17 Funny Bernie Sanders Memes For Those Who Need Support

Bernie Sanders may have had to suspend his campaign but he won the meme race when he asked for financial support from his followers. In his tweet, he said the magic words, “I am once again asking for financial support”. The truth is, we have an excellent chance to win the primary and beat Trump. […]

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79 Heartwarming Mother’s Day Quotes For The Special Moms In The World

Looking for awesome Mother’s Day quotes to celebrate your mom’s special day? Well, we have an entire collection for you. Mother’s Day is an excellent opportunity for you to say thank you to the first special woman in your life. It’s also a wonderful chance for you to show how much you appreciate everything she […]

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30 Motherhood Quotes on Love and Devotion That Never Falter

Allow yourself to get some well-deserved credit for being the most resilient, devoted mom ever with these 30 motherhood quotes. Motherhood is love, sacrifice, and devotion. It is guilt, frustrations, and the most profound exhaustion possible. It is hopeful with its own blend of sorrows. It is simple and complex, freeing and confining, joyful and […]

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30 Dignity Quotes Because You’re Worthy of Respect

In all of human endeavors, there’s no motivation as noble as just wanting dignity. While it’s typical to strive for success and recognition, to be worthy of respect is something that you can’t put a price on. To have dignity means to live in a way that you can be proud of, to live conscientiously. […]

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20 Hilarious Memes of the Lovable Barney Stinson

How I Met Your Mother is one of the greats of American sitcom. And of the whole cast, Barney Stinson is the runaway breakout character. He may be an oversexed and manipulative character, but he is adorable in his own specially charming and dashing way. His catchphrases are very distinct – from “Suit up!”, “What […]

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30 Fun Takes On The Wrong Lyrics Christina Meme

Most of us have some embarrassing dream moments we don’t want to become reality. For some people, showing up naked in public. For some, it’s food growing legs and giving chase. Fortunately, none of these are bound to happen. For Christina Aguilera though, singing the wrong lyrics to the National Anthem in front of a […]

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18 Archer Memes For Some Adult Humor

Welcome, Archer fans! We know you’re here for our collection of funny Archer memes. Just make sure you don’t leave the donuts lying around. Because ants. Do you want ants? Because that’s how you get ants. For a big dose of adult humor, here are your humorous Archer memes rife with highlights from the TV […]

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Spot Your GF In These 60 Hilarious Girlfriend Memes

When a relationship is just starting out, it’s easy to get lost in your emotions and forget to think logically. You’ll see your partner as the best thing since sliced bread. Once the rose-colored glasses come off though, you might notice some special or unique quirks that your girlfriend may have. We hope they’re just […]

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20 Stalking Memes That Will Not Creep You Out

Today’s topic is for people who do better research than the FBI. It’s all about the stalking meme! Nowadays, stalking is somewhat a part of our everyday routines especially for millennials. Whether you do it consciously or not, stalking becomes easy because of the internet and social media. Now if you are one of those people […]

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30 Equality Quotes: To Be Fair Is Humanity’s Greatest Milestone

Equality is the reflection of a just, sensible society. When people treat each other with respect, the whole of mankind thrives in essence and purpose. While there are still societal divisions, we must be more sensitive and prudent to matters of equality. It’s good that human rights are now recognized as one of the crucial […]

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25 Irrational Black Woman Memes

Are you looking for some irrational black woman memes? Apparently, this meme reflects how African American women are portrayed in TV shows and movies as having irrational expectations when it comes to men or their partners. Scroll down through our collection and see if it’s true enough. All The Good Black Men Won’t Tolerate A […]

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Have Secrets? Here’s 22 Funny All Right Then Keep Your Secrets Memes

When friends or colleagues can’t divulge secrets and it’s not worth it to torture somebody for information, what do you say? You act cool and say, alright then, keep your secrets. That’s exactly what Frodo did when Gandalf wouldn’t spill about Bilbo’s strange behavior. We miss Lord of the Rings, so here’s the clip: Netizens […]

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Anxiety Quotes On Fighting Silent Battles

Anxiety is everywhere. It doesn’t matter what your circumstances are, you’re bound to have encountered it one way or another, and more often than you’d like. It comes in many forms, too, to the point of inescapability. Anxiety can be the variety of options in your life or the lack of it. It can be […]

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The Force Is Strong In These 70 Star Wars Quotes

In 1977, the first Star Wars film was released. Written and directed by George Lucas, it instantly became a box-office hit which prompted for a wider cinematic release. It was well-received by critics and audiences alike and was notable for its innovative visual effects. Since then, Star Wars has spawned two more sequels, a prequel […]

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45 Happy Teacher’s Day Quotes And Messages To Celebrate Your Mentor’s Special Day

Teachers play a huge role not just in our success in our chosen career but also in life. They teach us how to become better human beings by serving as our coaches and mentors. They educate us and equip us with the skills and knowledge we need to fulfill our potential. To celebrate teachers and […]

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20 Sad You Were The Chosen One Memes

If you ever find yourself in a situation where a person disappoints you and need a meme to share to the world, what you need is a “you were the chosen one” meme. While the memes themselves are funny, one can’t help but be reminded of that poignant moment between Obi Wan and Anakin. Ah, […]

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Too Good To Be True? Here Are 20 Funny It’s A Trap Memes

We love this “It’s a trap” meme. Do you know why? It teaches the golden lesson that if something seems too good to be true, it probably IS too good to be true. If a pop-up ad says you won a million dollars or if your significant other says he or she doesn’t want anything […]

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40 Don’t Care Memes For When You Just Need to Be Yourself

Training your mind not to care isn’t easy. For most people, it’s not right, too. However, for your own health and sanity, not caring about what other people are thinking or saying is essential. It’ll give you the chance to be honest with yourself and to listen more to what you’re really thinking. It’ll allow […]

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40 Wonderful Siblings Quotes That Will Make You Feel Extra Grateful

You might not always get along with your siblings but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important to you. In fact, apart from your parents, they are the only people who’ve seen you at your best and worst moments and still love you anyway. They are always beside you, no matter where you are in […]

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24 Sweet and Adorable Baby Quotes

Babies are the purest beings in this accursed world. They bring profound happiness and joy to every family. You stroke their tiny hands, they grasp your finger, and you know you want to love and protect them forever. With their giggles and twinkly eyes, you’re reminded to appreciate the beauty of life. Here are adorable […]

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25 Hilarious Memes For the Suburban Hardass

The suburban hardass memes are hilarious. They depict a rather privileged young man and his attempts to be suburban hardass. Check out how he claims the hood, but gets grounded for swearing and has a 10pm curfew. You are challenged not to stare at the button-down long sleeve shirt , matching pants, and “swag”. Really, […]

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22 Funny I Have No Idea What I’m Doing Memes For The Clueless

If you love pets and don’t know the heck what you’re doing, then we’ve got these perfect memes for you. These “I have no idea what I’m doing” memes will fit the bill perfectly. A lot of people are stuck in their lives because of inaction. Usually, people are afraid to take that first step […]

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3 Reasons Why Mental Health Is So Important

Mental health matters. Taking care of our mental health aids in our resilience and recovery from anything that happens.

Anyone can have a bad day, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad life. How we respond to it and take care of our mental health are what’s important.

Mental health is important at every stage of our lives. It encompasses our overall wellbeing and affects our lives in many ways.

Why Is Mental Health Important?

Research shows that one in five adults in America – 43.8 million people – experience mental illness, which is 18.5% of our total population.((National Alliance on Mental Illness: Mental Health By the Numbers)) This means that mental health issues frequent our population and affect everything we do.

According to HealthyPeople.gov, “neuropsychiatric disorders are the leading cause of disability in the United States.”((HealthyPeople.gov: Mental Health and Mental Disorders)) Left untreated, mental illness creates widespread disability. It stops us from showing up to each day, stifles our abilities, and slows our pace.

Unfortunately, suicide rates rise when mental health is neglected. Mental health is important because it affects everything. It affects our ability to cope, adapt, and solve problems. It also affects our ability to be happy, productive, and well adjusted.

Mental health is a topic that gets stigmatized so often in our society. If someone is having a mental health issue, they are less likely to get help because of that stigma and shame.

But there’s nothing to be ashamed of. The wirings of your brain are not your fault. Yet, we act like it is our fault and discount its importance.

Mental illness also gets misunderstood by those who have never experienced it. It becomes up to us to advocate for our needs and educate others about our issues.

We become experts of “lived experience.”

There is a spectrum of how we experience things. We may sometimes lose control but regain it overall. Or we may experience the extremes of high and low emotions and not be able to cope. We may fall somewhere in between.

Things unravel when left untreated. But that doesn't mean that it becomes too late. Anything's possible. When we remember that, we give ourselves a fighting chance again.

There are three reasons why mental health is so important.

1. Mental Health Affects Physical Health

If someone had cancer, we would not blame them for this disease in their bodies. So why do we place stigma and blame on mental health issues in the brain?

Mental illness matters just as much as any disease, and it can take one’s life as easily as any other.

Depression, for example, can lead to suicidal ideations and if untreated, suicidal attempts. We are not balanced people if we only focus on physical health.

The mind and the body are connected. Many mental ailments cause stress, which lowers the immune system. This means more frequent sickness and inability to cope.

Stress and anxiety can take a toll on our physical health. According to WebMD, “worry causes the body to release stress hormones that speed up your heart rate and breathing, raise your blood sugar, and send more blood to your arms and legs. Over time, this can affect your heart, blood vessels, muscles, and other systems.”((WebMD: How Worry Affects Your Body))

When stress infiltrates our body, we start to shut down. How we cope with stress is everything. Untreated mental health issues can lead to further falling apart.

Many people turn to drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms, affecting their overall health and stability. When they don’t treat themselves right, it becomes a cycle of destructive behavior. This affects their physical wellbeing and can continue to snowball.

One’s stress affects one’s physical wellbeing and ability to take care of themselves, and this may cause destructive patterns.

When we reach this point, we sometimes only then learn that mental health is important. We must not ignore it, or other areas of our lives may suffer.

2. End Stigma and Shame to Lead Better Lives

It’s important to talk about mental health, so others can also come forward about it

Psych Central discusses how when we feel ashamed of ourselves, it is because we perceive we are broken or not normal. It affects our ability to cope when we think of ourselves so lowly.((Pysch Central: When You Feel Shame About Your Mental Illness))

Part of the process of healing is turning those feelings around. Our imperfections do not mean a lack of worth. When we realize that, we can also help others turn these feelings around and accept themselves.

Stigma begets shame. Shame begets destructive behaviors. Destructive behaviors beget a deterioration of the self.

Stigma spreads when we do not talk about mental health and its importance.

When it comes down to it, those who are mentally ill must need treatment. But without awareness and breaking the stigma surrounding their condition, they won’t feel comfortable reaching out to somebody for help. This enforces stigma and encourages more struggle and shame.

When we don’t get to say something, we give it more power.

In “Name It to Tame It”, a common exercise about emotions, we take the power of emotion away by naming it. Without talking about our emotions, they become more powerful and get more hold over us and others’ lives.

When we talk to each other, the problem becomes smaller with less hold over our lives. We can free each other by not being ashamed of mental health ourselves.

When we become authentic, we reclaim power over our lives. By denying the existence and importance of mental health, we deny ourselves. We lose our ability to solve problems and find solutions in our daily lives.

Without shame though however, we can say “I am not my mental illness. I am more than it. I am not afraid to talk about it because it is not my fault.”

When we do this, we empower ourselves and the world. We learn to listen to our triggers and warning signs so that we do not spiral, and we show greater compassion towards others experiencing it. This makes a more connected world overall.

“One day you will tell your story of how you’ve overcome what you went through, and it will become part of someone else’s survival guide.” -Unknown

When we help ourselves, we also help others. We can pay attention to the world and make it a kinder, more loving place. We can determine what problems need to be solved by acknowledging our own, and we can share our stories in making that happen. We take away the shame.

3. Mental Health Affects Everything

Our mental health affects how we cope with life. Lack of treatment leads to hopelessness and sadness, worthlessness, feeling guilty, anxiety and worry, fear, and loss of control.

Our relationships may suffer. Our performance in any situation such as school or work may decline. Withdrawal and isolation may happen.

We may also lose interest in things we once enjoyed. Task completion and time management may fall apart. It may also become difficult for us to concentrate, or one may have rumination and focus on cleaning or organizing.

Our relationship with food may change. We may have ups and downs, and racing thoughts can happen more often.

Life may become overwhelming. If we are having severe mental health issues, we may start to lose touch with reality and even hear voices.

Self-harm may happen. Destructive patterns such as alcohol and drug use may strike, and suicidal ideations may be the final result. Overall, things will fall apart if we don’t take mental health seriously.

If you experience any of these issues, it’s time to reach out for help.

Mental health issues are important. It's important to learn and care about them because if we don't, all the aforementioned things could happen. We can’t function if we’re not doing well.

But when we turn this around and have good mental health, many good things can happen:

• We learn to cope again.


• We become healthy in all aspects.


• Our relationships no longer suffer.


• We find meaning in our day to day lives.


• We become more involved in our community.


• We are more productive at school or at work.


• We can be the person we are meant to be.

When we feel better, we do better.

Mental health affects everything. It affects our nature and how we interact with the world and ourselves.

Without good mental health, we are susceptible to not knowing our full worth and struggling with things that are beyond our control. When we ignore mental health, we ignore ourselves.

We must value our health and wellness as much as we value anything, if not more. We must learn that we are good enough - that we are worthy of compassion and that others are too.

This leads us to have higher standards. It helps us feel sad if we want to feel sad, accepting our state of mind. And it also helps us do something about it.

We don’t have to wait to feel better - we can feel better today simply by acknowledging our struggles as real and worth paying compassionate attention towards.

We don’t need to solve every problem, but we can ask for help if things get too much. Then and only then do we gain some sense of control again over our lives.

Final Thoughts

We all deserve to have peace of mind. Mental health is important because we deserve that.

If we only knew how worthwhile we were, we could take over the world. It’s our own limiting thoughts that hold us back, as we think that we are not normal or broken or not worthwhile.

The truth is that the mind can lie. It can hold us back. And yet it is also the source of everything good we experience.

It doesn’t make anyone less of a person for experiencing mental health issues. When we value mental health, we lead better lives. It doesn’t mean everything will be better overnight, but we can learn how to value ourselves so we can improve over time.

Mental health is as important as physical health. We must end the stigma because mental health affects everything. When we remember that, we can turn it all around. And it’s never too late to do exactly that.

If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or call 911 immediately.

Good luck.

Tips on Improving Your Mental Health

• 5 Easy Tips To Improve Your Mental Health


• How Exercise Can Help Treat Depression and Improve Your Mental Health


• How Vlogging Can Improve Your Mental Health

How to Stop Resentment from Ruining Your Marriage

When two people meet and decide to pursue a romantic relationship with each other, they always start with high hopes. They are very happy and look at the other person through rose-colored glasses.

But as most of us know, that loving feeling doesn’t always last forever. It does for some couples, but for many, they find their relationships deteriorating through the years for a variety of reasons.

As the relationship slowly declines, what creeps in?

Resentment.

Resentment in marriage can act as a poison that can kill the love - if you let it.

But first, let’s define resentment, so we can see what it really is.

What Is Resentment?

Resentment is hurt, disappointment, anger, or any other negative emotion that persists over a period of time. It usually doesn’t go away on its own – instead, it accumulates and grows bigger.

As this resentment continues, the people in the relationship find it more difficult to express love and empathy to one another. The reason for this is because of the unheard and neglected pain they are carrying around.

Because of this, resentment is the most toxic emotion of all in any relationship, especially marriage.

Causes of Resentment

There are many reasons that resentment in marriage can build up. Usually, it happens when one partner feels that they are more loving, attentive, and “present” in the relationship than the other.

If left unattended, it can evolve into contempt, which is when two people feel absolute disdain for one another.

Here are some common causes of resentment in marriage:

Always Needing to Be Right

When spouses see their partnership as a competitor and not a teammate, resentment will likely build up. If they are always trying to “win” an argument and be “right,” then that will cause each other resentment.

Selfishness

When one or both people only think about their own needs, the marriage does not become productive. Instead, both people need to think about their partner’s needs at least equal to, if not less than, their own.

Neglect

People often get lazy in marriages. They think, “Oh…I am married! Now I don’t have to put in any work because I already “have” them!” But that often leads to a lot of neglect – of your partner and the relationship as a whole.

Abuse

No one likes to be treated poorly, but unfortunately, it happens in too many marriages. Abuse means physical, emotional, AND mental. Whenever someone is abused, resentment is bound to grow.

Ignoring Your Partner's Feelings

This is closely tied to selfishness because if you were not selfish, you would pay attention to your spouse’s feelings. But if they repeatedly tell you how they feel and they get ignored, it will lead to resentment.

Cheating or Betrayal

Marriage vows include the line “forsaking all others.” So, if one spouse betrays the other in the form of cheating (either physical or emotional), then it is not surprising that the feelings toward the cheating spouse will turn negative, which certainly causes resentment in marriage.

How Does Resentment Affect a Relationship?

If resentment builds over months, years, or even decades, it can lead to withdrawing.

When one or both partners withdraw, they become emotionally and/or physically distant from one another. There can be no intimacy and love when you are moving apart instead of coming together.

Second, resentment can lead to a lot of fighting in the marriage. Conflict is normal and natural, but in healthy relationships, people can work through their problems calmly and productively. However, when there is resentment lurking between the two of you, then the fighting can get down and dirty.

Finally, resentment can also lead to abuse or neglect. As I stated above, these can also be a cause of resentment. But even if they weren’t the direct cause they can certainly be an effect as well.

What Are the Signs of Resentment?

Each marriage is different, so resentment can manifest differently for different couples. However, there are a few signs that are common to many relationships where there is a lot of resentment brewing between the people.

Here are some common signs:

1. Your sex life suffers


2. Unusual distance, quietness, or tense feeling between the two of you


3. Passive-aggressive behavior by one or both people


4. Remarks about breaking up – whether it’s serious or in a joking manner


5. You feel like roommates and not a married couple


6. You don’t talk anymore or do anything fun together

How Do You Stop Resentment in Marriage?

It’s not easy to stop resentment in marriage, but it can be done. However, BOTH people need to be 100% committed to rebuilding the marriage in order for any of these tips to work.

Here are some ways to stop resentment in your marriage:

1. Don’t Hide or Deny Your Feelings.

Sometimes, people don’t even acknowledge their own feelings. They may have grown up in a family where expressing their feelings is discouraged. So, try to get in touch with how you feel so you can be clear about where you stand.

2. Express Your Feelings to Your Partner Clearly and Directly.

After you have figured out how you feel, then you need to tell your spouse. No one is a mind reader. I know that’s obvious, but some people just cannot pick up on the cues that other people give them. So, be very, very clear and direct about how you feel and what you need.

3. If You Are Holding a Grudge, Write a List of Why It’s Not Helpful.

Holding grudges is a common thing people do when they feel resentment. However, grudges have never, ever fixed any relationship. So, if you find yourself harboring your feelings, write down why doing that is NOT helpful.

4. Write Down Why You Should Forgive Your Partner.

Sometimes, resentment in marriage starts from something relatively minor. It might not feel minor, but perhaps it really is. So, it’s helpful to write it all down, and see what you can let go and what you can forgive your spouse for.

5. Don’t Bring Other People Into Your Negativity.

Many people feel the need to vent to their best friends, family, or anyone else who will listen to why they feel resentment toward their partner. But think about it – talking to other people does not solve your problem. Talk to your partner, not other people.

6. Try to Have Empathy.

Empathy is trying to see a situation from another person’s point of view. It’s a difficult thing to do under normal circumstances, but when you’re resentful, it’s even more difficult. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try. Remember that there are always two sides to every story.

7. Focus on Your Partner’s Good Qualities.

Your spouse must have SOME good qualities, right? I mean, you did marry the person, so I assume there are things you like about them. So, instead of focusing on the things that you think are wrong with them, focus on what is good about them.

8. See a Therapist If Needed.

Many couples simply can’t get past resentment on their own. In these cases, it is very helpful to seek the help of a trained professional. Having an objective third party help you work through your problems can be the difference between saving your marriage or not.

Can Resentment Destroy a Marriage?

This is one of the most common questions, and the answer is a resounding YES.

Resentment CAN destroy a marriage. But it doesn’t have to.

If you don’t want resentment to rot your marriage from the inside out, then you must take action to try to work through it – sooner than later. The sooner you both try to sort out your feelings and change your actions for the better, the higher chance you will have of saving your marriage and becoming happy again.

More Tips for a Healthy Marriage

• 10 Scientific Ways to Lead A Loving and Lasting Marriage


• 8 Things Happily Married Couples Do Differently


• How to Set Marriage Goals That Make Your Relationship Stronger


• 12 Marriage Books Couples Should Read for a Healthy Relationship

How To Use Goals and Dreams To Achieve Personal Success

Goals and dreams are two concepts that are often used interchangeably in the quest for success. Although they can be used to complement one another, they do mean different things. This article looks at what goals and dreams are and how they can be used hand-in-hand in order to achieve personal success.

What Are Goals?

There are different ways to describe what goals are; it can be said that goals are the desired outcomes that you have plans and commitment to achieve. What makes goals spectacular is that the things you want to achieve are clearly defined with a timeframe within which they should be achieved.

Here are some examples of goals:

• Get certified in analytics in three months


• Celebrate child’s 5th birthday in Disneyland


• Attain financial freedom at 50


• Read and finish at least one book monthly


• Watch the next Olympic games live

What Are Dreams?

Dreams are thoughts, imaginations, and aspirations that are often about what we desire to attain, experience, or achieve. Dreams can be spontaneous, or they can be desires that we have nursed over a long time. Our dreams are often shaped and influenced by what we see regularly around us, the things we have heard or read about, or the things people we admire are doing.

Here are some examples of dreams:

• Attend an Ivy League Institution


• Own a company


• Be debt-free


• Be healthy and fit


• Travel the world

Differences Between Goals and Dreams

There is no need to confuse goals and dreams when you know their differences((Carla Birnberg: 4 HUGE differences between goals and dreams)) and how they can work together to facilitate success. The following are some useful insights about goals and dreams.

Thoughts and Imagination Vs. Plans and Action

In order to have a dream, you need to engage your thoughts and imagination. This means thinking deeply about what you want to achieve, where you want to go, and to what extent you want to achieve those things. For dreams, everything ends in the realm of imagination if nothing is done thereafter.

Unlike dreams, goals require a commitment towards achieving the desired end. This includes deciding the size of the goals, planning the order of events that will lead to achieving them, and the timeline within which they should be achieved.

Spontaneity Vs. Thoughtfulness

You can have a dream anytime, anyhow, and without any form of preparation or formality. This is not the same with goals. Goals must be set thoughtfully, and conscientiously. They must be clearly written down and should be S.M.A.R.T.

Dreams Come Before Goals

It would be right to say that there is no goal without a dream. Dreams must come first because dreams give birth to goals. You must have a desire and nurture it in your mind until it becomes a burning desire that you are ready to pursue. That is when they can be turned to goals.

Captured Dreams Become Goals

There can be dreams without goals. Dreams can go on and on and end only in fantasy. However, when they are captured, they can become actionable goals that can, indeed, materialize.

There is a Yoruba proverb that can be translated thus: “S/he who finds money in the dream and gets excited should be told to focus on working hard so as not to become a victim of poverty.” While the proverb is primarily about night dreams, it can apply to imaginative dreaming, too.

To realize your dream, it must be captured and turned into goals; then, you will have to create a goals strategy and follow it up with hardwork.

Goals Require Steps

Goals are the steps you set out to take after you are convinced that your dream is truly worth it. These steps will outline what you should do and how you should do them to attain your dream.

Dreams Are Free, but Goals Come With a Price

Dreams come without costs. You can dream as many times as you want in a day without restriction. However, goals are not like that. You have to think about whether your goals are achievable or not when setting them. Because of the costs (sacrifices) associated with getting your goals done, it places a limit on which goals you can set per time.

Lack of Limits Vs. Defined Objectives

There are no structures to dreams, neither are there limits to how far you can dream. But goals have to be framed. They must be clearly defined with measurable objectives and a timeline.

Inspiration Vs. Creating Change

You can dream to inspire yourself and aspire to a greater future, but if you want to experience real change, you have to be specific about what you want and how you want to get there. Goals are the commitments made towards creating change.

How to Turn Your Dreams Into Actionable Goals

To help you take your dreams to the next level, follow these tips and create actionable goals.

1. Make Your Dream Clear and Solid

Before your dream can become ripe enough to be turned into an actionable goal, you have to be clear about what you really want. Your dream has to go from imagination to reality. Here are some things that can be done to make your dreams clear.((Success: 7 Ways to Turn Your Dreams Into Reality))

Take Inspiration From Success Stories

Read inspiring stories of successful people to think through your own dreams. Such stories will help you to put your dreams in the proper perspective.

Envision Your Future

Engage the power of vision in picturing your own future. Let your mind be in tune with what you desire for yourself. It is a known truth that you are always drawn towards the pictures you have in your mind.

Think About Your Dream

The mind is very powerful, and it has the ability to create imaginary concepts that can be turned into reality. Most of the edifices you can see existed first in the realm of the mind.

See the Big Picture

Dreams are free, so think big. See the bigger picture of your dream, the highest possible level you think you can attain.

Write Down Your Dream

Capture your dreams by writing them down. This will make them clearer. You don’t have to be economical while writing them down. Just write them the way they occur to you.

2. Break Your Dream Into Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

You might not be able to pursue your dream in its raw state, and that is why goals are needed. You should have a plan and structure for achieving your dream, and this will include setting both short-term and long-term goals that will get you on the path of your dream.

Short-term goals are goals that you set to achieve from now up to 3 months or in less than a year. Long-term goals are goals that can take anywhere from 1 to 3 years to achieve. Your short-term goals are actually your stepping stones towards achieving the long-term goals and ultimately leading you to your dream.

3. Make the Goals SMART

What makes a goal statement differ from a dream statement is that goals should be S.M.A.R.T when framing them. This means that each of the goals you set towards achieving your dream must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant/Realistic, and Time-Sensitive.

For more on S.M.A.R.T goals, check out this article.

4. Break Each Goal Into Milestones

Beyond creating goals that are SMART, you should also break each goal into milestones. Milestones are small steps (miniature goals) that can be achieved within a very short time. When you achieve these smaller goals, it keeps you motivated to keep getting closer to your big dream without feeling overwhelmed. You can keep your eyes on the big dream while focusing on the milestones.

Final Thoughts

Anyone can have dreams to create a picture of their own future. If you are not satisfied with your current state, all you have to do is dream. If you have achieved your dreams, then it's time to dream again or inspire others to dream.

You can achieve anything that your mind can conceive if you take the time to turn them into goals. Make your dreams big, but set smaller goals to move progressively towards the realization of your big dream.

More Tips on Using Dreams to Achieve Success

• 9 Types of Motivation That Make It Possible to Reach Your Dreams


• 10 Ways To Turn Your Big Dream Into Reality


• How To Make Your Dreams Come True in 9 Simple Steps

10 Most Important Work Skills to List in a Resume

Putting together a strong resume that stands out from the pack and lands you an interview can feel a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle, especially when it comes to the skills section. In this day and age, when a computer algorithm is perhaps more likely to comb through your resume before it ever lands in front of human eyes, how does a person know what work skills are must-haves((Institute of Labor Economics: Skills, Signals, and Employability: An Experimental Investigation))?

The skills that will help push your resume to the top of the pack fall into two distinct categories:

• Hard skills


• Soft skills

Employers are going to want job-seekers who have the right mix of both, so highlighting a healthy balance of each is essential.

Hard Vs. Soft Skills

Before we jump into the specific work skills, let’s clarify the difference between hard and soft skills((Marketing Education Review: An Exploratory Study of the Influence of Soft and Hard Skills on Entry Level Marketing Position Interviews)). Hard skills are those technical skills that you’ve gained through educational courses, internships, and previous jobs. Software programming, Photoshop, campaign management, foreign languages, and dental surgery are all examples of hard skills.

These are skills that can be clearly defined and will vary greatly depending on your particular career field.

Soft skills, on the other hand, are going to be those skills that are more universal and would be just as useful for a CEO to have as they would for a social worker. Things like critical-thinking, adaptability, organization, and other skills that involve interacting with people are going to be soft skills. While your hard skills might help get you in the door, your soft skills will play a major factor in your promotability.

5 Soft Skills to List on Your Resume

Here are five soft skills that are always going to be in demand.

Problem-Solving

No matter what job field you work in or how high you climb on the career ladder, you’re going to run into problems along the way — and probably quite often. Employers want employees who don’t get deterred by problems, but who meet them head-on and work to find a solution. The better you are at problem-solving, the more capable you’ll be in each job.

Organization

You’re never going to run into an employer who says that they prefer employees who are unorganized. Yes, some jobs allow for a little more disorganization than others, but being organized goes a long way towards being efficient and effective in your work. This is one work skill where it’s going to become apparent pretty quickly to your employer if you possess it, so if you list it, demonstrate it.

Active Listening

Active listening is simply giving your full attention to the person talking to you. Here’s a secret: Employers love active listeners. It means better communication, fewer mistakes, and improved productivity all around. No matter what career field you’re in, being an engaged active listener is always an asset. Being a good active listener can take some effort, but it’s worth improving upon.

Teamwork

Ah, teamwork...this soft skill probably doesn’t get the respect it deserves because “team player” is such a common resume work skill. Back up this skill with real examples in your work, however, and it will shine. People who really do have a good teamwork ethic move up more quickly in organizations and become the ones who other employees look to for guidance and leadership.

Adaptability

Ask any biologist and they’ll tell you that a species that fails to adapt is doomed to extinction. You’re very likely going to have managerial changes at some point in your job, and they may want to do things differently than the last one. How you handle adapting to those changes will determine your future in that position.

5 Hard Skills to List on Your Resume

As far as hard skills that will stand out to an employer, that’s a bit more complicated since there are literally thousands of different jobs out there. That said, having one or more hard skills that fit into these categories will apply in a wide range of occupations.

Communication

Yes, good “communication” is often one of those work skills that lands in the soft skills category, but so many hard skills fall under this umbrella. Copywriting, graphic design, technical writing, digital storytelling, and foreign language skills all fall into this category.

Are you the person who can write a press release for your company’s new product or come up with a brilliant logo? These are all various forms of communicating a message to the customer and will be of value across many industries.

Sales and Marketing

Even if “salesperson” isn’t in your job title, this category covers a pretty wide range of hard skills. Data analytics, SEO, and social media management, are just some of the hard skills that are related to sales and marketing.

So how could somebody applying for a job at a dog grooming salon or real estate company, for example, benefit from knowing some SEO or social media? Well, that dog grooming salon will have a constant need to acquire customers. In real estate, being able to market and sell homes quickly to potential clients will make yourself a more valuable agent.

Project Management

A lot of jobs require different project management work skills, such as scheduling, risk management, budgeting, and negotiation. The higher you climb in your career, the more likely you’re going to be tasked with project management as you take on more responsibilities. Knowing how to plan out and see a project through from start to completion using the various technologies in your industry is a vital hard skill to have.

Technology

The list of occupations out there that don’t involve some sort of computer technology seems to be getting smaller by the day. This is obviously a pretty broad category and could include everything from Excel to Photoshop, Slack, and programming languages such as Python and Java.

Depending on your chosen occupation, you may want to list several technology hard skills by breaking them up into various technical fields.

Industry-Specific

These are going to be work skills that very likely may fit into some of the categories above, but are directly specific to your industry. Something like an accounting software program such as QuickBooks or knowledge of a specific skill in the healthcare or legal fields, for example, would fall into this category of hard skills.

How to Get an Employer's Attention

Before you pull up your resume for a complete rewrite, there are a few things to address before padding it up with all these new skills that you’ve suddenly acquired. Your resume only has about five seconds to capture an employer’s attention((FEMS Microbiology Letters: When targeting non-academic jobs, does your résumé communicate the right message?)) before they hit the “delete” button, so it’s important that you leave skills off that you really may not be all that skilled at.

Some “skills” may not be applicable skills at all.

Remember that mention of “foreign language skills” in the communication category above? Yeah, if you haven’t spoken a word of French since high school, don’t list it. The last thing you want is the embarrassment of a hiring manager who is fluent striking some small talk and you’re left looking like a deer in the headlights.

Listing off social media skills should also be taken into careful consideration. If you’re applying for any type of marketing job and really do know the ins and outs of Instagram, then, by all means, list it. If the job you’re applying for isn’t in the marketing, advertising, or social media fields, then it may be better to leave social media platforms off if you haven’t directly used them in a professional capacity before.

Final Thoughts

With both hard and soft work skills, the best approach is to identify which ones are your strongest successes and most relevant to the position you’re applying for. Remember, the skills section of your resume should align with the job description and your previous work experience. If you start there, you can't go wrong.

More Tips on Work Skills

• 17 Versatile Work Skills That Will Gain You More Career Opportunities


• How to Make Your Resume Stand Out From the Crowd


• 17 Must-Have Work Related Skills for a Successful Career

9 Most Essential Leadership Attributes of a Great Leader

Great leaders are like mirrors. What they want to see in their team they often exhibit in themselves, even if that means facing things they’d prefer not to.

Can a handful of leadership attributes define every great leader? Or could you have a combination of many skills and still be a great leader?

Could a leader really change the course of a company, team, or even an individual's happiness and success? And what’s the big deal about leadership anyway if you don't have a team to lead?

According to LinkedIn((LinkedIn: 3 Factors Strongly Linked to Better Employee Retention, According to 32 Million LinkedIn Profiles)), there’s a 76% chance of an employee still being at a company after 12 months, however by year three that drops to 48%!

Worryingly, 89% of employers think employees leave because of money, when only 12% actually do((O.C. Tanner Institute: 2020 Global Culture Report))

Furthermore, reportedly over a third of employees are actively or casually looking for a new job right now. In the US alone, employers spend $2.9M per day looking for replacement workers. That's $1.1B per year!

A leader can make or break so much, including:

• Productivity


• Creativity


• Profitability


• Health


• Happiness


• Education

The list is long, and when you consider someone will actively look to search a company's attitude toward staff happiness before they start working for them, you can see that leadership is something that can impact everyone.

Even if you aren’t currently a leader, these 9 attributes could improve your success, happiness, and health.

1. Respect

Anyone that has tried to demand respect from a teenager will know that it rarely works to force it. If you want respect, you must give it first.

Staff that feel respected work harder, and while it may be easy to know what this attribute looks like, it can be hard in a fast-paced environment to know how to give it. The following attributes all help you prove you have respect for others and learn to gain it.

2. Visionary

If you want to be a great leader, you need to share your vision and mission. The key is to not only share it but to be prepared to let your team rewrite it to help them feel like they have a say in the mission. This will create a deeper emotional connection to the outcome of their work.

Furthermore, sometimes another person can see a way of redefining your vision that speaks clearer to everyone from staff, customers, competitors, and communities.

A company I coached was asked, "What is your mission?" and while everyone had a vague idea of what they stood for, everyone used different words to describe it. By letting everyone be heard and have their say, the company became far more laser-focused on delivering a message that resonated with their perfect customers and helped the team to feel connected to all outcomes, even if their department wasn't directly involved.

3. Communication

There is so much to say around communication and leadership that I could have written the whole article around this! Many companies I work with tend to create communication policies, clearly defined ways of communicating and ensuring whatever anyone wishes to communicate is allowed in a non-judgmental, respected way.

If you have people you work with who lack confidence or fear for their job, it’s hard for them to come forward and say “I think we are getting this wrong” or “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m not enjoying my job.” Job satisfaction has become increasingly important with the advent of websites where you can rate employers on how they impact people’s career decisions.

Communication policies also enable leaders to achieve more because they don’t’ have to micro manage every decision, and people feel confident and comfortable to take the initiative.

4. Transparency

Great leaders, while they may fear being honest and transparent, find ways to overcome this. Interestingly, when I’ve seen CEOs admit they don’t know the answer or are struggling with their work load, instead of their team being horrified and running for the hills, it tends to lead to greater honesty from everyone. And if you can see what's wrong, it's easier to fix it, right?

If you know others are struggling with what you hate doing, you are more likely to reach out and ask for help. Transparency, honesty, and a great communication policy enable this.

5. Passion

Leaders should get excited and feel passionate about the outcomes they are searching for with their team.

Leaders can be honest and share their vulnerability when it is linked to strong passion. Leaders that are great communicators of what they believe in and showcase their faith in themselves, their teams, and their companies inspire and motivate teams to believe, too.

Passion creates passion. As someone who creates a lot of Facebook Lives for people having a tough day and looking for motivation, I know that when we share our passion and faith in what is possible, others buy into that. It's good for us all.

So if you look behind you and discover that there is a group of people following you, they probably bought into your passion and want to learn more, so look to let your passion shine through everything you do, have faith in the outcomes, and trust you can achieve it.

6. Ability to Fail

Failure is so important to leadership. It’s great to see leaders that inspire and motivate and talk a great game, but you can really spot a great leader when failure is imminent. They don’t fear failure((The University of Warwick: A Reconceptualization of Fear of Failure in Entrepreneurship)); they look to learn from it.

It is scary to do this, and sometimes companies end up creating a "them and us" and blame ethos if failings aren’t handled well. Therefore, seeing a leader that can put their hands up and say “I got this wrong” is a powerful thing. It lacks arrogance and ego, which rarely work well for great leaders.

Being open to failure also leads to new discoveries and opportunities. I worked with a company that were struggling to bond as a team, and by rewriting what the company stood for, they were able to move forward in a powerful way. The irony was that this was created by looking at the mission statement of the company.

Someone shouted out in our group coaching session, “It doesn’t even say we care!” This led to a great conversation where the team member (who rarely spoke up) explained how one of the things they loved about the company was that they genuinely cared, and yet no one ever talked about that. Because the leader was able to take that one on board and go in a new direction, it led to great things.

7. Encouraging

Encouraging leaders are like coaches in that they enable people to speak up, be honest, take ownership, be accountable, and feel honored and respected. People often think that just listening is encouraging, but it’s not. Encouraging in the style of a coach is a form of communication that enables a deep level of conversation that breaks down fears, insecurities, confidence issues, and barriers to change.

If you want to be a great leader, become a great coach first. It is a style of communication that I can hand on heart say impacts every communication and relationship I have—all for the positive. Be respectful of the coaching process and learn the skills and key questions and strategies to make this work. Everyone can coach to some level with a bit of education, practice, and feedback.

8. Goal-Oriented

When you’ve listened to and encouraged your team, being able to share clear goals is imperative. Whether it's being a leader of a basketball team, a parent, a CEO or Scout leader, it’s not enough to create goals that you expect everyone to get on board with.

When your team feels they are valued in their opinions, their engagement increases. Engagement leads to recognition, and this leads to accelerated success: value your team and they will value what you stand for and aim to achieve and help you achieve it, often without additional financial incentive.

I’ve seen companies where they honestly believed the only solution was more money, more staff, and more investment. In the end, the only investment they actually had was in coaching, which enabled the company, the team, and the individuals to all feel that they mattered to the end results, which led them to work hard to achieve it.

9. Adaptable

We all face hardship and tough times, and the leader that can bounce back and adapt to ever-changing environments, challenges, and obstacles is the leader that people want to be with. You don’t have to know all the answers; by tapping into the other 8 attributes, you have the skills as a leader to bounce back from anything.

I’ve been in many a packed room where I know I’m there as the sacrificial lamb to prove “We’ve tried everything,” only for the team to come together and discover the power in these attributes and find a more productive and successful way of operating that has secured the future of the organization.

Seeing a sea of angry faces offloading their frustrations on me instead of their leader is (I’m not going to lie) a little scary; however, using the above skills, they have been able to break down the barriers to change and create new ways of thinking and operating to make everyone’s job a lot easier and create some happiness along the way.

More Tips on Leadership Attributes

• 14 Powerful Leadership Traits That All Great Leaders Have


• What Makes a Good Leader: 9 Critical Leadership Qualities


• 5 Traits of Positive Leadership Any Leader Should Master

13 Inspirational Life Lessons For Success

One of the greatest teachers around is life. Through life, we experience all kinds of things. But more importantly, these experiences come with very important, inspirational life lessons.

The beauty of these life lessons though is that you do not need to experience all of them first hand. Many people have already gone through various experiences and provided this information to the people of the world.

A good example is Bruce Lee and the life lessons he shared.

But Bruce Lee is one of the many people who have found success and have passed on valuable lessons. A lot of these lessons are lessons many people have also experienced before.

So no matter what, keep these inspirational life lessons in mind because they can lead to more success and growth in your life.

1. Never Stop Learning

Many quotes revolve around this theme. Benjamin Franklin once said that investing in knowledge pays the best interest.

There's also Einstein's famous quote:

"Once you stop learning, you start dying."

These two brilliant minds aren't wrong. Staying educated by whatever means necessary is important for many things. You do this by reading books or articles. You can also look into being a self-learner.

Learning is one of the greatest joys in life.

2. Take the Leap

Another lesson that has been said many times is "take action".

That's not to say you should be jumping in headfirst with no plan. However, you don't want to be planning too much.

Many people spend a lot of time in the planning or decision phases. They make vision boards and have particular mantras while following a long list of things to do.

I'm exaggerating a little, but people can drive themselves into a rut from too much planning. Sometimes the best thing to do is to jump in and enjoy the process.

3. You Get What You Put In

One thing people tend to forget is that you get what you put in in life.

To clarify, you get what you put in based on your effort. Effort and hard work are requirements for achieving anything in life.

Sometimes, people think that you can get what you want based solely on visualizing or changing your behavior a little bit. But that's never been the case.

The only way for you to make any progress is through effort. I improved my posture by doing specific stretches and not simply by visualizing myself in better shape.

If you want to achieve what you want in life, you need to know how much effort you have to put in to get there. This is the case with anything in life, including the habits that you want to change.

4. Be There for Others

Success in life isn't always a solo project. It's actually something that requires a group effort. Looking over history, there is always someone who achieved their goal due to help from other people.

With this in mind, it's important that we show our support for other people. We don't need to go to the extent that we're their personal doormat or anything, but occasionally reaching out our hand for someone is nice.

This can be for someone we know or a stranger. A nice and simple gesture makes us and those who we are helping more human. It also makes the world a better place.

5. Keep Going No Matter What

Failure is something we all experience, and the degree of failure can vary. Regardless of the circumstances and the setbacks, we must not lose face and keep moving forward instead.

Failure is a harsh reality. It is also the source of some of the deepest and most personal life lessons we can experience, provided that you see failure this way.

Seeing failure this way matters because it's the difference between giving up and getting back up and trying something new. You should avoid using the same approach over and over. Instead, use failure as an opportunity to look at new approaches and try new things.

6. Stay True to Yourself

As children, we all had big dreams about what we wanted to do in life. However, those began to change as we grew older and experienced different things. These events shifted our reality and, in some cases, we let others steer our life.

We lose ourselves and follow down a path that wasn't our decision or something we are excited about.

You don't want to be falling into this trap but if you have, you want to work to get out of it.

These days, it's so important to your success and well-being that you are doing the things that make you happy and fulfilled whenever you achieve your goals.

7. Have an Open Mind

Having an open mind in today's society is important.

Automation is rapidly taking over many industries and bringing forth more change. Various events around the world shake our realities as well, such as the coronavirus pandemic.

While events are grimmer in some cases, it's important to have an open mind or, at least, to not fear change.

This is easier said than done as some changes in life are more drastic and are therefore harder to resist. What's important though is that we take control of the present.

Learn to enjoy the achievements and the things that we have in our lives right now.

8. Have Big Goals

Goals are important cornerstones of our success. They are your compass, and they provide you with directions to pursue in life. However, these goals are often small.

While those goals are important, you want to make sure that you are dreaming bigger or are seeing the bigger picture.

For example, a small goal could be losing 10 pounds in a few months. The bigger goal is being able to run a marathon.

When we have bigger goals, we have better reasons for our actions. Going back to the example, this provides reasons for you to eat healthily, curb cravings, and take on endurance exercises.

Bigger goals add context and provide mental lessons as well.

Many people laugh at new ideas or tell you it can't be done because they look only at where you are right now or they think that it's unlike you.

Prove them wrong.

9. Be Around the Right People

People often bring up the power of association for various reasons. The biggest one is that this is our reality.

The top five people you spend time with have the most influence on your life the most, regardless if you hate the person or love them.

The key to this lesson is to make sure that the people you are spending time with are worth your time and are contributing in some way. Emotionally or directly, these people should be lifting you and guiding you towards a happier life.

10. Be Positive to a Degree

When people think of the phrase "be positive", most jump to being positive all of the time. While it's important for you to be positive, you need to have some sense of reality.

There are bad things happening, and it's unfortunate. That's part of life. But it's not something for us to be overly negative about either.

There should be a balance between positivity and accepting reality. What this lesson entails is that you should accept this reality and start looking at your situations in a more positive light.

11. Connect With Others

Life is about what you know, but also who you know.

You already know that people have some influence on our lives, so it makes sense that the more people you know, the more people can change and help you grow.

It's important for you to reach out to people and connect with them. Studies show strong bonds with people increase our life expectancy.((The Harvard Gazette: Good genes are nice, but joy is better))

Moreover, having people to turn to means more people can help you during stress.

12. Remove Your Regrets

Regrets in life are one of the hardest things in life. It's something that can linger in our lives for decades if we allow it.

My perspective is that you can always look back at your life and ask: "what if?"

But doing that isn't going to change anything. You've already played your hand, and you're being dealt a new set of cards to play, figuratively speaking.

What's important is to look at what you got from that - the experiences and the people that you met through those opportunities. And, of course, the lessons you learned from it.

Reflect on that, and you probably wouldn't want to change those things. Who knows what would happen if you went a different route? But you and I both know that you would have drastically different experiences whether better or worse.

So, instead of thinking about "what if's", look ahead and strive to live your life with no regrets.

13. Stand Firm On Your Beliefs

This inspirational life lesson goes hand in hand with the previous lesson of staying your ground and sticking to what you believe in.

Yes, it's important to have an open mind and be willing to change and adapt, but not to the extent of flip-flopping and easily changing our ideals.

It's important that you develop your core values and continue to stay firm on those ideals.

Final Thoughts

There are all kinds of inspirational life lessons out there. Achieving success is not something that has to be done in one particular direction.

So take these lessons to heart and apply them every single day and at every opportunity you can.

More Inspirational Life Lessons

• 9 Inspirational Life Lessons That Will Change Your Life


• 12 Inspiring Life Lessons From Maya Angelou


• 13 Inspiring Life Lessons from Steve Jobs


• 10 Inspirational Life Lessons From Bruce Lee

30 Daily Positive Affirmations to Boost Your Motivation

The power of the mind is becoming increasingly more apparent. That’s why you’re seeing all this focus on activities such as mindset development, meditation, and mindfulness.

Our mindset forms the foundation and plays a big role in our overall success and happiness. That's why it’s so important for us to find ways to improve our mindset. Failing to do so puts you at a significant disadvantage as you will allow your mindset to hold you back.

Benefits of Daily Positive Affirmations

This is why many people have begun adopting the practice of performing daily affirmations. Research shows that these daily positive affirmations can increase our mindset, improve our motivations, and increase our feelings of self-worth.((Annual Reviews: The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention))

Thus, we will talk about affirmations and how to use them. I’ll also give you a list of daily affirmations that will help you maintain your motivation through challenging times.

Using Daily Affirmations Properly

Essentially, daily positive affirmations serve as positive reminders or statements that you can use to encourage and motivate yourself or others.

However, you need to use these properly. Many people use positive affirmations to convince themselves of something they perhaps don’t believe about themselves yet.

For example, telling yourself “I’m financially abundant” or “I’m well-liked by everyone around me” when you feel broke or unloved isn’t necessarily going to make you attract more money, nor is it going to make the people around you like you more.

Research shows that people who say positive self-statements like “I’m a lovable person” when they don’t believe it can make them feel worse.((Sage Journals: Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others))

This is why it’s much more effective to utilize these daily positive affirmations to remind yourself of the values and interests that constitute your true or core self. It allows you to outline the things that you would consider to be your core values. It’s taking stock of who you are and what you care about.

Using daily affirmations in this way forces you to think positively about the important things in your life.

This means that rather than trying to convince yourself that you’re something that you don’t really believe you are, you instead think positively about the important things in your life.

It forces you to reflect on things that you know and believe are good about yourself and your life. This will help you slowly build towards where you want those affirmations to take you.

Different Ways to Implement Daily Affirmations

You can implement these daily affirmations in a variety of different ways to improve your daily motivation. Some people simply stand in front of a mirror to themselves every morning or evening. Others like to write them on sticky notes and put them up in places they can regularly be visualized, such as the bathroom mirror.

Some people like to journal about these affirmations and go into a slightly deeper reflection. Some people even like to repeat these affirmations over and over again during phases of meditation.

The method you choose doesn’t matter. What matters much more is that the method resonates with you.

For example, if you already meditate, maybe pulling these affirmations is the option for you. If you like to write and reflect, then consider doing some journaling.

Likewise, the list I’ve outlined above is by nowhere near exhaustive. There are millions of affirmations you could come up with. Again, the important thing is to find affirmations that resonate with you.

Start by choosing a few from the list that I created for you. Pick the ones that resonate with you. From there, decide what method you will use to reflect on these affirmations, write them down, or recite them in your head, and make sure you commit to it. Try to make it a regular part of your daily routine.

Choose the Ones That Speak to You

You don’t need to say the same list of affirmations every day or even any of the same ones day after day. Just choose the ones that speak to you.

For example, I don’t personally like using affirmations with the words ‘abundance’ or ‘manifest’ in them. This is just a personal choice. There’s nothing wrong with them, but they are just too woo-woo for me.

Influencers toss around these terms despite having no purpose or meaning other than to motivate their audience to take action. This gives their audience the false idea that there is a reward at the end of the tunnel if they put in the work, but that’s not always the case.

I much prefer terms like ‘capability’ and ‘confidence’ because they remind me that I can make certain changes in my life if I wish to do so.

30 Daily Positive Affirmations to Improve Motivation

1. I trust myself to make the right decision. I have the tools and abilities that I need to do so.


2. I am becoming closer to my true self every day. Every challenge, loss, and success brings me closer to that goal.


3. I am learning valuable lessons from myself every day, and I will continue to keep trying to learn from myself.


4. I am the architect of my life; I build its foundation and choose its contents.


5. Today, I am brimming with energy and overflowing with joy. These are emotions I can use to motivate myself throughout the day.


6. My body is healthy; my mind is brilliant; my soul is tranquil. This shall provide me with the alignment I need to conquer the tasks ahead of me today.


7. I am superior to negative thoughts and low actions.


8. I have been given endless talents, which I begin to utilize today, and I have the confidence to do so.


9. I forgive those who have harmed me in my past and peacefully detach from them.


10. I allow myself to be who I am without judgment because that is what is going to allow me to be happiest in my life.


11. I listen to my intuition and trust my inner guide because that is going to take me closer to what makes me truly happy.


12. My drive and ambition allow me to achieve my goals because I have a fire inside of me pushing me forward.


13. I possess the qualities needed to be extremely successful, and I have the confidence to apply those skills in ways that will enable my success.


14. Creative energy surges through me and leads me to new and brilliant ideas.


15. My ability to conquer my challenges is limitless; my potential to succeed is infinite.


16. I am courageous, and I stand up for myself and for others who may need my help in doing so because it is the right thing to do.


17. I wake up today with strength in my heart and clarity in my mind that gives me the ability to make good decisions throughout my day


18. I am at peace with all that has happened, is happening, and will happen.


19. I permit myself to do what is right for me because that is how I allow myself to be the most authentic.


20. I give myself space to grow and learn because I understand that there is always room for growth in our lives.


21. I am blessed with an incredible family and wonderful friends.


22. I acknowledge my self-worth and am willing to improve it in areas that I consider are weaknesses right now.


23. Though these times are difficult, they are only a short phase of life. Everything that is happening now is happening for my ultimate good.


24. My efforts are being supported by those around me who also want to see me succeed and do amazing things.


25. My obstacles are moving out of my way; my path is carved towards greatness. I just need to continue walking that path.


26. I am creatively inspired by the world around me, and I can use that inspiration to achieve amazing things in my life.


27. My mind is full of brilliant ideas that I can use to benefit myself and others.


28. I put my energy into things that matter to me because that is what brings me the most happiness in my life.


29. I am at peace with who I am as a person because I understand what is important to me and what is not and live by my values.


30. I make a difference in the world by simply existing in it and trying to make it a better place in whatever ways I can.

Final Thoughts

That is all we have on affirmations for now. I hope you enjoyed the article and now have a greater understanding of how these daily affirmations can influence our minds in powerful ways and, in turn, impact our future success and happiness.

Now that you understand what an affirmation is and how to properly use it in your life, take some time to create a few positive daily affirmations for yourself.

Practice this crucial skill because it can help you in many ways throughout your life.

More Positive Affirmations

• 10 Positive Affirmations for Success that will Change your Life


• 7 Positive Affirmations To Tell Yourself Every Day


• 7 Empowering Affirmations That Will Help You Be Mentally Strong

4 Steps of Cognitive Restructuring to Help You Think Clearly

Humans are guilty of having less than rational thoughts. We do it all the time. We might assume the worst is going to happen or jump to conclusions before we have all the information. Cognitive restructuring helps people become aware of their irrational thoughts so that they can correct them and replace them with more rational ways of thinking. This can help to alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, anger, and trauma.

Cognitive restructuring is a major part of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which was developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960s. Beck linked his patients’ symptoms with their distorted thinking and hypothesized that if he could help his patients recognize their distorted thinking, he could help them alleviate their mental health symptoms.((Positive Psychology: Cognitive Distortions: When Your Brain Lies to You)) David Burns then popularized Beck's ideas in the 1980s with his book Feeling Good.((The Guardian: Trailblazing in Cognitive Therapy))

Cognitive restructuring is at the heart of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It is the four-step process that helps people recognize their distorted thoughts in order to change them.

Cognitive Distortions

I spoke with Margot Escott, LSCW((Margot Escott, LCSW: Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Therapist)) about how she uses cognitive restructuring in her therapy practice in Naples, Florida, and she explained that she begins the process by making her clients aware of the types of cognitive distortions.

Escott hands her clients a list of cognitive distortions((VeryWellMind: 10 Cognitive Distortions Identified in CBT)) and asks them to spend a week thinking about which ones resonate with them.

The following are examples of various cognitive distortions:

Mental Filtering

This happens when a person picks out only one (usually negative) detail of a situation and focuses only on that.

Black and White Thinking

When this occurs, a person cannot see any middle ground and perceives a situation as all or nothing.

Overgeneralization

Overgeneralization is very common and happens when a person jumps to a conclusion without enough information.

Catastrophizing

This way of thinking comes about when a person thinks the worst outcome will occur.

Personalization

Generally occurring in people with low self-esteem or paranoia, this happens when someone thinks that everything people do or say is about them.

Should Statements

These statements come about when someone compares themselves and others to perceived universal standards.

Mind Reading

This can happen when someone assumes what someone else is thinking without verification.

Fortune Telling

People are generally very concerned about the future, and this can lead some to assume how things will unfold, usually in a negative light.

Emotional Reasoning

This happens when a person assumes their emotions reflect how reality actually is.

Labeling

Labeling comes about when someone makes broad statements or generalizations about themselves or others based on situation-specific behavior. Example: If you make a mistake and conclude that you are dumb or a failure.

Each list of cognitive distortions is different, but this will give you a general idea of the kind of irrational thinking cognitive restructuring aims to correct.

The 4 Steps of Cognitive Restructuring

When you seek to engage in cognitive restructuring, there are 4 major steps you will need to follow.

1. Make It Conscious

The process starts by making our automatic thoughts conscious. The first step requires you to take a kind of inventory of your potentially problematic ways of thinking. Before you can change your thoughts, you have to become aware of how you’re thinking—no judgment or correction yet.

You can take an inventory of your automatic thoughts for a week or you can explore them in therapy with a trained professional. Escott asks her clients to tell her which cognitive distortions they noticed after one week.

Either way, the first step is essential because we can’t correct problematic, automatic thinking without becoming aware of what we’re thinking in the first place.

2. Evaluate It

Next, it’s time to get rational. Once you’ve taken an inventory of your thoughts, you can start to sort out which ones seem rational and which ones don't.

For example, if you say something like, “I’m never going to meet my life partner,” you can lump this thought into the unproductive/unhealthy/negative category because you aren’t a fortune teller and certainly don’t know whether or not you’ll meet someone.

Step 2 establishes that this is a thought worth changing.

3. Get Rational

Once we’ve identified a thought as problematic or unhealthy, we can identify why it’s problematic in the first place. This is when we ask those tough therapy questions:

• Why do I think this?


• Is it true?


• How often is it true?

The idea behind step 3 is to identify how our thinking is a cognitive distortion and what the reality actually is.

4. Replace It

Finally, we replace the cognitive distortion with a more rational thought. Our automatic thoughts are habitual, so the idea isn’t to stop cognitive distortions but to catch ourselves when we’re distorting reality and quickly replace the distortion with a more rational thought.

If I catch myself thinking that my boss hates me, I need to remind myself that I’m mind reading. Then, every time I catch myself in the act of mind reading that my boss hates me, I can replace that distortion with something like, “I don’t know whether or not my boss hates me unless I ask, but I do know that I got a positive performance review and a raise last month.”

The idea is to replace cognitive distortions with more rational ways of thinking, but this requires a lot of reflection and self-awareness. You can certainly try it on your own, but it’s often better to have a trained professional guide you through the process.

Example of Cognitive Restructuring

Let’s say I catch myself catastrophizing. I notice that I sometimes I say that I will lose my job and not be able to pay my bills and then lose my home and my family.

Cognitive restructuring asks me to confront that cognitive distortion.

The first step is for me to become aware of that thought and catch myself every time I slip into catastrophizing.

Next, I ask myself if it’s true. I certainly can’t know if that’s true because I don’t know the future. This is where mindfulness practice comes in handy.((Play Your Way Sane: How to Be More Mindful this January)) According to Escott, mindfulness is a great way for people to practice living more in the present moment, which can also reduce some cognitive distortions, such as catastrophizing.

Now, I don’t know whether or not I will lose my job. I can’t even answer how often this cognitive distortion is true, so I move on to step 3.

Now it’s time to reflect. Why do I think I’m going to lose my job? Maybe my parents lost their jobs, which added a lot of stress to the family when I was a child. Maybe I feel like an imposter and am not confident about some of my financial decisions.

In step 3, I come up with something more rational. I can start telling myself that I don’t know whether or not I’m going to lose my job. All I can focus on is doing the best job I can. If there is a chance I will lose my job, I can spend time networking on LinkedIn instead of catastrophizing. I can also tell myself that linking the loss of my job with losing everything is not rational. I can make a list of all the things I could do if I actually did lose my job that would prevent me from losing the other things in my life.

Finally, I replace “I’m going to lose my job” with a more rational thought each time I catch myself catastrophizing. I might remind myself, “I don’t know the odds of me losing my job, but I do know that I have seniority and just got a raise. And if I do lose this job, I could always go back to working at my father-in-law’s store.”

It’s probably better to be pithier when you’re replacing automatic distortions, but this gives you a good idea of how to get started.

Effectiveness of Cognitive Restructuring

Science has shown that cognitive restructuring works. In one study((Journal of Anxiety Disorders: The relative effectiveness of cognitive restructuring and coping desensitization in the treatment of self-reported worry)), cognitive restructuring was more effective in reducing anxiety and worry than a control group and a group that was taught relaxation techniques.

The idea is that cognitive restructuring forces people to fix their automatic thoughts. Escott explains that this process is effective because our thoughts become our feelings, which affect our overall well-being.

Cognitive restructuring addresses the root of the problem: our cognitive distortions. So the next time you catch yourself overgeneralizing or catastrophizing, take a step back. Ask yourself if that’s really true and how often it’s true. Develop a more rational line of thinking and then replace the distortion with a more realistic thought.

Cognitive restructuring may not be as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, but if you’re willing to get reflective and self-aware and do the work, it can have measurable effects on reducing your anxiety, trauma, stress, anger, and depression symptoms.

I want to reiterate that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a modality best done by trained professionals. For those of you who need help or want to get deeper into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and cognitive restructuring, please search for trained mental health professionals in your area.

More Tips on Changing Your Thoughts

• 7 Practical Ways to Change Your Thinking and Change Your Life


• Cognitive Restructuring – Turn Unhappiness to Happiness


• How to Control Your Thoughts and Be the Master of Your Mind

8 Essential Project Management Skills for Productive Work

Every project manager has their strengths and weaknesses. Still, to be genuinely productive, you must have a blend of project management skills that are adaptable and ready for any situation.

No project is ever the same, especially when working with different stakeholders, team members, third parties, and new challenges in each moment.

Project managers and workers of all kinds have to learn fast and be adaptable, so it's crucial you not only have these project management skills, but also that you're always working on how you can improve them.((International Journal of Project Management: The role of the project manager in relationship management))

Having these essential skills as a project manager allows you to work productively and professionally. They will not only help you personally, but also in improving a team and, ultimately, the project itself.

1. Planning

If you’re not a good planner, then you’re not going to be very productive.

Planning is everything in project management as it encompasses all responsibilities of the project manager, from the project plan, risk management, budget, your time and that of those around you.

You need to be able to perform the right level of planning at the right time and with the right people. A project manager who is always calling the team together to create a new plan is going to quickly lose the faith of the team that wants to get the work done.

A project manager needs to be able to judge when to plan in detail and how far out, versus short-term planning that allows you to adjust the plan incrementally.

Being able to achieve balance between the details of long-term planning and short-term incremental planning is a skill in itself. Once you’re able to get the team into a natural flow of incremental planning, which covers the work required for risk management and dependency management, you’ll be in the right place as a project manager.

When the team enters this flow, they will be at their most productive.

Being a great planner also requires skills in task management because if you’re not productive, the work will stack up.

A project manager who can manage their tasks well has the ability to know what to work on and when. Focusing on what is important rather than what seems urgent brings the highest value to the project.

2. Adaptability

As a project manager, one of the critical skills is the ability to be adaptable((Journal of Vocational Behavior: Subjective social status, work volition, and career adaptability: A longitudinal study)) to the current situation or environment. During a busy project, no one day is ever the same, so you have to be ready for whatever comes at you.

That could be a change in the direction of the project, teammates calling in sick, left-field questions about the project from a stakeholder, or being asked to come and present an update at the last minute.

You need to expect something to happen that you didn’t plan for so that when it does happen, you can understand it with a calm mind and then take the appropriate action.

In project management, you’re typically not judged on what has just happened, but what you did next to bring a resolution to that situation.

Also be prepared to adapt how you present and communicate daily. For example, how you talk to a teammate is likely to be very different to how you speak to a CEO, Financial Controller, or the project's stakeholder.

3. Problem Solving

When you’re a project manager, everyone expects you to have all the answers. It can be quite daunting as you can never know everything or as much as a teammate about their particular task or expertise.

What you’re expected to be able to do is to solve problems for any aspect of the project. This could be a problem like the budget being burnt too fast, team conflicts, demanding clients, or project delays.

To be a great problem solver, you need enough subject matter expertise across the whole project to be able to dig and probe to find out where the problem truly is. You can then use different problem solving techniques to solve these issues, too.

As a project manager, you must always be one step ahead of the problem as you need to be thinking about how it will impact the overall project. This systems thinking approach to problem-solving is a critical skill to develop because you don't want to fix one problem if it just causes another elsewhere.

4. Communication

You have to be a clear and direct communicator as a project manager, whether that's verbal or written as you're working with diverse team roles and stakeholders, all varying in seniority.

The key to being an excellent communicator is to simplify what you're sharing so the team member, client, or manager can take that information on board and act on it.

The project manager is there to keep the right information flowing to the right people and at the right time.

The right information can also mean the amount of information for the recipient, as a report for a CEO may need to be high-level and brief whether that's written or verbal as they're typically time-poor.

An update for your manager, though, may need detail as they'll need more context so they can help and advise.

Consistency is also essential when it comes to the communication on your project, as other team members, managers, or clients will then create their communication plans and updates around the information you provide.

The,n having designated days when you communicate certain aspects of your project must be consistent to allow this to happen.

You also need the ability to provide well-written communication, which could be in the form of email, reports, or presentations.

If your writing skills are lacking, then it's the same issue as not being able to communicate well verbally: the recipients will either not fully understand what you're sharing, or they will not trust it.

5. Openness to Learning

The best way to learn as a project manager is by doing, or learning on the job as it's sometimes described. Unfortunately for many of us, learning on the job is tough as we usually learn the most through our mistakes.

Mistakes as a project manager are going to happen, and it's how you deal with them and learn from them that make you a great project manager.

Retrospection is a big part of self-development and evaluation for you and your project team.

You need to be able to regularly take a step back and look at what worked well, what didn't, and what you learned from it.

You can do this through individual journaling and team retrospectives. Journaling is a natural way to capture your thoughts, lessons learned, and actions at any time.

Having a journal with you at all times is key, and it can take the form of a note pad or a digital tool. Capture your learning as close to when the situations happen as possible as it's fresh in the mind. This will allow you to use it again in the future.

Facilitating retrospectives is the first step for learning as a team, but then the project manager must support and act on these improvements post-retrospective. This helps build team morale, as well as confidence in you as a project manager as you're helping the team develop.

6. Risk Awareness

Being risk aware((Liberty University: Project Manager Confidence and Risk Awareness)) means that you need to be thinking about what could go wrong on a project, not in a worried and stressful state but a focused and controlled state.

You need to be regularly thinking about how a particular task or workstream will look like in a few weeks and how you can make sure the team is as productive as possible. You should also be aware of what could stop them from working with a task, client, tool, or other team member.

Risk management, like general project planning, requires you to be able to get the right balance between short and long term risks.

A risk that might hit the project in 6 months doesn’t need the whole team to down tools and work on how to mitigate it today. However, it is important to plan for a risk that is likely to impact the team in a week or two.

Risk management isn’t just for the project manager; it’s a team thing. A project manager isn’t going to be able to think of every risk or how to mitigate it. The team needs to support this in order to increase productivity across the board.

The project manager can probe and facilitate planning conversations or in status meetings with questions like:

• Is that an assumption?


• Is there anything that could stop you from completing that task?


• Is there something I can do to make sure you have everything you need to complete the task?

These types of questions, when asked regularly, not only help manage risks, but, over time, the team starts to provide the answers without being asked.

7. Commercial Awareness

You need to understand the commercial aspects of your project, as well as how the budget works within the broader context of your business.

Having a detailed understanding of the commerciality allows you to speed up or avoid creating complicated conversations when it comes to a potential change in the budget.

Knowing what can and can’t do with the budget saves you, your team, and your financial controller time in the long run.

Consider the following example.

The team requests a new testing kit as it’s more advanced than the one you currently have in place. You understand the benefits of it, but you know exactly how much money the project can spend on external equipment, plus the reasons why this budget has been set.

Rather than extending the conversation or speaking to your financial controller, you’re able to explain to your team the reasons why they can’t purchase it and give them other options.

It’s easy to get stuck in the day to day of a project and not pay enough attention to the management of the budget. The budget is a critical component of a project due to the fact that if you don’t make a profit or maintain profitability, then it may not be deemed a success.

A project manager has to be able to balance driving the plan but at the same time managing the budget. Having an understanding of the budget allows you to then make decisions faster and with confidence when speaking with your manager and stakeholders.

8. Facilitation

Being good at facilitating can be the difference between having a productive and enjoyable meeting and leaving the meeting with everyone frustrated with a lack of progress.

Facilitation skills allow you to get the best ideas out of a team as an engaged team member will more than likely speak up.

Excellent facilitation also helps with teasing out why problems occur through collaborative discussions.

Having excellent facilitation skills is one thing you need when running a project, but understanding your team is another. You need to be able to manage the relationships within the project team and, in some cases, deal with conflicts.

A project manager has to be good with people to be able to understand and spot their concerns, strengths, and weaknesses.

With all of this, you need to be able to facilitate not only the team dynamics but also the various types of team meetings, like planning workshops and project reviews.

Facilitation isn’t just about how you manage a workshop and deal with conflicts; as a project manager, you also need to show empathy and have a calmness about you, especially in stressful situations.

Every team member has a different story, so showing an understanding of their situation allows the you to manage the project, not by just numbers and tasks, but also by personality type.

The Bottom Line

Continuously refining, adapting, and improving these project management skills is the key to be becoming not only a great project manager but also a productive one.

If you lack in any of these skills, the impact can be that multiple issues start to occur on your project, and although small issues seem manageable in the moment, over time they begin to compound into something far harder to resolve.

Regularly review your project management skills through not only self-reflection but gathering feedback from peers and clients.

Productivity is all about how you maximize the skills you have and applying successful approaches you take. The more you repeat success, the quicker you'll improve, and the speed to deliver them will also increase. Get started today!

More Tips on Project Management

• A Manager’s 7 Tips for a Successful Project


• 101 ways to organize your life with Project Management


• 5 Project Management Tools to Get Your Team on Track