posted from https://www.dumblittleman.com/keeping-your-home-warm/

When temperatures fall below freezing and everything is covered in ice, nothing compares to warming up in the comfort of your own home. However, keeping your home warm can be a little trickier this year as forecasters with the 2020 “Farmers’ Almanac” are predicting a particularly harsh winter.

Dubbed a “Polar Coaster”, it’s expected to bring fluctuating temperatures and frequent blasts of ice, sleet, and snow. Plus, the harshest winter weather could arrive earlier than normal.

Start keeping your home warm by taking these steps throughout the fall:

Plug up any air leaks

Air leaks in caulk or weather stripping allow frigid air to enter your house and warm air to leak out. You can save between 5% and 10% on your energy bill by simply plugging these leaks.

While the weather is still warm, check your weather stripping by closing doors and windows onto a sheet of paper. The stripping needs replacement if it slides easily around the paper. Find other air leaks in the home by holding a lit candle around doors, window frames, and wire holes. A flickering flame means you need to insulate the area.

For more high-tech, accurate results, consider using an air leak detector. Once the device is turned on, point it toward the locations where leaks are suspected. A light emanating from the device will scan the area.

If a leak exists, it’ll turn blue if the air is cold and red if the air is warm. If no leaks are detected, the light won’t change colors at all.

Insulate anything and everything

People often avoid insulating their homes because they imagine wrestling with huge pieces of itchy, pink material. Fortunately, insulation has gotten a lot easier to work with. It’s still just as crucial for keeping your home comfortable and efficient.

Look for areas without adequate insulation, starting with the attic, garage, and any unfinished spaces. Use cellulose and spray in those areas. They provide a superior thermal barrier between your home and the worst winter weather.

See Also: 5 Ways to Become More Energy Efficient with Your Heating System

Show some love to your furnace

A pleasant home requires a fully functioning furnace. Before you have to rely on it daily, a certified HVAC technician should inspect the furnace and give it a tuneup. This affordable service helps avoid breakdowns, improves energy efficiency, and fulfills the requirements of the warranty.

If the furnace is past its prime, have a replacement installed immediately. You want everything to be up and running before the first cold night of the year.

Give the roof a close inspection

Heat travels upward and if your roof is full of holes, it’s allowing valuable heated air to drift outside. Inspect every inch of the roof for gaps, cracks and leaks, particularly around vents, chimneys, and valleys. Looking for missing, curled or damaged shingles is also important. Unused antennas or satellite dishes can damage your roof in a strong storm, so consider removing them while you’re already up there.

See Also: Roofing Inspection Checklist for Homeowners

Get serious about gutters

Gutters divert water away from your foundation which is just as important in the winter when you face melting snowfall and freezing water expansion. Take action before the leaves start to fall.

Clean the gutters thoroughly. Then, consider installing mesh guards to keep the next round of leaves out. Inspect the downspouts and install extenders as needed. If anything is seriously damaged, replace it in the fall when the work is easy to do.

Prepare your whole lawn

Unfortunately, landscaping doesn’t stop when the summer ends. Even when the grass stops growing taller, the roots are still growing deeper, making fall the ideal time to fertilize. Even more importantly, overgrown trees can be a serious liability in the winter if limbs fall into power lines and leave your furnace disabled. Hire an arborist to preemptively remove anything that could put your power at risk.

Don’t forget to decorate

A “warm” home is just as much about the atmosphere as the temperature. Even if we have an early, aggressive winter, the season is peppered with exciting holidays, starting with Halloween and carrying all the way through Super Bowl Sunday. If you feel inclined, decorate inside and out. It won’t necessarily keep the cold air out, but it will help turn your home into an inviting place for family and friends to gather.

The post 7 Steps to Keep Your Home Warm When the Weather Outside Is Frightful appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Do you want to create an online store? Creating an online store is pretty easy these days, thanks to platforms like Shopify. Shopify offers an easy-to-use web-based website builder, marketing and SEO features, eCommerce analytics, and more—just about everything you need to start an online store.

But, if you want your online store to be successful, it takes more than just putting up a website.

Check out these 4 tips for creating your first Shopify store.

Choose a Niche and Define Your Target Audience

Before you start creating your Shopify store, you first need to decide what you’re going to sell and who your target audience is. Choosing a niche for your online store will give it more focus and it will be easier to market your store to your target audience.

For instance, if you sell pet products, makeup, and men’s watches, your online store will be all over the place and you’ll have multiple different target audiences. But, if you stick with one niche like pet products, your online store will be easier to manage and market to potential customers.

So, decide your niche and then figure out who your exact target audience is. For example, if you sell luxury pet products, the monthly income of your target audience will be higher. You need to work out these details so that you know as much about your target audience as possible.

To help you define your target audience in detail, fill out a buyer persona (also known as a customer avatar) template like the one from Digital Marketer below.

When you know exactly who you’re selling to, it’ll be much easier to encourage them to buy from you.

Build Your Shopify Store

Now, it’s time to actually create a website for your online store. The first step is to set up an account with Shopify. After creating your account, Shopify makes it easy to set up your store. Follow the steps they provide to name your store, add your products, set up payments, and more.

One of the most important steps is designing the look of your online store. The appearance of your online store is important. In fact, according to HubSpot, 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content/layout is unattractive.

So, if you want visitors to your online store to stick around and shop, your website needs to be visually-appealing. Luckily, Shopify makes this easy by providing a number of stunning free and paid themes you can use.

Choose a Shopify theme that works for your brand. For instance, the themes below are great for a minimalist look.

Image Source

After building your store, it’s time to add some extra features with Shopify apps.

Add More Power with Shopify Apps

Shopify apps are similar to WordPress plugins, some are free and some are paid. You can add Shopify apps to your store to help you drive more traffic to your site, provide a better customer experience, generate more sales, and much more.

Image Source

There are a number of Shopify apps you should get for your online store, here are a few of the best ones:

• Plug in SEO – This Shopify app helps you find SEO issues on your website so that you can increase traffic to your online store.
• WPForms – Your customers need a way to contact you. With WPForms you can create contact forms and other online forms for your online store.
• TrustPulse – Social proof is a way to build trust with online shoppers. TrustPulse is a social proof notifications app that displays real-time stats of activity on your website such as email signups and purchases.
• Facebook Live Chat – If you want your store to be successful, you need to provide great customer service. Facebook Live Chat lets you offer live chat to your customers via Facebook.

There are tons of other Shopify apps you can use to add more power to your store and each online store will require different features. Decide the features your Shopify store needs and choose your Shopify apps accordingly.

Promote Your Online Store

Once your online store is completed, it’s time to sit back and watch the traffic and the sales start rolling in, right? Not so fast! If you want a lot of people to check out your online store, they need to know it exists. So, you need to promote your online store.

If you’re just starting out though, you probably don’t want to spend a bunch of money on advertising. Don’t worry, there are a number of ways to promote your online store without breaking the bank.

For example, you can promote your online store on social media. Take a look at this Instagram post from Rhone, a Shopify store that sells activewear for men.

Image Source

The post includes a stunning shot of their activewear in action as well as relevant, branded hashtags.

There are a number of other ways to promote your online store. Consider creating an online contest. If you sell products on your online store, you probably have some good prizes to give away. You can also use blogging and guest posting to reach new audiences as well.

Over to You

That’s it! With these tips for creating your first Shopify store, you’re well on your way to running a successful business. So, if you’ve got a great idea for an online store, start building it today.

posted from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-of-the-best-tips-to-stop-yourself-from-multitasking-and-focus-more-effectively/

While multitasking is often thought to be an added skill, it tends to cause more harm than good. Focusing on one task at a time is more effective than having a pile of tasks to do. Researchers argue that you are more poised to increase your productivity by boosting your focus and avoiding multitasking.

The reality is that you end up lowering your work quality when you focus on more than one thing at the same time. The issue is that multitasking can get very addictive and not many would be willing to stop.

Here are a few tips to help you stop multitasking and increase your focus:

1. Get rid of distractions

Most of the interruptions people face nowadays emanate from mobile phones and other technological devices. These are an embodiment of our daily lives to the extent of interrupting tasks. 

It seems like people these days can’t control their desire to check messages and other notifications, primarily because of the increasing social media presence. However, there’s a trick to help you avoid succumbing to this pressure. Switch off the phone or toggle the silent button. As simple as this may seem to be, it goes a long way in helping you avoid multitasking.

2. Make a to-do list

You cannot avoid distractions when you don’t even know what to do as a task. A to-do list will help you plan your day’s activities so that you can avoid getting any distractions. Remember to include a few minutes or hours for rest as you still need to take breaks. You can utilize this free time to check your phone and respond to other distractions.

3. Avoid talking to colleagues during work time

When you’re working and having a conversation, you are vulnerable to messing up on the job. After you’re through and start going through the task, you will realize several flaws that you might have avoided if you kept silent and focused.

4. Have a tidy and serene working environment

Cleanliness is mostly overlooked but is a prerequisite for success in job completion. When your working area is in a mess, you will not think straight, and chances are that you may fall victim of slight distractions. 

For example, you might be typing on your desk and hit a glass off the table. You will need to clear the mess before getting back to work, which is time-wasting because you’ve deviated from the job.

“Multitasking is like constantly pulling up a plant. This kind of constant shifting of your attention means that new ideas and concepts have no chance to take root and flourish.” – Barbara Oakley

5. Boost focus

Learn to concentrate on one thing without thinking of another at a particular time. For example, if you are working on a job report, put your mind to it alone, without thinking of the appraisal forms you need to fill out. This will help you clear one task rapidly and with accuracy, before moving onto the next one.

6. Learn about your habits

The best way to diagnose a problem is to find its root cause. Sit down and evaluate your workday by seeing what takes the majority of your time. Self-evaluation will go a long way in making sure you don’t get distracted while working on any task.

7. Do one thing at a time

It’s crucial for you to remain focused on one thing at a time. It is wrong to believe that multitasking helps you to get everything done quickly and appropriately. If anything, you are wasting more time than you will save when doing things in a particular sequence.

Also, carrying out different tasks at the same time often leads to rework or shoddy results. While you might think that you completed the task at hand before time, you may be required to start over again if someone else checks your work. In the end, you will waste more time than you can save.

8. Work in intervals

You cannot work from morning to evening and expect your brain to be alert throughout. The typical human brain can only work for a certain amount of time. You need to take frequent stops to refresh and boost your focus. When you work without breaks, your mind may start drifting away, causing you to multitask.

Some people claim they don’t have proper time management skills. If you cannot manage your time well, then come up with a to-do list that will act as a guide. Scientists have proven that the human brain functions optimally when given breaks. This tip will equally help you increase your focus when working.

9. Avoid checking out other sites not related to the work you are doing

Unfortunately, this is a huge problem that many people face in their daily activities. For instance, someone will be researching the web for information on real estate and quickly take a glance at the Facebook or Twitter tab. As much as this may only take five minutes per check, you will end up checking more than once. Put together; you will realize how much time you have wasted in your day.

While you thought it was one innocent check that didn’t even go past one minute, the reality is that you probably spent an hour – plus an inconsistent result on the task you were handling. To solve this problem, you can opt for a browser blocker that will hide all the sites that you are used to checking frequently. Alternatively, if you’re disciplined enough, close all the unnecessary tabs on your browser.

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” – Tony Robbins 

10. Start with the hard ones before heading for more manageable tasks

Most people begin with easy tasks before the hard ones, and this can derail your focus. If you work from the morning hours, you need to look at the challenging tasks first and then later you can handle the easier ones.

Wrapping up, you have seen what to do to alleviate multitasking and boost focus instead. Remember to avoid multitasking as this can lead to inconsistency and poor performance at work. Finally, make sure you are taking enough breaks to refresh the mind.

Do you struggle to remain focused on your daily tasks? If so, how do you remain focused and not feel the desire to multitask? Share your thoughts with us below!

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“Absolute attention is an act of generosity.” ~Simone Weil

When I was a child, I used to write poems as presents for my parents on birthdays and holidays.

I’d sit quietly and think of what I wanted to say. Then I’d try to turn that into musical language. I’d write those words on the page, and then I’d draw a picture to go with it.

It didn’t occur to me to even ask whether my parents would like my poem or not; I just assumed they would.

Then I got older. I stopped giving my parents poems for presents. I stopped writing poems.

I didn’t write poetry again until I was in college, and then I began to wonder whether my poetry was “good.” Were my poems “good enough” to get me into the advanced poetry workshop? Would they dazzle the teacher? Would the other students like them?

I paid more attention to the way the words sounded on the page than to what I actually was saying. The depth was covered up by surface. And after all, I wasn’t sure I wanted to really bring my depth to the surface for other people to see.

I didn’t write poetry very much again until I was pregnant with my first child. Then what was inside me—literally—was calling my attention. I started to put it on the page.

But there was still this concern about whether what I was creating was “good enough.”

I’ve been dancing with that “good enough” question for many years. I see now that that question is not just about my writing, but about myself, about my own interior life, and about the relationship between that interior life and my external life: Can my depth come out on the surface? Is my surface appropriate for my depth? Will I be seen, appreciated, understood? And how can I develop myself to the best of my potential, showing up and not shying away from who I am and want to be?

Now, many years later, I’m a creative writer and a creative writing teacher, and I see my students similarly worry about whether their work is “good enough.”

I often tell them that their concern, that comes out in relation to their writing, is really a deeper question of how they approach themselves.

I tell them that, yes, the writing for so many of us brings out these insecurities, uncertainties, and learned patterns of thinking about ourselves that otherwise would lie buried. But that the writing doesn’t create those insecurities, uncertainties, or learned patterns. They’re there within us—and all around us.

From the time we’re little, we’re given messages about what it means to be a worthwhile person: people are expected to act a certain way, to look a certain way, to speak a certain way.

For women, our bodies often bear the brunt of these expectations about our physical selves: are our bodies “good” enough, thin enough, pretty enough, light enough, curvy enough, straight enough…

And for women and men, our writing often comes to be the place where our intellect is valued: our writing is judged in schools; our expression is given grades. We measure ourselves against others.

But if we’re always being judged—in body and mind—there is no space to be and to become.

The question of whether we are “good enough” comes from feeling judged, and this restricts us. We experience ourselves as lacking, and a sense of lack leads in turn to our not being able to inhabit our full selves, to our making poor decisions and to living in constricted ways.

So what happens when we put aside our judgment and allow ourselves to be with ourselves and with our creative voices?

What helped me overcome my worry about being “good enough” (or mostly overcome it) is being a mother and seeing what it’s like to love my children unconditionally.

When I am with my children, it never occurs to me to ask whether they are “good” or “good enough.” Those questions seem absurd and meaningless.

I know that my children were born—as I believe all children are born—as wonderful light beings, miracles with unimaginable potential and unique personalities and gifts. They are, like all people, uniquely themselves.

I also know that my children were born with the capacity to grow in countless ways. And this potential to grow and learn never stops.

My children are “good” but that does not mean that they were born good at walking. They needed to learn, as we all do, how to walk. They needed to crawl and then learn how to pull themselves up, needed to learn how to take one step and fall down and then another. At times, also, my children, like all of us, learned how to be more self-aware, how to say they were sorry, how to think about how their actions impacted others.

We all have room for growth—throughout our lives. We all have room for greater awareness and more skill. But as we mature and grow as people, our essential “goodness” does not change.

I try to take the same attitude towards our creative acts: of course, we can learn how to be more skillful writers. But each of us is also born a creative being with a unique creative voice, and more skills will enhance the voice, but won’t essentially change what it has to express. Furthermore, our work is an expression of that voice that is appropriate for who and where we are at the moment that we create.

As a poet, I needed to learn the skills to take my inner world and put it more effectively on paper. I learned from reading others and from having others read and comment on my poems.

As I wrote more poems, my poems got more understandable, more moving, more skillful. But I don’t think I was ever asking the right question when I was asking whether my poems were “good” or “good enough.” Because that question was like cutting the life force off that was full of life and growing

Similarly, as a teacher, I can help my students have more skills. I can show them writing that inspires them and that they can learn from; I can give them tools to use in their pieces. But it’s never my job to judge them or to suggest that their creative expression isn’t worthy.

We are all creative beings. Not everyone is given legs to walk, but everyone is given a unique story and a unique perspective and a unique voice. And who are we, any of us, to say that one story is “good enough” and another is not? Would we ever say that one birdsong is worthy and another is not?

Perhaps some people will like my poems. I know some will.

Perhaps some people will not like my poems. I know many won’t.

But I don’t set myself up waiting breathlessly to be “liked” or not. I set myself up to do my best work and to accompany myself, whether I fall down or walk across the room.

When my children were little, I delighted in the freedom with which they played, danced, drew, sang. I want them to be able to be themselves as fully as adults, and to love themselves in the process.

And I want that for all of us, even for myself. For I know that if I want something for my children, then I need to be able to at least try to model it, otherwise what message am I really sending?

I tell my students: you might not write your most captivating poem this time around, but if you cut off your breath, then you will never will write at your full potential. So take a risk: go for it, and keep trying. Read, write, learn from what you love and engage fully, and keep listening inside and allowing the process to move from the inner to the outer without judgment.

I started writing as a gift to my parents, but now I write as a gift to myself—and to the world.

For me, poetry is an act of love, attention, and presence. When I show up fully and listen, then I can create a passage from what is larger than me through my interior self and then out onto the page.

“Absolute attention is an act of generosity,” the philosopher Simone Weil wrote. When I pay attention to the world around and within me and to the language that I use that is an act of generosity and grace—to myself and to the world and perhaps, also, I can hope, to some of my readers.

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The post What Helped Me Reclaim the Creativity I Loved as a Kid appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

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You're reading How to Prevent Your Anxiety from Rubbing Off On Your Child, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Sometimes, it seems like our kids aren’t learning anything from us—but that’s simply not the case. Kids absorb all the information around them and learn by example. While that can be a good thing, it can also be a problem if you don’t want to pass on certain behaviors you’re modeling for them, like anxiety.

If you’re struggling with anxiety, first remember that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of people have trouble controlling their anxiety. But it’s also important to realize that your behavior is bound to transfer to your child and could cause them to develop anxiety problems of their own.

With that in mind, it’s essential to address problems with your emotional health as soon as you possibly can. According to a pew research study, 70% of teens struggle with anxiety and depression, which can start when children are much younger.

So how can you avoid passing on the anxiety that’s causing you nothing but distress? Here’s what you need to know.

How Does Anxiety Affect Children?

It shouldn’t be too surprising that children are sensitive to the emotions their parents may be experiencing. They pick up on even subtle cues and shape their world view of what’s “normal” by watching their parents. Kids can pick up on anxiety in the home and may be more prone to developing an anxiety disorder if one or both of their parents struggle with anxiety.

There isn’t one main cause of anxiety in children, but both the child’s environment and genetics come into play. Parents can’t change their children’s genetics, but factors like modeling anxiety-promoting behaviors can make the risk go up. Parents who have an anxiety disorder will need to work hard to reduce the impact of their own anxiety on their children, which may include measures like behavior modification and therapy.

Anxiety in America

If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, you’re far from alone. Many Americans have dealt with anxiety or depression at some point during their lives. Pressure from school and work are common triggers for racing thoughts, anxiety, stress, and overwhelm.

Even young adults, who should be enjoying their college years and focusing on learning and growing, often struggle with anxiety. In fact, anxiety and depression are the top two reasons that college students seek mental health services, according to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health.

Across America, anxiety disorders affect 18.1% of the population—40 million adults—making them the most common mental health disorder in the country. Although the problem is so common, many people never get a diagnosis or seek out treatment for the issue. Instead, they suffer for years in silence and often transfer the problem to the next generation.

Anxiety disorders include:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Phobias
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Panic Disorder (PD)
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Brain chemistry, environment, upbringing, genetics, and life experiences all have an impact on the development of anxiety disorders. Not all of these factors can be controlled, but most people who have an anxiety disorder can benefit from treatment and find some relief with talk therapy, medications, and other therapies. Many people with anxiety have also struggled with depression one or more times.

Putting a Stop to Anxiety Transference

If you think that your anxiety is starting to rub off on your child, then it’s time to take steps and put a stop to anxiety transference in your home.

The first step is to understand which behaviors might be putting your child at risk for developing an anxiety disorder. Do you talk about things that scare you in front of them repeatedly, like spiders or merging onto the freeway? Do you react poorly to being startled or when you’re stressed out by changing plans or situations you weren’t expecting? Do you avoid situations that scare you and explain to your child why you’re not comfortable in those situations?

These are all small, subtle ways you may be transferring your own anxiety to your child.

Other signals you may not even have considered is warning your child over and over to be careful when playing or limiting how high they can climb or jump. By repeatedly warning them about hazards in their everyday life, you may think that you’re teaching them to be safe, but you may just be teaching them to be anxious.

Of course, it’s important to keep your children safe. But it’s also important for them to take a few risks and to have the freedom to explore the world around them. Play should be playful, not cause anxiety. A few cuts and scrapes along the way are to be expected. You should absolutely warn your children about truly dangerous activities, but when it comes to normal “kid stuff” it’s important to keep your own worries to yourself.

Using a journal to note your triggers can be helpful in modifying your behavior. You can also practice mindfulness and breathing exercises to start minimizing your anxiety for a more peaceful life.

It can be very helpful to work with a mental health professional both in getting treatment for your own anxiety and for learning strategies you can use to avoid transferring your worries and fears. Sometimes, therapy for your child may be necessary if they’re showing signs of anxiety themselves. There is no shame in reaching out for help and it can make your efforts much more successful.

Putting Your Own Feelings (and Fears) Aside

Anxiety doesn’t serve you, and it’s definitely not something that will serve your kids. The key is learning to put your own feelings and fears aside for the sake of your kids’ mental health. You may be terrified that they’ll injure themselves or have the same fears that you do, but by hovering over them, this is actually more likely to happen.

Kids need to face their fears. If they don’t, they may become much more worried and prone to anxiety in the long run. Protecting your kids with your own anxiety just doesn’t work. For a happy, healthy family, you need to let go (just a little bit) and face your own fears.

You've read How to Prevent Your Anxiety from Rubbing Off On Your Child, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you've enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

posted from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/7-key-elements-to-changing-your-mind-to-a-business-mindset/

Self-development is important and if you’ve decided to work on yourself, you’re already on the right path. The important thing to know is that it’s absolutely possible to become a completely different person if you put in enough time and effort.

Here are the 7 key elements to changing your mind and life:

1. Mindset

The way you think about your life and yourself will determine the success of what you do. It’s about changing the way you think fundamentally rather than temporarily. Entrepreneurs are risk-takers, but even if you aren’t one, you can still be an entrepreneur.

You should understand you are the one who decides the way you will think and act throughout your life. It’s entirely up to you to have a certain attitude towards this or that. If you see that what you are doing or the way you are thinking isn’t helping you, change it.

Stop meekly accepting whatever life throws at you. Rebel if you need to. Get things to be done your way. The long-term success of your business depends on your ability to adapt. Find something you love doing and fight for it. Your life depends on it.

2. Determination

One of the most important personality traits of any successful businessman is determination. It’s not just about being strong enough to endure the challenges you encounter or having a strong will and persistence, but also about being prepared. Planning your strategy is essential to succeed.

Of course, you will often need to alter your plans and sometimes you will get into situations that couldn’t have been predicted. This doesn’t mean that you should go in unprepared every single time. You don’t want to be “blind” as this will only increase the probability of everything going utterly wrong.

If a person is determined, they are truly ready to stand by their decisions and do all the necessary hard work to achieve great things in their life. No famous person simply sat and waited for success to fall into their hands just like that. You need to act.

“I learned that if you want to make it bad enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it.” – Gale Sayers 

3. Relationships

Just like anything else, business is about relationships. Building strong and lasting relationships is one of the most essential aspects of success both in business and in life itself. If you can connect with people, they will connect with you too.

Successful entrepreneurs and businessmen are usually the ones who know how to build relationships as these are crucial for growth and survival. If you are an introvert and aren’t used to communicating with people a lot, it may be a bit harder for you to do that.

Once you establish a relationship with someone, you must not forget to grow it and continue developing this bond in some way. Otherwise, it may fade. Strong relationships with your family, friends, colleagues, and business partners are all equally important.

4. Leadership

What does it mean to be a great leader? There will be many answers to that question and they will be different because being a great leader involves many different things. You have a lot of responsibility when you’re a leader.

Leadership is about taking risks and keeping the morale of your employees high. It’s about thinking fast and coordinating everything in a way that is most effective. A good leader values their people and knows when to recognize the achievements they had.

Leadership is about teaching and learning. It’s about doing things instead of asking. The majority of successful businessmen are leaders who know how to adapt, take risks, act fast, and stay optimistic.

5. Business Knowledge

It’s a popular misconception that successful businessmen manage their businesses well just because of how charismatic they are. While that may be true to an extent, it’s a largely inaccurate picture. Knowledge is power, and this statement is especially true when it comes to business.

A good entrepreneur will know their business in and out. And not just the business itself but also the industry and the competitors. You want and need to be aware of everything going on around you even when others don’t see something crucial to the case. Read between the lines and get different perspectives.

Logically, you can’t possibly know absolutely everything. After all, we are only human. This is why you need to educate yourself continuously. Experience is great, but theoretical knowledge is also very important. Read books, take courses, and practice self-education.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin

6. Swimming Upstream

There is a phrase people often use to tell someone to figure out the situation and just roll with it – “go with the flow.” As a businessman, you will often notice you need to go against the current and swim upstream. Things don’t always work the way everyone thinks they do.

Throughout your life, you will need to change direction many times. Maybe you’ll need to change your image, your job, your strategy, or even your life. That’s absolutely fine because that’s what life is about. Just keep fighting for what you love. Remember that you have an aim, and if you don’t, set one for yourself and work towards it. It’s for your own good that you are working right now. Don’t quit and don’t give up. When the whole world is telling you to move, turn around and say, “No, you move.”

7. Resolution To Succeed

Don’t forget this very important step which is setting yourself up to succeed. You can succeed in anything, but know It won’t be easy. Resolve yourself to achieve something, so that nothing can stop you. Allow yourself to dream a little and give yourself hope. If you really understand that you can succeed and persuade yourself that it’s possible, you will be able to do things that you didn’t even know you could do.

To summarize, becoming successful in life requires patience, dedication, and hard work. Follow the advice in this article to become a better version of yourself and change your mind and life into a business focused one.

How do you stay determined to reach your goals and aspirations? What suggestions would you provide for people reading this article? Share your advice below!

posted from https://wealthygorilla.com/marlon-wayans-net-worth/

  Introduction  Marlon Wayans is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer from New York. Wayans is best known for starring in films such as ‘Scary Movie’, ‘Scary Movie 2’, ‘White Chicks’ and ‘Little Man’.  As of 2019, Marlon Wayans’ net worth is roughly $40 Million dollars.    Early Life Marlon Lamont Wayans was […]

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posted from https://www.lifehack.org/849510/be-self-aware

On a scale of 1-10, how self-aware do you think you are? If you don't know how to answer this question, you aren't alone. One study estimates that only 10-15% of people are truly self-aware.((HubSpot: The True Meaning of Self-Awareness (& How to Tell If You're Actually Self-Aware)) If self-awareness is so important, why do so many people struggle with it, let alone understand what it means? A big reason is because we live in a world where we are conditioned to operate on autopilot. This busy mindset doesn't leave room for much self-reflection and introspection. By not taking the time to connect with ourselves, we stop paying attention to what is going on internally. As you can imagine, this can be a recipe for an emotional disaster.

What is Self-Awareness?

Self-awareness is the foundation for personal growth. It involves understanding your own needs, desires, failings, habits, and everything else that makes you tick.((Lifehacker: The Importance of Self-Awareness and How To Become Self-Aware)) If you want to strive to be a better person, you need to get intimate with yourself, meaning you've got to know who you are and who you are not. Moreover, you've got to be able to accurately monitor your inner world, as well as accept who you are with an open heart. This is where a lot of people get stuck. It takes courage to go deep with yourself and look at messy emotions that you don't necessarily want to acknowledge, let alone work on. Let's face it... growth isn't always pretty. In fact, it sometimes feels like an uphill climb. However, it is the one thing that is required if you want to level up your life and become more of who you want to be.

"Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. It enables you to keep growing." -- Lawrence Bossidy

The benefits of self-awareness are far-reaching, some of which include, greater empathy and listening skills, improved critical-thinking skills and decision making, strengthened relationships, and enhanced leadership capabilities and capacity.((Institute for Public Relations: Know Thyself: Examining The Benefits of Self-Reflection))

How Do You Know If You Are Self-Aware?

Many people think that self-awareness is this grandiose skill that only super smart people understand. This is far from true. If you have fallen victim to this type of thinking, I want to share some signs that you may be more self-aware than you actually think you are.

You're Unapologetically Yourself

If you aren't afraid to speak your truth, for fear that others won't accept you for who you are, the chances are you've got a high level of self-awareness. Self-aware people live from a place of integrity. They are unapologetically themselves, in the sense that they don't allow the noise of others' judgments to veer them off track. In other words, they know how to stay in their own lane.

You're a Master of Your Emotions

When life doesn't go your way, self-aware people don't react and throw in the towel. They understand that irrational behaviors only make you spiral into a negative hole. Hence, they stop and think before they respond to challenges. They know that if they don't master their emotions, their emotions will master them. By becoming aware of their emotions, they are able to maintain a sense of clarity and peace of mind, no matter what is going on in their environment.

You Listen to Yourself

Self-aware individuals pride themselves on their ability to pay attention and tune into what is happening inside of them. Your intuition rarely ever lies. I have yet to meet anyone who has said to me, "My gut is a liar." Self-aware people listen to what their gut tells them. When something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. By trusting the messages or feelings that they are receiving, self-aware people are better able to make decisions that positively influence their lives.

You've Got Strong Boundaries

Self-aware people don't let others walk all over them. They know that they can't be all things for all people, which is why they establish strong boundaries with others. Setting a boundary is the ability to recognize the need for a healthy separation between your thoughts and feelings and the thoughts and feelings of others.((HuffPost:10 Great Things That Happen When You Set Boundaries)) By taking care of their emotional needs first, self-aware people are better able to take care of themselves.

How to Become Self-Aware

Becoming self-aware is the first step in the creation of your ideal future. It's the personal commitment to yourself that you are ready and willing to upgrade your current reality. Once you are more aware of your thoughts, emotions and behaviors, you become empowered to make changes that serve your highest self.

1. Keep a Journal

One of the most powerful tools for building self-awareness is through journaling. This is a great way to get to connect with your inner world on a deeper level and communicate with any subconscious feelings you might be overlooking. The act of writing provides a space for unexpressed feelings to be acknowledged. The question is.... what do you write about? I would suggest that you focus on one area of your life where you currently feel stuck. At the beginning of each day, do a brain dump and express, in writing, all of the random things that you've been thinking about. This approach has the potential for getting your creative juices flowing and reduces the influence of your rational thoughts.((Life Skills That Matter: The #1 Self-Awareness Habit))

2. Practice Mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness on a daily basis can help you fully experience the totality of your emotions. When you are mindful, you have greater control over your emotional self. In turn, you will feel more calm and less stress. This quiet time is a perfect opportunity to reflect on your feelings in the present moment. Increased mindfulness influences our ability to think about our choices, as well as our ability to experience pleasure, reduce emotional reactivity and increase attention.((Presenting Yourself: Use Mindfulness To Increase Your Self-Awareness and Effectiveness)) Your body is always communicating with you. The question is, are you listening to it? A lot of people are too stuck in their heads, which in turn, disconnects them from their bodies. A great self-awareness practice for getting more in touch with yourself is by doing a body scan. Take some time every day to close your eyes and notice how each area of your body feels. By connecting with your body intelligence, you will feel more grounded overall.

3. Ask for Feedback from Others

In my opinion, honest and constructive feedback is the most valuable way to develop a greater level of self-awareness. We all have blind spots. What are yours? If you don't know, it's time to ask someone! Feedback is a great way to discover your strengths and weaknesses so you can figure out how to harness and or improve them.((Lifehacker: Asking for Regular Feedback Can Boost Your Self-Awareness)) This will require that you get humble and drop you ego. By asking others for their input about how they perceive you and your actions, you will feel empowered to change those parts of yourself that may be holding you back from becoming the person whom you aspire to be.

4. Challenge Yourself

A great way to practice self-awareness and work on becoming a better person is to undertake something significant. True growth comes from stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking risks. That is when your figure out who you truly are as a person. All of this is easier said than done. Change can be hard, especially if you have behaved one way for most of your life. This is why staying in your comfort zone feels so good. It is a space where your activities and behaviors fit a routine and pattern that minimizes stress and risk. Security is "nice" but it will kill your productivity. Challenging yourself and putting everything on the line helps propel you forward and fuels your personal growth. If you want to be your best self, you've got to be willing to test your limits and free yourself from who people think you "should" be so that you can figure out who you were meant to be.

Final Thoughts

Self-awareness is the key to self-mastery. By making the commitment to discover new truths about yourself, you will grow and improve every area of your life. When you know who you are, there is nothing you cannot do. You cannot improve yourself if you are not self-aware. In the words of Eckhart Tolle,

"Awareness is the greatest agent for change."

What actions will you take today to grow your self-awareness muscle and change your life for the better?

More About Self-Mastery

• How Self-Reflection Gives You a Happier and More Successful Life
• How to Attain Self Realization (Step-By-Step Guide)
• How to Build Self Esteem (A Guide to Realize Your Hidden Power)

posted from http://youtu.be/vZywfAm7Q9E

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The post How to Write Great Blog Post Titles appeared first on ProBlogger.

This post is based on Episode 156 of the ProBlogger podcast.

The title of your blog post can completely change its destiny.

People often decide whether to read your post – and ultimately take action – based on the title alone.

It may also determine whether or not they share your post.

So it’s crucial that you spend time crafting your title and getting it right.

Why Your Blog Post Title Matters So Much

You might be wondering why your title is so very important, especially if you think it’s nothing more than a few larger-than-normal words at the top of your post.

Here’s why it matters so much:

• Your title appears in search engine results. Apart from that small description (your meta description), people don’t have much to go on when deciding whether to click your link instead of the one above/below it.
• Your title appears in RSS feeds. Depending on how you set up your RSS feed, readers may only see the title and the opening lines of your post when deciding whether to click through and read the whole thing.
• Your title appears in links. When bloggers link to your post on their own blogs or social media, they often just copy and paste your title and then add the link. And their readers will decide whether to read your post based on that title.

In each of these situations, the title is probably the most important factor in getting people to read your post. Write one that’s boring, complicated, confusing or without a compelling reason to click, and people may never click on it to read your post.

Is There a Formula for Writing the Perfect Title?

A lot has been written about blog post titles. There are a lot of theories and formulas out there, as well as “swipe files” you can use to find template titles.

But while swipe files can be a useful place to start, a lot of the formulas get overused.  So you need to be careful about using them too much on your blog. By all means read them to see how they work, but always try to adapt them for your reader.

Rather than give you yet another formula, I’m going to share ten things I try to do when I’m writing blog post titles. For each title I try to do at least a couple of things on this list (but never all ten).

Let’s go through them.

#1: Communicate a Benefit

With each title, I try to communicate a benefit or make some kind of promise about what the post will deliver. I want readers to know just from the title how they’ll benefit from clicking the link and reading the post.

When I’m trying to decide whether to read a post, I always subconsciously ask, “What’s in it for me?”

I think most readers ask questions like this. What’s the benefit? Will I be entertained? Will I be informed? Will I learn something new? Will I hear something newsworthy? Will I feel inspired?

A couple of titles that worked really well on Digital Photography School are:

• How to Take Sharp Images
• Four Easy Photoshop Techniques to Make Your Pictures Pop

#2: Think About Keywords and Search Engine Traffic

Search engines are the number one source of traffic to both my blogs. So I’m always thinking about how to get my posts ranking higher.

Every time I write a title I ask, “What would someone type into Google to look for this information?”

If I don’t ask that question I’m potentially ignoring half the traffic that could come to the site, particularly over the long-term. We tend to see social media traffic coming in when a post is first published, but after that 99% of the post’s traffic comes from search engines.

A title that does really well for us on search engines is How to Photograph Fireworks. In the afternoon on the 4th of July, a lot of people type how to photograph fireworks and they find that post.

#3: Evoke Readers’ Curiosity

A lot has been said about curiosity over the past few years. Sometimes it’s overused, to the point where we how have a term for content that evokes curiosity without satisfying it – “clickbait”.

This type of content will frustrate your readers.

You shouldn’t give away all the answers in the title. But you shouldn’t tease or manipulate people either.

A title that works well for us is Three Lenses Every Photographer Should Own. While it clearly communicates what the post is about, there’s also a bit of intrigue. You need to read the article to find out which three lenses.

Another good way to evoke curiosity is to take a negative slant using a word such as “mistakes”, which we did in 5 Common Mistakes Aspiring Travel Photographers Make (+ How to Avoid Them). You could also go with a “what the pros won’t tell you” angle, as in What They Don’t Tell You About Being A Wedding Photographer.

You need to be careful with curiosity. Most readers don’t like ambiguity. They want to know what they’re getting. So if it’s a choice between curiosity and communicating benefits, go with the latter.

#4: Use Questions

This technique works well with those  we’ve covered already. People type questions into search engines all the time. So by thinking about those questions, you can often come up with great blog post titles.

You could use the question itself as the blog post title. For instance, “What do the numbers on my lens mean?” is a question people often type into Google. If you prefer you can flip the question around to create a title like What The Numbers On Your Lens Mean, which we used on Digital Photography School.

Another good opportunity to use a question in your title is when you want your post to start a discussion or debate. But again, be careful. If you put a question in the title, make sure you answer it in the post. If you don’t, readers will be disappointed.

#5: Break Your Title into Two Parts

Sometimes you want to do two things in one title or headline. Splitting it into a title and subtitle using a colon is a great way to do this. We do this a lot with our ebook titles, where we want to both communicate what the ebook is about and convey something aspirational.

For instance, one of our ebook titles is Natural Light: Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool. The first part, “Natural Light”, tells you what the ebook is about. The subheading “Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool” is more aspirational and enticing.

Another example is Living Landscapes: A Guide to Stunning Landscape Photography. This time the first part of the title conveys something evocative – making landscapes come alive. The second part makes it clear what the book is about.

#6: Use a “How To” Element in the Title

This is one of my favourites. Many articles I’ve published both here on ProBlogger and on Digital Photography School over the years have a “how to” element in the title. These types of titles tie in well with communicating a benefit.

You don’t necessarily need “how to” in the title to signal it’s this type of post. You can also use words such as “tips”, “techniques”, “steps”, or “guide”. Even words such as “rules”, “secrets” or “hints” can communicate that your post will teach the reader something.

People often type “how to”, “tips” or “techniques” into Google when learning how to do something.

#7: Use Numbers

List posts (or “listicles”) get used a lot, and some bloggers feel a bit tired of them. But study after study shows that titles with numbers in them tend to get clicked more than titles without them.

People have come up with a lot of theories about why this is true. One theory is that numbers make a post feel more manageable. Readers know what to expect: ten points, for instance. And that certainty often appeals to people.

Small numbers can signal that a post will be easy to take in or achieve. For example, three points implies a fairly short article. Larger numbers can signal a longer, comprehensive post. We’ve found that 21 tends to work well with our audience.

#8: Compare One Thing to Another

People often use Google to compare things. For instance, they might type “should I buy a Nikon D50 or a Canon 5D” when trying to work out which type of camera to buy or “should I use WordPress or Blogger” when deciding on a blogging platform.

If your post compares something and you signal it in your title, that post will be well placed to get traffic and attention from people facing that particular choice.

This also ties in with signalling a benefit. Your post should help people choose, or offer a definitive answer about which option is the best.

#9: Put Your Audience in the Headline

There are a couple of ways to include your audience in the headline.

A simple way is to use the word “you”. Instead of writing “Ten Mistakes Photographers Make”, write “Are You Making These Ten Photography Mistakes?”

Another way is to describe who the post is for. A title like “What Beginner Photographers Need to Know About the Camera” makes it clear your post is for beginner photographers. While this might reduce the potential audience size – more advanced photographers probably won’t read the article – it catches the attention of people within the target audience.

#10: Use Power Words

Some words really work well. Aspirational words such “gorgeous” work well for us on Digital Photography School (“How to Take Gorgeous Photos of Your Newborn Baby”), as well as words such as “breathtaking”, “beautiful” and “sensational”.

Be careful not to go overboard here. Using too many of these words in one title, or the same word all the time, can come across as a bit hyped up or fake.

Other words we pay attention to include “free”, “secrets”, “mistakes” and “easy”. These sorts of words make something sound more appealing and intriguing.

Again, you need to be careful. Some of these will trigger spam filters. For example, Gmail often puts emails containing words such as “free” or “discount” into the Promotions tab rather than the main inbox.

Other power words set expectations about the style of the article. For instance, “step by step” signals you’ll be walking the reader through a process.

Some words signal authority, such as “Essential Guide”. Making a big promise or claim can work well, as it does in our post 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know. This post makes a bold claim and also elicits a bit of curiosity.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of what technique I use, I try to keep in mind how long my titles are. It’s important both for search engines and social media to keep them fairly short and clear.

I also try to know my audience and avoid overdoing formulas. I watch for what works, but also try to find a fresh spin on it from time to time.

Sometimes it’s good to have one headline for search engines and a slightly different one for social media. Having a ‘straight’ title for search engines and a more curiosity-focused or aspirational title on social media can also work well.

And take your time. The best writers usually come up with multiple titles, perhaps as many as 10 or 20. Sometimes they bounce ideas off other people and get them involved too.

It’s well worth putting extra effort into crafting your blog post title. Like I said earlier, your title determines whether or not someone reads your post and eventually takes action on it.

Do you use any of the techniques I’ve covered in your titles? Do you have a particular way of writing titles that resonate with your readers? I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.

Image credit: Nicole Honeywill

 

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