The booklet "The Testament of a Furniture Dealer" (PDF) was written by IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad in 1976 and describes the essence of IKEA as a company and its cornerstones in nine segments.

From segment number 4 – "Reaching good results with small means":

That is an old IKEA idea that is more relevant than ever. Time after time we have proved that we can get good results with small means or very limited resources.

[…]

Waste of resources is one of the greatest diseases of mankind.Many modern buildings are more like monuments to human stupidity than rational answers to needs. But waste costs us even more in little everyday things: filing papers that you will never need again; spending time proving that you were right anyway; postponing a decision to the next meeting because you do not want to take the responsibility now; telephoning when you could just as easily write a note or send a fax. The list is endless.

It doesn't come as a complete surprise to learn that investor Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett's longtime business partner, are avid readers, but nevertheless is Farnam Street's article "The Buffett Formula — How To Get Smarter" an inspiring read.

Warren Buffett says, "I just sit in my office and read all day."

What does that mean? He estimates that he spends 80% of his working day reading and thinking.

"You could hardly find a partnership in which two people settle on reading more hours of the day than in ours," Charlie Munger commented.

When asked how to get smarter, Buffett once held up stacks of paper and said "read 500 pages like this every day. That's how knowledge builds up, like compound interest."

[…]

"Neither Warren nor I is smart enough to make the decisions with no time to think," Munger once told a reporter. "We make actual decisions very rapidly, but that's because we've spent so much time preparing ourselves by quietly sitting and reading and thinking."

In an experiment conducted by the Happiness Research Institute in Denmark, results show that people got happier, more social, productive, present and less stressed by stop using Facebook for one week.

Researchers in Denmark who split 1,095 daily Facebook users into two groups, half given access to the site as normal and the remainder forced to quit cold turkey, found that after a week those on a break from the social network felt 55% less stressed.

"We look at a lot of data on happiness and one of the things that often comes up is that comparing ourselves to our peers can increase dissatisfaction," said Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

"Facebook is a constant bombardment of everyone else's great news, but many of us look out of the window and see grey skies and rain (especially in Denmark!)," he said. "This makes the Facebook world, where everyone's showing their best side, seem even more distortedly bright by contrast, so we wanted to see what happened when users took a break."

You find the complete "The Facebook Experiment" report here (PDF).

From The School of Life, an interesting video about the psychology of pricing and why we dislike cheap items.

But, I'm not sure if I can identify with the information – many of my most beloved personal items have been bought second hand and didn't cost much, and if I like something, I like it despite the price.

Via Holy Kaw.

In the documentary "Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru" (2016), filmmaker Joe Berlinger, who among many productions has made the captivating "Paradise Lost" trilogy (1996–2011) and the intimate Metallica documentary "Some Kind of Monster" (2004), conveys motivational speaker Robbins' six-day seminar "Date with Destiny".

Berlinger got interested in making the film after having attended the seminar himself, but it took two years of discussion before Robbins wanted to participate in the project.

How did you end up attending his seminar?

I met Tony through some mutual friends, and he was a fan of my Metallica film. We hit it off, and he sensed I was having some issues in my life and he invited me to attend the seminar.

You said you went kicking and screaming.

I’m not a touchy-feely person. I don’t normally participate in these kinds of things. I’m more of an observer. I look through a camera for a reason. At the first break of the first morning, I fled the room and called my wife to ask, “How do I get the hell out of here?” It was touching a deep nerve in me. Strangers hugging one another, people pairing off and sharing their intimate feelings — it was not for me, so I thought. My wife encouraged me to stick it out, and I ended up having a very profound experience.

What was Tony Robbins’s response to your interest in making a movie?

I chased him for about two years. He was very reluctant.

His biggest concern was that he didn’t want a camera crew intruding on people’s experiences. Even though he has cameras there, those cameras aren’t always in people’s faces the way a documentarian is. We talked through it, and I had to reassure him that I’ve filmed very sensitive situations over the years and can do it in a way that doesn’t impact the experience.

The documentary premiered at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival and will be released on Netflix on July 15.

Image credit: Amanda Mills

Via Brian Koppelman.

These three simple words, "I am excited" (excuse me for The Pointer Sisters reference above), can help transform anxiety into excitement. For those of you who are familiar with the quote "Fear is excitement without the breath" from Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt therapy, this might not come as a total surprise.

The Atlantic's Olga Khazan talked to professor Alison Wood Brooks about her findings:

[…] When most people feel anxious, they likely tell themselves to just relax. "When asked, 'how do you feel about your upcoming speech?', most people will say, 'I'm so nervous, I'm trying to calm down,'" said Alison Wood Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School who has studied the phenomenon. She cites the ubiquitous "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters as partial evidence.

But that might be precisely the wrong advice, she said. Instead, the slogan should be more like, "Get Amped and Don't Screw Up."

That's because anxiety and excitement are both aroused emotions. In both, the heart beats faster, cortisol surges, and the body prepares for action. In other words, they're "arousal congruent." The only difference is that excitement is a positive emotion‚ focused on all the ways something could go well.

Calmness is also positive, meanwhile, but it's also low on arousal. For most people, it takes less effort for the brain to jump from charged-up, negative feelings to charged-up, positive ones, Brooks said, than it would to get from charged-up and negative to positive and chill. In other words, its easier to convince yourself to be excited than calm when you’re anxious.

You find Brooks full paper "Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-Performance Anxiety as Excitement" to read for free here.

Individuals often feel anxious in anticipation of tasks such as speaking in public or meeting with a boss. I find that an overwhelming majority of people believe trying to calm down is the best way to cope with pre-performance anxiety. However, across several studies involving karaoke singing, public speaking, and math performance, I investigate an alternative strategy: reappraising anxiety as excitement. Compared to those who attempt to calm down, individuals who reappraise their anxious arousal as excitement feel more excited and perform better. Individuals can reappraise anxiety as excitement using minimal strategies such as self-talk (e.g., saying "I am excited" out loud) or simple messages (e.g., "get excited"), which lead them to feel more excited, adopt an opportunity mindset (as opposed to a threat mindset), and improve their subsequent performance. These findings suggest the importance of arousal congruency during the emotional reappraisal process.

And in closing, I highly recommend you to watch health psychologist Kelly McGonigal's excellent TED talk "How to Make Stress Your Friend" that urges you to befriend stress and thus transform it into something more pleasurable and healthier.

A Book Review in Swedish Based on the Work of Mental Training Expert Lars-Eric Uneståhl, Ph.D.

The following text is a review in Swedish about the book "Huvudrätt: mental träning för alla" (Main Course: Mental Training for Everyone). The book is based on the teachings of one of the world's foremost expert on mental training, Lars-Eric Uneståhl, Ph.D. You can read about Uneståhl's work here, and find out more about the courses in English he has to offer, for example the extensive distance UMT-course (Unestahl Mental Training).

Bokrecension av 'Huvudrätt: mental träning för alla' (2015)

Vad jag håller i min hand vill jag sammanfatta som Lars-Eric Uneståhls, fil. dr i psykologi och grundare av Skandinaviska Ledarhögskolan samt pionjär inom mental träning, PUMT-kurs (Personlig Utveckling genom Mental Träning) i mini- och bokformat, som löper under 150 dagar. "Huvudrätt: mental träning för alla" (2015) ger dig möjlighet att snabbt och okomplicerat komma igång och träna mentalt.

Till sin hjälp har Uneståhl längdskidåkaren och världsmästaren Johan Olsson, den erfarne mentala tränaren och coachen Stig Wiklund samt författaren Sara Olsson som tidigare har arbetat med böckerna "Våga välja eget spår" (2013) och "Vägen tillbaka: må bra, prestera bra!" (2013).

För vem passar 'Huvudrätt'

Denna bok passar en bred kategori av människor, vare sig du är:

• föräldern som önskar redskap vilka kan ge återhämtning, lugn, harmoni, och förbättrade relationer
• företagaren, chefen, den anställde som önskar höja den egna prestationen, sätta upp och nå specifika mål, möjliggöra ett mer kreativt och dynamiskt arbetsklimat, skapa en bättre gruppkänsla samt friskare personal och kollegor
• idrottsutövaren, författaren, musikern som önskar att uppleva det kreativa flödet oftare och lättare, s.k. flow, där tid och rum står stilla och den egna prestationen bara händer
• för dig som söker lindring till följd av tinnitus, sömnlöshet, kronisk värk och sjukdom
• för dig som är utbränd eller upplever sig vara på väg dit
• eller för dig som enbart är nyfiken på mental träning och personlig utveckling och önskar upprätthålla något av ett mentalt friskvårdsprogram

Ovanstående lista kan givetvis utökas med ett flertal kategorier, men den visar på att boken lämpar sig väl för en bred målgrupp, för vem mår inte bra av att må bra mentalt?

Din egen vardagliga mentor

Att närvara vid och deltaga i diverse föreläsningar och workshops är vanligt förekommande idag. Dock händer det ofta att den initiala entusiasm som följer efter att ha lyssnat på en inspirerande och upplyftande föreläsning avtar efter några dagar, och sakteliga återgår man till gamla invanda vane- och tankemönster. Personlig utveckling kräver tid och övning och här utgör "Huvudrätt" ett utomordentligt komplement. Där kanske föreläsningar ger en "tillfällig smärtlindring" kan boken ta egenskapen som din egen vardagliga och närvarande mentor där du bjuds in att ställa personliga frågor som går på djupet och skapar varaktig förändring.

Även barnen får vara med

I boken finns en rad övningar specifikt utformade för barn, som hjälper till att bygga självtillit och självförtroende hos barnet, samt kan hjälpa till att skapa och utveckla en djupare relation mellan dig som förälder och ditt barn.

Självhypnos och det mentala rummet

Något du kommer att lära dig under kursens gång är självhypnos. Genom vetenskapliga studier har Lars-Eric Uneståhl kunnat påvisa att självhypnos och hypnos via en utomstående hypnotisör (heterohypnos) är lika verksamt, och att hypnosdjupet efter ett par månaders mental träning var detsamma som vid heterohypnos.

Som ett led i detta kommer du i boken kunna läsa om och skapa ditt eget mentala rum. Väl där kommer du att befinna dig i ett självhypnotiskt tillstånd där hjärnan blir mer balanserad och bättre mottaglig för suggestioner och föreställningar.

Här kan du exempelvis:

• få återhämtning
• programmera dina mål och framtidsvisioner
• ändra på fysiska och mentala tillstånd
• hantera och bearbeta stress, ångest och fobier
• lindra värk
• utveckla din kreativa sida

Tillhörande ljudfiler

Till vissa av bokens övningar ingår diverse ljudfiler så att du mer passivt och effektivt kan ta till dig den specifika övningen. I dessa ger Lars-Eric dig en rad suggestioner till tonerna av avslappningsmusik.

Vad krävs av dig

Att systematiskt arbeta igenom boken kräver av dig mellan 3-15 min varje dag. Dock är boken upplagd så att du utan problem kan bläddra igenom den och påbörja valfri övning omedelbart då det finns gott om fristående övningar.

Boken tryckt i smidigt format

För närvarande finns inte "Huvudrätt" som pocket men den inbundna varianten är tryckt i ett smidigt format vilket gör den lätt att ta med i väskan.

Var kan jag köpa boken

Följande aktörer tillhandahåller "Huvudrätt: mental träning för alla":

• Adlibris – 208 kr
• CDON.COM – 205 kr
• Ginza – 229 kr
• Campusbokhandeln – 208 kr

Vidare material

Som avslutning vill jag passa på att rekommendera Lars-Eric Uneståhls ljudprogram "Divine: det gyllene rummet" samt "Må bra med mental träning", vilka snabbt ger dig värdefulla tekniker. Jag har de flesta av Uneståhls ljudprogram vilka alla håller en hög kvalité, men dessa två är oerhört smidiga att komma igång med. Ett flertal aktörer tillhandahåller programmen, inklusive större bibliotek.

På en del av Uneståhls ljudprogram används avslappningsmusik gjord av Kasa-Lord, som är komponerat enligt det gyllene snittet vilket ökar lugn och avslappning. Du finner Kasa-Lords musik här eller via Spotify. Kasa-Lord ger också ut musik under sitt riktiga namn Tommy Kaså och då finner du honom här på Spotify, där du kan lyssna på en av mina favoriter, "Fagertärn" (2007).

American best-selling author and negotiation expert William Ury has a rich library of streaming lectures, so that you can get to yes more often with yourself and others.

Image credit: Photography by Kiko Ferrite. Via Revista Trip.

Via Inc. Magazine.

James Clear has written a great article in Huffington Post about the importance of positive thinking and how it impact your skills and talents for the future. The article is based on the research by positive psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson from the University of North Carolina and her findings are exciting read:

Fredrickson tested the impact of positive emotions on the brain by setting up a little experiment. During this experiment, she divided her research subjects into five groups and showed each group different film clips.

The first two groups were shown clips that created positive emotions. Group 1 saw images that created feelings of joy. Group 2 saw images that created feelings of contentment.

Group 3 was the control group. They saw images that were neutral and produced no significant emotion.

The last two groups were shown clips that created negative emotions. Group 4 saw images that created feelings of fear. Group 5 saw images that created feelings of anger.

Afterward, each participant was asked to imagine themselves in a situation where similar feelings would arise and to write down what they would do. Each participant was handed a piece of paper with 20 blank lines that started with the phrase, "I would like to..."

Participants who saw images of fear and anger wrote down the fewest responses. Meanwhile, the participants who saw images of joy and contentment, wrote down a significantly higher number of actions that they would take, even when compared to the neutral group.

In other words, when you are experiencing positive emotions like joy, contentment, and love, you will see more possibilities in your life. These findings were among the first that suggested positive emotions broaden your sense of possibility and open your mind up to more options.

But that was just the beginning. The really interesting impact of positive thinking happens later...

Featured image: Balloon Dancers by Philip Gendreau.

Huffington Post´s article about how you can increase your happiness by doing a few simple things is a good read. However, I do find the tips in the article are great pointers toward living a fuller life, including happiness.

Here are the steps mentioned in the article for increasing your happiness:

• Exercise more - 7 minutes might be enough
• Sleep more - you'll be less sensitive to negative emotions
• Move closer to work - a short commute is worth more than a big house
• Spend time with friends and family - don't regret it on your deathbed
• Go outside - happiness is maximized at 13.9°C
• Help others - 100 hours a year is the magical number
• Practice smiling - it can alleviate pain
• Plan a trip - but don't take one
• Meditate - rewire your brain for happiness
• Practice gratitude - increase both happiness and life satisfaction

Featured image: Three Happy Boys by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe. Found via Blue Ridge Vintage.

More on All Good Found:

• Eight Weeks to Happiness
• Ways to Learn How to Do Mantra Meditation

The documentary How to be Happy follows three volunteers as they take part in a unique 8–week happiness course designed by British psychologist Robert Holden.

The Happiness Project became a household name in 1996 when the BBC broadcast a BBC QED documentary called How to be Happy. Five million viewers tuned in to watch three volunteers, Caroline, Dawn, and Keith, embark upon a unique 8–week happiness course, designed by Dr Robert Holden. Their progress was monitored each week by a team of independent psychologists and scientists. The results were remarkable. The scientists hailed the course as “a genuine fast-track to happiness.”

Caroline, Dawn, and Keith each made positive breakthroughs while on the course. Scientists continued to monitor their progress for six months after, and they concluded that, “The positive results were lasting.” How so? One reason may be that the scientists discovered the happiness course had changed the hard wiring of the brain. Professor Richard Davidson, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who measured the brain function of the volunteers over the course of eight weeks, concluded: “This happiness training not only changes the way you feel; it actually changes the way your brain functions.”

The How to be Happy documentary has since been shown in 16 countries to over 30 million viewers. Today, The Happiness Project is thriving. Each year we participate in a rich program of public workshops (including the 8-week happiness course), corporate consultancy (with brands like Dove and Virgin) media events, and ongoing research. Robert Holden, Ben Renshaw, Avril Carson, Ian Lynch and other members of the Happiness Project team continue to create new offerings—all of which you can read about at this website.

The documentary:

Further reading:

• Be Happy: An 8-Day Happiness Course