5Fprep: Having Habitual Happiness!

5Fprep: Having Habitual Happiness!: "Most people go through life coasting and reading up on other's success. They have a momentary feeling of 'wish I could do that or have what..."

Having Habitual Happiness!

Most people go through life coasting and reading up on other's success. They have a momentary feeling of "wish I could do that or have what they have", and then it is back to autopilot. Life is really just a bunch of established habits that you subconsciously do. Many experts say that it takes about 30 days to create a new habit.
If you come home and watch an hour of television everyday, that is a habit that you developed at some point in your life. All people have habits. The only question to ask yourself is, "Do I have good habits or bad habits?" Good habits can create a compound effect that renders amazing results. Whether it is wanting to be healthier, richer, or simply happier, good habits can get you there.
On the other hand, bad habits can get you in a downward spiral that leads to a feeling of disappointment and insignificance. We don't feel the result of our bad habits everyday. It takes a while and then boom! Your culmination of tiny small choices has put you in a heap of nothingness. You realize one day that you have allowed the short satisfaction of the day to steal your real lasting, long-term joy. A sense of joy only found in creating habits that get you moving towards the life you want.
So here is the challenge....
Think of one bad habit you have in your life right now. Anything that doesn't contribute to a better you and replace it with a better habit. Start small. For example,

• subsitute watching mindless TV with 30 minutes of reading a good book on self-improvement.
• instead of getting a coffee every morning before the day starts, substitute a quick stretching session 2 times a week to wake you up.
• instead of waiting to the last minute to complete an assignment or project, give yourself 10 minutes a day of concentrated effort on it (you would be surprised the amount you can get done in 10 minutes a day).

Overall, the challenge is try to create a positive habit in the next 30 days. If you do, and you find that it has helped you, please respond to the post with your comments.

Figure out your Finances

You need to have an idea of where you are going to get your spending money. If you still have don’t know, I would recommend looking into a part-time job of some sort. If you are interested in some possible jobs, I have ten I could share with you. Just respond to this post and I will give them to you.

Anyway, if you have figured out where your discretionary funds will be coming from, now is the time to name every dollar. What I mean by that is have a plan for it. If you don’t name your money, it will run off and you won’t be able to call it back or recall where it went. This may sound elementary and simple (because it is), but I would recommend using an envelope system. Get some regular size envelopes and write on them the different things of which you know you will need money.

For example, take a white envelope that says “gas” and when you get paid, or get your allowance, go ahead and set aside a certain amount for gas money. You may need $40 total for a month or less, but this way you won’t be trying to borrow money with a credit card every time you need to go somewhere. My wife and I practice this process. We get paid for the month and we immediately pull some money out to put in envelopes. We leave enough money in the account for bills, transfer our pre-determined amount into savings, and then we divide the rest up into our envelopes for the month. We have an envelope for grocery, gas, entertainment, pills, and gifts for Christmas and Birthdays. You could also have an envelope for clothes/CDs, eating out, books, ect. The key is that you know where your money is, what you will spend it on, and how much you plan to save. Every dollar has a pre-determined destination or “name”.

By the way, because of this simple step of saving and budgeting, my wife and I are on the road to being millionaires when I retire. It is possible, but it all starts with living below your means and saving consistently. The compound interest of investing can do the rest!

Get Lots of Friends Quick!

Want to know how to make someone want to be around you all the time? There is a secret that has been whispered for ages and yet so few people actually do it. It is simple and anyone can try it, but not many practice this principle. Therefore, I am inviting you to be different than the crowd and experience real, lasting and worthwhile relationships. If you practice this principle, some people will not get it. They may even try to joke you about it, but they will want to be around you more regardless. Are you ready to hear the secret to gaining friends the first few days of college and for the rest of your life? Ok, here it is....

Be interested in them more than yourself. Focus on complimenting them and not trying to get compliments from them.

Here is how you can try it. Next time you meet someone on campus or just out and about, make it a game to ask them more questions then they ask you. Here are some good ice breaker questions.

Other Freshmen- What is your name? Where are you from? What is it like to live there? Are you glad you are away or do you miss it? What made you choose this school? What is your major? What are you hoping to get out of this first semester?

Upperclassmen- What would you say is the most exciting thing to do around here? Are there any clubs or organizations you would recommend? Do you stay on or off campus and why.

Don’t get me wrong, don’t abuse with question after question, but listen intently and when a moment of silence comes, try to be the first to show you are interested in them by talking about them more. If you ask questions and the person is non-responsive, chances are you aren’t looking for a friendship with them anyway. You want to be around well-rounded students that can talk about more than where the next party is. Also, DON’T FORGET to compliment them. They are the most important person in their world.

I just finished reading a book called “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. I would highly recommend it to those wanting to be successful with people.

The Power of Paraphrasing

I try to have a inspirational quote when my classes come in each day at school. I address them to the quote of the day and tell them to tell me what it means. They struggle to tell me what it means without just repeating it. This is a test for them. Eventually someone comes up with a way to rephrase it in their own words or "paraphrase" it. When this happens, I am convinced that at least that kid gets it. Chances are a few others get it now too because of the kid's paraphrase.

That is the Power of Paraphrasing.

It teaches us to add our original thoughts to a older one. It helps us to adopt the saying of another as our own because we use our own words. As the wise philosopher Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun", but there are new people. You are different and your mind is not exactly like anyone else's mind. The best way to understand anything is to simply be able to put it into your own words. Learn to paraphrase things you want to understand and you will learn to truly grasp the concept of anything you wish to learn.

Don't just repeat things, put paraphrase them to understand them more!

Sobriety leads to Success

It is easy to coast through life and not evaluate how I am doing. I had a fitness and weight goal before a summer vacation and it was serious. I took specific time daily to exercise and plan out my meals for that day. There was nothing stopping me from achieving my goal. I even had to drop 3 pounds the day before we left. Well, the morning we left I took a picture of the scale and I weighed 175.6 pounds and my goal was to reach 175! I had done it. You may ask, what is the moral to this story? Well, I'm not done.

Since then, I have decided to "celebrate" my new physique by not watching what I eat or making a goal for exercising. I spent the last month making excuses for myself and giving myself permission to eat this and skip that workout. It wasn't until this morning that I decided to come to the truth of my health and step on the scale. In a month, I have gained 15lbs of love handles and chubbiness!

The point of this story?

Be sober-minded and always have a goal with a written plan of action.

I let myself go because I didn't hold myself accountable with a plan of action in the area of overall health. I made verbal excuses instead of a written plan of action to maintain and improve my health. I also avoided people and the scale that would tell me to tighten up. The result. 15lbs of cake and ice cream added to my waist.

The result of that? A new written goal (here it is)

On August 8th, I have lost 5 lbs by working out 6 times and eating sensibly throughout the past week.

I'll let you know next Monday how I did