Sitting alone for a few hours is very detrimental to health. The less you move, the less activity you do, the less fuel you burn in your body which means you burn fewer calories that lead to obesity and other weight-related risks.

Fortunately, it is a good thing to know now that even in sitting alone, you can burn calories! You may actually lose weight and achieve your body goals even if your priorities require you to sit for a very a long time. These are some ways you could while sitting and burn those calories:

Laugh A Lot

As what they always say – laughter is the best medicine – it is very true in this case because laughing makes you sweat no matter what you do or in what position you are. Laughing a lot throughout your day will make lose significant amounts of calories. In addition, it creates a very positive mood.

Replace Your Chair

If you intend to lose some of those fats and calories, you may want to change and replace your current chair. Invest in an adequate chair that can help you shed those extra pounds. You may actually check a new stability ball and use it as a chair. In fact, these exercise balls can help you lose an extra 100 pounds a day. Moreover, it will help you to strengthen your core, legs, and back for a more toned-looking appearance.

Keep Cool

Turn down the heat and keep it cool – little did everyone knows that cold temperature can help you lose weight effectively. Your body naturally adjusts itself to maintain a balanced temperature. The cooler your environment, the harder your body produces sweat so it will require you more activity to do which results in higher amount of fats to be burn.

Dance In Your Seat

It is not prohibited for you exert those extra moves. You may want to increase those volumes and dance off to the beat. It will also allow you to stretch few parts of your body which are a very good thing for your joints and muscles. It can burn calories too!

Snack Often

People who are in fitness and weight-loss programs know this rule very well. To keep you off from eating way heavier meals, try to eat small and healthy snacks every now and then. It will make you feel full and hinders you from eating unhealthy and inappropriate meals.

See Also: How to Lose Weight… By Snacking

Stay Hydrated

It is always important to keep your water besides you especially when you are trying to lose some weight. In actuality, it is the most effective thing to intake when you are on a diet and weight loss program. Water, in general, is essential to a lot of metabolic processes in your body causing you to burn more.

Squeeze In Tiny Tone-Ups

Sitting doesn’t require you to be just in a dormant state. You have to move even a slight stretch every now and then to keep your blood in proper circulation. Apparently, these few stretching activities throughout the can relax your muscles and burn a few calories.

Breathe Deeply

Know that in breathing properly and deeply, you calm yourself. Aside from that, it has a very beneficial effect on your body generally. One is that breathing deeply causes you to relax and reduce stress. Stress hormones are the ones always responsible for your sweet and unhealthy cravings. So, when you reduce the risks of this, you reduce as well the possibility of gaining more calories, and instead you burn them.

Sneak In A Nap

Naps are as important as your 8-hour sleep. These are actually barriers from your hunger-regulating hormones. The more naps you take every now and then, the more your hormones get satisfied. As a matter of fact, researches today show that people could less 55% of their extra calories just by taking naps.

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

These few exercises while sitting could really change a lot. However, if you intend to lose more weight, you may want to alter some things as well with your lifestyle and eating habits. Nevertheless, these are effective tips for you to try.

 

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What is Failure?

Did you know that you need to fail to live life? Yes, you do.

When we were all born, we never received a “book of life” that had all the rules laid out for us to skim through when we needed to refer to it.

Sure, people always told us what to do and what not to do growing up, but it wasn’t until you lived the events and saw them through your own eyes that you realized what worked or didn’t work, was good or bad, and what was a success or a failure.

Let me show how you can change your thoughts that you may finally reach your goals. But first, let’s dive into why you are being held back in the first place.

Why Getting Past Your Fears Of Failure Will Dramatically Change Your Life

When I first wanted to start a blog, I faced this uncertainty myself. I asked myself many times, was it worth it? Is anyone even going to read what I have to say? Was this just going to be a lot of wasted time?

The fact is, I didn’t know. And that’s the beauty of it. I could have a winner on my hands and not even know it.

It was a lot of work starting a blog but I felt that I had my unique outlook on things and a lot of great information to share. I kept on with it and said that I have nothing to lose, yet so much reward to gain.

The thing is, we as humans are not psychics. We cannot see into the future. If we don’t even attempt something, then we are not living, we are just observing. We are not living out our own lives; we are bystanders just sitting on the sidelines watching everything pass us by.

It’s until we make that attempt, take that first step, hit that first roadblock, that we know if what we are doing is the right decision or not.

If you keep moving forward, and trying your best, and not giving up, then you haven’t failed yet.

If you are driving down a road, and there is a fork in the road, and you have no map and no idea which way to go, you can choose to go right or left. For you to know which way is the right way to get to your end goal and destination, you may end up having to take that wrong road.

But the point I am trying to get you to understand is that you HAD to go down that wrong road to KNOW that the right road was the right way.

See, it’s not a failure. Its just eliminating the wrong option.

What You Can Do Right Now To Overcome Your Fear

Here are some great ways to bust through your fears and get on with your life:

Ask Yourself, “What Is The Worst That Can Happen?”

Think worst case scenario here.

If you were to attempt to do what you wanted, what could happen that you feel is the worst case. Once you realize that it may not be all that bad, then trying it out might not be as bad as you first would have thought.

See Also: 3 Questions You Need To Ask To Overcome Your Fears 

Just Take Action

Make that first step, no matter how small. Even a little progress can open up your eyes to realize that things are not all that hard.

What would be harder for you to bear? Is it trying and failing at something, or not even trying at all and then living with the regret for the rest of your life that you didn’t even try?

Focus On The Positives

Don’t focus on what bad things can happen from your attempts. Look at what great positive and rewarding things you can get out of accomplishing your goal.

For some reason, we always want to focus on the negative side of things. But we are so focused on what terrible things that could happen, that we forget the other side of the coin. We need to refocus ourselves on what great things that will come out of actions and our decisions.

Life is the same. Even if you don’t achieve your goal one way, you can certainly achieve it another. And even if that doesn’t work, just keep going. No matter how long it takes you to achieve your goal, keep going until you do.

Don’t Take It Personally

Don’t take things personally, and treat the experience as a learning opportunity.

Just go and have fun with it. Make it into some game where if you don’t pass the level, that’s okay. Just press the reset button and try again. You can never lose.

Try, try and try some more. The more you start to live life and take action, instead of just watching it pass you by, the quicker you will learn to accept the hiccups in the road of life, and you will be able to better manage these unforeseen issues.

You will start to not treat these events as failures but as learning blocks — steps that you needed to take to achieve your goals.

Forget About The Past

Forget about what’s happened in the past. Instead, focus on the goal right now.

Do not let old mistakes hold you back. Again, I hate using the words “mistakes” and “failures” because they are not.

Stop denying your past. Fix what you can and move on.

You cannot let your pride and ego get in the way of your success. When you feel that you have failed at something, don’t get mad at yourself or even others. Find out what went wrong, and fix it as fast as you can. Don’t repeat the same actions and you will be fine.

Final Thoughts

You see, failure is just another word for “I shouldn’t do it that way next time.” It’s as simple as that. Instead of looking at it as a failure, you should look at it as life telling you which path is probably not the one to take any more.

We can’t always play it safe in life. Don’t ever underestimate your worth. You are only limited by what your mind tells you that you are limited to.

Stop listening to the voice in your head, and start living a life without fear to do whatever you want to accomplish.

Just imagine what we could all accomplish if we knew that we couldn’t fail.

See Also: 5 Fears You Might Not Realize Are Holding You Back (And What To Do)

 

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Is the removal of our wisdom teeth really necessary? Some are unaffected by them while others were born with the misfortune of experiencing painful conditions. If you belong to the latter group, then know that sometimes the wise decision is to part from your wisdom teeth. And if you don’t have them removed at the right time, then be ready to face certain complications that include dental infections.

Wisdom teeth, what are they?

Our wisdom teeth are our third molars, or the grinding teeth, located at the upper and lower back of our mouth.

But then, why do we call our third molars wisdom teeth? Well, the growth of our third molars often happens at an age when a person is said to move from a phase of adolescence to adulthood. It is the general belief that as we age, we also gain wisdom and become more mature human beings. While this is not necessarily the case for every adult on the planet, our wisdom teeth are called such for simply growing at a time when a person is supposedly wiser. But since they are the last teeth to erupt, there is often no longer any room in the mouth to accommodate their growth.

During a dental checkup, your dentist will have you take an orthopantomogram x-ray so he or she can assess if there is a need for you to have a removal. The x-ray will provide your dentist a clear picture of what is going on with and around your wisdom teeth. An examination of your x-ray will also help your dentist determine the kind of extraction he or she has to make for each of your wisdom teeth.

Sometimes you might need a minor surgery to remove your wisdom teeth. If that is the case, it is helpful to take a rest at home and prepare yourself before having the surgery so you can have a speedy recovery.

Why must we remove our wisdom teeth?

Again, not all people will need to have their wisdom teeth removed. But most of the time, there is a need for an extraction since the teeth’s growth are in an abnormal position. Typical cases of wisdom teeth removal involve the tooth tilting at an angle, growing sideways, or even moving perpendicular to the tooth next to it. Some wisdom teeth cannot even grow out since they get trapped below the gum line due to lack of space. That is a common problem especially for people with relatively large teeth and a small jaw.

There are also cases when a removal is imperative since an infection developed because of food that got trapped in the uneven spaces between the teeth. Sometimes, the plaque also develops, and rapid bacterial growth occurs; this is known as pericoronitis.

With the growth of their wisdom teeth, other patients undergo a change in their teeth bite and inevitably experience a misalignment of their jaws. Also, with the abnormal growth of wisdom teeth, patients are unable to provide the proper dental hygiene, and that results in tooth decay particularly of those at the back of the mouth which are hard to reach.

If there is a continuous throbbing pain or sometimes a severe ache in your tooth, then that could indicate you have an abscess. Though painful and irritating, it isn’t surprising since wisdom teeth complications can likely lead to sores due to the molars’ location. And when the wisdom teeth are halfway through, it becomes even harder to keep that area clean and clear of any bacteria.

When worse comes to worst, patients will have to undergo a root canal to save their teeth or the next molars before an infection destroys them completely. An antibiotic might also work and help heal any infection. But it is only after an infection has subsided that a tooth extraction can take place. That is why it is best to remove the wisdom tooth after treating an infection to avoid any further complications.

Who will do the extraction and how much will it cost?

Once you have decided to have a tooth extraction, and if it will require surgery, your dentist may refer you to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Dentists specializing in dental surgery must often do the extractions because of how sensitive wisdom teeth are positioned. Also, the level of difficulty of an extraction depends on the position of the wisdom tooth to be extracted. That is why it’s good to have a professional do the work.

When it comes to expenses, the removal of a single wisdom tooth may range from $200 to $600 while all four extractions may cost around $1,500. If your wisdom tooth extraction requires major dental care, then the charge could be higher than usual. But you can always check with your local dental insurance provider or even with your dentist to see if there is an affordable dental plan to help you with the expenses.

How to remove wisdom teeth

Before any treatment, your dental surgeon will have to discuss with you the available options and the risks involved in removing your wisdom tooth. That is an opportunity for you to learn about your case and to raise any questions you have that concerns the extraction. In the end, commencing a surgery depends on you, and it is essential that you make an informed decision.

If you push through with the extraction, your oral surgeon will begin an operation with a particular method of sedation, and your dentist will numb the tooth and tissues in the affected area. Once the anesthesia starts to take effect, the area will go numb. To test the anesthesia, the dentist will apply pressure on your gum. There shouldn’t be any sharp pain, but instead, you will only feel a nudge.

The surgeon will then slice or cut through any gum, tissue, or bones covering the tooth using a scalpel. And then he or she will use extraction instruments to loosen the tooth from its socket or any connective tissue. During this time, expect an increased pressure or pushing in the area around the tooth to be extracted. Should you feel any pain, you have to inform your dentist or surgeon right away. And once the tooth becomes loose enough, it can be removed easily using dental forceps.

After pulling your tooth out, your dentist may then have to stitch the surrounding gums or tissues to help speed up the recovery process. You might feel uncomfortable after, but as long as you follow the instructions given to you, you can expect a full recovery in no time.

See Also: 3 Natural Home Remedies to Heal Gum Diseases

 

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“Progress equals happiness.” – Tony Robbins

If there is one thing that nearly guarantees success in life, it is this: progress. No matter whether it is in your business, your marriage, health, or your finances, if you just make a little bit of progress towards your goals every day, you feel like you´re on fire. Your energy and passion increase, your happiness skyrockets, and you wake up every day like you are on a mission. You feel the energy and excitement that comes from chasing your vision of a better future and can´t wait to wake up again when you go to bed each night because you are so eager to create something new.

If you haven´t felt like this lately, it is time to supercharge your days with these 10 awesome strategies to becoming better every single day!

Wake up early to work on yourself

As Henry Beecher said, “the first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.” I believe this to be absolutely true. How you start each day is likely how you end it. If you roll over five more minutes after your alarm goes off, watch TV while having an unhealthy breakfast, and then need to hurry to get to work on time, those are all habits that ruin your day before it even starts. They take away your energy, enthusiasm, and self-discipline, leading to nothing more than mediocrity.

But what if, instead, you started out your day succeeding? You wake up early, go for a morning run or walk, feel the gratitude for being alive, and read a book on your chosen profession while having a nutritious breakfast. While everyone else is still sleeping or at least half asleep, you are up, rocking the day and becoming a better you.

Think of the countless hours most people spend commuting to and from work each week. Instead of listening to the radio, why not increase your skills by listening to audiotapes? Simply by doing this, you can become an authority in your field in just a few years. Do you think that kind of morning routine would change the way you think and act throughout the day and therefore your results in all areas of your life? You bet!

See Also: Do These 5 Things To Wake Up Energized (And Productive) Every Day

Rewrite your goals every day

There are few things as powerful in getting you focused and enthusiastic about your vision for your life as rewriting your goals every day. Way too many people go through life, without any idea on why they are actually doing what they are doing. They are like the ship without a rudder, drifting aimlessly through life.

And even if they have set goals at some point in their lives, it is all too easy to forget about them, isn´t it? Do you even remember this years New Year´s resolutions or all the goals you set in your life at any other point? If not, how on earth do you want to achieve them?

Rewriting your goals every day is powerful because it zeroes you in on what you want out of life and how to get there. Greatness in anything requires an utterly obsessive focus on what you want and what you need to do every single day to make your dreams come true. A million dollar dream doesn´t happen overnight, and it will surely not happen without the necessary focus and determination to do whatever it takes to be successful.

Rewrite your most important goals every day, and when you do so, recommit to paying the price for their attainment. Anything you want comes at a cost of energy, pain, effort, and time. Commit to paying this price every day, and you will find yourself seeking out new challenges and following through rather than giving up.

Plan every day in advance

After rewriting your goals and committing to their accomplishment, the next step is to plan your day in advance before you get caught up in your work. If you want to accomplish greatly, it is absolutely essential that you focus on your non-negotiables – those tasks that would create the most value and that can only be done by you.

In nearly any job, there are only a few such key activities that create the most results. Your job is to find them and then pursue them rigorously until they are finished. Only in this way can you ensure that you get the most value out of your time. Once your high-priority tasks are finished, you can go on to less important tasks. Things that determine your success and failure must never be at the mercy of things that barely make a difference.

Focus on one thing at a time

In his great book Deep Work, Cal Newport makes the case that any time we interrupt out workflow by doing unrelated things, we lose enormous amounts of time. Not only does it take time to pick up another task and then come back to the first one, but we also lose focus and take a while to get into a productive state. By doing this, we jeopardize both the quality of our work and the time it takes to get it done. To avoid this, start the task you deemed most important in step 3 every morning and focus on it until you are finished.

See Also: 3 Tips for Being More Focused and Staying That Way

What gets measured gets done

The easiest way to make sure you are on the right track is to measure your progress. How many miles are you running? How many calls are you making, and how many products are you selling? How many hours do you spend working on yourself? Only when you see in black and white what you are actually doing or not doing are you able to track your progress and become better.

If your goal was to run 20 miles this week or to make 40 sales calls but the numbers don´t add up, you know there is something wrong. Now you have two choices: Admit to yourself that you are not doing what it takes to succeed and recommit or throw in the towel and quit. The choice should be obvious.

In either case, tracking your progress raises your awareness. You can´t lie to yourself anymore, saying you did enough when actually you didn´t. It´s all there in black and white for everyone to see. A great way to hold yourself accountable is to have other people check your progress. Whether that is your boss or your wife, find someone to hold you accountable and call you out if you are not doing what you said you would do.

The two magical questions

After each sales call, presentation, or any other significant performance, ask yourself these two questions: What did I do right? And what can I do better next time? Doing this allows you to be your own coach. Find out what you are great at and what you need to improve.

After a while, patterns should become obvious. For example, do you always lose your sales on a specific step? By something you say? Find your weaknesses and then systematically eliminate them. Always look for ways to improve and become better. Doing this alone could completely change the direction of your career.

Which one skill, if developed, would change your life/career the most?

No matter how great you are at what you do, there is always something you need to work on. If you can´t find anything, you should probably check again! The problem with our weaknesses is that we often like to avoid them. It´s like the student that has some bad grades in math and then decides that it´s not for him or her – and stops trying altogether. The problem with that is, ignorance doesn´t excuse failure. After all, just because you don´t like math doesn´t mean that it won´t show up as an F on your report.

The same goes for anything. Just because you are in terrible shape doesn´t mean you can forget about your health completely. In fact, it should be even more reason to double down and change your diet and workout routine! But sadly, that´s not what most people do. Instead of addressing their weaknesses, they tend to ignore them until it´s too late.

The good thing is, by addressing your weaknesses systematically, you can set yourself apart from the masses and constantly upgrade your skills. Ask yourself, which one skill, if developed, would change my life/career the most? Which one skill am I missing that is preventing me from further success right now? Asking these questions and then working on solutions may be hard work sometimes, but will surely pay off in an increased ability and therefore higher income in the long run!

Count your wins and losses

Every night before going to bed, I review my day. Where have I succeeded, where have I failed? What could I have done better? And how can I apply that tomorrow? What is the biggest lesson I have learned today?

Looking back and counting my wins and losses every day has become one of the most important rituals I have. It helps me learn more about myself and enables me to improve every day. I can only recommend reviewing every day to work on your skills and learn from your mistakes. Doing this, together with the techniques outlined before, can drastically change the course of your career and speed up your climb on the ladder of success!

 

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Staying motivated is one of the most difficult things for entrepreneurs. It is the lack of motivation that causes many entrepreneurs to quit.

Below are some tips on how some of the world’s successful entrepreneurs stayed motivated despite the ups and downs in the business.

Joe Martin, President of Merchandize Liquidators, LLC

Joe Martin, an Israeli-born, founded Merchandize Liquidators while pursuing a Business Administration degree at Florida International University. Hardworking and persistent to finish college, he opened Merchandise Liquidators to pay his way through college. Although faced with different challenges during the start of his business such as time and money for capital, it didn’t stop him from reaching his goal.

He was an international student during that period, which means he had to stay as a full-time student for legal reasons. The main issue he faced regarding his business was to convince major chain stores that he could get their closeouts on a consistent basis regardless of the lack of capital to buy goods and space to place it.

According to Joe Martin, socializing with the most successful people is the key to staying motivated. He says that when you socialize with people who are at a higher level of success than you, you get a mental push that will help you break the barriers that are stopping you from making millions.

See Also: 7 Power Habits of Great Leaders, Business Icons and Inspirational Achievers

Chase Jarvis, CEO at CreativeLive

Chase Jarvis, along with Craig Swanson, founded CreativeLive. Chase, a leader and a renowned creative himself, dedicated his company to providing an online space for visionary instructors to connect with creative professionals. He was not just the present CEO at CeativeLive, but also a director, an award winning photographer, and media maven. Furthermore, he created campaigns for Starbucks, RedBull, Nike, Apple, and other companies. He is also known for creating Best Camera, the world’s first photo application that lets the user share images to social networks.

Chase Jarvis first took the spotlight when he became the world’s best photographer at a young age. He went ahead to create CreativeLive which is the world’s biggest live-streaming education company.

Chase says that much of his success and motivation was from following his passions. He says that you should go after something that is dear to you and not random market opportunities. If you go for random opportunities, you will only be doing it for the dollars and thus you will not have the passion to stay with it.

Juanita Hines, Regional Consulting

Juanita Hines, passionate about helping people succeed, founded Regional Consulting. Because of her ability to help craft perfect resumes for her clients, she was known to be the “Resume Whisperer.” Her passion for helping has led her to start her company dedicated to professional empowerment by providing interview coaching and training in communities where no such opportunities were previously available.

Juanita also does a lot of speaking engagements at youth camps and schools. She also works with other non-profit organizations in encouraging students to start planning for their futures and assist professionals with insights on how to heighten their careers.

Juanita says that you should surround yourself with people who are striving to pursue their own success. This will encourage you to succeed in your own life as well.

See Also: 5 Women Entrepreneurs Who Failed Before Becoming Millionaires 

Tim Ferriss, best-selling author and CreativeLive instructor

Tim Ferriss, considered as one of “Most Innovative Business People, is also an author. He wrote “The 4-Hour Workweek, the 4-Hour Body, and the 4-Hour Chef”, considered as Wall Street Journal and #1 New York Times bestsellers. Furthermore, he is an investor and consultant in Twitter, Facebook, Shopify, Uber, Duolingo and much more. His podcast was also recognized as the “Best of 2015” by Apple and the #1 business podcast on iTunes.

Tim’s key to success and staying motivated is to choose your friends wisely. He says that the best advice he ever received and still keeps him going is that you become an average of the 5 people who you associate with most.

Will Curran, President of Endless Entertainment

Will Curran, who was only 17 during that time, started his interest in DJing. He found a need missing in the entertaining industry and went head-first into satisfying such need.

Due to his passion for putting on events, each mistake he made became building blocks to grow his company further. One of his discoveries during the journey towards his goal was how customers would start coming to him if he provided excellent customer service after which everything would fall into place.

Will says that you succeed by fighting the small battles. He says he finds joy in overcoming obstacles and celebrating even small wins. He rewards himself after all the jobs are well done. According to Will, you can get overwhelmed if you focus too much on the bigger picture.

Justin Palmer, Founder & CEO of MedSaverCard

Justin gets his motivation by thinking about his future freedom. He says that entrepreneurship requires a lot of hard work but if you concentrate on your business now, it will give you the freedom and resources for the years to come.

 

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Have you ever tried to define the comfort zone? It’s that place that you don’t like, but you’re afraid to change. You know you’re supposed to do greater things. You want to be more successful. You want to learn more. You need to make a change. Still, the comfort zone is like a disease that kills your ability to make that change. It frightens you with the assumption: “What if I fail?”

Why is this state of inactivity called a comfort zone? Why does it make you comfortable where you are, even though you’re not happy with your accomplishments? You feel comfortable because you know nothing unexpected can happen. You have a vision of how your day, week and year are going to end.

Sooner or later, we all get the call to action. Something inside is telling us that we were not born to be comfortable. We were made for challenges – both on a personal and professional level. At that point, you have two options:

• Honor the call and step out of that box, or
• Keep convincing yourself that you’re perfectly well as you are.

What are you going to do (or not do)? I challenge you to make a change. Do you want to be something more than mediocre in this lifetime? If that’s the case, I invite you to keep reading. Together, we’re going to make an effort to get out of the comfort that’s slowly killing us inside.

Long-Term Comfort Zone = Dead Personal Growth

After reading a few biographies of successful people, here’s the conclusion I came down to: They never stop learning. In order to bring a change in this world, one has to possess powerful beliefs, creativity, the will to learn, and the courage to take action.

Successful people turn learning into a habit. They perceive life as a journey towards growth, which they achieve through knowledge and personal progress.

How do they turn that philosophy of life into practice? They always take action. They consistently step out of their comfort zone. They expand their mental and physical boundaries and they keep making their lives better.

Sometimes they fail. Failure is part of the journey, and it’s not devastating as long as it doesn’t push you into a comfort zone. As long as you keep trying, you’ll go towards improvement.

See Also: 7 Power Habits of Great Leaders, Business Icons and Inspirational Achievers

Comfortable? It’s Fake Comfort!

Maybe the decision to stay away from change keeps anxiety at bay. However, this feeling of comfort is fake. Do you know how it feels when you blame yourself for something you haven’t done? At one point, you look back and you realize: “If I did what I was supposed to do back then, my entire life would be different now.” Each decision leads to a chain action that has consequences on your future. When you don’t assume responsibility for your future, that doesn’t mean you’re not affecting it.

Assuming responsibility for your own life means taking responsibility for your beliefs, actions, and thoughts. You can’t control all factors and you can’t completely direct the outcome of your actions. However, when you take full responsibility for everything you do and the consequences that follow, you are stepping out of that zone on the path towards accomplishment.

People who are deeply chained in the state of comfort find different ways to put the blame on someone else. God, karma, bad luck, and mostly – other people. They always find ways to justify their inactivity and blame someone else.

That’s what’s comfortable in this zone: the thought that it’s not your fault and there was nothing you could do. If you find yourself somewhere in that description, it’s time for a realization: You ARE responsible for what happens to your life.

It’s about time you start being responsible for your own actions.

Without Risk and Challenges, there’s No Great Accomplishment

Do you know why you keep hearing about the success of Bill Gates, Richard Branson and other great leaders? They constantly do something that gets them in the headlines. That’s because they can’t afford to stay in a comfort zone. Clint Eastwood started off as an actor, but he didn’t stop there. He felt like acting in a film or two to earn money for a good life wasn’t enough. That’s why he keeps challenging himself: the thought of staying in the comfort zone of peaceful retirement would destroy the chances for any other great accomplishments.

Famous people are not lucky. They are persistent. They did something to deserve other people’s respect. They did that because they were brave enough to take risks and set huge personal and professional challenges.

See Also: 9 Powerful Lessons from the Success Story of Bill Gates 

You’ll Find Your Motivation as Soon as You Step Out of That Zone

Our lives are fueled by action. When you have a lousy day, think: did you do something to improve it? Stepping out of your comfort zone is enough to find inner motivation. Start exercising or read a challenging book. Sign up for an online course. Start looking at job ads. Do something!

If you’re willing to be active throughout your life, you will find the inner drive that keeps you going. We live in a time when doing anything is easy. You can find any information and start learning about the things you’re interested in. You can book a plane ticket and go see the Northern Lights in person. In other words – you can start searching for happiness instead of waiting for it to hit you (which won’t happen, anyway).

How exactly can you step out of that comfort zone? It’s all about the mindset. When you believe you can do something, you’ll find the strength to do it. Once you realize that all your actions form your future, there’s no other choice: you have to do something in favor of your happiness.

Comfort is bad. It keeps you inactive and unwilling. Challenges, on the other hand, are beautiful. Go live!

 

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I love passion! I love purpose! I love making money doing what you love! I love all of that stuff and I do believe that everyone can do exactly that. However, finding the thing that you want to build your life around, that is passion-fuelled, that is purpose-driven, and that you love, is just the first step.

You also have to make this passion make you money.

And guess how you do that?! – PEOPLE! People are how you get from having a great big dream of what you want to happen to actually making it happen. Let me explain as I go through these 4 points.

What is the problem

So, you have taken the first step. You decided to make money doing what you love. You wake up with a spring in your step knowing that you have finally found the thing you want to drop dead doing.

Well, it will not be long before you realize that you cannot live on happy feelings alone – You have to bring some money in. And you bring some money in by solving problems for someone else.

You know what you want to do, great. But how does it solve a problem or meet someone else’s need? Why will they buy it from you? Do they know that they have a need for it?

Take a moment here to see how your thing aligns with their needs. If you can find an urgent, pressing need that they have, even better.

Listen, this does not mean giving up your ideas of how you want to spend your life. This means getting VERY creative on how you position what you want to deliver as a solution to a problem that they have.

If you have something completely novel, then you may need to spend some time trialing different ways to position your self in the marketplace – BE COMMITTED to this process and in time, you will get clear on how what you have solves their problem.

If you choose to put stuff out there that’s already in the market, then check your competition’s strategies. Notice any gaps in the way they deliver and also remember that you are unique and the way you do things will never be the same as anyone else.

Allow your novelty to shine through. Go to Amazon, see reviews, see what people complain about if your product or service is talked about online, go to forums, do the research. Decide how to position yourself as solving the problem.

This is one major key to making money doing what you love – YOU NEED TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM. As mentioned, this may take trial and error to figure out how to solve the problem but DO THE WORK! And please do not give up hope even when it seems long and tedious.

Communication

OK, so now you need to start communicating with people, online, offline, anywhere and everywhere. You need to express yourself and how you can help them in as many different ways as possible.

Brainstorm different ways to tell people about you. Guest blog, write articles, get active on social media, go to networking events, get featured on the radio, be on magazine fronts. Do not hold back. When you get an idea for how to spread the word about you, follow through! Don’t give yourself too much time to think about it. You can refine your approach later.

For now, just go all out. When you get ideas of results, you can then decide to change tactics as you see what is working and what is not. But for right now, simply go all out! Be everywhere, doing something.

And if you are just getting started, do not underestimate how much effort it is going to take you to get seen everywhere. Do not think it is too much and people will get fed up of you – It is not the truth! It is just your fear talking. You need to keep getting out there in as many ways as you can think of!

See Also: How Online Blogging Is Influencing Business Trends 

Capture

Ok, now that people start to notice you, your next point of business is to start to capture people into your world. You need to have a social media platform of your own – A business page or a group that you run and that you can invite people into. This is a safe starting point for more people.

And then you want to get them onto a mailing list of your own. As much as we live in a very social media-driven world, you have no idea which platform will still be here next year. If you have spent lots of time and money getting people onto the one platform that closes down, you lose your audience and honey, you need an audience.

You need to start building an audience from point zero so please do not read any of these points in a sequential fashion and think that you do this stuff one after the other. NO!!! You do it all at once. You start to build an audience even when you are not completely sure what solution you provide.

Yes, I know it seems contrary to what you thought but that, my honey, is why lots of people do not succeed in business. They think that it all needs to go along with the way we were all trained in school. No! In school, you were trained to be an employee and now you are an entrepreneur. Everything is somewhat contrary to what you learnt.

Start building that mailing list now.

Close

Every day, in some way, you need to be mentioning your product, service, art, books, music, whatever! EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I am appalled and horrified by the numbers of entrepreneurs, particularly online ones, who do not tell people how they can solve problems and then take it one step further and tell people exactly what to do to BUY something. Never assume that people will read through the lines and know what to do next, they will not. They will just assume you are entertaining, inspiring educating for no reason. They will love you but they will not buy from you.

And remember that people are very distracted! Life today is very busy. If you are not specifically telling them what to do next to buy from you, then they will simply not buy. You will, however, have created space for the next savvy entrepreneur who is offering what you are but has the wisdom to mention it repeatedly. You would have warmed the customer up!

And again, do not be disheartened by how much of an audience you have to build to start making consistent sales. Just simply get on with following all these key ways and get on with creating wealth for you and yours slowly but surely and consistently.

See Also: How to Ensure Growth in Small Business 

Yes, you can create a life making money doing what you love but it will take some hard, committed, focused activity from you. But hey, if you love doing it, is it really work?

Fight for, deliberately design the life you are born to live. Because you want to.

 

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Regardless of the nature of business one engages in, there’s no downplaying the importance of branding. The success of any entrepreneurial endeavor depends on the way it’s packaged and presented to the general public. There’s so much at stake with reputation that it’s of great advantage to put good effort into maintaining a positive public image.

When you are working and no one is looking, it’s an indication that something is off. You may write this off as a down-time period in business, but without rapid action, not only will you lose the few customers patronizing you to your competition, you’ll also lose any competitive edge you previously had over your competitors.

Five Reasons Why Your Brand Isn’t Getting Attention from Anyone

In any venture, there’s usually more than one causative factor that results to a problem. There are several possible reasons why you are recording low attention from your audience. Before you decide on a course of action to take, it’s imperative that you examine every observable flaw in order to effectively troubleshoot the problem.

Too much information

This should be the first point of call as most Entrepreneurs, in a bid to outclass the competition, churn out loads of information without considering how relevant it is to the receiving audience.

Before engaging on a marketing mission, you must keep in mind that the average audience has a limited attention span. In order to deliver your message across effectively, you need to get to the point while you still have their ears. As your business grows to a higher level, lesser effort will be required on your part as your brand begins to capture the audience on its own. But before then, you should stick the basics.

Inconsistency

Many Entrepreneurs are guilty of being inconsistent. One day, they are singing a particular song, and the next, they are on to another due to impatience. Sometimes, the audience needs time to assimilate your message before making a favorable decision.

When you change your message and tone too often, you leave your audience confused, making them lose confidence in your brand.

Customers need to understand that, not only can they trust you with their time and money, they can also depend on you to deliver exactly what you promised. If your business messages are fluctuating, there’ll be little or no room for trust, making you lose the attention of even the most dedicated patrons.

See Also: 5 Smart Ways to Boost Brand Awareness 

Lack of proper outreach

Having the best product(s) along with a killer marketing plan will have absolutely no effect if you fail to properly reach out to your audience. It should come as no surprise that people will pay no attention to your brand if they have no interest in what you are selling. To fix this, endeavor to reach out to your target clients and watch as you reel them in one after another.

The most popular media might look great but they may not necessarily be most suitable to reach your target audience. Before choosing to advertise on TV, ask yourself, do members of my target audience watch TV often? Perhaps they read newspapers more.

Poor reputation

It goes without saying that reputation is a key player in business. When your brand is known for quality services, more people will want to associate themselves with your business. Not only will a great reputation garner more attention for your services, it helps to improve your company’s profile.

With bad reputation, no one will be interested in what you are selling even if it beats the price of your competition. And that’s because people consider the bearer of a message just as much as the message itself. In such a situation, it’s important that you put a hold on your promotional campaigns and implement crises management strategies to cleanse your brand of the negativity surrounding it.

Lack of uniqueness

It’s not your fault that so many people are doing what you do. But, rather than follow the crowd, you need to add a little touch of uniqueness to yours, and carve a niche for yourself.

If you are going to be doing exactly the same thing that other brands are doing, you’ll probably have no audience. Ask yourself “What are those things that others aren’t doing?” Put on your creative cap and implement some exciting ideas that are hard to ignore.

In business, attention translates to sales or patronage in the long run. When people are interested, it’ll take very little or no effort to convince them to patronize you. It’s better to do little and get well deserved recognition, than do it all and have no one giving you a second look. Don’t just wait for people to give you their attention; sometimes, you need to command it.

See Also: 6 Tips for Designing the Perfect Logo for Your Brand

 

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Have you ever failed to do something, or failed to do it to the best of your ability because of fear? Unless you are some kind of superhuman, the answer is probably a definite yes. Whether it is fear of failure, embarassment, pain, or even success, fear can stop us dead in our tracks, preventing us from living our dreams.

Whenever we face some challenges in our lives, whether imagined or not, we have a choice to make: go on or give up. As the two popular acronyms tell us, FEAR can lead you to A) Forget Everything And Run or B) Face Everything And Rise. While this may sound cliche, it is true that your ability to face your fears and do it anyways will make or break you.

Whether it is running a marathon, giving a big speech, or telling someone you love them, life can sometimes be scary. It is only natural to be a little nervous and feel your hands getting sweaty and your heart beating faster right before an important event. In small doses, it is even beneficial because it prepares you for a peak performance by making you alert and focused. However, if you feel like you are controlled by your fears and can´t stop shaking at the thought of what´s going to come, it is time to learn how to control your nerves and face your fears!

Here are 6 tips to eliminate fears from your life!

Take Responsibility

The only way to truly face your fears is by first resolving to take absolute control for your life and everything in it! Your fears don´t control you, you let them control you. As long as you play the victim and make excuses, nothing will change.

The only way to overcome any challenge in your life is by owning it – by deciding that you, and only you are in charge of solving it. You can´t always control the events in your life, but you can always control how you respond to it. By taking responsibility for your fears, you also gain the ability to face them.

Think about this: What is the surest way to become afraid of something? Probably by avoiding something until you have the time to picture all the negative things that could happen a hundred times. By delaying your actions because of fear, you actually increase it. You lose self-respect and trust in your own abilities and start to doubt yourself. At the same time, your fear grows stronger and bigger because you have more time to think about it and doubt your capabilities.

The only way to finally get rid of your fear in such a situation is by taking responsibility for your life and deciding to face it no matter how frightening it may seem. Otherwise, you´ll keep running from it for the rest of your life!

Action Destroys Fear

While inaction feeds your fears, taking action will cure them. Do you remember the first time you jumped from the 10-foot diving tower? Chances are, you experienced fear at its finest: Sweaty hands, 150 heart beats per minute, nausea, and just pure nerves! You knew intellectually that you wouldn´t die but were still convinced that you wouldn´t survive this giant jump. You climbed up the ladder, stared into the deep blue of the water and finally, encouraged by all your friends or family, leaped down!

Chances are, that was also the last time you were afraid to jump from that tower. The next two or three times might have been uncomfortable for you but nothing compared to the first time. And once you jumped down that tower some more times, it just became fun, and you completely forgot about your fears!

The same principle holds true for facing any other fear. The more often you do, and the sooner you start to take action, the easier it will be to overcome it! Whenever you become aware of your fears, face them immediately. Don´t wait for tomorrow or next year to step up, but deal with it today!

The Disaster Report

I learned this technique from Brian Tracy, and have since found it a great way to put things into perspective. Sometimes, you can eliminate your fear simply by realizing how irrational it actually is.

Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that can happen, realistically?” Find the worst possible consequence and decide to accept it. Usually, it doesn´t happen anyways. And even if it does, it won´t kill you.

How many times have you seen that someone was laughed at while giving a presentation? Probably never. But still, we often fear being embarassed like this terribly. Oftentimes, stress comes from denial – telling yourself that nothing bad could ever happen when in fact you know that you are lying to yourself. Accept the worst possible outcome and then make plans to prevent it from happening.

Power Posing

When you are afraid of something, what happens to your body? Your breathing becomes more shallow, your muscles tense up, and you stand smaller looking to the ground. You can literally see the fear in your face.

Now, the quickest way to destroy your fears is this: A change in your physiology. In 2010, Amy Cuddy, a Harvard Business School Psychologist famous for her Ted Talk on Power Posing, conducted a study that revealed how the way we stand actually determines how we feel. By standing upright in an “open and expansive” posture, we can change our hormonal levels in a positive way.

See Also: 10 Life-Changing TED Talks You Should See Today 

In her experiment, high-power posers experienced elevated levels of testosterone, lower levels of cortisol, and increased feelings of power and confidence. Simply by changing the way you stand, you can change how you feel.

Another great exercise to control your physical fear response is to focus on your breathing. When under stress, it is common to breath more shallow or hyperventilate, allowing less oxygen to enter your body. This increases anxiety and fear, therefore hurting your ability to think clearly.

Once you become aware of this pattern, you can actively combat it by focusing on your breath. Breath in slowly through your nose and feel the fresh air flowing into your belly, hold your breath for a moment and then exhale slowly through your mouth. You will find that this pattern of breathing allows you to eliminate the fear response and helps you relax instead!

Act as if

This strategy, also known as “fake it till you make it”, is often seen as negative, despite its positive effects. There is no shame in acknowledging that you are not perfect, but sometimes, acting as if you are already who and what you want to be can change the way you think and act, leading to better results.

Whether you are facing an important presentation or an argument with your boss, act like you are completely confident in yourself and your abilities. Act like you know your presentation will be amazing, stand and speak like you know what you are talking about, even if you don´t feel very confident in the moment. But by acting confident, you will start to think and act more like the person you want to be.

This strategy is not only useful when facing your fears, but also at any other point in you life. When you are starting out in your career, why not act like you are one of the top people working in your industry? Why not dress like them, think like them, and act like them? Why not read the books the most successful people read, listen to the same audiotapes, and act every day as if you are already successful? Pretty soon, you won´t have to act anymore.

See Also: 3 Actionable Steps To Help You Overcome Fears 

Visualize Your Success

As a competitive distance runner, I have used this technique for years now. Before you face any important events in your life, succeed in your mind first. Close your eyes and see yourself crushing your fears, overcoming obstacles, and doing the things you are afraid of. See yourself succeeding at everything you do, no limits!

Also, make sure to use as many sensory details as possible. “See” yourself standing in front of a huge audience, “feel” your heart pumping from excitement over your great performance, and “hear” yourself giving an amazing speech and receiving a grand applause. Succeed in your mind first, and then go out and destroy your fears forever!

 

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Consider yourself to be a bit of a Debbie Downer? A gloomy type predisposed to unhappiness, and there’s nothing you can do about it?

Good news: you may be only half right!

Psychologists agree that just 50% of our happiness is due to our genetic disposition. The rest is made up mostly by how we spend our daily lives, with a final 10% accounted for by the circumstances in which we live.

As the new year dawns, you can capitalize on that ‘blank slate’ feeling by making a few little changes to your day-to-day activities.

So roll up your sleeves, visualize your good intentions, and try tackling these nine scientifically-verified tweaks to shift your perspective 180 degrees.

Get fruity

Building up to your five-a-day last year was a great achievement for your body. But cranking it up to eight-a-day this year will be excellent for your soul.

Researchers at the University of Warwick discovered that within two years of making this change, your feeling of well-being can soar. Indeed, those who shifted from zero to eight fruits a day experienced an increase in life satisfaction equivalent to getting a new job.

Added bonus: your long-term health and happiness will also benefit. Chop it, squeeze it, blend it – just make sure you get to eight-a-day.

Take a trip to the real world

I don’t need to tell you about the pleasures of Facebook. But those dopamine hits that come with the little red dots do not last long: researchers at the Happiness Research Institute (well, who you gonna trust?) report that taking even a week off of social media can improve your happiness rating.

And those folk are based in Denmark, where they’re serious about fighting unhappiness.

See Also: Follow Your Bliss

Use your feet

Analysis of data from almost 18,000 18-65-year-old commuters over an eighteen year period showed that those who made the switch from driving to walking enjoyed improvements in health, happiness and concentration levels.

Even using public transport – with all its associated crowds and delays – will make you happier than taking the car. This is probably because you get to concentrate on your tunes, your book, or the folk around you, rather than gear-switching and road rage. Also, you have to walk a bit further to get to the bus stop or rail station in the first place.

If you travel too far to make ditching the car feasible, at least consider parking a little further away from your destination than usual and walking the last 10-15 minutes to work.

Staring at photos of cute animals is officially a good thing

M ± SE = 43.9±10.3%.

Got it?

It doesn’t matter: that equation is just the long-winded way of describing how much more effective at work looking at pictures of kittens and puppies can make you.

Researchers in Japan were fascinated by the power of kawaii – that specifically Japanese form of exaggerated cuteness – so they decided to mount a trial to measure just what a difference the kawaii experience can make to your day.

The feelings of happiness and excitement that cute pictures evoke are apparently connected to the levels of what we can achieve at work. So next time you’re feeling unproductive, try typing ‘happiest puppy in the world’ into Google to feed a bit more energy into the system.

Stay in bed

Recommended sleeping times are frustratingly arbitrary. One man’s refreshing seven hours is another’s rude awakening.

Wake up before you’ve got your fill of REM sleep – the type that comes late in the cycle – and you are actually interrupting the way your brain and hormones deal with the stress and anxiety of the previous day.

Scientists at the University of Surrey’s Sleep Research Centre agree: one extra hour each night can help you feel healthier and happier.

Plan a trip

Vacations are a bit like Christmas: often, it turns out the anticipation was the most exciting part of the whole thing.

Science can now back this up. It turns out that the optimism and pro-active research involved in planning a vacation can actually be the most stimulating period of the process. Often, the homesickness, stress and false expectations of actually making the trip can make you quite unhappy. And as for returning to work at the end of it…

So even if you have no actual intention of travelling in the near future, don’t forget to dream. Keep a Pinterest board or scrapbook of places you’d like to visit, and talk with your partner about your big ideas for the future. And if it never comes off, well – maybe you already did the best bit.

See Also: 10 Wonderful Benefits of Traveling

Give hugs more often

You don’t need science to tell you that hugs feel good.

But lest you relegate your need for physical contact to the realm of ‘guilty pleasures’, here’s neurologist Shekar Raman, MD to tell you it’s okay:

“A hug, pat on the back, and even a friendly handshake are processed by the reward center in the central nervous system, which is why they can have a powerful impact on the human psyche, making us feel happiness and joy… The more you connect with others — on even the smallest physical level — the happier you’ll be.”

Hang out with happy people

Happiness is tribal. It may be stating the obvious to say that spending time with a happy chum is likely to make you more happy: but the effect is bigger, and less intuitive than this. In fact, happiness travels along networks, so if the people you hang out with hang out with happy people too, you’re likely to feel the knock-on effects.

Try arranging a dinner party with your closest friends, and create a happy theme. Technically, this may make you a happiness vampire, but so what – you’re going to feed back into the system, right?

Turn that music up

Music makes you happy. Pick a tune you like, and crank it up as loud as the neighbors can bear it in the morning – your dopamine levels will soar, and you’re off to a good start for the whole day.

Being happy ain’t easy, and during the cold, dark winter days making an effort to exercise or socialize can be an intimidating prospect. With these bitesize cures, though, you can start to improve your general outlook – and prove to yourself that your natural gloominess is only half the story.

 

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