6 Scientific Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block

I’ll be 100% candid with you. I’m working on my goal of publishing 100,000 words in a year (outside of what I do for my 9-5), and I’m having a bit of trouble coming up with something to write about. So, in lieu of any creative genius, let’s talk about writer’s block.

It’s a real thing. It’s frustrating, it’s confusing, and it’s formally acknowledged by most psychologists (considered a brief form of generalized anxiety resulting in decreased cognitive functioning, and lasting for roughly two weeks). Any of us that have ever written at all, be it school papers or lengthy books, have experienced writer’s block to varying degrees at some point. Why not struggle through this together? Here are six things we can both do to overcome writer’s block.

1. Go for a stroll.

Many of the nation’s most successful writers attest that going for a mild walk helps them break through a creative slump. Thankfully, science agrees with them! Going for a 20-minute-ish walk will actually provide the same cognitive benefits (endorphins kicking in, blood circulation, increased serotonin, etc.) as a full workout. Except, if you’re just going for a leisurely walk, you still have plenty of energy left to write when you get back.

2. Do something else, anything else!

Writer’s block is thought to be caused by anxiety, right? So get away from what’s making you anxious, which is probably whatever you’re trying to write! Many people will confuse writer’s block for burn out, and they’re not necessarily wrong. Writer’s block can be a form of burn out. But it’s not as debilitating, nor does it last as long. You simply need to do something completely different for a while (maybe for a few hours; maybe for several days).

Think of it this way. Creative workspace has been a growing trend over the last decade, because every spot within an office would be different, and therefore offer varied stimulation to keep your brain from becoming too complacent or too used to one thing. If you keep trying to work on the same things over and over again, and keep getting stuck, you’ve got to find something else to stimulate your brain, because you’ve become too used to what you’re currently working on.

3. Down a glass of deliciously cool water.

This one’s pretty simple, and it’s amazing how often drinking a glass of cool water will help whatever problem you’ve got. If your hydration level drops even 1% below it’s peak range, you could lose up to 14% of your productivity and cognitive potential. For some, this is a quick fix. If you can’t think straight for the full “clinical” two weeks, you might do well to change your diet! You could start by replacing alcoholic, carbonated, and sugary beverages with water.

4. Just wait it out.

If you have a serious case of writer’s block, it will last about two weeks. But then you’ll be back to normal! Why this time period? It could be that’s how long it takes your brain and body to recoup from whatever stressors are causing your writer’s block in the first place. Really, we’re not entirely sure why it’s this time frame. But we do know that it’s only temporary, and that you will be back to your usual creative self before long. Have faith!

5. Keep pushing!

It won’t be easy, and you won’t necessarily create your best content, but sometimes you need to keep writing. Maybe it’s to finish a project, beat a deadline, or because you have the insatiable urge to keep writing. Actually, if you do power through, you’ll most likely break out of your writer’s block, as point six will explain.

6. Start handwriting whatever comes to mind.

To be completely candid, that’s how I wrote this post! You’re familiar with hand-eye coordination, right? It’s two separate parts working together to improve each other. Similarly, whenever your hand starts writing, it moves because the neurons in your brain are traveling back-and-forth to your hand telling it what movements to make. This stimulates the area of your brain associated with both your hand’s fine motor skills and your high-functioning cognitive processes – the frontal lobe. By picking up a pen and starting to write, your hand and mind will work together to get your creative juices flowing.

Whatever you choose to do, know that writer’s block is a legitimate condition, and that it’s only temporary. You’re not crazy for going into a creative slump, and you won’t lose the creative prowess you pride yourself in. Try not to stress about it! That might make it worse. You need only be patient. And if you must push through, you have this handy list to help you succeed.

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Every Lifetime Learner Should Try Out These Time-Tested Techniques

Lifelong learning is a continuous process of gaining new knowledge and experience. Nowadays, it has become quite a trendy thing. People of all ages join web courses and communities, get degrees online, boost their skills, and find new hobbies.

Do you have a strong desire to gain new knowledge? Then you can and should do it right now. There are so many options and opportunities for everyone. “It’s never too late to learn” is an old saying, but if you’re a lifelong learner, then you know just how true it is.

There are a few time-tested techniques that can become part of a daily routine for lifelong learners. Use them to make your learning experiences better.

1. Read constantly

Reading is a perfect way to combine learning with delight. Do you prefer fiction to non-fiction? If so, then go ahead and read fiction. Is non-fiction much better for you? Well then, that’s reason enough to enjoy non-fiction. Every single story brings you new ideas and experiences. Try to have a pocket-sized book with you so you can read it whenever you have a free moment, like when you’re taking public transit to work or having a lunch break.

Create a list of the books you want to read during the year and check them off one by one as you finish them. At the end of the year you’ll see how many great books you’ve read. If you have at least 30 checked off, you should be quite proud of yourself.

2. Create a list of what you want to learn

Making lists is generally a good way to plan not only your studying, but also your living and learning. You might have “to-read,” “to-watch,” and “to-do” lists, so why not have a “to-learn” list as well? Look through good web resources, choose an area you’d like to study, and add all those courses to your list.

It makes sense to save awesome websites with online courses and check them from time to time for new lectures, tutorials, and podcasts. If you enjoy learning, there are a number of web platforms you’re probably already using, but there are many others you might not have tried yet. You’ll find some of them mentioned below.

3. Join a study group or book club

Have you heard that studying in a group is more effective for all group members? People in the group know what they want and their motivation is high. Healthy competitiveness in study groups is a good force, motivating all learners to do their best to discuss important issues and quickly absorb helpful information. If you have weekly study group meetings, it’s a perfect way to stay organized, since you have to prepare for every meeting, research something, make presentations, and so on.

Joining a book club is also a great method. It can help you learn how to think critically and share your views regarding the book you’ve read. And you enjoy reading, right? So it’s a win-win.

4. Don’t forget about practice

After you’ve taken a course, it’s time to check how your skills work in practice. You can use your newly gained skills while working or studying to make these activities much easier and more productive. For example, let’s imagine you took a course in writing. In order to master your writing skills, don’t be afraid to start a blog, where you can write about your life or any other specific topic that interests you (sports, cooking, literature, art, and so on).

5. Teach somebody else

Even though you may lack the competence to be an experienced teacher at the moment, you can still share your knowledge with other people and tell them about the resources that helped you. Teaching is a chance to both reinforce and extend what you know, which is always a plus.

6. Tailor time for daily self-education

You have a chance to learn something new each and every day. Allow an hour for reading, set a rule to look through a high-quality scientific article in the morning, watch one educational video a day, or do anything else to boost your skills. Just be sure to set definite time limits, or else your learning can get in the way of everything else you need to accomplish during the day. Also, find your perfect study time and establish a routine so the process is as productive as possible.

7. Work out your own study style

There are many different learning styles, such as visual, auditory, and tactile. The majority of people are visual learners, meaning it’s better for them to absorb information if they see it. However, most learners also combine different learning styles for better efficiency. You can try reading out loud, watching educational videos, listening to audio books, highlighting important areas in your text, creating infographics and mind maps, building models, and making notes on separate sheets of paper.

A list of useful websites for self-education

As I mentioned earlier, it’s good to know where to find courses and study materials. The resources listed below are dedicated to online education:

Coursera, edX, Khan Academy, ALISON, MIT Open Courseware, Udemy – online courses from institutions all over the world.

TED, Big Think – communities for sharing ideas and enjoying recorded talks.

YouTube #Education – educational videos.

University of the People – online educational programs.

OpenStudy – online community where students can find help or assist other users.

Authorama – public domain books.

Library of Congress, MITLibraries – vast variety of study materials.

SparkNotes – resource with concise information about fictional books and literary analysis.

Useful tools that can help you

Lifelong learners also need to use great tools, and when you have the right tools at hand, they make studying easier and more delightful.

WeekPlan – tool that keeps daily plans in order and makes planning convenient.

Unplag – plagiarism detection engine that helps you make sure you don’t have accidental plagiarism in your writing.

Dictonary.com Word of the Day – resource to help learn new words daily.

Online Stopwatch – tool for students who prefer working with a timer.

As you can see, there are all kinds of ways to become a lifelong learner. Using the time-tested techniques outlined above will help you become the kind of lifelong learner who gets the most out of each and every learning experience.

Featured photo credit: Girl Reading a Book at Home BY VIKTOR HANACEK via picjumbo.imgix.net

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The surprising benefits of being a person who burns out easily

All work and no play? With stress levels at an all time high, many of us have experienced the devastating effects of burning out. Burnout can crop up in a variety of different forms and it isn’t pretty when it strikes.

When you’re burned out you might feel high levels of stress and anxiety, have low energy and be exhausted, and feel like there’s “never enough time.” You may have increased negative feelings, feel overwhelmed, be irritable, and lack motivation. In severe situations you may even stop taking care of yourself, have trouble focusing, and experience a range of health issues.

But the good news is the exact traits that make you likely to burnout can actually be incredible assets…so long as you keep them in check.

Learning to harness these strengths without overdoing it is the key to success, or what I like to call leaning in without burning out.

In the 1980s, Dr. Herbert Freudenberger was the first person to describe the syndrome known as burnout. Through his years of work with high-achieving patients, he uncovered the type of person most likely to burnout.

Here are the 4 traits common among those that suffer from burnout.

1. You’re a goal focused overachiever.

Once you set a goal you’re tenacious about achieving it and nothing can get in your way. You’re capable of moving mountains when you’re focused and have your goal in sight.

2. You can always be counted on to do more than your fair share, no matter how busy you are.

You’re a team player, always thinking about what you can give and how you can help out. No matter how jam packed your schedule is, you always do your part and sometimes even fill in for others.

3. You’re a leader who has a hard time admitting limitations.

You’re effective at rallying the troops, and getting people to see that there is a way and that there is always hope. You rarely think of any challenges as insurmountable, and believe with enough effort you can do whatever you put your mind to.

4. You push yourself hard and get results.

You know how to keep your eye on the prize and realize that hard work and dedication is required to accomplish anything meaningful.

In order to maximize your strengths and the enormous benefits of being an overachiever vulnerable to burnout, you’ll want to practice these 3 proven methods to add some space into your life and routine.

Here are 3 methods for keeping yourself from the edge of burnout.

1. Practice meditation and mindfulness so you enjoy the journey and aren’t solely focused on the goal.

Start with a small, but daily, commitment to meditation. If you commit to just one, two, or five minutes each day, you are much more likely to stick with it. There are plenty of free meditation challenges available online to help you get started.

2. Take time to rest and recharge, especially remembering to double down when times are “crazy busy.”

It’s one thing to be in the zone, but if you notice you’re not getting up to get a glass of water, stretch your legs or use the restroom at least once every 90-120 minutes, you are putting unnecessary strain on your body.

When you notice that your schedule is starting to get maxed out, make a point to block off time on your calendar for self-care and treat it like an important meeting that you must attend. Your self-care activity should be rejuvenating, such as going for a hike, taking a bath, getting a massage, cooking a healthy meal for yourself, reading inspirational books, being in nature, taking a yoga class, working with a life coach, etc.

3. Practice self-compassion, and remember you’re only human.

Self-compassion is being kind and understanding toward yourself when you suffer, fail, or feel inadequate. Practicing self-compassion is proven to boost your willpower so you’ll be more effective and feel great. You can practice self-compassion as a meditation, by thinking of a situation in your life that is difficult, and then saying the following phrases to yourself: “This is a moment of suffering. Everyone struggles, I’m only human. May I be kind to myself. May I give myself the compassion I need.”

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Instant Gratification Is Short-Lived, You Should Aim For Long-Term Goals

We often hear advice like “live in the moment” and “the time is now.” These are wise words and being mindful of the present moment is an excellent way to live well. However, getting everything we want when we want it is not necessarily good for us. It can make us complacent and lazy.

Instant gratification is tempting and, in this day and age, easily attainable.

We have access to fast everything—information, food, technology, entertainment, comfort. We don’t have to exert a lot of effort into fulfilling our desires and, in many cases, we can purchase goods and services in an instant that will gratify our every requirement. What we don’t consider are the lessons and benefits we miss out on when we don’t delay fulfillment. We experience personal growth when we work harder to achieve satisfaction. We also take for granted the value of aiming for long-term goals and drawing benefit from the process by which we reach contentment.

Minimalist blogger and author Leo Babauta from zenhabits.net says that we don’t have to deprive ourselves of the good things in life in order to achieve balance. It’s simply a matter of restraint and mindfulness—being conscious about the decisions we make and having boundaries.

He says that instant gratification:

“….leads to debt, clutter, bad health, distractions, mindlessness.”

While having restraint and consciousness:

“….leads to simplicity, health and fitness, focus, achievement, mindfulness, appreciation for all the gifts of life.”

In a luxury- and technology-centered world it is easy to become detached from our core values and the important things in life. We start to give priority to superficial things: objects, material wealth, acquisition, and appearance. We discard the need to acknowledge the future and possible consequences for our actions. We don’t consider waste, damage to our health or the environment, or other possible adverse effects of our immediate actions.

Indulging in instant gratification is shortsighted—the immediate pleasure we seek is fleeting.

Our dissatisfaction with short-lived pleasure causes our needs to be magnified the next time we seek fulfillment. This can often lead to disastrous and largely unforeseen costs like addiction. There are many examples of this. Overindulging in food, alcohol or drugs, technology such as the internet, gaming and gambling, even seemingly harmless indulgences like shopping or body image through diet and fitness can become obsessive and have counterproductive results. That doesn’t mean we have to completely discard our opportunities to enjoy these things. We just need to have limits and we need to be aware of how we do things and how much or how often we indulge.

That is the difference between living our life and wasting it. Of course, it is wise to live in the present and take advantage of the things that make us happy, but we need to do things in a healthy way and plan for the future. It takes foresight and consideration to ensure we achieve a balance.

The key to achieving long-term goals is finding the motivational tools that allow us to take small steps towards bigger objectives.

Leo Babauta describes five simple ideas to help us to resist the urges to aim for instant gratification. Instead of dwelling in the need to indulge in immediate pleasure, he suggests ways to stay mindful and in control. This will allow us to think of the long-term desires we can achieve, instead of needing constant stimulation.

Being mindful of the urges we experience is primary. He suggests keeping a physical list of every time we get the urge to do something and, instead of fulfilling it, just making a note of it. Examples of these urges include snacking, checking your phone, or buying something unnecessary.

He also points out that instead of denying your urges completely, just delay the gratification. Put a period of time, some space between when you feel an urge and when you gratify it.

The key is to practice consciousness and hone your awareness of what is happening in your mind and in your body. We sometimes indulge urges without even thinking and before we know it we’ve devoured the entire tub of ice cream or put another $1000 in a poker machine. If that’s exactly what you want to do, then fine, do it, but know that what you are doing is a conscious decision and own it. Take responsibility for it.

These skills take practice and it is important to allow yourself to learn lessons in good time. If instant gratification has been your way of life for a long time, don’t expect it to change overnight. Just get better with each experience. Allow yourself to fail and try and do better the next time an opportunity to practice resistance and mindfulness comes along.

Finally, you will have the strength and discipline to enjoy the moment without actually indulging the urge. It gives us a great sense of accomplishment and achievement when we realize how capable we are of exercising willpower. These skills can be extremely rewarding and sometimes lifesaving; quitting smoking is a prominent example that comes to mind.

Investing in our future is underrated. With focus and repetition, we can learn to plan for long-term goals and minimize our need for instant gratification. We can find a balance and still be able to enjoy the best things in life without overindulging and making decisions that will affect our lives adversely.

Featured photo credit: flickr via flickr.com

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How and When To Post on Social Media

How and when you post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn can make a huge difference in the amount of traffic you are able to garner from these social platforms. While this may not be important to passive social media users, it certainly is to bloggers and businesses who leverage a social media marketing strategy to grow their reach, increase engagement, and encourage click-throughs.

Instead of sifting through multiple studies to piece together information on the different platforms, StartABlog123.com has created a useful infographic on the optimal times to post. Furthermore, the graphic also discusses the worst times to post, how to use hashtags, the ideal number of updates per day, and platform image sizes for each website.

Nevertheless, it is noteworthy to mention that results for your specific audience may differ depending on your target demographic and their online habits. While this may be a wonderful guide, bloggers and businesses should track and analyze their own traffic patterns to identify the ideal posting times for their readers.

Featured photo credit: The Best Times To Post on Social Media via StartABlog123.com

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8 Productivity Hacks Every Traveler Needs to Know

I tend to work a lot. I also tend to travel a lot. Not many people get the chance to work remotely so when you do—make sure to embrace it. I’ve worked remotely on and off for the last three years and traveled to twenty countries along the way.

Friends will ask how I have the money or the time; no one gets that much vacation, do they? Well, no, of course not. I’m a working traveler, a travelling worker, or a digital nomad, if you’d like.

People complain about working while traveling; no one wants to work on their vacation, do they? But I don’t see traveling as a vacation. I find travel to be a mind-broadener, a productivity booster and a constant flow of ideas and inspiration. For me, being in the same place for a while would be considered a vacation.

So, if you’d like to start traveling while working, here are few tips I picked up along the way.

1. Learn to love flight mode.

Frequent flyers love the comfort of isle/window seats, free booze, complimentary upgrades and of course, in-flight wifi—the blessing of blessings, the world’s way of saying you will never miss a Candy crush notification again. However, people who travel on business and spend a lot of time flying have learned to appreciate the perks of setting their phone to flight mode. When you’re unlikely to be interrupted, your brain will start to work on its own. Free of distractions, you can dedicate this time to reading (thanks Pocket), planning, or just thinking about your future plans, making a to-do list, or reflecting on a recent success or failure.

2. Make airport wifi bearable again.

Of course, as soon as you land, you’ll want to connect—to sync your notes, refresh your apps, check your email or just, humblebrag on Facebook about coming to a new city. And in case you’re one of the people who really likes their wifi like they like their coffee—immediately—you’ll need Flio, the app that will check into every major airport wifi in the world, using the data you gave it before, no more signup forms or weird passwords sent via email. In plain text, Flio is here to end your troubles.

3. Find inspiring places to work from.

If you’re in a new city for only a few days and you really need to finish that quarterly report, at least, give yourself a break—don’t stay in one of those hotel meeting rooms / conference dungeons, find a cool rooftop or viewpoint with solid wifi and get some work done while enjoying the cityscape. You can use Foursquare to find coffeeshops with trusted reviews and Workfrom for great handpicked places to work from in a few major cities. Work doesn’t have to feel like work all the time, and your environment actually influences your productivity a lot, so make sure to find the most inspiring place to go.

4. Be the work-anywhere pro.

There’s only a few things you’ll need to work from anywhere in the world (assuming you already have a job that lets you do just that): a laptop, solid wifi or local sim card for ad hoc hotspots, a few productivity apps and a good pair of headphones to block out the distracting noises and maybe enables a few distracting noises of your own. Try Coffitivity as it recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe to boost your creativity and help you work better.

5. Save your eyes.

Changing time zones can be tricky; you’re tired and feel exhausted no matter how long you sleep. Most people change their routines with every new place they visit, which usually feels like a fresh start and gives that additional productivity boost. However, once you’re there, with all these apps, spending 8+ hours a day on your laptop, please mind your eyes—f.lux helps with just that.

6. Take a nap.

Oh, you deserve it. There’s something about airplanes and reading, and food mixed with free booze that just makes you wanna sleep. And that’s totally okay. If you’re a morning person, you know the hidden value of naps—they make it morning again: you’re fresh, your brain is hard-wired for work and you’re in a great mood for getting things done. Every productive traveler has their own napping style—power naps, 20-minutes tops for a great refresh, coffee naps—the weird technique that seems to work.  Definitely try it next time you’re flying and let me know if it worked for you. Find your perfect nap and make use of it; just don’t forget to get some work done afterwards too.

7. Be strategic about sleep to avoid jet lag.

Some of my greatest work came from being jet lagged as hell in a tropical island and sleeping through the day while working through the night and missing out on all the fun said—you got it—no one ever. So if you want to avoid crying yourself to non-sleep once arriving to some remote place in the world, do follow a few tips to minimize the jet lag. Before your trip, keep in mind the time difference and try adjusting your sleep hour by hour—whether you wake up an hour earlier or go to bed an hour later, this will help once you’ve arrived to your destination. If the onward flight is a daily flight (at the destination), do your best not to sleep through it and vice versa; if it’s considered an overnight flight at the destination, do your best to sleep during.

8. Embrace your new productivity.

Discovering new places, trying out different cuisines and being exposed to a new culture will fire up your productivity. It’s true, travel actually makes your brain grow. After just a few days in a new environment, you’ll feel more eager to work and drunk with new ideas and solutions.

Research shows people are also more creative while traveling, and thanks to the combination of productivity and creativity, this lifestyle seems perfect for entrepreneurs. Ever wondered how those digital nomads get anything done? Now you know, they’ve found the perfect productivity recipe. If you want to be even more productive on the go, check out the productivity tools every digital nomad needs.

Featured photo credit: Work / Unsplash via images.unsplash.com

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How To Share With the World, Even About Mental Illness

My hand jerked back, as if the computer mouse had turned into a real mouse. Would they think I am crazy? Would they whisper behind my back? Would they never trust me again? These anxious thoughts ran through my head as I was about to make a post revealing my mental illness to my Facebook friends.

Whenever the thought of telling others about my mental illness entered my mind, I felt a wave of anxiety pass through me. My head began to pound, my heart sped up, my breathing became fast and shallow, almost like I was suffocating. If I didn’t catch it in time, the anxiety could lead to a full-blown panic attack, or sudden and extreme fatigue, with my body collapsing in place. Not a pretty picture.

For 6 months, I had been suffering from a mood disorder characterized by high anxiety, sudden and extreme fatigue, and panic attacks. I really wanted to share much earlier. It would have felt great to be genuinely authentic with people in my life, and not hide who I am. Plus, I would have been proud to contribute to overcoming the stigma against mental illness in our society, especially since this stigma impacts me on such a personal level.

My Own Anxiety

Ironically, the very stigma against mental illness, combined with my own excessive anxiety response, made it very hard for me to share. I was really anxious about whether friends and acquaintances would turn away from me. I was also very concerned about the impact on my professional career of sharing publicly, due to the stigma in academia against mental illness, including at my workplace.

Still, I did eventually start discussing my mental illness with some very close friends who I was very confident would support me. And one conversation really challenged my mental map, in other words how I perceive reality, about sharing my story of mental illness.

My friend told me something that really struck me, namely his perspective about how great would it be if all people who needed professional help with their mental health actually went to get such help. One of the main obstacles, as research shows, is the stigma against mental health. We discussed how one of the best ways to deal with such stigma is for well-functioning people with mental illness to come out of the closet about their condition.

Well, I am one of these well-functioning people. I have a great job and do it well, have wonderful relationships, and participate in all sorts of civic activities. The vast majority of people who know me don’t realize I suffer from a mental illness.

Forcing Myself to Think About It

That conversation motivated me to think seriously through the roadblocks thrown up by the emotional part of my brain. Previously, I never sat down for a few minutes and forced myself to think what good things might happen if I pushed past all the anxiety and stress of telling people in my life about my mental illness.

I realized that my mind was just flinching away, scared of the short-term pain of experiencing anxiety and stress of sharing about my condition. This flinching away prevented me from really thinking clearly about the long-term benefits to me and to others of sharing my story of making the kind of difference I wanted to make in the world and being authentic with people in my life. I recognized that I might be falling for a thinking error that scientists call hyperbolic discounting, a reluctance to make short-term sacrifices for much higher long-term rewards.

To combat this problem, I imagined what world I wanted to live in a year from now – one where I shared about this situation now on my Facebook profile, or one where I did not. This approach is based on research showing that future-oriented thinking is very helpful for dealing with thinking errors associated with focusing on the present.

In the world where I would share right now about my condition, I would in the short term be anxious about what people think of me after they find out. Anytime I saw someone who found out for the first time, I would be afraid about the impact on that person’s opinion of me. I would be watching her or his behavior closely for signs of distancing from me. And this would not only be my anxiety: I was quite confident that some people would not want to associate with me due to my mental illness. However, over time, this close watching and anxious thinking would diminish. All the people who knew me previously would find out. All new people who met me would learn about my condition, since I would not keep it a secret. I would make the kind of difference I wanted to make in the world by fighting mental stigma in our society. Just as important, it would be a huge burden off my back to not hide myself and be authentic with people in my life. This would be a great benefit to me in the long term.

Imagining the Alternative

I imagined a second world. I would continue to hide my mental health condition from everyone but a few close friends. I would not be making the kind of impact on our society that I knew I would be able to make. I would always have to keep this secret under wraps, and worry about people finding out about it. I would always be stressed about hiding my true self, always worried about people somehow finding out, always and feeling like a hypocrite. Always regretting the chance to make the kind of impact I knew I could make. Moreover, likely people would find out about it anyway, whether if I chose to share about it or some other way, and I would get all the negative consequences later.

I shuddered when I imagined that kind of life. With that shudder, I knew that the first world was much more attractive to me. So I decided to take the plunge, and made a plan to share about the situation publicly. As part of doing so, I made that Facebook post. I had such a good reaction from my Facebook friends that I decided to make the post publicly available on my Facebook to all, not only my friends. Moreover, I decided to become an activist in talking about my mental condition publicly, as in this essay that you are reading. I also published articles about my condition in prominent academic media channels (Inside Higher Ed and Diverse: Issues In Higher Education) to challenge the stigma against mental illness in academia. I also shared my story with a local newspaper, to raise awareness of mental health and deal with stigma against mental illness.

What can you do?

So how can you apply this story to your life? Whether you want to come out of the closet to people in your life about some unpleasant news, or more broadly overcome the short-term emotional pain of taking an action that would help you achieve your long-term goals, here are some strategies.

1. Consider the world where you want to live a year from now. What would the world look like if you take the action? What would it look like if you did not take the action?
2. Evaluate all the important costs and benefits of each world. What world looks the most attractive a year from now?
3. Decide on the actions needed to get to that world, make a plan, and take the plunge. Be flexible about revising your plan based on new information such as reactions from others, as I did regarding sharing about my own condition.

Featured photo credit: Coming Out via flickr.com

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The Secret To Giving Wisely

It feels great to see hope light up in the eyes of a beggar in the street as you stop to look at them when others pass them by without a glance. Their faces widen in a smile as you reach into your pocket and take out your wallet. “Thank you so much” is such a heartwarming phrase to hear from them as you pull out five bucks and put the money in the hat in front of them. You walk away with your heart beaming as you imagine them getting a nice warm meal at McDonalds due to your generosity.

Yet you can multiply that positive experience manifold! Imagine that when you give five dollars, you don’t give just to one person, but to seven people. When you reach into your pocket, you see seven smiles. When you put the money in the hat, you hear seven people say “Thank you so much.”

You can get that benefit through giving directly to people in the developing world. We don’t see those seven people in front of us and thus we don’t pay attention to the impact we can have on them, a thinking error called attentional bias. Yet if we know about this thinking error, we can solve what is known as the “drowning child problem” in charitable giving, namely not intuitively valuing the children who are drowning out of our sight. If we keep in our minds that there are poor people in the developing world, just like the poor person we see on the street in front of us, we can remember that our generosity can make a very high impact, much more impact per dollar than in the US, in developing countries through our direct giving.

GiveDirectly is a nonprofit that enables you to give directly to poor people in East Africa. It provides direct cash transfers to poor people who live on an average of $.65 per day. You certainly can’t buy a McDonald’s meal for that, but $.65 goes far in East Africa.

GiveDirectly locates poor people who can benefit most from cash transfers, enrolls them in its program, and then provides each household with about a thousand dollars to spend as it wishes. The large size of this cash transfer results in a much bigger impact than a small donation. Moreover, since the cash transfer is unconditional, the poor person can have true dignity and spend it on whatever most benefits them.

Helida, for example, used the cash transfer she got to build a new house. You wouldn’t intuitively think that was most useful thing for her to do, would you? But this is what she needed most. She was happy that as a result of the cash transfer “I have a metal roof over my head and I can safely store my farm produce without worries.” She is now much more empowered to take care of herself and her large family.

What a wonderful outcome of GiveDirectly’s work! Can you imagine building a new house in the United States on a thousand dollars? Well, this is why your direct donations go a lot further in East Africa.

With GiveDirectly, you can be much more confident about the outcome of your generosity. I know that when I give to a homeless person, a part of me always wonders whether he will spend the money on a bottle of cheap vodka. This is why I really appreciate that GiveDirectly keeps in touch and follows up with the people enrolled in its programs. They are scrupulous about sharing the consequences of their giving, so you know what you are getting by your generous gifts.

GiveDirectly is back by rigorous evidence. They conduct multiple randomized control studies of their impact, a gold standard of evidence. The research shows that cash transfer recipients have much better health and lives as a result of the transfer, much more than most types of anti-poverty interventions. Its evidence-based approach is why GiveDirectly is highly endorsed by well-respected charity evaluators such as GiveWell and The Life You Can Save, which are part of the Effective Altruist movement that strives to figure out the best research-informed means to do the most good per dollar.

So next time you pass someone begging on the street, think about GiveDirectly, since you can get seven times as much impact, for your emotional self and for the world as a whole. What I do myself is each time I choose to give to a homeless person, I set aside the same amount of money to donate through GiveDirectly. That way, I get to see the smile and hear the “thank you” in person, and also know that I can make a much more impactful gift as well. Whatever you choose, aim to supercharge your generosity to achieve your giving goals!

Featured photo credit: Confidence via flickr.com

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How Mentally Strong People Make Wise Decisions

On a sunny day in early August, my wife Agnes Vishnevkin and I came to a Rationality Dojo in Columbus, OH. Run by Max Harms, this group is devoted to growing mentally stronger through mental fitness practices. That day, the dojo’s activities focused on probabilistic thinking, a practice of assigning probabilities to our intuitive predictions about the world to improve our ability to evaluate reality accurately, and make wise decisions to reach our goals. After learning the principles of probabilistic thinking, we discussed how to apply this strategy to everyday life.

We were so grateful for this practice in early September, when my wife and I started shopping for our new house. We discussed in advance the specific goals we had for the house, enabling us to save a lot of time by narrowing our options. We then spent one day visiting a number of places we liked, rating each aspect of the house important to us on a numerical scale. After visiting all these places, we sat down and discussed the probabilities on what house would best meet our goals. The math made it much easier to overcome our individual aesthetic preferences, and focus on what would make us happiest in the long run. We settled on our top choice, made a bid, and signed our contract.
This sounds like a dry and not very exciting process. Well, we were very excited!

Why? Because we were confident that we made the best decision with the information available to us. The decision to get a new house is one of the biggest financial decisions we will make in our lifetime. It felt great to know that we could not have done any better than we did through applying the principles of probabilistic thinking and other rationality-informed strategies. Of course, we could still be wrong, there are no guarantees in life. Yet we know we did the best we could – we grew less wrong.

These strategies are vital for improving our thinking because our brains are inherently irrational. Research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral economics, and other fields from the middle of the twentieth century has discovered hundreds of thinking errors, called cognitive biases. These thinking errors cause us to make flawed decisions – in finances, relationships, health and well-being, politics, etc.

Recently, popular books by scholars such as Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, Chip and Dan Heath, and other scholars have brought these problems from the halls of academia to the attention of the broad public. However, these books have not focused on how we can address these problems in everyday life.

So far, the main genre dedicated to popularizing strategies to improve our patterns of thinking, feeling, and behavior patterns has been in the field of self-improvement. Unfortunately, self-improvement is rarely informed by science, and instead relies on personal experience and inspiring stories. While such self-improvement activities certainly help many, it is hard to tell whether the impact comes from the actual effectiveness of the specific activities or a placebo effect due to people being inspired to work on improving themselves.

However, research in the last decade, from Keith Stanovich, Hal Arkes, and others revealed that we can fix our thinking, sometimes with a single training. For example, my own research and writing shows how people can learn to reach their long-term goals and find their life meaning and purpose using science-based strategies. This scientific approach does not guarantee the right decision, but it is the best method we currently have, and will improve in the future with more research.

Yet a budding movement called Rationality has been going through the complex academic materials and adapting them to everyday life, as exemplified by Rationality Dojo. This small movement has relatively few public outlets. The website LessWrong is dedicated to high-level discussions of strategies to improve thinking patterns and ClearerThinking offers some online courses on improving decision making. The Center for Applied Rationality offers intense in-person workshops for entrepreneurs and founders.

For example, if I want to exercise more, I would take a rational approach to it. Rather than just a vague resolution, I would outline my specific goals for exercising, such as decreasing my weight by 20 percent. I would then evaluate the various exercises to see which ones targeted weight loss, and commit to one. I would then set up mechanisms to motivate me, such as publicly announcing my intentions, creating a social commitment to go with a friend, tracking the times I go, and rewarding myself for each successful visit.

As another example, say I wanted to become a more moral person and do more good in the world. I would evaluate specific steps to do so, such as giving more to charity. After making that determination, I would set aside a specific sum of money per year to give to charity, for instance 10 percent of my income. Next, I would research what are the charities that do the most good for my dollar in a cause area I am most passionate about, such as education. For the last step, I would choose a charity that I see as doing the most good and donate that money.

All of these steps are informed by specific research-based strategies for making and implementing decisions rationally to maximize the possibility of achieving our goals. You do not have to be nudged by policy makers and CEOs. Instead, you can be intentional and use rationality to make the best decisions for your own goals! Consider how much you can benefit from adopting similar strategies, and share this article with others so that they can benefit as well: they will be grateful to you.

Featured photo credit: Decisions via flickr.com

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5 Team Building Ideas for Millennial Offices

Why are more and more corporate offices full of millennial employees resorting to team building tactics? Maybe because a carefully chosen team building activity can help foster healthy competition, increase employee satisfaction and help, well, build a team atmosphere. Want to bring this fun trend into your workplace? Here are five team building ideas that work great for millennial employees:

Volunteer

Nothing brings millennials together more than working to create a better society, which is why volunteering in the community is the ideal team building activity for this generation. Many members of this generation are passionate about social or environmental issues, meaning there are endless opportunities to schedule a day of volunteering that would get everyone on the team excited. To drum up more excitement, get the team together and ask for their thoughts on what kind of volunteering activity everyone should do. Have them share what causes are close to their heart, and see if they have any contacts with local organizations.

Scavenger Hunts

Want to spark a little friendly competition in the office? Plan a scavenger hunt for your team to take up a slow afternoon. Divide your millennials into teams, and have them work together to solve riddles and clues, leading them on a hunt for certain items. This fun and active game will help millennials develop the communication skills needed to effectively work together as a team. Plus, it allows millennials to flex their creative muscles as they try to quickly solve the riddles and complete the task.

Egg Drop

Another way to get millennials to put on their creative hats while working together towards a common goal? The egg drop team building activity, where teams are tasked with the challenge of figuring out how to build a device that will protect an egg when dropped from great heights. As the teams work together, as a manager, stand back and see who naturally takes on which role in the group as a way to get an accurate peek at employee’s true work habits.

Two Truths and A Lie

Have you brought on a number of new employees to the team, whether they came from other departments or outside the organization? Setting up a team building activity such as the Two Truths and A Lie game is a perfect way for everyone to get to know each other. Have each employee stand in front of the rest of the team and say three statements about themselves, two of which are true and one which is a lie. The other team members must try to guess which of the statements is a lie, creating a fun and lively atmosphere as everyone learns fun facts about each other.

Karaoke Night

Take a break from the stresses of client calls and distributor meetings and shake things up with some fun! Getting millennials to stand up in front of their peers and let loose is a great way for everyone to let their guard down, so hosting a karaoke night might be just what your office needs. All you have to do to make this team-building activity a reality is to rent a karaoke machine and schedule a few hours in the afternoon or after work for the team to get together! Although this doesn’t require the brainstorming and problem solving skills of some of the other team building activities, it helps to create long-lasting memories and a deep bond among your team.

What do you think about using team building activities in an office with millennial employees? Are they effective or ineffective in building better relationships with co-workers? Tell us your experiences in the comments below!

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Want to Lift Yourself Up? Instant Mood Boosters

What if I told you that you could instantly change your life and the lives of those around you by simply paying attention to the universe and embracing opportunities to spread good energy? Don’t believe me? I challenge you to give it a try!

Acts of kindness and spreading good energy will absolutely bring you immense joy and happiness and will lift your spirits and change your mood instantly. An act of kindness given freely with absolutely no expectation for anything in return can truly change another person’s day as well as your own. Here are 10 simple ways that you can spread good energy and lift your mood instantly. In helping someone, you will experience mood boosters for yourself.

1. Pay attention

The universe is constantly presenting us with opportunities to be kind. Are you paying attention to these mood boosters? From assisting someone with carrying groceries, to standing back and opening doors, to allowing someone to go before you in a queue, there are events occurring around you and in front of you that will offer you the opportunity to lift yourself up as well as someone else. In today’s busy world, practicing courtesy has gone by the wayside. Start paying attention to who is around you. Expand your energy out and shower kindness to the people you encounter over the course of your day. A single act of kindness sends out a blast of positive energy that spreads further than you could ever imagine.

2. Pay it forward

Practice random acts of kindness as often as you can.

For example –
Pay for a stranger’s coffee if you have spare change.
Cook a meal for someone who is struggling and needs a hand.
Send someone a beautiful hand written letter – YES handwritten! The art of hand writing a beautiful letter has been replaced with emailing and texting so take the time to create a personal letter to let someone know how important they are to you.
Wash someone’s car.
Clean someone’s house.
Tidy up someone’s garden.
Buy someone flowers.

I could keep going with this list as there are just so many ways to pay it forward. Giving your time, your energy or a small gift can lift someone’s spirits and warm someone’s heart as well as your own.

3. Be compassionate

Practice compassion with everyone. When someone is struggling, if you really listen to them and offer words of support and encouragement, you will naturally shine light in what is often a dark place. Having a positive, compassionate, and forgiving outlook will recharge your soul and provide you with mood boosters.

4. Reconnect

Take the time to really connect with your community. When you step outside and start engaging with the people around you, sharing their stories and embracing what they are contributing to the world, you will create all sorts of positive emotions. Take the time as well to reconnect with old friends who you have lost touch with and make sure you check up on people who may be experiencing hard times. I can assure you, the energy exchanged between you and someone else when you reconnect is powerful.

5. Volunteer

Volunteering is an investment into your community as well as the people who live in it. Investing pretty much always offers a return right? So imagine the return you will get when you volunteer your time and energy and focus on having a positive impact on someone else’s life instead of your own.

6. Listen

Make someone else feel valued by listening. When you next meet with someone, turn off your mobile phone and put it away. Give them your undivided attention. Be mindful, present, and engaged and really take in the whole conversation without the distractions.

7. Create your own movement

Inspire people around you to follow your lead. Maybe there is an opportunity for you to create a community event or activity that could change lives for the better. Recruit like-minded people and find a way to share some positive action in your community. Nothing is more uplifting than throwing yourself into a project that is based on giving from the heart.

8. Give genuine compliments and smile

Take the time to give a genuine compliment to someone in your circle. Expressing a real, heartfelt compliment to someone connects and creates a bond of pure uplifting energy between you and the recipient. And while you are at it, smile more. Smiling instantly changes your mood. It is like flicking the on switch to feeling happy. Smiling has all sorts of positive effects on your body and when you smile at another person, that feel good energy is nothing short of contagious.

9. Shine your light

Spread good energy and don’t be afraid to really be yourself. Have you ever met someone who “lights up a room”? They energize everyone around them with their positive attitude. You can choose to uplift and inspire people and in return you will be rewarded with even more positive energy and fuel for your soul.  Remember, you do not need anyone’s approval to be yourself. Now more than ever we need more unique, authentic, people willing to shine their light on the world.

10. Repeat the above list daily

Keep your eyes and your heart open and embrace the opportunity to uplift someone else.

We can all make a difference and share more joy and more positive energy with the world. For every act of kindness you do, you give out an abundance of warm, uplifting energy to the universe. There is no act too small or too big. Even the simplest of gestures can affect many lives for the better. The healing powers of kindness are plentiful and I implore you to open up your heart and give generously to be kind and courteous. It will lift your spirits, change your life, and the lives of so many around you.

Featured photo credit: Ed Gregory via stokpic.com

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Distraction Can Be Good For Learning, Psychologists Surprisingly Find

We know from the early age that the best way to study is to sit in a quiet room, to have nobody to bother you and to completely focus on your assignment. It is quite true, but not for all the situations. For some occasions, distractions are not so bad. For example, if you know that you will have some distractions during your exam, it is better to learn the material under the same or similar distracting factors. Let us see what scientists have discovered about this.

Science speaks

The research on this matter began long ago. In 1999, there was an experiment with forty students participating. They were asked to read certain text and to complete a written test on it later. Half of the group read it in a silent room; the other half did it in a noisy one. Then both groups got two tests. They took one test in silence and another one with different distractions. The results showed that those students who had studied the information in silence, did the test in silence better. And those who had read the article in a noisy room showed better results within a noisy context.

Another fun experiment was carried out by researchers and  scuba divers. Divers were asked to learn words while they were actually scuba diving. Afterwards they were also told to take two tests – one underwater and one on land. You have probably already guessed the results: they did better underwater.

And the most recent experiment was conducted in 2015 using computers. A group of students had training to do a task on a computer. Then there was a test. During both training and the test some of the students got additional task to count numbers on a monitor. The results show that those students who got this additional task only during the test did very poorly; and those who had to count numbers during the training as well did well.

There have been lot’s of similar experiments over the years starting in 1930, when scientists became interested in this topic. All the results have proved that the surroundings and a person’s state influence how well the information is remembered.

The role of context and state

These experiments all prove that context-dependent memory actually works very well. Context-dependent memory means that you can remember things better if you are in the same context (environment, room, same circle of people) as you were when you got this information.

Another thing that influences students’ performance is their personal state during learning and testing. This is called state-dependent-memory. If, let’s say, you are well and healthy during the learning but you get ill before your exams and vise versa, your performance probably will not be as good as it could be. The states can be different: you can be hungover, depressed, too excited, sad, nervous, etc. These all are distractions that influence your learning.

Distraction and procrastination are not the same

The concept of positive influence of distractions can be misinterpreted, though. Some of you may think, “well, I can check my social profiles while studying and then do the same during the test and I will do well”.

So, for those of you who thought “Finally, now I have a scientific proof to do nothing”, we have bad news: you cannot simply procrastinate and call it a distraction. If you are, for example, play Angry Birds instead of writing an assignment, it is not good; you need to fight such harmful habits when studying.

We are talking about positive distractions; the distractions that will help you during your exams. Playing video games or watching movies are definitely not some of those.

Conclusion

So, the universal truth did not change – the distractions are still bad for your studying. It is still better to find some quiet place, to get rid of smartphones and other tempting gadgets and concentrate on your studying completely. The scientists just proved one more time that the context and state of a student makes a difference on their performance.

If you know that you will be distracted by your college mates during the test, better study when you are with friends, for example. Try to create the same or similar conditions that will surround you during your test, and you will do good. And try to be in the same emotional state while both studying and passing your exams –  that should help, as well. And remember that these context and state matters can only be of some help; they will not do the whole job for you. The most important thing remains – knowledge. Study hard and try not to only memorize things but to understand them, as well. That will help you to remember them for years and not only till your exam ends.

Featured photo credit: Distracted Child Studying via amenclinics.com

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7 Simple Ways To Be Famous In One Year

There’s fame and there’s infamy. There’s long-term fame and “15 minutes of fame.” Actors and actresses have fame. Some of them have infamy. Barack Obama has fame, and he has long-term fame as a President of the United States. Osama Bin Laden had infamy, and he certainly had his 15 minutes of fame until taken out. Anyone can become famous, for good or for bad. And many can have 15 minutes of fame by getting hundreds of thousands of hits on a YouTube video.

There is another kind of fame, however. It is not global fame necessarily, such as that enjoyed by Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. But it can be a local, regional, and then national fame within a niche. And that fame can result in respect, authority, and income, whether that income comes from a business venture, a very smart investment in a startup or IPO, book sales, or another source.

This is the fame that is long-lasting and that says “success.” Many people achieve this kind of fame and do so relatively easily. And here are 7 relatively simple steps on that path.

1. Begin By Making It All About Others, Not Yourself

If you are going to reach niche celebrity status, your first step is to become a truly trusted resource for others. This means that you do the following:

• Inspire, entertain and educate others without thought to making sales or promoting yourself or your business
• Be a real person behind that company, not a faceless entity
• Be accessible and transparent; have a social media presence that involves conversations; answer emails; be present wherever there are important conversations occurring, especially in groups related to your niche
• Do not be “better” than others; rather be helpful and friendly and humble
• Engage others daily, especially influencers. Hanging out with influencers makes you one too.
• If you succeed, don’t be the first one to boast, but try to share the lessons you’ve learn and inspire other people to follow your path. And if you don’t succeed from the first attempt, don’t be discreet about your failure either. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes and talking about that, rather than trying to appear as a super human.

Compare this to the traditional concept of a supposed industry leader – one who gave an occasional interview; one who had “gatekeepers;” one who knew s/he was “better” than the others; one who was inaccessible. This won’t work for you, because you don’t have any fame yet.

2.  Get Your Face and Your Personality “Out There” 

Brands are not really spread by products and services anymore. They are spread by personalities on social websites and news media.

It’s almost as if we have returned to days of old when storekeepers had personal relationships with all of their customers. Of course, these can no longer be face-to-face, but they can be strong relationships nevertheless. Today’s digital consumers of anything demand relationships.

If you have written a book, for example, you need to show online communities who you are, your sense of humor, your sense of compassion, your incredible expertise, whatever it is that makes you a bit of a “giant” in your niche. Provide excerpts from that book for free to every digital community possible. Set up book signings everywhere possible and call the local news media to cover them. Offer an additional benefit with a book purchase. Get buzz going by pushing your face and your personality, not just your book.

Inject your personality into everything you do online and on the ground. If you are in a business niche, hold events, make videos, and plaster them all over the place. Feature your customers in your blog posts, on your social media platforms. Do anything that you can to spread your brand by spreading the people factor, not by pushing the product or service. Come up with something that people will look forward to every week – things that will draw them to you and make them draw their communities to you too.

3. Provide Consistent, Public, Interesting, and Free Content

Jack Daniels is a well-known brand. It has been a well-known brand for years. And it has done this by consistently keeping itself in front of the public. Now, in years past it relied on TV advertising – expensive advertising. Advertising that those of us who would just like to become famous in our niche cannot afford.

We have to find cheap ways to become famous, and even Jack Daniels is going the cheap route now. It’s not all over TV – that’s a thing of the past. What does Jack Daniels do now? It has an amazing website and an amazing social media presence. It sponsors contests for people to submit new drink recipes. It asks customers to submit weird bar stories, which it publishes – consumers love it and they continue to love Jack Daniels. Jack Daniels will be famous for years to come because it understand how fame is now built. When you use the same strategies that Jack Daniels uses, you can build your fame too.

Get your “public” involved in everything you do. Other than the cost of maintaining your websites and social media platforms through employees or contractors, your cost of providing amazing and interest and entertaining and inspirational content is cheap. No one wants to read what looks like a textbook; and no one want to just hear about products. They want some fun and some education and they want it in engaging ways.

Even if your niche seems “boring”, there’s still a way to interact with your audience successfully and leveraging your authority status. Simply, by offering free detailed information of every aspect related to your business. For instance, Moverscorp publishes loads of amazing guides, covering pretty much any aspect of moving – from choosing the company to packing to tipping movers and things to do after the move.

You can build your fame if you are committed to giving your public the best content ever. On the Internet there are no walls and there are few rules. You build a fan base and that fan base reaches out to its communities, as long as your content is great. People share what is free and what is publicly provided. So give free and public!

4. Sponsor an Important Charity

One of the best ways to enhance your fame is to sponsor a well-known and compassionate charitable cause. You can do wonderful good while you increase your fame as well.

Why do people love Toms Shoes, and why has Toms Shoes become so famous? Because owner Blake Mycoskie, “chief shoe giver,” donates a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair of shoes he sells. And he has branched out now into efforts for restoring eyesight and drilling water in 3^rd world countries. He is a hero, especially among millennials, the biggest buying demographic, for all that he does. And he has great fame within his niche.

Jessica Erickson, owner of Headbands for Hope has gained national fame for her charitable work with children’s cancer research and her donations of headbands to young girls with cancer. If you want to make a difference in the lives of people and gain fame as well, this is a great path. Local, regional and state media love these kinds of stories, and the reach spreads. Both Mycoskie and Erickson have been featured on national television shows several times.

5. Develop Relationships with Influencers

There are famous people in related niches. Influencers are already famous within their niches. One of the “rules” for success is to hang out with successful people.

The same goes in the digital world. You can “follow” influencers, participate in their discussions, and make yourself known as an expert in your niche. Cultivate these relationships before you propose any reciprocity of promotion, but ultimately you can get to that. Being respected and liked by an influencer, even if not directly related to your niche is big. And influencers can introduce you to other influencers as well. This can ultimate get you speaking engagements, interviews, and/or promotion of your book, and so forth, depending upon the type of fame you are seeking.

6. Work on Your Fame Everyday

This means many things. It can be to join new groups. It can mean to contact local media with a press release. It can mean creating amazing content or videos. It can mean reaching out to new communities on social media. But you must consistently commit to doing something every day to promote your fame. If you do this for an entire year, you will be pretty amazed at how famous you have become with your ideal audience.

7. Cultivate your Guru Status

At first, you will give away a lot of stuff, maybe you will create free “how-to” e-guides.  Maybe you will create slide shows and videos that provide expert advice. As the demand for your stuff grows, create new “stuff” and begin to charge for it. Why? Because famous people are expected to charge for their “stuff,” and because you have the right to earn money for your hard work.

Neil Patel, the guru of content marketing, has the perfect combination. He is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Hello Bar. These are for-profit companies with famous clients like Amazon, GM, NBC, etc. He also has a blog, called Quick Sprout. Here he provides free educational articles for content marketers and business owners. But always on that blog, he is promoting his fee-based services, one of which is to make a business owner a “guru” and famous in his/her own niche.

Becoming famous in a year is simple, but not necessarily easy. It takes concerted effort and a commitment that must be held every single day of that year. It means spending two hours working on that book; or it means an hour contacting local press to promote a charitable event; or it means writing the best content ever; or it mean networking and “rubbing elbows” with influencers. It can be tiring and it can mean that your workday just got longer.

You have to ask yourself, before you take on this “fame” goal: why you want to become famous and what it will mean for you? If you can answer these questions positively, then you are ready for the journey.

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Chalk will remove grease stains from clothes. Simply rub the stain with……

Chalk will remove grease stains from clothes. Simply rub the stain with chalk, then toss in the wash as normal.

via myhomelookbook.com

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10 Habits To Make You Happy and Productive Every Day

What makes you different from other people are the habits you have and practice daily. What you do every day from the morning until the evening has such a significant influence on the way it will shape you as a person and help you live a happier life. By having a particular routine you write your own page for each day. If you want to feel more productive with the work you do and satisfied after each task done, you really need to think what you are doing in order to accomplish your daily goals. By including a few of these habits, you will feel more fulfilled because these habits work from me every day and keep me motivated to achieve even more!

1. Wake Up Early

If you want to have more time to achieve the things you set for the day, just wake up an hour earlier. You decide what to do with the extra minutes you have every morning – you can spend it to have a delicious breakfast, pick up your clothes, and get ready or dance on your favorite music. Whatever it is, just put some time aside to do the things you love before you kick off for the day!

2. List the things you are grateful for

Writing a few things you are thankful for in your journal will create a positive and fulfilling start of the day. It is so important from time to time to stop and really think and appreciate what you have in your life. Being grateful opens up your heart to be more grateful and attract even greater things in your world. Happiness is in the little things such as giving appreciation and showing gratefulness to yourself and the people you love.

3. Go through your goals for the day

If you really want to be productive each day, you must read or think through the main things you have to accomplish daily. Try to set a few main targets and really focus on achieving them instead of putting too many and having the trouble to go through all of them. Be really honest with yourself how much you can achieve for one day. Do feel fulfilled with yourself if you achieve even one main goal for the day! Start with something small and constantly add to the list and eventually you will manage to handle more things daily once you get more practice.

4. Pack a healthy snack for work or school

Healthy body = Healthy mind. In order to create more stuff every day, you need to have enough energy for that. And you can get that essential energy only if you eat something nutritional and healthy. Replace the chocolate with a banana if you want something sweeter and bring some salty nuts if you need to satisfy your cravings for salty food.

5. Switch off your wifi or your phone and be present

Going offline throughout the day is so important to be more productive and happy with yourself. Social media tends to get us distracted and we cannot really achieve the goals for the day if we are not truly present. Try to put your phone away for about 30 minutes and tell yourself that you will only focus on your work for that time. You can celebrate after that with a 5-10 min short break online and then – do the same for the next half an hour or more!

6. Take a short walk or exercise

If you tend to sit for most of the time while you are at school or work, taking a short walk during lunch break could be really beneficial for you! We spend so much time indoors that we forget the importance of doing any physical activity and having fresh air. Taking a walk can clear your mind, boost your energy and well-being and recharge your batteries for the rest of the tasks you need to accomplish!

7. Read a few pages from a book

It is so essential to spend time every day on self-growth and self-education. There are so many books out there on various topics such as health, happiness, successful relationships and personal development. For example by reading a spiritual book daily you will add up to your positive thinking and attitude towards yourself and the outside people or by reading a skill-orientated book you can learn or enhance an asset.

8. Write your goals for the next day

Before going to sleep write down your goals for the next day. This will really help you organize tasks for tomorrow and give you satisfaction that you have a well written plan for each day of the week.

9. Prepare your lunch for tomorrow 

You would ask why this will make me happy and productive? It will make you so because packing your own food for school or work will help you create a useful habit for you to take better care of your body and health. Prepare some nutritional lunch that will give you the energy you need to create more and be more productive and satisfied with yourself. If you do prepare it the night before you will also have more time for yourself in the morning and you will not need to rush around your place to leave on time.

10. Go to sleep with positive thought

Think of a few amazing things that happened today. By doing this you will sleep with a positive mind and grateful heart and will be even more excited for the following day that will bring more and more exciting things. To help yourself to fall asleep with a positive thought you can listen to some meditation music, write down your thoughts in a journal or simply thank yourself for giving your best that day. Do not forget to appreciate yourself at the end of each day too, you are doing your best in order to be happy and productive every day!

 

Featured photo credit: Girl on a lawn/ Josef Seibel via flickr.com

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5 Ways to Cultivate a Growth Mindset for Self Improvement

Think about a self-improvement goal you have, like becoming a better public speaker, earning a promotion at work, or losing weight. Be honest: What’s been stopping you from achieving, or even making progress, toward your goal?

Do excuses like these sound familiar? I’m a naturally shy person — speaking in front of people makes me nervous. I’m not a good writer, so I’ll never get promoted. I have a slow metabolism, and I’m not an athletic person — losing weight is impossible! If so, then what may be holding you back is a “fixed mindset”.

You’ve probably heard this term, coined by Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck. Essentially, it’s the (erroneous) belief that your abilities are more or less finite and what happens to you, good and bad, is largely due to forces beyond your control, such as natural born talent and luck. For example: The only reason my presentation went well was that Sally was feeling sick, so this time she didn’t outshine me. Or: I can’t do yoga; I have always been really inflexible.

As Dweck argues, a fixed mindset is what stops many of us from trying to improve in certain areas where we think we’ve hit our ceiling. In truth, of course, we’re all capable of reaching new heights. It’s just a matter of shifting from a fixed mindset to what Dweck calls a “growth mindset,” a belief that we actually are in control of what we achieve. Yes, we all have inherent limitations; no matter how hard you try, you may never play tennis like Serena Williams. But, there’s a giant territory between being better than you are now and being the best in the world.

If you have a growth mindset, you think: If I stretch 10 minutes every day, I will become more flexible or If I take a class and practice every day, I will become a better writer. You’ll take on self-improvement projects and you’ll persevere through challenges because, deep down, you know you can succeed. If you think you’ve been holding yourself back with a fixed mindset, how do you go about shifting to a growth mindset? Here are 5 ways.

1. Get expert help.

Can’t even run around the block? Find a running coach experienced with beginners and have her create a training plan for you that includes running with other novices. You’ll be amazed at how far you’re running in just a couple weeks. Hopeless in the kitchen? Take a cooking class, and learn to make two new dishes. With expert guidance, accountability, and social support, you’ll soon have the confidence to step out of your comfort zone. Once you get a taste of accomplishment, you’ll be ready for the next challenge.

2. Look around you.

If you’re not able to recognize your own ability to improve, look to family members or friends for evidence that effort and perseverance pays off. Maybe a friend set out to learn Spanish and became fluent. If you instinctively think, “She’s obviously good with languages,” reframe your thinking. Are you really going to take that accomplishment away from your friend? More likely, she studied hard and practiced often.

3. Praise for effort, not skill.

When you get in the habit of recognizing effort in others, you’ll start to change the way you think about your own abilities. Instead of telling a friend, “You’re such a good cook!” say, “I love how you’re always collecting recipes and trying such interesting dishes.” Rather than telling your child, “You’re so smart” when they ace a math test, say “You studied hard for that and deserved a good grade.” Acknowledging effort over talent is a subtle but important change to make when working to adopt a growth mindset.

4. Compete with yourself.

Yes, caring how we rank is human nature, but caring too much is counterproductive and fuels a fixed mindset. We all have our strengths. What’s important is not how you compare to others but how you compare to where you were yesterday, last week, or last year. Are you moving forward and making progress in the areas that you care about? If so, that’s all that matters.

5. Learn from failure.

When you have a fixed mindset, the voice in your head says, I didn’t make the sale because I’m terrible at closing. Challenge this mindset. Could it be that you didn’t prepare enough to answer all the clients’ questions? What could you have done differently to change the outcome? If you think about it hard enough, you’ll probably come up with lessons to apply to your next sales opportunity.

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4 Ways That Gamification Can Change Your Life

One commonality that binds us all is our endless pursuit of happiness. What “happy” means to one person surely differs from that of another. There is no single path to being happy and the road to a more fulfilling and joyous life is different for each and every person on the planet.

So what do video games have to do with happiness? Well, the truth is, it is what goes into creating the video games – the methods and techniques that hook users – that can be applied to real-world experiences that can dramatically impact your lifestyle and levels of happiness.

Welcome to the world of lifestyle gamification.

Yu-kai Chou is a gamification expert and the author of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. Chou claims that “many students who neglect school and get in trouble all the time aren’t like that because they are dumb or dislike learning – they just don’t see the purpose of learning the subjects that are taught in class.” This very same logic can spread beyond the classroom and has no age limit.

Video games are much more than just stunning visuals and quality voice over work. Psychological traits possessed by all people are taken into account when creating video games. By touching on the eight core drives of gamification, Chou is able to brilliantly explain his theory of Octalysis, an in-depth framework that describes the different motivators humans share that can be influenced by gamification.

By applying gamification techniques and tweaking the approach taken to achieving certain goals and aspirations, people can find the focus that has slipped from their grasp.

The power of gamification and your diet

Gamification can change the way you eat. By doing so, it can change the way you feel and ultimately, how you live.

Games are addicting for a reason. Games like Angry Birds and Temple Run leave players feeling like they must continue to get to the next level or break their previous high score. This comes at the risk of going to bed later than they had planned or putting off doing homework until the last minute.

Applying similar gamification techniques to your diet can be engaging enough for you to stay on track. Trying to stick to a strict regimen can be a daunting experience if you are looking to lose weight or eat healthily. The Paleo App is a great example of using gaming techniques to train folks to change habits for the better.

How does the Paleo App use gamification with its users? Being able to track your progress is a great start. This is where technology comes in handy. In the past, it would have been seen as strange and even discouraging for you to walk around with a notebook to track the intake of all food and beverage. Now that everyone is constantly buried in their phones, those close by will never suspect that one is cataloging their lunch – a concept that might be embarrassing to those starting off on their quest to weight loss.

Paleo also makes it so users receive rewards for small milestones. This breaks down larger goals into manageable steps that are less overwhelming and way more achievable – especially for those who are starting off and are more vulnerable when it comes to becoming derailed.

The work life

SAP is a German multinational software corporation that is worth billions. They serve customers in almost every country on the planet and employ over 70,000 employees. While they had already found tremendous success, they were struggling to engage their community.

Laure Cetin, SAP’s community manager, decided to implement some gamification strategies into the SAP Community Network (SCN) to see if boosting participation and engagement would be possible.

Cetin said that by “using gamification and particularly the concept of missions (a series of actions needed to receive a badge and points), we wanted to encourage members to log in regularly, provide feedback, contribute quality content regularly and be recognized as topic experts and influencers.”

Just one short month after applying some of these strategies, community feedback had spike by nearly 100% and the overall action within the company’s social network had risen an astonishing 400%. Cetin’s intuition was right, and SCN grew to the point where it is receiving millions of hits per month.

Gamify your exercise routine

Like maintaining a healthy diet, many people struggle with staying on course when it comes to exercise.

According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, the most common New Year’s resolution in 2015 was staying fit and healthy. People binge throughout the holiday season knowing that just around the corner comes a clean slate, a fresh new start where they will eat less and exercise more. Sure, the gym might be packed throughout the month of January, but it will clear out quickly as the days go by.

People have a very hard time staying motivated without seeing results quickly. But now there are many apps out there that reward users on their journey to getting in shape.

The Telegraph reported on Zombies, Run – a top-selling fitness game available. By putting runners into the shoes of people escaping Zombies, they feel more connected to their workout and are more likely to run more frequently. Instead of running on a treadmill listening to music, you are dropped into a chaotic, Hollywood-like film that will whip you into shape. When the zombies get close, you have to run like mad – interval training at its finest!

Adrian Hon, the creator of Zombies, Run, told The Telegraph that “a lot of people find exercise to be boring and repetitive, even with music. [Our app] can make running more exciting by putting you into a fictional world where you running really matters – so on a rainy Sunday morning, you’ll still be motivated to get up and run.”

Ability to learn new things

Back in the day, learning something complex like a new language was a formidable task. While learning a new tongue still takes an incredible amount of time, dedication, and perseverance, the process – when married with gamification techniques – can be a lot more fun for the users.

Duolingo is the perfect example of gamified language learning and is now helping teach new languages to over 100 million people. Not only does Duolingo help make learning a new language fun, but it is helping translate the Web in the process.

According to Yu-kai Chou, the gamification of language learning is more effective with Duolingo because “as students learn a language, they earn skill points when lessons are completed or web content is translated. Lessons associated with a skill are successively completed when a given number of translations are completed. Since web content is inherently more interesting than “made up” sentences, the translation assignments are more engaging.”

Final thoughts

Gamification can be applied to numerous areas, meeting personal needs or addressing problems at the workplace. One thing about gamification that is certain is that it is complex. It is no magical cure-all that can be applied haphazardly and it isn’t something that will make overnight changes. To properly apply the methods and techniques to your own life or your business, it’s best to do as much research as possible and contact an expert that can help you achieve the most from gamification.

With technology that is constantly improving and the rapid growth of the Internet of Things, it is certain that gamification isn’t going anywhere. Learning as much as possible about this new field sooner than later can set you up for a better, more fulfilling life.

Featured photo credit: Gamification e via pixabay.com

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