“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” – John Dryden

Unless you have been a hermit living in a cave then you most likely would have heard of 7 habits of effective people. Life however is more than just being effective, here are 7 habits you can adopt to live your day meaningfully.

Habit 1: Be present

Being present in your life means that you are there to enjoy every second of anything you set out to do. What with social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and stuff many of us have gone and meet people like our friends and family and yet fail to engage fully with them because we are too busy checking out pictures our friends have uploaded or the statuses they put up. Being present is more than just being at a place physically, be there mentally and spiritually as well.

Habit 2: Realising what really matters

What really matters to you? Is it being happy, rich, slim or successful in whatever you do? If you do not know what really matters to you then you cannot enjoy whatever it is that you have. Material possessions can only matter so much, it usually only brings happiness at the moment of purchase. Does having a thing really matters? No one says on their deathbeds “I wish I had bought that Ferrari.” Most people wish that they had spent more time with loved ones or left a legacy that people remember.

Habit 3: Taking charge of your life

Many people go through life blaming everything and everyone for their failures. Stop! Your life is in your hands, take charge and change the course of where you are heading.

Habit 4: Love wholeheartedly

Love your work, love the people in your life wholeheartedly. Don’t wait for the love to be reciprocated, if you do so you will never experience the joy of loving something or someone and in turn your love will never be reciprocated fully. Don’t waste your time doing things or being with someone you kinda like, drop them and find other source where you can invest your love fully.

Habit 5: Treasure the time you have

We all have 24 hours in a day, what you do with it matters. Don’t waste time on things you don’t like, either find a way to enjoy whatever it is you are doing or find something else to spend time on.

Habit 6: Have some fun time

Not everything in life has to be educational or so called productive. You can have fun! In fact, you should have fun. If you suffer from guilt when you are just enjoying yourself doing stuff like shopping or hanging out with friends, take into account that you have worked hard the rest of the time and enjoy the fun times. All work and no play makes all of us incredibly dull.

Habit 7: Rinse and repeat

There is no point in engaging in all of the above if you cannot repeat them. Start building those habits into your day and you may find that little by little you will start to live meaningfully on a daily basis.

The above habits are simply ways of appreciating life, the first steps you need is to calm your mind and to do this I highly recommend 7 Habits of Calmness by Leo Babauta