You’re reading 4 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Energy (Without Caffeine), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Have you ever experienced a brain cramp after a long day?

It’s that ache that begins to saturate your forehead and pool into your temples. It’s our brain telling us to slow down, because it’s no longer being productive.

Today, everyone is constantly throwing more tasks and information at us, and it’s impossible to deal with it all. Our modern day solution is to resort to consuming caffeine or simply toughening up and persisting to increase productivity. It doesn’t have to be this way!

Why You Need To Rest

Throughout much of the 20th century, scientists disregarded the idea that our brains might be productive during rest.

It wasn’t until 1929, that German neurologist Hans Berger disproved this notion using an electroencephalogram (device that measures brain impulses) to propose that the brain is in constant activity.

What does this mean?

Our brain consolidates recently accumulated information, and essentially rehearses recently learned skills. Most of us have observed how, after a good night’s sleep, the vocab words we struggled to remember the previous day suddenly leap into our minds or that technically challenging piano song is much easier to play. Dozens of studieshave confirmed that memory depends on sleep.

We’ve all wanted to squeeze in that extra few hours of learning in the day, despite how tired we feel. These studiesshow that you’ll be much more productive resting your brain and picking it up again when you’re fresh!

So what are some of the best ways to rest your brain?

4 Powerful Ways To Double Your Brain Power And Increase Productivity

1. Practice The Art Of Not Thinking

The skill of not thinking is one that is easier said than done.

Our brains are wired to constantly be thinking, that it feels strange to simply shutting of our thoughts. In fact, the average individual has over 60,000 thoughts a day!

This is where meditation comes in.

For decades now, meditating has been the go to practice for stress relief.
The endless benefits of meditation includes: increased attention span, improving brain function, better quality of sleep, and more.

Meditation does not necessarily mean sitting cross-legged in a pitch black room with your eyes closed (although it could). Depending on your personality, meditation could mean a mantra you say to yourself, a relaxing breakfast where you savor each bite, or it could even mean taking a nice, long hike. Here are the several unique ways to meditate, depending on your personality.

2. Priming

Priming is another powerful method that can help you feel more energy by changing your physical state, boost brain power, and preparing your mind to increase productivity in the morning.
If forcing yourself not to think seems impossible, then priming may be for you.

Here is the method that Tony Robbins advocates:

The first thing you should do is change your physical state. This could mean hopping into a cold shower, doing a few jumping jacks, or deep breathing for 30 seconds. If you want to learn the full method of breathing that Tony preaches, click here to listen.

From there, you:

#1. Sit up on your bed or chair and close your eyes.

#2. Think of three things that you’re grateful for, spending one minute thinking of each (3 minutes)

Ask yourself questions like:

• Who do you love?
• Who loves you?
• What is the wealth you have currently in your life — technology? choices? friends? books? ideas? opportunities?
• What’s right in your life?
• What’s beautiful?
• What’s magical?

#3. Think of three things that you envision yourself creating in your life. Focus on the future, but state it as if you have already achieved it.

It could be:

• “I’m a successful entrepreneur, living life the way I want, with my own rules.”
• “I have the deepest, most loving relationship with my partner.”
• “I can speak fluent Spanish and able to connect with anyone as I travel.”

3. Take Strategic Breaks

Sleep deprivation is a big deal, and even a norm in our society.

A recent Harvard study estimated that sleep deprivation costs American companies $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity. When we’re working at high intensity for more than 90 minutes, we begin to rely on stress hormones — adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol — to keep us going.  In the process, we move from parasympathetic to asympathetic arousal — a physiological state more commonly known as “fight or flight.”

This doesn’t have to mean sleeping 10 hours a day, instead of your normal 8.
By taking strategic naps during the day, you can revitalize your mind and give your brain the rest it needs to increase productivity.

When night shift air traffic controllers were given 40 minutes to nap — and slept an average of 19 minutes — they performed higher on tests that measured vigilance and reaction time.

Longer naps have an even more profound impact than shorter ones. Sara C. Mednick, a sleep researcher at the University of California, Riverside, found that a 60 to 90-minute nap improved memory test results as fully as did eight hours of sleep.

In addition to strategic naps, a tactic that is shared by Buffer is called the Pomodoro Technique.

Here’s how it works:

This means 25 minutes of distraction-free work — without Facebook, phone notifications, or multi-tasking! Just one task only.

If you’re serious about testing out the Pomodoro Technique, here are the tools required to get started:

How many Pomodoro’s should you go through per day?

One of the writers at Buffer experimented this on himself, and found that he only needed 40 Pomodoro’s in order to get all of his weekly tasks done.

Keep in mind, this will depend on each individual and you should adjust everything shared according to your own preference. This could mean working in 40 minute spurts instead of 25, or taking 10 minutes off instead of 5. Go nuts!

4. Have A Support Team

No matter what we’re doing, we weren’t meant to go at it alone.

Whether it’s a friend, family, partner, or coach, building a support team of positive people around you is one of the most effective ways to rest your brain and maintain your health.

For high-level executives, this could mean working with a business coach to help them make better decisions.

For business owners, this could mean outsourcing tasks that you hate doing, that will give you the time and headspace to focus on what you love doing.

For language learners, this could mean working with a language coach, to save you the wasted time that comes with learning on your own, and keeping you accountable.

“Individually We Are One Drop. But Together, We Are An Ocean.”

Going at it alone can be the biggest stressor and detriment for many of us.

Build yourself a pond, then a lake, and soon you will have an ocean.

Over To You!

Which of these tips was your favorite to increase productivity?
What is your experience with burning out and lacking rest?
Share with us below!

p.s – if you enjoyed this, you’ll also enjoy reading How to Find More Time In Your Schedule to Learn Something New, and 7 Research-Backed Ways to Stop Procrastinating (And Get More Done)

This article was originally posted on Rype.

You’ve read 4 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Energy (Without Caffeine), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2cRZpjZ

You’re reading The Productive Diet: 7 Simple Ways To Eat Your Way To Getting More Done, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

If you type in the words “how to be more productive” into Google you’ll find 36,400,000 results.  Much of what comes up will talk about the latest hacks, tricks, and techniques for making you more productive.

However, only a small percentage of these articles talk about one of the biggest productivity “hacks” of all:  eating in a way that optimizes your energy and mental focus throughout the day.  In other words:  eating for productivity.

And while there is a growing body of research that talks about the food-productivity connection, most of the articles you’ll find on this topic will simply tell you that a “healthy diet” will make you more productive. Very few give you a step-by-step framework for using your diet to fuel your productivity.

Until now.

Below are 7 simple ways you can “eat your way” to being more productive:

1. Contrary To How It Sounds, Some of Nature’s Most Tasty Foods Will Make You Slim AND Productive

The days of thinking a healthy diet should be a low-fat diet are over.  In fact, some of the most high-fat foods available will also make you more productive.  At the top of the list are fatty fishes like Salmon and cod.

There is a reason why fish has been called “brain food” for quite a while now:  it’s scientifically proven to be the case.  Fatty fishes are high in Omega-3s as well vitamin B12, which will keep you sharp throughout the day.

Two more high-fat foods that should be a staple of a productive diet are avocados and nuts like almonds and walnuts.   Avocados are also high in Omega-3s and they are quite yummy if I do say so myself!   Almonds and walnuts are high in vitamin E and also have a high dose of antioxidants (more on those below).

But a word of warning when it comes to these high-fat foods:  they are quite high in calories.  For example, one medium-sized avocado has over 200 calories.  And one cup of walnuts has over 500.  So while it’s great to eat these foods and they can help with weight loss when eaten in moderation, don’t go crazy.

2. The Perfect Antidote for Laziness And Low Energy

Have you noticed that much of the literature about what foods are healthy and what foods aren’t is contradictory?   For example, I can’t tell you how many articles I’ve read that talk about how we should avoid eating white rice like they it’s some sort of infectious disease.

However, recently two nutrition experts who I respect told me that white rice is actually good for you.   So confusing.  This is just one example among many.

But one thing that everyone agrees on is that green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach should be stables of a healthy diet.  They also agree that broccoli is among the the healthiest vegetables you can eat.

Why?  One of the main reasons is because these foods are an amazing source of antioxidants.  Antioxidants have the ability to protect our brain cells from damage, making increased memory, focus and mental clarity among their primary benefits.

Another great source of antioxidants are berries, especially blueberries.  Blueberries are among the most antioxidant-rich fruits and are also relatively low in calories, making them maybe the healthiest fruit you can eat.

But I do need to point out here that how much fruit you should eat is one debate that experts still don’t agree on because of the sugar content contained in fruits.  This is especially true in light of the growing trend of high fat, low (or no) sugar diets like the Atkins and ketogenic diets.

Personally, I find eating some fruit in moderation to work well for me.  And I consume most of my daily fruits (blueberries of course!) during the green shake I have for breakfast every morning after I work out.  Experiment and see what works for you.

3. The One Thing All Experts Agree Kills Productivity

If I told you there was one thing you could ingest into your system that not only will kill your energy levels and your ability to focus, but can also literally take years off your life, would you take it?

I hope not.

That thing I’m talking about is processed sugar. There is no two ways about it:  if you want to maximize your productivity you need to severely limit (or even eliminate) processed sugar from your diet completely.

This means anything that has “fructose” on the label needs to go.  Some of the worst things you can ingest are sugary drinks like sodas, fruit juices and sports drinks like Gatorade and Vitamin Water.  High sugar drinks like those morning Frappuccinos many people love are not doing anyone any good either.

Also, stay away from anything sweet that comes in a wrapper:  candies and cookies should be saved for special occasions only.  Processed sugars do the most harm when ingested earlier in the day because of the “sugar crash” that will come soon after.  Bottom line:  stay away from processed sugar.

4. The Drink Of Life Will Also Help You Focus

Your brain is made up of around 75% water.  Accordingly, you need to keep hydrated throughout the day if you want to stay productive.  But the big question is how much water should you drink per day?

Answer:  the experts are still not quite sure.

The popular rule that we should drink eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day comes from a 1945 recommendation by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board.  Some experts say we should drink a certain amount of water based on our body weight (such as one ounce or half an ounce for each pound of body weight).

Personally, I’ve found that during times when I tried to really increase my water intake it hampered my productivity because I had to get up and pee every 10 minutes!  And if you drink a lot of water in the evening this could also cause you to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom which is not ideal either.

So what to do?

I recommend make you get in the habit of drinking water throughout the day and use your thirst as a guide.  As long as you’re feeling like you’re properly hydrated you should be fine.

5. A Vital Brain Nutrient You Might Be Missing Out On

In order to maximize your productivity, you need to make sure that your brain gets the vital nutrients it needs to survive.  One of the most important of these nutrients that you might be missing out on is choline.

Due to it’s effect on the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, choline helps with memory, learning, focus and even helps us sleep better.  Unfortunately, a survey by the National Health and Nutrition Examination revealed that only 10% of Americans get an adequate amount of choline every day.

So how do we get more choline into our diet?  The best sources of choline include proteins like eggs, shrimp, chicken, turkey and beef (especially liver).  Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and our friend broccoli also have healthy doses of choline.

6. The World’s Most Popular Drug Of Choice Can Also Boost Your Productivity

There’s a reason why millions of people around the world begin their days with their morning cup of coffee:  caffeine has been scientifically proven to give us an energy boost.    There is even a growing body of research that has linked caffeine to increased learning speeds and creativity.

But caffeine also has its critics.  While the above research is not really in dispute.  The arguments against supplementing your diet with caffeine are that it is in fact a drug that and we can become dependent on that caffeine boost (as millions of people are).

Also, it can lead to energy crashes later in the day and can make getting a good night of sleep difficult.  So what should we do about these conflicting opinions?

Answer:  experiment with what works best for you.  Personally, I’m not much of a coffee drinker and I find that following the 5 elements above gives me more than enough energy and focus to be productive throughout the day.

Foods themselves should be the foundations of a productive diet and the boost caffeine gives you should be just that:  a boost.

However, many of the most productive people in the world use caffeine and if it works for you I find nothing wrong with that.  Two things that most experts seem to agree on are that 1) caffeine should used in moderate doses and 2) it should not be consumed after around 3 p.m. so as not to have negative effects on sleep.

7. Albert Einstein’s Secret That Makes Eating For Productivity A Breeze

Albert Einstein wore the same clothes every single day.  Why?  Because of the phenomenon known as “decision fatigue.”  Essentially, by not having to worry about the small decision every day about what to wear, this made made it easier for him to have the mental capacity to focus on bigger, more important things throughout the day.

US Presidents and visionary entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have also adopted Einstein’s “daily uniform” philosophy.

I’ve found, doing this same thing with my diet does wonders for my productivity.  This means I eat the same things every single day.  Yes, I know this might sound a bit boring.  But if you stop and think about how much mental energy you spend every day thinking about what your next meal will be, you’ll realize it’s quite a bit.  And that mental energy is better spent working productively on your most important goals.

So there you have it.  Those are the 7 ways to eat your way to becoming a more productive, focused individual.

Attention Pick The Brain Readers:

The information in this article will definitely take your productivity to another level.  But if you want to leap into the top 1% of achievers in the world you’ll need more than a productive diet.  Maximum productivity also requires mastering other foundational habits such as meditation, proper sleep, and exercise.

Check out my Master Day Checklist for complete details on how to master these habits to become more productive than you ever imagined.

Click Here To Download The Master Day Checklist

---

Ron  Reich is a former lawyer turned entrepreneur whose mission is to help people master the game of life and accomplish their most deeply important goals.  Download his Master Day Checklist today to find out exactly how to do this.

 

 

You’ve read The Productive Diet: 7 Simple Ways To Eat Your Way To Getting More Done, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2cCqULf

You’re reading Are You Smarter In Summer? How Seasons Affect Brain Performance, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

You’ve probably seen how different seasons affect your physical and emotional state. Most people find it hard to go out and run on a cold, dark winter afternoon, but are happy to spend all day outside on a summer evening. In general, people feel sadder in the winter and happier in the summer, but why? Recent studies have shown that seasons don’t only affect our mood, but they actually affect our cognitive processes (attention, memory, learning…) and brain performance.

Do you need to make a big decision, like where to go to school, where to buy your house, or where to send your child to school? Are you working on a new goal? You need to know what season your cognitive functions work best so you can be alert and get the best brain performance out of the season!

A study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that cognitive functions follow the seasons, which means that our brain will use different cognitive resources depending on the season. Pretty interesting, right? A lot of this has to do with our ancestors and how they had to live…collecting food, hunting, cooking, using daylight hours, etc. Check out how each season affects our cognitive performance!

Summer is the time to reach your goals: In the summer, our attention peaks, and since humans don’t have to use the time to go hunting for food anymore, we can use it to make some changes in our lives. If you’re working on learning something new or starting a new habit, this is the time!

Autumn is for memory: Study for the SATs or the GMAT, learn a new language, start a new hobby, or try to learn a new song. August is the perfect time! Our working memory reaches its peak during this time, so you’ll be able to learn and incorporate more information more easily. The possibilities are endless.

Attention dwindles in winter: This may be due to evolution. Back when we had to search for our food in the wild, there were less resources available in the winter, so our ancestors had to save their energy, which weakened some brain performance.

Spring is “what am I doing here?”: Data has shown that spring isn’t the best season for your working memory, but because humans are adaptable, we can use this flexibility to take advantage of other cognitive resources that give us the same outcome.

What should you do to improve your brain in the fall?

Because our working memory is highest in the fall, use it to learn!

Start the school year off on the right foot

Maybe you’re getting ready to go back to school, and maybe you’re just getting back from vacation at work. You can train your brain before school starts, and fall is the perfect time to dive in and get a head start on your reading and studying. Working memory helps us remember and integrate new information into our memory, so it’s wise to take advantage of this before things get too crazy in the winter!

Get involved in a new activity

Have you thought about learning to knit or wanted to get involved in flying model airplanes? Maybe you want to learn how to start working out? Now is a great time to get started! Look online for tips and tutorials and soak up all the information that you can! Learning this in the fall will help you remember and put all that new information and put it to use!

Work for that promotion

You’ve been so close, but you can’t manage to make it happen. Buckle down and work extra hard these few months. Your brain is primed to perform and remember information! Take great notes in meetings and think about what you can do to go the extra mile- with some extra help from your high working memory, you’ll sure to see it pay off.

Train and improve your cognitive skills

As we get older, our cognitive skills naturally start to decline, which especially affects attention, planning processing speed, etc. If you’re worried about this, you can start some brain gym exercises to get you ready and beat the cognitive decline. CogniFit, leader in neuropsychological assessments, offers fun and interactive brain games and brain training programs that have been scientifically validated by the scientific community and universities from around the world.

Try out these tips and get the most out of your brain!

Cristina Martinez de Toda is a psychologist and writer at CogniFit, a validated brain training program. She specialized in neuroscience and neuropsychology applied in education. She enjoys learning about human behavior and sharing new discoveries with her readers.

You’ve read Are You Smarter In Summer? How Seasons Affect Brain Performance, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2cCHpWp

You’re reading How To Create A Morning Routine That Sets You Up For Success, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

How you start your day pretty much determines how effective your day will be. Most people like to have some form of morning routine, otherwise we would have to make decisions on every small detail: coffee with milk or without, with sugar or without. For usual steps we go on autopilot and this mechanism of the brain helps us to actually get through the day!

In 2016 I changed my morning routine three times. I recently relocated from The Netherlands to Singapore and had to leave my own digital marketing consultancy to start a new life with my wife in Asia. I had to start looking for a new job, and during this process I noticed a change in my daily routine. Then, in mid-August I landed a new job that also caused a change in my (morning) routine. Realizing the impact a routine has on your day, I am sharing my experiences.

Make your morning routine a habit

Before you go to bed, make sure you have a towel, swimming trunks or sporting equipment ready to start your day on an active note. Organizing your equipment the evening before is already part of the routine. It also primes your mind that you will be doing some kind of excercise when you wake up, thereby making it harder not to go sporting. Plan the sporting exercise block in your agenda the day before. You will not skip a planned sport block that easily. Through your day you will notice the sporting block in your calendar when you plan new activities for the day after, making it a recurring part of your routine.

Getting out of bed

My alarm rings at 6.55. It is very important to not use that snooze button! When the alarm goes, just get up! I first put on my swimming trunks, then pour distilled water in the espresso machine and turn it on to let it warm up. I take the yoghurt out of the fridge (otherwise the yoghurt is too cold to eat), grab my towel and put on my flip-flops. Then I walk to the swimming pool downstairs.

Waking up!

I arrive at the swimming pool at 7.00. I just jump in the water letting the cold/ lukewarm water do the waking-up part. I swim for 30 minutes. After each lap I perform a ten second breathing exercise to keep my heart rate at a fast pace. Swimming is an excellent way to start your day since it gives a good kick, wakes you up and trains your whole body. In my case it really helps that our condo has a big swimming pool. Instead of swimming it is also a good idea to workout in the gym. If there is no gym close by, use one of the 7-minute workout. There are several apps available, try Wahoo for iOS or Android.

Showering

Most people love to take a medium to long hot shower to wake up. I used to love starting my day in the same way. Then I discovered that it doesn’t wake me up. The warm water is comfortable and relaxes your muscles but it does not get you up to speed. According to The Iceman (Netherlands), it is better to take a cold shower; it helps strengthen your immune system to fight-off diseases. Due to the cold water you get a real kick that causes your breathing to intensify. After swimming I take a lukewarm shower.

You probably have heard that people always come up with great ideas during showering or think of all important to do’s! Contradicting to taking a cold shower it is good to take a lukewarm to warm shower to get more and better ideas. You can choose to do a cold shower on Monday and lukewarm on Tuesday and so on.

Feed your brain

Depending on culture and your diet, the breakfast contents may vary. In my case I eat plain low-fat yoghurt with fresh fruits such as mango and some raw nuts.

I very much like a good fresh espresso. The whole process of making a fresh espresso (not a Nespresso or any form of automatic espresso machine) takes a few minutes:

• put the filter (piston) in the grinder
• grind the coffee beans,
• measure the amount of coffee in the filter
• tamp with your wrist, arm, and elbow positioned directly over the center of the filter basket
• place the filter in the espresso machine
• switch it on and begin brewing up to 24 seconds

There you have the perfect shot of espresso to kick start your day. Do not forget to clean up with a towel and put the coffee ‘puck’ out of the filter. During this coffee making process my mind wanders to make new connections or come up with great new ideas. The time it takes is also a moment to think about your day and most important tasks. Drinking a moderate amount of coffee helps to focus your attention as well.

If you do not have an espresso machine, make a small routine for your type of coffee or tea and let your mind wander.

Prepare yourself for work

Depending on the type of work you can already start working in the subway, train or even in the car. Depending on your means of travel, you can read, answer emails or make calls. I would advise you to do the following:

• read a book or newspaper
• read an interesting article on Pick The Brain or Medium
• listen to an audiobook or music since music is really impacts your mood and level of productivity
• make a to-do list featuring the three Most Important Tasks (MIT) of the day

There are several to do apps, one of my favorite ones is Wunderlist, use the * to make a task a MIT.

What is your opinion?

My morning routine from alarm to leaving the house is 75 to 90 minutes. Please share your views and tips on your morning routine. What works for you?

Alexis van Dam moved from The Netherlands to Singapore. He is a seasoned Digital Marketing Strategist. Currently CMO @ InsuranceMarketSG. He is a Visual Thinker, MindMapper, Lifehacker, Social Media Strategist, LinkedIn Trainer, Facilitator, Speaker, Smarter Working Coach. You can follow him on Twitter, Medium or via his website.

You’ve read How To Create A Morning Routine That Sets You Up For Success, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2c2rRNf

You’re reading Introducing The Year Of Wellness!!, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

As many of you know, I am the co-founder of LEAF.tv – a lifestyle video site that focuses on all things dedicated to living a better life! I am SOOO thrilled & proud to finally announce that a personal passion project, The Year Of Wellness, is now live!! After eight months of relentless work – really trying to identify the products and resources that will help you live a better life – we are launching a monthly subscription service, all around the 12 pillars of wellness.

It can be overwhelming to understand all it takes to “live well,” especially while balancing all that is life. We have tried to create the perfect way to treat yourself and bring the focus back to you. Something to give your body, mind, & soul a fresh perspective. Welcome to LEAFtv’s Year of Wellness.

So what is The Year Of Wellness?

The subscription-based box of great wellness finds is filled with functional products that support healing, offer ways to detox, raise your level of happiness, guide you to creating better habits, and are the catalyst for creating a life you love.

Every month for a whole year, you’ll unwrap a different wellness theme with instructions on how to utilize each product in a way that seamlessly fits into life. Every box has been specifically curated to make you feel your absolute best. Plus, each box includes additional inspiration and resources, think checklists and suggested schedules, to holistically support each theme.

The start of every subscription always begins with the first box, DETOX. It will be followed by NOURISH, GLOW, and REST. Countless hours have been spent organizing a plan that leads you to success, and the order of the themes and contents have been crafted to build wellness throughout the year.

If you’re ready to begin a healthy, happy life, then the Year of Wellness is a no-brainer. I’d LOVE you to come on this journey with me!

Here’s to a year (of wellness!)

xoxo,

Erin

SIGN UP HERE, TODAY!

#TheYearOfWellness

You’ve read Introducing The Year Of Wellness!!, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2cdXUHu

You’re reading How to Reframe Your Reality and Become a Ruthless Optimist, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Tired of Negative Events, One After Another?

Your neighbor’s dog barked at you. And he knows you!

Your boss sent you a nasty email.

Your special someone isn’t into you lately.

You’re not finding any joy anywhere, in anything.

Inside You/Outside You

Yes, the dog is dumb, your boss is a jerk, and your sweetie could be more loving.

But the things outside you aren’t necessarily the problem.

Perceived Powerlessness

Nope, the problem is, you think that the events and their effects are both outside you, yet your fault. This mindset? Self-fulfilling negative prophecy and no perceived power to change things.

What can you do?

For starters: Think you’re powerless when these things happen? You’re wrong.

1-Consider this equation:

Perception (internal)+Event (External)=Your Experience (Situation)

Notice how big perception is.

2-Let’s drop back a step.

What’s in place BEFORE any event? Your core mindset. It’s there to help you or hinder you as you experience your day, helping you to avoid getting stuck, or so discouraged that you turn back, or don’t walk out of your mental house at all.

• Did your parents accept you as you were, or did you have to contort yourself to win their love and acceptance? Were they full of criticism? Then you probably developed that inner critic to keep off the outer critics. The inner critic never leaves. Send him or her off with a letter of recommendation to someone who needs one (though I doubt you’ll find any such person!!)

• Or maybe some recent bad experiences, a bad breakup or divorce, a firing, or other situations pulled down your self-esteem so you have an inner critic.

So, you INTERPRET adverse events as YOUR FAULT. You don’t take your own side, but with the inner critic that remains from critical parents or tough past events, so you make and will continue to make your life one long uphill battle.

The Good News: This is an Opportunity.

Believe me, from hard experience, I know what a challenge this is; in fact, it’s the biggest. But, if you change your inner situation now, others will envy you as they see you’ve transformed your life!

Get Help.

Get some positive reinforcement from a trusted friend helps, or better yet, a therapist, especially if your childhood is the main problem. Why? Because your inner critic is “disqualifying” anything good you’re saying about yourself.

The Therapist or that good friend stands in for the part of yourself that you’re born with who is ready to love and care for you. The self-compassionate inner voice is always there; it’s a still small voice, but it’s amazing how well you can hear it when if you start listening.

Help Yourself

Talk TO yourself, and treat yourself as if you were your spouse or your best friend. When you hear the critic’s expected interpretation of things, talk back calmly, don’t shout. When the ego starts to shout because you now pay attention to your calm, core voice, you isolate and disregard negativity.

Talk back, sometimes use a diary to write out the critic’s comments and your compassionate voice’s answers. Expose those inner criticisms out in the light of day, and soon they lose their potency. Keep them inside, without review or response, and they stay potent, and you feel powerless.

Everyone makes mistakes…how else do we learn? The best scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs make countless mistakes that produce single, stupendous achievements otherwise impossible.

I just “reframed” failure, I repositioned it as an inevitable prelude to success, rather than an insoluble, life defeating problem.

Be ready every minute of every day with a fearless mental, emotional, and spiritual position with which to weather and transform experiences for current and future benefit rather than as the perceived inescapable, ever continuing spiral of events that make you hopeless and continually self-critical.

You have a choice and an obligation to transform the stories of your life into positive ones so that your life’s narrative is triumphant and joyful always.

What Will You Choose?

Will you be kind to yourself, being the defense attorney in every situation, taking your case without hesitation, with love, acceptance, and optimism?

If you do, you’ll not only win in the court of your psyche, you’ll be successful in every trial, escape your own jails, and soar to what should be your goal each and every day…and what’s that?

HAPPINESS. It’s inside you right now; just take it with you no matter what!

———————–

Lars Nielsen is a free-lance copywriter whose unique and image-rich selling voice combines the narrative power of his poetry, playwriting, fiction, radio, liturgy, and comedy. Go to http://ift.tt/2aI2xgg and see how Ultimate Influence Copywriting can reframe the narrative of your business, speeches, ideas, and your life for success.

You’ve read How to Reframe Your Reality and Become a Ruthless Optimist, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2cuUdOf

You’re reading Always Feel Bad When Not Working? Here Are 3 Steps to Get You Comfortable With Doing Nothing., originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

If every break you take away from work sends chilly guilt emotion to your heart, then your idea of work is broken.

You work better when you work because you need to, and you can, not because you can’t stand being idle.

The latter stems from guilt. The Gita says there is action in inaction and vice versa.

Meet me.

It was supposed to be the happiest weekend ever. Because that week, I recorded my biggest breakthroughs yet.

Luck was on my side, and it was all smiling:

I got the email that confirmed me as a contributor on a popular blog in my niche.

Big deal, right?

Wait, luck wasn’t done with me, yet.

That same week, I sealed the biggest deal ever. A client offered me 10x what I was earning as a freelancer. A job I will spend less time producing.

All these didn’t come cheap, I earned them. I had spent countless hours working my butt to rag.

Now the weekend is here. It looks like I have earned for myself the right to few hours to do nothing.

Only that I couldn’t take the well-deserved time of doing nothing. In my head, I could be spending this time sending an email; work on an outline for an article; an article could’ve gone live but didn’t.

No one should spite you for wanting to get more done or push yourself, but it is also safe to set the record straight: there is a thin line between working too little and overworking yourself.

Successful people know when to draw the curtain on work to engage in mundane activities like spending time with family, catching up with friends, and so on.

In case, you also find yourself here most time, you following nuggets helpful:

1. LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE.

I get it, it’s okay to feel bad because you’re unable to do one or two things on your to-do list. The goal is to look at the impact of the “little” victories on productivity over time.

Earlier, I said I spent the week attending to stuff that prevented me from doing what I should do, and I felt bad. This is normal.

But here is a consolation for you: while I couldn’t do what I intended, I got an opportunity to contribute to a platform with a far larger audience than mine.

Now tell me this is a consolation, even a better one. Another thing is, I’m going to be writing for far bigger pay.

2. FACE THE REALITY.

We sometimes forget that we’re not machines yet. We wake up drawing a long list of things to get done. We stuff it as much as we could. We aim is to work ourselves to rag.

Well, I don’t think working till you almost drop dead is a virtue. The reality is we don’t everything in our life.

The computer will break down and you won’t be able to help it. There is nothing you can do the car that refused to start. These are part of life.

You rely on these things to get the job done. If all those actually happened, how dare you beat yourself because finish what you set to do?

Leo Babauta is one of the most productive people you will find, yet he doesn’t set goals for himself.

Stuffing your day will give you unnecessary anxiety, and of course, guilt, no matter how much you get done. You will struggle as a result sometimes.

Find a middle ground, and that starts with facing the reality that you’re a man, and you can’t getting tired.

3. NO EXTRA POINT FOR WORKING YOURSELF TO RAG

I have this bad habit. On a day I’m lucky to find the muse by my side, and I managed to finish work earlier than I had projected, I look more work to do.

Our culture praises you for working yourself to rag. Skipping night sleep to work boosts some people’s ego. There are also some who are not proud of themselves because they can’t or don’t.

Burning yourself out is not is a sign of hard work, it’s the reverse. It shows you lack control over your life.

Here is what Ryan Holiday have to say about that: “If you’re working all the time—that is, if you don’t get to leave the office until midnight and got there at 5am—you’re doing something wrong. You’re either working for an idiot who is going to burn you out, or you’re the idiot, and you haven’t figured out the short cuts.”

You have nothing to prove to anyone, including yourself. Work is for man, not man for work.

Treating yourself well today has its own reward, which is you’re able to show up to do the work which you care about for a long time.

What about you? What do you also suffer from work-related guilt? How do you deal with it?

Let me know.

 

You’ve read Always Feel Bad When Not Working? Here Are 3 Steps to Get You Comfortable With Doing Nothing., originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2bWW8gh

You’re reading 7 Things Successful People do Differently, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Pеорlе are оftеn fаѕсіnаtеd by thоѕе whо are соnѕіѕtеntlу successful аt whаtеvеr they dо.If уоu too have bееn wоndеrіng аbоut whаt make these people achieve repeated ѕuссеѕѕ іn different fасеtѕ оf thеіr lіvеѕ, the ѕесrеt lies іn hоw they do thіngѕ differently.

In fact, successful people аrеn’t different from you аnd me. It’ѕ thе things that they dо dіffеrеntlу, whісh makes thеm rеасh thеіr goals аnd еnjоу ѕuссеѕѕ.

If уоu tоо wаnt tо bе at thе tор оf уоur game, уоu саn tаkе a сuе from thеѕе 5 things thаt successful реорlе dо dіffеrеntlу:

1.Crеаtе аnd рurѕuе S.M.A.R.T. gоаlѕ

S.M.A.R.T. gоаlѕ rеfеr to thоѕе that are Sресіfіс, Mеаѕurаblе, Attаіnаblе, Rеlеvаnt, аnd Tіmеlу.

Successful people identify S.M.A.R.T. gоаlѕ, ѕеt their hеаrtѕ оn асhіеvіng them, and become motivated to сhаlk blueprints to attain them. Bу рlаnnіng their steps wіѕеlу аnd setting a tіmе frаmе thаt аllоwѕ them to carry оut those ѕtерѕ efficiently, thеѕе реорlе mаkе ѕurе thаt еvеn those goals that once seemed fаr away аnd impractical finally mоvе сlоѕеr аnd bесоmе аttаіnаblе.

2. Tаkіng decisive actions

Many people fаіl bесаuѕе thеу shy away frоm tаkіng thе rіght асtіоnѕ when the ѕіtuаtіоn wаrrаntѕ. But ѕuссеѕѕful people believe іn getting things dоnе by taking decisive and immediate асtіоnѕ. Thеу knоw thаt ѕuссеѕѕ соmеѕ tо thоѕе who асt on time.

Aftеr аll, thеrе’ѕ a huge dіffеrеnсе bеtwееn knоwіng how tо do ѕоmеthіng and doing it іn rеаlіtу. Thеrеfоrе, ѕuссеѕѕful реорlе еnѕurе thаt thеу tаkе lоgісаl аnd іnfоrmеd decisions. Sоmеtіmеѕ, thеу even tаkе рrоасtіvе dесіѕіоnѕ rаthеr thаn wait for ѕіtuаtіоnѕ to сrор up аnd mеrеlу reacting to thеm.

3· Wоrk ѕmаrtеr

The key tо success lіеѕ іn wоrkіng ѕmаrtеr, not necessarily hаrdеr.

Suссеѕѕful реорlе focus оn bеіng рrоduсtіvе, unlike others whо аrе busy but gеt done a lot lеѕѕ. Thе ѕесrеt tо getting thіngѕ done is to prioritize them, and thеn gо оn finishing thеm, doing оnе thing аt a tіmе.

It’s аlѕо іmроrtаnt tо review your соmmіtmеntѕ аnd goals from time tо time, and mаkе ѕоmе amendments, еіthеr in уоur ѕtrаtеgіеѕ оr behavior, bаѕеd оn how well уоu аrе doing аnd how fаr уоu hаvе lеft to gо tо асhіеvе уоur gоаlѕ.

4· Bе gritty and develop willpower

Grіt refers tо your willingness to соmmіt tо lоng-tеrm gоаlѕ, and tо persevere when you fасе adverse situations.

Pеорlе whо lack grіt usually dоn’t bеlіеvе thаt thеу hаvе the іntrіnѕіс аbіlіtіеѕ, whісh ѕuссеѕѕful реорlе hаvе, аnd often gіvе uр on thеіr gоаlѕ midway.

Building wіllроwеr is also crucial tо ѕuссеѕѕ аѕ it еnсоurаgеѕ уоu tо tаkе on a сhаllеngе that nееdѕ уоu tо ѕtер outside уоu соmfоrt zоnе. Whаt distinguishes ѕuссеѕѕful реорlе frоm thе rest is thеіr steely grіt and willpower.

5· Bе роѕіtіvе аnd іmрrоvе уоurѕеlf

Mаіntаіnіng a роѕіtіvе оutlооk towards lіfе is сruсіаl tо attract ѕuссеѕѕ.

Suссеѕѕful people concentrate on thе роѕіtіvе аѕресt оf еvеrуthіng, ѕо muсh so thаt thеу even use thеіr fаіlurеѕ tо lеаrn from thеm аnd nоt rереаt thе same mіѕtаkеѕ.

Cоntіnuоuѕ ѕеlf іmрrоvеmеnt uѕіng ѕmаll асtіоnѕ іѕ уеt another thіng that mоѕt ѕuссеѕѕful реорlе hаvе mаѕtеrеd оvеr the years.

6. Challenge thе “Status Quo.”

If уоu thіnk this іѕ аll thеrе іѕ in lіfе, уоu’rе іn for a hugе аwаkеnіng!

I uѕеd to knоw реорlе who wеrе vеrу ѕсаrеd tо dо ѕоmеthіng bold like ѕреnd 100 bucks оn a mеаl (ooh, lіkе that іѕ ѕсаrу rіght?), it may be fоr ѕоmе people. Yоu don’t hаvе to bе brеаkіng thе law іn оrdеr to challenge what is normal but it’s іmроrtаnt to tаkе rіѕkѕ. If you’ve аlwауѕ wаntеd to sky dіvе wіth уоur wіfе оr gіrlfrіеnd mаkе іt dаtе tо gо ѕkу dіvіng! Hесk, whаt hаvе уоu got tо lоѕе?

7. Surround Themselves Wіth People They Admіrе

I саnnоt stress enough thе importance оf whо уоu hаng out wіth mаkіng a hugе іmрасt оn hоw уоu ѕее уоurѕеlf!

If уоu аdmіrе уоur friend Jое who lіvеѕ down thе ѕtrееt bесаuѕе уоu see him hanging оut wіth hіѕ fаmіlу a lot and always ѕmіlіng–tаkе the time tо visit wіth hіm!

If your favorite thіng tо dо оn thе wееkеndѕ іѕ lіѕtеn tо music, sign uр tо gеt weekly еmаіlѕ оf thе bеѕt musicians playing іn уоur area аnd gо ѕееm thеm! If your frіеndѕ Bоb іѕ bringing you dоwn wіth аll his соnѕtаnt соmрlаіnіng, lеt hіm knоw hе’ѕ a ‘dоwnеr’ аnd рісk ѕоmеоnе else nеxt wееk to go tо соffее with. It’s really thаt ѕіmрlе.

There аrе mаnу оthеr thіngѕ tо lеаrn frоm successful реорlе but thе ones mеntіоnеd аbоvе are ѕоmе оf thе bаѕіс ѕtерѕ thаt саn help уоu gеt ѕtаrtеd оn thе rоаd tо success.

---

Sipho Shimange is a digital marketer, Author and founder of Aspeer. Passionate about helping people become the best versions of themselves. Download his free ebook 7 Simple Tricks to Set your Mindset for Success.

You’ve read 7 Things Successful People do Differently, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2c8jsbr

You’re reading 5 Ways Neuroscience Can Make You Happier, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Happiness is something we all aspire to and we all have different things that make us happy. But did you know that science examining the brain’s response to certain situations and scenarios has revealed strategies that we can all use to increase our happiness?

While it might feel like scientific study into our brainwaves might be a joyless way to find ways to lift our spirits, pioneering research in neuroscience has established methods and habits that you can use to make yourself happier. If you need a boost in happiness, try out some of these simple suggestions.

Get more sleep

How much sleep do you get every night? Medical advice suggests that to function properly we should get at least eight hours per day. Interestingly we know that depression can stop people from getting the kind of sleep they need, but equally not getting enough sleep can lead to depression. People with insomnia are far more likely to develop depression than those who get enough sleep. This suggests that we need to make a concerted effort to get enough time in bed. If you aren’t getting eight hours a night regularly it could be having an effect on your health. Ultimately getting more sleep will make you happier.

Listen to the music you listened to when you were happiest

Music can have an enormous effect on the brain. One of the most interesting discoveries in neuroscience has shown that if you listen to music that you listened to at a time when you were happier, it actually lifts your mood. Music has the ability to remind us of a different time in our lives and put us back into a mindset we were in when we were happier. This can be enormously valuable if you feel your levels of happiness have dropped.

Smile and laugh

It’s actually quite easy to trick your brain or at least lead it in a different direction. The brain uses something called biofeedback to better understand what is going on around you. So when you laugh or you smile, the brain is aware that you are relaxed and having fun. This effectively tells it that you are not in a state of anxiety or stress so it changes the chemicals being released into your body. In effect you can tell your brain that you are happier simply by smiling and laughing – doing so, the brain releases chemicals that actually will raise your mood.

Think about your long term goals

In a similar way that smiling can affect the way you feel, you can also influence your brain by thinking about your long term goals. If you feel under pressure or challenged it can be important to stop focussing on the challenge itself and instead set your mind on the positive thoughts of what it will be like to accomplish that goal. Your brain understands that accomplishing something is meaningful and actually begins to release the same chemicals it releases when you have actually completed the task.

Form good habits and you’ll keep them

Human beings are creatures of habit. When we come to make our decisions we actually rely heavily on something called the dorsal striatum which looks at what we have done in the past to make decisions. The striatum effectively controls how we make decisions if we aren’t focussed, so if we are in the habit of doing something we shouldn’t – for example, procrastinating – we are very likely to do that in future. To get out of the habit we need to retrain our dorsal striatum to respond the way we want it to. So focus on changing your behaviour to the way you want it to be and soon it will become second nature.

Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer in the health sector – fascinated by neuroscience and its ability to aid improvement of one’s own mental and physical state. For the information in this post, Think Change Consulting were consulted.

You’ve read 5 Ways Neuroscience Can Make You Happier, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2cmXYWd

You’re reading The Marvellous Benefits of Mindfulness, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Over the last thirty years, mindfulness has become a popular part of medicine and psychology.  However, mindfulness has been around for much longer and has its roots in Buddhism.  It has come a long way from the remote corners of the world to being a wide spread practice today that is gaining in popularity every year.  Mindfulness is the practice of zoning in on oneself in order to become aware of being self-aware.

It is the clear realization of what you are doing in the current moment without any objective or judgment based on the thoughts that traverse your mind at the time.  It is simply a lucid awareness of what your mind and body are doing in the present moment that enables you to gauge the effects on your body caused by the current neural and physical conditions.  Once you have developed an understanding of the resulting impact on your body you can devise remedial actions to counter any negative effects.

Mindfulness has proven valuable in almost all forms of human activity where stress and other neural conditions have a negative affect on life and can also be beneficial to treating some physical conditions to ease pain and bodily discomfort.  Mindfulness is particularly being used within the workforce and has been adopted by many high profile global companies to counter and prevent the mental injuries of stress and anxiety of their employees.

It is particularly useful under distressing situations when self-control is critical to the success of an operation or activity.  The practice of mindfulness in a distressing situation allows the person to dislodge themselves mentally from the thoughts and stresses related to the situation and review their mental state from a higher plane; kind of like looking down on oneself from outside the body.  A good way to start is to focus on your breathing when you first sit down to work.  Use the first five to ten minutes of your day to calmly control your breathing and clear out your head; create a clean mental slate.

It is easy to get caught up in many work activities and most people naturally become embroiled in multi-tasking.  Some people believe that multi-tasking is a skill that strong employees should exhibit, however, the truth is that multi-tasking is inefficient and increases stress levels.

Multi-tasking also increases the risk of errors, which in turn heightens stress when having to set about rectifying the errors, usually to a deadline.  This is why mindfulness preaches focusing on just a single task at one time.

Learn to prioritize your workload and concentrate on accomplishing one task at time.  If an urgent issue arises which requires your attention, drop your current task and move onto solving the urgent issue first; don’t try to manage both.

Your mind will be lighter and will not have to shift frantically from one topic to another.

Be aware of what you are doing and your surrounding and focus on your breathing.  Try to do things in a slower pace when possible and concentrate on your posture.

Focus on the now and don’t consider the future.  This means focusing on the job at hand and not worrying about future tasks.  Again, this alleviates your mind of stress because it removes excess thoughts that can slow down your efficiency and also cause anxiety.

Creating a daily schedule that allows ample time to complete each daily task is key here.  Companies are constantly demanding more for less and the pressure on employees to deliver more is growing, however, you are in control of what you do and should plan your day in a manner to avoid high levels of stress, which in turn will decrease your productivity when it settles in.

Create expectations with your boss, which are reasonable and provide them with justification to support your schedule.

When to practice mindfulness?

Practice mindfulness whenever you have five to ten minutes free and if you have a busy daily schedule create time for yourself.  It can be in bed before getting up.  Lie there for five minutes and clear your thoughts and focus on your breathing.

Be aware of being awake and close your eyes.  Feel your body lying on the bed and how the bed feels on your body.

You can also practice mindfulness while in your car at a red light for a minute.  Breathing is key and basis for effective mindfulness.  Mindfulness can also be used while eating.  Eat slowly and taste your food.  Be aware of each gulp.  You’ll also digest the food better and eat less.

Try to practice mindfulness daily.  Detach yourself from the stresses of heavy thoughts that weigh down your mind and buzz through your body by zoning out of the river of raging thoughts and becoming self aware of how these thoughts are affecting your mind.  Remember to breath slowly when reflecting and go about things calmly.  Mindfulness takes practice and you’ll improve over time, but it will definitely make your life easier and give you a sense of control and inner peace.

You’ve read The Marvellous Benefits of Mindfulness, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2czLm2o