Scott - Building daily habits for happiness and success.: The most effective way to improve your life

BUILDING DAILY HABITS

FOR HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS

THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

ANTHONY SCOTT

Copyright Anthony Scott

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Disclaimer

All the material contained in this book is provided for educational and informational purposes only. No responsibility can be taken for any results or outcomes resulting from the use of this material.

While every attempt has been made to provide information that is both accurate and effective, the author does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or use/ misuse of this information.

CONTENTS

Each of us may be able to remember points in our lives when we experienced some measure of happiness and success. Those fleeting occurrences, however, are not what we are ultimately after. The need for sustained happiness and success seems to be an innate trait in human beings. We strive throughout our lives to reach that coveted place where we are wholly satisfied with our accomplishments and who we are.

We see others around us who appear to have achieved this much desired state of fulfilment that combines realization of their goals with palpable and enviable contentment. Whether we think they got to this point of their lives with minimum effort, or through hard work and dedication, we look on and wonder how to make the same gains in our own lives.

The fact is, irrespective of the era, the technological advances or the social changes the world has gone through, successful and happy people all seem to share the same common habits as drivers of their achievements. They invariably allow these constructive habits to dominate their day to day lives, becoming absorbed in and passionate about the goals they have set for themselves.

This book presents and expounds upon 15 of the most common habits practiced by successful and happy people regardless of when they lived, which country they are from, their gender or social status. No doubt, you are already familiar with many of these habits and perhaps you already practise a few of them. But to truly transform your life, you must be prepared to do more, to make the pursuit of your happiness and success an all-consuming passion, which brings about changes in every aspect of your life. In essence, what you are aiming to create is a whole new mind-set, an intrinsic motivation that is an inextricable part of your personality.

As you read through each behaviour change, think honestly about how it can be applied to your life. Allow yourself time to adopt, adapt, assimilate and internalize them as you embrace the opportunities they present for you to change the routines that currently hold you back. Remember that any habit, good or bad, takes time to become ingrained in us they do not form overnight. It is a transformation, a process a wonderful journey, if you wish to change your life into something amazing. It requires a sense of true purposefulness and you must want it, work toward it and chase it with your entire being. By virtue of your decision to go through the material presented here, you have just taken the first step toward your own success and happiness. Congratulations!

Set out to achieve with confidence and determination, relishing

the challenges and basking in the triumphs.

Many of the most successful people pinpoint happiness as the single most important thing in their lives. They measure all their accomplishments against it. For this reason, your best approach to achieving happiness and success is to first decide what it would take to make you truly happy with yourself. Think beyond the accumulation of material things. Think of a deep-seated and unshakeable contentment. You will have to do some soul searching here and be completely open and honest with yourself.

After this candid evaluation of your outlook on life, you may end up making drastic changes to that outlook. Do not be surprised by that. Very often we hold on to misconceptions about what it takes to make us happy and waste our energies and resources chasing these misconceptions. We may focus on the appearance of happiness rather than on true happiness itself. In some cases, we mistakenly (and perhaps unconsciously) take on someone elses perception of happiness. We then struggle with it because it is not really what we want.

Once you have clearly defined happiness for yourself, you might be surprised to find that your goals for success have shifted. Like most of the people we consider to be successful, you will begin to see that success can only be fully defined if it is defined in relation to happiness. This realization empowers you, allowing you to enjoy the journey to your success. Your happiness will permeate all facets of your life. You will begin to make healthier choices for your emotional and physical well-being. Your levels of creativity and productivity will rise and you will find that you are closer to those you love.

Your definitions of happiness and success are

unique to you because you are unique.

It is possible to train your subconscious mind to see your success, believing that it already exists. All that is then left is for you to move toward it. This is the basic concept of visualization and it can be applied by anyone. Visualization motivates you to carry on and helps to keep you focused, making it more likely that you will spot opportunities to make your dream a reality.

Having a distinct picture of what you are striving for within your minds eye is one way to visualize it. Another method is to have physical representation of that target. Decide on your immediate and long term goals then write them down. You can also find pictures or an object that represents your goals and place these where you can see them every day. These reminders allow your goals to fill your mind.

Visualize too the process that it will take for you to reach your goals and remind yourself that the journey getting there is as important as the goal itself. This realization gives greater substance to your dream and helps you to find happiness in the pursuit of your goals.

Steadfast dedication to the goals you have visualized requires tremendous drive and strength of character. Daily life will place pressures on you that may threaten to bog you down or divert you from your goals and this is where visualization helps. The effects of visualization at lifting your spirits and encouraging you to carry on are magnified if each day you recommit to your goals and the actions you are taking in pursuit of them. The wonderful thing is that visualizing your goals and recommitting to them every day will build character over time, empowering you to achieve lifelong success and happiness.

Visualizing your goals makes you more proactive and

gives you a more positive outlook.

We tend to get caught up in the here-and-now. Between deadlines at work and bills to pay at home we become consumed with making it to the end of the day or to the next pay check. We fail to realise the value of investing the minutes it takes for us to plan our days ahead of time. Usually this is because we become fixated on and overwhelmed by the notion that we simply do not have enough time.