Society wants you to believe that the key to a better life is earning more money, getting a prettier girlfriend/boyfriend or living in a mansion with 2 tennis courts and hot tub with a inflatable pool for the kids.
Commercials and mainstream media feed us this message every day.
But chasing these superficial goals isn’t great for our mental health.
Instead, the key to a good life is appreciating what you have right now and working towards a goal that you enjoy doing.
So if you want to change your mindset about what will make you happy, and improve yourself in the process, here are 7 strategies that might help you out:
1) Get Up Early
Mornings are some of the most productive time of the week. If you feel overwhelmed by your day, give yourself more time to get things done. Getting up even one hour earlier can set the tone for your entire day. Even if you don’t use the time to do anything other than drink coffee and read the paper, that time spent alone can really help you focus on the day ahead.
Here’s a quote from the Dalai Lama explaining a great morning routine that could benefit us all:
2) Set Priorities
Make lists everyday of things you want to accomplish. Whether those things are putting the dishes away, folding the laundry, washing the car, walking the dog, or making a million dollars — be sure to write down your goals for each day. Little things add up to big success so if you continue to seek success everyday through little efforts, you’ll get to where you want to be eventually.
3) Hang Out With People You Want to Be Like
One of the easiest ways to turn your ship around is to start hanging out with different friends. Sure, it’s hard to let go of people who aren’t helping you get to where you want to be, so instead of riding yourself or people in your life, add more people into it. And if you find that people in your life are toxic to your success and happiness, well you might have to put them out of your life for good. Improve your life means putting yourself first.
4) Get a Mentor
This sounds easier than it is, but keep talking to people who inspire you and ask for their advice. Don’t expect mentors to give you all the answers; in fact, a good mentor won’t give you any answers: they’ll just keep asking you questions so you can find the answers yourself.
5) Keep Learning
Want to learn more about self-improvement, dedication, patience, medicine, flowers – whatever! Keep learning. Learning is a great way to open yourself up to worlds and possibilities you didn’t even know existed.
6) Don’t Apologize For Your Decisions
When you are trying to make drastic changes in your life, you can’t be going around apologizing for leaving your old self behind all the time. People are not going to like that you are changing, so just accept that now. You are doing this for you, and you can’t tell people you are sorry for wanting to change. It undermines your efforts. Be proud of who you want to become and imagine yourself already there.
7) Accept Failure
Failure is going to happen. The sooner you get on board with failure, the happier you are going to be. Accept it as par for the course and you can just shake it off each time it happens. Soon, you’ll see that failure is just a setback and an opportunity for you to learn something from. Remember that things happen for you and not to you.