Pushing something away from you actually makes you dislike it.
Pulling something towards you makes you feel more positive about it.
Next time you are tempted by something sugary/chocolatey you'd like to resist push the plate away and the temptation will fade.
2) Eating less: Non-dominant hand
If you eat with your non-dominant hand it will feel unusual, as a result you will be more conscious when you eat instead of eating unconsciously. As a result you will eat less.
*this is a form of mindful eating - a friend and I recently ate lunch blindfolded, we ate much more slowly with full awareness and due to this awareness ate less than usual
3) Willpower: Tense Muscles
Contracting your muscles boosts your willpower. Next time you need extra willpower eg to resist cake or something unhealthy make a fist, tense a bicep or press your thumb and index together.
4) Presistence: Sit up Straight & Cross your arms
There have been many experiments where volunteers have been given complex problems to work through. Those that sit up straight and fold their arms persist for almost twice as long as the others.
5) Procrastination: Make a (Small) Start
Act as if you are interested in what you have to do. Spend just a few minutes
carrying out the first part of that thing you are avoiding, once you start you will feel a strong need to complete the task.
*sometimes instead of committing to a large task I trick myself into working on it for 2 minutes or reading 1-2 pages - sounds ridiculous but it works.
6) Confidence: Power Posing
To increase your self-esteem and confidence, adopt a power pose. If you are sitting down, lean back, look up and interlock your hands behind your head. If you are standing up, then place your feet flat on the floor, push your shoulders back and your chest forward and hold your hands out in front of you.
In this TedTalk Amy Cuddy discusses how your body language shapes who you are.
this not only gives you something to do with your hands but it actually makes you feel calmer and more confident. Perhaps because I learned to use this under pressure within a week or two I found I was doing this automatically, even socially. A few months after that I noticed my girlfriend mirroring me, she'd started steepling too :)
7) Creativity: Move Outside the Box
To come up with new ideas act in a new way. Spend some time walking around but walk in a way that is unpredictable. If that doesn't work try acting as if you are artistic by drawing, painting or making some form of sculpture.
8) Persuasion: Getting the Nod
When you want someone to agree with you, subtly nod your head as you chat with them. They will copy the movement subconsciously and find themselves strangely agreeing with your way of thinking.
9) Negotiation: Warm Drinks - Soft Chairs
When people think they are connected to others they feel physically warm and warming someone up with a nice cup of tea they become far friendlier.
With furniture it is a similar story, hard furniture is associated with hard behaviour. There is research that says that after sitting in a hard chair people are harder negotiators
10) Guilt: Wash Away Your Sins
If you feel guilty about something, try washing your hands or taking a shower. In several experiments people who carried out an immoral act and then cleaned their hands felt significantly less guilty than others who did not.
"Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!"
MacBeth, Act 5 Scene 1, William Shakespeare
MacBeth, Act 5 Scene 1, William Shakespeare
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