Stress has always been a part of our daily lives. We often find ways to deal it with but can become unbearable when you’re tightly under its grip. The important part here is to take control of stress before it ends up controlling you — which is to say that you will be making a lot of mistakes that will take quite a lot of time and effort to fix. This is where stress management comes in.
Why Get Rid Of Stress
We can never deny the fact that stress can be a big hindrance in everything you plan to do with your life. It can get in the way of business, career, or even with your family and friends. If you give in to the irritation and anger that is often the result of stress, you are bound to make wrong decisions and plenty of mistakes that will bring you down.
You can lose your job, do badly in a business deal, or even make enemies left and right when you let your stress control you. Learn to control stress and get rid of it every time it crops up for self-improvement.
Find The Source Of Your Stress
Knowing the source of your stress gives you plenty of options to counter it. If your stress stems from overwork, then take some time off from your busy schedule to relax. The home can also become a stressful environment, especially when it’s disorganized. If you think that the design of the interior is giving you problems, then take some time to rearrange the furniture around or add some home décor to make it comfortable to look at. Once you are able to determine the problem then you can take the necessary steps to correct it.
Learn To Relax Once In A While
Everyone would agree that work, or the demands of work, is mostly the cause of stress. If you think that you have that wild look in your eyes every time your boss asks you to do something, then you better ask for a vacation leave to relax yourself outside your work area before it leads you into trouble.
Take some time off from your busy schedule and visit the local spa. Pamper yourself by indulging in a full-body massage or get an aromatherapy session going on to help you relax. You can always take a vacation if you really want to get the thoughts of work out of your system, but a massage will do just fine if you can’t afford to be absent from it.
Find The Child Within You
Kids are known to be stress-free. Even if you scold them or force them to eat vegetables, you will never see them suffer from stress. The reason here is with their mindset to enjoy life as they see fit. You can take your cue from them and enjoy life more.
Find your inner child and just play. You can grab your Playstation out of the cabinet and bring out the games you usually play during your free time. Another idea is to listen to your favorite music or read some comics on the Internet. You can even play online games if you like just to get your mind off your work.
Keep in mind that the gist of stress management is not the methods you take for getting stress out of your system. The idea here is to learn how to divert your mind from the problems that causes stress to give yourself time to relax and face the problem with a clear mind.
July 1st, 2009
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Odie |
Stress Management |
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Motivation makes the world go around, not love. This is the thing that drives people to do the things that they do, say the things that they say and create the things that they make. It is even partly responsible for the choices that we make in our jobs, in our courses in college and even in our partners in life.
Motivation is what drives people and it serves as the lifeblood of people, the one that propels them to go on and on, never mind the hunger or the tiredness. Not all people however are motivated the same way. In fact, there are people who ant to have different things for different reasons. It is unfortunate that people do not realize this. Otherwise, it will be very easy to deal with people and well to manipulate them in a way.
Here are some of the different motivations that people subscribe to. Read on and you might find one that will help you deal with people close to you. It might even help you deal with your own self.
1. Achievement
This people are those that wants to work, work and work. They don’t need to be given money, rewards or anything of the sort to work. They work for the sake of the work and not for anything else. When you are looking for people, this is the kind of employees that you might want to consider. These people are dedicated and often, they are the ones who are persistent and have a high energy levels. They also want to be given responsibilities and when they have achieved something, they will get right on to doing the next one without even resting.
2. Affiliation
You might wonder what others are thinking why they just give up their careers for love. You see women who dedicate their lives to serve their husbands and you cringe at the choices that they have made. But this is because your motivation is not the same as theirs. What motivates these people is their need for affiliation. These people need love in their lives. This is the only thing that they aim for. It’s not important for them to have a career or to achieve something in life, they just want to have people love them and have a support system.
3. Security
These people care for the future. They are already thinking of their future in old age even if they are still in their 20s. Often these are the people who are into material possessions because they feel that having money will secure their future for them. Besides money, these people also want to have properties and all kinds of assets. Having a steady job is also important to them. Change is not something that these people can abide.
4. Nurturance
These people are the natural mothers of the world. They have the constant need to mother people or to care for someone. Often, people go to them when they want to comforted or just to have someone to listen to them. They are nurturing and motherly in their attitudes towards people and would be great teachers, counselors and mothers.
There are different types of motivation and each person has a different set. This is what sets people apart and what makes the world so much more interesting and alive.
April 1st, 2009
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Odie |
motivation |
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The modern world has brought people a lot of preoccupation. It made living faster yet complicated, it made interactions wider yet shorter, and it made communication easier yet brief. Despite the so many preoccupations brought by media created by people, there are also those who would want to get back to their original self and connect with it in the most basic possible means. One of these is self hypnosis. Defined as a “process involving a hypnotist and a subject who agrees to be hypnotized,” self hypnosis is characterized by intense concentration, extreme relaxation, and high suggestibility to both parties.
Experts say that the self hypnosis is versatile. In fact, its versatility can be quite unparalleled. Today, self hypnosis can take place in various social settings and continue to change social settings dramatically. Unlike before where settings of self hypnosis are quite limited, today the sessions between the hypnotist and the subject can take place in common places such as clinics, showrooms, classrooms, and even to open spaces and establishments.
Other experts use self hypnosis in order to recover suppressed memories of people who have had bad experiences to help them overcome the problems that they are dealing with right now while other psychologists and hypnotherapists use hypnosis to discover hidden truths from a person’s ordinary consciousness. This is done by tapping into the unconscious state or mind where information are believed to dwell.
GETTING INTO SELF HYPNOSIS
Many perceive that self hypnosis as a trance-like altered state of a person’s consciousness while others believe that it is a way of accessing a person’s unconscious mind that is filled to suppressed memories, repressed multiple personalities, various magical insights, and unforgettable memories of the past life. But, in the world of psychology, self hypnosis is considered as altered state and gateway to knowledge about one’s self and the universe he or she is living in.
Today, self hypnosis is not only used for treating various behavioral problems but also for self-enhancement and improvement. If you are planning to get into hypnosis or self-hypnosis, there are so many things you need to consider. Experts say that self hypnosis is one of the excellent ways of taking control over one’s life. In fact, it can be used as means of disciplining yourself if you want to achieve a specific goal. For some people, self-hypnosis is advisable if you want to achieve something and utmost dedication and discipline is needed. Hypnosis introduction can benefit those who would want to lose or gain weight; those who want to boost their self-confidence; and those who would want to overcome their fears or phobias because it can help them contemplate a lot on the things that they need to do.
If you are planning to get a course on self hypnosis, you can expect that it can teach you to reach your subconscious mind through bypassing your conscious mind as well as how to communicate with your subconscious mind, methods of creating your own hypnosis scripts and visualizations, how to design and use affirmations, the effects and use of symbols on the subconscious mind, how to understand which methods will be most effective for you personally, deepening your trance state and using visualizations, adapting to scripts to suit various problems, how to change your personal history and plan a more effective future and how to understand your dreams as well.
March 27th, 2009
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Odie |
Self Hypnosis |
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Low self esteem has been frequently considered the cause of a lot of the world’s social problems—from crime, to the inability of people to socially interact with other people. However, there has been little consideration as to what it really is, and what tangible effects it may have on a person. In order to understand what it is and, in effect, resolve some of its detriments, it is first important to explore some basic concepts related to it, as well as its various impacts.
To begin with, self esteem is the value people associate themselves with. Therefore, unlike the misconception that self esteem is how confident people are about what they can do, self esteem is really more self-worth than confidence. The latter, after all, is more associated with the belief in one’s own ability to perform future tasks, whereas self-worth is how they see their own selves at the present time.
However, this is not to say that self esteem is a variable concept. Quite the contrary, psychologists consider self esteem as a rather enduring conception that people have about themselves, despite the fact that there may be some instances of a person’s self worth momentarily faltering in the opposite direction.
When people suffer from feelings of low self worth, they often compare themselves to other people. In the process, they see their flaws sticking out, making them less respectable than the people they are comparing themselves to. They will see what they lack and what they do not possess, and over-glorify the good traits that other people may have.
Increased paranoia over the possibility that people are making fun of them may also take place. They may be overly afraid of being judged when they go out in public with their flaws so obvious for the world to see. This will create within them strong feelings of self hate and self loathing.
There are also moments when people who suffer from low levels of self esteem feel as though they do not deserve the things they have, or are not worth the love their friends or family bestow on them. They will often feel like they are not worth the trouble, and clearly a waste of whatever time, money, and effort that people may be spending in order to be with them or to make them feel special.
They may then withdraw from whatever social interactions they have, or may at least have some difficulty interacting with other people. They may become overly sensitive to critique, and may often feel helpless and vulnerable even when around the people who truly care for them. Unfortunately, some of them may also express whatever self hate they feel through anger and increased intolerance of what other people have to say to them.
Some indicators of some form of low self esteem may include an obsessive form of perfectionism. People who suffer from such low self worth tend to impose impossible standards upon themselves, and therefore foster deeper feelings of self hate as they are unable to meet these expectations. They may also be too willing to please other at their own expense. This is usually because whatever affirmation they receive from other people become ways for them to see themselves, at least momentarily, as worthy of respect and love.
Unfortunately, without that nod of approval from other people, they will again express feelings of worthlessness.
March 21st, 2009
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Odie |
Self Esteem |
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Newborn babies have no self esteem problems. They have no concept of failure or falling short of expectations. In a very real sense, our interactions with other people are the root causes of low self esteem. Since you cannot avoid interacting with people, you have to learn how to identify these causes and stop them from affecting you.
Low Self Esteem From The People You Know
Parents lay the foundation for self image. Children understand that parents expect certain things of them, and if they fail these expectations, it can decrease their sense of self worth. It is important for parents to realize the limits to which they can push their offspring to excellence. You cannot change your past, and you cannot blame your parents for wanting you to succeed, but what you can change is the way you look at it. Acknowledge the love, learn to set aside the disappointment, and move on.
Your partner also has certain expectations regarding your relationship, so it is important that these expectations are verbalized. Constant dialogue is important as there can be no greater blow to self image that being though of as falling short of an ideal that you do not even know about. The same principle can be applied to relationships with friends and relatives. Be sure that you can clarify your role and understand what they expect of you.
Work relationships are at once both easier and harder on self image. On one hand, your job description makes the expectations of the people in the workplace crystal clear. On the other hand, this clarity also makes in easier to point out your shortcomings. What is important in this situation is to realize that a job is an opportunity for growth. If you do no have the required skills yet, identify them so you can acquire them and meet your goals.
Low Self Esteem From The People You Don’t Know
The opinions of total strangers affect all of us to a certain degree. These perceptions may reach your in many different ways. You may overhear comments of people as you walk down the street. You may read comments about you written in blogs or articles. You may identify with certain groups that are discussed in the media, such as on TV or in magazine articles.
Judgments from people who do not know you can sometimes be more devastating than from those close to you. You may feel unfairly judged or belittled. Worse, you may even partially agree to these negative pronouncements. This can push your self image even lower. What is important is to identify the feeling and examine its cause. If you cannot dispute a negative observation yourself, look for positive affirmation. People who know you can help you set these things into perspective. Many resources both online and in print can prove these judgments wrong. You may want to avoid magazines or TV shows that make frequent erroneous pronouncements.
As you can see, our perception of failing other people’s expectations is the seed from which poor self image sprouts. These causes of low self esteem are ubiquitous and unavoidable so you must learn to guard against them if you want to grow. Learning to deal with other people in a positive way is the one sure path to confidence and a good self image.
March 12th, 2009
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Odie |
Self Esteem |
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How Understanding Motivation and Emotion can help you Become Healthier
Understanding motivation and emotion are linked can be the key factor in helping yourself transform your life into making lifestyle choices that will allow you to become healthier. If you know that how you feel about something is going to affect how successful you are at it, then you can try and stop yourself from thinking negatively about what you have to do, or what you have to give up, and concentrate instead on the positive side of what you will achieve.
For example, if you are told by your doctor that you must lose weight, understanding motivation and emotion will allow you to realize that if you concentrate your thought processes on how much you weigh every day and stress about every pound not lost, if you think about all the things you love to eat and drink which are now denied to you, then you are not likely to keep to the healthy eating plan your doctor wants you to follow. Read up so that your understanding of motivation and emotion is better, and follow any exercises it gives you to turn your negative thoughts into positive ones. Instead of thinking about what you’re not allowed to eat and depriving yourself of all candy, motivate yourself by allowing yourself a small bar of candy at your weekly weigh-in if you have lost weight. That’s a good reward as it allows you a little of what you’re no longer supposed to have as part of your normal diet, but at the same time, it lets you feel as if it’s not quite 100% off limits. This is a perfect example of how understanding motivation and emotion can help you to accomplish a healthier lifestyle without feeling as if you are being denied any of the things that you really enjoy, because it’s the deprivation of these things that can create the destructive emotions that would sabotage your best efforts.
Someone who has an addiction could also benefit from understanding motivation and emotion in action. Although the reward for abstaining from the substance or other addictive process can’t be connected to this, a suitable reward in shape of something else that’s enjoyed can be used instead.
In both the case of stopping an addiction, and starting healthier living practices, using an understanding of motivation and emotion can also work in a group environment. This doesn’t work for everyone as some people are more successful on their own, but many people find that a group dynamic helps them to get adrenalin going and improving their motivation for continuing something, and so they feel better about doing it, and it goes better until the practice of having to eat healthier, or exercise regularly, or not smoke or inject is not so much a thought process, but more of a subconscious habit that no longer requires any understanding of motivation and emotion at all!
The creation of a good habit could be the goal that you are really looking for when you start out with your lifestyle change. Using an understanding motivation and emotion process can really help you get the momentum going in the early days and weeks when doing the things recommended to stop the unhealthy habits is especially difficult as you continue to dwell on what you’re missing instead of what you’re gaining. At first reading to get an understanding motivation and emotion may seem more technical than you’d like, but once you understand the basic principle of how you feel about something affects how successful you are likely to be because it affects how much effort you put into it, you’re well on your way to achieving your goal.
March 11th, 2009
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Odie |
Emotion, motivation |
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Motivation and goal setting to hand in hand. Motivation is made up of desire and belief. The individual must first have the desire to reach a specific goal. If the person doesn’t really want whatever the end result will be (a grade, a degree, an achievement of some kind), there will be no motivation and goal setting will be of no value.
What Motivates You?
Motivation and goal setting are not the same things for everyone. To get a handle on what motivates us, we need to look at our own values. Some of the things that humans value are money, status, family, love of learning, and pride in a job well done. Others are motivated by the urge to travel. To do good works, to improve living conditions for others, or to meet new people.
As we make a list of what motivates us, either a written or a mental one, we will find that some of the values are more important to us than others. Some values have to do with short-term goals, while other ones are more long-term.
It is important to keep a handle on your level of motivation and goal setting for different situations. Take the example of a student who wants to get good grades but can’t quite seem to get there. Are they as motivated as they think they are? Have they taken the time to break down the ultimate goal into smaller steps (goals) along the way? Are there other distractions getting in the way of the student achieving his or her goals?
Motivation and Goal Setting
If you are truly motivated to achieve (you want to reach the goal and are prepared to do what is necessary to get there), how do you come up with goals?
First of all, get a clear mental picture in your mind of what you want to achieve. What does it look like and feel like to you? Next, try to break the big goal down into some smaller steps that make sense to you.
Using the example of a student once again, let’s say that the person wants to improve his or her mark in a certain class by one grade level (moving from C to B or B to A). How can they achieve that goal? How does motivation and goal setting work in this case?
The motivation and goal setting might come from a desire to graduate with honors or to be accepted into graduate school. Since some potential employers of recent college graduates do ask for an official transcript as part of the application process, that might be a good reason to do one’s best.
The next step is to come up with some ways to achieve that goal. To improve grade in a course, it might be helpful to join a study group. Discussing course work with fellow students is a great way to find out if you are on the right track. The group will also give participants the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other and perhaps indulge in some friendly debates. If you are finding a certain part of the course content difficult to get a handle on, the other members of the group are there to help. Sometimes all it takes to get a better understanding of a certain portion of the work is to have someone explain it in a slightly different way.
Another part of the student’s motivation and goal setting plan might be to find a fellow student interested in earning some extra cash as a tutor or to ask the professor if there are any opportunities for extra credit.
As we can see from this example, motivation and goal setting really do go hand in hand.
February 27th, 2009
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Odie |
Goal Setting, motivation |
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Goal setting is important for many reasons. When you set goals you can see forward progress, you have something to look forward to, and they help create ambition. You must set goals in order to achieve them. When you set goals the best thing you can do is attach a date on different milestones. Take a specific goal of your passion and attach a completion date to it. Upon a completion date, you will then break down your goal into many steps to get you there. Each of these steps are milestones. You might consider putting a date on each milestone based upon how long they will take you to get to. These might be estimated dates and you might be off by a day or two. However, one milestone may be accomplished quicker than another so it can put you back on track. Working by using a goal method gives you something to look forward to. The best thing you can do is reward yourself at the end of each goal or you may be seeing the reward as you are getting closer to your passion actually happening. When you are working toward a completion date you are more likely to work on the goal rather than say I plan on getting it done eventually. A date makes the goal more real. Goals with milestones allow you to see the forward progress you are making toward achieving your goal. You might consider making a chart with the dates and step attached to it. Break down each step with tasks you need to complete and things that need to be done. As you reach each milestone you will be closer to reaching your goal. The closer you get to achieve your true passion the more ambition you will have to live out the dream and make it happen. If you need to brush up on your skills first then take a few classes. These classes will be a part of your milestones and steps to get to where you want to get to. As you complete each one then you will have completed a milestone and closer. If your goals include steps that are very difficult to do and require a lot of hard work on your part do not be afraid to reward yourself for getting to where you are in your project. Buy a bottle of wine and take the night off and celebrate for reaching a goal. Do something to treat yourself for your hard work. You deserve it and you are worth it. Any project you decide to tackle or endeavor you want to achieve you need to design it as a goal with a breakdown of the steps to get to the goal. This will make the goal look so much easier to get to and you will work harder to achieve it. In addition, you have a way to measure just how close you are to actually making it happen in your life what you have always dreamed of.
January 5th, 2009
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Odie |
Goal Setting, Personal Assistant, Personal and Interpersonal Development, Personality |
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Motivation is what keeps us going. It is the reason people succeed and the reason people fail. Motivation is the drive someone has to complete a task. The ingredients of motivation are combined with many factors which include simplicity, attitude, the people you hang around, the way you think, knowing yourself, helping other people and so much more. The purpose of this e-book is to take you through methods you can practice on a daily basis to remain motivated. These techniques can help you feel better about yourself in everything you do. You can take these methods with you when you go to work and when you are at home. Motivation is the spark everyone needs to make it throughout the day, to set and meet goals, and more. Without motivation you will fail. When you have apathy toward something you are not motivated because you couldn’t care either way. This is the worst attitude you can have because it isn’t negative either. Someone who feels this way isn’t capable of achieving anything because they don’t care if they do or not. If you are feeling this way this e-book is exactly what you need to help you overcome your attitude and begin feeling motivated again. When you know how to remain motivated with yourself you can also help others because your attitude will be contagious. When you practice daily motivational techniques eventually they will come to you naturally. At first some of these methods may be difficult for you to do or to remember. It will take time for you to begin to naturally practice and follow these techniques.
December 1st, 2008
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Odie |
motivation |
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Intrinsic motivation (also known as internal motivation) is basically defined as motivation that comes from within oneself. Whenever you are motivated to do something without external (or extrinsic) influence, you are experiencing intrinsic motivation. An example of intrinsic motivation is interest in a hobby or anything else that provides you with enjoyment. There is usually no external reason or external reward for engaging in an intrinsically motivated activity. Intrinsic motivation encourages you to perform an activity for enjoyment.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic (or external) motivation is the opposite or intrinsic motivation. When one is motivated by a reward (for example, money or a prize), praise, or recognition for engaging in an activity, he/she is extrinsically motivated. An example of extrinsic motivation would be working for payment or doing something to win a contest with a reward (either praise or a tangible reward). It is generally accepted that an extrinsically motivated activity is less enjoyable than an intrinsically motivated activity. The reason for performing an extrinsically motivated activity is not enjoyment, but rather personal gain.
Intrinsic Motivation vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Many researchers argue that the division between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation is not so cut and dry. Some activities defined as intrinsically motivated might require extrinsic motivation in some individuals, or vice versa. It is also sometimes hard to differentiate between the two types of motivation. For example, a man might enjoy running and competing in races. When he winds a race, he feels enjoyment. He also feels enjoyment at winning money as a result of winning the race. So, he has gained enjoyment, a feeling of personal accomplishment, and a monetary reward. Is his motivation to win the race intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation?
Can Extrinsic Rewards Reduce Intrinsic Motivation?
It has also been found that extrinsic rewards can reduce intrinsic motivation. When an employee is intrinsically motivated, he/she tends to view the big picture and take pride in his/her work in general. When an extrinsic reward is introduced, such as a monthly reward or a quota prize, the employee’s focus can centralize on the time period and winning the prize. The intrinsic motivation may become less of a factor. The employee’s productivity may increase as he/she works for the prize, but general job satisfaction may in fact decrease because the internal drive to perform well has been overwhelmed by the desire to win the contest.
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
The cognitive evaluation theory states that the level of intrinsic motivation to continue a particular activity increases as a person overcomes sequential challenges they are presented with. In other words, as a person’s confidence with their competency in a certain activity increases, so does his/her intrinsic motivation. This theory has helped teachers increase intrinsic motivation in students. By praising students for small achievements, the student’s confidence in the activity grows and the student is then intrinsically motivated to learn more. This theory is also useful in teaching children’s sports activities. By praising small achievements, and limiting criticism of weaknesses, the child develops intrinsic motivation to keep trying harder and push himself/herself to success.
Intrinsic Motivation and Education
Methods of increasing intrinsic motivation in students is continually studied in the area of education. Teachers hope to find the right levels of extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation in their lesson plans and methods of teaching to develop increased levels of intrinsic motivation for learning. Many theories and models exist, but it is up to the individual teachers to decide the best way to develop intrinsic motivation in each student to produce a student body that desires to learn for enjoyment, and not a reward.
October 18th, 2008
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Odie |
motivation |
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