You might think the reason I chose this title was to grab your attention but the truth is that several experiments* have been conducted on animals with the purpose of discovering how the brain works and how the results can be used to improve humans life – proving once more that animals are a lot more than just Man’s best friend.

Many animals have similar systems to the ones we have, and by applying the results of some of the experiments to  human beings have uncovered several methods of improving human life.

The monkeys that learned fear:

Monkeys that don’t fear snakes were introduced to some snakes while being forced to listen to loud, scary noises. Some monkeys learned to fear snakes as a result of this experiment but what’s more astonishing is that when monkeys that didn’t fear snakes were allowed to see the fear response of monkeys that fear snakes they learned how to fear snakes too!!!

Conclusion: We learn to fear things when we associate them with another event, for example a child might fear darkness after associating it with the noisy sound that happened when his mother slammed the door of a dark room.

Moreover, if a child watched an adult reacting with fear to a certain situation the child will develop fear too!!

The frog that died in the boiling water:

When a group of frogs were thrown in boiling water they jumped out of the pot very quickly and managed to survive. However, when the same frogs were put into cold water that was slowly heated, all of them perished when the water came to a boil, because they didn’t have time to react

Conclusion: We can feel sudden changes but when the change happens over time we don’t feel it until it is too late. People don’t develop bad habits over night nor do they experience severe behavior changes in a short period of time but everything happens bit by bit.

The Rats that failed to swim:

A researcher brought some wild rats, ones that are known to be able to swim for 80 hours continuously, then frightened them by making them believe that they were stuck before throwing them in water.

Many of the wild rats died after a few minutes of swimming! The rats didn’t drown due to lack of ability but at some point they just gave up swimming and died!!

When the rats felt in control they were able to swim for many hours but as soon as they felt that they were not in control they lost hope and drowned.

Conclusion: When we feel in control we can reach our maximum potential, while if we feel out of control we give up trying even if we have the required skills.

The dogs that learned to be helpless:

Few dogs were placed in room that has a switch that can either turn on electric current and shock the dogs or turn it off. When the dogs were first shocked they kept jumping around until one dog pushed the switch and discovered that the electric current stopped.

Later on whenever the electric shock was turned on the dogs rushed to turn it off using the switch. These dogs were split into two groups where the first group remained in the same room while the second one was placed in a similar one that had a faulty switch.

When the second group was shocked the dogs tried to push the switch but nothing happened. The second group of dogs were returned to the first room then were shocked again but this time they never tried to push the switch!!!

The dogs learned to become helpless as a result of feeling helpless after pushing the faulty switch!!

Conclusion: No one is born helpless but we learn how to become helpless when we face certain situations that we fail to deal with. Always try to do something about your problems because if you didn’t act you might develop learned helplessness!!

*this article is not in any way an endorsement of animal testing

Farouk Radwan is a Guest Blogger for PickTheBrain and the founder of 2KnowMyself.com – The ultimate source for self understanding  9,000,000 Million visits and counting…

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It is already February in the year of 2010. I wonder how many people are still following through their goals or New Year Resolutions? It is sad to say this but most people have already started to put their gym memberships to waste or have stopped following up on their new business plans.

Why is it so hard for people to follow through their goals? How do some people stick to their goals no matter what they face while others falter easily in the face of obstacles? There are certainly some things that those who succeed know that others don’t know. Read on and I will share with you the art of following through your goals.

The Art Of Following Through

1. The Power Of Certainty

Most people set goals that they want to achieve but it is not impossible to achieve your goals when you have doubts and mix emotions. To achieve your goals, you need to have the feeling of certainty that you will be able to achieve your goals.

If you lack the feeling of certainty, most likely you will take half hearted actions and continue to doubt your ability. As long as this cycle exists in your mind, you will start to dread doing your tasks that can bring you nearer to your goals.

Eventually you will have so many doubts that whether the effort you are putting in will give you the results that you want. This will make you feel so frustrated that you will eventually decide to stop following through.

Set any goals that you want but always make it a point to generate the feeling of certainty that you will be able to achieve it. Set goals that can stretch you and not those that you think that it is impossible to achieve.

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If you’ve ever struggled with time management (and who hasn’t?), I’d bet you’ve given the advice to prioritize. You make a list of all the things that need to be done – and even doing that is scary. Then you try to rank them in order of which ones matter the most.

It’s often really difficult to figure out priorities: is Report X more important than Call Y? Is following up with Prospect A going to bring in more money than keeping Client B sweet? And in life as a whole, is having time to exercise more important than taking your kids to a movie?

Trying to prioritize can often just create more stress: maybe the things at the top of the list get done, but the items further down are still important – and you hate to neglect them. Or perhaps your boss, partner or teachers place different priorities on things.

So what can you do?

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Bob was a normal sort of guy. One day, he set the goal of making a million dollars. He took a job in sales because he figured that was the quickest way to get there. And, after a few years of hard and determined work, he did.

Bob’s a success, right? Bob’s the guy we all want to be – whether we’re in sales, or in a big company, or working for ourselves.

But – here’s the rest of Bob’s story.

During his time on the road, he barely saw his wife and kids. He missed them, sure, but he thought there’d be plenty of time for them after he’d got that money safely in the bank. Bob didn’t pay any attention to what he ate. He didn’t have time to exercise. He barely had time to eat.

He made that million, but in the process, he severely compromised his health – and lost his family.

Bob is not the guy we want to be.

Are you risking losing everything that really matters, in pursuit of your goals? What’s most important to you in your life? Here are a couple of big areas:

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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.

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Right now, how many goals do you have? How many big projects and ventures are you involved with? Whether they’re related to your career, your family, your community activities or your personal life, have a quick think through them.

If you’re like most people, chances are you have too many goals – and you’re not going to see as much success as you’d like. In general, the fewer goals you have at any one time, the more likely you are to succeed in meeting them all.

Limit Your Goals – Don’t Limit Your Potential

Most of us have been through times when we’ve tried to do it all at once. Sometimes, this actually works: a health scare encourages us to turn our life around – everything from our eating habits to our career. (Jonathan Fields shares his story in Career Renegade about how a dramatic wake-up call from his heart got him to ditch his high-paying law career to start up a yoga studio.)

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Image courtesy of LittleStar

If you’re reading Pick the Brain, it’s a fair bet that you have goals. You might even have written them down. Perhaps you read them every day, or have them pinned to a notice-board.

How many of those goals are materialistic ones? How many are focus on a dollar amount or a particular purchase?

I’ve been reading a book by Jack Canfield recently, and while I’ve found plenty of good advice in it, I’ve also been a little disturbed at times by his seeming equation of “success” with money and material goods:

Here are the life purpose statements of some of my friends. It is important to note that they have all become self-made millionaires through the fulfilment of their life purpose.

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