10 Blogging Benefits for Baby Boomers

Technology is changing our life and the way we live. As a baby boomer, you can take advantage of the technology and reap the benefits in many ways and bring you more happiness in life. Blogging is a new platform for you to express yourself freely which is not available before. You write what you like and post it on your blog and your work is noticed by everyone in the blogosphere when you have optimized your site for search engines. What do you get when you blog?




1. Self-esteem – A blog is an avenue to showcase your talents and share your thoughts and interact with readers. You write and share your knowledge on topics that you know very well. It is a wonderful way to boost your confidence and proof of your usefulness to the world when you retire.



2. Exhibit your personal competitiveness in the blogosphere: The Internet is a level playing field. You survive when you can get ahead and stay ahead among many other bloggers. It is thrilling when you make daily progress as shown by your Traffic Rank, PageRank, Technorati Authority Rank, and the number of subscribers you have.



3. Find new meaning in life: You reach a new milestone in life when you start blogging. You can do things you have never done before without technology. Things take a new turn and you look at life with a brand new perspective. Blogging transforms you and you look forward to life with hope and enthusiasm.



4. A challenging way to make money: Your earnings are correlated by the amount of energy you put in. Hard work and perseverance is the key to success in blogging. AdSense allows you to earn money, but you have to invest time and effort by writing useful articles for your readers over a long period of time. When you have more and more readers, it is more likely for them to click on your ads.



5. Sharpen the mind: When you embrace technology, there are always new things to learn. Your mind stays alert and you react quickly. You will be flexible and adaptive to constant changes.



6. Positive outlook in life: You will develop a positive mindset when you blog because when you do good you can expect good things to happen to you.



7. Stamp of approval of what you do: When writing is a passion for you and what you write is beneficial to readers, you will be rewarded with trust and authority in the long run. You gain higher Traffic Rank, Page Rank, and Technorati Authority.



8. Good feeling: Blogging brings you excitement and satisfaction in life. Looking at your ranking statistics every day is an interesting and delightful thing to do.



9. Productive use of time: There is never a dull moment in your life when you blog. You write articles, you do research on the Net and you interact with others. Every day is different. There is always something to do, something to learn, and something to look forward to.



10. You receive when you give your best: Blogging is fair. When you blog and give your best in what you write, the best will come back to you. Readers will post positive comments and write favorable reviews about you and your blog.



You never know what you can do. Start blogging to unleash your capabilities.

Related post: 10 Advantages of Blogging

Be Effective in Time Management

Until we can manage TIME, we can manage nothing else. ~ Peter F. Drucker


The meaning of time management


Time management is self-management. It is to fill the time and do the things that matter the most to you. The most important thing is to enjoy what you do. Life is challenging and yet it is satisfying. When you like what you do every day, you will look forward to each new day hopefully and enthusiastically.



The way to manage time

If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got. ~ Lee Iacocca



In order to spend time wisely, usefully, and productively, you have to organize and plan ahead and get things done promptly as planned. When you delay or procrastinate, it will take you a long time to reach your goals or get things done.



What do you want to accomplish?

Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure in other areas. But can it really?… True effectiveness requires balance. ~ Stephen Covey



The ultimate aim of time management is to achieve a balanced life. It means you are able to allocate your time to take care of many indispensable areas of your life. You cannot overlook the importance of each one. Your success in time management is to show how capable you are in spending your time to cover these areas and live a balanced life. Do you think you have spent enough time in the following areas?



• Work: When you enjoy what you do to earn a living, it is no longer work. If you don’t, you have to find happiness at work because you are going to spend more than 8 hours a day at the workplace. It is essential to like what you do while you spend time at work. To work is to earn an income to support your family and do everything else.



• Play: You work hard and you also need to play hard. To play is to exercise and to regain your balance after a stressful day at work.

Investing time to be physically fit is an important part of time management.



• Rest: To rest is to take breaks while at work. Your performance diminishes when you work non-stop. You are not wasting time when you take a break.



• Family: This is a crucial area to invest your time. Your family is at the centre of your life. You have to spend time to communicate, interact and have fun together.



• Reading and learning: It may not be urgent, but you still need to allocate time to read, learn and update yourself in order to stay ahead in this competitive world.



• Thinking: Spending some time in the evening to review your performance is time well-spent. Are you happy with what you have done for the day? Did you manage to complete the tasks on your to-do list? It is also a good time to plan ahead and get organized for the following day.



• Relationship building: We are all connected. We share, exchange, give and we receive in return. It is mutually beneficial to spend time and be connected with those we care for.



• Personal finance: If you don’t spend time to work out a budget and live within your means, you will regret later with unmanageable debt. You have to spend time and review your spending and save for your children’s education and your retirement.

At the end of the day, you will be happy that you have spent time doing what is worthwhile and fulfilling. When you do, you have, effectively, lived a day with contentment.

We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. ~ Nelson Mandela

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing. ~ Brian Tracy

To Change is to be Ahead and Stay Ahead

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. ~Pauline R. Kezer

According to its new CEO, Stephen Elop, Nokia's market share drops; needs to “change faster”. The issue at stake here is about making changes in order to be ahead and stay ahead. How do you make changes and be successful? Here are the vital tips:

1. Change yourself: Are you changing yourself to keep up with the pace of the changing time. Be flexible and accept changes and do things differently. Take advantage of technology advancements and work more productively.

2. Keep thinking: You must work your mind constantly and look at things from a different perspective. Be innovative and creative and conceive original and unique ideas.

3. Keep changing: To be progressive is to try new things and make positive changes. You may not get what you want, but to fail is a positive thing. Firstly, it means you don’t stay still. Secondly, you can learn a lot from what you have done wrong.

Progress is not created by contented people. ~ Frank Tyger

4. Know what is happening quickly: Do you harness the power of information technology to stay in the know? Subscribe to Google News, Google Reader, and Google Alerts on topics relating to your area of work or expertise. Stay on top of things as it happens.

5. Be competent: You may be good at what you do, however, more and more information is easily and freely available on the Net. It is important in this information age that you keep learning and getting the right knowledge in order to stay ahead.

6. Keep tracking your performance: Monitoring your performance is crucial for your success. You want to know whether what you have done is achieving the results as expected. If not, it is necessary to make more changes to get the desired outcome.

7. Be proactive: Go one step ahead. As soon as you have successfully completed a project, don’t rest on your laurels. Find out how you can make further improvements. The car industry is a very good example. A model may be a top seller, to maintain its position, it has to undergo a constant facelift to be more appealing and do engine modification to get more power and fuel efficiency.

This is a competitive and ever-changing world; you need to differentiate yourself to stay ahead. To evolve and make constant changes for the better is the key.

Increase Your AdSense Earnings Effectively

It is reported that the average earnings for an AdSense publisher is less than $5 per day. Yes, it is easy to set up AdSense on your blog, but it is far more difficult to earn a decent amount from it. How do you earn more from AdSense? Get to know the following facts:

1. Testing: One effective way to boost your AdSense earnings is to use different ad sizes to place in different locations on your blog. Keep trying by using different combinations until you notice an increase in your income.

2. Fewer ads: According to my experience, fewer ads on your blog get you more earnings. I have only two ads on my blog.

3. Page impressions: The amount that you can earn is largely determined by the number of page impressions of your blog. Assuming an average click of $0.30 at a click through rate of 2% with a daily page impression of 100, your income is only $0.60 per day or $18.00 per month. Your effective CPM (eCPM) is $6.00. When you increase your page impression to 1000 with the same assumptions, you will be earning $6.00 per day or 180.00 per month. To earn $5 per day you need to have a page impression of 833. The hardest part for a blogger is to increase site traffic.

4. Traffic: Your earnings are mainly controlled by your page impressions and your page impressions are controlled by your traffic. To improve your traffic you need more people to visit your blog.

5. A lot of content: To attract more visitors, you need to have many articles. To have a large content, you need to write plenty of articles over a period of time. So, before you can earn, you have to work hard to produce more and more articles.


6. Be patient: Do not expect to earn money instantly. You have to put in great effort over a long period of time churning out articles like growing a tree.

7. Write for the readers: To improve traffic and get more readers to read your articles, you need to produce original and unique articles to provide useful information and solutions to problems of your readers.

8. Add new articles consistently every day: Your blog needs to stay active and current to sustain traffic and blog visitors. The only way is post a new article consistently and preferably every day. Google will love your site when you keep updating with new and refreshing articles. The chances of getting more visitors will increase when you use the right key words in your articles. More visitors means more page impressions and more likely for readers to click on your ads.

Glossary:

• Page Impressions: A page impression is counted when a reader views a page displaying Google ads.

• Page Click Through Rate (CTR): It is the percentage of clicks against total page impressions.
Example: Page Impressions 2000, Clicks 100, Page CTR: 100*100/2000=5%

• Effective CPM (eCPM): The effective cost-per-thousand impressions is calculated by
dividing total earnings by the number of impressions in thousands.
Example: The eCPM for a page impression of 100 with an earning 0f $0.60: 0.60/100*1000=$6.00

For more information go to Adsenseglossary

12 Essential Things to Do In Life

Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning, to make our time and our bodies and our words into instruments of love and hope. ~ Tom Head

To find meaning in life is to think right, do right and expect the right results. Check out the things you need to do in life:

1. Be purposeful: There is a direction in life when you live with a purpose. You know what you want and you go all the way to get it. You will look forward to each new day enthusiastically.

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. ~ Robert Byrne

Let go of the past and go for the future. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined. ~ Henry David Thoreau

2. Be happy: This is your ultimate aim in life, but you don’t have to seek it directly. It is the by-product of what you think and what you do. Happiness is what you get when what you think and what you do get you positive results.

What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness. ~ Baruch Spinoza

3. Be positive: Though life is not a bed of roses, the most crucial thing is that you react to things positively. Positive thinking, which is the right mental attitude, creates positive action and brings you positive results.

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact. ~ Henry James

4. Be organized: To avoid living in chaos and be stressed, you have to plan ahead and organize your life in advance every day. Live an orderly life and get things done smoothly.

Without discipline, there's no life at all. ~ Katharine Hepburn

5. Be productive: When your life is organized, you will be more efficient and effective in what you do. Productivity is the key to your success in life.

There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives to his life by the unfolding of his powers, by living productively. ~ Erich Fromm

6. Be physically active: To be fit and healthy is to live life energetically. To be energetic, you need to be physically active. Health and physical fitness is the way to live and enjoy your life fully.

7. Be curious: It is about the thirst for knowledge. Discover and get the right information to be knowledgeable and stay ahead. It is also about continuous learning to stay alert to changes and to gain wisdom.

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life. ~ Mortimer Adler

8. Be hopeful: When you know what you are looking for in life, you will be hopeful because you are working daily to get what you want. Hope is a powerful force that keeps you going on in life despite failures and setbacks.

Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired. ~ Erik H. Erikson

9. Be connected: To connect is to interact. To interact is to exchange ideas and be smarter.

10. Be grateful: Appreciate your existence, thankful for what you have got, be contented. Avoid thinking of the things you don’t have, but treasure the things that you are enjoying now.

11. Be flexible: Technology is advancing at a very fast pace. Things are changing rapidly and life is getting complicated. We have to do things differently in order to cope with changes.

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. ~ Gail Sheehy

12. Be focused: To focus is to harness your energy and do what matters the most to you. Know what you want out of life and work for it with full concentration.

Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

10 Simple, Easy and Effective Ways to Stay Healthy and Prevent Cancer

Health is the thing that makes you feel that now is the best time of the year. ~Franklin P. Adams

To stay healthy and prevent cancer is to adopt healthy habits and live a healthy lifestyle. Here are some simple, easy, and effective ways to stay healthy and avoid cancer:

1. Healthy beverages: Up to 60% of our body weight is made up of water. It is naturally essential to drink water throughout the day to keep our bodies hydrated. Drinking insufficient water is one of the causes of cancer. When I am thirsty I go for a glass of water with honey added. It is not only a thirst-quenching drink but honey is anti-cancer as well. Soy milk, which derives from soybeans, is rich in protein and very beneficial to health and effective to prevent cancer. Green tea is another healthy beverage that contains antioxidant properties and acts against cancer cells. Drink daily and drink often for health and prevent cancer.

2. Sleep and rest: When you sleep less than six hours, you are more likely to get colon cancer apart from diabetes and obesity, according to researcher Dr. Li Li of the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. So, sleep by 11.00 p.m. and get up at 6 or 7 o’clock. You can also take a nap around 1.00 p.m. to boost your immune system against cancer.

3. Food: Avoid junk food, preserved and processed foods, and sugar (acidic food). Consume more fruits and vegetables; these are alkaline and anticancer foods with lots of antioxidants.


4. Physically active: Do you know just by walking every day you will reduce the chances of getting cancer? About 10,000 cases of breast and bowel cancer could be prevented each year in the UK if people did more brisk walking, claim experts.

5. Detoxification: An easy way to detoxify is to drink water regularly to flush out toxins in your body. You can also eliminate toxins through feces (at least 1 bowel movement per day), perspiration (exercise to sweat it out), and respiration (deep breathing exercise is good for your lymph system).

6. Supplement: Studies suggest that taking a multi-vitamin-mineral tablet daily can strengthen your immune system and prevent cancer.

7. Manage stress: Can you cope with your workload? Are you in debt? These are things that cause stress in your life. The bad news is that stress contributes to depression. It is important that you take control of your life.

8. Avoid bad habits: Give up smoking and stop drinking excessively. Change your habits and live a healthy life.

9. Avoid pollution: The pollution in the environment, such as air, water, second-hand
smoke is the main reason for the increase in cancer cases. It is also necessary to take the precaution of ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is high-frequency radiation that has enough energy to remove an electron from (ionize) an atom or molecule. Ionizing radiation has enough energy to damage the DNA in cells, which in turn may lead to cancer. Gamma rays, x-rays, some high-energy UV rays, and some sub-atomic particles such as alpha particles and protons are forms of ionizing radiation.


10. Under the sun for 15 minutes: According to researchers, to reduce the risk of multiple cancers, jog or walk under the sun in the morning or late afternoon to get sufficient vitamin D. The most important thing is to avoid overexposure which can cause skin cancer.

He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything. ~Thomas Carlyle

How to Focus and Be Effective

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. ~Bruce Lee

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. ~Alexander Graham Bell

To focus is to pay attention to one thing at the exclusion of all others. To focus is to be more effective and more productive.

1. Focus on what you want: Your dreams and aspirations are what you want in life. Turn what you have conceived in your mind into goals. Make a plan and work on it with energy and focus.

2. 80/20 rule: Be productive and focus on 20% of the activities that produce 80% of the output.

3. Be positive: When your mind is focused, your thinking is positive. When your thoughts are positive, you act and behave confidently and get the results that you want.

Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positive. ~Matt Cameron

4. Do more of what is working: Continue to focus and work on the right things that produce the desired results.

5. One task at a time: To focus is to avoid multitasking. Your mind can only focus on one thing at a time. Keep changing from one task to another is tiring for the mind and affecting the quality of your work. You are also prone to errors.

6. Change for the better: The most important thing is to focus on positive changes. While you are still working on what’s working. It is also good to focus on making changes and making it works better.

If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results. ~Jack Dixon

7. Mindful: To be in the present is to be mindful. To be mindful is to stay focused. When you are focused, you get things done in less time; you are more productive. To stay in the present is also to enjoy what you do. It means to be engaged in the process.

Good performance is about the capacity to focus and concentrate. ~Betty Buckley

12 Ways to Do Good Feel Good and Be Happy

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. ~Joseph Addison


Happiness is about doing many splendid things in life. When you do good, you feel good about yourself and you are happy. Life is that simple.


1. Give: You can give in many ways, not necessarily in cash or in kind. You give when you can motivate others to do what they want to do to change their life for the better. As an example, I write articles to inspire and encourage my readers to live a more meaningful life.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
~Winston Churchill

2. Connect: No man is an island. We need to be connected in order to share the joy and sorrow of life, especially with loved ones. The journey of life is more delightful and interesting with someone who cares for you.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. ~ Herman Melville

3. Positive attitudes: Positive attitudes are the right way to live life. It is about looking at life and reacting to things from a positive perspective. Every time when you meet with a failure you bounce back quickly and move on.

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as, by the way, your mind looks at what happens. ~ Kahlil Gibran

4. Positive emotions: Positive emotions are positive attitudes. Be cheerful, contented, satisfied, inspired, and appreciative. Positive emotions promote positive well-being.

Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf. ~ Jonatan Mårtensson

5. Appreciate yourself: The best thing in life that you can do to yourself is to love yourself as what you are, with all your strengths and weaknesses. Feel good about yourself and then you can extend your loving feelings to others

It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship ~ Norman Vincent Peale


6. Meaning in life: Life is meaningful in many ways. The most fulfilling thing about life is to do what you are good at for the good of others.

No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning. ~ Barbara de Angelis

7. Mindful: I have found that the only way and the best way to live life is to enjoy what you do now and live the moment. The reason is not hard to find because you can neither live in the past nor the future. Savor each moment of your life because it is the only time for you to do what you want to do and like it.


Do not dwell in the past.
Do not dream of the future.
Concentrate the mind on the
present moment. ~ Buddha

If you are not happy here and now, you never will be. ~Taisen Deshimaru


8. Gratitude: Gratitude is the best attitude. Fill your heart with thankfulness and gratefulness. It is the only way to get peace of mind. You will not be restful when your heart is filled with negative feelings like hatred, jealousy, and anger.
.
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton

9. Exercise: To exercise is to be fit, healthy, and energetic. This is the way to live an active and zestful life.

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. ~Edward Stanley

10. Learning: Learning stimulates your mind and broadens your knowledge. Be enlightened and be more knowledgeable with continuous learning.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live. ~Mortimer Adler

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. ~Henry Ford


11. Goals: The most important thing about goals is that there is a direction to follow and you can focus your effort and attention to go after them. Life is no more drifting about aimlessly and you are hopeful about the future.

To achieve happiness, we should make certain that we are never without an important goal. ~Earl Nightingale

People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going. ~Earl Nightingale

12. Kindness: Random acts of kindness can be simple words like thank you and please. Always look for the good in others and pay compliments. You uplift the mood of the other person and make his or her day.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~Mark Twain


If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi desert. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator. He will not be striving for it as a goal in itself. He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of the day. ~W. Beran Wolfe

10 Effective Ways to Create a Positive First Impression of your Blog

According to BlogPulse, there are more than 164 million blogs in the blogosphere. Therefore, a visitor only spends a few seconds to look at your blog and decide to stay or move on. In order to create a good first impression in such a short time and attract the attention of your readers, here are the most important things to create a positive first impression quickly:

1. Know your niche at a glance: A visitor must know at a glance what your blog is all about without thinking. Tell in just a few words what you are blogging about.

2. White background: Avoid dark background to turn people off. Your blog should be aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and use fonts that are easy to read.

3. Allow a visitor to get what he or she wants easily and immediately: Don’t make a visitor think what to do next in order to read one of your posts. It has to be there right in front of the visitor. It is also important that your articles are written in bullets points and with keywords highlighted. Avoid putting ads inside an article. Don’t make a reader scroll to many pages to read one post just for your own purposes. Readers come first.

4. Your “About” and “Contact” pages: It should be above the fold so that a visitor can get to know more about you easily and contact you if necessary. Your photo should be in the “About” page.

5. Fewer ads: When you put ads everywhere, It is an indication that you are more interested in yourself to make money rather than looking after the interest of the readers. In the end, you don’t get what you want because you don’t give the readers what they want.

6. Easy to navigate: Make it very easy for visitors to go about your blog and attract them to stay longer.

7. No pop-ups: Do not interrupt and distract a visitor reading your article by trying to get their e-mail address with a pop-up. Readers will willingly subscribe to your RSS feed or give you their email addresses when they find your site interesting.

8. Provide a list of your popular posts: This is the way to attract a visitor to stay longer with more interesting posts to read.

9. Interact: It is essential to accept comments from visitors so that you can get ideas from them and build rapport.

10. Social media: Are there links to allow readers to connect and communicate with you easily at your Facebook and Twitter pages?

What are the other effective ways to create a positive first impression of your blog to visitors?

Are You Using Your To-Do List Productively?

Your to-do list is a reminder of what you should be doing on a particular day. Does the to-do list help you to be more productive? Here are a few questions to find out if you are using the to-do list effectively:

1. Do you prepare the list in advance? I maintain two lists. One list is for the things to do at work. The other list is for things to do before I start work and after work. I prepare the office list at the end of a working day and I leave it on my desk. The other list I do is in the evening before I go to bed. In this way, I have planned and organized myself and I can go to sleep with peace of mind.

2. Do you keep the list always in sight? It can be a piece of paper in your shirt pocket or it is stored in your smartphone. The most important thing is that you can look at the list anytime anywhere to stay on top of things.

3. How long is your to-do list? A shortlist is a better way to get things done. It is not overwhelming and it is not stressful with fewer things to do. You only need to do one or two things which are the most important to you and give you the desired results.

4. Do you do the most important thing first? In the morning your energy is at its peak. It is the best time to tackle the most important and difficult tasks. When it is done you will feel great relief for the rest of the day.

5. Are important routines listed? This is referring to your personal list. Such things as going for a jog, reading a few pages. These things are not urgent, but when you do them every day, your life will be benefited in the long run. Such items in the list remind you that something important is not done yet and you have got to do it.

6. Do you add new ideas or items to the list during the day as things occur to you? It is a good habit to add new things and useful ideas so that you can plan for it and do it later.

7. Do you review your to-do list at the end of the day? By looking at the to-do list, it is very satisfying to look at those items that you have crossed out. It boosts your confidence that you can get things done without delay. Are you able to accomplish the task as planned? Do you encounter difficulties? Will you be able to do better the next day? Congratulate yourself when you are able to complete the most important tasks on the to-do list.


Do you use a to-do list? If not, how do you get the right things done and be productive every day?

10 Essential Things a College Student Should Learn

Learning without thought is labor lost. ~Confucius

According to educationalists, as reported in the newspapers, students who enter tertiary institutions, such as colleges, polytechnics, and universities, are academically excellent. However, they are lacking in things that are more important in the real world:

1. Communication skills: It is more than just telling others what you want to say, it involves active listening as well. In fact, it is wise to listen more, talk less and learn more. Presentation skills are another important aspect that a student is weak in. A student needs to learn to develop the confidence to speak in a crowd and present a subject and get the message across effectively. When you are working, you need to persuade and convince others to accept your ideas and get things done.

2. Critical thinking: Beyer sees critical thinking as using criteria to judge the quality of something, from cooking to a conclusion of a research paper. In essence, critical thinking is a disciplined manner of thought that a person uses to assess the validity of something (statements, news stories, arguments, research, etc.). There is an explosion of information and a student must be able to evaluate knowledge gained and make a sound decision for the things they do.

3. Research: There will be no more spoon-feeding. A student must learn to look for the right information all by himself or herself to get assignments done.

4. Time management: A student must be able to discipline himself or herself to get things done promptly and avoid procrastination. Organize personal life in a balanced and productive way between work and play.

5. Personal money management: It is also time for a student to learn about personal budget, credit card, and debt to avoid getting into bankruptcy.

6. Current affairs: A student needs to know about the things that are happening around them because his or her life will be greatly affected and it is necessary to take a proactive approach to avoid disappointment and frustrations in life.

7. Physically fit: More likely than not, a student usually leads a sedentary lifestyle by looking at the monitor all day long. To be fit and energetic, it is essential for a student to be active physically every day. A healthy body and a healthy mind is the key to success.

8. Language proficiency: In a multi-racial society like Malaysia, it is imperative to master three languages well. However, a student is usually weak in English. There is no shortcut to be proficient in a language, but to communicate more, write more, read more and listen more in English.

9. EQ: Learn to know your own feelings as well as others and know the right time and the right things to say when you want to approach someone. It is also to avoid an outburst of your negative feelings. You want to be perceived as a pleasant, calm, and cheerful person

10. Creative: It is also time for a student to think creatively and solve personal problems. In real life and at work, you are employed to solve problems and get things done. How fast you can move up the corporate ladder depends on how creative you are.

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. ~Anthony J. D’Angelo

7 Positive Ways to Deal with Failures

Success is ninety-nine percent failure. ~Soichiro Honda

Failures in life are inevitable. We can’t always make the right move. What can you do when you encounter failures? Deal with them positively:

1. Don’t blame others: Accept a failure as your own doing. If you blame others, you will not look at yourself critically and identify your own mistakes. Be courageous to accept it; people will respect you for your truthfulness and sincerity.

2. Analyze: Do a post mortem and find out what actually has gone wrong. Is it possible to avoid it? Find out how you can work smarter to avoid making the same mistakes.

3. Learn valuable lessons: React to every failure as a valuable lesson to be learnt. Meeting failures are better than inaction. There is no progress without trying.

Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes. ~John Dewey

4. Do it another way: You will be a lot wiser and avoid making mistakes that you have made in the past. You will do things differently and the chances are that you will be more likely to be successful.

Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach. ~Roger Von Oech

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. ~Henry Ford


5. Be Optimistic: Do not allow failures to dampen your spirits and avoid negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, anguish, and disappointment. Failures are not the end of the world. Bounce back and be hopeful that things will eventually work out alright.


Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~Winston Churchill

6. Failures are the stepping stones to success: To fail is to learn and improve. To succeed is to keep trying.

You always pass failure on the way to success. ~Mickey Rooney

7. Don’t dwell on failures: Don’t allow failures to hold you back. Start a new day with a new beginning. Go ahead in life confidently.

There is no failure except in no longer trying. ~Elbert Hubbard


It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. ~Bill Gates

7 Advantages to Continue Working When You Retire

According to an article, As First Baby Boomers Retire, Many Facing Personal Finance Disasters, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day have turned 65 since January 2011, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years. However, 60% of baby boomers don’t have enough for retirement. What can you do to fortify your financial independence and make ends meet? The only viable solution is to continue working. There are several benefits when you delay your retirement:

1. Work longer, less time to retire: When you continue to work, you trade off your retirement years. It means you will need less money to spend when you finally retire.

2. A Source of income: There is a source of income when you work. It means you can continue to live the usual lifestyle without dipping into your retirement fund.

3. More savings: When you work, part of your income will go to save as budgeted. The longer you work, the more you will save and the more interest you will be able to earn and accumulate. This will be a new source of a fund when you do retire.

4. Less retirement fund is required: Since you have shortened your retirement years, you will need fewer funds for your retirement and you also have additional funds to cushion future inflation.

5. Meaningful life: Work gives you meaning in life when you enjoy what you do. You are confident of yourself and look at life with a brighter perspective.

6. Happiness: You feel good about yourself because you are leading useful life-giving useful services and at the same time you are self-supporting.

7. Better health: A change in lifestyle may be bad for your health. There will be emptiness if you do not fill your time with useful things to do. When you work, your mind is working and alert. More likely than not, your working life will be good for your health mentally and physically.

It is a blessing when you have reached your retirement age and you still can hold on to a job that you like and enjoy because the unemployment rate in America is still very high today at 9.2 in June 2011

10 Positive Words to Motivate You (Part 5)

Here are 10 more words to inspire you to live life positively:

1. Joy: To get joy out of life is to live in the moment totally, do what you like, and enjoy what you do. Do not allow the past to come into the picture and do not think of the future. To be in the present is the greatest joy you can get.

There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something. ~Henry Ford

2. Kindness: When you are good to others, you feel good yourself. Look for the good in others and pay a compliment. Smile at people you meet. These small gestures light up the life of others and delight your life as well.

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much. ~Blaise Pascal

A laugh, to be joyous, must flow from a joyous heart, for without kindness, there can be no true joy. Thomas Carlyle

3. Knowledge: It is essential to possess the knowledge, but it is more important to apply what you know to what you do. The aim is to be more productive.

Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.
~Peter Drucker

4. Learning: To be ahead and to stay ahead, you have to learn continuously. Life is changing and you have to make changes with time or you will be left behind.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live. ~Mortimer Adler

Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back. ~Chinese Proverb

5. Life: You create your own life. First, you create the life you want in your mind and then you live the life you have conceived in your mind. The most important thing is to think positively so that you will live life with confidence and full of hope.

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. ~Robert Byrne

Life is the sum of all your choices. ~Albert Camus



6. Listening: To listen is to appreciate, show interest and respect the person speaking to you. The key is to listen carefully and avoid misunderstanding. Observe body language for additional clues.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said. ~Peter F. Drucker

7. Longevity: It is good to live longer, but it is even better to be fit, healthy, and financially independent to enjoy a long life.

If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress, and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it. ~George Burns

8. Love: Love is positive emotion; it gives you peace of mind and a good feeling inside out with many health benefits.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~Lao Tzu

Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
~Mother Teresa

Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life. ~Leo Buscaglia

9. Luck: I must say that you create your own luck by how much you have prepared yourself to be lucky Work fervently on the things that you believe in and luck will follow you.

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work. ~Harry Golden

10. Motivation: Be inspired and be motivated to work hard and smart. Success can only be attained by exerting great effort over a long period of time. You will not treasure things that you can get easily and without working for them. You will only enjoy the fruit of your labor.

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek. ~Mario Andretti

The words of truth are simple. ~Aeschylus

10 Positive words to Motivate You (Part 1)
10 Positive words to Motivate You (Part 2)
10 Positive words to Motivate You (Part 3)
10 Positive words to Motivate You (Part 4)
10 Positive Words to Motivate You (Part 6 and Final)

7 Effective Ways to be Successful

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
~Abraham Lincoln

My son has just been admitted to a polytechnic in Singapore. I believe and I have confidence in him that he will graduate with flying colors because he has the 7 ingredients to achieve his main aim:

1. Know clearly what you want: My son is inspired by the world of IT. He is thrilled and excited by the rapid advancement of technologies. It is his passion. He is deeply interested and he aspires to achieve greatness in the field of computer science. Do you know what you want in life? Discover your inspiration and aspiration. Find out what you are good at and go for it.

Success is the progressive realization of predetermined, worthwhile, personal goals.
~Paul J. Meyer

2. Aim high: My son wants to be admitted to a prestigious university in Singapore after getting his diploma in IT. Aim high to achieve attainable goals with determination. A goal that can be gained without much effort is not worthwhile and meaningful. You will only treasure and appreciate success by working hard, excerpting great effort, encountering difficulties, and working for a long time.

3. Work on it every day: He attends classes, takes great pain to do his assignments, and works seriously because he is keeping his goal in view. Have you got the plan and are you working on it every day? It is the daily effort that leads to your weekly, monthly, and yearly goals.

Success is dependent on effort. ~Sophocles

Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time. ~Arnold H. Glasow

4. Making progress: He has obtained high grades in all his assignments and tests. He is getting the desired results. He is doing things right. In fact, he wants to be the top student in the course that he is pursuing. What you can conceive and believe, you can achieve. Do you measure your performance from time to time? Are you making progress? Do you need to make changes in order to be on the right track?

5. A healthy lifestyle: We have reminded him to eat healthily, avoid junk food and sugary drinks. He needs energy by eating nutritious food. He also needs to exercise more often, sleep early and sufficiently and take breaks during the day. A fit and healthy body are essential to study or work energetically with a calm mind and concentration.

6. A positive mindset: My son is cheerful and friendly. He takes responsibility for what he does. He makes mistakes, but he reacts positively. In life, the things that are happening to you are not important but it is imperative that you react with a positive mindset. Solving problems instead of dwelling on them is the right attitude.

7. Getting connected: He has a great social supporting system. He has a mentor, a university graduate, and a teacher, who supports and inspires him greatly. It is important to be connected to the right people to get ideas and to synergize and achieve greater success in life.

If you want to achieve things in life, you've just got to do them, and if you're talented and smart, you'll succeed. ~Juliana Hatfield

Related post: How To Be More Successful

To Blog Is To Give and Receive

For it is in giving that we receive. ~ St. Francis of Assisi


Blogging is like banking, there is no withdrawal without deposit and in life, you cannot get what you want without giving others what they want.

Give (Action)

The way to give is to provide a quality site by writing quality and relevant articles for the consumption of readers. Optimize your site and use the right keywords in your articles to facilitate search engines to locate relevant articles of yours:

1. Accurate information: Research the subject well and get the facts right. The key is to provide readers with accurate and precise information.

2. Each article stands by itself: Each article is unique or it provides additional insight into the same topics in addition to previous articles. It is to avoid writing duplicating, overlapping or redundant articles.

3. Meticulous: Take good care of grammar, spelling and punctuation in every article. Make it easy for the readers to read by not inserting ads in the middle of your articles. Use simple language, short paragraphs, simple words and in bullets points.

4. Be original: Write refreshing ideas, look at a subject with a different perspective and give an old subject with a new twist. Be creative.

5. Comprehensive coverage of a subject: Cover a subject in full and if necessary link to other relevant articles to support your story for the benefits of your readers.

6. Provide valuable tips and solutions to problems: Provide useful tips that readers can implement right away and make their life easier. The reader will also appreciate when you can supply workable solutions to their problems.

7. Consistent and persistent: Write regularly and write within your niche to build trust from readers and gain authority on the subject that you are writing about over time.


Receive (Results)

When you give quality content from your site, you will receive more traffic to your site and achieve popularity. You will also get more following, trust, authority and earnings:

1. PageRank: Having or getting higher PageRank is an indication of the relevance and value of your pages. Advertisers pay you according to the PageRank on your site. The higher the PageRank, the more you will be paid.

2. Traffic Rank: In the blogosphere, there is a viral effect when you get noticed. There will be more and more visitors coming to your site. Your traffic Rank will go up.

3. Technorati Authority Rank: When you keep your blog active and current, your site will attract more inward links and you will gain Technorati Authority.

4. Subscribers and followers: When your content is good, there will be more RSS and email subscribers of your articles. You will also get more Twitter and site followers

5. Positive comments: When you write and touch people’s heart, they will be compelled to share their views with you. You will also receive valuable ideas from your readers.

6. Positive reviews: When people are impressed by what you have written, they will write favorable reviews of your site. Positive reviews excite more visitors to your site. What others have said is more impactful than your own words.

7. AdSense and other income: It is more likely for you to generate a lucrative income when your blog is in demand and popular.

Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you. ~ Madelin Bridges

10 Effective Ways to be Ahead and Stay Ahead

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ~Agatha Christie

Getting ahead is doing the right things every day. What can you do to be ahead and stay ahead? Here are the tips:

1. Be prepared: To get ahead is to plan ahead. To plan ahead is to anticipate and take proactive action. It is important to foresee what lies on the horizon because the future is where you spend all of your time. You may have taken the wrong moves, but it is better than standing still and waste valuable time. Making mistakes is getting valuable lessons to move on in life much wiser.

Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning ~Donald Rumsfeld.

2. Language skills: In a multi-racial country like Malaysia, it is important to master a few languages so that you can communicate with different races effectively. It is also essential to write well and to be a good presenter. Language is an important tool to get ahead.

3. Be energetic: Do you give others the impression that you are full of energy? Create an image for people that they can rely on you to get things done. Develop energy by getting fit and healthy. Exercise daily and follow a healthy diet are the right things to do. Sleep well and take breaks while at work are the smart way to go.

4. Learn and be sure of facts: Keep learning and doing research to get the facts right. To be authoritative is to be knowledgeable and know what you are talking about.

5. Be productive: One way to differentiate yourself is to do more than what others expect. Build the trust of others and develop your own brand in the field of your expertise.

6. Review: Spend a little time every day to review your performance. Are you doing better than before? Do you get the right things done for the day? What were the challenges encountered? What can you do to improve your productivity?

7. Be an expert: Be competent in what you do. Be a leader and provide solutions to problems. Get others to follow you because you have the answers.

8. Be creative: Creating new ideas to get things done is the way to be ahead of the competition. People are looking for new and refreshing creations. Keep your creative juice flowing and stay ahead.

To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings. ~Rosabeth Moss Kanter

9. Change: To get ahead and stay ahead, you have to make constant changes with the changing time. Do things differently to get the results you want. To be progressive is to keep pace with technological advancement.

10. People skills: Be interested in the people around you. You have to help others to get what they want before you can get them to help you to get what you want. Listen more and talk less to understand the person talking to you. Listen patiently and maintain eye contact. Ask questions and get ideas. Paying attention while listening is to show that you appreciate and respect the person talking to you. To get ahead you need to get others to be on your side.


While you are working ahead, remember to live fully in the present to enjoy what you do.

Related article:
10 Tips to Start Ahead and Stay Ahead to Achieve Your Goals

Are you Living Your Life Effectively like Managing a Business

According To Henri Fayol, one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management, to manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to co-ordinate, and to control. The same concepts can be equally applicable to managing your life effectively:

1. Plan

Business: It is about forecasting future conditions and setting objectives, developing means to attain objectives, setting long and short-term plans, establishing policies and standards to follow.

Personal: You will assess your personal strengths and weaknesses, identify your aspiration and interests, and set goals. You design short and long-term goals to achieve your long-term objectives. You will capitalize on your strengths and employ the most effective ways to reach your goals. Your goals should cover your career, family, finance, health, and relationships which are all about your life.

2. Organize

Business: Fayol’s theory is about allocating work among people and determining their responsibilities.

Personal: At a different time you play different roles such as manager, father, husband, and friend. Your aim is to perform effectively according to the role you play.

3. Command

Business: This is the exercising of centralized authority and leadership

Personal: On a personal level, you are to take initiative and be disciplined to work on your plan daily to reach your objectives. You are your own boss to make things happen. Adopt an attitude of doing it now.

4. Co-ordinate

Business: This is to ensure that work is carried out efficiently and cost-effectively towards a common objective.

Personal: You are to ensure that your daily life is smooth going by using such a tool as a to-do list to carry out the tasks for the day. You will be productive by doing those things that matter to you the most and ignore small staff.

5. Control

Business: This is to ensure plans have been carried out and to check deviations against the established goals.

Personal: At regular intervals, you review your performance. Are you progressing according to plan? Do you need to make changes because of the changing situations? Celebrate when you are making headway according to your plan.

A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master gardener of his soul, the director of his life. ~James Allen

7 Productive Things to Do Online

The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn`t think they could learn before, and so in a sense, it is all about potential. ~ Steve Ballmer

There are many things to do online which you can’t do offline.

1. Blogging: Start a blog and post your unique articles and be heard by more people than you can imagine. It is assumed that your site is search engine optimized. There is no other way to reach such a wide audience.

2. Looking for information and doing research: The fastest and the easiest way to learn new things is to search the Net. Just type in the keywords of the things that you are looking for and you will get pages and pages of related articles.

3. Banking: There is no need to go to the bank to transfer funds or sending money to loved ones far away. On the Net, you can check your account balances, print your statements and there are many more financial transactions that you can do.

4. Networking: Getting to know others and getting connected are the things that you can do easily on the Net. When you get connected with the right people, you are presented with ample opportunities.

5. Instant communication: By using Skype you can talk or make video calls to people far away instantly. Most of the time email is the most effective way to communicate, like sending instructions and homework to students.

6. Breaking news: The fastest way to know about the latest news, such as the earthquake in Japan recently, is to go online. Precious lives can be saved by an early warning system in case of a natural disaster.

7. Getting things done: Nowadays, the processing of an application is done online and the fees are to be paid online by credit card as well. There is no other way to do it. You can make travel arrangements and hotel bookings instantly and securely online. Doing business and marketing on the net is the norm.

What are the things that you do online?

9 Productive Ways to Enjoy Sunday

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.  ~Joseph Addison

On a Sunday you do things which you do not normally do on weekdays. This is the time to unwind, relax, take it easy and be as free as possible to spend time together with family members joyfully. Here are the things you can do productively on a bright Sunday:

  

 Morning

1.       Wake up early as usual: Don’t wake up at high noon and waste precious time. There are many ways to spend the morning meaningfully. When you wake up, the best thing you can do is to move your body. Be fit, be healthy and be alive.

2.       Have breakfast together at a hawker centre: How often do you have breakfast together? Do it on a Sunday at an eatery and enjoy a leisurely meal amidst lively conversation and laughter.  

3.       Go to church or the mall and shop leisurely: Sunday morning is also the time for Christians to go to church. For others, it is a good time to visit the mall, do some shopping, and browse the books at a book store.   

Afternoon

4.       On the beach: The best way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon is to be on the beach to enjoy the fresh air, the sun, the blue sky,  the sea, and the sand. 

5.       A short nap: A nap in the afternoon is another marvelous way to renew your energy and get back your balance in life. 

6.       Visiting friends and relatives: It is also the best time of the day to contact those people you care in your life to find out how they are getting on.

Evening

7.       Read with children:  Avoid watching TV to dull your mind and zap your energy in the evening. Instead, do reading together with your children quietly. Be enlightened by the new knowledge you have gained.

8.       Reflect and plan ahead for the following week: In the evening refresh your memory and find out what you have achieved and the challenges you have encountered for the week.  At the same time plan ahead for the following week especially getting organized for Monday.  

9.       Appreciation: Before you knock off for the day, think and be thankful for all the good things you have enjoyed in life. Feel good about your life and go to bed with contentment and peace of mind.

How do you spend your Sunday? Is your Sunday productive?