Half the fun of going on a trip is in the planning: picking out restaurants, dreaming about the sights, and mapping out new destinations to explore. The internet has made the process so much easier than ever before.

One of the most valuable tools at a trip planners’ fingertips is Pinterest. Yes, Pinterest.

The social media platform has more than 100 million active monthly users. It has always been a great place to find inspiration and organize online information. Since debuting buyable pins last year, it’s also become a great place to shop.

Travel brands are getting in on the fun by providing spaces for pinners to collaborate on travel plans, food, and entertainment. The Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts’ Pin.Pack.Go campaign, for example, invited individuals to collaborate on travel-themed boards and offered insider tips and advice.

Even if you’re still in the dreaming stage of planning a vacation, Pinterest is a great place to start preparing. The platform is filled with stunning photos of exotic locales, so look around to get inspiration.

Here are some other ways to get started:

1. Map It

Once you’ve settled on a destination, create a mapped board. These use geolocation metadata to display photos’ locations on a map. It’s a useful feature when documenting a road trip or planning an itinerary.

For example, a mapped board can show you whether attractions are within walking distance or help you determine the best order to do things. Be sure to scope out mapped boards from other users who have gone on similar trips.

2. Dive Deep

To get trip ideas, find boards dedicated to your destination. Explore beyond travel guidebooks and magazines. When you find an appropriate board, be sure to also check out any related pins to discover photos, videos, and anecdotes from others who have taken similar trips.

See Also: Strange International Laws Every Tourist Should Know 

3. Search Wisely

Similar to search engines, Pinterest users have varying terminology for similar things. For example, “food in Las Vegas,” “places to eat in Las Vegas,” and “best Las Vegas restaurants” are all search queries in pursuit of the same thing. In other words, it’s essential to vary your search terms to find everything Pinterest has to offer.

4. Make Your Purchases

Once you’ve worked through the planning stages, it’s time to pull the trigger and book your trip. If your hotel or airline is on Pinterest, it will likely have direct links to booking for each location. If you saved pins for travel necessities like sunglasses or snorkel gear during the planning process, use the blue “Buy It” button on each pin to purchase directly from the site.

See Also: 21 Top Travel Apps and Tools 

Whether you’re exploring a tropical island or simply visiting relatives, traveling takes research and preparation. Pinterest’s visual layout and shopping features make it an ideal place to plan and book your next getaway.

The post Use Pinterest to Plan Your Next Vacation — Here’s How appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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With the European football season well and truly in full swing, travel experts Expedia have created a guide to almost every football ground in Europe, helping fans heading overseas to sample the sights and sounds of continental football.

We thought we’d take a look at three of the best and most interesting football grounds in Europe, using information from Expedia’s fantastic guide. Let’s go!

Signal Iduna Park, home of Borussia Dortmund

One of Germany’s most fascinating stadiums, Signal Iduna Park is also home to one of the country’s most interesting teams – Borussia Dortmund. Signal Iduna is the largest football stadium in Germany and within walking distance from the centre of Dortmund.

Signal Iduna Park’s ‘proper name’ is actually Westfalenstadion, which derives from Westphalia – a former Prussian province. Under a sponsorship deal, it will continue to be known as Signal Iduna until 2021.

It’s one of the most famous football stadiums in Europe and for good reason too – it was named best football stadium by The Times for its celebrated atmosphere. So, if it’s brilliant European football and an amazing vibe you’re after, head to Westfalenstadion!

The King Power Stadium, where Leicester City play

The buzzing King Power Stadium is something of a must-see, home to current Premier League champions Leicester City. Last season, the King Power was where dreams were made, as Leicester powered their way through game after thrilling game on their route to Premiership victory. And this season promises to be even more exciting as Leicester welcome European teams to their Champions League campaign.

The stadium is relatively new, having opened in 2002, and is named after the retail group King Power, owned by the famous Thai billionaire businessman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.Take a trip to the Midlands and sample some of the celebrated atmosphere!

Camp Nou, Barcelona’s fortress

The most famous football stadium in the world? Well, it’s got some competition from Old Trafford and perhaps the Etihad, but yes, pretty much. Oh, and it’s home to Champions League tournament royalty – Barcelona have secured no fewer than four Champions League wins over the last decade.

The home of Barca since it was built in 1957, Camp Nou, which means ‘new field’, is the largest stadium in both Spain and Europe, and boasts a seating capacity of 99,534. If you’re on a trip to Barcelona, a visit to this magnificent stadium is a must. Visitors to Barcelona also swear by the Camp Nou Experience – this tour of the stadium is supposed to be fantastic.

What’s your favourite European football stadium?

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Everyone laments at how badly they want to achieve success but few enact the steps needed to get there. The foundation for success is ambition. It’s what governs the lives of millionaires, business owners, and leaders in any field. Ambition isn’t merely a desire to achieve better, it’s a mindset that informs their day-to-day decision making.

Here are 10 items that encompass the ambition ethos.

1. Mastering Their Craft

Ambitious people don’t just aim to be good. They aim for total mastery.

Malcolm Gladwell says it requires “10,000 hours of practice” to become truly world class in a field, and ambitious people wake up early each day to put their hours in.

In sports, you never hear of a team aiming to finish in 6th place, so why shouldn’t you treat your livelihood the same way?

See Also: 10 Habits of Successful People

2. Seeking New Opportunities

It’s easy to become overly content in your job to the point where you stop looking for new and better opportunities. But the second you close the door on other possibilities, the faster you diminish your success.

Ambitious people understand the need for career open-mindedness, and so do employers. According to the job search website Indeed, 90% of HR professionals prefer to hire a candidate who is actively seeking new job opportunities.

3. Growing A Network

In the classic self-help book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill implores his readers to form what he calls a “master mind alliance.” This is a group of close friends who support one another towards success.

Ambitious people certainly have a knack for surrounding themselves with smart individuals. And thanks to social media, search marketing, content marketing and all other internet marketing disciplines its easier than ever to connect.

4. Expanding Their Brand

Expansion is the name of the game, leading to more money, greater influence, and self-satisfaction. Ambition means unearthing new, inventive ways to build your professional and personal brand.

Take Uber as an example. After dominating the ride sharing market for several years, they decided to venture into the food delivery business.

Why? Expansion.

This is the mantra of countless successful entities and it’s easier than ever thanks to digital marketing tools that allow you to post, share and connect to anyone, anywhere.

5. Health And Diet

A healthy mind requires a healthy body. Working long hours requires an adherence to proper eating, meaning acknowledging the major food groups and not succumbing to fast food very often. About 39 million workdays are lost to obesity-related illnesses every year.

6. Being Charitable

Ambition isn’t a purely selfish trait. It recognizes the need for being charitable, and knows that what goes around comes around.

7. Assessing Risk

Risk is a scary word, but it’s something every successful person has had to confront at every turn. Whether you’re starting your own business, deciding whether to invest in a stock, or determining if your partner is marriage material, risk is an unavoidable part of life. Ambitious people tend to be good at assessing it, and most importantly, living with the consequences.

8. Improving Schedule

Ambitious people tackle each day with a plan. Through proper scheduling, they’re able to weed out deficiencies and come to time management solutions. Not only does this increase work productivity, but it also ensures time allotment for leisure activities.

9. Building Healthy Relationships

You should always be thinking about how to improve relationships with friends, family, and co-workers. Ambitious people understand that we are only as good as our associations, so it behooves us to build healthy ones.

See Also: 8 Success Habits of Wealthy People That Cost Nothing

10. Optimizing Productivity

Everything we’ve touched on relates to this underlying goal of optimization. Ambitious people aim to run a well oiled machine, allowing them to hit their targets, inspire those around them, and feel more accomplished and satisfied.

The lesson here? Work hard while also taking care of yourself. A study out of Harvard estimated that sleep deprivation costs companies over $63 billion in productivity each year. Ambitious people are always looking for ways to work smarter rather than harder, and it starts with espousing these 10 principles.

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Did you know that you can use music to boost productivity? Often overlooked, optimizing your sound environment is a great hack for improving productivity and staying focused.

Here are the steps you can take to figure out the best soundscape for you and how you can employ it in your everyday life.

Discover the noise, sound or music best for you

The first step in hacking your soundscape is to understand what it should be. This varies from person to person.

For me, chill, atmospheric, instrumental pieces like Enchantment by Tuatara are best, but you might get in the zone listening to speed metal or Justin Bieber (no judgment). Some people are very self-aware and can figure out their ideal soundscape right away.

However, if you are not one of these people, here’s a couple of methods that can help:

Method 1. Imagine your best work environment

Picture every detail. Do you sit or stand? Is it in an office, a coffee shop, a cabin in the woods, beachside, or elsewhere? Is it light and airy or shadowy and comfortable?

Finally, what do you hear, if anything? The low murmur of a busy office, the wind moving through the trees, waves going in and out, Cuban music wafting through the door, a fire crackling, a light classical piece, or unbroken silence?

Whatever it is, it should be something that you enjoy but don’t need to listen to closely.

Method 2. Try out different soundscapes

Write down a list of the music or backgrounds that you enjoy and think might be good for you.

Next, give them a dry run. Try them out for a short time. At least 30 mins is best, but less is workable. Keep track of your productivity and how it felt for each type. Remember, you aren’t trying to figure out what sounds or music you enjoy the most, but what helps you be the most productive.

Make sure you don’t just consider music or nature sounds. Sometimes, the best option is silence, white noise, or pink noise (white noise’s lesser known cousin). In any case, you now have your Productivity Sound (PS).

The last step is finding out if your PS is good for all tasks. Does it help your productivity with all the different tasks you do? If not, take the time to find your productivity sound for each task category.

See Also: Get “In the Zone” on Command with a Focus Song 

Evaluate your workspace soundscape

Is your work environment compatible with the sound you find most productive? This is easy to check. For example, unless your PS is the sound of a noisy office and you work in a noisy office, the answer is no. If you don’t already know the answer to this question, take a second to consider it.

Hack your environment

If you’re a writer, self-employed, or work from home, you probably have the flexibility to choose where you work. In some cases, all you need to change is your work location.

However, if this isn’t possible, there are still a number of possible solutions. Here are some that I’ve discovered:

• White Noise devices or programs

I personally llike pink noise over white noise. If you prefer any of these two, there are a number of devices and programs out there that can generate these and other background noises.

A quick search will turn up plenty of apps, YouTube videos, and tracks to download, any one of which would do the trick.

• Create a work playlist

If your PS is a type of music, do a little searching in that category to create a long playlist. Remember, the goal isn’t to find songs you love, but instead to find songs that help you get work done. This means finding a song that you can listen to a hundred times without getting sick of it.

• Recording your favorite environment yourself

If your PS is someplace you can visit but can’t work at, you can always record it. You can use your cellphone, laptop or tablet to do this. There are plenty of free recording apps or programs out there like Audacity for my laptop.

Once you’ve recorded a good amount like 15 to 30 minutes of sound, you can just set it to play on repeat. Plus, having a recording that repeats helps you keep track of time even when you’re “in the zone” since you know how long each repetition is.

• Get a good pair of noise cancellation headphones or earbuds

For most of these solutions, a good pair of headphones or earbuds is required especially if you work with other people. Also, if silence is your thing, you either need noise cancellation headphones, total control over your workspace, or, if all else fails, a pair of earplugs.

See Also: 10 Productivity Musts for Freelancers

Sound supplements

It’s a little-known fact that certain kinds of music can help you accomplish certain tasks, focus, be creative, relax, and meditate. This is known as binaural beats music which uses different tones played in each ear to strengthen brain waves.

The brain waves being strengthened change depending on the difference between the two tones. For example, 200 Hz and 210 Hz tones bolster 10 Hz brain waves.

A quick web search will turn up numerous scientific studies that have proven this effect. Put simply, if you listen to 10-20 mins of the right binaural music when you start a task, it will help you get it done.

Binaural music comes in various ranges. For concentration tasks, the beta range is best (13-40 Hz). For creativity or meditation, alpha is best (7-13 Hz).

For deep relaxation and sleep, delta and theta ranges are best (.5-7 Hz). You can get binaural beats tracks from apps, on YouTube, and various companies that make products that use this brain-hacking sound.

Isochronic tones, on the other hand, are a more powerful alternative to binaural beats. While more effective, they are less popular due to the way they sound.

Isochronic tones are made by turning a tone on and off rapidly, which results in a ‘click’ or ‘buzz’ sound that many people find unpleasant. Personally, I listen to a 35 min advanced concentration isochronic tone whenever I need to focus. Most of this article was written while listening to this.

So, there you have it! The best way to make your sonic environment more conducive to your work, no matter what it is.  Just remember to continue to take regular breaks and never listen to anything for too long!

The post Hack Your Soundscape To Boost Your Productivity appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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For many people, work is a miserable experience because it involves doing many difficult and even boring things that become routine with time. For example, a typical business owner wakes up at 7 am, goes to the office at 8 am, works until 6 pm, goes home, eats dinner, and continues to solve business problems that accumulated during the day.

The same could be said about employees as well who cycle through rote office work. A pretty miserable experience, huh?

The good news is that this can all change. Here are 12 awesome tips on how to help to make your business life easier.

1. Develop Email Management Approach

Responding to email is an important aspect of business. To make sure that all letters that deserve your attention are read, try checking your inbox at a specific time of the day.

For example, do it in the first two hours of your morning and make sure that the most important ones are answered first. Eventually, people will notice this pattern and write to you when you can answer them.

2. Improve hiring process

The right people for the job will ensure that you have fewer issues to deal with at the end of the day. Ensure that your hiring process is at its most efficient.

For example, perform checks on potential candidates and make sure to call their former direct managers or employers.

3. Enhance productivity through exercise

It is a known fact that exercise can improve productivity and help to avoid stress and negativity associated with work. This is exactly what most business persons need because their life is all about stress and challenges.

Running, power walks, and workouts in the morning, during lunch, or in the evening will help improve health, productivity, and energy. Eventually, make exercise a part of your everyday routine and you won’t believe how quickly you will feel the benefits.

See Also: 7 Smart Ways to Exercise At Work

4. Surround yourself with positive people

Negativity often comes from people who have a hostile attitude or negative mindset. There is nothing enjoyable about these individuals which makes communication with them difficult and uncomfortable.

In contrast, positive-minded people are great to work with because the entire experience is so enjoyable. By surrounding yourself with positive individuals and staying away from toxic ones, you can increase productivity, improve teamwork, and have fun at work.

5. Do not believe in multitasking

Some people claim that multitasking allows you to achieve more by doing several things at once. However, actual experience shows otherwise. Most people cannot complete multiple ongoing tasks well.

What that means to you as a business person is that you should stop engaging in multitasking while at work. For example, stay away from Facebook while answering work emails. Concentrating on one task at hand is the best way to go.

6. Make your employees feel appreciated

Employee motivation is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs because it increases productivity, boosts morale, and reduces the number of issues if done right. Remember, cash bonuses is only one way to go.

You can be even more effective by giving your employees important responsibilities, having them travel on business trips, or simply showing your appreciation. These things make employees feel that they are important in the company.

7. Get the help of professionals

Business life is full of challenges that one does not expect. Sometimes, some of the tasks that need to be done are out of your team’s expertise.

In this case, enlist the help of people who do these tasks for a living. For example, a professional writing service can be hired to deliver business letters and proposals while advertising agencies can be used for promotion purposes.

Today, any kind of business task can be delivered by professional teams which can give you more time to run other important errands.

8. Build your network of connections

Knowing people is a great tool for any business because they could be potential customers and partners. LinkedIn is one of the best ways to start to building a network of connections that includes other business owners, influential individuals, public figures, and other professionals. Create a profile there and make sure it stays active.

9. Keep your meetings short

Many business experts say that long business meetings are among the top time-wasters in modern business life. Limit time spent on meetings to 20 to 30 minutes.

10. Turn off notifications

Avoid distractions from your phone or mobile devices by turning off notifications. This will ensure that you remain focused during work hours. You can find out your sports team’s wining score later after work.

11. The three-minute rule

Business leaders are constantly bombarded with tons of tasks that need to be done ASAP and you might be completely overwhelmed with them in the end. How about implementing a three-minute rule that has you spending only 3 minutes at most on each task?

Whether you need to reply to an email or answer a colleague’s question, make sure you do it according to the three-minute rule.

12. Take a nap

Naps are powerful when it comes to rejuvenation and productivity. It is a known fact that a short power nap is good for improving memory, energy, and cognitive skills, and this tool is used all around the world to enhance the productivity of employees.

When you feel like it, take a short nap and enjoy having more energy for work after.

See Also: 7 Easy Tips on How to Get the Perfect Nap 

Use these tips to make your life in the office much easier and enjoyable!

The post 12 Simple Ways To Make Your Work Life Easier appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Do you need help with figuring out your career?

Life is all about making decisions. Two of the most critical decisions that you would have to make in your life would be “which career to choose?’ and “how to figure out your career?”

Below are seven steps to help you out with these questions in the most efficient way possible. Whether you are planning your career for the first time or changing your career, acting upon them would surely help.

Analyze Yourself

Every individual in this world is unique. Each one has his or her own set of skills, knowledge, interests, abilities and capabilities. This is the reason why some are good at mathematics, while others are good at languages. Some are good at geography, while others are good in history.

Determining your interests, skills and abilities can give you an idea of what career you should be looking into. Self-analysis can be done through a variety of ways. Self-assessment, self-evaluation tests, and counselling are some widely used methods.

List Down Prospective Occupations

After completing proper analysis of yourself and identifying your strengths, you should next consider what you are interested in doing for years to come. Use this information to narrow down your career choices. List down 5 to 10 jobs that best match with your capabilities, skills and interests.

Dig Further into Prospective Careers

After shortlisting your best job picks, get intel about each career path. Make sure that you get as much information as you can about educational or training requirements, job roles, employment outlook, earnings, and growth opportunities.

You can get this data through a professional in each of these fields or through online research. As much as possible, do the first. You might be able to find a number of your colleagues, friends, schoolmates or even relatives who are already working in these niches.

Apart from getting inside information, you’ll also be able to get a headstart in networking with professionals in the field.

Narrow Down Your List

Now it’s time to eliminate the jobs or career paths which you find don’t provide the best opportunities or which you’ve changed your mind about. Most people reject careers on the basis of educational requirement, potential earnings, and growth opportunities, since these things matter the most during your career.

Eliminate the ones you find unsuitable and narrow down your list even further to 1-2 options.

See Also: STEM careers – How to Find the Best Job 

Set Goals

Nest, make short term and long term goals related to your field. Set S.M.A.R.T goals.

S.M.A.RT is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. You cannot achieve your short term goals without hard work, dedication and commitment.

See Also: How to Set Personal SMART Goals To Succeed 

Formulate an Action Plan

Once you have developed your career goals, start writing down an action plan. Include potential hurdles, steps to cope with them, and resources that can be used when help is required.

This career action plan should adequately address and anticipate all issues and scenarios that may arise and set you up for success.

Obtain training

This is the final and the most crucial step in how to figure out your career. This is the step that consumes majority of time, effort, and patience of most people.

Commit to obtaining the proper training to achieve your goal. The training you need depends entirely on the profession you’ve finally chosen.

You might be required to obtain a proper college degree, a short course, an internship, or vocational training. This would obviously require money and a whole lot of effort, so make sure that the profession you’ve chosen is something that you’d be happy to wake up for each morning.

The post 7 Steps On How to Figure Out Your Career appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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