MedWorm: Life Coaches

More tips on sending great email

Phil Gerbyshak — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:45:50 +0100

When I posted my Ultimate Guide to Sending Business Email, I asked for your feedback on how I could improve upon it, and I offered 2 $50 Amazon gift cards for the best tips. And 7 of you responded with additional tips, making the guide TRULY an amazing resource for small businesses to use when they send email. Here are YOUR tips for sending great emails Jocelyn Wilhelm shared: I even go so far as removing the subject line when I respond if I’m still wavering on what I want to say, etc. You may be in the midst of thinking through the response and you can accidentally hit “send” before you’re ready. And I like to think through major decisions for at least 24 hours. In closing, especially if you’re wanting a response back or commitment, it’s always good to give them options. So in...

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5 Self Help Books That Might Just Change Your Life

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:56:12 +0100

Self-Help: the act of helping or improving yourself without relying on anyone else. Luckily for us, there is a large selection of self-help literature written by truly remarkable authors. These authors share personal experiences from their own successful careers or interview others who have unlocked secrets of happiness and achievement. Stopping by your local bookstore or Amazon for a self-help title can be a bit intimidating! So we’ve handpicked five great reads to jump start your journey to the richer life: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams – Deepak Chopra (1994) Having sold over 3 million copies worldwide, you can safely assume that Deepak Chopra, an Indian medical doctor, speaker and writer, pretty much has the topic of...

How to Create an eBook and Get it Published

Success Begins Today — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:41:00 +0100

Six months ago I decided to write my first eBook and publish it on my blog. This would be in PDF format. It seemed simple enough. I would start with an outline, come up with some compelling content, and put it together into a format that would work for my readers. I took a look at books that other bloggers had created. The formats were rather basic. It all seemed like a simple project. Then reality hit. As I compared popular eBooks, I noticed that there were all sorts of formats. Some were wide screen, others were in portrait mode. Some used extensive backgrounds while others were just text. I decided to take the plunge. For my first attempt, I used Keynote on my MacBook to create the pages. This format would look good on the screen, and Keynote had lots of templates to choose from. I wou...

The Thousand Cuts Fitness Program

Zen Habits — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:43:27 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. I’ve trained for marathons, triathlons, 10Ks, a 13.5-hour challenge, Ubanathlons, and more. But my favorite fitness program isn’t one where you train for a major event. It’s where you get fit by a thousand little actions. When the actions are tiny, they are easy. You have no excuse. You can do them anywhere, all day long. I fold fitness into my life, like blueberries into batter, and it becomes a part of the recipe, not just a topping. If you haven’t found a way to get fit, try the Thousand Cuts Fitness Program. There is nothing better for those who don’t have the time. Here’s how it works: 1. Right now, do something that only takes 1 minute. It might be a few pushups, bodyweight squats, an attempt at a pullup, a few lunges. ...

Wearable Focus Aids for the Easily Distractable

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:59:28 +0100

I have been very distracted lately. There’s a lot going on with personal and client projects, and I’ve had to be very flexible with my scheduling. Because of this, I find myself task-switching more often than I like, which means reloading my brain with another context and skill set. Jumping between writing code, doing design strategy, and visual design is (for me) enormously taxing. For example, I forget how to have a normal conversation after I’ve been coding for a while and talk like a malfunctioning robot. Likewise, moving from the more visual/social activities into programming demands that I retreat into a little box, which I don’t like doing. Household chores are another drag. I’m at the point now that my brain is in full rebellion, and is eagerly jump...

It’s Never Too Late To Learn Anything

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:47:04 +0100

I have a group of ladies who are beginner to intermediate level snow skiers that I teach each week for eight weeks during the winter. When we were sitting on the chairlift, we saw some of the little kids below who were fearlessly zipping down the slopes. These kids must have been anywhere from four to six years of age. Some of the ladies remarked how they wished they had started snow skiing at the same age of these little kids. They claimed that the kids seem to have no fear unlike them, struggling adults. When the kids fall on the snow, they just get up again and laugh it off. This is in total contrast to adults who often have a deep fear of falling and injuring themselves. Indeed, some of my ladies tend to tense up and ski very slowly when the slopes are a bit steeper or icier. The commo...

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Quote: Know Your Power

Your Life. Organized. — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

"Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx 1890-1977 Comedian and Film Star PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below. (Source: Your Life. Organized.)

You Loved the Manual. Now Buy the Product!

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:41:12 +0100

Over on Kevin Kelley’s Cool Tools, I came across a post about how he downloads the manual before purchasing the product as a kind of preemptive RTFM. It makes tons of sense. How many times have you purchased what you thought was a good (if expensive) fit for your needs to discover major limitations that are not pointed out on the packaging? By reading the manual first, you can discover the true specifications before you buy. I LIKE IT! (Source: David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment)

The Secret to Waking Up Early

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:26:26 +0100

Having troubles waking up early in the morning? Always snoozing until the last minute? Often late to work? Well, then you should learn the secret of waking up early. It’s all about the motivation. It is always easier to make an effort when you are really motivated. So, if you want to become an early riser after years of being a night owl, all that you need is to find a good reason to get up early in the morning. Think of the things you always wanted to do but never had time for. Imagine you can find the time needed every day. Just be smart and use your mornings for that. Do something for yourself. When you come home after a long and exhausting hours of work, you are most likely to skip the things you enjoy only because you are extremely tired. You are so tired that the only thing yo...

Creating an Interactive iPad Multi-Touch Book with iBooks Author: First Take

Success Begins Today — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:49:02 +0100

The educational community was all abuzz over the last few weeks about the new interactive textbooks coming out from Apple. Instead of static pictures and text, these new books come alive with audio, video, and interactive diagrams and charts. These interactive texts are viewable on the iPad and other iOS devices. The creation software, iBooks Author, is a free download for the Mac from the app store (It’s not currently available for the PC). It installs quickly and has the look and feel of Apple’s flagship word processor, Pages. I downloaded the software to my Macbook Pro and decided to take an existing ebook that I published and convert it to an interactive text. The iBooks Author video made it look easy. After working with the software and importing my existing ebook, I would like t...

5 Reasons to Become an Early Riser

Life Optimizer — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:45:36 +0100

Note: This is a guest post from Amber Smith of How to Get Up Early A lot of people find it difficult to wake up early in the morning, and indeed it takes much effort to become an early riser when you are used to be a night owl. When it comes to waking up early, it turns out to be very rewarding. These five reasons to get up early in the morning can give you needed motivation to become an early riser. 1. Health improvement First of all, early rising is a fundamental part of healthy living. Human body was designed to function in harmony with nature. We are supposed to get up when the sun rises and go to sleep when the sun goes down. But how often we forget about that and stay up all night or sleep until noon. All these are bad habits that affect our health on a daily basis. We should remembe...

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3 Ways To Prepare For Adversity

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:10:10 +0100

When the going gets tough, we tend to seek out those people—and things—that give us the strength to be our best self. We yearn for the feeling that we’ve turned our lives around and are headed for better days. Looking for the upside takes our mind off the down times. A positive attitude allows us forget, even for a while, the hardships that face us in many areas of our life. Those times of contentment and happiness are wonderful. We need to spend time with them so when times are harder, we can remember the strength they gave us. But to expect those times to last is not realistic. Here is the ugly truth: We learn very little by being happy and content. We learn everything by being engaged with the realities of life, especially when it’s hard, confusing, and difficult. What are the s...

5 Myths Haunting Your Healthy Foods

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

ConclusionThe bottom line in all these myths is that people mistakenly assume various certifications as proxies for nutritional quality, but their presence bears no meaning to the quality of food you eat when you hold other things equal. The best way to ensure you’re eating right is to consistently consume a diet of fresh foods with minimally processed ingredients, and spare yourself the confusion of deciphering the legitimacy of the latest fads of the health food industry.References Used:Shan, Lu, et. al. “Structural Basis for Gluten Intolerance in Celiac Sprue”. Science. September, 2002, vol. 297 pgs. 2275-2279.Aggarwal, Sarrabh. “Screening for Celiac Disease in Average-Risk and High-Risk Populations.” Therapeutic Advances in Gastroentology. January 2012, Volume 5, pgs. 37-47. ...

Just Ask the Damn Question

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:21:59 +0100

Shortly after I moved to the US in early 2006 I bought a copy of the bestseller ‘The Why Cafe’ by John P Strelecky. I forget now what question prompted me to e-mail the author, but e-mail him I did and asked for some feedback. I was shocked when the reply came back within an hour suggesting we meet up for breakfast the following week. I’d no idea that John lived literally less than 5 minutes down the road from me, he could have been anywhere on the planet for all I knew. Life is weird like that sometimes, eh? A couple of years later and I was playing golf with John when I asked him what his next book was going to be about. It’s going to be called ‘How To Be Rich and Happy‘ he announced with a big smile. I stifled a chuckle because that sounded a little too grand for...

Groundhog Day Resolutions 2012

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:50:06 +0100

It’s February 2nd, which means it’s another Groundhog Day! It’s my favorite holiday because it’s silly and it’s also easy to remember. It’s the day that I officially declare my new year’s resolutions. I call them Groundhog Day Resolutions. As I’ve written before, the traditional date of January 1st for making resolutions is the worst time to do it. These days, the end of the year is when we are our most frazzled. We’re dealing with holidays, family, and end-of-year accounting all at the same time. The beginning of the new year is spent closing last year’s dangling commitments, ideally followed by a period of recovery as the drama of the holidays recedes into the past. Personally, my mind isn’t clear enough to even think abo...

5 Ways To Increase Your Online Business’ Visibility Offline

Phil Gerbyshak — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0100

Those of us who manage an online business know that the virtual world provides us with more than enough challenges and opportunities, places where we can grow and problems that stand in our way. We can work to boost SEO, attempt to find the best online storage sites, and market our business across a wide variety of platforms. We can add interactive media to our sites, increase revenue by bringing in advertisers, and post content on other sites as a way of insuring our credibility. The possibilities are truly endless. Due to the never ending opportunities offered online to online enterprises, few online businesses consider expanding their horizons and marketing themselves in the physical world – off of the internet. For some, this is a good decision, as doing so would merely amount to a w...

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The Two-Headed Beast of Successful Habit Change

Zen Habits — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:20:39 +0100

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Tyler Tervooren of Advanced Riskology. I used to have a lot of bad habits. I still do, but I used to have a lot more. Here’s just a small sampling: I woke up late and went to bed early. I procrastinated on my most important work. I neglected my relationships. I drank too much. I bit my fingernails. I slouched a lot. I picked my nose (no joke). I bought worthless things I didn’t need. I chewed with my mouth open. I dressed like a slob. I ate tons of junk food. I could go on, but none of that’s incredibly important. What’s important is that I used to have a lot of bad habits, and now I have fewer. I spent years dissatisfied with my habits and never made much progress changing them. Yes, sometimes I’d make a small step...

3 Healthy Ways to Satisfy Your Cravings

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:42:17 +0100

Let’s face it – You don’t have to be pregnant to know what it’s like to crave salty potato chips or sweet ice cream. The fact of the matter is that everyone has a craving now and then. But did you know your cravings might actually mean something? Usually, when we crave a certain food, it’s because our body is telling us it needs a specific nutrient. You can go ahead and give into that craving to satisfy your body, but it’s important to know why you are craving a certain food and then choose the healthier alternative. Your system, and your waistline, will thank you for choosing the healthy way out. Craving Salty Snacks If you are craving potato chips or French fries, you need something salty. This is likely your body’s way of telling you that you are low on essential minerals....

6 Clever Countertop Storage Ideas

Your Life. Organized. — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Organizing your life involves managing your time, priorities, energy and taking control of your living and storage spaces. If your idea of storage only includes furniture, closets, drawers and cabinets, you’re overlooking one of the most obvious and fun storage options available: Display storage. Display storage seems counterintuitive to organization because it involves storing things on countertops, window sills, and other surfaces in plain view. I bet you’re thinking, “Cool! My house isn’t actually cluttered, I’m just using the display storage method!” Hold your horses. You can’t just fill up all your available surfaces with stuff and call it “display storage.” That’s called clutter and most people are already good at that. To the contrary, display storage is delibe...

Four Steps To Rescue Stray New Year Resolutions

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Looks like it is that time of year when many New Year resolutions that people set have already strayed. Attempts to kick a smoking habit for example, might have seemed successful for a few weeks but once the realities and stresses of coming back from the holidays have resurfaced, some people may have caved into the nicotine again.Of course there is the usual health promises that get broken too. According to the fitness industry, a lot of gym memberships are sold from December to February but gym attendance significantly drops shortly afterwards when people realize that working out involves a lot of physical work.This happens year after year for pretty well all types of New Year resolutions including health, financial and habit related ones like smoking. If this has already happened to you ...

February 2012 (listening!)

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:56:44 +0100

Hurry Up and Meditate: Guided Meditations by David Michie If meditation was available in capsule form, it would be the biggest selling drug of all time. It has been scientifically proven to deliver highly effective stress relief, boost our immune systems and dramatically slow the aging process. It has also been shown to make us much happier and more effective thinkers. In this partner recording to Hurry Up and Meditate, David Michie takes the novice meditator by the hand, and provides four guided Buddhist meditations to help you experience for yourself the benefits of these time-honoured and powerful techniques. The Meaning of Life: Making Every Moment Matter by Guy Finley All who were there for these five days of groundbreaking dynamic talks were inspired, enriched, and deeply tou...

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World Class Self Development Training

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:26:29 +0100

As I said at the end of my previous post The 7 Deadly Sins of Self Development’ today I want to tell you about some awesome self development training that is real worth checking out. This is not just useful for Life Coaches or people working in therapy, but also for people that want to make significant change in their own life, but maybe don’t want to work one-on-one with a Life Coach. If you were to ask me who would be the people I would most like to train with in the world of coaching and NLP, other than NLP Co-developers John Grinder and Richard Bandler, my list would look like this: Steve and Connierae Andreas David Gordon Andrew Austin I’m not even sure if David Gordon does training these days, but I do know that Steve Andreas and Andy Austin (author of my all time favorite bo...

10 Simple Ways to Balance Your Energy Levels Throughout the Day

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:29:29 +0100

Do you feel enthusiastic and inspired in the mornings – only to find yourself exhausted in the afternoons? Perhaps you only ever seem to perk up when you’ve got a coffee in hand, or you manage to concentrate for 30 minutes but then find yourself procrastinating. If your energy levels fluctuate a lot, you might need to focus on achieving more balance. These ten tips should help: #1: Drink Plenty of Water Yes, you’ve heard this one a hundred times before. But are you actually managing it? If you’re slightly dehydrated, you’ll struggle to concentrate. Try keeping a bottle of water on your desk so that you can easily sip while working. If you don’t like the taste of plain water, try buying sparkling or flavored varieties. #2: Don’t Drink Too Much Caffeine Coffee, tea and c...

Create the Habit of Meditation, & the Zen Habits Premium Membership

Zen Habits — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:03:12 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. Today I’m launching something I should have created a long time ago: the Zen Habits Premium Membership, and a mini-course that’s included with it called Create the Habit of Meditation. The membership is a monthly subscription of $19.99, but really it’s a commitment to changing your life, and the tools needed to do that. If you’ve been looking to simplify, get healthy & fit, become more effective, do work you’re passionate about, eliminate debt, find contentment, declutter, create new habits … this new program is meant to show you how to do that. I’ll be sharing the simple methods that have worked for me in hundreds of my experiments, have helped thousands in classes I’ve taught, and have been perfected throug...

What New Challenge Are You Going to Take This Year?

Life Optimizer — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:06:59 +0100

If you want to grow, you need to expand your personal capacity. I already wrote about it before, but I think it’s necessary to touch on this topic again. It’s an important topic that deserves constant reminder. Expanding your personal capacity is essential for your personal growth. It will take you the next level in life. It will make you a better person. For that, what you need to do is taking a new challenge. You should move out of your comfort zone and do something that stretches your skills and abilities. It’s inconvenient, but that’s the way to grow. So here is my question to you: What new challenge are you going to take this year? We still have eleven months in 2012 which is enough to work on a new challenge. Don’t waste them by just doing what you always do. Do something ...

How Great Leaders Create Innovation by Breaking Away

Phil Gerbyshak — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:30:39 +0100

Recently I’ve been able to talk to Jane Stevenson and Bilal Kaafarani about their new book Breaking Away. It’s a fantastic book about how great leaders create innovation, and it’s filled with tips on how your business can be more innovative without breaking the bank. What follows are some questions that can help your business be more innovative and learn from all the research Jane and Bilaal did for this book. Phil: Let’s start by defining innovation. What is it – and why do so many get it wrong? Jane & Bilal: Innovation is a term that is often used, but seldom understood. That’s because the word has a mystical quality that infers something new or magical, but isn’t clearly defined. Often when people talk about innovation they are each referring t...

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Simpler Thinking: 5 Powerful Habits That Work For Me

The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:38:09 +0100

Colorful smoke image from Bigstock. Share || ”Chi Wen Tzu always thought three times before taking action. Twice would have been quite enough.” Confucius “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.” Eckhart Tolle One of my biggest problems used to be that I thought too much. I overthought any little problem until it became a bigger and scarier thing in my mind. I overthought positive things until they didn’t seem to be that positive anymore. I overanalyzed and deconstructed things until the happiness that comes from just being in a moment and enjoying it fell apart. This locked me into analysis paralysis. Little action was taken. Opportunities were rarely used. Life stood still and felt confining. And when I took ac...

How to Make the Most of the Mundane

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:00:36 +0100

“The opportunity to find wonder in the midst of our everyday lives transforms the agony of the struggle into the adventure of becoming.” – Kim Thomas Do you wish your life were more exciting? I’m guessing the answer is “yes.” It probably feels like you have so many mundane things to do. You have dishes to wash, reports to write, kids to pick up, laundry to do, social obligations to attend to… the list goes on. “If only my life were more interesting!” you might be thinking. A while back, I read about an incident involving a live grenade that continues to remind me that the mundane matters. Second Lieutenant Kok Khew Fai was overseeing the safety of 50 army recruits during a live hand grenade throw in Singapore. Kok stood a short distance away from the recruits as, one by...

5 Minute Carb Cycling Meals

Success Begins Today — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:01:44 +0100

In my quest to implement the carb cycling diet into my daily routine, I’ve come across a frustrating problem. This diet requires lots of protein on the low carb days, which means that I have to cook some type of meat or veggie patty to fulfill the plan. I’ve tried some different solutions, but I’ve found that I’m often having to use multiple pans or other cooking implements to get things prepared. I don’t have a lot of extra time in my daily routine, so I’m always on the lookout for time saving ideas. In the video above I’ll show you a practical and low cost solution I discovered for preparing quick meals with a minimum of fuss. The Cuisinart Griddler allows me to cook two meat patties along with buns or tortillas all at the same time. I just pre-heat the unit for a minute, ...

Capsul8 – Preview for Productivity501 Readers

Productivity501 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:08:43 +0100

When you get a newspaper, you can cut out an article and come back and read the same thing later. It doesn’t change after you read it. The web isn’t like that. The article you read today, may not be around tomorrow or the version that is here tomorrow may be very different from what you have today.Capsul8 is a startup that solves this problem by giving you a simple way to take a snapshot of a web page and collect these snapshots into a “capsule” where each web page is a different “chapter” that you can easily navigate through and share.Some of the capsules listed on the Capsul8 home page include:A collection of web pages paying tribute to Steve Jobs.Articles about the artist known as Bansky.The front page of the final publication of News of the World alo...

Ultimate Guide to Sending Business Email That Gets Results

Phil Gerbyshak — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:30:14 +0100

I left my job as an IT manager in corporate America in June of 2010. I used to receive upwards of 2500 messages a day, and some days sent out 200 or so, most of which required a reply from someone on the other end. I wasn’t the perfect sender (or receiver for that matter) but the most important messages I sent typically got a response in the time frame I needed a response in. I believe it’s because I found a secret formula that I used each time I sent an important message. I’ve broken that down so you can use it to send important emails to your customers, whether you’re a corporate citizen or a freelancer. If you read and use these tips, you’ll send email that gets results. And if you read all the way to the end of the article and leave YOUR best tip, you ju...

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Who the Hell are You? 10 Ways to Step out from Behind the Mask

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:06:49 +0100

Who the hell are you? Are you for real? That’s the message I got when I had forgotten my twitter password for the umpteenth time. And it got me thinking (something I have been known to do on occasions). Do we really know who we are? Next time you pass by a mirror, just stay there for a while and look at the person staring back at you. Is that you or an image of you? This is how you present yourself to the world and yet does your inner self match your outer self? Once upon a long time ago, there was a man who liked to fool around and play jokes on everyone. He used to put on an extraordinary mask that spanned an array of emotions from laughing and crying to grimacing. He took great pleasure in playing the fool and frightening everyone. Some people laughed at his antics, some people cried....

Quote: Your Habits

Your Life. Organized. — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us." John Dryden1631-1700, Poet and Playwright PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below. (Source: Your Life. Organized.)

Finding the Courage to Stay the Course

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Anytime you decide on the pursuit of an important goal, you’ll be faced with a series of challenges. Peaks, valleys and plateaus are par for the the course. But the thing that separates the people who make it from the ones that don’t is the courage to stay the course.At the start of any new endeavor most of us look forward to every single day with a child like excitement. We see infinite possibilities and the future appears bright. It seems as though there is absolutely nothing that can get in our way. We feel almost invincible and the possibility of failure doesn’t even occur to us. We blow through every obstacle with a sense that we’re invincible.The WallThen we hit the first real roadblock. Our excitement diminishes and turns into frustration. The pursuit of that goal makes us f...

The 7 Deadly Sins Of Self Development

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:04:30 +0100

I don’t suppose there really are any deadly sins with self development, I was being overly dramatic with the title. But there certainly are areas where I see people make the same mistakes again and again and again, and you don’t have to be one of them If that is, you avoid the following 7 self development deadly(ish) sins: 1: Thinking Being Hard On Yourself Is The Best Way Forward I have been beating this drum so long I’ve had to have it re-skinned six times, but I shall never stop while there’s strength in my arms and some breath in my body, so let’s get it over with. You simply cannot be the best person you can be by being hard on yourself 24/7. I’ve never had a client tell me beating themselves up achieved anything other than feeling shit about life and hammering...

The Top 2 Ways To Turning Your Passions Into Multiple Streams of Income

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:01:21 +0100

In Making a Living Without a Job, Barbara J. Winter described the idea of Multiple Profit Centers: “I think of creating profit centers,” she wrote, “as being akin to what a juggler does when spinning plates on top of sticks. The juggler walks out on the stage with ten sticks and ten plates but doesn’t begin spinning them all at once. Methodically, he or she positions the first plate on a stick and gets it into motion. Once done, the juggler moves on to the next, then the next, and so forth. Eventually, all ten of the plates are spinning away, each with its own momentum” Creating multiple streams of income is key to sustain and secure your message. When one of the streams faces a hard time, others lift you up. When it comes to creating multiple streams of income (or multiple profi...

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How to Deal with Difficult People and Have Constructive Conflict

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Life and relationships aren't always perfect. Take a minute to think of some difficult people you have to deal with in your life? These may be people you work with, the in-laws that come to town throughout the year, or your neighbor who can’t seem to take a hint. For whatever reason, you're just not jiving with these people.Do you flee? Or, do you get flexible and learn to interact?When we encounter these extreme personalities it can feel like they are trying to make our life miserable, but more often than not, it’s simply learning about these peoples’ tendencies and how to interact in a more tactful way. Some conflicts are unavoidable and shouldn’t be smoothed over or suppressed, though it’s learning to deal with our differences, and how to understand, resolve, and learn from th...

Plotting for Motivation, Part II

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:45:00 +0100

A couple weeks ago I wrote a long post about how I was feeling blah, and came away with the notion that I wanted to create a system to deal with it. “It” is the opposite of blah, which I’d define as being excited about what I’m accomplishing every day. The next step is to define what the game will be. Time to dust off that old game design hat! System Goals Before I can design a system, I need to define what it’s supposed to achieve. The glib answer is “Happiness”, but pragmatically I am ready to accept a limited (and therefore achievable) objective. For example, a can of ice-cold grape Fanta would make me REALLY HAPPY right now. That is something I can actively plan and execute, and I even know where I might find some. Failing that, I could pro...

Creating Silence from Chaos

Zen Habits — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:20:33 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. We are often afraid of silence, because its emptiness feels idle, boring, unproductive, and scary. And so we fill our lives with chaos, noise, clutter. But silence can be lovely, and therapeutic, and powerful. It can be the remedy for our stress and the habits that crush us. If we want quiet in our lives, how do we create it? I’ve been exploring this myself. As a father of six kids, I have to admit that I don’t always have silence in my life. That’s not a complaint — I love the messy noise that my family brings — but silence can be a welcome refuge from that noise at times. I create silence by subtracting, and not filling the resulting emptiness withe noise or clutter. And so my life is a constant experimentation with subtracting. ...

Dave Seah All Network Feed

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:07:00 +0100

A while ago, feeling a little cramped by having just one main blog, I converted davidseah.com into a multi-blog network with a number of “process journals”. The idea was to have a place where I could type up a storm of text that were of little interest to a general audience, but perhaps highly interesting to someone with that exact same question. It might be interesting also to people who want a behind-the-scenes peek at the way I study and desconstruct what I want to learn. While I was looking for a mature plugin solution to aggregate all the subblogs with the main site feed, I came across Yahoo Pipes, which lets you manipulate data on the Internet with a graphical interface. I put together an RSS feed that aggregates everything here, and have redirected it to http://feeds...

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Is Your Writing Holding You Back Online? Five Quick Ways to Improve

Success Begins Today — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:29:13 +0100

This is a guest post by Ali Luke. She is a writer and writing coach, and blogs about writing on her site Aliventures. You can find her on Twitter as @aliventures, where she’s always happy to answer questions about writing. Although podcasts and videos are becoming more and more popular online, we still live in a text-heavy world. Whenever you put a page on your website, publish a post on your blog or even send an email, you’re communicating through words alone. If you’re a good writer, you’ll stand out; if your writing skills need some work, you could be failing to achieve the success you deserve. I’ve met plenty of people who are incredibly smart – but unfortunately, in emails, they come across as careless or uneducated. I’ve met others who are great fun to be around – but...

How To Use Experiences from your Love Life to Forward your Career

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:03:24 +0100

Everyone has up’s and down’s in their love lives, most commonly there are “those relationships” you’d rather forget, but should you forget them entirely? Why not use negative experiences from your love life to prevent you from making similar mistakes in your career? At least you’ll have something to show from those lousy relationships! Although using a one-night-stand in your work environment isn’t recommended, there are some popular relationship problems which can be likened common career complaints. You can learn from these mistakes to resolve pressing issues in your career. The Stale Marriage Much like a weathered marriage, you’ve hit that point in your career where you generally feel BORED. You may feel that there’s no opportunity for progression within the company yo...

Social Bankruptcy

Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:36:22 +0100

For the past several months, I’ve been going through a social reboot. This involves consciously reassessing my social life and deciding what connections and social habits to maintain and what to change. But this year I’ve decided to go further with this process and declare outright social bankruptcy. This is an area of my life that was far enough off track that changing it for the better is closer to starting over from scratch than making modifications to an existing structure. It’s more analogous to changing careers than it is to tweaking an existing career. I could see that my social life was becoming exceedingly unbalanced. It was a source of many stimulating connections, but the overall big picture wasn’t working very well. While many people have trouble with...

5 Pitfalls to Avoid to Achieve Your Life Goals

Life Optimizer — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:30:13 +0100

Note: This is a guest post from Clay Andrews of The Path to Passion I don’t mean to be a downer here. If you’re interested in optimizing your life and living it to the fullest, you probably have a lot of big goals and dreams. It’s important to focus on what you want and to use that as motivation to move you forward. However, it’s also important to be realistic about the common pitfalls that people tend to get stuck in as they work toward their life goals. Here are 5 common things I’ve seen in others (and myself!): 1. Pursue Material Success Above All Else It is easy to get mesmerized by the thought that your life would be perfect if only you had more money, a bigger house, or a new pair of shoes. Don’t get caught in the trap of chasing the best and brightest new thing. I’ve b...

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Create a Facebook Business Page – Step by Step

Phil Gerbyshak — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:30:09 +0100

If you’ve always wondered where the step by step instructions were for creating a Facebook business page, look no further than this presentation. I presented this as a training session for business owners in Racine, Waterford, Rochester, Burlington and the surrounding areas. Feel free to download it, print it out, and share any tips you have for making it even better. Create a Facebook Business Page – Step by Step View more presentations from Phil Gerbyshak If you’re looking for someone to train your organization to use Facebook more effectively, or need training on any other social media platform, contact Phil Gerbyshak today. (Source: Phil Gerbyshak)

What is Carb Cycling?

Success Begins Today — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:35:22 +0100

I’ve been searching for a good diet and exercise program for the New Year. I’ve looked at some of the latest research and results that different plans have been getting. My search led me to the concept of Carb-Cycling, which has been used by bodybuilders for years. In a nutshell, carb cycling boils down to… On weight training days you have more carbohydrates, On non weight training days you have less carbohydrates. This simple concept allows your body maximum calorie burning efficiency and helps your system maintain a high metabolic rate On the surface this looks really easy, but as I have dug deeper into the plans, many of them are extremely complicated. The idea of carb cycling is to keep your body from reducing its metabolic rate and going into starvation mode when you reduce ca...

3 Ways to Perfect Your Work-Life Balance

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:58:14 +0100

Whether you have just started in the world of work or a seasoned professional, establishing a successful work-life balance can prove difficult challenge. Having a good work life balance is a huge factor in your general happiness and well being. We all feel pressured to work and worry about work and we are all pressured to be out with friends or family every night. Pressure comes from all around you and before you know it you are stressed at work and not going out. The outcome is that you will be unhappy and this will affect not just you but your friends and family. Achieving balance will mean you will be happy with your life as a whole and enjoy work and appreciate the time you have when it comes. So with that in mind, here are the three ways that can help you find your work life balance a...

Opting Out of Holiday Gift Exchanges

Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:31:20 +0100

Today I told my family that I’m permanently opting out of buying/giving/receiving gifts for all future birthdays & holidays. Many people grow up with holiday traditions that center around buying and exchanging gifts with family members. I enjoyed and appreciated this when I was younger, and I have many fond memories about it. These days it no longer resonates with me though. It’s not a good fit for my values. I feel it’s time to make a conscious choice here and drop this tradition from my life. Gift giving is a popular love strategy that means a lot to certain people. I respect that. But it’s not a tradition that I personally find fulfilling or meaningful, either on the giving or the receiving end of it. My primary love strategies are physical touch (like hugs a...

What's Wrong With The Obvious?

Your Life. Organized. — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Since 1998, I've been helping people take control of their lives at home and at work and it has been consistently gratifying. There are times when I believe people call me at their wits' end, hoping and praying that I'll have magic words and maybe a few spells and potions that will fix their organizing problems. But I'm about to tell you a secret. I'm not magic. None of us in the organizing industry are. The success I've had working with clients over the years comes from a number of factors including asking the right questions, finding the root causes of a situation and creating processes to remedy the problem. Organizing success also comes from seeking out the simplest, easiest, most low-maintenance solutions. Too many people are eager to set up perfect organizational systems which work...

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Notice: Broken RSS Feed

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:11:30 +0100

Thanks to Elaine and Jim for pointing out that my RSS feed seems to have stopped functioning. I’m using Feedburner, an RSS Feed manager that allows me to see the number of subscribers, and it seems stuck no matter what I do. I’m trying to restore function without breaking the existing subscriptions. The official davidseah.com feed URL is http://davidseah.com/feed. Incidentally, the journal feeds are NOT included in the main feed; I’ll look at rolling-up a separate feed for everything that doesn’t depend on a third-party service. UPDATE: The feed caching problem didn’t show up when debugging in Chrome, but it did when using Firefox. Tracked it down when using Firefox, and saw the stuck feed. Nuked cache directory and the feed seems to have fixed, but will keep...

How Your Friends Can Help You Reach Your Goals

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:28:37 +0100

Whatever your plans are for the coming year, your friends can help. You might be reluctant to let them. Perhaps you feel that accepting help will lessen your own achievement – or you’re worried that your friends might laugh at your goals and ambitions. You might think that asking for help is futile: the people you know might not possess the skills or knowledge that would be valuable to you. The truth is, no-one achieves much if they work entirely alone. And by allowing others to help, you not only increase your chances of success, you also reinforce your relationship with them. Even if your friends can’t offer advice about your new venture, they can still support you. Here are three key ways in which friends (and family, and co-workers) can help you reach your goals. #1: Enco...

How to Stay Productive in Troubled Times

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:36:27 +0100

Distressful situations are a fact of life- a human predicament that seems hell-bent on blocking our attempts towards personal nirvana and impairing our ability to function. Though it may be unpleasant to have to stop and collect yourself in response to a personal difficulty, there may be times when you may not even have that “luxury.” If you find yourself in an usually stressful or painful situation, yet still need to maintain some level of performance in either your personal or professional life, then keep the following four tips in mind: 1. Give yourself some slack! The very first step towards staying productive when difficulty strikes is accepting the fact that you will likely not be at your peak performance. To the best of your ability, you need to lower the bar. Otherwise, the str...

How to Build and Stick to Your Exercise Routine

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Most of us need to exercise more. Being active isn’t just important when you’re trying to lose weight – exercising regularly also means you’ll have a decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, strokes and even some cancers.Perhaps you’ve tried getting into exercise in the past, but you always find yourself slipping back into your old habits. You might manage to get to the gym three times a week at first, but soon, you’re back to going a couple of times a month at best.But you’re not lazy and you don’t lack willpower. All you need is an exercise routine that will actually work.Here’s how:Your Routine Needs to Suit YouEven if you played a lot of sport in college, you might struggle to exercise today. That’s because your lifestyle’s changed: you may have kids, a busy job...

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Approach Anxiety

Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:31:43 +0100

Several months ago I was speaking with my friend Morty Lefkoe about fears and limiting beliefs that I noticed among my readers. I shared with him that one of the biggest problem areas was approach anxiety. While many readers appear to be very social online, it’s common for them to be pretty socially timid in person — I know this quite well from interacting with them both online and face to face. Social timidity is frequently a result of approach anxiety. Instead of proactively approaching new people to form connections (for friendship, dating, networking, etc), these people often hold back. There can be a variety of reasons for why they hold back, but it typically boils down to fear caused by limiting beliefs about approaching people, initiating conversations, expressing intere...

The Habits That Crush Us

Zen Habits — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:26:16 +0100

‘Don’t panic.’ ~Douglas Adams Post written by Leo Babauta. Why is it that we cannot break the bad habits that stand in our way, crushing our desires to live a healthy life, be fit, simplify, be happier? How is it that our best intentions are nearly always beaten? We want to be focused and productive, exercise and eat healthy foods, stop smoking and learn to get rid of debt and clutter, but we just can’t. The answer lies in something extremely simple, but something most people aren’t aware of: We don’t know how to cope with stress and boredom in a healthy way. The bad habits we’ve formed are often useful to us, in dealing with stress and boredom. Consider the bad habits that fit this bill: Smoking Internet procrastination Eating junk food Drinking ...

Mark Twain’s Guide to Living an Awesome Life: 7 Essential Tips

The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:32:58 +0100

Share “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” “Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.” “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Back in 2009 I wrote an article with some great quotes from Mark Twain – lecturer, satirist, humorist and author of classic books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – and it became a favorite for me and many readers. A sequel to Mark Twain’s Top 9 Tips for Living a Kick-Ass Life has been in my ideas folder for some time. But today I have completed it. I hope you’ll find the result, these 7 essential tips from Mark Twain inspiring and helpful. 1. The secret of getting ahead… “The secret of getting ah...

The Remedy For Boredom

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:22:51 +0100

No matter the time of year, or who we are, boredom can hit us when we least expect it, and we find ourselves bored with work, relationships . . . even life. Sometimes boredom sneaks up on us; other times it signals its intention from way off in the distance. Either way, boredom is something that leaves us uninterested and unengaged with the things we’re doing. Life Is An Adventure When I was a kid, I’d say, “I’m bored. I haven’t got anything to do.” What I was really saying was this: “I don’t have anything fun to do.” As kids, we still dream. We pick activities that spark our imagination and curiosity. We learn at an early age that the remedy to boredom is adventure and exploring the unknown. As leaders, however, we spend very little energy on adventure and a grea...

Quote: Circumstances

Your Life. Organized. — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." George Bernard Shaw1856-1950, Playwright PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below. (Source: Your Life. Organized.)

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30 Amazing Facts About Your Brain

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:59:33 +0100

Useful Self Development Brain Stuff 1. You have a finite amount of will power each day because to exercise will power you need energy in the form of oxygen and glucose That’s why it’s harder to say ‘no’ when you are tired or not feeling yourself. 2. A thought is a physical pathway in the brain. The more you have that thought the more you groove that path and the easier it is to have it again. That’s why having the thought “Why do I suck?” is never a great idea. 3. Speaking of which, you have approximately 70,000 thoughts per day, although many will be the same ones looping round and round on your grooved cranial highway. So make sure you don’t think, “Why do I suck?” 50,000 times a day, or suck ye shall. 4. Even if you consider yourself a left-braine...

5 Ways to Encourage Responsible, Productive Behavior in Your Kids

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:28:36 +0100

“Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.” – The Dalai Lama Responsibility is one of the most important skills your child can learn. It influences all pursuits in life, affecting your child’s ability to make friends, to excel in school and to excel in her career. Most parents understand the importance of being productive and responsible, but are unsure of how to begin teaching this skill to their children. Children often learn best when they are having fun. Games teach children that life skills don’t have to be boring and encourage children to think about problems in unique ways. Here are 5 ways to make learning responsibility fun: Timed...

Setting Your Mind for a Winter Weight Loss

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:20:23 +0100

Every single year most people get stuck in the same cycle regarding fitness. As the days grow shorter and colder we exercise less. When you add in holiday laziness and indulgence, along with an over abundance of delicious food, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why so many of us start adding extra pounds. So should you wait until spring to start losing weight or just look for ways to not add it during the winter? An ounce of prevention As Ben Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” While I doubt he was talking about keeping a trim waistline, the saying is very accurate. It is extremely easy to gain excess weight and fat. Simply add a few extra helpings of dessert each week and watch those pounds add up. But conversely you have to...

How to Write a Manifesto – Why Everyone Should Have One

Life Optimizer — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:00:53 +0100

Note: This is a guest post from Michael Martel of Achieve the Green Beret Way A manifesto, by definition is a public declaration of a person’s principles and intentions. Throughout history a lot of manifestos have been political in nature. Marx and Engel’s Communist Manifesto sticks in many people’s mind as an example of a manifesto. Other famous ones have been on the subjects of art or technology. However, it doesn’t have to be on a certain topic. A manifesto lays out what is important to someone and publically draws a line in the sand as to what they believe in and what they will do and not do. Manifestos have gotten bad press lately. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber had his own manifesto. Manifesto can be for good or evil. The Declaration of Independence is essentially a manifesto. ...

5 Positive Coping Methods to Beat the Winter Blues

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:35:47 +0100

According to recent surveys millions of Americans report being in a bad mood this winter. According to researchers this shift in mood is a result of much more than the woes that come with Holiday depression. In current years, I have been among those millions. Maybe you are, too. Psychologists call this phenomenon being “seasonally-affected.” Many in the scientific community consider it a temporary physiological change in body rhythms and internal chemistry due to more than just mood fluctuations during the Holidays, but giving credit to the lack of sunshine and light during these cold, dark months. After all, light is a source of natural energy for our minds and our bodies. So it goes without saying that the less light we have in our environment, the less likely we are to naturally fee...

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22 Secrets to Discovering Your Dream and Living It

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

One of the most important rules of happiness in life is to do what you love. But discovering that dream job and what you are meant to do in life isn't always so easy.Take a look at the happiest, most successful people on this planet: they are all doing something they love, creating something they believe in, living a life of purpose and passion. Do that, and it doesn't matter how much money you make.But what do you do if you don't know what you want to do? If you don't know what your dream is? This is a common problem, and many people wander through much of their life without discovering their passion, and go from job to job, unfulfilled and miserable.If that's you, don't give up. What follows is a list of suggestions that will help you discover your dream, and start on the road to living ...

Aligning With Your Core Values For Muppets

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:13:22 +0100

I know I said that I would follow up my How Do I Meditate post with a post on really cool brain stuff. Unfortunately, the research has taken me longer than I thought and rather than do a half assed job, or give you poor information I thought I would wait until next week. By the way, from my next post I’ve decided to move back to offering the full blog post to RSS Continue reading... (Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone :)

Can Your Business Achieve Operational Excellence – an interview with Kevin Duggan

Phil Gerbyshak — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:30:24 +0100

What is operational excellence, and how can your organization achieve operational excellence? While at first I thought this would be only for big business, in the 45 minutes (27 of which is below for your listening pleasure) I spent with Kevin Duggan, author of the new book Design for Operational Excellence, I realized this is DEFINITELY for small businesses. Take 30 minutes and listen to Kevin’s insights about how you can use operational excellence in your business. Chances are, you’ll be very happy you did! (Source: Phil Gerbyshak)

A Mysterious Diet Secret

Success Begins Today — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:22:15 +0100

One of the most complicated and controversial things to do is pick a weight loss diet plan. There are literally hundreds of them, and many of them purport to be the only way to achieve permanent weight loss. Here are some common ones… The Low Carb Diet (South Beach, Dukan, and Atkins are common versions) The Paleo Diet (Diet restricted to what our ancestors ate: No bread or processed food) The Low Fat/Calorie Diet (Many versions including Weight Watchers, Volumetrics) The Liquid Protein Diet (Slimfast and others) The Vegan Diet (No meat or animal products) The Gluten Free Diet ( Gluten is a wheat protein which some people are allergic to) The listings above are just a small sample of the popular diets advertised on TV, infomercials, and in books and magazines. Many are restrictive, and b...

Don’t Invest. Give.

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:21:21 +0100

I was having a chat with my fiancé one night recently, and burst into tears. I was bitter, sad, and angry. Why doesn’t anyone help me in return, I asked. Why is it when I am good to people and it feels like the kindness and generosity isn’t reciprocated? My fiance, with one eyebrow lifted, looked at me tenderly and said, “Perhaps because you aren’t really giving?” I’ve always thought of myself as a kind person. When I moved from city to city with my expatriate job, I hosted many friends from Hong Kong, where I grew up, to visit. After all, who doesn’t want a free place to stay in when in Paris, Tokyo, London… ? So I would be more than happy to put them up while they traveled. However, when these people come and board in my guest room, do I realize that they have other frie...

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The Rhythm of Routine

Your Life. Organized. — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

The Earth revolves around the sun. The ocean tide comes in and goes back out. The sun rises, the sun sets. Birds and sea mammals migrate south and back north again. Everywhere you look, nature has a rhythm. The world is constantly in motion nature’s cycles are how she keeps order. What’s your rhythm? If your life is generally DISordered, could it be you just haven’t found your rhythm? Perhaps you fly by the seat of your pants most of the time, never stopping to put routines and standard practices in place. Maybe you avoid structuring your days because don’t want to be “confined” to a schedule or stifle your creativity. Nature thrives on rhythm and order and since we're a part of nature, I believe we do too. There’s something about routine that keeps us sane when things arou...

24 Hours to Go to Get $1000 of Personal Development Products for $97

The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:57:30 +0100

Today is the last 24 hours of the personal development products deal that we have been doing this week. For another 24 hours, until 9.00 am EST (that’s 2.00 pm or 14.00 GMT) Thursday the 19:th, you can get 34 of the top personal development products – including the complete edition of The Art of Relaxed Productivity by me – that would usually cost you 1000 dollars for just 97 dollars. That is a 90% discount. I have bought my copy of this Empowerment Pack and I am digging into it and reading Joshua Becker’s “Inside-Out Simplicity” right now. It’s wonderfully well-written and thought-provoking stuff. Click here to learn more about this and to get your copy right now (Source: The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness)

48 Hours to a Better Life: The Empowerment Pack is HERE!

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:02:34 +0100

Get over $1000 of Personal Develop Products (Including The Power of Fear) for just $97 for the next 48 hours only! Hello 2012! How are you going to bring in the new year? Like a lamb or a lion? Do you struggle with your relationships? Your weight? Your health? Your career? Maybe it’s simply about finding out who you are and what truly makes you happy. A lot of times these new year’s resolutions ultimately become lofty ambitions that slip further and further away from your grasp – not from lack of want but from lack of direction and a great support system. That’s why PickTheBrain along with 24 other AMAZING personal development bloggers and experts have teamed up to give you all the help you’ll need for making 2012 your BEST YEAR YET! So for the next two days y...

How Do I Meditate?

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:33:12 +0100

In my previous post ‘What Is Meditation?’ I hopefully debunked some of the myths about meditating that may stop you from engaging in something that has been scientifically proven to improve health, cognitive function, happiness levels and even lengthen life. I may not know you, but I’m pretty sure there’s nothing in the above list that you wouldn’t like more of. Let me take things a stage further to show you how serious I Continue reading... (Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone :)

Learning to Sit Alone, in a Quiet Empty Room

Zen Habits — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:49:52 +0100

‘All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ ~Blaise Pascal Post written by Leo Babauta. Think about some of the problems of our daily lives, and how many of them would be eased if we could learn to sit alone, in a quiet empty room, with contentment. If you’re content to sit alone quietly, you don’t need to eat junk food, to shop on impulse, to buy the latest gadget, to be on social media to see what everyone else is talking about or doing, to compare yourself to others, to make more money to keep up with the Joneses, to achieve glory or power, to conquer other lands or wage war, to be rude or violent to others, to be selfish or greedy, to be constantly busy or productive. You are content, and need nothing else. It solves a lot...

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Introducing Resolutions Tracker: An App That Helps You Keep Your Resolutions

Life Optimizer — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:12:45 +0100

Last week I wrote about HabitMaster. Actually I don’t want to write about my apps two weeks in a row, but – since we are in the beginning of a new year – I think it’s the right time to introduce this app to you. A few days ago I released a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch called Resolutions Tracker. It’s an app that helps you keep track of your resolutions (including but not limited to New Year’s resolutions). As you know, making resolutions is easy, but keeping them is not. So I designed this app to help you plan, do, and evaluate your progress in keeping your resolutions. It’s a good complement to HabitMaster. For resolutions that deal with building new habits, HabitMaster is the app for you. But for resolutions that are not, Resolutions Tra...

How To Create a Diet That Works

Success Begins Today — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:36:33 +0100

Wow, it’s the New Year again. Time to put away the Christmas decorations, clean up the house, and deal with those unwanted pounds that found my midsection over the last two months. Why are November and December so hard on the waistline? Every year I tell myself I’m not going to gain any weight over the holidays, but it is usually a losing battle. When I actually sit down and research what happened, I come away with one powerful answer… It’s their fault! Yes… it’s the Starbucks and their Peppermint Lattes. It’s Applebee’s and their holiday pies. It’s all the people in the office with their home made fudge, brownies, and Christmas cookies. It’s our friends and family who give us See’s candy for the holiday. It’s not my fault… really it isn’t. I’m helpless to re...

5 No-BS Ways to Become Awesome in 5 Minutes

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:23:14 +0100

You’re at college and working two jobs. You have a date in 15 minutes. You’re a single parent with a long commute and 5 hours of sleep per day. Or maybe you’re just not ready to make a huge time commitment. Whatever your situation, tools that can turbo-charge your life fast are handy. The bad news is, long-term change requires time and effort. It’s not what a commitment-phobic, time-starved generation wants to hear but it’s true. The good news is, self-improvement techniques and exercises can be very time-efficient. In fact, 5 of my favorites will have you kicking ass and taking names in just 5 short minutes. 1. Double Your Chances with Goal-Setting In a recent study, subjects who wrote down their goals were 42% more likely to achieve them than the ones who didn’t. Keeping a ...

Workshop Update

Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:42:41 +0100

The Conscious Success Workshop this past weekend went amazingly well, even better than I expected. I received lots of positive feedback on it afterwards as well as some suggestions to improve it if/when we run it again. It was a very rewarding weekend to be sure. It’s gratifying to know we stimulated lots of positive growth and change for those who attended. These workshops are highly interactive and very unlike anything else out there. Each workshop is centered around a core of serious content where I share the best tools I’ve encountered and plenty of stories and examples to illustrate them. We also have plenty of social exercises so you can easily make new friends, written exercises to help you apply the ideas right away, group discussions for people to share their own stori...

Social Search is here for Google

Phil Gerbyshak — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:45:11 +0100

Last week, Google announced (to MUCH fanfare online, but little fanfare offline) that they will be using more social search in their search engine ratings. What this means is you will see, if your friends and/or you are using Google+ (or other Google products) and you are using Google to search that you’ll see more personalized results from people in your network. Google calls it “Search Plus Your World” and it’s pretty interesting. Rather than bore you with all the details, here’s a 70 second video from Google explaining the change a bit more. Can’t see the video above? Click here to watch Google Search Plus Your World on YouTube While Twitter and Google have gone back and forth on this (Twitter saying this is bad, and Google saying it’s all Twit...

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Get $1000 of Personal Development Products (Including Mine) for Just $97 During the Next 72 Hours

The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:05:35 +0100

It is the start of a brand new year. So, what do you want to get done and how do you want to grow in 2012? Do you want to improve your relationships and create, new exciting ones? Do you want to finally find your passion or purpose in life? Perhaps you want to lose weight, start exercising and up your energy levels to have a healthier and higher quality life. Or maybe you want to simplify, increase your effectiveness while at the same time minimizing your stress, become more confident or unlock your inner potential. There is a lot to dream about. But to get it done, to reach your goals, develop positive new habits and to grow it sure helps to have the support and good, in-depth advice from people who have already done what you want to do. To help you out I and 24 other personal developme...

3 Ways To Be The Architect Of Your Own Life

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:48:30 +0100

Architects are skilled in planning, design, and oversight. Architecture isn’t just limited to the construction of buildings. For example, often visionaries are architects of their generations. When you look at the leaders of yesterday and today, such as Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs, they are architects of sorts. They planned, designed, and oversaw huge transitions that, in many cases, redefined how we function and process reality on a daily basis. Similarly, we can be the architects of our own lives. Here are 3 ways to awaken your inner architect! Architects Create Vision Vision is key! Your vision can literally serve as your blueprint for the future. Your ability to walk into the life that you crave depends on the future you see. That’s because anything exceptional that you ...

Quote: Your Mental Jam

Your Life. Organized. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

"Deal first with whatever is causing you the greatest emotional distress. Often this will break the logjam in your work and free you up mentally to complete other tasks." Brian TracySpeaker and Author PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below. (Source: Your Life. Organized.)

What Is Meditation?

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:40:03 +0100

When I take on a new Life Coaching client the first thing I do is to send them my intake forms to fill in so I can gather some background information. On one of the forms I ask them to rate their satisfaction levels out of 10 in 16 different areas of their life. There’s good reason for doing this and it’s largely because, even though a client may come to me with one Continue reading... (Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone :)

Is Your Mindset Secretly Making You Miserable? Here’s How to Fix It

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Is your mindset secretly ruining your life?And if so, is there a way to fix it?Michael Jordan wasn’t considered the best basketball player of all time when he was starting out. In fact, he was cut from his varsity team when he was a sophomore. Instead of giving up, Jordan became even more determined, and spent hours upon hours practicing on the court and improving his skills.When people look back, they say it was obvious that he was an amazing basketball player, but hindsight is always 20/20. What made the difference was his mindset, and what will make the difference in your life is your mindset.The Two Mindsets: Fixed vs GrowthIn her book, MindSet: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck introduces two different mindsets: the fixed mindset, and the growth mindset. The fixed mindset p...

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Excellence: What It Is and How to Achieve It

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:36:25 +0100

We’re taught that ancient literature is great art, but that it doesn’t have anything to do with living our lives. The truth is that literature which has stood the test of time is great art exactly because it is about living our lives. The best of these ancient works attempted to answer one question: How should you live your life? And that makes sense. After people move on from the question, how are we going to find food and shelter, they finally have the time to ask, how should we live our lives? And Homer, western civilization’s most influential writer, gives us his answer to that question. Through his epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, he tells us how he and many of the ancient Greeks thought we should live our lives. By embodying “arête.” The most comm...

How to Survive a Recession

Life Optimizer — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:35:18 +0100

Note: This is a guest post from Marisol Garcia of The Pleasure Cure Unemployment, stock market crashes, foreclosures, and increasing national debt are topics that preoccupy Americans today. Most of us are worried, if not petrified, about our financial future. Thoughts about how to survive permeate our lives. We function under the belief that if we don’t work all the time, we will miss an opportunity or lose what we have. What we may not know is that we need more than financial health to secure our future. We need emotional, relational, spiritual and cognitive well-being as well. This means feeling that we have an overall sense of happiness. If not, scholars note, we won’t flourish to our full capacity; we won’t be as productive and successful as we can be. Researchers have found that...

Life as a Conscious Practice

Zen Habits — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:15:05 +0100

Conclusions You won’t be able to change all your habits at once, and I’m not implying that you should try. The habit you’re really changing is consciousness, and practice. Other habits will be difficult to change, especially if you’re trying to change all of them, but it’s OK if you mess up. Give yourself permission to make mistakes without guilt, and instead just deliberately practice again, and again. If something is too hard, and you can’t get it right no matter how many times you practice, you can try it in smaller steps. If you can’t quit smoking, try not smoking once, and instead relieving stress through walking or doing some pushups or meditation or self-massage. If you can’t quit junk food, just replace one snack with a fruit, or add ...

Happy Birthday Meet-Meme

Phil Gerbyshak — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:30:45 +0100

Meet-Meme, my favorite social media trading cards are turning 1 this month. Well, 1 year old is how old their retail website is. They’re actually almost 2 years old. Happy birthday!! If you’re not familiar, below are my cards (front and back). After the pictures, I’ll explain why I love them so much. Click on them to see them in full size. I love these cards for MANY reasons, but here are a few that stand out. Why I Love Meet-Meme Social Media Trading Cards 1) Size matters – I love the fact they are oversized and are as big as a baseball card (hence the term social media trading cards. Nobody has this size business card, except other Meet-Meme folks. Sure, it’s not perfect in the pocket, but it’s not typi...

10 Quotes To Change Your Momentum

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:39:53 +0100

We’ve all been there. We’re out of ideas and nothing new is coming to our tired and weary minds. When these moments strike, I’ve always been a fan of reading quotes to get me out of that funk, whether it’s writing a term paper or coming up with new business ventures. You could type, “Awesome business quotes” into Google.com and waste a couple hours or if you need just a quick read, then I’ve got you covered. I’ve found several quotes from the people who actually know what they’re talking about. I hope you find one that makes you stop and think. Direct from the titans of industry, “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.” – Donald Trump “I think a smart woman can sell the average man anything,” – Leo Burnett “I will tell you how to...

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5 Tips to Avoid Being a New Year Resolution Dropout

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:48:04 +0100

Every New Year, it never fails: people get a new spark of enthusiasm for embarking on a healthy course for the year. Gym memberships soar, health oriented websites surge in traffic, diet programs and pills are gobbled up like no tomorrow, and personal trainers don’t have enough hours in the day to see the new clients who’ve signed up for sessions. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm rampant in the beginning of January wanes after a few weeks and before you know it, gyms have membership cancellations, websites see drops in traffic, McDonald’s gets back their customers, and personal trainers have a more manageable number of clients. This trend is as predictable as the ball dropping in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Just because the majority of resolution makers give up, however, doesn’t...

How to Focus Your Attention on What is Most Important in Your Life

The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:47:49 +0100

Image by nattu (license). Share || “Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.” Jose Ortega y Gasset “Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.” Jim Rohn Keeping your attention on what is most important in your life is one of the most essential ingredients if you want to be able to: Stick with your goals. Achieve what you want to achieve each day. Appreciate what you have in your life. Clearly see how you can use your time here in the best way. Like with most things, this is something that is of course easier said than done. It’s easy to get distracted way too much and to feel overwhelmed, stressed out and spread out too thin. But with some limits, with some barriers that keep much of the daily clutter out you...

NeatDesk Demo

Your Life. Organized. — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Today I'm sharing a quick (less than 3 minutes) demo of my NeatDesk scanner, which helps me reduce paper clutter and enter data quickly. The NeatDesk is the larger cousin to the NeatReceipts Mobile (portable) Scanner. I like them both. PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below. (Source: Your Life. Organized.)

Somaly Mam & Modern-Day Slavery

21 Dragons — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:00:46 +0100

Somaly Mam was sold as a child into sexual slavery and forced to work in a brothel along with other children. She was tortured and raped on a daily basis. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I first read about Mam in the New York Times; in columnist Nicholas D. Kristof’s account of a raid on a brothel in northern Cambodia. Inside, he and Mam found five girls and one young woman, the youngest girl was about 12 years old. Not long after reading that article, I stumbled upon an article on GQ about the asian sex trade. It starts with the story of a 13-year old girl, who’s trying to dance on stage in a small bar off Manila. If one of the customers buys her for the night, she’d get paid 500 pesos – about 9 US dollars. Did you know that there are more slaves in the w...

Your Top 10 Clutter Questions, Answered

Zen Habits — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:33:44 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. Decluttering is a skill that you learn with practice, just like any skill. And just like other skills, there are many little questions and problems you need answered and solved as you get started. Those of you taking the Clutterfat Challenge this month are facing these problems, and I’m here to help. This post is a quickstart guide to decluttering — the most common questions answered. Also see last week’s Clutterfat Challenge post: How to Tackle Your Clutter. 1. Where do I start? Start anywhere — really, where you start doesn’t matter, as long as you start. You’re going to get to all of it eventually, so pick a random spot to clear, and slowly expand from that spot. Start with a baby step — just one little space. Take j...

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Get Some Purple Goldfish to Amp Up Your Customer Experience from @9inchmarketing

Phil Gerbyshak — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:45:44 +0100

Today is the official launch day for my friend Stan Phelps’ new book What’s Your Purple Goldfish? 2 weeks ago I did a fantastic video interview with Stan to share with you today. Murphy’s Law being what it is, only Stan’s half of the audio was recorded. So rather than give you Stan answering questions you can’t hear, I read my own lips, typed them up, and added Stan’s responses, to provide you with this transcription of our conversation. Before I share the interview, I wanted to share something: I didn’t believe Stan would ever find 1001 Purple Goldfish for his book. That’s not like me to not believe someone, but I really thought it was too ambitious of a goal. I implored Stan to stop at 200 or even 500, but thankfully for you, he didn’...

How To Start Conversations And Make Friends

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:04:03 +0100

If you’ve been reading a lot of articles on how to make friends that tell you to start conversations, be more outgoing, and be yourself, and you’re not getting the results you want, I’m writing this because I found myself in the same situation seven years ago, and I had no idea how to make friends, or how to build relationships and take things from the “acquaintances” stage, and I’d like to share with you what I learned in this article. Most of the advice you read is very similar to telling someone with no knowledge of how to fix a car to “go fix a car”, then them out and expecting them to be able to do it. They tell you “start conversations” and “be real” and “be yourself”, but they don’t give you action steps on how to do any of those things… and that�...

How To Do Your Best Work

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:00:06 +0100

When I first started Life Coaching full time I used to spend a long time prepping my calls. I’d read my client intake forms, check previous notes if applicable and then spend ages, often getting anxious, trying to come up with cunning Life Coaching questions. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say there were times when I probably spent longer prepping than the actual call itself took. After a year or two of Continue reading... (Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone :)

A Hidden Secret for Problem Solving

Success Begins Today — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:56:16 +0100

You’ve been trying to solve the problem for months. It keeps rolling over and over in your head. You have experimented with many things, but you can’t seem to reach a breakthrough. Have you been there? I sure have. I usually ask friends, go online, and search for answers where ever I can find them. Yet many times I end up stuck. Many times it comes down to a decision or a less than desirable answer. Sometimes I settle… Sometimes I give up. There has to be a better way. Last week, while perusing the listings at Audible, I came upon a book with an interesting title Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content I decided that it might be something that would be of interest, so I downloaded it and listened to it on my daily commute. What I found was ...

Mail Bag for January 10, 2012

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:39:19 +0100

One resolution I am planning to make thiscoming February 2nd is to become more efficient in processing the various email alerts I get about various products. Here’s a few of them, plus a bit of my own news: Tom Novak wrote me way back in October about his simple graphical countdown timer at Timerrr as a Chrome extension. For those of you who can’t stand tomatoes, I suppose :) Patrick Ng’s blog Scription is the blog I wish I was writing…super inspiring and beautiful. He’s a talented guy…check out his Chronodex, a circular way of representing time. From Daniel Dankworth, an alert that he’s created a “habit tracking” app for Android along the lines of Joe’s Goals; I don’t have a smartphone so I can’t test it, but you ca...

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Introducing HabitMaster: An App That Helps You Build Positive Habits

Life Optimizer — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:39:31 +0100

In a post last year, I wrote about how I expanded my personal capacity by working on iPhone app business. I also wrote about some lessons I learned in the process. But one thing was missing: I didn’t talk about the app itself. As I wrote in the post, I wanted to be sure that the app is solid first before writing about it here. Well, I think the time has come for me to talk about it. I’m passionate about personal growth, so the app I developed is related to that. The name is HabitMaster and it’s an app that helps you build positive habits in your life. How It Works HabitMaster works by tracking how you keep the habits that you want to build. For each habit, you can see your current and longest streak. Your goal is simply to make your current streak as long as possible. Aim not to br...

The Top 10 Benefits of Meditation

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:22:44 +0100

Meditation has been used for hundreds of years by individuals seeking inner peace, enlightenment and a break from the everyday stressers of life. The practice is thought to benefit the mind, body and spirit in a multitude of ways. Below are the top 10 most significant positive effects of meditation: 1. It is thought to promote cardiovascular healthy by slowing the heart rate and pace of breathing, as well as increasing the flow of blood to the heart. This effect is thought to lower blood pressure, increase exercise capacity and reduce stress, all of which promote cardiovascular wellness. 2. Meditation may help individuals with chronic illnesses manage their conditions by lowering stress levels, which is known to lead to a healthier mind and body. 3. Practicing the mind-body exercise on...

Clearing Your Life for a New Year

Zen Habits — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:55:26 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. Every January, people rush out and get a gym membership, set a list of goals or resolutions, and get ready to take on a new year of frenetic activity. Unfortunately, we don’t often clear space to make room for all this new stuff. The beginning of the year is a great time for renewal of energy and taking on the things we’ve always wanted to tackle — clutter, fitness, work we’re passionate about, debt, and so on. But it’s also a great time to clear out your life, starting out the year on a blank page that’s ready to be filled. While everyone’s life is different, I’ll share some of what I do to clear out my life. Review the year to think about what I learned, what mistakes I made, what I accomplished. Clear my sched...

Google+ is a Waste of Time for Small Businesses

Phil Gerbyshak — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:20:00 +0100

- if your goal is to broadcast your message to as many potential customers as possible. In fact, if numbers are your only metric of success, then don’t waste your time with Google+ right now. OK, now that the 7 of you disbelievers have stopped reading, let’s continue for the rest of you. Google+ stats Paul Allen reports Google+ has 62 million users, adding 625k users each day. (Image courtesy of Paul Allen). Quoting Paul: “If this rate of new signups (625k daily) continues then Google+ will reach 100 million users on Feb. 25th and 200 million users on August 3. They will finish 2012 with 293 million users.” To explain that in ways you can understand and compare it to something else, Facebook reports it has about 750 million users, putting Google+ at 39% as many users as Facebook �...

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3 Simple Steps To Great Self Esteem

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:21:27 +0100

The connection between our self-esteem and what we get out of our lives is very crucial. It’s the foundation of our confidence and interactions with ourselves and the outside world. Having esteem for ourselves plays a part in our moods, beliefs and attitudes, and the quality of relationships we have in our lives. For many of us, we strive to develop ourselves, feel better, and become better people. Understanding what we can do to overcome the symptoms of low self-esteem is a great way to enhance more positives in our lives. Generally, most of us face typical problems and the bouts of the blues that can come with them. The great part is that it can be combated with little to no effort at all. I’ve outlined some practical steps that can be implemented by mature and respectable indi...

Plotting for Motivation

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:33:05 +0100

SUMMARY: I’d hoped to do a lot of work done this weekend, but I came down with a bad case of the blahs. Instead of going to sleep at a responsible time, I stayed up late and consumed a lot of television and Internet in an attempt to drown out a growing sense of malaise. And instead of getting up early, I slept-in and then berated myself ineffectually. Apathy ruled the day. Zonked out in bed very late Sunday morning, I started to trace through the likely causes of my unproductive bout of ill humor, establishing a preliminary framework of understanding to help realign my attitude. Working through the Bummer Lying in bed, I attempted to savor the feeling. I swished it mentally around my head, identifying notes of antipathy and uncertainty against the tang of mild depression. I was ...

Quote: Striking Out

Your Life. Organized. — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."George Herman "Babe" Ruth1895-1948, Hall of Fame Baseball Player (Source: Your Life. Organized.)

Self Developments Greatest Books For Free

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:43:48 +0100

Self development books have had an amazingly positive effect on me and my life. I’m pretty sure without them I wouldn’t be a Professional Life Coach, or at least not a very effective one! Since I started blogging back in 2006 I have written lots of reviews and more than a few list posts such as The Greatest Self Development Books Ever Written and The Best Self Development Books Of 2011. On a couple Continue reading... (Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone :)

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Top 5 Tips to Relieve Stress with Your Camera

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:50:35 +0100

No, I’m not talking about banging your head with your camera! (although that would distract you momentarily!) These tips will help slow you down and remind you to be present. When you are fully aware of this moment, it is much harder to get overwhelmed, stressed and future trip. 1. Take yourself on a photo walk with your camera. Just 10 minutes is all you will need. Go slow. Breathe. Really look. Take photos of all the details along the way. Get closer to your subject and take more photos. This is a walking photo meditation. It’s sacred time for you to be shown the wonder that awaits you right outside your door. 2. Look for power signs. The universe is sending you messages all the time. Set your intention to notice the signs. When you do, take photographs of them. What does t...

Confusion and Uncertainty - How NOT to Deal With It

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

I recently wrote an article on how to deal with confusion, and it seems like there are a lot of people going through this right now, so I thought I’d expand on the topic. This is a topic I hold near and dear to my heart, because just this past year, I’ve gone through a lot of confusion, conflict, and growth within myself.In the end it has led me to a significantly better place. I’m happier, more at peace, and even more able to handle the confusion ahead.It still isn’t easy, but it’s easier, much easier. When you stop fighting, you stop suffering.AddictionOne of the reasons people have addictions is because they experience pain and they want to escape.While confusion is not the only pain they experience, it is certainly one of them. This doesn’t have to mean drug habits, it coul...

How to Tackle Your Clutter

Zen Habits — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:19:24 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. So you’ve been putting off tackling your clutter for months, maybe even years. Papers pile up on a counter, shelves are crammed full of books and magazines and other things, closets are stuffed to the point of spillage, clothes pile up on the floor or furniture, boxes and furniture and other miscellaneous things cover your floor. How do you even get started? If you haven’t yet, start by signing up for the free Clutterfat Challenge, a 30-day challenge to reduce your clutter. I created the challenge, along with my friend Courtney Carver, to help motivate you to finally tackle the clutter. But once you’ve decided to dive in, how do you get started? There are two methods, both of which are great, and you can combine them. Let’s cover all thr...

A Caveman’s Guide to Happiness

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:35:33 +0100

Before I hand over the keys of the blog to todays guest poster, Mark Swedberg, I wanted to tell you about a massive giveaway I’m planning for next week. At the end of each year I write a post reviewing the best self development books to have been published in the previous 12 months. If you want an idea of the kind of book that rocks my world and will be up for grabs, Continue reading... (Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone :)

Five Ways to Make the Most of Your Time in the Kitchen

Life Optimizer — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:23:44 +0100

Note: This is a guest post from Rachael of KitchenCourses.com Eating is a necessity, but cooking doesn’t have to be these days. It’s simple to swing by a drive thru after work to pick up dinner and never really think much about what you’re putting in your body. The truth is that this lifestyle choice isn’t really great for us, and most of us know that. We know we need to make meals that are good for us, but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen when we have a million other things to do each day. Even as someone who loves to cook, I still don’t like to spend hours in the kitchen if I don’t have to. Putting meals together each day doesn’t have to take a ton of time. With a little bit of planning, thoughtful stocking and arrangement of items in your kitchen, a few key ing...

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6 Tips For Writing Better Emails

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:39:50 +0100

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you have an email account. You may well have several – perhaps separate accounts for professional and personal contacts. It’s easy to assume that we know how to use email effectively: it’s been around for long enough. But if you find yourself struggling to communicate effectively by email, these six tips should help: #1: Start With an Appropriate Salutation Some people jump straight into the text of an email without so much as a “hi”. It’s polite to add a salutation, just as you would with a letter. That might look like: Dear Sir/Madam Dear Mr. Johnson Hi Sue Hello Fred Your salutation needs to be appropriate. If you’re writing to a prospective employer, “Dear Mr. Johnson” is pr...

How to Have the Best Year of Your Life (without Setting a Single Goal)

Zen Habits — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:15:24 +0100

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jeff Goins of Goins, Writer. This new year, do something different: stop setting goals. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, then making resolutions for another year is a sure-fire way to drive yourself crazy. I did it for years, and it got me nothing. Resolutions are pipe dreams, and goals are a waste of time. They are designed to trick you into believing all you need to change your life is a plan. But plans don’t work. Life is too chaotic and busy. For most of us, it’s impossible to stick to a list of goals for more than a few weeks, not to mention an entire year. So how do you change your life? By controlling what you can: your daily habits. The Pointlessness of P...

The Little Guide to Making that New Year’s Resolution Stick

The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:56:38 +0100

Share || “The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” Flora Whittemore “Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.” Brian Tracy It’s a brand new year and I am guessing that many have their New Year’s resolution enthusiastically in mind. But how can you make the resolution something that sticks rather than something that gets abandoned in a month or so? Well, first, focus on just developing one habit or making one change at a time. And make sure that it is a change YOU want in your life and that you have your own reasons for making it. Trying to make a change because of what other people want rarely lasts and this is in the end your life to live. With those two basic guid...

Who Do You Think You Aren’t? How To Get Past Limiting Beliefs

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:07:58 +0100

By asking yourself this question will allow the freedoms of your mind to speak it’s truth. No running or wearing a mask or acting. We all know who we aren’t. We aren’t the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of Canada. YET. What is it that you tell yourself you could never do? Why don’t you trust yourself to do the things you used to daydream about? What is inside of you screaming to come out but the thought of it creates unspeakable amounts of stress for you? In fact isn’t it actually more stressful NOT doing it? The what if’s, if only’s, I wish I could… And who first posed the question to you, ‘Who do you think you are?” Did you know stress is fear? That’s it. Fear. And what is fear? Fear is an unpleasan...

5 Ways Disorganization Costs You Money

Your Life. Organized. — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Money money money. It’s on everyone’s mind and no matter how much you earn, why waste it? You may not think you’re wasting money but if you’re disorganized, you are definitely throwing away cash. Here are five ways you’re losing money and what to do about them. The Problem: Replacing Broken Items. When items are thrown into drawers, boxes, bins and into closets, they often get broken, which leads you to spend money to re-purchase them. The Solution: If you respect your money, treat the things you buy with care and respect. Teach children how to care for their things and explain to them where money comes from and how much it costs to replace items they’ve mistreated. The Problem: Replacing Lost Items. Things you lose or misplace need to be re-bought. This is a painful was...

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8 Out of the Ordinary Approaches to Defeating Your Food Cravings

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Do you feel like you can’t lose weight because you struggle with cravings?Has a gnawing, insatiable want hijacked your healthy eating plan?Chocolate, candy, potato chips, pizza, steak, coffee, ice-cream, salt or what have you —most of us battle these cravings.But we don’t have to.Are you ready to defeat them? If so let's dive in and reveal what you can do to conquer your dangerous moments without regret.Drink, Drink, DrinkFirst off, if you’re dehydrated, you’re likely to feel wiped out. When you’re pooped liked that, chances are you’ll be craving a stimulant in the form of sugar or caffeine - think chocolate or coffee.So drink a glass of water — yes, plain water. By the time your body tells you you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. And, dehydration occurs as mild h...

How and Why to Pick a Spiritual Practice

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:57:27 +0100

In this age of technology and materialism, when many wonder what tomorrow will bring, the resurgence of spirituality is a normal phenomenon. For centuries, people have turned to religions or other belief systems for support and understanding. Yet it never resulted in a better world on a global level. An improved personal life perhaps, but not a better planet. So one can wonder why, after centuries of religious or spiritual teachings on love, forgiveness, presence or service, the world situation has not improved spiritually; why acts of sharing and forgiveness are the exception, not the norm. We can guess that the big majority of people weren’t ready for these teachings, that the failure to bring peace, love or the end of suffering on earth is the failure of humanity. After all, the spiri...

Why you need to write at least once a week on your website

Phil Gerbyshak — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:45:22 +0100

My goal is 2012 is to post at least once a week, most weeks twice a week, to this blog. I’ll do it first for myself, as I need to get my thoughts on paper. And I’ll do it for you, dear readers, as I owe you more consistency than I’ve given you in the past. Look for new posts on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. I’ll also do it for my business, and you should too. There are MANY reasons to do this for your business website, and I’ll share my 3 best reasons writing at least once a week will be good for your business. Value – more information about how to use your product or service, innovations in your space, interviews with experts and customers, and relevant events that are in your local area are all great ways to add value to the lives of your readers. Releva...

The Failure Checklist

Success Begins Today — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:58:46 +0100

With the New Year upon us, it’s a great time to look forward, plan out a path, and set some goals. It’s also a great time for reflection. I always like to look back at the previous year and do some accounting… and ask myself; what went right, and what went wrong? While I like to focus on the successes, it’s also good to look at the failures. Failure can offer great insight. Failure can help us change direction Failure can offer abject proof of something that didn’t work. Unfortunately, admitting failure is usually painful. In so many cases, it’s easier to just move on, than to actually analyze the situation and learn from it. And here is one thing that I know for sure… If we don’t learn from our mistakes, we are bound to repeat them. So.. on this note I decided to come up w...

CSW Almost Sold Out

Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:51:18 +0100

The Conscious Success Workshop starts in only 10 days (Jan 13-15, 2012 in Las Vegas). We’re close to selling out, so if you’re planning to sign up, please don’t wait till the last minute, or there’s a possibility we won’t have any seats left. I estimate that we can sell about 6 more tickets before the room is at capacity. This is the eighth 3-day workshop we’ll be doing in Las Vegas. When I look back on our first Conscious Growth Workshop in 2009, I see that we’ve really come a long way. I especially enjoy the process of designing workshops that are empowering, engaging, social, and practical. I’d say that the main difference between CSW and other programs on success is this: A typical book, audio program, or workshop on success usually begin...

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The Clutterfat Challenge: Transform Your Living Space in a Month

Zen Habits — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:46:12 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. Look around your living space, and imagine that half of your clutter were gone. In one month, it will be. You’ll be living a beautiful, simple, clutter-free life. Along with my friend Courtney Carver, I’ve created the Clutterfat Challenge — we challenge you to get rid of half your clutter in 30 days. Sign up today — it’s free! It’s exactly like a bodyfat transformation challenge, where you might try to lose bodyfat in a month. But instead of getting rid of bodyfat, you’re getting rid of clutterfat. Trim off that excess clutter, and you’ll have a lovely streamlined living space. Courtney and I have done this ourselves, and we’ve found incredible benefits: Life feels better when you live in uncluttered space....

7 Obsessions Guaranteed to Improve your Life

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:15:56 +0100

“Obsession led me to write. It’s been that way with every book I’ve ever written. I become completely consumed by a theme, by characters, by a desire to meet a challenge.” ~ Anne Rice An obsession is consuming. It often pushes other activities into the background. It compels and fills your thoughts and impassions your soul with desire. It becomes the beat of your heart and the pulse of your being. It drives you ever forward toward its object. And while obsessive behavior can destroy and corrupt happiness, robbing it of a sense of freedom and will and sometimes even land you in prison, certain kinds of controlled obsessions can enhance the quality of your life. I recommend the following … 1. Be Obsessed with Kindness Are you drawn to kindness like a child to candy? Do you ...

Five Lies Personal Development Gurus Like to Tell

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Personal development gurus tell some impressive lies in order to sell their products. That’s right. Lies. These convenient little falsehoods are effective motivators because they play on primal human needs and emotions. Shouldn’t people who promote personal growth for a living be uncommonly straightforward in their marketing? Sadly, this is far from true, even among the popular names in the field.The good news is that once you understand these, you are free to grow and develop in realistic ways.Guru Lie #1: You can have anything you want. It sounds so good, especially after you have been swept away by a motivational message that ignites your passion for becoming all you can be. You can do anything you put your mind to! There is only one problem. You can’t. You cannot have anything yo...

Situations Matter

Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:06:22 +0100

When I published my post The Best Self Development Books of 2011 I knew I had one more book to finish before the end of the year. However, I didn’t really think ‘Situations Matter’ by Sam Sommers was a self development book per se and as such it wouldn’t matter if I excluded it. And to be honest, Situations Matter isn’t a self development book in terms of how people usually think of the Continue reading... (Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone :)

The Open Road by Pico Iyer

21 Dragons — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:00:40 +0100

The Open Road is a book by Pico Iyer about the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Iyer is a non-Buddhist journalist who has covered Tibet for publications like Time, The New Yorker and The New York Times for over 20 years, and has known the Dalai Lama for over 30. Perhaps because of this unique combination, he’s able to give us an intimate yet critical look into the Dalai Lama’s life. I deeply enjoyed this book. I didn’t know much about the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism or the recent history of Tibet before reading it, and The Open Road opened my eyes (pardon the pun) to the three topics. Iyer combines power and poetry in his writing; he has the ability to lay bare the realities behind the myths while never losing respect for his subject. It’s not an easy task, especially when I...

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Getting Back to Growth

Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:15:46 +0100

After shutting down the discussion forums a week ago, I took some time to think about my major focus for 2012, as I like to do at the beginning of each new year. To wrap up 2011 and transition to 2012, Rachelle and I went to Phoenix for Raw Spirit Fest, and then yesterday we took a side trip to Sedona to meditate in one of our favorite spots. This retreat gave me time to reflect on the past year and to understand what I want to experience next. During the past few years, I’ve been very active in the social circles surrounding my work, including connecting with people in the forums, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, email, talking face to face, doing consultations, holding workshops, hosting meet-ups in various cities, and so on. I maintained a strong community-oriented focus for much of th...

2012: Let’s Get Started

Success Begins Today — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:39:18 +0100

It’s the New Year and time to get back on track. Resolutions are not enough. We need some solid goals and action steps for the New Year to get us off our “buts” and get going. To help you get started, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best goal setting tools and information in the Personal Development arena. These powerful action based tools can help you get a great start, and make 2012 the best year yet. 1. Twenty Steps. The first place to start is to determine your top goal for the New Year. Brian Tracy talks about a simple technique to help you find your top goal in his book, Success Secrets of Self Made Millionaires. It’s actually rather simple. He devised a simple four step process that anyone can take to get started on this path to success. Here are the ins...

Are You Ready For A Really Good Year?

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:32:57 +0100

Many people start out the New Year excited and say they are really ready for a better year. They tell their friends that they are ready for better times and they make lots of New Year’s resolutions. The problem is that most people are only excited for the first two weeks of the New Year, then by the third week they have forgotten their resolutions and are back to doing exactly what they did before. And what usually happens is they end each year the same way they ended the year before. Why is that? There are two main reasons: one is because they get caught up in the “New Year’s Resolution Trap” and the other is because of a lack of continuous motivation. I call it a “resolution trap” because it feels good to make New Year’s resolutions, yet it rarely actualizes into a...

Quote: Decisiveness

Your Life. Organized. — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

"Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all."Brian TracyAuthor and Speaker PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below. (Source: Your Life. Organized.)

Learning to Stretch in 2012

21 Dragons — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:43:23 +0100

The beginning of the year makes me think of change and growth. What do I want to change this year? How do I want to grow? It reminds me of that all-important lesson I learned years ago: to always be doing something which scares you but is good for you. To constantly be stretching. In 2009, I stopped practicing a martial art I’ve been learning for the last 10 years to learn a new one. It scared me, but forced me to grow. In 2010, I focused on photography, pushing myself to go out and shoot, sacrificing vacation time and early mornings to it. In 2011, I learned how to cook. Doesn’t sound like a big deal but it was for someone like me who had no idea how to cook. What’s something you can do in 2012 which scares you but is good for you? Related posts: Unleashing Your Creative...

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Two Self Improvement Habits to Build in This New Year

Life Optimizer — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:13:16 +0100

So here we are in 2012. We have left 2011 behind and the new year has come. No matter how you did in 2011, the important thing is that you improve yourself in 2012. Aim to make this year your best year ever. To make it happen, here are two self improvement habits that you may want build in this new year: 1. Journaling This is one of the most important habits to build for your self improvement. There are at least three reasons why journaling is important: It makes you find the lessons behind every experience Perhaps this is not the case in the beginning, but once you make journaling a habit, your mind will automatically explore every possible lesson in your experiences. Rather than just being a passing event, every experience becomes a learning opportunity. It encourages you to think throu...

How To Make Money In 2012

Success Begins Today — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:04:06 +0100

As we enter the New Year, it’s good to look back at the previous year as a whole, and do an evaluation. While 2011 had some promise, it ended up being a pretty volatile year, bouncing around from promise to recession and back. It just seems like we are churning around, waiting for someone to bail us out or give us a job. In 2011, there were very few places to make money with investments… The Stock Market ended up basically flat, with a whole bunch of wild swings and volatility along the way. Putting your money in the bank faired no better, with interest rates at an all-time low. If you invested in Real Estate, you probably lost money on your investment as home prices continued to fall. Gold was the only bright spot, up about 10% from the beginning of the year. It had wild swings too, s...

Render-K Brass HiTec-C Pen Holder

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:24:49 +0100

It seems that making fancy metal pens based on legendary pen cartridges are the profitable thing to do this year. The Render K Custom-Machined Pen is the latest in a series of pens I’ve been ogling, starting with cw&t’s Pen Type A and followed by PHX-1 Design Toolkit. Each of these pens has a unique story about the creators pursuit of something better. The Pen Type A’s background is like a quirky love story, whereas the PHX-1 reads like the engineered result of a straight-forward business opportunity. The Render-K’s story is one about small American custom machine shops that design, fabricate, and are starting to create their own products. They are together creating the early history of the DIY-to-market movement that started with websites like Etsy; now weR...

Happy Holidays!

David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:37:57 +0100

Thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to create, write, comment and share something new with me. Looking forward to creating an AMAZING 2012 with y’all! (Source: David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment)

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3 Unconventional Ways to Change Your Life this Year

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:26:05 +0100

Everyone wakes up on January 1 with a gut full of ambition and good intentions. The idea of a clean slate is invigorating! By the middle of the month, however, most people have already started the slide back to their regular existence, overcome by trying to reach lofty, unclear goals with the same mindset from the previous year. I struggled with this for many years myself before finally figuring out 3 unconventional ways to avoid the January slump: ● Porn ● Lowering my standards ● Pretending I’m someone else This sounds like the start of a really bad movie about a down-and-out mob informant in Vegas, doesn’t it? Stick with me here and it will all make sense very soon. Using these exact strategies below, my husband and I were able to sell everything ...

7 Best Business Lessons Learned in 2011

Phil Gerbyshak — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:00:44 +0100

As 2011 is winding down, I wanted to learn from you, my smart readers, what YOUR best business lesson learned was for the past 12 months. And you didn’t disappoint. 7 of you were brave enough to share your lessons, and here they are: 7 Best Business Lessons Learned in 2011 Aga Artka shared this lesson: “My lesson learnt is: listen to your gut, not the people around. Too many times I had a chance to act on my own feeling/my inner voice, but due to lack of confidence (or experience), I chose the world around to drive my decisions. Wrong! Next year, I am making a point to listen to my gut and not concern myself with what people say. It’s not the popular ideas that become great, but those that don’t get all the support at the start.” Stephen P Smith learned: “That ...

How To Make Every Day a Fresh Start

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:21:23 +0100

“Intentions compressed into words enfold magical power. “ - Deepak Chopra It does not have to be January 1st to give yourself a chance to make the most out of your day – and your life. Every day is a new day and a fresh start to learn, grow, develop your strengths, heal yourself from past regrets or hurts, and move forward older and wiser. Every day gives you a chance to reinvent yourself, to fine-tune who you are, and build on lessons of what you have learned. It is never too late to change things that are not working in your life and switch gears, instead of thinking in the same old ways, hoping for a different outcome. Be nimble, be flexible, and keep and open mind to start each day anew! Flexibility is the key! Ask yourself: How do you wake up each day? Do yo...

7 Secrets to Making This Year the Best Year Ever

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

It’s the time of year when goals are made and abandoned a few weeks later. Will you be one of them, or will you set goals that have the power to change your life?Not achieving what you set out to do means you’ll yet again fail to move toward the life you desire, which leads to nothing but regret. Inertia can be difficult to overcome, but something you may overlook is the influence from friends, parents, and society in general.Often what you believe you want is not what you want at all. The trick lies in setting meaningful objectives.It doesn’t matter whether you set goals or not, as long as you’re doing something that makes you come alive.Stay Here and NowBefore you decide what you want to do, stay present here and now. Forget about the past and the future. Let any and all thoughts...

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2011

21 Dragons — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:00:18 +0100

Like every year, I did less and more than I thought I would in 2011. I visited New Zealand for the first time, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life. I flew up in a helicopter and landed next to a pristine mountain lake inaccessible otherwise. Its beauty took my breath away. One of the highlights of the year, as well as my life. If there is a Heaven, it probably looks like this. I lost my first car, a classic 1991 BMW E30. I loved little 20-year old Snoopy, and my dad was especially attached to her. Her gear-box had died and it didn’t make economical sense to repair her. My heart still aches a bit when I see old photos of her. I got engaged during a lovely, happy weekend getaway. I unearthed my purpose: “A life on purpose is one of fulfillment thr...

A Compact Guide to Creating the Fitness Habit

Zen Habits — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:28:43 +0100

Post written by Leo Babauta. A new year, a new slate of resolutions. Perhaps the biggest resolution at New Year’s is to get fit — start exercising, start eating right, and all that jazz. But resolutions never last. As you might already know, I’m not a fan of resolutions. Instead of creating a list of resolutions this year, create a new habit. Habits last, and they lead to long-term fitness (and more). They require more patience, but they are worth the wait. As some of you know, fitness habits are what started me along the path to changing my life. I quit smoking, started running. Then I started eating healthier, became vegetarian (now vegan), quit the junk food addiction, started doing other types of workouts (bodyweight, weights, Crossfit, anything that was fun). And six...

Four Questions that Will Help You to Stay on Track in 2012

The Positivity Blog | Increase Your Happiness and Awesomeness — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:31:04 +0100

Image by Atli Harðarson (license). Share || “New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights” Hamilton Wright Mabie The year is coming to an end. Just two days to go. But before we head into 2012 I want to share four questions that you can use so that you don’t lose your way next year. Have a happy, awesome and meaningful New Year! Is this useful? This is a good way to for example weed out thought habits that may not be so useful. Your mind may for instance fool you into believing that it’s the right thing to go aroun...

5 Steps to Handle Yourself Around Controlling People

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:58:11 +0100

To be in control is a good thing. To be controlling is not. There is a big difference. One who is too controlling is in fact so out of control they lose everything in their grasp. I’m sure you have seen it before. Someone who is so controlling they need to get their voice heard in every situation. They set guidelines and rules so stringent no one could possibly measure up. One slip up and there is war. The ‘My way or the highway mentality’. It’s like they have a choke hold on every aspect of their life and maybe yours too. If it is a parent, the kids are given the idea they can’t trust in themselves because everything they do is never good enough. As an adult the same message is received however it is also demeaning to ones character. We see it time and time again, these people�...