Living Life Right

My wife's father, Theodore Roosevelt Carino, passed away last week. Here are some tips that I learned from him about living life right.

1. Enjoy life fully

2. Marry a good partner and stick with her/him

3. Pick a hobby and learn to perfect it

4. Be early to all events

5. Slow down while driving

6. Keep your eye on the ball

7. Let music be the language of love

I’m interested in hearing your suggestions for living life right. Please join the conversation here or on my Facebook page. 

Coach Rob

www.robertpasick.com

Only So Much Willpower in the Tank

Paying attention, making decisions, sticking to resolutions and a few hundred other brain activities all require willpower.

Research on the brain shows that we only have so much willpower per day. Imagine that each day you start with a full cup of willpower.  Just getting out of bed uses up some, answering email more, driving and listening to the radio or talking on your cell phone even more.  Your cup is constantly draining and despite how much coffee you drink or exercise you do (which requires willpower) you cannot replenish it.

So, what can you do:

1. Make important decisions in the morning, not late in the day.

2. Eat and drink well during the day.  If you wait to eat at night, you will not have enough willpower to avoid overeating.

3. Remember, if you multi-task, you are draining extra willpower.  Try doing one thing at a time.

4. Avoid difficult conversation late in the day or at night.  Your lack of willpower makes it harder to control your emotions.

5. Associate with people who provide positive energy.  Dealing with negative people drains your willpower, as you try to hold back from reacting to them negatively.

I’m interested in hearing your suggestions for managing willpower. Please join the conversation here or on my Facebook page. 

Coach Rob

For more information on Coach Rob, please visit robertpasick.com.

Setting Expectations

We carry within ourselves two minds. One is a present mind and the other is a future mind.  We often gravitate toward the future mind which is the part of ourselves that sets expectations. While these expectations can be too high, too low, or just right, inaccurate expectations can be a major source of unhappiness. So what can we do to better manage our expectations? Here are a few suggestions:

1. To avoid being your own worse enemy, don’t  expect more from others than you expect from yourself.

2. Learn and repeat often the “Serenity Prayer.”

3. Expect the unexpected from other people.

4. Much like ourselves, other people are imperfect human beings, prone to mistakes, moods, and misunderstandings. If you expect others to be even and consistent in their temperament, you’re likely to be disappointed.

5. Take a good look at what you worry about. Now ask yourself, how often has what I have been worried about come true? So, then why are you spending so much time worrying?

6. Rely on yourself for affirmation rather than depending on   positive strokes from others.

7. Cherish the past, dream the future, but enjoy the present   moment. After all, as they say, isn’t that why they call it “the present”?

8. My dear friend, Jo Ann Allen, who died unexpectedly at age 70, used to remind me of her favorite joke “How do you make God laugh?” answer, “tell her your plans”....

I’m interested in hearing your suggestions for managing expectations. Please join the conversation here or on my Facebook page. 

Coach Rob

What is your best tip about how to achieve your goals?

Today I post a question: What is your best tip about how to achieve your goals? 

Here are a few of the responses I received when I recently posted this question on my Facebook page:

1. Set a reasonable time limit so you don’t get discouraged           ~ Christy

2. Imagine that you have already achieved your goal.  Now look back to imagine what steps you would have taken.  This will help you diagram your path. ~ Frank

3. Understand your resistance to change. ~ Ed

4. Motivation is easy, it’s follow-through that’s difficult. Ask     yourself what you need to do to follow through and sustain change. ~Thorana

From neuroscience I have learned that we have a limited supply of willpower every day.  Therefore:

· Work on your goals early in the day when your energy is high

· Be realistic about how many goals you can focus on at one time (one may be enough)

· Keep up your glucose level throughout the day by eating well (it’s better to eat breakfast and small frequent meals than to overeat in the evening)

Please join the conversation.  Submit your suggestion via Facebook or post on my blog.

Coach Rob

Year-End Self Reflection

This week is a good time to reflect on how well you lived your life in 2011 and what your hopes are for 2012.  Here are some questions to help you in your reflection:

1. How did I do on improving my key relationships: family (spouse and children), friends, relatives and community?

2. How did I do on managing my health this year: mentally, physically and spiritually?

3. How did I do on making progress at work: new accomplishments, continuing accomplishments and continuing frustrations?

4. How did I do on improving my financial well being?

5. How did I do on self management: time, energy, habits and blind spots?

6. Did I make progress on achieving my Big Dream?

7. How did I do on managing the unexpected, both positive and negative unexpected events?

8. What are my opportunities for improvement for next year?

9. What are the possible threats to making progress for next year?

10. What are my goals for the new year?

To help you in this self-reflection process, I am now setting up year-end review appointments for past, present or future clients.  If you would like to set up a time to review last year and plan for next, please contact me to set up an appointment in January.  Also, there are also still a few spots open in the Goal Cultivating workshop on January 10.

Happy New Year!

Coach Rob


For more information on Dr. Rob, please visit Rob's website.