How Can You Have A Meaningful Life?

Today, I’m honored to host an excerpt from the new book by my friend, Frank Sonneberg, The Path to a Meaningful Life*. Frank’s books are ‘must reads” and “must gives.” You should read his blog and follow him on facebook and instagram. You’ll be glad, and better, because you did!


10 Critical Rules for Living a Happy Life

Some people spend their whole life searching for happiness. While you may think wealth, power, and fame will make you happy, you may be looking in the wrong place. In fact, all the riches in the world won’t guarantee a happy and fulfilling life. You don’t have to search the globe for happiness because it already exists within you. As Glinda, the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, said, “You’ve always had the power, my dear. You just had to learn it for yourself.” Here are 10 critical rules for living a happy life:

Parents give you life. Only you can give it meaning. Everyone was put on this earth for a reason…what’s yours? Find your purpose and pursue it with gusto. It’ll add bounce to your step, make your heart smile, fill your soul with pride, and be proof positive that you’re making a difference. Remember, when you do something for satisfaction rather than reward, the reward is often the satisfaction of doing it.

Your mindset matters more than you think. You are limited by your thoughts. While some of your thinking is constructive, other times it is detrimental, actively working against you. A poor choice or misjudgment is unintentional, while a poor attitude is a deliberate choice. Look at the bright side, see the good in people, challenge yourself, be grateful, believe in yourself, and have faith. Remember, ability determines if you can; attitude determines if you will.

Put your heart into your relationships. The number-one factor to help you achieve happiness is healthy relationships. But like other desirable things in life, relationships require an investment. Make your relationships a priority. Agree on the big things, put others’ needs ahead of your own, nurture trust, say what’s on your mind, meet in the middle, keep your promises, show appreciation, share and share alike, and never win at the expense of the relationship. Remember, invest in relationships to avoid the time repairing them.

Value memories rather than things. Some people assume that accumulating material wealth automatically leads to happiness, but nothing can be further from the truth. Keeping up with the Joneses places artificial demands on you that undermine your happiness. These demands force you to work harder and harder to cross a finish line that keeps moving. Remember, material possessions get old and wear out. Memories last forever. 

Treasure what’s really important. There is a tendency to cherish physical goods and undervalue things that can’t be easily measured. How much do you value trust, honor, love, dignity, and commitment? If you don’t hold these treasures in high regard, you may ignore, neglect, or take them for granted. Remember, it’s so easy to lose sight of the things you can’t see.

Be grateful and give thanks. Take inventory of the wonderful things in your life and don’t forget to give thanks. If you appreciate what you have, you’ll never want for more. Moreover, when you take people or things for granted, you put them in jeopardy. Remember, appreciate what you have, while you have it, or you’ll learn what it meant to you after you lose it.

Do what’s right rather than what’s convenient. Knowing what’s right isn’t as important as doing what’s right. Do what’s right, not out of fear of getting caught, but because integrity matters. Remember, you have to live with yourself for the rest of your life.

Reach for the stars, but remain grounded. When you believe something’s possible and you set your sights firmly on the prize, you’ve taken the first big step in making it a reality. On the other hand, when you believe you can’t, you won’t. So reach for the stars. Others can stop you for a moment. Only you can stop yourself for good. Remember, it’s amazing what you can do when you don’t know you can’t!

Make every moment matter. Live every day to the fullest rather than reliving the past or worrying about the future. The fact is, precious moments pass in the blink of an eye. And once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. Remember, life is like playing musical chairs –– you never know when the music will stop.

Do yourself proud. What does it mean to be a trusted friend, to raise good kids, to be a thoughtful neighbor or an exemplary role model? Your life will be determined by the choices that you make. You set your course, make the difficult choices, determine what you’re willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals, and act accordingly. Own your life! After all, personal responsibility can’t be delegated. Remember, if you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see, don’t blame the mirror.

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*Proceeds from the book are going to St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital, Tunnel to Towers and Samaritan’s Purseitanspurse.org/.

Frank Sonnenberg is an award-winning author and a well-known advocate for moral character, personal values, and personal responsibility. He has written nine books and has been named one of “America’s Top 100 Thought Leaders” and one of “America’s Most Influential Small Business Experts.” Frank has served on several boards and has consulted to some of the largest and most respected companies in the world. Frank’s newest book, The Path to a Meaningful Life, was released June 14, 2022.

Additionally, his blog — FrankSonnenbergOnline — has attracted millions of readers on the Internet. It was recently named one of the “Top Self-Improvement and Personal Development Blogs” in the world, and it continues to be named among the “Best 21st Century Leadership Blogs,” the “Top 100 Socially-Shared Leadership Blogs,” and the “Best Inspirational Blogs On the Planet.”

You Want a Meeting for What‽

Clock over door to Honby library, Liverpool central library Picton reading rooms ℅ alamy.com

Clock over door to Honby library, Liverpool central library Picton reading rooms ℅ alamy.com

How’s zooming going? It’s fascinating how pre-COVID, so many shunned virtual meetings and now we’re over-meeting virtually because it’s ‘easy’ which has led to even more meetings! So, let me share a client’s habit for any and all of their meetings. It’s made a big difference ~ PPO (not PPP or PPE).

PPO is Purpose, Process and Outcome.  When you want a meeting, clearly state the Purpose, the Process to be used and the desired Outcome.  Here are examples from 2 recent client meetings:

Prioritize the top tactics for a key strategy:

  • Purpose: Decide the top 2 tactics to be executed by 7/1/2021 for Strategy 1;

  • Process: Take our current list of the top 6 tactics and prioritize those to the top 2 that have to be done immediately and why;

  • Outcome: The plan for the 2 top tactics including each tactic’s champion, definition of ‘done’, due/done date, metrics, 90-day action plan of who is doing what when to reach the 7/1/2021 deadline and the tracking/monitoring schedule.

 Finalize who will be accepted to a leadership program:

  • Purpose: Select the 5 people for the 2021-2022 leadership program;

  • Process: Applying the program’s criteria along with each applicants’ career plans, prioritize the list of applicants to the 5 we will accept;

  • Outcome: Final 5 identified with personalization verbiage of acceptance letter for each one, to be copied to their manager, and personalized letter of rejection to the rest to be sent by 2/25/2021.

This seems like a no-brainer, something we read in all the ‘effective meeting’ manuals, right‽ So, given our level of zoom fatigue, why not try it? Creating a PPO forces us to see if we really need a meeting, who really has to be there, and what we have to get done. It shouldn’t (ideally) take a lot of time to create the PPO.  And, it provides focus, choice and clarity – something we can all use these days! Try it this week!

Who Are You?

When you meet someone at a party, an event, in the store, at a school, what do we usually ask? “What do you do?” or if you’re in college, “What’s your major?”

There are many ways in which others define us and we define ourselves:

·      Job, title, level;

·      Mom, Dad;

·      Daughter, son, sibling;

·      Aunt, Uncle.

·      College, university, and major or degree;

·      Home town, city, country;

·      Ethnicity;

·      Nationality(ies);

·      Religion;

·      Political leaning;

·      Talents;

·      Causes, volunteer efforts;

·      Board roles;

·      Combinations and integrations of the above;

·      None of the above – something else.

How do you really want to be identified? To be known? You may answer differently depending on where you are in your life and what matters.  That’s normal. But when you strip away all your functions and roles, at a very fundamental, who are you? What do you want to be known for? And why?