I’m excited to announce The Power of Less New Year’s Challenge — it’s free, and it’ll help you form a new habit in 30 days, in just 10 minutes a day.

It’s a great way to start the New Year, and to make 2009 a great year. Forming a new habit is better than making a resolution, because if you use the effective habit-change principles in The Power of Less, the habit will stick with you much longer than the resolution.

How It Works

Here’s how The Power of Less New Year’s Challenge works:

1. SIGN UP for the Challenge by joining THE POWER OF LESS Challenge forum … it’s free and easy to sign up. Read the FAQ for the forum when you sign up for more info on how to use the forum.
2. PUBLICLY COMMIT. Once you’ve joined the forum, go to the section that asks you to post your new habit. Start a new topic, introduce yourself and tell everyone what your habit will be for the 30 days. This is a public commitment that will hold you accountable and motivate you.
3. FOCUS on the new habit for just 10 minutes a day, EVERY DAY. No exceptions. No excuses. Everyone has 10 minutes a day. You might need to plan your schedule to ensure you’ve set aside the 10 minutes for the day, but do not make exceptions! Read more: 9 Rules to Form a Habit (pdf format).
4. REPORT your progress each day on THE POWER OF LESS Challenge forum. It’s simple and takes 2 minutes: log in to the forum, go to the daily progress thread (there’s a new one each day) and

That’s it. Just four simple steps: sign up, publicly commit, focus on the goal for just 10 minutes a day, and take 2 minutes each day to report your progress. In 30 days, you’ll have a new habit!

See 9 Rules to Form a Habit (pdf format) for strategies that will ensure your success in the Challenge!

Go to The Power of Less New Year’s Challenge for more!

My New Year’s Challenge: To Become More Present

To get things started, I’ll report my New Year’s Challenge:

For January I’d like to practice mindfulness — being more present as much as possible. To start small, I’m going to create the new habit of doing Zen meditation for 10 minutes every morning.

I actually want to be more present in everything I do — from washing dishes to showering to walking to driving to talking to people — and I’ve been practicing this more and more the last few weeks. But as always, I will start small — if I start with 10 minutes of zazen (sitting meditation) then I can use the progress there and carry it to other parts of my life.

My trigger: first thing in the morning, after I have my cup of coffee, before I go on my morning run.

To increase accountability: I’m going to tell my friends and family about this and of course post about it here on Zen Habits. I’ll post about it in a couple weeks to let you guys know how things are going, or check out the Challenge to see my daily progress.

Wish me luck! And best of luck to everyone participating in the Challenge!

Leo

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

Merry Christmas everyone! As a gift, I’d like to share with you my companion to The Power of Less — a free ebook called “THRIVING ON LESS: Simplifying in a Tough Economy“.

Go here to download the ebook for free. (Please note: click on the link to go to the download page — don’t click “save as” to save the ebook.)

From the introduction:

The recent economic recession has a lot of people worried, about their jobs, their businesses, their homes and their bills. When your income is dropping or in jeopardy and you still have a mountain of bills to pay, things can get pretty scary.

However, tough economic times do not have to be a time of struggles! If you look for the opportunity in the middle of difficulty, as Mr. Einstein suggested, then tough economic times become an opportunity to transform your life.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. A Simple Lifestyle
2. Focus on the Essentials
3. Thriving on Less, Not Struggling
4. Focusing on Enough, Not More
5. Make Small Financial Changes First
6. Look at Large Expenses for the Long Term
7. Changing Your Spending Habits
8. A Guide to Getting Out of Debt
9. Tools for a Frugal Life
10. Resources

I hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to share this free ebook with your friends through Twitter, email, Facebook, MySpace, forums, or your blog.

Be sure to also check out:

• The Book: The Power of Less
• Audio podcast: How to focus on one task at a time
• Audio podcast: How to tame your email

“So if we love someone, we should train in being able to listen. By listening with calm and understanding, we can ease the suffering of another person.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

It’s Christmastime and it’s the season of giving … what are you giving your loved ones this year?

The holidays often mean giving a lot of gifts, sometimes expensive, but often we lose sight of what’s most important.

What gifts do your loved ones really want, whether they’re your children, your significant other, your parents, your friends, or other family members? Is it an expensive electronic item, or some other material or tangible item? Perhaps.

But the gifts I list below are more important. Sure, they might not be as fun to open on Christmas morning (or whatever other holiday you might celebrate), but in the long run, they’ll value these gifts more.

1. Your Presence. This means making it a priority to spend time with them — if they are truly important, you can make the time. You might have to change things in your life to make the time, but it’s worth it.

Beyond just making the time, though, you have to actually be present when you spend time with loved ones. That means learning to stay in the moment, rather than having your mind on other things, checking your iPhone or Blackberry every two minutes, or trying to take care of other tasks and chores while spending time with them. Instead, drop everything else and focus on being there with your loved ones — really listen, really have fun, really be present.

2. Your Love. This is perhaps an obvious one on the list, but it’s too important to gloss over. It’s imperative that you tell your loved ones that … well, that you love them. Regularly. But just as important is that you actually show them you love them, in your actions every day, throughout the day. Hugs, intimacy, smiles, doing kind things for them, considering their needs and feelings … just little things that mean a lot.

3. Your Compassion. How is this different than giving the gift of your love? Well, it’s possible to love someone and not show compassion. For example, we parents often discipline our children and love them at the same time … but often compassion is even more important than discipline.

Compassion is finding empathy with your loved one … trying to see things from their eyes, trying to understand what they’re going through … and then doing your best to be kind and to end their suffering and to make them happier. Read more.

4. A Voice. We can give so much just by paying attention to a loved one, and really listening, and showing that we’re interested in what they have to say, and showing that what they say is important and respected. Too often our children or spouse might talk to us but are only met with a disinterested nod or other small acknowledgment, or we’ll make light or fun of what they say, as if it’s not important. But giving a person a voice, and showing that their words matter, will have a long-lasting different in their lives.

5. A Healthy Lifestyle. When you spend time with your loved one, try to do so while enjoying a healthy and fun activity, such as going on a hike, playing a sport, tossing around a Frisbee, going for a walk or jog, doing some yardwork, and so on. When you get together to eat, try to eat healthy foods. Make the habits of good health a part of your lifestyle, and encourage your loved ones to do the same — it could save their lives.

6. Your Belief in Them. Simply believing in another person, and showing that in your words and in your deeds, can make a huge difference. Studies of people who grew up in dysfunctional homes but who grew up to be happy and successful show that the one thing they had in common was a significant adult who believed in them. Do this for your child, and for the adult loved ones in your life as well. Support their dreams and passions and hobbies. Participate with them. Be nothing but encouraging. Be their greatest cheerleader. Whether they actually accomplish these dreams or not, your belief is of unlimited importance to them.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” - the Dalai Lama

—

AUDIO PODCAST

In the spirit of giving, I’d like to share the third audio tips podcast that I’ve done for ThePowerofLess.com:

The Keys to Setting and Achieving Goals

This podcast can be played on your computer, iPod or other media device. The podcast talks about:

• How taking on too many goals can lead to a cycle of failure and guilt.
• Simplify: Focus on one goal at a time.
• Why you should start small.
• Focus on that One Goal to completion.
• Breaking a goal into smaller goals.

Feel free to share it on your blog, via email, on forums, in social media, or however you like!

Three other audio podcast tips have been or will be released this week related to The Power of Less:

1. Office Zen: How to Focus on One Task at a Time. (released)
2. Taming Email: Tips on Finding Inbox Zen. (released)
3. Effective weight loss strategies. (soon to come!)

I’d like to share with all of you the second in a series of four free audio tips podcasts that are being made available this week on ThePowerofLess.com:

Taming Email: Getting to Inbox Zen

This podcast can be played on your computer, iPod or other media device. The podcast talks about:

• Why email is a great tool, but results in us doing more and more than ever before.
• Why you should control email instead of vice versa, and why the world won’t end if you don’t check email.
• Strategies for reducing the flow of emails.
• Strategies for handling the emails that do get to you after you reduce the flow.

Feel free to share it on your blog, via email, on forums, in social media, or however you like! (Click on the “Tell-a-friend” button on the page.)

One other audio podcast tips has been released and two more will be released this week related to The Power of Less:

1. Office Zen: How to Focus on One Task at a Time.
2. Setting and achieving goals.
3. Effective weight loss strategies.

Note: I’m trying to make the podcast available to be played online, on the site, but am having problems. Thanks for your patience. :)

You can pre-order the book today:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Borders
• IndieBound

I’m an avid reader of fiction and just love a novel that transports me, that is so gripping that I can’t put it down. But I also enjoy a good non-fiction book, from self-help stuff to philosophy to biographies to just about anything that makes me think.

After the warm reception of my post on novels (50 Amazing and Essential Novels to Enrich Your Library), a number of people asked for a list of non-fiction as well. Well, here it is!

I was hesitant to do this as there are so many classic non-fiction texts, from the Greeks to philosophers through the ages to biographies of amazing people to first-hand accounts of surviving wars and much more. It’s overwhelming, and it would be hard to be comprehensive.

But then I decided not to be comprehensive. Instead, I wanted to find 20 books that convey some of the philosophy of Zen Habits in different ways, books that influenced this site and that I think will enrich your library and your life if you haven’t read them yet.

So this list is far, far from being authoritative or comprehensive. It leaves off just about every classic work — histories, philosophy works, scientific classics, and so on. It doesn’t have the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, anything by Descartes or Nietzsche or Kant, accounts by Anne Frank or slaves, or anything else on the 100 Best Non-fiction Books list. Not that those books don’t hold great value — they do — but they’ve been done elsewhere.

This list is just a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them, find inspiration from them, and share some of your favorites in the comments below!

1. Your Money or Your Life, by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robins. No book on money is more important. If you haven’t read this book yet, you must. It’s simply life transforming, and takes the way most people look at money and turns it on its head. My philosophy about money stems from this book.
2. Slowing Down to the Speed of Life, by Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey. I only discovered this book recently but it is simply transformational. At its core, it is about learning to live and think in the moment, which is far from new — Buddhism has had this for 2,500 years. But this book explores the idea from a psychological point of view, showing us how our thoughts are what create our emotions, how we can become calm in the middle of chaos, how we can minimize stress, become better parents, improve our relationships, and much more. I’ve been trying this myself recently and it works wonders.
3. Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James. This is one of the books that most influenced the simple philosophy behind this site. I began simplifying my life when I first read this book a decade ago, and though I’ve had some ups and downs, I credit my love for simplifying to Elaine St. James. It’s an easy read and there are some great tips in there.
4. The Art of Happiness, by the Dalai Lama. I love the Dalai Lama mostly because he always seems so happy and compassionate. I don’t know if the actual person is like that, but his writings on compassion and happiness are simple yet insightful, and even if there’s nothing overly profound, I found them to be great reminders about why living a more compassionate life can have incredible meaning for ourselves and those around us.
5. Getting Things Done, by David Allen. The quintessential productivity book, it’s a must-read for anyone looking to get more organized and efficient. This was my starting point, and while I’ve modified my system, GTD taught me some really important skills: emptying my inbox, getting everything on paper and out of my head, creating a system to keep everything in, and so forth.
6. The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss. This book inspired legions of us to simplify and focus on that which has the most impact on our lives and our businesses. The concepts can be applied to any life — whether you’re a CEO, office worker, stay-at-home parent, blogger, you name it. You might not actually get to a 4-hour workweek, but you’ll learn to look at your work in new ways and do it in smarter ways.
7. The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. For anyone who writes or creates, the battle to actually get the creating done is well known. We struggle sometimes, often daily, to focus on our work, to actually do the writing or creating, to avoid the great abyss of procrastination and distraction. This book shows you how to overcome this struggle by working like a professional. Great stuff.
8. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, by Richard Carlson. Carlson is the co-author of the above-mentioned “Slowing Down to the Speed of Life”, but he’s more famous for this book (actually a series of books that started with this book). The book’s title becomes more meaningful when you hear the subtitle: “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff — and it’s all small stuff”. This book teaches you to keep things in perspective and in doing so, stop stressing out about things. It teaches you to appreciate the things — and especially people — around you. Really an excellent book.
9. Running to Win, by George Sheehan. Sheehan was a running philosopher. I thought this book was going to be about competitive running, and in some ways it is, but really it’s about a philosophy of life, of living life to its fullest in every way. Sheehan’s essays are beautiful and inspiring. He’s written a bunch of excellent books, but this one was written after he learned he had a terminal disease.
10. Upgrade Your Life, by Gina Trapani. This is Lifehacker in book form — all the tips and tricks that will help you turn technology from something that distracts and overwhelms you into something that makes you more productive and effective.
11. The Essential Gandhi, by Louis Fischer. Whether you’re a fan of Gandhi or not, his writings are inspiring and his words have had deep and widespread impact. I am a subscriber to his writings on non-violence and civil disobedience and truth. I’m inspired every time I pick up this book.
12. Manufacturing Consent, by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman. If you haven’t read or heard anything by Chomsky, this book could be eye-opening. It was for me when I read it more than a decade ago, and it taught me a lot about political systems and the media, and from this I’ve become more critical of the information I consume (and perhaps a little more cynical about politics as well). Anyway, I highly recommend this or other Chomsky works if you’d like to get a completely different perspective on things, from one of the most famous dissidents of our times.
13. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. Indispensable reading for anyone who wants to learn to focus on the important things and become more effective in work and in life. The 7 Habits include being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking win/win, seeking first to understand, synergizing, and sharpening the saw. His 8th habit boils down to “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.”
14. Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu. This fundamental Taoist classic is an excellent read for something that’s 1,500 years old (or thereabouts). It’ll teach you the basics of Eastern philosophy and a thing or two about life itself.
15. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig. A modern classic, Pirsig travels the countryside with his son and friends, and explores the competing principles of a Zen-like world view with those of logic and reason. While Pirsig might seen to represent logic and reason for some of the book, it later becomes apparent that he believes the two should be merged. He writes that despite the book’s title, “it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles, either.”
16. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, by Robin Sharma. The book is a fable, and it’s one that will certainly make you give some thought to your life, your goals, your dreams and how your daily habits help you reach those dreams. While I don’t think you can actually implement everything discussed in the book (it would be too overwhelming), Sharma explores a lot of interesting ideas, and I’m sure anyone will find some that are worth trying. Read my review.
17. The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. An absolutely indispensable resource for anyone who writes in the English language. Seriously. This isn’t only for writers — it’s for bloggers, people who write reports, people who write emails and write things online. In short, for just about everyone. I read this when I first became a journalist 18 years ago, and I’ve read it every year since. It’ll teach you to be more concise, to avoid common mistakes, and to generally be clearer and more powerful with your words.
18. Fever Pitch, by Nick Hornby. This book is a bit different from the others on this list, but I loved it so much I thought I’d share it here. It’s an autobiographical look at the author’s obsession with soccer (or football to most of the world) through his lifetime. This series of essays (each focused on a different match) is an absorbing read and incredibly interesting.
19. A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. The book that changed history for many people who had previously only studied the usual textbooks. Zinn tells the story of the United States from an entirely different perspective — the powerless, instead of the rich and powerful. It’s the story of the blacks, the women, the Chinese who built the railroads, the poor, the workers, those oppressed by force and power, the voiceless, and many other minorities. An eye-opener.
20. The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta. OK, it’s cheesy and self-promotional to put your own book on a list you created. I know. But I couldn’t help it — sometimes you have to be self-promotional … and plus, I really think you’ll find value in this book. Teaches you to focus on the essentials in order to simplify your life and become more effective in your work.

So there are hundreds and thousands of great non-fiction books that I’ve left off this list, mostly because I don’t have the time to compile a bigger list, and also largely because there are so many I haven’t read personally.

So what else should be on this list? Share in the comments and add your favorites!
—
If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it. :)

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I’m excited to share the new webiste for my upcoming book, THE POWER OF LESS: ThePowerOfLess.com. My book will hit bookstores and online book retailers on Dec. 30, 2008, and this website will share information about the book and much much more:

• Audio podcast tips on topics such as handling email, setting and achieving goals, losing weight, and focusing on one task at a time.
• Audio interviews with top names in the productivity field.
• A free ebook entitled “THRIVING ON LESS: Simplifying in a Tough Economy”.
• THE POWER OF LESS New Year’s Challenge: form one habit in 30 days, just 10 minutes a day.

All of these things will be completely free, and will be released on different days in the next couple weeks!

While the book goes on sale on Dec. 30, you can actually pre-order it today:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Borders
• IndieBound

For more info on the book and other things coming out, see the website or these pages:

• The Book (including table of contents)
  
• FAQs
• A Conversation with Leo Babauta
• The Free Ebook: THRIVING ON LESS (coming soon)
• Free Audio Podcasts (coming soon)
• The New Year’s Challenge (coming soon)

Music licensed via Creative Commons from Josh Woodward. Video created by Leo Babauta.

The video above can be found on this page: THE POWER OF LESS Video … I’d love it if you went to the page and clicked on the “Tell a Friend” button to share it with your friends, family, co-workers, blog readers, Twitter or Facebook friends, and so on … help me spread the word! Feel free to share the website and any other things I release on the site as well. :)

In the days leading up to the launch on Dec. 30, and in the days following it, I’ll be releasing different things such as the extras mentioned above, as well as doing interviews and guest posts on other blogs, to help promote the book. I hope you don’t mind if I announce those releases, interviews and guest posts on Zen Habits — while some of you might tire of the announcements, others might find these things useful.

As you can probably tell, I’m excited about the launch of the book!

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project.

Maybe you’re feeling down because of the financial crisis. Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed by holiday tasks. Maybe you’re rushing around to try to get things done before you leave for vacation. Or maybe you’re just having a lousy day.

If so, you can make yourself happier – right now. In the next thirty minutes, check off as many of the following items as possible. Each one will lift your mood, as will the mere fact that you’ve tackled and achieved some concrete goals; by doing so, you boost your feelings of self-efficacy, which can boost happiness.

1. Boost your energy. Stand up and pace while you talk on the phone or, even better, take a brisk ten-minute walk outside. Research shows that when people move faster, their metabolism speeds up, and the activity and sunlight are good for your focus, your mood, and the retention of information. Plus, because of “emotional contagion,” if you act energetic, you’ll help the people around you feel energetic, too.

2. Count your blessings. Take ten minutes to think about all the things in your life that are going right, about all the things that other people do to help you, about all the things that you’re thankful for. In the tumult of everyday life, it’s very easy to focus on the negative and to lose sight of what really matters.

3. Reach out to friends. Make a lunch date or send an email to a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Having warm, close bonds with other people is the KEY to happiness, so take the time to stay in touch. Somewhat surprisingly, socializing boosts the moods not only of extroverts, but also of introverts.

4. Perform an action that reflects your values. Do you think organ donation is a good idea? Sign up online to be one yourself; it takes less than a minute. Worried about climate change? Refill your water bottle from the tap instead of buying a couple of bottles throughout the day. The First Splendid Truth holds that to work on happiness, we should think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth. Living up to your values will help you “feel right.”

5. Rid yourself of a nagging task. Answer a difficult email, do an errand you’ve been putting off, or call to make that dentist’s appointment. Crossing an irksome chore off your to-do list will give you a big rush of energy and relief.

6. Create a calmer environment. Clear some physical and mental space around yourself by sorting papers, pitching junk, cleaning a closet, answering a few emails, filing, or even just making your piles neater. A large stack of little tasks can feel overwhelming, but often just a few minutes of work can make a sizeable dent. Try to get in the habit of using the “one minute rule” — i.e., never postpone any task that can be completed in less than one minute. And always make your bed in the morning!

7. Lay the groundwork for some future fun. Order a book you’ve been wanting to read (not something you think you should read) or plan an excursion to a museum, hiking trail, sporting event, gardening store, movie theater—whatever sounds like fun. Studies show that having fun on a regular basis is a pillar of happiness, and anticipation is an important part of that pleasure. Try to involve friends or family, as well; people enjoy almost all activities more when they’re with other people than when they’re alone.

8. Do a good deed. Make an email introduction of two people who could help each other, or set up a blind date, or shoot someone a piece of useful information or gratifying praise. Do good, feel good—this really works. Also, although we often believe that we act because of the way we feel, in fact, we often feel because of the way we act. When you act in a friendly way, you’ll strengthen your feelings of friendliness for other people.

9. Act happy. Put a smile on your face right now. Research shows that even a fake smile has a positive influence on your emotions—turns out that just going through the motion of happiness brightens your mood. And if you’re smiling, other people will perceive you as being friendlier and more approachable.

Some people worry that wanting to be happier is a selfish goal. To the contrary. Studies show that happier people are more sociable, likeable, healthy, and productive—and they’re more inclined to help other people. So in working to boost your own happiness, you’re benefiting others as well.

What other strategies have you tried to give yourself a happiness boost?

Read more from Gretchen Rubin at her blog, The Happiness Project, or subscribe to her feed.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project.

Maybe you’re feeling down because of the financial crisis. Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed by holiday tasks. Maybe you’re rushing around to try to get things done before you leave for vacation. Or maybe you’re just having a lousy day.

If so, you can make yourself happier – right now. In the next thirty minutes, check off as many of the following items as possible. Each one will lift your mood, as will the mere fact that you’ve tackled and achieved some concrete goals; by doing so, you boost your feelings of self-efficacy, which can boost happiness.

1. Boost your energy. Stand up and pace while you talk on the phone or, even better, take a brisk ten-minute walk outside. Research shows that when people move faster, their metabolism speeds up, and the activity and sunlight are good for your focus, your mood, and the retention of information. Plus, because of “emotional contagion,” if you act energetic, you’ll help the people around you feel energetic, too.

2. Count your blessings. Take ten minutes to think about all the things in your life that are going right, about all the things that other people do to help you, about all the things that you’re thankful for. In the tumult of everyday life, it’s very easy to focus on the negative and to lose sight of what really matters.

3. Reach out to friends. Make a lunch date or send an email to a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Having warm, close bonds with other people is the KEY to happiness, so take the time to stay in touch. Somewhat surprisingly, socializing boosts the moods not only of extroverts, but also of introverts.

4. Perform an action that reflects your values. Do you think organ donation is a good idea? Sign up online to be one yourself; it takes less than a minute. Worried about climate change? Refill your water bottle from the tap instead of buying a couple of bottles throughout the day. The First Splendid Truth holds that to work on happiness, we should think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth. Living up to your values will help you “feel right.”

5. Rid yourself of a nagging task. Answer a difficult email, do an errand you’ve been putting off, or call to make that dentist’s appointment. Crossing an irksome chore off your to-do list will give you a big rush of energy and relief.

6. Create a calmer environment. Clear some physical and mental space around yourself by sorting papers, pitching junk, cleaning a closet, answering a few emails, filing, or even just making your piles neater. A large stack of little tasks can feel overwhelming, but often just a few minutes of work can make a sizeable dent. Try to get in the habit of using the “one minute rule” — i.e., never postpone any task that can be completed in less than one minute. And always make your bed in the morning!

7. Lay the groundwork for some future fun. Order a book you’ve been wanting to read (not something you think you should read) or plan an excursion to a museum, hiking trail, sporting event, gardening store, movie theater—whatever sounds like fun. Studies show that having fun on a regular basis is a pillar of happiness, and anticipation is an important part of that pleasure. Try to involve friends or family, as well; people enjoy almost all activities more when they’re with other people than when they’re alone.

8. Do a good deed. Make an email introduction of two people who could help each other, or set up a blind date, or shoot someone a piece of useful information or gratifying praise. Do good, feel good—this really works. Also, although we often believe that we act because of the way we feel, in fact, we often feel because of the way we act. When you act in a friendly way, you’ll strengthen your feelings of friendliness for other people.

9. Act happy. Put a smile on your face right now. Research shows that even a fake smile has a positive influence on your emotions—turns out that just going through the motion of happiness brightens your mood. And if you’re smiling, other people will perceive you as being friendlier and more approachable.

Some people worry that wanting to be happier is a selfish goal. To the contrary. Studies show that happier people are more sociable, likeable, healthy, and productive—and they’re more inclined to help other people. So in working to boost your own happiness, you’re benefiting others as well.

What other strategies have you tried to give yourself a happiness boost?

Read more from Gretchen Rubin at her blog, The Happiness Project, or subscribe to her feed.

Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead, follow him on twitter.

The same voice in your mind that told you to act, is the same voice that ridicules you later for making that choice.

Am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculous?

I want to show you how I’ve learned to make my heart and mind get along.

Because unfortunately…

It’s typical in our society to feel a conflict between what we want to do (our heart) and what we feel is practical (our mind).

We end up living 1/3 of our lives in a cubicle for the “benefits.” We stay friends with people we only kind of like. We do and say things to fit in and seem cool that really go against what we feel is right in our hearts.

Because it’s caused so much heartache in my life, I’ve spend a lot of time trying to diagnose the source of this problem.

Is my heart at fault? Are my feelings just silly and frivolous? Or maybe it’s my mind that’s to blame. It seems like it’s always coming up with conflicting messages anyway.

And on it goes and we never really seem to get to it. There’s a lot of social conditioning that covers up and obscures things too. Even if you really feel like that’s the right choice, how do you know for sure? How do you know it’s not just what you think you should do?

All of this might sound a little over the top, but it’s a real problem. It ruins lives because people can’t make up their minds about whether or not the path of their heart is valid or not. They end up living a shadow of the possibility that they could. All because they couldn’t make up their mind.

There’s a simple answer to this problem. It might seem even a little too simple. But most things are. Bruce Lee once said “The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.” I believe this.

First… let’s take a look at where this problem starts.

Confusing the purpose of the heart and mind

The main reason we suffer from this illness of indecision, is that we’ve mistaken the purpose of heart and mind. The heart is like a compass, it’s purpose is to guide the direction our lives should take. Our heart takes a birds eye view on our life and says “this is where you’re at and this is the direction you need to go.”

Our mind on the other hand isn’t made for making purpose driven decisions. The nature of the mind is that it conceptualizes, organizes and compares information. It does this as best it can and says “here are the facts, here’s both sides of the story.”

If we compare our mind and heart to a courtroom, our mind would be the defendant and the plaintiff (both stories) and our heart would be justice or the judge (the right direction).

The reason we’re so troubled by this conflict of head vs heart is that the mind is not only playing the prosecutor and the defense, but has take over the role of the judge as well.

The mind should never be the judge. The minds job is to compare and contrast. To sort things out and say “this is what I’ve got, do what you want with it.”

But more often than not, our mind isn’t doing that. Our mind is making our choices. What’s worse, is even when we don’t need our mind to be at work, it’s still going. Comparing and contrasting everything. Brooding, mostly.

Have you ever noticed that even when it’s completely unnecessary to think about anything, your mind is still going? Have noticed that when this is happening, your mind is getting in the way of your experience? Just a few examples of this that come to mind for me are; sex, watching a sunset, or taking a shower. My mind really doesn’t need to be thinking while doing these things. There’s no point. At all.

Taming the mind

Before we can get the mind to take a break when we don’t need to be incessantly thinking, we have to make friends with it first. If we try to tell our mind to go away, or that we don’t need it, we’ll just encourage it all the more. Instead of a retreat we’ll get a resurgence. We don’t want that.

So if we want to end the conflict of head and heart, we’ve got to figure out a way to marry this disparate pair.

Remember when I told you the answer to this problem is simple? Well, it is. But it won’t be easy at first, because we’ve been doing it all wrong for so long.

What we have to do is only use our mind to go with ourselves. The Latin root for sin means “to go against.” So we have to learn to be without sin.

We have to learn to constantly realigning our decisions to be “with ourselves.”

Have you ever wondered how to tell whether a decision is right? It seems so difficult, doesn’t it? But it becomes so easy when you think “Is this choice going with me, or against me?” You’ll find that the right choice is immediately evident.

If you can learn to practice this every time you make a choice, you’ll start to regain your personal power.

You’ll create a marriage of your heart and mind. Maybe then their child (you) won’t have permanent emotional damage from the divorce it’s been suffering from for so long.

Make the choice today. Just try it out. I think you’ll like it.

Go with yourself.

PS: This is one of the concepts I talk about in my upcoming eBook, Reclaim Your Life, set to help you start living the life you dream of on January 1st. Stay tuned and follow me on twitter for information about a special offer in the next few weeks…

This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind. To learn more about how to reclaim your life, grab a subscription to Illuminated MInd.

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Your lives are always busy, I’m sure, but the holidays always seem to add even more craziness to everyone’s schedule. Christmas parties with family, friends and co-workers, gift shopping, decorating, Christmas pageants, caroling, bell-ringing, snow shoveling (unless you live on Guam like I do), making cookies, baking turkeys, and all the rest.

It’s enough to make you want to give up!

But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. If you’re a busy person (and who isn’t these days?), I’ve compiled some of my favorite time-saving tips — things I use in my daily life that I’ve found to work wonders for freeing up the schedule.

Why use these tips? First, to keep yourself sane during busy times — we all tend to stress out when schedules are packed. But second, and just as importantly, to make time for what you think is most important. For me, that’s my family, my writing, and exercise. You might have other things you want to make time for. Here’s how to do it.

Tips for Work

Most of us spend the most time at work, so let’s start there. If you have a to-do list that’s a mile long — or worse yet, no to-do list at all — here’s what you can do:

1. Do less. This is my favorite productivity tip, as long-time readers know — simplify your schedule by doing fewer things but focusing on the important things. This will greatly increase the impact of the time you do work, decreasing the time you need to work. What about the tasks you don’t do? See the tips below for more on dealing with them.

2. Delegate. If a task needs to be done but is not one of your most important tasks, and it can be done by someone else, delegate it. Sometimes you can get rid of half your to-do list by finding others who can do the task as well or even better than you can.

3. Limit your workday (or adjust your hours). If you work more than 8 hours a day, by setting a limit of 8 hours you’ll force yourself to focus on getting the must-do tasks done within that limit. If you work 8 hours a day, try limiting yourself to 6 hours. You’ll find that you’ll prioritize, work more efficiently, and waste less time, so that you can get the work done within that time frame. I try to give myself a 4- or 5-hour window on most days. What if you can’t reduce your hours (maybe you’re required to work a certain number of hours)? See if you can shift your work hours either earlier or later than the rest of the crowd. That’ll reduce commute time if you don’t commute during the busy traffic hours, and if you work when almost no one else is in the office you can get tons more done.

4. Get the important stuff done early. Pick the top 2-3 things you need or want to accomplish today, and get those done first. While on other days you might push these important things back (and possibly not get them done at all), if you do them first the rest of your day will be gravy. In fact, if you have the freedom, you can sometimes even call it a day after you get the important stuff done — the rest can wait until tomorrow.

5. Ask your boss to re-prioritize for you. If you don’t have control over your schedule or to-do list, talk to your boss. Tell him you are trying to be more effective with your time, and you only have time for X number of things today (say, 3-4 things) … so ask him to pick those things for you. Tell him if you try to do everything today you’ll be less effective and may not get as many things done or do as good a job. This prioritizing is essentially what you’d do yourself (see the first tip) if you had the freedom.

6. Batch tasks. Instead of interspersing your work day with small tasks all mixed together, try to group similar tasks and do them at once. For example, instead of responding to emails throughout the day, batch them and do all your emails once (or twice) a day. Do all your paperwork at once. Make all phone calls in one batch. Do all errands at once. This grouping of tasks saves a lot of time and allows you to focus better on the important tasks.

7. Focus on one project and get it done. Instead of juggling a large number of projects, set aside a block of time to do one project until completion. For me, this often means setting aside half a day or a day (I try to break my projects down into manageable chunks) to work on a project, and I try to complete it if at all possible. Often this means getting all the resources and information you need beforehand, so you don’t have to look for it or wait on it when you’re ready to actually work on the project. This also means clearing my schedule, so I’ll get other tasks done beforehand and I won’t schedule anything else for that block of time. Then work on that project exclusively and try very hard to get it done. This, I’ve found, is often the most effective way to work on projects.

8. Avoid meetings. Not all meetings are a waste of time, but many are. If you spend a lot of time in meetings, but would rather be doing your actual work instead of listening to other people talk about things they could have sent you in an email, see if you can get out of some of those meetings. You’ll get a lot more done. Read more.

9. Avoid long conversations at work. We’ve all had long conversations with co-workers that were very unproductive — often not related to work or anything important. Sometimes they’re long phone conversations. And while I like conversing with other human beings as much as the next guy — it’s important to maintain good relationships and friendships — at the same time you could be spending that time doing other things. I personally would rather get all my work done and go home and spend time with my family. So I try to stay focused on work rather than having lots of long conversations, although I’ll make an exception now and then.

10. Learn to say no. This is crucial if you want to have a simplified schedule. We all receive numerous requests each day, and all of them are demands on our time. If we say “yes” to those requests, we are giving up our time and committing to doing something for someone else. But if those requests aren’t in line with our priorities, then we are usually biting off more than we want to chew. So learn to say “no” instead. Often this is uncomfortable, because we fear it means disappointing others. But learn to tell people that you just don’t have the time to commit to this right now, and often they’ll understand.

Time-saving Computer Tips

1. Disconnect when possible. This is my favorite computer tip. When I really want to focus on a task, and really get it done, I will disconnect from the Internet. Sometimes this means just closing my browser, other times it will mean disconnecting from my wireless network, and still other times I unplug the cord. However you do it, disconnecting from the Internet is a great way to get things done. Of course, you’ll eventually want to re-connect, but having blocks of time when you’re disconnected can be extremely productive.

2. Quicksilver or AutoHotkey. Quicksilver for Mac users, Autohotkey for PCs. I’ve used both an find them to be indispensable tools for getting things done efficiently. For example, we all have documents, programs, folders and websites we go to frequently — set up a hotkey to open them with a keystroke. It takes a little learning to figure out how to set these up (but you can Google tutorials), and to set up each hotkey might take a couple minutes. But once they’re set up, you’re lightning fast. You can go beyond these hotkeys for more powerful combinations, such as a hotkey to email something or resize a photo or do a thousand other things — I have probably a dozen or so I use regularly that save me hours when you add them all up over the course of a month.

3. Keyboard shortcuts for email. Similarly, your email program almost certainly has keyboard shortcuts, and if you’re not using them you should learn them. By using shortcuts for opening, sending, filing, searching and navigating through emails, you can work through a batch of emails in no time. And if you add shortcuts (via Quicksilver or AutoHotkey) for commonly used text or signatures, you can zip through your replies faster than I can go through a batch of Oreos.

4. Email filters. Let your email program do your work for you. I use Gmail filters, but programs such as Outlook or Mail.app, or what have you, all have similar filtering features. Learn to use them and set up filters for your most common emails. This will usually happen over time as you notice that you’re getting a lot of a certain type of email. For example, I get certain stats and financial reports relating to my work that I have labeled and filed by a filter, so that they never see the light of my inbox. Then I can always go and look in that label (or folder) to read those reports if I need to, but don’t need to read them when I go through my inbox. I also use filters to automatically delete emails from people who send me chain and joke emails (harsh, I know, but I get tired of those), and to file notifications from services like Facebook, Twitter, Paypal and other services.

5. Limit IM, Twitter, forums, other social stuff. You can spend all day chatting with others, or Twittering or going on online forums or social media. And while all of these tools have good uses, they can take up too much of your time if you let them. Set limits for yourself — say one hour a day to do all of these things, at a certain block of time in your schedule. You’ll have lots more time for the important tasks.

6. Stop worrying about filing. I’ve written about this before, of course, but I don’t really believe in filing anymore. Everything I do is digital these days, both online and on my computer’s hard drive. And I learned from Gmail that you can just archive something and search for it later without any problems (I’ve been doing this for two years with no problems finding things at all). So I do this with everything: files on my hard drive, documents in Google Docs and Spreadsheets, other types of online files. And my filing time has been reduced to almost zero — while I used to spend lots of time filing each day.

Tips for Home

1. Keep things clutter-free. I’m a big fan of clutter-free homes and workspaces, not only for their nicer aesthetics but because 1) it helps you to focus on what you’re doing instead of being distracted by visual clutter; 2) it’s more serene and relaxing; and 3) it saves time. How does it save time? It makes things easier to find, easier to clean, easier to navigate, and reduces wasted time reshuffling, sorting, looking through, and clearing away piles of clutter. Read more.

2. Keep things in their place. Similarly, having a “home” for everything saves time. You can have an uncluttered home but not know where anything belongs … instead, have a place for everything, and put things back in that place when you’re not using them. Make this a key habit in your life — when you’re done with something, put it back where it belongs. It takes a few seconds to do that, and saves time cleaning up later, looking for things (how many times have you lost something and searched long and hard for it?), and generally keeps things neater and uncluttered.

3. Teach kids to clean up after themselves. If you’re a parent, you know that keeping an uncluttered household isn’t easy when you have little rugrats running around making a mess every minute of the live-long day. Start your kids, from an early age, with the habit of cleaning up after themselves when they’re done playing. So let’s say they take out a bucket of building blocks and make a huge mess — that’s OK, but when they’re done, help them to pick everything up, put them in the bucket, and put the bucket back in its “home”. My younger kids like to sing a “Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere” song as they clean. Make it a game! With six kids, this has saved us countless hours of cleaning up after our kids.

4. Prep the night before. Whether you’re single or have a household full of kids, mornings might be a rush for you. Instead, create an evening routine where you get everything ready the night before, so you can start your day off right. This might not technically save time, but it gives you more time in the morning to focus on getting important things done rather than rushing through your routine.

5. Don’t watch too much TV. I personally have wasted entire days watching TV, so I know what a big time-hole television can be. Instead, limit your TV viewing time — maybe an hour a day? — and use the time you otherwise would have been watching TV on more important things — spending time with your loved ones, exercising, writing that novel you’ve been dreaming about.

6. Plan your weekly menu. If you plan out what you’re going to have for dinner (and even lunch) each day of the week, you can save a lot of time. First, you can go grocery shopping and get everything you need all at once — in fact, if you repeat the weekly menu the next week, you can do two weeks of shopping in one trip. Second, you can prepare food ahead of time (see next item), and pack your lunch easily for work. Third, you don’t have to worry about what’s for dinner each evening — it’s right there on the menu you posted on the fridge.

7. Cook big batches. I like to make large batches of food, which is especially helpful when you have a big family. I’ll cook up a big batch of chili, veggie soup, spaghetti, or other dish, and eat the leftovers for lunch or dinner (sometimes it can be several lunches and dinners).

8. Do all your errands at once. This is the same as the “batching” tip from the work section above (as is the previous tip, and the next tip). Write your errands on an errands list throughout the week, and do them all on one day. Plan your route so you do the least amount of driving possible, and get it all done quickly. Compared to running multiple errand trips, this method saves a lot of time.

9. Do your banking online, all at once. I like to do this once every week or even two weeks … I have all my bills ready to pay (actually, most of them are set up to be paid automatically by my bank’s bill-pay system), I reconcile my online bank statement, pay the bills, check my automatic savings transfers and so on.

10. Clean in one big rush. While I like to keep things clean by cleaning as I go, there’s also the sweeping and mopping and cleaning the bathrooms and things like that … and it’s a big time-saver to do it all in one big rush. My whole family will take different parts of the house, and we’ll do the cleaning all at once as fast as we can. We’re done in 30-45 minutes, and we can relax the rest of the day. Ahhh!

11. Get your workouts done in no time. If you don’t have a lot of time but want to stay (or get) in shape, try bodyweight exercises in circuits, but make the workout more intense by trying to do as many circuits as you can in a short amount of time. For example, do circuits of pullups, pushups, and bodyweight squats (5, 10, and 15 respectively) … and do as many as possible in 10 minutes (or 20 if you’re fit). Create your own circuits with different exercises, or look for similar challenges online to mix things up. Don’t do these intense exercises if you’re just starting out — just try to do a few circuits but not quickly if you’re still a beginner.

12. Keep a great big calendar. My family stays organized with a big calendar on our fridge (which I also manually sync with Gcal because I like Gcal). Everything goes on our calendar: parties, meetings, school events, soccer games, music lessons, birthdays, volunteering dates, and so on. This ensures that we don’t overschedule, that we’re all in sync with each other, and that we don’t miss appointments or events. And one big calendar saves time because we don’t have to keep checking with each other or looking at various schedules.

13. Get a babysitter or swap babysitting. If you are a parent and don’t have time to do things, hire a babysitter so you can find the time, or swap babysitting with another parent. My sister and I do this, for example — we’ll watch her kids some days and she’ll watch ours on others. It’s great because we have more time to do things, and our kids get to play together.

14. Consider hiring someone. Sometimes it makes more sense to hire someone to do something, especially if your time is worth more money than you’re paying that person. For example, if I have a large yard that would take me five hours to maintain (it’s pretty big), it makes more sense for me to pay someone as I can earn more during those 5 hours by working. Other things you might pay someone for: other home maintenance projects, washing your car, doing errands or laundry, doing your taxes … just about anything where doing it yourself isn’t cost-effective.

What are your time-saving tips? Share in the comments!
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Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead, follow him on twitter.

Increasing your productivity can be a great thing. It can free up more time for leisurely activities like laying on the beach, barbecuing and watching movies. It can give you more time for the things you love. More time for family, friends and pursuing your passions.

But there’s a point where you can take productivity too far. It can become more of a hobby than a means to an end. Just like a little too much self-help can hurt rather than help (too much thinking, not enough doing), obsession with efficiency can distract you from what really matters.

If you’ve ever found that you spend more time organizing and making lists, than you actually do getting things done, you might have a problem.

Here are 10 signs you may be a productivity junkie:

1. You wish you could create a keyboard shortcut for eat/sleep. Productivity has become more of a priority than enjoying meals and proper sleep. You end up looking for ways to minimize eating time (like juicing everything) or pursuing polyphasic sleep.
2. You spend significant amounts of time comparing GTD systems with other life “hackers.” You like to browse pictures like this and this, on Flickr.
3. Your kid tells you she skinned her knee and you say “what’s the next action?“
4. Improperly filing tasks on your color-coded to-do list is cause for serious disappointment. It has the potential to ruin your week.
5. Conversations with friends are broken up by you jotting notes to yourself. People ask you if you’re writing a book and you reply “I just don’t want to forget any of this.”
6. Keyboard shortcuts, Firefox extensions, and being a “power searcher” on Google cause you more arousal than watching a sex scene in a movie.
7. You refer to drinking beer out of a coffee mug as “hacking” that mug. Some other forms of hacking include: turning a sweatshirt in to a skirt and using an iron to make grilled cheese.
8. Sex with your spouse in on your someday/maybe list.
9. Your music is sorted not by artist or album, but by the length of each song.
10. You get things done, only to make more time to get more things done. The biggest sign you’ve become a productivity junkie is when you’ve lost site of the purpose for being productive… to have more free time.

By the way, aside from all this productivity bashing, there are some great blogs on meaningful productivity. Just a few are Productive Flourishing, Tools For Thought, Fluent Self, and The Art of Non-Conformity.

So what do you think? Can productivity be taken a little too far?

(PS: Thanks Leo for helping me come up with some of these)

This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind. For more ways to avoid producitivitis, grab a subscription to Illuminated MInd.

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Article by Leo Babauta. (Follow me on Twitter.)

Like many people, I tend to overeat during the holidays, from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. It’s kinda part of the tradition to consume huge amounts of food, you know?

And like many others, I also tend to gain weight during the holidays — some people can gain 5 or more pounds (though for most it’s usually only a couple pounds).

Not this time around.

On Thanksgiving, while I enjoyed time with my family, and while everyone else pigged out, I ate moderately and wisely. And I felt great about it. I also got a great workout in the morning after — heavy deadlifts followed by two brutal 10-minute weight circuits and finished with 15 minutes of hard intervals.

This will be the healthiest holiday season ever for me. I’m also starting a meal plan and exercise routine that will have me drop some fat while gaining muscle by New Years, I promise. I’ll publish more about this plan after I see the results (3 pounds dropped already).

But the really cool thing I started on Thanksgiving comes from the Okinawan people (who don’t live too far away from my home, the beautiful island of Guam).

The Okinawan Diet Rules

The Okinawans (the indiginous people of the Ryukyu islands in Japan) are famous for having the longest life expectancy in the world. This single fact has had them studied from every angle, from diet to lifestyle to genetics to environment. And while all of these have played a factor, there’s no doubt that their traditional diet has played a big part — when they eat a more modern, Western-style diet, they don’t live as long or as healthy.

So what’s their secret? Actually, there are two secrets (and they’re not really secrets), and I used these rules to guide my eating on Thanksgiving (and beyond):

Rule 1. Eat to 80% full. The Okinawans call this rule “Hara Hachi Bu”, and if you haven’t tried it, you should. I did this on Thanksgiving — while I usually stuff myself with all the good food, I just ate until I was about 80% full. Of course, there’s no way to know exactly how full you are, but it’s a guideline. And as our brains are 10-20 minutes behind our stomachs, it usually turns out that when you think you’re 80% full, you’re actually full … while when we eat to 100% full, we are usually overstuffing ourselves.

The result of this rule for Okinawans is that they end up eating fewer calories than most people. They tend not to gain too much weight as a result, and coupled with their active lifestyles (they farm and garden and generally stay active, even into their 100s), it keeps them very healthy.

The result for the rest of us is that eating fewer calories will keep the extra pounds off. If we pair this with the next rule and an active lifestyle, we can actually lose weight during the holidays.

Rule 2: Eat healthy foods, mostly plants. Way before Michael Pollan wrote about his simple rules for eating healthy, the Okinawans had this down. They eat way more veggies than most people (mostly green and yellow ones), as well as whole grains, tofu, fish and other legumes. They eat very little sugar, and very little meat, dairy or eggs. This contradicts low-carb diets such as the Zone, Atkins, Paleo and others — I’m not saying those don’t work for whatever your goals are, but I am saying that a mostly plant-based diet has been proven to work well for the Okinawans.

I used these guidelines during Thanksgiving. I don’t eat meat or fish, so I stuck with veggies and sweet potatoes and a mango-ginger tofu dish I made. Again, I ate to about 80% full, and loved it. OK, I also had some pumpkin pie (made it myself) but as I ate mostly healthy and didn’t overeat, I felt great about it.

Can you follow these rules throughout the holidays, and the rest of your life as well? The Okinawans did it (although the younger generation has changed to a more Western lifestyle and has suffered for it) and I think I can too, most of the time. Treats are great in moderation, but moderation is the key word.

Get Active Too

I’m adding more exercise to these Okinawan diet rules (not to be confused with the commercial Okinawan diet, which I think is unnecessary if you follow these rules). The extra activity will help burn any extra calories I take in (which won’t be a huge amount) and I hope lean me out even more. My goal is to be in the best shape of my life by New Year’s — why wait until then to start?

The key is to just get active. Exercise regularly if you can, play sports, toss a ball around with your family. My nephews and I tossed a football around and worked up a sweat durng Thanksgiving lunch, and the next day during a day-after-Thanksgiving dinner with my dad I went swimming with the kids.

For those who are curious, I’ll list my current workout routine. I don’t expect anyone to follow it, especially if you’re not very active already.

• Mon: Running — intervals combined with steady state for 40-60 mins
• Tue: Heavy weights plus metabolic-conditioning strength circuits plus 15-mins of high-intensity cardio intervals
• Wed: Running — hill sprint repeats combined with steady state for 40-60 mins
• Thu: Heavy weights plus metabolic-conditioning strength circuits plus 15-mins of high-intensity cardio intervals
• Fri: Running — longer distance running (over an hour, sometimes two) including some intervals
• Sat: Heavy weights plus metabolic-conditioning strength circuits plus 15-mins of high-intensity cardio intervals
• Sun: rest (although I often play soccer with the kids or do yardwork or sometimes go hiking)

I try to mix some yardwork and other activities in there when I’m not too tired. Oh, and I’m doing a marathon in Honolulu</