Social Influence

Social Influence

By Erica CuascutEducationSelf-Improvement
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Social Influence episodes

  • Don't Compare Yourself To Others
    Don't compare yourself to others. Don't compare your vision to other people's vision. Because it's going to cut short the gifts that are inside of you. Comparison undercuts the vision!
    You are uniquely made. only you can bring to the table what has been designed for the purpose of your life!
    When you compare yourself to others, you experience negative emotions like envy, low self-esteem, anxiety, and a sense of inadequacy, often leading to a diminished sense of self-worth as you focus on what others have that you don't, rather than appreciating your own unique strengths and accomplishments; it can essentially steal your joy by drawing your attention away from your own positive aspects.
    Key points about comparing yourself to others:
    Negative self-talk:
    Comparing can fuel a critical inner voice that constantly points out perceived flaws and shortcomings, impacting your confidence and self-esteem.
    Social media impact:
    Platforms like Instagram can exacerbate comparison issues by presenting highly curated and idealized versions of people's lives, making it easy to feel like you're falling short.
    Reduced motivation:
    When you constantly compare yourself to others who seem "better," it can demotivate you from pursuing your own goals, as you may feel like you'll never measure up.
    Stress and anxiety:
    The constant pressure to compare can lead to increased stress and anxiety, impacting your mental well-being.
    Impact on relationships:
    Comparing yourself to others in your social circle can strain relationships, as you may become envious or resentful of their achievements.
    What to do instead:
    Focus on your own journey:
    Recognize that everyone is on their unique path and compare yourself only to your past self, tracking your personal progress.
    Practice gratitude:
    Actively appreciate the positive aspects of your life and what you are grateful for.
    Set realistic goals:
    Focus on achieving your own personal goals rather than trying to be like someone else.
    Limit social media exposure:
    Be mindful of how much time you spend on social media and try to curate your feed to showcase positive and inspiring content.
    STAY FOCUSED, CELEBRATE AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD ✨️
    4 min
  • How To Get Past Your Fears
    Fear stops us from chasing our dreams!
    Whatever that fear might be, the fear of other people's opinions, the fear of rejection, the fear of not being good enough or smart enough or whatever it may be it stops people from having a life they truly want! It's stopping you from having the life that you truly deserve! Not just the life that you want but the life that you deserve! Because I believe that every single person deserves to have an amazing life and fear of something is keeping you from getting it.
    So I'm here to ask you, what is your biggest fear? And I don't mean the fear of spiders, I don't mean the fear of heights. What is the fear deep down to the core of you that is holding you back from following your dreams, from starting that business, from becoming a painter, a tattoo artist, becoming a public speaker, from starting that podcast to coaching other people.
    What is the fear that's holding you back from doing that?
    Because fear is stopping you from everything that you want, it's stopping you from starting your business, from asking that person out, from pursuing that dream that you have. A feeling deep down to your core is the reason why your alive, fear is holding you back from that. Do you see why fear is the worse feeling in the world?
    Let me also tell you this fear is the root of hate, because you fear what you don't know. And It's easier to hate than it is to understand and to love. And so fear is the root of hate.
    If you don't understand another person, you don't understand their past or what they've been through, you just see them from a face value sometimes, people hate, they hate for no reason sometimes. But if you can truly understand someone, if you can make that connection, you can see what they've gone through and why they are the way that they are, even If they have a different political belief than you, even if they have a different religion than you. When you see someone and who they have become, why they went through all the things they went through and how they went through all the things they went through then you can never hate them, you can never hate somebody when you truly understand them.
    I wanna talk about how to get past the feeling of fear. Here's another thing I'll tell you, fear of failure has nothing to do with failure, fear of rejection has nothing to do with rejection, none of those things are actually the fear of failure or the fear of rejection. It's a fear that my insecurities will come to light. You know like If I'm out there and I have a fear of rejection, then what's really happening is that I'm afraid that somebody will say no to me weather that's a date, weather that's a business proposal, If I have a fear of rejection or someone saying no in my sales pitch, if I have a fear of rejection, really what it is of someone saying no to me, I'm not afraid of them saying no, I'm afraid of them saying no and then the spiral that my mind will go down to show me that I'm not good enough, that I'm not smart enough, that I'll never be successful, that I don't deserve success, I'm afraid not of the actual rejection because that's just words coming out of someone's mouth. I'm afraid of what my mind is going to do with the words coming out of someone's mouth.
    Fear of failure has nothing to do with failure. Fear of rejection has nothing to do with rejection.
    14 min
  • Procrastination
    Hello! This is your host Erica Cuascut, and welcome to today's episode of Social Influence! Let's talk about Procrastination: The action of delaying or postponing something. It's a challenge we all face. We've all done it and we constantly tell ourselves we'll never do it again. So we come up with an elaborate time management system to get us on track only to find ourselves continuing to put things off over and over again. Why do we procrastinate? We often procrastinate because we're afraid of failing at the task that we need to complete. Fear of failure promotes procrastination when we feel incapable of dealing with a task that we're afraid to fail at. Everyone puts things off sometimes, but procrastinators avoid difficult tasks and may deliberately look for distractions. Procrastination tends to reflect a person's struggles with self-control.
    "I don't feel like it"
    I'll do it tomorrow"
    I'll leave it for next week"
    It all comes to supersede over our goals or responsibilities, and can set us on a downward spiral of negative emotions that further put off our future goals. Procrastination also involves a degree of self-deception: At some level, procrastinators are aware of their actions and the consequences, but changing their habits requires an even greater effort than completing the task. How to Beat Procrastination: It's possible to overcome procrastination but it takes considerable effort. Changing our behavior consumes a lot of energy. Start by adopting timelines that build in time for delaying, but not too much; making a personal challenge out of big tasks; breaking large jobs into achievable chunks. How can I stop putting off important decisions? Procrastinators struggle to make important decisions, in part because not making a choice absolves us of responsibility of the outcome. But sometimes we simply become so exhausted from making decisions that it seems impossible to make relatively unimportant ones.
    So basically sticking to a personal set of decision-making rules Procrastination, or outsourcing some decisions to a partner, friend or co-worker may help overcome decision making. We don't realize it but Procrastination is the Enemy of Success. Every single day you procrastinate is another day closer to not accomplishing your goals and dreams.
    Therefore never allow waiting to become a habit.
    Live your dreams and take risks.
    Life is happening now.
    6 min
  • Fear
    Let’s talk about this four letter word called FEAR! (F)ACE (E)VERYTHING (A)ND (R)ISE What is FEAR? An unpleasant, distressing emotion, feeling or condition of being afraid of something or things that causes feelings of dread or apprehension. The condition of being afraid of something or being worried about an outcome. Now I know each and every one of us has felt afraid during some point in our lives and it’s a normal reaction as it is an emotion we all feel. Whether its: •FEAR of commitment •FEAR of falling in love •FEAR of marriage •FEAR of failure •FEAR of moving on •FEAR of your past •FEAR of being hurt •FEAR of losing someone •FEAR of taking chances •FEAR of change •FEAR of starting over •FEAR of having children •FEAR of flying •FEAR of heights •FEAR of public speaking. Let me let you in on a little secret! I had fear of starting my own podcast. And then I thought about the reasons why I decided to launch a podcast in the first place. It was to inspire and motivate others so I just started recording and here I am today! I had to start from somewhere right! Fear causes anxiety and anxiety causes stress and stress causes us to worry. We all have, face and deal with different types of fear at various stages in our lives. But is fear really a bad thing? Fear is not necessarily a bad thing! What is the message being communicated by fear? It is one of the in-built human survival instincts. Too much fear that paralyses action is the bad thing. Have you ever done something you were fearful of doing then looking back you wonder why I was afraid? Many people face different fears every day including myself. My biggest fear is the fear of failure and as a result I push myself hard and set higher targets for myself so that the effort exerted and progress becomes worth it. Being fearful is a scary feeling, it makes one imagine all sorts of outcomes and scenarios. Sometimes the fear can be so intense to the point of inaction. Let me let you in on a few ways to fight your fears:
    1. Take time out! It's impossible to think clearly when you're flooded with fear or anxiety. The first thing to do is take time out so you can physically calm down. Distract yourself from the worry for 15 minutes by either taking a walk or reading a positive book or a motivational video. 2. Face your fears because Avoiding your fears only makes them scarier. Whatever your fear, if you face it, it should start to fade. 3. Look at the evidence. It sometimes helps to challenge fearful thoughts. For example, if you're scared of flying, ask yourself if you have ever heard of this happening to someone else. Ask yourself what you would say to a friend who has had a similar fear. 4. Don't try to be perfect! Life is full of stress, yet many of us feel that our lives must be perfect. Bad days and setbacks will always happen, and it's important to remember that life is messy. 5. Visualize a happy place. Take a moment to close your eyes and imagine a place of safety and calm. It could be a picture of you walking on a beautiful beach, or a happy memory from childhood. Let the positive feelings soothe you until you feel more relaxed. 6. Talk about it Sharing fears takes away a lot of their scariness. Talk to a partner, friend or family member. Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives.
    Embracing Fear: Acknowledge that it has come to teach you something and allow you to grow. Thank the fear for showing up for you. Fear is used to being shut out and hidden, not embraced. Once you do this, that fear will start to soften, it will lose more power, and you will ultimately disarm it.
    Fear makes us resilient: Resilient people accept their fears, and that builds strength to embrace, overcome and harness fear. When you focus on your fearful experiences as sources of personal strength, it can help you learn strategies that can build resilience.
    9 min
  • Intro: Social Influence
    Hi everyone! Welcome to Social Influence! 
     
    I'm your host Erica Cuascut, a former writer and journalist turned podcast producer. 
    I've always been passionate about Arts and Entertainment since I was a little girl. Growing up, I developed numerous passions. I started acting, ice skating and dancing at the age five and modeling when I was fourteen.  In the world of dance, I took Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Gymnastics and Hip Hop. I also competed in numerous beauty pageants. I'm a former Ms. Latina International Puerto Rico, Ms. Latina International United States and Ms. Latina International. My parents were my #1 fans, biggest motivation and supporters and always told me to never give up on my goals and dreams that the sky's the limit.
    During my adult years, I developed a passion for writing. I was a writer and journalist for Latin Connection Magazine for twelve years where I was featured on two front covers and had my own entertainment, motivational columns and covered numerous events in Miami. One day, I was chatting with a friend who asked me if I have ever considered starting my own motivational podcast because I have the voice and mindset for it and that the audience would be interested in listening to my journey. 
    And so I got inspired to start my own podcast! I decided to set myself a date, work on a list of potential ideas, topics, guests and a podcast name. Well!  Here I am, presenting to you my first podcast episode! I'm really excited to announce the launch of Social Influence where I will be covering topics about Mindset, Traveling, Side Hustles, Dating and Relationships, Success, Fear and many more! I'll be releasing this podcast once a week. 🎙🎧
    Why Social Influence? 
    Because it describes how our thoughts, feelings and behaviors respond to our social world. 
    Feel free to subscribe to my podcast and follow me on Instagram
    Thanks so much and stay tuned to the next episode!
    3 min
  • How To Create Your Dream Life

    (Tips to build the life you want) Creating the life of your Dreams! I'm going to share with you how to do that in 5 easy steps! We all have goals and dreams & sometimes we don't even know where to begin. And I truly believe that everyone out there deserves and can live the life that you dream about! Nothing makes me happier than to share these tips with you! And so, what's the first step on the way to the life of your dreams? Tip #1 is to Set Goals: Here's the fact of life, you don't stumble into the good life, you don't stumble and accidentally happen to just find your dream life! You have to create it by setting definable, realistic and attainable goals for yourself. Because goals set up the road map for you! So tip #1 is to set goals. Tip #2 is To Create a Road Map: You might be thinking aren't goals a road map for my life? The answer is no, goals are the milestones you want to reach, they are the stepping stones of how your going to get where you wanna go. But a road map is the actual direction of the path you wanna go. For example: We can all set goals to be rich and famous or have a big family or live in a bug house, but unless you know the over arching big picture of what a road map for your life looks like, those goals can take you in all different directions. Or they can be loose and fancy free. But a road map really keeps you focused on why you set these goals. Five year road maps or five year goal plan is the best way to start your road map. It's basically a map of where you want to be in five or whatever period of time feels realistic and reasonable to you to shape your life and the type of of dream life that you have. So now you have goals and create a road map! Tip #3 is so vital and it's to do do what you L💜VE! So many of us including myself at one point get wrapped up in the idea that were just going to slave away and work so hard so that I can be happy, so that in five years, ten years or twenty years, I can live my dream life. But here's the big shattering reality, if you wait that many years to be happy, that's a very long time to wait for the life of your dreams. We can live a happy and fulfilled life right now. There's things in our lives that we all want to change and fix and that we don't want to last forever. My advice for you is to do what you love! If you are stuck in a job or a relationship or in a circumstance in your life that's not bringing you joy or happiness, my challenge for you is to change it and I know it's easier said than done, that it's hard and your thinking I have to make so much money, or I have a mortgage to pay. I get it because I have bills to pay too! But I do believe there's always a solution to improve our joy because if you are going to be happy in five years, that's a really long time to wait. Do everything today that makes you happy and makes you feel fulfilled while your working on your dreams. Tip #4: Take Care Of Yourself! Your health is your secret weapon. The fact that you feel good, the fact that you have a strong capable body, the fact that you get up, that you can enjoy your day is a huge blessing. So don't take your health for granted because the day that you accomplish your goals and living your dream life, if your not healthy, it won't be worth it. So take care of yourself! Tip #5 on creating that dream life is to Focus On What Matters the Most: Take a look at your Road Map, Take a look at your goals and ask yourself where are these coming from and what do I think they are going to do for me? Because there's things in our life that matter most and I can't tell you what that is for you I can tell you what that is for me and that is family and being grateful for my health everyday. Ask yourself "Are my goals and dreams life centered around that"? Because if they're not, if it's centered  around monetary success or career success or doing things that are really awesome that might make me feel good in the moment, is that going to be your dream life?

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    10 min
  • Don't Quit On Yourself
    Life is full of struggle. We're destined to face pain and have everything blow up in our face. We all suffer from failure and disappointment at some point in our lives. But, what I've learned is that those who succeed accept this face and make a decision to push through it no matter what. When things go wrong, DON’T QUIT! I've experienced many ups and down in my life I've wanted to quit. That was until I realized how I got where I am today. The only reason I'm still here is because I decided not to quit. Quitting is the most painful form of suffering. Most of all quitting on yourself is something you will never forgive yourself for. I know life is hard, but that doesn't mean you can't find an empowering way to break through all of the struggles in life. Here are a few reasons why you shouldn't quit on yourself: Life is not a race - We quit on ourselves because we feel like life is a race against time. We feel like we have to achieve so much by a certain age or we're a failure. Don't quit because of someone else's time frame. Yes, life is short in one sense of the word and very long when you live in the present moment. I've wanted to quit on myself many times because ive failed many times but have gotten back up each time I've failed. Life is tough buy when you fall, you get back up again and keep going! "The way you win the race is to accept that pain is guaranteed" Know that with every failure that comes your way, there's a whole bunch of other people around you going through something similar. You may not know all of the pain happening around you, but it's everywhere. Don't quit on yourself because you didn't reach your goal or get what you wanted. Get back up again and keep trying with the newfound perspective from your past failures. Another reason why you shouldn't quit on yourself is because you're over thinking everything. Quitting on yourself happens because your over thinking everything that has transpired. If you give your brain enough time, it will find 101 reasons why you should quit. Quitting is your brain's default response. It's easier to quit on yourself than to keep going. Remember that success comes from struggle and hard work not from taking the easy path. Stop your brain from going into meltdown and try these few suggestions: Every time you want to quit, repeat a metaphor that intereups your brain pattern. Mine is " Remember how you made it to this point." - Go for a walk and listen to a motivational story of struggle. - Get social and spend time with people you don't know (Network). These suggestions will help you to take your mind of quitting. The longer you try and solve a problem through thinking, the more likely you are to quit. Try taking breaks and blocking out times where you can think about a problem. Quitting without trying isn't the answer. There is no failure except in no longer trying. Winners never quit, and quitters never win!
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    6 min
  • Whenever you start to doubt your strength 🤍
    Whenever you start to doubt your strength again, remember what this journey looked like when you first began. You did not know it all, you did not feel strong, but you kept on believing in yourself through it all. It was hard to keep going at times, but step by step you have come this far. Even if right now life is still full of uncertainty and stress, know that it is okay, in your own time you will overcome them.
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    1 min
  • Keep Moving Forward
    It's always worth it to do your best no matter what. And to believe in something and to work towards the attainment of the goal. And if it is that you have to expand your vision, then you climb higher and don't be afraid to. Sometimes as things go on in our lives, month after month or year after year, and we don't see anything changing, it's easy to get discouraged and think this is never going to happen. This is as good as it gets. I'll just learn to live with it. We all go through disappointments, setbacks, loss. Pain is a part of life. It's easy to get discouraged and think why is this happening to me? How many times have you done something in your life that once seemed difficult or impossible and now it's part of your life? Ask yourself how did you do it? You created it 3 ways. You decided that you wanted something so bad that you unleashed your desire. You became obsessed with what you wanted and focused on it. Weather it was business, a job promotion, a car, a relationship or a transformation in your body. If there's something you once envisioned and now it's real, it's because you didn't just envision it but you bought so much emotion to it and now it's in your life! It was once a dream. It was once a goal. And now it's in your life. Wherever focus goes, energy flows! Life is about growing, challenges, looking for ways that you can improve yourself. It means that you are willing to continue even during times of great difficulties. It also implies that you keep fighting until the obstacles no matter how huge they are you overcome them. Don't allow external circumstances to stop you from the pursuit of your goals. Don't ever allow setbacks to be the reason why you can't accomplish your goals pr move forward 💜
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    4 min
  • Dream Big
    There is no passion to be found playing small and settling into a life that's less than the one you're capable of living. Without consistency, you'll never finish so do what you feel passionate about, take chances. Don't be afraid to fail. There's an old IQ test nine dots and you had to draw five lines with the pencil within these nine dots without lifting the pencil. The only way to do it was to go outside the box. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Don't be afraid to FAIL BIG to DREAM BIG. But remember, dreams without goals are just dreams. You've got to take risks. And I'm sure you've probably heard this before but I'm going to tell you about why this is so important. You will fail at some point in your life accept it, you will loss, you will embabarass yourself at something there's no doubt about it. Just embrace it and learn from every failure in life. If you don't fail you're not even trying. And remember, to get something you never had, you have to do something you've never done before.
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    3 min

About Social Influence

From the publisher's feed

Social Influence covers many different topics about Mindset, Traveling, Side Hustles, Dating and Relationships, Happiness, Success, Fear, Goals and Obstacles, Procrastination, Self Acceptance and many…