by admin | May 30, 2022 | Life, Mind
Personal Development Goals – How To Set Them
Though commonly misunderstood and undermined, goal-setting is an important aspect of your personal development process. Certainly, there is no end point to personal development, as there is always more to learn from, throughout your entire life. Walking through your life though, setting higher goals that will help you improve as a person is a must.
Now you may be asking yourself “How do I even set a goal? I have no idea what I want from life”. But let us tell you this – Those goals should concern your character development, rather than materialistic goals in the external world.
5 Personal Development Goals
Without further ado, let’s have a look at 5 of the most important traits you should set a goal to work on throughout your personal development journey.
#1 Discipline
In today’s world, people look for motivation when they have to do something that requires a bit more effort. This motivation mostly depends on external factors, thus making it unreliable and unsustainable. Instead of motivation, you should try and place a goal for developing your discipline.
This will help you do what you have to do with the minimum amount of resistance, even when you don’t feel like doing it.
#2 Focus
You probably know the overwhelming feeling when you have too much to do and start multi-tasking, bringing yourself to a burnout and anxiety quickly. Well, if you set the goal of improving your focus and attention span, these things will happen less often. As an end result, you will have a better end result with whatever it is that you are focused on.
#3 Creativity
For the most part, we tend to be in an environment where logical thinking is required and that therefore means less creative time. Try and set a goal for spending more time with your creative brain, whether that means brainstorming ideas or creating art. Remember that a part of your brain is a factory for ideas and visions!
#4 Positive Thinking
If we put aside the commonly understood concept of positive thinking, we can conclude that positive thinking can actually work. This is because, well, the brain was literally designed to look for the worst possible outcome, in order to prepare for whatever comes its way. Such a survival mechanism however isn’t really applicable in the modern-day world, where you have access to multiple solutions to any problem.
Set a goal to catch your brain in those moments and come up with the BEST possible outcome.
#5 Decisiveness
All of us have probably missed a massive opportunity at one point or another, because of indecisiveness. Set a goal to develop the way you recognize and act upon opportunities that life presents you. And not only that, just decide on things in your life which you feel are bad for you, but don’t eliminate. Decisiveness is a key trait you should aim to develop on your personal development journey.
Conclusion
When engaging in your own personal development, you should try and look for things in your own self, which you can improve. Set a goal for all of those, observe yourself, your reactions, behaviors and try to make a conscious change. Remember that this goal setting & achieving is always for your greater good!
by admin | May 30, 2022 | Mind
Psychology In The Last 100 Years
Important Events Part II
As we have previously established, psychology is an incredibly important part of our lives. Millions of people have been affected by the discoveries we have made in this field of study, and undoubtedly many more will be as we advance further.The way our brains work is incredibly complex, but we have made a lot of breakthroughs in understanding ourselves on a deeper level.
Here we offer you the second part of our list of the most critical events in psychology in the last 100 years, continuing with what happened in the ’50s, all the way through recent years!
1956 – The Magical Number 7 Plus or Minus 2: Some Limits In Our Capacity For Processing Information
This paper, written by George Miller, is one of the most quoted papers in psychology. Its main focus? Attention span and short-term memory. The paper suggests that an average person can hold between 5 and 9 objects in his short-term memory, known as Miller’s law. This sparked a lot of further research and helped people figure out how to improve their memory capacity.
1971 – The Stanford Prison Experiment
This notorious experiment was done in an attempt to understand the effect captivity has on people. It started on the 15th of August and was canceled just six days later after riots and brutality. The experiment included 24 male college students who were randomly assigned the roles of prison guards or prisoners.
After extensive inhumane actions done to the prisoners by the guards, the leading researcher decided to stop the experiment and send everyone home. This showed how much a prison environment changed a person and inspired a few escape attempts in the next weeks.
1981 – Sexual Preference
This is one of the most cited books on sexual orientation to this day, and it was written by Alan Bell and a team of sociologists. Their work questioned the notion that sexuality always originates from the environment and the relationship one has with their immediate family. They suggested that heterosexuality and homosexuality have their roots in biology instead of outside factors. This was met with a lot of controversies and sparked a lot of discussions but is now considered a classic work in the field.
1994 – The Bell Curve
This book was written by Hernstein and Murray and focused on their ideas about intelligence. They explain that intelligence is influenced by inherited and environmental factors and can be used as the main predictor for social standing, financial income, involvement in crime, job performance, etc.
They argued that those with high intelligence are separating themselves from others and that this is the cause of social divisions in the USA. The authors also connected race and intelligence and suggested policy implications based on said connection. The book is highly controversial to this day.
2002 – The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial Of Human Nature
This book was written by Steven Pinker in which he argues against tabula rasa. Tabula rasa is the theory that humans are born without any mental content and, therefore, all knowledge comes from perception.Pinker focuses on the effect this way of thinking has on individuals and how it can make them afraid about many different aspects of their lives.
He also gives examples of how the idea of a “blank slate” has negatively impacted the world by connecting it to totalitarianism. Most people positively received the book, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
2013 – BRAIN initiative
This is a collaborative private and public research initiative by the Obama administration. Its goal is to support the development of innovative technologies that can help understand the human brain. It is aimed at helping private companies, universities, and researchers in the fight against Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, and more. It’s a part of the White House Neuroscience Initiative and spans the USA, Canada, Denmark, and Australia.
2014 – Nobel Prize In Physiology
John O’Keefe and May, and Edvard Moser won the Nobel prize in physiology for their discovery of specific kinds of cells named place cells. Place cells are the ones we use when we enter a particular spatial field. They come into contact with other kinds of neurons in the brain and form a sort of cognitive map.
The cells play an essential part in episodic memory and can be found in a variety of animals. The discovery of these cells influences how we view memory and why damaging certain parts of the brain leads to different types of memory loss.
Summary
In recent times, the discoveries we have made in psychology prove how important and complex our thoughts and emotions are.
We have a lot more to learn and achieve, but our current progress is quite impressive, given the relatively short time frame it took us to reach! In the last article of this series, we explain the effect psychology has had on society in the last decade and show the parallels between the discoveries in the field and the social conditions!
Ready to learn with us on this topic one last time? Read on!
by admin | May 30, 2022 | Mind
Psychology In The Last 100 Years – Part 3
The Impact It Had On Society
Psychology underwent some considerable changes in the last century. The way people used to think back then is different in a few fundamental ways, regarding topics which are a big part of our lives. With the breakthroughs we have made in the last 100 years, we have managed not only to find the answers to some very vital questions but also to point out and fight misconceptions that negatively affected many people.
And so, how exactly has the advancement of psychology affected society in the last 100-something years?
Let’s have a look!
Behaviorism
Behaviorism was popularized in the early 20th century. Behaviorists believe that the environment causes our perceptions and actions. Thus, our behavior is simply a consequence of stimulus-response. They also support the notion that our minds start as a blank slate and focus only on observable actions.
This implies that apart from reflexes and capacity for learning, everything else is due to environmental factors and can be broken down into simple objective notions. On the positive side, behaviorism gives psychology more credibility because of its focus on facts and makes people measure behaviors and conduct experiments.
However, it disregards biology and mediational processes and more importantly, implies little to no free will. This and the fact that it completely overlooks emotions and thoughts had an overall negative effect on society. Today, a big portion of behaviorism is frowned upon because of its core ideology and common practice of entirely ignoring human emotions and complex processes.
Nevertheless, behaviorism has contributed to psychology, and its impact can still be seen today, namely in behavior therapy.
The Humanistic Approach
Humanism focuses on each individual in their entirety and does so by validating their uniqueness. This approach was developed as a rebellion against behaviorism and gained traction in the late ’60s. Its core beliefs are that humans have free will, are innately good, and want to change themselves and the world for the better.
Another vital part of humanism is that it focuses on the subjective conscious experiences of each individual, deeming this an essential aspect of being human. However, it’s important to mention that this approach also disregards biology and is highly subjective, thus making any sort of testing difficult.
Humanism had a positive impact on society regarding its focus on individuals and introducing client-centered therapy, which continues to help countless people every day. On the flip side, humanism lacks almost any empirical evidence and is ethnocentric, focusing on individualistic societies as opposed to collective ones (for example USA as opposed to India).
Thanks to this approach, however, a more holistic point of view was born, and this changed people’s lives on an individual level for the better.
Cognitive Psychology
The technology revolution made its way into all fields of science, and psychology was no different. Cognitive psychologists view the mind as similar to a computer, and they accept the use of the scientific method while rejecting introspection. They also acknowledge the existence of internal mental states and focus mainly on memory, language, attention and perception.
This approach positively affects society in different aspects – because it views psychology as a science, it offers a lot of tangible proof and develops multiple research methods. Therefore it has been implemented in many different fields such as education and neuroscience. However, the cognitive approach has a limited focus on the processes in the brain, brushing aside some of the creative, emotional, and social aspects of it.
Today, this is one of the approaches in psychology used the most and has had a massive influence on society. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is just one example here!
To Wrap It Up
The way psychology has impacted our lives can be seen in many different aspects. From the way our societies act to our individual ways of thinking. The different approaches in psychology have had a massive effect on the world and will undoubtedly continue to do so.
What’s interesting here are the parallels between certain discoveries, different approaches, and social events. Through these connections, one can quickly see how integral psychology really is in shaping the world. We hope you’ve learned something from this article series and will continue to do so by frequently visiting our blog!
Stay tuned!
by admin | May 30, 2022 | Mind
Should You Train To Failure?
If you’ve watched the movie “Pumping Iron” you have probably seen the hardcore, peak intensity training that bodybuilders in the Golden Era went through. Some of those bodybuilders, like Serge Nubret, swore by the effectiveness of training to failure… On EVERY SET! And well, the truth is that for most of us, reaching failure on every working set will lead to burnout quite quickly.
This is why it is important to understand this concept and learn how to integrate it in your training regimen properly. So let’s dive straight into this and discuss training to failure, shall we?
The Intensity Factor
In sports science and weight training, intensity measures how close you get to your maximum strength capabilities. To put it simply, the heavier the weight you lift, the higher the intensity, meaning that technically, your one rep max (1RM) represents 100% intensity for you on a given exercise.
For example, if you can bench press 100 kg for one single rep, and fail to do a second rep unassisted, 100 kg is 100% intensity for you on the bench press.
Muscle Activation
One of the more important things to remember, is that the heavier you lift, the more fast-twitch muscle fibers are activated. Fast-twitch fibers are the stronger, more powerful muscle fibers, which can exert great amounts of force, explosively. However, fiber recruitment is the primary means of lifting heavier, only up until ~80% of your maximum strength capabilities (intensity).
Going above 85% and until failure is only possible with an increased frequency of brain to muscle signals.
What Does This Mean For Me?
With this information in mind, it is quite clear that training to failure is way more strenuous for the nervous system. Nevertheless, reaching muscular failure is quite the powerful stimulus as well, but due to its strenuous nature, it should be properly implemented into your routine.
Generally, you should test around muscle failure, by only taking 1 set for each muscle group to failure, per week and working up from there.
If you go overboard with failure, you will experience:
- Joint/ligament aches
- Prolonged muscle exhaustion
- Lowered strength capabilities
Monitor those and adjust the volume of failure sets in your training split accordingly!
Failure And Muscle Growth
Some of the legends like Arnold & Serge can sell you on the idea that reaching failure is ESSENTIAL. However, modern studies suggest that staying 2-5 repetitions shy of failure is more beneficial for muscle growth, than training to failure. Nevertheless, each and everyone reacts differently to certain stimuli, so your best bet is to, again, test around!
Take-Home Message
Carefully managing your training intensity will allow you to optimize your quality training volume in the long-term, thus creating a better stimulus and maximizing gains. Improper implementation of training to failure can prevent this from happening, due to its innate ability to, well, fry your nervous system!
This is why, your main means of creating greater stimulus, should be to increase training weight, number of repetitions and sets, and also, opening up better recovery windows between sets. Only when you have this covered, you should consider implementing sets to failure, in which case, you can start with just one set and see how far you can take it.
Train smart, not hard!
by admin | May 30, 2022 | Mind
Start From Yourself
In today’s high-performing, dynamic society, more and more people tend to have higher goals about their personal and career development. This leads people to look for ways in which they can realize those visions and thus, the search for those in the external world becomes a constant. However, one of the most important things to realize, is that this all actually starts from… You.
The Brain
As humans, we are lucky enough to have what appears to be the most complex brain in the known universe. This is an organ, that through the senses, helps you assemble a logical picture of the world. In essence, the brain works on a couple of brainwave frequencies, that change throughout the day and are responsible for certain states of mind.
Those brainwave frequencies are namely – Beta, Alpha, Theta & Delta
Beta is your normal wake state, where you’re completely aware of the environment. These frequencies are further divided into low, medium and high beta frequencies, that scale depending on the amount of stress. Think of low and medium beta as the slight stress you get during various social situations and then, think of high beta frequencies as full-on stress (i.e a dog attacks you on the street).
Alpha on the other hand is a more relaxed state, where a part of your attention goes towards your inner world. This is a state where you can develop ideas, thoughts, visions and connect seemingly unrelated things. Think of alpha as your creative, day-dreaming state of mind.
Theta is an even deeper state of relaxation, where most of your attention goes to your inner world. Think of this as a deep meditative state, that is on the verge between a conscious and an unconscious state.
Finally, delta is a state of deep sleep, where you are not really conscious. These brainwave frequencies are basically your deepest state of recovery, when your brain integrates sensory information and recovers the body. The cycle of these 4 states is synchronized with the day-night cycle of the Earth – As you drift off to sleep, your brain waves slow down to alpha, theta and finally delta when you’re deep asleep.
Oppositely, once sunlight hits your eyes, that is a signal for the brain that it’s time to wake up and thus, the frequencies go up the ladder through theta, alpha and then beta.
Why Is This Important?
If you’ve ever tried to change something about yourself, you probably know that it is a hard task to do so. And the truth is, well, it is hard because you don’t have the right method and timing to do it. You have to understand that you need to be in a certain state of mind to induce changes to otherwise deeply programmed emotions, reactions and behaviors.
Hint: That state of mind is reached at alpha & theta frequencies
Observe The Bad
Luckily enough, we are humans that have conscious control over our bodies, meaning that changes in behavior and emotions can be induced. In order for this to be done, there needs to be a level of self-recognition, where you become aware of any bad parts in your character and environment.
Think of it this way – If something is putting you down physically, emotionally or spiritually, get rid of it! Because if you don’t, those things will affect your life in most of its aspects. You have to essentially catch yourself in the moment when that bad trait/habit/reaction/thought/emotion is emerging and just acknowledge it.
Later on, you can reflect upon those acknowledgements and affirm to yourself that you are making a change to this.
Conclusion
In understanding your brain, its patterns and modes of work, you can easily induce massive changes that will impact your ability to realize any goal or vision in your mind. This will ultimately create a boost for your own personal development and will allow you to have a seamless, enjoyable path in life.
All you have to do is remember that it all starts from your brain.
It all starts from you!
by admin | May 29, 2022 | Mind
HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPLAINED
Human behavior has been studied for a long time, and thanks to various research bodies and wearable technological gadgets, human behavior has been better understood by many. Human behavior shouldn’t be mistaken for social behavior as both have different meanings; the former is influenced by cultures, emotions, genetics, authority, etc.
While the former is solely influenced by other members of the same species. Understanding human behavior is crucial in this present age as it gives a detailed explanation of how a certain person behaved. And also, it provides insights on how to position oneself amongst others.
Theories of Human Behavior
There are a lot of human behavior theories out there, and CONDITIONING seems to be the most prevalent. The conditioning theory made us know how people can be groomed to behave in a specific way. For instance, a kid born in a ghetto area can choose to become a gangster without strict supervision, but under strict supervision, the child can be conditioned not to imitate the gangsters in the neighborhood. There are two types of Conditioning, just like the human traits; one will be dominant while the other will be recessive.
Classical Conditioning
This type of conditioning occurs when humans associate stimuli with a particular action (stimulus-response pairing). For instance, we all have a specific response we give when something happens to us. If you’re the type that loves to grab a bite at a restaurant whenever you’re hungry, and you keep doing that consistently for an extended period, you will develop a stimulus to that action, and someday you will be filled to the brim but will still salivate to grab a bite when walking towards the restaurant.
Classical conditioning makes you follow your instincts instead of the rules.
Operant Conditioning
This type of conditioning occurs when a behavior is controlled by stimuli and is present via positive or negative reinforcement. A kid who disobeys his father might be scolded for such a thing. Such a kid will associate disobedience with scolding. Likewise, an individual that was advised to start studying a few months before his exam and finally passed his exams with flying colors will associate good grades with adequate preparation.
Types Of Human Behavior
Human attitude has a lot to contribute towards human behavior. Whether positive or negative, attitude affects the choices humans make. A positive attitude can make a human more relatable, open-minded, and even share secrets with another person. In contrast, a negative attitude can make humans cold and tend to segregate themselves when they feel unwelcome.
Interest is another exceptional way to know human behavior. A person’s interest tells a lot about his exploits; a student who has a vast interest in mathematics will pay attention in class and will likely choose the mathematics teacher as his favorite teacher; it shouldn’t be rocket science when such a student ace mathematics examinations.
An individual who has zero interest in a task will fail woefully at it irrespective of the number of times the task will be explained to him.
Human behavior is also dependent on personality. We all have friends that are cool and very friendly, while we know other groups of people in school or at work that are hot-tempered. However, human personality cannot be understood within a short frame of time. It takes time to know them, spend quality time with them, and with time you get the kind of personality such a person has.
Conclusion
Should you find yourself struggling with your human behavior, try digging into your past to let go of the traumas so you can be free. Resolve the essential issues you left unattended to, and watch how impactful you will become for your own greater good and yourself too.
Be human.
