I am a big fan of the modern day philosopher, Brian Johnson. He has created over 200 Philosopher’s Notes . Philosopher’s Notes are like Cliff Notes for Positive Psychology and Philosophy Books. His motto is “More Wisdom In Less Time.” In Brian’s book, A Philosopher’s Notes: On Optimal Living, Creating an Authentically Awesome Life and Other Such Goodness, Vol. 1, he covers his 10 Principles for Optimal Living. These 10 principles are based on the common themes he found after reading over 200 books for self-development.

My favorite topic in the book is the chapter called “The Integrity Gap”. In this chapter, Brian introduces the reader to the Greek word Areté. This word translates to “virtue” or “excellence”. But it has a deeper meaning of “living to your highest human potential moment to moment”. He illustrates the concept of Areté by drawing a picture for the reader.

It often becomes apparent when talking to others with low self-esteem (SE) and low self-confidence (SC), that there is confusion about how to nurture, develop or heal this mysterious internal thing, substance, state, trait, or attitude (SE) and its external manifestation (SC).

There is no simple answer to this mystery for those who, as a child, have been significantly neglected, (not loved at all, or not enough), abused, (if one wanted to be generously callous about this cruelty, in opposition to neglect it would be called overstimulation), or loved too much (spoiled by being treated as royalty, often expressed in learning the cost of everything but the value of nothing.) Not to mention those with disabilities; another whole topic...

Back in college, I came across a life-changing personal development concept. It made an immediate difference to my academic work – and it’s still something that helps me every day.

That concept was the idea of resistance, set out in Mark Forster’s book Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to Play. Resistance is that feeling you get when you think about a big project or a difficult task; you naturally want to put it off in favor of something easier....

“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be” – Joseph Campbell

If you can do it anyone else can do it too. Do you know that to be true? We all have the ability to stretch beyond our believed capacity and reach for the stars. But many of us have self-imposed beliefs that prevent us from getting to the next level.

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. Give up your need to always be right

 There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?