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- The Quest Newsletter
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Welcome to Quest, a weekly newsletter where I provide ideas to help you build a life you love — one filled with more energy, purpose, and joy.
Preview:
Quote: Pillars of Happiness
Useful Ideas: Don’t Quit, Alignment, Powerful Combo
Exercise: Good Things Jar
Story: Stay True to You
Thought: Make Room
Quote
Author and Harvard Business School Professor Arthur Brooks on the pillars of happiness:
“Happiness isn’t found in some finite checklist of goals that we can diligently complete and then coast. It’s how we live our lives in the process. That’s why the four pillars of happiness are faith, family, community, and meaningful work. Those are priorities we have to keep investing in.”
Source: Build the Life You Want
Useful Ideas
I.
The second Friday of January (today) is the most likely day of the year for people to quit on their resolutions and goals — it’s called Quitter’s Day.
Don’t quit.
As it’s been said, you don’t fail when you lose, you fail when you quit.
You might be thinking, “Quit? I haven’t even started.”
That’s okay.
Start today.
II.
We often focus too much on achievement and not enough on alignment.
Alignment means living in congruence with your values.
Alignment leads to the fulfillment we think we’ll get from achievement.
III.
A thirst for knowledge + a bias for action = a dangerously powerful combination
Exercise
This year, my wife and I are keeping a Good Things Jar.
Every week of the year, we each write a short note of something good that happened that week and then put it in the jar.
At the end of the year, we read through all of our entries.
I like this exercise because it forces you to search for the good in your life each week, which leads to gratitude.
Also, when you get to the end of the year and want to reflect on how it went, it can be hard to remember anything other than really big moments — the highlights. We can be forgetful. This exercise allows you to re-experience some of the sweetest moments of your year.
Australian nurse Bronnie Ware spent years working with patients in the final days of their lives.
She shared her experience in her popular book, The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.
Do you know what the number one regret was?
People wished they had stayed true to themselves.
“When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.” - Bronnie
My 5 favorite quotes from Bronnie:
1. “Laughter is a very underrated tool for healing.”
2. “Smile and know that this time will pass and good will follow.”
3. “Health brings a freedom very few realize until they no longer have it.”
4. “Gratitude for every day along the way is the key to acknowledging and enjoying happiness now. Not when the results come in or when you retire, or when this or that happens.”
5. “Start creating the habit of counting your blessings for being alive today. Take ownership of your life. Shift your priorities. You are going to die! Understand this, and get excited about the gift of today. You are alive right now.”
Thought
What do you need to remove from your life to make room for what really matters to you?
If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, I would love it if you shared it with your family, friends, or colleagues.
Here’s the link: https://www.beauburns.com/
Make it a great weekend.
Much love,
Beau Burns
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