Welcome to AMAGOLDD's Blog

  It is a fact that life can be overwhelming. The continual pressure to look good, to perform well, and to compete for wealth and affection creates a good deal of stress and, sometimes, we have periods when we feel down. Try not to get discouraged, though — it happens to everyone. If you are struggling to stay motivated, whether in work or in life in general, try to refocus your energy, put events into perspective, and recharge your mental batteries. You’ll be out of your rut soon.

Motivate yourself. While the demands of work and everyday life are constant, our will and ambition are sometimes not up to the task. We reach low points. It becomes hard to accomplish routine tasks. During these low points we have to remind ourselves to stay motivated. Look for ways that will keep you on task and focused.

Be flexible. Events in life rarely go exactly as planned. We run into unexpected problems with work, finances, or family, and it is important to be ready to adapt. Flexibility requires having an open mind, being ready to accept change, and sometimes making painful decisions. Without it, you may find yourself with lost opportunities.

Pace yourself. While pursuing goals, it’s healthy in both work and life to know when to stop, take a break, and rest. Pacing will improve your mental and physical well-being, while preparing you to start anew with full tank of energy.

Manage your time wisely. Perfectionists sometimes have issues with prioritizing. For them, every task, large or small, must be flawlessly done. In the fact of challenges, however, this attitude leads to a lot of stress. Mental health experts suggest asking, "What now?" and the identification of what is really urgent and has a lower priority.

    What would life be without emotions? Bleak and dreary most likely. Most people would agree that emotions, that is, the capacity to feel and to care, and not just to think, make life worth living. Scientists have come a long way to understanding what emotions are and have documented what they feel like for most people. That said, there is still much about emotions that are controversial or debated.

Learn what emotions are. Emotions are programmed responses shaped by evolution that allow you to navigate your environment in ways that were generally adaptive in the past and are probably still adaptive today. Our ancestors who had the capacity to experience emotions like fear at the sight of a cliff would have been more cautious and more likely to survive and reproduce than those without the capacity to be afraid.

Know the basic emotions. Most psychologists agree that there are a set of so-called "basic emotions" that all humans are endowed with, just like eyes, legs, or arms. The basic emotions include anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.

Understand the role emotions play. Emotions are incredibly important for our survival, our ability to thrive, and our ability to make good decisions. The idea that there is a dichotomy between emotion and reason is false. The way in which emotions can be seen as important for survival is best illustrated with an example:

Recognize how emotions affect decision-making. Emotions are critically important toward our ability to make decisions. Emotions provide value or weight to some information, thereby biasing our decision-making in one direction or another. Several studies have found that people with lesions to parts of their brain that are involved with emotion, have impaired decision-making and in some cases impaired moral behavior.

Know that emotions can become disordered. Just as you could get a disorder of your kidneys or your eyes; your emotions can become disordered too. If you feel like your emotions are disordered, be sure to talk to a mental health professional about treatment options. Some of the more common disorders of emotion, or mental disorders in which emotions are affected include:

Record when your emotions occur. Once you have a sense of when emotions arise and what they feel like, you can take notes on your emotions to further understand them as they relate to you personally. To learn more about the specific emotions you experience and what triggers them in your life, keep a log of when you feel an emotion and what you think triggered it.

  Time management is an important skill to cultivate. It can help you make the most out of each day, leading to success in areas like work and school. To manage your time, use your time productively by working in the right environment and prioritizing tasks. Minimize distractions by shutting off your phone and social media when necessary. Make sure to follow a daily schedule that allows you to make the most out of each day.

Create the right environment to work. The environment you work in can help with your overall productivity. There are no strict rules about a work environment, so pick what feels right for you. Surround yourself with inspiring decorations that help you feel enthusiastic and passionate. These feelings will help you stay on task and be productive.

List your tasks in terms of importance. Before you begin your work load for the day, prioritize. To-do lists are a great tool, but organize them a little rather than just writing down everything that needs to get done. Group tasks in terms of importance.

Do important tasks first. Finishing crucial tasks first thing in the morning will leave you with a sense of accomplishment. The day will already feel like a success and a great deal of your stress will be eliminated. Start off each day by knocking out the most important tasks on your list.

Keep some work with you at all times. Take advantage of your downtime by keeping work with you at all times. If you have a few stray minutes on the bus, use that to read something for school or work. If you're waiting in line at the grocery store, return some work e-mails on your phone. If you always have work on you, you can always be making the most of your time.

Do not multitask. Many people assume multitasking is a great way to get more done each day and manage time wisely. However, focusing on multiple tasks at once actually makes you less productive. Things will take longer to do, as you're not giving anything your full attention. Focus completely on one task at a time instead. You will get your work done quicker this way, allowing you to make the most of your time.

   Negative thoughts and feelings have a way of popping up at inconvenient times and distracting us from the good things in life. Before long, our minds begin to slide toward negativity more often than not, and dwelling on dark emotions becomes a bad habit that's hard to kick. But, like breaking any other habit, it requires retraining yourself to think in a different way

When we are stressed we often have a million and one things happening at once and a chattering mind is one of the last things we need. Therefore, it’s very important to be able to spend some time to relax, put things in context and to let go.

Be in the moment. When your thoughts are spinning out of control, what are you normally thinking about? Chances are, you're dwelling on something that happened in the past - even if it just happened last week - or you're obsessing over something that has yet to happen. The key to stopping those thoughts in their tracks is to be aware of the present moment. Noticing what's happening right now necessarily yanks your thoughts out of those dark corners. This is because very often the thoughts stop just by focusing on them because they are suddenly exposed to scrutiny and your inner desires that are creating the thought process is seen in a different light. It sounds so simple, but as you probably know, it's not always easy to do. Here are a few ways to become more aware of what's happening right this second:

Engage with the world around you. Part of the downside of dwelling on negative memories or emotions is that you're forced to be a little distant from what's going on outside your head. When you consciously decide that you're going to come out of your shell and engage with the world, you leave less room in your mind for those niggling thoughts and feelings that normally sap your mental energy. By judging yourself on the theme of those thoughts it can actually make the problem harder to deal with. You might have been thinking about how much you don't like someone then feel guilty or angry for it. This then trains the mind to become habitual or ingrained as a cause and effect process and it becomes harder in future to be in control. Here are a few ways to start engaging on a basic level:

Be less self conscious. Self-negativity in its wide scope of forms is also the instigator of negative thoughts and feelings for many people. When you're self conscious, it's as though you have a second reel running through your head, distracting you no matter what else you're doing. For example, when you're talking to someone, you're thinking about how you look, or what impression you're having, instead of fully participating in the conversation. Curbing self consciousness is essential when it comes to letting go of negative thoughts and feelings so you can participate fully in life.

Nothing can be more discouraging and devastating than to see one’s mates become one’s mentor. Your mates are those with whom you started life together, grew up together, attended the same primary or secondary schools, your course mates in the higher institution of learning, your colleague at work with whom you started work together, while mentors are masters; people you look up to. People well above you whom you need to learn from, obey and respect.

When one’s mate becomes one’s mentor, then, many things must have gone wrong:

Laziness: It is a debilitating disease that cripples life and destiny. A lazy person will end up serving his/her mates because while those ones moved forward, the lazy stood still and waited for luck. Good enough, laziness is not inherited and it is not forced on anyone, it is a choice. You can choose not to be lazy.

Missed Opportunities: Many have lost so many opportunities and chances that would have seen them through to the top. The reasons for this are many and varied but largely, the forces responsible for missed opportunities are lack of preparation, lack of information and wrong locations.

Distractions: Many allow distractions into their lives. Like the prodigal son in the Bible, they allow friends, environment, bad influence, wrong habits, bewitchments and vanities of life to lure them away from the path of sanity. I pray you will not be distracted. You will make it in life. Your steps will be divinely arranged in Jesus name.

   I know people who cry everyday over what they have lost in life: chances, relationship, opportunities, business, money, friends, house etc. To them, it is always as if that thing which was lost was what God would have used to help, sustain or bless them. If you are in that category, please know that God does not need what you have lost to bless you as what is left is more than what He needs to transform your destiny.

   Thank God for the gift of life. If you have been swept away by your crisis, you won’t be alive to think or talk about the losses. Know that when there is life, there is hope. God is still on the throne, He has not neglected you neither has He abandoned your issue.

   God is aware of your present state and your needs. He knows everything you have passed through and are still passing through. He sees everything and knows that you need help. Often times, it seems as if you are alone but I assure you God is always with you. It is the same God that permitted what happened to you, for nothing can go wrong with us without His permission. You did not beg Him to create you neither did He seek your consent before creating and sending you to where you found yourself. Therefore, He has purpose for you and He will soon make you a shining example to the world. I enjoin you to calm down for He is at work in your life. It took Him six days to create this world, though, He could have done it in one hour or one day but He took His time just as He is taking time to perfect all that concerns you. Very soon you shall manifest for the world to see in Jesus name.

             Bible Verse: Job 42:10

And the LORD turned down the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friend: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

   Achieving greatness is something that is hard to define. What makes a person great is often highly personal, and one person’s idea of greatness may not be someone else’s. There are, however, concrete ways for you to get started on achieving your dreams and goals. As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Decide on your greatness goal. “Being great” is such an undefinable thing that you have to choose something concrete to work with. Think about your strengths and your areas for improvement, and decide on a goal that makes sense for your personality. Research shows that you’re most likely to achieve a goal if it’s something you want and something you’re willing to work hard to achieve.

Frame the problem properly. Now that you have your list of the great things you want to accomplish, you need to frame the problem of achieving them so that you don't get overwhelmed. It's easy to feel like you can't achieve your goals, especially when you're just starting out. Frame your goals so that your goal is something you’re working toward, rather than something you’re trying to move away from. You’re more likely to achieve your goals when they’re positive!

Make your goal specific. Once you’ve framed your goals in a positive way, make sure you can achieve them. The best way to do this is to make your goals as specific as possible. Setting a specific goal makes you more likely to not only achieve what you want, but to achieve more happiness in general!

Use positive thinking. Visualization techniques can help you achieve greatness. Studies have shown that visualization can effective in improving athletic and academic performance. Many athletes (such as Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods) have used visualization to help them win boxing matches, races, even golf tournaments. There are two basic types of visualization, outcome visualization and process visualization, and you should use them together for best results:

Use positive action. While positive visualization is very effective, it must be coupled with positive action. You have to actively work towards the goals you have set, rather than simply enjoy the thought of achieving them. This is where process visualization pays off: once you have envisioned each step you need to take to achieve a goal, it will be easier to actually take those steps.

Examine others' success stories. You'll need to look and see what made other people, especially people who are doing the things you're aiming to do, succeed in their chosen path. There are often threads of similarities that run through these stories.

Devote yourself to something greater. Essential to a life lived fully is devotion to some work or purpose greater than yourself. How you define that work is completely up to you. It might be providing for your family, pursuing an art, worshipping a higher power, or giving back to your community. Find something that you can throw yourself into completely.

Work hard. Whatever it is you choose to do on a daily basis is completely up to you, but you should work as hard as possible and be the best version of yourself in light of that work. Take pride in what you do and carry yourself upright. If you're unhappy or unsatisfied in your job, quit as soon as possible and seek employment elsewhere. You only live once.

Set goals for yourself and actively work toward them. What do you hope to accomplish in the next five years? The next ten years? Setting goals and feeling as if you're actively improving your life and moving toward some attainable goal creates a sense of purpose and drive in lots of people. If you're one of them, Try to write down meaningful goals for yourself and hang them in your workspace, or your living space. Remind yourself at the end of each day what you've done to work toward that goal. Celebrate even little things.

Find out what you have a talent for. It's nice to be good at what you do, especially if you're the type of person for whom positive feedback is important. Go into a field or career that you have some innate talent for, regardless of the prestige or the financial gain of it.

Make mistakes and learn to live with them. No one does everything right. Dwelling on failures, though, is a good way to keep yourself down in the dumps and living less than a life. Let your failures act as fuel in your ambition. Learn from mistakes and do better next time.

   Being your own hero is about rising to the occasion and being the best you can be. Striving toward being a hero in your own life means living with purpose and conviction, helping others, and being a leader (most superheroes have side-kicks, henchmen, fans, or followers). You can learn to be your own hero by improving yourself and developing hero-like qualities, setting and achieving goals, and helping others.

Enhance your integrity. Think of a personal hero--real, fictional, dead or alive. What are the qualities you look up to in this person? If you don't have one, you can create one based on the qualities you most admire in people or would love to possess. Chances are that this hero you have in mind will have integrity. Being a credible hero is about being trustworthy, and having strong moral values (sense of right and wrong).

Be courageous. Courage is another strong value of a hero. Being courageous means having independence, facing your fears, and being willing to take risks.

Look on the bright side. Heroes do not dwell on the negative because if they did they would not have enough energy to save people and fight the bad guys. Heroes believe in themselves and think they can go up against anyone at any time. Positive thinking can increase self-esteem and overall life satisfaction. You are going to need that positive outlook and optimism to be a confident hero in your life.

Acknowledge your weaknesses. Self-awareness is an important component of being a good hero. Being your own hero is not about feigning a false image of yourself to the world or becoming a narcissist without true integrity. Being your own hero is about knowing your strengths as well as your downfalls. Even Superman was weak to kryptonite.

Regulate your emotions. Heroes are calm in the face of danger. If you find yourself getting upset try stopping yourself and taking a step back from the situation.

Saving money and sticking to a budget are always a challenge. There are so many opportunities to spend money without thinking, and so many of life's obligations and opportunities require a chunk of your finances. How do you cultivate the spending and lifestyle habits to avoid losing money?

Do not buy things just because they are expensive. In marketing they call this a surrogate indicator – it is the idea that because something is expensive it is of higher quality. This often has no bearing on the reality of the product. Many times a product is simply expensive because people are willing to pay a lot of money for it – not because the product is of high quality.

Value your money. Many people lose money simply because they do not value it. You are very easily going to give up that which you do not value and money is no exception to that rule. Many people think that having no money is a noble thing but there is no nobility in poverty alone and it is definitely not a noble thing to lose all of your money simply because you do not value it.

Don’t spend more than you earn. This is the key to financial stability. The moment you start spending more than you earn is the moment you begin to become financially complacent. Such a habit can be difficult to recover from.

Budget your money. Budgeting is a tried and tested way to remain on to of your finances and stop yourself from losing out. There are numerous ways to budget your money and many of them are on this website.

   

   While it’s easy to believe that because past events are over they should just go away on their own, it’s not always easy. Unforgettable experiences, especially traumatic ones, have the power to affect you on a neurological level, and leave traces on our body and mind that can influence your behavior for years, sometimes decades, to come. The memories of these events can influence you on both a neurological and psychological level with or without your awareness of it. Learning to live with the effects of such experiences can be difficult, but is never impossible, no matter how impactful the experience was. While learning to let go of the influence of painful memories will take time and effort on your part, there are ways for you to learn to let go of painful memories.

Recognize the physical signs of emotional trauma. Sometimes particularly impactful experiences can leave noticeable physical traces indicative of emotional trauma. If you have certain symptoms, it could be the case that the painful memories you have are associated with some emotional trauma that is affecting your physical health. No two people will ever express their reaction to trauma in the same way, so it’s important to consider your own situation individually, perhaps in dialogue with a mental health professional.

Figure out the impact. The first thing you have to figure out is precisely how painful memories might be impacting your current life. Because particularly impactful experiences in the past can affect you in the most subtle of neurological and psychological levels, you are not always aware of how they might be influencing your behavior in the present. While all of your current behaviors and ideas are influenced to some extent by past behaviors, those that have left painful memories often affect you more than others.

Engage with anxiety. Whenever you start to feel anxiety in situations that remind of painful memories, engage with the anxiety. Identify the memories as such and experiment with what’s happening as opposed to simply removing yourself from the situation entirely. Psychologists have several different techniques for working through issues like this, but two similar and effective methods are mindsight and mindfulness. In either case, the goal here is to learn to pay attention to when anxiety arises. When it does, focus on aspects of the situation you can control, such as your breath, in order to slow the situation down enough to where you no longer feel overwhelmed.

Focus on the future. Living in the past and in your painful memories is not healthy. You will never go forward or enjoy new things if your mind is always stuck in the past. This kind of rumination has been linked with depression, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and many other issues. In order to stop ruminating, take part in activities that help your focus on the present or future. Make plans for the weekend with friends, think about a vacation you want to save up for, or think about career or life goals that you have yet to achieve. Anything positive will help you keep your focus from spiraling down into your painful memories.

   It might surprise you to hear that you will remain where you have always been for as long as possible, except you make deliberate and informed efforts at moving forward. Today’s message perfectly aligns with Isaac Newton’s first law of motion; all things remain in a state of rest, or in a linear motion until a greater external force is applied to it.

   Almost everything is tied to personal growth. For example, ability to solve problems, leading effectively, accomplishing a bigger task, even maximizing one’s potential is possible on the platform of personal development. Mental, spiritual and emotional growths are neither automatic nor exclusive reserve of some people. You cannot improve your life by simply folding your arms, watching. You must be intentional about it. Just as James Allen said, ‘those who are anxious to improve their performances, result levels, incomes, impact and relevance but are unwilling to improve themselves will remain bound’. Ask any World Champion in any event, at the Olympic, the secrets behind his success, he will tell you it is continuous personal development.

   The gap between where you are and where you want to be is growth. Today’s anchor text puts it right: ‘just as new born babies desperately and passionately crave the milk from their mothers, you should crave personal development’. So, from this Bible verse, it is clear that the first step to get better is a strong desire to getting better. Thank God for where you are now, but hate to remain where you are. Then follow your desire with relevant and progressive actions. Draw a personal development plan so you can take complete control of your growth process. No one did it for those who have enviably succeeded. No one will do it for you. The time has come for you to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start walking towards the man you want to be. God bless you, enjoy your day.

Read everything. Recent studies show that people who enjoy reading novels are more easily able to empathize with others, a sign of a strong and well-rounded mind. If you want to work on increasing your mental strength, read a variety of things that you enjoy.

Try to learn something new every week. Ever get the feeling that each day looks a lot the same? As we get older, our mental pathways are more and more defined. Where each summer day seemed to last forever when we were kids, the weeks peel off more quickly as you age. Mental strength requires that you continue building new neural pathways by learning new things.

Socialize more. "Book smarts" are important, but it's also important to understand how things play out in the real world. Social intelligence and wit are important parts of all-around mental health and well-being. If you can't carry on a conversation, work on your social skills along with your mental health building skills.

Challenge yourself. Try things that you're not sure you'll be able to pull off. Decide that you're not only going to learn guitar, but that you're going to learn to shred a fast solo note-for-note. Decide that you're not only going to play chess, but that you're going to study openings and learn to play like a grandmaster. Keep working on a task until you're at the difficult setting.

Exercise your mind regularly. Just as you can't build muscle by eating cake for three weeks straight before you start lifting at the gym, so too you can't gain mental strength by goofing off and then focusing only every now and then. Being consistent with brain exercise is more important than the intensity of the workout.