The older I get, the easier it is to close my eyes to poverty, pain, injustice, and evil. I can order my life, so that I am never put in a position of seeing anything unpleasant. I can look without seeing. I’m continue to pray daily that “God gives me eyes to see and ears to hear.” You can’t be a change agent if you don’t perceive the needs around you.

Stop ignoring the evil you encounter

Every time I used to encounter a homeless person, I would go through all kinds of mental gyrations. If I give money to this person, will they just use it to buy alcohol or drugs? Why don’t they just get a job? Maybe it would be better if I offered them some work rather than just give them money? Then I read the words of Matthew 5:42, “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” I then decided to make a deal with God. Now, whenever I encounter a homeless person or a beggar, I give them all the cash in my pocket. The money I give is my gift to God.

Stop over-thinking your response to it.

Erin couldn’t get the school to give books to her students. So, she got a second job and bought the books herself. The students wanted to bring Miep Gies, the Dutch woman whose family hid Anne Frank and her family, to the school to lecture. The school didn’t have the budget, so the students held a series of fund-raisers to come up with the money.What’s my excuse? No matter what my station in life is, it’s easy to think I don’t have enough resources. Resources are never the problem. The biggest challenge is simply my will to act.

Stop complaining about your lack of resources.

Let’s face it. The world needs heroes. It needs people who will be courageous and act on principle. But where can we find such people? Maybe the answer is closer than we think. The truth is it can start—and must start—with us.God has providentially put each of us exactly where we are. We need to ask, “Why am I here?” “What does God want me to do in this situation?” “What is the right thing to do?”

Start asking, “What is the right thing to do?”

I can’t afford to wait for my circumstances to be perfect. I will never have enough experience. I will never have the resources I need. I need to stop whining and just do it! Someone else is waiting for a hero. I may be the best opportunity they have. I may be their answer to prayer.

Be in the moment and act.

You have more power than you can imagine.

You have have more power than you sometimes give yourself credit for. Here are five ways to express it and become an everyday hero.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

problemsolving

Problem Solving

communication

Communication

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

5 Ways You Can Be an Everyday Hero

<ul><li>Our thoughts dominate and drive our circumstances.</li><li>Your attitude toward your life and the people around you is your window to the world.</li><li>If you think you can do something, then you can . If you think you can’t, then you can’t . You’re right either way, as your attitude will impact your outcomes. So try to change your attitude to one that is more positive. </li></ul>

Our Thoughts Drive Our Circumstances

<ul><li>Attitude is the mental filter through which we experience the world.</li><li>Your window is your perspective on the world. We all start with a clean window when we are young. But with age, our window gets covered in dirt from everything life throws at us: criticism, ridicule, rejection and disappointment. </li><li>This dirt is what makes us doubt our capabilities. Doubt feeds negative attitudes.</li><li>Clean those Dirts!!</li></ul>

Your Attitude Is a Mental Filter

<ul><li>Keller encourages readers to create mental movies in their minds, picturing every milestone toward the ultimate goal they want to achieve. </li><li>You must also rid your mind of old mental images that remind you of negative factors, like failure and disappointment. </li><li>If you are still failing, then you are still holding on to pictures of lower aspiration or failure.</li></ul>

Visualization Is a Skill

<ul><li>Your dominant thoughts rule the day.</li><li> If you continually think positively about a goal, you will take steps to move toward that goal.</li><li> But with a negative attitude, you are never going to take that first step. </li><li>Think positive thoughts until it becomes a habit.</li><li>Repetition is the key. </li></ul>

Positive Thoughts Attract Success

<ul><li>The key to getting what you want is this willingness to do whatever it takes.</li><li> So make this commitment to yourself. Once you have supplied this commitment, you will then be determined to reach your goal. Positive events will start happening once you have committed. </li><li>It won’t be easy, but if you don’t give up, you can move mountains.</li></ul>

 Do Whatever It Takes

After a disappointment, you have a choice to make. You can either:<ul><li>Keep feeling miserable</li></ul>( OR )<ul><li>Learn a lesson from the setbacks and move on</li></ul>Often “problems” aren’t even real problems. Instead, they’re merely opportunities to take positive action. They allow you to improve and do better next time.

 Find the Lesson in Problems

<ul><li>We are the average of all the people we spend time with. </li><li>This is because the people we spend most of our time with greatly influence our thoughts and actions. They define our outlook and future.</li></ul>

Surround Yourself With Positivity

<ul><li>If you want to be successful, you must be willing to be uncomfortable. </li><li>The people who succeed are those who overcome obstacles along the way, and you have to stretch yourself to improve.</li><li>Always adopt a can-do attitude as you prepare to take on tough challenges. </li><li>Repetition is vital because taking on one obstacle will make the next one easier to overcome.</li></ul>

Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone

<ul><li>While tackling on obstacles, we must be ready to fail.</li><li> If you avoid failure, you can’t learn new skills. </li><li> To succeed tomorrow, you must be willing to fail today. </li><li>After failure, you have to persevere. Learn from your failures and improve each time you fail. </li><li>After one failure, work with double the enthusiasm on the next opportunity you have.</li></ul>

Kick On After Failing

<ul><li>There is no such thing as a failure until you completely give up. </li><li>Before you give up, “failures” are just intermediate results that differ in measuring how successful you were and how they might re-direct you toward your goals.</li></ul>

Remember

Do you dread going to work? Do you feel tired, unhappy, weighed down? Have you given up on your dreams? The road to a happier, more successful life starts with your attitude-and your attitude is within your control. Whether your outlook is negative, positive or somewhere in between, Jeff Keller, motivational speaker and coach, will show you how to take control and unleash your hidden potential through three powerful steps: -THINK! Success begins in the mind. The power of attitude can change your destiny. -SPEAK! Watch your words. How you speak can propel you towards your goals. -ACT! Don't sit back. Take active steps to turn your dreams into reality. Soon, you will be energized and see new possibilities. You will be able to counter adversities and develop talents unique to you. Your relationships will improve, both at work and in your personal life. All you need is this step-by-step programme to change your attitude and your life!

mindfulness

Mindfulness

books

Books

IF YOU CAN DREAM IT, YOU CAN DO IT! Do you dread going to work? Do you feel tired, unhappy, weighed down? Have you given up on your dreams? The road to a happier, more successful life starts with your attitude--and your attitude is within your control.Whether your outlook is negative, positive or somewhere in between, Jeff Keller, motivational speaker and coach, will show you how to take control and unleash your hidden potential through three powerful steps:--THINK! Success begins in the mind. The power of attitude can change your destiny.--SPEAK! Watch your words. How you speak can propel you towards your goals.--ACT! Don't sit back. Take active steps to turn your dreams into reality.Soon, you will be energized and see new possibilities. You will be able to counter adversities and develop talents unique to you. Your relationships will improve, both at work and in your personal life. All you need is this step-by-step programme to change your attitude and your life!

Jeff Keller is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Jeff Keller has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Jeff Keller's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Jeff Keller

Attitude Is Everything

Attitude Is Everything: Change Your Attitude ... Change Your Life!

“The need to impress others causes half the world’s woes.”

1. Laugh Often. Be that person that routinely laughs at other’s jokes and stories. It concretely communicates that you enjoy life and their company. They’ll be impressed and you’ll be a more joyful person.2. Be Optimistic. Always, always, always focus on the good aspects of people and situations. Sometimes you have to look harder than others, but you’ll always be glad you did.3. Be Faithful. to Your Spouse. Marital fidelity is going out of style too quickly these days. Stay faithful to the one you chose. Trust me, your friends and colleagues will be impressed… not to mention your partner.

Consider list of 12 Intangible, Surefire Ways to Impress Others

4. Develop Your Strengths. I am impressed by good singers, authors, writers, architects, speakers, CEO’s, computer programmers, mothers, and athletes (just to name a few). There is only one thing they all have in common: They discovered their strengths and developed them with great discipline. Do the same with your unique giftedness and temperament. And regardless of the profession you choose, you will impress.5. Travel. See the world. You will change and be better because of it.6. Appreciate Others Opinions. Appreciating others opinion will also impress others in a different way.

Make Yourself Strong

7. Love Your Life. Don’t fall into the <a href="https://www.becomingminimalist.com/on-living-countercultural-lives/">trap of living life like everyone else </a>. Avoid television and consumerism. Embrace your passions and find enjoyment in your life. The people around you will be impressed… and jealous.8. Encourage More. Living your life in competition with those around you will never impress. After all, everyone else is already doing that. Change the world by being different. Seek to encourage and lift up others. And the person who benefits the most just may be you.9. Love Nature. People who exhibit care for the physical world around us exhibit care for all humanity.

Live The Life Don't Waste It On Others

10. Listen Intently. Eyes focused. Ears tuned. Cell phone off. In a world that can’t move fast enough, someone who can find time to listen is as rare as a precious jewel… and far more valuable.11. Be Content. A contented life is enjoyable , desirable, and admirable. Those who don’t have it, desire it. And are impressed with those who have.12. Don’t Live to Impress. Live to Inspire. Give up your desire to impress everyone you meet. But never give up your desire to inspire everyone you meet.

Don't Make Yourself Available For Everyone

Living your life to impress others will make you disappoint everytime. Just be yourself and inspire other by your thinking, creativity, power and knowledge

The hard fact is we often look to impress others in all the wrong places. Consider this list of 15 surefire ways to impress others in all the right ways.

habits

Habits

12 Surefire Ways to Impress Others

Be intentional at the start of each day Spend the first few hours of each day (mornings) to plan your day. All that is essential to making your day productive should be high on the list of your day's activities.

4 Ways to make the most of your 24 hours 

Don't shoot for doing more, do what matters While planning aim for high productive activities and not just populate your to-do list with a bunch of irrelevant activities. Ensure the best of what would improve your self-esteem and self-improvement.

Create moments of transcendenceTranscendence simply means "extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience". Making each activity an elevated experience, a sacred moment, something special, eliminates the tendency of making that activity feel mundane and dull. This is achievable through practice in your everyday life.

End with a gratitude heart reflection Making it a point to round off your day with a grateful moment of having the opportunity to go through the whole 24 hours achieving all or some of your activities brings a sense of accomplishment and looking forward to repeating it the next day.

Never waste time on irrelevant things and miss the beauty of life, invariably improving the quality of time spent.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

timemanagement

Time Management

Beauty of life 

In psychoanalytic theory, ego defenses are unconscious processes that we deploy to diffuse the fear and anxiety that arise when who we think we are or who we think we should be (our conscious ‘superego’) comes into conflict with who we really are (our unconscious ‘id’).There are a great number of ego defenses, and the combinations and circumstances in which one uses them reflect on one's personality. One could go so far as to argue that the self is nothing but the sum of its ego defenses. While people cannot entirely escape from ego defenses, they can gain some insight into how they use them.

Self Deception Or, Ego Defences

Repression can be thought of as "motivated forgetting:" the active but <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/unconscious">unconscious </a>forgetting of unacceptable drives, emotions, ideas, or memories. Unsurprisingly, repression is often confused with denial. Whereas denial relates to external stimuli, repression relates to internal, that is, mental, stimuli. Nonetheless, denial and repression often work together and may be difficult to disentangle.

Repression: Motivated Forgeting

<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/freudian-psychology">Freud </a>thought of repression as the basic ego defense, since it is only when repression is fragile or failing that other ego defenses come into play to reinforce and rescue it. Put differently, repression is an essential component or building block of the other ego defenses. To understand this, let’s look at an example of the ego defense of distortion, which is the reshaping of reality to suit one’s inner needs. A <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/adolescence">teenager </a>who has been dumped by her boyfriend no longer recalls this episode (repression) and instead believes that it is she who dumped him (distortion).

Repression: The Basic Ego Defence

Repressed material, though unconscious, is no less present, and can (and usually does) resurface in disturbing forms. As well as a lack of insight and understanding, the inability to process and come to terms with repressed material is associated with a range of psychological problems such as poor <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/attention">concentration</a>, irritability, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/anxiety">anxiety</a>, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/insomnia">insomnia</a>, nightmares, and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/depression">depression </a>; maladaptive and destructive patterns of behaviour such as anger and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/anger">aggression </a>in the face of reminders of the repressed material; and any number of superimposed ego defenses.

The Repressed Material Resurfaces - With A Vengeance

"<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/neuroticism">Neurosis </a>” is an old-fashioned term that essentially describes the various forms in which repressed material can resurface (poor concentration, irritability, anxiety, and so on). In Studies on Hysteria (1895), Sigmund Freud and his colleague Josef Breuer first formulated the theory that neuroses have their origins in deeply <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/trauma">traumatic </a>and consequently repressed experiences.

Repression - Trauma - Neurosis

Treatment, argued Freud and Breuerrequires the patient to recall these repressed experiences into consciousness and confront them once and for all, leading to a sudden and dramatic outpouring of emotion ("catharsis") and the attainment of insight. In the course of treatment, the patient is likely to display "resistance" in the form of changing the topic, blanking out, falling asleep, arriving late, or missing appointments. In fact, such behavior merely suggests that he/ she is close to recalling repressed material but, for the moment, still afraid of doing so.

Repression - Catharsis - Insight

The mental operation of suppression is similar to repression but with one crucial difference, namely, the "forgetting" is conscious rather than unconscious. Thus, suppression is the conscious and often rational decision to put an uncomfortable (although not totally unacceptable) stimulus to one side, either to deal with it at a later time or to abandon it altogether on the grounds that it is not worth dealing with. As it is a conscious operation, suppression is not, strictly speaking, a form of self-deception, but rather the conscious analog of repression.

Repression VS Suppression

A couple of friends who are holidaying with a number of other people start arguing and completely lose their tempers. The next day, they put their differences to one side and behave as though nothing had happened so as not to cast a cloud over the group and ruin the holiday. That day, they share some good times and special moments, and by the evening it has become safe enough to bring up the argument and put it behind them. By dealing with their argument like this, they have deepened rather than undermined their <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/friends">friendship </a>.

An Example Of Suppression

We deceive ourselves to protect ourselves, but the fact remains: we deceive ourselves; and, so, we harm ourselves. We can’t do a lot about it, but maybe we can do a little, if we know what it is that we do. A 10-part series.

The second installment in a new 10-part series on ego defenses.

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

The Psychology of Self-Deception - Ego Defence 2 of 10: Repression

<ol><li>Set an overall goal, and as many subgoals as are realistically feasible.</li><li>To find ways of measuring progress in terms of the goals choosen.</li><li>To keep concentrating on what one is doing and to keep making finer and finer distinctions in the challenges involved in the activity.</li><li>To develop the skills necessary to interact with the opportunities available.</li><li>To keep raising the stakes if the activity becomes boring.</li></ol>

Essential Steps To Experience Flow

These questions were answered with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM)<ul><li>When people are pursuing leisure activities that were expensive such as power boating, driving or watching television - they are significantly less happy.</li><li>People are happiest when they are talking to one another, when they gardened, knitted or are involved in a hobby.</li></ul>

Happiness Index: Material Resources Vs Investment In Oneself?

<ol><li>Yama: one must achieve restraint from acts and thoughts that might harm others.</li><li>Niyama: obedience, follow routines in cleanliness, study and obedience to God. Help channel attention into predictable patterns and hence make attention easier to control.</li><li>Asana: ways of sitting and holding postures for long periods without succumbing to strain or fatigue.</li><li>Pranayama: breath control, aims to relax the body and stabilizes the rhythm of breathing.</li><li>Pratyahara: Withdrawal, learning to withdraw attention from outward objects by directing the input of the senses.</li></ol>

Achieving Flow: 8 Different Stages Of Yoga

6. Dharana : holding on, is the ability to concentrate for long periods on a single stimulus and thus is the mirror image of the earlier stage of pratyahara.7. Dhyana: one learns to forget the self in uninterrupted concentration that no longer needs the external stimuli of the preceding phase.8. Samadhi : self collectedness, when the meditator and the object of meditation become as one.

<ul><li>Keeping order in mind from within is very difficult. </li><li>Person needs external goals, stimulation, feedback to keep attention directed. </li><li>When external input is lacking, attention begins to wander and thoughts become chaotic.</li></ul>

Why Is Loneliness A Negative Experience?

1. Unselfconscious self assurance: the recognition that one's goals may have to be subordinated to a greater entity.2. Focusing attention on the world: Concentrate on the internal disorder: but by paying attention to what is happening around oneself instead, the destructive effects of stress are lessened.3. Discovery of new solutions:a. Focus attention on the obstacles to achieving one's goals and then move them out of the way, thereby restoring harmony in consciousness.b. To discover whether alternative goals may not be more appropriate and thus find different solutions possible.

Why Some People Gain Strength From Stress?

THE BESTSELLING CLASSIC ON 'FLOW' – THE KEY TO UNLOCKING MEANING, CREATIVITY, PEAK PERFORMANCE, AND TRUE HAPPINESS Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi ("the leading researcher into ‘flow states’" —Newsweek) demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness, unlock our potential, and greatly improve the quality of our lives. "Explores a happy state of mind called flow, the feeling of complete engagement in a creative or playful activity." —Time

productivity

Productivity

“Csikszentmihalyi arrives at an insight that many of us can intuitively grasp, despite our insistent (and culturally supported) denial of this truth. That is, it is not what happens to us that determines our happiness, but the manner in which we make sense of that reality. . . . The manner in which Csikszentmihalyi integrates research on consciousness, personal psychology and spirituality is illuminating.” —Los Angeles Times Book ReviewThe bestselling classic that holds the key to unlocking meaning, creativity, peak performance, and true happiness. Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi ("the leading researcher into ‘flow states’" —Newsweek) demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness, unlock our potential, and greatly improve the quality of our lives.

Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi was a Hungarian-American psychologist. He recognized and named the psychological concept of "flow", a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity. He was the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Flow

“Don’t hide your scars. They make you who you are”

Hello Frank Sinatra fans, we have compiled the best Frank Sinatra quotes about love, life, success, songs, and more.

28 Frank Sinatra Quotes | Firstinspire - Stay Inspired

Sleep is good, he said, and books are better.

Looking for a reason to read more? Check out some inspiring quotes about books and reading and get ready to stimulate your mind and life.

writing

Reading & Writing

160 Quotes About Books & Reading | Keep Inspiring Me

Projection is a psychological term for how we tend to put our own issues onto other people.Often the thing that frustrates us the most about other people is indicative of a part of us we haven't accepted yet.

Work on Your Projections

First, find your projections by making a list of how you judge someone else. Don't sugarcoat or overexplain: "I judge [person] as [judgement]."

Find your projections

Take a deep look at how that judgement applies to you. Say to yourself: "I can see and accept that I can be [judgement] too, and that's okay."

Transfer the judgement to yourself

Set intentions going forward that you will accept this part of yourself but also take steps to make healthier choices that are grounded in self-compassion and respect.

Set new intentions

You Don't Owe Anyone is for perfectionists, workaholics, people pleasers, and strivers who feel stuck in the try-hard cycle. Sharing her experiences as a life coach and recovering perfectionist, Caroline Garnet McGraw shows us how we can free ourselves from the weight of expectations and encourages us to move our lives forward without apology. Inspired by the author's viral essay "You Don't Owe Anyone an Interaction," this book invites us to make surprising choices that can help us get unstuck. Rather than offering more ways to effect change through sheer effort, these personal stories serve as a compassionate witness, a reflection of our own perfectionistic tendencies. They also are a wakeup call jolting us out of our martyr mentality and inspiring us to move in new, positive directions. Through simple, accessible coaching practices, You Don't Owe Anyone shows us what it looks like to refuse to over-function in the old ways. It invites us to make the same surprising choices that have helped McGraw and her clients move past perfectionism, empowering us to quiet our fears and heal our hearts.

You Don't Owe Anyone is for perfectionists, workaholics, people pleasers, and strivers who feel stuck in the try-hard cycle. Sharing her experiences as a life coach and recovering perfectionist, Caroline Garnet McGraw shows us how we can free ourselves from the weight of expectations and encourages us to move our lives forward without apology. Inspired by the author's viral essay &quot;You Don't Owe Anyone an Interaction,&quot; this book invites us to make surprising choices that can help us get unstuck. Rather than offering more ways to effect change through sheer effort, these personal stories serve as a compassionate witness, a reflection of our own perfectionistic tendencies. They also are a wakeup call jolting us out of our martyr mentality and inspiring us to move in new, positive directions. Through simple, accessible coaching practices, You Don't Owe Anyone shows us what it looks like to refuse to over-function in the old ways. It invites us to make the same surprising choices that have helped McGraw and her clients move past perfectionism, empowering us to quiet our fears and heal our hearts.

Caroline Garnet McGraw

You Don't Owe Anyone

1. Identify the behavior you want to change and whether it is an A, B, or C behavior.<ul><li>A = Automatic</li><li>B = Burning</li><li>C = Common</li></ul>2. Use as many of the seven SCIENCE forces as apply to make lasting changes to your behavior.

The 2-step Model For Lasting Change

The SCIENCE forces are like physical forces that constantly push and pull us. The more forces we can implement, the more likely we are to create lasting change. S is for stepladdersC is for communityI is for importantE is for easyN is for neurohacksC is for captivatingE is for engrainedNot only do we need to understand these forces but we also need to be aware of when to use them.

What Are The SCIENCE Forces?

Automatic behaviors are best changed by making things Easy and Engrained along with using Neurohacks and Captivating rewards.Burning behaviors are similar to automatic ones but we can also use Stepladders, Community, and Immediacy.Common behaviors are best changed with the help of Communities in conjunction with the other forces while Neurohacks are the least effective.In general, the more conscious we are of our behaviors, the easier they are to change.

ABCs And What To Do About Them

Sometimes we fail at achieving our goals because they are out of our control or unrealistic. Set steps to get to goals, to get to dreams.Is it a Dream or a Goal?Dreams typically take more than three months and you haven't previously accomplished it before.Goals typically take one to three months and are easier to quantify. *Goals can take longer but only if you have experience.Make your steps tiny and build on small victories. You should be able to accomplish at least one step each week.

STEPLADDERS - Dreams, Goals, & Steps

Social support and healthy competition are powerful. Find a community of people doing what you want to do or begin your own. The best communities have a "social magnet" that drive them and draw the members closer. Without this, communities often fail.The 6 ingredients for a successful community are:<ol><li>The need to Trust - share experiences</li><li>The need to Fit In - clear social norms</li><li>The need for Self Worth - feeling good about ourselves</li><li>The need for a Social Magnet - an active, nurturing group</li><li>The need to be Rewarded</li><li>The need to feel Empowered - in control of ourselves</li></ol>

COMMUNITY & The 6 Ingredients

If you are motivated you will build lasting changes but if your pleasure is more important than your goal, you won't.Use The Big Three to make steps and goals more important than your pleasure.<ol><li>Money</li><li>Social connections</li><li>Health</li></ol>Ask yourself if it is important to change your behavior for better health, relationships, or more money and use the answer to leverage the other forces to continue to make positive changes in your life.

IMPORTANT & The Big Three

We all enjoy doing things that are easy to do. Sometimes this is a problem and other times it's a boon.Don't underestimate small changes in the environment that can lead to big changes in behavior. Want to eat healthier? Remove unhealthy food from your home.We can also avoid "choice paralysis" by limiting our available choices and avoid indecisiveness by creating a road map with a realistic action plan to make change a no brainer.

EASY Does It

Change begins with action. Change your behavior and the mind will follow, including our feelings.<ul><li>Body movements such as posture and simply nodding our head when listening to something can influence how we think and feel.</li><li>Taking note of physiology and trying to make it positive when beginning a change can have lasting effects.</li><li>Keep in mind that our emotions and physiology are interconnected. If we couldn't frown, we would generally feel happier.</li><li>Try changing speech to link our identity to have greater weight. Try telling yourself, "Don't be a cheater" instead of, "Don't cheat".</li></ul>

NEUROHACKS

Pin point what is important and create rewards to help motivate yourself.Use the "The Big Three" from Important but also think of these 5 ideas:<ul><li>Make it fun!</li><li>Avoid fear and punishments.</li><li>Don't reward things you already enjoy because it may backfire.</li><li>Appeal to psychology and emotions, NOT logic alone.</li><li>Make the activity itself rewarding</li></ul>Quick fixes and Trick fixesQuick fixes use Stepladders and Easy to provide fast, positive reinforcement to help maintain motivation.Trick fixes use intermittent rewards to wean ourselves off of rewards once we get comfortable with our new habit.

CAPTIVATING Rewards & Two Fixes

We are creatures of habit and just as Easy helps us change, repetition helps engrain behaviors. But be careful because this works for good and bad habits. <ul><li>Repeating a behavior at the same time and place every day is a powerful technique the military employs to train soldiers. </li><li>Try creating an alarm to help begin your new routine.</li></ul>Magnetic behaviors are linked behaviors that make it easier to do a hard task. Linking putting on running shoes (easy) with going for a run (hard) is one example.

ENGRAINED Habits & Magnetic Behavior

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.

Strategies to make lasting changes in our lives and improve ourselves.

#1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller An award-winning psychologist and director of the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior shows everyone how to make real, lasting change in their lives in this exciting work of popular psychology that goes beyond The Power of Habit with science and practical strategies that can alter their problem behaviors—forever. Whether it’s absent-minded mistakes at work, a weakness for junk food, a smart phone addiction, or a lack of exercise, everyone has some bad habit or behavior that they’d like to change. But wanting to change and actually doing it—and sticking with it—are two very different things. Dr. Sean Young, an authoritative new voice in the field of behavioral science, knows a great deal about our habits—how we make them and how we can break them. Stick with It is his fascinating look at the science of behavior, filled with crucial knowledge and practical advice to help everyone successfully alter their actions and improve their lives. As Dr. Young explains, you don’t change behavior by changing the person, you do it by changing the process. Drawing on his own scientific research and that of other leading experts in the field, he explains why change can be difficult and identifies the crucial forces that combine to make transformation permanent, from the right way to create new habits to how to harness emotional meaning to motivate change. He also helps us understand how the mind often interferes with creating lasting change and how we can outsmart it, including using "neurohacks" to shortcut the brain’s counterproductive instincts. In addition he provides a powerful corrective to the decades old science of habits, offering a next generation discussion of how habits can change behavior with the right approach. Packed with pragmatic exercises and stories of real people who have used them successfully, Stick with It shows that it is possible to control spending, stick to a diet, become more social, exercise regularly, stop compulsively checking e-mail, and overcome problem behaviors—forever.

#1 Wall Street Journal BestsellerAn award-winning psychologist and director of the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior shows everyone how to make real, lasting change in their lives in this exciting work of popular psychology that goes beyond The Power of Habit with science and practical strategies that can alter their problem behaviors—forever.Whether it’s absent-minded mistakes at work, a weakness for junk food, a smart phone addiction, or a lack of exercise, everyone has some bad habit or behavior that they’d like to change. But wanting to change and actually doing it—and sticking with it—are two very different things.Dr. Sean Young, an authoritative new voice in the field of behavioral science, knows a great deal about our habits—how we make them and how we can break them. Stick with It is his fascinating look at the science of behavior, filled with crucial knowledge and practical advice to help everyone successfully alter their actions and improve their lives.As Dr. Young explains, you don’t change behavior by changing the person, you do it by changing the process. Drawing on his own scientific research and that of other leading experts in the field, he explains why change can be difficult and identifies the crucial forces that combine to make transformation permanent, from the right way to create new habits to how to harness emotional meaning to motivate change. He also helps us understand how the mind often interferes with creating lasting change and how we can outsmart it, including using "neurohacks" to shortcut the brain’s counterproductive instincts. In addition he provides a powerful corrective to the decades old science of habits, offering a next generation discussion of how habits can change behavior with the right approach.Packed with pragmatic exercises and stories of real people who have used them successfully, Stick with It shows that it is possible to control spending, stick to a diet, become more social, exercise regularly, stop compulsively checking e-mail, and overcome problem behaviors—forever.

Sean D. Young

Stick with It

Find  Self Improvement Tips - Curated from popular Books like Atomic Habits, 48 Rules of Power, Deep Work, Rich Dad Poor Dad and way more!