You’re a lucky man. But — strangely — you’re still not happy. And why not? How can a man with so much going for him be anything but happy?

You’re too creative.

And this won’t be a surprise to you.

In fact, if you stop to think about it —

You’re one of the most creative people you know.

Lucky you.

But this is a problem.

And that probably doesn’t surprise you, either —

Because one of the main problems with being creative is that you have an artist brain.

And you know what that means, don’t you?

That means that you think of way more options and solutions than you have time or energy for.

Is that an understatement?

Because it would seem to be a great advantage.

But having too many options can be overwhelming at best —

And crippling at worst.

So what can you do?

Limit your options.

And this suggestion might feel bad at first —

This whole idea of limiting your options.

In fact, it might feel downright — uncreative.

But consider this.

Because here you are, one of the luckiest, smartest guys on the planet and yet —

You’re not as happy as you’d like to be.

In fact, you feel like a failure.

Did I say failure?

Yup.

But how can such a creative, lucky guy be a failure?

And that right there is the problem.

In fact, that’s where you get stuck.

That seemingly unanswerable question.

Which leaves you feel unhappy — without understanding why.

So create something better — and smaller — in 2018.

Please watch this short (21 minute) video about how to create happiness.

And then come right back so we can wrap up for today and get you going.

Happiness is something you create.

Did you catch the drift of that talk?

In short, what Dan Gilbert said is that you create your own happiness by limiting your options.

That’s right —

You create happiness.

(Your artist brain is celebrating).

And you do it by limiting your options.

(Your artist brain isn’t as happy about that — but you can get over it, if you want to be both creative and happy).

Ready to get started?

So please do this.

First of all, get yourself off to a place far from the madding crowd — with a way to write that lets the ideas pour out of you.

Because you’re going to need to dump some ideas out onto the table.

Then, give yourself 20 minutes.

Set a timer.

(Yes, actually set a timer, so you can focus on your writing — not on the time).

Start your timer.

And then write like crazy for those 20 minutes.

Your subject is: “What I want to accomplish this year.”

And when the timer goes off — stop.

Look at your list.

Pretty impressive.

Now — cross off 80% of what’s there.

Leave just 20% to focus on for the coming year.

And then work that 20% with all your heart and mind and strength.

(You remember the 80/20 Rule, right?

And be happy.