Corrective lenses have been around for several years already. Because people are so used to them, they aren’t given as much thought as the newer discoveries. The only time one will probably give them attention is when your eyes start to get blurry.

If that is the case, here are some of the things you need to know about how glasses work.

Different Lenses For Different Problems

Through the pupil, light enters the eyes and gets focused by the lens into the retina. This is how normal eyes work. However, in some cases, these light waves don’t reach the retina correctly and it results in change in vision.

One of the  most common reasons for this is the abnormality in the shape of the eye.

When the shape and length of the eyeballs are changed, it can cause poor interpretations of the light waves traveling through the pupil. To remedy this, corrective lenses are used to focus light properly so that the retina and the rest of the eyes can interpret them correctly.

Nearsightedness

Myopia or nearsightedness is caused by images coming into focus in front of the retina. As a result, objects that are close to the eyes appear clear while objects that are held away from the eyes appear blurry.

A convex or positive lens is manufactured to the exact specifications of the wearer’s needs in order to focus the image in the retina. Positive lenses bend the light from the top and the bottom of the lens downward, pushing the focal point farther back into the retina.

Farsightedness

Hyperopia, more commonly referred to as farsightedness, happens when the cornea of a person has a flatter than normal curvature. This causes light to not focus properly. People with hyperopia see things better when they are far away. Any object held close to their eyes can look blurry.

A set of concave eyeglasses are used to correct the issue. They help bend light slightly inward so that they end up in the retina.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is caused by an oval shaped cornea which distorts light waves. It makes everything look blurry, regardless of how far or near an object is held from the eyes.

The condition requires multiple focal points to be corrected. Typically, cylindrical lenses are prescribed for correction.

See Also: Eye Safety In The Workplace: Effective Ways To Protect Your Vision

What Do All Those Numbers Mean, Anyway?

Frame Sizes

If you’ve ever looked on the inside arm of your glasses, you’ll noticed a set of numbers. Those numbers will give you an idea of the width of your glasses’ bridge, the length of its arms, height of the lens opening and its overall width.

These numbers help determine which frames will best fit your face, both for aesthetics and for optimal vision correction.

Corrective Prescription

Reading a prescription isn’t easy for the average person. It’s full of shorthand that doesn’t really make sense unless you’re really knowledgeable and trained about them.

For example, OD means the right eye while OS refers the left eye. In addition to codes, you also have to understand numbers.

The first number represents the spherical base. A plus or minus sign before that numbers indicates whether it is positive or negative. The second number, on the other hand, refers to the cylinder strength. The third number correlates to the cylinder axis orientation. If there is a fourth number, that will indicate your need of bifocals.

It’s important to be able to understand what these numbers mean as well as their order, especially if you are planning on ordering your glasses online.

See Also: A Guide to Buying Glasses Online

You Don’t Have To Understand Optical Physics

Understanding how your glasses work is great, but you don’t need to have a PhD in optical physics to know that. Since they have been around for a long time, you can find tons of sources that can enlighten you more about them.

To start, you can learn more about how corrective lenses work from this infographic.

Please include attribution to FramesDirect.com with this graphic.

 

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There are quite a few myths that revolve around debt consolidation loans. However, if your small business is struggling, debt consolidation loan is your only option to keep yourself afloat. It is also the only option that will not dampen your credit score. Debt consolidation is the hero without a cape that has saved countless number of companies from going down under.

According to the American Small Business Administration, almost 30% of the new small companies do not survive their first year in the market and almost 50% of them go under in their fifth year. The lack of funding and consolidation resources are majorly responsible for their untimely departure from the marketing world. In this cutthroat world of business, it is miraculous to get another chance with debt consolidation.

There are quite a few benefits you can enjoy when working with companies that offer actual debt consolidation meaning. This means you can’t only get your company on solid ground but you can also enjoy added benefits.

The list includes:

Reduced APR

With timely filed consolidation loans, you can reduce your annual payment rates and interest rates. If you happen to have a great credit history, you can file for lower interest rates with a longer payment term. You can enjoy APRs as low as 12% for repayment terms of 5 years or longer.

Lower monthly payments

This is something almost all businesses look forward to. You can coalesce all your monthly payments into one payment that has a lower interest rate. This automatically reduces the net amount you’ll be paying each month.

Additional borrowing

This is one benefit most new entrepreneurs would kill to enjoy.

When you are applying for your consolidation loan, you can apply for additional money to fund your future projects. Because of your lower interest rates, you are likely to get an increased DSCR for your business. This means, you do not have to take out short term debts again when starting a new project soon.

Simplify cash flow

There are three ways you can enjoy better cash flow.

1. You will have to pay just one creditor, instead of 3 or 4. It gives you the chance to use the loan amount to pay your credit card bills. You can just manage one account and the rest of the payments will take care of themselves.

2. You do not have to deal with defaulter’s notices anymore or penalties for missed payments. The consolidation loan company will take care of timely payments. In addition to that, you get to enjoy making one pre-scheduled payment to your loan company every month.

3. Longer debt and longer payment terms call for lower monthly payments. You can easily save more cash and cover regular expenses without cutting corners.

Say goodbye to creditors

You can resolve all your lines of credits at one go with one large sum. You’ll be able to give your business freedom to grow and expand into new dimensions. You will not have to attend to creditor calls and you can even pay off all your credit card bills with the sanctioned amount. Consolidation loan has the power to free up your revolving credit lines.

Payments are more anticipated

You can coalesce many short-term loans into one loan with smaller payment amounts. You can also consolidate loans with variable interest rates under one loan amount that you can pay for a longer time period with a much lower, fixed interest rate. As a result, you can chalk out a definite plan and budget for the coming year in your business.

See Also: 5 Ways Business Investment Loans Can Help Your Start-Up

When dealing with consolidation loans, you will have to know how to negotiate for the best deals and better benefits. You need to find the right companies that offer the right kind of loans that your business needs to thrive.

There are currently two types of business consolidation loans that are available:

1. Secured debt consolidation loans

These are loans that come with usually low interest rates and low monthly payments as well. Secured loans mean that you will be pledging some form of tangible property against the loan. In that case, the lending party has more security about repayment.

It is not uncommon for a lending party to take possession of deposit accounts, business assets, and business equipment in case of missed payments. However, secured loans are better in terms of comparatively longer payment terms and low rates.

2. Unsecured debt consolidation loans

Since these do not require you to pledge any tangible property, they usually demand a high personal credit score. You will experience higher interest rates and monthly payments when you opt for unsecured consolidation loans.

You can usually get these unsecured loans from private lenders and alternative sources. Even P2P lending can help you out with unsecured loans. However, it is a little harder to get as compared to secured loans since it demands a squeaky clean business credit and personal credit.

Small business debt consolidation loan is quite a wonderful way to keep your business thriving in days of dire distress. This will not eat away into your credit score and you will still be qualified for more loans. Many businesses go bankrupt simply because they cannot figure out the right time to apply for a business consolidation loan.

Business consolidation loan is not bad for business, provided that you choose the right consolidating companies for the loans. The right company should be able give you added services, including debt counselling and debt management. Getting out of debt will not be a monumental challenge if you have the right company to help you out.

See Also: 4 Ways to Start Building Great Credit

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Dreaming is considered as a different, unique, and very complex process of thoughts. Ever since the beginning of our time, people wondered what dreams are and why we experience them at night.

Some ancient civilizations even believed that dreams convey messages of wisdom from their gods. A few centuries later, Sigmund Freud came along and famously theorized that dreams are a “royal road to our unconscious”. Today, modern dream theories suggest that dreams are not as complex and important as people once believed.

To give you an idea, below are the 3 most popular theories that can help you interpret your dreams.

The Freudian Theory on Dreams

Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis whose accomplishments are being dismissed today by modern science at a fast pace. Despite this rejection, he is still popular for his theory on dreams.

While Freud lacked understanding and knowledge of the REM and the NREM sleep cycles, he believed that the meaning of each dream is wish-fulfillment. Freud began this argument by analyzing children’s dreams.

According to Freud, dreams serve a very important function in giving us clues of how our unconscious mind works. He believed that this was crucial for our waking life. Freud also believed that all dreams are of sexual or aggressive nature. Therefore, our brain does not allow us to experience such thoughts and emotions while awake and so represses them.

Since Freud provided so many theories, ideas, and thoughts on dreams, I need to sum all up as shortly as possible. He believed that dreams are a way of realizing our repressed desires. If you think that this theory can be true, you should get Freud’s book entitlled “The Interpretation of Dreams” to learn more.

The Jungian Theory on Dreams

Being a student of the famous Sigmund Freud has certainly helped Carl Gustav Jung to become a successful and reputable psychiatrist on his own. Like Freud, Jung also believed in the existence of the unconscious. However, he didn’t agree with his mentor that all dreams are of sexual nature.

Having different views and theories on dreams caused Jung and Freud to take separate ways. Jung presented four theories on dreams. His most popular idea is that most dreams have a compensatory function. They express those aspects of our personality we don’t adequately develop in our waking life.

Jung believed that dreams are a way of communicating with one’s own unconscious. Unlike Freud, he believed that dreams are not attempts to fulfill wishes from the waking mind. Instead, he considered them as windows to our unconscious mind. To achieve wholeness and solve a problem in the waking life, one must look for guidance in their dreams.

Modern Theory on Dreams

Over the last 50 years, modern science has been gathering evidence but found nothing to support any of the Freudian and Jungian dream theories.

It all started with John Allan Hobson, a famous American psychiatrist and dream researcher, who offered a believable, fact-supported theory (for a change). Hobson described the dreaming brain as a simulation machine that seeks to predict its waking environment. It functions depending on the REM sleep cycles. His basic idea is that our brains are genetically equipped with a neuronal system that generates a “virtual reality” of our waking lives during the REM stage.

Thanks to the many dream studies conducted by researchers from all around the world, now we know that dreams are not unpredictable. No training is required to decipher dreams, because they aren’t encrypted at all, as they were once believed. They also have no meaning.

Nevertheless, they can be useful to help us understand our own psychological state. The feelings we experience in a dream can be viewed as our brain’s attempt to convey information to its conscious self.

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If you could change anything about your job, what would it be?

Do you want a savvier office or a bigger holiday allowance? Perhaps you’d like more mentorship or opportunities to develop new skills. Are you thinking about getting a fatter paycheque at the end of each month?

Whatever it is that you want, there’s a good chance you won’t get it easily- unless you know the best tricks in persuading your boss. If that is the case, here’s a quick guide to help you out.

Understand Their Point of View

Before you ask for anything, work out why you haven’t already been given it. Mapping out your boss’ mindset on this issue is important since it can help you find a way to counter his arguments.

Generally, you know your boss well enough to get a feel of how he thinks, especially when it comes to making big decisions. Despite this, make sure you still ask him. As long as you frame your request in a neutral, non-accusatory manner, he should be happy to answer your questions.

Collect Compelling Counter-Evidence

To get what you want, you need to be able to show your boss both that it’s a good idea and that any concerns your boss may have won’t be a problem. This involves collecting evidence.

If you’re looking for a career or salary boost, you need to prove you deserve it. Hunt down performance reports, output statistics, glowing reviews from clients and so forth. Similarly, if you want support for a new way of working, then find reputable studies and surveys that can back up your idea.

See Also: 5 Tips On How To Negotiate Your Salary

Present It As A Benefit To Them

As wonderful and deserving as you undoubtedly are, if the work change you crave only benefits you, it won’t be on top of your boss’ list of priorities.

If you can find a way to present it as a gain for the business, he’s going to be keen to hear you out. Bosses are almost generally keen about enhancing the productivity of their workforce and the monetary gains of their business. If you can argue that your suggestion will create improvements in those areas, you’re likely to be a winner.

Make It Easy To Implement

By this point, you should have built such a persuasive case that your boss is, at least, open to considering the idea. However, managers are busy people and if you let your boss go away without giving it much thought, it’s possible that he’ll find the idea too ambitious.

See Also: 6 Ways to Recognise a Really Bad Manager

To stop this from happening, lay out a quick and easy way to put your idea into practice and volunteer yourself for any of the required legwork. Talk about how the transition from your current position would work and how any predictable problems that are likely to crop up would be surmounted.

Make It Time-Limited And Reversible

One of the reasons why all of us, including managers, are so scared of change is that it can be difficult to correct if anything goes wrong. To encourage your boss to be bold, suggest that you run your idea for a trial period first.

This will give you and your boss enough time to see if the project will work for the business. Trial periods are much easier to agree to. They’re easy to extend, too.

Allowing your boss to backtrack might seem like a risk, but it makes the initial agreement much more likely. As long as you can prove that your idea will work, it’s unlikely that your boss will force you to revert back to your previous position or working condition.

Play Devil’s Advocate

No matter how persuasive your argument is, your boss is still likely to throw some criticism at your idea to check its value. Avoid getting caught off-guard by assessing your own idea first. Finding the holes in your proposal can give you the opportunity to prepare either a solution to a potential problem or a convincing reason why the benefits still outweigh the cons.

It can actually be an effective technique to bring up some of these negatives while talking to your boss. It’ll show that you’ve seriously considered all angles and analysed the proposal thoroughly

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When I was in high school, my careers adviser said I should become a mailman. In the end, I have been everything — from a riding instructor, librarian, salesman at Toys R Us, to a children’s entertainer. I even became an ice cream alchemist.

To be honest, I’m still not quite decided on what I want to do when I grow up. I’m 45 years old and I still think growing up is over rated!

I saw an infographic from Graduation Source about some of the leading careers and how to achieve them. This made me want to investigate more. Here are, in my opinion, the five top uncommon jobs in the US and what you need to do to get them.

Flavorologist

Love food and have a perfect sense of taste? Maybe you could become a flavorologist, a professional employed to taste and assess food. If this interests you, you can follow the footsteps of John Harrison, a Master Ice Cream Taster for Edy’s Grand Ice Cream.

John ensures that each batch of their delicious ice cream is up to scratch. He spends time working in the lab to create new and exciting flavors. His working day involves up to five hours of tasting up to twenty flavors of ice cream. His work is so important that the company have his valuable taste buds insured for $1 million.

Flavorologists or food scientists who work for major food manufacturers can earn up to $60,000 per year, according to Payscale data.

Of course, it is not all lovely foods like ice cream. Spare a thought for Philip Wells, a professional dog food taster for natural dog food manufacturer Lily’s Kitchen. Phillip says that the worst part of the job is not the taste but the deadlines.

Snoozeahologist (Professional Sleeper)

If you find it hard to resist your bed, then the role of a professional sleeper is an option for you. There are a number of medical schools who require people to sleep for medical trials and it can let you earn over $10,000. The only downside is that you have to be wired up to a range of medical devices to track your sleep patterns.

If you find the wires uncomfortable, there are some hotels who hire people to sleep. Take, for example, the Hotel Finn in Helsinki. They advertised for a dynamic individual who would spend time sleeping in each of its 35 rooms.

As the hotel stated, “This person will share their thoughts, adventures and experiences of living in the best spot of summery Helsinki.”  It may seem simple, but the successful candidate must know how to speak English, Finnish and Russian.

Figures on Simply Hired suggest that a professional sleeper could earn on average of $61,586 per year. It’s not a bad figure for a job that requires its worker to rest.

Movie Star

If the idea of being in the big screen attracts you, then you should consider getting into one of the major acting programs today. One good example is the Julliard or Yale School of Drama.

Apart from developing your skills, you should also consider moving to one of the major cities where the film industry is booming, such as New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. Even the big stars have to live near the industry if they want to have work regularly.

Additionally, you will need to join SAG-Aftra, the union which represents professional actors. Without this, you will not be able to work on union projects. You’ll need a portfolio, too.

Ensure you look for as many opportunities as you can. This may include attending open casting sessions, trying out for a supporting role or working behind the scenes.

The average salary of SAG-Aftra union members is around $53,423. With luck, you could earn more than this rate, like Jackie Chan who earned over $61 million last year.

Anesthesiologist

A survey by the United States Department of Labour has shown that over half the professionals in the top paid jobs in the US are in the healthcare industry. Anesthesiologists take the top spot with the highest salary averaging over $246,000 per year.

Anesthesiologists are medical doctors who are responsible for the safety of patients before, during and after surgery. Before they receive their license to practice, they need to take a long educational program which can last up to twelve years.

This includes a four-year undergraduate degree, followed by at least four years at medical school and then a four-year anesthesiology residency program. This can be followed by an additional fellowship year or specialist training.

There are over thirty thousand anesthesiologists in the United States. Over the next five years, the numbers can increase by as much as 18%. If the job sounds appealing to you, study hard today. It might be your career in the next coming years.

Astronaut

The stars and sky don’t fascinate everyone. Furthermore, not everyone has the desire to leave the planet to explore.

This is what makes Clayton C. Anderson different from most people. Clayton was an astronaut and previous resident of the international space station for 152 days. In his book, “An Ordinary Spaceman”, he explains that when he started as an astronaut candidate, he earned $90,000. When he retired, he was on a salary of $150,000.

Despite the digits, being an astronaut is not always about the money. As British astronaut Tim Peake said of space travel, “Living and working on board the International Space Station is the best place you could be as a professional.”

So, how do you become an astronaut? NASA’s basic requirements involve:

• Receiving a bachelor’s degree from a university accredited for mathematics, engineering or physical science. In addition to this, you’ll need a three-year professional experience or at least 1,000 hours of being a pilot in charge of a jet aircraft.
• Being physically fit. Applicants must have a distance visual acuity of 20/200 correctable to 20/20 for both eyes and a blood pressure reading of 140/90 (to be taken while in sitting position).
• Having a height of 58.5 inches to 76 inches.

Applying as an astronaut isn’t as easy as being able to pass these requirements. Once you pass the primary assessment, you’ll need to go through a rigorous selection process and training program. After that, you’ll need to go through a week-long interview process.

If, and only if, you pass all of these, you will have to undertake a 2-year program which involves training and evaluation. This includes spending time in a zero-g simulator known as ‘vomit comet’. It’s a plane that climbs high before taking a free-fall. Unfortunately, not all people can pass this test without feeling ill.

The chances of being an astronaut are somewhat slim. At the time of writing, there are no astronaut jobs being advertised on the NASA job site and the last intake was in 2015.

However, if you persevere, you could still join the 536 people who have been in space. Study hard and give the astronaut selection office a call at 281-483-5907 and ask them if you can fly into space!

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There is much more to web designing than just plain aesthetics. For it to be successful, you also have to make sure your content is as attractive as your website’s design.

Your customers would not be visiting your site to admire and be awestruck by its visual appearance. They are paying your site a visit to learn and gain something from it.

In case you are wondering, here are some of the best web design strategies you can use in boosting your site’s view.

Pay Attention To Conversions

Conversion involves the transition of a casual visitor to a paying visitor. For this to happen, you have to consider every part of your site’s design.

Here are some design tips from the professionals:

• Images must always be fascinating, of high-quality and truly unique.
• Color scheme must be vibrant and eye-catching.
• Text must be used for messaging and for delivering instructions, descriptions, and labels.
• Navigation must be smooth throughout your website.

These are just a few of the elements that can help you get successful conversions. Fundamentally speaking, every part and element of your site’s design is an integral factor that can boost customer conversion.

To get started, you should get in touch with a professional web designer and talk about your website’s objectives. You should discuss precisely what modifications can help you attain your goals.

Allow Some White Space

A good website design should cleverly utilize white space. It should be deliberately and purposely designed all around images, call-to-action buttons and texts.

Spacing is a crucial part of web design, too. Web designers must avoid the use of excessive spaces, particularly on their homepage. Do not treat your homepage as a newspaper because people aren’t used to reading website content the way they are used to reading printed materials.

Keep in mind that there should be adequate spacing between the various elements of your page. This ensures an enjoyable reading experience. Moreover, they help put emphasis on the most important parts. Good sense and use of timing and effective spacing are vital in this context.

Focus Should Be On Typography

Amazing pictures and awesome videos may get a lot of admiration online but the web is basically all about text. You should pay a lot more attention to your website’s typography. In addition to having a wide range of fonts, you should also know how to utilize them.

Web designers must possess sound typography skills for creating successful website designs. They must know how to choose the perfect font color, size and weight. They should also be aware of how the right spacing can make their design a lot more impressive.

Conclusion

You must always aim to make a long lasting impression to your site’s visitors. Obviously, you wouldn’t want visitors to easily forget your site. One way you can achieve this is by infusing an element or a touch of fun into their experience.

A website could be both professional and fun. Just make sure that you won’t get carried away while creating your design.

See Also: The Essential Elements of Modern Web Design

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Are you saving for your retirement?

If you haven’t been able to start saving for retirement, or if you have no savings at all, you are not alone. The number of Americans who have no cash in the bank to fall back on is staggering

According to a Federal Reserve report, almost 30% of Americans report having a zero balance, and 62% have less than $1,000 in savings.

In fact, nearly half of Americans couldn’t cover a $400 emergency expense without borrowing the money or selling something.

Another survey by GOBankingRates.com claimed that an additional 21% report having no savings account whatsoever.

In terms of saving for retirement, 36% have yet to begin keeping away money for retirement.

The importance of saving for your retirement cannot be overemphasized. Retirement saving is what will see you through your golden age. Saving for retirement is not optional; it is something that everybody ought to take seriously.

If you’re interested in saving more towards your retirement, below are simple hacks to boost your retirement savings:

Put Your Savings on Autopilot and Pay Yourself First

Simplify your retirement savings by placing it on auto pilot. It isn’t easy to make rational decisions with money, so, the simplest way to save for your retirement is by setting up an automatic transfer of money from your paycheck to your savings account.

A study by Prudential Financial Inc., a New Jersey financial services firm discovered that 66% of workers between the ages of 21 to 30 would like to be automatically registered in a defined-contribution plan at work, such as a 401(k) or 403(b).

An automatic retirement saving plan will ensure that a part of your paycheck will go to your savings account without you having to think about it. More importantly, it will give you the benefits of paying yourself first.

Work Longer

Increasing your working hour as well as prolonging your retirement is a simple hack to earn more and save more.

27% of Americans want to keep working as long as possible. Similarly, Another 12% said they don’t plan to retire at all, according to a 2015 Federal Reserve study.

You will get more money for every overtime hours you spend on the job. This extra money can be channeled to your retirement savings, which can become quite substantial in the long run.

However, never work longer at the expense of your health. Use only a few hours in a week for overtime job.

Pile Up Your Extra Funds

When you get a raise, a tax refund or any other unexpected money the wise thing to do is to contribute a large part of it to your retirement savings. A report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch found out that Millennia’s, aged 21-34, were more involved in increasing their retirement contribution rates during the first half of 2016 than any other age group.

According to Stephen Chen, founder of New Retirement Inc, “Even just putting away $10 or $20 a paycheck will make a difference, and will get you into the habit of saving,”

Don’t Get Distracted by Debt

Substantial debt can be a huge obstacle to savings and investment. If you are already in debt, you will need a good debt repayment system to help you get out and keep you focused.

Even so, you shouldn’t allow debts to distract you from your retirement saving plan. You should always pay yourself first before paying any bills. This is made easier when you automate your retirement savings.

See Also: 5 Ways to Help Get Out of Debt

Cut Down On Living Expenses

Make use of effective budgeting to cut down on your monthly expenses. Cutting down on expenses doesn’t mean going to live in the woods; it only means adopting some cut saving behaviors like buying in bulk, using coupons, switching to a more cost-effective brand, making more use of your DIY skills, sticking to your budget, etc.

See Also: 7 Ways to Live Within Your Means

There are many other ways to increase your retirement savings, especially for late starters which you can consider. The challenge to retirement saving isn’t in knowledge, but in turning that knowledge into significant results.

Saving for retirement requires you to translate the retirement saving hacks into actionable rules that will help you achieve your goal. If you are able to follow these simple hacks, you’ll have a comfortable retirement savings to fall back on when you no longer have the capacity to work.

 

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Everyone makes mistakes. The recent mistakes in the media with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announcing the wrong movie for the Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars and Steve Harvey’s slip-up when he said the wrong name for Miss Universe 2015 are reminders that no one is perfect.

Some mistakes are easier to move past while others will go on to live forever. Whether your mistake is huge or just a tiny error, here are five ways that can help you with overcoming mistakes.

Be honest about what happened

Telling big or even little white lies to cover up a mistake can just put you into a downhill spiral. If a mistake has been made, take the hit and be responsible for what happened.

While it may be difficult to admit your error and feel foolish, these reactions are just short-lived. Lying to cover up the mistake will just create more problems in the long run.

Don’t beat yourself up over it

It’s normal to feel ashamed or embarrassed for a short period of time after making a mistake. You shouldn’t live on it or continue to build it up in your mind. You eventually have to accept it and move on. Keep in mind that the quicker you can accept it, the quicker you can recover.

Find an outlet that works for you to relieve stress. Talk to a friend or coworker, go for a quick walk around the building or journal your thoughts to give you some perspective and release.

See Also: 9 Ways We Can Reduce Our Stress Level

Apologize

Some people think that saying “I’m sorry” is a form of weakness, but it’s actually just the opposite. It shows that you can take responsibility for your actions and are willing to admit your mistakes. Whether you offended a friend or missed a deadline at work, apologizing takes courage and shows the other party that you understand what went wrong and you want to move on from it.

See Also: 5 Ways to Say Sorry

Put the mistake in perspective

Whether the mistake was a minor slip-up or a large-scale error, put it in perspective. There may be consequences to your actions, but think about how this mistake will affect you in 1, 5 or even 10 years.

Chances are, it won’t. If it is a life-altering mistake, then consider seeking counseling to help you cope with the consequences.

Learn from it

Take the blunders you make as a learning opportunity. Think about how the mistake happened.

Were you trying to get things done too fast? Were you sleep deprived? Had you had too much to drink?

Identify the factors that caused the mistake and think about what you can do differently next time to avoid doing it again.

Give yourself some grace and know that one mistake probably won’t derail your life or career. You are human and we all make mistakes. Some mistakes can even be turned into opportunities or used as motivation to do better going forward.

The most important thing when it comes to overcoming mistakes is to be smart about how you respond to them.

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Confidence is a trait we are all born with. However, although innate, there are still factors that can make us feel shy and not so sure of ourselves. Because of this, one still needs to connect with confidence.

As children, we’re natural performers. We tend to relish any opportunity to dance, sing and play. We’re not concerned yet with the opinions of others and we can still express ourselves enthusiastically!

I remember one sunny day in primary school. I must have been only 6 or 7 years old during that time. My classmates and I were in the stuffy classroom.

Out of my seat, I was standing up and dancing, giving an impromptu performance to the children who sat at my table. Their hands were over their mouths to cover the high-pitch giggling but it was too late. Miss Clack, our teacher, had caught on to our mischief and was now angrily pacing towards our table.

Glaring down at me she (regrettably) asked, “William! I don’t suppose you wish to show your little performance to the WHOLE class, do you?”. I imagined Miss Clack had expected me to respond with a “No, Miss” as my pale cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. I very much doubt she thought I’d take her up on her offer. But I did…

A few moments later, with a smile on my face, I was dancing in the middle of the classroom. The whole class, including Miss Clack, were in stitches. William, 1. Miss Clack, 0.

Sadly, for many of us, by the time we reach adulthood, it feels like our confidence has taken a bit of a bashing. Teachers, friends, family and our failed romances leave us feeling disconnected from our confidence. This was certainly my experience.

Even though at times we may feel we have no confidence left, let me assure you, we do. Confidence is always inside us, ready to shine.

So, what can we do to connect with confidence again? Here are my top 3 tips.

Stand like a Soldier (Dressing in army attire is optional)

We all know how our feelings affect the way we use our body. You don’t have to be a body language expert to look at someone and accurately know how they feel.

By observing a person’s posture, gestures and facial expressions, you can determine his emotions.

Feel this for yourself! For the next 7 days, make a conscious effort to stand tall, have your shoulders back and your chest upwards. It may help to imagine a chord being pulled upwards directly from your head and spine.

At first, this may feel awkward so many of us (myself included) have a tendency to slouch. But, by standing upright, you will not just feel more confident; it can also help relieve your body tension.

Do at least one thing that scares you every day

I once had a conversation with a young man who told me ‘I just don’t have any confidence’. I replied by asking ‘How confident are you about that’? The young man smiled back at me before thinking about his answer.

I could almost see the cogs spinning around in his head as he gained an insight into this simple truth: We are all confident. We just don’t always have confidence in ourselves.

So how can we gain more confidence in ourselves?

Do at least one thing that scares you every day. Every time we take action, despite feeling fear, we’re growing our comfort zone.

We’re changing the story of what we believe is possible for us. And when you’ve done this for a little while, you’ll find yourself feeling more connected with your confidence.

What’s important here is not the result of doing what scares you; it’s the action. It’s the message you send yourself.

See Also: 3 Actionable Steps To Help You Overcome Fears

At the start of each day, visualize

This final tip only takes 30 seconds and can be completed even before you’ve left bed in the morning.

With your eyes closed, see yourself moving through the day with total confidence. Notice how you look (Tip 1), how you sound, and how it feels to live connected with confidence.

Imagine the interactions you will have with your family or colleagues and any important actions you have to take (Tip 2). This mental rehearsal sets up how you desire to show up each day. The final step is to open your eyes and do your best to create the day you visualized.

See Also: How Your Mental Health Depends On Your Confidence

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You wake up early morning and decide that you are going to work your ass off today. You glue yourself to your desk, put your mind to the task, and manage to squeeze 16 hours without taking rest breaks at work! You do that for three days at a stretch.

What happens the next day? Your productivity level drops.

Taking wise, pre-planned breaks is one of the least harnessed (but the most essential) tools inside an entrepreneur’s productivity toolbox. If you are still not buying the idea, here are 3 good reasons why taking rest breaks at work is more important than the actual tasks.

Breaks trigger your brain’s diffuse mode

Studies show that your brain works in two complementary but contrasting modes: the focused and the diffused.

From a layman’s perspective, the focused mode is when concentrated thinking takes place. It happens when a person gives his full attention to the task at hand. The diffused mode, on the other hand, is more of a relaxing state where you just work with the flow.

Interestingly, your brain can never be in both states at the same time.

When you take a break, your mind enters into a diffuse mode. This mode tends to create a room for creativity and is usually where most of the revolutionary ideas pop.

Studies show that being in the focused mode for excessive periods often leads to “Einstellung effect”. It’s a phenomenon where you find yourself stuck in a problem because your mind is pre-programmed to solve it in a pre-defined manner.

Imagine this:

Your car has to pass through an under-bridge that is an inch shorter than your car’s height. How do you solve the problem? While most intellectual engineers crack their heads to get it done, a child might simply point out that puncturing the tires would do the job.

Is the child smarter than those professionals?

The smartest of the engineers would probably restrict themselves into thinking about the mechanics of the car or the construction of the bridge simply because their brains are wired into thinking that way.

The above illustration is a perfect example of how Einstellung tremendously impacts our ability to produce innovative thoughts.

So how do you avoid this deadly effect?

Avoid staying in the focused mode for too long. Whenever you feel drowned in your thoughts, go outside for a few minutes to take a break.

It helps free your working memory

Your brain has a “working memory” constituting of everything you’re thinking of at the moment. Most of us have roughly four slots of that memory available while some people can have as many as nine.

When you think of something, it occupies your working memory before moving to the long-term space. It is pretty obvious that your working space can get filled easily if you always do deep work.

Have you ever felt frustrated after working for long hours at a stretch? Overloaded working memory is the culprit.

Taking rest breaks at work helps your mind assimilate these thoughts and move them to the long term space, thereby freeing up your valuable slots.

Tip: Consider writing down pending tasks at hand before taking a break. This would take away the pain of having to recall the tasks.

See Also: 5 Top Weird Brain Facts

You feed yourself some love

When you take a break, you stand a chance to open yourself up to the world. You get to observe the scenic, innate beauty of nature as you take a walk in the park.

You get to realize how blessed you are to have a loving family and a friends’ circle. More importantly, it will help you realize how beautiful life is.

Recent studies reveal that emotional intelligence (EQ) might be more important than your IQ for your success. And how do you develop your EQ? Simple, you just have to steal some of your working hours to interact with the world.

I hope this article helped you in understanding the importance of taking regular rest breaks at work and not overworking yourself.

What do you do while taking breaks? What is your favorite recreation activity?

See Also: 10 Brain Damaging Activities You Need To Stop Doing Now

 

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