The Socratic Method To Great Living (5 Simple Steps) | Zen Habits
http://zenhabits.net/2009/01/the-socratic-method-to-great-living-5-simple-steps/

“Be as you wish to seem.” ~Socrates

Zen Habits

Lots of journal writing prompts hidden here!

I will employ these to make my goals happen - especially the one about making goals SMART

Success in a relationship involves five daily habits that'll keey you and your mate satisfied. Rekindle love with dating tips from the experts and couples who have salvaged relationships on the rocks.

It might seem an idle pastime but academics have come up with a mathematical equation for why people procrastinate.

The psychologist, from the University of Calgary, has subsequently formed an equation for why people procrastinate, which began by studying 250 college students. The equation is U=EV/ID. The 'U' stands for utility, or the desire to complete a given task. It is equal to the product of E, the expectation of success, and V the value of completion, divided by the product of I, the immediacy of the task, and D, the personal sensitivity to delay. Prof Steel says procrastination is becoming a bigger issue because many more jobs are "self-structured", with people setting their own schedules. This means that people tend to postpone things with delayed rewards in favour of activities that offer immediate rewards. "Procastinators tend to live fro today rather than tomorrow. for short term gain for long term pain" he writes. Until now, psychologists have generally linked procrastination to perfectionists who avoid tasks rather than produce less than perfect products.

U=EV/ID

The equation is U=EV/ID.

Prof Piers Steel, a Canadian academic who has spent more than 10 years studying why people put off until tomorrow what they could do today, believes that the notion that procrastinators are either perfectionists or just lazy is wrong. Prof Steel, who admits to becoming distracted by computer games himself, argues in a new book that those prone to putting things off suffer from a vice of their own - impulsiveness.

Even if you think you’re pretty smart or have a good memory, your brain is begging you to work it to its full potential. Getting stuck in the same routine, never exercising and eating junk food are all brain killers that decrease good cognitive function and increase your chances of memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s. But with these 50 tips and ideas for flexing your brain power, you’ll be able to boost performance right now and in the future.

Article from the Boston Globe.

Or: why setting the wrong goals fails. Or: why poor management fails.

Why setting goals can backfire

Focus on motivation

Focus on motivation

Lists several articles...

If there’s an underlying theme throughout Zen Habits, besides simplifying your life, it’s finding happiness. I’ve written dozens of articles on different ways to be happy, but it all boils down to one thing: be happy now — don’t wait for it

If there’s an underlying theme throughout Zen Habits, besides simplifying your life, it’s finding happiness. I’ve written dozens of articles on different ways to be happy, but it all boils down to one thing: be happy now — don’t wait for it. Still, for those who want more depth, I’ve compiled a couple dozen of my favorite happiness articles from the archives. I hope you enjoy them! (If not, you’ve missed the point.)

Pick one measurable definition of success and work on it relentlessly.

To succeed, focus on one small, entry-level venue. Succeed at that over and over until you master then. Only then move up to big leagues - you'll be too good to be ignored.

read it

Excellent tips for a productive day!

Life change may seem to take years to achieve but there are steps you can walk today and in the next week that perhaps can change your life forever. Most are

A Beautiful Method to Find Peace of Mind

See it as part of the adventure.

PickTheBrain

Resources to help make you somewhat smarter. This should be interesting...

BRAIN ... HowTo be BETTER

"mind"

This weeks Sunday Siesta has been postponed as I have been working all weekend on this article. It’s my longest article ever at over 4500 words but I think it was worth the time and the effort.

Kaizen (改善) means "improvement" — "kai" (改) means change/make better, and "zen" (善) means good — but as the term is used as a business process it more closely resembles in English “continuous improvement.” Kaizen is one of the keys to the steady improvement and innovation found at successful companies in Japan such as Toyota.

Great tips, along the line of "be interesting" from Russell Davies

"Though Kaizen is a tool used by corporations to achieve greater innovation, productivity, and general excellence, it’s also an approach, an approach that we can learn from and apply to our own lives as we strive for continuous improvement on a more personal level. We can call this “Personal Kaizen.” Others have applied the personal kaizen approach to personal efficiency or GTD. You too can take the spirit of kaizen and apply it to your own unique personal kaizen approach to improve — step-by-step, little-by-little — your design mindfulness, knowledge, and skill. "

the

I am a fan of the physical act of writing before committing goals to the digital medium.

kes sense to you, the best thing you can do now is creating your learning log. It doesn’t need to be perfect, a

Learn how to remember things you learn.

RT @PerryBelcher: 9 Practical Ways to To Help Stay Focused http://tinyurl.com/ojdv8p and don't forget to breathe [from http://twitter.com/ErikNYC/statuses/1860263041]

30 way

Dumb Little Man shares ideas to make the everyday person more productive in life. Expect to read tips on finance, saving money, business, and some DIY for the house.

tips that might help you at work.

# Being Practical Human beings are emotional and many fall for popular decisions. A practical decision made at right time with right attitude has the

How to Succeed at Programming

Do that one thing you've committed to doing. Skip a day before succeeding for 21 days straight, and we'll start you back at day one. Succeed for 21 days in a row, and you can enter monitoring mode. But by that point the action should seem second nature.

By Mary Jaksch Every moment we get a new opportunity to make new decisions and change how we live our life. Here is a selection of the best 100

Joko petit uudenvuodenlupauksesi? Yritä uudelleen: The Definitive Guide to Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions http://j.mp/5g8hka

The 6 Changes Method So what are we to do? We only focus on one habit change at a time, so our focus and energies aren’t spread thinly. We implement the habit changes gradually, so we don’t run out of steam. We start out really, really easily, so it isn’t intimidating. We focus on enjoyable activities, so we don’t need “discipline”. We have two months to do the habit change, so if something comes up, it’s but a small bump in the road. And because we’re publicly committed, we’re going to get back on track. We have a very specific plan with actions built in, using proven habit change techniques.

6 Changes methodology applied to new year's resolutions

goal setting, motivation

"Give private, anonymous feedback. Go ahead... say what you really think. " Send private, anonymous feedback to coworkers, classmates, and friends.

Send private, anonymous feedback to coworkers, classmates, and friends.

However, your growth will be constrained by company needs, timelines, work assignments and acceptable methods. We cannot blame our organizations – this is part of the deal – they pay for your work and expect specific results. But… is this the best way for you to become an expert, acquire new skills and gain knowledge? To become an expert, you have to make many mistakes, learn from them, experiment with alternatives and work hard on your weaknesses. How many organizations do allow this risky, unproductive and unreliable way of working?

deliberate practice

如何成为某方面的专家

Who is an expert?

Kuidas enda arendamise läbi eksperdiks saada

Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek has created quite a buzz recently in the blogosphere. The book focuses on lifestyle design, which is designing your dream lifestyle with the least possible effort. It’s not necessary to wait until your retirement to live the lifestyle you want. In fact, doing so might waste 20-40 years of your life. Instead, you can live your dream lifestyle much, much sooner

63 Life-Changing Quotes on Lifestyle Design

from Tim Feriss's 4 hour Hour work week. All the major quotes.

really helpful and inspirational

Be generous and list many, even if they sound silly. Example, “I love that you always know how to make your salads so colorful and appetizing.”, “I love that you have the discipline to go to the gym regularly, and you really take care of your body.”, “I love that you are so neat, and can keep your desk so organized.”

The patron saint of personal productivity is back — and this time he’s offering more than just a system for handling overflowing email inboxes and misplaced files. In his third book, “Making It All Work,” David Allen takes his popular Getting Things Done model to the next level and promises a full-fledged road map for processing life and work in tandem. According to Allen, most people, whether at work or at home, fall victim to common organizational “syndromes.” There’s the person who stays on top of only enough details to stay afloat, or the micromanager, whose overly tight grip on life and work leads to too much focus on organizing and too little on accomplishing tasks. In these exclusive excerpts, Allen explains what it takes to be a successful self-manager and how to (finally) get focused.

Making It All Work

Do you manage other people better than yourself? In exclusive excerpts from his new book, Making It All Work, David Allen explains how to be master and commander of your own vision.

Just as our bodies are wired to react to stress, we're all also programmed to know how to wind down, whether it's by watching a funny movie, sitting in the sauna, sipping some chamomile tea (while dunking a cookie, of course!) or drinking a glass (or two) of wine with dinner. These activities switch on the brain's pleasure centers, blocking the production of the stress hormone cortisol and churning out happiness-inducing chemicals like serotonin instead.

Try a few of these instant soothers, and watch your own stress go from ARGH! to Ahhh.

pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

RT @draenews: Del Letting Go of Attachment, from A to Zen | Zen Habits: http://bit.ly/anTfzc

I liked this article. talks about letting go of bad attachments. Relationships, feelings.....

This article gave me one of those 'aha' moments, cutting through life's noise and clutter, touching something inside that says "truth". It is why I read Leo's thoughts.

To read it weekly

Beautiful, insightful post on our RESISTANCE to change.

inertia

inertia