If Everything Feels Meh Lately, These 9 Tiny Shifts Can Make You Excited About Life Again
Stuck in the equivalent of a beige waiting room? Try these small tweaks.
Gift Habeshaw | Unsplash I’m no stranger to feeling that feeling of bleurgh or meh from what is fast becoming a rather same-y existence. Sometimes patterns need a firm and swift switch-up. Often, we need to try something new or fresh to give us a boost and a new lease of life.
Think of these tiny shifts as gentle wake-up calls for your enthusiasm. They're not about toxic positivity or forcing yourself to feel grateful when you don't. They're simply invitations to see your familiar world through different eyes, and to create tiny pockets of possibility in your everyday routine.
If everything feels meh lately, these 9 tiny shifts can make you excited about life again:
1. Write ten ideas down daily
Keep your mind sharp and creative by setting a problem or question and digging into your mind without AI to find answers. This will give you creative momentum like little else.
This daily practice builds what creativity expert James Altucher calls "idea muscle," and within just a few weeks, you'll notice your brain spontaneously generating solutions and possibilities throughout the day. The slight discomfort of mining your own thoughts is exactly what reignites that dormant spark of excitement, reminding you that your mind is far more inventive than you've been giving it credit for.
2. Set a personal adventure fund and use it monthly
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Set aside even $20–$50 each month specifically for doing something you’ve never done before. A pottery class, rock climbing, improv comedy, or trying that weird restaurant you walk past daily. The key is committing to spending it on novelty, not saving it for “someday.’ What new experience will you fund this month?
Having a dedicated adventure fund transforms you from someone waiting for life to happen into someone actively creating memorable moments. It permits you to be spontaneous without guilt and builds anticipation throughout the month as you consider your options.
3. Do one hard thing daily
I have this set up as a daily habit in my organisation hub. What is ‘hard’ depends on you and your comfort levels for a range of things. But whatever is a bit of a stretch for you that will advance your life in some way will often bring you an outsized reward and a deep sense of satisfaction. What hard thing will you tick off your list today?
Over time, this daily practice builds what psychologists call self-efficacy, which is the belief that you can handle whatever life throws your way. Start small if you need to, but make it non-negotiable. By evening, you'll have proof that you're someone who does hard things, and that eventually transforms the "meh" feeling into subtle confidence.
Writing 200 words of fiction? Reaching out to five people? Learning a musical instrument? This introduction of a gamified challenge might be just the ticket.
The gamification aspect adds an extra layer of motivation, whether that looks like marking each day on a calendar, using a habit-tracking app, or even posting updates to keep yourself accountable. The goal is progress, not perfection, and the daily wins start stacking up faster than you might expect.
4. Pick one person to surprise each week with unexpected kindness
A lot of us are bored because we make our lives all about us. How about sending a handwritten note to a colleague, paying for the coffee of the person behind you, or leaving an encouraging message for your neighbour? The goal is to break your own patterns while creating ripples of goodness.
Here's the selfish secret: planning these tiny conspiracies of kindness gives you something to anticipate, research has shown. You become someone with a mission, a bearer of surprises, a creator of unexpected moments. The beauty is that you never know how far these ripples travel or when the universe might surprise you right back.
5. Develop mastery in a side thing you've always wanted to do
Find something, whether it’s proficiency in photography, painting, or creative writing, and commit to getting great at it. If you’re extremely busy, you can focus on something extremely narrow, such as learning how to cook eggs like a pro. Even if it’s ten minutes a day, it gives you a creative outlet you may have been yearning for.
As you progress from clumsy beginner to competent practitioner, you start to see yourself as someone who learns, who grows, who creates. This isn't just about acquiring a skill, either; it's about proving to yourself that you're still capable of transformation, psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D, suggests. This small pocket of expertise becomes a private source of pride and a reminder that life still holds unexplored territories, no matter how "meh" everything else might feel.
6. Do the opposite of the thing you do that keeps draining you
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For example, if you smoke cigarettes, rather than just quitting, replace this bad habit with a totally new habit that acts as an exhilarating counterbalance. In this case, it could be developing your ability to hold your breath underwater.
When you identify something that consistently saps your energy, the key is to replace it with its energetic opposite rather than simply trying to white-knuckle your way through willpower alone. This opposite action becomes proof that you can rewrite your story at any moment, and that evidence alone can be intoxicating enough to pull you out of any funk.
7. Get something you can take care of
It could be a new pet, a bouncing baby boy, a Tamagotchi toy, a plant, fish in a fish tank, or even a garden. What requires daily attention and nourishment that you’re not currently giving? Perhaps what you need is a sense of leadership and a parental-like responsibility.
The act of caring for something else often awakens the part of us that knows how to care for ourselves. Research has found that it provides structure to formless days, offers tangible proof of our positive impact, and connects us to the simple, primal satisfaction of keeping something alive and well. Sometimes, feeling needed is exactly what we need to feel alive again.
8. Record yourself on video every day for a month
I don’t care if you can’t think of anything intelligent to say. Do it. Get something out there. Talk about the squirrel behind you in the park. This gets you out there, builds confidence, brings people into your world, and improves your public speaking skills.
After thirty days, you'll not only have documented a month of your life in an unexpectedly intimate way, but you'll also have proven to yourself that you have something to say. Whether you share these videos or delete them all doesn't really matter. The act of showing up and speaking your truth, however small, rewires your relationship with your own voice and visibility.
9. Re-assess your 3–5 essential daily habits
What habits, were you to commit to them daily, would you make progress in leaps and bounds? Write them down somewhere you can see them and track them each day. Habits sit at the heart of a life of success. What are those habits you will start a passionate love affair with from today?
The magic is in choosing your non-negotiables and treating them like appointments with your future self. One study found that when you shift from vague intentions to trackable commitments, you start showing up differently, with more intention and ownership. These habits become the building blocks of the person you're becoming, tiny daily votes for the life that excites you.
Alex Mathers is a writer and coach who helps you build a money-making personal brand with your knowledge and skills while staying mentally resilient. He's the author of the Mastery Den newsletter, which helps people triple their productivity.
