A thoughtful and upset woman sitting by the beach.

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
Louise L. Hay

It’s so easy be dragged down by your own thoughts.

So easy to not feel like “I’m not good enough”.

Not good enough to maybe to go for the job or promotion you want. Or out on a date with that person you’d really like to get to know better.

Or even as you do your best you may feel like it’s still not good enough. And so you feel that you’re not good enough either.

Such thoughts combined with the pressures and stress of today’s world can quickly start tearing your confidence in yourself and your self-esteem to pieces.

I think most of us have been in that situation.

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Woman reading a book while relaxing in a hammock.

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein

“Think simple” as my old master used to say – meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”
Frank Lloyd Wright

The daily work we do – in school, at work or in a business – can easily become overwhelming, ineffective and suck the energy and joy out of what you are doing.

So how can you work in a lighter, simpler way that helps you to get more of what truly matters done in less time and with less stress?

Let me share 12 habits that I’ve discovered over the years that help me to do just that.

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A happy woman standing in the sunshine in a field.

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.’
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”
Chinese Proverb

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller

Happiness must not always come from big things and events. It can come from smaller, daily habits too.

So today I’d simply like to share 3 quick tips and habits that help me to live a happier life.

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A hand holding a post-it note saying: Thank You!

“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
Lionel Hampton

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Marcel Proust

Maybe the simplest and most effortless habit for living a happier life is to take one or a few minutes every day to focus on what is already here and that you can be grateful for in your life.

It can help you to…

  • Lift your mood and boost motivation very quickly.
  • Find the things in your life that you want to focus even more of your time and energy on.
  • Not just take things for granted and to find joy even during the tougher times.

It is simply a great habit to cultivate that demands little but gives much back.

So this week I’d like to explore 5 small tips that you can use to cultivate more gratitude and happiness in your life.

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Woman smiling and relaxing while sitting in her office.

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
Buddha

“People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it.”
Edith Schaeffer

One common way to get things done, to achieve and to motivate yourself is to be kind of hard on yourself.

To set very high standards for yourself that you want to stick to every time.

Now, this way of going about things can indeed help you to accomplish big things in your life and to get things done every week.

But it comes at a price.

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23 Small Ways to Make Life Simpler

A post-it note hanging on a tree that says: Simplify Your Life.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Leonardo da Vinci

“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein

I love simplifying my life. It makes me more effective and life less stressful. It makes me calmer and happier. And it simply makes life easier.

But where do you start? Or continue if you are already on your way?

In this week’s article I’d like to share 23 small habits that help me to live a simpler life.

Pick one of these to get started and keep doing it until it sticks and becomes just another normal part of your life.

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