by admin | Dec 17, 2017 | Self Development, Soft Skills
If you have an ‘internal locus of control’, then that means that you recognize just how responsible you are for the quality of your life and your accomplishments. Many people have a tendency to blame others, to blame circumstances, or to make excuses when things don’t go their way. Why aren’t you happy? It’s because you had a hard childhood! Why aren’t you rich? It’s because you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or because you lost your job due to layoffs.
Making excuses is easy but it doesn’t get anywhere. What you must do is to act and use your talents/skills to achieve your goals. So, what is the all-important ingredient? It’s you. And more specifically, it’s your mind. Your mind is where everything else comes from. Your beliefs, your focus, your concentration, your mood – all of that. What’s more, is that where your mind leads, your body follows.
Everything in life is dependent on numerous other factors. Whether you’re talking about relationships, about your career or about your financial situation. How can you find your dream job when you don’t have the option to leave your current job? And how can you stop being broke when you are so badly in debt? Change has to start somewhere. And it starts with you. It starts with your mind.
A better job starts with the mind. A better relationship starts with the mind. And, a better LIFE starts with the mind!
Here’s a little saying to keep in mind: “The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it!”
by admin | Feb 9, 2015 | Self Development, Soft Skills
It can be difficult to not bring home your work with you. You may have a demanding job or you may hate your job and you bring this home with you. Just how can you balance your personal life and your job without letting the other suffer?
While it is easy to say the minute you swipe out or get into your car to drive home, stop thinking about work. This is not always so easy to accomplish. If your job is demanding you may be tempted to bring work home with you. On the other hand if you dislike your job you feel like going home and ranting about it. Neither one is a good option.
When you bring work home it can interfere with the time you have to spend with your family. You may only intend to spend 30 minutes proof leading but instead this turns into a couple of hours. By the time you are done your kids are in bed and you wonder why they don’t interact with you as much as they used to.
If you do nothing but scream and yell when you get home, this also has a negative effect on those around you. As much as they want you home they can start to dread that time. To balance this out you need to take a good look at both situations. If your work load is too much is there a way to reduce it? Can you delegate some of your tasks to a junior member? Does your boss know that you are bringing home work?
Don’t try and be a super hero and get everything done alone. It just isn’t possible and your personal life as well as your health could suffer. Learn to prioritize what has to be done before you leave work each evening. This way in the morning you can look after the most important items first.
If you hate your job and do nothing but shout at your spouse or partner then maybe it is time to start looking for a new one. Research has shown that going to a job you detest each day can put you into a severe depression. Even driving to work can become dangerous. You are dreading arriving at work and may not be paying enough attention on the road. One day you just may not arrive at work or at home either. Is your job worth it?
by admin | Feb 9, 2015 | Self Development, Soft Skills
Do you feel as though you are running around like crazy, you feel as though you are being pulled in all directions, and don’t know where to turn next? This is not an uncommon feeling and is a sign that you need to discover ways to free up time in your busy schedule.
When you have achieved a work – life balance you will be enjoying life every day. You can handle pretty much anything that life throws at you, you are happy and content with the person that you are.
To find time in your schedule you need to try and find a way to remove unnecessary things. Your goal should be to live a much simpler life. To achieve this try and make a list of all the things that are important to you. Then narrow this list down again and have just two or three main priorities in your life. Just doing this removes a ton of stress and gives you more time.
For example you may be trying to juggle work, studying for a degree after work and saving for a new home, as well as spending time with your family. If you are feeling overwhelmed with all of this is there something that you can put on the back burner for a while?
by admin | Oct 22, 2014 | Self Development, Soft Skills
If you have tried any type of brain training games you will know that they can leave you feeling pumped up and excited. This is because you have started to use your brain again. Your brain is huge and has untold capabilities and needs to be put to use each and every day.
This is almost the same type of feeling you get when you start a new exercise program. The exercise might be challenging, but afterwards you feel a renewed sense of energy and just feel great. It is hard to put your finger on the reason why. Your brain really does need to be stimulated on a daily basis and this is where using brain games comes in extremely handy. It is a sad fact that as
we age we start to do less. This includes not doing those jigsaw puzzles that we loved to do with our kids. It might be not cooking as often or not sewing or knitting the way you used to.
What happens is as you use your brain less, you start to feel less in control of your thoughts and emotions. You can’t remember names as well as you used to, those recipes elude you and your focus just isn’t what it once was. The good news is, these things don’t have to stay the same and this includes your energy levels. Your energy levels also pertain to your bodily functions as well. It is not just your brain that needs energy, your entire body does too.
The minute you start exercising more often your brain also receives a boost. You feel more energized, refreshed and renewed. This also makes you feel more alive, younger and ready to take on the world. You definitely don’t want to take your body or your mind for granted. They both need stimulating on a regular basis. When it comes to your body you can easily just go for a walk, take a yoga class or go swimming. Your brain, on the other hand, may need a little more encouragement.
This is done by playing brain games that tackle and challenge your mind. These games include word games, math games, audio and visual types of games. The great thing about brain games is that they are fun to play, and can be played on your computer, laptop or mobile device. If you have been feeling sluggish lately then why not try out some of the online brain training websites and see if they make a difference for you.
by admin | Oct 22, 2014 | Self Development, Soft Skills
Brain training has been around for decades and was based on doing memory tasks on paper. The renewed popularity today is directly due to being able to use the computer to play these games. The interaction is better and people do tend to be more responsive to visual stimulants.
Before we go any further let’s look at the question of what brain training is first. Brain training is a type of training that helps a person to improve their ability to learn in a faster and easier way. Your brain processes information through a network of nerve cells which are known as neurons.
These neurons group together the minute you start to learn and consume information. This grouping action is what allows you to learn easily. If a task is more complex then other neurons are attracted to the main group. So basically, as a task becomes harder your brain draws upon an increased number of neurons to learn the subject at hand. After you have successfully learned the tasks these extra neurons return to their other functions.
Everyone has cognitive abilities which are the process that your brain uses such as your memory, attention and reasoning. How well your brain performs these functions depends up each individual. Some people have better memory skills than others.
The good part of this is that all of these areas can be improved upon with training. When you begin to train your brain you will find that your memory works more quickly and that you can process information better. In fact the whole process of learning becomes fun instead of being seen as a challenge. Brain training improves all areas by strengthening each of your cognitive
skills, this allows all the parts to work together in an improved fashion. You can compare this to needing good tires and a working engine to make your car run smoothly.
If you start a brain training course or game you will be using audio, visual and memory skills. Each game or challenge requires different uses of these skills in a different combination. You may find brain training games a challenge at first, but not to worry. Stay with them and you will find that they eventually become much easier. Your brain training is working.
by admin | Oct 21, 2014 | Self Development, Soft Skills
Having a sense of purpose in your life goes a long way to helping you feel confident, secure and happy. A sense of purpose can be brought about by anything in life, it can be related to your career, bringing up a family or doing voluntary work. It is all about fitting in and feeling you are making a difference in life, that you are achieving something and getting somewhere.
If you have a sense of purpose in life you have something to look forward to everyday, a reason for getting up out of bed in the morning with a smile, it makes you feel good on the outside and so good on the inside. It leads to a more confident person who is happy with their position in life.
Younger people very often have no problem developing a purpose in life, they are just starting out and the majority of them have exams to pass, careers to start building, meeting the opposite sex, dating, marrying and eventually starting their own families. The majority of the younger generation has a lot to look forward to and so have a sense of purpose in life.
However the older we get, uncertainty can set in and we can start wondering about our purpose in life. Perhaps the children have grown up and are no longer dependant on you. Relationships break up or we reach retirement age and no longer have our work as a purpose in life.
The older generation then has to develop a new sense of purpose in life, luckily there are many ways you can achieve this, and here are some of the more common ones.
- Take up a new hobby and do something you have always wanted to do but have never had the time before.
- Join a social club, there are many social clubs which let people of the same age group meet on a regular basis and enjoy coffee and chatting. A lot of these groups have activities you can take part in and outings to attend.
- Join an exercise group either locally or at a gym, there are various types of exercise you can take part in without being too strenuous. Swimming meets are a great idea for the older person.
- Take up a sport such a tennis or bowling etc.
- Visit family and friends on a regular basis and have them come over for dinner
- Take up some voluntary work for a few hours every day, it gives you a sense of purpose and gets you out of the house.
- Take a part time job that you can adequately cope with for a few hours per week.
- Take a walk in the park and say hello to passers by, very often you will meet other people who are in the same boat as you; you can make new friends just about anywhere.
- Visit a dating agency and get back into meeting the opposite sex again, it’s never too late to start a relationship.
