The Rocco Effect

You Don’t Have To Be Great To Start, But You Have To Start To Be Great. – Zig Ziglar We often forget just how awesome we are.  We have all accomplished great feats in our lives.  Standing up for yourself, losing weight, gaining muscle, learning a new skill ect.  Look back on your struggles are remember how you've grown.  Once you start you'll be amazed at just how great you are.  Remember you didn't start of great, but all these journeys you went through made you stronger.  Search out new journeys and continue to grow. Task 1. Look back on your past and write down times when you where awesome. 2. Remember how you where before that act and how you grew due to it. 3. Write down your next journey and how you hope to grow.

A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.  -   Winston Churchill

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselve s. - Viktor Frankl

But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. - Seneca

  We suffer more often in imagination than in reality - Seneca You made a mistake at work.  What will happen? The boss will shout at me, everyone will laugh at me, I'll get fired, the news will spread and no one will ever want to hire me.  Or will the boss understand everyone makes mistakes, tell you not to worry and to be more careful in the future?  What's the most likely outcome? Why do we envision the worst outcomes?  Because that's the key to our survival.  Those who planned for the worst, survived.  Those that didn't got bite by a snake and died. We should plan for the worst.  That's how we lesson the impact, should it happen.  But we should also be aware of the likelihood of it happening.  How wants the worst outcome?  No one.  No one benefits from the worst so we all do our bit to avoid it.  We also all want the best and work hard to achieve it.  With us all working to avoid the bad and to achieve the good how...

Do similar tasks all at one, instead of spreading them out to save time.  Think of your laundry, do you clean one item at a time or all at once?  

If you want to be happy, look around you, whenever you see someone think to yourself 'I want them to be happy and have a great day'.  

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. - Napoleon Hill

  If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it. — Marcus Aurelius

We seek a big meanings for our lives, without realizing - we don't get to see that meaning, until the end. The big meaning is the sum of all the different parts of our lives. Imagine it like a movie. We don't even relies the big problem until half way through, yet all that happened in the first half was needed, it prepared the main character for the big challenge ahead of him. At the end a twist is sometimes left, changing how we view everything before it. If you haven't seen your true purpose or meaning, you're probably still preparing for it. Prepare the best you can, for whatever may come. That is your meaning. It will change when you're ready to face the real challenge.

  To conquer frustration, one must remain intensely focused on the outcome, not the obstacles. - T.F. Hodge We often ignore the most important aspect when we begin to argue. We focus too much on building our own egos and destroying all egos on the opposing side. This means the important outcome doesn't get done, or it does but spitefully and to the minimum requirements. You also lose friends as no one wants to be around someone who destroys their ego. If you find yourself arguing, take a step back, pause and ask yourself 'what is the desired outcome?'. Put your focus on working together to achieve that.

I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values, and follow my own moral compass, then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.- Michelle Obama Your values are the things you deem important. Knowing what's important to you, helps you control your emotions better. Negative feelings are common when we don't live by our values. We also feel negative when we see the opposite of our values manifest in the world, but we must remember they are out of our control. Should we see them we can change how we think about them or we can act to create a better world. The opposite is also true, when we live by our values or see them manifested in the world we will feel great. One of the quickest ways to happiness is by living by our values or by seeking them out in the world. To everyone else you are not what you think, you are what you do. Act out your values and aim for your values to be what others think of when they think of you. Comic Task 1. Write dow...

Simple works, complex fails – Tim Ferris We all know we should be drinking more water, but it's often a challenge to get started. The solution, make it so easy, that not doing it, is the difficult option. Buy a water bottle, fill it up every morning and carry it with you throughout the day and drink whenever you feel thirsty. Don't aim to drink the full bottle, just aim to drink when you feel like drinking, that way you'll always win and as we learned before, a small win is better than nothing. This positive reinforcement will eventually lead to better behavior. Since it's always with you the harder option would be to get up and find another drink, this little bit of friction will make drinking water a lot easier. Comic Task   1. If you haven't got one, buy a water bottle   2. Fill it up every morning.  Drink throughout the day.   3. Notice if you feel happier/healthier   Journal Questions   1. How do you feel after drinking more water?   2. What ben...

Everything is on loan.   Our possessions, our friends, family, even our own lives.  If we're lucky the loan is repaid after we die, but we've all had loans retuned before we where ready or worse, before we were aware it was a loan. Whenever you are in a state of truly loving life remind yourself 'This is all on loan.'  Be grateful and take in all you can, cause one day, memories is all you'll have left.

 

  I don’t journal to be productive.  I don’t do it to find great ideas or to put down prose I can later publish.  The pages aren’t intended for anyone but me.  It’s the most cost-effective therapy I’ve ever found. – Tim Ferriss

  He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. -  Epictetus

The greater the level of calmness of our mind, the greater our peace of mind, the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful life. - Dalai Lama Anxiety and stress stem from the same thing, an overcrowded mind.  We make bad decisions when we overthink, which in turn leads to more anxiety and stress.  Its a vicious cycle, but there is a way out, meditation.  Meditation, put simply, is training our minds to focus on one thing.  With only one thing in our heads we are able to think clearly and achieve better solutions.  With better solutions we reduce the causes of our stress and anxiety.  Clear your head, think clearly and start living an awesome life again. Comic Task    For the next three days, whenever you catch yourself thinking 1. Breath deeply in through your nose and out your mouth. 2. Focus on the breath.  Feel it flow through you. 3. If you notice your mind drifting, return your focus to your breath 4. Notice how much calmer your t...

I move forward in my life every day, even if it's only a tiny step, because I know that great things are accomplished with tiny moves, but nothing is accomplished by standing still - Zig Ziglar I've found that growth is the quickest way to happiness, motivation and slaying depression.  When I grow I become better. My actions lead to more successful outcomes and as a result I help advance the world, one day at a time.  Making the world a better place reduces suffering and that helps breed more happiness and even more growth.  Growth leads to better opportunities in all aspects of life. Time is an investment, we can choose to invest in ourselves or we can let it go to waste. Be wise, invest your time, grow and become awesome. Comic Task for the next week 1. Learn one new skill  2. Combine your new skill with an old skill 3. Share your new creation Journal Questions 1. How have you grown in the last week?  2. How will you grow tomorrow?  3. How does your growt...

Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil . –Walt Disney

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. - Thomas A. Edison

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.  ―  Epictetus Often we want to change things we have no control over (I wish they were ____, I wish they would just do ____, I wish I lived _______). We can have some influence on these things, but we can't guarantee 100% that things will go our way.   We only have control over two things. Our thoughts and our actions. Anything you want to achieve should start with these two things. Our thoughts influence our actions and our actions influence our thoughts. If you want to think better, try changing your actions (eat healthier, exercise, stand up straight with your shoulders back ect), and if you want to change your actions change your thoughts (think of the end result, rather than the process, think of the minimum you can do and do that, think positively). How does narrowing your focus down to two things make you feel? Comic T ask 1. What is bothering you? 2. How can you change your thoughts to be less...

When confronted with two courses of action I jot down on a piece of paper all the arguments in favor of each one, then on the opposite side I write the arguments against each one. Then by weighing the arguments pro and con and cancelling them out, one against the other, I take the course indicated by what remains. - Benjamin Franklin

It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. - Muhammad Ali If something is repeated often enough, we act as if it's true. If we repeat negative thoughts, we'll soon start acting as if they're true and before long, they'll become true. To avoid falling into this trap we should take control of this bias and use it for our own good. Repeat awesome thoughts, share solutions and slowly start believing in yourself again. With enough repetition these things will become true. Comic Task   For the next week...   1. Take note of your repeating thoughts.   2. Write down the thoughts you'd like to have.   3. When you notice a negative thought, replace it with one of the positive ones on your list.   Journal Questions   1. What are your most repeated thoughts?  2. What future do these thoughts lead to?  3. What thoughts can you replace, in order t reach a better future?

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose. - Victor Frankl Meaning and purpose are what push us through the worst of times. Depression rushes in when we lose track of our purpose. Don't let it rush in, take time to focus on what's important to you and honor those values. You'll be happier and filled with a new sense of meaning every time you do. Comic Task   1. Spend 15mins to write down your values. A list of things that are important to you.  2. Pick your top 5 values  3. Ask yourself 'How can i honour one of these values today?'  4. Go out and do it   Journal Questions   1. How did you honour your values today?  2. How does honouring your values make you feel?  3. How can you honour your values tomorrow?