positive thinking is the key to your success by muha

Thinking positive is the key to your success. All successful people have one thing in common: Positive thinking and passion for what they are doing! Watch the great champions with what will and deprivation are fighting for reaching the desired objective. Watch the successful professionals and try to understand their dedication and sacrifices they do in their effort to reach that point that will bring them professional recognition. All the major successes start from a simple idea and if there is a real desire and positive thinking then they become a reality...!

Many of the ideas may temporarily give us incentives to try them but few of these ideas can keep our desire for success at such high levels in order to be able to overcome the obstacles that are found in the way. Take for example our personal goals and objectives set by each of us for our career, personal life, education, our looks etc. How committed are we to achieve these goals? Do we set objectives but we give up when things are difficult? Are we getting enthusiastic with an idea, which bursts on the road and cannot ever be converted into real objective? How can we keep this enthusiasm and desire for success until we meet our goals?

manage exam stress by forhealth

Students have a lot of stress especially during the exam period. It is more than vital for students to be able to manage stress if they want to succeed in the exams.

Exams themselves are a compelling experience that causes stress, because the stakes are high: the dreams that students make for their lives, the beginning of a career, the expectations that they have for themselves, the expectations parents have for their children. The exam stress is usually associated with the fear that students will disappoint their parents by their performance, and with the expectations they have from themselves. 

This article outlines some very useful tips that can help students and parents understand what are the causes and symptoms of stress and how students can manage stress before, during and after the exam period.

manage stress and your life

Regardless of what is the cause of stress the degree in which stress affects us depends on how we think about it. To manage stress effectively we need first to be able to manage our thoughts and the way of thinking. Each situation and each event gets the value that we give them, and thus causing us such stress, as we allow them to. Each person things and reacts differently from all other people. Also, the same person things and reacts for the same events differently at different times, depending on the circumstances.

What upset us is not the events themselves, but the perception we have for them. If this perception changed, then it is possible to manage, change or reduce the degree of stress we feel.

A very good way to manage stress, is to examine whether the situation or the causes of stress are really so bad as we think, or they are only bad in our thoughts. The steps below will help you manage your stress by first managing your thoughts.

happy faces by 001fj

The good thing with the stress of the holidays is that it is predictable. Unlike other types of stress that we encounter in life, we know exactly when it will start and when it will finish! Therefore, we can organize ourselves in order to avoid it or at least control it.

In our previous post "6 causes of Christmas stress and depression" we outlined the major causes why for many people Christmas holidays is a period of depression and stress. These are:

• Absence of a beloved person
• Family misunderstandings
• The economic difficulties
• Physical tiredness
• Loneliness
• Seasonal Emotional Disturbance

In this post, we give 15 tips to follow in order to make this Christmas holidays a period of joy and happiness.

Teamwork in the workplace by lumaxart

Teamwork is a very important aspect of every life. The person's ability to work harmoniously in a team as well as the communication and interpersonal skills are key factors for succeeding in the workplace. Persons who posses these characteristics are more likely to be successful in today's competitive business environment. There are some simple tips and techniques that one can easily follow to improve these skills and become a teamwork guru.

Why good teamwork relationships are important?

The relationship we have with our colleagues in the workplace, is affecting our psychological condition, productivity and quality of life in general. No doubt the quality of relations that exists between the members of a group working for a common purpose in a workplace is a key factor for the success of the group.

A harmonious relationship and good communication between the members of a team is necessary for the effective cooperation in achieving the goals of the team, and is an irreplaceable weapon in the struggle for your own personal success.

Inevitably in a human environment, you should expect to have different approaches to solving problems.

building self confidence and self esteem by bocavermelha

Even though many people understand the importance of self confidence and self esteem, unfortunately many of us do not realize that our confidence is low and that we need to find ways for building our confidence and self esteem. Even those who understand it, they do not know how to improve it! In today's world, with such increased obligations to our personal and professional live, the security that confidence and self esteem gives us is more than essential. If you have confidence you will win the respect of other people around you, and confidence and self esteem is not something that can be hidden when it exists.

A pre-requisite in building confidence and self esteem is to first understand what causes the reduction of self esteem and what signs in our behaviour indicate that we have a low self-esteem problem.

building confidence and self-esteem by qwurky

Building confidence and self-esteem is a process that needs a lot of effort, courage and patience. Confidence and Self-esteem is defined as the absolute faith in our self and our abilities. Confidence includes self-esteem and dignity and the belief that we are able to carry out and meet any challenge or dilemma in our life. Self-confidence is the way we talk to ourselves for ourselves!

The existence of self confidence and self esteem predisposes two interrelated concepts: the concept of internal competence and the sense of personal value i.e. Self-confidence and self-esteem, which together have resulted in the conviction that we live the life we deserve and if we do not live it, is in our hands to pursue it.

Self-esteem is a major factor for the success of a marriage. It is the reason of success or the cause of the disaster of a relationship.

Self esteem exercises are ways that can help you improve yours and your partner’s self esteem that will eventually lead to a successful relationship and marriage.

First, lets do a quick analysis of the word Self Esteem. The word self-esteem is complex and consists of the words: self + esteem, esteem being appreciation, in other words I appreciate and respect myself.

Self esteem is the basis of a healthy personality. Many times, because of poor upbringing in a family environment, a person can have a bad notion about his character and skills, to feel inadequate, incompetent and a loser.

In the context of marriage the self esteem of both people is very important. Each partner should care about how to improve the self esteem of the other person. Weapons against the low self-esteem of our partner are our love and our acceptance. Stressing how remarkable person he/she is and showing our respect and our confidence in them, we essentially build on a daily basis the family environment that is demolished inside him/her.

image by spclarke

Causes of Low self esteem in marriage

There are many indications, in the context of marriage that can help you understand if someone lacks self-esteem. The most common are:

Low self esteem is not only dangerous for your health but it is also bad for your relationship. Self esteem plays a very important role on how you behave in a relationship and if you are suffering from low self esteem then it is more likely that the major cause of problems in your relationship is caused by your low self esteem. Improving your low self esteem will not only benefit your self but it will also do good for your relationships.

 The way we feel that other people accept us, plays a crucial role in our interpersonal and social relations. When you are married or in a relationship, these feelings have even greater influence on the quality and evolution of the marital relationship and therefore family life.

When you marry, you promise love and devotion for your entire life both in good and bad moments. But how do we experience these commitments in everyday life? Dow we feel that the other person loves us and accepts us no matter how good is the performance that we have in our professional life?

Understanding what happens to each of us might help us understand how we see others and what we expect from them. So we will be better able to recognize the influence of various negative or positive events in our relationships and to prevent undue complications that occur because of our own experiences and perceptions.

image by purrr

The low self-esteem is dangerous for your mental and physical health. When feelings of low self-esteem are accompanied by negative emotions such as anxiety, depression and stress then this fatal combination increases the risk of heart diseases. On the contrary high levels of self-esteem strengthens the mental and physical health.

I decided to by happy for the rest of my life because it is good for my health, Voltaire

The negative emotions that come with low self-esteem, weaken the body immune system and increase the levels of inflammation. These factors have been associated with heart disease.

image by zschnep

The low self-esteem increases stress and leads to unhealthy behaviours such as smoking and alcohol abuse. Not surprisingly this unhealthy combination of low self-esteem and stress also affects social behaviour. In addition people with low self-esteem have no incentive to care for themselves. Instead of exercising and trying to improve their health and improve their self esteem levels they tend to remain inactive and passive. 

In the last decade several investigations were made to study the link between good health and self-esteem. A recent research was conducted by the University College London.

People with low self esteem are unhappy, miserable and they are always full of negative feelings. To improve your self-esteem you have to focus on your own unique abilities and characteristics and also on things that you like. It is not an easy thing to do but low self esteem can be improved and raised to a high level.

We all have our insecurities. At times ourselves disappoint us, we find it difficult to believe in our capabilities, we question our worth and feel small and hopeless, especially when compared to some people who we admire, or that we consider models or simply believe that they represent what we think is of value and importance.

Even people with a high degree of self-confidence and self esteem have moments of self judgment and self denial. These crises are normal and expected. They are part of the human nature, at least as it has shaped in our days. In fact they are necessary for our reorientation process in life: where I am, where I go and what is my relationship with others? But are problematic and painful when they dominate your everyday life: When our every thought is about how incapable we are and how others are better from us.

Causes of low self esteem

The major cause of low self-esteem is the way we think. Our thoughts constantly rotate around the shortcomings, the medical disabilities, our weaknesses, and we lost the scope of our good and strong sides.

image by nicolepete

Negative feelings

Usually prevailing negative feelings of sorrow, anxiety, fear, shame, guilt, which intensify the feeling of failure and make more difficult any attempt to get out of this disadvantageous situation we believe we are.

Do you often think «I am a victim of life» and you are experiencing bitterness, confusion and uncertainty?

If you think something is not going good in your life, that something is wrong but you do not know what, then you are likely to lose control and, perhaps, it is a good time to change your life and start making changes. The successful people manage their lives by change, while unsuccessful people are passive and they do not dare to make changes at all.

Self-confidence is an important asset for our mental and physical health and a necessity for a good life. Building self confidence is not something that one day falls from the sky, or a lottery that a lucky person wins… Self-confidence is build and maintained day by day with simple everyday things.

Did you ever ask your self these questions: Who am I; What I know; what can I do; do I deserve it; how can I do that? Those who can answer these questions in a positive way, they stand in fairly strong legs. Those who don’t then they lack one of the most important, priceless assets of our lives: self-confidence. Self-confidence is not a gift of nature to some people but it is something that we all deserve to search for; and nonetheless we own it our selves.

image by annbananne

What is the real meaning of self-confidence?

Body language is when you talk to others not with your voice but with your body and gestures. It serves to better understand words since it gives them colour, emotion and meaning. The body language is many times more ... "betraying" as we would like. It also serves to understand if the other person lies, is honest with us and he really believes about us. It is a way to diagnose character, personality, mood and emotions.

Body language starts with the posture, gestures and expressions of your face and movements of your body. Body language is frequently one of the factors that determine the honesty and credibility or not of people. When someone can interpret body language moves and gestures it will be in a better position to understand and handle other people in many aspects of life including relationships, friendships and work. 

But how can you improve your body language? To improve your body language you have to first understand and interpet body language expressions nad movements.Most often, the mere avoidance of the most classic mistakes and replacing them by other movements showing more confidence can make the difference.

Body Language Expressions and their meaning

1. Eye contact

The person who avoids direct eye contact when making a presentation or talking to a group of people is a sign that he/she does not have confidence, he is nervous and unprepared. The overwhelming majority of people during a presentation look at their notes, the table in front of them or outside the window.

To improve your body language in this area you should spend more than 90% of the time in your presentation looking at the audience in the eyes. It is useful to video record yourself so as to take notice of how you look when you are targeting an audience in conjunction with the degree of attention the audience gives back to you during the presentation.

Take the example of powerful business leaders who tend to look their audience directly into the eyes when they want to pass a message. Check out some of the presentations by Bill Gates to see how he spoke to people with his body language.

Bill Gates Body language at CES 2007.
image by everystockphoto

How many times have you given your self the promise that you will quit smoking by tomorrow? To be reading this most probably you are still counting. Usually we make the promise to quit smoking when we are out of breath, when we walk up the stairs, whenever it hurts the neck, whenever we compare the strengths and our physical condition with non-smokers and we find out that we are insufficient, and when we do our New Year resolutions.

To clarify, and to avoid misunderstandings, quitting smoking is a personal choice. No one can convince someone to stop smoking better than him self. This article is not for making an anti-smoking campaign; there is not need for that, everybody around the world knows the harmful effects of smoking. This article is for providing some easy to follow and useful tips that can help someone who decided to quit smoking how to achieve it.

image by ilco

Experts agree that the decision to quit smoking is taken from the smoker when he really feels the desire for change. When the smoker feels threatened by the habit of smoking for both him and the others around him and when he believes that the dematerialisation from nicotine will bring significant benefits to him; and also when he feels capable of coping with change. Simply put, this means that the decision is in our minds and there must be hatched. Any effort influenced by ephemeral modes and prohibitions, if it does not come from our desire is doomed to fail.

So if you have taken your decisions, the following article will guide you on how to quit smoking. If you do not feel confident that you want to quit smoking, you can always keep it for future use.

20 Tips on How to quit smoking

1. Publicise your decision to quit smoking

Let your friends and family know your decision to quit smoking. Get practical support, delegating to a person close to you the difficult task of reminding you of your target and benefits in your health whenever you feel a strong desire for a cigarette. Also, very important, ask from friends and family not to smoke in front of you and not to leave cigarettes around you.

2. Set a target date

A good idea is the starting point, the impetus for everything we do. It is the most important success factor for a new project and at the same time the most difficult one.
 
Creativity is not a special skill, ability or privilege of a few people, but instead is the result of careful and structural thinking.

Digging your mind for new ideas is not an easy thing to do. This article gives you 15 tips and techniques on how to prepare your self and mind for your next big idea.

1. Exercise your mind by reading

Like the body, the mind needs exercise. One way to exercise your mind is to study the ideas and projects of smart people. For example, biographies of successful people are an excellent source of inspiration. Also reading magazines that are considered serious, such as Forbes, Business Week and The Economist, web sites like "Pick the Brain", “Digg” and "Self Growth" is "food for the brain." Reading other ideas, makes it easier to digg your ideas and bring them on the surface.

2. Write your ideas down

It would be a shame to suddenly come up with an excellent idea and after a while to forget it. Do not rely solely on your memory. Keep a notebook, a PDA or a recorder with you in order to capture the idea any time of the day - even besides your bed, in case your inspiration throws you a visit at 2 in the morning.

After you capture your idea, try to use it as soon as possible. Expand your thinking of how this idea can be implemented. What are the good things about this idea, how it can help you improve in an area. These ideas are like fruit: the fresher they are consumed, the better.

3. Discuss your new ideas with others

People have different views, different influences and different cultures, which make their minds work so uniquely. Discussing your ideas with others can help you discover new opportunities to integrate into the idea and ways to expand and enrich it. The discussion may bring something that had not previously gone through your mind, which will broaden your original idea.

Never discard any ideas. Some things that sound silly in the beginning may be simply rough diamonds at the end. Moreover, while discussing try to keep the conversation "open" and non-critical, encourage your friends to use their imagination to the fullest.

	image by Peia

By Clark Faint

Alrighty, it's time for another episode of Clark's blog. I've taken a couple of days off to refresh and now I feel ready to write. Sometimes it can be a challenge to come up with a good topic to write about even though this is world is full of things to talk about!

My topic today is motivation. What motivates you to push yourself to accomplish your goals and dreams? If you can't answer that question, you've got some soul-searching to do. Do you ever start off doing something with a full head of steam and charge right out of the gates? You probably even make good progress to start with. Then maybe things slow down to a more stagnant pace and you start to lose some of that enthusiasm and energy you had when you started. It happens to all of us. It even happened to me this week when I thought of writing a couple of days and then decided against it. Instead of going only a week with one blog entry though, I decided it would be better to push myself to write one night even if I didn't want to. Thankfully, tonight I did.