You know those little voices that tell you you need to mow the lawn, finish your blog post, take out the trash and other things you need to do? They're normally thought of as a nuisance but financial weblog Mr. Money Mustache argues they can be a helpful tool to achieve our goals.

Instead of using these voices to reinforce how much you suck they are designed to keep us on top of our tasks. You'll notice these voices never occur when we're deep into work, only in times such as playing Modern Warfare 3 for the fourth straight hour. Mr. Money Mustache found he could put these voices to work for him:

While I was actually working hard, the voices were silent. By building up a cushion or buffer of hard work, I could even take a short break without experiencing nagging. But the NVS would always return. Another trick I learned was that by scheduling my time out in advance, to include plenty of work, but also a fair amount of play, I could trick them, since they would focus on the Work entries in my calendar while I snuck away to play. But then I would invariably deviate from my calendar and start freestyling at life again, and guess who I'd find rolling up right next to me on a skateboard, full of helpful hints?

If you use these voices as a motivator and actually work to get stuff done you'll find that you'll get on top of your task list and won't be beating yourself up. You can actually enjoy your Firefly marathon on Netflix in peace without nagging yourself to do something productive because, hey, you're on top of things. Photo by Pascal

Embracing the Nagging Voices of Success | Mr. Money Mustache

Most of us learn and make things at a prescribed pace. We learn a language one semester at a time, finish college in four years, follow set project milestones, and so on. But learning isn't necessarily a one-size-fits-all affair. Entrepreneur and programmer Derek Siver explains the impact of realizing that there's no set speed limit to learning. Here's his example of the life-changing power of a great teacher and raised expectations.

Whether you're a student, teacher, or parent, I think you'll appreciate this story of how one teacher can completely and permanently change someone's life in only a few lessons.

I met Kimo Williams when I was 17 - the summer after I graduated high school in Chicago, a few months before I was starting Berklee College of Music.

I called an ad in the paper by a recording studio, with a random question about music typesetting.

When the studio owner heard I was going to Berklee, he said, "I graduated from Berklee, and taught there for a few years, too. I'll bet I can teach you two years' of theory and arranging in only a few lessons. I suspect you can graduate in two years if you understand there's no speed limit. Come by my studio at 9:00 tomorrow for your first lesson, if you're interested. No charge."

Graduate college in two years? Awesome! I liked his style. That was Kimo Williams.

Excited as hell, I showed up to his studio at 8:40 the next morning, though I waited outside until 8:59 before ringing his bell.

(Recently I heard him tell this same story from his perspective and said, "My doorbell rang at 8:59 one morning and I had no idea why. I run across kids all the time who say they want to be a great musician. I tell them I can help, and tell them to show up at my studio at 9am if they're serious. Almost nobody ever does. It's how I weed out the really serious ones from the kids who are just talk. But there he was, ready to go.")

He opened the door. A tall black man in a Hawaiian shirt and big hat, a square scar on his nose, a laid-back demeanor, and a huge smile, sizing me up, nodding.

After a one-minute welcome, we were sitting at the piano, analyzing the sheet music for a jazz standard. He was quickly explaining the chords based on the diatonic scale. How the dissonance of the tri-tone in the 5-chord with the flat-7 is what makes it want to resolve to the 1. Within a minute, I was already being quizzed, "If the 5-chord with the flat-7 has that tritone, then so does another flat-7 chord. Which one?"

"Uh... the flat-2 chord?"

"Right! So that's a substitute chord. Any flat-7 chord can always be substituted with the other flat-7 that shares the same tritone. So reharmonize all the chords you can in this chart. Go."

The pace was intense, and I loved it. Finally, someone was challenging me - keeping me in over my head - encouraging and expecting me to pull myself up, quickly. I was learning so fast, it had the adrenaline of sports or a video game. A two-way game of catch, he tossed every fact back at me and made me prove I got it.

In our three-hour lesson that morning, he taught me a full semester of Berklee's harmony courses. In our next four lessons, he taught me the next four semesters of harmony and arranging requirements.

When I got to college and took my entrance exams, I tested out of those six semesters of required classes.

Then, as he suggested, I bought the course materials for other required classes and taught myself, doing the homework on my own time, then went to the department head and took the final exam, getting full credit for the course.

Doing this in addition to my full course load, I graduated college in two and a half years - (got my bachelor's degree when I was 20) - squeezing every bit of education out of that place that I could.

But the permanent effect was this:

Kimo's high expectations set a new pace for me. He taught me "the standard pace is for chumps" - that the system is designed so anyone can keep up. If you're more driven than "just anyone" - you can do so much more than anyone expects. And this applies to ALL of life - not just school.

Before I met him, I was just a kid who wanted to be a musician, doing it casually.

Ever since our five lessons, high expectations became my norm, and still are to this day. Whether music, business, or personal - whether I actually achieve my expectations or not - the point is that I owe every great thing that's happened in my life to Kimo's raised expectations. That's all it took. A random meeting and five music lessons to convince me I can do anything more effectively than anyone expects.

(And so can anyone else.)

I wish the same experience for everyone. I have no innate abilities. This article wasn't meant to be about me as much as the life-changing power of a great teacher and raised expectations.

Kimo knows how much he means to me, and we're friends to this day. Read his full biography and buy his CDs at his website kimowilliams.com.

P.S. On a related note, see my talk to incoming first-year Berklee students.

There's no speed limit. (The lessons that changed my life.) | Derek Sivers

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Photo by Nickolay Stanev (Shutterstock)

We've all struggled with procrastination from time to time, and we usually beat ourselves up over it. Apparently the cure to the problem is exactly the opposite: forgiveness.

A study conducted by Michael J.A. Wohl at the Carleton University examined students who procrastinated and, specifically, whether or not they forgave themselves for it. Those who pardoned their procrastinating ways ended up better off:

The key finding was that students who'd forgiven themselves for their initial bout of procrastination subsequently showed less negative affect in the intermediate period between exams and were less likely to procrastinate before the second round of exams.

If you find yourself putting things off too much, don't let it go to you. Absolve yourself of your productivity sins and move on. It looks like you'll actually get something done.

I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination | ScienceDirect via Research Digest via Eric Barker via Business Insider

Photo by iofoto (Shutterstock).

The human body and its brain are pretty incredible. They're also fragile and dumb. Realizing this can make your life miserable, or you can look at it as an opportunity and take control. This weekend, learn a few built-in superpowers you may not have known you had. All they take is a little practice.

Let's go piece by piece, from head to toes.

Your Head

There are a lot of fun things you can do with your head, inside and out. Let's start with the brain. We post multiple mind hacks a week, so there is no shortage of ways to trick yourself into being smarter, more creative, happier, and whatever else. Nonetheless, mind hacks can be applied a bit broadly and simply refer to finding better ways of thinking or learning a little bit more about the weird stuff your brain might make you do. We want something bigger. When you stimulate the brain in various ways, it will react positively or negatively or somewhere in between. It may seem like we have no control over how this happens or how it makes us feel, but we do. Sometimes its as simple as priming your brain with the right words. It can also be as simple as conjuring up a feeling. If you really want to hack your brain, read our guide. It'll introduce you to some of the basic techniques you can use to gain more control over your own behavior. Doing so can help you use food cravings to your advantage, make difficult decisions more easily, create stronger bonds with people you care about, and prevent your brain from sabotaging your life.

But the outside of your head can do some neat things, too. You can dialate or shrink your pupils on command. If that doesn't seem particularly useful, you can improve your night vision by just moving in and out of light and dark spaces (or just use a cellphone to alternate between light and dark without having to actually go anywhere). Pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth can keep you from crying when dealing with onions and even prevent brain freeze. Need to swallow a tricky pill? Follow these instructions and squeeze your left thumb to decrease your gag reflex. You can even amplify your car's remote signal by point it into your mouth. It's kind of scary how many weird tricks you can play with your own head.

Your Hands and Feet

Your hands and feet are kind of useful, but they have their downsides. One such example is when they "fall asleep" and are ravaged by pins and needles. If your hands come down with this problem, just relax the nerves in your neck. When it happens to your feet, the best thing you can do is walk around.

There's much more you can do with your hands. We've already mentioned squeezing your left thumb to reduce your gag reflex, but you can also relieve nausea by pressing on your wrist. In fact, there are quite a lot of neat things you can do with a little acupressure. But if you'd rather just impress people, check out these 10 badass things you can do one-handed. The moment you open a beer bottle, shuffle a deck of cards, or eat an entire chicken wing with only one hand, you'll get a round of applause.

There isn't quite so much neat stuff you can do with your feet, but if you're looking to burn some fat there is one thing: start tapping your feet. Apparently fidgeting is a big calorie-buster.

Your, Uh, Middle Area

Oh, the magical things you can do with your crotch. Most of the time we shy away from the area but there are a few tricks worth noting. One of the biggest problems we have is our bladders—specifically when we need to empty them out and there's nowhere to (politely) do so. When you're stuck without a place to pee, scratch your leg or rub the back of your calf. It can help reduce the need. After the business has been done, many men are probably familiar with the issue of getting it all out. When there are a few drops left, several Redditors suggest applying light pressure to your perineum to get it all out. This might not be the world's least embarrassing solution, but it works for many men.

Your Whole Body

Some tricks work well for your entire body. If you get hot, knowing your body's cooling points can make it easier for you to cool off faster. It's not about cooling your entire body, but rather cooling of certain areas to expedite the process. If you've got limited cooling resources, this is especially helpful.

Plenty of other things can affect your body in interesting ways. Learning a few breathing exercises can increase your stamina when exercising. Simply looking at sick people can give your immune system a boost. With a little practice, you can boost your alcohol tolerance. Those are just a few examples. You'll find more on our body hacks tag page.

Photos by Sofia Santos (Shutterstock) and agsandrew.