Self-Talk

2016-09-152016-09-13 ~ adminlife

What is Self-Talk?

Do you know that inner voice that always seems to be going? It is constantly “telling” you what you should do, what you might do, and reflecting on things you have already done. It evaluates what you do while you’re doing it, providing opinions and suggesting possible ramifications and outcomes. This is one type of inner monologue which psychologists have identified and labeled as “self-talk”.

To get a better idea of exactly what self-talk is, psychologist Susan Krauss Whitbourne likens self talk to the “equivalent of sports announcers commenting on a player’s successes or failures on the playing field.” Unlike athletes that never hear a television or radio sports commentator’s voice, you definitely “hear” what your self-talk is telling you.

Unfortunately, this voice you seem to have no control over can be negative sometimes.

Think about the last time you did something embarrassing. You may have experienced self-talk telling you how stupid you were. Sometimes it is critical even if you haven’t done anything wrong. It reminds you that you are probably going to mess something up, because you’ve done it in the past.

As it turns out, you can respond with negative and positive self-talk to the same situation. It all depends on how you lead your thoughts. For instance, pretend that you have just eaten at a restaurant that all your friends think is amazing. You thought it was overpriced, the food was average at best, the service stunk and you had to wait too long for your food.

You find yourself at a party with your friends, when several of them corner you and excitedly ask you what you thought about the restaurant they recommended. You tell them your feelings, holding nothing back. They all say you are crazy, that it is the greatest restaurant of all time.

Your inner dialogue can respond in 2 different ways.

Perhaps you tell yourself, “Why didn’t you just keep your mouth shut!? Now you look like an idiot.” In response to the exact same situation, you could choose positive, constructive self-talk instead. You could say, “Good for you, for sticking to your beliefs. You reported exactly what happened, you didn’t overstate the situation, and it’s okay if your friends disagree with you about this unimportant topic.”

Psychologists believe that consistently driving your self-talk in a positive, constructive direction can train your mind to respond that way. At first you will not find yourself able to redirect your inner voice. It will simply blurt out a subconscious response. However, by continually appraising dysfunctional self-talk and turning it around, you create less stress in your life, boost your self-esteem, and feel good about your inner dialogue.

To your success

Michael W

Procrastination – 6 Major Reasons

2016-09-122016-09-09 ~ adminlife

6 Major Reasons People Procrastinate

Do you procrastinate? Are you constantly putting things off, even when you know accomplishing them is the best thing to do? If so, you are certainly not alone. Everyone procrastinates or shirks responsibility at some time or other. The problem is that chronic procrastination can damage your health, ruin you financially, and create a rash of mental and emotional problems.

If that is the case, and human beings know what we should be doing, why aren’t we doing them?

Sometimes procrastination is intentional, and sometimes it is a byproduct of your lifestyle. Listed below are 6 common reasons why you procrastinate. Understanding the motivation behind your avoidance and putting off of responsibilities is the first step to stopping that behavior.

1 – Poor Diet

This one probably surprised you, didn’t it? It shouldn’t.

Many people living in modern civilizations eat too much processed food. They are consuming sugar, salt, MSG, trans fats, fast foods and other food-like products that are unhealthy. This has led to the highest incidence rate of obesity and overweight in human history. When you are tired, lethargic and your body does not get the nutrients it needs, you have little energy and your brain does not function properly.

Get more live, organic, fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet. Eat less foods that come in a wrapper, bag or box. Start reading food labels, and avoid sugar, salt, MSG and trans fats. Make more meals at home, eating wild caught salmon and tuna, nuts, berries, grass-fed beef and organic dairy products. You will not only sharpen your mind and stop procrastinating, but you will also become healthier and lose unneeded body fat in the process.

2 – Lack of Motivation

When a task is boring, or you “just don’t feel like doing it”, it is easy to put off. Remind yourself why you are doing any particular task or handling a responsibility. When you understand the important reasons why something is on your to-do list, you can motivate yourself through to its completion.

3 – Time Issues

“I don’t have the time!” Have you ever used this excuse in order to procrastinate or put something off? Most human beings in today’s busy society have a lot on their plates. There are a lot of tasks and responsibilities to handle. But the truth is, we waste so many hours every day and week because we do not properly prioritize or plan our actions. A daily, weekly and monthly activity planner solves this problem.

4 – Fear of Criticism

A perfectionist attitude can easily lead to procrastination. You want something to be “just right” before you cross it off your to-do list. This is really a deep-seated fear of criticism, either from yourself or others. Understand that nothing is ever perfect, make it acceptable, and move on.

5 – Fear of Rejection or Disappointment

Have you ever put off making a telephone call or speaking with someone? The communication is important and you know it, but you still keep finding reasons to put it off. This could be based on a fear of disappointment or rejection. You don’t want the other person to tell you something you don’t want to hear.

6 – Avoidance of Failure

Sometimes your “I’ll do it later” attitude is very simple to understand. You are afraid of failure. No one likes to fail. However, all of the great achievements in human history were made on the back of repetitive failures. If you are afraid to fail, you may never achieve anything truly important in your life, mentally, physically, emotionally or spiritually.

To your success

Michael W

Eliminate Negative Self Image – 9 Strategies

2016-09-092016-09-07 ~ adminlife

Proven Strategies to Eliminate a Negative Self-Image

Your self-image is your perception of yourself. You might think of yourself as intelligent, lazy, bad with money, likeable, and eccentric. Your beliefs about yourself can be liberating or constricting.

Your self-image can influence your decisions and limit your ability to succeed. For example, if you believe that you’re bad at speaking with strangers, you may avoid social situations that include people you don’t know. As a result, you might miss out on your biggest opportunity to meet the love of your life, a recruiter for your dream job, or a life-long friend.

Change your self-image and enhance your life with these techniques:

Address your bad habits. No one is perfect. If you’re being completely honest, there are things about you that could use a little work. Shore up your shortcomings. Get in shape, practice being more patient, or be a better friend.

Focus on making progress. Perfection is an unreasonable goal.

Make a list of your good points. Do this in the morning and the evening. Make a long list and then add at least one item each morning and evening. Remind yourself of all the things you’re already good at. What do you appreciate about yourself? Review the list regularly and notice how good you feel.
Live by your morals. You have your own opinion about what’s right and wrong. If you can live according to your values, how can you feel bad about yourself? It’s only when we stray that we feel guilty or displeased with ourselves.

Make a list of the behaviors you’ll no longer accept from yourself.
How do you think a person should behave? What qualities are most important to you? Set standards for yourself that you refuse to violate.

Spend time each week helping others. Volunteer or help a neighbor. Do something for someone else without receiving anything in return. Your self-image will improve considerably by this one strategy alone.

There are websites that list the volunteer opportunities in every city. Find your community’s listings and make a positive difference in someone’s life. You’ll benefit as much as they do.

Experience success. You have the right to feel good about any success, so make it easy to succeed. Set small goals and accomplish them. It could be a goal to save $100 this month or make it to the gym three times this week. Show yourself that you can be successful consistently.
Spend time with those that think highly of you. A great way to increase your respect for yourself is to spend time with others who already think you’re great. Avoid those that are negative, unkind, or unsupportive.
Spend time on activities that you enjoy. Make yourself feel good on a regular basis. You can carry those good feelings with you into other parts of your life. The more time you’re able to spend feeling positive emotions, the better you’ll feel about yourself.
Let go of the need to be perfect. If being perfect is the only way you can feel good about yourself, you’re going to be unhappy most of the time. Perfection isn’t possible. Be interested in improvement and effort. These are controllable and achievable.
Treat yourself well. By treating yourself well, you’ll believe that you deserve it. Be as kind to yourself as you would a good friend. Take care of your needs. This includes eating well, getting enough sleep, having an active social life, and buying yourself the things you need.

Do you think highly of yourself? A negative self-image can have negative repercussions on every part of your life. It’s well worth the time to enhance your self-image. You’ll find it difficult to achieve more than you think you deserve. So believe that you deserve a lot and you’ll enjoy more of what you desire in life.

To your success

Michael W

Follow These 10 Steps To Build Your Self-confidence

2016-09-072016-09-06 ~ adminlife

10 Easy Ways to Build Self-Confidence

You probably know someone who just exudes confidence. You might even have wondered, “What’s his secret? How can he be so positive about himself?” The good news is that you, too, could be that confident. Yes, you could be the one that everyone envies and wonders about!

Surprisingly, self-confidence comes not from some inner gift, but from the things you do. For many, those actions occur naturally or have become ingrained in them. Because such people have done these things a lot in the past, they habitually do them now. By practicing these same actions, you’ll be taking the steps necessary to build your own self-confidence.

Use these strategies to become more self-assured:

1. Take care with your appearance. How you feel about yourself is reflected in your appearance. Ensure your hair is styled and your clothes are well-fitting when you go out. When you know you look great, you feel great about yourself as well.

2. Smile and look people in the eye. When you smile and make eye contact, it shows that you have a certain ease about you. People see this and respond positively toward you, giving you a lift as well!

3. Give genuine compliments to others. Complimenting others shows that you feel good enough about yourself to give positive feedback to others.

4. Know your strengths. Focus on doing whatever you’re best at. You’ll feel like an expert and know without a doubt that you excel in that area.

5. Accept your imperfections. Letting go of the need to be perfect means you’re comfortable enough with yourself to admit your imperfections. After all, we all have them. Imperfections only show that you’re human – not that you’re flawed!

6. Be prepared. Practicing this motto isn’t only for Boy Scouts. Preparedness will show you that you can be successful at whatever you set out to do. Being prepared increases confidence because you know what you’re doing. You’ve practiced in advance to perform whatever needs to be done.

7. Have goals and work to achieve them. When your life has direction, you know where you’re going. You’ll be consistently working toward accomplishing your aspirations. Because you have goals, you’ll see the progress you’re making, and you’ll feel certain you’ll eventually accomplish them.

8. Embrace whatever it is you love. Making time to do what you love makes you happy, content, and excited about your own life. It also makes you feel more in control of your life, which adds to your self-confidence.

9. Excel at work. No matter what kind of work you do, you can strive to be the best at it. Developing a reputation at work as the “go to” person who can always get the job done is a fabulous confidence-builder.

10. Forget about your ego. When you give up the need to prove something, you’ll be free of feeling compelled to put on airs and impress people. Instead, you’ll become more authentic and real with yourself. Prove to yourself instead of to others that you’re competent and confident and others will see it anyway.

Building your self-confidence takes time, focus and effort. However, your faith in yourself will grow with every small step you take. Start today and begin living as the person you always dreamed you’d be.

To your success

Michael W

Take Your Dream To Reality With These 9 Steps

2016-09-062016-09-05 ~ adminlife

From Dream to Reality in 9 Steps

Many entrepreneurs will tell you that ideas are the easy part. It’s the implementation that separates the successful from the unsuccessful. Turning an idea into reality is a skill that anyone can learn. Managing yourself and daily action are the most important factors.

What would you do if you knew failure wasn’t possible?

Follow these steps to create your own reality:

1. Be clear regarding your objective. Are you clear about what you want? Success is much more likely if your objective is clear and precise. If you’re too vague, the problem-solving functions of your brain will be too confused to operate optimally.

2. List your resources. Be aware of all the tools you have at your disposal. You have more to work with than you realize. Consider all the people you know that are capable of assisting you. List all of your resources that are relevant to your objective. Perhaps your car, computer, and local library are valuable tools.

3. Consider the resources you’ll require. Make a list of everything you think you’ll need and compare that list to the list you made of your available resources. How will you make up the difference? Most importantly, ensure you have everything you need to get started. Avoid letting the future stop you from taking action today. If there’s something you’re lacking that you won’t need for six months, you can still get started!

4. Maintain your awareness of your objective. Keep your objective in the front of your mind. The easiest way to do this is to think about it each day. A simple visualization session twice a day is sufficient. Just remind yourself on a daily basis that you have an idea that you want to bring into reality.

5. Avoid trying for perfection. Perhaps the biggest obstacle is the belief that success only comes from taking perfect action. This belief is enough to paralyze your efforts. Consistent, steady action is enough to reach your goals.

6. Make a plan. Avoid waking up each day without a plan of attack. Know how you’re going to spend your day before you go to bed each night. A simple to-do list will guarantee that you can hit the ground running each day.

7. Work your plan. Knowing what to do is only half of the puzzle. It’s important to work your plan consistently. Everyone knows how to lose weight, but there are many overweight people on the planet. Focus on taking simple, effective actions day after day. A river created the Grand Canyon, and your objective is probably less grandiose.

8. Evaluate your progress. Provide yourself with regular feedback. Determine a method of measuring your progress and take regular measurements. Determine if you’re on the right track. How can you enhance your results? Do you need to try another course of action? Seek to improve your approach based on your evaluations.

9. Keep going. If you keep working, measuring your progress, and developing an effective approach, how can you fail? You can only fail if you give up. Enjoy and be proud of the progress you’re making each week. Know that your idea will become a reality.

Success isn’t complicated. Success is the result of maintaining focus and taking appropriate action each day. If you don’t quit, failure isn’t an option. Nothing is more exciting than turning a dream into reality. What life will you create for yourself?

To your success

Michael W