Meaning in this world is what we choose to create for ourselves, not something we discover. If you haven’t found a purpose take time out each day to think about it until you have. Find a worthwhile goal and commit yourself to it.

Don’t passively wait for life to happen to you, because most likely it won’t. Go out and make life happen. Have a reason for living, and live. Incredible things are within your grasp if you have a clear view of what you want, proceed methodically, with an open mind, and put in the legwork.

Ask yourself questions about how you want to live your life. You have huge control over your life, but only if you choose to take it, and only if you have a direction to go in. Most people simply drift through life, living their life on automatic as they simply respond to others around them; and then they wonder what happened. It doesn’t have to be like that. Think about what you want and how you want to live and work towards it.

Define your purpose around something that matters to you, not in terms of comparing yourself with others. Life isn’t a competition. In the end there are no winners or losers. We all end up dead.

Be wary of defining yourself solely through one aspect of your life. You should define yourself through your working life, your personal life, and your relationships. Having goals from different aspects of your life will help you deal with difficulties when they arise. Personal objectives outside work, and strong relationships, for example, will help you deal with loss of your job, retirement, or some other particularly stressful event.

Follow your dreams. You will have problems and difficulties in your life whatever you do. Better the problems are ones whose solution helps you move you towards a worthwhile end rather than just be problems to be solved.

Don’t live your live being always busy but not achieving very much. Look to simplify much of your life so that you can focus you time and efforts on things that matter to you and help make you feel that life is worth living.

There are opportunities all around you if you keep your eyes open, seek them out, think about them, and you are willing to work at them even when they are far from certain. Continually seek to improve your own skills and capabilities, and see life as something to be positively engaged with rather than something to fear or hold back from.

See negative thoughts or things you are unhappy about as an opportunity. They arise from a problem. Problems are opportunities. They are challenges. Opportunities and challenges are what inspire or force us to develop and grow. Thus tackle problems head on with a positive attitude and the knowledge that you are going to get the best you can out of them.

Be an expert in something. You can’t be an expert in everything, but you can be an expert in something. Being an expert in something gives you a competitive advantage in something. Moreover being an expert in something gives you a general credibility that goes far beyond whatever area it is you are an expert in.

We can and should do ordinary things extraordinarily well. If you cannot make the effort to be effective in the small things, don’t expect to be effective in the big things. Be continually looking for how to do things better. Seek every little improvement, no matter how small.

You have a duty to yourself, your family, and the world to do what you can to contribute to the betterment of those close to you and to mankind in general.

To achieve great things, have a clear vision of what you want to create, have a plan, be organized, work hard, be persistent in the light of difficulties and problems, believe that you can achieve, get others involved, and have patience. Notice what is working and what isn’t, and adapt to do more of what is working and less of what isn’t.

Always have a pen and notebook with you because ideas and thoughts could come to you at any time and if you don’t note them down more or less straight away there is a good chance you’ll forget them again, no matter how brilliant they may momentary appear to be.

Never pass up the opportunity for new experiences unless you judge them too dangerous. Many opportunities only pass by you once.

Take pride in the things you do well, and try to do everything you do well. Including the little things.

Life is shorter than you think it is. Every day is precious. Live it. Make the most of it. Seize whatever opportunities come your way or which you can engineer.

Everyone has plans for doing the right things tomorrow. The trick is to do them today.

Do not dwell on your approaching death, but appreciate your remaining life. It is not what you have failed to do with your life to date that is important; it is what you can do with the time you still have.

Living your life for purely hedonist pleasures is unlikely to leave you feeling you’ve lived your life with purpose. Purpose is found in helping others and in helping make the world a better place. There are many ways of doing this.

Few of us come anywhere near close to exhausting our energies or our abilities. We can all achieve far more than we do.

There is a part of us that wants a life of least resistance, a life of comfort and pleasure. But it's doing us no favours. It's leaving us unprepared for the rigours of the real world and also leaves us with a life of no meaning. We should look to challenge ourselves and see discomforts and difficulties as a means of raising us up, making us stronger and more robust. Rather than getting down about difficulties you should welcome them as training on the road to a better you. A you that decides how to live your life rather than having life imposed upon you.

Experience the simple joy of being alive. An infinite number of beings that could, but for chance, have been, have not had that opportunity. You have. In the great cosmos it is an infinitely small likelihood that you should have been; yet here you are. Be grateful, appreciate what you have, take joy, and do what you can to give your life some form of meaning, and ensure you take joy in the journey for there is only one destiny.

Adopt a positive hopeful attitude. You will get far more done if you are positive and hopeful about what you are doing or need to do, and look to make the best of whatever circumstances you find yourself in. Don’t be unrealistic about what you can do, but you should certainly err on the side of believing that you can do things, because if you make the effort and are willing to tackle the adversities you probably can.

Whilst being positive is an important part of success and getting things done, don’t use it as a substitute for working hard and developing your skills and abilities. None of us would want to be under the knife of a surgeon with a positive attitude but without adequate training.

Confidence arises from knowing you are prepared for the worst, and then focusing on doing your best.

Be assertive when you need to be, though never aggressive. Being assertive is acknowledging that you have your rights and you have a right to state them. Not being aggressive means you acknowledge that other people have rights, and the right to state them.

Be constructive rather than destructive. Being skeptical is for the most part being destructive, though sometimes it is appropriate: some ideas do not deserve to survive and can and should be taken apart through skepticism and asking why. However it is all too easy to be continually skeptical and negative and finding fault. Some ideas are the best to be had and focus should be on improving them in a constructive manner rather than simply destroying them and leaving nothing in their place.

You are not perfect, so don’t live your life in fear that you may do something that shows you are not perfect. Don’t try to live up to an image of being perfect. Getting things wrong from time to time is normal. Laugh at your mistakes. Learn from your mistakes. Move on.

Learn by heart what is termed the positive thinker’s prayer:

◦ God grant me the courage to change the things that can be changed
◦ The grace to accept the things that cannot
◦ And the wisdom to be able to distinguish

You will be happier if you live your life with purpose and meaning.

Don’t live your life on autopilot. Choose to live the best life you are able. Live each day as fully as you can, and be enthusiastic and passionate about everything you do. Be excited about your life and your future.

Happiness arises from focusing your attention to what you have control over – your thoughts, your actions, your reactions – rather than worrying about what you don’t have control over.

Appreciate the world as it is; and let go of any disappointments at it not being as you would wish it to be. Focus on what you have, rather than on what you don’t have.

There are two ways to be rich: to get everything you want or to only want what you already have.

Don’t be taken in by the advertising industry. The people portrayed are actors and the lives they are shown living are staged. You will never by happy if you are continually chasing the unrealistic expectations depicted by the advertising industry.

The more television you watch the more dissatisfied you are likely to become with your life.

How happy we are with our circumstances is dependent upon what we compare them with. We can see our circumstances in a positive light by comparing them with something worse, or in a negative light by comparing them with something better. The circumstances themselves are unchanged, only our attitude towards them has changed. Whether we are happy or miserable with our circumstances is thus dependent upon us, not them.

Even if we are happy with our circumstances this doesn’t prohibit us from trying to improve them.

Things don’t always go the way you would like. Don’t let it bother you. Expecting the world to fit itself in around you is an unrealistic expectation, and a route to frequent disappointment and frustration. Do what you can to influence how things turn out, and then deal with them however it is that they do turn out.

If bad things happen, shrug it off and get on with your life. Don’t let it eat away at you or spoil the rest of your day. Let it go, albeit dealing with any issues that may been to be dealt with.

You can feel in a good mood, feel happy, feel energetic, feel positive, feel alert, by just choosing to be so. Just snap yourself into such positive moods and then get on with your day in that positive frame of mind. Practice it. You’ll find you can do it, and if you keep practicing it you’ll get highly skilled at doing it.

The more things you can learn to appreciate the more opportunities you have for happiness.

Find a way to make mundane tasks enjoyable or interesting and you’ll spend much more of your life being happy.

Be genuinely happy for others people’s success and you will significantly increase your own opportunities for happiness.

Do not judge your worth through comparing yourself with others. You’ll be set for disappointment. There will always be others more successful or better off than you are in some way. Instead focus on your own life. Set your self-worth by comparing yourself with your past self. By continually looking to improve yourself you can rightly judge yourself as more worthy than you were before. And note that this isn’t about your financial worth it is about the sort of person you are in terms of how you live your life and how you relate to others.

Enjoy the journey. Irrespective of your eventual life achievements, you are living your life as you go along. Notice it and enjoy it. Ultimately it is not where you end up that matters, it is how you travelled.

Develop a general attitude of gratitude for the good things in your life and the good things people do for you. Appreciate what you have rather than be bitter about what you don’t. For the vast majority of us life could be an awful lot worse, and it has been for most people in the past and it still is for many. Be grateful for what you have and make the most of the opportunities you have the potential to create for yourself.

Happiness doesn’t depend on what you have, it depends on what you think. Being happy and contented is largely about attitude of mind and being appreciative of what you have. Beyond a basic minimum, having more material possessions rarely has a significant effect on your happiness.

The more you get the more you want. As such, getting more does nothing to satisfy long term happiness, and is often counterproductive. Happiness does not come from getting more of what you want.

Happiness isn’t about what’s going on outside of us, it’s about what is going on inside of us. Our own thoughts have the greatest impact on our happiness, and we can choose our own thoughts.

Seeking and gaining a luxurious lifestyle is likely to lead to a less contented life rather than a more contented life. Simple pleasures can be regularly enjoyed and can give us every much happiness as luxurious pleasures. A taste for luxurious pleasures however will leave us regularly unsatisfied as we are continually seeking for some level of perfection and frequently finding ourselves disappointed.

Paradoxically old age provides us with far greater opportunities for enjoying life than does younger ages. We are less likely to take life for granted in the way younger people do, and thus are capable of being more appreciative of both the time we have and of the little things in life.

Appreciate all that is around you and what is in your grasp and you will never want of something to appreciate.

If you think of yourself as a victim of circumstances you are unlikely to be happy. We are all victims of circumstances to a greater or lesser extent. We can be happy irrespective of our circumstances by focussing on our inner selves rather than on our external circumstances.

Happiness is not something we should be looking for others to confer upon us: a therapist, our partner, our leaders. Happiness is something only we can confer upon ourselves by taking responsibility for it, by recognising it is about our response to circumstances, not about circumstances themselves.

We are more likely to live a life of happiness if we practice self sacrifice and self discipline than we are living a life of self indulgence.

Learn to live most of your life in the present, rather than continually beating yourself up about things from the past or worrying about the future. The present moment is all we ever have. Now is the only time we have power to do anything or the time to appreciate being alive.

If you don’t like the moment you are in look to change it if you can, and if you can’t change it then simply experience it. Like it or not, it is still the totality of your life.

When you are with someone else, be with them. Don’t let your mind be off somewhere else. The most important thing to do when with someone is to be with them by giving them all your attention, rather than letting your own thoughts be running through your head.

Don’t obsess about the use of your time. Take time to relax. Take time to be with people who matter to you. Take time to sit and think.

Don’t allow yourself to become so focused on the little things that you miss the wonder of life itself. Appreciate the splendor and the miracle of the world around you. Imagine how magical it would have appeared to people from 100 or 200 years ago. Regularly have a sense of awe about the world we live in.

How you do anything is how you do everything. How you handle today is how you’ll handle every day. How you handle yourself right now is how you’ll always handle yourself, until you change.

Start each day anew. Be finished with your previous day. Do not start a new day weighed down by thoughts of what you didn’t do the day before. Do what you can with each day, and accept though learn from your mistakes and shortcomings. Try to be specific about something you could have done better; not to beat yourself up about it, but to resolve to do different in the future. Be specific about what you will do next time in similar or analogous circumstances.

Start each day with a smile. It will help make you feel good about yourself. Think of each day as a new start filled with potential opportunities. Our days are usually far more fulfilling if we set out to make them so rather than expect our days to be boring. How our days go are often self-fulfilling prophesies.

The rest of your life is dictated by what you do today, and by the choices you make today.

You will only get one shot at today. When it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Do your very best to be your very best. When someone asks what you did yesterday, don’t have to answer ‘nothing’.

Be very explicit about what you are looking to achieve today. Try to be realistic. Write it down at the beginning of the day and take account of any known other demands on your time. At the end of the day write a short note on how well you have done. If you’ve come up short, identify why and what it is you will do next time to get better at estimating and better at doing.

Make each day the best it can be. You can achieve great things, live an extraordinary life, but only by doing the things you know you ought to be doing right now. Your life is now. Not in some vague future, which in any case will never be anything other than now. If you are not able to appreciate being alive now, and not able to give your all now, you are not going to be able to do it tomorrow.

Do not be continually waiting for your life to begin, waiting for obstacles to be overcome, or things to be dealt with first. You are already living your life, every day, including today. Make progress today on what matters to you in life.

If you are not moving forward in your life, day by day, you are moving backwards. What can you do today that will take you closer to where you want to be?

Don’t count the days; make the days count. If you are looking forward to some day in the future, going on holiday for example, rather than be impatient for the day to arrive, try to do as much as you can before the day arrives. The time will pass by much more satisfyingly.

Days with familiar patterns and routine pass very quickly. To slow time down do something new and different each day: take a different route; eat something you haven’t tried before; read something you wouldn’t normally read; talk to someone you don’t know well; listen to a radio station you haven’t listened to before.

Too much time is wasted on the trivial or the empty like watching TV or browsing the internet without a specific purpose. Time in which we achieve nothing more than the passing of time.

Every day provides a myriad of opportunities to move just a little bit further forward, to learn something new, to get just a little bit better organized, to be just a little bit better.

Always do the very best you can in everything you do. Don’t worry about being the best, and don’t measure yourself against some external standard, which is likely to be either too high or too low for you personally. Measure yourself against your own best achievable standard. Personal excellence is what you should be always seeking: no more, no less. It’s more fun than just doing, and you learn and grow.

Do the best you can in the time available, and accept the outcome. Engage fully in what you are doing. You should not judge yourself against how well you did, but on whether or not you did the best you could.

You will not be able to make each day perfect. But you can make each day better than it might otherwise have been had you not made the effort.

You can restart your day at any time. Just because the day so far has not gone well, there’s nothing stopping you from starting again, with a smile and a resolve, to make the best of the rest of the day.

Make the most of the days you are in good health, body and mind, since misfortune may strike at any time.

We all have the same amount of time each day and each week. Some people sit around not able to get on with or do much of anything; the days, the weeks, and the years pass by in frustration and angst. Others get on with the things they need and want to do, and have enjoyable and satisfying lives.

There is plenty of time to have a fulfilling life if you make use of your time. For the most part, those who complain about not having enough time are those who make little use of the time they have. There are many people who get bored on a Sunday afternoon yet still wish they could live longer.

Sincerely and regularly ask yourself what is the best thing for you to do right now? And then do it, the best you can.

If you have worries when you wake up in the morning, or even occurring to you during the course of the day, get them all written down. You’ll feel better about it.

What has passed has passed. You can’t do anything about the past. But you can decide what you are going to do now and in the future.

Make your work and home environments pleasant. Clear away clutter, keep it clean, put some good thought mementos about. Be pleasant to people during the day. Dress in a way that makes you feel good and confident.

Life is much briefer than you think; after all, where did the last 5, 10, 20 years go? Appreciate every day. Appreciate the rest of today. Use the rest of the day in a meaningful way.

Do new things, try new foods, go to places you haven’t been before. New experiences make your life feel fuller and help it seem longer. You will find lots of new things you enjoy and occasionally some you definitely don’t, which you can put down to experience. However don’t be continually seeking new thrills and intense excitements, which do little to widen your experiences. Don’t be continually trying to seek out every more intensity in your experiences.

Keep a diary/journal into which you write every day. Life goes by faster than you realize. Most people will struggle to remember much of their past lives. A diary will help you remember. Include both external and internal things. What is happening around you, what are you doing, but also what is dominating your thoughts.

Find a balance between doing and being. If you are forever doing and spend no time being then your life will just be eternally busy and largely meaningless. Find a balance between your outer world, where you interact with others, and your inner world where you reflect upon your own being and existence.

Use Negative Visualisation to imagine yourself without some of the things you have, and come therefore to better appreciate having them.

From time to time seek some discomfort, or allow yourself to experience some discomfort, so as to remind yourself to appreciate the good things that you have. We can readily go without much of what we take for granted and thus shouldn't be concerned about potential future loss or about occasions when we don't have all our comforts around us.. Moreover experiencing discomforts helps us feel more alive from time to time and can also help us develop our will-power.