The secret to true happiness is to remember that true happiness originates not from outside of yourself, but from within.

Thinking of a career frightens me. I am kind of ironic. I love hard work. Producing worth while things is a passion of mine. I love helping people. I love to focus on something for long and intense periods of time.

I am also a huge scardy cat when it comes to committing to something for a long period of time. A career? That is a big commitment. I worry that a career is a hole that I will fall into and not ever to be able to get out of. I’m afraid that it will rule my life forever, that I won’t be able to change a thing.

Good news! If all those things happened to me it would be my fault not the careers. A career isn’t a gaping chasm that is waiting for people to devour. Career is something that we as people develop and use to advance ourselves and what we do in this life. Okay I am getting a bit tender hearted now. This post is actually mostly for me, not for all of you who have moved into this gladly and are telling me to stop crying.

So really a career is good for us. It is a path we can use to develop ourselves and to help others.

Helping others is really important actually. That is something that we improve ourselves by doing in exponential ways rather than just step wise. I am dang glad that I am helping people at least a little bit in my little career as a scientist. With time if I am lucky I can become a Mad Scientist!

So here are some thoughts on making the most of a career.

• Don’t think of it as “this job” only. We are likely to have more than one job. We are likely to have already had more than one job. So consider how your jobs have shaped you in the past. Were they good for you? What did you learn? What is this job going to teach you? How are you going to use this job to further develop yourself and your career?

• Think of your entire career as a process of self development. Your career can be a lot more than just a job or series of jobs. It can be something that transforms you into your ultimate self. So think, is it just a job or is it the next step towards your ideal self?

• Your career is a huge symphony, or piece of art. What do you want it to be or say when you’re all done? What is your passion? Are you working toward improving the world? You don’t have to do a huge thing. Just think about how you can make a difference and where you can make a difference. Then can be part of career, to gradually make that happen.

• In what ways are you going to improve the lives others? You can do that in any job. Offer great service if you’re in that realm. Develop something more than just a widget for people to buy. Make that widget in a way that makes people lives better. Maybe your career will be all about empowering others to accomplishments they wouldn’t have been privileged to without it.

• Always be honest, fair, and devoted. It’s okay to work smarter and harder than anyone else, to totally outdo the competition. We live in a competitive world to say the least! But whatever you do in your career do it honestly, and put your work in where it is due. If you do this you will be able to sleep good at night and know that your career will be one that you can always be proud of for the right reasons.

• If you can do all the above then the desirable things will definitely come to you in the process of time. You will get the paychecks you need to survive. You can do what you really want to. You career will be something you come to truly love, and it will inspire others because you did these things, not because they are in love with your profession. They will be inspired by you the person that made it all happen.

So today I am bit less apprehensive about a career. I think I have come to grips with the fears I have with a career. I am not giving up my freedom, but am actually developing it and giving it wings by working towards bigger and better things.

What are you doing with yourself today?

The right choices are The Key to a Great Day. The key is choosing how you will act and react to what comes your way. This is a follow up to the post Bad Day or Bad Choices?. I talk there about making choices as the person you want to be rather than making choices like the person you don’t want to be.

This video talks about the key to a great day, our opportunity to choose how we act and react in any situation.

I got to thinking about having a bad day. Our choices are key but there are factors other than our own choices that can influence our day. I thought I had blown it the idea of making the decisions the person you want to be would make for a great day. Then I realized it really works, especially with a few follow up ideas.

There are three sources of influence in our lives. These are the basic things that can influence us and how our days and lives go.

1. Events and situations that occur in the natural world. Things like the weather, and natural disasters (like Chile, and Haiti have dealt with).
2. The choices and actions of others. Other people will make choices that influence us and we have no control over.
3. Our own choices and action. We have a lot of choice as to how things go in our lives.

So of all three of those influences, our own choices I believe is still the most powerful. The first two can change the focus and environment of our lives, but only we can decide how we will react and act in our daily lives. Good, bad, and ugly things will come our way. We still have the choice to react how we want too.

In any situation, good or bad, we have the opportunity to react and choose to act like the person we want to be.

What type of person do you want to be? How will you react and act to be like that?

So I got to thinking about myself and why I write over here at Unusual Living. I started writing the ideas down and then when I was done I saw I had just written an about me page. So check it out here on the about me page.

I really feel like this site and what I talk about is a big part of who I am as a person. I love other things I do, but this stuff makes up a majority of the person that I am. I think a lot of you would agree as well. Many of us have jobs and things that we do lots of the time, but the family life and our everyday activities in this area make up who we are for the most part. Thanks for reading, I am excited to really be here and diving into these subjects!

Photo from Flickr by TheGiantVermin

Have you had a bad day recently? Yesterday my wife had a rough day to say the least. She felt lousy at the end of the day. I really felt for her, our kids were crazy, her husband had to work late, and nothing got done.

After our kids were finally asleep we had a chance to talk and eventually we got to the topic of the bad day. I asked her “What was the worst part?”

Her answer amazed me. “I just wasn’t the person I wanted to be today.”

Wow. Look at your most recent bad or frustrating day. Could that be the primary cause of a really bad day? The fact that you didn’t act like the person you really want to be?

This was an insightful thing for me to hear. For me my days are frustrating 99% of the time because of this.

How to overcome our weaker selves?

Make a list of the things that the person you want to be will do on a regular basis and in tough situations, especially on these bad days. Keep it close and convenient so you can be reminded frequently of what the person is like and what you need to be doing to be that person.

When things are getting rough, look at that list and see what you need to be doing instead of what you are doing.

Are you still checking your email despite the fact that your overwhelmed with not enough time to do that report or task? Act on what needs to be done now!

Children acting up and your on the verge of yelling even though you know they need a hug and 30 seconds of attention? Hand out love instead of frustration!

Worried about things in life you feel you have no control over even though you haven’t tried to change the parts of the situation that you can influence? Take small steps to influence the things you do have control over in life and huge changes will come. The changes you dream about! Good things will come to you as you build your funnel of good choices, relationships, habits, thought processes and actions over time.

Today, be the person you want to be, instead of having a “bad day” as the person you don’t want to be.

What are your best actions to change a bad day to a good one?

Are you truly committed?

Have you given all your Might, Mind, and Strength?

•    Might – Will power, and all you self control
•    Mind – All your mental abilities
•    Strength – All your physical power

When you have committed and give all of the above, you are truly committed.

Ants are truly committed to their cause, regardless of how small it may seem to anyone else. They fully commit to it for their entire existence! They put their entire might, mind, and strength into what they do.

Are we as committed?

What are you truly committed to? Are you really? Now is the time to show it.

Have you ever wondered what the secret was to living to 100 years old? How about to 110? I just finished a book called the “Blue Zones” that looks at those very questions.

“Blue Zones” author Dan Buettner looks at all the places in the world where people are more likely to live 100 years and longer. Looking closely at different lifestyle habits, locations, and several other factors he is able to nail down a few things that people are doing to consistently live longer than 100 years.

These are what he points out:

• Family – Family is put ahead of other concerns.
• No Smoking – Centenarians do not typically smoke.
• Plant-based diet – The majority of food consumed is derived from plants.
• Constant moderate physical activity – Moderate physical activity is an inseparable part of life.
• Social engagement – People of all ages are socially active and integrated into their communities.
• Legumes – Legumes are commonly consumed.

The ven diagram shows attributes of people living longer than 100 years from different areas and things that were common.

Interesting that simple things make such a big difference in an individuals longevity. Some of these are obvious health enhancers, like no smoking, but others like eating legumes I would never have guessed.

I have to comment that my family is one of my best sources of health and inspiration. I also believe that in time they will prove a source of longevity as well (I am still young, and my family younger so I can’t claim that just yet!).

Blue Zones is worth a read, it definitely opened my eyes to several things that I can do to live better!

What ideas do you have on living longer?

So you know what is interesting about today? It is 44 days until Thanksgiving Day. That day can mark a lot of things for different people. For me it marks basically the end of the year.

What? Time flies after Thanksgiving Day like the scenery you see riding a roller coaster, and opportunities to finish off projects and meet goals before the end of the year go from poor to nonexistent.

The rest of this year is going to go by fast, like sand slipping through our fingers!

So for the next 44 days I am going to focus intently on accomplishing a few things that are really important to me.

Here are the things on my list…

• Become more physically fit and establish healthy habits (according to the doctor I am perfectly healthy, but I still don’t feel healthy).
• Get the ideas stuck in my head out and into this blog.
• Making big improvements to my photography website.
• Get rid of clutter that is mucking up my life.

For me these are big things, and when I accomplish them in the next 44 days I will be making changes that point me the direction that I want to be going.

To do this I am going to dedicate myself to these things morning, noon, and night. I will wake up early, skip lunch breaks, work late, and sacrifice the time wasters to make the changes I want in my life.

Today is Day 1 of no longer just dreaming, wishing and hoping. I am working to build my goals and dreams into a reality!

In 44 days I can and will  develop better habits that help me be the person I envision myself as. I think you should do this with me. Take the next 44 days to improve yourself in at least one way.

What can you accomplish in the next 44 days? What are you willing to do to make it happen?

Follow my day by day updates on this 44 day self improvement project on twitter!

Do you ever feel bad being selfish? Taking time for you? Working to improve yourself instead of helping others?

First off it is extremely important to support your family, help others, and to help build your community. However, if you don’t focus on supporting and improving yourself then your ability to help others will likely decrease.

As an example, take parents. If they put all their energy into their kids, at the cost of themselves, then they will become worthless to them!

Take time for yourself. Rest. Relax. Exercise. Improve your ability to do something. Learn something new.

You will become a much better person for those you interact with and desire to help. I felt really bad for all the suffering my family had to go through as I got my master’s degree. In the end though I became a better person to have around, can support them better financially, and can now spend more time with them. For them the sacrifice has brought greater opportunities than I have received.

So take time today to make yourself a better person and start being able to really help those around you!

What do you do to improve yourself as an individual for the benefit of others around you?

Do you suffer from doubt, discouragement, distraction, lack of diligence, or disobedience?

Those five  D’s are a huge mouthful but if you suffer from one or more of them you have significant obstacles in your way.

Do you doubt? For myself this may be my biggest obstacle to overcome. Like most mortals I doubt myself and worse my goals.

Where does your doubt come from? It is usually from inside myself that doubt emerges. I am usually to headstrong to care about other peoples doubt. Look inward and determine what the source of your doubt is and determine the steps you are going to take to overcome it.

Do you get discouraged easily? Doubt leads to discouragement, but remember you are worth while, and your goals are to. Most good things take a lot of hard work. This is why you don’t need to doubt or get discouraged. If your goals were so easy to reach would they be worth it? That would be something perhaps to get discouraged about. Step on that discouragement and move closer to your goals.

Do you get distracted? We can so easily get distracted from what we are trying to accomplish. I personally get sucked in by things that have worth but aren’t worthy of the time I spend on them at the cost of the time I have for my much greater priorities. Don’t let yourself get pulled away from the important things you have to be doing.

Do you suffer from a lack of diligence? Do your goals or your cause suffer because sometimes your not as diligent as you need to be? Does it take forever to get anything accomplished? Focus on your destination and diligently focus all your efforts on reaching it. You will be surprised how quickly you can accomplish something when you focus on one thing at a time.

Are you suffering from disobedience? Are you obedient to your cause and self? I believe we each need our own cause, declaration of war, set purpose, or whatever you want to call it in life. Are you obedient to it? Do you do what you know you must to make your cause a success? Or are you disobedient? When your disobedient to your cause you are being disloyal to yourself. Stop disobedience now and support yourself by being true to what you believe in!

Stop yourself now if your suffering from any of these D’s, and redirect your efforts to eliminate them from your life. These things will destroy you as person if you don’t overcome them, but when you do overcome them you will be able to reach the success you desire and deserve!

What inhibits your progress the most? How do you overcome these in your own lives and daily actions? Whats your Silver Bullet to Success?