Tuesday 29 November 2016

Overcoming a Loss of Motivation

How many times have you started a new activity (such as a personal project or exercise routine) with a burst of enthusiasm, only to feel that initial loss of motivation? This often leads to depression and causes us to give up prematurely. I’ve experienced this letdown dozens of times myself. But fortunately, with a bit of thought and reflection you can turn this negative emotion around.
The key to harnessing your emotions is understanding them. The natural pattern of human emotion is peaks and valleys. When we start a new project we’re filled with tremendous optimism. All we can think about is the expected benefits, and since we haven’t started yet, we aren’t aware of the difficulties involved. This natural high causes a surge of mental and physical activity. The peak is a great thing because the energy boost gets projects off the ground. If you’re a creative type like me, you know that this period is euphoric. You feel like nothing can stop you.
The downside of this surge of energy is that it inevitably ends. Exerting large amounts of energy wears you down, and after the initial optimism wears off we feel extremely tired. However high you started off, you fall down just as low. This causes a loss of confidence. The combination of fatigue, scant results, and an awareness of impending adversity makes us want to give up. From personal experience I’ve learned a few ways to hold strong against negativity.

Be Prepared for a Letdown

Emotions, by nature, lose their power when we understand them. Prove this to yourself. Next time you get angry, take a moment to reflect on the reason behind the emotion. When I step back and reflect, it’s easy to see that my anger is caused by insecurity/selfishness/jealousy etc. After I understand the cause my anger fades away.
The same technique applies to a loss of motivation. Instead of giving into negativity, step back and analyze. Look at the causes. Are you tired, burned out, disappointed by the results? Are these feelings justified, or are they a by product of a low point in the emotional spectrum?
To illustrate these ideas, I’ll use my most recent project as an example, the creation of this site. When I launched Pick the Brain it took an enormous amount of effort. I was completely new to blogging, web design, and traffic building so there was a steep learning curve. Writing new posts, setting up the site, and trying to build traffic took up nearly all my free time. After about three weeks I was completely burned out. I got depressed and started to question if the site was worth the effort. I wasn’t seeing any returns and I started to find enormous faults in my writing and the purpose of the site. There were moments when I was resigned to failure.
One reason I was able to overcome this loss of motivation is that I prepared myself for a letdown. Beforehand, I researched blogging and learned that it generally takes 9-12 months before a site begins to see significant traffic. Knowing that my lack of success was perfectly normal helped me get over it. The same is true for other endeavors. If you know losing 20 pounds in a month is unrealistic, you’ll be able to accept losing only 5 more easily.
I also knew my own emotions and was prepared for the initial emotional peak to pass. When I was first inspired to launch a website, my expectations were through the roof. Dreams of AdSense revenue danced in my head and I pictured throngs of loyal readers as if they already existed. But because I understand my emotional pattern, I realized this optimism would give way to depression. In the back of my mind, I foresaw the impending motivational battle, and when it came I was ready.

Reevaluate Your Strategy and Motivation

The passing of the emotional peak is a blessing in disguise because it allows us to reevaluate our plans from a fresh perspective. At first we are blinded by our own optimism. When we lose our motivation we can see gaping holes our in plan. We can either get down on ourselves and give up, or we can use this negative emotion to discover our faults and correct them. After I pulled myself out of the motivational cellar, I went back to all the negatives thoughts I’d had and applied them to improving the site. Having a pessimistic attitude opened my eyes. It made me realistic about my abilities and expectations. Emotional valleys bring us back to reality. Without them we’d be raving lunatics with unlimited self-confidence.
Use a loss of motivation as an opportunity to reconsider what your motivation really is. One reason I lost motivation is that I became too concerned with the financial aspect of blogging and lost sight of the real reason I started: sharing my passion for self improvement and the pursuit of happiness. When I realigned my motivation with my passion, the lack of results didn’t matter. My motivation returned because I realized connecting with people through my writing is an end in itself. Even if this site never makes I dime, sharing my ideas and experiences to help other people is worth the effort.
In truth, sometimes giving up is the right decision. If you started doing something for the wrong reasons you’ll likely lose your motivation. This is a good thing. It allows us to see what really motivates us. In these cases, the best choice is to move on to a new endeavor. Don’t fight self doubt, use it for your benefit.

Conclusion

Dealing with emotional highs and lows is an experience common to all people. We generally accept our emotions as beyond our control. They are powerful and mysterious and appear quite irrational. But if we contemplate our emotions, if we explore the inner workings of our minds, we find that like all things, emotions obey the law of cause and effect. Armed with this knowledge, we can continue to allow our emotions to dominate our lives, or we can use them to our benefit.
Don’t be surprised by a loss of motivation and don’t be disappointed by it. Understand it as natural effect of the human mind, and utilize this knowledge of self to make your emotions work for you.

Sunday 27 November 2016

5 Ways To Be More Productive In The Morning (Even If You’re Not A Morning Person)

Maybe you jump out of bed each morning like the energizer bunny. Or maybe you think mornings are just plain evil.  They say that “to win the morning is to win the day”, so if you want to be productive throughout the day, it has to start with a productive morning. Here are 5 ways to be more productive in the morning (even if you’re not a morning person.)
  1. Wake up earlier- just by 15 minutes.

This might be the most cliche productivity advice but stick with me for a minute. It’s not about waking up at 4:30 in the morning (although that does work well for some people). It’s about giving yourself a little extra time at the start of your day to set yourself up for success.
If you’re a night owl, waking up at the crack of dawn isn’t going to help you. It’s probably just going to frustrate you and make you less productive. However, waking up just 15 minutes earlier than usual gives you an advantage over your day. It’s also be a much more doable change.
  1. Eliminate decision making in the mornings.

Mornings are hard. Don’t make them harder than they have to be. If you’re looking for a way to make your mornings more enjoyable and less stressful, get rid of as much decision making as you can.
You know that feeling – lying in bed thinking “Ugh, I have to pick out what to wear today.” and “Oh man, what am I gonna take for lunch?”. It makes it so much harder to actually get out of bed and get moving.
Try to eliminate those decisions by planning them the night before, or even earlier in the week! I pick out of all my outfits and plan my meals on Saturdays for the next week. This saves me tons of time about thinking about decisions in the morning. It helps me get out of bed and let myself run on autopilot for a bit.
  1. Just get moving. 

Everyone says “work out” in the mornings, but that’s probably not the best advice. It just doesn’t work for everybody, and it’s also not always an option. While there’s definitely merit to that advice, it’s not mandatory. The principle is that you should get moving in the mornings, and that’s something you can do in a variety of ways.
You can do yoga, walk the dog, do a few sit-ups, go for a ten-minute run… whatever you want to do, even for just a few minutes! There are so many options. Moving around definitely helps get your day started, but it doesn’t have to be an hour long work out at your gym.
  1. Write your to-do list.

If you start the day in charge, you’ll find that you’re more likely to finish the day in charge. If you start with a plan, you’re less likely to let anything interfere with your most important tasks.
But the only way you can prevent those interruptions and distractions is to know what your most important tasks are! Spend a few minutes in the morning thinking about (and writing down!) what you’re going to focus on for the day. For bonus points : Visualize yourself actually doing those things, and they’ll be even more likely to happen.
  1. Pause and reflect for a few minutes.

You might think the word “meditation” sounds too new-agey and not something you’re into. I didn’t think I was into it either. But then I tried it. I found that spending a few minutes in the morning to pause and focus actually helped me gain clarity throughout my entire day.
You don’t have to do anything fancy. Just spend a few minutes focusing on your breath, or “watching” what you think about. You might be surprised by just how busy your brain is.
Having a busy morning and tempted to skip? Experts say that those are the days you should spend even MORE time meditating. Those are the days you’ll need it the most.
Conclusion
By waking up earlier, removing willpower and decision making from your morning, and focusing on your day, you’ll propel yourself into the best day possible. And you can do this every day!
So now that you know how to be more productive in the morning, make sure to use that extra time to achieve your biggest goals. Make sure that you’re making the most of your time all throughout the day and not just in the morning.

Saturday 26 November 2016

Set Your Goals And Never Give Up

Without goals we achieve very little, we don't move forward and when we don't move forward we get bored and stagnate so it's important to set your goals and then see them through to completion. 
Goals are not all about the action, yesn you have to be committed and inspired to do the work but sometimes people neglect the mental and emotional side of things.  
All goals start as an idea or vision in the mind and then you start to bring that vision into your reality and to be the best you have to feel at your best.
This means no more wasted time trying to be something you're not, no more aiming for perfection, just be yourself, stop focusing on your worries and fears and put all your energy on achieving your goals and pursuing your passions.
And secondly never give up, if you're struggling or things aren't working out don't quit, or you will never achieve your goal.
On your journey to achieving your goal, you will have some ups and downs and sometimes, the stress and frustration between what you want in life and where you are at the moment, can push you to breaking point and leave you feeling disappointed and feeling like a failure.
The easier option is to give in and stop dreaming, rather than put up with the constant reminder and pain that you're not achieving the results you expected and deserve.
But when you quit, you will ever know what might have been, and it is always better to do than to do nothing, 
In these trying times, you have to dig deep and get back up, and sometimes to get where you want, it is necessary to ignore what is and just keep focusing on what will be and just strive to be the best at what you do, or at what you want to do.

Why Problems Are Valuable?

"Problems have their role,
In highlighting our distress,
So we can approach the goal,
Of working on what to address."


We all experience life from various states of emotional undress. Life has its consistent way of undoing us. The resilient person is the one who takes the initiative and works on their states of emotional undress, always striving to overcome depressive episodes (not that depressed people ever willingly succumb).


PROBLEMS HAVE THEIR ROLE

Why is there suffering in the world? It may be one of the most paralyzing and perplexing of all realities; one for which we have no concrete answer.
But we can, if we want to, choose to see that problems have their role; that there is a time and a place for every problem.
Problems may have about them the recognition that something or all is not well. They highlight the symptom. They are a beacon for the cause. And if we have the interest, the throbbing curiosity, we can begin the process of inquiry and see it through.
By exploring our problems, especially by externalizing them so as to employ our imaginations, removing fear, we can perceive the source and reason for our distress. Then, and only then, are we positioned to construct a goal; which is the work of recovery.

When we admit we’re undressed, undone for introspection, with our vulnerability agape, we stand on a precipice of an important consciousness. We’re beautifully poised to know what work needs to be done, and from there, if we have the courage, we can resolve our problem.

DESIRING INNER KNOWLEDGE
This is the real secret: to desire the knowledge of ourselves that may even be unknowable. When we attempt the impossible like this, willing to explore our unconscious anxiety, nothing will remain untouchable, though many things we’ll admittedly never touch. (Our unconscious minds cannot be plumbed.)
The point of problem-solving is set in obtaining knowledge of the problem in order to establish a goal for recovering the situation. We dredge for inner knowledge. We get curious. From there, we find what it is we need to address.
Inner knowledge is our key. We transfer from an attitude of resentment for the problem, to an attitude of curiosity to spark change. Suddenly we’re delimited. Goals come creatively to mind. And inspiration fills our heart to implement the goal.
Problems have their value in highlighting to us what needs to change. If it wasn’t for problems we would never grow. As soon as we can see problems are our impetus, curiosity replaces resentment, and we feel saved again.

Thursday 24 November 2016

How Enjoying The Small Things Can Improve Your Life In A Big Way

People naturally feel excited during big life events – weddings, newborn babies, first homes, job promotions, and so on – and I don’t mean to diminish their importance.
However, oftentimes when we reminisce, it is the seemingly small, everyday moments that have truly made up the fabric of our lives.
Kurt Vonnegut said, “Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.”
Thinking only about the big things sometimes can be detrimental.
There is both outer and inner pressure connected to these kinds of grand achievements. Being under a lot of pressure will negatively affect your mental and physical health.
Feelings of anxiety, sleep difficulties, a compromised immune system, and unexplained aches and pains are not uncommon symptoms of being overly stressed out.
Always wanting more can also lead to a very unsatisfying life if left unchecked.
While goals and dreams are certainly beneficial, an insatiable desire to have more can leave you feeling like you are less than. Constantly striving to get further will cause you to feel as though you are falling behind.
This type of mindset takes the focus off of what you have or what you have done and puts it on a place of lack. However, a grateful heart will allow you to see the good in what is currently going on in your life.
The ability to appreciate the small things can upgrade your life in a big way. There is reason to celebrate and be grateful every day with just a slight shift in perspective.
Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, who studies the science of gratitude from a background in neuroscience, says that gratitude is skill. This means anyone can begin to strengthen and flex their gratitude muscle.

Here are five simple ways enjoying the small things can make you more grateful:

1. Keep Track
Intentionally notice the things you are grateful for and keep a record of them.
You can write them out in a physical journal, type them up in a Word document, or even record them in a gratitude journal app.
My counselor suggested to me to aim for three items a day, but you can really structure it (or not structure it) however works best for you.
2. Thank Someone
When someone does something for you, big or small, recognize it.
We all go through our days wrapped up in our own lives, so it is pretty special when another person goes out of their way for you. You can simply say, “Thank you,” in the moment, or perhaps send a thank you card to them afterward.
Not only will the other person feel good about being acknowledged, you will feel good too.
3. Compliment Someone
Give a sincere compliment to a friend, family member, romantic partner, or even a stranger.
Be as specific as possible to make it more meaningful. The people around us have so many wonderful characteristics worth admiring.
You may even be surprised by just how many when you start actively seeking them out.
4. Appreciate Yourself
Don’t forget to extend this attitude of thankfulness to yourself too. Compliment yourself as well.
You work hard, you have good intentions, and you make a positive impact on the people around you.
You are worthy of love and affection, so show it to yourself whenever possible too.
5. Live in the Moment
My counselor once told me that depression is being stuck in the past, anxiety is being overly concerned about the future, but peace can be found by living in the present. Right now.
After all, our lives are created by millions of small “now” moments all strung together. You are alive, you are breathing, mostly likely at this very moment you are safe, and those are just the basics. There is a lot more to be thankful for.
“We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat. . . There’s opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that’s what life is.” – David Steindl-Rast
Just as each day has its joys, each day also has its struggles. When our lives are missing gratitude for the small things, these struggles can hit us harder.
A positive and thankful mindset, however, will build up our resilience for when we are faced with the daily disappointments.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

The Greatest Challenge in Self Improvement and How to Overcome It:

Progress itself can be the greatest challenge you’ll face when trying to master a skill, learning something new, or making lasting change in your life.
It sounds paradoxical, but when I say progress I mean starting to have small success. In other words, when you start to get good, when you see some improvement and the change starts to happen.
That’s a critical point in your journey. It is the point where you have to push just a little longer to be on your way to great success.Unfortunately, this point is where most people stop or considerably slow down everything they were doing right.
We are great at building momentum… and then walking away from it.
The process goes more or less like this:
1.Falling in love. You start to learn something new, and even though you are terrible at it, you feel really excited. At this stage you are very motivated, there’s a powerful vision in your mind of how great everything will be once you get good. This vision helps you endure the mental (or physical) pain of learning something new and of going through countless mistakes and failures.
During this time, you are mostly naive about what you got yourself into. You don’t know yet how difficult and how long the road to your vision really is. This can be a good thing, however, because otherwise you wouldn’t even start.
2.Having second thoughts. At this stage you’ve been practicing the new skill a few times and you are starting to realize how much work is involved. Your great vision still looks good, but you are not sure if it’s worth the amount of time and energy it will take to realize it.
During this time you get a basic overview of what lies ahead. You start to understand what is it that you are up against. Here’s where most people quit. They give up because they now know how much work is involved to fulfill their vision and they don’t want to do it.
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”- Joe Louis
3.Giving a second chance. (Given that you didn’t quit) At this stage you chose to give the practice another chance and see what happens. A great deal of your motivation is gone but you keep going for a little longer before you decide if you really want to stick to it.
NOTE: Sometimes, If you are very motivated about what you are learning, you may not go through the emotional ups and downs of stages 2 and 3. You could be a bit shocked when you realize the magnitude of the challenge ahead but you kept at it, regardless of everything that is thrown at you. No second thoughts, you are “IN” no matter what.
4. Starting to enjoy. At this stage the practice starts to settle into your routine and you feel like it’s not so dreadful anymore. You are starting to enjoy the practice again, just like you did in the beginning. Here is where you start to see some results. All your work is starting to pay off, and you start to feel good about yourself.
Right at the end of this stage is where the other largest percentage of people quit; not immediately, and they might not even realize they quit, but it’s game over.
What happened? where did you fail if you were actually making progress?
You started demanding less of yourself. You felt like you deserved a break for how well you’ve been doing. You felt you could relax, slow down, or lower the intensity.
Your thinking goes something like this “I’ve been working out for a while now and my body is starting to look good, I guess I can take off one training day a week and add the deep-fried bacon-double-cheeseburger covered in spicy mayo to my diet again!”
The problem is not that you take a break once, but that your newly found sense of entitlement starts ruining your habits and routines. You forget what got you where you are, and you begin cutting down on the practices and discipline that were helping you move forward. You built momentum and then walked away!
I’m not saying that it’s not ok to take a break once in a while. What I am saying is that you need to be aware that it can turn into a trap. This behavior and pattern of thinking is your brain’s last line of defence against imminent change. It’s so subtle,so innocent, that you don’t see it coming.
Before you know it, you are not practicing as much or as focused as before. You then keep slowing down until you stop doing it altogether or just do it half-heartedly once in a while and get stuck in an endless plateau. You may even keep practicing sporadically for many years but it will be just an annoying reflex or a desperate cry to feel you are still at it.
The reality is that you already lost your way. That may sound harsh, and it’s probably because I’m writing this mostly to myself. I feel particularly strong about this subject because it’s usually is my biggest challenge.
If you manage to avoid this trap you get to move on to stage 5.
5. Becoming one. At this stage you manage to keep pushing forward and you reach a critical mass. The skill you are learning becomes part of your life. It’s no longer something external, something you do, but rather it becomes part of your identity, something you are.
Once you reach this point it gets harder not to practice than to do it. We’ll know we are here because we don’t feel the need to slow down, there’s so much joy in the activity that we may even want to do it more often or increase the intensity.
Making a skill part of who you are is one of the most satisfying things in life and a great determinant of our happiness. To get to this stage is simple, though not always easy: Don’t slow down when you start seeing some progress. Ride your hard earned momentum instead of walking away from it and you’ll be able to achieve real success.

Monday 21 November 2016

Trials in Life are for Our Benefit.

Les Brown:
Pain is a part of Life.

The most important thing we have to do with people is understand that pain is a part of life. Things won’t always
go
your way. You will have more disappointments than you will ever begin to imagine. You will have more disappointments than
victories. But eventually, if you stick with it, you will fail your way to success. So one of the first things I teach people
is to be thankful when things happen to you and begin to look for developing an appreciation for the possibilities.
I learned this important lesson when the home I purchased for my mother was foreclosed on. I neglected to do a title search
on the property and found out the previous owner owed over $50,000 on the home. And when I couldn’t come up with the
money, we had to pack up and go back to the roach-infested house that I just moved my mother out of in Liberty City, Fla.
I remember when I was unloading the truck and the neighbors were looking and they said to my mother, “What happened,
I thought your boy got you a home?” And she said, “He did, but he didn’t do a title search, so we lost it.”
And there I was defeated, crying, feeling stupid with my head hanging low. And when my mother saw me she came by the side
of the truck, put her hand on my chin and thrust my head up and said “Hold your head up. We still have each other.”
Even though we were going through what I thought was a tragic situation, she wasn’t focused on that. She was focused
on us still having each other and on looking at the possibilities ahead. Whatever you focus on the longest becomes the strongest.

Sunday 20 November 2016

Top 10 Tips for Self-Improvement

While I do not always end up managing to put each of the following tips into practice, I do make a big effort to do so each day. This is a list of my favorite tips to improving your life. All it takes is a little bit each day and you will see wondrous changes. Feel free to add your own tips to the comments.
10. Get off to a Good Start
This means getting up early and eating breakfast. You will have much more energy throughout the day to follow the rest of these tips if you do! If you are so inclined, you can even include a little exercise in your morning routine. If you live with other people you can try to use this opportunity to get everyone together at the table to eat in the mornings. This is a nice way to start the day and a good way to ensure open lines of communication in a very busy household.
9. Keep a Schedule
It is a very good idea to write down the tasks you need to achieve in each day. As you complete them, tick them off. You should not, however, feel like you are bound to your list. If you don’t manage to do everything, it doesn’t matter – move any incomplete tasks from today on to tomorrow’s list. This is also a great help if you are a procrastinator.
8. Take a Break and have Fun
If you spend too much time in front of the computer, at your desk, or doing whatever it is that your occupation requires, you should take a break. This doesn’t mean you have to take time off work – it just means you should try to make better use of your non-work time to do something fun. I always have difficulty pulling myself away from the computer and as a result I don’t go out as often as I should on the weekend or in the evening. But every time I do – I wonder why I haven’t done it sooner. This is a good way to develop new interests, and friends and to break up the monotony of everyday life.
7. Be Generous
Generosity has a tendency to come back. By generosity I am not referring only to money. You can be generous with your smiles, your advice, and many other things. Always try to find a way to help others. One day you may be in great need and people you know will be more likely to come to your aid when they know that you would do the same for them. You might know someone that could use help around the home from time to time – not only are you doing a good thing by helping them out, but you may also make a great new friend.
6. Accept the things you can’t Change
When something bad happens in our lives, we try to fix them or change them. But sometimes we can’t. Often this leads us to spend hours moping and falling in to depression. If you can make yourself accept the things you cannot change – you will become a much happier person. Acceptance of these situations also allows us to start finding a way to cope much faster. For example, you may realize that you have only $10 left in your bank account that has to last the next 2 weeks. Instead of getting down about it, accept that you have no money and work out a way to survive on that amount. You can save yourself from wasting hours in a bad mood by just getting on with life. You will find much more serenity in life following this tip.
5. Learn a New Language
Learning another language is one of the best ways to improve your grasp on English. In my own experience, learning French at high school taught me so much more about grammar than English class ever did. In addition, when I later started studying Ancient Greek, I learnt a lot about the roots of English words – something I have found very useful in writing in the years since. As well as improving your knowledge of English, if you learn a living language you increase the number of places you might like to visit – or make those holidays much more enjoyable by being able to speak to the natives in their own tongue.
4. Break the Chain
If you have a lot of patterns in your life, try breaking them – do something different every day. Let’s say you always order the same meal at your regular Friday night restaurant. Why not try something else this Friday? Not only do you get to broaden your experiences of life, you open up many doors for the future. Not long ago I would never eat oriental foods or seafood. Then one day I decided that I would just try it. Seafood is now one of my favorite foods and I would hate to be without it. Because I discovered that I love Thai and Chinese food, I can eat in any restaurant I want. That first step also meant that I am now willing to try absolutely any food (except maybe the ones on the Top 10 most Disgusting Foods list). My disliking for those foods had a much greater impact as well – I would only holiday in countries that had foods I felt safe with. Since then I have been to Oriental countries and loved it.
3. Face the Fear
Every day you should do something you don’t want to do – or feel uncomfortable doing. This varies in degrees for everyone, but we all have little things we can start out with. For example, you may not go to the gym because you fear everyone looking at you – do it anyway! In no time you will be so much more confident that you abolish the fear entirely and can move on to the next fear – maybe even something bigger. Living a fearless life gives you a confidence that is visible to others. Instead of building walls around ourselves, we should be tearing them down.
2. Forget Goals – Live for the Now
Lists of this nature almost always tell you to set and write goals. I am going to tell you the opposite. A very wise psychotherapist once told me that if you set a goal, and achieve it, you are often left with an empty feeling because the goal is not what you thought it would be. Not only does it not satisfy, you inevitably end up missing out on so much life by striving to reach something in the future. Having said this, I don’t think you should ignore the future – it is worth having some idea of what you might like to one day achieve – but don’t focus all of your energy on getting it. A good example of the difference is this: I have a goal to live in France. I spend 10 years trying to save up all my money so I can acheive that goal. In the meantime I am so busy scrimping and saving, that I can’t afford to go out with friends, I can’t afford to live in a nice home, and I am miserable because I am not living in France. On the other hand, if I simply decide that one day I would like to live in France, the idea is in my mind, but I continue to live and enjoy my life. In living my life, I am happy now and not focused on a distant goal. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t happen, I haven’t failed at anything. But who knows what wonderful things may happen in my life in the meantime? A very good fictitious example of this can be found in the film "American Beauty".
1. Don’t Procrastinate
This is one I struggle with a lot in my own life. This has been a great challenge for me as I work from home, but taking this job has really helped me to stop putting things off and take control of my life. The feeling after completing a task you would normally put off is a great high – and certainly a much healthier one than some of the other highs in our lives. When you put something off, you are putting yourself into time-debt. You have to pay that debt back and almost always you end up having to do that at the most inconvenient time. By putting off writing an article for the site, for example, I end up having to write one at 7 at night when I would rather be watching a movie and having a drink! Your life will become so much more organized if you follow this rule.
Bonus: Read the List Universe every day
Scientific studies have proven that people who read the List Universe every day live much happier and fuller lives. Okay – I made that up – but do it anyway!