The Bottom Line on Happiness

QUOTE from Bill Cosby: "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

INSPIRATION for today: I read an inspiring article in the February, 2011, issue of Reader's Digest written by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen. He titled it THE BOTTOM LINE ON HAPPINESS. It was a real thought-provoking article.

He had five main points that have guided his life. Here they are:

1. USE YOUR RESOURCES WISELY. Your decisions about allocating your personal time, energy, and talent shape your life's strategy. We all have several "businesses" that compete for these resources - your spouse, your kids, your community, your career, and your church. We all have a limited amount of time, energy, and talent. The question is, How much do I devote to each of these pursuits?

2. CREATE A FAMILY CULTURE BEFORE YOUR KIDS ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL. If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and the confidence that they can solve hard problems, those qualities won't magically materialize in high school. You have to design them into your family's culture, and you have to think about this very early on. Like employees, kids build self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works.

3. AVOID "JUST THIS ONCE." The author learned at an early age that it's easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold to them 98 percent of the time. If you give in to "just this once," based on a short term gain , you'll regret where you end up. You've got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.

4. REMEMBER TO BE HUMBLE. Generally you can be humble only if you feel really good about yourself and want to help those around you feel really good about themselves too. When we see people acting in an abusive, arrogant, or demeaning manner toward others, their behavior almost always is a symptom of their lack of self-esteem. They need to put someone else down to feel good about themselves.

5. CHOOSE THE RIGHT YARDSTICK. Don't worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people. Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success.

HUMOR for today: Part 2 of "IN THE BEGINNING."

And GOD created the healthful yogurt that WOMAN might use to keep the figure that MAN found so fair. And SATAN brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane and combined them. And WOMAN went from size 6 to size 14.

Part 3 in my next post.