Here at GQ, we're the first to tell you that thinking about the bleeding edge of wellness is fun and interesting. What's the perfect heart rate to improve your lactate threshold? Why, exactly, is processed food bad for you? What unregulated chemicals are people injecting this time? We could go all day.

But when it comes to actually improving your life, contemporary wellness culture's fixation on extremes and novelty can get in the way of taking action. If you're working on your mental and physical health (and related domains of well-being like your personal care, relationships, and financial picture), doing anything at all is so much better than doing nothing -- and, in our experience, perfectionist fixation on marginal gains often leads to the latter state.

So we (and some of our most trusted expert friends) assembled a list of manageable and practical suggestions for dealing with life's challenges. None of these will apply to every person. But if you're ever feeling like you need to get your life together, one or two might help you.

It is easy to feel like the events of your life are only subject to the big forces: maybe the decades-long trend of housing costs rising faster than wages, perhaps the fact that we're all just collections of stardust in an extremely temporary arrangement. But whether or not free will exists (we will leave it to the theologians), the research is pretty clear that's it's better for your general well-being if you at least act like you're in control of the major happenings in your life -- if you cultivate an external rather than an internal locus of control, as you may remember from undergrad psychology. If you've got a problem, or something is bumming you out, you will probably be happier if you figure out a way to do something about it, even if it's a small action and seems pointless before you start.

Vox writer (and GQ contributor) Rachel Cohen recently observed that old-fashioned charity has seemingly gone out of style, as we have become convinced that "volunteering, donating, and modifying one's personal behavior were, at best, unproductive; at worst, they were harmful distractions from the change we really need." She identifies several problems with this logic, but a big one is that helping out is beneficial for the person lending a hand. And it's true: Taking action is often much more interesting (and feels so much better) than just dwelling on our problems.

Mad about the environment? Look at the great climate-focused pub Heatmap's guide to making a difference in a realistic way. Terrified about the political situation? Find a candidate you like and support their election (or policy priorities), perhaps by making some calls -- or go get loud at a protest.

"A common misconception is that you need to feel good to get going, but often it's the other way around: You need to get going to give yourself a chance at feeling good. This is called 'behavioral activation' and it demonstrates that motivation often follows action, not the other way around. This is why it's so important to just get started on the things that matter to you and give yourself a chance. You don't think or talk or dream yourself into the person you want to become, you act yourself into it. -- Brad Stulberg, best-selling author of The Practice of Groundedness and Master of Change