The 5 Best Books On Mastering the Mind

An understanding of personal psychology is essential for success no matter what kind of industry you are involved in. You need to know how your own mind works as well as how to interact with other people. Thankfully, there are a number of good books on mastering the mind that can be of invaluable assistance. 

 

#1 - The Social Animal

 

The Social Animal be one of the most influential books on social psychology ever written. This 2011 classic by David Brooks explores the intersection between psychology, biology, and sociology to reveal hidden insights into human behavior. Brooks explains the human aversion to emotional expression and also highlights the isolation issue prevalent in 21st century America. 

 

#2 - Influence: Science and Practice

 

Robert Cialdini is one of the well-recognized authors within the marketing and psychology space. And this book in considered one of his best works. He explains in very easy-to-understand terms the results of complex scientific studies and also demonstrates how people can develop a resistance to typical persuasion techniques. The book is a classic and a must read for anybody in sales and marketing. 

 

#3 - Thinking Fast and Slow

 

Thinking Fast and Slow is a remarkably popular book by Daniel Kahneman, who also holds a Nobel prize in economics. It is an in-depth book on human behavior released in 2011. Thinking Fast and Slow explores topics such as cognitive biases, behavioral theory, and loss aversion. Not only does this book explore complex topics in detail, but it is well written and engaging. 

 

#4 - The Art of Choosing

 

The Art of Choosing is especially relevant to those who are interested in marketing, as it outlines how people make decisions. These decisions are seldom rational, though they obviously appear logical to the person making the decision. The book by Sheena Iyengar delves into why humans make particular choices. 

Understanding why we make certain decisions is fundamental to understanding ourselves. Before chasing desires, it can be fruitful to understand why we want them in the first place. 

 

#5 - Stumbling on Happiness

 

This book by Daniel Gilbert is a bestseller that is not really a self-development book in the classical sense but an analysis on how to master the mind. The basic principle is that “you are not to fool yourself - and you must understand that you are the easiest person to fool”. Stumbling on Happiness also highlights how our brains are hardwired to trick us into believing things that are just not true. A positive psychology book that is very uplifting. 

 

The 7 Proven Benefits of a Positive Psychology

The positive psychology movement has endured its fair share of criticism, especially from those who believe in shadow work and the integration of negative emotions. Yet there is much research on the many benefits of positive psychology. 

 

#1 - Stronger Personal Relationships

 

People who are happier have deeper ties with their family and friends. Positive psychology also has a number of benefits in the workplace and can help to increase productivity and return on investment, as well as increasing employee satisfaction levels. Companies such as Google place a massive emphasis on employee happiness. 

 

#2 - Benefits the Wider Environment

 

Having a positive outlook actually rubs off on others who you come into contact with. In other words, it's contagious. Those who spend time with happy people are more likely to be happier in the future as opposed to spending time with those of a negative orientation. 

 

#3 - Happier in General

 

People involved in positive psychology are less likely to have depression or mental illness. While having a positive mindset does not stop bad things from happening, it helps to get over them. People stuck in negative thought patterns let negative events haunt them for years. 

 

#4 - Healthier

 

People who engage in positive psychology practices tend to have lower blood pressure. They have lower stress levels and people who are optimistic about their circumstances are more likely to recover from illness such as cancer at a faster rate. Studies have shown a direct link between positive psychology and the immune system. 

 

#5 - More Successful

 

While success does make people happier, having a positive psychology is also a factor in attaining success. It is not really possible, or at least much more difficult, to be extremely successful while having a negative outlook on life. 

 

#6 - Snowball Effect

 

Those who engage in positive thinking are more likely to be happier in the future. Happy thoughts lead to more happy thoughts as the momentum takes off. Those who fail to correct their behavior will continue to engage in self-destruction patterns. 

 

#7 - Confidence and Vitality

 

People who engage in positive thinking have more self esteem and are more confident in their day-to-day activities. They also have more energy ad exuberance. This makes sense, as they will be more optimistic about the future and they also care more about what they do in the moment. People of a negative mindset are more likely to look at their jobs as a means to an end and see life in general as pointless. 

Understanding The Link Between Healthy Emotions and a Strong Psychology

The mind-body relationship is becoming clearer thanks to the advent of modern science. Likewise, the link between our thoughts and our emotions are also becoming better known. Research has demonstrated an obvious correlation between good emotions and a strong psychology. 

 

The Circle

 

Our thoughts and our emotions both form a circle reinforcing the other. Negative thoughts will generate emotions of a similar nature and these emotions will then result in more negative thoughts. This forms a vicious pattern that is most clearly observed in patients suffering from PTSD and other traumas. It is very difficult for these people to break free, and the events keep recurring in their minds. 

 

Over time, such patients heal to an extent. The main way to heal is gradually, as these patients can focus their energies on things that they enjoy so that the memories fail to repeat themselves and lose some of their previous force. Calming therapeutic modalities work over time to gently alleviate these traumas. However, modern society is anything but therapeutic. 

 

On the other hand, healthy emotions are linked with successful and a powerful psychology. People who are happier have more success and better interpersonal relationships. They have better concentration, memory, and social skills. It is far easier to be successful when you have a positive emotional framework as a foundation than to be struggling internally. 

 

How to Manage The Relationship

 

Everybody is in a situation where they need to better manage their thoughts and emotions. It takes some time, but there are proven ways to reinforce the strengths of our thoughts and emotions. These include:

 

1.         Meditation

2.         Mindfulness

3.         Deep Communication

4.         Creative Work

 

Meditation and mindfulness are practices where we simply observe what is happening in our minds. This is very beneficial in a world that is so externally orientated. We can observe how we feel and how these thoughts stimulate certain emotions. Over time, we can catch the negative thoughts before they gain too much momentum and ruin the whole day. 

 

Deep communication is another technique where we work with a therapist or practitioner to document and analyze our own patterns for further insights. 

 

Creative work is about self-expression. An intense dedication to creative work is an excellent way to remove any negative tendencies. What can happen is that we are so focused on artistic inventions that we are not focusing any of our energies on the things that make us weak. This works far more quickly than meditation and mindfulness if we can find something that we are truly passionate about. 

 

3 Easy Ways To Master Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is not a walk in the park for many people. In fact, it’s quite hard to muster and most will fail in their first few attempts. Now, you don’t need to live the life of a monk in order to master self-discipline (they do seem to be awfully good at discipline!) but if you want to succeed, you’d need plenty of patience and perseverance. Oh, and you need lots of time, too! After all, mastering self-discipline doesn’t happen overnight. 

 

Be 100% Committed To Your Goal

 

Plan and visualize your goal right down to the tiniest details. This step alone takes a lot of self-discipline because you’re basically going to create a roadmap for your success. And to see your goal to fruition, you’d have to be a hundred percent committed. 

 

To see your goal through to the end, you’d have to exercise self-control in many situations and your discipline will see to it that you finish your course according to plan.

 

Don’t Be The Biggest Obstacle To Your Success

 

You might not know it but you are probably the biggest roadblock to your success. Your fears and your insecurities might be holding you back from reaching your goals. 

 

Do you fear success? Are you afraid of failing? If you answered yes to either question, then you are sabotaging yourself. 

 

If you want to achieve something and be somebody in life, then you’re not going to allow your inner self to undermine your efforts. You have to go after your dreams and work hard every single day. 

 

If you want to be a concert pianist, you’re going to practice for hours on end each and every day. You’ll have the discipline to practice every morning, after school or work, and before you go to bed. If you start thinking you’re never going to be good enough, then you will never be good enough.

 

Say No Like You Mean It

 

Sometimes we say no to temptation the first or second time it’s offered to us. But on the third or fourth attempt, your defense starts to crumble and you slowly give in to the tempting and probably mouth-watering offer. 

 

If you’re truly disciplined, you’ll learn to say no like you actually mean it. Say no in such a way that the person doing the tempting and distracting will actually understand what you mean. Because if they sense your no is actually a maybe, they’ll persist and continue to knock on your door until you have no choice but to give in. 

Eating Healthy And Exercising Regularly Are Keys To Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is a holistic endeavor and it goes far deeper than simply changing your eating and exercise habits. You can be the most disciplined employee at work or the most disciplined student at school, but if you fail in other areas, such as you constantly binge eat and have no interest in taking care of your body, then you’re not disciplined at all. 

 

Eating healthy and exercising regularly are two key habits you need to adapt if you want to succeed at self-discipline. Eating healthy and exercising frequently might seem like the easiest things to do in the world. It can’t be so hard, right? 

If you’ve never done it before and it’s the first time you’ve heard this advice, then it might sound pretty simple to you. It is sound advice but it’s far from simple. Especially if you have no self-discipline. 

 

The Right Kind of Food and Exercise

 

We all know that eating junk food and buying fast food is not healthy. Some unethical companies will even try to fool you into thinking their products are healthy and ‘organic’ when in reality, they don’t even come close to the real thing. 

 

If you want to be sure you’re eating really the right kind of food, then you should consider preparing it yourself from scratch. When you develop healthy eating habits, your body will feel so much better. You won’t feel bloated and tired all the time and you can even lose excess weight just by eating healthy. 

 

Training yourself to stay away from food you’ve eaten most of your life and start eating food you used to call as ‘gross’ is going to be extremely hard at first. But if you slowly change your lifestyle, you’ll soon get the hang of it.

 

Make Gradual Changes To Your Lifestyle

 

To not put your body into shock, change your diet gradually by switching out a small percentage of your unhealthy food with something healthy. Then slowly increase the percentage of healthy food until your plate eventually becomes filled with 100% healthy and nutritious food.

 

Do the same with exercise. If you’re not used to exercising, and you suddenly start lifting heavy weights or running a few miles, then you are putting yourself in danger. Take baby steps in the beginning and don’t be afraid to pace yourself. 

 

With discipline, you’ll soon be eating healthy and exercising like the pros. You’ll enjoy a healthier lifestyle and you’ll have a more positive outlook on life. 

 

Excuses Won’t Help You Reach Your Goals

If you have goals and dreams in life, and you want to achieve them within a certain period of time, then you need to stop making excuses. Building self-discipline is important so you can avoid making lame excuses. You need to start taking responsibility for your goals by changing your behavior and your lifestyle. Otherwise, you're never to get anywhere near your intended destination. 

 

So how do you avoid making excuses to reach your professional and personal goals?

 

It's quite simple really if you think about it. You need to examine why you are making excuses in the first place. Are you afraid of something? Of failure? Of success? Once you've identified the root cause, it will be easier for you to overcome your excuses and it will be easier for you to attain your goals in life. 

 

Here are some of the most common excuses that people make:

 

Being not good or smart enough

 

They say, what you think is what you become. If you keep on saying negative things about yourself, then you will not succeed in life. So if you believe that you lack natural intelligence, prove yourself wrong. Learn and challenge yourself to become smarter in life.

 

Believing it's not the perfect timing

 

People who always say "it's not the right time" will definitely not reach whatever they want in life. Your dreams are not elusive, they are reachable. Life situations don't keep you from realizing your dreams. Your attitude does. So how you perceive the circumstances in your life is a "make or break" for your success.

 

Being busy

 

Every person has their own priorities in life. If you say you're too busy to do something, then it's probably not your priority. Time management is important in achieving your goals. Whether you are a full-time employee or a stay-at-home business owner, it should not stop you from reaching your goals.

 

There are endless excuses you can make to delay your dreams. Excuses won't help you succeed. So, if you are really passionate and determined, you will stop making excuses and start pushing yourself to your fullest potential.

 

Reaching for your goals by overcoming excuses can help you live life without limits. Everyone has big dreams they want to achieve at a certain point in life. Make sure you reach yours by not making excuses. 

How Accountability Is Key To Self-Discipline

If you’ve ever tried disciplining yourself on your own, you know just incredibly hard it can be. And it’s really no fun. You have no one to share your successes and rewards with, and over time, you may end up eschewing your goals altogether because you had no one to push you or cheer you on to continue working on your goals. So, you just up and quit. 

 

Accountability is important if you want to succeed in disciplining yourself. It comes in two forms: self-accountability and accountability to others. 

 

The first key: self-accountability

 

Self-accountability is pretty self-explanatory and works great when you have a strong sense of ethics, integrity and self-control. You won’t cheat on yourself and you’ll keep yourself pushing forward and upward. 

 

To make yourself accountable to yourself, you’d need to start off by writing down your goals and what steps you need to take to get there. Then you need to start a daily journal where you write down all the things you’ve done for the day. 

 

If you’ve had doubts about your abilities, if you’ve questions about your sanity or your fears, write it down. And then make sure you write the answers to your negative thoughts so that when you ask the same question again in a month or so, you’ll have the answer to look back on and you should be able to appease your doubts. 

 

As you can see, this method is quite lonely and can get boring which is why I suggest the second method, accountability to others.

 

The second key: being accountable to others

 

Accountability to others is simply letting other people in on your goals and asking them to help you reach them. Depending on your arrangement, you can ask your accountability buddy to give you a good talking to if you ever get tempted to do something that’s detrimental to your success. So, choose your buddy wisely. 

 

Pick someone you know has the discipline to actually help you out and would probably have a vested interest in your success. A spouse, parent, sibling, best friend or even your psychologist can be your accountability buddy. Someone you look up to, someone you would like to impress and someone you’d hate very much to disappoint. 

 

Being accountable to yourself and to somebody will change your perspective about reaching your goals. You’d be more conscious of every step you take and you’d have the discipline to actually stick to the path you’ve chosen to follow.