Five Ways to Make Your Day More Enjoyable

Sometimes we just need a way to make our lives more enjoyable and help us get the most out of each day. Maybe you’re stuck in a job you can’t stand, or you’re dealing with difficult personal issues, or even just caught in a rut – we all have times when we can’t face going to bed because we know it leads to waking up to face yet another uninspiring day. 

In life, I don’t think we should use self-improvement tips as plasters (band-aids) to hold the cracks together. If you’re truly unhappy, you should look at why and then make a change.

But, sometimes, it’s not always that simple. Perhaps you just have to get through a difficult period and then things will improve. Maybe you don’t even know what’s wrong, you just know you could be finding more enjoyment in your days.

Here are five simple tips you can implement to make your day more enjoyable. Try them to see if they add a more positive rhythm to your life. If they don’t, then you may want to consider making that more drastic change.

1. Reward yourself often

When we’re faced with a mountainous to-do list, the day can seem never-ending. It’s one job after another, and not only is that overwhelming and mind numbing, it can become inefficient and ineffective.

Try rewarding yourself after every task instead. Or try assigning each of your tasks with points (depending on the difficulty/length/motivation required for the task) and then designate rewards to a set number of points. That way, when you reach a total, you can trade them in for the reward!

Don’t have a to-do list? Still reward yourself a lot. Take a break every once in a while. Have nice things spread throughout the day (see below). Make sure you’re recognising everything you’re doing with something positive, otherwise you’ll start to lose motivation.

Humans love short-term rewards. Even if you’re busy working on something that’s going to massively impact you in the long-term, you need to give your mind and soul something in the short term to keep them happy and playing.

So: rewards. Often.

2. Treat yourself

Days are better when there’s something to look forward to. Maybe there’s a coffee you love from a specific cafe, or a podcast you love to listen to, or an outfit you love wearing. Treat yourself to at least one of these things each day.

This could be monetary – for example, getting yourself an expensive dinner or buying a pair of shoes you wanted – but it could also be letting yourself have the things you usually “save” for a special occasion – things like the final episode of a TV show or bath bombs you were gifted. It’s great to value these things and want to make the most of them, but why wait? You never know what’s going to come along and replace them next week, so use them now and enjoy!

3. Do something different

Our brains are designed to love new things.^⁠ Have you ever come up with a new morning routine and been really excited to wake up and try it?

Doing the same things over and over becomes monotonous. We love new (it’s what helps us to keep learning).

So, try to do something new each day. That might be walking a different way to work, getting a different lunch, trying a new workout or morning routine.

Doing something different each day will make your life seem fresh and more interesting (even if you’re still technically doing the same core things).

Plus, after a week or so, trying to find something new will become more of a challenge. It will make you seek new opportunities and train you to notice more options and possibilities.

4. Plan something nice for the end of the day

It doesn’t matter how bad my day is going, if I know I have something nice waiting for me at the end, everything suddenly seems slightly better.

Planning something nice gives you an end target, and something to hold onto. You can use it to get through difficult moments – “I’ve got to get through this presentation for the next hour, but think about how great I’ll feel tonight curled up on the sofa with my favourite author’s new book” – or as a reward to pull you through the day – “just think of the movie I’m treating myself to tonight”.

What makes the end of the day work so well, is it’s like a giant reward for the entire day. And, you know nothing’s coming after it, so you can truly relax and enjoy it.

5. Read, listen, or talk to someone inspiring

The right motivational advice or suggestions can lift a lot of people’s spirits. If you go from having a greyscale day to suddenly feeling confident and capable and invincible, your day is automatically going to get better.

This can be the form of:

• A self-help book,
• The autobiography or someone you admire,
• A speech or presentation (TEDx Talks^⁠ on YouTube are great),
• An educational podcast,
• Talking to a friend, mentor, or anyone else who builds you up.

Whatever fires you up and gives you hope for the future, try and incorporate it into your daily life. Not only will you feel better during your day, but you’ll probably start improving your entire life!

Bonus: Dance it out

I can’t guarantee this will work for everyone (though you have to give it a proper try before discounting it – no phoning it in), but an old-fashioned dance party always lifts my mood.

Find a bunch of tracks that have a good beat, make you feel happy and your body like it wants to move, and play them loud. Then dance like nobody’s watching, and wait for the endorphins to do their magic!

So there you go, five ways to make your day more enjoyable. Hopefully these help you improve your life or assist in getting through a tough time. Remember, everything is temporary – all things pass eventually.

Take a look at some of my other ‘Five Ways To’ series or, if you need more inspiration, check out my pep talks!

How do you make your days more enjoyable? I’d love to hear about other ideas you have, and I’m sure others would too, so please comment them below!