By the title of this article, you may have thought that it was going to be about desktop themes and cool tools, but that’s really not the main point here. You will definitely find some cool tools here for your desktop, but they have only been included because they enhance your overall productivity. What’s the use in having a pimped out desktop with killer design if it’s cluttered with unused icons and useless gadgets?...

You may have noticed that winter is upon us (well, some of us). Biting winds, freezing cold, ice, snow and plenty of rain, sure is fun. With all this severe weather, how can we keep our homes safe and protected? Here are eight steps to help you protect your home this winter: Step One Ensure your loft is well-insulated, so that heat won’t seep out and it’s harder for the cold get in....

But you know what? They’re not. They just have a higher spiritual and emotional intelligence that has allowed them to create their life beyond conventional limitations. I’m going to show you how you can achieve that too. So spiritual and emotional IQ means turning life on its head. Instead of walking around and looking at how you’re the victim of everything going on around you, take a look and ask – what if I could create anything and transform everything in my life?...

When we mindlessly scroll, we aren’t learning in the same way that we do when we read. Avid readers experience decreased anxiety when they get lost in a book, and reading builds empathy.[2] There are plenty of reasons to crack open a book on a frequent basis, if you want to know more you can read Reading With Purpose Can Change Your Life. Reading doesn’t have to be a slow process....

Sleeping on Planes – [Independent Traveler via Gridskipper] Magazines and light reading offer some semblance of real life. And sure, many try to work, but we all have the nagging suspicion that the person staring into their laptop is a) trying to impress; b) is an inefficient workaholic who can’t put it down but isn’t getting anything done; c) is just waiting for us to look away so they can alt-tab back to the Solitaire game…

So, are you sitting on the next big idea? If so, you might be wondering: how can I start my own business? Here is a step-by-step guide to launching your startup this year. 1. Start With a Problem When it comes to launching your business, forget everything you ever heard about “chasing” your passion and instead, chase a problem. What does that mean? Solve an actual problem that you’re facing in the world....

Your eyes are filled with wonder, your mind with potential, your heart full of daring. You approach your loved ones and tell them what you want to do. This isn’t always the standard response, but their response could go a little something like this: Parents: they hear your idea and are still for a moment. They sneak a glance at one another and try to communicate between their looks. They’re saying to each other: “What do we say?...

Numerous studies have shown that our levels of cortisol go up when we are around strangers.[1] Cortisol is the hormone inside of us which produces stress responses.[2] A very interesting by-product of increased cortisol is that it makes us less empathetic. More than likely this can be traced to our evolution. The increase in the cortisol and the corresponding decrease in empathy makes us want to stay away from strangers....

Enable handwriting input to scribble emails by hand. A recent post in the Official Gmail Blog introduced the feature and it works quite well if you take your time. There’s a huge list of languages supported by the feature so chances are, if you can write it, Google can figure it out. You’ll need to enable input tools in your settings and select the specific languages you want to enable before you can try it out....

In a negotiation, compromise is key. Each party will likely have to sacrifice something to get what they want, and they may not get all that they want. Negotiation without compromise will never work. Here I will help you get the best out of a negotiation without sacrificing too much benefit to please others. Know Your Counterpart and Know Yourself Identify your position. This will make you strong yet flexible, and less susceptible to rash decision-making or influence from your counterpart, even when negotiations become intense....

It was in June 2015 and I was staring in the mirror. Traces of a sixpack had become visible. It was my first time I’d ever seen them. Ever. Since that moment on, my friends asked me jealously over and over again: “How did you do it?” I thanked them all. But they wouldn’t understand. Weight loss is simple, but not easy. How I started the vegan bodybuilding diet It was in the beginning of 2015 that I’d made the scary decision to stop eating animal products and started the vegan bodybuilding diet....

With this in mind, here are eight typical scenarios that all introverts should be able to relate to. Hopefully, you will be able to recognize the situations and find solace in the fact that you are not alone. 1. Introverts feel lonelier at social events than they do when they are by themselves. While we must all become accustomed to our own company at times, introverts are often at their loneliest during social gatherings....

5 Leadership Styles that Help You Build a High Performance Team

So whatever that plan you have in your mind, the urge to learn a new language, the passion to master golf, and the start of your next business is starting today.

If your income relies on you having work, then when you lose everything you need to know how well you can get back into gear. Dave Navarro [of FreelanceFolder] runs through three steps that you’ll need to have a plan for in case something goes horribly wrong. How Fast Can You Get Back To Doing Business? – [FreelanceFolder]

Why it’s hard to cut even the most toxic of ties Even when someone has been demonstrably abusive, a persistent liar, or shown themselves to be a thoroughly toxic human being, letting go can still be immensely difficult. If someone has been in your life for a long time or has shared many important experiences with you, your attachment to them may be powerful. It takes great courage to recognize that sometimes, even if someone you like or love has good qualities, they aren’t worthy of a place in your life....

Failing is proof that you tried. We all fail at something at some points of our life, but we won’t just stay there. We get up. We move on. We keep trying. If you’ve never failed before, you’ve never really tried hard enough. Failures somehow help you understand more about yourself too – your strengths and your weaknesses. You’ll never know how strong you can really be until you’ve been tested....

The more time you spend trying to conform to everyone else’s expectations, the more lost and less loving towards yourself you may become. Here are 7 things you won’t do if you really love yourself – how do you stack up? 1. You won’t over commit. People who love themselves know how to say no to a lot of things so they can say yes to the things that are really important to them....

The truth is, it is not just the carbs, and the highly processed types of flours, but the real culprit behind the problem is what’s in bread… wheat. This one ingredient is not only a problem for people with wheat or gluten sensitivities, but is a problem for everyone, as wheat can cause health problems due to the effect it has on blood sugar and your body’s inflammatory response....