An important part of success in life is the ability to lead. It is important that we not only be able to lead others but be willing to lead ourselves. No one succeeds in life by simply following others. Sometimes we simply must strike a bold new path for ourselves.

Being a good leader is more than simply being at the forefront of the crowd. A leader must act. Too often in America, we simply accept that someone looks or sounds like a leader and too rarely do we actually look at the actions that leader performs — and that is the true test of leadership.

However, in order to become good leaders ourselves, we need to concentrate on actions rather than simple appearances. The title of this article refers to eight steps, but do not think of these as progressive steps like so many recipes or instruction manuals describe. Instead, think of these as actions that you must take on a regular basis.

First, be alert to new potentials. “Reality” is not absolute but rather subject to constant change. Think about inventors, explorers, and agents of social change who have achieved greatness. Some might simply say that certain people are successful because they are lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe so, but if they hadn’t had their eyes open for the opportunity, then it wouldn’t have mattered if they were in the right place.

Second, accept inspiration from wherever it comes; even your opponents. The wisest leaders constantly study their competition. In war, politics, and business we constantly see examples of this research and reconnaissance. Too many times though a certain study, many concentrate on finding a weakness to exploit. If you want to a be a leader of positive change don’t fall victim to this trend. Instead, if you find a weakness, make sure to avoid that pitfall yourself. If you find the strength then find a way to strengthen your own qualities to match.

Third, learn something new and promote in new ways every day. This means you must continually seek to expand your horizons, internally and externally. Feed your mind with new lessons and knowledge, but constantly expand your social horizons as well. Seek out and meet new people and immerse yourself in new social situations. You never know when these new experiences will help you in your leadership role.

Fourth, search for and find answers in subtle clues. Look beneath the surface and constantly question. This is an extension of the third step in that you are seeking new knowledge. But this also means that you will need to step off the traditional paths of knowledge. Don’t simply read books in the literary canon or the bestsellers list. Take seminars rather than classes as there is more room for questioning and debate. Seek out the unconventional thinkers, teachers, and writers.

Fifth, improvise if no existing solutions are available. No excuses. Necessity is the mother of invention. How do you know it won’t work if you’ve never tried it before? Remember, not all approaches need to come from the front. Look at your problem from all sides and systematically attempt different solutions in various combinations.

Six, make at least one person you care about happy every day. If you make it a point to be thoughtful and caring for one person every day then soon this thoughtful, caring behavior will become a habit and that habit will spread to the others around you. Making someone else happy also feeds your own personal happiness. Just imagine how much better the world would be if we all did a little bit more to spread happiness.

Seven, offer help, even if there’s no apparent advantage to you. This means more than writing a check. It means giving of your time and energy and yourself. Sometimes it will mean helping someone you don’t know and sometimes it can be a very personal action.

Finally, never let negativity be your last word on the subject. If your final words are negative than no matter how hopeful you may be about the potential of a project or action the lasting impression you give to others is one of negativity. Accentuate the positive and you are more likely to see a positive outcome.

If you follow these eight action steps not only you will be a better leader but also lead yourself to a more successful life.

You get home tired and filled with problems that popped out during the day and just want to relax and chill with your family. But do you know how to finish your day in order to feel awesome the next morning?

First of all, you should finish all your work at least two hours before going to bed. Your brain need to clear out before you lay down, or you may get no sleep at all.

Go to bed at a reasonable time. Although almost everybody thinks they already know it and may not understand the reason I write about it, only a few people actually do it. There are many excuses you could find to prevent you from going early to bed, but if you train yourself, you can do it too.

And when you are on your bed, think about things you are greatful for and on other positive things. End your day happy, and chances are bigger you will start your next day happier.

These tips are simple, but when put to work day after day, the results are marvelous.

Everybody have already seen “perfect families” on movies, television, pictures on billboards and advertisements. But is your family “perfect” like those? How is the average family?

The truth is that all families are different, with their own unique issues and with the right effort, you can have a great family too — maybe even better than those “perfect” ones.

One of the most important things to do is respect your parents, along with listening to them and trying to make them happy. After you learn this, your life will be more pleasant too.

Also, all your family members must understand that life is not always gonna be smoothly. Life is like a roller coaster, with ups and downs, twists and turns. You should learn how to face difficulties with positive thinking, being assured that all problems will eventually be over sometime.

And ask yourself: do you enjoy receiving gifts? Everybody does! Why don’t you try giving occasional gifts to your family members? It doesn’t need to be something expensive, it can be a drawing you make for them, a picture, a poem, a song… The options are endless and you don’t have to spend any money. Your family will love this.

Other important things are eating together, spending time with siblings, being honest. Accept the fact that your relationship with your family depends on both you and them, and let them know it too. Once every family member understand that true family happiness can be achieved, all of them will go for it.

All sorts of changes can turn our lives better or worse, even the smallest changes. If you want to know how to have a better life, it is something quite simple and easy: you just need to take the right changes.

Take a look at the following easy steps to have a better life, and notice how your life can be better just by changing little things.

1. Be confident. If you are not yet confident, always think confident. Remember the statement “what does not kill me only makes me stronger”.

2. Focus on your goals, and try to eliminate what is stopping you to get there. Avoid wasting time doing useless things and among people you don’t like.

3. Do what you always wanted to do. It doesn’t matter if it is volunteering, playing extreme sports or something daring. Take action and do what you always dreamed about.

4. Change how you look. Buy new clothes, try a new hairstyle or anything that changes the way you look to find out if you can feel better looking differently.

Try these simple steps, and you will see how easy it is to have a better and happier life.

Our mood plays a major hole in our lives. Based on our mood we have different approach to the same problems and obstacles, but usually when we use some sense of humor everything have a better ending.

Do not make your life even more stressful than it is – and it is valid for yourself and for others. Honors your sense of humor. Make sure you can laugh in the face of problems and stress instead of reacting with fear, rage or other kind of bad responses.

Keeping your sense of humor showing up some times, you will experience better days and your problems will be solved like a breeze.

The pursuit of happiness is one of the primary goals of all humans. This, along with life and liberty, was declared as an essential right in the US declaration of independence. Every religion and philosophy has offered its pathway to happiness. Happiness is a state of mind and there are many paths to it. There are common prerequisites to sustained happiness as well as common causes of unhappiness. These usually transcend all classifications of gender, age or race. There are other factors which are very individual specific.

What is Happiness

Happiness is a state of the mind. The dictionary definition is ‘feelings of joy and pleasure mingled together”. A feeling of happiness is more than just an experience of joy or pleasure. It is a state of mind where the individual feels that “life is good”.

Becoming Happier

Happiness is a state of mind which can be induced by many means – some result in short term happiness while others result in long lasting happiness. One way of inducing long lasting happiness and bliss is meditation. For a busy person, a more practical way to becoming happier is to make steady progress towards meaningful goals. Even though this seems simple, it really is a very powerful technique to attain a state of long lasting happiness. The goals may vary from individual to individual, but for everyone happiness comes from merely making steady progress towards goals that are meaningful to them. The key is that goals have to be meaningful to you. Progress towards goals set by some one else will not bring happiness (unless you too desire the same goals).

There should be a balance in your goals to ensure that the prerequisites of happiness are fulfilled. These prerequisites include good health, sufficient income to meet basic needs, affection, some productive work or activity, defined and achievable goals and good attitude. All the money in the world will not make you happy if you ignore your health or have bad relationships. Also you must try to remove the causes of unhappiness from your life. These causes are – lack of any of the prerequisites for happiness, failure to achieve goals, envy, relationship problems, loneliness and fear of the opinion of others.

Studies have shown that a number of factors contribute to sustained happiness. Some of these are

•             Good self esteem

•             Feeling of control over one’s life

•             Supportive and warm relationships (marriage/friendship )

•             Satisfying work

•             Enjoyable leisure activities

•             Good attitude

•             Good Health

•             Moderation in everything

•             Impersonal interests

Thus a very effective process of becoming happier is to set goals for improvement in each one of these areas, start working towards these goals and then periodically reviewing the progress towards the goals.

So the first step is to set goals for yourself in the major aspects of your life. These goals have to be meaningful to you and they have to be specific and time bound. If the goals are not meaningful to you, you will derive little happiness from achieving them. Also if they are not specific and time bound, you will not be able to measure your progress towards these goals and thus will not experience the increased happiness which comes from making steady progress towards your goals. Goals need to be set for the major aspects of your life which contribute to happiness – Health, Financial, Relationships, Career, Attitude, Self Actualization etc.

Then you must assess where you currently are in relation to your goals. Say if your financial goal is to have savings of twenty thousand dollars in five years, you need to assess your net worth today and also your current income and expenses to know how much you are currently saving.

Next you must set up a time bound action plan to achieve your goals. For your financial goals this means determining the extra amount you need to save each month, either by earning more or spending less or both. Then you need to have a plan for earning more and for reducing your expenses. This plan needs to be specific with amounts and timing e.g. you will reduce expenses by $50 a month by eating out less often and you will increase income by $300 a month by taking on a part time job.

Then start implementing your plan and monitor the progress. As you see yourself meeting your periodic targets, you will find your happiness increasing. Many of us have experienced the happiness which comes from steadily losing one pound per week in a weight loss program. Imagine having the same effect in all aspects of your life. The important thing in this is to make steady progress towards your goals. Happiness will grow as you see yourself making progress. Once you achieve your initial goals, you need to set new goals – maybe in different areas of your life e.g. if you have achieved your fitness and financial goals, aim for making a difference to the world around you. (Making a difference is a source of deep and long lasting happiness). Being without a goal after achieving your earlier ones will reduce your happiness. Say you suddenly inherit some money and achieve your financial goals, you will be happy for some time, but the effects will soon wear off as your mind adjusts to the new level of affluence. To sustain happiness you will have to set new goals for yourself, maybe in different areas of your life.