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Articles from Steve Gillman | Selfgrowth.com
- Are There Lucky People? - by Submitted on Jul 20, 2008 from Steve GillmanMost of us know lucky people, those who seem to lived a charmed life. They may not even be all that smart, and yet they seem to almost stumble into good situations. Opportunities open up for them, things are "handed" to them. Perhaps they win in the stock market, find a dream job, or get married ...
Views: 921 - Article Ideas Are Easy - by Submitted on May 18, 2010 from Steve GillmanYou probably know that distributing your writing through various online outlets is a great way to promote your website or blog, but how do you come up with article ideas? Here are some simple ways to generate as many ideas as you need to keep your fingers busy on that keyboard. Using The News ...
Views: 989 - Bad Credit Rating - A Good Thing? - by Submitted on Jul 15, 2008 from Steve GillmanA bad credit rating is usually considered a problem, but is it always so? Are there circumstances where it can be beneficial? Credit is a tool that has to be handled with wisdom to be of value. Being able to borrow money or get credit cards doesn't automatically make a person able to handle ...
Views: 626 - Brain Experiments You Can Do On Yourself - by Submitted on Jun 05, 2009 from Steve GillmanRegular readers of my blog and subscribers to my Brainpower Newsletter know that I’m a believer in safe self-experimentation. In fact, I regularly recommend trying things out that do not yet have scientific evidence proving their effectiveness. After all, why would science ever look into a new ...
Views: 1589 - Brain Training 101 - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2008 from Steve GillmanA little bit of brain training can go a long ways towards better thinking. There are easy techniques for better or more creative thinking, such as brainstorming or just getting a good night's sleep. The idea here, though, is to train your brain in new habits. It can take some work, but once good ...
Views: 858 - Brainpower Games Anyone Can Play - by Submitted on Apr 20, 2008 from Steve GillmanBrainpower games are those games which exercise your mental capacity. My personal favorite is Chess, but there are many others, some of which you probably already play or have played. Here is a look at a few of the more common ones and how they may help your mind. Crossword Puzzles For many ...
Views: 711 - Brainstorming A Paper Clip Into A House - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2007 from Steve GillmanYes, brainstorming can turn a paper clip into a house. More on that in a moment. First, a question. Have you ever had a brainstorming session where people sat around hesitating to contribute? If so, you can understand how important having the right frame of mind is. Members of the group need to ...
Views: 2605 - Can You Create Wealth From Home? - by Submitted on Jul 17, 2007 from Steve GillmanCan you create wealth from home? You bet you can - and there are more ways to do it than there have ever been before. An example? I'm sitting here in my underwear as I write this, and yes, I do make a good living with these articles and my web sites. Starting an internet business may be one of ...
Views: 684 - Cheap Real Estate - Ten Reasons Why - by Submitted on Sep 16, 2007 from Steve GillmanWhy is there cheap real estate? Is it just that some sellers don't know what their property is worth? Sometimes this is the case, but only rarely. More often a seller is willing to sell for less because it means selling faster or more easily. In other words, sellers will trade a little equity ...
Views: 730 - Choosing The Best Meditation Music - by Submitted on Oct 01, 2008 from Steve GillmanHow do you choose the best meditation music? Baroque music is often recommended, and particular pieces may have the right number of beats-per-minute to alter your brainwaves. But more on that in a moment. The science isn't that settled in this area yet, and you may find that any music which you ...
Views: 2750 - Crazy Ideas Can Be Valuable - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2008 from Steve GillmanSometimes it is just fun to create and share crazy ideas. For example, I recently read about one man's idea to give away free gas. The catch was that there were remote-controlled paintball guns with cameras on them, connected to a web site on the internet. People would pay to fire paintballs at ...
Views: 780 - Crazy Ideas: Why and How - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2011 from Steve GillmanThere is a lot to be said for dreaming up crazy ideas, and doing so is more than just a way to exercise your creativity (although it's very good for that purpose too). Sometimes a crazy idea is not as crazy as it first appears, and sometimes it is, but becomes something more useful with a bit of ...
Views: 1706 - Creating a Metaphorical Understanding - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2009 from Steve GillmanCreating and using a metaphorical understanding is one of the primary ways we communicate a new idea. The process is very apparent with scientific knowledge. For example, we explain an atom using the metaphor of a little solar system in which the nucleus sits like the sun in the middle and the ...
Views: 965 - Creative Concepts - A How To Guide - by Submitted on May 01, 2008 from Steve GillmanWant to have more creative concepts for your business, job or home life? Practicing can help, especially if it is with others. The first time you brainstorm with a group of creative people, you might feel like you are mentally slow, but soon you'll find that you are coming up with more and more ...
Views: 1173 - Creative Inspiration - How To Have It - by Submitted on Dec 12, 2007 from Steve GillmanYou probably like the idea of creative inspiration, that wonderful new idea that pops into you head without warning. The reality is that such bursts of creativity do happen. Einstein claimed he had great ideas come to him while he was shaving in the morning. And then there is the chemist ...
Views: 752 - Creative Marketing Ideas - by Submitted on May 11, 2009 from Steve GillmanThe following creative marketing ideas are specifically about finding new places and ways to advertise. This has always been an area ripe for new ideas. What prompted me to write this page is an article I recently read on a company called Show Media. Show Media has advertising displays on top ...
Views: 1637 - Creative Problem Solving With Inflection - by Submitted on Jul 31, 2007 from Steve GillmanWould you like to have more creative problem solving ability? How would you like to be the one who always has a creative solution? There are dozens of techniques that can help, starting with this simple one based on word inflection. It will work in all areas, from business to science to everyday ...
Views: 786 - Creative Thinking: A How-To Guide - by Submitted on Oct 06, 2005 from Steve GillmanCreative thinking is a potential we are all born with. If you don't use that potential, it is probably because you don't know and apply the simple principles for developing it. We can remedy that right now. The two basic principles of creative thinking are: 1. There are methods and techniques ...
Views: 1329 - Defeating Brain Fog - by Submitted on Feb 11, 2011 from Steve GillmanWe all have a bit of brain fog from time to time - particularly in the morning for myself. We may want to concentrate on finishing that story, working on that report for work, or whatever it is that requires our best mental efforts, yet we are in a haze. What can you do to more effectively ...
Views: 1402 - Definition Of Atheism: Not A Belief - by Submitted on Feb 10, 2008 from Steve GillmanContrary to what many people think and many dictionaries suggest, atheism is not a belief. It is simply the lack of belief in "God " or gods. Before starting this article, I checked several dictionaries. In the first one, the definition of atheism given was, "The doctrine or belief that there is ...
Views: 871 - Do Self Help Books Help? - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2009 from Steve GillmanWhat if self help books just help the self which creates your problems in the first place? I'll get back to that in a moment. First I want to say that many such books certainly can be helpful. A book on how to speak in front of a crowd can help with that, for example, and a book on how to eat or ...
Views: 786 - Don't Take Advice From Successful People - by Submitted on Jun 05, 2005 from Steve GillmanDo you know what the problem is with asking successful people for advice? They don't always know why they are successful - but they'll give you all the reasons you want. I once watched an 100-year-old man explain that smoking every day was the secret to his longevity. It would be great to know ...
Views: 782 - Everything Happens For A Reason? - by Submitted on Nov 12, 2007 from Steve GillmanEverything happens for a reason? What nonsense! On the other hand, what a great idea! Whatever your religious or philosophical background, this is a belief that you can use, even if it isn't true. There is no way to prove that everything happens for a reason. In fact, when you think about some ...
Views: 940 - Experts - How To Use Them - by Submitted on May 19, 2008 from Steve GillmanWho and what are experts? Here is the dictionary definition: "A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject." Experts know certain things, or know how to do certain things, but they don't know you. This points out the basic problem with habitually relying on expert ...
Views: 688 - Financial Freedom? - by Submitted on Jan 20, 2010 from Steve GillmanWhen talking about financial freedom, different people can mean entirely different things. For some it means getting to do what they want because they have enough money. For others it means having enough income from investments that they are free of any financial concerns. Of course, few ...
Views: 1145 - Financial Mistakes You May Be Making - by Submitted on Sep 04, 2008 from Steve GillmanAll of us make financial mistakes, and research in the new fields of evolutionary economics and behavioral economics are starting to explain why. It will be good to have this knowledge someday. But in the meantime, here are ten of the more common money mistakes you may be making, so you can ...
Views: 1039 - Financial Trouble Starts In Your Mind - by Submitted on Jul 20, 2007 from Steve GillmanBlaming financial trouble on outside factors is the norm, but is it the truth? Sometimes. Unexpected things do happen, after all. On the other hand, some people manage to handle the unexpected without any real financial difficulty, right? What are they doing differently? To begin with, some ...
Views: 752 - Find A House That is Right For You - by Submitted on Feb 07, 2011 from Steve GillmanIn order to find a house that is right for you, you have to first think carefully about what you actually need and want. Many people limit their thinking to the home itself, and so have a mental (or even written) list of all the features they want. But what you need in a house is not limited to ...
Views: 1313 - Five Kinds Of Self Improvement CDs - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2008 from Steve GillmanIf you have ever considered buying self improvement CDs, you know there are a lot to choose from. It isn't just about different authors though. There are very different types to think about as well. Here is a look at five of them, with some pointers as to which may be best for you. Subliminal ...
Views: 2309 - Following Hidden Trails - by Submitted on Mar 07, 2009 from Steve GillmanI am a follower of hidden trails. In fact, on at least half of the hiking trips I take lately, I'm off the trails altogether, bushwhacking into the unknown. What do you get for doing as Walt Whitman suggested, and taking the "road less traveled?" A bit of adventure. Here are some of the things ...
Views: 959 - Four Good Luck Tips - by Submitted on Oct 06, 2008 from Steve GillmanYou can call it good luck, or cause and effect, or whatever you want. But you know that some people have more good things happen in their lives and more happy surprises. What you may not know is that there are things you can do to be more like them and so be luckier yourself. Here are a few tips ...
Views: 796 - Frugality - Three Quick Lessons - by Submitted on Apr 22, 2008 from Steve GillmanWhat is frugality? The dictionary definition of frugal: "Practicing or marked by economy, as in the expenditure of money or the use of material resources." People think of it as simply being "cheap," in the fashion of Ebeneezer Scrooge. I see it as the practice of getting the most for one's ...
Views: 684 - Get A Raise - Five Steps - by Submitted on Jun 12, 2008 from Steve GillmanYou think it's time that you get a raise from your employer, but how do you go about it? Do it wrong and you may make things even worse. How do you do it right? Try the following five-step process. 1. Make sure you deserve the raise. It may seem too obvious to say that you should do a good job ...
Views: 690 - Get Your Thinking Out Of The Box - by Submitted on Jun 20, 2008 from Steve GillmanWhat is thinking out of the box? It is getting outside the usual ways of looking at things (that's the box) to arrive at new and useful ideas. How do you do it? Here is one of the many ways. How To Get Your Thinking Out Of The Box One of the simplest techniques for "out of the box" thinking is ...
Views: 977 - Getting Lucky - A Strategy - by Submitted on Jun 06, 2007 from Steve GillmanGetting lucky is more probable when you have a certain way of approaching situations. This particular frame of mind is the good-luck-generating attitude expressed in the following quote: "If you view all the things that happen to you, both good and bad, as opportunities, then you operate out of ...
Views: 560 - Getting Lucky - One Way That Works - by Submitted on Feb 17, 2008 from Steve GillmanGetting lucky is about operating in certain ways. You won't get lucky in love if you don't ever talk to someone of the opposite sex. You won't ever succeed in business by just talking about it. These two examples bring us to the first lesson on "luck." Getting Lucky By Consistently Taking ...
Views: 576 - Good Metaphors - What They Do For Us - by Submitted on Sep 30, 2008 from Steve GillmanGood metaphors, apart from just sounding nice to the ears, do at least two other things. First, they make it easier to think about something. For example, if you were to try to explain to a first-time computer user that bits of electricity create binary code which then... well, I can't explain ...
Views: 805 - How Self Awareness Leads To Better Brainpower - by Submitted on Sep 25, 2008 from Steve GillmanAt the highest levels, better brainpower cannot be separated from higher self awareness. Your own reactive mind often gets in the way of the clearest and deepest thinking, and you have to see this happening to correct it. Part of the problem is what's sometimes referred to as the "monkey mind," ...
Views: 668 - How To Be A Deep Thinker - by Submitted on May 27, 2008 from Steve GillmanTo be a deep thinker you simply have to get in the habit of asking deep questions about everything around you. What is a deep question? Let's look at a couple examples. Suppose someone lies to you, and you simply explain it by saying, "He's a jerk!" That may be true, but it is shallow thinking. ...
Views: 5657 - How To Be A Mind Reader - by Submitted on Jun 23, 2008 from Steve GillmanDo you want to be a mind reader? Well, lets get the disappointing part out of the way: You won't be able to hear the thoughts of others, and there is little evidence that anyone has ever had this kind of ability. Most of what passes as mind reading is a mix of nonsense and psychological tactics ...
Views: 1253 - How To Boost The Power Of The Mind - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2008 from Steve GillmanThere are many ways to boost the power of the mind. Some of them are proven by science, some soon-to-be proven, and others that work for one person and not another. That is why I advocate the "shotgun approach" to increasing one's mind power. Unlike rifle shells, shotgun shells have many pellets ...
Views: 710 - How To Develop Creativity - by Submitted on Feb 26, 2009 from Steve GillmanHow does one develop creativity? By habitually taking creative approaches to life's challenges. To make this habitual, you just need to use certain techniques for a few weeks each, until they become a normal part of your thinking. One such technique is outlined here. Develop Creativity By ...
Views: 2053 - How To Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills - by Submitted on Feb 23, 2008 from Steve GillmanWhat are critical thinking skills? They are the habits of thought that you cultivate for better decisions on what to believe and what to do. Critical thought is not about being able to argue well. That kind of thinking can be a trap. Unfortunately, some very intelligent people think that way, ...
Views: 1394 - How To Get Smarter Or Look Smarter - by Submitted on Jan 11, 2008 from Steve GillmanWith the right work you can get smarter, but there are also things you can do to appear to be more intelligent, and you can use some of them right now. So if you want to impress your boss or your friends with your intelligence, try a few of the techniques below. Some of them may actually improve ...
Views: 782 - How to Have New Business Ideas - by Submitted on Feb 21, 2009 from Steve GillmanThere are many brainstorming routines and other techniques for creating new business ideas. You'll find just one of them here, but it's a good one. New Business Ideas By Turning Things Upside Down This is a technique for generating truly creative new ideas. It's based on the way your mind ...
Views: 617 - How To Have Stronger Willpower - by Submitted on Jun 16, 2005 from Steve GillmanHave you ever wished you had stronger willpower? How can you make yourself stop doing things you don't want to do? There are ways, and the first thing to do is to redefine the concept of willpower. Self Awareness Instead Of Willpower It's hard to resist temptation sometimes, isn't it? That ...
Views: 809 - How To Invent New Products - by Submitted on Oct 30, 2007 from Steve GillmanTo invent new products, you need to know how to generate new ideas - lots of them. Then you look them over and pick out the good ones. Here is one of the many simple techniques for coming up with ideas for new products. New Products From Old Start with an existing product and extract some of ...
Views: 1263 - How To Make Money - by Submitted on May 21, 2008 from Steve GillmanIf you are like most people, when you think about how to make money, you think about the specific jobs, businesses or schemes that will bring in the cash. But while there are many ways to make it, all these ways have their examples of success and failure. Why do some fail at the same things ...
Views: 2398 - How To Make Your Own Affirmations - by Submitted on Aug 29, 2007 from Steve GillmanYou may have used affirmations before, writing positive statements on cards and repeating them every day. Hopefully you stuck it out and got the results that you wanted. More often, we find it hard to take the time to read them every day, and without that constant repetition, we don't get the ...
Views: 1713 - How To Motivate Yourself - by Submitted on Apr 30, 2007 from Steve GillmanHow do you motivate yourself? What can you do when you need to get busy doing something and you just don't feel like doing it? Of course there are dozens of motivation techniques. Some, like certain NLP techniques, can get fairly complicated. The following, however, is a simple, yet powerful ...
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