Kevin Graham

Lack of self-efficacy, that is your confidence (or belief) in navigating a challenging situation and shooting down potential obstacles is a fundamental reason for the inability to focus.

• Coined in 1977 by psychologist Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is different from confidence, as it relates to a particular task or topic.
• High self-efficacy results in less stress and depression and almost guarantees your personal accomplishment.
• A low self-efficacy results in procrastination, failure and blame games.

Procrastination, motivation and focus relate to our emotions and internal feelings. Fear and uncertainty play a big role in these emotional issues. Low self-efficacy lowers our guard towards the internal distractions and one is easily stressed out.

A high self-efficacy insulates us from the emotional problems that affect our focus negatively.

1. Mastery experiences: Convince yourself about your capability by completing small but difficult tasks using deliberate practice.
2. Vicarious experiences: Observe and be with people doing the tasks you want to do successfully. Find mentors and guides that push you towards your success.
3. Social persuasion: Create opportunities for review and feedback in an earlier stage of the project, ensuring it is sincere.
4. Our emotional state: Remove stressful thoughts and focus on being effective and positive by changing your inner voice.

How to hack your self-efficacy to provide you with the desired confidence, in spite of the inevitable obstacles:

1. Break your goal into smaller tasks.
2. Track your progress using any tracker app.
3. Set up steps to get feedback at an early stage.
4. Ask questions, request for help and guidance.
5. Keep your stress and doubts aside for a while.
6. Celebrate your wins, however small and reflect on what has worked.

The first step in approaching a negative situation with an optimistic outlook is to accept what you can’t change.

Once you’ve done that, you have 2 options: reframe ( look for an opportunity instead of ruminating on the loss ) or divert (shift your focus to something else).

Noticing and savoring the pleasant moments and thinking, "Wow, this is really great "can strengthen positive emotions.

In general, we tend to dwell on the negative side and not notice the positive things we experience.

Write yourself a message on a sticky note and attach it to your computer screen at work (an inspirational quote, a reminder to smile, etc).

Small reminders like these help keep positivity front and center in your life.

One of the fastest, most effective ways to feel happier is to show someone kindness.

In a 2017 study by Oxford University, researchers found that performing acts of kindness for just seven days had a measurable, positive effect on well-being and positive social emotion.

Most optimists have strong, supportive relationships. The comfort of knowing you don’t have to do everything by yourself contributes to long-term happiness.

You don’t have to have a lot of them, but you have to have around you people you trust and trust you back. 

Thinking about what you’re grateful for can instantly improve your mood.

It works because our interpretation of events influences our emotions more than the events themselves.

Contactless payments would never have been possible if we didn't have satellites. Literally, all of our financial transactions rely on satellites' locations and timing services for security purposes as well.

If the satellite's timing isn't in sync with the others, it is possible for money to be lost in the transaction.

Overhead, we have about 3000 satellites that assist us in monitoring natural disasters such as forest fires and tropical storms.

The data that we've gathered from these satellites allow us to study the behavior and predict its patterns to further support our response teams and relief efforts.

Many countries have already approved of sharing satellite data regarding this matter, and the coordinated global use of satellites amounts to almost 700 possibilities.

There is no country or entity that is able to claim a region of space, not even a superpower country.

Satellites provide data to activists, journalists, and even investigators in order to pursue saving as many lives as possible.

Due to the help of satellites, communities are able to speak up for what they believe in and are then able to tackle issues such as illegal deforestation, government fabrications, and even the prosecution of war criminals.

A fun feature of satellites includes high-resolution imagery.

Through this technique, we are able to identify ships that do not submit signals of their locations by differentiating the locations of the ones that do, thus preventing ourselves from piracy.

High-resolution imagery is also useful for spotting whether a colony of animals is slowly dying or not. Scientists are able to count and identify the animals through high-resolution imagery. Although it is still far from being able to track an individual animal.

It is extremely useful for conservationists because it can help them protect endangered animal species from either being poached or encroached on by people.

The existence of extra-terrestrials is dependent on what we believe in. Satellites are able to see anything even outside our solar system.

Life is full of paradoxes, and anything and everything that we hope for or desire only leads to more anxiety and stress, creating new problems for us.

We can be content. But it's not simple. To understand why we seem to be constantly dissatisfied with ourselves and the world, we must understand some basic psychological principles.

Our behavior, contentment, desires, expectations, and body clocks are set differently, and this may lead to conflicts and problems with others.