Book Club: Happiness Project - Boost Energy

Today is the first day of the new Virtual Book Club, and as always, when starting a new project or resolutions or even a new month, I get a boost of energy! And sure enough, that does make me happy!

The first chapter of The Happiness Project is about Energy or Vitality.

First, I must say, I feel quite the kindred spirit with author, Gretchen Rubin, because of her ultra goal-oriented behaviors. I, too have this very organized approach to just about everything I do, which can tend to go a bit overboard. However, we "goal freaks" (and I use this term affectionately) get a big sense of satisfaction from having plans and working through our To Do lists, seeing progress as we get closer to our goals.

In the "Getting Started" section of the book, Gretchen suggests that everyone create their own personal Happiness Project. She tells us about her own project, filled with tips and notes from experts and all her research, but reminds us that we each are unique. Some of these suggestions for finding happiness will resonate more for some people than with others.

In this first chapter, Gretchen describes five things she did in the first month of her "year long happiness experiment" to boost her energy:

• Go to sleep earlier.
• Exercise better.
• Toss, restore, organize.
• Tackle a nagging task.
• Act more energetic.

I'd like to write about each of these, but that would make this one very long blog post! And even if I write a blog post each day to cover each of these, I will get totally off schedule... something unacceptable for goal freaks! We are already scheduled to be discussing Chapter 2 on Tuesday!

I blogged in a different post about sleep, but, book club participants, you are going to have to help me out in order to get full coverage of Chapter 1. Even if you haven't read the book, you'll be able to do this assignment. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to do one or more of the following:

1. Blog or add a comment about any of the above topics or energy and happiness in general.
2. If you blog somewhere, add a link to the comments. I'd be happy to add a link to your blog in my blog roll under book club participants.
3. What ways do you boost your energy?
4. Of the ways to boost energy that Gretchen mentions in the first chapter, what works well for you? What doesn't?

Do you know others that blog or might be interested in participating in this Virtual Book Club? Spread the word by sending the following to your network:

Join Lessons of Love Virtual Book Club: http://bit.ly/dakO0T%20