Category: Excelerated Focus

Posted on

Want to change a behavior? Change your environment.

“Many of our repeated behaviors are cued by everyday environments, even though people think they’re making choices all the time.” ~ Wendy Wood

You and I may think we’re in control of our actions, but research shows that nearly ½ of human behaviors occurs in the same location each day and is cued by the environment. [Duke Today] Recall Charles Duhigg’s “habit loop”, the 3-step process that causes habits to develop. [Duhigg] The habit loop consists of 1) cue, 2) routine, and 3) reward. Repetition of this loop over time causes a behavior (the routine) to become ingrained as habit.

According to Wendy Wood, formerly the James B. Duke professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke and now at the University of Southern California, the cue is often our environment. Continue reading “Want to change a behavior? Change your environment.”

Posted on

Don’t Focus On What You Don’t Want

Don’t focus on what you don’t want. Choose the thoughts (and actions) that serve you best.

“The components of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.” ~ Wayne Dyer

A friend and colleague recently loaned me a tape program, “Excuses Begone!” by Dr. Wayne Dyer. There was one concept from Dr. Dyer’s presentation that really sparked my imagination. Continue reading “Don’t Focus On What You Don’t Want”

Posted on

Break Negative Habits, Part 2

“Wisdom is letting go of some bad habits everyday.” ~ Farshad Asl

Recently, we talked about the benefits of breaking negative habits. I shared a few unhealthy habits I used to have and expressed gratitude that I was able to replace several of them with more helpful and healthful ones. I shared a list of some negative habits identified in an article in Inc. magazine and invited you to consider if there are any habits keeping you from making progress toward your Excelerated Life.

On the outside chance that you may have 1 or 2 negative habits you’d like to replace with more beneficial ones, let’s consider some recommended and proven ways to break negative habits. Continue reading “Break Negative Habits, Part 2”

Posted on

Now What Needs To Be Done?

“The mature human being goes about doing what needs to be done regardless of whether that person feels great or terrible. Knowing that you are the kind of person with that kind of selfcontrol brings all the satisfaction and confidence you will ever need.” ~ David K. Reynolds

June* sought out coaching because she couldn’t seem to finish any of the things she said she wanted to do. She had a good idea of what she viewed as her life’s purpose and she had some challenging goals to enable her to live out her purpose. But when we met for the first time, she had made little measurable progress on any of her goals. During one of our early meetings, she selected one of her goals and we developed an action plan to move her toward it. June left with a list of things she could do before our next meeting and she was excited to get started. Continue reading “Now What Needs To Be Done?”

Posted on

What Do You Expect?

The person who doesn’t believe she can be happy will most likely be unhappy. The person who doesn’t believe she deserves wealth and abundance will live in poverty, even in the midst of plenty. The person who believes sales people are rude, waiters are surly, and support personnel are incompetent usually is helped by a rude sales clerk, served by surly waiters, and seldom finds anyone to help who knows what he or she is doing. What do you expect?

TheExceleratedLife.com
Continue reading “What Do You Expect?”
Posted on

Go For It

“I just can’t seem to get started on my goal.” “I have a goal I want to achieve but I don’t have time to work on it right now.” Sound familiar? Are you using a similar excuse to postpone a worthwhile goal that you’d like to be moving toward? If this sounds like you, here are some things to consider.

Is your goal your goal? The first thing you need to decide is if this is your goal. Not your parents’, not your spouse’s, not society’s, not a “should” or an “ought to”. If it isn’t something you can feel a strong desire to achieve (you may not feel it now but you need to be able to create the desire) chances are it isn’t your goal and either (1) you won’t achieve it, or (2) it won’t mean that much if you do make it. Be sure your goal is your goal.

Continue reading “Go For It”