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The 15 Most Common Habits of the World's Happiest People
Don’t Let Time Slip Away
"When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."
- A study on the Top 5 Regrets of the Dying
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Key Ideas
Be Busy, But Not Rushed
Being “rushed” puts you on the fast track to being miserable.
Live a productive life at a comfortable pace. Learn to say no to busywork.
Have 5 Close Relationships
National surveys find that when someone claims to have 5 or more friends with whom they can discuss important problems, they are 60 percent more likely to say that they are ‘very happy’.
Excerpt from the book Finding Flow.
True friends really are worth their weight in gold. Check in regularly with close friends (around every two weeks).
Happiness And External Events
Self-esteem is good for confidence, but self-esteem that is bound to external success can be quite fickle.
Think of yourself less and avoid the trap of tying your self-worth to external signals.
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Key Ideas
Learn something new
... even if it's stressful. Mastering a new skill means more stress now but more happiness later.
The key is to choose the right new skill to master, a challenge to undertake, or ...
Friends near you
Geographically close friends (and neighbors) have the greatest effect on happiness.
Individual happiness cascades through groups of people, like contagion. So make friends with people who live near you.
Embrace opposing feelings
Happiness can come from noticing and embracing a wide spectrum of emotions--both good and bad.
So don't ignore negative feelings. Embrace them--and then actively work toward overcoming whatever issues you face.
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Key Ideas
Chronically unhappy people
Not everyone knows how to be happy or how to deal with the bumps and annoyances of life. When people get stuck in temporary setbacks, they can easily forget that happiness is never out of reach.
Complaining a lot
When life throws a curveball, it's enough to make anyone complain. However, when complaining goes unchecked, it can become a habit that makes it easier to be negative than positive.
Tips for coping:
- Learn to use positive and encouraging language to the people around you and to yourself.
- Practice seeing the good in every situation.
- Celebrate the good times, and meet each day with optimism.
Becoming your own worst critic
Being overly critical of ourselves can increase anxiety about a situation. Mulling over what happened is like self-criticism on repeat.
Tips for silencing your inner critic:
- Stop expecting perfection from yourself. Learn to accept your mistakes, acknowledge them, then put them behind you and focus instead on continued growth.
- Stop looking for what's wrong about you and focus on what's right about you.
- Turn your attention to what could go right instead of what could go wrong.