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Folks, these are the times that try people’s souls (seems like someone famous already said that…). Knowing how to be happy and resilient is more important than ever in times of crisis because the stakes are higher.
Here are 12 surefire personal habits to handle this crisis ineffectively followed by surefire antidotes that are better habits:
Criticize yourself: if you beat yourself down all day you’ll feel bad, and if you encourage yourself all day you’ll feel good
Think negative thoughts & catastrophize: think about negative things all day and you’ll feel bad, think about positive things all day and you’ll feel good
Try to control things you can’t control: resign as Master of the Universe, focus on the things you can control, and let go of the rest
Don’t create a focused plan & update it regularly: the best way to predict the future is to create it by making an effective plan to control the things you can
Set superhuman goals: try to fly and you’ll only fall and hurt yourself, so set realistic goals you can actually achieve
Don’t get enough rest: you can’t beat physics and homeostasis, so if you work 110% for a while, then you’ll need to work at 90% for a while to recover
Use artificial substances for most of your energy: you’ll feel really good temporarily, but you’ll feel horrible in the longer run so use these with caution
Make money the most important thing in your life: while money is important, it’s only one of the 4 major sources of happiness that you need to keep balanced
Go it alone: we’re “tribe” animals and going it alone doesn’t work for being happy or effective, so create a positive tribe of family, friends, (and therapist if needed)
Be with chronically unhappy “energy vampires”: we absorb the energy of the people around us be it positive or negative, so choose carefully
Try to please everybody: you can only please some of the folks some of the time, but that’s all you need to be happy and successful
Hurt others with your anger & frustration: be more artful with your anger by using it to create an effective plan to succeed
Copyright Terry "Doc" Dockery, Ph.D. All rights reserved.
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