All of us are happy at certain times in our lives. The trick is being happy the majority of the time.
Sometimes we unwittingly sabotage ourselves and/or make decisions that set us up for unhappiness.
I thought about some personal rules I created to help me avoid messy situations or increase my chances of being happy most of the time. I blogged about these "rules" a few years ago on my personal blog, SlingWords, and thought I'd share them with you today.
5 Ways to Enjoy Life More
1. Never take advice from anyone who's more screwed up than you.
Everyone likes to give advice, but always ask yourself if the person dishing out the advice is living life more effectively with less hiccups than you. If not, smile and nod and feel free to ignore what they say. Unless what they tell you is based upon what they learned from their own bad experience of doing the opposite.
2. Learn from others who have been where you want to go.
Model their behavior. Find out how they did it and adapt their method to your efforts.Unless the way they achieved it was dishonest and goes against your own beliefs and integrity. You can't model negative behavior without far-reaching consequences.
3. Working effectively is better than working hard.
Unless you assess your efforts and realize you really aren't working hard - you're just giving lip service to the idea of working hard.
4. Enjoy yourself more.
Unless you're already spending way too much time in the pursuit of pleasure, learn how to enjoy your life. Life is short. Don't waste it. Find a way to balance hard, effective work and play.
5. Change your attitude about work.
Post Script
Life should be enjoyed. Now that's a goal worth pursuing.
Everyone likes to give advice, but always ask yourself if the person dishing out the advice is living life more effectively with less hiccups than you. If not, smile and nod and feel free to ignore what they say. Unless what they tell you is based upon what they learned from their own bad experience of doing the opposite.
2. Learn from others who have been where you want to go.
Model their behavior. Find out how they did it and adapt their method to your efforts.Unless the way they achieved it was dishonest and goes against your own beliefs and integrity. You can't model negative behavior without far-reaching consequences.
3. Working effectively is better than working hard.
Unless you assess your efforts and realize you really aren't working hard - you're just giving lip service to the idea of working hard.
4. Enjoy yourself more.
Unless you're already spending way too much time in the pursuit of pleasure, learn how to enjoy your life. Life is short. Don't waste it. Find a way to balance hard, effective work and play.
5. Change your attitude about work.
Sometimes when we describe an activity as work—even though it's something we truly adore doing—the activity, in our mind, becomes linked to work which equals unpleasantness. The more you enjoy something; the less it should seem like work. Your goal is to achieve something with the investment of your time, energy, and brain power—and have fun doing it.
Post Script
Life should be enjoyed. Now that's a goal worth pursuing.
Want exclusive content, giveaways, and bargain books?
Find Joan Online: facebook.com/JoanReevesWrites * slingwords.blogspot.com
youtube.com/JoanReeves * instagram.com/joanreevesauthor/
Enjoyable post. Thanks. Number 3, we used at work. Work smarter, not harder! But I really like Number 4. I don't believe as writers, we take enough time to enjoy our life which is, indeed, short.
ReplyDeleteYou're so right, Judy Ann. We get caught up in trying to complete a book then on to the next one. Hurry, hurry, hurry—no way to live.
DeleteNumber 4 is so important, always. Great post, Joan.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz. I've actually spent the last 3 days doing something I really enjoy—gardening. The weather has been so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWomen especially seemed programmed to always need to be doing something "worthwhile." Having fun is, in fact, very worthwhile. Thanks for the observations!
ReplyDelete