What are the 10 Rules of the Power of Positive Thinking?
The power of positive thinking and the top ten rules in getting it is one of the hottest topic today. This is because people are realizing that positive thinking does affect life significantly.
Have you heard of “The Secret” movie? It’s rapidly making it’s way around the world. Whether you see a glass as half-empty or half-full can affect the way you treat yourself. We are in control of our lives and our destiny.
An idle brain, is a devil’s workshop they say. Using this ideology in mind, we ventured to write on positive thinking, so that something productive would be achieved of our minds.
Here are the top 10 Rules to Get the Power of Positive Thinking
1) Believe - You need to believe. You can not pretend to be a positive thinker. In positive thinking, you can not fake it because there is no one to pretend to.
If somebody merely believes that you are a positive thinker, how can that benefit you? The most important of the ten rules of the power of positive thinking is that you yourself should believe it.
2) Be objective - This is very important in the ten rules for the power of positive thinking. Many people tend to see their lives for their failures and thus,
they lose all hope of ever attaining in their goal. Some other people, filled with false pride, tend to magnify their success and they make all the wrong decisions.
3) Surround yourself with people who are positive - When you are engaged in an internal battle between your negative and positive self, you will need all the help you can get. Don’t surround yourself with negative people who will just drag your positive attitude to the floor with their negativity.
4) Be healthy - All of the positive thinking in the world will not help you if you are six feet under, can it? You have to keep your body healthy in order to fuel your positive thinking. One step to achieving the power of positive thinking is looking after your body.
5) Switch negativity around - Remove all negative thoughts by repelling it outright when something negative enters your personality.
Channel that energy into positive thoughts.
6) Be patient - Positive thinking is not immediate. You need to reprogram yourself in order to get remove any negative attitude you possess.
7) Remember that other people can sense your negativity - Before you do anything, be sure to have the right attitude. One reason why people fail is because others can sense their negative attitude and want no part of it.
Always look for something positive in everything new - When you encounter something unfamiliar, do not be afraid. Take a hard look at it and see it for the positive effects it brings, this will make your life easier.
9) Pace yourself - You need to pace yourself in order to prevent yourself from collapsing. Take life one day at a time. Remember that you can not hurry into getting positive.
10) Apply the change - The main characteristic of these ten rules of the power of positive thinking is the fact that they only bring you to the door. You have to open it yourself. Many individuals do not realize this, but we need these rules in order to appreciate life more. Some people think rules limit our achievements, but this is untrue. Without any rules, we would have been extinct centuries ago. Rules remove the chaos that is called life and impose sanity into it.
Rules are what we use to help us understand the true meaning of life. Sometimes, we look for rules in order to help us attain our goals. People make rules in order to help themselves achieve their goals in a manner that they can understand. Rules are also used to help us understand life. People give out rules in order to help others get what they want. We are able to keep every discovery made because of rules.
It seems that people, when looking for rules, like to stick to ten, which is a nice, round number. It comes as no surprise that individuals look for 10 rules for the power of positive thinking.
Andrew Chin is a recognized authority on the subject of Positive Thinking. His web site http://www.SelfImprovementsGuide.com provides a wealth of information on everything about Positive Thinking. All rights reserved. Articles may be reprinted as long as the content and links remain unchanged
Talking Money: Choose Your Words Carefully
Most people talk about money as if it were a somber, life or death matter. They’ll gladly tell anyone they meet how tough their financial situation is and how they are barely getting by. They’ll say, “I wish I could afford (fill in the blank),” or “money’s so tight right now.”
I used to be exactly the same way: if someone had followed me around all day and made a list of every negative comment I made regarding money, the results would have been shocking, to say the least.
So how about you? Do you speak well of money, prosperity, success and wealth? Or do you fill your speech with images of lack, limitation and hardship?
Take it from someone who has been both wealthy and poor, the world we live in does not respond well to negative money-talk. Those who are wealthy already know this (either consciously or sub-consciously). They’ll say, “It’s nice to have money,” “I’m grateful that I’m wealthy,” I’m worth investing in.” And the real trick is, they speak this way as a matter of habit-they believe it!
Wealthy people reaffirm their wealth with their language, not to show off or make others feel bad, but to constantly remind themselves that abundance is their birthright. And by the way, abundance is your birthright too.
Now you may be saying, “I’m not rich a rich person,” or “I can’t afford to think that way.” But the truth is you can’t afford not to think this way.
“Energy flows where attention goes,” means that your thoughts (and by proxy your language) sets the tone for the kind of life you will live. Many people call this the Law of Attraction, but it’s also age-old common sense. Thousands of years ago Babylonian farmers were aware of this concept, and nearly every culture in the world has a folk saying that relates this exact same point.
Have you seen those studies that show that houseplants grow better when given plenty of love and attention by their owners? Some people even talk, sing or pet their plants, and guess what? This has been proven (not “assumed,” but proven by scientific research) to increase the well being and growth of the plant.
So ask yourself: If giving lots of positive attention to a plant causes it to grow quicker and increases its well-being, do you THINK it’s possible that giving positive attention to your money causes it to grow quicker and increase your financial well-being? Hmmmmm…
Every negative statement you make about money is a kind of curse, and can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you have habits of talking negative about money, it’s time to make a course correction. Replace negative and limiting comments with words that represent abundance, success, prosperity and fun! Soon you’ll have a new habit that will serve you much better.
The way I think about money has changed dramatically since the days when I was eating “doughnuts for dinner.” So is it just pure coincidence that my financial situation is also light-years better than it was back then? I’ll leave that to you to decide, but in my mind, it’s no coincidence at all.
Jon Mercer (PDC) teaches regular people to attract extraordinary wealth! Learn the secrets of attracting great wealth into your life at http://www.attractanything.com/
Benefits Of A Dream Journal
Six to eight hours per day of sleep in a whole life span amounts to about a third of a person’s life in slumber. Many pay no attention to sleep and dreams in what becomes a lost third of their lives. Others simply forget.
A dream journal is a way to recoup some of the lost time of sleep and dreams. But there are many other benefits of keeping a consistent dream journal.
Benefit 1: Dream Messages. Psychologist Carl G. Jung (1875-1971) theorized that dreams were a window into the unconscious. While Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) had the same sort of theory, he believed that the nature of the unconscious was different than what Jung proposed. Freud saw the unconscious as animalistic, instinctual and sexual while Jung saw the unconscious as spiritual.
Regardless of what you believe the nature of the unconscious mind is composed of, dreams have messages from the unconscious that may otherwise be lost if they weren’t written down. Messages that may give insight into the deeper currents that move underneath the surface of the self allowing a level of introspection that rivals any psychiatric session.
Benefit 2: Dream Entertainment. Dreams can be a great source of entertainment, but many people don’t recall them. Writing them down can prove to be more entertaining than any sitcom as the night visions are dramas played out on the stage of ones own mind.
Benefit 3: Lucid Dream. Lucid dreaming is a state in which the dreamer is aware that they are in a dream. With good dream recall cultivated by a dream writing habit people tend to have more lucid dreams. Once aware in dreams, it is possible to do anything one’s heart desires. The dream becomes like a genie in a lamp or personal holodeck in which wild fantasies come true.
Benefit 4: Amazing Dreams. It is amazing the kinds of dreams that can be forgotten. The some of the few that are remembered are now cultural phenomenon such as the Beatles song “Yesterday” (1965) written by Paul McCartney. McCartney claims that the tune for the song came to him in a dream… needless to say, he wrote it down or rather woke up and played it on his piano. In fact McCartney said: “I liked the melody a lot, but because I’d dreamed it, I couldn’t believe I’d written it.”
Steven King dreamt of the concept of his book Misery before writing it. In an interview with Naomi Epel for her book, Writers Dreaming, King says of dreams: “I think that dreams are a way that people’s minds illustrate the nature of their problems. Or maybe even illustrate the answers to their problem in symbolic language.”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) dreamt of his story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde before writing it. He described dreams as occurring in “that small theater of the brain which we keep brightly lighted all night long.”
One third of most people’s lives are forgotten, leaving gems of personal discovery, and a wealth of creative ideas lost forever. Perhaps getting more out of life is as simple as writing and remembering the dreams of a previous night.
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of My-Personal-Growth.com, a site that provides information and articles for self improvement and personal growth and development. http://www.my-personal-growth.com/
It Is Your Job To Live Your Real Life
If you have not decided yet what your mission is and what it is you want to realize in this life, then you are wasting time and energy on all kinds of trivialities keeping you from what it is you really came here for.
When there is no goal to strive for, when you do not have an overview of your life plan, then you are not living your best life. You are being lived and you yourself are not the creator of your life.
Without goal you are also without guidance to take the right decisions. You are just running around without real destination, for no real reason. You are probably quite exhausted and feel like you are spinning around without reason, without result and without satisfaction.
As long you are not sure about your mission on earth, about the reason WHY you are here, about your main goal in life, you will feel like a ping-pong ball undergoing the commands of all your subpersonalities.
We all are a mix of different subpersonalities. These are different aspects of ourselves that take turns expressing themselves, and that may at times be contradictory.
This split results in a sense of chaos and constitutes the most important hindrance keeping us from finding and implementing our mission. All of these subpersonalities are fighting for attention and keep us from focusing on what is really important.
You need to identify your subpersonalities in order to free yourself of their tugs.The subpersonalities are built on habitual thinking, habitual acting and habitual emotions.
These are roles you have learned to play. Just like the actors in a theatre play, they come and go one by one and take turns in the spotlight and the drama of the day. You have become so accustomed to playing these roles that you are no longer aware of it, proceeding automatically and mechanistically.
In order to get off this merry-go-round you first need to take a close look at your subpersonalities and identify them. Once you know them by name, you are back in charge of your life goal and they loose their power over you.
In the morning you may feel tired and bad-tempered, hurrying to get the kids to school in time. Standing in a traffic jam, your aggressive side may surface as another driver cuts in front of you. At work you might feel superior or inferior.
During the coffee pause, your complaining self comes forward as you are venting about intolerable behavior of a colleague, or maybe your are jealous of a co-worker. During your lunch break your hurrying self comes back to do some quick shopping.
After coffee you once again feel uplifted and courageous and ready to take on the whole world. Before long you feel disappointed or even irritated when your boss scolds you. Back home you might play dictator towards the children who do not want to do their homework. You cheer up a depressed friend calling you.
You go out with friends and your playful side comes up, releasing the happy child inside. You may exaggerate and cross a line, triggering the guilty self to raise its head.
And it just goes on and on like that. All day long, week after week, year after year, we submit ourselves to the erratic play calling our subpersonalities on and off stage, time and again. This makes it hard to describe your real self, since you keep playing other parts.
To become aware of the roles you are playing, you have to learn to observe yourself. Look at yourself through the eyes of an external observer. From a distance, look at what you are doing and feeling throughout the day, and record all feelings and behaviors written in the script. Try to stay out of judgment as you do this. (The judge is just another subpersonality of the self!)
This is an exercise to observe the self. You will notice you are not playing the same roles all day long. Examples: the fearful, the complaining, the ambitious, the doubter, the mixer, the talkative, the introvert, the distant, the aggressive, the evil, the friendly, the assistant, the martyr, the one forgetting about oneself, the intelligent, the rebel, the challenger, the shy one, the hyperactive, the perfectionist, the organizer, the depressed, the sob, the mother figure, the family man, the daughter, the son, the yes man, the indifferent, the helpless one, the teacher/doctor/bank clerk (your profession), and so on.
Make a list of the subpersonalities you encounter during your observation during an entire day or week.
Once you have completed your list of subpersonalities, try putting the phrase :I have moments of … in front of them. For example, instead of saying : I am aggressive, rather say : I have moments of aggression.
The fact that you have moments of aggression entails that there are also other moments when aggression is not there. It is only one facet of your self, and not your entire BEING. By putting : I have moments of,in front of these subpersonalities, you allow yourself to release the burden they impose.
Once you have identified all your different subpersonalities living inside you, you can go some deeper to find the real you. The core of you is different, a core much deeper than the superficial roles you have learned to play in order to survive in an environment imposed upon you.
This core is your true nature, your individuality, the truth about you, to be discovered by meditation or by looking at your best moments when you were really yourself. In this center you feel peace and inner strength.
You deserve being your true self. Your life deserves being lived by your true self. Your life is designed for only you. Do not waste it by trying to live up the demands of others. Do not waste it by automatically repeating the roles others designed for you. Your life is yours. It is up to you to live it. It is your responsibility to live it at your terms. It is your job to unfold your true nature.
Ineke Van Lint, psychologist, is a spiritual and educational coach and an expert in enthusiasm. She will guide you to find out who is the real you and how you can achieve happiness and success. Grab your free e-course and free inspirational quotes at http://www.theenthusiasm.com
Learn The Secret to Becoming An Expert At Anything
What happens when you step off the edge of a thirty story building’s rooftop with nothing to keep you in the air? Gravity drops you like a rock. It’s an immutable law. This law will never be broken.
Here’s another one. Energy can’t be created or destroyed; it may be transformed from one form to another, but the total amount of energy can never change.
You may be wondering what this has to do with becoming an expert at something. Read on, you’ll begin to see what I’m getting at here.
Those laws are straight from the hard science of physics. They can’t be broken. Similarly, the soft sciences also have laws that can’t be broken. Learning, motivation, initiative, and emotional intelligence are from the soft science of psychology. But just like physics, psychology has immutable laws too.
So the very first thing you need to do if you want to become an expert at anything is to learn what the laws are regarding the endeavor your trying to become an expert in. Then you’ll need to resolve to never pointlessly try to break these laws. Instead, you’ll need to learn how to work within their very specific frameworks.
The amount of time you spend working on a skill is directly related to how good you become at that skill. There are no shortcuts. This is soft science law. It’s immutable. As sure as you’ll fall to your death if you step off a skyscraper rooftop, you cannot become an expert at anything if you don’t put the time in. It’s really that simple.
In the groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence the author Daniel Goleman cites a study done where Olympic stars and accomplished musicians were analyzed to determine why there are younger and younger people become so highly accomplished in their chosen fields. The answer is that they start practicing at younger and younger ages. The top determining factor for their success was the number of hours they spent practicing. So even people who are born with gifts need to put their noses to the grindstone and practice till it hurts in order to become world-class.
A book that anyone who finds this article even mildly interesting (and if you’ve gotten this far in an online article, that’s you) should consider reading is called “Mastery - The Keys To Success” by George Leonard. He explains how the brain learns, why we reach plateaus in developing new skills, and how to become a true master at anything. His explanation of how our minds develop mastery over a skill makes perfect sense and is fascinating.
Simply put, when we start off doing a new thing, we have to consciously think about it and its related parts, all in a deliberate and slow way. Through repetition and practice, this conscious and inefficient thought process gets handed off to our subconscious which operates much more quickly, effortlessly and flawlessly. When this happens, we start to master the skill that’s been handed off. Practice it enough, and the skill becomes second nature and eventually an expert. This holds true for physical things such as playing an instrument or martial arts, as well as for intellectual things such as writing, painting or acting.
Malcolm Gladwell in his recent book Blink explains this same thing when he explains how we increase our chances of quickly making correct decisions when we’ve become habituated to the situation in which we’re in that requires a snap decision.
In “Mastery - The Keys To Success”, George Leonard explains that our Western society incorrectly values the quick fix, the million dollar secret, the painless and easy way through, or the get rich quick scheme. We’re all focused on the goal, at the expense of the process. From the corporate world to school or sports, we’re all so caught up in the results, that we miss point. We miss the juicy part of life, which is the progression, the development.
And to value the process over the result is where mastery can be found. The secret to becoming an expert is to learn to enjoy the learning and practice. To find intrinsic worth and joy in the process, to be okay with being a fool while you learn, to get knocked down ten times but get back up eleven times as a famous karate saying goes, is to be on the path to mastery.
There are no shortcuts. And to my knowledge there are no other paradigms that work so effectively in becoming an expert, regardless of what you’re trying to become an expert in.
If you’re doing something because you’re driven by your fear or ego, then you’re definitely on the wrong track, and you’ll probably never reach expert status.
If you’re driven by fear or ego happiness will surely elude you. You’ll never find it easy to stick with something, and you’ll never become an expert. Instead, if you’re driven by the love of the process, the shear enjoyment of the doing, you won’t be able to help but become an expert, because you’ll end up putting in the time necessary to become great. That’s where the magic happens. That’s how you will find yourself waking up one day and saying, “Wow, I really am an expert at this now, how did that happen?”
Remember, the more time spent doing something, the better your chances are of becoming an expert in it, and to successfully and consistently put in the time, you’ll need to learn how to love the process, not the goal.
Jason OConnor owns and operates TheNetGazette.Net
http://www.thenetgazette.net/, a Web business newsletter.
Personal Responsibility - What Does it Really Mean to Begin Taking Responsibility?
Taking responsibility for yourself involves more than admitting wrong-doings or arriving on time for work: When you make a choice or devise a solution to a problem, you must be accountable for the results or outcomes. To truly take personal responsibility in life you need to let go of any concerns over how others live and the impact that potentially has on you. You need to own your emotions without blaming the actions of others for the way you feel, which certainly sounds simpler than it actually is!
It is absolutely imperative that you cease comparing yourself to others; thinking if you only had what they had you would be leading a higher quality of life. There will always be people who are better and worse off than you in all areas of your life, and from those two groups there will be people who have done less and more than you have. Take responsibility for the way you feel and your attitude to whatever you are faced with each day, and let go of the idea all together that you are in any way a victim to circumstances. The glass can be half full or half empty, and someone who’s taking responsibility in life knows it is half full and will work with what they thankfully have.
For a person who considers themselves clueless when it comes to taking responsibility in their life, it is best to start small. Begin by looking at your interactions with other people and the control you possibly attempt to exert over situations. For example, if your partner makes a choice to go and spend their day at the beach and you feel upset because you weren’t invited or advised about their plans, do you express this to them when you see them next? Do you say “Why didn’t you invite me to the beach? I’ve been stuck here alone all day! You make me feel like you don’t like my company!” This kind of reaction means you are giving away all personal responsibility for your own feelings and your own actions, and you are trying to control the feelings and actions of your loved one.
Take a moment to examine the facts: Every adult has every right to do whatever they choose with their life and their time. This having been said, why should others be made to feel like they should change their plans or desires or live their life according to what you want? When someone who has evolved to the point where taking responsibility comes naturally to them, there will be nothing worse than another person trying to “make” them feel guilty or wrong for doing things the way they want to. Using the above example, a person who has developed personal responsibility will see their loved one isn’t around, recognize that they feel a bit bored or lonely at that time, and take responsibility for themselves by choosing to go shopping, or perhaps go to the beach.
You push through the desire to blame other or your partner, get up, go out and do your own thing, and you are opening yourself up to have your own awesome experiences. Maybe that day you bump into an old employer who wants to interview you for an employment opening in his new company, or perhaps you see your English Literature professor at the drug store, giving you a chance to discuss a problem you have with an assignment? When these things happen, and you are on your own path, you feel inspired, motivated and proud of taking responsibility for yourself. It is these experiences that propel you to take further risks, chances and confident leaps of faith to advance in life.
Instead of becoming overwhelmed by the big picture of dreams that seem completely unachievable, focus on the details and do the ground work to become an overall independent person, taking responsibility in every area of your life. If you fail to do this as soon as possible, you are risking entering into a state of regret and frustration, continuing to blame others for your circumstances. Write plans and follow through on every step necessary, the whole time remaining completely aware that you create your reality.
Surround yourself with positive people who are masters at taking responsibility so you don’t have people trying to control or blame you for their situation. If you remember never to say to anyone (or think) that they “made” you do or feel something, and if you stay focused on yourself and your own life choices, you can proudly say you are taking responsibility in your life. Of course everything is not going to instantly become perfect, but through learning from the downs and treasuring the ups you will grow to know yourself better and steer your life in the right direction, responsibly.
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of My-Personal-Growth.com, a site that provides information and articles for self improvement and personal growth and development. http://www.my-personal-growth.com/
3 Law Of Attraction Tactics You Should Know
Today, I’m going to share with you three tactics that you can start using immediately to invoke the Law of Attraction in your life. These three things are easy to do and will cost you NADA!
1) Component number one - Power of Positive Thinking.
Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results.
Proponents of the Law of Attraction maintain that living in a perpetually positive state of mind will attract positive influences (some like to call them “vibrations”) in the world that will fuel positive changes in their lives.
Allan applied for a new job, but as his self-esteem was low, and he considered himself as a failure and unworthy of success, he was sure that he was not going to get the job. He had a negative attitude towards himself, and believed that the other applicants were better and more qualified than him. Allan manifested this attitude, due to his negative past experiences with job interviews.
His mind was filled with negative thoughts and fears concerning the job for the whole week before the job interview. He was sure he would be rejected. On the day of the interview he got up late, and to his horror he discovered that the shirt he had planned to wear was dirty, and the other one needed ironing. As it was already too late, he went out wearing a shirt full of wrinkles.
During the interview he was tense, displayed a negative attitude, worried about his shirt, and felt hungry because he did not have enough time to eat breakfast. All this distracted his mind and made it difficult for him to focus on the interview. His overall behavior made a bad impression, and consequently he materialized his fear and did not get the job.
Jim applied for the same job too, but approached the matter in a different way. He was sure that he was going to get the job. During the week preceding the interview he often visualized himself making a good impression and getting the job.
In the evening before the interview he prepared the clothes he was going to wear, and went to sleep a little earlier. On day of the interview he woke up earlier than usual, and had ample time to eat breakfast, and then to arrive to the interview before the scheduled time.
He got the job because he made a good impression. Of course he had also the proper qualifications for the job, but so had Allan.
What do we learn here? When the attitude is positive we entertain pleasant feelings and constructive images, and see in our mind’s eye what we really want to happen. This brings brightness to the eyes, more energy and happiness. The whole being broadcasts good will, happiness and success. Even the health is affected in a beneficial way. We walk tall and the voice is more powerful. Our body language shows the way you feel inside.
2)Component number one - Power of Visualization
Visualization is the art and skill of creating a mental model of an event or situation. It is controlled, directed, and purposeful. Peak performers visualize more and better than do others. They may have learned spontaneously to visualize events in vivid detail.
Proponents of the Secret/Law of Attraction are big on visualization. By visualizing yourself where you want to be in life, you will attract those “vibrations” necessary to get yourself to that place. Some Secret teachers even say to go one step further and utilize “holographic visualization,” which basically means that, along with mentally seeing yourself in a certain situation in life, you need to also emotionally put yourself there. You need to see these visions so clearly in your mind that it almost seems as if you are actually there.
Done consistently over time, this visualization will help align you with your vision. It will create the focus and the drive, and it will help you see exactly what you need to get to where you want.
3)Component number one - Power of Affirmation
Affirmations can be many things, but to sum them up, it is the process of writing down your desires and then repeating them, either out loud or in your head, over and over again. This will change your mental view towards those desires. Those that believe in the power of affirmations believe in the idea that by repeatedly voicing these desires, they will become a reality.
Most people carry around some baggage. This baggage, whether it’s conscious or unconscious, constantly undermines your self-esteem and confidence. By using affirmations, you can change your limiting point of view to one of confidence and positive self-image, thereby attracting your desires in life.
There you go!3 powerful tactics to help you make the most of the Law of Attraction in your life. Try putting one of these into practice today, and see what it happens!
Sern Yi - A Business Entrepreneur that constantly looks for fresh methods and radical strategies to improves himself, his business and most of all sharing them to others- improving the life of others. Visit one of his sites here
http://www.scienceofgettingprosperous.com
10 Steps to Better Efficiency in Your Day to Day Life
I was talking to someone recently and the topic of our conversation ended up about how efficient we are in our day to day activities. It is a very interesting subject matter. I have heard numerous theories about this. Here are a few tips that I think could be valuable:
1. Make lists.
If you make to do lists and employ other kinds of organizational tools, you surely will benefit from higher efficiency levels of your life. Time management is one of the most important parts of improving anybodies efficiency.
2. Outsource.
This might be a controversial view, but outsourcing all of the things you do on daily basis, can be a great way to free up time and do things more efficiently. For example if it takes you 4h/week to shop for food, you can find a service that delivers, and use those 4 hours for something much more productive - for example, spending it with your family.
3. Learn how to be healthy.
Not everyone would think that health could be an important factor when it comes to improving the efficiency of our daily life, but it really does make a difference. Just ask yourself if you could be very productive if your health would prevent you from doing what you have to do every day.
4. Automate your life.
One of the greatest concepts in internet marketing is automation. Set as many tasks as you can to execute automatically. This might be a little different in real life, but worth trying. Our example about grocery shopping can be considered automation. How many hours does it take you to get groceries every week? What if you would get a service that would bring groceries to your doorstep every week?
5. Leverage whenever you can.
Leverage is a concept that is very familiar in business milieu. It does however also apply to our regular activities as well. Do you think it would be helpful to you if you would be able to achieve more with less effort? Leverage through people - get other people to help you do the things it takes you a long time to complete alone. Leverage through systems - employ systems. An example of that could be dividing responsibilities in cooking and cleaning duties in a household. One person cooks the other does dishes. It is simple yet very powerful efficiency tool.
6. Plan everything.
It is a lot easier to accomplish anything if you know what it is you are trying to accomplish. If we don’t plan, we tend to jump from one activity to another, and waist a lot of time. Write out a clear map of what you are trying to do and follow it. By the way a plan should never be set in stone. It should evolve and mutate to best suit your needs as time progresses.
7. Do all of your banking on the internet.
One of the biggest time wasters is dealing with banks. I have noticed that those establishments eat at least 1-2 hours of our time every time you go there. I have done majority of my banking online for several years now and I would say that it saved me at least a hundred of hours of unnecessary waste of time.
8. Allow yourself to waist 1 hour per day.
We are bound to get distracted! Most often it happens over and over again, so we actually end up losing quite a bit of real productive time due to distractions. We also probably tend to get more distracted when we get tired, so over-scheduling can be a real bad thing. My suggestion is to plan when and for how long you are going to waste time. If you do, you might start noticing that your attention span actually increases and you are getting less distracted as the time passes by.
9. Create a flow.
Create a flow of incoming and outgoing items. Make a place where you would hold all incoming documents and mail. Put everything that will require you immediate attention in that place. Alternatively put things that need to go out, such as mail or something you will need to accomplish during the day, in your path. By that I mean put them in a place you bound to go to on your way out - I often put those things beside my shoes. This way there isn’t a chance that you are going to forget to do it - you won’t leave without your shoes on, so there is a good chance of you seeing those things you need to take with you.
10. Set a time for “No Fly Zone”
This is probably one of the most valuable tips I can give. You will increase your efficiency exponentially if you will put a conscious effort into turning off your phone, internet, locking yourself in a room where no one will disturb you, while you are working. If you manage to isolate yourself from distractions - you will produce more work.
All these tips are simple and common sense. We just have to implement them into our life, and the results we are seeking will start showing themselves.
Copyright 2007 http://www.BurstCreativity.com
Alexander Tretjakov
Unconventional Thinking University
Author of MiWay Time Management System
Get this e-book FREE at:
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Developing A More Positive Attitude: A Guide Meditation On Loving Kindness
One of the most important teachings of the Buddha was one called metta, a Pali word for loving kindness.
Like most people, I find myself often getting snappish and impatient with other people, and wish that I could just be kinder, more tolerant and more constructive when dealing with others. But it is not always easy, is it? The Buddha knew that we are all human, and we are all flawed. This is why he taught that meditating on loving kindness can help us be the better people that we strive to become.
One translation of the Buddha teachings on loving kindness reads, in part, as follows:
“This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who seeks the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings.”
By performing a loving kindness guided meditation, you will be giving yourself an opportunity for calm, clarity and insight. The two to three minutes that the guided meditation lasts will open the door to further reflection on and understanding of the concept of loving kindness.
Here is a guided meditation on loving kindness
1) Sit in a comfortable position, with your posture erect. Feel your entire body sitting, with your spine open, your upper body open, your chest open and your chin tucked down. Feel your breathing in the diaphragm and midsection. Allow yourself to become calm and peaceful, worrying about nothing. Breathe deeply, and feel how alive you are.
2) Now think of an image or feeling, something calming and happy. If you like, you can remember a time when you were especially happy and go back to that place in your mind. On your out breath repeat silently with each breath: May I be happy. May my heart be open. May I be content with myself.
Repeat this at least three times, a phrase on each out breath. Focus fully on the meaning of the words, and do your nest to feel them deeply.
3) Now think of someone close to you, such as a family member or other loved one. On your out breath repeat silently, one phrase to a breath: May she be happy. Repeat three times. Then picture someone else that you care about and, on your out breath, repeat silently, one phrase to a breath: May he be happy, for three breaths.
4) Now imagine all of the wonderful friends that you have in your life friendship in your life. Imagine them sitting there with you, surrounding you. On your out breath, repeat silently: May they all be happy, for three breaths.
5) Now reach out and think of someone that you know that you do not feel deeply about. For instance, a co-worker, or a casual acquaintance. On your out breath send a prayer to them, too. Think: May she be happy. Repeat three times.
6) Now allow yourself to feel of loving kindness throughout your body, starting in your belly and your
chest and emanating outward throughout every cell of your body. Breathe with the feeling and imagine it growing stronger, turning into beams of light that shine out from your body and flowing out onto the rest of the Earth and humanity, without limits. On your out breath repeat silently, one phrase to a breath: May all these beings be happy. May their hearts be open. May they all be content with themselves. Repeat this at least three times, a phrase on each out breath.
7) Now return to yourself and, on your out breaths, repeat: May I be happy. May my heart be open. May I be content with myself. And let go of the meditation, allowing yourself to slowly come back to yourself. Slowly stretch your body and open your eyes.
When you regularly do a guided loving kindness meditation, you will find that you feel calmer, more positive, and more loving towards others. Be happy that you are helping to send positive energy out into the world and be assured that the world will reward you by sending more positive energy back your way.
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Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Chemistry!
The Stoic Lucius Seneca once wrote: “It is part of the cure to want to be cured.”
This simple observation reflects our current understanding of the relationship between mind and body. There is a close correlation between physical actions and mental states. Certain actions can impact our mental attitudes and our mental attitudes influence our physical being because the mind and body constantly talk to one another. The brain sends all that it thinks and perceives to the rest of the body.
An extreme example of this interconnection can be seen in the effects of voodoo. In the 1940s, Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon spent several years collecting examples of “voodoo death” — case histories of men and women who died as a result of being the recipient of a curse, an alleged supernatural visitation or the breaking of some tribal or cultural taboo. Cannon concluded that humans could die from “the fatal power of the imagination working through unmitigated terror.” Another researcher, Dr. J.C. Barker, in Scared to Death — a collection of case histories of individuals who had willed themselves or others to death — concluded that voodoo-like death results “purely from extreme fear and exhaustion…essentially a psychosomatic phenomenon.”
How is it possible for thoughts to impact the body so drastically?
It is possible because the central nervous system and the body’s immune system are hard-wired together. In 1981 neurobiologist David Felten and a team of researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine found the first concrete example of the mind/body connection — a bridge between the body’s immune system and the central nervous system that is under control of the brain. While tracing nerves to bone marrow, lymph nodes and the spleen, Felten’s team discovered a network of nerves leading to blood vessels as well as to cells of the immune system. They found that nerves in the thymus and spleen terminated near clusters of lymphocytes and mast cells, which help control immune function. In other words, the brain absolutely communicates with immune-system cells.
This establishes a close correlation between a person’s mental state and physical reactions. You can generate an emotion simply by going through the appropriate muscle movements. For example, if you clench your fist and scowl, you will begin to feel anger. Force yourself to laugh and you will begin to feel good. The specific muscle action is an integral part of the corresponding emotion. You cannot hold your features in the expression of one emotion and call up the feeling of a different emotion at the same time. It is impossible to do.
Paul Ekman, Professor Emeritus at the University of California at San Francisco, is a pioneer in the study of emotions and facial expressions. His research on more than 200 kinds of smiles demonstrated that you could actually alter your emotional state and immune system by smiling or frowning. When Ekman’s research subjects were trained to control their facial muscles and voluntarily form smiles, their physiological processes altered immediately and their hormones changed drastically.
So when you smile, you alter your blood chemistry. The natural opiates in your system and your neuropeptides change. These chemicals are located not only in your brain but in your stomach and intestines.
What does this have to do with hypnosis?
Hypnosis is the most powerful tool we possess for changing thoughts and attitudes. It is a trance state characterized by relaxation, extreme suggestibility and hyper-attentiveness. The subject is fully conscious, but chooses to focus internally while ignoring external stimuli.
Hypnosis allows one to access the subconscious mind directly. In this relaxed, hyper-attentive state, the subject experiences the hypnotist’s suggestions as if they were real. If told that his or her tongue has swollen to double its normal size, the subject will have difficulty talking. If told that his/her hands are glued together, the subject cannot pull them apart. By the same token, the subject is receptive to suggestions that are designed to change destructive thought patterns and habits such as anxiety, depression, stress, smoking and eating disorders.
A potent example of hypnosis’ power to affect physiology through the brain connection is its medical use. Since all pain is transmitted through the brain, the pain associated with surgery or medical conditions responds well to hypnosis. Hypnosis is an effective anesthesia for surgeries, dental procedures, childbirth and migraines. It also helps patients to manage nausea and symptoms from chemotherapy by enhancing control over their body responses.
The mind/body connection is the key to why hypnosis can be used so successfully to manage our physiology. Hypnosis gives us the power to alter our mental attitudes for the better; this in turn positively impacts our physical being.
In light of this potent interplay between mind and body, we would do well to take seriously the old Cole Porter song: “Accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative; latch on to the affirmative.” And enjoy happy body chemistry as your reward!
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of My-Personal-Growth.com, a site that provides information and articles for self improvement and personal growth and development. http://www.my-personal-growth.com/