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Memory, Perfectionism, and Gratitude – Five Boosts 7/19/20

Splotchy Brain

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 7/19/20

Accepting Your Memory is Unreliable Will Make You Happier
(Self Helping Yourself | Steven Ray Marks)
Humans have unreliable memories. Since you’re a human, that means you shouldn’t have confidence in your own memories. But realizing this can make you much happier, by increasing your willingness to compromise, forgive, and grow as a person.

Take Back Five Minutes of Your Day With the 5-Minute Challenge
(joshspector.com | Josh Spector | Subscribe)
Pick one thing to do for five minutes a day. Set a timer, and don’t allow any distractions, and don’t stop early. You’ll be amazed how much you get done in those five minutes, and how many ideas you come up with for whatever it is you’re doing.

I’m a huge fan of Josh Spector, and I highly recommend his For The Interested newsletter.

How to Overcome Perfectionism: 6 Powerful Habits
(Positivity Blog | Henrik Edberg | Subscribe)
Perfectionism holds you back, by preventing you from ever completing things. To stop it:
1. Go for “good enough.”
2. Realize you hurt yourself and those around you by buying into myths of perfection.
3. Accept you’re human, like everyone else.
4. Compare yourself to yourself.
5. Do what you think is the right thing.
6. Shape an environment of human standards.

Related: Perfectionism Paralysis Can Be Beaten By Half-Assing It

The Surprising Benefits of Unconditional Positive Regard
(Nir and Far | Nir Eyal | Subscribe)
Unconditional Positive Regard is when you offer someone support, empathy, and compassion, and refrain from judgment, even when they’ve done something wrong. It still acknowledges any sort of bad behavior, but makes clear that we care about the person even if we don’t approve of the behavior. You might say something like “You must feel awful,” or “We all make mistakes.”

Adopting this attitude toward those you’re trying to train, those you care about, and yourself will result in more happiness and better performance.

67 Mood Enhancing Gratitude Affirmations
(Live Bold Bloom | Barrie Davenport | Subscribe)
Practicing gratitude, especially through a gratitude journal, is one of the easiest ways to increase your happiness. But many people who are unhappy or depressed struggle finding things to be grateful for. Here are 67 suggestions to help you.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Being kind and polite to people, whether or not they “deserve it,” will only make you happier and your life better.

It will make the world a little bit better as well.

Be sure to follow @YourselfHelping on Twitter.

Enjoy Five Boosts By Self Helping Yourself? Be sure to Subscribe and check out the Self Helping Yourself site.

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Help People, Be Productive, and Avoid Outrage – Five Boosts 6/28/20

Feeling Overwhelmed Tangibly Improve the World

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 6/28/20

Feeling Overwhelmed? Try Tangibly Improving The World
(Self Helping Yourself | Steven Ray Marks)
There’s a lot about the world that can feel overwhelming, and a lot of problems that we as individuals can’t effectively solve. Instead of being frustrated and depressed about this, the best way to respond is to improve a specific individual’s life in a tangible way you can see. This will make you feel better, and will make the world better as well.

My Most Productive Days are a Result of These Five Choices
(For the Interested | Josh Spector | Subscribe)
1. Do the most important thing first. 2. Say no to one unimportant thing every day. 3. Keep a running list of questions you’re curious about, so you know what to ask when you meet experts. 4. Make a specific schedule of how much time to work each day. 5. End your day with something on your to-do list that you’ve been avoiding.

For The Interested is probably my favorite weekly newsletter, especially if you’re any sort of creator, and I highly recommend subscribing.

Taking a Daily Walk Will Make You Much Happier
(Ladders | Kyle Schnitzer)
Diversity of experiences is a big factor in our happiness. With the recent COVID resurgence, it seems like we’ll be stuck at home for a while longer. An easy way to shake things up and get off the couch is to simply take a daily walk around your neighborhood. Try to take a different path and observe new things each time you do. It will make you a lot happier than staring at the walls of your house.

The Danger of Outrage Narratives
(How It Actually Works | Trevor McKendrick | Subscribe)
Whenever you see something outrage-inducing on the internet, you’re almost certainly not getting the full story. You’re seeing a highly skewed narrative from one side. There’s missing context. You aren’t in the heads of the people involved, and you don’t know their thought process. Nobody wakes up in the morning saying, “Muhaha, I’m going to be evil today!” If you were to take the time to fully research the situation, you’d find that everyone involved was acting a lot more reasonably than it seemed at first glance. But of course, you don’t have the time and energy to spend hours researching every angry tweet you ever see. So you’re better off simply ignoring them.

I’m always a fan of ways to reduce your hate and anger, and ways to be happier by not doing something instead of doing something, so I love this advice.

Hate Exercise? Try This Zero Minute Workout Instead
(Considerable | Stephanie Thurrott)
Exercise is important for health. But if you’re older and haven’t built the habit of taking time out of your day to exercise by now, you probably aren’t going to. An alternative is to incorporate exercise into activities you’re already doing, so it doesn’t cost you any time. Do things like carrying groceries, playing with your kids/grandkids/pets, walking up stairs, or cleaning in a way that is physically active and raises your heart rate.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Impostor syndrome can sap our mental health. If your bosses/clients are praising your work, that’s all the proof you need that you *are* good at it, and you deserve your success. Remind yourself of this, and tell your inner critic and doubts to take a hike.

Follow Self Helping Yourself on Twitter.

Enjoy Five Boosts By Self Helping Yourself? Be sure to Subscribe and check out the Self Helping Yourself site.

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Win Allies, be More Persuasive, and Get the Most Important Things Done – Five Boosts 6/14/20

Win Allies

Five easy ways to make your life better for June 14, 2020.

How to Win Allies (Part 1 of 2)
(Self Helping Yourself | Steven Ray Marks)
It’s better to win allies than create enemies. We ought to view discussions with those who have different views as an opportunity to learn and/or persuade. But most use it to try to score points in an imaginary game of “Who’s the Worse Person,” which only turns people into enemies. Here’s how to win people over instead.

Stop Confusing Habits For Routines
(Nir and Far | Nir Eyal)
routine is something you do regularly. A habit is something you do automatically. If a routine is unpleasant, difficult, or cognitively demanding, it may never become a habit. Expecting a routine that fits into this category to eventually become a habit will only lead to frustration.

How to get Your Most Important Work Done Today
(Medium/For The Interested | Josh Spector) [soft paywall*]
Pick what matters most, do it first, make it painful to not do it, make a list of things you won’t do, and treat the morning and afternoon like separate days.

Four Words to Make You More Persuasive
(Ladders | Michael Thompson)
Adding, “You will probably refuse” to a request makes people much more likely to agree. It piques their curiosity, and makes them more comfortable by establishing that there’s no pressure.

Five Lessons to Remember When Lockdown Ends
(Greater Good | Jill Suttie)
Being with others is key to happiness. Reducing stress is good for everyone. Showing gratitude matters. We need less stuff than we think. We are stronger when we act together.

[* Medium lets you read a limited number of articles per month, but you can always open the link in an incognito window.]

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Some of the best ways to feel happier:
– Be kind, friendly, and genuine, whether or not people “deserve” it.
– Acts of charity.
– Believe in self-efficacy.
– Avoid negativity.
– Celebrate achievements/forgive mistakes, for you/others.
– Recognize the positive in the world.
– Forge connections and community

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