If you need to spend time digging deeper into something, whether it is to solve a problem, or come up with something creative, try creating a vision board. This isn’t a novel concept, some of our first projects in school involved creating big poster boards. However, a lot of us have forgotten how useful of a tool this actually is.

Let’s take a step back and talk about why it works. First, getting everything down in front of you in one place does wonders for creating associations. Instead of spending our brain power recalling information, you can dedicate your energy to finding those hidden relationships subtle similarities that help solve the puzzle.  Also, your capability to process the information increases when the thoughts are presented in a tangible way, because by nature it activates more areas of your brain. 

To give it a try, when you have something big you want to figure out, you need to be prepared. The limiting factor in this equation is having the resources to create a good visual representation of your thoughts. So, something you could do proactively is to have sticky notes, colored pens, a poster board, and all necessary tools on hand so you can jump right into it when it is time. This is exactly why a lot of companies have whiteboards readily accessible throughout the office.

The visual representation can take a bunch of different forms. Whether it is scrapbooking, writing ideas on stickies, or drawing charts and webs, try to find the way that makes the most sense to you. The bigger and more colorful the presentation, the better!

In this powerful clip, Mel Robbins explains to someone who is struggling to find meaningful relationships how their life would transform if they were to support other people more. Without further adieu lets jump into it.

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So, be a cheerleader, and as Mel Robbins explained, it works for obvious reasons in all facets of your life. But, what does that look like from an actionable standpoint?  For starters, ask people about their lives, but that’s an obvious one. Something I like doing is when responding to a direct message, email, or text, talk about them at the beginning of your response before sharing about yourself. And also really important, minimize your complaining. It comes off as a very self-centered act and it doesn’t really make anything better.

Being a cheerleader is a classic way to improve your life by improving others. It comes in many forms, so don’t shy away from trying new things out!

Are you familiar with the expression “trust your instincts”? If the right thing to do is to trust our instincts, then why do we hesitate so much when it comes to taking action?

Lets discuss moving fast when committing to decisions you have already made. 

It is scientifically proven that the urge to act fades away the longer we wait to take action. This happens because we have more time to come up with excuses and try to rationalize our behavior. This is due to our brains are that are hardwired to seek comfort and reject uncertainty, so our brains work overtime to eliminate spontaneous urges. So, if there is something you want to try, or a courageous act you want to pursue, you are more likely to follow through and do it if you move fast.

Hesitation is the enemy in this scenario because it gives us more time to overthink things, when our gut instinct is telling us what we want to do. Trust your instincts and do it. This concept is demonstrated in one of my favorite quotes, “Don’t pump fake the money shot”, which is all about failing to act in the big moment. 

So, one way to move fast is to develop a starting ritual when you feel a moment of hesitation. This ritual can be a form of self-talk, like a motivating affirmation.  Alternatively, it could be a breathing pattern, a nice stretch, or even a clap. Think about which of these options seems most realistic in your life, and try it the next time you feel some hesitation.

What do you do when you are overwhelmed by tasks?  Do you have a sound and optimized decision making strategy?

Something that helps a lot of people make decisions is using former US Presidents Dwight D Eisenhower’s guidelines called the Eisenhower matrix.

The matrix divides each decision into two categories. How urgent it is, and how important it is. Based on those two factors, you have a better structure for how to attack it. If something is both urgent and important, do it now. If it is urgent and unimportant, delegate it to someone else. If it is not urgent but important, schedule to do it another time, and last, if it is neither urgent nor important, eliminate it. With this framework, you will have more success moving between tasks and making final decisions, allowing you to be more productive with your time and work with more conviction.  

First, familiarize yourself with these four different options, or make a poster and keep it on your wall. Then, as problems arise, write them on a sticky note and figure out where on the matrix they belong. You’ll soon realize the right way to proceed has been decided for you.

Let’s be honest, there are a million ways to talk yourself out of doing something. Messages like what if I mess up, or what if I do it wrong, or what if I don’t meet expectations? You can hear the self-doubt creeping in, but did you hear the common theme? 

Stop asking yourself, “What If”. There is a large degree of variability, probability, and inconsistency in everything we do, and if we are always worried about these little factors, we wouldn’t get anything done. By thinking about all of the "What If" scenarios, you are passively looking for a way out, and your brain to begins justifying why you shouldn’t do something before you have even thought about it.    

A different option, though, is if the script is flipped. "What If" can be used in a positive way, it’s just not as common. Say for example, what if I get the job? Or, what if she says yes when I ask her out? Approaching situations with an optimistic "What If" might be exactly what is needed!

But, let’s go back. What do we do when the negative "What Ifs" creep in? It’s pretty easy actually, just replace one word, switch up the order and Instead say “So What?”.  This expression still lets you think about the consequences built into whatever you are thinking about, but approaches it in a much more manageable way that isn’t setting yourself up for self-doubt. Next time you’re trying to talk yourself into something, or out of something, ask yourself “So What” instead of “What If”.

 The concept of priming was proposed by Daniel Kahneman in his book, Thinking Fast and Slow.

By definition, priming is when factors in the environment create a predisposition to think a certain way, and operates at an unnoticeable level. Here is a good example to illustrate the concept. You have the letters s o blank p in front of you, and you are told to fill in the blank. If you are given the context of food, you will be more likely to place a u to make the word soup.If you hear mention of cleaning supplies, you are more likely to add an a to make the word soap.  As subtle as that difference is, it creates a drastically and consistently different result.   

So, lets discuss the power of priming.

We are capable of priming our own brains to respond quicker and stronger to certain triggers, thus improving our performance, but it takes some work. It can be used to help shift our mentality, make better decisions, or control our emotions. For instance, if you are easily frightened in scary movies, you can prime yourself to smile in that moment to mask your negative emotion. The first step is knowing what result you want to have or avoid, and then work backwards to associate that response with the trigger. The cool thing about priming is once your brain has made the shift, it will work to your advantage without you having to ask it to!

Have you ever worked with someone who seemed particularly grumpy and rude? Or watched someone blaze by you on the road in a dangerous way? I’m curious to know how that makes you feel, if stuff like that often angers you, then listen up!

Try to give others the benefit of the doubt. To enumerate, giving people the benefit of the doubt is to assume that other people have the best of intentions or reasons for their behavior.  Although it is probably not true, hear me out.

Defaulting to giving the benefit of the doubt makes your expectations more reasonable for your own life.  In the moments when you get in someone’s way, or act out of character, you have a larger tolerance for your own behavior because you practice it on other people.  It is important not to be too hard on yourself, because a lot of the time it is a destructive behavior.

Not to mention, giving the benefit of the doubt could restore your faith in humanity, which in turn makes you more open to connecting with and supporting others. This is a great trait to have because small interactions have the ability to bring a lot of joy into your life. 

So, the next time someone does something that seems out of place or irritates you, use it as a reminder that you don’t know their whole story, and maybe they are acting within reason for their purposes. And even so, remember that even though some things that happen to you are out of your control, the way you perceive it isn’t.  The same applies here, make it a normal thought pattern.

I want to bring in my buddy, Matt Sheldon, who is a professional Soccer player and founder of the successful soccer platform Become Elite, who shares an unpopular opinion about goal setting.  

"There has been a lot of studies that show if you go tell people about your goals and how people hold you accountable for you goals, then yes, it is a much better chance that you are going to achieve it. However, it also can work in the reverse affect if you are just telling everybody just to tell, because if you go and meet with somebody and you tell somebody about what you want to work too, whether you want to do something to improve your life, it triggers an affect that makes you feel like you already accomplished something. Telling somebody and receiving that gratification triggers the same response that you have already succeeded in something. You should be very selective about who you tell your goals too, because most people will not hold you accountable to what you want to achieve. You need to find people who are going to check in on you in a month, two months, and ask about your goals. If those people are not going to hold you accountable for those goals, then do not tell them your goals or else it actually creates the adverse affect for you".

Only share your goals with those who will hold you accountable to them, everyone else is just noise.