How to Kick-start your New Year

Wow, time really flies. We had our year-end parties and Christmas open houses like just yesterday.

Have you made any resolutions/goals for this year? How are you going to turn them into accomplishments? How can you get inspired to reach farther, go faster, achieve more than ever before? Here are the five most inspirational and most applicable suggestions from experts which i found in The Edge Malaysia which would probably help you to kick-start your 2011.



First and foremost, expand your thinking with new experiences. According to Jack Canfield, co-founder of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and co-author of The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, he started doing it in July 2009 and it had created the most magical year of his life. What he did was for each month, 30 days in a row, commit to doing something new that he had thought about doing but had not done, such as doing aerobic exercise for 30 minutes, listen to only positive music, get eight hours of sleep, eat only vegetarian food, meditate for 20 minutes, plan the next day's schedule, drink 10 glasses of water....pick one of these or one of your own, start doing it for the next 30 days in a row and assess how it has impacted your life. You might surprise yourself.

Robin Sharma, leadership expert and author of The Leader Who Had No Title, says "Build value every day". Business is all about high-trust relationships as people do business with people they trust and who make them special. Create a ritual that ensures you reach out to three possible or current customers every day. This is about adding value - the more people you help, the more profit you'll see. Send them an article. Connect them with a business opportunity. Do something to help them close in on their greatest dreams. They'll soon help you close in on yours.



Tony Alessandra, a communication and sales expert and co-author of The New Art of Managing People suggested to focus on creating an environment that fosters your success. You might not even realise to what extent you are influenced - negatively and positively - by things and people around you. Start a journal to keep track of these influences so you can eliminate the negative and increase the positive. If you find being around a certain friend always makes you feel discouraged or drained, limit your time with him. Surround yourself with more nurturing and genuine personalities. Assess your surroundings - is your home or office dreary or energising? This step is to basically filter out the negativity in your life. Pessismism can stunt your dreams.

The fourth suggestion is rather interesting - write a not-to-do list. We are always focused on what we have to do what we often forget what we shouldn't. Todd Duncan, author of High Trust Selling: Make More Money in Less Time with Less Stress, says one needs to differentiate between being busy and being productive. He suggests doing a 15 to 30 minute audit of your activities during the workdays for a week, then annualise the total amount of time for each activity that doesn't lead to a sale or increased cash flow. Then look at how much would you make per year and how much more free time you'd have with your family if you no longer did these activities. Put those activities on your not-to-do list as a reminder, and "pay people to help you with stuff that doesn't produce the sales and lifestyle success you desire."



Lastly but not least is "Say 'yes' when you want to say 'no'." Susan RoAne, networking expert and author of How to Work a Room, says that rather than waiting for events to present themselves, you should start today by actively seeking opportunities to meet people, gather new ideas, learn more about your industry and just connect and share. When we say 'no' to a business, social or community project, invitation or event, we are also saying 'no' to the serendipitous benefits that arise.

With these five points in mind, do you think you're ready to conquer 2011?

Invasion of Tiny Creatures

They may look like science-fiction movies' monsters from outer space. But in fact, these tiny creatures inhabit our homes, clothes and even our bodies.



British author and trained zoologist, Tom Jackson brings some of these rather terrifying looking creatures to life, in a book called 'Micro Monsters ' - a title that is self-explanatory once you see the pictures.

He spent three months compiling the images in the book. In order to capture the incredible details, the tiny creatures were coated in gold and froze them in liquid nitrogen. Then a beam of electrons is transmitted through these subjects from a scanning electron microscope. As it streams through, it creates a very high resolution image that can be transferred onto a layer of photographic film, resulting in crystal clear photos.



Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a single dust mite among skin scales in housedust.



This is a Louse holding onto an egg. These creatures that feed off skin and other debris off a host's body. While there are over 3,000 known of such species, only three are known to attack humans, the most common of which is the head lice.



This is the electron micrograph of a Bluebottle fly, the most common fly in the world. Slightly bigger than a housefly, the insects that move in packs, feed off decaying food, garbage or faeces.



This is a yellow dung fly, which as the name indicates are insects that hang around horse and cow dung.



This is an aphid. They leach on to healthy plants and suck out the sap, destroying them completely.

Want to see more? Then get the book 'Micro Monsters '. It not only features about 80 bugs but also, gives a detailed explanation on each of these tiny creatures that surrounded us.