We often think that our success depends on focusing on ourselves. But this simply isn’t true.

Every successful person knows that you become successful because of how much value you give to others.

Yet, we often forget this.

It works the same way with our happiness, too. When I become overly focused on my goals and my feelings and my desires, I start to feel down. When I become focused on myself, it’s easy to think that everything is about me. But it’s not. And when I’m so focused on myself, I start to become easily offended by others. I think that others do things that I don’t like because of me, when they’re really just doing those things because of themselves.

See how easy it is to become depressed when you feel overly self-important?

That’s why it helps to turn your attention to others, and put your focus on giving, rather than receiving. You would think that by giving all the time, you will never receive. But the exact opposite is true; it’s because you give so much that you attract the desire for others to give back to you.

It’s crazy how this works:

• The best way to be interesting is to be interested in others.
• You gain more physical energy by burning energy when you exercise.
• The way to be loved is to be lovable.
• When you seek to understand, others are more likely to want to understand you back.
• By helping others, they are more inclined to help you in return.

I think it’s interesting how we intuitively know these things, but somehow our ego gets in the way. Our self-importance makes us think that we need to receive to justify giving. This is the same part of you that seeks to be right instead of happy. Is it worth it?

I think it’s a much more empowering position to be the one that gives first. Otherwise, who knows how long it will take the other person to initiate, if it even happens at all. To wait for others to give is like waiting for someone to give you what you want. Why not just ask and find out what happens?

Giving yourself away.

When you can give without expecting anything in return, you have mastered the art of living.

Is it any wonder that the most successful people in the world are masters of giving? The most successful people are the ones that provide the most value to others.

So the question is: How can you give more of yourself away?

I think you’ll find, as I have, that you’re most fulfilled not when you’ve done something really cool, or when you’re doing something that excites you (not that those things aren’t important). You are most fulfilled when you’re serving others.

Here are some suggestions for small, but powerful ways you can give to those around you today:

• Drop the expectations that you have for your partner and your family. Instead of expecting them to behave a certain way to you, see how you can show them how much they really mean to you.
• Give away your attitude. This is really one of the most awesome ways you can give to others. Your attitude and positive energy has an amazing effect on those around you. Darkness, when approached with light, becomes illuminated. In the same way, low energy, when approached by higher energy, dissolves. Help dissolve others’ lower energy patterns by bringing your higher, positive energy to them.
• Gift your intention. Whenever you encounter someone, say a silent blessing or send them a positive intention, instead of judging them.
• Show your gratitude. Write a simple note or letter expressing to someone how much they mean to you and the reasons you love them. The impact this will have on the receiver is amazing.
• Simply offer your help. If there’s nothing specific you can do for another person, simply let them know that if there is ever a way you can help, you would like them to let you know.

These things may seem small, but I think the world is changed by a profusion of micro ideas. Revolutions start with small actions.

So what I’d like to ask you now is, How can I help you? Let me know!

This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind.  For more ways to give back, grab a copy of Reclaim Your Dreams.

I don’t often write about tech issues, but so much is being written about the Google Chrome OS announcement I thought I’d weigh in.

On the surface, the announcement of a Google operating system seems to many like a shot at rival Microsoft, an attack at MS’s core business. But those who have been following Google’s moves know that it’s more than that — it’s an (expected) evolution in Google’s long-term strategy.

Google is moving everything online, and I really believe this is the future of computing. The desktop model of computing — the Microsoft era — is coming to an end. It’ll take a few years, but it will happen.

The Old Model
For years, the OS has used the desktop analogy, with folders and files, all stored in a big file cabinet (your hard drive). And applications such as Word have run from the hard drive.

What this has meant is that, in order to insure against computer crashes (which are eventually inevitable), you’ve had to back up your files to a remote disk (another drive, a CD-ROM, etc.). It also has meant a headache when it comes to accessing your files and programs from multiple computers — you have to save and sync files all the time, and buy and install multiple copies of applications.

It’s also meant a lot of headaches when it comes to filing and finding your files, and sharing them with other people (this had to be done using floppy disks/CDs, or more recently, email attachments).

Finally, operating systems, trying to do everything, have become bloated and slow, taking up a lot of your computer’s processing power, memory and storage.

The New Model
Google’s model is based on connectivity to the Internet, a model that was unthinkable a decade ago and has only been really viable in the last few years as almost everyone has high-speed connections and wi-fi or mobile access.

Google has moved applications, and increasingly, our files, to the web (or cloud). It started with Gmail’s success — a fast, powerful online email app that beats desktop email apps hands down. It expanded with a suite of simple web apps: Google Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Reader, Picasa for photos, eventually YouTube for video, Blogger for writing for the web, and more.

These apps are lightweight but powerful. They aren’t as feature rich as desktop apps, but here’s what many critics don’t understand: in today’s (and tomorrow’s) computing world, they don’t have to be.

While the business world has long used Microsoft Word to create rich documents full of formatting and charts, the increasingly mobile world doesn’t care about any of that. We send emails and text messages and tweets and messages on Facebook and forums and other social media — with no formatting at all. We do blog posts that have bold and italics and links and photos and videos and not much more in terms of formatting text.

We don’t need feature-bloated Microsoft Word anymore. Nor Excel, with its 2 million features, nor PowerPoint (who likes to watch slides?). Sure, there are still some great desktop apps that people use, for photo and video editing and much more … but the majority of us don’t need those. We need to communicate simply and quickly, without hassle.

Web apps don’t match up with desktop apps … but that’s a good thing for most of us who use the new computing model.

Web apps are lightweight and fast. They store all your files online, so you don’t need to worry about syncing them or carrying around CDs or flash drives, or backing up. You can share with anyone you like, or everyone, with a click.

This is what the computing world is becoming, and will be for many years. Google has driven these changes, and when it announced the Chrome browser last year, that was an obvious move to make the browser handle web apps better.

The Chrome OS is an obvious move to make computers bypass the old model of desktop apps and files and folders, and go straight to the web, web apps, and online files. Chrome OS will be lightweight and fast (like the Chrome browser), it will feature web apps and not much else, and it will be perfectly aligned with how more and more of us are using the web — with mobility, speed, sharing, and connecting in mind.

Why Google Music is the Next Logical Step
If you read the Google Chrome OS announcement carefully, you’ll see an interesting item:

“[People] want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files.”

This obviously means Google OS will store all its files online — then people don’t need to worry about backing up the files, and if they lose their computer, nothing will really be lost.

And that makes sense, considering that Google has moved almost all your files online if you use its web apps: emails, photos (in Picasa), videos (in YouTube), documents (Google Docs & Spreadsheets), even pdfs now.

Almost all of your files.

The average user has one other type of file, though: mp3s. Sure, I know there are many other types of files, but I’m only concerned with what most people use computers for these days — email, online reading and social stuff, video, photos, music. And Google has not moved music online yet.

There are already sites that do this, but they’re not Google. So either Google will buy one of the online sites (like it did with YouTube and Blogger and Writely, which became Google Docs), or it will create its own.

Your mp3s will be stored online, and you’ll be able to play them from anywhere. This will complete Google’s goal of keeping all your files online.

Concerns: Connectivity and Privacy
There are two main concerns that people have when cloud computing or web apps are brought up, so we should talk about them briefly:

1. What if you’re not connected to the cloud? You might lose your Internet connection and lose access to your files. This is not a concern for most of us, as we’re almost always connected, more and more each year, especially with data plans on mobile devices (ala the iPhone). However, Google is already addressing this issue with Google Gears and HTML5 — you’ll be able to access your files and use web apps even when offline.

2. Do I really want Google to have all my files and info? This is a valid privacy concern, and I don’t have an answer. My personal feeling is that I don’t have any data that I’m incredibly worried about losing or that might become public. I highly doubt Google would be interested in browsing through my files, as they’re not very interesting. And if Google uses my data to serve up better ads … what do I care? I don’t look at their ads anyway.

However, I understand the privacy concern. It may turn out to be an important issue, or it might just be something we learn to live with, as we have with many other privacy issues (government having access to our financial data, Microsoft getting info from our computers, etc.).

Update: More info on Chrome.
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The toolkit launches in a couple of days, and until then there’s a pre-sale that drops the price from $67 to $49 (32% off).

We’re in love with stuff — with shopping, with acquiring, with owning, with collecting.

Let’s lust after life instead.

Our obsession with stuff has become unhealthy. When we have a void in our lives, we buy things. When we have problems, we buy things. And these things are becoming more and more expensive, bigger, shinier … more wasteful.

This obsession with stuff leads to owning a lot, having a lot of clutter … and yet this stuff doesn’t fill our lives with meaning.

It leads to deep debt, from buying so much, and needing bigger houses and storage spaces to contain everything. Financially, we’re worse off than ever, because of this obsession with stuff.

We buy things when we’re depressed, we buy things for others to show how much we love them … and in this way, stuff has separated us from actually dealing with our emotions, blocked us from truly connecting with others.

Let’s replace that lust for stuff with a lust for life.

Some ideas:

• Rediscover a passion for life. Get outside and feel nature, appreciate the beauty of the world around you. Get active, do some gardening or yardwork, play a sport, go for a walk, take a hike, go for a swim, ride a bike. Feel the life coursing through you. Breathe it in.
• Give experiences as gifts, not stuff. Instead of shopping for someone come birthdays or Christmas, think of an experience you can give them instead. A date with you, doing something fun, hanging out, cooking, playing, talking, exploring. A fun time at a park or beach. Something other than everyday. An experience is much more meaningful than an object.
• Connect with others. In real life. If you haven’t hung out with a friend recently, give him a call and go hang out. Get your kid away from the TV or video game player and take her outside to do something. Go on a date with your partner. Visit your mom or grandparents. And be present while you’re with them — really listen, really be there.
• Deal with your emotions. If you have a need to buy things, to shop when you are having emotional issues, be more aware of this. Then deal with the underlying emotions, rather than using shopping as a way to forget about them. If you’re depressed, or anxious, or lonely, deal with those. Find solutions, figure out what’s causing them. Good news: experiencing life, getting active, and connecting with others all help you deal with those emotional issues.
• Disconnect your attachment to stuff. Sometimes I find myself reluctant to give something up, even if I don’t really use it. And that’s when I ask myself, “Why?” What is holding me back from getting rid of this possession? Sometimes, the item has an emotional connection, but then I realize that it’s just an object, it’s not the emotion or the actual source of the emotion. Then I’ll take a picture of the item, upload it to my computer, and get rid of the object. I feel liberated, because I’ve broken an attachment to a physical object (but saved the memory). If you are attached to an object, figure out why — it’s not healthy in the long run.
• Realize that life, not stuff, is what matters. Objects are just objects — if you lose them, if they get stolen or destroyed … it’s not a big deal. They’re just objects — not your life. Your life is the series of moments that is steaming through your consciousness right now, and how you use those moments and what you fill them with is what truly matters, not what you fill your home with. At the end of this short journey, you’ll look back and remember your experiences, the people you loved and who loved you back, the things you did and didn’t do. Not the stuff you had.

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Read more about simplifying in my book, The Power of Less.

Breathe.

Breathing can transform your life.

If you feel stressed out and overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.

If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.

If you are discouraged and have forgotten your purpose in life, breathe. It will remind you about how precious life is, and that each breath in this life is a gift you need to appreciate. Make the most of this gift.

If you have too many tasks to do, or are scattered during your workday, breathe. It will help bring you into focus, to concentrate on the most important task you need to be focusing on right now.

If you are spending time with someone you love, breathe. It will allow you to be present with that person, rather than thinking about work or other things you need to do.

If you are exercising, breathe. It will help you enjoy the exercise, and therefore stick with it for longer.

If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.

So breathe. And enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.

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Tip: Put the word “Breathe” as a screensaver or desktop pic, or put it up as a note on your wall or fridge or on your desk. Then do it every time you see the word.

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.” —Dale Carnegie

Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead; follow him on twitter.

If we really want to be happy, why do we act like such babies?

We can claim to be proactive in our life by settings goals and going after what we want. But if we’re always whining and complaining all the time, are we really living effectively?

If you don’t believe me, count how many times you complain about something or other in one day. Whether it be being stuck in traffic, being bothered by the weather, not enough mustard on your sandwich, or whatever it is, there are endless instances where you can find a reason to complain.

But it’s not just outside circumstances that we complain about. We complain about about ourselves too. We complain that we don’t have enough time, we don’t have enough money (this one is huge because it’s often “true”), that we’re not smart enough, cool enough, or just enough.

I know I’ve experienced plenty of unpleasantness due to complaining about things I can’t control. I never really thought about it much until I found this website about “living in a complain free world.”

Imagine how much happier you would be if you simply stopped complaining? Much of what you complain about is outside of your control anyway. What’s the point of brooding about something you have no power to change? Not very intelligent, if you ask me.

Simply becoming conscious of how much you complain is the first step to stopping. When you recognize that you’re complaining, stop and take notice of it. Ask yourself if you would rather complain, or be happy.

Are you ready to live a complaint-free, happier life?

The two steps to stop whining so much:

1. Make it a priority to notice every time you complain or unnecessarily criticize. This includes judging others. Now, every time you catch yourself complaining, just stop and notice it.
2. After you’ve noticed yourself complaining, ask yourself this: Is there anything I can do about what I’m complaining about, or it outside of my control? If there is something you can do about it, do it. If there is nothing you can do, let it go.

Obviously, this is a little easier said than done. Complaining is an addiction and a hard habit to break. Like any other habit to break, it will take time.

Even though it may be a long time (or possibly never) before you’re living completely complaint-free, that’s still okay. The good news is this isn’t all-or-nothing. Even 10% less complaining will have an immediate positive impact on your life. Then, once you’ve decreased your whining by 10%, you can keep bootstrapping your way down to complaining less and less.

After complaints show up less and less, something awesome starts to happen. Once your mind realizes that you won’t tolerate its moaning, it will begin to give up its efforts. (Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of complaining that you’re complaining.)

So the question is: Would you rather complain or be happy?

(Oh and by the way, having gratitude is a great way to stop complaining.)

This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind.  For more ways to stop whining so much, grab a copy of Reclaim Your Dreams.

Technology is supposed to increase our productivity and reduce our work hours, yet many of us find the opposite to be true. We feel busier than ever, we stay at the office later than ever, and sometimes we leave without finishing a single task of substance! Do these five things right now and go to your family on time tonight.

1. Clear off your desk. When your office is cluttered, you’ll have the tendency to flutter around it aimlessly, without a clear sense of where you should channel your energy. I suggest thinking of every new item arriving on your desk as an insect that is infiltrating your territory. Your job is to dispose of it as quickly as possible, either by chucking it in the nearest recycling bin or putting it in its proper place. The only material on your desk should pertain to the task you’re working on at that very minute.

2. Get Your Google on. Manage your virtual world more time-efficiently by signing up for Google’s suite of offerings. The products, which include Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Sites, streamline tasks and facilitate collaboration among people working together on projects. Many are free, and the data are safely backed up and available everywhere you have an Internet connection.

3. Don’t buy that plane ticket. Do you really need to meet with that sales rep on the other side of the world? Video calling services like Skype, which is free and available in 28 languages, allow you to connect visually with anyone in the world via a webcam and a microphone. And what about that training seminar that will keep you out of the office for a week? Webinar technology like Cisco WebEx allows for one-way communication from an individual speaker to an audience, and it can include polling and electronic Q&A.

4. Order strategy – instead of donuts – for the team meeting. Do not call team meetings indiscriminately, and don’t put them on the calendar every week so that people take them for granted. Chit chat can be reserved for happy hour. We all know that real project work gets done outside the conference room and that we do not accomplish things simply by talking about them. Please don’t usurp an hour of valuable work time unless the meeting generates important strategy, delegates tasks to ensure team member accountability, or flags problems so that they can be managed before they get out of hand.

5. Nip procrastination in the bud. Raise your hand if you’ve spent weeks putting off a task that should only take a few hours because you know you don’t want to do it and fear you will spend too much time surfing the web and answering your e-mail? Fight the urge to put things off by breaking complex and overwhelming projects down into smaller chunks with easy starting points. After each mini-task has been completed, reward yourself with a special treat.

Alexandra Levit writes on workplace and career issues for the Wall Street Journal and is the author of They Don’t Teach Corporate in College and How’d You Score That Gig?

New York Times techonology writer David Pogue, a writer I admire, recently listed some of his best productivity tips — and it’s a good list. One thing I noted with interest is that he uses his email inbox as a to-do list, which is a fairly common practice.

And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, and I’ve done it myself, I wanted to make a quick counterargument.

An email inbox isn’t the best to-do list, and here’s why:

1. You can’t change the subject lines. This means your to-do list is made up of subject lines that often have nothing to do with the action you need to take. An email that says “today’s meeting” might really be an action to call someone or send a file to someone. You’ll need to open each email to find the actions, which is very inefficient. Or, you’ll need to remember what actions are associated with each email, and that defeats the point of a to-do list … the list is supposed to remember for you, and take the stress away from your brain.

2. There might be multiple actions in each email. What if an email contains 10 to-do items? You can’t delete or archive the email when you’ve done one or two of the actions. It’ll remain in your inbox until all 10 are done, as if nothing has been done. Also, you might forget that there are multiple actions in an email and file or delete it when you’ve done one of the actions — either that or you’ll be forced to remember that there are multiple actions in the email, again defeating the purpose of a to-do list.

3. You can’t re-order the emails (usually). Many email programs (such as the wonderful Gmail) just show the emails in the order they come in. Which means if you want to put the most important items at the top, you can’t. If you want to group all the items for errands, you’ll have to create a label for that and look there. It’s not as flexible as even the most simple to-do program.

4. You can’t prioritize your to-dos. Most readers know that I’m a fan of choosing your top 3 Most Important Tasks each day (see The Power of Less and Zen To Donefor more). But you can’t list just your top 3 Most Important Tasks in email — you have to list them all. In the order they come in. It’s possible to do a workaround for this, and create a label or folder just for important tasks, but then why use your email as a to-do list? Why not use an actual to-do list that works the way it’s supposed to?

5. An email inbox contains distractions. This is probably the worst thing on this list: if you’re looking at your to-dos in email, you’re in very big danger of new emails coming in and distracting you. I think it’s a bad idea to have email on all the time — it makes it difficult to focus. I’d prefer a simple to-do list that allows you to shut off email while you’re trying to get important work done.

So what’s a better method? Simple: choose a simple to-do list and as you process your email inbox, pull out the actions to the to-do list. A notebook or index card works fine, as does a simple program such as Taskpaper (my current favorite) or even a text file in Notepad or TextEdit. If you set up a keyboard shortcut for your to-do app or file, it just takes a second to copy and paste a to-do from an email.

I’m not saying you can’t work well and get great things done using an email inbox as a to-do list. David Pogue obviously manages to get a lot done this way, and I’ve done it from time to time. But it’s not the best way, at least for those who like a simple way to find individual, actionable items, to prioritize tasks, and to work without distractions.

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One of the most striking things about my trip to Japan was how thin everyone was. I kept saying to my family, “There are no fat Japanese!”

That’s not entirely true, of course. Aside from sumo wrestlers, there are some Japanese people who are fat — but at least in my two-week trip to Tokyo, they were pretty hard to find.

Seriously: in America (including my hometown of Guam), you could walk around and half if not most of the people you see will be at least a little overweight. Many are outright obese. But in Japan, everyone is thin it seems. I could go a whole day without seeing a fat person, unless it was a tourist.

This is not groundbreaking news, I know — it’s long been known that the Japanese are among the healthiest people on Earth, with one of the lowest rates of obesity among developed nations and one of the longest average lifespans. But when you actually see it in person, it’s almost shocking.

During my stay in Japan, I formed some theories — and these won’t be groundbreaking either, but I think they’re worth reflecting on. Be aware, of course, that I’m not an expert in any related field here, and my observations are based on a two-week stay in Tokyo, and therefore are very, very limited. But here are the reasons the Japanese are not fat, in my opinion:

1. They eat a lot of seafood and veggies. It’s true that they eat red meat, and sometimes it’s fried. But red meat or poultry doesn’t seem to be the main staple of their diet as much as seafood, rice and veggies are. Meat seems to be eaten in smaller amounts (usually as a seasoning, not a main dish), or if it’s eaten in bigger amounts, it’s not an everyday occurrence. This is a generalization, of course, as is everything in this article, so there are many exceptions. Not everyone in Japan eats the same way.

2. They eat smaller portions. This is very striking, actually. While in American (and Guam) restaurants, the food is piled high in huge portions, or supersized in fast food restaurants, in Japanese restaurants the portions are … sensible. Not tiny, but definitely not large. You might get a bowl full of soup with some noodles and seafood (or meat), but if you take just the solid part it’s not a huge amount. Or you might get some seafood with rice and pickled veggies and miso soup — small amounts for each of those foods. The smaller portions is probably more important than the type of food they eat, in my opinion.

3. They walk and bike more than we do. This was pretty striking as well. It seems like everyone uses the subway stations and walks, every day. Their kids walk a good part of the way to school, instead of being dropped off by parents. And a LOT of people ride bicycles, everywhere. Usually not the kind you ride for exercise or training for races, but everyday, riding-around-the-city type of bicycles with baskets for a bag or two of groceries. This is all in contrast to us Americans, who ride cars everywhere, even to the corner store. (This is a generalization, of course — you my lovely readers are exceptions.)

It’s a combination of the walking, biking, eating smaller portions, and eating more seafood and veggies, that leads to the Japanese being pretty darn healthy in general. Any one of these changes would be a big improvement for most of us in America.

How I Lost 5 lbs. on My Summer Vacation
In just two weeks in Tokyo, without dieting or fasting, I lost 5 pounds and slimmed down.

I’m still not quite at my Leo vs. Bellyfat Challenge goal yet, but I’m getting there — I’m 17 lbs. lighter than I was when I started my challenge, all told. But the fastest fat loss during this challenge came in those two weeks.

And here’s the kicker: I wasn’t trying to lose weight!

Here’s how I did it:

1. I walked. For hours. Every day. My family and I walked all over Tokyo for two weeks — that’s me and Eva and the six kids, including one who rode around in a stroller. We walked about 15-20 minutes every morning to the subway station, then up and down stairs within the subway system (often transferring trains once or twice), then would walk for hours and hours exploring a new part of Tokyo. Then we’d repeat the subway trip and walk home, exhausted. Sometimes we’d walk for 10-12 hours in a day. Of course, we rested in between walking — stopping to enjoy a park or have a meal or a snack, or browse through a bookstore — but most of the time, we were walking. Great distances. Often hauling a 3-year-old toddler, a stroller, or a bag or two. Up and down lots of stairs and hills. It was an amazing amount of exercise, and by the end of the two weeks, my family and I were in great walking shape.

2. I ate moderate amounts. I didn’t stick to a meal plan, as I did early on in my Bellyfat Challenge, nor did I fast, as I started to do just before my Tokyo trip. I think both methods work great. But I decided to take a break from those methods during my vacation, and I didn’t worry about what or when I ate. My only thing was to eat until I was just full — to never stuff myself. I had desserts, I ate French fries (once in awhile), I ate white rice (I usually eat brown). I still ate fairly healthy most of the time, as I enjoy fruits and veggies a lot and fried foods kinda make me queasy, but I didn’t watch what I ate. I just ate moderate amounts.

These are really just my two Simple Fitness Rules, but the Tokyo tourist version of them, but they work. I didn’t have to worry as much about what I ate because I burned a ton of calories each day.

I hope to continue the walking, now that I’m back on Guam. As I’ve written about before, I’ve been walking more now that I’ve moved to a more central location here on Guam. I can walk to meetings, to restaurants, to see my sister, to the beach or playground. I’m going to step that up a little. There’s no way I can walk the ridiculous amounts I walked in Japan — I have a life, after all. But I hope to walk just about every day.

And not just for exercise — it’s important to walk with a purpose. While many of us will go walking for 30-45 minutes, for exercise, I’ve found that it’s better to walk somewhere, to do something. For example, when we walked all day around Tokyo Disneyland (which is obligatory if you have as many kids as I do), we didn’t think about walking — we were trying to get to the rides! And it was a fun (if tiring) day. On Guam, I hope to walk to places to do my work, walk with my kids to beaches and parks, go on hikes, walk on dates with my wife to restaurants and movies, walk to go on errands, and so on.

I encourage everyone to consider doing the same — you’ll be amazed at how great it feels.

Read more: Our Japan travel blog, and all our Japan photos.

Have you ever thought about why you get stuck?

I’m sure you have. There are entire industries built around productivity. There are multitudes of books, seminars, webinars, podcasts, blog posts, desktop apps, email apps, mobile apps, and physical products centered around helping you get things done. They are supposed to help you get unstuck, right? Because if you weren’t stuck, you wouldn’t need any of those things to keep you going.

But what if you didn’t need any of those things? What if you could solve all of your “problems” with getting things done with one simple question?

So the question is: Do I care?

Sure, sometimes you may have to do things you don’t really care to do. You probably don’t care much for cleaning litter boxes and filing your taxes. That’s a given. But we’re talking about the big things here, like the work you devote your life to.

Do you care about it? Be honest with yourself. Do you really care?

If you don’t care, allow that to be okay. At least you’re acknowledging the fact that you don’t care. Now you know that it’s not a water-tight productivity system you need to get you motivated. What you need is work that you give a damn about.

The first step is allowing yourself to not care and being honest with what you do care about it. That’s where most people get stuck. A lot of people spend their lives working on things they don’t care about, because they think it doesn’t matter that they don’t care. They think they’re supposed to suck it up and deal with it. Are you one of these people that believes it doesn’t matter if you don’t care about your work? It’s okay if you are. I used to be this way, too.

Then I realized something.

I discovered that not only is it valid to care about the work you do, it’s absolutely necessary. I used to think that you didn’t have a choice, or that doing work you love was some kind of luxury for the retired or gifted. And you know why? Because we’re taught that we can’t get paid to be ourselves. We’re taught that we need to become something in order to earn a paycheck.

Here’s some refreshing news: That’s an assumption.

More refreshing still: Just because a huge number of people believe in an assumption, doesn’t mean it’s true.

A lot of people once assumed the world was flat. And a lot of people now assume that work and play are not meant to coexist, that life must be a struggle. But the simple fact is, your life is a gift. To spend that gift in drudgery and grim duty is a waste.

So here’s the question you might want to ask now: How can I do what I care about?

Here are a few suggestions:

• Do something amazing.
• Start a revolution.
• Learn to give up caring about all the unimportant things.
• Pull out all the mental weeds to allow room for the things you care about to grow.
• Create a legacy project.
• Do something Epic.

If you allow yourself to stop caring about the things you don’t really care about, something amazing will start to happen. Once you move out all that attentional garbage, you finally create room for the things you love to take up residence in your life.

This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind.  For more unconventional ideas, grab a subscription to Illuminated Mind.

If there’s an underlying theme throughout Zen Habits, besides simplifying your life, it’s finding happiness.

I’ve written dozens of articles on different ways to be happy, but it all boils down to one thing: be happy now — don’t wait for it.

Still, for those who want more depth, I’ve compiled a couple dozen of my favorite happiness articles from the archives. I hope you enjoy them! (If not, you’ve missed the point.)

• 18 Practical Tips for Living the Golden Rule
• Feeling Down? 7 Ways to Pick Yourself Back Up
• Savor the Little Things
• Peaceful Simplicity: How to Live a Life of Contentment
• The Art of Doing Nothing
• Calm as a Monk: How Equanimity Can Save Your Sanity
• A Guide to Escaping Materialism and Finding Happiness
• Why Living a Life of Gratitude Can Make You Happy
• A Guide to Cultivating Compassion in Your Life, With 7 Practices
• 75 Simple Pleasures to Brighten Your Day
• How to Accept Criticism with Grace and Appreciation
• A Simple Method to Avoid Being Judgmental (yes, that means you!)
• How to ‘Let It Be’ When You’re Upset
• 10 Great Ways to Show You’re Grateful Today
• 10 Simple, Sure-fire Ways to Make Today Your Best Day Ever
• Faith in Humanity: How to Bring People Closer, and Restore Kindness
• 17 Unbeatable Ways to Create a Peaceful, Relaxed Workday
• 10 Tips for Life’s Greatest Challenge: Love Thy Enemy
• 20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life
• 12 Practical Steps for Learning to Go With the Flow
• Flip Your Karma: 8 Tricks to Turn the Bad Into the Awesome
• The Incredible Power of Contentment
• 15 Tips for Becoming as Patient as Job
• Life’s Enough: Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
• 32 Ways to Make Someone Happy Today
• Sound of Silence: How to Find Some Quietude in Your Life

Share your favorite posts with friends and family!

And more “Best of Zen Habits” posts on different topics:

1. Everything You Wanted to Know About Simplifying Your Life, and Way More
2. The Unsurpassable Productivity List: A Handy Guide to Getting Important Things Done
3. All The Best Tips on Getting In Shape, In One Handy List
4. The Golden Money List: Hundreds of Tips for Turning Your Financial Life Around
5. The Beginner’s Guide to Zen Habits

Note: I’m still in Japan but I’m missing you all. Also, Japan is awesome. - Leo