Monday 31 October 2016

How to Be Happier in Just 5 Minutes a Day



Have you ever get mad and never STOP for at least 24 hours. If you think is a waste of time. STOP IT!  "Train your brain to look for positives in your environment". 
I came across below article and would like to share it here to remind us to stay happy always.

Just as it takes practice to master a new skill, training your brain to notice positive things takes practice. The best way to kick-start this is to write down three good things that happen each day. The items don’t need to be profound or out of the ordinary, only specific. This forces your brain to scan the last 24 hours for potential positives.

In just five minutes a day, the brain can become more skilled at finding possibilities for growth and seizing opportunities to act on them. Because we can focus only on so much at once, our brains push small annoyances and frustrations into the background.
This exercise has staying power. One study found participants were happier at the one-month, three-month and six-month follow-ups.

Shared by: LY


Friday 21 October 2016

Do You Have What It Takes To Work At A Startup?

Interesting Friday topic! think hard and don't lose it.

Read the below article to get some valuable insight and plan you super Friday with interesting values and make it happen! Take this opportunity and move it fast.



Startups are all the rage right now. Their popularity has surged over the last decade, a decade that has seen the meteoric rise of household brands such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Google. Just flip through the pages of any newspaper or business title, and you’ll notice that there’s been quite a shift, with tech titans like Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco having to share space with the likes of Snapchat, Netflix and Uber.
A fair number of successful startups have sprung up in the UAE as well, engaged in a dizzying array of industries. The country ranked 19th worldwide in the Global Entrepreneurship Index Report 2016, ahead of developed nations such as South Korea, Norway and Japan. This reflects the commitment of the UAE leadership to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship in its youth. According to research by ArabNet, over US$750 million was invested in more than 450 tech start-ups in the MENA region between 2013 and 2015. The rise of incubators in the region is also a promising sign of a culture focused on boosting local entrepreneurship.
Working at a startup, or aspiring to work at one, has become a bit of a fad, being perceived as unorthodox. Millennials in particular are gravitating towards them in droves, seeing them as a better alternative to the constrictive, corporate atmosphere that characterized the offices they saw their parents working in, day in and day out, for years. Yet, examples like Facebook are few and far between, and behind every successful founder’s testimony on CNN, or a Bloomberg headline announcing the acquisition of yet another startup that struck gold, is a story of perseverance, struggle, teamwork, learning and sacrifice.
Needs and priorities have changed over the years, with the current generation more inclined to work at an outfit that values personal time and is in tune with their own aspirations. Financial reward alone isn’t a motivating factor anymore, especially with the new crop of university graduates, who aren’t willing to go through what their parents and grandparents endured for decades. Startups have long been associated with a hierarchy-light atmosphere, where almost every day is Casual Thursday. This laissez-faire approach has enticed many to forego a more conventional career trajectory and to try something that’s widely viewed as out-of-the-box.
But does everyone have what it takes to join a startup? While the pros of working for one seem alluring, the work involved might not be everyone’s cup of tea. A candidate could seem attractive on paper, with the requisite experience, qualifications and recommendations. But when it comes down to it, does everyone have the right mindset and attitude to thrive (and survive) in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, where there’s no telling what tomorrow might hold? Entrepreneurs have realized that a culturally fit team has far better chances for sustenance in the long run.
Since startups start off as extremely small in size, there’s no limit to what might be demanded of a potential employee. Ultimately, you’ll end up wearing several hats and expected to go above and beyond what you believe is fair. With success highly dependent on everyone involved, excellence and the drive to go the extra mile is required from day one itself, and if you’re not adding value, you’re not in the right place.
There must be a willingness to embrace change from the very start. This, perhaps, is the greatest defining feature of a startup. Unlike long-established firms steeped in protocol and red tape, startups are constantly in flux. There are no set processes, or a corporate bureaucracy to speak of– at least not initially. When you join a startup, you’ll see this firsthand and will be expected to adapt accordingly. Roles, functions and expectations can fluctuate like the weather and one needs to be equally adept at keeping pace with the change.
Startups are, by definition, categorically different from established companies. They are inherently experimental in nature and in search of creative thinkers who can pursue new ideas, execute them to fruition, go back to the drawing board if they fail, and come up with new ones over and over again. They cast their nets for the risk-takers, problem-solvers, dreamers and visionaries. This is reflected in the working atmosphere of the startup. If you’ve come from a corporation, you need to be open to experimenting with new things for the first time, and listening to ideas you may never have come across before– even those that might be contrary to your own.
Time is everything at an organization that is just starting off and still on its training wheels. The standard 9–5 routine doesn’t apply at your average startup. You might not have anyone looking over your shoulder, making sure you clock in at 9 a.m. sharp, but chances are that you’ll have to pull an all-nighter if the situation calls for it. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you come in after lunch or work at a cafĂ©– as long as results are delivered.
Your business card may read “manager,” but it will not tell the whole story. Your actual role will end up encompassing several functions. From this perspective, working at a startup is an invaluable experience. It provides a huge platform for practical hands-on multidimensional learning that is far more invaluable than any theoretical curriculum. You will be exposed to all aspects of the business and will have the opportunity to work with the brightest minds in the industry. Most importantly, you will be able to assimilate new skills and expand your boundaries by assuming more responsibilities. Nowhere else is such multitasking and transparency strongly embraced– and expected.
Startups and startup culture are representative of a new age, with more and more springing up every day, all over the world. Though they may be far smaller in size, informal and nimble, compared to their larger counterparts, they demand far more, with every employee ultimately responsible for success or failure. Experience and qualifications may look appealing on a resume, but what is really prized above everything else are a person’s drive, adaptability and creativity– in the end, these qualities are what count and can make or break a startup.
Link: Click Here

Shared by: LY 

Wednesday 19 October 2016

Breaking These 13 Bad Habits Will Make You Happier

Especially busy day, it usually takes more frustration. However, don't let your emotion overwhelm you. Stay focus and Stay control! Don't worry if you lost some tempered some other day ago but just remember to improve from here by recognization your mistake.   I do admit that this is a common course. So i would like to take this opportunity to share on the below article: Hope it helps!

1. Immunity to awe. 

Amazing things happen around you every day if you only know where to look. Technology has exposed us to so much and made the world so much smaller. Yet, there’s a downside that isn’t spoken of much: exposure raises the bar on what it takes to be awestricken. And that’s a shame, because few things are as uplifting as experiencing true awe. True awe is humbling. It reminds us that we’re not the center of the universe. Awe is also inspiring and full of wonder, underscoring the richness of life and our ability to both contribute to it and be captivated by it. It’s hard to be happy when you just shrug your shoulders every time you see something new.

2. Isolating yourself. 

Isolating yourself from social contact is a pretty common response to feeling unhappy, but there’s a large body of research that says it’s the worst thing you can do. This is a huge mistake, as socializing, even when you don’t enjoy it, is great for your mood. We all have those days when we just want to pull the covers over our heads and refuse to talk to anybody, but the moment this becomes a tendency, it destroys your mood. Recognize that when unhappiness is making you antisocial, you need to force yourself to get out there and mingle. You’ll notice the difference right away.

3. Blaming. 

We need to feel in control of our lives in order to be happy, which is why blaming is so incompatible with happiness. When you blame other people or circumstances for the bad things that happen to you, you’ve decided that you have no control over your life, which is terrible for your mood.

4. Controlling. 

It’s hard to be happy without feeling in control of your life, but you can take this too far in the other direction by making yourself unhappy through trying to control too much. This is especially true with people. The only person you can control in your life is you. When you feel that nagging desire to dictate other people’s behavior, this will inevitably blow up in your face and make you unhappy. Even if you can control someone in the short term, it usually requires pressure in the form of force or fear, and treating people this way won’t leave you feeling good about yourself.

5. Criticizing. 

Judging other people and speaking poorly of them is a lot like overindulging in a decadent dessert; it feels good while you’re doing it, but afterwards, you feel guilty and sick. Sociopaths find real pleasure in being mean. For the rest of us, criticizing other people (even privately or to ourselves) is just a bad habit that’s intended to make us feel better about ourselves. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. It just creates a spiral of negativity.

6. Complaining. 

Complaining is troubling, as well as the attitude that precedes it. Complaining is a self-reinforcing behavior. By constantly talking -- and therefore thinking -- about how bad things are, you reaffirm your negative beliefs. While talking about what bothers you can help you feel better, there’s a fine line between complaining being therapeutic and it fueling unhappiness. Beyond making you unhappy, complaining drives other people away.

7. Impressing. 

People will like your clothes, your car, and your fancy job, but that doesn’t mean they like you. Trying to impress other people is a source of unhappiness, because it doesn’t get to the source of what makes you happy -- finding people who like you and accept you for who you are. All the things you acquire in the quest to impress people won’t make you happy either. There’s an ocean of research that shows that material things don’t make you happy. When you make a habit of chasing things, you are likely to become unhappy because, beyond the disappointment you experience once you get them, you discover that you’ve gained them at the expense of the real things that can make you happy, such as friends, family, and taking good care of yourself.

8. Negativity. 

Life won’t always go the way you want it to, but when it comes down to it, you have the same 24 hours in the day as everyone else. Happy people make their time count. Instead of complaining about how things could have been or should have been, they reflect on everything they have to be grateful for. Then they find the best solution available to the problem, tackle it, and move on. Nothing fuels unhappiness quite like pessimism. The problem with a pessimistic attitude, apart from the damage it does to your mood, is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you expect bad things, you’re more likely to get bad things. Pessimistic thoughts are hard to shake off until you recognize how illogical they are. Force yourself to look at the facts, and you’ll see that things are not nearly as bad as they seem.

9. Hanging around negative people. 

Complainers and negative people are bad news because they wallow in their problems and fail to focus on solutions. They want people to join their pity party so that they can feel better about themselves. People often feel pressure to listen to complainers because they don’t want to be seen as callous or rude, but there’s a fine line between lending a sympathetic ear and getting sucked into their negative emotional spirals. You can avoid getting drawn in only by setting limits and distancing yourself when necessary. Think of it this way: If a person were smoking, would you sit there all afternoon inhaling the second-hand smoke? You’d distance yourself, and you should do the same with negative people. A great way to set limits is to ask them how they intend to fix their problems. The complainer will then either quiet down or redirect the conversation in a productive direction.
You should strive to surround yourself with people who inspire you, people who make you want to be better, and you probably do. But what about the people who drag you down? Why do you allow them to be a part of your life? Anyone who makes you feel worthless, anxious, or uninspired is wasting your time and, quite possibly, making you more like them. Life is too short to associate with people like this. Cut them loose.

10. Comparing your own life to the lives people portray on social media. 

The Happiness Research Institute conducted the Facebook Experiment to find out how our social media habits affect our happiness. Half of the study’s participants kept using Facebook as they normally would, while the other half stayed off Facebook for a week. The results were striking. At the end of the week, the participants who stayed off Facebook reported a significantly higher degree of satisfaction with their lives and lower levels of sadness and loneliness. The researchers also concluded that people on Facebook were 55% more likely to feel stress as a result.
The thing to remember about Facebook and social media in general is that they rarely represent reality. Social media provides an airbrushed, color-enhanced look at the lives people want to portray. I’m not suggesting that you give up social media; just take it sparingly and with a grain of salt.

11. Neglecting to set goals. 

Having goals gives you hope and the ability to look forward to a better future, and working towards those goals makes you feel good about yourself and your abilities. It’s important to set goals that are challenging, specific (and measurable), and driven by your personal values. Without goals, instead of learning and improving yourself, you just plod along wondering why things never change.

12. Giving in to fear. 

Fear is nothing more than a lingering emotion that’s fueled by your imagination.Danger is real. It’s the uncomfortable rush of adrenaline you get when you almost step in front of a bus. Fear is a choice. Happy people know this better than anyone does, so they flip fear on its head. They are addicted to the euphoric feeling they get from conquering their fears.
When all is said and done, you will lament the chances you didn’t take far more than you will your failures. Don’t be afraid to take risks. I often hear people say, “What’s the worst thing that can happen to you? Will it kill you?” Yet, death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you. The worst thing that can happen to you is allowing yourself to die inside while you’re still alive.

13. Leaving the present. 

Like fear, the past and the future are products of your mind. No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future. Happy people know this, so they focus on living in the present moment. It’s impossible to reach your full potential if you’re constantly somewhere else, unable to fully embrace the reality (good or bad) of the very moment. To live in the moment, you must do two things:
1) Accept your past. If you don’t make peace with your past, it will never leave you and it will create your future. Happy people know that the only good reason to look at the past is to see how far you’ve come.
2) Accept the uncertainty of the future, and don’t place unnecessary expectations upon yourself. Worry has no place in the here and now. As Mark Twain once said, “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”

Bringing It All Together

We can’t control our genes, and we can’t control all of our circumstances, but we can rid ourselves of habits that serve no purpose other than to make us miserable.
Link: Click Here
Shared By: LY 

Tuesday 18 October 2016

Recommended Books

Wednesday morning has been a perfect day to think of how to enhance your knowledge. I have consolidated some recommended books from the below website. Sometimes doing your busy day and most of us forgot who we are and just can recall as a working machine. However take sometimes off reading some books to gain more insight and living changing!



Books that everyone should read: Click Here

5 Key Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read: Click Here

9 Psychology Books Every Businessperson Should Read: Click Here

Shared by: LY 

Wednesday 12 October 2016

8 Things Exceptional Thinkers Do Every Day

Read this on wednesday will be helpful:

1. They focus on the positive.

Every single day of our lives, we have a choice when we wake up in the morning whether we are going to direct our focus on the positive or negative. Exceptional thinkers know the importance of where they direct their focus. They fully understand that it impacts their energy levels and will determine how they perform. You can eliminate a lot of the worry, stress, and anxiety just by choosing to focus on the positive. Regardless of how big or small, force yourself to see the good in every situation no matter how miniscule it may be.

2. They spend time in solitude.

Exceptional thinkers know that we live in a noisy and distracting world and therefore prioritize the importance of spending time alone. If you go pick up an autobiography of your favorite inventor, president, or even athlete, you will realize that they valued alone time to reflect and think in solitude.

3. They have a long-term vision.

Exceptional thinkers have a clear vision of where they want to be in the future and all of the things that they need to do in order to make that become a reality. They rarely get discouraged and disappointed because of short-term obstacles because of this powerful long-term vision that they have for their life.

4. They have a mindset-development routine.

Whether it’s a special morning routine to jump start their day, reading positive books first thing in the morning, or listening to empowering podcasts and audiobooks while commuting, they go to work on their mind daily. Most people wait for something positive to happen throughout their day to have good thoughts, but exceptional thinkers are proactive towards positively developing their mind every chance they get.

5. They only associate with those who build them up.

There is nothing more detrimental to one’s thinking than hanging around others who are constantly negative and energy vampires. You adopt the habits and channel the energy of those around you, so make it a habit to surround yourself with positive people and remain in good company.

6. They eat clean and healthy.

A large majority of the population is oblivious as to what you put into your body on a daily basis and how that plays a role in your thinking. What you drink and eat every single day greatly impacts how you feel and how well your brain operates.
To further understand just how important what you eat is to how well you think, I highly recommend checking out Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Daniel Amen. Two of my favorites when it comes to brain optimization and thriving on all cylinders.

7. They find time to regularly workout.

I have talked about the benefits of working out and how it can tremendously impact productivity levels, but the same goes for brain health and increasing your current level of thinking. The endorphins released during routine exercise are packed with positivity.

8. They have an attitude of gratitude.

Your thinking and life in general is just that much better when you possess an attitude of gratitude and find ways to regularly acknowledge all that you are grateful for. It’s impossible to be truly grateful and miserable at the same time.
There are a lot of things that exceptional thinkers do on a daily basis to help them rise above, but the above eight things that I have listed have greatly impacted the way I think on a daily basis. When you understand just how important your mind is and work to constantly upgrade your level of thinking, your life will be upgraded in return. 
Link: Click Here

Shared by: LY

Tuesday 11 October 2016

3 Beliefs You Must Drop To Be Successful

Read the below: get some insight and change your thought:

1. Someone else’s approval defines your success.

It seems counterintuitive to define your own success, when you’re bombarded by ads and stories all day long of what success means. Sometimes, the definition of success seems like it’s living up to your family’s expectations or your superior’s definition of achievement. You want to look good in society’s eyes, and seem like a success on the outside to gain validation.
But I say this sincerely: at the end of the day, your personal definition of success is the only one that matters. No one takes their dying breath and says, “At least I have a bigger boat than my neighbor’s!”
True happiness comes from your inner landscape -- things like loving yourself, providing for your family, having happy moments with friends and feeling proud of how you are making a living. You’re in charge of how you define your success; whatever fulfills you on a soul level is what you should aim at achieving.
Though it can be difficult to cast off the opinions of others who matter to you, no one else knows what your fulfillment looks like; therefore, no one else can tell you what your success should be.

2. You think you need a full-life plan laid out in order to start.

I can’t tell you how many budding entrepreneurs I’ve coached through feeling frozen in place. Just out of college, they view the vast landscape of possibilities ahead of them and think their whole life plan must be in place before they take a step. The same thing happens later in life to seasoned entrepreneurs, who want to start a new project; they don’t know how to begin a task so large, so they don’t begin at all.
It seems such a simple truth, but if you don’t begin, you’ll never get anywhere. People, who are afraid to start, think if they start down one road, they can’t correct course midstream, which just isn’t true. Even the best-laid plans have hiccups, so course corrections are almost always necessary. In fact, some of my most successful colleagues were in a completely different field before they decided to pivot and end up in something new.
Go into your plans carefully -- one step at a time -- but take those first steps and believe that when you get to a crossroads, you will know which path to take. Keep in mind your ultimate purpose, the overarching vision that you desire, and you will never be led astray. The journey is part of the fun so don’t be afraid if you don’t see all the twists and turns in the beginning.

3. You’re afraid to fail.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Fail. Fail again. Fail better.” -- Samuel Beckett
I’ve done countless interviews with extremely successful CEOs and founders and found that many of them have stories of breakdowns and catastrophes. Whether large or small failures, those people who have made it to the top tiers of all endeavors have experienced outcomes that were less than what they wanted. Do you think any Olympic athlete made it so far without losing countless races?
Failure is not the end of the world. In actuality, failure is one of the primary ways that you will learn, grow and develop courage and fortitude. Failure teaches you how to be humble, empathetic and creative - all necessary traits for successful people. Being afraid to fail is understandable. However, once you understand that failure is not only inevitable, but it’s part of the process, it won’t be so scary.
Link: Click Here
Shared by: LY


Friday 7 October 2016

Books recommended to read

Today is Friday again, It is really worth spending time and money to get some books below and start to read. Get one and start now. Book getting you rich in knowledge that cannot buy with money. Agree?

11 Vital Books for First-Time Entrepreneurs – Click Here

25 Books for Success, the Rest of the List – Click Here

Shared by LY