Investing in yourself is one of the best things you can do. If you want to be successful, you have to take care of yourself too. It’s all well and good pushing yourself to be the best you can possibly be, but without taking care of yourself, you’ll be heading for a burnout pretty quickly.
There’s a misconception that investing in yourself and looking after number one has to take hours of your time. Leave those misconceptions behind. It only needs to take around fifteen minutes of your time to invest in yourself and make a huge impact on your life.
1. Count your blessings
With just fifteen minutes of gratitude, you can change your life, improve your relationships, and become more positive. So much research has been done into the benefits of gratitude and how it can impact your life. With a gratitude journal, it’s so much easier to remind yourself to count your blessings. And rewiring your brain to see the positives will help you see more opportunities in the world around you.
2. Ban technology
Technology is great, but for at least fifteen minutes a day, you should try to go technology-free. Turn off your phone, get away from the TV, shut your laptop or computer and instead, try to find something else to fill your time. Not only will it help you unwind in the evenings, but it’ll also take away a source of anxiety.
3. Do a mini-workout
Yes, you know you have to aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, but you can also do a light 15-minute jog, walk, or run for an extra endorphin boost. Get your blood flowing during the day just to clear your head, especially if you sit down all day. There are so many benefits from being active and getting your body moving, so try it and see what happens.
4. Give yourself a facial massage
Grab some of your favorite moisturizers and give yourself a facial massage. There are so many techniques that can help boost your glow, de-puff your face and help boost your circulation. You can even buy a jade facial roller, the cold jade feels amazing on your face and can help you relax, unwind, and feel better. The perfect fifteen-minute mini-facial.
5. Write in a personal journal
Grab your planner and give yourself three prompts for the week. One thing you achieved, one thing you want to achieve, and one thing you need to get off your chest. Use this to motivate, empower, and inspire yourself. Give space to your own emotions, find out what motivates you, and give yourself fifteen minutes to explore your own thoughts and feelings. It’ll give you something to look back on and remind you about your feelings at that specific time.
6. Edit your space
Fifteen minutes is all you need to clear your space, get the feng shui going. You’ll feel so much better once you spend some time editing the space around you. Whether that means clearing your desk, editing your wardrobe, or just leaving out your clothes the night before.
7. Start a vision board
Start collecting images that reflect the life you want to live and create the life of your dreams. Don’t just choose photos that reflect the materialistic aspects of the life you want to live, choose themes that help you visualize the person you want to be. You can collect more images every week and then eventually, use your fifteen minutes to start gluing images on a canvas to remind you of where you want to be.
8. Learn a new skill
Yes, it does only take 15 minutes to learn something new. With a service like Skillshare, you can literally watch a video and learn something new in just fifteen minutes. There are so many other online course hubs that you can sign up for and learn skills from cooking to coding in literally fifteen minutes a day. You can actually learn so much, that new languages you’ve been thinking about, a skill you’ve always wanted to develop, the sky is the limit.
9. Build your network
Fifteen minutes of chatting with someone new is all you need to start off a relationship with them. You can use LinkedIn to find people that you want to network with, or even things like Bumble BFF can be hugely beneficial for meeting people and networking with like-minded women. It’s important to connect with people.
10. Do the things that aren’t important to you
You spend so long doing important things all day every day, now it’s time to do the unimportant things. Read a book that’s been left on your ‘to read’ list, watch that obscure movie you’ve been thinking about, call your friend and ask them about their vacation. Do those things that you often leave until the weekend, or when there’s more time, and you’ll see an improvement to your mood right away.
11. Book something in for yourself
A hair appointment, getting your nails done, a spa, a facial, it’s time to take fifteen minutes and book something for yourself. At least once a month, give back to yourself by booking something nice. Something that you don’t often get a chance to do, like say, a massage, or a day at a spa and gym. Invest in yourself by giving yourself time. You won’t regret it.
12. Forgive people
All throughout your life you’ve been holding grudges, it probably started in the playground or well before and can affect you throughout your adult life. When you take fifteen minutes to really focus on forgiving people who’ve wronged you, you’re actually taking the power back from them and allowing yourself to move on and become the best version of yourself. It’s one of the simplest things you can do with fifteen minutes a day.
13. Start a video diary
How nice would it be in twenty, thirty years time, to look back on a video diary of your life, that took just fifteen minutes a week? Take out your camera and film for fifteen minutes, tell yourself what you’re up to, focus on showing the camera what’s important to you right now, where you’re at with life, and what your problems and struggles are. Do this as often as you can and compile it together to give yourself a visual record of your life to look back on.
14. Spread some kindness
Fifteen minutes is more than enough time to spread some kindness around. Whether you’re sending a smile to a stranger, buying food for someone, or simply lending motivation to someone who desperately needs it. Being kind will give you a huge mood boost, and spread the feeling around. We need more kindness!
15. Outline your goals for the future
This one is so important, not only will it give you something to work towards, it’ll help you create benchmarks of your progress now and where you are in your life. Outlining your goals takes a few minutes but helps to create a driving force pushing you forward and gives you something to work on. It’s important for finding your purpose and doing what you need to do in life.
GOOD THINGS
…come to those who sign up for our emails