Apps to make you feel better

We might spend all day in a mainframe environment, but, when we leave it, the closest computing device to hand is probably our mobile phone. And if you’re waiting for someone or something, you probably get out your phone and check your e-mail and texts, and then what do you do? You could play a game, or you, perhaps, could try some self-improvement apps. I thought that, this week, I might take a look at some of the apps available for hypnotherapy.

Now, if you're hypnotized, you're meant to be in a state of heightened suggestibility and responsiveness. So rather than getting you chicken dancing or eating a raw onion, as you might see on a stage show, hypnotherapy can make positive changes, creating new responses, thoughts, attitudes, behaviours, or feelings. So, while you’re waiting for a burger or your friend to turn up, doesn’t it make sense to use an app on your phone to make you a better person?

A lot of people worry about giving presentations and generally feel that they could do with a bit more self-confidence. The good news is that there are hypnosis apps for that. There’s Total Confidence & Success (Darren Marks hypnotherapy), Confidence Now, and Confident Public Speaking Now (Pocket Hypnotherapy range), Free Hypnosis and Self Esteem (Erick Brown Hypnosis), and Automatic Motivation Hypnosis (Mastermind App).

Sleep is another area where people don’t feel they’re getting the right number of hours or the right quality. And here, again, there are apps available. There’s Sleep Deeply (Darren Marks hypnotherapy), Sleep Soundly Hypnosis (Kym Tolson and Hani Al-Qasem), Relax and Sleep Well (Diviniti Publishing Ltd), Sleep Now (Pocket Hypnotherapy range), and Deep Sleep and Relax Hypnosis (Mindifi).

Or perhaps your issue is weight loss (although a good therapist will never use that term because if we lose things – like our keys – we tend to spend a long time searching for them and making sure we get them back). Anyway, you can try Easy Weight Loss (Darren Marks hypnotherapy), Weight Loss Hypnosis (Mindifi), Lose Weight Now (Pocket Hypnotherapy range), or Lose Weight with Hypnosis (Shanedude).

For smokers, there are stop smoking apps – and, again, in solution-focused terms, I mean becoming a non-smoker. Remember, no-one goes to anti-war rallies anymore, everyone goes to peace rallies. Anti-war is problem focused, peace is solution focused. There’s Easy Stop Smoking (Darren Marks hypnotherapy), Stop Smoking Now (Pocket Hypnotherapy range), and Quit Smoking Hypnosis and Quit Smoking Hypnosis Pro (Mindifi).

There are some generic self-hypnosis apps. For example Self Hypnosis Tips (bigo), Self Hypnosis (IDJ Group), Hypnosis Session (Andrew Brusentov), Hypnosis (Adam Eason Hypno), and Free Hypnosis/Hypnotherapy and Self Development Audios by Joseph Clough (Free Hypnosis).

And there’s a mixed bag of other hypnotherapy treatments. Darren Marks hypnotherapy provides Freedom From Negative Feelings, Control Alcohol, Freedom From Fears and Phobias, Total Relaxation, Sport and Fitness Excellence, and Healing Hypnosis. The Pocket Hypnotherapy range includes Relax Now, Manage IBS Now, Manage PMS Now, Manage Fear of Flying Now, and Cope with Bereavement Now. Mindifi supplies Law Of Attraction Hypnosis, Free Your Mind Hypnosis, Personal Development Hypnosis, Money and Success Hypnosis, Business Success Hypnosis, and Hypnobirthing Hypnosis. And, to complete the list is Anxiety Free Hypnosis (Hypnosis, Meditation, and Coaching Group)

So no more playing Angry Birds, try a little personal development and relaxation with hypnotherapy apps. Then it’s back to the mainframe world for work.

Wisdom of crowds?

There’s a theory that if you take into account the collective opinion of a group of individuals rather than a single expert, then the large group’s aggregated answers to questions involving just about anything is typically just as good as, and often better than, the answer given by any individual expert within the group. This is called the wisdom of the crowd.

Of course, so-called experts aren’t necessarily that expert. Most complicated court cases seem to involve expert witnesses disagreeing over the right conclusions to draw from the evidence. Similarly, psychology studies have found, for example, that experienced parole board members are no better at deciding whether a prisoner will offend again than ordinary members of the public. Worryingly, other studies have found similar results with experts being no better using their expertise than members of the public.

So what has this got to do with anything? Well, as you probably have guessed from these blogs, I’ve been doing a lot of work on social media recently with companies and charity groups. We were chatting about how to use LinkedIn, and they wanted to take a look at my profile to see what areas of expertise people thought I had. If you want to play along at home, the URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/teddolls. At the bottom of the page is the skills and expertise section. The way it works is LinkedIn members can endorse the skills or expertise of others. And, gradually, using the wisdom of crowds, a person’s expertise profile should, pretty much, match up with their real-life skills and expertise – you’d think!

So, I listed my skills – an embarrassing process in itself – and then we compared them to what ‘the crowd’ think are my skills. I thought as I’ve been blogging since 2005, and I blog on the Destination z site each month, and I’ve written blogs that have been published as written by other people, ‘blogger’ ought to be there. I write articles that have been published in numerous publications and Web sites, so ‘writer’ ought to be there. I edited Xephon’s Update journals for 20 years and I’m editorial director for the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook, so ‘editor’ should be there. I’ve been associated with mainframes for thirty years, so ‘mainframes’ should be there. I chair the Virtual IMS user group and Virtual CICS user group – so ‘CICS’ and ‘IMS’ should be there.

I’ve also done coaching work with individuals, and a few years ago qualified as a hypnotherapist. I’ve also passed NLP exams. I see clients for these, so ‘hypnotherapy’ and ‘NLP’ should be there. And, for the past five years, I’ve been designing and building Web sites for people – so ‘Web designer’ should be there. And, of course, with my recent focus on it, ‘social media’ should be right up there.

The actual scores on the doors suggest a slightly different profile: 14 Mainframe, 14 CICS, 12 Hypnotherapy, 9 Technical writing, 9 NLP, and 9 IMS DB/DC. Blogging has only 5 votes; as well as technical writing, I have 6 for writer; 5 for editing; and yet I have no endorsements for social media or Web design!

Now, I know it’s still early days, and there aren’t that many endorsements at all yet, and probably, over time, the endorsements will come to match the work I’m actually doing, but it did seem surprising that it should be so different, with some area of ‘expertise’ so lacking in any endorsements. I just wondered whether other people were finding the same thing.

Or maybe, it’s me. Maybe I have an incorrect idea of what I am good at, and there is wisdom in the crowd!