Self-Improvement

Erika Slater headshot photo 300x300Self-improvement can mean many things to different people. Here are Free At Last hypnosis we are big on this topic because in our experience hypnosis can be an effective tool to help people make significant changes to improve their lives.
This can range from overcoming an unhealthy habit to breaking down barriers holding people back from achieving their goals. We’ve found in one way or another if we can help people change their habits it can help them with their personal growth aims.
Peter Sacco Ph.D. has written a comprehensive library of articles on self-improvement for us – I’ve added a few myself – and these include expanding skills in sports performance, mental toughness, test taking, speaking, motivation and much more.
A truism today is if you’re standing still, you’re really losing ground. Always striving for self-improvement keeps us moving forward and we experience the wonder of growth both for ourselves and those we care about.
Enjoy the articles.

How to Improve Mental Toughness – Tips and Using Hypnosis

By Erika Slater
Mental toughness pills in a bottle

There are all kinds of toughness and the most visible is physical toughness, but I’d argue the more valuable is mental toughness. Discover more on achieving mental toughness here…

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Strategies to Long-Term Motivation and How Hypnosis Can Help

By Erika Slater
Long-term handwriting in coffee cup for motivation

In this special Hypnosis Brief I want to discuss long-term motivation, and how hypnosis can help you stay the course to get to your prize. First-off I’m not a motivational speaker but I’ll share what I’ve seen from people I’ve helped achieve a long-term goal and what it took for them and include some current research on the topic as well. Motivation comes from within. You can’t buy it in a bottle, or order it from Amazon, or watch it in a movie. Can you be inspired to get motivated from a book, or a movie, or even a speech? Yes, you can. But it’s short-term, and even then, I’d argue, it still comes from “inside” you. Getting motivated is a conscious decision, but keeping it going is an unconscious decision. To achieve long-term motivation, you need to engage your unconscious mind. This can be done in various ways where the things you do to achieve a short-term goal become habits to help you achieve a long-term goal. Here’s more…

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How to Reinvent Yourself with Hypnosis For Next Phase of Life

By Erika Slater
Reinvent yourself handwriting on chalkboard

Are you at the point in your life you’re looking to do something new? Maybe you’ve been doing the same job for decades, or you’ve been with the same company as long. Perhaps you’re now tired of doing what you’ve been doing and you want a change. As with many people today the company you’ve been working for could be forcing you into an early retirement of sorts, and you need to find something else. Maybe your job is for a younger person and your physical body can no longer handle the rigors of what you’ve been doing and you need to find something kinder to you and your body. But you also know if you just ‘retire’ you’ll just go crazy! You sense there’s a yearning in your soul to do more, and be an active contributor to society rather than just live for the next installment of your favorite TV show. You know you need to do more for who is most important… yourself! Read more here…

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Stop Worrying How Others See You and Be an Effective Communicator

By Erika Slater
Man looking into mirror on self-reflection

Do you spend time thinking and worrying over how others see you? Does it impact your job or relationships? Friends, family, lovers? Paying attention and understanding what others think about you is important and healthy. It allows us to grow and mature. But it can also get in the way of who we are and what we can become. So, finding an equilibrium between watching for how others perceive you and focusing on being who you are is a tricky balance. In this short article today, I’m going to explore some simple ways you can reduce the impact of other’s perception of you on your life. Read more…

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How to Achieve Stellar Success in Work and Life to Get to Your Dreams

By Erika Slater
Man on mountain top with arms raised above head in success gesture

Whether you’re trying to achieve success in life or in business doesn’t really matter, the underlying themes are consistent. How you do anything is how you do everything. Success doesn’t have to be, nor I’d argue should it be, at the expense of others. But of course, we are rarely told this growing up. In fact, most people feel, at least in business, success is measured in a way that directly puts you in competition with others, and in order for you to succeed they must fail. But of course, real success is about inner success and not just about sales quotas or how many friends you have on social media, or even how many dollars are in your bank account. It can be all of these but if just one then lasting happiness is going to be a long way behind. And this gets at the heart of why I ask that question to my clients. “How will your life be different when you achieve your goal?” Because in essence the question being asked is really “What will success look like for you.” Get more help here…

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Slay the ‘Foot in Mouth’ Beast by Discovering These Ways to Think Before You Speak…

By Erika Slater
Timepiece with words on clock face saying time to think before you speak

In this article you’ll discover: 1) What is “foot-in-mouth” disease and what causes it to creep into and infect our lives.
2) How the mediums we use today to communicate our opinions are driving up the frequency of making embarrassing or inappropriate remarks. 3) 6 Simple ways to overcome ‘foot-in-mouth’ disease, and 4) Further reading resources for help in understanding and slaying this beast. Have you ever been accused of having ‘foot in your mouth’ disease? If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s when you say something so inappropriate, the instant they leave your mouth you wish you could take them back immediately, or even better have “kept your darn mouth shut.” Read how to slay this beast here…

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Why Finding Your Passion or Purpose Can Leave You Frustrated and Depressed… and What to Do Instead

By Erika Slater
Grow through what you go through quote

If you’ve traveled far enough along the self-development track and listened to a few of the gurus who use this train as their journey for you – pun intended – then sooner or later they’ll talk about finding your passion and purpose. Well, are you ready for an alternative view on this? Forget trying to find any of these! Recently I wrote a post about exploding the myth of finding your purpose , and so today I’m going to the do something similar for finding your passion. Read more…

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How to Strengthen Your Resilience, Perseverance and Grit to Get Success in Your Life

By Erika Slater
Goethe quote about perseverance

When discussing success and achievement, often time you’ll hear words like resilience and perseverance used to describe qualities associated with, or necessary for, one to be successful in attaining goals. These may be business or life goals or both. In recent articles I’ve covered Goals and Getting Your Life Priorities Straight and the Importance of Resilience in Overcoming Life Challenges but today I wanted to discuss with you the need for Perseverance in the overall life equation for success, and especially how it relates to its twin sister of Resilience. Now people may get the terms resilience and perseverance confused as they’re usually paired together when discussing the ingredients for successful living especially for entrepreneurs. Even though they’re needed in the equation for success, they’re different, but go hand in hand. Most recently, the term Grit has entered the vocabulary. Read more here…

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Kick Starting your Personal Development and Self-Improvement Journey

By Erika Slater
Writing on blackboard saying if you change nothing - nothing will change

Have you ever heard of the term ‘Personal Development?’ Perhaps you view it as some cliché term or business concept. In the past its been used “ad nauseam” for anything labelled under ‘bettering’ oneself for personal growth, and also in the business world as companies hope to bring out the best in their employees. Regardless if its cliché or a business term the fact is most individuals need to work on their personal development to get out of their ruts, or entanglement of negative lifestyles. Whether you’re reading this because you’ve decided to embark on personal development for yourself, or gathering information on what to expect on the “road to success” my aim is to give you some pointers towards your possible next steps. Read more here…

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Get Your Life Priorities Straight – Busting the Purpose and Goals Myths

By Erika Slater
Director's chair with concept of directing your own life

Do you have the priorities in your life straight? Are you doing what you’re supposed to be doing, that is the important things you should be doing? Perhaps you’re wasting your thoughts, time and energy on pointless things that are robbing you of your productivity to do great things, or get the most out of your life. Too many people today are skipping to the tune of others’ expectations. Individuals are spending so much of their time sacrificing their dreams or goals for others, or to meet the needs of others, they neglect their own desires and core dreams. Are you someone who’s put aside your life priorities because someone set their own on you? First of all, this isn’t yet another self-improvement piece about finding your life’s purpose or setting your long-term goals to fulfill that purpose… and then you die. There’s plenty of books and courses out there that may help you do that if that’s what you need. If you’re looking for practical advice then read on…

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Image of iPhone and earbuds showing picture of Erika Slater

DISCOVER HOW TO START CHANGING HABITS TODAY.

In this free audio hypnosis session, you’ll experience the power of your subconscious mind to begin to change your habits. If you've never experienced hypnosis before then this is a great introduction...