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 Do you hate running or think it's just too hard to get yourself out of bed for an early morning run? I used to be the same way, but there are a lot of benefits to running! Whether you want to go on your first run, run your first race, or just start running consistently, building a running habit is an ideal place to start. Today, I'm going to share how to build a running habit with tips from my journey of hating running to running half-marathons!

Side Note - This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy something from one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. For more information, you can read my privacy policy. Thank you for supporting my blog. :)

Also please note that I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. These are just some tips on how I went from hating running to running half-marathons. I hope you find these helpful!

How to Build a Running Habit (From Hating Running to Half-Marathons)

When I was younger, I considered myself to be someone that didn't like running. It just seemed too hard, so I barely tried it.

Running a mile seemed like the longest distance, and it also seemed boring! I danced and did gymnastics and never considered running.

Then COVID-19 hit, and I couldn't go to my dance studio anymore. All of a sudden, I was at home all the time, and I found myself wanting to go outside. Like many people, I also did a lot of home workout videos during this time!

I started going on long walks daily. Eventually, I wanted to run a 5k so that's what I did!

I loved how challenging running was, being able to see my progress, and feeling like I was only competing against myself.

From there, I kept challenging myself even more by training for longer and longer distances. My longest run so far has been 19 miles. I can't believe that I've run that far! I still have a goal of doing a marathon one day though!

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself!

I write a lot about creating habits and personal growth so in this post, I'm going to share how to build a running habit.

If you aren't a runner yourself or have no desire to run, no worries! I hope you can gain some inspiration for building your next healthy habit!

10 Tips for Building a Running Habit

1. Build a Walking Habit First

8. Avoid the Urge to Over Train

9. Track Your Progress

10. Reward Yourself + Go After Bigger Challenges

How to Build a Running Habit (From Hating Running to Half-Marathons)

 Do you have a hard time focusing on a single task? Do you find yourself scanning articles and switching between tabs quickly? If you find yourself refreshing your phone screen constantly throughout the day or feeling glued to your devices, it's not just you. Research suggests people look at their phones dozens of times each day. In this post, I'll explain how the attention economy is affecting you, and how to reclaim your focus!

Side Note - This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy something from one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. For more information, you can read my privacy policy. Thank you for supporting my blog. :)

Recently, I read the book Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz.

It's a short history of social media and internet culture. As I was reading, I had the realization that with each new wave of social media, content becomes easier to digest, more scrollable, and gives quicker dopamine hits.

As Lorenz outlines in her book, internet culture started with blogging through traditional blogs, Myspace, and Tumblr. Then came YouTube, Facebook, Vine, and Twitter. Now we have Instagram and TikTok.

If you map it out, the progression looks something like this:

• Long articles
• Shorter captions
• Image-focused
• Sentence-long captions
• Longer videos
• Short videos

What is the Attention Economy?

The Attention Economy Explained: 8 Ways to Improve Your Focus

1. Assess Your Current Attention Habits

2. Work Toward Shifting to Consuming Longer + Slower Content

3. Avoid Consuming Multiple Forms of Content at Once (Multitasking)

4. Remove Distractions from Your Environment

5. Make Note of Distracting Thoughts + Impulses

6. Set Aside Time to Intentionally Let Your Mind Wander

7. Practice Being Bored

8. Practice Single-Tasking

Final Notes on the Attention Economy Explained: 8 Ways to Improve Your Focus

Over the past few years, I've picked up some money-saving habits that have helped me learn how to better manage my finances. If you're a young adult looking for realistic ways you can save money, you're in the right place. Today, I'm going to share the simple money-saving habits I've adopted in my early 20s to help me save money.

Side Note - This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy something from one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. For more information, you can read my privacy policy. Thank you for supporting my blog. :)

I haven't always been frugal though...

As a child, I'd start looking for something cute I could buy whenever I got a little bit of money. I definitely purchased a lot of trendy items.

Now that I manage my own finances though, one of the skills I'm working to develop is personal finance. I want the freedom that comes with good money management. I'm sure you do too!

Let's get right into how I'm saving money in my 20s!

12 Simple Money-Saving Habits I've Adopted in My Early 20s

1. Cook From Scratch

2. Follow a Staple Grocery List

3. Keep a Running Wish List

4. Use Free Alternatives for Platforms

5. Track My Finances Regularly

6. Keep My Credit Card Utilization Low

7. Create a Capsule Wardrobe

8. Transfer Money into My Savings Account Every Month

9. Use Items Until They Wear Out

10. Limit My Social Media Usage

11. Use a Free Phone Number

12. Avoid One-Click Checkouts

Final Notes on 12 Simple Money-Saving Habits I've Adopted in My Early 20s

 The largest barriers to lifelong learning are a lack of time due to other commitments and costs, according to research. Building a habit of lifelong learning can improve your happiness, brain health, social connections, and confidence. With a personal learning system, you can gather free resources and learn in spare moments. In this post, I'll share how you can build a personal learning system!

Side Note - This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy something from one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. For more information, you can read my privacy policy. Thank you for supporting my blog. :)

I find that when I stop learning and pursuing new things, my life becomes stale.

Making time for continuous learning helps make life exciting. It gives me that feeling of wanting to jump out of bed in the morning to go read a book or listen to a podcast and create something new!

While I'm in college, making time to learn is easy because I'm always surrounded by new ideas to stretch my thinking, but when I graduate, I know it's going to be harder to make time for learning.

That is exactly why I'm working on building my personal learning system now. When life gets busy, I'll already have a system in place and a habit of continuous learning, which keeps life interesting.

With the internet and libraries, you can practice lifelong learning for free. I rarely spend money on personal learning because there are so many great free resources available.

While many people learn randomly whenever they come across an interesting resource, building a personal learning system will help you learn more consistently and gain in-depth knowledge about subjects of interest.

A personal learning system is a repeatable process that helps with deciding what to study, finding materials, and applying what you learn.

Let's get right into how you can start building a personal learning system for lifelong learning!

How to Become a Lifelong Learner: Create a Personal Learning System That Lasts

1. Decide on Your Goals

The first step in building a personal learning system is deciding what you want to get out of your learning.

In college, course syllabi often list "learning outcomes." I usually just glance at that section to be frank and don't read it all the way. 

For self-directed learning, you don't need to set specific goals unless you want to. Sometimes, I don't know what I'm going to learn from a book until after I read it.

Your learning goals can be concrete like "learn a tap dance" or very broad such as reading a few books about a subject to expand your knowledge.

If no goals come to mind, don't worry because you can just work on expanding your skills in any area of interest.

I like my system to be as simple and broad as possible to facilitate as much learning as possible. Right now, I don't have concrete goals for my learning outside of my yearly goals.

2. Choose Subjects

3. Choose Formats

4. Find Materials

In-Person Events

5. Create a Personal Knowledge System

Popular Notetaking Methods

6. Experiment

7. Find Time to Learn Regularly

Final Notes on How to Become a Lifelong Learner: Create a Personal Learning System That Lasts

 Why can't I reach my goals? Do you find yourself saying this at the end of the year or maybe even at the end of January? Over the years, I've failed at many goals, and today, I'm going to share the goal-setting mistakes I've made and what I've learned from failing to reach my goals!

Side Note - This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy something from one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. For more information, you can read my privacy policy. Thank you for supporting my blog. :)

Some years, I reach almost all of my goals... and some years I've reached almost none of them.

Occasionally, I'll look at a goal halfway through the year and think, "Why did I set this??"

I've been setting goals yearly for almost as long as I can remember. I made homemade planners in grade school and was always setting goals and making lists for myself.

After years of setting annual goals, I've made a lot of goal-setting mistakes.

Here are nine lessons I've learned from failing to reach my goals!

Making these mistakes has helped me improve how I set goals. Hopefully, you'll be able to take away some new tips for your own goal-setting process.

9 Lessons I've Learned from Failing to Reach My Goals

1. Changing Goals Mid-Year is Okay

2. Daily Tasks are Not Feasible

3. Some Goals Aren't Meaningful Enough

4. Some Goals Aren't Real Goals (They're Habits)

5. The Plan May Be the Problem

6. Goals Don't Need to Take a Year

7. Sometimes Tracking Progress is Better than Tracking the Outcome

8. A Total Number May be Better than a Habit

9. It's Okay to Fail

Final Notes on 9 Lessons I've Learned from Failing to Reach My Goals

 Some research suggests that people make around 35,000 decisions every single day. While these results are debated, it's easy to feel exhausted by the constant decisions we have to make. Today, we're going to dive into the topic of how to reduce decision fatigue and why everyday choices can feel exhausting.

Side Note - This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy something from one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. For more information, you can read my privacy policy. Thank you for supporting my blog. :)

In 2000, a famous marketing study was conducted about jam by Sheena Iyengar and Mark R. Lepper. I first heard about this study in one of my marketing classes and thought it was fascinating.

Researchers set up a tasting booth and sold jam to customers in a grocery store. At one point they offered 6 flavors, and at another time, they offered 24 flavors. Customers were allowed to sample as much jam as they wanted.

In which scenario do you think people were more likely to make a purchase?

The study found that when offered 6 choices, people made a purchase 31% of the time. When offered 24 choices, people only made a purchase 3% of the time.

When offered more choices, it's harder to decide what you want! This can lead to choice overload, which can contribute to decision fatigue when you have to make decisions constantly.

I'll share how to reduce decision fatigue through practical methods, but first of all, what is decision fatigue?

What is Decision Fatigue? Ways to Make Everyday Choices Feel Less Exhausting

Decision fatigue is the mental overload that can come from making frequent decisions throughout the day.

Decision fatigue can lead to procrastinating, avoiding making decisions, making impulse decisions, and spending a longer amount of time than necessary in the research phase.

Just as your body becomes more tired throughout the day, your brain does too.

It's that feeling you have when you've just finished a hard test. Every time you fill in a circle on a bubble sheet or write down an answer, you are making a decision, and it's tiring.

Now, let's get into how to reduce decision fatigue in your life!

How to Reduce Decision Fatigue

1. Make Decisions Before You Actually Need To

2. Purposefully Limit the Number of Options You Have

3. Build Systems So You Don't Have to Make as Many Decisions

4. Make Similar Decisions at the Same Time

5. Make Your Hardest Decisions in the Morning + Take Breaks

6. Know When to Stop Researching

Final Notes on What is Decision Fatigue? Ways to Make Everyday Choices Feel Less Exhausting