Tag Archives: Goal Setting

What Were You Thinking?

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What Were You Thinking?

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Whew! 15 years of work! Although this is book #5 for me, it was the most difficult to write – because it’s about ME and MY thinking errors (don’t you just love self-disclosure?!). The publisher says that if you use the code MVY7M9SU they will knock off $3. That’s about 20%. Nice!

What Were You Thinking?

Some Common Thinking Errors and What to Do About Them

Authored by Joseph Bennette

A critical look into how our magnificent brains can help us make the most of our lives – and get us into deep trouble. Fortunately, thanks to our big brains we have the capability to solve our own thinking errors – once we know what those errors are. Explore some common thinking errors and what you can do to prevent or correct them. From the introduction: Continue reading →

Path to true happiness ‘revealed’

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From BBC NEWS 11-15-05
Path to true happiness ‘revealed’
Experts believe they have found the essential ingredients to make a person’s life happier.

The 10 steps to happiness

  • Plant something and nurture it
  • Count your blessings – at least five – at the end of each day
  • Take time to talk – have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week
  • Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up
  • Give yourself a treat every day and take the time to really enjoy it
  • Have a good laugh at least once a day
  • Get physical – exercise for half an hour three times a week
  • Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once each day
  • Cut your TV viewing by half
  • Spread some kindness – do a good turn for someone every day

Read the entire story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/4436482.stm

Amplified Rewards Lead to Success

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If your end result imagery is vivid and compelling enough, you'll achieve it.

If your end result imagery is vivid and compelling enough, you’ll achieve it.

Want to succeed at something? Will it take some time? Then you need vivid, compelling outcome rewards!

Research out of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf demonstrated that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a part of the brain implicated in reward-based decision making, together with the hippocampus took part in predicting the degree to which forward thinking impacted current decision making. Further, the researchers discovered that the more vivid and compelling the end result imagery, the stronger the degree of impact on short-term distractions. In other words, the more vivid and compelling the end result imagery, the more likely the subjects of the research were to modify their behavior toward achieving the end result and declining short-term distracting rewards.

Let’s work with an example. Suppose you want to lose a few pounds but are faced with the temptation to eat something you know you shouldn’t. The short-term reward is obvious while the long-term reward fades away into what feels like the very distant future – “out of sight – out of mind”.

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Using the Placebo Effect for Successful Outcomes

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placebo.jpgIn the largest experiment of its kind to date, 1162 patients aged 18 to 86 years (mean ± SD age, 50 ± 15 years) with a history of chronic low back pain for a mean of 8 years were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or conventional therapy (a combination of drugs, physical therapy, and exercise) for their chronic back pain. Patients underwent ten 30-minute sessions, generally 2 sessions per week.

After six months, patients answered questions from the Von Korff Chronic Pain Grade Scale questionnaire and the back-specific portions of the Hanover Functional Ability Questionnaire to determine their chronic level of pain after treatment.

In the real acupuncture group, 47 percent of patients improved (defined as 33% improvement or better on the Von Korff Scale or 12% better on the Hanover Questionnaire). In the sham acupuncture group, 44 percent improved. In the conventional care group, 27 percent got relief.

Study Conclusion: Low back pain improved after acupuncture treatment for at least 6 months. Effectiveness of acupuncture, either real or sham, was almost twice that of conventional therapy.

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Self-Control Depends On Your Personality Type

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A new study from Northwestern University compared personality types used frequently in consumer research to self-improvement goal-setting strategies. People are motivated by one of two fundamental needs: we are either “promotion-focused,” seeking products that will help us achieve hopes and aspirations, or we are “prevention-focused,” seeking items that help satisfy a need for safety and security. According to the research, people are better able to exercise self-control when they choose goal-pursuit strategies that “fit” with their promotion or prevention focus.

“This research has important implications for consumer welfare,” explain Jiewen Hong and Angela Y. Lee (both of Northwestern) in the February issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. “While self-help remedies are saturating the market, resisting temptations remains a strenuous process and a constant struggle for many people. The data reported in this research offer an important step toward understanding self-control and highlight the benefits of adopting the right goal pursuit strategies.”

“[We] find that when people adopt goal pursuit strategies that fit with their promotion or prevention focus, they have better self-control. In contrast, their self-control is weakened when they adopt goal pursuit strategies that conflict with their focus,” the researchers explain.

They conclude: “Self-control is not just about doing the right things, but also about doing things the right way.”

Jiewen Hong and Angela Y. Lee, “Be Fit and Be Strong: Mastering Self-Regulation through Regulatory Fit.” Journal of Consumer Research: February 2008.

Hemispheric Motivation to Achieve Goals

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Suppose you make a goal to slim down this year.

Suppose you make a goal to slim down this year.

Mathias Pessiglione, of the Brain & Spine Institute in Paris, and his colleagues showed that motivation could be subconscious – and can be associated with brain hemispheres. Apparently, you can be more motivated toward a goal if you face that goal with your most motivated side. Now THAT is some useful information!

Suppose you find yourself setting a goal but having difficulty achieving it. Maybe the reason is not environmental (i.e., you don’t make enough money), or internal in the way you might suppose (you’re not worthy or smart or good enough, etc.). Suppose the problem with non-achievement has to do with which way you physically turn your body in relation to “where” you represent your goal achievement to be in space.

For example, suppose you make a goal to slim down this year. So, you go about setting up a series of short term sub-goals to help you work your way up to achieving your longer range goal of having the body you want. Maybe you follow a goal achievement program and write your goal and sub-goals down. But at the end of the goal time frame, work as you may, your goal seems just as distant as when you started.

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THE Exercise for Manifesting Conscious Desires

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Everybody and their dog has an exercise that will magically change the world for you.

Everybody and their dog has an exercise that will magically change the world for you.

A gift of power to you that you have always owned… …and maybe forgotten…I know – everybody and their dog has an exercise that will magically change the world for you. And everybody says their exercise is the best and ultimate – especially if they want you to buy it!

Well, I’m offering this one free of charge. The only cost to you is your time, which if you will invest in yourself, will pay dividends immeasurable. I’ve shared this exercise before and some have even “tried” it. If today is the day you say “I’m making a change in my life NOW,” then now is the time to actually do this exercise – do it every day several times a day for the rest of your life!

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Broad or Narrow

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Not achieving your goals? Check your strategy for achieving it.

Not achieving your goals? Check your strategy for achieving it.

Some strategies work better than others for achieving a desired outcome. In creating an effective strategy, it occurs to me that one might consider these three aspects:

  1. Why is the strategy being created?
  1. Does the strategy fix a problem or improve something?
  2. Does the strategy apply to a narrow or broad spectrum of issues?
  3. Have you correctly interpreted the problem or goal? (Consider alternative interpretations)
  • Who is creating the strategy?
    1. Do you have control over enough aspects of the strategy?
    2. Do you have or have access to the resources necessary to carry out the strategy?
    3. Are you sufficiently motivated to DO what is necessary to achieve the desired outcome? Continue reading →

    Mastery – What does it REALLY mean?

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    Every day, I get up, slip my clothes on, put on my shoes and tie them, brush my teeth, wash my face, brew a hot cup of java, and go to work.

    I don’t have to focus on HOW to do these things – I’ve mastered them.

    There are basically five levels of skill acquisition:

    Unconsciously Unskilled (UU) – in which I am unaware of a skill I might want or use later.

    Consciously Unskilled (CU) – in which I become aware of a skill I want but am as yet unskilled at it.

    Consciously Skilled (CS) – in which I’ve learned the skill and must focus on HOW to accomplish the skill each time I do it in order to do it correctly.

    Unconsciously Skilled (US) – in which I do the skill without any further attention to HOW TO DO IT. Like tying my shoes, I can do it without thinking – I just do it.

    Skill Mastery (SM) – in which I have MASTERED the skill. In this level of skill acquisition, I no longer must practice the skill to retain it because I have EMBODIED it. It is now part of WHO I AM.

    Mastery, in its truest form is demonstrated by total relinquishing of control – which means that the ultimate test of Mastery is the ability to perform the skill without conscious control or attention.

    Continue reading →