It might not be possible to transform your whole life once that clock strikes 12 but it is possible to take baby steps to get there. The key is to challenge yourself — in a healthy way. Here are 8 ways you can improve your life in order to become a new, better person in 12 months.

Adopt good sleep habits

A good day doesn’t start when you wake up, it starts when you lie down to sleep. It’s about time you quit the unhealthy habit of being a night owl — that’s nothing to brag about. Humans are wired to sleep at night and rest their bodies. When you’re young, you would rebel at the thought of going to bed as early as 10 PM but as a responsible adult, you understand it’s essential for your mental and physical health.

If it’s difficult for you to sleep early, here are a few tips: Practice mindfulness before you sleep. Stay away from gadgets for at least 30 minutes before you close your eyes. You should also invest in comfortable mattresses and pillows. After all, we spend almost half our lives asleep, might as well make it as comfortable as we can.

Wake up early

There’s a certain refreshing advantage of joining the 5 or 6 AM club. For starters, you get to catch the sun lighting up the place and you get the whole house to yourself. Studies have found waking up early is also healthier for adults. You don’t have to shock yourself into it, if you’re not a naturally early riser. Start gradually — wake up at 8 AM instead of 9 AM for a week and then start adjusting to 7 AM until you’re a 5 AM riser.

Eat healthily intentionally

C’mon guys, it’s 2023! Veggies and eating healthy should be a priority. Stock up on fruits, eat more vegetables, cut down on saturated fat and sweets, and you’ll be a changed person come December. You’re not depriving yourself of the finer things in life here — slices of sweet cake and juicy pork cutlets? — you’re making way for a healthier you. And when you’re 80 years old, your strong body will thank you.

Exercise at least an hour a day

We know, we know. Your New Year’s Resolution of exercising doesn’t exactly have a great historical track record. Most of us give up in February but that’s because we set our goals too high. You don’t expect yourself to have abs in the first week! You have to break things down and start slow. And here’s how you start slow: Exercise at least an hour a day. It doesn’t have to be 20 bench presses and push-ups. It can be stretches and short exercises at first until you gradually build up to the difficult ones. Remember, when a goal gets too overwhelming, break it down into easier parts.

Plan your day each morning

After you’ve eaten and exercised, make it a habit to sit down and plan your day. What are the big goals you need to accomplish? What will be your schedule in the morning and afternoon? Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” So make sure you start your day with a concrete idea of what to do. Otherwise, you might end up wasting a ton of your time.

Learn an online skill

This will benefit you in two major ways: First, it’s an opportunity for personal growth and second, it’s a chance to advance in your career. With the rising inflation these days, a day job isn’t enough to sustain living expenses, and adapting a new skill gives you an edge in the market.

Don’t know which skill to pick up? This list of in-demand freelance skills in 2023 is doing rounds on Facebook. Pick one that’s closest to your profession or one that you can confidently do, and hone your skill from there. There are a ton of online platforms with affordable courses to teach you these skills. In the digital age, everything is handed to us, we just have to be the ones to grab the opportunity and make something of ourselves.

Turn off gadgets for an hour a day

If we could only go back to the days when social media was nonexistent, what would’ve happened? But as it stands, we’re in a digital era and it’s difficult to tune things out even for a minute. Challenge yourself this 2023 to stay away from your gadgets for an hour a day. And yes, that means no social media. It could be when you wake up and you’re doing your morning routine, in the middle of the day during lunchtime, or at night before you go to bed. There’s no study on this but we’re pretty sure doomscrolling until 3 AM will shorten your lifespan or, you know, rob you of time you could’ve spent doing something else worthwhile.

Read one book a month

One book a month equals 12 books by December 2023 and depending on what you read, that number of books could change your life. If you think one book a month is daunting, here’s a neat trick: Get the book you want and check how many pages it has. Divide those pages into 30 for each day of the month. The resulting number is how many pages you need to read a day to finish the book by the end of the month.

For example, you chose a 453-page book. Dividing it by 30 means you need to read 15 or 16 pages per day for 30 days. That’s not too bad, right? If you can, try to pick up more non-fiction books that add value to your life. Here’s a quick list of non-fiction reads you can begin with.

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