The 400 Project

A simple concept in all honesty.

Optimism is a powerful tool to wield. Nothing can drag your entire day down in the dirt more than yourself. You could be having the worst of luck and still have a wonderful day by remaining positive and seeing the good in it. If you wake up every morning, moaning and whining about how you have to go to a job you don’t love, to make money you don’t get to keep, just to make it by, your day is going to suck. I’ve been there, multiple times. Even without any other factor changing however you can improve your day greatly. It starts and ends with you.

It’s about changing your outlook and your perspective on things. The money bit, I know can be a struggle, but handling your money is a skill you need to hone. However you can still enjoy your day if you just barely scrape by on your finances. Just take a step back for a second, take a breath and look at all the things you’re blessed with. For one, I know you have access to the biggest resource in the world, the internet, or you wouldn’t even be reading this. To follow up on that point, you at least have some sort of device that connects to the internet, quite possibly one of the tiniest computers ever made in your hand. So just think about that for a second, you got it good, son (or daughter). The bill may be high every month but you manage to pay it somehow.

I’m not going to spend the entire article talking about how fortunate we are for having the internet. That’s not the point. The point is, without even changing your spending habits you can increase the quality of your day. People always say, “Live today like it’s your last day on earth,” which can be a neat concept but truthfully if it was your last day you’d probably drain that savings account and give up on the future. Instead look at it more like, “Today is going to be the best day ever.” Or, “I feel awesome, today’s going to be fun” – just simple thoughts like that. It works. It also most definitely works the other way. I’ve had days where I’ve been completely healthy yet have convinced myself that I’m tired, not feeling well and lazy. There’s nothing wrong with a lazy day but I didn’t have to put myself down and make myself miserable. If you don’t want to do anything with your day, you should be pumped about it. Sometimes the days with nothing to do are the best.

The people you hang out with can also make a difference. Hang out with people that get you pumped on an idea, or life in general. Find a buddy you can talk to that will put you in a good mood if you start to fall. Or as I mentioned earlier find a way to turn depressing unlucky things with your day into funny stories or shrug them off and laugh at them with a co-worker. The bottom line is: remaining positive can improve your life immensely.