Author: lapaasindia

  • Using Affirmation Harnessing Power of Positive Thinking

    Using Affirmation Harnessing Power of Positive Thinking

    You might have heard the quote that “What you think that shall you become.” because it applies to your mindset.

    For example “I’m not good at sports; I’m not can’t play this game.”

    “I’m not an honest speaker; I can’t speak ahead of individuals you would possibly never be ready to speak.”

    “I’m not good at socializing then you would possibly not be ready to socialize with everyone”

    So, All sport is about mindset and affirmations.

    Also, You are surrounded by negative thought and other people who want to tug you down all you would like to possess a belief and a firm affirmation.

    Meanwhile, Negative thinking can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, death.

    Hence, In this technique you’ve got been shown to possess a positive effect on reducing occasional negative thinking, they’re for guidance only, and readers should take the recommendation of suitably qualified health professionals if they need any concerns over related illnesses or if negative thoughts are causing significant or persistent unhappiness.

    Health professionals should even be consulted before any major change in diet or levels of exercise.

    WHAT’S IN IT

    What Are Affirmations, and the way does it Work?

    How To Create Powerful Affirmations

    Affirmations are positive statements that will assist you to challenge and overcome self-destroying and negative thoughts. once you repeat them often and believe them, you’ll start to form positive changes.

    You might consider affirmations to be unrealistic “wishful thinking.” But try watching positive affirmations this way: many folks do repetitive exercises to enhance our physical health, and affirmations are like exercises for our mind and outlook. These positive mental repetitions can reprogram our thinking patterns so that, over time, we start to think – and act – differently.

    For example, research suggests that affirmations can assist you to perform better at work. consistent with researchers, spending just a couple of minutes brooding about your best qualities before a high-pressure meeting – a performance review, for instance – can calm your nerves, increase your confidence, and improve your chances of a successful outcome.

    Self-affirmation can also help to mitigate the consequences of stress.

    What’s more, affirmations are wont to successfully treat people with low self-esteem, depression, and other psychological state conditions. and that they are shown to stimulate the areas in our brains that make us more likely to affect positive changes regarding our health.

    This latter study suggests that a stronger sense of self-worth causes you to more likely to enhance your well-being. So, for instance, if you’re worried that you simply eat an excessive amount and do not get enough exercise, using affirmations to remind yourself of your values can spur you on to vary your behavior.

    Also, You might have heard about Dan Lok who used self-affirmation as motivation.

    He took the road from broke to millionaire. Just by using the affirmation technique.

    Use of  Positive Affirmations

    So, You can use affirmations for any situation where you’d wish to see a positive change happen in your life. These might include times once you want to:

    Raise your confidence before speeches or interviews.

    Overcoming negative feelings like frustration, anger, or impatience.

    Improve your morale.

    Finish tasks you’ve started.

    Improve your output.

    Overcome an old habit.

    Affirmations are simpler once you pair them with other positive thinking and goal-setting techniques.

    Affirmation Statement

    For example, affirmations work particularly well alongside Visualization. So, rather than just picturing the change you want to ascertain, you’ll also write it down or say it aloud employing a positive affirmation, and it just for practical goals.

    Affirmations are most useful while setting personal goals. Once you’ve identified the goals you want to realize, affirmative statements can assist you to stay motivated to realize them.

    The power of affirmations isn’t a secret. It lies in repeating them to yourself regularly. It’s useful to recite your affirmations several times each day (have them on your wall or mobile wallpaper!). you furthermore may get to repeat your affirmations as soon as you get into the negative thoughts or behaviour that you simply want to beat.

    Now the question is how are you able to write an affirmation statement don’t worry keep reading I even have got your back.

    How does One Write an Affirmation Statement

    Affirmation statements usually point to a selected area, nature, or belief that you’re battling. Below are the subsequent points which may assist you to write down the affirmation statement that most closely fits your needs

    Believe in the areas of your life that you want to enhance or change.

    For instance, does one wish that you simply would be more patient? Or have deeper relationships together with your partner? Or would you wish for a more result-oriented workday?

    Write down several tasks, areas, or behaviours that you want to figure on. make certain that they’re accomplishable together with your routine life and therefore the things that the majority interest you, so that you’ll feel genuinely motivated to realize them

    Make certain that your affirmation is realistic and achievable.

    Base it on a sensible assessment of the facts. for instance, imagine that you simply want to be the richest person and you don’t want to figure for it. you’ll use affirmations to boost your confidence but you’ve got to figure for it.

    However, it probably wouldn’t be known to affirm to yourself that you are going to double your income: for many people, and most organizations, doubling what you’re earning in one go isn’t feasible. Keep it realistic! in any case, affirmations aren’t magic spells – if you cannot believe them, it’s unlikely they’ll impact your life.

    Rewire your negative thoughts into positives.

    If you’re battling negative self-talk, write down the common thoughts or beliefs that are bothering you. Then look for an affirmation that’s the other of that thought and belief.

    For example, if you habitually think, “I haven’t any talent to pursue any career,” turn this around and write a positive affirmation like, “I am skilled and professional for any career I just got to put some effort in it.”

    Write your affirmations within the present.

    Write and speak your affirmation as if it’s already got what you would like. this may assist you to believe that the statement is true immediately. as an example, “I am prepared and rehearsed and that I can give my best speech” would be an excellent affirmation to use if you are feeling nervous speaking ahead of a gaggle.

    Say it with feeling.

    Say It Affirmation Statement | Consultations

    Affirmations are often simpler once they have emotional weight. If you would like to require this alteration to happen, so every affirmation that you simply prefer to repeat should be a phrase that’s meaningful and special to you. for instance, if you’re worried about your personal life that you’ve got been living, you’ll tell yourself, “I am excited to require on new challenges for a replacement day.”

    Guides for Affirmations

    By definition, your affirmation is going to be personal to you, and specific to what you would like to realize or change, but the subsequent examples may provide some inspiration:

    • I have great creative ideas for this project.
    • My work is going to be recognized positively by everyone.
    • I can do the given task.
    • My colleague respects and values my opinion.
    • I am living successfully.
    • I will complete tasks and projects on time.
    • I’m grateful for the life I even have.
    • I enjoy working with my associates.
    • I’m the simplest at what I do.
    • I am generous to everyone in my life.
    • I’m living a cheerful life.
    • I will be a team leader in my next project.

    Conclusion

    To use the affirmations technique, firstly analyze your thoughts or behaviours that you want to vary in your own life.

    Next, come up with positive, credible, and achievable affirmation statements that are the other of those thoughts. Repeat your affirmations several times each day, especially once you end up slipping into negative self-talk or engaging in negative behaviour.

    Also you can read our blog on Self-motivation: 5 Practical steps to motivate yourself

    FAQ’s

  • How to handle post-traumatic growth?

    How to handle post-traumatic growth?

    Many human beings experience potentially traumatic events in their life whether it is community violence, severe accident, combat exposure, life-threatening situation, or other kinds of abuse or trauma.

    Old researches have focused on the development of mental health problems after a trauma, such as anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, or acute stress disorder.

    However, not all individuals develop psychological state problems after a trauma, and a few actually may experience what researchers call “post-traumatic growth.”

    WHAT’S IN IT

    What is post-traumatic growth?

    Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is positive personal changes that result from the survivor’s struggle to affect trauma and its psychological consequences.

    So, The process of post-traumatic growth can cause improved relationships with others, more compassion, openness, appreciation for all times, spiritual growth, personal strength, and a renewed sense of possibilities within the world.

    This personal growth extends beyond pre-trauma functioning.  PTG is not merely a bouncing back to the level of functioning before the trauma, but rather a sense of positive growth beyond pre-trauma functioning.

    Importantly, recent research has highlighted that post-traumatic growth isn’t the other reaction thereto of post-traumatic stress; rather these are two separate sorts of responses that will occur within the same person simultaneously. And over time, and that the experience of distress can promote the development of growth.

    4 Positive Trauma Therapy Techniques

    In positive trauma, therapy treatment includes several techniques that the evidence suggests will aid those suffering from symptoms of PTSD, categorized into four chronological stages of treatment progression: (1) Deal, (2) Feel, (3) Heal, and (4) Seal.

    find the primary technique from each of the steps below.

    1. Deal – Writing a Trauma Narrative

    post-traumatic growth

    In the first step, therapists will assign the sufferer an initial exercise that will set the stage for the following steps and facilitate the healing process. This exercise is creating their trauma narrative.

    The trauma narrative is that the client’s telling of the story of their traumatic experience. They are often quite difficult to begin, as the emotions by the original trauma can come flooding back as the sufferer recalls the details of the event, but it will get easier as the process goes on.

    The sufferer should begin that specialize in the facts – the who, what, when, and where of the experience. Next, they can add thoughts and feelings that arise during the experience. Once they’re comfortable listing or describing their thoughts and feelings during the experience, they ought to advance to the foremost difficult or disturbing moments of their trauma. This will be difficult, but it’s necessary to place together a comprehensive narrative of the trauma. Finally, they suffering should take what they need thus far and wrap it all up and make a seamless narrative, additionally to adding a final paragraph about how they feel now, what they have learned, and if they have grown from the experience.

    Complete this exercise individually or with a therapist or counsellor to guide the client through the difficult process. However complete the narrative, the therapist should re-evaluate the exercise with the client once the narrative is finished. 

    2. Feel – Exposure

    post-traumatic growth

    As the name of the main technique in this step suggests, this is where the sufferer exposes to the traumatic memory to connect the fragmented cognitive and emotional aspects and facilitate catharsis.

    The imaginal desensitization technique applies during this step, during which the client reads his or her trauma narrative.

    The therapist guides the client through the processing of the event.

    The therapist will then help the client explore their emotional responses and themes that came up during processing.

    Discussing the primary feelings associated with the trauma.

    After the session, the client has some homework –  he or she is going to head home and set a while aside every day to process through the traumatic experience, focusing on purging the emotional aspects of it.

    It will likely be emotionally challenging to drag up these memories and tie some intense feelings to them.

    But that’s where these emotions belong: with the traumatic experience that spawned them, instead of displaced onto the self or others.

    3. Heal – Three Concepts and PTG Channeling

    In step three, the focus is on helping the sufferer put the pieces back together.

    But during a new and stronger configuration than before.

    The therapist will emphasize three concepts to the client:

    1.    Freedom of choice

    post-traumatic growth

    The therapist explains that, while the client didn’t prefer to experience the trauma that led them here, they’re on top of things of their choices going forward.

    Narrative therapy is the concept of “rewriting the ending” to help the client see that he or she can create their path.

    2.    Finding meaning from the experience

    The therapist discusses how the client can find meaning in their experience, however, is acceptable and feasible for them.

    3. The Hero archetype

    Finally, the therapist walks the client through the transformative journey.

    “Hero archetype by telling stories, tying the client’s spiritual and cultural beliefs into the stories to form them more meaningful for the client.”

    The client may enjoy hearing the various stories during which the hero undergoes significant trauma and becomes a far better, stronger person from it.

    Once these three concepts are discussed, the therapist can advance to the teaching of therapy that emphasizes goal-setting and goal-striving.

    This component is mentioned as PTG channelling because it focuses on the client channeling their emotional energy from reliving or avoiding the traumatic experience into productive, goal-oriented behaviour.

    Overall, this step is about the client extracting meaning from their experience and finding their answers and solutions. The therapist may assign more homework as this step wraps up. Instructing the client to travel home and have interaction in one action that illustrates their shift from victimhood to posttraumatic growth.

     4. Seal – The Mind is a file

    The final step of the PTGP involves docking loose ends and putting the finishing touches on the reorganization of the traumatic memory.

    The “mind as a filing cabinet” metaphor may be a great one to use during this step. During this metaphor, the memory of the traumatic experience is likened to an unorganized file, scattered throughout the file that’s the mind. Rather than each component being neatly sorted with the others. They’re separated into dozens of various folders with no rhyme or reason. Making it confusing and potentially disruptive when one among them is inspected.

    In the previous three steps, these components were identified, hunted down, and moved to the proper folder. While a couple of new pages were added documenting the expansion experienced through the method.

    This step finalizes the folder and files it away within the cabinet.

    It is often revisited within the future. But it’s not anything quite another within the hundreds and thousands of files and folders that structure the cupboard.

    At now, the client is prepared to maneuver on to a different disorganized file. If there’s another file that needs reorganization.

    Whether the therapy will still another file or not. The therapist should commend the client for all of his or her diligence throughout therapy. And encourage them to continue incorporating PTGP into his or her life.

    The client should leave feeling empowered over their trauma and prepared to manoeuvre forward with a replacement and improved perspective on life.

    Self Managing PTG

    post-traumatic growth

    If you’ve struggled, or are struggling, after an extreme career or life crisis, you’ll likely recognize a number of the symptoms that we’ve mentioned, et al. like disorientation, mood swings, and flashbacks. If so, the simplest thing you’ll do is seek professional help. ask your HR department or a health care provider.

    As we’ve seen, while a trauma can have an enormous emotional and physical impact. The struggle that you simply endure can cause incredible personal change through PTG.

    PTG cannot be forced, but you’ll get yourself into the simplest place to nurture it. Following these seven steps will set you on the proper path:

    1. Begin to think positively about the new you – you’re at the beginning of a replacement stage in life.
    2. Engage with the planet around you, and appreciate all the great things that it’s to supply.
    3. Allow yourself time to speak honestly about how you are feeling, particularly with people that have suffered something almost like you.
    4. Reflect on any aspect of your life where your actions harmed yourself or others, and make positive changes as a result.
    5. Accept offers of help.
    6. Help others. for instance, you’ll do volunteer or charitable add your community.
    7. Be hospitable to new experiences and opportunities, including new friendships.
    8. combat new challenges or learn new skills.

    Conclusion

    Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is defined as positive personal changes that result from the survivor’s struggle to affect trauma and its psychological consequences. In positive trauma, therapy treatment includes several techniques. That the evidence suggests will aid those suffering from symptoms of PTSD. That are categorized into four chronological stages of treatment progression: (1) Deal, (2) Feel, (3) Heal, and (4) Seal. Also, there are some symptoms of this which are mentioned in the blog.

    Also you can read our blog on Self-motivation: 5 Practical steps to motivate yourself

    FAQ’s

  • Albrecht’s four types of stress-managing common pressures

    Albrecht’s four types of stress-managing common pressures

    Stress is an important part of our life. Everyone irrespective of age or gender faces some or the other kind of stress in their day-to-day life. And stress in short term is not an issue, in fact, it is a motivating factor that can actually help you to achieve something that you are looking forward to. For example, during our school life, we all had just one task that was to study.

    Does that mean stress is good?

    No, not all stress is good. Sometimes this stress becomes so much that it actually creates a problem. Say, for example, someone had a breakup. Now if you observe deeply in most of the cases breakups don’t have any solution. It is we who keep thinking about it again and again and again, which creates long term stress. And this stress later leads to depression. It is this type of stress where stress can actually be problematic for you.

    So, is there a solution to stress?

    Of Course yes, As it is rightly said every problem has a solution. But to find a solution to a certain problem, you have to deep into the situation, to the root of the stress and it is when you can actually realise the problem and find a solution. To simplify this process Karl Albrecht has classified the stress into four types as given below:

    WHAT’S IN IT

    This classification into four types is a very broad classification and it can actually help in identifying the root cause of the problem and finding a solution to it. Further in this, we will be discussing these four types of stress in detail and how to overcome them.

    Time Stress

    What is time stress?

    Albrecht's four types of stress

    Time stress is a very common type of stress. We all have faced this type of stress and will keep facing it until life goes on. This is the stress that is caused when we have something to complete or achieve and there is a certain time limit to it.

    For example, you have been given a task say writing 7 blogs within a week and you have just 3 days left with you and you have not written even one blog then the stress you will face in such a situation is classified under time stress.

    Another good example of this type of stress can say you have your class scheduled at 9:00 Am in the morning and you require 15 minutes to reach your home to the class and the next morning you woke up at 8:50 Am. Again this stress is classified under time stress.

    How to overcome time stress?

    To overcome some time stress there is one and only one solution to it that is learning how to effectively manage time and following it throughout. What is time management? Time management is not rocket science but the art of classifying your different activities into different time periods and arranging them in order of importance throughout the day or week or month as you may seem better. When you learn the art of time management you will never have to worry about being late or even being inefficient. Time management teaches you the importance of time.

    Anticipatory Stress

    What is Anticipatory Stress?

    Albrecht's four types of stress

    After time stress another most common type of stress is anticipatory stress. What is anticipatory stress? It is a stress which is related to worrying about the future and various future related event.

    A good example of this type of stress can when you are at the age of 16-22 and you think about your careers like what will happen if you took a science stream or commerce stream.

    Another good example of this can be that you have a marriage at your home next month the stress which you will face regarding finance decorations etc is all categories under anticipatory stress.

    How to overcome Anticipatory Stress?

    Anticipatory stress is caused because we tend to imagine all those futuristic events that are about to happen. We can also say that this stress is imaginary stress because the event has not yet occurred they are about to occur. Therefore the solution to this type of stress can be being positive or certain about the event. Any negative thought can act as a fire to the stress.

    Also, we must understand one thing that whatever imaginations we are creating in our mind it is not a surety that the exact same thing will occur may be the situation or the event about which we are thinking maybe much much better than we actually thought.

    Hence, there is no point in thinking about it and if you still want to think positive.

    As they say “ Be positive, good things will happen.”

    Situational Stress

    What is Situational Stress?

    Situational stress as the name suggests depends upon various situations that you may face in your day to day life. Situational stress may come from something which you didn’t expect. It may be a sudden moment that happened in your life.

    Say for example during this pandemic of coronavirus many people have lost their jobs or their salary have been cut off. This was something that nobody imagined. People who faced this situation are very likely to have suffered from stress as the inflow of money had stopped or reduced but the expenses were still the same.

    Another example of this type of stress can be said for example you had some conflict with some of your neighbours in your society and this conflict turned into a serious issue between you both.

    How to overcome Situational Stress?

    Situational stress is not something that is long term. It is something that happened suddenly and has a short term effect on you. However you can be able to handle such stress if you become more self-aware about yourself and your surrounding. Also being self-confident and calm may also help you handle the stressful situation at the moment.

    Encounter Stress

    Albrecht's four types of stress

    What is Encounter Stress?

    Encounter stress is basically stress from people. Stress from people means to stress that is caused when you meet certain people or you can say a certain category or group of people. This may include stage fear or fear from meeting some people in the person of which behaviour or attitude you don’t like.

    Many students fear meeting from their teacher even though they did nothing wrong but still they fear from the teacher. This happens mostly in small kids on their first day of school. This is a good example of encounter stress.

    Another example can be when you meet a very well know person or a celebrity in person you may feel some kind of low confidence and stress this can also be a good example of encounter stress.

    How to overcome Encounter Stress?

    Encounter stress is not a very serious kind of stress. You can very easily cope up with this if you work on yourself. If you work on your communication skills and work on your confidence it can actually help you fight encounter stress. One tip for increasing your confidence could be that if you are overweight then maybe losing some weight may help you gain confidence and fight this type of stress.

    Conclusion

    Every day there will be some point where you will feel stressed. You may feel different types of stress in different situations. It may be possible that you may feel two-three types of stress together but all you have to do is just bounce back. Deal with the stress and move on from it.

    Also you can read our blog on File Management- Managing Electronic Files Organizing & Computer Files

    FAQ’s

  • Identifying the causes of short term stress

    Identifying the causes of short term stress

    Stress being a part of life never actually leaves you. It comes in many ways to all people whether it is a 2-year-old child or a hundred-year-old person. It can be in any form and to anyone. Stress however is not considered a big issue in a country like India.

    Stress can be sometimes big and sometimes small. Big and small here means that it can be either something which will affect you to a very great extent or it may not have any effect on you. But again here you can categorise stress further into long term and short term.

    Now, what do you actually mean by this?

    WHAT’S IN IT

    Long term stress

    Reducing Stress has Immediate and Long-Term Effects | Augusta Health

    The long term stress is a kind of stress that may affect you for a longer period of time. Say for example you have a debt of fifty lakh which you have to pay within 2 years. Now till the end of two years until you actually pay the full amount you will be suffering from stress like how to pay, from where to arrange the money, what will happen if you are not able to pay the debt etc. Now, this stress is long term stress as it will affect you for the next two years.

    Say for example your sister is getting married after a month and you are given the responsibility to arrange an amount of say twenty lakhs to cover the expenses and you are not in a position of even having twenty thousand rupees. Now you will be in a position of stress until you actually arrange the amount. This is another example of long term stress.

    Short term stress

    Short term stress usually gets dissolved within one or two days. How ever this short term stress may become long term stress. Say for example you were given an assignment that you did not complete on time. What will happen? Your boss will be angry with you which will eventually result in him scolding you. Now you will be constantly under stress with this. However, in a day or two suppose you were given another assignment which you completed before time and our boss appreciated you will lead to happiness which will kill the previous stress.

    How Short term stress may lead to long term stress?

    Many times we ignore our short term stress symptoms because they usually disappear within a day or two. But sometimes this short term stress may result in long term stress.

    Say for example you started getting into the habit of betting and you started to lose say very less amount of rupees a hundred daily. This will result in short term stress. However, if you keep ignoring one day you may actually face a big loss and then these stressed memories may pile up and result in greater stress. This stress may be long term because you will have to give time to recover from this loss.

    How to identify the causes of short term stress?

    Short term stress may be due to various factors as listed below.

    Health 

    Everyday Health: Trusted Medical Information, Expert Health Advice, News,  Tools, and Resources | Everyday Health

    A person may face various short term health issues like the current situation of coronavirus. Many people are under stress due to this as this disease is considered dangerous. The fear of this disease is short term because it is only there when you go out or do not take proper precautions.

    Relationships

    Relationships are the biggest reason for stress nowadays every person starting from a teen faces relationship issues including may thing like an unhappy partner, violent partner, Toxic partner etc but this is an example of long term stress. Short term stress in relationships include having an argument with your partner, partner falling ill, etc etc.

    Money 

    2 Simple Rules To Double Your Money And Know When To Exit Trade

    Short term debt or short term requirement of money may lead to stress which eventually fades with the fulfilment of the requirement. This may also include examples like a failed transaction where money got deducted from your account but the transaction failed.

    Emotional problems

    There are many emotional problems waiting for you in the real world. One good example of this type of stress which girls may relate to very easily can be that losing their makeup kit or breaking a nail. This may seem a normal problem but for some girls, this may be an emotional stress moment.

    Life changes 

    Every day various events take place out of which some may have an effect on you like seeing an extreme fight in public that involved lots of blood and sensitive moment. These types of things may affect you and cause stress in your day to day life.

    Personal beliefs, Occupation, Environment, Discrimination, Other Events, etc.

    Conclusion

    Stress being a part of life never actually leaves you. It comes in many ways to all people whether it is a 2-year-old child or a hundred-year-old person. The long term stress is a kind of stress that may affect you for a longer period of time. Say for example you have a debt of fifty lakh which you have to pay within 2 years.

    Also you can reads our blog on How self-motivated are you?

    FAQ’s

  • Supporting a friend or co-worker suffering from stress

    Supporting a friend or co-worker suffering from stress

    Stress is an increasing issue in today’s time. The most important reason why stress is increasing is that people don’t talk about it. People don’t discuss it with their friends and families and alone keep suffering from it. We need to understand that discussing our issues with someone can actually help us in getting a better solution to the problem.

    On the other hand, we must understand that we ourselves should try to figure out if any of our close people like a friend of a family member or a college is suffering from something or facing some issues.

    Below all these points are discussed in detail.

    WHAT’S IN IT

    How to identify Stress in others?

    What Is Stress Resilience and Can It Be Learned?

    Identifying someone in stress is not a difficult task. One can easily spot someone suffering from stress. When a person is under stress there are many changes that he or she goes through. These changes in the body are both on a mental and physical level. Thus the side effect of stress is also seen at both levels.

    At the physical level, the first sign that you can notice is that the person is having more frequent headaches. Headaches are normal but having frequent headaches can be a sign of stress. Another early sign may be restlessness or a disturbed sleep cycle. People under stress often face difficulty in sleeping. The third sign which you can notice is felling of weakness and dizziness. A person under stress often complains about not feeling well. Apart from this, there may be other signs like not feeling hungry or excessive hunger, too much sweating and an increase in smoking and alcohol consumption than normal.

    It may be a little difficult to spot a person suffering from stress at the mental level, how ever you can notice various changes like the person may have lost his sense of humour or maybe losing his temper faster than before. Another thing which you can notice is they get irritated very fast and also have very low self-esteem.

    Why helping matters?

    Someone who is suffering from stress faces many difficult situations and most of the times these situations are at a mental level only. A person who is standing at a spectators point of view may consider a situation to be normal while the person from a victims point may feel the same situation to be very stressful. That is why it is always important to help someone suffering from stress. Another reason that you should by yourself ask a person if he is suffering from stress and help him because people in stress usually don’t share anything with anyone they just stay isolated and keep suffering alone. That is why it becomes important to identify stress in your close ones.

    Also, stress may lead to various health and emotional issues. These issues may highly affect a person and may also lead to an increase in stress. Also human beings are considered social animals and being socially connected to someone may actually help him or them to release stress.

    Supporting someone and helping them in a stressful situation may actually help them recover fast and get out of the situation.No one can imagine how a little help to a stressful person can benefit him. It doesn’t require any professional qualification to help a person suffering from stress, that is why you should always be ahead in offering help.

    5 ways to support someone in stress

    Listen to them

    help someone suffering from stress

    The first step in helping a stressful person suffering from stress is listening to them. Listening may help you understand the situation and reach the cause of stress and for the stress full person, it may be a positive sign as he may not feel alone in such a situation.

    Find the root cause

    After you listen to the person you may easily reach the root cause of stress as you are in the position of a calm mind. However, at some time it may be difficult for the person suffering from stress to identify the root cause of stress as he is not in a proper state of mind.

    Provide a solution

    The best thing you can do is provide a solution to the person suffering from stress as a spectator because for spectators the situation is a third-person view movie where he can actually see the solution but for the victim, it may be a deadly situation where he may be stuck and there is no other option left.

    Help

    It may be possible that the stressed person may require your help to get out of the situation. Do not step back always be ahead in offering help to the person.

    Record and recover

    Keep recording the recovery in the person and keep supporting him as and when required.

    When is work stress considered too much?

    Work may often lead to a little bit of stress. This stress can be sometimes a motivation factor for the employee to complete the work on time. However sometimes this stress becomes too much and the employee loses his motivation and seems less interested in his job. Below given are signs that can tell you that the employee is facing work stress.

    Less interest in work: The employee may seem less interested than he was before in the same work. However stress may not be the only reason for this but it can be one of the reasons.

    The decrease in efficiency: Decrease inefficiency is very common during stress.

    The decrease in performance: An employee when under stress doesn’t want to work due to a decrease in interest it is obvious that his performance will be affected.

    Tips for managers and employees

    help someone suffering from stress

    During such a situation when an employee suffers from stress and his performance and efficiency decreases, the managers become very rude to their employee instead of finding the reason behind the problem. Therefore it is suggested that the managers should first try to understand the employee’s situation and react accordingly and if possible they should counsel the employee and help him by proving him with proper guidance.

    Coming to employees, in such a situation the employee start distancing themselves from their managers or seniors which is not a very good approach. However it is suggested that the employee should consider having a conversation with the manager and tell him the reasons for stress.

    Conclusion

    Identifying someone in stress is not a difficult task. One can easily spot someone suffering from stress. stress may lead to various health and emotional issues. These issues may highly affect a person and may also lead to an increase in stress. Also human beings are considered social animals and being socially connected to someone may actually help him or them to release stress. 5 ways to support someone in stress i.e. Listen to them, Find the root cause, Provide a solution, Help, Record and recover.

    Also you can read our blog on Using well-formed outcome in goal setting

    FAQ’s

  • The holmes and rahe stress scale-understanding the impact of long term stress

    The holmes and rahe stress scale-understanding the impact of long term stress

    The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale

    Stress is the most common issue in today’s era. Everyone starting from a young kid to an old person faces some kind of stress in their day-to-day life. Stress can also help you with instant motivation and help you perform better than you actually can. However, stress beyond the limits is very dangerous for your body both mentally as well as physically. But what do you actually mean by limit?

    The limit here or anywhere means a certain boundary beyond which anything is considered excess. When it comes to stress, general stress about day to day life and some small issues are completely fine. But when the stress is too high due to some serious issues or different types of situation which may have a long term or some serious effect is not normal.

    WHAT’S IN IT

    Holmes Rahe Stress Scale

    What is the Holmes Rahe stress scale?

    Stress by Steve Cochran

    Holmes Rahe stress scale is basically a kind of measurement device or measurement formula that helps you calculate stress levels and how they can affect you. Also, It shows a connection between stress levels and illness.

    History

    Meanwhile, A few decades back in 1967 Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe surveyed around five thousand patients medical reports. This was done to determine whether stressful events cause any kind of illness. The patients were asked to rank a list of events and each event was given a unit known as a life-changing unit. The patients ranked forty-three life events.

    Description

    Holmes Rahe stress scale has basically assigned a score or you can call it weights to each life event that they have listed and a person taking this test has to calculate their total score by adding the score of all the events that he is going through. Also, The final total that comes at the end of this test is the score that actually tells you how stressful you are and what are the chances of you getting affected by this stress level.

    Holmes Rahe Stress Inventory

    So, The stress inventory is classified into two categories one is for the adults and there is for the non-adults.

    For adults

    Life eventLife change units
    Death of a spouse100
    Divorce73
    Marital separation65
    Imprisonment63
    Death of a close family member63
    Personal injury or illness53
    Marriage50
    Dismissal from work47
    Marital reconciliation45
    Retirement45
    Change in health of family member44
    Pregnancy40
    Sexual difficulties39
    Gain a new family member39
    Business readjustment39
    Change in a financial state38
    Death of a close friend37
    Change to a different line of work36
    Change in frequency of arguments35
    Major mortgage32
    Foreclosure of mortgage or loan30
    Change in responsibilities at work29
    Child leaving home29
    Trouble with in-laws29
    Outstanding personal achievement28
    Spouse starts or stops work26
    Beginning or end of the school26
    Change in living conditions25
    Revision of personal habits24
    Trouble with boss23
    Change in working hours or conditions20
    Change in residence20
    Change in schools20
    Change in recreation19
    Change in church activities19
    Change in social activities18
    Minor mortgage or loan17
    Change in sleeping habits16
    Change in number of family reunions15
    Change in eating habits15
    Vacation13
    Major Holiday12
    Minor violation of law11

    For Non-adults

    Top 10 Most Stressful Life Events: The Holmes And Rahe Stress Scale – Pain  Doctor
    Life EventLife Change Units
    Death of parent100
    Unplanned pregnancy/abortion100
    Getting married95
    Divorce of parents90
    Acquiring a visible deformity80
    Fathering a child70
    Jail sentence of a parent for over one year70
    Marital separation of parents69
    Death of a brother or sister68
    Change in acceptance by peers67
    Unplanned pregnancy of sister64
    Discovery of being an adopted child63
    Marriage of parent to stepparent63
    Death of a close friend63
    Having a visible congenital deformity62
    Serious illness requiring hospitalization58
    Failure of a grade in school56
    Not making an extracurricular activity55
    Hospitalization of a parent55
    Jail sentence of a parent for over 30 days53
    Breaking up with boyfriend or girlfriend53
    Beginning to date51
    Suspension from school50
    Becoming involved with drugs or alcohol50
    Birth of a brother or sister50
    Increase in arguments between parents47
    Loss of job by parent46
    Outstanding personal achievement46
    Change in parent’s financial status45
    Accepted at college of choice43
    Being a senior in high school42
    Hospitalization of a sibling41
    Increased absence of a parent from home38
    Brother or sister leaving home37
    Addition of the third adult to family34
    Becoming a full-fledged member of a church31
    The decrease in arguments between parents27
    The decrease in arguments with parents26
    Mother or father beginning work26

    Just calculate the total score and compare the results as below.

    Score =/< 150 This is considered good as at this score you are at a very low stage of stress and have a very less chance of getting affected by it.

    Score >150 but <300 At this stage, your stress levels are pretty high and you have moderate chances of getting affected by it and this may lead to some stress and illness issues both at the physical and mental level.

    Score >300 This is the most serious stage where you are at an extreme level of getting affected by stress. At this stage, you can really face some serious stress and illness issues.

    Tips to Reduce Stress

    7 ways to reduce stress and keep blood pressure down - Harvard Health

    The most simple and practical solution to reduce your stress would be to take a break. Taking a break from your daily life routine may actually help you relax better. And when you relax better you can actually feel good and you think less about the stressful situations.

    However every time it is not possible to take a break, below are some tips that can actually help you manage stress and also stay away from it.

    • Exercise: Exercise is a very good option as it releases good hormones which can actually help you with stress.
    • Reduce intake of alcohol, cigarettes, any other drug: Alcohol and cigarettes are very bad for your overall health for some time they can help you forget about stress but in long term, they will affect you.
    • Spend more time with friends and family: No one can help you fight stress better than your own friends and family.
    • Set goals and priorities: Goals are important as they can help you divert your focus from stress to something good.
    • Talk to your health care provider

    Conclusion

    Stress is the most common issue in today’s era. Also, Everyone starting from a young kid to an old person faces some kind of stress in their day to day life and stress can actually help you create a backup or prepare for a situation thinking of what is causing you stress. Stress can also help you with instant motivation and help you perform better than you actually can. meanwhile, A few decades back in 1967 Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe surveyed around five thousand patients medical reports. So, This was done to determine whether stressful events cause any kind of illness and The stress inventory is classified into two categories one is for the adults and there is for the non-adults.

    Also you can read our blog on Time Management: How The Pickle Jar Theory Will Help You

    FAQ’s

  • What is stress? How to manage stress?

    What is stress? How to manage stress?

    Stress has become a part of life these days. Starting from a young teen to really old adults, everyone is under stress. even you can notice that really young children are suffering from stress.

    Why is it so? Is it because of modern life, the era we are living in? Because it was not the case a few decades ago. Back then stress was part of only a few peoples life, but nowadays it is part of everyone’s life.

    The thing that we should actually stress about is that people are ignorant about stress. Stress is considered a headache, that now it is thereafter a few hours it will be gone. This is a very wrong practice.

    Stress can actually become the cause of various other mental and physical illnesses.

    We need to understand one thing that, stress is not a disease, but it can become the cause of various other diseases because your body and your brain respond to various stress triggers in various different ways or rather various different negative ways. A recent medical study showed that ninety per cent of illness is stress-related. This is how dangerous stress is.

    WHAT’S IN IT

    What is stress?

    manage stress

    Stress is your body’s way of preparing for danger or a situation. This happens when your body senses some sort of threat. Basically what happens during stress is that your body starts preparing itself either to fight or face the situation or to escape from the situation and reach a safer position. The situation can either be something that is going to take place in future or it can be an imagined one.

    Stress is a part of life, not all stress are bad. Stress can also come when you are for example trying to win a cricket match and you have to score 20 runs and you have just one over left with you. This stress is not harmful, in fact, this can help you achieve your target by making you more active during that time. Sometimes stress can help you achieve something which seems impossible in the first place but this doesn’t mean that stress is good. Beyond a certain point, stress can be very dangerous for your body and mental health.

    Reasons for stress

    There can be many reasons for stress but broadly they can be classified into 5 heads:

    Stress at work: Stress at work is normal as there are many situations where you feel a little stressed like having a presentation or having a meeting with a new client can make you stressful but excessive stress is harmful and it can also affect your productivity and performance. So, manage stress Carefully.

    Job lost and unemployment stress: This is the most common type of stress among young adults. Job and employment are very important as it is something that helps you generate some money for a living. Losing a job can be a really stressful situation. It is normal to feel depressed and low during this situation. However the most important thing is to come up from this situation.

    Financial Stress: This is an extended version of the second reason for stress. It is a situation where a person might be in a position where his/her expenses are more than his income or the person is under some debt and has a very difficult source of earnings or the person has faced some financial loss which seems difficult to be recovered and many more reasons.

    This is very common during these modern times.

    Grief and loss: This is a situation through which each one has to go through at least once in their lifetime. This is a situation where you can have a feeling of mixed emotions and it can actually become very difficult for you to accept the fact that you have lost someone or something that you love. It can either be due to death or separation. The only thing that can help you come out of this stress is accepting the fact and moving on.

    Caregiver stress: This is basically a situation where a person ignores his or her health and personal life issues because they are deeply into taking care of some other person. It is a situation where a person is not caring about his personal emotional and sociological needs.

    Effect of Stress on Health

    manage stress

    The human body can easily face stress and recover from it. Stress can be very helpful as it can help you with dedication and motivation. During the stress, the body goes into fighter mode and releases various hormones that can help you become more productive. However when stress is regular where the person is continuously involved in it or the stress is long term stress, it can actually lead to many adverse effects on your health. Stress can cause serious effects like depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, panic attacks, sexual dysfunctions and many more.

    Another harmful effect comes into place when people start using external factors to release stress like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, medications, etc these things can help the person for short term to revive with stress and relax but however in the long term this is not a very good idea as it can create additional health problems.

    Stress can be very harmful. So, manage stress is very Important.

    Symptoms of the effect of stress

    Symptoms of every big problem start with simple issues like headaches, fever, etc.

    Similar is the case with stress before stress actually becomes a big problem you start to experience the following issues within you. However it can be considered as the warning belt. If you ignore these symptoms you should be ready to face some serious issues in future.

    Warning signs of stress:

    1. Dizziness, feeling weak
    2. Aches and pains in different parts of the body
    3. Grinding teeth, clenched jaw
    4. Headaches
    5. Indigestion or acidity
    6. Increase in or loss of appetite
    7. Muscle tension in neck, face or shoulders
    8. Insomnia or other sleeping issues
    9. Heart Palpitations
    10. Cold and sweaty palms.
    11. Tiredness, exhaustion
    12. Trembling/shaking
    13. Weight gain or loss
    14. Upset stomach, diarrhoea
    15. Sexual difficulties

    When stress becomes dangerous?

    Before we actually come to managing stress, it is very important for us to understand the limit of stress beyond which it becomes harmful. Now this limit varies from person to person depending on many factors like given below:

    Knowledge about the stressful situation: The more you know about the situation that is causing you to stress, the more you can help yourself in finding out the way to get out of the situation, the more you can be prepared for it.

    Emotional ability: This means how well you can handle your emotions during a stressful situation. If you are good at it you can easily be calm and with calmness, you can actually think better and get out of the situation.

    Attitude: Your attitude plays an important role in determining how well you can deal with a situation.

    Confidence: It is the most important factor. If you are confident enough to deal with any situation it will be a very easy task for you to get out of any situation.

    Support network: Support network is very important during a stressful situation. It may be possible that your friends or family may actually help you deal with such a situation.

    How to Manage Stress?

    The most simple and practical solution to manage your stress would be to take a break. Taking a break from your daily life routine may actually help you relax better. And when you relax better you can actually feel good and you think less about the stressful situations.

    However every time it is not possible to take a break, below are some tips that can actually help you manage stress and also stay away from it.

    • Exercise: Exercise is a very good option as it releases good hormones which can actually help you with stress.
    manage stress
    • Reduce intake of alcohol, cigarettes, any other drug: Alcohol and cigarettes are very bad for your overall health for some time they can help you forget about stress but in long term, they will affect you.
    • Spend more time with friends and family: No one can help you fight stress better than your own friends and family.
    • Set goals and priorities: Goals are important as they can help you divert your focus from stress to something good.
    • Talk to your health care provider

    Conclusion

    Stress is very common these days. It can help you do better with your work but when stress becomes more, it is actually very harmful.You should take stress seriously and not ignore it as it may lead to long term health issues.

    Also you can read our blog on 9 life lessons that you can learn from sports

    FAQ’s

  • 7 powerful ways to develop self-discipline

    7 powerful ways to develop self-discipline

    Self-discipline is one of the most important characteristics of a successful person, but it is

    something many people lack. Here are some best ways to develop self-discipline for achieving

    success.

    WHAT’S IN IT

    How to develop self-discipline?

    5 Strategies to Develop Self-Discipline and Increase Productivity | by  Gráinne Logue | Buckets Blog

    But before jumping to the ways of developing self-discipline you should develop the mindset of

    a disciplined person. A few ideas in this article are inspired by the book “No Excuses: The Power of Self-Discipline”

    Mind-set for self-discipline

    1. Self-discipline and success

    Meaning of success is different for everyone, for some, it might be becoming as rich as possible

    and for others, it might be becoming as happy as possible.

    Be it any profession or any field of life in which you want to achieve success, you need to figure

    out two things: 1) What is being successful in that field according to you 2) What does it take to

    achieve that success, in other words, what all you need to do in order to achieve that success.

    After that, you need to determine what you are willing to sacrifice in order to do whatever it takes

    to become successful. The last thing is to make this sacrifice, no matter what.

    2. Self-discipline and character

    The choices and decisions you made in the past have contributed the most to the life you live

    today. And these choices reflect your values and your values reflect your character and self-

    esteem.

    So next time you make a choice, make a hard choice and right choice, not an easy and wrong

    choice. Make the choices that make you feel uncomfortable.

    Because the choices you will make today will decide your future. Start living life with high value

    choices and see how it will improve your self-esteem.

    3. Self-discipline and responsibility

    Self-discipline

    Let me remind you one thing; your life is your responsibility, not anyone else’s. You are

    responsible and accountable for the decisions and actions that you make and take.

    I am reminding you of this because you might have a habit of blaming your financial situation,

    you parents, your friends etc. and might make a lot of excuses as to why your life is not what you

    want it to be.

    Take full responsibility for your life on your shoulder and stop blaming others. You are the

    the driver of the vehicle in which you complete the journey of your life.

    4. Self-discipline and goals

    The dreams you have are just wishes, not goals. Because you daydream about becoming

    successful but do you think without taking actions you could get there?

    Without actions, you can never get there. In certain studies, it was found that people who set

    specific goals, write them down and also write an action plan become successful much faster

    then the people who just wish their dreams come true.

    All you have to do is just take a piece of paper and write down your goals, the action plan and

    decide a deadline for the goals. And magically you will develop discipline.

    5. Self-discipline and personal excellence

    Your ability to become successful depends highly on your personal excellence. The best way to

    increase personal excellence is to invest in yourself. You should learn every day.

    Determine what all skills and knowledge you need to acquire to become successful. Then again

    the knowledge and skills. Keep learning every day. You can never be perfect in everything but

    you can definitely learn and master the skills.

    6. Self-discipline and courage

    Courage is the act of doing something even after being afraid that you might fail. You will

    always have fear whenever you try to do something big and meaningful in life. But this fear

    should not stop you.

    You actually need courage for two things: 1) Taking action, and 2) Being patient.

    Be courageous in your approach and don’t be afraid to risk failure. Yes, you might fail but at least

    you will learn from the experience. And being patient is simply continuing to work with the

    same enthusiasm even after seeing slow progress.

    7. Self-discipline and persistence

    Self-discipline

    The act of persistence is to keep moving forward even after failure, setbacks and obstacles. For

    staying persistent you need to have a never give up attitude.

    You should be ready for the worst-case scenario. Expect things to go wrong. Expect to fail. And

    then prepare how to deal with the failure and keep moving forward in a disciplined manner.

    Every failure will teach you a lesson so just focus on the lessons and make you one step wiser

    and try one more time

    8. Self-discipline and work

    An average human wastes around 50% of their time on tasks that are not meaningful. You need

    to set it clearly in your mind, what tasks are relevant and meaningful for you to do and what are not.

    In order to do this, you need to make a list of tasks according to the value these tasks bring to

    you. In other words, prioritize the tasks.

    You can also use the 80/20 principle, that 20% of the tasks will bring you 80% of the value.

    Doing so will make you more productive at work.

    Ways to develop self-discipline

    1. Set long term and short term goals with a deadline

    Everyone wants to achieve something big in their life but only a few are able to do it. It is

    because only those few people set actual goals and others just have dreams. The difference

    between dreams and goals is that a goal is very specific.

    Write down what you want to achieve in a long term. Then break these goals into short term

    tasks. For example, you want to make one million dollars within the next 12 months. This is your

    long term goal.

    When you break it into months, for instance, 85000 dollars every month then it becomes a short

    term goal. You can even further divide it into weekly goals and daily goals. It will keep you self-

    motivated and hence will help you in developing self-discipline. Just always make sure your

    goals have a deadline

    2. Find your Purpose and motivation

    So now that you are done with goal setting its time to find your purpose and motivation. To

    motivate yourself you need to know your “why”. And your “why” is your purpose.

    Simply ask yourself “why should I achieve my goals?” and what will happen if I don’t achieve

    my goals?”

    These two questions will give you clarity on your purpose and help in building motivation to

    achieve the set goals. And as a result, it will help in developing self-discipline.

    3. Develop an action plan

    Writing an Action Plan: Four Steps to Implementing Change - Aquatic  Exercise Association

    After knowing your purpose and building motivation you will be ready to work. So now it’s time

    to develop an action plan. The action plan will contain a detailed picture of what you want to do

    and what steps are required to be taken to achieve your goals.

    An action plan should be reviewed and updated after a certain period of time. Keep improving it.

    Not making an action plan can also be a reason why you lack self-discipline. An action plan will

    always remind you what action you need to take and when you need to do it.

    4. Avoid Temptations

    Sometimes what happens is you have gained self-discipline for a few weeks but suddenly you

    see a decrease in discipline and motivation. This happens because of the distractions you

    encounter.

    You have to start avoiding these distractions and temptation. Try switching off your mobile

    phone or anything that distracts you. Set a certain time for indulging in such activities.

    Distraction can be the most influential cause for lack of self-discipline.

    5. Stop complaining

    Just stop making excuses. As mentioned earlier, you are alone responsible for what choices you

    make. So you can choose to make excuses or choose to take action.

    If you always find an excuse as to why you can’t do something, just think about a person who

    was in a much worse condition than you are in was able to accomplish the task that you also want

    to accomplish.

    Just imagine you have a great business idea but just because you have a habit of making excuses

    you didn’t start working on it. Now after 2-3 years you read in the news that a person who

    worked on the same idea that you had has become a multimillionaire. How will you feel?

    If you have an idea or a meaningful goal, take it as a blessing and start working towards it from

    today itself. “You always have less time than you think you have.”

    6. Develop habits

    Self-discipline

    When you try to develop a new habit the brain will make you feel uncomfortable as it doesn’t

    like change. So remember “don’t hesitate to make yourself uncomfortable.”

    As we discussed earlier self-discipline and courage, you need to be courageous with your

    actions.

    And the funny thing is that your brain will soon become comfortable with the uncomfortable. So

    keep taking actions until you develop a habit to do it.

    7. Monitor your progress

    Always keep a track of your progress. It will show how far you have come. Sometimes you will

    see very fast progress and other times you will see slow progress. So remember that you have to

    be patient and keep moving forward. Think long term and realize how small progress every day

    will become big progress in the next 4-5 years. “Slow progress is also progress.”

    Conclusion

    Before trying to develop self-discipline you should build the right mind-set. Then set goals, find

    your purpose, prepare an action plan, avoid any distractions and excuses, build a habit and keep

    track of your progress. Be courageous and never be afraid to make yourself uncomfortable.

    Also you can read our blog on How self-motivated are you?

    FAQ’s

  • Self-motivation: 5 Practical steps to motivate yourself

    Self-motivation: 5 Practical steps to motivate yourself

    Self-motivation is something all the successful people have in common. Self-motivated people

    are aware that they have to motivate themselves as no one else is going to do it for them.

    WHAT’S IN IT

    What is self-motivation?

    Self-motivation

    Self-motivation is the internal feeling that drives your actions towards your goals without any

    external force. It is the art of motivating yourself to accomplish your tasks. As it is an art so

    everyone can and should master it.

    How to motivate yourself?

    Okay so you all know how important it is to stay self-motivated, but the question is how to

    motivate yourself? Here I will share with you some tried and tested practical ways to become

    motivated. You have to keep in mind that if you will not implement these strategies then you

    might not see results as expected.

    Strategies to motivate yourself

    5 Step Process

    • Write yourself a letter of gratitude
    • Know your WHY
    • Prepare an ACTION PLAN
    • Visualization
    • Create a reward system

    Bonus Tips

    • Change your surrounding
    • Every day do one thing that you are afraid of
    • Read inspirational stories
    • Write a letter to your future self
    • Dress accordingly
    • Join a group with same goals as your
    • Build a habit and maintain a streak

    Write yourself a letter of gratitude

    Writing a letter to yourself reminding how much proud you are of yourself, your strengths,

    blessings and your accomplishments, basically write down everything you are grateful for. It will

    give you a sense of gratitude that you might be missing.

    You can even write down some beautiful memories that bring a smile on your face every time

    you remember them. But remember it that you should write down on a paper, not on you mobile

    or computer.

    Now you might be thinking how it can help you motivate yourself. The answer is that the

    negativity in your mind blurs your vision to see how amazing you are and as a result it damages

    your belief system. You have to remind yourself that you have and you can accomplish all your

    goals, it will help you eliminate the fear that stops you from taking the first step. So every once

    in a while write down everything you are grateful for.

    Know your WHY

    Knowing your WHY means knowing your purpose behind doing something. The stronger the

    purpose you have for doing something, the stronger your motivation will be to do it. But the

    question is how you can find your purpose. The answer is really simple; JUST ASK “WHY I SHOULD DO IT?”

    Let’s take an example, imagine you have an exam next week but you don’t feel like studying. So

    ask yourself, why should I study? I should study because the knowledge I will gain from

    studying will help me become a better person and eventually I can make this world a better

    place.

    Ask the same question again. Why should I make this world a better place? Because God gave

    you the privilege to be able to study in a school, while a lot of children don&#39;t have enough

    resources to study. So if you study and work hard you could change the lives of thousands of

    children.

    How would you feel after changing so many people&#39;s lives? You will feel so good and proud of

    yourself. This feeling should help you motivate yourself. Keep asking yourself why I should do

    it till you get a strong purpose and strong motivation.

    Prepare an ACTION PLAN

    Self-motivation

    If you are aware of your roles and what actions are expected from you, it keeps you motivated.

    So always right down an action plan on a sheet of paper describing every step you need to take.

    Steps to make an action plan:

    Set SMART goals

    SMART goal stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and

    Time based. Let’s understand the concept of smart goals with the help of an example.

    Let’s say your company’s goal is to increase sales. Do you think it’s a SMART goal? It’s not, as

    you can see it’s not specific, time bound and measurable.

    How to set a SMART goal? Write down the goal in the most specific manner as you can. Here,

    the SMART goal would be – To increase sales, by 15% of the last 3 months sales, within the

    time frame of the next 3 months.

    Now as you can see this goal is specific, can be measured, can be achieved, is relevant and is

    time bound. A goal should always have a deadline.

    Learn more about SMART goals (INTERNAL LINKING)

    Identify all tasks and actions to be done

    List down all the tasks to be done, depending on the tasks nature of the task decide what should be done immediately, what task to be done later and what task to be delegated.

    Priorities tasks

    Before you begin with prioritising just check are there any tasks that can be

    done in just 2 to 5 minutes. If yes, then do these tasks first.

    So after finishing these tasks you should prioritize the remaining task on the basis of its

    importance and the deadline attached to it.

    Set short-term goals

    Taking the previous example, as you have to increase sales by 15% in

    the next 3 months you might not be continuously motivated throughout these 3 months. So to

    overcome this challenge you should set short term goals like increasing the sales by 5% within

    the next month. These short term goals will keep you motivated throughout the 3 months. So

    setting short term goals is also a great way of self-motivation.

    Implementation

    Now that the goal is set, tasks are decided and prioritised; it’s time to take

    action. So take the first step towards your goal and keep a record of your accomplishments.

    Keeping a record of your progress will help you stay motivated.

    Visualization

    Sometimes what happens is that you have made a good action plan with SMART goals but in

    your mind you still believe that you cannot accomplish this goal as it is really hard to do.

    Now here, your belief system is not supporting you and as a result you will not feel self-

    motivated. So to overcome this challenge you have to start visualising yourself where you want

    to be. Start living the life you want to create. Imagine yourself as an achiever.

    By imagining that you have already achieved your goals your mind starts to believe it. The mind

    doesn’t recognise the truth and the lie so it believes what we picture all the time. That’s the

    reason visualisation techniques work so well. So use it to attain self-motivation.

    By visualization you develop positive thought that you can achieve your goals. After that these

    thoughts develop a good and positive belief system. Which in turn develops a great attitude for

    success, and a great attitude leads to a great feeling about your goals and yourself. And finally a

    great feeling leads to great action and behaviour.

    Visualization will help you in staying hungry.

    Create a reward system

    How do you create a functional employee reward program? | by Ted Bauer |  The Startup | Medium

    Reward yourself every time you accomplish a task, it will keep you motivated.

    For example, assuming you were able to achieve the goal of increasing the sales by 5% within

    the first month, throw yourself a party, by yourself some new shirts or attend a concert. Just

    reward yourself for every small or big accomplishment. You deserve it. Rewarding yourself will

    always help you stay self-motivated.

    Bonus Tips on Motivating Yourself

    Change your surrounding

    ● Keep your surrounding clean; sometimes the surrounding is more influential than the

    willingness of a person.

    • Make your bed every day just after waking up.
    • Hang motivational quotes in the office or where you work at home.
    • Keep things organized so that it becomes easier to find the right thing at the right time.

    Every day do one thing that you are afraid of

    • See problems as a challenge and no matter how much afraid you are to do it just take the first small step.
    • Doing this will develop self-belief and will keep you self-motivated throughout your journey. So given below are a few things that you can start with:
    • You can talk to strangers every day.
    • Volunteer to speak on the stage.
    • Decide whom you have to get rid of to make your life peaceful.
    • Call the friend that you haven’t talked in a long time.
    • Apply for that course, training, classes you thought you couldn’t do.

    Read inspirational stories

    ● You sometimes lack motivation because you believe these few things are impossible to

    be done.

    ● Reading how a person who had nothing in his/her hands accomplished the same tasks that

    you think is impossible to be done, will open your mind and show you that it’s possible.

    ● Just type in Google and read one every few days.

    ● Sometimes you need external motivation to help you in self-motivation. Therefore, watch

    motivational videos and listen to motivational songs etc.

    Write a letter to your future self

    Self-motivation
    • Write a letter to the person you want to become in the next 5 years.
    • In that letter promise yourself that after 5 year you will become this person.
    • Mention the hard work it will take to become that person.
    • This will always help in self-motivation as you will be aware of what you want to become.
    • You can also write a letter to your past self, thanking him/her for making you who you are today.

    Dress accordingly

    ● How you dress has a strong influence on how you feel.

    ● For example, you are working from home, yes you don’t have to show you face to

    anyone so you wear whatever you feel like. It’s wrong, where exactly what you would

    have worn if you were supposed to go to the office.

    ● It will keep you highly motivated.

    Join a group with same goals as yours

    ● Surround yourself with people who have the same goals as yours. As a result you will be

    highly engaged in achieving your goals.

    ● So join a group of people you share your goals with.

    ● When you will see everyone working towards their goal, which is your goal too, you will

    push yourself to work harder than before.

    ● Believe it’s one of the best ways of self-motivation.

    Build a habit and maintain a streak

    ● Make accomplishing a task an everyday habit.

    ● Try to maintain the streak as a result it will help you in motivating yourself.

    Conclusion

    To conclude we can say that self-motivation is an art everyone should master to become a

    successful person. I recommend you to follow each and every step effectively. Write yourself a

    letter of gratitude, write every task down, prepare an action plan, visualize and give yourself a

    reward every time you accomplish a task.

    Thanks for reading the article. I hope you have learned how to motivate yourself.

    Also you can read our blog on 9 life lessons that you can learn from sports

    FAQ’s

  • Golden Rules of Goal Setting: 5 Rules to Set Yourself Up for Success

    Golden Rules of Goal Setting: 5 Rules to Set Yourself Up for Success

    Goal setting is considered to be the most important factor for achieving success in life. So there

    are some golden rules for goal setting that you should keep in mind to set yourself up for success.

    WHAT’S IN IT

    How to set goals?

    Setting Goals | WorkCompass

    Goal setting is an art that everyone should master. If you are able to set goals but are not able to

    achieve them, then you are lacking the art of goal setting. So, how to set goals? Below are the 5

    golden rules goal setting that you should keep in mind.

    5 Golden rules of goal setting

    1) Set goals that motivate you

    Not every goal that you have needs to be accomplished. If you are chasing a no. of goals at the

    same time then it will become really difficult and frustrating to achieve them. Change goals that

    you feel are meaningful that give your life a purpose. Your brain can only commit to goals that it

    finds important and valuable.

    Tips on how to set goals that motivate you.

    ● Note all your goals down. Rate them according to their relevance and the value they bring

    to you. As the goals are now prioritized so prioritize your work accordingly.

    ● You can also do this by elimination method. In this method, you start by eliminating the

    goals that are not worthy enough for you.

    ● Now, be aware of the benefits of achieving your goals. As a result, these benefits will help

    you motivate yourself

    ● Attach your goals to your purpose and values. For example, if you feel like you are a

    a person who wants to make this world a better place, then you should set goals that will

    help you make this world a better place.

    2) Set SMART goals

    The Importance of Setting SMART Goals

    S – Specific

    Your brain wants clarity in everything that you want to do. So when you are setting goals make

    them as specific as possible. Specific goals will provide you with the exact direction in which you

    need to move forward.

    Tips on setting specific goals

    ● Define what exactly you want to achieve. For example, you want a promotion from

    business development executive to business development manager.

    ● Define why you want what you want. For example, you want that promotion to boost

    your passion and ambition or to earn more or to reach a better status.

    ● Define what you are required to achieve the goal. For example, for that promotion, you would

    require to complete all your sales targets on time.

    So here, your specific goal will look like this – “My goal is to get a promotion to business

    development manager, by overachieving my sales targets, so that I can boost my ambition and

    passion.”

    M – Measurable

    Now that you have set a specific goal, it’s time to make it measurable. The progress you make

    can only be measured by quantifying it. Making it measurable will help you stay focused and

    motivated as you would know how much you are lacking so you could make changes in your

    approach.

    Tips on making your goals measurable

    ● Define the amount of output you need to get to reach your goal.

    ● Continuing the previous example, the goal can be to over achieve your sales target by

    15%.

    ● Keep a written record of your goal and progress so that you keep updating them as you

    reach near to your goal.

    So here a measurable goal can be – “My goal is to get a promotion to business development

    manager, by overachieving my sales targets by 15%, so that I can boost my ambition and

    passion.”

    A – Achievable

    Your goal should be attainable. Don’t get overexcited when setting goals because you might set

    unrealistic goals which you can’t even achieve. Such a goal will make you frustrated and

    demotivated to achieve them. So always have realistic goals.

    Tips on setting goals that are achievable

    ● Ask yourself are your goals frustrating. Do you feel like you can achieve it in the

    given period of time?

    ● If the goals are frustrating and you feel like you can’t achieve them in the given time then

    it’s time to change the goal to something that is attainable.

    ● One way to make goals achievable is to simply break them into smaller parts. Break the

    long term goals into short term goals.

    So here, continuing the previous example, you should ask yourself can you get that promotion in

    the time frame that you have set for yourself. And can you over achieve your sales target by

    15%. If no, then reduce this number or break this goal into small parts and then try to achieve

    them.

    R – Relevant

    Your goals should be relevant to your ultimate goals. Most people waste their time and energy

    on tasks and goals which are not even relevant to them. If the goals are not relevant you might

    feel discouraged because you will see zero progress in your end goal.

    Tips on setting relevant goals

    • Ask yourself are your short term goals worthy enough to help you reach your end goal.
    • Make sure it is the right time to work on these goals.
    • Compare whether the outcome of achieving these goals is worth the efforts you will put into it.

    T – Time-bound

    A goal is of no value without a deadline. A deadline helps you push yourself to achieve your

    goals. A deadline will make you self-disciplined. So set a fixed date for the completion of your

    goals.

    Tips on setting time-bound goals

    ● Simply decide when can you achieve your goals and stay realistic in this approach.

    ● Continuing the previous example, attach a deadline to your goal of getting a promotion. It

    can be the next six months or a year.

    So here, your final goal can be – “My goal is to get a promotion to business development

    manager by the end of the upcoming 6 months, by overachieving my sales targets by 15%, so that I

    can boost my ambition and passion.”

    Setting SMART goals is considered to be the most important golden rule for goal setting.

    3) Write your goals down

    WHY YOU NEED TO WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS! – SELF-AWAKENING BY SATMIS

    Now that you know how to set goals that motivate you and how to set SMART goals, it’s time to

    write these goals down. Studies have shown that people who write their goals have a 97% more

    chance to achieve them as compared to people who don’t write their goals down.

    By writing down your goals you are putting a picture of your vision in front of you. It will act as

    a guide and a reminder of your goals.

    Tips on how to write your goals down

    ● Write your goals on a sheet of paper with your own hand. Like don’t write them on an

    electronic device.

    Read them on a regular basis in order to remind and motivate yourself.

    Write both short term and long term goals.

    Write your goal as a positive statement. For example, I will contact 20% more prospects

    every day in order to overachieve my sales target.

    4) Make an action plan

    What's your Emergency Action Plan? - Poole Group

    The next golden rule of goal setting is to prepare an action plan.

    So till now, you have written all your goals down and it’s time to make a detailed action plan.

    How would you feel if you had a clear destination but did not know how to reach there? You will

    feel really demotivated.

    This is the same thing that happens with your goals if you don’t prepare an action plan. With an

    the action plan you can prepare every step in advance that is required to be taken to achieve your

    goals.

    Tips on how to prepare an action plan

    Identify all the tasks that need to be done to achieve your goals.

    Write to each and every step required to be taken.

    Identify the resources you might require in performing the tasks. Gather these resources

    before or at the time of performing the tasks.

    ● Identify which tasks can be delegated.

    ● Keep reviewing and updating the action plan.

    Learn how to prepare an action plan in detail

    https://creately.com/blog/diagrams/how-to-write-an-action-plan/

    5) Stick with your goals and plans

    The next most important thing after goal setting and making the action plan is to take the action.

    Now what might happen is that you will start to feel that the action plan is not good enough if

    your goals are not good enough. To overcome this challenge all you need to do is stick with it. In

    other words, you need to develop self-discipline and keep working towards your goals.

    Tips on how to stick with your goals

    ● Read your goals and action plan on a daily basis.

    ● Remind yourself of your purpose behind achieving this goal so that it keeps you

    motivated.

    ● Remind yourself of the benefits of achieving your goals.

    ● Start your day with the most valuable task. It will give you a kick start.

    ● Set a fixed period of time for reviewing your goals.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, we can say that goal setting is one of the most important factors that make a big

    difference in your success. Always set a goal no matter what. Start by setting goals that will help

    you accomplish something valuable to you. Make these goals as specific as possible. And don’t

    forget to stick with them.

    Also you can read our blog on Time Management: How The Pickle Jar Theory Will Help You

    FAQ’s