How do you change how you feel?

There are many ways. Some of them need work over a longer time period.

If you for instance do what you set out to do from day to day your self-esteem will, over time, go up.

However, on some days you just fall into a slump. You feel a bit negative.

Or just not that motivated or energetic. You don’t care that much really.

I have found that certain actions can work as a new starting point on days like that. A starting point that you can build upon and that leads the day away on a more positive note than you may have predicted.

Here are six of my favorite/most effective ways to pick yourself up and turn a bad/boring mood, morning, afternoon or evening into a more positive one.

All of these suggestions are things you can do pretty quickly. Some of them can radically change how you feel in just a few minutes.

1. Work Out.

Whether you go out running in the forest or head inside to pump iron in the gym, getting some exercise is one of the most effective ways to add energy and a more positive outlook to your regular day.

Personally I prefer free weights most of the time because I can use them at home and because such a work out provides me with an energy boost topped off with a nice jolt of testosterone.

And that boost always sharpens my focus and lifts my spirit.

The interesting thing is that sometimes it will be enough to exercise for a few minutes to improve your mood.

For instance, you can try to do 60 sit-ups. This micro-workout usually changes how I feel.

2. Listen to/watch inspirational material.

I have found that this one of the best ways to start your day. Instead of reading the paper and getting hammered with negative news and views on the world try watching or listening to one of your favorite personal development products.

Reading works too, but listening and seeing creates a more three-dimensional experience – with room for the always important body language and voice tonality to be included – and adds emotional power to the information.

Some of my favorites at the moment are the audio version of The 4 Hour Workweek, just about any tape with Brian Tracy or watching a video by Eckhart Tolle.

If I feel a bit down I just consume one of those sources for 15-20 minutes. After that not only has my mood changed.

I’m also just about always reminded of some useful tip that I can use to improve my life.

3. Change your physiology.

If you change how you move and use your body your mood will change. If you for instance want to feel happier, force a smile for about 60 seconds.

You’ll feel happier. If you want to feel confident stand up and walk around for few minutes in a confident way (slowly, head held high, posture relaxed but not slumped).

You’ll feel more confident. You can do these things for the specific effects.

But a better way to use your physiology to change your mood is to just combine everything at once. Smile while you’re walking around in a confident and relaxed way.

Get it all in there to maximize the effect.

One key to better use of this technique is to focus on your body and changing your movements but to then turn the focus outward, into the world around you. Doing that has recently given me more dependable and consistent results.

I think that may be because if you focus outward you don’t become that self-conscious.

If you on the other hand keep your focus inward – on what you are doing – while you are moving around with a changed physiology you become self-conscious.

And that self-analyzing and nervous self-consciousness counteracts much of the positive emotional effect that you can create by changing how you move and use your body.

4. Appreciate away.

Perhaps the corniest suggestion in this bunch.

It’s often seen as cool – or funny – to go around complaining and being a bit negative about everything.

Going around appreciating isn’t that cool. But generally I’d say that almost everyone likes and finds a positive person to be cool.

And a very effective way to become a more positive person and to enjoy your life more is simply to develop a habit of appreciating more. If you want a few suggestions, here are a few of the things that I like to appreciate:

• My food.
• The weather.
• My health.
• Friends and family.
• This blog and the opportunity to write about what I want.
• You, the reader.
• My roof and the heating. Especially since it’s been raining constantly for the last few days. :)

The funny thing is that if you just start appreciating something you can very quickly start jumping around with your attention and appreciate just about anything around you. You may start with the food you are eating right now.

Then move your attention to the phone and appreciate that you can contact anyone – and be contacted by anyone – you’d like.

You might then move your attention outside, through the window and see the wonderful sunshine, then kids having fun with a football and then a really attractive person walking by. And so on.

Try doing that for 5 minutes.

Try to come up with all the things in yourself and your world that you can appreciate. Move your attention around from appreciation-point to appreciation-point like when you are jumping from stone to stone while crossing a stream.

Before those 5 minutes are up your mood will be a lot more positive and enthusiastic.

5. Act as you’d like to feel.

Ask yourself: what would a very positive person do in this situation?

Do that and then you’ll feel positive.

Make a call or answer the phone in a positive way. Write an email in a positive and enthusiastic manner.

Instead of thinking that a situation will probably be boring and not so beneficial think of it as something that will be exciting, fun and useful.

By acting as you’d like to feel you just do things in a less common order.

Just like when you change your physiology.

Instead of being a positive person/having a positive mood for the day and therefore acting in a positive way when something happens you flip it around. You start by acting as you would in a situation if you were in a positive mood.

And then you’ll create a positive mood and consequences both in the world around you – via the positive action – and within yourself.

It often doesn’t take that much to change how you feel. And acting as you’d like to feel make everyday situations a lot more interesting and can open up new possibilities and opportunities in your life.

6. Just do it anyway.

If you have a hard time doing something, a hard time getting started, a hard time changing your mood with the suggestions above just do what you need to do anyway.

You are not your thoughts and emotions.

They aren’t your boss or parents. You don’t have to obey them.

You are the observer of your thoughts and emotions. Sometimes you listen to them. And sometimes you just see them as blabbering going on and on in your mind and body. And then you just go. You do what you want to do anyway.

If you just jump into action and just do it soon your mood will change to a more uplifting one.

Tap water.

Few things have such a boring and unglamorous image.

Of course, it’s hard to sell regular tap water in a cool and expensive way.

So it becomes boring as nails and concrete. But just as useful.

One healthy habit I’ve had for just about all my life is to drink water. A lot of water. And mostly tap water. For more than one reason. Actually, I’ve found nine of them.

But first, how much water should you drink? Recommendations seem to fall somewhere between 2-3 liters (that’s 67-100 liquid ounces) of water a day. And that does not include the 20 percent of your daily water that you get through food.

If you are pregnant, exercising or in a hot and/or humid environment you may need more. It’s quite a bit of water to drink every day. So it may not be so surprising that 75 percent of Americans do not consume the recommended amounts.

If you want to drink more water my three best tips are:

• Always carry a bottle of water with you (at school, at work etc.). As soon as you have emptied it, fill it up again. And drink on.
• Substitute what you are drinking with your daily meals – maybe juice or soda – for a glass or two of water instead. If you really like your juice, try to at least replace it with water for a meal or two a day.
• Put a glass of water next to your bed. You may be quite thirsty when you wake up after a long night of sleep and no water. This is a simple way to replenish some of your fluids after the alarm goes off.

Now, on to the reasons why you should drink more tap water:

1. Soda is bad in more than one way.

One small can of soda – about 12 ounces or 33 cl – contains 10-12 teaspoons of sugar. This will not only help you put on pounds of fat. It will also damage your teeth. And going to the dentist isn’t cheap. If you on the other hand drink more water and less soda you can both lose weight and use your dental money for something more pleasurable.

2. Juice is healthy but contains sugar.

There are a lot of vitamins and healthy goodies in fruit juice. However, there is also quite a bit of sugar that will add to the weight and teeth-problems described above. So don’t drink too much of the stuff.

3. Bottled water isn’t good for the environment.

Americans buy 28 billion water bottles a year. Then you have to add the rest of the world. That’s a whole lot of bottles. All that plastic and the energy used for manufacturing and transportation wears and tears on the environment. Adding to the problem is the fact that few bottles are recycled or reused but instead just dropped in the nearest trashcan.

4. You’ll save boatloads of money.

Here’s another good reason to switch from bottled to tapped water. And you’ll not only save money by buying less soda, juice and water in a bottle. You can also avoid costs that come with the health problems caused by putting too much sugar into your body. You may save hundreds of dollars a year by drinking tap water instead. Over a lifetime you can save a whole lot more both health-wise and money-wise.

5. It tastes great.

Here in Sweden the tap water is pretty delicious. You may have a different situation where you live. You can however often improve the quality of the water by getting a filter for your faucet. Or spruce up your cold glass of water with a slice of lemon or lime.

6. Better skin.

I first heard about this one in a Cindy Crawford interview a long time ago. Drinking enough water keeps your skin hydrated and washes out toxins from your body.

7. More energy.

If you keep your body properly hydrated you’ll have more energy. You’ll avoid the headaches, nausea, fatigue and concentration problems that come from not consuming enough fluids. And that’s not just after a hard workout in the gym. It you feel a slump in energy in middle of the day that may be because you are becoming dehydrated.

8. Reduced health risks.

Drinking more water isn’t just about improving your health. You can also also prevent a few health problems besides the ones with your teeth and weight. According to studies you can slice the risk of bladder cancer or dying from a heart attack in half by consuming the recommended amount of water. Drinking enough water can also lower the risk for constipation and kidney stones.

9. It’s convenient.

You don’t have to go to the store or supermarket. You get just walk over to the nearest tap and get some.

So, yesterday my internet connection went out.

After quickly accepting that I started thinking about what I could do now.

Here’s what I came up with and got done (which to a large degree was stuff I usually forget to do).

Maybe you’ll find something of use for the next time you run into the same situation.

Write a post.

If you’re a blogger you can work on your next post. It is easier to focus on your writing when the tempting internet is out of the picture. And even if you have written a post for today or tomorrow it is always good to have an extra post of two done in case something happens (you get sick, you have to do some travelling for a few days etc.)

Clean your desk.

I find it pretty satisfying to remove old coffee-cups from my desk, sort my stuff and throw out what I don’t need. A decluttered and ordered workspace brings clarity and order to the mind. Plus, according to a series of interviews that Brian Tracy cites 50 out of 52 managers would not promote a person with a messy desk. Even if the person was doing a good job.

They couldn’t trust a position of responsibility to someone who couldn’t keep himself organized. Take a look at you workspace and see what it might reflect about you as a person.

Clean up your computer.

Cleaning up your computer has the same benefits as uncluttering your desk. You can think more clearly without 43 icons and files on your desktop. And you can find things more easily if they are put in the right folders. Plus it can improve your productivity and decrease procrastination.

If you for instance have a habit of checking website statistics, RSS-feeds, email etc. too often delete the most accessible shortcuts to those things. Remove shortcuts on your desktop and bookmarks from your browser. This has helped me to cut down on such addictive checking and rechecking. You can also uninstall programs that are wasting too much of your time (or you never use anyway).

Get things organized.

I remembered that I hadn’t changed some passwords in ages so I did that (and wrote down what those new passwords are). I added and removed some names from the address book in my email-program. I also ran a full scan for viruses with AVG and one scan for spyware with Ad-Aware. And plugged in my mp3-player to remove some old songs and fill it up with new stuff.

Back up important information.

If you’re at work I guess this often already taken care of. But if you have a computer at home you may also want backup important financial documents, emails and precious vacation photos. If you’re a blogger it can be useful to backup old texts – if you have them saved in Word or something similar like I do – and graphics you use for the blog.

Take a break and go for a snack.

If you have been working for a while and your are starting feel unfocused there is sometimes a simple solution. Get up, walk a round for a bit and eat something.

Go for a walk and some fresh air.

If the snack and the break didn’t boost your energy levels try going for a short walk and get some fresh air. This can both raise your energy and lower your stress levels. Or if you have the opportunity, take it a step further like I did and go to the gym.

When I had signed up for Blog Action Day I did a little brainstorming to generate some good ideas. After half an hour I came up with this one and decided to stick with it.

I liked it because of its simplicity. And because one thing I and I think many of my readers use for several hours each day is a computer. Plus, many of the tips can – over time – save you quite a bit of money.

These are just 20 ideas on what you can do reduce the wear and tear on the environment. Some may contradict each other a bit. How far you want to take them is up to you.

Now, what more can you do with your computer to reduce the wear and tear on the environment?

Sometimes it can feel like you are carrying a piano on your back. Pressure can really weigh you down.

Too much pressure can make a lot of us angry, feed up or sad. Or simply, over time, knock you out cold with a burnout.

Now I don’t how your mind works but personally I perform better without a lot of pressure. It’s easier to focus on your task and not second-guess or hold yourself back when you feel light and relaxed.

Like most problems in life this one is mostly in our minds. You can actually remove some of that pressure before it gets the best of you.

Here are a few of the things you can do to accomplish that.

1. Don’t listen too much to others.

Or worry about what they might think. Or getting their validation.

If you use too much time and energy to focus on these three things you may be heading down a pretty harmful road. And the thing is, most people aren’t thinking about you, what you do and your problems as much as you may fear anyway.

They are busy with being focused on their own life and challenges.

An important part of this is to not to see yourself through the eyes of others. Doing that can build a self-image and expectations that become very hard to live up to.

It can make you end up filled up with negative feelings and that won’t help anyone. And, as I said above, you don’t really know what people think about you anyway. Your worries about what people may think about you are probably mostly in your head.

What they may actually think about you shouldn’t take too seriously anyway since it’s just their opinion.

And such things are often more about the guy/gal with the opinion rather than the person/thing they have an opinion about.

2. Forget about perfectionism.

Perfectionism is pretty pointless. It’s just you putting unnecessary pressure on yourself and thereby reducing your ability to do excellent work.

Take a look at the next point to find a better replacement for perfectionism.

3. Focus on the process, not on the outcome.

Detaching from the possible outcomes and just keeping your focus on the work you are doing makes it easier to both live and live up to your potential by reducing many of your inner, mental obstacles such as performance anxiety and other worries.

4. Be OK with mistakes and failure.

This one ties in to the two previous tips. If you allow yourself to redefine mistakes you’ll be less prone to get yourself stuck in perfectionism.

And the world won’t collapse if you make mistakes or fail.

The morning of the day when you learned to ride a bike you fell off it time and time again. But you just brushed yourself off, perhaps cried for a minute or two and then you got up on the bike again.

And towards the afternoon, or the next day, you probably started to become pretty good at riding your bike. The same applies here.

You have work on your skills to sharpen them. See failure or rejection not as something incredible negative that might end your life if it strikes.

Redefine it in your mind to lessen the negative emotional impact and the fear. See failure simply as feedback on what you need to improve on.

Listen to the advice that failure gives you and you will improve.

5. Just do it!

If you often get stuck in procrastination and get little done the pressure can start to build up.

“Just doing it” is a great way to get out of an overthinking or procrastinating state and just get going with what you want to do.

But that’s not always so easy. Then everybody would be doing it.

So, what’s the problem?

I think two important factors are that you may get too wrapped up and too closely identified with your thoughts and emotions. But you aren’t them, you are the observer of them.

So you don’t have to obey what your thoughts or what your inner emotional resistance may say. You can get going anyway.

6. Cut down on busywork and unimportant stuff.

Feeling like you just have too much to do and too little time for the most important things?

Then you probably need to do some decluttering in your life. Eliminate some of the less important stuff.

To prioritize and find what’s really important to spend most of your time on, both at work/in school and life in general you can use the 80/20 rule.

To not get stuck in that unimportant busywork ask yourself: “Is this, what I’m doing right now, useful?” a few times throughout your day.

To remember to actually ask yourself this, consider writing it down on a piece of paper and put that paper where you can’t avoid seeing it. Or use that question as your screensaver.

I also think it’s important to realize that you don’t really have to do everything you are doing. You always have a choice. Sometimes there will be big consequences if you choose to do or not do something.

But you always have a choice.

And if you choose to spend more of your time on the most important stuff and less – or none – on the unimportant things your life will most likely improve in any area you apply this thinking.

7. Don’t take things too seriously.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do a good job. Or that you should avoid responsibility.

But having the attitude that the sky will fall down if something goes wrong is most often inaccurate outside of your own head. And it’s not a good headspace to be in to perform or feel well.

I guess this one ties into many of the other tips but I think it’s good to emphasize how helpful a more relaxed attitude can be both for you and the people around you.

Realize you have a choice about what attitude you should adopt, just like with what you choose to do/not do. It might take some time to replace an old and ingrained habit for another. But over time you can do it

8. Take 30 belly breaths.

This is more of a temporary solution compared to the ones above. But it’s also an immediate one.

If you are feeling pressured and stressed out right now, you can use a few dozen belly breaths or so to relieve some of that for a while. Here’s what you do:

– Sit in a relaxing position with your legs apart.

– Put your hands on your stomach. Using your stomach breathe in slowly through your nose. If you are doing it right your stomach will expand and you’ll feel it with your hands.

– Breathe out slowly through your nose and do it with some force so you feel your stomach pull slightly inwards towards your spine.

– Breathe in and out 30 times. Take slow and deep breaths.- After you have taken 30 breaths and focused on counting them you should not only feel more relaxed and centered. Your body will also be able to continue breathing in this manner without you focusing on it. And that’s it. Continue with your normal day.