Personal Development Blog For Living Your Full Potential

We all want to be more productive. But you know how it goes—a little late getting started, a quick task you just remembered, and then it’s non-stop interruptions all day long. Where does the day go?

By Leo Babauta I’ve been working with a few people who are very intelligent, very competent, and very talented — but they get stuck in indecision and analysis paralysis. In effect, overthinking and getting lost in endless options reduces their effectiveness and intelligence by producing inaction. Taking any action is likely to be better than inaction and indecision , but we can get so caught up in trying to find the perfect decision that we make no decision. The answer is to cut through the indecision and overthinking with action . Before we talk about that, let’s look at what’s going on with smart, competent people who get stuck in their beautiful minds. The Trap of Overthinking For someone who doesn’t see a lot of possibilities, sometimes a choice is easy — you just choose the one that looks obvious. But for someone who has an abundance of intelligence, there are many more doors than that. And choosing can seem impossible. So this person starts creating a decision tree in...

According to the popular StrengthsFinder assessment, my top strength is Achiever. The report that summarized my test results says, “ People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.” This strength has served me well, but it also has a dark side. It means I have a difficult time turning off my mind and just being still. I seem to be more of a human doing than a human being. My wife, Gail, recommended that I read The Joy Diet by Martha Beck. Gail said, “You won’t agree with everything in this book, but I think it will really challenge you—especially the first chapter.” Intrigued, I decided to read the book on our next vacation . The first chapter is entitled “Nothing.” In summarizing the chapter, Beck says, “To begin the Joy Diet, you must do nothing for at least fifteen minutes a day.” I was so challenged by this chapter, that I read it four times. I also prac...

As a leader, you probably have a huge goal in mind. It’s the heartbeat of your ambition, the reason you get out of bed in the morning. Chances are good that you’ve thought about it long and hard, and you may even have a timetable and specific objectives for reaching it.  The problem is that distractions, interruptions, and “business as usual” cause us to loose sight of our goals. Before long, another month, another quarter, maybe even another year has gone by with no progress. It’s disheartening. We know. We’ve been there.  But there’s hope!

Around the first of every year, you’ll hear a lot of talk about New Year’s resolutions. Network television, radio shows, podcasts, and blogs all run features on the topic. Then around the start of summer, the subject comes up again as people realize the year is half gone. Often, they realize their resolutions have been long forgotten. The truth is, New Year’s resolutions don’t work. Get this: 25 percent of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions after one week. 60 percent of people abandon them within six months. (The average person makes the same New Year’s resolution ten separate times without success.) Only 5 percent of those who lose weight on a diet keep it off; 95 percent regain it. A significant percentage gain back more than they originally lost. Even after a heart attack, only 14 percent of patients makes any lasting changes around eating or exercise. But while New Year’s resolutions don’t work, goals do. Surprised? The research is conclusive. Dr. Gail Matthe...

Audrey Pleasant went from being an awkward wallflower to being a backup dancer for the legendary James Brown—and it's all thanks to a mean boy from Harlem. The post Listen to Woman’s Exuberant Tale of How She Went From Being a Wallflower to Wowing James Brown appeared first on Good News Network .

By Leo Babauta Many of us are (rightfully) focused on taking care of our health, eating nourishing whole foods and trying to be active … while meditating and flossing and taking some time of disconnection, away from devices. These are wonderful acts of self-care, and they are necessary and important. But there’s one act of self-care that is very often neglected, and it might be even more important than all the others: the practice of loving yourself . In fact, this is so often neglected that when I mention “loving yourself,” many people don’t know what that means. Many of us have never consciously done it. If we have, it’s so rare as to be a forgotten memory. But it’s my belief that we should do it throughout the day, like trying to drink 8 glasses of water. We should give ourselves at least 8 doses of loving ourselves every day. What is this “self-love” (not in the sexual sense)? Imagine pouring out love in your heart to someone you love dearly — what would that feel like? Now t...

By Leo Babauta I’m excited to announce that I’m launching a completely new version of my Fearless Training Program (which I think of as “Fearless 2.0”). A little over a year ago, I launched the Fearless Training Program on Patreon, as an experiment: how do I train people in the uncertainty of doing meaningful work? What would an effective training system look like? I’ve spent the past year figuring that out, with some amazing people taking part in the program, and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned that: If you train wholeheartedly in this, you can see some amazing results, completely changing your relationship to fear and discomfort You can gain confidence, the ability to be with your most difficult emotions, the ability to overcome your deepset patterns People training in this have overcome fears to create amazing things and step into a bigger game Training with others, in teams, is a powerful way to shift things I’ve also learned that Patreon wasn’t a good platform for thi...

By Leo Babauta Every day in this world is a shaky, uncertain, constantly changing landscape — and that causes us to try to get control. We create lists, systems, routines, schedules, comfort foods, comfortable environments … we build our whole lives and identities around these comforts and control. We try to control the uncontrollable evershifting landscape of our lives. And it doesn’t work. You can’t get a firm grasp on the fluidity of life. And so we get stressed, procrastinate, feel hurt, get depressed or anxious, get angry or frustrated, lash out or complain. Into this craziness I’d like to suggest the ridiculously awesome practice of surrendering . What does this mean? It’s the idea of letting go of some of our systems and instincts to get control, trying to make the world exactly as we like it, trying to avoid all the things we dislike … and instead, relaxing, accepting, even surrendering to the uncertainty and fluidity of this world. Surrendering means we relax into the sh...

Leaders must motivate people. The problem is that everybody’s different, so what inspires one team member may demotivate another. It can be confusing to lead a diverse team.  But personality is not an unsolvable puzzle. And we’ve got three powerful tools to help you put it all together.

A hiking guide tells a funny, yet inspiring, scary story that will be told around campfires for many years by the kids he saved from a grizzly bear. The post How to Protect a Dozen Little Kids From a Grizzly Bear? Sing a Hilarious Moose Song, of Course (MOTH Monday) appeared first on Good News Network .

Influence Matters, but It's Not the Whole Package Countless people have written on what it means to be a leader. And almost everyone identifies influence as the primary characteristic. By definition, this means that leadership and position are two different things. Holding a title and a high rung on the company org chart doesn’t mean you’re a leader. Even people without these things can exert influence and thus leadership. But leadership is more than influence. It certainly includes influence, but that’s only part of the package. I believe leadership includes at least five characteristics. I call these the five marks of authentic leadership. 1. Authentic Leaders Have Insight Sometimes we refer to this as vision , but that usually has exclusive reference to the future. While leaders must have vision, they need more. In one passage, the Bible talks about the soldiers in King David’s army. About the men of Issachar, it says they “understood the times and knew what Israel sho...

By Leo Babauta I have a friend who is working on a meaningful project that he wants to focus on … and so he said no to some exciting opportunities. These were projects where people he highly respects want him to work with them. How can you say no to that?! Understandably, he felt difficulty after saying no to these amazing opportunities — the pain and fear of missing out. I think a lot of us can relate to that. The fear and pain of missing out (actually, any fear or pain) can be an amazing opportunity to practice, to open our hearts, to deal with our deep feelings of inadequacy. It’s a transformative practice. Saying No is Saying Yes to Focus & Space Let’s say you’re missing out on important opportunities by saying no. You don’t normally say no — you say yes to too much, and are constantly overloaded. You are constantly too busy, stressed about getting everything done, overworked and prone to burnout, missing deadlines and not doing as well as you could on projects because y...

Every leader is motivated by a compelling vision for the future. There’s something you want to achieve. You know where you’re headed. The problem is that it’s hard to keep that vision real for your team. They’re busy and easily distracted. Before long, another quarter has slipped by and you haven’t made real progress on the big outcome you’re after. That can be incredibly discouraging. But there’s hope. We’ve got a compelling formula for communicating your vision to every single member of your team.