“Life gives you what you take from it.” – M. Turner
People give meaning to events, circumstances and experiences largely based on social conditioning, learned from your interactions with the world: media, parents and family, neighbours, school then later, work colleagues.
In the same way you learn cultural values, you learn what is the right way to think and behaviour in your environment, so that you fit in. This is bred into us as young children, when our brains are like sponges, before we can form our own balanced opinions.
It is true however that some people have a compulsion not to conform in such a way, and are often marginalised and find themselves on the fringe of society. These non-conformers follow their nature more closely because it doesn’t fit so well with social norms. They wrestle with this situation, often joining subcultures that better share their preferred beliefs and values. They reject the larger society rules but yearn to feel part of something, but which is more agreeable to them. These people may be more mature, questioning, inquisitive at an earlier age. They are free-thinkers by nature. We would all do well to question our own beliefs and values to ensure they make sense to us, and aren’t getting in our way.
Obstructive beliefs include things like like:
“Life, society is against people like me, I just can’t……”
“Life is meant to be hard, not enjoyed.” (so not true)
“People are trying to rip you off all the time, nobody can be trusted.”
“I’m not good or clever or experienced enough…” (Who says?)
“People like me can’t……” (who says?)
“Other people in this space have more talent, desire, determination, I can’t compete with them….”.
Well, while it might be true that others currently possess more talent, it’s really down to you, if you want something badly enough, then you will find the determination and desire to throw yourself into it and through purposeful practice, get better at it. If you don’t have the desire, or determination, do something that you truly love instead and get really good at that.
When something happens to us, we give it meaning based on our beliefs and values, and the story we tell ourselves about it. Changing the story, changes the meaning.
So while you can, through goal setting and planning, move your life in a certain direction, life will happen to you, good and bad, there is little you can predict for your future, but you can make every set-back a learning experience, every feeling of negativity a chance for spiritual practice.
There are always positives that can be taken from, or that come out of, any negative, if you make it so. Check out this Zen parable for some inspiration.
Life really does give us what we choose to take from it, if you believe it to be so.
Get Results: can ambition and spirituality coexist
Simultaneously seeking Spirituality and Ambition can seem like a contradiction but they aren’t, if you approach them in the right way.
The seeming juxtaposition comes from the fact that spiritualism tells us we are already enough, and that when we try to find ourselves in DOING, we, in fact, lose ourselves in DOING. It tells us that salvation comes from this moment consciousness, and that psychological time only serves to trap us in the Ego (identification with thought), which is only concerned with past and future and uses the present as a stepping stone to the future, with no intrinsic value of its own.
Ambition on the other hand has, at its very core, discontentment with the present situation and the desire for some future salvation, something better than what is. Ambition is also accessed through thought and if we identify with these thoughts, we are lost in the Ego.
So how can you reconcile the two? How can you be content with the present, yet yearn enough to motivate you to go for more or better? Well the answer comes from understanding that, you are already enough and that you really won’t find yourself in DOING, or in HAVING, or WANTING, and you shouldn’t be motivated to be better or have more, or be richer, for any self gain, or constantly losing yourself in thoughts of what might or could be.
Instead seek ambition only for selfless reasons, focusing on a present moment perspective. To contribute more, participate in the game of life as much as possible, not for yourself but in the service of others or the planet, or whatever floats your boat. See ambition as a game to be enjoyed, and an opportunity to express yourself, not for the serious pursuit of gain, for doing so is false, it’s Ego motivated and will keep you away from your true spiritual self. Instead do it as a method of expression, aimed at helping and contributing to make the world we live in a better place, even if it’s in a very small or narrow way. After all we can make the world a better place, even by the simple act of smiling at a stranger, as they walk by.
The Ego wants more, better, and seeks gain for selfish reasons, because it is consumed with fear… of loss, and of not being enough, and in that pursuit comes greed, fear and the desire for power, which ultimately are doomed to end in pain. When you fight to be better, you position yourself separate from others, and adopt a competitive mindset, classic Ego positioning.
Alternatively when you act to serve others, for the good of others, you take up an inclusive mindset. It maximises your impact, without using it to serve your Ego, or trying to pump yourself up. When you do it to make yourself feel better, you have moved under the influence of the Ego. Use your Ego to serve you, don’t let it take over as master. The difference is subtle, but vastly different at the same time.
Live you life by focusing your attention on this moment, the moment you live your life though. Stop living in and identifying with thought. You can still use thought for goal setting and planning purposes, when necessary, but even that process can be done while remaining in the moment, without getting lost in thought and letting it take over you.
The New Year is 6 days old and already the numbers of people going to the gym are dwindling. So much for all those well intentioned New Years resolutions.
Willpower can only take us so far. The effort needed to initiate momentum is finite, it runs out the more its used.
Habits are our saving grace because they take over where willpower leaves off, they are what help us over the longer term.
But habits don’t kick in for at least 30 days of continuous routine, where you do something religiously, almost everyday. After 30 days or so, habit will take over and make the process more automatic. You won’t be thinking about whether to do it or not quite so much, and on the flip side, you will feel a tinge of guilt if you miss a day. Six days of effort isn’t ever going to be nearly enough, persevere through to the end of January at least.
Bad habits tend to be harder to break than good ones, so a few days taking time away/off, results in an interruption of your inertia, which breaks your routine, and consequently the habit, so don’t weaken and get lazy. Health should be a lifestyle, afterall.
Set yourself a tangible goal, and act with purpose in its realisation. Put in the effort to get some momentum, until it becomes habit and then it will be easier to keep going.
For more about increasing your motivation, check out our MOTIVATION GUIDE.
I’ve just finished watching “The Choice” on Netflix with Mrs Turner, and I would highly recommend it. But I’m not writing a movie review here, but talking briefly about what it got me thinking about.
I find choice to be an intriguing aspect of life.
Life is all about choice, right or wrong doesn’t matter because life keeps unfolding regardless.
Choices can be big or small, and can change the whole direction of your life in a heartbeat.
We are where we are because of the choices we have made to this point. The decisions about what to think, to do, and who to do it with or not, provide a continuous stream of options, each following the other.
The best or worse thing about it, depending on how you choose to frame it in your mind, is you get to make them, all of them.
I once made a choice to go away on an holiday, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to. I won’t bore you with the detail, but at the end of it all, it resulted in me meeting the love of my life and marrying her. If I hadn’t of gone on that holiday, and I very nearly didn’t, I wouldn’t have been in a position to meet her and experience the subsequent journey we have enjoyed together since. That holiday literally chanced my life, but really all the decisions we make have the potential to do that don’t they?
So let me wish you good luck with your future choices, may they bring you incredible joy.
I believe SELF AWARENESS to be probably, the most important part of improving the quality of life and achieving success in personal and business life.
As part of my attempt to improve self awareness, I found it important to explore my emotions, feelings and reactions to events, circumstances, situations, and attachments in all aspects of life.
Emotional compass
I’ve learned that how you feel about something lets you know whether you’re on the right track or not. Decoding the meaning of that feeling is very important if you’re to learn anything from it.
If you’re feeling good about something, then you’re likely to be on the right track, at least, from your current perspective. If you’re feeling bad about something, you may need to take a closer look. Think of your emotions and feelings as a compass, indicating which way to go.
Coping strategies
However one thing that can cause a great deal of confusion is the adoption of COPING STRATEGIES (otherwise known as psychological coping mechanisms/tactics/skills), which are often employed to cover up some negative situation or issue and allow you to put-up with them.
Coping strategies can be positive or negative in nature. Drinking and taking drugs to excess is often a sign you’re using them to cover up pain, or trying to temporarily forget about the pain. Overeating, complaining, blaming, gossiping, procrastination, gambling, self-sabotaging are all examples of negative coping strategies. They are designed to temporarily cover up the underlying issue, but seldom work to resolve the issue, and to make matters worse they often add more pain into the mix.
I believe it’s important to look underneath the coping strategy and find the underlying issue, and deal productively with it. The field of Spirituality agrees, saying we should “surrender to what is”, to “go fully into the feeling” and “accept it”, and “let go” of any negative influences, working positively to move beyond it. Many psychotherapies are designed to confront the root cause of pain and again move healthily beyond it.
It’s best to resolve the issue in most cases. Seeking professional help might be needed for more complex, severe issues and trauma. Some issues can be resolved yourself, if you take positive steps or employ positive coping strategies to deal with them.
Knowing the cause
Discovering and examining the underlying issue is the first step. Repressed pain and memories often still influence us at a subconscious level. Uncovering and taking a fresh perspective can help. Some issues start early in life and are left unexamined into adulthood. Often looking at them as an adult helps shift perspective, and what was a big issue as a child is not so much as an adult. We can be particularly hard on ourselves in relation to say ,embarrassing situations, and feel traumatised by them at the time, but looking with fresh eyes, as a mature adult, maybe as a parent, we realise that we may have been viewed less critically or harshly by others, then we thought at the time, at least by those with some level of decency and maturity. If you saw a child mess up, in say, a school play and subsequently became upset, would you look on that child as a complete loser, or would your heart go out to them, and want to tell them it’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it? Only those in pain themselves would negatively view the child.
Taking Responsibility
Get results: take responsibility
Blaming and complaining is often an attempt to pass on responsibility. It’s a coping strategy, but when you pass blame or you complain you also pass on power. You pass on the power you need to do something about it yourself. You can’t control what others do, but you can control what you do, and how you react to things, situations, events and people.
Being Empathetic
Get Results: Empathy
If you are angry with someone from your past, because they messed up, or let you down. Maybe looking at the situation differently might help, consider the other persons INTENT rather than their EXECUTION. Were they acting with the right intention, but just messed up their execution? Were they acting from a position of fear, and trying protect themselves in some way? What were they going through at the time, that could have impacted on their execution?
Often holding onto resentment, hatred and anger is far more damaging and destructive to ourselves than the other person they are directed towards. Let them go.
Below is a list of coping strategies, check them out and see which ones you use, figure out what the underlying issue is and deal with it or seek professional help to do so.
Coping strategies
Adaptive Mechanisms: That offer positive help.
Adaptation: The human ability to adapt.
Compartmentalisation: separating conflicting thoughts into separated compartments.
Compensation: Over-doing one thing to compensate for another weakness.
Crying: Tears of release and seeking comfort.
Displacement: shifting of intended action to a safer target.
Idealisation: playing up the good points and ignoring limitations of things desired.
Identification: copying others to take on their characteristics.
Intellectualisation: avoiding emotion by focusing on facts and logic.
Performing Rituals: Getting time to think.
Post-traumatic growth: Using the energy of trauma for good.
Sublimation: Channel psychic energy into acceptable activities.
Substitution: Replacing bad things with good things.
Undoing: actions that psychologically ‘undo’ wrongdoings for the wrongdoer.
Attack Mechanisms: That push discomfort onto others.
Acting Out: not coping – giving in to the pressure to misbehave.
Displacement: shifting of intended action to a safer target.
Fight-or-Flight Reaction: Reacting by attacking.
Passive aggression: avoiding refusal by passive avoidance.
Projection: seeing your own unwanted feelings in other people.
Reaction Formation: avoiding something by taking a polar opposite position.
Trivialising: Making small what is really something big.
Avoidance Mechanisms: That avoid the issue.
Acting Out: not coping – giving in to the pressure to misbehave.
Avoidance: mentally or physically avoiding something that causes distress.
Denial: refusing to acknowledge that an event has occurred.
Displacement: shifting of intended action to a safer target.
Distancing: Moving away.
Fantasy: escaping reality into a world of possibility.
Idealisation: playing up the good points and ignoring limitations of things desired.
Intellectualisation: avoiding emotion by focusing on facts and logic.
Passive Aggression: avoiding refusal by passive avoidance.
Performing Rituals: Patterns that delay.
Projection: seeing your own unwanted feelings in other people.
Rationalisation: creating logical reasons for bad behavior.
Reaction Formation: avoiding something by taking a polar opposite position.
Regression: returning to a child state to avoid problems.
Somatisation: psychological problems turned into physical symptoms.
Suppression: consciously holding back unwanted urges.
Symbolisation: turning unwanted thoughts into metaphoric symbols.
Trivialising: Making small what is really something big.
Conversion Mechanisms: That change one thing into another.
Aim Inhibition: lowering sights to what seems more achievable.
Altruism: Helping others to help self.
Conversion: subconscious conversion of stress into physical symptoms.
Displacement: shifting of intended action to a safer target.
Idealisation: playing up the good points and ignoring limitations of things desired.
Post-Traumatic Growth: Using the energy of trauma for good.
Reaction Formation: avoiding something by taking a polar opposite position.
Somatisation: psychological problems turned into physical symptoms.
Sublimation: channeling psychic energy into acceptable activities.
Substitution: Replacing one thing with another.
Symbolisation: turning unwanted thoughts into metaphoric symbols.
Trivialising: Making small what is really something big.
Defense Mechanisms: Freud’s original set.
Denial: claiming/believing that what is true to be actually false.
Displacement: redirecting emotions to a substitute target.
Intellectualisation: taking an objective viewpoint.
Projection: attributing uncomfortable feelings to others.
Rationalisation: creating false but credible justifications.
Reaction Formation: overacting in the opposite way to the fear.
Regression: going back to acting as a child.
Repression: pushing uncomfortable thoughts into the subconscious.
Sublimation: redirecting ‘wrong’ urges into socially acceptable actions.
Self-harm Mechanisms: That hurt our selves.
Conversion: subconscious conversion of stress into physical symptoms.
Somatisation: psychological
problems turned into physical symptoms.
Self-harming: Conscious physical self-harm.
(list sourced from: changingminds.org)
Get Results: coping strategies
Some ways these manifest themselves into our daily lives, separated into positive and negative grouping can be seen below.
Positive coping strategies (constructive)
Diversions
Artistic – Writing, drawing, painting, photography, playing an instrument, singing, dancing, acting, gardening
Taking a shower or a bath
Taking a walk, or go for a drive
Watching television or a movie
Spending time on social media
Play a game
Going shopping
Cleaning or organise your environment
Reading
Taking a break or vacation
Social/Interpersonal (with others)
Talking to someone you like and trust
Setting boundaries and saying “no”
Writing a note to someone you care about
Being assertive
Using humour
Spending time with friends and/or family
Serving/helping/encouraging someone in need
Caring for or play with a pet
Role-playing challenging situations with others
Cognitive (Of the Mind)
Making a gratitude list
Brainstorming solutions
Lowering your expectations and preferences of the situation
Checking out inspirational quotes
Being flexible and open minded
Writing a list of goals and things you want to achieve
Taking a class, learning a skill
Acting opposite of negative feelings
Writing a list of pros and cons for decision making
Rewarding or pampering yourself when successful
Writing a list of strengths and skills
Accepting a challenge with a positive attitude
Tension Releasers
Exercising or playing sports
Catharsis (yelling in the bathroom, punching a punching bag)
Crying
Laughing
Physical
Getting plenty of sleep
Eating nutricious and healthy foods
Getting into a good routine
Not over indulging in sweet/fatty foods
Limiting caffeine intake
Deep/slow breathing
Spiritual
Meditation and/or praying
Enjoying nature
Getting involved in a worthy cause
Limit Setting
Dropping some involvement
Prioritising important tasks
Using assertive communication
Making time for yourself
Using negative coping strategies
Using Diversions
Procrastinating
Abusing drugs or alcohol
Wasting time on unimportant tasks
Creating a lower level drama to cover up higher level pain (the less of two evils)
Negative coping strategies (maladaptive)
Diversion
Procrastinating
Abusing drugs or alchol
Wasting time on unimportant tasks
Creating lower level drama to cover up higher level pain. (less of two evils)
Social/Interpersonal
Blaming
Isolating/withdrawing
Mean or hostile joking
Gossiping
Criticizing others
Manipulating others
Refusing help from others
Lying to others
Sabotaging plans and goals
Being late to appointments and letting others down
Provoking violence from others
Enabling others to take advantage of you
Accepting embarrassing situation to hide a perceived more embarrassing situation (not undressing to hide fat)
Cognitive (of the Mind)
Denying any problem
Stubbornness/inflexibility
All or nothing/black or white thinking
Catastrophising
Overgeneralising
Tension Releasers
Tantrums throwing
Throwing things at people
Hitting and lashing out at people
Yelling at others
Destroying property
Speeding or driving recklessly
Physical
Suicide
Self harming
Developing illnesses
Intrapersonal
Making fun of yourself
Self-sabotaging behaviors
Blaming yourself
Indulging
Spending too much
Gambling
Eating too much
Setting dangerous fires
Continually crying
Conclusion
We all use coping strategies to deal with anxiety and pain, in some form or another. They help us deal with negative feelings and emotions so that we can function without feeling great sadness, anger, and pain, all the time. There are good ways to deal with pain as well as bad.
The extent to which drugs and drink are indulged and abused in modern life, suggests that there are a lot of people experiencing negative emotions to varying degrees, and are dealing with that pain in a very destructive and damaging manner.
Mental health problems are on the increase, particularly with the uncertainty and fast changing society we now live in. A job for life is no more, and this cause great uncertainty and anxiety. Strong family units and ties are increasing hard to rely on and with them. the important support networks they once provided.
People feel increasing isolated and vulnerable and so look for ways to escape the perceived madness, injustice and isolation. Coping strategies are used, by many, to deal with this pain, in the best way people feel they can.
It’s so important to deal with such issues at the root, and employ positive coping strategies for issues that can’t be easily resolved. Remember you can’t control how others think or behave, but you can control how you respond, react, behave and think about the situation/issue/event. Awareness is often the first BIG step in the right direction.
I hope this article helps increase your awareness and self awareness so that you can move towards a healthier state of well being.
If you would like to read more articles focused on COPING STRATEGIES, click here.
“Problems are not the problem; coping is the problem.”- Virginia Satir
“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”– Jim Rohn
“Culture is a way of coping with the world by defining it in detail.” – Malcolm Bradbury
“Give me rampant intellectualism as a coping mechanism.”- Chuck Palahniuk
“Routine is part of coping.”- Lorene Scafaria
“Leaving things behind and starting again is a way of coping with difficulties. I learnt very early in my life that I was able to leave a place and still remain myself.”- Rachel Cusk
“Think first of the action that is right to take, think later about coping with one’s fears”.- Barbara Deming
“Scientists have demonstrated that dramatic, positive changes can occur in our lives as a direct result of facing an extreme challenge – whether it’s coping with a serious illness, daring to quit smoking, or dealing with depression. Researchers call this ‘post-traumatic growth.” – Jane McGonigal
“What is forgiveness? An emotion? A coping mechanism? An element of deepest faith? A way for the heart and soul to combat the type of hate, anger, rage and a thirst for revenge that could ultimately consume a person? All of those and more?” – Mike Barnicle
“One day I looked at something in myself that I had been avoiding because it was too painful. Yet once I did, I had an unexpected surprise. Rather than self-hatred, I was flooded with compassion for myself because I realized the pain necessary to develop that coping mechanism to begin with.”- Marianne Williamson
“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” -T.S. Eliot
“If you are faced with a mountain, you have several options. You can climb it and cross to the other side. You can go around it. You can dig under it. You can fly over it. You can blow it up. You can ignore it and pretend it’s not there. You can turn around and go back the way you came. Or you can stay on the mountain and make it your home.” ― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
“It is what it is. Isn’t that how these things always go? They are what they are. We just get to cope.” ― Mira Grant, Feed
Get Results: How will you know if it’s the right decision if you never make it?
Having a habit of making bad decisions can severely hamper the quality of your life.
Self Awareness
It can be changed by improving your self-awareness and shining a light on what is at the route of why you make your choices.
You may ask yourself “Why did I pick choice X over choice Y?”, by keep asking “why” you can dig deeper, and find the route cause of why you do what you do and don’t do what you don’t do. More about self awareness, here.
There are number of additional things to focus on when looking to improve your decision making…
Laziness
Don’t be lazy in your decision making, consider your options and weigh them against one another. Remember, doing nothing at all, is an option. Take time out to really think about all the choice open to you.
Pressured
Bad decisions can also come out of pressured situations. Important irreversible decisions should never be rushed under such circumstances.
Sales people are trained to add scarcity to their offerings in the form of limited volumes of stock or limited time availability, these are designed to encourage impulse, emotionally driven buying decisions. Don’t be fooled by this, better not to buy, than buy and have deep regret later.
Emotionally Driven
Avoid taking decisions when in a strong emotional state. Emotions can severely hamper rational decision making. Psychologically sleeping on decisions is a great strategy for allowing emotions to subside. Come back to the decision later when you can be somewhat more objective.
Summary
So, if you find you keep making bad decisions, you owe it to yourself to do something about it.
Don’t be LAZY. Ensure you are taking the time to evaluate all your options
Don’t be PRESSURED into making rash decisions. If a decision is worth taking, make sure you aren’t being rushed into it
Finally, avoid making decisions when in an intense emotional state, good or bad. Rationality and emotions don’t mix well. Take time out and revisit the decision when you feel you can be more objective about it.
For a more in-depth article about Decision Making click here.
Get Results: acquire knowledge, be motivated, be productive
Getting results in any aspect of life can be difficult, and having heavily researched the subject of success and getting results, I can tell you there are so many aspects to it.
However, when you boil it down to its primary components there are three, Knowledge, Motivation and Productivity. Everything else falls into these three.
Things like self awareness, taking responsibility, being committed, having a strong work ethic, being brave enough to overcome fear, fall under the motivation category.
Being focused, improving decision making and problemsolving fall under, productivity.
Finding reliable sources of unbiased, accurate information, under knowledge.
I love the fact you can say the same things a myriad of different ways, the following graphics have been done to illustrate this.
Get Results: know want and doGet Results: learn, desire, actionGet Results: learn, focus, executeGet Results: know, care, do
Check out our guides for more information, you’ll find links in the sidebar (desktop) or below (mobile)
Before reading on, please take a moment to think about this statement…
Spirituality is mumbo-jumbo!
Now, answer the following questions. Answer them honestly before moving on. Even better, write them down, because I want you to see how with a couple of simple points I can prove spirituality to be mumbo-jumbo and that anyone who believes in it is as “unconscious” as everyone else, and that includes you.
#1 – Do you agree with this statement?
#2 – If not, why not?
#3 – How does this statement make you feel? What emotion is most prominent? Come on you believers, you should be good at this bit.
#4 – What inner dialogue is going on in your head?
#5 – What are your initial thoughts about the person responsible for writing this statement?
Only when you have honestly answered these questions, should you read on.
Get Results: pause graphic
So hopefully you have done what I asked before arriving here. If you didn’t please do so before progressing.
So I said spirituality was mumbo-jumbo and that you were as “unconscious”, spiritually speaking, as everyone else.
How can I prove this? Well, by your answers and reactions. If you felt a string of negative emotions to the statement above and if you felt a degree of hostility towards the author of that statement then you are indeed as unconscious as everyone else.
You are attached to the idea of spirituality and that attachment or identification, is proof that you’re trapped in the Ego.
So for you spirituality is indeed mumbo-jumbo, because the Ego is anything but spiritual. Now I don’t mean for you to take offence and you may well do from an egoic state, but what I want to prove is how easily, even well practiced, enlightened people can be overcome by the Ego.
You have an attachment to the idea of spirituality, you have your sense-of-self invested in it. You see yourself as spiritually aligned, and you don’t like that to be criticised or doubted by someone outside your sense-of-self. When someone outside your sense-of-self attacks an attachment within your sense-of-self, you feel anger to some degree, depending on your strength of attachment and the degree to which it is being attacked.
If you didn’t feel the slightest negative thought or anger towards the author or the statement, then well done, you truly are enlightened.
Well, apart from the fact you felt compelled to check the article out in the first place. If you are truly 100% enlightened, would you have felt the need to have even clicked through to this page to begin with? Maybe there is an element of doubt in your spiritual beliefs in the background of your subconscious. Hey, spirituality is not easy, that pesky Ego isn’t a quitter, it will keep you on your toes. Bringing awareness to this fact, is the very thing that will break its control over you.
Hopefully you have gained some degree of self Awareness from this exercise, which was, after all my true intention. Please don’t take any offence. Peace and love.
Get Results: Books give a soul to the universe, wings in the wind, flight to the imagination and life to everything
Reading books is one of the most effective methods for the acquisition of knowledge, because it’s an opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants, to learn from others experiences, trials and tribulations, experiments, time, effort and expertise.
If you’re not the reading type, then audio versions are available for many popular books and are a great substitute. Check out Audible for some very affordable listening plans. I use it myself, listening in the car to make the most of travel time.
The most important part of reading a book or listening to an audio book, with the intention of learning something, is to put what you learn into practice, otherwise what’s the point? Knowledge is not power, it’s the potential for power, providing you put it to work for the good of yourself and others.
I hear people bragging about reading or listening to a book a day, Really? How can you read a book a day and possibly, gain anything of true value. Just reading without the time to reflect on the insights you have uncovered, seems nonsensical, unless you’re only gaining one or two insights from each book. Hey, if it works for you go ahead, but if you look back, having forgotten most of what you have read, then maybe it’s time to find a good book to read and take your time absorbing its valuable teachings, and to re-read it again and again.
There are a number of high quality books around, that are worth taking time over and re-reading. These are what I would describe as all time classics. Here are my favourites, if you haven’t read them, check them out by following the links.
Please note: these are affiliate links, I get paid a small commission if you decide to buy, and I thank you for that. The books are genuinely my favourites and well worth checking out.
Spiritual/Wellbeing
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now: A guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
Wealth, Business, Marketing
Wealth and Wisdom Classics: Think and Grow Rich. The Science of Getting Rich, The Art of War by Napoleon Hill
The One Thing by Gary Keller
Made to Stick: Why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck by Chip Heath
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Build a Brand in 30 Days by Simon Middleton
Keep checking back for updated recommendations. Also check out our guide for the acquisition of Knowledge.
Knowledge is power, or at least it’s the potential for power. Knowing what to do is vital for success, but it comes about in a variety of ways.
The best method is probebly learning through DOING. But lessons can be learned, and shortcuts can be takens by paying attention to the journey of those that have gone before you.
Role models and mentors can make a huge contribution to your progress, and shorten the time needed to reach your goal, as long as you pick sources that provide accurate information, unbiased by their own agendas, and self interests.
If you don’t have direct access to role models, books are a great alternative and gateway to knowledge.
https://youtu.be/jPMsoMrP8uk
Below is a number of ingredients to the acquistion of knowledge, which is one of the three components of the Get Results model, the others being motivation and productivity. We will, over the coming months be linking from this page to fresh, relevant content related to the component it is linked from, so please keep checking back.
Clicking on the posters will take you to more in-depth information. If it doesn’t click through, the information isn’t available yet.
Get Results: Knowledge requires reliable sources of informationGet Results: Knowledge requires verifiably credible and unbiased sourcesGet Results: Knowledge requires roles models mentors mastermind teamsGet Results: Knowledge requires accurate informationGet Results: Knowledge requires knowing how, what and when particularly whyGet Results: Knowledge requires putting knowledge into actionGet Results: Knowledge requires developing skill from the prractice of doing. (Click on poster for more info)Get Results: Knowledge requires learning, comprehension and recallGet Results: Knowledge requires testing variableslGet Results: Knowledge requires asking expansive questionslGet Results: Knowledge requires hiring talent to do it for you
Knowledge Quotes
“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” – Anton Chekhov
“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.” – Socrates
“Knowledge is power if applied.”
“Power is gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it.”
“knowledge comes from learning, wisdom comes from living.” – Anthony Douglas Williams
“knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”
“The first step towards knowledge is to know that we are ignorant.” – Richard Cecil
“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
“intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” – Salvador Dali
“As knowledge increases, wonder deepens.” – Charles Morgan
“Doubt is the key to knowledge.”
“knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.” – Alfred North Whitehead
“If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come.” – Arapaho
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.” – Herbert Spencer
“Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.” – Peter Drucker
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realise the extent of your ignorance.” – Thomas Sowell
“We are all ignorant. It’s what you do about it that counts. I wish more people felt comfortable asking questions, the world would be a better place if they did. After all, division is built from ignorance.”
