Getting it Done:The Basics

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Getting it done

Eat the frog first.

Most of us are interested in “getting it done” but a lot of us lack the motivation. With such tremendous demands on our time and attention, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and paralyzed. Looking back at the end of the day,  we wonder, “Where did the day go, and what did I do with it?” I used to be a huge procrastinator, always doing things at the last minute if I did them at all.  Now, I’m all about getting it done. What  I can share with you are some strategies that work for me. While I’m no expert in getting it done strategies, I am getting more done because of the tips I’ll share below.  Some of these are obvious but bear repeating. Of course, many of these I got from the experts.

Simple Tips for Getting it Done

  • Get up earlier I try to get up before 6 so I can do some yoga and maybe read a little before I have to get my kids up, dressed and ready for school. It isn’t always easy, but the payoff is well worth it: I feel energized, I have momentum, and I’ve accomplished something meaningful before 7 a.m.  To do this, I need to be in bed by 10:30.  Ask yourself, “Is what I’m doing the last hour to hour and half of my day really a wise use of my time?  Think of what you can get done with an extra hour in the morning, if you got to sleep earlier.
  • Get enough sleep. This is different for everybody. I can get by with 7 hours regularly but not with 6 1/2. You lower your getting it done ability if you are tired.  Lack of energy means lack of motivation. Get the amount of sleep that is right for you.
  • Eat three meals a day. If you are skipping meals and going 5 or 6 hours without eating, you risk low blood sugar episodes.  Your brain is the organ that uses the most blood sugar or glucose, which is your body’s basic fuel. If you are regularly cranky, impatient, irritable, unable to focus or experiencing  energy highs and lows,  take a look at your diet. (Then see a doctor if appropriate.)
  • Take breaks. The mind and body can only be active for so long before they  require a break. You will be more productive if you take regular breaks. Relaxation is as necessary as water and air. Even God took a day off.
  • Have a plan for getting it done. You’ve heard the adage “Nobody plans to fail, they just fail to plan.” Lack of a plan can lead to indecision and the killer time waster of them all, distraction. Get some type of planner and plan your day either last thing at night for the next day or first thing in the morning. Assign what you need to do to specific hours of the day, and include an end times as well.
  • Be prepared. Make sure you have everything you need before you venture out. Assemble necessary media, materials, tools, and have them packed and ready to rock and roll. Fill your gas tank the evening before as opposed to the morning of.
  • Value your time.  During a project, limit incoming phone calls to only the most important/necessary, otherwise ignore the phone.  That’s what voice mail is for. Schedule time to check/send  email. I heard about a study recently that stated that stopping to  check your email means that on the average it will be half an hour before you get back to your scheduled project. Watch out for time vampires, (a major obstacle to getting it done) such as chit chatters  and social media. Set boundaries on interruptions: “I’m not available right now, but we can talk at such and such a time, O.K? (Be careful when saying this to your boss or your spouse)
  • Eat the frog first. The frog is that task or project that you least want to do, or that will be the most difficult. If you save it for the end of the day, you may  procrastinate  it right off your schedule. The whole day you’ll be thinking “Man, I’ve still got to eat that dang frog…” The key is getting it done as soon as possible at the beginning of the day and get it out of the way, freeing up focus and energy.
  • Work on projects simultaneously, rather than sequentially. Most of us don’t have the luxury of spending all or a major part of the day working on one thing. Schedule start and finish times for ongoing projects and be stringent about following these.  You’ll find that chipping away at each one on a daily basis keeps the momentum going, and allows you to be able to see the big picture instead of getting mired down in details.
  • Know thyself. Are you one of those people that can’t speak coherent English until 11 am? Are you ready to curl up under your desk and take a nap at 3 pm? Be aware of your own energy cycles and plan accordingly. I’ve tried balancing my checkbook at 10:30 pm. It doesn’t work. I find myself up until after midnight trying to find that 20 missing dollars that got lost because I was tired and  didn’t check something off, etc. Play to the times of the day when you are the most mentally and physically capable of getting it done.

I hope you found this helpful. If you need support and accountability  in creating motivation for GETTING IT DONE, give me a call or email.

 Ted A. Moreno                                                 
 
 (626) 826-0612

The Story of The 2 Boxes and Releasing Limitations

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releasing limitations

Let me tell you the story of the 2 boxes.

There are 2 boxes that exist in everyone’s life.

The 1st box represents a person’s actual limitations.

For instance, I will probably never play center for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Why?

Because I’m not 7 feet tall, and don’t play basketball.

See?

That’s an actual, physical limitation.

And of course, everyone has this box in their lives.

However, there’s a 2nd box that exists in everyone’s lives – and this 2nd box represents a person’s PERCEIVED limitations.

This 2nd box is created by all the doubts, fears, and insecurities a person has.

  • “I can’t ever be relaxed and have fun…I have too much anxiety…”
  • I can’t make a lot of money… I just not greedy enough…smart enough…motivated enough…”
  • “I can’t be in a relationship…too many issues…too much fear…”
  • “I can’t ever be confident enough to speak in public…I’m just too nervous…”
  • “I can’t ever quit smoking…I just don’t have the willpower…”

The sad part?

The 2nd box is usually MUCH smaller than the 1st box!

Meaning, it’s often our own doubts, fears, and insecurities that hold us back from claiming the success we desire so much!

Meaning, you are capable of so much more than you think you are!

Meaning, you can overcome most – if not ALL – of the challenges you come across in whatever it is that you choose to take on.

But most people let their self-imposed 2nd box create an imaginary barrier between them and their success and happiness!

The reality?

This 2nd box usually doesn’t exist!

So the next time you encounter a challenge on your way to doing what you really want to do, have or be, think of the 2 boxes.

Is your challenge created by a real limitation?

Or are you constraining yourself with a self-imposed 2nd box?

Now, there are many tools and resources available to help you begin releasing limitations and vaporize your self-imposed 2nd box.

You just have to be aware of these resources when you come across them.

Releasing Limitations Using the Moreno Method

For example, you can give me a call, and using the Moreno Method for Life Transformation, I can help you start releasing limitations that are holding you back.

I’ll ask you to make a commitment to yourself to take action on your dreams, goals and desires.

Afterwards, I’ll send you home with a recording to listen to that will begin to reprogram your mind for success at whatever you choose to do.

I’ll even call you to check in and provide accountability and coaching.

So if you’ve ever been frustrated that you can’t even get started down the road to doing what you really want to do, whether it’s gaining confidence, getting healthier or making more money, then that reasoning has just become a 2nd box limitation.

I want to help you vaporize that 2nd box so that it never stops you again.

Then you can now simply reach out and claim your success.

Questions? Want to talk about the possibilities that exist for you after releasing limitations? Click here to get in touch with me. Time to get out of that box!

To hear a podcast of this blog, go to TedinYourHead.com episode #71

Ted

Book Review: “Choices and Illusions”

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Choices and Illusions

  • There is an allegedly factual account that when the Spanish galleons approached the New World, they were invisible to the Aztec people. When the conquistadors approached the shore with helmets on their heads, they were perceived by Montezuma and his people as gods walking on water. One of the Aztec sages was able to see the ships only after several days of just staring at the water.
  • Did you know subliminally flashing a smiling face on a foreign flag predisposes one to feel more favorably about the country the flag represents?
  • Marketers know that men will judge an automobile to be faster than others if a beautiful woman is draped over the hood.
  • Are you aware that President Obama used a “kind of dream team” of behavioral scientists in his campaign that included psychology professors from major universities around the country?

 Choices and Illusions: How Did I Get Where I Am, and How Do I Get Where I Want to Be?

In the book “Choices and Illusions: How Did I Get Where I Am, and  How Do I Get Where I Want to Be?”, author Eldon Taylor, cites these and other examples of how our minds work as well as how we are manipulated without our awareness.

More importantly, through understanding how illusions and false perceptions function in our lives as powerful influences over our thoughts and behavior, Taylor offers valuable perspective and direction as to how to discover the deeper power within us to create our own lives.

This book was sent to me unsolicited by what must be Taylor’s PR team. Although I’m trying to finish a number of books right now, after flipping through some pages of Choices and Illusions, I was drawn in by chapters with titles such as “Who Owns Your Thoughts Anyway?”, “Practical Hypnosis” and “Breaking the Trance”.

I found that Taylor’s premise is well aligned with my own growing perception that so much of what we think of as real is in reality illusion, “engineered beliefs”, and cultural hypnosis on an unimaginable scale.

Taylor asks the question “Who Owns Your Thoughts Anyway?” Our immediate assumption is “I do!” Yet the evidence that Taylor presents suggests that we may not, and that what we think of as our ability to freely choose is simply an illusion, and that many of our choices have been predetermined by past history, advertising, and conditioned perception. All are programs running beyond the edge of our awareness.

I found “Choices and Illusions” to resonate highly with my own ongoing explorations into the nature of reality, the workings of the mind, hypnosis, self talk, and the nature of consciousness including metaphysics.

To choose powerfully means to do so with full awareness including a clear view of our biases, preconceived notions, and deeply held beliefs. Taylor challenges us to “break out of the trance” and provides guidelines for creating lives of freedom, intention and wholeness.

“Choices and Illusions: How Did I Get Where I Am, and  How Do I Get Where I Want to Be?” can be purchased at Amazon.com by clicking on the link. (In the interest of full disclosure, I may get a few cents if you do.)

Ted

 

Self Hypnosis Kept Me From Wiping Out

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Self hypnosis

Self hypnosis is a valuable tool that is really quite easy to use. Here’s an example of how I used self hypnosis in a very unlikely place.

I was camping out on Lake Mohave one summer with my brothers. One morning the lake was so smooth, we decided to go water skiing.

Now, I’m not the best water skier. I find it difficult to get up on the skis and if I go over a big wave I wipe out and get a lot of water up my nose. Not fun.

One of the more evil brothers must have know that because he suggested “Hey Ted, why don’t you sit in the water at the shore with your skis on and we’ll pull you from the shore?” (Muahahaha!)

You have to understand the dynamics of the testosterone that flows when you get a bunch of gnarly dudes  and boats together. You can’t just say, “Uh, no thanks, guys, I’ll pass” unless you want to be mercilessly heckled for the rest of the trip and beyond. So I said “Sure, sounds good.”

I put on my skis and life vest and sat in the water up to my chest with the tow rope in my hand. While everyone was getting in the boat I pondered my predicament.

If I didn’t get up on my skis the first try, I would be flailing around trying to retrieve my skis and would probably have to swim out to get the rope too. The water was shallow, so they would not want to come back and get me like they would in in the middle of the lake. The would watch with glee as I struggled over and over again futility to prove my water skiing prowess…

STOP! I told myself. What are you doing? You have the skill and knowledge to affect the subconscious mind! Why not use the powerful tool of  self hypnosis?

So I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, like Yoda before he levitates Luke’s ship out of the swamp. (Do, or do not! There is no try!) I relaxed my body and my mind and said “I will now enter a state of self hypnosis for the purpose of a kick-butt water skiing experience.” 

I felt myself going inside, connecting with the possibility that I can do anything I want. I imagined myself getting pulled up on the first try, water skiing on that glorious lake surrounded by beautiful desert mountains, having a great time. I told myself  “I am an expert water skiier” over and over again. I imagined the voices of my companions saying “Wow, that was a good run!”

After 5 minutes of sitting there in the water, I counted myself out of self hypnosis and waited for the moment of truth. “Ready?” someone shouted. “I was born ready!” I yelled back with confidence.

They hit the gas and the boat shot forward. The ski rope went taut. I was pulled up on my skis and skied for a solid 20 minutes. Sun, water, mountains, skimming along on the surface of a lake until my arms got tired. I let go of the rope, and floated there until they came and got me.

As they pulled me into the boat they said “Wow, you skied a long time. That was good.”

“Yeah” , I said. “It was good.” As I ran my hand through my hair, I noticed it wasn’t even wet. Yoda has the force, I have self hypnosis.

Learn to use Self Hypnosis!

I regularly offer my  Self Hypnosis for Success Class at Pasadena City College.  Click here to find out when the next class is!

Even if you don’t water ski, you can use self hypnosis to:

  • Get rid of nervousness and do better on a job interview
  • Get rid of anxiety to speak in public confidently and comfortably
  • Feel less self-conscious and more relaxed in social situations
  • Get rid of stage fright while acting or playing music
  • Perform better in sports
  • Present your product to clients persuasively and confidently
  • Get relief from procrastination, anxiety and fear, and negative thinking.

Put your subconscious mind to work! Click to find when the next class is being offered. 

In Self Hypnosis for Success, you will learn:

  • What hypnosis is and isn’t
  • How to do a hypnotic induction on yourself
  • Crafting suggestions to put into your subconscious mind
  • How to put it all together to reprogram your subconscious mind for success in just a few minutes a day
  • Little known, yet powerful tips and techniques for keeping your mind sharp, powerful and positive!

You’ll receive my Guide to Self Hypnosis and my Self Hypnosis Conditioning CD, which also includes my studio produced “Peaceful Place” relaxation track as an added bonus. In addition, you’ll get handouts at each class containing the material presented. The class is being held at Pasadena City College on September 28th and October 5th and 12th from 9 to 10:30 am.

Click here to see when the next class is being offered and learn to take control of your mind using self hypnosis!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Ted

 

Back to School Challenges? These Special Offers Can Help.

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Back to school challenges

I remember some  back to school challenges when I started 3rd grade. I was pretty nervous. My teacher was going to be Mrs. O’Brian and I heard that she wasn’t very nice.  My mom had taken me to school for the first day of 2nd grade at my new school, but since she now had 7 other kids to care for, I was on my own and I think I even had to walk to school that day.

Turns out Mrs. O’Brian wasn’t very nice. She yelled a lot and I was afraid of her. I think teachers were a lot different in 1969.

Not only that, but it seemed like my fellow students got meaner in the 3rd grade. More fights, violent games, bullying. I can say that I started to feel stress in the third grade; more homework, projects, reports. Of course, my parents were having back to school challenges of their own, with kids in kinder, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades and 4 more at home.

Back to school challenges can cause stress for parents and children, as well as adult students returning to school. Just helping my kids with homework makes me want to have a drink. For many parents, myself included, getting kids up, dressed and to school on time has the potential to ruin a day.

Students often have to deal with anxiety about tests, more homework, scary teachers and fellow students, and the transition from no school to back to school.

If you or your child is experiencing any of these back to school challenges, I can help.

  •  I work with kids age 12 on up to help them with back to school challenges such as general anxiety regarding transitioning into the next grade level or a new school, as well as test anxiety, focus and concentration, and sleep problems.
  • I also work with adult students going back to school, some for the first time in years. Dealing with back to school challenges after being out for a few years can be a stressful adjustment. I can assist with text anxiety, focus and concentration. In addition, I can help with time management, procrastination and motivation.
  • I help parents deal with the stress of back to school challenges. I’m very aware that my mood and attitude in the mornings can affect my kids and their day. In spite of that awareness, I still find myself getting frustrated and impatient. Fortunately, there are many tools that can help me have the attitude and patience to send my children off to school in a way that is productive and conducive to learning. These are the tools I am able to teach to parents as well as using the Moreno Method for Life Transformation to change negative habits and patterns of thinking.

So for those experiencing  back to school challenges, I’m offering back to school specials!

 If you are an adult student, I’ll offer you a student discount for four sessions that gives you $100 off of my regular fee for four sessions. (That’s a value of $548 for only $447) (Sorry, no phone sessions)

 If you are a parent and you have a child 12 or over that needs help, pay for four sessions for your child and I’ll give you a complementary hour and half session with an audio recording of the session that you can listen to at home. I’ll give you a copy of my book “The Ultimate Guide to Letting Go of Negativity and Fear and Loving Life,” and my “Peaceful Place Relaxation CD” After you drop your kids off at school, of course.  (That’s a value of $685 for only $548) (Sorry no phone sessions)

What if you’re not a student, have no kids in school, but need to work on something to make life better? Come in for four sessions (or do phone sessions), and this is what you’ll get:

Geez, what am I thinking, that’s a $693 value for only $497. Maybe I’m just happy that it’s cooling down here in SoCal. If you are interested, click here or call me local (626) 826-0612 or  toll free (855) 837-8477. Oh, by the way, this offer expires the first day of Autumn, September 22nd, 2013. After that, prices go up!  (Note that all sessions must be paid in full at first session.)

Why not give yourself and your student the chance to overcome those back to school challenges and have more calm, comfort and concentration? Click here or call me at (626) 826-0612 or toll free (855) 837-8477.

Wishing you, and your family and warm and relaxing Fall season.

 Ted

Go Back to School and Always Be Learning

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Back to School

Welcome to another edition of “Scribblings from Close of the Ground”, wisdom from the mouths of babes, namely, Rocky and The Chick, my two daughters who are back to school.

Go Back to School!

C: We just started school, I’m in third grade now. Everyone says it’s going to be hard. They make us do a lot of math.

R: I’m starting first grade. I know how to read already.

C: I hate it when I don’t know how to figure something out, like a math problem.

R: She starts crying!! Like a baby!

C: Rocky!!! I just don’t like when it gets hard, I just want to just go watch tv.

R: She’s a couch tomato…

C: It was really hard going back to school. It was like my learning muscle was weak.

R: Dad says that when he went back to school it was hard for him.

C: Sometimes I don’t want to go to school but dad says if you aren’t choosing what to learn than the world will give you lessons you might not like.

R: Like the School of Hard Rocks!

C: It’s the school of Hard Knocks, Rock.

R: That’s what I said.

C: Dad says that learning is uncomfortable, and if you are comfortable, you’re not learning anything. You have to learn to learn. He says that learning is discovering, and that most people stop learning after they leave school, and if you learn to like learning, you will always be learning and growing.

R: But if you learn too much your head might explode…

C: Be quiet Rock, no it won’t. Dad says you should  always be learning something. This way you’re brain doesn’t rot.

R: Like a pumpkin after Halloween.

R: So you should always be learning.

C: I’m also learning piano and I’m getting better at math. That’s what my piano teacher said would happen.

R: So you should not waste your brain because if you don’t use it it shrivels up like a raisin, then you are a raisin brain.

C: Don’t be a raisin brain. Always be learning, even it is uncomfortable!

R: Go back to school! Always be learning!! Even if it makes your brain hurt!

 Rocky and the Chick

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Hypnosis and Fitness

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Today’s post features a video, “Hypnosis 101” with me and Lauren Herrera, owner and head trainer of  Pilates Barbell Club in Pasadena. Lauren and I have teamed up and made a series of videos about the mental aspect of physical fitness and training. Each video is based on a chapter in my book “The Ultimate Guide to Letting Go of Negativity and Fear and Loving Life.”

It today’s video, we discuss how we are under the influence of hypnosis by the media and advertising, which present unrealistic standards of what bodies should look like. Many of us are still be under the hypnosis of the negative words of others going back to childhood, in which we were called names or branded with negative descriptions relating to our bodies. Most of all, we are often under the hypnosis of our own negative self talk. In time, we come to believe these things are true, and they get in the way of our ability to accept and honor ourselves for who we are now.

If physical or mental transformation is to take place, it starts with healthy self acceptance and the belief that “I am ok just the way I am, and I can be better.” Much of my work with fitness and weight clients is helping them break free of the hypnosis of their own negative self image.

Lauren says “Do you know what hypnosis is? It’s a mind thing and as you know mindset has everything to do with everything. Achieving your health and fitness goals permanently takes a whole lotta programing in your mind to actually say: “Mission Accomplished.”

True that, Lauren! Click here to check out her excellent blog as well as get her free report “5 Free and Easy Tips to Supercharge Your Fat Loss.”

Of course, if you are ready to start de-hypnotizing yourself from negative self image and negative self talk, give me a call or contact me here.

Ted

Ted A. Moreno Discusses Hypnotherapy in Interview by Lisa Tarves of Just Believe Radio

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hypnotherapy

hypnotherapy

  I was recently interviewed on Just Believe Radio by Lisa Tarves discussing hypnotherapy related topics as well as my book.

To listen to the interview click here. The interview starts at 9:22.

In the interview I discuss

Want to listen to other interviews I’ve done? Click here.

Lisa Tarves, Metaphysician, Author of the book, Just Believe, Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and gifted intuitive, interviews experts in the area of metaphysics each Sunday at 1 pm Eastern. www.LisaTarves.com

Procrastination and the Ape of Accountability

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Procrastination Gorilla

Procrastination used to own me. Until the Gorilla came along.

It was 1982 and I was an hour late turning in a final paper for a college English class. “Sorry” the instructor said. “You’ve just flunked. You must repeat the class.” “No way!” I exclaimed. “Way” he said.

At that moment, a Gorilla in a suit and tie grabbed me from behind, threw me on the ground and stomped all over me.

“What the…?” I croaked feebly from the under the dust.

“Allow me to introduce myself”, said the merciless brute. “I am the Gorilla, at your service. For a small fee, I will inflict massive pain on you if I find you procrastinating.”

“Uh, you’re hired” I mumbled as a I put my shoulder back in its socket.

Around that time I had just got back my car from someone who had been using it in another state. The registration and insurance had expired and payments hadn’t been made in 4 months. I knew I had to deal with this but procrastination got the best of me for about a month. One day I got pulled over by a cop and got a ticket for $350 including an expired  drivers licence. A week later, I walked out one morning and my car was gone. While I was wondering what happened to it, the Gorilla came out of nowhere and tackled me, mowing me over like a hairy freight train.

Yes, I once suffered from procrastination. Until it got too painful. Some stuff I was able to get away with, but with the big stuff, the adult responsibility stuff, the Big G was always there to inflict major pain for my procrastination.

I’m better now at motivating myself to accomplish most things, but not everything.  Give me a new project that I’m unfamiliar with and you can bet that procrastination will rule. That’s why the Gorilla works for me.

I fear him.  But I fear procrastination more, so sometimes I make that dreaded call.

“Hey G” I usually start with.

“Need your butt kicked?” I  hear him smiling over the phone.

“I’m hoping to avoid that.”

“If hope is your strategy,  then I will mop my floor with you. Tell the Gorilla what you are trying to accomplish.” he’ll say sarcastically.

“I’m trying to write a book”

“Ah so, taskhopper, taking on something big,  are we? Unusual for you to step so far out into the unknown.”

“That’s why I need your help. I need to get the book written and uploaded to the publishing site by Tuesday night. I cannot afford procrastination.”

“Very well. You know I’ll be watching. And I will come for you if…”

“Procrastination” I say feebly.

“I will mangle your self esteem. I’ll destroy your momentum and stomp on your dreams. I will crush your integrity into dust. And I will carve a giant L into your forehead, Inglorious Basterds style.”  I hear a click and the line goes dead.

I got the book uploaded at 2:15 am. Technically it was Wednesday morning, but it was still night and I guess that was good enough.

Sometimes I’ll get a glimpse of him driving by my house in his Jag, or I’ll catch him watching me through the window while I’m sitting in Starbucks…reminding me that there’s a dark angel dealing dire consequence, should I find myself mired in procrastination.

Dealing with Procrastination

You may not have a scary beast to frighten you into action when procrastination has you shackled. But there are two very powerful things that you can do: make yourself accountable and put something at stake.  Here are some tips:

  • First: create a deadline. There must be a date on your calendar as to when you will complete the project. Break it down into phases and schedule in time when you will work on it every day. Make sure it’s written down.
  • Next, put something at stake.Take a hundred dollar bill and give it to someone you trust. Tell them that if you don’t produce on time they get to keep it.  If you complete on time you get to spend the hundred bucks rewarding yourself. Most people will take much more action to keep from losing $100 then they will to earn it. Or give your word professionally to put your reputation at stake.
  • Create accountability with a person or a group. Each person puts in writing what they are going to accomplish by when. You can check in on each other regularly to keep each other on track. Whoever misses the deadline or doesn’t finish first buys the other(s) dinner or a night out on the town.
  • Create a scenario of frightful consequences. This is a mind technique. The most extreme example I’ve heard of is a guy who imagines that terrorists are holding a gun to the head of his wife and kid, and if he doesn’t complete his project on time they will die. That’s uh, pretty extreme but I guess it works for him. You might imagine yourself out of a job, or failing the class, or people laughing at you. Pain is a great motivator.
  • Some people are more motivated by pleasure. In your mind you can imagine all the wonderful benefits that will come to you if you complete on time. Or again, you can figure out some kind of reward for yourself. Make sure to set that up, putting some money aside or making a reservation for a trip or dinner.
  • Hire a real coach. Pay money to someone whose job is to push you and hold you accountable.
  • Call Ted A. Moreno.  Not only will I hold you accountable, but we’ll also use the tool of hypnosis to train your brain for action and productivity. I’ll call you every day if that’s what you want, but I promise not to beat you up.

The key to getting things done is to put something at stake. It could be pain or pleasure, it could be preserving the quality of your word or the desire to avoid embarrassment. But there must be something, some compelling reason to take action or you won’t do it.

Take it from me, I learned these lessons out in the jungle, at the hands of the Ape of Accountability.

If you liked this post, please leave a comment and/or share it with your social networks.  

Ted A. Moreno

Test Anxiety: How to Deal With It.

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test anxiety

At the end of July all over the country, thousands of people will take the bar exam and fail due to test anxiety.

The failure rate in California in 2004 was 56 percent. Although some will fail because they are not worried enough, many will fail because they are worried to the point of test anxiety.

Test anxiety can show up as early as first and second grades as well as in high school. A 2006 U.S. Department of Education-funded study conducted by the Institute of HeartMath and Claremont Graduate University with 980 10th-grade students found that 61% of all students reported being affected by test anxiety.

What is test anxiety?

It is a psychological condition where the test taker feels severe distress before, during and after the test; one can get so nervous and anxious about doing well (or just passing), that performance on a test is negatively affected. If you know how a college final can produce this type of anxiety, then imagine having test anxiety while taking the bar exam, or an exam for licensure, where the stakes are high and there has been a significant investment in both money and time.

It’s normal to have some type of nervousness about taking a test and in fact, this nervousness can be helpful by getting us into a state where we are pumped up to do well. When this nervousness escalates into test anxiety, however, it can not only interfere with recall of information but may create a reaction so intense that it some people give up taking the exam entirely, or continue to put it off until “someday”.

 Test anxiety is a form of performance anxiety.

Performance anxiety is where someone is extremely nervous about having to produce a result in a limited time period or in front of people who are judging them. Test anxiety, stage fright, fear of public speaking and “choking” in sports performance fall into this category.

Symptoms of performance anxiety are similar to most other forms of anxiety reactions: rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, shakiness, confusion, or other physical aches or pains such as nausea or a stomach ache.

In my work as a hypnotherapist with people who are challenged by test anxiety, I notice that many of these people share similar characteristics, such as being prone to high stress, having perfectionist tendencies, or worrying a lot. Most instances of test anxiety can be dealt with in just a few hypnotherapy sessions, but here are some suggestions you can put to use right away.

Tips for dealing with text anxiety

• Diet can affect your ability to think and recall information. If you are skipping meals or eating meals or snacks high in carbs while studying for an exam, then you may be experiencing episodes of low blood sugar (blood glucose). Since the organ that uses the most glucose is the brain, a balanced diet can be helpful in creating optimal brain power. Have healthy snacks while you study.

• Sleep seems to go by the wayside when students are preparing for exams. Plan your study time for when you feel the most alert, which for most people is not usually late at night. But if that works for you, then make sure you’re getting the amount of sleep that’s right for you. It’s probably more than you think. It makes sense to be well rested in the days leading up to a major exam, yes?

• Lack of preparation can cause test anxiety. Last minute cramming can leave you feeling like you are not ready, creating anxiety. Manage your time by organizing your schedule to give yourself the best conditions for learning. Decide ahead of time when, and for how long you will study. I suggest studying in periods of 50 minutes to one hour, with 10 to 15 minute breaks in between.

• Effective Preparation. Many people will only prepare for an exam by cramming the information into their heads. This is only half the equation; taking the test will involve recalling the information. Prepare for the exam by taking as many practice tests as you can as soon as you can. This will also clue you in as to what areas require more study.

• Watch your self talk. Self talk is your internal language or thoughts. Avoid scaring yourself with inner conversations like “I know I’m going to just blank out right in the middle of the test!” or “I just suck at taking tests!” Give yourself encouragement and support. Use positive affirmations in the days and weeks leading up to the exam. (Click here to read more about affirmations.)

• Mental visualization can be one of the most effective techniques you can use to mentally “rehearse” taking the test while feeling calm, relaxed and comfortable. See yourself walking out of the testing location feeling good about your performance. Imagine receiving the information that you have passed. Setting a goal of passing with a particular score increases the chances that you will.

• Extreme self care might be getting massages in the days or weeks before the exam to release excess tension and stress. Get a good night’s sleep the night before the exam, and don’t even thing about showing up without eating a good meal with protein. Daily walking or any type of exercise can also be a great stress reliever. Remember, anxiety comes from prolonged stress and tension. Find ways to release it.

For the most part, test anxiety is a learned response. With practice, you can unlearn test anxiety and learn a different reaction. Have faith in your brain, and cultivate a strong and abiding belief that you can and will pass!

Ted