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Articles by Craig Harper

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85 articles by Craig Harper · showing 35

Browse every published article connected to Craig Harper, or search within this exact expert archive.

By SelfGrowth ContributorAug 9, 20071 topic

Weight-Loss Bullshit

So I'm wearing my Exercise Scientist hat today.nAnd my Psychologist cardigan.nAnd my steel-capped, ass-kicking boots.nnI may be blunt.nOkay, I will be.nBut honest.nPossibly... politically incorrect.nOkay, probably.nWill possibly say what you don't want to hear.nFeel free to look away... now.nnHmm.. still here huh?nThrill-seeker.nCrazy kid.nnEven though I've spoken way too much for way too many years about getting in shape (in the course of my work)... and I'm kinda over it, r

Primary topic: Dieting and Weight Loss

Dieting and Weight Loss

1,268 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorAug 8, 20071 topic

The Master of the Pointless Conversation

If you're like most people, then you often feel like you're spending far too much time and emotional energy having certain conversations with certain people.nnImagine how many years we could add to our lives if we could reclaim all the time we've wasted on those pointless, meaningless, destructive, repetitious, mind-blowingly-frustrating, mind-numbingly-boring, too-many-to-remember conversations we've all had.nnYou know the ones.nQuite often they're with the same people.nAbou

Primary topic: Happiness

1,209 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorAug 5, 20071 topic

My Life.... Five Years From Now

If you've come in search of hilarity, mirth and entertainment today, you best look elsewhere. Because today I'm sharing some old-school, self-help, get-yer-shit-together... love.nnGot a buddy (surprising I know) who is always just about to turn his life (career, body, relationships, finances, living situation) around.nSpoken about him once before.nAlways at the threshold of something amazing.nAlways about to re-invent himself.nNever actually doing anything... but always about

Primary topic: General Self Help

General Self Help

1,367 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJul 20, 20071 topic

Life Beyond the Physical... Exploring the Oogabooga (part one)

You've all heard me say many times that we are multi-dimensional, complex, amazing beings.nnAnd nearly every day I talk about how we might create positive change in all areas of our lives and day-to-day reality; ways that we might learn, grow, change, improve, adapt, help others, live more effectively and understand more.nnAnd having pumped out about two hundred posts/articles (over quarter of a million words!) over the last nine months, there's one area I've consciously dare

Primary topic: Spiritual Growth

Spiritual Growth

988 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJul 15, 20071 topic

A Practical Guide to Overcoming Procrastination

I know, I know; it's a boring title... not creative, not amusing, not clever.nBut for many of us, it's a very relevant subject.nEvery now and then I take off my silly, creative, fun hat and put on my let's-address-this-problem-in-a-practical-way.. hat.nToday is such a day.nMr. Serious Personal Development Dude.nAlmost.nnThere are two types of waiters:n(1) those who serve people food and drinks andn(2) those who wait, literally.nnI don't eat out a lot, so I don't have much to

Primary topic: Happiness

964 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJul 1, 20071 topic

The Law of Attraction should be renamed The Law of Distraction

Today I'm stepping out on to the cyber high-wire.nnI'm performing a high-risk blogging manoeuvre.nnNo safety net.nnNo cyber-harness.nnI'm going to write a brief opinion piece on the Law of Attraction (LOA).nnPossibly a no-win situation for me.nnAah well.nnAdvocates (of the concept) will disagree with me.nn(I'm okay with that... as long as you're okay with me thinking differently to you).nnAnd opponents are already with me.nnI personally think the LOA should be re-named the La

Primary topic: Motivation

1,162 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 26, 20071 topic

Stop Interrupting me with Your Logic; I'm Having a Breakdown.

You don't need a PhD to understand that we human beings are complex physical, emotional, spiritual and cerebral creatures; we all get this.n(I hope).nAnd while we know that we're highly-evolved (some more than others), multi-dimensional beings, the truth is that some of us have a propensity to be (periodically) a little one-dimensional.nnNamely, emotional.n(Not you of course, but perhaps someone you know).nnAnd while we take occasional trips to the cerebral, physical and spir

Primary topic: Psychology

1,111 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 20, 20071 topic

The Ship Without a Rudder

Lately I have spent a great deal of time with rudder-less ships.nPeople who get up each morning and do exactly what they did yesterday.nNot that they particularly want to... it's just what they do.nThey do the same.nDay in, day out.nYear in, year out.nnThey expend a huge amount of energy sailing in circles on the Sea of Frustration.nTalk to them and they have no real direction.nNo clarity and no certainty about what they want their future to look like.nThey are desperate for

Primary topic: Happiness

1,137 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 19, 20071 topic

I'll Just Sneak out the Back Door... Nobody will Notice

For my international visitors: parts of this post may be somewhat confusing because much of the discussion is in reference to a well known football player in our national league here in Australia (the AFL). Just know that he's a champion athlete and a champion person and you'll get the rest....nnSo, the other night I went to Robert Harvey's testimonial dinner hosted at Telstra Dome by the St. Kilda Football Club. Rob and I have been friends for a long time and apart from trai

Primary topic: Happiness

964 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 17, 20071 topic

You're Not the Boss of Me.

There's a lot of great things about being a kid.nnYou don't have to pay for stuff.nYou get to lick the cake-mix bowl (a personal highlight for me).nYou can actually tell people what you think.nYou can build cool stuff from junk and grown-ups tell you it's great.nOld people spoil you.nYou can use the "I'm-just-a-kid-and-I-didn't-know" line as a defence for pretty much anything.nAnd every day you do the best drawing ever in the history of the world.nnOn the other hand, what suc

Primary topic: Happiness

1,026 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 14, 20071 topic

Bench Press for Your Brain

We all understand what happens to our body as it ages.nnWithout intervention (an exercise/activity program) we know that our muscles waste, our lung capacity decreases, our heart gets weaker, our bones become brittle, our flexibility and mobility decrease, our reaction time slows, our posture suffers, we move slower and we become more susceptible to illness and injury.nUnless of course we happen to live a naturally active lifestyle (one where we regularly expend lots of energ

Primary topic: Motivation

1,278 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 12, 20071 topic

The REAL SECRET of Success.

Part of my job as an educator, motivator, coach (etc.) is to sell stuff.nKind of.nNot physical stuff (toasters, convertibles, cross-bows... although that'd be fun) but more the emotional and psychological stuff like... ideas, concepts, philosophies, strategies.nnIn order to get people to take action I am constantly 'selling' the notion that creating our best life (body, health, relationships, career, finances, happiness) is largely about decisions, attitude and personal respo

Primary topic: Happiness

970 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 6, 20071 topic

Adaptation = Happiness... or does it?

You'd hafta be silly or brave to write a post on happiness.nSo silly me is gonna give it a crack.nI had no plans for this piece (like I plan my writing!)... it came out of a conversation I had yesterday.nIt asked to be written.nnIt's fair to assume that we're all different and therefore all have different goals.nCommon sense really.nI think that most free-thinking, objective, amateur behavioural psychologists (like you and me) would agree on this.nnAs usual, I have another pe

Primary topic: Happiness

1,104 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorJun 5, 20071 topic

Paris in the Big House... so NOT FAIR.

Warning: If you're after some hard-hitting, life-changing, mind-altering, insight, wisdom and enlightenment from yours truly today... then check out one of your other favourite writers.nSeriously.nThis is certainly no Personal Development piece... social commentary perhaps.nA little tongue-in-cheek satire maybe.nOr just an excuse for me to comment on something I find entertaining, amusing, incredible, sad and silly.nnnSo little Paris has just headed off (today) to the slammer

Primary topic: Personal Accountability

Personal Accountability

1,165 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 30, 20071 topic

So, You Want to be a Writer?

So the guy who's never done a writing workshop, never studied journalism, never taken a class in English Literature, never read anything more than comics or muscle mags for the first twenty years of his life.. and wouldn't know a pronoun from a protein... is surely not the person to give anyone advice on becoming a writer.nnSurely not.nnNonetheless, I'm gonna give it a crack.nOf course.nIf you want advice from the least qualified, least trained writing teacher on the planet,

Primary topic: Happiness

990 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 27, 20071 topic

The Personal Development Zombie

It seems we have a not-so-new, but rarely discussed scourge on the Personal Development landscape.nnWe've all met Mr and Mrs fit-in-at-all-costs; the Social Zombie (what would you like me to do, be, say?).nBut over the last decade or three we have seen the rise of the Personal Development Zombie.nThe Self-Help Automaton.nThe person who hasn't had an independent thought or opinion since the eighties.nnNow before I get on my cyber-soapbox, let's take a look at a couple of defin

Primary topic: Happiness

1,003 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 26, 20071 topic

Creating Something (spectacular) from Nothing

In 1988 I had the idea of setting up a Personal Training centre in Melbourne.nThere were no commercial PT facilities in this country at the time.nIt would be Australia's first appointment-only gym.nI was young, had no business experience, no tertiary qualification and not much money.nnClearly, a perfect plan.nnOn top of all that... the majority of (allegedly) well-intending, much-wiser-than-me 'advisers' suggested that there was no market for this type of business concept in

Primary topic: Happiness

866 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 24, 20071 topic

My Body is Not Who I am... It's Just Where I Iive.

It seems to me that many of us don't really know who we are.nWe have our very own personal identity crisis.nnWe spend our very busy lives doing stuff, achieving stuff.... but still not really knowing who we are.nnWhat's you're identity?nnWho are you really?nnIf we take away all your stuff... then... who are you?nYeh, we know what you do for a job, we know what you look like, we know what you drive, where you live and what you've done... but who are you beyond all that?nnAre y

Primary topic: Happiness

1,293 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 21, 20071 topic

Happily Imperfect

Most of us live in a culture and society which is totally obsessed with perfection.nnAn obsession which invariably leads to pain.nEmotional, psychological, physical, social and financial pain.nnThe perfection obsession is rampant.nnnIt's completely ridiculous.nIt's unhealthy.nIt's unrealistic.nAnd it's potentially very dangerous.nnI have personally seen it lead to anxiety, depression, social dysfunction, eating disorders, emotional problems, unrealistic expectations, ruined r

Primary topic: Happiness

1,154 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 17, 20071 topic

The Social Sheep

Growing up in Australia means growing up with sheep.nnWell, kind of.nnNot that we have them sleeping in our lounge room or running around our front yard or anything, but Australia, amongst other things, is a farming nation and at some stage, most Aussie kids (although less these days) have spent time at their uncle's farm (it's always an uncle) rounding up the sheep or cows on their school holidays.nnOr they grew up on a farm themselves.nnNow, I'm no sheep-ologist (my site, m

Primary topic: Happiness

1,334 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 16, 20071 topic

Maybe the Beatles Were Right

Ya gotta love love don'tcha?nMaybe the Beatles were right.nnIsn't it great that so many people from so many places can come together (blogospherically) and connect and reach out to someone else.nnNo agenda, no ulterior motive.nJust love, compassion and care.nnNice.nnSometimes us personal development types need to take off our high-achiever hats for a minute and put on our compassionate human-being hats (yes we can wear both but periodically we lose perspective about what is r

Primary topic: Happiness

865 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 15, 20071 topic

Excuse Me While I Sing Into My Hairbrush

Yesterday I went for a run along the beach near my house.nBurned a few cals, got a bit of sun... no biggie... except for the fact that I got a life-lesson from a five year-old.nnHere's the scene:nThe ex-bodybuilder with the dodgy lower-back running (for want of a more descriptive or accurate term) along the path which borders the sand.nThe kid (clearly an architect in the making) just off the path, in the sand building a.... aah.. er... well, building something kinda big and

Primary topic: Happiness

1,114 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMay 3, 20071 topic

Doctor Phil's Got Issues Too...

To be honest... sometimes (not often... but occasionally) the captain of inspiration and motivation (and political in-correctness)... sits at the his keyboard with that stupid, vacant, 'I've-got-absolutely-nuthin' look on his face.nnIn his normally, sharp-as-a-tac mind (okay, that's a big lie), there's a bloke riding a uni-cycle, wearing big red shoes, a green bow-tie and a yellow fluffy wig... he's juggling seven balls and has that far-away look in his eye.nnThe light's on..

Primary topic: Happiness

869 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 22, 20071 topic

Learning to be Proactive not Reactive

One of the interesting things about my work is that I get the opportunity to see how people 'work'... how they're wired.nTypical behaviours, thinking, attitudes, reactions.nHow they deal with situations, circumstances, events, catastrophes, tragedies, good stuff, bad stuff; life.nnIt's all interesting stuff for me.nnI've learned that most people, most of the time are reactive not proactive (when it comes to the big-picture stuff).nnThat is, many of us are not particularly goo

Primary topic: Personal Accountability

Personal Accountability

6,869 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 17, 20071 topic

Ten Ways to be More Attractive

* I so wanted this to be a brief, quirky, interesting article... maybe four, five hundred words tops.nA thousand words later... here it is.nI can't help myself.nI think I talk too much.nI need help.nnSchool report from 1977:n"Craig has a propensity to be somewhat verbose and distracting in class".nnSo not fair.nSo misunderstood.nnOkay.. that's it.nI'm gonna do my best to be more concise.nMaybe I need to take a workshop.nOops.. I'm still doing it.nI'm still adding words aren't

Primary topic: Affirmations and Positive Affirmations

Affirmations and Positive Affirmations

1,818 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 16, 20071 topic

Stumbling into the Future.

When I walk into a room to do a presentation I regularly ask a few questions before we get under way:nn"Who wants to live an amazing life?" (every hand goes up)n"Who wants to have an amazing career?" (every hand goes up again)n"Who wants incredible relationships?" (every hand)n"Who wants more." (every hand)nnTo the uninitiated, it would appear that everyone in the room is pretty sure about what they want...nnThey want amazing.nThey want incredible.nThey want more.nnCool; they

Primary topic: General Self Help

General Self Help

775 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 15, 20071 topic

Lessons in Pain

Some of our best lessons come out of painful experiences.nnMost of my significant life lessons have been painful and have often had something to do with people that I trusted, respected and (stupidly) expected more of.nnDarn those expectations!!!nnOver the years I have had people whom I loved, cared for and invested lots of emotional energy in, do things which were dishonest, deceitful, hurtful and even criminal. It usually had something to do with money and/or business. Inva

Primary topic: Religion

816 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 11, 20071 topic

Do It Yourself Prison

We all live somewhere.nnSome of us live in our nice comfy houses.nSome of us live in our big palatial mansions.nSome in our trendy apartments.nSome of us live in our modest bungalows.nnAnd some of us live in prison. nnJail (gaol).nThe big house.nThe slammer.nThe slot.nThe pen.nThe joint.nnIn fact, many of us live in a prison.nMore people than you might think.nMillions in fact.nIn fact, lots of people you know personally.nnPossibly you.nnMany of us live in a place where there

Primary topic: Happiness

871 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 9, 20071 topic

Exercise Adherence (14 Secrets to Staying on Track)

As an Exercise Scientist I get a bunch of emails on this topic so I thought I'd save myself some letter-writing time and discuss publicly how we can best maintain our focus and commitment to our exercise program, as it seems to be a challenge for many of us.nWe all talk about regular, consistent exercise (I'm not talking about incidental activity, I'm talking about actual structured, regular workouts).nWe all intend to do it, and while some of us do, most of us don't.nnResear

Primary topic: Fitness and Exercise

Fitness and Exercise

998 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 7, 20071 topic

The Secret of Adaptation

There's a school of thought which suggests that those who adapt most effectively (to their situation, environment, circumstance, challenge) are the ones who ultimately survive, or at the very least, do the best; succeed when others don't.nWe see this play out, not only in nature but in business, relationships, sport, politics and life in general.nnOur world, and nearly everything in it, is dynamic; that is, in a perpetual state of change.nGreat for those who get bored easily.

Primary topic: Happiness

748 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorApr 2, 20071 topic

Excess

* Excess (noun): more than or above what is necessary or usual. Unnecessary indulgence.nnIs it just me, or do some of you also feel that perhaps most of us actually have... 'enough'.nnPerhaps we don't actually need a 'better' computer with more ram, mega-thingies, or gigga-wotsits.nMaybe we don't need a phone that makes coffee, has built in satellite navigation and can guide the space shuttle back to earth.nAnd what if we do get the TV that's sixty feet wide... surely there's

Primary topic: Happiness

848 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorMar 28, 20071 topic

Grooming Our Kids for Failure.

Recently on a current affairs television program here in Melbourne there was a story exploring the concept of children not receiving 'traditional' school report cards and not being graded (marked) on their school work at all.nThe key message of the program was that evaluating our kids and actually scoring them on their work and exams might set them up for some kind of long-term emotional pain or short-term social judgement and ridicule from their peers.nApparently the traditi

Primary topic: Child Development

Child Development

985 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorFeb 27, 20071 topic

Different Creates Different

One of the many ironies of our existence here on the big blue ball is that, while most of us really want to experience 'different', we consistently do 'the same'.nnUnknowingly and unintentionally we create the same, almost every day of our lives.nnWe want different... but we get up each day and do exactly what we did yesterday, the day before, the month before and sadly (sometimes), the year before.nnSome of us have been doing what we don't really want to do for years... hopi

Primary topic: General Self Help

General Self Help

717 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorFeb 27, 20071 topic

The Art of Completion.

* Blunt, offensive, politically-incorrect Craig wanted to call this article.... "Get That Shit Done" but it doesn't sound nearly as mystical, sophisticated or clever as "The Art of Completion".. does it?nSo boring, let's-keep-everyone-happy Craig has gone for the soft option.nOh well.nNext time.nnnLike many of you, my life is busynOkay, crazy.nBut crazy in a fun and rewarding kind of way.nnThat craziness means that I regularly need to rely on other people to get certain thing

Primary topic: General Self Help

General Self Help

777 views

By SelfGrowth ContributorFeb 27, 20071 topic

What if Today's the Day?

My job means that I spend much of my life working with people who want to change something about their reality.nPeople who would like to be fitter, healthier, leaner, lighter, happier, wealthier, less stressed, more fulfilled.... people who want to create some kind of positive change.nnI always ask them some questions:nn1. Have you tried to change before?n2. What happened last time?n3. What do you really want (and why)?n4. What are you prepared to do to create that change?n5.

Primary topic: Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking

740 views

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