The 10 key habits to boost your mental health

The truth is, we all have habits. But the big question we all must ask ourselves is: Are our habits lifting us up? Or pulling us down? Are we repeating them mindlessly, or are we practising our habits with intention and meaning?

True transformation isn’t about a complete overhaul of your life. It is about building self-awareness around the small things we do each day. And choosing to do them with intention and awareness. That’s where change begins.

Yogi and wellness expert Sjana Elise is someone who I really admire for her love for life and presence. On episode 88 of the Good Humans podcast, she said, “Rituals are habits done with intention.” And that line stayed locked in my mind, and changed how I viewed everything.

Visual accountability 

My partner Carol and I sat down and wrote two words in bold on our whiteboard: FULL POTENTIAL. We asked ourselves a very important question. One I think we all should ask ourselves.

Am I living to my full potential? What does it mean to live to my full potential? What does it look like on your average Thursday? What choices do we need to make each day to live up to our potential?

Then we created a list and drew a table on our whiteboard, with the seven days of the week across the top row and 10 habits down the left column of the table.  The 10 daily habits aligned with the person that we each wanted to become. They weren’t revolutionary habits. They were simple things like exercise for 15 minutes, home cook nutritious foods, get out into nature, meditate, practise gratitude.

What made the habits powerful wasn’t the complexity, it was the consistency. Most of us know these things are good for us, but are we actually doing them? We needed visual accountability. So, we made the table on the whiteboard and decided to keep each other accountable.

Full potential habits 

We didn’t invent these healthy habits; we collected them. Over hundreds of Good Humans podcast episodes, I heard the same themes come up over and over again from people living a happy and fulfilled life. Whether I was speaking to a doctor, an F1 driver, an NRL star, an Olympic Gold medallist or a successful entrepreneur, the message was very clear.

These small daily healthy habits, done with intention and presence, are the foundation to a full life:

1. Breathwork
2. Meditation
3. Exercise/movement
4. Time in nature
5. Connection/communication
6. Limiting screen time/time spent learning
7. Gratitude
8. Healthy eating/home cooking
9. Stretching/recovery
10. Sleep/self care

Putting habits into practice 

So, we began ticking off these healthy habits every day. Not in a strict and judgemental way, but in a way that kept us accountable and showed us where we could improve.

Some days we crushed it; some days we didn’t come close. Some weeks we would hit 30/70. Some weeks we would hit 60/70. The point was never perfection, it was progress. It was about becoming the sort of people who act with intention, not on autopilot.

Modern life can feel like a moving pathway. If you don’t choose your direction, life will choose it for you. It will keep you locked into scrolling, rushing and reacting daily. Unless you consciously choose to shift and step onto your own path.

I feel like in 2024, I stepped off the modern life pathway. I choose my direction, even when it feels hard. I let my values and habits guide me. I stopped looking for a silver bullet, magic fix, and started building a toolbelt. And then I filled the toolbelt with daily practices, habits and mindsets I could rely on when life got messy (which it always will).

These aren’t hard rules. They are invitations for you to try, things for you to explore, adapt and mould into your own toolbelt.

You don’t need to be perfect. Not even close to perfect. You just need to be intentional and consistent. Because when you give yourself at least 14 minutes a day to walk against the treadmill, practising healthy habits such as movement, mindfulness and gratitude, you begin to unlock something powerful. You begin to live for you. On your terms. Not just for productivity, but for purpose.

Written by Cooper Chapman. Have you read?
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