Personal Development Blog For Living Your Full Potential

Rather than requiring families to pay for kids’ education, this clever little school asked students to collect plastic waste from around their communities. The post Indian School Educates Students Who Pay Tuition With Plastic Waste Instead of Money (GNN Podcast) appeared first on Good News Network .

“It’s delightful, it’s delicious, it’s de-lovely.” -Cole Porter By Leo Babauta We’ve all felt the frustration of having someone in our lives who seems constantly negative — complaining, getting offended by small things, angry, pessimistic. This can be very difficult, draining us of energy and turning our minds to negativity as well. One solution that many recommend is to cut these people out of your life. And yes, if they are harming you, or you just cannot get to a healthy mental place with them in your life, then cutting them out of your life can be a step toward healing yourself. But there’s another way to consider as well, especially if you’re in a place where you can focus on growing yourself beyond your old patterns that might not be serving you. And that’s learning to find the deliciousness in this negative person . Let me explain. Here’s this person who is complaining, negative, critical, and they are in your life. Perhaps they’re a loved one, and you care about them. ...

One of your most lucrative clients has admitted to unethical behavior and is entirely unwilling to change. Do you keep the account and tie your name to their misdealing? Or do you terminate the relationship and lose over a million dollars in sunk cost? Your top salesman is accused of inappropriate behavior toward team members of the opposite sex. You believe the complaints, but the top-performer denies them. Do you fire the salesman and lose your rainmaker? Or do you tolerate the behavior and sacrifice integrity? In this episode, we’ll give you five steps for dealing with a high-performing but bad-behaving employee.

By Leo Babauta All my life, I’ve struggled with being half-committed. Not always, but more than I’d usually like to admit. I say I’m going to stick to something, and I actually believe it … but then a week later (sometimes sooner, sometimes longer), I falter. I justify it. I feel guilty. I try not to think about it. I resolve to do better. Repeat, for life. Recently I read a post by a coach and teacher I respect, Kendra Cunov, on Getting Clear on Commitment . It was thought-provoking, as always, and made me sit down and re-examine what I’m truly committed to. Not “I’m committed, but …” What I’m truly committed to. I’ve done this before, notably last December when I was doing an annual re-examination of my life and commitments. It’s always useful to re-examine what you’re committed to, and to re-commit. But as the year has progressed, it’s become clear that I’m only truly committed to some of the things on my list. So I’ve been spending some time looking at what makes me truly com...

Has this ever happened to you? You get in the car and pull out of the driveway, just like you do every day. Then it dawns on you: “This is Saturday!” You’re halfway to the office, but you were really going to the store. Oops. It’s easy to drift along in the wrong direction. That happens in life. And it happens in business.

“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”  ―  Pema Chodron By Leo Babauta I was talking with a friend yesterday who is going through a very hard time, and of all the emotions that have come up for them during this struggle (anger, despair, etc.), shame has been the most challenging emotion of all. We all feel shame, and it’s perfect OK to feel it. There’s nothing wrong with us if we feel shame — it’s a very human emotion. But it isn’t very helpful in most situations, and so we can bring mindfulness to bear on the shame. And practice letting it go. Before we can let go, it’s worthwhile to mindfully work with our shame. What Shame Shows Us When I said shame isn’t very helpful, I didn’t tell the full truth — actually, it’s very useful, in showing us what we think about ourselves . When we feel shame, it usually is because we’ve done something that we think says something shameful about us . And so it shows us ...

Losing hours worth of writing can be heart-breaking for any hardworking academic, but this college professor says that there may be a silver lining. The post Why Professor Says There Can Be ‘Good News and Bad News’ With Computer Crash Erasing Student’s Work appeared first on Good News Network .

By Leo Babauta There’s a subtle, mindful shift that we can make as we tackle any task, enter any project, start any conversation, move into any activity … and this small shift can make a huge difference. The shift is a softening, a warming, an opening. And that might not sound very powerful, but it is. Let’s say you’re about to start a difficult task, and there’s something about it that’s causing you to dislike the task and want to put it off. The task is difficult, overwhelming, full of uncertainty for you. So you either run to distraction and procrastinate, or you do it but really don’t enjoy doing it. Neither of these is helpful. So what can we do instead of procrastinating or disliking the task? We can bring some subtle, mindful, powerful shifts to the task. And in fact, we can do this to any activity. Try it out with one of the hardest tasks in your todo list or email inbox, something you’ve been putting off or dreading. Get ready to do the task, then try these practices: N...

By Leo Babauta I was talking to someone today and he said that with all the time he spends putzing around on the internet, he gets maybe 2 hours of focused time a day. I actually think that’s higher than average! But if he does incredible work in those 2 hours a day, think of the good he could do if he doubled or even tripled that amount of focused time. His impact on the world would multiply. It might be interesting to audit your own time, and see how much of it is focused, meaningful work. Is that a good amount for you, or would you like to increase your focused hours and impact on the world? For me, what success I’ve had in increasing my focused time comes down to three habits: Asking myself what meaningful, impactful work I can get done today. Creating space for the meaningful work instead of just doing busywork or being distracted all day. Working in fullscreen mode and diving in. Let’s look at each of these habits. Deciding on Your Impactful Work Most of us just dive ...

This 23-year-old trucker was sick with worry when his beloved cat co-pilot went missing – but incredibly, an obscure online forum helped to reunite them within 24 hours. Hear our Good News Guru tell the miracle story on the radio in Los Angeles—during the May 31, 2019 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5. SEE the video and full story on GNN… […] The post Frantic Trucker Miraculously Reunited With Cat Co-pilot After Posting Photo to Obscure Online Forum (GNN Podcast) appeared first on Good News Network .

In our lives we have people who love to give their opinions. We might go to them to ask for advice or we may not even ask them for their opinion. But be careful who you get your advice from. Do they deserve your attention? Should you pay attention? Should you just ignore? I wouldn’t go to someone who’s obese to get weight loss advice. I wouldn’t ask for advice about a business decision from someone who’s never run their own business. Nor would I ask for life advice from someone who’s always played it safe. In this episode, I hope you consider who you listen to for advice. Join the free Get Busy Living group Are you on Facebook already? If so, join the Get Busy living community there. Click here to join right now . Subscribe to the Show To make sure you don’t miss a single episode of the podcast, subscribe with your favorite platform. iTunes  – Sticher  – RSS Review the Podcast in iTunes If you enjoyed the show, please  rate and review my podcast in iTunes . Th...

“I only want to teach people who are going to stab someone or get stabbed.” Whiskey in one hand, my friend was only half-joking. He teaches martial arts, including knife fighting. He was mocking the fact that students come to him, including police officers and members of the military who need the skills for their work, although few are willing to get cut. You may not want to learn knife fighting, but the fear of getting cut is real in much more mundane pursuits: You want to learn a language, but you don’t want to make mistakes speaking. You want to give speeches, but you don’t want to bomb your presentation. You want to write a novel, but you don’t want anyone to laugh at your work. You want to be a surgeon, but you don’t want anyone to die on the operating table. Nobody wants to get cut. Failure, injury, pain, rejection, and death, are all things we instinctively avoid. At the same time, the risks can never be eliminated. For many skills, the only way to learn them is to end...

Feeling overwhelmed? Wow, do we know what that’s like! When you’re caught in that whirlwind of tasks, it feels like you’re downrange at Top Golf. You get pelted with a new task every few seconds. It’s even worse when you don’t have a staff. With no one to delegate to, you just fall further and further behind. But there’s another way.

By Leo Babauta I’m far from mastering this skill, but one thing I’ve been playing around with is how important mental states are to our productivity, happiness, focus, health habits and more. For example, if you’re tired or feeling down, there’s a good chance you’re not going to focus on your meaningful tasks, and instead will look for distractions and comfort. If you’re feeling frenetic and in quick-task mode, you’re not likely to focus on deep work, but instead will look for easy busywork to do. Mental states will usually affect whether we do our exercise, eat healthy, binge watch TV shows, drink alcohol, eat junk food, or are open-hearted (or rude) with the people we love. So it’s really important to monitor mental states. It’s also an incredible skill to be able to move yourself into the proper mental state to do focused work, to create, to meditate, to exercise, or do whatever you find meaningful. In this article, I’ll share some ways to get better at moving into the mental ...

Ugh, another meeting! Do you know the feeling? We sure do. We’ve sat through our share of bad meetings. But would you believe we actually love meetings now?

By Leo Babauta There is a part of us, in all of us, that worries that we’re not good enough. Not good enough to succeed, to handle the chaos of life, to be loved. It’s the reason we get anxiety and stress — if we’re not good enough, what will happen when everything collapses and we can’t handle it? It’s the reason for social anxiety — if we’re not good enough, what will happen when people find out? It’s the reason for attachment to social media and constant distraction, for procrastination and unhealthy habits, and much more. What if we trusted that we are good enough, that we don’t have to do anything to prove it, that we don’t have to worry about that anymore? We could be at peace. Completely present with the moment in front of us. Completely focused on the task before us. Completely open to the people around us. Completely in love with the world as it is. The way to build this trust is to meditate on our basic goodness. The Basic Goodness in Each of Us We each have, at ou...

By Leo Babauta Our lives naturally get busy, complicated, stressful, hectic, overwhelming. It’s the nature of things: we say yes to too much and overcommit ourselves; we fill in all the spaces with possessions, things to do, distractions; we give in to urges to do more, read more, watch more, buy more, want more. So what can we do in the face of this overwhelming swarm of busyness? We can simplify. This month, I’m issuing a challenge to simplify your life — not the possessions and physical clutter, but the things you do and the clutter of your time and commitments. I’m calling it the Simplify Your Life Challenge , and you can join my Sea Change Program to participate. Here’s how the challenge works: Commit to the challenge in the  #simple-challenge channel in our Sea Change community on Slack. Each week, there will be a different focus or mini-challenge to try to stick with. Check in each week on Monday in the  #simple-challenge  channel to stay accountable, r...