Self-esteem can get knocked around by many things – perhaps a disappointment or two, some nasty comments, or a large dose of bad thoughts about our “flaws” and “failures”. Stop the negativity. Replace it with positive thoughts, beliefs and actions. Follow these 20 ideas to help feel super soon.

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Have you ever looked through the huge number of books, websites and courses telling us how to succeed? It can be daunting. Which ones are interesting? Which ones are the best? Who can we trust?

And what if we lack the time or energy for reading books… or going on courses? That’s when a short and easy to follow success guide comes in handy.

I’ve created a success guide called GPS HERO. A GPS is like a hero as it directs us to our destinations — our goals. Or, put another way, a GPS will guide us towards our goals, and when we achieve our goals, we can become heroes.

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Best-selling author Andrew Matthews wrote in his book Happiness in Hard Times that: “The motivation behind everything you do – and the motivation behind everything everybody does – is to feel better. Don’t take my word for it. Ask the psychologists or read Plato, Aristotle and Sigmund Freud… There is broad agreement about why we do what we do – we want to be happy and stay happy.”

The late famous French physicist and inventor Blaise Pascal had a similar point-of-view. He said that: “All men seek happiness… Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end… This is the motive of every action of every man…”

I believe that happiness is a powerful motive, and it’s probably the most common. But there can be others. Fear, habit and survival are three of them.

Choose care, kindness and respect as our key motives. They’ll help ensure that our health and happiness soar.

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Best-selling author Denis Waitley said: “Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence.” Another word for drive is motivation. Long-lasting motivation can be hard to maintain. Problems, boredom and lack of energy… can strike all of us. Gaining structure in our lives, and having regular routines and good work habits, are just three of many ways to boost motivation — that inner drive that makes us feel alive!

When your get-up-and-go has got up and gone, as the saying goes, get it back using the tips below.

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The saying “Fast, efficient service with a smile” sums-up what customers want. But how often do we get excellent customer service?

Good customer service people care about their customers. They treat them well, and they make their customers feel happy. And happy customers mean a higher chance of return business, less chance of customer complaints, better customer relationships, and more.

Avoid being the Basil Fawlty of customer service by using the tips below.

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Last blog post I discussed my thoughts on four truths and myths about happiness. Here are my opinions on four more.

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I believe that many truths and myths about happiness are not simply true or false – black or white – there are shades of grey. They can, at times, be true or false, depending on the circumstances, the individual and other factors.

Here are my thoughts on four truths and myths about happiness.

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There are many roads to happiness – simple and complex, short and long, fleeting and longer lasting. We can use happiness formulas, try different ways of life, or start new habits.

Allan K. Chalmers said: “The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”

Howard C. Cutler wrote that: “…Determination, effort and time. These are the real secrets to happiness.”

I say that purpose, positivity and passion are three pathways to extra happiness.

Read my list below for more positive power paths to happiness, all centered around the theme of the letter P. Why P? Why not?!

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Think about the best colleagues you’ve ever worked with, the best team mates you’ve ever trained with, maybe a top team captain you admire. What do you like most about these people? Kind, hard-working, and good at bringing out the best in their team mates, might come to mind.

The best team members are admired for their good character traits – traits above and beyond their sporting or musical… ability/intelligence and hard work – qualities such as caring, generous and inspiring.

Likable, successful and hard-working team players have many advantages over their less successful/less admired team mates. High quality team members tend to be more likely to be selected for teams, and to receive promotions. Great team players also increase their chances of having good reputations, and being happily employed in jobs that they like.

Teams are in all areas of our community — in workplaces, sports clubs and music clubs, through to volunteer groups and neighborhood watch teams. A husband and wife working on a task together towards a common goal are also a team.

Whatever teams we’re in, read the ideas below to help become the best team players we can be.

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When in tough times, knowing that others have also gone through difficult experiences and found happiness can give us hope that life can improve — “If they can be happy, I can too.” Below are the true stories of four of the most extraordinary survivors of hard times that I have ever come across. These people came through their difficult experiences aiming to put their troubles behind them and create bright futures for themselves. They all emerged triumphant over immense pain, loss and suffering. Their amazing resilience, inner strength and positive spirits make them role models for all of us.

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Relationships are, in ways, like our careers. Let our careers drift along as if they are going to work out OK, without putting in enough time and effort, and we’ll most likely not succeed. Allow our relationships to simply drift along, and they too, in time, will most likely fail. We must do what it takes to make our relationships a success.

“All you need is love” is a catchy line in a hit song. But in real-life, thinking that love is enough to keep a relationship alive and happy long-term, is simplistic and unrealistic. Ideally partners want to feel happy, loved, wanted, needed, special, appreciated, cared about, confident and worthwhile.

Below is a list of dos and don’ts that I’ve compiled to help us have happy, loving and long-lasting relationships. Does it seem a bit daunting? Just applying a few relevant tips might boost the happiness of a relationship. But I say the more the merrier. Think it’s all too much work? Romantic relationships are very important to many people, so surely it’s worth investing the necessary time and effort into these relationships so that they are happy. Let’s start the list:

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When I’m alone and I start to feel stressed, angry or upset about something, to improve my mood I often close my eyes and slow down my breathing. I then imagine positive thoughts and think uplifting words. Soon the negative emotions pass, and I feel better.

The thoughts I imagine to boost my mood are types of visualization exercises – techniques using the imagination that can help us succeed, heal and feel happier. Below are two quick, easy and effective visualization exercises that I often use to chill-out and cheer up. Give them a go, they might also work for you.

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Author Joseph Murphy wrote in his best-selling book The Power of Your Subconscious Mind that: “Success means successful living. A long period of peace, joy, and happiness… may be termed success…. There is no true success without peace of mind.” I agree with him.

Some believe financial wealth equals success. People can have plenty of money, but still be unhappy, worried and fearful, so how successful are they really?

Financial wealth is just one aspect of success, and wealth isn’t necessarily essential to be successful. It is possible to have a modest amount of money, yet be happy, healthy, and succeeding in life and relationships. We can be a success at work, parenting, being a friend and team mate… We might be successful in some areas of our lives, but other areas need a boost.
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Like regular use of dental floss is vital to remove the bits of food that rot our teeth, regular removal of negative thoughts, that can “rot” our minds and lives, is also essential. I call getting rid of this negativity “mental floss”.

Last year I saw an eight-week course advertised called Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. The course outline said that the psychologist running the course (let’s call her Jane) would discuss ways to change our thoughts to become happier, and live a better life. I thought, “Great, I’ll learn more ideas about how to mental floss”, so I joined the course.

One night Jane led a class exercise to show us that everything we feel in life can be traced back to what we think. Her exercise made a lot of sense, but I thought, “This is a psychologist’s perspective. What would other health professionals say?”

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An extraordinary dog called Faith is touching hearts and bringing hope to millions of people across the world. Born in the US around Christmas 2002 with only three legs, Faith was rejected by her mother. Seventeen-year-old Reuben Stringfellow found Faith when she was a couple of weeks old and close to death. Reuben rescued her, bringing her home to live with his family.

Faith was taken to a vet, who recommended that Faith be put to sleep. The vet said that because Faith had only two well formed legs and couldn’t walk, she would rub a hole in her chest when she dragged herself along the ground.

But the Stringfellows had other ideas. They decided to train Faith to walk by herself. The entire family took it in shifts to look after their puppy around the clock. After much love, time, and perseverance, in March 2003 Faith took her first steps, which many vets said was a miracle. She’s one of only a few dogs in the world known to be able to walk solely on two back legs, and lead a happy and healthy life.

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Did you know that happy people tend to be more healthy, successful, confident and creative than unhappy people? And these are just a few of the many reasons happiness is important for good quality of life.

I’ve tracked-down experts’ opinions on why happiness matters. Here are three of the best that I’ve found.

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Inspiring, uplifting, amazing, outstanding. These are just some of the many positive words I could use to gush about Andrew Matthews’s book Being Happy! As one of the first self-help books on happiness that I read about 20 years ago, it’s now become one of my favorite and most cherished.

First published in September 1988, this international bestseller has been reprinted over 50 times. According to Andrew’s online biography, Being Happy! has been translated into eight languages and has sold over one million copies. It’s easy to see why. Andrew’s clarity and wisdom, plus the joyful feeling exuding from every page, is obvious from the start, and his concepts are as relevant today as they were 22 years ago — Andrew’s ideas are timeless.

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Being in control of our self-talk is vital for our health and happiness. What we think affects how we feel and behave, and, in time, our mental and physical health. Knowing how to stop negative thoughts and think more positively has many rewards. As the self-improvement author Remez Sasson said: “Positive thinking evokes more energy, more initiative and more happiness.”

What are some ways to switch over to positive thinking? Try these easy techniques.

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Writer John Hay said, “Friends are the sunshine of life.” How right he was. Friends add love, light and happiness to our lives. Dr George Vaillant, the chief investigator of the world’s longest study into what makes us have happy and satisfying lives, found being able to have good relationships is a key ingredient for happiness. What are some ways to boost happiness in our relationships and friendships? Here are 20 ideas.

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Need a quick bit of inspiration to help boost your spirits? A happiness quote or two might be just what you need. I have read through hundreds of happiness quotes, picked the ones that I think are best, then organized them into themes so you can easily find something that connects with you. Enjoy.

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For many people, losing weight, and keeping it off, can be two of the hardest things to do in life. Being happy and motivated during weight loss, and not losing focus, can be especially tough. Here are some ideas to help us be happy and motivated while losing weight.

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Without a doubt, feeling successful at something in life is important for many people’s happiness. Success means different things to different people. Some might think it’s being rich; others might say it’s being the best at our job, or feeling like we do a good job at whatever we do.

One of the best definitions of success that I’ve read is by American physician and author George Sheehan. He said: “Success means having the courage, the determination and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”

No matter what we are doing, or believe we should be doing, there are ways that can help us become and stay successful. Here are my tips for long-lasting success.
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If I said, “In 20 words or less, what do most people ultimately want in life?”, what would you say? Maybe “happy” would be in there somewhere? Or “rich”? Or “famous”? There are, obviously, an infinite number of ways we could respond. If I was asked this question I would say, “Most of us probably want to be loved, wanted, needed, happy, healthy, wealthy, successful, safe and secure.”

For many of us, having a happy, long-lasting relationship – whether it’s a marriage, defacto or another type – is one of the greatest joys and desires in life. We all know that this doesn’t come about simply through luck. Like any achievement, there are things that can help and things that can hinder the success of a relationship.

Keeping the love and happiness alive in a relationship takes time, energy and love itself. Having been in some long relationships, here are my top 10 ideas to help keep the joy and love alive.
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Are people happy because they have “happy genes” or do they do things that unhappy people don’t do? You might have heard the results of recent research into genes and happiness that claims that there is a connection between our genes and our level of happiness, but just because we might not have the “happy genes” doesn’t mean we are doomed to be unhappy our entire life. There are lots of things we can do, ways we can think and attitudes we can develop to boost our happiness.

Here are 30 habits and qualities of extra happy people.
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I have a confession – I used to suffer from clutteritis. You might be familiar with it – it’s hoarding things that are not liked, needed and used. Up until recently I suffered from this condition, but thankfully I’m free of it now.

So what cured me? I bought the book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by space clearing workshop leader Karen Kingston. After reading it I hoarded no more, and the results were just like the book said, “Clearing clutter can…transform your life.”
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You’re in a hurry and you want to quickly improve your mood. What can you do? You don’t want to spend much money, and you don’t have much time. Try one or more of the ideas in the list below to feel happier.

If you have any ways to quickly boost happiness, post a comment. If they can make us happy, they’ll be added to the list.
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There is a Chinese proverb that says: “Whoever loves and understands a garden will find contentment within.” Now I often visit the zoo, which is set in beautiful gardens. While I’m there I can see that we can learn a lot about happiness from observing nature.

What are some tips we can learn? Here are my top 10.

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