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8 Strategies to Climbing Your Own Mount Everest

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Over every mountain, there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley. ~Theodore Roethke Quote

“Why would anyone ever want to climb Mount Everest?” I thought to myself as my class on leadership began a case study of the skills it takes to climb the highest mountain in the world. It’s dangerous, cold, and uncomfortable. It would stretch you to your absolute outer limits, and in the end, you may not succeed.

That’s when I realized, we all have our own Mount Everests to climb. While your particular “Mount Everest” may not include literally climbing the highest mountain in the world, you are likely facing a challenge or obstacle, or pushing yourself to reach a goal that may be just as ominous.

Do You Feel Like You Have a Mountain to Climb?

Pushing ourselves to reach our dreams or to overcome obstacles can feel just as overwhelming as climbing a mountain. It can be uncomfortable, stretch us to our outer limits, and it can be dangerous – at least psychologically. We make ourselves vulnerable when we reach for our dreams, and there’s always the chance that we might fail. [Read more…] about 8 Strategies to Climbing Your Own Mount Everest

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity

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Happiness Quote - Anne Frank

The field of positive psychology has been growing in popularity as people begin to recognize the correlation between happiness, productivity, and success. Developed by Martin Seligman in his book Authentic Happiness in 1998, positive psychologists seek “to find and nurture genius and talent” and “to make normal life more fulfilling”.

Seligman’s research concluded that happier people get better performance evaluations and higher pay. Other studies have shown that happy people are more positive, creative, tolerant, constructive, generous and non-defensive. They also have lower medical costs and less absenteeism.

While this seems obvious to many of us, finding that happiness can be a challenge in our society. In his popular Ted talk, The happy secret to better work, Shawn Acor says our culture has taught us that, “If I work harder, then I will be successful. If I’m successful, then I will be happier.”  Putting happiness on the other side of success creates a moving target and your brain never gets there.

According to Acor, “If you can raise levels of positivity in the present, the brain experiences what is called the happiness advantage. When the brain is positive, it performs significantly better than when it’s negative, neutral, or stressed. When you’re positive, dopamine floods into your system which not only makes you happier, but it also turns on learning centers in your brain, allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.”

Acor goes on to say, “It’s not reality that shapes us, it’s the lens through which you view the world. If you can change the lens, not only can you change your happiness, you can change your world.”

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity:

Acor also provides a formula for increasing your happiness and productivity in 21 days, the length of time it takes to create a new habit. Most of them only take a few minutes but the combination has been proven to be very effective. Over time, the brain retains the new pattern, allowing you to work more optimistically and successfully.

Take LifeOhm’s Happiness Challenge and commit to doing the following things for the next 21 days:

  • Write three new things you are grateful for – This helps train your brain to scan the world for the positive things first, rather than focusing on the negative things. Gratitude has long been linked to increased happiness and it’s surprising how quickly your life can improve with this simple practice.
  • Journal about one positive thing that has happened in the past 24 hours, this process allows your brain to relive the positive experience. There are many options for journaling, online with sites such as Penzu or a hand-written journal. Writing by hand, rather than digitally, has been shown to increase learning, which might be helpful when you’re trying to change thought patterns.
  • Exercise for at least 15 minutes –  exercise increases your levels of dopamine, energy, and helps improve your overall sense of well being.
  • Meditation – There are many documented benefits to meditation including reducing the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. According to Acor, meditation also allows us to get over our cultural ADHD, that has us focusing on more than one thing at once. It allows the mind to quiet and opens us up to new possibilities.
  • Random acts of kindness – In Acor’s study, he had participants write one positive email that praised someone in their social network, but there are many ways to perform random acts of kindness. Get creative and have fun, you will not only make someone else’s day, but it will improve your own.

What helps you improve your happiness and productivity? Are you participating in this challenge? Share your thoughts below.

4 Tips for Fearless Living – Finally Achieve Your Dreams

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Overcoming Your Fear“He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” ~Emerson

You know the feeling – it may be a tightening up of your body, sweaty palms, or nagging thoughts of self doubt before you start something new. We’ve all experienced fear in our lives at one time or another and it’s likely that the more often you challenge yourself , the more often you feel fear. Feeling fear can also make us feel intensely alive at times such as when we’re climbing a mountain or when we’re getting ready to give a presentation or perform on stage.

When fear keeps us from doing the things we really want to do in life, that’s when it becomes a problem. Fearless living is taking steps out of your comfort zone in order to achieve a goal, opening yourself up to new possibilities, and overcoming your fear to allow yourself to grow in the direction of your dreams. Here are four tips to help you live fearlessly:

1.) According to Raphael Kushnir, author of The One Thing Holding You Back and Surfing Your Inner Sea, to move through fear, you need to feel your fear and bring your attention to it. This will bring you into the present moment. The harder you try to resist the feeling, the more power it will have over you and can even run your life. Being in a state of fear causes a constriction in your entire body, it “shuts you down” and can keep you from moving forward.  Kushnir says there are two steps to feeling your emotion:

  1. To experience an emotion, place your attention directly on the sensation it produces in your body.
  2. Keep your attention on that sensation until it either dissipates or changes.

2.) Remember, feelings of fear are normal, even for the most confident CEO’s, public speakers, and accomplished people in the world. Chances are, they still feel moments of fear. Their secret is in their response to the fear: they don’t let it stop them from pursuing their dreams.  When you are successful, the fear doesn’t go away when you try something new or different. It can get easier to manage your response to the fear with practice.

3.) Love yourself fully and make a commitment to “being in love” with life. John Lennon says it so eloquently in his quote about love and fear:

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” ~John Lennon

If you struggle with loving yourself, a simple Flylady mantra you can practice is to breathe in and say, “I love“. When you breath out say, “myself.” You’ll feel a bit silly at first but this really does work. You can also begin practicing extreme self care. Each day, do something nice for yourself.

4.) Think about your fear rationally for a moment and realize the “worst case scenario” is never as bad when you look at things logically. Sometimes it helps to write your fears down so you can be more objective. When you face your fears, you make them manageable and you can make plans to help you mitigate your fears.

My friend was recently concerned that he might be losing his job in the near future. Some of his co-workers had already been let go and the company was having financial difficulties. When he stopped coming from a place of fear, he realized that he had options and that if he did lose his job, it might prompt him to start the business he wanted to start. He also became more focused at work which made him more valuable and less likely to be selected if additional lay-offs were necessary. While losing his job wasn’t something he wanted, he realized he would be ok regardless of what happened. Facing his fear allowed him to move forward in a positive way.

How do you overcome fear? What tips or tactics work best for you? Share your thoughts below.

Challenge Yourself to Achieve More

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Challenge Yourself to Achieve More“I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.” ~ Tony Robbins

Do you feel like you’re stuck in a rut? Or just ready to do or try something new? A fun way to spice up your life a bit is to set a challenge for yourself or follow an existing challenging that has been set up by others. Setting a challenge can be a great way to help you complete a difficult task you’ve been avoiding, reach a goal, or establish a new habit. It creates a sense of urgency – a deadline of sorts, and some accountability, especially if you share your challenge with others.

A challenge can be anything from committing to blogging everyday as part of a blog challenge, like National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) to losing 10 pounds in 30 days to simply to spending a day in silence. [Read more…] about Challenge Yourself to Achieve More