Preventing, reducing, and eliminating stress (or redirecting this “fight or flight” response into positive energy) are all important. When you take daily action to create a peaceful, harmonious life, you’ll find that things more often go your way and outcomes are in sync with what you desire.

Here are a few habits to create daily harmony in your life:

Start your day stress-free. Each day is a new fresh start. It’s like they say: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Use these tips to enjoy the beginning of the day and let one good thing lead to another.

Throw out your alarm clock if it has a harsh sound. Loud alarms cause stress the very first moment you awaken. Accustom yourself to waking up to beautiful music or the sounds of nature. The idea is to be coaxed out of your sleep rather than shocked out of bed.

Get up early enough to arrive on time for your morning activities; whether its work, school or an appointment. No sense in making the morning “rush hour” any worse by being off to a late start.

Give thanks for the new day. Remind yourself of what you have to be thankful for, rather than jumping into stressful thoughts immediately.

Sing a happy tune. Having a happy tune in your head puts you in a good mood. Here’s a perfect song to start your day: “It’s a Good Day” by Perry Como. This song is in the soundtrack for the movie Blast from the Past.

Here’s how it starts out:

“Oh! It’s a good day, for singin’ a song,

An’ it’s a good day for movin’ along,

Yes, it’s a good day, how could anything go wrong?

A good day from mornin’ ’till night!”

An attitude like this automatically helps you overcome the challenges of the day with less stress!

1. Recognize your own path- when it comes to reaching your goals and improving your life, you need to be the leader. You are in control of what you want and your goals should come down to you and you alone. Just because your Dad wants you to be a lawyer and your Mom wants you to have 5 children does not mean this is what you have to do – it’s your life and thus, you are the boss.

2. Disassociate yourself from negativity- in the same way positive thoughts lead to positive results, negative thoughts leads to negative results. Negativity may be all around you- bitchy co-workers; unhappy neighbors; a depressing partner. Disassociate yourself from those types of people. You are in a happy, positive place- no negativity allowed.

3. Define your goals clearly- goals are what make life worth living. Think long and hard about what you want to accomplish and how you are going to get there. Make steps, include financial costs and put in as much detail as possible- the more defined your goals are, the easier they will be to achieve (and the more rewarding when you get there).

4. Push jealously aside – when you watch someone on a parallel path reaching their goals a lot sooner, it can be hard to sit back and be happy for them. But this is what you are going to have to do. Getting rid of this envy and resentment is a big hurdle in improving your self. But, once you overcome these feelings, you are a lot closer to reaching a state of Zen-like success.

5. Use visual reminders as boosters – being able to clearly see your goal can help motivate you and keep you focused on your game plan. Many people will post a picture of their ‘dream body’ on the fridge when they are trying to lose weight. Others will use their ‘dream car’ as their computer screen saver at work when those tough days get them down. A visual reminder can boost your motivation and drive to succeed.

6. See yourself at the end – as mentioned above, visualization is vital to reach your goal and improve your self. This is why it’s important to visualize yourself there. See yourself fitting into that size 10. Feel the breeze on your cheeks as you drive that sports car. Seeing is believing.

7. Use timeliness – tracking your success can help you put your goal into perspective and see how far you’ve already come. It’s important for self-improvement that you recognize your feats and be proud of what you have doing, or are planning to do.

8. Reward yourself on the way – be happy with your progress. Whether your goal will take you twenty days or twenty years doesn’t matter- the important thing is that you are doing it. You are getting there. To keep yourself motivated every step of the way, you need to reward yourself with small treats. Be proud of how far you have come and prepare for the journey ahead.

9. Look for role models – look to those who are on the same path as you for inspiration. Perhaps this is a CEO of the company,  perhaps your father. Get a coach or mentor, or maybe two.  Try to immerse yourself in their life and ask questions. Their positive energy may just rub off on you. And, if not, at least you are learning from the experts how to get where you want to go.

10. Make room for failure – it can’t be a smooth road all the time- there has to be plenty of bumps along the way. In fact, it is these bumps that make the road worth traveling. Failure is a big part of our lives and we need to learn to live,  love and laugh at failure rather than give in to it. Henry Ford once said that every failed attempt is just another opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. Failure is experience and experience is power.