|
Seven back-to-basics ingredients for leading a good life
Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in thinking big thoughts or pursuing improvement in one particular area of our lives, that we can all lose track of the big picture. That's why I think it's good to do the odd back-to-basics post on what the main ingredients are for leading a good life. This can help you to focus on the bigger picture and think about what areas you may be neglecting.
Okay, here are the main ingredients I see as being necessary for a good life.
A good education
This doesn't necessarily have to be a formal education, but understanding how things in the world work makes a big difference to life quality. Survey after survey shows that educated people are richer, happier and more successful. More than that, I think education gives you something that's of intrinsic worth in itself - a more expansive view of the universe. Spending time on improving your mind is always worthwhile.
Something to live for
Why is it that some people who seem to have everything - a big house, plenty of money, fame - end up miserable, while some who have nothing are happy? There are all sorts of reasons, but a big one is having a purpose in life. Inside us all is a need to have something to strive for. It may be a successful business, a well-adjusted family-life, a big stamp collection, or that perfect dance routine, but whatever it is, we all need something to live for.
Fancy trinkets and sophisticated entertainment are all worth having, but at best they provide a distraction from the difficult parts of life. It's a sense of purpose that holds us together as human beings and makes it worthwhile getting out of bed in the morning. Further proof of this basic truth is provided when we find that, often, actually reaching the goal we've been struggling towards is less satisfying than the journey to get there.
Good relationships
Our bonds with others can be easy to neglect. In our struggle to get ahead, our family and friends can become unintended casualties. Yet it's often our relationships that form meaning and structure in our lives. When people are near the end of their lives, it's often those they spent time with rather than what they did that provides them with the fondest memories.
Time spent developing and enriching your relationships is often a much better investment than many people realize. Going out and finding new people to form connections with, as well as strengthening those you already have, is a basic ingredient of a good life.
Spending less than you earn
Financial problems are horrible to have. Nobody wants to spend their lives in enslavement to money - there are just too many disadvantages. Finding yourself in a position where you have to do a job you hate, simply because you need the money, or not being able to do things you want to because you're too broke, is a large source of misery.
But there's an easy way to avoid this. A lifetime habit of spending less than you earn is the best way to keep control of your finances. More than just a formula, it's a state of mind - a way of ensuring that you're in control of money rather than having it in control of you.
Finding somewhere nice to live
I've lived in quite a variety of places in my life, and I can tell you that where you are has a big effect on your state of mind. The weather, the crime level, the attitude of the people around you, and the facilities available have a much bigger effect on happiness and well-being than many people realize. Too many people try to somehow change themselves to better fit their environment, when it's often easier to just move to a new place that better fits them.
Good health
Nothing has a bigger effect on how you feel than how good your health is. Many people think they can reason their way around bad health, but it's next to impossible. No matter how good your logic, a toothache is going to give you a bad day. And that's true for lesser health problems also.
Bad eating habits, smoking, drugs, lack of exercise and other abuses of your body add up to a less satisfying life. You don't have to stick to rabbit food and run five miles a day in order to enjoy good health. Small changes can have a big effect - walking instead of driving, fresh fruit and vegetables instead of french-fries on the side, time outdoors instead of always in front of the screen, and so on. For most people, good health is relatively easy to achieve and well-worth pursuing.
A little fun and relaxation sometimes
What I often find when I read tomes about how to improve your life is just how joyless they are. They're all about giving things up, working harder, and sacrificing more. It's true to some extent, that you reap what you sow. But don't forget to do a little reaping sometimes. Good fun doesn't necessarily mean fancy and expensive entertainment. It can just be a few silly laughs with your spouse, a walk through town, or a nice home-cooked meal. Usually, these small moments of fun and relaxation are what makes life worth living.
 | Take the initiative in establishing new relationships | | The world is filled with people who are dissatisfied with the state of their relationships. They think they haven't got enough others in their lives, or else they believe the others they have aren't up to scratch. Whether it's friendships that are missing or something more, a lack of satisfactory relationships is a common complaint. |  | Improvement usually requires suffering | | We all want to be better people. We want to be smarter, wiser, stronger and more beautiful. Look at any magazine rack in any supermarket, and you'll see that self-improvement is on a lot of people's minds. |  | My favourite investment books | | I've been getting a few emails recently asking which investment books I would recommend. Obviously there's a vast array of good books out there on this topic and I haven't read them all. |  | Understanding the basis of your emotions | | We are emotional creatures whether we like it or not. There is a popular idea that emotions are irrational and the intellect rational. We are supposed to aim to use our intellect and ignore our emotions, like Mr Spock, or so some would have us believe. |  | A lot of success and failure is compounding | | Why is it that some people get so successful that they just seem to grow in strength every year, while others sink their lives deeper and deeper into the abyss? I think the answer is that much of success and failure is compounding. The good things you did yesterday can be built upon, while the bad things you did have to be dealt with. | | If you work and take risks, it's possible to build a good life for yourself | | When I consider my life at the moment, it's really pretty good. I'm happily married, make plenty of money, and live in my favorite place in the world. For years now, I've been in a position where I can do pretty much whatever I want. It wasn't always that way though. | | How to start a conversation with someone | | Breaking the ice and starting to talk to someone can be very difficult. Someone you've never spoken to before can seem big and scary. Here are some ways of getting people talking that I've figured out. | | Ideas are easy, implementing them is hard | | I've know a lot of intelligent people in my time - some of them highly intelligent. Yet many of them aren't much more successful than average. How come? |  | A neat trick for dealing with anxiety | | When I was younger, I used to get anxious a lot. I think this is partly to do with the fact that being a teenager is just a stressful time, but also because I hadn't learned to deal with anxiety. | | Success is like fishing | | When most people look back on their lives and particularly which parts of them were successful, they’re often surprised at how these successes came about. More often than not, the opportunities we expect to be fantastic turn out to be not worth the time we invest in them; while those we expect to amount to nothing can turn into the greatest of our lives. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|