. It alludes to a reality where people give a shit.

But they don’t. And they aren’t really paying attention to you. They are there hoping to get you to pay attention to them!

I’ve been Facebook-free for over a year, and I do not miss it. In fact, I can’t fully escape it despite my effort in trying. Want to know how many people in your life talk about what’s happening on Facebook?

Or, how many expect you to know everything because they’ve seen it on Facebook. And assume that you’ve seen it too? Give up Facebook for a month, and I bet you’ll be amazed.

Make it fun, get a small notepad, and put a tally mark down every time somebody mentions Facebook. Hey, and if you remember, please come back and share how many times in the comments below.

For a reality check regarding how many people photoshop and facetune images, please visit r/instagramreality on Reddit.

47. Unfriend the Haters

Is deleting social media too drastic of a measure for you? I get it and I’ve been there too, but I never had enough courage to remove the bitches from my feed. Do you? Stop holding back and do it!

You know who I’m talking about! Those high-school girls that were never your friend (bullied you even), but follow you on all your social accounts.

Honestly, how many people are you following that you don’t even like right now? Did you hide them from your feed, or do you roll your eyes and allow the energy of annoyance to consume you when they post?

Unfriend the haters. By the way, if you’re forced to hide them from your feed, try demonstrating some courage and conviction, and unfriend them already. Stop holding onto things and people who make you miserable. Also, deleting every single person that you don’t like from your feed creates a new environment, but I’d still limit my time.

48. Watch Less News

Did you know that people who watch the news are more angry, depressed, stressed, and suffer from anxiety? Start changing it up.

News is oftentimes irrelevant, misleading, and completely false. Also, it doesn’t add any value to your life being interrupted by breaking top stories. Honestly, the news is like a drug. So turn it off.

Also, turning off the news and social feeds removes the current shitshow that’s damaging your overall happiness and mental wellness.

Obsessing about all the things that could go wrong. Also then commenting and continuously sharing it, doesn’t change anything but your emotional well-being. Time limits exist for a reason. Leaving the social platforms and news behind is life-changing! Trust me, you’ll still see the top stories. There’s no avoiding the news entirely.

49. Destination Travel

Start making plans to see more than your bubble. Explore your surroundings with traveling adventures. If opportunity permits, definitely travel internationally.

And if it doesn’t exist, create it. As an American who has visited both Israel and Palestine, I can assure you that nothing will teach you life’s greatest lesson like traveling to other countries. People are people and you’re created to love them all.

International travel is a spiritual experience that will help cleanse the soul of racial prejudices and religious biases. I haven’t experienced a better recommendation on how to change your life for the better with the exception of prayer.

50. Exemplify Forgiveness

Forgiveness is imperative for living a better life. Holding onto grudges, anger, hurt, and resentment is toxic to the soul. Forgiveness can be a difficult tool to master, but it’s one of your biggest allies. Learning how to forgive someone and let go of the toxicity that comes with holding on is transforming. So forgive someone today and forgive yourself while you are at it.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:31-32

51. Pray About It

Surrender your life completely with a prayer journal. Seriously, I prayed for my husband for a year before we were married. And it’s amazing to look back and see the things that God put on my heart, way back when.

God wants to hear from you. Communicate through words, journaling, singing, art, and any other way you express gratitude. Additionally, prayer journaling can help you forgive someone when you focus your energy there. Open yourself up to God. Prayer doesn’t have to be a ritual or ceremonial practice.

I pray in the shower. Also, I pray while driving, cooking, and as a family. Sometimes I don’t pray at all, and I call those, my bad days. Would not recommend it because prayer will change your life forever.

52. Mindfulness Meditation

Spend time in meditation. Meditation practice is great for the mind, body, and soul. There are many different meditation practices, tutorials, and resources. My advice is to visit YouTube and try out free guides and find what style speaks to your soul. However, I am a fan of mindfulness meditation.

What do you think? Are you ready to challenge yourself and commit to working on one thing each week for a year? Awesome! Grab a bullet journal and some cool pens and stencils and document your life in a year. Focus on one task each week and allow positive habits to develop as you continue moving into the later weeks.

Thank you for reading! Do you have any ideas for how to change your life for the better? Please add them to the comments below. Thanks! You’re awesome for doing that!

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Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.