A New Habit Takes Time

December 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Take Time © by hanspetermeyer.ca

Habits are difficult to break and they are difficult to make. The good news is that you can make a new habit but it will take a lot of effort to do. Do not waste time trying to break an old habit because you cannot. I do not believe in breaking habits. You have a habit because it fulfils a need you have. Instead of breaking a habit you should figure out why you have that habit and based on what you find you can make a new habit.

Your body takes about three weeks to get used to something new; it will adapt to new conditions and influences in just three weeks. E.g. if you prefer to drink a certain brand of coffee and you choose to change brand and drink the new brand for about three weeks then you will most likely prefer the new brand over the old one.

It is important, though, that you have your mind set on this change because if you say to yourself: “This coffee really sucks!” every time you drink the new brand, then your mind will focus on the old brand and nothing will change. It is essential that you want the change.

It takes more time to make it a habit

Getting used to something new is not enough to make it a habit. The three weeks as a rule of thumb is to be seen everywhere, but a habit takes the time a habit takes. How long a habit takes to be formed depends on the nature of the habit and the person trying to make the habit. Research shows that a habit takes everything between 18 to 254 days to form. The average is about two months. You can read more about this here.

To make sure that your habit will stick you have to keep your focus and mind set on your new habit for 3-8 months. You have to perform your habit every day and not miss a single day. Habits take hard work, but they are usually worth it if you are trying to make good habits.

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Amazing Zen Habits

December 14, 2011 by 1 Comment

AAEX001038 © by jessebezz

I admit it! I am a great fan of Carl Jung and his theories. Furthermore I really like his openness to the unknown and unexplainable. He has the right attitude to live a good life and he really did contribute a lot to the world we live in today because of his research in religions and the supernatural.

This post is not really about Carl Jung, but when I look for inspiration I like to surf the net and very often Carl Jung makes it to the search bar. Today I found I blog about Carl Jung where the blogger wrote a bit about Jung’s research in spirituality and Buddhism. Jung believed that spiritual experience is essential to our well-being and on this site I found 12 simple Zen habits that contributes to your well-being.

You can find the Jung site here and the original source here.

The 12 Zen habits:

Do one thing at a time. Do not multi-task; when eating, eat; when walking, walk; when cutting fish, cut fish. This will help you relax, excel and focus.

Do it slowly and deliberately. Take your time and move slowly, it will help you to keep focus. I like to do things slow and in a flow. E.g. sometimes when I cook I visualise what I am going to do next. This helps me focus on the task and to keep the process dynamic. I believe that the world is in a continuous flow and that we improve our well-being by living in a flow of energy. This method also helps me if I need to hurry; by working in a focused flow I can increase the pace if needed and still keep a cool head.

Do it completely. Put you mind on the task and finish it before starting a new task. Mind that there are different ways of finishing a task; e.g. if you are writing a thesis you cannot finish it before eating. But if you have set up a list of goals and to-dos in the process then you can finish one of those and then eat.

Do less. Do not fill your day with tasks that you do not have time to accomplish. By doing less you can concentrate and do things better. (I have to work on this one – what about you?)

Put space between things. Do not make a tight schedule; I have made a rule of planning I call the 25 % rule. People often get stress because they do not plan time for the unexpected. My experience is that things almost always take 25 % more time than we estimate.

Develop rituals. This will prepare you for the task you are about to do and helps you to focus and to do things well. E.g. I have a ritual when I cut vegetables: I line up the vegetables in front of the cutting board and on the right side of the board I line up the knives I am going to use.

Designate time for certain things. There are things that are so important that you want to make sure you do them every day. E.g. eating, cleaning and working. Designate time for these things. (Another one I have to work on!)

Devote time to sitting. Do any activity you like to be present. E.g. meditate or run. I recommend reading “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle.

Smile and serve others. A smile will bring you positive energy and giving to others will make them want to give something back.

Make cleaning and cooking become meditation. Put your mind into the tasks and do them slowly and completely.

Think about what is necessary. Keep your life simple and think about what you really need. Most people have a lot of unnecessary things cluttering up their life, both physically and mentally.

Live simply. Get rid of unnecessary things; clean up the clutter and make room for the essentials of your life.

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My New Strategy

December 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Books © by shutterhacks

I have written a 264-page book about change and development. This book is in Danish and still unpublished even though it is ready for printing. I have done a major research in change and development where I keep focus on the good habits of a stable foundation. It would only be natural for me to continue this focus on this blog. That is why I am going to change the categories and find a narrow focus that can assist you in your personal development and life improvement.

The future of Intelligentsia will carry keywords like:

  • Habits
  • Change
  • Development
  • Stability
  • Foundation

My vision is to create a blog that will help you to find a good path in life. The means that I will use to get there are good habits and a stable foundation.

My educational background is in strategy and management supplemented by philosophy. Although I have great insight in other disciplines I am going to focus on a few keywords that I will approach from the angle of a strategist and manager, because that is what I am good at. Using philosophy I can develop strategies that you can benefit from and I can teach you how to manage these strategies to optimise your life.

The point of this post is that to get success you have to focus on what you are good at. Do not focus on everything that seems interesting because that will keep you floating around without a specific goal. I have started defining my goal and figuring out what you can expect from my writings in the future.

  • I am good at making strategies!
  • I am a fantastic manager!
  • I have an excellent mind!

These are my resources that I will use on this blog; I will use strategy, management and philosophy to give you some of the best tools on the web to assist you in your personal development.

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Focus Is the Key to Success

December 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

door key © by woodleywonderworks

You know the situation; you come home late at night; you are tired and it is dark. You fumble with your keys – why do all keys look alike in the dark? You finally find a key that seems to fit your front door, but the key will not go into to the keyhole. You try again and again, but it does not work. You conclude it must be the wrong key and you fumble a bit with the bunch of keys. You remind yourself to sort out the keys you do not need anymore; you will definitely do it tomorrow.

Another key seems to be the right one – or is this the same key as you tried before? You give it a try but keeps missing the keyhole; you start getting annoyed; you bend down to get a better look at the keyhole but you still miss the keyhole. After a while you are in a very bad mood and you toss the keys start knocking the door until someone opens it. It does not seem to open and you recall that you live alone and there is no one behind the door to open it.

How do you get in? How do you reach your goal? Not by trying random keys and by missing the target over and over! To unlock the door and get in you need to focus. You have to find the right key and focus on the target to unlock that door. If the door is still locked then you need to evaluate if you have the right key and if it is focused.

I have been writing this blog for about four months and another in Danish for a little more than a month. The Danish blog is about reflexology and it is written in Danish and it seems to be more focused than this blog is. This blog does not seem to catch on. That is why I decided to re-evaluate and ask myself: Do I have the right key and am I focused? My answer was: No!

Well, I do write about life improvement and development but the topic is too broad. I realise that I have to narrow it down if I want success. That is what I am working on right now; I want to narrow down the focus to be able to hit the target and unlock the door to success.

A few days ago I started a series about tests to find your personal profile; they are fun and interesting and I really recommend exploring tests that will give you greater insight, but I also have to let you down and start narrowing down my focus on this blog. I am not going to give you more test ideas but I will take you on a small journey that will show you how I find my focus on this blog.

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Fail and You Will Succeed!

December 3, 2011 by 2 Comments

FAIL stamp © by hans.gerwitz

Sometimes failure can be demotivating, but failing is actually a good thing. If you change your view on failure then you will stop fearing failure. The only way to succeed and reach your goals is by failing a lot of times. People who do not fail do not have success! People with success seem to do everything right, but the far from do! They just choose to put focus on their successes rather than their failures.

What is the point of promoting all the failures you did when you present the result of your success? Failure serves you on your way towards your goals by teaching you what works well and what does not. After many attempts to reach your goals and dreams you get there because you know more about getting there than anyone else does. You got all this knowledge by failing.

If you lost your motivation because you failed, then you need to change your perspective on failure and believe in yourself; change your believe system. Do you think the football champions became champions the first time they entered the field? No, and they did not become champions the second time either! They became champions because they really wanted to and because the believed it was possible!

Why would they believe that after loosing their first 100 games? Because they have seen other teams make it to the top and if those teams can do it the so can this team. They did it because the wanted to, because the believed it was possible and that they had the potential.

To succeed in life and reach the goals you set on your way, you have to focus. You have to be 100 % present in what you are doing. Do not try reaching your goals, you should not just be trying, because you have the potential to do it and you can do it if you want to. Do not try – just do it! Learn by your failures because the will show you the path to success.

Life is hard and you will fail a lot of times, that is because success comes through failure, but trust me, you can do it; you have the potential and if other people can do it then so can you! Everything is possible! – Never give up and do not let other people define what is possible and what is not.

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