Huawei Announces the Octa-Core Honor 3X Pro

Huawei has announced a new octa-core phone and the successor to the not-so-old Honor 3X in the Honor 3X Pro. The phone lies in the mid-budget category.

Still there are a few quite respectable specs to be found. You get a 5.5″ Full HD display at the front. The design is nothing to write about, except that the phone has a faux-leather back, same as the Galaxy S5.

Under the hood, you get a 1.7Ghz octa-core processor with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB storage, expandable via microSD. The back houses a 13 megapixel camera, capable of shooting 1080p video. The front also has a 5 mp shooter for all those selfies.

Connectivity options include Bluetooth, 3G and Radio. Here are the full specs of the phone:

• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean customized
• 5.5″ display with Full HD resolution
• Faux-leather back
• 1.7Ghz octa-core MediaTek MT6592 processor
• 2 GB RAM with 32 GB internal storage, expandable
• 13 megapixel rear-camera with Full HD 1080p video
• 5 megapixel front-camera
• Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0, 3G, FM Radio, GPS
• 3,000 mAh battery
• Available in Black and White

The phone will be available in either Black or White. It will be priced at an attractive price of around $270 when it will hit the markets later this year.

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Samsung Announces Galaxy S5 Active, the Ruggedized Version of its Flagship

Following the tradition it started last year, Samsung has announced the rugged version of this year’s flagship, the Galaxy S5 Active. This year, however, it makes lesser point as the original flagship itself comes with IP67-certification.

You get a 5.1″ FHD display at the front, as well as a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor inside, along with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB expandable storage. At the back sits a 16 megapixel camera capable of shooting 4K video.

The OS running is customized Android 4.4 KitKat. The phone also comes with 4G LTE, microUSB 3.0, NFC, IR Blaster and heart-rate sensor.

Of course, none of that matters the least because the highlight if the entire package is the design. The phone has MIL-810G standard, which is rather complicated and Samsung has explained fully the extent of its capabilities but it certainly will be a step above the normal IP67-certification.

A major feature lost in this version of the phone is the fingerprint scanner, a feature that distinguished the S5 from other flagships. It will be available in three colors, all of whom look quite rugged and, well, unconventional.

Pricing of the phone will be set at $715, same as the regular model. No word on when it will be available widely but worldwide release can’t be too far.

Below is the run-down for the specs again:

• OS: Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat)
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
• CPU: Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400
• GPU: Adreno 330
• Display:
  • Type: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
  • Size: 1080 x 1920 pixels, -
  • Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Memory:
  • Card slot: microSD, up to 64 GB
  • Internal: 16 GB (11.2 GB user available), 2 GB RAM
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, LTE, Cat4, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth NFC, Infrared, microUSB v2.0 (MHL 2)
• Camera:
  • Primary: 16 MP, 3456 x 4608 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
  • Secondary: 2 MP,1080p@30fps

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The Military Is Building Brain Chips to Treat PTSD

The Military Is Building Brain Chips to Treat PTSD

How well can you predict your next mood swing? How well can anyone? It’s an existential dilemma for many of us but for the military, the ability to treat anxiety, depression, memory loss and the symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder has become one of the most important battles of the post-war period.
Now the Pentagon is developing a new, innovative brain chip to treat PTSD in soldiers and veterans that could bring sweeping new changes to the way depression and anxiety is treated for millions of Americans.
With $12 million (and the potential for $26 million more if benchmarks are met), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, wants to reach deep into your brain’s soft tissue to record, predict and possibly treat anxiety, depression and other maladies of mood and mind. Teams from the University of California at San Francisco, Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Medtronic will use the money to create a cybernetic implant with electrodes extending into the brain. The military hopes to have a prototype within 5 years and then plans to seek FDA approval.
DARPA’s Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies, or SUBNETs, program draws from almost a decade of research in treating disorders such as Parkinson’s disease via a technique called deep brain stimulation. Low doses of electricity are sent deep into the brain in somewhat the same way that a defibrillator sends electricity to jumpstart a heart after cardiac arrest.
While it sounds high-tech, it’s a crude example of what’s possible with future brain-machine interaction and cybernetic implants in the decades ahead “DARPA is looking for ways to characterize which regions come into play for different conditions – measured from brain networks down to the single neuron level – and develop therapeutic devices that can record activity, deliver targeted stimulation, and most importantly, automatically adjust therapy as the brain itself changes,” DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez said.
SUBNETs isn’t the only military research initiative aimed at stimulating the brain with electricity. The Air Force has been studying the effects of low amounts of electricity on the brain by using a non-invasive interface (a cap that doesn’t penetrate into the skull.) The objective is to deliver a caffeine-like boost to help soldiers stay alert through long stretches of piloting or screen interaction. The current DARPA project stands out as uniquely ambitious in what it promises to reveal about the brain, in addition to stimulating it.While neuroscientists are getting much better at using, understanding and harnessing the big electrical signals that emerge from the brain’s motor cortex, research that is rapidly contributing to much better prosthetic arms, they still don’t have a clear understanding of the way brain regions work in mood disorders associated with PTSD. We do know that anxiety ailments involve a delicate interplay of memory (in the physical form of synaptic connections) and stimuli and manifest across multiple brain areas. Furthermore, these responses and interactions can change as the very malleable brain itself adapts in unpredictable ways.
“Little is understood of how the brain’s neural circuitry relates to anxiety and other neuropsychiatric disorders. This project will seek to markedly improve that understanding by obtaining maps of the brain’s electrical activity at higher resolution than has been previously possible. The ultimate impact on the treatment of major depression, anxiety disorders, and other conditions remains to be seen, but a more clear understanding of the basis of these disorders is badly needed,” Edward Chang, a neuroscientist at the University of California at San Francisco told Defense One.
The device would record what happens when a subject transitions into a state of anxiousness or depression from a more normal frame of mind. Today, observing brain activity that fine requires a bulky brain-monitoring system like the moderately inconvenient but rather imprecise EEG cap to the much more robust magnetoencephalograph, MEG, which can take very detailed readings of magnetic brain activity millisecond by millisecond. But commonly available MEGreaders are enormous, require several gallons of liquid nitrogen to stay cool and can cost around $4 million.
​“There is really no comparison between the vast amount of data you can get from an invasive deep brain implant (i.e. you cut open the skull and put one of more wires deep inside) versus the smeared slow trickle of information you can get from an EEG cap outside the​ skull. Chronic fMRI gives much more data, but is practically impossible on any longer time scales (even hours) due to the cost of using the machine and the required immobility of the subject,” University of Arizona neuroscientist Charles Higgins told Defense One.
If the DARPA program is successful, it will yield new brain-monitoring capabilities that are exponentially cheaper smaller, more useful and that collect data when the patient is most likely to actually encounter traumatic stimuli, not just when he or she is in a lab-making data collection much easier and the data more useful.
“With existing technology, we can’t really record anxiety level inside the brain. We can potentially record adrenaline and cortisol levels in the bloodstream to measure anxiety. However, if a deep brain implant is to be used (as proposed in this project), it might be possible to monitor activity in the amygdala, and this would be a direct way of monitoring anxiety,” said Higgins.
Using that data, the researchers hope to create models and maps to allow for a more precise understanding of the electrical patterns in the brain that signal anxiety, memory loss and depression. The data from devices, when they come online, will be made available to the public but will be rendered anonymous, so records of an individual test subject’s brain activity could not be traced back to a specific person.
In short, researchers will soon know much more about what causes anxiety and mood swings and will be able to predict those transitions in specific patients at specific times,. They could then treat depression or anxiety, remotely via a device that pushes the brain to establish new circuits and areas outside of the traumatized regions. It may improve your mood in the future, even the thought of it is a bit distressing today.

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YouTube set to be restored in Turkey

YouTube set to be restored in Turkey

Access to video-sharing site YouTube looks set to be restored in Turkey after a ruling by the nation's highest court.

A block was imposed in late March, soon after recordings alleging official corruption were aired on the site.
Now Turkey's constitutional court has said the block violated laws governing freedom of expression.
The court is now informing telecom authorities of its decision and is telling them to lift the block.
The decision is widely seen as a snub to the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which has been a sharp critic of social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube.

Both sites were blocked earlier this year after recordings of official meetings were leaked and widely circulated. One recording involved senior army officers discussing intervention in Syria and others supposedly revealed corruption among people close to Mr Erdogan.

Complaints

The block on Twitter was lifted last month but the limits on YouTube have stayed despite decisions from lower courts calling on the government for them to be lifted.It is not clear whether the order to lift the ban will be effective since the authorities said those earlier calls were ignored because offending material was still available on the site.

The constitutional court was looking into the validity of the block after complaints from Turkish citizens about it.

Many people have used special software to get round the ban and ensure they can still see videos on the site.
The block was imposed as a "precautionary administrative measure", Turkey's telecommunications regulator said at the time.

Turkey passed a controversial law early this year that let the regulator cut off any site without needing to get a court order.
YouTube was blocked previously in Turkey in 2007 but that ban was lifted in 2010.

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The Doctor Who Said Google Glass Causes Eye Pain

The Doctor Who Said Google Glass Causes Eye Pain Now Says There's 'No Evidence' Of Health Risks (GOOG)

Ophthalmologist Eli Peli, Google's official consultant optometrist for Google Glass, raised concern earlier this month when he said Google's wearable display could cause eye pain and discomfort for its wearers.
Now, Peli has taken to Google+ to "clarify a few points," saying that he's found no evidence of Glass actually posing any harm.
"First and foremost, I have researched both HMDs and Glass for years and have found no evidence of any health risks," he wrote.
Peli previously told BetaBeat that Glass could cause discomfort because wearers need to look
up in order to use it, which feels unnatural for most people.
"The only people who look up a lot are some professionals like electricians and painters," he told BetaBeat at the time. "Most of us either look straight or down. It's well known that up is less comfortable."
Peli specified that Glass wearers are likely to experience eye strain rather than headaches, especially as they're getting used to the eyewear. Glass isn't meant to be worn for long periods of time, but Peli noted that since new users may mess around with it more than usual they may experience some strain.
In his more recent Google+ post, Peli now says that "very few" Glass wearers have reported discomfort after wearing Glass. Any strain typically disappears after the first day or two, Peli wrote.
Peli isn't the only ocular expert that's expressed concern over Glass, even though he's since revised his outlook on the matter. Sina Fateh, an ophthalmologist who has filed at least 30 patents related to wearable displays, told Forbes that these types of devices can put unnecessary stress on the eyes.
"In the same way that we can get fatigue in our hands, we can get fatigue in our eyes," he said to Forbes.
Google unveiled Glass at its I/O developers conference in 2012, and although the device is now available throughout the US.., it's still technically in beta. The company simply expanded the Explorer program to invite anyone willing to drop $1,500 on its smart eyewear.
Despite Google's massive marketing efforts, Glass and wearable displays in general still haven't caught on with mainstream consumers. There are a few reasons for this—one being that there simply aren't enough devices in the market, and the other being that wearable displays may feel unnatural for those who aren't used to wearing glasses regularly.
"People are doing whatever they can to not wear glasses, whether its contacts or Lasik treatment," Chris Jones, VP principal analyst with Canalys Insight, said in a previous interview with Business Insider. "And this is kind of going back on that."

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Unbelievable Places (2)

"Unbelievable Places part 2"

Bigar Waterfall, Romania

The locals call this waterfall "the miracle from the Minis gorge." The moss formation which the falls travel over is 8 meters tall, creating one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world
Reed Flute Caves, China

This 240-meter-long cave system has been one of Guilin, China’s most popular attractions for over 1200 years. The beautiful stalactites, stalagmites and pillars were all created through water erosion. In the present day, they are highlighted by multi colored lights which create a truly surreal environment.
Turquoise Ice, Lake Baikal, Russia

Lake Baikal is the oldest freshwater lake in the world. In the winter, the lake freezes, but the water is so clear that you can see 130 feet below the ice. In March, frost and sun cause cracks in the ice crust, which results in the turquoise ice shards we see at the surface.

Glowworm Caves, Waitomo, New Zealand

Thousands of tiny glowworms hang to the ceiling of this grotto and radiate a luminescent light, creating a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie.

Pamukkale Hot Springs, Turkey

Over millions of years, the hotsprings in Pamukkale have transformed the landscape. Although it may look like these terraces are made of ice and snow but the ground is just coated in white limestone.

Fly Geyser, Nevada

Fly Geyser was accidentally created when a well was drilled and left uncapped. Minerals and algae started to rise from the geyser and accumulated to form an alien-like mound.

Underwater River, Cenote Angelita, Mexico

Underneath the water of Cenote Angelita is another flowing body of water. The river is full of hydrogen sulfate, which is much heavier than normal salt water. When it sinks to the bottom, it forms a flow of its own.

Hidden Beach, Mexico

This magnificent hidden beach was created by a military explosion test in early 1900s. The surrounding islands were deemed a nature park, with the hidden beach only accessible by swimming through a fifty foot tunnelNaica Mine, Mexico

This silver mine is coated in crystals as big as 50 feet long and 4 feet wide. They Were formed by hydrothermal fluids rising from the magma chambers below. This is a must see on any cave lover’s bucket list.

Lake Natron, Tanzania

This lake has a uniquely high salt content. Salt-loving microorganisms thrive and produce red pigment, colorizing the water. For other animals, the salt is deadly and many calcify (effectively turning into stone) after taking a dip in the water

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Google building car with no steering wheel

Google building car with no steering wheel

LOS ANGELES: Google is building a car without a steering wheel.
Sergey Brin, co-founder of the technology titan, told a Southern California tech conference on Tuesday evening that Google will make 100 prototype cars that drive themselves and therefore do not need a wheel. Or brake and gas pedals.
Instead, there are buttons for go and stop. A combination of sensors and computing power takes the driving from there.To date, Google has driven hundreds of thousands of miles on public roads with Lexus SUVs and Toyota Priuses outfitted with the special equipment.

This prototype is the first Google will have built for itself.

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3D-printed robot

"Intel will let you build your own 3D-printed robot later this year"

Intel CEO brought a robotic companion named Jimmy with him on stage at Code Conference today. Jimmy is a 3D-printed robot capable of walking, moving his arms, dancing and even tweeting, and it's the key to Intel's vision of the future of robotics. Starting later this year, the company will make an open source 3D-printable robot kit available to consumers for $1,600, with a research version for $16,000. The former will run on Intel Edison, the company's computer-on-a-chip, while the latter will be powered by a Core i5 processor.

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You Are the Author of Your Story

You Are the Author of Your Story:

If my friend life was a movie, turning 30 should have been the happy ending. Raised in a rural farming community, my sister studied hard and successfully entered a competitive pre-med college program. From there, she went on to medical school, working a 3-month internship at NASA during those years. She blazed through her residency, then landed her first job as a full-time doctor in a town she loved. At 30, she looked poised to take on the world. Curtain call, end of story.
And yet, my friend was not happy.
Our culture treats many types of change as positive signs of growth and prosperity. There’s a reason why when someone meets you for the first time, he asks you a few key questions. What’s your job? We believe your job tells us something integral about you. How educated you are. How successful you are. If you answer “doctor,” like my sister, we automatically assume that you are well off and happy. If you answer “unemployed,” we often believe the opposite.

It’s not just job status that defines us. Someone may ask you about your personal life. Are you married or single? The former implies happiness, the latter, maybe not. How about kids? If you have a few, one might assume you’re happy. If you’re older and don’t have any, maybe they worry your “biological clock is ticking.”
People love stories, and there is a story that many of us have been told which outlines a pattern for a successful life. It goes something like this: Be a good student when you’re young. Study hard. Earn a practical degree with lots of earning potential. Get a great job. Marry. Have kids. Retire. Enjoy.
It’s actually not a bad story. I know many people, people that I love and respect, who have followed this formula, and they are indeed happy and successful.
But then there are people like my friend,found herself with a great education and a fantastic job, but she wasn’t happy. Coming straight out of college with a decent amount of debt, she took a grueling job that worked her 60-80 hours per week. She felt stressed, overtired, and perhaps worst of all, unable to spend as much time with her patients as she liked. She burned out after a few years, wondering if she had chosen the wrong career after all.
If you don’t like your story, how do you go about re-writing it? Like any good author, it takes many drafts and a lot of trial and error. My friend tried a variety of things. She moved back home and wrote screenplays, winning awards and getting one play produced by a local college. When that didn’t fulfill her, she taught anatomy at a nursing school. When that still didn’t quite pan out, she went back to being a doctor, only this time she found part-time work at a small practice where she has more say in her patient care. It doesn’t pay as much, but her job satisfaction couldn’t be greater. Career-wise, she has found the place she wants to be.
Still far from fulfilled, my friend decided to go through several years of in vitro fertilization and ended up having beautiful twin boys. She’s raising them as a single mother without the aid of “the right guy” and loving every minute of it, despite how much she stands out in the rural community she lives in.
My friend's story will not end here. It will continue to grow and change. Given her history and personality, I have a feeling her story will unfold to be as unique and adventurous as she is.
So remember: no matter what anybody tells you, you are in charge of your own story. It doesn’t matter if it is a traditional tale or something more varied. It doesn’t matter if the people around you approve or disapprove of your job or relationship status. What does matter is how you view your life, and the journey you take while writing it.

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Older and Wiser?

Older and Wiser? Four Steps to Finding Wisdom at Any Age:

“Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.”

- Sophocles

Now at the end of my forties I expect that I am wiser than I was 20 or so years ago. Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen?  Age brings wisdom?
Often, however, I still feel like I am muddling through life on a daily basis, not really sure of what I am doing or where I am going. And of course it’s true that I don’t have all the answers.
At the same time, I also have to recognize that I do know a lot more than I did when I was in my mid-20s or mid-30s or even early-40s. I am beginning to acknowledge my own wisdom, and that feels great!
But you don’t have to wait until “middle age” to seek and find wisdom. It’s a life-long process that begins when you’re young. I’m convinced that the key to wisdom is how you approach life and yourself.
Being wise has a lot of benefits. It doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes every day. It doesn’t mean I’ve answered all of life’s questions.
It does mean that I know myself better than I ever have. It means that my self-confidence is growing because I’m learning what I’m good at and what I enjoy. It also means I am learning what is good for me, what makes me joyful and content.
So if you crave wisdom, here are a few places to start on your journey:

1. Recognize and accept constant learning.

The trick to learning is that you have to actually listen to the lesson presented to you. My simple approach is to first acknowledge that I learned something and then consciously add it to my collection of self-knowledge. I always say to myself “Lesson learned,” just to reinforce that I really got it.

2. Practice compassion.

Learning a lesson means accepting that we made a mistake, however big or small. And many of us can be really hard on ourselves when we make mistakes. Wisdom will not come from self-criticism. Wisdom can only come when we accept who we are, with all of our flaws and all of the beautiful uniqueness we add to the world. Be gentle with yourself. Forgive yourself and collect another piece of your wisdom puzzle.

3. Live consciously.

You won’t be able to recognize lessons learned unless you pay attention. Pay attention to physical clues—I have butterflies in my stomach; I had a hard time sleeping last night. Try to figure out why you are having a significant reaction to a situation.
Pay attention to your emotions and ask yourself why you are upset or happy or fearful.
Pay attention to connections (seeming coincidences) in the world—I just said that or thought that yesterday and now I heard the same idea on the radio. Tune into these kinds of connections; they may be trying to tell you something. (But you have to pay attention to figure out the message.)

4. Stay on the journey.

The route to wisdom is self-knowledge. And self-knowledge comes from never-ending curiosity and exploration. Read books, talk to people about ideas, join a self-development/ philosophical/ spiritual/ etc. discussion group, journal, use your creativity.
Expand who you are in order to know who you are in this moment and who you strive to be.
I am on a journey toward self-knowledge and clarity. I realize I will be on this journey for the rest of my life. To me, this is a big part of what makes life interesting. Along the way, I am picking up bits of knowledge from every source possible and adding them to my own personal fountain of wisdom.
Becoming wise can be both difficult and easy. Often the path to wisdom—the experiences we have been through to help us learn—is long and difficult.
And it takes courage to face our own fears and faults. But once we muster up the courage to be really honest with ourselves, wisdom flows.

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Planning for the Unexpected

Planning for the Unexpected:

 I always advocate drafting out a good plan to reach new goals. Setting objectives, analyzing scenarios, and executing tasks will make it easier for you to get to that final destination. When the going gets tough, you can oftentimes go back to your plan, evaluate how to fix any roadblocks, and then move forward.
Of course, life doesn’t always follow a script, which is why it’s important to plan for the unexpected. That sounds impossible. How can you plan for something which you cannot anticipate? The truth is, you can’t plan the details, but you put yourself into a certain mindset that will help you succeed.


My friend Evan* had this mindset. Evan is not from the United States, but he wanted to work here full-time (and perhaps become a citizen). He thought he had everything planned out when his first postgraduate job promised a green card in two years. But when the economy tanked in 2008, so did his company, and they let him go. He spent almost a year finding new work: networking, filling out job applications, and learning new skills to make himself more marketable. He almost ran out of money and had to return to his home country, but he decided if he did that, he would save up again and return Stateside in a year or two. Fortunately, he found work at the eleventh hour, got his green card, and now he’s even engaged to an American woman.

If Evan’s story sounds straightforward, it isn’t. I watched Evan struggle throughout that year looking for work. American citizens were having a hard time landing decent jobs after the recession hit. What odds did he have of finding a job, especially without a green card? But instead of succumbing to the glum outlook of his situation and returning home, Evan pushed through and managed to find meaningful work in the States. Without having that “I can do it” mindset to push through the unexpected, he would have given up long before his money ran out.

So how can you plan for the unexpected? A few things I’ve found useful over the years:

1. Keep positive. Just because you believe something will happen doesn’t magically make it happen. On the flip side, if you tell yourself you can’t do something, there is zero percent chance it will happen. Keeping a positive attitude will help you weather unexpected hurdles and obstacles. If you are not naturally good at being positive in the face of adversity, find others who are. Their positive attitude and/or their belief in you will help push through the hard times.
2. Know your priorities. If you are truly determined to reach a goal, it should take precedence over others. New entrepreneurs struggle with financial stability over bringing their product to market. The key to jumping the hurdle is having faith in the product over a dwindling bank account. If you find other priorities getting in the way of your goal, you may need to reassess if the goal is really right for you.
3. Favor the long haul over the short-term. If you know what goal you’ll want to reach, you’ll find the means to get there, even if prospects aren’t good in the short term. Evan was determined to stay in the United States. Even if he hadn’t found that job in 2009, he had plans to return to try again. If you aren’t determined to meet your goal, then in the face of uncertainty, you may waver and fail.
4. Keep up with current events. If you are forced to take a break from your goals, put aside some time to stay current so you can jump back in the game later. One of my friends got laid off from a sports marketing job he loved and had to work retail for several years. He kept his skills current through networking, reading, and job searching and finally landed a new position several years later. He’s now a director in the company he works for, due largely in part that he didn’t just “take a break” from his old career.
5. Take time to recover from a crisis. Sometimes tragic events happen. The death of a good friend or family member, for example, may justifiably warrant our time and energy. As much as possible, don’t feel bad about taking time off to recover from a personal crisis. Just like your physical health, your emotional health is worth carving out time for. Ignoring emotional turmoil could result in further disaster, compounding the problem and making it harder to reach your goals.
All plans, even the best ones, will change once paper meets reality. So don’t despair if everything isn’t going to plan. Instead, go with the flow, and find new solutions to unexpected problems by having the right mindset.
Do you have any suggestions for planning for the unexpected?
*Name changed for the sake of anonymity.

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How to Overcome Fear & Let Your Creativity Flourish

How to Overcome Fear & Let Your Creativity Flourish:

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” – Sven Goran Eriksson

When you are happy you are confident, and you make choices that give you a better chance at success. When you procrastinate and resist change, that’s fear taking over.
It’s difficult to pull up that creativity anchor and let the “happy you” set sail.
Your fears are just trying to protect you from emotional pain. It’s self-preservation.

This is a weird dynamic that can stunt us from creating great stuff.

My Story

I was afraid of trying to get two of my novels published.
I didn’t want to put the time and effort into contacting agents only to be rejected (sad view, but true).
It was more important to me to avoid rejection than it was to make my novels a success.
I’m no longer afraid, but that’s because I’ve taken baby steps to overcome this. I’ve developed a blog that is read by 10’s of thousands of people. I realize that nothing I create will be perfect.
It came down to letting go of my fear in order to allow success to happen.
Your fear is only trying to protect you from the pain, but it is also holding you back from being truly happy.
After studying my own fear, I was able to create a system that’s simple and easy to apply in almost every circumstance.

Overcoming Fear

1. Listen to your self-talk.
2. Know that whatever you feel is okay.
3. Create a plan you can emotionally invest in.
4. Take small actions.
5. Review your progress.
6. Find the fun.
The only way you will overcome your fear and allow your creativity to flourish is by practicing. If you want to master your emotional intelligence, you have to have fun with the process. The great writers, musicians, and gardeners all make mistakes, but they still have fun improving on their mistakes.
Let’s break down how you can handle your fear and enjoy the process of being creative.

1. Listen to your self-talk

Your fear starts with how you communicate with yourself. If you feel energized by an idea but your thoughts start tearing the concept apart before you even begin, you will lose motivation quickly.
You need to sit down with yourself and watch the patterns that arise. Are you worried that people will laugh at your effort? Are you afraid that you will fail?
By sitting down with your thoughts and noticing what occurs, you will have a better grasp on what is stirring your fear.

2. Know that whatever you feel is okay

Your feelings have a right to be there. They are, after all, trying to protect you. It’s important to be compassionate you’re your emotions because you can’t change these feelings.
If you expect to overcome your fear, you have to accept your feelings and find a way to move in a more positive direction.
I’ve struggled with allowing my emotions to be as they are without trying to force myself to feel happier. I used to make the mistake of trying to force new feelings. For example I was rejected for a key note address because they wanted to take the concept in a new direction. I thought I was going to land the job, but instead I had to face this disappointment. I went for walks and practiced Yoga like a mad man trying to change my feelings. It wasn’t until I accepted this disappointment that I was able to move on.

3. Create a plan you can emotionally invest in

You can choose to wallow, or you can choose to create a plan of action that will focus your energy. You have to create a plan that will pull your emotions toward action. If you can’t get excited about the next plan then you will stay stuck.
I used to constantly make the mistake of trying practically the same plan without any changes. It’s important to create a new plan that will give you a better chance at success. This new plan should get that internal motivation back up and energized for a renewed effort.
Your new plan has to be more important than the previous pain of the last failure or else you won’t take action.

4. Take small actions

You have to take small actions that will help you build confidence. If you’ve created a plan that you can emotionally invest in, now it’s time to break down the goal into smaller pieces in order to quell your fear.
You must take actions on small goals because this makes it easier to feel successful. If you look at the project as a whole, it’s going to feel overwhelming. A series of small achievements will build confidence. When you believe you can accomplish a tough goal, you will have a better chance at success.
Once you are chipping away at the project you will gain momentum. A set back can easily slow that momentum down, so you need to make sure that you take the time to assess your accomplishments.

5. Review your progress

After completing small tasks, you should review your progress. Your motivation will dwindle if you don’t. So take the time to appreciate what you’ve accomplished and think about how you can be even more productive.
Fear is a tricky emotion. Fear may force you to see the negative in what you’ve accomplished, bringing down your mood and motivation. Remember #2 (Know that whatever you feel is okay). Acknowledge these feelings, but at the same time keep looking for the positive in what you’ve done.
I’ve been working on an ebook for this site. I want to give more in depth information about the emotional development that you can achieve at work. I have a tendency to finish a chapter, look back over it and internally beat myself up (Don’t do this to yourself). I’ve learned to stop this negative behavior (on most days).
Once these feelings pass, I settle myself and ask ‘What needs to be fixed?’ I’ll then start taking baby steps (Take small actions) to keep the process moving forward.

6. Find the Fun

The last step is to make the work as much fun as possible. If you aren’t having fun overcoming your fear then you are losing out on some amazing self teaching moments.
You need to discover a way to find the fun.
I used to hate editing. I would rather create something new all the time. The problem with disliking the editing process is that my unedited writing sounds like a 9^th grader wrote the piece.
When I edit I imagine myself as one of my favorite writers (Bukowski, Trunk, or Hemmingway), put on some masic (Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven), practice 60 seconds of deep breathing, put a little thanks into the universe for giving me the skills to reach wonderful people such as yourself and then I get started.
This set-up releases the hidden anger and impatience and allows me to enjoy the editing process.

Putting it All Together

Your fear is the heaviest detriment to your creativity. It can be an anchor on your imaginative thoughts.
When you let your fear hold you back, you are letting your emotions dictate your confidence.
You need to appreciate your fears and realize how they can help you, and then you need to let them go. This will allow you to do the great work that will bring you so much joy. You will soon find that every effort will fill you with so much passion that you can’t be stopped.
What do you do to let go of your fear so you can be creative at your job?

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