Effective Persuasion Techniques

In this article, you will learn how to recognize persuasion techniques used in speech, writing, and advertising. You will also find out how to use those techniques to your advantage. What is persuasion It is the act ofusing argument,reasoning,or appeal to get someone to take a course of action or change his or her point of view. Individuals try to persuade others to do things their way, to think like they think, and even simply to leave them alone.

Brain Scans Can Reveal Your Decisions 7 Seconds Before You Decide

In a kind of spooky experiment, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences reveal that our decisions are made seconds before we become aware of them. In the study, participants could freely decide if they wanted to press a button with their right or left hand. The only condition was that they had to remember when they made the decision to either use their right hand or left hand.

Drew Carey’s Surprising Slimming Secret…

We read those rumors earlier this year, too. We had heard that thanks to his connections in Hollywood, he was taking a custom made nutritional supplement to curb his appetite. Now we are reading that this is not true, and Carey himself insists it is not true either. He reported to People Magazine: “There’s nobody really standing over me. I do work with somebody who gives me advice on what to do, how many minutes to run, what my heart rate should be and all that kind of stuff.”

How to Talk With Confidence

How to Talk With ConfidenceHaving confidence in yourself can make a world of difference in relating to the outside world. If you fear what is out there you won t accomplish much toward your reason for being here. Each of us has a purpose, whatever that purpose might be. And we all have to discover it for ourselves. But in that discovery you will find your confidence growing and you will uncover how to talk with confidence.

Why People Don't Listen

This is a typical problem that many people face others ignore them when they're speaking. So, why don't people listen to you when you're talking There are a number of reasons let's examine some. 1. A physical problem This is a fairly simple and basic problem the person might be hard of hearing. If this is the case, get them to a doctor for a hearing test, and then maybe a hearing aid is all they need. 2.

Unconscious Learning and Unconscious Recall

Motor learning, skills, and habits are the classic examples of unconsciously learned and unconsciously recalled memories. Walking is a good example. Walking is an extremely complex task involving intricate motor movements, which we generally perform automatically and with great facility. We learned to walk unconsciously as small children, and if anything trying to exert conscious control over our walking as adults likely leads to an awkward gait.

Does Being Overweight Damage Your Brain?

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh scanned the brains of 94 people over the age of 70. They were looking to see the differences in the brains of people who were of normal weight (BMI under 25), overweight (BMI 25-30), and obese (BMI over 30). If you are 5 foot 10 and you weigh 220, you have a BMI of 31.6 and would be considered obese. If you are 5 foot 10 and weigh 180, your BMI is 25.8 and you would be considered overweight for purposes of the study.

Sleep Away the Pounds

As I scour the weight loss research, it seems like almost every month there is a new study demonstrating the power of a good night’s rest, especially on our waistlines. Here are a couple of good studies I’ve recently run into, both of which made me stop, reflect, and lay down – just a few minutes earlier than usual.  It’s a good start, right?

The Key to Life Success – Wait for Two Marshmallows?

Walter Mischel, the psychology professor at Stanford in charge of the study, followed up on the 653 kids a decade later. He found that the kids who could not wait for the second marshmallow all seemed to have behavioral problems. They couldn’t seem to focus. They had lower S.A.T scores. They struggled emotionally and had trouble dealing with stressful situations. They also had trouble maintaining relationships.

Why Indulging Yourself Can Be Healthy

A team of researchers at Yale University decided to see how ghrelin, the hunger hormone, responds to mental perception. Just so we’re on the same page, ghrelin is known as the hunger hormone because it’s responsible for sending a signal to your brain that causes it to “want” more food. When your body’s ghrelin levels are high, the signal gets stronger – creating a tendency to overeat, even if you’re already pretty full.

Lose Weight With…Junk Food?

When Kansas State University nutrition professor Mark Haub began his experiment, he weighed 201 pounds and had a body mass index of 28.8 (overweight). Ten weeks later, he had lost 27 pounds, lowered his bad cholesterol and raised his good cholesterol.  Plus, he lowered his blood pressure. How did he do it? I can give you the answer in just one word: twinkies.

Botox And Emotions

It turns out that Botox can actually short circuit a person’s ability to feel unhappy. Because of the apparent validation of something called the, “Facial Feedback Hypothesis”, the fact that Botox prevents frowning… also short circuits one’s ability to fully feel the emotions associated with it. David Havas of the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to study people who had received Botox treatments that paralyzed one pair of their corrugator muscles, which cause the forehead to constrict into a frown.

The Truth About Affirmations

Although often discussed, there is actually very little research that has been done on the structure of self-talk and how it can motivate us…until now. Published in the April 2010 issue of Psychological Science journal, Professor Dolores Albarracin and her team sought to find out if asking yourself (introspective talk) a question about your potential behavior would increase or decrease the likelihood of that behavior?

If a butterfly flaps its wings, will your brain’s activity increase?

Pretty much everyone has heard about the Butterfly Effect. (We do not mean that Ashton Kutcher movie You can go to IMDB for that, but first, stay here and read this.)In sum the butterfly effect states that a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in the jungles of Asia can eventually start a tornado in Texas. It&rsquo s a concept that has been used by people willing others to realize the unforeseen consequences of their actions. (Smoky the Bear may have summarized it best &ndash if you leave a...

The Month Code

The second stage is to get a numerical code for the month. Here is a list of the numbers for each month They are not difficult to remember. I suggest you use the number-shape method as an aide-memoire. Exercise your imagination to create a relevant image. Listed below are a few suggestions No need for any visual mnemonics here. January is the first month of the year, hence 1. February reminds me of feBREYVERY. I can visualize an old Thames barge unloading kegs of beer at a smuggler's inn. Using...

How To Remember Directions

If you want to join the ranks of London's 23,000 drivers of black taxis, you first have to pass a gruelling test known as 'the Knowledge'. Among other things, it requires that you learn 468 routes around the capital, including 5,500 roads, and a whole host of museums, churches, hospitals, railway and police stations, theatres, parks, and other landmarks. It's hardly surprising that the success rate for passing is a mere 30 per cent. . In 1992, I was asked by Auto Express, a motoring magazine,...

More on generalisations

As we noted in Chapter 1, only hard generalisations can rightly be conveyed by using a quantifier-word like 'all', 'no', or 'every'. Indeed, that is the usual function of those words - to make it perfectly explicit that a hard generalisation is what is intended. For example someone at a meeting of Parliament might say, 'Every single MP in this chamber takes bribes', rather than 'The MPs in this chamber take bribes'. Soft generalisations, indeed, are very often expressed without any quantifier...

The Too-Much-Talent Effect

A few years ago, the psychologists Adam Galinsky and Roderick Swaab began working on a study that looked at the relationship between national levels of egalitarianism the belief that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities and the performance of national soccer teams in international competitions like the World Cup. It was an admittedly speculative hypothesis, an attempt to find a link between a vague cultural ethos and success on the field.

Declarative And Reflexive Memory

If you are being taught how to drive a car, you are constantly trying to convert what the instructor is saying into physical actions. You make a conscious effort to remember the order of 'mirror, signal, manoeuvre', for example. Mental recall of this sort is known as 'declarative memory'. In time, you will begin to check in your mirror, flick on the indicator and pull out without consciously recalling your instructor's words. Your actions become automatic and there is no longer any conscious...

Radiant Thinking

Radiant Thinking

Information -your brain's processing system What happens in your brain when you taste a ripe pear, smell flowers, listen to music, watch a stream, touch a loved one, or simply reminisce The answer is both simple and amazingly complex. Each bit of information entering your brain - every sensation, memory or thought incorporating every word, number, code, food, fragrance, line, colour, image, beat, note and texture can be represented as a central sphere from which radiate tens, hundreds,...

Brain waves telepathy and EEG

In 1924 a German psychiatrist, Hans Berger, author of a book on telepathic phenomena, decided to develop his theory of differing brain waves, which he firmly believed in after performing various experiments on paranormal phenomena. He measured the electrical impulses emitted by an accident victim whose skull had been partly removed. His work showed that brain cell activity, far from being random, was organized into distinct patterns, in the form of waves. The first type of wave to be explored...

When To Memorize A Speech

Memorizing a speech creates many challenges--having a memory block, sounding mechanical in delivery, and lacking rapport with the audience, to name a few. Besides, memorizing a speech simply takes too much time. Thus I recommend do not memorize a speech However, as is the case with most general rules, there are exceptions. That is true about memorization connected to a speech. There are certain parts of a speech that will make you more effective if they are memorized.

Benefits of dyadic mind maps

Dyadic Framework

X Dyadic Mind Maps allow your brain to assimilate immediately a whole range of complex and inter-related items of information, bringing all the issues into clear focus. They also give the brain a pre-structured framework for association, ensuring that all the relevant elements are taken into consideration. The 'X' Exercise (See pages 128-9.) The 'X' Exercise (See pages 128-9.) They utilise the full range of cortical skills, resulting in a more comprehensively considered decision. J They use...

The mind map laws and recommendations

The Mind Map laws are intended to increase, rather than restrict, your mental freedom. In this context, it is important not to confuse order with rigidity or freedom with chaos. All too often, order is perceived in negative terms as rigid and restrictive. Similarly, freedom is mistaken for chaos and lack of structure. In fact true mental freedom is the ability to create order from chaos. The Mind Map laws will help you do exactly this. They are divided into the laws of technique and the laws of...

Creative Thinking

Aims of creative Mind Mapping The Mind Map as a creative thinking mechanism The stages of the creative thinking process Mind Mapping to gain new paradigms Benefits of creative thinking Mind Maps In this chapter the focus is on creative thinking using Mind Maps. You will discover why Mind Maps are so startlingly effective in this area, and how you can use them to stretch and expand your own creative thinking and brainstorming abilities, thus gaining major new insights. Creative thinking or...

Four Danger Areas

Positive Thinking Mindmap

There are four major pitfalls for any Mind Mapper Mind Maps that aren't really Mind Maps The idea that phrases are more meaningful The idea that a 'messy' Mind Map is no good 4 A negative emotional reaction to any Mind Map All these danger areas can easily be avoided as long as you bear in mind the principles explained below. 1 Mind Maps that aren't really Mind Maps The Figures overleaf are often created by people at an early stage in Mind Mapping who have not yet fully absorbed all the Mind...

Avoid Making Assumptions

What is an assumption in terms of problem solving It is an idea based on too little or not very good information. For example, the manager of a convenience store has an employee who is often late for her shift. The manager makes the assumption that the employee is lazy and does not take her job seriously. In fact, the employee has had car trouble and must rely on unreliable public transportation to get to work. When you avoid making assumptions, you get all the information you need before...

Chicken and Egg Confusing Cause and Effect

The age-old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg is used to describe dilemmas to which there are no easy answers. In terms of logical arguments, when you are not sure which came first, you could make an error by confusing cause and effect. Just because two things regularly occur together, you cannot necessarily determine that one causes the other. Chicken and egg is a fallacy that has the following general form 1. A and B regularly occur together. 2. Therefore, A is the cause of...

When Did Ronald Reagans Alzheimers Begin

During a deposition in 1990, President Ronald Reagan could not recall the name of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We now know that he went on to develop Alzheimer's disease. Did he already have the disease at that time, or perhaps even earlier While we will never know the answer definitively, his experience illustrates how Alzheimer's disease often starts. In Reagan's case it began with forgetting names, a common symptom of age-related memory loss. This is classic for Alzheimer's...

Appearance Is Important

Certainly what you say is more important than what people see. Your appearance, however, is an important aspect of your presentation skills you want to encourage the audience to listen to what you have to say. Remember that your presentation begins the moment someone recognizes you as the speaker. This might be in the elevator, the restroom, or even in the parking garage. As soon as you are in close proximity to your speaking location, act as though you are on stage because you may be.

Silva Mind Control

The headline of a large ad in the Herald Tribune caught my eye An amazing scientifically based system that liberates the powerful potential of your mind, and develops your concentration, memory, intuition and creativity. I was fascinated - it was like reading an exact description of what I was trying to accomplish in my 'alpha seminars' on personal development, which were a synthesis of all the methods I had come across previously. Was this some form of competition I had to find out more. The...

Overcoming the barriers to reflecting

The main enemy of reflection is, of course, the relentless pressure of time. I just have not got time to stop and reflect, we say to ourselves in offices across the world. But there is also a deeply rooted cultural tendency in many of us to assume that experts know best and that our opinion cannot possibly be of value. This habit of mind is acquired by some at school, when the realization dawns that in many examinations there are right and wrong answers regardless of the validity of the...

Memory System For Schedules And Appointments

As with telephone numbers, many people find appointments and schedules hard to remember. They employ similar systems for coping with their problem, the most common, of course, being the diary. Unfortunately many people don't always keep their diaries with them In this chapter I introduce two systems, the first of which is for immediate daily use, the second for remembering schedules and appointments for an entire week. The first involves your basic peg systems. Simply equate the number in your...

How to Photo Read

Before beginning the PhotoReading procedure (or any reading), always state your purpose. Clearly state to yourself what you expect to get from the materials. 2) Enter Accelerative Learning State By the procedure of 3 to 1, enter the resource level, a relaxed state of alertness for learning. 3) Affirm Concentration, Impact, and Outcome Give yourself a series of positive affirmations that will direct the material you PhotoRead into your inner mind and insure it has the impact you desire. For...

The Foundations of Layered Reading

To understand how the Multiple Reading Process, or layering technique, works, it's important to recognize four basic principles on which this concept is based Principle 1 You must learn to see and accept words and phrases out of their normal expectancy order. To illustrate, suppose you divide this page in half, drawing a vertical line from top to bottom. Then, assume that you subdivide it crosswise. Imagine a series of about four or five parallel horizontal lines across the page, from the top...

The Hedonic Treadmill and How It Affects Your Happiness

If you've read any articles or books on the topic of happiness, you may have heard the term hedonic treadmill. But what is it exactly, and what causes it More importantly, how does it affect your happiness What is the Hedonic Treadmill Hedonic treadmill , or hedonic adaptation , is a psychological term that refers to the human tendency to return to a baseline level of happiness, or set-point, after experiencing positive or negative changes or events in their life.

Creativity Is Your Birthright

If the truth were known, you are an idea-generating organism. Creativity is your birthright. You are a highly intelligent individual with a continuous flow of good ideas that you can use to accomplish goals and improve your life. In fact, even if you have not used your creativity for a long time, and most people have not, you can stir it up, like sugar that has sunk to the bottom of a cup of coffee, by stimulating your mind with methods that we will talk about in the next chapter. There is a...

How to Deal with Ignorant People

A person becomes ignorant when they think they are educated when they're not, know something when they don't, or are more aware than others. And it how to deal with ignorant people that cause us frustration and aggravate us. Ignorance is defined by Webster's Dictionary as a lack of knowledge, education, or awareness . Now, not being aware, educated, or knowledgeable is not a negative thing in itself. It simply implies that a person doesn't know or isn't aware of something.

Implicit and explicit

Not only do actual statements of arguments typically include a lot of material that is inessential to the argument, they often exclude some of what is essential to the argument some essential propositions are left implicit, when our task in reconstruction is to make the argument fully explicit. To say that a proposition is implicit in an argument is to say that it is part of the argument intended by the arguer - either as a premise or as the conclusion - but that it has not actually been stated...

Getting Acquainted Activities

Get Acquainted Activities

The amount and quality of in-class communication between you and participants, and among participants, can often directly impact the success of a session. One of the key differences between pedagogy and andragogy is the experience level of adult learners. Providing opportunities for participants to share their knowledge and expertise is important. Often, communication can be facilitated through activities in which learners have a chance to get to know one another, build rapport, and share what...

How To Remember Numbers

The problem with numbers is that they are cold and unfeeling. Group a list of letters together and you have a word that represents something - an image, an emotion, a person. Throw a few numbers together and you have, well, you have another number. So many people find numbers awkward, slippery customers. And yet numbers play such an important part in our lives. Numbers are everywhere. Haven't we all wished, at some time or another, that we could remember numbers without writing them down...

How can you enter the alpha state

It's very simple sitting down in a quiet place, staring off into space and not thinking about anything in particular will increase alpha wave emissions. You can also learn some relaxation technique, or practice a method like sophrology. According to a study conducted at Trinity College in San Antonio, Texas, the state induced by the practice of Silva's Mind Control method also increase alpha wave activity. Another method roll your eyes back as far as possible and concentrate on a point in the...

Covering generalisations

In the politician case, the connecting premise was a generalisation (review the discussion of generalisations in Chapter 1 if you are not clear about what a generalisation is). Connecting premises are usually generalisations. But in the inflation case the connecting premise we used was a conditional (see Chapter 2). This is also common. However, there is an important relationship between conditionals and generalisations that must be appreciated. Consider the following propositions (a) If Betty...

Reasoning from generalisation

Reasoning from generalisation is another common form of argument or explanation. Yet it is very different from causation. If causation, at its simplest, seeks to show how one event leads to another, reasoning from generalisation shows how knowledge about a general class or category of events allows us to make a conclusion about a specific event that fits the general category. For example All children who have been fully immunised are protected against some common and life-threatening diseases,...

Categorical and propositional logic

Now we will look at the two common forms of deductive reasoning. For a long time, logic was primarily thought to consist in the formation of definitive relationships (such as the deductive examples above), normally expressed in the form Humans are mammals. All mammals breathe air. Therefore humans breathe air. Such reasoning is called categorical precisely because it is not about actual events so much as the ideal categories by which we can define and discriminate the innumerable things in the...

The story of a great mind map artist

Ulf Ekberg Mindmaps

In 1984 Ulf Ekberg, a Swedish ship's captain who was also an expert on computer systems, took a Mind Mapping course. Great things were expected ofhim, for he regularly contributed cartoons to his company's journals, and he i also started studying portrait and landscape painting. At the end of the course, when all the students had to complete their final Mind Maps, Ulf's mind went blank Disappointed and frustrated, he went home for the weekend, vowing to devote several hours to completing the...

How to Torture a Telemarketer

Listening to my husband on the phone with a telemarketer is like watching a cat play with a mouse. You know the outcome is inevitable, and you can clearly see the mouse dangling limp in the mouth of the satisfied cat. But the process the swatting back and forth, the jabs, the pokes, the pins to the ground and the final capture is yet to come. The cat could just pounced on the mouse and kill it in one swift blow. But no. The cat likes to show off, to have fun, to prey.

How to Deal with Unreasonable People

From prickly in-laws to difficult coworkers, we have all found ourselves trying, and usually failing to successfully deal with unreasonable people. There are several strategies, however that you can employ to turn a frustrating, embarrassing situation into a more positive experience. 1. The first, and most important thing is to stay calm. This sounds both simple and deceptively easy, but it is critical to emerging unscathed.

Does Everyone Eventually Get Alzheimers Disease

Several years ago, Denis Evans's research group at Harvard conducted a survey in East Boston and found that literally half the people above the age of eighty met diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease. Their results suggested that Alzheimer's disease, not memory loss due to aging, was the normal clinical course for people as they grew older. However, other investigators have since reported much lower rates of Alzheimer's disease in octogenarians. As I discussed in an earlier chapter, if...

Definition Of Bois In A Mind Map

Radiant Thinking

Journey through the mind of a Mind Mapper, Part 4 Benefits of polycategoric Mind Maps In this chapter you will learn how to organise your own ideas make notes , using multiple-branched or polycategoric Mind Maps. These involve more complex hierarchies and a greater number of Basic Ordering Ideas than the simple dyadic model. Polycategoric Mind Maps can be used for most descriptive, analytic and evaluative tasks but we have used basic decision-making examples in order to ease your transition...

The Dos and Donts of Brainstorming

Well, to be honest with you, if I tried to cover everything I know about brainstorming in these pages, that chapter alone would be larger than this entire book. But I can give you a quick list of do's and don'ts that I'm sure will shed a good deal of light on this murky, misunderstood process. Do Set aside at least two hours (I prefer three) to make sure you get beyond the surface in your thinking. Don't Expect to blast in and find the holy grail of answers after taking a few minutes to just...

Unconscious Problem Solving

This method relies on the unconscious mind to be continually processing the various sensory inputs stored in short-term and long-term memory. Using your unconscious to solve problems is a process of listening and a readiness to record ideas as they percolate into your conscious mind. Some of the greatest thinkers were great relaxers. Einstein was a daydreamer and spent much of his relaxation time sailing on a lake. Ralph Waldo Emerson enjoyed fishing. It's all very well to work hard on a...

Rhetorical ploys and fallacies

Substantive fallacies 11 6 Further fallacies 139 Sometimes we are moved to accept or reject claims when we have been given no good grounds for doing so. Often this is because speakers or writers attempt to persuade us in ways which appear to provide good reasons but which do not really. We'll call these persuasive devices sham-reasons and the process of employing them sham-reasoning. As critical thinkers we should be alert to the possibility of sham-reasoning, take care to avoid being persuaded...

Characteristics of the Creative Person

Seeks problems enjoys challenge optimistic able to suspend judgment comfortable with imagination sees problems as opportunities doesn't give up easily perseveres, works hard The Home Page of Robert Harris Vanguard U Home PageCopyright 1992, 1998 by Robert Harris How to cite this page About the author Robert Harris is Professor of English at Vanguard University of Southern California in Costa Mesa, California. RHarris vanguard.edu CREATIVE THINKING by J. R. Pierce I have been asked to talk to...

Exercise 82 Developing A Photographic Memory

Without memory, there is no learning but to have only a good memory of data without utilizing the information is hardly worthwhile. Daniel McCartney was born in Pennsylvania in 1817. His powers of memory were noticed at 5 or 6 years of age and they became fully acute at the age of 16. From that age on, he forgot nothing for the rest of his life He learned nothing by reading, but only by hearing, for his eyesight was poor. He could give the cube root of numbers up to the millions almost...

Exercise 214 Psionic and Psychotronic Generators

Psionic generators are devices that are activated by the energy streaming from your eyes. Psychotronic generators are devices that amplify your thought energy. After suffering under years of criticism, a lot of serious research has been done to validate such devices. Years ago the CIA reportedly learned that the Soviets were using powerful psychotronic generators to amplify and beam harmful ELF (extremely low frequency) thought transmissions to major U.S. cities (in some case using...

How to Write Your Personal Mission and Vision Statements

There's plenty of advice these days about how you're supposed to have personal mission and vision statements. The idea seemed silly to me at first I'm a person, not a Fortune 500 company. But I was convinced after reading about their importance on some of my favorite productivity and personal development blogs. Writing my personal mission and vision statements was a watershed moment in my personal productivity. I've used them for two years to guide my planning.

GTD with Google Apps - The Setup and Workflow

Yes, many productivity experts use Macs and OmniFocus for their GTD workflows. But you don't have to change computer platforms and buy expensive software to follow the Getting Things Done method. Google Apps has everything you need for your GTD process. In fact, Google Apps is so flexible, you can mold it to many productivity methodologies. There are several benefits to using Getting Things Done (GTD) with Google Apps It works on all platforms.

6 The Number Shape System

In chapter 5 you learned the right-brained Link System, in which you applied all the Basic Memory Principles with the exception of number and order. We now move on to the first of the Peg Memory Systems. A Peg Memory System differs from the Link System in that it uses a special list of Key Memory Images that never change and to which everything that you wish to remember can be linked and associated. A Peg System can be thought of much like a wardrobe containing a certain definite number of...

15 Widespread Creativity Myths

It never ceases to amaze me how many myths float around the internet concerning creative people and creative thinking. Many of these myths probably come from outdated business practices or mindsets, but others are honest-to-goodness public perception of creative people. Well, today we're going to set the record straight. The answers to these myths might surprise people, as us creative folk aren't as different as you might think.

No Idea Left Behind: 25 Tools for Capturing Ideas Anywhere

As a serial entrepreneur, I'm addicted to ideas. I feed off of 'em. And nothing makes me more upset than having a great idea and losing it. Ideas never happen at opportune times, and having the proper idea capture tools can make sure that you'll capture all your ideas for later processing. The problem with ideas is that they're situational. You don't only have ideas while you're in front of the computer, or walking your dog. Ideas happen all the time.

11 Lessons to Learn From Honest Abe, the Bumbling Entrepreneur

It's funny how most people believe the late Abraham Lincoln is one of the best examples of perseverance. It's true, he's an incredible success story. A kid born in backwoods Kentucky worked hard, became educated and eventually became the President of the United States. Pretty incredible.However, most people think that the most fascinating aspect of Lincoln's was that he constantly failed at life, but kept pushing on despite his circumstances.

Habitify Review - a Detailed Look at the Habit Tracker App

The productivity world can't stop talking about good habits. I can tell you from my own experience that a foundation of a few good habits makes it easy to be productive each day. It can be tricky to form habits, and that's where habit trackers come in. Habit trackers like Habitify remind you when to complete your daily goals until they become ingrained habits. These apps reward you by showing your progress. The reminders plus the reinforcement make it easy to learn new habits.

Avoid Inadvertent Offenses!

Winston Churchill was not known for appeasing people who pointed out his shortcomings. A lady said to him, Sir, you re drunk. Churchill's response Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I will be sober. On another occasion, Nancy Astor told him, Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison. His response If I were your husband, I would take it. His is not a good example for speakers. You should do what you can not to offend when speaking, whether individually or to a crowd.

How to develop paranormal faculties

The question of how to develop paranormal faculties has preoccupied mankind since the dawn of time. It has acquired an added urgency in light of the gradual awakening of man's awareness that has taken place over the last few years. The New Scientist, a British scientific journal, questioned its readers - the elite of the scientific and intellectual community - on whether or not they believed in the existence of extra sensorial perception (ESP). To the editor's great surprise, 70 of those who...

What Is a Judgment Call

Judgment calls are made all the time, about such varied topics as what stock to buy, whether to perform a surgery, and if a potentially game-winning basketball shot made it through the hoop before the buzzer. But these decisions do have a number of things in common. For instance the information you need is incomplete or ambiguous knowledgeable people disagree about them there are often ethical dilemmas and or conflicting values involved How can you make a judgment call with so much uncertainty...

How to Fine Tune Your Hidden Voice

Subvocal linear reading is clearly an important part of your repertoire of reading skills. Becoming proficient in this slower-paced technique will increase your reading speed far beyond its present rate and is an essential first step in Mentally Soaring with visual-vertical reading. But how exactly do you fine-tune this skill First, it's important to evaluate accurately, in hard, clear terms, just how fast you can expect to read using the subvocal linear approach. Second, you must learn to...

The Evelyn Wood Stoty

Evelyn Wood began her career as a counselor for girls at a high school in Salt Lake City. As it happened, none of the youngsters she was trying to help could read well, and good reading seemed the key to getting them back on track in their studies. So Evelyn established a remedial reading program. That program was quite successful, but she wanted to do more. She was especially interested in finding ways that students could read beyond what many experts then regarded as the outer limit of...

Extraneous material

The first step in analysing and reconstructing an argument is to identify its conclusion, then its premises. But much of what people say or write, when advancing an argument, plays no argumentative role. Much is there for emphasis, or is rhetorical, or plays some other role than that of expressing the propositions that properly constitute the argument. When reconstructing arguments, then, we have to hive off this extraneous material. Here's an example we've given each sentence a number in order...

The key analytical questions

Context analysing the external dimensions of reasoning Throughout this book, we have seen how context is all-important in determining many of our judgments about effective reasoning. When planning and creating (and then presenting) an argument or explanation, the particular context in which this reasoning occurs must be actively considered. The nature of context a mass of implied or assumed knowledge and expectations makes it impossible for us to develop precise guidelines for its...

Mind map storytelling

Mind Map Fairy Tale

First prepare your environment and materials Mind Mapping paper spread out on the floor or tables and plenty of good-quality coloured pens. There are seven major stages in the story-telling process. Each member of the family does an individual brainstorm on ideas for a super-creative fairytale. The ideas might take the form of suggested titles the more fantastic the better or perhaps central characters animal, vegetable, extraterrestrial or even human . Each person reads out his or her ideas...

Why Writing Notes is Better Than Typing When Learning

In today's college classrooms it's not uncommon to see people break out the laptops to take notes on a lecture. It makes sense. If you're trying to capture as much information as possible, typing is much faster than trying to write your notes by hand. And if you're like me, my handwriting isn't what you'd call elegant. I remember trying to understand my own chicken scratch at times. Typing is not only faster, it's just way easier to read.

Can Tetris Help Us Cope With Traumatic Memories?

In a famous passage in Theatetus , Plato compares human memory to a wax tablet Whenever we wish to remember anything we see or hear or think of in our own minds, we hold this wax under the perceptions and thoughts and imprint them upon it, just as we make impressions from seal rings and whatever is imprinted we remember and know as long as its image lasts, but whatever is rubbed out or cannot be imprinted we forget and do not know.

Examples of group mind maps in action

Examples Mind Maps For Children

In recent years the group Mind Mapping method has been used very successfully by families, schools, universities and multinational companies. A Boeing Aircraft engineering manual was condensed into a 25-foot long Mind Map, to enable a team of 100 senior aeronautical engineers to learn in a few weeks what had previously taken a few years. The result was an estimated saving of 11 million. See page 171 bottom . Electronic Data Systems EDS , Digital Equipment Corporation and Nabisco have...

Leslie Welch

Leslie Welch is perhaps the best-know n Memory Man of all. Often referred to as a walking sports encyclopaedia, he became famous for his ability to answer almost any question on football, horse racing and cricket. He played to packed music halls in the late 1940s and 1950s, bewildering audiences wherever he went. Millions tuned into his radio shows and he was soon earning 11,000 a year. Then it all went wrong. He ended his working life as a 25-a-wcck accountant for the Department of Employment....

Knowledge and rational persuasiveness

Rational persuasiveness requires that you be justified in accepting the premises of an argument. If the argument is deductively valid, then if you are justified in accepting the premises, you are equally justified in accepting the conclusion. If the premises of such an argument are actually true, then since you know the premises to be true, you know the conclusion to be true.8 However, there are two complications. First, a rationally persuasive argument can be unsound rational persuasiveness...

Multiple Choice Questions

In this type of test, you're asked to select the correct answer from a group of given answers. Many vocabulary tests, for instance, are multiple choice. One major advantage for the student with this kind of test is that the correct answer is always given. As a result, the shrewd student can often find the right response simply by process of elimination. On the other hand, it's just as important to read the directions carefully with multiple-choice tests as with any other type of exam. Too...

Whole Mind Syntopic Reading

A widely and well read individual is one who understands the dynamics ofall sides ofa topic, perceives broadly, and draws his or her own conclusions. As Shakespeare said, Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment this above all to thine own self be true. Syntopic reading ensures that your ideas, thoughts, and opinions are based on your own truth. By analyzing various author's ideas and ultimately choosing one that rings the truest for you, your truth is notjust the last book you read....

Correlation Studies

The gathering of information is not the only time during which manipulation can occur. Once numbers are obtained, they must be interpreted or evaluated. This step also has plenty of opportunities to distort the truth. As an example, let's look at comparisons between two sets of information between which there may be a connection. These types of comparisons are commonly referred to as correlation studies. Researchers use correlation studies when they want to know if there is a link between two...

Table Of Contents

Course Purpose and Objectives 7 The PhotoReading Whole Mind System Map 10 Sneak Preview of PhotoReading 11 First Experience with the PhotoFocus State 12 14 Different Approaches to Reading 19 Article The Body Mind Link for Inner Peace. 25 Article Foundations of Paraliminal Technology 27 Article The Art of Reading to Recognition Game Book 1 46 Recognition Game Book 2 48 Theory of Multiple Intelligences 51 Article Mind Mapping 53 Mind Map Format for Single Books 55 Paraliminals with PhotoReading...

When Depression Strikes at Memory Joans Story

Joan Marciano, a fifty-six-year-old divorced woman living alone, walked slowly into my office and took her time sitting down. She worked in the casual wear section at a department store and said that she could no longer keep track of how clothes were organized in the various racks. ''I just can't seem to do my job. My memory is failing me, she said, straightening out a wrinkle in her navy blue skirt. The young folks quietly help me out whenever I have a customer. Especially Maria, she's only...

Psychocybernetics

Back in the 1960's, a book was written that has become a classic in the field of personal development. Psychocybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz has been read in its original or translated form by millions of people around the world. It all started with a failure of a sort. Maxwell Maltz, a brilliant plastic surgeon practicing in England, France, Germany, Italy and South America, became interested in psychology after noticing how various facial operations affected the personalities of his...

4 Suboptimal Thinking Is Not the Mental Basis of Peak Performance

You may ask What is peak performance Many professionals claim that if we think positively display courage, persistence, and self-reliance and use their suggested techniques for setting goals, managing time, and relating to others, then we will achieve peak performance. Such qualities and techniques are certainly constructive ingredients for success, but what is essential for peak performance is peak or Optimal Thinking. We cannot function at our peak when we think in suboptimal terms. Whenever...

What Makes Someone Creepy?

We judge people within the first few seconds of seeing them. While this might seem superficial, it's an evolutionary technique that's served us well when survival was key. Today, the dangers from the environment are less of an issue, but the survival trait remains. Sometimes when we do this unconscious measurement if a particular person is friend or foe, you get the sense that someone is just creepy.

How Birth Order Affects IQ And Personality

If you've grown up with a sibling, you've likely heard about how birth order can affect any number of things. Academic rivalries, risk taking tendencies, intelligence, and exerting self-control are just a few of the attributes that have been associated with being born first, second, or third. A massive new study looked at over 377,000 kids to see if birth order had any links to differences in personality or IQ. The results might not be what you expected.

GTD Cheatsheet: The Workflow

Getting Things Done (or GTD) is a system to free your mind of it's resources and become more organized in the process. In short it's a way to become more productive and stress free, in one fell swoop. It's a beautiful thing, really. The book deals mainly with the processes to the GTD system which include clearing your mind (and living space) of useless clutter, organizing it, and storing it in appropriate places, and reviewing it on a consistent basis.

GTD Cheatsheet: The Collection

Now that we've set the groundwork for our GTD workflow, it's time to put it into use. For a quick refresher (it was a long weekend), the workflow basically categorizes all of our stuff (both physical and mental) that we want to organize into whether a) it's doable or b) it's not doable. Simple as that. Well, not that simple, but you get the idea. We humans traditionally have a nasty habit of keeping our junk too long. Waaaaaaaay too long.

How to Become a Google Docs Power User

Google Docs is one of the coolest web applications ever (in my humble opinion). I am convinced that it is a godsend for anyone blogger, writer, student or housewife. It solves a lot of problems that traditional word processors have, and adds some compelling features that any writer would love. Less Clutter - Don't worry about saving text files on your computer. Shoot, you don't even need a word processor installed on your computer. I didn't have one for a long time, and did fine without.

What Is Reading

Reading is a visual process - vision is a symbolic process of seeing an item or symbol and translating it into an idea or image. Images are processed into concepts and whole dimensions of thought. The visual process of taking in information visually and translating that into dimensions of thought is very rapid. It moves at the speed of thought. There are some scientists like Nick Herbert who believe that this process exceeds the speed of light. When you come to believe that you can read in this...

How to Take Lecture Notes

Slash Recall Pattern Notes Taking

Most students at one time or another fantasize about either using a tape recorder or shorthand to capture every word a lecturer says. But in fact, both of these fantasies are unrealistic. In the first place, if you turn on a tape recorder with the intention of listening to the lecture again before the exam, you'll in effect have to double your lecture time. You'll not only spend twenty-five to thirty hours or more in the classroom you'll also have to spend another twenty-five to thirty hours...

Effective use of dependent premises Dependent premises providing one reason

A reason for a conclusion is very unlikely to consist in a single claim. No matter how we might state it in short-hand, it is, analytically, a complex interaction of many ideas and implications. The reason must be broken down into a chain of more precise premises. For example, the claim that 'university education should be free for all Australians' might be supported by the reason that 'the economy benefits from a well-educated Australian population'. But is our analysis of the situation...

The Value of a Purposeful Career

There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose. Now that you have determined your life purpose, you are ready to unravel and reinforce your career purpose. Many people believe that earning a lot of money is the path to peace and joy. Unfortunately, some of them lose touch with their souls as they climb the ladder of success. When they eventually achieve financial prosperity, they feel empty, anxious, or depressed. Some talented...

The Facebook Application Creator… for Bloggers

Well I don't know about you, but this Christmas was incredible. Mirth and merriment were in full supply, and my families were in no shortage of the giving spirit either. I hope everyone had as wonderful time with friends and family as I did. But rest assured, it wasn't all fun and games. I was hard at work on a very secret project that, I'm happy to announce, has just launched.

37 Research-Backed Benefits of Gratitude

The first thing I ever knew about gratitude was that it fostered happiness. But once I started digging into the research, I discovered the benefits of gratitude go way beyond that. I was a bit blown away, and I think you will be too. Below you'll find one of the most comprehensive lists of the benefits of gratitude. All backed by research, surveys, and experts. And I hope it inspires you to practice more gratitude in your own life.

What is in the Way of Developing Great Conversation Skills? Part

This is the second and concluding part of the blog post about how to overcome obstacles to developing great conversation skills. You can read part one In part one we looked at four keys to getting results with the material in this post and we also looked at the first four negative habits that stop people from developing great conversation skills. Let's look now at the final six negative habits we need to be aware of so we can deal with them. 5.

How Sarcasm Increases Creativity

You can't scroll through Facebook without seeing a meme laced with it. And we absolutely adore TV characters like House or Dr. Cox from Scrubs that radiate sarcasm. Sarcastic humor is downright priceless and applicable to many of our own situations. However, meeting a sarcastic person face-to-face can be an entirely different experience. Depending on the context and delivery, you may not find the social encounter all that entertaining.

The Right Hemisphere

The right hemisphere is a holistic, gestalt mode and handles spatial relations. The right hemisphere is intuitive and deals in thinking It grasps the relations between the parts directly rather than by a sequence of deductions. It is primarily concerned with our simultaneous comprehension. The right side of our brain is very good at perceiving and expressing novel complex visual, spatial and musical patterns. It is able to synthesize all this information into an understandable whole. A person...

5 The Buzan Organic Study Method 117

Problems of 'getting down' to study Reasons for fear and reluctance when approaching study books Problems arising from the use of standard study techniques Study planned to suit the individual's needs Defining the areas and amount of study Distribution of the student's effort Noting of current knowledge on the subject being studied Planning approach to the new subject Defining reasons for study and goals to be achieved Study overview Preview Inview Review Summary of the Buzan Organic Study...

Do I Contradict Myself?

Do I contradict myself Very well then I contradict myself,(I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman, Song of Myself My brother's incredible Walt Whitman tattoo. This month marks the five year anniversary of this blog and this Walt Whitman quote is one of my favorites of all time. It explains this site and myself perfectly. If you dug through the underbelly archives of this site, you'd see that there are some posts that are totally contradictory to what this site is about.

4 Proven Small Talk Topics that Work with Everyone

No matter which type of setting you are in, be it a professional or personal relationship, it would have started with small talk . If you would not take the initiative to talk with somebody, your social circle would not widen and your business opportunities will be limited to those who you already know. This is the reason why you need to learn how to make small talk so that you will be able to connect with other people in any social setting.

Psychological Benefits of Meditation

If someone asked you what the biggest reason why people meditate, what would you probably say The first thing that jumps to my mind is stress. I don't think crossing their legs really looks all that comfortable, but then again I'm not a very flexible person. But man, they sure look peaceful. Stress is the first thing that jumps to many people's minds when they think of meditation. And you are correct that it's one of the greatest benefits of meditation, but it's definitely not the only one.

Making Decisions Under Stress

When the demands you face exceed your ability to meeet them, you are under stress. Stress can affect both physical and mental health, possibly resulting in increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression. Therefore, it can affect the ability to think critically, solve problems, and make sound decisions. There is no way to control every potentially stressful situation that we may encounter time pressures at work, lack of information, information...

Cutting the Cord

Last week felt like that moment you get in your car and hear only the last two seconds of your favorite song. Things most certainly could be worse, but it was a series of frustrations a 200 bee exterminator fee, a leaking faucet, etc. that culminated with me actually writing a blog post. (I know. I should have called my sponsor for an intervention.) Anyway, to say that Comcast is a frustrating company is to say that a Kardashian takes a selfie or two now and again.

Use the Power of Practice to Build Your Speaking Skills

The psychologist and philosopher William James famously wrote 99 of our activity is purely automatic all of our life is nothing but a mass of habits. After reading the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (which I first wrote about here), it is clear that habits define virtually every aspect of our lives, from how much we eat, save, or spend to how we work, communicate, and interact with others. One interesting example in Duhigg's book focuses on Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.