Tools from the book you can start using today. The full versions are in the book’s appendices and in the free app.
Your first thirty days, in brief
The book’s entire starting plan, small on purpose. Three rules govern the month: do very little, measure where you start, and anchor every new practice to something you already do without fail.
Before you begin (one evening): take the Well-Being Baseline and the Foundations Audit, then the Drains Checklist. Circle the single item that, if it were better, would most change your days. That is your project for the month.
Week one: fix your wake time, seven days a week, and get light on your face within half an hour of waking. When a difficult feeling arrives, walk for ten minutes before doing anything else about it.
Week two: each night, note three specific good things from the day and why each happened. Once this week, tell one person specifically what they did and what it meant.
Week three: do the single Start here action for your chosen drain, from its chapter, and nothing more.
Week four: pick one day and concentrate three or four small acts of kindness on it. Act on one warm impulse you would normally let pass. On the last evening, look back at what held and what slipped, and choose what to keep.
The full plan, with every chapter’s Start here action, is Appendix A of the book, and the app walks you through it week by week.
A five-minute meditation to start tonight
Sit comfortably, spine upright, eyes closed. Take ten slow, deep breaths, letting the belly, not just the chest, expand. Let breathing return to normal, and rest your attention on its sensations: air at the nostrils, the rise and fall, the little stillness where the exhale turns. When attention wanders, and it will, gently return it to the breath. Getting lost and returning is the practice, not a failure of it. Five minutes daily beats thirty minutes weekly. Anchor it to a routine you never skip. Do not wait until you feel ready; five minutes is enough to begin.
The complete beginner’s guide, including body scan and loving-kindness meditation, is Appendix C of the book. The app’s timer follows it.
The Happiness Drains Checklist
For each, mark 0 (not present), 1 (minor), or 2 (significantly affecting my life): poor sleep • rumination • chronic stress or burnout • clutter, noise, and the news • comparison and envy • perfectionism • loneliness • a harmful relationship • compulsive escape (substance or screen) • unprocessed grief.
Anything scoring 2 deserves attention before you invest in new positive practices. The Drain-Before-Tap Rule: if one major source of unnecessary suffering is consuming your attention, deal with it before adding five new happiness practices.
Downloads
Printable worksheets from Appendix B, and a sample chapter.
One practical idea a month
A short monthly note: one finding from the research, one practice worth trying, no noise. No spam; unsubscribe anytime.