There are people who just seem to have so much talent, skill or knowledge – we call them geniuses. We automatically think ourselves different from them, just as “ordinary people.”

The truth, though, is that we all can be geniuses. You can be a genius. But there are some things that can stop you from achieving your full potential as a genius. Learn to identify and recognize these:

1)    Stress / Negative mind programming. This is common and probably the worst factor. If you are stressed-out, afraid, or are simply bogged down by negativity, you won’t learn as much. Picture the teacher who uses fear to teach and discipline students – many students may have problems learning. Or the student who is so worried he might not get it. Well, he really won’t get it.

Some stress, though, is already so ingrained in students. Students who believe they are stupid – maybe because of what their parents and/or teachers said will have the most difficulties learning.

In contrast, look at students who see learning as play, as fun. Learning almost seems effortless when you observe them. Indeed, some schools already allow free play and other activities to stimulate students’ creativity.

2)    Focusing too much on short-term, rather than long-term memory. Have you ever crammed for a test and still got a high score? You may feel happy after you got the test results, but how much did you remember of what you learned after a week?  A month?

You learn by repetition and by focusing on your long-term memory. If you are just concerned about your test results, you are not really learning.

3)    Different learning modalities. There are different modalities – some people are more visual, some more auditory, some more kinesthetic, and so on. A person with a visual learning modality, for example, may have more difficulties learning through instructional audios. If you know what your learning modality is, you will be aware of what learning method works best for you.

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However little or too much food that you give yourself, it all boils down to the metabolism process. It is not right to starve yourself, but neither should you eat a lot. It is recommended that you just eat the right amount that will provide for your body’s needs.

Eat Little and Often
Eating small portions of your regular meals more often during the day is said to be better than devouring large amount of food during the times of the day when you ought to eat a lot.

The reason for this is because ten percent of the calories is being used by the body in digesting the food you ate and absorbing it further. In doing so, eating more frequently will really do your body good, as long as you keep the food intake minimal.

Small Portion Sizes
There is a vast diversity in the kinds of food available now for everyone to choose from. This causes more and more people to eat more than they should, not minding the calories that they give their bodies.

Even the portion sizes have increased nowadays. This fact can be proven by the study that was done by the researchers at the University of North Carolina. They found out that there is a significant change in the portion sizes of the key food groups in America between the years 1977 and 1996.Such change was brought about by people’s tendency to consume more salty snacks, beverages, burgers, fries and the likes than ever before.

The Size Matters
It is only typical for a person to eat everything that is on the plate, whether or not the stomach can take it in. This is because the body is psychologically set to finish off the food even if the stomach is already full.

There are studies being done that shows how people feel more satisfied when given lesser portions of food, as long as they eat often. Keeping your body healthy will also make you happy, so watch what you eat and as much as possible, try to boost your metabolic rate regularly.

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As humans grow older, their metabolism gets slower. This affects one’s health, diet and also their hygiene. That is why it is important to know some tips on how to speed up this body process.

What is Metabolism?
When you eat, the cells in your body convert the fuel in the food into the energy that you need in order to perform your everyday tasks, from simply waking up to doing chores, thinking and growing.

The human body works like a machine, it needs to be recharged and maintained to be able to keep up with its duties. Metabolism enables your cells to grow and reproduce, keep them healthy and able to adapt to its environment. Such process is important to all life forms, if it stops, it would cause the life to end.

The Metabolic Rate
The term is synonymous to the rate your body burns calories. It is important to have more muscles in the body to have a higher metabolic rate.

Thus, explains why men, especially with the muscular body type, have higher metabolic rate than women. And it also proves why the metabolic rate slows down as people age.

Get Active
Letting your body work out, move and being active will surely help you develop more muscles that would, in turn, boost your metabolism.

There are days when you feel the need to be a bit indolent but you could keep up with your metabolism rate by getting into exercises to sweat it out and build up those needed muscles.

Being active will not only help one’s metabolic rate, it would most be useful for a person to be energized and ready for each day’s tasks.

Keep up with the coming rigorous days by staying fit while bearing in mind the importance of a higher metabolic pace.

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If you have not heard of the term mind mapping yet, now is a good time to learn about it. You will certainly be missing out on a lot of things if you are still using the old
‘listing’ technique or taking down notes when studying, mapping out a plan or drafting an outline for a project at school or at work.

Not only does mind mapping eliminate the need for tedious lists, but it also works the same way that the human brain works, so coming up with a mind map or concept map is a breeze for anybody who wants to try it out.
So how does mind mapping work? This technique involves the illustration of ideas on paper. Think of it as literally drawing a ‘map’ of what you are actually thinking.

First, what you need to do is write in the center of the paper a word which represents the main theme or central idea. From that one word, you can think of other words associated with this central idea which can be connected to the main word with the use of branches. A branch from the main theme could have a sub-branch which is another word associated with the keyword, and so on – let the process evolve from there.

Once the entire paper is filled out with your ideas, the entire illustration will merge into a whole, which you can easily remember, picture in your mind and understand.

Now that you have a basic idea of what mind mapping is, take a look at the numerous benefits of mind mapping:

• You can save a lot of time and effort when using the mind mapping technique, instead of the traditional ‘listing’ method.
If you are fond of using itemized lists when taking down notes from a lecture, or even planning a vacation trip – imagine the amount of time and effort that you will save if you will use mind mapping instead. With mind mapping, you can eliminate the unnecessary details and just concentrate on what is important to you.

• Mind maps are easier to understand and remember.
This is especially applicable for students who are studying for an exam. Use mind mapping during a lecture, and you will find that the illustration will help you remember facts better, rather than relying on the traditional notes. This is because it will be easier for you to imagine an illustration rather than memorize a bunch of lists about the topic discussed.

With mind mapping, you can use your brain to its utmost potential and enjoy the advantages of having a better time at planning, organizing your thoughts, remembering facts and analyzing data – skills that you can apply both at work and in your home life.

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When you are given a project in school or at work, do you immediately make a step-by-step list of the tasks that you should perform in order to complete the project? Or, do you do everything that you can randomly and just try to organize and put together the project in the end, when you gathered have enough material?

If you have chosen the first option, then you may not be making the most of your mind’s potential. Making a linear, step-by-step list of the things that you need to do in order to accomplish a goal is much like how a computer’s ‘brain’ works.

On the other hand, if you have chosen the second option, then you have a wider array of choices when it comes to the paths that you can take to achieve your goal, since this is basically how mind mapping works.

Mind mapping is a concept or technique wherein your thinking process will be externally reflected in the form of an illustration or diagram. This was developed by Tony Buzan, who, in his web site www.imindmap.com, encourages people to “unleash the remaining 99% of their brain” through mind mapping.

This concept essentially follows the natural way that the human brain works. For example, when you think of or visualize the color red, your brain instinctively associates the word ‘red’ with apple, blood, cherries, a scarlet shirt that you may have worn at one time – anything that is associated with the color is what comes to your mind instead of just the word itself. So, from just one root word, your brain will immediately associate it with other words to broaden the scope of the topic.

This natural working of the brain, when illustrated on paper, is mind mapping. You can start by writing in the center of a piece of paper one word, representing one idea. From there - through the process of association – you can come up with several branches which all connect to your central idea.

The relationship between the main idea and all the branches that will stem out from the central theme is how the end process will look like. With mind mapping, you can organize your thoughts more coherently, new ideas will be better expressed and developed, you can retain information faster because of the fact that visual illustrations that you mapped out yourself is easier to remember than any list – all these and more are the benefits of mind mapping.

Aside from these benefits, there are hundreds of instances at work and in your home life where you can make use of the process of mind mapping to maximize your brain’s potential and save you a lot of time and effort when planning.

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Leaders all over the world and of different industries would no doubt agree that getting to their position of authority was the easy part; the challenging part is the act of retaining their position.

When you’re in the running for a position of authority, you may feel like what you’re facing is already the most difficult time in your life. But wait till you get elected as the CEO of a company, the president of the student council, or the representative of your town; and that’s when you’ll know the real meaning of pressure. The harsh power of the limelight is always focused on the leader; every move he makes is magnified. Leaders are harshly condemned even for the smallest of mistakes and anything they do well is still treated to its share of criticisms.

For that very reason, it’s absolutely important to prevent your leadership skills from becoming stagnant. Once you make the error of believing that you already have everything it takes to become a good leader, that’s when things start going downhill.

The following tips shall aid you in continually improving your leadership skills and in becoming a better and well-rounded leader in effect.

Leading by Example – Doing the exact same things you expect from your employees is the best way to ensure their continued allegiance. No employee would be able to rationalize any of his wrongdoings if his superior doesn’t count himself as someone exempt from the rules.

If you want to continue as your team’s leader, make sure that your actions befit your position; in other words, act like a leader if you wish to be treated as a leader.

Integrity – The moment you forget the importance of acting with integrity at all times is the moment that you’ve renounced your status as a good leader. So always keep your word and remember to be honest and fair in all your dealings.

Maintaining a Balance between Compassion and Firmness – No wrongdoing must escape punishment; but in exercising your power and right to penalize your people, you must also remember to act fairly and compassionately. While explicit and blatant disregard of rules must always be stringently punished, actions that were borne out of desperation and emotional weakness should be considered in a slightly more favorable light.

To keep your leadership skills from getting rusty, always remind yourself for the need to act lenient or strict at the right moment.

Removing Barriers – While it’s always good to maintain a certain (short) distance between you and your employees to keep them from treating you like a peer or colleague, it’s necessary as well not to place too much barriers between you and your people.

The moment you do, you will find it increasingly difficult to place yourself in their shoes whenever conflicts arise between the management and rank and file. When that happens, you will have a severely limited understanding of your people’s position and consequently, a limited ability to make the right decision for them.

Remember that leadership doesn’t solely revolve on telling people to do things; leadership is also exercised by serving your people the best way you can. How can you do that if you don’t understand where your people is coming from?

The Importance of Motivation – Sadly, most leaders fail to recognize the importance of motivation and keeping their skills of encouragement from getting rusty. Forgetting the need to properly motivate your people is one good way of letting your leadership skills gather dust.

Your people look up to you for guidance and inspiration. Make sure you do so by providing them with all the words of encouragement and praise that they need.

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Greg is a CEO of a small company in Pennsylvania. This man started the company somewhere in college and has developed it into an enterprise that is exporting goods to other countries.

One day, a former classmate from Penn State decided to call and ask the man to become the speaker of a small seminar on entrepreneurship back at the old campus.

Feeling honored about being given the opportunity, Greg sat down and started thinking about what to say to these people. The message should be clear and concise. “I will share my experience,” he thought. This will make the audience understand that his journey to the top was tough and there were a lot of setbacks.

Giving a motivational or inspirational message to people is like selling a product. The audience has to be convinced that if Greg was able to succeed, so can other people.

To make sure that Greg will be able to give a truly inspiration talk, he should make an outline. This should start with an introduction of the entrepreneur as a student who later on built a company. The main body should describe the details, such as the successes and the failures that became his lessons in life.

The end of the talk should focus on the things that are being anticipated and hoped for in the future. This will make people believe that having a business isn’t easy since one has to be always on the competitive edge.

The audience will really appreciate it if there’s an open forum after the talk. These people can ask certain questions which need more explanation. This can provide solutions to those having a hard time with an existing business.

After his speech, Greg will be able to know if his talk was effective if the audience will be given an evaluation sheet to be filled on the way out. This will give people like Greg a gauge on how effective the session was.

If people found it boring, then Greg should probably change a few things so that next time, the audience will feel inspired afterwards. Should the participants love it, this is a different story.

Greg has found a niche that can be used again to also motivate and inspire more people to work hard and be successful in life.

There are many ways for a person to spread the good word to others who need a little push. He can advertise the services to companies and other organizations that would like to get the help he can provide.

The individual can also write a book and then have this published. There are a lot of CEOs’ that have done this and the lessons learned are also applied and studied in business schools across the country.

Some people may not even have to write a book. The individual can also write the success story in a website which people can look for by making sure this is one of the popular ones that will pop out in one of the search engines.

Greg’s evaluation for the talk was very good. The friend who worked in campus asked if this could be done again. Greg didn’t know he has this talent inside. The lessons he learned can be shared to other people. This will inspire and motivate others who are probably thinking of giving up on their journey to success.

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Life offers an abundance of choices in every aspect.

The array of choices can be very vast. At times, you have to stop and ponder which one you really want or need. In many instances, after making a choice, you are confronted by another array of sub-choices.

The simple act of shopping for a pair of shoes has to pass through the process of making choices. First of all, you make a choice of which shoe store to visit. After making a choice, you enter a shoe store. Upon entry, you are likely to be welcomed by a sales clerk.

After the usual courtesy, you are bombarded with a series of questions. Questions like what kind of shoes you’re looking for. After you say so, it will be followed by questions such as what size, width, color, etc. While leading you to shelves of shoes on stock, you do a round of self-questioning on which pair appeals to your taste, style, and of course, budget.

The same thing is true when it comes to convincing people. You will be confronted by a choice of words to use to get your message across clearly, effectively, and persuasively. Choosing the right words can determine the success or failure of your intended objective.

Words can be appealing or appalling. How the recipient perceives a word can also depend on the recipient’s mood, condition, and sensitivity.

Say for example, in the company you work for, there’s a campaign to ask for blood donors to help a blood bank. If the bulletin announcement tells would-be donors that there’s a bloodletting activity scheduled for so and so, it is likely to attract less people. It feels as if you are compelled to donate blood.

Reword the announcement into ‘Your blood can save a life’ provides an emotional appeal. The improved version makes you feel needed and encourages you to donate blood willfully. Even if you are apprehensive to do so, especially when you are a first time donor, your tendency to be charitable prevails over your apprehension.

Words have a way to persuade or dissuade by helping set the mood to make the person more agreeable to your proposition. Author Hal Urban conducted a test using two sets of words.

Included in his first set of words are the following: jail, riot, terrorist, gloomy, forbid. Stop for a moment and examine your mood. Proceed to his second set of words: friend, kindness, peace, baby, blessed. Compare the two sets of emotions conjured from these sets of words. Words can indeed set the mood.

In your choice of words, the target audience is also an important factor to consider. In fashion, if your intended market is the rich and famous, the clothes you create should be centered on glamour and sophistication. Your marketing strategy can play up words such as ‘one-of-a-kind’ and ‘exclusive.’ Price would likely be insignificant.

Advertising is one profession where the choice of words is so important. Choosing the right words can determine a boom or doom. A message can be projected in different ways, even if the message means the same thing. The way words are projected can shape the future of a product (and even the company!).

A word need not be complicated or flashy to make it impressive. Oftentimes, a combination of the simple words packs the most powerful push to persuade consumers into buying a certain brand. How can you resist patronizing from establishments with slogans such as “Just do it,” “Coke is it,” “Billions served,” and “International Bestseller?”

Simple yet meaningful words bring in sales that keep the cash registers ringing. No wonder the advertising field is one of the most sought-after, fought-after battlegrounds. Advertising is just one of the vast array of fields where you can learn the language of persuasion.

Everyday, everyone is faced with having to choose the right words. There are persuasive words for different people on different occasions. Respect the power of words. Choose wisely.

In the words of Buddha, “Words have the power to destroy or heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.”

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Thoughts are very powerful. People have been known to withstand pain through sheer thought. People have achieved what they have always wanted through the power of the mind. And people also bring themselves into emotional cesspits because of thoughts.

Depression starts with pervasive thoughts of inadequacy and self-blame, among other things. A lot of the time, depression is triggered by a devastating event or an ill-thought-out decision that had disastrous results. Depressed people wallow in their self-pity and self-blame, slowly losing their will to live, slowly descending into a world where even the air is colored gray.

But there is a way out. Cognitive Therapy, which is used by psychotherapists and psychiatrists to treat depression, is a highly effective method that has brought people “back from the dead,” so to speak. It is very effective; but it’s actually a simple process you can do on your own.

What happens in Cognitive Therapy is that the patient is made to talk about a certain issue, especially the trigger of his/her depression, or the stress he/she is currently undergoing. When the patient blames him/herself or makes sweeping generalizations to prove what a miserable wretch he/she really is, the therapist disputes that and corrects the patient by asking questions to prove the negative thought and to encourage rational thinking.

You can do this on yourself too. Say you think, “I’m the fattest girl on earth”. Catch yourself with reality. Ask yourself: what is your weight? What is the weight of an officially obese person? If you do qualify for obesity, remind yourself: even 400-pounders have gone down to normal weight. So can you. If you need proof to tell yourself that it’s really true, you can research on success stories.

And this method applies across topics and across disciplines too. If you think you can never get that raise, ask yourself: “Never?” Then research, stack the cards, and arm yourself with truth. Dispute the veracity of your thoughts through cold, hard facts. If the facts agree with you, don’t despair. You have other options. The world has never run out of choices. You can get what you want, just keep a rational, open, and optimistic mind.

Cognitive Therapy and its principles has been a big help to so many people. I know it will help you, too. Just read more to show yourself how.

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No one on this earth is devoid of inner conflicts. True, there are a lucky few who have escaped having parents who screwed them up, but they still have inner conflicts nonetheless. It is a common notion in sociology, history, and even in modern psychobabble that the past affects the present. But is it really just psychobabble? Does Psychodynamic Therapy really work? Would it work on you?

Psychodynamic Therapy was developed as a modified version of Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis was developed by the oft-mentioned and highly notorious Sigmund Freud. You may have heard of him when people refer to sex drives, but his theories were more than that.

Psychoanalysis is the process where the therapist lets you talk and talk and talk, while he probes and tries to understand you and tries to let you understand for yourself how the events in the past shape your inner climate in the present. The only difference with Psychodynamic Therapy from Psychoanalysis is that Psychodynamic Therapy does not involve a heavy emphasis on dream analysis and symbolism.

Yes it’s true that the past experiences influence your current attitudes. You may have a pattern of tuning out your wife when she nags because she reminds you of your mother when she does that. Or you may be overly affectionate with your sons because your father never hugged you when you were young.

When we were in our teens, we experienced a lot of conflicts because of the changes inside us. It became worse for us when our parents would offend us in their attempt to discipline us. This hurt, this pain, sometimes get locked in the deepest corners of our mind in a process called repression. This is what Psychodynamic Therapy seeks to recover and eventually make you understand, with the ultimate goal of freeing you from toxic emotions and unhealthy patterns.

Psychodynamic Therapy does not stop the moment you understand yourself. That is only the start. The goal of the process is to use this understanding to bring yourself to a place of healing. Understanding is step one. Accepting that these happened is step two. Processing your feelings, reconciling yourself to these events and making steps to change your patterns form the rest of the equation.

Psychodynamic Therapy may not be recommended for everyone by the therapists, but I believe that taking the concepts within the theories behind it and applying it for self-healing can be an enriching experience. To be able to metamorphose into a better person, you must know and understand yourself. Psychodynamic Therapy can show you how.

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