The OECD identified 11 areas that are essential to the quality of life, amongst them were areas such as housing, work-life balance, education, and environment.
These 11 areas are what statisticians use to determine the global quality of life rankings. The United States ranks pretty low on work-life balance, for example, but extremely high on income.
However, it’s the mixture of all the factors that determine overall happiness and well-being. The same goes for how you live your individual life.
Regardless of where you live in the world, you deserve to enjoy a certain quality of life. If you don’t feel like yours is up to par compared to your peers, then here are a few ways in which you can learn how to improve quality of life.
Learn Something New
Knowledge truly is power. If you have access to free education, take advantage of it! Educated people tend to report higher levels of happiness, according to the New York Times.
People with access to quality education also find that it opens doors for them that can help improve other areas of their life, such as income and housing.
Additionally, learning a new skill stimulates neuron growth in the brain. Improving your quality of life is, in part, about caring for your mind and body.
This means that it’s important to exercise your mind and facilitate its growth as you age. Committing yourself to learn a new skill or taking a free course online is a great way to do this.
Not only does it help you increase your well-being, but it often puts you in a position to meet other like-minded people, develop new ideas, and feel a sense of accomplishment. All lead to higher levels of happiness with your life.
Get Involved in Your Community
Regardless of what you think the point of life might be, it goes without saying that humans have an innate desire to feel like they’re accomplishing something.
If you feel a sense of purpose, you’ll likely report higher levels of overall well-being. If you don’t feel like you’re making personal or professional progress, then you’re likely to report lower levels of happiness and quality of life.
So, to combat this, get involved! On the Better Life Index, civic engagement is one of the 11 factors. This refers to your involvement in democracy.
Do you vote? Are you active in your community? Are you ensuring that people without a voice in your community are able to find a way to voice their opinion and needs through you?
This type of civic duty takes form in many different ways for different people.
Maybe you like to volunteer at the local children’s hospital or maybe you like to attend town hall meetings to make sure positive changes are occurring in your community.
The point is that the more involved you are, the more likely you are to influence positive change and feel good about it. This is one of the best ways to improve quality of life.
Protect the Environment
Quality of the environment is one of the 11 factors that determine the quality of life ranking. Why? Access to green spaces is crucial for high-quality happiness, and economies depend on natural resources like water, timber, and crops.
This makes sense, with certain studies noting that living near a green space can reduce the risk of depression by up to 70%.
If the environment is so important in our happiness and our economies, then in order to improve your quality of life, you need to take care of it!
This can include things like:
- Planting trees at your local park
- Volunteering with a local trash pickup group
- Committing to reducing your carbon footprint
- Taking public transportation instead of driving
- Opting for a Filtap water filter instead of buying plastic bottles
However you decide to do it, rest assured that caring for the environment will not only make the Earth happy but that it will increase your own levels of happiness too.
Practice Gratitude
Meditation. Prayer. Talking to yourself.
Whatever you want to call it, taking time out of your day to sit alone and practice gratitude can greatly improve life quality.
Scientists have even reported that writing down five things you’re thankful for every day can greatly improve your quality of life. Harvard even says that giving thanks makes you happier.
While “happiness” and “quality of life” aren’t exactly the same thing, being happy and grateful ensures that you’re helping yourself and others improve in the other areas on the Better Life Index.
If you practice gratitude, it’s likely that you’ll help others feel positive and grateful. This contributes most namely to the areas of Community and Life Satisfaction.
Some great ways to practice gratitude include:
- Make a list of three to five things every morning that you’re grateful for.
- Carve time out of your day to meditate or pray.
- Call your loved ones and tell them why you’re grateful for them.
- Make it a point to give back to people or communities that helped you get to where you are today.
Helping yourself become a better person while enhancing quality of life for others? It’s a win-win for everybody!
Learning How to Improve Quality of Life
As mentioned, learning how to improve quality of life is about more than just being “happy” all of the time.
You need to work on creating or finding a balance between your personal health, your work-life balance, the community, and the environment. Other factors such as education, safety, and income all come into play as well. If you’re struggling with income at the moment, title loans could help.
Try to assess your own life. Think about the areas in which you feel the least satisfied. Start there!
You’ll probably find that after a while, it gets easier and easier to create an environment for yourself in which you’re allowed to flourish and grow. Then, when you’ve reached that point, give back to others so they can do the same!
If finances are the area in which you struggle the most, then tackle that one first! That will definitely help you feel like you’re enjoying a better quality of life.
If you need help, browse our finance section for tips and tricks on saving.