Choose your happy, find your life

Reading empowering books can lift your mood significantly.

2 months ago I completed my final ACCA exam and after years of non-stop studying and revising at all hours it felt good!! I was finally finished with the academic part and all that is now left is practical training.

Whilst I hated revising for the exams I definitely enjoyed the process of learning new and exciting things. 6 years of studying allowed me to realise that I want learning to be a part of my life always. It’s just that I want to be learning things for enjoyment and for passion alone.

Realising this made me find a section of life that allows me to learn and grow: Personal development.

What is personal Development?

It’s about maximising your potential in life, assessing your skills and qualities then setting goals to achieve the best.

Why do I like personal development?

I am a born goal setter, I like to set goals and to have a go at working towards them whilst learning about myself on the journey. I’ve found along the way that personal development makes me happy as it aligns with my core values in life of learning learning learning. What are you working on every day that makes you happy? Here are a few tips from what I’ve learned in the past few months:

Choose your happy: Tip 1:

I used to wake up wishing I had more time to read books. Until I realised I have a lot of wasted time: on trains, waiting in lines and just general down time. I now use pockets of time here and there to read. The key here is to look at time as groups of small chunks of time. You do a LOT in 5 mins and feel great. 5 minutes can be added in after breakfast, on the train or even whilst brushing your teeth. Once you get used to doing a hobby for 5 mins you can then experiment with 10-15 mins or even 20 if you’re feeling adventurous!

Choose your happy: Tip 2:

Being bored isn’t fun and sometimes you need a break from everyday household chores. With spare time it can sometimes be a challenge to think of ideas for things to do especially when you just want to get on and do something. The way I got around this is by using a Do You list. I wrote down a list of everything I enjoy doing at a mix of price points and locations. I keep adding to it when I think of more things. So for example it has things like: go for a walk, get a manicure, listen to my favourite song and so on.

Choose your happy: Tip 3

I don’t like Mondays. case and point. I just find it difficult to focus on enjoying the weekend knowing that a busy Monday morning is coming up especially when I am not in the mood for work. I recently read a book that discussed how to get away from the Monday blues and one suggestion stuck. Build an event into your Sunday evening. It could be a dinner with your friends & family or a plan to watch a fun documentary or you could keep Sunday night as a hobby night. I’ve experimented with this for the past 2 weeks and found that looking forward to Sunday night helps to reduce the tension and nerves that Monday’s bring. That way when Monday comes round I’m still laughing about memories from the weekend and stretching out the enjoyment factor.

The above are a few small changes that can help to find a bit more happy in your everyday. Which happy tip are you going to try out in the new week? Let me know in the comments :)