How to Feel More Contented with your Life

1. Take a moment to be grateful for something. What in your life is good, or makes you happy? Even if everything seems to suck, there must be at least one good thing. Find something, and begin by being grateful for that.

2. Catch yourself thinking, “This sucks.” It’s amazing how often people think this thought. It might be in different words, but if you catch yourself going down that road, stop and try and reverse the thinking. Find a way to see something good or beneficial in the crummy situation.

3. Find the little things that bring you joy. Find the simple things that make you happy, and focus on those rather than on what is wrong, or what you don’t have.

4. Identify things about yourself that you’re actually happy with. We tend to criticize and put ourselves down. Try and break that habit by asking yourself, “What do I do right? What am I good at? Make a list, and keep adding to every day. Then, start to focus on those things rather than on the negatives.

5. Use the same approach with others in your life. Instead of attacking them, or focusing on their flaws and shortcomings, ask yourself, “What is good about this person? What do I like about them?”

7 Steps to Happiness

1. Fear less, love more.
2. Frown less, smile more.
3. Talk less, listen more.
4. Judge less, accept more.
5. Complain less, appreciate more.
6. Speak less, do more.
7. Doubt less, trust more.

8 Life Lessons

1. Let go of anger. When we erupt in anger we often feel much worse. Hence, it’s better to cool off and to work on staying calm.

2. When people treat you badly it’s rarely “about you”. More often it tells you how that person is feeling, or some other issues that are bothering them. 

3. You’re not the only one who has struggled with this issue – so don’t feel so awful, or put yourself down. 

4. Enjoy the good times, and savour every moment as life is a precious gift to be enjoyed. 

5. Work and be persistent as it’s worth the slog and pain. In the end it makes a difference as the pay off is success.

6. You need to find a passion and set yourself some goals if you want to go somewhere, and makes something of life. 

7. Relationships can teach us so much about ourselves. Both the good and the bad show us who we really are. They reveal what we think, and how we feel, about ourselves – as well as what our values and our expectations are.

8.  Don’t put off to tomorrow what you could do today. You’ll achieve so much more if you push full steam ahead.  And easing off too much sows the seeds of laziness. You’ll have much more self respect if you achieve more than you’d planned.    

Tips to Help you Focus

1. Get rid of as many distractions as you can. Switch off your phone; close tumblr and facebook; work away from other people – and don’t tell them where you are!

2. Make sure you’ve attended to your physical needs or else they’ll distract you - as you’ll feel uncomfortable. For example, wear relaxing clothes; set the room temperature so that it’s not too hot or cold; and have a snack and some water close at hand.  

3. Plan to work at a time when you’re usually most productive. For example, if you’re a morning person, set your alarm and get up early – and make that a pattern, no matter how you feel.

4. Take control of, and silence, that restless inner voice that tries to distract you, and stops you focusing. Also. sometimes it is helpful to set aside some time to listen to those voices – then return and do some work.

5. Allow yourself a break after each half hour of work as it’s difficult to concentrate for longer than that.

6. Get outside for a while and try to do some exercise as that wakens you up and helps you focus on your work.   

How to Live without Regrets

1. Discover and follow your own path in life.

2. Don’t be afraid to say “no” to other people.

3. Make character a goal, and top priority.

4. Don’t procrastinate, or fail to do the things that matter.

5. Spend your time with people who affirm and value you.

6. Don’t fear being judged or criticised by other people.

7. Do what makes you happy … All the things that you enjoy.

8. Don’t ruminate on failures, or misjudgments, or mistakes. 

9. Do things that you’ll be proud of when you look back on your life.

10. Don’t take yourself too seriously, or worry all the time.

7 Benefits of Change

1. It grows you as a person as you gain new insights and learn new lessons. 

2. It keeps us adaptable and flexible which are beneficial traits in all areas of life.

3. It helps us to see life from a new perspective, and challenges old values and points of view.

4. It helps to makes you stronger as you have to leave behind what was previously familiar, and made you feel secure.

5. It opens up new doors of opportunity that you never would have walked through if you’d just stayed as you are.

6. It develop your resources and creativity as you have to learn new things, and to change your old routines.

7. It provides a new beginning where you turn a fresh clean page, and write on a fresh slate, and start to reinvent yourself.     

How to Find your Purpose in Life

1. Take time to ponder the questions “What really matters in life; what do I want to have achieved when I look back over my life?” 

2. Make time for solitude and silence. Filling every minute makes it hard to listen to our intuition, or that inner guiding voice. 

3. Seek out people who inspire you – and then learn from them. There are many people who live inspiring lives. We can learn from their experience, and what they have to share. 

4. Consciously monitor your progress. It is easy to slip back into unproductive habits. Hence, we need to be committed to sticking to our plan. 

5. Accept that struggles and setbacks will be part of your experience. There will be times when you are tempted to give up and stop trying … but choosing to keep going will lead you to your dreams.

10 Things that can Wreck your Life

1. Not living in the moment. Always wishing you were somewhere else, doing something different with other people. 

2. Blaming your problems on your past. Although the past affects us, it need not define us. We can choose, decide and act – and take control of our lives. Don’t let the heartache from the past define who you become.

3. Running away from problems. It’s crazy just to bury your head in the sand and act like are fine when you’re dealing with a mess. Face reality, take action and work to turn life round.

4. Being ungrateful. Being thankful sets you free in your heart and mind. It inspires all that’s good - and, also, oils relationships. But an ungrateful person will wear others down. It destroys your spirit, so you feel down and depressed. 

5. Being angry and bitter. Refusing to forgive, and bearing grudges against others, will slowly poison your life and your personality. It’s much better to release them and to focus, instead, on living a happy and fulfilling life.

6. Letting your expectations rule your life. Life rarely goes smoothly and according to plan – and people disappoint us and let us down. Accepting this is normal takes some tension out of life. 

7. Disrespecting yourself and others. Every single person deserves respect, and every single person is fighting their own battle. So focus on being kind, understanding and forgiving.  

8. Neglecting important relationship. A relationship that’s built on unconditional love – where a person accepts us for who and what we are – is truly a gift and is worth fighting for. Don’t take it for granted – recognise that it’s a gift.

9. Loving people who are bad for us. Not every person will build into your life. Be aware of those who who’ll use you, or who want to bring you down, or who want to hurt you, or destroy your confidence.

10. Never taking risks. If you always play it safe, you’ll find you end up going nowhere. You must be ready to take risks - or you will miss so much in life. 

Tips for Making Small Talk

Being good at making small talk is a crucial life skill, and is key for making a positive impression. Some tips to help you with this include:

1. Go prepared when you’re meeting new people, or when you have to attend a social event. Think about some topics you can talk about with others (and that will depend on the people you are meeting). Prepare some general questions to get others talking (For example, what are they doing for the holidays; or what good movies have they seen recently?) Also, if you’ve met some of the people at a previous event, try to remember a few things about them (such as what are their main interests, or where do they work?)

2.  Most people feel uncomfortable when meeting someone new so be the first person to say “hello.” If you’re not sure if the person will remember you, help put them at their ease by saying who you are.

3. Don’t rush introductions. Focus hard on remembering the names of those you meet, and use them often to fix them in your mind.

4. Help the other person talk by opening up the conversation with open-ended questions that asks for more details. For example, “Isn’t this a great party! How do you know (the host)?”

5. Pay careful attention to what the person’s saying; don’t allow your mind to drift or to start to wander off. Eye contact should be steady – so don’t glance to the side.

6. Make sure you listen more than you talk to someone new.

7. Work on having something relevant and interesting to say. Know what’s going on and making headlines in the news. These can help to open up a conversation. (For example, you can lead with a comment like “What do you think about…?” Have you heard…?” What is your take on…?”

8. Avoid controversial and negative topics; also, refrain from boring stories that have too many details. It’s meant to be a casual, light and easy conversation.

9. Pay attention to your body language. If you act as if you’re comfortable and confident, that will put the people around you at ease, too. However, if you look shy, awkward and uncomfortable, that will rub off on the people you are socialising with.

10. Before you join a conversation that’s already in progress, first stand on the sidelines and listen carefully. Don’t squeeze your way in with a badly-timed remark.

Strategies for People Committed to Success

1. Have one main source of income but, at the same time, keep working on ways of developing additional sources of income. Over time, this will allow you move away from spending all your time on your “regular” job, so you can generate money more passively.

2. Read widely. This doesn’t have to be heavy or serious books. In fact, reading blogs and magazines can generate ideas - and turn you into someone who knows a little about lots of things – so this can make you seem more interesting.

3. Have a few close friends plus a lot of other contacts. That provides you with support – which we all need at times – plus people who can help us, and open doors for us.

4. Have specialist knowledge in a couple of areas, and also know a little about lots of things. This helps you understand the developing trends so you can use your knowledge more effectively.

5. Be willing to experiment. It’s good to know what tends to work for you – but you need to branch out and experiment, too. That will help you avoid boredom or being stuck in a rut.

6. Introduce new experiences into your life as it keeps you adaptable, flexible, open to new thinking, vibrant and alive.

7 Tools to Increase your Happiness

1. Be proactive and go for what you want.

2. Go for novelty and try something new.

3. Cut yourself, and other people, some slack.

4. Look for, and think about, the good in other people.

5. Opt for kindness and tenderness.               

6. Be spontaneous, and please yourself sometimes.

7. Make time to relax – to laugh, and have some fun.

How to be a Better Friend

1. Prioritize being kind.

2. Be there when it matters. 

3. Learn the value of silence.

4. Never betray a confidence.

5. Never take advantage of them.

6. Help to cheer them up when they’re having a bad day.

7. Show an interest in their life, and what matters to them.  

8. Overlook those small offenses.

9. Be someone who forgives.

10. Make sure they feel valued, and important to you.