Dementia is not a single disease. It is a term used to describe a range of conditions involving progressive decline in memory, thinking and behavior, with Alzheimer’s being the most common. According to the WHO, over fifty-five million people worldwide live with dementia, and this number is projected to rise sharply in the coming decades.

Normal Forgetfulness: Part of Aging

Mild forgetfulness is common and usually not cause for concern. As we age, our brain’s processing speed naturally slows. Nerve cells (neurons) communicate less effectively with age because the protective coating around them (called myelin) gradually breaks down, and the connections between brain cells (synapses) become weaker or fewer. This results in slower recall and occasional lapses in attention and memory.

Typical signs include;

· Misplacing items but remembering them later.

· Occasional difficulty recalling names or appointments.

· Slower learning of new skills or technology.

· Brief lapses in remembering the day or date.

These slips do not interfere with daily life or independence. Normal aging may slightly reduce memory retrieval speed, but core cognitive functions remain intact (such as language, the ability to think/understand and make sound judgements). Fatigue, stress, poor sleep, and medications can also temporarily affect memory.

Red Flags: When Forgetfulness Might Be Dementia

The major difference between normal forgetfulness and dementia is the impact on daily life.

If memory lapses start affecting work, relationships, or routine tasks, it could be a sign of dementia. Dementia affects not just memory, but reasoning, orientation and behavior through progressive damage to the brain. Early recognition is key to managing symptoms and planning care,

Warning signs of dementia include;

· Frequent memory loss that disrupts daily life.

· Difficulty completing familiar tasks, like cooking a routine meal or managing finances.

· Disorientation in time or place, such as getting lost in familiar places.

· Language difficulties, including trouble finding words or following conversations.

· Poor judgement in decisions.

· Changes in personality or mood, including withdrawal, anxiety or suspicion.

· Misplacing items in usual places and being unable to retrace steps.

Mild Cognitive Impairment: Middle Ground

Between normal memory lapses and dementia is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). People with MCI may notice more frequent memory slips or require notes and reminders, but daily life remains mostly unaffected. Early evaluation can identify reversible factors such as vitamin deficiencies, thyroid problems, depression, medication side effects, or poor sleep, allowing interventions like medical treatment, lifestyle changes, and mental or social engagement to restore cognitive function or slow further decline.

The Science Behind Memory

Memory is not stored in one single part of the brain — it is a finely tuned network involving several key regions that work together like a symphony.

· The hippocampus, buried deep within the brain, acts as the “filing system” for new information. It helps convert short-term memories into long-term ones, allowing you to recall names, places, and events later.

· The frontal lobes sit behind your forehead and handle higher-level thinking — reasoning, planning, and organizing information. They help you focus, make decisions, and remember to do things in the future, such as taking medication or attending an appointment.

· The temporal lobes, located on the sides of the brain, are essential for understanding language and linking sounds and words to meaning. They help you recognize familiar voices and recall the right words in conversation.

In normal aging, these brain regions continue to function, but communication between neurons slows down. You might take longer to remember a name or find the right word, but the information is still there — just a bit buried. It is like a well-stocked library where all the books are intact, though it may take longer to locate the one you want.

In contrast, dementia causes actual damage to brain cells and the connections between them. In diseases such as Alzheimer’s, toxic proteins like beta-amyloid plaques build up between neurons, while tau tangles form inside them. These disrupt the brain’s communication network, eventually leading to cell death and shrinking of key memory areas like the hippocampus. As a result, memories are not just “harder to find” — they can be permanently lost.

What to Do If You are Concerned

If memory problems are frequent or interfere with daily life, seek medical evaluation.

Medical Assessment May Include:

· Medical and family history (to check for genetic or health-related risk factors).

· Cognitive testing (short memory and thinking exercises to assess attention, recall, and problem-solving).

· Blood tests for vitamin deficiencies, thyroid problems, or other conditions.

· Brain imaging (CT or MRI) (to look for strokes, tumors, or changes linked to dementia).

· Medication review (to identify drugs that may cause confusion or memory problems).

Supporting Brain Health

While not all dementia is preventable, research shows lifestyle choices matter. Steps to promote cognitive wellbeing include:

· Regular exercise — improves blood flow to the brain.

· Healthy diet — a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and healthy fats.

· Mental stimulation — reading, puzzles, learning new skills, or playing musical instruments.

· Social engagement — regular interaction strengthens the brain’s ability to adapt, stay strong, and function well.

· Managing chronic conditions — controlling blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol promotes overall wellbeing.

· Quality sleep — the brain clears toxins, including those linked to Alzheimer’s, during deep sleep.

Supporting Yourself and Others

If you notice any changes in your memory, take them seriously but do not panic. Keep a diary of the symptoms and how they affect your daily life — it can be invaluable for a medical assessment.

For family and caregivers, early recognition allows for planning and support. Open communication, patience, and understanding are essential, as these changes can be frustrating and frightening for both the person affected and their loved ones.

Is It Forgetfulness Or Dementia? Here’s How To Tell The Difference was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is not random. It’s your biological rhythm in action.

Understanding your body’s natural energy peaks isn’t just about productivity; it’s about working with your brain’s natural chemistry, not against it. Once you know when your energy, focus, and creativity naturally rise and fall, you can structure your day to perform at your best with less effort and stress.

The Science Behind Energy Peaks

Our daily energy pattern is shaped by two main biological systems: the circadian rhythm and ultradian rhythms.

🧠 1. The Circadian Rhythm

Your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal 24-hour clock. It’s controlled by a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), located in the hypothalamus. This clock responds mainly to light, which is why sunlight exposure in the morning can make you feel more awake.

Throughout the day, your circadian rhythm regulates:

Cortisol levels — higher in the morning to wake you up.

Body temperature — peaks in the afternoon, when alertness often rises.

Melatonin — increases at night to make you sleepy.

That’s why most people experience two natural energy peaks: one in the mid-morning and another in the late afternoon.

But not everyone follows the same rhythm — your chronotype (whether you’re a morning person, night owl, or somewhere in between) influences when your peaks occur.

🔄 2. Ultradian Rhythms

Within your 24-hour circadian rhythm, smaller cycles called ultradian rhythms repeat every 90–120 minutes. During these cycles, your brain naturally moves between states of high focus and rest.

This means even during your peak hours, your attention and energy fluctuate. After about 90 minutes of deep focus, your body needs a short 10–20 minute break to recover — otherwise, your performance drops.

⚖️ 3. Other Factors That Influence Energy

— Sleep quality and consistency 😴😪🥱💤🛌🏼

— Caffeine intake (timing matters — late caffeine can delay your natural rhythm) 𓍢ִ໋☕️✧˚ ༘ ⋆

— Meal timing and nutrition 🌯🍱🍜🍲

— Exercise habits 🏋🏽🔥💪🏼🎧

— Stress levels 😮‍💨

Understanding these biological drivers helps you tailor your day around your body’s rhythm rather than forcing yourself to fit into generic productivity advice.

How to Identify Your Own Energy Peaks

Knowing the science is one thing, but observing your personal rhythm is where the real transformation happens.

Here’s a step-by-step method:

Step 01: Track your energy levels

Spend 7–10 days paying attention to your energy and focus levels. Every few hours, jot down how you feel using simple ratings like:

• 🌞 High energy (focused, alert, motivated)
• 🌤️ Medium energy (fine, but not your best)
• 🌙 Low energy (tired, distracted, unmotivated)

You can note these in a journal, notes app, or use a tracker like Notion or Google Sheets.

Example tracking times:

• ⏰Upon waking
• 🌞Mid-morning
• ☀️Early afternoon
• 🌤️Late afternoon
• 🌇Evening

Step 02: Look for patterns

After a week, review your notes. You’ll probably notice trends — maybe you’re sharpest between 9–11 AM or get a second wind after dinner. These are your peak periods.

For example;

• Morning person → energy peaks early, fades by afternoon. ☀️🪴🍳🧘‍♀️
• Afternoon charger → slow mornings, peak after lunch. 🌤🌅🌙🌟
• Night owl → creativity and focus hit late in the day. 🌆🌙✨🪐🕯️

Step 03: Test and Adjust

Once you spot patterns, experiment.

• 💡Schedule demanding tasks (writing, studying, problem-solving) during your energy peaks.
• 😎Save routine or easy tasks for low-energy times.
• ⏸️Use the 90-minute focus rule — after each deep work cycle, take a short break to recharge.

It may take some tweaking, but after a few weeks, you’ll find your natural rhythm.

Practical Tips to Maximize Your Energy Peaks

🌞 1. Anchor Your Morning

Morning light exposure helps regulate your circadian rhythm. Try to get sunlight within 30–60 minutes of waking up — it signals your brain to release cortisol and suppress melatonin, helping you feel alert naturally.

🧘 2. Avoid Caffeine Too Early or Too Late

Caffeine works best when your natural cortisol levels start to dip — usually 1–2 hours after waking up. Drinking coffee immediately upon waking can blunt your natural energy response and make you dependent on caffeine to stay alert later.

📈3. Protect Your Peak Hours

Avoid distractions and meetings during your peak time if possible.

💪 4. Eat and Hydrate Smartly

Heavy, high-carb meals can cause post-meal energy dips. Eat lighter meals or snacks during focus periods and reserve heavier meals for low-energy times. AND HYDRATE!!!

🧍‍♀️ 5. Move Between Tasks

A 5–10 minute walk, stretch, or short workout between tasks can reset your ultradian rhythm and keep energy flowing.

😴 6. Prioritize Sleep Consistency

Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time each day — even on weekends. Your energy peaks will stabilize when your sleep schedule does.

⭐7. Don’t Compare

Your rhythm is unique — what works for others may not fit you.

Example: A Real-Life Energy Rhythm

Let’s say you’re a student or remote worker who discovers your focus is highest from 9–11 AM and 3–5 PM.
Here’s how you might schedule your day:

• 7:00 AM — Wake, light exposure, hydration.
• 9:00–11:00 AM — Study, write, or do creative work.
• 11:00–12:00 PM — Break or lighter tasks.
• 12:00–2:00 PM — Lunch and rest.
• 3:00–5:00 PM — Deep work round two.
• 6:00 PM onward — Exercise, relax, and wind down.

Over time, you’ll notice that by aligning with your biological rhythm, productivity feels effortless, not forced.

Final Thoughts

Finding your energy peaks is one of the simplest yet most powerful forms of self-awareness. Instead of forcing productivity at random hours, you’ll start to work with your body’s natural rhythm.

So this week, try it: track your energy, notice the trends, and schedule one important task during your next energy peak. You’ll be amazed how much easier everything feels when you’re finally in sync with yourself.

How To Spot Your Energy Peaks and Make the Most of Your Day (Backed by Science) was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Recently there has been a lot of talk about measles. What does measles actually do, and should you vaccinate against it? Or is this just hysteria?

Measles is a virus: a hull of proteins, RNA, plus some more proteins for reproduction. It cannot reproduce by itself; it needs a host cell to do so. To understand measles, we have to understand the immune system. Now, let’s focus on the parts of the immune system relevant to measles.

— The measles virus enters humans through the nose, mouth, or eyes. The measles infection starts in the lungs. Measles is especially good at infecting
the body’s first line of defence: macrophages, powerful guard cells that protect the lungs from intruders. They enter a cell and take it over. The virus reprograms the cell and transforms it into a dangerous virus production center. Once a cell is filled with viruses, they leave the crippled cell and begin the cycle over again. But the immune system has powerful weapons against virus infections: natural killer cells. These cells basically patrol the body and check other cells for infections. If they find an infected cell, they order it to commit suicide. This is so effective that for the first 10 days or so, you will not even notice that you’re infected with measles.

And now, the reason why measles is so powerful. After a period of fighting and dying, macrophages alert the brain of the immune system: the dendritic cells. The job of the dendritic cells is to collect samples of intruders, travel to the lymph nodes, and then activate the heavy weapons that eradicate the infection very fast in a team effort. But the measles virus uses a dreadful tactic. It infects the dendritic cells and uses them as a Trojan horse to enter deeper into the body.

The infected cells travel to the next lymph node to alert other immune cells. Once it arrives, the measles virus spreads around the virgin T and B cells and infects them. It attacks the very system that evolved to fight it.

Now, things happen very fast. The lymph system spreads the virus
everywhere and it enters the bloodstream, infecting cells while traveling. Measles infects organs like the spleen, the liver, the intestines, and, most importantly, the lungs. The symptoms range from a very high fever, headache, sickness, bronchitis, and, of course, a rash.

In the lungs, the immune system was doing pretty okay. But now, millions of viruses attack a second time and kill countless cells, wiping out
the defense systems. In this phase, you start coughing out millions of measles viruses. Measles is so contagious at this stage, that if you meet someone who isn’t vaccinated, there’s about a 90% chance you’ll infect them.

Without the protective army in the lungs, other bacteria or viruses that would usually not stand a chance can now enter the lungs and develop into harmful parallel infections that can cause pneumonia, the most common way to die from measles. Your body’s immune system is now seriously wounded. Various protective systems are hurt and disrupted.

The virus spreads everywhere, infecting the skin all over the body. The typical measles rash now becomes visible. And in some cases, the measles virus reaches the brain and causes a brain infection. If it does so, the chances of dying are between 20 to 40 percent, and there may be long-term damage.

But your body is far from giving up at this stage, and it fights back aggressively. Some dendritic cells survive long enough to activate the anti-virus forces of the body. Plasma cells in the lymph nodes start producing billions of antibodies, tiny proteins that mark infected cells for destruction or clump the virus together. Killer T cells flood the body and kill infected cells left and right. After 2 to 3 weeks, the body usually gets the upper hand and overwhelms the infection. But the immune system is now seriously weakened, and may take weeks or months to recover, leaving the body vulnerable to other diseases. But, if you make it, you are now immune: the immune system remembers the virus forever.

Measles is no joke. Although 84% of all humans are vaccinated against measles, 122,000 people died because of the infection in 2014. Some people cannot get vaccinations, either because they’re too young, because of chemotherapy or HIV, or because they’re allergic to the vaccine. They need the rest of us to stop the disease for them.

The measles vaccination is safe, cheap, and available. There are no benefits from having measles at all. You don’t strengthen your immune system and it’s not more natural. Most people who don’t vaccinate only want the best for their children, which is honorable. But if you ask yourself, “Am I putting the life of my child and other children at risk by not vaccinating against measles?” The sad answer is yes. Yes, you are.

Let’s not play the blame game, though. Let’s work together and eradicate this virus. Together, we can get rid of these dreadful monsters and consign them to their rightful place: the history books.

Thank you for reading this post!! 💜

Leave 👏 or ✍️ if you like it.

Consider following me on Medium AND my publication “SoulSync”

Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/vinukividhara

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Measles Explained… was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Imagine a city under siege.

Undead hordes swarm the streets. Armed police and soldiers take their positions, ruthlessly shooting wave after wave of invaders. Chaos unfolds as these infected beings try to break out and consume other cities.

Sounds like a zombie apocalypse movie, right?
But this isn’t fiction — this is what happens inside your body when it’s fighting cancer.

1. The Elimination Phase

It all begins with a single corrupted cell. It is no longer able to repair its genetic code, it can’t kill itself anymore, and it is beginning to multiply rapidly. At this point things are not great, not terrible — this cell is not yet dangerous, but if nothing happens, it soon will be.

Over a few weeks the corrupted cell keeps making copies of itself. One cell turns into dozens, hundreds, thousands. Because the original was broken, its copies are breaking and mutating even more. They turn into different genetic lineages, clans that are working together and competing. Some mutate in a way that makes them weaker, others’ mutations don’t change anything, while a few become fitter and better at survival. Together they now form a tiny, tiny tumor. Not cancer yet, but getting there.

The growing tumor needs a lot of resources. If the cells don’t get food and oxygen, they will die and the problem just solves itself. Unfortunately, a few corrupted cells unlock a new mutation that saves them: the ability to order the growth of new blood vessels. And so your body provides the supply they need to survive.

But as the tumor continues to grow, it starts causing damage — neighbouring healthy cells begin to starve and die, which attracts attention. In a sense, this tiny tumor is like a rogue town.

Imagine a group of rebels in Brooklyn decided that they were no longer part of New York but started a new settlement called Tumor Town, which happens to occupy the same space. The new city wants to grow, so it orders tons of steel beams, cement and drywall. New buildings follow no logic, are badly planned, ugly and dangerously crooked. They are built right in the middle of streets, on top of playgrounds and on existing infrastructure. The old neighborhood is torn down or overbuilt to make room for new stuff. Many of the former residents are trapped in the middle of it and begin to starve.

This goes on for a while until the smell of death finally attracts attention. Building inspectors and police show up.

In your body, attracted by the stench of dead cells, your immune system is activated. First responder immune cells invade the tumor: Macrophages and Natural Killer Cells, police forces that go right to work, killing and eating tumor cells. They release chemical signals that let the whole immune system know that there is cancer to be eradicated.

Dendritic Cells, the intelligence officers of your immune system, collect samples of dead tumor cells and begin activating your heavy weapons: Helper and Killer T Cells. They have a library listing every bad thing that could come into your body. While each cancer is unique, there are genetic corruptions that they can’t hide. And your T Cells know what to look for. They are the deadliest cancer killers you have.

By the time they arrive, the tumor has grown to hundreds of thousands of cells, but this is about to change. T Cells block the growth of new blood vessels, which starves thousands of tumor cells and puts an end to their growth.

2. The Equilibrium Phase

Unfortunately, natural selection spoils your victory. By doing its best to destroy the tumor, your immune system accidentally selects the fittest tumor cells. Remember, the tumor consists of different lineages that keep growing and keep mutating. Most of these are eradicated. But just a few are more resilient. One cell survives — it comes from the fittest tumor lineage and was just a bit better at surviving the massacre than anyone else. It decides to do it all over again. But better this time.

This tumor cell is much stronger than any of the thousands that were killed. Maybe it is better at hiding, or fighting back. Maybe it grows faster or is better at stealing resources. Maybe it can survive with much less oxygen. And so it all begins again. It’s like the surviving rebels that started Tumor Town have learned their lessons. Now they know the law better and how to break it, what permits help them, how to avoid the police.

And so the surviving tumor cell makes thousands of copies that mutate and form new lineages, until once again a tumor has grown, made up from more resilient cells. The immune system does not care though, and this time it even has experience — instead of starting with police, swat teams go right in to tear Tumor Town down, killing its inhabitants without mercy.

But once again they don’t get everyone. One of them survives: a fitter tumor cell from an already fitter lineage. This time it gets a cheap suit and studies the building code, pretending to be a lawyer to start Tumor Town all over again. This struggle now repeats a few times, each time the rebels learn a bit more about how to avoid the law. If at any point, the immune system gets all of the tumor cells, the story ends. But in this case, it doesn’t.

Finally, a tumor cell changes in a way that makes it properly dangerous: cancer. The type that kills people. How?

Immune cells have an off switch that deactivates them before they can attack — which in principle is a good idea. The immune system is extremely dangerous and in many cases it needs to be shut down, like around your central nervous system. But this off switch can be exploited.

The mutated tumor cell finds a way to switch the immune system off by targeting inhibitor receptors on anti-cancer cells. Inhibitor receptors stop immune cells from, well, killing. This cell is the now-powerful founder of a new lineage of cancer cells and mass produces thousands of new copies that once again change and mutate further, building yet another Tumor Town.

A Glimpse of Hope

Except, humanity is planning to win this game.

At this moment hundreds of thousands of scientists are working on new and better ways of killing cancer, to destroy and burn down Tumor Towns for good. In recent years, immunotherapy has made enormous progress — it is a relatively new therapy in which your own immune cells are modified to kill cancer better than any medicine can do. It’s like giving your building inspectors machine guns and flamethrowers.

But this is a story for another time.

For now, cancer is a battleground — but if human ingenuity is to be trusted, then one day, maybe in the not-too-distant future, we will eradicate it once and for all.

Thank you for reading this post!! 💜

Leave 👏 or ✍️ if you like it.

Consider following me on Medium AND my publication “SoulSync”

Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/vinukividhara

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The Reason Why Cancer is so Hard to Beat… was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Instead of accepting all of our default behaviours, we should re-examine the ones that are not serving us and adjust them.

Let’s be honest. We’re all lazy to some extent. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s natural.

However, most of the time, it’s those exact moments of laziness that make us overindulge on our bad habits. You see, when we feel motivated, it’s quite easy to do the things we want to do, even if we find them difficult otherwise. But when we’re feeling stressed, tired, lazy or when we’ve had a long day, we don’t quite posses that enthusiasm to do something that requires effort. This is why on those lazy days, we usually do whatever is most convenient or easy, whatever that might be. And generally that’s our default behavior.

In technology, default means the way something works when you start using it. For example, when you buy a new phone, the settings are already set for you. You get a default ringtone, a preset wallpaper, etc.. And unless you change those settings, default is what you’re stuck with.

Now it’s similar with our habits. We all have certain behaviors that we adapted to, that are standard to us. They have become our default and we tend to perform them almost on auto-pilot. Those behaviors could be positive like: reading or learning new skills. Or they could be something negative like: smoking cigarettes and scrolling through social media all day.

Now, instead of accepting all of our behaviors as defaults, we should re-examine the ones that are not serving us. Just like we can change our ringtone, we can also adjust our behavior. And we can use our lazy nature to our advantage here.

All we need to do is utilize The 20 Second Rule.

In his book “The Happiness Advantage”, Shawn Achor describes his own struggle with behavior change. Shawn had a very clear goal. He wanted to practice his guitar more often, while reducing the amount of time he spent watching TV. However he encountered a problem that many of us do, whenever we want to change our behavior. Simply telling himself that he’ll do it, wasn’t enough for him to actually do it. His guitar stayed in the closet, and watching TV remained his default go-to option. Shawn recognized that he needed to disrupt his default behavior somehow, otherwise nothing would change. So he started looking for a solution.

He realized that every time he wanted to play his guitar, he had to first go in the closet, get the guitar case out, and only once he got the guitar out of its case, could he actually play. This all took roughly 20 seconds, but even this minimal effort that was required, seemed to be enough to deter Shawn from playing.

After he became aware of this, he decided to move the guitar out of the closet, and put it on a guitar stand, in the living room instead. Now, whenever he wanted to play, he didn’t have to search around the closet any longer. The guitar was already out of its case, and he was able to pick it up and start practicing, without having to exert too much effort.

Shawn also applied a similar tweak to his TV habit. This time what he did was, he took the batteries out of the remote control and moved them to a drawer in another room. The next few nights, when he got home from work and by default jumped on the couch to watch TV, he noticed that something was wrong. He kept pressing the ON button, on the remote, forgetting that he removed the batteries. Now, Shawn didn’t didn’t feel like getting up and retrieving the batteries from the other room, as this would take extra effort. So instead he picked up and played his guitar, which was conveniently within an arm’s reach. This slight intervention allowed him to disrupt his default behavior. And as days passed, his urge to watch TV decreased, and playing the guitar started to feel more and more natural.

Shawn decided to call this behavioral approach: The 20 Second Rule. Essentially what he did was, he made playing the guitar 20 seconds easier, while making watching TV 20 seconds harder. And this strategy can be applied to pretty much any behavior you want to change. Of course, 20 seconds is just a suggestion and not an absolute number. In some cases, more than 20 seconds could be required, while in other cases it could be less than 20. The point is to lessen the barriers between activities you want to do more often, by making it more convenient for yourself to do them.
While on the flip side, increase the obstacles between activities you want to stop participating in, by making them more difficult to start.

I know that this might sound simple and intuitive, but many of us don’t utilize this. Which is a shame, since our surroundings are a huge contributing factor when it comes to our behavior. You see, usually the most difficult part of any behavior is getting started. And the more activation energy an activity requires, the less likely you are to start, especially if you’re feeling tired or lazy. When I say activation energy, I mean the amount of effort you need to exert, before you can begin something.

So for example, watching TV usually takes very little activation energy. You just have to get the remote, jump on the couch, and you’re set. Not much effort is required. Now when it comes to working out, a little more activation energy is needed to begin. However, if you really think about it, lifting weights isn’t that difficult. Sure, it’s not as easy as laying on the couch, but the activity itself is not really that grueling. What really turns you off, is the fact that you have so many steps to go through, before you can begin working out. First you need to get your gym bag ready, put on your shoes, then you need to drive to the gym, change your clothes, and so on and so forth. There’s so many inconveniences standing in the way. But if you could skip some of those steps, or at least make them more tolerable, working out would become much easier, as there would be less activation energy required. And it’s the same with pretty much any other activity.

When it comes down to it, most of the activities aren’t that difficult to do, they just require a little more effort for you to get started. But once you do start and get settled in, it’s always very easy to continue, even if you don’t necessarily find the activity as fun. So if you’re able to lower the activation energy required to begin a certain behavior, your chances of doing what you want to do, increase exponentially. And this is especially important because, even if you enjoy doing something, but there’s a lot of friction in the way before you can begin, you’re more likely to skip it and go do something easier instead.

For example, I love going for long bike rides. It’s one activity that always helps me unwind, especially if I’m feeling stressed or anxious. However, there’s one problem I encounter every single time I want to go cycling. And that is the fact that I have to get my bike out of the basement first. The whole process takes me exactly 3 minutes, but sometimes it’s enough to discourage me from going on that ride. Logically this makes no sense.
Why would 3 minutes of preparation, deter me from doing something I know I enjoy? But like I said, humans are quite lazy and we would rather do something that’s easy and convenient, instead of what we actually want to do.

For this simple reason, I’m sometimes stressed for the entire day.
This of course, could easily be avoided, by just going on that bike ride, which I know I would enjoy and it would help me de-stress. But at that moment, I would rather go for the default option, which is to spend my time thinking about all the horrible scenarios that will never happen, instead of choosing a slightly less convenient option, which would solve the problem.

I know all of this might sound silly, but it’s just an example of how inconvenience can dictate our actions. By now, you probably understand how your surroundings affect your behavior, and you might even have a few ideas about how you can use all this information to your advantage.
But just so you can get a better sense of it, here’s a few common problems people face, and how The 20 Second Rule can be applied to solve them.

1. If you want to exercise more often, make sure your gym is as close as possible. Preferably somewhere on your route to work.

This way, you can stop there before you start your job, or afterwards when you’re on your way home. If you have to drive 1 hour somewhere every time you want to workout, you’ll be more likely to skip it altogether as that’s a huge barrier.

Plus you wanna make sure to get your gym bag ready ahead of time, or whatever else is necessary for the workout of your choice. This way when you’re ready to exercise, you don’t have to search and scramble around for all the necessary gear. Some people also like to sleep in their gym clothes, so when they wake up they are already set. Basically they skip the dressing up part when they wake up, since usually in the morning, they don’t really feel like exercising. But since they are already geared up, it’s much easier to do so, because there’s one less barrier in the way.

2. If you have trouble eating healthy, simply throw out all the unhealthy food in your house. This way, all that remains is healthy food.

When you’re hungry and you don’t feeling like cooking, of course you will eat whatever is most convenient. Usually that’s something unhealthy, that’s already been factory prepared. But if there isn’t anything unhealthy in your house, you now have to go out of your way to get it. And since there’s this additional obstacle in the way, you’re less likely to do so.

But if you’re the type of person that would still go out and buy junk food, then consider preparing some of your healthy meals in advance on a Sunday, and simply heat them up during the week. So now if the cravings hit, there is less activation energy required to eat a healthy meal, as it’s already waiting there for you.

3. Another common problem, that most don’t even realize is a problem, is unintentional phone use, when trying to work or study.

You most likely always have your phone somewhere near you, and you’re able to start using it whenever you want. But most of the time you check the phone simply because you’re looking for a way to escape those 5 seconds of boredom and your phone is conveniently there.

For this exact reason, our phones have become anti-focus devices, as they take our attention from whatever we should be doing. Therefore, you should create a barrier by putting your phone in another room or somewhere where you can’t see or reach it. If you actually need to use it for something important, you’ll have to get up and get it. And you’ll most likely realize that you don’t need to check your phone as often as you do now.

Of course, many people need to use their phone or computer for work, therefore they aren’t able to simply hide it somewhere. But they can still modify the software on their devices. If you have trouble with constant social media use, simply delete all the apps or move them to a folder somewhere, so they’re harder to access. Instead make your home screen work related.

Again, this creates a barrier between unintentional social media use, since you can’t access it with one simple click any more. And at the same time, it makes your work related stuff easier to use. The same can be applied for your computer use, by separating work from play. You do this by creating two different users, one that is optimized for work, and another one that is optimized for fun. This way when it’s time to work, you’re actually working and you’re not stuck browsing random websites or playing video games.
Likewise, when you want to relax, you don’t have anything to remind you of work, and you can fully unwind.

Ok, these are just a few examples of how you could increase or decrease activation energy, but there are many more options. You will need to think about your own situation and see where you can make some changes. The 20 second rule probably won’t work all the time, but it will make your behavior more intentional, rather than default.

Sure, there will be days when you really want to watch TV, so get up and grab the batteries from the other room. Just like there will be days when I’ll have no problem getting my bike from the basement. The point is to become aware of your default behaviors and be in control of them, rather than being left at the mercy of whatever is most convenient in the moment. That is why I encourage you to examine your surroundings and think about where you could add or reduce 20 seconds of activation energy.

Remember, starting is always the most difficult part.

So make your desired actions easy to start, while making your unwanted actions difficult. This will allow you to become the master of your own behavior.

Now, I want to make one activity easier for you.
And that is learning.

I hope you’ve learned something new today, and I helped you become better than yesterday.

Thank you for reading this post!! 💜

Leave 👏 or ✍️ if you like it.

Consider following me on Medium AND my publication “SoulSync”

Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/vinukividhara

Thank you!!

Do you have any questions or suggestions or want to collaborate with me?

Message me:

• vinukividharaubeysinghe@gmail.com
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Use Laziness To Your Advantage — The 20 Second Rule was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Over the course of our lives, we all learn some lessons that we wish we had learned sooner. These lessons often come from a combination of experience, reflection, and the advice others give us. They shape who we are, guide our decisions, and provide a framework for living a more fulfilling and meaningful life. That’s why the sooner we learn or at least become aware of them, the better it is for us, as they can help us avoid common pitfalls and make more informed choices.

I’m going to share some of the lessons I’ve learned with you today, in no particular order. But they’re not just lessons, rather they’re more like rules I live by, because as long as I stick to them, I’m able to enjoy my life to the fullest. Now, without further ado;

1. Health is everything.

Most of us take it for granted. This is especially prevalent among younger adults in their early 20s, who often forget that actions have consequences.
When we’re going about our day-to-day lives and everything is fine, we don’t appreciate how healthy we are. Why would we? It’s only when something bad happens that we realize just how lucky we really were.

I’m no different in this regard. Usually, once a year, I’ll catch the common cold and be out for a few days. It’s always an unpleasant experience, but it’s also a stark reminder not to take health for granted.

There’s an old adage: health is wealth.

However, people often neglect their health in pursuit of money. Which I don’t think is a good trade-off.

— Consider this: would you trade your life with someone who’s worth 100 million dollars, but they’re so ill that they can’t even leave their bed? I know I wouldn’t. Most people would be willing to spend all of that money just to be healthy again. Because health is actually what allows us to enjoy life to the fullest. Without it, we become limited. And unfortunately, we often come to this conclusion too late, or only realize it when something bad happens to us. That’s why I believe it’s important to make decisions that protect and enhance your health.

Get enough sunlight. Ensure you get enough sleep. Exercise regularly.
Stop taking unnecessary risks that could lead to permanent injury. Avoid junk food. Avoid soda and alcohol. Don’t smoke or vape. Learn to manage stress. These are just a few of the steps you can take.

Appreciate and prioritize your health, or suffer the consequences and regret.

2. If you can control your environment, you can control your life.

When we think about self-control, we might think of someone with an iron will who can force himself to act against his instincts through sheer discipline. While this is one way to think about self-control, I’ve learned that discipline is often overrated. Constantly powering through distractions and resisting temptations requires a lot of energy and brainpower. Instead, setting up your environment in a way that makes self-control easy or even unnecessary is a much better approach.

For example, I haven’t eaten any sugary foods in weeks. But it’s not because I dislike sugar or have exceptional discipline. Quite the opposite. If you put an ice cream in front of me, I’ll eat all of it in seconds. My self-control is that weak. However, I’ve optimized my environment in such a way that I don’t have to resist ice cream at all. Occasionally I’ll get a craving for it, especially during summer. But if I don’t have any at home when the craving hits, it becomes a chore to get some, since I’d have to go all the way to the store. And by the time I get there, either my rational brain takes over, or the craving subsides on its own. Essentially, by making it difficult to get my hands on ice cream, I barely have to use any brainpower resisting it.

Now when it comes to any positive behavior I want to practice more often, I make it as convenient as possible. Whether it’s reading, exercising, working, or eating healthily, I ensure these activities are easy to engage in by making them readily available. If I wanted to incorporate a new habit, let’s say drinking more water, I’d just make it incredibly convenient for myself to do so. I’d always have a water bottle within arm’s reach or somewhere visible as a reminder. I’d practically be tripping over it, but that easy access would ensure that staying hydrated remained effortless.

And yes, this approach of optimizing your environment works exceptionally well. Because by creating obstacles for things you shouldn’t do and making things you should do more convenient, you can manage your habits more effectively. And if you can control your habits, you ultimately control the trajectory of your life.

So try optimizing your environment if you haven’t already. You won’t be disappointed.

3. Stay true to yourself.

One of the biggest epiphanies I had in my teenage years was that I could make almost anyone love or like me, simply by adapting to the social circle I was in. Essentially, if I acted how other people wanted me to act, and told them what they wanted to hear, I was able to fit in anywhere. However one of the biggest epiphanies of my 20s was realizing that it’s better to just be yourself. Not because it makes you more likeable, it absolutely doesn’t. But because only by being yourself can you find people who like you for who you are, rather than for the character you’re pretending to be.

By pretending you’re someone you’re not, you attract people who only like the persona you’re portraying, not the true you. You’re just going to end up feeling disconnected from those people. And is their approval really that important to you? All the while, the people who would have fallen in love with the true you, they will pass you by, because that side of you is never presented. But we are social creatures, and we all struggle with finding balance between being true to ourselves and conforming to social expectations.

In the 1950s, Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments that vividly illustrated how powerful the need for social acceptance can be. In his experiments, participants were asked to match the length of a line on one card with one of three lines on another card. While this task was very simple, it came with a twist. In each session, there was only one real participant. The rest of the group were actors who were in on the experiment.

For the first few rounds, everyone gave correct answers. But then in later rounds, the actors started to unanimously choose an obviously wrong line.
The real participant, unaware of the setup, faced a dilemma: Go with the obvious correct answer or conform to the group’s incorrect choice.
Astonishingly, 72% of participants conformed to the incorrect group opinion at least once, even when the correct answer was clear. Participants often reported feeling self-doubt and a desire to fit in with the group, even when they knew the group’s answer was wrong.

This experiment underscores the immense pressure to conform, even at the cost of one’s own judgment and authenticity. It highlights our inherent need for social acceptance, which can lead us to suppress our true selves in favor of fitting in with the group. However, by doing so, we only alienate ourselves further.

So next time you find yourself in a situation where everyone seems to agree on something, don’t be afraid to offer a different perspective, even if it feels challenging. It’s also completely fine to be wrong about something.

Be authentic, stay true to yourself, as that’s the only way you’ll find the people that truly resonate with who you are.

4. Your mind needs rest as well.

We often advise people to take a break after physical activity, reminding them of the necessity of rest and recovery for their bodies. Yet, how often do we extend this advice to those who have spent their day engaged in intense mental activity?

In today’s world, many jobs demand significant mental effort. Think of a programmer who spends the entire day writing code. To an outsider it might seem like he’s just chilling at his desk. But his brain could be working a hundred miles per hour. And this type of cognitive effort can be just as draining as physical work, despite not being measured as easily. Now unfortunately, while physical exertion gets a free pass since it’s more tangible, mental exertion often does not. We’re told to suck it up and push further instead. But just as our muscles need time to recuperate after a strenuous workout, our brains also need a break after prolonged periods of mental exertion. And our brains are actually constantly working, whether we notice it or not.

When we’re studying, reading, or just going about our day, we’re filtering and sorting all the information we’ve consumed throughout the day. And yet, the need to rest our minds is frequently overlooked and neglected. However, it has to be noted that not every break is created equal. It’s a common misconception that activities like watching TV, scrolling through TikTok, or browsing Instagram provide a mental break. In reality, these activities only distract us while continuing to overload our brains with new information. This cycle of constant consumption is a common trap that prevents true mental relaxation.

What I suggest as a solution is a simple 30-minute walk, without any electronic devices. This type of break allows our thoughts to run free and can significantly recharge our mental batteries. Activities where you keep the body active, but can turn the brain off, like: walking, showering or doing mundane chores, free us from the constant influx of new information and actually let our brains relax properly. Not only that, but you’ll also find that you tend to get your best ideas during these activities, as they allow you to finally stop overloading your brain and process all the information.

A prevalent issue among insomniacs is the inability to quiet their ruminating minds at night. As they lie in bed, trying to fall asleep, they often find themselves mulling over the day’s events and worrying about the future. This mental overload happens because bedtime is often the only break their brain gets throughout the day. So if you want to maintain your mental health and productivity, it’s essential to give your mind the rest it deserves, by not consuming more content.

Give it a proper break, let it rest and run free.

5. Manage your energy, not your time.

This is a slightly different approach to productivity that is often not considered. But basically what it hopes to achieve, is to align your tasks with your natural energy rhythms. Throughout the day, our energy levels fluctuate, creating periods of high focus and times of fatigue. And through personal experience, I’ve discovered that scheduling my most important work around my peak energy time significantly enhances my ability to produce high quality work and with greater ease. All the while my less important tasks are best scheduled when I’m not as energetic, since I don’t have to be as focused to do them well. And identifying my energy peaks and droughts has been one of the best ways I’ve managed to increase my overall productivity.

This strategy has two main benefits.

Firstly, it has allowed me to reduce my work hours dramatically. Instead of working for six hours with moderate results, I can achieve 80% of the same workload in just two hours by working during my energy peak. Because my most demanding work receives my best attention, I simply don’t have to spend as much time on it, since I’m able to do complex tasks with greater clarity and efficiency. Traditional time management techniques, which focus on organizing hours and minutes, regardless of my own biology, simply cannot match the results.

And secondly this strategy encourages a healthier work-life balance.
Since I spend less time working, it frees up more hours in the day for rest, relaxation, and personal pursuits. I’ve mentioned earlier how you should give your mind a break. But unfortunately many people look at breaks as a waste of time or they feel guilty for taking them. However, they are absolutely required if you want to work at your peak. You can’t do your best work if you’re exhausted. Breaks ensure that you’re recharged and ready to perform at your best during the next energy peak period. And since work gets done faster, there shouldn’t be any guilt for having some rest.

Of course it’s important to recognize that this approach may not be as easily applied to manual labor, which often requires consistent physical effort. Nonetheless, it can still be useful to schedule physically demanding tasks during times of higher physical energy in order to maintain stamina and reduce the risk of injury.

Still, this method encourages a more intentional approach to work, where the quality of effort you put in is prioritized over the amount of time spent working. And it leads to a more effective, satisfying and sustainable work experience.

6. Have a good day, have a great life.

What does it mean to live a great life? Is it having a well-paying job or a lot of money? Is it about fame and status, or maybe it’s traveling the world and learning about other cultures? Perhaps it’s having great relationships and a loving family?

One could argue that all these things contribute to a fulfilling life. However, when you break everything apart, what it eventually boils down to is having good days consistently. Because what life really is, is a string of days. And if you can make your average day good, you’ll live a great life.

This is a simple, yet for many, a very profound realization. Yes, we all experience bad days, and we all have amazing days as well. There are certain big events that bring us immense joy and pleasure, as well as those that cause significant dips in our mood. Think of going on an amazing vacation or attending a fantastic party, compared to catching a cold or dealing with the drudgery of doing taxes.

But these events are just that: events. They are merely anomalies that occasionally find their way into our everyday lives. If you really think about it, most of our days are actually routine, and it’s those days that you should look to improve, rather than just focusing on the big events. However, if you look closely, many people have it backwards. Most go into jobs they absolutely hate, enduring misery for 50 weeks a year just to enjoy a lavish 2 week vacation. To me, that doesn’t sound appealing at all. 50 weeks of misery for 2 weeks of enjoyment. The proportions are all off.

But I’m not one to judge, as for the longest time I was that person. Chasing success and money, not realizing it was causing me an immense amount of despair. It took me many years to change my perspective, but it was one of the best decisions I made. My average day is now actually something I look forward to, instead of dread. Of course many people would consider my usual day boring, but I’ve structured it in such a way that I enjoy it, and that’s all that really matters. After all, it’s my day and my life, not anyone else’s. And I encourage you to do the same.

Make YOUR average day better.
Whatever that means for you.

A great life is not built on the occasional grand events but on the consistent joy of everyday moments. And it’s only by finding contentment in the routine, the ordinary, and the mundane, that you’re able to lay the foundation for a truly great life.

So, those were the 6 lessons I wish I had learned sooner, and are now rules that I follow. I’m sure that over time I’ll add some more to the list. Now I’m also interested in what some of yours are. Let me know what’s something you’ve learned that you wish you had known sooner, or what is something that you follow and has served you well over time.

Leave a comment down below. As always thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one.

Thank you for reading this post!! 💜

Leave 👏 or ✍️ if you like it.

Consider following me on Medium AND my publication “SoulSync”

Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/vinukividhara

Thank you!!

Do you have any questions or suggestions or want to collaborate with me?

Message me:

• vinukividharaubeysinghe@gmail.com
• Instagram
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6 Lessons We Learn Too Late In Life… was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In a world overflowing with information, distractions, and snap judgments, clear thinking is a rare and powerful skill. Most of us assume we think clearly, but our minds are often clouded by biases, emotions, and mental shortcuts that lead to flawed decisions. The good news? Clear thinking isn’t an innate gift — it’s a skill you can cultivate.

By adopting mental models — structured ways of analyzing problems — you can upgrade your decision-making, cut through complexity, and achieve better outcomes. Below are five powerful mental models that great thinkers use to navigate life with clarity and precision. Let’s explore them, with practical examples and actionable steps to apply them in your daily life.

1. First Principles Thinking: Break It Down to the Core

What It Is: First Principles Thinking involves deconstructing complex problems into their fundamental truths, stripping away assumptions to uncover what’s truly essential.

Example: Imagine you’re planning a healthy breakfast. Instead of following a rigid recipe, ask: What are the core components of a nutritious meal? Protein for muscle health, carbohydrates for energy, and flavor for satisfaction. With this lens, you can create a meal — say, eggs, oatmeal, and fruit — using whatever’s in your pantry, without being constrained by tradition.

Real-World Impact: Elon Musk used First Principles Thinking to revolutionize the space industry. When told rockets were inherently expensive, he broke the problem down: What are rockets made of? Aerospace-grade aluminum, carbon fiber, and fuel. How much do these cost? By calculating raw material costs, SpaceX built rockets for a fraction of the industry standard — about 2% of traditional costs.

How to Apply It:

• Identify a problem or goal (e.g., starting a business, improving fitness).
• Ask: What are the core elements required? What assumptions am I making?
• Challenge every assumption and build solutions from the ground up.

2. Inversion: Think Backward to Move Forward

What It Is: Inversion flips your perspective by focusing on what not to do. Instead of asking how to succeed, ask how to fail — and then avoid those pitfalls.

Example: To build a strong relationship, don’t just ask, What makes a great partner? Instead, consider: What would ruin this relationship? Lying, disrespect, or neglect. By avoiding these, you naturally foster trust and connection.

Real-World Impact: Investor Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s partner, uses inversion to make smarter decisions. When evaluating investments, he asks: What could make this company fail? Poor management? Weak cash flow? By addressing these risks, he ensures better outcomes without chasing fleeting opportunities.

How to Apply It:

• For any goal, list actions that would guarantee failure.
• Create a plan to avoid those actions.
• Review regularly to stay on track.

3. Second-Order Thinking: Look Beyond the Obvious

What It Is: Second-Order Thinking goes beyond immediate consequences to consider the ripple effects of your decisions — two, three, or four steps ahead.

Example: Drinking coffee at 9 p.m. might help you stay awake now (first-order effect), but it could disrupt your sleep (second-order effect), leaving you exhausted tomorrow (third-order effect). Recognizing this chain helps you make better choices.

Real-World Impact: Urban planners often fall into first-order thinking traps. Offering free parking seems beneficial — it’s convenient and attracts drivers. But second-order effects include increased traffic, wasted urban space, and less walkable cities. By thinking ahead, planners can prioritize sustainable solutions like public transit.

How to Apply It:

• Before deciding, ask: What happens next? And after that?
• Map out at least three downstream consequences.
• Weigh short-term gains against long-term costs.

4. Opportunity Cost: Every Choice Has a Hidden Price

What It Is: Opportunity Cost reminds you that every “yes” to one option is a “no” to others. Your time, money, and energy are finite, so choices must be deliberate.

Example: Buying a $1,000 smartphone isn’t just about spending $1,000. It’s about forgoing a year’s gym membership, six months of groceries, or potential investment returns. Asking, Is this phone worth what I’m giving up? sharpens your priorities.

Real-World Impact: Entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos apply opportunity cost thinking to focus on high-impact projects. When Amazon considered new ventures, Bezos evaluated not just the cost but what other opportunities — like faster delivery or new markets — would be sacrificed.

How to Apply It:

• Before committing resources, list what else you could do with them.
• Evaluate if your choice aligns with your long-term goals.
• Practice saying “no” to low-value distractions.

5. Circle of Competence: Know Your Strengths, Admit Your Limits

What It Is: The Circle of Competence is about focusing on areas where you have deep knowledge and avoiding those where you don’t. It’s not about knowing everything — it’s about knowing what you don’t know.

Example: If you’re skilled at data analysis but struggle with public speaking, lean into roles that play to your strengths, like data science, rather than forcing yourself into sales. This focus amplifies your effectiveness.

Real-World Impact: Warren Buffett famously avoids investing in industries he doesn’t understand, like cutting-edge tech. By staying within his circle — consumer goods, insurance — he’s built unmatched wealth through disciplined focus.

How to Apply It:

• Identify your areas of expertise and confidence.
• Be honest about your knowledge gaps and seek learning or delegation.
• Regularly refine your circle by deepening your strengths.

The Path to Clear Thinking

Clear thinking is a competitive edge, but it’s not automatic — it’s a discipline. These five mental models — First Principles Thinking, Inversion, Second-Order Thinking, Opportunity Cost, and Circle of Competence — are tools to sharpen your mind and make better decisions.

Start small: Pick one model that resonates with you and practice it daily. Over time, these frameworks will become second nature, transforming how you approach problems, from the mundane to the monumental.

The world rewards those who see clearly. Equip yourself with these mental models, and you’ll not only make fewer mistakes but also uncover opportunities others miss.
Clear thinking isn’t just a skill — it’s your superpower.

Clear Thinking Is A Superpower: 5 Mental Models To Master It was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you can just give me 10 minutes, I’m going to help you destroy procrastination for good. I’m going to help you take action so you can achieve your goals and become successful. Like you can achieve anything, if you just beat procrastination — if you just beat that little thought that’s in the back of your mind.

So that’s what I’m going to help you with throughout this article.

I remember when I was 14 to 15 years old, I’m in my room and I was supposed to do a science homework assignment that was assigned to me on that day by my teacher. When I’m supposed to be working on my assignments, I was procrastinating on doing the thing that I really should be doing. I was procrastinating not because I didn’t want to study — like I knew really well that I had to study to get good grades and everything (and to be honest, I really loved studying) but I did because I was scared. I was scared that even if I study, I wasn’t going to get my dream results.

So maybe right now if you’re procrastinating on something, a lot of times maybe it’s not a lack of motivation. You can get things done even if you don’t have motivation. BUT maybe the reason why you’re procrastinating is because you’re scared. You’re scared of something. So what I want you to do is literally “an actual stuff” that you can literally do right now.

— That is to NAME THE FEAR. What is the fear? It can literally be anything ranging from “I’m scared that I’m going to fall behind my friends,” “I’m scared that I’m going to get bad grades even if I study,” “I’m scared that I’m going to make myself look stupid.”

— So I want you to name the fear. Once you’ve done naming the fear, grab a notebook or journal (…or anything else that you can write on), it just has to be physical. So just drop down all the little things that you’re scared of into the most detailed way possible.

And I guarantee you that this has been a game changer for me. There’s been many times that I was procrastinating and like I was procrastinating on writing this article actually. I’m going to be completely honest with you. I was scared that this article wasn’t going to do well. So what I did was I named the fear and then I journaled it down. I wrote it down on like a piece of paper and I guarantee that you will feel 100 times better.

I recently learned that our brains are actually our biggest enemy. Like that little thought that you get in the back of your mind that says “Oh, I’m going to fail if I do this — I’m a failure — I’m not a top student” Those thoughts — those negative thoughts are actually the ones that do us THE MOST harm. So your brain is actually like a two-sided weapon. On one hand it can give you like super super nice thoughts and everything but on the other hand it does the complete opposite. So if you name the fear and you just journal it down on a piece of paper, all your thoughts will just clear up. And I can’t tell you how much better that feels.

The hardest task is usually the one that is going to be the most beneficial for you. You’re procrastinating on doing past papers, you’re procrastinating on testing yourself because you’re scared that you’re going to like not get all the answers correct. And that’s okay — you can literally get like half the answers wrong and you still learn much more than writing notes. You might be procrastinating on studying or doing the hard things because the hard thing is usually the best thing.

Look procrastination is really just about getting your brain to do that hard thing that you really know that you hate like that’s one thing that you really really don’t want to do. Beating procrastination is understanding all that and saying… “I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this no matter what!”

The second piece of advice that I can give you is TO BE SCARED. You need to be scared of what happens if you don’t put into work. I still remember the day that I got my 1st trimester uni results. Imagine I’m walking down the hallway of my school and on the left of me is like offices and on the right of me there’s like posters and stuff. It’s 10:29 a.m. and my results literally release in 1 minute and so I’m really scared because I studied pretty hard right…I’ve like put in hours every single day. I was just grinding through the content but I was still feeling really nervous.

My heart was literally beating super super fast and my fingers and my toes went numb but then I looked at my time again and it was 10:30 a.m. I’m scrolling on my phone…I’m going on to that results website… I put in my username and I put in my password and my hands are shaking and I click the enter button and then I saw my average was uh 90%. This was really good…but there will be instances where you will doubt yourself even if you worked hard to achieve that goal.

The point here is that you need to fear the whip more than you fear the work. You need to be frightened and scared of what happens if you don’t study. Imagine that feeling that you get whenever you’re feeling demotivated, you need a burst of motivation! Try this and visualize yourself failing on that exact day… that exact moment that you open your results and you don’t get the results that you want. This will keep you going!!

The third thing that has helped me personally is to find your inner dark motivation. And I know this probably sounds kind of like uh dark gothic or sigma male type. BUT no I’m being serious with this one… you need to find your inner dark motivation!

So what is that thing that’s going to keep you going even on the days that you don’t feel like doing it. What’s that underlying burning desire. For me it’s becoming a doctor, helping out people and making my mom proud and making it up to her for everything she has done for me. Similarly, that’s your dark motivation, it’s that thing that’s going to keep you going no matter what. And for me personally, I’m going to be like a little bit controversial with this. God has helped me so much, there’s many days where I just feel like I really don’t want to work but during those days God has helped me. God has lend me his strength, so that I can work hard and when I believe in him good things come to me. I’m able to work harder and it just gives me that motivation, that purpose, that drive!

So whatever it is, you need to find your inner dark motivation. Once you find it, you will become unstoppable and that little thing…procrastination… it’s going to disappear just like that.

I hope you got tons of value from this article and I’m genuinely hoping that you’ll at least be able to be beat procrastination to a certain extent and take action. Take action as always. May God get us on the right path and I’ll see you in my next article.

Toodles… ☄. *. ⋆

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Give Me 10 Minutes, And I’ll DESTROY Your Procrastination Forever… was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Have you ever yawned because somebody else yawned?

You aren’t especially tired, yet suddenly your mouth opens wide and a big yawn comes out. This phenomenon is known as contagious yawning, and while scientists still don’t fully understand why it happens, there are many hypotheses currently being researched.

Let’s take a look at a few of the most prevalent ones, beginning with two physiological hypotheses before moving to a psychological one.

Our first physiological hypothesis states that contagious yawning is triggered by a specific stimulus, an initial yawn. This is called fixed action pattern. Think of fixed action pattern like a reflex. Your yawn makes me yawn.

Similar to a domino effect, one person’s yawn triggers a yawn in a person nearby that has observed the act. Once this reflex is triggered, it must run its course. Have you ever tried to stop a yawn once it has begun? Basically impossible.

Another physiological hypothesis is known as non-conscious mimicry, or the chameleon effect. This occurs when you imitate someone’s behavior without knowing it, a subtle and unintentional copycat maneuver. People tend to mimic each other’s postures. If you are seated across from someone that has their legs crossed, you might cross your own legs. This hypothesis suggests that we yawn when we see someone else yawn because we’re unconsciously copying his or her behavior.

Scientists believe that this chameleon effect is possible because of a special set of neurons known as mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that responds equally when we perform an action as when we see someone else perform the same action. These neurons are important for learning and self-awareness. For example, watching someone do something physical, like knitting or putting on lipstick, can help you do those same actions more accurately.

Neuroimaging studies using fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging, shows that when we see someone yawn or even hear their yawn, a specific area of the brain housing these mirror neurons tends to light up, which in turn causes us to respond with the same action. A yawn!

Our psychological hypothesis also involves the work of these mirror neurons. We will call it the empathy yawn. Empathy is the ability to understand what someone else is feeling and partake in their emotion, a crucial ability for social animals like us. Recently, neuroscientists have found that a subset of mirror neurons allows us to empathize with others’ feelings at a deeper level.

Scientists discovered this empathetic response to yawning while testing the first hypothesis we mentioned, fixed action pattern. The study was set up to show that dogs would enact a yawn reflex at the mere sound of a human yawn. While their studies showed this to be true, they found something else interesting. Dogs yawned more frequently at familiar yawns, such as from their owners, than at unfamiliar yawns from strangers.

Following this research, other studies on humans and primates have also shown that contagious yawning occurs more frequently among friends than strangers. In fact, contagious yawning starts occurring when we are about 4 or 5 years old, at the point when children develop the ability to identify others’ emotions properly.

Still, while newer scientific studies aim to prove that contagious yawning is based on this capacity for empathy, more research is needed to shed light on what exactly is going on. It’s possible that the answer lies in another hypothesis altogether.

The next time you get caught in a yawn, take a second to think about what just happened. Were you thinking about a yawn? Did someone near you yawn? Was that person a stranger or someone close? And are you yawning right now? Yawn.

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Why Is Yawning Contagious? was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’ll look at some of the solutions that you should adopt, which will help you wake up early and well rested…

How often do you actually wake up feeling energized?

How many times a week do you get up when your alarm rings without hitting the snooze button?

Nothing is worse than going to bed early only to wake up still feeling exhausted.

There are a number of factors that can affect how tired you feel in the morning and you probably have some habits that are robbing you of your energy. We’ll look at some of the solutions that you should adapt which will help you wake up early and well rested.

Let’s get started!

1. Stop snoozing

When you snooze, you’re not really getting more sleep. It doesn’t make you feel better about waking up. It actually does nothing beneficial for you. Every single time you hit the snooze button, you wake up feeling more tired. This is because our sleep consists of 90 minute cycles. When you fall back asleep for such a short amount of time, your alarm wakes you up in the middle of your sleep phase which will leave you feeling even more tired and sluggish.

What I recommend is to use an app called Sleep Cycle. What this app does is it wakes you up at the end of your sleep phase. It does it by tracking your movements during the night and the alarm only goes off when it detects you’re at the end of the cycle. Waking up this way will leave you much more energetic than waking up in the middle of your REM phase.

2. Get enough sleep

We need a certain amount of sleep every day for our body to function properly. This may sound stupid and you probably already know this, but we tend to regularly sleep either too much or too little.

One of the reasons this happens is because we go to sleep at inconsistent hours. One day we go to bed at 10pm, the next at 3am. But you should go to sleep and wake up at the same time 7 days per week. This way your body gets into the rhythm and you can wake up naturally at the end of a sleep cycle every single day.

Also, everyone has a different amount of sleep needed to feel energized. If you want to find out how many hours you personally need to wake up refreshed, go to bed at the same time every night for a week. Wake up without an alarm and write down the number of hours you slept every night. At the end of the week, you should be able to see how many hours you need to wake up and have a great day. You can then use this information to know when you should go to bed to wake up at a required time.

3. Rehydrate and get the blood flowing

It’s crucial that you hydrate yourself first thing in the morning. After 6 to 8 hours without water, you’ll naturally be dehydrated and dehydration causes fatigue.

Every single day before going to sleep, I always place a glass of water on my nightstand. That way, when I wake up, the water is already waiting for me. The objective is to rehydrate your body and mind as fast as possible to replace the water you were deprived of during the hours you slept. Often when people feel tired, whether in the morning or afternoon, what they really need is more water, not more coffee.

Another important thing to do is some light exercise as soon as you wake up. Any physical activity that gets the heart rate up and the blood flowing is going to raise your energy levels. It may seem counterintuitive, but researchers say expanding energy by engaging in regular exercise doesn’t make you tired, it actually creates energy in your body. Even if you think you’re too tired to do anything, get up and walk around the room, and in a couple of minutes you’ll feel some energy that wasn’t there before. The exercise doesn’t need to be anything extreme. No need to go run a marathon before breakfast. What I usually do is just some stretching, followed by jumping jacks and burpees.

4. Avoid screens before bed

Your TV, smartphone and computer screen all produce artificial blue light. The problem with artificial light in the evening is that it tricks your body into thinking that it’s actually daytime. When it gets darker outside, your body naturally produces a sleep hormone called melatonin. Since artificial light blocks melatonin production, we can really screw up our sleep because your body doesn’t send signals to your cells that it’s nighttime. That’s why you shouldn’t be looking at any screen at least 2 hours before bed.

If you’re watching this video on your phone at 2am because you have to get up early, well, you should apply this tip tomorrow and maybe replace your phone with a good book. For those of you who absolutely can’t do without your phone or computer before bed, there is a solution for this blue light problem. There are two apps that you should install on your phone and computer called Twilight and Flux. What they do is they block most of the artificial blue light by making your screen more orange. And the best part is, both are free. However, if you’re serious about fixing your tiredness problem, you won’t be using any screens before bed anyway.

I hope you learned something new today. I’ve been applying all these tips for some time now and they definitely help.

If you have any other solutions that have worked for you and you’d like to share, post them in the comments below. Together we’ll become better than yesterday.

Thank you for reading this post!! 💜

Leave 👏 or ✍️ if you like it.

Consider following me on Medium AND my publication “SoulSync”

Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/vinukividhara

Thank you!!

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How To STOP Waking Up Feeling TIRED Every Morning — 4 Tips was originally published in SoulSync on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.