Southwestern Advantage Blog

The following is a paraphrased version of a blog (edited for our audience), originally found on cracked.com. This particular post, written by NYT best-selling author Jason Pargin (aka David Wong ), shares so many similar things that Southwestern Advantage teaches our student reps, we wanted to share a few of his thoughts with our audience. Enjoy. Start doing things that will make yourself become the type of person people want to be around. This is a first step that is nearly always skipped. People ask "How do I get a great job?" and not "How do I become the type of person employers want to hire?" Guys ask "How do I get pretty girls to like me?" instead of "What can I do to become the type of person that pretty girls like?" Maybe the reason is because that second question in both scenarios will very well require facing fears, giving up comforts, and changing your attitudes in life. "But why can't people just like me for me?...

"For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." I believe Shakespeare was on to something there. In Hamlet , Act II, Scene 2, his lead character makes that simple but profound revelation.  And so it is with our everyday lives. Our encounters, victories, frustrations, close misses -- all are subject to our own internal voice. Those little electrical connections that are buzzing in our brains are evaluating, judging, and commenting on the activities and events that are happening throughout our day. We've all found ourselves at the mercy of our own thoughts, but when we figure out how to actively divide our thoughts into different categories, we begin to make some headway.  I discovered that my own natural tendency is to drift towards negativity. Left to itself, my internal dialogue is rarely uplifting unless I'm actively pulling it in that direction.  "Do I like this?" No. "Am I good at this new activity?" Not rea...

Hey friends! Have you ever been at work and felt as if you were getting stuck mentally? In other words, you thought: "This can't be done," or "Hitting that goal seems impossible!" Of course you have, because we all have. We all tend to limit ourselves at times -- we get stuck in a comfort zone, and some irrational fears start chattering. Here's a principle of human nature that we can use in these moments. NLP shows us that questions are the answer. When our brain hears a question, no matter how unreasonable the questions may be, it automatically imagines an answer to it . Try it for yourself. Pick something that you feel like you cannot do, or never do very well. Then, ask yourself this question: " What would it be like if I could do ____ really well? " Example: "What would it be like if I could sing really well?" Or "What would it be like if I took action instead of procrastinated on my to-do lists?" Your brain automat...