5 Things to Value in Life for Success

Once we discover how to appreciate the timeless values in our daily experiences, we can enjoy the best things in life.

Jerome K. Jerome

I have mentioned some of the important things to value in life in my three previous articles (see related posts at the end of the article).  Here are five more things to value in life for success:  

1.      The ability to deal with adversity: Life is challenging. It is how you deal with it that matters the most. Learn from failures and defeats. These are valuable lessons and stepping stones to success. The smart way is to stay positive, be confident, and be resilient. Make changes, avoid making the same mistakes, move on and continue to do the right things.

2.      Beneficial habits:   You know all the good habits, but will you be able to make changes and be better? Some of the things like getting up early, getting organized, planning ahead, taking breaks, taking time off to exercise and relax, enjoying your breakfast, drinking water throughout the day, sleeping sufficiently, staying cheerful, and working enthusiastically. All you have to do is just choose one thing at a time, the one that benefits you the most. When it is a habit, pick the next one and move on from there.   

3.      Positive words: Read motivational quotes, especially in the morning, to start a new day positively and excitedly.   How you start a new day is important for the rest of the day. Start a new day powerfully.   

4.      Continuous development: Seek continuous improvement in five areas of your life: health, work, personal finance, relationships, and family. A balanced life is a key to a successful life.  

5.      Making wise choices: Your present situation is the sum of all your choices that you have made. You will continue to live and make choices.  Choose things you believe in, things that are relating to your passion and dreams. Consult and get help when you are uncertain. Making decisions is to take a risk and do things you have not done before. It is to seek a breakthrough and make progress in life. Be happy in all your choices.

What else do you value in life?

Related posts:
10 Values to Value in Life

5 Most Important Things in Life

What do you value in life?

15 Ways to Do and be Happy

According to an article, Study: Glee from buying objects wanes, while the joy of buying experiences keeps growing, you gain more happiness by doing. So what can you do to stay happy? It is simple and there are so many ways:

1.       Solve problems creatively: The thrill and excitement of overcoming difficult problems resourcefully will bring happiness and confidence in you. To be happy take the bull by the horns and confront problems directly.

     

2.       Enjoy your food: Even if it is a simple meal the way to do it is to sit down and savor the food. Eat slowly and chew each mouthful. Do nothing else like watching TV or reading newspapers to tantalize your taste buds and be happy.

3.       Go for a holiday: The happiness of the experience in seeing different people, eating different food, and looking at breathtaking scenes is beyond words to describe. Even a family outing on a weekend is a fun and happy thing to do.

4.       Take a nap: The good feeling of an afternoon nap is always there. You feel fresh and relaxed after a deserving break. Doing it on a lazy Sunday afternoon is one of those happy moments.

5.       Do and accomplish what you like: Getting ideas and writing an article every day is never-ending happiness for me. What do you enjoy doing? Get the happiness of doing it every day.

6.       Help your children in mathematics: Like solving a tough problem, helping your children in mathematics is challenging and satisfying. The trick is to look for clues that are given and solve a problem intelligently and happily.

7.        Take a joy ride: Take a drive to another part of the town or to the country to discover new things and be delighted. Be inspired and get new ideas like writing a new article.  

8.       Exercise: Health and happiness are closely linked. Happiness is feeling calm, fresh, and alert. Fitness is about feeling energetic and ready to take action.

9.       Do a good job: The only way to be happy at work is to do a job well. You do it painstakingly and you will be proud of your work. When it is done, it puts a smile on your face and happiness in your heart. 

10.   Acts of kindness: Kindness is always a wonderful source of happiness. Help without being asked is the way to do it.  Simple politeness of saying please and thank you will lift the spirits of others.  When you smile you make others happy and you too.

11.   Take action: Happiness is taking action and doing it. Take part in a contest, join the community, start your new project, work on your plan. These are some of the productive things to do and be happy.  

12.   Do a budget and follow it: Happiness is the ability to manage your personal finance and not getting into debt. It is challenging and exciting to spend and you are happy to find out that there is money left over for a rainy day at the end of each month.    

13.   See your friend, talk and laugh out loud: Don’t stay alone and go online, instead get out and seek real friendship in the real world. Spending time together is a   wonderful source of happiness.  Reaching out to others is a great way to be happy.

14.   Shop: The happiness is doing the shipping for your essential items and not in acquiring material things. Spending money is always a pleasure but do it within your budget.

15.   Your pets: Your pet is more than your companion. A pet, such as a dog, gives you abundant happiness because it is a source of unconditional love for you. Play with it, or walk the dog. You provide support for your dog and you care for it and by doing it you generate happiness. 

Do it, experience it, and be happy every day.

Getting Happiness in 5 Areas of your Life

To be healthy, wealthy, happy, and successful in any and all areas of your life you need to be aware that you need to think healthy, wealthy, happy, and successful thoughts twenty-four hours a day and cancel all negative, destructive, fearful, and unhappy thoughts. These two types of thought cannot coexist if you want to share in the abundance that surrounds us all.

Sidney Madwed

Do you know happiness is present in every area of your life? Check out the following: 

1.      Health: Physically, when you are fit and healthy, you feel good about yourself. Your mind is calm, fresh, and alert. You are energetic and ready to get things done for the day. Mentally, when you are hopeful and full of confidence you are focus to perform your best and overcoming obstacles with determination if any. Spiritually, you enjoy peace of mind because you fill your heart with kindness, love, and forgiveness.   Happiness is what you get when you make an effort to be physically active, mentally positive, and spiritually thinking good and feeling good.

2.      Career: It is important to develop an interest in what you do because happiness is enjoying the task at hand and getting into the flow of it.  You are focused and you produce better output. You are proud of what you do and you show enthusiasm at work.

3.      Money: You attain happiness in two ways. Firstly, you spend within your means according to your budget. Happiness is about not overspending and getting into debt. It is easy to get into debt but very difficult to get out of it. Owing money is the greatest source of family unhappiness and misery. The other way is to buy happiness. According to the article, Money Can Buy Happiness, you can derive happiness when you spend the right way. The key is to spend your money and enjoy the experience such as a vacation, buying lunch for your friends, donating to charity, a Sunday on the beach with your family. The kick of buying material things is short-lived, but the experience will linger in your memory for a very long time. 

4.      Family: Your home is your last refuge. If you do not find happiness at home, there is no place in the world to get real and lasting happiness. You get the support of your family because they understand you. They share your achievements and defeats in good time and bad time. They are always in your heart and your presence at home is the greatest happiness to them.     

5.      Relationships: Happiness in relationships is about giving and receiving. You need a friend to share your good news as well as the bad news. Your friend will also like you to listen to him or her for the same reason.  You support others as much as you get support from them. Your friends can do so much more than you can do alone.   Reaching out is to open up more opportunities and be happier. 

Are you getting happiness in every area of your life?

7 Things to Avoid Being Unhappy

Are you unhappy? More likely than not, you have negative thoughts. Your negative thoughts will translate into negative feelings and negative attitude:

   

1.      Negative thoughts and feelings: How do you react to negative events in life?  Do you curse and swear? You cannot be happy when you focus your thoughts on disappointment and dissatisfaction. How do you view the success of others? Is there a feeling of bitterness and jealousy in your heart? Look at obstacles in life as challenges and resolve to overcome them with determination.  Rejoice for the success of others  and take action to go after your dreams with passion and be hopeful

Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.

Wayne Dyer Quotes

2.      No feeling of gratefulness: Do you take life and your existence for granted?  Do you complain you are not getting what you want in life?  Do you count your blessings and appreciate what you have got - a healthy body, a family, a decent job, and some supporting relatives and friends? Be grateful that you are living in abundance.    

All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but it's truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy.         

 Dennis Prager

3.      Comparing your life to others: You will not be happy if you keep comparing yourself to others who are much more affluent than you are. Do not let discontentment fill your heart. The important thing is to compare with yourself and see that you are making progress.  

4.      Thinking too much of the past and worrying too much about the future:  Do not drain your energy thinking too much of the past and future. Focus on the present moment, pay attention to what you do now and enjoy it.  You can only be happy now.

To worry about tomorrow is to be unhappy today

Meera Syal

5.      Not getting excited about life: When you do not have a direction in life, you will not get excited to get up early and get things done. Fill your day with activities relating to your goals and you will be enthusiastic and happy to welcome each new day.   

6.      You don’t care much about yourself: Do you sit all day watching TV, eating junk food drinking beer, and getting obese? Happiness is about vigorous movement. Get plenty of exercises, stay alert and fresh. Happiness is feeling good inside out.

7.      Unable to manage your personal finance: Overspending and getting into debt is a source of unhappiness and misery. Be happy to spend less than what you have earned. Material wants will not bring lasting happiness. You will only get excited about a while and then you will be looking for something else. 

Thinking good, feeling good, and doing good is the way to be happy.   

I Have Been Hit By Google Update Innocently

According to Wikipedia, Google Penguin is a code name for a Google algorithm update that was first announced on April 24, 2012. The update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using black-hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation of duplicate content, and others.

In April I discovered that the traffic to my site took a nosedive. It was a drop of 35% from March. Traffic has gone down further in May by another 10%. My AdSense earnings have also suffered a blow.  If I were like some others who depend solely on Google for a living, I would be in deep shit.   

 I did a Webmaster reconsideration and I got the following reply:

I also gave feedback to Google by completing the following form at

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEVxdmdRWFJRTjRoLWZVTHZkaTBQbkE6MQ

  

URL of a page affected by the update: http://www.allaboutlivingwithlife.blogspot.com/2010/05/7-soul-searching-questions-to-ask.html

A query which shows non-ideal results: 7 Soul-Searching Questions to Ask Yourself

Before the feedback you can't find the article:

After providing my feedback, the article is in No.3 spot. 

When I go to Bing my article is in No.1 spot on page one:

I understand that Google is doing a new update in June 2012, it is called the “Scissors”. You can read the report at Google Unveils Ambitious New Algorithm Update. I hope to regain my traffic soon. 

What is your take?

Related article:

Penguin Update: I Am Battling To Take Google Seriously

How I Got a Copycat’s Article Removed from the Web

I Have Recovered From Google Update

How I Got a Copycat’s Article Removed from the Web

The other day I happened to key in one of the titles of my popular articles, 7 Soul-searching Questions to Ask Yourself, in Google search.  I found an article with a similar title occupying No.1 slot on the first page while my article was in No 3 position.

I clicked and read the content of the article and to my horror, it was an exact copy of my original post. There was no reference or link to my original post at all. The post is dated December 17, 2011, while my original article is dated May 14, 2010.

I took immediate action.   I went to Webmaster and did a webspam report. I also did a   report on alleged copyright infringement at Blogger.

A few days later I received the following reply:

Hello Charles,

Thanks for reaching out to us.

In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have completed

processing your infringement complaint. The following web pages will be

removed from Google in a few hours:

http://www.skndemocrat.com/archives/977-7-soul-searching-questions-to-ask-yourself

Please let us know if we can assist you further.

Regards,

The Google Team

When I did a check again I found the following results. The copycat article is no longer there and there is a note at the end of the page explaining the removal of one result.  

However, if you go directly to the copycat’s site, you still can locate the article http://www.skndemocrat.com/archives/977-7-soul-searching-questions-to-ask-yourself here. I, therefore, sent an email on May 16, 2012, asking them to delete the post. I have got no reply from them.

On another day when I checked my article again, the same copycat’s article appeared. Again it occupied No.1 spot. I filed another alleged copyright infringement report on May 18, 2012

The article has subsequently been removed: 

 There is also another similar note at the bottom of the page:

 What is your take?

Related Article:

I Have Been Hit By Google Update Innocently

10 Habits of Happy People

Happiness is a habit - cultivate it.

~ Elbert Hubbard

1.      Love themselves: They love themselves for what they are. They avoid comparison with others which brings unhappiness. They have high self-esteem with all their strengths and weaknesses. They think more about their achievements and successes. They dress smartly and act confidently without being snobbish.

To love oneself is to love life. It is essential to understand that we make ourselves happy in making others happy.

~Matthieu Ricard

2.      Getting delighted in simple pleasures in life: Reading a book, taking a nap, watching the sunrise, walking the dog, and listening to the rushing waves are some of the simple and yet cheerful things to do to be happy. Discover the happiness in your daily life.  

Precisely the least, the softest, lightest, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a flash, a moment - a little makes the way

of the best happiness.

~ Frederich Nietzsche

3.      Sociable: According to an article, What Happy People Do, happy people watch less TV and socialize more. They seek strong ties and friendship. They reach out to others more often. Social support is an important element for happy people.  

Plant a seed of friendship; reap a bouquet of happiness.

~ Lois L. Kaufman

4.      Getting things done: Happy people are achievers and they are productive. They plan their work and work their plan to accomplish the tasks of the day. They take action to overcome problems. When they work they get into a state of low. They are absorbed in the task at hand.  They enjoy the challenges in their job and excited about what they do because they are passionate.

Success is getting and achieving what you want. Happiness is wanting and being content with what you get.

~ Bernard Meltzer

5.      An attitude of gratitude: They appreciate life, about their health, family, friends, and their jobs. They welcome each new day with excitement.  They extend kindness and forgiveness and thankful for what they have got. 

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~ Melody Beattie

6.      Optimistic: They look at the bright side of things and are hopeful. They are able to cope with difficult situations because they are resilient and not easily disheartened.

They are determined to overcome obstacles to achieve their objectives.

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.

~- Kahlil Gibran

7.      Live in the moment: They are not regretting the past or worrying about the future. They are mindful and focus in the present. They don’t rush about and try to do too many things at once.  They seize the day.

It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis.

Margaret Bonnano

8.      Peace of mind: Happy people are honest people; they have nothing to hide and no lies to tell.  They fill their heart with contentment and are satisfied with what life has offered them. They hold no grudges but fill their heart with love and gratefulness.

To know you have enough is to be rich.

~ Lao-Tzu

9.      Financial freedom: They live within their means because they do not overspend and get into debt. Happy people are debt-free people. They manage their money well so that there is always money to save and invest in the future. 

With money in your pocket, you are wise and you are handsome and you sing well, too.

Jewish Proverb

10. Self-care: They lead a healthy lifestyle. They exercise, take breaks,   sleep soundly and enjoy a healthy eating habit. They are happy because they are fit and feeling good inside out.  

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

- Oprah Winfrey

Adopt a happiness habit and be happy.