Leaders are going to hit bumps in the road. You don’t have to worry about problems and challenges, they will find you. Therefore, you need to know what things in life make you happy to counteract those situations and times in your life.
I’ve journaled a quick list of 100 things that make me happy.
1. The silence of 5am
2. When my dog Sophie greets me at the door, she is always happy
3. The look on someone’s face in a workshop when they “get it”.
4. My Southern California Rock iTunes playlist (Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, J.D. Souther, etc.
5. When any member of our company team hits a goal they set for themselves
6. When a client achieves something they once thought impossible
7. The sound of my Mom and Dad’s voice on our regular Sunday Night call
8. The feedback and value I receive from my Lead With Giants Community
9. The smell of fresh cut grass
10. When I hear that any friend has kicked an addiction of any kind
11. The sound of the coffee pot brewing
12. The instantaneous function of Nook and Kindle books being in my hands with a click
13. Teaching
14. Finding the answer
15. Making people’s dreams come true
16. That God made the internet just for me
17. The color blue
18. The number 4
19. Talking with Ann Marie about things I can’t imagine discussing with anyone else
20. Coming up with pithy things to post on my Social Media pages
21. Fall/Autumn
22. Dreaming (both sleeping and awake)
23. A great story told greatly
24. Meeting new people and clicking with them quickly
25. Coaching
26. Rainy days
27. Hanging out on late Summer nights when there is a breeze
28. The sound of a bat hitting a ball followed by crowd noise
29. The University of Kentucky Band playing “I Can’t Turn You Loose” by Otis Redding
30. Drinking iced tea with an orange slice
31. Star Gazing and taking in the bigness of the universe
32. Developing new models and intellectual property to help people
33. Writing
34. Winter
35. Halloween and children
36. Thanksgiving and family
37. Christmas at home
38. Feeling like I am doing what I was born to do
39. The ocean
40. The mountains
41. Snowy days
42. Cool hotels, bars and lobbies
43. Great meeting rooms
44. Singing songs I love
45. Freedom
46. Barnes and Noble
47. Listening to Sophie and Ann Marie sleeping
48. Camaraderie
49. Hitting a goal
50. Watching people grow and transform
51. Technology
52. Summer
53. College Basketball
54. Jazz music
55. Losing myself in prayer and/or meditation early in the morning
56. Laughing until I cry
57. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
58. Seeing the sunrise over the Ocean
59. When someone gives a dog or cat a nice home
60. Long sleeves and shorts
61. National Lampoon’s Animal House
62. My home
63. Shark Tank
64. Driving on interstate highways I haven’t driven on before
65. Watching my brother teach leadership to young boys on a baseball field
66. Watching my brother grow up to be awesome
67. Memories of the stages of my life
68. Pictures of people I have met
69. Amazon Prime & Netflix
70. The iPhone
71. Spring
72. The twilight moments between 8 and 9 pm in the Summertime
73. Dinner with people I enjoy
74. Learning
75. Giving gifts
76. Helping people
77. Songs that I can see in my mind
78. Songs that remind me of wonderful people and places
79. Skype
80. Traveling
81. Movies that inspire me (i.e. Miracle, Apollo 13 or The Persuit of Happiness, etc)
82. Mad Men
83. When someone refers me to someone else
84. Thinking about how good things are in America
85. Leaves falling
86. A fresh, clean undershirt
87. History
88. Marking things off my list
89. Feeding snack bones to Sophie
90. Spreadsheets
91. Showers
92. Winter days and fireplaces
93. Talking with my best friends
94. Speaking to groups
95. Saturdays
96. Jeans that fit just right
97. When my car and office are clean
98. Technology
99. When people use the apostrophe correctly
100. Ann Marie telling me “everything will be alright.”
How many can you list and do for yourself when you need something happy?
For more insights like these, sign up for the Monday Morning Coaching Memo.
Comments