Are you feeling stuck in a rut? Like everything you are doing is only just good enough—but you know that you are capable of so much more?
It is easy to get caught up in daily life, doing the same thing over and over again and calling it enough. But if you really want to create a life you love—one that feels fulfilling, energetic, productive, and rewarding—you’ll need to embark on the journey of becoming your best self.
Why become your best self?
Working towards your fullest potential as a human being positively influences every corner of your life: your career, your relationships, your finances, your health, your hobbies, and your home life.
Becoming your best self can improve your mood, your biology and physiology, and your cognitive function.1 It allows you to bring your best efforts and energy to each and every little thing that you do, enhancing your dedication, commitment, and motivation to move forward and reach your goals.
So how do we become our best selves? We can commit to positive daily habits that transform our lives over time.
9 Daily habits for personal growth
Transforming your life doesn’t happen overnight. Reaching your highest potential isn’t a one-size-fits-all process, and it isn’t something you can simply check off your to-do list in one single action.
Fortunately, growth happens in baby steps, and daily habits can make a world of difference. Simple daily habits are at the core of how you become your best self.
Here are 9 things you can do each day that will help you come into alignment with your best self.
1. Practice gratitude
One of the easiest things you can do every day is to practice gratitude. Simply thinking about a few things you are grateful for every day can shift your perspective in a major way—and this can have a domino effect that benefits all areas of your life.
People who regularly track things they are grateful for experience greater well-being, feel better about their lives, sleep better, and experience higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, attentiveness, and energy. Plus, they are more likely to make progress towards their personal goals.2 3
Gratitude isn’t just about putting a positive spin on things and seeing silver linings. It is about learning to notice and affirm that there are good things in the world—and to celebrate both the big and small things that bring us joy, lift us up, make us feel supported, and give us meaning.
To try:
Start a gratitude journal, and write down 3 things that you are grateful for every day.
2. Move your body
Moving your body has hugely beneficial effects, not just for your physical body but also for your mind and mental state. It helps to boost your mood, increase your energy, and heighten your cognitive function.4
Physical activity also releases stress from your body, loosens everything up, and grounds you. If you want to feel more focused, clear, and ready to take on the challenges each day presents, then moving your body is key.5
To try:
Find a way of getting active every single day that works for you. Whether that means going for a daily walk, playing actively with your kids outdoors, or doing a yoga practice each morning—the choice is up to you!
3. Reframe with EVOX
Many of our limiting thoughts, feelings, and beliefs lie deep in our subconscious, making it difficult for us to change. ZYTO EVOX addresses these limiting beliefs through a patented perception reframing process.
By analyzing your voice as you speak about a topic and sending back the missing energetic frequencies, EVOX can help you overcome the deeply embedded feelings and thoughts that are holding you back in life. Shifting your perceptions in these areas can lead to physical, mental, and spiritual improvements.
4. Write it out
A daily journaling practice is another simple habit to help you reach your highest potential. We are often completely caught up in our heads, and we don’t have a clear way of working out all the thoughts that are swirling around.
Sitting down with a journal can help you to clear your mind, cultivate self-awareness, work out problems, and see things with more clarity. With more awareness and clarity, you’ll become better in tune with the wisest part of yourself—the part that can help you grow, reach your goals, and expand as a human being.
To try:
A journaling habit might look like writing down a few bullet points each evening before you hop into bed or writing out a “stream of consciousness” for 3 minutes every morning while you drink your coffee.
You might try asking yourself a series of questions each day such as:
- What are 3 things I am grateful for?
- What is something I am proud of today?
- What is a challenge I faced today and how did I deal with it?
- What is one thing I learned today?
- Where am I feeling stuck?
- Where am I feeling inspired?
- What is something today that brought me joy?
5. Nourish your body
We have no chance of becoming the best versions of ourselves if we don’t pay attention to our physical health. And what we feed our bodies matters.
You’ve likely heard of the popular saying “You are what you eat.” If you are feeding yourself fast, processed, artificial junk food, it’s not going to support the best version of yourself possible. Instead, opt for wholesome, nutritious, natural, real foods. I’m talking food that doesn’t come in a package, that looks like it did when it grew from the ground, and that isn’t heavily altered by artificial ingredients and processes.
Make real, healthy food a priority, and give your body the fuel it needs to support you as you take on the world with strength, energy, vitality, and courage.
To try:
Bring inspiration and creativity into the kitchen. Find new, healthy recipes that get you excited, cook with your family, or challenge yourself to make a meal you’ve never made before. Plan out your meals each week, making sure you take into account all meals of the day. And be sure to hydrate and drink plenty of water.
6. Carve out quiet time for reflection and mindful awareness
In order to grow towards the best version of you, you need to get to know yourself better. And that requires setting aside quiet time in which to reflect and pay attention to what is going on for you in the present moment.
Mindful awareness is linked to reduced stress, less emotional reactivity, more cognitive flexibility, and much more—all of which can help you live a more optimized life.6
These are some key things to bring your awareness to:
- Your breath – When tuning inward, it can help to use your breath as an anchor—something you can always pay attention to in the present moment.
- Links between your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors – With more awareness, we can start to learn to acknowledge how our thoughts and feelings influence our actions. Then, we can learn how to shape our responses with intention.
- Your strengths and successes – People do well when they acknowledge their strengths; spending time reflecting on what we do well is an excellent way to grow in a positive way.7 8
To try:
Self-reflection and mindful awareness practices look different to everyone. It might mean finding a few quiet moments over a cup of tea in the morning to tune inwards, meditating for a few minutes before bedtime, walking in nature and taking time to think, doing breathing exercises, or writing in your journal each day.
7. Disconnect from devices
One of the easiest ways to get out of touch with our best selves is to get distracted by technology. Our screens and devices take us out of the moment and can suck our time and energy away from what really matters.
That’s why bringing awareness to our relationship with technology is key.
To try:
Cut back on your screen time. Try things like not checking your email for at least half an hour after getting out of bed, leaving phones out of the bedroom at night, setting timers for “device breaks” throughout the day, etc.
8. Do something creative
Reaching our highest potential requires a lot from ourselves, and a little creativity and inspiration can go a long way in fueling the process.
Doing something creative on a regular basis gives us inspiration, boosts our energy, revitalizes us, and keeps our minds fresh. Newness is good for our brains; flexing our creativity muscle is not just fun, but it is also quite productive.
To try:
Try anything that gets your creative juices flowing, whether that is playing music, doing art, cooking, writing, working on a project, building something, etc. Don’t be afraid to take on a new hobby; there are many resources online and in the community to help you get started.
9. Create personal affirmations and mantras
Consider setting intentions for yourself with personal affirmations or mantras. These phrases can serve as guideposts for who you want to be and how you want to navigate the complex world around you. Ultimately, they can help you stay more aligned with your best self.
For example:
“I let go of fear, I let go of worry, I let go of doubt.”
“I see the best in myself, and I see the best in others.”
“Failures are not setbacks, but opportunities to learn.”
“I am capable of handling whatever comes my way.”
To try:
Write out a few intentions or mantras for yourself on sticky notes, and place them where you will see them regularly (such as on your bathroom mirror, on the fridge, on your calendar, or on the bedside table).
For some inspiration, you may consider asking yourself questions such as:
• What are my intentions as I face the current challenges in front of me?
• What qualities do I want to bring to the table?
• How can I live more aligned with my values?
• What do I need to remind myself of that is easy to forget?
Commit to the journey and enjoy the process
To become your best self is an ongoing process, and it will always be a work in progress. In fact, there is no end-point to strive for—it is a constantly evolving process of learning, growing, adapting, shifting, and getting to know ourselves better and better each day.
But we can continue to make forward progress if we commit to regular practices that help us to:
- Increase our connection to ourselves and others.
- Get in touch with what energizes us, feeds us, motivates us, and inspires us.
- Build awareness of our internal world—including our thoughts and feelings.
- Nourish our physical bodies and our brains to support optimal health.
- Explore how our mindsets and perspectives impact our experiences.
The 9 daily habits listed above are all great ideas for helping you move towards your goals and reach your highest potential.
And whatever you encounter along this journey of self-improvement, be sure to remember that you don’t need to be perfect, and you don’t need to achieve any one thing to be successful. You simply need to commit to learning and growing and be willing to face each new challenge as it comes along. That is what becoming your best self and transforming your life really looks like.
Be gentle with yourself, have fun with it, and try to enjoy the ride!
About Chelsea Clark
Chelsea Clark is a writer and certified health and wellness coach who is passionate about supporting others along their own health journeys. She enjoys helping people make positive, lasting changes so that they can live the happiest, healthiest life possible.
Sources:
1. “How to activate your best self and what happens when you do.” London Business School. London.edu.
2. Emmons, R.A. & M.E McCullough. “Highlights from the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness.” University of Miami. Psy.miami.edu,
3. Jackowska, M., J. Brown, A. Ronaldson, & A. Steptoe. “The impact of a brief gratitude intervention on subjective well-being, biology and sleep.” Journal of Health Psychology 21, no. 10 (2016): 2207-2217.
4. “Benefits of Exercise.” MedlinePlus. Medplineplus.gov.
5. “Be Your Best Self.” University of Florida. Distance.ufl.edu.
6. Davis, Daphne M. & Jeffrey A. Hayes. “What are the benefits of mindfulness?” American Psychological Association. Apa.org.
7. “To Become Your Best Self, Study Your Successes.” Harvard Business School Publishing. Hbr.org.
8. “Discovering Your ‘Best Self’ Helps Improve Professional and Personal Performance.” University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Bus.umich.edu.