Posted by When it comes to building motivation, everyone needs a drive and a determination to reach our goals. The internal buildup might not come in naturally, but we can listen to the TED experts on how to stimulate our motivational mode through the means mind-changing habits.
Inside The Mind of Master Procrastinator
Internet Blogger Tim Urban shares his insights on how the mind of a procrastinator works and why people tend to wait until the last minute only to start getting things done. Everyone procrastinates and the situation varies whether it has a deadline or not. It is also the dilemma that most people face out there according to Tim.
How to Make Stress Your Friend
Psychologist Kelly McGonigal shares her belief in the negative effects of stress could cause a harmful health risk, unfortunately, most people never really thought of the consequences of it. Kelly draws out three recent studies indicating how stress is a just normal reaction to adversity and it is possible that if a person stops feeling anxious, the body can adapt it in a healthy way.
“Your stress response has a built-in mechanism for stress resilience and that mechanism is a human connection,” Kelly stated. She believes that every person should seek social contact and social support to improve oxytocin levels that allow blood vessels to stay relaxed under stress.
Trust yourself with the life challenges by learning to accept the fact that stress isn’t the enemy. Re-frame it by viewing stress as a positive instead of negative and build your personal resilience from here as well as building a connection with people around you.
Related: 15 Books That Will Motivate You at Work
Why Our Screens make us Less Happy
Psychologist Adam Alter shares his thoughts about people spending time on the screen has become an addiction controlling our lives. As he explains about a study conducted on three separate years: 2007,2015 and 2017, results show that as technology development takes a step up every year, the average use of smartphones has gradually increased as well. In 2017, we have utilized almost all our time looking on screens as we utilize apps that can be enriching or detrimental to our lives.
He states that people feel positive if they utilize apps that help with health, education, reading, weather, exercise, and relaxation. Compared to those who use apps for web browsing, news, entertainment, gaming, social networking, and dating brings in more negativity. The lack of a stopping cue or a sign is what causes people to continuously utilize applications without any limitation or restriction.
Why You Should Define Your Fears Instead of Your Goals
It can be really challenging to build up the courage to take action and do the things that will get us to our goals. Dreams and ideas are always lingering in our minds but to achieve is to overcome our fears to reach the finish line. Investor, author, and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss share his recipe on how to avoid self-paralysis and emotional free fall.
As Tim shared his past experience in dealing with overcoming fears, he created a written exercise called “fear-setting,” that is consist of three pages. Through this 3 pages of fear-setting, Tim was able to overcome his fears and take action regardless of any decision that he wants to make whether it’s about business, going for a travel or as simple as taking up a hobby.
“Where in your lives right now might define your fears be more important than defining your goals? Keeping in mind all the while, the words of Seneca:
we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”