Tag: forge

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Five Boosts to Handle Tough Times – 1/12/21

Written by Steven Ray Marks Leave a Comment on Five Boosts to Handle Tough Times – 1/12/21
Image by Bluehouse Skis from Pixabay

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 1/12/21

This week’s boosts are about handling tough times.

The last few weeks have been difficult for many.

Let’s get through these struggles with compassion for one another. And remember that lashing out in anger will make any problem worse.

It’s Okay to Quit – Sometimes That’s a Good Thing

(Steven Ray Marks | Self-Helping Yourself | 950 words)

Quitting gets a bad rap.

It’s a GOOD thing if:

  • What you’re doing is a bad idea.
  • It’s not working.
  • It’s not right for you.
  • You’re miserable.
  • There are better uses for your time.
  • The chance of success is too low.
  • the consequences of failure are too high.

Related: Eight Things to Consider When Evaluating Risks

Saying These Words When Someone is Upset is the Best Thing You Can Do

(John Anderer | Ladders | 775 words)

When someone is upset, the key to helping them feel better is validation.

Statements such as “I understand why you feel that way,” create positive emotions.

Doubting their emotions by saying things like “Why would that make you so mad?” makes them feel even worse.

6 Reminders for When You Stop Feeling Strong

(Holly Riordan | Thought Catalog | 500 words)

Strength doesn’t mean perfection. It means persistence when times are tough.

But it’s okay to admit you’re struggling.

Better to ask for help than pretend that you’re stronger than you really are.

Weak moments help you grow and build yourself up to something better.

Related: The Coronavirus Lazies are Nothing to Be Ashamed Of – And Some Tips to Fight Them

5 Questions Smart People Ask Themselves Before They Speak

“Am I adding to the panic or being a calming influence?”

(Michael Thompson | Forge | 800 words)

Thoughtless words make a bad situation worse.

Before speaking, ask yourself:

  • Do I need to say this now?
  • Is this actionable?
  • What’s this person going through?
  • Am I creating stress or calming?
  • What could I learn if I just kept listening?

How to Create Psychological Distance Between You and Your Past

(Steven Handel | The Emotion Machine | 1600 words)

Creating space from your past helps you grow.

  • View the past from an outside perspective.
  • Change your environment.
  • Seek new experiences.
  • Remind yourself of what’s changed.
  • Go through a mental door.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

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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I work hard reviewing hundreds of articles a week to find five that contain the best advice on easy ways to improve your life.

As well as writing the posts for Self Helping Yourself, and Rockstar Excel.

If you can’t donate, you can always help by subscribing, recommending Five Boosts, Self Helping Yourself, or any articles to your friends, or by rating/reviewing The Weight Loss Habit on Amazon. (If you’ve read it.)

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Doubt, Optimism, and Decisions – Five Boosts 10/27/20

Written by Steven Ray Marks Leave a Comment on Doubt, Optimism, and Decisions – Five Boosts 10/27/20

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 10/27/20

Photo by Jill Wellington from Pexels

How to Overcome Self-Doubt – Secrets to Believing In Yourself

(Tanuj Sarva | INYK | 1175 words)

Self-doubt can hold us back from achieving our goals. Common reasons for self doubt are:

  • Comparing ourselves to others
  • Being our own worst critic
  • Overthinking things
  • Fear of failure

Some ways to overcome this are:

  • Make a decision within 5 seconds
  • Direct all your energy in one direction instead of splitting your focus
  • Accept that progress isn’t linear
  • Be okay with mistakes – you’re still learning

10 Incredibly Easy Ways to Live Life Better

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 2100 words)

Ways to live better that don’t take any effort, willpower, or time-commitment, including:

  • Write down your goals every day
  • Turn off notifications
  • Don’t take one-size-fits-all advice
  • Realize that nobody has it all figured out
  • Be grateful for the modern world
  • Assign names to your problems and negative feelings

How to Become an Optimist: 3 Daily Habits

(Henrik Edberg | Positivity Blog | 525 words | Subscribe)

To become more of an optimist:

  • Ask yourself questions to help see the optimistic viewpoint
  • Get optimistic support from the world around you
  • Start your day in an optimism creating way

How to Change a Habit Using This One Simple Rule

(Dean Yeong | deanyeong.com | 775 words)

Yeong suggests that to change habits, start small, and do slightly more each day.

I write a lot about habits. I even named my weight loss book after them. I think this advice might be a bit oversimplified, but it’s certainly a good place to start.

Your Guide to Making Big Decisions

(Sunny Fitzgerald | TheLily | 1850 words)

If you’re struggling with a difficult decision:

  • Assess the moment
  • Make sure you’re in the right state of mind
  • Put time aside to really think about it
  • Get advice, especially from people with different points of view
  • Do the best with what you’ve got
  • Have hope

I found this in Tuseet Jha’s Happier Today newsletter.

See also: Eight Things to Consider When Evaluating Risk

Bonus Boost

Celebrate Your Diet

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 900 words)

Your diet will be much more successful if you see it as an act of joy, and not a miserable burden.

You need a sense of pride and excitement to reward yourself for good eating decisions, in order to turn those good decisions into an automatic habit you’ll be able to keep for life.

If you’re dieting out of a sense of shame, you’ll make yourself miserable. You’ll be motivated to quit so you can stop feeling that shame and misery.

But if you focus on excitement for what your future body will give you, then all your motivation will be to keep going, and to keep that body once you achieve it.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

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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Creativity, Happiness, And Sleep – Five Boosts 10/20/20

Written by Steven Ray Marks Leave a Comment on Creativity, Happiness, And Sleep – Five Boosts 10/20/20

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 10/20/20

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

14 More Incredibly Easy Ways to Sleep Better

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 2150 words)

Sleeping better will improve your life in every way.

It will make you happier, more productive, improve your relationships, and allow you to get more done.

Here are some methods to sleep better that don’t take any effort, willpower, time-commitment, or sacrifice.

Related: 15 Incredibly Easy Ways to Improve Your Sleep

5 Subconscious Behaviors Guaranteed to Kill Your Creativity

(Tuseet Jha | tuseetjha.com | 1325 words | Subscribe)

Everyone can be creative. But you may be sabotaging yourself by doing the following:

  1. You don’t think you can be creative.
  2. You refuse to try new experiences.
  3. You assume you are the expert in what you know.
  4. You don’t challenge your assumptions.
  5. You wait for inspiration to strike.

Also, thank you to Tuseet Jha for recommending my Incredibly Easy series in his newsletter.

How to Be Happy in Hard Times

(Melissa Burkley PhD | Psychology Today | 1050 words)

A lot of people are going through difficult times these days. But there are still things you can do to increase your happiness:

  1. Listen to music.
  2. Focus on values.
  3. Connect with others in new ways.
  4. Get outside.
  5. Be grateful.

A 5-Step Road Map for Saying ‘No’

(Erin Zammett Ruddy | Forge | 350 words)

To avoid overcommitting yourself, you need to learn how to politely say “no.” Remember, every time you say “yes” to something, you’re also saying “no” to whatever you would have used that time for.

  1. Remind yourself time is valuable and you can’t get it back.
  2. Ask yourself if you’d be willing to do it tomorrow.
  3. Respond quickly.
  4. Own your “no” if it’s not a priority.
  5. Reframe your “no” if it’s something you wish you had time for.

I found this article in the Recomendo newsletter.

Getting Things Done

(Julia Evans | jvns.ca | 1075 words)

I generally don’t include productivity systems in Five Boosts, because I don’t believe there’s One True Method of Doing Things. Different strategies work for different people.

However this article is more about mindset, and I think it will be helpful to most people.

Evans suggests you:

  • Have a vision
  • Focus by doing one or two things at a time
  • Learn how to break things down
  • Get something done every day
  • Talk to someone when you get stuck
  • Don’t be scared of small problems
  • Do whatever’s necessary
  • Have deadlines
  • Believe in yourself
  • Know you can do a lot

Note that this article is unrelated to the David Allen “Getting Things Done” productivity system.

I found this in Trevor McKendrick’s How it Actually Works newsletter.

Bonus Boost

Don’t Let a Slip Up Make You Give Up

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 825 words)

Everyone makes mistakes.

This is true when trying to lose weight, and it’s true in any other life improvement.

Making a mistake shouldn’t be an excuse to quit.

You should simply learn from it, forgive yourself, and do your best going forward.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

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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