Happy Habits

8/20/2019 Happy Habits

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HAPPY H

ABITS

Barney Matthews


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I

NTRODUCTION

Before we start, let me ask you a question…

There has been a lot of research in to the area of happiness.

I’d like to begin by sharing the findings of some of these

studies with you.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin found that 50%

of a persons happiness comes from their daily actions.

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Researchers from Warwick University in England noticed

that happier workers were 12% more productive than the

average worker.

A study in Milwaukee discovered that the happiest people

lived up to nine years longer than the least happy ones.

Professors in Germany learned that happy people lookedup to 4 years younger than unhappy ones.

Studies have also shown that 50% of a persons daily

actions are habits.

Now, imagine what would happen if some of your habits

were also actions that contributed to your happiness? You

could be automatically happy every day. You could be more

productive, healthier and even look younger!

This ebook will tell you how you can use habits to becomehappier. Specifically, it will show you how to create “happy

habits.” The first section will share some specific actions you

can do that have been shown to contribute to a persons

happiness.


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The next part will share a simple method anyone can use to

create new habits using just sticky notes and a pen. Finally

we will give some specific “happy habit” ideas you can

adopt.


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H

APPY

A

CTIVITIES

A considerable amount of research has been done to find

out what actually makes people happy. The following

activities have been found by researchers to actually make

people happier. Remember, as we said before, 50% of your

happiness is determined by what you do.

E

XERCISE

Exercise is one of the best things you can do to be happy. It

gets your endorphins flowing. Endorphins are a natural

chemical that your body releases that feel a lot like the drugmorphine. Scientists have found that the happiest people

exercise on a regular basis. Not only does exercise make you

happy though, recent research suggests it has some health

benefits too!

The great thing about exercise is it comes in many forms

and you can usually find one you enjoy. Maybe it’s going for

a walk by the beach, maybe it’s playing a round of golf,

maybe it’s going to the roller disco, maybe it’s going skiing,

maybe it’s playing basketball, maybe it’s playing badminton.


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Find something that you enjoy and make that your form of

exercise.

MEDITATION

The happiest person measured by scientists was a Buddhist

monk. Guess what he does on a regular basis? Meditate! You

don’t have to spend all day meditating to be happy though.

30 minutes a day is all it takes, even 10 minutes ofmeditation will make an appreciable difference over time.

One of the most common misconceptions about meditation

is that it is difficult and it means clearing your mind of all

thoughts. This is not true! Meditation can be as simple as

breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth

and just focusing on that as you sit comfortably.

GOOD DEEDS

Research at the University of Pennsylvania has shown that

people who help others for 2 hours a week are happier. You

don’t even have to do those 2 hours all in one go. In fact, I

would say if you can split that time up during the week it

would help your own happiness more than doing it in one

lump. Your good deeds don’t have to be “big” for you to get


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the happiness benefit. It can be as simple as writing a loved

one a special note, or making their lunch as a surprise. Or

offering to go start their car or clear off the snow. Or

sending a complimentary email to someone first thing in the

morning. Or getting someone’s work set up for them before

they come in. Or giving someone a ride to work on a rainy

day. The good deeds can be really small and still give you a

big feeling of happiness.

G

O

F

OR

A

‘

G

OOD

W

ALK’

One of the easiest ways to cultivate your own happiness is

to take a ‘good walk’. A ‘good walk’ combines several things

proven to make people happy. Simply go for a good walk

with good people and discuss good things. A ‘good walk’ will

give you fresh air, exercise, companionship and a positive

focus – all proven to cultivate happiness.

Take A Good Walk - Getting outside gives you fresh air,

sunshine and exercise - all proven to make people happier.

Spending just 10 minutes outside in good weather can boost

a person's mood for up to 2 hours. Exercising for just

7 minutes a day makes people more relaxed and makes

them feel better about themselves.


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With Good People - People who have good relationships

with family and friends, and feel cared for, live longer and

are happier. Sharing positive experiences with other people

has also been linked to increased happiness.

Discuss Good Things - People who cultivate positive

thoughts by focusing on good things and smiling are more

engaged in their work and have better moods. People whoexpress gratitude have increased happiness and life

satisfaction and decreased depressive symptoms.

Good questions to answer while taking your

‘good walk’ are:

“What is something that made you smile?”

“What are you grateful for?”

“What are you excited about?”


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Incidentally, these questions are based on an organizational

development practice called “appreciative inquiry” which

solves problems by focusing on what is going well.

Find a way to go for a good walk every day! If the weather

isn’t good, then walk inside. If no one is available then go for

a walk by on your own and think good thoughts to yourself.

BE GRATEFUL

Next to exercise, gratitude is the biggest contributor to

happiness. People who expressed gratitude 3 times a day for

30 days were shown to have a measureable increase in their

happiness.

There are many different ways to express gratitude. You

could share something you are grateful for at the dinner

table, put it on social media, write it in your journal, or even

send yourself an email – it doesn’t matter how you do it!


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H

ABITS

We have shared several actions you can do that will make

you happier. How can you make them a habit? Well, the

good news is new habits are actually simple to create. All

you need are some small sticky notes and a pen. The 3" x 3"

adhesive note pads (also known as “Post-its” or “Stickies”)

work perfectly for creating habits.

As you are thinking about a new habit to create, keep the

following attributes of a good habit in mind. A good habit

being defined as one you have the best chance of being ableto build successfully.

Good habits are:

• Small

•

Simple

• Sustainable


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SMALL.

Good habits are small. Research has shown that people are

more successful in sticking to new habits if they start small

and build them up over time. Think about it, if you pick

running as a form of exercise to help cultivate happiness -

are you more likely to go from never running at all to

running 5 miles overnight? Not likely. You are far more likely

to go from never running to walking half a mile, to walking amile quickly, to jogging a mile, to jogging 2 miles and so on.

Start small, make that a habit and then grow it over time.

SIMPLE.

Good habits are simple. You want to remove as manyobstacles to creating your new habit as possible. If you want

to do good deeds, you could create a spreadsheet to track

how many people you help every day or you could just

decide to do a good deed for the first person you see after

breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you go the spreadsheet route

you’d have to also remember to record every interaction

throughout the day in your spreadsheet.


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SUSTAINABLE.

Good habits are sustainable. You want to be able to do your

new habit everyday, everywhere you go. If your new habit

was to sit in your favorite chair and meditate every day but

you travel every week you aren’t going to be able to sustain

this habit for very long (unless your favorite chair is an

inflatable one you can put in a suitcase of course. You could

make your habit to do a standing meditation every day soyou can do it anywhere.

An example of a small, simple and sustainable habit is:

I workout for 20 minutes at 6am every day

TRIGGERS.

Once you have a small, simple and sustainable habit, you

need to pick a trigger for your habit. A trigger is something

that will cause you to do your habit. It is difficult to create a

whole new habit or routine from scratch. It is much easier to

create a new habit if you can find a trigger for your habit.

With a trigger your chances of success are far greater.


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Triggers are typically things like:

•

An existing habit

• A specific time of day

• An alarm or calendar reminder

Some examples of triggers are:

! After your shower.

! Before you eat breakfast.

! After you brush your teeth.

! After you get dressed.

! Driving to work.

! When you make your lunch.

! After you drink your first coffee.

! When an alarm goes off.

! When a reminder pops up.

! At lunchtime.

! After you have eaten dinner at night.! At 8.00pm.

Decide what the trigger for your habit is going to be and

write your habit and trigger on a sticky note in the present

tense.


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For example:

Place this note near your trigger to serve as a reminder to

do your new habit. You want to make this habit something

that you continue doing for an extended period of time.

Commit to doing your habit every day for 60 days. Researchhas shown that this is about how long it actually takes to

create the average new habit. Easier habits can take slightly

less time to form and more challenging habits can take


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slightly longer, but most habits can be formed within this 60

day timeframe.

Draw a small grid with 30 squares on your third note and

mark down every day you do your habit.

Commit to never missing more than one day in a

row The mind doesn’t like to see breaks in a pattern so by

seeing your growing chain of successful days it will

encourage you to keep going. It’s also a great motivator to

see how many days you have already done. Once you have

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X X X X


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filled your first 30 squares, make another sticky note and

track another 30 days. After 60 days you should have made

your new habit stick. I never recommend trying to build

more than 2 new habits at a time. Trying to form more

habits simultaneously makes it harder for you and will

reduce your chances of being able to form any of the habits.


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HAPPY HABITS

The following are some specific “happy habits” to help you

get started. You can adopt them exactly as written, you can

adapt them to better suite you or you can simply use them

as inspiration and come up with completely different ones.

Whatever makes you happy!!


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barney Matthews is a writer, speaker and cookie lover. Using

ebooks, talks and web posts his mission is to inspire people

with words.

Originally from England he now lives in Vermont, USA withhis family. Find him on the web at: WWW.BARNEY.ME

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Happy Habits