8 Steps to Self Motivation

1. Start simple. Keep motivators around your work area – things that give you that initial spark to get going.

2. Keep good company. Make more regular encounters with positive and motivated people. This could be as simple as IM chats with peers or a quick discussion with a friend who likes sharing ideas.

3. Keep learning. Read and try to take in everything you can. The more you learn, the more confident you become in starting projects.

4. Stay Positive. See the good in bad. When encountering obstacles, you want to be in the habit of finding what works to get over them.

5. Stop thinking. Just do. If you find motivation for a particular project lacking, try getting started on something else. Something trivial even, then you’ll develop the momentum to begin the more important stuff.

6. Know yourself. Keep notes on when your motivation sucks and when you feel like a superstar. There will be a pattern that, once you are aware of, you can work around and develop.

7. Track your progress. Keep a tally or a progress bar for ongoing projects. When you see something growing you will always want to nurture it.

8. Help others. Share your ideas and help friends get motivated. Seeing others do well will motivate you to do the same. Write about your success and get feedback from readers.

What I would hope happens here is you will gradually develop certain skills that become motivational habits. Once you get to the stage where you are regularly helping others keep motivated – be it with a blog or talking with peers – you’ll find the cycle continuing where each facet of staying motivated is refined and developed.

My 1 Step

If you could only take one step? Just do it!

Once you get started on something, you’ll almost always just get into it and keep going. There will be times when you have to do things you really don’t want to: that’s where the other steps and tips from other writers come in handy.

However, the most important thing, that I think is worth repeating, is to just get started. Get that momentum going and then when you need to, take Ian’s Step 7 and Take A Break. No one wants to work all the time!

By Craig Childs

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/8-steps-to-continuous-self-motivation.html

http://www.lifehack.org/

Video: Brainwaves of Meditation

Hypnosis And Sleep

There is little doubt that there is a close correlation between being under hypnosis and being asleep. Anyone who has been under hypnosis will know just how close it feels to being in the early stages of sleep. This is why hypnotherapy is so useful in helping people get a good night of quality sleep.

The majority of us will suffer from sleep problems during at least one stage in our lives. Both the problems and the cause of the problems can vary greatly. If you go through a particularly stressful period you might only be able to sleep three or four hours a night, or it could be you sleep ten hours but wake up feeling like you’ve not slept at all. Just the seemingly simple act of drifting off to sleep can be a big problem.

Regulating Sleep

Once you reach adulthood you need to get around seven to eight hours of sleep a night in most cases. Any less and you will feel tired, find it hard to concentrate, struggle to make decisions and heighten the risk of suffering from depression. More than seven to eight hours of sleep a night can also cause problems, leaving you lethargic throughout the day.

There are two main types of sleep, Non-REM and REM.

Non-REM: The brain is quiet and peaceful. The body repairs itself and hormones are released into the bloodstream, preparing itself for the day ahead. There are four stages to Non-REM sleep.

1. Pre-sleep - The muscles relax, body temperature drops and the heart beat slows.
2. Light-sleep - Still easily awoken without feelings of confusion.
3. Slow wave sleep - Blood pressure begins to fall.
4. Deep slow wave sleep - Very hard to wake up, will awaken confused and groggy.

REM: Makes up for a fifth of sleep time. During the REM stage of sleep the brain becomes very active, body very relaxed and the eyes move around quickly. This is the sleep stage in which dreams become more vivid and easier to remember.

Over the course of a night you will move between Non-REM and REM sleep around five times a night.

How Hypnosis Helps Where Pills Fail

While some people choose to aid their sleeping with pills I think this is a bad choice. Sleeping pills do little to cure the problem, only mask it. People often report feeling groggy all day after taking sleeping pills, and they can be highly addictive.

This is not a problem with hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is a natural alternative that results in deeper, undisturbed sleep with no side effects.

The way sleep hypnosis works is simple, the hypnotherapist first helps the patient relax. This allows the conscious mind to become quiet, and is the perfect state for the beginning stages of sleep. While the conscious mind is relaxed the hypnotist will then begin making suggestions to the unconscious mind to accept positive commands such as, “your eyes feel heavy”, “your mind and body are totally relaxed”. Once this is achieved sleep will follow.

So if you feel the sleep you are getting is not adequate then you really should try hypnotherapy to get the sleep your body and mind requires. 

http://www.hypnobusters.com/articles/hypnosisandsleep.html

http://www.hypnobusters.com/

3 Simple Tips To Break Bad Habits For Good

By: Michael Lee

Changing bad habits is the first step to self-improvement. However, it can also be one of the most challenging things to do. 

Habits, especially bad ones, are hard to break. We’ve become too used to doing things a certain way that to break away from the norm seems too much of an effort. However, there are cases when changing bad habits can literally save your life. 

Read on to find out how you can break bad habits effectively. 

Tip # 1: Learn from Others. 
For others, breaking bad habits is a lot more crucial. Biting your fingernails probably doesn’t have such an enormous impact on your life, but smoking and doing drugs certainly have. 

If you’ve grown used to smoking your lungs out and can’t seem to stop, why don’t you take a good look at people who did not quit early enough or those who just overdid it a little too much. They’re either dead or struggling with some sort of cancer. 

Don’t look away from the gritty details. Hopefully, what they went through will send a jolt strong enough to get you to stop. 

Tip # 2: Do It One Step at a Time. 

Changing bad habits may not be as easy as it seems, and can sometimes backfire when you force it too quickly. So take things slowly - one step at a time.

If smoking is your bad habit, you don’t have to quit suddenly. In fact, doctors will advise you to do it slowly. Nicotine withdrawal is very difficult to go through. Start by decreasing the number of sticks you smoke. Find out your limit and then slowly work your way from your usual sticks a day to zero. This principle also applies to other bad habits that you may have. 

Tip # 3: Find a Friend. 
Changing bad habits is easier when you have the support of a friend because of the sense of commitment involved. If said friend is also aiming to change their bad habits, then this process will be a lot easier and will go a lot faster for both of you. 

Why do you think there are a lot of support groups around? The more people who have your back, the better your chances are of getting rid of your bad habit for good. 

Breaking bad habits is very important. Sometimes, it’s a matter of life and death. But even though you only have to deal with nail biting or feet swaying, changing bad habits is still recommended. Once you take one down, it’ll be easier to get rid of all the others. In a way, it also shows that you can do anything you put your mind into.

http://www.positivearticles.com/Article/Changing-Bad-Habits--3-Simple-Tips-To-Break-Bad-Habits-For-Good/51461

http://www.positivearticles.com/

Impressive Hypnotherapy Statistics?

By Adam Eason

In another hypnosis related blog that I follow, I noticed the author mention some amazing statistics about the efficacy of hypnotherapy according to a study conducted by Dr Alfred Barrios.

So I went and investigated this study before mentioning it myself. I searched through many scholarly archives and could not find the actual original citing of the article…

As I googled and explored, I noticed that many, many hypnotherapists were using these amazing statistics and figures on their websites, quoting Barrios to display the effectiveness of hypnotherapy.  Yet it was tough to find the original source and copy of the study.

The study was (and still is) a review of psychotherapy literature by Dr Barrios, which was published in 1970 and originally featured in the The Psychotherapy Journal of the American Psychiatric Association which showed some impressive findings indeed.

After surveying over 2000 journal articles, Dr. Alfred Barrios came up with the following recovery rates:

Type of therapy                        Recovery rates                          Number of sessions

Hypnotherapy                                    93%                                                       6
Behavior therapy                               72%                                                     22
Psychoanalysis                                 38%                                                    600

It is important to remember that these are average numbers and should not really be interpreted to suggest that any condition can be helped in 6 hypnotherapy sessions. Indeed, some would be overcome in a great deal less time and likewise, some may require more.

To summarise; in this review article, Dr Barrios pointed out that the average success rate for hypnotherapy was 93% after an average of 6 sessions. This was compared to a 38% success rate after an average of 600 sessions for psychoanalysis and 72% after 22 sessions for behavior therapy.

If you’d like to diligently review the article word for word and see how it was conducted you can read it in full at Dr Barrios’s own website where he has the article featured for all to read entitled Hypnotherapy: A Reappraisal.

Some of the hardened evidence based hypnotherapists may not think it bears up to modern scrutiny, but it makes for interesting reading bearing in mind it is 40 years old now and much has changed in that time alone.

It does amaze me though how many websites mention the figures without quoting the study or giving it any robust examination… Some even do not quote anything other than the sensational figures… Hmmm… Maybe I should stop thinking so critically and go and amend my hypnotherapy consultation page with the addition of these figures…. Is a 1970 review still pertinent today?

http://www.adam-eason.com/2010/11/18/some-mighty-impressive-hypnotherapy-statistics/

http://www.adam-eason.com/