2014 is on the horizon, and most of us are scrambling to make up a few New Year’s resolutions that, frankly, we’ll probably forget about in February. Here’s how to create a resolution that actually sticks so you can better yourself this year.

1) Focus on One Resolution

One of the first mistakes people make is planning too many resolutions. The fewer things your brain has to deal with, the better, and you’ll be able to focus all your motivation on one resolution, increasing the chances you’ll succeed.

2) Get Someone to Hold You Accountable

 Having an “accountability buddy” is an old, yet tried-and-true tip for sticking to your resolutions. Tell your goals to a few close family and friends who will be honest with you and keep you on the right track. Heck, if you’re having trouble thinking of a good resolution, those buddies can actually help you pick one, too (since they know you best, faults and all). Don’t go too overboard, though. Remember, sometimes sharing with too many people can hinder your accomplishments.

3) Set Ultra-Specific Goals

New Year’s resolutions are often big and general, making them hard to attain. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be to reach that goal. “Lose weight” or “get in shape” is a bad resolution; “Lose 15 pounds by March” is a good one. Setting multiple specific goals throughout the year is good, too. That way, you always have something attainable to focus on that doesn’t seem far off.

4) Piggyback Your Resolution with Existing Habits

If your resolution involves building small habits—like, say, flossing every day or taking daily vitamins—you can “piggyback” these habits with other, already-established ones. Stick your dental floss in your shower and floss during your shower, or put your vitamin jar inside your kitchen cupboard so you always remember to take them when you eat breakfast. The easier you can form the habit, the more likely it is to stick.

5) Give Yourself a Trial Run

Not every resolution is perfect out of the gate, so don’t hold yourself to a poorly-formed goal if it just won’t work. Give yourself a 30-day trial run to work out the kinks, where you can let yourself stumble a bit and tweak your goals to something better suited for success. Keep in mind that not all habits are formed in 21 days, as conventional wisdom says, so even after the trial run, give yourself time to sink into the habit before you start admitting defeat.

6)Trick Your Mind

Resolutions are hard to keep without a sense of accomplishment. Having specific, gradual goals can help, but another trick is to play some mind games with yourself.even if you know you’re using it on yourself. Focus on anything that makes you feel like you’re succeeding. If you’re trying to lose weight, eating from smaller plates will make you “feel” fuller, even if you’re eating the same amount of food, for example. Do whatever you need to do to trick your mind and you’ll be well on your way to success.

7)Visualize the End Result

As writer Rod Ebrahimi says, “focus on the carrot, not the stick”. If you’re having trouble staying motivated, focus on what you’ll get from your end goal—whether that’s feeling better at a lower weight, being able to impress your friends with your new guitar skills, or just being able to breathe now that you’ve quit smoking. Staying positive seems like common sense, but it can be hard when you’re in the middle of a big plateau.

8) Closely Measure Your Progress

If you’ve created specific goals, then getting positive reinforcement should be easy. Every time your each one of those goals—even if it’s just a daily goal—mark it off on a checklist or calendar.

9)Remind Yourself of Your Goals Every Day

If you’re having trouble keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind, you can use one of any number of tricks to constantly remind yourself (besides tracking your progress). Set an alarm on your phone with a message of why you’re doing this, record yourself on a webcam every day, or use dry erase markers to write your goals on your bathroom mirror.

10)Start Right Now

source: Life Hack

Do you want to know more about how NLP can transform your life and think out of the box? CLICK on this link – Free NLP Workshop.

Jenniser
Programme Manager,

Mind Kinesis Management International & Mind Kinesis Investments Pte Ltd

hi friends,

To understand the difference between high performers and workaholics, I believe that there are healthier ways for us to work without sacrificing our values, the people we value, or the value we create but we, as a society, mistake workaholism for high performance, but they are two distinct ways of working.

High performance and workaholism look the same on the outside. They both look like hard work. The BIG DIFFERENCE is how the individual feels on the inside about who they are in relationships to their work.

A high performer works hard in healthy sustainable ways and feels happy and inspired.

A workaholic works hard in unhealthy unsustainable ways and feels unhappy and burned out.

1. Doing Business vs. Being Busy

A high performer’s #1 goal is to do business. The only thing that matters to them are results. If they can’t see a way to create value in the moment, they facilitate or strategize instead. They know that like the economy, business comes in waves, therefore, they get ready during the dips so they can capitalize during the upswings.

A workaholics’ #1 goal is to be busy. Workaholics fill any space in time with busy work because they feel insecure doing nothing. The insecurity comes from not knowing their value. They believe that the busier they are, the more important they must be. As a result, they find a way to be busy even when it’s not busy season instead of periodically hibernating throughout the days, weeks, months, quarters, and year for when the highs come.

2. Knows What’s Enough vs. Never Enough

A high perform knows what is enough. Whether we win by 1 point or 50 points, it doesn’t matter. A win is a win. High performers see more in the areas that matters, but they know what enough is in the areas that don’t matter so much. This comes from having a clear definition of success.

A workaholic doesn’t know what enough is. I’m not good enough. This isn’t good enough. I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough support. They are always focused on more and seeing to maximize everything because they don’t really know what success means to them.

3. 100% At The Right Time vs. 110% All Of The Time

A high performer knows when to turn it up. When their number is called, they give everything they have. They don’t buy into the illusion of 110%. They know that 110% is unsustainable. Instead they focus on increasing their capacity so that their 100% is better than the competition’s 110%.

A workaholic thinks “turn down for what?” They hustle, grind, and go H.A.M. all of the time. They have difficulty prioritizing what’s important, therefore, everything is important in their mind.

4. Knows Their Value vs. Allows Others To Determine Value

A high performer knows their self-worth and can thus work with a sense a freedom. This comes from doing periodic self-evaluation of their performance so that they can constant improve. They create their own feedback loops rather than waiting on feedback from others.

A workaholic relies on external validation from their boss, colleagues, and clients and thus works with a sense of fear. They wait for external evaluations such as mid-year or annual reviews done by others to understand how well they are doing.

5. Proactive/Intentional vs. Reactive/Unintentional

A high performer is proactive about their time and work. They design their day and anchor the most meaningful and important things in time first, and then they allow fires and other unplanned events to fill in the rest of their day. They don’t allow distractions to deter their strategy.

A workaholic is reactive about their time and work. They allow other people to choose how their time gets spent working by reacting to emails, fires, unplanned events, and other distractions that arise throughout the day. If and when all of the minutia get address, they try to do what’s most meaningful.

6. Focus On What I Control vs. What I Can’t

A high performer focuses on their effort—inputs and outputs. Only the individual knows if they gave the task at hand their best. They judge themselves against their best self as opposed to others.

A workaholic focuses on the outcome and their income. Even when you think you do your best, the outcome that we occurs and the income that is derived from it is not fully in our control. Their desire to compare leads them to judge themselves using common metrics of success which aren’t always directly correlated to effort.

7. Put Self First vs. Second

A high performer puts themselves first because they know that by doing so, it allows them to serve others at a higher level. At times it appears to be selfish, but it’s actually selfless because they want to give first-class service to those they work with and for.

A workaholics puts others before themselves. This appears to be selfless, but it’s not sustainable. When we constantly give more than we have and never take time to replenish our source, we end up depleted. This behaviors is also driven by the good intention of service, but desire to be needed and be the hero counters that intention.

At the end of the day, workaholics do work to look important while high performers look for important work to do.

Author: Jullien Gordon

Do you want to know more about how NLP can transform your life and think out of the box? CLICK on this link – Free NLP Workshop.

Jenniser
Programme Manager,

Mind Kinesis Management International & Mind Kinesis Investments Pte Ltd

Making a difference in other people lives is a beautiful thing that can happen in this world.

If you think of your work as a contribution to the world (great or small) then you can proudly say that you have contributed X amount of difference in making this world a better place.

If you help 2 or more people make their contributions, you can say you have made a good double amount of difference in making this world a wonderful place. You multiply your contributions and at the same time you polish your leadership skills by teaching others to help other people to create, produce and make contributions. The amount of difference made in this world not only by multiplies, but it keeps on multiplying beyond you.

Unfortunately, many people don’t see it in this way, instead, they tear people down, block them, hoard the goods for themselves and jealous of the success of others. In order to break free from this jealousy and meanness, we need to learn to be happy for others, count their success as our success and feel proud of the contributions we have made in helping others make a difference.

The world will thank you for it.

If you have no idea where to kick start, the following are the simple yet meaningful ways to help others:

Sharing Knowledge

The key is to keep educating yourself so that you can help others simply by sharing your knowledge.

Finding out what’s valuable to them

We can help others by finding out what’s valuable to them. Make an effort to ask them where they need help, and keep that in mind when you see an opportunity.

Sharing your resources

Think about the resources you have invested in and be mindful of whether they can help someone. Maybe you have Spiderman 2 tickets that you won’t be able to attend. Keep those unused resources in the back of your mind and try to connect them with people who can use them.

Making them aware of an opportunity

It’s important to keep an eye out for opportunities. It could be a potential partner or job opportunities. Once you see an opportunity, think about who could benefit from knowing about it.

Giving them transparent feedback

There is a difference between telling someone that they are no good and giving them good examples of how they can improve. Some people won’t take it well but, in the long run, you will help people that you want to work with and improve the efficiency and success of your company as well.

Being a brand advocate

Think about the products and services that you love, and don’t be shy about letting people know about them.

Volunteering your time

Time is valuable and most people understand that. When you take out time out of your day to help a friend, they will remember it.

Recognizing them

There are variety of ways to give someone recognition. You can include them in an article that you have written or mention them in a speech or presentation. An easy way to recognize someone is to nominate them for an award. There are countless awards out there that could really help out your network. It will mean a lot to the nominee that you thought of them and wanted to recognize them. On a smaller scale, you can have internal recognition within your company.

Have you help anyone today?

Do you want to know more about how NLP can transform your life and others around you? CLICK on this link – Free NLP Workshop.

Jenniser
Programme Manager,

Mind Kinesis Management International & Mind Kinesis Investments Pte Ltd

You’re on the phone with a client and at the same time you quietly typing email to another client. As soon as you hang up, a colleague sends you an instant message, which you read over while dialling your manager’s extension number. Then during your phone conversation with her, you start doing your client’s proposal.

Our perception of multitasking is to boost our productivity especially we are in a country where the pace of life is fast and hectic. People who can multitask are typically seen as efficient an effective .After all, don’t we get more tasks done at one time than doing one task at a time?

Come to think about it, multi-tasking doesn’t make us as productive as we think. It will increase our anxiety and stress level for messing up our tasks. In fact, it’s likely that the quality of our work will be affected and cost us time to re-create it.

8 tips to kick away multi-tasking habit

1. Plan your day in blocks. Set specific times for returning calls, answering emails, and doing research.
   
2. Manage your interruptions. Keep a log on those who interrupts you the most and how urgent the requests are.
   
3. Learn how to improve your concentration  so you can focus properly on one task at a time. You’ll be surprised at how much you get done just by concentrating on one thing at a time.

4. Every time you go to check your email or take a call when you’re actually supposed to be doing something else, take a deep breath and resist the urge. Focus your attention back to what you’re supposed to be doing.
   
5. If you get an audible or visual alert when emails come in, turn it off. This can help you avoid the temptation to check your inbox whenever you get new mail.
   
6. Whenever you find yourself multitasking, stop. Take five minutes to sit quietly at your desk with your eyes closed. Even short breaks like this can refocus your mind, lower your stress levels, and improve your concentration. Plus it can give your brain a welcome break during a hectic day.
   
7. There will be times when something urgent comes up and you can’t avoid interruptions. But instead of trying to multitask through these, stop and make a note of where you left your current task. Record any thoughts you had about how to move forward. Then deal with the immediate problem, before going back to what you were doing. This way you’ll be able to handle both tasks well, and you’ll leave yourself with some clues to help you restart the original task more quickly.
   
8. If you find your mind wandering when you should be focusing on something else, you need to guide your thoughts back to what you are doing by putting yourself in the moment. For example, you might be sitting in an important team meeting, but thinking about a speech you’ll be giving soon. Tell yourself, “I am in this meeting, and need to focus on what I’m learning here.” Often, acknowledging the moment can help keep you focused.
   

Many of us think that multitasking is the best way to get through the demands of our working day. This is a myth! The reality is that multitasking lowers the quality of our work, reduces our ability to focus, and can actually cost us time.

Have you plan your day yet?

Do you want to know more about how NLP can transform your life and others around you? CLICK on this link – Free NLP Workshop.

Jenniser
Programme Manager,

Mind Kinesis Management International & Mind Kinesis Investments Pte Ltd

Hi Friends,

Have you experience writing a long task list and complete none?

Have you experience struggling to meet client’s proposal deadline?

Have you experience postponing your task to tomorrow, following day, months, years?

You are not alone, you have fall under …

                      PROCASTINATION

                    “I lack focus.”
“I don’t have any motivation.”
“I just don’t have any self-discipline.”

There are many reasons why I tend to procrastinate.

1. AVIODANCE – Run away from stress.

2. ADRENALINE RUSH – Love to challenge myself to complete the task with the minimum time given.

3. NO ACTION -The beginning stages of optimism are starting to fade. There is still time, but I haven’t done anything yet, and I start to feel uneasy. I realize that I actually have to do something to get it done, and that good intentions are not enough.

Come to a point when I decided to take charge of my life events by:

1) Plan and Action: Always put my deadlines one or two days in advance. Take in consideration everything that you need to do, how long it will take you, and what you will need to get it done.

2) Identify what are the factors that cause my procrastination – Facebook, Youtube, message etc. How do you feel? Write it down if you think its help.

3) Confront the feelings: Once I had identified what is holding me back, for example fear of failure, avoid facing the stress level, lack of motivation. I will ask myself 2 questions: What do I need to do to move forward? What would make it easier?

4) Put results before comfort: Know what your end point is and stay focus. Whatever you do, is a step toward reaching your ultimate goal.

It is not a question of comfort anymore; it is a question of results. What is more important to you?

Jenniser
Programme Manager,

Mind Kinesis Management International & Mind Kinesis Investments Pte Ltd

Hi Friends,

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. – Thomas Edison

Often, we feel lost and end up with the mentality to give up as it is the easiest way to exit from our anxiety.

I passed my driving test after the 4th attempt. In between, many thoughts were running through my mind; I’m exhausted, I’m not focus, I’m careless, I’m nervous but one particular thought that never ever came across to my mind is to give up.

My determination and perseverance pull me through to the final test whereby I passed with 18 points and now I can put a tick in my resolutions list and continue to achieve the impossible. If I can do it, so can you.

7 steps to success based on Thomas Edison’s way of thinking:

1. ” I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
He accepts failure. He finds its positive side and realizes that it is something as normal as success. And thus we need to learn how to fail before we learn how to succeed.

2. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

Giving up is what stopped many people from becoming more, from achieving greatness and changing the world. Giving up is the state in which our mind shows the white flag, in which it’s easier for us not to move on, not to try one more time and to just listen to the naysayers. But we can all overcome that point. We can keep believing because everything around us is an example of what happens if someone keeps pushing and believing. The answer is to just try one more time. Do it without thinking too much, without analyzing the situation, without listening to the others and without fearing the chance of failing again.

3. “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
Remember that no matter what you have achieved so far, no matter how experienced or educated you are and no matter where you come from and where you’re going, you can get what you want by working hard. Hard work combined with concentration and focus will always have results. So perspire and success will come.

4. “There’s a way to do it better – find it.”
As human being we can change our body and mind however we want. It’s not easy – it never is, but once we’ve done it right, nothing will be able to stand in our way.
Whatever we do, there is always the chance of doing it better. We are born to thrive, improve and evolve and that is why we have to try again and again if we really want something.

5.” When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.”
You need to know whether your idea is worth it or not. And if it is – never give up on it until you succeed. Create it in your mind first, reach success there before you actually do it. And then, after making efforts, after dedicating time and energy, you will start seeing results. You will see your idea in reality and the moment you see someone using what you’ve invented and how it helps people live better – you will know that all the beads of sweat were worth it.

6. “We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.”
Realize and accept how much you don’t know and how more you have to learn. Every time you try you can fail because of the lack of knowledge how to do it right. But that can be changed. You can learn new things every day and do your best to become professional in your field. Then you will know exactly what to do and how to do it and this time failure won’t be an option.

7. “It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.”
Focus! Only a concentrated man can work adequately. Only a concentrated mind can think of a thousand ways to do one thing and each one of them can be brilliant.
You may be able to work for days without resting but you are wasting your time if you don’t stay focused. And sometimes only 60 minutes of concentration a day can bring the best results.

Have these statements in mind next time you try to do something. Remember that failure is a state of mind, just like success, and that makes it something that is in our control. Without failure, we can’t succeed. They are connected in a way we can understand only if we accept the first in order to reach the second one.

So here is a summary of the important lessons Thomas Edison wants every generation to learn:
• Accept failure;
• Never give up;
• Work hard;
• Find a better way to do it;
• Try until you succeed;
• Learn and improve so that you don’t fail next time;
• Stay focused.

The fruits of his labor were 1093 patents, including the bulb, the photograph, the motion picture camera, the printing telegraph apparatus, typewriting machines, telephones and many other things we can’t live without today.

Have you done your to-do list to stay focused?

Do you want to know more about how NLP can transform your life and others around you? CLICK on this link – Free NLP Workshop.

Jenniser
Programme Manager,

Mind Kinesis Management International & Mind Kinesis Investments Pte Ltd