We are already there – December. This month, in my case, is dedicated to planning things for the next year. Also, I’m reviewing the 2021 new years eve resolutions. Reflection is a big part of strategic thinking – about that topic I wrote a dedicated blog post.

Last two months I had a chance to read books related to strategic planning and also about, what I called, “mind programming”. As always, I’d like to share interesting articles and podcasts regarding personal development which I found useful last time. Let’s crack on!

Master your mind by Roger Seip and Robb Zbierski

Easy to read and understand book about how our mind works and what we can change to be more effective. The core idea presented by the authors is that we need to slow down to actually speed up. I read already a few books about similar topics but for me, this one is the most practical so far.

Key takeaways

• Runway brain, in a bad sense, is the term used to describe the situation where we used to forget about something, have no control over our emotions and thoughts, have the feeling like we lost something, have problems with focus, and so on. It’s a really serious problem because it may cause insomnia, exhaustion, and burnout. However, thanks to the neuroplasticity which has been discovered in 1980s, we are able to re-focus and re-energize our runway brain to have more energy, better sleep, be more productive, and much more.
• Authors described the three brain’s unhelpful default settings – the tendency to overemphasize negative inputs (and underemphasize positive signals), tendency to be easily consumed with urgent events (divert our focus to whatever just popped up in our minds), and the constant craving for safety over progress (brains biologically, your brain want safety and stay where we are currently). Everyone has these settings and they come from survival mechanisms, which is not useful in the modern world. The recognition and awareness of those settings are the first steps to making an upgrade.
• The book is telling us how to win beginning and end of our day. When it comes to morning time it’s really important to wake up and don’t click the snooze button. Secondly, we need to try to be unplugged from news, social media e.t.c. at the beginning of the day as long as it is possible. Instead of that we can exercise, meditate, listen to podcasts or read a book, and so on. when it comes to a time before we go to sleep we should minimize light (especially blue ones from electronic devices), sounds, and temperature as much as possible. Again there are plenty of options that you can do in that time – it can be, for example, journaling, reading, breathing exercises, visualizing, or conversation with your loved ones.
• I like the concept of mastering our minds by mastering the art of saying “no”. For the years, we have been learned, that saying is great and we can get rewards by doing this. In fact, it is true but, on the other hand, agreeing on too many things can drain you of energy and make you busy all the time, which is not good for our brains. It’s really hard to say no because this is not something that people would like to hear. We need to be conservative and start doing that to certain activities ( remember about Pareto’s rule that 20% of activities give 80% of results) and people (those who, for example, are Energy Vampires). With time, people will start accepting and respecting those who developed their assertive skills.
• There are two types of decluttering – physical and mental. The authors explained that removing what is unnecessary in our life is a great way to maximize the necessary things. Physical decluttering is about removing all the material things around you that are not crucial to your life, job, and your plans. It’s like making a review of everything that you have in your house when you plan to move to another one. When it comes to “cleaning” your mind the primer idea is to remove bad and destructive habits. As an example, if you used to watch a film or read the newspaper on the plane/car/train instead of that you can read a book which expands your knowledge in the specific area.

Your Life Plan: How to set yourself on the right path and take charge of your life by Erica Sosna

Books related to career/life planning are always welcome in my bookcase. This is another book that I have found very useful. The author, among other things, shows how to choose a life that is truly meaningful with a lot of happiness and fulfillment and how to deal with personal difficulties.

Key takeaways:

• There are different types of motives described in this book. The first one is to serve which means that you have the willingness to help others. The second one is a motivation to be safe and secure – this one is related to the craving to have all basic things like food, a secured place, and so on. Other ones are motivation to produce something new or motivation to master some things. All of those, and many more, properly used are very powerful tools when it comes to having a wonderful life, and to be focused on this is what is the most important.
• The author suggests a few tips that can allow you to hear a call – inspiration that will guide you to this what you would like to do with your life. We may think about what makes us curious, clear our mind with unnecessary thoughts by, for example, writing a journal or connecting with ourselves in silence, to really think about our life. One of the problems that we may face is too many calls, in too many different directions. In that case, is really helpful to gather all of that ideas in one place and then consider and investigate much deeper.
• Quest, described by the writer, is the result of the call that we have in our minds and this is something that we would like to achieve. To do that we need to think about what is really important, start with the end in mind, have the clarity of purpose, define the first and next milestones and finally make a plan. Each of those states is described in detail in this book but what is really important is to make a first, immediate step to move forward and remember about settings some timelines and estimation how each task or road to the milestone will take.
• One of the situations that for sure will take place, once we start realizing our plan, is that we will meet a lot of critics and worriers. The author great explained it in the quote that “When we take a step toward what we want, we will often find that this makes others uncomfortable. By making a commitment to achieve what you want out of life, you are forcing them to notice the dreams and goals that they have not allowed themselves to pursue.” It is also impossible that everyone applauds your efforts. We can learn something from that opinion as well but mainly we can ask that person/group to provide more information about why they think in that, negative way. If they cannot do that, just ignore it.
• Patience and persistence – the sad truth is that we may put a lot of effort and time into something and nothing will happen. This is a normal situation but against our internal needs that everything should happen immediately. This is the reason why the author urges us to cultivate patience – if we fail once, second and other tries will be much better because we will be equipped with experience. That approach describes people with high persistence – no matter what is happened, they are moving forward.

The Self-Care Handbook by Gill Hasson

The care our psychological condition is very important these days. This is why we need to know actually what to do to keep our mental health in a good condition. This book, written by Gill Hasson offers a practical guide to feel good, manage stress and anxiety, maintain a good work-life balance, and much more.

Key takeaways:

• When it comes to self-care everything starts from accepting yourself. We are able to accept all our, weaknesses, limitations and also this is what we don’t like in our body. The really important part of that is negative self-take which doesn’t allow us to feel ok with ourselves. Thoughts are really powerful and being aware of them is a great tool to stop being self-critic. The author proposes how we can work with them – we can catch them and note down, telling them that you are not gonna listen to them or recognize that negative thoughts are really not helping you.
• The art of letting go is one of the ways to take out some pressure from your life. It starts with identifying all our commitments, no matter if this is something big or small, just make a record of that. Then we need to identify what is important, what is not. To recognize the things that you can let go of, the author, suggests asking three questions: Do I like ding this? Do I want to keep doing it? Do I like doing it, but I don’t have room for it in my life right now? With those questions, you can rank each activity and leave those with the lowest rank. Probably it will be hard at the beginning to stop doing something (due to many reasons) but just try it. 
• I like the simple tips provided in the book regarding managing the balance between work and life. First of all, it’s really important to leave work at work – no emails or phones outside of working hours. Another thing is setting boundaries with your colleagues at the workplace. If you face a time where is much more work than usual just accept it, prioritize and plan, write down everything that’s needed to be done, remember about breaks and your energy limit, and, if needed, don’t be ashamed to ask for help.
• Mental health is strongly connected with physical health. Physical activity can be beneficial in that sense, for example by releasing the endorphins. Along with that, we need to remember to eat well by planning and preparing food in advance, avoiding smoking, alcohol, and junk food. The key player here is also good sleep which means remembering about a few do’s and don’ts like going to sleep with an “empty head” , avoiding blue light in the evenings, or having regular sleeping hours.
• Financial care is also a big part of mental health. Everyone agrees that without money we cannot feel safe. The obvious point here is to spend less than we earn to get out from the debts (if you have any). What might be helpful is a simple budget, where every spending will be recorded. Also, getting a piece of knowledge about personal finances is really helpful.

The podcasts

I try to listen to podcasts as much as possible. I used to do that in tiny time windows when I cannot do something productive like driving, walking to the supermarket, cleaning, and so on. This time I’d like to propose a few podcasts related to goal setting.

Thank you for reading till the end. If you would like to be informed about new articles and receive information about interesting articles you can sign up for my newsletter.