Whenever we think of habits that can help improve our mental health, the most obvious ones are often exercising, meditation, reading and such. And these habits are great. After all, they do have a direct impact on every other part of our lives.
However, did you know that there are much smaller micro-habits that help to significantly improve your mental strength? Below are some of them.
Going above and beyond
So, you have goals, targets and you often meet them without fail. Perhaps you run your six miles without fail each time, or workout for an hour straight. Or if you are a writer with a target of 1000 words, you meet it without fail.
But have you ever considered going beyond this? If say you run six miles, have you ever considered running seven or eight? Have you ever considered working out for an extra 15 minute, or writing 1500 instead of 1000? This is called overshooting and it helps improve your brain strength and resilience.
The brain is quite lazy and thus, once it settles into a routine, it will want to maintain that status quo. Through overshooting your target, then, you train your brain that it is possible to do more, and thus, improves its willingness to do more.
Avoid settling into a routine
Step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. As mentioned, your brain loves status quo. Thus, to improve its ability to handles sudden changes, introduce sudden changes in your life to shock your system.
Oh, you prefer to wake up at 8 AM? How about go a few days waking up at 6 AM? Take a run even if you are not used to it. Introduce new routine into your system from time to time and see what happens.
What you are doing when you shock your system is stopping your brain from settling into its comfort zone. Thus, your brain is always alert and therefore, able to face new challenges.
Delayed gratification
Saying no to things that you want to do immediately can be very difficult, but if you want to train your brain the right way, try delayed gratification.
Delayed gratification is when you deliberately delay a reward or good thing in hopes for bigger, long-term rewards. Think of something you enjoy indulging in. Then, begin to deliberately delay indulging in them each time you feel like it. If, say, you like snacking, delay that snacking when the desire hits you until much later.
Delayed gratification helps you train your mind to focus on much more long-term rewards rather than instant gratification. You build your resilience, fortitude and more importantly, make it possible to complete tasks at hand immediately.
These three habits are little known but try them out and watch the results. You will be pleasantly surprised.