The One Habit Advantage - How to perform well, lead your life and make better decisions

13 May 2026 | Your Fishers |

The United Kingdom was recently ranked in a global survey as the second-worst place in the world for mental well-being. The only country that scored lower was
Uzbekistan. The survey was carried out in 71 countries.

The three top factors leading to this result were: mobile phones, food, and lack of connection.

As a business, we support individuals in the workplace in many ways, but this article has been created to look at methods you can employ beyond the office to encourage
positive changes that will ripple through all aspects of your life.

Kat Thorne, human performance and positive habits expert has studied the breadth of the ripple effect from simply changing one small habit to enable you to see the impact it can have throughout your life, helping you live with clarity, and realise more benefits. One 10 minute change will have 10 positive impacts.

When you wake up, what is the first thought that comes into your head?

Are they negative thoughts of exhaustion, dread or stress? Studies show that we work at 100mph and are in a reactive state from the minute we wake up when we should be in a state of clarity and focus.

Consider: what do you achieve by looking at emails when you wake up as opposed to leaving them for 1 hour later?

What do you gain from looking on social media as soon as you open your eyes?

What’s the last thing you do at night before you go to sleep?

Is it phone related? Phones cause poor sleep, keeping the mind active and as a result, you feel groggy when you wake up, often snoozing the alarm.

Consider: What do you gain by scrolling before sleeping? You might think it is a wind down technique but is causing more harm than you realise.

Imagine a day in your life, what habits do you have that you think are having a negative impact on you?

Some common answers are: drinking too much caffeine, scrolling time, procrastination, lack of sleep.

What positive habits do you think could have a positive impact on you?

Some common answers are: consistent sleep pattern, healthier diet, hydrating, making time for a hobby, delegating, exercising.

Constant distractions and changing tasks are making us lose up to a day week in productivity, and habits can slowly destroy you…..or build you. We are good at promising change to ourselves ie. going to the gym, batch cooking and spending more time with family. We also think that always being “on” is the answer to success
when actually, we perform better when we look after ourselves in small but impactful ways.

Create a 10 minute habit and do it for 21 days to notice 10 differences in your life.

It’s easier not to of course, but those who do easy things have a hard life, and those who do hard things have an easy life (Tim Ferriss).

Here are some ideas of changes you can make:

• Priority lists – create focus and clarity putting the mind in order and feeling less stressed
• Journalling – reduces stress and anxiety by information dumping.
• Movement – improves mood and boosts energy.
• Cold water showers – regulates the nervous system, increases alertness, and builds resilience to stress (aim for – seconds after your warm shower)
• Digital detox – 10 minutes before and after sleep. Even put your phone in another room. Have a notebook by your bed for those thoughts you need to action.
• Tidy your space – cluttered space = cluttered mind. At the end of each day, take 10 minutes to clear up so you know your next day is clear.
• Swop out your morning coffee for a glass of water, fuelling your body in the right way.
• Connection: we often sit on the sofa with family in an evening but a 10 minute change can be as simple as engaging with them. Pick up a deck of cards and play together, ask each other about your day, what was good about it. Avoid seeing cooking as a chore for one person and instead, get the family involved.
• Exercise – this doesn’t have to be as big of a commitment as going to the gym which is time consuming. It can be a 10 minute dance in the kitchen, a few trips up and down the stairs, or a stroll outside in the fresh air. Remember the daily walk we were allowed in covid? Walking stabilises emotions. Note, morning exercise is better because it stops the day taking over.
• Consistent sleep is key – “earning” a weekend lay in will do you more harm; consistency is key and 7-8 hours is best.
• Commit to checking emails at set times to avoid distraction from the task in hand. What could take you half an hour to complete can soon become a couple of hours if you have email notifications on.
• For higher levels of change you could build stronger connections with a hobby or team activity , or even by saying yes to more social events.

After 21 days of implementing or changing a habit, you will be able to see the impact in so many beneficial ways such as:

• Having more control
• Slowing your thoughts down
• Higher energy levels
• More focus
• Less stress
• Better moods
• Stronger connections
• General happiness

Why not try it? And if you aren’t sure where to start, try becoming more observant of your actions throughout the day to see what potentially bad habits you might have. When you find them, consider how you might flip the action so that it becomes a good habit. 10 minutes for 21 days is worth a try right?

You can also visit Your Fishers toolkits page for 4 week self help programmes which can be used to bolster your commitment to change

If you are interested in this topic and want to learn more about the phycology of habits, here are some suggestions:

Book: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman a short but eye opening read. Available in hard copy or audio book.

Book: The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters: Mind management skills. Available in hard copy or audio book.

Listen/Watch Matthew J Walker Ted X: Sleep is your superpower