Once These minor changes in your daily routine
will make a major difference in your life and career.
Happiness is the only true measure
of personal success. Making other people happy is the highest expression of
success, but it's almost impossible to make others happy if you're not happy
yourself.
With that in mind, here are nine
small changes that you can make to your daily routine that, if you're like most
people, will immediately increase the amount of happiness in your life:
1. Start each day with
expectation.
If there's any big truth about life,
it's that it usually lives up to (or down to) your expectations. Therefore,
when you rise from bed, make your first thought: "something wonderful is
going to happen today." Guess what? You're probably right.
2. Take time to plan and
prioritize.
The most common source of stress is
the perception that you've got too much work to do. Rather than obsess
about it, pick one thing that, if you get it done today, will move you closer
to your highest goal and purpose in life. Then do that first.
3. Give a gift to everyone you
meet.
I'm not talking about a formal,
wrapped-up present. Your gift can be your smile, a word of thanks or
encouragement, a gesture of politeness, even a friendly nod. And never pass
beggars without leaving them something. Peace of mind is worth the spare
change.
4. Deflect partisan
conversations.
Arguments about politics and
religion never have a "right" answer but they definitely get people
all riled up over things they can't control. When such topics surface, bow out
by saying something like: "Thinking about that stuff makes my head
hurt."
5. Assume people have good
intentions.
Since you can't read minds, you
don't really know the "why" behind the "what" that people
do. Imputing evil motives to other people's weird behaviors adds extra misery
to life, while assuming good intentions leaves you open to reconciliation.
6. Eat high quality food slowly.
Sometimes we can't avoid scarfing
something quick to keep us up and running. Even so, at least once a day try to
eat something really delicious, like a small chunk of fine cheese or an
imported chocolate. Focus on it; taste it; savor it.
7. Let go of your results.
The big enemy of happiness is worry,
which comes from focusing on events that are outside your control. Once you've
taken action, there's usually nothing more you can do. Focus on the job at hand
rather than some weird fantasy of what might happen.
8. Turn off
"background" TV.
Many households leave their TVs on
as "background noise" while they're doing other things. The entire
point of broadcast TV is to make you dissatisfied with your life so that you'll
buy more stuff. Why subliminally program yourself to be a mindless consumer?
9. End each day with gratitude.
Just before you go to bed, write down at least
one wonderful thing that happened. It might be something as small as a making a
child laugh or something as huge as a million dollar deal. Whatever it is, be
grateful for that day because it will never come again.
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