You’re reading 3 Reasons the Journey is More Important than the Destination, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Which do you find more important: achieving a desired goal or the journey on the way to the destination?

I used to fall into the “make it to the finish line no matter what” category. But, that path is miserable. It includes struggle and the belief that you must work hard to achieve success.

During my first life flip – from nonworking wife in a failing marriage who lost a baby I wasn’t meant to conceive – to university professor, I made life harder than it had to be by resisting its inevitable call to change. I found myself running away from a broken life with the belief that nothing worth achieving happens without sweat and tears along the way.

But, what if you could experience joy along your journey instead of hardship? What if you believed that your path is there to equip you with the skills and opportunities you need to evolve toward living your life’s purpose instead of something to trudge through to get to the good stuff?

I finally discovered this easier route during life flip #2. I began meditating in 2013 and realized that my purpose in life is to use my art – my life-long love that had become a forgotten part-time hobby – to inspire others to follow their own unique life’s calling. I loved teaching my university students, but I knew that becoming a professor was a means to thrive after divorce, not the ultimate calling for my life.

So, I took a blind leap of faith and resigned from my 12-year, tenured position to follow my bliss of art. Instead of escaping from a broken life, this time I was running toward the joy of living on purpose.

That’s when I perceived that traveling the road toward fulfilling my purpose is the sweet spot. The end result is actually still a little fuzzy around the edges. But the excitement of learning who I am meant to be along this path has kindled insights that working with my nose to the grindstone did not allow me to observe.

Here are three lessons that have taught me that feeling joy along the journey is more important than achieving the final destination.

1. Surrendering to the Universe’s flow makes you stronger, not weaker.

I’ve always been told: “Ask, believe, receive.” The problem is, sometimes what I ask for may not be in my best interest. So, no matter how much I believe it needs to happen, sometimes what I ask for and believe in receives the answer of no. This can be disappointing, but if I stop the pity party, I realize I don’t have the power to see into the future. Thank goodness the Universe has got my back!

Let’s add one element: “Ask, believe, surrender, receive.” Living on purpose means that you must surrender to a path that you can’t fully see. Life is like shaking a Polaroid photo – you only get one glimpse of the next right step at a time. The end result is sometimes blurry and hidden. But, the Universe may be guiding you toward a better path, helping you avoid a disaster you couldn’t perceive, or teaching you a lesson you needed to learn before advancing to the next step of your journey. When you allow yourself to surrender and co-create with the Universe, it’s a powerful combination that generates great insight and joy.

2. Being is more important than a constant stream of determined doing.

This lesson has been a tough one for me to learn because it’s counterproductive to what my parents and teachers taught.

Being doesn’t mean giving up and not taking any action. It means you allow yourself to be aligned with the Universe’s inspiration through meditation, communing with nature, or taking a moment to become still each day. This allows you to tap into your higher self so you can perceive the inspired actions the Universe is guiding you to take. Tapping into this flow allows you to achieve results more easily with fewer, yet more effective actions rather than numerous hit-or-miss actions, which leads to more joy and less struggle along your journey.

3. Believing that you’re not alone boosts your confidence.

Joseph Campbell, who coined the Hero’s Journey, said he perceived “invisible hands” that began opening new doors when he agreed to follow his bliss. I’ve found this to be true as I’ve begun to live my purpose. At just the perfect moment when I need guidance, a person, light bulb moment, or opportunity crosses my path that takes me to the next level of my journey.

The Universe will conspire to help you when you commit to following your purpose too, which increases your confidence and ignites true joy.

So, what’s your choice: joyful journey or determined destination?

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Vicki Todd is a memoir artist, Ed.D., and life purpose guide. She is the author of a visual memoir, Unstuck: One Heroine’s Journey of Art and the Courage to Live on Purpose. You may view her visual diary artwork at http://ift.tt/2bJvsAv

You’ve read 3 Reasons the Journey is More Important than the Destination, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading From Pipedream to Reality: 4 Simple Steps To Make It Happen, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

“A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities”   JRR Tolkien

“Sail round the world …!”

Sound familiar? It’s a common answer to the question – ‘What would you do if anything was possible?’

It’s exactly what Heidi said to me on a self-confidence course about 18 months ago. Then in the next breath she called it a pipedream … “impossible in reality because I’ve got zero sailing experience”.

But wait! Since then she’s successfully completed a 3,600 mile Leg of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.  16 days at sea in the South Atlantic racing from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town …

Something didn’t add up.

Sailing might not be your thing. It doesn’t matter. The principle is the same if you want to turn a dream into a reality.

Heidi pushed the boundaries. Here’s how she made it happen.

“Begin with the end in mind”  Stephen Covey

1. Dare to dream

Be brutally honest. Do you ever think seriously about what you want to achieve during your lifetime? Do you ever take time to reflect and ask yourself if you’re making the most of your life?

Or are you, dare I say it, ‘normal’, like the vast majority of people – existing day to day, busily doing the things that need to be done but never really thinking seriously about why you’re doing them?

Coming to terms with this and working it out does matter. Especially if you want to convert a dream into a reality.

This was how it started for Heidi.

Try projecting your thoughts into the future. Look between two and five years ahead. Look ‘strategically’ at your life. Most people don’t ever do this …

And then they wonder why their dreams never come true.

Open your mind. Think about what you’d like to achieve over this strategic period of time. A lot of people struggle with this. Heidi certainly did. She told me she ended up staring at a blank piece of paper for ages. I suggested she tried a mind map. It worked. Here’s how she did it …

Mind mapping is a practical creative thinking process; it means brainstorming and jotting down all of the things you’d like to achieve.

Don’t write a list. Get a blank piece of paper and write the title in the middle (something like … ‘Ideas for the next X years’. Have a free-for-all. Let your mind go wild. Create a map with lines linking ideas. This will help you to think creatively. Mind maps only work if you think positively and challenge yourself to be bold and imaginative.

You must dare to dream.

Pipedreams aren’t out of bounds on your map. Don’t be scared to write down everything you’d like to do. You’re not ‘contracted’ at this stage to achieve anything. You haven’t promised yourself anything. You’re just generating ideas.

One of Heidi’s ideas on her map was to sail round the world.

2. Get Real

Your dreaming has achieved what you needed. It’s presented you with ideas.

Now’s the time to inject a degree of reality. The time to get real.

Reality comes in the form of credible aspirations. Right now, you’ve probably got a piece of paper with ideas scribbled all over it. Filtering your mind map and coming up with credible aspirations will help you to convert the scribble into something meaningful. Let’s call these aspirations ‘objectives’.

Creating personal objectives helps you to reconcile your dreams. Sounds a bit weird I know. But it’s the best way to find the balance between striving for something aspirational and setting yourself up for failure.

So challenge yourself but don’t be so ambitious that deep down you know you’re just kidding yourself.

Heidi did exactly this. She started to get real. She accepted that sailing round the world was a big Ask. But daring to dream in the first place created the spark for a more credible personal objective.

She decided she would aim to complete one Leg of the Clipper Round The World Race. She investigated the possibilities and worked out that it was feasible. She didn’t need any sailing experience.

She applied for the South Atlantic Leg and got accepted.

Her pipedream had led to a credible aspiration which had become a reality.

Now she started to think shorter term. It was happening!

3. Knuckle down

Knuckling down means working out what you need to do in the shorter term to gets things moving. Heidi started to think about what she needed to do over the six months before the Race.

She created some specific ‘tactical’ goals for each month. From these she worked out what she’d need to do day to day – Attend sail training sessions, get fit, buy clothing and equipment etc.

To some this might seem like a very regimented approach. And that’s exactly what it is. Heidi knew exactly what she needed to do. Being crystal clear about your tactical goals will help you to feel more motivated to achieve them.

Following these three logical steps; mind map, strategic objectives, tactical goals, helps you to feel more in control of your life. It disciplines you to break down your strategic plans into manageable chunks that actually feel achievable and believable.

It’s the secret to converting dreams to reality.

4. Use your gears

Life is life; things change. It may well be that something completely unforeseen happens that you could never have predicted when you created one of your personal objectives. Don’t let this affect your self-esteem and don’t use it as an excuse to give up.

Just reflect on what it means for the objective and reset it. In other words, change gear; you might even have to engage reverse gear if necessary. You’re better off having a plan that changes than no plan at all.

So review your objectives regularly, take account of any unforeseen eventualities, make amendments where necessary and set new objectives and goals when others have been achieved.

Heidi’s now building her own house on the coast in West Wales, UK. She came up with this ‘dream’ while she was on watch one night in the South Atlantic.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream”  Paulo Coelho

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Mike McClement, Founder Think Confidence, Self-confidence Author and Coach. Passionate about helping people achieve their potential and enjoy life to the full. Creator of the 4 Step online Confidence Plan.

You’ve read From Pipedream to Reality: 4 Simple Steps To Make It Happen, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 15 Inspirational Rap Songs To Start Your Day, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

What better way to get out of bed in the morning than with a healthy dose of raw power! Get your daily dose of energy from these inspirational rap songs, that are sure to get you ready to take on the world.

*Some of the videos and lyrics are explicit.

15. Whiz Khalifa – “Work Hard Play Hard”

“Work Hard Play Hard” is simply a perfect mantra for the keep you going through the whole day. That deep, dark bass helps a lot in getting you in that perfect mood to get things done. Nothing can stand in your way!.

14. Dj Khaled “All I Do Is Win” feat. Ludacris & Snoop Dogg (2010)

The title really says it all. With an all-star cast of rappers, Dj Khaled may be a newcomer, but he’s sure to rise to top, just through sheer confidence and determination.

13. Eminem – “Without Me”

This is one of Eminem’s less gritty songs, but the fun beat, and over the top lyrics make this one a great morning soundtrack to get your gear on, and do your thing.

12. P-Money + Gappy Ranks – “Baddest”

“Baddest” is exactly a lyrical masterpiece, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s one of those songs that just makes you want to move your legs. It hooks you in from the very first seconds with those slow, determined drums, and by the time it gets to the first chorus, you’re ready to conquer the world.

11.Dr. Dre – “Still D.R.E.” feat. Snoop Dogg

Try as you might, there’s something about this song’s understated beat that just makes want to get out there and show the world what you’re made of. This classic isn’t flashy, or loud, it makes you feel like you’re in control, and know exactly what you’re doing.

10. Lil Wayne – “Money on My Mind”

Lil Wayne’s message is pretty straightforward. If you need to get into the proper mindset, with a clear and simple goal, this is the one for you.

9.Chamillionair – “Ridin’ Dirty”

Those juicy beats are enough to get anyone anyway starting the all pumped and ready for action. This rap classic just has that certain something to get you going.

8. Beastie Boys – “Sabotage”

Beastie Boys is a borderline rock band, though their music tends to borrow from a lot of genres. “Sabotage” is maybe one of their less experimental hits, but that intro certainly does the trick when you need something to get out of bed in the morning.

7. Missy Elliott – “Work It”

Missy Elliott’s “Work It” has that smooth beat that eases you out of the bed and into the hustle and bustle of the day. It gets you right in that I got this mindset. And the really catchy rhythm makes it great for a light, early morning workout.

6. Drake – “Started from the Bottom”

Drake is certainly one of those successful music artists that seems to do everything effortlessly. But it’s important to remember that even he had a long way to go to reach this point. This song should inspire you to do the same.

5. Ice Cube – “It Was a Good Day”

Ice Cube is hip hop royalty by now. Considering his estimated net worth, the song, “It Was a Good Day,” no longer sounds like a pipe dream. This song is good reminder how little it takes to find happiness. It might one of Ice Cube’s more mellow songs, but it’s force seems to come from within, snappy rhythms, or flashy verses.

4. Public Enemy – “Fight the Power”

Voted in the top 10 best hip hop songs of all times by the Rolling Stones magazine, “Fight the Power,” was written specifically for the movie “Do the Right Thing,” by the brilliant director Spike Lee. It’s simple lyrics and raw force are sure to motivate you to withstanding anything the day throws at you.

3. Aesop Rock – “None Shall Pass”

Aesop Rock tends to be more of lyrical rapper. Lord of the Rings may not be something you usually associate with hip hop music, but the image of Gandalf, “With a cane to the sky/ Like none shall pass” is sure to give all the determination you need for the day.

2. Nas – “The World Is Mine”

Nas’ hard, fast lyrics go surprisingly well with the smooth jazz track in the background. It’s a great song if you’re not the type person that spring into action instantly, but needs time to think things through, and prepare for the day ahead. This song will give the cool confidence you need to succeed.

1.Coolio – Gangster’s Paradise

This one may have slightly darker lyrics, but that glorious chorus is bound to make you wake up with the sense that you’re on a mission, and you’re the only guy for the job. It may be interesting to know that Coolio has radically changed career tracks a few years back, so maybe that will motivate into making that big change you were fearing.

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You’ve read 15 Inspirational Rap Songs To Start Your Day, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 3 Ways Practicing Yoga Makes You Better At Everything, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Do you ever see pictures of yogis in bikinis or speedos on yachts in Bali with their ankles behind their heads and think, “What does that have to do with my life, with my kids screaming in the backseat, or my pressures at work, or my attempts to nurture the relationships that are meaningful to me?!” The physical yoga practice is beautiful, and it opens and strengthens the body, and if you practice for a long time, the shapes you make will change, and probably surprise you. But making shapes on your mat (or on a yacht) is just one aspect of a practice with eight different limbs. Here are three things you can practice on your yoga mat that will truly make you better at everything.

Be present like a buddha. At its core, yoga is a breathing practice. Before you move anything, you simply observe your breath. You notice as the inhales arise within you, and you pause, and then you observe the exhales, and how your core draws to your spine as the air empties from your lungs, and you pause again. You grow taller with each breath (you can try this as you’re sitting and reading right now), and as you exhale, you release the muscles around your eyes, the hinge of your jaw, your shoulders, and, eventually, any obsessive, redundant thoughts. Because the breath is always happening in the now, you become present, engaged and curious about what is happening right here, in this moment. The mind, left to its own devices, loves to time travel; it pulls us into the past, often with longing, or into the future, often with anxiety. It’s not very fun swinging from sadness to fear, but a lot of people live that way. If you’re human, you’ve probably lost lots of time re-writing conversations that have already happened, or imagining situations that never came to pass. This is all time we don’t get back, and it robs us of the joy that’s available in the present moment, if only we would tune in. This is the same ability that allows us to be there when we get to spend an afternoon with our partners, our children, or our best friends. It’s easy to get caught up with our five-year plans, but the truth is, life is full of surprises, and our plans often get turned upside down. When we work on showing up for ourselves and others from moment to moment, we also learn how to open to joy, gratitude and love. When we find time for that each day, the days end up being pretty great, and when we string a bunch of great days together, we are having a great life.

 

Develop jedi focus. It’s a fast-paced world we live in, and we are constantly inundated with messages and information from all sides (a lot of those messages have to do with all the ways we don’t measure up, and all the products we need to buy in order to fix ourselves–ugh!). We’re supposed to be able to say profound and witty things in 140 characters or less, and we can’t expect to grab anyone’s attention for more than three seconds! Multi-tasking and feeling exhausted are badges of honor, and collapsing at the end of the day is the norm, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun, or the best and happiest way we could be living. So many people struggle with getting the things done that are really important to them–that passion project gets the shaft because by the time we’re able to find an hour to focus on it, we’re so mentally and physically depleted we end up scrolling around social media instead. There’s a great saying, “Where the attention goes, the energy flows.” On our mats, we work on focal points, or drishtis; each pose has one. This is one tool we use in our efforts to practice “Pratyahara”, one of the eight limbs of the yoga practice. Pratyahara is classically translated as “withdrawal of the senses”, but when you break it down, praty means “away from”, and ahara means “food”. We are moving away from food, but in this sense of the word, food is the thoughts we feed ourselves–the deeply ingrained opinions, ideas or stories we tell ourselves that may or may not be true. We take a break from all that racket, we stop identifying so strongly with our opinions for a little while, and we create space where we may surprise ourselves. Essentially, we’re taking in a little less information from the world around us, so we can focus more fully on the world that’s happening within us. This is the same skill you use when you’re with a loved one at a crowded restaurant, and want to focus on what your friend is saying, instead of the chaos around you. It’s the same skill you use when you have an hour, and can choose how you’ll spend it instead of getting sucked into the whirlwind that exists in the mind, and all around us. It’s the same superpower that enables you to choose one thought over another, which is one of our best defenses against stress. This is how we focus on a presentation at work, on what a client really wants or needs, on what our partner is trying to communicate, on what our kids are telling us about the day they just had. This is the stuff we don’t want to miss.

Love like it’s your last day on earth. Ideally when you’re on your mat, you’re present and focused so you can be in tune with what is true for you, and so you can respond with honesty and compassion to that truth, from moment to moment. Most of us simply long to be seen clearly, understood, heard, and cherished for who we are. When we raise our voices, it’s because we don’t feel heard. Most arguments arise because we feel misunderstood or rejected. When you can learn to really listen to yourself and respond with kindness and patience, you can start to do that for all the people in your life, including the people closest to you, and those you encounter as you move through the day, including your local barista, the stranger who holds open a door for you, or the person behind the checkout counter at the grocery store. Whatever you feed will grow and strengthen. So many people live with a loud inner critic, harshly judging themselves all day long. On your mat, you have an opportunity to starve the voice that tears you down, and develop one that roots you on. You’ll find as you grow in forgiveness and compassion for yourself, those are gifts you’ll have in abundance to share with others. Good for you, and good for everyone else!

“Ally Hamilton is the author of  ‘Yoga’s Healing Power: Looking Inward for Change, Growth & Peace’ and the co-founder of Yogis Anonymous, an innovative digital yoga studio that helps people everywhere grow in their practice. You can order her book here, or try the classes mentioned in this article here.”

 

You’ve read 3 Ways Practicing Yoga Makes You Better At Everything, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 5 Steps To Defeating That Annoying, Manipulative Voice In Your Head, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

You are just about to do something major. Maybe you are planning to start your own online business or you are trying to lose 50 pounds of weight.

Whatever it is, you are motivated. You are psyched up. Nothing can stop you. You feel like you grabbed life by it’s throat and now you are demanding change.

And when you are just about to start improving yourself or building something big, that voice in your head appears…

It is that manipulative negative voice that tries to doubt and downgrade every plan or task you want to accomplish.

Just when you are about to start something life transforming or something that requires a plethora of effort, that voice awakens and tells you that…

You don’t have what it takes. It literally sucks the motivation soul out of you. All that motivation built up inside is obliterated by that little voice and if you don’t defeat it, it will trap you as a slave for the rest of your life.

You will never have the freedom to live life to your ultimate potential.

So, how do you defeat that manipulative voice in your head that undermines your potential success?

Well there are actually 5 practical steps you can take to start defeating it promptly.

Step 1: Prove To Yourself That You Can Succeed By Accomplish Tasks

To defeat that annoying demeaning little voice in your head, you first have to understand why it is even there.

The voice is not there unjustifiably. It is there, because it is scared for your survival. Before civilization, our ancestors lived in a violent world.

Everything our ancestors did had a consequence. If a tribe member decides to do something out of the ordinary, the tribe leader might kill him. As a result, our psychological brain adapted to remind you that you shouldn’t do something radical.

Nowadays, you really don’t have to fear your life when you are about to do something radical or out of the ordinary.

As a result, you have to teach your brain that it doesn’t have to fear the potential of success and you do that by regularly accomplishing tasks or goals you set yourself.

Everyday when you wake up, write 3-5 goals or tasks that you must accomplish before going to bed that night. You don’t have to set major goals that is impossible to accomplish within a day.

For example, if you want to start your own online business, you can make daily goals such as

• Pick A Blog Niche Today
• Read About Monetization Techniques
• Come Up With 5 Topics For Your Blog

No matter what, by the end of the day, you would have to accomplish all these goals. If you don’t, you are teaching your brain that you can’t succeed at even minor tasks.

As a result, don’t come up with daily goals that are unaccomplish-able. You have to make sure that you can in absolute certainty perform and accomplish the goals.

Step 2: Build Discipline

This relates to the above point. No matter what goal you set yourself, make sure to accomplish it at the end of the journey.

Don’t say you will lose 20 pounds in the next 2 months, and then stop after 2 weeks. It will have a psychological effect on you that will cause your brain to fear trying to lose weight.

So, the next time you again plan to lose some weight, that little voice will pop up stronger than ever reminding of that time you failed at losing weight.

Discipline is the utmost important quality if you want freedom from that annoying little voice. Discipline means that you do what it takes to succeed at the goal you set yourself, whether or not you like the path to that goal.

That is why most self improvement gurus tell you to set goals that are achievable. If you set goals that are gigantic, and you don’t have, yet, the willpower to climb that goal, you will ironically make that little voice stronger, by giving him evidence that you suck at something.

Failure is important and it does teach you life-lessons, but to defeat that little voice, you have to make sure that you are at least succeeding at 80% of the goals that you set yourself.

Step 3: Read/Watch About Other People Succeeding At Your Goal

It might not be the best way to defeat that annoying little voice in your head, but it does work mightily.

When you see other people succeed at your goal, you will have the benefit of tow important things:

• You Get Motivation and Most Importantly…
• You Can Replicate Their Success

For example, let’s say you are about to start an online business and that voice pop-ups and tells you that you don’t have what it takes to succeed.

You either fight and prove to your brain that you can do it by succeeding at starting your own blog, or if you, yet, don’t know how, you can start reading about other people’s stories and how they succeeded at starting their own online business.

By reading their success, you can replicate and motivate your potential glory.

Step 4: Make Your Planning Accountable For Failure

Let’s say you fail at your goal even though you followed the last three steps. You can either accept it and never try again (which tells that little voice in your head that it was right and that you are a wuss) or…

You stand up and confront why you failed and come up with a reasonable action against your failure.

For example, let’s say you planned to lose 10 pounds in the next month, but at the end of the month, you only lost 5 pounds. It is progress but you see it as failure.

You identify why you failed at losing an additional 5 pounds and you set another goal. Don’t accept yourself as the reason for the failure; accept your lack of planning and executing your goal as the cause.

Yes, it might seem bigoted, but if you always take failures as your own personal fault, you will just feed that voice in your head.

Instead of saying “I don’t have it within me”, you can instead say that my plan sucked and I need to reevaluate. This feeds your motivation rather than that demeaning voice.

Step 5: Succeed

Yes, it is not as easy as is said. Succeeding requires a lot of effort by your part. From identifying your goal to coming up with the perfect plan for capturing that goal, it requires will-power to succeed at major tasks.

To succeed you usually need three steps

• Come Up With An Actionable and Practical Plan
• Study and Learn As Much About The Goal You Are Trying To Accomplish
• Build Discipline
• Eventually, You Will Succeed If You Don’t Mess Up In Between The Above Steps.

Succeeding is the cure for that little voice. In step 1, you succeeded at daily goals which will treat that voice. Step 2 will keep that voice at bay. Step 3 will allow you to learn about the cure for that voice and step 4 will stop it from coming back up again if you potentially mess up.

And Ultimately succeeding will kill it at the end of the day.

It’s Time You Finally Stood Up To That Voice

Don’t let your own mind enslave you. Instead, prove to your own brain that you have what it takes to succeed and that voice will start leaving you alone.

It will take time, but it is absolutely worth it. You will feel freedom at its finest.

If you want to take this to the next level, you can also get the guide: “Supreme Goal Planning: Build Discipline And Success The Right Way + 5 Free Ebooks”  so that you know how to plan and set goals that are achievable.

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Yohan Michael is the author of Dynamiteblogging, where he teaches people how to build a successful online blog, through practical and efficient methods. Get his collection of 6 eBooks, which includes the supreme goal planning manifesto, to finally start building a successful life.

 

You’ve read 5 Steps To Defeating That Annoying, Manipulative Voice In Your Head, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading Want to Become Stronger, Sharper, and More Confident? Try Karate, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Think back to your playground days. Remember giving up your swing, head down in defeat, to the neighborhood bully? Feeling powerless, you wanted more than anything to be stronger, faster, and more confident in yourself.

Maybe you still feel that way sometimes. After a stressful day, you feel sluggish, unbalanced, and out of control.

Not me. I’ve been doing karate since I was 4 years old, and over the past eight years, I’ve learned that it’s more than a sport. Karate is a lifestyle. It teaches self-defense, sure, but it also transforms your mind, building confidence, coordination, friendships, discipline, and so much more.

Growing Up a Karate Kid

When I started at USSD, karate gave me the chance to make friends and be myself. My classmates and I did backflips, broke boards, and created lasting bonds.

As I’ve grown up, I’ve gotten even more into karate. I’ve started teaching younger kids, helping my sensei in classes for 5- to 10-year-olds. One day, my teacher said something that stuck with me: “You rise by lifting others.”

For me, that’s what karate is all about. The past two years of karate have been my favorite. When I help kids who are just starting out, I feel happy — I’m helping build their brains, their muscles, and their hearts.

Karate for Body and Brain

Now that I’m a brown belt and about to become a teenager, I look back on all that karate has given me.

I’m fit and healthy thanks to karate’s intense, four-day-a-week workouts. My coordination is great, and I’m definitely not afraid of playground bullies.

But it’s not just karate’s hard hits that have made me stronger. In the dojo, respect is everything. My friends and I bow before and after each class, and making fun of one another is not cool. We respect our sensei, ourselves, and one another.

As I’ve climbed karate’s ranks, I’ve also learned to set goals. To earn each new belt, I have to know all the current rank’s forms. That’s tough, but karate teaches you that you have to work hard to get what you want.

Don’t think karate’s all work and no play, though. My friends and I have loads of fun playing games to master new moves, build trust, and learn teamwork.

Karate’s Character-Boosting Benefits

I’ve already decided to continue with karate at least until college, mostly because it’s made me a better person. My journey toward a black belt has taught me:

1. Leadership. As a teacher’s assistant, I’ve been lucky enough to teach karate to a new crop of kids. And my sensei was right — I’ve truly grown by helping others. I’ve learned to take the lead in groups, speak in public, and be a better problem solver.

2. Friendship. Karate isn’t all about protecting yourself and using weapons; it’s also about being a friend. When I get knocked down in the studio, my friends help me up. If my frustrations boil over, classmates calm me down. It’s a great group that’s taught me to be a better friend.

3. Self-confidence. Training in the dojo helps me feel good about myself, and that’s not something all kids have. I approach math problems and karate kicks with confidence, knowing that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.

4. Awareness. Part of martial arts is seeing the dangers of the world. During karate practice every Friday, I do something called demo. The class involves skits of kids standing up for themselves, reminding us that there are bad people out there and that self-defense is an important skill.

For kids and adults, karate is an incredible learning experience. So if you’ve never set foot in a studio, why not start today? After a year — or a lifetime — of karate, you’ll walk away with new skills, great friends, and a body and brain ready to tackle anything that comes your way.

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Kenan Pala is a guitarist, triathlete, trumpeter, traveler, poet, and martial arts enthusiast. At 12 years old, he’s juggling his education and his passions for music, entrepreneurship, and staying active; he enjoys going on business trips with his mother and exploring historic cities. Triathletes, as well as his entrepreneurial parents, inspire Kenan.

You’ve read Want to Become Stronger, Sharper, and More Confident? Try Karate, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 3 Miracles Steps For Eliminating All Stress in 5 Days (Without Tricks), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.” ~Bruce Lee

One of the reasons stress is terrible is because of the compounded effect of anxiety and health issues. Millenials are pushed to work harder thanks to all the comparison they do on the internet to “successful people.” It’s tough.

Yet, humans are tribal creatures, with genetic tendencies rooted to our distant past. The more we can align and understand our roots, the better we can fight off stress and uncertainty.

Here’s how:

• Cut out extended stress situations.

In order to keep anxiety and stress pressure low, you should set up a system to lower extended stress situations. These include: a 5 minute time-out to walk around when your environment gets too tough or a blocked off time in your calendar to relax.

These moments will give you a moment to return to a balanced and calm state to better assess your surroundings. In the book 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, the founder of LinkedIn says he has to block off moments of time for himself. Before doing so, he was overwhelmed and out of control because of his back to back endless meetings.

Understand the consequences of staying in a prolonged stress environment. Your body is not wired to take this heat. It is still evolved to deal with short-term high-stress situations like running away from a dangerous predator. With extended stress, you damage your health, longevity, energy, and thinking. If you cope with a work environment that doesn’t allow you to relax occasionally, you’re dooming yourself.

If you have to, change jobs to fit your demands.

• Start meditating daily

Meditation is one of the most powerful self-development tools.

The science of meditation shows that it can reduce stress by physically changing the structure of your brain. Mindfulness meditation helps rest and digest your nervous system. After 11 hours of meditation, practitioners had structural changes that improved the areas responsible for focus and self-control.

A study by Michael Speca PhD found that meditation decreased mood disturbance and stress symptoms.

Meditation does not have to be this gigantic undertaking. If you look at it like this, it will overwhelm you and scare you away from even starting.

Most people I know who are successful entrepreneurs and frequent meditators started out with a baby step goal: just two minutes a day.

Over time, as you get more used to meditating, you can slowly increase the duration to form it into a deeper habit.

• Change Your Environment

Oftentimes, the tasks or situation you are stressed about aren’t that important. Ask yourself if this task really contributes to your big goal. You may find that a lot of the tasks that take up your time have a very little impact on your bottom line.

If what stresses you out is of little importance, eliminate it. Examples include trivial email responses you have to make, minor maintenance requests, or needless meetings. Move these aside and focus on the most important task that will get you towards your end goal.

According to the Pareto Principle, 80% of your results come from 20% of your tasks. Identify that task and double down.

Most people try to fix the symptoms without ever working on the root cause.

If you have a job you hate or a life that’s not great, change it. Using tactics to solve short-term issues will never fix the underlying prolonged problem.

For example, many people turn to drugs like Advil or Tylenol to cure headaches. Instead, cure the cause of the headache itself: the part of the career you don’t enjoy doing.

Assess if it’s really worth doing. Does it really lead to a high impact on your company’s end goals? If not, stop doing it. If so, hire someone to do those parts who can do it better than you.

It won’t happen overnight. These transitions take time. If it was easy for everyone to live their dream job and dream life, everyone would.

Take night classes, reach out to people with interesting jobs to learn more, develop your side business on the side. Intern and volunteer at new jobs. Keep working hard and you will succeed.

Conclusion  

Tactics can help you with stress reduction. But these should only be used when you have found a job that you love that happens to have stress that cannot be avoided, like being an entrepreneur.

Otherwise, you want to solve the root issue of your stress rather than cover up the symptoms because it is what will truly fix the problem.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me and I will help out for free.

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You’re reading There Is No Such Thing As Failure: 5 Truths To Shed Some Light, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

After a divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure and a deep state of depression I was feeling like a complete failure. I couldn’t figure out how my American Dream had turned into the American Nightmare in the span of only six years.

For several months I isolated myself from the world and held a pity party with myself for being worthless and unworthy.

During that darkest period of my life I ran across a quote from the late Wayne Dyer that would not only shift my spirit and help me get my life back on track, it would also become my go to quote anytime I felt like a failure. He said: “There is no such thing as failure. There is only the non-attainment of a desired result.” I’m not sure exactly how this quote changed my life in an instant but it did. After reading it I came to the realization that I had internalized myself as a failure. I had concluded it was something that I was inherently versus something I had done externally. Upon further investigation I learned that my feelings of being a failure were being driven by a deep sense of shame as a result of my divorce, the sadness I experienced from being separated from my kids and the embarrassment I felt from having lost all of my material possessions.

Once I embraced the quote that there was no such thing as failure it gave me the awareness that I could actually change my circumstances and ultimately change my life. This awareness led me on a 25-year journey of growth and transformation which ultimately led me to waking up to who I truly am and to arriving in this very moment in which I can honestly say without reservation that I am happier now than I’ve ever been in my life. Because of the inner journey that I went on I was able to create a wonderful marriage (14 years) with a woman who is absolutely perfect for me. I was also able to discover my gifts of writing and speaking which led me to become an entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. But most importantly my journey helped me awaken to my true life’s purpose, which is to support other people in learning how to live extraordinary lives through my books, seminars and lectures.

I’d like to share the five most important lessons I’ve learned on my journey of self-discovery. My hope is that these lessons inspire and motivate you to overcome any adversity you may be experiencing in your life right now and to help you recognize that there really is no such thing as failure.

1. Remember that failure is not something that you are, it’s something that you’ve done.
Don’t do what I did. I beat myself up for all of the mistakes I made in life and believed that those mistakes made me a failure. The truth is there will always be times that you will not attain your desired result but that doesn’t mean you’re a failure.

2. Be willing to examine your religious beliefs that may have convinced you that you’re a sinner.
This is a tough one. There are some religions that teach you that you are a born sinner in a sinful world. If you accept this belief, at your core you will believe that something is wrong with you. Do not believe this. Challenge your beliefs about your religion and be willing to change them if needed.

3. Accept the truth that you are a wonderful human being with unlimited potential.
I believe this is true. Although you may make mistakes, you are not “a” mistake. Be willing to forgive yourself for the mistakes you may have made and learn to love and accept yourself for the amazing person that you are.

4. Take some time each day to express gratitude.
Take a moment everyday to simply write 5 things that you are grateful for. If you will do this for 21 days straight, I can promise you that your life will change for the better.

5. Take life sincerely but not seriously.
Take some time each day to laugh and appreciate the little things in life. Do not buy in to our negative media. There are lots of reasons to be optimistic about your life and about the world around you but it’s up to you to find those reasons. Find the reasons that bring you joy!

My hope is that you will take these five lessons and apply them to your life. If you will commit to following their guidance rest assured that you can overcome any adversity in your life.

So remember, “There is no such thing as failure, there is only the nonattainment of a desired result.” Though you may not attain your desired result you are not a failure and you can always recommit to attaining a different result.
–
Coach Michael Taylor is an entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker and radio show host who has dedicated his life to empowering men and women to reach their full potential. He knows firsthand how to overcome adversity and build a rewarding and fulfilling life and he is sharing his knowledge and wisdom with others to support them in creating the life of their dreams. He is the author of Adversity Is Your Greatest Ally, Black Men Rock, A New Conversation with Men, and Brothers, Are You Listening?. For more information please visit: http://bmracademy.com/.

You’ve read There Is No Such Thing As Failure: 5 Truths To Shed Some Light, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 7 Reasons this Book Will Change Lives, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Travis “Achilles” Williams was a Motivational Fitness Icon who was tragically killed in an accident in March 2015.  Though his time was limited, his feats were not.  He co-founded Team Fitness, a premier personal-training brand in the Southeast; he co-founded The A-to-Z Project, a charity, and helped multitudes struggling worldwide; and he helped raise a daughter, Azarria, passing on his adventurous spirit, teaching her how to live with purpose.

His timeless words and photos helped him gain international fame and continue to inspire thousands worldwide today. Achilles: A Meditation on Purpose & Inspirational Living is a biography of Achilles and a celebration of his legacy. An engaging reflection on how life is supposed to be lived, it is a compilation of Achilles’ works, accented with exclusive interviews of his closest friends, celebrating a life of passion, adventure, and purpose. 100% of profits from the book will go to Achilles’ daughter. A Kickstarter campaign launched this week to fundraise for the bulk publishing and distribution of the book.

Below are 7 reasons it is guaranteed to make an impact:
1. 100% of Profits go to Achilles’ Daughter, Azarria – Achilles can no longer support Azarria. But we can.  100% of profits will go into a college trust fund for Azarria.

2. Story Guaranteed to Inspire – Achilles’ journey was remarkably inspirational, leaving home at the age of 15, overcoming all odds to attain incredible success. He lived his life with an incredible passion and the world was left aching when he unexpectedly passed.

3. Quotes Will Shake You – Achilles would regularly spend hours brainstorming how to evoke change through his words. His quotes, profound and surreal, at times hint that perhaps he knew he was leaving soon.  For example: “In the end all that matters is what you’ve done… And I’ll sleep well knowing that I chased my dreams until they were my reality”.  Check out more at 5 Quotes Which Eeerily Foreshadow Achilles’ Death

4. Emotional Rollercoaster – Try to get through it without crying. I dare you. It even includes a contribution from Azarria about her favorite memories with her father.

5. Painful Perspective – An emotional reminder of life’s brevity, and how we must take advantage of the time we’re given. Achilles’ signature quote was “It’s never too late or too early to start living the life you want to live”.

6. Source of Healing – So many of Achilles’ friends and followers are still trying to make sense of the accident that took such a positive force from the world. As they flip the pages and relive Achilles’ life, may they gain some clarity and peace.

7. It’s Already Changed One Life – Author Calvin Bond has dedicated over a thousand hours of unpaid labor to produce the book, because it is a cause he truly believes in. Bond met Williams in 2010, and his life was forever impacted. “Achilles’ words changed my life, and I want to share them with the world. To spread his legacy. To help Azaria.” He’s pushed his abilities over the course of the project, serving as Director of Writing, Design, and Marketing. “This project has undoubtedly changed me.  Achilles’ words teach me something new each time I read them.

Interested in helping? Here is the link to the Kickstarter campaign:   http://ift.tt/2b7dqHl. Also, you can find more ways to help at 5 Simple Ways to Help Change a Life

About the Author:  Calvin Bond is an Atlanta native currently based in Huntington Beach, California. Bond is a writer and photographer, and founder of the adventure blog http://ift.tt/2b6jkVM.  Bond met Williams in 2010, and his life was forever impacted. “Achilles’ words changed my life, and I want to share them with the world. To spread his legacy. To help Azarria.” For more information about “Achilles: A Meditation on Purpose & Inspirational Living”, please visit http://ift.tt/2b7eb3g, or contact Calvin Bond at AchillesTributeProject@gmail.com. More Info and full media kit at http://ift.tt/2b6k1OP.

You’ve read 7 Reasons this Book Will Change Lives, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 3 Tips For Tuning In To Your Conscience, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Driving in any unfamiliar city can be daunting, disorienting, and disconcerting.  Driving in a foreign country can be downright dyspeptic.  Driving in Israel can be a flirtation with catastrophe.

In some ways it’s better than it used to be.  Traffic has gotten so dense that drivers simply cannot indulge the reckless habits that once prevailed.  It’s hard to bob and weave when your car is stuck in gridlock.

But when the traffic starts moving, the experience can be harrowing, made all the more stressful as you try to find your way along unfamiliar boulevards and position yourself to make quick turns with little notice.

Thank goodness for Waze.

Just plug in your destination, follow the directions, and voila!  Oh, sure, we made a few wrong turns, but even then Waze got us right back on track.

Most of the time.

You see, every once in awhile, whether because of transliteration problems from Hebrew into English or for reasons incomprehensible to a Luddite like myself, the destination simply refused to appear on the screen.  When that happened, we were dead on the highway.

But we always managed to find our ways in the end, and the advantages far outweighed the deficiencies.

At least, that’s what I thought at first.  But after a few days, I noticed that my wife — who had the good sense to leave all the driving to me — was telling me which way to go moments before I heard the same instructions from the polite voice of the GPS.  After travelling many of the same routes to and from our rented apartment, my wife had learned her way around from the passenger seat while I had given myself over so completely to the computer that I was utterly lost if left to my own devices.

VICTIMS OF OUR OWN DESIGN

When Johannes Gutenberg introduced the world to moveable type in 1439, intellectuals lamented the inevitable death of scholarship.  It was only a matter of time, they predicted, until people would come to rely so totally upon the written word that they would neglect the real acquisition of knowledge, which is the foundation of wisdom.  The prophets of doom, were wrong; but they were also right.

In May 2010, media outlets reported that John Basinger of Middletown, CT, had memorized John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost.  It had taken the 76-year-old stage actor eight years to master the 60,000 word classic, which he subsequently rendered from the stage.

Once upon a time, such a feat would have been considered unremarkable, even pedestrian.  Even after Gutenberg, scholars commonly committed whole volumes to memory.  Jewish scholars used to play a game identifying words and passages from each successive page of their massive tomes; this was not a sign of intellectual greatness, merely refined entertainment.  Nowadays, such cognitive prowess is not only unknown but unimaginable.

One might legitimately wonder whether technology is a metaphysical response to mankind’s diminishing capacity, or whether our dependence upon every new technology is responsible for our intellectual decline.  Either way, there is no denying that dependence on technology begets ever greater dependence.

None of which presents a serious problem until our battery dies or the grid goes down.  When that happens, our inability to cope on our own leaves us crippled, if not paralyzed.  We don’t need a dog to eat our homework anymore.  A malfunctioning cell tower or a faulty modem is ample excuse for any failure.

THE WAZE OF THE WORLD

There may be a more positive lesson in all this, however.  Just like some people are born with a natural sense of direction, almost everyone is born with a natural sense of moral direction.  This is commonly referred to as our conscience, the inner arbiter of right and wrong, the angelic figure hovering over one shoulder, the pang of guilt we feel when we cross over the dividing line between what we want to do and what we ought to do.

But where does conscience come from?  Why does one person’s conscience steer him in a different direction from another’s?  And why do we find it so difficult to follow where our conscience wants to lead us?

Sigmund Freud famously divided the human psyche into three components.  The id is the sense of self, the seat of survival instincts, personal desire, and immediate physical gratification.  The ego is our concern for how we are seen by others, for social acceptance, for power and influence.  The superego is the conscience, forever embattled trying to rein in the other two impulses and keep them on the straight and narrow.

According to talmudic tradition, the drive for physical gratification is a function of the body, while the impulse for social gratification is a function of the mind.  And what of the conscience?  It is a function of the soul.

But what is the soul?  It is the divine spark that elevates human beings above all other creatures, that inspires us to strive for purpose in our lives and nobility in our conduct, that makes each and every one of us a unique creation, even identical twins who share the same genetics and environmental experiences.  It is the conduit between our ethereal selves and our animal selves, the message center for receiving guidance from a higher plain of existence for harnessing our baser instincts.

In short, the conscience is our spiritual GPS, our universal guidance system for living meaningful and moral lives.

And just like the GPS that tells us which street or avenue to follow, so too the prompting of the soul can become weakened when we don’t update the software, when we travel into dead zones, when we lower the volume, or when we turn it off altogether.

So here are three simple tips for keeping the voice of our conscience clear.

Start with authority.  If we go to experts for medical advice, legal advice, and auto service advice, why do we assume that we are experts when it comes to moral and spiritual well-being?  Throughout the ages, purveyors of wisdom have pondered the definitions of good and evil, attempting to aid those of us who follow them to find our way.  So don’t try to go it on your own, and beware of charlatans who espouse virtue for the advancement of their own agendas.  As Isaac Newton said, If I have seen farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.

The mind and the heart are often in conflict.  Generally speaking, the mind is a more reliable adviser than the heart.  But that’s only generally speaking.  Human capacity for rationalization is limitless, and we are exceptionally talented at finding reasons for what we want to do and ignoring that inner voice whispering that something may not be a very good idea.  So we have to do our best to evaluate our actions before we act, to re-evaluate them after we’ve acted so we can be better prepared for the future, and to continually re-evaluate as long as the head and the heart remain at odds with one another.

The majority is not always right.  The world is flat.  The sun revolves around the earth. Man is not meant to fly.  These were all once popular ideas, along with all kinds of beliefs contrary to modern sensibilities concerning equality and justice.  Just because a belief is widely held does not make it right.  In fact, the less willing people are to question or debate their own beliefs, the more reason there is to fear that their reasoning may be flawed.

No one ever said it was easy to do the right thing.  But the harder we try, the better we will become.  And the better we become, the better effect we will have on the world we live in.

Rabbi Yonason Goldson is a professional speaker and trainer.  He draws upon his experiences as a hitchhiker, circumnavigator, newspaper columnist, high school teacher, and talmudic scholar to teach practical strategies for enhancing communication, ethical conduct, and personal achievement. He is the author of Proverbial Beauty: Secrets for Success and Happiness from the Wisdom of the Ages. Visit him at yonasongoldson.com

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