Personal Development

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Archives for November 2006

Personal Development Pixel page

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Victor Fam has just set up a pixel page for all the websites in the personal development field. The idea is very similar to the Million Dollar page you probably heard about,

I bet most of you had heard about Million Dollar Homepage. If you haven’t heard about it, you can have a look here. This website is basically started by Alex Tew. He is basically a student who try to make $1 million USD with the motivation to pay for his degree studies. The concept is very simple, on this website, there are 1,000,000 pixels. So he sell the pixel at $1 per pixel. After selling all the pixel, he would become a millionaire.

… but Victor is just giving pixels away for free:

My idea here is similar, but with different intention. I had setup a Personal Development Pixels page that host only personal development related sites. If your blog or website are related to personal development, welcome to the Personal Development Pixel page and get some pixels for free. I won’t charge a cents on this. :) I hope to collect 1 million of personal development pixels.

Well done, Victor! I think this is a great idea!

If anyone wants to get pixels for their website logo on his page, here is the link: Personal Development Pixel page

Creative Habit Naming – Part 2

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As you probably remember from the first part of Creative Habit Naming mini-series which was posted last week, I’ve discovered a very simple technique for mastering your habits: creative habit naming.

The idea is pretty simple: when you’re working out a particular habit, every little helps to stay motivated and interested enough. When it comes to mastering habits, creative habit naming is a very effective way of making your life easier.

 

I’ve also identified three main directions in creative habit naming: motivation, progress tracking and positive affirmations. In the first part of the series, I’ve covered the motivational part of creative habit naming.

 

 

Today, I’m going to talk about the second direction you can distinguish – progress tracking.

 

If you were asked to come up with an additional function for a name of any habit you have, progress tracking would probably be one of your very first guesses.

Why? Because tracking your progress is always a good thing, and measuring your performance in mastering a particular habit is just too cool an idea to pass it by.

 

Here are the two most useful ways of naming your habit with progress tracking in mind:

Regularity

As you probably know, one of the hardest things in mastering habits is the fact that it’s so damn hard to stay regularly committed. Honestly now, most of people who don’t exercise or commit regularly to some other kind of habit do this not because they’re lazy, but because it is actually hard to repeat the same set of actions over and over again without seeing great results quickly enough.With most habits, you have to stay committed for quite some time, before you finally start getting some results.

It’s not like you can try it one day, and then immediately see the positive result in just a few moments. It usually takes few days, if not few weeks, to see the first positive confirmation of your habit working towards the ultimate result you desire.

So it only makes sense to name some of your habits in such a way that the name itself will contain come kind of regular commitment.

Think of how frequently you’re going to get back to your habit. If it’s a daily action, or a weekly one – then you probably know what words you need for the name of a habit (daily or weekly, for those who don’t follow me yet).

If you look at naming a habit this way, you will actually remember many good habits you already have, which you stay pretty committed to: your Sunday church, your Saturday golf, your Thursday night out (very traditional thing here in Ireland by the way). It doesn’t have to be a weekday, either. You have many other habits, I’m sure: your morning shower, your daily job (not a very nice habit, I must admit – but hey it probably pays to do so!).

There are also some quite successful extremes which don’t even seem to have anything regular in their names, but they are habits as well: your birthday (I bet this is one habit you always stay faithful to), your anniversary, etc.

 

Count

This is another way of being creative with naming your habits. Just add some kind of count to the name!

For instance, here’s how my ab crunching routine is called: my daily 42 ab crunches. The name suggests, as you can see, the regularity of the habit (I’m proud to say that over the course of 3 months I’ve only skipped two days) and the count of ab crunches I’m doing every particular week.

I started a while ago with 30 reps a day. I did them for a week, and then moved on to 31 reps a day. After a week I’ve increased the number again, and so this week it is 42.

Using count in the name of you habit helps you not only track your progress, but also gives you additional motivation by confirming how far you’ve gone already. By simply reminding myself that it’s 42 ab crunches this morning, I also realize that it’s been 3 months of my exercises.

42 sounds much better than the original 30 ab crunches I’ve started with, and trust me it feels differently too – it’s harder to have 42 reps, but at the same time it feels great to be able to do 42 and still feel like you could do extra 20 just because you’ve improved so much over the time.

 

Another way to use count in naming a habit is to you is as a deadline. For instance, you can have a habit like this:

  • Learn a new language in 2 years time
  • Become a millionaire by the age of 30
  • Learn how to count from 1 to 1000 in Chinese

That’s all for today. Have I left something out? Please leave your thoughts on this topic in comments area, I would live to learn your approaches to creative habit naming. Thanks in advance!

ConceptDraw Anniversary Quiz

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ConceptDraw

 

This week guys from CS Odessa celebrate the anniversary of their flagship diagramming application ConceptDraw VI.

The company marks this occasion with a very simple quiz with three copies of ConceptDraw VI Std to give away. You have time till 22/11/2006 to answer quiz questions and get a chance to win your prize.

For all of you admirers of professional drawing tools, this is a good chance to win a great piece of software.

Please follow this link to enter the quiz: ConceptDraw VI Anniversary Quiz

Creative Habit Naming – Part 1

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I’ve recently acquired yet another healthy habit – doing ab crunches just before my morning shower. I’m so happy with my results that I just have to share with you some of the methodology used in the process of working this habit out. Particularly, I would like to talk about the art of creative habit naming, which I personally find incredibly rewarding.

Everyone faces a moment where a particular habit stops being attractive up to the point of giving it up. There are obviously different reasons for ending up like this, but mastering your habits can get a whole lot easier by employing a very simple yet useful technique: creative habit naming.

I haven’t seen anything written on this topic, and so mostly I had to try different approaches myself. If you know of any author covering the topic of creative habit naming in a book or a blog, please let me know.

The idea is pretty simple: when you’re working out a particular habit, every little helps to stay motivated and interested enough. When it comes to mastering habits, creative habit naming is a very effective way of making your life easier.

By picking a thoughtful name for your new habit, you can dramatically improve your chances of mastering it, simply because every time you come back to thoughts of the habit, you will reiterate the motivational name you gave it and automatically gain benefit from this.

Naming a habit may not seem terribly important, but it actually means a lot and holds a key to your success. What I offer you is not a revolutionary new approach which will make your habit feel easier to master, but it will make it seem easier and appear more attractive, which will help you stay on top of things.

I’ve identified three main directions in creative habit naming: motivation, progress tracking and positive affirmations.

Today, I’m going to cover the first topic – getting motivation through naming your habits wisely and creatively.

You can’t have too much motivation. No matter what you do, you and your positive outcome will only benefit from any motivation you find in and for the process.

I find it very easy to name my habits in such a way that they become quite motivational. This helps me benefit from the habit even more, and generally makes my experience of working out a habit a much easier and more pleasant process.

Here are the three most useful ways to name your habit and get additional motivation from doing this:

Goal Statement

This is one of the easiest way to stay motivated: always remember your goal. If it’s an impressive enough a goal, you will get additional pleasure in repeating it every time you work on your habit, trust me!

It really is up to you to decide what your habits naming style is going to be, you can be funny, serious, playful, cheerful – you name it. Anything goes, as long as you’re clearly stating your goal.

Here are just a few examples of using goal statements in naming a habit:

  • Enjoying life on a daily basis, no matter what.
  • Becoming a better father to your kids
  • Getting fit in an easy and healthy way

Major focus

Another aspect of naming your habits for motivation is maintaining a focus. In many cases, it’s too subtle a difference from stating your goal, but you can actually use your habit’s name to serve both of these purposes. For example:

  • Becoming indecently rich while not killing yourself with work.
  • Meeting new people while not forgetting about the friends you already have
  • Building a better relationship with your partner by paying more attention and keeping your own promises.

Benefits and value

This is the last highly motivational way of naming a habit I want to cover today. It is aimed to remind you of why your habit is so cool and what exactly you are getting from regularly committing to it.

Here are just a few examples:

  • Learn a new language so that you can enjoy talking to natives when travelling.
  • Getting fit to enjoy a healthier and therefore longer life
  • Read more books to grow personally and gain knowledge

Have I left something out? Please leave your thoughts on this topic in comments area, I would live to learn your approaches to creative habit naming. Thanks in advance!

It Takes Ten Failures To Succeed Once

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A friend of mine suggested I read one of recent posts by Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert.

It’s a very interesting and motivational read for anyone who feels how fear of failure keeps them from trying new things and ideas. Scott was never afraid to try his best in any area of his life, no matter how remote from his talent or knowledge it was. The post is called In Over My Head, and it’s a wonderful story of his life so far, aimed to teach us once more: don’t be afraid to fail, cause every time you do – you get one step closer to your success.

In fact, he gives you a formula he had worked out himself over the past years:

… I must confess that I fail miserably about ten times for every one success. (That’s an accurate estimate. I’ve literally kept score.) But interestingly, the failures always involved activities that seemed entirely feasible. I was completely qualified for all of the things that failed. Ironically, I couldn’t even “keep my day job.”

and at the same time, he teaches us to never fear of trying something new:

I mention these stories because over the course of my life, every time I try something different or unlikely, someone says the equivalent of “don’t quit your day job.” When I venture into areas clearly outside of my expertise, I hear “You’re in way over your head.” You’ve probably seen some of those comments in this blog.

Somehow I have to square that seemingly good advice with the fact that I’ve so often been successful against long odds, especially when I’m in way over my head. In fact, that’s when I do my best work. I gave you several examples, but trust me when I say there are plenty more.

Truly, an amazing man and a great story. Go on, read the full story here!

Personal Development Carnival – November 5, 2006

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Hi everyone, and welcome to the November 1, 2006 edition of the Personal Development Carnival!

To thank you for your participation and recognize the effort you put into writing articles, I have added all of your websites to the Personal Development Sites Search, and thanks to your websites, there is now a total of 48 websites searched!

There were 36 submissions this week. Not sure whether this counts as our new carnival record, but very impressive in any case!

Here are all the submissions:

Peter Kua presents Product innovation: Revisiting the formula of product leaders posted at RadicalHop.com.

Alexandra Levit presents Be Your Company’s Best Ambassador posted at Water Cooler Wisdom.

Jack Yoest presents 6 Reasons Not To Show Up For Your Radio Or TV Appearance posted at Reasoned Audacity, saying, “Woody Allen once said that 80 per cent of success is showing up. And to succeed in business as well as show business: you must show up. Your Business Blogger was observing (and trying to stay out of the way of) a radio and blogger row a few weeks ago at the Family Research Council Briefing. We were lucky — guests and hosts seem to link up with minimal scheduling challenges. But this is becoming somewhat more unusual. Your Business Blogger is seeing a most disturbing trend: Guests who don’t show.”

Steve Olson presents Achieving Greatness posted at Steve Olson.

Travis Wright presents CG Podcast #004 – Napoleon Hill’s Law of Success Podcast Series #03/16 – Self Confidence posted at Cultivate Greatness, saying, “This is Lesson 3 – Self-Confidence in the Napoleon Hill’s Law of Success Podcast Series from CultivateGreatness.com | Personal Development Blog”

David Thomas presents Blinded by Ideas posted at GlitteringMuse, saying, “Skills learned from the Alexander Technique can improve mental as well as physical attitude.”

Kate Hudson presents What Society Teaches Us posted at Kate Hudson’s Blog.

Alexander Becker presents WOW: The Pareto Principle vs. the Necessity of the Unnecessary posted at WOW, saying, “Comparison determines quality.”

Amit presents The Driving ‘Ologies Part 3 – Universal Sat Nav! posted at Amit, saying, “Never get lost with your Universal Sat Nav!”

Wenchypoo presents The College Conundrum (L-O-N-G) posted at Mental Wastebasket.

isabella mori presents falling down – weakness and strength posted at change therapy, saying, “thanks for doing this!”

Steve presents The Human Puzzle posted at Poetic Pilgrimage.

Daniel Brenton presents A Lesson from the Devil posted at The Meaning of Existence (and all that): The Odd Little Universe of Daniel Brenton, saying, “Lyman — Thank you for the opportunity of submitting to your Personal Development Carnival. I went though a very harsh time in my life in my early twenties, and during this time I learned some very valuable things in probably the hardest ways I could. But, as they say, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” During this time I learned a very important secret from one of the most evil people I’ve ever met, and I share this secret in “A Lesson from the Devil.” Hope you enjoy it. Again, thanks. Daniel”

Joseph presents How to attain success posted at help with everything.

Manny presents Success Methodologies: Obsession posted at Success Books, saying, “Obsession is good for the soul (and perhaps underrated).”

Conan Stevens presents A Practical Guide To Success And Personal Development » Blog Archive » How To Ask The Right Question To Get The Right Answer posted at Conan Stevens – successful at many things talking about life, saying, “Often people get ‘stuck’ in their lives and don’t know how to get out – the first thing is to set yourself the right questions to ask before you can find an answer”

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Contending With Time posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog, saying, “Self-help humor about time management”

John Hill presents Setting Your Intentions posted at Universe Of Success.

Asher Lewis presents Rid Yourself of Procrastination Goblins Once and for All posted at asherlew.com, saying, “”Like a spooky creak in the attic, once you identify the source, you will no longer be frozen in fear, and will begin to see procrastination for what it really is … “”

Chris presents Thoughts on Being Funny posted at How to be Cooler.

Raymond David Salas presents Jason Winters Tea posted at ZenChill.com – Power Tools for Mind, Body, and Soul.

Andy presents Don’t Act Like A Victim (Even If You Are) posted at ThoughtfulConsideration.com – Get Your Think On, saying, “Overcoming difficult circumstances when you aren’t to blame.”

Bill Perry presents How to quit your job and never look back posted at Financial Freedom Library.

Shamelle presents Enhance Life: 7 Ways – How NOT to annoy people posted at Enhance Life.

Erek Ostrowski presents The One Way Street posted at Verve Coaching.

Henrik Edberg presents 18 ways to improve your body language posted at Henrik Edberg.

Steve Peters presents How To Improve Anything You Do posted at Steves Goal.

Travis Farnes presents I don’t do jobs! Be an avid job avoider. posted at Self Improvement with Travis Farnes.

Patricia presents 4 Steps To Make It Happen, Every Time posted at Patricia.

Erich Jaeckel presents How to Read People – Part 1 of 3 posted at LifeTraining – Online.

Jerry Lopper presents If You’re Serious About Growth Get a Coach posted at Purposeful Growth.

Nneka presents Something’s Calling Me posted at Balanced Life Center, saying, “Gleb, thanks for hosting this week.” You’re always welcome, Nneka!

David Maister presents Squeezing the Stress Sponge posted at Passion, People and Principles.

Rick Cockrum presents Why We Sleep (Part III) posted at Shards of Consciousness, saying, “This is the third article in a three part series on why we sleep and how to get the most out of sleep.”

Rheanni Lightwater presents Sacred Cow Tipping – Making a Difference posted at Intuitive Learning Circle Blog, saying, “An online consciousness raising game perfect for empowerment and getting out the vote.”

Vishal P. Rao presents Your Greatest Source of Strength – Yourself! posted at Relishing Life.

Thank you for your participation! Submit your blog article to the next edition of Personal Development Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

As for the next edition of this carnival, it is going to be hosted by Lyman Reed at his Creating a Better Life blog.