When you have a lot of things to work on, maintaining your productivity level can be a struggle. You can easily feel exhausted and bored to the point that you’ll find it hard to even finish a single task. If this sounds exactly like you, here are some of the way you can boost your productivity.

1. Get organized

If you are the type of person who likes keeping hard copies of your bills, there’s a good chance you can be keeping piles of paper on your work desk or home, too. To make sure these things don’t block your productivity, it’s a good idea to store them in dedicated folder racks and holders. You can create labels for them so you’ll know right away which ones should be prioritized and which needs to be thrown away.

2. Take a simplistic approach

Listing down your tasks doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You don’t need a lot of planning software and apps just to get your work done. In fact, it can be as simple as using a pen and paper.

When creating your list, it will be helpful if you can break it down into specific activities. If you’re scheduled to clean your room on a Sunday, you can create sub-tasks, such as making your bed, taking out the curtains and vacuuming the carpet.

See Also: 7 Great Productivity and Time Management Tools to Keep You On Track

3. Reward yourself

Instead of taking a 5-minute break each time you’re starting to feel bored with your tasks, promise yourself уou’ll get a reward after the day’s goal is done. It can be a short trip to your favorite shop or your favorite cup of coffee. With the reward you’ve set, it’ll be easier for you to work hard and stay focused on what you are working on.

4. Keep a daily to-do list

You can lose tons of time trying to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing if you don’t have a list sitting in front of you. Personally, I find keeping a running to-do list on a dry erase board by my desk helpful in keeping me focused on my tasks.

5. Prioritize your goals

Listing down your tasks is one good way to boost your productivity. However, if you’re going to try to do everything at once, there’s a good chance you won’t be able to finish anything on time. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, particularly if you have a lot of important things to accomplish for the day.

A good solution is to prioritize your goals. Put any tasks due at the top of your list. It can help if you can write down the top three things you need to accomplish for the day. If you have any extra time, you can start working on tasks due for the next day.

6. Set aside time for your email

To make sure you stay focused, try to ignore your inbox while you’re working. For productivity, you can check your email in the morning, after you take your lunch and about half an hour before you leave your work. Unless there’s an emergency, it’s best if you can leave your inbox alone.

See Also: 10 Productivity Musts for Freelancers

7. Schedule your day in blocks

It’s tempting to check your Facebook and phone after spending several hours on the same project. Instead of giving in to this temptation, it’s a good idea if you can set aside a specific time for it.

Break your day into blocks. You can spend half an hour on an important task and when that time is up, you can take a short break. You can check your social media accounts or take a quick walk outside. After your break, you can get back to what you were working on. This approach can boost your productivity while giving your body and mind enough time to rest.

 

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Did you know that most of the successful women entrepreneurs today suffered dismal failures before?

Not all people see failures as a turning point. For most of us, it’s generally game over. Once we see a dead end, we suddenly stop chasing our goals. However, for the women entrepreneurs in this list, failure is just a start of a success story.

1. Ruth Ann Udstad Fertel

   

   Via nola.com

With a tight budget and without any know-how about food business, Ruth Fertel bought a local restaurant named Chris’s Steakhouse after seeing an advertisement of it in the newspaper. Its opening date was the same day as her birthday, so she took it as a sign and remortgaged her house just to purchase it.

After buying the restaurant, it experienced a huge loss due to frequent power outages. With a lot of hard work, Ruth was able to lift its sales. However, not long after it was able to recover from its initial loss, a fire incident brought the restaurant down.

Ruth Fertel was not dissuaded from what happened. Instead, she found a new restaurant which she named Ruth’s Chris Steak House. In 1976, one customer asked to open his franchise of Ruth’s restaurant in the busy Highway Baton Rouge and it became the start of Ruth’s success.

By the year 1995, she won the National Entrepreneur of the Year award of the Horatio Alger Association.

2. Arianna Huffington

   

   Via makers.com

Not all people know that Arianna Huffington got rejected by 36 publishers during the start of her career.

She comes from a Greek family whose native tongue wasn’t English. Because of her poor command of the language, her writings were severely criticized, particularly during her college years. She wasn’t even easily allowed to stand in debates during those times.

Arianna Huffington struggled with a failed marriage but this didn’t stop her from going against Arnold Schwarzenegger for the seat of the governor of California back then. Unfortunately, she was only able to get 0.55% of the votes.

Despite all the negative things that happened to her, Arianna continued pushing. She was inspired and motivated by her mother’s saying that “failure is not the opposite of success but a stepping stone to success”. 

Arianna confessed that her secret lies in her astounding capability to face criticism and failure. She was also used to humiliations to the point that she was able to face and cope with them without too much difficulties.

In 2005, Arianna founded the Huffington Post with Kenneth Lerer, assuming the role of editor-in-chief. She called it as her ‘last act’ after everything she’s learned and experienced throughout her life. Until now, the Huffington Post remains to be one of the most powerful blogging platforms.

With time, Arianna was able to move past her previous rejections and went on to publish 13 books. She was also able to secure the 52nd position in Forbes’ 2014 list of most powerful women.

3. Christiana Wallace

   

Christiana Wallace was the founder of the Startup Institute in New York and CEO of the fashion company Quincy Apparel. For her, the failures she experienced were more significant than the successes she got. She was incredibly powerful and broad-minded that she became successful even during the worst-case scenarios of her career.

She remembers her proudest moment as the time when she was able to recover from her first failed company. Christiana recounted how single, broke, and lost she was during that time. She did nothing but stay in bed and watched all 7 seasons of the show called The West Wing. After the series finale, Christiana dusted herself off and went back to reality.

After she got back on her two feet,  she created the successful BridgeUp: STEP. It’s a program for girls and minorities in the field of computer science to encourage them to pursue carriers in STEM.

See Also: 8 Reasons Why Women Are Better Than Men at Business 

4. Oprah Winfrey

   

   Via dailymail.co.uk

Oprah Winfrey spent the initial six years of her life in poverty, living with her maternal grandmother. She had an extremely difficult childhood with lots of bad memories.

At the age of 9, she was sexually attacked. At the age of 14, she got pregnant but ultimately lost her child. She confessed the incident in one of the episodes of her own TV show back in 1986.

The ray of light finally hit her life when she went on to win the Miss Black Tennessee title. After her win, a local black radio station called WVOL hired her to do the station’s part-time news. She also got to be a co-anchor for WJZ-TV for their 6 o’clock evening news.

In 1988, Oprah even got more popular with the success of the show AM Chicago, which was later on renamed as The Oprah Winfrey Show.

However, Oprah wanted to more than just work for someone else.  In the same year, she launched her production company named Harpo Studios, which was taken after her name- just spelled backwards.

Aside from this project, she also co-founded the Oxygen TV channel with other media stalwarts. These series of projects gave unfathomable fame and success to Oprah.

While heading the Harpo productions, she’s also able to deliver what now is known as the top-rated talk show ever in the history of American television. The TV guide magazine in 2013 even named Oprah’s show as the 19^th greatest TV show of all time.

Oprah, on the other end, went on to become the richest African-American of the last century. She’s one of the greatest philanthropists in American history and the only multi-billionaire black person in North America.

5. Kathryn Minshew

   

Not long ago, Kathryn Minshew used to work at the Clinton Health Access initiative. By 2010, she quit the job and started PYP (Pretty Young Professionals), which was a women’s networking platform.

She opened up the startup along with her other three co-workers. While she remained the unpaid CEO of the startup, she was paying a little to her fellow workers out of her savings.

The team was successful in redesigning the concept to the point where it was able to attract more than 20,000 users in just one year. However, although initially successful, the group split in half due to company management issues.

There was a threat of a lawsuit and a cohesive decision to split the company’s equity. In one interview, Minshew recalled how she moved forward within three weeks post the split up.

She accepted her disastrous position and turned to whiteboard planning to figure out how badly she wanted to fight for PYP and how she was just prepared to strike it off altogether.

Minshew took a courageous step to start The Daily Muse, which is now known as The Muse. This happened in September 2011, with PYP’s entire staff and co-founders present. The publishing giants, like Huffington Post and TheCrunch, were also present to cover the event.

To her surprise, Minshew witnessed a large number of visitors that day. It even surpassed PYP’s visitors during its first month. She considered it as a fresh start and a unique achievement as the team was able to emerge triumphant amidst its crisis.

In 2012, the website had almost 2 million users coming from more than 160 countries. Its monthly growth rate reached 30% during the time.

Currently, Minshew leads The Muse with eight employees and partnerships with more than 60 companies, including Intel, NPR, Pinterest, Twitter, and Foursquare.

See Also: 10 Habits of Successful People

These women entrepreneurs proved that becoming successful in what you believe in is not rocket science. One just needs to be able to stand up after a failure and pursue one’s passion until one hits success.

 

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Brightly colored candy wrappers, cartoon characters on packages and treats that pop out of toys- I can’t even begin to count all of the junk food obstacles we are faced with every time we leave our house.

Then, one time in the grocery store, I made the mistake of turning my already tired child around to face the drink cooler… “Ooh, mommy look! Seltzer Water! I want it pleeaaaaase!”

Unfortunately, it’s not seltzer water- it’s soda. After a long discussion that resulted in us settling on a bottle of unsweetened tea, it was finally our turn to check out and get out of the store.

This is not a new concern for anyone trying to get their kids to eat healthy and keep their families in top shape.

Personally, I feel like I am in a never-ending battle with my kids whenever I need to tell them why the fun foods are not good for them. Sometimes, I resort to telling my son that his muscles will disappear if he eats sugary candy. I know that method isn’t going to work forever, but this new three-year-old kid is excited about the fact that he will have big muscles one day.

You can’t shield your kids from the temptation of eating sweet treats in every situation. Eventually, they’ll be going to places without you. They’ll hang out with their grandparents who don’t know how to say no. They’ll go off to birthday parties and school events where you can’t control what they put in their mouths.

I have discovered that, as a mom, I could either stress myself out about the foods they eat OR I could instill a good foundation of healthy eating. I choose to teach them how to make good food choices so that even though I may not be with them all the time, I know they’ll be conscious about the foods they eat.

Here are 4 (yes, just 4!) simple ways to train your kids to say no to junk foods:

1. Teach them to cook

Even at 3, my son helps me in the kitchen. He can add ingredients that I measure out for him. He loves to mix or chop with a plastic knife.

When kids cook food, they become proud of it and will likely feel more encouraged to eat it.

My goal is to teach my kids about real food and real ingredients as they grow up. This is to help them learn how to pay attention to the ingredients they eat along the way.

2. Packed lunches and treats are the new fast foods!

I get teased for bringing my own snacks, but it’s always good to know that I have a treat for my family if ever they get hungry.

When I send my kids to their grandparents for the weekend, I always send “approved” treats in hopes that they will eat them instead of the treats from their grandparents’ candy jar. I pack my husband lunch every day, too.

See Also: How To Eat Your Vegetables Without Trying

3. Talk to your kids about healthy choices

Kids are not too young to start learning about health.

We teach our kids about how meat helps our brain grow and how broccoli makes us strong. We talk about how having too many sugary treats makes us hyper or sick.

My son is always telling on his grandmother for giving him ice cream or candy because he knows I wouldn’t let him have those things. While he is only three, he is starting to get the idea that there are foods mommy and daddy don’t like him to have.

4.Create alternatives and special moments

We have a few “go-to” treats that we allow in our house on occasion, whether they are Paleo baked goods or almond milk ice cream. I know my husband loves ice cream. So, in the summer, we go out for special ice cream dates and we talk about how we are on a special adventure.

We aren’t teaching our kids that they cannot ever have a sweet. What we are teaching them is that we can’t eat junk food all day, every day. I want my kids to understand that foods can heal or harm the body depending on how one eats them.

See Also: Five Useful Tips for Healthy Grocery Shopping

It really is a tough job to raise healthy kids in a world full of unhealthy foods. Saying “No” and preparing yourself for the EPIC meltdown that could follow is not fun. But, knowing that my kids rarely get sick and that they enjoy foods grown in a garden makes all the hard work worth it.

Kids are the future of our world and setting them up for success should start with the foods they eat.

 

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“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” ~Dalai Lama

A lot of people know that happiness isn’t something you find in other people or things. Despite this idea, however, people still look for happiness in all the wrong places. They look for it in their work, achievements, relationships and even possessions.

Because of this, a lot of people are struggling to be truly happy. In case this sounds exactly like you, here are 10 things you should know about how you can start creating happiness:  

1. You Don’t Need To Have An Easy Life To Be Happy

Having a tough life shouldn’t deter you from finding true happiness. In fact, some of the happiest people I have discovered had surprisingly tough childhood. Despite their situations, these people were able to get past their problems and drew happiness from their dark experiences.

The key thing is to forgive the wrong things and just move forward. Concentrating on the present can help you feel happier about your life.

2. Happiness is not hidden in material things

When you look for happiness in material things, you tend to take for granted the things and people that matter most to you, like your family and friends. Once these material things wear off and become obsolete, you will no longer find happiness in them. Family and friends, however, are there to stay with you through time.

3. The secret to daily happiness is in being grateful

Be present in every step you take and learn to appreciate every little thing you see around you. Let go of the past pains and future anxieties. These things are what you need to achieve happiness on a daily basis.

To attain this, one of the things you can do is meditate. Meditation has been found to increase happiness and the ability of a person to stay focused on the present by encouraging gratitude. 

4. It’s Alright to Feel Unhappy From Time to Time

No one lives in a perfect state of constant happiness. In fact, some of the happiest people still get sad from time to time. They just know how to bounce back from it quickly so they don’t stay in that state for a long time.

5. Increasing Happiness Takes Time

Happiness is a state of mind. No matter how badly you want to push yourself to be happy, you can’t feel true happiness unless you really do.

If you want to experience sustainable happiness, you must start on working on small things. Little by little, these small actions can turn into habits that can contribute to a more positive outlook on life.

6. Happiness Comes From Within

There are people who are poor and live off of nothing, but they are really happy. Take, for example, the Dalai Lama. Instead of finding happiness in other people and things, you should think about how you can find that happiness within yourself.

See Also: Self-Acceptance: The Key To True Happiness 

7. Hang around positive people

Don’t hang around negative people as they will tear you down even more. If you want to have a positive outlook on life, constantly interact with positive people. They can help you maintain a good outlook on life.

According to studies in the book Social by Matt Lieberman, meeting one good friend once a week or being married makes you happier than getting a $100,000 a year raise.

8. Avoid Social Comparison and Dwelling On Things

One of the worst things you can do to prolong unhappiness is to constantly compare yourself to other people and dwell on your negative ideas. If you can, try to turn off your social media feeds, especially Instagram and Facebook.

This can help stop you from comparing yourself to other people and experiencing fear of missing out.

See Also: 9 Things to Let Go to Find Ultimate Happiness

9. Share your money and time to other people

Money can buy happiness- if it’s money spent on others. Numerous studies have shown that spending money or time to help other people can lead to increases in happiness. Volunteering once a week, for example, gives you the same happiness as getting a $55,000 a year raise for a $20,000 a year job.

If you don’t have much money to give, you can dedicate time for other people. You’ll never know how much happiness you can get from interacting with other people unless you give it a try.

10. Focus on yourself

Doing things that make other people happy isn’t a guarantee that you’ll feel happy, too. Instead of focusing on what works for other people, it’s a good idea if you can just concentrate on yourself. You are different, which means that the things that can make you happy differ from other people, too.

One good idea is to commit to an exercise routine. You can dramatically improve your long-term happiness if you can find something that you really enjoy. In can be biking, swimming or even walking. Aside from exercise, you can also find happiness by exploring your religion and spirituality.

 

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I have suffered from anxiety for as long as I can remember. I don’t know exactly what triggered it off or if it was passed down in my family genes.  My best bet is that I inherited it.

My mother’s side of the family suffers from different types of mental illness. Some struggle with anxiety while others from depression. I have relatives diagnosed with bipolar and a few with schizophrenia. As you can imagine, I have been around people suffering from poor mental health all my life. I saw how it affects people and I have first-hand experience of what anxiety is.

When I was a teenager, I started to notice that I wasn’t ‘normal’ (not that suffering from anxiety or any other mental health condition makes you not normal!). All my friends would be going out, enjoying themselves in parties, drinking and even smoking. They did what usual teenagers do while growing up.

Unfortunately, I failed to do any of those things. Instead, I locked myself away in my bedroom claiming I was studying . In reality, however, it was far from the truth. I would lock myself away from society and not tell a single soul how I was feeling- not even my family.

During my early years suffering from anxiety I was ashamed of myself and how I was feeling, I felt like an outcast and didn’t know where to turn to. I couldn’t even get onto a bus without having a panic attack that would make me get off of it after.

Over the years, I have slowly learned how deal with my anxiety. And this is exactly what I’ll be sharing with you in this article:

1) I found a hobby

I took up playing golf.

Whenever I play golf, I feel so relaxed and calm, especially since the golf course has a beautiful scenery and a nice calm atmosphere. There’s no noise apart from the birds singing happily away to themselves and a few occasional screaming in case someone hits a ball towards your direction.

Playing golf was my way of getting out the house and socializing. This alone helped me and my anxiety. I felt I could be normal and be a part of society again.

I strongly advise that you take up a sport or find a hobby that you’re passionate about. Not only will it take your mind away from anxiety, but it can help with your overall health as well.

2) I decided to quit smoking

When I was around 18, I started to smoke. At first, it helped me calm down when I was feeling really anxious. However, after a short while, it made me feel 100 times worse. Not only did I have bad breath and smell, but it made my anxiety stronger, too.

If it’s your habit to smoke, I suggest you quit it. I know it’s easier said than done, but, believe me, it will benefit you in the long run.

See Also: 33 Expressive Ways to Overcome Self-Doubt & Anxiety like Madonna

3) I started reaching out to people

I have already told you that I used to lock myself away and not tell anyone how I felt. It wasn’t helpful and I know it won’t help you, too.

My next piece of advice is to talk to people. Consider interacting with your family, friends or even partner and explain to them how you feel. Just talking to someone about how you’re feeling or what you’re thinking can make you feel much better. Keeping things locked up inside you will only make you feel alone.

See Also: 3 Healthy and Inexpensive Ways to Cope with Anxiety

Since implementing these 3 things into my life have helped changed myself for the better. I am no longer ashamed of who I am or how I’m feeling. I’m proud to be who I am and so should you. Start today and change your life for the better.

 

The post Suffering From Anxiety? This Is How I Deal With Mine appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Most people don’t like waking up in the morning feeling grouchy, anxious, and pessimistic. Aside from making your mornings unproductive, it can also negatively affect the rest of your day.

If you are looking for ways to boost your optimism, here are a few tricks on how to wake up happy.

• Resist the Phone

According to a study by IDC Research Report, 89 percent of millennials reach for their smartphones within just 15 minutes of waking up – and the majority within just a couple of minutes.

The problem isn’t that you’re picking up your phone, but what you’re doing with your phone. In most cases, you’re checking email, text messages, news headlines, and social media notifications. This influx of information can be overwhelming, leading to stress before you even start your day.

• Listen to Some Music

  

Is there anything worse than the sound of a squealing alarm in the wee hours of the morning?

If it’s waking you up feeling agitated, it’s probably time to get rid of your irritating alarm tone and instead opt for your favorite song. Dozens of studies have shown a positive connection between listening to music and being happy. On top of that, music can help reduce blood pressure, anxiety, and heart rate, too.

• Name Three Things You’re Thankful For

If you wake up thinking about all of the things you don’t want to do today, there’s a good chance you’ll see the day in a  pessimistic view.

Instead of concentrating on the negative ideas, you should focus on all of the wonderful opportunities you have in front of you. You can start each morning by being thankful for three things and work on making the list longer as your day goes by.

• Drink a Tall Glass of Water

Water is one of your body’s key sources of energy. While you probably want to reach for a hot cup of coffee as soon as possible, make a habit out of starting your day with a tall glass of water. This helps replenish the fluids you lost overnight and provides a significant energy boost.

• Wake Up 30 Minutes Earlier

At first glance, this may seem like a ridiculous tip. After all, who wants to wake up any earlier than they have to?

The truth is that it actually comes with a lot of tremendous benefits. If you wake up earlier, you’ll have an extra 30 minutes.

This gives you enough time to do things you actually enjoy without feeling rushed. You could read a book, go for a walk, play with your pet, or cook a healthy breakfast.

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

• Let the Light In

  

While most people like to have a totally dark room to make it easier for them to fall and stay asleep, you should consider leaving your blinds open before you get to bed. Since the human body has an internal clock that responds to light, exposing yourself to it can help you wake up naturally. As a result, you’ll feel happier and less disturbed.

Focus on Happiness

Your entire day can be affected by the small decisions you make in your first few minutes after waking up. Make happiness a priority in your life by revamping your morning routine!

See Also: 9 Things to Let Go to Find Ultimate Happiness 

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They say depression is a silent killer because nobody knows when it creeps in and starts to affect you. Because of this, diagnosing the medical condition can be hard.

This, however, doesn’t mean that there’s no way for you to recognize it. Here are 15 of the most common symptoms of depression you should know.

1. You experience persistent, unexplainable physical pain

If you get constant physical pain even when your physician claims you’re healthy, then you should pay extra attention to your health. Unexplainable physical pain is likely a result of a psyche issue.

This type of pain is usually unresponsive to pain medications. Non-pharmacological interventions aren’t likely to ease the discomfort as well. If you’re struggling with these concerns, then there’s a good chance you could be suffering from mental depression.

2. You suffer from insomnia or oversleeping

Depression makes you feel sad, guilty, and worthless. These negative feelings are so intense that they can disturb your sleep, too.

In other people, this works backward. They have no strength to bear such negative emotions that they just choose to run from reality by oversleeping.

On average, an adult needs 7-8 hours of sleep every day. If you are taking less or more than the average sleeping time, it’s a good idea to ask yourself why. Not every case of insomnia or oversleeping is due to depression, but they are closely related.

3. Your appetite changes

Some people binge-eat to channel their depression because they think eating more can make them happier. On the other hand, there are also people who can’t find joy and contentment in eating when they’re depressed. This leads to appetite and weight loss.

See Also: 4 Ways To Overcome Depression Naturally 

4. You experience energy loss

When you are depressed, you tend to get tired easily. This can happen even if you didn’t do any hard work during the entire day. Sitting in front of the TV, lying in bed, and staying at home all day can still leave you feeling too exhausted.

5. You rush or slow down your pace

When you are depressed, you become either rushed or slowed down.

Some people agitate under depression because their depressive thoughts push them into a state of panic. There are people who slow down instead because they are less interested in their lives.

6. You don’t connect with other people

Even when you’re surrounded by family and friends, you can still feel depressed. That’s because you no longer feel any connection with them. You don’t trust them, so you’re reluctant to share your problems and ask for help.

7. You keep a facade

When you’re depressed, you often feel unconsciously guilty because you’re not healthy enough, not strong enough, and not happy enough. You don’t want to trouble people with your condition, so you try to compensate by faking a smile and telling them that you’re okay.

8. You no longer find anything interesting

Depression can affect how you view life. Those activities that you previously enjoyed are no longer irrelevant to you. Camping, partying and reading books now seem unenjoyable for you. And the more depress you become, the less pleasure you find in doing them.

9. You get irritated easily

When you’re depressed, it’s easy to feel meaningless. This view can upset you in the inside, even if you don’t feel so.

The more you drown yourself with this idea, the more negative feelings you develop. These emotions can affect your relationship with other people. Although they can try their best to understand and help you, you see their efforts as worthless so you just push them aside.

10. You no longer feel emotion

When you’re depressed, you don’t feel sad or angry. Even if someone gets mad and yells at you, you don’t get upset. You feel no happiness either. When someone tries to crack a funny joke, you only laugh because it’s what’s expected of you.

You lose your emotions because you feel worthless and that you don’t matter to anyone.

11. You’re unable to concentrate

When you’re depressed, your mind is full of depressive and negative ideas. This makes you unable to concentrate on certain matters, like your work, studies and other interests.

If you find difficulties concentrating at work or school, it’s a good idea to reassess your thoughts and recognize any possible causes.

12. You feel persistent guilt

Mistakes typically come with the emotion of guilt. If an error is too petty to cause harm, guilt usually dissipates easily. But, when you’re depressed, it doesn’t really matter if the mistake you’ve committed is big or small. You can carry the same intense guilt for a long time.

See Also: How To Fight Depression: The Ultimate Guide

13. You constantly feel empty

It’s normal for people to feel empty from time to time. This happens most frequently to people who lack the time to take a break and enjoy life. However, with the right interventions, this feeling can fade away quickly.

When you’re depressed, you’ll find it hard to shake the feeling even after you’ve taken the necessary actions. You can take time off of work, go to a vacation or talk to a counselor, yet you’ll still feel the same emptiness.

14. You loathe yourself

People with depression often look down on themselves. They see their depression as something abnormal and disgusting. They consider their depression as a sign of weakness and they loathe themselves for that.

The level of loathing varies from person to person. Some people self-criticize every little thing they do. Some people can’t even look at themselves in the mirror. In severe cases, depressed people think that the world will be better off without them in it.

15. You think about death- constantly

Mentally healthy people don’t normally think about death. They’re more preoccupied with living their lives and attaining their personal goals, like getting a stable job, starting a family and gaining professional success.

But, if you’re depressed, you’ll find yourself constantly thinking about dying. This is actually one of the most dangerous symptoms of depression. You’ll be obsessed with the things that can happen after your death and how you can end your life. No matter how hard you try to shake that thought, they just keep coming back to you.

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“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” – Christopher Germer

We all try to take care of our loved ones to some extent. Unfortunately, however, we tend to forget one important thing along the way: ourselves.

When you lose yourself in the process of taking care of other people, you experience a lot of negativity. Your sincerity to help decreases and your actions become forced. The more you continue to care for other people without practicing self-care , the less satisfaction you’ll feel when helping them.

So, how do you avoid all these things?

Simple. Start with practicing self-gratitude.

Research suggest that individuals that practice gratitude have fewer negative health issues. They sleep more soundly at night and feel more refreshed in the morning. People who show gratitude feel more satisfied with their life to the point that they’re able to maintain a positive outlook even for the future.

How To Start Practicing Self-Gratitude

Practicing self-care through gratitude can be challenging, particularly if it is not something you do every day.

If you’re unsure about where to start, you can try using a gratitude journal.Before you go to sleep, try to write down at least three things that have happened for that day which you are grateful for. The list can be as simple as the meal you ate for breakfast or a good deed a friend did for you unexpectedly.

As you continue to write about positive things, you’ll slowly begin to feel happier about your life. You’ll find it easier to see the good in everything to the extent that you begin to affect other people.

Doing something as simple as offering a sincere ‘thank you’ to someone, for example, can increase that person’s warm feelings toward you. And once that happens, you’ll be able to sustain a long term relationship.

See Also: How to Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude

How To Control Your Emotions

According to social and psychological counselors, learning how to understand and manage our own emotions is another powerful tool we can use in helping others. Because of this, many counselors focus on teaching self-regulation skills to their clients.

Individuals who are in better control of their own emotions are frequently good at seeing the good in other people. They can also identify opportunities for themselves and others easily. They don’t find difficulty maintaining a healthy outlook during times of extreme stress, too.

If you want to control your emotions, you must first know why they exist in the first place. Understanding why there were triggered can give you a clearer idea on how you should address them.

Although this sounds like an easy task, it can be incredibly challenging to get to the root of your emotion. You need to have a higher level of self-honesty, so you can be comfortable in admitting the reasons to yourself.

Self-Gratitude and Taking Care Of Others

See Also: A Little Bit of Gratitude, Everyday! 

Emotionally intelligent individuals are often more empathetic towards the situations of other people. Because they can understand things better,  they’re able to help others go through their certain issues more efficiently.

Addressing your needs while taking care of other people isn’t bad. You just have to find the right balance to make sure you build a positive energy that you can use to influence other people to do the same.

 

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Direct marketing can either make or break your business. When done right, it can cause an immense increase in your sales. Unfortunately, however, direct marketing isn’t as easy as it seems. You have to figure out the right approach and the right target market before you can get it to work for you.

Here are the five strategies of direct marketing you can use to increase your sales.

Direct Mail

Direct mail has been a strong part of direct marketing for several years. It includes envelope mailers, catalogs, self-mailers, brochures and post cards.

When using direct mail, keep in mind your target audience’s needs and wants. Planning a good strategy on how you can make them open your mail can increase your chances of landing a good sale.

The problem with this approach, however, is how you can collect direct mail addresses. In case you’re just starting out or you’re having issues with it, you can try getting the service of a list broker.

Email

One of the most common media today for direct marketers is email. For one, it’s low cost. Another good reason is it’s ability to be generated with ease.

However, despite these benefits, using email for your marketing campaign isn’t easy. For it to be effective, you have to come up with a good headline that can push your prospects to open it and bite your offer.

You also need to be very direct and simple with your readers. Make sure you’re clear about what they can get from opening your email messages.

See Also: 5 Marketing Questions All Business Owners Should Ask Themselves

Pop – ups

Remember how exciting those pop-up books were when you were still young? It turns out that the concept can still be as exciting for adults, particularly if they’re unexpected.

A pop mailer usually has the same size as a direct mailer. However, since it sparks curiosity, people feel compelled to open it. In case you are planning on using one, make sure to keep track of our codes, techniques and approach. You want to be able to find out which type of pop mailer can increase your ROI.

Making a list and checking it twice

While dealing with direct marketing, make sure you’re not sending the same materials. A good marketing strategy should make you come up with quality materials you can send to your target markets.

Keep a list of those leads to avoid duplication. Your target market won’t be happy if they have to read the same material more than once.

See Also: 4 Good Reasons For Marketing With Facebook 

Including a call to action

Your call to action should be clear and direct. Because it needs to elicit an immediate response, you need to make sure your prospects know what they need to do to get your offer. If they find your instructions vague and confusing, they’ll just likely hit the back button.

It can be as simple as telling them to call your office, send you an email or download your eBooks. On top of these instructions, keep in mind to be clear about the essential details of your offer, such as where they can reach you or where they can get the product. Literally, you need to tell them what to do.

Don’t just wait and send

Following up with your leads is a great help in triggering your target market to take an action in response to your offer. However, when doing follow-ups, it’s critical that you don’t overdo it. Timing is essential if you want your prospects to establish a trusting relationship with you.

What other direct marketing strategies do you implement? How do you use it to boost your sales?

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Bad habits aren’t totally hard to break. Although they require extra work, shifting your bad habits to positive ones is still  highly doable. And there’s a lot of ways to get the job done.

Aside from approaching it scientifically and medically, here’s how you can start quitting your bad habits in a spiritual point of view.

Make time to meditate

Meditation is about clearing your mind and zoning out completely. It can help you think deeply about your life and where you’re headed to.

Taking the time to engage yourself in deep self-reflection regularly can allow you to pinpoint actions and behaviors that you need to change before they get out of control.

See Also: How to Become a Spiritual Badass – The 20 Laws of Spiritual Power

Hone in on your motivation

You’re likely to have a hard time breaking a habit if you don’t really want to do it in the first place. So, before you can be successful in your goal, you must first be committed to that decision.

Take, for example, your after-work happy hour habit. If you know that it’s starting to interfere with family time, you can use it as your motivation. Focus on the reward of getting home in time for dinner and tucking your kids into bed.

This way, you’ll have a starting point for saying “no” the next time you’re invited to post-work cocktails.

Replace the bad with the good

Rather than focusing all your energy on eliminating your bad habits, you can take a different approach and focus on replacing them with good ones instead. This goes back to the concepts of meditation and motivation. Just think about the habits you have that make you feel good, healthy and proud of your actions.

Perhaps they’re not habits yet, but rather things you would like to become habits. When you make the effort to go for a run around the neighborhood, for instance, you’ll feel a rush of ‘endorphins’ that can leave you smiling for hours afterward. This positive effect can make you feel 100 percent comfortable in committing to it.

Visualize your success

After you’ve made the decision about what you need to do, why you want to do it, and how you’re going to accomplish it, you need to start visualizing your success. This can help you be more focused on your end goals.

Imagine a life where you’re no longer regularly binge-drinking. Instead, you find yourself surrounded by a group of friends who have no problem finding healthy and positive ways to have fun. Imagine waking up early for yoga or cooking healthy meals for your significant other.

Constantly visualizing what you want in life can help you get through times of temptation.

Surround yourself with positive influences

We all have weak moments, which is why having a support system is so crucial. Having people who can keep you focused can make breaking away from your negative habits a lot easier.

Friends who have no intentions of changing their ways or family members who have a tendency to enable bad behaviors will only make the road more difficult for you. While you don’t need to cut ties with these people, it helps to spend more time with those who can encourage you to stay committed to your goal.

And remember, it’s a two-way street. If someone encourages you to work past your bad habits, think about how you can help them kick their own to the curb. Creating a circle of positive reinforcement can only result in greater good.

See Also: 7 Ways to Get More Comfortable With Feeling Uncomfortable

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