I have a good friend who recently received some bad news concerning his health. A couple of days later, this same friend bumped into a co-worker in the hallway at his office.

When my buddy asked his colleague how his day was going, the guy replied, “It’s OK, but I sure can’t wait until this week is over!”

My friend just nodded and walked back to his cubicle with tears in his eyes. He recognized himself in that sentiment and couldn’t count the number of times he’d wished his days away, just waiting for something better to come along.

What he wouldn’t give, he told me, if he could go back in time and really squeeze the most out of each day and drink in all it had to offer.

Every day is full of the opportunity to make yourself happy right where you are if you’ll only put forth the effort. And, by enabling yourself to enjoy the journey, you might be surprised by how much more productive you become in the process.

With that in mind, here are four ways you can make today a joy for yourself and for those around while also getting more done than you have in years.

Engage

Do you like meetings? If you do, you’re in the definite minority and may be already more contented at work than the average American.

Truth is, most people dread meetings like the tax man, and usually for good reason. Meetings often are boring, and they don’t do much to help you get your job done.

But there’s a little trick you can use to turn every meeting into a stimulating and enriching experience: actively engage.

That might sound corny and idealistic, but it’s a practical tactic that you can put to good use with just a few simple steps:

• Review the meeting agenda ahead of time. If the organizer doesn’t send an agenda, email him to ask for one or politely decline the meeting invite.
• Leave your electronic gadgets in your office. Do you really think you’re so important the world can’t survive an hour without your email replies?
• Arrive early and review the agenda again.
• Greet each meeting participant as they arrive.
• Watch each participant as they speak and try to get a read on their body language as they express their points. How engaged and passionate are they?
• Take notes.
• Add your two cents when you have something valuable to say.

Taken together, these steps won’t eat much more of your day than that hated meeting already would have, but they will make that time much more productive for you. You’ll come away with a better understanding of the issues discussed, you’ll feel like part of the process again, and you’ll strengthen connections with your co-workers.

This advice doesn’t apply to just meetings, either.

If you want to be happy where you are and when you are, make an honest effort to engage in what you’re doing throughout your day, both at home and at work.

See Also: 6 Ways Happiness Can Help You Be Better At Work 

Have a Goal

One of the best ways to engage your situation is to always have a goal for what you’re doing.

In that hypothetical meeting we discussed above, maybe your goal is to ask enough questions that your boss finally explains what he means by “failure is not an option.”

If you’re stuck doing yard work on a beautiful spring weekend, your goal might be to finish cleaning the flower gardens by Sunday afternoon so that next weekend is free.

Once you have a target in front of your face, work tends to go much faster. Even better, it’s infinitely more enjoyable to tackle a challenge in your job or at home than it is to just punch the clock and wait for the bell to save you.

Consider these two scenarios:

You come to work, sit down at your desk, check your email, maybe peck away at a few memos you need to write. If you’re lucky, you can waste enough time to get you to your 10-o’-clock coffee break and then maybe play solitaire until lunchtime.

OR

You come to work, sit down at your desk, and pull up your list of daily goals. The first one is to complete a memo to your boss about a big case you’re working on. You give yourself a deadline of Noon for finishing the report and then dive in to pull together the information you need and start writing

Now, which of the two mornings will make you feel more engaged in your job? Which will leave you with a feeling of accomplishment? And which do you think will go faster?

In almost every case, it’s the second scenario when you’re working toward a clear goal.

Whatever you’re doing, and whenever you’re doing it, set a goal of some sort. Even if you’re “just” mowing the lawn or reading a book, make sure you have a target or you’re just going through the motions.

And that’s a sure road to a gloomy disposition and wasted time.

Solve a Problem

Sometimes our jobs and our home life don’t present clear goals to us. In those cases, you might have to get creative.

For instance, some programming jobs I’ve had are cyclical in nature. The team might work on a project 60 hours a week for six months and then have a two-month stretch when we’re basically just minding the store.

There will be occasional break-fixes during this period, but no heavy-duty development is happening.

How do you stay engaged and set goals during this kind fo “down time”?

Easy … solve a problem!

No matter how bored you think you are or how convinced you are that all of your work is done, there is always a problem — somewhere — that needs your attention. They’re often insidious, too, because we find ways to work around them rather than address them, and that just lets them fester and grow.

For instance …

How about tackling that drippy faucet in your bathroom sink before it stains the basin any further?

Or maybe you could fix that funky display error you noticed on your company’s website a while back but that, for some reason, no one has reported — yet.

Or how about something bigger? You know how your teenage son seems to have grown moodier and very quiet in recent weeks? Maybe you should take him out for a run or to play some catch and see if you can break through that shell to find out what’s going on.

Problems come in all shapes and sizes, so you can start small if you’re intimidated. But actively working on the troubles in your life, whatever they may be, will engage you in the day like nothing else and help you build a happier, healthier future.

Be Grateful

Think back to the story of my friend at the beginning of this piece, and about how he wishes he could go back in time and drink in all the experiences that his job and his life afforded him rather than watching the clock tick away his life.

He wants to fix some of the things he’s done wrong in the past, sure, but he also just wants to the chance to relish the moments that he let slip by.

What he wishes more than anything, though, is that he would have been more grateful for the life he’s lived over these last several decades.

More grateful for his family.

More grateful for his job.

More grateful for his camping trips.

Even more grateful for the Saturday mornings when his wife dragged him into her volunteer activities.

He wishes for this chance at gratitude because he knows now that he won’t always have these things, that they could be gone tomorrow.

But you and I are in a better position than my friend. We have his experience to guide us, and we can learn the lesson from him that he wasn’t able to teach himself until it was, maybe, too late.

Just take a few minutes each day, perhaps in the morning when you rise or at night before you go to bed, to think about all the really good things in your life.

Your family, your job, your house, even your car and your iPad and crisp winter air on a cold January morning.

Make your gratitude more concrete by writing these things down. You can use a Google Doc or a spiral notebook or a cocktail napkin, but just the act of jotting down your blessings will make them more real to you.

Now, after you remind yourself how great it is to have a job in a safe, warm environment with interesting people and steady work, don’t you think it will be easier to enjoy your time in the office? Don’t you think you’ll get more done?

I sure do.

See Also: 9 Baby Steps To Happiness For The Naturally Gloomy 

It’s Later Than You Think

You’re going to die someday and when you do, it will be too late to fix any of the broken pieces you left behind.

It’s easy to get caught up in feeling the impositions of a demanding world and wish for the weekend to hurry up and get here. Or for school to finally be out. Or for the kids to go back to school after Christmas break.

But you don’t have to live this way, and wishing away your life won’t make you happier and it won’t make you more productive.

If you choose to engage in the here and now and relish the opportunities that each day presents, you can enjoy your life — the one you have right now — while moving toward a brighter future.

Don’t wake up one day and wish you had enjoyed the blessings you held in your fingers but were too busy complaining to notice.

The post 4 Ways to Enjoy Each Day and Do More With Your Life appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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The brain is one of the most vital organs in the human body, and it is everyone’s responsibility to keep it in optimal condition. People race for time, information and money nowadays and some even cling to limitless brain pills out of their desire to perform better mentally. However, even with the desperation to become mentally infinite, there is little to no attention given to brain health.

There are many movements and advocacies done to help people lose weight and become more aware of their heart health. Less attention is given to brain health, yet more people are diagnosed with brain illnesses every year.

This increasing growth of brain illnesses is probably because brain damages mostly produce degenerative diseases that aren’t experienced in real time by individuals and the physical changes aren’t so visible. Nonetheless, there is a need for you to know how bad your day-to-day routine might be affecting your brain.

Excessive Coffee

The aroma, the richness and the taste. That’s how we usually start our day. Quitting coffee is probably the craziest thing a sane man would do. However, studies showed that coffee is only healthy when you take in 4 cups with only 100 mg caffeine content. Coffee is an incredibly rich source of antioxidants, however, drinking too much can result in brain damage.

Many people believe coffee to be their morning wake-up call in a cup. Coffee lovers believe that coffee can imbue them with superhuman thinking and wakefulness that help them finish a 4-hour workload much much faster. Unfortunately, that’s not true.

Coffee is not a limitless pill. What coffee does is to hinder your brain’s adenosine receptors to make your brain think that you’re still good for the day and you’re not sleepy yet despite your adenosine levels shouting that you are. Of course, this wears off, and people who need to stay up late drink more coffee to stay awake.

The effect of caffeine hinders or alters the standard brain mechanisms and the body develops tolerance to its effects resulting in coffee addicts drinking more to stay awake and active as they were before.

Frequent Headbutts

There’s nothing wrong with boxing or football except the fact that you have higher chances of headbutts. A lot of sports superstars and athletes lost their brain health at an earlier age because they neglected to take headbutts seriously.

Muhammad Ali and Freddie Roach (Manny Pacquiao’s coach), to name a few, have Parkinson’s disease because they retired a little too late. Numerous football players also developed CTE ( Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), a progressive, degenerative disease that can be a product of head traumas such as headbutts and concussions.

Constant Exposure To Devices

“Is the drug from Limitless real?”

You may think staying in bed and googling all day is safe, but it’s not.

Constant exposure to devices also has its fair share of damage to the brain as research says. Technology has granted us the capability to be better multi-taskers. However, this caused a shorter span of attention even among adults. This chronic lack of focus is a result of a rewiring in the brain.

Getting used to instant gratification from being able to search things instantly actually rewires the brain and this results in a lack of focus and attention. Expect generation Z to be like this, though.

See Also: 4 Ways Technology is Gradually Ruining Humanity and How to Tackle it

Lack Of Sleep

Aside from cutting off years from your average life expectancy, lack of sleep also damages the brain. Sleeping is the body’s natural way to regenerate new cells even for the brain. Sleeping is also one way for the brain to develop new neural connections, to process the left-over information during the day which usually appears as dreams.

Sleeping is also the time when the brain develops plasticity in brain neurons, aside from brain stimulation. Mental flexibility helps protect the brain from degeneration and eventual cell loss.

Sleep is not just for the weak; it is for everyone.

See Also: Are You Sleep Deprived? 8 Health Risks Of Poor Sleep

Missing Breakfast And Insufficient Water Intake

Not eating breakfast is not just starving your tummy. It is also starving your brain. Lack of nutrients and enough energy to keep your body up and running for another busy day will make your brain work harder. Using your brain without getting enough nutrition is like expecting your car to run without enough gasoline.

Failing during exams is no surprise especially when you don’t usually eat breakfast to start your school day. If you don’t want to fall behind your colleagues when it comes to performance, you should eat your breakfast.

No breakfast, no work.

Another lingering concern that has been given little attention is the lack of water intake. Almost everyone doesn’t count how many of glasses of water they have taken for the day, and this is the reason why most are dehydrated but know nothing nor care about it.

The brain is more than 80 percent water, and having enough water to function, it will result to faster thinking, better focus, creativity, and clarity. The brain knows no other way to store water on its own, so it is important to stay hydrated all the time. Drinking enough water will help both your body and brain in all of their vital functions.

Overeating

In addition to the last item, overeating or binge eating is also not healthy for the human brain. Ever remember having a headache after a hearty meal?

Overeating slows your brain down, and this is why some people feel sleepy when they eat too much. Doing it on a regular basis can also become an addiction in the long run. Eating affects the brain reward system, which releases the hormone Dopamine, or the “feel good” hormone. If you overeat, the brain’s circuitry will change, and it will be difficult for you to control your eating habits.

Researchers think this is the reason why obese or overweight people find it hard to go on a strict diet.

Vices

Needless to say, there’s too much harm in illegal drugs and smoking.

Drug addiction in itself is a brain illness. Nicotine is addictive, and that addiction is a brain disease. Mood and anxiety disorders are said to tie in with drug and nicotine abuse. In fact, researchers think schizophrenia is highly related to smoking.

Although no study has confirmed this yet, we have heard of substance abusers seeing the devil in their mother’s face and what happened next is yours to imagine. Illegal drugs are not the pill from Limitless. It was either Modafinil or Donepezil.

Alcoholics are also subject to long-term brain damages. No one takes alcohol seriously because its effect seems instant and short term, however, there are a few studies that link alcohol to diminishing brain size which affects mental functioning.

Thiamine deficiency among heavy alcohol drinkers also leads to WKS or Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome which affects cognitive function, memory, learning ability, eye nerve paralysis and muscle coordination.

Too Much Sugar and Unhealthy Food

Just like any other drug, there is a need to regulate the use of sugar in every household, especially when you know excessive sugar is addictive. Sugar intake also signals the brain to release dopamine- the reward. The brain will think that this practice is something necessary for survival and will naturally make you desire for more.

People who have too much sugar will have insulin spikes and lows, which eventually makes a super perked person suddenly tired. The only way to become high again? Sugar. People think sugar to be the “new limitless pill,” but it’s not.

“Junk Foods” also have artificial sweetening and may have an excessive amount of sugar; even some cereals can be part of this category.

Lack Of Mental Stimulation

Yes, boredom kills. Lack of mental stimulation will cause brain cells to die faster. There is a need for your brain to develop plasticity to protect the brain from cell death in the future. Solving puzzles, doing a little arithmetic and chess can save you a ton of brain cells.

Researchers suggest that the lack of mental activity or stimulation is the cause of cognitive decline and even dementia. Depression is also highly related to lack of mental activity.

Exercise your brain! Sharpen your memory, solve problems, practice reason and logic, and read. Train your brain.

Lack Of Oxygen When Sleeping And Pollution

Air pollution also causes brain damage. Toxins that live in the city air kills brain cells as numerous studies suggest. Lead exposure, carbon monoxide poisoning, pesticides and mercury toxicity are just a few of the air pollutants that exists in big metros.

Covering your face while sleeping will also cause a severe lack of oxygen which will make the brain suffer. The brain needs oxygen to function, and without enough oxygen, in the bloodstream, it can cause instant brain cell death.

So sleep somewhere not too cold so you won’t have to cover your face when sleeping.

Takeaway

The brain is the body’s headquarters, and it has the chief function of maintaining balance and organization in the entire body. Taking care of the human brain should be on top of everyone’s list. Although the brain can still reproduce brain cells throughout its lifetime, there is no guarantee that the brain is going to replenish them as fast as we lose them.

If you think what you’re doing is not brain damaging, think twice.

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