We’ve been talking about ways to have more energy this week. If you missed the first two posts in this series, read them here.

13. Choose Gratitude

Your attitude can make or break your situation. You can choose to focus on what you don’t have or you can choose to be thankful for what you do have.

There is always, always, always something to be thankful for. When you have a thankful, grateful spirit, you’ll automatically have more joy, zest for life, and energy. It’s the natural outflow of gratitude. And not only will you have more energy, but I promise you’ll just plain enjoy and appreciate life a lot more if you choose gratitude.

Struggling to be thankful in the midst of hard circumstances? Try writing down a list of your blessings. As I’ve found, when you start writing down your blessings, you just may have trouble stopping!

14. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

Don’t compare yourself to others. It’s never productive and it’s a great way to waste great amounts of time and energy.

I recently learned this lesson in a very personal way. Here’s a snippet from my post

It hit me anew just how easy it is to want what we don’t have–better hair, better decorating skills, a better personality, more creativity, more spunk… there’s always someone who it seems we’d like to trade places with because they have what we want.

But trading places with someone wouldn’t fix anything; we’d just inherit a new set of things we wish we could change. No one has it altogether. Everyone has struggles and difficulties.

Comparison only leads to discontentment.

We can’t change who we are, but we can make the most of our situation. We can’t choose the personality we are born with, but we can choose to be thankful–even in the midst of difficulty.

And we can choose to be intentional and purposeful in how we live our lives so that we make the most of all that we’ve been given instead of wishing we were someone else.

15. Wrap Your Life Around Things That Matter

When you spend your life dedicated to what really matters, you’ll have so much more energy and excitement for waking up and living each day. I try to ask myself often, “What will matter in 25 years from now?” And then I seek to wrap my life and invest my days into those things.

Live your life with outstretched arms. The more you live for others, the more you step outside your comfort zone, the more you give freely and generously of your resources and time, the more you’ll wake up feeling blessed, motivated, and inspired to life to the fullest!

At the end of my life, I don’t want to look back with a lot of regrets and wistful thinking. I want to give everything I have to this one life I have — because I only get one shot at life!

photo courtesy of BigStock

Other posts in the 15 Ways to Have More Energy series