Jumpstart Your Dream Life

Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things

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Picture this: You’ve just finished working your busiest time of the year. For all your efforts, you receive a nice paycheck.

To reward yourself, you look for places to spend your hard-earned money. What would you choose out of these options?

  • A brand new TV or a vacation abroad?
  • A piece of jewelry or a multi-course meal at a restaurant?
  • The latest phone model or a class on learning a skill?

All of these questions point towards how we should spend our money. Should we spend it on material objects that will likely bring enjoyment, or on new experiences that have uncertain outcomes?

When faced with this decision, choose the experience. Here’s why.

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3 Quick Things You Can Do To Boost Your Confidence

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When it comes to boosting people’s confidence, we hear the same pieces of advice all the time:

  • “Be strong.”
  • “Believe in yourself!”
  • “Just think positive.”

The problem with these phrases is that they assume people can simply build up courage on their own to achieve their goals. It makes us think that if we just put in the effort and try hard enough, we can become confident.

A lot of the times, we can’t.

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When Positive Thinking Negatively Affects Your Success

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We’re always told by other people to think positive. The key to success is life is to believe, because once you do, you can achieve your goals. Anything is possible when you rely on the power of positive thinking.

At least, that’s what they say.

But experience shows that that’s not necessarily the case.

A few friends I knew wanted to partner up and start an advertising business. People supported their idea and doled out encouraging advice.

In usual fashion, the partners reveled in the high of embarking on a new venture. They talked excitedly about the possibilities their new business would bring. Together, they spent evenings discussing how to set up the business.

First, they set up a corporation and decided on a tax structure. Then, they looked up a few potential customers and brainstormed what kind of help they could offer. Business was going to be big.

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The Art of Self-Deception: How We Bandage Up Wounds by Lying to Ourselves

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It’s easy to see why people lie to others: to keep their jobs, to avoid an argument with someone, to protect their reputation, or because they think everyone will be better off for it. It’s wrong, we know, but sometimes we figure that doing so is the best option in a sea of bad choices.

Lying to ourselves, though? It happens quite often, and as it turns out, we’re pretty good at it. We convince ourselves that we really need that new gadget, that we made a wise financial choice, or everything is fine (when it isn’t). Even if the evidence proves otherwise, we stick to our guns and refuse to back down.

More often than not, the lies we tell ourselves are harmful to our well-being and can be more damaging than we realize. So why do we do it?

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The Interesting Thing About Gut Instincts (Why It Plays Tricks On Us)

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This is part two of the Gut Instinct series. To read part one on gut instincts and people, click here.

Imagine you’re at a casino. Your palms are sweating as you hold a pair of dice in your hand. A crowd forms around the table and watches intently. This is it.

“I have a good feeling about this.”

You shake the dice loosely in your hand, hoping you’ll get lucky. Your fingers let go and the dice fly across the table. As the dice land on the board, you take one look and groan.

Regret begins to sink in.

Have you ever listened to that gut feeling you had, only for it to lead you astray? Sure, there were those times when you turned out to be right, but there are those other moments when things didn’t pan out the way you thought they would.

If Napoleon himself fell into that trap at Russia, what chance is there for the rest of us?

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Serial Killers and CEOs: The Role Our Gut Instinct Plays in Everyday Assessments

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“I knew there was something wrong about him.”

How many times we heard someone say this, or thought this in our heads? Whenever we feel conflicted about someone we meet, we hear the same thing over and over: “trust your gut.”

We might spend days, months, or even years trying to figure something out. Is there a good chance of succeeding in this new job? Should I trust her? The wheels in our head spin as we think of all the variables and how they’ll play out.

And still, we keep hearing that we should just listen to our instincts. Complicated questions, simple answer. What should we do, and where did this whole idea of the gut instinct come from, anyway?

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5 Types of Music That Will Increase Your Productivity, According to Science

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Music has a way of permeating through empty corners and filling up environments with substance. It can help you relax, make you well up in tears, or feel alive. But can it make you more productive?

We use music to set the tone of our environment and our mood, whether we’re unwinding after work or throwing a party. But in an age when many of us spend our time staring at a computer screen, music has also become a mode of escape from outside distractions or dull tasks.

So how useful is music when it comes to focusing on your work?

Let’s take a look at the science behind music and productivity.

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How Late Should You Be Drinking Your Daily Coffee?

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Imagine it’s a Monday morning. You wake up to the beeping of your alarm and slowly open your eyes. After lying in bed for a few more minutes, you slowly get up and rub your eyes.

Groggy and bleary-eyed, you get dressed and prepare yourself for another start of the week. You glance at the clock and realize that you’re running late, so you leave for the office ASAP.

When you arrive, you turn on the computer and put down your things before heading to the kitchen. Now, here’s a question: what drink do you make for yourself?

If you chose coffee, well, you’re in good company.

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Are Books Superior to TV? How They Affect Our Minds in Different Ways

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There’s a perception that books are good, while TV is bad. Spend a day curled up with a book and you’re an intellectual, but spend a day watching your favorite show and you become a couch potato.

Similar to how candy gives you cavities and sun tanning is bad for our skin, it’s common knowledge that reading books is good for you. It increases your knowledge and makes you think. Watching television on the other hand kills off brain cells.

But why is that? Why can’t watching TV be just as educational as reading a book? For example, does watching the show Game of Thrones lower your intelligence, while reading the books does the exact opposite?

After all, there are all sorts of books. Some good, some poorly written. The same applies to shows as well. Is the situation as simple as categorizing books as good and TV as bad?

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How to Fall Asleep Within Minutes

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How would you feel after a restless night?

How about two nights? Or 10 nights in a row?

On December 28, 1963, Randy Gardner, with the help of two classmates, went on a mission to find out how his body would respond if he stayed awake until January 8, 1964, making a total of 264 hours (or 11 days).

To begin, he woke up bright and early at 6 am, alert and energized. But by the second day, he had trouble focusing on his surroundings and recognizing objects given to him. By the third day, Gardner became grouchy and his speech began to slur. The day afterward, he imagined himself to be a Paul Lowe, a 200-pound football player, while he was barely 120 pounds.

The experiment was originally meant for a high school science fair, but news spread to Stanford researcher William Dent, who flew down to San Diego to get involved[1].

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