5 Secrets to Happiness

Have you ever said I will be happy when I am successful? Happiness is the precursor to success. I’ll be happy when I have a new job, lose weight, find the right partner or get married then I will be happy. We hear it all the time as the majority of the population remains comfortably miserable. The secrets to happiness and success happen before you get to happy or successful, you need to first develop the ability to see clearly that change is possible that there is a brighter future with vast possibilities. Knowing you are not stuck and you can create the life you dream. Only once you learn to see the world through a clearer lens and change the focus can you call on your desires, wants and needs and give them the emotion, energy, motivation and intelligence to achieve your hearts desires.

Changing the focus

1. What’s good about this?  Ask yourself better questions. In any given situation you can change what you focus on.  If you only find problems in situations you need to become the solution and look for ways to make things better. Asking quality questions like “What’s good about this?” will help your mind focus on the positive vs. the negative and almost always will find a solution to move forward.
2. Identify what really matters to you. Focus on what is truly important to you, not what sounds good. A lot of people say they need to lose weight, make a lot of money, wish they had more time to spend with the family or friends, take more vacations. Why do they do nothing to get it?  The answer is easy, the reasons to “DO something” are not big enough. You become complacent with the familiar and people will do anything to just “feel better now”.  Knowing the choices we make today may not make us happy tomorrow you need to put your sights on the future now. Think about how it will feel after you eat that piece of cake, sit in front of the TV and not exercise, not go to work for yourself and feel more sluggish, today, tomorrow, a week from now,  a month, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years. What do will feel like, look like, be like and you else is being affected by the decisions you make today, in this moment? What’s really important to you, is it to be healthy and happy? Then what steps do you have to take today. Change your identity of who you are, to be what you want to be now. Success breeds success.
3. Eliminate the Chatter. You know that voice in your head that tells you that you can’t. The one that sits on the side and finds reasons to stay in a world of complacency and not move forward. The one that is worried about what everyone thinks and if it knew how seldom others think of you, you wouldn’t listen. That voice. Yes, eliminate the chatter and tell it to SHUT UP! Listen to the voice that tells you “I can do”, “I will do it”, “I am doing it”. That is the voice that is going to move forward and make a difference. The one that tells you: You can do anything, be whatever you want, have what you desire and make a difference in the world. Look for opportunities that will bring you closer to what you truly want.
4. Make a Decision. Put an end to any other option to just do it. Cut off any option to turn back. Give your clothes to charity that you saved in your closet for your FAT days. Get a gym membership or hire a trainer. Declare to your friends and family the new you. Turn off the Boob Tube (TV) and take a walk. Get your business you dreamed of moving. Take action to move you closer to your dreams and desires and live them now.
5. Practice an Attitude of Gratitude. Be grateful for where you are now and where you are going. There is always something to be grateful for in our lives. You may not be where you want to be yet but if you don’t find love and gratitude in the moment you will not have the will or desire to make the right decisions that will bring you there. You have to practice, practice, and practice until it becomes second nature and you create an unconscious competence about it.  People have always thought I had the perfect life. Well I did, I practiced finding the best in the worst situations and decided to focus on what I can do and not what I couldn’t.  What about you?

Being happy is an inside job that leads to outside success.