by Lori Deschene
“To get something you never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” ~Unknown
26. Wear an interesting T-shirt, something funny or nostalgic. You likely won’t get through a day wearing a Gem or Alf shirt with at least one conversation with someone new!
27. Move one of your friends into a new pool. Take one from the “we keep things light and casual” pool into the “we share our dreams and confide each other”pool. Research shows people who have 5 or more close friends describe themselves as happy.
28. Bring enough lunch to share with other people at workparticularly childhood favorites. Nothing bonds like shared nostalgia.
29. Pay attention to other people’s body language and expressions so you can offer assistance when they seem to need it.
30. Help someone else get out of their comfort zone. You just may set the precedent that you challenge each other in your friendship.
GET INTO YOUR WORK
31. Show up a half-hour early or leave thirty minutes late. You’ll get more done; you may impress your boss; and you might open yourself up to opportunities for growth; particularly if your coworkers aren’t around.
32. Speak up in a meeting, even if you don’t feel fully confident or you’re afraid you’ll be embarrassed. Your ideas can only take shape if you put them out there.
33. Hold your meeting outside. People work and engage differently in new environments, particularly when they can feel sunlight on their faces.
34. Hold a meeting standing up. This will most likely make it shorter, meaning you’ll be more efficient and create more time to work on something else.
35. Create a business card that speaks to what really matters to you, like Meng Tan’s jolly good fellow card.
36. Start learning a new language. The more people you can communicate with, the more valuable you become, particularly for work that involves traveling abroad. Only 6% of the world’s population speaks English.
37. If you don’t work in your dream industry, volunteer within it. This allows you to be your purpose now, even though you don’t have the job; gain experience; and make valuable connections.
38. Find a mentor. Ask someone who does what you’d like to do for tips.
39. Attend a networking event or conference that’s big in your industry. Collect at least 10 business cards, and follow up with emails the next day.
40. Consider one of these creative ways to turn everyday situations into opportunities.
GET CAUGHT IN THE WEB
41. Check the Craigslist Community section for activities, events, and classes; and then send at least 3 emails today. Don’t wait.
42. Start a group at Meetup.com to connect with like-minded people, or join one that already exists.
43. Ask on Twitter if anyone can offer you any tips to move forward with your dream.
44. Learn to cook one tweet at a time. @cookbook tweets entire recipes and instructions in 140 characters each.
45. Learn how to do anything that interests you on eHow, Instructables, or wikiHow.
46. Have a ‘friend trade’ day on Facebook. Introduce your friends to one of yours, and ask them to do the same.
47. If you blog, find other bloggers in your niche and email them to introduce yourself.
48. Work on personal branding to help market yourself and attract new opportunities. Mashable has an excellent post about this here.
49. Search WeFollow.com to find the most influential people in your niche, then initiate contact them through Twitter or email.
50. Join the TinyBuddha Facebook community, where happiness-minded individuals gather to share their wisdom. (Or subscribe to tinybuddha.com for more tips to live out loud!)
There’s a lot of information here; way more than you can tackle all at once. But it’s more about quality than quantity. Even just one small change can have a ripple effect into every area of your life. Of course is up to you to decide what’s possible.
How do you open your world to new possibilities?
This post is republished with permission. Find more of Lori Deschene’s writing at tinybuddha.com. Read the original post here