Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life

Eight Accessible Ways to Go Green in your Home

2009-07-10T05:25:00.002-05:00

Living lightly on the Earth now is imperative if your children are to have a world to live on in the future. Unfortunately, many people think that being eco-conscious costs too much. However, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to go green at home and frankly you won't have to give up the things that make life easy and convenient.

Here are eight accessible ways to think green around your home:

Sustainable wood means wood harvested from carefully managed forests or reclaimed from old sources – buildings, discards, old furniture. Bamboo, says the Sustainable Woods Network, based in Oregon, is actually a grass rather than a wood. It regrows quickly with little cultivation.

Sustainable cotton, according to the California-based Sustainable Cotton Project, is grown organically: no chemical fertilizers, no pesticides, hand-cultivated on carefully supervised plantations. It’s used in consumer market clothes, bedding, linens, furniture covers and all manner of fabric products.

Shopping carefully at the right places can put sustainable, Earth-friendly products in every room in your home. Google "green shopping." Mega retailers like Lowe’s, Wal-Mart or Dillard’s, recognize the huge swell of grass roots interest and now carry green items in nearly every department. Specialty all-green stores like Ocean Springs’ Mississippi’s Forever Green are springing up all over.

Savvy consumers can dress their bed with bamboo sheets, blankets and coverlets made by companies like DreamSack or Caldrea. Though that conjures images of picking wood shards out of nightclothes, the truth is slathered in luxury. Bamboo is stripped, processed and turned into fabric, then woven and polished. The result rivals the finest Egyptian cotton in texture, often at lower price points.

Think you have to dispense with convenience items like disposable plates, plastic cups and paper towels? Not so fast – look for Earth-friendly disposable table items - bamboo derivative plates, plastic cups from corn oil. Organic dish cloths and dish towels are widely available and most are antibacterial.

Decorating and remodeling products ranges from granite-like counter tops fabricated from recycled glass to planet-safe flooring and furnishings.

Planet-friendly personal care items are easy to find, though reading labels is the way to be sure of what you’re getting. Organizations like Consumer Reports caution buyers to ask questions with an eye to fact-finding when considering terms like non-toxic, natural, environmentally friendly or biodegradable.

There are lots of household products out there. Consumers say organic laundry soap makes clothes seem cleaner and softer, without leftover residues. Surface cleaners tend to smell better without the artificial odor of chemical esters, the olfactory footprint of traditional cleansers. A whisper of essential oils makes homemakers feel their home smells fresh and healthy.

Put down your bottled water and think organic. Sustainable. Post consumer-recycled. The newest buzz-words of the 21st Century. A few quick changes in where you shop and what you choose to buy plus an investment of time to read labels carefully will turn you into a green-thinking expert in no time.

Written on 7/10/2009 by Maryan Pelland. Maryan is a professional freelance writer, in print and online, with a strong web presence at Ontext.com, Womandaybyday.com, and DemystifyingDigital.com.

Photo Credit: jurvetson

9 Power Tips To Speed Up Your Web Browsing

2009-07-09T11:04:00.002-05:00

Although the internet has been mainstream for over a decade now, high speed internet for everyone is still a distant dream. A huge number of users are still on dial-up. Those on broadband aren't always satisfied with the speed either. Everyone desires a faster web. Google wants that too.

Having said that, there are always certain workarounds which could add some swiftness to our web browsing. This article talks about nine such tips. Some of the tips help to increase the speed of your internet connection while others are productivity hacks which help you to get things done on the web quickly. The end goal is to help you become a more productive internet user.

Use Google Chrome
Google Chrome is without a doubt the fastest browser on the planet. It opens up quickly, doesn't crash often and brings up web pages faster than other browsers.

Although it is still relatively new and doesn't boast of features like Firefox, you should definitely use it as often as possible. I personally use both Firefox and Chrome and have found Chrome to be much better performance wise.

Set up OpenDNS
OpenDNS is an excellent free service which not only speeds up your internet connection but also provides an extra layer of your security to your connection. Apart from that, it has some other cool features like parental filters, opening pages from keyword shortcuts, auto-correcting mistyped urls and more.

Here are the detailed instructions for setting it up on your computer.

Learn Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts could speed up your internet browsing by a great deal. Be it your email, your feed reader or your browser, using only the keyboard to navigate will always save time.

Here is an excellent website called Keyxl which is like an online database for keyboard shortcuts. Just search for the app and you get the corresponding keyboard shortcuts. Be it Gmail, Google Reader, Firefox, Google Chrome or any other app you could think of, you'll find the keyboard shortcuts for that app on this site.

Use a Download Manager
If you frequently download stuff from the web then a download manager could save you loads of time. A download manager usually comes with many advanced features which could make downloading files a breeze for you.

There are many good download managers out there which you could try. Lifehacker has a list of five best download managers. Go, take a look.

Prefer reading in your feed reader
RSS feeds are a great way to consume lot of information at one place. It also saves the time you would take to visit all those sites separately. Hence try to get into the habit of using it more often to read content on the web.

Use Tidyread or Readability Bookmarklet
If RSS is not your thing and you love visiting websites and blogs then you might consider using Tidyread or the Readability bookmarklet to speed up the rendering of web pages.

Both these apps strip the web pages off the heavy things like scripts, images etc and present content with better readability.

Use the Hyperwords Firefox extension
Google Chrome may be faster but my love for Firefox isn't gone yet. And it will remain my browser of choice until Chrome has extensions like Hyperwords.

Hyperwords adds loads of things to your right click inside the browser which provides easy access to a lot of information, thereby saving time and helping you become a more productive web surfer.

Make Firefox faster
Staying with Firefox, those using it would know that it tends to become slow and nagging over time. But there are ways to make it faster. You could consider creating a new profile, uninstalling useless add-ons or clearing preferences of installed add-ons.

Use a Password Manager & Form Filler
I have written about some awesome password managers before. Most of them come with built-in form fillers. Apart from securing your passwords, they save you time by filling web forms and quickly generating secure passwords for your new online accounts.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 7/9/2009 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is an internet entrepreneur who loves writing about tech, productivity, blogging & making money online. Catch him at Jeet Blog and also subscribe to his weekly newsletter.

Photo Credit: star5112

Student Time Management Over the Summer Break: Four Key Tips

2009-07-08T13:31:00.002-05:00

Many people develop an interest in time management whilst at college. After the structure of home life and high school, college often offers an unprecedented amount of unscheduled time. Balancing parties, classes, studying and part-time work can become a juggling act.

Once the summer break arrives, you probably just want to sleep, play video games, hang out with friends, and enjoy yourself. But you might well need to get a job in order to pay your tuition fees, or work experience to put yourself in a better position when you graduate. You may also want to get ahead for the upcoming academic year, or work on projects of you own.

This is where good time management habits can really help you. Don’t let your summer end up feeling like a waste of time (trust me, five years on, you’ll regret spending a week straight playing the earlier incarnations of Black and White and Sims...)

Note – many of these tips apply to freelancers too, or anyone taking a vacation or sabbatical to work on their own projects.

Decide On Your Summer Goals
What do you want to achieve this summer? Perhaps you just want to earn some cash. More likely, you’ll have multiple goals – maybe getting some work experience, making a start on the reading for next semester, and working on a personal project (such as starting a side business, writing poetry, practicing guitar, and so on).

Get clear about what you want to achieve. Write it down, and put it somewhere where you’ll see it first thing every morning. Consider telling an older sibling or your parents about your goals: don’t be afraid to ask for their support and encouragement. They might not share or even understand your ambitions, but if they see that your goals are important to you, they should be willing to encourage you. If you can’t count on family for that kind of support, look to friends or neighbours.

Get Into A Routine
Many students have sleep patterns that aren’t exactly orthodox. Summer’s unlikely to involve 8am classes – and you may want to take advantage of being able to sleep till lunchtime. Try to establish a routine that works for you, though.

Try to spend an hour or two early on in your day, perhaps straight after breakfast, working towards one of your goals. If you start the morning by surfing the net, watching a DVD boxset or playing a computer game, you’ll find the whole day escaping from you...

Having a part-time or casual job can actually make it easier to stay productive over the summer, as it helps to structure your day.

Beat the Procrastination Habit
If you can overcome tendencies to procrastinate whilst you’re a student, you’ll set yourself up for success throughout the rest of your life. Procrastination involves putting things off, usually engaging in time-wasting and not especially fulfilling activities whilst doing so.

Some useful procrastination-busting tips are:

Make a To-Do List
If you have several big goals for the summer (eg. getting fit, reading six books, and writing an essay), you might find it hard to know quite where to start. Dithering doesn’t do anything for your motivation levels.

Write a simple to-do list, ideally at the start of each week. Look at any scheduled commitments (social events, work) and fit other tasks around them. Try to spread things across the summer: for example, if you want to read six books and you have six weeks, aiming for one a week makes sense!

Having a to-do list can really help keep your mind on track. It ensures you don’t get to the end of the summer and think “I wish I’d got around to doing that.”

If you’re a student, what are your goals for the summer? If you’re an ex-student, do you have any great tips for summer time management?

Written on 7/8/2009 by Ali Hale. Ali is a professional writer and blogger, and a part-time postgraduate student of creative writing. If you need a hand with any sort of written project, drop her a line (ali@aliventures.com) or check out her website at Aliventures.

Photo Credit: Robert S. Donovan

The Power of Dichotomies in our Quality of Life

2009-07-08T07:19:00.000-05:00

I was talking with our housekeeper Fany this morning about an earthquake that hit Honduras the day before. In a non-negative way, she was saying how this is just another example of all that is happening in the world today. I made a joke, something to the effect of “El fin del mundo esta muy cerca!”

She sort of shrugged and mentioned that she does think the end of the world may be not too far out. The next thing she said was what struck me. She said this belief makes it easier for her to live each day to the fullest. The feeling that the world is a crazy, unstable place meant for her a greater sense of calm and day-to-day optimism.

While I don’t agree about a pending cataclysmic event, it does make sense why these two seemingly opposite mind sets actually interplay so well. I can see how a doomsday philosophy could simultaneously someone a more passionate, optimistic person. This exchange is also a perfect illustration of the power of an optimistic mind set. A negative person would let a doomsday belief translate to apathy and cynicism, while an optimistic person works off of the belief to introduce more passion into each day.

Another lesson this teaches us the importance of being present. Living in the moment gives us some of our greatest power, yet most people are dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. In a graduation speech given in 2009, Baz Luhrman said

"Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum."

All of this (both the “world is in constant flux” theme and the dichotomy concept) reminds me of a Joseph Cambell quote:

“When we talk about settling the world’s problems, we’re barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.”

The more I experience life the more I come across the wisdom of dichotomies.

If we start to embrace the imperfection in the world and in our lives, then we achieve a peacefulness and detachment that allows us to flow through life with ease.

Written on 7/8/2009 by Kit Cooper. Kit serves as executive director for Best Life Practices Foundation. The website shares quality of life best practices discovered from in-person interviews with well known types like Richard Branson and Tom Skerritt to lesser known but equally interesting individuals. Kit also writes at www.bestlifepractices.org/blog.

Photo Credit:
eNil

Six Smart Ways To Beat Information Overload

2009-07-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

Someone has rightly said - ' information is power '. There's nothing more valuable than getting the right information at the right time. And as always, the internet, with its abundant sources of information, is there to satiate as well as increase your desire for information.

I'm sure you'd agree that this power seems to overpower us everyday. How many days have you felt that you could have been more productive if you had not been twittering or checking emails or reading feeds the entire day? How many times has it happened that you completely lose track of time when you are watching news or browsing through your friends' updates in Facebook?

The truth is that you need information. Avoiding reading feeds or logging into Facebook isn't the solution. You need to filter and use information effectively. And that can only happen when you are more systematic in your approach towards dealing with the plethora of information you get everyday. Here are six tips to help you get started.

Know what's causing it
It's important to know what's causing the information overload. Most people would go about checking their emails ten times everyday without realizing that it is a part of the information overload which they are facing.

Analyze your work day and decide on the activities which are essential and the ones which you could profit from doing less. For different people, it could be different things. It could be twitter for you and RSS feeds for someone else.

Manage email
I have talked about managing your email before on this blog. It's true that a lot of us are addicted to checking email every 10 minutes. I was once too. Here's a tip - if you get less than 50 emails per day then check your email 3 times per day and allot 20 minutes to each of those time slots. Make sure you evenly spread those time slots throughout the day. And whether you check it on your PC or iPhone, stick to those time slots and resist the temptation to check email during rest of the day.

Those who get more than 50 emails per day, delegate the task to someone else. Set up auto-forward rule and train your virtual assistant. You may not want every email to reach your assistant's inbox so you may set up filters in your email based on the sender's email address.

Seriously, if you are someone who gets more than 50 emails per day, you need to start looking for an assistant to handle them.

RSS feeds
The main intent behind the invention of RSS was to let people have access to information at one place and save them time. However, it could easily turn into a potential source of information overload which would suck your time instead of saving it.

When it comes to managing RSS feeds, prioritization is the key. Here are 8 useful tips to manage and avoid RSS overload. If you are a Google Reader user like me then here are some more tips to make you more productive while using it.

Set time frames. Use a timer
It's really easy to lose track of time when you get sucked into one of the myriad sources of information on the net. It could happen to you when you are on twitter. It happens to me when I am watching Youtube videos. I vow to do it for ten minutes and end up spending an hour on it. Sounds familiar ? I'm sure it does.

Setting time frames for work and play is a good approach towards solving this problem. And to make sure you respect that time frame, use a timer. It could be a physical timer device or a software like this one.

Avoid immediacy
Most of the time we get distracted by a random source of information like a twitter message, a breaking news, a video or an excellent article we come across while searching for something else. These things tempt us to give them immediate attention. And that's what we need to avoid.

Learn to save for later. Consume the information later, not instantly. Again, that's when setting time frames does the trick. When you know you would have the time later for fun, you would hesitate less while saving things for later.

Don't go after every source
Filtering information sources is an important step towards beating information overload. Identify the type of information and associate one major source with it. And refer only to that source. For example, I have stopped reading newspapers and watching news channels. I have identified certain sources on the internet where I read all the news I want. Get the picture ?

Have some other great tips to deal with information overload ? Lets hear them in the comments.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 7/7/2009 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is an internet entrepreneur who loves writing about tech, productivity, blogging & making money online. Catch him at Jeet Blog and also subscribe to his weekly newsletter.

Photo Credit: dylanroscover

4 Reasons You Fail to Achieve Your Goals

2009-07-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

Are you the type of person who has big plans but just never seems to get anywhere with them? Did you make resolutions at the start of 09' and completely ignore them? Perhaps you feel like life is just getting in the way and you can't stay on track?

If you could relate to any of those questions, then this post is for you. There is no doubt in my mind that the human brain contains some form of 'goal seeking mechanism.' Our first aim and main goal is of course, to survive: we need adequate food, water and at least some form of shelter and out of necessity.

In this day and age, it's becoming a lot rarer for anyone to be desperate for food and water, at least in western society or for anybody who is able to read this article. Because of that, we don't just focus on survival and instead set other goals for ourselves. They might be productivity goals, sporting goals or even financial goals. Whatever they are, we all have them.

In this post I want to look at the four main reasons people fail to achieve their goals. I hope that some of these points might help to awaken you to where you may have been going wrong.

Limiting Beliefs
At times, when I've failed to attain the things I'm going for in life, it's simply because I didn't believe I could fulfil my desires. It could be my friends telling me that I can't do something or my own beliefs based on past experiences. Either way, I would prove myself and others right by failing to achieve what I wanted.

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right" - Henry Ford

If you start doubting your own potential, it will make it far more likely for you to give up on a goal and just move on to something else. A good way to get past this limitation is to find people who have had success on a similar path and find out as much about them as you can.

Picking the Wrong Goal
Saying that you picked the wrong goal should not be used an excuse for being lazy or finding it easy to give up. Picking the wrong goal should only be stated when you really have chosen the wrong goal. Wrong goals come in many formats, they could be:
- Things you're trying to achieve because other people want you to
- Doing something just to impress others
- Focusing on something you don't care if you achieve or not
- Mirroring others just because you think it's the right path to take
There are more examples of this, but these are some of the most common. A good way to find the 'right' goal for you is to literally pick up a pen(cil) and paper and start writing down all the things you would like to achieve. If you do this for a decent amount of time, there will be something that just stands out, something that just feels right. This is probably the right goal for you.

You Lack Consistency / Patience
Whenever I have stated this point in person, I always tell people a short personal story. As many of you will know, I'm a regular writer here at DumbLittleMan and also run my own blog which is fairly successful. Back when I first started it however, I only managed to build a few hundred readers and I wasn't happy with the growth. Because of this, I ended up selling it for $1,500.

A few weeks later I realised what a mistake I had made when I was going to start yet another project where I'm sure the same thing would just happen again. Luckily, I was able to haggle and get my site back. In the hands of a different buyer, I probably wouldn't have been so lucky and the blog wouldn't have as large a following as it has today.

The key here is to keep going. Once you've decided on your goal, don't let anything get in the way. There may be times when 'life' distracts you as it always will, but once things are dealt with, get back on track.

There's No "Next Step," No Action Plan
Some people simply set themselves a goal and leave it at that. It's something they have at the back of their mind and take action on whenever they remember. There's no use in having a goal if you don't lay out an action plan for yourself or at least some time-frame in which you would like to complete it.

Every morning I go over a sheet of paper which contains my three main goals in life. They are related to my health, wealth and my blog. I then set tasks for each, where necessary, and work to complete those during the day. I have a little freedom as I work for myself, but the principle of putting a plan together still applies.

I know for a fact that if I didn't set out goals or targets for certain aspects of my life, they wouldn't be as far along progression wise as they are now.

What else have you found to get in the way of achieving your goals? I would love to hear your additions in the comments!

Written on 7/06/2009 by Glen Allsop. Glen writes on the subject of Personal Development at PluginID. His sites main aim is to help people Plug into their Identity, be who they want to be and live the life they want to live.

Photo Credit:
hans.gerwitz

When I Give Someone Flowers, What Message is the Color Sending?

2009-07-05T10:01:00.004-05:00

Flowers have long been used to convey our innermost feelings. Say it with flowers and you have a good chance of declaring your undying love and devotion to the woman or man of your dreams. These days it is common to gift flowers for Valentine's day, birthdays or anniversaries.

But who says we only have to gift flowers for obvious occasions. Instead surprise your dream date/partner with flowers when they least expect it. In additon, be different. Don't keep giving the same flowers - be unique! Here is the message you are sending based on the color and type of flower you choose.

Roses
Roses come in many variations and colors. They are a popular choice for stating your romantic feelings and you'd have to be hard-pressed to find a woman who doesn't like to be romanced with roses. But a rose ain't a rose unless you decipher the meaning of its color.
- Red: Red roses are the universal language of love. It states “I love you” if given to your lady. It also speaks of desire and passion.
- White: White roses declare your eternal love for the girl of your dreams. They also convey the message that she is worthy, showing her your respect as an equal. If your love is pure then white roses are a great gift for the woman of your dreams.
- Yellow: Yellow roses are associated with jealousy and friendship. In the end the meaning is conveyed through the context in which you gift the rose to a woman.
- Red & White: Given together, these two colors demonstrate unity, togetherness.
- Pink: Pink roses are the sign of happiness.
Carnations
Carnations are most likely a second choice to roses in the context of love. They are a popular flower for bouquets and ideally mixed with other colors and flowers to make an attractive and meaningful combination.
- Red: Red carnations are given for love. They also speak of passion and courage.
- Pink: Pink carnations denote a show of confidence and thankfulness. These flowers are more gentle and low-key to the obvious red.
- White: White carnations are often chosen in context with purity and spirituality. If your love is pure, strong and secure then these flowers are a good choice.
- Peach: Peach carnations show your devotion, your desire for the woman of your dreams.
- Yellow: Yellow carnations are often given to invoke friendship, joy and happiness.
- Purple: Purple carnations can be a sign of love at first sight or else they demonstrate your commitment to your girl.

Bird Of Paradise (Strelitzia)
The Bird Of Paradise is a tropical flower originating in South Africa. We have come to associate its beauty with uniqueness and rarity. Just like the Strelitzia is unique in its appereance, by gifting this flower to a woman you celebrate her uniqueness in the world.

Orchids
Orchids are mystical and exquisite. If you want to show the woman of your dreams just how special she is, then give her orchids. You can choose from around 20,000 variations of orchids. Expect to dig deep into your pockets though as orchids are certainly not cheap.

Lily
Lilies are a wonderful, stately flower and often given in reverie. They carry a mysterious air and go beyond the usual flowers of choice when it comes to matters of the heart. If you want to be a little more sophisticated, then consider giving a lily or a whole bunch of them to your lover. Lilies are not just associated with funerals, they can just as well be used to say “I love you” to that special person in your life.
- White: White Lilies declare unconditional love. You mean the world to your partner.
- Peruvian lilies: They represent devotion and friendship.
- Orange: The orange lily shows passion, desire.
- Yellow: Giving a yellow lily can demonstrate feelings of gay love.

Written on 7/5/2009 by Monika Mundell. Monika Mundell is a passionate freelance writer and pro-blogger. Her blog Freelance Writing helps new freelance writers to get started in this exciting industry. If you like to work with Monika, feel free to visit her Portfolio site.

Photo Credit: miss rogue

How to Have a Great Relationship With Your Grandparents

2009-07-04T05:44:00.001-05:00

Some of us are lucky enough to have a naturally great connection with our parents’ parents. Perhaps you had a lot of contact with your grandparents as a child, or you see them on a very regular basis. Maybe they provide free childcare for you (or free baked goodies – my granny is great at this!)

Sometimes, though, you might find that you have to work a bit harder to build up and maintain a good relationship with your grandparents. Perhaps the generation gap seems, at times, almost insurmountable. Maybe you can never quite get them to understand what you do for a living (“so, dear, just explain this ‘internet’ thing again...”) You might also be struggling to establish cordial relations with your partner’s grandparents.

Here are some simple ways to get on well with your grandparents (or other folk of your grandparents’ generation):

Focus On What Interests Them
Whenever you want to establish a great connection with someone, you need to find out what their interests are, and use those as a starting point. This is hardly new advice; it’s an important principle in Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People (published in 1936).

So how do you find out what interests your grandparents? Chances are, you already know some of their interests. These might be hobbies such as woodwork, collecting or entering competitions. (If you’re trying to relate to older folk who aren’t relatives you know well, keep an eye out for books or magazines around the house for clues). Church and community topics are also often of interest.

Look for timeless interests that you can share with them: perhaps a love of the outdoors, or of good food! This is particularly helpful if most of your hobbies (and your conversations with your peers) revolve around cutting-edge technology or very recent inventions.

Teach One Another
A very powerful way to build up a great relationship is to ask your grandparents to teach you a particular skill. Perhaps you’ve always admired your grandma’s ability to make Christmas puddings, or maybe your grandpa is an expert carpenter. Older people have decades of knowledge and skills to pass on – make the most of this!

And don’t stop there: return the favor by teaching something in return. Perhaps your nan would love to learn how to use email, or maybe your great-uncle would secretly love to be able to compete with the younger generation on Guitar Hero...

Avoid Political/Religious Discussions
This isn’t always necessary, but depending on your own views and those of your grandparents, you might find it best to avoid discussing certain topics. If you have differing political views (if you’re liberal and they’re conservative, or vice versa), avoid letting family occasions turn into an argument.

This also goes for religious views. Perhaps you were brought up as a strict member of a certain religion, and you’ve since made up your mind to follow a different path. If your grandparents are still praying for you to return to their belief system, you probably don’t want to go in all guns blazing about why you reckon it’s a load of baloney. Be as respectful as you can be of their beliefs, even when you think they are wrong or misinformed.

Send a Handwritten Letter or Card
If you aren’t able to visit your grandparents very often, take the time to send an occasional letter or card. Ideally, write it the old-fashioned way, pen and paper, instead of using a computer (typed letters often come across as business-like or impersonal to older folk).

Let them know about all the news in your life – though keep business or work jargon out. As above, focus on topics of mutual interest: you might want to describe a recent trip to the theatre, or a community event. When sending a card, take the time to choose one with a picture or design that you know will appeal.

Do you have a great relationship with your grandparents (or other people of a similar age)? Has it arisen naturally throughout your life, or did you have to work at it? What tips do you have for maintaining a strong relationship?

Written on 7/4/2009 by Ali Hale. Ali is a professional writer and blogger, and a part-time postgraduate student of creative writing. If you need a hand with any sort of written project, drop her a line (ali@aliventures.com) or check out her website at Aliventures.

Photo Credit: ryanrocketship

11 Reasons Why You Absolutely Need More Sleep

2009-07-03T05:54:00.004-05:00

There’s nothing better than that feeling of waking up completely and utterly refreshed. Feeling so good that you virtually spring out of bed, already enthusing about how marvelous the day ahead is sure to be.

Of course it’s a shame that the last time you woke feeling that way was on summer break in your college days, but hey - that’s the way it goes, isn’t it?

These days, sleep is little more than something that cuts into your every-day hectic schedule. Sure, you love going to sleep, and you definitely acknowledge that you need to sleep at least a few hours, but the reality is that you simply cannot prioritize it above everything else in your life. I mean, you're already behind on Twitter messages as it is.

Besides, you function extremely well on just 5 or 6 hours thank-you very much. In fact, you’re quite proud of it.

Well sorry to burst your bubble, but what if I were to tell you that lack of sleep is one of the Western world’s foremost reasons for increased obesity, heart disease, and diabetes? That it’s physiologically impossible for you to ‘get away with’ a lack of sleep? The truth is that what you in fact have is a very massive and very demanding sleep debt. And the interest is mounting.

It’s funny how you can start to make just a little more time for something when you truly believe and understand how important it is. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the foremost reasons for a good night’s sleep. Read these and you’ll soon realize that not only can sleep transform your weight and your health, it just might save your life.

Studies have shown that staying up all night long (being awake for 17 or more hours) can leave you with a reaction response comparable to that of an intoxicated person with a blood alcohol reading of greater than 0.5. This makes you a definite danger to yourself and to others. Of course this lack of physical and mental control does not simply ‘happen’ at minus 8 hours. For every hour you stay awake you decrease your ability to focus and perform throughout the coming days.
Insufficient sleep results in an incomplete hormonal cycle. This means your body cannot produce daytime hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline when it needs them first thing. As a result, you depend on stimulants to keep you going, and set yourself up for another poor night’s sleep. You can’t escape the always tired but always wired cycle you’ve set up for yourself.

A classic symptom of this ‘tired but wired’ cycle is not feeling hungry in the morning, or feeling nauseous when you do eat breakfast. Never imagine that this is a convenient way to save on time and calories – the food that you eat first thing stimulates your metabolism and aids in detoxification. Without a good breakfast to line your belly you set yourself up for low energy and poor eating patterns the rest of the day.

A poor sleep cycle causes your body to create patterns that will enable you to handle the ongoing sleep of your go-go-go lifestyle. One of these patterns is an excessive release of stress hormones such as cortisol – particularly in the evening. Stress hormones allow you to keep going, but they’re also the ones that keep you up at night, and what’s more - they signal your body to store fat. And that’s regardless of how you’re eating or exercising.

Physical patterns such as the release of stress hormones are just one part of the equation. The other thing you need to consider is the compensation patterns that you yourself end up creating. An extra coffee here, a few pieces of candy there, the decision to have that mid-afternoon muffin. When you’re tired your defenses are down and it’s easy to think that these little things don’t count. But they could be the one thing stopping you from losing weight and improving your health.

Speaking of sugar, those mid-afternoon cravings are not just in your head. When you don’t have enough sleep your brain continually sends out urgent messages for quick energy. This is a survival instinct – it’s all about keeping you as alert and focused as possible. Will power alone can’t override these cravings - not when you’re fighting your own physiology. This just makes it harder to stick to your healthy eating goals, and the sugar slump doesn’t do you any favors either. The really scary part is that these daily indulgences can mean the hormone named insulin is constantly elevated and you’re setting yourself up for possible diabetes.

In fact, it’s not just the mid-afternoon cravings that’ll get you when you’re tired. The truth is that you’ll find yourself eating far more on a daily basis, and that you’ll tend to do it all day long. Breakfast aside, no doubt. You’ll also tend to make poorer choices – more processed foods, more sugary sodas, more starchy carbohydrates or fried foods. And it’s pretty tough to escape this cycle when your eyes are stinging and your motivation is at an all-time low. Leading sleep researchers T.S. Wiley and Bent Formby, Ph.D, in their book ‘Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, And Survival’ show a close connection between a lack of sleep and the increasing existence of obesity in our society.

One of the most unfair symptoms of sleep debt is that inability to wind down come evening time. Of course it shouldn’t really be much of a surprise – not when you’ve spent the better part of the day jacked up on caffeine and sugar. And even if you haven’t, your nervous system is in overdrive which keeps you buzzing all night long but leaves you groggy and useless in the morning. There’s only one way out of this mess, and it’s not more coffee.

Back ache, neck ache, tummy ache, headache … when you’re tired it sometimes just seems as though everything hurts. According to Paul Chek, H.H.P, as stated in his book “How To Eat, Move And Be Healthy”, physical repair takes place while you’re sleeping, and it happens in the first half of the night – around 10pm-2am. If you skip those vital first few hours and hit the sack post-midnight with the alarm set for 6 or 7am, your body simply cannot rejuvenate your muscle cells, or indeed any of your cells. This leaves you physically weaker and with constant ailments.

Of course you could try going to bed on time and getting up super-early if you still can’t afford yourself a full 8 hours, but according to Paul you’d then you’d be skipping out on crucial psychological repair. This takes place approximately between 2am and 6am, and is directly linked to your mental focus, your moods, and your ability to maintain a positive mindset. Imagine the effects of a lack of sleep over time – small wonder so many people find themselves heading down the dark road of depression or anxiety.

It’s pretty hard to climb off the wheel of life when you barely have the energy to get through the day. Missing out on sleep could be costing you a lot more than you realize if it means you’re stuck in the rut of your day-to-day life and simply can’t even begin to contemplate what it would take to make some changes. Whether it’s testing the waters for a new career or a promotion, ending or beginning a relationship, or even just trying out that hobby you’ve been shelving for so long, chances are it’s not going to happen when you’re frazzled and burnt out.

Missing even half an hour of sleep every night adds up to an impressive sleep debt of 182.5 hours per year. There’s no short-cut to paying of this debt, nor can you outrun it’s constant and grueling effects on your health. Next time you tell yourself that you can get by, stop and consider just how big your sleep debt is right now. And consider that the nights are dark for a reason, that your body sends you physical and emotional responses to tiredness for a reason. Maybe it’s time to listen to those messages and see just what you’re missing out on.

The good news is that increasing your sleep by as little as half an hour, or even 15 minutes, every night can immediately and drastically improve the way you feel and function. For most of us it’s not possible to drop everything and implement drastic change, but the benefits of sleep don’t have to be a case of ‘all or nothing’. Why not treat yourself to an extra half hour shut eye tonight and start to soak up the health rewards right away?

Written on 7/3/2009 by Kat Eden. Kat is a Personal Trainer from Australia. Visit her blog Body Incredible to be inspired with the latest nutritition tips, weight loss advice, and motivational thinking.

Photo Credit: betsssssy

Commit To A Lifetime of Fitness In A Few Simple Steps

2009-07-02T14:04:00.000-05:00

Just about everyone I know, at one time or another, has attempted to make fitness and exercise a part of their normal routine. We all know the general benefits from a sound exercise plan; strength training and regular exercise can improve ones life ten-fold. Some of the benefits include improved cardiovascular health, increased bone mass, a positive outlook on life, improved self confidence and self efficacy.

So if there are so many benefits, why do we have a hard time sticking to a fitness program for a substantial period of time?

In my experience, almost everyone needs structure, guidance and some positive reinforcement when the goal is to make long term, lifestyle changes. Here is the exact process I use to effectively set and reach my fitness goals.

Create A Plan and Set Reachable Goals
We have all heard the saying: if you fail to plan you are planning to fail. There is so much truth in this statement. Coming up with a plan is not hard but takes some serious thought. You may be interested in running 5 miles per week, beginning a strength training program, or simply being more active for a certain period of time each week. It doesn't matter how you want to go about it but you must develop a plan.

Big goals are made up of a bunch of smaller goals. You cannot reach your big goals until you conquer the small ones first. By doing this, you will create your own success story one step at a time.

Write It Down – Your goals will be hard to reach if you don't have a physical reference to them. Writing down what you want to accomplish in the short and long term will allow you to get clear on exactly what you want. Writing your goals down also serves as a daily reminder and almost serves as a contract or commitment to yourself.

Take It Slow – Start out with small goals and build upon them gradually. You must crawl before you walk and you must walk before you run. If your goal is to run a 6-minute mile and you haven't jogged once in the past year, you better start off with a few laps around the block for the first few weeks. Then as that gets easier you can begin going for weekly runs, trying to increase your duration each workout. In time your endurance and conditioning improves. The same applies for strength training, martial arts or any other fitness endeavor.

Build Upon Previous Successes – Once you reach the initial goals you have set for yourself, you must make new ones. It's important to continually have something to work towards for maintaining your motivation. Logging your progress is essential as well. There is nothing like looking back on previous goals you have set and accomplished.

Build A Support System
While you can achieve your goals by yourself, it's always much easier with a support group. There are many ways to go about this. You can join a local fitness/athletic club, join a gym or look to the internet for a community of like-minded people.

Forums and Online Communities – Many people turn to fitness forums for advice and guidance and most forums have sections where you can log your workouts. I have greatly benefited from these resources as it's an easy way to log my workouts plus receive feedback from those more experienced than myself when I need help or advice. Sometimes we may be doing something that could be improved or changed for the better.

The Buddy System – Another way you can keep yourself accountable is by using the buddy system. Find someone else who has similar interests and make a commitment to keep each other in check. You can opt to workout together once or twice per week or set a time each month to go over your past workouts. It's really nice to have the extra encouragement from someone who is working towards a similar goal.

Become A Blogger – One more way to improve your chances of sticking to your plan is by starting a personal workout blog. It doesn't have to be fancy and you don't have to be a great writer. Just commit to logging your workouts and thoughts about your new routine regularly. I know of many weight loss bloggers who are having much success with this type of support method. Many of them connect with others in the blogosphere who share the same goals. You will learn in time that it's easier to stick to a commitment when others are looking forward to your progress reports.

Baby Steps Eventually Become Long Term Habits
So everyone knows it takes roughly 21 days for something to officially become a habit. The more often you do something the more ingrained in your mind it becomes. Many of the world's top athletes are only good at what they do because they formed a habit of training regularly, not just because they had some supernatural abilities.

I am not implying you must train rigorously like an elite athlete, but think about what you could accomplish by adopting the same mentality and developing a workout plan similar in structure (although not the same frequency or intensity). In time, the newly formed habits would be routine and your quality of life would improve greatly. The benefits of getting up and doing something productive greatly outweighs sitting around and wasting away.

Lifestyle Changes
The ultimate goal is a permanent lifestyle change. Changing your habits and embarking on a regular workout routine can greatly benefit your life and the time it takes to build your unique workout regimen will pay off substantially, granted you actually do it.

If you have ever struggled with making an exercise plan a permanent habit, give the steps I have outlined a try. I am confident you will be well on your way to a much improved quality of life.

Written on 7/2/2009 by JC. JC is the author of JCDFitness, A No BS Approach To Looking Great Naked.

Photo Credit: lu_lu

Staying Productive When You’re Working From Home

2009-06-30T02:40:00.000-05:00

You always thought working from home would be great. You could work in your PJs, listen to whatever music you wanted, drink your favorite brand of coffee, and, of course, get up at 7:55 and be at your desk before 8.00...

So when your boss agreed to let you work from home part of the time (or when you left to start your own business), you were excited. You just knew you’d be much more productive, and much happier.

And then, a little thing called “reality” kicked in. It’s not easy to stay productive and effective when you’re working at home, especially if you have family or housemates around. The techniques which served you well in the office environment don’t seem quite so useful when you’re working from your bedroom, or your sofa.

Here are five ways to make sure that your days spent working at home are more productive than days in the office.

Remind People You’re Working
It’s surprising how many people will call for a chat, or drop in casually, when you’re at home. They’d never dream of phoning you at work to tell you about their vacation, or swinging by your office because they “were just passing” ... but when you’re working from home, it seems like you’re fair game.

You may have to gently but firmly remind people that you’re working. If your best mate phones for a mid-morning chat, explain “I’m afraid I can’t talk now, but I’ll be free after five.” If your spouse or children tend to interrupt you, try working in a separate room, with the door closed. Explain that the sooner you get through your work, the sooner you’ll be free to pay attention to them!

Keep Work and Home Separate
When you’re in an office that you have to commute to, you never consider cleaning your kitchen or vacuuming your hallway during the work day: it’s just not possible. But when you’re working from home, it’s all too easy to get distracted from work by the “home” tasks that you notice.

Give yourself a lunch hour when you can pop out to the grocery store, walk the dog, clean the windows, etc. Don’t let these activities interrupt the course of your working day. If you’re struggling to decide whether something is a legitimate quick break from work or not, ask yourself what your boss would think if he saw you doing it on company time. (If you’re a freelancer, consider whether your clients would accept it on their bill.)

Take a Lunch Hour – And Have A Schedule
Some work-at-homers might have raised an eyebrow at the “Give yourself a lunch hour” suggestion in the paragraph above. When you work from home, time tends to be much more fluid than in the office. Perhaps you start work late in the morning and work on until dinner in the evening.

Your productivity will get a boost if you do take a decent break in the middle of the day. An hour is about right: long enough to relax and recharge, but not so long that you lose all momentum. Also, decide on a start and end time for work each day, and stick to them: you’ll find that you focus much better.

Keep In Touch With Colleagues
Many people who work at home say that they miss the casual social interaction at work. Perhaps you miss having easy access to colleagues when you had a question, problem or idea; or perhaps you just feel isolated without the daily chats at the water cooler.

Don’t just keep up with work by email: phone the office occasionally, too. Online tools like Twitter or Messenger can be an easy way to casually stay in touch during the day, but they can also end up wasting huge chunks of time!

If you’re a freelancer, forge links with other people in your community (online or offline) who work in the same area as you.

Stay On-Task – Even Without Your Boss Watching
Whether you can admit it or not, you’re probably a lot better at staying on task and focused when someone’s looking over your shoulder. If you have an eagle-eyed boss in the office, you’ll stick with that boring spreadsheet, even when you’re tempted to read blogs or Facebook.

When you’re at home, however, your boss and colleagues aren’t checking up on you. It’s very easy to get distracted, or to procrastinate, especially when faced with tasks that are a bit dull. This usually ends up meaning working longer hours to compensate, though.

If you find yourself getting easily distracted, pick one task, and tell yourself you’ll finish that one thing before you do anything else. Don’t check your email, or play around on Twitter, until it’s done.

If you work from home – some or all of the time – how do you stay productive? Are you already following the above tips? What techniques have you found that help you?

Written on 6/30/2009 by Ali Hale. Ali is a professional writer and blogger, and a part-time postgraduate student of creative writing. If you need a hand with any sort of written project, drop her a line (ali@aliventures.com) or check out her website at Aliventures.

Photo Credit: ishane

5 Gym Benefits You Probably Hadn't Thought Of

2009-06-29T01:00:00.001-05:00

For the last 5 months, I have been going to the gym 3 times per week. In the past, I would only visit the gym sporadically (whenever I felt like it) which I'm sure many of you can relate to. Now though, after going regularly for a few months in a row, I'm starting to notice more benefits then people usually associate with working out.

The main reason people go to the gym, of course, is for health reasons. People either want to lose a few pounds or they want to bulk up and build muscles. The latter was my primary aim and something I'm still focusing on, but there are other benefits I've gained along the way.

I wanted to share some of them today for people who feel they need that extra bit of motivation to put on some shorts and start exercising.

Learn to Appreciate Long-Term Growth
As a society, we're constantly looking for the next quick fix. How to make thousands of dollars overnight, how to lose 10 pounds in a week, and other countless examples in various areas of life. We're a society that wants things, and we want them now.

In reality of course, most things worth having need consistent effort over a long period of time in order to manifest. Whether you are increasing your income or wanting to lose weight, you need to be prepared to provide a consistent output. Results at the gym will not happen overnight, but if you stick to it, you'll soon see actual results of how long-term effort pays off.

Tame the Voice in Your Head
You know the voice I'm talking about. The one that wants you to stop working and go out with your friends, the one that wants you to buy the latest gadgets so you'll look cool and the one that tempts you to go easy on a Friday...just because it's Friday.

When you're working out, you will reach resistance points that will make you want to stop. Whether it is after a few kilometres on the treadmill or a few sets of lifting dumbbells, it will come. Usually though, we can still go on at this point and this is your chance to 'fight back' against the voice in your head and learn that you don't need to give in to its every desire.

Over a decent period of time, this 'taming' of your voice and pushing through resistance will flow over into other areas of your life.

Learn to Focus on What You're Doing
On any productivity, self improvement or personal development related website, you'll see lots of tips on how to cure procrastination. It is a topic that is written about frequently, simply because so many people suffer from this issue.

Procrastination is often made easier by our tendencies to skip between tasks and telling ourselves to do something else for five minutes and come back to the work (which rarely happens). What I like about going to the gym is that when you're working out, your attention simply can't be elsewhere. When you're lifting weights or doing something else that requires a lot of energy, you have to fully focus on what you are doing.

Similar to taming the voice in your head, if you can keep this up for a decent period of time, it will start to overflow into other aspects of your life.

Have a Constant in Life
Something that is often an issue for people who are depressed, but can really affect anybody, is the lack of constants in our lives. We can go in and out of jobs, through one difficult relationship to the next, and feel the highs and lows of the financial rollercoaster.

Regular visits to the gym are just one of many things that can become a constant in your life. It is never going to let you down and it will always be there when you need it. I have found regular workout sessions have added some stability and structure to my schedule that I may not have otherwise had.

Release Built Up Energy and Tensions
As technology has advanced, more and more people are finding that their 9-5 careers involve working in an office and sitting in front of a computer all day. I work from home and even though I get to set my own hours, I'm still just sitting in a chair and getting on with my tasks.

The great thing about going to the gym is that you can release all that built up energy and tension you may have accumulated throughout your day. This is probably not needed if you have a physical job or lifestyle, but for those who don't, it's a better way to channel your energy then letting it turn into anger or negativity.

Remember, you don't even have to go to a gym to get these extra benefits; it's perfectly possible to work out from home as well. Have I missed any benefits you can think of?

Written on 6/29/2009 by Glen Allsop. Glen writes on the subject of Personal Development at PluginID. His site's main aim is to help people Plug into their Identity, be who they want to be and live the life they want to live.

Photo Credit: lululemon athletica

39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist

2009-06-28T04:18:00.003-05:00

"The proper function of man is to live - not to exist." -- Jack London

Too often we go through life on autopilot, going through the motions and having each day pass like the one before it.

That's fine, and comfortable, until you have gone through another year without having done anything, without having really lived life.

That's fine, until you have reached old age and look back on life with regrets.

That's fine, until you see your kids go off to college and realize that you missed their childhoods.

It's not fine. If you want to truly live life, to really experience it, to enjoy it to the fullest, instead of barely scraping by and only living a life of existence, then you need to find ways to break free from the mold and drink from life.

What follows is just a list of ideas, obvious ones mostly that you could have thought of yourself, but that I hope are useful reminders. We all need reminders sometimes. If you find this useful, print it out, and start using it. Today.

Love. Perhaps the most important. Fall in love, if you aren't already. If you have, fall in love with your partner all over again. Abandon caution and let your heart be broken. Or love family members, friends, anyone -- it doesn't have to be romantic love. Love all of humanity, one person at a time.

Get outside. Don't let yourself be shut indoors. Go out when it's raining. Walk on the beach. Hike through the woods. Swim in a freezing lake. Bask in the sun. Play sports, or walk barefoot through grass. Pay close attention to nature.

Savor food. Don't just eat your food, but really enjoy it. Feel the texture, the bursts of flavors. Savor every bite. If you limit your intake of sweets, it will make the small treats you give yourself (berries or dark chocolate are my favorites) even more enjoyable. And when you do have them, really, really savor them. Slowly.

Create a morning ritual. Wake early and greet the day. Watch the sun rise. Out loud, tell yourself that you will not waste this day, which is a gift. You will be compassionate to your fellow human beings, and live every moment to its fullest. Stretch or meditate or exercise as part of your ritual. Enjoy some coffee.

Take chances. We often live our lives too cautiously, worried about what might go wrong. Be bold, risk it all. Quit your job and go to business for yourself (plan it out first!), or go up to that girl you've liked for a long time and ask her out. What do you have to lose?

Follow excitement. Try to find the things in life that excite you, and then go after them. Make life one exciting adventure after another (with perhaps some quiet times in between).

Find your passion. Similar to the above tip, this one asks you to find your calling. Make your living by doing the thing you love to do. First, think about what you really love to do. There may be many things. Find out how you can make a living doing it. It may be difficult, but you only live once.

Get out of your cubicle. Do you sit all day in front of computer, shuffling papers and taking phone calls and chatting on the Internet? Don't waste your days like this. Break free from the cubicle environment, and do your work on a laptop, in a coffee shop, or on a boat, or in a log cabin. This may require a change of jobs, or becoming a freelancer. It's worth it.

Turn off the TV. How many hours will we waste away in front of the boob tube? How many hours do we have to live? Do the math, then unplug the TV. Only plug it back in when you have a DVD of a movie you love. Otherwise, keep it off and find other stuff to do. Don't know what to do? Read further.

Pull away from Internet. You're reading something on the Internet right now. And, with the exception of this article, it is just more wasting away of your precious time. You cannot get these minutes back. Unplug the Internet, then get out of your office or house. Right now! And go and do something.

Travel. Sure, you want to travel some day. When you have vacation time, or when you're older. Well, what are you waiting for? Find a way to take a trip, if not this month, then sometime soon. You may need to sell your car or stop your cable bill and stop eating out to do it, but make it happen. You are too young to not see the world. If need be, find a way to make a living by freelancing, then work while you travel. Only work an hour or two a day. Don't check email but once a week. Then use the rest of the time to see the world.

Rediscover what's important. Take an hour and make a list of everything that's important to you. Add to it everything that you want to do in life. Now cut that list down to 4-5 things. Just the most important things in your life. This is your core list. This is what matters. Focus your life on these things. Make time for them.

Eliminate everything else. What's going on in your life that's not on that short list? All that stuff is wasting your time, pulling your attention from what's important. As much as possible, simplify your life by eliminating the stuff that's not on your short list, or minimizing it.

Exercise. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Eventually try running. Or do some push ups and crunches. Or swim or bike or row. Or go for a hike. Whatever you do, get active, and you'll love it. And life will be more alive.

Be positive. Learn to recognize the negative thoughts you have. These are the self-doubts, the criticisms of others, the complaints, the reasons you can't do something. Then stop yourself when you have these thoughts, and replace them with positive thoughts. Solutions. You can do this!

Open your heart. Is your heart a closed bundle of scar tissue? Learn to open it, have it ready to receive love, to give love unconditionally. If you have a problem with this, talk to someone about it. And practice makes perfect.

Kiss in the rain. Seize the moment and be romantic. Raining outside? Grab your lover and give her a passionate kiss. Driving home? Stop the car and pick some wildflowers. Send her a love note. Dress sexy for him.

Face your fears. What are you most afraid of? What is holding you back? Whatever it is, recognize it, and face it. Do what you are most afraid of. Afraid of heights? Go to the tallest building, and look down over the edge. Only by facing our fears can we be free of them.

When you suffer, suffer. Life isn't all about fun and games. Suffering is an inevitable part of life. We lose our jobs. We lose our lovers. We lose our pets. We get physically injured or sick. A loved one becomes sick. A parent dies. Learn to feel the pain intensely, and really grieve. This is a part of life -- really feel the pain. And when you're done, move on, and find joy.

Slow down. Life moves along at such a rapid pace these days. It's not healthy, and it's not conducive to living. Practice doing everything slowly -- everything, from eating to walking to driving to working to reading. Enjoy what you do. Learn to move at a snail's pace.

Touch humanity. Get out of your house and manicured neighborhoods, and find those who live in worse conditions. Meet them, talk to them, understand them. Live among them. Be one of them. Give up your materialistic lifestyle.

Volunteer. Help at homeless soup kitchens. Learn compassion, and learn to help ease the suffering of others. Help the sick, those with disabilities, those who are dying.

Play with children. Children, more than anyone else, know how to live. They experience everything in the moment, fully. When they get hurt, they really cry. When they play, they really have fun. Learn from them, instead of thinking you know so much more than them. Play with them, and learn to be joyful like them.

Talk to old people. There is no one wiser, more experienced, more learned, than those who have lived through life. They can tell you amazing stories. Give you advice on making a marriage last or staying out of debt. Tell you about their regrets, so you can learn from them and avoid the same mistakes. They are the wisdom of our society -- take advantage of their existence while they're still around.

Learn new skills. Constantly improve yourself instead of standing still -- not because you're so imperfect now, but because it is gratifying and satisfying. You should accept yourself as you are, and learn to love who you are, but still try to improve -- if only because the process of improvement is life itself.

Find spirituality. For some, this means finding God or Jesus or Allah or Buddha. For others, this means becoming in tune with the spirits of our ancestors, or with nature. For still others, this just means an inner energy. Whatever spirituality means for you, rediscover it, and its power.

Take mini-retirements. Don't leave the joy of retirement until you are too old to enjoy it. Do it now, while you're young. It makes working that much more worth it. Find ways to take a year off every few years. Save up, sell your home, your possessions, and travel. Live simply, but live, without having to work. Enjoy life, then go back to work and save up enough money to do it again in a couple of years.

Do nothing. Despite the tip above that we should find excitement, there is value in doing nothing as well. Not doing nothing as in reading, or taking a nap, or watching TV, or meditating. Doing nothing as in sitting there, doing nothing. Just learning to be still, in silence, to hear our inner voice, to be in tune with life. Do this daily if possible.

Stop playing video games. They might be fun, but they can take up way too much time. If you spend a lot of time playing online games, or computer solitaire, or Wii or Gameboy or whatever, consider going a week without it. Then find something else to do, outside.

Watch sunsets, daily. One of the most beautiful times of day. Make it a daily ritual to find a good spot to watch the sunset, perhaps having a light dinner while you do so.

Stop reading magazines. They're basically crap. And they waste your time and money. Cancel your subscriptions and walk past them at the news stands. If you have to read something, read a trashy novel or even better, read Dumb Little Man once a day and be done.

Break out from ruts. Do you do things the same way every day? Change it up. Try something new. Take a different route to work. Start your day out differently. Approach work from a new angle. Look at things from new perspectives.

Stop watching the news. It's depressing and useless. If you're a news junky, this may be difficult. I haven't watch TV news or read a newspaper regularly in about two years. It hasn't hurt me a bit. Anything important, my mom tells me about.

Laugh till you cry. Laughing is one of the best ways to live. Tell jokes and laugh your head off. Watch an awesome comedy. Learn to laugh at anything. Roll on the ground laughing. You'll love it.

Lose control. Not only control over yourself, but control over others. It's a bad habit to try to control others -- it will only lead to stress and unhappiness for yourself and those you try to control. Let others live, and live for yourself. And lose control of yourself now and then too.

Cry. Men, especially, tend to hold in our tears, but crying is an amazing release. Cry at sad movies. Cry at a funeral. Cry when you are hurt, or when somebody you love is hurt. It releases these emotions and allows us to cleanse ourselves.

Make an awesome dessert. I like to make warm, soft chocolate cake. But even berries dipped in chocolate, or crepes with ice cream and fruit, or fresh apple pie, or homemade chocolate chip cookies or brownies, are great. This isn't an every day thing, but an occasional treat thing. But it's wonderful.

Try something new, every week. Ask yourself: "What new thing shall I try this week?" Then be sure to do it. You don't have to learn a new language in one week, but seek new experiences. Give it a try. You might decide you want to keep it in your life.

Be in the moment. Instead of thinking about things you need to do, or things that have happened to you, or worrying or planning or regretting, think about what you are doing, right now. What is around you? What smells and sounds and sights and feelings are you experiencing? Learn to do this as much as possible through meditation, but also through bringing your focus back to the present as much as you can in everything you do.

Written on 6/19/2007 by Leo Babauta, a writer, a runner and a vegetarian, and the owner of Zen Habits. This article was republished on 6/28/09.

Photo Credit: hunters.green

How to Lose your Girlfriend

2009-06-27T04:19:00.003-05:00

Known fact - men and women are pretty different. There are things about women that men have spent years trying to understand and guess what, women don't always get men either. However, no matter how much of a "man's man" you are, there are things you have to notice about the woman you have been dating.

The following is a guide to help you lose your girlfriend. So, if you are happy and want to remain in your relationship, do the opposite of what is listed below.

Buy flowers for her twice a year
If you only buy your girlfriend flowers on her birthday and your anniversary - she won't feel special. You know why? Because doing this will make you predictable and boring. Women love "just because" and unexpected stuff. While it doesn't necessarily have to be a bouquet of roses or anything expensive, the point is that you should occasionally do something a little out of the ordinary (and so should she).

Send her calls to voicemail
Even if the Lakers are playing or you are in the middle of a video game, just answer! Women like to call just because - and believe me, she will start to get that pain in her stomach and begin jumping to conclusions if don't answer after multiple calls. By answering, you will give her the chance to understand you are focused on something else and not someone else.

Keep saying "yes" to the guys
When you always say yes to the guys, your girlfriend will begin to feel left out. Remember, women love quality time! If you can find a balance between your guy time and quality time with her, she will be happy and reassured that you are into the relationship.

Leave the toilet seat up
There is nothing like falling in the toilet at 3AM. And after falling in the toilet - I am certain you will hate to hear her mouth until the next business day. There is a simple fix. The simple task of placing the toilet seat down will eliminate an agruement and help convey that you are at least a little considerate.

Don't pop the question
Five years is not only a long time to be in a relationship - it is a long time to be in a relationship without an engagement ring. If you know marriage is not for you, be up front and honest about that while you are dating. Please do not lead a woman on to believe anything differently.

These steps won't solve all the problems or answer all the pending questions men have about women. But a few things are certain, following these quick tips will make you appear more considerate, honest and loving!

Written on 6/27/2009 by Rhonda Kennedy. Rhonda is a screenplay writer that enjoys meeting new people, spending time with family and listening to live music. If you want to get in touch with her, feel free to email her at kennedylife@gmail.com.

Photo Credit: simplified complication

15 Excellent Web Apps For Managing Your Personal Finances

2009-06-25T11:00:00.003-05:00

I'm sure I won't be exaggerating if I say that the effective management of your personal finances is a major key to reduced stress and increased happiness. While I am no finance wizard, common sense tells me that keeping an eye on the incoming and outgoing money is always beneficial.

Since personal finance is a lucrative business, the internet has spawned upon a huge number of web apps that try to help you manage your money. I decided to check out a bunch of them and pick 15 such tools which seem good at implementing what they promise. If you have a system that works today, keep it. However, if you are constantly wondering where your last $100 went, it's time to start tracking a little.

Mint
Mint is probably the most well known of all personal finance web based apps available. It is free to use and offers some excellent financial tools which help to track your investments and manage your budget.

Quicken Online
Quicken has been the preferred desktop software for managing money and its web version doesn't disappoint either. It also boasts of a host of features like Mint. If you want to see how Mint and Quicken compare then check this article by Ars Technica.

IRS Withholding Calculator
This calculator , provided by the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) of US helps you calculate your taxes and the amount you'd be left with after you are through paying your due. It's a comprehensive calculator and doesn't require your name or address to start the process.

Mookal
Mookal provides what's probably the fastest way to calculate your monthly mortgage or refinance payments. It has an extremely simple and easy to understand user interface and doesn't require you to sign up to get started.

IsDueOn
IsDueOn, as the name indicates does the job of notifying you about your upcoming bill payment via email or SMS. You could track a lot of bills at the same time.

BudgetTracker
BudgetTracker is an advanced personal finance management tool which allows you to import transactions from your bank, track and manage your bills, transfer funds and much more.

MyBankTracker
MyBankTracker lets you compare bank rates, mortgage rates, CD rates and get comprehensive information about a variety of financial products and services. You could also search for low interest loans and credit card offers on this site.

Spending Diary
SpendingDiary offers an easy way to track your daily expenses. You can organize your expenses by date, category or value. You could also generate downloadable expense reports and charts.

Wesabe
Wesabe adds the community angle to money management. Apart from consolidating the information from your bank accounts and tracking your spending, it pools in information from various sources which help you make better financial decisions.

MoneyTrackin
Moneytrackin is another powerful web based money tracking tool which lets you track multiple projects, create extensive reports and graphs and get email reminders

Maracal
Maracal, like Mookal is a web based tool for calculating your monthly mortgage payments. It doesn't require sign up and also generates detailed reports on your mortgage payments.

Streetread
Streetread isn't a personal finance manager but could be useful if you like to stay abreast with what's happening in the finance world. It's aggregates headlines from the major finance sites so that you can quickly go through them. You can also get stock quotes in the same manner.

Buxfer
Buxfer is an innovative money management tool which manages your expenditure, bank accounts and budgets in a modern, tabbed interface. You could even sign in using your Google, Yahoo or Facebook account and SMS transactions to your account.

Xpenser
Xpenser lets you track your expenses on the go. You can log your expenses by sending them via email, SMS, voice message, IM or Twitter. Simple, quick and easy.

Quicken Beam
Quicken Beam is another mobile expense tracker which lets you track your expenses, bank accounts, payments etc from your mobile phone. It's optimized for iPhone too.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 6/25/2009 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is an internet entrepreneur who loves writing about tech, productivity, blogging & making money online. Catch him at Jeet Blog and also subscribe to his weekly newsletter.

Photo Credit: Quicken

How To Finally Feel Motivated At Work

2009-06-24T03:00:00.002-05:00

Do you find yourself arriving at your desk in the office, feeling anything but enthused about the day to come? Do you end up spending most of the day chatting on Facebook and Twitter, and trying to look busy if the boss walks past? Does your work sometimes seem pointless or futile?

Unless you genuinely feel that you’re in the wrong career, quitting isn’t the answer (and leaving a secure job in current market conditions isn’t a move to take lightheartedly). If your work seems to be lacking something, try looking at your own attitude and actions to rediscover your motivation. Here are some questions to think about...

What Values Can Your Job Meet?
We all have values – concepts or ideas that are, perhaps, more important to us than our own day-to-day happiness. Your top value might be your family, or it might be serving other people. It might be money, or a particular social status.

Know your values – and figure out how you can focus your work around them. For example, if you place a high value on helping other people, make it your mission at work to brighten someone’s day with every email you send; be extra helpful, courteous, and willing to go the extra mile. If your family is the thing closest to your heart, keep photos of them on your desk or computer, and focus on how you’re providing financial stability for them through your job.

What Opportunities Can You Say “Yes” To?
Many people complain that their job is routine, boring and dull – but they never make an effort to step out of their usual role and take on something new. If your boss asks for volunteers for a new project, why not offer to have a go?

Some opportunities might require courage: the first time I was asked to do a presentation to a group of clients, I was terrified! But you’ll find that the braver you are about seizing these chances, the more interesting your work will become. Be proactive, too: ask to work with a different department for a short time, or to be trained up in a new area.

What Can You Do To Take A Proper Lunch Break?
Office-workers have a lunch hour for a reason: no-one can concentrate well for seven or eight hours solid. Taking a proper break in the middle of the day will leave you feeling refreshed and remotivated for the afternoon ahead.

If you habitually work through lunch, you’re not doing your productivity any favors (you may find that you actually get more done in the day if you take that hour off, as you’ll be more focused in the afternoon). And don’t spend your lunch hour sitting at your desk watching YouTube clips: get out of the office for a change of scenery.

How Can You Build Strong Relationships With Colleagues?
If you work full-time, you spend more hours with your colleagues than with almost anyone else in your life. Sometimes, it might feel as though you’re stuck with a bunch of people who you have little in common with – but if you take the time to get to know your colleagues, you’ll find at least a few mutual interests.

Make a point of eating lunch with other people. Invite a deskmate to join you on a walk at lunchtime. Take an interest in their life, and find out what matters to them – don’t just chat about work. Consider organizing a social event – anything from a simple drink after work to a trip to a movie.

Where Do You Need To Rebalance Your Life?
Sometimes it’s not the conditions at work itself that are sapping your energy: it’s other things in your life. If you have a large number of commitments outside work, you’ll probably end up feeling frustrated and miserable because you don’t get much time to yourself.

On the flip side, if you have nothing to focus on except work, you might find that you either end up partying your weekends away (and regretting it during your hungover Monday morning) – or that your life ends up revolving around work. Why not get back into an old hobby, or use some of your free time to volunteer?

Do you start each morning feeling full of enthusiasm for your job? Or do you sometimes need to consciously motivate yourself? Share your tips and experiences in the comments.

Written on 6/24/2009 by Ali Hale. Ali is a professional writer and blogger, and a part-time postgraduate student of creative writing. If you need a hand with any sort of written project, drop her a line (ali@aliventures.com) or check out her website at Aliventures.

Photo Credit: My Blue Van

5 Ways to Go Green During a Recession

2009-06-23T06:38:00.000-05:00

During a recession it helps to look at any means to save money. The more conscious we are of the fact that we throw money down the drain, the more dollars and cents we save in the process. Every bit counts and you'd be surprised at the difference it can make in your weekly budget.

By implementing green tips at the same time you'll not only help your own pocket, but also planet Earth. The following 5 green recessions tips will give you a good head start in becoming more environmentally conscious and money smart.

Just remember, the following tips are barely the tip of the iceberg in regards to ways in which we can look after the planet. By implementing small steps at the time we can all do our bit toward a greener world.

Save energy
The easiest way to save energy is to buy energy efficient light bulbs for our homes. In summer, turn off your thermostat and use thick curtains to insulate your home rather than switching on the air conditioner. If you need to use the air con, set it to be at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. In winter turn the thermostat down a couple of notches. Here is a list of 101 other ways to save energy at home.

Save fuel
Saving fuel is easier than you think. You can start by reducing the amount of time you just hop into the car to drive around with no particular destination in mind. If you live in a city with a good transport system then you could consider going public and leave your car home. This will help you to save gas and money. Even better would be to walk.

I actually own a scooter. These motorized bikes are highly effective for city traffic as you'll never run out of options to park. Plus they are very cost-effective. I barely spend $2/fuel each week. Plus scooters are fun to boost.

Another option is to carpool with friends from work. By sharing one car between several people you reduce emissions and lower the cost of transport for all involved.

Here is a list of other ways to increase mileage and decrease your fuel costs.

Save water
The first step you can do to save water at home is to turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. The same rule applies for when you shower. Turn the water off while you soap your body then turn it back on to rinse. Doing this will save quite a bit of water each time you take a shower.

Faucet aerators are small devices that are attached to your water taps. They cost between $0.50 - $3.00 each and can save you a lot of money by reducing water flow to 2.0, 1.5 or 1.0 gallons per minute at normal pressure rates.

You can also save water by using a bucket to wash your car instead of using a hose.

Here is a great list of 49 other ways that you can save water. I gaurantee you'll learn something if you go through the list.

Shop with intelligence
Smart shopping can also save money and energy. The first step to smart shopping is to always shop with a list. Unless you have a list – and stick to it – you will only end up buying unnecessary things, such as snacks and "spur of the moment" products.

Refuse to buy products with excess packaging. The more we force manufacturers to listen, the sooner they will stop waste - at least we hope so.

Buy organic. Organic products might be more expensive e.g. You won't save money, but you will contribute toward a greener planet.

Use re-usable shopping bags and give plastic a wide berth. Plastic takes around 500 – 1,000 years to decompose naturally! Stop buying and using plastic-packaged products and switch to recycled or re-usable bags and products instead.

Buy second-hand. This doesn't apply for food products, but you will pick up many bargains from garage sales and thrift shops. Granted, buying second hand is not for everyone but judging by the success of garage sales, it is a popular way to save money AND contribute to a greener world. As a matter of fact I just hosted a garage sale a couple of weekends ago and made over $700! within 7 hours - not bad for a days work!

Save money
While all the above tips help to save money in some ways, saving money as a primary means can make or break your budget. The fastest way to saving money is to stop spending it. Look at situations in your day-to-day life where you tend to buy impulsively.

It could be when you are feeling down, stressed or pressured. Analyzing those potential money thieves are important if you want to take control of your money. Shopping for happiness doesn't work. In fact, I believe that the best feelings are always experienced BEFORE we buy something. The anticipation of buying a certain product results in a bigger high than actually having it in the end.

If you buy on impulse only to feel rotten right afterward, stop. Just by cutting back on small expenses each week you can save a nice bit of money by the end of the year. When we spend cash we tend to – conveniently – forget about it. A coffee here, a magazine there can add up.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you deal with this recession, and what you have done to save money or go green.

Thanks for visiting.

Monika

Written on 6/23/2009 by Monika Mundell. Monika is a passionate freelance writer and pro-blogger. Her blog Freelance Writing helps new freelance writers to get started in this exciting industry. If you like to work with Monika, feel free to visit her Portfolio site.

Photo Credit: Serge Melki

How To Write a White Paper to Attract Clients

2009-06-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

Do you have a new idea, business model, product or service? Do you want to get noticed by using a marketing method that might only cost you time? Try writing a white paper to attract people to your door.

So, What’s a White Paper?
Historically white papers were distributed to a privileged few and written by government and policy folk as a way to frame a policy or course of action.

Today, however, white papers have gone mainstream in the business community. They are a great way to let potential clients know you know something and can help them in some way.

At the most basic level, a business white paper:

identifies or explains the landscape relating to an idea, service, or product;

explains a solution or course of action that can be taken based upon the landscape; and

describes how you can help the reader achieve that solution of course of action.

A well put together business white paper can really show off your talents and help you establish trust and build a relationship with a potential client.

Where do you start?
Think back to that essay you wrote in grammar school - your drafting should begin with a basic outline that includes - an audience, a set of facts based upon research, an argument and a conclusion. Once you have those loose pieces of the puzzle together, move on to some serious drafting by crafting your draft around these elements:

Define Your Audience – Who is your reader?
You might have a specific business plan that defines your “client” or “customer” or you simply have an idea of the types of people or businesses that might be interested in what you make or do. Either way, before you go anywhere with your draft you need to define who you think is going to be reading your white paper. Defining your audience will help you keep focus on a particular type of reader throughout your drafting process.

As an example, if you are a web developer wanting to draw in small business to your e-commerce solution, dedicating a good deal of your white paper to the technical aspects of how your solution works is a sure way to lose your reader. In the alternative, you want to be sure that your paper explains, in practical terms, how your solution makes sense for their small business operations.

Explain the Landscape – What is the Issue? Where is the Need?
This is the part where you dazzle them with your understanding of the facts, figures and information. This section of your paper requires the type of writing and information synthesis you likely hated to do in school but don’t lose sight of the fact that beyond knowing who your reader is, it’s the most important part of any white paper that is going to attract clients.

This is also the section of your paper where you refer to “good and reliable” references. Make sure you include them either in-line, at the bottom of the page or on a reference list at the end of your paper. The quality of your references is going to let the reader know you have done your homework and mastered the issues. It also gives them the opportunity to verify what you had to say.

Your explanation and mastery of this information is what is going to establish credibility with your reader and attract them as a client. Don’t start any of your discussion in this section with “in my experience” and try to stay away from your own research.

As an example, if the topic of your white paper is - the best way to dress for an outdoor vacation adventure - you want to use this section of your paper to discuss the ins and outs (research and all) of proper layering. You don’t want to use this section to tout how your new parka system was used by sherpas for years.

Your experience or research might be interesting but what you know and can explain about the broader landscape is what delivers value to the reader. Recognize that if your reader stops reading your white paper after this section you have already given them a valuable take-home, one that they will likely remember.

Identify the Solution or Course of Action – What should your reader do?
Are you going to engage in a hard or soft sell? Answer this question before you start drafting this section. You can dig right in to your specific solution or course of action and explain the who, what, where and why of it or you can write objectively about different types of solutions or courses of actions.

Choosing the latter is usually a better bet because it continues to establish credibility and trust with your reader. Don’t, however, underestimate taking a more direct route. The route you choose in this section really depends on your product or service and audience.

Either way, you need to be specific about what can be done, how it can be done and why it can be done. Tell you reader about the potential options in detail. Compare and contrast those options.

Conclude and Put it All Together, - Walk The Reader to Your Door and Say Hello
You might have figured this out by now… you need to conclude your paper with a tip of your hat to your product or service. If you don’t, how will your reader know about you and what you can do for them?

In the section above you either wrote directly about your product or service and explained its “best in class” nature or you discussed options that highlighted your product or service as “best in class”. In this section you need to wrap up that discussion and conclude that your product or service is the solution of course of action the reader should take.

Be specific about what you do and how you can help the reader with the solution or course of action you propose.

Invite the reader to get in touch, whether it is to discuss your product or service or address any questions or comments they may have about your white paper. Give your contact information and let the reader know how to get in touch with you.

Edit, Edit Again and then Again
Once you have a draft together, put it down. Let it sit for a few hours, maybe even a day. Pick it up again and read it. Does the language make sense to you? Are there typos? Have you organized what you wanted to say in a way that makes sense to you? Put it down again. Give it an hour, a day, etc. and then look at it again with the same questions in mind.

Once you have taken a look at it several times and think it’s perfect – hand it off to at least two other people. Let them read it, let them edit it.

A white paper that attracts clients is polished and provides the reader with a great take-home. Hope that your reader prints it out, throws it into a briefcase or shoulder bag and reads it through on the commute home. That simply won’t happen when your reader hits a typo or can’t understand why you transitioned from one idea to the next in your writing.

Give it a Spit-Shine
Now that you have your edited draft together and feel really smart, don’t forget the window dressing. White papers are not slide presentations, glossy brochures or direct mail ads – they are your product, however. So, make them look nice, professional and reliable.

Don’t add a lot of graphics and color – Keep it as simple as white pages for the body of the paper and a cover page and contact page at the end. There are tons of templates in most word processing programs that will do this for you. Don’t underestimate the need to keep it simple and make it look professional. Two things are going to draw your reader to your white paper initially – the title and the look and feel of it.

Publish it…mass produce it…
You worked hard on your white paper and are hoping to see results – now publish it in PDF and get it out there. Get it on your website. E-mail it to existing clients, friends and others you think might be interested in it. Share is with the masses – post it to google docs, scribd, slideshare, authorStream, findarticles, and the hundreds of other idea sharing sites that are out there.

A well put together white paper will get contacts knocking at your door. They are a great way to create a buzz about you, your ideas, what you know and what you might be able to do for others. So give it a go and see what a white paper can do for you!

Written for Dumblittleman.com on 6/22/2009 by Ari J. Markenson, J.D., M.P.H. Ari is a healthcare attorney, graduate school professor and writer who regularly tries to learn something new as a goal toward personal and professional achievement.

Photo Credit: nic's events

How to Use Nature to Break Away from Work

2009-06-20T08:11:00.006-05:00

Many people think that a large expensive vacation is the best way to comforting relaxation. Does this sound like someone you know:

Complains about the daily stress of life and work
Plans a vacation
Takes their Blackberry on vacation to address work issues
Comes back from vacation super stressed because there is a mountain of work waiting
Loses 99% of the vacation's intended benefit

Listen, there is nothing wrong with vacations. However, in order to enjoy them you have to learn how to turn off work and frankly, this may take some practice. Make it a point to learn how to relax. I do it with nature. There's nothing better to banish the stresses and strains of everyday life than getting back to nature. Kids love it, couples enjoy it and even on your own, it is good for the soul.

This weekend, put your Blackberry down and try one of these five ideas. If you have a different relaxing idea, do that instead. The point is to do something that relaxes your brain for a while!

Go barefoot
The simple pleasure of feeling velvety green grass under your feet will take you right back to your childhood and give your feet a well deserved break. It’s also proven to be much better for the health of your feet, which are marvels of engineering only hampered by the shoes we wear. If you’re a runner, try a barefoot run and notice how your stride feels so much more natural and easy.

Plant some fruit or vegetables
Growing your own food is great fun and brings you closer to nature and the rhythm of the seasons every day. If you don’t have a garden, you can still grow vegetables in containers on a balcony so long as it gets plenty of sun. This time of year it is still worth planting up some strawberry runners, giving you lovely juicy strawberries later in the summer. You could also plant up your favorite herbs and have a fresh supply for cooking all season. I have parsley, coriander and basil in my pot at the moment - all they need is water and sunshine.

Go fishing
A fine excuse to relax in the sun by the water, while actually having a legitimate purpose there. Whether it’s by a lake or by the sea, fishing can be an absorbing activity as you have to think like a hunter in order to catch your fish. There’s no need to spend money on expensive equipment if you are not a regular fisherman. A basic kit is fairly cheap or you could even have a go at making your own.

Make a fire and cook outdoors
Get a bit wilder than a simple barbecue and actually build a fire. Toast a few marshmallows, bake potatoes or just sit around the fire with family and friends as the evening draws in. Choose a site that is sheltered from the wind and clear it so that there’s nothing around that could catch fire accidentally. Ignite your tinder and gradually add small pieces of kindling (dry twigs and sticks) to the fire. Once the fire is established you can add larger pieces of dry wood and enjoy your campfire.

Forage for wild food
Many of the plants growing in the wild are edible and we’ve simply lost the habit of eating them. Get yourself a pocket-sized guide to wild food and get foraging. It makes a walk in the foods much more exciting. If you can get to the coast, you can forage for shellfish such as mussels, clams and limpets as well. Be careful though with wild fungi as some are poisonous. The general rule for all wild foraging is only to eat it if you have confidently identified what it is. If you don’t feel like eating your findings, simply take a field guide and identify the different plants and flowers.

How do you get closer to nature? What would you recommend? Did you read this entire article without looking at your Blackberry?

Written on 6/20/2009 by Sally. Sally writes at Dropout Diaries on how to leave the rat race behind and live a simpler, freer life. She doesn’t claim to have all the answers and she’d love to get your perspective on the ‘drop out’ life.

Photo Credit: neon.love

Heart Attack from Your Grill? Not with this Recipe

2009-06-19T14:46:00.001-05:00

Backyard grills could be called heart attack grills and we all know it.

Greasy beef, fat-laden cheese, mayo, white bread, and the complimentary beer(s) are prime ingredients for fat build-up in your arteries, heart and brain. Practice some moderation and you'll be just fine. However, if you are hooked on BBQ in a major way, give this a shot.

Here's a burger recipe as good as any slider you ever glommed down and it's healthier than usual backyard grill fare.

Deluxe Bird Burgers to Die for (topped with sweet and sour coleslaw)

The burgers:

1-2 lbs lean ground chicken or turkey
2 tbs tomato sauce OR 3 Tbs ketchup
A splash of Tabasco or your favorite hot sauce, red or green, to your taste garlic, chopped - you decide how much
1 small white onion, chopped
1 small red onion, sliced
A little olive oil
1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce or steak sauce
1 Tb grilling seasoning mix (from the spice aisle) Low fat cheese, optional
6 Whole grain hearty hamburger rolls

Fire up the grill. Gently saute the chopped white onion in a bit of olive oil and just as they begin to turn clear, add the garlic for a few seconds to soften it but not brown it at all. Remove from heat. In a big bowl, mix the bird, tomato sauce or ketchup, hot sauce, the sauteed onions and garlic and the Worcestershire and seasoning. Add a good amount of black pepper and a pinch of salt, if you must. Your clean hands are the best tools.

Form the mixture into six patties, but don't smack them around or flatten them too much. Get your spouse or best friend to pilot the outdoor cooking - put the burgers on the grill, but keep the heat on the medium side - flare ups will dry these babies out too much so go gently. Cook until the juices are clear and the centers are done. Do not char. Add a slice of red onion and one of cheese to each burger just before you take them off the fire. Let the cheese melt.

Meanwhile:

The coleslaw (make it the night before, if you can):

1 bag already shredded red and white cabbage
1/2 small onion, grated
1/2 c. raw carrot, grated
1 Tbs honey or 3/4 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup sweet or sweet/dill pickle relish
Juice of one lime
1 tsp lime zest
Salt and pepper

Put everything together, toss thoroughly and let it set while your burgers cook. You can refrigerate it over night for the best texture and flavor, but bring it to room temp before using. Now, put the burgers on buns, plate them and top each with a big spoonful of the coleslaw. You won't need any other condiments. Serve with watermelon wedges and a few whole grain chips.

OK, now you have a hearty and satisfying meal. My very picky husband, who refuses to eat health food, loves these bird burgers. Give them a try this summer.

Written on 6/19/2009 by Maryan Pelland. Maryan is a professional freelance writer, in print and online, with a strong web presence at Ontext.com, Womandaybyday.com, and DemystifyingDigital.com.

Photo Credit: mufan96

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Three Ways to Minimize Your Risk of Identity Theft

The best thing you can do to minimize your risk of identity theft is ensure that your personal information is secure. It is very often small acts of criminal mischief that result in years of hardship for individual consumers. Applying common sense can provide a measure of identity theft protection.

1. Don't leave your financial paperwork lying around your house. Store paperwork with personally identifying information in a filing cabinet that is secured with a tamper-proof lock.

2. Never reveal any personal information to anyone who has called or e-mailed you. Ask them to send their request to you in writing through the mail.

3. Sign up for a credit monitoring service. It is a great way to track your credit improvement and stop identity theft.

Additional Resources
Proactive identity theft protection with Lifelock
Monitor your credit score to track improvement and spot identity theft red flags

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Beware of These Speeding Ticket Myths

2009-06-19T07:11:00.006-05:00

While your best defense is to ensure you're always driving below the speed limit, most of us don't.

Nevertheless, if you've received a speeding ticket, you should consider fighting it instead of simply prepaying and skipping the court date. A speeding ticket may fine you $50 (or over $300 in some areas), but the cost to you expands greatly if your car insurance rates jump.

Like anything else, you have to be proven guilty and the government (i.e. the police) have to prove that you actually violated the law. So, why not make the government do its job?

If you're going to fight a ticket, don't believe everything you read. I've listed some common myths that I hope to clear up:

The officer won't show up
Many people think police officers rarely come to court. Thus, they think that you just have to show up in court to beat your ticket.

Wrong. Part of a police officer's job is to testify in court about the citations they write. If they regularly didn't come to court, they would be in trouble. Everyone would just be able to skate on their traffic tickets.

Out of all the traffic cases I've seen, only a few were dismissed because the officer didn't show up. It's a rare occurrence. The officer needs to be present at your trial to testify about what you did wrong, but you can't bank on him not showing up. You need a better plan.

You can go with the flow of traffic
Traffic court judges have heard lots of excuses. But one that will never get you anywhere is "I was just going with the flow of traffic."

As a driver, you're obligated to follow the speed limit. If you are clocked speeding by a police officer, you can present defenses in court. But it's not a defense to say that you were going at the same pace as other cars on the road.

Think about it: If someone is on trial for murder, they wouldn't argue "I only killed the person because other people were doing it." Adults are responsible for their own actions, and doing what the crowd is doing doesn't constitute a legal defense.

You can easily argue radar technicalities
If you were clocked by a radar gun, you'll probably read about the possible sources of interference and errors associated with these devices. But you can't just go into court and allege that the officer's radar gun didn't work.

There are certain defenses you can raise regarding the government's speed measuring device. But you have to present evidence that proves your defense. As a layperson, you can't just go into court, talk about radar technology, and allege that the officer's radar gun was inaccurate due to interference or frequency problems. I've seen defendants do this, and the judge almost laughs them out of the courtroom.

What you can do is to ask the officer for his calibration records. In most jurisdictions, the police have to periodically have their equipment checked for accuracy. If they fail to do this, it could get your ticket dismissed.

The moral of this story is not to believe all of the common wisdom about tickets. They can be beatable, but only if you know what you're doing and have the time to do the research.

Written on 6/19/2009 by Andrew Flusche. Andrew is a Virginia traffic attorney and avid blogger. He loves to help people beat their traffic tickets. One of his most popular posts covers the ways to fight a charge of Virginia reckless driving.

Photo Credit: MikeSchinkel

How to Clear a Massively Crowded Inbox

2009-06-18T04:17:00.002-05:00

In a few months I'm starting what I hope to be a yearlong adventure around the world. Because of this, I'm going to have far less time online than I currently have available. Therefore, I really need to streamline my operations in regards to internet activity.

Quite simply, before I leave, I have to make all my operations as simple as possible. I need to de-clutter all online areas of my life so that when I do have the time to use them, I will be as efficient as possible.

I started this de-cluttering recently, and began with my email accounts. I actually have 5 accounts because of the different projects I've been involved in over the years. Having multiple accounts has actually been really useful for me but the downside now is that they each contain thousands of messages.

My reason for clearing this accounts before I leave was firstly to make sure I hadn't missed any important emails and wouldn't have to catch up to them later. Secondly, I receive a lot of irrelevant messages, and I need to be able to process these much faster.

I decided to clear my massive inboxes recently and set aside a whole day to do it. After-all, I did have 10,000 emails to process. Yet, within 2 hours, I had managed to process all of them. Today I want to share how, and hopefully share some tips you can use if you are in a similar situation.

Set Strict Guidelines
First of all, you must make it clear what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. I don't think it is a good idea to be lenient here. Instead, you should have strict guidelines for what deserves to sit in your inbox and what doesn't. Some people prefer to archive their messages, but I opted for deleting most of them as I have no need for the majority. Just because you have ample storage doesn't mean you should fill it with clutter.

Do you really need logs of your Facebook messages? Are reports from your previous job ever going to be needed? Will you ever think "wow, I'm glad I kept this email?" Set guidelines for what you need and what you don't and then stick to them when you're 'tidying up.'

Unsubscribe from Email Lists
I have spent the last three years working online and subsequently I'm on the 'list' of many a marketer. After I've received the freebie for joining though, I rarely care about what they have to say. Whether you work online or not, there's a good chance you've signed up to some email lists you no longer care about, but still receive updates from them.

The benefit to unsubscribing from these lists is not only that can you delete what you've already received, but it will stop new messages coming in thus removing the need to process them in the future. Instead of hitting the delete button on email lists you no longer care about, take a second to unsubscribe (there should be a link at the bottom of the email). In the long run, this will be worth it.

Turn Off Website Notifications
If you're a member of Facebook, Twitter, online groups or even discussion boards, you'll know how much clutter they can create in your inbox. In fact, in one account, I had over 3,000 emails from Facebook and Twitter combined.

I recommend taking the time to log into the sites you use and change your email notification settings. I no longer receive notifications for Facebook or other social media platforms and actually feel this helps my productivity as checking my email doesn't tempt me to check the site. Do this on all online communities where you're active and you'll soon see the benefits.

Select All Conversations
If you use a Gmail account and you want to tidy things up, you're in luck. As I've just stated, for social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, I literally had thousands of messages to process. I performed a search for 'Facebook' in Gmail and started hitting "Select All" and then "Delete" for every page that appeared.

The way Gmail is set-up however, you can only delete 20 emails at a time. As you can tell, it would take me forever to delete thousands of messages from the same source with this process. Thankfully, I noticed a "Select All Conversations for This Query" option and proceeded to use that. What would have taken me over an hour was now completed in seconds.

If your current email provider offers this then take advantage of it. Perform a search that you know will only show messages you want to remove, then select the option to delete all of those results instantly. That will greatly minimise the size of your inbox in seconds.

Search for 'Password' and 'Registration'
While it's probably not the best idea to save your online passwords and site registration details in your inbox, most of us do. And, when you're trying to clear out an inbox which has thousands of emails in it, it is all too easily to accidentally remove important items.

Therefore, what I did first was perform search queries which I knew would probably show emails I didn't want to lose. Once you've found them using queries lke "registered," "password," "registration," "notification," and so on, you can archive them straight away. This is just a nifty little idea to prevent you deleting important emails by mistake.

If you have your own tips for clearing out an inbox that is literally flooded with emails, I would love to hear them in the comments!

Written on 6/18/2009 by Glen Allsop. Glen writes on the subject of Personal Development at PluginID. His site's main aim is to help people Plug into their Identity, be who they want to be and live the life they want to live.

Photo Credit: chrismetcalf

Five Ways to Boost Your Work Performance - Outside the Office

2009-06-17T03:29:00.004-05:00

Unless you’re just counting down the days till you can quit, chances are, you want to do well in your job. Perhaps you’re making an effort to manage your time well in the office, to network with colleagues, and to bring energy and enthusiasm to your projects. If you’re self-employed, you might be working long hours, pushing yourself to get the boring tasks done and figuring out where your next motivation will come from.

You’re doing all the right things during the workday. But, are there actions you could be taking outside work in order to boost your performance? No, I’m not talking about checking your Blackberry every few minutes and responding to emails within seconds, I am talking about taking some time to improve you.

Here are five things you might like to consider. Admittedly, you will have to find some time in your schedule to work on these, but many times, the payoff for accomplishing just a few of these is greater than the payoff you'll receive for having a tidy desk or being an email guru.

Take a Public Speaking Course
It’s not exactly a secret that most people hate public speaking. Whether it’s delivering a presentation to a roomful of clients, or simply speaking up in a meeting, being confident and competent at public speaking really will get you noticed at work.

People often think that public speaking is either something you’ve “got” or you haven’t – but it’s just a skill, like any other. You can be taught public speaking skills and you’ll also find it becomes much easier as you practice.

Look for an evening class or course in your area that relates to public speaking, or find a local Toastmasters group (these can take you from absolute beginner to expert paid public speaker).

Attend Meetings of a Professional Organization
Whatever your field, there’s a good chance that there’s some sort of organization related to it that meets regularly. Look for opportunities in your area. In many cases, you will need to pay a membership or attendance fee.

The advantages to getting together with other professionals include increased knowledge and building up contacts. If you’re self-employed, this can be particularly valuable, as you may feel that you miss out on the “buzz” that comes from being around like-minded colleagues.

It’s worth asking your line manager whether you can claim back any meeting costs on expenses.

Spend Time Improving Your Skills
Most of us find that there are one or two areas of our job where we don’t feel very confident. Perhaps you’ve never really got to grips with a particular software package. Maybe you’re perfectly happy writing emails and reports, but the thought of writing a press release is enough to make you want to hide under your desk.

Whatever your particular weak area, it’s worth considering how you might be able to spend some time improving it outside the office. The typical workday, whether as an employee or a freelancer, doesn’t allow much room for reading, training or learning.

There are books available on any topic you can imagine (and you can often get DVDs on subjects which are best shown visually). Check out what’s around, find something that comes with good recommendations or reviews, and give it a go.

Get Enough Sleep – and Watch the Caffeine
How often have you struggled through the day at work, feeling like a zombie, because you’ve not had enough sleep? If you’re working a typical 8-4 or 9-5 job, you can’t stay up till 2am partying or playing computer games like you did in college and not suffer for it.

Getting into a good sleep schedule can make a big difference to your motivation and productivity levels at work. Turning up tired and cranky isn’t doing you or your colleagues any favors. Try forsaking your weekend lie-in, and get up at a similar time as you normally do for work. This ensures that you’re not struggling to reset your body clock on Monday.

Don’t use coffee as a replacement for sleep, either! You might get a brief jolt, but it’s likely to be followed by a deep slump in productivity. Try cutting down on the amount of coffee you drink, and see if you feel a more sustained energy at work.

Take a Look at Your Appearance
Have a look in the mirror. If you were a client or manager, would you be impressed with what you see? What messages does your appearance send?

Think about your clothes – depending on your industry, it might be appropriate to wear a smart suit, or you might find that a suit says “stuffy” and “too formal” for your particular field. Aim for a “smart” look rather than “sexy”: no-one wants to have colleagues who seem to have dressed for a night out on the town. (This goes for both men and women.) If you’re self-employed, you may need to dress up a bit when meeting clients.

If you’re seriously overweight, you might want to take action too. I’d urge this purely for your health’s sake, but there’s also the unfortunate fact that overweight individuals are often discriminated against in the work place:

Workers who are heavier are paid an average of $1.25 less per hour, and overweight women make about 24 percent less than their thinner counterparts. - (Fat chance: Obesity in the workplace, Colorado Springs Business Journal)

Other aspects of your appearance to consider are personal hygiene: this is one where asking a close and honest friend might help!

What kind of things have you done outside your 9-5 job that has impacted how you perform on the job? Have you used those experiences to your advantage? Are they on your resume?

Written on 6/17/2009 by Ali Hale. Ali is a professional writer and blogger, and a part-time postgraduate student of creative writing. If you need a hand with any sort of written project, drop her a line (ali@aliventures.com) or check out her website at Aliventures.

Photo Credit: goldman-x

10 Awesome Tools To Get More Out of Wikipedia

2009-06-16T07:11:00.001-05:00

Wikipedia is an ocean of information. While you may still want to seek secondary information sources before trusting it entirely, you cannot argue that the site contains a plethora of useful information.

That said, it's tough to navigate through so much data. You can get much more out of it in less time if you decide to ditch the conventional way of using the built-in Wikipedia search for scouring through the information. The following ten tools will help you search and use Wikipedia like never before. I am sure you'll love using some of them.

Navify
Navify is an excellent web service which shows a lot of additional information related to a Wikipedia article like related images, videos and articles.

So if you are searching for Barack Obama, you can see the Wikipedia article on him, his photos, and the Youtube videos of his speeches, all on one page. Hence it can be used as a good research tool.

Powerset
Powerset is a Wikipedia search engine which certainly produces much better results than Wikipedia's in-built search. It finds keywords related to your search term and also displays various articles and categories which could be relevant to your query.

AgainButSlower
AgainButSlower is an innovative tool which modifies Wikipedia articles to make them simpler and easier to understand. So if you are looking to gain some knowledge about "Quantum Mechanics " and the Wikipedia article looks intimidating with all the heavy scientific terms, then AgainButSlower can help you. In fact just try that term. You'll find it to be really cool.

VisWiki
VisWiki (formerly Visual Wikipedia) is one of my personal favorites. It is an incredible tool which can take your online research to new levels. Not only it pulls up extensive information about your query but also produces interactive maps showing connection between articles and terms which is really awesome.

Lexisum
Need a quick and uncluttered print out of a Wikipedia article ? Lexisum will help you do that. It displays print-friendly Wikipedia summaries which can be easily formatted and adjusted according to your printer settings.

PedioPhon
Another innovative and useful site. PedioPhon converts Wikipedia articles to mp3 recordings. So next time you feel like listening to something from Wikipedia while jogging then you know what to do.

Snapask
Snapask delivers Wikipedia articles to your cellphone via email. Just send an email to ask@snapask.com with the corresponding command in the subject line and you'll receive the information in 30 seconds.

Similpedia
Similpedia provides a new way to search Wikipedia. Instead of typing search terms, it asks you enter a url or a paragraph of text of at least 100 words and then it displays relevant Wikipedia articles related to that text.

Wikirank
Would you like to know which are the most read articles on Wikipedia and the trending articles in last 30 days ? Wikirank will show you. As I write this, the Beatles seem to dominate the scene. :)

DeletionPedia
And finally, if the current article database in Wikipedia can't satiate your hunger for information then you can browse through DeletionPedia, an archive for deleted Wikipedia articles. You might come across some interesting articles there.

Hope you like the tools. If you know of some other such cool Wikipedia tools then lets hear about them in the comments.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 6/16/2009 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is an internet entrepreneur who loves writing about tech, productivity, blogging & making money online. Catch him at Jeet Blog and also subscribe to his weekly newsletter.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Make Mistakes, Big and Small, and You Might Learn Something

2009-06-15T06:36:00.001-05:00

We are all afraid of making mistakes. Humiliation, embarrassment, censure and lots of other nasty things can come from simple or significant mistakes.

We would all love to be perfect and do it all right. However, life simply doesn’t work that way (if it does for you, please share your secret!). One person’s right can be another person’s wrong and the absolute pursuit of perfection can stress the body and mind to its limits.

So, should we all run out and purposefully screw something up? No, although, it might sound like fun once in a while. What we can try to do is not be fearful of making mistakes. We can take calculated risks and suppress our natural ability to be afraid to make mistakes.

Take Calculated Risks and Don’t Be Afraid
Mistakes are not only the result of an impulse or simply not thinking about something, they are also often the byproduct of some serious analytic thinking about the right course of action.

What’s the difference? An impulse might spur you to grabbing that hot cup of coffee in the morning without recognizing it could be producing the heat of a small sun. Serious analytical thinking, however, might be your decision to invest in a new venture where you spent days or weeks going over the investment strategy. Both of these resulted in a “mistake” – the coffee and the investment burned you, in different ways.

While restraining your impulses to prevent mistakes is a great idea, restraining your analytical thinking and decision making processes because you are afraid to get it wrong is simply preventing you from ever having a chance.

Give yourself chance, possibility and simply tempt the gods by thinking (as little or as much as it takes) about a potential course of action and doing it without overdoing the fear of getting it wrong. Fear can prevent you from ever moving forward and it can stick you in something called “analysis paralysis”. Analysis paralysis keeps you thinking about the consequences of a course of action and makes you simply lose sight of the end result.

Have you ever met someone and simply couldn’t understand why they had become so successful? Oftentimes, their success is based upon taking risks; hopefully calculated ones. More so, they likely learned from their mistakes. If anything, mistakes will teach you something.

Mistakes are a Learning Opportunity
Learning is good for you. Adding to your knowledgebase (or more simply what’s in your brain that you can use) is a great way to keep your brain working for the long haul. Making mistakes is simply one more way that you can learn and it’s often “experience learning”.

Experience learning is about doing something that then gets branded into your mind. Experience learning doesn’t only take the form of picking up a new skill, it can also produce the “how not to do it” effect.

For example, ever burn a batch of cookies or slide across ice during the dead of winter in your new sneakers? What did or could those experiences teach you? They might have taught you that the temperature gauge on your oven is off, that you should have read the recipe, or that sneakers don’t provide much traction on ice. There are many things you could or did learn from one of these experiences.

When you think about the good, bad and ugly of your mistake – the good is always your take-away - what you learned from the screw up.

Mistakes happen both personally and professionally. You might cc your co-worker on an e-mail they didn’t need to see or you might buy your fiancé a Taschen Art book a modern Swedish design for Valentine ’s Day (I did that). You either did or will learn and grow personally and professional from these mistakes.

Live your life, make a mistake or mistakes, don’t be afraid to, you will learn from them and be stronger for it.

Written for Dumblittleman.com on 6/15/2009 by Ari J. Markenson, J.D., M.P.H. Ari is a healthcare attorney, graduate school professor and writer who regularly tries to learn something new as a goal toward personal and professional achievement.

Photo Credit: plingberg