The power to change lies within

“I wish I had more time for personal life and/or family”

You know we all feel this way. There are 168 hours in a week. How well do we plan them? I challenge each of you to spend a week or two and track where your hours actually go. I did this and was astonished how much time I waste. Now, I ask myself these four questions of time-intensive tasks:

> Is this good for my career?

> Is this good for me and my health?

> Is this good for my relationships?

> Is this fun?

When I can say “yes” more often, I am much happier and far more productive. How much of that time you regret losing from your personal life and family was spent on critical issues … and how much might you be wasting?

“I have too much student debt”

Yeah, you do. We all do. Costs for education are spiraling out of control and salaries have plateaued.

Need to feel better? Put the research of positive psychology to work for you

Psychologist and writer Martin Seligman says there are five aspects to well-being we must address to have the best life we can. His acronym PERMA stands for (P)ositive emotions, (E)ngagement in our work, positive (R)elations, (M)eaningful work and (A)ccomplishments. I believe we're lucky in veterinary medicine to have the blessing of (E)ngaging and (M)eaningful work. But what about the rest?

> Positive emotions. Research shows positivity can increase your mental capacity. I recommend starting a gratitude practice immediately. You can read all about it here.

> Positive relations. Make time in your schedule for your family, the most important relations you have.

> Accomplishments. Set a goal. Accomplish that goal. Repeat. In her book Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide (Sterling, 2011), psychologist Caroline Adams Miller shows us evidence that goal-setting is a surefire way to up your positivity quotient.

> Exercise. University of Michigan researchers found that exercise and fresh air helped to expand working memory by up to 20 percent. Research also shows that as as little as 20 minutes of exercise three times a week is effective in boosting positivity.

Try walking your dog or head to the park with your kids. The key is to get moving!

> Practice compassion. When someone annoys you during the day, stop for a moment and think about this: Everyone wants to be happy and everyone has problems. Everyone is trying. If you're kinder to the obnoxious ­offender, you're being kinder to yourself by increasing your own serotonin and oxytocin levels and training your body to stress out less.

But research with more than 275,000 people in more than 300 studies in positive psychology has proven that happiness precedes financial success. Harvard's Shawn Achor wrote The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology (Crown Business, 2010) about it. You improve the chance of paying down your debt by working on yourself first. You can't possibly create a good financial plan to service your debt with a defeatist attitude. It takes a lot of work, but nothing of value comes easy.

“I wish I hadn't gone to veterinary school”

Researchers have coined the phrase “hedonic treadmill” to describe the phenomenon where what we seek only satisfies us for a short time and we then crave something more or different. Extensive studies have shown that we will only be happy with something “new”-a career, a car, a house, a lover-for a little while. We then become accustomed to it as normal, and our pleasure centers begin to crave more, or something new once again. We can't help it. In a few months, we'll be looking for something better.

Here's an example: Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert studied simultaneously a group of mega lottery winners and acute paraplegics; within six months, both groups had returned to their baseline amount of happiness. Remember that you worked your butt off to get into this profession. Keep that in mind when today's job gets you down.

Yes, some jobs are horrible (or horrible for you) and you need to leave. But do that for the right reasons. My advice? Remember that veterinary medicine can be an awesome profession-it's why you signed up. And remember that if you leave it for something “better,” you may not find it.

In my positivity and life coaching experiences with clients, I have seen the power of the very moment when someone makes the decision to change. Right then things start to open up, roadblocks turn into opportunities, and everything works a little better.

Be kinder to yourself. You could be amazed at the breakthroughs in your life when you start to see life less full of regrets and more full of choices and the power you have right now to be different, happier and healthier.

Dr. Steve Noonan, CPCC, is a veterinarian, management consultant, counselor, mindfulness instructor and professional life coach living in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.