Most of us stay at our jobs at least a year.

The next key date is two years.

So here is the question that gives you a heads-up on whether a job change is in your future:

Do you want to be doing your present job six months or a year from today?

Research shows that people are funny about their careers.

The great predominance of evidence shows that even when talked into staying in your current job with more money, benefits or other things we may want, people still leave after deciding they might like to change jobs or accept another offer.

But only we know if we’re ready.

By projecting one year ahead to determine if we actually would want to be doing our present job.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

We’re getting too self-absorbed in our world.

Changing that is hard to do.

One way is to picture a person you appreciate.

How do you appreciate them and why?

What do they mean to you?

Focus on them – not you.

Thinking in real terms about the details on why we appreciate special people in our lives makes us happier, grateful and less concerned about our ups and downs.

It’s an anti-depressant without the pill.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Author Daniel Pink (When) says there are 86 days in the year when you can make a fresh start.

The first day of the month (twelve)

Mondays (fifty-two)

The first day of spring, summer, fall, and winter (four)

Your country’s Independence Day or the equivalent (one)

The day of an important religious holiday—for example, Easter, Rosh Hashanah, Eid al-Fitr (one)

Your birthday (one)

A loved one’s birthday (one)

The first day of school or the first day of a semester (two)

The first day of a new job (one)

The day after graduation (one)

The first day and back from vacation (two)

The anniversary of your wedding, first date, or divorce (three)

The anniversary of the day you started your job, the day you became a citizen, the day you adopted your dog or cat, the day you graduated from school or university (four)

The day you finish his book (one).

When things are going poorly, you can always start over.

A fresh start completely changes the dynamic of a bad day.

Too often we waste time trying to salvage what really can’t or shouldn’t be saved.

Start over anytime – that’s the winning formula.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

He was drafted as a franchise quarterback a few years back.

He had one really good season.

Then he was traded – eventually became a backup.

Considered retiring even though he was only in his 20’s until he got one more chance as a backup on the Philadelphia Eagles.

Nick Foles won the Super Bowl and became the game’s MVP beating an elite Patriot’s quarterback, Tom Brady.

“The big thing is don’t be afraid to fail … In our society, with (social media) it’s a highlight reel. I think when you have a rough day, you’re feeling you can’t – failure is a part of your life. I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t failed a million times”.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

It’s funny how we see self-absorption in others but never see it in ourselves.

When a person talks incessantly about themselves, that’s self-absorption.

I have a “friend” who has never asked me about my family – not my mother nor my children.  My wife’s mother died at an early age and there are people she knows who don’t know this.

The word I is an indication of self-absorption.

Always having to match someone else’s story with one of yours is not only self-centered but it can be hurtful when the topic is sickness, death or loss.

Bette Midler in the movie Beaches famously said “But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think of me?”

Dale Carnegie, the master of human relations, still has it right all these decades later.

Talk in terms of the other person’s interests and you will cure 50% of our self-absorbed society.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

I’m looking out of my office building onto a golf course.

I see all kinds of people drive by, walk by or push carts holding their clubs.

Without regard to age, at least one and sometimes all four check their phones before or after teeing off (depending on who tees off first).

When they arrive at their ball, at least one – no matter of age – pulls the phone out and checks it.

How could anything be so important that so many people routinely and I’m sure without thinking check their phones all during golf.  And of course, golf isn’t the only activity that exhibits this response to the fear of not missing out on something.

Golfers refer to the game they love (and hate after some shots) to a “good walk spoiled”.

This may be so but increasingly golf and many other of our stress relieving activities are “a good life interrupted”.

A phone is not your boss.

You are.

Reign it in or miss out on what life is all about.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Friendships are not casual things.

Not Facebook friends or Instagram likes.  Not the neighbor across the street just because you look at each other.

Friendships are earned by caring, staying in touch, valuing each other and these friendships have no geographical limits.

Most friendships disintegrate because they do not have these qualities in the first place and without them friendships cannot withstand the test of time.

The best way to heal a broken friendship is to heal yourself first.

Friends become best friends when their relationship is more about the other person than you.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Nothing makes people feel good like a word of encouragement.

Young people especially need this but so do adults.

Society is short on words of encouragement.

Here’s one that never fails.

“Have a day of accomplishments”.

Powerful because it reminds others of their potential and keeps them focused on doing positive things.

Accomplishments don’t have to be taking over a $4 billion company. Setting sights on small things that matter makes all the difference.

And after wishing “a day of accomplishments”, there are lots of positive conversations to follow up on in the evening.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore? Unsubscribe below.

Work as hard at being happy as you do being healthy. 

52% of the population under 40 says anxiety is killing them.

But we go to the gym, take a walk, run, exercise to build our bodies while we often neglect our minds.

Most of us do not dedicate the same time we put aside for healthy activities to spend on personal happiness.  If we did it would be transformative.

The goal of working out is often cardio.

The goal of training happiness is to find ways to be grateful for what we have and who we have.

That includes ourselves.

When was the last time you said, “I am grateful for being me” and count your blessings?  Grateful for others?  Grateful for the life you are having?

Spend the same amount of time on gratitude as you do health and you will gain two benefits.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

• Reach out and start a conversation with someone new
• Give your most precious gift of time to someone else
• Turn off your phone and be a parent, friend or employer 100% in the now
• Ban the word can’t and don’t for an entire morning
• Be a friend — listen and resist the temptation to match their woes with yours

Life is more than just being places and doing things.

Make a difference by being first to reach out and touch people.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Plan a great ending.

We remember endings.

You’ll remember the event more while it happens and after it happens if you plan a great ending.

Having a bad day?

Plan a great ending.

Usually a down day goes from bad to worse but we have the power to finish big and we’re likely to remember the ending not a day that isn’t going your way.

At the end of work make a list of accomplishments

Think of things for which you are grateful 

And people you are grateful to have in your life 

It’s wrong to think that we have to succumb to negativity when we have the power to end on a positive note.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Every activity that doesn’t involve a screen makes us happier.

That’s the research of a survey of 8^th, 10^th and 12^th graders that has been conducted continuously since 1991.

Even homework (yes, I did a double take, too) makes them happier than staring at a screen or getting lost in the black hole of social media.

Playing sports, exercising, reading – all rate higher on the teen’s happiness scale than being involved with a digital device.

Computer games, social media, texting, video chat, watching TV – all get worse marks on the teen’s happiness scale.

People who gave up Facebook for a week were happier, less lonely and less depressed.

How to live with our digital devices is a big deal.

Parents push them on kids who have not developed their social skills.

Adults find themselves withdrawing into their digital screens.

No pills, no headshrinkers, no counseling necessary.

Adult or child – come back to life in the present even with its ups and downs.  Research shows you’ll be happier.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

It’s from Angela Ahrendts the high-powered Apple executive who earlier in her career was told by a random human resources manager that she needed to make changes if she ever wanted to be CEO material.

So Ahrendts went off to meet with a career coach for several days but lasted only a few hours.

Here’s how Ahrendts tells it:

“By lunchtime the first day, I just looked at them and I said, ‘I gotta go. I don’t want to be somebody that I’m not. I like me, and I’ve been pretty successful so far being me and I was raised in a really big family. And, you know, my mom liked me, my friends liked me … I don’t care about a title or a position. You know I have to wake up with me every morning, and I want to be the best version of myself. I don’t want to be this person you’re trying to make me, so I’m really sorry but I have to go.’ So, I left, and literally a month later got the call to become the CEO of Burberry.”

Authentic people are addictive.

People like to work with them and follow their lead.

But to earn your cred, you must genuinely like and accept yourself the way you are to maximize your potential.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore? Unsubscribe below.

True happiness is when you can appreciate things that you didn’t ask for.

It’s why you will never see a truly happy control freak.

When we get what we want it isn’t long before we don’t want it anymore.

Then we want something else.

Not that some goals and desires aren’t good – just that they aren’t the answer to true happiness that comes from being grateful for that which you have not that which you want.

Be accepting of all the good things that come into your life without having to ask for them.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Learn more about my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Find something nice to tell someone.

We often know many nice things that we never share.

Focus on one.

“It was so nice of you to do that charity walk”

“You didn’t have to do that (thing), it was so nice of you”

“Thanks for spending a few minutes to chat with me.  I know you are busy”

Without sincerity, it would just be manipulation, but when you simply share something nice you have observed about others, they will become appreciative of you.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Learn more about my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

38%    Keep their phone in handbag or pocket when meeting people

32%   Turn off audio notifications

27%    Keep their phone in bag or pocket when alone

26%    Delete apps that encourage more use

26%    Turn phone off at night

(Source: Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey)

We check our phones 47 or more times a day

80% check our phones within an hour after arising and going to sleep

85% use a Smartphone even as they talk to family

47% have tried to limit phone usage in the past and 30% have claimed to be successful

All these statistics are fun but the moment we decide to reenter the real world and put phones in their proper place is the time when stress will be reduced and we discover the real meaning of the term smartphones.

The phone isn’t the only thing that has to be smart.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Learn more about my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

28-32 for getting married.

Before 32 for having children.

18-19 for processing information.

This from a research study at UIC School of Public Health in Chicago.

The best age is when you realize that life is short and you’re running out of time.

Sometimes it takes the death of a loved one to realize it.

Worries and stress start to decline at age 50 and later years are often most rewarding if good health holds up beyond that.

The perfect age is now.

We cannot relive the past.

Cannot guarantee the future.

The best age is when we arrive at the realization that we need to live in the present and be grateful for it.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Jerry Del Colliano is the author of Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Each day is more precious than the previous day.

To live in the past is to squander the valuable time that remains.

To spend it in the future dreaming of what could be is not assured.

We can learn from the past, relive special moments and rekindle memories of loved ones and looking to the future can help us plan for what might be.

But we must only visit not dwell on the past and future.

The only thing that is guaranteed is living in the present 100% focused on what we are fortunate to have.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Learn more about my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore? Unsubscribe below.

The bible of conflict resolution was written by Morton Deutsch who died last year at the age of 97.

“…coercion, intimidation, deception, distrust and hostility are both causes and effects of competition, whereas assistance, openness, information, sharing, perceived similarity, and friendliness are both causes and effects of cooperation”

That one paragraph summarizes 25 years of research on cooperation and conflict.

To be an expert at conflict resolution whether it be at work or at home, these are what you should be shooting for:

Openness

Information

Sharing

Perceived similarity

Friendliness

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Learn more about my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

The opposite of working together as teams in lock step is disagreement.

There can be no innovation when we are agreeing with everybody and everyone is agreeing with us.

But there are a few rules:

• Argue as if you’re in a debate instead of a WWE wrestling tournament.
• Sincerely try to see things from the others person’s point of view whether you agree with it or not.
• Respectfully, repeat the main points of the other person’s point of view.  That shows a willingness to listen and may inspire them to do the same with your ideas.
• If you have areas of agreement, state them.  Where you disagree, simply state that as well.

The purpose of expressing different points of view is not to master the other person and get them to think like you (or vice versa).

It is to expose all ideas to the light of day from which the creative process begins.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Learn more about my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.