You’re reading Scientific Studies Show How Nutrition Influences Our Creativity, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

 

It is widely known that eating a healthy diet benefits our physical health. But less is acknowledged about the psychological benefits. We have all tried exotic ingredients or foods that make us feel happy. But, how is our mood actually affected by what we eat? And, how can it end up influencing our creative thinking?

Pay attention to your body and your mind right now. Are you working at your maximum potential? Now recall what you had for lunch or breakfast and how it may be affecting your productivity. Now put this into perspective. Because this is something that is happening over an extended period of time and not instantly.

The role of glucose as our brain’s fuel

The award-winning psychologist, Ron Friedman, explains in one of his articles for Harvard Business Review how “food has a direct impact on our cognitive performance, which is why a poor decision at lunch can derail an entire afternoon.”

And this happens because “about everything we eat is converted by our body into glucose, which provides the energy our brains need to stay alert. When we’re running low on glucose, we have a tough time staying focused and our attention drifts. This explains why it’s hard to concentrate on an empty stomach”.

The problem is that our body does not handle all foods at the same rate. Renée Leonard-Stainton, qualified Naturopath, Nutritionist, and Western Medical Herbalist, explains how our body processes glucose and how to eat for mental energy. “Eating foods with a low glycemic index (meaning that they release glucose more gradually into the bloodstream) may help you avoid the lag in energy that typically occurs after eating quickly-absorbed sugars or refined starches.”

Turning fruits and vegetables into well-being

Research conducted by the University of Otago in New Zealand recruited 400 people aged between 17 and 25 years old, to try to define the association between fruit, veg and well-being. For 13 days, participants reported their consumption levels of fruit, vegetables, sweets, and chips, as well as their well-being, curiosity, and creativity. Researchers discovered a correlation between higher fruit and vegetable intake and higher average well-being, curiosity, and creativity levels among the participants. But what is more interesting, is that their fruit and vegetable consumption on one day, didn’t improve their well-being the following day. This therefore emphasizes the need to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet consistently.

Foods that boost creativity

The studies mentioned before, prove that foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals promote well-being, curiosity, and creativity. But what specific foods should we consume to improve our productivity and consequently our creative thinking?

Vitamin C is an essential factor in the production of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that underlies motivation and promotes engagement. Foods with vitamin C are not only oranges but also strawberries, pineapple, mango, kiwis, papayas, brussel sprouts, bell peppers, and broccoli.

B vitamins influence feelings of vitality and engagement. You will find a source of vitamin B in tuna, Swiss and cottage cheese, shrimp, sardines, mussels, oysters, clams, salmon, crab, trout, herring, beef, chicken, turkey, whole-grain oats, and milk.

Antioxidants such as vitamins E help reduce bodily inflammation, improve memory, enhance mood, and may help prevent depression. Ingredients with vitamins E include almonds, spinach, sweet potato, avocado, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, butternut squash and olive oil, among others.

Finally, spices are such an important part of our daily diet. Cinnamon, for instance, makes your neurons stronger for a longer period of time. Research from the University of California at Santa Barbara shows that a sprinkle of cinnamon in your meal can help blood flow and stabilize proteins in the brain, improving blood glucose.

In conclusion, our creative thinking is affected by a number of external elements, but the food we eat is such an important part of it. Choosing a diet with ingredients that are gradually processed by our body are crucial to staying productive. At the same time, our diet will also affect mental energy and positivity, and the combination of these factors will determine our levels of creativity.

 

You’ve read Scientific Studies Show How Nutrition Influences Our Creativity, 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 Your Life, Your Rules – Why Happiness Shouldn’t Feel Like Hard Work, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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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, writing 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 Your Life, Your Rules – Why Happiness Shouldn’t Feel Like Hard Work, 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 What Happens When Productivity Meets Mental Illness?, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

More and more people nowadays struggle with poor mental health. This is an unfortunate outcome of the stressful nature of modern life. And what many of us don’t realize is that, when you suffer from disorders of the mind, it might reflect negatively on the quality and quality of your work. But how and why does mental illness affect employee productivity? Let’s find out.

Motivation and Mental Illness

Several studies in the past have uncovered that employees who struggle with mental illnesses, and particularly with depression, take more sick days than those who aren’t in this situation. The underlying cause behind this is obvious. When you’re unwell, you feel less motivated to face your daily responsibilities and complete tasks.

This happens in the case of physical diseases as well, so when the one you’re struggling with affects your mind, the situation is even more serious. All in all, it’s hard to be productive when your psyche isn’t up for it. Needless to say, pressuring yourself into doing things regardless leads to burnouts and even mental breakdowns, so avoid that at all costs.

How to Improve Your Productivity

Instead, try to regain your willingness to do your job organically. Take it slow, one day at a time. This is completely possible when you’re being patient with yourself. Still, you will need a bit of a push in the right direction. Here are five actionable steps that will help you remain productive even when you’re struggling with mental illness.

1.      Choose a Field You Enjoy

There is a clear connection between the conditions in which an activity is sustained and both absenteeism and presenteeism rates among workers who struggle with poor mental health. How much you like or dislike your job is an important aspect of this. Naturally, you will be far more motivated to show up and perform your tasks if you enjoy doing them in the first place.

Therefore, choosing a field you are passionate about is crucial. If you’re unsure of how to proceed in this direction, volunteering for a while to try out several occupations is a good idea. Nevertheless, while this can be truly fulfilling in many ways, you need to remember that most of it will be unpaid. So, if you choose to go down this road, keep that in mind.

But realistically speaking, not everyone can afford not working until they find their true vocation. Thus, feeling financially pressured to keep doing something that doesn’t make you happy turns into an additional stressor which can impact your mental health negatively. When that is the case, the best thing you can do is focus on the advantages of your current profession.

2.      Set Realistic Goals for Yourself

A recent study has shown that setting goals is effective in the treatment of mental illness. Most of the participants in the study were able to aptly identify what needed to be done and attain that objective. Thus, you shouldn’t be afraid of wanting to accomplish certain things. Your disorder isn’t as limiting as you might make it out to be.

However, it’s important to keep these goals realistic. Expecting too much of yourself and not being able to achieve can impact your self-esteem, which is something most patients already struggle with as is. Be honest with yourself. What skills do you possess? How long would it take you to finalize a task using them? Answer these questions truthfully.

3.      Focus on the Tasks at Hand

Now that your objectives are clearly outlined, it’s time to get to work on them. To be able to do this, you will need to focus. Nevertheless, people who suffer from disorders of the mind often have trouble with that. Understand that you might not always be able to concentrate and avoid pressuring yourself into it. Instead, let your motivation flow naturally into the situation.

4.      Declutter Your Workspace

Clutter is one of the main distractors all of us are faced with daily. And when your mental illness is already making it hard to concentrate on something, it can be even more aggravating. This is why staying

organized is essential if you want to pay better attention to what you’re doing. Cleaning out your desk is a simple initial step you can take in this direction.

But even if your space is neat and tidy, the office as a whole might still be a mess. If you’re finding that improper desk and supply arrangements are damaging your ability to do your job, you will need to take it up with your employer. Provided they are a sensible, understanding person, and you explain the situation candidly to them, some changes might get made.

5.      Don’t Let Failure Bring You Down

Given your current situation, it’s important to know that failure is an option. If and when it does happen, try not to let it bring you down. Even the most successful people today have their own stories of decline. So, instead of allowing it to lower self-esteem and destroy your confidence, use it as an opportunity to learn an important lesson about growth.

Final Thoughts

Staying motivated and productive while you battle anxiety, depression, or even schizophrenia is an achievable prospect. If you take it one day at a time and are realistic about your professional expectations, you are bound to achieve success sooner or later. The essential thing is to never stop trying your best.

 

Alex Moore is a psychology blogger entranced by the word “productive”. When he’s not nagging those around him with stories of positivity, you’ll usually find him writing for www.schizlife.com

You’ve read What Happens When Productivity Meets Mental Illness?, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 3 Scientific Ways Drinking Water Makes You More Productive, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

We all know drinking water is essential to good health. It keeps us alive and helps our body function properly. But what if I told you staying hydrated is also a good way to become more productive too? This article will show you 3 scientifically backed reasons why drinking enough water each day will help you focus better and get more done.

Why Is Water So Important?

To put it simply, your body would stop working properly without a good amount of hydration. This makes sense when you consider that water makes up around 60% of your body weight. The human body has many important functions to perform and needs water to do most of them. For example, your blood carries oxygen to all the cells in your body but wouldn’t be able to do this without water.

Going on a journey of self-improvement and increased productivity is a lot easier if your body is at peak physical condition.

Below are 3 solid reasons why you should make sure you get enough hydration each day if your objective is higher levels of productivity.

1. Water Increases Your Physical Performance

All athletes know that failing to drink enough water means poor physical performance. This is because dehydration can have a noticeable effect on the way your body operates. Losing as little as 2% of your body’s water content can result in reduced motivation, increased fatigue, altered body temperature control and make everything more difficult in both mental and physical terms (1).

The good news is that proper hydration can prevent all this from happening. Drinking enough water may even reduce oxidative stress. This form of stress happens when you take part in any physically demanding activity. None of this should come as a surprise when you consider that your muscles are around 80% water (2).

2. Hydration Impacts Brain Function

Your hydration status strongly influences your brain capacity and function. Studies now reveal that your brain function can even be affected by very mild dehydration (i.e. a loss of around 1-3% of body water weight).

For instance, a research study conducted on young women who had a fluid loss of 1.36% after exercise shows they suffered from an increased frequency of headaches as well as impaired concentration and mood (3).

While a similar research study was conducted on a group of young men who had a fluid loss of 1.59%. Despite this modest level of dehydration, the participants showed signs of increased feelings of fatigue, anxiety and a decrease in working memory (4).

Being productive is hard enough without feeling fatigue, anxious or suffering from poor memory. These studies show that even being a little bit dehydrated can decrease your capacity to keep on top of things. So drinking a glass of water before sitting down to focus on what you want can help give you the energy to achieve your goals.

3. Drinking Water May Help Treat and Prevent Headaches

Many people suffer from headaches because of dehydration. However, studies show that water is capable of not only relieving the symptoms of some headaches but also preventing them in the first place (5).

Headaches are not just physically upsetting, they also stop you from getting anything meaningful done. Some migraines are so bad that they can completely knock you out and render you incapacitated for a while. The last thing you want is to be completely wiped out by a headache. Especially a headache that is totally preventable by simply drinking more water.

The Bottom Line

The sad part about all of this is that the vast majority of people suffer from dehydration. Some reports claim there could be as many as 75% of US citizens suffering from dehydration that don’t know it (6). This is a huge issue when you consider how essential water is to our overall health, well being and the ability to function at full capacity.

If you’re worried about getting enough hydration, a good place to start is to work out how much water you should drink each day. Do this by using a daily water intake calculator to work out how much water you need to drink according to your body weight.

 

Scientific References

1. Popkin, B. M., D’Anci, K. E., & Rosenberg, I. H. (2010). Water, Hydration and Health. Nutrition Reviews, 68(8), 439–458. http://ift.tt/2gDJIuh

2. Judelson, D.A., Maresh, C.M., Anderson, J.M. et al; Hydration and Muscular Performance, Sports Med (2007) 37: 907. http://ift.tt/2EnY1P0

3. Armstrong LE1, Ganio MS, Casa DJ, Lee EC, McDermott BP, Klau JF, Jimenez L, Le Bellego L, Chevillotte E, Lieberman HR; Mild dehydration affects mood in healthy young women. http://ift.tt/2alA5Pc

4. Ganio MS1, Armstrong LE, Casa DJ, McDermott BP, Lee EC, Yamamoto LM, Marzano S, Lopez RM, Jimenez L, Le Bellego L, Chevillotte E, Lieberman HR. Mild dehydration impairs cognitive performance and mood of men. http://ift.tt/2a6Dm8q

5. Price A, Burls A; Increased water intake to reduce headache: learning from a critical appraisal, US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 21 June 2015, http://ift.tt/2EYpTu5

6. Dahlia Ghabour; UF Health Communications – UF Health Podcasts April 14th, 2015 http://ift.tt/28Qs6Ky

You’ve read 3 Scientific Ways Drinking Water Makes You More Productive, 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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You’re reading 10 Ways to Get Through Difficult Times, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_jp4tAo69w&t

 “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Victor Frankl

Life can throw things at us that catch us off guard, sometimes even multiple things at once.  And this can leave us feeling afraid, frustrated, confused, angry and sometimes even helpless.

And trust me I have been there before, its not a nice place to be in. But I am here to tell you that it’s not impossible to get through and a lot of the time isn’t as bad as you think it is. So today I am going to be sharing with you 10 ways you can get through the difficult times in your life.

1. Accept it

Remember no amount of worry, complaining or beating yourself up is going to change the obstacle before you. So you may as well accept it. “What you resist persists”. Just like in nature if you apply friction to anything it creates heat. So if you try to resist and push against your obstacle through worry or wishing it didn’t happen it is only going to make things worse. This isn’t to say that you can’t take a minute to think to yourself “well this sucks!” and even vent about it.

Just don’t stay in that mindset for too long because it will prevent you from moving forward.

2. Change your perspective

You see we choose the way we look at things. So it is important we ask ourselves if our perspective is truly giving us perspective or is it what is actually causing the problem. While we can’t change the obstacles themselves we do have control over how an obstacle appears to us.

You see problems in our lives are usually never as bad as we think or rather they are precisely as bad as we think. Or as the late Wayne Dyer once said:

 “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. 

3. Take Action

When things come up in our lives, most of us simply pretend it doesn’t exist. Some people go out and party, others treat themselves, sleep in or worst of all wait, as if the problem will somehow unproblem itself.  But we know deep down that isn’t truly going to make it any better. Instead we have to act. As Robert Frost once said:

“The only way out is through”.

You see a lot of the time most of us know what our problems  are and may even know what to do about them.

But we fear taking action because we don’t want to have to go through that intial feeling of actually doing something about our problem or we feel that it will be too much work to do anything about it.

Both are false conceptions, you’ve got to start to go anywhere. And once you actually start you will find that it naturally builds momentum.

4. Find the Opportunities in the Obstacles

We have already spoken on the importance of changing our perception towards an obstacle but this takes it a step further. It means seeing through our seemingly negative situation and finding it’s positive.  By changing our perception of our problem we can learn to see an opportunity or advantage in every problem. Transforming our problem into an education, a skill set, a fortune or a way to help others.

We all presented with obstacles in our lives from time to time, often times when we least expect them. But what matters most is not necessarily what our obstacles are but how we see them and how we react to them. Where one person sees crisis, another sees opportunity.

Seen properly everything that happens to us can be used as a way to move us forward. This means flipping the obstacles that life throws at us by improving not only in spite of them, but because of them. You see more often than not beneath the seemingly negative packaging of the problems in our lives, is something of real value. A gift of great benefit. We just have to know how to find it.

5. Live in the Present Moment

Sometimes the best way to see through a problem and to see it more clearly is actually to allow your mind to relax. Some of the best methods for this include:

• Running
• Walking in nature i.e along a beach or in a park
• Meditation

Each of these methods helps take us out of our thinking minds and instead bring our attention to what is happening in the present moment, namely our surroundings, our body or our breathe. And by doing this you will find that you mind will naturally start to feel more calm and you will most likely see things with a fresh and much clearer perspective.

6.    Tackle One Problem at a Time

In this way you simply do what you need to do right now. Complete it. And then move onto the next thing.  Don’t think about the end instead focus on the process. This means making it from one task to the next. One day at a time.

Once you do this you will find that even the hardest things become manageable.  Under its influence we needn’t panic. Because what once was a mammoth task is now just a series of component parts.

7. Find Your Why

 “He who knows the why of his existence will be able to bear almost any how”.  Victor Frankl.

What does this mean? It means making your dreams bigger than your problems. Why? Because when we have goals or something larger than ourselves to reach for everything we do from that point on becomes in the service of that dream, put simply it becomes purposeful. When we know what we are setting out too do, any obstacles that arise will just naturally seem smaller and more manageable.

Another way of getting through your problem or situation is to find a way that you can use it too benefit others. For instance you could use your situation and all that you learn from it to benefit, teach or inspire others  in the future who might one day find themselves in the same position as you.

8. Find the Good in your situation

No matter what your situation is or how bad it may seem there is ALWAYS some good in it. No matter how bad a situation may be in. You can always find something to laugh about or be cheerful about.

Remember we don’t have a choice over what happens to us but we do have a choice over how we feel about it. So why choose anything other than feeling good?

9. This Too Shall Pass

Remember all things come to pass and this situation you are now in. It will passRemember that all things come to pass.. And one day you will look back on it and you may even be grateful for it happening. Because it led you down a better path or helped you to become the person you were destined to be.

Remember that in spite of what we may be going through, none of us knows what the future holds for us. As the famous psychologist and holocaust survivor, Victor Frankl said

“Health, family happiness, professional abilities, fortune a position in society. All these were things that could still be achieved. Whatever we had gone through could still be used as an asset to us in the future”.

10. Gratitude

Now gratitude is probably one of the most important ways, if not THE most important way of getting through problems in our lives. You see when we have problems come up in our lives we often allow ourselves to get trapped in a negative mindset, which makes us forget that we still have so much good in our lives.

No matter how bad things may seem we ALWAYS have things in our lives to be grateful for.

One of the best ways to practice gratitude (and something I do every night) is to get yourself a gratitude journal.  By taking time to write down the things you are grateful at the end of every day you are effectively changing your perception to focus on what you have instead of what you don’t. Which will instantly make you happier.

Well there you have it there are 10 ways that you can get through the difficult times in your life. Hopefully this article (and video) has been able to help you in some way.

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Is a content creator on Youtube. He believes there are three words that all of us should aim to live by “Learn, Grow and Inspire”. He is also a Tai Chi and Qigong instructor. His passions include self development, health, nutritition, entrepreneurship and technology. You can visit Isaac’s Youtube channel here.

You’ve read 10 Ways to Get Through Difficult Times, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 3 Deadly Myths You Need To Dismiss About Success, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Success for most people is equivalent to money, cars, luxury, and hot chicks.

Is this definition universal?

Nope, but it’s widely accepted because the notions above are the most widely accessible set of ideas of a ‘successful’ life.

Indeed, success is beyond materialism, lust for authority, or the ability to have worldly pleasures at your will. You can shatter the notion, reprogram your brain, and personalize the meaning of the term.

How?

You’ve to dig beneath the surface and behold your inner voice. Find work that you genuinely enjoy and put effort into your craft to ensure you stay relevant.

Besides its definition, today I want to present three myths that hold you back from reaching your potential. Check out if you’re clenching onto any of the myths.

Myth 1: Hard work guarantees success in any field you choose to pursue

Hard work is under your control. It’s internal.

But the outcome of your efforts is a worldly event.

You can pray, send out positive vibes to the universe, say aloud positive affirmations, or whatever floats your boat. These might be efficacious in soothing your nerves, but the external factors that determine your success can’t be discounted.

Maybe the person next in line to you got lucky. Perhaps his natural talent surpasses your fruit of labor. Else, it’s also possible that your timing wasn’t right.

The truth is, nobody can predict your chances of succeeding despite you giving your best shot (unless you’re into occult sciences).

We all use tools — believing in “karma” or the presence of an external force that determines our fate.

It’s essential because taking the blame on yourself for all your failures/successes won’t lead you anywhere. The inner emotional turmoil you will have to go through as a result isn’t simply worth it.

So don’t doubt your skills and talents – push through your impostor syndrome.

Go for your dream — all guns blazing! But don’t remain hopeful to stand out as the winner. Do it for the sheer love of your craft. Trust the process.

Ryan Holiday put it precisely in his book Ego is the Enemy, “Instead of pretending that we are living some great story, we must remain focused on the execution—and on executing with excellence. We must shun the false crown and continue working on what got us here.”

If you adopt the stoic way, you’ll cultivate the mental resilience to jump back from minor setbacks. And create more space for extraordinary moments in your life.

Myth 2: It’s a level playing field, and you can ‘make it’ merely by working on your core skill set

Look around in these fields: Entertainment. Business. Sports. Politics. Art. Education.

Nepotism is real. The powerful and influential have it better. Money, coaches, and resources are all tools that will facilitate your success.

Now, you can choose to complain about the unethical violation and waste your time. Else, satisfice your emotional pain by taking the smarter route and working smartly.

Analyze and understand the weaknesses that make you inferior to the people that you feel have it easy.

Do you have the meta-knowledge of how your career works?

Put work to find out information that can give you a competitive advantage in your industry.

Is there a sub-skill that you lack? If yes, then how can you cultivate it?
How can you get access to the influential insider network of your industry that puts you on the radar for promising opportunities?

I am not saying you’ll get all the answers, but having a solution-oriented mindset is the best you can do as an outsider.

Besides working on your core skills, it’s impertinent that you make yourself more marketable. In the digital era, visibility of your work online can reward you with enriching career opportunities.

For instance, many creative entrepreneurs making a living through YouTube while practicing music, drama, and art.

3. Reverse engineering mega-successful people will provide the ‘simple steps’ you need to take

Listen, mate:

We’re wired differently. We’re unique creatures with different capacities and inclinations.

I won’t further it into a “you’re special” self-serving slant.

Simply put, the accomplishment of desired results isn’t always definable in a template. The world is fast-moving, and none of the industries we work in are composed of static parts.

Even legitimate “make money online” courses that provide a blueprint for starting a successful business don’t make a 100% promise. Rather, they offer a 30 days money back guarantee (if you aren’t satisfied).

The wisdom shared in such courses is extraordinary, but only you can find out if the course works for you.

How?

By taking action.

Once you implement the lessons in these courses, you’ll start seeing the practical limitations of time, resources, and skills.

A retrospective analysis of success paints an inspiring picture. And the adrenaline is what our brains desire. But media houses conveniently ignore the subtle details of advantages and failure that make the narrative uninspiring. It’s called as the survivorship bias.

Sure, research on the mega-successful and derive inspiration. But you need not beat yourself if a plan doesn’t work as expected.

Success is a combination of various moving components (including you). If you can’t get up at 5 am every morning that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t achieve desired results.

If you even fail to put hard work consistently, don’t lose heart. Get back to the drawing board and analyze what worked and didn’t work well for you. Then come back and get that combination right the next time.

The arguments I make in this article might sound negative and could shatter the conventional wisdom that exists regarding personal development. Trust me, though, if you accept them, you can overpower them by looking for solutions (a few of whom I shared in the article).

Which myth about success was holding you back? Let me know in the comments.

You’ve read 3 Deadly Myths You Need To Dismiss About Success, 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 Top Tips to Boost Your Child’s Confidence, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Confident people are always ready to take new challenges in life. They have a better self-image, positive outlook towards life, and a strong belief in their abilities that they can work as expected. Whether it is their job, academic career, or social relationships they always stand out from the rest. Confidence is indeed a key to a successful life and if children manage to master this trait, they can ensure a healthy and victorious future for themselves.

Being confident will not only improve their mental health but will help them deal with every situation and challenges such as stress, peer pressure, studies, emotions etc. Confident children can accomplish every goal with passion and perseverance. Parents can play a major role in encouraging their children and making them meet their true self. Since children trust their parents the most hence, they take their words seriously. If your child also lacks confidence sometimes and you don’t know how to encourage them to keep trying, here are some basic steps that you can follow:

 

Appreciation is the key

Acknowledging every little accomplishment of your children will not only make them feel happy but would light their desire to do better next time. Whether it is getting a good grade, completing the homework, or helping you at home, notice the little things that your children are doing on their own and appreciate them. You will soon see a sense of self-worth in them as they will feel confident about doing the tasks on their own. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to over-praise them. You must always provide a realistic feedback to your children. If they are not good at something then, do praise their efforts but not the results. Make them understand that nobody is perfect but, with continuous practice and efforts one can achieve anything in life.

 

Give them the required environment

Many times children lack confidence if they are not able to perform well in school and other co-curricular activities. Every child possesses different skills and learning power. Hence, parents must take the necessary steps so that children do well at school. If they ask for assignment help from you then, sit with them and help them do their homework. You can use different methods to teach them at home. Nowadays, one can find so many learning resources on the Internet which can help the children develop their skills and eventually their confidence.

 

Make them set some real goals

Whether it is a test, learning a new skill or playing a sport, explain your children the need to set goals, how they can achieve them, and also discuss what will happen if they do not. Keep them reminding their skills and talents. This will make them believe in themselves that they can achieve what they desire with their skills. You can also ask them to set their goals on their own. It may happen that the children will set some goals which are really big and unrealistic. At this time just show them the path to achieve such goals. You may also break such goals into some mini-goals as well.

Reward them

Constant motivation is required to achieve any goal. If there comes a situation where your child is lacking confidence then, motivate them by setting rewards like a cookie if they read a chapter, their favorite video game if they score well in the exams etc. This will encourage them to do the task with full enthusiasm.  Also once they will accomplish, they would find how easy the task was. Celebrate their every little success and see the difference in them.

Positive Affirmations

Affirmations can program our subconscious mind to success. They shape our mind with a positive outlook and build our self-esteem with which we can easily achieve our goals. So, parents can use this technique to boost their child’s self-esteem. Talk to your child and tell them the value of positive thinking. You can ask them to use affirmation phrases like “I can do it”, “every day is a new day with new opportunities” etc.

The power of ‘try’

The most important thing to incorporate into the minds of children is that failure and success are two sides of the same coin. If they are unable to accomplish something, show them how they have made the best of their efforts. Ask them to try again, teach them the ‘never give up attitude’, cheer them up and make them understand that setbacks are a part of life.

In the end, parents are the role models for their children. A child looks up to them in every situation and follows their lead as he/she grows. Hence, as a parent, it is your duty to portray everything suitably. As it is said, a candle has to burn itself to spread the light, similarly, parents need to work on themselves first, build their self-esteem, become stronger and confident and then only they will be able to build their child’s confidence.

You’ve read The Top Tips to Boost Your Child’s Confidence, 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 Read Like a CEO Without Breaking a Sweat: 47 Books a Year, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

 

“I read a book one day and my whole life changed” – Orhan Pamuk

Yes, it’s true. You can a read like a CEO without breaking a sweat. And I know this because I do it.

And it’s easy. I didn’t believe it at first but a year and 47 books later, it became true.

Let me first tell you that an average CEO reads about 40 books a year while an average person reads less than 10 books a year. And the difference in income is more than 400 times bigger.

But this is the info you already know. You want to know how so let’s go into it.

Create a system for book reading

You decide you want to start doing something. You know it will transform your life for better. And you start doing it.

Day 1 goes great, Day 2 ok and on Day 3 you are already quitting.
Day 7 and you totally forget about that thing you wanted to do.

Does this sound like you or everyone that you probably know? Of course, because this is how we usually operate. We rely on our willpower which depletes quickly. And because of that, we quit.

Only relying on our willpower will bring us nowhere. So we started to create systems. Systems which would shift the focus from ourselves and our willpower to the system.

Here is an example:

Imagine that you have a job. And you need to get up at 7:00 AM to go to work. You hate it, grudge but you still do it. Because you HAVE to.

Imagine now that you are starting your own company. And you need to get up at 7:00 AM to start working. You hate it and you just hit snooze on your alarm. You still have to do it but it’s gonna be there even if I wake up at 9:00 AM. So you postpone it.

To change this, we need a system.

A simple system consists of 3 things:

• Easy Daily Action
• Tracking
• Measuring

And that’s it. You just need these 3 things to have a system. And here are the details on each and every one of them

Easy Daily Action

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

To have an efficient system, we need to base it on a daily action. We will take book reading as an example here.

The point of daily actions is to make it a habit. And habits are all about repetition.

It is not about doing a lot of work in the small amount of time, it is about doing a small amount of work but doing it consistently. That’s why it’s important for the action to be easy. If you had to read 5 hours every single day, you wouldn’t even start. But 30 min a day? It sounds like nothing. And it adds up over time and at some point, it becomes our character and we do it automatically.

An example:

“I run every day.”, ” I read books every day.”
or
“I’m a runner”, “I’m a bookworm.”

 

Tracking

 

“What gets tracked, gets done” – Peter Drucker

The system needs to be easy to track. I constantly see people who make their trackers so complicated that it makes me and them sick. And of course, they create them once and never open them again.

When you track what you do, you know that you are on the right track. You know how much of that activity you did, when did you do it, how much impact it had, how much time it took you etc.

That’s why we love games.

We know when we did progress because that bar moved or we leveled up. Companies already started to leverage this through gamification so why not use it on yourself.

The system needs to be simple and easy to use. You don’t want to spend 50 minutes reading every day and then spending an extra 50 minutes filling out your system. The system is there to help you save time and be efficient, not spend it.

 

Measuring

 

“What gets measured gets improved” – Robin Sharma

There are 3 ways of measuring book reading and here are the examples:

• I will read ___ pages of a book daily
• I will read ___ minutes daily
• Did I do my best to read today

The first one is measured by a number of pages you read. I do this for my book reading and it’s 20 pages minimum a day.

The second one is measured by the number of minutes you read daily. Keep this number low, between 30-60 min. Remember, it’s about consistency, not intensity.

The third one is measured from 1-10 and it falls into the category of self-assessment. There are days when you swamped with a lot of things and maybe you only read 5 pages or read for 10 minutes but it was the maximum you could do on that day.

So you give yourself a grade of 10 there.

Other days, like a nice Sunday afternoon with no obligation and you can read 100 pages or read for 5 hours and give yourself a grade of 9. It depends on your daily schedule.

 

My system

I read a minimum of 20 pages of a book every single day. With this, I would read 7300 pages in a year.

Considering that an average book has around 200 pages, I would read 37 books in a year.

So I started on 20th of December of 2016. I’ve read my 20th book on 5th of June 2017.

And once I created a system, it was easy following it. I’m a slow reader so it usually takes me around 50 minutes for 20 pages of a book.

Sometimes I read more, sometimes less but here are the overall statistics after a year:

365 days

9273 pages read

47 books

25.4 pages a day on average

And it was easy. You can do it too.

Just create a system and let me know how’s it going.

Cheers,

-Bruno

You’ve read How to Read Like a CEO Without Breaking a Sweat: 47 Books a Year, 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 Practices That Will Definitely Make You Smarter, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Becoming smarter is something you should seek so you can enjoy a better life. According to a 2012 study, Intelligence is a more accurate predictor of future career success than socioeconomic background.

So yes, being smart pays off. And yes, with some consistency and knowledge, you can systematically become more intelligent, make better decisions and improve your life with less resistance. How? From what I`ve read and used, these six practices can make you 2, 3 or even 10X smarter. Here they are:

1. Remove As Many Cognitive Distortions As You Can

Charlie Munger once said: “It’s ignorance removal…It’s dishonorable to stay stupider than you have to be.” What he means is, you can become smarter by understanding and eliminating the cognitive biases and logical fallacies that influence your thinking.

Here`s a list of the top 58 biases. Read, understand and revise it regularly, and you will see yourself becoming wiser over the time.

2. Use Mental Models and Universal Frameworks

One of the popular approaches scientists use to solve problems is applying the frameworks and laws used in one field of science to solve problems in other areas. This is why you often see laws like “Supply and Demand,” or Newton`s Laws of Dynamics used everywhere from health to benefits.

Ever heard the phrase, “An object in motion stays in motion.” This is Newton`s First Law of Inertia, and because the universe works in harmony, you can apply this law to many situations, and it will fit perfectly.

For instance, the more money you make, the easier money making becomes. Or, the more junk food you eat, the harder it will be to switch back to eating healthy.

Another example is the Peacocking technique used by pickup artists like Neil Strauss to standout and appeal to women. This sexual behavior is borrowed from zoology and is called Display.

Smart people like Munger and Warren Buffet use this law of Inertia and other universal laws to make better decisions in business and life, and they call them Mental Models.

You can build such models by reading a wide variety of books on physics, mathematics, biology, finance and different scientific fields. These books will expose you to various frameworks and models that you can then apply to your problems and come up with better solutions.

3. Don`t just read books, learn how to comprehend

Ever watched Suits? They have Mike Ross, the smartass lawyer with the photographic memory who never forgets a thing. In one episode, someone asks him how he managed to memorize an entire sector of a 300-page document after just reading it for once. Ross` reply was, “I read things, I understand them and I, never forget them.”

Similarly, this is what you should do to become smarter, comprehend. Deeply understanding the books you read helps you use that information better and gives you a competitive advantage. This is why an avid reader like Tai Lopez teaches the books he read so he can understand it better and maximize their benefits.

So how to do?  Whenever you`re done reading something, do the following:

• Close the book and try to summarize it on paper or in your head using mental maps and memory palaces. Then,
• Identify the 2-3 main takeaways and ask, ‘’How can I apply this in real life?”

This may sound very simple but trust me, it will make you remember, recall, and better use the material of that book.

4. Give lateral-thinking puzzles a shot

It`s crazy how much you can learn from the puzzles and riddles found in Lateral Thinking books. They will test your brain capacity and teach you how to think outside the box. Besides, you can use the riddles in these books in social situations with friends and dates.

5. Study past mistakes

Richard Dawkins once called learning by trial and error “the worst way for learning.” He believes so because learning from your mistakes is more painful and costs much time and money than if you learn from other people`s mistakes. For that, I want you to grab a pen and do the following:

• List the top three mistakes you`ve made before —or are still making. Why you made them, what they say about you and how to change them. (List everything).
• List three key figures in your life whom you don`t want to follow their steps; an abusive parent, an annoying boss, or a promising friend who couldn`t live up to his potential. What mistakes they`ve made? And what will you do to avoid them?
• List the three common mistakes people make in business, health, and relationships. How would you prevent those mistakes?

Finally, you can start reading history books for fun. If you want something that is both enjoyable and fun, then you can read stuff for Robert Greene, Matthew White as well as the likes of “The Art of War.”

6. Spend more time sharpening the saw

Seeking clarity in everything you do is probably one of the easiest ways to become smart. Many smart people are famous for spending quite a long time on solving problems.

A company once hired Jordan Belfort to sell them stuff, and they noticed that he spent more time studying his material than anyone on their sales team. The same thing goes for Einstein who was quoted for spending 55 minutes of a given 60 to define a problem before solving it.

These people realized that because most problems are more complicated than they seem to be, it`s essential to pause, seek clarity and plan before making a move. And you should do the same. Schedule times where you can analyze your life and think of better ways to do things.

Invest at least 30 minutes in planning your week, and around 5-10 minutes of planning your day. It may sound boring but will improve the way you make decisions.

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

You’ve read 6 Practices That Will Definitely Make You Smarter, 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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