How To Keep From Becoming A Zombie – Episode 461

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You’ve seen them out there. In line at the supermarket. In the car beside you on the freeway. Behind the counter at the store.  Looking back at you from the mirror. Zombies!  When you’re a Zombie you’re walking around but you’re essentially walking in your sleep.  You’re dead to anything other than your incessant mind chatter.  Life becomes boring and routine and you find yourself walking around saying “Brains! Brains! I need brains!”

In this episode, Ted discusses the tendency many of us have to go into a Zombie-like trance when we become overwhelmed. He also shares some important things you can do to keep from becoming like the walking dead. If you find yourself often walking around asking yourself, “How did I get here?” then listen to this amusing but helpful podcast episode.

Listen to this podcast episode now:

It’s close to Halloween, and people are already talking about what costume they’re going to wear. For a couple of days there will be a lot of ghosts, skeletons, goblins, witches and vampires walking around.

But regardless of what time of year it is, you can always count on there being Zombies.

You’ve seen them out there. In line at the supermarket. In the car beside you on the freeway. Behind the counter at the store. Looking back at you from the mirror. Zombies are everywhere: The walking dead!

One day last year I left my house running late for an appointment. I had several things on my mind. I was driving along and the next thing I knew, I had rear-ended a very nice Lexus. I had slipped into a Zombie state! It took the appearance of a police officer to snap me back from a downward Zombie spiral and bring me back from the brink of disaster.

It doesn’t take much these days to become Zombified. Not enough sleep, skipping meals, traffic, noise, too much to do and long days on the job can mush your mind until you find yourself aimlessly wandering around chanting “Brains! Brains I need brains!”

What is a Zombie? One definition is “An automaton: someone who acts or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way.” It can be easy to respond to life these days like an automaton, mindlessly going from activity to activity, lost somewhere in the maze of your own thoughts, not present to any wonder or miracles that might be happening right in front of you along with all the other stuff you need to pay attention to,

When you’re a Zombie you’re walking around but you’re essentially walking in your sleep. You’re dead to anything other than your incessant mind chatter. Life becomes boring and routine. At the end of the day, you can’t

remember anything you actually did, so you Zombie-out in front of the tube to watch, I don’t know…, Zombie Housewives.

Another definition of zombie is a human being who is being controlled by someone else by use of black magic. I can think of a long list of things that might fall under that category of black magic: the news media, social media, politicians, advertising, consumerism, and the hypnosis of the culture. But that kind of black magic can come from inside as well: guilt, obligation, obsession, compulsion, resentment, anger or depression.

We fall prey to this kind of control when we are overwhelmed. Overwhelm means that there’s too much stuff going in your head, too many conversations at the same time, too much to think about. Your brain, that God-given instrument of creation, instead becomes focused on obsessing and worrying about bad things that happened in the past or bad things you think might happen in the future.

When we become overwhelmed, we go into a trance state. We become suggestible to all the negativity going on around us or inside of us. So, we end up going around in circles, not creating our own life, but letting it be controlled by the environment. We can become dulled to life and its magnificence. We might wake up one day and say “Where did it all go? Where have I been?” Have you ever asked yourself “Well, how did I get here?”

One of his students asked the Buddha, “Are you the messiah?” “No”, answered the Buddha. “Then are you a healer?” “No”, the Buddha replied. “Then are you a teacher?” the student persisted. “No, I am not a teacher.” “Then what are you?” asked the student, exasperated. “I am awake”, the Buddha replied.

There is only one thing to do when you find yourself walking around in the Zombie Zone. Wake up! Reclaim your brain. Get present to your life.

Here are some guidelines to finding your way out of Zombieland.

· Mornings are really important as they set the tone for the rest of the day. For some folks, every morning is Dawn of the Dead, but here are two things you can do to change that up.

1. First, throw away that alarm clock with the same old buzzer or beeper. Why do you want to alarm yourself first thing in the morning? And for God’s sake, don’t start the day with ZNN. (Zombie News Network) Wake yourself up gently with some music or at least something inspirational.

2. Second, give yourself some time in the morning to just be. If you are prone to Zombification, you need to wake up not just physically but mentally and spiritually as well. Spend a few minutes just sitting, drinking your whatever, feeling your life, and creating your day before you move on to the next thing, which might be some stretching, walking or reading something inspiring.

· Extreme Self Care. Eat right, sleep well, get some exercise, you must be strong!

· Count yourself out. If you find yourself spacing out, you can break the spell by saying: “12345 Eyes open wide awake!” This will pull you out of the Zombie trance. This is something I teach my clients when they come in feeling like they are wandering around doing the Zombie Walk.

· Change your physical position. If you’re sitting and you find yourself going into the Zen of Zombie, stand up and walk around. If you’re standing, sit down and take a load off. If you’re not moving, walk. Get out of your head and into your body.

· Protect yourself with Mindfulness Moments. Have your cell phone or computer give you a reminder every hour to take a short break, a deep breath, or just a few moments to focus on something other than what you’re doing.

And of course, your phone is a useful tool, but your phone can become the Zombie disease itself. Why do you think they call it doom scrolling?

· Ask yourself “What’s happening here? Think, but think about what’s right in front of you: Oh, I’m listening to a podcast, cool! What’s always in front of you is your precious life.

With the coming of the holidays, especially Halloween, you can be sure there will be plenty of opportunities for the Zombie Zoo. Protect yourself and your brain! Be awake, be aware and pay attention!

Here’s the quote for today by Max Brooks who writes a lot about zombies including the Zombie Survival Guide

“That’s the thing about zombies. They don’t adapt and they don’t think. Literally, you could have a zombie on one side of a chain link fence and you could be on the other side and they could be trying to get to you and six feet down could be an open door and they will not go through that door in the fence. That’s why they’re so scary.”

Want to catch up on previous episodes?  Click Here >

Do you feel like you are spending too much time in Zombieland, wandering aimlessly and not getting anything done? Reach out to Ted for a complimentary half hour consultation by going to https://TedMoreno.com/contact

You can get all your questions answered, find out how hypnotherapy can help you, and if you are ready, schedule your first appointment.

How to Manage and Increase Your Energy – Episode 453

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“OMG I’m sooo tired!” How often to we hear this from people around us (and maybe even from yourself?) There’s a lot of talk about how to manage your time but a lot less about how to manage your energy.  So, in this episode, Ted talks about how to manage and increase your energy to allow you to get more done in less time a lot more enjoyably. Ted discusses the fundamentals of abundant energy, (you know what they are!) energy sucks, why mindfulness is so important in having high energy, the four areas of your life energy, and reveals the single most important characteristic of those that have seemingly infinity energy.

Are you dragging yourself through the day? Check out this podcast episode!

 

 

Listen to this podcast episode now >

If you don’t manage your time well, you might run out of time.

If you don’t manage your money, you might lose it.

So, if you want to have a lot of energy, you need to manage that too. But here’s the thing about energy: you can manage it in a way where you always have more than enough energy. You have a finite amount of time, and at any point you have a finite amount of money, but it’s possible to have all the energy you need if you learn to manage it correctly. We’re talking about abundant energy.

Now, there will be times when you are going to lack energy, that’s life. However, when you you’re sick, or going through really tough times, are have a new baby and not getting enough sleep, these are the most important times to pay attention to and manage your energy.

Let’s start with the basics: good sleep, good food and regular physical activity. These are the fundamental requirements for high energy. We know this. However, people make the mistake of saying, “Well, I don’t have the time to get all the sleep I need, or I don’t have time for physical activity.”

The truth is that having a higher level of energy makes your time more efficient, you get things done more quickly, there is less procrastination, and things flow easier with less effort. Managing and cultivating more energy simply means you have more energy to do the things that give you more energy! So contrary to what many people think, taking the time to get good sleep, physical activity, and eating good food is an investment into your energy account. And don’t forget, drugs and alcohol and sap your energy easily

I don’t want to say more about this because it’s something everyone should know, so if you’re dragging yourself through the day, start with addressing the fundamentals for a higher level of energy.

Now, I’m going to suggest to you that the single most important thing that you can focus on for maximum energy is what is going on in your own head. If you have the right mindset, if your head is on straight, this can be incredibly important to your energy even if you aren’t getting the sleep or food or exercise that you want or need.

We’re talking about your own relationship with yourself. If you don’t like yourself, if you are beating yourself up by judging, criticizing yourself or comparing yourself to others, these are huge energy drains. If you desire a higher level of energy, it’s imperative and critical that you take time to connect with yourself. Take time to reflect on the following:

· What’s your purpose?

· What are your values?

· What is important to you in this life?

· Do you have goals written down?

· What lifts you up?

· What is dragging you down as far as your feelings about yourself?

If you aren’t taking the time to cultivate this type of awareness, then you will allow yourself to be a leaf blown about by circumstance and other people’s opinions and behaviors.

Speaking of other peoples’ opinions and behaviors: do what you can to avoid drama and people that create chaos and drama. This kind of toxic energy will suck the life force out of you. You might not be able to avoid being near family members or co-workers like this, but you can and must draw boundaries to keep from getting drawn it to other people’s negative stuff. As much as possible don’t engage and keep your distance.

Same thing with the news. There’s nothing wrong with being informed about what’s happening or being active in your cause. But when you notice that your media or social media exposure is making you angry a lot, or scared a lot, or apathetic, then you know your energy is being drained. Get angry, get fired up, be concerned but don’t live there. You really need to protect yourself against the constant effort by most media outlets to get an emotional reaction from you.

One of the ways you can do that is to stay grounded, centered and balanced. There are many ways to do this. Mindfulness practices such as yoga, meditation or prayer, breathwork, walking, and daily affirmations are all effective ways to keep your energy from being drained. As I’ve mentioned in many of my previous podcasts, ritual and routine can help you maintain those powerful habits, especially your morning routine. There’s a great article on Medium.com that references the work of John Kabat Zinn, American professor of medicine and the creator of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He’s identified 7 areas of mindfulness:

· Non-judging

· Patience

· Beginner’s Mind

· Trust

· Non-striving

· Acceptance

· Letting Go

Check out the video that I’ve linked above.

One of the benefits of cultivating mindfulness is that it allows you to have the awareness and clarity to see what gives you energy and what drains your energy. And that is very important to know.

Finally, ask for help. You don’t need to do it on your own. Find a counselor, therapist, coach, mentor, whoever, find someone who can support you and assist you in doing the things that you need to do to increase your energy. There’s another great article in the Harvard Business Review online titled Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time where the authors discuss the four areas of energy we all have: Body, emotions, spirit and mind.

Energy in the body is created through your self-care and healthy habits.

Energy in your emotions is managed by giving yourself downtime, and connecting with the people and activities that boost your energy and avoiding energy suckers.

Energy in your mind is being able to focus and concentrate by cultivating feelings of being centered and grounded and avoiding drama and distractions.

Energy in your spirit is finding meaning and purpose in your life.

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click Here >

There you go, I hope you found this episode helpful. Of course, if you feel you need help to get your energy back online, you can request a complimentary consultation by going to TedMoreno.com/contact.

Let me leave you with two quotes today, the first by Nikola Tesla:

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

The second is the Serenity Prayer, you may have heard it:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Thanks for being here,

Ted

Illustration by Martin Mancha

Standing in Awe of the Power of Belief  – Episode 412

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What do you believe? Why do you believe it? Do you believe that what you believe is true? How do you know? How do your beliefs impact your life positively and negatively? Are you willing to change beliefs that don’t work for you? Ted takes a deep dive into these questions in a way that may give you a different perspective about what you believe.

 

 

 

 


Listen to this podcast episode now


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P.S.

If you have core beliefs that are not working for you and you want to change them, request a complimentary consultation with Ted to explore if hypnotherapy can transform your challenges into possibility! Click here to request a consultation: https://tedmoreno.com/ready-to-get-started/

7 Steps to Fulfill Your Desires in 2018

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fulfill your desires

Here we are finishing the first month of the New Year. How’s it going for you? Are you on track to fulfill your desires?

If you are like most people, things are the same as the were this time last year, in other words, “same stuff, different day.” You probably realize that making resolutions isn’t a good way to fulfill your desires. I read somewhere that only 8% of those that make resolutions actually keep them.

To fulfill your desires, there are definite steps you need to take to manifest what you want in your life.

Setting Goals and Intentions: The Key to Fulfill Your Desires

  1. First of all, you need to subscribe to the belief that you CAN get what you want, that you are deserving, worthy, and able to fufill your desires and dreams. You must believe that the Universe, or God, or Infinite Intelligence  has your back. Nothing will happen if you believe that you can’t do it, or that you should be punished, or that it’s not worth the hassle, or that God doesn’t want you to fulfill your desires and dreams. If you need help with this part, you should click here.
  2. Next, to fulfill your desires, you must KNOW what you desire. You need clarity about what you are serious about manifesting.  This takes time and reflection. Do you want to lose weight? Buy a house? A new car? Get a new job? Take a yoga class? Create a new website for your business? Have a better relationship? Take some time to journal/write or having a discussion with someone you trust.
  3. To fulfill your desires, you must write down your goals and desires. This step is where most people get stopped. Every accomplishment, great or small, started off as an idea in someone’s mind. The trick is to turn that intangible idea into something that happens in physical reality, something you can feel, hear, touch and share with others. Writing your goals and dreams down is an essential step to fulfill your desires because it starts the process of bringing your desires into the physical realm. If you do it on a computer, print it out. You can have goals for business, family, household, health or spirituality. Have a number of different goal sheets for different areas of life. Keep them in a notebook or folder where you can easily find/review them.
  4. Next, set target dates or timelines that indicate when you plan to have your goals and desires accomplished. As opposed to “someday I’ll have this/do this…”, instead, write down exactly when you plan to achieve the goal or fulfill your desires. If it is ongoing, then create a timeline or series of benchmarks. What needs to get done and by when? Put pressure on yourself with deadlines and target dates.
  5. Create action steps. Break down your desires/goals into specific things that you will do to achieve them. For instance, “Call John to discuss proposal” or “Research yoga classes in my area” or “Purchase materials needed.” Nothing will happen without taking action!
  6. Reinforce the goal/desire on a consistent basis. There are a many ways to do this. Review goals weekly or monthly. It’s easy to set a goal and then forget about it, easy for our dreams and desires to get covered up by the busyness of life. Life is a moving parade, so to fulfill your desires, you must stay focused on what you want. it’s  Set a time and a day every week or every month when you will do this and review your progress, keeping your desires top of mind. In addition, use positive statements about your ability to fulfill your desires, goals and dreams. These are called affirmations. Say them/read them right before bed with your mind is very suggestible.
  7. Finally, celebrate when you accomplish something! Set rewards for achieving your desires, such as a trip or vacation, or buying something you want, or just a day off. Reinforce the good feeling of accomplishment that comes when you fulfill your desires.

Get Your Subconscious Mind On Board

Remember, your subconscious mind, (88% of your total mind, according to one theory)  wants everything to stay the same. To the subconscious, the unknown represents pain. If you don’t have it yet, then what you desire is an unknown to your subconscious mind. Since the subconscious avoids unknowns, your subconscious mind will often sabotage your efforts and try to keep you where you are now, because that is what is known, and the subconscious like what is know and familiar, even if you conscious mind wants something different.

The key is to use the steps above to get your subconscious mind familiar and comfortable with what you want: the desired result, the fulfillment of your desire, the compelling outcome. This will take organization, planning and time investment. If you are not used to doing this, then start small with an easily achieved goal. It’s worth it! You can do it! If you need help, contact me by clicking here.

The only language the Universe understands is Faith + Intention + Action. It’s said that God helps those that help themselves. Claim your desire, declare it to to world, then start putting one foot in front of the other to fulfill your desires in 2018.

Have a great year!

Ted

Avoiding the Fog Of Overwhelm Part I

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fog of overwhelm

An example of overwhelm: driving in the worst fog I’ve ever encountered, many years ago. I couldn’t see anything except the two red brake lights of the car ahead of me. I couldn’t see the lines of the road, and I dared not pull over to the side of the road for fear of being hit by another car. All I could do was keep my hands on the wheel, pray that the car in front of me knew where he was going, and hope that I would be able to see the sign for my exit.

I had no point of reference. I was overwhelmed by the fog and unable to do anything but hurtle through the mist, wishing for some clarity.

It reminds me of the time I was at IKEA, the furniture store, for the first time. They had the coolest stuff I’d ever seen. I wanted to see everything but apparently so did everyone else because the place was packed with people. However, after 2 hours, all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there. I literally wanted to run for the door, shove aside anyone in my way, and go find something to eat. I was getting more and more irritated by the minute and I felt like I wanted to scream, but I also felt like I was going to shut down at any minute. Ever felt like that?

I was overwhelmed. If you’ve ever felt this way, then you have experienced the fog of overwhelm.

Are you saving enough for retirement? Are the tires on your car in good shape? Have you called your mother yet? Are you ready for that event? What about taxes? Have you returned that phone call? When are you going to clean your house, fix the faucet, call the insurance guy, talk to your boss, pay that overdue bill, and schedule a physical? What are you going to fix for dinner tonight if you ever make it off this damn freeway?

This is the overwhelm of modern life.

From the time we wake up, to the time we manage to lay our heads down, we must think, remember, plan, manage time, deal with people, get lots of stuff done and hopefully, eat three meals and try to breathe.

There’s a potential cost to this: we spend our lives in a haze, irritable that we can’t see our way out, lost in a fog, stuck on a track with no scenery, with little choice to pull off because we’re too tired, too confused or too uncertain.

Here’s why: your mind has a certain capacity; like a cup, it will only hold so much. Continue to fill it past it’s capacity and you’ll have a big mess.

From the time we wake up, our minds start getting filled up. Our minds are designed to handle many incoming messages. Let’s call each bit of incoming information a ” message unit.” Your mind also has a filter (critical mind) that is designed to disregard things that don’t matter.

What determines how many message units our minds can handle? Many things: how much sleep you get, what you eat, your health, your level of organization, your level of confidence, your past, your genetics, to name a few.

Let’s say you went to bed too late, and woke up late for work. Now you are rushing around, no time to eat breakfast. You’re running late, and traffic is terrible. You try to text your boss but you almost hit the car in front of you. You arrive at work and there’s an important meeting that you are supposed to be in. You need a cup of coffee but there’s no time to get one. You end up working through lunch and now you are starving, tired, and headache cranky. That’s a lot of messages units coming into your mind.

What happens when you are in overwhelm? 

Your mind cannot take in more information because you are incapable of dealing with the onslaught of message units. You are experiencing the fog of overwhelm.

At this point, your critical mind, the part of your mind that is designed to deal with incoming message units,  is failing. You no longer have the ability to critically deal with what’s coming at you. You are now running around like the proverbial chicken without a head. Message units are flowing into your mind unchecked, like a dam that has burst. Guess what happens next?

Your flight or fight response, that ancient survival mechanism designed to prepare you to run or fight, kicks in. Congratulations, you are now in hypnosis. 

The technical definition of hypnosis is: an overload of message units, disorganizing the critical mind, triggering the fight/flight response, creating a state of hyper-suggestibility, creating access to the subconscious mind.

However, this is not the good kind of hypnosis where a nice gentlemen like myself is speaking to you gently using positively wonderful suggestions while you recline in a comfy happy chair.

Nope. This is the bad kind of hypnosis where you can’t think straight, can’t see straight, can’t make a decision to save your life, and you are giving yourself positively dreadful suggestions like “I can’t stand this, how did I get here, I want to kill someone, I’m so tired, I’m so angry and irritable, I hate this, and all I want to do is run screaming out of here before I punch someone out.” (Did I mention that in this state you’re hyper-suggestible which means super open to suggestions?)

It’s quite difficult to be effective in the fog of overwhelm because there is no clarity and you are like a zombie. Difficult to make the right decisions, difficult  to keep your cool when someone gets snarky with you, because you are now reactive rather than pro-active. But it’s easy to forget stuff, let things slip through the cracks, and easy to allow negativity or anxiety to overtake you.

Think about how many people are in this state on a daily basis. 

So what can we do? How do we handle the fog of overwhelm when we are so turned around we’ve lost our bearings and there are no signposts available? I’ll talk about this in my next post “The Fog of Overwhelm Part II.” Stay tuned. 

p.s. Check out my podcast Ted In Your Head Episode 21 “Are You a Zombie?”

Also, check out the podcast of this blog at my podcast Ted in Your Head Episode 40

l

The Mental Bank Program: Rewrite Your Mental Script

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mindcogs

 

So, has much changed since the New Year has started? If not, don’t be too bummed out. If you’ve been reading my blogs for any period of time, you know it’s all about your programming. If you want things to change, you need to change the programming.

So what if I told you that there is a system that takes five minutes a night that would program your mind for more money, more success and more happiness? Would you take five minutes a night and do it?

You might be saying “Sure, I’ll take five minutes a night to make more money, have more success and happiness!”

Well, the reality is, you’re wrong,  you won’t.  And even though you say you want to be more successful, prosperous, happy, that fact is… you don’t. Change can be the hardest thing in the world. Why?

Because of the most  powerful force in human behavior which is….. homeostasis. The innate drive to stay the same.

We see homeostasis in our physical body; if we get to hot, we sweat to cool down. If we get too cold, we shiver to bring our temperature back to where we are comfortable.

Same thing happens in our mind. For most of us, if we are short of money, out of a job, car soon to be repossessed, we become very motivated. However, when things are going well, we have a tendency to relax. Now, consider this: if things are going too well, we may even sabotage our success. Why would  we do such a thing?

Because our subconscious mind knows only two things: knowns and unknowns. What is known is familiar and comfortable, for example, the amount you have in your bank account. What is unknown is fearful to the subconscious, for example, a lottery winner of mega millions who very quickly finds himself back to where he started, wondering “Where did it all go?”

The subconscious mind makes up 88% of your mind. This is automatic behavior. This is your so called “life script.” And every day you wake up you see it: the car you drive, the house you live in, your bank account etc. This is the information that you receive every day that reinforces your comfort level, that is, your “knowns.”

What do we do about our innate drive to stay the same?

The Mental Bank Program

We must work to change incrementally a little every day by sending the subconscious mind different information to get a different result. Putting new information into our subconscious mind can create new “knowns” that are in line with our goals. However, we must introduce this new information in a way that the subconscious mind can understand and take in deeply so that your “ceiling” of success begins to change. The most powerful and simplest way to do this that I have found is through the Mental Bank Program.

The Mental Bank program was invented by Dr. John Kappas, the founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI), the nations first accredited college of hypnotherapy and where I received my training as a hypnotherapist.

You can go to www.MyMentalBank.com and watch George Kappas, director of HMI and son of Dr. John Kappas, present the Mental Bank Program via streaming video. If you are interested in moving yourself forward and beyond your current level of success, performance, wealth or happiness, then I highly recommend this two hour video.

Only a small percentage of people reading this will bother checking out the Mental Bank video, which is why there are so few that are really enjoying the level of success that they would like. I challenge you to take the time to check it out. It’s interesting and informative and George Kappas does a great job making it fun to watch. Let me know what you think about the Mental Bank, OK?

Have a great week,

Ted

Personal Power: How to Increase Your Ability to Affect the Universe

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“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself, Therefore all progress is made by the unreasonable man.” ~George Bernard Shaw

Personal Power is your ability to take action. It is the use of your life force to affect the universe in a way that suits you.

We are not born with much personal power, yet, we attempt to assert it as soon as possible. We cry, we grasp, we refuse, in an attempt to meet our needs. As soon as we are able, we touch what we want, take what we want, put it in our mouth, bang it on a table, and throw it away when we lose interest.

Our personal power is dependent on our belief systems.

Our ability to use our personal power  to get our needs met is soon limited by our socialization. We are taught from an early age what we cannot and are not allowed to do.

Eventually, we see ourselves at the effect of the universe, instead of the other way around. We blame circumstances outside of ourselves for our inability to get what we want. Soon, we come to believe that to exercise our personal power, we must be reasonable and act according to established rules about “how things work.” We accept these rules as facts, but for the most part, they are beliefs.

At a seminar I was attending, the seminar leader held up a 20 dollar bill. “Who wants this 20 dollars?” she asked. Everyone raised their hands. “Who wants it?” she asked again. Some people started answering “Me! Me! I do!”  She continued to hold up the 20 dollar bill. “Who really wants this 20 dollar bill?”

I stood up and grabbed the 20 dollar bill out of her hand and immediately felt like I had done something wrong. In my belief system, grabbing something out of someone’s hand in public is not acceptable.  Turns out she was waiting for someone to come and take it.

Our personal power is depleted by our emotions.

Often when we act on an intention, we’ll encounter resistance or obstacles. These trigger emotions of frustration, anger or futility, which rob us of our personal power and keep us from attempting in the future. We have thoughts that “This shouldn’t be happening” or “It should not be hard”. We then end up in the weakened position of not being able to accept what is right in front of us, robbing us of the opportunity to learn and increase our personal power.

Our personal power is depleted by other people’s energy.

Other people’s opinions, comments, approval or lack there of can drain us of our personal power if we let them. Negative ways of being that other people exhibit regularly can suck our personal power like vampires. Even more inhibiting can be “no-possibility” cultures existing at work or in the family.

Ten ways to increase your personal power.

  1. Adopt the belief that you can affect the universe. Why not?
  2. Cultivate the habit of taking an action immediately when the need hits you. This might be writing something down, making a call, sending an email or making a plan.
  3. Declare yourself blocked and immune to other people’s negativity.
  4. Decide to do something boldly audacious or unreasonable. Tell everyone you intend to do it “As God is my witness’ or “Come hell or high water.” In spite of their opinions and/or nay-saying, deliver.
  5. Start doing something worthwhile every single day that you are not doing already. Resolve to do it daily until the day you die.
  6. Practice saying no to petty distractions or obligations that promise to derail you.
  7. Practice asking repeatedly until you get what you want at the risk of being annoying.
  8. Decide on something you want that will be not worth the inconvenience to get it. Be willing to inconvenience yourself just to get it.
  9. If you find yourself unable to exercise your personal power because of some “rule” or “fact” tell yourself: “What if this is just a belief? How do I know it’s true?” (Note: all facts are beliefs and no belief is true.)
  10. Take an action that will require great effort and accomplish it without emotion. Refuse to get emotional about any of it until you accomplish it. Then celebrate.

“Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we have enough of it, one word is enough to change the course of our lives. If we don’t, the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and that revelation won’t make a damn bit of difference.”

~Don Juan, from Tales of Power by Carlos Castaneda

To listen to a podcast of this blog, go to TedinYourHead.com Episode 60

 

Super Productivity Top 10 Tips

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Productivity

Super Productivity is productivity that not only allows you to get stuff done but to feel super about it.

I have an aversion to pain and suffering.If it is Painful Productivity I don’t want any part of it.

I was reading a blog post that featured some productivity wisdom by Tim Ferris, author of the international best seller The 4-Hour Workweek. I was gratified to see that of the six tips he offered, I always teach 5 to my clients who want to increase productivity.

I’m expanding my thinking these days, so instead of 5,  here are Ted’s Top Ten Tips for Super Productivity.

1. Start the day centered and grounded. Jim Rohn said “Either you run the day, or the day runs you.” How you start the day will affect how your day goes. If you wake up and you are already rushing around and running late, the day is running you. Give yourself some space to be prepared mentally and feel super  in the morning, even if it means getting up earlier to exercise, read or meditate.

2. Write down your goals the night before. Make your to do list the night before. Plan to start the next day with the most important things that will make the biggest difference, or start with the hardest. This way, you move into the day with momentum and the feeling of productivity and being super!

3. Keep yourself fed and watered. I have an avocado tree and a tangerine tree in my back yard. If I don’t water them and feed them, they don’t produce. Same with you.

4. Have a routine or a system. Develop a habit of productivity by using a system that works for you. It might include a Franklin Covey type planner, Outlook tasks, or one of the many online tools available. I use the Pomodoro Technique and a daily calendar sheet with my list that I carry around in my shirt pocket. Not very high tech but it super works.

5. Prioritize tasks. Some days you are not going to be able to do it all. Prioritization maximizes your productivity and focus so that you get the most super important stuff done. Roll the non-essential stuff over to another day.

6. Pay someone to do those things that are not worth your time. What can you take off of your plate by paying someone else to do that gets paid less per hour than you do? For 10 bucks week, my super gardener does in 45 minutes what it used to take me 3 hours to do.

7. Work simultaneously instead of sequentially. Instead of working on something  for four hours, work on it for an hour and half, then another project for an hour,  then another for an hour or so.  Be moving a number of projects forward a the same time. Waiting to start the next one until the current one is done is a super productivity killer.

8. Get rid of distractions. Turn off email, Facebook and silence your phone while you are working on a task. These are the biggest time vampires that will suck the productivity out of you. Work for an hour, then take 15 minutes to return calls or email. One guy I know has a phone message: “I return calls between 4 and 6 pm”, thus setting the expectations of his callers as to when their call will be returned. Guard your time like the super precious asset it is.

9. Be ok with failure. Dan Kennedy says “Success is cooked up in a messy kitchen.” Don’t wait for conditions to be super, or perfect, or for your desk to be organized or the moon to be full. Just start and keep moving forward. Things might get screwed up, you may need to scramble, improvise, or start over. Sometimes that’s what it looks like.

10. Take a break. Being super productive doesn’t mean killing yourself or not spending time with loved ones. Productivity doesn’t necessarily mean struggle either. Play some music, take a walk, call a friend, eat some ice-cream, then get back to it refreshed and renewed and feeling super good!

Need help with productivity or procrastination? I’d love to help you. Click here to contact me. And, to hear my podcast of this blog, check out my podcast TedinYouHead.com episode 65.

Your companion on the path to possibility,

Ted

 

Integrity: The Glue That Holds Your Success Together

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367px-Model_airplanes,_Union_Station_00253u

I built a model airplane when I was a kid. The instructions said to use modeling cement which we didn’t have. I asked my mom if she could buy me some. She said sure, we’ll go tomorrow.

But I was impatient. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. I wanted to build the plane today. So I got the white Elmer’s Glue, and that’s how I built my plane.

When the glue was clear and dry I picked up the plane by one of the wings and the wing broke off. That really upset me so I glued it back and used scotch tape to hold it. While I was dealing with that, the propeller fell off. Soon, all the parts were coming off because you don’t use white glue to build a model airplane. You use cement.

My plane had no integrity. It had all the parts, except the part that mattered most of all: the right kind of glue to keep it together.

You can have the greatest plan, the most sincere intentions, the most brilliant idea, but if you don’t have the integrity to bring it together and keep it together, it just won’t fly. Or worse, after it gets airborne, it will come crashing to the ground.

Integrity is the ability to be your word.

It is the integration of your words and your actions.  With it, your words can move mountains. Without it, even though your talk is cheap, very few will buy it.

 Can you keep your agreement to be somewhere at an agreed upon time? If you can’t, it sends the message loud and clear: this person can not be counted on to keep his agreements.

Do  you honor your financial agreements by paying your bills on time? If you don’t guess what happens? Your credit score  announces to the world: you can’t count on this person to pay back money that they borrow.

Do you do what you say you are going to do? If you do it once, probably no one will notice. Do it five times, people start to respect you. Do it one hundred times and you become dependable. Do it every single time and guess what happens?

Your word now has power. When you speak, people listen. If you say it’s going to rain, people start buying umbrellas, and if you say it will flood, they start building dams. Need funds? A handshake will get you millions.

Now you show  up in the world as a rock, unshakable in your ability to gather people and resources, to move and inspire people to action. Just say the word and people will fight for you and die for you because they know you make things happen, because every time you said it was gonna happen, it did, sure as the day follows night.

But your ability to have this kind of integrity doesn’t start with showing up on time and paying your bills or keeping promises to people. Nope. Those are just the outward signs.

The power of integrity and the force that it wields starts with keeping your word to yourself. It grows from the integration of your own thoughts, words and deeds. It means you are whole, that all the parts are working together in unison and that your promises to yourself are not scattered to and fro by circumstance, but instead, are constructed to stand solidly in the face of breakdowns, obstacles, and the winds of change. You develop a degree of trust in yourself that knows neither fear nor doubt.

Want to tighten up your integrity? Want to start using a stronger glue?

  • Start waking up at the hour you say you will, everyday except one day. Do it come hell, high water, or late night parties.
  • Start showing up at the agreed upon time.  All the time.
  • Set an easy goal with a deadline. Accomplish it. Set a harder goal. Accomplish it. Set an audacious goal. Accomplish it.
  • Start taking 3 daily actions that you will do every day. EVERY DAY. Regardless of whether you want to or not or whether it’s convenient or not.
  • When you commit,do so with full responsibility of choice that you will show up. If you can’t, don’t.

It takes practice. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. You do what you say you are going to do.  Your speech and actions cemented together and taking wing on the power of your word: that’s integrity.

Ted

For a podcast of this blog, go to the Ted in Your Head podcast, Episode 27.

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