101 Short, Simple, and Practical Happiness Tips

Happiness isn’t something you just stumble upon.

It’s something you create consciously as you navigate your life. It’s something you work on, get better at, and improve over time.

Contrary to what most people believe, happiness is a skill and a habit you can develop to the point where it becomes your default mode of living and your natural response to life.¹

To help you develop happiness into a habit, here are 101 short, simple, and practical happiness tips you can use right now to uplift yourself and your well-being.

I’ve used all of these tips to enjoy my life as much as possible despite going through some of my biggest challenges.

Pick a couple, implement them daily, and your happiness will increase.

101 Short, Simple, and Practical Happiness Tips

Put your happiness first. You can’t make anyone else happy if you don’t make yourself happy.
Remember to smile 🙂
Be patient. Your goals and dreams will happen when the time is right.
Be persistent. The only way to fail is to give up.
The only way to get what you want is to go after it. So don’t be realistic. Be bold and go for what you really want in life.
Turn your obstacles into opportunities for advancement. Use them as stepping stones by learning the lessons they have to offer you.
Make how you see yourself more important than how others see you. Your own self-perception should dictate your self-worth. Not other people’s opinions.
Your net worth is not your self-worth.
When storms are brewing in your life, find your “eye of the storm.” Find your center – your inner sanctuary.
Don’t take life too seriously. Relax and enjoy it. All is well.
This too shall pass. Even your most difficult circumstances will pass and become distant memories. Remind yourself that any challenge is temporary and will fade away.
Follow your inspiration. You may not know where it will lead you, but you can be sure it will lead you right where you are meant to be.
Be your own #1 cheerleader. Be the loudest voice inside your head and heart. And make that voice a positive one.
Open your heart, even if you have been hurt in the past and closed it. Closed hearts push good things away. It’s only through an open heart that you can let in love and joy.
Don’t react to life. Respond to it. What happens to you isn’t as important as how you respond because that determines what happens next.
Your greatest challenges can become your greatest gifts. They can mold you into who you were always meant to be. Use them.
Be intolerant of negativity in your life. It does nothing for you.
To rise up, you must let go of any energy that’s weighing you down. Let the past go like a feather in the wind. Gently release it and allow the wind to take it. You don’t need to carry that baggage with you.
One of the keys to freedom is to be who you intend to be regardless of how other people are being or how they’re living their lives.
Live your life true to yourself, not based on other people’s expectations or opinions.
Seek your own approval. Not the approval of others. Validate yourself. Don’t make yourself an emotional slave to other people’s validation.
Express yourself more from your heart than your ego, and you will make your life easier and more harmonious.
Do what makes you happy. Give yourself permission to do the things in life that bring you joy.
You will find your greatest joy doing what you love. You will find your greatest satisfaction doing what you are best at. And you will find your greatest fulfillment in helping others.
You can be a complainer, or you can be a winner. But you can’t be both. Stop complaining.
Don’t put people on a pedestal. It will only increase the gap between you and them. Take them off the pedestal and value yourself in relation to them harmoniously. Balance your perspective.
Your work can make you happy. Find work that makes you happy and it will uplift every area of your life.
Don’t settle for less than you desire. If you do, you will always be somewhat unfulfilled.
Happiness is a choice. It’s an attitude. It’s an approach to life. It’s choosing to be happy and finding joy in each situation.
One of the secrets to inner peace is to develop the habit of anticipating positive outcomes. Worry, concern, and stress are just different ways of anticipating negative outcomes (or outcomes we perceive to be unwanted). Peace, confidence, trust, and faith are different ways of anticipating positive outcomes. The habit of peace is the habit of anticipating positive outcomes. Be confident, have faith, and trust the outcome of any event.
Doing something you find meaningful and worthwhile will make you happier than most things in life.
Remind yourself not to be so fixated on your goal that you forget to enjoy the journey along the way. The journey is life. The goal is a checkpoint along the way.
Giving to others is not self-sacrifice. If you feel as though you are sacrificing yourself, take a step back. You’re probably giving too much.
Uplift others and you will uplift yourself.
You will rise or fall to the level of what you are willing to accept or tolerate in your life. Tolerate no less than what you desire, in all areas, and that is what you will experience.
Sometimes, the wrong thing doesn’t work out so the right thing can work out. Trust that certain endings will lead you to new beginnings that are much better for you.
When you find something that gives you both internal and external rewards (not just external), you have a winner.
Ask yourself the right questions and write down your answers. The answers you gain from this simple self-inquiry process can change your whole life forever and set you directly onto the path of your highest purpose and happiness.
Your pain can become your purpose.
Sometimes, you must be broken down so you can rebuild yourself from a stronger foundation and rise even higher than you were before.
Time is your only unreplenishable asset. Every second spent talking yourself out of doing what you really want to do in life is a second you won’t get back. The time is now. Go for it.
You always have a choice in every situation. You can choose to look at the positive or the negative. If you choose to look at the negative, your life will reflect that. If you choose to look at the positive, your life will reflect that. It’s your choice. What do you want your life to reflect?
You never know how close you are to achieving what you want, so there are only two things you need to do: get started and don’t stop until you get there. Your goal may be just around the corner.
Do not dim your light to try to make someone else feel better. Two dim lights only make the Truth harder to see. Keep your light bright and help others to shine. Many bright lights help illuminate the Truth for all to see.
See yourself as strong, capable, and empowered. It will uplift you and help you tap into your potential.
Look less upon the color of another person’s skin, but to the goodness of their heart. Judge not their appearance, but get to know their deeper essence. To see only the surface is to be one step above ignorance. To have the willingness to see into the depths of a person’s being is to bear witness to the original source of all of us. See past the illusion and it will reveal your shared lineage. Differences are but appearances. Love is the true connector.
To get what you want in life, you must know what you want, be bold enough to go for it, and stick with it long enough to attain it.
Sever your attachment to the outcome. It will make achieving the outcome much easier and give you peace in the present moment.
Open your mind. Embrace everything. Expect good things.
Your individuality is where you will often find your true purpose, joy, and freedom.
The more you love the things you create, the more other people will love them too.
Whenever you have an imbalanced perspective, you will have an imbalanced experience. Whenever you have a balanced perspective, you will have a balanced experience. Balance your perspective.
If your whole aim in life is to keep up with the Joneses (i.e. do what other people are doing), even if you succeed, you will still fail at what matters most: finding your own happiness in life.
Don’t be so comfortable in the life you’ve settled for that you don’t take the leap of faith into the life you’re dreaming of.
Use the pain of your alternatives as inspiration to take action on your biggest goals and dreams.
Instead of making excuses why you can’t be happy, find reasons why you can be happy.
To transmute guilt, shame, and regret into peace, love, and harmony, forgive yourself.
With a powerful enough purpose, your motivation will be limitless.
Doing what you love to do will always make you happier than doing what you feel like you have to do.
Don’t obsess over results. Don’t obsess over outcomes. If you’re going to obsess over anything, obsess over the things that create the outcomes you desire.
Your roots must be nurtured and taken care of. From strong roots, a strong foundation can be built. From a strong foundation, you can thrive.
The most important thing you can do is to live your life true to yourself. This will harmonize everything else.
Relationships work when you make them work.
Set strong boundaries and uphold them. This is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your relationships. Allowing yourself to be hurt helps no one. Even if you’re trying to help someone, but you’re hurting yourself in the process, you’re helping no one.
Taking care of yourself is non-negotiable.
Your inner happiness will create the outer manifestations that harmonize with it.
You’re not whole until you’re happy, so that’s what it’s really about. Money, material possessions, achievements, respect, prestige, status – these are wonderful things, but without happiness, they mean very little. With happiness, they can mean a lot. Genuine happiness is the first and last piece of the puzzle.
Get comfortable stepping into the unknown. Get so comfortable with the leap of faith that it isn’t even a leap for you anymore. It’s just a step toward more of what you want.
Overcoming your fears will help you maximize your action toward what you want in life. You will express more of who you really are on the inside. You will experience more of what life has to offer. And you will reach more of your potential.
The secret to freedom is choosing your own purpose – a purpose that resonates deep within your heart and soul – and following it with excitement and enthusiasm for what the journey has in store for you.
When you figure out what your soul really cares about, that’s when you will find your true happiness.
Keep your inner child happy and you will keep yourself happy.
Go within and ask yourself the right questions about who you are, what you want, and where you want your life to go. This inner clarity will become your guiding light to making decisions that are more aligned with what makes you happy in life.
Outer blessings manifest from the inner blessings of love, joy, gratitude, peace, and all other feelings of happiness. The inner blessings manifest the outer blessings, and you are a generator of both.
Mentally project yourself onto your deathbed and look back. What type of life do you want to have lived? Then start living that way now.
There are certain desires, where if you really want them, they have to become non-negotiables. They have to become desires for which you will settle for nothing less. When you set it up in your mind that these desires are non-negotiable – meaning you will persist and persevere through anything, no matter what, to fulfill them – you will have practically guaranteed success before you even take the first step. That is the power of unconditional commitment to what you want.
This is not your parents’ era. This is your era. This is your time to carve your own path and take advantage of the opportunities that previous generations didn’t have. Go all in on what you really want to do in life. There has never been a better time than now.
Let go of external validation and tap into the internal drivers of why you do everything you do. These internal drivers are far closer to your truth than seeking validation externally. They lead to more harmony, more peace, and more self-esteem, regardless of what other people might think, feel, or say.
What do you want so badly that it doesn’t even matter how long it takes until you get it, it’s worth it? This is the journey that will give you the most fulfillment.
Fear is not something to avoid because if you avoid the fear, you avoid your dreams too. Overcoming fear is a natural part of the process. It’s a stage in your hero’s journey. If you didn’t have any fear, you’d already be doing what you really want to do in life. Overcome the fear, and your goals and dreams will blow wide open for you.
Figure out what you love to do and are most passionate about, determine the most valuable skills to help you succeed at that passion and start building them, and use those skills to help others while doing what you love to do and are most passionate about. This is the ultimate combination for a powerful purpose that can fuel you for the rest of your life. Love is the pathway to passion. Skills are the tools to turn your passion into a reality. Service is the gateway to higher purpose.
Make a definite decision that you are only going to go upward from here.
Forgive and let go. Forgive and let go. Forgive and let go. Don’t create negative associations with anyone or anything. Let it all go.
Let the dominant energy of your life be joy and love.
To hit the next level of your life, let go of the previous one.
Be aware of the types of content you’re allowing to influence your mind. The news is mostly negative. You can do without it. Discipline your social media usage. Consume content that uplifts you.
Learn how to be happy in your own energy. You don’t always need others to be your source of happiness. You can be your own source of happiness.
With a powerful enough Why, you will do anything. Remember your Why, always, and it will carry you forward through thick and thin.
Learn lessons from your past experiences so they can become wisdom you can use to better navigate the present and future.
Learn to be your own best friend. Be kind to yourself. Give yourself some slack. Take the pressure off. Encourage yourself.
It’s okay to walk away from someone or something if you’re not being treated right. It’s okay to walk away for your own self-care.
When you change your desires from “I’d like to do that” to “I’m going to do that,” that’s when you really take action on them and start turning them into realities.
The hardest thing for most people to do is to get started. The second hardest is to keep going. But if you get started and keep going, eventually, you will succeed.
The only difference between worry and confidence is the outcome you’re anticipating.
Believe in yourself and what’s truly possible in life. Focus on limitless possibilities.
Do the thing that requires the most courage for you to do, and you will be catapulted directly onto your purpose, your calling, and your mission in life.
Pay attention to your quirks. Pay attention to your “weirdness.” Pay attention to the things that make you different. No matter whether you’ve been made fun of, outcast, or typecast for them. Honor them. Because those things could lead you directly to what you were born to do in life. The thing or things you are uniquely suited for. Your calling in life.
Detach from outcomes and enjoy the moment.
If your goals don’t scare you, at least a little bit, they’re probably not big enough. You’re capable of more.
If the eyes are the window to the soul, then the heart is the gateway. Learn to listen to your heart and you will open the gateway to your soul and receive many of the answers you may be seeking.
Don’t just follow other people blindly. Follow your heart. Consider what actually makes you happy and move toward it. This is your most authentic, meaningful, and joyful path.