There are many ways to be happy and successful, there is no magic formula. Instead happy and successful people live by some useful Principles and do them their own way…
| They… | Instead of… | Top Tip |
|---|---|---|
| 1) Take responsibility for themselves | Blaming external things for things that go wrong. | Give thought to what you CAN do rather than all the reasons you can’t |
| 2) Take actions that lead to long term success | Being concerned with short term gratification | Whenever you are tempted by something for instant gratification (e.g chocolate, spending of the credit card, not doing exercise) Think ‘will I be glad I did this in X yrs time’. It will help you to make conscious choices. |
| 3) They are not concerned with quick fixes | Being obsessed by the next big diet, pill, instant romance, get rich quick idea etc | Use this motto ‘if it sounds too good to be true – it probably is.’ Develop your own internal wisdom to guide you in decision making. |
| 4) They have a positive and realistic outlook | Being overly optimistic (always hoping for better but not doing anything about it) or pessimistic. | Identify you own bias for optimism or pessimism and challenge your own views. When something goes wrong, think about what you can do to work towards your dreams |
| 5) Know what’s within their control and what isn’t and act accordingly | Feeling at the behest of everyone else or trying control things they can’t | Be clear about what you can and can’t control. For example you can try to influence other people but you can’t make them do anything Learn to let go of that which you can’t control |
| 6) Are emotionally regulated – have the appropriate emotion for a given event | Being controlled by their emotions or ignoring them | Meditation, NLP, yoga, breathing exercises, hypnosis, therapy, coaching, working on your over or under active emotional responses. |
Rather than trying to achieve them all, start with the one that you think will be most useful for you.
Don’t have a Facebook Life – have a real one… with the help of this short video.
Beware the temptation of a quick fix – find out why we’re so in love with the quick fix and how to develop better strategies for success.
How emotionally regulated are you? Find out in this free online quiz.
Read Karen & John’s book Time Mastery; Banish Time Management Forever. Available from Amazon & bookshops.
