“Ignorance is not bliss. The failure to use the appropriate thinking tools and styles in a particular area or situation can be disastrous—and often leads to overwhelming failure.“

I have been procrastinating again haven’t been reading books that I should been learning. There is so much to learn and I want whoop my ass for being lazy.

Discover the secrets for how to think and act like the most successful people in the world and reap the rewards! In today’s constantly changing world, you have to be smart to get ahead. But the average person uses only about two percent of their mental ability. How can we learn to unleash our brain’s full potential to maximize our opportunities, like the most successful people do? In Get Smart!, acclaimed success expert and bestselling author Brian Tracy reveals simple, proven ways to tap into our natural thinking talents and abilities and make quantum leaps toward achieving our dreams. In this indispensable guide, you’ll learn to: · Train your brain to think in ways that create successful results · Recognize and exploit growth opportunities in any situation · Identify and eliminate negative patterns holding you back · Plan, act, and achieve goals with greater precision and speed Whether you want to increase sales, bolster creativity, or better navigate life’s unexpected changes, Get Smart! will help you tap into your powerful mental resources to obtain the results you want and reap the rewards successful people enjoy.

books

Books

Discover the secrets for how to think and act like the most successful people in the world and reap the rewards! In today’s constantly changing world, you have to be smart to get ahead. But the average person uses only about two percent of their mental ability. How can we learn to unleash our brain’s full potential to maximize our opportunities, like the most successful people do? In Get Smart!, acclaimed success expert and bestselling author Brian Tracy reveals simple, proven ways to tap into our natural thinking talents and abilities and make quantum leaps toward achieving our dreams. In this indispensable guide, you’ll learn to:   · Train your brain to think in ways that create successful results · Recognize and exploit growth opportunities in any situation · Identify and eliminate negative patterns holding you back · Plan, act, and achieve goals with greater precision and speed   Whether you want to increase sales, bolster creativity, or better navigate life’s unexpected changes, Get Smart! will help you tap into your powerful mental resources to obtain the results you want and reap the rewards successful people enjoy.

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.He has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.Brian has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Brian Tracy

Get Smart!

“Stop taking it personally when the whole world feels like it’s against you. Life is simply testing you to make sure you really want what you said you wanted. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.”

I have always been criticized for being an infp; the mind shift in this made me realize that I am not being criticized I am being challenged if I really wanted to have the life I always wanted and what steps should I take to achieve it. 🥲

Antonio Aguirre is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Antonio Aguirre and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes...

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

mindfulness

Mindfulness

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Antonio Aguirre | Facebook

“The trick is in what we emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.” Journey to Ixtlan : The lessons of Don Juan

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

habits

Habits

3-2-1: Keeping the habit alive, the value of small kindnesses, and editing your life

There are two types of thinking, one is fast and the other is slow. Each type of thinking is its own system with individual abilities, limitations, and functions. The main difference between the two is that fast thinking requires little to no effort to operate, whereas a conscious effort is necessary for slow thinking to work. For example, you would use fast thinking to solve the problem “2 + 2 = ?” and slow thinking to fill out a tax form.

The Characters Of The Story

This distinction becomes very important when we realize that attention is not unlimited, and when you go beyond the budget you have, you will fail. This is why you can only do multiple things at once when they are relatively easy and undemanding tasks, such as speaking to a passenger while driving on an empty road. However, you would not attempt to have a conversation while making a turn onto a busy road as you need to focus your attention on driving.

While your two types of thinking often split the labor between themselves well, they can clash when an automatic reaction (fast thinking) comes into conflict with an intention to control it (slow thinking). A universal example of this is trying not to stare at an oddly dressed couple in the same room as you. Sometimes, these clashes are caused by cognitive illusions. An example is experiencing a strong attraction towards someone with a history that forms a negative pattern. The good news is, these illusions can be overcome.

1.	Learn what dilated pupils mean. When your pupils are dilated, it means that you have focused your attention on something and find it interesting; maybe you are looking at an attractive person or even trying to solve a difficult math problem.2.	Learn what constricted pupils mean.When your pupils are constricted, it means you aren’t all that interested in what you are looking at; maybe you are looking at an average-looking person, or the math problem you were trying to solve was too difficult and you have given up.

Learn to identify if someone is interested.

Major New York Times bestseller Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012 Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011 A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.

Major New York Times bestseller Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012 Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011 A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds In his mega bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.

Daniel Kahneman (born 5 March 1934) is an Israeli-American psychologist and winner of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, notable for his work on behavioral finance and hedonic psychology.With Amos Tversky and others, Kahneman established a cognitive basis for common human errors using heuristics and biases (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973, Kahneman, Slovic & Tversky, 1982), and developed Prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in Prospect theory. Currently, he is professor emeritus of psychology at Princeton University's Department of Psychology.

Daniel Kahneman

Thinking, Fast and Slow

“Direct your inherent restlessness and discontent into tangible improvements. Instead of chasing after every distraction, know what you truly want so you won’t be distracted by what others are trying to influence you to want.”

“If you come across any special trait of meanness or stupidity… you must be careful not to let it annoy or distress you, but to look upon it merely as an addition to your knowledge”﻿Humans act instinctively in certain ways because of how our brains are wired after millions of years of evolution. By understanding why people behave the way they do, you can become a better judge of character, manage your thought patterns, stay calm and strategic, and motivate or influence others more effectively.

Understanding Humanity

“Irrationality is a function of the structure of our brains and is wired into our very nature by the way we process emotions”<ul><li>Law of irrationality - Master Your Emotions</li></ul>We humans think that we are in control, but what drives us are our emotions. We follow our emotional impulses to seek pleasure and avoid pain. We tend to feel an emotion before we interpret it consciously, as different parts of our brain control these two functions. Become aware of your irrationality, then practice introspection and reflection to manage your emotions.

Free yourself

1.	Confirmation bias - You look for evidence that confirms your beliefs	2.	Conviction bias - You convince yourself your beliefs are the right ones	3.	Appearance bias - You think you can see people as they really are 	4.	Group bias - You follow the herd	5.	Superiority bias - You think you are more rational than others	6.	Blame bias - You blame others for your mistakes

The common biases that distort your perception are:

1.	Childhood memories - Cause strong positive or negative feelings2.	Sudden wins or losses - Cause extreme optimism or pessimism3.	Extreme stress - Changes our behavior4.	Narcissistic individuals - Causes strong feelings in us and others5.	Large groups - Causes infectious emotions

The inflaming factors that can intensify emotions are: 

We can empathize naturally when we are not self-absorbed. We need attention to grow our self-worth, but we can’t rely on it alone, or we become narcissists.Deep narcissists take everything personally, demand control and attention in their relationships, and are expert manipulators.Healthy narcissists direct their sensitivity to others through empathy or to their work through creativity.

Law of narcissism - Become empathetic

(and learn to read others)﻿Everyone wears a mask to present themselves to others. We want to look good, but our real feelings show up through (mostly unconscious) body language. Pay attention to non-verbal cues and don’t get lost in your own internal dialogueSigns of dislike or displeasure include: •	Eyes narrowing, lips pursing, arms folding•	Tension, coldness, or silenceSigns that the other person likes you include: •	A relaxed and open posture•	A smile that touches the eyes•	Pupil dilation

Law of role-playing - Present yourself better

People who are confident tend to be relaxed, move more freely, and make eye contact. Insecure people are more hesitant, speak in higher pitches, and avoid eye contact.People who are hiding something tend to become extra-animated, unusually chatty, or forceful.

We tend to overemphasize what we see and hear in the present, especially what is the most dramatic. In doing so, we lose sight of the bigger picture. In this complex world, any action can have far-reaching consequences. Learn to step back and consider the bigger picture instead of reacting to what’s in front of you.

Law of shortsightedness - Think about the future

1.	Think about possible chain reactions for every action.	2.	Step back to regain perspective.	3.	Draw up a ladder of your values and priorities. Refocus your time and energy accordingly. When you feel lost in trivialities use your ladder of priorities to weed out nonessentials.	4.	If you are chasing and reacting to instantaneous updates, refocus on your long-term goals and stick to them.

Keep your long-term goals in sight

“When choosing people to work and associate with, do not be mesmerized by their reputation or taken in by the surface image they try to project. Instead, train yourself to look deep within them and see their character.”

Understand others

Our character is deeply ingrained and compels us to act in unconscious ways. Forged by 3 components	1.	Genes	2.	Early attachments formed with our caregivers 	3.	Habits and experiencesLearn to look beyond appearances. Assess people’s true character based on how they handle adversity, adapt, learn, and interact with others. This involves understanding our own character to address the negative patterns in our lives and becoming skilled at reading others.

Law of compulsive behavior - see people's character

We like to believe that we’re independent and progressive, but we can’t help conforming with our groups: we unconsciously imitate others and are influenced by their reactions and opinions.

Law of conformity - be aware of how we change in groups

Here’s how we are individually influenced by groups:	•	We change our appearances or adopt the group’s ideas, beliefs and values because of our desire to fit in.	•	We perform the roles expected of us as team members. 	•	We try to minimize our flaws and present our strengths.	•	We’re infected by their emotions, especially fear and anxiety.	•	We feel hyper-certain about an idea that the group is certain about, even though we’d have doubted it on our own.

There are some common dynamics you may notice in groups:	•	A culture or spirit is based on a shared ideal.	•	Rules and codes define what is acceptable.	•	A hierarchy:	◦	Alpha and sub-leaders whom people try to get close to	◦	The Intriguer (seems loyal but is secretly amassing power)	◦	The Stirrer (hides his envy to spread discord)	◦	The Gatekeeper (uses his position to monopolize information and isolate the leader)	•	At least one group enemy that they resist.	•	As a group gets bigger, factions emerge with their own interests

1.	Watch for signs that reveal someone’s character What are the actions or decisions they repeat over time?	2.	Identify and distance yourself from toxic characters- <ul><li>Hyperperfectionist (seems dedicated but is a control freak) </li><li>Personalizer (sensitive but takes everything personally) -</li><li> Moralizer (condemns what he secretly envies) - </li><li>Big Talker (all talk and no action)</li></ul>

Assess someone’s true character

1.	Look deeply into the layers of your character. 2.	Be honest about your primal inclinations, strengths and weaknesses, flaws and mistakes3.	Cultivate traits like resilience, attention to detail, the ability to finish tasks and work with others4.	Improve your habits—the only layer you can control—to shape your character

Develop a superior character

1.	Define a collective purposeClearly state and publicize this. 2.	Assemble the right team.Look for people with complementary strengths but diverse skills, temperaments, and backgrounds.3.	Encourage a free flow of ideas and information up and down the line.4.	Infect the group with productive emotions. Get people to focus on meaningful and concrete tasks.5.	Challenge members to see how they respond. Push them to work together under stress.

Build a healthy group

“Learn to deflect envy by drawing attention away from yourself. Develop your sense of self-worth from internal standards and not incessant comparisons.”

Defend yourself from others

Humans constantly compare themselves with one another.When we feel envious, we deny our envy as it implies inferiority. Instead, we tell ourselves that we’re just angry or indignant.Envious people can turn hostile and actively seek to hurt you, whether consciously or unconsciously. This is the most common and painful betrayal among friends.

Law of envy - draw attention away from yourself

•	Disappointment at your good news, or glee at your misfortune	•	Poisonous praise that makes you feel uncomfortable 	•	Talking maliciously about someone who is not present.	•	Push-and-pull, i.e., pulling you in with friendship then criticizing you once they know your weak points

Signs of envy include:

•	Levelers: They are good at putting others down but can’t take jokes at their own expense. 	•	Self-entitled slackers: They earn their positions through charm or politics instead of getting things done. 	•	Status fiends: They reduce everything to rank, position, and material benchmarks.	•	Attachers: They affix themselves to the people they envy with malicious intent. 	•	Insecure masters: They are unsure about their abilities and may fire those they envy.

The personality types of enviers are:

•	A sudden change in your status	•	Having talents that elevate you above others	•	Being a woman who rises to success

Situations that often trigger active envy in others include: 

On the surface, people seem friendly and civilized. However, beneath the mask, everyone has an aggressive side.The most chronic aggressors are actually people with the deepest insecurities. They can’t tolerate feelings of helplessness and anxiety, they see others as tools to get what they want, and they may even get addicted to the thrill of aggression.Sophisticated aggressors can cleverly mask their maneuvers to become successful and powerful.

Law of aggression - recognize dangerous people

“Be a master observer of aggression so you can identify and manage chronic aggressors. These types of people tend to have lots of enemies, present themselves as a crusader or eccentric genius, or have obsessive habits. Focus on their real goals instead of their false fronts, outwit them instead of using direct confrontation, and temporarily cross the lines yourself if need be.”

•	The subtle-superiority strategy: always turning up late with an excuse and insincere apology	•	The sympathy strategy: playing the victim but secretly relishing the pain or drama 	•	The dependence strategy: offering concern and help, then withdrawing them later

Examples of passive-aggressive strategies include: 

1.	Get closer to those you envy You’ll see that they also have problems	2.	Counter envy with gratitude Compare yourself with those who have less than you	3.	Actively cultivate empathy in your day-to-day life Tell yourself to feel joy for other people’s fortune - don’t just congratulate them	4.	Transform envy into emulation Use it as a motivating force for excellence	5.	Find happiness and satisfaction outside of your own successes Celebrate and admire nature or human greatness

Move beyond envy

the positive aspects of your assertive energy	1.	Be aware of your own aggressive tendencies	2.	Be relentlessly persistent in trying new angles until you achieve your goal.	3.	Have the childlike fearlessness to ask or push for what you want. Assert yourself in small things then ramp it up.	4.	Direct your anger toward real, specific problems to be solved.

Use controlled aggression to harness

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power comes the definitive new book on decoding the behavior of the people around you Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of readers, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves. We are social animals. Our very lives depend on our relationships with people. Knowing why people do what they do is the most important tool we can possess, without which our other talents can only take us so far. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control, how to develop the empathy that leads to insight, how to look behind people's masks, and how to resist conformity to develop your singular sense of purpose. Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you, The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defense.

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power comes the definitive new book on decoding the behavior of the people around you Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of readers, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves. We are social animals. Our very lives depend on our relationships with people. Knowing why people do what they do is the most important tool we can possess, without which our other talents can only take us so far. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control, how to develop the empathy that leads to insight, how to look behind people's masks, and how to resist conformity to develop your singular sense of purpose. Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you, The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defense.

Robert Greene is an American author of books on strategy, power, and seduction. He has written six international bestsellers, including The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature.

Robert Greene

The Laws of Human Nature

“An inability to identify, tolerate, and seek out negative emotions is its own kind of confinement. If you feel okay only when life is happy and easy-breezy-beautiful-Cover-Girl, then guess what? You are not free. You are the opposite of free. You are the prisoner of your own indulgences, enslaved by your own intolerance, crippled by your own emotional weakness. You will constantly feel a need for some external comfort or validation that may or may not ever come.”

I have always been a prisoner of my emotional impulses.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the international mega-bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck comes a counterintuitive guide to the problems of hope. We live in an interesting time. Materially, everything is the best it’s ever been—we are freer, healthier and wealthier than any people in human history. Yet, somehow everything seems to be irreparably and horribly f*cked—the planet is warming, governments are failing, economies are collapsing, and everyone is perpetually offended on Twitter. At this moment in history, when we have access to technology, education and communication our ancestors couldn’t even dream of, so many of us come back to an overriding feeling of hopelessness. What’s going on? If anyone can put a name to our current malaise and help fix it, it’s Mark Manson. In 2016, Manson published The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, a book that brilliantly gave shape to the ever-present, low-level hum of anxiety that permeates modern living. He showed us that technology had made it too easy to care about the wrong things, that our culture had convinced us that the world owed us something when it didn’t—and worst of all, that our modern and maddening urge to always find happiness only served to make us unhappier. Instead, the “subtle art” of that title turned out to be a bold challenge: to choose your struggle; to narrow and focus and find the pain you want to sustain. The result was a book that became an international phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide while becoming the #1 bestseller in 13 different countries. Now, in Everthing Is F*cked, Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us. Drawing from the pool of psychological research on these topics, as well as the timeless wisdom of philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, and Tom Waits, he dissects religion and politics and the uncomfortable ways they have come to resemble one another. He looks at our relationships with money, entertainment and the internet, and how too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive. He openly defies our definitions of faith, happiness, freedom—and even of hope itself. With his usual mix of erudition and where-the-f*ck-did-that-come-from humor, Manson takes us by the collar and challenges us to be more honest with ourselves and connected with the world in ways we probably haven’t considered before. It’s another counterintuitive romp through the pain in our hearts and the stress of our soul. One of the great modern writers has produced another book that will set the agenda for years to come.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the international mega-bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck comes a counterintuitive guide to the problems of hope. We live in an interesting time. Materially, everything is the best it’s ever been—we are freer, healthier and wealthier than any people in human history. Yet, somehow everything seems to be irreparably and horribly f*cked—the planet is warming, governments are failing, economies are collapsing, and everyone is perpetually offended on Twitter. At this moment in history, when we have access to technology, education and communication our ancestors couldn’t even dream of, so many of us come back to an overriding feeling of hopelessness. What’s going on? If anyone can put a name to our current malaise and help fix it, it’s Mark Manson. In 2016, Manson published The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, a book that brilliantly gave shape to the ever-present, low-level hum of anxiety that permeates modern living. He showed us that technology had made it too easy to care about the wrong things, that our culture had convinced us that the world owed us something when it didn’t—and worst of all, that our modern and maddening urge to always find happiness only served to make us unhappier. Instead, the “subtle art” of that title turned out to be a bold challenge: to choose your struggle; to narrow and focus and find the pain you want to sustain. The result was a book that became an international phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide while becoming the #1 bestseller in 13 different countries. Now, in Everthing Is F*cked, Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us. Drawing from the pool of psychological research on these topics, as well as the timeless wisdom of philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, and Tom Waits, he dissects religion and politics and the uncomfortable ways they have come to resemble one another. He looks at our relationships with money, entertainment and the internet, and how too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive. He openly defies our definitions of faith, happiness, freedom—and even of hope itself. With his usual mix of erudition and where-the-f*ck-did-that-come-from humor, Manson takes us by the collar and challenges us to be more honest with ourselves and connected with the world in ways we probably haven’t considered before. It’s another counterintuitive romp through the pain in our hearts and the stress of our soul. One of the great modern writers has produced another book that will set the agenda for years to come.

Mark Manson (born 1984) is a professional blogger, entrepreneur, and former dating coach. Since 2007, he's been helping people with their emotional and relationship problems. He has worked with thousands of people from over 30 different countries. He regularly writes and updates his blog at: www.markmanson.net

Get Smart!

Antonio Aguirre | Facebook

3-2-1: Keeping the habit alive, the value of small kindnesses, and editing your life

Thinking, Fast and Slow

The Laws of Human Nature

Gilgalad Toram