This Wednesday: Eleven internet tools to help make yourself happier.

Every Wednesday is Tip Day.
This Wednesday: Eleven internet tools to help make yourself happier.

The internet is a treasure trove. I’m constantly amazed by the astounding information and tools that are out there.

I’ve found several sites that provide great services that help boost happiness, in one way or another. I’ve used all of these myself and have found them extremely useful.

1. Happybirthday.com – one of the keys to happiness is keeping close relationships with other people. I plugged in dozens of birthdays to get reminders, and now I never forget a birthday. A friend of mine also uses Happybirthday.com to remind himself of happy anniversaries, like the day his daughter said her first word.

2. An RSS reader -- looking for ways to use your time more efficiently? If you find yourself visiting a lot of different sites, use an RSS reader instead of your “favorites” list or typing in the URL. I use FeedDemon, but there are many readers from which to choose. It’s a far more efficient way to cruise through the internet.

For example, consider subscribing to my RSS feed! Subscribe to this blog's feed.

3. Hack sites -- oh, there are so many excellent sites crammed with life hacks. I can’t even begin to list them. It’s always fun to visit, cruise around, and look for something helpful. Some great ones include Lifehacker, Lifehack, Parent Hacks, LifeRemix, Zen Habits, Unclutterer, Pick the Brain, and Dumb Little Man.

4. Google Alerts – an atmosphere of growth is a key to happiness, and one way to create that atmosphere is to keep learning about subjects that interest you. A crucial tool is Google Alerts. It’s very easy. You pick a topic that interests you – say, “Saint Therese of Lisieux” or your own name – and create an alert. Then Google sends you a daily email alerting you to all the appearances of your subject. Fabulous!

5. Listography – Just the other day, I wrote about why I think keeping lists can be a useful tool for building happiness. Listography makes it easy to keep all sorts of lists as a way to organize thoughts, set goals, and keep accountability.

6. 43 Things -- a site about goal-setting that's great inspiration. It’s fascinating to read other people’s goals – and it also reminds me of how fortunate I am. For instance, one commenter wrote, “If I could find that one special person my life would be complete!!!!” Ah, that made me feel grateful for the Big Man.

7. Day Zero: Home of the 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days Project – along the same lines, this site leads you through the process of tackling 101 goals in 1001 days (the site even has a calendar calculator, so you can figure out the date). It also has some terrific tips for successful goal-setting.

8. HassleMe -- sticking to resolutions is tough, and my “HassleMe” reminder nudges me each day to “Eat healthfully. Write in your one-sentence journal. Lighten up!” The trick is not to get used to seeing the reminder arrive in my email each day, but to read it mindfully and follow it every day.

9. Joe’s Goals -- making and keeping resolutions is a key to becoming happier. This excellent site makes it easy to keep track.

10. Start your own blog. Many readers have emailed me to say that they’ve started their own version of a happiness-project blog – to lose weight, stop drinking, clear closets, cope with a messy divorce, read more, etc. Recording progress in a blog makes a lot of sense. First, you articulate your goals. Second, you commit to those goals in public (even if you’re the only one reading your blog, it’s public, and that increases your sense of accountability). Third, seeing your list of entries grow gives you a great feeling of accomplishment – that “atmosphere of growth” that’s so encouraging.

11. Puzzlemaker – making homemade presents is a great source of happiness, but it’s tough to pull off. Last night, the Big Girl told me about Puzzlemaker, which allows you to make your own personalized word jumbles, word searches, etc. My mind is REELING with the possibilities – invitations, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day presents, etc. I’m sure my beloved laminator will also come in handy.

Different strategies work well for different people. Experiment. If one site strikes you as unappealing, visit another site until you find an approach that rings true.

I'm sure there are many other great sites, as well. I'd love to read other people's suggestions.

*
I was so excited to read in Wise Bread today about the Library of Congress’s initiative to release some of their photograph collection onto Flickr, with no copyright restrictions. Ooooh, my mouth waters at the thought. What to do with those photos? I have no idea, but I’ll probably spend far too long paging through them.

For example, both are my parents are from Nebraska, and went to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, so I was particularly interested to see this charming picture of a grocery store in Lincoln in 1942.

*
New to the Happiness Project? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or sign up to get email updates in the box at the top righthand corner.
If you're starting your own happiness project, please join the Happiness Project Group on Facebook to swap ideas. It's easy; it's free.

Comments

[Mrs. Micah]

In Happiness Activity 12 from The How of Happiness, Sonja talks about acting happy, including finding things to make you laugh.

My husband and I love to laugh with the lolcats at icanhascheezburger.com. So much cuteness and silliness there, it really raises our spirits! They even have a random page generator. I go to other sites for humor, but it has the most updated funny content of all of them.

[gamermk]

I really can't emphasize how amazing it is to use an RSS reader. (I use netvibes myself) At first your reader is going to look very barren and you won't really quite understand how to use it (just look for orange cubes) or why its even useful, but give it a chance!

Basically, your RSS Reader is like building your own personal newspaper. Every morning you can skim the headlines of your favourite websites (like this one ;)) and find out if there is any news you'd like to read!

Another great post Gretchen! (from a long time happy subscriber to your feed)

[HB]

Great post, I've been thinking of doing a similiar post.

I'd add imdb.com as the best way to answer those nagging questions like who was in that movie or where did I see that actor before?

[Asha {Parent Hacks}]

Gretchen! You made me happy today by including Parent Hacks in your roundup. Thank you so much -- you do as much to spread the happy around as all of these sites put together. A little back-patting is in order, I think.

[Christine]

I just wanted to say thanks for your link to Joe's List. You posted the link a while ago, early January I think, and I've used it ever since. I tried to keep a similar chart on paper, but for some reason it didn't work. But Joe's clicked perfectly. I'm able to track what I've done and feel pride. If I slip I can still see all the days I actually accomplished something and it makes me realize I didn't in fact fail. Thanks again.

[mother in israel]

Thanks for the list. I can't get onto Hassle me. I need it to hassle me to get off of my computer. . .

[Paige]

What a great post. I am an RSS addict myself (I use Sage, on Firefox) and love it--though sometimes I think it encourages me to spend more time surfing than less!

[phquaryn]

To those of you who have taken Gretchen's advice and started your own Happiness blog: Could you please post a link in the comments? I'd love to virtually visit your happy place.

Gretchen's blog is so great. I visit every weekday morning to read her posts. I always click on the links she posts to see where they take me. And her commenters are the best.

[Never the Same River Twice]

I am absolutely in love with Sandy (http://iwantsandy.com). The concept is that "Sandy" acts as your virtual personal assistant. You can send "her" emails, text messages, or call her using Jott (http://www.jott.com) and ask her to remember things for you or remind you of things.

If you get good at using Sandy, "she" can replace HappyBirthday.com, HassleMe, and Joe's Goals.

[Ayesha]

Thankyou for the quick reminder of some wonderful tools.

just wanted to let you know, the link " charming picture of a grocery store" is not working here.

[Greg Scott]

Gretchen, thanks for the list of links. I would like to hear your comments about Jiibe. We are helping people discover work cultures that will make them happy. Check out http://www.Jiibe.com. We spend so much of our time at work wouldn't it be great if we could actually find a place that we truly enjoyed going to every day?? We are in Beta, but have lots of great users and have had lots of great feedback. Thanks again for your blog and I loved your video and have passed it on.

[Akshay Kapur]

Great tips! As a daily reminder, I think you'd also like and appreciate DailyOM (http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/userinfo/settings.cgi?subscribe=1&from=homepage)

Its really well written and just a great pick-me-upper for the day.

Keep up the first-class material!

[Renee Lokay]

Great Sight

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[Suzanne Carter]

Hello! this post caught my attention (as my father graduated from UNL in 1950) AND I recently heard on Marketplace about this online game called MindHabits ... which involves finding a smiling face among frowns ...

sounds cheesy, but the results were substantial enough to publish in JPSP (flagship peer reviewed social psych journal, journal of personality and social psychology ... and yes, social science geek that I am, I read the paper) ...

apparently playing the game helps people reduce stress and boost self confidence and esteem. (playing the game over and over - even for five mins - functions like practicing the piano).

enjoy reading your blog - thoughtful, erudite, down-to-earth.

[James Miller]

I just found your blog last night night and have read about twenty posts already. Keep it up. I do have a question and a comment, though.
Have you looked for and/or followed advice on happiness from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? The presidents of the church have had some very insightful thoughts on happiness and its long-term counterpart, joy.

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