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Showing posts with label Boost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boost. Show all posts

Friday, October 11, 2013

5 Simple Stretches To Boost Your Energy At Your Office Desk

Everyone knows that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your body and your mind. Getting the blood flowing helps you stay fresh with creativity, boosts energy and helps your body work more efficiently. Many of us don’t have the opportunity to get up and move around as often as we should. Here are 5 simple stretches you can do while sitting to improve your mind and body.

Sitting in your chair while keeping a long, tall spine, place your right hand on the outside of your left knee. Use that hand as leverage to twist to your left, and place your left hand as far to the right as possible to have something to hang onto while you twist. Now join it with your breath. Exhale as you move into your twist, inhale as you ease off. Repeat on the other side. Repeat each side 2-3 times.

Sitting on the edge of your chair, clasp your hands behind your back, opening up your chest and shoulders. Inhale/exhale several times, noticing that when you inhale your stretch increases. Release and repeat 2-3 times.

I call this one Seated Pigeon as it is a cousin to the yoga pose called Pigeon, which is performed lying on the floor. Clearly this isn’t an option at work. This Seated Pigeon version might not work if you are wearing a short skirt or dress unless you have an office to yourself!

Sit on the edge of your chair and place your right ankle over your left knee. Be sure that your left foot is directly under your left knee. Sit nice and tall, imagining a string is pulling the crown of your head up towards the ceiling. This one is great for releasing your gluteus medius and minimus muscles, as well as your piriformis muscles. These are your hip abductors. These are usually what aches when you sit so much! Hold each stretch for about 30 seconds, repeat each side 2-3 times.

Sitting truly shortens and tightens your little hip flexor muscle. It’s the one at the front in the crease of your hip. It runs through your pelvis to your back, so when it is tight it often presents with an achy back. To lengthen this one out while at your desk, sit at the edge of your chair but shift to face to your left. Take your right leg and extend it behind you with as straight a knee as you can. Sit tall and lift your sternum while trying to tuck your tailbone under. This increases the stretch. Repeat on the other side. Repeat both sides 2-3 times.

This is an easy one to do either just before you sit down or just after getting up. While standing, soften your right knee and extend your left leg in front of you with your heel on the floor. On your left leg, draw your toes upwards, keep your knee slightly bent so you don’t strain your ligaments behind your knee. You want to feel the stretch in the belly of the muscle (that is, your mid-thigh, at the back of your leg) rather than behind the knee. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds and switch to the other side. Repeat each side 2-3 times.

It isn’t necessary to do all of the stretches all at once. Take a stretch break every 45 minutes or so and choose a couple of different stretches. Next time choose a different set of stretches. Simple. Your brain and body will thank you for it!

Putting in a full day at the office can make it hard to find the time to exercise. 29 Exercises You Can Do At (Or Near) Your Desk

Featured photo credit: Businessman sitting with a laptop is stretchingvia Shutterstock

Jennifer Wasylenko is the founder of Prana Personal Training in London Ontario. She is a certified Fitness Professional (ACSM), Yoga Teacher, Thai Yoga Practitioner, Mtn Biker/Instructor, Distance Runner, Black Belt in training, Dog runner, and Tea/Coffee lover!


View the original article here

Sunday, May 12, 2013

104 Ways to Boost Your Energy

We’ve all been there. Groggy, exhausted, foggy—and desperately in need of an energy boost. Keep this list handy in case of an emergency.

Shower. A shower first thing in the morning will wake you up without coffee.  Water hydrates your skin, warms your muscles, and relaxes your body.  A hot steamy shower clears the sinuses and hydrates your lung tissue so you can breathe better. Being clean all over can make you feel like a new person.Drink water. Like plants, you will wilt if you don’t drink enough water. How much should you drink? Listen to your body. Here are 25 ways your body tells you it’s time to drink.Sunbathe. Sunshine can lift your spirits and lighten your emotions. Your body needs about 30 minutes of daily sunlight exposure to make vitamin D. Here are Dr. Frank Lipman’s 10 healthy ways to get more sun.Breathe fresh air. Fresh air oxygenates the blood, and refreshes the body and the mind. When the mind is fresh, it boosts productivity. Open a window at the very least, and try to take a short, 10-minute walk outdoors every couple of hours. Stretch. During the night, your muscles produce a fuzz-like substance that binds them together. Stretching melts the fuzz and frees the muscles to slide along each other. Stretch frequently. Do it first thing in the morning (this free 10-minute video will guide you). While you are at the office, do this 4-minute neck and shoulders stretch.Receive a massage. Massage has many benefits. At the very least, massage eases tired, sore, and tense muscles and relieves stress, and it can lower your blood pressure and improve your circulation. Deep tissue massage removes limitations and increases your range of motion. Invigorate yourself. You can get a cheap massage at a local massage school.Bond through touch. We all need physical contact, affection, and a sense of security. People who are not touched enough have higher levels of cortisol. Nurturing touch bonds you with your child and helps them to develop new neural connections. Embracing your partner or a loved one can be emotionally healing. Ask first if it’s okay if you give them a hug, and then embrace them.Have sex. Sex relieves stress, lowers blood pressure, and boosts immunoglobulin A (an antibody that fights colds). There is nothing like a post-coital glow to put a bounce in your step afterward, and feeling desired boosts confidence, adding fuel to your movements.Do tai chi. Tai chi encourage the proper flow of qi—an energy force that flows through the body. Here is the Harvard Medical School’s list of health benefits from tai chi. Need a boost now? Check out this video.Drum. There is something primal about live drums. Bones start shaking, muscles start quaking, and before long, you’re dancing. It can’t be helped; drums move us, infusing us with primal, joyful exuberance we never knew we had.Honor your feet. Your feet have carried you all these years. What is their personality? Tired? Cranky? Taking good care of tired, sore, cranky feet can reanimate you. Here are the best ways to pamper your feet.Listen to your body. When you experience pain, you injure yourself. Stop. Listen to the voice of your body, which speaks in sensations of pain and pleasure. When you experience pain, seek movements that produce pleasurable sensations. This may mean that you may need to tweak the way that you walk, sit, stand, or get out of bed.Eat healthy. When we feel a depleted, many of us (myself included) think about sweet or carb-laden foods to stimulate us. Sugar, coffee, and carbs may give a brief stimulation, but the effects are short-lived. Vivify yourself by choosing a healthy snack, like a banana or some protein.Smile. There are many hidden benefits to smiling. When you smile, let it reach your eyes. Smiling when you run brings a childlike joy to your workout. Smile when you work, smile when you are with friends: smiling is infectious and can bring joy to you in the most unlikely of circumstances.Laugh. Laughter is contagious, improves blood flow and sugar levels, boosts your immune system, and improves your sleep. Laughter is good for your health, and stimulates the lower abdomen. Even if you start with a fake laugh, it can become real. Having trouble getting started? Watch a comedy, read a hilarious book, take a class in laughter yoga, join a laughter club, or just watch and listen to laughter.Dance. Moving your body in a random, primal way that is pleasurable circulates the blood and oxygenates the body, which quickens the organs that depend on it. More than that, it can be liberating. When you get home from work, put on some music and dance like nobody’s watching. Or listen to your iPod and start dancing wherever you are!Align your posture. Those who walk with hunched shoulders and a concave back appear depressed. This posture compresses the stomach and lungs, so you cannot take deep breaths. To change your posture, rotate the inside of your elbows forward (as if you would draw blood). This rotates your shoulders back and down away from your ears, correcting your posture in your upper back. For the best posture and instant elegance, walk like a giraffe—it creates space in between the vertebrae.Eat more vegetables. All dieticians agree that we should eat more veggies.Dr. Joel Fuhrman says our bodies function best when we eat more nutrients per calorie and plenty of fiber. These fruits and veggies have the highest nutrients per calorie. Soups and salads are an easy way to eat a spectrum of vegetables for a quick nutrient punch, while soups are a fabulous “emergency food” for those with busy schedules. Just make a delicious batch, freeze half of it, and reheat as desired.Prioritize sleep. If you aren’t sleeping enough, you aren’t going to function well during the day. Every task will take longer. Sleep should be a top priority. Here’s a free resource that will help you to get the sleep you need.Move. Frequently. This can be as easy as stretching or some good cardio. Movement circulates the blood and brings fresh blood to vital organs and muscles. This brings oxygen to areas that need it, leaving you feeling refreshed.Use a neti pot. If you have a cold, using a neti pot can bring instant relief, and regular use of a neti pot improves breathing even when you’re not congested. A neti pot uses a salt water solution to mechanically flush away pollen and allergens that cause inflammation in your sinuses. Always use water that has been boiled (and then cooled to warm), to avoid the Naegleria fowleri amoeba found in lakes, rivers, and hot springs.Meditate. Meditation has loads of benefits. In as little as 2 minutes a day, meditation can melt away stress, help you to relax and to heighten awareness. To meditate, simply pay attention to your breath. Check out these tips on how to meditate daily. Nap. Naps make us more productive, but the trick to napping effectively is to have the nap last no more than 45 minutes. Here’s why. Ideally, 10–20 minutes should be enough to recharge.Repair. Door squeaks, things that need gluing—there are many small repairs that need to be done, and every time you see them, you make another mental note that they need to be done, leaving you overwhelmed and guilty for procrastinating. Commit to making one small repair today. It won’t take as long as you think, and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel. Your internal dialog will diminish, and you will feel motivated to accomplish more.Capture ideas and tasks. Once it’s written down, your mind doesn’t need to repeat itself on a loop to remind you to do it. Use either a moleskine plain pocket notebook (the ones without lines allow you to draw pictures or flow charts) or the free app, Evernote.Procrastinate mindfully. It can feel overwhelming to think about all the things you must do. Instead, set a start date for a project, and don’t begin thinking about it until the start date.Empty your inbox. Even if you have a search function available, seeing the clutter of all those emails takes a psychological toll on you—especially if you have a smart phone. To process your email inbox quickly and efficiently: Sort your email by sender. Most will be junk mail. Unsubscribe from ALL emails with advertisements and delete. For the remaining emails: reply, read it, put it in your calendar, or watch the video. If you don’t have time, put it in Evernote and file the “processed” ones all in one folder, labeled “Archive” (delete all other folders). Most email programs, such as Gmail, will allow you to easily search an archive folder. Process in small batches (15 minutes/day) until it is empty.No email first thing in the morning. This simple change can skyrocket your productivity. You could spend hours responding to email, leaving little time or energy to finish your most important tasks that require focus.  Instead of checking email first thing in the morning, wait 1–2 hours. Most people and situations can wait one hour. Use that hour for focused work instead. When you do check your email, put a time limit on it so you can get back to focused tasks.Turn on your peripheral vision. Are you ever working at the computer and someone walks up and startles you? This tunnel vision—where you focus on one thing (the computer) and the rest of the world vanishes—can be undone by turning on your peripheral vision. It slows down your perception of time and opens you up to receive more of the world. To turn on your peripheral vision, soften your eyes so that you see your hands while still looking at the screen. Now, take in more of the room around you while still looking at the screen. Sustain it for as long as you can.Listen to pleasant sounds. The laughter of children, birdsong, the babbling of a nearby creek or tinkle of a fountain, the whisper of wind. Our lives are filled with sounds that are pleasant and unpleasant, so pay attention to the pleasant ones; it can lift your spirits and bring calm and composure to a hectic day.Harmonize a small area. Take a moment and look at your home as if you were going to buy it. Is the paint peeling? Is the hardware old? Does it need a light bulb? Pick one small area—a shelf, a table, or a corner of your house—and examine the details. Make small repairs, declutter, and take a moment to decorate. Harmonize the area in a way that is pleasing to you. If you need some guidance, check out these feng shui tips.Exhale longer than the inhale. It forces your parasympathetic system to kick in and calm your body down. It doesn’t matter how much longer the exhale is, just as long as the exhale is longer than the inhale.Focus on what you have. When you focus on what you want, you think about all the things you must do to get it. Focusing on what you have takes away your task list and you appreciate what is. You are present and experience gratitude. You tap in to a sense of abundance. To focus on what you have, start a gratitude journal.Read. There are many health benefits to reading. Reading before bed can relax you. Reading early in the day can inspire you to create. Either way, reading can support you with sustaining your energy.Rest your mind frequently. Your mind gets tired, too, as it can only sustain attention up to a maximum of 20 minutes. The Pomodoro Technique uses this to your advantage: you spend 25 minutes focusing on a task without interruptions (with some time built in for warm-up and recap). Take a 3–5 minute break, then go for another Pomodoro session. Every 4 pomodori, take a longer break of 15–30 minutes.Do one thing at a time. Why single tasking is better. Our brains slow down while multitasking. It takes time to switch from one thing to another. You save more time and simplify by focusing on one thing at a time. You’ll feel less pressure, more peaceful, and achieve a sense of flow.Forget how little time you have to get it done. The best way to tackle a deadline with a large project is to be present with it. Once you finish part of a project, it can be tempting to think, well, to finish that much took me 1 hour, so it’ll take me this 16 hours to finish the whole thing. Don’t do that. This mental calculation adds to unnecessary stress. Instead, be completely present and tap into a state of flow. When we do that, things don’t take as long as we think they do.Auto-track your finances. Auto-tracking can clear your mind and reduce stress by helping you to face the reality of your spending, saving, and investing habits. This in turn allows you to tweak these habits and plan for the future. If you do auto-track, I recommend that you use a reputable, secure and FREE software, such as Mint. If it’s free, how they make money? Read this. It’s really easy to use. Once you are past the 10-minute setup, each expense is automatically entered into Mint by way of your accounts, with no effort on your part. So say goodbye to receipt clutter. Mint calculates all of your monthly expenses and generates reports to boot.Live below your means. Spending money beyond what you bring in causes stress and can strain your relationships. While living below your means may require some discipline, it allows you to have a little extra to pay off your debts, and to save for the future.Do less. When you do less, you have so much more time to enjoy life. You have less stress. You are vibrant. Here’s how to start right now doing less.Add buffer time. Things often take longer than what you think they will. Once you estimate how long something will take, double the estimate and work with that schedule. This will allow you (and those working with you) to work at a low-stress non-frantic pace.Eliminate advertisements. Advertisements distract. Reduce the mail you receive and time spent processing it by unsubscribing from all email advertisements, which will reduce up to 80% of your junk mail: doing this will end “prescreened” offers of credit and most unsolicited commercial mail. For annoyance-free web surfing, block ads using the FREE software Adblock Plus for Firefox, Safari, or Chrome.Limit use of electronics. Especially backlit devices, which in as little as 2 hours can drastically reduce melatonin production, causing sleep problems. Watching TV before bed for 2 hours or more can cause us to have trouble sleeping.Say no. Many of us tend to overcommit, so we spend energy in directions that are not as important to us. Focus on what matters to you. Give yourself permission to say no to the rest. Here are 7 simple ways to say no.Delegate. Have more tasks than there are hours in the day? Let go of perfectionism, micromanagement, and control. Empower those around you to step in to something greater. Allow them to shine and to support you at the same time. Everyone benefits. If you are a small business owner, you can hire a virtual assistant for short tasks using a service like Efficise or if you are really limited on cash and need help with proofreading or promotion, you can have help for $5 using Fiverr.Shorten emails. Email distracts us from our most important tasks when our mind is best able to do them. Respect other people’s time (as well as your own). Treat emails like text messages. If you have one question, just write the question in the subject heading (you’ll get a quicker answer). If you have two questions, make sure your email is less than 5 sentences. Don’t ask more than 2 questions. Have too much to say? Here are some rules for short, effective emails.Slow down. Rushing increases stress and risk, so give yourself permission to slow down. Doing so generates peace, presence, and calmness. Here are some simple ways to slow down.Tell the truth. It takes mental effort to track lies. Why bother? What if someone finds out? Empower yourself; live truthfully. When you consistently tell the truth, people learn to trust you. If you have lied to anyone about anything, tell the truth—it will instantly lift a heavy weight off of your shoulders (even after a cathartic cry). Always be honest with yourself and all others; it is the foundation of having integrity.Address problems. Turning away from problems can leave you feeling with a sense of guilt (for not dealing with them sooner) and overwhelm (it’s one more thing that you have to do). Turn toward your problems. Deal with them. Solve it. It will restore your energy.Learn. As we learn, we form new neural pathways in the brain. There is an extra rush—a little brain cookie, if you will—at the thrill of figuring something out for the first time all by yourself. Here is how to teach yourself anything.Buy less packaging. It requires energy and resources to make a package and ship it to your location. Once you open the package, if you don’t reuse it, you must discard or recycle it. That means more trips to take out the trash, more trips to the curb, you must pay someone has to come pick it up at the curb (or take it to the dump yourself). What has no packaging? Farmer’s market or community supported agriculture (CSA) goods, and used items from a resale shop, a consignment shop, or from craigslist. Go to the store and reuse containers when you buy in bulk. Buying items with no packaging forces you to buy local. This stimulates the economy in your community and supports small business owners.Sign up for a CSA share or farmer’s market delivery. Services like these conserve energy. No more hassles with kids wanting candy in the checkout line. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) allows you to get a box of (often organic) produce from a local farm for a low price. Find a CSA near you. Many places will even deliver a box of organic produce to your door for a small fee. Some will also add locally made fresh bread, eggs, cheese, meat, poultry, pies, etc. There is so much food in these boxes it is a challenge to eat it all!Communicate more effectively. Problems often originate from misunderstanding—a direct result of miscommunication. Communication consists of a transmitter and a receiver. Transmit with clarity. Track your body language and actions, and have your actions and gestures consistently match your words.Think less, listen more. Miscommunication is draining. Often many of us assume what the person is saying, or projects a story onto the person that may or may not be true. Rather than allowing an internal dialogue to circulate in your mind, practice the art of listening to what the person is actually saying.Experiment and break things. When you break something, you learn from it. Learning something new can inspire and propel you. Knowing that you are just experimenting, just playing with a project or idea takes the pressure off any need for it to be perfect.Talk to a friend. Companionship can quickly pull you out of a funk. It doesn’t matter whether you share your troubles with them or not. If you can’t be with them in person, using Skype will allow you see their body language and facial expressions, and in a phone call you can hear sympathy and understanding in their tone of voice. Need a friend to talk to? Go here.Be sociable. Conviviality brings contentment. Host a festive potluck dinner with friends (at a park if you don’t want to clean up). When there is good food involved, it can enliven you even more.Play a game. A little competition (and the thrill of winning) can make you vivacious. Games with friends often bring laughter and good conversation.Tell others why you value them. Everyone needs to feel valued, so share it. Point our behaviors that you would like to cultivate in yourself. Thank others for what lesson(s) you learn from them. The joy they feel from receiving your words is infectious.Play music you loved as a teenager. It will remind you of youthful days. The music will give you a youthful, exuberance. Then, you can dance like nobody’s watching.Look at photos and videos of happy times. Nostalgia can vibrate your emotions in waves of delight, giving you sense of well-being.Play with a child. Children have that spontaneous laughter, wonder, and surprise that is infectious. Hearing a high-pitched giggle or squeal at your silly antics can help you to remember not to take life so seriously.Celebrate. Often we are so swamped with things to do, we don’t take time out to celebrate our accomplishments. Schedule some down time to celebrate what you’ve finished.Do improv. An improvisational comedy workshop is a great way to get you out of your rut and break away from habits. These workshops are short games that allow you practice thinking quickly, listening to others, being present, and acting silly. Find a workshop near you, and think differently.Take a news fast. Bad news can rattle you emotionally. You may wonder, “What if that had happened to my child?” News can cause your mind to spin more “what if’s” and “whys”, resulting in overwhelming sadness, anger, and fear. This week, take a break from the news—no TV, Internet, radio, app, or newspaper news.Organize. Clutter is postponed decisions and actions. And clutter can cause you to repeatedly remind yourself that you have to take care of that task. Take a weekend and just dive in and get it done using this amazing book. Or, you can declutter in 15-minute intervals with a little help from FlyLady. Set a timer for 15 minutes, pick up an object, and put it where it belongs. And only handle each object once.Be generous. Generosity is a great way to remove clutter from your home, creating space for abundance. If you want to empower yourself, donating is better than selling. There are many nonprofit organizations that would be delighted to receive a donation for a cause. And you can use ItsDeductible (free) to estimate the total value of donations that you can deduct from your taxes.Don’t take things personally. When you take something personally, your belly sinks, and you feel depressed. This tip is from The Four Agreements and is the most powerful practice I have ever done. (Yes, it’s easier said than done.) Wondering how not to take things personally? Use the power of three technique.Don’t make assumptions. This tip is also one of the Four Agreements. If you don’t make assumptions, you don’t project a story onto something, you simply receive the person or the situations as they unfold before you. This is a fundamental aspect of receiving. Track your thoughts. Once you notice a thought flow through you as someone else is speaking, ask yourself, “Am I assuming something here?”Have less. When you have fewer items in your life, there is space for everything. Everything is harmonious, orderly, and in its place. There is less to repair. You take care of what you have. You have space for abundance to flow in to your life. When you commit to have less, you buy fewer items, so you keep more money (or you can pay debts). Having less food can result in weight loss. You don’t need to be an extreme minimalist, just have a little less each day.Let go. This is an extension of have less. Have less is physical. Let go includes letting go of control. Release beliefs and philosophies that no longer serve you or your relationships. Let go of friendships that you maintain out of obligation or leave you feeling drained. Here’s the beginner’s guide to letting go.Journal. Writing is cathartic. You spew all of your problems onto a page and then they don’t seem as big anymore. You are able to empty your mind of your worries. You no longer need to carry them with you, the page can.  Journaling at the end of the day is cathartic. Furthermore, you can write down the lessons you learned.Transmute anger. It is normal and natural to feel anger. The good thing about anger is that it can act as fuel and motivation to do something now. Transmute that emotion into accomplishment and do something that needs to get done (like exercise, or cleaning the house).Release fear. Fear is functional. Fear keeps us from getting eaten by predators, helps us to avoid getting hit by a car or getting killed. Fear can also limit us. Fear is not bad, however, the root of many people’s choices is fear-based. When you choose something, ask yourself, “Is this choice made from love, or fear?” Just notice the truth. At some point you may wish to tweak it. Letting go of fear is exhilarating and liberating. If fear holds you back from your capacity to love, let it go.Decorate with meaningful objects. Often, we hang on to things we don’t like because a certain person gave them to us and “oh, what will they think?” Let go of the obligation to keep these things. Give them away to someone who will make better use of them. Your house speaks to you all the time. Use these simple steps to activate yourself daily with supportive messages you send yourself through the placement of objects.Let go of perfection. Perfectionism perpetuates this feeling as though it is never good enough, and often results in procrastination. Here’s how to break that habit. If you do your best, it is good enough. Keep your word and get it in on time.Use public transportation. Navigating traffic causes stress and saps you of energy. Why not use this time better? Get some work done, or enjoy a good book.Use intention while cleaning. Using intention while cleaning is meditative and it makes this mundane task more pleasurable. Pretend that your thoughts are powerful enough to record your emotions, thoughts, and intentions into the space. Consciously consider: Why do you place this object here? For example, I place a fresh flower vase under a picture of myself and my husband to symbolize a love that grows. Why do you clean this area? For example, I clean this area to create order in my life, for when there is order in my life, I have a sense of well-being. What would you say to this area? For example, when clearing out a corner that is often cluttered I could say, “I clear away stagnation in my life.Receive. You get more out of life if you simply receive it. Here’s how to tell whether you are open to receive, and what do to so that you can receive more out of life.Break out of your rut. Doing something new stimulates new neural connections in our brain and makes us feel happy. List 25 things you have thought about doing but haven’t. Pick one and do it this week. Go ahead. I dare you.Play your abandoned instrument. Even if it is just for 15 minutes, and leave your inner critic elsewhere. Approach the instrument and the music with the fascination of an infant. There’s no need to be perfect. If you don’t know any songs, improvise. Creating music taps into your uniqueness, inspiring you. Leave the instrument out to encourage yourself to play it more often.Walk in nature. Bringing in natural beauty calms the emotions and relaxes the mind. The connectedness you feel with all living things is an immeasurable energy boost. Go outside. Sense the breeze on your skin, the warmth of the sun on your face, and listen to the birds. Relax. Breathe new life into your body.Take the long way home. Breaking away from habits stimulates new neural connections and gives a sense of freshness to the day. Go ahead; it may take you a little longer but isn’t it time for you to get to know your own neighborhood a little differently?Invent a new recipe. Getting away from using recipes is liberating.Here’s a game to play to spark creativity: Make a rule that you will only go to the grocery store twice per month, so every other week, you’ll use up the older items that are in the back of your cabinets.Share love. Do you tell your friends that you love them and that you are grateful that they are in your life? If not with words, do you do it with action? How about your family? How often do you hug your family or kiss your spouse? You need to receive love. You also need to give it. Connect to your love of simply being alive. Now, think of all of those who have shaped who you are. Those that touch you life in a meaningful way. Even connecting to the love you feel for others can galvanize you.Do something kind. This is especially great to do when you are having a rotten day. There is something rewarding in meeting a need that someone else has. It could be as simple as letting them in to your lane in congested traffic or giving a hug to someone who needs it.Connect. Connection galvanizes you. Connect with others. Connect with all life. Reach out to someone through touch, a phone call, a text, Skype, or a letter.Do what you love. The daily drudgery of spending your time and energy on something you dislike can be immensely draining. When you do what you love, it stimulates pleasure centers in the brain, making you happy.Get comfortable with not knowing. We often exhaust ourselves by asking, “what if___ happens?” Going over all the possible outcomes can drain you—especially if you are emotionally attached. Let go of your need to know. The outcome will unfold in its own natural time.Create something new. Creating enlivens you, for it reveals your uniqueness to the world. Draw, paint, write, sculpt, compose, or take an artistic photo. Create something new and place it where everyone can see. Even if it is not finished. A work in progress is still art in itself.Make a vision board. A vision board creates a powerful visual reminder of what is most important to you this year. Here’s how to make one.Crystallize your goals, write them down, and check in weekly. Here is a great post on how to set goals with focus and a stellar free workbook available here.Know your why. Why do you do what you do? What motivates you? What is your passion? Your inspiration? Once you know your why, you have the motivational fuel to accomplish anything. Need help to find your why? Here are 20 “what” questions to help you find your “why”.Acknowledge beauty. Pause for a moment to enjoy the sun reflecting on water, the bright green growth of a plant shoot, or the plumage of a bird. Acknowledging beauty—even noticing an attractive person—can calm your mind and make you feel happy. If you see beautiful stranger, tell them that they are beautiful. Who doesn’t enjoy receiving that kind of compliment?Pet an animal. Giving affection to an animal is innate and releases oxytocin, a stress relieving hormone produced by the body. You’ll feel connected and relaxed.Plan fun outings. Is life an endless list of tasks and things to accomplish? You don’t need to be Supermom nor indispensable employee. Plan some fun outings with your family. It doesn’t have to cost any money.Be impeccable with your word. This tip is from The Four Agreements. When you give your word, keep it. Mean what you say, and don’t say things that you’ll regret later.Do only what matters to you. If you work on something that you dislike, it can bankrupt your energy reserves. When you do things that you feel passionate about, it fuels you. List 10 things that you dislike and delegate those tasks.Grow fruits and vegetables. Growing your own fruits and vegetables helps you to feel connected with the earth and helps you to practice cultivating relationships. Gardening is meditative, brings a sense of accomplishment, and you get to ingest all the love you put into growing these healthy foods.Take vacations. (And don’t work on your vacation.) Are you one of the many Americans who don’t take vacations? Here are many reasons you should. Vacations allow you to connect with what is most important, rest, and revitalize. If you think that your work cannot survive without you, they can. Just let everyone know that you will not check email or voice mail or receive phone calls while you are away. When you return to work, you will be more productive than ever.Cultivate relationships with your family. Having a good relationship with your family can boost confidence and your sense of safety and security. Turn off the TV and spend an evening or a weekend just hanging out together.Develop habits that serve you. Bad habits consume your energy; good habits augment it. Go through your repertoire of habits and toss anything that doesn’t serve you. Here’s how to achieve the 7 most sought after habits.Be uncomfortable. Whenever you learn something new, you must get out of your comfort zone. Your brain stimulates new neural connections. Get comfortable with discomfort, and you can master anything. Slight discomfort is key to mastering any new habit. Here’s how to do it in small steps.Get involved with something greater than yourself. Whether it is a religious or other nonprofit organization, an education or conservation initiative, getting involved with something greater than yourself and recognizing its affect mankind can fuel your passion, motivation, and generally make you feel

You need more than time management. You need energy management: Manage Your Energy so You Can Manage Your Time

Featured photo credit: Wind turbine farm with rays of light at sunset via Shutterstock

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Friday, May 10, 2013

10 Ways to Boost Productivity

Have too many things to do in too little time? Well, this infographic on how you can boost productivity every day will certainly help. It focuses on to-do lists and making sure you actually complete items on the list. If you aren’t already using to-do lists, you really should be -they are one of the most effective methods of time organization out there and can really help you organize what you need to do and actually track that it gets done.

RELATED: 21 Counter-Intuitive Break Ideas to Boost Your Productivity at Work

As someone who has a hard time staying productive, I find this chart incredibly useful, especially the part about doing the hardest task first, which I don’t usually do on my to-do lists -although I’m great at knocking off the small tasks and batching things, so at least I’m not starting from the ground up here.

boost productivity


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Thursday, February 7, 2013

A Simple Tool to Boost Your Motivation

If you can remember why it is that you’re doing something that you feel is important, you’ll be in a much better place, psychologically, to be able to keep doing it when it starts to get tough. It sounds simple, doesn’t it? That’s probably because it’s far more simple than you realize.

For example, if you can remember why you’ve decided to give up alcohol and chocolate (to lose weight), you’ll be better placed to be able to turn them down when they’re offered.

when you feel like quitting
If you can remember that you’re not solely trying to learn 4000+ random facts for an exam but that you’re trying to learn 4000+ facts about drugs you’re going to use when you’re a doctor—helping people live happy and healthy lives—you’ll be more likely to to keep working at 11 PM when your friends are out at a bar having a good time. Trust me on this, I’m speaking from personal experience.

As simple as this is, how often do we actually use this obvious truth to help us be more productive?

I’m doing a lot of traveling at the moment, giving talks to groups and organisations who need a little help with keeping their people in the game—perhaps because of a death in service or having to lay off staff, or any other reason that teams start to feel down. Now, I can’t pretend this is a representative, scientific survey, but based upon the number of people who don’t raise their hands when I ask about it from the podium, I’d say that this one simple truth is heavily under-used.

This could be because it’s just not “cool” to be seen to be enthused, enthusiastic and motivated by anything more significant than the money—I don’t know. What I do know is that if you can put your hand on your heart about why you do things, you’re in a better place to cope when shit hits the fan.
So, how can we make use of this motivation idea? These are just a few ideas that seem to work for me, my team and my clients: I can’t promise that they’ll all work for you, but all it needs is for one of them to fit with you.

If you didn’t go in to work today (or for a week, or whatever) who would suffer? I don’t just mean your boss—who’d have to arrange cover for you, or the co-workers who’d have to actually do the work you weren’t doing—I mean the people who use your product or service. The answer is easy if you’re a nurse or a teacher, but what abut if you drive a truck?
If you don’t do your job, someone doesn’t get their stuff, and their world isn’t as nice. Birthdays kind of depend on you doing your thing.

If you’re a mechanic, someone might not be able to drive to visit their niece or their aged uncle.If you’re a road-sweeper? People will end up disliking their neighbourhood, and statistically, unhappiness and crime both go up when this occurs.

SEE ALSO: Why Ask Why?

When you realize why you’re doing something, jot it down: try to capture it in one or two sentences. If you can phrase them to be something like “I do X, Y, Z because it makes the world a little better because…” then so much the better.
Keep this note somewhere that you are going to see it regularly such as the inside of your appointments diary. Writing it on a Post-It note that’s stuck to the side of your computer might also work well if you spend a lot of time at your desk. You could also tuck it in somewhere silly like inside your desk drawer so you see it over the course of a day each time you need to get a pen out.

We all take things for granted after a while, so maintain a policy of moving your note every now and again. Even just a little way will do—like from the right-hand side of your computer to the left—or from the computer to your diary.

Every six months or so, my diary bleeps at me with a “take stock” reminder. There are a whole bunch of things to take stock of and exercises to do, but one of the biggies is to simply ask myself this question: if someone didn’t know why I do what I do, would they be able to guess it from watching me for the last half year?
Inevitably the answer is, at best: “Not easily”. So, there’s a follow-up question: “Why not?” And the one that follows that one is: “How can I change things over the next six months so that the answer is ‘Yes”?”
Smartphones and electronic diaries are great for this kind of thing; not just for phoning people and talking to Facebook/Twitter/wherever! They help you keep track of things and remind you of them as needed.

This technique isn’t magic; it’s just a tool, and though it isn’t a silver bullet that can kill all the bad guys at once, it does help. Try it!

Goal: Whenever I want to quit, I will ask myself why I’ve been doing this for so long. Tweet and show your determination.

SEE ALSO: Thirteen Tricks to Motivate Yourself

Featured photo credit: A merry-round-go via Shutterstock Simon runs a soft skills training company called Aware Plus in the UK, but is probably best known for his work as a presentation skills trainer. He's also becoming known as a speaker on emotional robustness and personal resilience... he's also a fairly proficient fire-eater!

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Thursday, March 29, 2012

21 Counter-Intuitive Break Ideas to Boost Your Productivity at Work


Every self-help program talks about the importance of taking a 10-15 minute break to boost your productivity.

Breaks give us much needed time to rest our eyes, move around, stretch our stiff muscles, get more blood and oxygen flowing to our brain, to unwind and obtain a fresh outlook on complex work problems.

There is just one problem – we often forget to take them. (Note: Going to the bathroom, grabbing a cup of coffee or checking Facebook updates does not count, as these activities hardly give us enough time to energize our body and restore our concentration and productivity.)

As strange as it may sound, taking regular breaks throughout the work day requires discipline and a little bit of planning. Actually, the reason why so many people push themselves to the limit of exhaustion is simple – they just can not think of any interesting activities they can do, during their break time. So they end up working for 4-5 hours straight until their body offers them a painful reminder.

If this sounds like you, here are 21 Counter-Intuitive Break ideas that help to restore your energy, sharpen your focus, boost productivity and avoid burnout at work.

1. Listen to a guided meditation. There are plenty of 10-15 minute meditations that allow you to trigger your creativity, let go of muscles tension and take your mind of the work at hand.

All you have to do is put on a headset, close your eyes and enjoy peace and relaxation even in the midst of work chaos.

2. Share your break with a co-worker. Alone, you might not always have the strength to pull yourself away from the computer, but if you have a friend taking breaks with you, it is much easier to stick with your break routine. In addition, it offers a great opportunity to bond with your colleagues and get to know them better.

3. Step outside for a fresh perspective. Leaving a stuffy office and letting yourself enjoy the warmth of the sunlight, the coolness of a breeze and the freshness of the spring air can do miracles to your mind and body. You will come back feeling rejuvenated and ready to approach your work with new energy and a fresh perspective.

4. Close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths. Stand up and walk away from your desk. Find a quiet place, where you can sit down, close your eyes, smile to yourself and take a few deep breaths. Imagine tension, stress and anxiety leaving your body as you breathe out, and peacefulness, positivity and relaxation filling your mind with every breath that you take.

5. Say NO to tension headaches. Slowly roll your neck to the right noticing a slight tension in your neck muscles. Hold this position for a count of 120 (2 minutes), then turn your head to the opposite side and repeat. Enjoy the feeling of warmth and flexibility return to your neck and shoulders.

6. Try people-gazing. Watching people walking down the street, chatting in a nearby café, and driving by, is meditation in itself. In addition looking outside the window helps to take the strain off the eyes.

7. Rock out to some great music. Music is a great mood changer, especially if you allow yourself to get up and move with it. Just a few minutes of humming and dancing can put a smile on your face and get your blood moving.

8. Take a Thumb and Pinkie Brain Break. This is a great break idea if you need a quick distraction from the problem at hand to get your creative juices flowing:

Take your left hand and have your fingers in and your thumb up.Then take your right hand and put all the fingers in except the pinkie. So in other words, your left thumb up and right pinkie out.Now switch the roles of your hands. And now try doing it faster.

Not as simple as it looked, right?

9. Delete some tasks from your to-do list. What can be more satisfying than taking a long hard look at your do-to list and crossing off a few unimportant tasks?

10. Eat an apple. S-L-O-W-L-Y. In the middle of a busy day, when you feel rushed, take a 2-3 minute break to eat an apple (or another fruit that you like). Just do it very slowly. Notice the flavor, the texture, the freshness. Doing something at a slow pace might feel weird, even annoying at first. But after a few minutes you feel much calmer and less stressed.

11. Say Thank you. Grab a notecard and your favorite pen and write a quick thank you to someone you appreciate. Then attach a stamp and go downstairs to put it in a mailbox. This simple act of gratitude will take your focus away from any pressing work problems and will put you in a good mood.

12. Take a “No Cell-phone Walk”. Leave your cell-phone in the office and head outside for a brisk walk. Shake off apathy and fatigue. Walk even faster, raising your heartbeat and letting the excitement and the sense of freedom re-charge your mind and body.

13. Read a magazine or a book. Pick a read that has nothing to do with your area of work or the latest news. Give your brain the pleasure of not to thinking, being stressed or making decisions.

14. Re-waterize yourself. First drink a full glass of water. Second splash some water on your face: warm to relax, cold – to wake up and energize yourself.

15. Make animals of the clouds. This is a great exercise to entertain your children, but it is also a great game you can play alone as it helps to tap into your creative potential and distract your mind from upcoming deadlines or customer complaints.

16. Pick up the pace. If you feel yourself tired and sleepy, deliberately pick up the pace, and try to move a little faster than usual. Type faster. Speak faster. Read faster. Make decisions faster. And, of course, go home sooner.

17. Laugh off the tension. You can start by simply saying, “Ha, ha, ha.” and keep repeating it, until you are really laughing. A few minutes of a good belly laugh help to get rid of tension, relax a lot of involuntary muscles and increase blood circulation.

18. Stretch out stiffness. Getting up from your desk to do a set of sun salutations or this might not be an option if you work in a room full of people. But it does not mean that you should deprive yourself of the pleasure of stretching your body and getting some exercise. Try a simple stretching exercise.

Plant your feet firmly on the ground, lift your arms and look at your palms.Stretch your spine for about 30-60 seconds, gradually increasing pressure, as if you were trying to touch the ceiling with your fingers.Relax, lower your arms and feel the energy moving up your spine.

19. Do something artistic. Write a short, funny poem and dedicate it to your co-worker. Draw a picture for your kids. Take a few photos of your surroundings. Let your creative side shine!

20. Unclutter your desk. A great way to take a much needed break, while looking “busy” is to unclutter your desk. Not only is it relaxing, it also helps to activate productive energy flow.

21. Juggle. Learning to juggle isn’t particularly difficult and it could be a great exercise to take during a break (maybe not in the office itself, but in a place, where balls flying left and right will not bother anyone). Juggling requires fine muscle control, timing and concentration. But most importantly, it is fun!

(Photo credit: Office Worker Holding Clock in Front of Face via Shutterstock)

Arina is a goal setting expert and an author of Real Goal Getting book. She blogs at http://www.arinanikitina.com/.


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Monday, January 23, 2012

The Morphing Mindset: Transform These 5 Habits to Boost Your Productivity

Productivity is the result of the decisions we make and mindset we have. These things in turn create habits that we tend to follow, sometimes too rigidly.

Do you want to make a positive change inside you that leads to better productivity and improved self-confidence?

If so, then I suggest that you take a look at these common unproductive habits that hold you back and transform them into productive ones.

I used to belong to the group of people who complained a lot. Mostly it was about the job I hated, but I had other things that I complained about too.

Yet at some point I came to realize that maybe I should do something about those things instead of complaining about them. Maybe I’m the one who has to make things happen…

Finally, I understood that taking action was the only way to move forward. I didn’t want to waste my time and energy on something useless like complaining.

I think that this is a good guideline for any of us. If there is something bothering you that isn’t right, think to yourself: Is it going to get better by complaining or can you do something about it?

I bet that in many situations the latter option is the best one.

My former boss used to say the following:

“Assuming is prohibited.”

What he meant was that one should always be sure of something so that the right action could be taken.

Although this habit saves you from many headaches, be ready to face your fears when you transform this habit.

In order to confirm things and being sure of something, you have to ask questions to understand the situation better. For some people, this is not an easy thing to do since they may feel that others think that they are stupid — or even incompetent — when they ask for more information.

Of course, this isn’t so.

Confirming or asking questions is a better way to move forward than pondering the issue by yourself and taking wrong action — one which is based on assumptions.

Confirming makes you more confident and productive, because you know what to do and are not guessing what to do.

It is easy to take on the “victim role” instead of being responsible of your own actions. This also means that instead of being true to yourself, you are more willing to blame your boss, your work, your environment or the people you associate with when you are feeling lousy.

Understandably, it may not be easy to admit that perhaps the problem lies within you. However, you really have to admit that because of your past actions you find yourself in the current situation.

You create your own reality by the decisions you make and the actions you take. If you are not happy with things the way they are, then start creating a plan to change things.

Here’s an example: If you are not happy how your body looks, start making lifestyle changes — and find out the phone number to the nearest nutrition coach to help you out.

After you realize that you can make the change and that you have to take the responsibility, things start moving for the better and the victim days are soon behind you.

When something unexpected happens, you do whatever is needed to put things back to normal. However, when the same unexpected thing starts to happen on a recurring basis, fixing the symptoms is not enough anymore.

For instance, when you feel sick to your stomach you can take medicine to fix the situation. However, when this same symptom occurs on a frequent basis, you should spend more time and energy to analyze what is causing your stomach ache in the first place and fix that instead.

Spend a bit more time on finding and fixing the root cause – instead of wasting your time on dealing with the symptoms.

Working on the easiest task first is a very compelling thing to do. You don’t have to stress about the task that much because it is fun. You are also feeling comfortable because you don’t have to push yourself outside your comfort zone.

On the other hand, if you’re willing to take action on the hardest task first, you’ll be prouder of yourself and this will give you a self-confidence boost.

When you handle the challenging task before the easy one, it is not lurking in the back of your mind anymore and you can fully focus on your other tasks that you have to take care of.

No matter whether or not you are able to accomplish this hard task at once, the main point is that you are acting on the task now so that you can fully enjoy the fun tasks later.

So…has your mindset morphed?

(Photo credit: Businessman with Superhero Suit via Shutterstock)

Timo Kiander is an online business productivity and time management enthusiast who blogs at http://www.timokiander.com/. Visit his blog and grab the free e-book: “101 Tips For Becoming a Productivity Superstar”


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Thursday, October 27, 2011

New NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR LM3429 N-Channel Controller LED Driver Boost Evaluation Board

New NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR LM3429 N-Channel Controller LED Driver Boost Evaluation BoardThis evaluation board showcases the LM3429 NFET controller used with a boost current regulator. It is designed to drive 9 to 12 LEDs at a maximum average LED current of 1A from a DC input voltage of 10 to 26V. The evaluation board showcases most features of the LM3429 including PWM dimming, overvoltage protection and input under-voltage lockout. It also has a right angle connector (J7) which can mate with an external LED load board allowing for the LEDs to be mounted close to the driver. Alternatively, the LED+ and LED- banana jacks can be used to connect the LED load. The LM3429 can be easily configured in buck, boost, buck-boost and SEPIC topologies. This flexibility, along with an input voltage rating of 75V, makes the LM3429 ideal for illuminating LEDs in a very diverse, large family of applications. Adjustable high-side current sense voltage allows for tight regulation of the LED current with the highest efficiency possible. The LM3429 uses Predictive Off-time (PRO) control, which is a combination of peak current-mode control and a predictive off-timer. This method of control eases the design of loop compensation while providing inherent input voltage feed-forward compensation. The LM3429 includes a high-voltage startup regulator that operates over a wide input range of 4.5V to 75V. The internal PWM controller is designed for adjustable switching frequencies of up to 2.0 MHz, thus enabling compact solutions. Additional features include analog dimming, PWM dimming, over-voltage protection, under-voltage lock-out, cycle-by-cycle current limit, and thermal shutdown. The LM3429 comes in a low profile, thermally efficient TSSOP EP 14-lead package. The LM3429Q1 is an Automotive Grade product that is AECQ100 grade 1 qualified. LM3429 Features: Programmable switching frequency; Thermal Shutdown.

Price: $181.99


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5 New Features of iOS 5 That Can Save Time and Boost Productivity

Well, today is iPhone 4S day and because of its immaculate pre-order sales, it’s a pretty safe bet that many consumers like the idea of a faster, better camera equipped, personal assistant toting iPhone. Not to mention all of the updates that come because of the newly upgraded iOS 5.

So, can the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 make one more productive? Can it help them save time with normal everyday things? Well, no tool can make you more productive, you make you more productive, but a tool can definitely save you time and augment your productivity.

Here are 5 things that iPhone 4S and iOS 5 will help you save time and boost your productivity.

Reminders is a new app that comes with iOS 5. It allows users to create simple lists of tasks that can contain a due date, a reminder (either a date/time or location), a name, and a note. Pretty simple. But for the masses of people that are GTD fanboys and girls like you, the reminder app will be more than enough to support their productivity.

Reminders also syncs with iCloud, so if you have any other iDevices you can get access to your todos from anywhere.

One of my favorite new features of iOS 5 is the quick access to the camera. I take a lot of pictures of things that I need to remember for later meetings or phone calls (not to mention awesome pictures of my puppies) and being able to get quick access is nice.

To get fast access, double click your home button at the lock screen and a camera icon will appear. Touch the camera icon and you are in. I’ve also noticed that when you access the camera this way on the iPhone 4, you won’t get the dreaded “shutter of death”. The shutter opens quickly and you can start snapping away.

Even though the iPhone’s keyboard is pretty darn easy to use, it can be a little annoying to type and re-type certain phrases over and over again. If you are a TextExpander nerd, then you have probably been using TextExpander Touch on your phone for some time. The only issue is that TE Touch can’t be used system-wide.

In iOS 5 under Settings > Keyboard you will notice a new ‘Shortcuts’ section that allows users to enter phrases and a shortcut to get to them. Once you’ve added a shortcut combo, you can type it anywhere on your iPhone and you will see the familiar auto-correct bar come up with your “expanded” shortcut. It isn’t as robust as TE Touch, but still will save you tons of time in the long run.

iCloud is Apple’s new cloud storage / syncing service that now ships with iOS 5. Signing up for an iCloud account gives you web access to a new email client, calendar, contacts, Find My iPhone, and documents in the cloud. Basically, MobileMe done right. You can then use this account to keep your iPhone in sync with the server, not to mention with all of your iCloud friendly devices.

This is one thing that the iPhone has been missing that other devices (I’m looking at you Android) have been giving users for a while now. The thing is, and this goes for almost all Apple products, iCloud tends to be more “polished” (not more feature rich, Android fanboys) than any other cloud/mobile service that I have encountered.

What does iCloud mean for productivity? Ubiquitous email, calendar, and contacts with web access. Not to mention daily “cloud backups” of your iDevice. Enough said.

Siri is the voice recognition/personal assistant that ships with the iPhone 4S. There is a really nice video that Jason Snell did from Macworld showing off the personal assistant. While it is still in “beta”, Siri seems to work pretty well and can definitely help out users who don’t have typing access to their phones.

Siri allows the user to listen to and reply to text messages with voice, search for local businesses and map them, search Wolfram Alpha for statistics and things, give themselves reminders, set timers and alarms, and also manipulate their calendar and email. Yes, Android phones have had speech recognition for a while, but once again Apple seems to have polished this and made it accessible to mere mortals.

Any productive iPhone user has had to have known that the notifications on iOS stink. They interrupt what you are currently doing and force your attention to them. You could turn them off, but that was really an all or nothing type of approach.

Apple has added the new Notification Center to iOS 5 that allows user to use a drop-down shade from the top of the iPhone, much like the Android notification bar. In Notification Center you can set up notifications for any app that supports it as well as include snazzy weather and stock widgets. I can’t begin to describe how much time this has saved me from having to “hunt and peck” for app badge icons to see the notifications I have missed.

Users can set up their notifications in Settings > Notifications and can choose just how they want them to show up.

This is just a taste of all of the new features of iOS 5 that can help boost your productivity and save you time. I’m sure we will find more of the small time-savers that Apple has included over the next several days and weeks, but for now these are the most obvious ones. So, if you are a lucky one getting your snazzy new iPhone 4S today, try these 5 (+1) features out to save some time.

Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity and creativity and how to utilize technology to get more things done. Check out his tech writing at androinica.com where he writes about Android.


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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Boost your memory (52 Brilliant Ideas)

Boost your memory (52 Brilliant Ideas)In Boost your memory, expert author Darren Bridger provides 52 brilliant ideas and brain training exercises that will help you make and store new memories effectively and re-arrange your existing memories for more effective recall.  Boost your memory will help you perform better at work, and make sure you never forget another anniversary or important detail again. Simply brilliant.

Price: $12.17


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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Jack Canfield - Peak Performance Principles - How to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Discover Your Purpose - Personal Development DVD Training Video

Jack Canfield - Peak Performance Principles - How to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Discover Your Purpose - Personal Development DVD Training VideoBased on Jack Canfield's best selling book The Success Principles, this powerful seminar is loaded with life-changing ideas. Jack will show you how to build your self-esteem, take responsibility for everything that happens, clarify your vision, gain greater balance, find your purpose, and live a more fulfilling life. You'll hear several true stories that will touch your heart and shift your consciousness to an even more positive place. As Jack demonstrates throughout this seminar, success leaves clues. So if you want to reach a new level of success in your life, it takes nothing more than following a proven recipe, and that is exactly what this program delivers. Discover your greatness and take your life to the next level with this exceptional seminar, facilitated by one of the best success speakers in North America.

- BUILD YOUR SELF-ESTEEM HIGHER THAN EVER
- CHANGE YOUR RESPONSES TO CHANGE YOUR OUTCOMES
- TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
- CREATE A VISION AND FIND YOUR PURPOSE
- CREATE MORE BALANCE & LIVE A MORE FULFILLING LIFE ...

Seminars on DVD producer Michael Jeffreys has created dozens of powerful training videos covering a variety of topics, all delivered by America's top speakers. To find the entire list of available programs, search in the Tags section below for products tagged with the following text: seminarsondvd

Price: $89.95


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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Five ways to boost your intelligence – now!

1. Talk to lots of high falutin’ people
2. Perfect a knowing smile
3. Name drop obscure Russian authors
4. Grow a beard and wear with matching tweed jacket or floral print dress
HAVE YOU TRIED OUR PENIS ENLARGEMENT PILLS?
5. Make disdainful comments about popular entertainment


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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

10 Ways Improve Your Memory & Boost Brainpower

Have you ever noticed that some people are able to effortlessly remember even the most mundane details, and quickly comprehend new things, and wished that you too could be like that?  Well, you can.  To unlock the full potential of your brain, you need to keep it active and acute.  Wasting away on your couch watching mindless television shows is not going to help.  Besides getting out flashcards, what can you do to help remember things better and learn new things more quickly?  Check out these tips:

Exercise & get your body moving – exercising doesn’t just exercise the body, it also helps to exercise your brain.  Obesity and the myriad of diseases that eventually set in as a result of being overweight can cause serious harm to the brain.  Furthermore, without regular exercise plaque starts to build up in your arteries and your blood vessels begin to lose the ability to effectively pump blood.  Plaque buildup leads to heart attacks, but it also reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients that your blood carries to your brain.  When the nutrients don’t make it there, the brain’s ability to function is compromised.  To prevent this from happening, make sure you get moving every day, even if its just a brisk walk, it’ll help you maintain and increase your mental accuity. Brisk walking , swimming and dancing are all excellent activities.Eliminate stressors and seek help for depression (if you have it). Anything that causes you major stress, like anger or anxiety, will in time begin to eat away at the parts of your brain that are responsible for memory.  Amongst the most brain-damaging stressors is depression, which is actually often misdiagnosed a a memory problem since one of its primary symptoms is the inability to concentrate.  If you can’t concentrate, then you might feel like you are constantly forgetting things. Depression increases the levels of cortisol in your bloodstream, which elevates the cortisol levels in the brain.  Doctors have found that increased cortisol diminishes certain areas of the brain, especially the hippocampus, which is where short-term memories are stored.  Prolonged depression can thus destroy your brain’s ability to remember anything new.  Seek professional help to combat your depression – your brain will thank you.Get a good night’s sleep and take naps. Getting a consistent 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night will increase your memory. During sleep, the brain firms up memories of recently acquired information and getting enough sleep will help you get through the full spectrum of nocturnal cycles that are essential to optimal brain and body functioning during the waking hours.  Taking a nap throughout the day, especially after learning something new, can also help you to retain those memories as well as recharge your brain and keep it sharper longer.Write it down. If there’s something you want to remember, writing it down can help.  Writing it down creates oxygenated blood flow to areas of your brain that a responsible for your memories and literally exercises those parts of it.  You can start a journal, write yourself e-mails, or even start keeping a blog – all of these activities will help to improve your capacity to remember and memorize information.Listen to music. Research shows that certain types of music are very helpful in recalling memories.  Information that is learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled by thinking of the song or “playing” it mentally.  Songs and music can serve as cues for pulling up particular memories.Feed your brain. 50 to 60 percent of the brain’s overall weight is pure fat, which is  used to insulate its billions of nerve cells.  The better insulated a cell is, the faster it can send messages and the quicker you will be thinking.  This is precisely why parents are advised to feed their young children whole milk and to restrict dieting – their brains’ need fat to grow and work properly.  Skimping on fats can be devastating even to the adult brain.  Thus, eating foods that contain a healthy mix of fats is vital for long-term memory.  Some excellent food choices include fish (especially anchovies, mackerel and wild salmon) and dark leafy green vegetables.  Deep-fried foods obviously contain fat, but their lack of nutritional value is going to help your brain or your body, so think healthy foods and fats.Visual concepts. In order to remember things, many people need to visualize the information they are studying.  Pay attention to photographers, charts and other graphics that might appear in your textbook, or if you’re not studying a book, try to pull up a mental image of what it is you are trying to remember.  It might also help to draw your own charts or figures, or utilize colors and highlighters to group related ideas in your notes.Teach someone else. Reading material out loud has been shown to significantly improve memory of the material.  Expanding further upon this idea is the fact that psychologists and educators have found that by having students teach new concepts to others, it heps to enhance understanding and recall.  Teach new concepts and information to a friend or study partner, and you’ll find you remember the information a lot better.Do crossword puzzles, read, or play cards. Studies have shown that doing either of these activities on a daily basis not only keep your brain active, but also help to delay memory loss, especially in those who develop dementia.  So pick up the daily newspaper and work on that crossword puzzle, read a book, or enjoy a game of solitaire.Eat breakfast and make sure it includes an egg. Accrording to Larry McCleary, M.D., author of  The Brain Trust Program, an egg is the ideal breakfast.  Eggs contain B vitamins, which help nerve cells to burn glucose, antioxidants that protect neurons against damage, and omega-3 fatty acids that keep nerve cells firing at optimal speed.  Other foods to add to your breakfast include fruits, veggies and lean proteins.  Avoid trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.  Trans fats diminish the brain cells’ ability to communicate with eachother, and HFCS can actually shrink the brain by damaging cells.  Having a healthy breakfast in the morning has been shown to improve performance throughout the day.

What are some tips or tricks you  have food to increase your memory and keep your brain sharp?

pts to others


View the original article here

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

10 Ways Improve Your Memory & Boost Brainpower

Have you ever noticed that some people are able to effortlessly remember even the most mundane details, and quickly comprehend new things, and wished that you too could be like that?  Well, you can.  To unlock the full potential of your brain, you need to keep it active and acute.  Wasting away on your couch watching mindless television shows is not going to help.  Besides getting out flashcards, what can you do to help remember things better and learn new things more quickly?  Check out these tips:

Exercise & get your body moving – exercising doesn’t just exercise the body, it also helps to exercise your brain.  Obesity and the myriad of diseases that eventually set in as a result of being overweight can cause serious harm to the brain.  Furthermore, without regular exercise plaque starts to build up in your arteries and your blood vessels begin to lose the ability to effectively pump blood.  Plaque buildup leads to heart attacks, but it also reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients that your blood carries to your brain.  When the nutrients don’t make it there, the brain’s ability to function is compromised.  To prevent this from happening, make sure you get moving every day, even if its just a brisk walk, it’ll help you maintain and increase your mental accuity. Brisk walking , swimming and dancing are all excellent activities.Eliminate stressors and seek help for depression (if you have it). Anything that causes you major stress, like anger or anxiety, will in time begin to eat away at the parts of your brain that are responsible for memory.  Amongst the most brain-damaging stressors is depression, which is actually often misdiagnosed a a memory problem since one of its primary symptoms is the inability to concentrate.  If you can’t concentrate, then you might feel like you are constantly forgetting things. Depression increases the levels of cortisol in your bloodstream, which elevates the cortisol levels in the brain.  Doctors have found that increased cortisol diminishes certain areas of the brain, especially the hippocampus, which is where short-term memories are stored.  Prolonged depression can thus destroy your brain’s ability to remember anything new.  Seek professional help to combat your depression – your brain will thank you.Get a good night’s sleep and take naps. Getting a consistent 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night will increase your memory. During sleep, the brain firms up memories of recently acquired information and getting enough sleep will help you get through the full spectrum of nocturnal cycles that are essential to optimal brain and body functioning during the waking hours.  Taking a nap throughout the day, especially after learning something new, can also help you to retain those memories as well as recharge your brain and keep it sharper longer.Write it down. If there’s something you want to remember, writing it down can help.  Writing it down creates oxygenated blood flow to areas of your brain that a responsible for your memories and literally exercises those parts of it.  You can start a journal, write yourself e-mails, or even start keeping a blog – all of these activities will help to improve your capacity to remember and memorize information.Listen to music. Research shows that certain types of music are very helpful in recalling memories.  Information that is learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled by thinking of the song or “playing” it mentally.  Songs and music can serve as cues for pulling up particular memories.Feed your brain. 50 to 60 percent of the brain’s overall weight is pure fat, which is  used to insulate its billions of nerve cells.  The better insulated a cell is, the faster it can send messages and the quicker you will be thinking.  This is precisely why parents are advised to feed their young children whole milk and to restrict dieting – their brains’ need fat to grow and work properly.  Skimping on fats can be devastating even to the adult brain.  Thus, eating foods that contain a healthy mix of fats is vital for long-term memory.  Some excellent food choices include fish (especially anchovies, mackerel and wild salmon) and dark leafy green vegetables.  Deep-fried foods obviously contain fat, but their lack of nutritional value is going to help your brain or your body, so think healthy foods and fats.Visual concepts. In order to remember things, many people need to visualize the information they are studying.  Pay attention to photographers, charts and other graphics that might appear in your textbook, or if you’re not studying a book, try to pull up a mental image of what it is you are trying to remember.  It might also help to draw your own charts or figures, or utilize colors and highlighters to group related ideas in your notes.Teach someone else. Reading material out loud has been shown to significantly improve memory of the material.  Expanding further upon this idea is the fact that psychologists and educators have found that by having students teach new concepts to others, it heps to enhance understanding and recall.  Teach new concepts and information to a friend or study partner, and you’ll find you remember the information a lot better.Do crossword puzzles, read, or play cards. Studies have shown that doing either of these activities on a daily basis not only keep your brain active, but also help to delay memory loss, especially in those who develop dementia.  So pick up the daily newspaper and work on that crossword puzzle, read a book, or enjoy a game of solitaire.Eat breakfast and make sure it includes an egg. Accrording to Larry McCleary, M.D., author of  The Brain Trust Program, an egg is the ideal breakfast.  Eggs contain B vitamins, which help nerve cells to burn glucose, antioxidants that protect neurons against damage, and omega-3 fatty acids that keep nerve cells firing at optimal speed.  Other foods to add to your breakfast include fruits, veggies and lean proteins.  Avoid trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.  Trans fats diminish the brain cells’ ability to communicate with eachother, and HFCS can actually shrink the brain by damaging cells.  Having a healthy breakfast in the morning has been shown to improve performance throughout the day.

What are some tips or tricks you  have food to increase your memory and keep your brain sharp?

pts to others


View the original article here

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Jack Canfield - Peak Performance Principles - How to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Discover Your Purpose - Personal Development DVD Training Video

Jack Canfield - Peak Performance Principles - How to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Discover Your Purpose - Personal Development DVD Training VideoBased on Jack Canfield's best selling book The Success Principles, this powerful seminar is loaded with life-changing ideas. Jack will show you how to build your self-esteem, take responsibility for everything that happens, clarify your vision, gain greater balance, find your purpose, and live a more fulfilling life. You'll hear several true stories that will touch your heart and shift your consciousness to an even more positive place. As Jack demonstrates throughout this seminar, success leaves clues. So if you want to reach a new level of success in your life, it takes nothing more than following a proven recipe, and that is exactly what this program delivers. Discover your greatness and take your life to the next level with this exceptional seminar, facilitated by one of the best success speakers in North America.

- BUILD YOUR SELF-ESTEEM HIGHER THAN EVER
- CHANGE YOUR RESPONSES TO CHANGE YOUR OUTCOMES
- TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
- CREATE A VISION AND FIND YOUR PURPOSE
- CREATE MORE BALANCE & LIVE A MORE FULFILLING LIFE ...

Seminars on DVD producer Michael Jeffreys has created dozens of powerful training videos covering a variety of topics, all delivered by America's top speakers. To find the entire list of available programs, search in the Tags section below for products tagged with the following text: seminarsondvd

Price: $89.95


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