Five Things to Try This Month (A tip to preserve memories / Reflect on your work life)

Recently, I went on a hiking trip to England, which meant going from the land of Fahrenheit to the land of Celsius. I’ve learned two helpful mnemonics for knowing what to wear after looking at the weather report.

—Remember that 16 degrees Celsius is 61 Fahrenheit, and 28 degrees Celsius is 82 degrees Fahrenheit. (So that provides a ballpark idea of temperature.)

—Recall this rhyme for Celsius: “30’s is hot, 20’s is nice, 10 is cold, 0 is ice.”

5 Things to Try This Month

“When I’m ninety years old…”

If you’re feeling stressed or frustrated, consider this Try This at Home suggestion from legendary entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk: Take an extremely deep breath, smile sincerely, then tell yourself, “When I’m ninety years old, I won’t care about this.” Hear more of Gary’s tips for happiness in episode 491 of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast.

Cultivate loving connection with the Happier™ app.

It’s easy to take the people closest to us for granted. This month’s Jump-Start in the Happier™ app suggests seven concrete, manageable steps you can take to connect with your sweetheart. Download the app for free and scroll through to see previous days’ prompts.

Reflect on your work life.

This year in the United States, Labor Day falls on September 2nd. This minor holiday can be a catalyst to reflect on our own “labor”—our work life, whether paid or unpaid. How could you be happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative in your work life? Could you delegate a task, buy a helpful new tool, learn a new skill, update your resume, start a side hustle, finish a project, organize your space, have a difficult conversation? It’s one of my Secrets of Adulthood: Things that can happen at any time often happen at no time.

Shape your space to shape your behavior.

Our environment can have a big impact on our actions and attitude. Consider how you might adjust your surroundings to make a habit more convenient or enjoyable to keep. For instance, you might create a comfortable space to read, clear off your treadmill and set up a TV, add visual reminders of an identity you’d like to cultivate, or put kitchen tools you’d like to use more often within easy reach. (You can make this exercise part of your #HappierLaborDay.)

Use the five senses to preserve memories.

Creating a five-senses portrait of a loved one who has died can help to keep memories vivid for ourselves and also help us to share those memories with others. Listeners of the Happier podcast described how they used the five senses to reflect on happy moments. If you’re looking for a meaningful way to organize your memories, the Five-Senses Journal is back in stock now.

WORK HAPPIER

Subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter for more ideas.

For many people, September is the other January. Next month in “Work Happier,” my LinkedIn newsletter, I’ll be sharing practical tips for how we can be happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative at work. Subscribe now and don’t miss out.