Top Ten Resolutions for Living Your Joy
Author: Suzanne Falter-Barns

1. Carve out regular time for your dream, and get to work. If you’re a morning person, get up an hour earlier and create as the sun rises. If you’re a night owl. stay up late to get it done. Either way, give yourself a regular shot of at least thirty minutes per day (an hour is better) five times per week.

2. Figure out your soul purpose in life, and put it on your computer. This is your larger job in life. It’s not a task, per se, but some more general gift that you are meant to give to others, such as ‘wake people up to the power of nature’ or ‘remind people of their compassion.’ It can be uncovered simply by journaling, or even meditating on the question.

3. Recognize five time-wasters and end them, pronto. If you compulsively check your email, this one’s for you. Other time wasters include hanging on the phone, parking in front of the t.v., and reading the paper from start to finish. Take a clear look at how you spend your time, and honestly assess your time usage.

4. Politely withdrawl from at least three situations or relationships that waste your energy. Energy wasters leave you feeling depressed, frustrated, annoyed, unappreciated and vaguely used or beaten-up. Get them out of your life right now, and you won’t believe how much energy they free up for your dream!

5. Find a support buddy or group. This is simply an ally (or a group of them) who really get behind you and your dream. You can connect via email, phone or live meetings to share inspiration, support, triumphs, disasters, and ideas. Especially helpful if you’re a procrastinator (be in touch before AND after you get your work done each day.)

6. Make a creative work space you love. A great creative workspace can be a separate room, or a curtained off corner of your living space that has the tools you need… plus inspirational helpers, like visual props, pictures, quotations and the like. Design it with the same care as you’ve planned the work of your dream.

7. Keep power bars, or shakes, in your creative work space. Clif Bars, Luna Bars, Power Bars, spirulina shakes, and the like all provide great bursts of energy when you’re burning the midnight oil. Don’t forget them! (These honestly give you more sustained energy than caffeine, and no shakes or sleeplessness.)

8. Dedicate a weekend to decluttering your home and creative work space (and sell off the unwanted but usable stuff.) Clear out all the accumulated stuff you’ve jammed into drawers, shelves, corners and assorted nooks and crannies. Don’t be afraid to discard, or make great bags for sale or give away. This act releases energy that gives you a great boost for your dreams.

9. Start a Dream Savings Account with money made from decluttering. Know that pile of pretty but unused journals you decided to toss while decluttering? (See above.) Sell them on e-bay, or at a yard sale along with other unwanted but usable things. It takes a little effort, but you’d be surprised what you’d net. Then take that surprising sum right to the bank, and park it in a money market account or CD that earns interest as you add to it regularly. This is the beginning of your dream nest egg.

10. Bring your lunch to work and spend your lunch hour on your dream. Close the door and shut the workday out. Then pull out your sandwich from home (don’t waste time going out to buy one) and get busy on your real work … the stuff of your dreams. And don’t open the door for a soul until that sacred hour is past. (If you work in a doorless cubicle, go out to a nearby coffee bar, library, public space, or even your car.)

Suzanne Falter-Barns is the author of Living Your Joy; A Practical Guide to Happiness (Ballantine.) You can find more free tools and practical tips for living your joy at her site, www.howmuchjoy.com and in her free ezine, The Joy Letter.







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Suzanne Falter-Barns is the author of Living Your Joy (Ballantine.) She also publishes The Joy Letter, an inspirational ezine that gives you a fun, friendly nudge towards your dream every two weeks. Her website, http://www.howmuchjoy.com, has been featured in Self, Fitness, i-Village, Cybergrrl, and more than 100 radio and television shows.

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