Be Happier: Things to Stop Doing Right Now
inc.com
inc.com
"People make mistakes. Employees don't meet your expectations. Vendors don't deliver on time." - don't blame employees
"Yeah, you're the boss. Yeah, you're the titan of industry. Yeah, you're the small tail that wags a huge dog."
"Yeah, you're more educated. Yeah, you're more experienced. Yeah, you've been around more blocks and climbed more mountains and slayed more dragons."
"The higher you rise and the more you accomplish, the more likely you are to think you know everything--and to tell people everything you think you know."
This is not your usual "How to be happy" article. Fascinating. I wonder what would happen if I forwarded this to, say, my mum who works as a government clerk, or any of my college student friends bussing tables on weekends.
No one likes you for your clothes, your car, your possessions, your title, or your accomplishments. Those are all "things." People may like your things--but that doesn't mean they like you.
Sure, superficially they might seem to, but superficial is also insubstantial, and a relationship that is not based on substance is not a real relationship.
Genuine relationships make you happier, and you'll only form genuine relationships when you stop trying to impress and start trying to just be yourself.
Impressing should be a side effect of being exceptional at something. The above paragraph describes, "caring what people think about your appearance". I'm not sure it has all that much to do with impressing.
Instead people should dress to make themselves feel good about themselves, childen wearing a superhero cape aren't trying to make you think they're super heros, they wear it because it makes them feel like super heros, because when they look in a mirror, they think they look awesome.
When you find the perfect hat that makes you look awesome, there's a moment where all that matters is that bad ass person looking back at you in the mirror, who for that moment looks like the you that exceeds every standard you've ever set for yourself, who can do anything. You know other people would never think the same thing about the same person in that mirror, that's fine, this is your moment, not theirs. Every time you wear that hat, you get to experience a little bit more of that moment, even if everybody insists the hat looks ridiculous on you. They call you stubborn for wearing it, but the reality is in this case, you have transcended caring about what they think about you, when you wear that hat.
Happiness is an balance of many personality traits, not some absolute concept.