Recipe for a Successful Life
All day long, say “good morning” and “good afternoon” as if you really mean it.
Do something nice for someone whether it is picking up something someone dropped, putting away someone’s shopping cart, or even giving a word of hope to someone who has lost a job or is discouraged at the job he has.
Look pleasant. Dress as nicely as you can and smile. Always nod and say hi, even to strangers. You never know when your one kind hello will make or break someone’s day.
Show respect for everyone. Don’t treat people as if you aren’t interested in them and have more important things than them on your mind. this means not texting or reading a book while people are trying to talk and have a conversation.
Sincerely praise every person you come into contact with. It could be the bag boy at the grocery store for doing a good job and not smashing your bread or the clerk whose jewelry you admire.
Treat a teenager like an adult and not an alien from outer space. You are the adult here treat them the way you want them to treat you.
Do your job a little better. Forget about whether you will get praised for it or noticed. Just go the extra mile.
Be patient with that child or adult who isn’t learning something as quickly as you think he should. When talking with a little child, take the time to kneel down and listen to him.
Make eye contact with everyone who is talking to you, even the cashier at the grocery store or the child who is telling you about the bug he found… for the third time.
Don’t be rude and ignore someone by talking on your phone, especially a cell phone. The person you are with should be the most important person to you at that moment.
Let it slide. If someone pulls out in front of you in traffic, you get the wrong package in the mail or the neighbor’s child leaves his bike in the yard, don’t get mad. Start over-looking things and letting them go. We are all human and make mistakes.
Success in a nutshell – “Do unto others as you want others to do unto you.”
-Jill
P.S. “People seldom notice old clothes if you are wearing a big smile.” -Lee Mildon
Photo By: flickrohit
I want to print this out and read it daily. These are the kind of reminders I need to keep me from getting bogged down in (and totally stressed out by) the minutiae.
Great list! I like to make goodies and take them to neighbors or friends at church. :D
Thank you Jill, this is excellent guidance. Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and respect.
i agree cate! awesome advice! :D
I agree with the cell phone reminder. I find it so sad when moms are picking their kids up from school and are too busy on their cell phones to talk with their children. It would be a perfect time for the child to download. They have stressful lives too.
I agree Kathy. I hadn’t thought about it but what you say is so true. I found out with kids the time they are most talkative and need to talk the most is right after school.
I felt it was so importantI even went so far as when I work outside of my home to be sure that my job allowed me to be home those couple of hours when they got home from school even if it meant going back to work later.
I also always had a special snack ready and sitting on the table for all of us to sit, eat and visit. Some days they would talk for 10 mins and others 30 it didn’t matter. To this day my grown kids still think of that as one of their best memories.
They also like to talk right before bed but that is usually a ploy to get to stay up but I still put them to bed earlier so it gives them time to talk.
Jill
loved this!
I love it Jill. And the smiley faces too.
Thank someone for doing a good job or going out of their way to help you.
I bought a dress on the spur of the minute. Had to get one to meet our Prime Minister. It was a nice dress but the facing wouldn’t lie flat. I was desperate and took it to the dry cleaners. She said what she would do and have it ready the next day for me. I went back but it wasn’t done so she said it would be ready the next day. We had to leave by 10 am and she didn’t open until noon. She said she would meet us at the store at 9:30 this was great since it was on our way out of town and it would keep the cat hair off both my husbands suit and my dress.
The dress looked wonderful and I felt like a million dollars.
Went back yesterday and showed her pictures of us at the event. She said it was so nice to know that I was pleased. She said she does things and never knows the results unless they are bad comments.
Now she is going to look through her personal button supply to see if she can find me 6 buttons for a baby outfit. Nobody sells buttons in this town and I want to send the outfit out on Friday.
I have made a new friend and also made her day.
So say thanks even if you pay for the service. It is worth it.
So very true Grandma. I was wondering about you the other day and if you had seen the Prime Minister yet and how it went for you.
Jill I was re reading this and came to a thought.
I do all the things suggested here, it hasn’t helped with my life much at all.
The people here in town do not consider my or my families lives a success. In fact they have been known to say we are a failed experiment.
It has hurt a lot, but lately I have been taking a different approach to my life:
I have stopped worrying about what others see in me.
I have 2 friends who are female and a numerous amount of men who like to talk with me. Yes I get along better with men than women.
I have a family who love me the way I am. Grandchildren who love me even though we see them rarely.
We do not own a big expensive house but we don’t want to. We figure we will be here another 3 years and unless new mines open up our house will not be sold. Why put money into something that you will have to walk away from? It is comfortable and decent looking fits in with the neighbourhood in other words.
My husband of 35 years and I do pretty much everything together. No I don’t hold his hand at the barbers but sit in the next area getting my own hair cut.
We joke and have fun together. We can even be silent together with no embarrassment.
I even have people in town hating me because of our politics. They think we should get along with the town council better. Why they are not doing their job.
We live in a town of the opposition government in Ontario and Canada so they think we are stupid.
We don’t go to parties because we don’t have much in common with the people Don works with. Why would we go out for drinks with people who shun you most of the time.
So now instead of seeing things with the black cloud of almost depression when I don’t fit in with the norm.
I see life with the man I love, a house we like, a job that makes it so we can have our lifestyle on our terms.
It is a much happier place to be.
Why judge your success on someone elses idea of what success is?
I still smile at almost everyone I talk to my friends I go hunting fishing and camping in the wilderness and I enjoy it much more than having a house full of women coming over to be catty about someone in town. I hate gossip.
I give to charities, give my time to others and visit with old lonely people when I see them in town.
What more success could I ask for.
Well maybe my children being closer to home and a bit less pain but they are pipe dreams.
Live for today with a bit of thought to the future.
sorry this is long but I hope it explains what I was trying to say.
I know what you mean grandma. For many years I worried about what others thought etc. and then I got sick. I literally nearly killed myself when I tried doing way more then I was physically able to do and most of it was because of what others would think of me if I didn’t do it. I even got upset because I felt they were manipulating me like I had no control over things but guess what I was allowing them too.
I decided one day after much prayer and soul searching I needed to stop worrying what others thought and do what I had to to get better and that was say no even if it meant them being mad at me. Now of course I was nice about it. I learned something interesting too. When I say no I can’t do something someone thinks I should do I don’t need to explain why.
I hate gossip too. I have been the brunt of it before and know what it feels like so really don’t want anyone else to feel that way plus after working with people for so many years I have come to find out that most of the things people gossip about either aren’t true, there is a good reason for why the people did what they did which we don’t know about and if we were in their shoes we would probably have done the same thing.
when we first moved here I had a bunch of women coming over thought it was a good way to get to know people in town since we had all just moved here. the mines opened.
well for about a week they were talking about a poor woman who was being abused and beaten by her husband. I sat and listened and wondered why the husbands didn’t take this guy outside and do the same to him.
I felt sorry for the woman who was being talked about but since they didn’t say any names I just kept out of it.
2 weeks later it turns out I was the woman. Here they are discussing my life without telling me it was mine.
Nobody apologized to me when they found out the truth but to this day some people say I don’t socialize and it must be Don keeping me at home.
Little do they know I don’t socialize because I can’t keep coffee dates since I don’t know how I will feel at the time. Easier just to say no thanks.
I still get hostile about that incident. there are many more about me my life and my family but that one was the shocker for me.
Gossip needs to be filed under G the really gloppy pail.
Jill, this article is just wonderful— I’m so happy that I happened to come across it. It would be nice to post it on the daily updates on the website again. People need to read it! You are my role model as an older adult Christian woman. Thank you for finding the time and energy to be an online presence for so many others to learn from.❤️
Joanie thank you. I am so glad you like it and thank you for taking the time to comment and tell me.