9 Things You Need To Stop Doing If You Want To Be Successful

 

Communication Motivationby Emina Dedic Earl Nightingale,  motivational speaker and author, once said, “We become what we think about.” Perhaps truer words have never been spoken. The human mind is an incredible thing, and having the right attitude and mindset has routinely been stated by numerous successful people as being a pivotal key to success. Sometimes, however, it is easy to get side-tracked. Situations in life can get in the way of our goals, self-esteem, and personal well-being. Truthfully, success is a subjective term, and everyone will disagree over what constitutes being successful. Here are a list of guidelines, however, of some things to stop doing if you want to be or feel successful.   1. Stop Expecting Perfection Often, we get frustrated when things don’t work out the way we want them to, or as quickly as we’d like them to. We stress over small details, or beat ourselves up for getting one thing wrong, or forgetting to dot one I or cross one T. People are fallible. Mistakes and drawbacks are a fact of life. Nothing is nor will it ever be perfect, and that’s okay. Stressing out over minute details or things that would have been impossible to get to is unproductive and unhealthy. Start saying that you will do your personal best, because at the end of the day, you’re not in competition with anyone but yourself. Example: Jennifer Lawrence is someone who everyone seems to be talking about right now, but did you know she was rejected for the role of Bella Swan in ‘Twilight‘? She also didn’t take theater classes. She just trusted her instincts and worked as hard as possible to land acting roles. Obviously, she wasn’t perfect for every role, but she didn’t expect perfection. She takes her failures and rejections well, trying to learn from each situation.   2. Stop Saying Yes When You Want to Say No It’s always important to know your limits, and people will always try to test them. Human beings are social animals. We want to interact with others and feel like we are a part of something or like we are special to someone else. People also, for the most part, like to please others. Sometimes, however, it’s easy to be taken advantage of. Whether it’s helping a co-worker with something when you can’t really afford to, or loaning a friend money you can’t really afford to give. Out of guilt, people often say yes to people and situations that they really should say no to. Don’t be afraid to trust your gut and say no. Sometimes you can’t stay a few hours later because you had other plans or important errands to run. Sometimes it’s okay to say no to that co-worker that keeps nagging you for help but is really just stalling because they don’t want to work and know you’ll help them. Sometimes it’s okay to prioritize other things over work. Saying no is healthy. Saying no means that you know your boundaries and can demand respect. Example: Margaret Thatcher is known as being tough. She was a powerful politician. She also knew during her career when she had to take a stand, and sometimes that stand meant saying no to bad political and economic policy.   3. Stop Negative Self-Dialogue We all can probably play back in our minds every negative or embarrassing thing we’ve ever done to ourselves, been subjected to, or done to someone else. Whether it’s tripping over one’s shoelaces in the fourth grade, or being fired from a job, wronging someone else, or overhearing someone speaking negatively about us, those thoughts are forever solidified in our minds. Replaying those thoughts, however, and constantly punishing oneself for past mistakes, is counterproductive at certain points. At some point, it’s more important to learn from situations and move on, instead of psychologically beating yourself up. The next time you find yourself saying, “I’m not pretty enough”, “I did this horrible thing once five years ago and I’ll never forgive myself”, or any type of statement along those lines, turn off that negative self-dialogue. Look in the mirror and say something kind to yourself. Read some inspirational quotes. Acknowledge that you are taking steps and making an effort to be a better person. Admit to yourself that everyone makes mistakes, and most importantly, that making mistakes is okay. Example: This article does a good job of listing Steve Job’s failures. We remember him anyway, and we remember him as a pioneer and someone who didn’t give up. When things go wrong, and they often do, it’s easy for us to remember every mistake we have ever made along the way. Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of our goals because of that lack of confidence. Don’t give up and attempt to stay positive. Train your brain to think of things in a new, more positive way. Most of all, keep working hard. Failure doesn’t have to be permanent.   4. Stop Focusing On Just Today Successful people tend to understand the value of a good plan. They plan out their day, their goals, a budget and they plan how much to save for retirement. That doesn’t mean they don’t have fun, though. They most certainly do! They just make sure to plan when it is appropriate and inappropriate to have fun. They make time for productivity and fun, but still save and think about the future. So, stop just focusing on today and having fun. Think about where you want to be in five, 10 or 15 years down the road! Having a good focus aids in success! Example: Neil deGrasse Tyson has been in love with the universe and science since he was nine years old. Because of that love, he worked long-term to study the things he cared about. He was accepted into Harvard where he majored in physics, eventually moving on to advanced education. His list of accomplishments would take up another full article in and of itself.   5. Stop Ignoring Your Goals Stop believing things will just work out for you because you’re a good person. Good things only happen to people who make an effort. A part of making an effort is setting goals for oneself. As evidenced in the previous point, it’s not enough to just focus on the day at hand. It’s important to manage time and set short-term and long-term goals in order to be able to track progress and have something to strive for. Example: Alan Turing is considered the father of artificial intelligence and computers. He also broke the code to the Nazi encryption machine called Enigma. He faced many challenges along the way, such as the inability to identify with others and being charged with indecency, for which he was eventually pardoned. Despite his personal struggles, though, he managed to break the code for Enigma, saving approximately 14 million people from death and in turn helped end World War 2.   6. Stop Isolating People Successful people understand that not everything is about work, church or similar obligations. Some things are about family, relaxation, and hobbies. It’s easy to get the impression that everyone who feels or defines themselves as successful probably has no spare time on their hands, and in some cases, that’s true. However, it isn’t always. Social isolation can kill people. In fact, many successful people have mastered the art of balance. They don’t isolate the people they love because they have large goals or something they want to accomplish. Instead, they incorporate those they love into their goals and hobbies. Example: According to a recent Forbes article, many leaders feel lonely. However, here are 25 examples of social business leaders who seem to thrive on relationships. It’s okay to know how to work alone and prefer that, but it’s also important to be able to rely on your staff, friends, and family for support. Involving people in leadership or product processes makes them feel valued and provides valuable feedback. Successful people enjoy that relationship. They also enjoy their time away from their goals and work to spend time with their loved ones.   7. Stop Comparing Yourself To Everyone Else Successful people understand that the only person they can compete with today is the person they were yesterday. They are too focused on themselves and their goals to worry about anyone else. They don’t want to compare themselves to others because it’s counterproductive. However, they do analyze where they have weak points and are able to genuinely admire people who have mastered things they have not. There is no use to comparing yourself to someone else. It’s counterproductive and harmful to your self-esteem. It also helps to harbor negative self-dialogue. Example: Taylor Swift is one of the most successful recording artists of our time, but before that, she was a struggling musician in Nashville playing at small venues and coffee shops. She would turn in demos to various studios, covering a variety of songs. It was only when she started playing and writing her own music that she got noticed and became the celebrity she is today. She faced a lot of adversity as well. There were people who doubted her skills and told her she couldn’t sing. Her confidence and faith in herself overcame that. 8. Stop Living In The Past Successful people learn from their failures, but they do not live in the past. They take the skills and lessons they acquired from their failures and apply them to the present and future. Don’t live in your own personal past. Don’t define yourself by who you were. Define yourself by who you are today and by who you’re working toward becoming. Example: Would we even remember Thomas Edison if he gave up on his ideas before becoming successful? Can you imagine simply focusing on what happened yesterday? So what if yesterday was a failure? Try again! Failure teaches us about what doesn’t work, and helps us get closer to a process that does work. Choose your attitude and control it. Move forward. Remember, failure is feedback.   9. Stop Tolerating Dishonest People Successful people appreciate other people for their unique traits and gifts. They do not attempt to harm, belittle, or in any way demean others for their own successes or ideas. They are open to relationships with others, but know when to cut the cord, so to speak. People can be too forgiving when it comes to being wronged, and it’s important to know one’s limits. Successful people do not tolerate negative and dishonest people, because they are too busy loving honest, sincere people. Example: Everyone. We have all had frenemies. We have all invested in people who did not return our investment in them. Successful people know how to weed these dishonest people out. No one wants unneeded negativity around themselves or around the people they love. Read this article for tips on how to deal with dishonest people.   source : http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/9-things-you-need-stop-doing-you-want-successful.html

Why Artificial Sweeteners are Preventing you from Losing 10 Pounds

 

Food and Drink Lifestyle by Nagina Abdullah  My cup of warm coffee is the highlight of my morning. I wake up looking forward to it. The comforting taste in my mouth, the warm feeling in my body and the satisfaction knowing that my mind will slowly start to awaken, brings me incredible pleasure. I feel like I deserve a treat for being up early, getting to work, and having so much under control (or at least looking like I do) so early in the day. My coffee used to be more than a simple comfort in the morning, though. It was a creamy, sugary delight that helped satiate my sweet craving. I used to add one pack of Splenda and a low-fat (heavenly) vanilla creamer in my morning coffee. “Can’t I just have a little sweetener in my coffee?” I would think. I felt like I was already giving up so much. I knew not to go overboard with brownies, cakes and cookies. There were so many times when I would resist a pastry at work or say no to a cupcake or donut. I wondered if my sweetener would help me lose weight because it wasn’t officially sugar – it was a sugar substitute and didn’t have any calories. Sweeteners are low-calorie substitutes for sugar – and many of them are not unsafe nor hazardous to our health in the typical amounts you would use. “While they are not magic bullets, smart use of non-nutritive sweeteners could help you reduce added sugars in your diet, therefore lowering the number of calories you eat.” – Dr. Christopher Gardner, associate professor of medicine at Stanford The biggest prevention to our weight-loss is not that artificial sweeteners have less calories than sugar. I challenge you to think bigger than if your artificial sweetener will help you lose weight because it has less calories than sugar. . . Sweeteners prevent weight-loss because of the effect they have on your brain. Here are 3 major effects sweeteners have on your brain – and why they are preventing your weight-loss:   1. Your sweet craving drives overeating From a Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine article: “Experiments generally have found that sweet taste, whether delivered by sugar or artificial sweeteners, enhanced human appetite. Animals seek food to satisfy the inherent craving for sweetness, even in the absence of energy need.” This means that even if your body does not need energy, or calories, from food, it is seeking to satisfy its sweet craving. You may think, “Why not give your body its sweet fix though a no-calorie sweetener?” Here’s my take – as a longer-term solution, why not reduce your dependence on sweetness so you don’t need any kind of fix? It’s possible (I did it after being a sugar addict until I was in my thirties)   2. Sweeteners prevent enjoying the real taste of healthy, unsweetened foods One of the biggest effects of adding sweeteners is that it “changes the way you taste food.” Sweeteners are more potent than sugar, and though you are using a lower quantity than you would of sugar, it over stimulates your sugar receptors – and as a result, may “limit tolerance for more complex tastes” says Dr. Ludwig, Weight-Loss Specialist at Harvard-affiliated Boston Children’s Hospital. “That means people who routinely use artificial sweeteners may start to find less intensely sweet foods, such as fruit, less appealing and non-sweet foods, such as vegetables, downright unpalatable” – Harvard Medical School article Artificial sweeteners make it very difficult for you to eat healthy, filling foods because you don’t like their taste as much and crave food that is sweet.   3. Sweeteners reduce your brain’s association of sugar with high calories Since artificial sweeteners are low in sugar, they can prevent your brain from associating sweetness with high-calorie intake. “As a result, we may crave more sweets, tend to choose sweet food over nutritious food, and gain weight. Participants in the San Antonio Heart Study who drank more than 21 diet drinks per week were twice as likely to become overweight or obese as people who didn’t drink diet soda.” Try cutting the amount of sweetener you use in half starting today, and slowly starting to take them out of your diet so that you can lose weight faster and easier. Some of the most popular sugar substitutes are Splenda, Stevia, Nutrasweet, honey and maple syrup, among many others. Once you start the process of taking sugar out of your diet, your body will rapidly respond. Though you may feel some withdrawal symptoms like sharper cravings, these will fade if you stick with the plan. You will lose weight quickly, have shinier skin, and even start to look younger. When you take time to actually taste real food and drinks, you’ll find they’re pretty damn good! Taking pleasure in them makes losing weight and having the body you dream of so much more attainable, no matter your genetics or busy lifestyle. I still savor my morning cup of coffee. I just actually enjoy the taste of the coffee itself and the feeling it gives me – it’s no longer masked by the sugar and heavy sweet cream. I enjoy the real deal now as well as a healthy relationship with food and my own body. Care to join me? source : http://www.lifehack.org/272634/why-artificial-sweeteners-are-preventing-you-from-losing-10-pounds?mid=20150724&ref=mail&uid=580391&feq=daily

Sunlight makes the new 'aqueous solar flow' battery.

 

Prototype aqueous solar flow battery under development at The Ohio State University. The square piece of solar cell (center) is red, because the researchers are using a red dye to tune the wavelength of light it absorbs and converts to electrons. Credit: Photo by Kevin Fitzsimons, courtesy of The Ohio State University. After debuting the world's first solar air battery last fall, researchers at The Ohio State University have now reached a new milestone. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they report that their patent-pending design--which combines a solar cell and a battery into a single device--now achieves a 20 percent energy savings over traditional lithium-iodine batteries. The 20 percent comes from sunlight, which is captured by a unique solar panel on top of the battery, explained Yiying Wu, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State. The solar panel is now a solid sheet, rather than a mesh as in the previous design. Another key difference comes from the use of a water-based electrolyte inside the battery. Because water circulates inside it, the new design belongs to an emerging class of batteries called aqueous flow batteries. "The truly important innovation here is that we've successfully demonstrated aqueous flow inside our solar battery," Wu said. As such, it is the first aqueous flow battery with solar capability. Or, as Wu and his team have dubbed it, the first "aqueous solar flow battery." "It's also totally compatible with current battery technology, very easy to integrate with existing technology, environmentally friendly and easy to maintain," he added. Researchers around the world are working to develop aqueous flow batteries because they could theoretically provide affordable power grid-level energy storage someday. The solar flow battery could thus bridge a gap between today's energy grid and sources of renewable energy. "This solar flow battery design can potentially be applied for grid-scale solar energy conversion and storage, as well as producing 'electrolyte fuels' that might be used to power future electric vehicles," said Mingzhe Yu, lead author of the paper and a doctoral student at Ohio State. Previously, Yu designed the solar panel out of titanium mesh, so that air could pass through to the battery. But the new aqueous flow battery doesn't need air to function, so the solar panel is now a solid sheet. The solar panel is called a dye-sensitized solar cell, because the researchers use a red dye to tune the wavelength of light it captures and converts to electrons. Those electrons then supplement the voltage stored in the lithium-anode portion of the solar battery. Something has to carry electrons from the solar cell into the battery, however, and that's where the electrolyte comes in. A liquid electrolyte is typically part salt, part solvent; previously, the researchers used the salt lithium perchlorate mixed with the organic solvent dimethyl sulfoxide. Now they are using lithium iodide as the salt, and water as the solvent. (Water is an inorganic solvent, and an eco-friendly one. And lithium iodide offers a high-energy storage capacity with low cost.) In tests, the researchers compared the solar flow battery's performance to that of a typical lithium-iodine battery. They charged and discharged the batteries 25 times. Each time, both batteries discharged around 3.3 volts. The difference was that the solar flow battery could produce the same output with less charging. The typical battery had to be charged to 3.6 volts to discharge 3.3 volts. The solar flow battery was charged to only 2.9 volts, because the solar panel made up the difference. That's an energy savings of nearly 20 percent. The project is still ongoing, and the solar flow design will undoubtedly evolve again as the researchers try to make the battery more efficient. Doctoral student and study co-author Billy McCulloch said that there are many different directions the research could take. "We hope to motivate the research community to further develop this technology into a practical renewable energy solution," he added. The team's ultimate goal is to boost the solar cell's contribution to the battery past its current 20 percent--maybe even to 100 percent. "That's our next step," Wu said, "to really achieve a fully solar-chargeable battery." Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University. The original item was written by Pam Frost Gorder. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Mingzhe Yu, William D. McCulloch, Damian R. Beauchamp, Zhongjie Huang, Xiaodi Ren, Yiying Wu. Aqueous Lithium–Iodine Solar Flow Battery for the Simultaneous Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2015; 137 (26): 8332 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b03626

How reliable is eyewitness testimony?

 

Eyewitness testimony--it's often thought of as solid evidence in criminal cases, but researchers including Iowa State University's Gary Wells have found that our memories aren't as reliable as we think. Sometimes, we can even build false recollections about people we only think we saw. Credit: National Science Foundation

Portraits of Redhead Women

 

Posted: 01 Aug 2015 09:00 AM PDT

La photographe bosniaque Maja Topčagić centre son travail sur une partie précise de la population : des jeunes et jolies femmes aux cheveux roux. Sachant que seulement 1 à 2% de la population mondiale peut se targuer de posséder des cheveux d’une telle couleur, l’artiste parvient à magnifier les jeunes femmes immortalisées, à découvrir dans la suite dans une série de portraits.

 

source:fubiz.net

8 Things People With Depression Want You To Know

 

Health Lifestyle by Matt Duczeminski People who suffer from clinical depression carry with them a social stigma that unfortunately exacerbates the serious problems they deal with on a daily basis. Since the disease is completely misunderstood by the general public, those who suffer from depression are generally shunned or, at the very least, treated differently in some way by friends, family, and colleagues. By becoming informed about the true essence of clinical depression, people can better equip themselves to help those they care about that suffer from the disease.   1. They may or may not take meds People diagnosed with clinical depression don’t necessarily take medication for their symptoms. And if they do, that doesn’t mean they’ll magically “get happy” after popping a couple pills. And it certainly doesn’t mean they’re just faking to get access to drugs. In fact, because of the stigma attached to taking drugs to offset depression, many people who suffer from the disease choose not to take medication. Unfortunately, this can be detrimental to their health, as some people truly do need medication to help them, but will refuse them based on how society views “pill popping.”   2. They don’t mean to ditch you People who suffer from depression often isolate themselves from their friends and family. Unfortunately, those on the outside looking in may get the wrong idea, thinking the person suffering is actively trying to shut everyone else out of their lives. In fact, the reason people suffering from depression distance themselves from friends and family is because they don’t want to burden others with their problems. They know it’s draining to be around them (because it’s draining to be themselves), so they don’t want to throw a pity party while everyone else is trying to have fun. This is a major reason friends and family need to make an even greater effort to be there for friends who suffer from this debilitating disease.   3. They’re not “faking” it Because depression is misunderstood by the general public, people find it hard to believe those who suffer from it actually can show signs of happiness and emotions other than sadness. When a depressed person musters up the courage to go out with friends, they’ll sometimes be able to “snap out of it,” telling jokes and laughing with the group for a few hours, and it may seem like nothing is wrong. However, depression transcends fleeting moments, and acts as a forcefield around the person that prohibits good moods from lasting very long. While those who suffer from depression can in fact enjoy themselves at times, anxiety and despair rear their ugly heads later on when they settle in from a relatively fun night.   4. They know they’re too much to deal with Like I said, people who suffer from depression don’t want to burden others with their issues. They understand that at times they can be “Debbie Downers,” and don’t want to bring everyone else down with them. And they know their moods can fluctuate at times, so they would rather stay home alone than risk having a meltdown in front of their friends. However, this is when friends need to step it up and be more understanding and compassionate than they’ve ever been before.   5. Being “depressed” isn’t the same as suffering from clinical depression People throw around the term “depressed” as a synonym for sad so much that it tends to lose meaning. If your pet dies, you’ll definitely be saddened by it, and you’ll probably be sad for a while. But it won’t be a debilitating feeling that keeps you from living your daily life. And it’s a reaction to a terrible event that happened to you. Clinical depression doesn’t come from any external stimuli. The reason clinical depression is so hard to defeat is there is seemingly no reason for a person to be so down in the first place. Since they can’t point out the reason they’re feeling low, it’s incredibly hard to tackle the issue.   6. Don’t be soft with us I know I just spoke about how important it is to be there for your friend who’s currently suffering from depression, but it’s also important to not be so soft with them that you come off as being patronizing. Although you should definitely be careful not to offend them, you shouldn’t feel as if you need to walk on eggshells around them, either. Remember: clinical depression isn’t so much a response to external factors as it is a manifestation of the mind and chemical imbalance. The best thing you can do for a friend suffering from depression is to simply be the friend you’ve always been to them.   7. People with depression aren’t weak Since the term “being depressed” is so overused in society, many people operate under the misconception that actually being depressed is a sign of weakness. People think “I was sad last week, too. But I got over it pretty quickly,” so they assume that other people who suffer from depression are “milking it” in some way. There’s a saying about those who suffer from depression that says they have simply “been strong for far too long.” In other words, they’ve lived with this crippling disease for an incredibly long time, and only recently hit the breaking point at which they needed to find help. People who suffer from depression aren’t weak. In fact, they’re some of the strongest members of our society.   8. It’s not about “getting over it,” but getting through it I alluded to this in the last section, but some people are under the misconception that depressed people simply need to “get over it.” Also mentioned before was the notion that there is no catalyst that pushes a person into a downward spiral of depression, so it’s incredibly hard to pinpoint the source of the problem. When you say you “got over” something, you simply mean you let it go and moved on with your life. To beat clinical depression, you can’t “let it go” or ignore it. You have to face it head on and work through it. Again, for someone to face clinical depression with every bit of willpower they have shows just how strong that person is. source : http://www.lifehack.org/297991/8-things-people-with-depression-want-you-know?mid=20150727&ref=mail&uid=580391&feq=daily   Love this article? Share it with your friends on Facebook

Space Station Lunar Transit

 

The International Space Station, with a crew of six onboard, is seen in silhouette as it transits the moon at roughly five miles per second, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015, Woodford, VA. Onboard are; NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren: Russian Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Kornienko, Oleg Kononenko, and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui.

 

The French Alps Photography

 

 

Posted: 01 Aug 2015 01:00 PM PDT

Laura Braconnier, passionnée de photographie et par les montagnes, signe une série de clichés, intitulée Mountain colors – The French Alps, rendant un magnifique hommage aux Alpes françaises. Durant deux ans, elle a saisi les plus beaux profils de ces reliefs et les plus jolies lumières qui les tapissent suivant l’heure de la journée. Ces sommets, qui peuvent parfois se montrer intraitables pour quiconque souhaite les affronter, offrent le plus souvent un spectacle à couper le souffle.