Category Archive 'Living Self Improvement'
12.01.10
I never minded when girls stroked or even pulled my hair. I first noticed the first revealing signs of hair loss while I was brushing my teeth one morning: there was hair in the sink and the top of my head was noticeably less full than the crown and sides of my head. I’d never before considered what hair loss would be like: Most of the men in my family have a full head of hair. And yet, as I bent my head to look at the top of my head, I could soon see that hair loss was not just in my future but already occurring.
I felt that I lost my self-assurance, once I noticed the thinning strands. I no longer wanted to comb my hair, wore hats as much as possible, and felt self conscious. My girlfriend and I weren’t as intimate as we were because I was troubled about her noticing the thinning patch on top of my head. My anxiety was through the roof and my performance at work worsened due to the inability to focus.
Gratefully, I found Advanced Hair Studio. One of my friends mentioned it in passing. He had been observably balding far earlier than I had. However, one day at the gym, I observed his hair looked full and fresh. He told me that Advanced Hair Studio was to thank.
That very night, I went on-line and ordered my first product and had them delivered overnight. The results were immediate: my hair felt stronger and thicker in just a few days. After a month the thinning patch that caused me to worry myself sick was full of hair. I’d never before trusted anti-balding products worked. However, after my experience with Advanced Hair Studio, I now know that there are products out there that can save men a lot of stress, grief, and worrying.
26.11.09
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably having slight financial stress and seeking for a way to gain control of your finances. The best way to do this is to develop a monthly budget and sticking to it. Having a sound budget is essential for managing money, one that has allowed me to live well even on limited funds. One of the most crucial things that I do every month is outlining my monthly budget, and it has allowed me to systematically meet all expenses, grow my savings, and control debt.
I usually organise my budget for the upcoming month on about the 20th of the current month. That gives me a heads up about what’s down the road. It’s not a good idea to develop a budget after getting paid because, too often, that flush feeling of getting a paycheck results to nonessential and spontaneous spending before the paycheck ever reaches the bank.
Start your personal budget by outlining all the things that must be paid that month like rent, electricity bills, insurance policies, loan repayments and telephone bills. These are the things I have pay to keep a comfortable roof over my head and carry on earning money. I like to pad these requirements to make “money back” after paying the bills and, if costs increase unexpectedly, I’m always covered.
Next, my budget is subjected to a list of discretionary things I need to cover but could live without if absolutely needed. These items include monthly savings deposits, credit card repayments, and donations to charity. Don’t get me wrong, some of these things are also essential, but in case of emergency they can be excepted. By paying credit card companies the maximum instead of the minimum, I keep my credit score high and my debt low.
My budget does not include the cost of food, clothing, or entertainment. These expenses get covered by what’s left over and that’s that. Some months involve lots of beans and rice, slow-cooker meals, free or cheap entertainment, and only one inexpensive piece of clothing . This strategy of overseeing my monthly budget has worked out very well over the long term as long as I observe it conscientiously.
04.11.09
America is the Great Melting Pot of society. People from all nations have settled in the United States and that makes for some interesting family lines. If you’ve studied your own family’s history then you probably know something about the ethnic groups your ancestors came from.
Here’s a great blog post about Polish ancestry records that may help people descended from Polish immigrants learn more about where their families came from. The suggestion to visit Poland may not be quite so outlandish as you think. Travel to Europe from the United States is often quite affordable during the winter months. And some online travel sites offer special discounts. If you think you’d like to visit Poland, you should check out the opportunities. You just may have a European winter vacation in your future.
There are plenty of great resources out there to help you perform background records searches. You just have to do a little searching to figure out which resources you want to rely on. It’s more about finding something that matches your comfort level, or the way you think about things, than anything else. Several companies offer services to help you search geneaological records but you’ll want to exhaust free online services first.
Finally, if you have not given any thought to exploring your roots and learning more about where your family came from, perhaps you should. If you have children or one day plan to have children they may very likely ask you about their family history. And when that day comes won’t you want to look cool in your kids’ eyes for knowing so much already?
13.10.09
My hair loss treatment journey began the day I started to find myself balding. I would spend hours and hours looking for ways to comb my hair a certain manner to conceal my hair loss. I started wearing more hats on the weekends as I went out with my wife, friends or family. Walking in to work every morning was a difficult experience without my hat on. Your mind will do that to you when you are experiencing hair loss. It is so true that you never know what you have until you lose it. That can be accurate about your hair loss.
As I looked in the mirror I began to appreciate every one of the hair strands I had left. It was as if with each strand of hair I lost, so was a small part of my self-confidence gone as well. A mate of mine had the same problem as me. I observed recently that he seemed so much more relaxed and it appears as though his hair was growing back. I never wanted to bring it up but after a while I decided to ask. It was then that he told me about Advanced Hair Studio. With just a few visits my friend John had not only regrown his hair, but his confidence as well. I was determined to give Advanced Hair a try as after all I had a lot to lose, meaning my hair and self-confidence.
I have to admit that I was a little sceptical at first. But effects were apparent within a few weeks. Not only on my head, but in my behavior. I started feeling better about myself and started to lose the caps on the weekends. My wife has also noticed a change in my day to day behavior as well. It is amazing how just a few visits to the Advanced Hair Studio had begun to change my life as a whole. I always felt as if the first thing people observed about me was my bald spot. Now, I am not terrified to look people in the eyes again as I have my full set of self esteem back.
Advance Hair Studio has not only given me back a full set of hair, but a big piece of my life as well. If you are experiencing hair loss I highly recommend them as it has done so much for me in just a few months of treatments. Don’t let baldness take your confidence away.
15.08.09
I have constantly been behind on my monthly budget with regular monthly bill and unanticipated expenses. As soon as I received my pay, it was already spent. I get lots of bills every month and put them off to the last minute, then did them all in a hurry. This results in me taking over money from the next paycheck just to make it through. The problem was not related to how much money I made, it’s that I didn’t know how to manage my budget. In the case of any emergency, left me even deeper in debt.
I am convinced most of us have been in this situation. We try to be cautious with our spending and be careful with our money, but long before the month is over, the money is spent. Paying Off bills is a juggling act that most of us don’t have the time or energy to handle. There’s always one bill that was left out or delayed, one more expense we weren’t organized for. With school supplies and fees for the kids, groceries, new tires for the car, and the raising cost of petrol, just making it from paycheck to paycheck is difficult enough; saving money is out of the question. Meanwhile, debt is softly jamming up. How can I get my budget under control?
Fortunately for me, I found a service which will help me manage my money more wisely and take away the strain of paying monthly bills, allowing me to concentrate on the things that really matter to my family. I can at last relax not worrying about money, knowing that my monthly budget are in good hands.
How financial planning services work:
Usually during your first consultation, your budget specialist will go over all of your existing debts and monthly payments and organize a plan that works for you. They will manage your money, setting aside money for savings, emergencies, and long-term investment, ensuring your family’s financial security. If you are planning a major purchase, this will be forecasted into your budget so that when you are ready to buy, the money will be there for you.
Your paychecks are usually deposited to your financial planner, and a separate account is set up for your living expenses. Your bills are directly delivered to your budgeting specialist for payment. Some budget services will even negotiate with your creditors to lower your monthly payments and reduce your outstanding debt. A low monthly fee is assessed for all these services.
For me, the best monthly service my budget specialist provides is peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about paying any bills; I know my bills will be paid on time, and that I’ll have money in reserve for life’s little emergencies. My budget is finally under control, thanks to my financial planning service.
10.07.09
People call me a uniter not a divider, due to the fact that’s natural for me. I always suggest singles try joining Great Expectations. Can’t be denied, cupid just follows me around as an unconscious behavior. Expert dating services, like Milwaukee Great Expectations with a long-history of dating expertise, empathize with Milwaukee’s qualified singles and their dating preferences. Great dating services coordinate promising blind dates like a mutual friend, for a personalized dating experience. That’s just a small specialization providing big promise by developing working marriages for thousands of happy couples.
I’ve helped singles with dating advice in my facebook group and to quality Milwaukee singles. My latest post is not old hat. You know all that. Take an interest in what your date has to say, be diplomatic, don’t be uncomfortable, be frank and (important) don’t start checking off traits you have in mind on a checklist. Get to know someone at your own pace! Invite spontanaity in any situation. Here’s a big no-no: do not attempt to cast yourself as anything other than what you are. What if the date grows longer-term, then you have no choice but to come to terms. But here’s the secret to dating, there are perks to joining Great Expectations Milwaukee. Indeed, companionship building is my profession I have practiced since grade-school. My great successes with friends and family developed that reputation. Happy couples fill my life.
Look at Stacy and Jerry with their 4 kids. I pegged the couple together at an architecture luncheon in college, and their magical outcome is apparent. Frank and Caroline also hit it right off because I set them up at a wedding with my late husband’s family. Let’s not forget my step-sister Amanda and her companion. Those two say their vowes in Minneapolis in early October. I love them both and they built their love via Great Expectations, at my suggestion.
It appears I stay busy and quite productive as well! But it’s also a curse, as I focus on graciously helping Milwaukee’s singles realize the way to real compatability, I looked past my personal dating happiness. Is this what happens when the matchmaker seeks an arrow shot her way? I will enjoy Great Expectations Milwaukee Wisconsin, ’cause being specialized in an area it’s easy to spot flaws. Perhaps this is the feeling that has kept me from really getting serious about dating. If anyone does, I must understand that it’s tough to live life by yourself. So that’s where I’m at, taking my own advice by impeccable, professional dating advice.
Wendy Pacheco, Expert Dating Guru
27.06.09
Infrequently do we find teenagers & young adults at their early 20’s with areas of hair gone from their scalps. The greater part of hair loss in men occurs in their 30’s and forties although it isn’t abnormal from men in their late twenties to drop hair as well. The apprehension of aging is cringed among today’s community. Where aging was in the past a symbol of enlightenment and wisdom, it is presently mainly looked upon as if the elder you get, the more unexciting people turn out. This is without doubt not TRUE in most cases. Nevertheless, since this is how the media and current society illustrate middle aged men and women, & losing hair is a symbol of getting older, it is no doubt that hair loss might well affect one’s confidence.
Television shows repeatedly portray middle aged men with hair loss as the folks most doubtful to succeed with securing dates, or being happy in general. The character George Costanza of NBC’s hit sitcom, Seinfeld, is the classic example of this. Costanza was in his late thirties & suffered exemplar male pattern hair loss. He quite often referred to his hair loss as one of his grea excuses for never succeeding at almost anything in life. Men & women alike both enjoy a tendency to feel self conscious, particularly when it comes to the opposite sex. In our culture, a thick, luscious, head of hair is envisaged to be beautiful, & make one emerge more youthful and healthy.
Current technology is most useful in curing hair loss. Advanced hair loss treatments are attainable to restore your hair and make it look effectively natural as if you had not lost any hair to begin with. It is not essential in this era & age to have to deal with hair loss. One’s quality of life does not have to be affected with low confidence when there are so plentiful advanced hair restoration treatments to choose from. Whether a prescription drug, modern remedy, follicle transplants, or laser therapy, there are numerous options that might fit many budgets.
Hair loss treatments are now exceedingly popular & used by both male and female. People who have lost their hair due to illness & have found it is never to grow back can occasionally be advantageous from advanced hair therapeutics. Even if you are not entirely losing hair, but experiencing from a receding hair line or your hair is thinning, you will probably benefit from an array of hair loss therapy. The times of depending on fake looking wigs & spray on hair are history. With so countless selections of types of hair loss remedy, one no longer have to live life feeling any less confident than they did in their early 20’s.
30.05.09
Now, You couldn’t describe me as exactly happy being bored with most men (who isn’t?) and remain an honest woman. But, I’m not unhappy about it, either. I merely bring it up on the blogosphere as an ear-catching little tidbit setting up the story I will shortly unravel!
This time last week I was talking to Trisha, thinking of signing up for Dallas Personals site. Now, I write to each of you as a surprisingly pleased member of the singles network. Seriously, it’s true. I like it! If you know me at all, perhaps you’re thinkin’, “You got some ’splainin to do, Lucy!”
Well, I saw these Great Expectations Reviews and can really get behind their approach. They’re for the serious singles who care enough to know dating isn’t a game.
Because I’d never been too big on the ridiculous nightlife ritual a lot of singles call “dating.” I got it more than you know. Each night friends ask, “You’re still single? ” and “Oh I know just the guy for you!”
“That’s rubbish,” I banter right back, without missing a beat. “There’s nothing to date!”
“Whatever doofus,” they say. “You have no way to know that!”
That’s just my partner in crime (she’s the best) (hehe) Sandy Holland. She beams the best ideas directly to my core to set me straight. Loved ones I depend on . She made a good point, and I joined.
Back to the message of this essay. As I selected from hundreds of quality singles for my first date with Great Expectations, I realized something true. Over the last year, I hadn’t entertained the greatest of emotional great expectations for dating and myself in the serendipitous path of being human. Being single isn’t so bad, specifically when you get out there and have fun. Having great expectations makes a difference on a cynics social life.
<3, Denise Rodriguez
15.03.09
Our reality is congested with stressors. It appears that the more we grow technology and means to evolve things more rapidly, the more anxiety attacks increase. This is an enigma. You may imagine that bothersome demands and anxieties would diminish with our non stop advancement in technology. Nevertheless, anxiousness and depression appear more commonplace now than they ever were in the past. It is quite possible that in the past, such conversation topics were avoided. Well they certainly make an issue of it these days. In fact, if you’ve ever spent an afternoon in front of the TV, I’m sure you’ve witnessed some sort of ad for a medicine, which offers panic attacks help.
These issues are rising to the surface and being discussed openly. It does not matter if it is a phobic neurosis of massive crowds or a sleep disorder, scientists are always developing new ways to fix it. Getting quite a bit of their attention is panic attacks and depressive disorder. When I consider depression, I think of an individual who has of late lost a loved one or an individual who is handicapped in such a way that precludes them from living a normal life. Well this is a common misconception. Numerous people are distressed by the burden of panic attacks and natural depression for other reasons. Some of which are not even identified. You may wonder if it concerns the food we eat. It seems to be part of the human condition to lack total contentment with life.
A matter that worries me, is adolescents. Anxiety and depression appears to be affecting them more than adults these days. Acknowledged, being a teen is rough in some areas, and unbelievably simple in others. While some teenagers may argue that it’s horrible. We all were teenagers at least once. We have not forgotten our experiences. However, I can never recall being depressed. It is difficult to understand the changes of the last ten years. Anxiety attacks should not be a part of childhood. Truth is, anxiety and depression should be much less prevalent than it is altogether.
12.06.08
It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.
- Aristotle
Are morning people born or made? In my case it was definitely made. In my early 20s, I rarely went to bed before midnight, and I’d almost always sleep in late. I usually didn’t start hitting my stride each day until late afternoon.
But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high correlation between success and rising early, even in my own life. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher, not just in the morning but all throughout the day. And I also noticed a significant feeling of well-being. So being the proactive goal-achiever I was, I set out to become a habitual early riser. I promptly set my alarm clock for 5AM…
… and the next morning, I got up just before noon.
Hmmm…
I tried again many more times, each time not getting very far with it. I figured I must have been born without the early riser gene. Whenever my alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop that blasted noise and go back to sleep. I tabled this habit for a number of years, but eventually I came across some sleep research that showed me that I was going about this problem the wrong way. Once I applied those ideas, I was able to become an early riser consistently.
It’s hard to become an early riser using the wrong strategy. But with the right strategy, it’s relatively easy.
The most common wrong strategy is this: You assume that if you’re going to get up earlier, you’d better go to bed earlier. So you figure out how much sleep you’re getting now, and then just shift everything back a few hours. If you now sleep from midnight to 8am, you figure you’ll go to bed at 10pm and get up at 6am instead. Sounds very reasonable, but it will usually fail.
It seems there are two main schools of thought about sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same times every day. It’s like having an alarm clock on both ends you try to sleep the same hours each night. This seems practical for living in modern society. We need predictability in our schedules. And we need to ensure adequate rest.
The second school says you should listen to your body’s needs and go to bed when you’re tired and get up when you naturally wake up. This approach is rooted in biology. Our bodies should know how much rest we need, so we should listen to them.
Through trial and error, I found out for myself that both of these schools are suboptimal sleep patterns. Both of them are wrong if you care about productivity. Here’s why:
If you sleep set hours, you’ll sometimes go to bed when you aren’t sleepy enough. If it’s taking you more than five minutes to fall asleep each night, you aren’t sleepy enough. You’re wasting time lying in bed awake and not being asleep. Another problem is that you’re assuming you need the same number of hours of sleep every night, which is a false assumption. Your sleep needs vary from day to day.
If you sleep based on what your body tells you, you’ll probably be sleeping more than you need in many cases a lot more, like 10-15 hours more per week (the equivalent of a full waking day). A lot of people who sleep this way get 8+ hours of sleep per night, which is usually too much. Also, your mornings may be less predictable if you’re getting up at different times. And because our natural rhythms are sometimes out of tune with the 24-hour clock, you may find that your sleep times begin to drift.
The optimal solution for me has been to combine both approaches. It’s very simple, and many early risers do this without even thinking about it, but it was a mental breakthrough for me nonetheless. The solution was to go to bed when I’m sleepy (and only when I’m sleepy) and get up with an alarm clock at a fixed time (7 days per week). So I always get up at the same time (in my case 5am), but I go to bed at different times every night.
I go to bed when I’m too sleepy to stay up. My sleepiness test is that if I couldn’t read a book for more than a page or two without drifting off, I’m ready for bed. Most of the time when I go to bed, I’m asleep within three minutes. I lie down, get comfortable, and immediately I’m drifting off. Sometimes I go to bed at 9:30pm; other times I stay up until midnight. Most of the time I go to bed between 10-11pm. If I’m not sleepy, I stay up until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. Reading is an excellent activity to do during this time, since it becomes obvious when I’m too sleepy to read.
When my alarm goes off every morning, I turn it off, stretch for a couple seconds, and sit up. I don’t think about it. I’ve learned that the longer it takes me to get up, the more likely I am to try to sleep in. So I don’t allow myself to have conversations in my head about the benefits of sleeping in once the alarm goes off. Even if I want to sleep in, I always get up right away.
After a few days of using this approach, I found that my sleep patterns settled into a natural rhythm. If I got too little sleep one night, I’d automatically be sleepier earlier and get more sleep the next night. And if I had lots of energy and wasn’t tired, I’d sleep less. My body learned when to knock me out because it knew I would always get up at the same time and that my wake-up time wasn’t negotiable.
A side effect was that on average, I slept about 90 minutes less per night, but I actually felt more well-rested. I was sleeping almost the entire time I was in bed.
I read that most insomniacs are people who go to bed when they aren’t sleepy. If you aren’t sleepy and find yourself unable to fall asleep quickly, get up and stay awake for a while. Resist sleep until your body begins to release the hormones that rob you of consciousness. If you simply go to bed when you’re sleepy and then get up at a fixed time, you’ll cure your insomnia. The first night you’ll stay up late, but you’ll fall asleep right away. You may be tired that first day from getting up too early and getting only a few hours of sleep the whole night, but you’ll slog through the day and will want to go to bed earlier that second night. After a few days, you’ll settle into a pattern of going to bed at roughly the same time and falling asleep right away.
So if you want to become an early riser (or just exert more control over your sleep patterns), then try this: Go to bed only when you’re too sleepy to stay up, and get up at a fixed time every morning.
Edit (05/31/05): Due to the (mysterious) popularity of this post, I’ve written a follow-up with some extra detail and clarifications: How to Become an Early Riser - Part II.
Copyright © Steve Pavlina
Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
http://www.stevepavlina.com
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog (blog)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles (articles)
Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.
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