March 12th, 2008 in Productivity

Small Projects Generate Good Feelings

Corn Hole

Small projects are the best way to generate good feelings. Go ahead and create a small project, whether it be a shoe box diorama birthday present to a friend or even washing the dirty dishes. After you finish the project, take notice of how you feel after you finish it. You can’t deny the positive feelings that come along with finishing a small project.

If You Build It Your Happiness Will Increase

If You don’t know what to build, then try building the game of Cornhole. I built an outdoor game so when friends and family came to visit we could be outside with something to do. It’s a lot like horse shoes, but it won’t eat up your lawn. The things you toss are cloth bags filled with corn. You toss them at a 6 inch hole cut out of a wooden board. Three points if you make it into the hole and one point if you land it on the wooden board. The two wooden boards are placed about twenty-seven feet apart and the first person to score 21 wins.

I never played the game before, but after hearing about it on the radio I looked it up and the idea energized me. Instead of putting it on the back burner like a lot of my past ideas, I decided to give myself fifteen minutes to research and plan the construction of Cornhole. Once I did that I was hooked. It took me three weekends to build and paint, but after it was done my pride was beaming. I ordered the corn bags online and they arrived two days before the party began. My friends and family had a grand time tossing around the bags and making raunchy jokes throughout each game. The name of Cornhole will do that to any beer drinking crowd.

Give it a Go

The little ideas are the ones that seem to give the most pleasure. The next time you have an idea for a small project, jot down a few notes before you forget about the idea. Then take a few minutes to do some Internet research and see what happens. You’ll probably have a little jolt of energy and feel like giving that little sparkle of an idea a try. Even if it doesn’t work out you’ll probably extract some joy from it. If you don’t get any pleasure from working on a small project then I’ll send you a personal apology postcard. Just email me your information. You won’t go on any mailing list, just an apology for giving you an idea that didn’t increase your happiness. My guess is that no one will take advantage of this offer because I know it works. Action creates excitement and excitement creates good feelings. It’s a recipe for success.

WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY

Karl Staib

Karl Staib writes about unlocking and kicking open the door to working happy at his own blog: Work Happy Now! If you enjoyed this article, you may like to subscribe to his feed or read one of his most popular articles, 7 Tips to Process Your Stress Faster and Throw a Mini-Party.

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Comments

  • Bart says on March 12th, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    I agree that small projects do bring joy, and usually involve a great form of recreation.

    However, I VERY MUCH DISSAGREE with the author that “Small projects are the best way to generate good feelings.” Small projects bring small diversions and rewards. I have achieved some 15 year life-goals and have found them much more satisfying than playing cornhole one Saturday afternoon.

    The famed Earl Nightingale pointed out that “Success is the progressive realization of a WORTHY goal or ideal.” Furthermore, he states that the basis of self-esteem and happiness is success. I tend to believe this.

    With this in mind, I think this article is a serious failure. It’s dribble about building a cornhole set and an exhortation to enjoy hobbies that build stuff. Whoopie, I’ve generated some good feelings. As an avid reader, I’m getting of articles like this, happy-go-lucky blog filler. It’s an epidemic. I’d like to see a true LifeHack.

    Are small, simple project’s worthless? Certainly not. But is this a life-hack? No way. Don’t cheat and tell me to read in between the lines and apply it to myself. I read what is written.

    Dear Author, don’t take this as a personal attack. Yours just happened to be representative of the aforementioned griefs. Please try again - you have a nice writing style and pleasant word choice. I’ll be laborious in my praise when you come even close to getting it right.

  • Karl Staib says on March 12th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    Hey Bart,
    I don’t take your criticism personally, if I did I sure wouldn’t be a blogger.

    I’m sorry that you disagree with my blog, but I think that this process can work for many people. There have been times that I feel sluggish and need a small project to turn my mood around. Whether it be a poem or building a Cornhole set the act of moving gets me feeling better.

    There are times for big and small projects. We can’t always achieve grand things. Sometimes we must step back, start small and build our way toward success.

    Thanks for reading,
    Karl of WorkHappyNow.com

  • Ed Astner says on March 12th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    Cornhole ? Dude..

  • Billy Fischer says on March 13th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    It’s actually amazing what a game of cornhole can do. We have cornhole here in our office and often use it to step away from our computers and generate some great ideas. Just like the shower, some of th greatest ideas can come from a game of corn hole.

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