life]::[focus]::[pro

everything that may be useful in your life





Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

:: Quotes for Success II

Posted by Andrew on 22nd May 2007

  • Always take another step. If that is to no avail take another, and yet
    another. One step at a time is not too difficult.
  • Laugh at your failures and they will vanish in clouds of new dreams.
  • When an act becomes easy through constant repetition, it becomes a pleasure
    to perform
    , and if it is a pleasure to perform, it is man’s nature to
    perform it often.
  • Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy.
  • Look upon each obstacle as a lesson to be learned.
  • Each minute of today will be more fruitful than the hours of yesterday.
  • Just as nature made no provision for your body to tolerate pain neither has
    it made any provision for your life to suffer failure.
  • Never allow yourself to become so important, so wise, so dignified, so
    powerful, that you forget how to laugh at yourself.
  • People will always respond positively to joy and enthusiasm.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

:: Try to be an artist

Posted by Andrew on 16th May 2007

The Wallright project was developed basing on the idea that every one of us is an artist.

Being a distributed application, accessible through the Internet, the physical barriers of artistic intervention are eliminated, for there is no need to have the “artist” present at the physical location where the canvas is being projected upon while creation is occurring.

3344444.JPG

It is distributed web application allowing multiple online users to ‘paint’ collaboratively, using a physical wall as a common visual canvas. a temperature & a sonar sensor on the wall condition the visual expression & ‘visualize’ the physical condition of the resulting art work by determining the virtual color palette.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

:: My photos of the city

Posted by Andrew on 14th March 2007



Posted in Uncategorized, Photos | No Comments »

:: Learn to learn better

Posted by Andrew on 6th March 2007

Here are 77 tips related to knowledge and learning to help you on your quest. A few are specifically for students in traditional learning institutions; the rest for self-starters, or those learning on their own. Happy learning.
Health

  • Food for thought: Eat breakfast. A lot of people skip breakfast, but creativity is often optimal in the early morning and it helps to have some protein in you to feed your brain. A lack of protein can actually cause headaches.
  • Reduce stress + depresssion. Stress and depression may reduce the ability to recall information and thus inhibit learning. Sometimes, all you need to reduce depression is more white light and fewer refined foods.

Balance

  • Take a break. Change phyical or mental perspective to lighten the invisible stress that can sometimes occur when you sit in one place too long, focused on learning. Taking a 5-15 minute break every hour during study sessions is more beneficial than non-stop study. It gives your mind time to relax and absorb information. If you want to get really serious with breaks, try a 20 minute ultradian break as part of every 90 minute cycle. This includes a nap break, which is for a different purpose than #23.
  • Change your focus. Sometimes there simply isn’t enough time to take a long break. If so, change subject focus. Alternate between technical and non-technical subjects.

Perspective and Focus

  • Focus and immerse yourself. Focus on whatever you’re studying. Don’t try to watch TV at the same time or worry yourself about other things. Anxiety does not make for absorption of information and ideas.
  • Turn out the lights. This is a way to focus, if you are not into meditating. Sit in the dark, block out extraneous influences. This is ideal for learning kinesthetically, such as guitar chord changes.

Recall Techniques

  • Listen to music. Researchers have long shown that certain types of music are a great “key” for recalling memories. Information learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled simply by “playing” the songs mentally.
  • Use acronyms and other mnemonic devices. Mnemonics are essentially tricks for remembering information. Some tricks are so effective that proper application will let you recall loads of mundane information years later.

Visual Aids

  • Every picture tells a story. Draw or sketch whatever it is you are trying to achieve. Having a concrete goal in mind helps you progress towards that goal.
  • Learn symbolism and semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols. Having an understanding of the symbols of a particular discipline aids in learning, and also allows you to record information more efficiently.

Verbal and Auditory Techniques

  • Stimulate ideas. Play rhyming games, utter nonsense words. These loosen you up, making you more receptive to learning.
  • Laugh. Laughing relaxes the body. A relaxed body is more receptive to new ideas.

Kinesthetic Techniques

  • Write, don’t type. While typing your notes into the computer is great for posterity, writing by hand stimulates ideas. The simple act of holding and using a pen or pencil massages acupuncture points in the hand, which in turn stimulates ideas.
  • Use post-it notes. Post-it notes provide a helpful way to record your thoughts about passages in books without defacing them with ink or pencil marks.

Self-Motivation Techniques

  • Give yourself credit. Ideas are actually a dime a dozen. If you learn to focus your mind on what results you want to achieve, you’ll recognize the good ideas. Your mind will become a filter for them, which will motivate you to learn more.
  • Set a goal. W. Clement Stone once said “Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve.” It’s an amazing phenomenon in goal achievement. Prepare yourself by whatever means necessary, and hurdles will seem surmountable. Anyone who has experienced this phenomenon understands its validity.

Supplemental Techniques

  • Read as much as you can. How much more obvious can it get? Use Spreeder (#33) if you have to. Get a breadth of topics as well as depth.
  • Learn another language. New perspectives give you the ability to cross-pollinate cultural concepts and come up with new ideas. As well, sometimes reading a book in its original language will provide you with insights lost in translation.

For Teachers, Tutors, and Parents

  • Use information pyramids. Learning happens in layers. Build base knowledge upon which you can add advanced concepts.
  • Apply the 80/20 rule. This rule is often interpreted in dfferent ways. In this case, the 80/20 rule means that some concepts, say about 20% of a curriculum, require more effort and time, say about 80%, than others. So be prepared to expand on complex topics.

For Students and Self-Studiers

  • Teach yourself. Teachers cannot always change their curricula. If you’re not being challenged, challenge yourself. Some countries still apply country-wide exams for all students. If your lecturer didn’t cover a topic, you should learn it on your own. Don’t wait for someone to teach you. Lectures are most effective when you’ve pre-introduced yourself to concepts.
  • Collaborate. If studying by yourself isn’t working, maybe a study group will help.
    Parting Advice
  • Persist. Don’t give up learning in the face of intimdating tasks. Anything one human being can learn, most others can as well. Wasn’t it Einstein that said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”? Thomas Edison said it, too.

The other tips are here: oedb.org/library/college-basics/hacking-knowledge 

Posted in Uncategorized, Productivity | No Comments »

:: How to build self confidence

Posted by Andrew on 5th March 2007

You have probably noticed those people at work, school, and in your daily life that always appear to be self confident and on top of world.

Everything seems to go right for these people and they always seem to present themselves as calm, collected and successful in everything they do.

If you are paying attention you have probably noticed that these self confident people usually are successful in every area of their lives.

Is this because they are smarter? Or is it because they have more money? Maybe they are just lucky?

The reality is that none of these things are necessarily true. Self confident people understand the impact of believing in themselves and relying on their abilities.

This confidence ultimately creates opportunities for success and with each new success another self confidence building block is put into place. Success builds upon success reinforcing self confidence with each new achievement.

Self confident people perceive themselves as able to achieve those things they set out to do and this perception creates reality in their lives.

Yes, perception creates reality. You can become the person you want to be. You have heard it said that if you can believe it you can achieve it.

So start believing in yourself, acting on that belief and you will start building self confidence in your life.

Join more people who want to build confidence in themselve too.

Here are some helpful tips to build self confidence one success at a time.

1. Make a list of your strong points.

All the positive things about yourself and the things that you are good at doing. Think of compliments you have received or things that come easily to you. It doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s good, write it down.

2. Choose two of those things that you want to work on to improve even more.

It’s important to succeed and by concentrating on the areas you are already good at you will have a better chance of becoming even more sure of yourself. Remember that success builds upon success.

3. Exude confidence even if you don’t feel like it.

Talk to yourself in an encouraging way and stay away from negative thoughts and people as you can.

Instead surround yourself with positive, confident, and successful people. This will become a habit and one that will build confidence.

4. Look at yourself in a different way than you are used to doing.

It can change your life and help your confidence level to rise. See yourself as the self confident person you want to be and before you know it you will become that person.

If you have a set-back do not let it get the best of you. Remember the times when you exhibited self confidence and how good it felt and then try again and each time will help you to build confidence and confidence building will become a way of life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Murphy

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »