Smartphone Apps That Can Make You More Focused

Work productivity has always been a major concern for a lot of individuals. With goals in mind, it is important that you optimize your performance in order to achieve personal goals. In fact, some people turn to rituals in order to achieve their peak performance. But no matter how we condition our mind, we can’t remove the fact that technology plays a crucial role in our office productivity.

What used to be a tool that can make our work more efficient is now the same reason why some people are having productivity issues in the workplace. Are we a society that has become too dependent on technology? Experts say yes. With our growing reliance on things found in our phones, it is a good idea to have apps that can help boost productivity by keeping us focused on what we really need to do. Here are some smartphone apps that can potentially boost your office productivity.

Flipd

Flipd is an app developed to finally keep people off their phones. What it does is to create a lock screen that removes different distractions in your phone such as social media apps and games. This particular app also allows you to remotely control other phones as well. This makes it a great tool, not only for individuals but also for businesses trying to boost office productivity.

Using this app, the workplace can be turned into a distraction-free zone. So how about emergency calls? The good thing about Flipd is that it can still allow users to receive texts and answer calls.

Moment

Are you spending more time on your phone than usual? People don’t realize just how much time they lose by using their phones.

If you have a tight schedule,  with deadlines piled one after the other, first thing that you want to do is to set limits as to how much time you should be spending on different activities. Using Moment, you can also limit the amount of time spend on your phone.

If you only want to spend 30 minutes on your phone for the entire 8 hour work day, it is a good idea to check Moment. Once you reached your limit, you get annoying alerts that will eventually force you off your phone.

StayOnTask

StayOnTask is an app that allows you improve your focus on what you are doing. It randomly checks what you are up to. With customizable alarms and customized images, it tells you if you are not doing what you are supposed to do.

AppDetox

A great way to manage productivity is to control the number of hours you spend on things found in your phone. AppDetox allows you to set your own rules on how much time you spend on your app. The good thing with AppDetox is that you can still make use of apps even if you went beyond the designated time limit. It also gives you a chance to view just how many of these rules you’ve violated.

Offtime

If you can’t get rid of everything on your phone, you can now make use of Offtime to block apps or even other contacts that restrict your office productivity.  The good thing with this particular app is that you don’t have to fear that you are missing out on some notifications. It keeps track of the notifications you’ve missed.

Conclusion

Technology has betrayed us in some ways. What should have been a tool to help aid our work is now keeping us from being productive. With the growing number of things that we can do with technology, we can’t help but be confused on the important task at hand.

The good thing is that there are apps that you could rely on to regain that focus at work. With the help of these apps, it is possible to boost your office productivity by limiting unnecessary activities caused by smartphones.

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15 Websites To Learn A Skill On Your Own Time (Without Disturbing Your Schedule)

Are you too busy to learn something new?

We get it. While new technology and communication tools have made it easier for us to become more productive, keep in touch with each other, and learn anywhere, it’s also buried us with too many options.

Since there are so many things we can be doing at any one time, there never seems to be enough time in the day to learn a new skill, like how to speak Spanish, pick up a new hobby, or play the piano.

Luckily for us, there are amazing websites that already exist to help us learn something new without disturbing our busy schedules.

If you feel like you’re too busy, check out these 15 websites today:

1. Skillshare

What you can learn: Design, marketing, business
Type of learning: Recorded video lessons

All of us have a skill that we can teach others, which means we can also learn from others. Skillshare has designed an entire company built on this concept.

With your membership, you can have access to over a thousand classes designed to teach you everything from marketing and business to design and more.

2. CreativeLIVE

What you can learn: Photography, money, software tools
Type of learning: Live broadcasting

CreativeLIVE differs from Skillshare in a couple of ways. They provide a free, live broadcasting of their classes, then you can buy the full version which you can keep forever. They also have some world-class experts teaching on their platform, including New York Times Bestselling authors, Pulitzer Prize winners, and top entrepreneurs, all sharing their craft.

You can learn just about anything — software, design, photography, business, and much more.

3. Rype

What you can learn: Foreign language (Spanish)
Type of learning: Live one-on-one coaching

Have you ever thought, “I’m too busy to learn a language.”?

Think again. Rype is a website that provides private Spanish coaching, specifically for busy people. You can get unlimited one-on-one Spanish lessons with your membership, anytime, anywhere.

How is it specifically built for busy people, you ask?

With coaches around the world, they allow you to book lessons at any time of the day, any day of the week, whether it’s a relaxing morning on a Sunday or 3 AM on a weekday (for the nightowls).

No matter how busy you are, now you can always find the time to learn how to speak Spanish. You can try it for free to see if it’s right for you and decide for yourself.

4. MonkeySee

What you can learn: General
Type of learning: Recorded video lessons

MonkeySee is like Youtube, but specifically dedicated to short, educational videos.

You can watch thousands of videos on dozens of different topics, like parenting, personal finance, gadgets, and more.

5. HowStuffWorks

What you can learn: General
Type of learning: Articles and videos

Have you ever wondered, “How does X work?”

HowStuffWorks is a destination built specifically to answer every type of “how it works” question by giving you a dedicated article explaining it in detail. Travel, money, electronics, computers, and more — you can learn just about how anything works on this website.

6. Podcasts

What you can learn: General — business, health, love
Type of learning: Audio recording

Podcasting is not only an app or website, but it’s an entire industry. It became a hit over a decade ago, but only returned to fame a few years ago after the smartphone became mainstream.

Just like Youtube, you can subscribe to different shows based on business, health, relationships, comedy, and much more.

7. Lumosity

What you can learn: Mathematics, pattern recognition, memory retention
Type of learning: Gaming

Got some time to kill while you’re stuck in traffic, waiting for the bus, or taking the train? Why not improve your brain?

Lumosity offers free and premium games that have been specifically designed to improve your memory, math skills, and more. It’s available on desktop or your mobile, so you can enjoy it at home or take it with you wherever you go.

8. Duolingo

What you can learn: Foreign languages
Type of learning: Gamification

If you want a fun, free, and easy way to learn a language, then check out Duolingo. Now with over 50 million registered users around the world, Duolingo is recognized as one of the top free apps to learn a language.

9. Hack A Day

What you can learn: Life hacks
Type of learning: Articles

Hack A Day is a website that teaches you new hacks that you can apply in your life. If you’re into unique or weird facts that you can talk about with your friends, then this website is worth checking out in your spare time.

10. Khan Academy

What you can learn: Mathematics, physics, coding
Type of learning: Video lessons

Khan Academy is an educational platform developed by Salman Khan. This website caught the attention Bill Gates, who stated that Khan was his favorite teacher. I personally used it during my university days, as they make complicated topics seem incredibly easy to understand.

Most of the topics taught on Khan Academy are fairly academic topics, like Calculus, Mathematics, and Physics, rather than general topics like business, design, or marketing.

11. Udemy

What you can learn: General
Type of learning: Video lessons

Udemy is recognized as one of the top leaders of the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) industry. They’ve got a massive library of educational courses, but compared to CreativeLIVE or Skillshare, the quality isn’t as high. Nevertheless, you can find very affordable and free courses that you can take advantage of.

The one benefit of Udemy is the quantity of content they have, and you can find courses on anything from LSAT and SAT preparation to history, which is something that won’t exist on many other MOOC websites.

12. Codeacademy

What you can learn: Coding
Type of learning: Gamification, learn by doing

With software eating the world, learning how to code is starting to become as standard as knowing how to use Microsoft Word. The good news is, you don’t need college or innate talent to learn. Codeacademy provides a unique and fun solution to teach you how to code by doing, instead of through textbooks.

HTML, CSS, JS, or Ruby on Rails, you can learn by building your own projects using their program.

13. Startcooking.com

What you can learn: Cooking
Type of learning: Video lessons

Startcooking.com is like having a personal chef trainer wherever you go. Whatever dish you want to cook, chances are you can find it on this website and get a step-by-step tutorial on how you can make it in your kitchen.

You’ll also notice that they classify each dish in terms of difficulty, so if you’re new to cooking, you can always find the low-hanging fruit.

14. edX

What you can learn: General (university subjects)
Type of learning: Live and recorded video lessons

Wish you’d gone to Stanford University or Columbia University? Now you can, for free.

edX, a non-profit organization, empowers you to take online courses from the world’s best universities. You can get a free stream from the lectures of these top institutions and learn anything from business, marketing, economics, and more.

You can watch it online anywhere you are in the world.

15. Lynda

What you can learn: General
Type of learning: Recorded video lessons

Lynda allows you to learn a new skill on your time. It’s not a whole lot different from Skillshare or Udemy, but Lynda does have a larger library of content to provide. They’ve also just been bought out by LinkedIn, so it may be an essential integration that you will see on the professional networking website as well.

They provide a 10-day free trial to explore thousands of classes before you decide if it’s right for you.

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5 Tips on How to be a More Responsible Person

Responsibility doesn’t come at birth. It is something that is acquired as you age, go to school and progress in life. Your sense of responsibility can come from your family members, friends or from something you see on TV. However, you can hear and see a lot of different things, both good and bad. That is why your sense of responsibility depends solely on you. You choose your own behavior, actions and words.

So, responsibility is a skill. You learn it. However, there are different ways of doing so. You shape your personality with your actions. For example, it is you who chooses to be lazy or to get up early every day, or if you want to save money or spend it recklessly. It is about proving to yourself that you can be, and that you are, in fact, accountable.

In the end, again, all of it comes down to your own conscious decision. Therefore, blaming others for your mistakes is out of the question. With that said, here are a few tips on how you can improve your responsibility.

1. Stop making excuses for yourself

If, and when you make a mistake, own up to it. Instead of transferring the blame to someone or something else, say the true reason why you failed to do something. By coming up with an excuse, you actually admit to being irresponsible. Moreover, it makes you a coward. If you cannot complete a task such as making it in time for a meeting or something similar, do not make the promise in the first place.

You need to think clearly about what you can and cannot do, in order to avoid having to make excuses for yourself. Even better, when you find yourself in this kind of situation, say why you didn’t get that thing done instead of coming up with a pretty little lie.

2. Stop complaining

Complainers are usually the people who talk too much and do nothing. They can be big with words, but when it comes to actually doing something about an issue, they are motionless. Alternatively, you could stop complaining and take responsibility into your own hands. If you do not like how a certain task is being carried out, do it yourself or consult with the person who did it wrong.

By consulting, you offer guidance and a chance to calmly come to a better solution. If you were to complain, those would be just empty, frustrating words coming out of your mouth.

Also, by always nagging about the world around you, you actually fill yourself with negativity. It seems as though you cannot find anything nice to say. By being negative, you are being miserable. Therefore, cutting down on complaining will bring you to a better mind-set, as well as prolonged happiness.

3. Learn how to manage your finances

One of the major responsibilities you will have as an adult is to take care of your money. You will get a job, receive a salary and try to live with it month by month. Perhaps, you will try to put some away on the side, as a precaution; savings are always a good idea. Unfortunately, not everyone learns, or knows how to manage their finances.

Usually, people spend the majority of their salary before the end of the month. Sometimes, they even neglect to pay their bills because they found some other, usually shiny thing to spend the money on. These are examples of what an irresponsible person does.

If you want to be taken seriously, and live a normal life, you will need to learn how to deal with money. You should pay all your bills when you get your salary. Then, buy groceries and make a plan on how you will use the rest. You should also have some money in your savings account or, maybe you could invest part of it. Both of these are better than spending recklessly, which can lead to debt and other problems for you.

4. Avoid procrastination

Successful people are hard-working people. In order to earn and succeed in every aspect of your life, you need to work hard for it. Therefore, you need to be responsible. Without it, you will not make it big. The first step you could make towards the top is to stop procrastinating. Stop wasting precious time.

The hours you spent browsing through the internet, scrolling through social media, or lying around doing nothing, could have been used for better things. For instance, you could have read a book, went for a walk or done a workout. Moreover, you could have finished that project you were far behind on. Anything other than wasting time would be better.

Procrastination will lead you nowhere. If you have spare time on your hands, use it in a smart and creative way.

5. Be consistent and keep to your schedule

Having a routine is good. Routine means order, and this means that you are on the right track. If you are working, try to wake up at the same time every day. Even on the weekends, you could wake up earlier rather than staying in bed until noon. This will give you some consistency.

Plus, getting up early allows you to have more time for whatever things you had to finish that day. Alternatively, you could just relax and enjoy the day off too. If you are a student, then you should make a habit of studying regularly. Or, if you are living abroad, remember to call your friends and family every week.

Additionally, you should make a schedule for your work and personal tasks. If a few things are repetitive during the week, keep them that way. Getting off your schedule could ruin your whole routine and leave you off-balance.

Being responsible means that you are in control of everything you do. You do not let others take the blame, or forget about your friends and family. Also, you should not let laziness overcome your approach to your work. If you are given a task, you can get through it until the end.

This is what responsible people do. More importantly, they accept every responsibility that is thrown at them, whether it is work or life related. They do not leave stuff half-done or play the victim – no. Responsible people stand strong on the ground, with both their feet firmly planted.

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Combating Monday Blues: 5 Ways To Naturally Elevate Your Mood

Monday’s are the worst. They’re the beginning to a long, stressful week of work and responsibility when we’d love nothing more than to spend a few more days living a couch-potato life. Begrudgingly, we force ourselves up and out, heading to work or school to suffer through another week, dreaming of the next weekend.

It’s what we’ve come to accept and expect, right? That’s what it means to be an adult, isn’t it?

It doesn’t have to be. Here are 5 ways to naturally elevate your mood and combat those Monday blues.

Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep

I get it — we’re all busy adults! Sometimes, in order to accomplish everything we need to get done, we have to sacrifice sleep. An hour here or there may seem like it’s nothing, but consistently losing sleep can have some real consequences: health problems like migraines, high blood pressure, and worsening of pre-existing conditions. Lack of sleep also has definite connections to our moods and can contribute directly to the development of mood disorders.

So how much sleep should you be getting? If you listen to classic suggestions, we should all be getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night. That seems to be a solid rule of thumb, though experts have suggested between 6 and 9 hours of sleep for proper recharging. Find what works for you and commit to it!

Get Out Of The Office And Into The Sunshine

So you’re stuck in an office for eight hours a day, staring at a computer screen. Music can help. So can some wall art or plants. Or, you could go outside for some much-needed sunshine! Not only does the warmth and light help you stay awake and feel refreshed, but it boosts your body’s natural production of Vitamin D and endorphins, lifting your mood.

Can’t take a trip outside? Consider changing the filter on your fluorescent lights! Filters which mimic natural lighting brighten the room and help you maintain your energy throughout the day. Other options include painting your office a color which promotes energy, happiness, and creativity. Consider these colors:

• Orange: expands your thinking, boosts confidence
• Deep Blue: encourages efficiency
• Green: promotes wealth, encourages healing, and promotes emotional well-being
• Light Blue: creates a sense of peace, aids in communication
• Yellow: increases focus, mental agility, and intelligence

Play With Your Pet

Puppies, kittens, and other adorable pets! Who doesn’t love playing with their favorite furry (or feathery, or scaly) animals? Spend a few minutes in the morning enjoying your most loyal companion, and repeat the process in the evenings when you return home. Not only will this enhance your bond, but studies have shown that contact with animals helps lower stress levels and boost your natural production of dopamine.

Don’t have a pet? Well, guess what? Those adorable puppy and kitten videos online have the same effect — no wonder they’re so popular! Take a few minutes to watch a couple — just make sure you don’t get too carried away!

Enjoy Some Chocolate

Need an excuse to get that chocolate bar from the grocery store? Well, not only does it have antioxidants, but eating chocolate boosts dopamine naturally, too! Keep a bar on hand for those especially grueling days. Or, you can stock up on a hot cocoa stash in your desk — just make sure your friends and co-workers don’t turn you into the office candy supplier!

Not a huge fan of chocolate? Trying to watch your caloric intake? That’s okay — these foods have the same effect!

• Fish
• Eggs
• Apples
• Kale
• Red beets
• Bananas
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Green tea

Get Moving

This one is something I struggle with myself: having a 9-to-5 desk job can severely limit how active we can be throughout the week. That inactivity can contribute to our sour moods and subconsciously lead us to dread Mondays even more than we already do. How do we combat that? Get up and get moving! Even something as simple as taking a quick lap around the office or jogging in place can lift your spirits and re-energize you.

Now, understandably, if you share office space or work in a cubicle, you may not be able to do 20 jumping jacks. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything! Get a couple small dumbbells and pump iron while you’re on that business call, or do some stretching once an hour. Simple things like that re-engage your muscles and can improve your mood quickly!

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3 Strategies to Attract Opportunities into Your Life

Feeling stagnant?

You don’t attract opportunities because you are not upgrading

I often get asked by my coaching clients: “How can I get more opportunities in my life?”

This is a really important question. New opportunities enable us to advance in our lives and careers as a result of an abundance of options to choose from. In the case where we seldom get a chance to upgrade our current situation through new possibilities, it is a common occurrence to feel stagnant, unhappy and unproductive.

Most people will assume that inability to attract opportunities is directly tied to lack of passion and merely waiting for a miracle to appear out of the blue. However, this is not the entire truth. There are two elements to successfully attracting new opportunities.

Want progress? Do something new and work on your ‘attractiveness’

“To get something you never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” –Unknown.

This thought-provoking statement suggests that people stay in their own comfort zone and fail to broaden their horizons. As a result, they often resign from their plans too early and settle for mediocrity. Surprisingly, these are often disciplined people who work hard for their living and are respected members of our society.

The second and not-so-obvious element is the fact that our inner self reflects in our external environment. The truth is you have to shift existing behaviors and mindset in order to attract opportunities. Favorable circumstances and success come to the ‘attractive’ people who develop ‘inner beauty’, often meet new people, build new relationships and form new business partnerships. It is vital to work on personal development and on character development.

Apply these 3 strategies to attract new opportunities

1. Surround yourself with success.

There is a saying: “You earn the average income of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. Your environment is crucial to your happiness. Successful people have winning habits, strategies and ‘attractive’ personalities. By spending time with them, you will subconsciously start to model these behaviors. Likewise, negative people significantly impact their surroundings, often lacking ambition and spreading pessimistic thoughts.

2. Get out of your comfort zone.

Staying in a familiar environment is comfortable because you know what to expect. However, by not stepping out of a comfortable environment, new things will seldom occur in your life. The aim is to create opportunities by stepping outside the comfort zone instead of waiting for them. Otherwise, your life will be nothing more than comfortable. Stepping outside of your comfort zone will allow you to meet new people and attract a whole array of new situations.

3. Perform daily routines to shape your character.

A strong and attractive character is a result of systematic practice. One of my favorite quotes is “where attention goes, energy flows – results show”. Good conduct and behavior are results of our thoughts and habits. If you are able to set out behaviors that you will repeat daily, your character will be transformed and opportunities will appear as a result. For instance, you could have a morning and evening routines to prioritize and reflect on your current tasks.

How to succeed in the long-term? Use self-reflection and be consistent

Usually people regret things they didn’t do when they had the chance to try. Attracting new opportunities is not down to just luck – step out of your comfort zone and start working on a brand of attractiveness which consists of your character, heart and spirit. The key is to do monthly or quarterly self-reflection activities to evaluate your progress and analyze new areas requiring development. It is important to be systematic in your actions, as they will increase your chances in the long term to attract plenty of new opportunities.

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5 Deadly Mistakes that All Language Learners Make

Let’s face it.

Learning a new language for the first time is confusing.

We often don’t know how to get started, nor do we have the time to commit to learning! This leads us to waste our energy, money, and most importantly, time.

That stops today. We’re going to show you the 5 most deadly mistakes all language learners make — and how you can avoid them.

1. Not knowing your “why”

Understanding your “why” is where it all has to start. As Simon Sinek explains in his book,
Start with Why that the reason why you’re doing something is far more important than the how or what.

This is because whenever we take on a new task or project, there’s always going to be an obstacle or struggle that we’ll need to overcome. Those who give up early on are the ones that haven’t clarified what their “why” is.

Let’s come back to language learning. Whatever your target language is — Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, etc. — what’s your “why?”

Here are some questions we recommend you ask, as explained in our free language learning course:

What you will achieve?

Who will you be able to connect with?

Who will you become as a person?

The next time you’re facing difficulty or losing motivation, just come back to these reasons, and you’ll get right back on track.

2. No clear end goal 

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”

— Tony Robbins

It doesn’t matter if we have the fastest car in the world. If we don’t know where we’re going, we’ll just end up wasting precious energy, money, and time going nowhere.

All of us have a desire that we want to fulfill; we just have to clarify what that is, and make it the driver to our success.

There are 5 key components to setting goals. Your goal has to be:

a. Visually specific — Get as visually clear as possible about what your end-result would look like, to the point where you can close your eyes and imagine it.
b. Slightly out of reach — There is a fine balance to picking a goal that’s way out of reach, to one that is within reach. This mini-goal should be something you can visually imagine, but a goal that you would need to push yourself to accomplish.
c. Measurable — What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get improved. The easiest way to do this is to put a number on it. This could be number of words memorized, the length of conversation you can have with a native speaker, etc.
d. Goal oriented — Focus on the results, not how much time you spent getting there. For example, instead of measuring how many hours you studied every week, only measure what measurable result you achieved.

Remember, it doesn’t matter how much effort you put in, unless you don’t get the results from the effort
e. Deadline specific — As Parkinson’s Law states, the time we spend completing a task will depend on the time we allocate to the task. This means that if we give ourselves 30 days to complete a report that should only take 30 minutes, that’s exactly how long we’ll take to complete it.

Whatever goal you set, make sure you have a deadline to accomplish it.

Let me share 3 examples of goals that are bad, good, and great, so you can get an understanding of how your goal compares.

Bad goal: I want to become fluent in Spanish so I can travel to Spain by next year.

Good goal: I want to become conversation fluent in Spanish so I can travel to Spain by next summer.

Great goal: I will have a 15-minute conversation in Spanish with a native Spanish person over coffee in a cafe in Madrid on July 2016.

Do you notice the difference?

Compared to the first two goals, the great goal is written as if it’s already accomplished (I want vs I will), and includes all the components of the goal-setting formula including deadline, measurability, visually specific, and results oriented.

3. No schedule

The most successful people and top-performers in their industry focus on the process, not just the deadline. Optimal performance is less important than the daily practice of taking action, no matter how hard it is or how tired you are.

If you want to write a book, this could mean waking up each morning in order to write 500 words, no matter how bad the first draft is.

If you want to double your business sales, this could mean spending every week with your team reviewing your sales numbers, and executing a new growth experiment.

If you want to lose 10 pounds, this could mean running 30 minutes every morning.

For many of us, learning a new language is not the #1 priority in our lives. It’s our family time, careers, or other side projects we may be working on.

This is why scheduling your learning time is even more important than scheduling your work time.

Here are some practical steps we recommend to schedule your learning time:

1. Pick your language learning activity — this could be memorizing 30 of the most common words on your own or working with a private language coach at Rype.
2. Figure out your free times — when are the vacant times during the day?
   If you’re a morning person, it could be before work. It could be during lunch break, or even in the evening (the most popular time for Rypers).
3. Add in 15–30 minute buffer time — schedules never go according to plan. This is why we want to make sure we add some buffer times, so if we happened to wake up later than usual, or get held from traffic on the way back from home, we can still use the buffer time to stay on track.
4. Set reminders — because we probably have a dozen things we need to remember during our days, setting notification reminders goes along way.
   This could be done through any digital calendar software you use (i.e. Google, Outlook, etc), and you can even receive them on your phone.

4. Being an information sucker

We’ve all been there. We spend hours attending a conference or reading a book. The excitement overwhelms us and our body is filled with motivation ready to master anything!

How often do we actually master it?

Research from NTL Institute has shown that people learn:

5% of what they learn when they’ve learned from a lecture.
10% of what they learn when they’ve learned from reading.
20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration
50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.

The key to learning a language is to learn by doing! This means actually going out there and practicing your skills with other people (preferably native speakers). If you don’t have anyone in your inner circle, then work with a language coach online!

5. Doing everything yourself

Ever heard the saying, “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together?”

According to best-selling author, Seth Godin:

Five Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World (In Anything)

1. You run out of time (and quit)
2. You run out of money (and quit)
3. You get scared (and quit)
4. You’re not serious about it (and quit)
5. You lose interest (and quit)

It’s easy to resort to going at it alone, this is how we’ve lived most of our lives.

But if you observe the best performers and the fastest learners, they have someone who works with them, whether it’s a mentor, advisor, or coach.

In almost any aspect of our lives, we have a coach that we work with, whether it’s a fitness trainer, financial advisor, business mentor, or sports coach. This is the best kept secret amongst the best performers and the fastest learners in the world.

Language learning is no different.

If you’ve truly discovered your why, and have a clear goal that you’ve set for yourself. It’s time to get outside help, to guide you through each step of the way, keep you accountable, and accelerate your learning speed.

With so many solutions out there at the tip of your finger —  from craigslist, Rype, conversation exchanges, or even Meetups — there is no excuse.

Anyone can learn a new language, no matter how old you are, how busy you are, and even if you’ve tried before. It’s finding the right strategy that works for you, and avoiding the most deadly mistakes that language learners make.

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The 10 Coolest Jobs You Can Get By Learning a Foreign Language

Knowing a foreign language can help you in many aspects of your life, including travel, family connection, and even mental health. But did you know that you can find some of the coolest jobs just by knowing another language?

Before we talk about the 10 top language jobs you can get, let’s talk about the most useful languages to learn.

Which foreign languages helps you find the top language jobs?

a. Spanish. As third most spoken language in the world, knowing how to speak Spanish will enable you to reach over 500M+ people globally. In the United States and Europe, Spanish is recognized as the second official language other than English, and is the official language in over four continents.

b. French. Not only is France the fifth biggest economy and top three locations for foreign investments, some of the top universities like HEC exist in France. Learning French opens the doors to French companies in not only France, but other French-speaking parts of the world such as Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, and North and sub-Saharan Africa.

c. German. According to The Economist, German has been shown to earn you the biggest bucks if you work for a corporation:

• Spanish — 1.5 percent bonus
• French — 2.3 percent bonus
• German — 3.8 percent bonus

While German won’t give you the wide reach that a language like Spanish provides, Germany is the home to some of the top corporations in the world, particularly the top automobile brands like BMW.

d. Mandarin. It’s no surprise that Mandarin is on this list. As the most widely spoken language in the world, Mandarin is the official language of China, one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

e. Arabic. The Arab world is recognized as one of the wealthiest regions in the world, with over $600B in GDP. Due to the abundance of market opportunities in the Middle East, Western Arabic speakers are in very high demand, but in very low supply. If you have the ability to speak Arabic, don’t be surprised if people are throwing their offer letters at your desk!

What industries are these top language jobs from?

While you can benefit from knowing a foreign language with nearly every industry, here are the main highlights:

• Media (journalism) and film
• Tourism and travel services, including airlines and hotels
• Banks and insurance
• Local, state and federal government
• International non-profit organizations
• Publishing companies
• Departments of defense and international embassies
• Health services
• Social services
• Immigration services
• Elementary, high schools, universities and colleges

The 10 Top Language Jobs You Can Get With a Foreign Language

1. Game Translator

Industry: Gaming

Did you grow up playing Nintendo? Now you can make money playing it. Companies like Nintendo are always looking for in-game translators that can translate from English to Japanese or other languages. Here’s an example job posting.

2. Brand Specialist

Industry: Technology

Recognized as one of the best companies to work for, Google is hiring Brand Specialists that can communicate in foreign markets. In short, brand specialists work with customers to serve the ongoing product improvements of Google.

3. Community Representative

Industry: Gaming

Blizzard, who produces well-known video games like WoW and Diablo, is looking for a bilingual Spanish/English speaker to engage with their Latin American player communities. The job includes helping with game development and supporting the company at events, including BlizzCon.

4. Flight Attendant

Industry: Travel and Tourism

If the idea of getting paid to travel sounds exciting to you, flight attendant maybe something to look into. Depending on which airline you work for, many of these top airlines will look for flight attendants that can speak a foreign language. For example, if an airline frequently flies from the US to Spain, they’re going to prefer someone that can speak Spanish.

5. Lead Coordinator

Industry: International Non-profit Organizations

Non-profit organizations, like Pencils of Promise,  are focused on helping developing nations around the world. In many of these nations, English is not the official language. Understanding a foreign language like Spanish will help advance your position in the organization because you have the ability to communicate with the people you’re trying to help.

6. Analyst or Associate

Industry: International Banking and Finance

Banking is done all around the world, and this involves doing business with people from different cultures and countries globally. Knowing a foreign language can give you an upper hand when it comes to negotiating or deal making.

7. Photographer

Industry: Film & Media

Photography is an art that goes beyond languages, but if you want to shoot around the world, you should certainly learn a foreign language. For travel photographers, you can decide to learn the language that you would most like to travel to.

8. Fashion Buyer

Industry: Fashion

Whether it’s Milan, Barcelona, or São Paulo, fashion is a global industry, and you’ll be working with people all around the world, who speak multiple languages. It’s safe to say that Spanish, Italian, or French are great languages to learn if you’re into fashion.

9. Recruiter

Industry: Human Resources

As businesses become more global by the day, they’re also looking for employees all around the world. Companies are always building new offices in South America, Europe, and Asia. The recruiter’s role is to be able to communicate with these employees and recruit the best person for the job.

10. Foreign Correspondents

Industry: Journalism

Love telling stories? Do you dream about traveling the world and helping people share their message?
Journalism may be your calling. If you want to find the best stories, you’re going to need to know how to communicate in a language other than English, especially if you want to speak with the locals.

… and back over to you

Are there any top language jobs that we missed? We’d love to hear from you below!

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