14 Simple Things You Can Do To Improve Your Life

Austria in August 2006

So the year is still new. Here are fourteen simple things that you can do to make your life better.

• Treat others the way that you would like to be treated. If more people really followed this, the world would be a way better place!

• Smile more. It is easy to do and people will wonder what you’re up to. It is also hard to stay down when you smile.

• Laugh more.

• Make a new friend. It is usually exciting to make new friends. There is the newness and getting to know them better.

• Pay it forward. You might have heard of the book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde or the movie starring Haley Joel Osment, Kevin Spacey, and Helen Hunt. You might be inspired or find some ideas at Pay It Forward Movement. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone was looking for a way to help others.

• Be a mentor. As I indicted in my Be A Mentor post, January is National Mentor Month in the U.S. You can share your knowledge and experiences and help someone. Almost anyone can be a mentor, why not give it a try?

• Spend quality time with those important to you. Make sure to schedule time in for your family and friends. Let them know who you feel about them and what they mean to you. You can also renew an old relationship. There is probably a friend that you have been meaning to call. Pick up the phone or go pay them a visit.

• Help someone. Maybe you could baby sit the kid(s) of a family member or friend that is in need of some away time. You probably know of someone that could use your help. You’ll feel better after helping them.

• Walk more often. Walking in nature or alone a scenic path can do a lot to lower your stress levels and calm you. Maybe you could walk to the corner store for those few things that you need to pick up instead of driving there.

• Slow down. Our multi-tasking world often has us thinking of what we’re going to do next and so we are often not really thinking about what we’re doing at the moment. Sometimes we need to take a breath and regroup. You do not always need to do everything at 90 miles an hour.

• Be grateful for what you have. It is easy to get hung up on the things that you don’t have but we need to realize that we all do have a lot to be grateful for and should appreciate what we do have. Things could always be better, but they could certainly always be worse (I wouldn’t deal too much on how they could be worse but it might be a useful exercise from time to time.

• Schedule time to do your projects/goals/resolutions and do them. This does mean that you need to know what you plan to do ahead of time, but here you’re scheduling time so that you can do these things and actually do them, stop putting them off.

• Do more of what you like to do. If there is something you like to do, you can afford to do it, and it doesn’t hurt anyone else, why not do more of it. It is amazing how much joy you can get from a hobby or activity that you really like to do.

• Turn off a light. If you’re leaving a room without planning to come back in it shortly, then turn out the light. Look for ways to save energy around your home and in your life. Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Recycle your garbage. This is the bit for the environment and saving energy.

If you apply as many of these as possible, you’ll be surprised at how much better you life can be. Good luck.