Words Can Change Your Brain Read Online Free PDF

with the answers to the above questions, anonymously. He didn’t ask them for their names because he really wanted to know if the exercise had any immediate or lasting value for the busy executives enrolled in the program.
    In the end nearly everyone found the exercise useful, enlightening, and enjoyable, but it didn’t start out that way. Some were intrigued, others were bored, and a few actually became irritated with the assignment. One student—a chief operating officer at a midsize corporation—put it bluntly: “What the *#!* does this have to do with financial planning?” But by the end of the ten days, he wrote the following comment: “I think that this exercise should be taught to every MBA student in America.” He was not alone, as the following excerpts illustrate, taken from the students’ written responses to the seven questions listed above:
     
At first I thought, “Who has time for this?” I barely have enough minutes in the day to run my company, and the workload for the MBA class is overwhelming. But those couple of minutes each morning helped me stay calm and focused for the rest of the day. I plan to do this exercise for the rest of the school year.
The moment I awake, my mind rushes to plan the day. This exercise made me realize that I’m undermining my health. I get the most from it when I practice five to ten minutes a day, and I’ve noticed that the quality and quantity of my sleep has improved. I know I have strong values, but I’ve never taken the time to acknowledge it.
I really became more conscious about my emotions, and how they could sabotage my evenings with my wife. Once, after having a fight with her, I spent thirty minutes sitting alone, thinking about the value of my marriage. I went back and apologized, and we worked our problem out.
I used my positive word all day long. I felt calmer, less stressed, and it seemed to help when it came to solving difficult problems at work. I loved the self-awareness it brought, and the way it made me feel throughout the day.
The core values that kept coming up for me were honesty, integrity, and family. It made me think about my business ethics and values, and what was really essential for work. I realized that I’d rather climb the ladder of success more slowly so I can support the people I meet along the way, and give more time to my family.
This exercise grounded me in the principles of goodness and the desire to live by my deepest principles. For me, work can drown out the self-talk of my core values. When that happens, I can’t truly express who I am or realize my greatest potential.
At first I hated this exercise, but it forced me to reexamine my priorities. I realized that business is not just about numbers and money. I think everyone needs to find at least two minutes a day to think about their values and principles and how to use them to build a life-sustaining career and personality.
    More than a third of the students said that the exercise inspired them to become more involved in spiritual pursuits like meditation, even though no mention had been made of them. But even more surprising, several people wrote that they were going to restructure their companies to be more values oriented. One CEO asked every member of his company to write up a personal “mission and values” statement, which he collated and distributed to the class.
    Now, it may be just a coincidence, but the couple of students who ignored the exercise had greater difficulties with their schoolwork. And when they were later involved in teamwork activities with their classmates, they tended to be less cooperative and more stubborn.
    Inner Values on the Internet
    Over the past two years, we’ve been able—using Facebook and other social media forums—to get feedback about this exercise from people all over the world: college students, therapists, religious practitioners, divorce attorneys, mediators, teachers, corporate executives. And the feedback is overwhelmingly