10 Tips for Success in Your Everyday Life
Worrying about the future and how well we’re working towards achieving our goals is totally normal. Sometimes though, these worries can impact our mental health.
Worrying about either your own expectations of yourself or the expectations others have of you can lead to feelings of panic and anxiety. You might be someone who thrives on setting goals and achieving them, or you might be someone who panics at the thought of it.
Either way, there are many important things in life other than succeeding and achieving our goals, and it’s important to have a balance of all of those things.
Figuring out a healthy balance between acceptance of where you are now while working towards your future plans is important for looking after your mental health.
Our tips for looking after your mental health while achieving your goals:
1. Talk to someone
Talking things through with someone can help you to get perspective, to take some time away from the things that are worrying you, and to get ideas for new things you can try to manage what’s worrying you.
Sometimes just saying it out loud can help you to process what you’re feeling. Talking to someone you trust can help to help to challenge your own beliefs around productivity and success and to recognize when your behaviors are causing you to feel anxious or stressed. This could be a friend, a tutor, a helpline, or God – whatever works for you.
2. Practice healthy study/work habits
Productivity is not your identity. These healthy habits could be different for everyone. You might find it helpful to study/work with others around you, or on your own.
You might find that study tools are helpful, or ‘study with me’ videos on youtube. Breaking your work down into smaller tasks and setting yourself windows of time to achieve them could help.
Still, for those who are struggling, it’s critical to reach out for help. Many mental health concerns can be easily treated or prevented through talk therapy with a licensed professional.
Try different approaches until you find some that work for you, and then build them into your routine.
3. Identify the source of your stress or worry
If you find yourself feeling anxious or stressed it can help to identify exactly what it is that’s causing you to feel this way so you can do something about it.
If you can’t figure out exactly what it is, it can help to keep a journal on your phone where you record what you’ve done each day, alongside your thoughts and feelings.
This could help you to identify patterns and prepare for specific things that trigger feelings of stress or anxiety, such as lack of sleep, preparing to give a presentation or unrealistic deadlines.
4. Balance your time and be realistic about what you can achieve
It’s tempting to spend a lot of your time on the thing that’s causing you the most stress, but it’s possible to spend too much time on a task – your productivity could plummet and your feelings of stress and worry could sky-rocket.
Be realistic about how much time you can dedicate to a task, making sure you also spend time exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, eating well, and relaxing or socializing.
Make yourself stop working at a reasonable time. Taking a step back from a daunting or stressful task can help us reset and come back to it in a more positive state of mind.
5. Try to focus on the task at hand
If you find yourself feeling anxious about the future, it can help to focus on the present, and what you’ve got to do right now.
Save those thoughts about the future for another time when you can talk to someone about them.
6. Make your bedroom a relaxing environment
If you think of your bedroom as a relaxing space, it will help you not to feel stressed when you need to study or work in it or go to sleep. Keep it tidy and make it space you want to spend time in.
If you can, find other spaces to study – study outside or in public libraries.
When you are studying in your room, designate areas for studying, even if that’s a little corner of your room, and keep the rest of your room for relaxing.
7. Get moving
Being active and moving our bodies is not just good for our physical health, it’s good for our mental health too.
Getting your blood flowing and boosting your endorphins can help you to be more productive.
Try your best to incorporate movement and activity in your routine, in whatever way works best for you.
Break up your work or study time with a few minutes of stretching – you can even do it from your bed.
8. Always have something to look forward to
Having something to look forward to can make us feel less daunted by tasks we have to do before then, and helps provide a bookmark for when we can have a break from stressful or anxious situations.
Try to get a balance of big and small things to look forward to, like going for a walk, or going away for the weekend to visit family or friends.
9. Don’t compare yourself to others
Your life is completely unique to you alone. Comparing yourself to others can cause feelings of low self-esteem, anxiety, and stress. It can also cause you to set unrealistic expectations for yourself.
Your expectations of yourself should be based on your own circumstances, not anyone else’s. The only person you should compare yourself to is who you were yesterday.
Surround yourself with positive people – either on your socials feeds or in real life. These don’t have to be successful people, just people who make you feel good or make you laugh, or even inspire you.
10. Practice gratitude
Practicing gratitude can lower stress levels, increase feelings of happiness, and help you sleep better. Each day, write down one or two things that you’re grateful for from that day, like your health, family, or friends, or something you’ve done that you’re proud of.
This can help you to recognize and appreciate the people and things you have, and after a few days, it can start to reshape how you feel about things.
Celebrate your own achievements, even the ones you might think are the smallest ones – sometimes they feel like the hardest.
If you’ve got any additional concerns, contact our qualified experts for free advice.