Optimists are people with positive attitudes who expect favorable outcomes. When you expect things to work out, you take the necessary action to make sure they do. Being a pessimist is easy—not necessarily pleasant or fun, but easy—because you don’t have to do anything except let the world pass you by while you cling to…
Bestselling author and businessman, Harvey Mackay, wrote an excellent column dealing with risk taking and regret. According to Mr. Mackay, people rarely regret taking risks; what they do regret is not taking them sooner or not taking them at all. He goes on to say, “Afraid to try something new? Most of us are. But…
Sometimes we get into ruts when it comes to solving everyday problems. We turn to the same solutions over and over when a better solution could be ours for the asking. For example, my daughter has two children—a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. She also has three chickens which keep the family supplied with…
Eric Weiner, a former NPR correspondent and author, travelled to a number of countries including Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland which were ranked high on happiness by the World Database of Happiness. His goal was to find out if the people living in these countries were as happy as the database claims and to learn…
When someone does something to make you angry, the last thing on your mind is to be kind to that person. In reality, it should be the first and for a very important reason: doing so cancels out your anger and brings you back to normal. Let me illustrate with an example. An article which…
Over the years I’ve had a number of people ask me: “How do I go about the business of finding my passion–something I can get truly excited about?” Each of these people had the idea that finding their passion was like walking through a cafeteria line and picking something out that seemed interesting. In reality,…
Over the years, I’ve come across a number of people who can’t admit it when they’ve made a mistake. Instead of admitting their mistake and taking responsibility for it, they blame others. They seem to think admitting a mistake is a sign of personal weakness. In reality, being able to admit our mistakes is a…
I had just boarded my connecting flight and was headed home. As I settled into my seat, I looked up and saw a famous business author/speaker and his wife board the plane. The two had not been seated together, so the author/speaker asked the gentleman across the aisle if he would trade seats with his…
Some of the happiest people I know are the ones who never stop learning or trying new things. Instead they continue to grow as they move through life by saying “yes” to the many opportunities that life sends their way. They understand that in life, you either move forward or backward. There is no such…
One of the biggest myths on the planet is: When I get what I want, I’ll be happy. This implies that happiness is a state that can be arrived at and that it can be achieved by focusing only on one’s self. In reality, the opposite is true. You can only achieve true happiness by…