A few years ago, I read Atomic Habits by James Clear. To be honest, I didn’t expect much. But that book rewired the way I think about habits. Not as big dramatic transformations, but as small, deliberate choices that stack up quietly until one day you look around and realize everything has changed.
Clear’s core idea is deceptively simple and powerful: you don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. Meaning, implementing habits is not about willpower or some massive life overhaul. It’s about tiny, almost boring changes that compound over time.
Since then, I’ve applied that method every time I wanted to break a bad habit or build a new one into my routine. Over the years, I’ve learned to recognize what actually makes me feel good, what makes me happier and less anxious (in case I’ve never mentioned it, I’m a massive overthinker and I deal with anxiety, so having a structured routine with solid habits is not a luxury for me, it’s essential).
So here are the ten small habits that had a huge impact in my life.
1. creating a routine that fits my actual life
With social media, we’ve gotten used to seeing these “perfect” routines, planned down to the minute. You watch someone’s 5AM morning routine and suddenly your life feels like a complete mess because you can’t fit 50 billion activities into your day. So you fall into this cycle of guilt and procrastination: you try to copy someone else’s schedule, it doesn’t stick, you feel like a failure, and you give up.
What worked for me was finding a routine that makes sense for my life and adapts to my schedule. Once I understood that, and that no, I didn’t need to wake up at 5AM to be productive, everything became simpler. My routine isn’t Instagram-worthy. Some mornings are messy. But it works for me, and that’s the only thing that matters.
2. having go-to meals during the week
One of the biggest mistakes I see from people who want to eat better is not planning their meals ahead. They start the week with the best intentions and by Wednesday they’re ordering takeout because they opened the fridge and had no idea what to make. The mental load of deciding what to eat three times a day, every single day, is exhausting. And when you add hitting your macros on top of that, it can feel overwhelming fast.
I don’t plan every single meal for the week, but I have a really good idea of everything I need to quickly put together a meal that hits my macros and is reasonably healthy. I also eat more or less the same foods every day, just prepared differently to keep things interesting. Chicken might be grilled on Monday, stir-fried on Wednesday, and in a wrap on Friday. Same base, different flavors. This helps enormously and removes so much of that mental load of having to figure out what to eat every single day.
3. running
I started running seriously about two years ago. Before that, I’d go for a jog once in a while, a few minutes here and there. Nothing consistent. But when I decided I actually wanted to commit to this sport, I started following a structured program, and it reconciled me with the part of myself that never thought she was capable.
You don’t need to run two or three times a week, and you don’t need to run long distances either.
But running is one of the best exercises to improve your VO2 max, your endurance, and your cardiovascular health. In case you’re asking, VO2 max is essentially the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise, and research shows it’s one of the strongest predictors of long-term health and longevity. Running, even at moderate intensity, is one of the most effective ways to improve it over time.
Since I started running, I feel fitter than ever, and mentally, it gives me so much resilience and clarity.
4. walking without any distractions
Going for a walk without distractions has had a profoundly positive effect on my focus and mental clarity. These days, we all struggle to do anything without some kind of input (music, a podcast, a YouTube video playing in the background). We’ve trained our brains to need constant stimulation, and the idea of just being alone with our thoughts feels almost uncomfortable.
But that discomfort is exactly where the good stuff happens.
I noticed that spending time in silence, with just my thoughts and the ambient sounds around me, calms me down and helps me organize my ideas so much better. Even my creativity got a boost from this practice. Some of my best ideas came during those quiet walks. No earbuds. No scrolling. Just me and whatever my brain needed to process.
5. writing notes on paper
I know we have a million apps today that are supposed to help us organize our lives, make us more productive, save time... but the tool that actually worked for me was pen and paper.
When you write on paper, you slow down. You actually think about what you’re writing and you put intention into the words. There’s something about the physical act of writing that forces your brain to process information differently than typing on a screen. I use the Bullet Journal method, a system created by Ryder Carroll that’s basically a customizable organizational tool disguised as a notebook. You track tasks, events, and notes using rapid logging (short bullet points with specific symbols), and you regularly review and migrate items so nothing important falls through the cracks. It keeps you intentional about where your time and energy go.
And no, you don’t need some fancy notebook, and you definitely don’t need to create all those gorgeous spreads you see on social media. Just a simple notebook and a pen. That’s it. Ryder Carroll explains how to start a bullet journal in the simplest way possible on his YouTube channel.
6. including a source of protein in every meal
As soon as I started taking my strength training seriously, I understood how important protein is for building muscle. But it goes way beyond that. Protein plays a critical role in our overall health, especially for women.
As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass, and adequate protein intake is essential to slow that down. Protein also supports bone density, hormonal balance, immune function, and satiety, meaning it helps you feel full longer and reduces cravings. For women going through perimenopause and menopause, getting enough protein becomes even more important to maintain muscle, protect bone health, and support metabolism.
My friends often ask me how I manage to eat so much protein. But honestly, if you simply add a source of protein to every meal, you’ll easily hit around 100 grams per day (which I consider the minimum, especially for women who train). Eggs at breakfast, chicken or fish at lunch, Greek yogurt as a snack, some meat at dinner. It’s not as complicated as it sounds once you build the habit.
7. taking time to actually rest
Time to truly rest, without scrolling on social media, without using my free time to “produce” something.
We live in this era of optimization where everything has to be maximized, including our downtime. You see people turning their rest days into active recovery, their evenings into side hustle time, and their weekends into productivity marathons. Even relaxation has become something we feel we need to do “right”. Rest has become just another task on the to-do list, and that completely defeats the purpose.
I had to learn that doing nothing is not lazy. It’s necessary. Sometimes rest looks like lying on the couch staring at the ceiling. Sometimes it’s a nap in the middle of the afternoon. And that’s okay. Your body and your mind need that downtime to recover, and no amount of optimized routines can replace it.
8. reading only what i actually want to read
This one might sound a little controversial, but I barely read non-fiction (or I do very rarely, when a subject really interests me). If you looked at my Kindle, you’d find maybe four or five non-fiction books and a whole library of fiction, especially fantasy.
Reading for me is leisure. It’s an escape from reality. Sitting on my couch with a coffee and whatever book I’m into is a genuine moment of relaxation, and sorry, but I cannot relax reading a technical book or non-fiction.
Understanding that lifted a weight off my shoulders, because there was a time when I forced myself to read things just because people said I should, or because it was “unimaginable” not to have read this or that author. That completely ruined the joy of reading for me. Also, as someone who did academic research for a few years, trust me, I’ve had to read plenty of things I didn’t want to read. So I will never again force myself through a book I’m not enjoying.
9. moving my body every day
Not necessarily going to the gym every day, but simply doing some kind of activity that gets my body moving. It does wonders for me, especially mentally.
We live incredibly sedentary lifestyles these days. Most of us spend hours sitting at a desk, then sitting in a car, then sitting on a couch. Our bodies were designed to move, and when we don’t, everything suffers: energy levels, mood, sleep quality, even cognitive function.
Research consistently shows that prolonged sitting is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and mental health issues, regardless of whether you exercise. That means even if you crush it at the gym for an hour, sitting for the remaining fifteen hours of your day still takes a toll.
A good way to check if you’re too sedentary is to look at the step counter on your smartwatch if you have one, or even on your phone, though that’s less accurate. If you’re doing less than 7,000 steps a day, you’re not moving much.
10. limiting my time on social media
Yes, I know, this is the topic of the moment. “How to reduce your screen time,” “why I quit social media,” and all that.
Even though it might feel like just another TikTok trend, the truth is that a lot of people spend hours scrolling through social media. Hours they could spend reading a book, resting, going for a walk in nature, having a quality moment with someone they love.
I realized I was addicted to Instagram last year. My screen time was eight hours a day on my phone, and about four of those eight hours were spent on Instagram. But you know what’s worse? It was having a massive impact on my anxiety and I couldn’t even see it.
My friend Laura Peruchi talked about that in her newsletter and I reeeeally recommend reading her article:
It was only when I managed to break out of that cycle that I realized how much damage it was doing. I still have Instagram accounts, after all, I’m a photographer and Instagram is a great showcase for my work. But I’ve learned to treat it as exactly that: work. I go on Instagram only when I need to post something related to my work, and from time to time I allow myself to scroll a bit, but I usually do it on desktop, where the experience isn’t the same, so I scroll for ten minutes and that’s it.
I don’t spend much time on Substack either. I schedule all my Notes in advance and pop into the app a few times a day to reply to comments, interact with people I enjoy following, and that’s all. If I want to read an article, I save it to read later, on my computer.
wait, one more
I said I’d share ten habits, but here’s one more.
✨ enjoying all the foods i love, with moderation ✨
If you’ve been reading never not hungry for a while, you know my story. Years of restrictive eating, of counting every calorie with fear instead of intention, of telling myself that certain foods were “bad” and that eating them made me bad too. I spent too long fighting against my own hunger instead of listening to it.
Today, I eat what I love, without guilt, and with moderation. My diet is healthy most of the time, and when I feel like it, I also eat things that aren’t exactly “clean.” Because that’s what balance actually looks like. Knowing how to make good choices most of the time and giving yourself permission to enjoy life the rest of the time. That balance has removed so much mental load.
I don’t spend energy agonizing over whether I should or shouldn’t eat something. I just eat, enjoy, and move on. And my relationship with food has never been healthier.
These habits didn’t change my life overnight. None of them are glamorous or revolutionary. They’re small, quiet shifts that compounded into something bigger than I ever expected.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Pick one thing, the smallest one. The one that feels almost too easy. Start there.
Thanks for reading and see you in the next one 🌸🌙
Love this how to make changes that stick without feeling overwhelmed. Walking is so under rated
In the words of James Clear himself… Don’t ask yourself what you can do on your best days. The trick is to ask, “What can I stick to even on my worst days?”
We often make habit change so much more complicated than it needs to be.