44 Priceless Moments Money Can’t Buy

If the economic downturn has clouded your mind with worry, then our new sister site, What Money Cannot Buy, is for you.  Over the past few weeks, What Money Cannot Buy users, a positive, resourceful group of individuals, have submitted dozens of simple pleasures and priceless moments that make them happy and don’t cost a dime.  So ignore the gloomy news forecasters and get your bliss on for free.
Here’s a sample of 44 entries that were recently submitted to the site:

1. Realizing you were smiling the entire time you were talking to someone, right after you hang up the phone.
2. The warm coziness of my own bed after I return home from a long business trip.
3. Playing Rock-Paper-Scissors to settle a decision with one of your friends.
4. When a wild animal is tame enough to eat food right out of your hand.
5. Crying on my sister’s shoulder.  Without the help of my family and close friends, I would be lost in a world of emotion, stress, and confusion.
6. Picking and eating fresh fruit right off the tree.
7. The joy of watching a baby smile.
8. The proud look on my 4-year-old son’s face when he learns a new skill.
9. The bittersweet emotions that rush through your body on the very last day of high school.
10. Time with the love of my life.  Last May, my husband of 27 years was diagnosed with cancer and given 3 to 6 months to live.  We prayed, cried, loved, and laughed.  Now, 11 months later, we are still savoring every smile, kiss, and breath.  We know these moments will end sooner rather than later, but we are so grateful for the time we do have together.
11. The rush you get when you’re driving on the open road and your favorite song randomly plays on the radio.
12. The comforting sound of my father’s car pulling into the driveway when he finally returns from a long business trip.
13. When my baby girl looked up at me and said, “Daddy!” for the very first time.
14. Seeing two elderly folks who are madly in love.  It’s a sight of love that has surpassed the tests of time.
15. Kissing in the rain.
16. The feeling of cool morning grass under your bare feet when you walk out to get the newspaper at sunrise.

Become an Autodidact: 10 Ways to Become a Self Taught Master

Some of the greatest people in history have educated themselves to a large degree using a process known as autodidacticism. This is something that's more easily undertaken these days with the great wealth of online tools available to anyone.

Whether you've gone to college or not, you can learn just about anything these days on your own. Want to learn about the classics? Carpentry and home maintenance? Philosophy or cooking? Chess or computer programming? It's all online, and with a little bit of excitement, you can motivate yourself to learn a subject in a growing number of ways.

Why self-education? Well, besides the obvious reasons of wanting to improve yourself, prepare yourself for success, and just learn as much as you can, self-education offers a few extra benefits: you can learn at your own pace, and in your own way. You can follow your passions, and learn about things that excite you. There's no price for failure, but there's every reward for success.


How do you go about becoming an autodidact? The answer is simple: any way you want. I would suggest you set aside just a little time each day to learn a specific subject, but that really depends on your learning style. Some people learn all in one great rush: they'll stay up late hours for a few days in a row, consuming everything they possibly can about a subject. Others are overwhelmed by an approach like that, and would rather learn a little each day.

However you go about it, here are some of the best tools for the modern autodidact:

1. Wikipedia. A vast repository of great and useful articles, Wikipedia is the autodidact's dream. You could surf it for hours, days on end, or you could use one of many tools to make daily learning a breeze. One of the best is the Articles of the Day feature --sign up to get it in your email box. Another great option that I've tried is making Wikipedia's random page your home page.
   
2. Online Courses. Today you can learn from the best colleges and universities, from the comfort of your own home. Just a few of the online offerings: Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame.
   
3. Chapter a day. Don't have time for books? Read them the easy way: a chapter a day is emailed to you or added to your RSS reader by DailyLit.com, which has a growing selection of free books.
   
4. Word a day. Improve your vocabulary by leaps and bounds through the FreeDictionary, which has some great features you can subscribe to,including these RSS feeds: Article of the Day, In the News, and This Day in History.
   
5. Take quizzes. One of the most fun ways of learning is through games and quizzes. If you do a quick Google search, you can find quizzes on just about any topic, including math, grammar, the U.S. Constitution ... you name it. Also try flashcards for effective learning.
   

Working Hard Is not Enough. Here's 18 Ways to Work Smart

All of us work hard in life - there is no doubt about it. We work hard in our jobs so we can excel at work. We work hard to maintain our relationships. We work hard so we can achieve the best results in our life.

After working hard for an extended period of time, there comes a point when we realize that there's only so much we can do by working hard. Don't get me wrong - working hard is important. I'm a firm advocate of hard work - I can be quite the workaholic. I can go on working non-stop to get something done. Hard work is definitely the brick of success.

However, when you have 24 hours a day, just like everyone else, you have to start working smart too (on top of working hard) to get the maximum value for your time and effort. Working hard gives you results, and working hard AND smart at the same time gives you the top results. In this article, I will share 18 of my best, personal tips on working smart. Apply them to your life and you will experience better self-management, higher productivity and more results. Here they are:

1. Get clear on the objective.
   Everything has an objective. It's just a matter of whether you know it or not. What is the end objective you are looking for? The people who don't know the objective of what they are doing are the ones who waste the most time. If you know your objective, you can be laser-focused and cut right to the chase. The clearer you are, the better.
2. Create a vision.
   Now that you know your objective, what is your vision? See the objective as your direction, and your vision as your destination. Knowing your objective lets you know where to travel in, while knowing your vision helps you charge forward.
3. Take the 80/20 route.
   There are always many different ways to achieve the same outcome. 80/20 route refers to the route that takes the least effort but gives you the maximum results. What's the most effective route that will get you from where you are to where you want to be? Take that path.
4. Go for high impact items.
   There are endless number of things you can do to achieve a goal. Go for the most important tasks - the ones that cause the highest impact. For example in school, I would not attend lectures if I felt they would not make a difference to my learning. As I develop my blog, I concentrate on the key tasks that make the most difference such as writing high quality content for my readers and spreading the word about my articles.
5. Create structures to maintain your flow.
   If you know how motivation works, you will know it comes in bursts and waves. It's not possible to maintain a 100% full motivated state every single second. Hence, you need to create/leverage on your environment to maintain your flow. Examples are your physical environment, people you hang out with, your routine and communities you are a part of.
6. Stop being a perfectionist.
   Being a perfectionist isn't all that perfect if it prevents you from achieving more. Release the perfectionist mindset. Stop obsessing about the details and specifics; they often take care of themselves.
7. Learn from others.
   There are great resources, smart people, direct opportunities and top books around you all the time. Learn to make use of them. When I started out in my personal development industry and with my blog, I read materials from the experts and consulted the top bloggers, which helped me gain important insights immediately. Even today, I continue to do so as I expand my work. There is never a stop to how much you can learn from others.
8. If it works, stick to it.
   If there is already a success formula that's working, then reapply that formula. There's no need to innovate or reinvent the wheel for the sake of it. Innovate only if there's value in doing so.
9. Ask for help.
   Most of us prefer to do things by ourselves and not disturb others. That's a great work ethic, but sometimes asking for help gets us further than just doing it alone. People love to help. Many readers often email me at The Personal Excellence Blog for advice/help and I make an effort to answer their questions, because I want to see them do well too. Ask and you might get an answer. If you don't ask, you'll never get.
10. Cut out the fluff.
    Going for high impact items (#4) means you have to cut out the fluff. There are the things that need to be done, and then there are the nice-to-do things that don't exactly contribute to anything in the long-run. Don't do things unless they are absolutely needed.

Strategies to Help Build Your Self Esteem

Everyone will go through a phase where self-image and self-esteem are questioned and molded. During this existential crisis it’s important to establish a healthy sense of self-worth and maintain well-being. This means avoiding people, places, and things that make you feel lousy, and starting to cultivate and engage in those activities and relationships that build you up.

To make sure you work through these moments of self-doubt, follow the five strategies below.

Experience Success
First and foremost, the most effective way to begin changing self-defeating thoughts and behavior is to experience success and accomplish goals. Psychologist Martin Seligman explains that it’s not the praise and positive things people say, but encountering and experiencing repeated successes. It’s important to seek out situations where you are likely to succeed. Start by setting achievable goals. As you begin to experience success your self-esteem will follow, and the pursuit of bigger goals can be approached.

Talk to Yourself Positively
What you think is what you are, and what you will become. This is why you must begin to alter self-defeating thoughts in order to experience success. Thinking we can accomplish something is probably one of the biggest keys to getting started and following through on a task. It builds resilience and provides a buffer in meeting set-backs. Think of somepositive affirmations that you can immediately believe in and connect with. There is no need to be overly positive and optimistic, just make sure to balance your real-self and ideal-self concept so there is congruence between the two. No one is perfect, so if you’re your own worst critic, take it easy on yourself.

Emphasize your Strengths
Similar to positive affirmations is focusing on our strengths. No matter how low our self-esteem may be, we all have strengths and weakness, and it’s important to begin focusing on ourpositive attributes and start building from there. If I know I’m good at basketball, and I enjoy it, why not focus on this activity. Work with your strengths and natural abilities. If your natural talents revolve around an activity you don’t enjoy, or your passions lies elsewhere, it’s time to develop your skills in other activities. Remember, skills can always be developed and we can always learn something new, but in the mean time, don’t forget about your natural talents.

Develop your Skills
If you are willing to take a more time consuming route to become the person you want to be, you can begin to develop skills that you don’t feel come so naturally. People can learn, grow, and develop in areas that before were completely uncomfortable. Particularly, in today’s age, there are countless references and sources of knowledge, where you can gain experience and understanding of almost any topic. Most likely, no matter what it is you intend to do, someone else already has experience doing and they can provide valuable wisdom into the process in order to make the transition much easier.

34 Little Ways to Share With the World

                                                               Share, and make lives better.

As kids, we’re taught that sharing is good, and yet competition is what is really drilled into us. We compete for profits, positions in a corporation, status symbols, space.
We’re tearing each other down instead of building each other up.
A culture of sharing has always existed, from the earliest tribal times, and it’s seeing a resurgence on the Internet these days. This is a good thing.
I’ve written many times before about helping others, developing an attitude of giving and compassion, and having faith in humanity. As have many others.
But now we’re going to look at where the rubber meets the road: how you can start sharing today. Build communities, beautiful public spaces, stop thinking about private property and how you can build fences, and start thinking about ways to use common resources to reduce wastefulness and to start tearing down those fences.
Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Help an entrepreneur with a Kiva donation.
2. Volunteer your services with a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, or other charity organization.
3. Donate money, food, or others goods to charity.
4. Bake cookies or brownies and share with a neighbor.
5. Put your favorite recipes on a blog and share with the world.
6. Volunteer your expertise (whatever it is) to the world, and give those services to anyone who needs them.
7. Give step-by-step instructions for doing something valuable you know how to do, online, for all to read.
8. Give your books away to friends or charities.
9. Start a community garden in your neighborhood, or contribute to an existing one.
10. Start a CSA, or become a member of one that exists.
11. Become a member of Freecycle, and participate.
12. Join or form, and participate in a cooperative (food, bikes, books, housing, more).
13. Give people a ride in your car. Carpool.
14. Let strangers use your car when you don’t need it.
15. Hold potlucks every week, rotating among friends/family.
16. Look into co-housing.
17. If you own copyrighted work, uncopyright it.
18. Perform random acts of kindness.
19. When someone wants to repay you for something, ask them to pay it forward instead.
20. Contribute code to Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS).
21. Donate money to a small programmer who has created FOSS, or buy shareware.
22. Clean up a park near you.
23. Sign up, participate, and contribute to bike sharing, car sharing, and other sharing organizations.
24. Help transform streets back into public spaces meant to be shared by everyone. (more)
25. If you’re in southern California, check out Neighborgoods.

Love Life, Not Stuff

                                                                      Fall in love with life.

We’re in love with stuff — with shopping, with acquiring, with owning, with collecting.
Let’s lust after life instead.
Our obsession with stuff has become unhealthy. When we have a void in our lives, we buy things. When we have problems, we buy things. And these things are becoming more and more expensive, bigger, shinier … more wasteful.
This obsession with stuff leads to owning a lot, having a lot of clutter … and yet this stuff doesn’t fill our lives with meaning.
It leads to deep debt, from buying so much, and needing bigger houses and storage spaces to contain everything. Financially, we’re worse off than ever, because of this obsession with stuff.
We buy things when we’re depressed, we buy things for others to show how much we love them … and in this way, stuff has separated us from actually dealing with our emotions, blocked us from truly connecting with others.
Let’s replace that lust for stuff with a lust for life.
Some ideas:

• Rediscover a passion for life. Get outside and feel nature, appreciate the beauty of the world around you. Get active, do some gardening or yardwork, play a sport, go for a walk, take a hike, go for a swim, ride a bike. Feel the life coursing through you. Breathe it in.
• Give experiences as gifts, not stuff. Instead of shopping for someone come birthdays or Christmas, think of an experience you can give them instead. A date with you, doing something fun, hanging out, cooking, playing, talking, exploring. A fun time at a park or beach. Something other than everyday. An experience is much more meaningful than an object.
• Connect with others. In real life. If you haven’t hung out with a friend recently, give him a call and go hang out. Get your kid away from the TV or video game player and take her outside to do something. Go on a date with your partner. Visit your mom or grandparents. And be present while you’re with them — really listen, really be there.
• Deal with your emotions. If you have a need to buy things, to shop when you are having emotional issues, be more aware of this. Then deal with the underlying emotions, rather than using shopping as a way to forget about them. If you’re depressed, or anxious, or lonely, deal with those. Find solutions, figure out what’s causing them. Good news: experiencing life, getting active, and connecting with others all help you deal with those emotional issues.

55 Ways to Get More Energy

Rock out to your favorite high-energy song. Photo by
Jeramy & the Octoberlings

If you’re tired all the time, a change in what you eat (diet) or what you do all day (activity pattern) may be all you need to turn things around 180°.
You won’t be able to do everything on this list all the time — you’d tire yourself out trying to get more energy — but do try them all to see which ones work for you and your schedule. Add a few of these tips to your regular routine. Or mix them up to keep things interesting.

1. Change your socks for refreshment.
It’s an amazing trick. Bring a change of socks to work, and change your socks midway through the day (say, after lunch). You’ll be amazed at how much fresher you’ll feel. This trick is especially handy on days with lots of walking — like during a hike or family outing to the amusement park.


2. Rock out loud.
Whether you work alone or in a room with coworkers, a quick one-song rock out loud session is an effective way to beat back exhaustion.
In a cube farm? Get everyone to sing along! The key is to choose a song that everyone can sing along with. (I like Kokomo.) The energy boosting effect comes from bobbing your head and singing out loud. One song, 3 minutes. That’s a quick boost of adrenaline that lasts for a bit. You’ll be singing to yourself the rest of the never ending project delivery night.

3. Get rid of the stuffy nose.
If allergies have your sinuses blocked, you may be feeling more tired and cranky. An over-the-counter allergy medication should clear up your sinuses (and your mind).

4. Work with your body’s clock.
There is a natural ebb and flow of energy throughout the day. We start off sluggish after waking up, even after a solid 8 hours of sleep. Our energy peaks mid-morning, and it’s natural to want a siesta in the afternoon. We get a second spike of energy in the early evening, followed by our lowest energy point just before bedtime. Once you understand this natural rhythm of energy throughout the day, you can work on the important tasks during your peak hours and avoid early afternoon snoozefests (meetings).

5. Have a piece of chocolate.
Not too much, but if you’re going to have some candy, it might as well be chocolate. We get an endorphin buzz from chocolate (not to mention the energy boost from the slight bit of caffeine chocolate contains). Dark chocolate has more caffeine than milk chocolate.

An afternoon snack of yogurt, berries, and 

nuts will provide the boost of energy to carry you through the day. Photo by lepiaf.geo / Flickr

6. Have an afternoon power snack.
A small healthy snack that is low in sugar and has protein and/or fiber a couple hours after lunch helps you finish off the day strong. Some suggestions:

• mixed nuts
• nonfat yogurt
• apple and peanut butter
• frozen berrie smoothie
• trail mix
• granola bar

7. Hit up the water cooler for inconsequential banter.
A little midday gossip and random banter is a great pick-me-up for your tired mind. It works because it gets your mind on zero-stress thoughts for a while. The mental break for just a few minutes will revitalize you.
8. Eat lots of berries.
Especially berries that are blue, red, or purple. The color comes from anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant, that boosts energy. Any kind of berry will contain tons.

All types of berries help fight fatigue and are delicious to boot! Photo by Zabowski / Flickr

9. Wear brighter colors.
This trick is related to the mood you project to people, and the reciprocating mood they project towards you. If you wear dark, somber colors, you project a dark, somber attitude, and people will respond to you with a somber attitude. If you wear bright, happy colors, you’ll get that attitude projected towards you, which will boost your own mood and energy levels.
10. Take a power nap.
But do it in your chair. Don’t lie down on the sofa or you won’t get back up. Keep it short: 5-10 minutes max. Any longer and it will have the opposite effect of knocking you out for the rest of the day.

11. Flirt.
It’s fun, it’s harmless (keep it innocent), and it’s effective. Nothing quite gets the heart pumping like a little flirting.

Amore gets the blood flowing. Flirt for more energy. Photo by Kjunstorm / Flickr

12. Aromatherapy with lavender.
Research has shown that the lavender scent increases alertness. Test subjects were given math tests before and after 3 minutes of lavender aromatherapy. The group completed the tests faster and more accurately after aromatherapy.

13. Wake up at the same time everyday.
Including weekends. This sets your body clock. Otherwise, you’ll be wide awake when you should be asleep. Or worse, asleep when you should be awake (dozing off in a meeting is embarrassing). The key is to go to bed at the same time every night. If you need to reset your sleep cycle in one day, stop eating for the 16 hours before the time you want to wake up.

14. Drink lots of water.
Dehydration is a sinister cause of fatigue because it slowly creeps up on you. If you consistently drink less than 8 cups of water a day, you may be sluggish all the time. Get a 32 oz (1 quart, 4 cups) water bottle. Your goal is to polish off 2 of those a day. Try it for a week and see if your general energy level increases.

15. Use caffeine wisely.
Coffee and caffeinated sodas can boost your alertness, but be careful about letting it be a habitual crutch. The temptation to drink more caffeine to get even more energy will be strong. Eventually you’ll be downing 5 double-shot espressos a day just to function. Drink coffee earlier in the day to avoid insomnia, which will make the next day worse.

Use caffeine in moderation. Coffee provides a shot of energy, but can also become a counterproductive dependence. Photo by visualpanic / Flickr

16. Avoid energy drinks.
Energy drinks provide a near-instant hyperactivity boost, but they always result in a crash. Energy drinks are like energy credit cards — you’re spending future energy to get short-term energy. The resulting energy deficit gets worse until you hit energy bankruptcy.

17. Eat low glycemic (low or complex carb) foods.
Trade in good, complex carbohydrates (low glycemic index) for the bad, simple carbs (sugar). Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index means the sugar is more easily digested by your body. That results in a spike in energy followed by a low-sugar crash.
High glycemic index foods to avoid include white bread, potato, and high sugar foods (like sodas). Low glycemic foods (the good carb foods) include fruits and vegetables, grains (eg., whole wheat bread), low-carb foods (eg., meats), and pasta. Check this chart of foods and their glycemic index before your next trip to the grocery store.

The Art of Doing Nothing

Sure, we all know how to do nothing. We all know how to lay around and waste time. But many of us are too busy to do it much, and when we do it, our minds are often on other things. We cannot relax and enjoy the nothingness.
Doing nothing can be a waste of time, [...]

 

Sure, we all know how to do nothing. We all know how to lay around and waste time. But many of us are too busy to do it much, and when we do it, our minds are often on other things. We cannot relax and enjoy the nothingness.
Doing nothing can be a waste of time, or it can be an art form. Here’s how to become a master, and in the process, improve your life, melt away the stress and make yourself more productive when you actually do work.
Start small
Doing nothing, in the true sense of the word, can be overwhelming if you attempt to do too much nothing at once. Do small nothings at first. Focus on 5-10 minutes at a time, and start your practice sessions in a safe place — at home, not at work or in a busy public place. You may also not be ready to do nothing in the middle of nature, so do it in your bedroom or living room. Find a time and place where there are not many distractions, not much noise, not a lot of people to bother you.
Shut off all distractions — TV, computer, cell phones, regular phones, Blackberries, and the like. Doing nothing is hard when our communications gadgets are calling at us to do something.
Now, close your eyes, and do nothing. Yes, the smart-asses out there will say you’re doing something — you’re sitting there or laying there, closing your eyes. But we mean doing nothing in the sense that if someone were to call us up and ask what we’re doing, we say “Oh, nothing.” Don’t let them call you up, though. They are trying to distract you.
After 5-10 minutes of doing, nothing, you can quit, and go do something. But try to do this every day, or as much as possible, because it is not possible to become a master without practice.
Breathing
The first place to start in the quest for mastery over this art is in your breathing. If this sounds suspiciously like meditation, well, cast those suspicions out of your mind. We are not here to do suspicion — we are doing nothing.
Start first by breathing slowly in, and then slowly out. Now closely monitor your breath as it enters your body, through your nose, and goes down into your lungs, and fills your lungs. Now feel it as it goes out of your body, through your mouth, and feel the satisfying emptying of your lungs.
Do this for 5-10 minutes, if you can. Practice this as you can. When you start thinking about other things, such as how great that darn Zen Habits blog is, well, stop that! Don’t beat yourself up about it, but bring your thoughts back to your breathing every time.
Relaxing
An important part of doing nothing is being able to completely relax. If we are tense, then the doing of the nothing is really for naught. Relaxing starts by finding a comfortable place to do your nothing — a soft chair, a plush couch, a well-made, clean bed. Once you’ve found this spot, lie in it, and wiggle around to make it fit your body better. Think of how a cat lies down, and makes itself comfortable. Cats are very, very good at doing nothing. You may never approach their level of mastery, but they make for great inspiration.
Next, try the breathing technique. If you are not completely relaxed by now (and a short nap would be a great indication of relaxation), then try self massage. Yes, massage is much better when administered by other hands, but self massage is great too. Start with your shoulders and neck. Work your way up to your head and even your face. Also do your back, and legs and arms. Avoid any areas that might lead to doing something (although that can be relaxing too).
Yet another great way of relaxing is an exercise where you tense each muscle in your body, one body part at a time, and then let the tensed muscle relax. Start with your feet, then your legs, and work your way up to your eyebrows. If you can do the top of your head, you may be too advanced for this article.
Once you are relaxed, see if you can relax even more. Try not to relax so much that you lose control of your bodily fluids.

21 Keys to Magnetic Likeability

Your true potential is enhanced by the sum of all the people who like you, and thus would go out of their way to assist you in a time of need.  Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix guide for becoming extremely likeable.  Likeability is tied deeply into some of your most stubborn, long-standing habits and behaviors.  As with conquering any major personal change, it takes time and practice.
Here’s what you should practice:

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster. Your life will never be the same again.
- Og Mandino

1. Be Attentive to Others and Never Stop Listening – Self-centered people are usually unlikable.  When you’re involved in a conversation, it’s important to focus more on the other person and less on yourself.  If you genuinely concern yourself with others and listen to them closely, you’ll make scores of friends with little effort.  Remember, everybody loves a good listener.
2. Compliment People Who Deserve It – Go out of your way to personally acknowledge and complement the people who have gone out of their way to shine.  Everybody likes to hear that their efforts are appreciated.
3. Make Yourself Available and Approachable – If people cannot get a hold of you, or have trouble approaching you, they will forget about you.  Your general availability and accessibility to others is extremely important to them.  Always maintain a positive, tolerant attitude and keep an open line of communication to those around you.
4. Speak Clearly so People Can Understand You – Most people have a very low tolerance for dealing with people they can’t understand.  Mystery does not fuel strong relationships and likeability.
5. Never Try to Be Someone You’re Not – All people have the subconscious ability to detect bullshit.  Even academy award winning actors slip up every now and then.  Fake people are not likeable.  Ask yourself this: If you don’t like who you really are, why the heck should I like you?
6. Address People by Their Name – People love the sight and sound of their own name, so make sure you learn to remember names.  Use them respectfully in both oral and written communication.
7. Mirror the Person You’re Conversing With – You can mirror someone by imitating their body language, gestures, movements and facial expressions during a one on one conversation.  The other person will unconsciously pickup on the familiarity of your mirrored actions, which will provide them with an added sense of comfort as they speak with you.  The more comfortable you make them feel, the more they will enjoy being around you.
8. Always Ask to Help… and Help When Asked – Everyone appreciates the gift of free assistance and those who supply it.  Highly likeable people always spare time for others, regardless of how busy their own schedules are.  Remember, helping people get what they want is the #1 key to getting what you want.

29 Semi-Productive Things I Do Online When I’m Trying to Avoid Real Work

You don’t always have to work hard to be productive.  Productivity can simply be the side effect of doing the right things.
So here’s a list of 29 semi-productive things I do online when my mind is set on avoiding ‘real work.’

1. Check delicious popular tags like ‘useful,’ ‘tutorials,’ ‘tips,’ ‘howto,’ ‘advice,’ ‘entrepreneurship,’ etc. for interesting, educational articles to read.
2. Watch one of the thousands of educational videos streaming at TED.com, Academic Earth and Teacher Tube.
3. Read an online book list and find a new book to grab next time I’m at the library.  Here’s another list.  And another.  And another.
4. Read a classic book online for free at Project Gutenberg, Planet eBook, or the E-books Directory.
5. Research a new Do It Yourself project at DIY Network, Instructables, eHow, or WikiHow.
6. Add to, delete from, or just generally sort my ongoing to-do list at Remember The Milk.
7. Create a cool graphical mind map of some of my recent ideas at bubbl.us.
8. Email a close friend or family member I haven’t spoken to in awhile.
9. Backup my recent photos, documents, and other important files online using Microsoft’s free 25 gig SkyDrive.
10. Use Wikipedia’s random article function to pick a random article to read.
11. Touch up on my math and science skills over a the Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, or LearningScience.org.
12. Send a paper greeting card directly to a friend or relative at enGreet.
13. Start learning a new language online for free at BBC Languages or Livemocha.
14. Watch one of the insightful 6 minute and 40 second presentations at Ignite Show.
15. Use Memorize Now to memorize a cool joke, or poem, or whatever.
16. Use Media Convert to convert video files I have on my computer into a format I can view on my iPhone or iPod later on.

The 7 Habits of Highly Happy People

Highly happy people all share happy habits.  It’s as simple as that.  The happiest people I know share 7 very obvious habits.  If you’re looking to expand your general happiness you may consider adopting these habits in your own life.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
-Abraham Lincoln

1. Be a Part of Something You Believe In – This could be anything.  People may take an active role in their local city council, find refuge in religious faith, join a social club supporting causes they believe in, or find passion in their careers.  In each case the physiological outcome is the same.  They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in.  This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.
2. Share Time with Friends and Family – A happy life is a life shared with friends and family.  The stronger the personal relationships are and the higher the frequency of interaction, the happier a person will be.
3. Reflect on the Good – Quite often people concentrate too much of their attention on negative outcomes and leave no time to positively reflect on their successes.  It’s natural for a person to want to correct undesirable circumstances and focus closely on doing so, but there must be a healthy balance in the allocation of personal awareness.  It is important to mindfully reflect on the good while striving diligently to correct the bad.  A continuous general awareness of your daily successes can have a noticeably positive affect on your overall emotional happiness.
4. Exploit the Resources You DO Have Access To – The average person is usually astonished when they see a physically handicap person show intense signs of emotional happiness.  How could someone in such a restricted physical state be so happy?  The answer rests in how they use the resources they do have.  Stevie Wonder couldn’t see, so he exploited his sense of hearing into a passion for music, and he now has 25 Grammy Awards to prove it.

50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind

These questions have no right or wrong answers.
Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire.  They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend.  The criticism is distasteful and unjustified.  What do you do?
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?

13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity

Looking to increase your productivity? You’ve come to the right article. I don’t claim to be a productivity master (I always think there’s room for improvement), but I am very passionate about increasing productivity. I’m always looking for different ways to be more productive – stealing pockets of time where I can, deprioritizing the unimportant, getting system overhauls, etc. And I love it when I see my efforts pay off in the form of increased outputs at the end of the day.
In this article, I have selected 13 of my best productivity strategies – tried, tested and validated. If you follow all of them to a tee, I can guarantee you that your productivity will double, triple whatever it is right now – or even more. I personally make it a point to follow these steps every day. During the days when I don’t do that, my productivity plummets. The days I do, my productivity soars. The correlation is obvious. I have also compiled a list of the best resources for some of the steps for your further reading.
Here they are :D

1. Set your productivity targets

Probably half of the self-help articles out there keeps telling us to set goals and set targets. Do you know why? It’s because it really works. When you set goals, you focus your energy on the things you want to achieve. Things which you wouldn’t be achieving by default. That automatically makes you more productive.
I do regular goal setting to maximize my output. For example, one of my goals for the upcoming month is to write 30 articles, which is an average of 1 article a day. These articles will include articles for my blog, The Personal Excellence Blog, and guest articles for other large sites, including LifeHack.Org. My average output in the past few months was only been an average of 1-2 articles per week, so I decided to set a 30 article goal to stretch me to write a lot more than I normally do. By virtue of just setting this goal and striving for it, I’m naturally increasing my output more than if I didn’t set it.
Be clear on what exactly you want to achieve. What do you want to accomplish for the upcoming month? What is a goal that will make you feel absolutely exhilarated and surging with pride if you achieve it? Set that as your goal. From there, set your weekly goals. Finally, you can set your daily goals which become your day-to-day targets.
Further reading:

• Goal Setting – The WHY behind the WHAT
• Ten commandments of goal-setting
• 5 Ways to Set Your Goals in Stone

2. Maintain a work environment conducive to productivity

Does your work environment encourage you to work? Or does it distract you more often than not? Your environment sets the stage for your work flow, so pick the right environment to work. What is the kind of environment that encourages you to work? This might require a bit of experimentation. After trying out different places, I find that I work best in quiet spots where there are minimal people around – such as my room, the library, cafes and in my neighborhood. So I only do my work at these areas.

11 Reasons Why You Aren’t Getting Results

All of us have goals. Goals like losing weight, earning more money, finding a life partner, setting up our business, achieving performance targets, being fitter, building better relationships, and so on. Some people seem to have no problem achieving their goals. Some, on the other hand, don’t seem to be able to make any progress.
I’ve a good amount of experience with goal achievement, having been actively setting goals since 10 years ago. I’ve experienced setbacks and successes in my goal pursuits. Running The Personal Excellence Blog (which is all about how to live in excellence and achieve our highest potential), I often receive reader mail seeking help for situations they are stuck in. I work with clients who are not getting results in life and want to turn things around. This has given me a lot of insights on what keeps people from success.
At the end of the day, if you find yourself stuck in your goals, it boils down to one (or some) of these 11 reasons:

1. You Procrastinate. You keep putting things off. You talk about how you want to do something but you don’t act on it. You are like the howling dog. I recently wrote the story of the howling dog at The Personal Excellence Blog. The story refers to this dog, who keeps howling because it’s sitting on a nail. However, he refuses to get up from the nail. Why? Because it’s not painful enough. You procrastinate on taking action because the situation is not painful enough for you yet. However, the times when it does become painful enough are often the times when it’s too late to do anything. Either you start taking action, or you forever lay in peace. Your call, I’ll leave it to you.
2. You underestimate your goal. Achieving a goal is about getting from point A to B. From point A, you create an action plan that gets you to point B. Sounds foolproof, except the action plan isn’t 100% valid. That’s because you’re setting the plan from point A. You haven’t even been to point B, so how do you even know if it’ll get you to B? At most it’ll be help to bring you closer to point B, but it’s not going to be 100% accurate. Almost all the time, people fail because they underestimate what it takes to achieve their goals. What should you do then? Over-commit your resources and review your progress constantly. (See Step #11 of 13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity). Adjust your plan of action and adapt accordingly.
3. You spend more time defending your problems than taking action. You complain how you are not getting XYZ results. When people try to give you suggestions, you spend more time justifying why their suggestions will not work and defending your lack of results than brainstorm with them on how to get out of your rut. Spend less time talking about your problems and use that time to think about solutions. Then act on them. You’ll get a lot more results this way, and you’ll be happier.

11 Practical Ways To Stop Procrastination

You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching videos, surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything.
We are all familiar with the procrastination phenomenon. When we procrastinate, we squander away our free time and put off important tasks we should be doing them till it’s too late.  And when it is indeed too late, we panic and wish we got started earlier. The chronic procrastinators I know have spent years of their life looped in this cycle. Delaying, putting off things, slacking, hiding from work, facing work only when it’s unavoidable, then repeating this loop all over again. It’s a bad habit that eats us away and prevents us from achieving greater results in life.
Don’t let procrastination take over your life. Here, I will share my personal steps which I use to overcome procrastination with great success. These 11 steps will definitely apply to you too:

1. Break your work into little steps. Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts, then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be thinking “gee, this is so simple that I might as well just do it now!”.For example, I’m currently writing a new book (on How to achieve anything in life). Book writing at its full scale is an enormous project and can be overwhelming. However, when I break it down into phases such as – (1) Research (2) Deciding the topic (3) Creating the outline (4) Drafting the content (5) Writing Chapters #1 to #10, (6) Revision (7) etc, suddenly it seems very manageable. What I do then is to focus on the immediate phase and get it done to my best ability, without thinking about the other phases. When it’s done, I move on to the next.

21 Ways To Increase Motivation

If you want to make things happen the ability to motivate yourself and others is a crucial skill. At work, home, and everywhere in between, people use motivation to get results. Motivation requires a delicate balance of communication, structure, and incentives. These 21 tactics will help you maximize motivation in yourself and others.

Motivation

1. Consequences – Never use threats. They’ll turn people against you. But making people aware of the negative consequences of not getting results (for everyone involved) can have a big impact. This one is also big for self motivation. If you don’t get your act together, will you ever get what you want?
2. Pleasure – This is the old carrot on a stick technique. Providing pleasurable rewards creates eager and productive people.
3. Performance incentives – Appeal to people’s selfish nature. Give them the opportunity to earn more for themselves by earning more for you.
4. Detailed instructions – If you want a specific result, give specific instructions. People work better when they know exactly what’s expected.

5. Short and long term goals – Use both short and long term goals to guide the action process and create an overall philosophy.
6. Kindness – Get people on your side and they’ll want to help you. Piss them off and they’ll do everything they can to screw you over.
7. Deadlines – Many people are most productive right before a big deadline. They also have a hard time focusing until that deadline is looming overhead. Use this to your advantage by setting up a series of mini-deadlines building up to an end result.

8. Team Spirit – Create an environment of camaraderie. People work more effectively when they feel like part of team — they don’t want to let others down.
10. Recognize achievement – Make a point to recognize achievements one-on-one and also in group settings. People like to see that their work isn’t being ignored.

A Thin Line Between Failure & Success

Most of the time, the difference between what makes something or someone a success instead of a failure is extremely narrow. You can walk a fine line between sheer success and utter failure. The thing is, the longer you walk that line, the larger the gap becomes. Let me give you a simple definition for both failure and success that you can easily use to assess what you are doing in your own life and help you get on the side of the line where you can get the most out of your existence
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What is failure?
Failure isn’t one occurrence. That would be an error. Failure is the accumulation of errors over a continuous period of time. For example, if you don’t clean your home one day, that’s not a failure. It might be an error. However, if you don’t clean your home 30 days in a row and your home is a big mess, then it’s no longer an error, but a failure. Usually, this is what causes people to experience failure whether it’s in their personal life or professional one. They repeat the same error day in and day out, and the sum of the errors just pile on until it’s a complete failure. You could eat junk food one day, but if you eat it every single day, then you suffer the consequences of such continuous errors with poor health and poor body image.

8 Simple Steps for Achieving Anything

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow. - JW von Goethe

Yes, your goals are within reach.  In fact, achieving them is a simple process.  It just requires commitment and action on your behalf.
1) Set your sights on a clear goal – What is it specifically that you want to achieve?  Write it down if you have to.   
2) Focus on one thing at a time and pick the next logical task – Ask yourself, “What can I do right now that will bring me one step closer to my desired goal?”

20 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Every Sunday

At the cusp of new beginnings many of us take time to reflect on our lives by looking back over the past and ahead into the future.  We ponder the successes, failures and standout events that are slowly scripting our life’s story.  This process of self reflection helps maintain a conscious awareness of where we’ve been and where we intend to go.  It is pertinent to the organization and preservation of our dreams, goals and desires.
If you would like to maximize the benefits of self reflection, I have 20 questions for you.  These questions should be reviewed every Sunday morning or sometime during the weekend when you have some quiet time to think.  Remember, reflection is the key to progression.

1. What did I learn last week? – If you have trouble answering this question, it’s time for a change.  It doesn’t matter how old you are, you should learn something new every week.
2. What was my greatest accomplishment over the past week? – Reflecting on your accomplishments is a healthy way to raise self confidence and contentment.  It’s also an effective way to track your progress.
3. Which moment from last week was the most memorable and why? – It may open up your mind to new passions and goals, or simple pastimes worth revisiting.

10 Amazing Life Lessons You Can Learn From Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein has long been considered a genius by the masses. He was a theoretical physicist, philosopher, author, and is perhaps the most influential scientists to ever live.

Einstein has made great contributions to the scientific world, including the theory of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the prediction of the deflection of light by gravity, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation, to name a few of his scientific contributions.

Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”

He’s published more than 300 scientific works and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein is considered the father of modern physics and is probably the most successful scientist there ever was.

10 Amazing Lessons from Albert Einstein:

1. Follow Your Curiosity
   
   
   
   

   “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

   What piques your curiosity? I am curious as to what causes one person to succeed while another person fails; this is why I’ve spent years studying success. What are you most curious about? The pursuit of your curiosity is the secret to your success.
   
2. Perseverance is Priceless
   
   
   
   

   “It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.”

   Through perseverance the turtle reached the ark. Are you willing to persevere until you get to your intended destination? They say the entire value of the postage stamp consist in its ability to stick to something until it gets there. Be like the postage stamp; finish the race that you’ve started!
   
   
   
   

20 Powerful Beliefs That Will Push You Toward Success

I’m sure you have met at least one person in your life that is successful, motivated and self-empowered. This is someone that always seems to land on their feet, turns everything into gold and every success seems to come their way faster and thicker.

I’m also sure you have stopped to think about why these chronically successful people are so energetic, driven and successful with no apparent struggle while you seem to have such inertia impeding your progress.

Many believe that this is some unfair throw of the dice; that they just weren't meant to become successful. Or perhaps it’s that the ultra successful people had some advantage or social lever that you didn't. Occasionally this is true, occasionally success is inherited or stumbled into. However, more times than not, it's created.

Success, first of all, is not a set of achievements or a combination of external factors; it is a mindset. Success is an attitude that comes from a framework of powerful beliefs and empowering thoughts. There have been many books written about this, probably some of which you have read. In the ones I have read, there always seemed to be a certain partiality – an incomplete picture – perhaps biased towards financial success or some other area but not another.

In the following list of beliefs and empowering thoughts, I would like to present a rounder view of success. One that I hope will give you a wider angle towards the meaning of success ranging from the material to the spiritual.

1. I am in charge of my life
   The belief that you and only you are responsible of what you make of a given situation. Life does not happen to you but is a result of how you respond to opportunities and challenges.
2. I can make tomorrow better
   The belief that you can change your future by your actions today. Some people are stuck in a fatalist (and dis-empowering) mindset where they believe they have little control on their life.

7 Pieces of Wisdom from Socrates

Socrates is considered one of the chief founders of Western philosophy. We know Socrates primarily from the accounts of other writers: from his student, Plato, from Xenophon, the historian, as well as from the plays of Aristophanes.

Through Plato’s writing (primarily) we’ve come to comprehend the depth of Socrates’ wisdom. Today I want to discuss seven life lessons based on the teachings of Socrates. Socrates said, “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” This article was written to make you think. He said, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” Let his words, kindle your flame.

How To Be The Most Confident Person In The World

“Hi Celes, how do you keep enough belief in yourself to be self-confident? Sometimes I find myself filled with so much self-doubt that it becomes crippling.” – Mike

Today I will be covering the topic of self confidence, triggered by the above question a reader sent me earlier this month. I thought that this will be a topic that will be very beneficial to everyone since building self confidence is a goal which many people have.

Are You Self-Confident?

“Self confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.” – Samuel Johnson
For the next one minute, think about how you see yourself. How much self-confidence do you have of yourself on a whole? How confident do you feel regarding your work? How about when you are with your friends? Your partner if you have one? Your family? How confident do you feel when it comes to your finances? How about other things, such as making a presentation at school/work, talking to a stranger, or even public speaking? Do you feel confident in yourself all of those situations? Do you feel confident regardless of the situations you are in?

18 Means for Living Below Your Means

Live a comfortable life, not a wasteful one.  Do not spend to impress others.  Do not live life trying to fool yourself into thinking wealth is measured in material objects.  Manage your money wisely so your money does not manage you.  Always live well below your means.

A penny saved is a penny earned.
- Benjamin Franklin

1. Redefine your definition of “rich”. – “I remember sitting in a cubicle at my first professional job staring at a picture of an SUV I wanted to buy (and eventually did).  Now, I sit in my office and look at the pictures of my kids, and just outside my window I can see the beater I drive sitting in the company parking lot.  What a difference a decade makes!  To sum things up, my definition of being rich is having enough money to meet my family’s basic needs, a few of our wants, and to be able to give some away to others.” – via Frugal Dad
2. Borrow and share.  Everyone wins! – “We borrowed a DVD from a friend instead of renting or buying and had a little snack from our own fridge!  Way cheaper than using gas to drive to the theater/rental place, paying for a movie, and paying for a snack.” – via My Dollar Plan

50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do

Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life.  To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades.  Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.
While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.

1.  Build a Fire – Fire produces heat and light, two basic necessities for living.  At some point in your life this knowledge may be vital.

• How to Build a Fire
• Wilderness Survival Firecraft
• Build a Fire Without Matches or a Lighter (video)

2.  Operate a Computer – Fundamental computer knowledge is essential these days.  Please, help those in need.

• How To Help Someone Use a Computer
• The BBC’s Guide to Using a Computer
• Mac Basics
• Windows Basics