10 Free Online Resources That Can Make Your Life Better

With just a little bit of time to spare and some digging around on the internet, it’s easy to come across free online resources. I have utilized some myself. Now after doing more research, I look forward to trying out a few others too. Here are ten of online resources that may be beneficial to your life too:

1. Free Online Education

Alison provides over 750 free online diploma and certificate courses in a range of categories. The categories of courses available are: Diploma Courses, Business and Enterprise Skills, Digital Literacy & IT Skills, Personal Development and Soft Skills, Languages, Schools Curriculum, Health & Safety & Compliance, Health Literacy, and Financial & Economic Literacy. There are also other services and resources, study groups, and a community page available on the site.

2. Money Saving Tips

The Pennyhoarder is a site that compiles inspiring money stories and practical tips about how to earn and save. They provide information on a variety of topics relating to: money hacks (money saving tips), work from home, budgeting, coupons, freebies, and more. Many of the tips are simple and straight forth, making it easy to utilize in our own lives.

3. Swap Your Unwanted Clothes

Rehash is a free clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, and makeup swap site. The site says, “Rehash is free to use. There are no listing fees or trading fees; you simply pay for your own shipping and trade as much as you want. Exchange what you don’t wear for stuff you will wear.” I personally haven’t tried any of the swapping sites yet, but it might be a great way to get rid of all the jeans we no longer fit into, or that “what was I thinking?!” polka dot blouse in exchange for someone else’ unwanted items. It seems you photograph your items, add a description, wait for offers, and request trades.

4. Money Saving Coupons

Find 100’s of coupons for grocery, household and personal care items. As the Coupons site says, “just click, print and save!” Grocery bills can add up quick every week; why not take advantage of extra savings with coupons?! Match them with sale items for an even better deal too. They also offer coupon codes and cashback offers.

5. Nature and Relaxing

Calmsound, An Oasis of Relaxation, offers free, calming nature sounds and videos. Rain, ocean, waterfall, country garden and more. Take a break to ‘get away’ for a few moments at work, or relax to the sounds while laying in bed at night. Calming sounds can help to relieve stress along with relaxing the mind and body. CD’s of these nature sounds are also available for sale.

6. Educational Games for Kids

Learning Games for Kids offers a huge variety of games and activities for preschool and elementary school aged children. These games will help to build skills in areas such as math, language arts, science, social studies, and more. Fun for children, yet challenging and educational too.

7. Free Gift Cards

Earn points to receive free gift cards by performing various online activities such as watching videos, playing games, taking surveys, and more through Swagbucks. The more time you put into the activities, the faster your points will grow. Generally, the more tedious the task, the more points it’s worth. For example, completing a 15 minute survey offers more points than watching a 30 second video. On occasion, ‘Swag Codes’ are available for free points through their blog and social media sites. Gift cards are redeemed through the Rewards Store, with thousands of rewards available. Just to give you an idea, you can receive a $5.00 Amazon gift card by redeeming 500 Swag Bucks (points).

8. CPR and First Aid

Knowing CPR and First Aid basics is important for everyone. We never know if or when we’ll need it, but it’s best to be prepared. FirstAidWeb offers both these courses for free, and they adhere to the most recent American Red Cross and American Heart Association guidelines.

9. Be Prepared For Emergencies

Sites like Emergency and Disaster Supplies offers various emergency supplies, both for free and for purchase. It’s important for you and your family to have a plan in place should the need ever arise. There are many free downloadable PDF’s for emergency contacts, an emergency kit checklist, contact and medical information carry cards, and more. There are also other links listed for government sites, weather, services, and training resources.

10. Product Samples Can Be Found Through Free Online Resources Too!

Product samples allow us to try items before spending the money on full size containers, potentially saving us money in the long run. Samples are also great to toss into luggage, purses or overnight bags too. Sites like My Savings offers free samples, coupons, giveaways and more.

With the vast information available to us now through the internet, there are tons of free online resources that we can utilize in our own lives. Useful tips and resources, free of charge, are right at our fingertips!

Featured photo credit: http://ift.tt/2aeA25y via portalguard.com

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If You’re Feeling Uncomfortable, That’s The Start Of Your Personal Growth

As a graduate, finally stepping out into the job market can be an intimidating experience. We naturally start to feel uneasy as we leave the comfort zone we’ve become accustomed to. You’ve spent years in the education system acquiring specific skills, now the time has come to put them to real-world use.

Others already within the working world may encounter similar feelings of discomfort when changing jobs, whether you’re reaching for a higher position in a new company or embarking on a radical change of career.

In both cases, this uncomfortable feeling, although unpleasant, actually signifies personal growth. After all, there is no room for growth in your comfort zone. But you can rest assured that by pushing yourself through these situations, it’s likely you’ll discover you’re far more capable than you realized.

Here are four of the most common situations that make us feel incredibly uncomfortable and how to overcome them.

1. You’re Feeling Lost Due to Lack of Career Direction

In many cases, we receive a lack of help in finding our direction, which can be worrying. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to realize that you are solely responsible for your own career growth.

You’re not simply floating along and relying on others (or luck) to reach your career destination. You are in control and guiding your career development, so take the reins. Replace those feelings of discomfort with empowerment. You’ll regain clarity once you can define your aspirations and build your own development plans to reach them.

Whichever field you work in, you’ve got to try and connect with those in positions you aspire to reach. Be open and honest about your intentions and show them your determination. It’s likely they can provide essential insights.

2. You Are Worried Your Career is Too Challenging

Realizing that your chosen path is tougher than you expected can quickly fill you with feelings of self-doubt. Before you start to panic that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, you need to calm down and evaluate why you chose this career.

One surefire way to know you’re on the path to exceptional personal growth is when hardship is coupled with an unrivaled sense of achievement. It’s these challenging career paths with great rewards that will trigger your greatest progress and success.

Let’s say you work as a graphic designer for professional brands. The initial stages of designing a new client’s brand may be incredibly challenging. In the early stages of development, your creativity will be tested to the limit to come up with ideas. However, the further you progress, the higher your sense of achievement is. Finally, the feeling when the client compliments your final work provides an unrivaled feeling of accomplishment.

3. You’ve Got Doubt Because You Don’t 100% Love Your Job

It’s a common misconception that we must be completely in love with our perfect job. It’s true, you should choose a field that fuels your passion. But personal growth in your career should be thought of as a rose garden complete with the occasional thorn.

It’s inevitable that you’re going to encounter periods of frustration, difficulty, and possibly even boredom. Yet, you must rely on your passion to continue to drive you through rough patches. Don’t see these blips as reasons to doubt yourself.

No matter which position you hold, there are always going to be certain parts you dislike. Even if you reach a mighty CEO position in a highly reputable company, you may still take no joy in reprimanding and firing employees.

4. You Feel Like a Failure If You Receive Negative Feedback

It’s not always easy to hear your work was not as good as it could have been — especially if you already worked hard to achieve it. But instead of feeling disheartened, you should be grateful to receive constructive criticism on your work

Your career path is paved by growth and progression. You’ll need to be constantly learning and improving to reach the peak of your performance in a professional field. Feedback is an essential part of this process. Although it can make you feel uncomfortable, you’ve go to embrace this as personal growth.

Let’s say as a magazine journalist you worked tirelessly to complete an important piece of writing, only for your boss to comment on the number of grammatical mistakes. It may have knocked your self-confidence for a minute, but this should trigger you to sharpen your writing skills and fine-tune your proofreading process. As a result, you’ll become a vastly improved writer!

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Don’t Want To Feel Lost Anymore? Find Your Life Purpose With This Indicator

At some point, we all question what our purpose in life is. We can sometimes spend years contemplating and losing time over what we should be doing in life, what we really enjoy, and how to utilise these into a path that brings wealth and happiness in equal abundance.

Those that seem to have found their purpose are deemed the ‘lucky ones’ – those select few who managed to figure it all out early and pursued their dreams with clarity and success. Yet you’ve reached a point in your life where you just don’t feel satisfied anymore and no matter how much you think about what you want to do, you can’t reach a conclusion on how to find your life purpose.

What if I told you the answer to your question isn’t a philosophical or mind-taxing process? What if I said the answer to your question has been with you all along?

We can spend so long deliberating and frustrating ourselves; going around in circles and coming to no real conclusion all the while feeling that time is slipping away and life is passing us by. But the real answer is all in our Energy.

Energy vs. energy

When I say Energy (with a capital E) I’m not talking about physical energy that we exert in our everyday tasks or the energy we get from drinking coffee or exercising. The Energy I’m referring to is flowing all around our body, it’s at the core of our being and present in every breath we take and it’s what makes each and every one of us unique.

So what has this got to do with figuring out how to find your life purpose? Simply put: if you’re aligned with your inner Energy then things feel easy and feel like they’re flowing; when you’re not aligned, things feel hard, frustrating and you feel deflated and unhappy. These are key signs to see whether or not you’re aligned with your inner-Energy.

We are all here to fulfill a purpose we were destined for, and to find it, you need to follow and listen to what your Energy is telling you and guiding you to do. When you do this, things seem effortless, easy and enjoyable no matter what it is. So if what you’re doing in life feels painful, frustrating, depressing, needlessly difficult or mentally exhausting, you may need to pay more attention to this as these negative feelings are an indicator given to you through your inner-Energy letting you know you aren’t on the right path.

How Do You Align With Your Energy?

You need to invest time in the activities and actions in life that gives you energy rather than drains you of it. Have you ever done something and felt completely in the flow of it? Two hours felt like two minutes and you felt a euphoric sense of achievement no matter what it was? This was when you were aligned with your Energy. We all have this amazing feedback system but most of us tend to ignore it – believing that pursuing hard, painful work is how we become successful and happy and anything easy and enjoyable won’t get us the money or happiness we really want.

Write Down The Things In Life That Give You Energy

These are the things that you do in life that give you endless energy. That no matter how hard you work on it, if you stay up all night to do it, it will feel really good to you – when it feels ‘right’ and you just know all the work is worth it – this is when you’re aligned with your Energy.

You know that it’s not a matter of if the results will happen but rather when. 

So write down your strengths and what you love to do no matter how insignificant they seem to you. Perhaps get someone close to you to help you out as a lot of us can be quite blind to what we’re truly good at.

Write Down The Things In Life That Drain You Of Energy

We are so ingrained to believe that to succeed we need to have certain skills and attributes so we mould ourselves to fit the society-shaped hole that will bring us the money and success we want, dismissing our ultimate happiness and true path in the process. Whoever declared that you need to be business-minded to start your own business is wrong – there are thousands of people who have successful businesses that didn’t have a clue where to initially start. Whoever declared to be a good manager, you have to be a great leader is wrong – there are plenty of amazing managers who don’t have the best leadership skills.

Be honest with yourself and stop pretending you like doing things that you actually hate doing deep down. We can’t be good at everything and that’s okay – once we accept this we can go on to follow our true path.

Write down all the activities you do in life (big and small) that don’t provide you with energy. What do you do that makes you think “what was the point?” What do you do a lot of in life that just feels difficult and hard or that you get no real sense of joy from?

Stay True To Your Inner-Energy

The key is to do more of what gives you energy and do less of what doesn’t. If it feels good to you, no matter what it is and no matter how hard you work, that is you aligning with that wonderful Energy.

Aligning with your Energy may not bring immediate results, it won’t necessarily make you perfect or super successful but it is making you happy and it’s taking you on the path to your full potential.

Staying true to your inner-Energy and being guided by what feels good and what feels bad, will help you stay on track even when life throws you in the rubbish dump from time to time – you will be able to get back to what your life purpose is which is something that is continuous throughout your life. What feels good to you may even change and evolve as you go through life but listening to your inner-feelings is the key to the happiness and fulfillment you want.

When you find your purpose in life through aligning your Energy, you will naturally become a better version of yourself – you become a better husband, wife, mother, father, colleague, neighbour or friend. It will transcend throughout your life and you will know you’re on the right path. This isn’t elusive to a select few or impossible to achieve – our Energy is in each and every one of us waiting to be noticed and wanting to show us our true purpose.

Featured photo credit: unsplash.com via pexels.com

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What You’ll Never Hear Successful People Saying

Success. What does it actually mean?

The definition of success is very broad; from gaining wealth, fame, or respect, or completing something to achieving a desired result or aim. And, with broad definitions, so too do we attach different meanings to success. For some, it might be a job promotion, launching a new business, or making lots and lots of money. For others, it might be to simply achieve greater happiness and enjoyment in their lives through new experiences, like traveling. Success then depends on the person; success is relative.

Much of the research and material on the internet, as it relates to success and being successful, mentions career progression, wealth, and the accumulation of money. I want to allow for a broader definition as I mention seven things that all successful people keep to themselves. Consider each point carefully as well as how it applies to your life and your definition of success.

1. Successful people are selective in sharing their ideas; ideas are nothing without execution.

If successful people have a business idea, they are selective in sharing it. They do not tell everyone about it. They do this firstly because they recognize that an idea is exactly that: an idea. Without execution, it is nothing.

Secondly, while sharing an idea is good to form connections with people who can help progress the idea, they run the risk of someone stealing it.

Thirdly, as it relates to them personally, telling a lot of people puts undue expectations and pressure on them. It’s like a promise, not only to themselves but to the people they have told. They would rather use the energy to silently work on their idea. When the idea materializes, only then do they let people know.

2. Successful people do not talk about the intimate details of their lifestyle; they have respect.

They keep their private life to themselves, especially in the workplace, as they understand that firstly these details are exactly that — private — and secondly, that not everyone wants to hear about them. As it relates to life, in general, it’s disrespectful to your partner to disclose all the intimate details. Those details are intimate.

3. Successful people never talk about how heroic they are; they are modest.

Doing this is often seen as egotistical and arrogant; it not only causes rifts in the workplace, but with people in life in general. While celebrating achievements is good for self-esteem and well-being, being modest and humble goes a long way.

4. Successful people never disclose their incomes; they are humble.

Successful people understand that doing so can cause competition, discomfort, and resentment in the workplace. People don’t like someone who blatantly discloses this information; it seems arrogant and superficial.

5. Successful people do not gossip; they are trustworthy.

They do not bring up details about a conversation they had with someone else or about something they have heard. They are trustworthy and maintain this trust. Not only would be revealing such information make them seem disingenuous, but it develops rifts in the workplace and in life relationships. They understand that being authentic and genuine goes a long way in life.

6. Successful people keep bad and good news close to their chest.

This one is for the leaders in companies. They understand that revealing too much information (good and bad) to their team can have a negative impact on workplace performance. As such, they reveal such information selectively, carefully analyzing the effects it will have on their team as a whole. For example, if someone is working on a project, burdening him with negative news will be doing that person a disservice. It will negatively affect performance.

7. Successful people keep their fears to themselves.

Employees need not be burdened by a leader’s fears and self-doubt. While this may seem transparent, authentic, and honest, it can also be perceived as incompetence and instill doubts and fears into employees.

What other things do successful people keep to themselves?

Featured photo credit: vanessa_hutd via flickr.com

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7-Day Digital Detox Challenge That Will Transform Your Life

You’re stressed. You’re constantly feeling the pull of your phone — to check notifications, email friends, even tweet about the latest world event. You feel the need to stay on top of everything. And you’re still trying to live your life.

But are you happy?

If not, you might need to look into a digital detox. A digital detox, in the words of the people over at Forbes, is simply removing all digital and smartphone devices for your life for a while. It enables you to spend time focusing on what might actually make you happy and will help you get some rest.

It’s about getting you to learn you can live without your phone. So let’s get started.

Day 1 – Download a Phone Usage App and Limit Yourself to Two Hours a Day

If you’ve never heard of a phone usage app, don’t worry, it’s not tricky. It’s just an app that tracks how much you use your phone and shows you how much you actually use it. It can also help you try to lower the time you spend on the phone.

For today, just try to limit your phone usage to two hours a day total. That means emails, Twitter, Facebook and everything else. It’s not as hard as you think, so go for it.

Day 2 – Don’t Take Your Phone Out While Walking

You do it, I do it, we all do it. We take our phones out while we’re walking. For this day, try to keep your phone in your pocket or bag. Not only will you find yourself actually paying attention to where you are, you’ll probably notice a few cool things about your surroundings.

Day 3 – Don’t Take Your Phone Out at Social Gatherings

Do you know what the Google Effect is? It’s the term used for our society’s growing answer to any question, which is Googling the question, and we often do it in social gatherings. Not only is the Google Effect making our own memories worse, it’s also detracting from face-to-face conversations.

So today, just for today, don’t take your phone out when you’re with friends. Pretend like it’s 1998 and there’s no such thing as Google. Enjoy being with your friends. After a while, you won’t miss it.

Day 4 – Don’t Use Your Phone After 9 pm

Take today and pamper yourself after 9 pm. Run a hot bath, watch a movie or read a book. Take that time you’d normally spend catching up on the day’s news and spend it on taking care of yourself. Trust me, you’ll feel better.

Day 5 – Turn Off Notifications

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of notifications. It instills this idea of urgency within me that I can’t shake. So I’ll join you in turning off notifications today.

This might be hard for you but trust in the process. Your notifications are going to make you feel like the digital world is more important than the real world, and it’s not. Hang in there, your week is nearly over.

Day 6 – Don’t Use Your Phone While You’re Alone

Do you remember when you were a kid and you were bored so you made up your own fun? Let’s go back to that feeling, just for today. Don’t use your phone at all today when you’re alone.

You’ll be amazed at how much time you’ve actually got when you’re not on your phone. You can cook or write that short story or even actually go on a nice, relaxing walk.

Day 7 – Don’t Charge Your Phone for a Few Days

Today will be the hardest day, but I’m right here with you. I’ve done this and I can tell you it’s not as painful as it sounds. Are you ready?

A few days of not charging your phone is going to feel like a breath of fresh air. I recommend doing this but completely recharging with a short staycation or a holiday. Once you come back to your phone, you’ll be refreshed and relaxed, so enjoy the time you have without it.

If you need help finding a phone usage tracker, this is a good place to start. I’d recommend keeping the app after you’re done with your digital detox. It’ll be a helpful tool to keep you on track to using your phone less and living life more.

Did you like this 7-day detox challenge? We developed it on the same basis of this article, which showed us how a little effort each day can lead to amazing results. Share it with your friends and let us know how your detox went!

Featured photo credit: Coastal landscape with a boat ramp, rocks and a moody sky via stokpic.com

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How To Get Yourself Highly Motivated All the Time By Using This Golden Rule

While we all have goals and aspirations in life, conceiving these is far easier than executing them. In this respect, learning how to motivate yourself is central to the accomplishment of goals, while it is also one of the hardest things that you can ever do in life.

The main reason for this is that anything truly worth accomplishing is difficult to achieve, meaning that you are likely to endure hardship and setbacks along the way. Let’s say that you start a specific diet, for example, and showcase incredible enthusiasm in the first few weeks. As the excitement begins to fade and the realities of a stringent diet take hold, however, it is easy to lose motivation and lose sight of your long-term goal.

The Goldilocks rule: What is it and how does it manifest itself?

While hardship and setbacks can impact on your level of motivation, so too can the nature of the goal itself. This is something that can often be overlooked when you learn how to motivate yourself, despite the fact that studies have consistently found that the establishing goals of manageable difficulty is central to remaining focused. This is commonly referred to as the ‘Goldilocks Rule’, which stipulates that our ability to stay motivated will falter when pursuing goals that are outside of an optimal range of difficulty.

To explain this further, let’s continue with the example of starting a diet. Within a short space of time, you may find yourself losing weight and approaching the initial goal that you set. As the pace of your progress slows and the difficulty eases, you are likely to find your motivation wane accordingly. Similarly, those who have a huge amount of weight to lose to achieve their goal will struggle to remain motivated from the outset, as the scale of their task makes it seemingly impossible.

The Goldilocks rule applies to the pursuit of every goal, even in instances where you must also consult your values and morals. We have seen a huge rise in the number of academic essay writing tools, for example, which allow students to outsource their dissertations and coursework requirements. The popularisation of essay writing services can be largely attributed to the principle of the Goldilocks rule, as students tend to outsource simple pieces that they deem non-challenging or complex and crucial posts that are exceptionally difficult to complete within the given time-frame.

Apply the Goldilocks rule and learn how to motivate yourself

As we can see, the Goldilocks rule establishes an optimal range of difficulty that distinguishes positive and attainable goals. This taps into the concept that humans are at their most motivated when they undertake tasks that are on the very edge of their ability, as they seek a balance between challenging themselves and making progress along their specific course. Understanding this is the first and arguably most important part of learning how to motivate yourself and successfully pursuing goals, as otherwise you will constantly find yourself either lacking in mental stimulation or overwhelmed by the task in hand.

Following the Goldilocks Rule also enables you to unlock another motivational key, which lies in the measurement of your progress and development as an individuals. It is through the accomplishment of manageable challenges that we are able to achieve happiness, for example, as they provide us with an opportunity to make progress in life and experience the diverse benefits of this. If we are able to measure our success and personal development on a regular basis, we can achieve a positive mental flow that enables us to embrace challenges, drive consistent performance and achieve our goals over a concerted period of time.

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In 40 Seconds, You’ll Improve Focus And Relieve Stress With This ONE Single Trick

There’s a boatload of research that proves that being outside in nature improves your mental clarity and health. The reason is almost too obvious to even write, but here goes: Hanging in the great outdoors refreshes your senses in a way that no stale-air office ever can.

The latest evidence: In a new study published in the journal Environmental Psychology, researchers found that people who simply looked at a photo of nature for only 40 seconds had improved focus and relieve stress. That’s right, they didn’t even need to go outside! (Though clearly, the effect still applies if you do.) A micro-break viewing a green, but not concrete roof city scene, can sustain attention and restore the good mental condition.

Your mission: Set a timer of 40s to take a break. Finish all the green nature pictures below, or even pick the one you like to set as the desktop wallpaper.

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10-Minute Morning Shower Actually Saves You More Time And Makes You More Relaxed

Waking up early has its benefits, the early bird catches the worm is a true statement, and showering in the morning can cement those words into your life. Waking up ten or fifteen minutes earlier than usual can help you effectively use that time slot for a refreshing, cold shower. The rejuvenation of a cold morning shower will prepare you for the day ahead in the following ways.

Saving Time

Busy people always want to squeeze more time in the morning, the good news is we can batch up all the morning rituals at one go—in the morning shower. From brushing, flossing, shaving, scrubbing to moisturising, everything can be clubbed together to save time. Having the discipline to follow an efficiently designed morning routine will allow that energy to flow freely, as the day progresses.

Productivity Increases

Every time you take a cold shower, you feel revived and recharged. This feeling of cleanliness and alacrity, can enhance your mood to tackle the day with enthusiasm. According to a survey performed by Herbal Essences, of one thousand women surveyed, over 90 percent said a morning shower transformed their entire day in a positive light. Why wouldn’t you want to achieve everything that’s possible within the next twenty-four hours in a bright, beaming mood?

Mood Booster

Feeling good is how everyone wants to feel at every waking moment, and experiencing this wondrous emotion is possible through a cold, morning shower. According to researchers at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, short cold showers may stimulate the brain’s blue spot — the primary source of noradrenaline — which helps chemically mitigate depression. Letting the cold water graze your skin, enter your pores, doesn’t only cleanse your body, but your mind.

Feeling More Energetic

Many people across the globe rely on caffeine, which stimulates the central nervous system. What better way is there than letting freezing cold water soak your skin? There isn’t any better way, because this is a natural process that has been executed for centuries. The classic comedic skit shows individuals getting a bucket of cold water dumped over their heads to wake them up; this sends a direct jolt to the central nervous system, which can’t be beaten by any other method.

Revitalise Your Body

Cold showers also increase the metabolic rate, which will help you lose that pesky 5 pounds that has burdened you for so long. If you’re looking to feel healthier all around, look your absolute best, and make your day enjoyable, then cold showers in the morning should become your prerogative.

Featured photo credit: Ed Gregory via stokpic.com

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15 Habits That Put You On The Fast Track To Sucess

We all want the answers on how to be successful. We all want to enjoy our jobs and earn lots of money every week. Knowing how to get there is often the hard part. Here are 15 habits that can help put you on the fast track to success.

1. Be Determined

In order to be successful, you must first be determined to be successful. Know what your idea of success is, set your mind to it, and don’t turn back.

2. Maintain Discipline

Setting your mind to be successful is one thing, but maintaining the thought is another. It’s easy to get distracted or fall into a sluggish mode. You must discipline yourself on a daily basis and continually work hard for it.

3. Set Goals

Whether it’s arriving 5 minutes early every day or becoming the company’s vice president, set a goal, and don’t give up until it’s achieved. When that goal is accomplished, set a new one. Always give yourself something to work towards, big or little.

4. Dress for Success

It sounds so cliché, but it’s very true. Even if your position allows casual wear, it’s important to maintain a neat and clean appearance. Not only will it impress your boss and your clients, but it will also help you to feel good about yourself.

5. Learn Something New

Whether it’s going back to school for your bachelor’s degree or simply just watching a webinar on the internet, any form of additional learning is beneficial.

6. Meditate

End your evening or start your morning with meditation. Even take a few minutes on your lunch break to sit quietly in your car. Meditation is a great way to help clear your mind of stressful and negative thoughts.

7. Stretch

Stretching is an effective way to help relax your muscles and body, especially if you have a desk job. Get up from your chair to walk around the office. Learn stretching exercises that can be done from your desk area.

8. How to Be Successful? Be Happy!

Being happy is one of the most important factors to success. Being unhappy will hinder your ambitions, therefore hindering success. Talk to management if there are issues that need to be resolved. Perhaps it’s even time to re-evaluate yourself and your career path.

9. Open Communication

Keep the lines of communication open with management, co-workers, and clients. Discuss problems with your manager. Seek help from your co-workers, and converse with your clients. Questions won’t get answered if you don’t ask them. Problems won’t get resolved if you don’t mention them. Tasks won’t get done if you don’t delegate them.

10. Leave Work at Work

This is usually easier said than done sometimes, but it’s very important to ‘clock yourself out’ at the end of every work day, and don’t allow yourself to clock back in during personal hours. Do not bring the stresses of work into your home and around your family.

11. Keep Your Desk Organized

Avoid clutter in your office and on your desk top. Too much clutter will leave you feeling unorganized and overwhelmed, potentially hindering your work performance.

12. Decorate Your Office Space

Have a bowl of your favorite candy on your desk. Frame your family or pet photo. Display your “lucky” figurine. Having a few personal items in sight during the work day can make your smile and feel good, even if only for a brief moment (but as mentioned above, don’t over clutter).

13. Start Each Day with a Positive Affirmation

Start each day with a positive thought, a meaningful quote or a funny joke. Tell yourself that it is going to be a great and productive day!

14. Give Compliments

Thank your co-worker for bringing in donuts. Tell your client that their new hairstyle is stunning. Tell yourself “great job” for meeting the deadline. Compliments will bring a ‘feel good’ aura throughout the entire office.

15. Be Yourself

Don’t feel like you have to be something you’re not just to climb the ladder. Stepping outside of your comfort zone to try something new is one thing, but altering who you are is not.

We don’t always have the answers for how to be successful, and most of us can agree that we don’t find them overnight. However, incorporating a good attitude, hard work, and these simple tips into your daily work routine will help you on your way to a successful career.

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You Are Judged Based on These 2 Things When People First Meet You

Ever felt like you were being judged and you wonder why is it that they can’t seem to get along with you? We’ve all been in that situation where you might be a new-comer in a company or a new person introduced into your friend’s groupie and it turns into an awkward ride.

But just remember these 2 important things that people judge you on first impressions and you’ll be scoring points faster than consecutive bonus tunnel hits in a pinball game. People value trustworthiness and respectability. If you fail to appeal to these two qualities, there is no new friend to make at the end of the day.

Why Do People Value Trustworthiness

Harvard School Professor Amy Cuddy said that although competence is an important factor, people would evaluate you based on trustworthiness from the get-go due to our survival instincts. “From an evolutionary perspective, it is more crucial to our survival to know whether a person deserves our trust.”

And by putting things into perspective, it does really make sense. Think about the cavemen days as it was all the more important to find out whether your partner was cunning enough to steal all your valuables when you’re not looking than whether he was competent enough to make a fire.

Why Do People Look Out For Respectability

The saying that goes “respect needs to be earned,” has more meaning than you’d have thought. And respect has to do with whether you can keep to your promises, do what you’ve been expected to do and to be truthful at all times. Breaking any of these three will jeopardise the respect that people might have of you.

But when meeting people for the first time, we get too anxious on wanting to win trust in by revealing all of our competences in that limited timeframe of being in their presence. In this case, Cuddy had warned that focusing on winning people’s respect without gaining their trust can backfire as you might come across as manipulative.

Five Practical Ways You Can Enhance Your Trustworthiness and Respectability

So how exactly can we win the trust and respect from people during first impressions? Here are 5 practical ways that you can apply in any social setting, even for a short interview that you need to prepare for and effectively win your potential employer’s trust and respect in a short span of time with him or her.

1. Always Be Truthful

Lying can be tough work and if you’re not good at it, it’s best not to try it when you meet someone for the first time. Seasoned interviewers might be experienced enough to spot a liar, especially one who’s not good at lying. Signs like taking longer to respond, blinking or touching of the nose can depict a lie and it easily breaks the trust between you and the other party. Hence, the best policy is to always be truthful.

2. Be Vulnerable

A new book called Friend and Foe, written by psychologists Maurice Schweitzer, Ph.D., and Adam Galinsky, Ph.D, revealed that showing our vulnerability proves to be an effective technique to gain trust in the shortest possible time. By dropping a pen or spilling coffee and then making a joke out of it makes us vulnerable and warm at the same time. However, an important point to remember is that competence has to be displayed first before you can demonstrate vulnerability, otherwise it wouldn’t work.

3. Hand Positioning

Dressing up for a first date or interview is very important. However, most overlook the importance of body language. Just the simple positioning of your hands during the first meet up can give away signs whether you are nervous or unconfident or whether you come across as a cunning person or a genuine one. Steepling your hands or putting your hands on the table with open palms can make you look more approachable.

4. Eye Contact And Blinking

Maintaining eye contact 80% of the time is the ideal amount when you talk to someone for the first time. This gives the impression that you’re actively listening. Not only that, blinking is also very important. According to Michael Argyle, a well known 20th century psychologist, 7-10 seconds of holding eye contact at a time shows that you are trustworthy, any lesser than that and it shows that you are not. Excessive blinking can also make us look very suspicious as we blink more when we become nervous.

5. Mirroring Movements

According to a research done, MBA students were instructed to mirror their partner’s movements, for example, if the partner puts their elbow on the table, they should do the same too. And the other half of the students were told not to. The results were striking. 67% of those who mirror movements struck a deal with their partner and only 12.5% reached a deal for those who didn’t mirror movements. Simply mirroring movements can help to build rapport with one another.

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Why Successful People Choose To Wear The Same Thing Every Day

In a fashion-conscious society, the clothes that we wear often represent the way we portray our inner selves to the world. It can show aspects of our personality in a number of ways through creativity but it can even show a person’s particular mindset.

When someone decides to dress for success you would imagine a wardrobe full of outfits for every occasion – ready to impress at any opportunity and to create an impact. After all, we’re told appearances matter when it comes to success but does this actually mean we need a plethora of outfits?

More and more successful people are owning up to creating minimal wardrobes – opting to wear the same outfit every day. While this may seem to negate the idea of ‘dress for success’ there are very valid reasons why successful people opt to choose this way of dressing.

1. It Saves You Time

The most obvious reason is that wearing the same outfit every day means less time wasted. Our morning routines can reflect how successful we are in the rest of our day and we often don’t realise how much time is taken up with unnecessary options when it comes to choosing the clothes we wear. By eliminating the need to pick and choose, successful people create more time by having a quicker and more efficient morning routine that transcends into the rest of their day and adds to their success mindset.

2. Safe In The Knowledge That You Have That One Successful Outfit

When we have what seems like an infinite amount of options of what to wear, not only does it take up time deciding on an outfit but it creates a situation where we have many items of clothing that don’t always mix and match. Having many clothes may give the illusion of having loads of different options but in reality we probably only end up wearing the same round of clothes each time. By having a small amount of high-quality versatile items we may be shrinking our options, but we will always have a go-to, high-quality outfit that will do the job every time.

3. It Creates Less Stress

Even when we’ve made that important decision on what to wear, we can start to question our choice throughout the day. You can start to wonder if you wear the right shoes, if you’re too overdressed or underdressed. When these doubts enter your mind you can start to stress more about the day ahead and may trigger unwanted anxiety. When you have one particular outfit that gives you confidence and suits a wide range of situations, you eliminate that worry and your energy is focused on the successes of the day.

4. Eliminates Decisions

We often have a multitude of decisions to make in just one day. Whether important or fleeting, these decisions can mean the difference between success and less success. Being bogged down with decisions can sometimes do damage to our mindset – never underestimate the power of eliminating one unnecessary decision from your daily routine. Any chance to free up space in the mind will help towards focusing on more important tasks.

Barak Obama is rarely seen moving away from his uniform blue or grey suits and there’s a very particular reason for this.

“You’ll see I wear only grey or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

In other words, having one less decision to worry about will help towards making better and more well thought-out decisions later.

5. Less Maintenance and Organisation

Having a smaller wardrobe means less energy maintaining and organising it. Successful people like to put their energy into important tasks and having a large variety of clothes means more time doing tasks such as washing, drying and ironing. Not only that but the clothes take up valuable space. Our possessions and the amount we have can say a lot about us, with clutter and too much stuff showing a disorganised mind. Freeing up storage space will not only lead to less need for organisation time but also gives you a sense of space both literally in your wardrobe and in your mind.

6. It Forces You To Change Your Relationship With Clothes

The actress Drew Barrymore talked about how she decided to try and change her relationship with clothes as she gets older. In a world where clothes are a huge fashion statement and material consumption is at an all-time high, many people are changing the way clothes rule their lives. Barrymore says:

“For starters, I’m almost 40, and the 20s clothes don’t make sense anymore. And, after two babies, the 30s clothes don’t fit anymore. I am at a clothing crossroads, and it’s a painful one at times.”

By limiting her wardrobe Barrymore says she became “sane and happy” and at peace with the notion of getting dressed in the morning no longer being a difficult feat full of deliberating decisions.

7. Eliminate The Unnecessary Expense

As mentioned in the last point, material consumption is extremely high with our society’s ‘buy and throw-away’ attitude and we end up with a lot of unnecessary items. This is also true for our wardrobes – how many items of clothing have you never worn or are waiting for that perfect occasion that never comes?

We often delude ourselves that the items hanging in the closet are somehow crucial but we often over-spend on clothes that we don’t really need. By throwing out these items and keeping our clothes collection minimal, we train the mind into realising we don’t need as much as we think. Our need to impulse buy is greatly limited and we become more mindful of the amount of ‘things’ we actually need.

So perhaps it’s time to try the minimal wardrobe technique. Take a leaf out of the book of those people who have made the choice to free themselves from one less daily decision and still dress for success with that one single, dependable and successful outfit.

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