It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that if you have something you love or there’s something you want, you’ll be happier with more.
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Quotes
Quote: Looking
There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.
written by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit
Quote: Twenties
Because our twenties are the capstone of this last critical period, they are, as one neurologist said, a time of “great risk and great opportunity.” … Never again will we be so quick to learn new things. Never again will it be so easy to become the people we hope to be. The risk is that we may not act now.
The Defining Decade by Meg Jay
Quote: Quit
Quit Stuff …to give yourself room to grow and to give God room to work. The patterns of life can weigh down and hold back. Quitting things forces you forward to explore new opportunities, to try new things you wouldn’t have time for otherwise and to fill your life with things that are fresh, different and dangerous.
Bob Goff in a recent article in Relevant Magazine
I can’t quite decide what to think about this. Goff apparently goes to extreme measures and quits something every Thursday—leases, jobs, furniture, board positions, volunteering. While that’s a bit too much for me, I think there’s some wisdom behind this idea. In a lot of ways, that’s what happened when we moved. Is it time to quit something already?
Quote: Maximizers
Satisficers are those who make a decision or take action once their criteria are met. That doesn’t mean they’ll settle for mediocrity; their criteria can be very high, but as soon as they find the hotel, the pasta sauce, or the business card that has the qualities they want, they’re satisfied. Maximizers want to make the optimal decision. Even if they see a bicycle or a backpack that meets their requirements, they can’t make a decision until after they’ve examined every option, so they can make the best possible choice.
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Recognize yourself in one of those? We are both maximizers to a “t” and reading it out loud was almost scary. It did explain our compulsive need to check reviews on even most mundane objects all the way up to the bigger decisions, like where to live.
Quote: Who I Am
I have an idea of who I wish I were, and that obscures my understanding of who I am actually am. Sometimes I pretend even to myself to enjoy activities that I don’t really enjoy, such as shopping, or to be interested in subjects that don’t much interest me, such as foreign policy. And worse, I ignore my true desires and interests.
Excerpt from The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Quote: Best Friend
[Tom] Rath’s research found that while only 30 percent of employees report having a best friend at work, most people would opt for an office bestie over a 10 percent raise. And the lucky employees who do have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs.
MWF seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche
Quote: Writing
One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to do things, to go places and explore. Another is that writing motivates you to look closely at life, at life as it lurches by and tramps around.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Unemployed
What day of the week is it?
Do you remember the last time you brushed your teeth?
When’s the last time I showered?
(Signs you are unemployed)
True and verbatim quotes from our own lives
Quote: Great Things
To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.
Leonard Bernstein, composer