That elusive "happiness" goal we all have in the back of our minds has much more to do with how we feel about ourselves than what happens around us…so let's tackle learning to life ourselves.

When you are down on yourself, you tend to:

• Spend constant energy battling yourself which makes you tired, low energy, poor immune system, less attentive to everything around you, poor body language and social skills
• You lose perspective on objective reality, instead you create pictures of the worst possible situation and live that each day
• You come across to others as either stuck-up, hard to get along with, angry or so wrapped up in yourself most people wouldn't have anything to do with you

What is most challenging when you are in this state is KNOWING you are in this state.

It starts subtly with self-doubt, anxiety or one aspect of your character that you get down on yourself about.

For example – here are some we heard when we talk with people who have read Attracting Greatness -

• I have poor social skills, I'm shy or just not good in social situations
• I can't seem to carry out my dreams – I'm going nowhere
• I struggle with my health or energy – I just don't have the same drive as 99% of the population
• I am fragile – I can't handle rejection or setbacks…like others can
• Nobody likes me…I just can't figure out why that is, but it IS

Do these sound familiar?

What happens is that you take one perceived flaw in your character and turn that into a reason to beat yourself up continuously each day…without really knowing what impact that is having on your life.

But does this really make sense? 

Here are a couple of facts that may change your mind and help you to like yourself again:

1. We are all better at some things than others…if you can't cook does that mean you are a lesser person or that you should hate yourself?  Seriously, if you have challenges in certain situations in life, that should not take away from all of the things you ARE good at.  Maybe you are not the life of the party, but 1 on 1 I bet you are a very compelling person.  There are always positives to go along with any perceived weaknesses you have, so start focusing on the positives (or lamenting over them like you do on the negatives now)
2. Nobody is perfect, maybe someone is socially better than you but chances are they are suffering with their own low self-esteem on other matters (perhaps their ability to be alone, to be comfortable in their own skin or in 1 on 1 social situations. 
3. We can all improve…so you may believe you are weak in a certain area today, the fact is that we can improve on those situations and often do naturally as we mature, so what is today is NOT what will be tomorrow

Learning to like yourself is one of the MOST important things you can do right now to change your entire future for the better…print this off and make sure you read it at least once each day so that you can work on learning to like yourself instead of hating yourself.

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

• Getting angry when you find out that someone has achieved what you dream of in much less time?
• Resenting the fact that someone around you seems to have a more loving relationship?
• Wondering how your neighbor could be a better parent than you?
• Doubting your own ability to raise your child in the absolute best way possible?
• Angry at your boss at work because he or she has somehow reached a higher level than you even though you have worked there longer and worked harder?

Many of us ride the rollercoaster of being envious and jelous multiple times each day…in the end there is nothing positive about these emotions or their resulting impact on our behavior so we want to change. 

Here are 4 ways to reduce the amount of jelousy and envy in your life:

1. Focus less on camparing yourself to others and more comparing your progress against goals you have set for yourself.  One common mistake we make is to judge our own progress with that of those around us.  The happiest, most successful and fulfilled people have a clear vision of where they want to go, how they want to live and why…and they pursue it without giving much thought to those around them.  For many people who constantly compare themselves against others, this is all the more frustrating.  So, instead of looking at other people for acceptance and guidance, work on your own uncovering your own inner purpose and journey.
2. Stop thinking scarcity and start thinking abundance.  Often jelousy or envy is the result of thinking that because someone else accomplishes what you want, there is one less opportunity for you to accomplish the same or more.  Know that there is LOTS of room at the top of the mountain and YOU determine whether you reach the summit, not someone else
3. Embracing success adds momentum to your own journey.  Knock other people down and you stand a much lower chance of success, build them up and you are improving your own chances of success – if you believe in attraction, then think of this as attracting positive energy, if not, think in more practical terms that what comes around, goes around — be happy for enough people and they will remember and help you
4. Take some emphasis off of YOU and put it on your journey.  It isn't all about you, but rather about what you are trying to accomplish.  When you begin to think less about yourself and more about the journey on the way to reaching your goals suddenly you block out the target for jelousy and envy – your ego

Being jelous and envious is counter productive and always ends up in behavior that hurts you in the end, so starting today – right now – let's pledge to reduce our jelousy and envy and enhance our lives together – ok?

Some interesting points:

1. Money doesn't make happiness, happiness makes money (as well as spiritual happiness)
2. Focus on doing your work, following your path, taking action rather than the results…eventually they will come
3. Be present and be awake – this is terrific advice…just plugging yourself into your surroundings can help you live in the NOW and turn your live around – realize what you have and be gracious
4. He sees people in the slums who are unhappy and he sees Billionaires that are unhappy — interesting statement
5. Watch out for the poverty mindset – break out that no matter where you are or come from

Some very powerful messages – watch the video here:

Sometimes the cause is as small as one sentence their partner said to them on the way out the door, other times the challenges are much more serious, but in any case – can we turn more of our bad days into good day?

If you really think about it, 99% of your bad days come from allowing others to impact your thoughts or behaviors…not you yourself taking control and deciding to have a bad day – right?

So it stands to reason that you can intervene and not ALLOW those outside forces to impact you in a bad way…no matter what the situation.

I was helping a friend get over an issue where her boyfriend said some nasty things to her on the weekend.  Instead of either letting the comment roll off or confronting him on them letting him know they were not appropriate, she instead let it ruin 3-days (and counting) of her life.  She has been miserable, tough to get along with, receded into the background and is even not feeling physically very well. 

Clearly the comments were not appropriate and objectively (looking for the outside in) they should not have impacted her own thoughts for more than the few minutes it takes to decide how to respond, yet we let it fester and grow into something big.

Next time you think you are having a bad day or feel one coming on, try these tips:

1. Understand that you are still in control, you hold the keys to your own thoughts and behaviors so it doesn't matter what has happened, it's time to take charge not to back-up and give in
2. Write out what is bothering you 10-15 times – for most of us, getting that out in writing is a very powerful way to unload and not allow these negative thoughts to impact our emotions further
3. Decide on a course of action quickly – yes, give it some thought, but don't let it fester.  If someone says something you don't like, then decide right then if you will ignore it (chalk it up to their own limitations) or confront them and tell them how hurtful and inappropriate what they said is
4. Don't expect perfection – just because things don't go our way doesn't mean we should allow that to ruin days or weeks of our precious lives.  We face challenges every day – if  you experience a setback, know that a better day is just around the corner
5. Build your self-confidence so that you are stronger to face external challenges – in Attracting Greatness, there are several techniques outlined to strengthen your character, your self belief and self esteem so that you become bulletproof and can easily turn a bad day into a great one

In most cases, having a bad day is our response to something that has happened in our life…we are giving someone else the power to ruin our happiness, make us less productive, jeopardize our friendships and relationships and even impact our health.  Use these tips to help reduce the amount of control outside negative forces have on you and start have Great days instead of bad days.

Leave us a comment…how do you get over a bad day?

It's not so much that everything needs to be going perfectly, that doesn't happen for anyone in real life – in fact some of the happiest, most successful people have gone through challenges much bigger than you or I have gone through…yet they have managed to figure out what makes them happy and largely stick to that roadmap

You may be sitting, reading this thinking 'My life is a mess' or ' I really hate where my life is right now…' a combination of frustration, lack of hope and overall negative energy – so where do you turn? How do you get unstuck and dig yourself out of this rut that you seemed to have waded into?

While there are several factors involved in how happy you are and how your life is going at this moment, there are 3 factors that we have found to help the MOST when you are trying to transform your life from sucking to being much more enjoyable and productive:

1. Know what it is that makes you happy…sounds simple enough doesn't it – but oddly, we often get off track doing what we "think" or have been "told" or "taught" what will make us happy when in fact, we are not doing what truly makes us happy inside. We recently interviewed some of the happiest and most successful people across various walks of life and found that they know one thing extremely well…themselves!  They are unwavering about being true to how they feel.  Sometimes this comes across as being selfish, or self absorbed and to a degree this is true, but the ultimate outcome of being happy they are able to contribute to society instead of burden it with emotional and physical illness that comes from not being happy.

How do you know what makes you happy?  Meditation, reflection on past experiences, studying your strengths, asking those around you for feedback, testing different ideas – you'll find several techniques on discovering what truly makes you happy inside Attracting Greatness – A Blueprint For Self-Confidence And Happiness

2. Building your self-confidence so that you can overcome challenges and live consistently in tune with what makes you happy.  Often what makes you happen will not align with what other people will consider 'normal' – but overcoming fear and having a positive self-confidence will let you overcome those situations…get over that temporary bump and you will find that suddenly people will be even MORE attracted to you because yes, you are different, but you are also confident and energized…this is how followers emerge to be leaders

3. Recognize and replace negative influences with positive influences – people around you, mass media, your closest friends…by default you will find yourself surrounded by negativity that, no matter how hard you try, will impact your own journey and happiness.  Instead, proactively surround yourself with positive, supportive energy.  You may have noticed that happy and successful people often don't stick around long if there is negativity in the air – instead they train themselves to avoid these situations, control their thoughts keeping them as positive as they can and building a support system around them that helps support that positive thinking.

While there are other factors influencing happiness around stress management, discovery of purpose, cultivating an action oriented game plan and specific health factors…I have found these 3 to be among the most important factors to being more happy.  For a complete, highly effective Personal Success & Happiness Blueprint use Attracting Greatness and make 2011 finally the year that you get on the right track.

Change Your Life Now!

After living through an immense health challenge in my early 20's that fundamentally altered my life forever, and experiencing an incredible ability break through limitations, fears and that horrible feeling of just being stuck in life, we decided to put our experiences together with years of research from others who have been able to excel into Greatness in their lives – all with an aim to putting together the absolute best, fastest and most effective plan to help you change your life, realize true happiness and prosperity…a blueprint we call – Attracting Greatness!

Attracting Greatness is changing lives, helping people who have been stuck in a rut for decades to finally breakthrough and experience fundamental, extraordinary change.

Whether you are searching for that deeply held purpose you know you need to find, but can't quite seem to put your finger on, or that you are trying to push past the daily bad habits that are keeping you from realizing your dreams, Attracting Greatness has the blueprint that really works.

We outline the 5-Pillars of Greatness…the 5 most important aspects of our lives that require mastery.  Without understanding and then aligning each of these 5 Pillars, progress will be nearly impossible.  Some of those pillars include Finding Your Ultimate Purpose, Overcoming Fear & Anxiety and Boosting Self-Confidence Once And For All!

What is truly amazing about this system is the incredible power we have when understanding how each of the 5-Pillars of Greatness impact one another – suddenly it becomes clear why when we work on just one, we may not see the results we expect…yet when we work just a little on all 5 we see amazing results with less effort – after all, they are intertwined and to make progress we must understand how each works for or against the other.

Another powerful aspect of this blueprint are the techniques, tips and strategies outlined helping us to tap into our internal values, beliefs and inner compass — with these quick techniques and practices we can not only bring immediate calmness to anxiety ridden lives, we can truly figure out who we are and how we can best improve our own lives and the lives of those around us.

As one example, we show you how to mix simple, effective meditation techniques (we used to be terrible at meditating, but found a way to really make it work) to guide the deepest, most important realizations from within us suddenly lighting up our brains with the most profound realizations of who we are, what we want and what is holding us back.

Over and over again we are getting heart-warming and sometimes positively shocking stories of how people are finally getting unstuck and are finally able to move past limitations they have had in their lives for decades.

If you are at a point in your life where you are stuck in a rut, where you suffer from low self-confidence, can't figure out how to change your daily routine to be happier, more satisfied and fulfilled or simply want to step up your results…then I highly recommend you head over and learn more about Attracting Greatness – it really works!

What Makes You Happy?

We all keep this thought in the back of our minds don't we – "Are we really happy?"

Yet, for how much that questions tugs at us every minute of every day we often tend to avoid bringing it to the forefront and really do some thinking about finding happiness or what it is that does not make us happy.

After all, this is a rather complex question – confusing the issue of how to find happiness is:

• Does my happiness have to be linked with making other people happy?
• Is the key to happiness short term satisfaction, or is true happiness and contentment based on adherence to longer term satisfaction?
• Is it ok if being with someone else makes me happy or do I need to have inner happiness?
• And of course the really big one…is it ok if money makes me happy?

No wonder we have such a hard time getting a handle on this happiness question – as our lives grow more complicated sometimes we lose total perspective on what being happy even means or feels like.

Inner Happiness Key To Outer Contentment

A lesson we learn as life goes on (if we are lucky) is that relying on other people, situations or factors to find happiness often ends up leaving us empty in the end.

It's not that other people or things shouldn't make us happy – it is more around how those factors need to accent our inner happiness to really be effective.

We must start with an inner core of happiness that then guides us (attracts us if you will) to people,  situations and factors that enhance (not conflict) with our inner happiness.

For instance, starting from a point of inner confidence where we live our lives in harmony with our internal purpose (refer to the very effective Attract Greatness on this topic), means that we attract those who help bring out this inner confidence rather than shoot in down.

Similarly, if we are clear on our purpose and direction in life, then possessing money or particular material things can be used to enhance our life purpose (helping others, learn more, etc..) rather than conflict with this life purpose (gamble it away, spend it on destructive practices that make us unhappy in the end).

What Makes You Happy?

So, that brings us to the FUN part – what makes you happy?

Let me kick things off, but I want to hear from you – hit the comment button (top right of this post) and let us know what really makes you happy?

Here are some things that make me happy:

- Being able to use my full creative energy (music, writing, leading people)
- Spending at least half of my day (more if possible) learning new things
- Sharing what I can with those around me (customers, family, friends)
- Silence – having time each day for meditation and introspection

What has the opposite affect, stifles my happiness:

- Getting too far into a pattern of doing without having time to reflect
- Having other people control my time & impact my energy, I have chosen to make this a major focus area in my life
- Wasting time with people who get in the way of those things that make me happy
- Fear, frustration or other negative mindsets that stifle natural curiosity, learning, free expression and growth

Ultimately, this comes down to knowing if I focus on inner happiness and stay aligned with that state, my outward behavior and impact on the world will be much more positive reinforcing the happiness and fulfillment we all seek.  Of course, we are human and none of us are perfect, but this is a journey and hopefully we can continue to make progress.

So let's hear from you – what makes you happy?

Jeff

Now when you are trying to live your life with passion, on fire and take action everyday, you want your health to keep up – right?

So, I went to my favorite Naturopath – Tony Brunelle from Awakening Potentials and as usual, he hits me with the problem within 10-minutes – an allergy to Wheat and Gluten that is not likely permanent, but is a problem right now.

So, I joyously head out to my local health food store to uncover a diet plan free of wheat and Gluten – not so easy after all!

Positively, I am not someone who has to be 100% Gluten  free, I have not been found to be a Celiac, but I certainly now understand the challenge they face.

Sure, you can get smarter about it, you can become an expert at combining non-wheat flours and come up with a pretty normal diet after a few weeks of learning from friends and health food stores.

I joked with my wife that I could lead a life living on red wine (beer is now on hold), chocolate and blueberries.

Then I opened up my health website this morning and saw this article about how the antioxidant properties in dark chocolate, blueberries and red wine can all combine to be pretty potent cancer fighters.

Great – except you also have to watch your sugar intake or you will be dealing with an overbalance of yeast in your digestive system.

The bottom line, everything in moderation and get yourself checked for allergies.  I am still convinced that the secret to all of these pop-up allergies, system imbalances that lead to auto-immune diseases are largely based on reactions your body has to stress…so liberal amounts of stress management is also one of the best things you can do for your overall health.

One of the best blueprints I have found to follow exists within Attracting Greatness combining mind and body factors influencing overall health, happiness and productivity in your life…take a look.

All of us tend to get sidetracked this time of year with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it can be challenging to keep up our exercise routine – so what happens when you lose your motivation to exercise?

In fact, what happens when we lose our motivation to do just about anything – some would even say they get depressed making it even harder to get back to active exercise.

Certainly breaking free of ruts, challenging ourselves to live happier, more energetic and productive, fun lives is a reality – the blueprint inside Attracting Greatness talks about the 5 Pillars of Greatness consistent with the most successful people over the last 100 years, but here are 3 ways to get more motivated about exercising:

3 things that may help you get motivated to exercise

1. Link your health to something you really want badly – getting a date, attracting someone to you, impressing a friend, gaining new friends, etc… Imagine what this person or people would think of you if you look and feel more fit…that should help you get motivated.

2. Suspend your disbelief. Give yourself 3-days and commit to getting 20-30 minutes of exercise each of these 3-days and then see how you feel. This works when I get stuck in a rut. After the first few sessions (either at home, outside for a jog, to a gym, etc…) I feel so good I typically stay on track.

3. Mix up your routine. Exercise doesn't have to mean a workout at the gym. Going for a brisk walk in the morning is great cardio and will help with fat loss if your walk is brisk and lengthy enough. Head to your local indoor pool – it's great to swim hard for 20-minutes and then take a hot tub in the cold winter. Spend 10-minutes going up and down your stairs followed by another 10-minutes of situps, pushups and jogging on the spot while you watch TV. It doesn't matter where you get your exercise, just get it in.

It's funny that our minds forget how great it feels to be active – to be in motion, so what we have to do is get our bodies in motion for our mind to re-discover the positive feelings of exercise.

Unstoppable Energy

One of the main reasons we packaged our years of research and practice on Achieving Greatness in your life was to create the energy, inner power, desire and happiness no matter what state your life may be in at the moment.

Increasing energy is certainly a key part of improving all aspects of your life from relationships to your ability to earn money and live the lifestyle you truly desire.

Many of us struggle daily with low energy.  We find it hard to get up in the morning, we just can't seem to hit our peak potential for more than an hour a day before we get tired again.  We can't seem to stay awake when we hit mid-afternoon.  Exercise just isn't possible when we can barely function.  Even with 8-hours of sleep or more, we still feel tired when we wake up.

Does this sound like you?

Ok, here are 20 quick ways you can boost your energy, climb out of the rut you are in and begin to really LIVE life again – even at this dreary time of year.

1.  Make small, but important changes to your diet.  This time of year many of us crave more sweets and carbs – begin by replacing one snack or meal with healthier options.  Instead of a muffin, donut, bread or sweet snack, try some vegetables like carrots, broccoli, a salad for lunch.  Within a few days you will notice the energy boost.

2. Cat naps. Try taking a 20-minute nap in the afternoon, you will notice the energy boost soon after you wake up.

3. Exercise. Ok, so if you can't fathom taking off for 1-hour to the gym or going for a run, start with a vigorous 20-minute walk first thing in the morning.  What ever you choose, do it consistently for at least 7-days and you will notice the difference.

4. Lighten up! Schedule 2-3 times during the day when you think of something funny and have a good laugh – laughing is a great stress buster and will help to boost your energy

5. Take breaks. It doesn't matter what you are doing, change it up.  Doing the same thing over and over places our brain into a patterned state of paralysis – frequent changes to our thinking and actions during the day keep your brain fresh and your energy up too.

6. Drink lots of water. Most people are quite dehydrated on any given day making them feel weak and even ill – hydrate, hydrate, hydrate…oh and really try to make it water so that you aren't filling yourself with sugar-filled juices or soft drinks

7. Meditate – if I had to apply one single method to reduce stress and boost my energy it would be meditation.  By meditating just 20-minutes each day you will experience rejuvination and energy that you may have not even believed existed within you.  That's certainly what happened to me – it's all explained in detail in "Attracting Greatness"

8. Deep breathing. Closely linked with meditation – take 5-minutes at least 3-times each day to take 10 deep breaths, hold it for 15-seconds and exhale slowly.  I like to imagine all the negativity and toxicity leaving my system each time I exhale.

9. Make time for your friends. All work and no play makes a low energy day.

10. Live On Purpose – if you haven't yet discovered your passionate purpose in life, then use this blueprint - watch your energy soar once you wake up each day fully aligned with your purpose.

11. Have a creative hobby. Most of use our analytical brain nearly 100% of the time, but add stress to our system by not tapping into our creative side.  Try drawing, music, yoga, or creative puzzles to get the creative juices flowing.

12. Challenge yourself. Create goals and objectives and celebrate the little victories as you reach each of these goals

13. Add variety to your schedule. Try changing up your schedule – wake up earlier, eat something different for breakfast, take a different route to work, watch a different TV channel, try a new activity – anything to mix it up.

14 Cleanse your body. Believe me when I say that you are probably extremely toxic – and that no matter how hard you work on your mind, if your body is toxic, you will NOT be happy, energetic or able to achieve the smallest objective in your life.  I went through a health crisis when I was 22 because of toxicity – within 6-weeks of understand what was going on, I had more energy than EVER before…my entire story of overcoming this most common type of toxicity (over 80% of us have it) is outlined in the 5 Pillars to Greatness.

15. Get outside. It doesn't matter if it is 90-degrees or 0-degrees, getting 10-15 minutes of fresh air is critical to both our physical and emotional wellness and energy level

16. Giving love – and receiving love.  It has been proven again and again that the act of helping someone – of giving love is emotionally energizing and often is returned to us leading to more fulfillment and energy

17. Overcome your fears – many of us live in a near constant state of fear.  Fear of failing, fear of loss, fear of losing something or someone, fear of looking foolish, fear of our own ability to handle a situation, fear of others…and so on.  By recognizing and overcome these fears we unleash near boundless energy just waiting deep within us.

18. Consistent sleep patterns. Each of us do vary in how much sleep we need – but science has proven that energy levels and our immune systems (for most of us) need between 6-8 hours of solid sleep.  Solid sleep is helped along by having consistent times to sleep and letting go of stress and thoughts that burden us before going to bed.

19. Limit alcohol and coffee. Look – I like my two cups of coffee each day and I like to have a drink or two on weekends, but I try not to drink coffee after 2PM in the afternoon, mix decaf with regular to limit caffeine, and try and go easy on my organs by having 2-3 drinks maximum – trying not to have them later than 4PM so it has minimal impact on my sleep.

20. Get the right balance of vitamins…vitamin D in the winter, vitamin C for immune function and a good balance of fruit and veggies.  I am not a huge fan of fruit and vegetables – just ask my wife.  For me, juicing is the answer – I can get all of the benefit in a couple of glasses of fresh fruit and vegetable juice without added sugar or wasted calories.

Do you have energy boosters to share – leave us a comment by clicking on the Comment bubble to the top right of this post – I'm sure we have missed some!

Above all else – let's get more energy together!