Showing posts with label information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label information. Show all posts

The Decision Making Process

Making decisions is never easy and the worst thing is we are never taught how to make decisions. No one taught us this life skill as we are growing up. No one in school or at home taught us. We only learn through observation. And most of the time we observe people not knowing how to make a decision!

And one of the most ineffective processes is in the making of a pros and cons list! And this is one of the most popular ways in which people base their decisions on.

So the most common question I get from my students and clients is this: Do I make my decision based on logic or based on what my heart tells me? Ah, this is where we trip ourselves up BIG TIME. We often see logic and our feelings as two separate entities, because we have not experienced them enough to be one unit. And we have not understood ourselves enough to know that they are interconnected.

Now let's play devil's advocate here: what is logic? The definition of logic is correct reasoning. But correct reasoning is not the ultimate truth. Our reasoning is based on information we have at the moment, and so logic expands or contracts depending on available data/information. This also means that logic can change or evolve as we evolve. When we talk about logic, we seem to have a fixed idea that logic does not change. But when we talk about feelings/emotions, we have no qualms about accepting that yes, our feelings/emotions do change depending on situations/circumstances.

If both logic and our feelings do evolve/transform, this means that our decision-making process is actually much easier than we think. Why? We have a higher tolerance for things to change, and that even if we make a decision now based on what we know, that decision has room to evolve as well because we are open to the idea that we will have more information over time.

Ultimately, this means that we can only make decisions based on the present moment. I know this sounds kinda zen. But this is the only way we can move. We cannot live our lives stuck in the past based on past information, neither can we wait in anticipation of what is to come, and be in paralysis, not knowing how to make the decision. So we can only make decisions based on the present moment. Does this make sense to you?

The problem with us humans is that we are so filled with fears that confront us in our conscious and unconscious that it is almost impossible for most people to make decisions based on the present moment. Most people cannot live like this. They want guarantees in life, they want guarantees in success, they fear to be in pain, to be hurt. And they just want to control everything happening in their lives, which we know is impossible.

Trying to control everything and wanting guarantees is not living, and it comes from an extremely egocentric perspective that you actually think you have any form of control whatsoever, which stems from a narcissistic egomaniac mind! Can you imagine that most of humanity operating this way?

In the end, what happens is that people start making decisions based on their fears. "Never trust your fears, they don't know your strengths" this is such a great quote! Our fears are short-sighted and usually have no depth in perspective, and making our decisions based on fears limits us, and prevents us from seeing more and further, and it certainly keeps us in the loop of our comfort zone. We feel a temporary sense of freedom, thinking we have made the decision that serves us, but whatever decisions we have made that stems from fear will come back to haunt us, it is only a matter of time.

As zen as it may sound, the most effective decision-making process is still one that is based on the present moment, that feeds into our empowered state, and gives us a sense of freedom to understand that: hey! I am always free to change my perspective about things, people, situations and that I am allowed to evolve.

Give this decision-making process a try, you might like it.


https://ezinearticles.com/?The-Decision-Making-Process&id=10259999

The Creative Thinking Process - Three Examples

Creative thinking can be learnt. And to do so it helps to understand the creative thinking process: the structure and steps that you need to take to generate (and sometime evaluate) creative ideas.

Here are 3 examples of the creative thinking process. They all start with a definition of the creative challenge, or creative goal. In my case, this is to 'generate new ideas for a holiday'.

Information, Incubation, Ideation

This creative thinking process begins with gathering information. To generate ideas we need input, ideas won't emerge from an empty vessel! In my case, looking for ideas for a holiday, I'd go online, talk to friends, look through the travel magazines... any relevant source of information!

Next, relax. Put the challenge to one side. Forget about it. Let the information incubate in your mind. This process is rooted in the belief that generating ideas should be natural, stress-free and almost effortless. Let the mind do it's work in the subconscious.

The key thing is to make sure you're ready to capture the ideas as they emerge. Because the final ideation stage is quite fluid you need to be ready to write down the ideas before they're lost. Keep a notebook handly, especially on the bedside table, so that you can write down the ideas as soon as they emerge.

You'll soon find you have plenty of great ideas!

Observe, combine, create

This process begins in a similar way: observation is a way of gathering information.

The key to this process is combine. It's a technique of idea generation which involves taking existing ideas, and combining them to create something new.

This process is great for creating new products. As a very simple example, putting a camera into a mobile phone combined two existing products to create something new.

For my holiday, I might see a 'foodies' holiday in Italy, but chose to combine it with my original destination, Thailand. This inspiration could result in a tour around the gastronomic hotspots to sample Thai cuisine.

Dreamer, Realist, Critic

This final creative thinking process involves not just generating ideas, but also evaluating and improving them. It's know as 'The Disney Way' as it was originally used by Walt Disney to generate ideas and evaluate ideas for his movies.

The Dreamer is free of all constraints, has infinite resources and anything they think of is guaranteed to succeed. This mindset is designed to overcome limitations, and generate the 'free thinking' required to come up with great and outrageous ideas.

The Realist is more practical: evaluating and refining ideas.

And finally, The Critic asks if the ideas are really good enough. If not, it's back to The Dreamer!

As I search for a holiday, I might dream of going to the moon. Not possible, but as I become a realist it will trigger more thoughts. Perhaps I could visit NASA? Or try skydiving? Or visit Area 51?

In summary: Three Creative Thinking Processes

Next time you have a challenge that requires a creative solution, try using these techniques. You'll soon be developing your creative thinking skills, and generating more and better ideas too!



https://ezinearticles.com/?The-Creative-Thinking-Process---Three-Examples&id=8267341

Osmosis - Letting It All Soak In



Scientific words are wonderful. They not only are handy when learning science facts or observing during experiments, they waltz right out of the textbook or lab and two-step into everyday language and life. Osmosis is a perfect example of this. Remember that time in the laboratory when you and your partner were examining membranes to better understand how nutrients pass from one layer to the next? It is a fascinating process and one that is necessary for survival. After all without this soaking in, absorption activity, plants and animals would die.

In life we encounter osmosis again and again. When sitting in a long, complicated lecture your mind has a few options. One is to check out and daydream about anything except the topic at hand figuring that you can gain the knowledge in another way, perhaps on the Internet after the extremely boring droning ends. Another choice is to scribble copious notes, taking in every word whether there is any sense in them at all. You can then take these notes home, place them neatly under your pillow and wait attentively in the belief that as your snore away the hours, osmosis will intercede, allowing intelligence to flow off the page, filter through the feathers and thus enter the brain. Learning will ensue. Of course, this decisions is folly but sometimes with added study, it can sort of work.

The best osmosis technique for me has been a combination of the above. I take wild and crazy notes, gathering as much information as possible. I add marks and dashes to areas where I know that Internet research or partner discussion will be essential after the lecture is complete. I also permit moments of pause. Hopefully these arrive when the professor or other lecturer takes a breath so that I do not lose critical input, but sometimes I just have to grab a mental break. During this time, from 30-60 seconds, I reread notes, add quick diagrams or illustrations if necessary, and then I allow osmosis to jump into motion. As ideas whirl and churn on the page, off the page, and through my brain, I have the satisfaction of realizing what I am beginning know and understand while also noting what remains a mystery at the moment. As a result, this idea osmosis authorizes big thoughts and complicated concepts to realign in a pattern that extends and advances my understanding.

Arriving home after this exhausting day of learning, I must review my notes, add to them as necessary, read them aloud, and then, of course, tuck them under the pillow. As the night breezes by my mind will continue to soak in the messages and meanings of my diligent pursuit of knowledge. No, the notes do not really have to go under the pillow but there is something about keeping them handy that better inserts them into long-term memory.

My advice to you is to adapt osmosis as a daily routine. It entails those moments of stillness and silence when you allow your mind and your brain, and even your heart, time to regroup, reorganize, relax, and reinvigorate. Reflecting on facts and phenomenon will bring you to a higher level of understanding as it also acts as a stress reliever. Tranquility and wisdom will gently be absorbed as you are revitalized. Try it soon - it is guaranteed to improve outlook and soul.



http://ezinearticles.com/?Osmosis---Letting-It-All-Soak-In&id=8969663

Make Yourself Great Again


Do you ever stop and think what it might take to make you great again? Let's start with personality traits. Some say personality is inherited, but in reality these traits are developed individually through behavior exhibited over and again. It's funny how many of us can "see the speck in someone's eye, but fail to see the log in our own eye." What this is saying is before you criticize another person's behavior, understand how your actions might be stimulating this person's reactions. It is a value to be concerned, but don't react and berate what you observe. Develop the practice of offering others caring responses to behaviors appearing offensive. Don't judge, focus on what you see, and express concern. Adjustment is personal; it develops your abilities to offer help to others.

A child's dream becomes a young man's passion. This passion creates career decisions through mid-life and into older age. The rockets are firing from the start, some misfire, but the engine never quits. The drive for a career begins a journey fraught with disappointment and elation, failure and success, hurt and satisfaction. But most importantly, at the end of the journey, accomplishment, pride, integrity, and dignity are the driver's results. These are learned skills; if they have not been developed, start now to reorganize and make corrections to facilitate productive development.

Maintaining control and being in charge is a task requiring information, understanding, and a willingness to abide by these behavior directives. Information raises your awareness, understanding guides you to create a plan of action, and taking action is your energy, desire, and dedication for managing to the best of your ability. You are in the driver's seat when you are actively thinking and managing yourself. With God as your co-pilot, you are on a winning team.

Learning is a process, a continuous event with no end. As you engage others, listen, observe, and absorb positive, productive information. These are basic elements of learning. Once received and acknowledged as beneficial, a level of understanding wraps the package, and prepares it for implementation. Once put in action, assessment and evaluation indicate value and cement learning experiences.

Others observe your actions and behavior. "Perception, the truth as you see something, but not as is really is," often leads to judgment calls. Your thoughts are internal controls. They direct your actions and behavior. Positive, productive, and inoffensive thoughts direct behavior that may be well intended, supportive, and loyal. Done successfully, they produce behaviors that are efficient, maintain relationships, and effect memorable results. No better sign of loyalty exists.

If depression sets in, you are likely sensing darkest moments. Depression is like riding a roller coaster headed down from its highest peak. Putting on the brakes only gets you stuck at the bottom. Allowing the decent, the bottom is reached with momentum carrying you back up. Don't put the brakes on when distracted by negative thoughts. Substitute positive thought of what you can do. Eventually the roller coaster comes to a platform. Your choice: get off or go for another ride. Choose wisely.

Advice or direction offered in written or spoken communication can provide legitimate tools for change or adjustment. Thoughts process information, gain understanding of its meaning, and gets you ready for action. The information and understanding helps you know where you are going and to identify purpose. Action is a personal decision based on desire for exploration, accomplishment of a specific goal, and reward for achieving a productive and desired outcome. Be selective and understand your choices.

Life's journey is the "first wonder of the world." Wondering what tomorrow may bring; wondering if success will result; wondering if this is the correct path! A need to be strong, wise, and in control guides you through suggestions and ideas. You may stumble and fall, but faith and belief encourages you, provides strength to get up, and moves you to continue. Determination and drive erase wonders and guides us over the finish line! Trust faith, believe in yourself, and gallop on!

Dr. Mike

http://ezinearticles.com/?Make-Yourself-Great-Again&id=9632628

9 Easy Career Hacks That Very Few People Actually Do



I gave a presentation to Womensphere a few months ago on the most valuable lessons I learned early in my career.  Back when I was an entry-level investment banking analyst at Bear Stearns (R.I.P.), our trainers gave us some basic advice on how to be a good analyst.  At the time these sounded obvious but now with hindsight, I think that most of your success in your career is just executing on these basic points.
If you follow the steps below, you’re well on your way to being a top quartile performer.

1. Listen and write down what you hear.  

I was told to always carry a notebook (now a smartphone), because clients and your seniors will ask you to do tasks. If you write down those tasks and actually execute them, you become known as someone worth asking to carry out these undertakings.
In my role as a venture capitalist, when I meet a founder, I often will make suggestions of people for them to meet, competitors to analyze and ideas to pursue. I don’t necessarily expect them to follow on any particular suggestion, however, I do note if they are writing down my suggestions.  If not, that indicates that they may not be the sort of person who’s diligent about listening to the market. Not good. Why take that risk?  

2. Get your data organized.  

Successful people are careful to retain and organize all of their notes: on meetings, people they meet and assignments for which they have responsibility, to name a few. Being extremely detail-oriented is generally a good professional characteristic.  
For instance, one of my standard interview questions for salespeople is, “What CRM system do you use, and how many people are in it?”  A bad answer is, “Excel and a few hundred.” A good answer is “Salesforce.com [or another real CRM system] and [a much larger number proportionate to your number of years of experience]”

3. Follow the instructions.  

Before you do any task, look for the instructions. For example, I’m amazed at how many funding pitches lack the basic information which investors require before funding -- even though Google provides that information in seconds. If a founder doesn’t do some basic research before approaching investors, it’s a sign she can't operate autonomously.

4. Look for prior art.

Lilin Wang, a graduate student at Cornell Tech, observes that others have already tackled 80 percent of technical problems she tries to solve. If you look for solutions on forums such as Stack Overflow before you do a task, you typically will save a lot of time. Similarly, Authorea (ffVC portfolio company) is working on being Github for academics, making the research process more efficient. Also, Quora is a particularly good resource for founders.

5. Over-communicate.  

If you don’t understand the objective of a task at hand or believe someone else has already accomplished it, it is important to keep an open line of communication with your colleagues. On the flip side, if you envision a way to produce a better result or product, communicate that to your colleagues and ensure it is aligned with their intended goal. Either way, you are making sure you are not wasting your time and reinforcing a relationship with others.

6. Double check.  

The smartest person doesn’t necessarily get promoted.  Rather, it’s the person who catches the inevitable mistakes and fixes them. It’s critical to double- and triple-check your work.  
For instance, whether it’s a text for a tweet or a fundraising deck, Raffi Sapire, an analyst at Acumen, prints out and re-reads every piece of content before sending to her team. One of the marks of a good financial modeler is building checksums throughout her model; the analogous principle holds true for other tasks as well.
Lisa Shalett, formerly a partner at Goldman Sachs, observes that there are two buckets of things: those you can control and those you can't control. For the things you can control, you should nail them.

7. Follow up.  

If you ask someone to do something, set up a reminder to make sure they actually executed it.  When I meet people, I often ask them to email me a business plan, a competitive analysis, resume or other document. I have noticed only 20 percent of people whom I meet actually do that.  Not good.
Alberto Pepe, CEO of Authorea, observed that many entrepreneurs, especially those coming straight from academia, don't follow up, because they don't want to be perceived as annoying or too pushy.
One way to think about this is to learn to be "professionally pushy."  In Getting Things Done, David Allen talks about the “Waiting For” list to keep track of follow ups you are waiting for from others. I track a lot of my “waiting fors" by starring certain emails in my sent messages.The people I work with know that I’ll follow up on my requests to them, which encourages them to revert to me sooner rather than later.  

8. Play nice and be nice.  

Early in your career, you typically advance based on a certain learned skillset. But very rapidly, your ability to work cooperatively with people inside and outside the firm becomes a big driver of your advance.   

9. Think differently.

Bring one idea to the table each month that would help your company or team achieve its goals and objectives for the year. Thoroughly think through the steps you will take to execute on that goal, and who needs to be involved at certain points. Even if only two ideas receive positive feedback and a go-ahead, highlighting your ability and history of disrupting the status quo is helpful when promotion discussions come around. 

Why It's Vital to Empty Your Head Every Night

The brain literally flushes most of our life away. Lucky for us

Pay close attention to your butt.
As you sit reading this, feel your posterior—and the back of the top of your thighs—press into your chair.  Now notice that, until I called attention to it, you weren’t aware what was happening with your butt and thighs.
Slawomir Fajer/Shutterstock
Source: Slawomir Fajer/Shutterstock
This same lack of awareness applies to the majority of sensations pouring into your brain. You don’t focus on the feel of your clothes against your body or background sounds like the hum of your refrigerator or the change in temperature of your breath each time you breathe in and out (the air going in always feels cooler than the air going out). Similarly, while you read, a tremendous amount of visual information in your peripheral vision goes unnoticed.
Your brain automatically chucks all this sensory information into a mental trash can so that you don't accumulate clutter that will get in the way of perception, thought or memory.
Tomorrow, you might remember the sensations on your butt and thighs or the feel of your breath today because I made you pay attention to these things, but you don’t remember years and years of similar sensations because your brain flushed them away before they could be stored.
Raw sensations are not the only information your brain relegates to the re-cycle bin.
Think back over your life: If you pick any random day—say, August 12, 2013—it’s very unlikely that you can remember the events that happened that day, unless you check a calendar and think hard about where you were and what you were doing. Even after going through this exercise, you probably can only recall vague facts: "That particular day was a Monday so I was probably at work and probably commuted back and forth," etc.
The sad truth is that you don’t remember the vast majority of your life because—like the pressure on your butt—your brain has thrown most of your life experiences into a trash can, then emptied that can.
Yes, you remember the day you graduated high school, got married, had a child, lost a parent or watched the events of 9/11—some things do escape the trash bin. But most days of your life are either a vague haze or gone entirely.
How does your brain decide what to keep and what to throw away?
A quick experiment will provide clues: Grab a pencil and paper, then scan your eyes quickly over each of the 9 images below, allowing no more than 3 seconds to look at the full set, or 1 second per row of images. Next, close your eyes, count to 20, then open your eyes and—without looking back at the images—write down a brief description of each photo you remember.
Hiromitsu Morimoto, Geoffery Beall, John Bulles, Karlyne,Hywell Williams, Eric Haseltine, Oolong's photojournal,
Source: Hiromitsu Morimoto, Geoffery Beall, John Bulles, Karlyne,Hywell Williams, Eric Haseltine, Oolong's photojournal





















Odds are that you won’t remember all of the pictures, but even if you do, the photos at the top of your list will probably be: the rabbit with a waffle on its head, the cheetah on a branch, the building with a tree growing out of its side, and the 17th-century musician with a guitar.
Why? Because those images represent a departure from “normal," whereas it’s not unusual to see objects in the remaining images. You recall details surrounding births, marriages, deaths, and major news stories precisely for the same reason: They represent a major departure from the normal flow of your life
In other words, your brain likes to hang on to information that’s “abnormal," and trash information that’s "normal.”
Your brain does this because retaining “abnormal” data keeps you out of trouble.  Events that are everyday occurrences rarely cause you problems because you can predict and prepare for things like rush-hour traffic, winter weather, and even reckless drunk New Year’s Eve drivers. What could threaten your well-being most are unpredictable events for which you are unprepared, such as a mugging in a “safe” part of town, a sudden rainstorm on a sunny day...or a cheetah lounging on a neighborhood tree.
So it makes perfect sense for your brain to remove “normal” memories so that they don’t interfere with “abnormal” information that could prevent nasty surprises. As amazing as our brains are, they can only store, and quickly retrieve, limited amounts of information; so it’s a good idea for that stored information to maximize our odds of survival.
Recent research suggests that  mental trash removal is so important that it does not happen passively by gradual decay, but is an active process in which your brain selectively erases memories it believes are of little value. Neuroscientist Oliver Hardt and colleagues at McGill University recently found that this process of selective active memory erasure takes place while we sleep.
It seems that we go to bed knowing more than when we wake up the next day, but what we remember in the morning is the important stuff.
If you think your brain is erasing more memories than you’d like, you don’t have to let it make automatic “trash removal” decisions. You can intervene to retain more memories by “manually” telling your brain to store them. The simplest way to do this is to pay close attention to details you want to recall. Your brain won’t throw out data—such as the fact that your breath is cooler going in than coming out—that you take time to actively notice. Your brain will also keep information that you repeat over and over (like a phone number someone has given you). Finally, if there are particular memories—say, of a pleasant vacation—that you want to keep, revisit those memories often. Each time you call up a memory, your brain takes notice, and will avoid erasing it while you sleep.
One way or another, you can best preserve memories by telling your brain that they're important. 
Ron Davis of the Scripps Research Institute has examined the neurotransmitters involved in memory formation and forgetting and concluded that dopamine plays an active role in erasing unimportant memories almost as soon as they are formed. According to Davis:
"The study suggests that when a new memory is first formed, there also exists an active, dopamine-based forgetting mechanism—ongoing dopamine neuron activity—that begins to erase those memories unless some importance is attached to them, a process known as consolidation that may shield important memories from the dopamine-driven forgetting process."
Now…since I’d like your brain to avoid erasing this article from memory with dopamine (or while you sleep) I’ll leave you with a thought that is (hopefully) sufficiently abnormal, and so I’ll end the article the same way I began it, with your butt—specifically, that by erasing memories about your rear end, your brain is in the best position to save it.

Do You Want People to Understand You? Stop Doing This.

There's a lot more to what you say than just your words.




We’re taught almost as soon as we speak our first words to end our sentences with a firm and clear “period” or downward intonation. When we want information, though, we lift our pitch in a definitive “question mark.” These are examples of prosody, the intonation pattern we use in language to give an added boost to our communication. People may not even hear the words you use as clearly as they notice the way in which you speak them. In spoken communication, the melody of language is as important as the content.
But these conventions of downward and upward intonation are being thrown aside increasingly in the common speech of Americans, as an epidemic of “Valley-Girl”-itis sweeps the country. First written about in 1993 by NYU School of Journalism professor James Gorman, the formal term for this trend is HRT speech, standing for “High Rise Terminals.”
It’s hard to replicate this sound with the written word, but if you've ever heard the recurring "Saturday Night Live" skit "The Californians," it will give you an idea of uptalk (in its most extreme form).
In uptalk, you insert one or more question marks into a sentence that’s intended to be a declaration. Your listener knows you’re not asking a question, though, and so isn’t required to provide an answer. When you actually want to pose a question, then, you’re left with something of a dilemma: How can your listener know the difference between a sentence and a question when you’ve already liberally sprinkled question marks throughout your speech?
For some reason, uptalk is reaching epidemic proportions. It's probably more typical in some parts of the country; many believe it originated in California. I’ve noticed it particularly on calls from people in Washington, D.C. (Perhaps living around the uncertainty and angst that characterizes our nation’s capital is invading people’s speech patterns.)
Uptalk seems to be morphing, though, from its original manifestation—as sentences that end in question marks—to sentences that have question marks liberally thrown into them, sometimes after every word. Instead of asserting firmly, “I need to meet with you to discuss the problem we’re having with X,” a speaker might phrase this as, "I need? to meet? with you? to discuss the problem? we’re having with X?” Uptalk is moving from a high rise at the end of the sentence to high rises marking every phrase, or even every word. In another variant, a speaker starts the sentence with normal intonation but then goes into high pitch for the remaining words and phrases, which all sound like a question: "I'd like to go to the store today?" with the highlighted phrase spoken about one note higher than the first two.
I originally thought, in my own observations of uptalk, that it would be more common in women than men. We know that women do tend to add more question marks to their speech, and speak in more tentative terms, reflecting gender differences in non-verbal behaviors. However, men are certainly also prone to the sentence-to-question mutation.
A key reason we use language is to control an interaction. Whether you’re trying to persuade someone to buy something from you, to agree with you, or to do you a favor, your speech is intended to get across a certain point. When your words and your speech pattern don’t agree, though, you run the risk of undercutting your purpose. Your listener can become confused or suspicious, and even wonder if you can be trusted.
It’s also possible that uptalk has jarring effects on our brains. Speakers exposed to questions when there should be sentences feel a bit confused, as indicated by a study of Majorcan Catalans (del Mar Vanrell et al., 2013). McMaster University’s Michel Belyk and Steven Brown (2014) found that different regions of the cortex process affective and linguistic prosody. Affective prosody is what you use to communicate your feelings, as when your voice suggests that you’re unhappy, confused, or angry. Linguistic prosody is how you communicate the different meaning of words (conTENT vs. CONtent). Your brain doesn't know what to do with the conflicting linguistic information conveyed in uptalk.
If you’ve managed to remain immune to uptalk, you’ve likely become annoyed on more than one occasion by having been forced to listen to it. However, if you’ve fallen prey to it, or just want to sound “cool” (the original Valley Girl motivation), your ears have probably tuned it out in yourself and those you interact with. You might even feel that people who don’t use uptalk are rude or overly assertive.
The problem is that you can’t always rely on your listener sharing your speech-pattern preferences. Going to a job interview, you want to look as if you’re in control and are knowledgeable. If you’re speaking with frequent questions to an audience that hasn’t caught the uptalk bug, they’ll think you don’t know what you’re talking about, or are just insecure. Those frequent questions that punctuate your speech will make it seem as if you’re floundering rather than the master of your subject matter.
Is there a cure for the uptalk bug? It’s possible we may just have to wait for the next linguistic epidemic to replace it, but in the meantime you can do your part to beat it. If you think your case is particularly extreme, you could try recording your voice during an ordinary conversation and listen for the tell-tale question marks sprinkled in the middle or end of what are supposed to be sentences. You could also consider asking a non-uptalking friend or family member to correct you when you slip.
Once you realize that you can control the way you speak, you’ll feel better and more confident about being able to control your image in general. Speech trends may come and go, but the basic facts of impression formation won’t change: To look confident, you need to speak confidently. Right?