10 Ways To Live A Happier Life By NOT Being Normal

by Maurice Lindsay

Living a happier life often seems to be related to attaining as many things — money, accolades, titles — as you possibly can, in order to gain status and acceptance in society — according to most (youths and young adults) people.
Which explains why most people aren’t happy.
True happiness comes from within. When you start searching outside of yourself for happiness, you will always be dependent upon whatever that outside source is to make you happy. And when that source is not available or unattainable, you end up sad and depressed.
But this is the route that everyone seems to be taking these days in search for a happier life (especially our youth). No one wants to stand out, be different, and try something else. Everyone wants to be normal, not realizing that normal doesn’t equal happy. Therefore, we have the blind leading the blind down a path of unhappiness and destruction.
Hopefully, this is not you. But if it is — below I have outlined 10 ways to live a happier life by not being normal. Enjoy!

1. Stop trying to fit in with Everybody.

Normal = Do what everybody else is doing. Get hundreds of tattoos, smoke weed, party every weekend, have sex with multiple partners, and follow the standard rather than following your heart.
You will never influence the world or do anything great in it by trying to be just like it. When you neutralize your uniqueness for others, you never end up reaching your highest potential, because your success comes from being you.

2. Embrace your Insecurities.

Normal = Try to hide them by covering them up with arrogance, drugs, promiscuity, crowds of friends, or by taking on a fake persona, and slip further and further away from your true identity.
The things that you’re the most insecure about is what’s blocking you from living your best life. So instead of letting your insecurities hold you back, let them propel you forward, by accepting how God made you and embracing your uniqueness.

3. Live Within Your Means.

Normal = Spend it as fast as you get it, don’t save a dime, ball till you fall, blow your tax money at the mall, buy everything new, give nothing back to the church, make spontaneous financial decisions and end up in debt for life.
Instead of continuously buying things you don’t need with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t even like… how about saving, investing, and buying used rather then brand new, to make sure your future is better than your now.

4. Get Your Mind Right.

Normal = Listen to shoot-em up, bang-bang music all day, watch degrading & drama-infested reality TV every chance you get, hang around with negative minded people day in and day out, and end up with a toxic mind that produces exactly what it sees and hears.
In order to achieve anything in life, your mind has to be programed to succeed. You can’t feed your mind negativity all day long and expect to produce any positive results from that. Your mindset and your thoughts have to be in alignment with your goals. (Proverbs 23:7) “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”

5. Don’t Accept a Mediocre Life.

Normal = Be content in your current circumstances and follow the unfulfilled path that everyone else around you is on, rather than unleashing the burning desire you that you have deep down in your heart to accomplish something greater than what you see before you.
The first step towards getting somewhere is deciding that you are not going to stay where you are. When you decide to be different and tap into the gifts that God gave you, a whole new world of doors will open up for you.

6. Lose the “Me-Me, what’s in it for me?” Attitude.

Normal = Take, take, take, but never give anything back. Everything is always all about you and anytime something doesn’t seem beneficial to you, you are not interested.
No one achieves great success without helping others do the same. You reap what you sow, so if you don’t give back as well as you receive, then you will most definitely lose what you have. A selfish person will always want, but a selfless person will always have.

7. Expose yourself to New Environments.

Normal = Stay in your own little world, have no optimism, hate on other people’s dreams, persuade others to have no goals like you, proud to have never left the neighborhood, never down to try new things or see new places, and lives a boring, unfulfilled, mediocre, boxed-up life.
One of the most powerful things that can ever happen in your life is for you to be exposed to something greater than your environment because you think the way you think on the basis of what you’ve been exposed to. Life begins at the end of your comfort zones. Very few blessings come to those who don’t believe in change.

8. Stop Fronting about Who You Are.

Normal = Always posting pictures on Facebook of you living this dream life when you’re really broke, constantly lying about who you are and what you do to save face, and spending all your money on things that don’t matter so you can keep up with your so called friends… and then be sad at having to continue living this lie that you created because you’re too afraid to just be yourself.
When you put false images of yourself out their to the public, you will always find yourself trapped in circumstances where you’re expected to deliver what’s not even in you — leaving you exposed, humiliated, and embarrassed. There are plenty of obstacles in your path, don’t allow yourself to become one of them. It is better to be hated for who you are then to be loved for who you are not.

9. Let go of your Attachments to Things.

Normal = Spend the majority of your life chasing money, cars, clothes, and a whole bunch of other disposable things in search of fulfillment and ever lasting happiness that always turns out to be temporary.
You can have all the worldly possessions you want, but don’t stake your happiness on them. Anything outside of yourself can be lost, so if you base your happiness on attaining external things, you will always be on the prowl for happiness. Don’t let your search for a happy ending get in the way of living a happy life.

10. Develop a Personal Relationship with God.

Normal = You think you can do it all by yourself, you got it all under control, you don’t need God, you even question if there is a God, but as soon as something tragic takes place, He is always the first name you call on.
Without God, you are nothing, but with God you are everything. If you truly desire to live a happier life, it’s vitally important that you develop a personal relationship with God. No matter how you go about getting to know him — going to church, reading the bible, listening to gospel, watching sermons on youtube, talking with other believers — just make sure you get to know him. For He is the joy for all your sorrows, the one you can always call on, and the unconditional love you’ve always searched for. No God, no peace. Know God, know peace!

Do you have Big Dreams? Follow the Twenty somethings of the world!!!

No Jobs? Young Graduates Make Their Own ... New York Times

By HANNAH SELIGSONFIVE years ago, after graduating from New York University with a film degree and thousands of dollars in student loans, Scott Gerber moved back in with his parents on Staten Island. He then took out more loans to start a new-media and technology company, but he didn’t have a clear market in mind; the company went belly up in 2006.

“It made me feel demoralized and humiliated,” he says. “I wondered if this was really what post-collegiate life was supposed to be like. Did I do something wrong? The answers weren’t apparent to me.”

Still in debt, Mr. Gerber considered his career options. His mother kept encouraging him to get a “real” job, the kind that comes with an office and a boss. But, using the last $700 in his bank account, he decided to start another company instead.

With the new company, called Sizzle It, Mr. Gerber vowed to find a niche, reduce overhead and generally be more frugal. The company, which specializes in short promotional videos, was profitable the first year, he says.

Mr. Gerber, now 27, isn’t a millionaire, but he’s paid off his loans and doesn’t have to live with his parents (he rents an apartment in Hoboken, N.J.). And he thinks his experience can help other young people who face a daunting unemployment rate.

In October, Mr. Gerber started the Young Entrepreneur Council “to create a shift from a résumé-driven society to one where people create their own jobs,” he says. “The jobs are going to come from the entrepreneurial level.”

The council consists of 80-plus business owners across the country, ages 17 to 33. Members include Scott Becker, 23, co-founder of Invite Media, an advertising technology firm recently acquired by a Google unit; Lauren Berger, 26, founder of the Intern Queen, a site that connects college students with internships; Aaron Patzer, the 30-year-old who sold Mint.com to Intuit for $170 million; and Josh Weinstein, 24, who started CollegeOnly.com, a social networking site that is backed by a PayPal founder.

The council, which has applied for nonprofit status, serves as a help desk and mentoring hotline for individual entrepreneurs. People can also submit questions on subjects like marketing, publicity and technology, and each month a group of council members will answer 30 to 40 of them in business publications like The Wall Street Journal and American Express Open Forum, and on dozens of small business Web sites.

Council members assert that young people can start businesses even if they have little or no money or experience. But whether those start-ups last is another matter. Roughly half of all new businesses fail within the first five years, according to federal data. And the entrepreneurial life is notoriously filled with risks, stresses and sacrifices.

But then again, unemployment is 9.8 percent; Mr. Gerber’s in-box is flooded with e-mails from young people who have sent out hundreds of résumés for corporate jobs and come up empty. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, only 24.4 percent of 2010 graduates who applied for a job had one waiting for them after graduation (up from 19.7 percent in 2009). What do some people have to lose?

THE lesson may be that entrepreneurship can be a viable career path, not a renegade choice — especially since the promise of “Go to college, get good grades and then get a job,” isn’t working the way it once did. The new reality has forced a whole generation to redefine what a stable job is.
“I’ve seen all these people go to Wall Street, and those were supposed to be the good jobs. Now they are out of work,” says Windsor Hanger, 22, who turned down a marketing position at Bloomingdale’s to work on HerCampus.com, an online magazine. “It’s not a pure dichotomy anymore that entrepreneurship is risky and other jobs are safe, so why not do what I love?”

Mr. Gerber argues that the tools to become an entrepreneur are more accessible than they’ve ever been. Thanks to the Internet, there are fewer upfront costs. A business owner can build a Web site, host conference calls, create slide presentations online through a browser, and host live meetings and Web seminars — all on a shoestring.

Can’t afford a Madison Avenue address? Try borrowing one instead. That is what Mr. Gerber did, for $300 a year, from ManhattanVirtualOffice.com, which forwards mail from a recognizable address. He says it saved him $100,000 in rent and gave Sizzle It the credibility it needed to start attracting clients that now include Procter & Gamble and the Gap. He does most of his actual work at home and in coffee shops and shared work spaces.

“If this were the 1980s, I’d need a corner office,” says Shama Kabani, 25, a Y.E.C. member and founder of Marketing Zen, a digital marketing firm in Dallas, with yearly revenue in the seven figures. “All you need today is a laptop, patience and willingness,” she says. Ms. Kabani hired all of her 24 employees virtually; 15 are in the Philippines. “I’ve never met any of them,” she says.
Open-source software can reduce or eliminate the need for consultants and tech support. When Annie Wang, 21, co-founder of HerCampus.com, wanted the articles on the site to rotate in a slide show, she didn’t hire a Web designer. She found a free online resource and spent a day teaching herself how to create the slide show.

Being a young entrepreneur means coming up with creative ways to fill your knowledge gaps, says Eric Bahn, 29, a council member and founder of BeatTheGMAT.com, an M.B.A. applicant community that generates close to seven figures in revenue. Mr. Bahn, who does not have a technical background, found a free resource on the Web and taught himself HTML to build his site.

Most of the business owners who belong to the council did not need much physical space to start their companies. For the person who wants to start a restaurant, a bakery, an exercise studio — or any other business that requires renting or owning property — the barriers and expenses are still high. Mr. Gerber warns that anyone starting a brick-and-mortar business still faces the same cost barriers they always have — including high rent. He advises young people to start a business that does not require expensive space.

BUT start-ups do need some financing. So Mr. Gerber is also starting the Gen Y Fund, from which young entrepreneurs can seek funding. Council members will have the option of investing in the fund starting next year.

Could it be that the council and separate fund are mainly a way for Mr. Gerber to identify new investing opportunities? He emphatically says no, adding that helping young people succeed as entrepreneurs through the council is his passion.

As far as the fund is concerned, “We are looking to spearhead a major shift in how resources are allocated to our generation, because no one from above is going to do it,” he says.

The goal of the fund is not to find the next Facebook or sexy Web start-up, Mr. Gerber says; instead, it will look for practicable and marketable business ideas. In fact, a favorite phrase of his is “boring is better.” He’ll be looking for businesses that are incubated outside of Silicon Valley.

The council and fund do add visibility to Mr. Gerber’s entrepreneurial empire. In addition to running Sizzle It, Mr. Gerber writes a widely syndicated column for young entrepreneurs, and he recently published a book called “Never Get a ‘Real’ Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business, and Not Go Broke.” He also runs Gerber Enterprises, his personal investing fund, and is an investor in a restaurant group.

Mr. Gerber has never taken a business or economics class; he says he took a lot of people out to lunch to learn about the nuts and bolts of the business world. “I didn’t go to my third-tier upper-management boss,” he says. “I e-mailed people in my circle and figured who knew what I needed to know.”

Lack of experience can actually be an asset to young business owners. When Ms. Kabani first started
Marketing Zen, she tried to hide her age through a combination of wardrobe choices and trying to sound “older.” “I thought I was fooling all these people, but then one of my clients told me he hired me because I was 23. He wanted someone who spoke digital as a first language, not a second. It was a mind-blowing moment for me.”

Ms. Hanger, co-founder of HerCampus.com along with Ms. Wang and Stephanie Kaplan, 22, says being young helps attract advertisers like New Balance and Juicy Couture to the site. “They like that I am my readership. I was in college six months ago,” she says. The site recently started turning a profit.

MANY of the council members aren’t bankrolled by their parents. Only a third of them received outside funding to start their businesses. In fact, Mr. Gerber’s message to young entrepreneurs is “No one will give you money” and “Start on a shoestring budget,” something many of them did.
For many of these entrepreneurs, success didn’t happen overnight. Mr. Bahn started

BeatTheGMAT.com in 2005 as a blog that developed a following over the course of a few years. It was three years before he quit his day job in a general management program at Intuit to work on the site full time.

Even if these 20-somethings pulled it off, the reality is a vast majority of entrepreneurs, of any age, don’t succeed. “The first business is probably going to fail,” says Arel Moodie, 27, a Y.E.C. member and co-owner of the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour, which educates college students on starting a business. Mr. Moodie’s first two businesses — a calendar company and a protein drink company — flopped and put him $30,000 in debt. (He has paid it off.)

Ben Brinckerhoff, 28, who is not a member of the council, started Devver.net, an online tool to test computer software in 2008. The company folded last spring.

Mr. Brinckerhoff was formerly a software developer at Microsoft. “There are very real cons to starting a company. It can hurt your ego, and financially it’s a big hit. If I had stayed at my old job at Microsoft, I would have been better off financially,” he says.

The silver lining, however, was that Mr. Brinckerhoff got inquiries from 10 companies about working for them after they read on the Web or heard through word of mouth that his company had failed.
“Employers like the entrepreneurial skill set,” he says. “They want to hire people who are risk-takers and can make quick decisions.” He is now working as a freelance Web and technology consultant in Boulder, Colo., and hopes to start another company.

When deciding whether to start a business, “You have to really want to do it,” says Maia Josebachvili, 27, a council member and founder of Urban Escapes, which organizes outdoor trips. She quit her job as a derivatives trader on Wall Street to start her company, which grew to 45 employees and was recently acquired by LivingSocial, a consumer site.

“It takes a lot of discipline. I didn’t eat out for the first six months, and I lived on my friend’s couch,” Ms. Josebachvili says. “Unless you are independently wealthy, it’s a lifestyle adjustment.”

20 WAYS TO GET MENTALLY TOUGH

By Jon Gordon

1. When you face a setback, think of it as a defining moment that will lead to a future accomplishment.

2. When you encounter adversity, remember, the best don’t just face adversity; they embrace it, knowing it’s not a dead end but a detour to something greater and better.

3. When you face negative people, know that the key to life is to stay positive in the face of negativity, not in the absence of it. After all, everyone will have to overcome negativity to define themselves and create their success.

4. When you face the naysayer’s, remember the people who believed in you and spoke positive words to you.

5. When you face critics, remember to tune them out and focus only on being the best you can be.

6. When you wake up in the morning, take a morning walk of gratitude and prayer. It will create a fertile mind ready for success.

7. When you fear, trust. Let your faith be greater than your doubt.

8. When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then recall a time when you have succeeded.

9. When you head into battle, visualize success.

10. When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, instead focus your energy on the present moment. The now is where your power is the greatest.

11. When you want to complain, instead identify a solution.

12. When your own self-doubt crowds your mind, weed it and replace it with positive thoughts and positive self-talk.

13. When you feel distracted, focus on your breathing, observe your surroundings, clear your mind, and get into The Zone. The Zone is not a random event. It can be created.

14. When you feel all is impossible, know that with God all things are possible.

15. When you feel alone, think of all the people who have helped you along the way and who love and support you now.

16. When you feel lost, pray for guidance.

17. When you are tired and drained, remember to never, never, never give up. Finish Strong in everything you do.

18. When you feel like you can’t do it, know that you can do all things through Him who gives you strength.

19. When you feel like your situation is beyond your control, pray and surrender. Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t.

20. When you’re in a high-pressure situation and the game is on the line, and everyone is watching you, remember to smile, have fun, and enjoy it. Life is short; you only live once. You have nothing to lose. Seize the moment

37 Ways to Improve Your Life Right Now!

By Jonathan    www.advancedlifeskills.com

Have you ever wondered: What can I do to improve my life right now? Sometimes a few small changes can have a profound effect on the way we experience life. With that in mind, I invite you to consider the following:

1. Make the choice to be happy. The biggest part of being happy is to simply make up your mind to be a happy person. It’s not about circumstances, it’s about choice.

2. Count your blessings every day. We all have blessings in our lives. Take the time each and every day to appreciate yours, and your view of life will be one of gratitude.

3. Let go of negative thoughts. Don’t poison yourself by dwelling on negative thoughts. Your life reflects your dominate thought patterns, make yours positive.

4. Let go of negative people. Like it or not, your attitude is susceptible to the dominate attitude of those around you. If they are negative, let them go and don’t look back.

5. Be considerate of others. Showing consideration is a way of honoring others. Most people will respond in kind. When you honor others, you honor yourself.

6. Get regular exercise. We all need to move and breath. Too much sitting robs you of the sense of being alive. Buy out time for exercise and you will feel better mentally, emotionally, and physically.

7. Keep learning new things. Learning is what keeps us excited about life. Your mind has an almost infinite ability to take in knowledge. Feed your head.

8. Smile at everyone. A smile can light up a single heart, or a whole room. It’s a wonderful free gift you can give to anyone who looks your way. Contribute to the bank of happiness, smile.

9. Be polite. Manners create an atmosphere of mutual respect and goodwill. Rudeness reveals a complete lack of character. It’s right to be polite and crude to be rude.

10. Practice listening. If we are really listening we will always hear more than words. Try to hear the meaning behind the words without presuming you already know.

11. Build others up. Life can be pretty hard at times and a little encouragement from you can help others feel more confident and capable. Help them out when you can.

12. Find reasons to laugh. With the right attitude we can find humor almost everywhere. Laughter is powerful medicine, so laugh often.

13. Be completely honest. Honesty comes from within. It takes humility and courage to be totally honest with ourselves and others. It’s also incredibly liberating.

14. Be tactful. Being honest does not mean being brutal, even with yourself. Don’t needlessly offend others in the name of honesty, use tact and diplomacy.

15. Look for way to practice giving. There are hundreds of ways to give, and ample opportunities for giving. Not only can something as simple as a smile or kind word can change somebody else’s whole day, but their response can change yours.

16. Be creative. This would be a good place to add your own tip for improving your life right now. Go ahead, be creative!

17. Watch for cause and effect. What you do and say has a huge impact on your life. It is in your best interest to become aware of the connection. Notice the effect of your words and actions so you can make any needed adjustments.

18. View your mistakes as learning experiences. In new activities, it’s rare that we get it right the first time. Evaluating our results and adjusting our approach is how we learn. The better we get at this process the quicker we will produce our intended result.

19. Challenge yourself with large and small goals. Goals give us something to focus on. They also provide a sense of purpose and direction. But remember, you can’t achieve a goal you haven’t set. So, set goals in every area of life.

20. Stop comparing yourself to others.You are not them, so there is no basis for comparison. Strive to be the best possible version of yourself, and learn to celebrate your individuality.

21. Stop judging others. We rarely have as much insight into another persons life as we think we do. If they do something you don’t approve of, judge the act, not the person.

22. Eliminate time wasters from your life. We all want more time, and yet we all waste time on meaningless pursuits. Get rid of them and you will have the time you wished for.

23. Don’t turn everything into a big deal. If you turn little issues into big issues it will rob you of your joy. Give yourself and everyone else a break, learn to let it go.

24. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself, it’s liberating. When we take ourselves too seriously life becomes a struggle. Again, let it go.

25. Avoid self-imposed limits. Strike all limiting words from your vocabulary, and limiting thoughts from your mind. You can do almost anything you set your mind to, so don’t allow self-imposed limits to hold you back.

26. Don’t try to control other people. Your example may influence others, but you cannot control them. They have the same freedom of choice that you have. Respect that.

27. Actively show appreciation. When someone does something nice for you, show them some appreciation. Acts of kindness, large and small, deserve recognition.

28. Use applied focus sessions to get more done. Applied Focus Sessions – a simple strategy that can increase productivity and free time. Give it a try, it works.

29. Take breaks to clear your mind. You will accomplish more, be more focused, and experience less stress if you give your brain periodic “clearing” breaks throughout the day.

30. Don’t waste energy in pointless debates. Everyone has an opinion, so what? Debating opinions is a colossal waste of time and energy, and it’s pointless. It’s not always important to make your point. Let it go.

31. Be optimistic. Optimism is a wonderful mindset. It focuses your energy on possibility. Your whole world looks brighter through the window of optimism.

32. Set aside time for yourself. It’s great to be productive, but we are not machines. To function at optimal levels you must be well grounded. Make sure you make enough time in your life for you and your loved ones.

33. Believe in yourself. You really are capable of amazing things. The only thing that can get between you and your dreams is self-doubt. Don’t let that happen! Believe in yourself, and surround yourself with others who believe in you.

34. Be yourself and forget about impressing others. No matter what you do, some people will like you and some won’t. Why not just be yourself so that those who do like you, like you for who you really are. Really, being yourself is impressive enough.

35. Accept responsibility for your life. This is the opposite of blaming others for your situation. When you accept responsibility, you assume complete control of your life and close the door on excuses. It’s a powerful state.

36. Strive to create value. The more value you create the more valuable you become to the world around you. Many people are only concerned about creating value for themselves, this is a selfish reality. Contribute the abundance around you and you will experience real abundance in return.

37. Be aware of your spiritual need. Whether you are willing to acknowledge it or not, we all have a spiritual need. Taking steps to fill that need will add a vital dimension to your life.