December 5th, 2010 
jvremec
Using a Zen Mindset to Help Increase Self Improvement and Motivation
Author: Joe Pahl
In life one of the things that we strive for are self improvement and motivation. We reach for this because we want more out of life. There are countless ways to improve ourselves, including striving for a better job, setting out to build a successful business, or even just flat out living a more ethical and moral lifestyle in general. When it comes to the lifestyle of Zen, and self improvement and motivation, one of the areas that must change is to become a positive forward thinking person. Negative thoughts cloud the mind and prevent even the best of us from accomplishing anything. It’s no secret that the most successful and highly motivated people, think in an extremely positive way.
Sustaining long term motivation is a challenge for everyone. Sure, when an idea is new and fresh, finding enough motivation is not a problem. But as time goes on, and that freshness goes away, being able to find the motivation to continue to do the “right” things becomes much more difficult. Having a Zen mindset will assist individuals at pushing out all of the distractions (especially the emotions involved with self improvement) and thus making it much easier to find the motivation to continue. The less emotions are involved, the less they will be a factor in determining whether or not the necessary actions are taken for self improvement.
The Zen lifestyle accomplishes this through a number of ways, one being the meditation aspect of it. The added focus that one gets from sitting and concentrating on breathing in and out like a door opening and closing, along with training the mind to release control are excellent ways to remove the negative energy that flows through our minds and bodies. With what we’re forced to endure all day, in the form of the news reports, television and print media, it is so important to have an outlet for releasing this negative energy. This is where we can benefit from the self improvement and motivation aspects of the Zen lifestyle.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/using-a-zen-mindset-to-help-increase-self-improvement-and-motivation-2654324.html
About the Author
Want to learn more about the importance using a Zen mindset for self improvement and motivation?
Visit my Self Improvement And Motivation blog to get more info on how to use Zen to improve your mindset and your life.
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What self improvement/training materials do top salespeople REALLY rate?
I’m about to enter a new career in sales and I have a huge collection of all kinds of motivation/self improvement and sales/negotiation training materials. Audio, video and books.
However, in the *real* world, what have people found to be highly useful and workable? If you are a high achiever sales/negotiation wise-what if any would you recommend to a newcomer?
I’m looking at business to business telesales as a starting point and hope to add face to face relationship building as I progress.
At the moment I’ve a list of authors a mile long and I’ve listened to a fair amount.However having not field tested it all, I could be in fantasy land as to would work
.
Thank you in advance for any assistance. UK based
I do like Frank Bettger’s book. I acquired this off an old business pal of mine. Charming and sounds realistic. Dale Carnegie is another I do like.
The other recommendations are appreciated as I hadn’t yet seen them. Thank you.
Thank you Ken. John Maxwell I hadn’t come across either so far.
Covey, I have his audio which I listened to twice a couple of weeks ago whilst doing a fairly long hands on job. I have his book, that I’m using to revise what I heard
.
Here’s my Top Five:
“How I raised myself from Failure to Success in Selling” by
Frank Bettger
“How to have Confidence and Power when dealing with People” by Les Geblin
“How to win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
“Personality Plus” by Florence Littauer
“The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz
Career summary statement on a resume?
I have a career summary statement on my resume. My wife says that this should all be bullet points and non-verbiage. Can you please give me feedback? Thanks..
John Doe is an information systems professional with 12+ years of industry experience developing and managing mission-critical electronic-commerce systems and web-based applications in multiple Fortune 500 companies. He is a certified PMP (Project Management Professional). John is a creative and customer-focused professional with excellent communication skills. He is a results-driven individual with a passion for mentoring and coaching others. He has a strong motivation toward continual self-improvement and innovation.
Too much jargon and will lose the reader quickly. Try this:
“John Doe is an Information Systems professional with over 12 years of experience. He has developed and managed important e-commerce systems and web programs with several Fortune 500 companies. John is a certified Project Management Professional who is creative and possesses excellent communications skills. He is a driven individual who enjoys mentoring and coaching while also concentrating on personal fulfillment.”
Okay, I suck a little but hey, I tried.
When someone criticizes you and tries to make you feel insecure…?
do you use that as a motivation for self improvement? Maybe they’re trying to shove you for your own good, but then again, maybe not. Or, do you feel so hurt and manipulated that you get angry and lash out instead?
i don’t put too much stock in what other people think of me, especially if they are mean-spirited about it. i won’t pretend like i don’t care what other people think, because everyone does, but i don’t take it personally. you should read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. It’s really helped me learn that what i say affects people but at the same time i can’t take what other people say and let it affect me. there are four agreements to live by and it helps you realize how to go on with life and keep the drama out of it. it’s awesome! good luck.
extreme self improvement?
I’m looking for ways to improve myself to near super human levels. Things like:
require <4hr sleep per night.
be able to hold breath for 4+ minutes
do complex calculations without paper in a few seconds or less.
photographic memory and rapid memory recall.
control dreams
Analyse a persons state of mind/ thought process/ motivation through their actions body language.
count to 1023 on your fingers.
etc.
do you know any tutorials for things similar to this?
I’m pretty sure any of that stuff can be done. You just need to learn the tricks from others. What one man can do, any man can do.
Here is David Blaine explaining how he held his breath for 17 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFnGhrC_3Gs
Yes or No ….. Have you ever “Burned the Ships” in your life?
Quote…..
[When striving towards a goal, you must focus on what you want to
obtain and avoid the impulse to go back to what you know and to
what is comfortable. When Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez
landed in Mexico, one of his first orders to his men was to....*burn the
ships*..... Cortez was committed to his mission and did not want to
allow himself or his men the option of going back to Spain. By
removing this option, Cortez and his men were forced to focus on
how they could make the mission successful.] ……Unquote
http://www.homehighlight.org/self-improvement/self-motivation/burn-the-ships.html
Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song about it…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-X0m4rxHVw
Should we hold onto the things of the “Old Nature”?
http://75.102.32.213/search?site=biblecc&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=custom31&filter=0&num=10&output=xml_no_dtd&btnG=Search&q=nature+of+old+man
Becoming a believer meant ‘whoever loses the life for My sake
shall find it’, so there has been and will be ‘no turning back’,
and never back like ‘the dog to his vomit’, for that is
what it was. This is newness, always leaving those
old things behind, but as I am ready for our Lord
is not part of the ‘god of forces’. That’s a nice
site for looking things up. Thank you for that.