One Known Route To Happiness

It’s Saturday. Most people have the day off.

It’s okay if you’re working but you may want to consider getting into the flow of something completely unrelated to work.People who report being the most happy often are also people who spend a lot of time in a state of “flow.”Flow is that place where time disappears and all that matters is exactly what’s in front of you.

Flow is that place where distractions disappear and you are consumed by total focus.

When was the last time you were in flow?It could be a puzzle, a rock climb, or a game of air hockey.No matter what it is, people who get more of it end up happier.

2 Minute Action

Pick something that makes you feel alive and removes distractions.Bowling? Writing? Swimming?If you can’t set aside time today, take 2 minutes to carve out the time for this activity on your calendar.It might feel unnecessary now, but you’ll thank yourself later.

The Most Overlooked and Practical Application For Trust

Missed meetings that stay on the calendar.A pile of to-dos.In fact, a big long list of to-dos with dates that are WAY overdue.Seems innocent, though, right?What harm could it do?You're just adjusting. You're still striving. You're just on your way there, right?

Here's the problem:

When you stray from the structure you've laid out--whether it's a calendar event, to-do, or whatever--you're building distrust.You're teaching yourself that you can't trust the calendar to tell you what's important because sometimes there are events you can miss.You're teaching yourself that you can't trust your to-do list because it's packed with tasks that don't matter and clog up your view of priorities.You're teaching yourself that you can't trust yourself to get things done or honor the schedule.If your calendar is sacred, you will trust it.You'll have a good relationship with your calendar and you'll enjoy using it as a tool--because it will actually be useful.You'll have a good relationship with your to-do list and you'll enjoy using it because it will also be useful.

2 Minute Action:

Scan your calendar for the week. Delete anything you KNOW won't happen. Reschedule, kick back, block off a chunk of time to get something done--whatever you need.Do it now.In tomorrow's post, I'm going to tell you more about how to prune and reset your to-do list.

Use This Difficult Constraint To Your Advantage

I was reminded, yesterday, of the life changing effect of urgency.You know the feeling, it’s FOMO.

• Buy now, only 43 left!
• Limited Edition only available for the next 24 hours!
• Order in the next 15 minutes and we’ll throw in the Chop Chopper and the Double Chop Chopper free!

You’ve seen all of these before.But why?It’s not because there was an error at the factory and only 50 units were made.And it’s not because the limited edition models will expire and be in some violation of FDA regulation.They can make more units. They can expand the sale.

The punchline?

When things are important AND urgent, we take action.When things are important and NOT urgent, we mere humans are pretty inconsistent and bad at taking action.I’m not just talking about buying behavior.

I’m talking about just about every other aspect of life.

Its important to exercise, sure, we can agree on that. But since our bodies aren’t falling apart, it’s not urgent enough for us to have the motivation to go to the gym.It’s easier to just go tomorrow, when you’ll be more motivated.It's important to take your car in for a checkup, but if nothing is broken, why bother spending the money to bring it in?It’s important to us to learn that new language, but since we’re not going to travel for another 9 months, we can start practicing next week when we’re less busy.You can see where I’m going with this.Action often requires both importance and urgency, but especially urgency.Understand that you have a lot of control over the urgency part. It’s a seriously useful tool.You have the choice to use it to your advantage!

2 Minute Action:

What’s something you’ve been meaning to do?How can you add urgency?Here are some examples:Schedule a 5k run with a friend. Put a simple, weekly training schedule together and tell them not to let you off the hook.Place a “reverse bet.” Write a check to a trustworthy friend for $1,000. If you bail on your goal/deadline, tell them they are allowed to cash the check.Carve out a block of time on your calendar for that project you want to finish. Let it be sacred and schedule other things around it.