Self Improvement Daily Podcast

Odds are things haven't gone perfect in your life. You have experienced trials, tribulations, and triumphs. Whether it was unfair, unjustified, or unacceptable. We all have failed and failed hard, but failure can be valuable tool when used correctly.It is in these moments when things don't go right where you can really identify areas for improvement. Whether this difficulty presents itself in your personal life, your career, or your health,the fact that it did not go smoothly is indicative that the problem exist.

There are two ways to react to failure. Either you turn inward and internalize your emotions, or you can turn outward assign responsibility as you should and move beyond it moving forward. The best way to do this is to pick times when you did not meet your own expectations.Then, ask the question, "Why?", three times. This will take you to the root cause, which can be dealt with in an actionable way.

This message was taken from Charlie Houpert's YouTube series, "Charisma on Command", where he talks about bringing more quality into your life by re-framing negative situations in a positive way.

"Another thing that is going to help train your positivity is re-framing ambiguous or negative situations in a positive light. Taking the glass half full approach. In conversation, it comes through in your attitude. If you get into the habit of re-framing things in a positive light, being funny comes much more easier. That creates comedic moments when the negativity of the situation is juxtaposed with your relentless positive spin. For an example watch here as Chris Pratt immediately assumes that what ever Steven Colbert says is a good thing even though it is not intended that way

Colbert: 'I am going to call the police if you do not get off my porch'

Pratt: 'Oh! Do it! Call the police because they have cars and we would be happy to service their cars too'

To cultivate this habit in your own life, practice when seemly negative things happen to you. So, if you lose your job, you now have a new opportunity and more time to spend with your community. If you stepped in mud, you just got a new pair of brown shoes. Practice re-framing negative situations in a positive light, even if it is just to yourself and, of course out loud to friends".

It is all a matter of perception. Using the way you see things changes the way they affect you.

This is something I recently started incorporating and it has been working wonders for me, so I wanted to share it with you. It has helped me find direction and purpose in the way I spend time on a daily basis

I have been writing down my 3 goals for the day and returning to them at night to see how I did.

I’ve heard this tip come in a few different forms and I finally decided to test it for myself. What I do is I write down my 3 goals for the day on a sticky note that I put on the wall behind my bed. Other good options are to put a sticky on your phone, leave a note on your bed, or what I want to graduate to, keep it on a whiteboard. Writing down your goals gives you the accountability to achieve them, and everyone can use an extra push like that. This accountability is very strong, and statistics show, that you are 80% more likely to achieve a goal if it is written down somewhere.   

As for the goals I am working toward on a daily basis, I keep them simple and specific to that day. For me, it’s important that goals are doable, because there is no fun in setting yourself up for failure.  

Test it out today, or if it’s too late, tomorrow. Write your three goals for the day down either the night before or first thing in the morning, go about your day, then revisit those goals at the end of the day. These goals have a funny way of sticking in the back of your mind and driving your behavior.

At the end of your day, do you ever feel like a big ball of stress?  No shame in that, because life can be pretty stressful sometimes.  But can you accurately pinpoint what causes the majority of your stress in the day?

Something that helps me evaluate my day and my current state is to perform “How Do I Feel” checks.  

The behavior is simple. Take 30 seconds at various points in your day to close your eyes and focus on your mental and physical state.  I ask myself questions like: “How is my mood”, "How anxious do I feel” and “Am I in pain?”.  I also have my moment of reflection when I get in the car before turning on the ignition.

This is helpful because if you feel stressed at the end of your day, but you can’t quite figure out what causes it, this check will help you hone in on exactly what is aggravating you. By doing that you can begin working on alleviating that situation proactively.  A good frame of mind is a requirement for a productive efficient, and fulfilling day.

So find a trigger that works for you to start doing “How Do I Feel” checks. Then, in those moments start asking yourself questions about your current state.  I’ll let you figure it out for yourself how effective these checks can be!

I want to talk about something we all do but hardly think about which is mirroring. Mirroring is the act of reciprocating the behavior or mannerisms of someone you are interacting with, and is usually most observable in body language and speaking style. By understanding this concept, you will be able to relate with people better.

Be observant of other people’s behavior and accommodate yours to match it.

By replicating someone’s non verbal signs, you come across as more similar to them, which has been proven to be a very strong factor in building rapport and relationships. Similarity is a sub-category of Dr. Robert Cialdini’s pillar of influence called “Liking”. Some of the other factors are physical attractiveness, cooperation, and conditioning.  

Mirroring creates comfortability through similarity. We all have specific neurons in our brain that are active only during action and observation, and when people seem like they have good chemistry, the activity of their mirror neurons are aligned more than normal! 

So, to give it a try, and actively think about mirroring someone else’s mannerisms or behavior in a conversation you have. What you might even notice is that you were already subconsciously mirroring them! This awareness can be used to build better relationship.

This is something that I bumped into and had to mold a little bit to make work in my life. It came as an exercise in the book, Sprint by Jake Knapp. This book is about optimizing the creative entrepreneurial process, but I quickly realized that it had applications more generally. The book talks about prioritizing potential entrepreneurial ideas and solutions on a 1-5 scale, and I liked the concept so much that I started using it when prioritizing my tasks.  

As random things come up, acknowledge them by writing them down and assigning a 1-5 priority ranking.

This quick assignment helps me hone in on exactly where I should be spending my time and has increased my productivity as well as my ability to make deadlines. It also has helped me transition quicker between tasks because I waste less time deciding what to do next, and get straight into what is next on the priority list.  

What I do is I keep a pocket notebook on me everywhere I go, and as tasks add on, I jot it down and assign a number 1-5. This way it can be kept out of my mind until I am ready to address it and I don’t let it distract me when it presents itself. When I complete the task, the action of physically crossing it out has become associated with accomplishment, so it also serves as a source of motivation.  

So, that sounds like a pretty good place to start. Keep a pen and piece of paper on you and write down all of the things you need to do, and quickly assess their importance on a 1-5 scale. Then, let it be out of sight, and out of mind until the time comes to encounter it head on!

kaya ismail, the founder of Wordify, tells us about a technique he uses in his company to create good and consistent content for his clients.

"Whether you are a personal brand or a multi-million dollar company, we all know the value of content marketing. We all need to provide content to our social media platforms. The hard part is not knowing it is doing. We all look back to our calendars and realize we just are staying consistent enough with our content marketing strategies. So what is the secrete to producing great content regularly for your audience? Producing great content is an art form. You cannot master an art form on a regular basis. Most people try to squeeze their creativity into their everyday life and work. Trust me, that is not a long-term strategy. Instead, you need to identify time slots and give your content marketing strategy you undivided attention. Not only will this help you stay focused and consistent, but it will help you stay focused on your other tasks during that day of week, because unlike everybody else, you know that your content is already taken care of".