How happy do you feel? Give yourself a rating out of ten. You might feel like a pretty damn positive person, but you can always improve on that, happiness, positivity, and gratitude will help you create the life you want and be more productive and positive. It’s just all around better to take a break from things that weigh you down and focus on your own happiness.
In fact, it’s a secret of many successful women.
It’s been long talked over. Maybe the key to being more productive is to work on being happier. Happy people achieve more, they throw themselves at a task with more enthusiasm. It’s true. And there are some small tweaks that can make you more positive and focused!
1. 7 minutes to change your life
Exercise can boost your positivity and happiness. It can change the way you think about things and can even be used to treat depression. It’s pretty damn powerful. There’s a reason why most successful women rely on exercise to help them manage a stressful day. Have you read about how to plan your day like Victoria Beckham yet? This will give you some serious motivation to work out.
But, don’t worry. You don’t need hours and hours to get the endorphin boost.
Scientific studies have proven that seven minutes is all you need. Seven minutes of working out releases proteins and endorphins.
2. Are you breaking your sleep cycle?
We know that sleep helps our body recover from the day and repair itself and that it helps us focus and be more productive. It turns out sleep is also important for happiness. Negative stimuli affect you more when you have less sleep. Sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories because the place that negative memories get stored suffers less from sleep-deprivation than other parts of the brain.
To counter this, make sure you’re going to bed at the same time every night and use an alarm like SleepCycle. This won’t disrupt your REM sleep and will help you wake up feeling refreshed.
3. Happiness comes from the people around you
Research has proven that the people around you are just as responsible for your happiness as you are. Social time improves happiness, even for introverts. Spending time with the people you love is important, so make a call, reach out, make plans. The more social time you schedule in, the happier you will actually feel.
4. 57° is where you want to be
Ok, so this is a strange one. We all know the outdoors improves your happiness, but did you know that the actual temperature of the room or the air around you can improve your mood and improve your memory. Just twenty minutes of fresh air a day is enough to boost your mood.
5. 100 hours a year is the magic number
According to the Journal of Happiness Studios, one hundred hours a year is the optimal time to volunteer and help others if you want to become happier. You should try to do something for other people as much as you can, as it’ll boost your mood and make you feel, overall, much more positive. So, think about your volunteering opportunities and think about the causes you care about and try to bring more of those into your life
6. You need to practice every day
Practice your smiles. You’ve probably heard that smiling can make you feel better, but smiling on the surface won’t put you in a good mood. Smiling is more effective when you actually think positive thoughts. Smiling increases your productivity, too.
7. What are your plans?
Planning a vacation or break from work can affect your happiness massively. The sense of anticipation you get from planning a vacation can help you become super positive. Yes, actually going on a trip helps, but thinking about and planning for a vacation or a trip is another important step in becoming the happiest version of yourself.
8. Rewire your brain to accept negativity
If you haven’t considered meditation or mindfulness, now’s the time to start. Meditation can improve focus and attention span while also improving your happiness.
In life, there will be negatives – it’s a fact of life I’m afraid. But learning to clear your mind, calm yourself down and accept this can help you live a happier life. Meditation can actually rewire your brain to think more positively!
9. Embrace one new daily habit
Keep a journal. You need to, it’ll make a huge difference to your positivity. There are lots of ways to practice gratitude, from keeping a journal of things you’re grateful for, sharing three good things that happen each day with a friend, and going out of your way to show gratitude when others help you. You can use The Master Plan to track your moods and create a plan for how you can bring in daily gratitude.
You can use the dot-grid layout to really get into the details of your day. How do you feel? What went well? Write everything down and it’ll be much easier to focus on the positives.
10. Act your age
Did you know that the older you get, the happier you get? You become more comfortable in yourself and as you get older you become less self-conscious and more self-confident. With age comes wisdom, you’ll be more likely to cut out the situations that make you feel negative, stop talking to people who bring you down and less likely to be disappointed about unachieved goals.
So acting your age really isn’t a bad thing, it’s positive, you can stand up for yourself, be confident, cut out negative situations and be altogether a happier person! So are you ready to act your age?
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