9 Habits That Will Change Your Life in the Next 90 Days

Most people aren’t in control of their habits.

Instead, their habits are in control of them.

And because your habits accumulate and shape your life, their lives are on a path they don’t want.

Maybe this is you.

You have a life that you aren’t in love with.

What if you could completely change your life in 60-90 days?

Not through luck.

Not through some secret strategy.

Not through a list of quick-fixes that deliver nothing.

But by deliberately shifting the way you operate — by changing your habits.

I can definitely say my life changed for the better since I read James Clear’s Atomic Habits.

Though I started my self-improvement before I read the book, Clear’s work solidified the power of habits.

Your habits shape your future. And in a few months, you can either be:

• Stagnant, stressed, and struggling

• Or sharper, stronger, and in control of your destiny.

The difference? What you consistently do every day.

The truth is, transformation doesn’t happen by accident—it happens by design. And it starts with the small, repeatable actions that dictate how you live each day.

You most likely already know the power of habits and their impact on your life.

Maybe you’ve made changes here and there, or you’re just starting to make changes.

Either way, I’d like to share the habits that have had the most impact in my life and give you some inspiration.

The habits you choose to implement are of utmost importance because they create your future and influence your quality of life.

Here are the 9 habits that will change your life for the better.

Habit 1: Be a Life-Long Student

The moment you stop learning, you stop growing.

If you aren’t learning, you aren’t growing.

If you aren’t growing, you’re dying a slow death.

The world is evolving, and it’s in our nature to evolve too.

So if you go against your nature and the nature of the world, you’ll put yourself at a disadvantage and suffer. So, how do you avoid needless suffering and a slow death?

Be a student and constantly be learning.

The most successful and happiest people in the world know this.

They aren’t ‘know-it-alls’, but they are curious, open to learning, adaptable, and they are continuously sharpening their skills.

Being a lifelong student means having a curious and open mind that sees the opportunity to learn everywhere they go. They see every conversation, every person, every book, every challenge and every failure as a lesson to learn from.

Books are a great example because a single non-fiction book holds years and years of someone’s knowledge and expertise. And you can consume it in 10 hours or less.

A fiction book expands your imagination and creativity. It allows provides lessons and perspectives that can’t always be taught directly. Furthermore, there is no right or wrong; your personal experiences also influence what you take away from the book, and that is valuable in itself.

Being a student of life means realising that the person you are today isn’t the person who will achieve your goals, but through learning, acquiring and implementing knowledge, you CAN become them.

The more you learn, the more you open doors. The more you open doors, the more opportunities you create.

How to start:

• Pick a topic or subject you want to learn about.

• Pick a medium that suits you best: reading, audio, visual, etc.

• Dedicate at least 30 minutes to 1 hour a day to learn.

• Take notes and reflect on what you learn. Actively engage with the information.

• Keep an open mind and seek mentors, courses, and experiences that challenge and change your thinking.

• Apply what you learn as soon as you can through a project or self-experimentation. (Information without action is just as good as never having been exposed to it in the beginning.)

Habit 2: Delay Gratification

The greatest skill in the 21st century seems to be your ability to resist and redirect. What I mean why this is: resist what is easy and redirect your effort to do what is hard because it benefits you long-term.

With the internet and advancements in technology, we have more and more of our basic needs and wants at our fingertips.

Our brains are wired to move away from pain and towards pleasure. But what is pleasurable isn’t always what’s good for you:

• Sitting on the couch, binge watching a TV show and ordering junk food is easier than cooking your meals and going to the gym. But in the long term, you won’t have the health and body you want.

• Opening your phone to scroll for 4 hours is easier than working on a project with deep focus for 2 hours. But in the long term, you won’t advance in your career or increase your income.

• Constantly swiping on a dating app and ghosting people is easier than being vulnerable and opening yourself up to people. But in the long term, you won’t have a deep, loving relationship.

• Leaving things until tomorrow is easier than doing it now when you are tired or overwhelmed. But in the long term, you’ll be more stressed and full of regret about opportunities you missed.

The lives we want aren’t easy to build, but they are worth it.

The more you learn to delay gratification and do the hard, uncomfortable things now, the better your life will be in the future.

Once you develop gratification as a habit, what was once hard will be easy, and what was easy will be hard.

• It will be easier to start now than wait until tomorrow.

• It will be easier for you to work 4 hours a day instead of scrolling social media.

• It will be easier to go to the gym and eat healthy instead of staying in and ordering online.

• It will be easier to have those difficult conversations instead of pretending things are “fine”.

When you adopt this as a habit, you’ll find that your life gets better because you get better.

How to start:

• Create a clear vision for your future.

• When deciding what action to take, ask yourself: "Does it align with my vision or not?"

  • If it does, do it.

  • If it doesn't, don't do it.

• When you feel the urge for instant gratification, pause and reflect before acting.

• Set delayed rewards for yourself (e.g., finish work first, then watch Netflix).

• Practice thinking in decades, not days—remind yourself of the bigger vision you’re working towards.

Habit 3: Single-Tasking

Multi-tasking is a trap.

It feels productive because you’re ‘doing’ more things at once, but in reality, you’re just switching back and forth, losing focus and efficiency with every switch.

Studies show that task-switching reduces productivity by up to 40%.

Single-tasking, on the other hand, is a superpower.

It allows you to enter a state of deep focus, finish things faster, and perform at a higher level. When you give one task your full attention, the quality of your work improves, and your mind stays sharper.

Think of your attention like a laser.

The more you spread it across multiple areas, the weaker it gets.

The more you focus it on one thing, the stronger it becomes.

You can read more about single-tasking here.

How to start:

• Set a clear intention before starting any task.

• Eliminate distractions (phone on silent, notifications off).

• Use a timer (e.g., 30-60 minute deep focus blocks).

• Resist the urge to check emails or social media in between.

• Complete one thing fully before moving to the next.

Habit 4: Deep Work over Busy, Shallow Work

Deep work is where real results happen.

This is where you make the most of single-tasking as a habit.

Most people stay stuck in shallow work, constantly responding to emails, notifications, and distractions. They feel busy but never truly move the needle.

Deep work is the opposite.

It’s uninterrupted, high-focus time spent on high-impact tasks. It’s where your best ideas, breakthroughs, and progress come from.

The people who master deep work separate themselves from the rest. They achieve more in a few focused hours than most people do in a day.

How to start:

• Set aside 90-120 minute blocks for deep work.

• Choose 1-2 high-impact tasks to focus on.

• Remove all distractions (phone in another room, DND mode on).

• Use noise-canceling headphones or ambient sounds.

• Work on one task for one work block, then take a break before diving back into another one.

Habit 5: Inner Work

If you want a good life, you need the mindset to hold it. You need to be prepared to receive that which you ask for.

If you’re struggling to achieve your goals, it’s because you have your foot on the gas (being clear in your goals, knowing what you want, taking action, etc.), but you also have your foot on the brake (doubting yourself, self-sabotage, limiting beliefs).

If you’re not internally aligned with your goals, you will suffer and struggle.

You can either be your biggest fan or your greatest enemy, and it all comes down to your internal world.

You can work hard and do the right things to achieve your goals, but if you aren’t where you want to be externally,y it’s because your internal is not aligned.

If you don’t feel worthy of the things you want, you won’t get them. You attract who you are, and you can only have externally what you are internally.

If you want to elevate your life in a way that feels effortless, you need to do the inner work to become the person who can get and maintain that life.

How to start:

• Get clear on your goals and what you want in life.

• Identify the beliefs, habits, thoughts and emotions that don’t align with that life.

• Work on replacing them with the beliefs, habits and emotions that align.

• Give yourself time and grace to heal your past and limiting stories.

• Look to therapy as an option for more support.

Habit 6: Meditation

Meditation is a powerful habit for emotional and mental homeostasis.

Many of us were not taught for to relate to our thoughts. Instead, we view our thoughts as us and operate as them.

But through meditation, you learn to take a step back and observe your thoughts. When you can step back and observe your thoughts, you have the power to choose which thoughts you engage with.

If a thought doesn’t serve you, you have the power to let it go, choose and engage with a thought that does.

One of my favourite benefits of meditation is that the more you do it, you’ll subtly begin to embody mindfulness in your day-to-day life.

You’ll be less reactive, less anxious, more patient, calmer and more present.

It won’t happen overnight, but over time, there will be a shift in how you approach and move through life.

The more you meditate, the more you’ll become more aware and conscious of your unconscious thoughts, attitudes and behaviours.

How to start:

• Start with 5–10 minutes a day.

• Focus on your breath.

• When your mind wanders, gently return.

• If you catch yourself getting lost in a thought, that’s okay. Be aware of that, let the thought go and come back to the breath.

(Note: You can use music, but I’d recommend starting without it, so you can become familiar with a lack of stimulus.)

Habit 7: Embrace Boredom

People don’t have to spend time by themselves.

They run from boredom.

They fill every moment with noise, notifications, and content. They are overstimulated and disconnected.

But it’s in boredom that you have your best ideas and breakthroughs.

It’s in boredom that you see the things you’d usually miss.

It’s in boredom that you meet and get to know yourself.

By learning to embrace boredom and be in silence, you learn to be with yourself and to be still.

To step away from the constant stimulation of the external world and investigate what’s going on in your internal world.

You learn to hear your intuition and how to listen to your own voice.

When you allow yourself to be bored, your brain enters the default mode network—a state where it makes connections, processes ideas, and generates insights.

If you’re a creator, you may have noticed that you have some of your best ideas when you’re doing ‘nothing’: showering, walking, or simply sitting in silence.

But if you constantly fill every empty moment with noise and stimulation, you never give your mind the space to think deeply.

How to start:

• Go on a walk without listening to music or a podcast.

• Observe the world around you and the world within you.

• Spend time alone without your phone or any distractions.

• Set “boredom time” (15-30 min daily to do nothing but think).

• Let your mind wander and try to avoid changing or running away from anything.

Habit 8: Daily Movement

In this physical world, the one thing you will always have is your body.

It is the vessel you were blessed with, so why not take care of it?

If you don’t take care of it, everything else suffers.

Exercise isn’t just about having a good-looking body. It’s about energy, mental clarity, and longevity.

Moving your body boosts dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, making you sharper, more creative, and more focused.

Since I was young, I’ve always done some kind of physical activity. The time when my mental health suffered the most was when I stopped exercising.

That was a big wake-up call for me, and it changed the way I saw not just exercise, but physical movement.

For me, exercise is a non-negotiable, not because I want to punish myself, but because I respect myself and I want to feel good in my body and mind. When my body is strong, my mind is strong.

The beauty of physical movement is that you don’t need to go to the gym to reap its benefits; you can go for a walk, a swim, do yoga or any other form of physical movement that makes you feel good.

The most important thing is to move, move, move.

How to start:

• Find a form of exercise you enjoy (walking, swimming, yoga, gym, calisthenics, running).

• Start with 3-4 sessions a week.

• Focus on consistency over intensity. Once it becomes a habit, you can increase the frequency or intensity.

Habit 9: Acquire A High-Income Skill

If you want to develop in your career, you want to learn a high-income skill.

The world we live in is changing. Things are advancing faster than ever. If you want to keep up with these changes, you need to develop the skills that will allow you to thrive regardless of the changes.

If you want time freedom and fulfilment, you need leverage.

And skills give you leverage.

If you have skills you are interested in, start with those. If you don’t know where to start, I recommend starting with evergreen skills.

Evergreen skills are abilities and knowledge that, regardless of the times or changes, remain relevant and valuable.

Despite changes in technology, trends or markets, you can still thrive with them.

Skills such as:

• Marketing

• Writing

• Sales

• Leadership

• Content creation

• Copywriting

• Design

• Critical thinking

• Communication

The skill I learned was writing. This, along with other skills, such as marketing and social media growth, is why I can do what I enjoy and get paid for it.

The internet provides incredible opportunities to advance in your career, do what you love, and get paid for it.

All you have to do is start learning and developing the skills that make it possible.

How to start:

• Pick 1 skill to master over the next 90 days.

• Spend 1 hour per day learning and practicing.

• Outline a project to test and develop your skills.

The Power of Small Habits

While these habits may seem small, their impact is profound when done consistently.

They compound over time, helping you reclaim control over your energy, time, and focus.

They help you align and build the life you want.

Remember, the key is not perfection but progress.

Start with one or two habits, and incorporate more as they become second nature.

These habits are your blueprint for a balanced, fulfilling life.

TL;DR

9 Habits to Transform Your Life

1. Be a lifelong student

2. Delay gratification

3. Single-tasking

4. Deep work

5. Inner work

6. Meditation

7. Embrace boredom

8. Daily movement

9. Acquiring a high-income skill

Thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed it.

See you in the next one.

— Shana

p.s.

If you’re ready to unlock deep focus, master your performance and save 10+ hours a week, click here.