I’m a “taking pictures freak”, all my friends would tell you that I’m addicted to my phone and would take a picture of everything even if they don’t see the importance of capturing that moment. Each of us place value in different things, and pictures help me remember mine in detail.

One of my favorite TED Talks of all times is The happy secret to better work by Shawn Achor. This one is listed under “eye-opening, life-changing” category for me. It explains how we have happiness and work backwards. We believe that in order to be happy in life we should work hard at our goal(s) now and then happiness will come in the future. In Achor’s inspiring talk he explains how being happy now will get you closer to your future goals.

Achor mentions a few technics to stay positive in his talk, one of them being writing 3 positive things about your day. I’m not big on writing, BUT I’m big on pictures.

So I created an album called “Happy” where I’d add at least one picture of something that made me happy that day. Sounds simple enough right? It wasn’t. There are things that I thought made me happy but when I remembered them they didn’t take me back to that rewarding feeling.

I realize there are things that you do to get distracted (hello, procrastinator) and things that actually makes you happy. I eventually was able to tell the difference by being mindful of how I felt after taking another look of the picture later on. It all had to do with how that action/moment was related to my life goals.

What I learned? I have a better idea of what really makes me happy. After a month of doing this I find myself scanning my day, everyday, for things that made me happy. If there are none, tomorrow’s to-do is to create one.

This reminds me of an excellent quote from Steve Jobs (which one, right?): “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been No for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something”.