How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life

Here are a few of the exercise “musts” you hear all the time. Do thirty minutes of aerobic exercise daily. Stretch. Hydrate. Eat protein within thirty minutes of strength training. Carb load the night before a big exercise day. Do resistance/weight training every other day. Do three sets of ten to fifteen reps. Get lots of rest. Vary your workout t

Unhappiness that is caused by too much success is a high-class problem. That’s the sort of unhappiness people work all of their lives to get. If you find yourself there, and I hope you do, you’ll find your attention naturally turning outward. You’ll seek happiness through service to others. I promise it will feel wonderful.

There are three practical ways to schedule exercise in a marriage or marriagelike situation: Join an organized team. Always exercise at the same time every day. Exercise together (if you both really mean it).

I’m not suggesting that you should stop accepting invitations from your overweight friends. But in the upcoming fitness chapter I’ll suggest joining some organized sports teams if you can. That will expand your social circle to include people who enjoy exercise. In time your sport friends will play a bigger role in your social life. That can only b

The Healthy Eating Summary The Simple, No-Willpower Diet System Pay attention to your energy level after eating certain foods. Find your pattern. Remove unhealthy, energy-draining food from your home. Stock up on convenient healthy food (e.g., apples, nuts, bananas) and let laziness be your copilot in eating right. Stop eating foods that create fee

I’m here to tell you that the primary culprit in your bad moods is a deficit in one of the big five: flexible schedule, imagination, sleep, diet, and exercise.

Pessimism is often a failure of imagination. If you can imagine the future being brighter, it lifts your energy and gooses the chemistry in your body that produces a sensation of happiness. If you can’t even imagine an improved future, you won’t be happy no matter how well your life is going right now.

Recapping the happiness formula: Eat right. Exercise. Get enough sleep. Imagine an incredible future (even if you don’t believe it). Work toward a flexible schedule. Do things you can steadily improve at. Help others (if you’ve already helped yourself). Reduce daily decisions to routine.

My observation, backed by the science, is that the person who eats right won’t be bothered as much by the little bumps in life’s road, and he or she will have greater optimism, too.