A few days back while I was walking to school, I felt a piece of gravel or pebble that found its way into my shoe and prodded against my sole whenever I made a step forward.
As I walked on, I thought about how oysters produce pearls to alleviate the “discomfort” that trespassing particles assert on their soft tissues. According to HowStuffWorks.com, whenever a foreign substance finds its way between the oyster’s mantle and shell, the mantle will secrete layers of nacre to cover the irritant particle. As the layers of nacre consequently cover each other, a pearl is eventually formed.
It's funny. The world is full of little lessons and solutions. Most of us, however, are too busy or too lazy to notice. Take this as an example. From the story of the oyster and the pearl, we can draw 3 life lessons from them.
- Even with a “shell”, no one is invulnerable
Your “shell” can be defined as anything that offers you protection and a sense of security. For some, it could be their jobs and their paychecks, for others it could be their influence among their peers and the people around them, or even their dreams and ambitions.
While oysters do possess shells which shield them from the threats in the external environment, foreign objects and particles can still seep through the gaps between the shells. Likewise, even though we may have a security blanket and even plans that take contingencies into consideration, these “shells” are still not bulletproof. Even with the best of plans, one will still experience adversity in life. - When adversity hits, it’s your response that matters
When a foreign particle intrudes into the internal regions of the oyster, the oyster responds by secreting nacre onto it to prevent its sharp edges from abrading its soft tissue.
In the same way, when adversity hits you, you have a choice. You can be ignorant and let it damage and bother you continuously, or you can embrace it and deal with it in a positive and constructive way. Learn from adversity, don't bottle it up. - Generate value out of adversity
After the accumulation of consecutive layers of nacre, what was once a piece of intruding particle is now a valuable and sought-after pearl.
It is one thing to face adversity and try to get it over and done with as quickly as possible. But it’s another to recognize and to seize the treasure within the adversity.
Each hardship, failure, setback or resistance has the capacity to toughen and sharpen our character each time we encounter and embrace them. Furthermore, the valuable lessons we learn from these experiences not only help us in our future endeavors, but they can also serve to instruct and inspire others who are going through a similar journey.
That's it, and thanks a lot for taking the time!
 | Written on 4/16/2011 by Dominic Soh. Dominic writes about passion and finding your dreams at Your Nuclear Dreams. |
Doubling your productivity is simple, but not easy. Changing your habits requires a bit of self-discipline, but it can be done. You can double your productivity by incorporating any of the five simple steps below into your life.
For the longest time, I refused to try any of the techniques that are associated with productivity. I believed they were nothing more than gimmicks.
Weird, I know.
But I was wrong. You can systematically double, triple, and even quadruple your productivity by incorporating the habits of highly productive people.
- Plan
Before you go to bed today, write down exactly what you are going to work on tomorrow. This can be as simple as writing down the three most important tasks that you have to accomplish the next day.
I also recommend that you order them after priority. If you could only get one task done tomorrow, what would it be?
When I started doing this, my productivity went up several hundred percent. And I was already a pretty productive person. - Visualize
I have found positive visualization to be extremely efficient in motivating, inspiring, and encouraging me to take action.
Not only will it make you feel good, it will all so help you stay focused on the tasks that matter.
If you ever realize that you don't know why you're doing a task, you need to step back and re-examine what you're trying to accomplish. - Single-Task
In order to really be able to focus, you need to single task. That means eliminating any distractions that you might have.
When I'm writing, I shut down my e-mail, my browser, and everything else that might pop up and distract me.
Now, I still have the urge to check my mail and chat with my friends, but I refuse to do so until I have finished all my most important tasks for the day.
If you want to produce exceptional results, you have to focus on the tasks that are hard but that ultimately satisfy. - Work Offline
One of the best ways to become highly productive is to work off-line. Now, sometimes this isn't possible, but when it is, it will dramatically boost the amount of work you can get done.
The Internet is a huge pile of distractions. It will keep you from achieving your goals if you let it. Most people spend their days on Facebook and twitter, and then they wonder why others are more successful than they are.
Don't let this happen to you. Take control of your destiny and start focusing on work that truly matters.
You alone are responsible for your results, and no one else. - Get Rid of Your Inner Critic
Last, but definitely not least is the ability to temporarily suspend your inner critic and eliminate perfectionism.
This is extremely valuable for me as a writer, because trying to produce creative work while trying to edit it at the same time leaves me with a blank mind.
This applies to every field, and you have to find out how you can suspend your inner critic so you can get more creative work done.
You’ve probably heard many of the above tips before but never applied them. Why haven’t you? The simplest tips are the most powerful. You can dramatically increase your productivity if you take the time to make the above tips a habit.
If you make it your mission to become more productive by incorporating new habits each week, you will be amazed at how much you can increase your productivity in just a few months.
There are no limits, except the ones that you impose on yourself.
 | Written on 4/15/2011 by Henri Junttila. Henri writes at Wake Up Cloud, where he shares his personal tips on how you can live the life you know you deserve. When you feel ready to take action, get his free course: Find Your Passion in 5 Days or Less. And if you liked this article, you will enjoy one of his top articles: 77 Great Quotes That Will Change Your Life. |
I’ve got a timer ticking away as I write this.
Why? Because it helps me concentrate.
If you struggle to stay on task, if you feel like your productivity could do with a boost, or if you find that you never get round to starting those “someday” projects, then a simple timer just might be the magic solution that you need.
Sure, you could pay hundreds of dollars for life coaching or seminars, or spend days devising “productivity systems” which never quite work ...
... or you could set a timer going. Here’s how it can help:
Staying Focused
I’m sure you’ve had times when you just couldn’t seem to concentrate. Perhaps you had a hard or dull task to do – maybe writing a tedious report. Did you sit down and work steadily and consistently through it? Probably not.
Chances are, you got distracted. Maybe you stopped in the middle of typing a sentence, and found yourself checking your email. Maybe you were supposed to be looking up a quick fact or figure, but you somehow ended up reading web comics. Maybe you went to get a glass of water, and ended up chatting to colleagues for a few minutes.
Timers will help. When you tell yourself that you’ve got to sit and focus for 20 minutes – and you have a timer running to prove it – then it’s easier to think No, I don’t need to check my emails right now.
Being More Productive
Timers don’t just keep you focused, though; they also let you work faster.
Have you ever noticed how efficiently you can work when it’s 5pm and you’ve got to get something done before you leave the office at 5.30pm? You get the same sort of effect with a timer.
Try challenging yourself to complete something in less time than it’d normally take. Perhaps you think you’ll need an hour to clear your inbox – so set your timer for 45 minutes. You just might surprise yourself with how fast you can work.
Starting Your “Someday” Projects
I’ll bet you’ve got a list of goals or projects which you never quite get round to starting. Like:
- Clearing out the garage
- Writing a novel
- Researching a new career
- Learning a musical instrument
Once again, timers work brilliantly to get you moving. Sure, “write a novel” is a huge (maybe terrifying) goal – but “write for 15 minutes” is so easy that you’ve not got any excuses. And however busy you are, you can spend 30 minutes cleaning the garage this weekend, or 10 minutes practicing scales on the piano.
Maybe you think that a timer can’t really make any difference – after all, it’s just a clock ticking away in the background. But give it a try, and let us know in the comments how you get on.
(If you’re looking for a timer to try out, I like Tick Tock Timer and e.gg timer.)
 | Written on 4/12/2011 by Ali Luke. Ali writes a blog, Aliventures, about leading a productive and purposeful life (get the RSS feed here). As well as blogging, she writes fiction, and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing. |
I'll be honest with you – for years I've struggled with getting the results I wanted. I tried to go after my goals – starting a business, increasing my flexibility, learning tumbling many times, all of which led to failures. I don't know anyone else who is not able to do a proper back-handspring after trying to learn it for five years. It wasn't fun, but it got me thinking – what was I doing wrong?
Many things, actually. Let me share my insights on one of them.
Getting attached to your story slows down your progress dramatically
It's very good to have a strong mind and be persistent, but ignoring reality is not the way to go if you want to get results. People often get attached to the idea how things should be and they are not able to see that their understanding is completely out of alignment with what is actually happening. Believe me, this is happening way too often without us even noticing it.
- People stay in dead-end jobs because they simply refuse to let go of their hopes that it will lead somewhere.
- People try the same approach to losing weight (which is usually drastically reducing food intake) which lasts a few days and brings no results. It doesn't occur to them to test a different approach.
- People stay with boyfriend or girlfriend who is clearly not their dream partner because 'someone' is better the no one. Instead, they stay miserable themselves and torture the other person by trying to mold him or her into what they want.
The problem with being delusional is that you don't know that you're delusional – you think your mind is crystal clear, when it's actually working to create more illusions in order to cover holes in the previous one. How can we break out of this vicious cycle? There is a method, but before trying to apply it, we need to learn one important thing – accept our own mistakes.
There's nothing wrong with making mistakes
When we are kids, we don't worry too much about making mistakes – we are too focused on exploring the world to be bothered by small things like that. We are perfectly fine with the fact that we don't know everything and that we are just learning how things work. However, once we get older, this attitude starts fading away and by the time we reach adulthood it's almost gone out of our minds. Exploring the world is for kids. We are grown-ups, shouldn't we know how things work by now?
However, once we strip away social conditioning and our own arrogance, it becomes clear that this idea is completely irrational. When we are getting older, we are constantly encountering new challenges – we need to learn to support ourselves, build a relationship with our significant other, get our own place to live, start a family, raise kids, let them go once they become adults, retire. Process of constant change and growth doesn't stop as long as we breathe. Isn't it stupid to think that all our assumptions about things that we haven't experienced yet will turn out to be true?
Furthermore, it doesn't matter how well we are doing something, there will always room for improvement. Often people get upset when they realize that there's a better method of doing something; that means their original approach was wrong. It's not like that, though. You might have been running your business efficiently, but someone might give you an idea how to do it even better. It doesn't mean that you we're doing something wrong before – it's how the process of progress works.
In order to get better results and get them faster, we have to accept that making mistakes is an inevitable part of life. Once we realize that making mistakes doesn't make us bad people, we won't feel the need to deny them. This realization alone is not enough, however, since beating ourselves up is a very strong habit. We have to take action by doing reality checks and tweaking our approach according to the data we have.
Gathering metrics
It's great when you have a teacher who can give you reliable feedback on a regular basis. However, most people don't have teachers like that – many times we have to make decisions and judgments on our own. On what we can rely, though, when it's so easy to delude ourselves? The answer is simple – metrics.
When you're trying to achieve any goal, get into habit of tracking metrics of some kind. For example:
- When you're working on your arm strength, write down the numbers of push-ups and pull-ups that you were able to do after every training session.
- When you're learning a skill like tumbling or dancing, make sure to videotape your performance regularly, so you can evaluate your progress over time.
- When running an online business, keep track of visitors, conversion rates, number of sales, monthly income, etc.
Tweaking
Constantly tweaking your approach is a fast-track to getting the desired results.
An example:
You run your own blog and your goal is to increase traffic. You've heard the idea that a good way to do it is to provide value by constantly posting in relevant forums. You've also heard that guest-posting is great for that too. You decide to do both – you become an active member of one or two discussion forums and you write one guest-post. At the end of the month, when you analyze your traffic data, you see that one guest post brought you the same amount of visitors as all the forum posts combined. This data leads you to a decision to drop forum activities and focus your time on writing excellent guest-posts. Result? Your traffic soars.
This approach can be applied to anything from learning languages to losing weight to improving intimate relationships. You just have to be willing to gather data, analyze it and tweak your approach accordingly, accepting that your previous assumptions were wrong and it's time to let them go.
Tweaking must become a habit
Tweaking it's not something that you do one or two times and forget it. In order to get the full benefit of it, you must develop the habit of gathering and analyzing data on a regular basis. How can you do it?
- Gathering data. Decide what type of data would be most useful to you, then find a way to gather it. It's easy with stuff like traffic information because computer does all the work, but what to do with things like dancing? You can decide to videotape your salsa performance every two weeks and then set a reminder on your phone so you wouldn’t forget it. This can be applied to anything – decide what data to gather, decide when to do it and set a reminder for yourself.
- Tweaking. The same thing applies here – schedule a time to analyze data and set a reminder so you would remember it. Then analyze the data you have gathered and adjust your actions accordingly.
Final words
Tweaking might feel like a very unusual thing to do for the first few times – it might even be painful if you are very attached to your previous assumptions which we're being proved wrong by the data you've gathered. Don't worry, it will get easier over time and results will be worth it. Don't take my word for it, though – give it a shot and see for yourself.
 | Written on 4/10/2011 by Agota Bialobzeskyte. Agota writes a blog, www.outsidethebox.lt, about getting different results by using different approach. Agota has studied martial arts for almost ten years; it's no surprise that her favourite topic is applying Eastern philosophies in our daily lives. |
One of the most neglected aspects of our health is our posture. Amongst all the guidelines on healthy eating and workout methods, this essential facet of our well-being is often overlooked.Posture provides the foundation for a balanced workout, deeper breathing, effective digestion and efficient functioning of organs. Improving your posture will benefit your overall health, give you more energy, help rehabilitate or prevent injury and increase sporting performance.
That’s a lot of benefits for such an overlooked idea and I didn't even mention that it would help you sit at your workstation longer and work harder without cramping!
Here we take a look at six core stretches that will increase your flexibility from head to toe.
The aim of this stretch is to finish at 90 degree angle, leaning forward onto a stretch band or other object with your legs straight, torso horizontal and arms extended.
- Keep your feet shoulder width apart with a slight bend at the knees.
- Lean forwards with your arms extended and resting on a steady object or stretch band.
- Push your backside out, keep your shoulders high
- Gently straighten your legs
- You control the stretch.
The aim of this stretch is to step forward pull your arms upwards behind your back. This is a great stretch for your chest muscles (pectorals) and especially good for anyone who has rounded shoulders from desk work, driving or poor training habits (too many bench presses and no back work!). You’ll need a stretch band for this one.
- Hang the stretch band over a steady object and grab hold of it behind you.
- Make sure you have an underarm grip on the stretch band – palms towards ceiling.
- Keep your arms straight and your body vertical as you step forward, pulling your arms up behind you.
- Keep your abs tight, chest out and head up.
- You control the stretch.
The soccer player’s favorite! Connected to the glutes (backside) which in turn are connected to the lower back, improving flexibility here can help back issues. A stretch band will help you perform this stretch effectively.
- Attach stretch band halfway along foot
- Lift one leg straight in the air
- Keep the knee straight
- Pull toes down towards head
- Stretch a little further as you relax into the stretch.
- You control the stretch.
You’ll feel this stretch in your leg but it primarily targets the lower spine and is particularly effective for lower back issues and sciatica. I consistently use this with great results for clients experiencing back problems.
- Attach stretch band halfway along foot
- Hold the elastic in the opposite hand Left leg stretch, right hand elastic)
- Keep the free arm flat on the floor
- Gradually increase the stretch as you relax into it.
- You will feel the stretch in the calf, hamstring and glutes but it also works the lower back.
- You control the stretch.
OK, it’s time to work on the buns! These are really important muscles in the lower body. They are used for lots of common movements such from sitting and standing to walking up stairs, so get a lot of use and tend to be quite tight, particularly in people with pelvic tilt.
- Place one leg against a wall at a 90 degree angle for support
- Place the ankle of the other foot in front of the knee resting against the wall.
- Pull the heel towards you and push the knee away to control the stretch
- Hold for 1m on each side
Lordosis (curvature of lower spine) and posterior tilt in the pelvis can cause these antagonist muscles to be particularly tight. Stretching can help align the pelvis, reducing lordosis and alleviating lower back pain.
- Put one leg on floor at a 90 degree angle
- Place opposite knee on floor and your toes on wall behind you.
- Make sure your body is upright
- Pull back your shoulders and keep your abdominals tight
- Push hips forward gently above the knee that is on the floor
- Hold for 1m each side
- Remember you control the stretch!
And that’s the six stretches! Many of my clients have had great results just from improving their flexibility, some have even been on the brink of surgery after exhausting a lot of other options. Correcting the underlying postural imbalances is a great help, but in the first instance these stretches will set you on the right path.
Written on 1/30/08 by Jan Keller, Postural alignment and Correction specialist for Keller Postural Specialists. Republished on 4/8/11.
I'll confess before I begin - I still struggle a bit with keeping my emails short and sweet. Not that I don't know the merits of getting to the point right away in your email, it's just that I need to put in more conscious efforts to make them precise.
The other day I was reading Leo's post on disadvantages of long emails and that made me realize that I am not the only one who has this bad habit of (sometimes) writing long emails. In fact, it isn't just about the length of the email. There are various other ways to improve your email writing skills, and make sure that it gets opened and read even when it reaches someone who gets hundreds of emails each day.
The following five tips are something that I've learned over the past few months, and they have undoubtedly helped me a lot in improving my emailing skills. I am yet to perfect them though. Just a matter of time I believe.
Ditch Long Emails Except..
As Leo rightly mentioned in his post, long emails (mostly) don't work. Everyone's busy and just seeing a long email could cause a temporary shutdown of the senses, thereby causing an instant archival or deletion of that email. It's no joke, just ask people who deal with email fatigue on a daily basis. They'll hate you if you send them long emails.
So, keep your emails precise and to the point. Ditch the Hi and Hellos. Don't talk like a robot though. Keep in mind that there's a human reading your email at the other end. But keep it as short as possible.
Now, there are situations when long emails might be necessary. Like, emailing a new hire to give certain instructions..or the ones you send to your Mom. Well, I think, you are wise enough to decide who has the time to read your emails and who doesn't. So send them accordingly.
Write Better Subject Lines
What are the chances of you opening an email that has the subject line as "Hi" versus an email that says "Seeking Quick Advice On Site Optimization"? I think you are far more likely to open the second email. The first one doesn't convey anything about what the email contains.
Email subject lines matter. Hence you need to learn how to write them. Copyblogger has a nice post on how to write email subject lines that won't be ignored. Although the post focuses on email marketers, I think it has some tips which we could make use of in our everyday email activity too.
Be Creative
Creativity in email content can be of big help, especially when you are pitching your product or service in the email. An absolutely amazing example is this email that a startup sent to TechCrunch, the blog that probably gets hundreds of pitches by startups each day. As you will see in that post, they are creative and interesting which quickly got them TechCrunch's staff attention.
Be Personal
I touched upon this in the first point, where I mentioned that you should keep in mind that there's a human at the other end who'll read your email. Believe it or not, most of the businesses don't understand this. I get a huge number of emails each day which are not addressed to me and look like spam even though they aren't. Do you think I respond to them? Of course not!
There are a lot of things you could do to make your emails personal. Seth Godin has all of them neatly summed up in this brilliant post. He's right on target as usual.
Check Before Hitting Send
Last but by no means the least is the practice of going through your email before hitting the send button. This is probably the most important, and yet most ignored email writing tip. How many times have you sent an email to the wrong guy? or sent it without the attachment? or sent it when you were drunk? You know what I am talking about.
I think everyone using Gmail should enable the Undo Send feature which definitely is a Godsend. It lets you undo the email you just sent, and avoid embarrassment. You won't believe how many times you'll end up using this feature. So, make sure you enable that.
What else do you think one can implement in his emails so that they don't get ignored?
Cheers,
Abhijeet
 | Written on 4/7/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. |
Bruce Lee lived his life through action; he was a man who lived what he taught. Many people don't know that he wasn't just a great martial artist but he studied, amongst other things, philosophy at the University of Washington. He was deeply interested in life and and all that encompasses, including money.
From the book, 'Striking Thoughts
' Bruce Lee talks about money as a useful tool, nothing more. Here are some of the lessons:- The Nature Of Money
"Money of itself has no explicit nature. Money is what one makes of it"
Many of us believe that money holds a certain power. This is wrong. Money itself does not hold the power, rather it's our perception of money that has the power. If we change our perception about money, and understand that it is a tool used to acquire necessities, it no longer has the same power. In fact, I'd contend that we can start living life with a more balanced view once we understand what money really is.
This lesson is not usually gained until we are older and unfortunately, in youth, we have a very different view of material items and do whatever we can to accumulate items for the wrong reasons. - Money Is A Means To An End
"A Child must be taught early that money is only a means, a type of usefulness, an implement. Like all instruments, it has certain purposes, but it will not do everything. One must learn how to use it, what it will do, but above all what it will not do."
We've all heard the saying money can't buy you love. In fact, it can't buy you a lot of things in life. While the commercialization of the planet advertises that new cars, purses, and homes can create happiness, I think most of us know better.
Once you understand that money cannot purchase the emotions, relationships, or feelings that truly lead to happiness, money (and material possessions) will become much less important to you. - Money Is An Indirect Matter
"My policy is that money is an indirect matter. The direct matter is your ability or what you are going to do that counts. If that comes, the indirect things will follow."
If you do something just for the money, the love of it will soon die. If you do something you love, then the money is secondary but it will come a lot easier and it will last longer. This is something I have learned in business: when I chase the money it runs faster than me, when I let the money chase me by doing something I love, like writing, the race is a foregone conclusion. - A Fair Share Of The Profit
"Many film producers think I am only interested in money. That's why they all try to lure me on their set by promising me huge sums and nothing else. But, at heart, I only want a fair share of the profit."
This is a great lesson by Lee. By looking at what is fair for all parties involved you will be known as a fair and trustworthy person. If you take bigger slices of the profit, the profits will soon dry up. Think of it like this: If you are asking for a ton, those that you are working with may feel unmotivated and ultimately the success of the project suffers. If you are fair, and everyone is fair, the group works as one and accomplishes great things. - The Good Times Will Not Always Last
"I profited from my father's philosophy about money. He used to tell me, "If you make 10 dollars this year, always think to yourself that next year you may only make five dollars - so be prepared."
We all know this at heart and yet so many of us fail to practice saving for harder times. Many economic gurus these days like telling us to save more. Great, but if the mortgage can't be paid, how am I able to save? The key is to do something and set something aside - albeit only a few bucks. - Keep Money In Perspective
"Sure money is important in providing for my family and giving us what want. But it isn't everything."
Money is important, there is no questioning that, but answer this question:
"Would you swap your family for 1 million dollars?"
Ok, I know how most of you answered. The important test here is that you should always weigh the important of money against your actions, decisions, and behaviors. What are you willing to give up during your quest for cash? Your integrity, your family (by never being around)? Give it some thought. - Enjoying Your Work Is The Important Thing
"At [one] time I wanted all the indirect things - money, fame, the big opening nights. Now I have it, or am beginning to get it, the whole thing doesn't seem important anymore. I have found that doing a thing is more important. I am having fun doing it. Money comes second."
This is one of the most important lessons about money that I think Lee spoke about, and it's certainly true in my life. I have discovered over the years that the prize at the end of the rainbow is not really the prize, the prize was the Journey to the end of the rainbow.
 | Written by Steven Aitchison. Steven is the Author of Change Your Thoughts and works as an alcohol and drugs counselor. He has a BSc in Psychology and has a passion for studying belief formation, thought processes and values and principles. |