Procrastination & You Are Not So Smart The Misconception: You procrastinate because you are lazy and can’t manage your time well. The Truth: Procrastination is fueled by weakness in the face of impulse and a failure to think about thinking. Netflix reveals something about your own behavior you should have noticed by now, something which keeps getting between you and the things you want to accomplish. If you have Netflix, especially if you stream it to your TV, you tend to gradually accumulate a cache of hundreds of films you think you’ll watch one day. This is a bigger deal than you think. Take a look at your queue. Psychologists actually know the answer to this question, to why you keep adding movies you will never watch to your growing collection of future rentals, and it is the same reason you believe you will eventually do what’s best for yourself in all the other parts of your life, but rarely do. A study conducted in 1999 by Read, Loewenstein and Kalyanaraman had people pick three movies out of a selection of 24. Sources:
How to Create a Captivating Presentation “Creativity” isn’t the first word you’d associate with the average business presentation. The phrase “Death by PowerPoint” has been a cliché for years, but sadly the same clichés are being perpetuated day in day out – slides “designed” using hideous templates, crawling with bullet points and paragraphs in tiny fonts, which presenters then read out in a monotone (turning their backs to the audience), using interchangeable meaningless corporate jargon. But there is an alternative – and you hold the keys to it.Now, you may not consider yourself a natural presenter. Maybe, like many creatives, you are slightly shy by nature, at your most comfortable when seated at your desk or alone in the studio with your work. As an introverted poet, I can relate. But I managed to transform myself from someone who was terrified of standing up in front of an audience to an in-demand public speaker and workshop leader. Treat the presentation as a creative project in its own right. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance The ruling elite has created social institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance.Bruce E. LevineAlterNet Traditionally, young people have energized democratic movements. So it is a major coup for the ruling elite to have created societal institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance to domination. Young Americans—even more so than older Americans—appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely screw them and that they are helpless to do anything about it. How exactly has American society subdued young Americans? 1. There was no tuition at the City University of New York when I attended one of its colleges in the 1970s, a time when tuition at many U.S. public universities was so affordable that it was easy to get a B.A. and even a graduate degree without accruing any student-loan debt. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The fear of being surveilled makes a population easier to control. 7. 8.
88 Ways To Make A Stranger Smile post written by: Marc Chernoff Email Don’t wait for people to smile. Show them how. Let your guard down. Talk to someone you don’t know straight from your heart. Remember, your best friend was once a stranger too. Love whoever is around to be loved. Smile often.Hold a door open for someone.Pay for the person in line behind you.Send a hand-written thank you card to someone who assisted you with something.Clean out all your old clothes and donate them to someone in need.Give a compliment about a waiter, waitress, sales clerk, etc. to his or her manager.Compliment a stranger’s appearance. And above all, live proudly. Photo by: Thomas Hawk If you enjoyed this article, check out our new best-selling book. And get inspiring life tips and quotes in your inbox (it's free)...
The Art of Momentum: Why Your Ideas Need Speed In his wonderful book Musicophilia, neurologist Oliver Sacks describes Clive Wearing, a musician and musicologist whose memory was erased almost entirely after a severe brain infection. Post-trauma, Clive’s short-term memory lasted only a matter of seconds. Sacks writes, “He remembers almost nothing unless he is actually doing it, then it may come to him.” Yet Clive’s musical self, his performative self, remained almost completely intact. It just needed to be activated. We are perhaps not so different from Clive when it comes to creative projects. The minute that we lose momentum, we lose the thread. It’s just like Newton’s First Law of Motion: The tendency of a body in motion is to keep moving; the tendency of a body at rest is to sit still. If we can keep moving on our projects every day – stoking that creative fire regularly to keep the flames high – it’s infinitely easier to stay focused, make great strides, and blast through the roadblocks that inevitably come up. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Life-Changing Habits Developing good habits is the basic of personal development and growth. Everything we do is the result of a habit that was previously taught to us. Unfortunately, not all the habits that we have are good, that’s why we are constantly trying to improve. The following is a list of 30 practical habits that can make a huge difference in your life. You should treat this list as a reference, and implement just one habit per month. Health habits Exercise 30 minutes every day. Productivity habits Use an inbox system. Personal Development habits Read 1 book per week. Career habits Start a blog. What do you think? Update: A reader put together a downloadable copy of all these habits. Six Keys to Being Excellent at Anything - Tony Schwartz by Tony Schwartz | 2:21 PM August 24, 2010 I’ve been playing tennis for nearly five decades. I love the game and I hit the ball well, but I’m far from the player I wish I were. I’ve been thinking about this a lot the past couple of weeks, because I’ve taken the opportunity, for the first time in many years, to play tennis nearly every day. My game has gotten progressively stronger. I’ve had a number of rapturous moments during which I’ve played like the player I long to be. And almost certainly could be, even though I’m 58 years old. During the past year, I’ve read no fewer than five books — and a raft of scientific research — which powerfully challenge that assumption (see below for a list). We’ve found, in our work with executives at dozens of organizations, that it’s possible to build any given skill or capacity in the same systematic way we do a muscle: push past your comfort zone, and then rest. That notion is wonderfully empowering. Pursue what you love.
Be Happier, Healthier & Way More Likeable Happiness — I want it, you want it, we all want it. Just the fact that you’re reading The Change Blog means that you and I are on a similar path—seeking for those nuggets of wisdom that will bring us more peace, joy, and personal fulfillment. After having owned a businesses for about 10 years in the swimming pool industry, a little over a year ago I commenced a new quest in life to satiate my need to teach and help as many possible to achieve their full potential. This is also why I asked Peter if I could contribute a guest post to The Change Blog. 1. Whether you are looking to make new friends, achieve success with a client, or even raise your general awareness—the skill of asking questions has in many ways been lost in our society. 2. We’ve all heard that learning to give compliments to others has a powerful impact on personal relationships. I really enjoyed your blog article today. Or See the difference? 3. I see it all the time. 4. Wow has the internet been a blessing in this area.
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