Change Your Mindset to Improve Your Productivity

 The right mindset gives you strong foundation for the productivity techniques and methods to run smoothly.


Love what you do


That’s it. Love what you do. Do your tasks with love. If you have this mindset, you will no longer feel the tasks as chore. Instead they will be something you happily do. They will be fun.

To see the power of this principle, just take a moment to look at your life. Can you recall doing something you love? How did it feel? Next, can you recall doing something you don’t like? How was the feeling compared to doing something you love? I guess you notice significant difference between them. For the thing you love, you effortlessly do it. You do it with enthusiasm and excitement. Results will naturally follow. On the other hand, doing the thing you don’t like is a struggle. You must drag yourself to do it and you suffer along the way. It’s difficult to achieve maximum productivity in such condition.

Perhaps you notice that I wrote “love what you do” and not “do what you love”. Why? Because the former is proactive while the latter is not. You can’t always choose to do things you naturally like. There will be times when you must do something you don’t like. If the mantra is “do what you love”, then your performance will be dependent on the kind of tasks you have. You will perform well when you do the tasks you like and you will perform badly otherwise. This, however, isn’t true productivity. To be truly productive, your performance must be consistently good. No matter what kinds of tasks you have, you must perform well. That’s why the key is to “love what you do” and not “do what you love”. You should learn to love whatever tasks you come across, whether or not you naturally like it.

Now, how can we change our mindset to love what we do? I wish I could give you many tips on this, but the more I think about it the more I realize that all the tips I think of boil down to just one:


Replace your negative self-talk with positive one


It all begins with our mind. We love something because we have positive self-talk about it and we don’t like something because we have negative self-talk about it. For instance, for something we love we may say something like:

• I love it.
• It’s exciting.
• I can’t wait to do it.

On the other hand, for something we don’t like we may say something like:

• It’s boring
• It’s difficult
• I wish I don’t have to do this.

Can you see the difference? To replace negative self-talk, with positive one, here are some things you should do:

1. Find something positive about the task


If you want to have positive self-talk about a task, you should have something positive to begin with. While we may naturally look at the bad side of things we don’t like, we should take the effort to find something positive. What can you get from the task? What reward will you receive? The reward might not be immediate. It could be far in the future, but I’m sure you can get something from it. For instance, the task may teach you the traits of patience and persistence which will be useful in the future.

2. Watch your self-talk


Our self-talk may run automatically that we barely notice. But, if you take closer look, you will recognize the kind of self-talk you have. So don’t just do things on autopilot. Watch your thoughts and identify the kind of self-talk you have.

3. Use negative self-talk as trigger for positive one


When you notice that negative self-talk takes place in your mind, use it as a trigger to initiate positive self-talk. You already find positive things about the task (from step 1 above), so you can start using them to say something positive about the task in your mind.

4. Be persistent


Replacing negative self-talk with positive one takes time, so be persistent along the way until you start liking the task. Perhaps it hasn’t yet been love, but liking is a good start. When you have positive attitude toward a task, you will see that your productivity improves.

Stay present in the moment and change your life!

Do you want to learn how to move through and release negative emotion quickly? Do you want to be a creator of dreams instead of a reactor to what is? Then practice staying present! If you can learn to stay present in the moment then you can rapidly and gracefully change your life for the better! Our personal power is accessed in the present. We are creating our futures right this very second through the thoughts and energy that we are sending out. What future are you creating for yourself if your thoughts are filled with anxiety, anger, and fear? What would your future look like if you could send out love, joy and prosperity?

Practice staying present today. Take deep breaths often. Really feel what you are doing. When you are driving in the car really focus on what you are doing, seeing and hearing. Approach your work with focus and clarity. When you are with a loved one really listen to what they are saying to you.

Practice feeling more, instead of thinking. Get out of your head, and into your heart and body. When you are focused on the present moment you are able to experience the beauty in each moment. If your mind is always off worrying about the future or complaining about the past then you are not free to experience the joy in front of you.

Set the intention that you will stay present, and find a way to remind yourself often. Presence is a state of being, and it takes practice to remember to feel and not think. Practice observing yourself more and analyzing less!

Here are some tips to help you present in the moment:

• Take deep breaths often
• Meditate
• Get out into nature and really look at your surroundings
• Exercise daily
• Mimic an animal or a child-they are always fully present
• Smell a flower or work in the garden
• Do something new! Take a new route to work and observe the sights, or take up a new hobby. Anything to shake it up a bit and get mindful, not mindless.

Set an intention each day to stay focused on the present and to go deeper into each moment. Remember that life is meant to be fun and this is just a practice! Practice joy. Practice love. Practice staying present.

Breathing in, I calm my body. 

Breathing out, I smile. 

Dwelling in the present moment, 

I know this is a wonderful moment! 

--Thich Nhat Hanh 

History of Psychology

Basically, psychology used to be a part of biology and philosophy. While psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late 1800s, its earliest history can be traced back to the time of the early Greeks. During the 17th-century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the idea of dualism, which asserted that the mind and body were two separate entities that interact to form the human experience. So what makes psychology different from others.

So what makes psychology different from philosophy? While early philosophers relied on methods such as observation and logic, today’s psychologists utilize scientific methodologies to study and draw conclusions about human thought and behavior.

Wilhelm Wundt

During the mid-1800s, a German physiologist named Wilhelm Wundt was using scientific research methods to investigate reaction times. His book published in 1874, Principles of Physiological Psychology, outlined many of the major connections between the science of physiology and the study of human thought and behavior.

His endeavor paid off when he was able to utilize a school of thought called structuralism.

Wilhelm Wundt  established the first psychology laboratory and he advocated structuralism. An estimated 17,000 students attended Wundt’s psychology lectures, and hundreds more pursued degrees in psychology and studied in his psychology lab. While his influence dwindled in the years to come, his impact on psychology is unquestionable.

First  Psychology Experiment

Psychology as we know it started on a December day in 1879, in a small room on the third floor of a shabby building at Germany’s University of Leipzig. There, two young men were helping a long-faced, austere, middle-aged professor, Wilhelm Wundt, create an experimental apparatus.

Their machine measured the time lag between people’s hearing a ball hit a platform and their pressing a telegraph key. Later, the researchers compared this lag to the time required for slightly more complex tasks. Curiously, people responded in about one-tenth of a second when asked to press the key as soon as the sound occurred—and in about two-tenths of a second when asked to press the key as soon as they were aware of perceiving the sound. Wundt was seeking to measure “atoms of the mind”—the fastest and simplest mental processes.

Thus began what many consider psychology’s first experiment, launching the first psychology laboratory, staffed by Wundt and psychology’s first graduate students

Academic appointments:
1857-1863 University of Heidelberg (lecturer in the Dept. of Physiology)
1863-1871 Resignation and Hiatus
1871-1874 Return to University of Heidelberg
1874-1875 University of Zurich (Chair of Inductive Philosophy)
1875-1917 University of Leipzig
1889 Served as university rector

Major publications: 
1873 & 1874 Grundzuge der Physiologischen Psychologie (Principles of Physiological Psychology).
1896 Grundriss der Psychcologie (Foundations of Psychology)
1900 to 1920 Volkerpsychologie (Cultural or Ethic Psychology). 10 volumes
1911 Einfuhrung in die Psychologie (An Introduction to Psychology)
1920 Erlebtes und Erkanntes (What I Have Experienced and Discovered)

Other achievements:
1881 Established the journal: Philosophische Studien (Philosophical Studies)
1881-1902 Editor of Philosophische Studien.


Structuralism Becomes Psychology’s First School of Thought

Edward B. Titchener, one of Wundt’s most famous students, would go on to found psychology’s first major school of thought. According to the structuralists, human consciousness could be broken down into much smaller parts. Using a process known as introspection, trained subjects would attempt to break down their responses and reactions to the most basic sensation and perceptions.

While structuralism is notable for its emphasis on scientific research, its methods were unreliable, limiting, and subjective. When Titchener died in 1927, structuralism essentially died with him.

Academic appointments:
1892 Oxford University (lecturer in biology)
1892-1927 Cornell University

Major publications: 
Titchener, E. B. (1901-1905). Experimental Psychology. New York: Macmillan.
Titchener, E. B. (1910). A Text Book of Psychology. New York: Macmillan.

The Functionalism of William James

Psychology flourished in American during the mid- to late-1800s. William James emerged as one of the major American psychologists during this period and the publication of his classic textbook, The Principles of Psychology, established him as the father of American psychology. His book soon became the standard text in psychology and his ideas eventually served as the basis for a new school of thought known as functionalism.

The focus of functionalism was on how behavior actually works to help people live in their environment. Functionalists utilized methods such as direct observation. While both of these early schools of thought emphasized human consciousness, their conceptions of it were significantly different. While the structuralists sought to break down mental processes into their smallest parts, the functionalists believed that consciousness existed as a more continuous and changing process. While functionalism is no longer a separate school of thought, it would go on to influence later psychologists and theories of human thought and behavior.

Psychoanalysis - The Psychology of Sigmund Freud



Up to this point, early psychology stressed conscious human experience. An Austrian physician named Sigmund Freud changed the face of psychology in a dramatic way, proposing a theory of personality that emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind. Freud’s clinical work with patients suffering from hysteria and other ailments led him to believe that early childhood experiences and unconscious impulses contributed to the development of adult personality and behavior.

In his book The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud detailed how these unconscious thoughts and impulses are expressed, often through slips of the tongue (known as "Freudian slips") and dreams. According to Freud, psychological disorders are the result of these unconscious conflicts becoming extreme or unbalanced. The psychoanalytic theory proposed by Sigmund Freud had a tremendous impact on 20th-century thought, influencing the mental health field as well as other areas including art, literature and popular culture. While many of his ideas are viewed with skepticism today, his influence on psychology is undeniable.

What is Psychology?

We often feel mood of joy and anger. When we make conversations with others,often we may have to face disputes and conflicts.we can  get reasons for all this by psychology.Psychology tries to understand the laws and principles characterizing the linkages across brain and mind in a scientific manner.

Psychologists aim to understand why people react to certain situations differently and from their observations, they can understand how the mind of a particular individual works. There is no clear answer in psychology because the minds of every individual are different from one another. With this in mind, you can now begin to understand learning, intelligence, cognition, perception, motivation and personality among others.

Psychology is the subject that provides insights into various aspects of humanbehaviour.The word psychology is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning 'soul' or 'mind.' Psychology is both an applied and academic field that studies the human mind and behavior. Research in psychology seeks to understand and explain how we think, act and feel. Applications for psychology include mental health treatment, performance enhancement, self-help, ergonomics and many other areas affecting health and daily life.

A Separate Science

The emergence of psychology as a separate and independent field of study was truly born when Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

Wundt's work was focused on describing the structures that compose the mind. This perspective relied heavily on the analysis of sensations and feelings through the use of introspection, a highly subjective process. Wundt believed that properly trained individuals would be able to accurately identify the mental processes that accompanied feelings, sensations and thoughts.

Schools of Thought

Throughout psychology's history, a number of different schools of thought have thought have formed to explain human thought and behavior. These schools of thought often rise to dominance for a period of time. While these schools of thought are sometimes perceived as competing forces, each perspective has contributed to our understanding of psychology. The following are some of the major schools of thought in psychology.

• Structuralism
• Functionalism
• Psychoanalysis
• Behaviorism
• Humanism
• Cognitivism

Psychology Today

Today psychology is considered as a science as well as a profession contributing to the improvement in quality of life. It focuses primarily on the study of various aspects of mental and behavioural functioning. Psychologists use scientific methods to understand the causes of behavioural phenomena and

develop principles and theories about them. They attempt to understand various questions related to human behaviour.

 Psychological studies are highly structured, beginning with a hypothesis that is then empirically tested. The discipline has two major areas of focus: academic psychology and applied psychology. Academic psychology focuses on the study of different sub-topics within psychology including personality, social behavior and human development. These psychologists conduct basic research that seeks to expand our theoretical knowledge, while other researchers conduct applied research that seeks to solve everyday problems.

Applied psychology focuses on the use of different psychological principles to solve real world problems. Examples of applied areas of psychology include forensic psychology, ergonomics and industrial-organizational psychology. Many other psychologists work as therapists, helping people overcome mental, behavioral and emotional disorders.

Psychology Research Methods

As psychology moved away from its philosophical roots, psychologists began to employ more and more scientific methods to study human behavior. Contemporary researchers employ a variety of scientific techniques including experiments, correlational studies longitudinal research and others to test, explain and predict behavior.

Areas of Psychology

Psychology is a broad and diverse field. A number of different subfields and specialty areas have emerged. The following are some of the major areas of research and application within psychology:

Abnormal Psychology is the study of abnormal behavior and psychopathology. This specialty area is focused on research and treatment of a variety of mental disorders and is linked to psychotherapy and clinical psychology.

Biological Psychology, also known as biopsychology, studies how biological processes influence the mind and behavior. This area is closely linked to neuroscience and utilizes tools such as MRI and PET scans to look at brain injury or brain abnormalities.

Clinical Psychology is focused on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

Cognitive Psychology is the study of human thought processes and cognitions. Cognitive psychologists study topics such as attention, memory, perception, decision-making, problem-solving and language acquisition.

Comparative Psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behavior. This type of research can lead to a deeper and broader understanding of human psychology.

Developmental Psychology is an area that looks at human growth and development over the lifespan. Theories often focus on the development of cognitive abilities, morality, social functioning, identity and other life areas.

Forensic Psychology is an applied field focused on using psychological research and principles in the legal and criminal justice system.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology is a field that uses psychological research to enhance work performance, select employee, improve product design and enhance usability.

Personality Psychology looks at the various elements that make up individual personalities. Well-known personality theories include Freud’s structural model of personality and the "Big Five" theory of personality.

School Psychology is the branch of psychology that works within the educational system to help children with emotional, social and academic issues.

Social Psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods to study social influence, social perception and social interaction. Social psychology studies diverse subjects including group behavior, social perception, leadership, nonverbal behavior, conformity, aggression and prejudice.