Mind power

Image © James Brown - Polydor Records

The human mind is magnificent organ of intelligence, unfortunately we are not taught how to fully use it. In fact, because of our limited understanding of the mind and our limited expectations of it, we limit the minds’ ability to function at its full potential. As you know, you cannot heal what you don't feel, so my aim is to help my clients to replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk, for example, I have already managed to replace bigotry, intolerance, and racism with fairness, friendly and tolerance. 

 

I have been working on a rapid transformational program, it will be a monthly subscription-based program with the aim to reprogram your mind. Watch this space…

Your perception is your reality

On a daily basis we evaluate others, we also regularly look into our own hearts and minds. Many aspects of our minds are hidden from us, we think in two different ways: self-judgement and how we judge others. I think the way we judge others is to look at their actions and the way we judge ourselves is by our use of words.

I have recently been made aware that in social psychology they use the term: “naive realism”. This is a human tendency where we see the world around us objectively, and that people who disagree with us must be uninformed, irrational, or biased.

Wisdom on Wednesday

I think motivation is the driver of productivity, and empowerment is the fuel of motivation. It’s far more motivating to work in an organisation that is passionate about innovation than one that is sterile and stuck in, “We have always done it that way.”

“Many people take action as a result of their passion, instead of being passionate as a result of their actions. Using passion (an emotional and subjective foundation) as the impetus for action can often bring disappointment when the desired result is not achieved. However, taking decisive action using empirical data, can increase the possibility of success and therefore feed your passion.”
— Safi A. Thomas

Expect the unexpected

Photograph: © MBI/Alamy

As human beings we are always trying to make sense of the world and it’s very easy to be seduced by your own narratives. When things happen to us or to our communities or to our nations, we understand those events through the lens of culture, ideology or through our limited knowledge. Many of us have answers to these questions because we’ve spent years or decades in some cases perfecting our stories. What would happen if we just stopped and admitted that we don’t have a very good handle on the world situation and our theories are just that - theories. 

We are constantly coming up with stories about why the events are the way they are. It’s not like the people who are coming up with the stories are malicious or they are trying to draw the wrong conclusions about the world. Many are deeply well intentioned and want the best things for everyone else. It’s just the act of storytelling itself runs the risk for encapsulating from too little data to sweeping a conclusion. You can read an article from The Guardian about the heavy burden of being Black in a white space.

Startup thinking

When you start a business there is a method and there are things you need to do in order to build it up. In business you have to set certain goals that you want to achieve and then act towards achieving those goals. Once you have defined your goals and begin to pursue them with your team you will find that obstacles continuously arise as you go towards it.

Whenever you create something new, it’s rarely a smooth progression, you will have to overcome obstacles along the way in the form of people or situations that go wrong. When an obstacle arises, immediately face the obstacle which comes in the form of a situation, something not working, something going wrong or perhaps somebody trying to sabotage you. Never react towards the obstacle as if this should not be happening, face it and see what the way beyond it is. How can I either dissolve it, bypass it, or use it? So, I do not enter a state of reactivity when obstacles appear on your paths.

What is your relationship to difficulties and obstacles that arise as you travel towards your goal? 

Education vs. intellect

I love people who have no idea how wonderful they are and just wander around making the world a better place. I think you attract good people into your life based on your character, not possessions, appearance, or intellect.

“Never confuse education with intelligence. Intelligence isn’t the ability to remember and repeat, like they teach you in school. Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use our knowledge to adapt to new situations.”
— Professor Richard Feynman

I don't know

c/o The New York Times

If you try to control everything, and then worry about the things you can’t control, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of frustration and misery. I think “I don’t know” is the most powerful sentence you can use as knowing that you don’t know makes you a knowledgeable person.


Last night I was asked: What is a Metaverse?
I replied: “I don’t know”.
This morning, I did some research and I think the Metaverse is the following:

  • Digital currency

  • Marketplace / e-commerce

  • NFT’s

  • Gaming

  • Digital assets

  • Natural language processing

  • Online shopping

  • Social media

  • Social entertainment events

  • Digital humans 

There’s no shame in admitting that you don’t know. The only shame is to pretend you know everything. Click the Synthetic Data link, as these guys really know about the Metaverse.

Turbulent times

Navigating a highly uncertain and constantly changing context, while actively contributing to building the future that we want to see, has never been more important. My writing is a form of therapy, an attempt to continuously educate and direct myself towards emotional health and ethical good sense. Think about a single area in your life where you are successful, and ask yourself, “What small things do I do each day that allows my consistent success?” I follow these three key performance indicators to map how successful I am in my life:

  • Truth: Are you being true to yourself and your values?

  • Focus: Are you consistently committing to your goals?

  • Strength: Do you keep pushing forward, even when you feel afraid or make a mistake?

 

Try it out and let me know what you think via e-mail. Remember the picture we paint in our minds of what other people are like is one of the main driving forces of relationships, economics, and politics.

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Pause and reflect

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According to the Oxford English dictionary, “…a pause is a short period when you stop doing something before continuing, and when you reflect on something, you think deeply about it.” In these strange, uncertain and frightening times, how is it that some people ‘keep calm and carry on’, while others panic?

  • Get active and do some form of regular physical activity, even if it’s just walking 10 minutes a day.

  • Keep learning as your mind need to keep active too, so give it a regular workout.

  • Random acts of kindness are contagious, please spread the word.

  • We are hardwired to want social connections as they are essential to good mental wellbeing.

  • Take time to notice things, whether it’s your neighbour’s new hairstyle or reflecting on your experiences.

  • Caring for others, it’s essential to do what’s right for the global community.

Take time to shift your focus

I think that people with high levels of gratitude have low levels of resentment and envy. As when we take time to focus on what we are grateful for, we choose positive emotions over negative, thus we take steps to nurture our mental health and wellbeing. I was recently asked: How can we trigger gratitude in ourselves? And I answered, start with a gratitude practice, it’s like a workout or healthy eating plan for your mind and it’s simple.

 

Have you ever noticed that when you are looking to buy a new phone or a jacket all of a sudden everyone around you has it? That’s because, consciously or unconsciously, whatever we are focused on is what we see. If we want to trigger gratitude in ourselves, we need to intentionally shift our focus to that which we are grateful for. The simplest way to do this is through questions and prompts and a few daily rituals. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to shift your focus.

“You can’t feel envious and grateful at the same time. They’re incompatible feelings, because if you’re grateful, you can’t resent someone for owning things you don’t.”
— Dr. Robert Emmons
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Discover the person you were born to be

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Stress is the body’s response when it senses danger. We all experience stress and need it to function, but when stress interferes with our lives, it becomes a problem. Too much stress, for too long, can make us ill. If unaddressed, stress can cause mental health issues like depression or anxiety and harm our physical health. Listen to your being, it’s continuously giving you hints. It is a still, small voice and it does not shout at you, that is true. If you are a little silent you will start feeling your way. ‘

“Never try to be another, and you will become mature. Maturity is accepting the re-sponsibility of being oneself, whatsoever the cost. Risking all to be oneself, that’s what maturity is all about.”
— Osho

I offer a customised process for implementing, executing, and measuring your results, once you have identified, defined, and described the results you want. I’ll give you the tools and inspire you to tap into your personal drive, identifying and leveraging natural talents, and applying them toward accomplishing your goals. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to discover and create your ideal future. 

Increase your activities

The pandemic over the past 2 years should have taught us to focus on mental health and well-being. I think it’s time to focus on being a better human first, and then the science of being a good salesperson will take care of itself. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to listening is they’re so focused on what they’re going to say next or how what the other person is saying is going to affect them that they fail to hear what’s being said. When you focus on what’s going wrong then emotions take over your attention, the words come through loud and clear, but the meaning is lost. Remember mental health affects how we think, feel, and act and keeping your brain healthy involves habits that keep the rest of you healthy.

Mental health conditions don't discriminate

People of all genders can experience depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. I think that one can reap massive returns from believing in things people think are stupid until it’s no longer stupid, which is why immunity to embarrassment is such an important superpower for founders and investors. And I tend to follow the Brain Tracy advice - “Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or make excuses.”

A gift

Six things mentally strong people do:
1. They move on and don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves.

2. They embrace change and welcome challenges.

3. They stay happy and don’t waste energy on things they can’t control.

4. They are kind, fair and unafraid to speak up.

5. They are willing to take calculated risks.

6. They celebrate other people’s success and don’t resent that success.

No one likes us

Where do your beliefs and opinions come from?
People need to process information quickly to protect themselves from harm. Most people believe that their opinions are based on years of experience and objective analysis of the information they have available. Everyone thinks they are rational, logical, and impartial. We are susceptible to confirmation bias as many factors of which people are unaware can influence our information processing. Humans are better able to rationally process information, giving equal weight to multiple viewpoints, if they are emotionally distant from the issue. Another reason people show confirmation bias is to protect their self-esteem.


Here are some examples of confirmation bias:
· Not seeking out objective facts
· Interpreting information to support your existing belief
· Only remembering details that uphold your belief
· Ignoring information that challenges your belief

 

Humans are bombarded with information in the social world and cannot possibly take the time to carefully process each piece of information to form an unbiased conclusion. I think that human decision making and information processing is often biased because people want to feel that they are intelligent. When informationarrives that suggests one holds an inaccurate belief or made a poor decision this may make one feel he’s lacking intelligence, therefore, we tend to listen only to the information that confirms our preconceptions.

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A process to understand

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I recently discovered a beautiful Hebrew word, “kavod”, and it means honour and respect. Honour and respect are very important in any society but even more so in Middle Eastern societies. The Middle East is a place where people swear “on the honour of their mother” without thinking too much. Perhaps we should ask ourselves, “Is it kavod?” before everything we say, think, or do. 

 

Most people don’t know the difference between coaching, mentoring, and training. Rather than having a one size fits all approach, I try to use self-discovery methods to enable the customer to see where they fit in. If you want your brand to stand out in these competitive, unstable times, you’ll want to shift from a product-based “what” brand to a mission-driven “why” business. Shifting your brand and business from “What” to “Why" will bring huge economic benefit and help you secure optimal customer preference and loyalty.

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Once upon a time

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Illustration by Liz Fosslien ©

As a guest lecturer my role was always to help the students to create some kind of value from day one. I was not expecting them to be mini-CEOs, all I expected was open-minded fresh thinkers who are willing to learn and where possible offer value. Technology, products, and services flow effortlessly around students and the way they navigate them is totally different than someone like me.

1.         I ask them to reflect and articulate what they see?
2.         What are the values that are important to them?
3.         How can a brand (product) or service tap into their important values better than now, and in relation for their future audience?

I met 3 types of students:

  • “The hopeful” - Who were excited about the creative industries and the possibilities. My role was to give them a deeper sense of reality

  • “The disrupter” - I can do it better type! Here I would give them another perspective, a greater sense of realism and balance so they could better understand the change mechanism and transformation.

  • “Help me” - The ones where the challenge was not meeting their expectations. 

Growth is a process

Too often experts will dive into their presentation without presenting a roadmap and this usually leaves the audience unsure about what is going to be covered, why and when the presentation will end. Presenting a table of contents before they dive in and begin to talk puts everything into context and helps your audience to know where they are in the presentation. Road mapping allows the audience to see the key points you are going to explore and puts them into context and helps them relax into your teaching and allows them to relate it to the bigger picture and the promise of your presentation. I think if you implement this simple framework with your content, copywriting and speaking you will begin to see a sense of trust, and ultimately this will lead to more conversions.