Life Companion

Ambition is having a strong drive to do or achieve more in life. Unfortunately, a lack of ambition can be an individual’s own worst enemy. Un-ambitious people sabotage their own potential and happiness through self-limiting beliefs, bad habits, and negative thoughts. Ambitious people, however, believe in themselves and their capabilities. They understand that everyone is capable of achieving far much more than they typically give ourselves credit for. You won’t find ambitious people speaking negatively against their own interest — you won’t hear them say stuff like: 1. “I can’t do this—it’s too hard.” Ambitious people never limit themselves or undervalue hard work with these words. They tell themselves they can do it and press on until it’s done. Nothing worth having comes easy: you’ve got to work hard to for it. As Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister says, “The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man w...

Certain foods in developed countries are prohibited for a variety of reasons. Some foods are banned because they are dangerous and may increase risks of mental, emotional, and physical dysfunctions.  They’re also responsible for causing health disorders, such as cancer, damage to the nervous system, diabetes, birth defects, allergies, and more. The majority of Americans consume these dangerous food products, which are legally advertised and sold in grocery stores throughout the United States. Some foods are banned in other nations because of cultural, sustainability, religious purposes; others for downright strange and weird reasons.  For instance,  Singapore  bans chewing gum because people would leave chewed gum everywhere. For more than 20 years, Singapore declared it illegal to sell or chew gum. However, in 2004, Singapore changed the law allowing citizens to obtain a doctor’s prescription for  the 9,000-year-old substance . Another str...

For all that batteries do to power the devices we use every day that make our lives easier, most people don’t know a lot about the technology. Laptop batteries in particular are annoying and expensive to replace: here are 6 ways you can prolong the life of your laptop battery. 1. Don’t let your laptop overheat If you can feel the heat from your laptop on your skin as you lie on the couch, you have a bit of a problem. That’s especially true if your computer is shutting down unexpectedly, as noted by PCWorld. It’s a little trickier to cool down a laptop than a desktop computer, but it is doable. You’ll need either a  laptop cooler  or a small  PC vacuum  that sucks up the dirt in the vents. 2. Don’t remove or insert the laptop battery while the laptop is running This is a pretty obvious one, but it’s definitely worth mentioning. Among other suggestions,  PCWorld recommends , among other suggestions, that users should always shut...

The skills that achievers use to help them complete tasks, hit deadlines, and finish projects are the same skills that can help you become a happier, more balanced individual in every part of your life. Everyone should aspire to build a productive mindset. Here are eight tips to improve both your productivity and your life: Be Solution-focused If you focus too long on a problem, it can really start to bog you down. You can end up going around in circles, feeling more and more frustrated and worried about the pickle you’re in, rather than doing anything to fix what’s wrong. Productive individuals take one good look at the problem and then immediately move on to search for solutions. Focusing on finding answers helps you feel more in control and gets you out of the problem more quickly. Finding solutions helps you accomplish things, and the sense of pride you get from that can make you feel happier too. Put Down Boundaries If you’re always saying ‘yes’ to ...

1. Learn How to Scan The most important skill you need to develop if you want to read faster is scanning. Many adults find scanning difficult because it feels counter-intuitive. After all, when we were taught to read, we were taught to pay attention to every word in a sentence. However, much of this is unnecessary, because  research shows  that our adult minds have an amazing ability to fill in information gaps. For example, look at the following piece of text: ‘ After this experience  she  decided  that she would  never again   date men from  Mediterranean backgrounds , no matter how  great  they  looked  or their  accents sounded . It simply  wasn’t worth  the  pain .’ By drawing out and focusing on only the highlighted words, I am saving myself the effort of processing every word, and allowing my brain to fill in the missing information. 2. Only Read the First and Last Sentence of Each Paragr...

You might think that you got all you need to know from those times you fell asleep in your high school calculus class, but there is a lot more to napping than meets the eye. You may be most familiar with the Spanish  siesta . A cultural habit in Spain, as well as Spanish influence on other Hispanic countries and the Philippines, the word “siesta” derives from the Latin phrase  hora sexta  or “sixth hour” (counting from dawn, this is around midday). The concept also has a strong presence in Southern Italy, where museums, churches and shops close midday for  riposo . In Japan, employees are often encouraged to take naps during the work day, not only to increase performance but also because the need for a nap supposedly shows that an employee is working hard. Sleep itself is a vital necessity for our bodies and minds. Not getting enough sleep can cause physical health problems such as high blood pressure, irregular heart rh...

All his life,  William Manchester writes , Churchill loved to look at maps, “as much for their utility as for their ability to stoke his imagination. Maps and naval charts lifted him away to far-off places and conjured images of heroic adventures long past.” Many have felt a similar affinity for the possibilities symbolized in maps; but unlike most men, Churchill did more than contemplate exploring distant lands — he got up and went. Churchill saw his entire life as a romantic adventure –  a hero’s journey . And, he felt, there was no greater, more romantic adventure than war — for war was the arena in which heroes were most readily forged. His was not the fantasy of an armchair general; he intentionally sought out the battlefront his whole life through, saw action in several conflicts around the world, and came under fire over 50 times. Indeed, rather than extinguishing Churchill’s ardor for war, his firsthand experience only heightened it. By way of explanati...