Category: Life Tips

Give people sincere praise about something they have done well or that you appreciate about them before giving them negative feedback or an idea for something they could change or do differently.

How to Give and Receive Feedback at Work: The Psychology of Criticism - Buffer

"Sandwich every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise." One well known strategy for feedback is the “criticism sandwich,” popularized by the above quote from cosmetics maven Mary Kay Ash. In the sandwich, you begin with praise, address the problem, and follow up with more praise. In fact, the more of the conversation you can frame positively, the more likely your recipient is to be in the right frame of mind to make the change you’re looking for.

Remember that you can positively influence other people's lives by telling them you believe in them, you think they are a good person, they possess good qualities, and you expect they will perform well because they have the ability to do so.

Pygmalion effect - Wikipedia

The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area and low expectations lead to worse. It is named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, the sculptor who fell so much in love with the perfectly beautiful statue he created that the statue came to life. According to the Pygmalion effect, the targets of the expectations internalize their positive labels, and those with positive labels succeed accordingly; a similar process works in the opposite direction in the case of low expectations. The idea behind the Pygmalion effect is that increasing the leader's expectation of the follower's performance will result in better follower performance. Within sociology, the effect is often cited with regard to education and social class.

Turn your problems into challenges or goals that you can overcome or accomplish in order to be happier and improve your life.

15 Powerful things happy people do differently - Purpose Fairy

Happy people will see problems as challenges, as opportunities to explore new ways of doing things, expressing their gratitude for them, understanding that underneath them all lay many opportunities that will allow them to expand and to grow.

Live your life by being true to yourself and following your own dreams and desires.

Top 5 regrets of the dying - Huffington Post

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

Have a growth mindset by believing that you can grow, learn new things, improve your skills and knowledge, and realizing that temporary and recurring failure are a necessary part of learning and growing.

Believe you can change - Aaron Swartz

Dweck, like many adults, had learned to hide her frustration and anger, to politely say "I'm not sure I want to play this anymore" instead of knocking over the board. She figured the successful kids would be the same - they’d have tactics for coping with failure instead of getting beaten down by it. But what she found was radically different. The successful kids didn’t just live with failure, they loved it! When the going got tough, they didn’t start blaming themselves; they licked their lips and said "I love a challenge." They’d say stuff like "The harder it gets the harder I need to try."

Remember that your beliefs and thoughts influence your mind and your life, so any expectations you have about your self, your character, your abilities, your goals, and your dreams can and often will come true if you believe they will.

Self-fulfilling prophecy - Wikipedia

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true at least in part as a result of a person's belief or expectation that said prediction would come true. In the phenomena, people tend to act the way they have been expected to making the expectations come true. Self-fulfilling prophecies are an example of the more general phenomenon of positive feedback loops. A self-fulfilling prophecy can have either negative or positive outcomes. Merely applying a label to someone or something can affect the perception of the person/thing and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Dale Carnegie's first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

How To Win Friends And Influence People - Goodreads

Exercise every day because it improves your body, your mind, and makes you happier and more productive on the day in which you exercise.

What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier - Buffer

A recent study from Penn State university shed some light on the matter and the results are more than surprising. They found that to be more productive and happier on a given work day, it doesn’t matter so much, if you work-out regularly, if you haven’t worked out on that particular day. Think about starting small and then start even smaller: Here is a little secret. When I first started exercising, I did it with 5 minutes per day, 3 times a week. Can you imagine that? 5 minutes of timed exercise, 3 times a week? That’s nothing you might be thinking. And you are right, because the task is so easy and anyone can succeed with it, you can really start to make a habit out of it. Try no more than 5 or 10 minutes if you are getting started.

Dr. Covey's 7 Habits book is one of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written. Now you can enjoy and learn critical lessons about the habits of successful people that will enrich your life's experience.

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People - Goodreads

Create daily habits and practices to achieve goals and make your dreams come true.

Feeling determined to change - Zen Habits

The only way you can make something stick is to create a habit through daily practice. So if you want to exercise, set up 10 minutes every day, at the same time of day, when you’re going to do your yoga or pushups or jogging/walking. Put it on the calendar, and make it an unmissable appointment. Quitting a habit is tougher, but perhaps try a “smoking-free zone” when you don’t smoke. (Or a “procrastination-free zone”.) Just an hour a day, then two hours after a few days, then three after a few more, etc. Eventually you’ll learn coping tactics and awareness during your zone that will help you quit completely.

Write down a list of your goals and dreams, because writing thoughts and ideas down is the first step to making them come to life.

12 Lists that help you get things done - Lifehack.org

A list of your short- and long-term goals can be a great motivator, as well as a trigger list to help generate new projects. I also like to have a list of areas of focus, the different roles that I play, each of which comes with a different set of tasks and goals.

"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential." - Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee’s top 7 fundamentals for getting your life in shape - Positivity Blog

If you want to improve your life then it’s tempting to want to add more. One problem with this may be that you don’t really have the time or energy to do more though. And so your efforts to improve become short-lived. Adding more and more just creates more stress and anxiety. Removing clutter and activities, tasks and thoughts that are not so important frees up time and energy for you to do more of what you really want to do. And as the clutter in your outer world decreases the clutter in your inner world also has a tendency to decrease. This has the added benefit of making it easier to actually enjoy whatever you are doing even more while you are doing it.

Spend some time in solitude to think about and create ideas, make plans or goals, and solve your problems.

Nikola Tesla's Best Productivity Tricks - Lifehacker

Like many inventors and creative types, Nikola Tesla was an advocate for solitude when creating and working. Most famously, he's quoted as saying "The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. No big laboratory is needed in which to think. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born." The idea that you need to work in solitude to get things done is by no means new. We've talked before about how it can boost creativity, and how setting aside some alone time is a great way to recharge to boost productivity. In the end, it's all about productive introspection and using your alone time well.

In thoughtful and insightful language, author Richard Carlson reveals ways to calm down in the midst of your incredibly hurried, stress-filled life.

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff - Goodreads