Choosing Motivational Strategies

Choosing Motivational Strategies

Hi Everyone

You don t have to change yourself or your personality to change your life. It does help to understand yourself though. Today we are going to learn how to choose a motivational strategy that works for us.
You have been motivated in the past, eg learning to drive, raising a family etc
When you need to, you can get things done. You can use those same strategies to create a life filled with happiness and success – improve your life not yourself.

Motivational Strategies
Look through the list below and select any strategies that you use and then rate them for how effective they are for you. 0= not effective 10= most effective. There are no rights or wrongs – a particular strategy may work for you but not for someone else.

Shaming: Telling yourself you are inferior.

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Scolding: Telling yourself off, that you are bad, because you broke your promises to yourself.

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Lecturing: It goes on for a long time and pretends to teach you something. It is similar to a negative self talk.

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Competition: You look at others and try to beat them

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Revenge: By concentrating on succeeding then imagining how unhappy your enemies will be if you do, or how happy they will be if you fail.

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Fear: Someone outside you threatens real reprisals.

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Taking a class:

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Praying:

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Dares:

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Positive thinking:

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Getting Lots of Praise:

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Reincarnation: Getting your life right this time so you don’t have to comeback and redo this part again.

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Spirituality: Rising above the day to day sense of urgent to connect to the inner peace and energy of god or the universe.

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Repeating affirmations:

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Pain Driven: Hating something so much that you have to take action.

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Creating your own Reality: Obstacles aer only illusions and should not stop you. This how ever can lead you to blaming yopurself for all bad things that happen.

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Promising yourself a reward:

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Getting Help from Buddies:

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Starting Small:

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Deadlines

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Other: Any other strategies that you use but are not listed above.

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By understanding which of these strategies we use and which ones work for us we realize that when we do not succeed there was probably nothing wrong with us, it was only the choice of a poor strategy for the situation.

Now choose the ones best for you and apply them. If necessary, get a buddy to help you. You may also like to try some strategies that you haven’t used before.

May your day be filled with happiness and success.

Nevin






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Why Be Happy?

Why be Happy?

Hi Everyone

Today I want to talk about why we should be happy apart from the fact it feels good

Happiness benefits individuals, families and communities. There are tangible benefits in multiple life domains. Happy people enjoy larger social rewards, are more likely to be married, have lower odds of divorce, more friends, stronger social supports and richer social interactions. Happy people also have superior work outcomes – greater creativity, increased productivity, higher quality of work and greater income.
They also have more activity, energy and flow.

Happiness may be integral to mental and physical health. There is greater self control, self regulatory and coping abilities, bolstered immune systems, and even longer lives.
Happy people are also relatively more prosocial, cooperative, charitable and other centered.

Research has shown that interventions can be used to increase happiness, practicing certain virtues such as gratitude and forgiveness and thoughtful self reflection can increase our well being.

Motivational and attitudinal factors are under some control. Eg pursuit of life goals that are intrinsic in content, concordant with our interests, motives and values and are internally consistent.

Attitudinally we can take control of how optimistic we can be, whether we choose to avoid social comparisons and contingent self evaluations or not.
Whether we feel a sense of optimism or efficacy about our life. There is evidence to suggest that older people can learn to structure their lives and persue goals to maximize positive emotions. These changes are mediated by volitional changes which include selecting more enjoyable and self appropriate goals.

So there are many reason to be happy. Research evidence suggests that our usual belief (that we will be happy when we get the income, the marriage etc) is round the wrong way. If we are happy then we are more likely to achieve these things.

In the next article I will define Subjective Wellbeing – happiness and some of its correlates.

See you next time
Nevin

Happiness and Social Networks

Happiness in social networks
Human relationships have been found to be the most factor in human happiness.
A 2008 study from in the British Medical Journal reported that happiness in social networks may spread from person to person.

Nearly 5000 individuals were followed for 20 years as part of the Framingham Heart Study. Researchers found clusters of happiness and unhappiness spreading an average of 3 degrees of separation. This occurred through close relationships like friends, siblings, spouses, and next-door neighbors. Happiness spread more consistently through the network than unhappiness. The structure of the social network impacted on happiness. People who were very central to the network (with many friends and friends of friends) were more likely to be happy than those on the periphery.

So what does that mean for us?
We need to develop larger networks or at least move from the periphery of our current networks towards the centre.

Signature Strengths – Love of Learning

2.Love of Learning
Read the description and rate your self either by putting a mark on the line where you are between the two anchor points “unlike me and like me” or you can rate yourself out of 10 unlike me = 0 and like me = 10.

If this is closer to being like you then it is a strength.
If it is closer to being unlike you then it is not such a strength.

You love learning new things, whether you are in a class or on your own. You always loved school, reading, museums – anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn. There are domains of knowledge in which you are the expert, and others value your expertise. You love learning about these domains, even in the absence of any external incentives to do so.

Like Me___________________________________________Unlike Me

How to use this item.
1) If this item is a strength for you then list 3 ways you could use this strength more during your week or your day. Working to your strengths will improve your levels of well being.

2) If this item is unlike you, you may wish to work on it by finding 3 ways to work it into your week.

Signature Strengths – Judgement

3.Judgment
Read the description and rate your self either by putting a mark on the line where you are between the two anchor points “unlike me and like me” or you can rate yourself out of 10 unlike me = 0 and like me = 10.

If this is closer to being like you then it is a strength.
If it is closer to being unlike you then it is not such a strength.

You think things through and examine them from all sides. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind. You are very good at sifting information objectively and rationally, in the service of the good for yourself and others. You do NOT just think in ways that favor and confirm what you already believe.

Like Me___________________________________________Unlike Me

How to use this item.
1) If this item is a strength for you then list 3 ways you could use this strength more during your week or your day. Working to your strengths will improve your levels of well being.

2) If this item is unlike you, you may wish to work on it by finding 3 ways to work it into your week.