Are you needing tips in choosing a restaurant for a date?

You’re out to impress. You invite your partner to meet you at a hot new restaurant in town for a romantic date after work. On the night, you drive into town only to find few car parking options. You shell out $50 to park the car and then sprint to the restaurant which is 2 km away — uphill.

Your partner is waiting on the street for you to arrive. The line for the restaurant is about 50 people long and extends upstairs and out of sight. You resign to joining the end of the line and both of you pull out your phones for entertainment during the wait.

Thirty minutes later, the line of man-bun wearing hipsters has disappeared and you are finally face to face with the maître-d’. “Thirty-minute wait for a table. You can wait in the bar or give us your mobile number”.

You opt for the bar wait and ask for a menu. A quick scan reveals that there’s not much on offer to suit your partner’s food intolerances. At this point, the night is a massive fail. You abandon the restaurant and grab noodles from a place down the street.

How to avoid a date fail?

Research and planning are key to avoiding the dinner date fail. Let’s assume you are officially a couple and this is not a date with a Tinderella or a Tinderfella (choosing a venue for a blind date is a whole other story).

First, let’s avoid having to call an ambulance because your partner is turning blue at the table – that’s never romantic. Find out what type of food your date is allergic to, doesn’t like, or doesn’t eat due to religious, ethical or other reasons. (You might want to write them down if the list is long for future reference.)

Already feeling stressed? Hang in there, you can do this!

A restaurant with special meaning for both of you is always a good choice. Otherwise, ask around for restaurant recommendations, check TripAdvisor, the restaurant guide of your local newspaper and any other sources you like.

Tip: In the desktop version of tripadvisor.com, there’s a ‘romantic’ filter for restaurants that you can apply to the search results. Unfortunately, it’s not available in the mobile app version.

Once you’ve narrowed down the list, check out online information about the restaurants on your short list. You might have to call the restaurant (like, speak to a real person) as well.

Here’s what you should check out in choosing a restaurant for a date:

The menu – can you eat it… and can you pay for it?

Does the menu cater for any dietary requirements you and/or your partner have? Does it have enough options that you will both like? Does the drinks list offer a range of choices (and not just beer)? If your partner is a foodie then somewhere with a degustation menu will be a winner – all those delicious little morsels that just keep on coming. If your partner is vegan then avoid the BBQ joints (just a tip!).

Do check the prices beforehand. You don’t want to blow your budget on one meal and regret it until the next pay day. An expensive restaurant is not necessarily a romantic one. Show that you’ve put more thought into it than just choosing the most expensive place in town.

Effort = Romantic.

See Also: 7 Ways To Inject Romance Into Your Relationship

Avoid the no-bookings policy

The whole no-bookings thing that’s popular with new restaurants is to be avoided. Making a booking is essential to a successful evening. You don’t want a long wait before being seated or get there to find you’ve got no chance of getting a table.

Consider the night of the week

Which nights of the week is the restaurant open? Lots of restaurants are closed on Mondays so your choices will be less. Tuesday is a quiet night and you might get better service (but balance this with potentially being the only ones in the restaurant). A Friday or Saturday night might be more relaxed, without the thought of work the next day, but the restaurant might be crowded and noisy.

See Also: The Role of Karma in Your Relationships

Interior design – what to look for

Table density

Look at photos of the restaurant. Are the tables so close together that you’ll be part of the conversation with the people next to you? Awkward. Look for somewhere with tables that are well spaced. A corner table is ideal. Never the large communal table.

Women, in particular, like to have a wall behind them. Apparently it’s some deep seated need to feel like no-one can sneak up behind them. A cosy corner with at least one bench seat is ideal.

Noise

The currently popular industrial design trend means lots of hard surfaces and lots of noise, which makes conversation difficult. Choose somewhere with furnishings and fittings that absorb noise. You are looking for upholstered chairs, carpet or wooden flooring (not concrete or tile) and maybe drapes. Do a Google image search for the restaurant and have a look at the photos. Also check TripAdvisor for comments about the place being noisy.

Lighting

Everyone benefits from soft lighting. Avoid restaurants with harsh fluoro strips that make you look like a zombie, fresh out of the grave. Refer to photos online and note the lighting.

A view

If you think there might be awkward silences, then choose a restaurant that offers something to look at other than each other. A nice view or a busy street scape is ideal. Avoid live music or theatre restaurants where the noise level will prevent flowing conversation.

If you want to really minimise the risk of a doomed date, then visit the restaurant beforehand (and about the same time of day as you’ll be dining) and check it out.

Service

Good service is essential. You don’t want to leave the restaurant in a bad mood after waiting an hour between courses or having to ask three times for another drink. Check out the online reviews for descriptions of the service. And be nice to the wait staff during your meal – they can make or break your date.

Getting there… and home again

Think about transport. If you are arriving separately then choose somewhere with a bar (or one nearby) that the first person can wait in if the second is running late. Check out parking or public transport options beforehand (don’t get stung with the night-spoiling parking fees mentioned earlier). If you plan to drink then check Uber to make sure there are plenty of drivers cruising the area.

There, that was painless wasn’t it? The good news is that you’ve probably got a list of great restaurants that will be suitable for a romantic dinner—a list you can keep handy for next time. The even better news is that you should have a wonderful night with your date.

The post Tips In Choosing A Restaurant For A Romantic Date appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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In the past few years — let’s say over 20 years — UAE has been transformed from Night to Day especially Dubai. Old Dubai has transformed into the New Dubai it is now.

Dubai’s local government agencies played a vital role in it. It has made Dubai an architectural heritage that lots of visitors around the world visit every day.

The ancient heritage buildings of Dubai are also being preserved. Buildings which were harmed during the course of time are being restored.

The idea behind this restoration is to ensure that coming generations know and understand their rich heritage and history. Likewise, visitors will also get to know that there is another side of Dubai which also exists apart from big buildings and shopping malls which abound.

The Al-Fahidi Fort which is 200 years old had been completely restored by the architectural team of Dubai municipality. Al-Fahidi Fort was the residence of the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum.

The restoration of the ancient village of Hatta was completed after several years of work. The Hatta Heritage Village is a magnificent oasis surrounded by farms and mountains.

See Also: 8 Reasons why travel should be a part of your life

By 2001, over 60 heritage building were restored with the help of experts and locals. The jajority of restored buildings are converted to galleries, souks, museums and restaurants.

On the other side of Dubai are the big and lavishing shopping malls. These malls haves shaped the new Dubai that we see now. Dubai has some of the finest mails which you will not see anywhere in the world.

Wafi Mall:

The mall is designed in Egyptian style and has great architecture which you will fall in love with as soon as you see it. It has a world class spa and multi-cuisine restaurant. There is an underground marketplace where you can buy traditional goods like dry fruits, spices, etc.

There are a lot more notable malls in Dubai. To to name a few, there are the Village Mall, Oasis Center, Times Square Center, and Lamcy Plaza.

Night Life:

The hotels in Dubai have some of the best night clubs and other night clubs can also be found nearby to these hotels. To gather more crowds, the night clubs have special schemes for ladies. One should not forget about the live entertainment which runs round the year to attract more and more tourists.

See Also: The Top 6 Travel Locations for Single Men 2016

Public Transportation:

People in Dubai use different modes of transportation. People here use traditional ways of transportation like camels or small water boats. For modern transport, people use taxis and the metro.

The Public Bus transportation of Dubai is very advance and large. It has more than 193 routes and transfers almost 2 Lac people every week. The buses here are of top quality and are custom built. The metro rail is to be considered a latest addition to the world of transportation and it is the quickest way to get around the city. In the Dubai metro, there are separate coaches for ladies and children to maintain the culture.

Have you had a chance to visit Dubai? The new Dubai of today has so much to offer visitors.

The post Old Dubai to New Dubai: A View appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Whether you are a teacher who wants to deliver an interesting lecture to students in the classroom, a marketer presenting in front of important customers, or the CEO of Apple trying to impress his fans at the yearly event, you all have the same challenge: how to present like a super star, in a way that your audience will never forget..

After analysis of hundreds of the most successful lecturers in the world, one can say that there are five important rules on how to create a presentation that is clear, memorable and, most of all, fun.

1. Tell us a story

It’s no secret that most people prefer to hear a story over the formal lecture of a professor or a salesperson who simply sticks to the topics in his slides. A good story is one that has a beginning, middle and end. It seems simple, right? How many lectures have you attended where you felt like you did not understand where the lesson was going?

A good presenter is a story teller. He will lead the audience step by step throughout the story. Each step is based on the previous stage. The story has clear logic. There must be a clear connection between the story parts.

At the beginning of the story, give as much information as possible so the audience will understand the problem or the subject you are planning to teach. When you get into the middle part of your story, explicitly mention that you are stepping into the next stage of the story by saying something like: “And now I’ll describe the solution” or “Once we understood the problem ….” This helps your audience to understand that they are entering the next stage of your story.

Now that you have finished the middle section and provided the solution or taught the main subject, it is the time to check if the audience understood the lecture by moving forward into the last part – the summary. You should explicitly state that you are entering the summary part by using a simple statement such as “To conclude our lecture…” or “We have learned that …”

The proper weight of the story is:

• 15% for opening and general description
• 75% for the middle section
• 10% for the summary of the story

The best practice is to plan your story even before you start creating your slides. Take a blank page, draw three rectangles and write inside as shown in this example:

2. People are visual

After you finish creating the structure of your story, it is time to prepare your slides. The important thing to remember is that the slides are meant for you, the teacher, not for the students. After all, the students came to see and hear you and not your slides. Otherwise, you could simply email them your slides, couldn’t you?

A common mistake of lecturers is to load a lot of text into the slides, and then facing their backs to the students to read from the slides. Unless you are a teacher in first grade, give credit to your students that they can read the text for themselves.

The right way is to use pictures. As large as possible, interesting, and ideally, funny. It’s easier to remember a picture and connect it to a story, than to remember text you wrote on the slide.

Still want to add some text? That’s OK as long as it will not exceed 3 lines with large font. Such text can help you remember the subject you wish to talk about. As we have said, the slides are meant for you.

See Also: 5 Steps to Planning an Effective Presentation

3. Monotony: Only if you wish to make them sleep

How many times have you been crying with laughter at a stand-up comedy show only to find that when you tried to tell the same joke to your friends later, nobody laughed?

What is the difference? After all, it’s the same story, with all the same details and yet, it’s just not funny to anyone now.

It all depends on intonation of speech. If a slideshow were a movie, intonation would be the background music. Even the most interesting subject in the world can put the audience to sleep within a few minutes if the lecturer is monotonic. Like the story has ups and downs, the pitch should follow the same way. Change your pitch, play with the speed and volume, engage the audience by using words of enthusiasm when you get into the climax of the story. But also remember to decrease your speed and volume and relax the listeners at the low moments of the story.

“Compose the music” of your lecture at home. Speak to yourself and hear the intonation. If it is pleasant to your ear, it will be pleasant for your students.

4. Make it short and then cut it by half

Let’s do a little experiment. You find a link to a video on a subject that interests you and then press the link to play it. How many of you checked the length of the movie during the first few seconds?

Now, let’s assume the length is 60 minutes long. How many of you will immediately stop watching?
Students are far more time-sensitive than teachers are. Even if you think that the lesson deserves its 60-minute time, simply divide it into parts.

TED talks, which feature the best lecturers in the world speaking on highly engaging topics, are all between 8 and 10 minutes long.

On our website theLearnia where you can create videos in minutes, we restricted the video lesson time to 15 minutes. The timer counts down to remind the teacher to focus on the most important messages within the designated time. In our observations, we found that students often leave after an average of 4.5 minutes.

Even if you have a lot to say, consider that nobody will be there to listen after the first 5 minutes.

5. Practice, practice and more practice

Let’s take Steve Jobs as an example, who is considered one of the greatest presenters of our generation. He practices for days before the annual presentation of his next product launch. He enters the auditorium, closes the door to visitors and practices for days. He brings all the accessories, executes the demo software, and opens the envelopes again and again, just to make everything flow as smoothly as possible.

No one is born ready to lecture. It is a matter of lots of practice, learning, fixing mistakes and practicing again. If Steve Jobs could spend whole days before a lecture, you can also invest in practice prior to each lecture, especially if you are not quite up to his skill level.

See Also: Overcome Your Fear of Making a Presentation

The good news is that there’s a relatively short learning curve, and each practice will produce substantial improvement relative to the time before. It just becomes easier and more professional over time.

In conclusion

Perhaps you already know some or even all the rules specified here. However, I have found that despite the theoretical knowledge required for making a fascinating lecture, most instructors repeatedly return to their comfort zone. They rush to prepare the presentation, load too much text on their slides, and often create a presentation so long that even they have not enough time to present it.

Recall Diet Coke’s old slogan:” Less is More” and plan your presentation in accordance with the rules in this article. Beyond improving your personal presentation skills you’ll be surprised by the positive feedback from your students.

The post 5 Key Rules To Create A Killer Presentation appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Job-seeking can be quite the undertaking, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the process. You’ll need to have a good amount of self-discipline to get through the application stages, and a good amount of resilience to power through the inevitable rejections. It’s all part of the process. But, you’ll be pleased to know that you can minimize the rough parts of your job search by following a handful of easy steps.

Ask yourself the big questions first

Before you delve into searching for a job, figure out what you want your career trajectory to look like. And not only that, but determine what kind of schedule, location, and general workplace culture you would like to have with your job. If you can avoid it, don’t settle for a job that isn’t aligned with your long-term goals and interests. But keep in mind that it’s okay if you aren’t sure what your goals are yet.

You can use a career aptitude test to gain some direction, or meet with professionals in different industries to get an idea of what their jobs are like.

Keep a routine

When it comes to finding a job, the process alone can equate to a full time job. Between searching for job listings, individualizing your cover letters, and rehearsing your interviews, you will spend many of your waking hours getting through it all.

In order to maximize your time, it’s best to set a routine and stick to it. Set aside a time frame in which you plan to accomplish your tasks, and allocate your time based on what parts will take longer. Searching for jobs and writing cover letters are bound to be the biggest time-consumers, so plan around that to start with.

See Also: Resume Action Words That Will Get You That Job

Set goals

Weekly goals will help you to keep your routine on track and your motivation up. Use goal setting to hold yourself accountable for reaching a certain number of applications submitted per week or making a certain number of connections per week. Avoid setting goals against elements that are out of your control (e.g. number of interviews requested).

Expand your search

Nowadays, much of the typical job searches are done via social media. And while Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are some great resources for job searching and more, they won’t necessarily be as comprehensive as other sources. For example, job boards such as Gumtree have many listings that haven’t made their way to social media.

Keep learning

While the job search will take a considerable amount of your time, save some room in your schedule for professional development. Learn some relevant skills to give your resume a little boost. If you aren’t sure what skills would benefit you, have a look at that jobs you’re applying for to see what kinds of preferred qualifications are listed. For example, if an employer is seeking applicants with extra coding knowledge, you can head over to Codecademy to gain some new programming language skills.

See Also: Remain motivated while between jobs

Follow up

Once you apply for a job, keep track of when you submitted your application. Also note when the employer indicated that applicants would be contacted, if that information is available.

Generally, your follow up emails should fall about a week from the date you submitted your application. Just be careful not to overdo your follow-ups. One time is plenty.

And again, don’t get discouraged if the job search is slow-going. It’s pretty unlikely that all of your applications will result in job offers, but you’ll gain some valuable practice in the process.

The post How To Make Your Job Search More Productive appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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People become accustomed to ideas when exposed to them often enough. And while this isn’t always a bad thing, it can sometimes lead you to believe things that aren’t truly beneficial to you.

To lessen the risk of being gullible enough to believe anything you’re told, it’s important to keep an inquisitive mind and question the way you look at things. There are even various things you believe about yourself that probably aren’t true. By changing the way you think, you might be able to learn more about yourself, which could lead to a better life for you in general.

1. Cultivating Better Habits Won’t Necessarily Help You Reach Your Goals

This way of thinking seems so logical. People are slaves to their habits, so if you change your habits you’ll be doing good things without even thinking about it, right?

You’ll actually be the slave of doing a whole bunch of brilliant things. That idea seems irresistibly enticing.

But here’s the problem – it doesn’t always work like that.

There are two main parts of your brain that control your decision making: the pre-frontal cortex and the limbic system.

The Limbic System

The limbic system is all about auto-pilot and not so much about active long-term decision making. It’s the part of your brain that causes you to sleep when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry and do whatever you do without really thinking about it. In short, it controls your mindless actions, also known as habits. These habits aren’t necessarily based on anything useful. They just seem rewarding in the short-term.

That’s why you might have a hard time getting work done instead of watching television sometimes. The part of your brain based on short-term rewards is telling you that rest feels good and work doesn’t. Procrastination lives and thrives in your limbic system because it’s only focused on short-term rewards.

When you try to build good habits without really thinking about it, this part of your brain is almost sure to take over and spoil all your best efforts.

The Pre-Frontal Cortex

The pre-frontal cortex is more engaging. This part of your brain helps you in thinking critically. In a sense, you’re human because you have a fully engaged pre-frontal cortex that allows you to think about long-term consequences in a way animals don’t. You analyse situations and predict the possible outcomes based on your actions. This allows you to make choices that are geared towards helping you obtain the most desired results.

Choices you make by thinking critically aren’t always rewarding in the short-term. They often require you to give up some fun for the sake of getting what you want in the future.

But here’s the deal, your pre-frontal cortex can help you change your habits, not by going into auto-pilot and mindlessly trying to change them over time, but by being engaged. Instead of simply trying to build good habits, take some time to question your bad ones. Once you start to think deeper thoughts about how you spend your days, there’s a good chance you’ll change some things.

Be mindful about those bad habits and they might just become so undesirable, you force yourself to do better. It’s a matter of curiosity. Once you start actively questioning your habits, you might become more aware of how bad the bad ones really are.

So in a sense, engaged thinking can help you change your actions rather than cruising along hoping to build a healthier lifestyle without giving it much thought.

2. Your Personality Isn’t Determined By Left Brain/Right Brain Dominance

There’s a really popular idea that your cerebral dominance – the side of your brain you apparently use the most – has an influence on your personality. The idea is that people who are factual, analytical and more practically orientated use their left brain more and people who are creative, holistic and more mindful of feelings rather than facts are right brain dominant.

But here’s the problem: that’s just not true. And if you really think about it, why would it even be true?

You use your whole brain, not just one side. You don’t even really have a dominant cerebral hemisphere. The link between your personality and your brain is difficult to pinpoint, but it certainly has nothing to do with the two sides of your brain.

Choosing Your personality Instead

Look at the bright side, though, maybe you have more control over your thinking style and personality than the left brain/right brain theory would’ve had had you believe.

I certainly believe that there’s a big element of choice when it comes to personality, virtues and the way we see things. If you consciously decide to change the way you look at things, you’ll eventually change entirely as a person. It won’t happen over night, but you can change yourself.

Humans are creatures of habit, and you might not realise that you develop these habits even in your thinking patterns. So maybe creative, artistically inclined people are only that way because they had a bad math teacher who led them to believe that they aren’t good at numbers and facts. Their response might have been to focus on more artistic pursuits. Cultivating this way of thinking over a long period of time possibly became so ingrained in the essence of their thinking, they no longer know how to be any other way.

Same goes for people who would be classified as left brained. Maybe they just live according to a stereotype because they happened to be good at science and bad at drawing. But maybe they never gave drawing the chance it deserved and dismissed it as something for right brained people.

See Also: 3 Tips For A Happier Lifestyle

3. Learning Something New Can Make You Happier

Now that we debunked the myth that your dominant cerebral hemisphere has an influence on your personality – because you don’t truly have a dominant cerebral hemisphere – it’s time to focus on pushing boundaries and learning new things.

Learning new things can actually make you happier. It provides you with something to keep life interesting and escape from the everyday hum-drum of your ordinary job. Chances are, you do most of your job easily without really thinking about it.

But when you feed your mind with new ideas, there are new idea for you to explore and consciously think about. By thinking about new things, sometimes even things you never thought you’d think about, you’re creating an opportunity for creativity to grow. This creativity allow for space in your mind that’s dedicated to actively think about world views, art, culture, science, sports or whatever else you’re learning about.

See Also: How to Learn Anything Online for Free

And fostering creativity is one of the best things you can do for yourself because creativity is one of the most important characteristics of good problem solvers. It helps you to think outside the box and come up with new ways of solving old problems. It also focuses your mind on itself, helping you to think more intrinsically and teaches you to seek gratification from within yourself instead of trying to obtain it from the things around you. This allows you to be less inclined to feel bothered by what others think of you and helps you take a proactive approach to dealing with the issues in your life. Instead on focusing solely on the extrinsic problems you’re facing, you internalise them in a way that almost has you playing with the idea of solutions.

This all comes back to the difference between doing things on auto-pilot and actually thinking critically. When you decide to become a life-long learner, you’re making an active decision to think about new things all the time. This feeds your pre-frontal cortex which allows you to live life in a proactive way, as opposed to just cruising by on auto-pilot.

When you create a life of thinking consciously, you are better able to shape your life and thoughts to become a happier person.

The post 3 Unconventional Ways Of Thinking That’ll Help You Change Yourself appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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No life is complete without periodic doses of extremely uncomfortable situations or moments. A part of a successful societal identity is about handling these situations better.

It’s not usually taught in classrooms or found in text books. It takes years of exposure to these situations, keen observations, quick unlearning and quicker learning and a dash of self-esteem to conquer these could-have-been awful moments.

As the wise men say, it’s finally the outcome and not the sweat that goes in, that matters. Mastering the skills of coping with awkward instants is not a part of a standard B-school management course, but come very handy in business too. The idea is not to let down people or lose friends who could have been of use in future.

The tricks I lay out here aren’t dumb excuses like “stuck in a traffic jam” or “father critically ill” – those are mostly counterproductive nowadays. Let’s jump straight, without much ado.

Uncomfortable Situation #1: Teleconferencing

You’re on a teleconference with multiple parties. There is a bizarre situation and bosses or clients are suddenly firing at you. It was not anticipated well in advance and you need a minute or so to compose yourself and think through some vague answer. But you don’t have the all-precious minute in hand; so much is the heat in the air.

OK, take your time. Start your defense with “Oops! I was on mute”.

Uncomfortable Situation #2: Undesirable encounters

Someone really unpleasant and unimportant is approaching you at a breakneck speed possibly to ask for some help. Pick up your mobile and answer a non-existent call while you stride away of the hell. People are expected to be unmindful during an important phone call; more so if you keep your eyebrows strained. So you’re pardoned for unnoticing the ‘friend’. It doesn’t really matter whether the call landed on you or you made because you look reasonably absorbed.

See Also: Feel Less Awkward With This Simple Technique

Uncomfortable Situation #3: Unwanted party invite

If you’re invited to a party where you have no reason to be, remember that you’re not expected there, it’s just a formality to invite you. You’ve to accept the invitation with all your humility and assure of your gracious presence. Don’t be there at the do. Pay your friend a smile when you cross each other’s path later on. Both of you have moved on without a hard feeling.

Uncomfortable Situation #4: Getting bullied

A group of friends take part in bullying you for something that happened in past. You can’t overwrite the history. Don’t try to explain or justify. Excuses will worsen the game and fuel them further.

Start laughing aloud at every dig they take, louder than the loudest in the gang and add new angles to make fun of yourself mercilessly. Make even the shrewdest blush. They’ll see no value in continuing on that track and probably find a new victim or subject for killing the remaining time.

See Also: How to Deal with a Workplace Bully

Uncomfortable Situation #5: Caught red-handed

You’re caught red handed in a situation that you tried your best to avoid. It could be any of those obnoxious, generic events when you feel death would have been sweeter.

Make a sad face, all you can attempt is a craft known as ‘context switch’. There are always serious things in the world that concern most of the human race including those whom you want to run away from right now. Pose aloof from the current state of affairs and be occupied into something little more global and grave. Then soak others into it.

That’s it! You’ve broken their original rhythm. They’re bound to get carried away into the sea of a momentous discussion.

Try to remember these smart tips for getting out of awkward moments whenever you get into a tight situation. Good luck!

The post 5 Smart Tricks To Avoid Uncomfortable Situations appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Do you want to know how to buy glasses online?

If you wear glasses but can’t find a style that you like on the high street, you can opt to search on the Internet. Choice can be limited for you if you’re restricted to one opticians but there’s a plethora of availability online. There is a much wider range of styles, colours and importantly – price ranges!

Glasses can be extremely costly especially if you buy into a designer pair of frames. Did you know that most glasses you see for sale often come from the same manufacturers?

One reason why people are often hesitant to purchase their next pair of frames online is down to risk. They’re worried that the glasses will turn out to be either poorly fitted or wrong for their face shape. There are ways in which you can get round this, however.

Have a read of our handy guide on how to buy glasses online and choose the best style for you.

Frame Shape

This is one of the main considerations as it will affect how the glasses look on you. Sure you might love the style, but do they fit your face shape?

You need to find a pair that sits well on you, so it’s worth researching which is best for your shape of face. For example, round faces mostly suit square frames and should avoid round or oval style whereas a square shaped face is better off with an oval style. If you have an oval face shape then you’re in luck as most styles tend to suit you.

Lens

After finally finding that perfect pair of frames, the next step is finding the perfect lens for your glasses. If you’re buying online then it’s probably a wise idea to get seen by your optician so you know what it is you need.

But there’s also other additional options to consider too, for example, lenses with anti-reflective coating. Or perhaps you want a pair of prescription sunglasses? You can now buy reactor glasses that also act as both so there are plenty of options you should consider.

See Also: Six Online Shopping Tools To Help Shop Smarter

Colour

These days there are so many more options than just your standard black and silver frames. Why opt for something plain when you can have a unique style that suits your personality?

Whether it’s a bright pink frame, a patterned frame or a trendy ombre style, there are so many patterns and colors to choose from. One option is having a conservative black pair for the office and a more daring pair for the evenings and weekends to switch it up.

Price

This is a big consideration when it comes to purchasing a new pair of glasses as many of us will have a budget in mind. Often, designer styles from your local optician can cost an arm and a leg so it’s definitely worth having a shop around to find a purse-friendly alternative. After all, they are probably made in the same factory anyway!

If the designer name isn’t important to you, then there are an abundance of alternative brands and cheaper options available. Many online glasses retailers provide special offers and reductions so you’re much more likely to get a better deal!

See Also: Stop Wasting Time and Money With These 6 Productive Steps to Shopping Online

After-care Service

It’s important that when you buy a pair of frames, you also receive a good after-care service too. For example, it’s worth checking to see if the pair of glasses you are buying will come with an included warranty. You don’t want to be stuck with a pair of broken frames due to poor quality AND be out of pocket.

Now get cracking and start searching for the perfect pair of glasses online. Good luck on your hunt!

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Freelancing offers a whole new world of opportunities. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a programmer, game developer, graphic designer, photographer, writer, blogger, editor, financial consultant, or a makeup artist – if your profession is not inseparable from a company, you can find your own gigs and make money on the go.

It takes a lot of courage to leave an office job and become a freelancer. However, you will gain priceless freedom that will open the doors for many challenges.

If you’re wondering whether or not you should enter the world of freelancing, the following 7 reasons will convince you to take a chance.

1. Freelancing is not hard when you possess the needed skills

You already have what it takes. If you have a skill that’s suitable for a freelancing career, then you won’t have to learn anything new. You’ll just upgrade the knowledge you already have. You can really do whatever you love. There is no reason to underestimate your potential. You’ll always find someone willing to pay for your skills.

Before you launch yourself into the freelancing market, it’s important to analyze the supply and demand in the particular industry. If you realize there are enough opportunities to benefit from, your life will become much easier. You will do the work you like and you’ll get paid for it.

2. No one will be bossing you around

Freelancers don’t have bosses; they have clients. This is an equitable relationship based on fair collaboration. Don’t get this wrong. You will still answer to someone. However, it’s easier to be accountable for your own work in this scenario.

You won’t be dependent upon the opinion of a boss, but you’ll still have to do your best on every project you start working on. Remember that feedback is important when you’re working as a freelancer.

If you’re working on a freelancing platform like Upwork, Elance or Freelancer, your feedback will be easily visible on your profile so all potential clients will see it before hiring you. If, on the other hand, you decide to go become a hardcore freelancer with an independent website, you’ll still have to get good reviews to build your reputation.

This means that you’ll have to maintain your professionalism on a high level. However, you won’t have to tolerate a frustrated boss who doesn’t appreciate your efforts.

3. You will spend a lot of time alone

Freelancing is perfect for introverts. If you belong in this category of people, you’ll love the fact that you won’t have to have small talks with your colleagues and ask how their kids are doing even though you have zero interest in the answer.

You love hanging out with different people? You’ll still find joy in freelancing. Although you’ll work in a private space in your home or in a personal office, you’ll still have tons of time to see everyone after working hours.

Freelancing is a very flexible career, so you can make short coffee breaks and organize your time however you want. You don’t have to isolate yourself from society unless that’s exactly what you aim for.

4. Flexible schedule

This is often the first advantage that comes to mind when you think of freelancing: you can work at any time of the day or night as long as you meet the deadline. Of course, you will have deadlines. Your client will give you a particular timeframe in which you’ll handle the project, but the way you organize your time will be up to you.

There are no office hours in this career. You can combine freelance work with your main office job.

Moreover, it is perfect for students who can’t work 8 hours a day.

You can spend a day with your friends and cover the work overnight. You can go through a working binge for a week and make enough money to spend the rest of the month travelling and relaxing. You can book a ticket to a destination you always wanted to visit and work from there.

See Also: 4 Smart Ways to Travel The World For Free

Flexibility is a great advantage when you know how to organize your time.

5. No one will limit your creativity

Are you a talented, creative individual who choked under the pressuring limits of conventional education? It’s time to set yourself free into the freelancing market. Everyone appreciates creativity in this industry, so you’ll finally get a chance to explore your ideas and share them with the world.

An app developer will certainly work under a client’s instructions, but he will still have tons of space to infuse some of his personality into the project. If he has a completely unique idea for an app, he can develop it and offer it to a client (or partner with somebody and market it). A freelance writer can work on his own projects in free time, and publish them on a blog that can get really profitable over time.

If you want to try something new and you know your idea is worth developing, then a freelancing career is the right choice for you.

6. You can start today

You don’t need to set up a business to become a freelancer. Many people are afraid to try freelancing because they don’t know how to start. The best thing about this industry is that it’s always open to newbies. All you need to do is join a freelancing platform, start a website, or create a professional Facebook profile where you’ll promote your services.

The beginnings won’t be easy. If you don’t have a portfolio with projects you’ve already completed, potential clients will hesitate to hire you. However, you can always feature samples of your work. It’s important to stay persistent; the first opportunity will come up sooner or later. When you do a good job and you get positive feedback, you’ll enter the freelancing market with the speed of light.

Don’t forget though that even if you don’t own a business, you still need to report your income to authorities.

See Also: 14 Problems Freelancers Usually Face

7. Job security

Many people have great potential to become freelancers although they are unhappy with the suffocating office jobs. They remain inactive because they are have the impression that the freelancing market offers no security.

First of all, let’s get one thing out of the way. No office job is absolutely safe! What happens when a company goes out of business? People are left in despair!

With freelancing, on the other hand, you can never get fired. If things don’t work out with a particular client, you can always proceed to the next project. Contract termination is not catastrophic when the industry offers tons of new opportunities you can benefit from.

There Is Only One Conclusion: Freelancing Is More Rewarding than You Assume

Are you ready to take a huge step into the unknown? The freelancing market is open for people with different skills and goals; all you need to do is explore your opportunities, develop a plan and put yourself out there.

The good thing is that you don’t have to leave your job to make your first freelancing attempts. Find a client, start working on a project and see how it goes. You might convince yourself to leave that boring job after the first payment you receive.

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If you need help on how to get more energized for work, read on.

This is the story of my most embarrassing moment at work.

I’m sitting in a toilet cubical and I can barely keep my eyes open. Before I know it, I have the cleaner knocking on the door, asking me if everything was okay.

I’d been in there for 30 minutes but had no idea because I’d fallen asleep.

I was so ashamed. It was only 10am and I’d been at work for just an hour!

This might sound like an extreme example of tiredness but I’m sure you can relate to it. That feeling of having no energy, always feeling tired and all you want to do is go home to bed. Then, when you get home, you end up staying up late anyway.

I decided I needed to do something about it. I didn’t want to be that guy sleeping in the toilets at work anymore so I started exploring how to boost my energy levels.

That’s when I discovered these tips. If you apply these to your lifestyle, you will be ready to take on whatever work throws at you.

Tips on how to get more energized:

1. Go to bed earlier and wake up earlier

It is so easy to watch that extra episode of your favourite box set when you know you should be going to sleep. You know that going to bed early would be the best idea but you just can’t bring yourself to turn it off.

This is because we have entered a gratification cycle. By going on social media sites, we are getting what’s known as dopamine hits. This is from consuming short bursts of content. This makes it harder for us to put down that technology.

The blue light found in these devices also suppresses melatonin, a hormone that helps control our sleep and wake cycles. Our cortisol hormone levels then increase, which make it harder for us to get to sleep.

As a result, in the morning, you find yourself pressing snooze because you’ve only had 6 hours sleep or less. Well, don’t give in to temptation.

By going to sleep and getting up at the same time each day, you are setting your body’s internal clock. This can increase your sleep quality and therefore make you feel less tired the next day.

It is important to stick to this routine on the weekend too if you can. Otherwise, you get that dreaded Monday morning feeling when your alarm goes off.

If you want a little more help getting up at the right time each day, download a free sleep cycle alarm clock on your mobile phone via iTunes or Google Play. These apps track your sleep patterns and wake you up during your lightest sleep. This is a natural way of waking up and feeling rested without the use of an alarm clock.

The best way to find out how much sleep you need each night is by experimenting. Try going to bed a little earlier each night until you feel well rested. If you happen to wake up early with less than an hour and a half before you need to get up, make sure you get up. This is so that you’re not entering a new sleep cycle. If yo don’t do this, the sleep cycle will only be half completed, causing you to feel more tired when your alarm goes off.

See Also: Get A Good Night of Quality Sleep With These 10 Shortcuts for Falling Asleep in Record Time

2. Eat breakfast

Out of all our meals, breakfast is the most important. We can’t count the number of times we’ve heard this or been told this. But it’s true. Breakfast increases your energy levels. For example, oats are great for slow release energy. They will stop you getting hungry sooner as hunger can cause us to feel tired.

Slow release energy is important because if we opt for food that are high in sugar, such as cakes or pastries, we will release sugar quickly into our bloodstream. This can cause insulin spikes that can create energy highs but also energy crashes.

By having breakfast, you are breaking the fast. So if you choose to skip this meal, you are running on empty.

Breakfast also provides us with a lot of nutrients like calcium, iron, protein and fibre. These are nutrients we might not get in other meals during the day.

Breakfast also restores our blood glucose level back to normal after our overnight fast. We usually skip breakfast because we don’t have time in the morning. But if you follow tip 1 then you should have plenty of time in the morning to sit down with a bowl of porridge. (I like mine with honey).

According to Mayo Clinic, when we eat a good and hearty breakfast, it refuels the body and restocks it with glycogen stores that supply us with immediate energy. When we skip breakfast, it results in decreased physical activity and performance.

3. Drink more water and drink less caffeine

Now this is a difficult one if you are surrounded by coffee at work and absolutely love it.
It might seem like coffee is keeping your energy levels up in the day but when it comes to going to sleep at night, you may find your mind is still buzzing.

This will result in another late night causing you to wake up feeling so tired you have to drink two more cups of coffee before 10am. And then the cycle repeats itself… Don’t let this be you.

Caffeine can stay in our system for up to 6 hours. To make sure this doesn’t affect your sleep, make sure you don’t have any after 2pm.

It might make us feel like we have energy, but once the adrenaline of drinking the coffee wears off, you can end up feeling tired and irritable. Sometimes it can result in a headache due to dehydration.

The best way to get rid of relying on it is to not have it. If this is just unavoidable try a decaf option instead.

By drinking more water, we are keeping our body hydrated which will also give us more energy. Dehydration can affect your attention span. If we are dehydrated our brain has to work extra hard.
It can also increase tiredness so it is important to drink about 8 glasses of water a day.

4. Start your day outside

It can be hard to get any natural sunlight when you are stuck at a desk all day. But the lack of sun exposure can make us feel tired and lethargic. That’s why it is important to try and start your day with some sun exposure.

Try going for a quick walk or even walk to work if it is possible. Sun exposure reminds our brain that it is daytime and encourages the release of cortisol. This hormone is controlled by our internal clock called the circadian rhythm.

Shawn Stevenson (creator of the Shawn Stevenson Model blog ‘) says “sunlight in the morning can lower cortisol levels in the evening, which will help us have a better night’s sleep.”

If you can start your day with a walk instead of a cup of coffee, you will soon be flying.

5. Add exercise into your routine

Now if you are able to run or walk to work, then you are already on a great path to increasing your energy levels.

Exercise is not only brilliant in helping you sleep better at night but it is also great at calming the mind and making you feel motivated and focused. These are two key tools for a productive day at work.

In the online magazine, Psychology Today, Michael J. Breus, Ph.D. writes how exercise has multiple benefits for the body including lifting mood, reducing stress and anxiety, improving circadian rhythms, promoting alertness during the day and improving sleep at night.

If you can try and schedule just 30 minutes of exercise a day then that is a good amount. This could be a mixture of walking, running or taking the stairs instead of the lifts at work.

See Also: 19 Ways to Get Motivated to Exercise

And there it is. Five easy tips to get you more energized and ready for whatever your day has in store for you.

And what is better is they won’t cost you a penny. You can start implementing them right away.
I have so much more energy now that I am far more productive at work and as a result rarely get stressed. Sleeping in work toilets is absolutely a thing of the past.

I’d love to hear from you if you have any secrets or tips for getting more energy. Thanks for reading!

 

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If you feel your life is on a boring and mind-numbing repeat day after day with no end in sight, it’s time to make changes and be the hero of your own story.

“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure”

William Feather

When Life is Grim

It’s 6 o’clock in the morning and your alarm is going off. You dread the thought of going to work another day, so in a futile attempt at making the day go away you hit the snooze button. Now it’s 6:09 am and if you don’t hurry and get out of bed you are going to be late for work.

Not that you really care since it is a soul-sucking job anyway, but you do need the money. You look back on your college years and reflect on all the broken promises. You were promised an amazing career if you got your degree. You were promised a good life once you had that diploma in hand.

In reality, life is grim and the future looks bleak. You check out your Facebook page and notice a couple of your friends on vacation; one in Italy the other in Miami. It’s been a long time since you took a vacation. You then check out your Instagram and see that your cousin is expecting a baby, and another friend just bought a house. You still live in your apartment.

After eating breakfast and hopping in the car you arrive at work. Your boss informs you that you got something wrong with your latest report and he expects a new one by this afternoon. More work for you.

You plow away revising the report when you hear a cubicle neighbor on the phone. She is talking to someone and mentions how she has been with the company for over 30 years. You have a mild panic attack as you visualize yourself sitting at this same desk, doing this same mind numbing work for 30.long.years.

That’s enough to break any person, but especially for you who had a vision of what your life was going to be like coming out of college. You were going to conquer the world, instead your world is set on Repeat punctuated by weekends.

You Were Meant to be Remarkable

The fact of the matter is you were born to be great! You weren’t meant to waste your life away at some soul-sucking job.

The problem is over the years you were misled. You had the belief that if you were a good boy, and did what was asked of you, you would be rewarded with a good life. So instead of creating your own story, you lived the life that was expected of you, hoping for the best.

Stop living in other people’s stories! In most of their stories, you aren’t even a secondary character. You are a background character who needs to get a report done. It is time to stop, and it is time to start to be the hero of your own story!

Instead of living a life that was created for you, create your own life! And to be quite honest, you only get one shot at this thing called life and it’s too short to live someone else’s story. Nobody grows up dreaming about becoming R2-D2, or Frodo’s Merry and Pippin.

Everyone wants to be the hero.

Everyone wants to make a difference.

Everyone wants to know at the end of the day that their time on earth mattered.

Create Your Life To Liberate Your Life

I’m here to tell you that this is possible! You can create your own story, and you should be the hero of your own story too!

Growing up, my philosophy in life stated that if I conformed to the wishes of those around me I would have a happy life. It made sense. If I sacrificed my wants and desires for those around me, we should all be happy right?

This philosophy seemed to serve me well. I went to college, got married, and had two kids. I was living the American Dream. Until it all came crashing down.

I was working at a job where my bosses would constantly yell at me. They were high pressure big city types trying to make the same business model work in rural Idaho. I was miserable.

After a much needed vacation, my family and I came home. We went inside and my wife handed me a packet of papers filing for a separation.

I was blind sided. My whole life, I had lived to make others happy! How could this be happening to me?

I was mostly numb during the course of the divorce. I didn’t want to feel. I would go to work then come home and curl up in the fetal position while crying. Just to do it all again the next day.

With time I realized something had to change. I began a journey of discovery. Nothing seemed to resonate with me until I rediscovered the concept of the heroic journey.

The heroic journey is a story arc that has been used throughout the ages. It outlines the cycle a hero goes through in order to complete his quest.

I realized that my life here on this earth is a heroic journey, but I’ve been playing the sidekick in everybody else’s story! As I analyzed the story structure I realized where I was stuck and what I must do to move my story forward as the hero.

Your story

Will you still play minor roles in other people’s stories? Yes, but instead of your primary identity being a reactive one to the lives of those around you, you will proactively create a life that is perfect for you.
When you create your story you set the rules for how you live a successful life.

Maybe going on long vacations is how you define a successful life. Maybe starting your own business is how you define a successful life. Or maybe being a good parent is how you define a successful life.

It honestly doesn’t matter how you define what a successful life is because we all have different definitions of what it means to live life successfully. What is important is that you understand that you can create that life!

See Also: Still Searching for Your Passion? Let’s Find it Once and For All

The liberating idea here is that you don’t have to buy into the idea that you have to get a house, have 2 children, and work a 9-5 job in order for your life to be successful.

Go back to a time when you were a child. What did you wish you could do when you were all grown up? Go back to the time you were in college. How did you dream about changing the world once you graduated? Those are both a couple of good questions to ponder when it comes to writing the rules for your life.

Imagine how it will feel for the first time proactively creating the life that you deserve, instead of reactively living somebody else’s story.

My wife is not a morning person. She would rather jump into a pit of snakes than wake up early. To be honest she doesn’t do her best work in the morning anyway. She does her best work towards the afternoon and evening.

She was working at a job that required her to be at work early. One day, she decided she wasn’t going to live that kind of life and so she started up her own business where she could sleep in as late as she wanted. At this time she may not be making quite as much money as she used to, but her quality of life and levels of happiness have gone through the roof.

See Also: 12 Techniques to Help You Live a Happy and Fulfilled Life 

You can design life the way you want it to be. I’m not telling you to go out and quit your job right now and start your own business. I am telling you that deep in your heart, you having burning desires, wants, and ambitions and it’s okay to proactively pursue those things. I am telling you that there are things in your life that are dragging you down, making you miserable and diminishing your levels of happiness. It’s okay to proactively make plans to cut those things out of your life.

Once you realize that you are in charge of your life, everything changes. Instead of dreading the alarm clock in the morning, you look forward to it. Your life is so full of purpose and hope and excitement that getting up in the morning is exhilarating. You may even notice that you don’t need coffee to get you going in the morning!

Instead of your co-workers and friends treating you like a pushover, they respect you as an adult.

The most powerful change though is the fact that your life now has context and meaning. You know what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how it helps you become the best version of you.

That empty feeling you had inside of you…gone. That sense of the future only being grim and bleak…gone. That awful feeling of being stuck…gone. Getting burnt out…gone. Being jealous of your friends who seem to have things figured out…gone.

These hopeless feelings vanish as soon as you give your life greater purpose than just making it through the day.

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