Optimism: V's 5-step Method to Success

I'm not entirely sure about the rest of society, because maybe it's just me noticing this... but there are just too many people who walk around with a constant scowl on their faces these days! I hope that this has not been the case for very long, because if what appears to be the majority of the human race is looking at life in such a pessimistic way, then I feel bad for society in general! Where have those long-forgotten days of happier times, laughter, and general good feelings gone?

So it is with this observation in mind that I propose a solution. For as long as I can remember, my dream job in life has been to become a “Professional Happy Thought”. To make a living out of making people smile just sounds like an ideal career option for me. It is only just recently, however, that I am actually taking steps toward that goal. I started out with the basics, and that is about as far as I have gotten. And what are the basics? Simple – figuring out what it means to actually be happy.

This honestly may be one of the areas in which I think most of society is lacking. People in the 21st century, as far as I can tell, have simply lost the ability to be happy. I feel that this is a very significant thing, as happiness (along with any other emotion) is what I would think is a necessary part of the human experience. We were created to feel, to live, to love. Human beings, by nature, experience a variety of emotions based on circumstances and events. Happiness, though, is obviously one of the more desirable emotions. It is something that makes us feel alive, fulfilled and light. It is often the reason that we manage to drag ourselves out of bed in the morning, and the thing we thank God for in the evenings before bed. Feeling, or being, happy is beneficial to our health and has proven time and time again to be a very effective medicine. It is one of the most basic emotions that a person can experience regardless of age, and has even at times changed people's lives.

And yet, society has chosen to allow the joy that is being happy slip away. We as a society have lost the ability to feel or experience happiness. This may be due to any number of factors – work-related stressors, family issues, personal baggage – but regardless of it's cause, this is quickly becoming an epidemic.

What, then, is the cure? Societies and cultures throughout the ages have treated various conditions with things like medicines, procedures or other methods of healing. Yet, the tools which are ultimately most effective for healing are often forgotten. Things from olden days like meditation, prayer, yoga and herbal teas have been replaced with chemicals, lasers, specialists and clinics. We pay thousands of dollars each year, either through taxes or privately, into a health care system that is failing us more and more as time goes on. We have a remarkably inadequate number of healthcare professionals (and even fewer that are actually competent) and never even close to enough hospital beds. Many times, it appears that all hope may be lost as far as finding something that works goes.

Every once in a while, there comes a point in the story where the person who was meant all along to become the hero manages to step up and save the day. This is what I feel my role may be (and many other people that I know personally as well). I have a hunch that it may be up to us to form the brigade that will eventually make such a positive change that we manage to literally save the world. Membership into this league of awesome people is pretty simple: make the honest choice to be awesome, and then pursue that dream whatever it takes.

As much as I would like to believe that society is capable of such an undertaking, I have yet to see much evidence to support the claim that this is a possibility. However, many people have been noted to learn best through taking a series of detailed steps. And so here is a framework to teach people how to succeed at The Art Of Being Happy.

Step 1: decide what it is that makes you feel happiestr
Different things will succeed in making different people happy, to different degrees. People have preferences that vary greatly, and that is just part of what works to build this amazing planet of ours. It is in our variations and differences that life is made significantly less boring. Over the course of the weekend of the 2011 Freedom Festival in Toronto, I went out and asked a few people what it is that makes them genuinely happy. The answers that I got ranged from “weeeeeed man...”, to “freedoms and rights”, to “friends, fun and picnics!” It seems that the spirit at the festival this year, like every year, was optimistic by definition.

So what makes you happy? That thing that makes your stomach all fluttery and your knees shake a bit. That thing that you know you need to just make your week. Once you figure out the answer to that question, write it down! Then put the written list someplace where you will see it all the time, like beside a bathroom mirror. Study that list. Memorize it. Commit it into your mind that you will have these things.

Step 2: develop a battle planr
Every great leader from any country's army has, at some point in their strategizing, been guaranteed to have developed at least a rough framework for what they hoped to happen. The most effective way to develop a battle plan like this is to draw up a series of sequential steps, with a definite starting point and a definite end. The same rule applies to planning out the rest of your life.
Decide where it is that you are at right now, at this current point in time. Write it down in great detail, with vivid descriptions of the things that are happening to you right now. Be as graphic and specific as you can, simply because this will likely help you to shape a visualization of what you want your future to look like.
Next, dream! Think big! Then, think bigger. Dream as big as you dare to, because there are no limits to the imagination and no ceiling that states how high your dreams can go. Imagine each and every detail that you can about how you want your life to play out in the next year, five years, ten years. Write it down, draw a picture, make a collage!

Step 3: map out your route to successr
Every successful journey begins by laying out the series of steps that one will take to achieve their eventual goal. Structured step-taking is exponentially more successful than randomly wandering around through life and just hoping that things will turn out the way we want.
Start out with your starting point, or where you are right now. Then decide where you want to be when you have reached your goal – what will you have? Where will you be? Then it's as easy as brainstorming up the most logical path of least resistance to get there. Write it down, number the steps, you can even try and develop a time frame in which you want to have the steps achieved by. Again, the more specific and detailed you are, the better the results you will achieve. Write it in descriptive paragraphs, draw it into pictures, envision every detail that you can.

Step 4: follow the trailr
Once you have a definite path, follow it! You can now see the steps clearly laid out before you, so you should have no excuses at this point. Baby steps are perfectly fine, the point is to be continuously moving towards your ultimate goal.
If you get off track every once in a while, that's okay! Just pick up where you left off, or at the closest point to that place where you fell off track. As long as you are constantly and continuously pursuing the goal at hand, you're doing alright.

Step 5: achieve your goals!
As you wander farther and farther along the trail you have laid out for yourself, you may find that it gets easier and easier to see definite signs that success is not far off! This is a very good thing, as it typically means that you are on the right track.
Finally, as you approach your desired goals and can see signs of achieving the desired end result, make sure that you take time to congratulate yourself on a job well done. It is a common truth that everybody has goals... many people even try and take steps to achieve them. But I would say that a shocking few actually achieve their goals consistently. Good work!