While doing a project for my current job, I stumbled across this wonderful site that represents 11 key categories of well being and allows you to rank their importance to you. It then visualizes the countries that best fit your criteria across the world, in sort of a flower visualization design. It is not only beautiful, but highly functional and useful for those that care about this sort of thing. I was intrigued myself, having lived in and loved New Zealand, to see it high up on the list for me. I must admit I was also surprised to see Canada, as it is really just around the corner from my neck of the woods.

How does this relate to my journey towards financial freedom? I think its important to constantly re-evaluate if my life is going in the direction I want it to, and this can largely be impacted by the opportunities, government, quality of life and financial system that surrounds you. This chart serves as a starting point for me to explore other places that we may want to visit or possibly move to in the future if our dreams align with our actions. Which one can only keep hoping and working towards.

Random Posts

• December 21, 2009 -- Be the Change You Want to See in the World
• September 23, 2010 -- Creative Investments Of the Future?
• April 14, 2010 -- How to Rollover a Complicated 401K
• July 30, 2010 -- Selecting Life Insurance for Someone in Late 20′s
• October 26, 2009 -- 365 Days to Financial Freedom

I’ve written a few posts on this blog on the topic of happiness, since as we all know, ‘money can’t buy me love’ – or happiness for that matter. Financial freedom will free me to have time, and I still believe it to  be the first step to focus on the intentional life that I want. But if I’m not in the right place mentally, its useless to have financial freedom. I keep searching for ways to attain what I’ve been calling sustainable happiness.

Yesterday, my husband, quite nicely mentioned to me that one thing I might have a hard time doing is living in the moment. This is why I married him, because he is all to good at this. And it is a quality that I want more of in my life, but struggle finding because of my personality type and ingrained habits.

Today I happened upon and took a short quiz on Oprah’s site, the happiness test, and after answering just a few short questions in this quiz, the insight that I received as my result was amazing to me. To the point where I printed it out in large text and put it on my wall. I reached the category right under the you are always happy category. Here’s what my result said:

You need to recognize the difference between chasing after happiness and choosing happiness.

Happiness is not outside you; it’s not a destination; and it’s not about “getting there.”

When you stop chasing happiness, you allow yourself to be more present, more available and more open.

This way you find happiness wherever you are.

The old saying “Life is journey, not a destination” has a similar meaning. Its not about being happy. Because if I reached the elusive happiness consistently, I wouldn’t be growing or changing, and I would become bored eventually anyway.

The overall concept that I am hearing applied to my life is this:

I need to LET GO of my need to control everything and this will allow me to be able to enjoy the moment.

I need to have faith that tomorrow will bring joy and sorrow alike, but that I will have the strength and courage to not only survive, but also come out a little bit smarter, and happier, than I was before.

I’ve realized, that’s all that I can really ask for.

Related Posts

• April 6, 2010 -- 5 Months in, I’m a Lot Closer to “What I Want”
• January 19, 2010 -- Review of GratitudeLog – “The Happiest Place on the Internet”
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist

In responding to a comment on this site, I noticed a sentence that I wrote a few months back that still resonates strongly with me:

As Americans, the only way to get out of a recession/depression is to face our fears, and start doing, not just saving.

So many of us have been burned by loss of jobs, loss of their home, loss of their health care, etc that people are struggling to get by and losing hope. But we cannot lose hope as a collective. What our happiness, our lives, our families, our economy and everything around us needs is for us to have HOPE, motivation and drive to move things FORWARD.

If you are frantically saving and paying down debt, good for you. I’m not saying that’s bad. But getting your finances in gear is not all that is needed to make your life, and all of us as a collective’s lives better, what is needed is to start DOING.

If you don’t spend any money, the economy can’t get any better. Spending, in the right ways, is a very good thing. Spending and doing creates jobs and wealth in an economy. We just need to be more conscious about WHERE we are spending our money and what impact it has on our lives. Put your energies into putting your thoughts and what you might want to do and making them a reality. You will never know what could be unless you try.

I am now a firm believe that where your energy goes, results show.

If you’ve lost your job, see it as an opportunity to DO. Check out this video: http://www.lemonademovie.com/

Random Posts

• December 30, 2009 -- Year in Review: 365 Days to Financial Freedom Top Posts
• November 5, 2009 -- Review of Online Personal Data Organizer Tool: Orggit.com
• November 23, 2009 -- Review of Free Credit Score Analysis Tool: Credit Karma
• June 23, 2010 -- Stop Chasing After Happiness – Choose Happiness
• August 19, 2010 -- My Most Important Asset

Day 161 of my First 365 Day Journey to Financial Freedom

On day 1 of my 365 Day Journey towards Financial Freedom, I charted a short list of what I wanted in order to find a more ‘sustainable’ happiness.

In reviewing my list, I am proud to say that I am a little, or maybe even a lot, further along in my journey than I would have predicted. This blog, and my dedication to not lose my drive and focus, have helped me stay on track and get inspired. This transformation of my life is real, and I want to thank those that are reading and following me along in my journey. I hope some of my stumbling thoughts have helped you.

Let’s take a look at what I said I wanted and if I am now doing or feeling these things:

Excerpt from First Entry Oct 26th 2009

To begin my journey, I wrote a list of some of the key answers to the question: ”What do I want?” Here are my answers in no particular order:

I want to be FREE to move my life forward

Through much reflection, I’ve learned that freedom is really a perception. Though I felt very stuck for many years prior to starting my journey, I was only as stuck as I allowed myself to be. Things don’t always move or change as fast as I want them to in order for me to feel more free, but many things have changed. Most namely, I quit my FT job and I am choosing to pursue my own business! That is a big step for me toward my freedom.

I want to get my POWER back

The main thing I was looking for was an inner confidence in what I am and what I will add to the world. In my journey so far, I’ve learned that success is almost entirely based on your confidence, attitude and sense of purpose.

I want to WRITE

I am writing – a lot! I’m writing on this blog, I’ve written articles that have been published on Wisebread and in magazines, and I’m in need of a lot of how to guides and documents for my new business. I also cannot wait to write a series of ebooks on SEO & usability and other web marketing tips I’ve learned along the way.

I want to LOVE what I do for a job

Guess what – I now do! I didn’t love the politics where I used to work, they impeded on me enjoying my work. The design and business building of what I am doing is super fun, but my passion is lead generation and marketing. I was discussing it with my husband and realized its a matter of an inner desire to help others combined with a need to influence. Successful online marketing is all about beauty, simplicity and influence. Beyond this, I am looking forward to getting into the health industry once I have started being more successful with business building.

I want to feel comfortable and at PEACE

Not quite there yet. I move at such a fast pace, and I have a 2 year old for goodness sakes. Finding time for balance of mind, body and spirit is always a bit of a struggle. Still an important goal for me however.

I want to take CONTROL of my own destiny

I feel that I am doing this much more than I used to, though many things always still seem up in the air. I have realized that you can only control things so much, and after a certain point you have to trust and believe that things will shape themselves for you.

I want to spend more QUALITY time with my family and activities I want to do

I don’t know that I am spending MORE time, but the time I have with my family is better spent with me happier. Step in the right direction.

I want to find SUSTAINABLE happiness

Sustainable? Not yet. Happier? Yes.

I want to live an INTENTIONAL life

I think everything I am doing is getting me much closer to this. The largest thing that I have to do is manage my most precious asset, time, as best as I can and filter out what is and is not a priority toward my intentional living.

So, overall, I think I am a lot closer than I expected to getting where I want to be at this stage in my life. Hooray!

Related Posts

• June 23, 2010 -- Stop Chasing After Happiness – Choose Happiness

Overcome Fear to “Win Some or Learn Some”

Today is my last day at my job, and I am taking a step into the unknown. For the last four years, I have worked at the same full time position. In my last post, I outlined the logical and emotional reasons for making a decision on what to do next with my life and career. I also explained that, if all fear was pushed aside, I would choose to follow my heart and do my freelance web design and online marketing, as well as build other business ventures.

The fearful side of my still keeps saying, are you crazy? In this economy?  What happens if you fail? How do you know you will succeed?
And of course, the truth is, I have no idea what is coming next. All that I can do is keep my mind in the right place, and put my best foot forward.

Fear and doubt have a tendency to sneak back into your mind at the most stressful and insecure times in your life, when what you really need are feelings of confidence and strength.

For me, though I still experience feelings of doubt and fear, I am now able to recognize my fear as a trigger for the fact that I am out of my comfort zone, and that this will be a good learning and growth period of my life.

The Steps You’ll Need to Overcome Fear and Doubt:

1. Recognize the emotional trigger that caused you to feel fear, doubt, etc
2. Accept that there are some logical reasons for the feelings
3. Acknowledge that, though there are some reasons that you are feeling fear, there is also the strong possibility that things will go the way you want them to
4. Accept uncertainty and the unknown as a constant part of life
5. Think positive and be confident in your decisions
6. Move forward with your best foot forward
7. Mission Accomplished: Fear is Overcome

What are the Possible Outcomes of Pushing Past Your Fears?

1. You Get What You Hoped or Even Something Better
2. You “Fail”, but You Learn From Your Mistakes and Move On

Or, in the words of Jason Mraz: “You Win Some or Learn Some”

I’ve made my decision to give it a try. I have the ability so I am going to take a 2 month test period to see if I can truly build my businesses to support my family.

Here’s My 2 Month Plan:

• I already have a few new and a few big projects lined up, including my other recurring work for clients.
• I am going to re-brand my business, which is currently called AGR Web Designs, to Lead Online Marketing. This will include moving from a sole proprietor model to an LLC, a new website/branding/blog, etc strategy, marketing and better packaged offerings. I have also started to get better with software for my invoicing an estimates (I may to a post/review on those tools)
• I may also do a bit of additional part time work during this time as I build my business
• I will continue to build my timeline/planning templates business
• I’m considering building another small site that focuses on wordpress and/or thesis design, as this market is really booming and I enjoy working in that area

I am afraid, but I am also very excited. And though it is a slightly uncomfortable place to be, it makes me feel more alive and happy about my career than I have been in the last 4 years.

Random Posts

• October 28, 2009 -- Review of Free Online Money Management Tools: Mint.com
• July 1, 2010 -- My Best Investment So Far: Lending Club
• February 23, 2010 -- How to Choose? Pay Off Debt, Save, Invest or Build a Business
• November 23, 2009 -- Review of Free Credit Score Analysis Tool: Credit Karma
• January 10, 2010 -- Truly Free eBooks for Wealth, Inspiration and Education

Well, its official. I have turned in my two week notice at my current position and I am pursuing other options. We have enough of a padding to last long enough for me to sort this out. (My fear is talking there)

I’m very happy about this first decision and I have lots of options. Nonetheless, I am very much struggling with this life decision. The lucky part is that I can actually make this choice with the career path that I have in web design and online marketing. Here are my options:

Option 1: Accept a FT Corporate Job - The “Logical” Choice

Pros

• Steady income to support my family, benefits (health, dental, paid time off)
• Opportunity for learning from others and new environment
• Career growth potential
• Escape from the cubicle and florescent lighting

Cons

• Not enough time to do my freelance work, be a mom, take care of the house, etc
• Potential to be ‘more of the same’ in terms of politics and personalities
• 401 K hasn’t been a reliable investment vehicle for retirement

Option 2: Accept PT Work + Freelance/Businesses - The “Tempting” Choice

Pros

• Flexible hours, variation in work
• Ability to pursue many projects and avenues (web, businesses, writing)
• Pontenial to be happier by feeding my creative outlets, feeling of acomplishment
• Ability to help many small businesses and increase networking
• Ability to be there for my daughter more, especially when she is sick

Cons

•  Inconsistent income, no protection from month to month, no paid time off
• Have to work at ensuring I have additional work
• Location of jobs may vary, though remote is very possible in my industry
• Administrative duties increase, have to take care of own taxes, health, investments
• Might be lonely working alone majority of the time

I want to live every day as if it was my last. I want this thing called life to matter. And I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to do that if I can’t do more of the things that I want to do with my time. Having a little 2 year old means that I don’t have any ‘down time’. The time I have is absolutely precious.

But whether I’m following my heart and whether I’m taking care of my responsibilities might be two separate things. I am the sole bread winner right now in our household. Is this just a timing issue or is it the right time to make the leap?

I’ve made a hard choice which is to quit my job to start to really craft the life that I want to lead. But now I need to get more specific and really play out what my life will look like depending on what path I choose.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it is that there are no black and white answers. I’ve  also learned that people are willing to be flexible working with you if they truly value what you offer.

Often times its fear that prevents us from taking a leap. If I can get past the fear, what choices would I make?
Option 2 hands down. Can and should I overcome this fear?

Random Posts

• February 6, 2010 -- Should I Invest in a 529 College Savings Plan? If So, Which One?
• January 29, 2010 -- Having a Clear Life Vision
• October 29, 2009 -- Shopaholic? Put a Halt to Retail Therapy
• November 20, 2009 -- Simple Approach to Change: Assess, Aquire and Apply
• November 18, 2009 -- The Happiness Project and the Happiness Project Toolbox

Science has proven that people who express their gratitude daily are 25% happier and significantly healthier than those who don’t—and doing it takes as little as a minute a day! – Gratitudelog.com

GratitudeLog.com is a fun social site that takes the basic concept of short updates from sites such as Twitter, and applies it to a specific concept, Gratitude.

You are able to mark someone’s comment as “Awesome!” or reply to it. You can follow people and they can follow you. Beyond that, you can send people “Appreciation” gifts (for free), which are simply little icons with a thoughtful note (like you can send on Facebook).

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Pros:

• People on this site really seem to respect the type of content that can be posted and shared, you will find inspiration from what other’s are saying!
• It can integrate with your Twitter account to post your updates
• There is something both cool and scary about publicly sharing your personal thoughts on your gratitude for your life

Cons:

• The list of updates on the main page shows those that you follow’s comments, but I find it somewhat difficult to navigate as a running list.
• If someone isn’t a member of this site, you can share a gift with them, but you can’t really interact much further than that… So, I suppose they’ll have to join!

I have made a pledge to myself to login and put something that I am thankful or grateful for every day. So far, day 5, I’m doing pretty good. Reflecting on what I am grateful for on this site has been  great, but the best part is that I am starting to expand that further into other aspects of my life through out the day. My husband and I have made a commitment (thanks to a posting I saw on this site) to express something we are grateful for to each other every day as well. Already, this starts off or ends the day with a smile.

No matter your religion, your spirituality or your place in life, it is without a doubt helpful to give thanks for what you have in your life that you appreciate. I am convinced that a commitment to maintaining a pattern of expressing my gratitude will play a key part in keeping me motivated and maintaining my perspective.

Related Posts

• June 23, 2010 -- Stop Chasing After Happiness – Choose Happiness
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist

I came across five simple steps to be happy and appreciated the simplicity of them. Often times, greed and corruption overcome people’s desire to do good when they are on a quest toward financial freedom. If your moral and/or ethical compass is overlooked or compromised on your journey to earn more and save more, you risk the loss of balance in other areas of your life, such as happiness and fulfillment.

So, the following are my thoughts on how to combine your quest for financial fitness with your quest for happiness using these 5 simple steps.

Step 1. Free your heart from hatred.

There are often negative and petty emotions which cloud our day, contribute to our stress, and keep us from feeling happy. Letting go of some of the anger you feel towards your boss, your co-worker, your spouse, or your ‘enemies’ leads to you being able to be happier. Sometimes it seems impossible, but I have noticed that if I allow myself to achieve this, I am able to be more productive with my life. How to apply this to personal finance? From personal experience, I have felt a lot of anger/hatred at the state of the economy, political climate, and the greed of our society. It is an age-old tale of humanity that often the greedy take more than their share and the division of classes becomes more and more evident. I have to constantly remind myself that the anger that I feel does nothing to change my financial situation in life, and I am the only person that has the power to change.

Step 2. Free your mind from fear and worries.

Worry and fear are the often the top 2 things that stop most people from taking risks. Taking risk is the surest way to earning more passive income. You can control that risk by having a sound financial education and taking financial moves that are in your best interest. But you will always have risk. The fear of the unknown and the future is also a reason that people worry. These days, the financial guide Suze Orman says that you should save 8 months worth of expenses in your ‘emergency’ or what I prefer to call contingency fund and only pay minimums on your credit card if that will help you reach your contingency fund goal. The fear of the unknown, of security and monthly income to pay the bills is one reason that so many people stay with thier jobs instead of doing something on thier own that may be riskier. We as a society have been taught to be responsible and believe that safety and security are more important than almost anything else.

Though I believe its important to have a contingency fund,  I think its more important to play an active role in daily financial education, awareness of your budget and your spending, and taking action to improve your financial situation. Don’t spend all of your time focusing on paying off debt, because then you are spending your energy on debt rather than on increased wealth.

I cannot say that I am free of fear and worry. Far from. However, what I am able to do right now is take action, start learning, and push through my fear toward doing something in the right direction. As long as your fear and worry aren’t crippling you from action, you are still on the right path.  The less fear and worry that you let into your mind, the wealthier your mind will be, and you will be able to take more action to succeed in your financial endeavors.

Step 3.  Live simply.

This one is the key that so many Americans have missed for so long, but are  just now starting to value. Frugality and thriftiness are in these days as opposed to the recent days of excessive spending, huge homes and lots of vacations.  The more recurring debts that you add to your life, the more your bills seem to control you. I am making many conscious efforts to simplify our lifestyle, determine what is truly important to us, organize, reduce clutter, and not buy new things that we do not need. For me, having only what I need, having things in their place and being able to spend my time on the important things in life like family, education, etc, are all made more possible by reducing some of life’s distractions. Technology has the power to make things more complicated and provide us with over-stimulation, but when used carefully can also help you organize and simplify your life.

Step 4. Give more.

Given the fact that my family struggles to get by month to month right now, its difficult to donate a lot of money. However, sometimes I think monetary donations are not always as valuable as giving other things, your time, your wisdom, your teachings, etc. If you put thought into what you are giving, it can often have a larger impact than simply writing a check. Giving someone a smile and brightening their day is giving. Volunteering is an amazing form of giving. In the online personal finance world, I love all the cool sites like FiLife which allow people to answer financial questions that you might normally have to pay a financial advisor to get an answer to. That’s a pretty cool forum for giving. Some of the most successful people acknowledge that giving is a win-win because it helps someone and makes you feel better as well.

Step 5. Expect less.

This step could almost go hand in hand with living simply. Expectations are the stories that we tell ourselves and hold others or ourselves accountable for. Often they are not based on a true reality other than our own. For so long in my life I had an expectation of what my life SHOULD look like, and I made decisions according to the shoulds. I have now realized that there are many options, and the less that I require out of the specifics of my life, the more I am able to see the opportunities and possibilities that are right in front of me, and the closer I can get to being happy in the present.

Have you found happiness in your journey toward financial freedom? What contributed to it?

photo by nosha

Related Posts

• November 12, 2009 -- Who Am I Writing For?
• June 23, 2010 -- Stop Chasing After Happiness – Choose Happiness
• January 19, 2010 -- Review of GratitudeLog – “The Happiest Place on the Internet”
• January 3, 2010 -- Definition of Financial Freedom
• December 21, 2009 -- Be the Change You Want to See in the World

Gandhi knew what he was talking about. This simple, but powerful phrase has become my mantra as of late. I wake up hearing it in my head. I think about it at random times of the day. I don’t  know why it popped into my head, but it rings true as a mantra for a path towards both sustainable happiness and financial freedom.

I’ve Figured Out What I Want

Through much self reflection over the past 3 months, I’ve finally found myself at a point in life where I have a good idea of the direction I want to go, the goals I want to set, and I have a very vague idea of how to get there. Up until recently, all that I have been doing is driving my life on auto pilot, doing the things that I’m supposed to do, trying to ‘survive’ and following in the traditional cultural patterns of the US family. This is not to say that I’m not happy with the family, friends, and other aspects of life that I have built, however, I have finally realized what it is I want to DO with my life, and this has been an inspiring and enlightening process.

But I Don’t Have the Resources to Get There Very Fast

The only problem I have now is that my mind is very focused on this new direction (yes, I admit, practically obsessed to the point where I’m sure I’m annoying everyone I know talking about it), but the rest of my life is not even sort of ready to catch up to where I’d like to go. I still don’t have those same resources I’ve blogged about in the past, time, money, etc to just up and start my new business idea, or focus my efforts to reaching my ultimate dream. I still am relatively stuck financially, and its slow going to get ourselves out of the mess we are in. Feeling stuck is still a pretty real thing if your income outweigh your expenses, even when your mind is on its way towards a brighter future.

So, I’ve been telling myself to just do what I can, get things written down, keep learning, etc. However, I feel compelled and compulsed to do more. I’ve never before felt so clear about what I want to do with my life.

So HOW do we be the change we want to see in the world?

I believe the answer is through a serious of small, but important choices that lead us in the right direction. I know this, but sometimes I really, really wish I could make big ‘ol giant leaps all at once.

Small and steady wins the race, but the energy and passion I feel towards what I have discovered makes me oh so conflicted on why I can’t just sprint to the finish line.

I can’t do everything I want to do all at once, but the New Year is always a good time to think of the things I’ve accomplished and assess where I want to go.

What I Want To “Be” More Of in 2010

• I want to remember my cloth bags more often when I go shopping
• I want to read and go to the park more with my daughter
• I want to read & write more and continue my financial education
• I want to keep getting more organized
• I want to develop at least 1 full clear business plan for my new inspiration
• I want to act on my knowledge, whether small or large steps, some type of action is better than none at all!

What will you do to be the change YOU want to see in the world?

Related Posts

• November 12, 2009 -- Who Am I Writing For?
• November 11, 2009 -- Financial Ignorance and Conspiracy of the Rich
• October 26, 2009 -- 365 Days to Financial Freedom
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist
• January 3, 2010 -- Definition of Financial Freedom

Sustainable Happiness Can’t be Tied to the Material and Transitory

I’ve come to the conclusion that happiness should not be tied to material or transitory experiences or things.  But mine has been for as long as I can remember. This is why I don’t seem to be able to find sustainable happiness. If your happiness is tied to some thing than you lose it when the newness of that thing wears off. If its tied to an experience, experiences are also fleeting, and you tend to spend your time remembering the past, or gearing up for a future experience, but not enjoying the present.
So, financially speaking, can financial freedom bring you happiness? The simple answer is no. What it can bring, though, is more options to do what you want with your most precious asset: TIME.

I have come to realize that my entire life has been filled with these transitory or passing forms of happiness. I’ve known this, but haven’t been able to articulate it or figure out the how of changing that pattern.

The only thing that I can think of is to tackle my lifestyle, from financial education, to simplifying and organizing, and see where it leaves me. As The Happiness Project says, “Outer order contributes to inner calm.”

Simplifying my life is a top priority in order to get some of that precious resource, time, back. Making intentional choices towards a more education financial future is also a good step in the right direction. However, in the end, finding happiness doesn’t lie in things or experiences, but in your overall mental state of mind. Is more meditation in my future?

what brings me (temporary) joy

• Giving
• Receiving a Thoughtful Gift
• Shopping
• New Stuff (clothes, distractions, stuff)
• Travel
• Making Something (crafts, art, design)
• Spending Quality Time with Family and Friends
• Simple lifestyle choices
• Plain old fun

So many of these above things are harder to come by in my financially frugal lifestyle: shopping, travel, TIME for anything fun. So, I need to find ways to find happiness without them. This is a core-shifting change for me.

As an excerpt from a posting on the PositivityBlog states, it is possible to attain positive emotions, which in turn can help with finding happiness through the things that bring you joy.

As we all know, when we have a big goal, it helps to break it down into smaller pieces. If we think of happiness as an overarching emotional state that is created by the presence of other, positive emotions, the process of achieving happiness becomes less daunting.

Joy, contentedness, love, interest, and satisfaction are some of the positive emotions that lead us to feel happy. The more we experience these positive emotions, the happier we’ll be.

My question is how do you sustain happiness when the negative and mundane of life gets in the way?

Useful Sites:

• PositivityBlog
• The Happiness Project

photo by cmefish ( new camera ) Eos 7D

Random Posts

• January 31, 2012 -- Easiest Online Investment Options
• October 26, 2009 -- 365 Days to Financial Freedom
• November 4, 2009 -- Review of Free Online Password Storage Tool: Passpack.com
• January 19, 2010 -- Review of GratitudeLog – “The Happiest Place on the Internet”
• February 17, 2010 -- Launch of my New Business, OnTimelines.com

What Does Happiness Truly Mean? How Do We Find It?

Its amazing how the journey to financial freedom is leading me many directions towards self reflection in other areas of my life, such as how to find real happiness.

Want an excellent example of a blog / book / community site well done? Take Gretchen Rubin, a writer whose new book, The Happiness Project, will be available in January 2010. Her blog  is an account of the year she spent test-driving studies and theories about how to be happier.

Based on this blog, she put together a site for individual and / or collaborative use focused on motivation and happiness through a happiness tool box.

I love the idea that you can be working on your own goals for happiness, but also can get real time updates from your friends that join, or just those in the ‘community’ to inspire you.

I especially like the concept of the “Personal Commandments” section. I have actually started a written journal of family ‘rules’ or concepts that I want to use and reflect on while raising my daughter. I think I will transfer and add to these on this tool box site. I also love the concepts behind “Happiness Hacks” (quick helpful tips for the community) and “Secrets of Adulthood”. I found myself somewhat unprepared for a lot of the teachings of adulthood and can see the usefulness in learning from others. The inspiration board is a nice place to view quotes and, well, get inspired.

There are a few interface changes that I would make to improve the toolbox.

• It would be great to export and print your resolutions, commandments, etc for putting in your house and re-enforcing your messages to yourself
• I would love to be able to see a more visual percentage of a resolution’s progress and completion (same goes for lists, etc) It took me a while, but I did find the check box to mark it as complete.

In general, the fuctionality of the tools could be improved for the user experience, but the community and concept is outstanding. Though the tool interface itself could be improved a bit, I love the concept and will be trying this toolbox out some more.

Rubin’s Happiness Manifesto includes:

• To be happy, you need to consider feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
• One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
• The days are long, but the years are short.
• You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.
• Your body matters.
• Happiness is other people.
• Think about yourself so you can forget yourself.
• “It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.”—G. K. Chesterton
• What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you, and vice versa.
• Best is good, better is best.
• Outer order contributes to inner calm.
• Happiness comes not from having more, not from having less, but from wanting what you have.
• You can choose what you do, but you can’t choose what you like to do.
• “There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.” —Robert Louis Stevenson
• You manage what you measure.

http://www.happiness-project.com/

http://www.happinessprojecttoolbox.com/

What do you think it takes to be truly happy? How do you decide what areas in your life to focus on first?

photo by wa?.ti

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