If you’re a creative type like me — or if you simply have a soul — at some point in your life the thought of day plans and organizers has made you want to hurt someone. (Unless you’re the natural organizational and planner geek, then kudos to you. You can skip this article). I know, because I’ve been there. Creating and following a day plan is something I still struggle with. In fact, that’s why I’m writing about a day plan right now. I can’t even begin to fathom trying to follow a weekly plan. I’m just not at that level yet.

Anyway, we’re here to figure out how to follow a plan without inducing violent thoughts and suicidal tendencies.

So the purpose of a day plan is to get more done, right? It’s supposed to help you get things done, while reducing the stress of procrastination. You know that. But you can’t get past the feeling that following a plan is putting a noose around your neck and suffocating your spontaneity.

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“I’m too busy to exercise.”

Even if it were true, it isn’t a reasonable excuse. Exercise gives you more energy to do work. In many ways, most people are too busy not to exercise. But still, a lot of people feel they don’t have time for starting new habits like exercise, reading or doing extra work. Being able to find time is a big obstacle in starting new habits.

I’d like to make two arguments. These are generalizations, so while they may not be true in specific cases, I’d say they apply to most people, most of the time.

1. Time is never the most limited resource in your day.
2. A lack of attention, not time, is what prevents you from adding new habits.

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We all know it’s not nice to lie. And most of us realize that, aside from the little white lies that get lumped under the innocuous (and incredibly flexible) heading of “social lubrication,” lying can be both negative and highly destructive.

But what about exaggeration? The average person would probably lump exaggeration in with lying, although most of us consider it more along the lines of a harmless and annoying fib than serious deceit. But that mindset may just need a bit of tweaking. In fact, a recent study shows that exaggeration, far from being either negative or destructive, may in fact be a vital part of our self-improvement.

According to psychology experts, lying causes stress and significant mental tension. People who are lying, and who have a vested interest in getting away with those lies, tense up when they lie, because trying to remember a lie and make it sound believable takes a lot of energy. But when people exaggerate, not only don’t they tense up, they seem more at ease when discussing those exaggerations than if they were talking about the truth.

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“Happiness is a habit – cultivate it.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

Happiness is one aspiration all people share. No one wants to be sad and depressed.

We’ve all seen people who are always happy – even amidst agonizing life trials. I’m not saying happy people don’t feel grief, sorrow or sadness; they just don’t let it overtake their life. The following are 21 things happy people make a habit of doing:

1. Appreciate Life

Be thankful that you woke up alive each morning. Develop a childlike sense of wonder towards life. Focus on the beauty of every living thing. Make the most of each day. Don’t take anything for granted. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

2. Choose Friends Wisely

Surround yourself with happy, positive people who share your values and goals. Friends that have the same ethics as you will encourage you to achieve your dreams. They help you to feel good about yourself. They are there to lend a helping hand when needed.

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It is inevitable you will be turned down at various points in your life. You may get rejected when applying for a job, making a marriage proposal or asking your boss for a pay raise. It is not a nice experience to have, but thankfully it is possible to learn how to handle rejection without letting it destroy you.

Here are 7 tips on what you can do:

1. Don’t take it personally. There are times in our lives when we are rejected simply because of timing. If you ask someone out to lunch but they have already eaten lunch, well they are going to turn you down! If you apply for a part-time job at a department store during the Christmas holidays the week of Christmas, they are going to turn you down because they have enough staff. Some rejections have nothing to do with us. So if you got turned down, do not second guess that you are no good or that no one likes you. It may just be a question of timing!

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There’s plenty of advice on the web about what to eat and drink, and a lot of it can be more than a bit confusing. What exactly is a “superfood”? Should you be eating a meat-heavy caveman diet or a fruit-rich raw food diet for optimum health? Do you really need two liters of water every day?

Often, we mistrust the advice being peddled – and with good reason. But this shouldn’t lead us to stop caring about what we put into our mouths altogether. One of the best ways to cut through the hype, the fads and the ridiculous promises is to figure out what works for your body. That means being conscious as to how food, water, caffeine and alcohol make you feel – and adjusting what you consume accordingly.

Listening to your body about food

Try thinking through times when you’ve felt ill, lethargic or sluggish after eating. You might want to ask yourself questions like:

- How do I feel after a big meal?

Have you ever been stuck in a boring lecture or conference after a large lunch? Did you find yourself struggling to keep your eyelids open? Most people find that overeating at lunch-time has a poor effect on afternoon productivity: it’s hard to get on with work when you want to curl up and fall asleep.

Eating a big evening meal might help you to sleep – but eating too much near bedtime is likely to leave your stomach unpleasantly full and gurgling as you’re trying to drop off.

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When we were kids, anything was possible. The wide world lay open and we saw the future as a great adventure. We could do anything. I believe that all life should be an adventure, and that happiness is our natural, default state of being. But clearly we have allowed things to get in the way of our happiness and freedom. As we have traveled through the landscape of our lives, we have encountered many challenges and, sadly, we have allowed some of them to get in our way.

Dale Carnegie is one of my favorite authors. He, more than most of us, knew how treacherous the journey could be, and he provided us with some wonderful guidelines for traversing the territory. Here are some of the traps about which he warns us in his own words. These traps can rob our happiness and our freedom if we let them.

Circumstances

“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.”

As he was suffering unimaginable privation in a Nazi death camp, the psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl made the discovery that it isn’t the outside world that makes you happy or not; it’s what is in your own head. Frankl’s insight, which he writes about in Man’s Search for Meaning, is that we are responsible for our experience of life. From Buddha, who said, ‘we are what we think’, to Earl Nightingale who, in ‘The Strangest Secret’ tells us that ‘you become what you think about’, countless great writers and thinkers have echoed the same theme. You are pulling your own strings; so don’t give away your power to anyone or anything else.

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Studying for exams, freelance contracts or working on bigger projects can mean freedom with your schedule. But it can also mean procrastination, stress from deadlines and an organizing nightmare. Working on your own schedule can be easier. However, there are more ways to waste your time if you aren’t being paid by the hour.

Setting Up Your Work Schedule

Whenever you start a new project, start taking classes again, or simply run into a block of flexible work time, you will need to set up a schedule. A good schedule is one that accomplishes the work you need to do and you actually stick to it. Unfortunately many people forget the second step and make impossible schedules that would require a machine to follow.

If you need to set up a new work routine, I prefer the top-down approach. The top-down approach focuses you on deciding what work needs to be done, and by what deadlines. Once you know the time limit for the work you need to do, this automatically creates the pressure to come up with a productive schedule.

Many people, however, try to go the bottom-up approach when they need to structure their time. They start by setting aside blocks of time, and micro-managing how time will be allocated to different tasks. This method only ensures you spend a lot of time working. It doesn’t ensure you get a lot of work finished. Bottom-up approaches make it easy to waste time, and they can cause stress if your work doesn’t fit neatly into your pre-arranged schedule.

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Commitment takes courage. Many times we are content to stand on the sidelines and just watch as the game is being played. It’s safer there; but there’s no action and no opportunity for success, or growth.

Sometimes we just need to jump into it and see what happens. Sometimes we just need to burn the boats.

The ancient Greek warriors understood this idea. These Greeks possessed an unwavering attitude to victory and commitment. When the Grecian armies landed on their enemy’s shore, the first order the commanders gave was “Burn the boats.”

These commanders knew the power of motivation and necessity. With no boats to retreat to, the army had to be successful in order to survive. As the soldiers watched the boats burn, they knew there was no turning back – there would be no surrendering.

In our lives we need to do everything possible to make good decisions. We may not always be right. But if we follow a process of gathering the facts, analyzing the risks, and creating a viable plan based on the information available, more times than not we will make the proper decision.

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“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.” ~ Mark Twain

Self-respect is a fundamental for a great life. If we lack self-respect we will be insecure and strive to be someone we are not. To develop self-respect means to cultivate the self confidence to deal with whatever life throws at us. The following are some ways we can improve our self-respect. Remember, self-respect comes from an inner belief and not an egoistic feeling of superiority.

1. Be True to Yourself

There is great social pressure from parents, work and society to become a certain person and to achieve certain things. It is a pressure hard to detach from. But, a real self-respect only comes from being true to our inner calling. It is important you have faith in your own values and remember what is important to you. Just because other people think you should behave in a certain way, doesn’t mean they are right. Everyone needs to follow their own path. Even if others don’t respect your decision it is important that you do. Just ask yourself whether you come into the world to please Tom, Dick and Harry or live your own life?

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