Most people seek lasting happiness. But not everyone gets it. Discover how you can be happier in your life as an investor.
The world we live in today is becoming more and more stressful. Many people are becoming more highly strung because of the consistent barrage of bad news. And that’s partly due to one traditional media belief:
If it bleeds, it leads.
Of course, the media can’t really take all the blame for all the unhappiness that’s been going around. There are macroeconomic conditions that are affecting our way of life, such as high inflation and increasing interest rates all over the world, among others. All of these things are just making people anxious. That’s why a lot of us are in this heightened state of distress.
For property investors, this is something that needs to be addressed.
Why?
Because high-stress levels can negatively impact how we make decisions. For instance, we might become too afraid to take on risks no matter how small they seem to be. In turn, we miss out on great opportunities to increase our cash flow and achieve our property investing goals.
That’s why in this article, we’ll talk about 4 tips outlined by happiness coach Michael Bartura that’ll help you uplift your mood in this increasingly stressful world.
The 4 Tips
Tip #1: Try to improve your circumstance
There’s a lot of research that suggests that happiness does depend on your circumstances… up to a certain point. For example, if you’re hungry, you’re hungry. In that state, it’ll be very hard for you to be happy when you’re hungry, right?
So, there’s a certain level of income that needs to be your baseline to feel happiness and contentment. This income level can vary from person to person. But Michael says that from what he has read, the more income you get, the more content and happier you can become.
He adds that you can divide happiness into what you would think as a more decadent happiness which depends on circumstances and just the state of being happy. That’s the inner state of being. Michael explains that once you’ve satisfied your basic needs and you feel connected to the world, it’ll be easier for you to become happy.
So, what does this mean for the average property investor?
Simply put, if you want to be happy, the first thing you need to do is ensure that all your basic needs are met. Be sure that you don’t neglect your necessities and say yes to more opportunities to feel like you’re connected to this world. Interact with people and experience more of the world as much as you can to get a positive outlook.
Tip #2: Expectation can sometimes be a thief of joy. Don’t let it.
Life won’t always go as planned. Therefore, it’s up to you to decide how you will adjust your actions and how you would view the results.
Don’t get me wrong. Having expectations isn’t inherently wrong. The problem is not so much the expectation.
If you think about it, the problem is our attachment to our expectations unfolding exactly the way we expect them to. The problem is when what you expect doesn’t work out that way.
Instead of dwelling on what didn’t happen, you should start focusing on how you can make the most out of every situation.
To better understand this, let me give you an example.
Let’s say you planned to purchase a property in New South Wales. It looks good and you renovated it a little so that it would look even better. But in the end, you got an offer that was way too low than what you expected.
How would you deal with that?
Tip #3: Acknowledge that you have a choice in how you respond to things that are out of your control.
When things happen and you take action, but the result is not exactly what you want… Then you got a choice to take the next action.
But sometimes, you can’t do that. And at that point, that’s where we usually get annoyed.
So, the idea of us striving to get a result—and continuously adjusting our actions to continue towards getting to that result—is fantastic… For as long as our emotions are intact.
Here’s the thing: Our emotions tend to reflect our reaction to what’s going on at that particular moment. And so, if we had an idea that we wanted something to happen, but it didn’t happen, we usually get an emotional response. That’s fine. We cannot control that, right? It’s a trigger.
But what we do with those emotions is up to us.
Our emotions are like data points. They don’t really affect us unless we let them. Do we engage with our emotions and act accordingly? Or do we stay rational and find a better way to deal with things?
If you want to be happier, learn to contain the power of your emotions.
A great example of this is the pandemic. How did you respond to the prolonged lockdowns? How did you deal with needing to wear masks all the time?
Of course, it was frustrating, to say the least. Allow yourself to feel these emotions. But you should not engage with those negative emotions. Instead, start looking for more productive ways to deal with them.
Tip #4: Develop positive neuroplasticity
Michael says that to rewire your brain to find more happiness, you need to develop positive neuroplasticity. This idea was based on the work of American researcher, Dr. Rick Hanson, who combined his knowledge of neuroscience and psychology with his practice of mindfulness.
Positive neuroplasticity simply means that you don’t have to have peak positive experiences to constantly rewire your brain to be happy. Michael explains that you simply have to pay attention to all the amazing experiences you have on a daily basis—this encourages us to be happier.
Now, this is something you can’t achieve overnight. It takes practice to be a lot more mindful and grateful for your daily experiences. But ultimately, you can rewire your brain to find more happiness. But it is possible.
You Can Be Happy
By default, most of us do not pay attention to the everyday things that happen around us. We go about our days simply existing, which makes it difficult for us to become happy. But hopefully, these four tips can help you be happier and more content in your life.
On a final note, let me tell you this: Don’t take your life for granted.
There might be a ton of things that can irritate you or make you feel sad. But as mentioned earlier, you have the power to choose whether or not these things can affect you.
Always choose the path to happiness.
