Blog – 3 Simple Things To Do Today To Be Happier

With the Yellow Tux philosophy, I talk a lot about how to stand out every day. One of the best ways to stand out and be happier is with gratitude. To decrease daily frustrations and overall stress, we need to be able to change our mindset. Embracing gratitude is the easiest way.

So here are three easy ways to have a full day of gratitude from start to finish.

1.) Start the Day with a Thank You Letter

Most people start their day being influenced by something or someone else. Whether it’s the news, your email or your Facebook feed, you are getting hit with information. And often it’s not positive. It’s proven (Shawn Achor’s Happiness Advantage) that just five minutes of the news in the morning will make you unhappier by the end of the day. So be disciplined and control your morning.

By writing a thank you letter, you put yourself in a positive mindset. Most importantly, you start the day feeling appreciative.

2.) Red Light Drill

This is something I started doing this past year as I noticed my mindset changing as I hit red lights. I’ve always hated red lights and usually get frustrated and annoyed when I hit one. I’m not alone, as no one likes red lights. As the world speeds up, we never want anything to slow us down.  However, one day I decided to stop being frustrated at the light but be appreciative instead. I now don’t reach for my phone to fill the time. I think about something I’m happy about today. It can be work related, family related or even as simple as dinner that night. I even think about people to whom I want to send a thank you letter.

I’ve noticed I hit a lot of red lights in a day so this gives me many opportunities to be appreciative.

I’m not saying I love red lights now, but I’ve learned to appreciate them. And this makes me a lot happier during the day.

3.) Rose, Rose, Thorn, Bud.

I first heard about this from Neil Pasricha, the author of Happiness Equation. He and his wife do this every night before they go to sleep. The roses stand for things that happened during the day that were great. The thorn is something frustrating that happened during the day. And the bud is something that you are looking forward to. My wife and I have started doing this before we go to sleep and it’s been wonderful. We actually changed it and got rid of the thorn. We don’t even like to go there and bring up negativity before bed.

But what better way to go to bed the talking about the great things about your day and the things ahead that you are excited about.

By starting your day with gratitude, interrupting it with gratitude and finishing it with more gratitude, it’s impossible to not be happier.

This is my bud to you.