5 Ways to Recover From Terrible Failure

Failure can cause one to lose confidence and motivation. Failure can sometimes wreck havoc on our emotions and make us feel depressed. What is worse is that after failing most of us do not always wish to try again because of the negative emotions that we feel. Failure makes us avoid trying again. This can happen on a conscious and unconscious level. It is thus important that you manage what you perceive as failure well in your life to ensure that failure doesn't affect you on an unconscious level and affect your future performance as you try and achieve your goals. Some of the emotions that we experience that affect our ability to take action to create the outcomes that we seek are due to past failures. These emotions may include fear, self-doubt and a lack of confidence.

I have developed a few ways that you can use in your life to recover from failure and heal yourself so that your past failures do not affect your future performance. Here they are:

1. Manage emotions using acceptance

What we perceive as failure can cause us to have a lot of emotional strain. We may experience emotions ranging from anger to sadness and resentment depending on what the situation is. After failing it is not always possible to keep these emotions from affecting us. To recover from failure and keep these emotions under control you need to use acceptance. You need to accept that things did not go well and that there might be consequences to be dealt with from whatever that has happened. Depending on the situation, consequences as the result of failure might vary -; you might be criticised, you might be held accountable, you might have lost money, you might lose your self-confidence, you might lose your job or business. Whatever it is and whatever the consequences are, drive yourself towards acceptance because this is the only way in which you will better find creative solutions to the challenges that you might be facing. It is tempting when we face challenges to dwell on the emotional pain, to think and go over what ifs but ultimately we have no choice but to make decisions and act if we are to change our circumstances.

2. View failure as an isolated incident not an inclusive incident

In our lives sometimes we have what I call "cross contamination". When one area of our lives isn't working as well we wish it could, the unhappiness and emotional strain that we experience from the area which isn't working well gets carried across other areas of our lives. We begin to feel like nothing else in our lives is working. Cross contamination causes us to carry emotional strain from work or business to our family lives and ultimately to our health and well being. The opposite can happen as emotional strain from our family lives can sometimes extend to our workplace and ultimately our well being depending on how we respond to the problems that we face.

You need to view the specific failure that you are recovering from as an isolated incident in order to stop this from straining other areas in your life. This is not easy to do as sometimes having a bad day at work can mean a bad evening with the family or vice versa. However, if you learn to better manage your emotions and isolate problems in various areas of your life, you might be in a better position to prevent emotional strain from one area of your life to cross contaminate all other areas of your life. This can only be done through improved self-awareness and emotional discipline.

Sometimes failing in a specific area can make you feel as if you failing at everything. You need to be aware that failure in a specific area in your life doesn't mean that you will fail on every other area. So see each failure as specific and not inclusive.

3. View failure as feedback from your specific actions

After following step 1 and 2 above you should begin to be in a better emotional state to think constructively about what went wrong and what has not worked well to cause the outcomes that you did not want. With this improved emotional state you should now use failure as a learning by analyzing what really went wrong and what actions you could have taken to improve your results. Most failures are due to a lack of planning, processes that did not work well, unforeseen circumstances, failure to be pro-active and so on. This is now time for you to diagnose what didn't work with clear emotions and an open mind. So assess what went wrong and identify things that need to be improved for you to create better results in the future.

4. Commit to new actions

After diagnosing your failure and receiving feedback from it you need to commit yourself to new actions in order to fully recover from your failure. Ask yourself what you will do and no longer do as a result of the feedback you received from your failure then commit yourself to new resolutions. You can list things you will do such as early planning, better communication, improve processes etc. Listing things that you will no longer do that might have caused you to fail is as important. So also list things that you will not do in the future such as procrastinating, avoiding administrative work, communicating poorly and so on.

What is important to note is that committing to new actions will also give you an emotional boost and hope. Often when we are in distress just thinking of the next practical step to take is enough to help us have hope for better future results.

5. Remember your past successes

Remembering things you did well in the past can help you gather strength to recover from immediate failure. Have things worked well in the past? Is there historical performance that you can look to and be proud of? if so, list these great achievements and performances and make them more prominent in your mind. Remember how you felt when things worked well and rekindle these feelings to gather strength to overcome present challenges. This will help you regain your self-confidence as you plan how to better deal with the future.

Imagine what your life would be like if you had self-confidence and did not hesitate to act and create all the outcomes that you want in life. Picture yourself believing in yourself and becoming exactly who you want to be. A successful man or woman who is happy doing things that he or she loves and has great relationships. No more would you have to suffer from second guessing yourself and taking the back seat, criticizing yourself or enduring the pain of those that criticize you and do not appreciate you...

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3 Smart Tips for Stopping Your Need to Try to Change People and Reduce Your Stress

People basically are what they are. A grouchy person will usually remain grouchy. A person with a very loud annoying laugh will always be loud. A person who is a pushover or who is afraid to stand up for themselves will stay that way. In addition, a tacky commenting person will not change the way they talk. Here is how to stop trying to change people and reduce your own stress in the process.

First: If any change is going to happen, it has to come from you. This may sound like you have to give in to rude people, but you are not, you are actually controlling the situation and increasing your levels of calm. You need to change your belief that you can make someone change their behaviour into something they are not. If the behaviour is something that is unique to them and can be overlooked as a part of their individuality, then let it go and like them anyway. Being more tolerant of little things makes you understand human nature better. In addition, allows you to grow as a person. Miraculous influences do occasionally happen, but mostly in the movies or in those reality shows that are written to shock you. So stop agonising over a failure to mold someone into your ideal.

Second: After changing your belief, start changing your ideas of what a friend should be like. Think about the qualities you would like in a friend and then emulate those qualities yourself. You will attract like-minded people to you and your social circle will change to reflect your new friends. Remember to be kind to yourself, no one else will, because no one knows you like you do.

Third: You will find that your stress levels will decrease and a strong powerful calmness will come over you. People will feel this and gravitate to you. You will make yourself happy by associating with people you truly feel good around.

Accept those who will never quite make you feel comfortable to be with. They will always be that way. Do not waste your precious time and energy with behaviours that drag you down emotionally. Change that comes from within you generates energy and reduces your stress and builds strong healthy relationships. Those people who have behaviours that stress others and make people uncomfortable will have their own circle of friends. Remember the old saying "misery loves company". People only change a bad habit or behaviour only when they want to for their own reasons, whether it is selfish or not.

Being a person who is willing to connect with positive growing people will reduce your stress in a natural way.

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Steps to Develop More Discipline

At some point in life, every person will feel the effects of a lack of self-discipline. It is a challenging goal to conquer, but anyone can develop more discipline. There will be set-backs along the way, but establishing good self-discipline is an important step for your personal development.

1. You are human

Don't forget that you are a human being. You will make mistakes, it is only natural. People start learning by trial and error in infancy-adult learning is often no different. The goal here is to learn from your mistakes and not keep repeating the same error time and time again. If you mess up one day, don't give up and don't beat yourself up. Just start fresh the next day.

2. Set attainable goals

Nothing kills a plan faster feeling like it's impossible to get anywhere. It's not conducive to your personal development to set the bar too high at first. If you currently don't exercise at all, a goal of walking three times a week is a nice, attainable goal. You are not going to go from being sedentary to running marathons overnight. Remember to keep your goals in check with your abilities. If you set the bar too high at first, you will burn out and give up. Set yourself up for success by keeping your goals within your abilities.

3. Reward yourself

When you reach a goal, go ahead and reward yourself. If you walk three times this week, allow yourself to splurge on a night out with friends. When goal achievement goes unrewarded, we have a tendency to stop moving forward. Everybody needs to feel like they got a "win" sometimes. When you attain a goal, reward yourself. You are worth it.

4. Use your time effectively

Time is a precious commodity-treat it as such. When you get wrapped up in a task, you sacrifice time elsewhere. Creating a schedule for your day can help to eliminate situations where you feel like you worked all day, yet accomplished nothing.

5. Schedule fun time

Often we get so wrapped up in everything we have to do that we forget about doing what we want to do. The stress of everyday life can feel crushing some days. It is so important to schedule time in your day for something you enjoy. Without this release, you are setting yourself up to burn out. Burn out can kill any self-discipline progress you have made. Scheduling a few minutes each day for enjoyable activities is not only fun, it's essential to your mental health.

With these simple steps even the most disorganized person can achieve some self-discipline. Take charge of your life today!

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I Don't Like Me When I'm Angry

I have to admit, I get angry at times. There are moments when something happens or someone does something, and I get upset. I'm human. Anger is a normal emotional response to things. If you have ever met someone who says they do not get angry ever, then they are probably not being honest with themselves.

However, when I was younger, I would hold onto my anger in a righteous manner. I would almost feed my grudge until it was larger than it originally was. It would take my energy for days and ruin my mood and even affect those around me. The worst part was, when I would run across the person who had so upset me to begin with days or weeks later, they were usually fine and going on with their life. I was the one who was stuck in the black hole of my own negativity.

We are all composed of energy. And unfortunately, negativity seems to affect us more easily and longer than positivity. That is, it tends to take more positivity and more awareness on our part to focus on the positive to combat all the negativity that is around us every day. This is even more vital if we are creating and feeding that own negativity within ourselves.

The Buddha is quoted as saying, "Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Holding onto anger truly only affects the one holding onto it. The other people can choose to move on with their lives, but in order for you to, you must let it go. This is not always easy but once you do, you will be amazed at the freedom and lightness that will come into your life. Let go of the anger and free yourself from the poison.

1) Are you holding onto any grudges right now? If so, it's time to let it go. Realize it is in the past and focus on the positive.

2) The next time you get upset, allow yourself to feel it but then let it go. Do not feed the anger or keep making it bigger in your head. Remember, not everything will go your way all the time and that is okay.

3) For the next 21 days, wake up each morning and say one thing you are grateful for. Throughout the day, focus on that positive thing.

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7 Ways To Make People Feel Important.

I have been reading the Power of Self Discipline recently and it has been quite fascinating. I personally struggle with patience, consistency and relationship with other people. In one of the chapters Brian talks about the 7 ways to make people feel important. This really resonated with me and helped me a lot, so i'd really like to share it here with you.

7 Ways To Make People Feel Important.

When you focus on making other people feel important , you reinforce their self image, increase self esteem and make them feel happy about themselves, and by extension , yourself. Whenever you say, or do, anything to raise the self esteem of the other person ,you trigger a boomerang effect that causes your own self esteem to go up at the same time, and in the same measure.

1 Accept people the way they are , without judgement or evaluation.

2 Show you appreciation for others.

3 Be agreeable. The most welcome people in every situation are those who are generally agreeable and positive with others, on the other hand argumentative people who question , complain and disagree are seldom welcome anywhere. When you nod , smile and agree with another person, when he or she is talking , or expressing an opinion you make that person feel intelligent, respected, valuable and important. When you are agreeable with another person, even if they say something with which you may not be in complete accord, you make that person feel happy to be in your presence.

4. Show your admiration. Express admiration for a persons appearance. Compliment a person traits or characteristics. Compliment a persons accomplishments.

5. Pay attention to others. Listen attentively when they speak.

6. Never criticise, condemn or complain about anything, whether it be directly or indirectly. Never do, or say, anything that lowers a persons self esteem or makes them feel less important or valuable. Refuse to gossip or discuss other people in a negative way.. Never say anything about a person that you would not say to their face.

7. Be courteous, concerned and considerate of everyone you meet. The 3 C's.

Exercise

1. Make a list of the most important friends in your work and personal life. What could you do to make them feel better about themselves?

2. Identify the one things you could do in every meeting or encounter to make the other person feel important.

3. Resolve to make each person feel more valuable & worthwhile because he or she spoke to you.

4. Practice non - judgemental-ism in all your relationships. Always assume the best of intentions on the part of others.

5. Imagine that each person you meet has only a short time to live and you are the only person who knows.

6. Find something about each person that is impressive to you and then tell the other person how impressed you are.

7. Imagine that there is a hidden camera and a microphone recording every interaction you have with other people, how would you behave differently?

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5 Easy Ways To Help You Deal With Stress

Stress is a normal and natural part of human life — You can’t avoid it, so how do you manage it?

We encounter stress every day: in driving through traffic, falling behind schedule and managing big projects.

We must learn to how to deal with stress in order to lead a more productive, happy life.

Today I’m going to share a few ways that I manage the stress in my life, and I know these will work for you as well.

Here are 5 ways to deal with stress:

1) Plan Your Day

Plan every aspect of your day and plan your activities in advance, especially if you are going through a difficult time in your life. Having a plan for your day will make you feel more in control. You won’t have to think about or make a decision on what to do next.

Becoming an expert in time management will reduce your stress levels enormously. Breaking down every task and activity in your day or week will make the big picture a lot less intimidating.

2) Focus On Your Most Important Task

When you are experiencing a lot of stress, only work on the tasks that are the most important to improving your life.

You can use tools that we’ve discussed in the past, like the 80/20 Rule, to make setting and choosing your goals easier.

Setting clear priorities for your work each day, before you begin, will relieve much of your stress immediately. Then, discipline yourself to start on your most important task and work on it until it is complete.

3) Get More Rest

It’s amazing how many people suffer greater stress from the same event because they are just tired. Fatigue causes you to experience stress at much higher levels for much longer periods of time.

A body well taken care of will serve you much better in the long-run, and will reduce your stress naturally. If you are planning your day properly, then planning for more sleep shouldn’t be a problem.

4) Talk Out Your Situation

Find someone that you like, trust and respect and talk to them about the situation you are experiencing; ask them for their advice. Sometimes just talking about the issue out loud will help reduce the anxiety and stress you are feeling.

5) Look For The Lesson

One of the things that you can do to eliminate the stress from your life is to ask yourself:

“What can I learn from this experience? What is this experience trying to teach me?”

Ask yourself if you should be doing more of something, or less of something in the future to avoid this sort of stress.

If you look into any situation and look for the lesson in your most difficult experiences, you will always find one.

Those are my suggestions for reducing stress in your life, I hope they help you as much as they’ve helped me.

Before we wrap up, I’d like to leave you with a thought to share with your friends and followers:


“Within every setback or obstacle there is the seed of an equal or greater advantage or benefit. Find it.” BrianTracy

Now I’d love to hear from you. So my question today is:

Which events in your life cause the most stress and which strategies have you used to overcome that stress in the past?

Leave a comment below to share your experience.

Stress has a lot to do with procrastination and time management. If you learn to manage your time you will be less stressed. Learn to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time and get my free Eat that Frog transcription below.

Thanks for reading and remember, if you want to change your future, take action and take action now.

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Success - The Key To Achieving Big Success

The dictionary defines success as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Whatever your goal, you can achieve it. But success doesn't come in one huge action. Completing a series of small tasks add up. Day-to-day actions yield small results that lead to big success.

Stop making excuses.

It's a simple instruction, but it's not always avoid the easy way out. Sometimes, making an excuse is easier than doing the deed. It's easier to tell yourself you're tired and need a break so you don't feel bad about sleeping in instead of heading to the gym. It's easier to tell yourself that you deserve a break instead of studying material for your class. It's easier to convince yourself that you need more time to prepare your product instead of cold contacting store owners about stocking it for sale. There is always an easy way out. Avoid excuses at all costs. Making excuses lead to no where.

Do the thing you don't want to do. 

Completing the difficult task is a form of personal development. Remember the first time you went for a run? Getting through that one mile was hard. But your doctor recommended increased activity to avoid blood pressure medication. So you run, even on days you don't want to and you successfully avoid taking a medication. Goal achieved by doing the thing you didn't want to do. The same with doing something you don't want to do when it comes to your business or education. No one wants to read chapters from a textbook but how else will you learn the material? Reading leads to learning. Learning leads to passing quizzes and exams. Passing tests leads to good grades. Good grades lead to graduation. Success. The same with business. There are things you don't want to do as a business owner, like firing employees or ending business relationships. What's the alternative? Continue to pay an employee who isn't performing up to standard? Continue to order from a supplier that no longer meets the needs of your business? Although it's hard, terminating an under-performing employee makes an opening for a potential super star who can help take the business to the next level. After doing the "hard" things for a while, it is less challenging to do it again.

No matter how big or small the goal, achieving it is simple. The only way to make it happen is to take small steps. Stop making excuses. Excuses lead to nothing. Just do it. The things that seem hard require growth to complete them. The only way to achieve success is to grow as a person.

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Motivation - How to Get Motivated and Stay That Way

Getting excited about something new is human nature. Starting a new job. Opening up a new business. A new relationship. Your first day of working out. Starting meal prep. Anything new is exciting until it's not new anymore. Once you learn all the nuances of your new job, it's not exciting anymore. There's nothing fun about losing money for a few months in your new business, in fact, it's discouraging. Discovering all of your significant other's annoying quirks may make you reconsider building the relationship. Getting up at 5:00 am to go to the gym after you've been up late taking care of your sick child is difficult. Pushing through and maintaining enthusiasm about whatever it is will keep you on track.

You've made the first step. You got started. Some don't even make it that far because of fear. Congratulate yourself for making it over that hurdle. Now you find that you aren't as excited as you were in the beginning. You aren't as productive. You don't greet your customers with as much bravado as before. How do you keep up that excitement of the "new"?

Look around. Take an inventory of your life. Losing steam is the first step toward giving up. If you give up you will never realize your goals. Remember all the people cheering you on. Remember everyone who invested in you. Be it time, money, or simply encouragement. Can you handle disappointing them all if you chose not to succeed? Success is a choice we make everyday. It doesn't just happen. We choose it.

It's easy to stay excited when things are going well. The key to success is to stay excited when things are difficult. Things happen. There will be bad days at work. You will miss deadlines. Promotions will pass you by. You will have difficulties with customers. You will argue with your spouse. You will miss days at the gym. You will feel the guilt of cheating your diet. You will get rejected and face an obstacle or even failure. Know that failures are temporary only when you keep moving and continue to take action.

Maintaining enthusiasm about your project is the key to making your dreams come true. Take action everyday as if it is your first day. Keep visual reminders of what you are working toward. Keep a daily routine that promotes positive thoughts. Doing these things will allow you to stay excited about everything even when things get tough.

Be enthusiastic everyday. Don't let obstacles discourage you. Just continue. Keep visual reminders of what the results of your actions can yield to stay excited. Choose to excitement and you will stay excited.

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6 Great Ways to Stick to Your Daily Routine

Are you the type of person that struggles to grasp the concept of routine? Here’s everything you need to know.

In the movie Groundhog Day (if you haven’t seen this yet, then go do that right away!), Phil (the protagonist) finds that he is in a sort of a time warp, living the same day over and over again. There’s a scene in which Phil talks to a local at the bar.

Phil: What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing you did mattered?

Ralph: That about sums it up for me.

In a way, even though Ralph wasn’t literally living the same day over and over again (like Phil was), he was still doing the same things over and over, day in and day out. Ralph was stuck in routines that didn’t matter.

Having a Daily Routine

My younger self hated routine. I hated discipline and I didn’t understand the reason why rules existed or why they were being imposed on me. Admittedly, in retrospect, they were in part being imposed because of some tyrannical desire of the enforcer.

But, a tiny part of me knew that there was also the possibility that routine exists because it instills in you, some kind of responsibility. But, no, it wasn’t for me. I detested routine so vehemently and I hid that fact so cleverly.

Then I grew up. Being an adult is tough. It’s tough because you don’t have a routine being imposed on you anymore, unless you’re well, in prison, in which case you don’t really have a choice. But otherwise, you are free to do exactly as you please.

People will tell you to break out of routine and do exciting things that challenge you. And while this may sound good, it is not necessarily always a good thing.


The Disadvantage of Routines

Routine makes you forget why you are doing what you do. “Practice” might make perfect what I can tell you (from personal experience), it also makes for a loss of passion.

And this can be incredibly harmful, both personally and professionally (We talked about this in Dealing with disillusionment in tech).


The Advantages of Routines

The trouble with growing up, as I soon discovered, was that I had gotten so accustomed to sticking to a routine that I didn’t know what it was like to work without one. This is a problem creatives face almost every day.

Creativity isn’t supposed to be work and creatives are generally not too happy with sticking to a schedule. Often, it actually becomes difficult to channel creativity, which is inherently spontaneous, into work, which is almost everything but.


Working for a software firm now, I often like to relate the process of software development to the process of writing a story.

It’s almost like magic, when all the different pieces finally fall together and you have a finished product that you can be proud of.

This is why it requires just as much creativity and out-of-the-box thinking as say, a designing/writing job, if one has to be a truly accomplished programmer.
6 Great Ways to Stick to Your Daily Routine

Now coming to the crux of why you need routine, I will sum it up in the following words – Being creative and innovative is not sufficient. You also need to get things done.

Here are 6 great ways to set a good routine and stick to it.


1) Define Your Routine

And in order to get things done, you need to have a process. Every individual would do well to develop a process that works well for them.

If you’re a leader, instill that sense of process in your team members. A good routine could well be the difference between simply talking about things, and actually getting out there and accomplishing them.


2) Have A Cheat Day

What I’m trying to say is: don’t stick to your routine. I probably sound like I’m contradicting myself here but I’m not. Once you have found a process that works for you, make sure you set aside a day of the week on which you don’t stick to your routine.

Put aside that one day to do things differently or do different things. You never know! You might find a new way to do things. You might even find something, to work on, that you had never really considered significant before.


3) Have A Pre-Routine
Before you actually start your routine, do something that doesn’t challenge you much. For me, the beginning of the day is when I read up on the latest articles or any news bits in tech that I might have missed.

It takes little to no effort to get started on this, but because I have mentally included it to be part of my routine, I can be prepared for what I have to do next.

4) Don’t Play the Blame-Game

Procrastination is our worst enemy. I have spent ages procrastinating, when I should have been working, and eventually blaming someone else for my lack of results. Having a routine makes you aware of what you didn’t get done, and consequently puts the ownership of your work entirely in your hands.

I’ve found that it’s easier for me to assess my performance if I have set aside some benchmarks for what I expect of myself.

No one else can do that for you. Make yourself accountable for your work.


5) Calendars and To-do Lists

Use a to-do list for one-off activities and schedule your recurring activities on Google Calendars. The best part about Calendars are the pop-ups and notifications that make sure you don’t forget to get something done.

When you’re reminded/told to do something, there’s a greater chance that you’ll actually do it.


6) Eliminate Hindrances

A new routine is difficult to stick to and often you’ll find yourself faced with distractions that can lead you astray. What you can do is examine your routine and identify those exact moments where you feel like things are going south.

Once you pay more attention to the difficult bits, it makes it easier for you to stick to a routine as a whole.



To sum up, routine is an important part being able to consistently put all your effort and focus on your dreams. Which is why adopting the habit of a good daily routine is something you definitely need to do. As you get into that habit, you’ll find it harder to get out of.

Here’s a recap on 6 great ways to stick to your daily routine:
Define your routine
Have a cheat day
Have a pre-routine
Don’t play the blame game
Calendars and to-do lists
Eliminate hindrances



Thanks for reading, don’t forget to comment below with your thoughts!

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10 Reasons to Stop Watching Television

In this article, we’ll look at the effects that TV has on people, and some of the scary facts that you might not be aware of. Most importantly, we’ll go through the top 10 reasons to stop watching television.

How many hours on average do people watch TV per day?

According to Statistic Brain, the average person watches 5 hours and 11 minutes of television per day. Wow, that’s a lot of television!

So out of the 24 hours we have per day, more than 1/5th of it on average is spent in front of the TV. And if you add on top 7 or 8 hours sleeps, that doesn’t really leave too much of the day left to get things done.

What effect does television have on people?

Despite the effect it has of people not get anything productive done, television can have an effect on people’s minds, causing them to think differently. You can see more info on this when we get into the reasons to stop watching TV below.

10 Reasons to Stop Watching Television

So now you’re about to read a bunch of reasons from myself as to why you need to stop watching television. Then 90% of you after you’ve finished reading will go and sit yourself down in front of your favorite TV program.

Here are the 10 most obvious reasons to stop watching television:


1. Watching Too Much TV is Wasting Time

How much time are you wasting watching TV?

Well, the answer is above (5 hours and 11 minutes every day). Is that amount the time you’re actually wasting though?

If you’re watching things that are educational and beneficial towards your interested and goals, then that time is probably not all wasted. But, for the most of us who watch random TV series’, we may well be wasting all our time.

Think about it, what happens when you turn the TV off after 3 hours of watching some random US sitcom?

Sure, you could say you’re more relaxed because of it, but 3 hours of the stuff? Does it really relax you that much?

There’s so much more you could be doing instead of watching television. Think about all the goals you could be working towards and achieving instead of looking at a screen.



2. TV Provides Unrealistic Expectations

TV is not real life.

Sure, you may be able to watch the news, or documentaries about people’s lives. However, the likelihood is that the news is exaggerated and intimidates people for no reason, or the documentaries are actually again exaggerated and fake.

But I’ll get into that a little later on in the article.

Television provides unrealistic expectations because of all the random scenarios and situations portrayed, that would never be the case in real life. Either portrayed in movies, sitcoms or other programs.

For those of us looking to becoming successful in life and make something of ourselves, these programs can often put illusions in our minds as to what’s required to make it in life. Or, they end up putting false limits in our mind of what’s actually possible for us.



3. TV Puts Your Health At Risk

The scientific link between the amount of TV watched and obesity has been proven.

People who have a habit of sitting down and watching TV for long periods of time, are often more likely to be obese and at risk of heart diseases.

You’re also likely to eat more when you’re sitting down in front of the television. Plus, since you’re also burning less calories due to doing no physical activity, this becomes a very risky combination.


4. TV Degrades Your Discipline

Well, you’re not exactly improving your discipline whilst watching TV are you?

Watching television has an affect on your level of discipline, because it’s addictive. The more you watch television, the less likely you are to get things done.

Plus, if you have a television in your house, it’s one of the most common distractions for people. Therefore, the amount of discipline you have is reduced significantly.


5. TV Programs Negativity Into Your Mind

The news on TV in particular, programs a lot of negativity into our minds.

How much of the news we see on TV is positive?

Not a lot right?

The worst of the worst is always put on TV, and it programs negativity into our minds. We see danger in various places, and decide we won’t go there because of fear.

We hear of diseases that are spreading across the world, and we start being over cautious. Some people end up staying in their homes due to fear of things going wrong.

TV implants negativity into our brains.

6. TV Has An Influence On Your Spending Habits

TV clearly has an affect on your spending habits.

Adverts every 15 minutes, and shopping channels all over the place; needless to say it doesn’t look good.

Even if you’re not watching television with purchases in mind, which nobody ever is, it can still influence your spending.

We’re very visual people, and can easily be influence by TV without even realizing it. Just bear that in mind when you next sit down in front of the screen.

7. TV Can Make You Less Satisfied In Life

A study has actually shown that people who watch more TV tend to be less satisfied with the way their life is.

Their list of wants and desires for materialistic things become greater, and their gratitude for what they have degrades. This is most likely due to the unrealistic way life is portrayed on TV.


8. TV Causes You to Become Less Social

Funnily enough ‘it doesn’t take two to television’.

If you’re someone who’s watching a lot of TV, chances are your social life is decreasing. Being social is very beneficial for not only relaxing and imprinting positive thoughts in our minds, but we can also become wiser from being more social.

There could be so many people around you to send your time with. People who will make you happy, lift your spirits, and even provide you with help and knowledge.

It beats sitting in front of a screen.


9. TV Can Wrongly Alter Your Beliefs

Since TV can implant negativity into our minds and also present us with unrealistic expectations, it can also alter your beliefs.

Television is powerful. So if you don’t want your belief system messed with, then stop watching so much TV.


10. How Many Lamborghini Adverts Do You See On TV?


Think about it, seriously.

How many Lamborghini, or Ferrari adverts do you see on television?

You’ve probably never seen one in your life, unless you happen to be in a rich area. But here’s the point. Why don’t you see adverts for these cars on television?

You see adverts for all the other car makes on TV, so why not makes like Lamborghini? It’s simple; and you can put it down to the fact that the average person won’t be able to afford these cars, but that’s not the reason.

The reason there are no Lamborghini adverts on television is simply because the people who can afford them aren’t sitting around watching TV.

Lamborghini have to advertise their cars somehow right, but TV is not the answer. That’s not where their target market is, i.e. wealthy and successful people.
How to Stop Watching TV


We’ve taken a look at all the reasons why you should stop watching television, but how do you actually encourage yourself to do it?

Here are a few steps you can take to cut down on the amount of TV you watch:

1. Sell your television altogether

The simplest way to stop watching television would be to stop owning one altogether. However, that’s a pretty drastic measure to take. Yet, if you’re really struggling to cut down on TV time, this may well be a good idea.

Alternatively, limit the number of TV’s in your house. If you have one in the bedroom, sell that one and just keep one in your living room.

2. Try and get out of the house more

If you’re out of the house more, then you’ll be watching less television. So try to do what you can to get outside of the house.

3. Give yourself an allotted amount of time to watch television

Try and set an allotted time every day for watching TV. This is a great way to limit the time you spend in front of the screen.

4. Buy a timer for your television

You can grab timers that automatically turn your television off after they’ve been on for a specific amount of time.

This is another excellent way to stop watching television, because the timer does it for you. Once you’ve watched the limit you’ve set it on, that’s it for the day.

5. Try and be more social

Try and be more social. Make new friends, ask them to go out and do things. If you get more socially active, you’ll be spending more time with others, and not in front of your TV.


Summary

Now that we’re coming to the end of the article, let’s quickly recap the 10 reasons why you should stop watching television:
Watching too much TV is wasting time
TV provides unrealistic expectations
TV puts your health at risk
TV degrades your discipline
TV programs negativity into your mind
TV has an influence on your spending habits
TV can make you less satisfied in life
TV causes you to become less social
TV can wrongly alter your beliefs
How many Lamborghini adverts do you see on TV?

How to stop watching television:
Sell your television altogether
Try and get out of the house more
Give yourself an allotted amount of time to watch television
Buy a timer for your television
Try and be more social


In Conclusion
We think that TV can definitely be relaxing at times, there’s no doubt about that. It’s healthy to watch a little now and then for the entertainment factor.

However, watching too much can be detrimental to your level of happiness, productivity and success. You don’t have to go to the extreme of selling every TV you own, just try and cut down the time spent watching. Maybe remove TV’s from bedrooms, offices, etc.

How much TV do you watch per day? Leave a comment below.

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How to Defeat Procrastination & Start Being A Go-Getter

We have all been there. You have a major deadline or task to do, and yet you sit around and waste hours of your precious time on Netflix or some other time wasting endeavor.

We try to console our mind by saying we have enough time to do it later on, but all we are doing is treating our mind with cookies and letting it become a ‘Couch Potato’.

How to Defeat Procrastination

If you don’t defeat procrastination, you are prone to wasting thousands of hours of precious time that could have been used for improving your health, building a business or any other major goal you have.

Procrastination, if untreated, will suck the motivation out of your life stage by stage. It is like cancer.

To avoid procrastination and become a High-Flying Go Getter, follow the following 7 steps that have helped me become a highly efficient individual.

Step 1: Use The “5 Goals Per Day” Technique

This should be your first step towards annihilating your procrastination habit. The technique will help you build discipline (which is the opposite of procrastination).

Here is how to use the “5 Goals Per Day” method:
Before going to sleep or every morning, set yourself 5 ultimate daily goals that you must accomplish before going to bed that day.
The Goals must not be huge, because if the goal is too huge and you don’t accomplish all your goals by the end of the day, you are only feeding your mind thoughts of you being a weak person.
For example, if I wanted to build a blog, my daily goals would be “Write 500 words today” or “Read chapter 2 of how to build a blog”. They are small but require effort.

Note: Whatever you do, make sure that you accomplish those 5 goals at the end of the day. You defeat procrastination by proving to your brain that you can accomplish goals and are a strong individual.


Step 2: Find Your “Optimum Efficiency” Time

Your optimum efficiency time is the time where you are most inclined to work and put in effort.

Are you a night owl or an early bird?

Well, if you already know what time you are most effective at, then you can jump this step.
If not, I have a defined plan that will help you find out. Here it is:

1. Sleep 8-10 Hours; Wake up early (5-7AM); Take a bath and start 

accomplishing your tasks.

Are you concentrated?
Are you yawning a lot?
Do you accomplish at least 75% of your goals…

Evaluate your results and if you were energetic and efficient, then, you are an early bird! High-Five!! That’s me too! If not…

2. Sleep 8-10 Hours; Wake Up; Take A Bath; Do your daily tasks until it becomes night time and start accomplishing your tasks.

Ask yourself the above questions I mentioned before.

Evaluate your results and see if you were efficient. If yes, then you are a night owl!
If both times are not your optimum time, then try noon, afternoon… and evaluate your results.


Step 3: Use The “Pomodoro” technique or an adaption of it

If you haven’t heard of the Pomodoro technique, here is a simple explanation:
Work for 25 minutes and take 5-minute break
Repeat
Repeat again, but now take 15-minute break
Now Repeat from the Top.

What makes this method effective are those 5-minutes breaks. They are basically rewards for working 25 minutes.

Now, you can change this technique by making an adaption of it, but I advise as a beginner, you don’t lengthen the 5-minute break part. It is a sweet spot.


Step 4: Make Sure Your Working Space Is Organized
Yes, it might not seem like a big deal, but if your working space is dirty and unorganized, you will lose concentration and motivation.

Make sure your table is well lit, well-spaced and well organized. Make sure everything you need to accomplish your goal is on the desk before you even start working.

When I am talking about organization, I am also talking about your computer. A disorganized computer can feed your procrastination like nothing else.

Step 5: Stop Multi-Tasking

This expands on the previous step. Even though, many people say that multi-tasking is effective, it actually hinders your effectiveness.

When you doing an important task on your PC/laptop, make sure you don’t open 12 tabs at once. It will casually lead to you opening another tab of YouTube, Facebook or some other time wasting endeavor.

This also relates to goals. Don’t focus on two of your goals at once. Make sure you finish and concentrate fully on the first goal before going on towards your next goal.

Step 6: Have One Major Long-Term Goal

On the first step, we discussed laying out daily goals that will help you become efficient, but what is also important is having one long term goal that you can focus 110% on.

How long should a Long-Term Goal be?

Well… in my eyes, the perfect long term goal should be between 3-6 months. The reason this time interval is effective is because it is not too far away as to inspire procrastination or too short to cause stress.

In the perfect world, your daily short term goals should lead to your ultimate major long term goal.

It is fine to have unrelated daily goals, but effectively, 80% of your daily goals should be goals that build your long term goal.

For example, if my long term goal is losing 30 pounds of fat in the next 3 months, then…
My daily goals would be similar to the following:
Track my calories
Full Body Workout
Drink 2L of Water…

Step 7: Do What You Hate First

In the perfect world, all your goals and tasks are going to be things you absolutely love doing, but we aren’t in that perfect world.


As a result, you should accomplish the tougher goals before doing the easier ones.

If you start out doing the easier goals first, you will eventually burn out by the time you get to the harder tasks. And almost always, the tougher goals are the more valuable.

So before accomplishing any other goals, make sure you are obliterating the tougher goals before you move forward.

If you have extreme discipline, then this is no matter to you, but why are you reading this if you are disciplined? Right.

To build discipline and defeat procrastination, you need to prove to your mind that you are a goal-oriented individual.

Procrastination can render your life goal-less if undefeated, as a result take the above steps seriously and you will develop a goal-oriented mind in under 6 months.

You can enjoy a lazy day once in a while, but make sure you don’t get trapped into over extending your lazy day to a lazy week and then a lazy month. I am not joking; it can happen to everyone.

This is why losing fat and becoming healthy is hard. People start for a week and then decide to have one lazy day and that lazy day transforms into a lazy year and then they are back to a new year’s solutions the next year.

The cycle continues…

This is why you should start defeating your procrastination habit early on and with full vengeance.


What is the best way to defeat procrastination? Well…

It is by following the above steps, but what is the most important is having goals that you accomplish. It literally does change your life if you become a goal oriented individual.

If you don’t know how to set goals, then make sure you give this guide a read.

But what is ultimately vital is that you take action. All this steps I gave you are absolutely worthless if you don’t put them into action.

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