Be Your Best Student

Think about all the relationships you have in your life: family, friends, professors, students, co-workers, bosses. You probably come into contact with a lot more people each week than you realize and, while you only have power over your own brain and your own actions, you can absolutely use your power to influence the relationships in your life. Most of us watch people and life pass us by as we sit on the sidelines and do our own thing, but how much more interesting is life when you become aware of how your actions affect how others view you and vice versa. Are there ways in which you are sabotaging yourself that you don’t even realize? Relationship sabotage happens for many reasons: laziness (mental laziness and physical laziness), lack of communication, fear of failure, fear of success, and so on. If you can pinpoint things in your life that prod you to sabotage relationships (fear, love) you are better able to manage your thoughts around them. And when you see a familiar bu...

Last week we talked about wrangling our chaotic brain who we often let run rampant through our lives like a spoiled, screaming toddler, and we’re going to revisit that a bit today. When we let our brains run the show without adult supervision (us being conscious of what it’s saying and controlling the narrative), we typically end up with a mangled sense of self: we imagine small problems or incidents to be life-changing encounters, we see ourselves as less-than, and/or we feel like we’re always on the losing team in life. This is no way to live – and this is a hard way to live! Letting your child-brain control your story is a miserable, chaotic life and letting it happen knowingly is definitely self-sabotage. Why would we do this – what sense does it make to believe these lies that only make you feel badly about yourself and your situation? Sometimes we just aren’t aware that our brain is telling stories, and in that case the only remedy is to start listening and pay attention ...

In our final installment of Leveling Up, we’re going to focus on your biggest critic, your worst enemy, and the entity we can control but instead we usually let it run the show: your own brain. Your own mind is the voice you hear every waking second of your life, and yet most of us do little if anything to try to rein that beast in to work for us. Instead, we let it run wild and free to create whatever chaos and destruction it likes – or really, just anything it likes at all! This is similar to letting a toddler run amok in your house all day simply because it’s easier than trying to gain control. Sound like a mess? Let’s grab that screaming, tantrum-throwing toddler (your brain) by the scruff of the neck and take control. How do you do that – just take control of your brain? First, we need to start listening to our brain. What is it saying or telling us all day long? Is it sending positive messages, negative messages, or a lovely incongruous mix of both? You can find out by takin...

Has anyone (your parents perhaps?) ever told you that the world doesn’t revolve around you? What your parents are/were probably trying to convey is that you need to pitch in and help around the house (or just clean up your room). If a friend has ever said this to you, they may have been trying to point out that you only do things you want to do (never doing anything anyone else wants to do) or that you’re not spending enough quality time with them. Both your parents and your friends, in this case, have valid points. But let’s take a look at the bigger picture: the world (your world) literally does revolve around you. You are the captain of your own ship, the director of your own movie, and the star of your own show. The choices you make, the way you choose to spend your resources (time, energy, money), and your attitudes about life drive your story – and only your story. You are the only person you can control so you need to use that authority to make your world into the world ...