With this golden rule you will feel twice as good in your own skin in less than three months.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” said the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu. Or as the Americans say:inch by inch, everything's a cinch † Step by step everything becomes a breeze. That's where the principle of the 1 percent rule is about:if you invest one percent every day in your goals by making a good choice, you will be doing twice as well in less than three months than you are today.
- Start every day with a glass of water
You need 8 to 10 glasses of water every day. Why not get off to a good start in the morning? In addition to making the little promise to yourself feel good, a glass of water in the morning (even better, with fresh lemon juice) gets your digestion going and hydration levels up. You dry out somewhat at night.
- Go for a half hour walk every day
Walking outside for thirty minutes a day improves your health enormously. With 150 minutes of walking a week, you already grant yourself lower blood pressure, better lung function, a fitter feeling and it is also good for your bone mass, cartilage and muscles. You even have a lower risk of breast and colon cancer if you exercise enough moderately intensively. So start by making time to go outside anyway, and build it up.
- Put your phone away an hour before you go to sleep
If you check your phone or TV up to an hour before going to bed, you are more likely to experience insomnia, nightmares and waking up at night. Your biological clock gets confused by blue light. In addition, your smartphone provides you with a lot of incentives, so that you still check that email, get excited about comments on Instagram or read a nasty piece of news, for example. All things you really don't need if you want to snooze quietly towards dreamland.
- Start meditating
It has been scientifically proven that learning to meditate actually has no drawbacks:it helps you relax and focus, allowing you to achieve your goals with more confidence and balance. Meditating can feel uncomfortable at first, so just start with one minute. Stop what you are doing, sit relaxed, inhale (deep into your stomach), let the exhale flow out effortlessly and listen to your breathing for one minute. The fact that you consciously take a moment of rest is half the battle. Once you get the hang of it, you can start with guided meditations on YouTube or in apps like Calm, for example.
