You may have picked up an undercurrent to some of my posts lately. Happiness. Many people go through life, expecting to be happy, but find themselves stuck in a mundane existance that they just can’t seem to get out of. I was watching a movie last night (ok, it was “Take the Lead” with Antonio Banderas).. anyway, there was a memorable quote that kind of stuck with me:

Pierre Dulaine: You can get what you want.
Rock: No, some people get what they want.
Pierre Dulaine: Those are the people who show up to get it.

Sometimes its not a matter of just showing up, but you have to take active steps toward making your destiny happen. Nobody is just going to give you that car, or job, or million dollars. You are going to have to get it yourself. If you are unhappy with your life, the only person you have to blame is yourself.

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Lately I’ve been feeling a bit “unsatisfied” with my life… I can’t pinpoint why that is.. its just a feeling I have. I have this nagging feeling that I need to make some kind of change. So I started looking at my life in terms of what I’m doing to make myself happy. That really should be the goal of everyone. To be happy with their life. Is it to make more money? Find a girlfriend? Change jobs? Live in a comfortable home? Travel?

What I came to realize is that I don’t really know what would or wouldn’t make me happy. So I started to explore my personality a bit more, and try to figure out what that nagging feeling of “unsatisfaction” was. This led me to looking up my Zodiac sign. I’ve known for a very long time that since I was born at the end of May, that I’m a Gemini. I occasionally look at my horoscope, and say, “hmm.. thats cool maybe I’ll be a millionaire today.” And I’ve looked up what personality traits a Gemini is suppose to have… Yep, that fits me.
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I spotted this article over on the lifehack.org about how to start your day. I have to admit that I don’t follow any of these tips, but they certainly seem like a good idea. How to raise the odds that it’s going to be a fantastic day. Who would have thought that grabbing a pop-tart on the way out the door, probably wasn’t the best way to start the day?

On a side note… my digital scale broke over the weekend (no, not from excess weight) because I think the battery might be going dead. I am choosing to see this as a positive thing… now I won’t be obsessing about the pound or two fluctuations in my weight.

I’ve been in the work force for almost 20 years now, and have seen some good groups to work for, and some not-so-good groups to work for. Over this time, I’ve come to realize that many empoyers just don’t know how to treat their employees well. They assume that just because they are providing a paycheck, that their employees should be happy and do everything they are asked. The truth is, today’s workforce is more willing to jump from job to job than ever before. Companies need to realize that a paycheck is not always sufficient to keep a motivated or loyal workforce. I’m going to assume that everyone can agree that there are numerous benefits to having a happy workplace. It doesn’t take a Harvard study to recognize that productivity levels increase with the level of satisfaction in the workplace.

So, I have provided 10 tips to creating a happy workplace.

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I’m all about penny-pinching… unfortunately, I’m also a slacker who rarely looks at his finances to see where he could scrimp or save. For example, it is quite possible that I could save a ton of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico, but I’ve been with the same insurance company for 20 years, and am just too big of a slacker to switch. Same with my web-hosting and various other services that I pay for on a monthly basis. I’ve found that I’d rather pay an extra $10 here and there, just so I don’t have to fill out any paperwork. Imagine all the money I could save if I just sat down and figured out where I could scrimp or save some money.

I found this article recently at Cashbulge.com that gives 13 Creative & Simple Ways to Save at Least $100 a Week. I happen to do a number of these things already, including saving my change, taking the train, and not having a home-phone line.

What would you do if you had an extra $100 a week?

I have had a bit of time to reflect on my last posting… and as I was walking into work today, I came to a rather unsettling realization.

I tend to think of myself as more athletic than I probably am.

When I was younger, I was an avid soccer and tennis player. I was never really in tip-top shape, but I could perform. I could run a mile without getting out of breath, and short sprints wouldn’t kill me. I used to play 90 minutes of soccer without much problems.

Now I feel my legs getting tired after walking up 2 flights of stairs. Yes, I’m sure this has a lot to do with me being overweight and basically not exercising. And yes, I know that I could probably get back in shape by doing some workouts. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I still feel like I can play 90 minutes of soccer without any problems, even though logically, I know I can’t.

Do you have an overinflated sense of physical prowess? Doesn’t it suck to know that as you’ve gotten older, you’ve lost some of your abilities through lack of use?

A lot of things have happened in my life since I last posted to this blog… Primarily, I was laid off from my job of 2 years. It was kind of a shock, but not entirely suprising. The company I was with has shown signs of struggling, and it was just a matter of time before the owners started making the moves necessary to keep the business afloat. Unfortunately for me, that included a lay-off.

But I sent out a few resume’s the next day, and was gainfully employed fairly quickly. Luckily I had some savings accumulated, so the transition was not as painful as it quite possibly could have been.

As a result of that, my diet was thrown out the window. I stopped tracking my food intake and have gained a few of the pounds I lost over the last few months. Now that I’ve started my new job, I am trying to get back to a regular schedule.

Life is a marathon. There are twists, turns, and bumps along the way, and how you deal with them will dictate how you end the race. Wether you run through life at a rabbits pace, or chug along like a turtle is up to you. But remember, the race is long.