You spend the majority of your waking hours at work than at home or anywhere else. So considering how much time we spend at work, it’s still a wonder why some people continue to avoid making friends at work.

They think that making friends might cut down or intercept their workflow. Some people have the ideology to keep their professional and personal lives completely separate.

While that’s certainly well and good, people have started to blur these boundaries to such an extent that they think that fraternizing with their colleagues is no short of uselessness. Many fear gossip and inside politics.

No one is telling you to start opening up and sharing your personal life with someone before you develop a deep trust. Below are a few points which will tell you exactly what I mean and regard the benefits of having friends at work.

Happy Working Life

Aristotle stated, “Man is by nature a social animal.” He further goes on to elaborate that society precedes an individual. So anyone who does not partake of society or leads a common life is either a beast or a god.

This states the importance of a human needing to socialize to get by and stay sane. So when you have friends at the workplace, your work won’t feel like work or a set of tasks you need to get done and out of the way.

See Also: 12 Proven Ways to Make Friends at Work (Without Emptying Your Wallet)

Increase in Morale and Productivity

No one likes to wake up early in the morning and head to work. In the case of a night shift, you dread having to spend all the lonely night hours alone at the office with nothing but work to look forward to.

Having friends at work will actually make you look forward to work and the day will not seem so dry. It will increase your motivation and productivity.

With your heart in your work, you’re more than likely to produce better quality in your work. That’s otherwise hard to achieve, what with everyone trying to cram in more into their schedules than is humanly possible and employers being hard to satisfy.

Personal Development Support

When you have friends at work, you benefit from 137% more personal development support! You have the added opportunity to do what you do best every day.

Many people have their support system built in at home with their families and friends outside of work. But do you really want to talk more about work after you spend more than 8 hours at your office?

Also, regardless of the support your parents or other friends can give you, they don’t really understand your job as well as someone going through the same thing. They can very well comprehend what you’re going through, the toughness of your schedule, and also who and what you’re dealing with.

Fondness for Your Company

Having someone to discuss your weekend with (or any other detail in or out of the workplace), can make getting up for work whole a lot easier. Higher commitment to quality work has been observed and raised by more than 35%.

You’ll find yourself caring more about the progress of your company as well. The passion for your job can ensure that you put in your best, and having friends at work is a big motivation factor to stay and give it your best.

Higher Paying Job Won’t Feel as Appealing

58% men and 74% women said that they would refuse a higher paying job if it meant that they will not get along well with their co-workers. That goes to show that more than half the people stated that they value a place with a friendly environment.

They feel this way because work feels more like home and no one minds staying late as much. Lunch breaks can also be more enjoyable and fun and you’ll certainly be able to go back to work feeling more positive and refreshed.

See Also: The ABC of an Epic Friendship: 26 Simple Ways To Be the Best Friend Ever

Having been through all kinds of working environments, I can honestly say that I feel more motivated at work when I’m around people I like and enjoy talking to. It makes my job that much easier.

The post 5 Benefits of Making Friends at Work appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Joining a gym is always a great idea. You can walk in at a time of your choice, have access to dozens of equipment to tone your muscles, get personal advice from professional trainers, sweat it out, and be inspired to go the distance from watching like-minded people workout alongside you.

A regular workout routine is a key part of staying fit and healthy. And when it comes to getting the best experience, carrying the right items makes a big difference. Whether you’re heading to a professional gym or your beloved personal garage gym, here is a list of gym accessories you could carry to enhance the whole experience.

1. Protein Shaker Bottle

You can’t gain an inch of muscle without taking sufficient proteins. Purchase a shaker bottle and load it with a muscle-enhancing protein drink before you head to the gym.

Just in case you got pepped up to last a quarter of an hour longer at the gym, your protein shake would be the one thing that you need to get the desired results from your workouts. When combined with the right supplements, protein shakes give your muscles what they exactly need to recover after a tiresome workout session.

Some popular shaker bottle brands used by gym bunnies include BlenderBottle, Cyclone Cup, and SmartShake.

2. Fitness tracking gadgets

Take your workout results to the next level by using fitness tracking gadgets to track your performance. From total number of calories burnt during workout to distance walked to your heart rate and even hours slept in the night, there are fitness gadgets that can keep track of what goes into every single physical activity of yours. Monitor your exercise performance in numbers and accordingly tailor your workouts for better results every time.

Check out the most popular fitness gadgets from leading brands like Fitbit, Jawbone, and Withings and choose the ones that perfectly fit your needs and budget.

3. Moisture Wicking Towel

Ah! Here’s one for your convenience (and for the convenience of people around you as well!).

Excess sweat when left to dry can stink like sh*t. And when it comes to the gym, no one likes to grip equipment wet with the sweat of other users.

Make sure you use towels to wipe off sweat on you and the machine. Use the breaks between workouts to wipe excess sweat and cool yourself down a bit.

Brands like Manduka, Bondi Band, and Discovery Trekking Outfitters offer quality moisture wicking towels for gym use.

See Also: 19 Ways to Get Motivated to Exercise

4. Workout Log

When it comes to getting the best out of your reps, it’s important that you dive deeper into your exercise schedule. Without keeping count of how much you’re lifting or how far you’re running, it’s very difficult to see the desired results.

Make sure you take printouts of workout logs available online and plan your workout schedule better. Or consult your personal gym trainer and prepare a list of workouts that are to exactly designed to suit your body so that you get the best experience and results.

Additionally, you can also download a list of fitness tracking apps that help you to record your workouts and see how you can progress in the right direction. The best tracking apps used by fitness freaks include the likes of FitNotes, Gym hero, and Strong.

5. Kinesiology Tape

Have you seen professional athletes use colorful tapes on their arms, shoulders, back, and knees and wondered what they are? Well, they are called Kinesiology tapes.

They are designed to give additional strength and support to athletes. This type of taping is used as a sort of rehabilitative technique to ensure natural healing of aching muscles and joints without putting any additional strain on the tissues.

See Also: 5 Simple Ways To Prevent Gym Injuries

Best of all, the tapes are waterproof so they won’t allow sweat to stick around while you’re working out. If you have injuries, don’t forget to use Kinesiology tapes.

The best Kinesiology tapes are manufactured by leading brands like Rock Tape, StrengthTape, and KT Tape.

Conclusion

There you go! These are the five essential gym accessories and items you need if you are looking to take your workout experience to the next level. Using these will help make your workouts more effective and productive.

Be smart, stay fit, and enjoy your workouts like never before!

I’d love to know if you have any other advice for enhancing the gym experience. Please comment them below. Thanks for reading!

The post 5 Essential Items to Enhance Your Gym Experience appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Are you a newlywed living in your first apartment? Or maybe you’re moving to a brand-new condominium along with the rest of your family? Perhaps you’re even a long-time renter who calls the landlord for any old problem.

Here’s the thing: whether you’re renting your first property or are on your third, you should know that safe condo and apartment living isn’t just the landlord’s responsibility. It is your duty to protect your family and possessions.

Here are some practical measures you can start doing for rental home security:

Identify and Secure Possible Access Points

First of all, check your home for possible entry points, the most obvious ones being the doors to the outside (or to the corridor, depending on your exact living situation). See if they’re sturdy and in good condition.

If they tend to get stuck or don’t close easily, it can be a problem. Inform the landlord of any broken locks so they could be fixed or  replaced.

Even if the locks aren’t broken, ask the landlord to replace them especially if the previous tenant was evicted and might still have a key. Do the same for locks on your windows and balcony doors.

Locks aren’t the only security mechanisms you have to consider. For each door, examine the strike plate (the metal plate that goes in the doorjamb) to make sure it’s sturdy and secure.

A good strike plate can reinforce the doorjamb in case someone tries to force their way in. Deadbolts, security chains, and peepholes are also good and simple features to consider but you may have to talk to your landlord before getting those installed.

Think twice before getting a safe

Many homeowners can get a safe to store their valuables in. A good safe is ideally one that is heavy; burglars and robbers usually want to take as much as they can and leave as quickly as they can.

An empty 1.2 cubic-foot safe can weigh 100 pounds, so it could be a good place to put valuables like jewelry, important documents, and electronics in. Owners can also bolt down safes for added protection.

However, getting a safe for your rental property may not be the best idea. If you’re on a short-term lease, moving a safe into your temporary home can be too troublesome.

Bedrooms in condos and apartments also have very limited space, and bolt-down safes may require installation that your landlord will not allow. If you’re renting a spacious property on a long-term lease and your landlord is easy to talk to, and you have very valuable items, consider getting one. Otherwise, you can maybe just get a small fire chest and keep it well hidden.

Opt for Video Surveillance

One advantage of condo-living is that many developers invest in CCTV cameras. These usually go in common areas like the lobby, elevators, and hallways. The cameras usually go to a live feed monitored by guards on duty, so even if they aren’t being recorded, unsavory individuals have to think twice before they do anything rash or dangerous.

But if you want better security, especially within your own living space, you’ll have to get CCTV cameras installed yourself. Even simple dome-type cameras can be installed with minimal disruption to the space’s original configuration.

Assuming you have a webcam set up in your home office, there’s software you can use to turn that into a security camera as well. And if you want even more discreet protection, you can get a nanny cam or other hidden cameras  in case someone robs your home while you’re away.

See Also: 15 Budget Worthy Smart Home Improvements

Consider Getting Wireless Alarms

Long-term leasing is often cheaper in the long run, but it also means you’ve got to invest more in keeping your property safe in cases of emergency. Even the safest locations can, over time, become unsafe.

In that case, just relying on locks and safes may not be enough. You need a way to actually scare and deter potential invaders, which is where alarms would come in handy.

In the past, getting alarm systems installed in a rental home was tricky because it could require fairly major rewiring of the property which landlords would hesitate to agree to. Now, because of wireless technology, tenants can buy easy-to-install wireless alarms that just run on batteries.

The variety of motion sensors and security alarms in the market is staggering, and you can find something to satisfy practically any security need. You can also consider getting personal panic buttons and whistles for members of the family in case of emergencies.

Optimize Visibility

Of course, cameras are no good if the areas they’re monitoring are too dark. You may see faulty light fixtures and switches as a minor inconvenience but in a crisis situation, dim lighting can be dangerous, so make sure all light bulbs are working. Talk to your landlord if you have to. In case the light switches are oddly placed (for example, the switch for the dining room light is located in the living room), getting that fixed will probably require a longer talk with your landlord.

It’s also a good idea to place flashlights and LED lights in strategic locations around the house (hidden behind a houseplant or in a vase, for example) so that you have backup light sources in case of a night invasion. You also want to make sure intruders don’t have many places to hide so the more furniture you can place right up against a wall instead of in the middle of a room, the better.

Don’t Invite Trouble

Robbers and thieves take a big risk in breaking the law, and they most likely won’t bother if they don’t see a big payoff. That means you shouldn’t do anything that would entice them to try stealing from you.

Keep windows closed at night and make sure that expensive but easy-to-steal items, such as jewelry and gadgets, are not left in plain sight. Some people also favor putting alarm systems and CCTVs where they can be easily seen so strangers with bad intentions wouldn’t even try to break in.

The same goes for your online social media habits. We all know that it’s ridiculous to post pictures of your credit card online, but when you announce on social media that you plan to go on a long vacation, that could have the same consequences.

In fact, in the UK, that could even be a basis for insurance companies to invalidate your home insurance plan. Of course, you’ll also have to inform your landlord if you’re leaving the property unattended and for how long. Depending on the terms of your contract, you may not be allowed to go out of town for too long.

Get to Know Your Neighbors

Of all the tips to secure your condo or rental property, this is probably the least obvious. Cultivating a good relationship with your neighbors is a great way to make friends and be sociable, but it’s also practical. Neighbors can be your best defense when it comes to protecting your property when you’re away.

Even if you’re not going away on vacation, it can be handy to routinely talk to your neighbors every evening. If for some reason, you break from that habit, they may become concerned and see if anything’s wrong. In case they see that your property’s been broken into, they can report it to security or the authorities, who can then come to the rescue.

See Also: Home Security: Try These 10 Ways to Make Your Home Safer – Without a Gun

Prepare to Call for Help

Sometimes, despite all your efforts to keep unwanted visitors out, they can still get in. That’s why some of the tips to protect your apartment or condo would involve getting help during an invasion.

While panic alarms are a good choice, they’re not the best when you’re dealing with armed individuals. In that case, you need stealthier ways to get other people’s attention.

Store important emergency numbers on your cellphone so that you can call the authorities quickly. If you’re cellphone’s out of reach, try going for your landline phone instead.

Having a list of emergency numbers next to each of your phones would be a good idea. You also need to check if your unit has an intercom so you can call the guards in the lobby for assistance.

Some of the best plans are based on expecting the worst. That also applies when you’re living in an apartment or condo for rent. While nobody wants to live their life in fear or with a negative outlook, the reality is that trouble will come sooner or later.

To have peace of mind, you need a good set of security systems. All it takes is for you to be proactive and collaborate with your landlord about what you can and cannot do to protect your property.

The post 8 Sharp-witted Ways To Protect Your Rental Homes appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Do you want some enterpreneur tips on how to keep motivated?

Being a new entrepreneur means indulging in risky gambles and having a lot of responsibilities. You fear the unknown and you wind up feeling lost. So what really keeps you going is the ongoing motivation for the achievement of your goals.

This makes one wonder that how do you stay motivated in a business?

You don’t have to be brave only in battle. It’s your job to find motivation within you and remember that you are in charge of your own life.

Lift yourself up with these motivational tips.

1. Limiting Decision-Making in Other Aspects

With so many decisions regarding your business on a daily basis, sometimes it’s best to keep things simple elsewhere.

A good way to make your abilities stay sharp is if you limit your decision making in the other aspects of your life throughout the rest of your day. It can keep you motivated because then you can focus on the other tough decisions you have to make regarding your business.

2. Having a Personal Mission Statement

Every business should have a proper and defined mission statement. A mission statement is something which describes your visions and goals, and values. Knowing where you should head towards helps to lead you in a proper direction. It’s imperative to have a pre-defined route.

Your mission statement should be a constant reminder of your need to success. You should memorize it and carry it around with you everywhere.

See Also: 5 Lesser-Known Must-Read Books For Entrepreneurs

3. Constructing a Plan

Your mission statement is obviously useless if you don’t put forth a plan to execute it. A personal and professional plan can contain short and long term goals. Don’t adhere to it as a golden rule, as plans are always subject to change according to your circumstances.

The main purpose to have a plan is to have a proper and clear understanding in what you hope to achieve, and how you’re going to go about doing that.

4. Remember to Reward Yourself

The human mind is wired to respond according to incentives. So what better to provide motivation in your work?

Set rewards for yourself if you establish a goal. To avoid burning out, you should identify and reward small victories along the way to your long-term goals.

Will Curran, President of Endless Entertainment said, “By fighting the small battles. I get joy in overcoming obstacles, and by celebrating after a small win. This includes rewarding myself for a job well done. You can get overwhelmed by focusing too much on the big picture.”

5. Get a Quarter of Your Work Done Soon after Waking Up

Studies have shown people have shown the most amount of productivity in the first hours after waking up. This is also when some of the top startups plan their day to ensure more success.

Get to work within an hour of waking up and you’ll soon see the differences in your performance and how much you’re able to accomplish before your coffee break as well.

6. Stay Stubborn in Your Desire

What makes a successful entrepreneur?

Some of the most successful people I know are those who refused to give up even when times were tough. They had perseverance and patience. One of the key things in keeping an entrepreneur motivated is their ambition and desires. The fuel they needed to achieve and flourish in their goals lay in their desires to be successful which prevented them from giving up after they failed.

It is indeed very challenging to hold on to your morale when you’re not quickly getting the success you hoped for. Surround yourself with people who motivate you. Remember, each hindrance you suffer is a lesson, not a disappointment.

According to Neil Patel, co-founder of Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics, “Running a business is like riding a roller coaster. Although it is fun and exciting, there will be times when you’ll be scared and feel powerless. During the bad times, there isn’t much you can do, other than to keep on pushing forward,”

7. Inspiration Comes From Your Peers

Like I said in the previous point, keeping close to people who motivate you can do wonders. You can talk to other entrepreneurs and small business owners and look at them for support and constant inspiration. You can look to each other for feedback. It also feels better to know that there are other people going through the same challenges.

It’s also good to read success stories and the challenges faced by the other entrepreneurs when they first set out. Listen to some famous TED Talks by entrepreneurs to drive home some motivation.

See Also: How To Pay Bills & Start A Business – 5 Entrepreneurs Share Their Secrets

8. Turn your competition the other way around

It’s natural to compare yourself with your competitors. By looking at their perfectly crafted business and success stories, use that as an inspiration to achieve more and be better instead of letting yourself down. It’s stupid to feel down just because someone you know is doing better than you.

Don’t let that negative energy affect you, as each person’s journey and endeavors are different. Staying positive and viewing your competition as a benchmark is much better as compared to putting yourself down and self-blaming.

Adam Martin, Founder of Laabn Social Haircare Inc. talks about looking for another enterpreneur in the same niche and then talk weekly or daily to discuss challenges, ideas, and achievements. This helps keep both this person and yourself accountable.

9. Work with Others

If you work alone, you may find it helpful to surround yourself with people on the same wavelength as you to cure that boredom and loneliness you might be feeling. Chances are high that you’ll find yourself encouraged in other aspects of life as well.

Juanita Hines, Owner of Regional Consulting talks about being around successful and inspirational people.

With all the good and bad times new business brings, remembering these tips while moving at your own particular pace will help you stay rational and positive. Always keep in mind what roused you to wind up as a business visionary, framing key connections along the way, and setting sensible objectives. It will no doubt all add to your developments and achievements.

The post 9 Tips For An Entrepreneur For Constant Motivation appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Shh. Do you hear that?

That voice in the back of your head. Do you hear it saying, “this is too hard”?

“Maybe I’m just not good enough.”

“I’ve been at this a while now, and I’m not any closer to my goal than when I started.”

That is the voice that will kill your dreams if you let it.

Let me let you in on a secret. You don’t have to feel like you’re “good enough” to make a huge change in your life and the life of those around you.

Before Walt founded Disney, he was fired from the Kansas Star. Why? He lacked creativity. After that, he founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio, which promptly went bankrupt. Not exactly what you’d call an entertainment expert, right? Yet he still managed to create one of the most successful companies in the world.

Do you want to know the difference between successful people and those who give up? You don’t have to take massive action. You don’t even have to feel like you’re good enough. All you have to do is take small, consistent steps in the right direction. Eventually, that will turn into momentum, and that momentum will carry you to your goals.

Here are two ways you can begin today.

Throw Away Your To Do List

We’ve all heard how important it is to create to do lists to accomplish our goals. What you may not have heard, however, is how counterproductive this can be.

Think about it.

You fill the list up with everything you need to do. As you complete things, you add more. At the end of the day, you look at the list and there are still 8 things left on it. How does that make you feel, knowing that you’ve worked all day and still have that many things left?

When this is all you have to measure your progress, all you ever get to see is how far away you are from your goal. This can be incredibly demotivating, even if you actually are making progress toward your goals.

What if instead of keeping this type of list, you kept a list of all of the progress you made towards your goals? Every evening, and any time you felt like giving up, you could take out your list of accomplishments.

Here’s how you can do that.

1. Take out a sheet of paper.
2. Write your list of high level goals down.
3. Every time you complete a task, write it down under its goal. For example, if you’re training for a 5k, and you finally manage to run for 3 minutes straight, that goes down under “Run a 5K” on your list of accomplishments.
4. Anything that would usually cross off of your to do list can go on this list of accomplishments.

This does two things for you.

First, it motivates you. Whenever you feel like you aren’t good enough, you can look at this list and see all of the stuff you’ve already accomplished.

Second, as you get more stuff on the list, you want to do bigger and bigger things so that you can put them on the list.

It’s an incredibly satisfying feeling. Try it out.

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

Stop Chasing Goals (and Do This Instead)

If you want to reach your goals, you need to stop chasing them. Your goals are not going to carry you to success. Your goals are not going to carry you through those times when you feel like a failure and lose motivation.

What you need is a system that would carry you through the high and low times, whether you’re motivated or not. What you need is a system.

Let’s say you want to be a successful blogger. Instead of making a list of everything you need to do to accomplish your goal of creating a successful blog, do this instead.

1. Every morning, write 200 words before you do anything else. Add 25 or 50 words to this goal every week.
2. Every afternoon, edit your work to improve the flow and make it sound better.

Do this every day, and you could write a 1,000 word post every week. You don’t need your goal to keep you motivated. You don’t need your motivation to keep you going. All you have to do is write 200 words every morning before you let yourself get out of bed.

If you were an active member on blogs that ask for guest posts, you wouldn’t even need to set up your own blog at first. All you would need to do is create your system and take small, consistent steps towards where you want to go.

The best part? A system like this will help you no matter what your goal is.

The One Thing You Need to Do

If you are constantly battling with that voice telling you you’re not good enough, there is one thing you need to do. Keep taking small, steady steps in the right direction.

See Also: 5 Inspiring People Who Started With Nothing and Changed the World

Don’t worry if you aren’t as successful as other people. Don’t worry if you’re not as far along as you’d like to be. Look at all the amazing stuff you’ve already accomplished, and keep taking action. Stop worrying that the beginning of your story isn’t as polished as the middle of someone else’s.

The results will come.

The post 2 Ways to Create Success Even When You’re Not “Good Enough” appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Green tea is an amazing beverage that has infinite health benefits. It not only keeps you refreshed throughout the day but also offers remedial effects for vigorous living. Undisputed green tea benefits include improvements in weight, skin, heart condition, bone strength, and so on.

Drinking tea is highly advantageous yet some people are reluctant to use it due to its caffeine content.

See Also: 4 Best Teas To Help You Lose Weight

Volume of Caffeine in Green tea

Compared to other caffeinated drinks, tea has the minimum level of caffeine. Coffee has nearly 100 – 150 mg per serving while cola has an average of 45 – 50 mg per serving.

However, green tea only has 20 – 25 mg per serving. It is not much concentrated with caffeine to harm you in any case. Simultaneously, it is rich in L-theanine which offers calmness of mind. L-theanine counters caffeine antagonist present in the form of amino acids. This neutralizes the effects of caffeine from this wonderful tea.

Buy the decaffeinated variety

While buying tea, read labels. Today, decaffeinated varieties are easily available in groceries and online stores. The decaffeinated variety has green tea benefits intact but the quantity of caffeine is reduced to 5-10 mg per serving. This ensures a limited or negligible effect of caffeine on your body.

Always buy naturally decaffeinated tea processed with carbonated water using ethyl acetate, a chemical solvent that decaffeinates tea.

See Also: 5 Things I Learned about Success from a Cup of Tea

Choose your variety of green tea

Green tea can be categorized and divided into many varieties. Amongst them, Gyokura or Matcha are highly caffeinated whereas the likes of Hougicha tea have minimal caffeine.

Hougicha tea has low caffeine content but you can enjoy the unlimited green tea benefits in this variety as well. Read labels to find out what variety of tea you’re getting and what the caffeine content is.

Make it de-caffeinated yourself

Yes, you can decaffeinate your cup of tea with some simple steps. Before using tea leaves, soak it in normal water for 40-45 seconds. Discard this water and brew the leftover leaves. This will eliminate most of the caffeine in your tea and you get less caffeine in your cup.

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