Dr. Rick Wallace is the Founder, CEO & Chief Life Mastery Strategist at The Visionetics Institute. He created the Visionetics concept for optimal personal development based on nearly three decades of academic study, research and experience in the areas of behavioral psychology, neuroscience, personal development, metaphysics, quantum physics, neuro-linguistic programming, psycho-cybernetics and spirituality.
Dr. Wallace is one of the leading minds in the area of personal change --- achieving an exceptional rate of success with his clients.
When people come to me seeking help to get passed some type of roadblock that is inhibiting them from reaching their full potential in some area of their life, there are several primary causes at the core of their lack of productivity and progress — fear, lack of clarity, and procrastination. One of the first things that I do is establish an understanding of the law of cause and effect. Every result in your life has a cause. There are no coincidences; you are where you are today because of decisions and habits of behavior. If you want to change your course in life, it starts with the cause, not the symptoms.
You may be wondering why it is so important to focus on the cause as opposed to the symptom or result. When you focus on the cause, you address the issue at its source — having the potential to completely eliminate the cause, subsequently eliminating the symptom. When you focus on the symptom, you may be able to mask the symptom, but the cause is still present, and when things really matter the most, you will revert to what is natural.
Here, I want to deal with procrastination, which is a symptom that can have many underlying causes. When you fail to identify the cause of your procrastination, attempting to treat the symptoms could exacerbate the condition. Following are five common causes of procrastination along with some simple steps you can take to overcome each.
The Size of the Task Appears Overwhelming
Explanation: If you have a task that appears so huge that you can’t possibly get it done. If every time you think about it, the thought of finishing it seems daunting or even impossible. This usually leads to you never starting and moving on to something you believe you can get done.
Solution: You don’t climb a mountain by jumping from the base to the peak. You climb it one progressive step at a time. Break this huge task down into smaller, more workable, parts. Bite off what you can easily chew and knock that out. Once you finish with that task, go back and take another piece and start working on it. Eventually, you will find that you are building momentum and that you are getting things done.
Example: I have written and published 20 books, thousands of articles and scholarly papers, none of those publications were engaged with page one through 400 on deck. I start each writing project, including this one, by focusing on writing the best first sentence that I can. When I complete that sentence and am one step closer than when I started. Now it is time to write the next sentence and the next.
Too Many Tasks to Take On at Once
Explanation: There is nothing wrong with being aggressive in your goal setting. I am extremely aggressive when setting my goals. In fact, over 30 years goals my mentor told me that I would succeed by failing forward — meaning that I set my goals so high that rarely hit them on the first try, but I fail forward because I end up further along then when I started.
“If the vision that you have for your life is not so huge that it intimidates you, there’s a good chance it is insulting God.” ~ Steven Furtick
Being aggressive will often create a monumental to-do list that seems impossible to complete. First, people who are aggressive never get all of their to-do’s done. We get the most important ones done. Interestingly enough, when we handle the to-do’s with the highest priorities, many of the other things on our list fall off automatically. It is normal to put off things that you feel you cannot get done. Most people have a mindset of why get started if I can’t finish it. You have to take a different approach or nothing will ever get done.
Solution: Group related tasks into categories that can be combined into conceptual activities and then assign a certain amount of time to each activity.
Example: Because I run multiple businesses, I have multiple email accounts, and it is not uncommon for several hundred emails over the course of the day. It is obvious that I cannot address all of the emails in one day. So, I set aside a couple of hours each day to manage my email. The first thing I do is to group all urgent emails that demand an immediate response. I schedule responses to secondary emails and group the others in time groups based on importance. Nothing is too big when you break it down into manageable parts.
A Required Task Seems Boring and Repetitive
Explanation: If you are a person who is highly creative, you avoid boring things like the plague. It is natural for you to put off things that do not interest you; however, those things need to be done to move you forward toward your ultimate goals, right?
Solution: Find a way to make boring tasks more interesting, fun, and rewarding.
Example: Set a time limit to get a task done, and make it challenging. Now, compete against yourself to beat the time you set. When you are able to beat your time challenge, reward yourself in some way. You are actually training your brain to take on tasks that don’t naturally interest you. Eventually, proclivity to take on these tasks you once considered repetitive and boring will become second nature, and you will even experience a level of fulfillment.
The Importance and Relevance of the Task is Intimidating
Explanation: When you have a task that you ascribe such great importance to that the fear of screwing it up paralyzes you, you have to find a way to engage it productively. It could be a situation in which making a mistake could mean losing a client or losing your job, so you freeze.
Solution: Don’t stand on an island. Get the work done to the best of your ability and then bring in someone you trust to review your work and advise you on any necessary changes. When the initial draft or presentation is done for a reviewer instead of the actual client or manager, there is little risk involved and you will find that your stress levels decrease drastically. Interestingly, the lower the stress levels, the betting you think and perform.
You Just Don’t Feel Like Doing It
Explanation: There are times when are just not up to putting in the work. If you are like me, you pride yourself on doing exceptional work and if you can’t give it your best, you would rather not do it at all. I will be honest here, sometimes, this feeling is the result of plain old laziness. That is an entirely different topic to address — something I do in my latest book, Critical Mass: The Phenomenon of Next-Level Living. Normally, the lack of impulse and enthusiasm to get work done comes from burnout and the lack of proper internal motivation.
Solution: Here you have two options: 1. You can reschedule the activity for a time that you will be more up to the task. I don’t like this option because it actually trains you to procrastinate based on how you feel at a given moment. If it needs to be done, get it done. 2. Find a way to motivate yourself for the short-term. Everyone, including myself, has those moments when they just don’t feel like it. This is where the exceptional and phenomenal people in the world separate themselves from the rest — doing what most simply are not willing to do. Find a way to get motivated by promising yourself that you can have or do something you really want once you get this task done.
Procrastination is lethal to progress, and it is one of the most common causes of failure in the pursuit of worthy goals. No one gets everything right, but those who take on every challenge are the ones who get on in this world. If you suck at something, the only way to get better is to keep doing it until you master it. Failure is a part of the process that produces success. The greatest performers in history will admit that they have failed more times than they have succeeded. Put in the work and trust that your diligence will reward you. ~ Rick Wallace, Ph.D., Psy.D.
One of the most important things to remember about success is that it is achieved in many forms and through multitudinous practices. We have a proclivity to focus on one principle or idea which tends to lead to stagnancy or being misdirected. One principle that has a massive influence on how successful you will be is what I refer to as the “Principle of Initiation.” The principle of initiation involves both, the importance of getting things started and how you get things started. I was just speaking with a potential client about the toughest step being the first one.
Most people simply fail to take action. With people who are inactive, there is always some reason for not initiating the process necessary to put their dreams in motion. There is not enough money. They don’t have the right training. The lack of proper connections, etc. While having adequate capital is vital, a person who understands that their greatest resource is their resourcefulness will find a way.
“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
The second half of the Principle of Initiation is what I want to share with you today. The second have of the equation surrounding initiation is the manner of initiation. How you start something will have an immensely powerful impact on how you proceed through the process and finish it. This does not mean that if you start badly you can’t overcome the bad start. Successful people do this all the time. But, who wants to work uphill all of the time. If you can create a smoother process, it simply makes sense to do so.
The point of initiation can be any place or time designation you choose, but generally, I focus on days. Honestly, I often start my days over in mid-stride if I encounter a bad enough experience. I simply reboot and start from scratch. This is a very powerful and effective practice that allows me to compartmentalize events so that toxic fallout does not permeate my entire day. No matter how hard you try, you will not successfully circumvent the vicissitudes of life; however, when you are able to block off bad experiences so that they don’t negatively affect the rest of your day, you will have less stress and enjoy a more pleasurable experience.
In the field of high performance in which I operate, there is a common saying that goes, “win the first hour, win the day.” Basically, the manner in which you start your day has a mastodonic influence on the remainder of your day.
While your body is important, it is your mind that controls the entire ship. This is why even when I work with athletes, I spend more time on creating the right mindset than the physical preparation. When you have the right mindset, you can transcend the physical limitations that you believe you have. This is what separates those who survive Navy Seal training and those who don’t. It is not the biggest, the fastest, nor the strongest who make the cut, but those who possess the mental toughness to push through every obstacle. So, proper mental preparation at the beginning of the day can mean the difference between producing phenomenal results or having a day worth forgetting.
Following are 10 simple steps that everyone should incorporate into their day.
Take Time to Remember Your Dreams
You are probably wondering what in the world does remembering what I dreamed about have to do with success. When you first wake up in the morning, the right side of your brain, the creative side, is functioning as the dominant force in your mental processing. In fact, you have unwittingly been using the right side of your brain throughout the night — albeit unconsciously. You would be amazed at how many of today’s success stories started as a literal dream. Mary Shelly dreamt about Frankenstein before writing it. Tehpanie Meyer came up with the concept for the Twilight saga in her sleep. The chemist who created the periodic table came up with the idea while sleeping.
So, by remembering and cataloging your dreams there is no limit to what you may uncover.
Make Your Bed
Right now, I am sure you are wondering what in the hell does making my bed have to do with anything. Remember, how you start your day will have an impact on how the rest of your day goes. What if you could start your day with a guaranteed win, doing something that you can do with an exceptional level of excellence. When I get out of the bed in the morning, I make it up before I do anything else. I make sure that all the lines are symmetric and that the fold is exactly 12 inches from the head of the bed. I also make sure all of the pillows are properly placed based on my predetermined specifications.
By taking the time to do this, I successfully complete my first task, and I do it at a high level of excellence.
Brush Your Teeth
While everyone should brush their teeth in the morning, this third step is not about hygiene but stimulating the right side of the brain. The moment your feet touch the floor, it triggers the left side of your brain to take over. The left side of the brain is responsible for controlling logical, rational, calculated tasks from determining if you need to pick up a gallon of milk to tying your shoes. While you definitely need the left side of your brain, even for speech, it is the right side that is likely to come up with the solution to some of your greatest challenges. Here is the important part, make sure that you brush your teeth with your off hand, which is the left hand for most people. Because you are doing something that you are not as familiar with doing, it will awaken your creative side.
Hydrate Yourself
Believe it or not, your body loses water during the night, and since 50-60 percent of your body is made up of water, it is imperative to rehydrate in the morning to get your day started on a good note. If you start your day off dehydrated, it will have a negative impact on the functionality of your brain. The ability to develop lucid thoughts and follow complex mental blueprints is significantly diminished when a person is dehydrated.
Take a Cold Shower
There is a wealth of scientific evidence that suggests that the presence of inflammation in the body has a direct negative impact on how well the brain is able to perform. There is also empirical data to support the fact that exposing the body to cold temperatures helps to reduce inflammation. This is why ice is applied to injuries to reduce and prevent swelling. By taking a cold shower, you not only reduce inflammation, but you help fire up your neurons in the brain and prepare them to perform with lucidity and focus.
Sip on Some Brainpower Tea
Everyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I am a coffee person; however, I make it a point to get my dose of tea in. The right kind of tea can do wonders for the brain. Some of the things that I include in my morning tea (I also have a night version) include Goto Kola, Ginkgo, Lion’s Mane, Honey, and MCT unrefined coconut oil. Not only does coconut oil have its own medical benefits, it also improves the bioavailability of the other ingredients so the body can absorb them easier.
Journal
Journaling is an extremely vital part of my daily regimen; however, my morning journaling consists of creating a heart of gratitude and then setting my intent for the day. I usually identify three things I have to be grateful for, which usually starts with my beautiful wife. While the second two will change daily, the first is central and the first thing I focus on every day. I then write out some specific things I will focus on doing over the course of the day, much of which will be done within the first five hours. What I am doing here is solidifying the optimal state that I have been building since I woke up. Journaling is a powerful tool in creating the proper environment for success and you control the entire experience. You will want to do this in a quiet space where you will not be interrupted.
Exercise
It has been proven that those who exercise in the morning have more productive days and sleep better during the night. If you have a busy morning schedule, you may want to break up your workout into multiple sessions, but you need to commit at least 10 minutes to get your heart rate up. Remember anything that is good for the heart is also good for the brain — because a heart that functions optimally will get an optimal amount of oxygen to the brain.
Breathing Exercises
Performing breathing exercises daily is important, especially if you have a sedentary job like myself. A great deal of my day is spent in front of a computer or being seated as I work with my clients — making physical exercise and breathing essential. Slow breathing exercises are not only great for oxygenation, but it is also a great way to train your body to remain calm. Slow breathing works to slow everything down, which is an exercise that will help to calm you down when things become hectic or go wrong, which will inevitably happen.
Read
According to several recent studies, the average American reads one book per year, but the top performers in the country read between three and four books per month. There is no coincidence that avid readers perform better. Not only do you gain knowledge when you read, but you also stimulate your brain anytime you engage new information. While I suggest reading books that will contribute directly to your goals, the studies reveal that even people who read novels regularly perform better than those who do little to no reading.
Brain plasticity, also known as neuroplasticity, is a term used by neuroscientists that refers to the brain’s ability to change and grow at any age. This flexibility is critically important during our brain development and in shaping personalities.
Prior to the 1960s, scientists believed that changes in the brain only took place during infancy and childhood. Most believed that the brain’s physical structure was permanent by adulthood. Modern research has concluded that the brain creates new neural pathways and alters existing ones to adapt to new experiences, create new memories, and learn new information, right up until the day we die.
Psychologist William James was the first to suggest (in 1890) that the brain was not as unchanging as formerly believed. In his book The Principles of Psychology, he wrote, “Organic matter, especially nervous tissue, seems endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity.” However, his idea was ignored for decades.
From the 1920s to the 1960s, researchers began to explore the creation of new neural pathways and followed cases where older adults suffering the aftermath of massive strokes were able to “regain functioning, demonstrating that the brain was much more malleable than previously believed.” Modern researchers have confirmed that the brain is able to rewire itself following damage.
Characteristics of Plasticity
There are a few defining characteristics of neuroplasticity:
It varies by age. Though plasticity is present for a lifetime, certain changes are more likely during specific ages.
Plasticity involves multiple neural processes. Plasticity never stops and always involves brain cells besides neurons, like glial and vascular cells.
Plasticity happens for two different reasons.
As a result of learning, experience, and memory formation
As a result of damage to the brain.
The brain never stops changing in response to learning. In cases of damage to the brain, the areas of the brain associated with certain functions may be damaged; but, healthy parts of the brain may take over those functions and the abilities can be restored.
Environment and genetics both have an influence on plasticity. The stimulation and sensory input of the environment will have a direct effect on how the brain grows and changes. Similarly, if you have a genetic predisposition toward learning, you are more likely to take in and retain information and skills more quickly.
There are two types of neuroplasticity:
Functional plasticity: The brain’s ability to move functions from a damaged area of the brain to other undamaged areas.
Structural plasticity: The brain’s ability to actually change its physical structure as a result of learning.
Both types of plasticity can be harnessed to improve our brains.
Ways To Harness Plasticity
With the right circumstances, the power of brain plasticity can help adult minds grow. Although certain brain functions decay with age, people can tap into plasticity and refresh the brain.
Targeted brain plasticity exercises help to keep our brains fit. Even those suffering from brain damage may be able to retrain their brains for better function. The key is identifying what brain functions to target and how to best exercise them.
Researchers suggest that there are various methods of harnessing brain plasticity:
Intermittent Fasting
The Society for Neuroscience suggests that fasting increases synaptic plasticity, decreases risk of neurodegenerative diseases, promotes neuron growth and improves cognitive function. When you fast, a metabolic shift reduces the body’s leptin levels. Thus, the brain receives a chemical signal for neurons to produce more energy.
Travel
Traveling encourages neurogenesis by exposing your brain to new, fresh, and complex environments. Paul Nussbaum, a neuropsychologist from the University of Pittsburgh explains, “Those new and challenging situations cause the brain to sprout dendrites.” And a week-long tour of another country isn’t necessary to get this benefit; take a weekend road trip to a different city.
Use Mnemonic Devices
Memory training promotes connectivity in your brain’s prefrontal parietal network and can slow memory loss with age. Mnemonic devices combine visualization, imagery, spatial navigation, and rhythm and melody, so they can reach various parts of the brain simultaneously.
Learn an Instrument
Musicians’ brains show sharp connectivity between brain areas.
Neuroscientists explain that the multi-sensory experience of playing a musical instrument allows for the association of motor actions with specific sounds, and memorizing visual patterns leads to new neural networks being formed. As you practice a new instrument, the repetition will allow for neuroplasticity to do its work.
Non-Dominant Hand Exercises
Using your non-dominant hand during routine tasks can help form new neural pathways. Doing this strengthens connectivity between your brain cells. Studies also show that non-dominant hand activities improve emotional health and impulse control. Try switching hands during some simple tasks and give your brain a test.
Read Fiction
Studies show increased and ongoing connectivity in the brains of participants after reading a novel. Enhanced brain activity occurred in the brain area that controls physical sensations and movement. Scientists explain that reading a novel can be a physical transportation into the fictional world. Shifting into this mental state is crucial for learning how to have complex social relationships.
Expand your Vocabulary
When you learn new words, the brain’s visual processes, memory processes, and auditory processes activate. The smaller your vocabulary, the more likely you are to have poor cognitive skills.
Sleep
Studies show that sleep helps with learning retention with the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions that connect brain cells and facilitates the passage of information across synapses.” Getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night will help the brain retain information.
How Exactly Does Plasticity Improve the Mind?
In his book, Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life, Dr. Michael Merzenich, a leading pioneer in brain plasticity research and co-founder of Posit Science, lists ten core principles necessary for the remodeling of your brain to take place:
Change is mostly limited to situations in which the brain is in the mood for it. If you are engaged, your brain will be too.
Be more motivated and more alert. Those intensely focused on the task and devoted to mastering something will experience greater change.
The strengths of the connections of neurons that are engaged together, moment by moment, are actually what changes.
Learning-motivated changes in connections increase cell-to-cell cooperation.
The brain strengthens its connections between teams of neurons when things occur in the same order over time.
Though the first brain changes are temporary, changes become permanent if your brain judges the experience to be worthy of remembrance.
Brain changes happen through internal mental rehearsal just as a physical rehearsal in the real world helps us learn and execute specific tasks.
Memory is the key to learning. When you learn a new skill, your brain notes the good, the bad, and the ugly. The most recent good try is the one that the brain remembers.
When your brain strengthens a connection in advancing your mastery of a task, it weakens unnecessary connections of neurons that weren’t used.
Brain plasticity can go either way; you can generate negative changes just as easily as positive changes.
Maintaining Plasticity
We can understand that the brain is designed to be stimulated and challenged, to carefully examine and interpret the environment, and keep track of the details, all of which is necessary for survival.
But, people in society tend to remove themselves from details of life. They don’t keep track of things in their heads anymore; they use smartphones with speed dial, address books, and reminder features. They rely on GPS rather than paying attention to street signs and navigation skills.
As we age, we go from the acquisition of abilities to using the abilities acquired earlier in life. We operate on autopilot. The skills and tasks we have mastered are done simply by rote. We are largely disengaged.
Modern culture has reduced stimulation on the functional level, while we engage ourselves at an abstract level of operations. Details no longer matter and our brains are deteriorating as a result. As we continue to disengage from the simple act of memory recall, we are letting our brain plasticity lie dormant.
But, it is more than possible to maintain plasticity as we age. Humans have the ability to learn new things, master new skills or learn new languages, even into old age. This example of neuroplasticity will most likely involve structural and biochemical changes at the level of the synapse.
Adult brains remember new activities through repetition. When an enriched and stimulating environment is offered to a damaged brain, recovery can occur. Not everyone will be able to recover, however. The amount of brain damage and the treatments and rehabilitation will be the key to engaging neuroplasticity.
Conclusion
The brain is an amazing source of skill, memory, and functionality. Its ability to continuously improve functionally and structurally make human beings one of the most sophisticated creatures on the planet.
We all have the power to train, modify, and heal our own brains through hard work, focused effort, and a belief in the power of the mind.
Anna Kucirkova
Anna Kucirkova speaks 3 languages has a passion for kids and writing. While she has been to many places in Europe and SE Asia she still wants to explore the rest of the world.
8 Essential Non-Financial Skills that Will Help You Master Money
There is no question that there are certain financial skills that are necessary to perform well in the world of money over a long period; however, there are also certain personal, non-financial skills that are essential to mastering money consistently. The mathematical and systematic skill sets that are commonly associated with proper money management are narrow in scope and focus — meaning that they are best expressed in the financial world. Conversely, there are much broader personal skill sets that are not directly associated with finance but have an immensely powerful capacity to effect it.
Moving forward, I will share with you eight non-financial skills that will help you create a foundation that will support proper money management.
1. Self-Awareness
You are probably wondering what in the world does self-awareness have to do with money management. Self-awareness is important in every area of life, including the management of money. The great philosopher Socrates once said, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” He also said, “A life unexamined is not worth living.” One of the key components in determining how you will function as an investor is natural risk aversion. People who are highly risk-averse find it hard to make investment decisions beyond minor low-risk mechanisms.
Self-awareness will assist you in understanding your risk aversion. It will also help you to understand your compulsions to engage in consumerism. The more you understand about counterproductive behavior, the better equipped you will be to overcome it. Self-awareness also introduces your to your strengths — identifying things you can build upon to become more successful with money.
You can expand your self-awareness by being mindful of certain emotional responses to different types of stimuli, such as advertising, as well as noticing which portions of your budget are easier for you to manage in comparison to those components of your budget you find challenging.
In case you didn’t know it, we live in a nation that is driven by a debt-based economy. The U.S. Dollar was once backed by the gold standard, but this only works when you refrain from printing more currency that your Gold stores can support. Because the U.S. was constantly raising its currency circulation despite its limited gold stores, the value of the dollar was decreasing rapidly. President Nixon decided to remove the gold standard and the dollar became backed by the debt accrued by the nation and its citizens.
Allow me to elucidate what I am saying here. This nation needs its citizens to spend more money than they have to spend, accruing debt. In fact, accumulating debt has become the American way. Consumerism drives the economy. Unfortunately, the number one force moving against the building of wealth is the accumulation of debt.
In order to avoid getting caught up in the vortex of consumerism, you will have to demonstrate an enormous amount of self-control (self-discipline). People who have mastered money are highly adept at resisting impulse buys — spending through their emotions. You might be surprised at how much of what you buy is your emotions convincing you that you need something that you actually do not need.
You probably receive a complete stack of pre-approved credit cards every week, and the latest model of your favorite car is enticing. Shred the credit cards and drive your current car as long as it remains dependable. It is hard finding purchases that are more counterintuitive to wealth building than care purchases.
3. Self-Confidence
I am sure that you have heard the term “keeping up with the Joneses,” This is something that has become an American pastime. What most people are not cognizant of is the fact that attempting to keep up with the Joneses is the result of a lack of self-confidence. If you are measuring your self-worth and personal importance by how close you can live your life to someone else’s, it is because you are not confident and comfortable in who you are.
To master money, you will need to evolve beyond the point of constant personal comparisons that will only drain you of time, energy, and money. To do this, you will need to develop and cultivate an authentic self-confidence that allows you to find comfort and fulfillment in being you. You must understand that who you are is far more than what you buy.
4. Expanded and Projected Thinking
People who have mastered money are always operating with the end-goal in mind. They have an uncanny ability to focus on the big picture. The ability to focus on the big picture enforces the need to make certain personal sacrifices along the way. Thinking about the big picture will keep you focused on paying down student loan debt and building the proper mechanisms to facilitate your retirement.
Note:When it comes to retirement, saving a nest egg is not good enough. People are living longer than at any time in the past, and many of them are outliving their retirement savings. You should focus on creating passive income that will provide multiple streams of income for the remainder of your life.
5. Patience
We live in a world in which everyone is seeking immediate gratification, but most things worth having and enjoying require work, dedication, and patience. Unless you have relatives who are independently wealthy, your progression to financial security, and eventually financial freedom, will be a slow progression. You will have moments that you will make major leaps, but most of your growth with require patience.
When you possess patience, it will allow you to focus on the long-view when considering investments, instead of always aiming for the fence. When you lack patience, you become an easy target for get-rich-quick schemes — constantly exposing yourself to negative risks.
6. Critical Thinking
While I don’t want to frighten you, the truth is that there are hordes of people who are after your money in one way or another. There is no shortage of shady investment opportunities and scammers looking to separate you from your money. Every day, there are shady dealers in the money market developing new and more innovative ways to separate you from the money you have worked so hard for. In an environment that is so hostile to your financial well-being, critical thinking is an essential skill. Money masters never approach expenditures lightly — considering each expenditure with care — gather all available unbiased data, and developing the ability to spot things that are too-good-to-be-true.
7. Creativity
Critical thinking solicits the left side of the brain, and most people assume that all money management skills are connected to the left side of the brain. Actually, the right side of the brain can be a powerful resource when dealing with money. There are certain financial laws that are completely immutable; however, the number of ways that they laws can be exploited for financial gain is endless. The person who invented cryptocurrency simply used the creativity to produce a new way to move into the world of money.
Creativity will also help you survive during those lean times when money is scarce. I have had people tell me that they can’t afford to save, and my response was, “you can’t afford not to.” I often tell the story about Theodore Johnson, a man who worked for UPS his entire life. Theodore never earned more than $14,000 a year his entire 30 years at UPS; however, he happened to know someone who was wealthy. This person convinced him to invest a portion of his earnings into products that produce compound growth. By the time that Theodore retired, he was worth over $70 million dollars. There are other stories that show that no matter where you are, you can build wealth if you are creative and committed.
You are probably saying that you are already overextended and there is nowhere to pull savings from. But if the government raised taxes by 10, 15, or even 20 percent, you would protest, but at the end of the day, you would pay it. Why not tax yourself and use that tax to create wealth for you and your family.
8. Communication
Communication is an essential skill in life because it feeds all of the other skills that are so essential to your success. Money masters are great communicators with their partners, in negotiations, and in the sharing of knowledge with others. They know what questions to ask, and they know how to listen, which is also a part of communication.
Conclusion
I teach financial literacy, and I am a staunch advocate for developing financial skills. Simultaneously, the personal skills that are presented here are immensely valuable in creating the capacity to optimize what you know and understand about money. There are a lot of people who understand finance, but they don’t have the personal skills that facilitate the proper use of the knowledge they possess. I know licenses financial advisors who are horrible with their own money. They give great counsel, but they lack the capacity to follow their own advice. These non-financial skills will serve as the foundation on which you will build your wealth building and savings strategy. ~ Rick Wallace, Ph.D., Psy.D.
Instagram can be a highly-targeted, visual marketing channel for your brand and an opportunity to build a loyal audience that grows with your business.
In fact, over 500 million Instagram users browse the app every day, making it home to some of the most engaged audiences around.
But like any social network out there, there are right ways to use it, wrong ways to use it, and clever ways to use it.
In this post, we will show you how to most effectively use Instagram to increase engagement and grow a massive following over time—one that’s full of real fans, not inactive fake accounts.
How to Get More Instagram Followers
There are 13 tactics that will help you reliably get more followers on Instagram:
Your goal on Instagram is to engage your current audience while also growing your following. Posting new, interesting and engaging photos will satisfy the first requirement, but to begin growing you’ll find hashtagging your photos to be extremely important. Hashtagging your photos makes it easy for people to find your photos that are searching for those specific terms.
So which hashtags should you use?
Just like with Twitter and other social sites, users on Instagram use certain hashtags over others. If you use the right hashtags within your photos, you’re much more likely to reach new users and be discovered.
Here are the current top 20 hashtags on Instagram according to Websta:
#love (1,271,692,015)
#instagood (742,795,562)
#photooftheday (507,358,504)
#fashion (487,010,088)
#beautiful (463,668,566)
#happy (427,528,663)
#cute (418,686,470)
#like4like (417,887,839)
#tbt (413,049,020)
#followme (392,011,012)
#picoftheday (380,504,677)
#follow (371,102,705)
#me (348,193,980)
#art (343,874,151)
#selfie (337,204,715)
#summer (324,498,110)
#instadaily (323,307,593)
#repost (309,603,537)
#friends (307,567,075)
#nature (303,040,276)
If you looked at the list above and said, “But none of those apply to my products or brand”, you’re likely correct.
Using hashtags is one thing, using the right tags is a completely different thing.
Popular tags like the ones listed above will likely net you additional engagement and likes, however they will not lead to increased long-term engagement, new interested followers, and most importantly, sales.
If you want to tag your photos properly, you’ll need to find and use the most relevant hashtags. This means doing the appropriate research to make sure you’re using hashtags that not only describe your brand, but are also being searched for on Instagram.
To find relevant hashtags, you’ll want to use a free online tool like IconoSquare or Websta to start.
Below, I used Websta to find relevant, related and popular hashtags for my men’s accessory brand by searching for key hashtags that are closely related to my brand.
As an example, searching the hashtag #MensFashion, I was able to pull the following list of additional keyword hashtags along with the number of times they have been used (popularity).
You can also find more related hashtags and their popularity if you search for any of your target keywords directly in the Instagram app.
You’ll want to go through this exercise trying different keywords that describe your brand and products, building out your hashtag keyword list as you go.
Keep in mind that Instagram allows for a maximum of 30 hashtags per post. Additionally, the popular words will change over time, so make sure you revisit your hashtag keywords every few months to make sure you’re using the best possible terms.
You can also steal hashtag ideas from competitors or similar accounts that have the kind of following you aspire to have, but you ultimately want to create your own groups of hashtags to use that relate to your specific account.
Protip #1: Here’s a trick that I use for my ecommerce businesses. For every product and product category for my stores, I have done the research to see which are the most popular Instagram hashtags around those product categories. I came up with 15-20 popular hashtags for each category of products I sell, as well as a base of 5-10 popular tags that describe my brand and product offering overall. Finally, I also created a list of popular local specific hashtags that relate to my brand.
All of these groups of keyword hashtags are stored in a page on Evernote. This makes it easy and efficient when I’m on the go to post a new Instagram image, optimized for the most relevant keywords.
I can easily open my Evernote and copy my standard brand, product and location specific hashtags to post with each photo. Some Instagram scheduling tools also let you save caption templates that you can use to store your hashtag groups.
Doing the work upfront of researching, organizing and saving the most applicable and popular hashtags will save you a ton of time down the road, increase your engagement and help garner new followers.
Protip #2: If you’ve been posting to Instagram for a while and feel like you’ve missed out on all these opportunities to build your audience by using keyword hashtags, fret not. You can still go back and post a comment with your new hashtag keyword lists and watch the likes and followers roll in.
Using hashtags in Instagram Stories
Hashtagging on Instagram posts are a given, but you should also be using hashtags in your Stories for the chance to be seen by users who follow that specific hashtag.
You can use Hashtag Stickers (which can be found in the Stickers menu when creating a Story) or just hashtag directly in your captions for a chance to be featured in a Hashtag Story.
Now that users can follow hashtags, your Stories have a chance to be seen by both people who are following that hashtag and anyone who’s just checking it out.
2. Use the right filters
Keyword hashtags aren’t the only thing you should pay attention to. The Instagram community responds to certain photo filters more favorably than others. Using these preferred filters can have an impact on your engagement.
Here are the 10 current most popular filters on Instagram according to Iconosquare:
Normal (No Filter)
Clarendon
Juno
Lark
Ludwig
Gingham
Valencia
X-Pro II
Lo-fi
Amaro
TrackMaven did a recent study on Instagram accounts to see how filters affected engagement and found that Mayfair, Hefe, and Ludwig drove the most interaction.
But more important than the general Instagram community’s favorite filters, are your particular audience’s favorite filters. Consider this custom graph which correlates filter usage to engagement from my own Instagram account:
You can use IconoSquare to review the performance of your own account to understand what is and is not currently working for you.
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3. Post at the right times
Beyond adding the appropriate hashtags and using the best filters, you should also be considering the timing of your posts.
A targeted approach is to analyze what has and has not worked for you in the past. By visiting IconoSquare’s optimization section, you can get a detailed analysis of your posting history vs. engagement. This report will also highlight the best times of the day and days of the week to post.
The dark circles indicate when you usually post media. The light gray circles shows when your community has been interacting. The biggest light gray circles represent the best times for you to post.
You can also get a lot of great insight from Instagram Analytics for Business accounts for free, under the Followers section.
You may want to consider using a social media scheduling tool to schedule and automatically publish your posts for when your audience is the most engaged.
4. Steal your competitor’s followers
One of the best ways to find and attract a new following is by seeking out your closest competitors’ Instagram accounts and engaging with their audience. These people have already shown some level of interest in the products you carry simply by following your competitors’ account.
So how do you effectively steal your competitors’ followers?
You can steal your closest competitors’ followers by engaging with them. There are several ways to engage with Instagram users, and the more work you put in, the more followers and repeat engagement you’ll get out of it.
The three types of engagement on Instagram are:
Follow a user
Like a photo
Comment on a photo
I ran an informal test with my business account to see how my competitors’ followers responded to my marketing advances. I targeted the followers of a close, local competitor. Since I know many of his followers would be local, I added my city to my profile to create a greater sense of familiarity between my brand and the people I am targeting.
I began by simply following 100 of my competitors’ followers. Later, I followed another 100 but I also took the time to like one of their photos. Finally, I followed a third group of 100 and liked as well as commented on one photo from each account..
Here were the results:
Follow: 14% followback
Follow + Like: 22% followback
Follow + Like + Comment: 34% followback
Although the are many variables and the test was far from scientific, the results were clear. The more you put in and engage with people, the more you’ll get out of it.
Note: While it’s against Instagram’s terms of service, some entrepreneurs use automation to follow the same process above. House of Hannie discusses this tactic and the pros and cons of it on the episode of Shopify Masters below.
Sell more with shoppable Instagram posts
Start tagging products in your posts and turning engagement into purchases with Shopify’s Shopping on Instagram sales channel.
All this optimized posting to your account is great but if you really want to make an impact, you need to take advantage of influencer marketing on Instagram, exposing your brand to a wider audience.
So how do you do that?
First, unlike the tactics above to grow your account this one usually isn’t free. However, if done correctly, it’s good value.
To get started, you’ll need to make a list of large accounts in your niche. For example, if you sell beauty products, you’ll want to find large accounts from beauty bloggers.
You may already be following these accounts, but if not you’ll need to find them. One of the best ways is to use Webstagram (mentioned earlier) and search for some of the closest hashtag keywords you uncovered in the beginning of this post. When you do a search for your keywords, not only will it show you the related keywords, but it also shows you the top Instagram accounts that feature those keywords.
There are a few things to look for in the profiles results:
A large following—usually 20k to 200k
An email address in the profile
If there is an email address in the profile, it usually means they’re open to sponsored posts or a shoutout in a sponsored Story.
You’ll want to email them and ask them their sponsored post pricing. In general, I have found the average rate to be around $20-$50 per post, depending on the size of their following.
However, if you’re selling a unique and original product, you may also want to consider sending them your product to review and post. The more natural and less advertisement-like the image, the greater the engagement and response usually.
You don’t necessarily need influencers with a massive following, but rather ones with a high engagement rate (likes and comments relative to follower size), which many influencer marketplaces can provide.
6. Use geotags for local discoverability
Besides hashtags, you can also make your Instagram posts and Stories discoverable by tagging your location, either the city you’re in or the venue where the photo or video was taken.
Locations not only have their own feed on Instagram but also their own Story just like hashtags that you can contribute to when you use the location sticker in your own Stories.
Local businesses can get the most value out of location tags by posting regularly to these feeds and also engaging with posts from prospective customers who are physically in the vicinity.
7. Organize your Stories into Highlights
Whenever a potential follower lands on your profile, you have a short span of time to convince them to follow you.
One way to do this is by using the “Highlights” feature on your profile to organize your Instagram Stories in a way that communicates what your account is about.
Since Stories have a 24-hour lifespan, Highlights can be used to give them a second-life and entice others to follow you so they don’t miss out on more Stories in the future.
Use Story Highlights to:
Create trailers that tease what your account is about
Organize your Stories into themes (like countries you’ve visited to for travel accounts)
Explain your products through pictures and videos
Promote your products using swipe-up links (you need at least 10K followers and a Instagram Business account to do this with your Stories)
8. Ask
It sounds obvious, but it deserves to be said: Don’t be afraid to occasionally ask your audience to follow you.
The same way YouTubers ask their viewers to follow them at the end of their videos, you can also ask viewers to follow you for more content.
Sometimes people might really enjoy what you put out on Instagram, but need a nudge before they actually follow you. Sometimes you just need to remind the users of a platform that they can subscribe to get more in the comments of a post.
You can also do this in your captions or even work it into your content by pitching what your audience will get if they follow you or hinting at content that’s coming up that they won’t want to miss.
9. Hop on trends
When the opportunity presents itself, aligning your content with trending topics or hashtags can improve discoverability and engagement.
For example, you can ride the wave of a trending topic or event, such as a holiday, in a relevant way to boost your engagement and reach. Or you can participate in one of the many hashtag holidays that exist, such as #NationalCoffeeDay (falling on October 1st in 2018). Mark relevant events in your calendar so you can prepare relevant content in advance.
Be sure to join the conversation in a meaningful way and when in doubt, ask yourself if your target audience would actually pay attention to the trend.
10. Run a giveaway
One of the best kinds of comments you can get on any social media post, not just Instagram, is a comment where one user tags a friend. Not only do these comments contribute to your post’s engagement, which in turn makes it favorable to the Instagram algorithm, but each tag brings you a new audience member who arrived through a recommendation and who you could potentially win over as a follower.
One way to encourage this behavior is by posting relatable content that begs for 1:1 sharing (e.g. A gym meme that asks you to tag a friend who skips leg day). But a more reliable way to get your audience to tag their friends is by running a giveaway that encourages your audience to tag a friend and follow your account.
Be sure to check out our post on running a giveaway for more, as well follow Instagram’s promotion guidelines and any legal requirements for running a contest that apply in your country of operation.
For inspiration, here’s an example of a successful product giveaway from the5th that incentivizes people to follow their account and tag a friend for the chance to win two free products for the both of them.
11. Be consistent
Most of your followers won’t follow you for what you posted in the past but for the promise of what you’ll post in the future. Your audience wants to know what they’re going to get if they hit that follow button.
Having a feed with a consistent theme running through, where you publish at a consistent pace, can have just as much of an impact in growing a following as many of the other growth strategies we’ve covered above. Even a simple pattern can entice new followers, as long as it’s communicated at first glance to anyone who lands on your profile.
Consider your bio and your last 9 posts as your first impression on Instagram. Do they effectively communicate some degree of consistency through personality, filters, colors, or layout?
The layout of your grid is an often underestimated way to get creative with the aesthetic of your feed while adding a rhythm to your publishing strategy and consistency that’s worth following.
In fact, many accounts that adopt this approach are often able to spend less effort on creating content by focusing on converting visitors into followers, producing text graphics or other content with a faster turnaround and streamlining the overall production of their Instagram content.
You can use a tool like Later to easily plan out and schedule the look and layout of your feed in advance. Sonnet Insurance is just one example of how far some brands go with the aesthetic of their Instagram layout.
12. Closely monitor your following over time
It’s not enough to get more Instagram followers if you’re losing them just as fast. Keep an eye on the rate at which you’re growing as well as how engaged your following is overall.
Social Blade is a great free tool for analyzing the growth of your following (or your competitors), showing you followers added and lost over time and on specific days.
With an Instagram Business account, you also get an Instagram Analytics dashboard which offers valuable insight for free that you won’t get anywhere else. You can see how many people are checking out your profile, how many people your posts have reached, what your most engaging posts are, and where most of your followers are from.
You can use this data to diagnose where you’re falling short and where you could do more.
Look for patterns in the posts that were the most engaging and try to replicate that in your future content.
13. Use the Instagram tools at your disposal
There are hundreds of Instagram tools out there that can help you and your Instagram strategy, but I mentioned three key ones to help you build your audience and engage with them over time:
Later Schedule and automatically publish your Instagram posts from your computer or mobile device.
IconoSquare: Info, analytics and insights into your account and followers.
Webstagram: Find the best hashtags for your posts and people for your sponsored posts.
You can find more in our list of top Instagram tools, as well as some apps to help you with creating and editing your content.
Grow an Instagram following that grows your business
In this post we talked about the most effective ways to use Instagram to build a targeted following, but it’s not always a numbers game. As with any social network, the most successful strategy overall is to be authentic and social.
If you focus on engagement, not just followers, Instagram can be a great home for your products and brand that can lead to a healthy stream of revenue for your ecommerce business.
As a behavioral and performance specialist, I make it a point to study and observe those who I consider to be at the top of their game — especially those who rose from meager beginnings. I have studied entrepreneurs, investors, athletes, actors, parents and more. One person that I have spent a lot of time observing and listening to is Will Smith. Because I experienced my teen years during the 1980s, my first memory of Will Smith is as the Fresh Prince alongside D.J. Jazzy Jeff. So, you can say that I have had the pleasure of observing Will evolve into the icon “living” (pun intended) that he has become.
One thing I once heard Will say is that he believes God placed everything in this life worth having on the other side of fear, and I agree with him. I would take it one step further. I believe that God placed every worthy experience and accomplishment on the other side of fear, pain, disappointment, frustration, delay, and every dark thing that tends to paralyze people. This paralyzed state is one of the leading causes of procrastination. If you want to experience all that life has for you, you must be willing to endure the process that always precedes the promise.
Get Outside of Your Comfort Zone
We live in a society that places great emphasis on comfort. People don’t like change, because change is uncomfortable; however, change is an absolute requisite for growth. We tend to go out of our way to circumvent the difficulty and struggle that is part of the process of growth that leads to greatness. The truth is that you will not begin to experience the extraordinary and phenomenal things that life has in store for you until your back is against the wall and you are forced to fight forward.
Look around you, and you will see a culture that is built to retreat at the first sign of trouble. People shun any sign of challenge and resistance. What is funny to me is the fact that no matter how much you attempt to avoid pain, struggle, difficulty, and problems, they inevitably find you. You cannot circumvent the vicissitudes of life; they will eventually stroll into your paradise. What you can do is be prepared for them. What you can do is engage them head-on. What you can do is develop a mindset of no surrender, no retreat.
You see, character and integrity cannot be developed within the confines of comfort. The development of character requires resistance and challenge. It requires that your back be pushed up against the wall. If you never develop character and integrity, you will never push through the difficult moments to experience the awesomeness on the other side of fear and pain.
Let those hard times motivate you to push harder, fight harder, and stand firmer. Make up in your mind that you will not bow down to the challenge in front of you. Become committed to your vision and dreams. You can dream all you want to, and you will never see those dreams realized until you become fully committed to them. When you are fully committed to your vision, you will not be deterred by hardships, delays, disappointment, frustration. When you become committed to your vision, you will only be satisfied by the sweet taste of victory and accomplishment. Your commitment will cause you to lose your tolerance for excuses and substandard performances.
Become a Part of the One Percent that Win Consistently
With over seven billion people on this planet, it is estimated that the vast amount of wealth and power is controlled by the top one percent. This reality can be observed on a micro-level in almost any social setting. So, what is it about this one percent that makes them so unique? Were they born with something that everyone else was not? No. It is simple. The one percent of highly successful people in this world are simply willing to do the things that the other 99 percent of the people are not willing to do.
It is incredible that 99 percent of the people in this world absolutely refuse to do what it takes to fulfill their dreams. Let’s be clear about this. Your dreams assigned to you. The responsibility of bringing your vision and dreams to fruition is yours and yours alone. Yes, you will connect with people who play integral roles in your success, but their input will be in response to your own commitment to your goals.
It is not until you commit and take action that providence moves on your behalf. It is not until you accept the challenge of stepping out of your comfort zone that the universe begins to conspire with you to bring your dreams into the realm of reality.
Guard Your Circle
You are the average of the five to 10 people you spend the most time around. You will see this reflected in the amount of money you earn, the social arena you reside in, your lifestyle, and your relationships. I had an 11th grade English teacher who took an interest in me when I was a freshman. She, along with my coaches and journalism teacher, followed me throughout the entire time I was in high school. Any time that this teacher saw me hanging around a kid she thought was not a good influence, she would call me over and say, “son, be careful who you share your space with; association brings about assimilation.” What she was saying is that the more time you spend around someone, the more they impact your thinking and behavior.
Additionally, if you are around people who are negative, their negativity will impact your energy and the force in which you engage the challenges of life. You need to carefully select the people who you allow to perpetually exist in your periphery.
Those who know me will tell you that one of the quickest ways to get ejected from my circle is by using the phrase, “be realistic.” To tell someone to be realistic is a subtle way of urging them to throttle back on their desires and goals. It is a very imperceptible way of telling a person that they are reaching too far outside of the range of their capacity. The problem is that the only limitations that you have are the ones you accept in your mind. When I hear a person say be realistic, it means they are attempting to impose their limiting beliefs on me, and that is simply unacceptable.
Find like-minded people who are headed in the same direction as you. Find people who will encourage you while holding you accountable. You don’t want a “yes” person in your camp that will back you blindly. You want someone who believes in you who will challenge you and never use fear tactics to talk you in off of the ledge of phenomenal accomplishments.
Conclusion
Anything in this life worth having will be resting on the other side of fear. You can have anything that you set your mind to have. The very fact that you can conceive it in your mind is God’s evidence to you that it is possible. However, it will not come easy. It will not surrender to passive demands. Life will pay whatever price you demand of it, but your demands must be clear, certain, and unwavering. Additionally, your demands must be accompanied with unyielding action. You have to push inexorably through all of the resistance until you achieve the desired goal. Quitting is not an option for winners.
Execute discipline in your life. There are things that you will have to do to win. These are the things that most people are not doing. You have to be disciplined enough to do what needs to be done — even when you don’t feel like it. Some of the greatest accomplishments are realized in the moments following activity that extends beyond the feelings and emotions of the moment.
Stop focusing on the negative things that are surrounding you. The more you focus on something, the more power you give it. What you focus on is what you will feel and experience in your life. Focus on your target. Focus on your destiny, your goals, and your aspirations. Don’t worry about what you don’t have, but zero in on what you do have and work your way out to obtain all that is necessary. Remember, “process” always precedes “promise.” There can be no obtainment of the promise of your potential without there first being an endurance of the process that leads to its fulfillment. ~ Rick Wallace, Ph.D., Psy.D.
For a long time, I knew that prosperity was my divine right. However, it did not seem to be my experience. Between faulty religious beliefs and manipulative family traditions, I seemed to have shut down my ability to create prosperity. It took deliberately choosing freedom and deliberately turning my back on some of the ideas I grew up with, in order to fully own my divine ability to create a great life. Prosperity is your divine right as well, if you will claim it but are you allowing yourself to claim all you desire? Here are 4 ways to take back your freedom and step into total all round prosperity.
1. DECIDE WHAT YOU DESIRE
Your desires are sacred. they were planted within you by the Divine when you were created. You were to be the channel through which the Divine experienced that desire. What do you desire? Get clear on it. Whip out your journal and write an unfiltered list. Do not judge what you desire. Just let it be. And then make a commitment to bring it all to life. NO, you do not need to know exactly how at this point, you simply need to decide that it is happening in your lifetime. Have you decided?
2. ELIMINATE THE INTERNAL FILTERS
When you started to make your desire list, did you filter it down? Did you decide that somethings were unworthy of your attention? Did you get caught up in religious dogma that tells you what you are allowed to desire? Question some of the ideas that you have taken on from parents, teachers, religious organizations or anywhere. As I said in the earlier point, your desires are scared and they are yours to create if you will simply say ‘yes’. However, you may have lots of conflicting beliefs that keep you from simply stepping on the deliberate path to your desires. It is time to notice them and eliminate them. A simple question I get clients to ask themselves is “Does this thought help or hinder?” and if it hinders, for whatever reason, then it is time to question the thought and eliminate. Sometimes, the thoughts are precious to you because you have had these ideas for a long time. You may even believe that these ideas are sacred, more sacred than your desires. But it is hardly ever true. they are just beliefs that were conditioned into you and you can choose to get rid of them. It all starts with awareness. So, get aware of what may be holding you back.
OK, so you have your desires and you have begun to eliminate the things that will prevent you from getting to them. The next phase is to get very deliberate internally about the creation of these desires. Consider what life will be like when you are ‘there’, and write down a few affirmations that represent that state. Use gratitude language to do it. For example, “I am so grateful that I now _______” Something about gratitude makes it feel like a done deal and that is the feeling you are going for. Notice what your subconscious mind is doing when you say these affirmations. If it seems to put up too much of a fight, tweak the affirmation until you come to something that seems a stretch from where you are but not so much of a stretch that your subconscious is completely unwilling to believe it.
4. ACT YOUR WAY THERE
And then there is the physical action that you need to take. As you affirm your way to your desires, keep asking the question of your intuition “What is the best thing I can do next to bring my desire into physical reality?” or if you have successfully achieved the internal feeling of your desire fulfilled then you could use a slightly different question – “What did I do to get here?” and then take action on what comes up. Most people would suggest you have an ‘A-Z’ plan before you make a start but unless you are looking for some kind of external funding, I would not waste my time with that. The chances are that your actual journey will not be anything like your excitedly-created plan. Instead, learn to live intuitively. Get a feel for the next step and take it with full expectation that the step after that will reveal itself to you. This is tough for most people to do. You are not ‘most’ people. Dare to follow through on your intuition. Dare to trust that you will always have an idea as long as you take the internal limits off and choose to act fearlessly forward. As I said earlier, prosperity is your divine right and here is a simple plan to welcome it in. Which do you need to implement most? Rosemary Nonny Knight used to be a pharmacist feeling her life energy drain from her as she tried to keep up appearances. Finally, after bankruptcy and depression, she broke free by building her own successful real estate business. She then moved on to supporting others to realize their divinity and the ability it gives them to create whatever they desire. Download a free digital copy of my Amazon Bestselling Book – The Deliberate Millionaire FREEDOM Book: Live Free, Wealthy and on purpose
Social Conditioning: The Power of Subliminal Suggestions
Social Conditioning
Over the nearly three decades that I have been committed to helping people overcome multitudinous obstacles to achieve exceptional results in their lives, I have mastered numerous disciplines, including neuro-linguistic programming, psychology, psycho-cybernetics, neurological remapping, embodied cognition, neuro-associative conditioning and more. However, if I had to narrow down what a do to one singular focus, I would describe myself as a neuro-associative conditioning specialist. While I use all the disciplines I’ve mastered over the years, without question, the one that has the greatest singular impact is neuro-associative conditioning.
Neuro-Associative Conditioning (NAC) is a technique for creating lasting change that derives its foundation from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). It describes the process a particular mechanism of change in human behavior and performance based upon the simple premise that there are only two determinants of human behavior — the need to avoid pain and the desire to experience pleasure. At its simplest level, I use NAC to associate pain with undesired behavior and pleasure to the desired behavior. In an ideal situation in which a person needs to change a particular behavior to improve their lives, I help them to associate pain to not making the change and pleasure to the results of making the change.
I often share my philosophy that “facts mean absolutely nothing to the conditioned mind.” The conditioned mind is trained to perceive and behave based on the current paradigm through which a person views the world around them. If a person has been conditioned to believe that they are incapable of accomplishing something, the Reticular Activating System (RAS) will work to find all of the information that supports that conditioned belief. Often the belief comes from a primary label-giver[1] early in life, but sometimes it can emerge as a result of a significant experience at any point in life. If this belief and the paradigm that underwrites it, is not changed, there is nothing that can be done to change the associated behavior. Although facts are precise, the manner in which they are interpreted is not. This is why people who share similar experiences can end up with completely different results.
Some people have a way of seeing the good in almost anything, while others will find the darkness in the brightest of days. There is nothing myself or anyone else can do to help people successfully and consistently avoid the vicissitudes of life, but I can help them change how they view and engage them.
Understanding the power of the conditioned mind is key to understanding what I am going to share with you here. Although most people don’t even give it serious thought, we are constantly bombarded by experiences, information, and subtle suggestions that serve to slowly condition how we view the world around us, as well as how we view ourselves. It was Carter G. Woodson that illuminated the fact that if a man became convinced that he was inferior, he would not have to be told to behave accordingly, his belief in his inferiority would automatically demand that his behavior aligns with his self-image.[2][3]
I have always placed a great deal of emphasis on communicating the importance of effective parenting because parents are the first line of defense in the development of a child’s self-concept — which has a direct bearing on the development of their self-esteem and their self-confidence. Parenting is also the first form of social conditioning that a child will experience.
Social conditioning is a sociological process similar to socialization that is more intense than the process of socializing an individual. Additionally, proper socialization is almost always seen as being positive, while social conditioning is often more beneficial to the one doing the conditioning, and it is often at the expense of the one who is being conditioned.
Despite having successfully navigated the labyrinthine corridors of academia in the United States, I believe that the American educational system can be highly counterproductive to the development of personal identity, self-awareness, and self-determination. The education system is designed to prepare individuals to plug into an existing system such as corporate America. Kids are not encouraged to discover their passions and trust their yearnings — they are thrust into categories and assigned to particular tasks that their teachers and others presume to be best for them.
The moment that children enter the educational system they immediately meet a form of resistance that insists that they get their heads out of the cloud, stop daydreaming and be more realistic in their expectations for their lives. You would be surprised at the number of times I have encountered a child who had been told by their teacher that their dreams were not likely attainable, and they should focus on something more reasonable and realistic. Not only is this type of behavior by secondary label-givers, such as teachers, but it also a part of a system that frowns upon individual thought and self-determination. A person who is self-determinant rarely finds their place in operating in cooperation to the status quo. They are not easily controlled.
On a grand level, social conditioning is the corporate process of training individuals in a social group or system to develop certain beliefs, desires, behaviors, and emotional reactions, which are deemed acceptable by the general society or by certain sub-groups within it.[4] When social conditioning is successfully executed, it is immensely effective — not only because those who have been conditioned will be guided by the beliefs that have been pushed upon them but because conditioned people have a proclivity to police others who appear to be operating outside of the accepted guidelines.
When you decide to think for yourself and abandon status-quo thinking to pursue personal aspirations that propel you outside of the proverbial box, you will make others around you uncomfortable. The way that people ease the discomfort of the dissonance associated with seeing others attempt what they believe cannot or should not be done is by scolding and correcting them — reminding them of their place. I call this “whispering the sweet nothings or negativity.” There are people who literally make it their life’s work to remind people to stay in the box. The ability to break free of social conditioning will depend heavily on your willingness to manage those in your periphery. You are the sum of the average of the five to 10 people you spend the most time around. If you are constantly around negative people, you will develop a negative state of mind. If you spend time with people who lack purpose, you will become unpurposed, lacking focus and intent.
Social conditioning starts when you are an infant and is most acute during the early developmental years; however, it continues throughout your entire life. Parents execute it, peers, teachers, employers, co-workers, your neighbors, books you read, television shows you watch, the church you attend, and even advertisements and commercials.
Social conditioning is employed in several ways, but one of the most common and effective models is the use of rewards to reinforce desired behaviors and punitive actions to punish those behaviors that are frowned upon. This particular model is referred to as classical conditioning. This is the same model used to train animals such as dogs, horses, pigeons and more.
While the classical model is constant, the most effective form of social conditioning is the use of repetition to introduce the same message. Also referred to a subliminal messaging, this form of social conditioning is subtler and takes place over longer periods of time, constantly being reinforced in more subtle ways. The use of subliminal messaging as a means of social conditioning is why constantly guarding your gates (eyes, ears, and even touch) is so important.
With the use of subtle suggestions, the target is not the conscious mind but the subconscious. The subconscious mind is responsible for more than 85 percent of your behavior and decision making. Something as simple as constantly seeing a commercial ad in which a well-dressed man attracts lots of women — drawing an implicit conclusion that if you want to be loved by the ladies, you have to dress the part. Is this completely true? Of course not, but if the pattern presented by the advertisers in not interrupted by the idea that there are plenty of ways to attract women, the person viewing those commercials will go to great lengths to dress like the man in the ad.
We have all been socially conditioned at different levels, with many becoming completely compliant to the ideas presented by the status quo. Social conditioning is not conducive to producing a population of people who are highly functional and optimizing their potential, but it is rather a form of herding and indoctrination that controls the movement of those it influences. People who conform to the social conditioning aimed at the masses are more vulnerable to responding to certain opportunities (good or bad), treatment, and conditions in a manner considered to be acceptable by those who benefit from those responses.
So, what is the problem with social conditioning? If social conditioning was used to guide people in the best direction for their lives, there would not be anything wrong with it, but the vast majority of social conditioning leads to negative results. Social conditioning in America has led to the harboring or erroneous thinking, counterproductive behavior, toxic desires, and unhealthy emotional reactions to lives inevitable intrusions upon our sanctity and peace.
When you observe some of the statistics that provide a portrait of the current state of the U.S., you will find that the status quo is not all that it is cracked up to be, and it is definitely not a reflection of the potential that we all possess as individuals.
Approximately 41 percent of the U.S. population (25.8 million people) suffer from diabetes, and another 79 million are pre-diabetic
In the U.S., 41 percent of first-time marriages and 60 percent of -second-time marriages end in divorce (these numbers can be significantly higher for certain sub-groups)
Approximately 29 percent of adult women in the U.S. and 43 percent of adult men binge on alcohol on a regular basis
An estimated seven percent of Americans will experience an episode of depression at some during the current calendar year
It is worth noting that the numbers are eerily similar in other developing countries. While there are several factors contributing to the reality, social conditioning is, without questions, one of the primary culprits.
When I initially became aware of social conditioning, I attempted to identify ways that I had been negatively impacted by this force and then to reverse the damage. What I learned is that it was far worse than I had imagined. In fact, most of the most commonly held beliefs are influenced by social conditioning, and the vast majority of them are extremely bad. Additionally, our desires, behaviors and emotional reactions are negatively influenced by poor social conditioning.
Why aesthetics has a place in every culture to a certain degree, physical appearance is treated with transcendence in regards to more important elements of personal health. People will go to great lengths to improve their pulchritude or personal appearance while neglecting fitness and proper nutrition. This type of behavior is a direct result of social conditioning that places such a great emphasis on external beauty.
Another area in which we suffer from poor social conditioning is the proclivity to participate in blind consumerism — a direct result of unbridled materialism. Social conditioning has the large portion of the American population chasing cars, clothes, and expensive accessories while working jobs that they hate (a form of slow spiritual suicide).
Could You Bear the Results of Poor Social Conditioning?
You are probably wondering if you have been negatively impacted by social conditioning, and unless you have been trained to go to great lengths to resist the force of social conditioning, it is likely that you have been negatively impacted at some level.
The worst thing you could do at this point is making the postulation that social conditioning has not had a negative impact on you. While it is easy to assume the position of being beyond social conditioning, entertaining the idea that you are too sharp to be negatively impacted by this type of conditioning, the truth is social conditioning has likely impacted your thinking more than you can imagine. In fact, the erroneous postulation that you are not vulnerable to social conditioning and subliminal messages usually means that you likely most vulnerable to it.
The first thing that you must do is to begin to examine and question common beliefs, ideas, desires, behaviors. Although you cannot question every possible idea or belief that you hold, you can question the ones that have the greatest influence on your decision making because the decisions you make impact your successes and your lifestyle.
You need to make a conscious effort to pay close and focused attention on thoughts, actions, and feelings in a variety of different situations. When you notice that you are behaving a certain way or acting on a particular belief that you know has influenced you before, ask yourself if that belief that you hold has validity. You will be surprised how many unfounded beliefs you hold simply because they were introduced to you at a time or in a way in which you were never allowed to challenge or question them. Every day, people make major decisions based on limiting beliefs that were passed on to them by someone else — either directly or indirectly.
Every time that you identify a belief or behavior that you recognize as being common, challenge it. Question how it impacts you and what is the result of holding that belief or perpetuating that particular behavior. If the belief of behavior does not positively serve you, start the process of getting rid of it. What you will find is that the beliefs, ideas, and behaviors that you identify as being counterproductive will be common to many other people in your periphery. Additionally, these beliefs and ideas are promoted by a large group or particular organization.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” ~ Socrates
It is important that you make it a point to perform regular self-examinations to identify conditioned ideas and behavior. The ability to use critical thinking to challenge common ideas will be essential to breaking free of the manacles of social conditioning.
Work and Learn from Real Experts
We live in a world in which everyone is a guru, and it can be extremely difficult to identify who the real experts are. It is important to find true experts who possess the experience and knowledge to successfully help you navigate a particular issue. A real expert will have studied the principles of their field of expertise copiously. An expert will be aware of all relevant and extant scientific data associated with their field. Finally, a real expert will have applied a large portion of the principles in their field to their own lives.
Often, situational experts will hold philosophies that are diametric to the ideologies of mainstream society. To elevate out of the pit of mediocrity, you must be willing to engage ideas that venture outside of the norm. Search out these people. If they have video archives, take the time to watch them on a regular basis. Read any literature they have written. If they have seminars or conferences, make sure to get to as many as you can. I have seen people go to the same webinar countless times and end up not only taking the necessary steps to change their lives but getting the funding to do it through the people they met at the webinars they attended.
If the expert you find offers direct engagement through coaching sessions of one-on-one sessions, sign up. You also need to learn about social dynamics, psychology, politics, and history.
Get Out of the Box
Being social creates, it is not surprising that most people are only comfortable with spending time with people who have similar ideologies, bear similar beliefs and values, and strive for the same things. Socializing with others who are like-minded is a part of creating a sense of stability; however, if you are looking to change your current situation, you will need to get out of your current box and engage those who don’t think the way that you currently think. These new acquaintances will carry beliefs and philosophies that are more in alignment with the life that you are aspiring to.
When you identify erroneous beliefs and behaviors, the goal is to initiate the process of reconditioning your mind and taking charge of your life. In certain situations, simply recognizing a particular element of your life as being the results of poor social conditioning will be sufficient to allow you to reverse its influence.
On the other hand, there will be certain cases in which the result of poor social conditioning will require more effort and even professional help to overcome it. Once your behavior and thinking become habitual, it is now under the control of your subconscious and having conscious awareness of it alone will not be enough to overcome it. You will have to go through the process of reconditioning your subconscious through the introduction of counter-expressive information engaged on a consistent basis.
While you are working to recondition your subconscious through the introduction of positive information, you will also need to limit and eliminate exposure to the negative social conditioning mechanisms. It may be a specific type of music or particular television show that you like to watch. It may even be some of the people with whom you love spending time. Those in your periphery will have an immensely powerful influence on your beliefs and behaviors.
As important as it is to limit and eliminate the mechanisms associated with poor social conditioning, they are so pervasive that managing them is a life-long endeavor. Nevertheless, you are at the helm and in control — take charge now.
I examine social conditioning as a phenomenon at great lengths in my latest book, Critical Mass: The Phenomenon of Next-Level Living! Order your signed copy here!
References
Balbin, T. (2018, February 2). Breaking Down The Walls of Social Conditioning. Retrieved from Warrior.Do: https://www.warrior.do/social-conditioning/
Ezeanu, E. (2018, January 15). How to Rise Above Social Conditioning and Live an Amazing Life. Retrieved from I Am Eduard: http://iameduard.com/socialconditioning/
Greenfield, G. (1988). Self Affirmation: The Life-Changing Force of a Christian Self Image. Fort Worth: Baker Publishing Group.
Wallace, R. (2006). Renewing Your Mind: The Dynamics of Transformation. Houston: Odyssey Media Group & Publishing House.
Wallace, R. (2016). Your Mind Is the Genesis of Your Destiny. Houston: Odyssey Media Group & Publishing House.
Woodson, C. G. (1933). The Mis-education of the Negro. New York: Seven Treasures Publications.
According to the World Health Organization, 10 to 20 percent of all the children and adolescents in the world experience some sort of mental disorder. WHO estimates that half of all these illnesses in mental health start at the age of 14 and if they go unnoticed and untreated it can unravel into something much more serious in adulthood. However, it is important to note that the exponential increase in childhood mental illness has been related to overdiagnosis. A recent study conduct in 2017 out of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany looked at overdiagnosis as the reason for the increase in diagnosis of mental health disorders among youth.
However, WHO estimates that as many as two out of every ten children suffer from a mental disorder and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that the top five mental disorders in children aged 3 to 17 are ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), behavioural or personality disorder, anxiety, depression and autism and/or autism spectrum disorder.
The CDC says that suicide can be a result of the ‘interaction of mental disorders and other factors’ and as such, suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents. But either as parents, guardians or teachers, there are some warning signs that can be indicative of mental health disorders and when caught early, some of these disorders can be treated and dealt with. According to WHO, children who get easily aggravated by school, or peer pressures might have an underlying mental health disorder. Often, children who are developing a mental disorder will make excuses not to go to school or study. While bullying is still the number one issue in schools these days, bullying has become a severe threat to a child’s mental health.
Get your signed of Critical Mass: The Phenomenon of Next-Level Living!
Constant worry. Children who are constantly worried all the time might be indicative of an anxiety disorder. As one mother put it: ‘Ella was a worrier. Every morning, she worried that she wouldn’t make the bus on time, even though she hadn’t missed it once all year. And every afternoon, she worried that she wouldn’t get her favorite spot at the lunch table, or that she might have a pop quiz in science class and wouldn’t be prepared.’ At a young age children should be carefree and worry-free, so if a child is constantly displaying signs of anxiety it may be an anxiety disorder.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately one in every five teenagers deals with depression and 8 percent of all teenagers deal with a major depressive disorder. Dr. Charles Raison, who is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine says that parents should take note and intervene whenever their child showcases depressive or withdrawn behavior. Dr. Raison says that when parents think ‘they don’t seem like themselves anymore’ that should be a red light. If the behavior persists for two to three weeks it should be brought to the attention of a health professional.
Drug use. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens, 70 percent of all high school kids have tried alcohol, and another 40 percent has smoked or used tobacco and another 20 percent admitted to having used prescription drugs. Using and abusing drugs and/or alcohol can make the symptoms of a mental health disorder worse and can lead to the deterioration of one’s health.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, four of five adolescents in every classroom may be suffering from some form of a serious mental illness. Mental illness will then have an adverse effect on their academic careers and Columbia University states that mental health disorders can cause a lack of self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, poor performance in reading, writing and math, frequent absenteeism, repeating grades, and repeated disciplinary problems.
Stress: It’s Not in Your Head, it’s in Your Nervous System
By Melody Walford on Friday, July 28th, 2017 | Courtesy of Uplift Connect
Foreword
We are currently amidst a massive paradigmatic shift as it pertains to traumatic healing. There is no way around the fact that traumatic experiences are a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the grueling aftermath of combat experiences; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence; one in five Americans have experienced some form of sexual molestation and abuse, and one in four Americans grew up in homes with at least one alcoholic.
While there are psychological elements associated with traumatic memory and how people recover from traumatic injury, it has become impossible to ignore the physiological impact that trauma has on the body and the nervous system. We now know that traumatic experiences literally reshape the body and the brain, negatively influencing the survivors capacity to experience pleasure, demonstrate self-control, participate in personal engagement, and display trust.
I have conducted thousands of hours of research into the influence of trauma on its victims and how, if unaddressed, trauma can be transmitted intergenerationally — through social learning theory as well as epigenetics (the genetic predisposition for trauma and the genetic transmission of traumatic memory). The following article is not meant to be a comprehensive treatise on traumatic memory, but it is more of an attempt at clarifying the basic understanding of trauma for the reader. For a more detailed examination of trauma and its impact on the body as well as its potential to be transmitted to subsequent progeny, read my paper, Epigenetics & Psychology.
Allow this short treatise to serve as an introduction into the world of traumatic healing. ~ Rick Wallace, Ph.D., Psy.D.
Traumatic Memory and How to Heal it
Have you ever been told when you’re stressed to stop worrying and just relax? That it’s all in your head? It would be nice if it were that simple. But it’s not.
Physiology research shows that the stress response memory lives in your nervous system. Take for example exposure to a stressful event. One in which you felt helpless, hopeless, and lacked control. In this case, your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is engaged. This is the part of the nervous system responsible for controlling unconscious bodily actions like breathing. To be more specific, it was the sympathetic branch (fight or flight) of the ANS that kicked in while you were strained. In addition, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis of the midbrain began firing. In which a signal from your hypothalamus sends a hormonal message to your pituitary gland that stimulates your adrenal glands.
To activate this fight or flight response, stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are released from your adrenal glands. They help our body suddenly mobilize to flee danger. According to Peter A. Levine, trauma expert in the field of psychotherapy, trauma occurs when this biological process is overwhelmed and a person is unable to release and process the stressful event. It is possible to avoid a traumatic response by discharging the energy generated. For example, shaking, crying, and screaming can allow the individual to physically process the stress.
Stress is not all in your head.
However, if the stress response is not processed, it remains in the tissues of the body. When a subsequent stressful event that does not pose a serious threat occurs, the traumatic memory is recalled. A large amount of stress hormones are released. Blood rushes to extremities, pupils dilate, muscle tone increases presenting as tension, breathing rate increases, the heart beats faster, and sweating occurs. Hence, the nervous system responds as if this small incident is life-threatening.
This biological response is clearly beyond the ability to rationally control. You can’t think your way out of it. Chronic stress leads to dissociation or immobility, a state of sympathetic charge and hormonal release, which is health damaging. The brainstem (the primitive part of the brain) governs emotional experience and biological response. When the brainstem is activated by the fight or flight response, it trumps the more developed front of the brain, the prefrontal cortex. It is therefore not possible to be in the primitive state of fight or flight and also to think rationally and critically (as the prefrontal cortex would have us do).
Levine elaborates:
The question is: how can humans become unstuck from immobility? Moving out of this frozen state can be a fiercely energetic experience. Without a rational brain animals don’t give it a second thought, they just do it. When humans begin to move out of the immobility response, however, we are often frightened by the intensity of our own energy and latent aggression, and we brace ourselves against the power of the sensations. This bracing prevents complete discharge of energy necessary to restore normal functioning.
Unprocessed stress is stored in the body as traumatic memory.
Unprocessed stress becomes a traumatic memory that lies dormant in the body. A present-day trigger can cause the stored memory to resurface. Understanding what is happening inside our body and brain, gives us compassion. Learning why our body responds the way it does, leads to awareness and empowerment. It moves us out of being isolated, fearful, victims. By caring for our bodies and understanding their self-protective responses, we can release shame.
When we comprehend the physiologic process that is trying to keep us safe, from an old memory or trauma, we can replace inner judgment with kindness. Self-love becomes possible. It may not be serving us in the present but in the past it did. In fact, this same response helped us survive.
The work is then to re-train the body. This can be done by invoking practices such as felt sense oriented meditation, deep breathing, vocal toning, spontaneous movement and dance, yoga, listening to soothing music, spending time in nature, running, or hiking. Or simply receiving a hug from a loved one, which releases oxytocin, a natural hormone produced by the pituitary gland that promotes bonding and connection.
Practices such as yoga and time in nature help to release stored trauma. Image: Christopher Pouget
These are tools to deactivate the sympathetic response and activate the opposing parasympathetic response, called the rest and digest mechanism. The goal is to feel safe. To regulate breathing, slow the heartbeat, and circulate blood back to the vital organs
These powerful practices change our physiology and affect our mood. The next time someone suggests it’s all in your head, you will have a different response. This knowledge empowers us to heal past wounds. Through acknowledging the power trauma plays in your life and understanding the mechanisms by which healing occurs, you can create a more embodied, joyful life.
Stress is not all in your head.
Unprocessed stress is stored in the body as traumatic memory.
Practices such as yoga and time in nature help to release stored trauma. Image: