13 Things to Avoid When Changing Habits | Zen Habits “Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” - Mark Twain Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter. I’ve learned a lot about changing habits in the last 2 1/2 years, from quitting smoking to taking up running and GTD and vegetarianism and waking early and all that. I could go on, of course, but you get the picture. I’ve not only learned a lot about what you should do when changing habits, but through my failures, I’ve learned about what not to do. And trust me, I’ve had lots of failures. I’ve found failures to be just as important as successes when trying to learn how to improve, especially when it comes to changing habits. I’ve done that, with one failure after another, and would like to share a few things I’ve learned to avoid when trying to change a habit. “Motivation is what gets you started. Taking on two or more habits at once. “We are what we repeatedly do.
The 21 Day Challenge Everyone Should Take I'm on day 14 of a 21-day challenge that I semi-invented and so far I have to admit the results have been nothing short of amazing. Now, when I say that I semi-invented it, that is purely because I took the idea from the excellent book 'Psycho Cybernetics' and put it in a format that everyone can follow, myself included. I'm not exaggerating when I say this challenge can literally help with any aspect of your life that you would like to improve. Before I go into more detail on how you can follow along, I need to talk a little about our 'self image' and why it is very important. Understanding the Self Image In the mid 20th Century, Maxwell Maltz who was a plastic surgeon, wrote a book called Psycho Cybernetics that has now sold millions of copies and been updated for modern times. In looking into this further, he states that we all have a self-image that is purely a mental image of how we see ourselves. The 21 Day Challenge Let's look at the 4 parts of this challenge… The 4 Parts 1. 2. 3. 4.
How to Work Like the Masters | LifeRemix Written by Jay of Dumb Little Man. When I need work done on my car, I consult with a mechanic. When it's time to build a deck in the backyard, I will search for an expert and listen to what he says. So when it comes to life itself, why wouldn't you at least consider what experts think? With that, LifeRemix has done some homework and we're bringing you a list of things that you'll need to consider. Here are a handful of tips on working from the most popular productivity bloggers on the internet, along with bloggers on organization, the environment and more. From Wisebread: Achieve greatness fifteen minutes at a time. From Dumb Little Man: Gain 10 days per year by adjusting your sleep. From Zen Habits: Eliminate all but the essential tasks. From LifeDev: Take creative breaks. From The Happiness Project: Walk around the block. From No Impact Man: Let your TV rob someone else's time. From Success From the Nest: Don't let someone else define your creative process. From Pick the Brain: From Behance:
10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life - Step Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. It’ll go too. Adrian Savage is a writer, an Englishman, and a retired business executive, in that order. Read full content
Unfinished business The inbox on my desk is currently overflowing. I returned from traveling two weeks ago, dumped a stack of must-complete paperwork out of my briefcase and into the inbox, and immediately started to ignore the mess I’d made. The inbox ceased to be an inbox and became a Black Hole of Forgotten Items. The situation with my inbox is similar to how most messes begin in our house and in my work. When a mess occurs it is usually because: I’m in the process of doing something and am interrupted before I can finish the action. Once a mess has started, I’ll either become immune to it (stepping over the unpacked luggage each time I go to the washing machine) or feel stress and anxiety about it (I have so much to do! Over the years, I’ve learned to deal with most of these messes before they happen. Limit interruptions. What do you do to prevent messes from starting in your home and office?
7 Secrets of the Super Organized A few years ago, my life was a mess. So was my house, my desk, my mind. Then I learned, one by one, a few habits that got me completely organized. Am I perfect? So what’s the secret? Are these obvious principles? If your life is a mess, like mine was, I don’t recommend trying to get organized all in one shot. So here are the 7 habits: Reduce before organizing. If you take your closet full of 100 things and throw out all but the 10 things you love and use, now you don’t need a fancy closet organizer. How to reduce: take everything out of a closet or drawer or other container (including your schedule), clean it out, and only put back those items you truly love and really use on a regular basis. Write it down now, always.
7 Ways For The Introvert To Communicate Confidently Even If You Don’t Feel Confident — Introvert Zone First impressions count. Like it or not, people will make some sort of judgement about you based on their first impression within the first few seconds of meeting you. You’ve heard it said that ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression.’ So when you are meeting people for the first time, think of what first impression you want to give them. Communicating confidently is essential if you are going to succeed no matter what you are doing. As introverts, we tend to be in our thoughts most of the time and are most concerned with what we are going to say. It turns out that other people are paying the most attention to our body language. When you do, they will think that you are confident even if you’re not feeling it inside. So, how do you do this? Here are 7 ways to communicate confidently even if you don’t feel that way: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The way that you move sends a subconscious message to your mind which helps the way that you feel.
10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It | zen habits “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” – Ben Franklin, famously “Put no trust in the benefits to accrue from early rising, as set forth by the infatuated Franklin …” – Mark Twain By Leo Babauta Recently, reader Rob asked me about my habit of waking at 4:30 a.m. each day, and asked me to write about the health benefits of rising early, which I thought was an excellent question. Unfortunately, there are none, that I know of. However, there are a ton of other great benefits. Now, let me first say that if you are a night owl, and that works for you, I think that’s great. Greet the day. How to Become an Early Riser Don’t make drastic changes. Frictionless | Do more. Better.
Increase your productivity at work by letting go of negative men My alma mater is currently ranked number one in all of the college men’s basketball rankings. They’ve been in the top spot for 11 of the 14 weeks of the polls, and were number one in the preseason. There are five games left in the regular season, and all of the teams Kansas has left to play would love to see the Jayhawks lose. Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Missouri fans aren’t the only ones who want to see Kansas mess up their record in the last five games. Fans of the other ranked teams would be happy to see Kansas take a tumble, and, after watching some of the games this year, I’m pretty certain there are a few referees that would be glad to see Kansas lose, too. In competitive sports like basketball, a game has to end with a winner and a loser. In our work lives, however, very few things are like competitive sports. If you want to be productive and manage your time well at work, you need to let go of the belief that your workplace is a zero-sum game.
50 Lifehacks to Help You Live Longer and Healthier With all the work that's put into fitness and health, it's a wonder how some people manage to have lives outside of work and exercise. A healthy lifestyle can be a pretty hard thing to achieve. There seems to be so much micromanaging involved, from scheduling your workouts to tracking your diet for calories, carbs, proteins, and fats. That's what lifehacks are for. Diet and Nutrition Fifteen Negative Calorie Foods — You'd be surprised to know that some foods actually burn more calories than they contain. Fitness and Exercise Recording Yourself Helps Increase Your Reps — Exercise is half mental — you've got to stay focused and dedicated to your workout if you want any results. Mental Wellness Boost Your Brain's Health with Loud Music — Sure, our mothers might have gotten on our backs once or twice before for having our earphones on too loud, but you'd be surprised to learn that loud music can actually be good for your brain. Emotional Wellness Health and Cleanliness Vanity Other