Seminaco

The Science of Social Media

Seminaco — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:38:55 +0000

This is a lecture given by Dan Zarrella, HubSpot’s social media scientist, at Harvard on January 24th 2011.

J.K. Rowling’s Harvard Commencement Speach

Seminaco — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:48:56 +0000

J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, delivers her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Live in reality by Sadhguru

Seminaco — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:38:27 +0000

Sadhguru, a yogi and profound mystic of our times, is a visionary humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. A contemporary Guru, rooted as strongly in mundane and pragmatic matters as he is in inner experience and wisdom, Sadhguru works tirelessly towards the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of all. His mastery of the mechanisms of life, an outcome of his profound experience of the Self, guides in exploring the subtler dimensions of life.

At home in loincloth as much as he is in blue jeans, barefoot through the mighty Himalayas, or straddling a BMW motorcycle on the expressway, Sadhguru is the most unusual mystic that one can encounter. Marking a clear departure from mere customs and rituals, Sadhguru’s scientific methods for self-transformation are both direct and powerful. Belonging to no particular tradition, Sadhguru incorporates and presents what is most valid for the contemporary life from the yogic sciences.

Sadhguru speaks at some of the world’s most prominent international leadership forums. In January 2007, he participated in four panels at the World Economic Forum and spoke on issues ranging from diplomacy and economic development, to education and the environment. In 2006, he addressed the World Economic Forum, the Tallberg Forum in Sweden, and the Australian Leadership Retreat. He has also served as a delegate to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit and the World Peace Congress.

Sadhguru’s vision and understanding of modern social and economic issues have led to interviews with BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn, and Newsweek International. His insights are regularly featured in India’s leading national newspapers. A well-known public figure, he regularly draws crowds of more than 300,000 people for his public talks and “sathsangs” (group meditation).

Traversing seamlessly from the ancient to the ultramodern, Sadhguru bridges the gap between the known and the unknown, enabling all those who encounter him to explore and experience the deepest dimensions of life.

TEDxConcordia 2011 Review

Seminaco — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:54:55 +0000

Ideas in Motion at TEDxConcordia

Yesterday’s TEDx Concordia event went off without a hitch. Independently organized, the event’s team brought in more than 400 people and boasted an all-day roster of 18 talks by invigorating people. The day started bright and early at 9am at the Eric Maclean Center for the Performing Arts right off of West Broadway. As we strolled in, the guests were welcomed into a long line that led to tables offering coffee and an array of breakfast foods. Even though the event hadn’t even started yet, the high energy could be felt across the venue, turning the long line of hungry thinkers into a standing metaphor for the long string of ideas that awaited us.

Fully equipped with caffeine and satiated appetites, the audience was launched into the event as marketing guru Mitchell Joel (www.twistimage.com/blog/) took the stage. Both charismatic and witty, Joel managed to make light of the increasing paranoia we are developing in a cyber world of virtually no privacy or restraints. He touched on tactics, strategies and the tools that are available to all of us to avoid becoming disconnected in an overly connected world.

Also dipping into the web realm was Lenny Ratchitsky, who left us second-guessing our excessive use of social-media tools with his talk on the forgotten importance of serendipity. What opportunities are we missing as we avoid the unknown by living in our confined circle of predetermined likes and dislikes? Ratchitsky thinks we’re missing a lot, and urges us to leave some things up to chance.

But leaving things up to chance doesn’t mean leaving yourself unprepared. All of us can affirm to the fact that our photo libraries hold hundreds, if not thousands, of photos. But how safe are our hard-drives, and what would we be left with if our software suddenly becomes obsolete? Adele McAlear took us through the importance of being smart with our photographed keepsakes.

A life-long science-geek, David Secko revitalized our notion of the exchange that takes place between science and the public. Adamant about the importance of science reaching out to regular people, Secko feels there is a lot of insight to be gained through the public’s deliberation of science-like issues. If we lived in a Seckonian world, a lot more of scientific research and analysis would depend on us, the people.

Secko’s participation in the event didn’t stop there. In her pursuit to alleviate the developmental difficulties faced by the visually-impaired, Ilana Ben-Ari designed and created a toy that enhances orientation and mobility skills. Using David Secko and Nomadic Massive’s Alejandro Sepu to help showcase her invention, Ben-Ari made it clear that her toy is not only fun and inspiring, but incredibly crucial in bridging the gap between communication and the visually-impaired.

Also fueled by the ability to create things, Gavin Kenneally, a 3^rd year engineering student, turned us all into quasi-engineers as he dove into his talk on 3D printing. By mapping out the current use and future possibilities of this somewhat old but still unheard of technology, Kenneally showed us how 3D printing can redefine the traditional multi-tiered production process and turn each of us into the creators of the products we consume.

And consume we shall, especially when you’re looking to find a hot date. Well, at least that’s what Gad Saad suggested in his talk about the interconnection between consumerism as a mating enhancer. The reason why guys go nuts over expensive cars and why women tend to like the guys in those expensive cars may not be as obvious as one would think.

Although one is from a marketing world and the other thrives in the mayhem of Wall Street, both Michelle Holliday and Yan Ohayo left us thinking about the current corporate structures that businesses follow. Although both agree that profit is ideal in any business venture, it still isn’t smart to minimize everything to dollars and cents.

Tara Hunt closed off the third session with her on-stage confession of being a certifiably audacious entrepreneur. Is it smart to overthrow pragmatics and a comfortable lifestyle in the name seeking out your dreams? Is it okay if everyone around you thinks you’re nuts and that you’re making a mistake? Is it okay to travel the untrodden path? Hunt thinks so, and is willing to give everything up in exchange for a life of uncertainty that is driven by passion.

Much like the passion that pushes a project like Montreal Ouvert (www.montrealouvert.net) forward. Both excited and convincing, Josh brought awareness to the local organization’s mandate to make civic information available online for anyone. Open data, he says, is necessary to enable our democratic participation.

Along with democracy, an open philosophy usually brings about good things. If you hadn’t already heard of open courses, Paul Gillet made sure to peak our interest in the new wave of free online courses offered by universities around the world, including MIT, Yale and York University.

To make the day even more praise-worthy, TEDx Concordia welcomed a fantastic performance by the Montreal-based hip-hop group Nomadic Massive (www.nomadicmassive.com). As an artistic collective from around the world, Nomadic Massive has taken on a musical mission that is directed on universalizing what they call a “humanistic dialogue”. Through music, they devote themselves to youth communities within Montreal and beyond, with the hopes that our younger generations will seize and conquer the possibilities of opportunity. During their 2-song set the group dropped their hearts right onto that stage and led us straight into their hip-hop souls, asking nothing else from us but our ears. Not even 30 seconds-in, the entire 400+ crowd got up to dance, and kept dancing the entire way through. The audience’s beat-clap was so synchronized and so on point that it served as evidence that music does bind us together. Hip-hop, we learned, is full of ideas, we just need to listen.

As though Nomadic Massive didn’t get us riled up enough, Owen Chapman (www.opositive.ca) skipped up on stage later in the day and threw us all into the wonders of mash-ups. Although frowned upon in the musical world, mash-ups are a growing phenomena, and Chapman thinks we all have a right to play around with the music we listen to. Equipped with his trusty laptop and music-making software, Chapman got us to give him concrete sounds, like foot stomping and clapping, to show us how we can take new sounds and mash them up with pretty much any song or beat we want. Music is ours for the taking and the making, mashing included.

It’s obvious that TEDx Concordia didn’t set a specific theme for the event, leaving the talks to span across a range of topics. But, like any true open forum, it’s not about sharing certain ideas, but sharing ideas in general. While some talks were eye-opening, others were re-affirming. Either way, the talks generated discussion, and between each of the four sessions the audience gathered around tall tables topped with lollipops and engaged in open dialogue. We were all strangers to each other, but that didn’t stop us from discussing our ideas about the ideas, which only generated the discovery of new ideas. A perpetual motion has been set, which can only mean the event was a pure success.

By Rima Hammoudi

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TEDxConcordia – Saturday February 19th 2011

Seminaco — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:21:46 +0000

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At the TEDxConcordia event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including this one, are self-organized.

For more info and tickets: http://tedxconcordia.com

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Baz Luhrmann – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Seminaco — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:38:57 +0000

An oldie but a goodie.

Lyrics:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing everyday that scares you Sing Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours. Floss Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own.. Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will
look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…

33 Ways To Get And Maintain Motivation

Seminaco — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:07:58 +0000

Being motivated is a wonderful state of your being. In that state your body leverages huge amounts of energy. Your emotional field is totally balanced, physically you’re able to climb the Everest and mentally you understand the whole Universe in a split of a second. I know you know the feeling. The good news is that you can re-create this state pretty much whenever you want. Here are 33 tips to help you get and stay motivated. By the way, if you’re into long lists, you may also check this one: 100 Ways To Live A Better Life.

1. Ignore The Unimportant

Learning to ignore is a fantastic lesson. Much more rewarding than you think. There must be an art of ignoring and they should teach it in universities. Spanning your focus in so many areas will only weaken you. Ignoring what’s unimportant will free up energy, foster motivation and help you stay focused and productive.

2. Understand What Makes You Bored

And avoid it. Boredom is a nasty place to be. But as any other state of your being can be understood and you can identify the triggers. Once you understand that, you can safely go away from the gray zone. Takes some time but it really worth the effort.

3. Laugh More Often

Watch comedies, read comics. Throw away that ugly seriousness form your face. Laughing is a safety valve for your stress relief mechanism. It actually let it out from your body in bursts. And while you’re laughing you can still learn new stuff, like personal development lessons from Dumbo.

4. Keep A Log Of Your Breakthroughs

Do you remember when you had the first major success of your life? No? I thought so. We tend to overlook this simple habit of writing down our feelings every time we have a major breakthrough in our lives. If you want the shortest path to motivation, just keep a log of your successes. And get inspired by it.

5. Exercise

This is one the easiest and simplest way to summon motivation. Just walk out from the office, start doing some pushups or just go for a short run around the house. It will instantly declutter your physical body. Every time you exercise, you produce endorphins. Endorphins are good.

6. Create A Custom Environment

You can’t be motivated if you work in an environment which does not represent you. Make changes, adjust, improve. Doesn’t matter if it’s about your job office or your home. Whatever the space you work in, make it yours somehow, that will lower your unconscious adaptation efforts and you’ll have more time dedicated to the actual tasks.

7. Read Success Stories

Like in other people success stories. Get inspired. Admire them (with caution, but do admire them). Reading about success will make it more available to you and will fuel your efforts towards its achievement. And of course, you can learn how to be successful too.

8. Switch Tasks

You will get bored if you work on the same projects for too long. Boredom kills motivation. Try having several small projects that you can land on whenever you feel you’re on the verge of a burn out. Not to mention that switching tasks will instantly create fresh perspectives, helping you solve problems faster.

9. Assess Your Progress

If you work constantly you will make some progress, that’s a rule. You may have the impression that you’re not going anywhere but that’s because you’re skipping all those little milestones you go through every day. Watching back with satisfaction at what you created will surely boost your energy.

10. Talk About Your Projects

With your friends or family. Let the people know you’re doing stuff. That will often make yourself aware of the fact that you’re actually doing stuff and enjoy doing it. It will also create a certain level of accountability that will most likely push you forward.

11. Avoid Energy Vampires

Naysayers, pessimists, braggers they all are sucking up your energy. Don’t get caught in such power games, avoid at all costs those energy leaks. Even if that means you’ll isolate more often. It’s better to do work in your own secluded realm than to try to resist to a diminisihing environment.
12. Write Clear Goals

Most of the time that translates to actually write down your goals, you already have them clear in your mind. But take them out of your mind, put them in a trusted system and move on. Your mind works better when it knows what it has to do not when it spends time figuring what it has to do.

13. Exercise Satisfaction

Once you finished some task, reward yourself. Give yourself a prize. No need to be a huge one, but just enough to create the habit. Look forward to it while you’re working, wait for it, praise for it. In time you’ll become addicted to this fulfillment satisfaction and you won’t stop until you reach it.

14. Accept Failure

As part of the game. Failure, like success, is just a result of your actions, nothing more. One of the biggest motivation enemies is fear of failure. Fear that your outcome will turn bad. Accept it. It may turn bad, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop doing what you’re doing. Give your best and hope for the best.
15. Use Affirmations

Like writing down your intentions, your goals, your current status. Affirmations are a very powerful tool, hugely underrated. People find it awkward to write self-directed messages and read them out loud. News flash: you’re doing this all the time, unconsciously. So why not doing it consciously? Start with a morning phrase.

16. Play Games

Impersonate people. Imitate animals. Pretend you’re Sindbad the Sailor. Playing challenging games will relax your mind and at the same time will gather more resources from secret sources. A good motivation is always blended with joy. You can start with a simple game like how to get from a to b in 5 random steps.

17. Say “No”

Say “no” to distractions, to trolls, to depression. Exercising “no”’s is liberating. Too often too many commitments are making your life a continuous chore. Limit your promises and only get into things you really want to finish. Once you do that, go to a mirror, smile and start to politely exercise your “no”‘s.

18. Look For Positive People

Sadness, whining and complaining doesn’t play well with motivation. On the contrary. But positive, optimistic, energetic people will always shift your vibration in the right direction. Search them, find them and become their friend. Sometimes all you need to get motivated is to be surrounded by shiny happy people.

19. Difficulty Is Part Of The Game

Learn to work under pressure. Some things are more difficult than other. Accept that fact and focus on doing what you have to do not on your feelings of dissatisfaction. Difficulty is often what makes things worth doing. No sweat, no glory. Whenever I feel something is going to be tough, I’m usually more motivated to do it. The reward will be higher.

20. Create Personal Challenges

Personal challenges are short term goals, usually from 15 to 90 days. Like starting to exercise, or creating a habit from scratch in 15 days. Using personal challenges strengthen your inner power the same way exercising is strengthening your muscles. The more you do, the more motivated you feel to do even more.

21. Chose Positive Motivation

Whenever you lock in your motivation, do your best to keep it on the positive side, which is rooted in service. As opposed to the negative motivation, which is basically rooted in fear. Negative motivation works just the same, only it lasts significantly less than positive motivation.

22. Release Your Guardians

You do have guardians and some of them are pretty nasty. They won’t let you do your stuff. The bad thing about your guardians is that most of the time they’re working at the unconscious level, really difficult to interact with. Just accept, acknowledge and let them go. You will be much better off.

23. Enforce Your Personal Mission

You gotta have a personal mission. If you don’t, go find one fast. Reinforcing your personal mission at certain intervals is surely one of the greatest motivators of all. It’s like looking on a map and seeing at any moment where you are, how much do you have to go and which path you have to chose.

24. Spend Time Outside

If you can do something creative, like gardening or landscaping, even better. But it’s ok even if you don’t. Spending time outside of your box will clear the air inside. When you get back, everything will be fresher and shinier. And something fresher is always a nice motivator.

25. Keep A Clean Inbox

That’s one of the few GTD concepts I still use and it proves to be a great motivator. A clean inbox helps a smooth thoughts flow. A smooth thoughts flow let me be in the moment without any hidden burdens. Being in the moment is usually all I need to actually start doing things.

26. Don’t Aim For Perfection

It will soon drain you out. Aiming to be better is the real game. Perfection is a dead end, nothing really happens after you reached to it. Accepting that you can be better instead of perfect leaves some room for growth. And that means you have a reason to do more. And that’s what we usually call motivation, right?

27. Do One Thing At A Time

Multitasking is a myth. Even computers processors aren’t really doing multi-tasking, that’s what we perceive. Instead they have a single frequency and several parallel buses managing information, faking a multi-tasking activity. Multitasking is creating internal conflicts, both in humans and in computers. You end up spending more time solving those conflicts than actually working.

28. Keep A Source Of Inspiring Readings

You’re not always completely down, most of the time you’re just averagish, just one sentence away from your best shape. Be sure to keep around a list of inspiring readings. Quotes, blog posts, ebooks, whatever works for you. You can start with 100 ways to live a better life, for instance.

29. Put On Some Good Music

Just let it there, floating around, don’t turn the volume knob. Just enough to recreate a pleasant atmosphere. Music speaks to areas you can’t control with logical tools, yet is so powerful that can completely shift your mood in a second. The only thing better than silence is good music.

30. Don’t Fall Into The Productivity Trap

It’s not how much you do, but how much of it really matters. Doing stuff just for filling up notebooks with tasks won’t make you feel motivated. On the other side, whenever you’re doing something that matters, your planing and organizing activities will just flow.

31. Keep Your Life Lenses Clean

Your camera objective may be blurred but you don’t know. This is why you get the same picture again and again, this is why feel stuck and can’t seem to see any progress. Sometimes all you have to do is to clean up your lenses. It takes a little bit of courage but it’s worth the trouble.

32. Clean Up Your House

I know you need motivation for that too, but believe me, it’s a fantastic way to clean up your internal garbage. Cleaning up your house is not a chore, it’s a necessity. Your action paths may be clogged the same way your floor is sticky. And most of the time unsticking the floor will open your mind again.

33. Stop Reading This And Get To Work

It was fun reading it, I’m sure. But it won’t get things done in your place. Inspiration is a good motivator, but don’t abuse it. Now, that you are all energized, it’s time for you to get back to work. Of course, you can bookmark this post for future motivation sessions, but for now, just go back to work.

101 Ways To Live Your Life To The Fullest

Seminaco — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:48:06 +0000

How do you feel about your life today? Are you living every day in exuberance? Do you love what you’re doing? Are you excited every single moment? Are you looking forward to what’s coming up next? Are you living your best life?

If your answer to any of the above is a no, maybe or not sure, that means you’re not living your life to the fullest. Which really shouldn’t be the case, because your life experience is up to you to create. Why settle for anything less than what you can get? You deserve nothing but the best. In the past years of my life, especially since after I pursued my passion in ’08, I’ve been living every day to the fullest, filled with joy, passion and rigor. It’s an amazing experience that I want you to experience that too.

This is a list of 101 timeless principles I use to live my best life, and I hope they’ll help you to do so too. As you live in alignment with them, you’ll find yourself becoming more conscious, more alive, and more importantly, experiencing life on a whole new level. Be sure to bookmark or even print out this page and refer to it daily to guide you to your best life.

Here are 101 ways to live your life to the fullest:

Live every day on a fresh new start. Don’t be held back by what happened yesterday, the day before, the week before, the year before, and so on.
Be true to who you are. Stop trying to please other people or be someone else. It’s better to be an original version of yourself than an exact duplicate of someone else.
Quit complaining. Don’t be like the howling dog, always howling and never doing anything. Stop complaining about your problems and work on them instead.
Be proactive. Stop waiting for others around you to do something and take action yourself instead.
Rather than think “what if”, think “next time”. Don’t think about things you can’t change (namely what has happened and thoughts of other people) or unhappy things because these are disempowering. Instead focus on the things you can action upon. That’s the most constructive thing you can do in any situation.
Focus on WHAT vs. How. Focus on WHAT you want first, before you think about HOW to do it. Anything is possible, as long as you set your mind, heart and soul to it.
Create your own opportunities. You can wait for opportunities to drop in life. Or, you can go out there and create your own opportunities. The latter is definite and much more empowering.
Live more consciously each day. Stop sleepwalking through life. Your life is something to be experienced, not coasted through.
Be committed to your growth. In the Map of Consciousness, there are 17 levels of consciousness – from Shame to Enlightenment. The higher level of consciousness you are in, the richer your life experience. Achieving higher consciousness comes from your commitment to growth.
Know your inner self. This means knowing who you are and what you represent. Be clear of your personal identity.
Discover your real life purpose. Set the mission statement for your life; one that will drive you to life your life to the fullest.
Live in alignment with your purpose. What can you start doing immediately that will let you live 100% in alignment with your purpose? How can you live true to your purpose within every context/situation/environment you are in, every second of the day?
Set your life commandments. Define your personal commandments to live your best life. What adages and principles do you want to follow in your life?
Discover your values. Values are the essence of what makes you, you. Read article #11: Discover Your Values in The Personal Excellence Book on the importance of values, my values and how you can create your own.
Hold yourself to the highest conduct. Every one of us have our own set of ethics, principles and moral codes. Live true to them every day. Also, live in full alignment with your purpose (#11), commandments (#13) and values (#14).
Design your ideal life. What is your ideal life? Design it. First, assess your life at the moment via the life wheel. Then, ask yourself what it takes to live a 10/10 life (in all 10 areas – career, health, love, social, etc…). What is the life that will make you the best person you can ever be? Set your BHAGs – big, hairy and audacious goals! There are no limits in life – only those you set for yourself!
Stop putting life on hold. Are you putting any parts of your life on hold? What is one area of your life you have been putting off/avoiding/denying? Uncover it and start working on it.
Create your life handbook. Your life handbook is your life-long personal manual to live your best life – from your mission statement, your values, your long-term goals, short-term goals, personal strengths, blind spots to address, plans, among others. Create your book first then build on from there.
Set your goals. After you design your ideal life, set your 5-year, 3-year and 1-year goals. The more specific your goals, the better! Read the 10 principles on how to get winning goals.
Take action on your goals and dreams. Create an action plan with your strategy, plan and immediate next steps. ESPER: 7-part Goal Achievement series is a great tool to get you started.
Create your bucket list, i.e. things to do before you die. Then, get out to achieve them.
Don’t do things for the sake of doing them. Always evaluate what you’re doing and only do it if there is meaning behind them. Don’t be afraid to quit the things that don’t serve your path.
Do the things you love, because life is too precious to spend it doing anything else. If you don’t enjoy something, then don’t do it. Spend your time and energy on things that bring you fulfillment and happiness.
Discover your passion in life. What sets you on fire? Go out there (and explore inward) to know what you love to do.
Make your passion a full-fledged career. Then, start pursuing it. Stop working in a job you are passionless towards. Quit your job when you are ready to do it full-time.
Turn your passion into a huge success. Turn your passion into a multi-million dollar business. Better yet, make it a multi-billion dollar one.
Learn from criticism. Be open to criticism but don’t be affected by it. Criticism is meant to help you be a better person. Learn from it.
Be positive. Is the glass half empty or half full? How about neither? It’s actually all-full – the bottom half is water, the top half is air. It’s all a matter of perception. Take on empowering perceptions, not those that bind you. If you can see the positive sides of every thing, you’ll be able to live a much richer life than others.
Do unto others what you would like others to do unto you. The law of reciprocity – Golden Rule
Don’t complain or badmouth about other people.
Be empathetic. If everyone only see life from his/her own perspective, we’ll forever be close-minded and insular. See things from others’ shoes.
Be a compassionate person. Show compassion and kindness to everyone around you
Develop 100% self-belief. Believe in yourself and your abilities. If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you?
Let go of unhappy past. This means past grievances, heartbreaks, sadness, disappointments, etc.
Forgive those who may have done you wrong in the past. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize it was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes
Let go of attachments. Don’t fixate yourself with a certain status, fame, wealth or material possessions. These are impermanent and will ultimately disappear one day when you die. Focus on growing and living life to the fullest instead.
Let go of relationships that do not serve you. That means negative people, dishonest people, people who don’t respect you, people who make you feel bad about yourself and relationships that prevent you from growing.
Spend more time with people who enable you. Hang out with people who you compatible with, like-minded people, people who are positive, successful, strong achievers and positive for your growth. You are after all the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
Build genuine, authentic connections with people around you – strangers, friends, family, colleagues, business partners, customers/clients, etc. Spend more time to know them better and foster stronger connections.
Connect with an old friend. There is no end to the number of friends you can have. Reach out to people from the past.
Do a kind deed a day. What is something you can do today that will make the world a better place? Go and do it.
Help other people who are in need. Voluntarism is one outlet. You can also start with your friends and family.
Help people when they least expect it, without reason. You don’t need any reason to help others. Do it because you want to. Share the love with everyone.
Go dating (if you’re single).
Fall in love ♥
Review your life. Set a weekly review session to assess how you are doing for your goals and your life. Review your purpose once every 3-6 months too so you know you’re on the right path.
Overcome procrastination. Procrastination is a huge waste of your time (and your life). Get rid of it once and for all.
30 minutes a day. Set aside at least 30 minutes every day to work on a quadrant 2 goal that, when you achieve it, will bring about the biggest source of fulfillment and happiness in your life
Get out there and make new friends – whether in your workplace, online, friends’ friends, social groups, etc.
Be your advisor (from the future). Imagine you’re the future you, 5 years later. How would you advise yourself? Write it down. Now, apply them. Check out a related article #17: Future Prediction Exercise in The Personal Excellence Book, which is about predicting your future then learning from it.
Write a letter to your future self. Actually, write 3 letters – for yourself in 1, 3 and 5 years. The longer the letters, the better. Envision how you’ll be like in the future. Make each letter a minimum 2 pages long. Now, seal them and put them in a safe place. Set it in your calendar so you’ll know to open them when it’s time. This will inspire you to work your hardest and achieve your maximum results in the time period.
Declutter. Start from your computer, then your table, your room, your bag/wallet, and your home. The more you throw the unwanted and old stuff away, the more room you’re creating for new things to enter.
Keep learning. There is something to learn from everything you see, hear and experience. This includes your mistakes and past misshaps (if any). Learn to interpret each event objectively. Focus on what you can learn from it so you can apply them moving forward.
Keep developing yourself. Equip yourself with a huge breadth of knowledge. Learn different skills, pick up different hobbies, study different fields.
Keep upgrading yourself. Equip yourself with a huge depth of knowledge. While you can usually only level up to 99 in video games, in real life you can level up to infinity. Go for further studies if need be. Develop your skills. Level up. Build your >10,000 hours in each skill.
Try new things. What’s something you’d normally not do? Get out of your comfort zone try something different. It can be something simple like taking a new bus route, trying a new food item, picking up a new hobby, or something bigger like studying a different field, picking a new skill, traveling to a country you’ll never visit, etc. You set your own limits.
Get yourself out there. This applies for everything. (a) Get out there geographically. Go out, travel and explore the world. Set sail into the sea. Go backpacking by yourself and visit as many countries as possible. Get on a road trip and visit the different places that come out. (B) Get out there situationally. Stop sticking to routines and comfort zones. Try something different. (c) Get out there in life. Stop watching TV and living vicariously through the TV characters. Go and live the life of your dreams.
Be the absolute best in what you do. Go for the #1 position in what you do. If you want to spend your time doing something, you might as well be the best in it. Strive for the best – you don’t deserve anything lesser than that.
Don’t settle. In the same lines as #58, don’t settle for less. Don’t settle for someone you don’t like as your partner. Don’t settle for a job you don’t like #25). Don’t settle for friends who make you feel like a lesser person (#37). Don’t settle for a weight you are unhappy with. Go for what you really want.
Stretch yourself. What are you doing now? How can you achieve more? Set bigger goals. Explore your limits and break them.
Embrace new ideas. Don’t mentally limit yourself; Let your mind be a breeding ground for new ideas. Read: 25 Brainstorming Techniques.
Create your inspirational haven. Turn your room into a place you love. Do the same for your work desk. Get rid of things that make you unproductive. Surround it with things that inspire you and trigger you to action. Read more: How To Create An Inspiring Room
Behave as your ideal self will. All of us have an ideal vision of who we want to be. How is your ideal self like? How can you start to be that ideal self now?
Set your role models in life. With role models, you become much better than you can be by yourself. I personally am inspired by Tyra Banks (for her passion for helping women build their self-esteem and changing notions of beauty), Ivanka Trump (for her success, intellect and beauty), Donald Trump (for his success and drive in life), Oprah (for being who she is), Lady Gaga (for her talent and not being afraid to be different), and many more. Seeing them and what they do reminds me of what I can be and what I can do, so they drive me on to greater heights.
Get mentors and/or coaches. There’s no faster way to improve than to have someone work with you on your goals. Not only will they drive you to achieve more for yourself, they’ll also share with you important advice which you can use to create even more success for yourself. Many of my clients approach me to coach them and the net result: they achieve significantly more progress and results in their life than if they had worked alone.
Uncover your blind spots. The more you uncover, the more you grow, the better you become.
Increase your consciousness. The more conscious you are, the more evolved you become.
Ask for feedback. As much as we try to uncover our blind spots (#66), there will be areas we cannot identify. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective. Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively.
Generate passive income. Create passive income streams so your income is not tied to the time you spend on your work. Of course you’ll still continue to work, but only because you want to and not because you have to.
Help others live their best lives. There is no better way to grow than to help others grow. Ultimately, the world is one. We are all in this together.
Get married / Start your family / Have kids!
Improve the world. There are many things in the world that needs your attention and help. Poverty. Disaster recovery. Illiteracy. Children in need. Depleting rainforests. Animal rescue. Endangered species. How can you do your part?
Spearhead a humanitarian cause/organization you are passionate about.
Give more value than you receive. There is so much unspeakable joy that comes from giving. And when you keep giving, you’ll find that you actually receive a lot more in return, in spades.
Be big picture focus. You can either set your eyes on the big things or get hung up by the nitty gritty details. The former will help you get a lot more out of life than the latter. Focus on the big rocks in life and put first things first (Quadrant 2 tasks). Practice the 80/20 rule – focus on the 20% things that give you the 80% fulfillment in life.
Be clear of your end objective. What is the end goal you seek? Is what you’re doing bringing you there? If not, put it aside. As long as you keep taking on things that meets your end goal, you’ll eventually reach there.
Go the 80/20 route. For every goal you have, there are different paths to achieve it. Pick out the 80/20 path, i.e. the most effective path that brings you there the fastest with least amount of effort.
Prioritize (80/20 actions). As you embark on the 80/20 path for your goals, focus on the important tasks and cut out the less important ones. That means do the 20% actions that give you the 80% results.
Live in the moment. Are your thoughts wandering around all the time? Calm your mind down. Be present. The only time you’re ever living is in this moment. Meditation helps to remove mental clutter.
Relish in the little moments. Snuggling under warm covers on a rainy day. Ice cream on a hot day. A kiss with your loved one. Being with your best friend. A walk by the park. The breeze on your face. Quiet, alone time. Watching the sun rise/set. Soak in all these little moments of life. They are what make up your life.
Take a break. Being the best also requires you to take breaks when needed. Make sure you rest when needed. Doing so lets you walk the longer mile ahead.
Stop wanting things a certain way. I wrote a 3-part series before on the downsides of perfectionism and how to overcome them. Be firm on your end goals and your ideals, but let go of the fixation that things have to be a certain way. You’ll realize it’s by doing that that you achieve what you want.
Focus on creation.
Don’t criticize or judge others. Respect others for who they are.
The only person you can change is yourself. Stop expecting others to behave in a certain way. Rather than demand that others around you change, focus on changing yourself. You’ll be happier and live a more fulfilling life this way.
Embrace gratitude. Be grateful for everything you have today, and everything you will get in the future.
Express gratitude. Let the people who’ve touched you know of your gratitude towards them. You’ll be surprised what a little act like this can do. If you don’t tell them, they’ll never know.
Let loose and have fun. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance in the rain . Run barefoot and feel the ground underneath your feet. Release of your self-imposed shackles and be free .
Get into nature. Many of us live in concrete jungles. Soak in the beauty of nature.
You have a choice. Recognize you always have a choice in how to live your life.
Laugh more . Are you reading this with a straight face? Smile and have fun .
Embrace change. The only thing that’s constant is change. Change means growth. Rather than resist change, learn to versatile such that you can make the best out of the changes that come. In fact, become an agent of change.
Be more risk-inclined. Don’t be afraid to take risks. The bigger your risks, the bigger your return.
Embrace mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the faster you learn. Make sure to draw lessons so you can build on them. (#53)
Embrace disappointments. Many people try to avoid feeling disappointed. They develop a resistant relationship with disappointment. However, disappointment is part and parcel of being human – it reflects your real passions. Don’t resist it – instead, embrace it. Understand it, then channel into it to create more in life. Read: How To Overcome Disappointment (4-part series)
Challenge your fears. All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk… All our fears keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing. Rather than avoid your fears, recognize they are the compass for growth. Address and overcome them. Read: How To Overcome Fear (3-Part Series).
Maximize your mind, body, heart and soul. Living your best life requires you to maximize yourself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. If you’re highly successful, very materially abundant, have a big circle of friends, very spiritually aware but you neglect your physical health, that’s not living your life to the fullest. The same for other scenarios where a part of you is blocked off. Maximize all 4 aspects of you.
Be your best self. Essentially all the articles here at The Personal Excellence Blog are about being your best self and achieving your highest potential. It’s only through being the best we can be that we live our life to the fullest. This is why the motto of the site is “Be your best self, Live your best life“.
Love yourself. You are the person you have to live with for the rest with your life. Treasure and love yourself.
Love others. Be grateful for all the people around you because they help you to grow. They enrich your life experience. Without them, your life would not have been the same.
Last but not least: Love life. I always find living to be a fascinating experience. How we’re all on earth, with millions of species, 30,000 different life forms, over 7 billion people, and all thriving in its own way, existing, co-existing and in co-creation mode. There’s so much we don’t know out there, so much to be experienced in life, that it’s just wonderful.

taken from celestinechua.com

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taken from celestinechua.com

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