Steve Pavlina is widely recognized as one of the most successful personal development bloggers in the world, with his work attracting more than 100 million visits to StevePavlina.com. He has written more than 1300 articles and recorded many audio programs on a broad range of self-help topics, including productivity, relationships, and spirituality. Steve has been quoted as an expert by the New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Daily News, and many other publications. Steve lives in Las Vegas and travels often.
External url: https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2016/08/upgrading-your-mind/
Tags: mental health
We can effectively become smarter and more capable by using our intelligence to upgrade our intelligence.
If you’ve ever consciously captured a new skill, such as playing a musical instrument, figuring out how to use a new app, or learning to eat a different diet, then you’ve already experienced the benefits of mental upgrading.
Please refer to the blog for more details on this activity.
Learn how to become an early riser and how to get up right away when the alarm goes off. Poor mental management often goes hand-in-hand with poor sleep habits. If you increase the level of control you have over your mind, you can cultivate sleep habits that work for you instead of against you.
We live in an age of constant learning. If you haven’t figured that out yet, you’re surely falling behind.
Not only is it important for us to learn faster, but we also need to be more discerning, choosing the right types of information to learn, so we can maximize our benefits.
f you feel like your mind is sometimes slow and sluggish, you can speed it up. Your mind could be buzzing with a delightful flow of motivation, ideas, and energy each day. If you can increase your ability to absorb quality input, your internal processing will speed up as well, and this in turn will help speed up your creative output. As you learn faster, you’ll be able to create faster as well.
There is so much fascinating knowledge to acquire that will enhance and enrich your life. But you have to rev up this engine and keep it fueled with quality input.
Most of our fears are irrational. We experience stress, hesitation, anxiety, and nervousness over events that aren’t actually dangerous. These emotions can cause us to hold back when taking action is more advantageous, so we miss opportunities again and again.
With a series of simple mental transformations, try to stop generating this irrational fear and replace it with happiness, confidence, and excitement.
Where are irrational fears holding you back? What if you could train your mind to stop generating fear in such situations and to generate positive motivation, happiness, and excitement instead? Or perhaps you’d prefer to experience serenity, calmness, and inner peace? Imagine what that would do for your life. And realize that this is possible. Many people have already done it. This is a learnable skill. You can indeed train your mind to stop generating irrational fear.
When you manage your mind well, solid productivity and a strong work ethic are powerful benefits. These benefits cascade into other benefits like increased self-reliance, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Knowing that you have the work ethic to successfully manage any reasonable challenge makes you more tolerant of risks and less fearful of setbacks since you know you can rely on your work ethic to quickly bounce back.
If you don’t manage your mind well, your productivity will suffer. Bad habits will suck you down. This in turn drags down your confidence, self-reliance, and self-esteem.
A key benefit of mental mastery is being able to make good decisions. If your mind keeps thinking itself in circles, you have a mental defect to overcome.
A well-managed mind is decisive but also flexible. It can weigh options quickly and carefully, get into action, and adjust course as needed.
Some people are too hesitant. Some people are too reckless. Both are symptoms of a weak decision-making process. Fortunately you can train yourself to make quality decisions in a reasonable amount of time, act on them, and adapt as you go. This requires a combination of skills, but they’re all learnable.
When your mind is well-trained, you’ll also enjoy making decisions more, especially important ones. It’s stimulating and rewarding to direct your mind to carefully consider options and make a wise and intelligent choice.
Many people have overly critical self-talk, which usually does them more harm than good. This inner voice can be consciously re-trained to serve as an unwavering ally.
It’s so much easier to succeed when you have a strong inner coach that won’t let you give up, get down on yourself, or coast for too long. With some mental training, you can design and unleash your own inner coach, which will help you set goals, overcome obstacles, and more. Think of this coach as your brain’s internal cheerleader.
Understand and accept that if you do nothing, you’re going to drag your worst qualities into your future by default, month after month, year after year, decade after decade. In some cases your habits and behaviors will cascade into further downgrades, such as poor health habits impairing your mental functioning and making it harder to focus as you get older.
Don’t settle for sluggish, defective mental software. Upgrading your mindware may not be as easy as upgrading an app on your computer, but it is doable, especially when you have help.