Go for goals and stop setting ready resolutions fast forgotten…

A New Year, a new you? Scrap that. It’s not a new you. It’s still you, but maybe you want to present the best you or to improve you in some way? Nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you want.

But, we don’t want to forget you, because that would mean leaving behind everything that has made you what you are.

We’re not shedding our reptilian skins and having our memories erased; we’re building our insight, knowledge and skills to propel us on our path; wherever we decide that’s leading us.

Setting goals and not resolutions is where I’m at. I don’t want to buy into commercial direction that aims to lure me into the latest fad. I want to build my year and beyond as I see and define it.

That’s why I’m going for goals and not ready resolutions that are far too easy to casually throw away like fast fashion.

Here are #10GoGettingTopTips on how you can get what you want…

#1 Turn on the kettle and let the brewing commence: Set goals you can get to...

We’re not talking about brewing for your daily caffeine intake, but your thoughts and ideas. You want to think about setting goals and decide how you will reach them. What will that look like in real life? What steps do you need to take in order to get there?

Start by jotting down and brainstorming. Use processes like mind mapping and spider diagrams, which are a great way to see and create flow to your ideas. You don’t have to select everything on your list.

And you don’t even have to do all of those things right now. That’s the point of planning. But it’s a good way to get the juices flowing with ideas.

Not every thought is going to be your golden goal. But noting down everything you might like to achieve will allow you to offer clarity of mind and focus to where you’d truly like to head.

#2 Think sums. If it doesn’t add up, it won’t happen: Accountability…

Hold yourself accountable and set a timetable. Split your aims into digestible sections such as; days, months and quarters, to be achieved over the course of the year.

But, keep yourself accountable. Find a friend, fill them in on your plight. Involve your work team and share your updates with them. You’ll find they’ll be right behind you, cheering you on.

Whoever you choose as your accountability partner, you want to find someone that can be your verbal conscience to keep you heading in the right direction.

#3 Don’t be fake. Set it to be real: Visualisation…

It’s a powerful thing to visualise. If you can see it, you can be it. If you can visualise it, you can reach it. So, I actively urge you to have a vision board.

You can create an actual board with pictures and words that associate and align with your goals. Or you can design one by using online tools that you’ll likely already have sitting on your phones or laptops.

#4 Find your groove: Make it real with a tick list…

Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m a huge fan. You can create actual lists on bright post-its or lined paper, use highlighters, different coloured pens etc, or you can use note taking apps and the notes section on your phone.

However, you decide to play it, do it so you can place an actual tick beside your completed daily challenge, to-do item or obstacle. That way you can feel the satisfaction once it’s done. It’s seems minor, but trust me –– try it and you’ll realise, it isn’t.

#5 It’s good to be regular: Check back-in

Goals are one thing but achieving them is another. Set aside time to see where you’re at and if you’ve deviated off course how you can weave back to where you want to be.

If you’ve set accountability in place with a colleague, team member or even a friend; get them to check in with you too.

You’re not reliant on others to help you achieve, but a gentle nudge and a friendly face in your corner is a great boost.

#6 Stuff happens: Adjust where you need to

Life happens and sometimes our course is unintentionally altered. It’s unrealistic to assume the seas will be plain sailing and so try to filter in additional time to give you the opportunity to adjust if you need to.

Having to be flexible in times where life throws you a curveball doesn’t mean giving up on your goals, but it does mean you may need to plan around it.

Factoring this in from the off doesn’t impact you for the negative. What it does is to offer you a plan and a route should something unplanned happen.

#7 You don’t have to be a magician and keep the plates spinning: But you do want to keep spinning your motivation…

Staying motivated and staying on course can seem like you’re spinning the magician’s plates constantly. But it doesn’t have to be the case.

What keeps you motivated? What’s your magic sauce? Whatever, you need to keep you on course, do it. If it’s a break to catch up on your favourite Netflix box-set, then do it. If it’s a run to your favourite beauty spot, then do it. If it’s curling up with your book of the moment, then do it.

Motivation can be therapeutic and even energy gaining by doing things such as; talking it out with your partner, your best friend or the family pet. We all need a little motivation and if it’s keeping you on target, then don’t feel bad for doing whatever it is that works for you.

#8 It really is cool to communicate: Stay in-touch with your goals…

If it’s just you, set diary dates and use your accountability partner to check back in. If you’re a part of a team working towards goals, then set regular points to check in and see if you’re meeting the check points that you’ve set.

Use a diary, and even your phone diary to sync it to your laptop, your computer and even your tablet; so that you can see your goals and when you want to achieve them by.

Set reminders so they pop up and you can’t ignore them. Leave notes and even positive affirmations for yourself.

The journey is much easier if you challenge yourself but at the same time are kind to yourself too.

#9 There’s no one size fits all approach: Set small steps and mini milestones, as well a lightning leaps…

Set a collection of goals that are workable, doable and that are a mixture of those small steps and those lightning leaps. Not every goal has to be big or even business related. It can feel vulnerable to put yourself out there when there is that feeling that you might fail. But if you don’t try and you don’t plan towards it, you’ll never know.

Don’t let your good ideas be only that. Bring them to life by making them happen. You’re are the captain of your own ship. The destination course is yours.

#10 Find your get up and go. There’s no time like the present is there? Ready steady and set your goals…

There’s no time like the present. Get setting. You’ll likely already have ideas on where you want to be this year. Maybe even some that have been on the back-burner. Why wait? Put together your actionable goals that you know you want and can do this year.

Take that leap today and create positive habits that form a part of your year’s goals. Most importantly don’t forget to celebrate them once you’ve reached them. I know I’m much better with a purpose attached to what I’m doing and so goals really work for me.

It’s not always easy to be motivated and we don’t always feel like it. But your mindset, your resilience and your determination are huge driving forces, that are within your control.

So, what are you doing to shape your time today?

What are your #10GoGettingTopTips?

I’m no superhero, who is. None of us actually wear capes. Unless of course you’re superman or superwoman –– obviously. But you don’t have to be a superhero to achieve and excel in life. Honestly, it’s true. Remember you decide what success looks like, by putting that into a plan you offer yourself the best chance of seeing your goals become your achievements.

What would be your #10GoGettingTopTips? Could you share them with others so they can benefit from your wisdom too?

It’s worth noting that not all goals have to be business related. They could be life goals too. But remember a goal only becomes a reality it you plan and act upon it.

Don’t let the latest fad ready resolutions fast forgotten become you: be goal getting instead…

Here’s to the year you yearn for….

Do you need the ‘know how’ on how to write for your business? Fun fact…not only do I offer writing services and packages, but I can also consult with you on how to be your own content writer and show you how to write what you need for your business too.

Why not email me at ambersmith@simplyamberlou.com, and connect with me on LinkedIn @Amber L Smith plus visit me at my website: simplyamberlou.wordpress.com..

Hey you! Go get your goals. Whilst you’re thinking about it why not get in touch and tell me what tips you would add to my #Top10TipList above?….

First published on Thrive Global on 7th January 2020

Make them turn their heads and write as you talk and talk to your audience, because that’s how you truly speak to and engage your reader…

Uh huh… yep you heard it, write as you talk has fast become my LinkedIn hashtag now because I believe that when you write as you speak you’re talking in a more real, relatable and understood tone. Of course, not forgetting to consider the audience you’re speaking to.

Creating written content that sounds as if you’re talking in person allows for your audience to almost hear your voice. Perhaps they even do. They feel as if they’re hearing the real you and can reach you even if they can’t see you.

Because, being real with your audience is a barrier broken if they feel that they can connect with you. Understanding your audience is a gateway for you to harness and for you to truly get to know their pain points and to show how you can solve it.

But it’s also because writing as you talk is in being human. Which sounds more than logical really. It’s writing with personality and not being afraid to show a little more you through what you can do for your audience.

What makes you stand out above the rest? It’s a no-brainer….you do….

You’re trying to beat the scroll, but let’s be real…

In an ever evolving and fast paced technological world there is a lot of demand vying for our attention. It can seem as if we scroll and type comments more than we speak these days. It then becomes harder for customers to see what’s real and what isn’t.

To put it into some sort of context, according to a report from RescueTime reported in the Guardian, the top 20% of phone users spend on average 4.5 hours daily on their phones.

We can all likely agree that it’s quite a bit of phone time and undoubtedly a fair amount is spent on social platforms. Trying to attract the attention of your audience has become a tricky beast as the sea of content has grown in tidal wave proportions.

But it doesn’t mean that you can’t gain attention. And it certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create content that aims to gain attention. In fact you positively should.

So, show them. Your audience that is. Show them who you’re, show them you can talk to them and write with them in mind. Listen to how your audience talks and engages, and use this language when you write your copy and content.

You can find your audience online in many social places, forums, chat rooms and even get into their thinking patterns through surveys and questionnaires.

Show them that your voice is the one they can talk to and interact with. Be the expert that can knowledgeably offer the answer they crave, to the problems they face.

Being that voice is in getting into the headspace of your reader and in understanding who they are and how you can create content for them.

Clear your throat and let’s shout it from the roof tops…

In every piece of content you produce from your website copy through to your social media copy, it should all align to your voice. You want your voice to be in sync with your overall message and ethos but to be crystal clear about who you’re as a brand and business; you want it to radiate through all that you do and to become instantly recognisable to your audience.

The more your audience sees you the more they hear you. Be the voice they remember and the one they go to when they need to resolve their problem.

You’re your special sauce: let’s show your personality…

Don’t be afraid to show you. Show the person behind the brand and business. Let people see what it means to you, what you stand for and what your aim as a company is. But also reverse it and let them see how that should matter to them.

Building up a profile of your audience helps to finely tune your content and your voice.

Can you answer questions about your reader? For example;

What do they like and dislike?
What do they do?
Why would they choose you over your competitor?
What makes you different?
How do you solve their pain better than someone else?

Our fingerprint isn’t the only thing that is unique to us, our personality is too. Let it shine and beam a bold light on all of the content that you build for your audience…

Don’t pack in words to make yourself sound more intelligent: just write for them…..

And by them I do mean your audience. Seeking their language through online comments, surveys, reviews etc. is a great way to observe the language that your ideal audience uses and to weave that into your own content.

Write as you talk, but always write with your reader in mind. Your reader is your target audience. See the person but also hear their voice when you create your content.

After all it’s their head that you’re wanting to get into and talk to…

Be the voice of absolute and put yourself in their shoes….

Sometimes odd things happen when we write. Yes we can add in words that we wouldn’t use in person or that our audience would even understand. Imagine yourself as your audience and imagine how they would think, talk and feel.

If they don’t use words such as, ‘obsequious,’ then don’t use it. Yet again if they do, then feed the language that most relates to them. Let them see themselves in your content. Let it be a mirror image of their thoughts and how they see themselves in your brand and business.

What do they want to hear? What do they want to read? How would a conversation go if you were chatting to them?

Just imagine it as if you’re having a real-life conversation and even read your content out loud to hear its flow. Anything that doesn’t fit you can easily then tweak and adjust.

Be social: in fact, be everywhere they are…

If you’re not online, make sure you’re online. Start with one platform and build your audience and community base from there. Being social is a great way to find and build your voice but also to see the voice of your customer too.

Be seen by your audience and create the approachable voice of authority in your field…

They are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: never underestimate your communities…

Building communities online can seem time consuming. They don’t have to be. But they’re worth their weight in gold. Not only are they a great support, but they can be your best advocate too.

You can build your voice, show your expertise and all of your interactions are helping your target audience find you and see who you’re.

An avid believer of conversational copy and getting inside the story that is happening inside the head of your audience; is guru and all round rock star Joanna Wiebe…

If you need more social proof that conversational copy is advantageous as it is logical, then check out Joanna Wiebe who offers some great insights on how to write with the voice of your customer in mind and shows how you can find real ways in which to do that. You can check out her Tuesday Tutorials and see her thoughts here.

Don’t forget the more you know, the more you see..

The more you can know about your ideal customer, the more you can see your content through their eyes. And the more they can see themselves through yours.

Write as you talk: as all good and lasting relationships start with a conversation…

Write as you talk and talk to your audience because that is truly, madly and absolutely the way to get the attention your content deserves and in keeping eyes on it.

You can easily revive your content to be the sun, the moon and stars by editing in fresh phrasing and bringing to life your copy by keeping front of mind–– to be conversational.

After all, all good and lasting relationships start with a conversation…

#WriteAsYouTalk

If you can’t bear to think about writing for your business and brand anymore or want advice on how to start –– let’s chat.

You can email me at: ambersmith@simplyamberlou.com, follow me on LinkedIn: Amber L Smith, Twitter: @simplyamberlou and Instagram: @simplyamberloucopywriting

Your thoughts and stories are the true inspiration to my posts. Share your ideas and opinions with me in the comments…

The Positive, Insatiable Driving Hunger Of Social Media –– And Why It Should Matter To You ……

It would be true to state in a matter of fact manner that social media can have a real impact and hold on us in our day to day lives. Not just personally but professionally too. Wouldn’t you say?

It would be fair to also say, that for some this can be a time-consuming cause which can then impact our focus and drive in our appetites for work; after we are done checking our profiles. Can’t it?

I thought it would make a great blog post to look at the insatiable hunger we have for social media; its positive impact within our businesses and brands, it’s beneficial use, how technology can help you plan for it, and when to book in a break for your well-being.

So, without further ado let’s break it down and take a closer look….

The insatiable driving hunger and force of social media within business: do you need it?…

It’s not about asking if social media will make you happier. Although there are some that may be quick to agree either way. But it’s about knowing how impactful its use can be for your business and brand.

Answering, do you need it professionally then the answer has to be –– yes. It has reach beyond your local borders. It has the ability to offer you impact, opportunity, and to build something with an audience you may not otherwise have known.

In an article released by Marketing Insider Group they go on to detail why social media marketing is important to you and your business, ‘It doesn’t matter if you run a small local shop or a big national company. Social media is an essential piece of your business marketing strategy.

Social platforms help you connect with your customers, increase awareness about your brand, and boost your leads and sales. With more than three billion people around the world using social media every month, it’s no passing trend.’

Social media is here to stay and if strategised correctly; aligning with your company values, goals, and direction: it can open up a great amount of opportunity and success for you as both a business and brand.

The positive impact of social media for business and branding: strategise…

Social media has the ability to connect people, to allow people to engage, to be social where otherwise perhaps they may not be. It offers us the opportunity within our businesses and brands to build an audience, to showcase our credibility and expertise. Social media can see businesses produce interesting insights and build weight in authority in their niche.

But, to cut through the noise it’s much better to strategise than to dabble. Dabbling is fun, but it wastes your time, effort and impact.

Interestingly, a survey carried out by sprout social that was emailed to me by Social Media Today brings to light that 77% of people that were surveyed would buy from a brand that they had followed online.

Fifty percent of marketers surveyed in the same report say that they find that engagement and inspirational style posts are the most effective with audiences. Which is a useful metric when you think of how to plan the structure and basis of your posts.

You can still address issues, create awareness and boost your business and brand, but with an approach that your audience doesn’t feel like it’s under attack with sales bombardment.

You’d much rather that your audience feels that they can get involved with you as a business and brand. And one that they want to interact with. If they understand what you’re all about, they can then choose to engage and follow your journey’s direction.

It’s worth setting aside time to plan a strategy not just for what you will put on social media but how often you will post, what you will say and what you want your posts to achieve. Make it work for you and your audience. But be honest with how much you can give to any given social platform.

Don’t swamp yourself if you can’t maintain the flow of expectation with social platforms. Seek advice if you have the budget to do so, and certainly do your research. Know when is best to post for your sector and what your audience likes and dislikes. Will you utilise paid ads alongside organic posts? Where is your audience coming from, where do they hang out?

Finding a strategy that works alongside your business and brand goals but that can equally be reflected in your social media presence is key. As is knowing and understanding your audience. As they are the ones you want to hold onto and attract overall.

You can still be social and plan for social media: use technology to plan ahead…

The clue is in the word. Social media is meant to be social, which can feel like a big statement when you are trying to think of it in terms of your business and brand. What does that mean and how can you apply that?

Well… try looking at it like this: when you write for social media, write as if you are having a conversation. Write knowing that your audience will respond to the language, the emotive intent, the message and the tone.

You want to be informative and insightful, but not pushy. You want to add authority and expertise and invite interaction. You don’t want to sound like you’re dictating. More trying to involve and relate. And you definitely don’t want it to sound like a sales pitch.

Looking at your social media plan from the perspective of your audience helps to keep a clear picture of how you can reach your reader and how you can grip their attention. You can then align this with your overall aims and objectives as a business and brand. But you also don’t want to be spending all day on each given platform. So, using technology to plan your schedule and times for your responses and engagement is logical and practical long-term.

You can plan your schedule and posts with online tools such as Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Loomly and Buffer etc. To help to get you started or as a part of your ongoing plan.

It’s worth also thinking about your response times too. Not only do you naturally want to place importance on what you are posting and when. But you also want to let your audience know that they are the focus of your clear intentions.

With this is mind it is prudent to schedule time for engaging with your intended audience. Respond to their social comments, their emails, their queries. Set aside purposeful time to do this. You don’t have to be hanging out online all the time.

Be mindful of your audience when considering your social media marketing. Using technology is a great tool at your fingertips to make for effective use of your time when you are short of it; especially when planning and strategising for your social media.

Knowing you and knowing when to take a break: your well-being…

Social media is an amazing tool and evolution of technology. It has a multitude of benefits and is a useful and necessary element to your business and brand marketing toolkit.

That being said, setting healthy boundaries for when you don’t need it, or for when you need a break is equally as beneficial. We all need time-out, to readdress our boundaries, our focus, our attention, to give us room to think. Much like when we book a holiday.

Be kind to yourself. You don’t have to go to sleep with your company page still open. You don’t have to wake up and even before you’ve had time for a coffee, to check your business social status.

You don’t have to cut it out, it is a fantastic tool to be used and harnessed. But setting parameters where you too can step away and regroup is advantageous to us all. It’s not reserved for the few. Time out is good for you. So, plan a break. Plan for regular breaks. Schedule your annual leave.

Your well-being is a thing. It’s not a taboo. Be mindful or your mind. Don’t buy into the hype. Social media for your business and brand is a strategy. It doesn’t have to dictate your life.

Like Looney Tunes always used to end with…. ‘That’s all folk’s’…

Conclusion and summary: be strategic with social media and decide on what you need as a brand and business…

At its core this article is addressing the insatiable hunger of social media, and its benefits;

Let’s get social: the sizeable impact to you as a business and brand…
It’s not boring: why planning and scheduling is crucial to satisfying your stomach rumbling social audience…
You’ll get square eyes (errrr… that’s a myth) but you don’t have to be glued to the screen all the time: use technology to schedule and plan for your social planning.
It can creep up on you in stealth mode: your mental health and social media can be linked to your well-being. Plan for time out away from social media for your balance of mind, but also to allow your mind to see its focus and purpose of plight with what you’re trying to achieve.

As Seth Godin in This Is Marketing says, ‘treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.’

Has this got you scratching or nodding your head?

Are you ahead of the curve and fully in flight with your social media planning and creating?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments or you can contact me directly below…

You don’t have to say goodbye…let’s keep the conversation going…

You can leave me a comment, or you can find me at; simplyamberlou.worpress.com and on LinkedIn: @Amber L Smith, plus you can send me an email at: ambersmith@simplyamberlou.com.

Who controls who? The hidden (or not so secret) natural bias of your brain…

Can we control it? Can we override it? Would we even want to? Are we even aware that we do it?

I’m referring to the cognitive and negative bias of our brains. Our brains are naturally wired to be more heavily impacted by any negative news than the positive. It’s just how it is. And our brains can also at times be struck by cognitive bias.

We have a general tendency to hold onto the bad over the good. We make decisions based on our cognitive and negative biases, but are we even understanding that we are harbouring these thought processes?

What does cognitive and negative bias even mean? And how then do these biases potentially influence us and should we do anything about it? Let’s delve in and see…

Surging electrical activity proves how heavily influenced our brains are…

Psychology today wrote an article which included a study by John Cacioppo, Ph.D, and he found that the brain, ‘reacts more strongly to stimuli it deems negative. There is a greater surge in electrical activity. Thus, our attitudes are more heavily influenced by downbeat news than good news.

Our capacity to weigh negative input so heavily most likely evolved for a good reason—to keep us out of harm’s way. From the dawn of human history, our very survival depended on our skill at dodging danger. The brain developed systems that would make it unavoidable for us not to notice danger and thus, hopefully, respond to it.’

So, you see we are naturally wired this way. Naturally wired to remember the negative over the positive. Even though our survival doesn’t rely on this distress signal in the same way it once would, it still instinctively defaults back to this programmed setting each time.

Which also goes so far as to influence our cognitive bias. Where our brains develop memory shortcuts, which it relies upon for situations when we need to make a decision rapidly.

Cognitive biases are often as a result of your brains attempt to simplify information processing…

According to verywellmind.com, ‘a cognitive bias is a type of error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them. The human brain is powerful but subject to limitations. Cognitive biases are often a result of your brain’s attempt to simplify information processing. They are rules of thumb that help you make sense of the world and reach decisions with relative speed.

When you are making judgments and decisions about the world around you, you like to think that you are objective, logical, and capable of taking in and evaluating all the information that is available to you. Unfortunately, these biases sometimes trip us up, leading to poor decisions and bad judgments.’

Whilst it’s thought that our cognitive bias can be incredibly accurate, it can also catch us out; even when we think that we are being objective and thinking in a practical manner. You see we create shortcuts in our minds which determine how we should respond, think and feel in a particular situation.

Also called heuristics, these biases are based upon things which have previously happened to us. For example, it could be from; social pressures, emotional and individual pressures, as well as our own limitations to process things, that can impact these biases.

It’s interesting stuff, right? These biases can also be incredibly useful to us when we need to think fast in varying situations. But they can also be the downfall to an open mind, and can potentially create health problems.

Too much negativity is actually bad for your health…

The University of Minesotahas discovered that negative feelings and attitudes over prolonged lengths of time can repress our immune system and impact our lifespan.

‘Negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can create chronic stress, which upsets the body’s hormone balance, depletes the brain chemicals required for happiness, and damages the immune system. Chronic stress can actually decrease our lifespan. (Science has now identified that stress shortens our telomeres, the “end caps” of our DNA strands, which causes us to age more quickly.)

Poorly managed or repressed anger (hostility) is also related to a slew of health conditions, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, and infection.’

It is possible to address our negative bias and to tweak our way of thinking. That’s not to say you won’t have a natural bias. You will. You can’t completely override the way that we are wired. But it is to say we can look at how we react and choose to go about our lives.

A positive mindset really does help more than you realise. You can build a mindset of growth and positivity over time. This creates a greater strength of emotional wellbeing and resilience. And it allows us to open our horizons to a wealth of possibilities.

So, when there isn’t a threat or fault in your immediate environment: What can you do to avoid negativity and cognitive bias?

Negativity and cognitive bias would have aided our ancestors in the past and it still has a use today. But generally speaking we are not under immediate threat in our day to day lives. Our brains will still always look to store the negative and bad over the good. We can readily recount things that have happened to us that might be sad, embarrassing, or not very pleasant.

But how easily can you recall a positive mental note or memory? Negativity and cognitive bias can be counter-productive to us, and so there are a few ways in which you can look to develop a more balanced approach in your mind.

So, they are;

1) No-one was born knowing: Have a mindset of growth…

It’s in accepting that things go wrong from time to time, and that sometimes we may fail. But by seeing these times as an opportunity to learn and to grow. It’s all part of our development.

No one was born knowing and it’s right to not assume that even as adults our journey of understanding and learning isn’t yet complete.

2) Reboot and override: Look for the good in every experience…

Look for the positive in every experience you encounter. That’s not to say that you can’t be sad, you can’t be angry or that you can’t be unhappy. We are human beings after all, emotions are perfectly normal and natural.

But what we can do is to find the good in what we see, feel and understand. What difference could that make to the way you feel? But also, how that could change the way others see and feel around you.

3) Relish the good: Savour the moment…

Our lives are increasingly busy but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take the time to savour the moment when good things do happen. Relish the good. Science has shown that by taking time to digest these positive thoughts, actually allows more neurons to fire up and respond to the stimuli created. This helps to consolidate the experience in our memory.

So, savouring the moment really does have a positive impact with lasting results.

4) Encourage the understanding of good: Be more mindful…

Not only is savouring the moment a positive benefit to us, but so is being mindful of ourselves and our thoughts. By being aware of both good and bad experiences, we can allow ourselves to understand how we feel and think when something good does happen. When we choose to interact with our positive experiences, we can experience the whole sensation of thoughts, feelings and senses. This encourages the mind to store what’s happening and so next time it needs a shortcut to predetermine a reaction or feeling –– it has a more rounded selection to draw from.

Let’s draw to a close: The wiring isn’t all wrong –– balance is key…

It’s important not to think we can override all negative thoughts or cognitive biases. We can’t and shouldn’t want to. But it is to say that it’s always useful to be aware of why we are wired the way we are and to practice techniques to install a little more balance of our minds, our thoughts and our stored experiences.

So, what do you think? What do you believe about our cognitive biases and our negativity bias?

Is it possible to maintain balance of mind? It would be great to learn and understand what you think about the topic….

Has this topic got your neurons firing? Let’s keep the conversation going…

You can leave me a comment, or you can find me at; simplyamberlou.worpress.com and on LinkedIn: @Amber L Smith, plus you can send me an email at: ambersmith@simplyamberlou.com