10 Ideas For a Great Week


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OK, everyone. I’m feeling jolly and I have this crazy thought. I’d like to cordially invite you to have a great week. We can all do it together – a group project! We might not be able to solve all of our individual problems just now but we sure as tootin’ can rock the next seven days, right? We’re cool. We deserve it. I’ll get us going with a few ideas and you can add your own in the comments. We’ll compare notes. It’ll be so very good. And we’re all in this together, right? I don’t want to be the only skinny dipper at the pool party. Let’s go.

10 Ideas For a Great Week:

  1. At least once a day, make a stranger laugh. Tell a joke. Say something irreverent. Whatever. Cull from your own special magic. My kids and I used to play a game where I would give them a dollar anytime they could get a stranger to say “underwear.” They had an amazingly easy time of it. People are ready to be entertained.
  2. This one is particularly useful in the workplace. Pretend you’re an alien on a research mission and that you’re evaluating potential subjects to take back to your planet for brain experiments. Observe. Ask questions. Study behavior. Pay close attention to compulsive conduct and chronic exasperation. Investigate good cheer and generosity. What can you glean from this?  Tune up your antenna but be stealthy.
  3. Sing someone’s praises. Give credit for a job well done. I am presently hosting an exchange student from Thailand. Her name is Amp and she’s lovely. Getting her registered for classes at the neighborhood high school posed a challenge because her transcript from Thailand was difficult to decipher. The school counselor was cheerful, patient and reassuring as the three of us slugged through a complicated and confusing process. Although he was extremely busy, he made Amp a priority, researched the problem and got her signed up for all the right classes. He went the distance and beyond. I wrote an email to the principal to tell her about our positive experience. In the subject line, I wrote: “Mr. Goldstein is a rock star.” She wrote me back and cc’d him in her reply. We all had a good day.
  4. Send random texts to your friends. Tell them something you like about them. Quote a song lyric. Offer an upbeat word. Be kooky and kindhearted.
  5. Start your mornings off with a kitchen dance party. Surrender to the almighty get down and commit fully. Move it. Groove it. Get up in it. When’s the last time you sang into a spatula? Create a dance party playlist and share it with your friends. Today’s playlist at our house featured: Sly & the Family Stone, Heavy D, Richie Aldente, TLC and Earth, Wind & Fire. Make up some moves of your own. If you’re a parent, teach them to your kids. You can be the cool mom or dad. OK, they’ll probably hate that. But think of the fond memories they’ll have down the line! You can damn well be sure that after you’re dead, they’ll remember those moves, every last one of them. Let the legacy begin today.
  6. Read James Altucher. If you’re down and out, he’ll throw you a lifeline. If you’re already purring at a good vibration, he’ll take you higher. You can find him here: www.jamesaltucher.com.
  7. Make up stories about people. This is another one from the parenting archives. I used to do this when the kids were little. If we were out and about and something took too long or they were getting restless, I’d make up stories about random people around us. “See that guy in the skinny jeans and the green t-shirt? He’s in a band and he just got out of a practice. The band’s pretty bad. Deep down, he knows this but he’s not yet ready to admit it to himself. He also has a weird rash on the back of his leg. He’s stayed up late last night, poking around on the Internet to see if he could figure out what it is.” You get the idea. This is a great game for slow lines and long bus rides. You can play it by yourself or with others.
  8. Go out for ice cream with someone you adore.
  9. Have everyone in the household make up a blues name for him/herself. For example: “Mad Melon Smith” or “Growlin’ Bowel Jones.” For the entire week, refer to each other only by your blues names.
  10. Whenever someone is rude in traffic, send him or her a blessing: “May she buy a winning lottery ticket,” “May he meet the love of his life tonight,” “May she go on a dream vacation.”  See if you can go a whole week without honking, gesticulating or swearing.

Those are my ten and here’s a bonus idea:

11. Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8yN5fivBt8

This is so incredibly easy. Throw some ideas out. Share with the rest of us.
I’m already having a great week. You can too. Start. Now.