I saw a magazine add for a mounted pull-up bar. I thought about it, and finally decided to buy the doorway pull-up bar mount. It arrived in the mail, and I put the chin-up bar on my bedroom door, and then wrote my own plan for only using the pullup bar for my workout.

The bar basically hooks onto the top of the doorway in your house. It can be most doorways.

The results so far have been shocking and life-changing. Getting a pullup bar mount has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my health journey. If you’re thinking about getting one, click your mouse a few times and actually get one — they work.

The 80-20 Principle of Working Out

The 80-20 rule is one of the most powerful things you can ever learn about personal development. It goes like this: About 20% of what we do gets 80% of the consequences. In other words, only 20% of the time we spend working out gets about 80% of our increase in size and strength. Think about it, and you’ll see why this is so important to understand.

The other day, I read an article by a famous personal development guru who was explaining that he only works out 4 hours a month. Just 30 minutes twice a week. I analyzed what his work out was, and then promised myself to work out even less and get the same results. By now, I’ve already gotten better results. I couldn’t have done it without my upper body workout bar.

I created the following as part of my workout with my chinup/pullup bar.

The Chin-Up and Pull-Up Workout

This is going to sound simplistic — mostly because it IS simple. Getting an uperbody workout is much simpler than what most of the gurus make it out to be. Here’s my workout routine with the chinup bar:

Week 1:

3 sets of 3 chinups. 30 second rests between each set.
3 sets of 3 pullups. 30 second rests between each set.
3 sets of 3 sit ups. 10 second rests between each set.
3 sets of 3 pushups. 30 second rests between each set.

The goal of the first week isn’t so much to get you in shape so much as to get you used to the idea of having a work-out routine. If you’re already in fairly good shape, you might just skip on to week two.

Week 2:

5 sets of 3 chinups. 30 second rests between each set.
5 sets of 3 pullups. 30 second rests between each set.
5 sets of 3 sit ups. 10 second rests between each set.
5 sets of 3 pushups. 30 second rests between each set.

This is the first time you’ll actually starting building a little bit of real muscle. This should be able to at least tone your upper body for strength and consistency.

Week 3:

8 sets of 3 chinups. 30 second rests between each set.
8 sets of 3 pullups. 30 second rests between each set.
8 sets of 3 sit ups. 10 second rests between each set.
8 sets of 3 pushups. 30 second rests between each set.

Week 4:

10 sets of 3 chinups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 3 pullups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 3 sit ups. 10 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 3 pushups. 30 second rests between each set.

The first four weeks/first month is about working your way up to 10 sets of each upper body workout. Once you have the 10 sets achieved, by now, you’ll slowly add one chinup/pullup/situp/pushup to each set.

Week 5:

10 sets of 4 chinups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 4 pullups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 4 sit ups. 10 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 4 pushups. 30 second rests between each set.

Week 6:

10 sets of 4 chinups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 4 pullups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 4 sit ups. 10 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 4 pushups. 30 second rests between each set.

Week six is about maintaining the routine of week five. Before moving on again, you’ll want to make perfectly sure that you are moving at a sustainable pace. Going to fast and getting burnt out or too soar will destroy the whole point of the workout, leaving you with lower morale than before.

Week 7:

10 sets of 5 chinups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 5 pullups. 30 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 5 sit ups. 10 second rests between each set.
10 sets of 5 pushups. 30 second rests between each set.

This doesn’t sound like much. But it’s a LOT. Doing lots of fast sets instead of a bunch at once trains you to slowly increase how many you’ll actually end up doing. By now, you’ll be doing 200 upper body workouts — and you’ll see the change in your body, trust me.

This is what I’ve done, and it works. Of course, my ENTIRE upper body workout involves my chin-up bar. Seriously, I’d still be an out-of-shape geek if it wasn’t for my pullup bar. You can also do pushups with the bar, and situps — you put it on the ground. Well, click the link below and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Where to Find a Chinup/Pullup Bar

You can find one on amazon below… that’s where I bought mine, and that’s why I’ve become an Amazon associate, to help others get their own doorway chinup bars. Just click through the top Amazon link and buy one. You can get to a much stronger upper body without having to think about it.

No related posts.

A CD is an FDIC insured place to put your money. You can put the money in a CD for a set period of time, and collect it with the interest (usually pretty high) at the end of the agreed period.

So you want to find the best CD rates out there? Me too. The best I’ve found are:

BankRate.com
MoneyAisle.com
MonitorBankRates.com
Bankaholic.com

There are, of course, dozens of websites that provide similar services. Even mine that I linked to above explains how you can find the best CD rates. Just keep looking, and you’ll be sure to find them — no need to worry about your credit.

Online savings is fantastic for people who have found one of the many real online jobs. In that case, you can make all of your banking completely automatic and electronic.

Related posts:

1. Why You Shouldn’t Sell Those Stocks
2. Three Problems With an Online Savings Account
3. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich

That bank with its solid oak doors was as solid as a rock. Your deposits cleared into your account the very next business day.

Then one day in 2009, you were on the Internet and you saw something called, “Online Savings Accounts.” All you had to do was have your paycheck directly deposited into a virtual bank and everything would be taken care of. Your account statement appeared instantly on your monitor with a click of your mouse.

Better yet, that online savings account offered you interest that you couldn’t find at your bank down the corner; sometimes the rates were as high as 2.5 % for this online savings account, and you could actually do your banking in your pajamas and slippers. It all seemed so simple and efficient.

But problems began to occur. As you started to put money into your online savings account and take money out, things you never thought of happened. This online account was not as wonderful as it seemed.

For one, there was no customer service when you had a question. If there was a toll free number listed on the website, it was shown way down at the bottom of the page, as if this online bank were trying to hide it from you. That sent you a bad message to begin with.

When you dialed the number there was only an automated menu and maybe a number to hit to get to a real live human being. If a choice was given for person to person service, it was the last choice on the menu and most of the time an automated voice told you there was a fifteen minute wait or the system was overloaded and asked you to call back. When a voice did pick up on the other end, they couldn’t access your account without a pin number that you lost a long time ago.

You had checks to deposit other then payroll checks. There were days when you wondered what happened to the check that you mailed in for deposit into your online savings account. Why was it taking so long to clear? The FAQ’s section on the online bank’s website did mention that checks had to be received in a mail room, processed, deposited into your account and then it took a day if deposited before two in the afternoon for money to be cleared through the Federal Reserve Clearing House. Who was getting the interest on that money while you waited to see if it showed up on your online statement?

Sometimes, you needed to pull money out of your savings account and you were set up with a checking account that also worked online. But once again, the high-yield online savings account reviews took another two to three days to make the transfer from your savings account to your checking account. In the meantime, your mother had advanced you the money until you had access. This was not good every time an emergency arose.

One day your PC pulled the online savings account website up, and the biggest problem of all occurred. The screen told you that the webpage could not be accessed and one of the reasons noted was that the site was having technical difficulties and was down. There was no mention of when it would come back up.It appeared that getting your hands on your money was not so easy at times.

This online bank was sure saving a lot of money by not having a real office with real people. And the extra point or two in interest amounted to very little because you weren’t Donald Trump and your account was not earning interest on a whole lot of money to begin with. Then there was the time the realtor would only take a cashier’s check. How were you supposed to get a cashier’s check delivered into your dining room over the Internet? Bill Gates hadn’t figured that out yet.

Everyday the three big problems seemed to outweigh the advantages. You missed those oak doors and those people with papers and pens, didn’t you?

Well, if not, then check out my article about finding the best online savings account. =p

Related posts:

1. Where to Find the Best CD Rates
2. Personal Finance: Don’t Be So Defensive
3. Personal Development Articles

While you’re waiting for those awarded and guaranteed funds to reach you or your chosen institution of higher learning, there is another temporary source of funding at your reach. Colleges and universities have limited funds available. The short-term loan.

Short term student loans are available to assist when money is tight and you might need a little financial assistance until your other funding resources are available.

The Short Term Student loan is available to any college student who needs assistance to pay for their tuition, books, supplies and or other educational related expenses.

Items that Qualify as Educational Expenses

There are no many restrictions as to what students can use their loan to pay for. Students can determine their immediate needs and use the loan accordingly. Quite frankly almost anything the loan is used to pay may be justified as a college related expense.

For instance, during the cold weather, if getting to school is based on the purchase of a new coat, students may justify purchasing a coat as a college related expense.

Most students use the short term student loan to pay for computers, books, calculators, journals, supplies, magazine subscriptions, clothing, or even some have been known to use the student loan as a down payment on a car.

Some students use the short term student loan to pay for necessary living expenses incurred. Successfully passing college courses takes concentration, time and a lot of studying. Students who have to work to provide for their living expenses generally find themselves not doing as well as they like. Some students seek the short term student loan to assist in room and board.

Some students will delay purchasing anything extravagant until they have completed college. Being that education is paramount to a happy successful life, some students realize the delay in pleasure is well worth the long lasting joy to be experienced later.

Items that will not qualify as Educational Expenses

Quite frankly almost any reasonable purchase while in college can be justified as an educational expense. However, there are some exceptions to this logic.

Purchasing illegal drugs will not qualify as an educational expense. In fact, if discovered the funds have been used for illegal purposes could land you in serious legal trouble for life.

Items such as porno magazines, liquor, beer, cigarettes, etc. are not and will not be accepted under any conditions as educational expenses.

Extravagant clothing purchases cannot be justified as educational expenses. Students have been known to wear one pair of jeans and change their shirts to keep expenses at a minimal while in school.
An iPod would not be considered an educational expense.

If the purchase is reasonable, explaining the need to further your education can be warranted. However, remember, items of a questionable nation should be avoided at all cost if financial aid funds are to be used.

Related posts:

1. Don’t Go Into Debt for College
2. Rethinking College, a Series of Articles
3. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich

Go. Read. Subscribe. It has little content now, but that’s only to be expected. If you have any ideas for topics, feel free to let me know!

Related posts:

1. Get This Wordpress Theme — Free!
2. Personal Development Articles

“[M]an, who has no automatic values, has no automatic sense of self-esteem and must earn it by shaping his soul in the image of his moral ideal.”
-Ayn Rand

Depression is on the rise. Self-worth is on its way out. Over 15% of people in developed countries are clinically depressed. People lack confidence in a manner that is simply shocking. We’re in the middle of a psychological crisis.

The Self-Esteem Crisis

So what’s the cause of this? Why are people so down about themselves? Here are some theories (that I disagree with) that are incredibly popular but fall short of the truth of the matter:

• It’s Just a Disease. While doing research for for the topic, I was alarmed to discover that low self-esteem is considered a disease. Coping.com argues that “Low self-esteem meets the criteria for an illness or disease.” Their reasoning was that low self-esteem wasn’t controllable, is “contagious” and often leads to death. At least they got the last part right.

• Not Enough Acceptance. One of the best “wrong” answers for the cause of low self-esteem is the lack of acceptance. If others don’t love you, your own understanding of self-worth goes down. This is true, in a sense, but it’s wrong-headed in its nature.

• Negative Thoughts. This is, by far, the biggest argument you can find in the self-improvement blogosphere. Negative thoughts are seen as the cause of all negative actions, negative consequences and negative facts. If you want more self-esteem, just think happy thoughts — your problems will be solved.

• It’s Uncaused. By far the most bizarre, millions believe that self-esteem isn’t caused. It’s just a simple choice that people make. “Hold your head up,” they say, thinking that the self-esteem crisis is just randomly caused, without any external cause.

So are these the causes of low self-esteem? Is it a disease, or is it caused by not being accepted, or negative thoughts? Or is it just self-induced by brute choice? Not a chance. Each of these “causes” are simply wrong.

The Flaws of The So-Called “Causes”

• The “Disease” Myth: This is just a play on words. It’s still “curable” by self-determination, and it’s not spread by germs. By giving it scary labels like “disease” we do nothing but encourage it, implying that there’s nothing one can do to boost one’s self-esteem. “It’s not your fault” is no way to handle personal development; honesty and responsibility are.

• The “Acceptance” Myth: In my experience, those who are literally spoiled with love end up with the least amount of self-esteem. Being loved doesn’t mean that you will love yourself. That’s just a “feel-good” logical leap.

• The “Negative” Myth: Thinking positive thoughts simply masks the underlying problem: viewing oneself to be negative on some level. One can’t force happiness, one must create happiness. Telling a slave to just “think happy thoughts” is no way to let him taste freedom. To be free you must break your chains.

• The “Uncause” Myth: Of course low self-esteem is caused by the person feeling it. The only question is … what caused them to view themselves in that light? Once again, this is a superficial view of a deep-rooted psychological flaw.

Unfortunately for millions of people, the above answers are simply wrong. To understand the real heart of low self-esteem, we have to shoot back to the basics. Why do people even function? Why do we live the way we do? Why do we make any decisions?

It’s All About Values

One of the things you’ll hear me say over and over here is that everyone acts to achieve their values. In other words, you do something because you want to achieve some lofty idea…period. You watch TV because you value entertainment/news/weather. You go to the gym because you value exercise. You buy ice cream because, well, you like ice cream. You vote because you have some sort of political or social values. It’s impossible to not make a decision without trying to achieve some sort of value.

Believe it or not, that’s a type of mini-philosophy. You have a goal, a system of thought and you work to make decisions to achieve that goal. That’s a philosophy, and everyone has one. Human beings simply aren’t equipped to function without some sort of philosophical compass. It’s just impossible.

Self Esteem and Self Value

If everyone was honest, they would admit that they hate some ideas or -heaven forbid!- some people. (Note: I’m using the word “hatred” very loosely here.) I won’t be discussing the ethics of hatred now, but talking about hate is ironically a great way to see what someone actually loves. Example: people hate cliches because they love originality. Though a bit obvious, looking at what we hate is an easy way of seeing what we love.

Low self-esteem is no different. It means that there is a lack of self-respect, a lack of self-confidence, and a lack of self-acceptance. There is a reason for this. Low self-esteem doesn’t just happen. Low self-esteem is not caused by germs. Low self-esteem is not necessarily because others don’t like us. Low self-esteem is not because we aren’t thinking happy thoughts. One’s lack of self-esteem shows what one values.

To understand the cause even more, think back to the concept we call “guilt.” Guilt is when we feel as though we have cheapened ourselves through an immoral action. It’s an automatic response to violating our own real value code. If you actually value honesty, lying will cause guilt.

In other words, we see ourselves through the lens of our values, just like we view everything else. We give ourselves self-value or “self-esteem” only on the basis to how well we achieve our own values. That’s just the way the human mind functions.

Self-esteem goes to a deep-yet-basic level. Low self-esteem simply means that one does not live up to one’s own standards. The standards might not even be conscious; the standards might be subconscious beliefs and codes that one has set for oneself without realizing.

How to Build Self-Esteem

There is no “happy” or easy solution to solving low self-esteem on any real level. It takes work, guts, responsibility and rationality. Rather than being “content” with who you are, you must either lower your values or live up to them. Lowering one’s values is outrageously difficult — “completely” lowering them might be impossible.

Boosting self esteem requires that you use reason to recognize if your values contradict. Do you value selfishness and selflessness at the same time? Do you want to have more … and want be content with less? Do you value honesty, but also social acceptance — to the level that you’d willingly “alter” your personality to please others?

Any of these conflicts, plus a myriad of others, leads to a value code that isn’t achieved. Whether you consciously realize the conflict or not, your subconscious mind knows that something is amiss. Your self-analysis will be honest on at least some level, destroying your internal dignity and lowering your self-esteem.

Who are you? What ideas do you think you represent? What kind of life do you want to live? If you couldn’t fail, what would you try? Go out and be that person. Life is all about achieving your life purpose. Your life purpose — the fundamental value(s) that you live for — is the most important thing you can ever know and achieve.

You can’t build legitimate self-esteem by pepping yourself up. You can’t build legitimate self-esteem by pretending that things are better than they are (out-of-control optimism). To have a “deep fix,” just read the tips below.

6 Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem

The following methods for boosting self-esteem are written for someone struggling with self-esteem. Don’t take offense — they are given with tough love. I value those who suffer from low self-esteem far too much to give them an answer that will only make them feel better for a few minutes. Your goal shouldn’t be to stop hating yourself; your goal should be for your to be your own hero. Heroic living is too sacred to leave to storybooks.

• Have value-integrity. Stop caring what others think. This takes practice and will probably be the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Train yourself to become a type of social-Buddhist, detaching your own self-esteem to the whim of others. This is the first, hardest step to achieving self-pride.

• Accept responsibility. This is, on some level, your fault. It is painful to accept, but it’s true. Recognize that you and only you are responsible for your own self-perspective. How you view yourself is how you view yourself.

• Seek the truth at all costs. Reality is a brutal, tough yet concrete place. It exists, regardless of how we feel about its existence. This means that to accomplish any great thing, you must understand how reality functions. Make sure you look for the truth — even if it hurts. This is the first step to all self-improvement.

• Don’t abandon your mind. The only way to understand the truth is through reason. Make sure your values don’t contradict. Make sure your actions don’t contradict. When you start looking for contradictions, you’ll find them. Ask an honest friend what your biggest hypocrisy/flaws are. Rationally consider them, and make the right choice.

• Live up to your values. The fundamental principle for viewing yourself as valuable is to live up to your values. Discover what you believe a human being should be like, then become that human being. Achieving what you value is the only way to a guaranteed rationally high level of self-esteem.

• Do something almost impossible. The long-term satisfaction of doing something few people can do is outrageously powerful. It’s a rational sense of pride; one that can’t be shaken for years. Find some sort of competition or skill that you can master — then master it. This might take years, but it’s worth it.

Last Thoughts

Remember that there is no “easy” answer or “quick fix.” Like most things worth doing, it takes time and an outrageously huge amount of work. But it’s worth it. Rationally analyze yourself, your values and how you can achieve them. Now achieve them.

What are some other tips for beating low self-esteem? Have you had any experience with it?

Related posts:

1. Reason 101
2. The Pursuit of Happiness
3. The Meaning of Life

During such an emotional time, it’s easy for us to lose our minds. That’s the worst thing you can do. When it comes to money, your best bet is to rely on your mind through reason and rationality. Using fear in this situation will do nothing but force you along a path of seeing your fears realized — losing your shirt.

And most importantly, don’t dump the money out of your investments because they took a dip. Don’t even do it if you think we’re about to see a 5-10 year “depression” — read below for the reasons.

Look Who’s Buying

Warren Buffet just came out and bought a 5 billion dollar stake in the financial firm Goldman Sachs. That’s five billion dollars he spent buying into the system that other are scrambling to leave.

His investing philosophy is nothing but the most basic, common sense: buy low. Buy a deal. When you see a deal, buy it. If it doesn’t surge in within 12 months, it will within 24. Just make sure you’re buying into a good company that will weather the storm, and you’re good to go.

Unfortunately, most people are completely ignoring what the money mogul is doing, and are just acting on the hype of the media. Whatever you do, remember: the media’s income SOARS during financial rough times. They eat crisis for breakfast. They love it when we become frightened and are glued to the TV sets. There’s a reason they’re encouraging pandemonium.

But to the point: if Buffet is doing it, that’s at least a little evidence that there’s some justification for it rooted in long-forgotten common sense. Of course, you shouldn’t blindly follow Buffet, as brilliant as he might be. The actual justification is found below.

Selling Now Messes Everything Up

If you sell now, you’re guaranteeing that you lose money. That’s a promise. If Wall Street recovers, you’ll know how to make money online. Actually, no you won’t. But pulling out now means you can’t make money with the crisis — it makes your losses concrete and unavoidable. This means you are giving yourself a 100% guarantee that you’ve lost during the crisis. That’s not a guarantee anyone can afford.

And your actions won’t just impact you. No, there’s even more of an impact: the economy gets weaker.

The market gets weaker the more people focus on selling as opposed to buying. Demand drops. Prices drop even more. Value plummets. It’s the old bank-scare — fear literally carves it’s deathly way through the finances of an entire institution, or, in this situation, the nation.

On the other hand, the cheap stocks can help you — but not if you are the one making them cheap. Read below for the why factor.

Don’t Let Current Value Matter

Remember, current value of your stocks don’t matter unless you’re a day trader. Do you buy and sell every day? Are you focusing purely on the short-game? If you’re looking for money in the long-haul, then bailing yourself out now is the worst thing you can possibly do.

Remember, the value of your stocks ONLY impacts your lifestyle when you sell them or when you receive money from them. That’s it. Period. For example:

John buys $10,000 in stocks in Potatoes Inc on a Monday. On Tuesday, the stock market takes a 30% dip. John looks concerned. Five years later, though, the economy is fine, and John finally cashes his stocks in. He had to wait 5 years. But, he didn’t lose his $3,000 that he would have if he’d jumped ship.

Also, he had no negative impacts at all. It was like nothing happened in terms of his lifestyle. Why? Because the value of those stocks didn’t matter when they were low, because he agreed to not sell out of fear. They didn’t matter because he decided to wait — even if it would be a few years. John refused to allow fear to cheat him out of his retirement.

Values WILL Come Back

Wall Street will recover. It might take a year, it might take two — it might even take a decade. If Civilization doesn’t collapse back into Stone Age 2, then Wall Street WILL come back. This means that, if you diversified, you should be just fine. You just have to wait. Patience is a virtue.

During the Great Depression, some people got rich. Read that again — the history books never mention this. Some saw that stock values collapsed, so they took their money from elsewhere, picked companies that would come back after the depression, and put their money in them. They became filthy rich. And you can do the exact same thing.

Want to see a real-life example? We’ve already talked about it — Warren Buffet is going to make billions upon billions because people are scared stiff. Buffet is going back to the basic, basic principle that we’ve heard over, and over and over:

Buy Low.
Sell High.

Settling for anything less will destroy your finances, weaken the economy and help nothing. Don’t abandon your mind during financial hard times. Instead, focus on expanding.

So buy Stocks. They’re cheap. Don’t let fear control your finances.

Related posts:

1. Most Don’t Need a College Degree
2. Save Money or Make Money?
3. Where to Find the Best CD Rates

Go to college. Get a “career.” Work an arbitrary 8 hours per day. Work 50+ years. Retire and die.

I wasn’t thrilled. Just because the rest of society was doing it didn’t mean I should. If anything, that everyone else was doing it was just another reason to do it differently.

The fundamental question “What am I going to do with my life” is unavoidable, especially for someone who hasn’t yet found the answer. Post-graduation drama? Midlife crisis? Both are caused by a lifestyle not yet lived in terms of the individual’s basic need: to fulfill his purpose.

What is a “Life Purpose?”

A life purpose, is the fundamental “value” or “goal” that you should satisfy during your time on earth.

A life purpose isn’t just a goal, and it isn’t just a responsibility. Your life purpose is the fundamental reason you want to wake up in the morning — it’s why you live. Discovering or creating a specific life purpose isn’t easy, and some simply never figure it out. But they should — purpose is the staple of living life.

The Need for Purpose

The depression epidemic is a tragedy. Over 15% of people in developed countries are clinically depressed. That means that local churches, schools, and businesses are filled with people who have an extremely low sense of happiness or satisfaction. In contrast to the availability of food, housing, media and technology, this is simply unacceptable. Depression shouldn’t exist in a society that has it “easy.”

To understand the cause of depression we must first understand the cause of happiness.

Happiness is an internal consequence of both internal and external causes. In other words, happiness “happens” on the inside you, not the outside. Because of this, one of the most fundamental causes of happiness must be internal; the primary cause of depression is internal, such as a basic value (purpose) not being quenched.

Remember, everyone acts to achieve his values, regardless of what the values might be. It was Epictetus who said, “In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.” Everyone has a philosophy, or worldview — no exceptions. This is why a fundamental value must be present — a life purpose.

The philosopher Ayn Rand explained the concept well:

“A central purpose serves to integrate all the other concerns of a man’s life. It establishes the hierarchy, the relative importance, of his values, it saves him from pointless inner conflicts, it permits him to enjoy life on a wide scale and to carry that enjoyment into any area open to his mind; whereas a man without a purpose is lost in chaos. He does not know what his values are. He does not know how to judge. He cannot tell what is or is not important to him, and, therefore, he drifts helplessly at the mercy of any chance stimulus or any whim of the moment. He can enjoy nothing. He spends his life searching for some value which he will never find . . .”

The leading fundamental cause of depression is the lack of a personal life purpose. Casually ask someone you meet on the street what their life purpose is and you’ll typically just get a blank stare.

The fundamental foundation of every action is our value code; we take action for a reason. If we have more than one value, we must have a fundamental set of basic values to compare all of the others against. For example, if I’m driving to a meeting and am going to barely make it on time, I shouldn’t pull into McDonald’s for a snack — my “Driving purpose” is the meeting, so it trumps the munchies.

The same is true for life. Your life purpose is your fundamental value that demands to be satisfied. What’s your fundamental series of values? What should they be? What should they not be?

Don’t Make This Mistake

One of the biggest mistakes one can make is to think that “purpose” is the exact same as “goal.” Goals are extremely specific events you want to occur, not concept values you want to achieve. For example, “I want to make a million dollars” is a big goal; “I want to eat lunch at Burger King” is a small goal. Obviously, neither are complete life purposes.

Ironically, if you tie your life purpose to a specific event-oriented goal, you are setting yourself up for a fall. For example, if your goal in life is to win a specific competition, then you’ll find purpose until you actually win the one competition. But once you win, you’re left in a self-caused value vacuum. Your value was achieved — now what? The same idea is true for life purposes like “make a million dollars,” or “travel to Europe.”

Instead of tying yourself down and restricting your life purpose to a single goal, focus on an entire lifestyle purpose. For example, rather than having your goal “to do” something, make it “to be” something.

Don’t make your life purpose to make million dollars; make your life purpose to be a millionaire. Don’t make your life purpose to travel to Ireland; make your life purpose to be a traveler. The difference seems minute when written out, but the actual impact is huge.

How to Find Your Life Purpose

For years, I expected to become a lawyer; I was expected by others to become a lawyer. I was interested in ideas, politics and analysis. I won local, state and national tournaments in formal debate. It was simply assumed that because I would be good at something then that’s what I should do with my entire short life.

The moment I realized that I wasn’t cut out for a job working for a firm, and didn’t want to put in long hours on someone else’s schedule, but wanted to write, travel and always maintain 2-3 college courses; I knew that something drastic had to change.

I finally decided to simply ignore conventional wisdom. Instead of just doing what was expected, I would only do what it took to achieve the greatest amount of happiness and would quench my basic values.

I slowly unearthed my purpose by going on two-hour long walks and rationally breaking down everything I knew about myself. I day-dreamed about the perfect lifestyle — then determined to achieve it. In my mental Utopia, I was an author, and wrote about life itself. I had a web-based job so travel was possible. I worked several hours per day, leaving more than enough time for college.

Honestly imagine the perfect life doing what you want to do. Now go out and achieve it. As Epictetus said, “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” After determining the perfect life, I made steps to achieve it. I have no doubt I will, because success is a choice.

Last Thoughts

Life’s too short to waste on anything short of greatness. Figure out what the perfect lifestyle is. Figure out what makes you tick. Figure out perfection. Now go out and get it.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding your life purpose. I’ll be writing more and more instructions for living purposefully; if you haven’t subscribed, make sure you do — you won’t want to miss the free guides.

Also, stay tuned for the next article in the Personal Development 101 series: understanding the need for a passion — an ultimate source of energy that will lead you to success, though the road is long.

Related posts:

1. The Meaning of Life
2. The Pursuit of Happiness

Not everyone felt that way, of course. Whenever a topic was brought up about some social ill — terrorism, war, crime or foolish laws — the girl on the left of me would always exclaim, “I just don’t get people! Why do people act that way! Ugh — people make no sense!”

Looking back, she was dead right.

Personal Development 101: Using Reason

This article is a bit controversial but is simply essential to any real amount of personal development.

We must use reason to consistently make right choices. The most important fundamental principle of smart personal development is the foundation of reason. If we abandon our minds, our choices become random and arbitrary. The consequences to our life, then, become almost like a game of chance without reason.

With reason, we are able to more adequately understand the Universe, what’s really happening around us, and how to maximize every situation to avoid unnecessary conflicts, harming others, and achieving our own values.

This is simply an introductory post on the topic of thinking reasonably, and will focus on the general collective evidence in support of a reasonable way of thinking. In future articles I’ll explain more connections in terms of emotional, relationship and financial success. But for now, let’s take a walk through history.

What is Reason?

“Reason” simply means honest, conscious and coherent analysis. Logic is only one part of reason. For example, a decision is reasonable if it is a logical conclusion founded on:

• Knowledge. All available information must be used. If one knows that milkshakes have over 1100 calories, it would be unreasonable to drink two every day while trying to lose weight. Utilizing known facts is essential to reasonable thinking. Using reason is, in its crudest form, simply piecing together information to concoct a coherent theory.

• Honesty. Denial on any level is the enemy of reasonable thinking. If one tries to “pick and choose” which facts to acknowledge, then there’s no point in reasoning — reasoning stops being a path towards objective truth and becomes a tool towards whimsical bias. Reality exists in a concrete state whether we like it or not; we might as well make the best of it.

• Integrity. Reason doesn’t fluctuate because of political correctness. If something makes sense, then it makes sense regardless of its popularity. Reasonable thinkers “stick to their guns” when they know their position makes sense and is true — otherwise, the point of reason is completely lost.

• Independence. Reason can’t be carried out by another person, but is an internal analysis. Trusting someone else can make sense at times when they have more available information (doctors, lawyers, etc), but not for everyday living or for achieving one’s personal goals. It’s not reasonable to blindly trust another’s judgment, given the necessary elements of integrity and knowledge. Plus, how does one determine who to listen to?

• Coherency. The basic function of reason is the organization of information so that you can understand what the truth is. The reason we call this “coherency” is because of the primary test to see if your thoughts are correct: are there contradictions? A single contradiction, no matter how small, proves that the argument is flawed and needs to be fixed, because the laws that govern the Universe don’t contradict.

Reason is the crux of personal development, healthy individuals, a healthy society and success on any significant level. The abandonment of “common sense” is the leading cause of nearly all social and personal problems. In direct contrast, a life founded on reason leads to a coherent lifestyle, emotional stability, trust, healthy relationships, happiness and creation.

Intellectual “Humility”

Reason is primarily concerned with understanding reality, and supposes that reality exists outside of our minds. There are two basic positions when it comes to how we view reality:

• Reality is Concrete. If you jump from a plane you’d better have a parachute, regardless of how you “feel” or believe about the ground below. Reality won’t stop functioning the way it does because of your mind. Reality exists, regardless if you do; if you die, reality will continue. For an example of a rationalist, look to the scientists of society.

• Reality is Relative. You can change reality if you have a positive outlook (Positive Thinking), or if you wish something is true something really hard and often (the Law of Attraction). For extreme examples of people who place beliefs over reality, think of the parents who refuse to allow their children to see doctors even when they are terminally ill. Our beliefs have consequences, and sometimes those consequences are extreme.

Reasonable living supposes that we are not gods, and that reality won’t fluctuate depending on our moods, our religions, or our beliefs. Reason argues we should change our beliefs and feelings in line with reality, because reality certainly won’t change for us.

This isn’t to say that our outlook isn’t important. Stay tuned for new articles coming soon about a rational approach to the Law of Attraction and Positive Thinking. Both can certainly be helpful for achieving one’s goals — if understood correctly.

The Role of Emotion

Unfortunately, one of the most common myths of reason is that somehow one must never feel emotion if one is to be reasonable or logical. This is simply not true. Reason is how we know something is true — it doesn’t mean that we don’t feel anything. It’s very possible to rationally analyze a situation and to feel extremely passionate as well. We can certainly feel emotion while reasoning; we must accept that emotion should not be the means to the conclusion, but a consequence of the conclusion.

Along those lines, some of the most emotionally powerful instances of my life were those that were founded upon reasoning. Several years ago, when I was still piecing together my thoughts on personal development, I reached a powerful milestone; I was finally comfortable with doing something out of self-interest. Before this one moment, I would feel guilty whenever I enjoyed any activity.

Once I made the emotionally agonizing decision that making an action out of self-interest was justified, I decided to do something extremely small to prove to myself that I truly believed it. I decided to spend an entire evening simply enjoying myself with trivial amusements. I bought an iced coffee, a pizza and watched a “fun” movie alone. Though for most this would have been a silly way to live “selfishly,” it was an incredibly huge step for me in my journey of development.

It was one of the most emotionally powerful experiences I have had. It wasn’t powerful because I was living irrationally; it was powerful because I had decided to consciously and rationally alter my value code and live up to it. Emotion and reason, both in their proper place, are a powerful combo for a life well lived.

Case Study: Scientific Advances

The most important advances of the last century are the scientific achievements. The life expectancy has sky-rocketed in Western society, and great leaps are being made to find the cure for aids and the cure for cancer. It’s only a question of time before we unlock the weaknesses of both of those diseases, maintaining an even higher life expectancy.

Even beyond the basic need of survival, science has vastly increased the comfort level with widespread entertainment through Television, movies, radio, music and the Internet. Science is completely founded upon reason.

If not for knowledge, medicines could never be invented or cured. If not for honesty, we’d still think the earth is flat. If not for integrity, pain killers wouldn’t exist (pain killers were thought to be evil by many fundamentalists at the time of their invention). If not for independence, we’d see the complete collapse of all scientific endeavors.

Instead, through an appeal to rationality and comprehensive analysis, we see success. There’s a reason for it: emotions don’t help us determine what is true. Science gets results because science understands the system of reality. Science and reason are essentially of the same concept — coherently and honestly organizing information.

Oddly enough, millions see science as essential to the advancement of civilization, but see personal reason in a completely different light. It’s absurd to suppose that the same source of the advancements of civilization can’t also be a source for personal advancement.

If you want to lose weight, you look primarily for a scientific method for doing so. Scientific methods simply include acknowledging how the body operates. For example, focusing on intaking less calories through dieting, or on burning more calories through exercise; both are scientific means to losing weight, and are almost certain ways to do so.

A Society that Rejects Reason

The Age of Enlightenment is one of the most crucial turning points in the history of mankind. Throughout the 1700s, a philosophical revolution took place in the minds of millions. Dumping a blind faith in organized religion (such as the Roman Catholic church), the people turned towards reason and critical analysis.

It was upon this philosophical foundation that Western civilization came to see great advances in science, business and economy. Life is good when people think. The industrial revolution, consumer choice and an outrageously increased standard of living were the direct consequences of the philosophy based on rationality.

Since that time society has abandoned the concept that rational beliefs are the only beliefs worth having, and has moved into a more “Postmodern” society, where reality is now seen as flexible, truth as non-absolute and rationality as “cold” and unnecessarily crude. And there are consequences.

We are told “love isn’t rational”; divorce rates escalate.

We are told “morality is flexible”; kids kill kids.

We are told “happiness is an emotion”; depression stats explode.

We are told to trust our emotions first, as though we are internally created with an obvious sense of right and wrong — even though society has nearly an infinite ideas as far as what this even means, with dozens of religions, hundreds of sects and millions of people caught up in the intellectual-emotional war. Each of the thousands of “sides” simply tries to scream the loudest, claiming to appeal to basic emotions.

We’re seeing the consequences of abandoning reason. One of the “givens” of society is that “not everything makes sense,” giving an excuse for purely emotional decision making. Without a concrete reason (hence the term “reasoning”) for our actions or beliefs, we become whimsical sheep. Instead of following or concocting beliefs out of thin air, regardless of how “cold” it feels, we must come to terms with a need for rationality and reasoning.

What Next?

As I said before, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding rationality. I’ll be writing more and more instructions for living reasonably; if you haven’t subscribed, make sure you do — you won’t want to miss the free guides.

Also, stay tuned for the next article in the Personal Development 101 series: understanding the need for a purpose in life — an ultimate goal that will take pain, work and years to achieve.

Related posts:

1. How to Kill Low Self-Esteem
2. The Creator Personality
3. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich

Over the next week, I’ll be writing a series of three articles on the extreme fundamentals of self-improvement. The three fundamentals lead to a successful and happy life regardless of your career choice or goals. The three pillars are Reason, Purpose and Pride.

• Reason – Learn to think clearly, honestly, independently and coherently. This is the foundation of understanding your life’s purpose, understanding how to achieve it, and knowing exactly how to make choices in any and every area of your life.

• Purpose – Without a purpose, there’s simply no point to any action. Every action has a purpose. Make sure your purposes are big enough for you to achieve. Don’t hold back and shoot small; our life span is too small to live small.

• Pride – The “ego” is often referred to in a negative manner, with pride seen as the great evil. Humility is supposed to be desired, whether deserved or not. This is simply flawed; if one has done something worth being proud of, then one should be proud of that action.

In the next five articles we’ll be taking culture head on, learning exactly what it takes to become a success, what it takes to achieve happiness and what it takes to become the individual of your dreams. If you haven’t already subscribed, make sure to — you won’t want to miss the articles!

No related posts.