The Mind Catalyst

Welcome Back! In this post, I will be talking about the art of forming good habits. Certain stimuli can trigger habitual behaviour. Once you understand that, you can use this knowledge to change your habits. Encourage better habits by changing your environment. Make your cues as obvious as possible. You will be more likely to respond to them. If you want to eat healthier, start by putting healthy snack on the table instead of putting them into the closet. Use intentions that are implementable. Don’t be like, “I will eat better”. Instead, create a proper plan of action and set out when and where you will cultivate your habits. Build temptations. Start with the end goal in your mind and what you will get from it. Humans are always motivated by the anticipation of the reward. Our brain not only releases dopamine (the feel-good hormone) when we do things that we love, but also when we anticipate them. Making habits attractive will make you stick to them. Link the habit with a behaviour tha

Welcome Back! In today’s post, I will be talking about the FAST method, which is very helpful in learning things very quickly. 1. F stands for Forget: Forget what you already know about the subject. A lot of people don’t learn faster because they feel like they already know the information. But your mind is like a parachute; it only works when it’s open. The key to focusing on a task is to remove or forget the potential distractions around you. Also, forget your limitations like - you can’t learn/read quickly or your memory isn’t good. You won’t be able to do things freely. This limits your mind. 2. A stands for Active: We are taught to learn passively. Learning passively means learning quietly and being lectured. This is not the ideal way to learn anything. You learn by creating information and being active in the process. Learning is NOT a spectator sport. You should learn actively. You can be active in learning by - Asking Questions and Taking notes. 3. S stands for State: Informati

Welcome Back! This post is based on Darren Hardy’s book “The Compound Effect”. Today's post is all about reaching your goals and how to make simple and effective habits. 1. When you come up with a life goal, immediately turn it into a daily habit: If you want to change something in your life or you want to reach your goal, you must invest time in it . If you do not put a lot of time in the change that you want to make, you won’t be able to make it stick. So, the trick to change something in your life is - The moment you come up with a new life goal, instantly turn it into a tiny, daily habit. If you want to be a writer, start writing 100 words a day. If you want to be a marathon runner, start by jogging for 45 mins a day. This small habit will turn into a big habit which you will begin to prioritise. This will tremendously help you in achieving success. 2. Create a routine which you can stick to, so that you won’t lose the momentum: The more good habits you accumulate, the more goo

Welcome back!  This is the 2nd and the last part of the marvellous “Rules For Life” series. Be sure to check the  first part  out. Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient) : You will face hard times in your life. But, do not get depressed and enjoy it while you can. With over 7 billion people in the world, it is hard to be valuable and stand out; but the way you stand out and be valuable is by pursuing something that is meaningful. Something that can help you and the others. Meaningful work is what we do for our vision and purpose and is one of the most satisfying thing we could do with our time . Assume that the person you are listening to might something you don't: A listening person can reflect a crowd. He can do that without talking. He can do that because he listens properly. You already know what you know, after all-and unless your life is perfect, what you know is not enough. If you listen without premature judgement, people will generally tell you everything that

Welcome Back! From this post, I am starting a series called: “Rules for Life” . It will be covered in several parts. I can't wait for the journey to begin. Stand up straight with your shoulders back: It is interesting how our body and minds are connected. This is a marvelous thing. Set yourself up for success and exert the proper body language. Stand up straight with your shoulders back. This does 2 powerful things : It exerts dominance and confidence. It shows that you accept your responsibility and are ready to face any challenges. Further research shows that even a small muscle movement has the potential to change/affect your emotions. It is hard to accept responsibility for your actions when you’re slouching or sprawled out on the floor. By standing upright and having a good posture, you show the confidence and willingness to take action. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping: Credit yourself. Also, credit people around you for acting productively and wi

Welcome Back! Everyone goes through this phase of life where the ego drives one to do anything and everything only to get noticed and recognised . It is a phase when good is good only when it gains attention; even bad is good if it can draw attention . Also, good is bad when it fails to gain attention. Ego survives on gaining attention. However, one must outgrow that phase of life. Ego needs feeding ; and hence it is regarded as a beggar . The problem with ego is that when ego is fed , you struggle with the superiority complex , and when ego is starved, you suffer with the inferiority complex . It destroys your peace of mind. People have lost many precious relationships while trying to satisfy their ego. They should have sacrificed their ego, but they didn’t. Remember, Ego is never worth the losses. People have also lost many golden opportunities while they were servicing their ego. They should have done the other way, but they could not. Ego destroys your freedom of choice. There i

Welcome Back! What is motivation? Motivation is a process that accounts for an individual’s Intensity Direction, and Persistence of Efforts towards attaining a goal, an objective. It is a passion that arises from within and makes you persistently and intensely travel in the right direction till you reach your destination. To motivate yourself , you need: Strength of desire for a particular outcome Strength of belief that you have the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and talent to complete a given task successfully Strength of belief that you will get the reward you desire when the task is completed. This model of motivation thus could be represented as: Strength of desire * Strength of belief in your competence * Guarantee of the reward you desire = Motivation Mark the multiplication signs. They indicate that the motivation will be zero, if any of the three is zero. The most vital ingredient in this three step formula is 'strength in belief in your competence'. To have

Welcome Back! Stand in front of a mirror. The image you see in the mirror is so unique that there is no one like you. There is no one even looking like you in the universe, and there will never be any. Your looks are God given. However, the real thing that gives you your unique identity is your attitude.  If you believe that you are destined to grow, to succeed, to make your mark, you will work harder and smarter. Your self-esteem will be high . You will feel that you have the ability to succeed in any given task .  If your self-esteem is low, if you do not have a good opinion of yourself, if you believe that what happens to you depends on luck or chance, you will behave in a way that guarantees your failure. If you are high in self-esteem, you will also be high in self-efficacy . Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a given task successfully and effectively. If your self-efficacy is high, you will consciously practice self improvement

Welcome Back! George Bernard Shaw classified people in 3 different categories: Those who make things happen Those who observe what happens Those who wondered what happened We are in a century where you cannot afford to observe and wonder. You must make things happen. Those who make things happen are called "proactive". They do not react to whatever is happening around. They are not reactive , they are proactive - they make things happen. When you react, you permit others to react to influence your decisions. When you are proactive, you depend on your own skills, knowledge, talent and experience. In the absence of these resources, you cannot be proactive. Remember that you would soon be on your own be ready for it. Some Tips: Take charge of your own destiny. Do not let others shape your destiny. Change before you are forced to. A friend is an answer to your needs. Consciously create a network of friends. Give and take help. Be innovative and creative. Do things differently. P

Welcome Back! Every human being has the capacity to be a genius. You don’t have to be obsessed with maths or physics to reach the genius level in your thinking. To achieve the level of creative thinking of a genius, you must commit to using your positive imagination. Some people think about worst-case scenarios all day long. They are full of negativity. All their energy of visualization is channeled in thinking what could go wrong. What they don’t understand is that worry is a misuse of imagination. The human imagination is designed to do better things. The real genius is the one who uses this power of positive imagination. This is one of the qualities of geniuses. Napoleon once said, “Imagination rules the world.“ Ultimately, what you need to learn is the proactive use of your imagination. And once you have mastered that skill, the first task is to begin imagining the vision of what you want to be. When you visualise something that you always wanted to do, your subconscious mind ta

Welcome Back! Do you know that happy people have lower resting heart rates, reduced fibrinogen (a blood-clotting protein resulting from stress that is associated with cardiovascular disease), and lower systolic blood pressure? Now, think of the times  when you were happy . You had the  urge to go places and do new things . You got  new ideas .  When we’re happy, we’re more likely to apply ourselves diligently and doggedly to a task. On the other hand,  gloom creates a mental structure, which prevents the flow of constructive thoughts . You cannot think about anything properly . You cannot come up with new ideas . You cannot focus/concentrate on something. You will not be inspired to do new things. Be happy! You will control the hard situations instead of them controlling you. You will be able to perform better in anything you do. Some people think that, “How can I be happy with all the worries I have? “. It’s simple. Take it easy . You do not need to be so hard on yourself. You just

Welcome Back! All of us fail. As we travel on our path to success, we all hit potholes, take wrong turns, or forget to check the radiator. So the real issue is not whether you’re going to fail. It is about whether you’re going to fail successfully (gaining experience and profiting from failure) or allow failure to send you in a permanent detour. “The difference between greatness and mediocrity is often how an individual views his/her own mistakes.“ If you want to continue on the success journey, you need to learn to fail forward! Some people are often so afraid of failure and rejection, that they spend their whole lives avoiding risks or decisions that could lead to failure. They don’t realize that s uccess is based on their ability to fail and continue trying. When you have the right attitude, failure is not fatal. In fact, it is a springboard to success. Successful people instead of dwelling on the negative consequences of failure, think of what might have been and how things have

Welcome Back! How you see yourself in your own eyes determines what you get out of life. Self-image is your own conception of yourself. It is the mental and emotional picture you hold in your own consciousness of who you are and what you represent. Self-image determines your capacity to give, receive and interact with life, experiences and possibilities that come before you. Your self-image is important because it is the starting point of your life experiences. The image you hold of yourself is like a precious vase into which all your life experiences are poured and blended. If your self-image is a small, limited conception of yourself, based on ignorance, fear, doubt and insecurity, then all your experiences will be filtered through these same negative emotions. While, if your self-image is based in knowledge, love, courage, respect, faith and confidence, your life experiences will be filtered through these same positive emotions. Your self-image is like a magnet, attracting or repell

Welcome Back! We forget sometimes that the biggest lessons in our life come from the smallest folks around us. In this post, I will discuss the well known “Ants Philosophy“. There are 4 lessons from the “Ants Philosophy“. I will be  discussing  each one of them in detail. The 4 lessons are: Ants never quit: Have you ever noticed how ants always look for a way around an obstacle? Put your finger in an ant’s path and it will try to go around it, or over it. It will keep looking for a way out even it is surrounded by all sides. It won’t just stand there and stare. It just keeps trying to get through the obstacle. We should learn to be like them. Your life will be full of obstacles. Keep trying, keep looking for alternative routes to get to your goals. Ants think winter all summer : Do you remember the old story of the ant and the grasshopper? In the middle of the summer, the ant was busy gathering food for the winter ahead while the grasshopper was out having a good time. Basically, they

Welcome Back! It is important to know that there is a relationship between your thinking and the way you feel. It’s important to realise that you are constantly thinking. Thinking is like knowing that you are breathing, but you simply forget about it until you read this sentence. Thinking works the same way. Because you’re always doing it, it’s easy to forget that it is happening, and it becomes invisible to you.  Now, let me tell you an interesting fact about thinking - In order to experience a feeling; you must first have a thought that produces that feeling. Now, try getting angry without first having angry thoughts! Okay, now try feeling stressed out without first having stressful thoughts - or jealous without thoughts of jealousy. You can’t do it. It's impossible. Unhappiness doesn’t and can’t exist on its own. Unhappiness is the feeling that accompanies negative thinking about your life. In the absence of that thinking, unhappiness, stress, jealousy, anger, & self-doubt

Welcome Back! Words have both the explosive power of the nuclear bomb and the soothing effect of classical music. They can start a war or usher peace. How others react towards us depends, in a large measure, upon the words we speak to them. Words are like echoes. We get back the echoes of the words we sent out! Words and ideas are so closely related to each other that it is almost impossible for us to conceive of thinking without the mental employment of words . Because of this, it becomes very important that we choose the best possible words , not merely as a matter of expression, but also as a means of thinking intelligently. Before one is able to make a choice of effective words, and to learn to employ them to the best advantage, he must first have a sufficient number of words at his disposal (having an adequate vocabulary). A person with higher vocabulary of effective words than the others will be able to express himself more clearly and effectively. You need to increase your voc