1. Make your online passwords an uplifting or encouraging phrase.

This is an easy one. We all have a lot of passwords we have to remember. We all have to change these impossible to remember passwords every freaking week so this is a way to make the whole password thing better. Make your passwords something encouraging. 

Or the lyrics to a favourite song(I like using Disney Songs). Or the lyrics from your favourite Will Farrell movie. If you want to remember a password, make it long and confusing.

And because some security expert will comment on here “well Jeph an uplifting phrase isn’t quite security compliant!”. Well Bill Nye, you can add numbers, symbols and CAPS in there to make it security complaint. Ha!

Some examples of awesome passwords, can you guess the movie they’re from?

@Wholenewworld

$hake@ndBakeBABY!

Lifei$MuchBetterDownwhereitsweter!

@Kuna^matata!

Prince@liMightyisHeAliAbadwaaa%

LookWhatYouDid*YaLittleJerk!

#Iloveyourface

WackyWavingInflatableArmFlalingTubeMen

2. Start saying hi to everyone you walk past on the street.

You may think ‘ooow but Jeph those are weird, dirty people!” No they’re not, start by saying hello. You’ll get a smile from most people, and when you make a stranger smile, the gods shine down upon you and a unicorn is released from the heavens.

In all seriousness though, when did we stop saying hi to strangers? When you walking down the street in New York, yes maybe you shouldn’t be making eye contact and giving a happy go lucky “HI”. But in Regina, c’mon! We’re a small town, say hi to people you come across. You never know who’s day you’re going to make.

3. Start and end emails off with something positive. or else…

How many times have you received an email like this.

Jeph, the flip cards need to be at the gym by 8am Saturday.

No, Dear Jeph or Hey, just a quick heads up! or Hope you had a lovely week! or Happy Friday! or This message will self destruct if not replied to in 4 minutes. They come across grumpy, upset and demanding something of you. Personally I can’t stand these emails.

If you don’t start your email off with anything positive, we automatically think you’re upset and yelling at us. You have to start making your email communications more positive otherwise you’re going to find people not wanting to communicate with you.

I had a client once who never took the time to add a positive salutation to his emails. Every time he emailed me I felt like I was getting in trouble. We only worked together for two months and I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t renew our contract. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t upset or angry, it really doesn’t matter what you think, it matters what the person who you’re sending it to thinks.

Remember, email is hard to convey emotion. When you don’t explicitly make an email positive sounding, we read it as negative.

4. Record a fun voicemail.

Want to really show a stranger who calls your personality? Record a voicemail that will make people smile. It doesn’t have to be gimmicky or goofy. Communicating the way you look at the world isn’t a gimmick, it’s something special. To make someone laugh, or even smile is something precious, why not try to make every call you miss a moment of delight for the person calling you.

George Costanza got this really well.

5. Turn the wallpaper of your computer and your phone to something positive, something that inspires you or makes you giggle. And don’t be afraid to change it often.

For this one I like going between Uplifing Stickers and Hugh Macleod cartoons. Currently my computer is this:

And my phone looks like this:

For the screens you look at most often, choose very carefully. Pick something that’s going to uplift your soul when you’re having a bad day. Not just a tropical picture from your vacation last year. All you’re doing is making yourself loathe Regina weather! Ha! People are good to use, family, friends, a niece or nephew, please, no celebrities.

6. Never under estimate the power of a good hug

If you see a friend is having a bad day, give em a hug. If there’s someone in your family you haven’t seen in a while, give them a hug. Our world has been made cold with all the scare about human beings touching. Yes maybe if you’re a teacher in the school system you shouldn’t be hugging kids everyday. But if you’re having a bad day, is there anything better than a big hug?! 

Learn to be a good hugger. Give hugs away like it was your job. People like the friendly person that loves to make others feel better.

7. Join a team

Sports team great! Drama troop, cool! Dragon Boat team?! Even better. When you’re on a team you feel a part of something bigger than yourself. When you do something physically active it releases positive chemicals in your brain. So acting, singing, playing sports, doing anything active, helps your brain do what it does best.

Now I get it, you can’t just join a team today! That’s a lot of commitment! But here’s what you can do. This is a story I heard from my friend Eddy. He works in a restaurant in Regina. He told me that one day at work he started calling everyone teammates and referred the group as his team.