Presentation slides from the November 12, 2011 live event, held in Arlington, VA.

1. Life Improvement
Live Event
Self Improvement Concepts – Life Strategy
Personal Revolutions ™
November 12, 2011
© 2011 Paul Worsham

2. Agenda
● Introduction
● Slides & discussion & breaks
● Wrap-up and after-discussion

3. Introduction
● This is a first-time presentation of this information
● The content is for informational purposes – consult a
professional before taking action
● Ask questions at any time
● This information will be put online after the event
●
● Housekeeping notes: If you need to feed a meter, we can help
remind you.
● Please put your phones on vibrate/silent/low volume

4. 3 “steps”
● Know yourself
●
● Improve yourself
●
● Enjoy your life

5. 3 Things
● Know yourself – become aware of:
– Your passions/goals/motivation
– Your capabilities
– How you (really) function
● Improve yourself – once you know yourself:
– Map out how to get to where you want to be
● Enjoy your life
– Create “flow” in your activities
– Happiness – recognize, allow, expand it

6. How Do We Change, Improve?
● Just identifying a problem is half solved.
●
● Identifying your own challenges gets you past
denial and blockage.
●
● Sometimes you need to act without believing.
●

7. mind-body connection
● Somewhat obvious, sometimes not
● Vision example:
– Our eyes see “pixels” - not shapes
– Our brain filters, for patterns such as “horizontal
motion”. We can even dictate these filters.
– Our mind gets this input, and applies “meaning”
to these pixels and patterns
– We “see” our world

8. biology, diet, and environmental
interactions
● Exercise changes the brain in beneficial ways
– Neurons are created, chemicals are released
– Blood flow is increased
– Better mood, skin, muscle tone, energy
– Confidence
● What you eat affects how your body operates
– Complex interactions within our biology
– Who you are = in your head (brain/mind)
– What you eat = who you are able to be (brain
performance)

9. enjoy "flow" in life's activities
● Flow – a positive mental state of operation …
– “... in which a person in an activity is fully
immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full
involvement, and success in the process of
the activity.” (Wikipedia)
● Enjoyment without trying:
– “The hallmark of flow is a feeling of
spontaneous joy, even rapture, while
performing a task, although flow is also
described as a deep focus on nothing but the
activity – not even oneself or one's emotions”

10. focus, willpower, and motivation
● Focus – situations:
– Learning
– Tasks – completing actions, thoughts
– Communication
● Why USA phone numbers were 7 digits?
● Biological focus & follow-through (theory)
– When running, we have to focus 1 to 5 steps out
– The most important decsions are “near to us”
– The better “working memory”, the smarter?

11. focus, willpower, and motivation
● Willpower
– Deciding on goals
– Prioritization
– Focus – battling internal & external distractions
● Motivation
– Expected benefits from an activity (reward)

12. focus, willpower, and motivation
● Motivation questions
Now: What are you doing now? Think about the activity that you are
doing at this moment
Needed: What result are you working towards, but currently not on track
towards?
What course of action will move you towards your future happiness –
towards your goals and vision of the future?
Nuance: Honestly assess how will you feel later about your current
activity-momentum.
Next: Find the very next step… an activity that you can do right now…].
–

13. Emotional Mathematics?
● Happy + Loving = Positive Support
– Happy + Purpose = Motivated
● Anger + Impatience = Revenge
– Anger + Understanding = Forgiveness
● Purpose + Energy = Confidence
●
● (ingredient 1) + (ingredient 2) = Happiness

14. brain
● Human brains are the most complex.
– Four lobes, folds making each brain unique
● Composed of billions of neurons, each with
thousands of synapses (connections to other
neurons). 80 to 120 billion neurons.
● We are born with more connections than we
need, and lose them as part of becoming who
we are
● Belief factor – fiction more powerful than fact?
● Multi-tasking – fact or fiction?

15. brain plasticity
● Neuroplasticity: re-wiring our brains
● Refers to “the ability of the brain and nervous
system in all species to change structurally and
functionally as a result of input from the
environment.” (Wikipedia)
● “Plasticity occurs on a variety of levels, ranging
from cellular changes involved in learning, to
large-scale changes involved in cortical
remapping in response to injury.”

16. meditation
● Practicing meditation may lead to changes in
the neurological process, creating physiological
health benefits
– Examples of benefits include: reduction in
stress, anxiety, depression, headaches, pain,
elevated blood pressure, improved focus,
mood.

17. “limitless”
● being limitless in pursuit of all that inspires us
● what limits us?
– * physical - boundaries, energy,
– * logical - laws, society
– * emotional - confidence, social pressure -
our interpretations
●

18. life planning, blueprinting, setting
vision, goals
● Parameters for life planning:
– A blueprint is a structural design.
– A plan is how builders take the blueprint, and
over time make it a reality.
– Plans change, timelines change, flexibility is
always needed.
● A vision precedes a blueprint; not as detailed.
– You have a vision, it is what got you here.
– long-term vision – create one, or use "default".
– default = dependent on external influences,
training, expectations

19. Goals
● goals - these are milestones.
● a goal must have a deadline, or else it is a
dream?
● Really? Must be someone who likes
deadlines.
● A goal must have a feeling associated with
it, which is perhaps the real goal.
● Do you want marriage, or the feelings that
it will bring?
● the real goal may be happiness - pleasure.

20. Self-Deception
● Understanding how our minds deceive us, and
using that constructively
– How do we decide, anyway?
● We think we know ourselves, especially our
preferences, but not always.
● Marketers continue to study this area. Why?
Because if they know us, it will help them.

21. Destiny
● You are exactly where you are supposed to be.

22. Next Thoughts
● Meta-cognition – thinking about thinking
– Why are you acting/thinking this way?
– Think it through – what do you really want?
● Watch What You Feed Your Brain:
– “You will move towards what you think about”
● Everyone wants to influence you
● Keep learning, growing
– Happiness “set point”
– Become comfortable with what fits in with your

23. Wrap-up
● What did you get out of today?
● What will you remember tomorrow?
● What other topics are you interested in
covering?
● Social time is beneficial to our minds & brains...
● (continue sharing with each other)