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How To to Defeat the Urge to Do Useless Tasks

August 5, 2008 /

ZenHabits has a great post about 20 Strategies to Defeat the Urge to Do Useless Tasks. You know most of them but this compilation is a terrific reminder.

The key and first on the list is to know what’s important. Then all we need to do is to focus on that. But since that often is easier said than done there are 19 other strategies to help us.

It is about changing habits, getting rid of time-wasters (like do not check email all the time) and getting rid of distractions. The tough part is changing habits but we benefit a lot when we get better at doing what really matters.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

Is self improvement possible?

August 5, 2008 /

PickTheBrain had an interesting post by Kent Thune about “Is There Really Such a Thing as ‘Self Improvement’?”. It starts like this:

Can the self be improved? What is the self, anyway? Does the currently popular “self-help movement” really help us or is it a paradoxical diversion from our true self?

The post at PickTheBrain brings up some questions and answers and then ends like this:

I submit to you that there is no such thing as self-improvement – only varying degrees of self-discovery: This process of discovering who you are consists primarily of eliminating who you are not and, thereby, uncovering your true self…

I do not like the term self improvement since I think it is about finding our true self and not about improving our self. In my blogs I use personal growth or personal development which I think say more about what it is.

I got my Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness books and CD-box today and on a coupon in the CD-box they use the words personal discovery. That sounds really great to me, finding your true self is a journey and a discovery.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

Tony Robbins at TED Talks

July 29, 2008 /

Among the TED Talks is one with Tony Robbins where he talks about Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better. It is an intense and interesting 20 minutes session.

Among other things Tony Robbins mentions the six human needs:
1. Certainty/Comfort.
2. Variety.
3. Significance.
4. Connection/Love.
5. Growth.
6. Contribution.

I have never seen Tony Robbins live, he is very intense and somehow gives me the impression that he uses force and tempo to convey his message.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Simplicity

July 20, 2008 /

Success Soul had an interview with Leo Babauta on Simplicity, Clarity, Happiness and Success. Shilpan asked:

What is the single most important advice for my readers to use simplicity for their personal development?

I like Leo’s answer and his definiton of simplicity:

Simplicity is, at its core, just choosing the essential over the non-essential. It’s a way to make the most use of your time, to be more effective, and to do the things you love.

Start by identifying 4-5 things you really love — those are the essentials in your life — then build your life around those things. Eliminate as much of the rest as possible. The same is true of work tasks and projects, of the things you spend on, on the clutter in your house — choose the essential and eliminate the rest.

The essence of his answer sounds easy – choose the essential and eliminate the rest – but is harder to implement.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

Know Yourself Change Yourself

July 20, 2008 /

Tim Brownson has written an e-book titled Know Yourself Change Yourself. The book deals with beliefs and values and as Tim writes:

Your belief systems and values make you tick as a person.

The book looks at the difference between a belief and a value. It also deals with how to change a belief, some of them can hold you back.

We all carry loads of beliefs, some of them through our entire lives while others are discarded as we add other beliefs along the way. Beliefs can empower you or disempower you, the last ones are known as self-limiting beliefs. That is the negative kind like “I am doomed to fail”. The good news is that beliefs can be changed, replaced by better ones. It takes work but discarding self-limiting beliefs will help you achieve more in life. Tim writes:

Think about what holds you back from fulfilling your undoubted potential. There are some self-limiting beliefs, we need to isolate and deal with them.

The book shows how to work with changing your beliefs:
• word games that help you change
• methods of installing new beliefs
• playing mind tricks on yourself
• using visualization to accomplish goals
• anchoring your beliefs

There is also a section about submodalities which is how our mind internally organizes and ‘views’ events. Anthony Robbins, a well known motivational speaker, states that “our ability to change the way we feel depends upon our ability to change our submodalities.” Tim’s book shows you how you can work with this.

In the part of the book that deals with values Tim writes that:

Values tend to be more static and much more powerful than beliefs can be. Your values are the core of who you are as a person.

There are no right or wrong values. There are only values that are right or wrong for You!

The book has worksheets that help you sort out your hierarchy of core values and away-from-values. That is a great exercise since it helps you figure out both your core and what you do not like. Tim also talks about conflicting values, for instance your core values does not match the values at your work.

You can could buy the e-book at A Daring Adventure. Price is was $9.99 which is a good great investment if you want to know yourself better and then change yourself.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Are you an entrepreneur or a freelancer?

June 25, 2008 /

Bootstrapping means starting a business without external investors or debt finance. Seth Godin has written a book about this. Over at ChangeThis is a version available as ebook, The Bootstrapper’s Bible. I have re-read my copy and in the book is a great explanation of entrepreneur and freelancer.

A freelancer sells her talents. While she may have a few employees, basically she is doing a job without a boss, not running a business. Layout artists, writers, consultants, film editors, landscapers, architects, translators and musicians are all freelancers. There is no exit strategy. There is no huge pot of gold. Just the pleasure and satisfaction of making your own hours and being your own boss.

An entrepreneur is trying to build something bigger than herself. She takes calculated risks and focuses on growth. An entrepreneur is willing to receive little pay, work long hours and take on great risk in exchange for the freedom to make something big, something that has real market value.

The entrepreneur is comfortable raising money, hiring and firing, renting more office space than she needs right now. The entrepreneur must dream big and persuade others to share her dream.

The freelancer on the other hand can focus on craft. She can most easily build her business by doing great work, consistently.

According to these definitions I as coach am a freelancer, I am selling my talents.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

Meditation and intuition as business tools

June 23, 2008 /

In the book Do Less, Achieve More is mentioned that Harvard and INSEAD see meditation and intuition as the business tools of the future. A search using Google showed just one source apart from quotes from the book. In a newsletter from International Coach Federation – New York City Chapter it said as introduction to a presentation by Mark Thornton, former Chief Operating Officer for JPMorgan Bank in London:

Harvard Law, Columbia Business School, Insead and McKinsey & Co. do it – why don’t coaches? Meditation is a way to build critical emotional awareness, reduce reactivity and gather wisdom outside the traditional. Using role plays of difficult conversations, dialogues and interactive sessions, coaches will access places beyond reason and emotion where some of their true wisdom and best skills reside.

At “Mark Thornton” I found this quote from Mr. Claude Rameau, Former Dean of the World at INSEAD:

We do not know how to teach meditation and intuition, so we built a large meditation hall for teachers, executives, and students to just sit quietly and contemplate resting within.

At Mark’s website it says that:

His meditation courses have helped industry leaders — including The New York Times, Deloitte Touche, the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative and others — learn to reduce stress, maintain focus, and stay inspired, while building inner mastery and enhancing overall creativity.

I do short meditations before client sessions in order to focus and prepare mentally.

At my other blog are posts about Meditation, including about the book The 5-minute Meditator which talks about spot meditations – an interesting topic.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

Why do we resist it?

June 16, 2008 /

Jonathan Mead has a very interesting post over at PickTheBrain about Why Do We Avoid Doing What We Love?.

If we know what makes us feel alive, why do we resist it? Why do we avoid doing what we love to do?

There are some important lessons in here:

Failure is fundamental to the creative process. If you don’t fail, you’ll never improve.

Respect the fact that mastering any skill takes time. Instead of thinking about all the things that aren’t right, think about what you can do now to improve.

There is also a part about when we have turned our passion into work and what we can do to re-ignite our passion.

Anytime you feel that you must do something, you lose inspiration. You lose your sense of excitement.

I am following my passion and have started working as a professional coach. Another passion is sharing and gaining knowledge, a reason for my blogs.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

Health at BBC

May 28, 2008 /

BBC has a section called BBC Health. That sections had a part about Healthy living which among other things covered Fitness. I like and agree with their introduction:

Maintaining a ‘keep fit’ lifestyle doesn’t have to mean slogging it out in a sweaty gym. Just boosting your levels of general daily activity will reap big rewards in improved health and energy.

There was also a section about Nutrition with this introduction:

You are what you eat
A good diet is central to overall good health, but which are the best foods to include in your meals, and which ones are best avoided? This section looks at the facts, to help you make realistic, informed choices.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

How and why startups fail

May 25, 2008 /

I came across an interesting article at Signal vs Noise about How “Why Startups Fail” Fails.

The article at Signal vs Noise comments on Why Startups Fail.

I love the end of Jason’s post since it sorts out responsibility:

Natural disasters are out of our control, bad business decisions are in your control.

Putting the blame elsewhere does not help to change things. We need to know and remember who is in control.

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

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