How To Motivate Yourself and Improve Focus, Organization and Productivity to Reach Your Goals

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7 Special Uses for Lemon That Will Blow Your Mind

Did you know a single lemon could help you clean house, relieve cold symptoms, eliminate bugs, treat acne, brighten laundry, whiten nails, and remove grease? And to think: you’ve just been squeezing a splash of lemon in your water for all these years, totally unaware of all the other wonderful things you could be doing with it! That’s okay because today you get to learn about 7 special uses for lemon that will blow your mind.

A slice of lemon could rid your refrigerator of the stink that makes you say “ew.” To deodorize your smelly fridge, simply chop off a chunk of lemon and squeeze the juice on a cotton ball. Sit that cotton ball inside your refrigerator for a few hours. Of course, if you have any groceries from ancient times that could be causing a stink, you’d be wise to toss those in the garbage.

Fall is around the corner, so you could find yourself with a nasty cold when the temperature drops. If you do find yourself with an achy throat, you can mix up honey and lemon for a tasty treat that will offer you relief. Brew or microwave some hot water, pour it in your favorite coffee mug, add one tablespoon of lemon, add two tablespoons of honey, and voila! Please note that this mixture will NOT cure, you but it will help your cold suck less. If you fear that you have something worse than a cold, put down your mug, get in the car, and go to the doctor.

Insects are not fans of the acidic smell of lemons, so spraying it in the areas they are gathering will scare them away. For extra protection, wash your kitchen floor with a mixture of hot water and lemon juice to discourage fleas and roaches from treading on your turf.

Lemons offer a home skin-care treatment that can eliminate acne and blackheads thanks to the wonder food’s antifungal and antibacterial properties. Slice a lemon open, rub it across your face, wait for about 10 minutes, and rinse off with cold water.

Bleach can brighten your laundry but if you’re concerned with the not-so-healthy chemicals that are attached to it, lemons can get the same job done. Add about a quarter cup of squeezed lemon juice to your white laundry while it is rinsing. Hang it outside in the sun to dry, let a few hours pass, and come back to discover a shiny white that is as good as new.

Go ahead and get a bottle of olive oil (one of the healthiest things you can cook with!) and mix that with a little bit of lemon juice. Remove nail polish if you need to, wash your hands, and soak your nails in the mixture for a couple of minutes. This will help you whiten and strengthen your nails so they are more visually appealing and less susceptible to breaking. 

Don’t you hate it when you scrub and scrub and scrub away at grease that will not go away? Drop your chemical-laden cleaners and see if lemons will do the trick. Chop a lemon in two, squeeze it onto your trouble dishes or counters (but not marble ones!), and walk away for a few minutes. Come back and make a paste with a bit more lemon juice and some baking soda or vinegar. Scrub away until the grease is a goner (and then let out a nice “hooray!” or “die, grease, die!” if you so desire). 

By the way, there're many benefits for lemon water! 11 Benefits of Lemon Water You Didn’t Know About

Featured photo credit: desegura89 via Flickr

Daniel Wallen is a certified personal trainer, life coach, and author of "The Busy Woman's Guide to Getting Fit, Fierce, and Fabulous." Click here to get your copy now. You're welcome to visit Daniel's blog or say hi on Facebook.

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Madness and hallucination in The Shining

Roger Ebert’s 2006 review of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining turns out to be a brilliant exploration of hallucination, madness and unreliable witnessing in a film he describes as “not about ghosts but about madness and the energies it sets loose”.

Kubrick is telling a story with ghosts (the two girls, the former caretaker and a bartender), but it isn’t a “ghost story,” because the ghosts may not be present in any sense at all except as visions experienced by Jack or Danny.

The movie is not about ghosts but about madness and the energies it sets loose in an isolated situation primed to magnify them. Jack is an alcoholic and child abuser who has reportedly not had a drink for five months but is anything but a “recovering alcoholic.” When he imagines he drinks with the imaginary bartender, he is as drunk as if he were really drinking, and the imaginary booze triggers all his alcoholic demons, including an erotic vision that turns into a nightmare. We believe Hallorann when he senses Danny has psychic powers, but it’s clear Danny is not their master; as he picks up his father’s madness and the story of the murdered girls, he conflates it into his fears of another attack by Jack. Wendy, who is terrified by her enraged husband, perhaps also receives versions of this psychic output. They all lose reality together.

A psychologically insightful piece on one of the classics of psychological horror.

Link to Roger Ebert’s 2006 review of The Shining.

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Confessions of a depressed comic: A Q&A with Kevin Breel

Culture TEDx

As a teenager, Kevin Breel almost took his own life. His story — so powerfully told in his viral TEDx Talk, “Confessions of a Depressed Comic” — gives voice to an often silent struggle and offers a message of hope.

In honor of Worldwide Suicide Prevention Day, we spoke with Kevin about living with depression and speaking out about it. Below, our conversation.

As you say in your talk, people are often afraid to admit they feel depressed. What helped you come forward and speak up about living with depression?

I had gotten to a point where I no longer felt afraid of who I was or the fact that I deal with depression. I no longer felt ashamed or embarrassed by it. It can be really hard and exhausting to keep sharing my story onstage, but ultimately, I know that has the potential to help people. And that’s all that matters to me.

How have people reacted?

The reaction has been the most amazing part of speaking at TEDx. When the video first went viral, I remember checking my email one time, and I had almost two thousand new emails just out of nowhere. The one that stuck with me most was from one girl who sent me an email with her suicide note attached. She said she had watched my talk and she didn’t need it anymore. That was pretty powerful. And I think if you go look at the video right now, the top comment is, “This talk is the reason I put my razor down.” That’s so amazing to me. I really couldn’t ask for more.

There’s a lovely moment in your talk when you say that hurt has forced you to have hope. When you’re in pain and hope is hard to find, how do you remind yourself that it’s still there?

When I’m dealing with pain, I keep reminding myself that hope and help are always available for me; I just have to choose to reach for them. That’s really hard, but it keeps me accountable. I never used to have that perspective. I used to really personally identify with my pain, and I wanted to stay stuck in that place of hurt because it had become a comfortable place to stay. Now, I realize that being mentally healthy is just like being physically healthy; it takes work. You have to take preventive measures, you have to make sure you are checking in with yourself, you have to make sure you are doing the work. And it is work. But it’s worth it.

During your darkest times, was there someone who reached out to you? Someone you remember, a moment that stayed with you and helped you find the light?

Yeah, definitely. It was actually just a quote that I read one time. It was by Carl Jung, and it said, “Sure, a tree can grow to heaven. But only if its roots go to hell.” I remember how that made me feel a sense of peace for the first time in a long time. It made me reframe the way I looked at my pain and my struggle. For the first time ever, I thought, “Maybe this is giving me something. Maybe this is showing me some depth in life. Maybe this isn’t all bad.” And that changed everything. I’m very thankful for that quote to this day.

In the spirit of Suicide Prevention Day, what can people do to help friends or family who are suffering from depression or considering suicide?

If you feel like a friend or a family member is struggling, think about how you can reach out to them with kindness and empathy before you think of what you should say. Letting them know that they are not alone and they are loved can truly save a life. They won’t hear your words at first; they will only feel your presence. But it all starts with someone who cares enough to reach out and ask, “Are you okay?” Please, do not be afraid to ask that question. Ask your friend. Ask a family member. Ask yourself. And be okay with whatever the answers are.

This piece originally was published on the TEDx Blog. Read much more about the wide constellation of happenings in the TEDx world »

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13 Ways You Can Make Tomorrow An Easier Day

Do you ever have those days where everything is a little overwhelming and hectic? Maybe you’ve had a few too many of those days; but it’s time to change that. Henrik Edberg of The Positivity Blog has some tips you can use to try and make tomorrow an calmer, better day at work:

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein

“Think simple” as my old master used to say – meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”
Frank Lloyd Wright

The daily work we do – in school, at work or in a business – can easily become overwhelming, ineffective and suck the energy and joy out of what you are doing. Over the years my experience has been that it is essential to keep my work simple and light to get better results in less time and to make things more fun (or at least more acceptable). In this article I’d like to recommend 13 habits that have helped me to do so.

Pack your bag or suitcase. Pack the leftovers from your dinner in a container and put it in the fridge. Put your keys, wallet etc. in a place where you can easily find them as you head out in the morning. This preparation will help you to have a less stressful morning.

Checking email, other statistics or social media accounts many times a day tends to drain a lot of time, energy and can leave you unfocused and stressed. Try checking and processing all of those things just once a day instead. I do it at the end of my workday. If that is not possible for you then try to postpone it for a few hours at least. And put your morning energy and focus into your most important task of the day.

Limit your emails to 1-5 sentences when possible. You can also have some canned responses for common questions saved in a folder in your email program. This will help you to spend less time and energy on your daily email processing.

This will make your time of travel during the day into a time of relaxation and recharging. Instead of a time of stress and anxiety. Plus, people tend to like when other people are on time.

It will be easier to focus and to do a good job. And to do it in less time compared to if you try to multi-task (at least if you are anything like me).

Just before you start working on that one thing shut down your email program and instant messaging programs. Shut the door to your office. Put your cell phone in silent mode and put it in a drawer. If possible, shut down your internet connection. Or use an extension for your browser like StayFocusd.

It is easy to get off track during a regular workday. To stay on track or to get back there if you get lost use questions like:
- What is the most important thing I can do right now?
- What would I work on if I only had 2 hours for work today?
- Is doing this bringing me closer to my goal?
- Am I keeping things extremely simple right now?

Eat slowly. Put down the fork between bites to make that easier. Eat mindfully and savour each bite. Eating your lunch this way can help you to relax and to release quite a bit of stress in the middle of your workday. Plus, it can help you to not overeat because it takes your brain 20 minutes to register that you are full. By slowing down your eating your brain can stop you before you eat too much.

And only 20% of your time on dwelling on your issue, challenge or problem. Instead of doing it the other way around. This makes it easier to live a lighter and more action-filled life and to not fall down into a pit of self-pity or getting stuck in a mental habit of perceived powerlessness.

You don’t have to always do it alone. You can ask for help. You may not always get it but you may also be surprised at how helpful and kind people can be in helping you ease your burdens and solve a challenge. Just don’t forget to do the same for them as best you can when they ask.

Focus only on that. Forget about all those tomorrows and your yesterdays. Go small, narrow your focus greatly and just take care of today. Then take care of tomorrow when it comes.

Have a set stop time for your daily work (mine is 7 o clock). Do not work on weekends. Consciously manage your boundaries and you’ll have less stress and more energy and focus both to do better work and to have a personal life of higher quality. This is one of the most important and often overlooked habits in this article.

By that I mean getting enough sleep, exercising a couple of times a week and eating healthy. This may seem very obvious in theory. But in practice it makes a world of difference for your optimism, energy levels, ability to handle stress and to think clearly.

Henrik Edberg lives on the west coast of Sweden and for the past 7 years he has been writing at The Positivity Blog. If you liked this article, then join the tens of thousands of people that subscribe to his free newsletter.

Simpler Daily Work: 13 Smart Habits That Will Help You | The Positivity Blog

Happiness has become the latest fad. How to be Happy, Today, Tomorrow and for the Rest of your Life

Featured photo credit: cogdogblogvia Flickr

Siobhan Harmer is a freelance writer who drinks far too much coffee, here to help you hack your way to a happier life.

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An Ideal Day (or Weekend) in San Francisco – 16 Fun and Weird Activities

San Francisco is my favorite city in the world, bar none.

I love NYC, I love Bali, and I love Buenos Aires, but SF is the place for me. And since I’ve been here for 10+ years, I get asked a lot: what should I do when I visit?

This post will highlight some of my favorite things.

Recently, I joined forces with InsideHook – the “essential lifestyle guide for adventurous and discerning men.” I’ll be their SF curator (and advisor), helping them find and share hidden gems in gadgets, food, outdoor adventure, and more. Subscribers get one hand-picked item per day via email. That’s it.

I encourage you to check it out here. At the very least, you’ll get an education in headlines, as their copywriters are amazing.

Now — onward!

Below is one of my ideal days in SF, planned out so everything is within close walking distance.

Wellness FX Blood Analysis
Activity: Blood-drawing and high-end diagnostics
Description: Visit one of Wellness FX’s labs for a blood drawing to produce an in-depth analysis of your state of health. Results offer a wide range of information, from cholesterol and hormone levels the to an analysis of your body’s electrolytes and vitamins.
Pricing: $29-$529+

SideWalk Juice
Activity: Smoothies, juice blends and more at 21st/Valencia.
Description: SideWalk provides made-to-order juices, smoothies & kombucha juice blends that are as delicious as they are beneficial to your physical and mental health.  My favorites?  The “Green Machine” and the “Jake Shields,” named after the local UFC fighter (“The strongest kale drink in existence!”).
Pricing: $4.25-$7.00

Street Art Tour
Activity: Walking tour of two alleyways with notable graffiti artwork with Dan Pan. We focused on the Mission district.
Description: Guided walking tour with Dan Pan, founder of 1AM Gallery’s new street-art app.  The app allows you to find nearby street art, as well as take pics and have users tell you the artist (very cool).  Try Clarion Alley as a starting point, which is run by an artists’ collective.
Pricing: The 1AM app is free.

Mission Cliffs Climbing
Activity: Indoor rock climbing
Description: Indoor rock climbing at Mission Cliffs, a sprawling gym located at 2295 Harrison St.
Pricing: $20-$160

Lunch at Salumeria
Activity: Lunch at Salumeria
Description: Salumeria is a 20th St. deli and larder that marries the culinary traditions of Old World Italy with the trend-hopping foodie culture of contemporary San Francisco.
Pricing: $6-$17

Drinking!
Activity: Adult beverages with friends
Description: Enjoying social lubrication with new or old friends. A fine tradition as old as time. Some of my favorite spots include:
St. Vincent (Mission)
Hotel Biron (Downtown-ish, Hayes Valley)
Trick Dog (Mission; Disclosure: I’m an investor)
Bourbon and Branch (Tenderloin)
Pricing: Varies.

Hawk Hill: where you can take a bike ride into our Cold War past.
Once upon a time, Fortress America dotted San Francisco’s hilltops with Nike missiles and radar outposts. Of course, those missiles were never fired — but you can still visit the rusted remnants of their vigilance if you bike up to the SF-87C radar outpost, the best-kept secret of the Marin Headlands coastline.

The Lands End Trail, where you’ll find the best maze in the Bay.
Truck up the Great Highway to stretch legs and strut your knowledge of the Sutro Baths. Hike up the Land’s End Trail from the ruins to the labyrinth at Eagle’s Point. It’s only a couple miles round trip, and damn fine panoramic views’ll be in serious supply.

California Cheese Trail: pairs well with Mission Cheese (below) or your vineyard of choice.
As an adult, your knowledge on cheese should surpass the realms of Lunchables and Easy Mac. Showing you the whey: the California Cheese Trail app from the folks at the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, available now for iPhone and Android. If you’re up for spending a few bucks on cheesy delights, visit Mission Cheese on Valencia.

The Bay Bridge’s long-awaited East Span.
The opening of the Bay Bridge’s new East Span has been years in the making, and now it’s officially open, welcoming pedestrians and cyclists of all stripes and offering exclusive access to Yerba Buena Island.

Vantigo: Tour beer breweries in a cherry-red VW Bus.
Indulge your nostalgia for simpler days with Vantigo, now offering tours of some of the Bay Area’s best microbreweries via a pristine ’71 VW Vanagon.
Pricing: $85 per person

Trumaker and Co.: Shirtmakers who come to you.
Restock your shirt library with Trumaker and Co., a custom shirtmaker with a highly mobile fleet of outfitters. It’s simple: you make an appointment, they send a tailor your way.
Pricing: from $98, free outfitter appointment

Boatbound. Because every man should own a boat…if only for a day.
Herein: your guide to using BoatBound, a new AirBnB-style boat rental service. SF Bay or Half Moon Bay?
Pricing: from $250 per day

Big Sur Roadhouse. The Big Sur getaway you’ve been looking for.
There’s a sprawling new Cajun restaurant in Big Sur. There are also some skinny-dip-friendly hot springs down the road. That gives you at least two good excuses to visit.
Pricing: from $50 per person

Mikkeller. It’s like a beer tour of Europe in a single bar.
The legend of Danish brewery Mikkeller has been growing across the pond for some time; they just opened their first North American alehouse in San Francisco.
Pricing: varies

Shelter Co.: Romantic private camping service with tent butlers.
Shelter Co. offers completely customized luxury camping experiences. You want tent butlers? They got tent butlers. You want a private island? They will rent you a private island.
Pricing: from $2000

Want more activities, rare finds, and goodies? Sign up for InsideHook and let me know what you think. I’ll also choose one person who signs up for a 30-minute phone call with me.

Then what? How about you try my Pacific Northwest roadtrip from SF to Whistler? Damn, I love the Bay Area.

What’s your favorite city in the world, and what are your favorite 2-4 activities?

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iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, Samsung, HTC, Nokia and More. Which of the Top 10 Smartphones of 2013 Is Right For You?

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Google Glass—in vogue? How the device is shattering the barrier between fashion and tech

Technology Google Glass was the centerpiece of a spread in this month’s Vogue magazine. Photo: Max Braun/Flickr

In its most recent September issue, Vogue offers a futuristic vision of fashion that blurs the line between gadget and accessory. A 12-page spread titled “The Final Frontier” features models wearing Oscar de la Renta and Gucci, gazing out over a space age landscape, taking in the view through the lenses of Google Glass. The subtle details of the shoot’s art direction – a hand resting on the Glass frames, the light reflecting off the lens, a shot as if the camera were wearing Glass — suggest that these glasses are the future.

Sergey Brin: Why Google Glass?Glass, the wearable computer that Google’s Sergey Brin shared at TED2013, is the first mainstream electronic device to be worn and operated on your face. Following in the footsteps of eyeglasses and wristwatches, Glass just might be the next revolution in wearable technology.

With Glass, Google hopes to achieve ubiquitous computing — a constantly accessible digital information source that can be controlled without lifting a finger. As Brin explained in his talk, Glass’s aim is to minimize technological distractions and quickly return users to their immediate surroundings by providing fast access to information. The device — which can take photos, send texts and tweets, and look up information — is voice-operated and intentionally located above the right eye, for quick glances rather than extensive web browsing. Its slogan: “Getting technology out of the way.”

Glass’ developers knew that no mater how functional the gadget, it would be useful only if people wanted to wear it and it was considered “cool” to wear in public. (To that end, perhaps it helps that TED attendee Chris Kluwe, the kicker for Oakland, wore Glass at a practice last month.) “If it doesn’t meet a minimum bar for comfort and style, it just doesn’t matter what it will do,” Steve Lee, who was involved in the development of Glass, told The New York Times last month.

This is where fashion design comes in. Google recruited Swedish designer Isabelle Olsson to streamline and stylize the device, which in prototypes was bulky and awkward. In fact, the earliest versions included chopsticks, fishing line and coat hangers — as Google’s Tom Chi explained in a talk at last year’s TEDYouth. The “nose-born weight” was too much to bear, and the plastic white frames made with a 3-D printer were cumbersome, especially with a cell phone taped to their side. The slick frames are now available in five colors — charcoal, tangerine, shale, cotton and sky — and have been streamlined to the bare bones minimum, channeling Japanese design.

Google’s target clientele is the general public, but it doesn’t hurt to have fashion heavyweights like Diane von Furstenberg as endorsers. Von Furstenberg incorporated Glass into her show at New York Fashion Week last year and has been a strong advocate of the frames. As she told The New York Times, accessories “tell someone that extra bit about you, and I think to wear Glass is to show that you are engaged, you are current, you are open to new things.” In other words: Glass can be a fashion statement.

But the current Glass frames have also been called a fashion faux pas. They have been criticized for looking dorky and futuristic, — a “Segway for your face,” as writer Matt Novak put it. The blog “White Men Wearing Google Glass” wryly pokes fun at both the frame’s style and the tech industry’s white male dominance. A recent Saturday Night Live sketch highlights the awkward functionality of the gadget, and paints a portrait of how the device is viewed in some circles.

The team at Glass has acknowledged some of the negative feedback it has received, and other frame designs seem to be in the works. Olsson recently posted a photo on her Google+ page of a more conventional glasses frame that incorporates Glass while steering away from the sci-fi look. Google is also considering partnering with Ray-Ban or Warby Parker to design additional frame styles.

In some respects, Glass is simply the newest innovation in performance-enhancing wearable technology. We’ve grown accustomed to calculator watches, hearing aids, and Nike+iPod armbands. But Glass could be a game-changer, as it ventures to make an electronic device fashionable and allows unprecedented access to information with the blink of an eye.

A look at Glass. Photo: Ted Eytan/Flickr

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Why Virtual Friends Make Us Lonely

Connectivity should build community. But, when it comes to online acquaintances, collecting virtual friends make us lonely, not loved.

In his presentation entitled The Innovation of Loneliness, graphic designer Shimi Cohen says that part of the problem is the fact that we are “expecting more from technology and less from each other.”

In this “focused and minimized” 2-D animation Cohen identifies the factors that drive us to social networking and the unfortunate consequences:

We can put our attention where we want it to be

We will always be heard

We will never be alone

It may feel as though we are making friends, but we’re actually making ourselves lonelier. We’re sacrificing “conversations for connection.” We’re simply using social media to create a better version of ourselves to present to the world. It is shameless self-promotion that we’re free to edit, alter and perpetuate.

Social networking is shaping a new way of being best described as; I share, therefore I am.

The Innovation of Loneliness | YouTube

Feeling lonely is one of the worst emotional situations we know of. After you take care of your physical needs (food, shelter and security), the need for friendship can only grow bigger. Feeling Lonely and Want to Change? Here’s How.

Joe Vennare is a fitness professional, freelance writer, and the co-founder of Hybrid Athlete. He’s obsessed with education, entrepreneurship, and exercise as a means of continual evolution. Follow him on Twitter as he hacks his way to a physically fit, exceedingly productive, more creative version of himself.

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A furious infection but a fake fear of water

RadioLab has an excellent short episode on one of the most morbidly fascinating of brain infections – rabies.

Rabies is a virus that can very quickly infect the brain. When it does, it causes typical symptoms of encephalitis (brain inflammation) – headache, sore neck, fever, delirium and breathing problems – and it is almost always fatal.

It also has some curious behavioural effects. It can make people hyper-reactive and can lead to uncontrolled muscle spasms due to its effect on the action coordination systems in the brain. With the pain and distress, some people can become aggressive.

This is known as the ‘furious’ stage and when we describe some as ‘rabid with anger’ it is a metaphor drawn from exactly this.

Rabies can also cause what is misleadingly called ‘hydrophobia’ or fear of water. You can see this in various videos that have been uploaded to YouTube that show rabies-infected patients trying to swallow and reacting quite badly.

But rabies doesn’t actually instil a fear of water in the infected person but instead causes dysphagia – difficulty with swallowing – due to the same disruption to the brain’s action control systems.

We tend to take swallowing for granted but it is actually one of our most complex actions and requires about 50 muscles to complete successfully.

Problems swallowing are not uncommon after brain injury (particularly after stroke) and speech and language therapists can spend a lot of their time on neurorehabilitation wards training people to reuse and re-coordinate their swallow to stop them choking on food.

As we know from waterboarding, choking can induce panic, and it’s not so much that rabies creates a fear of water, but a difficulty swallowing and hence experiences of choking. This makes the person want to avoid trying to swallow liquids.

Bathing, for example, wouldn’t trigger this aversion and that’s why rabies doesn’t really cause a ‘fear of water’ but more a ‘fear of choking on liquids due to impaired swallowing’.

The RadioLab episode discusses the case that launched the controversial Milwaukee protocol – a technique for treating rabies that involves putting you into a drug-induced coma to protect your brain until your body has produced the anti-rabies antibodies.

It’s a fascinating and compelling episode so well worth checking out.

UPDATE: This old medical film on YouTube goes through the stages of rabies infection. Warning: it’s a bit gruesome and has a melodramatic soundtrack but it is quite informative.

Link to RadioLab episode ‘Rodney Versus Death’.

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Yo-yo artist BLACK performs with Cirque du Soleil

art Yo-yo artist BLACK in costume for his Cirque du Soleil performance earlier this month.

Yo-yo master BLACK, who gave a rousing demonstration of his skills at TED2013 along with a moving talk about how the yo-yo helped him transcend low self-esteem, writes to tell us that he’s finally fulfilled a dream that he shared onstage: Earlier this month, he performed at a one-day Cirque du Soleil event. BLACK: My journey to yo-yo mastery

“Finally, I performed for Cirque du Soleil! My TED footage impressed them,” he writes, sending along some photographic proof of the private event, whose further details he agreed not to share. “Being picked as a TED speaker was a big dream for me, maybe even as big as performing in Cirque du Soleil.”

Watch this talk – and marvel at BLACK’s yo-yo spinning masterfully around him like a ribbon ’round a rhythmic gymnast.

A still-life from BLACK’s Cirque dream come true.

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The most walkable cities in the world

News TED Conferences

A major theme that will run through TEDCity2.0, our upcoming one-day conference about the future of cities: the joy of using one’s feet to get around. During the event, Janette Sadik-Khan, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, will talk about why she’s put pedestrians and bikers at the center of the department’s policy. Enrique Peñalosa, the mayor of Bogota, Columbia, will talk about his push to increase the “high-quality public pedestrian space” both in his city and worldwide. Meanwhile, the self-described “pedestrian freestylers” of Bklyn Beast, who combine parkour, capoeira and dance to incredible end, will show off a new way of walking through a city.

Jeff Speck, the author of the book Walkable City, will also be speaking at TEDCity2.0 — which will take place in New York City on September 20. (Email rsvp@ted.com for more information on attending.) We asked Speck to pick some of the cities he’s found the most delightful to explore on foot. He qualifies his picks saying, “These lists are silly and inevitably wrong, but here are the places that I’ve been to and that I’ve enjoyed walking around the most.”

Venice, Italy. Proof that cities really are better without cars — also without (too many) tourists. To be avoided April through September.
.Amsterdam, Netherlands. Yes, I’ve got a thing for canals — and bicycles. Much safer once you’ve learned how to avoid stepping into either.
.Marrakech, Morocco. The one hitch to navigating this city’s bewildering medina is to know that, unlike almost everywhere else walkable, Arab urbanism includes dead ends — the result of families joining houses across streets.
.Antigua, Guatemala. Along with San Miguel de Allende (and Marrakech), it is a triumph of the Courtyard House type, so each doorway reveals a hidden world. Trespassers delight.
.Quebec City, Canada. In winter, it ties with New Orleans in summer. Proof that good urbanism begets walking whatever the weather.

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Logitech Helps Make the Most Out of Your iPad and iPad Mini While Keeping it Safe

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Be more Productive – 4 Ways that Really Work

Everyone assumes that being more productive is simply about getting more done in less time. If you are a productive person, you definitely accomplish more in months than many people do in years, but productivity is more of a way of being. You could be doing less and at the same time, be more productive. What do you think of when you think about ‘being more productive in your life’?

On your search for being more productive, you are likely to come across a wealth of information on different tools, techniques and tips to employ. Most of the time, it may seem like common sense; however, common sense is definitely not common practice and this is why many individuals struggle to increase their productivity. Most of what you will read will improve your results, but another contributing factor is that some of the suggestions just don’t seem to resonate with people or cannot be easily applied.

I am not going to tell you where you can buy a magic pill to take away any effort you need to make to achieve what you want, but I am going to share with you 4 ways that really work to be more productive. It is not only about applying the best practices, but also applying yourself more and in different ways. To increase your productivity, you need to ‘be more productive’ and this means:

Sometimes all you need to do is stop sabotaging yourself and get out of your own way. What do I mean exactly? You might tend to look at all the extrinsic factors of why you can’t be more productive and you might blame, complain and point fingers at everyone and everything, except yourself. When the blame cannot be directed externally, you might then resort to using excuses, desperately searching for a justification that will give you comfort because ‘you have no control over what happens.’

How many excuses do you have and live by each day? ‘I couldn’t do this because…or I don’t have time to do this because…’ I am not saying that your excuses might not be valid, but I strongly believe that more than 80% of the time, they are not real; it is an avoidance technique that we subconsciously use.

Not dealing with procrastination is a clear example of standing in your own way. Nobody else is going to suddenly make it go away; it will be there the next time you attempt to do whatever it is that you are procrastinating.  Put results before comfort, get out of your own way, and stop making excuses. Like Nike says, “just do it!”

Ask yourself honestly: ‘How are you standing in your own way in some areas?’

Productive individuals think very differently than others. You need to challenge your thoughts and develop a productive mindset. What is the main difference? A productive person doesn’t think along the lines of…

‘Oh no, I have got so much to do. What am I going to do?’‘I am so stressed. I can’t think straight’‘I am so overwhelmed. I wish this…or that…’

But instead…

I need to do x and y. What is the best way for me to get everything done?What is causing the stress? What needs to change so that I manage this situation better?What can I do to improve this, considering the current circumstances?

The words and phrases you use immediately empower you or they don’t; they either make you feel better or more stressed. The words you use, ‘your self talk,’ is pivotal to everything in life, because you always act on them, whether they support you or not.

How could you change the way you are thinking to be more productive and empowered?

Time management supports productivity; they go hand-in-hand. Most people often overlook the fact that time management is not a cookie cutter though, and what might suit you won’t necessarily work for your colleague or best friend.

You need to take the advice given from a meta view and then adjust it to your situation specifically. Think about clothes shopping: sometimes the suit doesn’t fit and you need to make adjustments and tweaks so that it fits your body perfectly.The same is true with time management and being more productive. You need to personalize what you read to your needs.

If some tips and techniques don’t work for you, instead of throwing in the towel, find a way to adjust them to suit your situation. Otherwise, it is like wanting to get healthier but resisting a change in lifestyle. You can’t avoid it, so if you don’t like it, adjust it to suit your specific needs and make it work for you.

We all have time thieves, but most of us don’t even know what they are. If you can identify your biggest time thieves, the activities or situations that throw you off course, distract or interrupt you, or the bad habits that keep you from performing better, you will improve your results much more quickly.

If you try to study and apply different techniques, and you ignore your current thieves, the effort will remain fruitless.  If you just aim to change one of your worst time management habits, you will change your results immediately. It will most likely also give you the impetus to change what else isn’t working, once you feel the reward of your efforts and you see the clear connection between what you do and what your reality is.

Think about one thing, that if you changed right now, would have the biggest positive influence on your productivity. Write this down, think about what causes or contributes to this and what your solution will be moving forward.

Don’t forget to put results before comfort, if that is what you really want. Most people give up without ever knowing that they really can achieve their goals, meet their objectives and transform their lives!

Here are 6 Google Chrome productivity extensions that will help you get things done. 6 Google Chrome Productivity Extensions That Help You Get Things Done

Featured photo credit: (Loli)via Flickr

Kirstin O’Donovan is the founder of TopResultsCoaching and author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Time Management’. - http://www.topresultscoaching.com/ Kirstin is a Productivity coach, who specializes in helping individuals gain control over their time, to feel more productive and organized. Kirstin is committed to empowering others to live a life that they desire and build a mindset that will supports seeing their dreams and desires turn into reality. Want 7 Simple Strategies to Triple Your Productivity? - Free Access to E-Course -@topresultscoaching.com

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A walk on the wild side: 7 fascinating experiments in rewilding

Science TEDTalks George Monbiot gets in touch with his rewilding side at TEDGlobal 2013. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

George Monbiot begins today’s talk by recalling a time he was “ecologically bored.”

“We evolved in rather more challenging times than these, in the world of horns and tusks and fangs and claws,” explains Monbiot, an investigative journalist who found himself deeply dissatisfied returning to the United Kingdom after years reporting in the tropics. George Monbiot: For more wonder, rewild the world“We still possess the fear and the courage and the aggression required to navigate those times. But in our comfortable, safe, crowded lands, we have few opportunities to exercise them without harming other people.”

In his search for a solution to this stupor, Monbiot discovered his current passion: rewilding.

It’s a term, coined by activist Dave Foreman and broadened by Michael Soulé and Reed Noss in the 1990s, that Monbiot explains has two meanings. The first involves the mass restoration of ecosystems through attention to “trophic cascades” — the ecological processes that start at the top of a food chain and tumble down to the bottom, affecting the entire ecosystem in the process. The second involves the rewilding of places humans live—restoring some of the fauna that we’ve wiped out through hunting and habitat destruction.

“Paleoecology—the study of past ecosystems crucial to an understanding of our own—feels like a portal through which you may pass into an enchanted kingdom,” Monbiot says. “The story rewilding tells us is that ecological change need not always proceed in one direction. It offers us the hope that our silent spring could be replaced by a raucous summer.”

Below, a few experiments in rewilding, drawn from Monbiot’s talk and elsewhere.

Bringing wolves back to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park had become overrun with deer, which grazed away the vegetation dramatically. For years, biologists like Dave Foreman suggested a solution: bringing wolves back to the park, as the last ones were killed off in 1926. In 1995, wolves were finally reintroduced to Yellowstone, and the effects were dramatic. The wolves brought the deer population down to a sustainable population — but more importantly, they radically changed the behavior of the remaining deer. These deer started to move more often and avoid places in the park where they could easily be trapped, which in turn grew thick with vegetation. This allowed birds and beavers to move in, and the beavers’ dams became habitats for otters, muskrats, ducks, fish, reptiles and amphibians. The wolves also killed coyotes, which allowed for more rabbits and mice, which in turn boosted the populations of weasels, hawks, foxes and badgers. Meanwhile, ravens, bald eagles and bears fed on the carrion that the wolves left. In fact, even the river patterns in the park changed: the regenerating vegetation stabilized the riverbanks, which yielded less to erosion and took on straighter water flow. “The wolves, small in number, transformed not just the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park—this huge area of land—but also its physical geography,” Monbiot explains in his talk.
.Saving whales in the southern oceans
As a second example, Monbiot describes an unexpected way in which whales are a lynchpin of the ocean ecosystem — through their excrement. Whales feed at great depth, but come up near the water’s surface as they produce large fecal plumes. Up there, sunlight allows photosynthesis to take place, which results in the growth of phytoplankton. Zooplankton, which feed on phytoplankton, prosper in turn; and they feed fish and krill—which feed whales. Not only that, but whales’ movements push phytoplankton—which absorbs carbon—back up toward the water’s surface, where it can continue to survive and reproduce. According to Monbiot, at their usual historic populations, whales were probably responsible for sequestering tens of millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year. So the management of whaling, and whale conservation by groups like the International Whaling Commission is, in this sense, a form of rewilding.
.Restoring trees in Glen Moriston, Scotland
Dundreggan, a 10,000-acre estate in the Scottish Highlands, is currently overgrazed by deer and sheep, which have decimated the local vegetation. In an ongoing, decades-long process, the organization Trees for Life is reforesting the area. “Our vision is to turn Dundreggan into one of Scotland’s finest native woodlands, abundant in wildlife, and protected for generations to come,” the website reads. The organization’s long-term goal is to restore the native forest of oak, hazel, ash and Scots pines to over half of the land. By 2058, they expect to see animals like the red squirrel, European beaver and wild boars return to the area.
.Bringing beavers to mid Wales
The Cambrian Wildwood, a Wales Wild Land Foundation project, aims to restore Blaeneinion, 75 acres of land in mid Wales. The initiative, which launched in 2008, is reforesting the area with broadleaf trees, creating orchards. They are also introducing beavers to the area. “Alongside the reforestation of roughly 50 acres of pastureland, the project will incorporate subsistence organic food-growing, beekeeping, rearing small livestock and poultry, propagation of productive local fruit varieties, mushroom production, teaching components, social events, aquaculture and much, much more,” the website promises.
.A jaguar reserve in Sonora, Mexico
It sounds strange, but it’s true — jaguars were once a fixture of the southern United States and northern Mexico.  The Northern Jaguar Project works to restore habitats for jaguars and other threatened and endangered species in the area. Currently, an estimated 80-120 jaguars inhabit their Northern Jaguar Reserve in northeastern Sonora, which was established in 2003. In 2008, the reserve raised funds to purchase more land and the reserve is now a stunning 35,000-acre ranch where jaguars roam undisturbed.
.Revegetating the White River National Forest. Colorado
The White River National Forest is a 2.3 million acre park in the Rocky Mountains. The Wilderness Workshop, founded in 1967, aims to keep large swaths of it truly wild — free of roads that fragment wilderness, free of human crowds that can disrupt animals and free of logging, mining and gas drilling which can harm the ecosystem. While much of their work is about defending the wilderness as it stands, their Habitat Restoration Program is about peeling back the effects of past damage and letting the land heal itself. The Program’s projects work on erosion control, weed removal, revegetation and, of course, reintroduction of native plant and animal species.
.Bringing trout to South London
In 1805, the River Wandle was described as “the hardest worked river for its size in the world.” Ninety mills used the river then and, until very recently, it was routinely mowed of natural features to keep its water moving quickly. The last trout was caught in the river, which joins with the Thames, in 1934.  In this article, Monbiot describes The Wandle Trust, which aims to restore the river by cleaning it out, redirecting its flow and restocking it with fish. Now, shrimp, insects and trout flourish in the river … even in proximity to the big city. “Astonishingly in view of where it has come from—historically and geographically—it looks in places like the kind of chalkstreams you would expect to find flowing through some of the most bucolic landscapes in England,” writes Monbiot.

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Most Folks Are As Happy As They…

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

Don’t you just love an inspiring quote? Quotes are not just interesting tidbits of wisdom and inspiration, but if we really pay attention to the wisdom they have to offer, if we take the time to truly digest it, absorb it and hopefully act upon it, it can actually make a real difference in the experience of our lives. Why not learn from the wisdom of others who have found their paths to “True Happiness?”

20 Motivational Quotes about Life that Lead to True Happiness

Brian is a Lifehacker who covers all sorts of tips for life. He is also fascinated with new technology. Contact him at brian@lifehack.org

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Must Read Tips for Skype Interviews

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Optimize Your Health – Eat, Move, and Sleep The Right Way

The human body is a highly evolved biological machine. You, as its owner, is obliged to look after its upkeep and maintenance. See to it that the nutrients it craves for are supplied consistently; so it can stay healthy, and vibrant always.

Another benefit you can acquire from taking care of your body is longevity. This fact has been proven by many studies and personally, I have talked to enough senior people who possess younger looking bodies, and they can still have long walks, swims, go biking, and still enjoy working. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do those activities in your twilight years?

Lifestyle plays a big role in optimizing your general health. It’s in your best interest to adopt a healthy one. I know its not easy to develop one; but, doing so can definitely do wonders for your body for the long haul.

I was hunting for good resources when I stumbled upon this infographic by Dans Plans. It illustrates how you can get your lifestyle on the right path to health and longevity. I would love to grow old with a healthy body. Wouldn’t you?

Think your team is better off putting in an extra hour of work this evening than going to the gym? Think again. Extra Pounds Kill Productivity: Hack Your Office’s Health

Anthony is a Lifehacker who lives and breathes giving tips to make your life easier. He is also a broadcaster/professional blogger who is fueled by cappuccino and Rock Music. If he's not busy writing for clients, and churning out e-books for greenhorn broadcasters and freelance writers, he gives tips to entry level broadcasters and freelance writers on his site The Write Freelance

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Financial Advice: How Social Media Can Help You Find Deals and Save Money on Shopping

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Peter Huttenlocher has left the building

The New York Times has an obituary for child neurologist Peter Huttenlocher, who surprised everyone by finding that the human brain loses connections as part of growing into adulthood.

Huttenlocher counted synapses – the connections between neurons – and as a paediatric neurologist was particularly interested in how the number of synapses changed as we grow from children to adults.

Before Huttenlocher’s work we tended to think that our brain’s just got more connected as we got older, but what he showed was that we hit peak connectivity in the first year of life and much of brain development is actually removing the unneeded connections.

This is know as synpatic pruning and it was demonstrated with this graph from classic 1990 paper.

I love this graph for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s a bit wonky. It was hand-drawn and whenever it is reproduced, as it has been in many textbooks, it’s always a bit off-centre.

Secondly, it’s crystal clear. It’s a graph showing the density of synaptic connections in the visual cortex of the human brain and you can see it’s rapidly downhill from the first year of life until the late teens where things start to even out.

This is a good thing as the infant brain starts over-connected but loses anything that isn’t needed as we learn which skills are most important, and we are left with only the most efficient neural connections, through the experience of growing up.

One of Huttenlocher’s discoveries was that this process of synaptic pruning may go wrong in people who have neurodevelopmental disorders.

Link to NYT obituary for Peter Huttenlocher.

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Name Your Own Price to Get 10 Explosive Mac Apps

Lifehack Deals presents – 10 explosive mac apps to improve your overall Mac experience. That’s right. We’ve partnered with 10 of the world’s finest Mac App developers to bring you the third-ever [we did the first two too ;)] Name Your Own Price Mac Bundle. You pay what you want for Airy, My LIving Desktop, & Compartments and if you pay more than the average price, you’ll receive all the apps in the bundle.

Easily Create Stunning Screen Captures & Video Recordings

Easily capture what you’re seeing & doingCommunicate your thoughts to the world via beautiful videosCapture anything on your screenFocus your videos on what mattersCall attention to the important details in your video

Easily Use Windows Software on Your Mac

Seamlessly run Windows applications and PC games on your MacEasily run Windows applications without rebootingRun Window apps without a Windows licenseSimply run Window apps at native speeds

Dream It & Build It With This Imaginative Software

Easily add animations and other capabilities to your webpagesNo knowledge of JavaScript requiredProcess data from forms, create maps, and almost anything else you can think of

iDocument 2

The Simplest & Smartest Document Management Application For Mac

The simplest & smartest document management application For MaciDocuments centralizes your documents and condenses the 50 folders that clutter your desktop into oneView documents stored in your centralized library in intuitive waysAutomatically detect new documents

A Killer Text-to-Speech Tool for You and Your Mac

Powerful voice synthesis that will bring your words to lifeUse Narrator to read things out loud to make sure your messages are communicated correctlyExport speech directly to iTunes where you can listen to it as much as you want

The Cutting Edge Solution to Hiding Your Private Files & Folders On Your Mac

Hide your confidential information from unwanted eyesSimple interface allows for easy and powerful useProtect certain folders and files with one clickOrganize all your private files and folders for easy access

A Revolutionary 3D Modeling and Rendering Application

Revolutionary 3D modeling and rendering softwareFor beginners and professionalsInnovative Text-to-3D technologyCreates exceptional 3D images, scenes and worlds

A YouTube Downloader For Your Mac

Simply download Youtube videos right to your MacExtract MP3 sound from any Youtube videoExtremely easy-to-use application

Bring Your Desktop to Life With Beautiful & Moving Environments

Play nature scenes or any other kind of scenes right on your desktopImport your own home moviesAutomatic Serenity Breaks remind you to take a break5 star frequency rating to play your favorite scenes more oftenUnobtrusive and without impact to your normal CPU computing experienceProtect Your Valuables With This Home Value Inventory SoftwareEnsure your home valuables are accounted forGenerate home inventory reports and auto calculate the total estimated value of your belongingsSimply keep track of all your serial numbers, receipts, and warrantiesEasily search the application to find your valuables

Brian is a Lifehacker who covers all sorts of tips for life. He is also fascinated with new technology. Contact him at brian@lifehack.org

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Trying to Lose Weight or Eat Healthy? Stay Away From This List of 13 of the Worst Frozen Dinners.

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7 Ways to Make Money From Your Smartphone or Tablet

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The James Bond Guide To Ultimate Confidence

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10 Tips to Help You Write a Better Cover Letter

What makes a cover letter effective and what doesn’t? That’s what you have to know to compete for a dream job. But first, let’s define a cover letter. What is a cover letter, anyway?

A cover letter introduces your resume and can act as your first marketing tool. It spells out why you’re submitting your resume; and, more significantly, why you are qualified for the position.

Here’s one important matter you should not miss — your cover letter creates the first impression. Aside from your resume, the employer’s first encounter of you is embodied in this document. Everything about it represents you so by all means, and by saying this I mean, I’m dead serious — do everything in your power to stand out using this particular letter.

Additionally, this document should help to showcase your strengths and help set you apart from the crowd. It should be tailored to fit the open position. Not to forget, your covering letter should address the job’s requirements.

Likewise, and based on experience, the tricky part is getting the employer to sit and allot time to study your cover letter from among the hundreds of cover letters sent by other applicants. This is your best chance to showcase your brand; and to market yourself as a professional. Go, differentiate yourself. Do it with your cover letter.

Recently I’ve been reading through dozens of letters from people who are interested in working together, and I want to share some insights regarding what makes for an effective cover letter and what doesn’t.

If you consider these tips from the employer’s perspective, I think you’ll agree that most of them can be considered common sense. However, my experience thus far suggests they aren’t commonly applied. Because most people make these avoidable mistakes, I’ve been rejecting about 80% of applicants based on their cover letters alone.

Most of the time, the mistakes people make in their cover letters are actively disqualifying them. So I don’t even need to look at their resume or CV.

While these tips are based on my recent personal experiences, I believe they’re general enough to be of value to others.

Nothing says loser like a cover letter filled with spelling and/or grammatical errors.

What do such mistakes convey to a potential employer? They suggest that you do sloppy work, that you don’t pay much attention to detail, that you don’t care enough to do a good job, that you’re uneducated, or that you’re not very bright.

That one minor typo that sneaks through even after proofreading probably isn’t a big deal. Some may see it as a negative strike, but employers understand that mistakes happen and that perfection isn’t a realistic standard. However, if you have several spelling mistakes in your letter, or if your grammar sounds like you haven’t passed the 3rd grade, that’s likely to hurt your chances.

What if you’re applying for a job that isn’t in your native language? I still think you should make the effort to provide a quality cover letter and resume without spelling or grammar mistakes.

I’m used to communicating with non-native English speakers because 50% of my readers live outside the USA, and I’ve been doing business internationally since the mid-1990s. On a personal level, I’m impressed with people who can communicate in multiple languages. That said, it still makes a poor impression when you send a cover letter and resume with more grammar and spelling mistakes than most native speakers. This suggests that you may have difficulty communicating with other team members.

I’m not saying that you need perfect English skills. I’m simply saying that you shouldn’t let yourself be disqualified so easily by sending a poorly written cover letter. Don’t let your use of language betray you.

Take the time to have a native speaker proofread your cover letter and resume and correct any mistakes. This doesn’t take much extra time, but it could mean the difference between getting a follow up call vs. being disqualified as a poor communicator.

Think of it this way: If an employer has to decide between you and another equally qualified applicant, and the other person has an error-free letter while yours contains many mistakes, who has the advantage?

Speaking personally, I’d be very unlikely to follow up with someone who sent me a cover letter that showed poor English skills, even if it was obviously sent by a non-native speaker. I’m going to favor people who show can communicate well in the primary language of my company.

This is an easy mistake to avoid, so don’t be foolish or lazy here. If you simply provide an error-free cover letter and resume, that alone is probably enough to place you in the top 50% of applicants. Not doing so puts you in the bottom 50%; that’s the half that won’t get a callback.

Someone may think it’s ironic that I give such advice when my articles often contain typos. I do fix typos when people report them, but the nature of my work makes typos a lesser concern; I don’t compete with other bloggers to minimize typos. But perhaps I’d be interested in hiring people with a better eye for catching mistakes than I have. 

Businesses are built by people who stick around. From an employer’s perspective, there isn’t much value in working with someone who only wants to work for a few weeks or even a few months.

Hiring someone new is expensive. It takes time to filter applicants, interview them, and find suitable people. It takes more time to train and mentor them. Initially many employees produce negative value — they drain more value out of the company than they can provide.

High turnover is a problem for many companies. If you have a turnkey business that relies on unskilled workers who get paid minium wage, then high turnover may simply be par for the course. But for many small businesses or for businesses in creative fields, having stable, long-term workers is much better.

Suppose you’re an employer. One applicant says they’re looking for a summer job before they go back to school. Another indicates that they’re looking for long-term employment in your field. Who are you going to favor, all else being equal?

I received one letter from a man who wanted to work together for just 3 weeks, during a specific window of time he’s available. It doesn’t make sense to follow up with someone like that when there are other people looking for serious long-term work.

I’m not suggesting that you lie. If you’re only available for the summer, then be up front about that, and seek out seasonal positions. But if you see some possibilities for working together with an employer long-term, it’s wise to indicate that you may stick around if things work out. If you do the opposite by suggesting you probably won’t be around long, then it’s riskier for an employer to invest much in you.

If you position yourself as a high turnover employee, you’re also likely to depress your income. High turnover jobs tend to be close to minimum wage. If a job pays well, it’s probably not a high turnover job. So if you’d like to earn more money, position yourself as someone who will likely be around for years if you like the work.

No one expects you to commit up front to years of employment with a new company. You’ll have to feel each other out first to see if you’re a good match for each other. But at least suggest the possibility that if things go well, you may stick around. This makes you seem like a better investment. It can’t hurt your chances.

This of course assumes that you truly want to build a serious career, not just find a job. If all you want is a job, then read 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job and then see if that’s still what you want.

If you’re applying for work far from where you live, you’d better explain why in your cover letter. And your explanation should sound plausible.

Otherwise the employer may wonder: Why is this person looking for work so far from home? Are they unable to find work locally? They must not be very good.

Wanting to move to a new city to expand your horizons is a good enough reason. Lots of people move to New York City or San Francisco because they want the experience of living in those places. But if you’ve been living in your current city for years, and if there doesn’t seem to be a good reason for a major relocation other than the fact that you need an income, that just makes you look desperate and unworthy.

When I get applications from people in other countries for positions that would require relocation and a special work visa, I cringe a bit. Hiring someone from out of the country is riskier and more complicated than hiring a local. It doesn’t make much sense to look so far away unless I’ve already exhausted local possibilities, first within my own city and then within my own country.

Las Vegas isn’t a city for everyone. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for having people relocate here just to see if we can work well together. Naturally I’m going to start with local applicants for work that would be done locally.

The only reason to go outside my city, state, or country is if I’m looking for people to work virtually (over the Internet), or if I need people with such talents that the local workforce cannot provide. All else being equal, I’ll hire someone local to me before I give serious consideration to working with people in other cities or countries. It doesn’t make sense to go beyond local if I can find good people locally.

Some people send me employment-related letters that are so vague I honestly can’t tell what sort of work they’re interested in doing. These letters included phrases like, “I can do pretty much anything you need done.” Their resumes show a work history that has little or nothing to do with my field.

Since these people fail to specify what they want, they put the onus on me to use my imagination.

Unfortunately for them, I simply imagined myself dropping their letters into the recycle bin. That was fairly easy to visualize.

If you don’t know what you want, you should develop a clearer picture of that first before you go around applying for work. Don’t expect potential employers to figure it out for you.

It seems that some people mistakenly assume that raw enthusiasm and a willingness to work is enough to get them in the door. It isn’t.

Even if you’re looking for an internship, specify what type of internship you’re seeking. Are you a marketing student looking for a marketing internship? A programmer seeking a programming internship? Or an unfocused drifter looking for whatever? If you’re not clear, you’re positioning yourself as the latter. There aren’t as many quality internships for unfocused drifters.

If I get a vague letter from a local applicant who seems otherwise intelligent, and it’s easy to meet with them, I may do so if I’m not too busy. Perhaps we can have a nice chat, and maybe we’ll figure something out. But for the most part, I’m just being social when I do this. The person hasn’t given me sufficient cause to seriously consider working with them, at least not yet. If we share common interests, I may meet with them just to see what comes of it and because I have that kind of flexibility. But if I’m busy or if this sort of thing comes from a non-local applicant, there’s no reason to follow up.

Contrast these types of letters with someone who suggests something very specific in terms of working together. I received some great letters from web developers who want to upgrade my website. Their portfolios show a history of making websites for small businesses. It makes sense to follow up with these people. I don’t have to stretch my imagination to figure out how we might work together. They shared something clear and concrete to consider, something I can say yes to.

You might think you’re limiting your chances by being too specific. But look at this from the employer’s perspective. If I get a few letters each week from people who are offering to do “pretty much anything,” they’re all going to blur together. None of them will stand out. This approach is generic and warrants a generic rejection.

Now suppose I get a letter from someone offering to serve as my Logistics Coordinator for live events. They give me a list of things they can do. They build a good case for why they’re qualified to do this. Their resume shows some relevant work history. This makes it easier for me to imagine how I might fit this person into the company as a whole, making it more likely that I’ll follow up. If I don’t need to hire such a person just yet, then obviously I won’t hire them. But even in that situation, I’m likely to file their letter in case I need such a person down the road or if I decide to expand capacity in this area by bringing on a new person. And I may also follow up with something like, “Check back with me in 6 months. I may have something for you then.” At the very least, I’d be more likely to follow up with this person in some fashion.

If you’re too vague in specifying what you want to do, you’ll be passed over. Employers are too busy figuring out how to hire, train, and integrate people who actually do know what they want. They don’t have as much time to help you figure out what you want. Figuring it out is your job, not theirs.

Remember that most jobs are never advertised anywhere. You have the power to design and create your own position instead of merely responding to what’s being advertised. The advertised positions are generally much more rigid than what you can design for yourself, and they’ll also attract a lot more competition. When I ran my games business, I was able to find and hire everyone I needed without advertising any of the positions. I filled every position through my network of contacts.

If you have any difficulty grasping the importance of defining your own work position, and especially if you disagree with it, read How to Order.

Think like an attorney building a case as to why you should be hired. Make sure your case is a strong one.

When you’re seeking a rewarding long-term career, understand and accept that lots of other people are looking for the same thing. It’s a competitive situation, so you need to play to win. Being good isn’t enough. You need to be the best among the other applicants for your position.

In a criminal trial in the USA, the mantra is “innocent until proven guilty.” This means that you’re assumed to be innocent unless the prosecutor can prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Some people apply for work as if “employable until proven incompetent” is the mantra that applies. They provide pretty good cover letters and resumes, figuring that as long as they satisfy expectations and don’t screw something up, they have a reasonable chance of getting hired. They’re careful to avoid the obvious mistakes, and yet quite often they still lose. They lose to people who are willing to be unreasonable — unreasonably good, that is.

That’s because the mantra that applies in the world of work is closer to the standard in civil cases as opposed to criminal cases. In a civil case, the standard is “the preponderance of evidence.” This means that whichever side builds the best case wins, and the other side loses. One side may build a great case and still lose if the other side builds a slightly better case. This may not sound fair, but such are the vicissitudes of life.

Some people send me very good applications. However, a few surpassed the standard of very good. They provided something excellent — like a significantly longer letter explaining in detail how we might specifically work together. They didn’t merely offer up enthusiastic ramblings; they built a strong case for what we could accomplish together.

If you hold yourself to an unreasonable standard of going well beyond what most people do, then even if you don’t come out on top, you’re more likely to get a follow up. The employer might even add an extra position to accommodate you.

People with higher than normal standards are very valuable in the world of work. What employer would want to hire someone very good if they could hire someone outstanding?

Being too close to the average (even the good side of average) isn’t such a great idea if you want to be hired for a competitive position. You want to be at least one standard deviation beyond that. If you’re good-average, you’re still in the slush pile. It’s too easy for a more competitive candidate to knock you out of the running simply by trying harder.

If someone else could easily beat you by spending an extra half-hour on their cover letter, you’re probably going to be beaten.

If you claim certain skills, back them up with solid evidence. Explain how you developed skills that aren’t conveyed by your education and work history. Don’t claim general skills like being a hard worker or being well-organized unless you can back them up. Share a quick story to explain how you’ve applied these skills. Otherwise you’re doing what so many other people do, and someone else that includes such evidence will make you look like a second-rate applicant.

You don’t have to like the competitive aspect, but don’t ignore it either. If you’re going to compete, then compete to win; otherwise don’t bother.

Present yourself as a competent pro — or at least an amateur on the rise. Employers want to hire competent professionals with strong skills. It’s too risky to hire people who position themselves as emotionally immature and unprofessional.

I received several letters from people who:

complained about their previous employerscomplained about their history, upbringing, current life situation, etc.shared what types of work they’re sick and tired of doingexplained how under-appreciated and misunderstood they felttold me how fed up they are with their unfulfilling lives

This sort of thing may seem honest and open, but it’s really unprofessional. If you do anything like the above, you’re positioning yourself as an emotionally immature man-child or woman-child, not a serious professional. In my view any such applicant is an easy no, instantly disqualified.

I sympathize that you may be looking to improve your life situation, and you may have had real problems with previous employers. Let’s give you the benefit of the doubt and say those problems were beyond your control. Even so, it’s unwise to position yourself as someone who needs rescuing. This doesn’t make you look like a quality hire. It makes you look irresponsible. A new employer can’t verify that your ex-boss was an idiot.

When an employer sees the above, they’re likely to assume:

If this person had conflicts with previous employers, they’ll probably have similar conflicts here.If this person is willing to complain about their previous employers, they’ll eventually complain about me.This person is unappreciative, ungrateful, and disloyal.This person has an unreasonable sense of entitlement.This person has a negative attitude.This isn’t someone I’d want on my team.

Again, I sympathize if you really are in a rough spot, but it isn’t appropriate to vent your past resentments in a professional cover letter if you’re looking for serious work.

Put yourself in the employer’s shoes. When one applicant sends a letter complaining about their “poor me” situation, while another equally qualified applicant writes positively of how much they learned from previous employers and why they moved on without burning bridges, which person would you invite to join your team?

A potential employer isn’t your therapist. Put your best foot forward if you want to be hired. Do you want sympathy, or do you want to work?

Cover letters and resumes are typically very bland. It’s likely that your potential employer will be looking at several other applications at the same time. I’ve been going through them in stacks of 10-15 at a time.

If your communication style is just as bland as everyone else’s, it won’t help you stand out. But if you inject some originality and personality in your cover letter and resume, this can help you.

For one, it makes you more memorable. If your letter is more memorable, you have a better shot of getting a follow up.

Some of the letters I received expressed a lot of personality, such as a quirky sense of humor. I can’t speak for all employers, but I appreciate it when people do this, as long as they’re expressing positive aspects of their personality.

You take a bit more risk when you do this, but I think it’s a reasonable risk. I respect people who do this. It gives me a more realistic sense of what it would be like to work with you. If you express your geeky side, your humorous side, or your creative side, then I can more easily visualize you as a real member of the team as opposed to a faceless applicant.

A friendly tone is generally good, but don’t be so casual that you seem unprofessionally goofy. Make sure that each paragraph of your letter contains substance and value; cut the fluff.

Another thing you can do to personalize your cover letter or resume is to include a photo. Since most people don’t do it, it’s one more easy thing you can do to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Even a grayscale photo is nice. If you’re worried about discrimination based on how you look, then feel free to decline this suggestion, but keep in mind that if you do an in-person interview, your employer will eventually see what you look like anyway. If you show an employer what you look like, it’s easier for them to visualize working with you. I think this is a risk that should generally work in your favor.

If you can express some of your skills through your cover letter and resume, do that too. Follow the mantra “Show me; don’t tell me” when possible. If you claim to have strong design skills, make sure your resume reflects it. If you claim to be highly creative, but your cover letter and resume look very bland and typical, that’s a mismatch that can work against you.

On the other hand, I don’t recommend expressing aspects of your personality that could work against you. Try not to position yourself as someone dark and creepy who’d be difficult to work with in a team environment. For instance, don’t share your interest in collecting firearms unless it’s relevant to your work.

If an angel came to you in a dream and said you’re going to work for this company, or if you receive several synchronicities about applying for a certain position, please don’t put that in your cover letter. It may be exciting for you, but it can come off as immature and manipulative if you convey this to a potential employer.

One problem is that when you do this, it’s not unique. It won’t impress any but the most gullible employers. Most of the people who play the destiny card aren’t going to get hired. So when you claim that your application was divinely mandated, you’re actually triggering a “don’t hire me” pattern by grouping yourself with others who weren’t hired. This is more likely to hurt you than help you.

Another problem is that from an employer’s perspective, this sort of thing can come across as manipulative and border-line desperate. I’d like to believe that I have the free will to hire or not hire you according to your skills and qualifications. If you suggest that I’m supposed to hire you or that I’d be wrong, foolish, or mistaken to do otherwise, you’re going to trigger my B.S. detector. And I’ll drop your application into the recycle bin right along with the other divinely inspired ones.

If I happen to experience a major synchronicity with respect to hiring you, then great; by itself that wouldn’t be enough for me to say yes, but it might nudge me to take a second look. But your synchronicities are yours; they mean nothing to me. If you frame our potential working relationship as something that’s fated to happen, then I’ll provide you with a lesson in free will. Perhaps you were fated to apply and get rejected, so you can learn how to avoid this mistake in the future.

We may choose to work together, but we aren’t fated to do so. Don’t try to subvert a potential employer’s ability to decide. If you seek to be the best choice, then earn it without playing the destiny card.

Don’t position yourself as weak, timid, desperate, or needy. Do position yourself as an excellent choice in a competitive field.

What do you excel at? Why should an employer hire you instead of someone else?

Identify one or two qualities you possess that you’ve developed to a much greater degree than most people. Emphasize those qualities. Present them as strengths, and center your application around these strengths.

For example, if you believe you’re very creative, then send an application that you’d expect to be the most creative one an employer will see this year. Otherwise you’re just blowing smoke; your creativity claim is weak.

If you claim to be an excellent video editor, then why would you send a plain text cover letter? Send a video application, and make it shine. Or at least send a letter with a link to a video.

Share that which makes you stand out from the crowd. If you’ve won some awards, share that. If you’ve published some articles in your field, share that too.

If you can’t share anything that makes you seem different and better, someone else will. They’ll get hired. You’ll get ignored.

Don’t apply for work for which you aren’t qualified with a “what have I got to lose?” attitude. You’re just wasting people’s time.

Apply when there’s a strong match between the position and your skills, experience, and goals. Otherwise don’t apply at all.

One thing that’s actually impressive is when you share where else you’re applying to. If you send an employer a letter that you’re applying to them as well as 5 of their top competitors, they’re more likely to take notice of you. Some employers may want to hire you partly to keep you from joining their competitors, especially if you’re well qualified. This is particularly true in technical fields.

Even if you manage to get a job for which you’re a mismatch, it’s unlikely to work out in the long run. And while you’re stuck in that mismatched job, better opportunities will pass you by because you’ll be too busy to notice them. Meanwhile, you probably won’t be very productive in a job you don’t really want to be doing.

You’re responsible for your own career development. Don’t put the onus on potential employers to figure out who you are. No one else can give you a life purpose; you must figure that out for yourself.

If someone applies to work with me, but their education and work history shows a mismatch with what I can provide, I can’t really take them seriously. I’ll hold out for a more qualified applicant. I’d rather keep a position vacant than fill it with someone who’s a mismatch.

If you know that your resume won’t seem to be a good match for a new position for which you’re applying, you’d better explain that, and your explanation had better make sense. Otherwise it seems like you’re branching out in desperation because you couldn’t find work in your intended field. It also suggests that you don’t really know what you want, and you probably won’t be sticking around for long.

Decide what kind of work you’d like to do. Build your education and skills in that direction, whether through formal university education or self-education (both are equally valid in my view). Then apply for positions that match your current skills and which will help you continue your career development.

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I don’t think anything above is particularly controversial if you simply consider the hiring situation from the employer’s point of view. This POV is important to consider because it’s the POV that decides whether or not you get hired.

You have the ability to create an amazing career for yourself, but only if you step up and do what it takes to make it a reality. Most people are unwilling to pay that price, and so they wallow in unsatisfying work. The price of fulfilling work may seem high, but it’s still affordable for those who accept that fulfilling work deserves a premium price.

This article assumes that you seek meaningful and fulfilling work — a consciously chosen career that challenges you as opposed to a cog-like job to pay the bills. You aren’t likely to find such career positions advertised anywhere; it’s up to you to define and create them. But if all you want is a job, there are plenty of frappuccinos in dire need of frapping.

10 Tips for a Better Cover Letter I Steve Pavlina

Applying for a job is a lot like sex. The more interviews you get, the better your odds are. 9 Cover Letter Tips That Will Actually Help You to Get an Interview

Featured photo credit: Waponivia Flickr

Anthony is a Lifehacker who lives and breathes giving tips to make your life easier. He is also a broadcaster/professional blogger who is fueled by cappuccino and Rock Music. If he's not busy writing for clients, and churning out e-books for greenhorn broadcasters and freelance writers, he gives tips to entry level broadcasters and freelance writers on his site The Write Freelance

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