Self improvement advice free of charge

If only self improvement advice were free and scattered around everywhere, then there will be no problem regarding life, happiness and success. But then again, this is life. And it does not work that way.

What would you do if you are trapped in an environment that you do not want to be in? What if you are sick and tired of your job?

What can we do to solve this dilemma?

It is possible to take inspired and motivated action to survive your present situation and live the life you always dreamed of.

It is not that easy though. You will have to come out of your comfort zones to discover potentials and opportunities waiting for you. You have to conquer your fear and take calculated risks. You have to stay focused and persevere despite the difficulties you will encounter.

Success does not come easy. It takes heart, passion and time. Experience is also a factor. The learning you get everybody becomes your foundation. These are the things we do not need to pay for.

You have to work harder, dig deeper, and sacrifice more to attain your ambitions. But no, you do not have to hate the world and feel bad when you encounter difficult situation. Just remember the Law of Attraction. If you hate the world, the world will hate you back.

What can you do? Below are some free advices to help you when facing difficult situations in life. They will also serve as your guide to improve yourself.

1. Learn to love your current situation. See all the positive sides of life. Be enthusiastic. Love your boss, your coworkers, your family, your friends, and even strangers that you meet on the streets.

It may not be easy, but nothing is impossible with a strong will power. Just do not fall in love so much that you totally forget about your dreams. Love, but try to hold on to reality.

2. Balance is the key. Dream and take some positive action to move you toward your goals. Take it one step at a time.

While you are slowly starting on the long journey to success, be patient and be as enthusiastic as possible. Do not hurry up too much that you totally forget how to enjoy life. Appreciate the beautiful things you will encounter on the journey.

One day, you will finally attain what you have always longed for. But when that day comes, do not look down on those who belittled you. Forgive and forget.

3. Stay humble. Do not criticize others when you see that you are becoming more successful than they are. Try to help them. Inject your positive aura into their personalities. When you give, you will yield back equal or greater rewards.

4. Are you ready to begin the journey? Start it with the courage and desire to improve your life. Survive and go through it with persistence, enthusiasm, and positive thinking. Finish it with a resounding bang of accomplishment and with the desire to help others succeed as well.

There are many other self improvement advice that will get as you get on with your daily life. Take note that you are not alone. There are others in much more difficult situations. That is why is there will be a shortage of free advice about self improvement you can get from other people who are only too happy to help.

Focus on your mental and emotional side to gain self improvement

Not everyone believes this but the emotional and mental aspects of a person, when combined, leads to better self improvement.

Emotions love to dominate our actions and reactions, even though we do not want it to happen sometimes. The society often see emotions as a sign of weakness, so people are used to putting them aside and focusing on the rational aspects more and more.

No matter how strict and logical you may be, you will always feel. One way or another, someone or something will get through you.

Positive emotions are a lifelong goal for many of us concerned about emotional health and self improvement. What is more important; the amount of money you made during your life or the times you laughed out of sheer joy?

People tend to put their positive emotions behind their negative feelings. This is one of the biggest problems that people come across during their lives.

There is no clear way to ignore a negative experience and try to replace it with a positive one. Life just does not work that way.

For example, when you were a child, if your goldfish dies, you would be heartbroken. Your parents will probably buy you another goldfish but the sorrow is still there.

Things get even more complex when you become an adult. A fight with your spouse the night before will affect your entire day. You will go to work angry, tired, and your mind will wander. On the way home from work you will not notice the sun shining and you would not be tempted to stop at a roadside stand to pick up some fresh fruits and vegetables.

All this because that one negative thought has contaminated the way you perceive the reality around you.

In this moment you will realize finding a safe place to relax your mind will do wonders for your emotional and mental improvement.

That place is relatively easy to find. It can be an actual place or an imaginary location. The best idea is to totally lose yourself in it.

Let us say you have a problem on your mind and it just would not go away. Go bowling. Do not know how? Just give it a shot.

Get caught up in the game. Your mind will drift away from the negative thoughts that dominated your last hours or days and start processing a whole new kind of information.

A safe haven can take many forms. It can be a song, a movie, even a person or animal. The main thing is allow yourself to get completely involved with this new activity.

You might still get flashes of the problem every now and then. Ignore it and get even more absorbed in what you are doing.

When the bowling game, the song, or the movie ends you will abruptly return to reality. You will probably want to retreat back to the safe place. Do not do it.

The safe place exists only as a helping hand, not as a solution to your life’s problems, may it be a small or big. It serves only as an escape route.

You will return from your safe zone with an increased energy level. You will feel better about yourself and gain more confidence. You will see that any issue can be resolved.

This is how a small escape from a harsh reality can increase your emotional and mental health. Try to do this often and you are on your way to better self improvement.

Why pay for home improvement when you can do it yourself

There has been a decline in consumer confidence in the building and construction industry. This may be the same reason why many are now doing home improvements by themselves.

Why not? A little knowledge of the technical aspects combined with the eye for creativity is enough to do the home improvement on your own.

Why are people turning to do-it-yourself home improvements?

Many construction workers who do not have a lot of experience or expertise in construction or home maintenance are out there right now trying to work on these homes across the country.

As a result, homeowners are finding that the jobs are not being completed to their satisfaction. Sometimes they are even prepaying for services that do not get done or are not part of the plan.

You do not have to rely and pay someone to improve your home. Why not try to do it yourself?

You can enhance your home’s existing concrete surfaces using acid stains, acrylic stains, epoxy paints, and scoring techniques.

If you are tired of looking at dreary gray concrete, there are some easy projects for the serious home improvement do-it-yourselfer to give your patio, driveway, garage, etc. a refreshing new look.

Decorative concrete work costs double or even triple that of regular concrete. This is why many people cannot afford it.

There are inexpensive ways to decorate concrete after it has cured without having to pay skilled tradesmen.

Acid based concrete stains are becoming more and more popular for coloring concrete surfaces. They chemically react with the cementitious material to produce permanent color with variegated or mottled appearance like that of marble. This results in a natural, elegant looking surface.

Water based concrete stains are an alternative to acid stains and are much more user friendly because they’re much less toxic. These stains do not chemically react with the concrete; they are absorbed into the surface pores and act like a dye. The big advantage of water based stains is the wide array of colors available.

If you want to venture beyond the basic staining of concrete, consider using some scoring techniques to create patterns on the surface.

You can make your concrete look like a tile floor for example. It is up to your imagination. An angle grinder with a 4 inch grinding or cutting wheel is the ideal tool for this.

The important thing to remember when scoring is to draw the pattern on the concrete first and make sure you are satisfied with the way it looks because scoring is irreversible.

Epoxy paints make an excellent coating for garage floors and basement floors. Many commercial floors have epoxy coatings because of their durability and resistance to chemical spills as well as their appearance.

In recent years, however, it has become very popular for residential use with an increasing availability of different colors. This is not a difficult project, but the key to successful application is surface preparation.

Epoxy paints have also become available in a water based form making it safe for the do-it-yourselfer and ideal for indoor applications. They cost a little more than stains. For a 400 square foot garage, you’ll spend about $200 for the materials needed for this project.

See? You do not have to spend money to have your home improved. You have the capability to do it yourself. With some instructions and a little bit of work, anyone can turn boring concrete into their own masterpiece.

Helping your consumers to gain more profits

Consumers are individuals or households that consume goods and services generated within the economy. Since this includes just about everyone, the term is a political term as much as an economic term when it is used in everyday speech.

Typically when business people and economists talk of consumers they are talking about person as consumer, an aggregated commodity item with little individuality other than that expressed in the buy not buy decision.

However there is a trend in marketing to individualize the concept. Instead of generating broad demographic profile and psychographic profiles of market segments, marketers are engaging in personalized marketing, permission marketing, and mass customization.

A consumer is assumed to have a budget which can be spent on a range of goods and services available on the market. Under the assumption of rationality, the budget allocation is chosen according to the preference of the consumer, i.e. to maximize his or her utility function.

In ’time series’ models of consumer behavior, the consumer may also invest a proportion of their budget in order to gain a greater budget in future periods. This investment choice may include either fixed rate interest or risk-bearing securities.

In the context of mental health, consumer is also a term applied to describe a person living with mental illness. Literally, it is not really what is states. They are the people seeking for help in their own profile of their mentality. You can let them gain their life back on track and achieve your goal at the same time.

Problems may also arise when dealing with your possible prospects.

Many patients are frustrated because, despite their best intentions, they seem unable to adhere to an exercise or “diet” program. Actually, there are several proven strategies that can be used to help us be successful in our efforts to improve an aspect of our lifestyle.

First, make a plan and make sure it fits their lifestyle. For example, if you’re planning on beginning an exercise program, think ahead about how you’re going to carve out the time in their already busy life. In this respect, anything you can do to make the exercise program a regular, daily part of your routine will be helpful.

It’s often a good idea to ask those around you to help you in your endeavors. Anything you can do to help assure the support of your family, friends and co-workers will increase the odds of success.

Remember that most of the changes you make, whether changing what you prefer to eat, or changing your schedule to include exercise, will affect those around you. One of the best examples of this is the difficulty that smokers have trying to quit when those around them are smoking.

If you strictly adhere to a “proven” program that has succeeded for others, however, and fail to produce the results you want, you may become discouraged or filled with self-doubt. There are many reasons to explain why self-help techniques fail, and many steps to take to feel good about yourself regardless of the result. Like every other field, the “experts” in self-help disagree on just about everything.

Always remember this: no matter how smart or “successful” someone is, how much “proof” you’re given, how much you trust or respect someone, or how logical something seems, it’s just an opinion, just what worked for someone else, just a possible pathway to success.

Put some additional self improvement link to your site

As a Webmaster, you are forever searching for ways to make more money from your website. One of the better ways to do this is to add or link some self improvement concepts into the contents.

Many webmasters have found that there are a few key programs they can add on their sites for which they can honestly expect to make a few extra dollars, a few hundred extra dollars, and in some cases, a few thousand extra dollars every month.

The trick to linking income from third-party programs is to carefully select programs that are relevant to your site visitors, while insuring that the program you promote does not directly compete with your own offerings.

If you are giving something to your visitors that they will find useful, above and beyond your normal offerings that is considered an “added value” item. Not only will it give your customers something they appreciate, it will help them grow closer to you as a business owner. That way, there will appear a link between you and the customers to pave the way for improvement.

This is helpful in accelerating the trust level that your customers have with you and your business which can only serve you well over the long term. By adding this foundation of trust, your visitors will come back to your site and buy from you again because they know that they can trust you to treat them well.

On the web, more so than in brick-and-mortar, the trust factor is the most important hurdle that the small business owner must overcome with his potential customers. There are so many scams and rip-offs on the web, that an honest soul is especially appreciated.

It is important to select your “added value” offerings based on the interests of your web site visitors. The closer your offerings are to the needs of your target market, the more successful you will become selling your added value products.

If your website is concerned with self-improvement, self-esteem, dating, relationships, love or marriage, then you could do very well for yourself promoting the e-book, “How To Identify Your Soulmate.”

Love relationships are failing in an alarming rate. In order to help as many people find happiness and self improvement. Years of research on love relationships would not be enough to understand these things.

Why do some fail and why some succeed?

No matter the specifics of the situation the reader may be in, “How To Identify Your Soulmate” can assist people in their quest to achieve success in their love relationships.

Products and services, which are relevant to the people who already visit your website and do not conflict or compete with your current offerings, are ideally suited to allow you to deliver added value offerings to your visitors.

These added offerings will help you to build the trust level that your visitors have with you. Not to mention that they will also help you add new layers of profitability to your website.

In the end, you should always strive to prepare your ezine or website to deliver more dollars. Target those people who want to have more than just material things in life. Add self improvement links to what you have already.

These added links and information would be your perfect vehicles to take you where you want to go.

The Pros and Cons of Owning a Swimming Pool

Owning a swimming pool is a dream for a lot of people. Who wouldn’t love being the life of the party? Yet the decision really isn’t that simple. Before you decide whether you want a swimming pool or not, take the time to really weigh out the pros and cons.

Here are some of the main pros and cons to owning a swimming pool.

==> Pro: Swimming in Summer, Parties, Kids Love It

This is the clearest benefit of all. People love swimming pools. Kids love swimming pools. Pools make for great house parties.

==> Con: Dangerous Around Kids Who Can’t Swim

If you have kids in the house who don’t know how to swim yet, having a pool around can actually be a big detriment.

Even if your child knows he or she can’t swim, it’s still very easy to slip and fall into the pool. The pool can essentially becomes a big safety hazard.

One caveat here is that having your own pool makes teaching the kids to swim a lot easier.

==> Pro: A Great Tool for Exercise

Swimming is a very unique exercise in that it works out almost every muscle group in the body, as well as the cardiovascular system.

Unlike weight lifting, swimming doesn’t cause micro-fractures in the bones and doesn’t cause your bones and body to expand. Instead, you just get firm lean muscles.

==> Con: You Won’t Recoup the Costs in Home Value

A lot of people justify owning a swimming pool by telling themselves they’ll recoup the cost in the home’s value.

The reality is, that just doesn’t happen. While having a pool does increase the value of your home, it’s not nearly as much as the cost of building a pool.

When you build a swimming pool, you more or less have to consider most of the money as money spent.

==> Pro: A Great Teaching Experience

Having a pool can be a great way to teach your kids a useful skill. You can use the pool to teach your kids how to measure pH levels, how to maintain pumps, how to diagnose and fix problems, so on and so forth.

For a child, this can be incredibly fun. They feel a big sense of accomplishment. They also learn useful skills and can start to understand chemistry, electricity and mechanics at an early age.

==> Con: Improperly Maintained Pools Are Dangerous

If you don’t maintain your pool properly, it can be dangerous. High chlorine levels or high pH levels can be damaging to human eyes and respiratory systems. If your pumps aren’t working well, bacteria can grow.

These are some of the main pros and cons to owning a swimming pool. Before taking the jump, make sure you consider the decision from all angles.

Swimming Pool Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re thinking of installing a swimming pool, chances are you have questions. Here are the answers to some of the most commonly asked swimming pool questions.

==> Does an Above Ground Swimming Pool Require a Permit?

The answer isn’t clear cut. Different cities have different regulations. It’s quite common for cities to require a permit for an above ground pool; but it’s also quite common for you not to require one.

Check with your local zoning department.

==> Do Pool Alarms Work?

Yes, but not 100%. Pool alarm technology has come a long way. Today pool alarms can detect when an object that weighs about what a child weighs falls into the pool and sound an alarm.

Pool alarms should be used as a last resort. Don’t use it as a primary way to keep your kids safe. They do work, but they can’t be relied on.

==> What Should I Look for in a Construction Contract?

Any verbal agreement made between you and your contractor should be made in writing. Any promises that aren’t in writing aren’t valid.

Make sure that all the financial agreements and expectations are spelled out in a crystal clear manner. Make sure the amounts and the payment terms are clear.

The exact work and materials used to construct the pool should be in the contract.

Make sure there’s a clause in the contract that says what happens if the contractor is late on completing the work.

It helps to have a lawyer look over the document before signing it.

==> Is a Swimming Pool a Health Hazard?

Having a swimming pool is safe, as long as kids around the pool know how to swim and the pool is properly maintained.

Improperly maintained pools can cause illnesses. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC,) rates of pool-related illnesses have actually been going up.

If you’re going to buy a swimming pool, make sure you really understand how to maintain the pool to prevent bacteria growth.

==> How Often Do I Need to Service My Pool?

Ideally you should service your pool once a week. The first few weeks will be a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it servicing your pool doesn’t take more than an hour a week.

Every once in a while, something may go wrong. If that happens, then you’ll have to spend a bit more time on maintenance.

==> Should I Buy a Cover?

If you have kids who can’t swim, or if you plan on going for long periods of time without using your pool, then yes, you should absolutely buy a cover.

If you have more questions, the best place to get them answered is to talk to a pool professional. Most will be happy to answer your questions for free.

Pool Water Chemistry: What You Need to Know

Having good pool chemistry is critical for preventing bacterial grown, algae growth, the pool’s health and optimal safety for people swimming in the pool. So what do you need to know about pool water chemistry?

==> Picking and Using Chlorine

The first step to maintaining healthy pool chemistry is selecting the right kind of chlorine.

When it comes to choosing chlorine, you really do get what you pay for. There are cheaper sticks of chlorine that you can purchase that may look a lot like the more expensive ones, but once they’re in use you’ll notice a big difference.

High quality chlorine dissolves very slowly in the pool. On the other hand, low quality chlorine dissolves much more quickly and will have disappeared in about three days. The stick may look like it’s the same size, but much of it is filler.

The most cost effective kind of chlorine comes in 3-inch tablets, though if you run a smaller pool you may choose to go with a 1 inch tablet. Aim to get a table that has at least 85% of Trichloro-S-Triazinetrione.

==> Chlorine Feeding System

The system you use to feed the chlorine into your pool matters a great deal. If you just place the chlorine in your pool or put it in a skimmer, your chlorine levels will be far too high. That level of chlorine will corrode your pump and circulation systems.

Instead, opt for purchasing either an automatic feeder or a chemical feeder. Both work very well for dispersing the chlorine into the pool slowly.

==> Get Your pH Levels Right

If your pH levels are off, your swimmers are going to feel like their eyes are burning when they swim in your pool. In order to manage your pH, you’re going to need a pH testing kit.

The ideal pH for a swimming pool is 7.4, plus or minus 0.2 pH. If you’re off by even 1 pH, the chlorine in your pool won’t be able to do its job. Bacteria and insects will be able to invade your pool freely.

It’s rare that you’ll have a low pH problem. Generally, your challenge will be lowering the pH levels of your pool. You can do this by using granular acid (slower) or muriatic acid (faster but more dangerous.) Make sure your pump is turned on full blast when you add these chemicals.

Change your pH levels slowly and keep retesting. Don’t add a ton of chemicals only to find you overshot your goal, only to have to use more chemicals to bring the pH back up.

These are some of the most important factors you need to know about to maintain a healthy pool chemistry.

How to Get Rid of Bugs in Your Swimming Pool

Bugs are one of the biggest annoyances that pool owners face. Other problems, like imbalanced pH or a leaky pump may cause problems behind the scenes, but bugs in the pool are actively annoying. They turn off your guests and are just gross to be around.

So how do you get rid of bugs?

==> Getting rid of midges

Midges are small flies that hatch in bunches near water. Typically they migrate from nearby ponds, lakes or rivers to swimming pools and hatch in your pool.

The first thing you should do is make sure your pool has the right level of chlorine and is getting good circulation. Get a pool cover if you don’t plan on using the pool for an extended period of time. This applies to getting rid of any kind of bugs.

For midges specifically, place a few strong lights about 20 feet away from the pool. Turn off all the lights under the pool at night. The light will attract the midges and prevent them from “finding” the pool.

In addition, trim the grass around the pool. This prevents midges from flying to and hiding in the grass, as well as prevents them from laying eggs in the grass.

==> Dump the Catch

Every day, before you turn off the filtration system, take the catch-net and dump it out.

If you turn off the filtration system without dumping out the catch-net, bugs that were caught in the net will be able to escape back out into your pool.

Emptying the catch-net allows you to leverage your filtration system as a real tool for getting rid of bugs.

==> Get Rid of Their Food

Some bugs just can’t be killed by chlorine. The best way to get rid of these bugs is to get rid of their food.

There are two main food sources to think about.

First, algae. Use algaecide to kill the algae in your pool. Maintain a 7.2 to 7.6 pH level and keep your chlorine at the appropriate levels. This will help prevent algae from growing and prevent algae-eating bugs from growing in your pool.

The second food source is small bugs. Use your dip-net to fish out small bugs whenever you see them. This prevents bigger bugs from growing, as you’re removing their food source.

==> Dish Detergent

One simple solution is to just turn on one light in your pool and toss in 4-5 teaspoons of dish detergent near the light.

Bugs will be attracted to the light, get covered in the soap and die from being unable to breath through the soap coating.

Note that this doesn’t get rid of the underlying causes of the bugs, it just kills the bugs once.

These are a few different ways to get rid of the bugs in your pool. Ideally you should address the underlying causes of the bugs first, before you kill them once and for all.

How to Choose a Swimming Pool

There are many different kinds of swimming pools you can choose from, depending on your budget and where you want to install the pool. Here are the most common options, along with the pros and cons of each.

==> Above Ground Pools

This type of pool is the easiest to install. There are many different sizes and styles you can choose from. Because the pool is above ground, you don’t have to excavate the ground which makes the installation much easier and cheaper.

If you have a small area or a small budget, an above ground pool is a great option.

==> Fiberglass Pools

A fiberglass pool is pre-constructed and simply lowered into a hole in the ground. If you decide to purchase a fiberglass pool, a construction crew will come and excavate a hole the size of the pool, then lower the pool into the hole.

==> In-Ground Vinyl-Lined Pools

This type of pool is installed in the ground, but in a very inexpensive manner. A hole is excavated, then a pool structure is erected inside the hole. A sheet of vinyl is then stretched over the structure, creating the pool.

This is much less expensive than just about any other method of building an in-ground pool. The trade off is that the vinyl needs to be replaced about every 10 years or the pool could start to leak.

==> Custom Built Pools

Finally, you can custom build your pools. Those pools are either made out of gunite or out of concrete.

As you might expect, purchasing a custom built pool is much more expensive than purchasing any of the above pool types. The upside is of course that you can design the pool however you want it to be built.

When you purchase a gunite or concrete pool, the crew will first excavate the hole, then put in the water pumping and drainage systems. Then the crew will create the framework for the pool out of rebar and metal wire.

Once the framework is complete, gunite will be sprayed onto the rebar framework. This works a lot like cement. Once it dries, the crew will apply either plaster or paint on the pool.

==> Which Pool Should You Choose?

Start by determining the area that you want to install the pool in. How big is the area? Is it indoors or outdoors?

Then get price quotes for the various different kinds of pools that you might install. Look at pictures and visit various pools to get a sense for the different kinds of pools that you could choose from.

Once you know the different types of pools that your area qualifies for and their respective prices, you’ll be able to make an informed decision.