She recently released her best selling book, The Sleep Revolution, which highlights the importance of maintaining quality sleep. Arianna points out that often ambition can get in the way of good health choices.
In her previous book, Thrive, Arianna makes an impassioned and compelling case for the need to redefine what it means to be successful in today’s world.
Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research and scientific findings in the fields of psychology, sports, sleep, and physiology that show the profound and transformative effects of meditation, mindfulness, unplugging, and giving, Arianna shows us the way to a revolution in our culture, our thinking, our workplace, and our lives.
Here are her top three tips for instantly starting to improve your life and getting started on your own path to happiness.
1. “Unless you actually get all the sleep you actually need, start by getting 30 more minutes a night. Everyone can get 30 more minutes. Maybe don’t watch House of Cards. Have a sleep sponsor. If you’re tempted to binge watch Breaking Bad, you can call your sponsor and they can talk you down. The feeling of waking up fully charged and ready for the day is priceless.
2. We’re addicted to technology and our devices, I run a 24-7 news site, but I’m fully aware of becoming enslaved by technology. We all should pick a time at night when we turn off our devices and gently escort them out of our bedrooms. It is imperative and will transform your life. I have a device free bedroom. I read real books in bed and I read books that have nothing to do with work. And then when you wake up in the morning, don’t make checking your phone for texts and emails the first thing you do.
Take one minute to set your intention for the day. To be present. To be grateful for your life. Don’t let the world dictate what your day is going to involve. You set your own agenda before the world demands of you what it wants. That’s that creative people do. Steve Jobs’ most iconic ideas came after zen meditation. You need those times in order to create. And you need to create those times and be absolutely adamant about how sacred they are.
3. “Pick things in your life that you would be better off without, and drop them. Like grudges and resentment. To quote Carrie Fisher, resentment is the poison you drink, thinking another person is going to die. So it might be a project you thought you were going to do but your not. One of the projects on my list was to become a good skier. And then I realized that I just wasn’t going to do that. So it was very liberating to complete a project by dropping it. Just drop one thing at a time, and it’s unbelievably liberating. Whatever it is, create a vacuum for new things to come in.”
Arianna advises turning things on their head. When something negative happens, focus on the positive.
“Even in the toughest times, when we focus on what we are grateful for, it will help you get through it,” she advises, “No matter how blessed our lives look from the outside, it always includes diversity. Live life as though everything in rigged in your favour. Even if something bad happens, ask yourself, how is this rigged in my favour?”
And maybe then, you’ll be able to see that elusive silver lining on every cloud.
