Resolving Hate

It's not likely that everyone will ever agree on everything. In fact, in a country that prides itself on the right for free speech, it's impossible.

But there are ways to be tolerant. There are ways to make change a wanted thing, to get utility from growing as a community, not wanting to travel backward. The question is: how do we get there? It's not an easy answer, mostly because everyone is so different. We have different definitions of tolerant, of acceptance, most certainly of right and wrong.

Here's my idea: we all focus on ourselves. We mind our own business, and get utility from what makes us, personally, happy. If we do that, if we stop hanging our happiness on the actions of others, I believe the world will be a better place.

Utility from Hate

What point is there to hate? What utility can one possibly get from hating? In fact, shouldn't there be no utility at all, and instead a negative affect? Once again, it goes back to fear. The utility from hating is the belief that through discrediting and discouraging a behavior/belief that the hater thinks is wrong, they gain security. Security is what we all look for, and something that disrupts that can be terrifying.

Recently, the legalization of gay marriage and the push for gay rights have been hot topics filled with controversy and debate. Personally, I don't understand the need for debate. In my eyes, people are people and every person deserves equal rights. Who one happens to love should not be a factor in determining that, as long as the marriage is between two consenting adults. Gender shouldn't factor in at all.source:http://images.publicradio.org


But many religious people have a huge objection to this. For them, gay marriage is an abomination, spoken out against in the Bible. A popular catch phrase from Christians like this (not to say that all religious people, that all Christians believe gay marriage is wrong. I am merely basing this off of personal observations of Christianity. I do also know very tolerant religious people. This is not to discredit them.) is: "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."

I believe that the issue here is the fear to deviate from tradition. I know multiple people who accept the Bible as law, even though it is a book written thousands of years ago and teaches many things no longer applicable to modern society. Hate comes from the inability to deviate away from comfort. The utility from hate comes from the security that comes with the comfort of the known.
http://www.gotquestions.org/homosexuality-Bible.html

Is Hate Ever Rational?

As I discovered in the last blog post, hate is often times based in fear (of change, of the unknown). Therefore, the question becomes: is fear ever rational?

Everyone reacts differently to fear. Some seek it out, becoming adrenaline junkies who would do anything for that next thrill. People like this leap out of airplanes, cling precariously to rocky mountain walls, and swim with sharks. However, many people respond to fear by avoiding it, and pretending it doesn't exist. This is the mentality of those involved in hate groups. Though they certainly don't pretend whatever they hate (ex. gay marriage, people of a different race) doesn't exist, they do all they can to make it go away. They shut out logic, and delude themselves into thinking that they have the power to completely stamp out something they don't like.

Take for example the Westboro Baptist Church. Their entire mission is based on hate. They hate homosexuals, they hate Jews, they even think Obama is Satan, come to aid in the destruction of the world. These are people who can find hate everywhere, around every corner, at every turn. They believe that, if they just picket long enough, make enough hate filled videos, protest enough funerals, that they can get into heaven. They are so terrified of what they dislike that they resort to hate speech and nonsensical arguments about how God hates everyone, a teaching that is contradictory to every other branch of Christianity.
(www.godhatesfags.com)

So is fear rational? No. Is hate rational? Again, no.

(source: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com)

I Don't Do Drugs!

What if I told you those antidepressant you used can be more effective? Well they can!

A professor leading a study in the United Kingdom discovered that cognitive behavioural therapy can help people depressed have fewer symptoms of anxiety and were less likely to go into remission.

CBT, as its called, is where the patient speaks with a trained psychotherapist or psychologist about behaviours and ways of thinking.

I guess it when people say that talking to people helps, they mean it!

Still the majority of people don't have access to this or don't go to anyone for their depression other than their doctor for medication. With this maybe we can stop depression from spreading.

Do you think that depression will eventually disappear from its disease status?

Source: flickr.com

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Could Help People With Depression When Drugs Fail, Study Shows  by Kate Kelland of the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-depression-talk-psychotherapy_n_2253834.html

Sauder

Career success

Above is the Sauder career success cycle is what a lot of companies and bussiness people do to stay on track towards success.
The cycle goes in this order:

• Step 1: Assessing Self
• Determine aspirations
• Determine Values
• Step 2: Researching Options
• Find careers that match your profile and needs
• Stay away from careers with unfavorable labor market trends
• Step 3: Being Strategic
• Make your goals 
• Make a plan to how you plan to find your career
• Step 4: Building Your Brand
• cover letter, portfolio, resume
• Network
• Be prepared for interviews
• Step 5: Getting Connected
• Networking
• Job search workshops
• Improve skills
• Step 6: Optimizing Your Future
• Build network
• Continue educate
• Keep moving up

When looking for a career that can work for you and can lead you to success you have to work towards finding the right one. It takes effert to find a good job with an interview. To get to that point it may be difficult. Once you get an interview you better be prepared or it was a waste. While you arent interviewing or working, you should keep working on improving yourself and your overall value.

http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Careers/For_Students/MM-ECM_Students/Sauder_Career_Success_Cycle

Why Hate

Today, we look at hate groups with bafflement. Unless you are part of one, it is near impossible to understand the ideology and the rationality behind it. In fact, our core understanding of hate groups is that they aren't rational. They aren't logical or understandable. But did they start in a logical or understandable place, beginning somewhere that we, even though we don't endorse or recognize the actions of these groups as acceptable in any way, could possibly relate to?


SOURCE:  http://www.veteranstoday.com

The KKK was founded in 1865 by six college students in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee. Surprisingly, they didn't begin as a hate group. Instead, they were merely six young men in a social group causing a bit of an uproar at night. However, they soon realized that they were causing fear in the slave population. Though this was not their original intent, they latched on to this very quickly. Soon, hundreds of Civil War veterans had joined, and the Klan became an organization divided into realms, dominions, provinces and dens.

But why? Why did these veterans flock to what started out as a club of sorts between six college students? The answer is fear. As the policies of Reconstruction awarded more and more rights to former slaves, life was changing drastically for these former slave owners. Their entire existence was in upheaval. Everything they had ever known was gone. They had lost the war, and now they were losing their way of life.

People react to uncertainty with fear. The KKK was a way to counter that fear. The opportunity cost of the KKK (the hate, the violence, the terror) did not outweigh the utility gained from the organization: that these people felt, in some way, that they were preserving the way they felt things should be. 

http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/history.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk

Advertising for Success

Article: The Psychology of Advertising
credibility: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S, Editor of PsychCentral.com


Many people do not understand the importance of psychology in today's modern day advertisement. There is a reason people are attracted to products more after seeing a commercial, it is because companies use drastic techniques to make our minds crave their product more. These techniques were originally purposed by John B. Watson. Watson worked for for major companies and helped them sell their products by appealing to their mind. Watson believed that in order to make a customer want your product, the advertiser had to appeal to their fear, love, or rage. Watson also expressed that the product had to appeal to the costumer  as a product that would benefit their life over all. For example, Watson told a major toothpaste company that they shouldn't advertise for dental hygiene, but advertise the fact that the costumer will appear more attractive with healthy teeth. Watson believed that if that feature was emphasized in the advertisement, sales would increase.

Another innovator in the world of advertisement, was psychologist Harry Hollingworth. Hollingworth broke down the dynamics of a advertisement in a method that is still used today by so many different companies when advertising their new products. Hollingworths steps were simple:

• Attract consumers attention.
• focus the attention on to the message
• make consumer remember the message
• cause the consumer to take the desired action

These techniques are used by just about every company today, and for the simple fact that this method is simple, concise, and effective. 

Lottery or Paraplegic?

Dan Gilberts starts off by questioning the live audience whether they would rather have the life of a lotto winner of about 314 million dollars, or the life of a paraplegic. Of course, everyone's first answer would be the lottery winner. But, when Gilberts reveals the levels of happiness of each person after a year, shockingly they were the same!

How can someone winning millions of dollars and someone who has lost their limbs have the same amount of happiness? According to this Ted Talks interview, it is.

Gilberts talks about the difference between natural and synthetic happiness. Natural happiness is what we feel when we get what we want. Synthetic happiness is what we try and make ourselves feel even when things don't turn out exactly the way we planned.


Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

Authority: The speaker is Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist and a best-selling author.Accuracy: Gilbert cites recent and factual studies/experiments conducted in well-known universities, such as the Science of Happiness study conducted at Harvard University.Timeliness: This video was filmed February 2004 so it's only about 8 years old.

Life after a Suicide

For some people, suicide is the end. It is only the end of an individuals life. In reality, suicide causes more problems than it fixes. But even with those new problems, the living members can push through it and survive.

Mrs. Bowden-White lost her husband in 1974. They went through several separations and he ended up taking his own life after they divorced. Two and a half years later her son followed in his footsteps.

It didn't need to happen that way though. After a suicide the family should come together and really unite. Unfortunately, Mrs. Bowden-White was too late to realize this. She continued to work in her news job. She didn't speak with her son like she should have.


Suicide doesn't need to be the end. It can be the beginning. It can bond a family closer like it did later for Mrs. Bowden-White. It can help serve as an example of how fragile people are and te need to work together through hardships.


Do you think that having the family bond before suicide could prevent it?

Source: frank.itlab.us

Proquest, Life After a Son's Suicide: One Family's Strugglehttp://search.proquest.com/docview/425751817/13AF31C558C5E566E7E/1?accountid=6222

Happy Planet Index (HPI)

Denmark is no longer the happiest country in the world. Costa Rica has taken its spot.

You may be thinking, how can people measure the amount of happiness in a country!? Three factors are taken into account.

1. Over-all happiness and well-being
2. Life Expectancy
3. Environmental Sustainability

With these three factors, the new HPI, or happy planet index creates a ranking of countries every year. One reason so many countries from Central America and the Carribbean are in the top 10 happiest countries is because they beat everyone, especially the great nations, in terms of their environment. The US came in 105th place and one reason for that is that we are ruining the environment and not living sustainably.
The top ten happiest countries are...

1. Costa Rica (64.0)

2. Vietnam (60.4)

3. Colombia (59.8)

4. Belize (59.3)

5. El Salvador (58.9)

6. Jamaica (58.5)

7. Panama (57.8)

8. Nicaragua (57.1)

9. Venezuela (56.9)

9. Guatemala (56.9)

One thing about this proves that you don't need the most money or to live in the country producing the most, as some in China and the US believe.

People in Costa Rica dance to Gangnam Style and are happy because they have strong relationships with others and family.

This article is credible because I found it on the CNN Travel website.

http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/denmark-ousted-100-latest-worlds-happiest-country-561826

"It's Kind of Like Losing Weight"

In this article, "Money Making you Happy?  Try Happiness Making you Money", Amina Khan explains how "people who express more positive emotions as teenagers and greater life satisfaction as young adults tend to have higher incomes by the time they're 29 (according to a study published by the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)".  Therefore, it is not the money creating the glee, but the reverse cycle.  Khan also concludes that positive attitudes improve future success, which makes a lot of sense. Furthermore, researchers have seen that spending money on others along with being kind to others, in general, helps one's happiness level increase.  

                                 

Sonja Lyubomirsky, a University of California social psychologist and author of The How of Happiness, believes that being happy is somewhat like losing weight by the fact that "if you're genetically predisposed to not being a happy person, you have to put a lot of effort into it".  That supports the fact that many people contain different levels of happiness.  Would you consider yourself a legitimately happy person?


authority: Amina Khan
accuracy: posted in the Sydney Morning Herald - reliable source
timeliness: November 20, 2012
link (picture & article): http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/money-making-you-happy-try-happiness-making-you-money-20121120-29np9.html

Other abundant goods that can become scarce

There are so many goods out there in the world that will eventually become scarce. Let's take paper as an example. Trees produce paper and millions and millions of trees are cut down every day. We need paper for just about everything. If we run out of trees we run out of paper. This is a very broad idea because there are billions of trees out there but in a long period of time anything can happen. More and more goods are becoming scarce everyday. Scarcity isn't something people should be afraid about, scarcity is something that people get new ideas off of. Running out of a certain resource makes us think of new ones. Many people fear scarcity but as a matter of fact it is a good thing. Millions and millions of new goods are produced each day and we never run out. In the far future we will run out of things like water and paper. Its not something that is made up, it is a fact. At the rate that we are going now I wouldn't doubt if this happens sooner than we think. What other goods will become scarce in a short period of time?
SOURCE: Opposing Viewpoints and Resource Center
TITLE: Abundant goods and their uses
SOURCE: Global Issues in Context

TITLE: Conservation of water, food, and clothing 

  http://HitCountType=None&sort=Relevance&tabID=T006&prodId=GIC&resultListType=RESULT_

http://failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&display

SOURCE: sbhsgovecon.wordpress.com

Do people value diamonds for more than they should?

People value diamonds so much that they don't even think about how important water is. The value of diamonds has raised so much over such a short period of time. People do value diamonds for more than they should because to some people diamonds and jewelry are everything. It doesn't make much sense that people value diamonds more than water. Water is a need and diamonds are wants. So many people buy thousands and thousands of diamonds. They keep them and maybe even keep a collection of them. Diamonds should not be valued for as much as they are. The value of something does affect its price. The price of diamonds is very high and that shows how there is a lot of value to it. Some characteristics of diamonds that make them so high in price is their beautiful look, style, and color. All of these characteristics really show the buyer why they want to buy one. Diamonds are a product that will increase in price over time. People will continue to value diamonds for more than they should. Do you feel like people value diamonds for more than they should?
SOURCE: Opposing Viewpoints and Resource Center
TITLE: Value and cost
SOURCE: Global Issues In Context
TITLE: The price and cost of diamonds
http://find.galegroup.com/gic/retrieve.do?sgHitCount
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodI
SOURCE:dogoodbetterbyu.wordpress.com

Money (Doesn't) Matter

Source: thinkstock

Ask any high schooler researching careers and you can be sure that salary will be one of their top three factors in choosing a career - not environment, growth opportunities, or daily tasks. Yet this article shows that factors like these are what truly determines happiness. Infact, most of the careers that ranked highest on the happiness scale were low-paying jobs.

Here's the top 5 from the list compiled by Forbes from the CareerBliss survey along with the reason they love what they do:

1. Biotechnology (coworkers, who they work for)
2. Customer Service (control over daily tasks, ability to interact with people)
3. Education (daily tasks, ex.working with children)
4. Clerical Workers (daily tasks, job demand)
5. Purchasing (daily tasks)

Health Care and Legal, some of the highest-paying careers, ranked 9 and 10 on this list. This survey definitely proves that money does NOT matter when evaluating employee happiness. According to the survey's results, money did not even factor into the top three reasons employees were happy. Here are the top three reasons:
*the specific tasks a job entails on a day-to-day basis
*how much control the employee has over his or her daily tasks
*relationships with co-workers and customers, including supervisors and colleagues

Therefore, our society definitely has skewed priorities when determing career choices solely based on salary. In the end, money has almost nothing to do with how happy someone is in their career. Once basic needs are met, extra money is seen as a perk but not a necessity. Rather, the environment one works in and who one works with are the real determining factors in happiness calculations.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41890356/ns/business-careers/t/americas-happiest-careers-its-not-about-money/

Authority: This article is from NBCNews, and it cites Forbes.com
Accuracy: The article cites a survey conducted by job site CareerBliss.com that surveyed over 200,000 employees in varied fields of work on nine factors of workplace happiness.
Timeliness: This article is from 2011.

Neuroplasticity: Training Your Mind for Happiness

Hanson often quotes Donald Hebb's line, “neurons that fire together, wire together,” when explaining neuroplasticity. The term is actually quite simple. Neurons you use more, grow stronger and are better structured. Therefore if most of your thoughts surround negative, resentful ideas - those synapses wire together and this adds a stronger neural structure to thinking negative. Luckily, this is still true for happy thoughts. The more your mind dwells on positive ideas, the stronger your 'happy' neurons are. Hanson concludes this conjecture with the famous phrase, "...the mind takes the shape of what it rests upon."

Unfortunately, evolution has made us more susceptible to have negative thoughts. Paranoia is wired into our brains so that the snap of a branch or a raised voice (signs of a predator) trigger synapses that bring to mind negative ideas. Hanson emphasizes that although it is important not to ignore threats, this "negativity" bias can be tilted back in favor of happiness through 3 steps that can be applied in most siutations.

1. Look for good facts about the world and yourself, and register them as good experiences (move from the conceptual to the experiential).
2. Savor the good experience for 10-20-30 seconds in a row:
   • Sense that it is filling your body.
   • As you can, intensify it; really enjoy it!
   • Make it last
3. Sense and intend that this positive experience is sinking into you, becoming a part of you, a resource you can take wherever you go.

If training your mind to be happy is possible, why does our society continually feel the need to connect money and wealth to happiness?

Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/mindfulness/2010/03/training-your-brain-for-the-better-an-interview-with-rick-hanson-ph-d/

Authority: The interviewer is Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist.
Accuracy: The interviewee is Rick Hanson, Ph.D. He is a neuropsychologist and the co-founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, which also publishes a monthly bulletin.  He refers to Canadian psychologist, Donald Hebb.
Timeliness: This interview is from 2010.

Dr. Happiness

Ed Diener, or some refer to him as Dr. Happiness, is a prime researcher studying positive psychology.  Positive psychology deals with the strengths that enable thriving among individuals.  In his studies, he emphasizes a strong genetic factor to happiness along with arguing that "external conditions do little to change one's happiness" (Pursuit of Happiness, Inc).  Furthermore, Diener believes that happiness is highly correlated with social relationships.  Diener is one of the many researchers who argues that surroundings and other peers affect one's overall happiness.  I found this to be quite interesting: "In a recent cross-national study on teenagers, Diener found that “the most salient characteristics shared by the 10% of students with the highest levels of happiness and the fewest signs of depression were their strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them.”" (Pursuit of Happiness, Inc).  Diener continues by explaining that "basically we are programmed to be happy and even horrific events like being paralyzed often upset happiness only temporarily.  Due to the principle of hedonic adaptation, we are able to quickly revert back to our “set level” of happiness." (Diener).  Which if you truly think about your life, Diener's beliefs are pretty accurate.  Additionally, he highlights four essentials for a happy life: 

#1. Psychological wealth is more than money. It is also your attitudes, goals and engaging activities at work.
#2. Happiness not only feels good, but is beneficial to relationships, work and health.
#3. It is helpful to set realistic expectations about happiness. No one is intensely happy all of the time.
#4. Thinking is an important aspect to happiness. His theory of Attention, Interpretation, and Memory (AIM) helps people to increase their psychological wealth.

authority: the Pursuit of Happiness, Inc
accuracy: this site is a science newsletter with the latest updates pertaining
timeliness: 2012
link: http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/ed-diener/
image link: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&tbo=d&tbm=isch&tbnid=Whe1LZRduS_DSM:&imgrefurl=http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/0808happiness_EdDiener.html&docid=JXIzZ7SFFsG1UM&imgurl=http://news.illinois.edu/WebsandThumbs/Diener,Ed/diener_ed01_b.jpg&w=467&h=700&ei=6qy-ULdCg4bJAcebgJgK&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=4&vpy=397&dur=2634&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=78&ty=132&sig=113000226205460156152&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=114&start=0&ndsp=59&ved=1t:429,r:26,s:0,i:169&biw=1920&bih=947

When you Want to Succeed as Bad as you Want to Breathe

This is one of my favorite videos and it makes me want to work hard every time I watch it. The message is very generic and not really focused on one thing or another but it is a message that can stick with anyone. The message can be applied to anyone who is trying to achieve a goal of any kind. And to succeed, according to one definition, is to achieve a goal.

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful."

This quote is one that I feel anyone can use. Whether it be a student working hard in school to get into college or a business man trying to move up in the corporate world, this quote can be applied. You have to want to succeed more than anything else. You have to try and put everything you have into what you are doing. When you put that much effort into something it will give you a return.

As we go on through college and into the real world I feel that this quote can apply. We will have to work hard through college to learn what we need to know for the real world. Then we have to push hard in our careers and move forward to a point where we have reached our own levels of success. Is the message of this video one that you can apply to your life?

World Happiness

      This article is right away states that happiness isn't easy to measure. This is because happiness doesn't consist of numbers that are easily added and subtracted. Happiness is abstract and measured differently from person to person. Although places like Bhutan have tried to measure their happiness with their Gross National Happiness survey, there are many different things that contribute to happiness. Sure, money is one factor, but when taking in account the whole country, its much more than that.

      Surely one can see that different countries are bound to have different amounts of happiness. Clearly happiness will be different in America than it would be in Russia. People in America who even don't have the most money will probably be happier than some of those in countries where they are oppressed or under a strict regime where they can't be completely free.

      Trust also improves or decreases happiness in countries around the world. In places like the US and the UK trust has dwindled. In other places such as Italy and Denmark, there is more overall trust which increases happiness.

      Unemployment can also diminish happiness. Not only does not having a job create sadness, but it takes away happiness in more ways than just not having money. One could become unhappier without a job due to the loss of social relationships in the office.

       Another big factor of happiness is marriage. Married couples tended to be happier than their single counterparts in most countries. Stable relationships and families contribute to happiness.


http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content07/map-of-world-happiness.jpg

This article on Co.Exist is reliable because first of all the Co.Exist has more reports and secondly toward the bottom of the article there is a summary of the author Ariel Schwartz, a senior editor at Co. Exist.
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679633/the-world-happiness-report-explains-what-makes-people-happy

How do They do it?

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/07/an-insider-shares-mark-zuckerbergs-6-secrets-for-success/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220515#

Mark Zuckerberg had 6 simple rules that he lived by that made him successful. In case you don't know, Mark is the guy that started the multi-billion dollar website known as Facebook.

1. Believe in your self- Mark always believed his dreams and convinced himself that no matter what he did he was going to be able to achieve his goals.
2. Just get it done, even if it isn't perfect- Mark lived by the "hacker way." When hackers release code it is never perfect. They are always releasing updates and making their product better. That is how mark made Facebook. He released it as soon as it was usable and kept updating it to make it better.
3. Stick to your vision and tune out the naysayers- He never listened to people when they told him Facebook was not going to work. He was even offered 1 billion dollars by yahoo back in 2006 but he declined because he wanted Facebook to reach its full potential.
4. Loyalty Breeds Success-He is incredibly loyal and cares about his relationships with other people. That is what brought him to start Facebook in the beginning.
5. Live Below your means- Mark is incredibly rich but does not live like it. It was not until last year did he move out of his small rented out apartment. He is not a consumer and wants nothing more than to work on his web site.
6. Follow your passion, not the money-Like Mark, most successful people did not want the money in the beginning. They really just did what they loved and wanted to see it go as far as they could. The money is just something that happened to come along with this product that they perfected.

Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple, had 7 rules of his own that he lived by.

1. Do what you love- This is the same as Mark's 6th rule. Do what you love and follow your passion.
2. Put a dent in the universe-Make sure your goals lead you to something that will change the world and make it a better place.
3. Make connections-Connect different parts of your life and combine them into something that is great. it should all come together into something that is great.
4. Say no to 1,000 things- Don't spread yourself thin trying to do a 1,000 different projects. Work on a few things that you will be able to work hard on and really shape it into something great.
5. Create insanely different experiences-He wanted to create a company that provided something new to his customers. His Apple stores are not like regular stores and have a much different feel than most stores you go into.
6. Master the message-You have to be able to communicate with people. You may have the greatest idea ever but you can not make that idea a reality unless you are able to tell people what the idea is. Steve Jobs was a master at presentation and could explain his ideas very clearly.
7. Sell dreams not products-Believe in yourself and be willing to defend your ideas. You should be able to see genius in your ideas and make them a reality.

These rules are what got two of the most successful people to where they are today. Do you think they are holding back on some of the things that got them to where they are?

Life's Success

Successful or Unsuccessful 

The truth is, there is no successful or unsuccessful people. Instead, there are people with potential to succeed and know they have potential, or there are people who don't know. In becoming successful, you have to know what you can't be or have. What you have to understand in becoming successful is that there is going to pain, disappointment  and especially stress. The difference between on who is successful and one who is not successful is the quality of being able to get past the disappointment, forget about the stress, and deal with the pain. 

Before beginning to understand what you have to do to become successful, remember what not to do: 

• Lack of Persistence: What is good about having many qualities and skills if you lost hope in succeeding after failing once or twice? The only people who succeed in life are the persistent ones. Those who continue working right to the end until they get what they want even if everything was against them and even if they failed many times. 
• Lack of Flexibility: Flexibility is the ability to adapt to external conditions. It's the ability to try something else or another method when your current method fails. The more flexible you are, the more you will adapt to changes and the higher your chances of success will be. 
• Lack of Planning: If you don’t have goals or plans then you are going to be a part of other people's plans. If you don’t plan to be the team leader at your work then someone else in your team will do so and if you don't plan to get that high paying job then someone else who planned and worked for it will take it from you. If you don’t plan you will get swept away by the people who do. They will fill the positions, make the money and get the fame while you'll just be a spectator. planning is an essential item in the success toolkit. 
• Lack of Self-confidence: If you don't have a high self-confidence then most probably you will be too shy of presenting your ideas and you may give up your dreams as soon as someone tells you that they are not possible. You may fear taking any risks and so ignore many opportunities that could have made you successful. If you want to increase your chances of being a successful person, then you must build your self-confidence.
• Thinking that you lack resources: In my book How I Did It  i explained how i managed to make a website that generates thousands of dollars/month in less than 2 years with an initial investment that is less than 50 dollars!! Don't fool yourself by thinking that you lack resources because if you are serious about success you will do it without having any resources. This website is one of the examples of successful businesses that required no resources at the start up.
• Success related Fears: The types of fears that can affect your ability to succeed are the fear of failure and the fear of success. While they both seem to be complete opposites still they can have the same effect on you which is preventing you from trying and so leading you to failure. 

Authority: M.Farouk Radwan, author of many books to becoming successful

Accuracy: No sources are cited, but the author is a reliable source

Timeliness: Septemer 16, 2007. pretty recent

Do any of these things reflect what you are? How might one get past these qualities. 

Mitt Romney Success

The Man of Money

Mitt Romney, four year Governor of Massachusetts, runner up to Barack Obama's presidency, Harvard graduate, and  a multimillionaire. This man has a made right? Maybe, but what has he accomplished? Romney was born into a wealthy family. His father was an automobile executive, and mother was a homemaker. Romney had it made. However, through everything he has done, he still could not make it to the top. Some may argue that it just may be politics, others will say he was not fit for the job, but we all know one thing for sure, Mitt's money could not buy his presidency.

In 2011, Romney's income was nearly 200 million dollars. We all know about his enormous family that goes everywhere with him, and we all see the way the Governor carries himself. He looks like he knows the game, maybe he does, but still was not able to reach the top. The interesting factor here is that although this man sounds like the most successful man on earth, even he could not reach the top with his money. You see, Romney spent millions on his campaigns to out do president Obama, and yet, the outcome was not in his favor. 

Authority: No specific author, Take from Biography.com so it seems to be a trusted source. 

Accuracy: This is a bio, no sources were cited, but are strong key points

Timeliness: December 4th, 2012 very recent Bio 

After reading the accomplishments Romney has accounted for, do you think he is successful?

Distribution of scarce resources

There are a lot of scarce resources out there, but how can we better distribute them? Eventually there will be a point in time when everything becomes scarce. Water, food, clothing, all of these things Will be scarce resources in the future. We don't think about it now because there is so much of each. We take advantage of always having it. Oil is a huge resource that we all need. The government needs to think of new ways to better distribute this oil or else were all in trouble. You  know that something is scarce if you try and offer it for free. Producers change a price for each good. That makes it easier to distribute more of that good for a better price. Scarcity leads to choice. If you walk into a store an you have $50 and someone offers you 500 items, you're not going to but every item, its impossible. You are going to buy the items that you want most and which ones are more beneficial to you. We can distribute our resources everywhere, instead of limited places. More and more people eventually want more than they can have. We need to limit the amount of each good we give to a certain company so that other companies can also share that good. The public wants more than it can have so the government needs to share and spread these scarce resources all around so everyone can have a little bit of each.
SOURCE:  Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
TITLE: Public Expenditures
SOURCE: Global Issues In Context
TITLE: Government expenditure, governance and economic growth
http://find.galegroup.com/gic/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DateDescend&tabID=T002&prodId=GIC&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&search
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName
SOURCE :foodlinkny.org

Myth or Fact: Low carb diets are good for your health

I'll answer this question right off the bat so there is no confusion... this is a MYTH. Diets low in carbohydrates are NOT... I repeat, NOT good for your health. There are many negative effects of going on a low-carbohydrate diet because it restricts many nutrient-dense foods and is ultimately an unhealthy long-term eating plan.

For one, a low carbohydrate diet will focus a lot on consuming high-protein foods and fats to substitute for the carbs that you are not eating. Some examples of these foods are steak, bacon, and butter. These foods are high in both saturated fat and cholesterol which are terrible for your heart due to the raised levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind of cholesterol) in your blood.

Another negative impact of a low-carb diet is that it is low in fiber. Americans are already used to diets that are too low in fiber and participating in a low-carb diet does not help this scarcity of fiber. Common sources of fiber are whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables - all carbohydrate-containing foods. Without a substantial amount of fiber in your diet, you may experience constipation or other gastrointestinal problems.

image source: proudtobeafilthyliberalscum.com

 

Since many low-carb diets cut out the carbohydrates consumed by eating fruits and vegetables, participants in this difficult diet are restricting their intake of vitamins A, C, and potassium. Since low-carb diets also frequently limit dairy product intake, many participants of this diet are also experiencing weaker bones due to their inadequate intake of calcium.

source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/400440-why-is-a-low-carb-diet-bad-for-your-health/

Motivation to Exercise

It is a pretty well-known fact that in order to be healthy, you need to exercise. There is no magic food that can instantly make you fit, although we all wish there was. You will also not get any healthier by simply pinning to your Fitness board on Pinterest. Those calories are not going to burn themselves, no matter how bad you want them to.There is a process to getting healthy, and the two factors that can show the most results are exercise and a healthy diet.  It is not enough to lay on the couch and think about exercising.  So, now that we have that covered it's on to the hard part... how can you get motivated to exercise?

One way to motivate yourself to exercise is to make plans to exercise with a friend (or multiple friends). Whether you want to go to the gym together, go for a jog, or play a pickup game of basketball, it is always good to have an exercise buddy. For one, it makes it harder for you to back down once you have already agreed to exercise someone. Make plans in advance so that you have a scheduled amount of time to get your exercise in.

                                                 image source: purepowerfitness.com.au

Another way to motivate yourself to exercise is to reward yourself when you do. Of course you will want to make sure this reward isn't food or a special treat that will just negate all of those calories you recently burned while exercising! One way to reward yourself by exercising is to make an exercise jar. Every time you go to the gym put one dollar in your exercise jar. Once you reach $100 (100 trips to the gym), you can reward yourself with a little shopping spree to spend your money. If you are a little less patient, another way to reward yourself by exercising would be to treat yourself to a manicure or maybe a new tshirt for meeting your weekly or monthly goal.

One other way to motivate yourself to exercise is to reward others by your exercise. In other words, exercise for charity. There are a couple of ways you can approach this. One way is to make the same exercise jar that you would make for yourself, however once you reach your desired amount of money, you would take that money and donate it to your favorite charity. There are also an abundance of races and walkathons that are for charity that give you a great calorie-burning benefit as well. So why not go participate in your local 5k race; it's good for both you and others in need!

source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/540771-what-are-some-ways-to-motivate-someone-to-exercise-with-you/

Synthesis and Plan

I have been researching all about nutrition and the well-being of people. I am fascinated by how people make decisions and what fuels their decisions to make healthy/unhealthy choices. Thus, so far I have beeing looking into why Americans are so fat and why people make unhealthy decisions. I have researched how our wealth affects our weight, how our choices affect our weight, and also how some people don't have much control over their weight. I have learned that many times a lower income leads to obesity due to the abundance of cheap yet junky food available. I have also learned that technology has played a surprisingly large role in the rise of obesity. Some questions that I would still like to discover with my research are:

• Is the price of healthy food better in the long run?
• Is the increase of fast food restaurants a main reason for the increase in obesity?
• Why do people go on such harsh diets when all they need is to eat healthier and get a normal amount of exercise?
• What would it take to motivate people to be healthier (both with diet and exercise).

Career that is best for you

When selecting a job to pay the bills or a career there are some questions that you have to ask yourself. When selecting a career you have to realize that one job today doesnt mean that you continue down that path the rest of your life. One job that sounds good today may end up a disaster or a terrible job today may end up as your dream job. 

What are your natural talents? Through out your life your peers compliment you on what your good at or something that comes naturally to you. Choose a job that lets you use your natural abilities.

What’s your work style? style is weather you like a strtict work agenda or a job with loose due dates and open projects.

Where do you like to work? locations can vary from city to local bussinesses. Also have to think about headquarters, at home, or traveling

Do you enjoy social interaction? Is interaction with other important or do you enjoy working by yourself?

How important to you is work-life balance? weather you like a long commute or a local job with a short day or long day with a lot of dedication.

Are you looking to give back? some jobs give you the oppurtunity to give to the community and some dont

Are you comfortable in the public eye? Do you like being judge by the public and hearing there opinions or do you want to do something privately with little recognition.

Do you deal well with stress? What stress level are you looking for

How much money do you want to make? how much money do you need to fullfil your dream lifestyle

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2010/12/06/how-to-choose-a-career-thats-best-for-you

Measure Success

If you go around asking entrepreuners or bussiness man if they reached there finacial goals many of them would say "yes" If you follow with the question of if they feel successful almost all of them will change their answer to no. Some of the most successful, rich people out there dont even keep track of there annual earnings. Meaning that measuring success off of a persons bank account is useless. When someone is trying to build up towards success its called momentum. As you build momentum your feeling of success grows and will continue to grow. Thing is though, 90% of people dont feel succesful with their jobs. The sense of momentum building is feeling of success. You reach full success when the momentum can keep growing without you guiding it.

Example: "My friend Georgia Hurd is not famous. She’s not rich. And she’s not yet attained the success she desires. She moved to Los Angeles to become an actress and has been working really hard to achieve her dream. She has been through some hard times. Money has been tight. Her work schedule often hurts her social life. But she perseveres. Her work ethic and her drive are amazing. She is so focused on where she wants to go, it is inspiring. After a couple of years of pushing and lots of wondering if it will ever happen, she’s starting to get some momentum. This week alone, she was called in to do a modeling job for American Apparel, she had some fantastic auditions and people are starting to take notice of her. What Georgia has found is momentum. It is that momentum that makes her feel good. It is the momentum that makes her feel successful."
http://www.askmen.com/money/career_400/426b_measure-success-simon-sinek.html

Fullfiling your goals, not dreams

People create lists almost everyday. People created grocery lists, to do list, and a lists of DREAMS! The ironic thing about the list of dreams is that a dreams is an idea or hope that is impractical or unlikely ever to be realized. Why would you create a list that will most likely never be completed. You need to change that word "dreams" to the word "Goal". A goal is something that somebody wants to achieve or accomplish. When creating goals you have to actually create ones that you plan on completing. Do not waste your time creating goals that you don't plan on spending time completing or want to complete. The more refined and defined your goals are, the greater your chance of achieving them. Once you create a goal or a list of goals you become goal oriented. To become goal oriented is to be strongly motivated and highly organized in achieving tasks that are specified in advance. Having goals give you the initial drive to begin fulfilling them. There are some personal characteristics that everyone needs to fulfill any goal that they will ever set.

• Determination. This is especially important with respect to big goals that will require considerable time and energy. One way to increase your determination is to…
• Break big goals into manageable stages. Smaller, “stepping stone goals” keep you from feeling overwhelmed. They also provide positive reinforcement and a sense of accomplishment along the way.
• Eliminate distractions. If your efforts are too diluted, it really won’t matter what else you do. When you are serious about achieving an important goal you need to push less important things out of the picture.
• Constantly evaluate your progress. To reach your target you must stay on course. That means checking you progress to make sure you are still moving in the right direction. Your path will always be somewhat fluid, so keep your eye on the ball.
• Believe in yourself. Doubt is a waste of time and energy. Deal with doubts before you start working toward your goal, not after. Doubt is the opposite of determination and engaging in it will bring your progress to a standstill.
• Make a commitment. Every important goal will present you with challenges along the way. If you are not totally committed to success, those challenges could seem insurmountable. Making a total commitment to success will shrink those challenges down so you can climb over them.
• Make yourself accountable. Tell others what you intend to do so you will feel accountable. This can be very motivating for several reasons. The more accountability you feel, the more motivated you will become.

With good work ethic you can accomplish everything!

http://advancedlifeskills.com/blog/what-it-takes-to-accomplish-your-dreams/

all definitions from dictionary.com

Buying and The Mind

Article Title: Understanding The Psychology of Buying
Author: Pam Lawthorne (online marketing consultant)
Website: pamlawthorn.com

In order to have a successful business, marketers have to know how to properly appeal to there buyers, and in order to do that, marketers have to understand the psychology of buying. Lawthorne believes that it is easy to understand what buyers want, but difficult to apply into their own market.

The first basic psychologic aspect of buyers is that people buy on emotions and justify it with logic. The article uses a example of a Mercedes. A person does not buy a Mercedes because its a good economic decision, they buy it because their emotions appeal to it. They like the way they feel in the car. Then, after a while, they justify their purchase to others with logic. They say thing like "I need this to look good for clients". They give logical reasons to justify their purchases.

The last major aspect the article gives on the psychology of buying, is That people buy on believability. In order for people to buy your product, you must make the buyer believe that they need the product you are selling. The claim you make must be both beneficial and believable. People are more willing to buy if they believe that the product will satisfy. Both believability, and emotions are necessary in order to make a profit.

Shopoholics

Website: www.TheShulmanCenter.com
Author: Dr. Shulman
Credibility: The Shulman Center is a treatment center for people with compulsive theft, spending, and hoarding.

What makes people want to spend money, even when theres no more money left to spend? Would you believe that some people can be diagnosed with a psychological desease that makes people compulsively shop with no control? Dr. Terrence Shulman is a clinical psychologists and founder of the Shulman Center for people with overspending, shoplifting, and hoarding disorders.

Shulman has helped hundreds of people with there disorders and believes he has cracked down on the causes of treatment methods of excessive spending. Shulman believes that causes of excessive spending are caused by:

• Emotional deprivation in childhood
• Inability to tolerate negative feelings
• Need to fill an inner void
• Excitement seeking
• Approval seeking
• Perfectionism
• Genuinely impulsive and compulsive
• Need to gain control

Shulman also stresses that addicts shop to relieve anxiety and to cope with bigger problems in their life.

Treatments for over spending involve gradual decrease in spending, cutting all charge cards, asking yourself if the item is needed, and shopping with a caring friend. People with severe cases of overspending consult psychiatric help with Centers like Shulman.

People are Like Birds???

Article title: How To Make Your Product Attractive To All Types Of People
by: DJ Heckes (Women Entrepreneur)
Credibility: Article on Business Insider

In The endless search of marketers trying to find the next big product, they have turned to more bizarre psychological methods to try and appeal to all different types of people. A particular Theory purposed by William Marston in 1928. Marston proposed that no matter what your background was, your interests and personality fell in a certain category relating to  1 of four colors. Marston truly believed that your color (usually your favorite color) also told a lot about your personality. The colors were:

• Yellow: Influential and charismatic.
• Red: Dominant and inspirational
• Blue: Detailed and methodical
• Green: Steady, and a Team Player.

This Theory, Known as the DISC theory, was then modified in the late 70s by Gary Couture in order to be used in the economic market. The modifies theory changed the color category, to specific types of bird:

• Peacock - Yellow
• Eagle - Red
• Owl - Blue
• Dove - Green

These new categories made it more accurate to place people in the categories  and the new animals made it 80% more accurate When categorizing people. The New DISC theory has proven as a crucial piece for  retailers to appeal and build a strong bond with their customers.

Retailers Watching Us

Article Title: How Retailers Study us to Maximize Profit
Author: Jay O'Donnell and Sarah Meehan
Credibility: Article in USA Today

Large retail stores such as Target y have been using very controversial methods in studying their average customer in order to maximize their profits. Stores have been using their surveillance cameras and employees to monitor trends of specific types of shoppers. Target has claimed that their observation methods were so well, that they could predict if a women was pregnant, even before the women's father knew.

These drastic claims by Target have made some customers feel violated, and that the stores at which they shop know too much about customers' personal lives. Some of Target's observation methods include:

• Monitoring what paths shoppers take in the store.
• Counting the number of children in the store at a given time.
• Signs with digital cameras that can detect where customers look on the sign.
• Seeing how customers interact with different products in the store.

All these methods, and many more are methods used by Target to understand how and why buyers purchase what they do. Target concludes that people are attracted to big changes, such as drastic bargains, store remodeling, interesting commercials and signs, and customer aprecitation such as bargains of a persons birthday. Target claims that they use psychologists to come to these conclusions. The numbers of Targets success do not lie, and these observations have proven very successful for their profits.

Our Mannerisms and Our Weight

Why are Americans so fat? Why does the size of the average American seem to continually rise and grow? I'm not sure if these are questions that everybody thinks about, but they should be. Maybe if we spent more time analyzing the problem at hand, we would realize what we are doing wrong and fix our problems. Unfortunately, that's not what happens.

So, back to the question - why ARE Americans so fat? Well for one, think about what you are doing right now. You are sitting down in front of a computer screen reading things on the internet. How many calories do you think that burns? I'll tell you... not very many. Alright, so right now you are at school and you don't really have much of a choice. But how about when you get home from school today? What are you going to do? The answer for most of you is probably: surf the internet for a little or relax in front of the TV for a while. Admit it, you know it's true. And to make matters worse, you will most likely be eating a snack to cure your boredom while you participate in those minimally-calorie-burning activities. The bad just got worse - you are not only burning minimal calories, but now you are gaining calories most likely because you are just bored.

                                                        image source: rodale.com

Think back to when you were younger. What would you do for fun as a kid? I know what I did. My friends and I would go play at the park, we would play games outside like tag and capture the flag, we rode our bikes around or walked from place to place, or we would play sports like basketball or tennis. I'm sure many of you readers are babysitters; what do those kids do for fun nowadays? I know the kids that I babysity love their ipods. They could sit there playing games for hours. A lot of times they'll go on their computer and make videos and take pictures on their photobooth. They also love their Disney channel shows. They'll sit in front of their TV browsing through the DVR and On Demand shows which make their favorite shows readily available and with a large variety too - many more shows available than when I was growing up. To simply analyze how kids occupy themselves these days makes it obvious that what is fun nowadays happens to be mostly technology-based and therefore consists of little to no movements (hence little calorie burning).

However, kids aren't the only culprits. There are even services nowadays to order your groceries online and have someone go grocery shopping for you and deliver them to your house.... wow. Face it, our society is lazy and that contributes to our obesity. If you think about what you do every day, I'm sure you can pinpoint which activites showcase your laziness and the status quo of our society. So think about what you do each day. What can you change to make your actions more beneficial to your health?

Source: "Supersize It"