Self-Improvement Archives - Page 8 of 11

5 Time Management Tips to Work Smarter, Not Harder

In the 1930’s, Allen Morgenstern coined the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder.” This was in response to the long and grueling jobs performed by workers at Industrial plants. By coming up with ways to make them more efficient with less effort, they found that productivity increased, and workers were happier.

But how did they do it?

How can one work “smart” rather than “hard”?

Most of us have heard this term, and wonder how that can apply to workers today. There are many ways to increase your productivity by using good time management practices and a few extra tools to batch your tasks, track your time and prioritize what’s most important to you.

Let’s look at 5 time management tips that can help you to work smart, not hard.

How to Become More Mindful

You know the feeling — you’re at a loose end. Everything seems to be falling apart. The days roll right into one another without a break. You can’t seem to focus and you’re always stressed out about something, but still can’t seem to find the time or motivation to cross any of it off your list.

But you’re reading this article. Why? Because you don’t want it to be that way.

You’re sick of the endless anxiety cycle. Of stress ruling your life. You want to enjoy your time, not feel tossed around by the waves of your emotions. You want to feel focused, productive, fulfilled.

But maybe the solution isn’t quite so complicated as quitting your job, moving to Spain, and becoming an oil painter (though if that’s what you want, go for it!). It might just be that you need to become a bit more mindful.

How to Overcome ‘Shiny Object’ Syndrome

If you’re a creative, entrepreneur, or leader of any kind, chances are you might have suffered from shiny object syndrome at some point in your life.

You know the feeling —

Some new opportunity arises, an idea sparks in your mind, or a trend or fad hits the scene and you instantly want to take advantage of it, abandoning your other projects and running off into the sunset to chase the latest “shiny” object.

So maybe you have a hundred domain names registered for businesses you want to start someday, or maybe you have a slew of abandoned novel drafts on your computer, or maybe you’ve bought several online courses promising yourself that “one day I’ll get to it.”

10 Difficult Skills that Pay Off Forever

In life, there are lots of skills we need to learn to navigate the world. We go to school to learn how to read, write, and do math. These skills are foundational to getting into college, getting our first jobs, and living as a citizen in society.

But there are some skills you don’t get taught in school that can help you grow and that end up paying off not just in the short term, but throughout your whole life.

These skills can be difficult to master, but their long-term benefits far outweigh any frustrations we might experience trying to learn them.

Here are 10 difficult skills that, once you’ve learned them, will pay off forever:

Harsh truths you have to accept to unlock your potential

Facing life and its realities is tough. There’s no getting around the fact that not everything is peaches and cream all the time. Sometimes you’ll experience pain, suffering, or loss. But often, that same pain is what will make you grow into a greater person. A person who can handle more, achieve more, and help more people.

As you grow, you’ll experience these growing pains. And if you want to unlock your full potential, you’re going to have to confront some brutal truths about life. Here are a few harsh truths you’ll have to accept if you want to unlock your potential and become the person you were meant to be.

9 Life Hacks That Will Motivate You To Achieve Your Goals

9 Life Hacks to Help Motivate You to Achieve Your Goals

Finding the motivation to work towards your goals can sometimes feel like pulling teeth. Your body and emotional state reject every attempt from your mind to get you to feel excited and energized once again. You know you’ve felt motivated before, and it felt great! So why can’t you feel that way all the time? Why do you have to feel so uninspired?

Luckily, our minds and bodies aren’t static. They change, and depending on what we do, we can cause new emotions to arise. When you’re in a state of demotivation, you can actually hack your body to start feeling motivated again with some simple tricks. Using these hacks, you’ll be able to change your emotions at will and re-harness that excited, inspired energy.

Rise to the Top – How to Become the Best at What You Do

In the popular book, Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell writes that:

“for almost a generation, psychologists around the world have been engaged in a spirited debate over a question that most of us would consider to have been settled years ago. The question is this: is there such a thing as innate talent? The obvious answer is yes.”

Gladwell writes that we imagine that “achievement is talent plus preparation.”

Right?

13 Life Lessons I’d Tell My Teenage Self

Being a teenager can come with a lot of new changes.

And those changes come with problems we have to learn how to solve. Of course, it’s difficult to navigate that time without the knowledge or experience of someone older. It’s usually when we’ve aged a bit and can look back on the problems we faced as a teenager that we see what advice we needed at the time. But then again, it’s those exact problems and difficulties that taught us the lessons we needed to learn.

So if we could go back in time and give those lessons to ourselves before the frustrations and the pain, it seems like we’d be able to skip over a lot of that, right?

To Get What You Want, You Must Give Up What’s Holding You Back

Dale Carnegie, American writer and author of the celebrated novel How to Win Friends and Influence People, once said:

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

While easier said than done, it’s true that acting on our goals and dreams is what helps us grow into the people we are meant to be, people who are confident in their abilities and contributions in life.

But the space between inaction and action can be a scary place. You may want to go out and act but there’s something holding you back from taking that first step.

Mediocre People Focus on the Outcome. Exceptional People Focus On the Process

Slack: The Company That Almost Wasn’t

You may have heard of the workplace communication software, Slack. Many companies use Slack to virtually collaborate and communicate across teams. What most people don’t know is that Slack, despite its success, was never meant to exist.

In fact, the company who developed Slack actually had been hoping to create the next popular video game. But after raising millions of dollars to fund the game’s development, the company ultimately shut down the project because the game failed to attract enough users to be profitable.

The initial goal of the company — to create a successful video game — wasn’t achieved. However, during the process of creating their game, something else happened. The team realized that the chat system they created to accompany the game was worth investing more time in. While failing to build the next Minecraft, they managed to invent the chat system idea for one of the fastest-growing startups in history, and Slack was born.