Rosie, a final year psychology student, shares her ideas about how to make every day a good day.
Over the summer, I listened to a podcast by Steven Bartlett where he interviewed British life coach, Matthew Hussey. In the episode, Matthew shares his daily ‘criteria’ of small things that he does in order to make every day feel like a good day. He described a few key words which were: Create, Move, Learn, Connect and Contribute. He called it his ‘personal formula for happiness’.
It made me think… is this something we could all apply to our everyday lives to boost our wellbeing?
Here’s my take on this checklist but from a student perspective. I hope that as we kick off a new academic term, this might prove helpful for living each day with more purpose and meaning. Let’s call it the ‘Good Day Checklist’.
Create
- The first thing that comes to mind here is art. I really enjoy writing short stories, drawing, and painting. For me, doing a little bit of writing (like working on this blog) helps me to tick my create box each day. But another good way to create something is through food. Most students will cook themselves several meals a day and that definitely takes some creation.
Move
- Moving is something we can all do every day, in big or small doses. Now I’m back at university, I am getting back into football and doing my best to attend trainings when I can. Even if you’re not a big fan of exercise, movement like walking can be so powerful. Being outside and getting fresh air always makes me feel a lot brighter.
Learn
- Being at university is a great opportunity to learn every day. If it’s lectures, or researching an assignment, I find that I’m taking in new and interesting information all the time. But learning is not limited to university. Reading books or listening to podcasts can be a really enjoyable way to learn something new.
Connect
- In my opinion, connecting might be the most important aspect of this checklist. Catching up with friends, flatmates and course buddies helps me to feel really integrated in university life. University can feel quite lonely at times, so I find that meeting up for a quick coffee or eating dinner all together can be a really comforting feeling. I also try to find time to FaceTime my family back home. This is a nice way to connect and check-in with people you might not see as often.
Contribute
- Contributing is about doing something for someone else. You probably do this without even realising. Holding the door open for someone, or helping a friend with a project, giving someone a lift to training. From my own experience I find that helping others boosts my own wellbeing because I feel a sense of fulfilment and positivity after.
These five things are vague for a reason – you make it what you want. It doesn’t matter how big or small they are, or how long you do that thing for. If, each day, you can do something that ticks those five boxes, that’s a fantastic achievement.
Take some time to figure out what your Good Day Checklist might look like. You got this!
Also, if you’d like to listen to the podcast episode, I’ve attached the link down below.
Listen on Spotify
Watch on YouTube
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