20 Simple Habits To Get Your Life Together

When a new season rolls around, it can be somewhat exhilarating. Setting new goals, a new wardrobe, and entering a new season. I wanted to write this blog post about setting new habits and simple habits that anyone can start doing to get their life together. 

Start writing down your goals. 

To begin, take out a blank sheet of paper. Divide the paper in two drawing a line down the middle. In the left-hand column, write “long-term goals.” On the right, write “short-term goals.” In the left-hand column, write down everything you want to accomplish in the next 5+ years. Dream big! You can modify this to be shorter, like in the next two years, but for the most part, long-term goals can be anywhere from 2-5 years and then beyond. 

Read more: Goal Setting: A Scientific Guide to Setting and Achieving Goals

Check your bank account every day. 

I don’t like this tip any more than you do, but I do it. I don’t do this every single day because um, well, this can be stressful—but it is a habit I’ve done once or twice a week just to stay on top of my finances. 

Set app limits. 

And do it for the apps you use the most—like TikTok or Instagram. For a while, I didn’t believe in app limits, because I would just ignore them and continue scrolling. But I recently did this for TikTok after a night of scrolling, and I see it working. I’ve been scrolling on my phone for far too long and can be stuck scrolling for a couple hours every day. I hope to set these app limits for more apps in the future (hello, Instagram!). 

ALWAYS drink water. 

And keep it next to you at all times—or at least most of the time. This is one of the simplest, if not the simplest, habit that you can have. Drink a glass (or hydroflask) of water and you can feel instantly better and as if you got your life together in a matter of seconds. Just kidding … but am I?

Wear SPF. 

Most moisturizers and facial creamers have SPF in them—use them! As we get older, aka life in our 20s, we need to take care of our skin. My favorite is a simple facial moisturizer from Cetaphil (with SPF) that I get from Target.

Make a habit of planning.

Use your planner. Write down important dates, responsibilities, to-do lists, things to remember, etc. 

I’m 50/50 on planning. On the one hand, I like it because it keeps me organized and reminds me of things I need to get done. I like knowing, at the beginning of each day, what I need to get done for that day or week. On the other hand, do I use it every minute of every day? No. Do I sometimes forget to write down my to-do list and just “wing it”? I urge you, if you’re like me and fall in the camp of not wanting to use a planner, to use a planner. It can either be print or digital! I personally love print planners because I love the simple act of writing stuff down and putting more thought into writing those things down, but to each their own. At the beginning of each month, I make sure to write down any important dates, meetings, or deadlines in my monthly view of the calendar and then I switch to my weekly calendar, go to that current week, and plan out my week (or try to). 

Using your planner doesn’t have to be complicated. But I urge everyone to use their planners—even if it is iCal or Google Calendar! (In fact… I may write a separate blog post on how I’ve been using my digital planner…) 

Ask questions. 

Don’t be afraid to ask the “dumb” questions—most of the time, someone else is wondering the same thing. 

Do your laundry. 

Because when you *finally* tackle that pile of clothes sitting in the corner, don’t you feel just a little bit more productive and good about life? 

Plan your grocery lists in advance. 

Honestly, raise your hand if you’ve ever walked into a grocery store (Trader Joe’s) with no list, only vibes?? And then you wonder why you spent so much money after you walk out of the store two hours later?? Not me. 

I would recommend that at the beginning of each week, you sit down and write down everything you need at the grocery store for that week, including the ingredients for meals you want to make that week. Sounds easy, right? And then you can make the weekly Sunday trek to the grocery store with the thousands of other grocery shoppers on a Sunday afternoon. 

While that plan does work for some, if not most, here’s another tip I recommend. (And this tip is better for those who live alone or couples with no kids.) Make a list every few days, only grabbing items you need for the next few days. This may seem it’s not a good idea for your budget, but for me, I’ve found that gathering only a handful of items for the next few days actually decreased my grocery bill. 

Side note: I’m an avid user of HelloFresh and will always recommend it! Because I use HelloFresh, I don’t have to worry about planning out my meals and buying specific ingredients I need for each recipe. (Think tarragon and other random spices that I only need a tablespoon of.) Because I use HelloFresh, that has cut my grocery bill nearly in half, if not more, some weeks. 

Start (or continue) reading for fun. 

I’m a big reader. (I even have an entire books page on my blog and a #bookstagram to prove it!) When I went off to college, I stopped reading as much. But post-grad, I picked up my love of reading again and fell right back in love. Right before the pandemic, I started my #bookstagram and the rest is history. Read for fun and get lost in another world for a little while. (Visit my books page linked above for book recommendations.)

Stop trying to live someone else’s life. 

Comparison sucks. We all get trapped in the comparison cycle, constantly comparing ourselves to other people whether that’s in our career field, social media feeds, or on TV. But the thing with comparison is that we desire to live that other person’s life instead of our own. Yes, we do ask ourselves, “why can’t we have that?” But what about the things that you do have? The skills that you do have? This is something to think about and reflect on as you try to create new habits. 

Check in with an old friend or acquaintance. 

Once in a while, once a week, check in with an old friend or acquaintance. On that thought, check in with your family members. Call a grandparent, they always love to hear from you. 

Start (or continue) taking care of your health. 

Prioritize you—whether this is your physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health. You can’t ignore your health as the days go on. Schedule those doctors’ appointments. Go to therapy if you need to. Read your Bible or visit your place of worship. Take care of yourself. Join a gym and sign up for new exercise classes. Take vacation. Practice self-care. Love yourself. Prioritize your health and taking care of you.

Take a vacation. 

Speaking of taking care of your health … take a vacation. Even if it’s a staycation! This may seem like the opposite of getting your life together, but this allows you to regroup, refresh, and renew if you’re feeling burnt out in any area of your life. 

Start saving the money you earn. 

Go back to your goals and specifically any financial goals. Is there anything that you can save for? If you can’t think of anything right now, start (or continue) saving for retirement. Save for that vacation that you need to take.

Conduct a weekly review. 

At the end of each week (Friday or Saturday?), reflect on the previous week. What went well? What didn’t go well? What changes do I need to make to make this week better? 

Start saying no. 

Say no to things. If you’re the type of person who’s always saying yes, whether it’s work, social outings, things to do, or whatever, and you’re feeling burnt out because of it, don’t be afraid to say no once in a while. Prioritize you; you can say no—your people will still love you.

Start saying yes. 

On top of that, start saying yes once in a while! If you’re like me, and all you want to do is stay in and watch re-runs of your favorite show, then maybe say yes once in a while. Go to dinner. Say yes to that date. Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to try something new. Make a habit of saying yes once in a while.

Go to bed earlier. 

Um, because sleep is important and necessary to recharge. I can attach links to sleep studies saying that it’s important to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night, but do you need any more convincing?

Find a hobby that you love. 

Allow your brain to focus on something that you love to do. Did you like sports as a child? Join a club league or simply develop a new fitness routine. Did you love reading? Set a reading goal for each month. Were you the type to doodle all over your notebooks in school? Get a coloring book or even start painting! Whatever it is, allow yourself this creativity.