Here’s how I do it. You’ll need to find ongoing processes that work for you, but the main ideas are easy to get into! Don’t be the first to reply (or at least, give it a little while) This sounds counterintuitive. Say you get a work email Cc:ed to you and several other colleagues. Should you reply right away? Unless you’ve already thought of a sure answer and/or it’s time-sensitive, likely no....

You feel panicked as you move from one appointment to another and your calendar is so full of notes for the day you can hardly read them. At the same time, you are trying to make it to the appointments in time, because you want to give people an impression of you as a trustworthy and punctual person. Eventually you are starting to be overwhelmed by the stress that’s a result of your manic schedule....

Negotiating is one of the things that people seriously don’t like. Whether it is a confrontation or mindset that they are people that don’t deserve to win, there are a lot of people who avoid any situations which require negotiation. However, strategic negotiation doesn’t have to be always like that. Negotiation can be helpful to achieve the things that you want. Here are the things that you can do to utilize strategic negotiation in getting something at work successfully....

As excited as we are for the change in seasons, so are our pets. Finally, they get to run around in the yard or the park without having to worry about the cold or slipping on ice. Any day now, they’ll be able to park themselves in the backyard and snooze in the warmth of the sun. It’s a perfect setting for all pets, from guinea pigs to large dogs!...

Most people live their lives by focusing on what they have to do. The endless tasks continue to mount up, and we wonder why we never feel like we’re getting ahead. It feels like we’re sprinting on a treadmill just trying to keep up, and every task completed is quickly replaced by new ones. Life gets a lot simpler when we stop to ask ourselves why we do things....

Exercise Exercise encourages muscle strength and provides additional support to your organs by encouraging overall blood circulation. There are various exercises that can be done to also improve your appearance. For example, if you want to tone your arms, abs, and thighs, you can perform a variety of strength training exercises. Bicep curls are recommended to tone the upper arm area. Exercising with a stability ball is highly recommended for arm and chest strengthening....

One thing we can easily apply to our home life is the weekly review. The idea was planted in my head by a comment Jonathan Fields made when I interviewed him on Lifehack Live. I had asked him how he takes care of his relationship with his wife, who he works with both as a business partner and as an employee of a major client. Jonathan suggested something like a weekly review, a regular meeting with his wife to go over their plans and processes and see what needed work....

Too much of anything is bad for your health, including social media. This infographic highlights the dark side of using social platforms as a main tool for making and engaging friends. In general, humans aren’t designed to hide behind a computer all day. That’s why there are so many tools out there that are geared towards balancing screen time with life offline. One of the most shocking stats found in the visual shows that over 50% of participants actually admitted that social media is making a negative impact on their lives, without seeing the actual proof....

The thing is, regret will only stay if we let it. In order to let go of his heavy burden and lingering ghost, we must first understand what we are regretting in our lives and why. Here’s a step-by-step guide to live life with no regrets. 1. Reflect on Past Regrets Everyone has had their fair share of things that they have regretted in their life, but the question to ask yourself is how long you have been carrying these burdens?...

We’re all given the same 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week and approximately 672-744 hours in a month (give or take a couple of hours, depending on the length of the month). Depending on how you look at those numbers, it might seem as if there is a lot of time available to you or perhaps it may seem as if there is a very small amount of time for you to use....

Extremely Fast If you need money today, there are a few ways that you can get it. First, head to Facebook and ask if any of your friends need a babysitter for that night. Make sure that you describe why you would be a good babysitter, including any previous experience you may have had working with children and ideas you have for making the night fun for them. While you are waiting for someone to respond, head to your closet and see what clothes you no longer wear....

No matter what your dream is, you can accomplish it. You don’t have to watch as another year goes by with you being no closer to your goal than you were the last year. You can move from where you are to where you want to go. By following these nine steps, you can make your dreams come true. 1. Do some stripping Stripping down your goals, that is! Strip down all the fluff that covers up the true goal you are after....

How To Make Your Own Laundry Detergent – And Save Big Money – [TheSimpleDollar]

Answer: “Only one, but the light bulb has to really want to change!” The same can be said for managing other peoples’ emotions. A person’s feelings are under their own control, and our attempts to intervene can only do so much. But it’s that little space of “so much” that might make a difference in the stress level of your customer. If you’re a contractor or home improvement specialist, you know well the stress your client is under as they watch their home being torn apart and wait for their lives to be back to normal....

But if not handled properly, their dream can become a nightmare, and they can lose the joy associated with this special day. It doesn’t have to be that way. Today’s lesson will provide for a “happily ever after” start for today’s taxed bride. Wedding season is upon us. And there’s a new crop of “celebrity” that’s been making the reality TV circuit around this time, that you should avoid at all cost: her name is Bridezilla....

How to Power Nap – [Gnorb.net] Honestly, although it is often mocked, the power nap is one of the best tools for busy people who have to rely on clarity of thought in order to be the most effective at what they do. This includes business executives, counselors, programmers, managers, coordinators, mathematicians, and of course, writers, among others. Basically if most of your work involves thinking and wiggling your fingers on a keyboard, blackboard, or waving a writing utensil over a notepad then this most likely applies to you....

When you think of this construct, where do you see your time being spent? As William Shakespeare famously wrote “I wasted time, and now doth time waste me…” Have you used your time wisely? Are you where you want to be? Or do you have unfinished goals to attain… places you want to be, things you still need to do? The hard truth is, that time once passed cannot be replaced–which is why it is common to hear people say that one should not squander time doing nothing, or delay certain decisions for later....

Being MacGyver Many of you will recall the television show MacGyver, about a guy whom I consider The Poster Boy of Resourcefulness. Read a great list of MacGyver’s feats per episode. He routinely disarmed bombs with paperclips and used gum wrappers to fix fuses. How can we bring MacGyver’s ingenuity to our daily lives and work? Ask yourself these questions: Is there another way to get what I want? Is the desired result really the best result?...

Wiki apps like what I profile in this post are great for technical documentation, glossaries, and other online documents that need a lot of links and media. If you are looking for a bit more power under the hood in your note-taking application, here are some wiki apps for the iPad to check out: WikiTouch If you supplement your note taking with other media like photos, documents, video, and audio clips, WikiTouch has got you covered....

Luckily for you, there’s a technique to help guide you through these awkward moments and help you to build an initial conversation so that you can try to establish relationships for the future. The FORM small talk trick F.O.R.M stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation and Money. The idea is that these 4 topics can open up a conversation easily and help you to discover more about the person with whom you are talking....