Let us explore the habits and lifestyle of happy entrepreneurs to understand how you can become one.  (I have written these tips with entrepreneurs in mind but these can help most of  us to be happy and effective.)

Simplicity & Productivity

1. They single task.
2. They do meetings on specific days and not every day.
3. They do spring cleaning so they have less clutter in life and work.
4. They have a start and end time for a meeting and for their work day.
5. They do not work seven days a week.
6. They are more of 4×4 people.
7. They believe in being transparent.
8. They delegate.
9. They monitor and suggest; but do not micro-manage. For them making mistake is acceptable.
10. They think on paper.

Happiness & Energy

1. They eat right.
2. They exercise.
3. They take daily breaks.
4. They take time to nourish body, mind and soul.
5. For them happiness comes from seeing others happy – clients, family, and friends.
6. For them being happy means keeping their actions aligned with their soul.
7. They sleep with a feeling of having contributed to the happiness or growth of the world.
8. They are always game for fun and look for ways to be happy.
9. They take time to be with friends.
10. They have a happiness ritual – like singing, mimicry, pottery, long walks or exercise.

Self, Reality & Openness

1. They take time to know themselves.
2. Work for them is not something to fill a void in life.
3. They stay in touch with their feelings.
4. For them human touch is important.
5. For them social media is just an extension of their personality and everyday life.
6. They experiment – like a day when they observe silence or when they watch 3 movies in a row.
7. They accept that life has ups and downs.
8. They are open to new ideas and people.
9. They are open to seek help and advice.
10. They are not ashamed of accepting that they made a mistake.

Money, Growth and Success

1. They know the basic – earn more, spend less.
2. They are old world. They use old till it is working and serving the purpose.
3. They are not penny wise and pound foolish.
4. The respect and love money and do not think it is evil.
5. They understand that money is a mean to many goals.
6. They also understand that money is not above relationships.
7. They are in it for the long haul.
8. They believe in giving.
9. They go out to places where they have never been before to gain new perspective.
10. They are not scared of doing the new – trying out new things.

Habits, Character & Communication

1. They do not pull a short one on people.
2. They do not make too many promises.
3. They keep the ones they make.
4. They do not talk about people, they talk about ideas.
5. They know it is human to err but do not use it – as an excuse to commit a mistake.
6. They stand for their word.
7. They try to get into the shoes of other person.
8. They trust people.
9. They are assertive.
10. They do not say yes to everything that comes across.

To our happiness and growth. What do you do to stay happy and calm while your pursue success?

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Why can’t individuals do the same and improve? This case has been made earlier also. The idea now is to bring some structure to it. For some people a structured life is boring. But in places where you need to implement a plan it works wonders. Once you have established the basics you can let loose and go with the flow – coming back to check once in a while.

What I am suggesting is a daily, weekly, and monthly review. Annual review is also very important but calls for a separate article. Here we’ll just discuss daily, weekly and monthly reviews.

Many of us – get down to assessing our growth in mind once or twice a year – mostly at the times of major turning points in life – around job loss or marriage etc.

But if you commit yourself to doing regular daily, weekly and monthly reviews it will make a world of difference. You got to give it a try to experience the benefits. First do it for 30 days and later you can add month on month.

All right, now you have committed yourself to regular personal review. This is how you can actually do it.

First you need to set different parameters to base your growth on.

For daily review the parameters can be;

• Working on an important task every single day
• Helping those in need – knowledge, money
• Giving a gift to people you meet – smile is the best gift
• Avoid distraction (like endless emails and web surfing)
• Earning more than spending every day (monthly earnings can be averaged out to daily)
• Writing everyday

For daily review you can set aside 10 minutes every day. At the end of the day ask yourself did the day passed peacefully and as you wanted. Did you do something during the day from among your chosen parameters? Did you do all or some? What was ok, what was good, and what could have been done better? Finally before ending your work day just plan your first important activity for next day. It can be going for a morning walk with family. Write what is important for you.

Weekly review (30 minutes): Here you review you daily success with your chosen parameters and set the course right where any shortfall is experienced. On this day you can also update your chosen parameters.

Use the weekly review to take a broader look at your daily review. How many days you were able to do justice to the parameters. You can also note any new connections made; things like reconnecting with old friends; any new client connections that were made; weekly minimum numbers for exercise finished.

Monthly reviews (60 minutes): You review the impact of daily and weekly reviews on your monthly outcome as seen by yourself. The above listed daily parameters can correspond to monthly outcome in following way. This is just for your understanding.

So get set to get your daily dose of personal reviews. Hopefully this will turn out in a significant success in months and years to come.

Enjoy the journey on the path of life.

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You deserve a life of your dreams and acting often on your positive thoughts, correcting course and more action can take you closer to your dreams.

So what is your dream? A dream job, a dream girl or boy in your life, peace of mind, lots of money, becoming a published author or a successful entrepreneur. All this is possible when you take action.

Most of us in this world have a dream – big or small? But I wonder that many people go back to heavens without living their dreams.

When people talk about unfulfilled dreams they talk about destiny and lack of opportunity. But you know it is not true. The world is replete with inspiring success stories of people born in less opportune times than in 21^st century, who made a mark and lived their dreams while they were alive.

The best way to get closer to your dream is to convert your thoughts into action; and the best time to start action is now. Why? Because time is less; you are born with a limited supply of time and it is up to you to spend it wisely. It does not mean your life should only be work and no fun. That is not true. Along with sincere effort, time spent having fun is also a great investment in your own life. By indulging in fun activities, you tend to forget about not so good times and become more focused when you are in action mode.

What stops people from doing it right now? Fear of failure, laziness, procrastination, a haphazard life where a person seem to be occupied all the time with none left to act in the direction of your dreams. Those of you who are exploring ideas to get out this rut should explore – from 24×7 to 4×4.

When you align your life with a “just do it” attitude – good things happen. It applies to most of the areas of life.

• So if you want to write your first book. Write first paragraph today. You can think about the title later.
• Do not wait to tell you parents how much you love them. You want to tell other people in your life how much you appreciate their care and love.  Just do it. Do not know how to say it; write first and say it.
• Wanted to start your venture. Do it now. Moonlight if the need be. Start by booking a domain; it will motivate you further having done something about it.
• Want to get into Harvard or your favorite college; start by exploring their website. Other than browsing do some comparative research. Find out the success stories of people made it through.
• Thinking about telling your life-partner you love them then why wait till weekend – tell today.
• Want to lose some weight, make a plan right now. Sure you tried earlier; but you never know this may be your lucky day. Do not let failures of the past bog your down.
• Want to get into a new job or switch into a totally new career. Start today by making a list of your favorite companies to work with.

Now is the best time. There will be no better time. Just do it.

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You may be a student, a working professional, an entrepreneur or a retired lawyer. Whatever your profession or ‘karma’ (the divine duty) is; the fact remains that every one of us wants to be happy, healthy and successful.

You rush to your workplace in the morning, do a lot of grunt work throughout the day and sometimes work late in the evening trying to meet deadlines. While you are at work you somehow manage a hurried bite.

Day in and day out you follow this routine; to realize one day that you have gone out of shape. Chances are you will be affected by one of that deadly or not so deadly disease, if you follow the same routine for long.

These diseases can be avoided and you can be in state of Perfect Health. It is very simple, simple but not easy. It is not easy because it calls for breaking the moulds of old habits. Further, you will have to be friends with some new habits.

But before I share these habits with you, you should understand what Perfect Health is. Perfect Health means a state where you are free from all diseases physical or mental. When are in a state of Perfect Health, you have fair degree of enthusiasm towards life and ample energy to undertake your day to day tasks.

Now let’s get started on the journey of Perfect Health with 7 “golden” habits:

1. Eat Properly – “You become what you eat”, is an old saying and it is worth its weight in gold. So take a look at what you are eating. Eat properly.  It does not necessarily mean eating rich food. Right food is the one that is prepared with clean ingredients and in hygienic conditions. One must have ingredient is the love of the cook. Home cooked food tends to have all these ingredients – it is made with clean ingredients, in hygienic conditions with lots of love sprinkled (the cook here is mother or wife in most cases).

If you are eating outside you can say following prayer before you start eating.

“I thank you Mother Nature for giving me the best food on the planet, sprinkled with the love of people who made it.  With your blessings, it will give me a clear mind and healthy body.”

This prayer is important because the cooks in restaurants normally serve their duty and chances are they are tired when they are cooking for you. Add to it the meager salaries that are a norm in industry at all levels and you can be almost sure that the food you eat at a restaurant will be lacking the major ingredient of love. The above prayer may pacify that effect to some extent.

After the prayer, relish your food. Chew it properly. Better if you can avoid talking while you eat. Make sure that the restaurant you choose to eat is clean and provide a calm setting. Also remember not to overeat.

2. Take Proper Rest – This is very important if you wish your body and mind to be energetic. You should ensure proper sleep daily for yourself. 7-8 hours is fine. I suggest rising early and there is no denying the benefits; but use your common sense while practicing it. If you slept at 3:00 am then it does not make sense to get up at 5:00 or 6:00 am. The idea is to rise early but not at the cost of adequate sleep. Best strategy is to create a schedule where you can go to bed at a reasonable time (10-12 pm) depending on your situation and practice getting up early every day. A properly rested brain and body will result in increased energy levels, clarity of thoughts and ability to concentrate for longer duration. This will result in better academic performance for students and increased productivity and better results for professionals at work.

3. Exercise Regularly – Proper exercise is of utmost importance if you want to keep a healthy body. The logic is simple – exercise heats the blood, the heated blood is thinner and circulates freely in the body. Freely circulating heated blood creates sweat. This sweat helps eliminate toxins through skin. The best time to exercise is in the morning but you can choose time as per your convenience. Avoid eating a big meal at least 3-4 hours before you start exercising.