Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel, has a model that can help companies not only to deal with critical moments in their existence but also use them to thrive.Intel’s CEO, Andy Grove, calls these moments “strategic inflection points” or SIPs. He presents advice for surviving and thriving in these critical times.Key points:• It’s not always a good idea to keep secrets.• Open communication with outsiders is important.• A company shouldn’t trust the opinion of someone who feels emotionally attached to it.

Only The Paranoid Survive

A strategic inflection point(SIP) is when the balance of forces shifts from the old structure, from the old ways of doing business, from the old ways of competing, to the new.” In other words, a strategic inflection point brings on a significant change of fundamentals, which it’s hard to fully plan for, formally at least. This doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t plan, but that we should look at ways in which we, our teams and our businesses can best respond to change.

Strategic Inflection Points

The late author warns against the ‘inertia of success’ and encourages readers to expose themselves to the winds of change and to do so constantly. His point is that strategic inflection isn’t a point; it’s a long, torturous struggle in which we’ll have to manage the chaos. To do this, the leader has to:<ul><li>Let it reign – “Resolution comes through experimentation. Only stepping out of the old ruts will bring new insights.” </li><li>Rein it in – Clarity of direction, which includes describing what we’re going after, is exceedingly important at the late stage of the strategic transformation</li></ul>

Success Inertia

IBM was greatly affected by how their computers were built because they used to sell pre-built computers but then people could combine components like microchips, hard drive software etc., so now consumers preferred designing their own PCs instead of buying pre-made ones from IBMAlthough IBM tried to develop PCs for the masses, they were too late and failed. The market had already gone to other companies who sold computers with better technology.

The IBM Example

SIPs are not just relevant to CEOs. Rather, they affect all employees at every level of a company. That’s why everyone should be prepared for such situations because jobs can be lost when SIPs occur. In extreme cases, a SIP could even result in the entire business shutting down and thus causing every employee to lose their job. For example, when sound was first introduced into movies, actors were forced to choose whether they wanted to stick with silent films or adapt to the new. Some adapted and became successful movie stars; others failed because they didn’t adapt well enough.

How CEOs and Employees Need to Respond To Strategic Inflection Points

The Late Andy Grove talks about managing change in this classic leadership book.

Andy Grove, founder and former CEO of Intel shares his strategy for success as he takes the reader deep inside the workings of a major company in Only the Paranoid Survive. Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel became the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy for measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside--in a new way. Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever. Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel's reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the Internet. The work of a lifetime, Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

books

Books

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Andy Grove, founder and former CEO of Intel shares his strategy for success as he takes the reader deep inside the workings of a major company in Only the Paranoid Survive. Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel became the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy for measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside--in a new way. Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever. Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel's reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the Internet. The work of a lifetime, Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills.

Andrew S. Grove

Only the Paranoid Survive

Most of us are weary of disagreement, so a claim that disagreement can be productive is intriguing. 
Some of the common misconceptions with respect to disagreement are:
<ul>
<li>Arguments are bad.</li>
<li>They change people’s minds.</li>
<li>They come to an end.</li>
</ul>

The Art of Productive Disagreement

<ol><li>Truth 1: Arguments aren’t bad – They’re signposts to issues that need our attention.</li><li>Truth 2: Arguments aren’t about changing minds – They are about bringing minds together.</li><li>Truth 3: Arguments don’t end – They have deep roots and will pop back up again and again, asking us to engage with them.</li></ol>

The Three Truth About Disagreements

This is the internal voice that will tell you things such as “Take it or leave it” or “My way or the highway”. The voice of power isn't the ultimate conflict-resolution strategy, because you can’t argue with sheer force. Benson states that this what power does – it forcibly closes down arguments and ends conflict in your favour, which is an undeniable evolutionary advantage.

The Psychology Of Disagreements: The Voice Of Power

This is the internal voice which will tell you things such as “Why?” or “That doesn’t add up”. The voice of reason is all about using reasons to shut down a debate. Benson argues that the voice of reason works best in situations where you have disagreements with people who share respect for the same higher authority or are part of the same group or organisation that your reasons draw from.

The Psychology Of Disagreements: The Voice Of Reason

This is the internal voice that tells you things such as “I would prefer not to” or “Leave me out of it”.Conflict avoiders have identified flaws in the voices of power and reason and so have chosen to address conflicts by simply refusing to participate in them in the first place.

The Psychology Of Disagreements: The Voice Of Avoidance

The fourth voice, which is missing during a disagreement is the voice of possibility.This muted voice seeks to make conflict productive. This voice resonates in questions like: <ul><li>What are we missing?</li><li>What else is possible?</li><li>What else can we do with what we have?</li><li>Who else can we bring into the conversation to give us a new perspective?</li></ul>

The Psychology Of Disagreements: The Missing Voice

The voice of possibility encourages us very explicitly not to do what the other three voices – power, reason and avoidance – have made habitual in us, which is to find a way to uproot and kill the conflict. We need to develop ‘honest bias’ and listen to the fourth voice of possibility, leaving aside our ego to make a disagreement less about arguments and more about a mutual solution.

Don’t Listen To The Three Bad Voices!

Make use of the following steps to implement the fourth voice:<ul><li>Watch how anxiety sparks inside the mind. </li><li>Talk to your internal voices.</li><li>Develop honest bias – There is no cure for bias, but we can develop an honest relationship to our own bias with self-reflection.</li><li>Speak for yourself.</li><li>Listen generously.</li><li>Ask questions that invite surprising answers.</li><li>Build arguments together.</li><li>Cultivate neutral spaces.</li><li>Accept reality, then participate in it.</li></ul>

The Voice Of Possibility At Work

<ol><li>When you notice anxiety, pause and ask yourself: are you anxious about what is true, what is meaningful, or what is useful?</li><li>Ask the other party the same question. Do they give the same answer or something different?</li><li>Narrate out loud what each of you is anxious about. Reiterate how each of you answered the question to see if that leads to new connections for yourself or the other person.</li><li>Check to see if either of you is willing to switch to what the other is anxious about. Who has more cognitive dissonance happening and could use the other’s help?</li></ol>

How To Stop Anxiety To Overtake Your Disagreement

Have you ever walked away from an argument and suddenly thought of all the brilliant things you wish you'd said? Do you avoid certain family members and colleagues because of bitter, festering tension that you can't figure out how to address? Now, finally, there's a solution: a new framework that frees you from the trap of unproductive conflict and pointless arguing forever. If the threat of raised voices, emotional outbursts, and public discord makes you want to hide under the conference room table, you're not alone. Conflict, or the fear of it, can be exhausting. But as this powerful book argues, conflict doesn't have to be unpleasant. In fact, properly channeled, conflict can be the most valuable tool we have at our disposal for deepening relationships, solving problems, and coming up with new ideas. As the mastermind behind some of the highest-performing teams at Amazon, Twitter, and Slack, Buster Benson spent decades facilitating hard conversations in stressful environments. In this book, Buster reveals the psychological underpinnings of awkward, unproductive conflict and the critical habits anyone can learn to avoid it. Armed with a deeper understanding of how arguments, you'll be able to: • Remain confident when you're put on the spot • Diffuse tense moments with a few strategic questions • Facilitate creative solutions even when your team has radically different perspectives Why Are We Yelling will shatter your assumptions about what makes arguments productive. You'll find yourself having fewer repetitive, predictable fights once you're empowered to identify your biases, listen with an open mind, and communicate well.

communication

Communication

Have you ever walked away from an argument and suddenly thought of all the brilliant things you wish you'd said? Do you avoid certain family members and colleagues because of bitter, festering tension that you can't figure out how to address? Now, finally, there's a solution: a new framework that frees you from the trap of unproductive conflict and pointless arguing forever. If the threat of raised voices, emotional outbursts, and public discord makes you want to hide under the conference room table, you're not alone. Conflict, or the fear of it, can be exhausting. But as this powerful book argues, conflict doesn't have to be unpleasant. In fact, properly channeled, conflict can be the most valuable tool we have at our disposal for deepening relationships, solving problems, and coming up with new ideas. As the mastermind behind some of the highest-performing teams at Amazon, Twitter, and Slack, Buster Benson spent decades facilitating hard conversations in stressful environments. In this book, Buster reveals the psychological underpinnings of awkward, unproductive conflict and the critical habits anyone can learn to avoid it. Armed with a deeper understanding of how arguments, you'll be able to: <li>Remain confident when you're put on the spot</li><li>Diffuse tense moments with a few strategic questions</li><li>Facilitate creative solutions even when your team has radically different perspectives</li> Why Are We Yelling will shatter your assumptions about what makes arguments productive. You'll find yourself having fewer repetitive, predictable fights once you're empowered to identify your biases, listen with an open mind, and communicate well.

Buster Benson

Why Are We Yelling?

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”

Persistent people have a goal or vision in mind that motivates and drives them. They are often dreamers and visionaries who see their lives as having a higher purpose than simply earning a living. They often think of this vision first thing when they wake up and last thing before they go to bed. Reaching this goal becomes the focal point of their life and they devote a major portion of their energies and time toward reaching it.

1. AN ALL-CONSUMING VISION

Persistent people want it bad, really bad, and they never look for an excuse or a way out. What keeps highly persistent people going is their powerful level of desire.Repeated failures, dead ends, and periods when it seems like no progress is being made often come before any major breakthroughs happen. Persistent people have the inner energy and intensity to keep them motivated and going through these tough times.

2. A BURNING DESIRE

People who overcome the odds and achieve greatly are often described as “marching to the beat of their own drummer.” They know what they want and are seldom swayed by the opinion of the masses.Having a highly developed sense of who they are allows the highly persistent to continue on without being greatly affected by what others think of them or, being understood, or being appreciated by those around them. While that inner confidence gets challenged and shaken, it never gets destroyed and constantly acts as a source of courage and determination.

3. INNER CONFIDENCE

Rohn also once said, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”Highly persistent people know it is very difficult to stay continually motivated, particularly during difficult times and when it appears that no progress is being made. They have come to rely upon their self-discipline and developing habits they can count on to continue down the path toward their eventual goals. They believe the results of the efforts they make today may not be seen for a long time, but they strongly believe that everything they do will count toward their outcome in the end.

4. HIGHLY DEVELOPED HABITS

Persistent people have the ability to adjust and adapt their action plan. They do not stubbornly persist in the face of evidence that their plan is not working, but look for better ways that will increase their chances of success.The highly persistent see their journey as a series of dead ends, detours, and adjustments but have complete faith they will reach their final destination. They are not tied into their ego and are quickly willing to admit when something is not working. As well, they are quick to adapt the ideas of others that have been shown to work well.

5. ABILITY TO ADJUST AND ADAPT

Persistent people realize that any goal worth reaching will take time, effort, and continuously learning new skills and thinking patterns. They welcome change and new ideas and continue looking for ways they can incorporate these into their lives.Ongoing learning is seen as part of a process through which the highly persistent continually expand the range of tools that they have to work with. Naturally curious, persistent types not only see learning as a way to reach their goals more quickly, but they also see self-development as a way of life.

6. COMMITMENT TO LIFELONG LEARNING

While it may appear that highly persistent people act alone and don’t need anyone, most have a carefully chosen group of people they admire and emulate. These can be people who are actually involved in their lives as mentors/confidantes or they can be figures who they have read about and who have deeply impacted them.They usually stand out from their environment and are often misunderstood because they can make those around them feel uncomfortable. Having strongly ingrained models helps persistent people sustain and motivate themselves in an environment that is not always supportive.

7. ROLE MODELS THAT ACT AS GUIDES AND MENTORS

Talent, genius, and education mean very little when persistence is lacking. Here’s what true determination looks like.

career

Career

7 Habits Of Highly Persistent People

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil.”

“The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other. The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence, and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances. The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent.

“In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.”

“It is a particular form of the impact of historical circumstances on human beings, a psychological concomitant of certain external conditions. Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity.”

“When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.”

“The sick individual finds himself at home with all other similarly sick individuals. The whole culture is geared to this kind of pathology. The result is that the average individual does not experience the separateness and isolation the fully schizophrenic person feels. He feels at ease among those who suffer from the same deformation; in fact, it is the fully sane person who feels isolated in the insane society.”

“The mass of people are so stupid, so gullible, because they want to be misled. There’s no way to make them not want it. You have to work with the human race as it exists, with all of its flaws. Getting them to see reason is a fool’s errand.”

“But these thoughts about stupidity also offer consolation in that they utterly forbid us to consider the majority of people to be stupid in every circumstance. It really will depend on whether those in power expect more from people’s stupidity than from their inner independence and wisdom.”

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”

Takes a deep dive into the mind and stupidity.

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil,” wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian. Penning this sentence ten years after the accession of Adolf Hitler to supreme power…

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

philosophy

Philosophy

history

History

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity Explains The World Perfectly

The best way to make decisions is go after what it is that creates 'meaning'in your life and then 'trust yourself' tohandle the stress that follows!

Researchers estimated that over the eight years they were tracking deaths 182,000 americans died prematurely not from stress but from the belief that stress is bad for you that is over 20,000 deaths a year!Conclusion: when you change your mind about stress you can change your body's response to stress!

Changing How You Think About Stress Makes You Healthier

In a study conducted at harvard university before they went through the social stress tests they were taught to rethink their stress responses helpful, that pounding heart is preparing you for action, if you're breathing faster it's no problem it's getting more oxygen to your brain and participants who learned to view the stress response as helpful for their performance, they were less stressed out, less anxious, more confident but the most fascinating finding was how their physical stress response changed.

Your Stress Response Are Helpful For Your Performance

Their heart was still pounding but this is a much healthier cardiovascular profile. It actually looks a lot like what happens in moments of joy and courage.

A Much Healthy Cardiovascular Profile

So hopefully the next time your heart is pounding from stress you're going through, remember this and you're going to think or talk out loud to yourself:
"This is my body helping me rise to this challenge" and when you view stress in that way your body believes you and your stress response becomes healthier!

Action Plan

When oxytocin is released in the stress response, it is motivating you to seek support, your biological stress response is nudging you to tell someone how you feel instead of bottling it up. Your stress response wants to make sure you notice when someone else in your life is struggling so that you can support each other. When life is difficult your stress response wants you to be surrounded by people who care about you!

Also Stress Makes You More Social

Needing to feel motivated? Enjoy these inspirational Ted talks that will change your perspective and make your day better.

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

7 Days of Inspiration 

This TED talk indeed reshifted my perspectives towards "stress!"

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. 

Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks
Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED
Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

How to make stress your friend | Kelly McGonigal

Challenge yourself to test the principle of proactivity by doing the following: 1. Start replacing reactive language with proactive language. Reactive = "He makes me so mad."Proactive = "I control my own feelings." 2. Convert reactive tasks into proactive ones.

1.Be Proactive

Challenge yourself to test the principle of beginning with the end in mind by doing the following: 1. Visualize in rich detail your own funeral. Who is there? What are they saying about you? About how you lived your life? About the relationships you had? What do you want them to say? Think about how your priorities would change if you only had 30 more days to live. Start living by these priorities. 2. Break down different roles in your life -- whether professional, personal, or community -- and list three to five goals you want to achieve for each.

2. Begin with the End in Mind-1

3. Define what scares you. Public speaking? Critical feedback after writing a book? Write down the worst-case scenario for your biggest fear, then visualize how you'll handle this situation. Write down exactly how you'll handle it.

3.Begin With The End In Mind 2.0

Here are some ways you can practice putting first things first: 1. Identify a Quadrant II activity you've been neglecting. Write it down and commit to implementing it. 2. Create your own time management matrix to start prioritizing. 3. Estimate how much time you spend in each quadrant. Then log your time over 3 days. How accurate was your estimate? How much time did you spend in Quadrant II (the most important quadrant)?

4.Put First Things First

Get yourself to start thinking Win-Win with these challenges: 1. Think about an upcoming interaction where you'll be attempting to reach an agreement or solution. Write down a list of what the other person is looking for. Next, write a list next to that of how you can make an offer to meet those needs. 2. Identify three important relationships in your life. Think about what you feel the balance is in each of those relationships. Do you give more than you take? Take more than you give? Write down 10 ways to always give more than you take with each one.

5.Think Win-Win

3. Deeply consider your own interaction tendencies. Are they Win-Lose? How does that affect your interactions with others? Can you identify the source of that approach? Determine whether or not this approach serves you well in your relationships. Write all of this down.

.Think Win-Win 2.0

Here are a few ways to get yourself in the habit of seeking first to understand: 1. Next time you're watching two people communicating, cover your ears and watch. What emotions are being communicated that might not come across through words alone? Was one person or the other more interested in the conversation? Write down what you noticed. 2. Next time you give a presentation, root it in empathy. Begin by describing the audience's point of view in great detail. What problems are they facing? How is what you're about to say offering a solution to their problems?

7.Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

1. Make a list of people who irritate you. Now choose just one person. How are their views different? Put yourself in their shoes for one minute. Think and pretend how it feels to be them. Does this help you understand them better? Now next time you're in a disagreement with that person, try to understand their concerns and why they disagree with you. The better you can understand them, the easier it will be to change their mind -- or change yours.

8.Synergize

2. Make a list of people with whom you get along well. Now choose just one person. How are their views different? Now write down a situation where you had excellent teamwork and synergy. Why? What conditions were met to reach such fluidity in your interactions? How can you recreate those conditions again?

9.Synergize 2.0

1. Make a list of activities that would help you renew yourself along each of the 4 dimensions. Select one activity for each dimension and list it as a goal for the coming week. At the end of the week, evaluate your performance. What led you to succeed or fail to accomplish each goal? 2. Commit to writing down a specific "sharpen the saw" activity in all four dimensions every week, to do them, and to evaluate your performance and results.

10.Sharpen the Saw

A leading management consultant outlines seven organizational rules for improving effectiveness and increasing productivity at work and at home.

habits

Habits

The 7 habits of highly effective people is recognised as one of the most influential books ever written. In this seminal work, Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. The 7 Habits have become so famous because they work. From Habit 1: Be Proactive and Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind, millions of People have worked their way through the 7 and found in them a key to transforming their lives. This book has been the key to the success of legions of business leaders and individuals the world over.

Stephen R. Covey is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Stephen R. Covey 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. Stephen R. Covey's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Stephen R. Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Here's the 5 Simple ways to change in your life in a fruitful way:Spend time with NatureSpending your time in nature makes it improve your imagination and creativity however it likewise boosts happiness and makes your immune system strong. Individuals who invest or spend a lot of time in nature are likewise less inclined to foster sensations of stress.Regardless of whether you are walking in forest land or enjoying the soothing voice of birds and flowing water in nature, this all gives a pace of calming and soothing effect Making this a habit of daily can cultivate a positiveness in your mind.

Life Changes

For me, starting a day with a smile will make the day much better than a normal day. Wake up early in the morning and start your day early, it doesn't necessarily mean that when you wake up do your study or work as soon as possible. Spend some time with yourself by doing meditation and think about your future or your dreams in a positive way. If your life is very busy with your work, spend some couple of hours with your family. Life is that how you start it and end it. The happiness you get when you spread happiness to others. So just try to spread it in your whole day.

Start your day with Smile

Set aside a time to find that how you truly feel. Don't hide or ignore your feelings or emotions for minding yourself. Separate your feelings from your actions because your actions are your separate decisions. Don't mix it up.For example, if I am frustrated that the peer is difficult to work on a project which is given to make it in a group. I can acknowledge myself and don't show rudeness to him. Instead think about how you can handle him in such a situation. Your actions are separate decisions you cannot decide on the basis of your feelings.

Create a difference between How you feel and What you do

There is always be someone who is more successful, more fruitful, more accomplished with the medals and prizes, more money than you. If you always think of that he has more than you, you cannot enjoy the things that what you have. Everyone has something special that others don't have that might be your skills, your knowledge, your marks or grades. So, better thinking of others think of yourself that how you can achieve something different from others.

Stop comparing yourself

It is something that during the lockdown we all have to work from home. Just fix some position for your work where you get the peace to work, so that whenever you have to work go there and work it. If you work somewhere else it might take long time to complete it. We all think that we are good in multitasking but it's just a productivity killer. Working at your desk or Studying at your study table will keep your distractions minimum, so that you can increase your productivity. The same thing goes for switching off your phone and close the television while working on the important task.

Do your work at your scheduled place 

Here we have given the 10 Simple ways to change your life and create a big difference by simple changes.

education

Learning & Education

Life changes: 5 Simple Changes that make a big difference in your life

1. Do what you say, say you would do2. Stand up for what is right3. Look in the mirror and commit to positive change4. Take ownership for solving problems, even when the fault less elsewhere5. Act sooner rather than later

5 Things People With Integrity Do Differently

Integrity, could be practice thru our daily life

When you meet people with integrity, you know that they just do some things differently that make them such wonderful humans. Here are 5 such things...

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Anna Lembke, medical director of Stanford Addiction Medicine, program director for the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, shares key insights from her new book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.

Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

One of the most important discoveries in neuroscience in the past 100 years is that pleasure and pain are co-located. The same parts of the brain that process pleasure also process pain. And pleasure and pain work like a balance. When we feel pleasure, the balance tips one way; when we feel pain, it tips the other. One of the overarching rules governing this balance is that it wants to stay level. After any deviation from neutrality, our brains will work very hard to restore a level balance, or what neuroscientists call homeostasis.

The Balance Wants To Stay Level

When we feel pleasure, our brain releases a little bit of the neurotransmitter dopamine in our brain’s reward pathway, and our balance tips slightly to the side of pleasure. But no sooner has that happened than our brain adapts to the increased dopamine by down-regulating my dopamine receptors and dopamine transmission. Why? Because, for the balance to level, it has to tip an equal and opposite amount to the other side, the side of pain. This is the aftereffect, the hangover, the comedown.

… So Pleasure Will Be Followed By Pain

If we wait long enough, neutrality is restored, and the hangover and the comedown pass. But what if we don’t wait? What if, instead, we go after pleasure and then again after pleasure?Once that happens, we’ve changed out joy set point. We need to keep doing what gives us pleasure—not to feel pleasure, but just to feel normal. And as soon as we stop doing it, we experience the universal symptoms of withdrawal from any addictive substance—anxiety, irritability, insomnia, dysphoria, and mental preoccupation with using, otherwise known as craving. This is the hallmark of the addicted brain.

The Balance Tips More And More And Then Some

This fine-tuned pleasure–pain balance of ours has evolved over millions of years to help us approach pleasure and avoid pain. It’s what has kept us alive in a world of scarcity and ever-present danger. But here’s the problem: We no longer live in that world. We now live in a world of overwhelming abundance.

A Life-Saving Mechanism In Non Life-Threatening Times

The access, quantity, variety, and potency of highly reinforcing drugs and behaviors has never been greater, including drugs that didn’t exist before—texting, tweeting, gaming, gambling, sugar, shopping, vaping, voyeuring. The list is endless. Online products with their flashing lights, celebratory sounds, laudatory likes, and bottomless bowls promise ever-greater rewards just a finger click away. They’re engineered to be addictive. The smartphone is the equivalent of the hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation.

To Dopamine, Any Drug Is A Drug - And Today’s Drugs Are 24/7

If you haven’t met your drug of choice yet, it’s coming soon to a website near you. Yet despite this increased access to all these feel-good drugs and behaviors—or as Anna Lembke hypothesizes, because of it—we are more miserable than ever. Rates of depression, anxiety, physical pain, and suicide are increasing worldwide, especially in wealthy nations.

Innocent Drugs, Same Effect: Dopamine Overload

“Throughout my 20-year career, I have seen more and more patients, including otherwise healthy young people with loving families, elite education, and relative wealth, presenting with depression, anxiety, and full-body pain. We are titillating ourselves to death.”Anna Lembke

We’re Titillating Ourselves To Death

Anna Lembke put a patient of hers that was suffering from debilitating anxiety and depression on a dopamine fast: instead of prescribing antidepressants, she suggested he abstain from all screens, including video games for one month. The patient returned a month later and reported feeling better than he had in years—less anxiety, less depression. Why? Because when he stopped bombarding his reward pathway with dopamine, he gave his brain the opportunity to restore homeostasis, a level balance.

Dopamine fasting 

Whatever your drug of choice, give it up for a month, a week, or even a single day. When you do, notice how, at first, your pleasure–pain balance tilts to the side of pain, and you feel restless, cranky, and most of all preoccupied with using your drug. Your brain is screaming out all the reasons why you should use, even though you committed to a period of abstinence. But if you wait long enough and balance is restored, you’ll find that you’re free. Your mind is less preoccupied with using, you’re more able to be present in the moment, and life’s little, unexpected joys are rewarding again.

Just Wait Long Enough

If and when you decide to go back to using your drug of choice, remember to create literal and metacognitive barriers between yourself and it. The bottom line is this: To reset your dopamine brain, first abstain.

To Reset, First Abstain

In the late 1960s, scientists conducted a series of experiments on dogs. Due to their obvious cruelty, these experiments would not be allowed today. Nonetheless, they provide important information on brain homeostasis, or leveling the balance.

What If We Tip The Scale On The Pain Side First?

With repeated exposure to a painful stimulus, the dog’s mood and heart rate adapted in kind. The initial response (pain) got shorter and weaker. The after response (pleasure) got longer and stronger. Pain morphed into hypervigilance, which morphed into a fit of joy. It’s impossible to read this experiment without feeling pity for the animal subjected to this torture, yet the so-called fit of joy suggests a tantalizing possibility: By pressing on the pain side of the balance, might we achieve a more enduring source of pleasure?

Pain As A Pathway To Pleasure

How our smartphones kill a mechanism that works to keep us alive

Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke shares 5 key insights from her new book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.

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Science & Nature

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank quotes from Quotefancy.com

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

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