My 5 daily self-development hacks that take 5 minutes
Ok, so this week I’ve decided to create a slightly different blog post to my usual content focused on UX and personal development. However, I feel self-development is something that can stretch not just in work life but also in personal endeavours.
Although our lives seem to have gotten busier, I have encountered that some of the best results I have faced with personal goals that have helped me to succeed have taken 5 minutes or less to complete daily. Therefore, I’ve analysed my daily routine and broken down the 5 daily habits I’ve curated over the past couple of years that not only take 5 minutes to complete but also helped me grow within other areas of my life.
1. Recording food, exercise and liquid intake through a Weight Loss App
I have been using the Lose it app for the past 3 years, which has been one of the best apps I’ve ever downloaded. I have lost over 4.5 stone with this app and haven’t really changed much to my diet! Longer-term, this has not only increased my confidence in myself but also helped me to achieve more challenging fitness goals, like preparing to run my first marathon in Paris in the latter part of the year.
It made me more aware of what I eat daily and any healthier changes I can make to my diet. As well, being a vegetarian, I need to make sure I’m taking in enough protein and micronutrients to make sure my body can function effectively of which this app delivers on.
It only takes less than two minutes to record what your eating and exercise through their extensive library and can help you to keep on track with your weight loss goals.
2. Meditation
I started meditating at the beginning of lockdown in 2020 with 10 minute Youtube videos both in the mornings and evenings. Although I appreciated the relaxation and positive energy I felt by doing so, I found I lacked concentration after 5 minutes to maximise the benefits of the practice.
In the end (and to this day), I make sure to take out 5 minutes of my morning to do a daily meditation practice, as this not only helps to relieve any anxiety I may have about the day ahead but also helps to make sure I have a positive mindset going forward throughout my day.
My personal recommendations are the Goodful and Meditation Vacation
3.Recording Finances
This daily practice has helped me with financial freedom and created a disciplined practice of understanding where I should spend my money.
Because I have a few bank accounts for various reasons (one for spending, one for savings, one for expenses), I find it difficult to find an app that takes all these into account. Instead, I have set up my own spreadsheet that can be cross transferred from my mobile to my laptop, so it’s constantly updated.
Even though the initial setup took me an hour, the actual spreadsheet takes me less than 5 minutes to input what I have spent and if it needs to be ticked off the monthly budget.
4. Daily journaling and weekly reflection
I usually do my daily journaling at the end of the day as it helps to understand what activities I have done that day that have helped with my weekly and monthly goals. I normally write down 2–3 wins per day within the areas I’m trying to improve on: this is currently working on my UX strategy skills, becoming more social and focus on building a relationship.
I would also write down what key activities I would need to get done the next day (highlighting any key priorities), noting down 3 things I am grateful for and how I felt that day.
These reflections take about 5 minutes to record and can help provide key insights into staying on track with my goals.
As well, these notes will then be taken for my weekly reflection (normally done on a Friday evening) to understand what have been the three key wins this week, what key tasks need to be completed the following week, as well as any improvements I can use towards improving my performance the following week.
5. Daily speaking and recording practice
My final daily practice is something I’m surprised I’ve kept up over the past year! To give a backstory to this practice; This started as a challenge from my coach in November 2020, whereby the purpose of this exercise was to not only get comfortable speaking on camera but also to identify areas where I needed to improve on my speaking skills. For this challenge, I would write a set script and record myself speaking for around 5–10 minutes.
Now I have adapted this to focus on key areas that are important to me right now: Self-affirmations and talk about myself, developing conversations (including improving interview skills in UX) and looking at posture.
I measure this practice through how many people I approach per week and daily mood tracking, which helps to see if the speech practice helps within the designated areas.
Although I’ve outlined my own personal daily practices that can provide quick wins per day, these practices can be adapted to your own personal needs, such as writing, designing or exercise. Even though 5 minutes may not seem like a lot of time to complete a task towards your goals, hopefully by providing an insight into my practices, can help you to achieve your goals without using massive amounts of time investments.
