The Secret Recipe for Living a Happier Life

And so I'm using today's episode as an opportunity for me to dive a little bit deeper into a topic that was discussed in the previous episode.

That was episode 93, my interview with Rob Duban.

If you're interested in listening to that episode, if you have not already, please go ahead and check out the episode show notes for today's episode.

And I'll leave a link where you can have easy access to that episode.

It was a really phenomenal interview, an amazing guy with an amazing story.

And that's what inspired the topic that I want to talk to you about today.

In my conversation with Rob, the topic got brought up about living a happier life.

And this is something that Rob is truly passionate about and speaks about regularly.

And it's something that I connected with in the most heartfelt way possible.

Because I am a firm believer that this world would be a whole lot better if people could be a little bit happier.

That's right, I am one of those guys who finds that it just drains me of energy to not be happy, to have a frown on my face, to cry rather than laugh, to walk around grumpy rather than joyful.

It just zaps me for energy.

And I find that when I'm around people who have that type of energy going on, it does kind of wear on you a little bit.

And so I can't help but think what a better world this place would be if we were all a little bit happier.

Imagine if we all smiled a little more, laughed a little harder, loved a little bigger.

Wouldn't that be a better place to live?

And so, inspired from a section of my interview with Rob Dubin, I bring you today's episode.

An episode where I'm sharing you five tips to help you live a happier life.

Doesn't that sound nice?

So let's go ahead and dive right in and let's see if we can't make tomorrow a little bit happier than today.

The following five tips on living a happier life are something that I comprised both from the tips that Rob Dubin shared that he calls his recipe for living a happier life, in addition to some of my own thoughts and insight on the subject.

So let's dive right in.

First off, sometimes you just have to make a decision to be happy.

Being happy isn't something that comes natural to everyone.

And so if you're one of those people who don't find it so easy, you're gonna have to try a little bit harder.

And if you're somebody who is a happier person overall, well, this is gonna come a little bit easier for you.

But you just gotta remember, make the extra effort to be happy before you walk out the door in the morning.

Say to yourself, hey, I'm feeling good, I'm happy today, and put a smile on your face.

Because it's really hard to not be happy if you're smiling.

Try it.

Try smiling, a big smile right now, huge smile, and try to not be happy.

You can't do it, can you?

I didn't think so.

So that's the first tip.

Actively remind yourself that you're happy and to smile.

Second tip, when you get home at night, before you go to bed, I want you to get in the practice of extending gratitude.

Now, what you're extending gratitude about is being grateful for the experiences of the day.

Again, this is another one of those acts kind of like smiling that makes it really hard to be negative when you're grateful.

So I would love for you to actively literally sit down, take out a notepad, bust out the notes app on your phone, and jot down anything that comes to your mind about that day that you were happy about.

And it can be something simple, like, oh my goodness, my favorite song came on the radio today.

Or I caught nothing but green lights on the way home from work.

Like I said, it doesn't have to be anything major, but just get into this mode of recognizing the gifts that you were given that day.

And over time, you'll realize that you start paying attention to that a little bit more.

Because the more attention you give to something, the more you're going to notice it.

And so I bet over time, as you practice this, if each night you write down this list of things that you are grateful for that happened that day, I guarantee you that that list is going to start getting longer and longer because you start noticing those things more and more.

Number three, here's the truth of the matter.

Even though we're talking about being happy, that doesn't mean that bad things aren't going to happen through the day.

That's just a fact of life.

Things are going to go wrong, somebody's going to say the wrong thing, and that's okay.

And even if you get angry or you get upset, that doesn't mean that you're no longer a happy person.

It just means that you had something go wrong.

So what I would encourage you to do as another exercise is at the end of the day, when you've just made that list of things you're grateful for, if you did have some things that went wrong, ask yourself, okay, what did I learn from this experience?

And how can I make a change if it is to happen tomorrow?

So for example, say that you were at work today and you had an issue with your coworker.

They said something that just really ticked you off.

Well, what could you do about that tomorrow?

If that coworker is to say the same thing to you tomorrow, try to think now of a different way of handling the situation.

Something that promotes you as the positive person, the happy person, the person who doesn't let little things get to them.

Why?

Because you're a happy person.

Now, I know it's easier said than done.

Trust me, I get it.

But it just takes practice.

It takes time.

And over time, though, you're going to find this easier to do.

Number four, this is a big one.

Stop caring what other people think and start living your own life.

This life is your life.

You're the one in control.

You're in the driver's seat.

You got your hands on the wheel, your foot on the pedal.

You control it.

And the truth of the matter is, it doesn't matter where the person in the backseat thinks you should be going, or how fast you should be driving, or slow you should be going, you're in control.

So think of life the same way as you driving that car.

It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, and it especially doesn't matter what you see on social media.

If you're looking on Facebook, Instagram, and you're seeing all these people out there living an amazing life, just remind yourself, you know what?

We're all on our own ride.

And what we see on social media is rarely ever the whole story, the true story, because it's people's highlight reels.

We don't want to share the bad days on social media with the world.

No, we only share the best of days.

So remember, this is your life.

That's their life.

We're all having good days, bad days.

And, you know, like I said, just remember, keep your eye on the prize.

Keep focused on your lane.

Don't worry about what they're doing or what other people may be thinking.

None of that matters.

The only thing that matters is you and what you want and what you've been through, where you've been and where you're going.

So focus on that and don't let any of the other stuff come in your lane.

Last tip for living a happier life.

Contributions to others is going to make you happier.

An easy way of saying this is give thanks, give gifts, be kind, show love.

And in return, you're going to find that it impacts your life in amazing ways.

It's kind of like that deal.

When we're a kid, we think of nothing but getting gifts.

We love birthdays and Christmas because it means presents and more presents, and we can't wait to get presents.

But then as we get older, well, maybe this is true for most of us, I hope, is we kind of realize that we actually rather give the gifts than receive.

Because even though getting a gift is really amazing and you love it and you're excited about it, when we give something to somebody we love and we make them smile and make them happy, doesn't it stick with you for longer?

I know it does for me.

And so I would encourage you to find ways in your everyday life to give your love to others.

The more you're gonna do for somebody else, I'm telling you, the more you're going to receive.

And just it goes back to what I said earlier.

If we can all show compassion, if we can all show love and be caring and thoughtful, it's just gonna radiate off of each other and just make this world, this society, our families, our communities better places to be.

And at the end of the day, these five tips that I've just shared, they may seem kind of silly to you.

They may seem trivial, like, okay, really?

Like this is gonna make me have a happier life.

You don't know the kind of life I'm living.

Well, trust me when I say I get it.

I've been there too.

Matter of fact, I still go through hard days and hard times myself.

But that doesn't mean that in the overall picture, we can't live a happy life.

As I said earlier, bad things will happen to us.

That's just life.

But we can look past those and realize that the bad things that happen, think of them as just a bump in the road.

And life is a road you're traveling down.

You're cruising at 75, top down, hair blowing in the wind, loving life.

In those hard times, they're just a bump in the road.

And you just hit that bump, bum-bump, and you keep on cruising.

And so I want you to remember these five tips that I've given you today to be sure that the road you're traveling down is a happy one.

One that you're smiling, you're laughing, you're loving, and you're dreaming for better and bigger things to come.

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Until next time, I really hope that these tips can help you live a little bit happier life today and in the days to come.