Despite the challenges happening in the world, I genuinely hope you had an enjoyable July 4th holiday. Over the holiday, I took a few moments to reread the Declaration of Independence. One of the most famous lines of the document is “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, according to a recent Gallup survey, Americans are not very happy.

When I was a young child, my grandfather wisely told me that happy people like what is happening in their lives. He explained that the prefix of happy and happening is ‘happ’, and ‘happ’ comes from the word habit.

It’s simple: when you like what is happening in your life, you are happy.

“When you like what’s happening in your life, you are happy.”

— Greg Bell

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That conversation with my grandfather was a turning point for me, as well as other lessons and experiences that followed. I now make it a priority to focus on controlling what is happening in my life. I do this by putting effort into my values.

I learned from my grandfather that happiness should not be pursued, rather, happiness should be developed from your values. The trick is to make your values a habit. “Habit” means no choice.

“Happiness should not be pursued, rather, happiness should be developed from your values.”

— Greg Bell

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So, how can you make sure you have no choice but to follow your values?

Here are five ideas that can help you make your values a habit so you can be happier.

Identify your top five values. Although it might be tempting to have more than five values, it’s not effective. Having too many values is like having no values at all.
Pay close attention to What’s Going Well with respect to your values and habits. A lot of unhappiness stems from only looking at what’s wrong.
Make habits out of the things that make you happy – put it on your calendar. Make sure you incorporate your values on your weekly and monthly schedule first before adding anything else to your calendar. It’s all about execution – you can read and consume everything, but if you don’t take action, the results won’t follow.
Once you have identified a value, then think of small daily actions that you can do to support the value. For example, if one of your values is family, perhaps you can commit to a daily family walk or a meal.
Focus on one value for an entire week. Think of ways to incorporate just one value in all aspects of your weekly schedule. For example, if health is one of your values, you could think about health as you plan your weekly meals, exercise, and work goals.