Many of us are living at a level of stress and anxiety that damages the quality of our work, relationships and health. People keep striving and struggling, only to be left feeling stuck and frustrated because they can’t figure out how to reach the place in life that they long for.

While it’s often true that going after your goals requires some sacrifice, it’s also true that working to achieve goals shouldn’t leave you stressed in the meantime. The cornerstone of achieving your goals and, consequently, a successful life, is based on your level of feeling joy and fulfillment now — not necessarily reserving those feelings until a particular goal is met.

Your primary goal should be to cultivate elevated thoughts and emotions that raise your energy no matter what the day brings. It’s important to develop habits and skills that get you to your place of positive energy and sustain you there as often as possible.

Here are helpful tips to harness positive:

  1. To begin, you must start at the end. Start with changing the way you end your day. Getting rest is absolutely key. Find ways to wind down and relax before bed. Turn off the TV and stop listening to news well before bedtime. Read a good book, listen to relaxing music, take a hot bath or simply write in a journal about the things for which you’re grateful. Meditation and prayer are also wonderful ways to close the day.
  2. Ease into the day. When you wake in the morning, try not to jump up and go. Give yourself a few minutes to reflect on the day ahead. Ask yourself energizing questions like, “What can I be excited about today?” Or create some simple affirmative statements that you can say to yourself each morning to support a positive, successful day. This can be something as straightforward as, “I’m looking forward to a great day and all of the interesting things that are going to happen”.
  3. Attend to your mind and body. Before getting on with your day, drink plenty of water — about 1 litre. The cells of your brain and body are at least 70 percent water so you must hydrate to be able to think clearly and for your organs to work properly. Do some stretching and deep breathing to increase blood flow and oxygen, which are also critical for energy and clear thinking. Eat a healthy breakfast that includes whole, colourful plant foods, which are the most healing for your body because they’re rich with fibre, antioxidants and phytonutrients that support your immune system.
  4. Make a plan to address top objectives. Now that you’ve established a high-energy foundation, it’s important to plan your day so that you achieve the most toward your ultimate goals. Write down your three most important goals and anything that must be done to make progress towards them. Schedule blocks of time throughout your day to accomplish the specific tasks on your list. Don’t start your day with email or social media. Emails are just people asking you to do things that are important to them. These usually have nothing to do with your top priority goals of the day. If your job requires that you begin answering emails by a certain time, then create a morning routine that starts earlier so that you still have control over the start of your workday.
  5. Stay present. Learn to fully engage in each task you take on throughout the day. Engage in your block time priority activities, but also fully engage in each conversation or job that you carry out. When you fully engage in each moment, you’re far more productive because your mind isn’t on other areas of responsibility or concern. And, when you fully engage in each conversation, the people you’re conversing with become highly motivated.
  6. Check in with yourself. Pay attention to your mindset and how your thoughts make you feel all throughout the day. Instead of trying to force positive thoughts, which has an element of negativity or self-criticism behind it, concentrate on the feeling resulting from your thoughts. The world’s most successful people monitor their psychological state and strive to choose thoughts that are supportive and feel positive.

Understand that by creating new healthy habits you dramatically improve your positive energy, your physical health and your emotional well-being.