knowledge, Mental- Health, Personal Development, Self-Help, self-improvement, Success, Wellness

No Time, No Money

24/01/21

When people want to reach a goal or they have the expectations to do something important many times I’ve heard that the main pretext to achieve something is the lack of time or money. Actually, from my experience I’ve had to wait or postpone something for those two reasons and I know, not always it’s the precise time to do something that we want.

However, those words: time and money, can be a barrier and a mental pretext that humans create because in many occasions to leave the comfort zone is a risk that many of us want to avoid. We want to be comfortable with a known environment, the stimuli and resources and doing a step forward is a challenge because we don’t know if to take that risk will be the best decision but, in my country, we say: “El que no arriesga un huevo no gana un pollo” or in other words “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. In many situations to face the unknown can have awards in the future.

Regarding the absence of time, it is very important to organize it and at the same time to have strategies to optimize and take advantage of every moment. Procrastination is a bad habit as the laziness or invention of excuses. Sometimes it is because we don’t know the tools to organize our schedule but there are many options which can help you to be productive and the use of them depends on if you’re a conventional or practical person. Some of those can be: Google calendar, agendas, alarms, time planners or reminders. Here is an interesting article about this topic and I think it’s very useful as a complement of this important theme: https://www.spica.com/blog/best-time-management-tools

About the money, this is an important point and more now that we’re in a time of pandemic many companies went bankrupt or they are dealing with the economy and many people have had to change their jobs, many of them were laid off and therefore the financial situation can be a huge problem. Nevertheless, in many cases the lack of money is because people don’t have financial culture and they prefer to live in the moment- the here and now, forgetting their future and everything that involves retirement and having a livelihood for tomorrow. In many situations people spend more money than they have and the credit system is the way to deal with that but sometimes this issue becomes a nightmare where people are living to pay debts and this failure obscures the possibility of a promising future. Thus, my advice to go swimmingly financially is using some strategies like: saving money, spending less money than you earn, investing or creating simple and achievable business that help you to earn some extra income. 

So, the absence of money and time have a common element which is organization and discipline, where people can use some resources and habits which can help them to fulfill their goal. The most important thing is if you have an objective you should have the mindset and commitment to do it. I always write about the importance of our mindset and attitude but those elements move people. I am completely aware about the external factors and stimuli which influence our days and decisions but the message that I want to leave in this writing is when something depends on your actions and way to see the world then try to be assertive and use your time and money in the best way.  

DARR.

Community, Mental- Health, Personal Development, Self-Help, self-improvement, Success, Wellness

New Year’s Resolutions

10/01/21

Today is January 10th and it’s the first full week of 2021. So, time flies! And I want to ask you something: Do you have new year’s resolutions? Do you have some goals and targets for this new year?

I believe when the new year starts, we have enough motivation to begin something new like a project, maybe a diet or some physical training, perhaps to start a new course or studying a new language. Probably this year is different because it started with the challenge to face the situation of the pandemic and I know that it’s tough because we don’t have the same conditions as a normal year. Also, many of us had to deal with changes and losses last year left which entails that our emotions and motivations aren’t the same. However, from my perspective it’s really important to recharge our energy and make use of most of our skills and resources, also trying to acquire new habits and abilities with the purpose of shooting for the stars.

I believe that the barriers that people find in their ways to do something new can be from the environment but many times they are in their minds and the pretexts we use to justify our actions: “I don’t have time” and “I don’t have money” the two typical excuses that we have and I’m pretty sure that they can be true but many times it’s our mindset. Regarding to this I remember two important concepts which have relation with the previously written: Fixed mindset and Growing mindset: A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard (…); A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. (https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/). Thus, those challenges and difficulties make the people have the thirst and enthusiasm to will something when they have a growing mindset and at the same the capacity to leave the comfort zone.

When people face something new there are insecurities in doing that, we feel fear of those stimuli which sometimes freeze us but at the same this anxiety drives us and moves us. Do you know that the word motivation is derived from the Latin word “movere”? Which means to move (Huber, 2006, p. 481). The word motivation gets its origin from the root word “motive” meaning the reason we do what we do (McLean, 2006). (http://motivationisfundamental.blogspot.com/p/motivation-relationship-to-learning.html).

Then, my advice is to start this new cycle with motivation and the best thoughts. Time is money and we have to take advantage of it, it’s better to regret what is done than what isn’t done. The most valuable approach is the way we take advantage of our time and the experiences that we have. So, which are your resolutions? Do you have a fixed mindset or growing mindset?

Finally, I want to share a link about this interesting topic of Fixed Mindset and Growing Mindset as a complement to my post:

Have a great day my friends!

DARR.