7 Tiny Micro Habits That will ACTUALLY change your life

I refuse to believe that everyone cannot implement these seven micro-habits within one day and completely transform their life. But what even is a micro-habit I hear you ask? Well we are going to uncover the seven micro-habits that have completely transformed my life in the Micro-Habits Oscars. All the awards are time stamped here for your convenience if you would like to skip ahead. And by the end of the video I'm pretty sure you will know exactly what a micro-habit is without me even having to tell you because it is glaringly obvious what links all these habits together. Sit tight because it is time for the awards ceremony to begin. Starting with the best wellness micro-habit. As a doctor I cannot stand the amount of misinformation that exists around your body and your health and how being healthy has become so much more confusing than it needs to be. Meaning that a lot of us decide to just completely give up altogether. But being healthier means we are happier, we're more productive, we're more fulfilled and ultimately we just enjoy life more. Which is exactly why this micro-habit had to come first. The winner is the diversity jar. I am fascinated by the evolving research into our gut and the effects it has on everything from our immune system to our energy levels. But if you are confused about the huge amount of contradictory information that exists around gut health then you are not alone. So much information on the internet is just designed to try and sell you something or even worse is completely incorrect. But one well evidenced way to boost sugar health is eating a diet diverse in plant fibres. But of course buying a wide variety of fruits and veg every single week can be so expensive and lead to a huge amount of food waste. The diversity jar however is a simple solution. It's simply a mixture of foods that have one, a long shelf life. Two, are neutral in flavour so that they can be added to loads of different meals. And three, packed with plant fibres. I literally just add a couple of tablespoons onto every single one of my meals to boost the diversity of plant fibres in my diet thus contributing to a healthier gut microbiome thus improving my digestion, my immune function and even my mental health. I have a full video coming out soon about everything you possibly need to know about gut health. So if you would like to see that video of course make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it. But I guarantee that out of everything in that video this microhabit is the easiest way to boost your gut health without even trying. I use my diversity jar every single day and it honestly took me about 20 minutes to make. Reward number two, the best combined microhabit. This microhabit is a combination as sweet as strawberries and cream or sunshine and a beach. And you're going to want to listen if you currently have a habit of sticking on YouTube when you're getting ready or popping on the radio in the car or sticking the TV on when you're bored. You are sleeping on an opportunity because this microhabit transformed my productivity and my growth. The microhabit is matching the activity that you are doing with content correctly. Let me explain. Content could be audio like music or podcasts or visual like TV or film and activities could be cleaning, commuting, getting ready, anything where you have someone on in the background if you're anything like me. So here's an example of how we pair properly. Scenario A, you have a task that you are procrastinating, tidying your room, cleaning, even going out for a run. You are going to pair it with content type one. This is binge worthy, guilty pleasure content. The content that serves no other purpose in your life other than pure joy. I'm talking TV series, cringy rom-coms, your favourite YouTube channels, etc, etc, etc. These types of content are designed to keep you hooked and you are capitalising on the vast amount of psychological research that has gone into producing them to get you to do stuff that you don't want to do. Now, scenario B, a neutral activity that you're not procrastinating. Maybe it's getting ready in the morning, commuting or something you enjoy like cooking or painting. You are going to intentionally pick content that is more in line with your goals. Educational, enriching, helping you become 1% better every single day because the opportunity to consume content has arisen, but you don't need an incentive to get the task done. The most easy and efficient way I've got my hands on this sort of content is Skillshare. Skillshare is the largest online learning community with the widest of breadths and depths of topics from illustration, graphic design, photography, music, marketing, productivity, and so much more. So as it is the summer of learning, the next time that you need some of this content to consume, you're going to get yourself over to Skillshare. You're going to find a class in an area that you want to level up in. If you're a student and you choose to go back to school soon, then learn how to study anything based on science. If you want to work out what goals you actually want to set for yourself, then maybe reach your goals, seven personal development exercises to build a life you love. I want to make sure I remain focused and clear about what a life I love means to me and I am obsessed with how Skillshare has such a strong learn by doing approach to teaching, which is exactly why I love everything this class has to offer. The options are endless, but you're going to find a class, you're going to click play and you're going to watch and wait as the time is seamlessly enriched with knowledge that you otherwise would have gone without. If you're quick, you can also click the link in my description because the first 500 people to click the link will receive a free one month trial to Skillshare. If you're familiar with compounding, then you'll understand how just by getting 1% better every single day, you can create exponential results over time and consuming Skillshare is by far my favourite way to try and be 1% better every single day. Three, the best biological micro habit. I learned this biological micro habit in medical school and I wish everyone knew it because you can literally hijack your body's nervous system and induce a state of relaxation. And it is painfully simple, but first we have to talk about the science. In your body, you have the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, this is what we know as fight or flight. Stress, anxiety, panic. Whereas the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system leads to relaxation. There is a nerve in our body called the vagus nerve. This nerve is part of the parasympathetic nervous system and if we learn how to effectively activate it, we can override our body and calm it down. Which of course, if you are able to do that in this stress-filled chaotic world, that's the closest there is to a magic pill. So how do we harness the power of the mystical vagus nerve to reduce anxiety and promote relaxation? We activate it by, drum roll please, breathing. Yep, breathing before you switch off because you're a little bit annoyed at me at how horrifically simple that was. I want you to know that I dismissed breathing exercises too. I thought that they were just encouraged as moments to have for yourself, to be alone, to sit with your own thoughts before you make any rash decisions. And as someone who is clinically impulsive, that used to really irritate me because I thought, what is breathing gonna do? Breathing is absolutely not gonna take away these impulsive urges, stress and anxiety. Little did I know that it is so much more intelligent than that. Just by breathing in deeply enough through your nose that you expand your tummy and then slowly breathing out through your mouth, you stimulate your vagus nerve, thus activating your parasympathetic nervous system, which research has shown significantly improves symptoms of anxiety and depression. Practicing daily deep breathing is not only one of the easiest micro habits in this video, it's also the one that has the most profound effects. If you would like to reach expert level of hijacking your nervous system, then yoga and meditation also stimulate the vagus nerve, reduce stress and enhance your emotional wellbeing. Award number four, the best productivity micro habit. Constant connectivity is annihilating your productivity, turbocharging your stress and taking time away from actually working on your goals. But in a world where regular beeps and flashes on our phone screen are the norm, how do we create an environment that is calmer, more productive, improves focus and reduces stress? I'm sure you've used focus mode before, but how many of us actually always remember to turn on focus mode when we wanna get something done? Well, recently I visited the Apple offices in London and I was shook at how many automatic functions I have not been utilizing effectively to improve my productivity without even trying. The three features that I learned about are gonna be the basis of this micro habit that is going to help you reclaim your time, your focus and your peace of mind. Number one, auto location. You can set a focus mode to turn on automatically when you set a desired location. For example, if you're a student, when you arrive at your university library or if you have a bad habit of procrastinating at work, then you can set it to automatically turn on when you arrive at the offices that you work at. Number two, auto time. You can schedule an automatic focus mode to go on at certain times. I personally have this set for every single day from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Number three, auto apps. So you can set an automatic focus mode to go on every time you use a certain app. This is incredible if you're anything like me and you use your phone for work, but every time you go on your phone in work, you get sucked into replying to a message, then you're scrolling on social media and before you know it, you're down a hole researching the history of men's synchronized swimming. True story. This means that your phone can be an effective tool without the distraction. Goodbye, constant connectivity. Hello, digital boundary babe. Award number five is the best mental micro habit. But if you implement this 10 minute daily micro habit, it could also improve your digestion as well as your mental health. This micro habit is for my girlies who are overthinkers and struggle to see sunlight every single day. So I'm an inseparable overachiever through and through. Everything I do has to have a point. Whereas my boyfriend is a great influence because he's not like that at all. He's a lot more chill. He's a lot more laid back. And when he would say things to me like, shall we go for a walk? My brain just wouldn't really compute. I would have questions like, where is the walk? What is the purpose of the walk? What are we hoping to achieve? Because in my head, I thought what on earth is the purpose of leaving the comforts of my flat to explore an area that I live in and know very well, just to return back to my flat, maybe 20 minutes later, empty handed. What have we gained? What have we achieved? And in my first year of being a doctor, trying to manage YouTube alongside it, my days off weren't really days off at all. They were days where I felt like a complete failure if I didn't stay strapped to my desk for 12 hours straight and complete a to-do list that is taller than me. Leaving the flat was not an option. Having a break and getting fresh air, not an option. As you can imagine, these were the days where my mental health crumbled. I would be sat at my desk and the only thoughts going around in my head would be, you're not good enough. You'll never get there. No one likes you. You're not good at anything. You have no idea what you want to do. Classics, which of course made my wise, wise boyfriend even more intent on taking me out for a walk when I would say these things to him because of course he knew that being stuck between four walls wasn't going to help that, but I still couldn't see the light and the vicious cycle continued until one day I stumbled on a reel done by a wonderful woman called Savannah and Savannah said five words that would completely change my life. Never trust an indoor thought. Suddenly all the puzzle pieces came together. I realized it wasn't just me that felt mentally horrific when I was stuck in indoor spaces. Hell, just look at what happens to everyone's mental wellbeing during the pandemic. Even better, now my walks had a purpose. It was to fix my silly little mental health. Now almost every single day after dinner, myself and my boyfriend will go out for a 20 minute walk. Not only is it good for my mental health, we get to have a chat, catch up on our day, get some fresh air, but engaging in light activity after meals can have a positive impact on digestion and it's the perfect opportunity to get some movement in if I've had a particularly sedentary day at my desk here or at the hospital. No sweat is broken. It's enjoyable. It takes 15 to 20 minutes and my life is infinitely better because of it. Are you starting to get a rough picture of what micro habits are? Six, the best fulfilment micro habit. You know what really grinds my gears about self-development content on social media? The word self. It's all about you being the healthiest version of yourself or you becoming the richest you can be or you becoming the smartest. You, you, you, you, you! Ignoring the research that that is a one-way ticket to becoming incredibly unhappy and I have to say it, unhappiness kills. Let's look at the infamous blue zones. The areas of the world that have been studied extensively because they're where people consistently live longer than anywhere else on the planet. We debate and dissect the Okinawans diet and the effect that it has on their life expectancy or the mountainous hills of Sardinia and how much their inhabitants walk and thus could be the reason that they live longer. But the Okinawans clearly don't eat the same as the Sardinians and you can't ship the Sardinian mountains over to Japan but there is one common thread amongst all the blue zones that we frequently ignore. A sense of fulfilment and community. No wonder so many of us are so unhappy when we're taught to constantly strive for us and us alone. We've lost our focus on giving back not just because it's the right thing to do but it's also really good for our health. This micro habit will boost happiness, reduce loneliness and build your self-esteem and fulfilment. Daily random acts of kindness. This does not need to be donating vast quantities of money every single day to charity. It can be as simple as holding a door open for someone to let them through or bringing a work colleague a snack or a coffee or paying someone a genuine compliment. Literally anything, no matter how small has the potential to create this ripple effect that uplifts both you and the people around you and it could take as little as 30 seconds. Finally, the best creativity micro habit. I love the modern world. I love being able to order from over 50,000 restaurants in London on delivery at the click of a finger. I love being able to fall down a hole learning all about men's synchronised swimming from one Google search on my phone. But most of all, I love being able to speak to my friends and family in Wales from 200 miles away whenever I want. But the modern world is killing our creativity and creativity isn't just about painting like Pablo Picasso. Creativity is a crucial part of all of our lives because it is essential for problem solving and innovative thinking and research has shown that this micro habit is going to improve both. But you may be shocked because it seems pretty counterintuitive. The winner of this award is Embracing Boredom. I know it might sound stupid but think about the last time that you were bored. The modern world is sensory overload which means we rarely get a chance to just be alone with our own thoughts but allowing yourself to be bored leads to reflection and insights fostering new ideas and solutions. Embracing boredom not only enhances creativity but it also could lead to a more fulfilled and balanced life Pause. Allow yourself to embrace the secret weapon that is mind numbing boredom and watch as your brain steps up to the challenge of keeping you entertained. Who can tell me what a micro habit is? Well done! That is correct! These have been seven tiny tweaks that you wouldn't even notice but can have profound effects on your physical health your mental health, your productivity and your success. Even if I do say so myself these seven micro habits are game-changing but how do you go about implementing them or creating a daily routine that you can stay consistent with? This video could be helpful on that journey and if you enjoyed the micro habit Oscars then you may also enjoy the time management Oscars which you can watch by clicking here. If you enjoyed the video please don't forget to leave a like, comment, subscribe I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful week and I will see you in the next video.