Do you want to live a great life? Do you feel like your life isn’t going the way you want?
Maybe your plan isn’t working, or you just want a change because anything is better than how things are currently going.
Or, maybe you just want to improve your life even more in 2017!
No matter how you’re feeling, I believe that everyone is in charge of their own destiny and that everyone can learn how to live a great life.
If you feel things are not going the way you want them to go, then change it! You can improve your life and how you perceive it by taking part in different actions.
For that reason, I’ve packed this post with my best and most actionable tips for 2017 so that you can live a great life, and there are some new ones that are sure to make this new year your best ever. Enjoy, and I hope this year is a great one for everyone.
How to live a great life in 2017!
1. Reach your goals in 2017.
To make 2017 a great year, you’ll want to set goals so that you can reach your dreams. Those who set goals are much more likely to be successful than those who do not.
To reach your goals in 2017, you’ll want to:
Review the previous year along with your previous goals and objectives.
Make sure your goal is SMART.
Write down your goals and objectives for 2017.
Create a plan to reach your life goals.
Break your goal apart into smaller goals.
Keep track of your goal setting progress and make changes (if needed).
Find small ways to stick to your goal.
Find ways to motivate yourself when setting goals.
Make reaching your goal a friendly competition.
Read further at The Best Way To Set Goals And Reach Success in 2017.
2. Smile more.
Smiling is contagious and is very important if you want to live a great life in 2017!
Studies have even proven that smiling can improve your mood, even if it’s a fake smile.
Smile at the next person you pass, smile when you’re talking on the phone, smile when your loved one comes home, smile in an interview, and more.
3. Don’t be afraid of what people think.
I used to really care about what other people thought of me, but I’ve been able to let go of that and now I couldn’t be happier. This has really helped me learn how to live a great life.
You shouldn’t let the opinions of others affect you, drag you down, control you, and so on. Like I always say “Who cares!?”
Why should the opinions of others matter to you? And, because everyone is different, all that should matter is what is right for you.
4. Spend less time watching TV.
I bring this up a lot on Making Sense of Cents, but this statistic is just crazy-
the average person watches around 35 hours of TV a week.
35 HOURS!
Our minds are greatly influenced by what we see on TV. Plus, watching TV can be a big time waster and can be detrimental if you want to live a great life.
Instead of turning on the TV the next time you are bored or looking for something to do, you may want to do something more worthwhile, such as working out, spending time with friends and family, reading a book, and so on.
5. Be more confident.
A lack of confidence may:
Prevent someone from believing in themselves.
Lead to someone being too shy to do what they want or need.
Force someone to do things they hate.
Cause someone to ruin a meeting, job possibility, and so on.
Lead to unhappiness.
On the flip side, confidence can open many doors for you.
It can lead to getting the job you want, making more money, reaching your dreams, meeting new people, networking, traveling the world, and more.
Read more at Be More Confident And Get What You Want In Life.
6. Be thankful for what you have.
The next time something negative is bringing you down, I suggest you try to remember all of the positive and good in your life. You already live a great life, you just need to remember that.
This is the power of positive thinking at its best.
You can be thankful for your family, friends, job, a past experience, opportunities, and more.
Thinking about everything you are thankful for can make something negative seem very trivial. You may even laugh at yourself for being so negative!
7. Start investing.
In 2017, I want you to start investing if you haven’t done so yet.
You want to invest your money so that you can:
Retire one day.
Prepare for unexpected events in the future.
Allow your money to grow over time.
Read more at The 6 Steps To Take To Invest Your First Dollar – Yes, It’s Really This Easy!
8. Be kind to others.
You should always be kind to others. This can help both you and others live a great life. Being kind can open your mind, help you stop dwelling on negative things in life, brighten someone’s day, and more.
You can be kind to others by doing things such as:
Say hello to every person you walk by today.
Open doors for others.
Smile at strangers.
Help someone with their groceries.
Volunteer somewhere.
Related post: 50+ Random Acts of Kindness.
9. Look for ways to save more money.
Looking for ways to save more money may allow you to pay off your debt quicker, improve your financial habits, help you reach your dream sooner, and more.
Plus, there are many, many different ways to save money. You don’t need to sacrifice your favorite things or live an unhappy life in order to save money.
It’s all about being realistic and finding a good balance between saving and spending.
Read more at 30+ Ways To Save Money Each Month.
10. Take a risk.
Have you ever thought about doing something particularly risky but were too afraid to go for it?
Well, 2017 may be your year! Or, at least maybe you can start planning to take that risk?
Doing something risky every so often can get your heart beating and your adrenaline rushing. This can really make you feel alive and like you are in charge of your life.
11. Realize that it’s okay to fail.
If you’re taking risks or trying new things, there is a chance that you may fail.
But, that’s completely okay!
You won’t know if something will work or not unless you try it, and sometimes failure is just a part of the learning process.
Part of living a great life is failing every now and then. Accept that fate now and you’ll be better prepared when it happens.
12. Create a budget.
The average family carries a lot of financial stress. Most people have student loans, credit card debt, a mortgage, car loans, and sometimes other forms of debt.
However, not many people have a budget.
In fact, 68% of households in the U.S. do not prepare a budget.
Budgeting can help you take control of your finances, which can then help reduce stress and allow you to reach your dreams. Having a budget is crucial if you want to live a great life.
Read more at The Complete Budgeting Guide: How To Create A Budget That Works.
13. Say yes.
If you often find that you’re hiding from everyone and you feel like you are stuck, you may want to try branching out and saying yes more often.
Saying yes can open you up to more situations, help you grow as a person, and so on.
14. Say no.
If you say yes to everything, but you are ready to pull your hair out, then you may want to start saying no. No one wants to be walked on or spread too thin, and you also don’t want to be holding yourself back from the things that you truly want to do in life.
Saying no may allow you to have more time to focus on what you truly want from life.
15. Don’t let life pass you by.
It can be really easy to let life pass you by. Before you know it, years or even decades may be gone.
Too many people have the mindset of “Oh, in 10 years life will be so much better because of such and such.” And then, they just let their lives go by without ever thinking about the present.
Well, what about now?!
10 years is a long time!
Reaching a goal is great, but you should always make sure you are living life to the fullest (on a budget, of course).
16. Cherish moments with loved ones.
You should never take a moment for granted with those that you love. This will sound very doom and gloom, but you just never know what may happen to you or them.
Plus, spending time with your loved ones is always a great time, so why not just do it more?!
17. Pay off debt.
Paying off your debt can lessen your stress levels, allow you to put more money towards something else (such as retirement), stop paying interest fees, and more.
Debt can hold a person back significantly, and by paying off your debt you may be able to live the life that you’ve always wanted.
Let’s make 2017 the year that we finally get rid of our debt or at least work our way towards eliminating it!
Read more at How To Eliminate Your Debt.
18. Exercise more in 2017.
Whenever I’m feeling a little stressed out, tired, or even grumpy, I try to fit in a workout. I know that even a small workout is better than none.
Exercising is great and it can improve your life because it can make you healthier all around. You will feel more confident, your mind will be clearer, you will be able to better cope with stress, and more.
19. Increase your credit score.
If you need a loan for anything in the future, you can do easy things to increase your credit score. Watch your utilization rate on your credit cards, pay your bills on time, watch the amount of hard inquiries on your credit report, and so on.
Your credit score is important because it can affect your interest rate and whether or not you will get approved for a loan.
Just a few percentage points can mean the difference of hundreds of dollars each month.
That means you can wind up saving THOUSANDS each year just by increasing your credit score. You can check your credit score for free with Credit Sesame.
20. Don’t keep up with the Joneses.
Whether you are five years old and want that new toy everyone is playing with, or if you are 50 years old and are feeling the need to upgrade your house, car, etc., everyone has experienced wanting to keep up with someone else.
The problem with this is that keeping up with the Joneses can actually make you broke.
When trying to keep up with the Joneses, you might spend money you do not have. You might put expenses on credit cards to (in a pretend world) “afford” things. You might buy things that you do not care about. The problems can go on and on.
This can then lead to an excessive amount of debt and potentially set someone back years with their financial goals, if not decades.
21. Do what YOU want to do.
What makes you happy, excited, joyful, and motivated? That’s what you should be doing with your life (as long as it’s legal)!
Stop thinking about what other people want you to do and start listening to your heart. Who cares about what others think? If you spend all your time thinking about others, you will just be wasting a ton of time!
If you want to live a life of adventure – Go for it.
If you want to start a family – Start planning one.
If you want a better job – Get one.
If you want to change the world – Do it.
22. Read as much as you can.
I’ll admit it, I don’t read as many books as I would like to.
I’m so focused on reading about personal finance, but I know I need to occasionally take a break and do some reading for pleasure.
Reading is great for many reasons, such as:
Providing knowledge.
Improving your memory.
Opening your mind.
Bringing out your creative side.
It is affordable entertainment.
And more!
23. Think positively.
I say this often, and I believe it.
Thinking positively can greatly improve your life and your outlook on life. Being positive can help motivate you, it can help you to not waste time on regret, and more.
Related article: Why I Believe Being Positive Can Change Your Financial Situation And Your Life.
24. Don’t waste time on being negative.
You are wasting your time when you are being negative.
Instead of wasting your energy on things like dwelling on regret and/or gossiping, you can be more productive by using this time for things that actually matter.
By being more positive, you will be able to better simplify your life.
25. Find free forms of entertainment.
Someone once told me how expensive it was to have fun. They were telling me about all of their debt and everything that goes along with it, then they also told me that their monthly “fun” budget was around $500.
Uhhh what?! $500? A month?!
If you are trying to get rid of high-interest rate debt, I can’t think of any reason for why you should be spending $500 a month to have fun.
There are many ways to have fun for cheap. Check out How To Have Frugal Fun for some of my ideas.
26. Stop letting money control you.
If you want to gain control of your life and make 2017 a great year, then you need to gain control of your money.
This means you need to stop worrying about all of the things that are holding you back. Instead, create an action plan so that the littlest things do not tear you down or stress you out.
27. Get enough sleep each night.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average person needs around 7.5 hours of sleep in order to “function at their best.” However, the average person actually only sleeps around 6.5 hours.
Lack of sleep, according to HealthLine, can lead to issues such as:
Impaired brain activity
Memory problems
Moodiness
Depression
Cold and Flu
Type 2 Diabetes
Weight gain
High blood pressure
Heart disease
Due to this, you should aim for 7-8 hours of sleep every night.
28. Find something good in a negative situation.
There may even be some good in a bad experience, even though it can be hard to think about the positive while you are experiencing something negative.
Through the power of positive thinking, you can use a bad experience to learn something new about yourself, to realize you made a mistake, to come up with a new plan you never thought of before, and more.
Taking the negative and turning it into a learning experience can help prevent a negative situation from happening again. Or, maybe next time you’ll be more prepared!
29. Travel to a random place.
There are many wonderful places in the world. Traveling to a random place can help improve your confidence, open you up to new experiences, and may even make you a little uncomfortable- and sometimes that’s okay.
30. Create a bucket list.
If you don’t have a bucket list, I recommend creating one now! In case you are unaware, a bucket list is where you list all of the major goals you want to meet, places you want to visit, and things you want to do in your life.
Creating a bucket list can give you the motivation you need to work harder towards your dreams, it can give you a sense of direction, and a great feeling of fulfillment as you complete each amazing thing you want to do.
31. Welcome the unknown.
Some people like to ignore the unknown because they are afraid of it. However, you’ll never know what your future holds unless you try new things and welcome different experiences.
When looking forward, you should make a realistic plan for what may happen once you start taking steps to reach your goal. This may make the whole thing much more relaxing and less stressful because you will be more prepared for the unknown.
For example, if you want to leave your job for something else but are afraid of what may happen, one thing you might want to do is to make sure you have a well-funded emergency fund. This way, if it takes you a little longer to find your dream job or dream life, your emergency fund will be there to help ease some of the stress.
32. Be open to new things and tackle your fears.
When was the last time you did something new? So many people live inside their comfort zone when they actually need to branch out every now and then.
Yes, stepping outside of your box can be tough, but what if it completely opened your eyes and changed your whole outlook on life? Wouldn’t that be amazing?
If you want to learn how to live life to the fullest, this is something you need to do every now and then. You could even give yourself a goal to try something new each day, each week, or each month.
33. Become more organized in 2017.
Being unorganized can waste a significant amount of your time. It leads to late fees, stress, lost items, and more.
Here are some surprising statistics I found from Simply Orderly about being unorganized:
The average person spends 12 days per year looking for things they can’t find.
Every day, the average office worker spends 1.5 hours looking for things.
In a recent survey, 55% of consumers stated they would save anywhere from 16 to 60 minutes a day if they were organized.
23% of people pay bills late and have to pay late fees because they are unable to find their bills.
34. Be open minded to live a great life.
Being open minded is a great quality. There are billions of people in this world and everyone is different, so instead of judging others we should be more open minded.
And, everyone can stand to be a little more open minded.
Being open minded can help you accept changes, love others, be optimistic, learn from others, and most of all, it’s relaxing. Instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing, you can relax, have less stress, and just accept those around you.
35. Finally get rid of cable.
The average monthly cable bill is over $100. By the year 2020, the average cable bill is expected to be around $200 a month.
You can read more about cutting cable here and how to save money by doing this. I recommend getting a digital antenna so that you can receive local channels for free!
We don’t pay for any form of TV (not even Netflix!), and we LOVE it.
36. Drink more water to live a great life.
According to Lifehacker, the average person should drink around 9 to 13 cups of water per day. This is just a baseline, though, as if you exercise or are in hot weather, then you should consume more.
However, not many people get anywhere near this amount of water.
Drinking water can help you lose weight, perform better, be happier, prevent headaches, help your skin, and is a must for your body to survive.
37. Make more money.
Here on Making Sense of Cents, I spend a lot of time discussing extra income, side hustles, side income, and how to make money online. I believe that earning extra income can completely change your life in a positive way. You can stop living paycheck to paycheck, pay off your debt, and more, all by earning extra money.
In fact, because of extra income and my blog, I was able to pay off $38,000 in student loans within 7 months, I was able to leave my day job in order to pursue my passion, travel full-time, and more!
Related blog posts:
75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
100+ Extra Income Ideas
8 Things To Sell To Make Money
How To Start a Money-Making Blog Free Course
38. Spend less time on social media.
The average person spends many, many hours on social media each week.
Between Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and many others it can be quite easy to waste your entire day.
If you find that you are spending too much time on social media and that it is negatively impacting you, you may want to shut down the social media accounts that you are spending too much time on. You can even create a time block so you cannot access your accounts during certain periods of the day, and so on.
39. Declutter and downsize.
Decluttering and downsizing can help you:
To save money. In some cases, a bigger home can cost more due to higher utility bills, more clutter being bought, higher insurance, more maintenance and repairs needed, higher purchasing price, etc.
To have less clutter. The bigger your home, the more likely you’ll have empty rooms that you feel the need to put stuff in. Now that we live in an RV, we are much more mindful of what we buy. We think about every purchase in terms of weight, size, where we can store it, and more.
To spend less time on maintenance and repairs. If all other factors between two homes are the same (age, location, etc.), a bigger home is more likely to take up more of your time and money due to more things breaking.
To spend less time cleaning. A larger home is going to take a lot more time to clean than a smaller one.
40. Have regular family money meetings.
Talking about money and conducting regular budget meetings is an important task for every family and serious relationship to take part in. A family who has regular money talks and budget meetings is more likely to be financially successful and happier than a family that doesn’t.
Regular money meetings can lead to better communication between family members, a more unified financial goal, family members being more involved and motivated, and more.
Read more at Family Budget Meetings – Yes, You Need To Have Them.
41. Keep a journal.
While I don’t have a journal, I do have this blog, which acts as a journal in a way. Keeping a journal can help you reflect on your past, and it also allows you to see the progress you are making towards your goals and dreams.
Plus, spilling your heart out every so often is great for the mind and soul.
Related tip: If you’re looking for a life planner, I highly recommend checking out Erin Condren and looking at their life planners and monthly planners. This can be a great way to stay motivated so that you can reach your dream life!
42. Don’t be afraid to be successful.
When some people become successful and reach their goals, they occasionally start feeling guilty.
Yes, I know, this might seem weird. However, I understand this.
Sometimes I really dislike telling my friends and family how great life is and how much I love my business. I often feel guilty, but I just need to remember that a mixture of luck and hard work led me to where I am. Everyone has their down points, and I had them as well.
You shouldn’t be afraid to talk about your accomplishments, and you shouldn’t ever be ashamed of your success.
43. Sit silently.
When was the last time you just sat down in complete silence with no distractions? For the average person, this is probably a rare occurrence.
Sitting silently can help you reflect on your life and what’s going on in the world around you. It can also help you relax, destress, and clear your mind.
44. Have an emergency fund.
An emergency fund is something that I believe everyone should have. However, according to a report byBankrate.com, 26% of Americans have no emergency fund whatsoever.
This same report stated that only 40% of families have enough in savings to cover three months of expenses, with an even lower percentage having the recommended six months worth of savings.
This is frightening to me, as having an emergency fund can really help you get through tough parts of your life.
An emergency fund can help you if you lose your job, if your hours are cut back, if you have an unexpected expense, and so on.
Read more at Everything You Need To Know About Emergency Funds.
45. Stay motivated.
Even with how much I love saving money, every now and then it becomes easy to get unmotivated and want to SPEND ALL THE MONEY!
I’m sure I’m not alone either.
While many choose to live a frugal life, it’s not always easy. Some have large amounts of debt to pay off, others find it hard to stick to a budget, and more.
Finding financial motivators will help you continue to work hard towards your goal, even when it seems impossible. Without motivation, one might give up on a financial goal quite easily. This is why it’s so important to learn how to stay motivated.
Read more at Paying Off Debt And Budgeting: Tricks For Staying Motivated.
46. Stop being afraid of your past.
Just because you may have failed at something in the past, this should not prevent you from aiming for your goals. I know people who have completely given up with reaching for hard goals because they weren’t successful in the past. However, that’s a horrible mindset to have.
If you have failed in the past, then you should use those mistakes as learning tools for the future.
What will you do to live an amazing life in 2017? What tips on how to live a great life do you have to share with us?
The post 45+ Ways To Live An Amazing Life Starting In 2017 appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.