Twenties Life

Our lifestyle has become one of hardcore consumerism.  But let’s face it: that’s a lifestyle that leads to unhappiness and failure.  Unless we are to be of the top 3% or so, we’ll never have all of the things we want.  If we don’t find balance, or at least a few good ways to upgrade and increase our life enjoyment without having to spend a fortune, we may find ourselves in hard times in this economy.

But don’t fret.  It’s not really the new Apple iPhone that makes you happy.  It’s just the satisfaction of getting something that you want.  Realign your wants to be happiness and enjoyment (instead of just the retail products that are on TV today), and you’ll surely find success.  Here are a few ways:

Learn a new game

Have you ever played Mancala?  How about Chess?  Tennis?  Volleyball?  There’s nothing like learning a new game to really work your brain (and body) and really pump up the endorphins (happy feeling brain chemicals).  Obviously you aren’t confined to my ideas.  There are millions of games out there played by billions of people across the world.  Pick one and learn it.  For extra enjoyment bring a friend!

Pickup a new hobby

Now I’ll admit, most hobbies do cost some amount of money.  But buying your first guitar and buying a new iPhone are two very different purchases.  And if your new hobby is knitting (not just for old ladies anymore!), it won’t cost you much to get started.  When we learn new hobbies our brains build connections quickly like when we were children learning things for the first time.  This promotes good mental health and is super fun!

Experience another culture

This one is as easy as picking up a new cookbook (from the library) or having dinner at a friend’s house.  Learning about a new culture by experiencing it is a wonderfully enjoyable way to learn.  Taste the foods, hear the music, listen to the language.  Talk to the elders, observe the dress, learn the traditions.  Our lack of experience and knowledge of other cultures in America has led to our ignorance.  Don’t let our generation repeat the mistakes of the previous.

Volunteer

I know you’ve probably heard this one before, and I bet you’ll hear it again.  But let’s not wait till next time to do something.  Volunteering your time and energy is one of the most compassionate things you can do for your fellow man.  And you’ll benefit from it too.  People who volunteer aren’t just the most compassionate.  They are also the most content, the happiest.  People who spend all of their time thinking about themselves often find that there is no happiness at the top if you haven’t brought others up with you.  But those same people would have been content at the bottom if they were in good company.

Submerge into a story

I’m sure I can’t be the only twenty something that’s done this.  When you get your head into a good fictional story, your mind can really take you anywhere.  Through books I’ve seen London, Paris, New Orleans, a vampire underworld, the future, and a whole lot more.  Can Jersey Shore really compare?

Reconsider your relationships

Relationships can be the best part of your life, but they can also be the worst.  When we grew up, we learned to choose friends based on proximity.  Later we learned to build relationships based on common interest.  But now it’s time to learn again.  Now you must learn to choose and develop your relationships with a conscious mind.  You need to choose your friends wisely, and you need to build those relationships into something great.  Your friends don’t need to have a common hobby or live close to you.  They need only to share your newly found zest for a wonderful life.

Forgive

So you’ve been holding bitterness and resentment for years.  Sometimes you don’t even remember why you’re angry.  But you are passionate and you won’t just let it go.

I feel sorry for people trapped in that kind of mentality.  It’s poison.  How can you attract success and happiness in your life when you have room for that kind of poison in it as well?  Learn to forgive, to reconcile, and to let your pettiness go, and you’ll find that your world will instantly seem brighter.  Forgive not for your enemy or friend, forgive for yourself, so that you may find an inner happiness greater than the pettiness that it shall replace.

Find nature

This means something different to all of us.  For some it’s a walk in the park (literally).  For others it’s a weekend camping trip.  For others it’s a month long retreat from the hustle and bustle of daily life.  Whatever it takes, reconnect with nature.  Watch the trees and sense their calmness.  Nature has been here for millions (or thousands if that’s what you believe…) of years, and it will be here once we’re gone.  It sustains not only our own lives, but the lives of every other creature on earth.  We move quickly, work hard, and pursue all sorts of things, while nature just is.  There is a sense of calmness in taking time out of your life to reconnect with that sort of existence.  You should do it often.

Express your emotions

Nothing feels better than expressing yourself.  It’s something innate in us.  But for some reason, we learn to repress it.  For instance, when is the last time you gave your mom or dad a hug?  When’s the last time you told your brother or sister how much you love them?  When is the last time you smiled at a stranger, simply because you wanted them to feel your happiness.  You’ll find that when you get better at expressing yourself, all other aspects of your life get better as well.

Redefine Happiness

All of these examples are ways to help you redefine what happiness really is to you.  Believe me, happiness is not in your next purchase, it’s in your next experience.  At the end of your life, are you going to want to have stockpiled the largest list of retail products, or will you want to have the greatest list of stories to tell.  I don’t know about you, but I want to be the old guy that amazes the next generation with my experiences, even if I don’t have a dollar in the bank.

Life is all about getting what you want from it.  And as we can see Americans are an amazingly efficient group of people when it comes to getting what we want.  If we define what we want, and constantly remind ourselves of it, it wont be long until we surround ourselves with others who want the same thing, and work every day towards achieving it (rather than the next big screen TV).  Trust me, redefine your happiness and you’ll never look at your retail-queen friend with envy again.

There’s something about growing up with superheroes and villains that really makes a boy (or girl) feel like he can save the world. When we were young we often thought about the huge differences that we would make. We knew that we have the ability to change the world, and we thought that we were just the people to do the job.

Sadly somewhere between 8 and 18 we lost sight of our own heroism. We started caring more about iphones and less about impact. We became consumers, and as consumers we thought less of what we could do and more of what we could get. Something in us died the moment we made that switch.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about honor and heroism lately and I’ve realized that it’s more possible than ever to be a hero in our twenties. We have just enough access to opportunity and resources to make a real difference. If we can only be disciplined enough to set a goal and work towards achieving it we can be real life heroes. Need some help figuring out how? Here’s a few quick tips:

Help a stranded driver

A stranded driver is like the modern day damsel in distress. For the low price of a few minutes of your time (to learn to change a tire) and about $10 (to buy jumper cables) you can attain all the necessary skills and tools to help out at least 50% of people who “break down.” If you’ve ever helped or been helped in this situation, you realize just how much of a hero the person who stops can be.

Teach a child or elderly person

No matter what stage you are in your education, we all possess the knowledge of something that could be of great use to a child, or even an elderly person. And if you’ve ever taught a child, you know just how amazing it can feel to know that something you taught a child will make a difference for the rest of their lives. Whether it’s teaching a kid how to save money or to shoot a jump shot, or teaching an elderly person how to use a computer, heroes find ways to help other people benefit from their knowledge.

Mentor a troubled teen

Better than any other age group, we understand the pressures and stresses of being a teen in today’s society. We just got out of there, and we know best all of the issues that a teenager today will face. Because of that knowledge, we can best identify with teenagers, better than their parents or other family members and better than many other adults they come into contact with. And we’re just the right age that they could identify with us. Mentoring a troubled teen can be infinitely rewarding because you don’t really have to do much at all. Just be there, be a friend, and show a teen possibilities that he/she might not even know existed. You’ll be making a real impact on their lives, and you’ll sacrifice little more than your time and maybe a little money; a small price to pay for the opportunity to turn someone’s life around.

Care for the environment

That’s right friends, Captain Planet was a superhero as well. And with BP’s “accident” spilling thousands (or maybe millions) of gallons of oil into the gulf, I think it’s pretty easy to see the line between good and bad as far as the environment goes. Pick up trash = good, spill oil into the worlds oceans = bad. Simple enough, right? Whether you’re taking drastic steps to reduce your carbon footprint, or just replacing your bulbs with fluorescent ones and using less water, every little bit counts. It’s not that difficult, and if our generation of adults is to be the ones that “save the world” we need to develop these habits into our lifestyle, not just gimmicks like the whole “green” fad.

Do good socially

It’s always great to help other people. But what’s even greater is to help other people catch the “helper” bug. You could do great things for the rest of your life, and that would be fantastic, but another person could get 10 of his/her friends to do good as well, and that would be just as great or even greater. Get your friends to fight for your cause and you’ll be an army of heroes, rather than just an army of one. Plus, it’s a great thing to do good socially rather than just going out and partying all the time. If you’re stumped for ideas of great things to do socially, visit dosomething.org.

You see, with these 5 steps you’ll be on your way to being a hero in no time. Can you imagine what kind of world we would live in if everyone took just 10 minutes out of their day to be a hero? That would be 60 hours of heroism from each person each year. And it would be a world of difference to the person you’re saving. I know the 9 year old inside of me is really excited that I’m taking these baby steps towards becoming a hero. What does the 9 year old inside of you think about you?

Whether in college, our careers, or just trying to solve a puzzle, brainpower and critical thinking skills are crucial to every day life.  We require the use of logic and problem solving skills each day for a multitude of tasks.  The sad truth, though, is that many of us have brains that have already begun deteriorating since our days of cramming for exams and pulling all-nighters for finals week.  It doesn’t have to be this way though.  There are plenty of things we can do to “exercise” our brains and increase brainpower.  Train your brain with these techniques and you’ll have a mind as fit as a bodybuilder’s body.

1. Sleep on it:  Sometimes all it takes to really solve a problem is to think about it a bit before going to sleep.  When we sleep our minds aren’t limited by the logic that we use day to day, and the abstract thinking can really help see a different perspective.  Sometimes you just need to sleep on it.
2. Exercise Your Body: Research has shown that people who exercise a minimum of 10 minutes per day have 30% increased brain function.  Get the blood flowing and you brain will help you solve problems.
3. Focus Your Breathing: Oxygen is one of the foods of the brain.  When you focus on taking slow, deep breaths, your brain is flooded with a large amount of oxygen.  This allows it to do it’s best work.  When you have a brain-intensive activity coming up, focus on your breathing before and during to ensure your brain is fed.
4. Sit Up Straight:  Posture has a lot to do with brainpower as well.  Optimum sitting position is to sit up straight, square your shoulders, and keep your head straight above your neck.  Studies have shown this to be a more effective posture than slouching or laying down.
5. Learn Your Cycle:  Our brain works in cycles.  Generally we have about 90 minutes of high brain function and activity followed by a 30 minute lull.  If you can accurately observe the difference, and plan accordingly, you can do your best thinking when your brain is in power mode and do your mundane activities during your brain’s down time.
6. Learn a New Language: Here comes more science.  Research has shown that learning a new language in middle and older age decreases the onset of age-related decline of mental function as well as mental related diseases.  Learn a couple of new words a day and you’ll be well on your way to a good healthy brain in your later years.
7. Write Often:  Not just responding to emails, but writing for yourself.  Write about your day, your thoughts, your feelings, your plans, your goals.  Get comfortable with a pen and paper.  It helps you concentrate your thoughts and helps your brain realize what’s important as far as memory formation goes.
8. Listen To Classical Music: In a study that tested children after studying with and without classical music, the children who studied with the music tested on average 80% higher than the children who studies without it.  Listen to classical music when studying or really working your brain.
9. Caffeine:  Though it’s often a double edged sword, if used right caffeine can be one of the greatest sources of boost for brain power that we have.  Skip it in the morning, so that it’s ready and potent when you need it.  People who drink coffee daily develop a resistance to it’s effects, thus feeling sluggish and requiring more and more as the days go on, while those who keep it in the reserves for only when necessary experience a boost and mental and physical capabilities.
10. Avoid Sugar:  Large amounts of sugar tend to give us a very short rush followed by a long lull.  This is because the sugar is burned as energy, but if not used quickly is then converted to fat as storage.  When the sugar is broken down, insulin is released and blood is used for digestion rather than brain power.  Less blood in the brain means less good thinking.
11. Clear Your Mind:  Practice this often.  Just make the decision to and then execute clearing your mind.  The faster and better you become, the more control you have over your mental function.  People who aren’t good at clearing their mind often find that there is a lot of noise going on in there when they need to really be thinking… practice now and it will serve you well later.
12. Social Interaction:  Many people don’t realize this but social interaction takes a lot of brain power.  We are quickly and constantly thinking about what everyone else around us is saying, interpreting how we feel about it, and considering and executing a response.  Then we observe reactions to other our responses and the whole process restarts itself.  It’s a pretty mentally heavy activity.  The more we do it, the better we get, the more fit our brains become.
13. Define and Prove Your Beliefs:  It’s easy to adopt beliefs that someone else has proved to us.  It sounds good, so we just believe it.  But when we define our beliefs to others and try to prove them, we find that we may not be as eloquent as the person who proved them to us.  If you can get into the habit of being able to eloquently and logically express your beliefs, your mind will flourish.
14. Eat Fish:  Fish is rich in omega fatty acids, the same that fuel the brain and healthy brain function.  Eat more fish.
15. Drink water:  I don’t think  I need to remind you of all the reasons you need water, but you need it.  Try to drink 6 glasses of water a day, then drink more.
16. Solve Puzzles, Riddles, and Games: These are like bench-press and bicep curls for your brain.  Do them often.
17. Eat Smaller Meals:  Smaller meals means less time digesting, which means faster recovery from digestion and more time for higher brain function.  Ever notice how after a big meal you get sleepy and lethargic?  Avoid that like the plague.
18. Take a Multi-vitamin: In America we just don’t eat the way we need to.  Though it’s not a proper replacement for healthy eating, a multi-vitamin will help ensure that you aren’t terribly deficient of any important vitamins and minerals.
19. Manage Stress:  Stress is like poison to a healthy brain.  It decreases our ability to think clearly and properly solve problems.  Learning to manage your stress could be the best way to ensure a healthy brain.
20. Practice Your Math: Even shopping can be a place to practice your math.  For example, what’s 40% off of $80?  If you don’t know, you need to get to action!

Following these steps is only the beginning to building a stronger, faster, healthier brain.  There are many other things you can do as well.  What do you do to ensure that your brain is in tip top shape?

The idea of being happy seems so simple and yet people struggle, too often, with keeping this mentality continuous in their lives. This is not to say that we all don’t get the blues or sometimes hit a patch of trouble, but getting back to that state of mind seems like an upward climb on a day-to-day basis.  Society has made a killing on our misery and erratic state of mind; whether it is the countless motivational seminars, the self-help books, or even the #1 Billboard Hit that tells you to be happy.

We have been prescribed to do, say, feel, and even visualize things for the sole purpose of filling up that happiness meter that seems to constantly run on empty. Most of these magical cures do a lot more damage than good. The idea that one single action or a single declaration of happiness will keep us on the straight and narrow is as bad as a sales pitch from a pyramid scheme investor who “earned” $100,000 dollars from working at home selling scouring pads. It doesn’t make sense, but it still entices us. These delusions don’t work for our long term happiness.

The tricks of the trade are just that; tricks. Don’t be persuaded to attempt any of the following.

“Treating” yourself will make you happy.

One of the most preached and practiced ideas to fixing the blues. In theory, it make absolute sense, but the way we seem to practice it foils our end goal. The type of treat is what makes this piece of advice bad for us. The type of treat that is being inferred are ones that are good for us such as a long walk in the park, reading a book, going swimming, working out or going on an “adventure.” We tend to make the term “treat” synonymous with indulging in a guilty pleasure. The repercussions of this way of thinking leads to future feelings of guilt, loss of self, or just makes us sulk even more. Don’t look to the world for your happiness, look within.

When treating ourselves, we seem to revert to looking for physical things that do nothing for our overall well-being: a new outfit, bumming around, one more cigarette, a drink, a pint of ice cream, or an expensive entrée. The loss of self control, initially, seems uplifting, but will it make you feel better in the long run? The tiny buzz you get from that moment of ecstasy deepens the mood you were in, because your life has been more disordered than before. So stop giving yourself to things that create a mess of your life, and start bringing a sense of peace and order that was missing. Tighten up those loose screws, and when you are hit by a hard blow in life make sure they stay tightened.  Stop skipping out on the gym, stop eating “fake” foods, and don’t skip out on responsibility.

The next time you feel yourself needing to justify a treat or giving way to mindless behaviors, ask yourself: Will it do more harm than good? Will it cause more disorder in my life?

“Outer order brings inner calm.” –Gretchen Rubin

A life of leisure will make you happy

We all have fantasies and dreams of endless vacations, extravagant parties, and endless indulgence. This idea of enjoying life by not doing anything is a fool’s dream. This life quickly turns into a life of boredom and monotony. Harvard Psychology Professor Tal Ben-Shahar came to the understanding that in spite of all your freedoms, you cannot be happy without work. Not necessarily a 9 to 5 job, but something that gives you purpose, work that make you productive while enjoying a fulfilling activity. If you are stuck in a rut, or seem to find yourself in a state of constant unhappiness, ask yourself these two questions: What makes me happy? Do I have a purpose in life?

Immerse yourself in an environment that brings out you inner happiness, and I’m not talking about rainbows, puppies, and candy. The dream of making so much money that you never have to make anymore will bring you face-to-face with the greatest challenge you’ve ever dealt with it: yourself. Seek something more concrete that will promote long term happiness and sustain you even in the hard times. If you have negativity around constantly, you can’t flourish. Discard it, and seek new refuge.

How do you define yourself? What do you want to achieve? Make goals in your life, both short-term and long-term. Regardless of how minute the goal might appear to be, relish in the achievements of them. Most people fall because they don’t set short term goals alongside their long term ones. Whether it is doing 5 extra push-ups, keeping up with your laundry, reconnecting with old friends, befriending a random person, or even smiling more often. All these goals push you towards a better you. Short term goals give a person the boost they need to reach towards their next long term goal.

While enjoyable for the moment, a life without of leisure and materialism never quenches the desire for true life-long happiness. Understand your strengths and weakness, and make them play to your benefit. A person who isn’t willing to look inwardly as to who they truly are is living blind. The fantasy of treating yourself to your heart’s desire and living in leisure is just that; fantasy.

You must think about money. What matters now is what is happening right now. Are you making a decent living? What will make me want to listen to you? What makes you think you can achieve your dreams?

These are questions I’ve been asked in regards to achieving my dreams. People say I’m making a big mistake, trying to make a sustainable income from my blog, but I tell them that there is nothing else to live for. I cannot exist in a world where my life lays in the hands of someone else.

I want to be responsible for myself.

Living a life deferred

How many times will you let your dreams be constantly pushed to the back of your mind? High school is almost over and then my life changes forever. College is almost over and then my life changes forever. I’ll soon have a kid and my life will change forever.

I will retire and my life will change forever.

In retrospect, does our life really change? We are constantly working until our lifeblood drains out of us. Why should we spend the most pleasurable years of our lives working for a paycheck?

Even this post itself is being written for a wage.

Why? Why must the lives we dream for ourselves be constantly deferred?

Mostly because we believe that what’s always worked will work for us

We think that we must travel the conventional route — in order to keep ourselves stable. To align ourselves with people in the same boat as us. Those people that say, “You’re either with us together, or you’re against us, alone and maybe on the brink of death.”

When I look closer at the people following the conventional path, I see them giving it all they’ve got in classes that they either don’t like or really like; this is fine with me. But the kicker is that they’re just doing what they’ve been told is conventionally profitable.

They simply want jobs that will feed them. I have no doubt they will get it, but their life will still exist in their boss’s hands.

They don’t know the future, but they’re on a path that they believe is right.

In the same vein, I am going on an unconventional path that I believe is right as well.

Who will win? Who’s will is destined to become reality? Maybe both of our destinies.

It’s entirely possible that if you put your best effort in trying to achieve the conventional life, you will achieve it. Similarly, I think that it’s also possible that you can put your best effort in trying to achieve the unconventional life and you will achieve.

Get it?

Unconventional and conventional lives are both difficult to attain. But in the end, it all depends on which life you choose for yourself. It’s entirely possible for different people to attain different realities.

Just don’t be upside when the conventional life turns out exactly how you envisioned it to be.

John Anyasor is a blogger at HiLife2B. There he gives advice on personal development, inspiration, and motivation. A second year undergrad, he seeks to one day break the cycle of entering the dreaded 9-5 to achieve the life he wants, while inspiring others to join his movement.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CJAnyasor
Website: http://hilife2b.com/blog

“How dare you?

How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?” – Seth Godin

One day you wake up. POP! A great idea for something BIG is born.You tell everyone who you know your MASSIVE brain child. You’re SO certain everyone is behind you.

And then you realize that you were GRAVELY mistaken. First the “FACTS” are presented in front of you. They try and ask you what brought about this preposterous idea. “What are you, an idiot?” they tell you.

Then, they single you out, an attempt to show you that you are the ONLY one who has thoughts like this.

“No one’s going to buy into your idea. Why are you even trying? Do something that EVERYBODY knows will be profitable.”

Finally, they come and discover the remains of you and your idea. Bloodied and beaten from criticism, you rise from the dirt to look them in their eyes, searching for some sort of establishment of faith in you.

“How’s the idea going?” they mockingly ask you. With nothing to show for it, you oblige your defeat. Maybe they were always right, you begin to wonder…

Congratulations, my sad, unfortunate friend. YOU are discouraged. THEY have beaten you. THEY have accomplished THEIR goal.

But what about you? What about YOUR DREAM? Didn’t you want to see YOUR BRAINCHILD grow into something stronger? Didn’t YOU want to see it stand on its own two feet?

I understand that there were MANY against YOU, that you seemed to be alone on your quest to make YOUR DREAMS REAL.

Well, I’m here to tell you something. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

You! Yes, you. Tell me your dream. Why are you listening to the unremarkable, ambiguous THEY, while the truly REMARKABLE leaders and AMAZING creators tell you to fight back and DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

Do you think they are lying to you? Do you think they would just put a dream in your face and dash it all away?

Why do you trust the people around you that say you’ll fail anymore than the people who are far above ALL of you and believe that you can succeed?

Here’s something that your friends and family WON’T TELL YOU.

The only reason they think you’ll fail, is the because the tools aren’t readily available. There is no school that teaches you how to be a millionaire rock star, or how to be an A-List celebrity.

But do you want to be a doctor? Simple. Just go to the nearest education system, enroll as a child and remain their for about 12 years or so, and you’ll be well on your way to become the doctor you seek.

They tell you you’ll fail, because it requires you to stand out and be different. Going after your dreams requires you to reject everything that you ever thought was real or fake. It requires you to blaze your own trail and TEACH YOURSELF instead of having an instructors hold your hand and teach you the simple basics.

Achieving your dreams requires you to BE REMARKABLE. That is something very few people in the education system can claim. Remarkable for them means being a tenured professor at a prestigious university. Being remarkable as ANYTHING that requires you to get a degree means being in that field for a REALLY LONG TIME.

Now, mind you, I’m not saying that you don’t have to work hard to be remarkable…because you do. It takes a REALLY LONG TIME.

But nowhere NEAR 12 years at all.

I say this, not because I’m angry at you, the criticizers, or ANYONE in particular. But it is because I am inspired. I feel more powerful than ever right now, in this generation I’ve been born into. I feel that I can take on the world.

But I also feel Dissatisfied. Dissatisfied that, as I speak here on this platform, people’s dreams are being dashed. People’s hopes are being destroyed. People’s lives are becoming routine. They are counting themselves out before they’ve even gotten a running start.

This is not fair.

Why should you have to yield to ideologies that you don’t agree with? Why should you sacrifice your passions for the confirmation of another’s close-minded beliefs?

“You will fail.” Utter bullcrap.

If you work hard every single day, give away value before asking for it, connect with people instead of throwing ads at them, learn something new about your passion all the time…

There isn’t a SINGLE DOUBT in my mind that you’ll succeed.

Why am I telling you this? Because I AM REMARKABLE. And so can you.

John Anyasor is a blogger at HiLife2B. There he gives advice on personal development, inspiration, and motivation. A second year undergrad, he seeks to one day break the cycle of entering the dreaded 9-5 to achieve the life he wants, while inspiring others to join his movement.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CJAnyasor
Website: http://hilife2b.com/blog

At the age of twenty-something, I’m assuming most of you guys will be getting ready to head out into the real world. With that mind, I’ve collected a few quotes especially for you. In the cold, hard world of independence, you’re going to need all the inspiration you can get. Some of you will face easy times. Some of you will face hard times. But in the end, I have hope that one day you will all achieve the lives you desire.

If these quotes can add even just a little bit to your dreams, then I’ve done my job.

Without further ado, here are 20 motivational quotes. Share these if you like:

1. “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” - Wayne Dyer

2. “Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” – Ashley Smith

3. “To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.” – Unknown

4. “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” - Tom Bodett

5. “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” – Mark Victor Hansen

6. “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.” – Swami Vivekananda

7. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” - David Bly

9. “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” – Walter Bagehot

10. “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” – Mark Twain

11. “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln

12. “The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” -Bertrand Russell

13. “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

14. “Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.” – Tom Krause

15. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Herman Cain

16. “Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” – Unknown

17. “If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, “Here comes number seventy-one!” – Richard M. Devos

18. “Glance into the world just as though time were gone: and everything crooked will become straight to you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

19. “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

20. “Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.” – Sandra Carey

photo credit: Ahmed Rabea

John Anyasor is the creator of HiLife2B. There he gives advice on personal development, inspiration, and motivation. A second year undergrad, he seeks to one day break the cycle of entering the dreaded 9-5 to achieve the life he wants.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CJAnyasor
Website: http://hilife2b.com/blog

Picture in your head the working world and remember the application process through which millions acquire jobs everyday. To succeed in the corporate world, you typically write up a resume, send it out to multiple companies you may or may not desire to work for in the next few years, and eagerly sit by the phone waiting for someone to ask for an interview. And let’s say that you weren’t the best student ever in college. Let’s say you’re just an average person coming from an average college. You and your resume are just like everybody else and their resumes.

Think about it. There are millions of students looking for jobs after college. How are you going to differentiate yourself? How are YOU going to stand out from the other applicants? Everybody and their mother has volunteered at shelters and hospitals. It’s not the first time someone’s put “a few years of community service” on their resume. A lot of people win awards and travel overseas. I’m asking you, what other option is there?

I’ll answer this question with another question:

What are you doing?

That’s right. What are you doing everyday? Are you building something? Are you a part of a movement? Do you have a blog on which you spill your guts about the subject in which you want a career in? While everyone else is sending out resumes and waiting by the phone, are you doing the same? If so, I wouldn’t call you back for an interview even if you begged me. I’m 100% sure that any employer you are looking to hire you is going to ask, “So what have you been doing currently?” If you have nothing to say, then don’t bother sending your credentials.

Be more than just your resumé

You aren’t your resumé. You have to be better. You aren’t just a list of past events. You have to show you have value and you have to be working towards something that will make your future employer give your resume a second look.

Take these tips to heart:

1. Do something else besides sending out resumes. Create something! Start a movement or join an important cause in which you’re active in.

2. Cultivate a unique skill that could possibly benefit the company you want to work at (For example, you could put on your resume that you’re a master of Photoshop and web design. Not everyone can say that)

3. Be honestly interested in the job you’re applying for. It’s okay to want money, but if the desire to work isn’t there, actually working will be much harder to do.

While these tips won’t completely guarantee you’ll land your dream job (it’s life: when is it ever certain?) you will be a much more attractive candidate than the college valedictorian who’s been just simply sending out resumes like clockwork. Because whether or not you succeed at a company, and ultimately in life, depends on more than what put on paper. It depends on what you can uniquely bring to the table.

Got stellar grades in college? So? There are thousands of students who get them. Set yourself apart and you instantly become better than a large portion of the applicant pool. So, in the immortal words of just about every other personal development blogger out there:

DO SOMETHING!

photo credit: SOCIALisBETTER

John Anyasor is the creator of HiLife2B. There he gives advice on personal development, inspiration, and motivation. A second year undergrad, he seeks to one day break the cycle of entering the dreaded 9-5 to achieve the life he wants.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CJAnyasor
Website: http://hilife2b.com/blog

This is the third part in a three-part series.  If you haven’t already, read part 1 and part 2.

Hi. It is me again, with one last segment on your interview process. The process would not be complete if I did not give you any advice on the interview itself. So I hope you are looking pretty, with appropriate attire and your resumé on crisp clean resume paper. Now that you are prepared with the look and the paper, it is time for the interview! Hooray! Do not panic. Do not throw up. Do not back down. Have faith in yourself. I will have you ready in no time! So here are my tips for the interview:

The Interview

1. Research! You need to research your potential employer. Know good information about them so you can use that information in the interview. It will show that you are serious about the company and show that you have an interest in the job. For example, looking at the stock and what the stock is trading at currently. Another example is looking on the company website. Did they make any big mergers? Deals? How are they appearing in the press lately? If it is a smaller company, do people know about them? What do the advertisements look like?
2. Using your research in the interview: An example: Interviewer says “What’s your interest in our company, why us?” You say, based on your research, “Well, I find it interesting that your company is trying to develop a newer type of coal energy that will reduce greenhouse emission. Actually I read an article on USA Today that talked in depth about the process and your technology. I amEarth conscious and would love to me part of such a new and exciting technology that will save the Earth’s resources.” Interviewer says “Impressive. You’re hired” (Just kidding about the last part, but they will be impressed)
3. Research! (Again.) Sometimes you will know who will be conducting the interview. Do not stalk the person, but get to know information about them. Facebook is an excellent resource to use. Find something general about that person and use the information to your advantage. Let’s say that you find out that your interviewer loves the Astros. Interviewer says “Tell me about you.” You respond with all of the blah blah blah boring stuff about where you were born and raised then zap “I like sports too. Have you been following the Astros? I wonder how they will be doing this season.” Interviewer says, “Oh the Astros are my favorite team!” (Two points for Interviewee, job is closer to being in the bag)
4. Practice your interview. Get a friend or loved one or your family to give you a mock interview. Record it so you can see your body language and facial expressions. Have them give you critiques. This will be a good practice for those who get nervous during interviews.
5. Firm Handshake. Reach in there and don’t squeeze but do not forget to actually touch the person and shake their hand. It shows that you are not afraid and you are ready to reach out and touch the world. (Not in a creepy way)
6. Eye contact. Maintain eye contact. Looking down and around is a sign of nervousness.
7. Watch your fidgeting. Again you do not want to appear nervous.
8. Eat a good breakfast/ lunch. You do not want your stomach doing the talking for you. IF you do have a lunch interview, be modest, but not too modest. Order something reasonable. Chances are the company will pay, but do not be afraid to offer to pay for your meal. Do not order anything sloppy. Stick with an easy medium like soup, salad, or a sandwich.
9. Pay attention to the questions that are asked. Engage with the interviewer.
10. It is okay to smile and be human during your interview.
11. Do not forget to thank your interviewer. Follow up your interview with a thank you card.

I hope these tips will help you snag a great job. Right now it is tough to even get an interview, but do not be discouraged. Just know that if you do get an interview and you follow these tips, you will be in good shape. Happy Interviewing!

This is the second in the series “Interview This.”  To read part 1 click here.

Finished shopping yet? Stopped twirling in your living room? You have that perfect outfit that will make you look smashing and sophisticated at the same time? Whoa, whoa, whoa, big stuff, you are not done yet. Now that you have “The Look” in person, it is time to focus on your look on a piece of paper. No, I am not talking about a Glamour Shot of you. I am talking about your resumé! I am sure the last time you did one of these was during some practice writing class in high school or for entrance to college and maybe even graduate school. However, resumes for a job are different, because it a summary of you and your qualifications and has to be powerful to leave a lasting impression. Sure you submitted one during your application process, but guess what, you should and must bring it to the interview. So here are the tips for this very important document:

Your Resume

1. Buy resume paper. Do not be cheap, and make sure the color matches the resumé envelope.
2. Keep it simple. Depending on the job will depend on the order that you put things on your resume and what you put on your resume. You do not need things on there from high school. An example of resume organization is: Professional Experience, Organizations and Professional Groups, Education, and then Volunteer Experience.
3. If you have professional experience, make sure it is relevant to the position you are seeking. Volunteer experience is always a plus to put on a resume.
4. The best resumes are one page, one inch margins, and not smaller than 10 point font. This allows potential employers to quickly scan your resumé and not have to flip through pages of stuff that do not really matter. Plus, chances are that they will likely glance through a one page resume rather than a lengthy one.
5. Have a regular font. Nothing fancy and nothing childish.
6. Do not show up with a bent resume. The stores have resume envelopes or get a black folder. If you show up with a bent or folded resume it speaks volumes as to the type of person you are, which is not a good thing.
7. Bring more than one copy of the resumé to your interview. You do not know who you will meet or who you will need to leave copies with. I always bring one for myself as well so I can follow along as they read my resumé in front of them.
8. When typing your resumé make sure it looks clean and organized. Use bullet points and tabs to organize different dates and events. Bold words that you want to stand out.
9. Do not use just acronyms. Spell out everything and make sure you use the proper name. Do not assume that people know what things stand for.
10. Proofread over and over again! So important. Simple mistakes can cost you a lot of points with an employer. Sloppy spelling and mistyping and formatting mistakes could show that you are lazy, lackadaisical, and do not care about your presentation or your work.
11. As a side note: Cover Letters – usually if you are applying for a job, you would have submitted your resumé and or cover letter. For cover letters, they should not be longer than one page. They should also not be a regurgitation of your resumé. This is your chance to tell your potential employer about you and talk more specifically about yourself than what you could reveal on your resume. Three paragraphs usually work.

So what are you waiting for? Get to typing. Print many copies. Do not forget the matching paper! Stay tuned for my last installment on Interview This.