What 10 things should you do every week to improve your life?

There are a number of other things research says we can do to make life better but we don’t need to do them every day:

1) Create new good habits, kill bad habits:

Changing your environment is the easiest and most powerful way to change your behavior. Altering the things in your home and your office and carefully picking the people you spend time with will bring you greater and more effortless results than anything else. Manipulate your environment so as to make what you should do easy and what you shouldn’t do hard.

More here.

Here is everything you need to know about setting goals. Doing this can improve your life. Goal setting is one of the four techniques the military used to increase Navy SEAL passing rates. Studies have also shown it makes you happier. Initially, the research says, aim high. Set ambitious goals. (But later on down the road don’t be afraid to settle to be happy.)

Networking is vital to staying employed, salary growth and job satisfaction. Employees with larger networks perform better. (Networking has even been shown to be vital for drug dealers.) You’re likely to find out about your next job through people you know but aren’t very close to so expanding your pool of “weak ties” increases opportunities. Reconnecting with old friends on Facebook and Linked In is a good first step. Harvard Business Review has what may be the best networking technique out there.

What simple thing kills many relationships? A lack of excitement.

The research points again and again to how important thrills are:

Think a pleasant evening is all it takes? Researchers did a 10 week study comparing couples that engaged in “pleasant” activities vs “exciting” activities. Pleasant lost.

Why would doing anything exciting have such a big effect on a relationship? Because we’re lousy about realizing where our feelings are coming from. Excitement from any source will be associated with the person you’re with, even if they’re not the cause of it.

9 minutes in to his famous Stanford commencement speech Steve Jobs discusses the importance he placed on thinking about death during his life:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”

Writing has been shown to help people:

It’s the best way to say thank you to someone who deserves it and it’ll dramatically increase your happiness as well.

There are many easy ways to do this. Talk to yourself. Lean back instead of leaning forward. Have more sex. Watch comedy. Spend more time with friends. Be compassionate. Take fish oil. Stand up straight. Meditate. Garden. Chew gum. Smell vanilla. Nap. Eat salt. Spend time in nature.

Going on vacation does improve our happiness in the long run. Our work performance is improved for up to a month afterward. Traveling can make you more creative. These countries are the friendliest. You can trust the people most in these US states. And the people in these states are the happiest. And if you’re looking for something wild and crazy: These countries drink the most. These countries and these states are the most promiscuous. Research has some ways you can improve your next vacation and make it even happier.

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