Improve all over muscle tone and lose weight by doing just one exercise.

The plank is one of the most popular and effective exercises for the abdominals in the whole world. It doesn’t just make the abs and shoulder girdle work, its workout for all the muscles in the body.
At the offices of BrightSide.me, we all do it now on mats, before settling down to provide you with these articles.

What it’s all about

The essence of the plank is to ‘hang’ above the floor for several minutes once a day, supported only by your hands and toes. No-one would say that it is easy to be in this ‘hanging’ state, even for only a few minutes. In this pose, a huge number of muscles are activated.

The Classic Plank

The plank is a static exercise. There’s no movement in it, so the main thing is to hold your body right.

• Lie on the floor stomach down. Bend your elbows at 90 degrees angles and transfer your weight onto your arms. Your body should form a straight line from the top of your head to your heels.
• Support yourself only on your forearms and the tips of your toes. Your elbows should be directly under your shoulders.
• Hold your body as level as possible, tense your stomach muscles and don’t relax them. Try not to point your thighs towards the floor.

1. Feet. Put them together. Keeping balance becomes more difficult, which increases the load on the stomach muscles.
2. Legs. Should be straight and tensed. Otherwise, the load on the abdominals will be reduced. This is what is keeping the spine from bending.
3. Buttocks. Keep tensed, and don’t relax them until the workout is over. Clenching the buttock muscles increases the activity of the whole muscular system.
4. Small of the back. This is the most difficult part! If you do the plank right, the lumber region of your spine should be flat. That means you shouldn’t round or bend the small of your back. Imagine that you’re holding it flat against a wall.
5. Stomach. Stretch it out, and then try to pull it towards your ribs. Throughout the workout keep your stomach in this position, but don’t slow down your breathing.
6. Elbows. Keep them directly below your shoulders, so as not to create unnecessary strain.

It’s important to breath out when assuming the pose and stay in position until a reasonable level of muscle fatigue is reached. Try to keep it up as long as possible; at first 10 seconds is enough. As a rule, people with differing levels of fitness keep the pose for anything from 10 seconds to 2 minutes. If you’re new to all this don’t try to break any records; start at the minimum.

Side Plank

This exercise for the abs is more effective than a traditional plank as you hold all your bodyweight on two points points of contact rather than four. You will need to make more effort to keep your balance.

• While lying on your left side, place your elbow directly below your shoulder. Keep the legs straight. Put your right hand on your right thigh, still keeping those legs straight.
• Tense your abdominal muscles and raise your hip from the floor until you form a right-angle, balancing on your forearm and feet. Remain in this position for 30-45 seconds. If you can’t hold it that long, repeat the exercise until you have spent a total of at least 30 seconds in this pose. Change sides and do it again.

Variations

1. Plank with raised leg. Raise one leg. By doing this you significantly increase the load on the muscular system and reduce support. This means your body will have to make an extra effort to hold the position. By reducing the area of contact with the floor the strain on the stomach muscles is significantly increased.
2. Plank with raised arm. Raise one arm. This is similar to the first variaton. You’ll have to make an effort not to fall on your side.
3. Side plank with arm and leg lift. Lie on your side, put your legs together and straighten them. Along with your torso they should make a straight line. Put your left forearm on the floor (with your elbow directly under your shoulder). Raise your right leg and arm. Hold this position for as long as you can.
4. Plank on an exercise ball. Rest your elbows on the ball or put your feet on it.

Benefits of this exercise

Firm buttocks. This exercise is a workout for your glutes and calf muscles, so you won’t just get them into shape, you’ll get rid of cellulite too.
A strong back. During the exercise the lower back muscles are strengthened, as are the shoulder and neck muscles. This can help to safeguard against osteochondrosis and other bone diseases in the small of the back and neck. Also you’ll get rid of pain above and between the shoulder blades caused by carrying heavy bags or constantly sitting at a computer.
Slim legs. The legs take most of the weight in this exercise. All the leg muscles are active, from the thighs to the calves. Don’t be alarmed if you feel a burning sensation in your muscles; that just means they’re working.
A flat stomach. When your whole body is straining, both your lower and side abs get a workout too.
Toned arms. It’s quite obvious that along with the legs the arms also get an intensive workout. They support the weight of your upper body.

Mistakes

1. The pelvis falls towards the floor and your body forms a hoop.
2. The tailbone points at the ceiling and the small of the back forms a bend.

To avoid these mistakes, point the tailbone towards your heels and pull your belly in. The stomach muscles should be strong, just as much as the muscles of the thighs and knees. Push your thighs up. You should feel that your lower abs are taunt and the small of the back is being lengthened. Push the heels gently back.
WARNING!
Don’t allow the thighs to hang down and don’t relax the knees. Try to ‘hover’ above the floor by stretching the spine and tensing the abdominal muscles. Don’t let your whole weight slip forward onto your forearms. Try to hold the legs together, toes side by side, don’t let them slip away from each other. The wider apart they are, the less load there is on the abdominals and the more on the knees.

Differences between the Middle Class and the Wealthy You Need to Know

When I was in college, my grandfather gave me a book to read, titled The Richest Man in Babylon. And he told me that if I read it and lived by it, I would become rich. (He was a millionaire when it really meant something). I did read the book, but then put it away and really didn’t much about it after that. But, over the past 20 years, I have watched as the middle class continues to contract, the poor class expand, and the very few at the top increase their wealth even more. I fear that my grandchildren will be either rich or poor, but not in the middle, for there will be no middle anymore. They must choose to be wealthy, and so I shall do what I can for them to adopt the attitudes and the behaviors of the rich. Here are 11 differences between the wealthy and the middle class that they must understand. Many of them are in that little book from my grandfather, which I recently dug out, and I will be buying copies for each of them.

The Wealthy Pay Themselves First; The Middle Class Pay Their Bills First

Wealthy people learned early in their lives that whatever money came into their households, at minimum of 10% was paid to themselves – for investment purposes. They may have gone into the stock market; they may invested in mutual and bond funds. But at some point, the truly wealthy took some big risks with that money they had been paying themselves. And when they took the big risks and they failed, they simply picked themselves up, knowing that they could always find ways to bring in more money and pay themselves again – looking toward the next venture.

Middle class people use their income to pay their bills first. Whatever they have left over, they tend to spend and perhaps put a bit in savings. But the savings it for their future, so it will never be put into a risky venture. The savings represents security and stability and part of the old Protestant work ethic.
The Rich Live Below Their Means; the Middle Class Live Above Their Means

Years ago, financial author Thomas Stanley wrote a book, The Millionaire Next Door. The book was based on several years of research to find out how people got wealthy, by interviewing them. What he discovered was this: On their road to wealth, and even afterward, a huge number of wealthy people are still living in modest homes and driving 2-3 year old cars. The flashy cars and the large homes are driven and populated by middle class people living above their means. This speaks to a wholly different mindset on the part of these two groups. The wealthy would rather preserve and expand their wealth through investments, while the middle class has a need to accumulate “things” that somehow increase their status with their friends. So who is driving the new Mercedes? Chances are, it is the young executive still climbing career ladder.
The Middle Class Tend to Befriend and Socialize with Most Anyone; The Wealthy are Picky about Their Associations

A part of the road to wealth is to begin to think and behave as the wealthy do. This thinking and behaving is not learned by “hanging out” with other middle class or lower individuals. Instead of making efforts to move into wealthy “circles” and establish contacts and different thoughts and beliefs, middle class individuals stay where they are “comfortable.” Wealthy people, on the other hand, are rather choosy about their associations, sticking to “hanging out” with those who are even wealthier than they are. They know that the conversations and the contacts will be invaluable and keep them in the right thought patterns.
The Middle Class wants to be Comfortable; the Wealthy Know that Comfort Means Stagnation and they Prefer Dis-comfort

Comfort for the middle class means a steady job with a stable income and some raises and perhaps a promotion or two as they move toward a retirement with pension and social security. The rich take big risks. They start companies that may fail; they get back up and start all over again. They don’t want security and stability; they embrace failure and look for the next opportunity.
The Middle Class Work to Earn a Salary; the Wealthy work to gain new Knowledge

Here’s a huge difference. Middle class individual go to work, perhaps at a large company. They do this to earn a salary that will keep them in their current lifestyle. When they get a raise, they “up” their lifestyles. They often change jobs simply for a larger paycheck. The wealthy focus not on a paycheck but on learning. They want to know the ins and outs of how things work in their business niches, for at some point they will take off on their own and they will have the knowledge to do so.

The Middle Class Underestimate Themselves; the Rich Overestimate Themselves

Thinking small is rather a middle class tendency. They do not think of themselves as “movers and shakers” of this world, but, rather as the “worker bees” who really do not have the talent to become an innovator or wealthy entrepreneur. Their goals are thus small and short-term. The rich, on the other hand, tend to overestimate themselves and set huge goals. Even if they fail, the set new huge goals. Donald Trump has declared bankruptcy 3 times, but that has not stopped him.

Middle Class People are Emotional About their Money; the Wealthy are Logical about Money

Because they live in fear of losing their money, the middle class tend to act out of that fear. So, when they have some investments in the stock market, and there is a significant drop, they tend to get out quickly and just take their losses. When the market is up, they are optimistic and buy too high. The wealthy ride out the waves, knowing logically that, if they remain in the market, it will come back.

The Middle Class wants to be Paid Based upon Time Put In; the Wealthy want to be paid based upon results

Again, this attitude goes back to the idea of comfort and security – that stable paycheck. The wealthy on the other hand take big risks, with results as their goals, and when those results are achieved, they make their money.

The Middle Class lacks Self-Assurance; the Wealthy Exude Self-Assurance

Middle class workers depend upon a company for a job, and are happy to take on the tasks they are assigned, hoping, of course, for the next raise or a promotion. They are dependent upon their superiors because the lack the confidence to be dependent upon themselves. The wealthy think and act with confidence, knowing that they never will have to rely on someone else for their income.

The Middle Class tends to focus on Obstacles; the Wealthy focus on Opportunities

This is almost self-explanatory. Middle class individuals, faced with taking a financial risk that could result in wealth, will find all of the excuses possible why they cannot take that risk. The wealthy see every financial risk as a grand opportunity – the difference is pessimism vs. optimism

The Middle Class focuses on Savings; the Wealthy Focus on Investing/Earning

The middle class tends to have a 401K and perhaps a matching retirement plan; this is saving for their retirement. The wealthy focus on using their money to make even more money. This is a huge difference between these two groups.

100 Ways to Develop Your Mind

1. Do the Thing You Fear the Most.

If there’s one thing that will change your thoughts quicker than anything else, it’s facing your fears.]

2. Stand up For Yourself

A lot of people have difficulty in standing up for themselves. The first time you do it can be very empowering and your thoughts about yourself will change forever. See Dealing With Confrontation
3. Stop Talking

It’s great to be silent for just a little while. Our thoughts turn inward and we begin to appreciate ourselves just a little more.

4. Strengthen Your Strengths

Sometimes we focus too much on trying to strengthen our weaknesses when we should be concentrating on strengthening our strengths.

5. Take A Walk Around an Art Gallery

You might not appreciate art or participate in it but it’s great to see the thoughts of others on canvas. It can give us a tiny glimpse of what goes on in other people’s minds.

6. Blindfold Yourself for a Day

Walk in the shoes of a blind person for 1 full day, it will forever change the way you think about life.

7. Stand on a Chair for 5 Minutes Per Day

Building self discipline is a great way to take control of your mind and your thoughts. If you just get up and stand on a sturdy chair your mind will be wondering what the hells going on and try and force you to get off the chair. Disciplining your mind is a great way to start changing your life. See Self Discipline.

8. Dance When There’s Nobody There

It’s a strange sensation to dance on your own, although when I have done this I look like a dog having a seizure, nonetheless it’s a great way to let go of your inhibitions.

9. Give Money to Someone Unexpectedly

Whether it be on the internet, or in the street, just give a larger than normal donation to someone. This again is liberating and your thoughts about money will change for a few moments (that’s all it takes to start the process of changing your life.)

10. Strengthen Your Thoughts About Yourself

Reinforce your thoughts about your good points. If you are good at talking to people, tell yourself this often. If you are good at maths, tell yourself often. This has the benefit of reinforcing and strengthening your self image.

11. Take A Risk

Life would be boring without ever having taken a risk in your life. Do something that you didn’t want to do because you thought you wouldn’t be any good at it. This totally smashes the boundaries of your comfort zone and your life could change forever. Read This Post by Robin Easton

12. Talk To A Stranger

Again this is breaking our comfort zones, but just saying hi to stranger in the street or good morning can have an enormous impact on your day and the person you said hi to.

13. Walk Around The House Naked

I can almost feel the shock at this. I don’t mean when you’ve got guests in, I mean when everybody is out. Lock the door and totally liberate yourself and your thinking of what’s right and what’s wrong. I wouldn’t advise doing it all the time, but from time to time, it’s a great feeling.

14. Read A Book By An Author You Most Avoid

reading books by authors we avoid gives us a chance to take control of our minds and lets us see another side to our thinking. We’ve got to ask why we avoid them in the first place, is it something within us that we are avoiding?

15. Write An Article About Yourself

Imagine a newspaper has asked you to write an article of 1000 words or less about yourself and your life and they want to know what motivates you in life, now write the article. This helps put your life into some perspective and gets you thinking about your childhood and growing up.

16. Stop Contact With Your Down People

If you have people in your life who constantly drag you down, or are negative all the time, drop them. Honestly drop them from your life, you are not serving them and they are not serving you and they are dragging your thoughts down. Read This Post by Dan And jennifer

17. Believe In Yourself

A lot of people believe their life has been pre-destined and there’s nothing we can do to change it – absolute rubbish. YOU are the only person who controls the universe, yes I did mean universe. Your universe is different from mine so you control your own universe, think about that and start acting upon it.

18. Meditate Every Day

Another powerful thing that has the power to change your life and your thinking for good. Retreating into your mind for a few minutes every day will do you a power of good. Read How To Meditate

19. Ask For A Discount

When you buy anything from a shop that is over $100, ask for a discount. Tell the salesman you’d like a 10% discount on the item. Most people are so afraid of doing this but it’s a great way to empower yourself and let go of another inhibition, what’s the worst that can happen?

20. Risk Embarrassment

Imagine if you had seen the person of your dreams on a bus, or at the store and you didn’t do anything about it how much would you kick yourself. If this happens to you, do something about it, don’t keep it hidden. Just say to them you thought you would come over and say how attractive they looked and felt you had to tell them. You never know what will happen and how much your life could be changed. Obviously don’t turn into a weirdo and do it with every good looking person on the street.

21. Work Toward, What You Think, Is An Impossible Goal

If you work toward a goal without expectation you don’t care about the outcome as much. When you don’t care about the outcome, you don’t have as much expectation.

22. Practice Gratitude

We all know what we don’t have in our lives because we spend a lot of time wishing we had them, but are we really thankful for what we have? Spend time every single day being thankful for the good things we do have in our lives. read The Post at ZenHabits on Gratitude

23. Do Something Nice And Don’t Tell Anyone About It

We tell others about our acts of kindness to let them know how nice we are and to seek approval. If you keep your act of kindness to yourself without ever telling anyone the feeling of positive energy lasts much longer.

24. Share Your Skills

Everybody has a skill of some kind. When you share it you not only have the power to help others, but you enhance your own skill by owning it.

25. Don’t Talk Just Listen

Enhance your listening skills by not talking when someone is speaking to you. Resist the urge to speak your views when someone is talking to you, just listen to them and ask them more open ended questions at the appropriate times. This has two benefits: a) You can really listen if you are not formulating the stories in your own head when someone is talking b) you will make the other person feel great as you are actively listening to them.

26. Write Your Future Life Story

Start from the age you are just now and start writing your future life story as you’d like it to be. Be as outrageous as you want and just write about your ideal life and how you interact with it. Words on paper are powerful and can help shape your goals.

27. Give Someone A Gift For No Reason

We always assume someone buys us a gift for a reason whether it be a birthday, christmas or special occasion. Buy someone a gift just because you know they would like it.

28. Pass On Your Good Books

If you’ve read a book and it changed your thinking or life in some way, pass it on to someone else who might benefit.;

29. Spend More Time With Your Kids

Your kids will grow up very quickly, spend as much time as you can with them.

30. Forgive Behavior

The way we behave doesn’t necessarily reflect our true thoughts. Remember this when someone acts out of character and behaves in a way you don’t approve of.
31. Allow Yourself To Be A Lazy Git

We are so used to filling our time with useful things to do and being productive we have forgotten the art of laziness. Being lazy is good every ONCE IN A WHILE and it allows our mind to slow down and relax.

32. What Is Your Best Quality Today

Every morning for 10 seconds just state, out loud if you can, what your best quality is. Try and change it every day. This reinforces your strengths and weakens your perceived weaknesses.

33. Write A Comment

If you visit a blog you like, leave a comment and join in the community of people. Or, if there is not much of a community, be part of starting it.

34. Tell Your Friends And Colleagues How Good They Are

If a friend or colleague does something good, tell them how good they are at that particular task. This reinforces someone else strengths or strengthens their weaknesses and makes them feel good about themselves.

35. Make A Video Of Yourself And Post It To Youtube

Why on earth would you do this? Just because you can!

36. List All Your Worries

Make a list of every single worry you have at the moment. You will notice that you don’t have as many worries as you thought. Worrying consumes our thinking and we think our whole life is one big worry. When you get it down on paper it’s extremely surprising that you don’t have as many as you’d thought.

37. Work On Each Worry In Turn

Now that you have all your worries listed. Go through them and start acting on them in turn. If you find worries you cannot act upon it means there is nothing you can do to change the outcome of that worry, so forget it, why waste mind energy on something you cannot control at all? Read This Post for More Info

38. Read About Successful People

If you want to change your thoughts and change your life read about people who have already done it and use them as guides.

39. Tweet Your Moods

If you use twitter why not tweet your moods daily and see if there is some kind of pattern after a few months.

40. Stop Watching Soaps

Soap operas actually have the power to alter your state of mind. People get so caught up in the emotions of the soap that they experience what the actors and actresses are doing.

41. Have A News Break

What would happen if you never read a newspaper for a week? nothing at all, your life wouldn’t change, you wouldn’t run out of things to talk about, you would still be as up on the world as everyone else. Newspapers sell because of their doom and gloom, read it and you are buying into it.

42. Do Something Spontaneous

Jump on a bus without looking at the destination, book a holiday, take time off work, take your partner away, buy your kids a gift; do anything and make sure it’s out of character, (expand that boundary).

43. Write To An Author

Authors are people just like you and I and they love getting feedback about their work. If a book touched you in some way or changed you, take time to write to the author and thank them. Don’t look for a reply, just thank them.

44. Follow your instincts

We don’t trust ourselves nearly enough as we should. Follow your instincts more and pay attention to the signals your body is picking up and see where it takes you. You might find that your conscious brain gets in the way of your body signals a lot of the time. Read This Post for More Info

45. If You Find Some Money Give It To Charity

If you find money in the street don’t pocket it, give it to someone who is homeless or better yet buy them a meal with it. If it’s a suitcase full of money, that’s obviously a different story.

46. Your Thoughts Really Do Have Power

When you realize this, it will change your thinking in so many ways. I can’t tell you that it’s true you have to experience it for yourself.

47. Always Admit It When You Have Made A Mistake

Don’t blame others or hide behind someone else. Hold your hands up and admit you made a mistake, no matter what the consequences are. You will be much more respected this way. However, don’t take the blame for others.

48. Do Something Every Day To Improve Your Mind

Learn a new word, do an anagram puzzle, sudoku your mind, read a book, read a stimulating blog post, anything that will help your mind just a little. Just a little turns into something huge.

49. Change Your Thinking Style

If something is not working out, try and change your thinking style and come at it from another angle. This is true of everything in life.

50. What Do You Really Want To Do In Life

You will find most people cannot answer this question simply because they are plodding along with life. When you know what you really want to do with your life then your life takes another path. read This Post by Dragos Roua

51. Pass On Your Knowledge

Knowledge is for sharing, let others know what you know if it’s appropriate.

52. Ask For What You Want In Life

If you don’t ask you won’t get. Asking for your wants puts it out there. I mean literally ask and metaphorically ask. When you want a big house or a mansion, ask out loud and send it out there. When you want the smaller things in life, ask for them from people who can give you them. Always pay it forward.

53. When Someone Does You A Good Turn Pay It Forward

If you receive a compliment, thank the person and look for an opportunity to give someone else a compliment. If you receive a gift, give a gift to someone else at an opportune time.

54. Always Have A Good Breakfast

We underestimate the power of food to keep our brains healthy and our minds alive with energy. If you don’t eat that much, make sure you have a good breakfast to set you up for the day. Read this post on eating by Vin Miller

55. What Would People Say About You If You Died

This is not a morbid thought, but I often think about what people would say about me at my funeral. The thing is the ones who might say something bad, I can’t really not invite because I’ll be dead. However, the important people are ones I would care about most and I would like to develop my life’s values based on what people would say about me at my funeral; he was a caring man, he was a family man, he always told the truth no matter how hard it might seem, he had integrity etc.

56. Sing Your Heart Out

I love to sing, I hopeless at it, but I love it. We have a radio station over in the UK called gold http://www.mygoldmusic.co.uk/ and it plays music from the 60s, 70s and 80s and I sing at the top of my voice as there is always something on that’s good. My sons are not very pleased about it though :)

57. Love The One You’re With

Always let your partner know how much you love them by telling them and showing them. This way your mind is focused on them for at least part of the day.

58. Pacing Whilst Studying

This has helped me a lot over the years. I paced my way through university. My theory is that the body and mind is being stimulated with the exercise you are doing whilst walking, this makes the blood flow. Blood flow to the brain help you to study and remember.

59. Make New friends

Whether it be online or offline. Keeping yourself busy socially is stimulating for the mind and lets you see the world from others peoples perspective.

60. Make Love Regularly

Releasing the feel good chemicals, endorphins, into your bloodstream is a great way to stimulate the mind. I have to admit to feeling much more creative after making love.

61. Listen To Music

This stimulates the mind and can have tremendous benefits for your thoughts, therefore your life. I love listening to Baroque music whilst driving at night, I love rousing rock driving during the day and dance trance music at the weekend whist driving

62. Listen To A Book Instead Of The Radio

Getting downloadable books from Amazon.com or Audible.com is a great way to spend long journeys and learn something at the same time.

63. Have A Sleep In

I am not a big fan of sleeping longer than I have to, but sometimes it’s great to lie in bed for a few hours longer than normal. It helps the brain recuperate.

64. Turn Off The TV

There’s nothing more brain numbing than having the TV on all day every day. Exercise your mind and read a book, or at least watch something educational. Read this post by Vin Miller

65. Look For Evidence Of Your Beliefs

This will develop your mind and your critical thinking. If you look for evidence of your beliefs such as ‘what is the evidence that sea water is blue or green’, you’ll discover some great information on during your research.

66. Take Micro Naps

Taking a micro nap for 10 minutes a few times a day does wonders for your brain energy. read this post on Micro Naps

67. Travel Often

Travel really does broaden your horizons especially if you really get into the local food and culture.

68. Tidy House Tidy Mind

There really is nothing better than clearing your house or office space to clear your mind. When the house is not tidy there is always a niggling at the back of your mind. When the house, office and workspace is totally clean and tidy it frees your mind to concentrate on work or your family at home. read this post at DumbLittleMan

69. Exercise Your Mind Not Just Your Body

We all know the benefits of exercising the body but exercising the mind by doing crosswords, maths puzzles, playing chess, reading, anagrams, sudoku etc, all help to increase the minds capacity for learning.

70. Read Philosophy

the beauty of philosophy is that there is no right and wrong. However, reading different philosophers views about the world will stimulate your mind. Read this post by Tim Ferris

71. Ditch The Credit Card

We have forgotten how to wait for the things we want in life, if we see something we like we want it now and using a credit card is too easy. Make the object of your desire more precious by saving up for it. This will discipline your mind as well as your money spending habits.

72. Watch A Motivational Video On Youtube First Thing In The Morning

This is a great way to start the day. Just type in motivational into youtube search box, sort by view count and watch a few videos.

73. Keep Up To Date With New Theories

Whatever field you are interested in keep up to date with new theories and discoveries. New theories in psychology are especially interesting albeit quite thin on the ground.

74. Take One Action Toward Your Goals Every Day

Your Self confidence, self esteem, and goals can only be reached by taking action. The more action you take the more your mind will help you to keep going.

75. Never Let Your Mind Go Out Of Fashion

Keep up to date with the latest research on health, beauty and intelligence. Only those whose thoughts keep searching will stay intelligent for life.

76. Confronting Your Stressors

Whatever you are stressed about the most tackle first. The less stress you have the less your mind has to cope with. Tackle the biggest stressors first and work your way down. Read this post by Jonathan Wells

77. Drink Coffee And Tea

Despite evidence to the contrary coffee and tea have been shown to help the brain. Antioxidants and/or caffeine may help fight the onset of Alzheimer’s by 30-60% drinking 30 cups a day is obviously not good but 3-5 cups per day is okay.

78. Carry Yourself With Confidence

People can tell by the way you walk if you are confident or not. Walk with purpose and have a purpose to walk. Read this post by Brandon Lindell

79. Make Up Your Own Mind

When reading or listening to the news, do your own research and make up your own mind. The government and large corporations, whether deliberate or not, is a propaganda machine feeding you information to manipulate your thinking.

80. Take Up Yoga

This is meant to be one of the best ways to relive stress and exercise both mind and body. watch this video to get you started

81. Change Your Hands

Practice doing this with your less dominant hand. If you are right handed start doing things with your left hand and vice versa. If you are ambidextrous, start doing it with your feet :)

82. Eat Plenty Of Fish

There is an abundance on new evidence that eating fish is great for our brains and keeping them healthy.

83. Reduce Your Alcohol Intake

I had to say this, I am an addiction worker. Don’t cut it out just reduce it to the recommended safe level.

84. Quit The Smoking

Yep it can be one of the hardest drugs to give up but it is worth it. I feel so much better for giving up smoking and have a lot more energy than normal and my mind can function a lot better.

85. Practice Deep Breathing

Getting plenty of oxygen to your brain is key for a healthy mind, deep breathing can help with this.

86. Get A Dog/Cat

If you live alone why not go to one of the pet rescue centres and get a dog or a cat. People who have pets are shown to be less lonely, more active, and show fewer signs of stress. read this article by elizabeth Scott

87. Break your Pattern

If you are the one who always goes shopping swap the routine with your partner. Or if you always go to a particular store, change it and go to the same store in another area. Do anything to break the patterns you have in life. This way your mind is kept more active.

88. Try New Food

We have trained our palettes over the years and have gotten used to eating certain foods day in and day out. Try new foods and train your palette to eat better foods.

89. Stimulate Your Brain By Going To A Concert

Whether it be a rock concert or am orchestral concert, getting out and hearing music live and being with people who enjoy the same music stimulates your mind and your emotions.

90. Join An Internet Group

Join an internet discussion group to further your education on topics of interest. Want to start a business? join a group and get ideas for best practice. Want to know more about tropical fish? join a group. This educates your mind, gives you ideas and lets you meet people who are interested in the same topics as you.

91. Volunteer To Help Others

Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community and help others learn the skills you have. Even if you don’t think you have skills you can still help someone out in your community just by talking or doing their shopping for 1 hour per week.

92. Read The Tao Te Ching

Has to be one of the best books, in my opinion, for developing your mind. read this blog byNaoto Matsumoto

93. Practice Patience

Waiting in queues, traffic jams, on a telephone call can be very frustrating sometimes. If you use the time to develop your mind and focus on your goals your frustration will dissipate very quickly. Use free time like this constructively instead of getting angry and putting yourself in a bad mood.

94. Practice Divergent Thinking

This is the practice of looking for multiple solutions to problems or issues that arise in your life, whether they be at home or at work. Don’t judge your solutions just put them down on paper until you can’t think of any other ways. get others involved in this as well. Read this article on divergent thinking

95. Put On A New Hat

Edward De Bono wrote a book called Six Thinking Hats in which he proposed you to put on a different, mental, hat for each area of your life. For example you put on your parent hat when talking to your kids, you can also put on your child hat for playing around with your kids. mentally putting on different hats allows you to better go in and out of different roles in your life.

96. Stop trying To Multitask

Multitasking can’t be done except with unconscious processes such as walking and talking. If you try to consciously multitask like make the kids lunches, have a telephone conversation and try and get the kids ready for school it can’t be done nearly as effectively as doing each task separately. Multitasking stresses out minds and helps to produce bad results. read this article by Dave Crenshaw

97. Write A Short Essay On The Books Your Read

Doing this will keep your mind active and helps your to read in a different way as you are analyzing books instead of just reading. this way you retain more information and in a few years time you don’t embarrass yourself by saying ‘yeah, that was a great book but I can’t remember what it was about.’

98. Allocate Time For Worrying

If you are a recovering worrier and you need some help, allocate a certain time each day to worry about everything. Once you’ve done the time of worry, leave it until the next day.

99. Stop Faffing And Just Do It

Faffing is the art of doing small things to avoid completing a bigger task. I am constantly getting on at my son and saying ‘Stop faffing!’. We spend too much time faffing instead on concentrating on the task at hand. Read this Article at Lifehack.org

100. Read The Dictionary

Learning a new word every 2 -3 days will increase your vocabulary by 120 – 170 words per year.

101. Always Over deliver On Your Promises

If you say your going to do something, don’t just do it and get the job complete, make sure you over deliver on everything you do.

8 Keys To A Highly Successful Life

Success may mean different things to different people. For one, it might equate to having a fluorishing career. For another, it might be having harmonious relationships with family and friends.

But success is not limited to just one or two areas of life. In fact, there should be a well-rounded balance between eight vital keys to be considered a true success. If just one of them is missing or lacking, your life won’t be as fulfilling as it’s meant to be.

1) Inner Peace

This is the cornerstone of all the other areas. Everything you do should have inner peace as your primary aim.

No amount of wealth, popularity, power or success can make up for something that is bothering you “from the inside.”

Any negative emotion – such as fear, anger, worry, or jealousy – can throw your inner balance off course. So deliberately choose to stay positive – in words, thoughts and actions.

the_attitude_that_guarantees_successFor many people, being spiritual or having faith in God (or a higher power) has done wonders to ease their anxieties and worries, as well as make them feel more in control of their lives.

2) Happy Relationships.

Your happiness (and health) depend greatly on the quality of people in your life and how well you’re able to get along with them.

Be around optimistic people and those who share the same values as yours. They will inspire you to feel good and live your dreams. On the other hand, avoid toxic relationships by staying away from negative people.

To get along with people, do your best to be kind and thoughtful at all times. Before you begin your day, ask yourself, “what can I do to make the people around me happy?” You may list down the names of your family members, friends and other people you’ll meet that day… then write down at least one way you can make each of them feel great. This little extra effort on your part could pay huge dividends in terms of getting their love, trust, loyalty and respect for a long time to come.

3) Excellent Health.

You can never enjoy life to the fullest if your health is in jeopardy. And being healthy is not complicated either. It’s as simple as eating right, exercising, avoiding stress, and getting plenty of sleep and rest.

A not-so-common way to attain great health is to always think and feel good. Whenever a negative image or emotion comes up, immediately say “Erase. Erase. Erase.” Then deliberately think of a past experience that makes you feel good. If you can’t think of any, then just visualize the perfect outcome of your most important goal or desire.

4) Financial Freedom.

Your financial condition can directly affect your health and relationships. Most people lose sleep and inner peace because they’re worried about their debts. People fight over the lack or misuse of money; and relationships suffer greatly even to the point of getting a divorce.

Money, therefore, is as important as good health and relationships. If you’d like to jumpstart your way to financial freedom, I highly recommend you read these articles: 4 Unusual Steps To Attract More Money Into Your Life; 3 Mindblowing Secrets That Can Make You Rich, here, in the archives.

5) Knowledge and Skills

If you’re not constantly getting better, you’re getting worse. There’s no such thing as a one-time improvement. Technology and progress are moving at such a rapid rate, you’ll get behind if you don’t continuously increase your knowledge and skills.

But don’t limit yourself to just your field of interest. In today’s modern society, you need to develop your competence in different areas to increase your economic and social value.

In other words, if you’re working as a dentist, chemist, architect or as another specialized professional right now, you might want to develop one or more “general” skills that will benefit you in an extensive way.

An example is getting better in sales. All companies need to sell their products or services. Developing your selling skills can also flow over to your relationship and social skills… helping you get along with anyone and be more persuasive.

6) Memorable Experiences

Research shows that experiences make us happier than things. And rightfully so.

Although we become happy when we buy new things, this lasts for a very short time. Before we know it, we’re comparing what we have with others’ possessions, and this often leads to “wanting more” and never being satisfied.

Experiences, on the other hand, are not easily comparable. Only you (and the people involved) own a particular experience. They leave a lasting impression that stays with you for life.

Here are some ideas of experiences worth having:

    Climb a mountain
    Watch a concert
    Travel to a different country
    Attend your child’s performance or event
    Go deep sea diving
    Go sky diving
    Fly in a hot air balloon
    Participate in a marathon or triathlon
    Do something extraordinary to someone that they’ll never forget
    Sing, dance or speak in front of an audience
    Learn something new (ex: speak a foreign language, play a musical instrument, etc.)
    Eat something you haven’t eaten before.
    Do something you fear!

If you can, share these experiences with your family, friends and loved ones to make them more memorable.

7) Purpose Or Passion

Studies indicate that more people who retire earlier live shorter lives than those who retired in their later years. Why the irony?

One reason could be because those who retired early have lose a sense of purpose or direction in life. They haven’t planned or decided what they want to do after they retire, so deep with them, it makes no sense to continue living.

But here’s the good news! By having a major purpose in life, knowing exactly what you want, planning and taking steps to achieve your goals, you will not only live a longer life but a much fulfilling one as well.

You must always be striving for some goals. And if you have achieved them, it’s important to make new ones. Life becomes more exciting and meaningful if you’re aiming for a certain target and anticipating its fruition.

8) Contribution to Mankind

In one of Les Brown’s videos, I heard him say that “We should be ashamed to die until we have made some major contribution to humankind.” Well said.

We’re not meant to live only to satisfy our own desires. We should have a more selfless universal aim to contribute for others’ benefit. And it doesn’t need to be a one-time shot for your contribution to be considered as “major.”

Constant random acts of kindness like helping people in need, volunteering for a worthy case, or donating to your favorite charities will add up over time and be considered as significant.

To live your best life ever, focus on the attainment of the 8 keys above. I know you can do it. I’m rooting for you.