DIY Happiness

7 Thoughts on Our Worldwide Midlife Crisis

As I paid homage to our veterans on this Memorial Day, I started thinking about all they sacrificed to help ensure our world’s safety. This led to more thinking about our humanity, which led to more thinking. It seems to me no matter your age, we all appear to be part of a worldwide midlife crisis. Everyday, I study the behavior of individuals and companies, and it's a bit head scratching at what we—as a society—have become. Of course, it won’t surprise most; we've collectively dragged each other well below mediocrity in most aspects related to quality, service, and respect. I can't help but think a temporarily cheated destiny won't let us get away scot-free with this sustained behavior.

Never Pay Attention To These 6 Words of Advice

With respect to well-intentioned and caring parents, mentors, coaches, and anyone else who provides insight and guidance by the minute. There are simply some expressions no one should ever utter to another. Daily, millions of people wrap these six words around recommendations. Even worse, many more millions follow those recommendations. Unfortunately, this advice is usually the biggest culprit of setbacks and stagnation. Spoiler alert: I’m not going to wait until the end of the article to tell you what the six words are.

The 10 Most Valuable Life Skills Are Actually Choices

It is mind boggling to me people still stumble when it comes to being effective in their work and life. I say this because the ten most valuable life skills are actually choices. I couldn’t care less what God-given talents you have (or lack). It makes no difference how skilled or educated you are. (It really doesn’t and please don’t make me go get my statistics about performance and billionaires.) When it comes right down to it, most of what makes you successful in life are your choices. Your choices will always trump your circumstances.

Want an Extra Hour of Time Every Day?

Contrary to what most people think—or allow—managing your time is not a democracy. We also don’t suffer from time deprivation because of other people’s incessant need for our attention. There are three primary reasons we’re starved for time: We don’t know when to prioritize, how to prioritize, or how to maintain our priorities. But, if you want an extra hour of time every day, I have some techniques that will provide immediate results.

The Ultimate Question To Ask Yourself When You Get Stuck

Have you ever gotten stuck on a project? Have you ever felt stuck in life? Live long enough and you’ll become stuck over and over and over again. College students get stuck in their majors or studies. Young adults become confused in their careers. Tenured professionals know better than all the meaning of stuck—when day-in-and-day-out takes on a meaning you can comprehend only from excessive years of 9-to-5-ing it. I don’t have the silver-bullet answer, but I have what I think is the ultimate question to ask yourself when you get stuck.

12 Reasons Your Hard Work Isn’t Making You Successful

Hard work sometimes pays off. Smart thinking combined with smart work will always pay off in the long run even if you stumble in the short term. You work hard. You put in the excessive hours. You work tirelessly on personal projects. How often have you wondered why you’re not further along in your career or life? Learn these 12 reasons your hard work isn’t making you successful.

9 Powerful Questions to Immediately Reduce Stress

Even the best time managers (really life managers) struggle when attempting to juggle too many items. I started thinking not about managing the time, but unloading or rethinking my approach. Out popped these nine powerful questions to immediately reduce stress. I figured accomplishing great feats while being stressed out seems to miss the point completely. So, let’s take a look at some questions you can ask yourself to help relieve your stress while you’re on your way to accomplishing your dreams.

5 Minutes of This Every Day Will Improve Your Life

One daily exercise I’ve practiced religiously is visualization. Five minutes of this every day will improve your life dramatically. But, you need to know what to visual and how. Imagine yourself at your “destination.” What’s it like? How does it feel? How does it sound? What will this end-state allow you to do?