How to Have a Great Day: 5 Simple Steps for Daily Happiness!

By JOHN D. MOORE, PHD

So you came here looking for more information on how to have a great day? Good on you! Let’s face it – in our 24/7 non-stop world of deadlines, accountability and stress, great days can be hard to come by!  But what if you could change that?


I’ve written about the topic of choosing happiness in the past and the importance of embracing different parts of ourselves.  A major message of this blog on Reaching Life Goals is to help you live your life to the fullest, using mindfulness as a conduit for change.

To build upon this theme, I am going to share with you 5 simple steps you can do each day to help make it great with the dual goal of building happiness into the dynamic.

Are you ready? Let’s jump right in!

1. Focus on gratitude early

Before you getting out of your bed, clear your mind the non-stop “to-do” list and spend 60 seconds focusing on what you are grateful for. Example: You woke up this morning, didn’t you? Guess what, not everyone else made it through the night! By focusing on basic things to be grateful for, you instantly help put yourself in a happy mood and repel negativity.

2. Choose happy foods

Part of having a great day is making healthy nutritional choices. One powerful approach is to choose your meals wisely and eat things that increase happiness.  Did you know that foods like apples, berries and oranges have been found to have mood boosting powers that happen to jack up levels of happiness? It’s true. Why not reach for something healthy right now?

3. Do something physical

This may seem like a silly point but physical activity has been scientifically proven to have a positive impact on mood while also acting as a powerful tool to increase happiness. You don’t have to hit the gym either to make this part of your daily ritual. Basic physical activities like stretching, walking or going for a bike ride can help to release powerful brain chemicals that are known to power up your happiness chip.

4. Schedule happiness

Yes, you read this right – schedule happiness!  In my experience, too many of us are focused on the needs and happiness of others that we forget to attend to our own self-care. Scheduling happiness for yourself can be as simple as taking a quiet walk around the block and focusing on gratitude or spending some time with your pet and observing mindful behavior.

5. Choose happiness

This final point may sound simple but that doesn’t mean it is easy. Choosing happiness means reaching deep inside and believing you are worthy of happiness. It means having confidence in your abilities and skills while accepting your limitations. It means identifying your triggers for stress in advance and choosing how you will respond. Choosing happiness means loving yourself for the person you are and turning off negative self-talk.

Final Thoughts

Hell yes you can have a great day. And you know what – you can have another great day tomorrow! Sure, things are going to come up that will derail you from time to time. That’s life. But with the right mental and emotional attitude, coupled with some tweaking on your part, great days can become part of your reality. Before you know it, you will be well on your way to a great week!

Wouldn’t that be fantastic?

Have a GREAT day – really!

Article Source :- How to Have a Great Day: 5 Simple Steps for Daily Happiness! | Reaching Life Goals

10 Leadership Lessons From the U.S. Navy Seal Who Led the bin Laden Mission | ChiefExecutive.net | Chief Executive magazine

Every CEO has a list of leaders and mentors he or she looks up to or has learned from. Here’s a new one for your list.

Admiral William H. McRaven is the former commander of U.S. Navy SEAL Team 3 and the current commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command. He led the mission which resulted in finding Osama bin Laden. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, he recently gave the commencement address at his alma mater, and offered the graduates 10 lessons from his SEAL training that every leader can benefit from. He said, if you want to change the world:



1. Start off by making your bed. The first thing a sailor does every morning is make his bed. This sets him or her off on the right footing and gives a sense of pride. Begin every day by accomplishing a small task. It will make you feel good and put you on the right footing.



2. Find someone to help you paddle. It takes a team of seven SEALs to get across the heavy San Diego surf in a raft. The task is impossible to do alone. You can’t change the world alone—accept that you will need some help.



3. Measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers. He tells a story of a SEAL team that was the ‘runt of the litter,’ but outswam, outpaddled and outran the big guys every time. Judge people by their character and nothing else.



4. Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. Recruits whose uniforms didn’t pass inspection were required to dive into the ocean in full uniform, then roll around in the sand, an exercise they nicknamed being a ‘sugar cookie’. They had to stay in those wet, sandy uniforms all day. The ones who got frustrated didn’t survive because they didn’t get the true message: Things are never going to be perfect all the time.



5. Don’t be afraid of the “circuses.” Recruits who didn’t meet daily standards or time tests ended up on a list and had to participate in a “circus.” “Circuses” were additional training exercises designed to wear already tired recruits down. Many didn’t make it, but those who did, ironically, ended up being stronger and harder than those who didn’t go through a lot of “circuses.”



6. Sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head-first. A candidate broke a hand-over-hand upside down crawling-across-a-rope record by instead sliding across the top of the bar head first. What he did was really risky and no one else had ever tried it. But he tried it and he succeeded. He not only broke the record, he reset the bar.



7. Don’t back down from the sharks. Recruits who encompass a shark on a swimming exercise are ordered not to back down from it, but rather to punch it in the nose. McRaven tells the graduates, there are a lot of sharks in the world. If you’re going to succeed in life, you’ve got to face your sharks.



8. Be your very best in the darkest moment. Part of SEAL training is to conduct attacks on enemy ships. This requires being deep under pitch black water while listening to loud, distracting noises from the ship’s engines and systems. It’s very easy to get disoriented and fail. Every SEAL, he said, knows that when it’s darkest is the time when you need to be the most calm, composed and focused.



9. Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud. During hell week, McRaven’s team of trainees found themselves in freezing cold mud up to their necks and were required to remain there for eight hours, until dawn. Just when it seemed that several of them were about to give up, one started singing, then another and another. All of sudden, they had hope. “If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world,” he said, “it is the power of hope. The power of one person—Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala—one person can change the world by giving people hope.”



10. Don’t ever, ever ring the bell. In SEAL training, recruits who want to give up simply have to ring a bell that hangs in the center of the compound. His final message: If you want to change the world, don’t give up. Don’t ever, ever ring that bell.



For a full transcript of his speech, click here.



Article Source :- 10 Leadership Lessons From the U.S. Navy Seal Who Led the bin Laden Mission | ChiefExecutive.net | Chief Executive magazine

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7 Ways To Stop Feeling Like Shit - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement

Sometimes the changing of seasons can weigh you down and knock you out, leaving you grumpy, tired and all-in-all: shitty. Lucky for us, there are steps we can take to help reverse these less-than-desirable feelings. Everything is attainable and at the end of the day, [at the risk of sounding cliché], the only thing stopping you from feeling your best is YOU. Here are 7 steps you can follow to stop feeling like shit:

1. Stop Hitting The Snooze Button

When we hit the snooze button it gives our brain the message that we don’t want the day to start. I’m well aware that the sound of that obnoxious alarm at 6:30 AM makes us want to curl in bed for another 2 hours at least, but it’s time to make the most of your mornings. These precious hours are the only time in the day that we don’t have to open our mouths and answer to anyone yet… what could be better?! And if that doesn’t convince you, here are 5 reasons you should wake up earlier.

2. Give Up Animal Products for 1 Week

Disclaimer: I’m not vegetarian, vegan, raw, paleo, gluten-free, or any restricted diet for that matter, but I do believe that moderation is the key to health and happiness. If I’m feeling really weighed down, I’ll try and switch up my diet. Giving up animal products (yes, that includes dairy) for 1 week can totally flip my mood around… before I start craving baked salmon and roast chicken again. If you don’t think you can change up your diet for just 1 week, try out these vegan recipes, and your mind will surely change.

3. Change Your Scenery

Stagnant scenery is guaranteed to make you feel stagnant. That being said, there are a couple ways you can change it up. Option 1: Get out of town for the weekend. Drive a few hours away and mellow out in a new area with your loved ones, or even solo. You don’t have to travel across the world to take a vacation (but if you can, why not?!). Option 2: Redecorate your home. I don’t mean that you should go out and spend thousands of dollars on new stuff; there are so many wallet-friendly ways you can do it on your own. You can try re-wallpapering a room (great tutorial here) or jazzing up the look of your kitchen (6 easy ideas here). Get creative, but get out!

4. Stretch Your Body

It’s no secret that little-to-no physical exercise will leave you feeling like shit. Keeping your body strong and flexible helps you today, tomorrow and the years to come. If you aren’t big into physical activity, be sure to at least stretch out. There are so many at-home yoga videos that leave you with no excuse!





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