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Articles from Craig Harper | Selfgrowth.com
- Learning to be Proactive not Reactive - by Submitted on Apr 22, 2007 from Craig HarperOne of the interesting things about my work is that I get the opportunity to see how people 'work'... how they're wired. Typical behaviours, thinking, attitudes, reactions. How they deal with situations, circumstances, events, catastrophes, tragedies, good stuff, bad stuff; life. It's all ...
Views: 6775 - What Can An Amateur Nudist Teach Us About Taking Risks - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2011 from Craig HarperToday, I received the following letter from one of my friends. Turns out she’s recently become an amateur nudist. The Letter Today, I did something that I’ve never done before. Something fun, that is – I’ve never changed the oil on my car before but that’s not exactly on my ...
Views: 1889 - Ten Ways to be More Attractive - by Submitted on Apr 16, 2007 from Craig Harper* I so wanted this to be a brief, quirky, interesting article... maybe four, five hundred words tops. A thousand words later... here it is. I can't help myself. I think I talk too much. I need help. School report from 1977: "Craig has a propensity to be somewhat verbose and distracting in ...
Views: 1748 - Do You Make These 10 Common Mistakes Before Weighing Yourself? - by Submitted on Mar 06, 2011 from Craig HarperScale Addicts Over the years, I’ve dealt with my fair share of weigh-a-holics. That is, people who step on the scales far too often. Some do it every day of their lives. Morning and night. Some step on and off five times in ten seconds in the hope that a lower figure might magically appear ...
Views: 1381(2 votes) - How to Overcome Your Comfort Addiction - by Submitted on Feb 08, 2011 from Craig HarperWhen Enough is Enough Despite my pseudo-tough exterior, I’m normally pretty patient and tolerant when it comes to listening to people’s stuff. At times, I’m even kind, sympathetic and generous. Surprising, I know. Who knew? However, in recent times, I’ve had my limits tested. Maybe I’ve ...
Views: 1348 - How To Start Thinking Positively In Less Than Sixty Seconds - by Submitted on Mar 08, 2011 from Craig HarperSo if thinking positively is such a universal pursuit, why does it prove to be so elusive to so many? Dare I say, the majority? How To Start Thinking Positively In Less Than Sixty Seconds: 1. You are not your body and your body is not you but you best look after each other anyway. You might ...
Views: 1311 - My Life.... Five Years From Now - by Submitted on Aug 05, 2007 from Craig HarperIf you've come in search of hilarity, mirth and entertainment today, you best look elsewhere. Because today I'm sharing some old-school, self-help, get-yer-shit-together... love. Got a buddy (surprising I know) who is always just about to turn his life (career, body, relationships, finances, ...
Views: 1307 - The Ancient Art of Complication - by Submitted on Sep 12, 2007 from Craig HarperDo you ever marvel at some people's uncanny ability to make the simple, complex? The straight forward, anything but? A ten minute task, a two week saga? I meet these people every day. Please stop sending them my way. They are the woe-is-me brigade. The Brothers (and Sisters) Grim. (The real ...
Views: 1301 - The Social Sheep - by Submitted on May 17, 2007 from Craig HarperGrowing up in Australia means growing up with sheep. Well, kind of. Not that we have them sleeping in our lounge room or running around our front yard or anything, but Australia, amongst other things, is a farming nation and at some stage, most Aussie kids (although less these days) have spent ...
Views: 1271 - My Body is Not Who I am... It's Just Where I Iive. - by Submitted on May 23, 2007 from Craig HarperIt seems to me that many of us don't really know who we are. We have our very own personal identity crisis. We spend our very busy lives doing stuff, achieving stuff.... but still not really knowing who we are. What's you're identity? Who are you really? If we take away all your stuff... ...
Views: 1230 - Bench Press for Your Brain - by Submitted on Jun 13, 2007 from Craig HarperWe all understand what happens to our body as it ages. Without intervention (an exercise/activity program) we know that our muscles waste, our lung capacity decreases, our heart gets weaker, our bones become brittle, our flexibility and mobility decrease, our reaction time slows, our posture ...
Views: 1206 - Weight-Loss Bullshit - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2007 from Craig HarperSo I'm wearing my Exercise Scientist hat today. And my Psychologist cardigan. And my steel-capped, ass-kicking boots. I may be blunt. Okay, I will be. But honest. Possibly... politically incorrect. Okay, probably. Will possibly say what you don't want to hear. Feel free to look away... ...
Views: 1197 - The Master of the Pointless Conversation - by Submitted on Aug 08, 2007 from Craig HarperIf you're like most people, then you often feel like you're spending far too much time and emotional energy having certain conversations with certain people. Imagine how many years we could add to our lives if we could reclaim all the time we've wasted on those pointless, meaningless, ...
Views: 1154 - The Law of Attraction should be renamed The Law of Distraction - by Submitted on Jun 30, 2007 from Craig HarperToday I'm stepping out on to the cyber high-wire. I'm performing a high-risk blogging manoeuvre. No safety net. No cyber-harness. I'm going to write a brief opinion piece on the Law of Attraction (LOA). Possibly a no-win situation for me. Aah well. Advocates (of the concept) will disagree ...
Views: 1089 - Happily Imperfect - by Submitted on May 21, 2007 from Craig HarperMost of us live in a culture and society which is totally obsessed with perfection. An obsession which invariably leads to pain. Emotional, psychological, physical, social and financial pain. The perfection obsession is rampant. It's completely ridiculous. It's unhealthy. It's ...
Views: 1087 - Paris in the Big House... so NOT FAIR. - by Submitted on Jun 05, 2007 from Craig HarperWarning: If you're after some hard-hitting, life-changing, mind-altering, insight, wisdom and enlightenment from yours truly today... then check out one of your other favourite writers. Seriously. This is certainly no Personal Development piece... social commentary perhaps. A little ...
Views: 1086 - 25 Things You Blokes (Probably) Won’t Hear From Your Lady - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2009 from Craig HarperA few months back we explored a bit of fun and silly-ness with an amusing little article article called “Twenty Three Things You Ladies (Probably) Won’t Hear From Your Bloke”. Well, it seems that I’m not the only one who likes to laugh at myself or take the piss out of my own gender. I have had ...
Views: 1071(2 votes) - The Ship Without a Rudder - by Submitted on Jun 20, 2007 from Craig HarperLately I have spent a great deal of time with rudder-less ships. People who get up each morning and do exactly what they did yesterday. Not that they particularly want to... it's just what they do. They do the same. Day in, day out. Year in, year out. They expend a huge amount of energy sailing ...
Views: 1069 - How To Liberate Yourself By Letting Go Of The Need to Be Right - by Submitted on Apr 10, 2011 from Craig HarperNot So Smart After All When I was twenty-seven, I thought I knew almost everything. At thirty-seven, it was becoming apparent that I wasn’t nearly as smart as I had originally thought. Now, at forty-seven, I realise I don’t know much at all. In fact, if I stay on my current trajectory, by ...
Views: 1064 - Practical Parenting - Questions You Need to Ask Yourself - by Submitted on Feb 04, 2011 from Craig HarperParenting 101 Yesterday at lunch, I had a fascinating conversation with my business partners Mikey and Johnny about parenting. Mikey has two kids (ages one and three), as does Johnny (seven and ten) and we discussed the merits and pitfalls of the various parenting styles. Of course we covered ...
Views: 1060 - Excuse Me While I Sing Into My Hairbrush - by Submitted on May 15, 2007 from Craig HarperYesterday I went for a run along the beach near my house. Burned a few cals, got a bit of sun... no biggie... except for the fact that I got a life-lesson from a five year-old. Here's the scene: The ex-bodybuilder with the dodgy lower-back running (for want of a more descriptive or accurate ...
Views: 1058 - Adaptation = Happiness... or does it? - by Submitted on Jun 06, 2007 from Craig HarperYou'd hafta be silly or brave to write a post on happiness. So silly me is gonna give it a crack. I had no plans for this piece (like I plan my writing!)... it came out of a conversation I had yesterday. It asked to be written. It's fair to assume that we're all different and therefore all have ...
Views: 1043 - Stop Interrupting me with Your Logic; I'm Having a Breakdown. - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2007 from Craig HarperYou don't need a PhD to understand that we human beings are complex physical, emotional, spiritual and cerebral creatures; we all get this. (I hope). And while we know that we're highly-evolved (some more than others), multi-dimensional beings, the truth is that some of us have a propensity to ...
Views: 1031 - You're Not the Boss of Me. - by Submitted on Jun 17, 2007 from Craig HarperThere's a lot of great things about being a kid. You don't have to pay for stuff. You get to lick the cake-mix bowl (a personal highlight for me). You can actually tell people what you think. You can build cool stuff from junk and grown-ups tell you it's great. Old people spoil you. You can use ...
Views: 958 - Why Do You Do Exactly What You Did Yesterday, Even Though Yesterday Was Crap - by Submitted on Jun 19, 2011 from Craig HarperSo, How’s Your Life? Just asking. Do your best to answer that question honestly and courageously. If you can, avoid the flippant, generic (“great thanks Craig”) response. Think carefully for a minute and give your authentic answer; the truth behind the ‘you show’. If you are great then ...
Views: 955 - 6 Questions To Ask Yourself When You Think Your Life's Unfair - by Submitted on May 20, 2011 from Craig HarperFairness: What an Interesting Concept In life, sometimes stuff works out and sometimes, it doesn’t. Of course it does. And doesn’t. Sometimes, things go exactly to plan and sometimes, our plan kicks us in the nuts. Sometimes, we manage our situation and sometimes, our situation manages us. ...
Views: 951 - Exercise Adherence (14 Secrets to Staying on Track) - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2007 from Craig HarperAs an Exercise Scientist I get a bunch of emails on this topic so I thought I'd save myself some letter-writing time and discuss publicly how we can best maintain our focus and commitment to our exercise program, as it seems to be a challenge for many of us. We all talk about regular, consistent ...
Views: 951 - The Personal Development Zombie - by Submitted on May 26, 2007 from Craig HarperIt seems we have a not-so-new, but rarely discussed scourge on the Personal Development landscape. We've all met Mr and Mrs fit-in-at-all-costs; the Social Zombie (what would you like me to do, be, say?). But over the last decade or three we have seen the rise of the Personal Development ...
Views: 945 - The Fat Blogger. - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2007 from Craig HarperLadies and gentleman of the jury, it is my contention that the blogoshpere is in fact a dangerous place to live. Bad for one's physical health. Nice place to visit... but not to inhabit. And today, I intend to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that there exists an indisputable relationship ...
Views: 935 - Grooming Our Kids for Failure. - by Submitted on Mar 28, 2007 from Craig HarperRecently on a current affairs television program here in Melbourne there was a story exploring the concept of children not receiving 'traditional' school report cards and not being graded (marked) on their school work at all. The key message of the program was that evaluating our kids and ...
Views: 930 - Life Beyond the Physical... Exploring the Oogabooga (part one) - by Submitted on Jul 20, 2007 from Craig HarperYou've all heard me say many times that we are multi-dimensional, complex, amazing beings. And nearly every day I talk about how we might create positive change in all areas of our lives and day-to-day reality; ways that we might learn, grow, change, improve, adapt, help others, live more ...
Views: 928 - So, You Want to be a Writer? - by Submitted on May 30, 2007 from Craig HarperSo the guy who's never done a writing workshop, never studied journalism, never taken a class in English Literature, never read anything more than comics or muscle mags for the first twenty years of his life.. and wouldn't know a pronoun from a protein... is surely not the person to give anyone ...
Views: 926 - Mind Of A Teacher, Heart Of A Student. - by Submitted on Mar 11, 2008 from Craig HarperOver the last week I have received a bunch of emails and comments asking me about my trip and what I've learned and enjoyed hanging out with some of the best educators, speakers, writers and pioneers in the world of fitness and health. And I mean literally the world; these people flew in to ...
Views: 905 - The REAL SECRET of Success. - by Submitted on Jun 12, 2007 from Craig HarperPart of my job as an educator, motivator, coach (etc.) is to sell stuff. Kind of. Not physical stuff (toasters, convertibles, cross-bows... although that'd be fun) but more the emotional and psychological stuff like... ideas, concepts, philosophies, strategies. In order to get people to take ...
Views: 903 - A Practical Guide to Overcoming Procrastination - by Submitted on Jul 14, 2007 from Craig HarperI know, I know; it's a boring title... not creative, not amusing, not clever. But for many of us, it's a very relevant subject. Every now and then I take off my silly, creative, fun hat and put on my let's-address-this-problem-in-a-practical-way.. hat. Today is such a day. Mr. Serious Personal ...
Views: 901 - I'll Just Sneak out the Back Door... Nobody will Notice - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2007 from Craig HarperFor my international visitors: parts of this post may be somewhat confusing because much of the discussion is in reference to a well known football player in our national league here in Australia (the AFL). Just know that he's a champion athlete and a champion person and you'll get the ...
Views: 887 - How to Tell When Someone is Lying - by Submitted on Feb 21, 2011 from Craig HarperPants on Fire Hi Guys. I’ve written about lying before but not in any great detail. Some researchers suggest that the average person lies three times every ten minutes in conversation but for all we know, that could be a lie. I find it a fascinating subject to explore mostly because so few ...
Views: 845 - Relationships: When To Stay And When To Go - by Submitted on May 23, 2011 from Craig HarperThe Relationships We Choose Before I go any further, let me make an important distinction about relationships: some are optional (husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, business partner, friend, associate) and some aren’t (family). Like it or not, your dad will always be your dad and your mum ...
Views: 843 - What Can Oprah Teach Us About Using What We’ve Been Given - by Submitted on May 30, 2011 from Craig HarperWhat Matters? A close friend of mine has an elderly father who is on the home stretch of his time down here on the big blue ball. And while I don’t know him well, he’s been on my mind lately. I worry about him and his family. For the last few days, I’ve wondered what a person thinks about ...
Views: 840 - Doctor Phil's Got Issues Too... - by Submitted on May 03, 2007 from Craig HarperTo be honest... sometimes (not often... but occasionally) the captain of inspiration and motivation (and political in-correctness)... sits at the his keyboard with that stupid, vacant, 'I've-got-absolutely-nuthin' look on his face. In his normally, sharp-as-a-tac mind (okay, that's a big lie), ...
Views: 821 - How to Get Out of A Self Created, Less Than Desirable Reality - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2011 from Craig HarperToo Heavy or Too Short? A few years back, I met with a guy who wanted my help to lose some weight; not an altogether uncommon request in my world. Without giving you specific details, it’s fair to say that he was morbidly obese. That is, huge. Somewhere in the vicinity of double his ideal ...
Views: 820(1 vote) - Do It Yourself Prison - by Submitted on Apr 11, 2007 from Craig HarperWe all live somewhere. Some of us live in our nice comfy houses. Some of us live in our big palatial mansions. Some in our trendy apartments. Some of us live in our modest bungalows. And some of us live in prison. Jail (gaol). The big house. The slammer. The slot. The pen. The joint. In ...
Views: 818 - Maybe the Beatles Were Right - by Submitted on May 16, 2007 from Craig HarperYa gotta love love don'tcha? Maybe the Beatles were right. Isn't it great that so many people from so many places can come together (blogospherically) and connect and reach out to someone else. No agenda, no ulterior motive. Just love, compassion and care. Nice. Sometimes us personal ...
Views: 817 - Creating Something (spectacular) from Nothing - by Submitted on May 26, 2007 from Craig HarperIn 1988 I had the idea of setting up a Personal Training centre in Melbourne. There were no commercial PT facilities in this country at the time. It would be Australia's first appointment-only gym. I was young, had no business experience, no tertiary qualification and not much money. Clearly, a ...
Views: 803 - Excess - by Submitted on Apr 02, 2007 from Craig Harper* Excess (noun): more than or above what is necessary or usual. Unnecessary indulgence. Is it just me, or do some of you also feel that perhaps most of us actually have... 'enough'. Perhaps we don't actually need a 'better' computer with more ram, mega-thingies, or gigga-wotsits. Maybe we ...
Views: 792 - Here’s a Quick Way to Reduce Global Obesity - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2011 from Craig HarperTake a Seat. Or Maybe Not. It may or may not surprise you to learn that many Australians (and many people from most first-world countries for that matter) spend somewhere in the vicinity of twenty-two to twenty-three hours per day either sitting or lying. That’s 91.5 – 96% of their (our) time ...
Views: 784 - How To Manage Self Doubt When You Feel Like A Fake - by Submitted on May 17, 2011 from Craig HarperThe Pretender Put up your hand if you ever feel like a fraud. A fake? A phoney? A pretender? Me too. Even in the middle of some (relative) success, I have often felt not ‘something’ enough. Not smart enough. Qualified enough. Experienced enough. Lean enough. Young enough. Old enough. Funny ...
Views: 784 - Build a Better Version of You That You Can Be Proud Of - by Submitted on Mar 04, 2011 from Craig HarperTransformation is the Motivation Everyone has one thing in common: a desire to change something (or maybe, many things) about their current reality. It’s normal to want better. More. The same can be said for people who join a gym, enlist the services of a life coach, start their own business, ...
Views: 762 - How To Find Peace in Our Fast Paced World - by Submitted on Apr 05, 2011 from Craig HarperThe Rush of Humanity It often occurs to me that, in the middle of all our energy-saving, time-saving technology and breakthroughs, in some ways, we’re no better off. Of course, life is easier on a practical level but I wonder if easier necessarily equates to better? And I wonder if easier ...
Views: 755 - Lessons in Pain - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2007 from Craig HarperSome of our best lessons come out of painful experiences. Most of my significant life lessons have been painful and have often had something to do with people that I trusted, respected and (stupidly) expected more of. Darn those expectations!!! Over the years I have had people whom I loved, ...
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