happiness and success

It is one thing to set a goal - and another thing to reach it.
On the 1st of January every year I will sit down, ponder on my life and my ambitions, and write down several ambitious goals. Sadly by the end of the year, little or nothing has been done to reach these goals. why? and why is it that some people are more successful in achieving their goals than others?

There is plenty of helpful advise on how to reach one's goals - but before these tricks become helpful, I believe it is essential to deal with the fundamentals. i.e. shifting the state of mind - become more positive, passionate and enthusiastic about my goals and about life in general.

Here is a talk by a psychologist named Shawn Achor, on the causal relationship positivity/happiness->success (NOT the other way around). According to him your brain is 31 % more productive when it is positive than when it is negative!:




The practical advise from his talk on how we can raises our level of positivity and happiness to a higher level:

• be grateful: write down 3 things everyday that you are grateful for
• journal: write about 1 positive experience that you had during the day, every day
• exercise
• meditate
• be kind: show random acts of kindness