We’ve all been there: the alarm goes off, we’re feeling groggy, reach out and slap it to snooze. Five minutes later, the same things happens. We switch the alarm off again. The thought of getting out of bed seems like way too much effort. We know that, once we get up, we have to launch into the day – that to-do list we made last night, those  chores that need doing…

If you have to get yourself up to get to work by 8am, you’ll manage it. But if you work for yourself, if you’re a student, or if it’s the weekend, it can be a lot tougher.

Why do we end up talking ourselves into staying in bed … even when, if we think about it rationally, we’d much rather be getting on with something than going through the alarm-snooze-alarm-snooze cycle of supremely low-quality sleep?

Note: I’m not talking about depression here. If you think you might be depressed, please consult your doctor and get professional help and advice.

What’s Your Motivation?

First off, why are you getting out of bed? Why don’t you just spend the whole day lying around, snoozing, eating toast (and getting crumbs in the sheets)?

If you’re the type of person who can spring out of bed at dawn, just because it’s a beautiful day, gosh darn it, and you’re out to change the world, etc., then congratulations. You’re probably one of those weirdos that doesn’t drink coffee in the morning either.

(Michael Harrison, 10 Geeky Tricks for Getting Out of Bed in the Morning, Wired.com)

I’ll bet you’ve got something important that you want to do: some reason that’ll get you excited enough to want to get out of bed. Find something that’s meaningful to you and make that your reason to get up in the morning.

It might be having time to exercise. It might be spending the first hour of your day writing your novel. It might be your chance to work on your small business before the workday. It might be the child-free time you get to put your thoughts straight.

Starting off your day with your hardest task (also known as “eating that frog”) can be counter-productive if it discourages you from getting out of bed! So, for a change, plan something that’s fun and energizing for the start of your day. It could be as simple as a tasty breakfast, or your favorite soap in the shower.

Don’t Think Too Much

There’s definitely a danger in thinking too much when you’re feeling groggy. It’s very easy to start running through your to-do list (“I must phone Jack … and clear my inbox … and clean the kitchen …”) and frankly, you can end up feeling exhausted just thinking about all those tasks.

I like Steve Pavlina’s method of not thinking about getting up: just get out of bed and start moving – your mind will catch up with you!

If you find yourself running through everything you need to do in the day, stop. Focus on that first half hour or hour of your day – the one thing you really want to get out of bed for. Then throw off the covers and move those legs!

Practical Tips

Sometimes, a deep-seated reluctance to get out of bed isn’t just due to a lack of motivation. You can help yourself by implementing a few very practical ideas:

Go to Bed Earlier

I know this sounds ridiculously obvious, but if you go to bed late and try to get up at 6am, you’re going to struggle. If you’re prone to getting distracted by watching TV, writing blog posts or hanging out on Twitter, set an alarm to tell you when to go to bed. You could also ask a spouse or housemate to remind you at, say, 10.30pm if you’re not already heading to bed.

Make sure you’re getting good quality sleep, too.

Put Your Alarm Across the Room

As a teen, I realized I can reach out, switch off an alarm, and go straight back to sleep. Since then, I’ve always positioned my alarm clock across the room, so that I have to get out of bed to switch it off. So long as you stay out of bed once you’re up, you’re there!

Have Your Clothes Ready

One of my dozy excuses for not getting out of bed is often “I can’t decide what I’m going to wear.” (Given that the answer is usually “jeans and a t-shirt”, I’m not quite sure why this causes such early-morning angst. It may be a throwback to my teen years…) If you make a similarly crap excuse, there’s a pretty simple solution: put out your clothes the night before.

(If you’re inclined towards morning exercising, set your gym kit ready too.)

So … are you one of those lucky folks who can wake up feeling well-rested and enthusiastic before the alarm? Or do you have mornings where you tell yourself “just five more minutes” for two hours? What tips – or cautionary tales – do you have for morning sluggards?

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

A 3 Step Routine To Boost Energy

5 Unusual Ways To Get Super Quality Sleep

Some mornings, you don’t want to get out of bed. Your goals and projects don’t fire you with enthusiasm – they make you feel exhausted. It seems like you’ve been working on them forever, and you still have a long way to go.

You feel like you’re beating your head against a brick wall. You’re not making progress – or you’re forcing yourself onwards with gritted teeth, if you are. This happens with all sorts of goals in different areas of life:

• You dread going to the gym because you’re finding it so boring
• You can’t face spending another evening working on your side business
• Your garage is still full of junk, even though you’ve spent several weekends trying to clear it
• Your novel is languishing in a bottom desk drawer
• You’re swamped by books and papers and journals for your research project

However motivated and enthused you feel when you start working towards a major goal, there’s bound to be a point where you just want to throw your hands in the air and quit. Here’s what to do when you’re feeling utterly demotivated.

Take a Break

First off, take a break. Powering on through when things are grim can bring a certain masochistic satisfaction, but it’s often not a good way to get your motivation back. If you’re feeling exhausted, stressed out or miserable when you try to work on your goal, that’s a sign that you need to step back and have a rest.

I don’t mean that you should give up as soon as you feel any slight reluctance; you’d probably never accomplish anything if you did that. But if you learn to recognize when you’re in need of a real break, you’ll give yourself a better chance of getting to your goal.

List Your Achievements

It’s easy to get demotivated when you feel that you’ve been working hard for a long time without any real results. So sit down and list what you’ve achieved so far. Don’t dismiss what you’ve already done as being “small” or “silly”. Simply getting started is an achievement

You might want to think about:

• Where am I now compared with a year ago?
• Have I made measureable gains? (Eg. “Lost 5lbs” or “wrote 2,000 words”)
• Have I gained new skills? (Eg. “learnt to cook lasagne”)
• Have I tried something for the first time? (Eg. “spoke at Toastmasters”)

Listing what you’ve already achieved helps you to get back your motivation because it makes you focus on the distance you’ve already travelled. You’ve come this far: you know you can go further.

Look at the Bigger Picture

Next, turn your attention to the big picture. When you’re slogging away on a long-term project, it’s easy to lose sight of the awesome goal that inspired you in the first place. The small actions that you take each day may seem insignificant – but when you look at them in the context of a month or a year, you can see how they’ll build up.

Try to rediscover your original motivation. Think about the marathon day, or wearing smaller clothes, or having that novel in the bookshops, or having a small business that supports you full-time. Those are the things that will excite you and give you the motivation you need for the day-to-day work.

Many people get a sense of energy and enthusiasm through sharing their goals with others. Pick a friend or relative who’s always encouraging, and chat to them about your plans. This is another good way to re-find the motivation that got you started towards a goal.

Work out the Next Step

A lack of motivation is often due to not knowing quite what to do next. Typically, you’ll find that you’re stuck because the forward path isn’t obvious. You might think there’s no path at all, or you might have so many directions to choose from that you’re paralysed.

Looking at the big picture gives you the perspective you need to make a decision. In many cases, there won’t be one perfect route towards your goal. Find one step that you can take which would get you closer. Don’t worry about mapping out the whole path: often, your options will become clearer once you’ve made some further progress.

Take Action

The final step to getting yourself motivated again is to take action. Put that next step into your diary, and make a real commitment to doing it. You won’t stay motivated if you make promises to yourself which you don’t keep.

What could you do to get a bit closer to one of your goals?

Do you need to take some time “off” from the goal, to replenish your energy stocks?

If you’re not sure what to do next, can you ask someone for help?

Is there some small action you can take in order to make progress today?

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

Overcoming A Loss Of Motivation

Free Audio Books For Motivation

Image courtesy of Krystal ‘Kito’ Cunningham

Yippee! It’s Monday. I am dying to get started with this exciting week.

Do you utter these words while making your way out of the bed on Monday mornings? Do you jump out of bed every morning in the state of excitement?

If your answer to this is “ Yes” then let me tell you that you are already living a life full of passion.

But if you are like most of us who are sleepwalking through life your answer to this would be “No! I would prefer to stay in the state of slumber. My dream world is far more alluring than my real world.”

We all go through life dealing with mundane matters. There are times when we feel that there is something missing in life, that there is something more to life. We might even try to dismiss this feeling of inner void by saying “ How  could I be so greedy? My life is just fine. I should stop asking for more and be happy with what I have.” With this notion deeply rooted in our mind, we consider ourselves to be happy. But deep down our heart we are still craving for a life that is more joyous and more exciting.

Whether we realize it or not, this kind of superficial living is self –destructive. We are sabotaging our growth and falling prey to our circumstances. Our life is meant to be colorful and enthralling and passion is what makes our life fulfilling in the true sense. Everyone is capable of pursuing their passion. All we need is a little effort towards creating our dream life.

What is “Passion”?

The word passion has lost its charm and true meaning these days. We find people using this word when they are vaguely referring to a desire or hobby. Passion goes beyond the realms of wants and desires. We all wish for several things in our life. But are we really passionate about them? Are we ready to go out of our way to achieve them? We need to ponder over these questions to identify our passions and discern them from mere wants.

Why is passion so imperative in life?

A source of motivation

On windy days we often notice leaves tossing and turning around, acting according to the whims of the wind. The wind says “Go east”. The leaf goes east. The wind says “ Go west”. The leaf goes west. The wind says “ Stop”. The leaf stops flying. Without passion we are like this leaf. We might know where we want to go but our lack of motivation will easily derail us from our track. Our Passion transforms us into an arrow. The storm might knock the arrow off course but it would keep flying. Passion provides us motivation to keep moving whenever life tries to knock us down.

The secret of success

Have you ever noticed that most of the millionaires and successful entrepreneurs are high school drop outs.  Almost none of them finished college. What makes it possible for these people who might seem ordinary to have an extraordinary life? The answer is passion. Think of all great achievers and you will be struck by their passion. Mahatma Gandhi’s passion for human rights, Winston Churchill’s passion for freedom, Bill Gates’s passion for technology. All these successful people have proved the fact that “The only path leading to success is the path paved with passion.”

Now that you know why passion is so relevant in life, let us look into some ways to nurture passion in life.

Ways to rekindle passion in life:

Look within

“I just can’t find my passion” I often hear people say. In this world where we are tuned in, logged on or dialed in virtually non- stop, taking time to let ourselves contemplate is very rare. But quiet reflective time is all it takes to find our passion. Try taking a trip down memory lane. What was that one thing you could for hours and hours when you were a child? It gave you so much pleasure that you lost track of time. I discovered most of my passions by ruminating over the things I loved to do as a child.

Beware of the thief

Our passion is like a precious pearl we possess. There is a thief who goes around stealing our passions. This thief of passion is nothing but fear. Fear of change, fear of failure, fear of stepping out of our comfort zone. This fear is what deters most people from pursuing their passion. If you want to live a more fulfilling life then you have to let go of your fears. Never let your passion get stolen by your fears.

Shield your passion from naysayers

“ Have you gone crazy” “ Forget it you will never make it” This is what we get to hear when we decide to go off the beaten path to pursue our passion. Do not let these pessimistic people derail you from your path. Following the herd will not get you anywhere but following you heart will surely take you to your dreams. So shield yourself form the outer noise and just tune into your heart.

Align your passion with your profession

Your passion need not be restricted to your weekends. Many people have found ways to turn their passion into rewarding career. I recently read an article about a bus driver in Chicago who sings while he drives. Apart from attracting passengers his unique style of driving attracted even the media. When he was being interviewed on television, he said “Don’t call me a driver. I am a professional singer. My passion is singing not driving. I only drive to get a captive audience every single day”. Here is a person who has found a creative way to align his passion with his occupation. Like this “Singing driver” you too can find ways to align your job with your passion.

Mingle with passionate people

Ever noticed that person who always seems to have spring in his step and a spark in his eyes. Passionate people can easily be spotted in a flock of people. They have an aura of positivity and charm that draws other people to them. And what more their passion is contagious so that the people who interact with them also get infected with it. Whenever you feel that you have lost your fire get around these fire lighters. By spending time with passionate people you can’t help getting infected with their passion.

Keep your eyes wide open

Explore for new passions when you feel that the old ones have just faded away. Do not hesitate to experiment. You never know when   you would stumble upon a new one that can rekindle the joy in life. I personally believe in having a variety of passions in life. I feel each of my passions add a new color to my life thereby making it more colorful.

Swati Ramnath is a Guest Blogger and avid reader of PickTheBrain.

Krystal ‘Kito’ Cunningham is a Photographer from Hawaii and her piece: Reflections Of The Heart is a selection from our  PTB Blog Art Submissions Project.

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

10 Morning Habits To Build Your Day Upon

Important Vs. Urgent: 5 Ways To Focus on What Matters

]]> http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/fire-up-your-life/feed/ 7 http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/single-task-multi-task/ http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/single-task-multi-task/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:17:06 +0000 John Anyasor http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/single-task-multi-task/
photo credit: Dakimapics

There are no shortage of ‘experts’ that claim to know the secret of maximum productivity. At first someone will swear that the only way to really get things done is to multi-task: more done, less time. Then immediately someone will counter that it’s far simpler, more effective and rewarding and ultimately more ‘zen’ to do one task at a time: single-tasking.

It’s time to stop the confusion. Is one method really better than the other or does it just depend on the individual using either method?

Let’s clear things up, shall we:

Single-tasking: Do one thing at a time to be more effective

Ah, the age-old art of doing less to achieve more. This has been beaten to death for centuries. When you focus all of your efforts on just one thing, it’s assumed you will complete it to the best of your ability. While this is mostly the case, single-tasking is significantly more time consuming. If you want to create a masterpiece it will take time. So much time, in fact, that you might lose track of your other assignments.

There are even times when you’ll be trying to complete a task, and still be unable to tackle it. This, of course, leaves the task uncompleted and you having accomplished less than expected.

Despite getting only one thing done at a time as opposed to many things, the return on that one thing will no doubt be tremendous. All the work you put into the task will be reflected in how effectively you completed it. There will also be a greater sense of reward having completed something start to finish and these small victories, on a daily basis, can ultimately have a very positive mental effect.

Multi-tasking: Do more in less time.

That’s the basic idea of muti-tasking. Though personal development sites collectively hail that single-tasking is more effective (heck, even I support it), multi-tasking is still effective in getting things done. To be fair, multi-tasking has benefits that doing one thing at a time doesn’t.

As I’ve stated above, you get more done. A perfectly legitimate example is that you’re working on a project for your business and you also have a baby to take care of.  Will you just drop caring for the baby while you finish that big project? Or will you nuture your little bundle of joy at the risk of losing your job? Better yet, would you fare better to manage both simultaneously? I don’t know about you, but the last choice looks the best to me.

Though multi-tasking does have its benefits, there are times when it can get a bit overwhelming. Taking on a lot of difficult projects at once is definitely not a good idea. By doing this, you spread yourself too thin and the law of diminishing returns begins to kick in.

Which Method is Better?

Both methods clearly have their respective pitfalls, but which method comes out on top? Single-tasking allows you to zero in on a task and get it done sufficiently, but multi-tasking gives you a wider range in which to get your tasks done at the expense of depth of understanding.

The answer then, lies not in the general, but the specific – as with most things in life. Different tasks, assigned by different people with different expectations, must be looked at on a case-by- case basis. There is no blanket answer as no two situations nor two people are alike.

Why Not Do Both?

Is there are rule that explicitly states that, “Thou shalt not single-task and multi-task at the same time?” Neither method is better than the other because they are both useful in getting things done. You don’t have to multi-task two big things in order to get them done quicker, because it’s possible that you’ll fail at completing both of them. Spending your valuable time single-tasking small problems can lead to overestimating them.

The solution is to multi-task the small things and single-task the big things. However, what if there are two large tasks to do? Should you still multi-task? The short answer is yes. Break up both tasks into smaller tasks and do them simultaneously. The long answer is that it depends on the task and which one you think requires more attention than the other. Some things aren’t easy to chop into chunks and can only be single-tasked, whereas some things can only be multi-tasked.

Multi-task or Single-task? The choice is yours

Not everyone can multi-task. It’s not a matter of brain capacity or time management skills. Some of us just feel that it’s more convenient to do a single task until it’s done. In addition, not everyone is comfortable with single-tasking. Some people just have to do something else in order to periodically take their mind off of the task at hand; they can’t sit still and focus on one thing at time.

But it doesn’t matter what I say. Nor does it matter what any other personal development blogger might tell you. No one way is “the” way to go. Both methods are very person specific, knowing what type of person you are will dictate your choices. The important point is to honestly evaluate your strengths, weaknesses and work habits, and approach each task conscious of these traits. Then experiment with different combinations to suit your needs.

Which do YOU think is better? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

John Anyasor is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain who writes for the HiLife2B: Blog on Personal Improvement for a Good Life. He gives advice on personal development, life lessons, college life tips, and more.

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Want to Learn How To Get Motivated? Click Here!

Related Articles:

Triple Your Productivity Tomorrow

A Productivity Filled Day

Artwork courtesy of Amy Buchheit

Some days, you wake up early, storm through tons of work before lunch, and come to the evening feeling as though you’ve accomplished a lot. For many of us, though, those days are the exception rather than a rule. Perhaps you’re reading this in the middle of a rather unproductive day. Maybe you woke up late, spent time procrastinating, had to deal with a dozen “urgent” little tasks, or simple got interrupted every five minutes.

If it feels like your day is slipping through your fingers, here’s how to turn things around and make that unproductive day into a fulfilling one:

Stop and Take Stock

So often, we end up in “reaction mode”, responding in a knee-jerk way to things as they come up. This is generally an ineffective way to work: you often end up dealing with fairly low-priority tasks simply because they’re the ones which present themselves.

When your day’s running away from you, take just five minutes to completely stop. Close your email program and your browser, or simply switch off your computer monitor. Think about what you want to accomplish today. Are you on track? If not, what’s gone wrong – and how can you pull things back into line?

Pick One Important Project or Task

As you take stock of your unproductive day so far, work out one important project or task that you want to get done, something that will give your day a sense of meaning and purpose. Perhaps it’s something you’ve been putting off, like writing an important letter or email. Maybe it’s the first step in a new course of action, like signing up for a course or seminar. It could be something that will take you further towards an important goal – perhaps getting your business’s website online.

Spend An Hour Focusing On This

A whole hour of focused attention is long enough to make meaningful progress. Let everything else slide for an hour, and spend that time concentrating on your one important thing. Your emails, and phone calls can wait until that hour’s up. It might help to set a timer. If your task involves writing, try using a full-screen program like Dark Room. Shut down your email – or even disconnect your computer from the internet if it helps.

Eliminate As Many Distractions As Possible

You might have to struggle to find just one hour to devote to something truly important. To keep your day on productive lines, eliminate the distractions that are sapping your focus. That might mean that you close your email and leave it closed until it’s nearly the end of your working day. Perhaps you’ll let your phone go to voicemail. Let your colleagues know you’d appreciate only being interrupted in a real emergency – or if you work from home, explain to your family that you could really use some uninterrupted time.

Challenge Yourself to Be Productive

Some unproductive days aren’t simply caused by us succumbing to distractions – they’re partially influenced by external events. Maybe you have several meetings scheduled, a lot of family duties, or various chores to run. Challenge yourself to squeeze in as much productive work as you can: perhaps you’ll jot down some notes while waiting in line at the post office, or maybe you can blitz through some emails with your toddler on your lap. If you have routine chores to do around the house, listen to audio books or podcasts during them – it’s a great way to fit some learning into your day.

Review Your Day

When you’ve had an unproductive day, don’t waste time and energy feeling guilty about it. See it instead as an opportunity to learn about the conditions in which you work best. Spend ten minutes reviewing how your day went, asking questions like:
•    Where did things start going wrong? (eg. “I woke up late”, “I checked my email first thing”)
•    What distractions did I succumb to?
•    What could I have done differently?
•    What helped me to focus?

There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes – they’re great learning opportunities, and chances to eliminate methods of working that aren’t helpful to you.

Do you find that you regularly have unproductive days? How do you turn things around?

Want Personalized Productivity Tips? Click Here!

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

How To Become a Highly Productive Night Owl

How To Stay Productive When You Make Your Own Schedule

Some people appear to be hopped up on happy pills, being oblivious to any bad events going on around them. Others are all too quick to express their disgust at anything that doesn’t go exactly their way.

Could it be that the healthiest emotional mix is somewhere between the extremes? Say, four parts good feelings to one part bad feelings, shaken not stirred, and served with a twist of lime?

We all know that some people seem determined to be miserable. The other day on the radio, I heard about a study that found many people actually resist being happy. It turns out that trying to reassure someone when they’re depressed is likely to make them feel worse.

The suspected reason for this is that some people feel the need to stay attached to their perception of reality. They make a negative statement like “I hate my job.” Then someone tries to make them feel better by saying, “It’s OK, your job isn’t that bad.” But this statement conflicts with their perception.

They may resolve this conflict by saying, “Yes, my job IS that bad, and I’ll tell you why…” Feeling that they’re forced to prove their point, they end up making themselves feel worse.

Of course, there’s no need to prove that you hate your job. Instead of remaining attached to that perception and defending it against any evidence to the contrary, you could instead change your perception. Everything can be seen from multiple perspectives, and if you choose to look on the bright side of things, you’ll dramatically boost your happiness.

At the same time, do you want to improve your life solely by forcing yourself to see the good side, or do you also want your life to actually get better? Here’s where negative emotions come in. They tell us that something’s not right, thereby steering us towards what we want.

Consider the evolutionary purpose of pain. If you were to stick your hand in a fire, it would hurt. The pain would make you quickly recoil your hand and run off in search of water. Of course, you wouldn’t enjoy the pain, but if you didn’t feel it, you’d leave your hand in the fire and cause serious damage or death. The pain tells you you’re doing something wrong, and provides some very strong motivation to correct it immediately.

It works the same way with emotions. You may not like feeling negative emotions, but if you felt perfectly happy regardless of your circumstances, why would you ever try to make the right choices?

Even homeless people have a lot to be thankful for. But if a homeless person is constantly overjoyed with their life, they won’t be motivated to change it. On the other hand, someone who feels the fear of becoming homeless will do whatever they can to prevent that from happening.

The purpose of pain is to make you avoid danger. But once you’re doing everything you can, feeling more pain doesn’t help. If something is medically wrong with you, then a little pain is good, because it makes you go to the doctor. But chronic pain after you’re already receiving treatment is bad, because it hurts without a purpose. Likewise, negative emotions are bad once they get beyond the point of being constructive.

There are two extremes that you want to avoid. Staying constantly focused on what’s wrong with your life may make you determined to fix the situation, but it will put you through far more misery than necessary. On the other hand, acting like Pollyanna on Prozac all the time may make you feel good, but it won’t inspire you to action when something is going wrong.

The best mix is to enjoy good emotions most of the time, while allowing negative emotions to serve their purpose now and then. By looking for the good side in everything, you’ll make the most of what life has to offer. And by periodically acknowledging what’s not working for you, you’ll keep up the motivation to work towards what you really want.

Hunter is a Guest Blogger for PickTheBrain and a personal development blogger, seeking life lessons wherever they may appear.

Eliminate your stress

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

Why Intelligent People Tend To Be Unhappy

Embracing The Beauty of Sadness

Image courtesy of TheDailyGreen

Have you ever changed, or tried to change, the way you habitually eat? Most of us connect the word “diet” with “weight loss”, but people adopt particular diets for a number of reasons: these could be related to your health (which sometimes necessitates weight gain), your finances (eating more cheaply) or particular ethical or environmental concerns.

If you’ve ever been on a diet you’ll know that commitment is crucial. Many of us have been trying to lose a few pounds for years, often half-heartedly “dieting” again each Monday, and never making much progress. Others might manage to stick with a regime for a few weeks, only to come unstuck at the first vacation, birthday or party that comes along.

Here are some ways to stay committed to your diet:

Set Out Your Guidelines

If you’re following a vegetarian diet, be clear with yourself exactly what that means. Do you eat fish, for instance? How about eggs? Do you make sure the cheese you buy is vegetarian? There aren’t right or wrong answers here – and yours will probably depend on your reasons for adopting a vegetarian diet.

You can ask yourself similar questions about veganism and raw foodism – where are you drawing the lines?

For those trying to lose weight, you might want to forbid certain foods some or all of the time. For example, you might decide that you’ll only eat chocolate on weekends, or that you’ll avoid full-fat cheese altogether. (Tip: don’t try to be too restrictive – many weight-loss dieters find this is counter-productive as it can lead to binging.)

Record What You Eat

If you’re struggling to stay committed to your diet, recording what you eat is a great way to keep on track. You don’t need to keep an elaborate diary or journal: in some cases, you might simply tick days on the calendar when you’ve stuck to your guidelines.

Keeping a log of your eating patterns can also help you to identify particular times or situations that tend to knock your commitment to your diet. Perhaps you always end up eating fatty, salty processed foods with a particular group of friends, or maybe you tend to succumb to candy in the afternoons.

Join With Like-Minded Friends

There are thousands of groups, both physical and virtual, for all sorts of different diets. You could find a local vegetarian, vegan or raw food association, and attend meetings: if your friends and family don’t support your diet, this is a great way to surround yourself with people who do. If you can’t meet up locally, try looking for forums or email groups online. You might want to start at VeggieBoards, which includes areas for vegetarians, vegans and raw foodists.

If you’re on a weight loss journey, you might find that attending a local club helps you to stay committed – especially as most have weigh-ins! Weight Watchers is the best-known chain of clubs, but there are plenty of other options, so hunt around for something that suits you. Again, there are lots of free online forums where you can get support and advice about losing weight and sticking to your diet.

Make Gradual Changes

In some cases, overhauling your diet instantly isn’t going to be realistic. You can get healthier and lose weight by making incremental changes – you don’t have to be “perfect”. A great resource for making gradual, step-by-step changes is 31 Days to a Better Diet.

And in many cases, you need to take it slowly for the sake of your health. If you want to be a raw foodist but currently eat an omnivorous, mainly cooked, diet, your body will need time to adjust gradually: don’t try to switch to 100% raw food overnight:
An abrupt change to a raw food diet can cause detoxifying symptoms such as weight loss and a lowering of blood pressure. It is best to gradually transition to a raw food diet by including more fruits and vegetables in the daily diet and gradually decreasing the amount of cooked foods. (Is a Raw Food Diet Healthy for an Athlete?, Darlene, Bright Hub)

Are you currently on a diet, weight-loss or otherwise? How’s it going? How do you keep yourself committed?

Which diet is right for you?

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

The Massive Benefits of a Healthy Diet and How To Make Yours Stick

How to Achieve Your Goals With Healthy Habits

Image courtesy of Chelsea Grainger
Are you progressing in life, or are you just treading water?  This is a brief article intended to motivate you beyond stagnation into purposeful action, once and for all.  These are the steps I use to get things done.

Almost everyday I go to the gym, and almost everyday I see people in the gym who are unfortunately making very little progress.  Although these individuals frequent the gym quite regularly, they are experiencing very little change in their bodies.  This is quite the misfortune.

Today I want to discuss this phenomenon and explain the steps that cause some people to progress, while others stagnate.

You Must Grow

The reality is, if you’re not going forward, you are going backwards.  I think it’s interesting that one of the definitions of stagnate, is to decline.

We know that if living things are not growing and developing, they are dying, and who wants to die before their time?

In order to move from “stuck” into “rapid progress” the following 3 steps are requisite:

Step 1: Decide How Your End Result Will Look and Commit to Achieve It

You have to see your end result clearly.  It is just as difficult to get to a place you can’t see, as it is to come back from a place you’ve never been.  When I ran track as a child, they told us to never look to the left or to the right, but always stay focused on the finish line.  You must see the port in the harbor to which you are headed.

Additionally, you must commit to the vision of what you want to achieve.  You must draw a line in the sand and confess that you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, before you will be able to go forward.  Nothing really happens until you get angry; nothing happens until you are tired of the pain.

Step 2: Simplify Your Life

When the lion tamer goes into the lion cage, he brings a pistol, a whip and a chair.  The chair is said to be the most efficient at controlling the beast.  Why is this?

When the bottom of the chair is pointed in the direction of the lion, the lion becomes unsure as to which leg to focus on, and begins to stagnate.

Don’t be like the lion with so many things to focus on that you can never make any progress.  Determine the critical steps needed for your success, and create the habit of performing only those steps everyday.  You must have laser focus; you can’t stroll to a goal.

Step 3: Act Now

Last, but never least, is to get into action today, because tomorrow never comes.  When you get into what you are calling tomorrow, you will rename it today.  Decide what your end result will be today, determine the critical steps needed to achieve it, and start performing those activities right now.

All of the self development material in the world is worthless, if we never act on it.  We’ve talked about progress long enough; it’s now time to apply what we know, so we may grow.

Get your Personal Self Improvement Questions Answered here!

Mr.SelfDevelopment is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain and the founder of MrSelfDevelopment.com.

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

101 Online Self Improvement Resources

The Little Book of Productivity

Time is our most valued asset. Our most precious resource.

Many people claim that they are overworked, over-stressed, and incredibly pressed for time. While I don’t know if that’s necessarily true or not, I can say that time is something that’s always on everybody’s mind.

In the personal development world, we often think of time as something we “spend,” and when we want to grab more time for an activity, time is something we then “create.” But is that really true? The fact is that you can never really create any more time than what you’ve been given. You can free up time. But you can never truly create more of it.

In this post, I want to explain four easy tips to help you find more time to do the activities you love. Let’s get to it!

1. Take an entire day off for relaxation.

The first tip I have might seem a bit counter-intuitive, but it’s worked wonders for me.

When you’re feeling as if you have too much on your plate, one of the best things you could ever do is clear everything off of your plate. Just let all nonessential responsibilities slide to the side for the day. True, something urgent might pop up, and you probably won’t be able to be relinquished of all of your responsibilities, but a day of relaxation can seriously free up your mind.

Instead of stressing out and trying to find little ways to cut corners here and there to free up time, take a day off just to let your mind think and relax. When the next day rolls around, see if you can spot any ways to more efficiently and productively schedule your time. By taking a day off, you gain an outsider’s perspective into your time management dilemma. You can take a step back, clear your mind, and tackle your challenges with a fresh perspective.

2. Swap time given to one activity with to another activity.

Fairly simple, right? Choose one activity that you do that really doesn’t need to be done, and replace it with a better activity.

Instead of watching TV for an hour, go build your online business. Instead of idly reading cheap romance novels that don’t have much inherent value, go connect with your family members and friends. With this method, you’re taking large chunks of time already devoted to certain activities and reassigning that time to something else.

3. Be consciously aware of what you’re doing.

Everybody’s been in those tricky situations where they’re pressed to meet a deadline and the project they’re working on isn’t quite done yet. Whether it be for school or work, you know the dreadful feeling of the clock ticking faster and faster as the deadline quickly approaches.

What happens to your productivity in these situations? It naturally shoots up like a rocket. When suddenly nothing else matters but the project that’s due in two hours, you somehow magically manage to get it completed. Why do you think this is? It’s because you were consciously aware of what you were doing. When you don’t have time to waste on anything, you become acutely aware of the time.

What if you lived your life like this, just for a day? For one day, don’t just go through your daily motions. Be totally aware of how you’re spending your time. Keep a clock by you at all times and notice what you’re spending your time on. Are you going to be speeding up certain tasks and taking your time with other ones? How is your time going to be managed if you completely realize that there’s only a certain amount of minutes in a day?

4. Trim the fat off of what you’re already doing.

Do you really need an hour to do a task that you know you can complete within 45 minutes? Go though all of the tasks you do, estimate the time it takes you to complete all of those tasks, and see if you can snip away extra minutes. Try doing hour tasks in 45 minutes; try doing 30 minute tasks in 20 minutes.

Some tasks will naturally take too long if you give yourself too much time, such as writing a new blog entry or cleaning up your house. Most of the time, it doesn’t take long at all for people to get into the flow of things, so they mindlessly procrastinate because they’ve given themselves so much time towards completion. Don’t let this happen to you! Force yourself to get your work done in less time, and then assign those minutes to something else worthwhile. Make a schedule and document the true value of time that needs to be dedicated to each task. If you’ve figured you can do something in 30 minutes, and you’ve laid out that plan for yourself, it is far easier to get it done within that allotted time.

Getting things done in a thought out, timely matter, will end up generating a lot more free time to spend on the things you really love doing. Not only will you accomplish more, but getting to the point and getting things done you will also free up your mind, so you are not distracted by all of the things you haven’t yet accomplished and you will be able to put your full energy into every moment.

What are some of your suggestions for reclaiming and reassigning your lost time?

Got a Self Improvement Question? Click Here!

Matt is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain.com and  is the founder of Refocused Living – a personal development blog dedicated to genuinely helping people out through all aspects of self-improvement.

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

Seeking Solitude: 17 Ways to Find Time for Yourself

Time is All We Have: 3 Ways To Reclaim Your Investment

Depression is a difficult illness for even the most iron-willed of individuals. Whether you’re clinically depressed or just in a rut, depression can make basic tasks like cleaning the house, taking a shower and even getting out of bed incredibly difficult and physically and mentally draining. It is important to stay motivated to continue to live your life and work towards feeling better, even when you’re at your lowest point. Here are some simple ways that you can motivate yourself on a daily basis:

•    Don’t be too harsh with yourself. It’s going to take time to get things done like you used to and to feel like your old self. Changes are not going to happen overnight, so don’t be overly critical of yourself if you make mistakes or don’t get as much done as you’d like. You’re having a hard enough time without getting on your own case.

•    Be realistic. Making a laundry list of things to do is a surefire way to set yourself up for failure. Start with small positive changes and work from there. If you’re not realistic you’ll just end up frustrated and more depressed.

•    Surround yourself with people. While you may just want to curl up and be alone, this isn’t the best or easiest route for you when you’re depressed. Having others around you to give you a helping hand, talk to you and provide you with inspiration is important to feeling better and getting back into the swing of things, even if you feel like you just want to shut everyone out.

•    Move around. Lying in bed all day or hunkering down on the couch isn’t going to do much but give you more time to feel bad about things. When you force yourself to get up, even if only for a short walk or to tend to some plants outside, you’ll be helping yourself feel better physically and mentally.

•    Start a project. For many, this may seem like that last thing they want to do but an enjoyable project can give you something to concentrate on that will bring your thoughts away from depression and give you something to feel proud of when you’re done.

•    Make a plan. If even the smallest tasks seem like a chore, start small with planning out what you’re going to do each day. In the morning, write down the things you’d like to accomplish and in the evening, go back and check off what you did. This can help you regain your sense of control over your life at a time when it seems the most chaotic.

Recovering from depression is a hard road, but with some planning and slow but steady progress you may be able to start feeling optimistic about your life again. For a list of more great depression resources, click here.

Meredith Walker is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain.com. She writes about online nursing programs and welcomes your feedback.

Eliminate your stress

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

10 All Natural Ways To Stop Being Depressed

The Real Key To Life