Photo Credit: Eustaquio Santimano
Welcome to 2010 and have a very Happy New Year!
Having a great new year is much more a function of your own choices than you may think. Perception does have the power to create reality.
Here are just a few things you can do. Some are easy and some harder, but all of them have the proven potential to incrementally and to radically improve your life.
It’s up to you. Make a choice and act.
Happiness and luck favor the prepared and open mind as well as a body in motion.
1. Commit to stopping the voice in your head that says “I already know (or do) that.” This voice robs you of new viewpoints, information, and ideas that can really make a difference. And besides that, you probably don’t already know it and even if you do, you’re probably not doing it consistently.
2. Take action right away even if only to set deadlines to do things. Action yields results and is the single most important factor in separating success from failure. Act now! Really, stop reading for a minute and actually set a deadline or get out your calendar or write down one of these as a goal or a sub goal. And, resolve to be more fun, interesting and edgy. If you build enough trust you can be more outrageous, memorable, and interesting.
Happiness is a decision but can be affected by small things. According to the experts:
3. Get enough sleep, exercise (which makes sleep better) and make your bed. Apparently, this little thing shows your mind that you’re making positive changes.
4. Happiness and success also seem inextricably linked to getting things done. Try doing things for yourself – eating a nice breakfast, taking a walk, drinking water and rehydrating as well as reading and working on things you want to get done before reading any e-mail. Try it for three weeks. Reading e-mails means you are doing someone else’s work and working someone else’s agenda during one of the most productive times of the day.
5. Make a list of three things and three things only that you WILL accomplish each day and write them down in the morning. Just three things. Make them the most important and then construct your day so that you get them done.
6. Don’t just simplify your to do list, simplify your life. It is amazing how each little bit of simplification makes life better. Have you ever had so much stuff that when you needed something, you couldn’t find what you needed? Was the stuff worth having? If you want to learn more about the process of simplification read a little of this blog each day: ZenHabits.com
7. Be compassionate – to yourself and others – once or twice each day when you might not otherwise have been so. It’s very addictive and makes your life better.
8. Become a better communicator and become more persuasive. Watch the Six Word video for an idea of how to do that quickly and easily.
Good with the strategic stuff? Try these practical life enhancing exercises:
9. Back up your hardware and your life. Most people don’t take the time to do this, and regret it later, but there are a few things you can to to save you hours of time and millions of dollars of lost ideas, work, and effort.
First, copy your entire hard drive onto an external drive and do that today or tomorrow.
Consider using Mozy to do an external and scheduled back up of your computer, and for Mac owners (like me) start using Time Machine or SuperDuper.
But don’t stop there. Consider a backup your cellphone, PDA, and any other personal-information-storing devices.
Make sure to back up your family photos and upload them to a service like Snapfish, Shutterfly, or Flickr.
10. While you’re at it, make photocopies of your wills and trusts, deeds, car registration, credit cards, passport, drivers license, social security card, birth certificate, and other important papers. And, if you keep a journal or hipster PDA, photocopy that. Keep these in a safe deposit box, off site, or at least in a fireproof box rated for at least two hours.
11. Want to start buying and eating healthier foods? Here’s a free e-book from the government on how to eat healthy.
12. Resolve to travel for pleasure – even if only to places you love or for short trips. Consider going someplace new. Want last minute low cost fares? Then sign up for US Airway’s E-Saver, Southwest’s Ding, or any other airline program that offers last-minute travel options so you can take quick weekend getaways whenever you feel like it. Fares can be as low as $50 round trip.
13. Check your credit report for identity theft, or any other misinformation or errors that could harm your financial status and
options. You are entitled to one free check a year at www.annualcreditreport.com.
14. Make an appointment to get a full physical checkup from your physician and a good dental examination with x-rays from your dentist. Also schedule an eye exam with an ophthalmologist.
15. Decide to actually become a millionaire or exactly how much you want to be worth and why. To analyze how much you’ll need to save and then how to invest try this tool recommended by Neil Strauss, author of Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life.
That should be plenty for now. Enjoy 2010 starting with right now.
Dave Frees
P.S. It has been great having all three of my kids home for the holidays. They are awesome and I cannot resist sharing a funny picture of the three all dressed up for a night out with the family. Be well and enjoy those around you this holiday season.
MozyHome works pretty well for me – on both Mac and PC. Their 2nd level support is good if you ever need it.
Use the following link to get 20% (512 Mb) more space on a free MozyHome 2 Gb account:
https://mozy.com/?code=D685JF
Dave-
An excellent list that should get most people motivated to take action now. As you know, the majority of people fail to implement their ideas, which then go by the wayside as life takes over.
I love your advice to write down and take action on 3 goals each day. It’s definitely doable.
Thanks for this gift!
Gerry
Glad to see backups on your New Year’s to-do list! We’re running a contest until January 5th, specifically about adding backups to your list of New Year’s resolutions. Enter at http://www.onlinebackupsreview.com/2010contest.php
Hey Dave,
Happy New Year to you and thanks for the positive inspiration. When it comes to taking action and getting things done you really lead us by example as being a man of action who really gets things done.
I myself am excited for the New Year and the opportunity we all have to start over with a fresh slate.
My one little nugget for everyone would be to take out your digital or flip camera, webcam or whatever type of video camera you have access to and after you spend time like Dave says writing your goals down…….go one step further and record your goals and/or resolutions. I did this last January and replayed the video for myself a few times throughout the year as it really helped reinforce them hearing me saying them myself. Writing our goals down is key and with todays technology it is so easy to take it one step further with video.
RE: Backing up data
Ironically just yesterday I took out my Western Digital external hard drive and updated/backed up my data………let me tell you what a positive feeling it is to know all my data/documents/emails and pictures are backed up and at my fingertips. Plus, with a small, portable, external hard-drives it makes it so easy for accessing data on the go, no more saying……ohh thats on my home pc or I can’t get that right now.
I leave you all with this motivational quote for the New Year
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
Edith Lovejoy Pierce
To your success,
Justin Stranere
Your Trusted Authority in Real Estate Finance – TM
PPS. – Here is one more quote I think is even better in being Relevant for Dave’s blog
New Year’s Quote
There is a difference between interest and committment..When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit….When you are committed to something you accept no excuses only results !!
Author Unknown
Justin: Two great ones! Thanks for the comments! You’re in the lead to win. Happy New Year and be well. Dave Frees
David — great thoughts and ideas as always.
I particularly like the concept that emailing is often a passive/reactive thing to do. I shut my email notifications off years ago and now check periodically throughout the day.
Another key idea I get from this is that it’s important to remind ourselves of what’s working or has worked in the past. Sometimes the answer is just in our own memory, and sometimes that needs to be jogged.
Great stuff!