What are my Happy Lifestyle Goals?

From my previous posts, I was trying to illustrate a point. By looking at your life, and all things that effect it--such as media-- you can really start to see that outside influences alter how you think and feel. If you think about it some more a lot of these influences are also trying to take control of your life from you and that is a sad thought for sure.

I compare a lot of my life to being a leaf or dust in the wind-being blown around from situation to situation but not having a solid plan on what I really wanted my life to be and how I saw it going over the short and long term. But, I have been working to change that to make my life what I want it to be-not what society says it should be or the media if portraying how I should think or feel. Doesn't a life that you have thought through and designed sound much more happy than one where societal winds have blown you around.

To start this, GOALS have to be set. We set goals all the time at work, have deadlines to hit, projects to complete, why not have good solid life goals--leading to a lifestyle of your own design. But it is not only the setting of the goals that are important but also being realistic in a time frame for achieving them.

All this begs the question: What are my goals. So my goals for achieving a Happy Life (with a Happy Lifestyle being the ultimate goal):

1. Financial Freedom or Debt Free
   
2. A on-line/digital career allowing me to work from anywhere
3. Freedom to Travel
4. Time for family and friends first
5. A life of learning and experiences
6. If its not fun..I am not doing it

Of course a lot of these goals are complex...but achievable. The other thing to remember about goals..they are not written in stone and evolve over time. So think about your life, think about what you feel can make you happy over the next month, 6 months, 1 year 5 years. Really think how you what your life to be. Start setting the goals. Over the next few posts, I will discuss taking these goals and fitting them into your life's design.

But the next post will be one on a concept that will help you achieve your goals..Where Thought Goes, Energy Follows.....

Ending Media Overload

A year or so back, my wife and I tried and experiment. We stopped watching the news. I had just read the book 4 Hour Work Week in which one of the suggestions was to stop seeing the news. My first reaction was-crazy thought. But I decided to think about it some more. In watching news you are bombarded with horrific images, terrible tragedy, death, and as Chicken Little would say "the sky is falling!". Think about it-what does this do to IMPROVE your life? Does knowing this help you in any way be HAPPY or lead the life you want to lead? The kicker in this was that after 10-12 minutes of this you go to a commercial-trying to get you to feel better (and empty your wallet) by showing you something you must have. In getting this must have item-use your credit card-putting you more in debt.

This is a Media Overload spiral. In order to stop the spiral, you must first stop watching the news. Now I will try and catch the weather, then shut the news off. Any headlines that might be of importance I can see on any mainstream website or newspaper. But the caution here is to not get sucked into the media spiral at all-take a break from reading news at all for a week. See how you feel when you mind starts to get freed from the news media.

My wife and I tried this experiment--What was discovered was quite surprising. We started to feel better. Our minds became less cluttered with the media overload, putting us in better overall moods. In this one experiment, what was discovered that by gaining control over one little part of life-what news is watched-you can start to lead a better life and move on to designing your life the way you want it-not one controlled by thoughts that are shaped by Media outlets.

So my challenge to everyone is this. Stop watching the news, just browse the headlines for a week--see how you feel. I have been doing this one simple step for over a year. I do not miss the media bombardment at all. Let me know how you do.

I got downsized and it got me thinking...

With the doom and gloom that the media has portrayed of late, I was not thinking that I would become a member of the unemployed statistics. I knew that the company I worked for was going to be downsizing in the near future and was helping in the planning of this in my department, not realizing that I was going to be part of that process. So it happened and it did get me thinking. A lot.

Over the past few years I had been reading up on a variety of subjects that relate to personal freedom, finance and lifestyle design. Until now most of that reading has been for learning, and I had not applied it to really make my own life better. Being in career transition has given me time to look back at all that learning and I have come to a few realizations.

First, Our society seems to be built around people believing that they have NO control over their lives. Watch the news, any news, it is built around bombarding you with: CRISIS, DEATH, DESTRUCTION, and whatever mayhem that is deemed "newsworthy". All this is followed by advertising for something that seems way cool--but is probably not a necessity to leading a happy life.

Second, Our society also seems to be built around being in debt-probably for life and that is OK. As we have seen from events over the past few months, that is not a good thing. This debt has the ability to take more control away from you and the your life--you have to work hard to pay the bills.

Third, All of this leads to less of a designed life and more of a life where you are being pulled around by the chains that society has put on you.

All these thoughts have lead me to the question: How do I move from a life that seems to be "out of my control" to a life "in my control" or more importantly a "Happy Lifestyle". So the purpose of this blog, is to explore designing a happy life.

Stay tuned for "Ending Media Overload" next time.....