There’s no denying it. Our world is saturated with self-help literature. Magazines pop out at us in grocery store checkout lines, and social media is abuzz with the latest tips and tricks. We’re lured in by promises of greater energy levels, better moods, and washboard abs.

With all this circulating advice, we are faced with a conundrum. On the one hand, a quick Google search makes it easier than ever to access the information we desire. But on the other, this bombardment of knowledge can leave us confused and overwhelmed. At worst, shoddy claims can seep into our minds at face value, without being backed by any evidence.

This seemingly “proven” and “fail-free” guidance may compel us to take action; to make drastic changes to our lives. We’ll do anything to stop feeling anxious, bloated, distracted, etc. Ironically, this all-in approach can sabotage our goals. Or we may get tired of following a routine and fall off the wagon. Then we end up at square one, distraught and defeated.

I’ve been one to follow self-help advice and then feel let down when it hasn’t made magnanimous changes to my life right away. Ultimately, I’ve learned that small tweaks, over time, can make a big impact. Sometimes you must pick and choose different pieces of advice from various sources and see what works for you. Also, it’s important to keep a critical eye and ensure that the tips are valid and possess evidence.

We as humans are always changing, so what works one day may not work another. And sometimes we do slip up, and that’s okay. It’s all about putting in the effort and doing what makes us feel our best the majority of the time. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been experimenting to see which tweaks will add the most value to my day. Here are 5 things that have worked for me:

 

1. Not checking my phone first thing in the morning

My first impulse used to be, “Alright, I’m awake! Let’s see what’s in my inbox. Ooh, and I wonder what everyone on Facebook is doing!” But then I’d feel on edge the rest of the day, and disconnected from myself. I dug a bit deeper to find out why.

Research shows that checking our notifications upon awakening skips over crucial brain waves. When we first wake up, our brain is in the delta stage of sleep, which feels daydreamy. Then it moves through the theta, the alpha, and finally to the beta stage—alert and awake. By checking our phones right off the bat, we skip straight from the delta to the beta stage, succumbing to immediate vigilance. This deprives us of important time for creativity and activates our stress response.

By keeping my phone face down until later, I set a boundary that gives me the space to visualize my day and enjoy my morning routine without being on autopilot. Avoiding a flood of information has provided me with greater overall clarity, and allows me to make the most of those first few hours of the morning.

 

2. Writing down three things I’m grateful for

When life becomes stressful, it’s easy to focus on the negative; to have tunnel vision that only allows us to see what’s going wrong. In the last few years, the term “gratitude” has been all the rage. And for good reason. Studies from the University of Southern California have found that keeping a gratitude journal helps accumulate a bank of happy emotions that one can draw from during more stressful times. These positive feelings can then serve as a catalyst for better interpersonal bonding, and thus more genuine relationships.

I’ve been jotting down three things that I’m grateful for each morning for the past two years. As the study suggests, it has changed my overall attitude. I find that I’m better able to pull out of tumultuous times by keeping the good in mind. Piggybacking off the last point, it’s also been a healthier alternative to scrolling through my phone first thing in the morning. And many days, I find that it puts me in a good mood, which in turn, impacts my writing performance.

 

3. Limiting my social media time

Self-control when it comes to checking social media has always been a problem for me. There’s nothing like that surge of dopamine when seeing new “likes” on a recently posted Instagram picture. But all of that refreshing and mindless scrolling over the years has left me exhausted and jealous. Social media is by and large a highlight reel. It can be hard to remember that the people behind heavily filtered and posed photos are flawed humans, too.

It’s no surprise that the rise in social media use is correlated with increased risks for anxiety and depression. Now is an important a time as ever to be taking care of our mental health. By setting limits on our social media time, we can keep ourselves more grounded in the life around us and are able to be more present.

There are modalities like Screen Time on the iPhone that you can use to set a set time frame for how long you want to use the app. Android has a similar feature, too. By holding myself accountable to only spending an hour and a half on Instagram per day, I’ve found that I’m more mindful of how I’m spending that allotted time on the app. And this has allowed me to be more creative and focused while I work.

 

4. Journaling out the best parts of my day (or if I had a bad day, venting out what bothered me)

Most evenings, I’ll jot down what went well that day. This helps me focus on something positive as I’m winding down for the night and preparing to go to sleep. If I’ve had a rough day, it helps me to put my feelings to paper, so that the anger/stress/sadness that’s overpowering my mind can be validated and partly released from my body.

Journaling has been shown to not only ease distress, but can also positively impact the immune system. A study had individuals, who had tested positive for a virus that leads to mononucleosis, write about either a stressful event or a neutral one. When tested, those who wrote about a stressful event had higher levels of antibodies than those who didn’t. This meant that the immune systems of those in the former group were more effective at fighting the virus.

This is an excellent example of the link between the mind and body. By giving ourselves the chance to express our deepest feelings, we can process them. And the beautiful thing about journaling is that no one will grade your grammar, the coherence of your words, or the overall message. It’s something you do just for you!

 

5. Activity pacing

As someone who deals with chronic pain, activity pacing has been key in keeping my symptoms under control. Whether or not you deal with chronic pain, though, this tactic can be beneficial. Think about it—we spend hours a day sitting at desks, behind the wheel, or doing repetitive motions. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors would be scoffing if they saw us now! It may seem logical that we will get more done if we buckle down for several hours. However, it’s more productive in the long term if we take breaks every so often, and divide up our tasks so we aren’t tackling them all at once.

The premise is that we space out our activities so that we avoid falling into patterns of overactivity or underactivity. In between each activity, we give ourselves a break or a chance to rest. So, let’s say you have a desk job. Every thirty minutes, you’d get up and take a five-minute break. You could stretch, take a short walk, or shift gears to another activity.

Taking these breaks has not only helped me physically, but I’ve noticed that it helps me avoid burnout. It keeps me from falling out of creative spirals by allowing me to have a “brain break” in given increments. This keeps me motivated to get my work done.

So, there you have it! Those are the five habits I’ve weaved into my day, which have given me significant gains in terms of productivity and my overall mindset. Be aware that these are the things that have benefited me; they may not work with your individual lifestyle or needs. It often takes experimenting and replacing techniques, but over time, it falls into a natural rhythm.

 

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What habits have worked for you? Which haven’t? I’d love to know in the comments!