Ten Top Tips for changing your life in 59 seconds

Thanks to Prof. Richard Wiseman for these very streamlined top tips on life skills.

Develop the gratitude attitude: Having people list three things that they are grateful for or three events that have gone especially well over the past week, can significantly increase their level of happiness for about a month. This in turn can cause them to be more optimistic about the future and improve their physical health.

Place a picture of a baby in your wallet: Putting a photograph of a smiling baby in a wallet increases the chances of the wallet being returned if lost by 30 per cent. The baby's big eyes and button nose initiates a deep seated evolutionary mechanism that causes people to become more caring, and thus increases the likelihood of them returning it.

Hang a mirror in your kitchen: Placing a mirror in front of peole when they are presented with different food options results in a remarkable 32 per cent reduction in their consumption of unhealthy food. Seeing their own reflection makes them more aware of their body and more likely to eat food that is good for them.

Buy a pot plant for the office: (students - put one in your bedroom and make sure it's legal!!) Adding plants to an office results in a 15 per cent increase in the number of creative ideas reported by male employees and helps their female counterparts produce more original solutions to problems. The plants help reduce stress and induce good moods which, in turn, promote creativity.

Touch people lightly on the upper arm: Lightly touching someone on their upper arm makes them far more likely to agree to a request because the touch is unconsciously perceived as a sign of high status. In one dating study, the touch produced a 20 per cent increase in the number of people accepting the offer of a dance in a nightclub and a 10 per cent increase in people giving their telephone number to a stranger on the street.

Write about your relationship: Partners spending a few moments each week committing their deepest thoughts and feelings about their relationship to paper boosts the chance of them sticking together by over 20 per cent. Such 'expressive writing' results in partners using more positive language when they speak to one another, leading to a healthier and happier relationship.

Deal with Potential liars by closing your eyes and asking for an email: The most reliable clues to lying are in the words that people use, with liars tending to lack detail, use more 'ums' and 'ahs' and avoid self-references ('me', 'mine' 'I'). In addition people are around 20 per cent less likely to lie in an email than telephone call, because their words are on record and so more likely to come back and haunt them.

Praise children's effort over ability: Praising a child's effort rather than ability encourages them to try regardless of the consequences, therefore side-stepping any fear of failure. This in turn makes them especially likely to attempt challenging problems, find these problems more enjoyable, and try to solve them in their own time.

Vizualise yourself doing, not achieving: People who visualise themselves taking the practical steps needed to achieve their goals are far more likely to succeed than those who simply fantasize about their dreams becoming a reality. One especially effective technique involves adopting a third-person perspective: those who visualize themselves as others see them are about 20 per cent more successful than those adopting a first-person view.

Consider your legacy: Asking people to spend just a minute imagining a close friend standing up at their funeral and reflecting on their personal and professional legacy helps them to identify their long-term goals, and assess the degree to which they are progressing towards making those goals a reality.