5 Crazy Ideas To Save The Environment

Climate change is a global problem; it follows that all of us should have a desire to help alleviate the problem, right? Actually we can all take little steps to help. As we all know, the human race continues to waste Mother Earth’s natural resources.

We as good children should take steps to prevent further damage. It’s beneficial to take action now to avoid disasters of catastrophic proportions in the near future.
Today is the best time to start doing something good for Earth; our only home. In the infographic featured here, we can see ideas that could contribute to our goal of saving our planet from total destruction.

Some are absolutely crazy while one is just plain practical. Some are scientific breakthroughs waiting to be confirmed as such. This infographic introduces some promising fresh innovations. However, they remain at a stage where researchers and scientists are waiting for validation. Just the same, these ideas are worth trying.

It’s encouraging to know that caring and committed individuals continue to look for solutions to help save the environment.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

For today’s knowledge workers, every distraction is a drain on productivity and sanity. 10 Steps to a Zen-like Working Environment

Anthony is an expert broadcaster/professional blogger who is fueled by cappuccino and jazz music. If he's not busy writing for clients, and churning out ebooks 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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13 Ideas of Really Cheap Meals for Broke People

We all have to eat. But it doesn’t mean you have to settle for less-than-great food if you don’t have a lot of money. Here are 13 ideas for really cheap meals for broke people:

It isn’t called rubber chicken because it’s rubbery! But rather because it keeps bouncing back for more meals. One whole, large chicken can feed a family of four for at least four meals.

The first meal is to eat part of the chicken. It can be a rotisserie chicken, or one you cook at home either in the oven or a crock pot. Add some veggies and a starch and you have a meal. When you are done, remove all the excess chicken from the bones and put it aside. Also, save all the bones for meal number three.

The second meal will take some of the chicken from meal one and arrange it over a bed of lettuce. Add whichever veggies you have on hand, perhaps some salsa, and you have a nice, main-course salad.

Take the carcass from meal one and put it in a big pot. Cover with water and add salt and pepper. You can also add any vegetables you wish, like onion or celery, for flavoring. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for a couple of hours. Strain out the solids and you have a nice chicken stock. Use the chicken stock as a basis for chicken soup: add vegetables, some pasta or rice, and you have a filling meal.

The last bit of chicken can be wrapped up in tortillas with some warmed beans, leftover rice and a bit of salsa–a great quick meal!

Chicken isn’t the only meat that can bounce back. Beef can also work the same way.

The crock pot is your best friend for cooking inexpensive cuts of beef. The long cooking time will reduce the toughest piece of beef into a tender blend of flavor. The first of the rubber beef meals is the beef roast dinner. Get a cheap roast from the store and cook it in the crock pot with a cup of cooking liquid (water, broth, or wine) and some vegetables. Save the leftover meat for meals six and seven. Or you can use recipes like this one.

Much like the leftover chicken, you can combine the leftover beef into burrito filling. Add rice, a can of black beans and a dash of pepper for some nice sizzle!

Shredded beef lends itself really well to barbecue sandwiches. Just add whatever sauce you wish to the meat, and serve it on a bun. Add homemade coleslaw to the sandwich for extra zing.

Wraps are a great way to go cheap: they provide a source of carbohydrate while holding all your fillings together. We’ve already talked about beef and chicken burritos, but you can go even cheaper…

A very filling and inexpensive meal can be made with tortillas, refried beans and whichever toppings you prefer. Chopped tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce and other shredded vegetables will round this out for a very healthy meal.

Eggs are an excellent source of protein and are extremely inexpensive. Scramble up some eggs with some vegetables, and you have a great dinner (or breakfast!)

When people say “cheap” and “noodles” in one sentence, they generally mean spaghetti. But this doesn’t mean you have to settle for bland.

Sesame noodles can be made with long pasta, sesame paste and a bit of chili sauce, thinned with broth or water. Add a little onion, cilantro and cucumber for bursts of flavor.

The cheapest commercial spaghetti sauces are also the most bland. Hit your dollar store for spices and give that sauce some taste! Garlic, oregano and basil are standard additions, but a zip of red pepper or chili sauce will warm your tummy.

One of the best ways to stretch your food dollar is to make sure nothing gets thrown away. That means you have to have a way to deal with little bits of leftovers that are not enough to make a full meal. Here are two catch-all ideas for using that last bit of food.

Fried rice is extremely flexible and forgiving. Heat up whatever leftover veggies or meat you have in a bit of oil, then add leftover cooked rice. Make a well in the middle and scramble an egg, then mix it all together for fried rice.

If you’re more in the mood for comfort food, you can make Magic Casserole. Take one leftover meat or protein, add one leftover starch (noodles, rice, or potatoes), one binder (a can of ‘cream-of-something’ soup, leftover gravy or sauce), a vegetable (whatever is available) and a crunchy topping (crushed potato or tortilla chips, fried onions or nuts). Mix everything but the topping together, put it in a casserole dish, add the topping, and bake until heated through.

Cheap meals don’t have to be unhealthy, bland or pre-prepared. Cooking from scratch and using every bit of food is the best way to stretch your food dollar.

If you eat healthier, you feel better: 4 Quick And Easy Tricks To Healthier Eating

Featured photo credit: Two women - one is African American - eating hamburger and drinking soda in a fast food diner; focus on the meal via Shutterstock

LJ Earnest is a computer programmer by day, productivity geek all the time. Using the principles of productivity and simplicity at SimpleProductivityBlog.com, she helps people get through the stuff they have to do so they can get to the stuff they want to do. She also runs the Amazon Kindle search site, CheapBooksForKindle.com

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7 Surefire Ways to Make Sure Your Ideas Don’t Take Off

So you’ve thought of this idea you think will change the way the world works. You go about creating a business plan, detailing it with bits and pieces of data to build up your point of view, and you even create a vision board to help you stay focussed on your end goal. You get a second opinion from someone you look up to and even they buy into your idea. You’re all set to roll, but there is something that’s holding you back, for some reason.

You think you need to think it over and you do that. And then you think some more. You finally convince yourself that maybe this idea is not the one and you fool yourself into believing that this idea will not work.

What went wrong? One day you think you have an earth-shattering brilliant idea and the next day you just give up. Did you fall into the bottomless pit from where fresh ideas never make it out? Maybe you just did one of these things.

Most of us who come up with new ideas or new ways of thinking; question and then question some more. It’s not because we are not sure but because we want to make sure what we have is flawless, but we fail to understand that nothing that was ever created was without fault. Everything has its glitches or things we haven’t even thought of ,or just things that we missed. This can often lead us to believe that our idea will never work, without even giving it a fair shot.

Very often people who work in teams or are in partnerships wait for the other person to take the first step or to make the first move. This doesn’t ever work. Here’s a piece of advice: never ever wait for someone else. Your idea is your baby, it’s you and only you who has to make sure it comes alive. Don’t depend on someone else—they will never have the same feelings towards another person’s baby.

This is an extension of the earlier point. Never wait for someone in your team to take the first step. It’s your brainchild—you have to do it. You start and lead from the front. You lead by example, the rest will look at your enthusiasm and will be automatically inspired to move, and once the ball is rolling, there is no turning back. You just have to make sure the ball stays rolling and you can do this by making sure you don’t stop.

People who are analytical by nature have a tendency to back their ideas with loads of data and even more truckloads of statistics. This complicates things: ideas should be broken down to their simplest and purest form. Data and statistics can come in later, once the idea has come out in the real world. Not before.

There are ample cribs on forums where people have admitted to making this classic mistake of over-analyzing things. This habit, if not kept in check at the right time, will definitely make sure your idea stays where it is: on paper.

This again may sound like a good thing, but in essence and true to the quote, “Too many cooks spoil the broth”. Adding too many experts right in the beginning is never a good idea.

Everyone comes with their own point of view and expertise and in the muddle to get their voice heard, the idea can often get lost or get too complicated. And just in case, you have to add people or have to work with many people, make sure you have the reins firmly in your hands. You be the one who guides and directs, if ever people stray off course.

Often ideas or businesses don’t make money right from the word go. Some take time to mature and become part of everyday routine. A classic example would be Facebook: it took them many years to finally start making money, but that didn’t stop them—they knew that when the idea matured and the number of fans reached critical mass, the money would come. And it did.

Point is, don’t let money or the lack of it in the beginning, stop you. Invest some of your own money in your idea and nurture it. Just don’t let it die prematurely in your idea book.

Again, not all ideas become overnight successes. Many take time to reach critical mass. All you have to do is keep at it and not give up. Remember the only way, your idea will make it big is if you keep working at it. Stop and it’ll die a premature death.

These are the top 7 things that make sure novel ideas never realise their true potential. Keep them in mind the next time you come up with an idea that you think will make the world a better place.

What ideas actually are: How to Consistently Come Up with Great Ideas

Featured photo credit: Bright Light Bulb close up shot via Shutterstock I’m just a man who made a change for the better by changing the way I think. and I can probably help you make the most of the shit happening around you too. so this concept. it’s about putting the focus on you. on improving you by looking at a situation the way it is, accepting it and finding the positive in it.

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The World on its Head: A Q&A about the ideas behind this exciting TEDGlobal session

Global Issues TED Conferences TEDGlobal 2013 guest curators Nassim Assefi and Gabriella Gomez-Mont share how they created the session, “The World on Its Head,” which will make you rethink the global order.

Session 6 of TEDGlobal 2013 has a captivating title: “The World on its Head.” Guest curated by Nassim Assefi and Gabriella Gómez-Mont — both from the inaugural class of TEDGlobal 2009 Fellows — the session will be a chance to turn our conceptions of the Middle East and Latin America upside down, and to rethink staid assumptions about politics, religion, art, architecture, peacemaking and more. 

Here, the TED Blog asks Assefi and Gómez-Mont to share what inspired the session and how they went about picking speakers.

Where did the theme “The World on Its Head” come from?

Nassim Assefi: Gabriella and I brainstormed, trying to tie together our two regions. What is the zeigeist in each of our regions? The undercurrents? What do they have in common? How have they been underestimated? Misunderstood? What is their hidden potential? We settled on “The World On Its Head” after viewing a wonderful map of the world with the South facing upward. That visual became a metaphor for rethinking deeply held assumptions and views of the world and sitting with the discomfort of a new idea until the brain adjusts.

Gabriella Gómez-Mont: For me, the idea of “The World on Its Head” rings strongly and intimately with moments in life when I had to truly rethink important things so deeply that the former map no longer works, no longer matches the new reality. That moment, pause, gap, chaos of no longer understanding anything because one fundamental part of understanding crumbles — it’s one of the most enigmatic and profoundly human moments one can go through.

It is both so strangely beautiful and tremendously brutal to rethink once unshakable truths. No wonder all of us, collectively and individually, try to make the world sit still and force maps to remain the same for centuries even when they no longer work. But in the end, that moment of confusion is a fundamental part of every transformation, adventure, and reconstitution — a pure turbulent threshold between paradigms. And then many new possibilities surface after finding one’s footing again in an upside-down world.

How did the guest curation come about?

Assefi: I had been pitching speaker ideas to [TEDGlobal curator] Bruno Giussani since the moment I met him, and many of those suggestions have made it to the TED stage. I play that role at TEDMED, too. In August 2012, we received a marvelous email invitation out of the blue from Bruno to guest curate/host a session at TEDGlobal. There are more than 300 TED Fellows from around the world, each doing amazing work, and no TED Fellow had ever guest curated a session at TED, so this is an incredible honor.

Gabriella and I were chosen in part because we work in, and come from, distinct regions of the world — I represent the Middle East/Central Asia, and Gabriella Latin America. I’m an internist and global women’s health specialist (most recently tackling maternal mortality in Afghanistan). I also write novels, work on civic peace-oriented projects in the Middle East, defend human rights from a medical angle, and am a feminist activist, a single mom, and a diehard TEDhead. Gabriella is an artist, a documentary filmmaker, a curator for the arts in Latin America, and now head of a civic think tank/laboratory for Mexico City.

I represent the sciences/health, literature, and global politics; she is the arts expert, the design/architecture person, a cultural force. We have different styles of working, but in reality, we overlap quite a bit. I speak Spanish and have worked in Central America. She has traveled in the Middle East. We’re both polyglots, crazy dancers, and global citizens, though we have strong predilections for our regions of origin.

What’s the thrust of the session?

Assefi: It’s about discarding assumptions about the Middle East, Latin America, and the way you think the world works in exchange for groundbreaking ideas that will hopefully inspire you to rethink politics, religion, art, peacemaking, the role of sports, underestimated economies and architecture, and even toxic environments.

Gómez-Mont: Exactly, that is a great description. I was interested in reformulating and rethinking certain gray areas we take for granted, and I wanted to focus on Latin America, on certain places and subjects that could be explored more thoroughly. We sought to make our speakers complement each other, understand how we could weave certain threads among individual narratives, regions and diverse disciplines. And diversity — of age, country of origin, religion, and so on — was important to us.

Can you describe your speakers?

Assefi: All are global citizens/multicultural. Each of them has taken on courageous work. The lineup include: architect and urbanist Teddy Cruz; explorer, writer and filmmaker Holly Morris; economic policy innovator Juan Pardinas; historian/political scientist Trita Parsi; performance artist Tania Bruguera; accidental theologist Lesley Hazleton; and founder of the Beirut Marathon, May El-Khalil.

We found our musician through two other TEDFellows, Meklit Hadero and Esra’a al Shafei. Dina el Wedidi is one of Meklit’s Nile Music artists and is featured in Esra’a’s MidEastTunes app. Through the Rolex Mentor and Protegee Arts Program, Dina has been paired with the famous Brazilian musician, Gilberto Gil. Dina seemed like a poetic fit for our session — the TED Fellow-link to discovering this brazen, beautiful, young woman singer-songwriter from the Middle East, who found her audience during the Arab Spring and is being influenced and mentored by a legendary Latin American musical force.

But we don’t want to give away our speakers’ topics. It’s more fun if you are surprised by our session. At a TED conference, one generally doesn’t know what each speaker’s idea worth spreading will be until show time!

Which speakers do you think are going to knock our socks off? Why?

Assefi: That’s a cruel question, like asking a mother to choose the favorite between her children! The truth is, if curated well, different speakers will wow different people. It depends on what’s happening in your life, what you’ve been thinking about lately, and how open you are to certain ideas. Of the four I’ve chosen, I can imagine each one of them blowing you away. I predict Gabriella feels the same.

Gómez-Mont: I feel the same. And one never knows until that fateful day when the crowd goes silent and the curtain goes up what will happen in that space between those words on paper and the voice on stage — between the careful planning and the happily reckless, often serendipitous, many times shifting, sometimes accomplice or sometimes trickster — reality.

TED Global, themed “Think Again,” kicks off on June 10 in Edinburgh, Scotland. See the full list of speakers, and get lots more information about attending at the conference website. And stay tuned to the TED Blog where we will be bringing you live coverage of the conference.

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10 Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for Alternageek Moms

Does your mom speak fluent Klingon or Sindarin? Would your wife ever dress as River Song? Does the mother of your children swoon over Captain Mal? Could your pregnant partner match wits with Sheldon Cooper?

If you could answer “yes” to any of those questions, then toss out any bland ideas you may have had to celebrate Mother’s Day—you have a super-awesome geek lady in your life, and she deserves a gift that’s as uniquely awesome as she is.

I don’t know many women who aren’t obsessed with Game of Thrones on some level, be it with the HBO TV show, or the book series by George R. R. Martin that the show is based on. Does the special mama in your world daydream about dragon-riding as Khaleesi Daenerys? Ruling with an iron fist like Cersei Lannister? Whatever her personality, there are special gifts to make your own Queen happy.

A Feast of Ice and Fire is the official GoT cookbook, with recipes from across the Seven Kingdoms, so you can prepare a fabulous meal for your leading lady. Add in a gorgeous necklace, or a “Moon of My Heart” ring, and you’ll light up her Sun and Stars for weeks.

If your marvellous mama is a hardcore graphic design maven, then you can colour her Mother’s Day like a veritable rainbow in her favourite Pantone shades. From iPhone cases to makeup and mugs, you can lavish her with items in the hues that make her happiest. While you’re at it, consider baking her some Pantone chip cookies: she’ll appreciate your hard work, and they’re freaking delicious.

It could very well be that the best gift you could give your lady would be a block of time to herself to do whatever she’d like to do, especially if that includes 10 hours of uninterrupted gaming. Take the kids to a theme park for the day, give your lovely lass a supply kit of her favourite snacks and beverages and maybe a vial of RPG-themed perfume oil, and leave her alone for the rest of the day. By the time you come home, she’ll have leveled up, gained some new items, and will be smiling her face off.

Your Star Wars-loving lady can thwart the Dark Side every time she craves a cuppa, with this tea strainer from Think Geek. Team it up with a fabulous mug, an assortment of home-made cookies and a selection of teas from Adagio or David’s, and she’ll be able to re-ignite The Force every time she’s feeling low.

Move over Katniss Everdeen: mama’s got a bow and arrows, and she’ll soon know how to use ‘em. Let your lady’s inner Amazon shine with a set of archery lessons from a nearby range. If you need advice on where to score these, contact your nearest SCA (Society of Creative Anachronism) guild.

Speaking of anachronisms, does your ladylove have a penchant for all things Medieval and would have a blast LARPing for a day? Consider taking her out for a night on the towne at a Medieval event somewhere near you. The aforementioned SCA has chapters around the world, and many of their celebrations are open to non-members. You’d need a costume, and there would be a nominal fee to attend, but you’d get to party it up like it’s 1199, with others who share the same affinities that you do.

If your lady is less of a role-player but still loves the romance and chivalry of that era, many cities have dinner-and-tournament entertainment such as Medieval Times, and there are also Rennaisance/Medieval faires where you can go to gnaw upon legs of mutton and throw veggies at brigands who are locked in the stocks.

The mom you’re shopping for might not be the type that’s all into frills and flounces: she may hate purses, is far more comfortable in combat boots than heels, and could easily be mistaken for Sarah Connor by passersby (T2 Sarah, not the badly-permed T1 version). With this trenchcoat, she’ll have 18 pockets to cram full of whatever she needs. It comes in 7 colours, and can hold an iPad as easily and fashionably as a baby bottle and spare diaper.

Okay, so you can’t actually wrap up David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston, or Matt Smith for your special lass, but you can deck out her space in Doctor Who paraphernalia. You can pick up a pre-made gift pack consisting of a journal, cup, coasters, and beach towel, or create your own gift basket with a sonic screwdriver, Whovian cookbook, and even some Tardis string lights.

Of course, you could also suit up as Jack Harkness and make her night a really festive one, but only if you can pull it off well.

Most geeky chicks seem to also be in love with making “stuff”, and if the hot mama in your life has a penchant for knitting things, you can feed her crafty habit with some cute pattern books and a gift certificate to KnitPicks. Books such as The Big Book of Knitted Monsters or Knits for Nerds sound amazing, but be sure to cater to her individual tastes.

What better way to declare the awesomeness of motherhood than to celebrate with some new ink or steel? Whether your belle is already covered in ink, or has just been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo or piercing, this is the perfect opportunity to commemorate how fabulous she is.

Here are 10 last minute Mother’s Day gifts that are both thoughtful and easy to procure at a moment’s notice.: 9 Great Last Minute Mother’s Day Gifts

Featured photo credit: Heart shape gift box on wooden table via Shutterstock

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7 talks with big ideas for hiring

Business TEDTalks Some employees can work 9am to 5pm, five days a week. Others are available on evenings and weekends. But in today’s talk, filmed at the TEDSalon in London, entrepreneur Wingham Rowan describes another type of worker — one who has a highly unpredictable schedule.

“Think of someone who has a recurring but unpredictable medical condition, somebody who’s caring for a dependent adult, or a parent with complex childcare needs — their availability for work can be such that it’s ‘[I can do a] few hours today’ and ‘Maybe I can work tomorrow, but I don’t if and when yet,’” says Rowan. “It’s extraordinarily difficult for these people to find the work that they so often need very badly. Which is a tragedy because there are employers who can use pools of very flexible, local people booked completely ad hoc.”

Rowan says that he is encouraged by websites like Task Rabbit, which allow people to pick up odd jobs. But he pictures a far more wide-reaching effort to employ flexible workers, beginning with his website Slivers of Time.

His big idea: instead of giving people at the bottom of the economic order online tools that are essentially glorified classifieds, could they use complex analytic tools –  more like what a Wall Street trader deals with — to chart their economic opportunities? And could governments help on this front? Rowan reveals that there is actually a precedent for this — lottery systems, which governments across the globe have approved. To hear how flexible employment would work on the same model, watch this talk.

Below, more TED speakers with big ideas on hiring.

Misha Glenny: Hire the hackers!
Hackers are, generally, thought of as common criminals. But there is another way to treat coders who use their talents to point out flaws in cyber-security measures rather than to steal money, says underworld investigator Misha Glenny. At TEDGlobal 2011, he suggests a bold reversal: instead of prosecuting hackers, engage them and even put them to work. Andrew McAfee: Are droids taking our jobs?
With unemployment high, people are very concerned with the question, “Are robots and computer programs taking over jobs that people could be doing?” At TEDxBoston, Andrew McAfee admits that, yes, they are. But this is no reason to despair, McAfee says. Because human beings will always excel in one area that digital technology cannot compete: coming up with new ideas.

Maria van der Heijden: Jobs for 1 million women
In India, an estimated 700 to 800 million people live on less than two dollars a day. Maria van der Heijden, who founded Women on Wings, shares a vision for how to change this equation — by hiring women for jobs that pay a living wage. In this talk from TEDxDelft, van der Heijden shares how she hopes to employ a million women by connecting their handiwork with global markets.

Majora Carter: 3 stories of local eco-entrepreneurship
Brenda Palms-Barber of Chicago, Illinois, took an interesting approach when she started a line of skincare products made from honey. She hired ex-convicts to care for the bees. The idea was to give them employment experience and teach them life skills that could keep them from returning to prison. In this talk from TEDxMidwest, Majora Carter looks at Palms-Barber’s approach — as well as the approaches of two others — to work toward a greener planet and, in the process, hire local workers.

Heiko Fischer: The future of work
A stunning number of people don’t feel like they have any control over how things work at their place of employment, says Heiko Fischer. In this talk from TEDxKoeln, he shares a vision for turning human resources on its head and thinking about employees as resourceful humans. Because companies need their best work — and innovative ideas — in order to stay competitive.

Clay Shirky: Institutions vs. collaboration
There are two ways to accomplish a business goal, says Clay Shirky at TEDGlobal 2005. You can build an institution with employees, and then layers on top of those employees to manage them. Or you can build a mechanism that allows for collaboration, and harness the spirit of hobbyists and volunteers. In this talk, Shirky explores the upsides and downsides of hiring versus coordinating.

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30sec Tip: How to Generate Better Ideas?

Be open minded, listen to opposite points of view so that you can formulate new ideas.

The strangest thing about the process of generating ideas, is that there seems to be a commonly held belief that it is some sort of mystical process, one that is only reserved for the likes of ‘visionaries’ and mad scientists. There is this idea that those kinds of people are the only ones who can come up with great ideas consistently, and even then, only after ‘waiting’ for ‘inspiration’ to strike. This belief is held despite the fact that there are many people who have said outright (and show through their output), that they work hard and sweat for their ideas.

How to Consistently Come Up with Great Ideas

Featured photo credit: image of asphalt from near distance via Shutterstock Brian is a Lifehacker who covers all sorts of tips for life. He is also fascinated with new technology. Contact Brian at brian@lifehack.org, Google+

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9 Ideas to Get Your Work Organized for the Year Ahead

Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of those involved in the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.

Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:

As often as possible, I’m adding regular business tasks to my weekly calendar on repeat. It has helped to “hold the space” for client work, marketing, networking, family and fun. I take into account the 2013 personal and business goals as I create time to work closer to those outcomes.

- Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems

To prepare for the year ahead, I’m creating a financial plan and budget for 2013. This is an essential activity (that you should have started in 2012) to help you to get organized for the year ahead. Use your financial plan as an opportunity to hone in on your key goals for 2013 and to establish milestones to guide you throughout the year. Plan to update your budget as the year progresses.

- David Ehrenberg, Early Growth Financial Services

Believe it or not, I haven’t had a filing cabinet so much as a filing “box” where everything I wanted to file away was placed in, without any rhyme or reason. My plan is to fix that.

- Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the weeds and forget about how far you can come in a year. We’re summarizing accomplishments made in 2012 to share with our company, and motivate the team to continue to do bigger and better things in 2013.

- Robert J. Moore, RJMetrics

SEE ALSO: Ask The Entrepreneurs: 13 Golden Rituals That Keep Entrepreneurs Sane

If it’s not something that is adding to my life in a positive manner, it needs to go. My goal is to surround myself with things that I’m passionate about, that I can learn from, and that will help me focus instead of distract me. It’s like spring cleaning your closet!

- Benish Shah, Vicaire Ny

Hiring a personal assistant. At first I felt like hiring a personal assistant was ridiculous, but the busier I get the less organized I am.

- John Hall, Digital Talent Agents

Every quarter I review my life plan and business objectives and goals. I try to go somewhere for a whole weekend to do this every three months.

- Peter Nguyen, Literati Institute

I went through a few terrible hacks recently. Even though we were prepared with backups and recovery best practices, cyber attacks are always damaging to an online business. I have spent much personal time and resources building out our security infrastructure in order to ensure that similar attacks never occur again in the future.

- Logan Lenz, Endagon

For me, listening to my employees is the solution to many problems. They always have great ideas for how we can make the business, and our time in the office, more efficient and productive. We spent the month of December wrapping up year-end projects, as well as putting a great plan in place for 2013. Always take time for an in-depth review with key employees at the end of the year!

- Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas

SEE ALSO: Ask the Entrepreneurs: 11 Bloggers to Follow for Lifestyle and Productivity Tips

Featured photo credit: Black and white storage boxes and green plant in a room. via Shutterstock The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

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8 talks with big ideas for our roadways

It’s an experience that can inspire road rage in even the calmest person: an urban traffic jam where cars crawl along at a pace of inches per hour.  As Jonas Eliasson, a professor of transportation at Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), explains in today’s talk, traffic congestion occurs in almost every major city across the globe, despite constant efforts to dissolve it.

At TEDxHelvetia, Eliasson suggests a subtle approach — give people small incentives not to drive on crowded roadways at peak hours. Why not do more? Because keeping just a small percentage of drivers off the roads is enough to clear traffic.

Eliasson gives an example from his hometown, Stockholm. In January of 2006, the city instituted a pilot test of charging a small tax—just one or two Euros—for vehicles to cross the city’s main bridges, which bottleneck because they are very narrow. With the new tax, traffic on the bridges dropped by 20% almost instantly, leaving the roadways clear. When the pilot test ended in July of the same year, traffic returned the very next day—along with traffic jams.

In surveying drivers, Eliasson noticed an interesting pattern. When congestion pricing was first introduced, 70% of people opposed the tax. However, over the next few months, support quickly grew to 70% wanting to keep the tax. Almost no one felt that they were being inconvenienced.

“You have to admire car drivers, they adapt so extremely quickly … Each day people make new decisions,” says Eliasson. “Each day all of these decisions are nudged ever so slightly away from rush hour driving in a way people don’t even notice.”

To hear more about how congestion taxes can work, watch Eliasson’s talk. And after the jump, watch seven more talks with powerful ideas that might change our commutes.

Robin Chase on Zipcar and her next big idea
Robin Chase revolutionized the car rental game with Zipcar, making it possible to rent a car for just a few hours. In this talk from TED2007, she rings a warning bell that fuel-efficient cars aren’t enough to solve our climate crisis. She gives a suggestion for how to truly transform the way we relate to our vehicles—road pricing to inspire efficiency and carpooling.

Anna Mracek Dietrich: A plane you can drive
Human beings have wanted to create a flying car for the past 100 years. So why has there been no real breakthrough yet? In this talk from TEDGlobal 2011, pilot Anna Mracek Dietrich shares how she and her team approached the problem from a different angle: why not make a plane that can be driven on the road, thanks to foldable wings?

Bill Ford: A future beyond traffic gridlock
Bill Ford’s great-grandfathers were Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. And yet, he’s hugely concerned about what will happen as more and more cars flood our roads. In this talk from TED2011, Ford introduces us to “smart roads,” “smart parking” and “smart public transportation”—all of which can communicate with each other, and with drivers to help them make better decisions. The hidden benefit: saving fuel and the environment. 

Gary Lauder’s new traffic sign: Take turns
Roundabouts are far superior to stop signs when it comes to preventing accidents and saving gas. In this short talk from TED2010, Gary Lauder suggests a less costly approach—“Take Turns” signs that combine the best of “stop” and “yield.”

Sebastian Thrun: Google’s driverless car
Yes, Google’s driverless car looks cool in demonstrations. But the real purpose is to reduce accidents. In this talk from TED2011, Sebastian Thrun of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab shares his personal quest to save a million lives a year with this new technology.

Kent Larson: Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city
In this talk from TEDxBoston, Kent Larson imagines a new way to park in cities—with a folding car that pilots itself and takes up just 1/7th of the space of a traditional vehicle. This innovation would mean that far fewer parking lots would be needed to serve a much greater number of people. 

Shai Agassi: A new ecosystem for electric cars
The entire country could be oil-free by 2020, says Shai Agassi. In this talk from TED2009, he shares a fascinating plan — a network of battery-charging and battery-swapping stations that can charge electric cars while they are parked and on the go. As it works out, stopping for a battery change would still be less frequent than stopping for gas.

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30s Tip: Don’t Judge Your Ideas

Don’t judge your ideas until you have plenty to judge.

Featured photo credit:  antiquity railway via Shutterstock

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Generating Ideas

As we go through this passive income series, you may start getting ideas for how you can create new streams of passive income. How do you know which ideas are worth pursuing?

It’s easy to bite off more than you can chew with your first passive income idea. If you already have a track record of successfully completing large projects, then don’t let me stop you. But if you have a tendency to get discouraged and give up too soon, I suggest scaling down your ambitions. Start small by tackling a simple project that you’re confident you can actually complete.

It’s better to complete a 30-page ebook and sell it for $7 and generate a few sales per month than it is to tackle a 200-page writing project and never get it done. The former provides some genuine value to people; the latter will merely frustrate you.

Treat your early projects as training for your success muscles. The greatest predictor of future success is actually past success, so think about creating some simple successes by taking on modest projects and getting them done and released. Once you’ve done a few of those, then consider scaling up and tackling bigger projects. Even with seemingly simple projects, you’re going to learn a lot. You’ll get faster, and then it will be easier to scale up and tackle larger projects.

It’s so easy to underestimate how long things will take by overlooking details. With some of my early game projects, I’d estimate that I could crank out a particular arcade-style game in 2-3 weeks, but in reality it would take me 6 months. There are so many hidden steps that are easy to gloss over with an off-the-cuff estimate, such as creating the installation program, creating the music and sound effects, writing the documentation, setting up the online ordering system, etc.

If you’ve never created a passive income stream before, your first project may involve lots of one-time steps like setting up an online shopping cart. But once you’ve done that initial setup work, you can create similar streams with greater ease simply by plugging them into the same system.

Try not to get overly excited about making a killing with your first passive income project. Put your attention on learning the ropes and generate a nice little stream. Then you can scale up by creating more streams. If you can generate even $50 a month with your first stream, I’d say you’re off to a good start. It’s generally harder to go from $0 to $50 a month than it is to go from $50 to $500 per month.

There are two main schools of thought on how to pick income-producing creative projects. One is to go with your gut and do whatever inspires you. If you get an idea for a new project, run with it right away. The other idea is to research what people actually want to buy and then create something for that target market. This is the classic “find a need and fill it approach.”

I tend to get the best results by combining both approaches. First, I saturate myself in trying to understand what people want. I can do this via online research, surveys, or just talking to people. Over the years I’ve met hundreds of my blog readers face to face, especially at workshops, so that helps me better understand their needs and what I can provide that will be helpful to them.

If you have your own website or existing audience that you can use for market research, that’s a great place to start, but you can just as easily gather information from other websites.

When I was creating computer games, I started out by making simple arcade games because those were relatively easy to design and create. My games didn’t sell well though. So I did some market research, looking for where there was strong demand for new games from customers, especially in genres that I was interested in. I spent hours on game download sites (where game developers would post their free demos), observing which categories got the most downloads. I downloaded dozens of demos to get a sense of what else was out there, how popular various games were, and what I might be able to contribute that would be unique enough but also familiar enough to sell well.

That’s when I settled on making a cerebral puzzle game. The low end market for puzzle games was very crowded, especially with match-3 types of games, but I could see that the smarter end of the puzzle game market was underserved at the time, yet there was still some decent demand. People were downloading a lot of so-so games in that category. So this research helped me realize that if I made a decent game in that category, it would probably sell well.

I think this type of mental saturation was a good place to begin because it helped me narrow my focus, so generating ideas wasn’t an overwhelming task. I could then think about creating something in one of the sub-genres where I perceived good opportunities.

After that I began brainstorming some potential design ideas. I find that taking in a lot of input really helps when it comes to generating ideas. When I do this, I notice gaps in other people’s creations that help me see where I could take things in a different direction, thereby contributing something unique.

Once I had an idea that inspired me, it still took a lot of work to implement it. To create that game took about 4 months of solid design effort just to create a 5-page design document. Everything else — programming, artwork, music, sound effects, level design, testing, and release — took another 2 months. In its first month on the market, this new game sold more than my previous 4 games combined, and several months later it was earning 10 times what the other games were earning. That’s the power of market research. If you sell something people actually want to buy, you can do a lot better financially.

I’m not really too particular about how I conduct market research. There are so many variables that you can get bogged down in analysis paralysis if you overdo it. I take a pretty light-weight approach to it.

Mainly I look for two things:

What are people already buying?Where are there gaps with relatively high demand and low supply that I could potentially serve?

Sometimes it’s hard to answer #1 directly because you probably don’t have access to other people’s sales figures. But you can often use other public data to make some educated guesses. I didn’t know other game developers’ sales figures, but I could go to download sites and see how many downloads each demo had and how many games there were in each category. I could then calculate average downloads for each game in a a particular category. If I saw that one category had triple the per game downloads of another category, well… it wasn’t hard to surmise that one genre might make me triple the sales of another genre.

I could also look up traffic rankings for a developers’ website to see how popular it was (such as with Alexa.com). And I knew many developers personally, so I had a general sense of who was making money and who wasn’t. All of this information combined to give me a decent idea of where there was good money to be earned and where there wasn’t.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, I could see that developers of casual games were typically doing pretty well. Friends were making six figures a year selling card games and puzzle games. Today those markets are even bigger, especially with the expansion of tablet and cell phone games.

It can be a tricky balancing act between making something that inspires you and making something that people want to buy. There’s surely some luck and randomness involved too. But I’ve seen situations where results are 10, 20, or 50 times better when creators finally agree to give customers what they want instead of trying to convince customers to want what’s been created.

Do I think you should sacrifice your artistic integrity to satisfy the public? No, I don’t think it’s necessary to do that. I think most people who feel they must choose one or the other are creating a false dichotomy due to limiting beliefs and blocks to making good money. I didn’t feel I had to sacrifice my art to please others. In fact, I felt that paying more attention to what other people wanted made me a better artist. I liked having more customers to appreciate my creations.

If you think you have to choose one or the other, I encourage you to question whether that’s really true. Can you take the pulse of what other people want to buy and then focus on pursuing inspired ideas that will land somewhere in the general vicinity? I think that’s doable.

Much of the time when artists claim to be undiscovered geniuses and lament that they can’t make money doing what they love, I think the likely truth is that their art just isn’t very good yet.

I think some of the best art is developed with a strong social component, meaning that there’s ongoing feedback between the artist and the patrons.

Another advantage to knowing what people want is that you know when you’re going against those desires to some extent, and you can make this choice consciously without any self-delusion.

Based on surveys I had done, I expected that the Conscious Success Workshop would sell a lot better than the Conscious Relationships Workshop earlier this year. And that is of course what happened. CSW got twice as many registrations as CRW.

I could predict in advance that I’d earn more money doing something other than a relationships workshop. I accepted that, and I still felt inspired to do such a workshop, even knowing that the decision would mean earning less money. I felt that a smaller group would be better for this topic since it would be more intimate.

So in this case, the research gave me an idea of what to expect. I could make an informed choice, and there wouldn’t be any disappointment with the lower sales.

It’s nice to get an idea of what the trade-offs are when you put other concerns ahead of making money. Then you can ask yourself if the freedom to create what you desire is worth the financial impact. There’s no right or wrong way to make these decisions. It’s a matter of personal preference. You can make different choices over time and see how each type of project plays out.

With new and untested ideas, there’s always some risk involved, but everyone has a different level of risk tolerance.

If you’re less risk tolerant, then I would put more effort into market research, so you do a better job of aiming where the demand is. That way you don’t waste your time creating something that no one wants to buy.

If you’re more risk tolerant, you can take the chance of doing something new where it’s hard to conduct market research. Success is far from guaranteed, but you might just stumble upon some previously unknown demand.

This is a matter of personal choice, and your preferences may change depending on what else is going on in your life. It’s like any form of investing. Do you want to play it safe and deal with relatively predictable outcomes, or do you want to take a chance and explore uncharted territory?

Both Site Build-It and the Getting Rich With Ebooks program I mentioned earlier explain how to conduct online research using various tools in their specific domains. So SBI provides tools to help you see where there’s good potential to create a money-making website, and GRWE helps you research potential topics for ebooks where you can expect good sales.

That said, if you’re more of a risk taker, you can bypass these tools and go with whatever inspires you. You might hit upon something new that works, but you could just as easily end up with a total dud. Who would ever want to do that?  I sometimes like doing that. It can be exciting to try something new and see what happens, assuming you can handle it if it doesn’t work out so well. This is especially doable for small projects where the downside isn’t so terrible if it doesn’t perform.

Since I have enough streams of passive income to support me, I can afford to take more chances with new income streams. But if I was just starting out, I might be more conservative and make sure I’m tackling projects where I can predict strong demand.

A lot of this research can be done with free tools and public information. For example, you can see how well any book is selling relative to any other book by checking the sales rankings on Amazon.com. For all kinds of products now, you can get a decent idea of how well any particular product is selling just by looking at public data. This is not difficult if you have decent Internet skills.

Sometimes I get inspired ideas before I’ve done any market research. In those cases I can still do some research after the fact to validate or invalidate the idea. Maybe I’m excited about it in the moment, but the question is: Will it sell?

For instance, a few years ago I got the idea to offer personal coaching, but I didn’t know exactly what to offer or what to charge for it. It felt like an inspired idea that I should pursue, but I had a lot of uncertainty about it. So I decided to do a test by offering a 1-hour consultation on eBay and inviting people to bid on it.

The auction reached $1000 before eBay pulled the plug and killed it. Apparently eBay doesn’t let you offer intangible items for sale. Generally they do a poor job of enforcing this policy since there were plenty of other intangible items listed, but my auction was probably a bit too high profile to duck under their radar.

Fortunately the auction lasted long enough to convince me that there would likely be some decent demand for coaching, so I began offering that service. I don’t promote it much because I know it’s beyond the price range of most people, but it’s there for those who want it.

So this was an example of how the inspiration came first, and then I did a little research and testing to validate it a bit more before committing to it.

As another example of this, I’m in the process of booking a new 3-day workshop in Las Vegas. This one will be unlike anything I’ve done before. It will have no set topic, no pre-planned content, no pre-arranged exercises, and no written materials or handouts. This will be an experiment in co-creating a transformational experience with the audience. Our challenge will be to go with the flow of inspiration the whole way through — and still to make it an engaging, growth-stimulating experience for those who attend.

So this will be a workshop where we’ll have a lot more flexibility. I’ll be facilitating it, but I won’t wield such tight control over how it turns out as I have at previous workshops. It’s going to be a balancing act to keep us in the sweet spot of creating inspired growth experiences without descending into chaos.

At the January CSW workshop, someone asked me to share a goal or project that I felt would challenge me, and I shared the basic idea for this workshop. Then I quickly dismissed it as impractical. But who’d actually want to go to a workshop like that? I said. It seemed like it would be an interesting experience for me as a speaker, but I couldn’t imagine too many people wanting to sign up for it, especially since I couldn’t realistically tell them what to expect.

But someone replied, “I’d actually go to that.” Then someone else said “Yeah, that sounds like fun.” A quick survey revealed that about 2/3 of the people in the room were interested in attending such a workshop. I was shocked that so many people resonated with the idea. It always sounded like a crazy idea to me. That got me thinking about it more seriously. Could I actually do this?

For additional validation, I talked to some speaker friends about this idea, and a couple of them told me, “Yeah, I did a workshop like that before.” I asked them how it went, and each of them said something like, “Best workshop I ever did. People loved it!” They told me that the spontaneity of it made it work very well. They also pointed out that the people who are willing to attend such a workshop are the kinds of people who will ensure its success; it attracts people who can help co-create a cool experience for everyone.

After a few more conversations about the idea, I finally decided to go for it. It’s a risk because I really don’t know how to sell a workshop with no set topic, where we’ll be going with the flow of whatever inspires us in the moment. Part of me still thinks it’s a crazy idea, but this is another case where I feel the coolness factor of doing something new outweighs the certainty of having semi-predictable sales. For all I know, the idea might turn out to be a homerun. The only way to know is to try.

This is actually another way to conduct market research. Dive in and test your idea in the real world. Then you’ll know. The benefit to this approach is that you might just stumble upon something that works really well. Then you can build around it.

If you’re more courageous than most people, your courage can give you a serious advantage because it cuts down on competition. One reason public speaking pays so well is that so many people are afraid of it, so it’s not as competitive as other fields. So if you’re willing to go where others are afraid to go, most of your would-be competitors will surrender those markets to you.

So to summarize the ideas in this article, idea selection has a lot to do with risk tolerance. The less risk tolerant you are, the more you’ll want to rely on market research and assessing demand to guide your decisions. As your risk tolerance increases, you can afford to take on projects that rely more heavily on going with the flow of inspiration, but even in those cases, you may still choose to validate them with a little market research to give you enough confidence to get moving.

If you’re going to go through the trouble of creating something of value to share with people, I think it’s reasonable to do at least a modest amount of market research to get a general sense of what you can expect income-wise, even if income generation is just one concern among many.

What if you can’t come up with any ideas at all? Try ordering a quad shot latte — that should get a few ideas flowing.

A good article to read to help counter-balance the points in this article would be What Are the Odds of Becoming a Black Belt? This will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of market research, such as getting bogged down in thinking about your odds of success instead of actually placing bets on the choicest opportunities.

Steve Recommends
Here are my recommendations for products and services I've reviewed that can improve your results. This is a short list since it only includes my top picks.

Getting Rich with Ebooks - Earn passive income from ebooks
Site Build It! - Start your own money-making website
Lefkoe Method - Permanently eliminate a limiting belief in 20 minutes
Paraliminals - Condition your mind for positive thinking and success
The Journal - Record your life lessons in a secure private journal
PhotoReading - Read books 3 times faster
Life on Purpose - Discover your life purpose

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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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How to Turn Your Ideas into Life Changing Actions

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Love Hack: 14 Great Valentine’s Day Date Ideas

Valentine’s Day marks a day or fresh romance for some and also offers the opportunity for the rekindling of romance for those who’ve been in relationships for some time. With everyone having such busy lives in this day and age, coming up with creative and fresh date ideas is a challenge. There’s no reason why Lifehack can’t offer a “love hack” or two every once in a while, and today is a perfectly appropriate day to do so.

Rather than just suggest one or two “love hacks” on Valentine’s DAy, we’re going to serve up 14 of them for you. Plenty of choices for you to pick from so that you and your Valentine can have a great evening – and without having to invest a bunch of time in the planning in the process:

If you’re feeling brave – and vulnerability isn’t an issue for you – heading out to your local karaoke bar for a night of singing and dancing is not only a unique dating idea, but it’s also a way to relieve tension from the work week. You also get a chance to strut your stuff in front of your date – whether by sohwing off your pipes or bringing the camp to the forefront with every song you perform.

Going out to the movies isn’t exactly a novel idea, but what if you and your sweethear were to skip work and hit the theatre for a matinée? The movie will be less crowded, and you’ll feel as if you’re ahead of the game when it comes to Valentine’s Day plans.

Tea houses are gaining in popularity all over the world, so why not spend some time in one with your date in one? You can experiment with teas you’ve never had the chance to try before, and you won’t have to keep the drinking in check – as opposed to hitting the bar where you run the risk of drinking more than your fair share and not feeling “up” for work the next day.

The weather may not cooperate with everyone on this one, but if doesn’t mean it can’t be done. You can simply have it indoors under candlelight or spend it outdoors if the climate isn’t too cool. Regardless of where you have the picnic, it’s a classic date idea that can go over well no matter what you serve and when you serve it.

While there aren’t as many around as there used to be, there’s nothing quite like exploring a bookstore with your date. You can discover new books that might appeal to you and you may discover what books your date enjoys as well.

Another great bonding experience is hitting the rink with your date, whether it be the ice rink or roller rink. Even if you can’t skate very well, you’ll find that your date might be impressed with your willingness to go out and do something that you may not be all that great at.

This date idea is for those who are in a relationship where spending a night away from home could add some sprak into things. It’s like taking a mini-vacation without having to stray too far, allowing for a quick getaway and return to work the next day.

Laughter isn’t only the best medicine, it can also help spur on the romance. Going to a comedy show – be it standup, sketch or improv – is a great way to break the ice and have a great time in the process. Just make sure that you don’t sit in the front row – that area is right in the line of fire of those on stage.

If hte earlier idea of going to a tea house isn’t your cup of…well…tea, then perhaps a cocktail lounge is more your kind of thing. These lounges are typically quiet and dark, allowing for some privacy for you and your date – and you’ll also be able to hear each other better than in most bar-type settings.

Concerts are few and far between these days – espeically in my city – but you can always throw on a concert on television or on the Internet and enjoy one in the comfort of your own home. It’s less expensive, and you get to pick the artist you and your date would love to watch perform.

Again, this isn’t the most novel of ideas, but it’s something that is easy to do and can be done at home or in a movie theatre. It’s also not the least expensive option, but it’s one of the best options if you want to “love hack” your Valentine’s Day experience.

It’s said thst a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so why not take a cooking class to see if that’s the case? You learn a skill, get a meal out of it, and you both can bond over the preparation of a meal.

This is another great bonding experience, and it’s one that’ll do both your bodies some good. And it’s likely that the gym will be not as full as usual at this time of year – because (traditionally) the resolutions by so many have been abandoned by now.

Taking the time to step back from the day and think about where you and your date are going – whether you have been together for a while or are just getting to know each other better – is something to consider. You can even do this in conjunction with any of the above suggestions so that you can start building for the future right away.

Whether you’re into Valentine’s Day or not, these date ideas are worth keeping handy so you can mix it up when you’re planning your next date with that special someone.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

(Photo credit: Valentine Hearts via Shutterstock)

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Countdown: 18 ideas that will change the world in 2012

All month on the Huffington Post, we’ve been counting down 18 great ideas from 2011 that we think will change the world in 2012 and beyond. Today’s post ends the countdown with a powerful idea: Kids save the world! Watch John Hunter’s TEDTalk on his World Peace Game and read his essay on the Huffington Post.

And catch up on all 18 great ideas — with original essays from the speakers (and friends) that bring their ideas right up to date at the end of a turbulent, fascinating year. From world politics to new technologies, from education to psychology, recap the ideas that we think (and we hope!) will shape the coming decade.

See the full #18Ideas countdown on the Huffington Post >>

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Salvage Your Holidays With 15 DIY Christmas Ideas

Photo credit: poppet with a camera (CC BY-NC 2.0)

A few years ago, someone I know sent out an email saying that he was cancelling Christmas that year due to financial constraints. He had gotten caught in the trap that Christmas was more about the expensive gifts than the time spent with others.

Being an “almost minimalist” by nature, I have always believed simplicity is the best solution for the holidays. With that in mind, I also feel that it is good to give gifts. I personally enjoy giving random gifts throughout the year, especially to people I don’t even know.

However, these gifts do not have to be expensive. In fact, I try to put together several “do-it-yourself” gifts to give on such occasions rather than spend a ton of money on gifts.

Here are some ideas for DIY gifts that can cause your family to say wow.

Cookies: My aunt’s favorite. While you are at it, host a holiday cookie baking party. Everyone makes their favorite cookies, and you all split the final results.Pine Cone Fire Starters: Just a little wax and pine cones. Perfect for fireplaces.Secret Hollow Book: Take an old book, a little glue, a knife and you have a secret box perfect for your friend’s car keys.Recipe Booklet: While subscriptions to food magazines are the norm in my family, I think a recipe book with your favorite recipes from the year is a nice personal touch.Themed Gift Basket: No need to go expensive, but find a theme they like and add some food or other small items related to the theme. Sports, Italian, Nature? The only limits to what you can think up as a theme are the limits of your own imagination.Memory Drawing: For the artistic folks, draw a picture of a memory you have of the other person.Gingerbread House: I don’t mean a set they build. Spend the time to build one and give it. Children love them!Personalized Calendar: If you have children, grandparents and other relatives always enjoy a calendar of them. Of course, you could also give a personalized calendar to your significant other or other important person in your life.Make An Ornament: It can be made out of salt dough, paper or anything you have around. Its handmade nature will make it unique and special.Volunteer As A Group: Setup a time to volunteer at a soup kitchen with them.Create An Experience: Do they like to camp? What about walking in the park? Take them out for the day; you can even make a picnic out of it.Start A TraditionHomemade Granola Or Trail Mix: Simple to make, and you can make different varieties for specific people.Mixed CD/DVD: Spend time crafting a mixed CD for them. Or maybe put together a DVD of your favorite pictures/short videos from throughout the year.Gift Certificates: Give them a handmade certificate for a service you can provide. Maybe you’ll do the dishes, give a massage, walk the dog, offer a special night out. It could be anything they would enjoy getting a break from — or having to do themselves.

There are many options out there. Always remember: The time spent is more than the money spent. For those who still want to (or feel they must) give traditional gifts, just remember to keep a budget.

What is your favorite DIY Christmas idea?

Albert Lionelle is a renaissance man. He is involved in the school board, writes, acts, directs, programs, teaches, has a Master degree in computer science, and is currently working on his Master of Divinity at Regent University. For work, he speaks for sustainable agriculture groups believing sustainability, stewardship and real food should be common sense. As such, he has recently cofounded with his wife Real Food and Health digital magazine. Available at their website or on Amazon.com for the kindle.

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18 ideas shaping 2012: Add your voice

You and other change agents have been commenting in full force in response to TED and The Huffington Post’s year-end collaboration to bring you 18 ideas that will shape 2012.

The ideas are in, and the conversation is hot. Since last Thursday’s launch viewers have been sharing ideas of every variety, from the practical repercussions of Sebastian Thrun’s driverless car from Google to how Deb Roy might expand his project on the birth of the word to study deaf children.

In response to Kathryn Schulz on why we should embrace, rather than reject, regret, stephCarlisi writes, “Kathryn’s talk took me on a journey through every layer of emotion involved in the stages of regret, landing me on the quite refreshing stage of: resolve. I hope this sticks with me–at least throughout the day.” Another commenter asks how shame might complicate our desire to live with our regrets, and Y Woodman Brown adds a personal touch, saying that we might also look for the so-called silver lining in our mistakes: “Without my mistake, I wouldn’t have my two wonderful daughters.”

On Naomi Klein’s talk on our addiction to risk, Raymond Fernandez comments: “We need to start here with our narratives and see them for what they are–justifications for horrible choices–and shift them to an honest and harsh light of reality. If we cannot handle this, then we do not deserve the heritage that this planet should be for all of humanity.”

If you haven’t yet seen the engaging conversations occupying our friends over on The Huffington Post, head over and get involved. This platform allows you to engage in rigorous debate, share your personal experiences with other users and offer constructive criticism for the future of these ideas.

Add your voice by commenting on today’s idea, Graham Hill: Less Stuff, More Happiness >>

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