18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick Wouldn’t it be nice to have everything run on autopilot? Chores, exercise, eating healthy and getting your work done just happening automatically. Unless they manage to invent robot servants, all your work isn’t going to disappear overnight. With a small amount of initial discipline, you can create a new habit that requires little effort to maintain. 1. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. What It Takes to Form a Good Habit I think "accountability buddy" really misses the point. There is satisfaction and joy in accomplishing the task, but that's where accountability buddy is a misnomer. All habits of any sort will trip, falter, fail, etc. It's all about getting back in the game. People who falter in quitting smoking, depression, learning a new skill, taking up exercise or learning a new habit need a buddy who they enjoy doing it with and will help them get back in the game. We are humans and we love to connect and share experiences with - even introverts have a means by which they connect and share. By far, the most important aspect of developing any habit is the actual doing of the habit. [From years of experience as fitness center owner/operator]
The Power of Habit and How to Rewire Our "Habit Loops" by Maria Popova What Iraqi kebob vendors have to do with your New Year’s resolutions. As a young man, Benjamin Franklin set out to improve himself by devising a chart-based log for tracking his progress against the virtues he identified as essential to good personhood. Each week, he would pick a virtue to cultivate, then put a black pencil mark in his calendar chart on any day he failed to uphold the virtue. This visual feedback on his progress encouraged him, and allowed him to move to a different virtue the following week, hoping that each week would leave him with a “habitude” for that particular virtue. We try to reverse-engineer willpower and flowchart our way to happiness, but in the end, it is habit that is at the heart of our successes and our failures. Duhigg first became fascinated by the power of habit eight years ago, while in Baghdad as a newspaper reporter. So the major summoned Kufa’s mayor and made a strange request: Get the food vendors out of the plaza. Donating = Loving
201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity Arouse your creativity Electric flesh-arrows … traversing the body. A rainbow of color strikes the eyelids. A foam of music falls over the ears. Creativity is like sex. I know, I know. The people I speak of are writers. Below, I’ve exposed some of their secret tips, methods, and techniques. Now, lie back, relax and take pleasure in these 201 provocative ways to arouse your creativity. Great hacks from Merlin Mann of 43 Folders
How to Beat a Temporary Motivational Slump People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. ~Andrew Carnegie Regardless of your level of motivation, it is human nature to have days when you aren’t feeling very motivated. By surrounding yourself with positive and motivational things, those days will normally be few and far between. However, if you find your lack of motivation lasting for more than a few days you may be on your way to a full-fledged motivation slump. True motivation is an internal force. Although motivation from other people can be helpful, reality is that you’re not always going to find the support and encouragement you need from other people when you need it. It’s not necessarily that they don’t care, sometimes it’s simply that other people are caught up in their own lives at the moment and simply don’t realize you’re waiting for them to motivate you. When You See a Slump Coming Forced vs. Final thoughts on self-motivation … Mahalo!
Nine Things Successful People Do Differently - Heidi Grant Halvorson Learn more about the science of success with Heidi Grant Halvorson’s HBR Single, based on this blog post. Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren’t sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do. 1. To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. 3. Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. 7. 8. 9.
10+ Tips and Tools To Keep Teachers Organized “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” ~ Gustave Flaubert Learning online can be an incredible journey but at some point you may feel overwhelmed with the surplus of information and resources. You may feel very excited about a resource you come across, but want to access that resource at some other date. Perhaps, you are teaching your students how to research online and they want to bookmark and create notes on websites. Many free webtools exist to help us quickly save, bookmark, categorize, store, and share information. Googlize It! Jump on the bandwagon and get a Google account if you haven’t already. G-mail – Make the switch to g-mail. Google Drive – If you haven’t already, make the switch from Google Apps to Google Drive. Google Chrome – This is my browser of choice, because it doesn’t matter what computer I use I just have to download the browser and login to have access to my bookmarks, favorite sites, and more. Bookmarklet It!
How to Build Self-Discipline Discipline is freedom. You may disagree with this statement, and if you do you are certainly not alone. For many people discipline is a dirty word that is equated with the absence of freedom. In fact the opposite is true. Self-discipline involves acting according to what you think instead of how you feel in the moment. Work on an idea or project after the initial rush of enthusiasm has faded awayGo to the gym when all you want to do is lie on the couch and watch TVWake early to work on yourselfSay “no” when tempted to break your dietOnly check your email a few of times per day at particular times In the past self-discipline has been a weakness of mine, and as a result today I find myself lacking the ability to do a number of things which I would like – e.g. to play the guitar. If you struggle with self-discipline, the good news is that it can be developed. 1. Discipline means behaving according to what you have decided is best, regardless of how you feel in the moment. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Fake it Till You Make it: 10 Ways to Feel Confident (Even When You Aren’t) “Original Fake” Photo Credit: courtesy of MashKulture Is your self-confidence natural, or a daily struggle? Many people’s confidence naturally wavers from day to day, leaving them too timid or confused at just the wrong time. Whether you are naturally confident or could use some better eye contact with your life, setting in place a few simple strategies goes a long way to stoke your inner confidence. If you think you’re not especially smart or capable, or that failure is a given no matter how hard you try, you’re right. And if you believe you’re brilliant and can accomplish anything you set your mind to, you’re right. Amplifying your inner confidence is like any other skill you develop; you can do it in a blink. Same with confidence. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. You don’t have to follow all 10 of these tips, but they are starters that will help you find your internal confidence and boost your sense of self belonging. Confidence is the key to EVERYTHING. Related Articles:
9 Tactics for Rapid Learning (That Most People Have Never Heard Of) & Scott H Young Whenever the subject of why some people learn faster comes up, I get a whole host of common answers: Some people are just naturally smart. (Often implying you can’t improve)Everyone is “smart” in their own way. (Nonsense, research indicates different “intelligences” often correlate)IQ is all in the genes. (Except IQ changes with age and IQ tests can be studied for, like any other test) There may be some truth to these claims. Considering the upcoming launch of my rapid learning program, I wanted to share my favorite tactics to learn faster, retain information better or just enjoy the process of learning more: #1 – Pegging (or How Mental Magicians can Perfectly Recall Hundreds of Numbers) One of my favorite learning tactics, that is rarely mentioned, is pegging. The systems I’ve seen typically work with a special cheat sheet. From there, you can translate any series of numbers into a series of letters. Here’s a quick way to separate the rapid learners from the average learners.
THE MENTAL MARATHON THE MENTAL MARATHONBy Mindy Solkin Owner and Head Coach The Running Center We all know that running requires a great amount of physicality. But your mental fortitude is equally important. There are two types of mental training in the sport of running: "Association" and "Dis-association". Association or "associative running" allows you to "tune-in" to your body and its physical sensations, while Dis-association or "dis-associative running" refers to the process of "tuning-out" distractions. ASSOCIATION Association refers to running where your mind is focused on the body and you are intentionally concentrating on physical sensations. The limitations of association include: 1) Harder to learn and apply. 2) Requires mental effort. 3) Requires mental skills. DIS-ASSOCIATION Dis-association refers to running where your mind is focused either on external stimuli or internal distractions. © 2003 The Running Center™ All Rights Reserved
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