I’m not the kind of person who likes lists that tells us what to do in order to be happy. Everyone is different and everything works differently for each and everyone of us. I want you to bear this in mind as you read the rest of this article. Writing about being happy is not a light decision, but I’ll try to stick to the decisions I came to realize I found the most significant (from my very limited life experience).

The first and more important lesson I want you to take from this is that, in order for you to lead a happy life, you need to always do things with a purpose. Most people spend their limited time confined to the little technological box they carry in their pocket everyday. Don’t get me wrong, I love phones, but sometimes we live our life through them. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I think this video explains it quite well. But I’m not just talking about phones here, what I’m trying to say is that you’ll feel better with yourself if, by the end of the day, you read that book you always wanted to, studied that troublesome chapter you didn’t even want to start reading or if you simple cooked a soufflé for the first time. I doesn’t really matter what you did, as long as you feel accomplished doing it, instead of just wandering without a purpose.

Starting an exercise routine is almost always a good way to introduce yourself to a new life. You don’t need to run 5k or do 100 push-ups every single day, a 30-minute walk or 15 minutes of aerobic exercise are enough. Do whatever suits you best, exercising to the point of exhaustion is not what’s important, you just need to be active every single day and I’ll assure you’ll start feeling more motivated and less tired after just two or three days of doing so.

Another idea you can try is meditation. I’m well aware this doesn’t sound like a very compelling idea, but I’m not talking about dressing a robe, going to the middle of a misty mountain and pronounce ‘om’ for several straight hours. The idea with meditation is to give yourself some time alone (maybe this image will help). We spend each and every single moment of our day trying to avoid being alone with our thoughts, that’s why social networks are successful, because they draw our attention away from us by giving us paltry information about other people we don’t even care about. We are reaching a situation in which we can’t even go to the bathroom without taking our phone with us or distracting ourselves by reading the shampoo’s ingredients. That’s a little bit worrisome in my opinion.

On the other hand, you also need to take into account the advantages of surrounding yourself with the best people you know. Nothing will give you more the feeling of being part of something larger and meaningful, than meeting the diversity of the people around you. Every single person you’ll meet will know something you don’t know and it is through the exchange of ideas and perspectives, one can truly see the big picture. Make sure you understand how important you are in this world and how you can leave it a little bit better than when you saw it for the first time.

Last, but not least, make sure you create goals. You can’t truly evaluate your success if you didn’t have any objectives in the start. Make sure you write down every single week what you plan to do with your time, but don’t be too ambitious. Just write down simple goals, you don’t want to build a space rocket in your first week of your new life. This will keep you motivated, while making sure you will have a simple, clear objective always present in your mind.

These were some of the little decisions I made in my life, that I wanted to share with you. Some of them will work with you, but some of them won’t, so make sure you pick the ones that suit you best. If you read the whole text, but you don’t feel motivated to start improving you daily life, maybe this video will do a better job than I did.

Remember: it’s all about the little things.