Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

By Gary Vaynerchuk

Live your passion. This is the main message behind the teachings and advice in Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, by Gary Vaynerchuk. Published in 2009, this self-help book is Vaynerchuk’s first. The book is a charming mixture of personal anecdotes and advice tailored towards finding and monetizing your passions. Specifically, this book covers how to use the internet to create a personal brand centered around your passions. It emphasizes strongly the importance of passion. Vaynerchuk continually states that if you are not truly passionate about your work, you will not be able to be successful in what you are doing, saying that “skills are cheap, passion is priceless.” He lives and breathes this lesson, which is evident both in his background and in his book.

Vaynerchuk is a popular internet persona. Dripping with charm and charisma, Vaynerchuk was able to fully take advantage of the platforms that different social media sites provided, and skyrocket his way to success. Before he was an internet persona or an author, however, Vaynerchuk was known for his expansion of his family’s wine business. This expansion was his first foray into the world of the internet. He rebranded the shop and launched online sales, then began hosting an internet webcast surrounding wine. This webcast was hosted on YouTube, and this is where Vaynerchuk got his start in social media.

Signs You’re an INFJ, The World’s Rarest Personality Type

Out of the 16 personalities classified by mother and daughter Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs in line with the psychoanalysis by Carl Jung, there is one that draws the most attention in mass media throughout the years – the INFJ type, also known as “the Advocate.” Why must that be? Apparently, only 1 to 3% of the world’s population embodies the mystic personality type and they are hard to distinguish among the crowd because they are usually reserved and outnumbered.

So, how can one know that they are an INFJ? We compiled 8 signs based on the characteristics cited by Myers and Briggs as well as some prominent researches in order to help you understand more about this kind.

How to stay focused while reading

In a fast-paced world crowded with technology and all its means, most of us are probably experiencing the loss of focus when reading which leads us to re-read sentences over and over again for them to make sense. According to science, this occurrence may be due to the fact that the brain takes a lot of cognitive energy to put us in the zone for proper functioning. Every time we are interrupted, we get lost and the brain has to take some time to boot up once more.

The globe is currently facing a crisis – the COVID-19 situation – which requires us to work from home and stick with online education. Under the flexibility of time and the comfort of our own homes, we might just have all the distractions that can hinder our concentration. In order to remain as efficient as possible, here are some tips to maintain great focus while reading.

1. Meditate.

Studies in both the human and natural sciences show that mindfulness training can actually create and strengthen new neural pathways that may lead to the enhancement of our cognitive processes. With a clear mind and within a space of no disturbance, our attention can be placed on reading.

2. Read in short intervals.

Finishing a book in one sitting is not always ideal as it can lead to the exhaustion of our cognitive abilities and decrease our comprehension abilities. It is said to be more effective to set chapter or page goals within a given time frame. The importance of taking breaks has been supported by psychology to aid in the recovery of our mental resources and the improvement of our performance. It can also rest our eyes from the strain!

3. Put calming music on.

Researches have provided evidence that music can enhance concentration. Just make sure that the songs you play are instrumentals such as classical and jazz music – or else there can be a disturbance between your visuo-spatial and phonological working memory that may yield it impossible for you to understand and remember what you are reading.

4. Use the reward system.

What’s in store for you when you accomplish your reading goals? After setting multiple intervals, you should assign rewards for each chapter that you finish. Studies attest that the reward system can motivate individuals and drive them to focus more on what they are doing.

5. Be healthier.

Your diet and lifestyle can actually alter your memory. It might be a great idea to exercise before reading because this leads in increasing levels of dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin in your body which regulates the mood and improve memory retention. Eating foods with low sugar and greater protein amounts can also fuel your brain to prime you to concentrate on your readings.

Shoe dog: A Memoir by the creator of Nike by Phil Knight

Everyone in the world today covets Nike-- a shoe giant and household brand that everyone knows of. The story of Nike and how it all started is very interesting and inspiring. Let us begin with the man behind the one of the world's leading brands in the shoe-making industry namely Phil Knight. He is an ambitious man who turned his “crazy idea” into reality. Phil Knight was finishing his college in 60’s at University of Oregon, Puma and Adidas were already huge companies. At this university, he happened to be in the school’s track and field team and met his coach Bill Bowerman.  During these years, running is not a thing and there was no such thing as right running shoes. That’s why Bill Bowerman, was fascinated in experimenting and optimizing his running shoes to make it lighter.

48 Rules of Power By Robert Greene

48 Laws of Power is an outstanding book by Robert Greene. It tackles human psyche very diligently to help you become powerful. The 48 Rules of Power are not ethical or unethical; they can be used by anyone anywhere for the good or the bad, depending upon your one’s own morality.

Anxiety is something most people find themselves feeling, in normal busy circumstances and especially in these uncertain times of the Coronavirus pandemic. Some people have been struggling with anxiety all their lives. You might not know what anxiety actually feels like, it is described as the constant feeling of dread like someone is sitting on your chest and suffocating you and you can’t lift them off. It can be triggered by anything; triggers are different for everyone. After therapy, meditation is probably the most helpful towards dealing with; to bring awareness to your body and ground you to the present, instead of keeping you lodged in the spiral of anxiety.

The practices of Buddhism and really interesting and are all about how to lead a meaningful, peaceful life. There are probably many meditation retreats near your area. The idea seems alluring; stepping back from the stresses of your normal life to go on a deeper spiritual journey and coming back a changed person. You might get a brief taste of it, each time you meditate, but if you want a deeper, more engaging experience, you will surely find a meditation retreat worthwhile. You might be experiencing a lot of anxiety over the troubles of your day to day lives and reconnect with your higher purpose. If you are okay with spending some quality time with your mind away from the shackles of technology and want to enjoy a more relaxed life, but do not have the time or resources to visit a meditation retreat, you might find what you are looking for by indulging in the study of Buddhist teachings

CAN’T HURT ME

by David Goggins

This book revolves around the story of an extra ordinary man David Goggins who is an ultramarathon runner, athlete and motivational speaker. He is retired US Navy SEAL and is a former USAF Tactical Air Controller. He has not achieved all of this in easy. His life is a journey of hardships that he faced and earned him all of this. His journey starts from an over-weight and depressed soul to record breaking athlete, inspiring and motivating person.

1st Lesson: ACCOUNTABLITY MIRROR;

Set goals for yourself and make yourself accountable for them daily. Tell yourself to work hard to get the results. Be truthful to yourself. If you are fat you tell yourself that you are fat. Stand in front of a mirror and tell that person that he has to run whatever the circumstances are. He is fat now but if won't be one day if he takes the action. Whatever your goal is, you need to hold yourself accountable for the small steps it will take to get there. Self-improvement takes dedication and self-discipline. The dirty mirror you see every day is going to reveal the truth. Stop ignoring it. Use it to your advantage. A person needs always to be honest with himself than with anyone else.

2nd Lesson: 40% RULE;

The second lesson is the 40 percent rule. During running David experienced that when he was completely exhausted a motivational song could push him even harder. It is a phenomenon that our mind puts limitations on our body and we just reach 40 percent limit of our body while exercising. And we can increase that limit by training our mind properly. Whenever you are completely exhausted just divert your mind somewhere else.

3rd Lesson: CALLOUSED MIND;

The 3rd mind lesson David told us is to callous your mind. When doing some heavy work with shovel all of you have seen your hand skin calloused. That calloused skin relieves us from more pain. Same case, if we put our mind to limits it will be calloused and will have more immunity towards pain itself. For this you have to leave your comfort zone. First of all, make small goals that you can easily do and start doing until they make you uncomfortable and that’s the start towards achieving calloused mind. The more you make yourself uncomfortable the more productive self you'll make in the end.

4th Lesson: TAKE SOULS;

This lesson is especially meant for depressed people. Whatever is depressing you or creating suicidal thoughts in you, just remember all this is a mind game. You have given that coach, boss, teacher or even your parent, your soul. You just have to take a step further and clinch their souls.

5th Lesson: PLANNINNG SMALL TO ACHIEVE BIG;

If you want to achieve big than start with the smaller goals. This will create your temperament and will make you achieve more. If you have to start a bonfire you will start from small pile of hay. You will fire it and these sparks will fire your bigger logs. Same is the case with your goals, the success of small goals will give you big victories. The human mind and body can achieve a lot more than most of us think possible, and all that starts in our mind. Start small to achieve big.

6th Lesson: EMPOWERMENT OF FAILURE;

And last but not the least, if you fail, always remember that you are just one step closer to success. Most wars are won or lost in our minds. Learn to relish your mistakes, if you do the forensics, you'll find clues about where to make adjustments and how to eventually accomplish your task.

Atomic Habits

by James Clear

The 1st meaning of the word atomic is tiny or small. So, atomic habits mean small habits. The 2ndmeaning is that Atoms are the fundamentals units that enlarge any system. Just like atoms improving tiny habits can give us a huge reward. The 3rdmeaning is that an atom is the source of great energy and power so are the atomic habits. If we add all the meanings, we can understand the basic philosophy of the book.

As James Clear said in his book:

“Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations. Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.”

Just as the money goes up through compound interest, the effects your habits multiply as you repeat them. James clear says, if you keep improving 1% each day, at the end of the year you will be 37 times better. Conversely, if you are doing 1% worse each day, you will end with almost 0% improvement.

1% better every day for one year (1.01365) = 37.78

1% worse every day for one year (0.99365) = 00.03

Habits do not seem to make a difference until we cross a critical threshold. We expect progress to be quick, but the key aspect of any compounding process is that the effects are delayed until we cross a threshold what James calls as The Plateau of Latent Potential.

4. Forget About Goals, Focus on System Instead:

So, what is the difference between Goals and Systems? According to James Clear’s words:

“Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.”

According to James:

“Changing our habits is challenging for two reasons: (1) We try to change the wrong thing. (2) We try to change our habit in the wrong way.”

James divided the habit building process into 4 stages:

· Cue:

The cue triggers the brain to start the action. Because it reflects the reward we will get.

· Craving:

Craving provides the driving force to adopt a habit.

· Response:

Response is the actual habit or process we adopt to achieve our reward.

· Reward:

In the end, the reward, for which we adopted a habit.

These four steps are called Habit Loop.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

by Dale Carnegie

In 1936, the son of poor Missouri farmers, having never worked a corporate job in his life, wrote the ultimate guide to getting ahead in the corporate world. It was a handbook on pleasantries - encouraging politeness and appreciation always in your dealings with people, reminding you to smile to get people to like you. It was an instant success. Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People went through 17 editions in its first year of publication, selling some 250,000 copies in its first three months. It has been used by social climbers, cult leaders and billionaires - all using its lessons to try and get ahead. In 2013, it was ranked as the seventh most influential book in American history and has sold 30 million copies.

Carnegie himself would seem to be an unlikely prophet of corporate success. He spent his childhood trying to get out of doing the farmwork (his job was milking the cows before school) as his family just barely scraped by. He initially planned to be a teacher - enrolling in a free university and joining one of the school’s literary fraternities, which hosted public speaking tournaments. He bombed in his first competition, so he worked tirelessly on his skills by reciting famous speeches and learning rhetorical techniques until, in his third year, he won his school’s debate championship. He later became a travelling salesman, selling across the Midwest and at the age of twenty-three had saved up enough money to enrol in the American Academy of Arts

Aside from his experience in public speaking, Carnegie supports his advice by drawing on the stories and achievements of great men like Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln. He writes that true leaders tread softly; they ask questions and never bark orders; they are self-effacing and encouraging and never imperious or cruel. To further convince his readers, Carnegie went to the tops of 1930s American society to interview scores of the wealthy and powerful. He interviewed people like Thomas Edison and Franklin D. Roosevelt to add to his book their lessons in interacting with people. All were well chosen and successful American examples that found their way into the book to convince readers of Carnegie’s wisdom, with impressive results.

One of the other persistent features of Carnegie’s writing is its, potentially surprising, optimism. The book was written in 1936, when America, along with much of the rest of the world, was deep in the mire of the Great Depression

Yet the book retains its popularity, still selling copies to the tune of hundreds of thousands a year. Maybe its advice encouraging emotional intelligence is still applicable in a workplace that will, for current and future generations, most likely be increasingly unstable as people take on many different jobs in their lifetimes, making the ability to get along with people a vital skill. Or maybe it is the books lasting imprint upon culture. The book has been referenced in episodes of popular TV shows such as Cheers and Supernatural and the billionaire Warren Buffet credits a course he took based on the book for his success, keeping his diploma from the course on his office wall to this day.

TAOISM

Among other ample contemplations of Tao, this single word directs an intricate philosophy, an outlook of the basics of nature and the whole universe.

Rather than dismaying and deteriorating the unfathomable unity of the universe, Tao encourages the human to export this unity further among themselves through a particular path.

The inevitable question arises: What this path is, and how it may be achieved? The acquisition of this path commences with the basic contemplation of the origin of the universe. A well- said quote by a Chinese sage states that, "Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of the way."

Taoist thoughts reflect on ingeniousness, longevity and continuance, health and soundness, eternity and afterlife, detachment and indifference, refinement and emptiness, transformation and Omni-potentiality.

Taoism, a religious and philosophical tradition, has its roots planted in reverence to nature and devotion of the ancient Chinese people.

1. YIN AND YANG

Yin and Yang are one of the most substantial and pivotal ideas of Taoism. Yin and Yang showcase two halves that complete each other when combined. It is a rhetoric statement that something complete is unchanging and inflexible to any modification, therefore, if Ying and Yang are mutilated, their established equilibrium will have deviated from the normal. Both Yin and Yang could be summarized as “the cause of each other”, both precedes each other to seek balance and harmony.

In the given symbol, the shady side represents Yin, while the Sunnyside showcase Yang.

Together in combination establish a whole.

2. INTERDEPENDENCE OF EVERYTHING

According to the already established studies about Taoism, it is evident that Taoist philosophers are moved and influenced by nature. According to their dogma, everything in this universe is accompanied by its complementary opposite; the definition of one thing requires and demands the understanding if its exact opposite.

Following this idea, we may say that there is Day when we have Night in our thought process. Hot is opposed by Cold; however, it’s to be mentioned that each aspect and its opposite are in a state of flux and change incessantly.

Proceeding further, as the fact is established that everything is interdependent, Taoism regards nature as the source of understanding and contemplating life and our post or position in the world.

3. NOURISHING THE SPIRIT

To expand and mature the spirit, there are two main aspects of mind:

Emotional Mind (Hsin)

Wisdom Mind (Yi)

Hsin = to awaken and

Yin = to control the spirit

The study of Taoist philosophy suggests in a cogent fashion that the lack of control leads to insomnia and other various mental abnormalities; however, on the other hand, a firm hold over control helps one achieve remarkable feats in the physical and emotional world. Taoist and Buddhist master this practice to sublimate their emotional and psychological energies.

Furthermore, the flourishment of spirit demands the mastery of both emotion and intellect simultaneously. To control and hold the spirit in limits, one must be able to regulate the raw and crude sentiments that activate it in the first place.

4. OBSCURE MOTIVATION AND TAOISM

Tao philosophy also holds resemblance to the doctrine and maxim of the evergreen Greek philosopher Socrates: Know Thyself. It translates into the idea that by seeking the inward, mysterious and mystic operation of the mind, the pursuer comes across an undisclosed universe of navel knowledge. Adding to, the convention and understanding of psychological self may lead to the evolution of one’s soul.