What do you want to achieve?
Before you actually set up, decide what you want to achieve with your business. If you are already in business, review where you are going - are you clear about this?
Why not take some time out to think about and write down your goals for your business?
Write it down
Research shows that only 3% of people write down their goals, and on average these people earn 10 times those who don’t have goals. Plus research shows that people with up to date written goals are as much as 3100% more successful than people who do not have up to date written goals.
And make sure your business goals don’t conflict with things you want to do personally. When you are thinking about your goals, think about and write down your personal goals too. And if you are a multi owner business you will obviously need to discuss your responses with your colleagues, and agree on a shared set of goals for the business.
SMART goals
Make sure that the goals you write are SMART. What does this mean? It stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timed
Apply these five measures to each of your goals.
What does it mean to you in reality?
Once you have written down your goal as a SMART goal, think about what the effects would be if you didn’t achieve itl. What is the “pain” that you and those you love will experience if you don’t achieve your goal, ie ill health, poverty, unhappiness etc. (Why do this? Because recognising this pain is an enormous motivating force that will help you to work even harder to make sure you don’t fail!)
Then decide what you will gain when you succeed - ie wealth, health, happiness, a prosperous retirement etc. What will you see, hear and feel? And what else will your success allow you to achieve/do?
And finally write down the key things you will need in order to achieve your goal. For example, it could be new resources, contacts, skills, actions etc.
Repeat this process using a new sheet for every single goal you would like to achieve.
Prioritise
Next try and prioritise the goals you have written. Lay out all of your goals in front of you and decide which are the most important to you, which are less important and which (if any) are, on reflection, not important after all.
For each goal that is still important work out how you will achieve it, break it down in to smaller steps to make it easier to manage.
Plan in timescales to do each step, write them into your diary or planner. That way you make reaching your goals part of your daily activities.
Look at your where your time goes
Its worth having a look at how you spend your time at the moment, and comparing this to the way you would like your life to happen. Then you can fit your goals into this as well.
To do this, look at the personal goals you set out and list out the broad areas of your life that are important to you eg family, friends, business, health, fitness, money etc
Make a note of the percentage of your waking time that you would like to spend in each of these areas in an ideal world (make sure that the column adds up to 100%)
Estimate approximately the percentage of your waking time you think you are actually spending in each area at the moment, - just a rough and ready approximation here, don’t waste time trying to get pinpoint accuracy… the aim is just to get a broad feel
Then calculate the gap between the two
Looking at the gaps does it suggest that you need to make changes in order to achieve your goals? If it does, what changes are you going to make?
Next steps
Think carefully about everything you have just done and thought about. What are the implications for what you are doing in your business and your life - and what you should be doing?
Transfer the things you should be doing to an action planner. Keep this somewhere where you won’t lose sight of it, so that you are reminded on a daily basis about what you want to achieve.
If you think it would help contact an advisor, mentor or coach to discuss what else you can do to achieve your goals. Sometimes it helps to go through the whole exercise with a third party, who can be more objective and help you to focus on the right things.
Review your action planner. Prioritise it. And start taking action!
And remember, however good your ideas and intentions are… they will come to absolutely nothing unless they are turned into action.
So focus on taking ACTION. And start taking it today.
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Julia McDaid is a business coach and author, specialising in helping business start ups. . For more information on these issues or on coaching for new business owners, see http://www.startupright.co.uk or enrol on Julia’s unique Start Up 101 ecourse, where you can go into each subject in a lot more depth.
Julia also publishes a free ezine ‘Secrets of the Successful Entrepreneur’ - to sign up just send an email to ezine@startupright.co.uk
Four Tips for Online Poker - Tells, Changing Gears, Preflop
Raising, and Short-Handed Play.
By Nick Standlea
Tip One: Mix Up Your Play: Once you have mastered the
fundamentals of a particular game (for the purpose of this
article we’ll use No Limit Texas Hold’em) it’s very easy to
lapse into predictable play. This is particularly true when
playing online. While live casinos are literally designed to
keep people involved and stimulated, your home or office most
likely has the opposite effect–which can lead to just “playing
by the book.” If you find yourself playing robotically: failing
to adjust your play to the table, failing to notice the
tendencies of each player, making moves without asking yourself
“what am I trying to accomplish?”, then it may be time to tweak
your game a bit. Instead of waiting for Queens, Kings or Aces,
raise with a 7/2! Not only will it help get you out of your
funk, but it’ll also keep your opponents off balance.
Tip Two: Online tells: The most reliable tells in
online poker revolve around betting speed. The easiest ones to
pick up are the “dramatic pause” tells. A long pause followed by
a bet usually means the player is strong and
wants you to think he is weak. A long pause followed by a
check usually indicates a weak hand. This player
either wants you to check so he can get a free card, or wants
you to think he has a strong enough hand to “think” about
betting. You’ll rarely be check-raised by anyone who took a long
time to check, it’s not a normal betting pattern. When
check-raising most players want everything to look as normal as
possible to help make sure you’ll put in a bet before they
spring the trap. If you do get a check-raise from a player who
paused heavily before the original check, be very careful. You
should also watch for instantaneous bets and raises on the turn
and river. This usually indicates a powerhouse hand and an
attempt to get you to call by intimidating you into it.
Tip Three: Limpin’ Ain’t Easy: Although this applies
to both live and online play, we see it so often in online poker
games that it had to be included: don’t limp when you’re the
first to enter a pot! The logic behind this tip us that since
you have no money involved in the pot, if you fold you lose
nothing. Therefore, if you’re going call you had better have a
hand that expects to earn money–and if your hand is a favorite,
you should raise. In addition, you will also stop giving away
valuable information about the hands you are playing (astute
players will quickly divide your holdings into raising and
calling hands). By raising every time you enter a pot, you
reveal the minimum amount of information possible. (It should
also be noted that in Hold’em there a number of hands that are
not worth a call, but are worth a raise–however, that’s another
article.) In short, the best way to think about this rule is
that if a hand is not strong enough to raise with, it is not
strong enough to call with.
Of course, in poker, there is an exception to every rule. If for
instance, you’re holding Aces and you know that the maniac to
your left will raise if you limp in, then by all means, limp
away. However, this play is a much more advanced move and you
had better know what you’re doing before you try it. Not only do
you risk wasting a big pocket pair, but you may easily end up
going broke if your opponent limps behind you and makes two pair
on the flop with a K,5.
Tip Four: Short-Handed Play: Most likely, a good number
of the tournaments you’ll be playing online will be Sit-and-Go’s
(9-handed games that begin as soon as 9 players signup to play.)
When playing Sit-and-Go’s you’ll inevitably be faced with
short-handed play (or at least you hope you will be). When
playing short-handed, aggression is key. I’m sure you’ve seen it
before: the game gets down to three or four players and suddenly
the guy on your right is going nuts! He’s raising, re-raising,
and completely dominating the game. To the beginner, or to those
inexperienced in short-handed play, this wild-man appears to
have just thrown caution to the wind. He finally shows down a
hand and he’s holding K,9! However, he probably won the
hand–and he probably stole a bunch o’ blinds before that. So
what’s his trick? Aggression. A complete poker player must learn
to play a solid aggressive game. It’s simply not enough to sit
back and wait for good cards during 9/10 handed play, only to
fall apart when you’re close to the big money spots. For
example, have you seen T.J. Cloutier at a final table? He’s
about as tight as they come until he reaches short-handed play.
That’s when he comes out firing. He does this because he knows
that if he doesn’t, someone will–and then it’ll be him getting
run over and not the other way around.
I know this tip may make you a little uncomfortable if you’re
generally a tight player–but believe me, once you learn to
enjoy short-handed play it’s probably the most fun you’ll have a
poker table.
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Free radicals are chemicals that are produced through normal metabolic processes that have the ability to “rip” electrons away from the molecules in the walls of your cells as well as essential proteins such as DNA. What’s more they tend to be produced in excess with intense activities like body building. If they are not “mopped up” by what have been called natural and supplemented antioxidants the free radicals can lead to many health problems i.e.
Accelerated Aging,
Cancers ,
Heart Disease,
Arthritis,
Autoimmune Disorders,
Alzheimer’s,
Cataracts,
Etc.
One of the main free radicals to be concerned about is a natural biochemical called Superoxide.
This free radical in early life is kept in check, so to speak, by naturally produced biochemicals also called “free radical scavengers” such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione which have a tendency to decline with age. This decline accelerates the aging process because the free radical load rises steadily unchecked unless one’s diet is supplemented with antioxidants.
Examples of antioxidants commonly used are: vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin A, and coenzyme Q10, vitamin C, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase.
In 1994 a Tufts University scientist, Dr. Guoha Cao, developed a new and powerful method for determining the antioxidant capacity of common foods. This test came to be known as the ORAC assay* (which stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity which measures a foods free radical fighting capacity). ORAC assays have become the most sensitive and reliable method for determining a food’s capacity to deal with free radicals.
Below I give a list of some common foods and their corresponding ORAC** levels (the higher level is equivalent to greater efficacy):
Ningxia Wolfberry 303
Chinese Wolfberry 202
Acai 184
Pomegranate 105
Prune 57
Blackberry 51
Boysenberry 35
Plum 28
Red Raspberry 27
Strawberry 26
Orange 24
Cherry 21
Garlic 19
Kale 18
Spinach 12
Broccoli florets 9
Beet 8
Apple 3
Carrot 2
The Ningxia wolfberry is, according to Tufts, the highest known antioxidant food source.
What is even more interesting is that it is also highly endowed with protein as it contains about 15.6% protein by weight and has more protein than Bee Pollen***.
As a result it makes Ningxia Wolfberries an ideal source of protein and antioxidants for body builders.
The Chinese national census has also recently reported that the number of Ningxia (Ningxia Province is where Ningxia Wolfberries are harvested) residents living more than 100 years exceeds the national average by an amazing 400%
My personal experience with Ningxia Wolfberries came with an amazing product that changed my life dramatically. Over 7 years ago I was doing a great deal of body building and was trying to restrict myself to vegetable protein sources but found that I was neither able to maintain my energy level nor my routine. I was sensitive to whey products and was loath to supplement with egg albumin because of a family history of heart disease so I was in search of a safe natural product that would not only help build muscle but also address energy and antioxidant concerns. The two products I found were from Young Living. They were 1. Power Meal and 2. NingXia Red Juice.
Both contain the Ningxia Wolfberry that only Young Living now has the rights to.
After only a month of being on each of these I found my energy levels, my strength and my muscle bulk changed dramatically. Other benefits that I experienced as well included improved eye sight and enhanced over all well being.
References:
*Gary Young N.D., Discovery of the Ultimate Superfood, Essential Science Publishing, July 2005
**Gary Young N.D., Discovery of the Ultimate Superfood, Essential Science Publishing, July 2005
***Gary Young N.D., Discovery of the Ultimate Superfood, Essential Science Publishing, July 2005
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Nick Arrizza M.D. is trained in medicine and psychiatry. He is an international performance coach and healer as well as the developer of the powerful Mind Resonance Process(TM) (MRP) |
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Finally a Truly Compact Nepeta!
As a group, the various forms of Nepeta faassenii, commonly called Catmint, have a lot going for them. They are long-lived, easy-to-grow, drought tolerant and long-blooming. The deer don’t like them and the butterflies love them. In fact in some gardens nepeta is the perennial that is most attractive to butterflies, rivaling even the shrub butterfly bush. Nepetas are widely used in English perennial borders massed as a foreground plant, and as an edger. To date nepetas have had one major drawback, they tend to sprawl in a floppy manner. A few years ago a variety called ‘Walker’s Low’ was introduced from England and was quickly heralded as the long sought compact nepeta. When ‘Walker’s Low’ proved to be just as tall-growing and floppy as the other nepetas, it turned out that ‘Walker’s Low’ is the name of a place in England and has nothing to do with the height of the plant. Now with the 2006 introduction of ‘Kit Kat’, there is finally a compact neater Nepeta faassenii.
Add Continual Summer Color to Your Garden
‘Kit Kat’ will add color to your garden throughout the summer. The leaves are grey-green and are toped with spikes of small clusters of lavender blue flowers from June until August. At 15-18 inches high, it is not only smaller in height, but smaller in all of its parts. ‘Kit Kat’ has smaller leaves and flowers, but the flowers are much more numerous than other nepetas. It will thrive in sunny, dry areas, but also tolerates light shade, if the drainage is good. ‘Kit Kat’ is ideal as an edger, especially for an herb garden, as well as for summer color massed in front of shrubbery or to dress down foundation plantings.
Planting and Care
Click here to view ‘Kit Kat’ on the Carroll Gardens website.
