1. Be present.
Instead of allowing your mind to reside elsewhere, bring yourself back to now, in the moment, focused on where you are and what you’re doing and who you’re with. You can’t change things that have already happened, but you do have enormous power at this moment.
2. Do less.
Have a full schedule today? Cut it in half. You don’t need to do everything your Blackberry says you have to.
3. Get one monumentally important thing done.
Ideally, this is a task that will have an enormous long-term impact. Could be deciding to – finally – get life insurance. Or starting a savings account for your children’s education. Doesn’t have to be time-consuming, but it does have to be life-changing.
4. Plan your perfect life.
What would life be like if you had no restrictions? What career path speaks to you? What makes you smile? What inspires you to do better? Figure out what makes you happiest, then take steps toward making this dream life a reality. It’s not as hard to be happy as you might think.
5. Clear out the clutter.
Even if it’s just a little space – say a drawer or a shelf – decluttering an area of your life can have a wonderful effect on your mood. Clearing your desk is a great way to start.
6. Take a hike.
Or walk. Fresh air will have a great effect on your day. Clear your head. Calm yourself during a busy time of your day. Say to yourself, at least once, “How lucky I am to be alive!”
7. Focus on 3 projects.
Choose your three most important projects, and focus on them exclusively. Concentrate on completing them, to the exclusion of all other projects.
8. Crank up the radio.
Great music can make most of the bad stuff from today go away. For a good time, call Madonna. Her new album, Hard Candy, is a lot of fun.
9. Call someone you love but haven’t talked to in more than six months.
Few sounds are sweeter than the voice of a loved one you haven’t heard from in a long time.
10. Watch the sunset.
Instead of sitting down and flipping channels, walk outside and look up. The setting of the sun – the enormity of the world we live in and the wonders all around us – puts your whole day in perspective. Trite? Uh huh. But does it work? Double uh huh.