Lumpuckeroo

You’ve met them.  You probably even have a few in your family that you see at barbecues every summer.  It’s the 65 year old uncle that has the memory of an elephant and can recall small details from events in the 1950’s.  Perhaps you have a relative that can quote specific dates from their childhood, or even experiences they had overseas in another “life.”  If you are like me, you wish that you had a magic formula to improve your memory power to have the same abilities as these impressive individuals.  Well, I’m here to tell you that with the tips I’m going to give you in this article, you’ll have the information to improve your memory, and you can get started right away!

Tip #1:  Reduce Stress

Stress is one of the greatest enemies of the mind, and increasingly more common, the health of the entire body.  Stress can cause heart attacks, strokes, and the long-term degradation of one’s health.  Specifically, it kills your brain’s cells, and has a negative effect on the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is responsible for recording and storing long and short-term memories.  Some of the best improve your memory information I ever received was to get ahold of stress, and eliminate as much of it as you can.  There are many ways to do this, but one of the techniques I’ve found to be most effective is meditation.  Meditation is effective in calming your nerves, finding your inner quiet and peace, and producing a deep state of relaxation.  It’s easy to learn some basic techniques, and these will go a long way in helping reduce your overall stress levels, thereby improving the power of your mind.

Tip #2: Exercise Your Brain

If you were planning on running a marathon next summer, would you train your body to increase its performance and improve your chances for success?  Of course you would!  You’d specifically train your body to target the muscles and organs necessary for successfully completing a 26 mile run.  Well, your brain is no different than the rest of your body.  If you require increased performance and reliability from your brain, you have to continually use it and train it in ways that you don’t normally use it.  Try things like brushing your teeth or writing with your non-dominant hand.  Learn a foreign language or a musical instrument.  Read about or study a new area of interest that you have little knowledge of.  All of these things will require your brain to create new neural pathways, which will improve memory power and overall brain performance.

Tip #3: Listen and Actively Engage

How many times have you met someone at a party, a business setting, or any other situation, and five minutes later you can’t remember the person’s name that you just met?  It happens to all of us, and can be embarrassing, but it is an easy faux pas to avoid if you know how to do it.  Any time you are performing a task, speaking to someone, meeting someone for the first time, etc., make it a point to block out all other distractions and pay attention.  We humans make so many errors, and fail to remember a lot of important information because of the failure of this basic skill.  Try to pay close attention to detail in all aspects of your life and you will see that it becomes second nature, and pretty soon you won’t even have to try.  When you are meeting that new person, engage him and repeat his name back while you are being introduced.  This will help reinforce the name into your brain for future recall.  Be more engaged in all of your conversations and make an effort to listen more attentively and you’ll be amazed at how much you’ll be able to remember later.

By putting this information to improve your memory into use, you will soon see that your brain is sharper, and you will be recalling important information more quickly and accurately than before.  This improvement in memory power might not put you in the league of your 65 year old uncle, but the rest of your family, friends, and colleagues will think that you are one of the sharpest people they know!

Timothy Romano is the author of Secrets to Improve Memory, a complete memory improvement course from basic, to advanced techniques.  For further reading, and the opportunity to sign up for his free e-mail mini-course, full of helpful information to improve your memory Secrets To Improve Memory.

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PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement| PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement

This is a video clip from a presentation I gave to a group made up of mostly entrepreneurs, small business owners and those in the sales profession. In the following clip I discuss the importance of taking action — as well as how critical it is that you believe in your greatness.

I hope you find the presentation inspiring and if you would like to share your thoughts on it please do so in the comments below…

It’s your life, LIVE BIG!

Josh Hinds

Josh Hinds

“You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough.” -Frank Crane

Everyone does it at some point in their lives. They seek out advice from a higher authority, someone who knows what the heck they’re doing, hoping to achieve their same level of success. Whether you’re simply trying to learn how to tie a tie(which I still can’t do) or trying to start a successful business, you’re going to be seeking help sooner or later.

And don’t think you’re a one of those amazing people who can learn to do everything themselves. Trust me, you’re not, unless of course your name is Clark Kent.

How I took advice

5 years ago when I was 15, I developed a big interest in fitness. Like many teenagers my age, I wanted to know how to gain muscle and get big and strong. I surfed the web for hours trying to look for the best way to reach this goal.

The problem at the time was that there was so much conflicting advice online. It was literally a verbal war between websites.

Since I was so young at the time, I really had no idea who to trust. Some sites told me that lifting weights would make me shrink (is that even possible?), while other sites told me that lifting weights will enhance my bone density and help me grow.

I truly didn’t know what to do, so I just chose a random decently reviewed workout and diet program.

I stuck with the program for 3 weeks before quitting. Why did I quit? Because I felt like I was missing something. I felt like I was messing up my body by neglecting all the other advice online.

This continued for the next 6 months or so, I alternated between different workout and diet programs every 3 weeks. Even though most programs were meant to last for multiple months, I had trouble putting my trust in 1 program. And due to this mistrust, I got little to no results.

I got incredibly frustrated, so in the end on the 6 months, I just decided to set a goal and stick with a program for 3 months. No matter what happened, I told myself that I would NEVER deter from the program and would just see what happens in 3 months.

And guess what, it worked. It really really worked. I gained a nice amount of muscle and was actually happy with my results.

I then learned that my success wasn’t because I chose that 1 specific program.

I succeeded because I decided to listen to someone and no one else.

How should you take advice?

So who should you listen to?

I only have 2 rules when it comes to taking advice from someone:

1) LISTEN TO ANYONE YOU WANT BUT MAKE SURE YOU ONLY LISTEN TO THEM AND NO ONE ELSE.

2) MAKE SURE THE PERSON HAS MORE EXPERIENCE THAN YOU.

That’s all. Seriously, I don’t care who you listen to as long as that person has more experience than you.

For example, if you’re trying to start a new business, you could either listen to your college business professor, your local deli shop owner, or you could hire a coach who charges $ 500 per hour. It really won’t make much of a difference unless the latter is a con artist.

However, what does make a difference is whether you put that advice into action.

You could literally spend 10 hours a day reading different websites on “how to build a business,” but none of that really matters if you don’t apply a single thing you learn.

Finding that “best” person

I can’t stress this enough. There really is no “best” person. Taking advice from someone who says that they know everything and have the “secrets” to success is typically just really really good salesman.

Sure there are people who give better advice than others, but you’re never going to make progress if you spend all your time searching for that “best” person.

The truth is, most of the advice being given to people isn’t half bad, in fact, most of it’s pretty decent. The problem is that people don’t put their trust in the advice.

Jumping around

Please don’t be that person who constantly jumps from 1 product to the next just because that new product supposedly better.

So if you want to lose weight, I don’t want you to jump from a yoga program to another program that combines salsa dancing with mixed martial arts moves.

I’m not saying that yoga sucks, I’m just trying to make a point that it’s not going to make or break your success.

Just give yoga a chance. Try it out for 3 months or so before you conclude that it sucks and doesn’t work. That’s all I’m asking.

Conclusion

So the next time you need help with something, only take advice from 1 person. Don’t complicate this stuff.

Getting a second opinion is fine, just don’t let it conflict with your goals.

———————————————–

Keith Lai is the author of the fitness blog FitMole.com where he talks about his simple and flexible approach to all things fitness. He also has a big mole on his face. You can keep up with him on Twitter and Facebook here and here.

Art Credit: Roy Lichtenstein

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement| PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement

Males especially are particularly vulnerable when it comes to this subject matter.

It has a lot to do with our male ego.

What’s the first thing that males ask each other when they meet?

‘So what do you do?’

We then begin to respond with the job, the business, the project or whatever else we ‘do’ – and this is what defines us. Or that’s what we think.

We may just as well ask… ‘So what do you make? (in dollars that is)  as if that is what also defines us.

Personally, I would rather know ‘who you are’ than ‘what you do’.

Why?

In My Mid Twenties I Went Into Business

In my mid twenties I went into business with a relative of mine and found myself in the position of a director of a multi-media company.

However, as the years passed I discovered that the direction my relative was taking the company (who happened to be 6 years older than me) was a direction that I could no longer support.

So I resigned.

The problem I then faced though stemmed from the fact that I had allowed my identity to become intimately and inextricably entwined with that business. It was who I was, and I had poured so much of my heart, my soul, my finances, my all into its creation – that when the business was removed from my life I suddenly lost my personal identity.

I Became Violent

I became depressed, angry and even (I am ashamed to write) violent. Not against those whom I felt had betrayed both my family and I – but I actually became violent against the very ones I loved – my wife and my young children.

I was so frustrated with my circumstances that I became an eruptive volcano that could explode unpredictably at any moment.

I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know what to do, who to go to, and how to re-forge a new identity.

When people asked me what I did I couldn’t give an answer, and it just made me angrier.

My life had been derailed, detoured, and at that point I was convinced that it had been utterly destroyed.

At the height of my anger I found myself raging around my house while my wife and three young children (they are now young adults) took refuge in our bedroom – all huddled together on our bed.

My Wake Up Call

When I entered the room, there were the four people whom I deeply loved hugging each other for protection, their eyes filled with fear.

I stopped in my tracks.

I immediately left the scene, stormed outside and gave myself a stern talking to – ‘Peter, if you keep going the way you’re going, you’re going to lose everything – even those who love you so deeply’.

I then returned to my family transformed – sought their forgiveness, and peace finally reigned within our household.

Never again have I attached my self-worth or my identity to what I do – and the things (or people rather) whom I am most proud of are my beautiful wife of more than 28 years and my three children.

Business, fame, wealth come and go, but family is forever.

You & I Are Defined By Who We Are – Not What We Do

So whenever I meet someone for the very first time I never ask the question, ‘So what do you do?’

I ask this: ‘So how do you keep yourself busy each week?’

Personally, I am not impressed or unimpressed by what people do or even by what people make. I would rather get to know who you are – for it is who you are that I wish to inspire to be the best you possible.

You are a worthy human being – no matter what season you find yourself in.

Whether you have a job, are between careers, own a business or are owned by a business, are a bankrupt, or find yourself in a place where you are still trying to work out what you’re going to do when you grow up – remember this one thing: what you do makes no difference.

It’s who you are, and also know this – that you are loved, respected, worthy and talented.  You are brilliant, one-of-a-kind, magnificent, and bursting with potential.

Your best days are before you because you are unique, and you are YOU.

So let me ask you one question though: how have you overcome your own personal identity crisis?

Motivational Memo: Be proud of who you are, for you are not defined by what you do.

Peter G. James Sinclair is the author of the Personal Success Blueprint, a free report you can download instantly to learn how you can unlock the secret to your own personal success. You can access the report from here – http://www.selfdevelopmentmastermind.com

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement| PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement

How much of your life has evaporated forever due to unnecessary fear?

Probably more than you realize.

While surrendering to your fear may provide temporary relief, it can also lead to feelings of helplessness, hopeless, anguish and regret, looping together in a viciously twisted circle that can keep you imprisoned from doing your best.

Fear harbors a painful gaze, and staring it down can hurt. But only momentarily. And the benefit left behind might last you the rest of your life.

Think of the confident people you know – the ones who know what they want, then aim for it without apology. They’re no different from you. They feel fear, insecurity, and the wretches of needless worry. Difference is, they’ve found a way to use their fear as fuel and ignite their fire for life, rather than allowing it to fade to ash.

What are you REALLY afraid of?

In the past, when terror has held you back, what is it you feared most?

Pain?

Failure?

Humiliation?

Don’t be ashamed of your fear. It’s your mind’s protection. Think how awful it would be to live a life where you weren’t true to your core values. A life where you aren’t working towards what really matters to you most.

A life filled with regrets, what ifs, why didn’t I’s, and that sure would have changed everythings.

Think, then decide.

What are you more afraid of?

How to use this fear as fuel

Use what you really fear for your life as a starting point to define what you truly want to accomplish with your time on Earth.

See the world?

Raise a family?

Exercise your creativity?

Help others in a way that is meaningful for you?

There are no right or wrong answers, only what your own heart yearns to do.

As you map a plan to reach your goals, there will be steps that will march you right into the inky black of bottomless fear. And it will be tempting to avoid those steps and reach for immediate relief instead.

But don’t do it.

When fear coils around your ankles like a venomous snake ready to strike, remember who you are and what you want, then remind yourself you deserve the best possible life.

Start small – each time you overcome your fears, you’ll see the only power they hold over you is that which you give them. Each victory will make you stronger. Soon it will be easier to draw a deep breath and face your next challenge without flinching.

Eventually, you’ll be able to shift in your thinking. You’ll no longer be stumbling in the face of fear – you’ll be running toward your goals instead.

You’ll always feel hesitation or uncertainty when you stretch and grow – this is a good thing, a good sign. A sign you are still expanding and refusing to stagnate. It’s what helps you to prepare and gives you the time and support you need to make the most out of your life’s journey.

See these feelings for what they are and you’ll never be intimidated enough to turn back.

Sean Platt is author of the books Penny to a Million and Writing Online. Follow him on Twitter.

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement| PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement