Let's face it, this is something we all need help with. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Do it. Yes, it really is that simple but we simply never get to the "do it" part. We get stuck in our heads, debate ourselves for a little bit and then realize we don't feel like doing anything that will get us towards whatever goals we may have, so we "hit snooze" on our progress. No matter what it is, everything from starting that business to getting to the gym more often or even just getting out of your dang bed in the morning without hitting snooze 10 times. Our problem is that we are not getting moving fast enough and as a result we end up getting trapped in our heads. We all know where that leads to... GETTING NOTHING DONE! We get trapped in our heads and there is like a 2% chance that we actually take action after that happens. We usually try to justify why we don't need to do whatever the task is that needs to get done and likely it is because we don't "feel like it." Well, NEWSFLASH.... we are NEVER going to feel like doing anything hard, not is just human nature. Instead, we have to learn to push through despite how we feel. The 5 Second Rule by Mel RobbinsIf you have been around MMNTM for a while now, you know that this all started from when I was trying to improve my mindset and sharing what has worked for me with you guys and this case scenario is no different. After listening to a podcast a while back and actually re-listening to it today, I decided I had to write this post because this simple "hack," if you want to call it that, is so dang effective. So simple, yet one of the things that has almost forced me to take the most action because let's face it we are all naturally lazy at some point in our lives. Time to get onto the next phase and force yourself to not be lazy because if we waited for ourselves to feel "motivated," we simply would never get anything done. Mel Robbins explains this techique that is almost so stupidly simple you would be hesitant to call it a technique. Whenever something that you know you should, or need to do, comes into your mind, count down from five and then do it. Don't count down from five and then think about it because then you get trapped in your head and it never gets done. Count down from five and before you even know the first step, start doing something. You don't need to have some crazy plan, you just need to start doing something after counting down from five because then you build the momentum to do more after that first action. It's pretty much fool proof and forces you to "do" without getting trapped in your head trying to figure out and debate if you feel like doing it or not. This technique takes zero consideration on how you feel and usually that is exactly what we need. The way we feel has been holding us back from far too many actions. Here is the link to the School of Greatness Podcast where Mel Robbins goes over this in more detail (click here) >>As per usual, another great day on the blog is in the books! Thanks for all the support and if you enjoyed this or learned anything I just ask one thing: bring a friend back tomorrow! Time to make personal development more "normal" because it is at the foundation of every area of our lives. Stop back with a friend tomorrow-- yourmmntm.com/blog -Taylor Don't Let the Learning Stop There, Here are More Great Pieces of Content:
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Yes, I just started this and it might be the best thing you will do this week. Image: CNN What do you think about when you hear the word "fasting?" Usually what pops into our mind is intermittent fasting, water fasting and just taking a break from food for an extended period of time. While the benefits of these types of fasts are wonderful for our mindset and overall health, there is one fast that might take the cake in terms of benefits to our mindset. If we extend the definition of "fasting," that we have set in place, to include anything and everything that we could abstain from for an extended period of time, we can include complaining as a type of fasting. And that is exactly what we are going to do. Time to learn why committing to a fast of this powerfully bad habit might be best thing you'll focus on this week. Why Do We Complain?It's just so easy. Don't lie, we all complain and for a lot of us it takes over our days, it impedes on the actions we take on a day to day basis and eventually it will hinder results in anything you are trying to accomplish. Complaining is essentially the path of least resistance in our lives because it helps us to avoid taking the actions that will help solve our problems. I never said the path of least resistance was in any way a good thing, it is just as it states, the path with the least amount of obstacles. Our brains naturally gravitate towards doing what is easy and what requires less work. We have to train them to do the "hard stuff," until we do that we are naturally going to be gravitating towards the easy things and getting nothing done. I am sure you already experience this, wanting to watch Netflix instead of studying and wanting to almost anything other than go to work today. Complaining helps us to avoid the action, and avoid the obstacles when in reality that is what we should be chasing if we want to start having a fulfilling life. Contrary to popular belief, it is not "motivation" that you need, instead try a little mental discipline to start getting more done. Complaining Is Wreaking Havoc On Our LivesIt's almost as bad as having a health problem and potentially worse. "How does it impede on our action and hinder results? We are just complaining..." True, but what we think and say have a direct correlation to our actions. If we are thinking negatively and complaining about the problem, there is no way that we are going to take action to solve that problem anytime in the near future. We are going to push it off until it either really needs to get done or you forget about it, I'm sure you can relate. This just pushes us further and further away from our goals as this lack of action starts to add up day after day. We are essentially complaining our way out of achieving our goals and until we get it under control we are not going to find the "success" we are looking for. The Complaining FastLet's get you started... Start with a day, then carry the momentum to the handful of days after that. Pick a period of time to start, that you know you can push through the temptations to complain so that you can start to see the results of eliminating this from your life. Try a three day complaining fast to start, the first day is going to be easy because it is at the top of your mind and it is something new and challenging. It is those next couple of days that are going to be challenging. You are going to be so tempted to complain that you might just fall for the temptation. Don't worry if you "break the fast," just start over then and there, at day one. Three days is long enough to challenge yourself but not too long that you are not going to take action. You have to find the balance that is long enough to challenge yourself but not too long to scare you away right away, even though eventually your goal will likely be to totally eliminate complaining after you see how it impacts your life. And how your life will change when you stop complaining...This is something that you are not just going to be able to feel, but other people are going to notice as well. Do you know what that means? It means that people are going to be more attracted to you and more inclined to be around you if you are more positive and complaining less. Why? For the simple fact that you are not going to be bringing down the energy anymore from complaining and you are going to be more enjoyable to be around, leading to all sorts of opportunities in personal and professional relationships. That's not the only thing though, when you stop your complaining, you force yourself to look at and actually take action on the things you have been pushing off or just any problems that are in your life. Maybe you just had a lot to get done in order to get your finances in line, now you can do that. Or maybe you have been pushing off doing any "meaningful work" in your life because you have just complained about picking up extra work, now you can start that. We all have those things that we keep pushing of until "later" and eventually "later" turns into never getting done. Time to change that equation and start to gain real momentum in your life by taking off this negative lens that a lot of us are seeing the world through. It all starts with reducing our complaining. What do you say, time for a fast? As per usual, another day on the blog is in the books! Thanks for all the support and if you enjoyed this or learned anything I just ask one thing: bring a friend back tomorrow! Time to make personal development more "normal" because it is at the foundation of every area of our lives. Stop back with a friend tomorrow-- yourmmntm.com/blog -Taylor Complaining Isn't The Only Area of Your Mindset You Can Improve, Here is More Content to Help You Learn:How to Build Stronger Relationships and Why Some People are More "Likable" >>
Master Your Sleep, You Aren't Part of the Few Percent that Can Sleep Less Than 7 Hours a Night >> The Best Skills to Learn in Today's "Tech Era" >> Today's "Mind Hack" to Improve BOTH the Quality and the Quantity of Your Work >> Get more done, produce more work and create better quality work. Image: The Wall Street Journal Everyone Else's Work DaysHow boring would it be to live like everyone else? What the large majority of people do is just show up and go through the motions. They are there strictly to collect that paycheck to help them pay for whatever it is that they want to buy next and be able too afford the life they have created for themselves. Whether that is a house they barely could afford or a car they stretched their budget for, they are just barely getting by. The funny thing is... they still strictly just do what they are supposed to do and go through the motions at work, never really pushing themselves and taking those extra steps to learn or do what they need to. When this is exactly what they need to be doing if they want to live the life they are trying to portray themselves living when they stretch their budgets. They work their whole life, playing it safe and saving for retirement, when they claim that they are actually "going to start enjoying life." Well, I don't know about you guys but to me, waiting 50 years to actually enjoy my life sounds like my own living version of hell. Skip going through the motions, we need to take more action than everyone so that we start to gain momentum and excel at a faster pace than most. That Extra "Rep" Means EverythingNo, reps aren't just in the gym. /Repetition/: The act of repeating an action or event. No, reps are not just for at the gym, they include everything that we constantly repeat on a day to day basis. You know what everyone else does? They show up and do exactly the amount of reps they are told and then leave. They set out to do 5 pushups and then end up doing 5 and calling it a day. Or, in work terms... They do the report and don't do any extra research for it, they put in it exactly what needs to be in it. They don't got out and learn any extra skills, they went to college and think that should suffice. So, what can you do? Just that and more. Every time something comes your way, go that extra step on it, do more than was asked and even put your own ideas or opinions on it. It's all about that extra rep, those reps above just going through the motions at work are the reps that mean the most. Everyone does what they are supposed to do, that will get you nowhere fast. ...and how will this make you stand out?Other than simply making your work more unique and have the ability to stand out, it is also going to start training your brain. It is going to start giving you mental endurance because no longer are you just going to be going through the motions and doing all the work that is easy, you are going to be doing more than required and getting used to doing what is hard. So, when that tough assignment or task comes along that everyone else is dreading, you can take charge and get it done. Even just going that extra step for a client that you might be on a sales call with, but might not be able to help, give him some resources on who could help him and then ask for a referral if he knows anyone that might need your services. A lot of people, in this case, would just hang up and go on with the next call, but if you turn this opportunity and other opportunities like this into more potential customers, your stats are going to start trending higher than everyone else's. Always be on the lookout for who you can take that extra step for and what you can do those extra reps on, even if it just means more calls connecting with clients than others are making. How This is Going To Change the Game For Your LifeTrain your brain for mental endurance, thank yourself later. Crazy thing is, these reps that you start doing at work can translate to almost every other area of your life as well. No longer are you just doing the bare minimum, you are training your mind to do the "hard things" and those are things that most people push off and never get done. This means you can maybe start that thing you have always wanted to start, whether it be a business, sport, lesson, skill, etc, and maybe watch a little bit less Netflix. Or, you can go above and beyond in your relationship and start to build an even stronger connection with the one you love. Or even with your hobbies, you can start doing the extra reps there every day, instead of just doing them for a little bit and not seeing any real progress of your skills over the years. Even in the gym, instead of doing the number of reps you set out to do, you start doing 3 more every set. Soon your results start skyrocketing because you are actually pushing yourself and not just showing up to the gym and going through the motions so that you can say that you were there for the day. This skill and mindset literally touches every area of your life because every areas requires practice if you want to start excelling in it. Extra reps mean extra practice. Time to PracticeI explained how adding those extra reps in work can help you in the other aspects of your life as well, but that also works in reverse. If you start doing this in other areas, it can translate to your work as well. That is why I am going to focus on areas outside of work in the mental workout for today, because we all have a million different jobs so it isn't realistic to make a general workout for that. Let's get started... Exercise #1: Add 2 minutes of cold water at the end of your shower Notes: What better way to add that extra rep than through some cold water at the end of a shower, it is both uncomfortable and rewarding. Exercise #2: Do the extra rep in the gym Notes: Or apply this to any physical activity. Add a few reps to every set when you start to think you are done. If you aren't working out, start today (a few reps are better than zero). Exercise #3: Read more Notes: Increase the amount you are reading by 15 minutes each day. Or, if you aren't reading add 30 minutes to the amount of time you spend reading. Exercise #4: Increase the podcast reps Notes: If you listen to music a lot throughout the day, decrease those reps and exchange them for some podcast reps so you can start to learn even more. Try at least 1 podcast a day that will teach you something. Just like that another day on the blog is in the books! Thanks for all the support and if you enjoyed this or learned anything I just ask one thing: bring a friend back tomorrow! Time to make personal development more "normal" because it is at the foundation of every area of our lives. Stop back with a friend tomorrow-- yourmmntm.com/blog -Taylor Leveling Up Your Life Using Your Mind Doesn't End Here, Check Out This Other Content As Well:Why most of us seem to be coming to the wrong conclusions when it comes to our happiness... "I'll Be Happy When..."We have all had these few words stumble out of our mouth at some point or another, or maybe even on a consistent basis for a majority of us. How do I know this? Because I am writing this article and you are reading this article. I didn't just start writing this randomly, I choose the topic based off of past struggles and experiences and you likely chose this article off of current struggles or experiences. This is usually how our thinking goes when it comes to happiness in our lives, it's always second to something. Usually we think "I'll be happy when..." "... I get the job." "... I find a significant other." "... I am out of college." "... I take the trip I have always wanted to." "... I retire from my job." But, what if that "when" never comes?Playing Life Based on End ResultsIt's a problem we all catch ourselves trapped in. We, as a society as a whole, have trapped ourselves in this thinking that happiness is locked in the end results of achieving whatever goals we have set for ourselves. Thinking that once we reach a goal we are going to be a little happier than we were before we reached that goal and most importantly, that we won't be happy until we do so. If that is true then why are there so many celebrities, musicians and company leaders that are depressed? Why do we hear about the suicides of your favorite musicians or the drug problems they have or the problems of the people who movies you go to watch? They are at the pinnacle of their life, yet they are still struggling with their happiness. This alone should be a good enough reason not to believe the lies that we grew up believing around happiness lying only in the end results. Changing Up The Formula...How do we need to start thinking? We need to flip this script completely and start seeing happiness as a byproduct of what we are doing on a day to day basis and not as a byproduct of an end result. Happiness should, and most likely will, come through the process of working towards a goal of yours and showing yourself the progress you are making, not just through when you reach a goal. Happiness is a feeling you get when you start to challenge yourself a little more and persevere through the hard times to see what you are actually capable of. Happiness comes from the discipline in your life that frees up more opportunities than just trying to find temporary happiness through a short beach vacation or a Netflix binge. Happiness is showing yourself that you are enough and that you can reach those goals that you have set for yourself. It is almost counterintuitive, but being happier doesn't come from going out to drink and party more, or watching more Netflix, it comes from doing the hard work that we seem to be pushing off almost every day. One Essential Step to The Equation1. What You Are Willing to Sacrifice For The essential step to "enjoying the process," as one might say, is finding the things that you are willing to sacrifice for and finding happiness to be a byproduct of your work and discipline on those things. We all have those things that we are interested in and would be willing to sacrifice time and money for, in order to get closer to what we have been visualizing our lives to be. These are the things that we are willing to not go to the party for and that we are willing to get up early and work on. If you are looking for happiness to be a byproduct of your work and discipline, you have to make sure you are working on something that you actually care about, not just some basic thing such as homework or what you are already doing at your 9-5 job. Why This Can WorkTime to stop unsuccessfully trying to be happier on a day to day basis. Even though it seems like happiness would come from more time relaxing on a beach or watching Netflix and scrolling through social media, where you don't have to think or stress yourself out, that actually is not the case at all. Honestly, you can only be so happy sitting on a beach all day drinking or watching Netflix, sooner or later the return on happiness starts going down because you just get used to doing those things. I realized this during my month long break during college, I thought it was going to be the best thing ever but honestly I was just getting sick of Netflix and kind of wished I had homework or something to challenge myself. Our minds want to be challenged, and when we start doing so then we can start to find happiness, it isn't the other way around. When we start to build discipline and challenge ourselves, we start conquering the one thing that holds almost all of us back... the fear that we aren't "enough." There always seems to be someone that is better than us at ______ and we never give ourselves enough credit. When we start to actually show ourselves that we are "enough" and are capable of more than we originally thought, this does wonders for our mindset and happiness. Don't beleive me? The only way to know is to actually try. Your Happiness GymHere's a little workout for your mind. Exercise #1: Read Duration: 1 Hour Notes: Start pushing yourself intellectually, can't get closer to your goals unless you learn about all the things you currently aren't as informed on. Exercise #2: Hit the Gym or Take a Walk Duration: 1 Hour Notes: Break a sweat, do those extra reps and start really pushing yourself. Don't just show up, you become happier through the hard work, not taking the easy way out. Exercise #3: Stay off Your Phone Reps: 2x per day Duration: 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour at night Notes: Get the momentum for the day started on the right note, not allowing others to dictate your day. Same goes for the last hour, plus it will help you sleep better. Exercise #4: Do Something You Care About Duration: 1-2 hours a day Notes: Learn that instrument, start a blog, start writing music, start that social media page, start that business... you know what you want to do so why haven't you been doing it? Just like that another day on the blog is in the books! Thanks for all the support and if you enjoyed this or learned anything I just ask one thing: bring a friend back tomorrow! Time to make personal development more "normal" because it is at the foundation of every area of our lives. Stop back with a friend tomorrow-- yourmmntm.com/blog -Taylor Your Mindset Is A Fascinating Place, Don't Let The Learning Stop Here...With so many people complaining, let's look at the positives if Instagram actually does remove "like counts." Image: Tube Filter If you have been scrolling around on Twitter or even just reading the "tech news" lately, I sure you have stumbled across an article with a headline something along this lines of "Instagram is Removing Likes This Week: Here is what That Will look Like..." And surprisingly, the news isn't wrong this time, they just aren't 100% right either. Instagram is only testing out this feature on a number of users within the US this week, something that they already have been doing in other countries previous to this. That doesn't mean that they aren't going to implement this change in the not too distant future though and that is something we have to weight the benefits and downsides to. All I have seen regarding this news is the negative side, or people complaining about the potential change and how it would be the "worst thing to ever happen." They are not surprisingly missing the fact of how much good this change could do for the population as a whole, potentially helping the mindsets and happiness of the users that "live for the likes." Why is Instagram Testing This?For some very valid reasons. Well, they are a tech company so you can expect them to test anything and everything that they would need to in order to create a more powerful user experience. And in the day and age of rising social media use correlated with rising unhappiness and depression, a better user experience might encompass taking away some of these features that are contributing the most to the problem at hand. This could be the first of many steps Instagram and other social media companies take in order to help combat this growing problem in children and adults inside and outside of the United States. For some, the game of user experience and creating the user interface on apps, websites and other pieces of technology might see a SLIGHT decline in the focus on keeping people on their platforms as long as possible, in exchange for the greater good of society. Why People May Be ConcernedMore people then not I see complaining about this move. People are concerned for very good reasons, or at least the people who have businesses and brands on Instagram that is. A brand or business that has a presence on Instagram relies heavily on engagement on their pages and if you take away one of the key measures of engagement, then how would people know that they are a reputable brand and didn't just buy all of their followers? Well, that is a valid point here but the comment section will still be available and in reality, it shows a much stronger audience engagement, for followers of that page, if there is an engaged comment section. It is easy for someone to scroll past and like a picture without even knowing who posted it or what exactly the image was about, but people only comment on the pages they find interesting and engaging. Also, housing a brand on Instagram, much like these "Instagram Influencers" are doing, you are bound to run into problems like this all the time. From algorithm changes that don't allow your posts to be organically found anymore, to now the removal of likes. You can't just rely on one platform for your whole brand and business, because what if that platform goes "extinct" for whatever reason, like the once powerful Myspace, this can and WILL happen eventually as new platforms step in and gain traction. For the people who are just on Instagram with their personal pages and worried about the removal of likes, it is definitely not going to impact these pages as much as a business and this might be a sign that they are too worried about the perception of their life on Instagram. Who really cares how many likes your personal page got, do you even know everyone liking your pictures or is it just a number? And for many people that number is never high enough, you start off wanting 100 likes, then 1,000, then you see a page with 10,000 likes and want that. It literally is never going to be enough for these people. Seriously take a step back and look at how much Instagram is influencing your life, and why you would be "mad" if they took away likes, is it really going to impact your life drastically? But, the positives might outweigh the negatives in the long run...Social Media and the Rise of Mental Health ProblemsHow social media may be contributing to this. It is no new research that social media is contributing to mental health problems, loneliness and sadness across the world. We spend all day on these platforms comparing our lives to the lives of the people that we follow, and soon start to think about how "boring" our lives are. We scroll for hours and hours through pictures of places we aren't going to, things we don't have and fame we wish we had. What is this doing to our minds? It is making us depressed that we don't have these things even though we have never put forth the effort to get them. So, what do we do? Go on social media to avoid thinking about this and end up getting even more sad or comparing our lives more and more to these "other people." Social media also has us more connected than ever. We are constantly on Snapchat talking with our friends and this makes us feel more connected than ever, why would you even need to hang out with people if you are constantly in contact with them? Well, think this for long enough and you start hanging out with less and less people and the feeling of loneliness increases ten times, even though we are "talking to" a ton of people each day. Technology and social media has started to replace those persons to person conversations in our lives, the exact conversations that help us feel needed and wanted. "Real world relationships" are increasingly important now that we are seeing less and less people, because we can simply snap them instead of actually meeting them for lunch. It is no wonder then that a majority of Americans report that the often feel lonely during the course of a day. How Removing Likes Might Be The Best Thing For Your |
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