Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Why You Don't Get What You Want

We all want things in life, but why don't we always get what we want? By the end of this post, you'll get to know the reasons why you don't get what you wish for?
Imagine if all you had to do to get what you want was to think about it by using your mind. The mind is the greatest tool ever known to mankind. It has the power to create almost every aspect of your life. Everything in your life or around you started as a thought, a dream or a want in your mind or that of someone else. This is what shapes and develops your world and everything that happens to you. You might be asking yourself now that, 'If the mind is so powerful, then why doesn't it just give me what I want?' Your mind only has such power if you give it the right food. Let's see a few ways in which you limit the power of your mind.

1. You Think About What You Don't Want.
Talking about your problems and worries most of the time puts your mind on a vacation. If you want a promotion and you keep looking for reasons why you don't like your job, you could end up getting fired. Fulfill your end of the deal and think about what you want. Your mind will do its part.

2.  You Don't Think About How To Get What You Want.
It's not enough to just think about what you want. The next step should be to plan how to convert that want into reality. This simply means that you must get in the habit of setting goals. Deciding upon your goals clears doubt and gives you focus. Setting goals helps you move a step further towards achieving your desire. But not many people have clear, written goals that they work toward each day. Do you? Here are four reasons why people don't set goals.
- They don't know how to set goals.
Many people think they have goals, meanwhile what they have are just wishes or dreams. Unlike wishes, a goal is clear, written, specific and measurable. It's a written, step-by-step plan with which you achieve that dream.
-They think goal-setting isn't important.
People don't realize the importance of goal setting. Perhaps this is because of the environment they grew up in or the kind of friends they kept. The ability to set and achieve goals has more effect on your life than any other skill you may acquire.
- They don't want rejection.
People are afraid that if they set a goal which they eventually don't achieve, they will be ridiculed. One important rule in goal setting is to keep it to yourself, well at least the most important part. Don't tell anyone in advance. Accomplish it first, and then let them see it.
- They are afraid of failure.
Everyone experiences failure from time to time. It's hurtful and distressing whenever we fail but that doesn't mean holding your goals at ransom just because of the fear of failure. If you do this, you'll end up going through life functioning below expectation.

Life doesn't care about the size of your goals. If you set little goals, your mind will help you achieve little goals. If you set high goals, you will automatically achieve high goals. The size and magnitude of the goals you choose to think about most of the time are entirely up to you. Your mind is your greatest tool, so use it.

Personality Mix- Know Your Combination

I guess by now you must know the four major temperaments and the category you belong. If you don't, you can read my post on the four major temperaments.
If you read the post, you might have questions like, "I know my personality, but I have qualities of another temperament . What does this mean?" Well, it's possible to have a combination of two temperaments. I call this the 'Personality Mix'. Below are the 6 combinations a human could possibly have. Having all four temperaments will make you a freak though.

5. The Sanguine and Melancholic
You remember that the Sanguine is the playful and cheerful personality, full of colour and creativity. The Melancholic on the other hand is the guy who prefers to think and study than play. He's the boring guy that doesn't demand attention. Then how is it possible for a guy to be both cheerful and boring? Simple. The combinations come in different proportions. You could either have more qualities of a Sanguine than a Melancholic (SanMel) or more of a Melancholic than a Sanguine (MelSan). A SanMel could be an analyst but would know when to think and when to talk or play. A MelSan would be more of a thinker but would know how to make you smile when you cry (remember, Sanguines are good sympathizers).

6. The Sanguine and Phlegmatic
Remember the Phlegmatic is the cool, calm, easygoing and patient guy. People with this combo have got the charm and appeal of a casanova, regardless of the proportions of the temperaments. They sure know how to party and can be unserious sometimes.

7. The Choleric and Melancholic
Remember the Choleric is the strong willed, goal oriented personality. If you have more qualities of the Choleric than the Melancholic (ChorMel), you'd make a good activist. They back up thinking with go-getting and so always do a good job. They might hurt people in the process, but their main focus is the end result, so they don't care. Those with more Melancholic qualities (MelChor) also get the job done but with caution. Unlike the ChorMel, they care how others feel when they carry out some actions. Also they always look serious and only show emotion when the situation demands it.

8. The Choleric and Phlegmatic
These guys know when to play and when to throw commands. No matter the proportions, they are goal getters but they do this with style. They also have their fair share of charm and appeal. They can cheer you up when you're sad but could get pissed off when your crying gets too much.

9. The Sanguine and Choleric
If you've got no trace of bore in you, then this is your combo. It's never a dull moment around these guys. They can be authoritative but they'll make good leaders if they work with the right people.

10. The Melancholic and Phlegmatic
These guys will need to take a bottle of optimism and self confidence every morning before the days work. They live by strong principles and always want things to be done the right way, and perfectly too. To work with these kind of people, you've got to have some of the qualities of the other personalities.

So there you have it, the ten personalities of a human. If you didn't know the kind of person you are, now you do. If you feel I'm wrong about any of the personalities, feel free to leave a comment, correcting me of where I'm wrong. We're all still learning.

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Personalities- The Four Major Temperaments.

We all have personality traits unique to us. By the end of this post, you'll get to know four of the ten human temperaments and the category you belong through identifying your qualities.

A lot of people look at themselves and say, "How I wish I was born differently." I used to fall in this category of self esteem 'crushers'. Do you? It took a lot of self reassuring and examination for me to realize that I can not change who I am, but I can make the best out of it. How?
Psychologists have really done a great job studying the human being in order to know why we act the way we do. The result of their research is what we now know as 'temperaments'. In no particular order, I'll be introducing you to four of the temperaments and you'll get to know what category you belong.

1. The Sanguine
I love these guys because it's never a dull moment around them. Their mere presence seems to brighten things up. Some of their many qualities include: extroverts, optimistic, appealing and cheerful personality, sincere, creative, good sense of humor, sympathetic and have really good memory. If you've got that cheerful smile and attractive personality, this is where you belong.

2. The Choleric
If it's not done their way, then it's not perfect. Some of their qualities include: extroverts, go- getters, optimistic, born leaders, dynamic and active, confident, love productivity, can be violent, strong-willed, efficient in emergencies and goal oriented. It's really easy for people in this category to make enemies.
The Sanguine and Choleric are both extroverts having a lot of other qualities in common. Now let's take a look at the temperaments of the introvert.

3. The Melancholic
These guys see the world from a perspective different from that of the previous temperaments. The Melancholic are introverts, deep thinkers, strict, analytical, principled, sensitive to art or music, perfectionists, faithful and can be pessimistic some times. I'm so sure I fall in this category. If you love analyzing things that sometimes don't need analysis, then you're with me.

4. The Phlegmatic
If you want someone who'll say yes to practically everything you say, then have a Phlegmatic as a friend. They are cool, calm, easy going, patient, kind, introverts, good listeners, sympathetic, peaceful, have a dry sense of humor and always find the easy way out.  

Having one personality doesn't mean that you're glued to it all your life. It's possible to develop qualities in other desired personalities. Developing these qualities gives you a cool personality mix. You can have more than one temperament in different proportions but you can't have all. That would make you a freak. So, whatever qualities you choose to acquire, make sure they're in line with your goals so that you can make the most of them.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Article Writing – 9 Mistakes to Avoid.

There’s more to article writing than what meets the eye. Articles aren’t written just for entertainment but also for information and so they have to be captivating. This can be tough sometimes; especially if your audience is the type that buzzes off if the first few lines don’t look appealing. You'll build your own worldwide audience as you publish articles and multimedia on the topics that you're passionate about. These are just a few things to know before you submit content:

1.    Submitting duplicate content.
Some directories get jealous when they see one of their articles someplace else. These directories still accept content you've already submitted elsewhere, on the condition that you still own the copyright to it and the author name (that is your name is the same).

2.    Meaningless Content
Be informative and succinct. Don’t beat around the bush. Go straight to the point and let your reader know exactly what you are talking about. For most directories, the minimum number of words is 300. If you want your article to have good SEO value, you should have at least 300-400 words in the article.

3.    Grammatical errors.
Your sentences should exhibit correct grammar, structure, spelling, and punctuation.

4.    Weak Article Topics
The topics you give your articles should be powerful, strong and descriptive. One way to achieve this is to put your self in your readers’ shoes.
 Think: What set of keywords would a reader enter to find this content in search engines? An article with a topic such as "The Best Meal to Prepare" might be found in search engines, "Recipes for Chicken Soup" would be more discoverable. Your article header should have a maximum of 60 characters and include one or two keywords..

5.    Information Theft
Cite your sources. Give honor to whom honor is due. When you refer to information from an online or printed source, an in-text citation must immediately precede or follow within the text. An example of citations:
According to Computer Economics, only 1.8 percent of corporate revenues will be used to fund IT expenses this year in North America (U.S. and Canada).
Also, list your sources at the end of your article in the following order:
Author/Artist name
Page Title
Website/blog Title
6.    Irrelevant keywords
Trying to make your article too keyword optimized might just end up rendering it useless. For example, repeating a keyword phrase in a title, too closely together in the article, or using keyword phrases in a manner that creates incomprehensive or illogical reading.

7.    Over-promoting yourself.
While building your personal brand as a writer, try to avoid excessive self or brand promotion when submitting your articles. If your content is mainly advertisement, try to blend it with something informative so that readers don’t click the back button before completely reading your article. Over-linking kind of puts readers off.

8.    Text formatting
Aligning your text to the left is always recommended. The use of bold and italicized words should be used at a minimal level. Underlining should only be used for links.
Excessive and unnecessary capitalization can get really annoying. CAPITALIZED TEXT is considered shouting on the Internet and can really get your head throbbing. Always use your inside voice and use caps when necessary.

9.    Lastly, article directories prefer content with new information on a general topic, or on a more specific aspect of the topic. For example, narrowing down a broad topic like "Mobile applications" to a more specific one like "Creating Applications for your iPad" would be more appropriate. Also, write articles that have a longer shelf life. Writing content on breaking news or sports results would be of no interest to the reader after a day or two.

How to Be Your Own Secret Agent

When I was much younger, I desperately wanted to be an agent. I would watch James Bond movies and the likes and act out almost everything I see. I loved the thrill, excitement and I admired them, simply because of their smooth intelligence and gadgets. But the question that I didn’t seem to have an answer to was, ‘How could they live two extremely different lives and yet still have one right frame of mind.’ Was it that they were master deceivers or they had this behavioral disorder or some dual personality disease? It wasn’t until recently that the answer came to me.

Most of us film lovers already know the profile of a typical secret agent. He enrolls into a military school where he gets trained and bruised till he’s ready to fight for his country. He gets awarded lots of medals for bravery and skill and if he’s good enough, he’s abducted. Smooth and easy. Most of the time before the guy is abducted, he has a family, and he can’t dump one for the other. So what does he do?

It is possible for one man to be seen as a businessman who will stop at nothing to see his business make money for him, a loving father and husband who’ll be awarded for just killing a housefly and a master Casanova carrying in his suit jacket a revolver and a laser pen. How? He simply creates and dishes out different impressions of himself to different people and he definitely knows how to keep his professional and private life separate and secret, breaking all links or bridges.

Now how does all this apply to you? If you run your own business, the way you manage it wouldn’t be exactly the same way you hold your family together. For a ruthless businessman, it’ll be good to create another impression of kindness and humility that others outside your corporate world would have of you. Why? Let’s take this example; due to your business tyranny, you happen to step on a few shoes. In order to get you out of the way, you get framed and thrown into jail. Being that you’ve got friends in high places who know you to be a kind and jovial twit (your other impression), you end up spending just one night in the cell. The next morning, you’re back at your desk, planning how to best deal with your backstabbing associates (you’re back to your other self and your influential friends know nothing about this). What have you to lose?

This technique is not just for businessmen only. You may define this as being deceptive, but hey, it’s up to you to use it. Create secret impressions that you want different people to have of you but a word of caution here; they don’t have to be the opposite sides of the coin. The impressions could be similar, yet different. You never know, they could come in handy when the time comes.