You’re reading 5 Key Signs You Are Working On The Wrong Goal And How To Set Right In 2018, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

    “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” – Zig Ziglar.

If you’re like me, sure, at the beginning of the year, you took time out to outline the things you’ll love to achieve; how to make 2018 a more fulfilling year, how to be a better self, how to be on top of your competitors, how to save right – investsmart – make the right financial decisions, and lots more.  

Goal setting is a very important aspect of life and entrepreneurship. But out of the good intentions of our goals, all the efforts we put in and all our strifes, only a tiny fraction of us reach the level of achievement! Why’s that?

Generally, goal setting is just like the new year resolution thing. At the beginning of a new year or at the close of the year, almost everyone becomes optimistic. We start stating “what, and what, and what” we want to do and achieve in the new year – the weight loss goals, the business ideas and plans, the attitude change, the financial decisions, and lots more. Meanwhile, only 8% of people achieve their new year resolution goals. (University Of Scranton)

On a bright note, reading this article means you’ve taken the very first and most important step towards achieving massive success this year. But to ensure that you achieve all, I mean all, your stated goals in 2018 you have to carefully analyze and be sure they’re the right goals.

Below therefore are five (5) key signs to look out for that points to the fact that your were working on the wrong goals all the way:

1. Your goal didn’t take you outta your comfort zone:

Safe goals are not promising – at all! They kind of appear realistic and not challenging, but the truth is they are just a waste of time!

“To the degree we are not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control of us that we have over ourselves.” – Peter McWilliams.

The comfort zone, as defined by Lifehacker, is a “behavioral space  where your activities and behaviors fit a routine and pattern that minimizes stress and risk.” In your comfort zone, you tend to enjoy deduced happiness and a low level or zero stress. Your comfort zone makes you reluctant to try new/difficult things, and you automatically become too less-anxious to be productive.

In the real sense of it, your goal should be a demanding ambition, a grim aspiration, that requires utmost efforts. Meanwhile, comfort kills productivity, because without the feeling of anxiety that comes from having deadlines or a major target, we just go ahead doing the minimum. Always remember that a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. So, if your goals didn’t make you step out of your comfort zone, then that goal is not just right!

2. Your goal doesn’t connect you with the right network:

Goal setting is a progressive act. On the other hand, your goals must support your living and connect you with the right individuals.

Life has a lot to do with connection and the more you get connected to the right persons the quicker your achievements. Irrespective of your kind of goals, chances are you’ll need someone else to accomplish them.

Having the right connections — business wise and life in general, automatically gives you a strong edge against life’s turmoil.

If your goals does not connect you with the right persons that would aid your success then it’s not worth keeping such goals. Discard them asap!

3. Your goal seems like an unpleasant mission to you:

“If your goals does not inspire you at least as much as going on vacation, then they are lousy goals.” – Steve Pavlina.

We set goals to motivate us to achieve success. We set goals to serve as our drive.

Once your goal begins to feel like an unpleasant mission to you, then you’ve lost the drive. Once you lose the drive, you lose the achievement. So, if your goals seems like an unpleasant task to you, hey! You’re on the wrong.

4. Your goal is based on others perspective:

Instead of setting your goals based on your sincere passion, if your goal is set following people’s perspective, then you, sure, set the wrong goals!

The weight loss goals, the financial goals, the career goals, if you set them because of your friends/mates, sorry to disappoint you but you were working on the wrong goal all this time.

5. Your goal doesn’t serve a “strike plan”

Goal setting is not just about saying what you want to do or what you don’t want to do. It must include an effective strike plan for achievement. A goal without a strike plan is like a team of players full of defenders, without a striker to aim at the opponent’s post – they’ll certainly go home nil.

“Give a man a bow and arrow and tell him to “shoot” his first response would be, “at what?” When you don’t have a strike plan, your goal is baseless. And a baseless goal is a non-achievable goal!

Below therefore are four (4) ways to set right goals – in the right way in 2018.

1. Make a broad list:

Make a broad list of everything you’ll want to do or work towards. Whatever it is – as long as you’re interested in it, put it in your list.

The process of writing a list of your goals makes it easy to filter what you don’t want. As you write, you tend to realize things that are non-realistic as well as goals that merge.

Just saying your goals makes it vague, meanwhile, vague objectives are basically not achievable! State your goals and make sure you’re able to express them in writing.

2. Set goals that “turns you on”

When setting your goals for 2018, it is important to set goals that turns you on – goals that stimulates you – goals that at the thought of them you’ll swing into action. This directly means setting salient goals.

Irrespective of your kind of goals, achievement/success requires ultimate commitment. Meanwhile, it’s hard to commit yourself to something that’s not important to you.

Most successful persons like J.K Rowling, Oprah Winfrey, Nicholas Dutko of Auto Transport Quote Services, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, amongst others, often cite that Setting stimulating goals helps crush doubt. It also reduces the level of uncertainty and boost self-confidence –  it keeps you up and going, and makes you achieve success in due time.

Therefore make sure your goals are most convincing and motivating in 2018.

3. Make your goals SMART:

In case you are not familiar with the SMART goals acronym, it is an abbreviation that basically describes that goals are specific, measurable, agreed upon/attainable, realistic, and timely. Study shows that only 3 percent of adults have smart goals, and they tend to achieve ten times as much as people without/with vague goals.

While setting your goals for year 2018, get it designed to be SMART. Smart goals doesn’t only help in achieving your widest goals, it also helps in breaking some productivity-killer habits, like procrastination – since it’s(T) time bound.

4. Plan your first step – “the strike plan”

“The journey of a thousand miles indeed begins with one step.”

Generally, when setting goals we tend to focus more on the outcome, forgetting that goals without a strike plan is a failure from the onset. It is therefore important to ponder on how you’ll like to have your goals achieved and create a strike plan.

Goal setting is way more than simply stating you want to achieve something or you want something to happen. If you want to begin to achieve your goals without forestalls, you should include an actionable strike plan while setting those goals.

By Line:

Life is short, and is becoming shorter at the tick of the clock – it doesn’t wait for anyone. There will never be a perfect time to pursue your dreams and goals. Set right – plan competently – believe fervently – act vigorously. You’ll get there.

Thanks for reading……………..

You’ve read 5 Key Signs You Are Working On The Wrong Goal And How To Set Right In 2018, 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 10 Motivational Tips That Will Actually Make Your Life Better, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Has life been quite dull lately? Do you find yourself stuck in a rut that’s not letting to get anywhere in life? Here are ten motivations that we hope get you through this tough time.

1. Be your own inspiration. There is nobody on this earth who knows you better than you do. However transparent you are with the rest of the world, you are entirely true to only yourself at the end of the day about what exactly you want and how exactly to achieve this. Once you know exactly what you want, work towards achieving it for yourself and no one else.
2. Do not allow yourself to be taken for granted at any point of time. You owe yourself the very best at all times and this does not include being taken for granted by others. When others don’t value your presence enough this reflects directly on your self esteem and acts as a demotivating aspect. Hence if you feel like you’re not given due credit, do something about it.
3. Build up self confidence by doing things you normally wouldn’t. Try out things you always believed you’re not good at. Be it a new skill or something tried and tested. Unless it really requires innate talent, get good at it no matter how hard you need to work on it. Be around people who appreciate your positive developments and avoid the company of those who don’t. Meanwhile appreciate yourself. Your appreciation matters most to you.
4. Don’t be a people pleaser. Yes it is perfectly natural to want to make others happy by doing something we do even if it brings you a bit of discomfort. But unless the person means something to you and deserve the hours you spend toiling for them, don’t subject yourself to unrewarding work. It puts you down and brings down even your baseline morale. Exclusively seek the company of those who ask you to believe in yourself and encourage you to do things for yourself. It is always okay to be selfish when compared to being a push over.
5. Learn how to manage your time super efficiently. Once you break patterns of continuous dullness and a depressive rut, you will find yourself enter a new zone- one with possibilities of new achievements. During this time, set yourself a time table that can trick your mind into thinking it is a flexible one. Position leisure and work in ways that they don’t clash one another but the prospect of leisure does motivate better work to be done. When managed effectively, productivity will increase and you’ll enter a motivational cycle of work and fun where both are equally important. You can find more about productivity and motivation at https://essaypro.com/
   
6. Be forgiving of yourself. Whoever you have wronged and whatever mistakes you have done, no one else’s forgiveness matters in real but yours. There is no bigger motivation than a second chance to set things right and don’t be afraid to give yourself this chance. Once you forgive and accept yourself work hard towards making amends. While it is always going to be true that nothing can be done perfectly and the impact of your mistake can’t be altered; you can always make things better than they are in the period following the mistake. What’s done is done.
7. The past holds you back. There is no point in living through your memories and good moments from the past- spend focus on making fresh memories and on living rather than reliving moments. Happiness and positive emotions always keep you motivated so work towards renewing these by living in the present that you work upon maintaining light and happy. Spend more time with people and things that make you happy. Realize that life is short and happiness shouldn’t be a concept that is futuristic. Reach out to it and motivate others to do so as well.
8. Find something that you find is actually worth living for. When everything else seems off in life, this something is the reason you get out of bed in the morning. It could be your best friend, a person you are securely falling in love with, your pet or family or even your job if you do what you love to do. Hold on to this- whichever it is that is giving you more than it’s drawing from you and give your best to it. Motivate yourself to be the best at whatever you do.
9. Gain worldwide knowledge and experience. Don’t spend time reading inspirational stories but rather research on ways of how you can inspire and motivate yourself without having to live someone else’s life.
10. Lastly, positive stress is the ultimate key. Set yourself some limitations and goals- target yourself at achieving these. Prioritise self goals and give yourself time to reach these. You’ll never need further motivation than the one of prospective self achievement.

You’ve read 10 Motivational Tips That Will Actually Make Your Life Better, 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 Trapped In a Bubble Trying to Fit In? This Might Help., originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

It’s so easy for us to focus on what’s missing. On where we want to be. Where we should be at this point in our life. We are stripped from being grateful for what we have because we have been born into a society of more and too much is not enough. The simplicity of life suddenly becomes complex. The journey of life becomes a puzzle in which we have to scramble to find the right pieces to put together before time runs out.

BUT WHO ARE WE REALLY?

We stare, compare, obsess, and become addicted to the idea of who we are by counting the things we have, the titles we hold, and the people we associate with. Never understanding that at any moment that bubble will burst. The heavier and more saturated the bubble gets, the bigger the risk. This bubble is growing outward and everything we identify with is outside of us. Not fully aware that the glue holding it all together doesn’t hold forever. That glue is the control we think you have over these things. We buy the things, work for the titles, and adjust some of our beliefs to fit into these bubbles. This is the control we think we have.

SORRY TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE.

The moment we let go of working so hard to stay in that bubble, is the moment the bubble bursts. When the bubble bursts we might be left with nothing but our thoughts. No things,  no s0-called friends, and no title. Are we still okay? Has that stripped us of our happiness? Has it weakened our confidence? Were we stripped of your pride? These are real questions that deserve real answers if we plan to make it out alive and well. Some people enjoy being in this dream-like state and when it bursts, they blame everything but themselves while looking for another bubble to get into.

OUR GRAND ESCAPE.

Escaping reality is the easy route because it continues to feed the ego’s need for attention, praise and validation. However, imho, a life worth living is that of self acceptance, love and fulfillment. Feeling at peace even if the world chooses to live in the chaos.

Inherently, we all have our best interest in mind first, even if it’s a selfless act. We contribute and help other because we want to feel good afterwards. If there was no good feeling, we probably wouldn’t do it. I’m not saying this is wrong but I’m making a point that people do things for themselves first, so that should be your focus. Focus on you. There is no need to change yourself just so you can be accepted by others to fit into a bubble. Change yourself so you can be accepted by you. Stay true to yourself and your nature. Meditate, listen to your inner voice, and follow your intuition. Become inspired to do your life’s work because it feels right and not because you want to fit in.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO BE YOURSELF.

Today is a wonderful day that has never existed before until this very moment. With every second we are creating a new moment in our life. It is never too late to be yourself and find your happy place. The road can be a lonely one because no one can do the work for you, but in the end you will feel full and complete. Others on the same path or that have the same values will naturally gravitate towards you. You will build stronger bonds and relationships because they are coming from an authentic source. If you have ever felt lost, empty, or purposeless in your life, this is a journey worth taking.

Our mind is an extremely powerful tool and if misused it will do more harm than good. So before you lose your mind, choose to allow and accept things as they are and lose the need to always have to be in control. That is the curse of the bubble, thinking we have control but in reality it’s the bubble that controls us. Own your life. Be the captain of your own ship. Choose to be at peace for as much of your day as possible, every day. Your best life is waiting for you.

 

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Raised in New York where I spent most of my life. At the age of 33 I dropped everything, got in my car and drove to Austin, Texas where I now live. I have a passion for design, photography and basically anything that inspires me to unleash my creativity. I am an entrepreneur with a design & marketing business, Little House Big Idea (lhbidea.com). My life philosophy revolves around being a good human, staying true to myself, being grateful and satisfied with what is, yet still being eager for more.

You’ve read Trapped In a Bubble Trying to Fit In? This Might Help., 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 Major New Year’s Eve Decisions for Your Best Year Yet, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Each year’s end marks a new beginning in our lives. The celebration and global feeling of leaving the past behind help us find that right moment to start anew. Start a journal and begin with an entry listing the resolutions you have made for the following year. Something along the lines of, “This year ahead of me is the right time to start:

A healthy diet

This must be the number one on everyone’s list. The only exceptions are those who have done this in the previous years and managed to stick to it. A healthy diet is, I grant you, a very important thing but not for the reasons most decide to have one. The key part of a healthy diet is health. Eating well will help you stay healthy and feel energized. The pace of our lives does not allow us to slack, so we need to invest our best in having the energy to seize the day and do things we care about.

Exercising regularly

Physical activity is yet another important ingredient of a healthy lifestyle. They say that losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercising. This is why people find it easier not to eat than find a physical activity they enjoy. Yet again, it is not all about extra pounds, sure it feels and looks good when they are off, but more importantly, it is about being and feeling healthy. A regular exercise routine can help us stay in shape, be energized and stress-relieved. We tend to start these resolutions overly ambitiously, but you do not have to get a gym membership and try to squeeze it into your schedule, and eventually give up because you can’t. You can go jogging, walking, dancing… it will all help you stay physically active.

Finding time for things you enjoy

This is the magical time you dedicate to yourself. You can spend it whichever way you want, alone or in the company of others, as long as you are relaxed, you enjoy, it and have some selfish personal gain from it. It can be anything from a hot bath to spending time with your children or helping the local community. Determine how often you can do this and drop everything else. Again, it does not have to be every day, but two or three times a week will help you feel a change.

Making my own decisions

As easy as it may sound to some, having the upper hand in decision-making is one of the hardest tasks for a lot of people. This process reflects your personality like none other. This is where you confront your fear of consequences, your lack of confidence or knowledge and wish to please others. Start by making personal decisions without asking for advice. I am not saying that taking someone’s advice is bad, but you need to learn to do it on your own. These first decisions should only affect you. Once you are over that and you see that nothing horrible will happen, and even if it does, it can be fixed, you are ready for making big decisions.

Being organized

Organizational skills can help you stay on top of everything in your life. They are the ones which ensure you stay in charge of everything. Once you get organized, you will find it tremendously easy to keep up with your schedule and find time for everything. Start by organizing your days with to-do lists and keep track of the time you need to complete certain tasks. Declutter your home all at once with the help of super easy storage units or other storage solution close to you to get everything out of your way.

You can make it your next task, once you start mastering the skill, to clear out the storage as well.

Learning a new skill

The fact that you have gone through school or, at least, chosen your educational path does not mean that you now only need to focus on that one thing. Constant advancement is what you truly need to focus on. Set a goal, learn a new language, or learn how to cook like your mom if she is any good. You can even make it your job to learn a new thing every day, it does not have to be an actual skill. You can become a walking, talking encyclopedia and with time it will help you understand better how things function around you.

Looking for a new job

The current economy teaches us that we need to cling to what we have and be happy with it. Not just the economy, but the natural instinct. Somehow, people, in general, tend to fight for things in life only when they struggle and when their basic instincts kick in. If you are not satisfied with your job, I am not saying you should quit straight away but start looking for something more enjoyable and one day you will come across that something. Look into current marketing demands, combine them with the new skill you are learning and make something of it.

If someone tells you that New Year’s resolutions are silly, do not believe them. We need a goal in life to help us keep going forward, just like a carrot on a stick. This is the right time of the year to set those goals.

You’ve read 7 Major New Year’s Eve Decisions for Your Best Year Yet, 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 The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

I’ve always looked up to my dad. He’s a passionate entrepreneur, a great dad and one of those people, who, more often than not, knows the right thing to say.  Over the years he has ‘gifted’ me with words of wisdom on everything from business to relationships, parenting to decision-making.  There’s one piece of advice, however, that I probably rely on the most.

Do your best every day.  

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called my father worried about something that happened, concerned about an outcome or second-guessing myself.  And my dad predictably responds with a question. “Did you do your best?”  Yes.  “That’s all you can do”, he says “You can’t control what happens from here”.

That’s it? Simple, right?  But if you really stop to think about it, this supposedly simple piece of advice has the power to help you be happier, more fulfilled and yes, even more successful.  How?

1. When you do your best every day, you feel better about yourself.

You can rest at ease knowing you did everything you could.  That you have no regrets and nothing about which to feel bad or guilty.  If you do your best and then someone criticizes you, or doesn’t like what you did, tells you you’re working too slow…or fast, or gives you a hard time, it’s easier to brush off when you know in your heart you did the best you can.  There is a lot of peace to be found in that.

Likewise, if you do the best you can and you’re not happy with the result or it doesn’t work out the way you expected, you can be at peace, knowing you did your best and there’s nothing else you could have done, especially now that it’s over.

I ask my clients (and myself) this question all the time.  Whether they’re ruminating over something they’ve said, thinking about what they could have done better, or just disappointed about an outcome they had hoped to achieve.  Did you do your best?  If the answer is Yes, then it’s time to move forward onto something more productive.

Now, let’s be clear.   This doesn’t mean you don’t try to do better, to learn, strive, improve and change.   These things are still important for our growth and evolution.  But if we can think about those things in the context of next time, you’ll probably see more results than if you ‘beat yourself up’.  If you’ve done your best, there’s nothing more to do.  You can’t change the past, you can only let the past influence your future.  You can let the ‘should haves’, ‘would haves’ and ‘could haves’ fall away and save them for what you can do next time.

2. When you do your best every day, you achieve more. 

This makes sense, right?  Do your best, good stuff happens.  Don’t do your best, less happens.  And others know when you’re doing your best or not.

My dad shares a story of his father, my grandfather.  One summer during the depression, he and three of his college buddies worked for JC Penny.   Towards the end of the summer, the store ran out of job-related work for them.  So, they asked the boys to wash windows.  My grandfather washed the windows, every day, doing the best he could and working hard.  The other three boys complained that wasn’t what they were hired to do, were frustrated by the request and decided they would wash the windows slower, so that the work would last the rest of the summer.  They phoned it in.  But my grandfather just kept on washing, figuring, if he ran out of windows, they would find another job for him, or let him go early.   This wasn’t just about hard work, it was about doing his best work regardless of the circumstances.

The following summer, they all went back to apply for jobs again.   Guess what happened?  Yep, the three guys who slowed down didn’t get rehired.  But my grandfather did.  His work ethic had left a lasting impression on his boss.

Why wouldn’t you do your best?  Doing your best doesn’t cost you anything more.  In fact, it probably requires less time and energy than figuring out a way around or through or over something.  Let’s face it, when you’re not doing your best, it’s draining.  You have to think about it.  It takes more effort.  And, whether or not you realize it, at some level, you feel bad and guilty, because you know it’s not working.  You may think you’re fooling others, but you can never fool yourself!

It doesn’t matter how much someone pays you or how important the job or the person is.  You can do your best everyday regardless of the circumstances.  Now, I’m not advocating doing a job you hate or doing it for less compensation than is appropriate.  In those cases, the best option is usually to look for something else.  But staying there and not doing your best, shouldn’t be an option.  Because if you’re going to be there, wherever there is, you might as well be there completely.  Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time and energy.   And someone else’s money and resources.

Doing your best every day, regardless of who’s watching, whether it’s your ‘role’ or not or whether you’re head over heels in love with what you’re doing will make you more productive, successful and healthy.

3. When you do your best every day, you see the world differently:

What if when you’re doing your best every day, you start to believe that others are giving their all too? This is a form of cognitive bias, where we see things that confirm our own existing beliefs.

I like to believe we are all doing our best every day.  The best we can with what we have – at that moment, in that situation, with that time frame, our level of skills and knowledge, you name it.

Sometimes we have the skills or emotional intelligence or strategies to handle something better, sometimes we don’t.  But everyday, we are ALL doing the best we can with what we have.    Now, our best might be better tomorrow.  And some days, our best isn’t as good as it was the day before.  That’s ok.  It’s important to remind yourself, you are doing the best you can with what you have, right now.  Let’s be honest, none of us wake up wanting to mess it up, screw it up or make a fool out of ourselves!

When you look at the world through this lens, you realize, that in most cases, everyone else IS also probably doing the best they can with what they have.  So, when that colleague doesn’t email you back, instead of assuming he’s an incompetent jerk, you might think twice that he’s busy or he’s gathering more information, so he can respond to you.  Or when a friend is a bit curt when you run into her at a coffee shop, you might think she’s having a rough day, not that she’s making a personal attack on you.  When your spouse forgets something…again…you can ask yourself, “Are they doing the best they can, today, with what they have?” If they are, then maybe you can respond with a bit more kindness and a little more compassion.

So, how do you know you’ve done your best?

It’s important how you judge your best.  Sometimes it’s keeping score.  I ran 10 minutes today, I can run 12 tomorrow.  Sometimes it’s a ‘gut check’.  Did I do the best I knew how to do? Really?

Now, you may be wondering, will accepting I’ve done my best make me lazy, less ambitious, less driven?    Actually, I feel it’s just the opposite.  Acknowledging when you’ve done your best (and when you haven’t) gives you the freedom to focus on what to improve or change for  next time, and stops you from wasting precious time, energy and resources ruminating on something that is already in the past and you can’t control or change.

We’re all learning, growing and evolving.  Every day.  That’s life.  And, my experience with clients and friends is that we are also pretty hard on ourselves.  So, whether you find yourself ruminating about a mistake, beating yourself up for something you said, wishing you could change something that’s already happened or worrying about what might.

Ask yourself this question.  Did I do the best that I could? If the answer is a resounding “Yes”.  Give yourself permission to let go, move on and use your time, energy and emotion to move forward towards your next, knowing you did the best that you could.   After all, as my Dad says, “That’s all you can do, you can’t control what happens from here”.

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As a results-driven, certified coach and consultant, Tracy partners with individuals to help them achieve greater levels of happiness, fulfillment and success – personally and professionally.   http://ift.tt/2BT3rRS

You’ve read The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me, 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 How to be Motivated (almost) all the time using 1 Simple Habit, 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 experienced this before:

You wake up in the morning and you’re just not feeling it.

It’s not that you are particularly tired, or had a drink too many last night.

The day ahead just doesn’t seem very exciting.

Lying in bed you start reflecting:

You do everything you should be doing. Your job is interesting, your relationships are intact and fulfilling, you are in great health.

Logically you should wake up ready to move mountains.

Yet here you are, lying in bed dreading to get up and brush your teeth.

It’s a bit depressing isn’t it?

By now you might be thinking, “No one is motivated all the time. Sometimes you just need to be disciplined.”

Sure I agree with you. You can’t be motivated every second of your life.

But you definitely can experience motivation more consistently than the average person by using a better than average approach.

And I will show you in this article how to do just that using 1 simple habit.

If you do apply it motivation stops being such a hassle and becomes a reliable asset that is there for you when you need it.

How you are unconsciously killing your motivation

If you are rarely motivated its because you are great at consistently killing your motivation.

I don’t mean to blame you. And I know “killing” might be a bit of a strong word.

But most likely you are practicing a habit everyday for years that prevents you from being motivated.

It’s the habit of thinking in terms of HOW

Let me explain.

It starts in school. We’re assigned homework and the first thing we ask ourselves is “How am I going to complete the homework?”

Then at University, exams are approaching and we immediately think: “How am I going to revise for the exams?”

Later we get a job, get a project assigned and again the HOW of getting it done is our main focus.

What is the task and how am I going to get it done – that’s our mode of operating in everyday life. Its what I call the habit of thinking in terms of HOW.

The result of this “How am I going to get this done” approach to life is that we become very efficient task completers. Great students. Fast workers. You name it.

Yet we become so occupied with the HOW, that we never take a step back and ask WHY we are doing something. As a result our motivation suffers.

How to be motivated consistently using 1 habit

We have to know WHY we are doing something to be motivated. Why do the homework, why study for the exam, why go to work?

Why?

Because a strong why clarifies in your mind why a task is important within the big picture of your life.

To become motivated consistently then, you have to consistently reconnect to why you are doing something.

Instead of approaching your everyday tasks with HOW you are going to get it done, implement the following habit:

Think WHY first, HOW second.

If you wake up feeling unmotivated, don’t look at your schedule and start thinking “How am I going to get it done?” That’s step number 2.

Step number 1 is to think “Why am I going to do it?” and come up with a list of reasons in your head.

The key here is to really hone in as to why this item is important to YOU. Not in general and not to someone else, but to YOU.

I don’t have to tell you that your time on earth is very limited. And the task is there on your schedule because YOU made the decision conscious or unconscious to put it there.

So why is each item on your daily schedule, why does it deserve to suck up some of your precious lifetime?

The habit of think WHY first, HOW second will force you to confront those questions regularly.

And by doing so you’ll get back in touch with what motivates you.

Results you can expect form this 1 habit

If you practice thinking WHY first and HOW second, you can expect two great outcomes:

• Outcome #1: You will become fast at reconnecting to why you are doing something, and as a result, your motivation will skyrocket on a consistent basis.
• Outcome #2: You will become acutely aware of what activities don’t serve a purpose in your life, and filter them out regularly.

Both outcomes are worth the tiny amount of time it takes to execute the habit.

Of course it takes a bit of effort to think of reasons to do something when you don’t feel like doing it.

But after some practice it will become a part of your life and in a few months you’ll look back and be surprised by how much more motivated you are on a day-to-day basis.

And when the occasional laziness sneaks up on you (we’re human after all) you won’t feel helpless anymore.

Instead you’ll feel confident in your ability to reconnect to what motivates you.

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Felix helps his readers to learn and progress faster by making self-development simple and applicable. Visit his blog www.felixdigests.com for practical self-development advice.

You’ve read How to be Motivated (almost) all the time using 1 Simple Habit, 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 The Real Reason You Don’t Achieve Your Goals (and One Easy Thing You Can Do About it), 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 feel like it’s so hard to get things done?

Like you’re stuck in a hamster wheel running and running, but you never get anywhere?

The work keeps coming and you think to yourself, “I can’t wait until the one day I catch up with everything so I can finally get started on what I’ve really been dying to work on,” but the day seems to never come and you have no idea when it ever will. You just hope one day, it does.

You probably have caught on by now how hard it is to achieve your goals let alone make the time to try and complete them. It doesn’t take long from going to the gym for the first few days to missing that first day of your workout to eating the tub of ice cream to comfort yourself from the feeling of failure yet again.

You’re not alone, and fortunately, there is something surprisingly simple you can do to finally achieve your biggest goals and accomplish things you never would’ve imagined being able to do.

When It Comes to Achieving Your Goals, Inspiration is Never Enough

When you hear the underdog stories of people achieving some of the biggest successes who came from nothing, you can’t help but be inspired and experience a little boost of motivation to something about your own life as well.

The problem is inspiration isn’t enough. How many times have you been inspired to make a change in your life whether it’s to lose more weight, quit smoking, or spend less money only to find yourself in the same old bad habits again?

Inspiration these days are easy to find. You can watch a Ted talk at the click of a button, or stream some Netflix to watch an amazing movie. The real problem here isn’t about finding more inspiration or motivation, it’s about the routines you have in your daily life.

You’re Routines You Can’t Get Yourself Out of Are the Key Problem

Maybe you’ve wanted to write your book, but taking care of two kids and providing for your family daily makes it tough for you to find the energy to squeeze in time to write. Maybe you’ve been hoping to eat healthier, but you get so busy at work it’s hard to find the time to get a proper meal. Maybe you want to quit smoking, but the stress at work always makes you crave that cigarette so bad so you run outside to light it up.

The reality of why it’s so hard to break out of old routines is simply the fact that it is a routine. We are creatures of habit. Charles Duhigg explains in his book “The Power of Habit” how the basic structure of our habits consists of a cue (trigger), the routine, and the reward.

http://ift.tt/HOnajH

For example, when you wake up first thing in the morning, you have your phone next to you and your curiosity triggers you to check your email. You want to know if you received any interesting emails so the routine is to browse your inbox, and once you do so, your curiosity is rewarded and a surge of dopamine takes place to makes you feel good.

Duhigg teaches the key to turning bad habits into good ones is when a cue triggers you to start a certain routine, you need to figure out how to change the routine into another one that still produces the same reward.

If you were a smoker and your ten-o-clock break time comes, this cues you to go out to the street and light up a cigarette in order to obtain the reward of relieving your stress by getting that rush of nicotine in your body. The idea is maybe rather than doing the same routine of lighting up a cigarette, maybe you can go for a nice walk or meditate to achieve the same reward and relieve your stress.

I’ve attempted to change my routines, but it was so much easier said than done. Especially when the cues come up so often, it’s so much easier to just stick with what you know or what you have been doing already. It wasn’t until I realized there was one simple thing I could to change up my routines, which was to change the environment that promoted my old routines.

The Key to Changing Up Your Routines: Start making Changes in Your Environment

Science has shown when you change your environment such as when you go on a vacation to a beautiful tropical country abroad, it rewires your brain, which can promote both mental and physical health.

The same applies when you want to replace a bad habit with a good one. If you were to change up your environment even in the smallest ways, it can interrupt your brain from going into the same old habit and develop new neurons in your brain to increase your capability of changing.

The key is to change up your environment in a way to make it as easy as possible for you to partake in the new routine you are trying to set for yourself.

Let’s say you’ve been hoping to read more, but you find yourself too busy to do it. You examine your daily routines and you realized you spend about an hour on your phone every night distracted by random information on your social media feed before you go to bed. A few small changes to make to your environment can be to put your phone in the living room at night and place the book you want to read on the nightstand next to the bed so you have direct access to it when you hop in.

By modifying your environment in this way, the chances of you developing a new routine is much higher than if you were to have your phone in your room next to your bed and your book out of reach on the bookshelf in the living room.

So when you’re feeling down about not achieving all the things you were going for, maybe the simple subtle changes you can make to your environment will lead to the big results you are hoping for.

Let’s test this out! I’d love to hear about any results from the simple changes you make to your environment in the comments below.

You’ve read The Real Reason You Don’t Achieve Your Goals (and One Easy Thing You Can Do About it), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

>

You’re reading The Real Reason You Don’t Achieve Your Goals (and One Easy Thing You Can Do About it), 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 feel like it’s so hard to get things done?

Like you’re stuck in a hamster wheel running and running, but you never get anywhere?

The work keeps coming and you think to yourself, “I can’t wait until the one day I catch up with everything so I can finally get started on what I’ve really been dying to work on,” but the day seems to never come and you have no idea when it ever will. You just hope one day, it does.

You probably have caught on by now how hard it is to achieve your goals let alone make the time to try and complete them. It doesn’t take long from going to the gym for the first few days to missing that first day of your workout to eating the tub of ice cream to comfort yourself from the feeling of failure yet again.

You’re not alone, and fortunately, there is something surprisingly simple you can do to finally achieve your biggest goals and accomplish things you never would’ve imagined being able to do.

When It Comes to Achieving Your Goals, Inspiration is Never Enough

When you hear the underdog stories of people achieving some of the biggest successes who came from nothing, you can’t help but be inspired and experience a little boost of motivation to something about your own life as well.

The problem is inspiration isn’t enough. How many times have you been inspired to make a change in your life whether it’s to lose more weight, quit smoking, or spend less money only to find yourself in the same old bad habits again?

Inspiration these days are easy to find. You can watch a Ted talk at the click of a button, or stream some Netflix to watch an amazing movie. The real problem here isn’t about finding more inspiration or motivation, it’s about the routines you have in your daily life.

You’re Routines You Can’t Get Yourself Out of Are the Key Problem

Maybe you’ve wanted to write your book, but taking care of two kids and providing for your family daily makes it tough for you to find the energy to squeeze in time to write. Maybe you’ve been hoping to eat healthier, but you get so busy at work it’s hard to find the time to get a proper meal. Maybe you want to quit smoking, but the stress at work always makes you crave that cigarette so bad so you run outside to light it up.

The reality of why it’s so hard to break out of old routines is simply the fact that it is a routine. We are creatures of habit. Charles Duhigg explains in his book “The Power of Habit” how the basic structure of our habits consists of a cue (trigger), the routine, and the reward.

http://ift.tt/HOnajH

For example, when you wake up first thing in the morning, you have your phone next to you and your curiosity triggers you to check your email. You want to know if you received any interesting emails so the routine is to browse your inbox, and once you do so, your curiosity is rewarded and a surge of dopamine takes place to makes you feel good.

Duhigg teaches the key to turning bad habits into good ones is when a cue triggers you to start a certain routine, you need to figure out how to change the routine into another one that still produces the same reward.

If you were a smoker and your ten-o-clock break time comes, this cues you to go out to the street and light up a cigarette in order to obtain the reward of relieving your stress by getting that rush of nicotine in your body. The idea is maybe rather than doing the same routine of lighting up a cigarette, maybe you can go for a nice walk or meditate to achieve the same reward and relieve your stress.

I’ve attempted to change my routines, but it was so much easier said than done. Especially when the cues come up so often, it’s so much easier to just stick with what you know or what you have been doing already. It wasn’t until I realized there was one simple thing I could to change up my routines, which was to change the environment that promoted my old routines.

The Key to Changing Up Your Routines: Start making Changes in Your Environment

Science has shown when you change your environment such as when you go on a vacation to a beautiful tropical country abroad, it rewires your brain, which can promote both mental and physical health.

The same applies when you want to replace a bad habit with a good one. If you were to change up your environment even in the smallest ways, it can interrupt your brain from going into the same old habit and develop new neurons in your brain to increase your capability of changing.

The key is to change up your environment in a way to make it as easy as possible for you to partake in the new routine you are trying to set for yourself.

Let’s say you’ve been hoping to read more, but you find yourself too busy to do it. You examine your daily routines and you realized you spend about an hour on your phone every night distracted by random information on your social media feed before you go to bed. A few small changes to make to your environment can be to put your phone in the living room at night and place the book you want to read on the nightstand next to the bed so you have direct access to it when you hop in.

By modifying your environment in this way, the chances of you developing a new routine is much higher than if you were to have your phone in your room next to your bed and your book out of reach on the bookshelf in the living room.

So when you’re feeling down about not achieving all the things you were going for, maybe the simple subtle changes you can make to your environment will lead to the big results you are hoping for.

Let’s test this out! I’d love to hear about any results from the simple changes you make to your environment in the comments below.

You’ve read The Real Reason You Don’t Achieve Your Goals (and One Easy Thing You Can Do About it), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

>

You’re reading 6 Relationship Killers Every Couple Should Avoid, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

According to studies, most couples have their first divorce by the age of 30. These same studies suggest that most marriages don`t last more than eight years and that one of every two marriages in America ends in divorce.

These studies and surveys simply mean that our relationship management sucks. As a generation, we can no longer understand or tolerate each other. We live in our own heads and nobody taught us how to nurture close relationships or manage conflicts without ruining them.

For that, I`ve compiled you a list of the six deadliest relationship mistakes, according to John Gottman, relationship expert, and bestselling author of The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships.

Mistake #1: Being caught up in your own bubble

This means you no longer pay attention to the emotional needs of the other person because you`re so caught up in your own life, that you no longer prioritize the relationship or stop to think about your partner`s needs.

According to Gottman, you have to stop every now and then and ask, ‘What are my most important relationships, and what do I want from each of them?’ Am I in it for the love and intimacy or am I in it to acquire something or prove that I`m always right?’ If you make it a habit to stop and ask such questions, then you`ll always have time to save a relationship before it stalls.

Mistake #2: Fighting the wrong way

All couples, friends, or partners get mad at each other and sometimes fight. The difference, however, between good and broken relationships is the way the two sides handle such fights.

This, according to experts, is a matter of choosing your words. Pick the right ones, and things will likely end on good terms. Pick the wrong words, however, and the barrier between you and the other person will grow inches taller. According to Gottman, there are three steps to make sure your conflicts are as clean as they should be:

• Begin with something positive

Instead of saying, “we never do something fun together” or “You`re never there for me”, you can say “I really miss you being around.” The first is an accusation that will put them on the defensive, whereas the second speaks your feelings, and creates empathy.  If you want to deliver a message without wrecking things down then try to start the conversation with “I” instead of “You.”

• Express appreciation

Instead of saying, “Why we don`t hang together so often?” You can say, “Thanks for asking me to join you. What should we do to make it a ritual?

• Don`t stockpile complaints

 Address only one subject at a time. If your child hands you a report card, instead of saying “you never help with chores, you`re always sleeping, and your grades suck.” You can only mention his bad grades saying “I`m really worried about your report card. You`ve dropped a grade in every subject.”

Mistake #3: Using Criticism Instead of Complaints

The difference between criticism and a complaint is that the latter focuses on a specific problem or behavior, whereas the former —criticism— is more broad and judgmental and focuses on others` character flaws. So instead of attacking a behavior, you`re attacking the person which will make them resent you.

“Complain when you must, but don’t criticize.”  Writes Gottman. “You said you`d send me those emails yesterday,” is a complaint. But “Why those emails weren`t sent yesterday? You`re irresponsible,” is a criticism. When addressing a complaint, Gottman suggests you follow these two steps:

• Say what you need without attacking the person in front of you.

Don`t say, “What`s the matter with you, you`re never helping me with the kids and all you think about is going out with your friends.” But say, “I need your help with the kids on the weekends, but for the past week you`ve been busy with your friends.”

• Describe how you feel and don`t talk absolutes.

Don`t say, “Boyfriends who don`t reply back to messages are playing hardball.” But say, “When you don`t respond to my messages, I feel like you don`t care about my feelings.”

Mistake #4: Flooding

Flooding happens when the other person pushes your red buttons and you get so fed up that you say, or do, things you weren`t supposed to say or do. This usually happens when you feel stressed and emotionally overwhelmed that you can no longer think clearly.

To overcome flooding, you must learn to relax and control your feelings. This is why Gottman recommends that you take a break from the conversation and do something chilling for at least twenty minutes which is the amount of time it typically takes the body to recover from emotional stress. You can take a few deep breaths, do some yoga, watch TV, or hit the gym. Whatever that gets your mind off the conflict for twenty minutes will work just fine.

Mistake #5: Always Looking for the negative

It`s bad to be in a relationship with someone who can no longer see the good in you. These people constantly scan the world for evidence to justify an assumption that you`re always at fault.

According to Gottman, friends and couples should look for proofs that make them appreciate, not criticize, each other. Such climate of praise and gratitude will make them become even more attracted to each other. You can do this by following some of these suggestions:

• Record when you feel like criticizing or snapping at your partner/friend
• Describe your feelings and why you`re mad at them
• Find a way to counter that criticism with appreciation
• Write one thing that you appreciate about this person each day for 30 days

Mistake #6: Avoiding the Conversation You Need to Have

Psychologist Dan Wile believes that many of the tension, hostility, and quarrels between couples are caused by the issues they need to discuss but never do.

By burying their heads in the sand, couples waste their time and energy and miss on the chance of finding a common ground. This is why Gottman suggests that, whenever your values collide with your partner`s, you discuss it right away and work on common understanding. Even if you don’t find the perfect compromise, you’ll at least established an emotional connection by keeping things open.

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Marwan Jamal is a fitness and health blogger at healthline.com and a great fan of the gym and a healthy diet. He follows the trends in fitness, gym and healthy life and loves to share his knowledge through useful and informative articles.

 

You’ve read 6 Relationship Killers Every Couple Should Avoid, 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 6 Reasons Why an E-Commerce Website Needs a Blog, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Increasing traffic to your site is the key to success! Blogging is one way of routing humungous traffic to your site. Unfortuitously, while all brands comprehend the viability of the first part, they gail to grasp the vitality of the second! They give in to the idea that engaging in direct sales is their secret to generating sales. Nurturing your Email list, handling inventory, and calling to acquire customers, will only take you up to a certain point. If you dedicate all your precious time struggling to convert customers,  you will soon start overlooking the reasons for customers to actually unearth your brand in the first place. This is where blogging comes in to play!

As for any web-based business, an e-commerce website is in dire need of a blog that could speak for their offerings online,. And in all the positive ways possible that paid advertising won’t be able to accomplish. We understand that running a full-term business is exhausting to say the least, and a blog must be the last thing on your mind. But did you know that 92% of E-commerce businesses with a successful running blog, acquire most of their customers through their blog? With the ubiquitousness of blog in this era, failing to include a blog on your e-commerce website is like choosing not to get it endorsed when there were opportunities up for grasp.

If you are still not persuaded enough to incorporate a blog to your e-commerce website, here are 6 reasons to change your mind:

Blogging builds credibility

Ever heard of a business that claims to have had dressed thousands in your vicinity but in reality, you never saw anyone wearing the brand? Same is the case with online businesses. Since a website is an intangible medium where you cannot find real people to glean reviews from, blogging saves the day for you by subsiding the fact that you do not have real people talking on your forum. Testimonials are an exception, since they also contribute to building credibility, but still cannot parallel the benefits of blogging. Through a blog, you not only build credibility for your eCommerce web development, but extend a value addition to your target market that can be done by purchasing your products online.

It helps in growing your market

Blogs are not meant for lead generation. They exist for lead nurturing. Blogs provide informational content to your users, and if the content happens to trigger their interest, they might as well provide a lead or subscribe to the blog to stay abreast of latest updates.

Blogging for e-commerce websites could also lead to building lasting relationships with your customers. When you write about the value that your products bring to your customers, you create an invisible connection. This spark works in myriad ways, and lets your e-commerce brand etch a lasting impression in the minds of your consumers.

Works for business generation

Adding a blog to your e-commerce website opens up paths towards incremental customer reach. You already know that a blog post builds the much needed credibility for your brand. In addition to allowing you to flaunt your product to a wider audience through your blog, a blog cultivates the effort by sharing it on your social profiles. By promoting your product offerings on your blog, you actually answer queries of your target market. This makes the entire sales process easier to complete.

Blog content will boost your SEO efforts

Blog content is a great way of supporting your SEO efforts. When you instill keywords in your SEO content, you actually lure the search engine crawler towards you. Thus, boosting your chances of visibility against industry-specific keywords. When your page starts showing against popular search terms, the chances of customers landing on your e-commerce website increases. This enhances your overall business generation.

A Blog is a multi-marketing channel in itself

A blog is not a place where you only talk about your products; your blog can work as a multi-marketing channel for you. It allows you to link its posts with social forums and on blogs that you post on other websites. This helps build the overall online credibility for your content. This diversely spread content will pave way for incremental traffic landing on your e-commerce website. This leads to better business generation in the long run.

It’s a way to scale your content marketing efforts

Through targeted blog posts, you can launch campaigns that help in streamlining your marketing efforts towards a certain event. For example, Christmas related blogs are put up on various e-commerce websites to allow customers to land on websites through targeted keyword searches. By reading the relevant content, they get a chance to make valuable purchasing decisions.

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Alternatively, there are eCommerce developers that exist to help you set up your blog. You can get in touch with them if you have a similar idea in your mind.

You’ve read 6 Reasons Why an E-Commerce Website Needs a Blog, 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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