Want to change something in your life? Here’s how to train your brain.

Institute Editorial Team 01/24/2021

How do you become that person who works out three times a week? The one who doesn’t get distracted when she’s trying to get something done? The one who manages to read for pleasure or get enough sleep or start a new side hustle? You get there by building habits. When you turn exercise, going to bed early, or carving out time for reading into a habit, that’s when you end up sticking to it. Getting there, however, is the tricky part because change is hard, even if it’s good for us. Sometimes especially if it’s good for us. We spoke to Julie Jones, Mental Performance Coach and Institute instructor, to get some insight into making those positive changes a little easier. “Change happens for…

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Categories: Institute of Women, Wellness & Work

Tags: Brain Health, habits, health, positive psychology, wellness

Institute Editorial Team

How to Build Good Habits

Habits have been described as repeated actions that arise from some kind of internal or external trigger (Robbins & Costa, 2017). Often, these habits exist in particular contexts. For example, Billy might have a habit of smoking a cigarette when he drinks alcohol. Sharon might have a habit of brushing her teeth before bed. And Mark might have a habit of biting his nails when he’s nervous. Habits—both good and bad—are closely related to our goals. Since habits are just things we do regularly, they can contribute to —or deter us from—achieving the things we want to achieve. That’s why building good habits—and perhaps getting rid of some bad ones—is so important for building the lives we want to lead. So what are some good…

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Institute Editorial Team 01/15/2023

woman looking up at sky thinking, showing mental performance

Mental performance and you: 10 things you need to know

Our mental performance, how we think, analyze, and perceive the world, influences how we work, tackle challenges, relate to others, manage stress and more. Where we choose to put our focus has a tremendous impact on how we feel and perform in our day-to-day lives. Julie Jones, Mental Performance Coach and Institute instructor, specializes in helping people boost their mental game, and in teaching them how mental training, positivity and self-awareness can help us do better in our jobs, our personal lives, as leaders, as athletes, and as members of the community. As a former Division I softball coach, Julie specializes in training athletes in mental performance techniques. The same brain strategies that can help a softball player improve her swing can help us all…

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Institute Editorial Team 08/02/2021

How to care for yourself while taking care of others

Caregivers, this is for you. Even before the pandemic, more than 16% of the US population was providing unpaid care to an adult 18 years or older, including family members with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Women make up about 75% of those caregivers, and they put in the work while juggling jobs, children, and ongoing domestic-task overload. With nearly 23 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US, caregivers are under additional pressure to care for and protect their loved ones. If you’re a caregiver, the stress may seem relentless, and you may be: having trouble sleepingunder/over-eatingself-medicating with alcohol or drugscanceling (or not even booking) your own doctors’ appointments That’s because when you’re a caregiver, caring for yourself tends to happen only after everyone else’s needs…

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Institute Editorial Team 01/24/2021

38 Positive Quotes to Improve Your Life

Read on to discover positive quotes for all facets of life. To get the most from positive quotes, you can try to include more of them in your life. For example, if you find a quote that sparks joy and helps you maintain a positive attitude, you can print it and hang it around the house or use it as your smartphone screen. If you think a quote will help you be more motivated at work, you may choose to display it in your office and read it before you start each day. No matter how you choose to display positive quotes—on a post-it note, on a phone case, or on a picture frame—having positive quotes around you can shift your mindset and help you…

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Institute Editorial Team 02/25/2023

How To Sleep Better Using Guided Meditation

Discover the benefits and develop a routine for guided meditation for sleep. Guided meditation for sleep is a specific type of meditation practice that can be used to help quiet your mind before you go to bed. Other practices, such as transcendental meditation, ask you to empty your mind or to only focus on a single mantra. Guided meditation is easier, especially for beginners, because you have another person talking you through the meditative process. This allows you to focus on what the guidance is saying rather than everything else running through your brain. There are many different styles of practice for guided meditation for sleep. Let’s explore some of the most popular ones below. Feel free to try different practices to find the best…

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Institute Editorial Team 02/02/2023

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