5 STEPS TO FILLING YOUR LIFE WITH MORE JOY by Bo Sanchez

Friends, here are the 5 Steps to filling your life with more joy.

Step #1: Write your Joy List

If you haven’t made your Joy List yet, I urge you to do it now. Define what makes you happy. Define what you love. Define what makes you peaceful, whole, fulfilled, excited, and happy. (Please read my previous article, “What Is Your Joy List?”)

Step #2: Choose one item in your Joy List

Don’t try to do them all of them at the same time—or you’ll get overwhelmed. Start with one item first! Check what you feel is the most important activity that gives you the most joy. It’s an activity that you want more of in your life. It could be playing time with your kids, or having solo time with God, or curling up on the couch for some reading time. The choice is yours.

Step #3: Make a Joy Appointment in your weekly or monthly calendar

Invest in your joy! Write this activity in your calendar as a regular item in your week. For example, when I got married 10 years go, I wanted to date the greatest girl of my galaxy once a week. And so for the past 10 years, I’ve been faithful to this promise. How? Easy. I put it on a specific day and time of the week. So I don’t forget. It’s that simple. (I won’t tell you what day that is. Here’s the reason why: I get hundreds of invitations to speak every month. And I don’t want people to tell me, “Bo, we picked this day because we know it’s your date night with your wife. Just this once, please speak to our group?” The answer is still No.) Unless I’m out of the country or World War III breaks out, I won’t miss my date night with my wife. She’s my joy.

Step #4: Choose a second Joy and make another Joy Appointment

When the first activity you chose is already consistent—like you’ve done it for three times already—go back to your Joy List. Check a second item that’s important to you. Repeat: This is something you want to have more in your life. Make this a Joy Appointment too. Regularize it in your weekly or monthly calendar. Make it immovable.

Step #5: Repeat the Process

Get a third item from your Joy List. And a fourth. And a fifth. Believe me, after three to six months, you won’t recognize yourself. You want to pinch yourself and say, “Is this me? Is this my life? Gosh, I’m filled with so much joy!”

Remember: If you don’t determine what you’ll do in your week, others will do that for you. The TV producers would want you to watch TV. The food advertisers would want you to keep eating their food. The video game makers would want you to keep playing their games.

Define your joy.

And do it.