How we improve

We improve everyday. We don’t need to attend various training courses, lectures or to study in any other explicit form of learning. The life is our teacher and developer.

How to notice if we are improving
There exists one very simple method – to do any kind of work, task or assignment, which you haven’t done for a while.

First time I felt this very clearly, when I played a computer game after one year break. It’s worth to mention that I have the diploma on my wall for winning the second place in Lithuania and that the game is real time strategy.

Here’s what I noticed: despite the fact that I have lost the huge speed on developing economy and pressing keyboard buttons, couldn’t remember some tactics and benefits of some technological upgrades, however, my thinking was dramatically changed. Even before launching the game, I did fast review of possible strategies and offered teammates a way to play. Throughout a game I was continuously thinking what my opponent will do and how to prepare my defence and attacks to beat his strategy. What could think that the game can tell so much about us? Suddenly it became clear why I failed to go beyond certain limits of professionalism no matter how hard I practiced.

Also, I am often surprised by discovery of certain thinking and behaviour changes. Searching for decisions became process of calculating minuses and pluses instead of using feelings, which often come with a fear of failure. If there is no difference between choices, I can just throw a coin. However, it was a hard task before a few years ago: other people wishes looked like my own (for example, attitude that it is a must to have a Master’s degree), I believed that other people arguments are correct without testing them and did many other things, which now look stupid. Even if I know something I ask about it to make sure that both sides understand it the same way and correctly.

How do we develop ourselves
Of the above examples can be seen that improvement in any area leads to better results in any other. This is well illustrated by an extract from the memorisation expert Tony Buzan book: “it was found that learning music helps to study math, and math – helps to study music, rhythm training makes learning foreign language easier, foreign language studying helps to develop a sense of rhythm, spatial awareness helps to learn mathematics, and mathematics learning – to understand space and so on.
Thus, the more different things we do, the more we improve in every aspect of our life, because we start using both sides of our brains.

Conclusions
All these observations lead to one conclusion. The more different situations we experience, the wiser we become. Also, often without even noticing it.
Every problem of life makes us smarter and better prepared for future changes.

November 16, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Personal Development  No Comments

How environment impacts us

We often hear that people are responsible for everything in their lives. Whatever happens, we are responsible for that. If it’s something we really can’t change like weather, then we should change our attitude. And I agree with this opinion, because we create our environment, we change it or leave it untouched.

How environment impacts us
There was carried out an experiment. Two fishes of the same species were placed in different aquaria. One fish to a small one, which was slightly bigger than the fish itself. The other fish was put in a huge aquarium. The result was what one could expect: the fish in the small aquarium were few times smaller than the fish in the big aquarium. Fishes unlike people, don’t have ability to think and to affect their environment, but they are great at adapting.

However, people also are able to adapt to circumstances. If you don’t wear a suit, than after putting it on, getting up hairs, shaving and doing everything else to look perfectly, suddenly something happens. Mind changes. We start to like ourselves more, to be more self-confident. We feel some kind of expectations and we strive to fulfil them.

Human expectations, trust and beliefs
I guess that everyone of you have witnessed this type of event. Imagine, that John is an ordinary man. Nothing spectacular, but doing what needs to be done. One day a friend, colleague or supervisor projects to him trust: “John, I know that you’re working very good, but you should be in a better place, you can do more. In every part of your work I see efforts becoming quality”. Add some more people saying similar phrases and suddenly John changes. He works harder, faster and with more passion. Also, it takes him the same 8 hours a day. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily last a long time, but it is clear that other people expectations and trust impacts us a lot, as well as our own projected to ourselves.

In addition, you can do the same with friends, relatives or children. It’s not manipulation – you don’t need to lie. Just say some good words to a person – he must know that he are doing fine and that others value his work. This way he’ll start to do more and more, finally revealing his full potential.

So, if you try to accomplish small goals, then they look like big ones. This way you can’t accomplish anything solid, great or important. If, however, you try to do big things, meaningful goals, then everything is on the contrary – in your favour.

Change environment, and it will change you
Now that you have made sure that environment has quite large impact on us, we should use it for our own good. It’s very simple – imagine what you want to be. Then reflect this visualization to environment and change it accordingly.

I believe many of you have heard this expression „Fake it till you make it”. If you “pretend” to manage your time well, then you become time management expert. If you start being neat and tidy, then you become an orderly person.

Here are some basic things you should do: your job, house, car and everything else should be neat. You must be with dressed hairs, shaved and clean. On the walls hang sheets telling stories of your achievements and goals you’ve accomplished – principle of expectation – if you succeeded in the past, you’ll succeed again.

Conclusion
Fake you are, who you want to be, till you become it. Accordingly adjust environment, you live in. It’s easy, isn’t? Now, however, it’s easier and more pleasant to go towards your goals.

November 8, 2009  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Personal Development  No Comments

Information about blog and author

If you aren’t interested in knowing more about the blog and the author, than you can skip reading.

Inspired by the Lithuanian project “Dešimtukas” (“The Decade”), which is about getting to success by training 10 habits every month, I decided that it’s time to give more personality on this page. Firstly, everyone likes to see how theory is applied practically. Secondly, it’s curious for readers to see how it is going for the author. How else would you explain popularity of journals telling, what A human did to B human, and how human B got a thing C.

Firstly, I’ll tell you what to expect from this site and a little bit later about my journey to success and using principles I’m writing about.

What to expect from the website

  1. Every 2 months there will be a post about my own personal achievements and short term goals. Also, what updates for the site to be expected.
  2. A new category named “Links” will appear. Once a week there will be a post with links to other articles on the web. 2-4 links, which I liked most that week. What readers get from it? Well, I they like my content, when probably they like to read things I like. This way you can save time, because instead of reading lot of articles, you can read the best ones.
  3. Steady blog updates – twice a week. Links preliminary will be posted on Sundays and articles on Fridays.
  4. There will be new column “recommended books”.

Every four promises will be filled within a month.

Author’s personal development
Slowly, but steadily I’m growing. It’s no easy, but not hard. So, I’m quite far from my limits.

Over a few month, I’ve started to take exercise every morning for an half an hour. The exercise makes me fresh and warm. It was cold the last few weeks so I really enjoyed the “warm” part of exercising ;)

Today, I completed another 30 days trial – reading  every morning for 45 minutes. I’m very glad about it: a good book gives motivation for all day. Also, there were lots of books to be read, and now I have time for them.

We often hear, that successful people wake up very early. Until a regular human starts his workday, a successful man has already completed more work than him throughout all day. I’m starting to see that pattern in myself. That’s why I’m going to start getting up earlier by 30-60 minutes every day, to be able to do my most important day task until a workday starts.

The day task is another habit I have, which is described here. Everyday I assign a task for tomorrow and I do at least one task. It excludes all the tasks I do in a workplace. So, everyday forces me to move a small step to more successful life.

Currently, I’m dropping an annoying habit. After a success, I’ll write about it an article.

And I want to remind, that about the way to success by development habits you can read here.

November 1, 2009  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Blog and author  No Comments

How to stop procrastinating

Often we hear people saying that they are going to drop 10 kilos starting tomorrow! Or going to start taking exercise every day starting next week. Or to begin read for an hour a day starting next month. Actually they are just trying to justify their laziness. They say that they are going to do something about their lives, even tells specific but inaccurate time for the task. This way their conscience looks like being clear, but it’s a lie for themselves. They can procrastinate for the whole life.

Procrastination is a disease
Procrastination is one of the mistakes, we can make on our they to success. By procrastinating we are just running from a full-rate life, which we can experience at this moment. Only the small amount of people are able not to postpone tasks every day – most of us are sick.

Why is it the disease? If human always procrastinates, he is just lying for himself. He is running from his wishes and his future. He is trying to stay in his past, to hold status unchanged. Maybe he is afraid of failure. It looks very familiar to psychological invalidity. No matter what it is, do you really want to have it in your life? Consider it – you can choose.

There is no procrastinated tasks
What is a delayed task? It is the task, which should be done tomorrow instead of now? But assignments of tomorrow don’t exist, because tomorrow hasn’t come yet.

What is procrastinating? It’s nothing. In the reality there are only completed and uncompleted tasks.

So, task is completed or not. Black and white. There isn’t a place for grey.

How to stop procrastinating

  1. Read again the paragraph “Procrastination is a disease”. Do you really want to be sick with it? To stuck in one place? To achieve nothing? Always to be pity about yourself and say “tomorrow is the day I’m going to start doing X”.
  2. Instead of “tomorrow” assign a concrete time, for example, Wednesday at 18:00. Commit yourself to it, brace yourself. Impose a reward for completing a task. And just do it.
  3. Do you remember that pleasant feeling, that you’ve done something important? A project or a task is very large, elaborate. There isn’t enough information to understand how much work is needed to complete it. We always want to accomplish any task very well, so we procrastinate again and again. After a while we start to feel discomfort – the conscience is eating us from inside for our laziness. Finally, we do a small part of the task. We start to feel great, because the job is moving forward. Also, we understand that it was easier than we previously thought. It looks like it’s more fun and simple than we originally guessed. Remember the pleasant feeling.
  4. Maybe you are postponing a concrete tasks. When ask yourself, whether you really want to do it. Why to do something, which deep inside of you looks like a stupid, unpleasant and unessential thing? Maybe somebody else is trying to make you to do it? In this case write down advantages of doing a task. If the list doesn’t reduce your wish to procrastinate to a minimum level, then just drop out this task and don’t do it.
  5. It’s hard to complete a task with one attempt. Assign 30 minutes of your precious time for doing the task. After the time has passed, you can stop doing. This way you can avoid procrastination, which is caused by elaboration and size of the task. Also, we see that the task was easier than we thought. We get a pleasure of moving forward with the task and it motivates us to go further with it.
  6. Understand that you are to much valuable to be always worried about things you need to do. When next time you’ll feel uncomfortable because of procrastinating, remember that people who loves themselves don’t hurt themselves like that.
  7. It’s better to do something than to try to make it perfect at the very first time and have nothing tangible, nothing completed. So, just do something. You’ll have plenty of time to improve it.
  8. If you’re going to start reading, start now. If you’re going to learn more in you profession field – begin now. The only time we have is the present. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow hasn’t come yet.

Conclusion
Don’t lie to yourself and don’t trick your conscience. Just do it. Start today, start now. The sooner you’ll start the sooner you’ll get the desired results. Don’t leave for tomorrow, what you can do today.

October 25, 2009  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Personal Development  No Comments

Wake up from the dream, you call reality

Do you think, that you are a poor man? That you have nothing? That you are forced to live from pay check to pay check? What would a blind person sacrifice for such a common thing as ability to see? What do you think? For how much would you sell your legs? Arms? How about the ability to control your muscles? Try for an half an hour not to move your extremities and you’ll understand, how a paralyzed person feels.

The interesting fact is that healthy people act as it is a must be and natural thing. Is it? Well, humans who don’t have it appreciate such “common” things and tries harder to cling to their lives.

I could tell many stories about men, which didn’t have something we feel like “must be and natural”. For example, a woman who was able to see only with an edge of one eye. She got two master’s degrees. She was forced to read holding a book 10 centimetres from her face! After 40 years, when the medicine improved, she regained the ability to see. The dish washing for her was a feast, because there are so many colours in the bubbles. And you still think you can’t get the science degree you want? Which probably would drastically change your life.

Or how about a child, who was born without ears. He was able to hear only when people were talking to his temple or were shouting very loudly – hearing through bones. He never gave up, studied in a standard school and university. When he was at the last semester at the university, there was invented deaf-aid, which was able to make him hear as a common person. He was inspired. He created two years plan, how to enlarge ability to sell devices to people, who need them. After coming with the plan to the owner of the company, which made deaf-aid, he was hired. He helped for a lot of people.

Do you still think that you a poor person? I suppose that you are an idler, procrastinator,  layabout or anybody else, but not a person, who lacks something. You are not a beggar, who need somebody’s mercy. Wake up from your own dream in which you are living and thinking that you are a victim. You have abilities to procure anything you want, live as you like, spend time with people you like, and do whatever you want. Deep inside you know it. Let it be on your conscience. Use your life privileges and talents. You are the master of your destiny.

Conclusion
These Henry’s Ford words perfectly illustrate what I want to tell you: “Whether You Believe You Can, Or You Can’t, You Are Right”. Process it, consider and apply.

October 18, 2009  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Personal Development  No Comments