7 Easy-to-Cultivate Habits for a Healthier Day

Whether working in Corporate America or slaving away as a full-time mom, it is all too easy to fall into an unhealthy lifestyle in this day and age. Do you often find yourself feeling depleted or discouraged? Have you been wanting to change your life for the better, but not sure where to start?

The good news is that just like your daily coffee and binge reruns of Orange is the New Black, cultivating healthy habits is as easy as making a date with your bedroom after doing a lap around the produce section at the grocery store (with your shopping cart, of course). All of us need a little boost of motivation sometimes, so check out the tips below and get ready to create some healthy new habits!

1. Eat Healthy

Eighty percent of the immune system is in the gut, so it’s no surprise that eating poorly can lead to illness, fatigue, and a general unwell feeling. The aisles lining our grocery stores are packed with items full of chemicals and preservatives that can overtax our bodies and wear down our immunity. In addition to wreaking havoc on our digestion, these foods can deplete your vitamin and mineral stores and, believe it or not, leave you malnourished.

Eating healthy is as easy as making the decision to do so. Focus on eating clean, whole foods that aren’t processed or filled with sugar and food additives. Fortunately, for every unhealthy item available, there are just as many healthy alternatives! Instead of cereal, fill your morning bowl with steel cut oatmeal topped with honey and fresh fruit. Instead of eating out for lunch, pack a salad of lean meat and plenty of raw veggies and fruit to snack on throughout the day.

Avoiding an unhealthy binge session is as easy as being prepared for that 3 PM sugar craving so that you reach for a handful of grapes instead of the candy bar button on the vending machine at work.

2. Exercise Regularly

You don’t have to be a cardio junkie to reap the long-lasting benefits of daily exercise. A simple walk or bike ride through the neighborhood can do the trick, as long as you make sure you’re active for at least thirty minutes a day. Need motivation? Sign up for a 5K race and print off a training plan. Whether planning to run or walk it, knowing how many miles you need to cover each day will help keep you on track. Get a friend to join you and schedule your training runs in your calendar. You will find that you’re much less likely to skip out on a run if someone’s out there waiting for you!

Building muscle can also help strengthen your bones and heart and can make you stronger all over, so doctors often recommend some kind of strength training program when talking about an exercise routine. In addition to cardio, be sure to hit the gym a couple days a week for a light session with the weights.

Not sure where to begin? Hire a trainer for a month to show you the ropes. Don’t belong to a gym? Many workout programs are available free online, and you can either use body weight (push-ups, squats, lunges, etc.) or invest in a set of barbells for home.

3. Get More Rest

There may be so much to do and so little time to do it in, but sacrificing precious zzz’s to fit more into your day will only cause harm in the long run. Scientists and doctors alike have been advising people for years to take the amount of sleep they get seriously. Sometimes it can seem hard to fit in 8 hours of sleep a night, especially in the “go get ‘em” society we live in, but it is essential to give your body the necessary time it needs to recoup.

Luckily, adding more sleep to your day is surprisingly easy. Make bedtime a priority — just like you would a meeting or date with a friend. Set an alarm if necessary. Turn off all devices an hour before bed and do something calming, whether it be bathing, reading, meditating, or stretching. Your body will quickly adapt to getting 8 hours of night and you can bet it will thank you!

4. Be Kind

Believe it or not, kindness is more than a virtue, it’s a habit that can add countless benefits to your life. By purposely adding kindness into every facet of your day, you will be astonished by how much better you will feel about yourself.

No matter if you approach a person you don’t know or interact with your friends, people will react to and treat you better. Your attitude, as well as theirs, will be better for it. Being kind doesn’t have to mean volunteering at a soup kitchen each weekend (though if that’s your desire, go for it!). Kindness is often most appreciated when it comes in the form of a compliment to a friend or co-worker. Hold the door for the person behind you even if it takes them a while to catch up. Each day is full of opportunities to cultivate kindness and positivity.

5. Meditate

In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s easy to lose touch with our inner selves and lose our peace and footing. Meditation is an easy and effective way to center yourself before heading out into the day or regroup once back home. Transcendental Medidation is just one of many types of meditation which aims to help you achieve inner peace, mindfulness, and overall wellbeing.

Pick a time in the morning or evening each day to just sit and be. Turn off your phone and tune out all noise except for that of your breathing. Get in touch with yourself so that you can approach the rest of the world as a peaceful, confident being.

6. Journal

Whether it be an online blog or a bedside journal, put your pen to the page and let your words flow. With the rise of social media, we spend less time face-to-face these days and more time trying to paint a picture-perfect portrait of what our lives are. Where are all of your thoughts, fears, and worries hiding? Keeping them inside can lead to anger and mood issues and even the need for counseling later down the road. Writing down your thoughts, dreams, and fears is an easy, yet incredibly effective, way to share an intimate piece of yourself — whether it’s with the entire web or just the lines on a paper.

7. Create a Routine

Last, but definitely not least, combine all of your healthy habits and daily demands and plug them into a daily routine. The consistency of repeating firmly rooted habits will help you stay focused on your priorities so that you are less likely to be distracted by the unimportant things in life. Beginning a daily routine is as simple as jotting down a schedule of the day or plugging it into your Google calendar. Just as children thrive on routines, so do we as adults! As your mother used to say, “Come up with a plan and stick to it!” You’ll be glad you did.

The post 7 Easy-to-Cultivate Habits for a Healthier Day appeared first on Lifehack.

from Lifehack http://ift.tt/1SIfWyM

5 Things Playing Blackjack Taught Me About Business

I enjoy blackjack. I’m not a professional blackjack player, nor did I ever make millions or even thousands off it. It was a game I’ve played for years just for fun.

But blackjack is not just a game of pure chance. There is a science and strategy behind those cards, and the same rules which helped me in blackjack can help you in business. Just look at Jeff Ma, who has attributed his success as a businessman to the things he learned playing blackjack.

Here are five important rules which you can learn at the blackjack table which are just as important for a business:

Don’t look for a single, decisive winner

Every businessman knows about this rule, but it is harder to follow than it sounds. And this is true in blackjack as well. No matter how good you are at blackjack, you will have plenty of moments when you find yourself down by a lot. The temptation at that point is to make one massive gamble which will recoup all of your losses in one swift stroke.

That is the absolute worst thing which you can do. If your gamble succeeds, you are only at zero. But if it fails, you are in a huge pile of trouble. When you are down at a blackjack table or running a business, the only way to recover and get back into the black is with slow, steady bets.

Risk is not bad

One important element in blackjack is the double down. In double down, the player doubles his bet in exchange for only getting one more card.

Blackjack specialists will tell you to always double down if you have an 11, and probably if you have a 10 or 9. But all too often, blackjack players will hesitate to do that. They worry about taking risks or think that they may need just another card after the double down.

But when the odds are in your favor, you have to strike while the iron is hot. Of course there are many ways to stack odds in your favor. Every blackjack player knows how card counting can turn the tables on the dealer, and there are similar techniques you can use in business.  When you spot a good business opportunity, you cannot just wait and fret about what might go wrong. It is said that luck is when preparation meets opportunity, which means your business has to seize the opportunity when it comes.

Don’t let success get to your head

The story of leaders who became arrogant after tasting a period of success and then fall is as old as human history itself. And in gambling, players will think they are on a hot streak and make risker bets.

There is no such thing as a “hot streak”, and a basic probability class can tell you that much. Success does not automatically beget future success. And in business, a period of good deals does not mean that you can relax and assume things will continue to go your way. Just a slight misstep or some increased carelessness, and you can find yourself back at step one both in gambling and in business.

Never lose your temper

Blackjack is ultimately a game where people should enjoy themselves. But as stories like this shows, players who lose react by venting their rage out on the dealer, other players, and absolutely anything else which they can blame for their loss besides themselves.

Behavior like that is a sign of poor leadership and character, and is just as ugly in the business world as in blackjack. There are times when a business screw up will happen because an employee or colleague made a bad decision. But the employer who reacts to that by screaming and berating them is one who will not be an effective leader. A truly effective leader can stay calm even when everyone is panicking, and find a way to fix the problem.

Know when to fold ‘em

Sometimes, you have a bad streak at the blackjack table. No matter what strategy you use, the fates themselves appear to be conspire against you and you are falling more and more behind.

On nights like that, the hardest thing to do is to accept that you’ve lost and leave. But if you don’t want to lose far more than you were prepared to spend when you sat down, you have to get up and walk away from the table. This is especially so because after such a string of defeats, your nerves and emotions will be badly frayed and prevent calm, rational judgment.

And this is true for a business. Whether it is knowing to end a certain business deal or in the worst case closing down the business altogether, there is a point where you can do no more and trying is just shoveling more money into a hole. You have to know when to stop and admit that it is over.

Featured photo credit: Images Money via flickr.com

The post 5 Things Playing Blackjack Taught Me About Business appeared first on Lifehack.

from Lifehack http://ift.tt/1SIfXTv

34 Signs You’re Not Her First or Her Last

Judging someone by their past is wrong and everyone should be given a fair chance to show who they really are. People make mistakes and do things they can’t take back. However, people rarely change and your partner’s past may be able to offer you some insight on who you’re really dating and what is to come in your relationship.

1. She is way more social than you are.

Girls who sleep around tend to love attention more than anything. This means they’ll be at social events and parties quite often, likely a lot more than you.

2. She is not very feminine.

Can she cook? Does she have feminine hobbies or interests? We’re talking about the vocal tomboy here.

3. Most of her friends are guys.

You know, the girl “gets along with guys better because girls are dramatic.” Male friends provide constant attention and validation. Likely a handful of those guy friends have already hooked up or slept with your baby girl and you’re pretty much the naive joke of the room when you’re together. They will jump on any opportunity with her, single or not.

4. She was sexually abused as a child.

Sexual abuse is not a joking matter, but there are enough statistics out there by now that sexual abuse leads to a number of problems.

5. She has mommy/daddy issues.

We all heard of the term “daddy issues.” Basically when a girl is growing up, the absence of her father in those years will spill over into the hands of any other male in her life. Divorced parents also tend to be an issue, as some people tend to deal with their problems with sex.

6. She smokes.

If you’re not a smoker, don’t date someone who is. You’ll always be wondering about what kind of conversation they are having in the smoker’s corner.

7. Guys hit on her in front of you.

Guys will be guys but it’s her job to not lead them on. Guys will offer her shots or drinks but whether or not you come up in conversation is up in the air. Her body language with them such as eye contact, smiling, laughing, flirting, conversation, will tell you everything you need to know. After a 10 minute conversation, does she even know his name?

8. She likes to get drunk.

Lots of students like to get drunk, but some girls love to use alcohol as an excuse to push the boundaries and some often don’t remember the night past 10 PM. If she likes to get drunk and doesn’t remember everything, she probably has some secret stories about waking up to a random dude with her dress over her head. If she can drink more than you, uh oh. Red flag!

9. She likes to go out without you.

There’s nothing good about spontaneous weekly nights out without you.

10. She is jealous of your attention.

You can be the most faithful and quietest guy in the room, but if a girl smiles at you and she freaks out in an insecure rage, there’s your warning. Often this ties into forms of projection, where she’ll accusing you of emotional infidelity when she’s likely the most infidel or unfaithful one in the relationship.

12. She pursued you.

She’s used to going out and getting the man what she wants. If she wants to sleep with him, she will go and fetch him herself.

13. She cheated on a previous boyfriend.

Cheaters don’t change. They’ll throw an excuse up every time and whether or not you take the bait, that’s up to you.

14. You started a relationship off a one-night-stand or fling.

This one is comical. You think your connection was some sort of magical one-in-a-lifetime incident? Ya right, this isn’t a Disney movie! It was a sleazy night and you were supposed to be a one-night-stand but you couldn’t let go of her like all the other guys did. You can tell everything about her by how you started off.

15. She has had an abortion.

There are so many forms of protection and to not use any, is purely irresponsible. This is not someone you want to be with.

16. She is emotionally unstable.

If she is bipolar or has any sort of social or mental disorder, she very well may seek validation from anyone around. If you’re not around, anyone will do.

17. She is insecure about her image and seeks validation.

If posting selfies and sending sleazy snapchats doesn’t fill her crave for attention, she will seek validation from guys who she thought were out of her league. If you’re dating her, once she realizes you’re not special enough to validate her with compliments, she will need to find another source for guys to validate her, and she will move on to sleep with them.

18. She has visible tattoos, unique hair color or piercings in abnormal places.

If her tattoos are more than a couple small birds, but rather a large visible coating of ink, she is likely rebellious and will do and spend her nights with, who she wants.

19. She cusses a lot.

If she uses the words “f**k” or “p*ssy” a lot outside the bedroom, it’s a pretty classless sign for a lady to be saying. I’m not sure why this becomes a common thing for these kinds of girls, but maybe it’s because they’re so used to screaming it in the bedroom.

20. She is not ticklish.

She is probably used to being handled by other guys. Touch just doesn’t do anything anymore. Think of girls you know who are ticklish and those who are not. It’s odd to find out how accurate this can be.

21. She has large breasts.

That’s not to say that all women with large breasts sleep around but generally they can become used to the attention from guys and many women fall victim to the attention.

22. She shows excessive skin.

It’s freezing cold outside and she’s wearing a bralette to the club. Really? Bring the attention over here people.

23. Her friends have slept around.

This is probably the strongest signal in the whole list. It’s been said you are an average of the 5 people you hang around the most. If her 3 best friends are constantly riding the carousel (and she will tell you that they sleep with more people than her) and her other 2 best friends are guys, that says a lot about who you’re dating, man.

24. She is interested in other girls.

Bisexuallity is often associated with hypersexuality. If she has hooked up with other girls, it’s certainly a sign that she loves sex in general and will always need someone, guy or girl. Be careful.

25. She’s in a sorority.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great marriage-material women that come out of sororities. However, when your campus fraternity brothers gain this “fboy” reputation, who do you think they’ve been sleeping and racking up kills with? Yup, you’re sweetie and her sorority friends. Sororities are used as the carousel that the campus fraternities ride.

26. She has travelled alone or with only girls to hook-up destinations.

We all know what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas and that’s why so many purely girl or guy groups love to vacation there. What does Jamaica, Bahamas, Cancun, San Diego and Miami all have in common? They are the place to go on spring break for drunken hook ups. If you ask her about it, she’ll probably tell you sex on vacation doesn’t count.

27. She was a cheerleader in high school.

Cheerleaders tend to be the target of the most desirable dudes in school and crave attention. Case closed.

28. She goes to a school with a party reputation.

In California, USC, or many of the lower UCs tend to be the destination school for most of these girls. If all of her friends are going, she probably will follow the pack and go there too and do whatever they do. Everyone needs a bed to sleep in at the end of the night.

29. She lost her V-card at a young age.

Was she under 15? Maybe she was in a long term relationship with a boyfriend at that age, but I am almost positive, your sweetie was not in a relationship if she was that young.

30. She’s close with DJs, promoters or club owners.

In the world of clubbing, it’s girls and their open legs that keep the system flowing. Their income relies on the fact that your girl shows up to “mingle” with the dudes who blow the money.

31. She is a feminist.

Feminists will fight back against slut-shaming, oddly enough by sleeping with more guys to prove that it’s okay for girls to sleep around as much as guys.

32. She likes tequila and party drugs like ecstasy.

Someone promiscuous probably already popped into your mind when you read this.

33. She is a wanna-be model.

Models love attention because it gives them validation. What better way to make up for her struggling modelling career than to get validation by sleeping with a bunch of guys who are out of her league?

34. She has always kept her body evenly tanned.

You always have to look good naked!

The main theme of all 34 of these points is attention. Imagine if all the guys she hooked up with still liked all her photos and sent compliments and flowers, she wouldn’t be so attention deprived. However, that’s not how it works and she found out how to lose their attention. Give the guys what they want and they’ll be on their way.

So, she’s slept with a bunch of dudes. Now it’s up to you whether or not you let it affect you. There’s no need to overthink about her past, and I know you’re sitting there doing the math… “Okay, she’s 22 now, she lost her virginity at a young 15 and she has slept with a whopping 21 dudes. So that’s 3 dudes a year. Is 3 a year bad? That’s a rotation on the carousel every 4 months.”

So next time you meet a girl at the bar and you’re thinking a relationship, there are countless questions you can ask her, before you even get to know her to figure out who she really is. Did her dad buy her car? Is she a brunette or blonde? Does she smoke? Is she in a sorority? Is she catholic? Does her name end with ‘-ie’? Is she in college? By looking at her social media, what kind of stuff does she post? Selfies? Nature? Family? Animals?

Featured photo credit: Silentmind8 via flickr.com

The post 34 Signs You’re Not Her First or Her Last appeared first on Lifehack.

from Lifehack http://ift.tt/1qNfjxI

5 Steps To Turn Your Passion Into A Career

Do what you love, love what you do. This is a cliché we tend to throw out the window once real life sets in. Because of this, it isn’t surprising to find out that 70% of employees actually hate their jobs.

It is a common scenario that we end up taking jobs we hate, convincing ourselves that it is only temporary. The next thing we know, years have passed and we’ve become too complacent, stuck on the wrong job, and working for the wrong people.

Keep in mind that one of the most frustrating things you’ll experience in your adult life is to find yourself working a job that you are not really passionate about. Being uninspired by what you do is not only unhealthy, but also unnecessary.

What most people don’t realize is that they can find joy in what they do. In fact, they can turn their hobbies into a full-blown career. But of course, let’s understand that it is also a risk. Ditching a career for a startup, for instance, is a daunting thought. So how exactly do you reduce these anxieties?

Here are five basic steps on how you can have a smart and methodical approach for turning your passion into a career.

1. Discover your interests and things that make you happy

The first thing that you need to do is to discover the things that you are passionate about. Is there any hobby that you really love to do? Do you love to draw? Or perhaps you love to sing? Or perform active outdoor activities? Or are you the type who simply loves new technology?

2. Enhance your activity

Once you have determined the activity you are passionate about, it’s time that you hone your relevant skills. Keep in mind that individuals are only willing to pay for your services if you are really good at something. And in order to make a career out of your passion, you need to be considered a pro at it.

For instance, if you love doing yoga, then perhaps it would help if you could get formal training. Getting a formal education during the weekends is a great way to enhance your skills.

3. Know the current demand and competition for your interest

Next, you need to determine the number of people who are also interested in the same things as you. This is crucial, especially if you are going to invest in a business. For instance, if you love to cook Italian dishes, don’t expect people to just go to your restaurant. You need to first access the demand.

Aside from the demand, you also want to assess the presence of competition. Since you are going to make a career or start a business based on your own interest, it is also a good idea to assess the presence of other companies and individuals offering the same services as you.

4. Create a solid plan on how to introduce your product or services

How exactly are you going to introduce your products or services? One of the common reasons why businesses fail is due to the lack of planning. Are you going to build your own store? Or perhaps start something small, like an online store?

If you plan on starting small, the good thing about this option is that you can still maintain your current job. You can have a safety net and earn a stable income as you build your own dreams.

Next, you also want to know exactly how to promote the product or the services you offer. From setting up your own website to having an active social media campaign, these are some of the most common things that you need to have if you plan on introducing a product or service to your niche market.

5. Be open to suggestions and learn from mistakes

It is normal to make mistakes the first time around. What is important is to learn from mistakes and have an open mind. This way, you will be able to improve and possibly make a career from your passion.

Keep in mind that these suggestions will only work with determination and commitment. Results will vary depending on the situation, demand, and other unseen factors that could play a role in the success or failure of your venture.

Should the chances of failing stop you from trying to make a living from your passion? Of course not. You have to remember that the worst thing is staying within a job that you are unhappy with. Could you imagine doing this for decades? So, get out there and take the first step to turning your passion into your dream job.

The post 5 Steps To Turn Your Passion Into A Career appeared first on Lifehack.

from Lifehack http://ift.tt/1SIfW1R

99 Tools to Enhance Your Freelance Lifestyle

The world of freelancing is incredibly competitive, even now more than ever. If you want to be successful as a freelancer in the 21st century, you need to be using the best tools available to you.

Here is a list of some of the best around to ensure you work smarter and more efficiently to make a living as a freelancer.

Writing

• Grammarly- If you are a freelance writer, you know the importance of high-quality, mistake-free writing. Your entire job can hinge on the misspelling of a word, or the lack of a comma. Since critiquing your own writing is scientifically proven to be pretty much impossible, tools such as Grammarly come in handy. This simple Chrome extension does extensive checks for both spelling and grammar in whatever web document you are working out of, so you can see what mistakes you are making and how to quickly and easily fix them for cleaner writing.

• Hemingway- For the most part, readers absolutely hate fluff in content. And if you are a freelance writer, more than likely, the company or individual who has hired you is not hiring you for fluff writing, but for factual, right-to-the-point content. With the Hemingway app, you can plug in your content and get edits for all fluff and meaningless run-on, just like the famed writer would do himself.

• Portent Content Idea Generator- As a freelance writer, a large majority of your time will be actually writing the content. But what may be just as time consuming is coming up with the topic to start with. When you hit writer’s block and can’t come up with another topic, Portent is here to help. Simply plug in a few different keywords and the headline generator will give you a seemingly endless array of different topics with those keywords.

• Medium- As a freelancer, many ideas can come as inspiration from things that have already been written and created. Putting your own spin on a topic is one of the best ways to create something successful. Medium is an outstanding tool for this process as it curates the best and brightest content around the Internet all in one place for you to easily navigate and sift through.

• Cliche Finder- Are you a freelance writer who is trying to cut down on the amount of filler statements and sentences throughout your content? Cliche Finder is an excellent way to cut the fluff from your writing by targeting common words and phrases you may hear or use in daily conversation, but which simply don’t work in the written world. With this tool, you can quickly sharpen up your content and improve your long-term skills.

• Editorial Calendar Chrome Extension– Are you in a position where you are forced to stay on top of an incredible amount of content at one time, or need to ensure everything is being written and published on the correct days? With the Go Editorial Calendar Chrome extension, you can quickly view and record the blog post you need done next. With helpful writing strategy and marketing tips, this is an excellent all-around tool to help improve your content and its performance.

• Buzzsumo- Finding topics can be difficult to do after a while as a freelance writer. It may feel as if you have written about every single topic under the sun. With tools such as Buzzsumo, however, you can find out what people are actually reading about and talking about on social media, helping you to come up with topics you may have never thought of, and creating targeted content people have proven they are interested in reading about.

• ZenPen- If you aren’t a fan of Microsoft Word for your writing process, there are still plenty of outstanding resources available to you to create your content on. With ZenPen, you get a beautiful, minimalist writing zone that allows you to do one thing and one thing only: write. With plenty of necessary formatting features made easy to use, this is an outstanding all-around writing tools available today.

SEO

• Quick Sprout- Is your freelance website struggling to get adequate traffic, but you don’t know exactly why or what exactly you can do to fix it? With Quick Sprout, you can get an quick and easy evaluation of your website and detailed problem points and what you can do to improve and make your site more successful.

• Moz Open Site Explorer- Having quality backlinks and a well structured inbound link profile are just a couple of the keys to an SEO-optimized website. With the Moz Open Site Explorer, you can quickly find out your domain authority, page authority, and number of established links on your website to see how you are stacking up against the competition and what areas you can improve upon.

• Yoast SEO- If you do a lot of your blogging on WordPress, the Yoast SEO Chrome extension is an absolute must-have tool. This outstanding plugin will help you analyze your post and allow you to see what it will look like in search results so you can make sure everything from your headline, to your meta description, to photos and more are all properly optimized for search engines.

• Google Analytics- Whether it is your social media profiles, or specific web pages on your site, you want to know exactly how everything is performing with your visitors and clients whenever you can. With Google Analytics, you can easily track a wide range of statistics and view page views, click through rates, and more all down to the minute so you can better enhance your freelance setup.

• Nibbler- Want to know how well your website is really performing? Nibbler offers freelancers a free tool to test any website they want and get instant feedback on accessibility, SEO, social media performance, and technology. All of this important data comes together so you can see where you can improve and boost its overall performance.

• Browseo- With Browseo, you can really get down to the nitty gritty of the overall structure of your web pages. From the basic HTML coding, number of internal links, number of words on each page, the heading, and every other SEO tag that factors into any given post. Browseo gives you a detailed and accurate report so you can see what is performing well and where you can improve.

Finance

• InvoiceHome – Managing your finances and ensuring you get paid for all of your hard work is absolutely essential as a freelancer. When your job is up, you need to provide your employer with an Invoice to detail all of the work you have done and the necessary charges for it. With InvoiceHome, you get access to over 100 different invoice templates to present a professional receipt and bolster your reputation as a freelancer.

• Mint – As someone who runs their own business, essentially a business of yourself, managing your financial records is crucial to being successful. As a freelancer, Mint is one of the best overall money management tools available today. With the ability to manage payments accounts, and much more across all of your different devices with the utmost privacy and security, you can rest knowing the money from all of your important work is safe.

• Wave – With freelancing, you are more than likely in charge of your finances for your personal work. With Wave Accounting, you can easily and accurately manage all of your invoicing and payments, accounting, and even payroll if necessary. With Wave, you can easily access your accounts and information whenever you need to, on an array of different devices and ensure everything is entirely safe and secure.

• Freshbooks – Running your own small business as a freelancer means handling your own finances and accounts. If you are running these elements of a business yourself, Freshbooks is the tool for you. This top of the line resource allows you to handle all of your invoicing when your jobs are done, track every expense you have, track the amount of time it takes you to accomplish tasks, and handle all the payments for your business.

• QuickBooks – From small business owners to freelance accountants and more, Quickbooks is one of the best all around software tools available to you. With this resource, you can run your entire business’ financial side from the accounting, payments, expenses and more. If you are handling money and need to stay on top of everything, then QuickBooks is the tool for you to use.

• Xero – As a freelancer, handling the accounting for your individual business is crucial for your long term success. With Xero, any freelancer can easily tackle the accounting and finances of their business. This top of the line resource helps you with accounting, invoicing, payroll, and can be accessed on mobile devices, making it one of the best all-around accounting tools on the market today.

• FreeAgent – With a software already trusted by over 40,000 freelancers and accountants alike, FreeAgent is one of the best accounting tools available to you on the market today. Handling your finances as a freelancer can be a tricky task, and FreeAgent helps walk you through everything to make it as easy and painless as possible. With incredibly easy to use features such as expense, invoices, and even tracking your time of work, FreeAgent helps you handle everything easily and efficiently.

• Lite Accounting – Working as a freelancer, invoicing is one of the most important aspects of your job to ensure you get proper payment for all of the hard work you have put into any given project. With the Lite Accounting tool, you can easily create high-quality invoices to send to your clients in order to properly outline your work and get payment. With access anywhere you can get Internet, Lite Accounting helps you to track your important finances wherever you are.

Communication

• Gmail- Staying on top of communication is essential to the freelancing world of the 21st century. No matter what field you are freelancing in, Gmail is arguably the best possible setup for you. With an easy-to-use email that can go with you on the go, a top of the line Google Drive to help you store and share documents, you can stay on top of everything at any given time and make sure the necessary information is being shared and communicated to your clients and more.

• Skype- Whether you need to make a business call, or simply do a quick chat to see how things are running, Skype is one of the best business communication tools around. With the ability to video chat and also do simple instant messaging with one or more people, Skype easily helps you stay connected and informed at all times.

• Dropbox- Need to share important files with one or more people and keep them safe and secure? Dropbox is hands down the easiest file-sharing service around for all your important documents, images, videos, and more. Access these files across all of your devices and you can stay connected to your specific projects whenever you need to be.

• Convoi- These days, many people don’t want to take their work home with them. While this is virtually impossible for a freelancer to accomplish, you can at least keep your personal phone separated from your work phone. With Convoi, you can communicate with anyone involved with your project through text or call and stay as updated as you need to be with your own, private business line.

• Client Proofer- As a freelancers, the most important aspect of your work life is being able to communicate quickly and clearly with your clients and employers. With Client Proofer, keep all of your communication with the client in one place so no miscommunication ever occurs when they need a change made. This service also protects all of your work, time stamping each edit and alerting you when, and how many times the client has viewed your work.

• Slack- If you are a freelancer needing to communicate with a handful of people on any given basis, you know it can be a real hassle and a hinderance. With Slack, you can easily gather all of your necessary communication in one convenient place, helping you stay on top of any tasks, requests, and other elements of whatever project you are working on.

• HipChat- Stay on top of everything you have going on with your group of clients and colleagues in a safe and secure manner with HipChat. This one of a kind communication tool allows you to private chat, share important files, and integrate different ideas and work on shared documents so you can make sure everything is happening on time and in the manner in which everyone needs it to be done.

• Help Scout- As a freelancer, keeping contact with your clients and customers and ensuring their needs are being met is key to making sure you have a successful long term career. With Help Scout, you can do exactly that. With accurate, real time customer communication and help desk software, you can answer the questions and solve the problems your clients are having more efficiently.

• Calendly- Scheduling appointments and meetings can be a difficult and confusing task, especially if you are a freelancer who is handling it all on your own. With Calendly, you can quickly schedule meetings with your clients and allow for simple, instant communication to happen as they can always view when you are available to speak with them.

• Agreedo- Have you ever gotten out of a meeting and instantly forgotten some of the more important details that were discussed? With AgreeDo, you don’t have to worry about this problem any longer. Easily set up meetings with your clients and this software will keep track of the minutes so you can go back and reflect on and review everything that was discussed.

• Campfire- Keeping up constant contact with your clients is one of the most important elements of the freelancer’s line of work. With Campfire, you can easily send quick direct messages to your clients in groups so you can ensure everyone is on the same page moving forward and there are no hiccups along the way.

Social Media

• Hootsuite- There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to be manually posting all of the social media updates you need in order to be successful in your freelance business or with the client you are handling social profiles for. With Hootsuite, you can schedule all of your social posts across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and more to give you more time to work on other important projects.

• Buffer- Just posting to social media isn’t enough anymore. Your posts need to be targeted and going out at specific times in order to generate the best possible interaction and response. With Buffer, your posts are sent out at the best possible times for each platform, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

• Twitonomy- When getting your Twitter follow count right, you don’t want to be wasting your time on accounts who aren’t following you back if they aren’t contributing anything of quality to your newsfeed. With Twitonomy, you can keep track of who is following you and who isn’t, as well as view how active accounts are to determine if they are still worth following and interacting with.

• Tweriod- Just like any social media platform, the time of the day your posts are going out will play a massive role in the overall performance of the post. With Tweriod, you can find out exactly when your followers are on Twitter the most so you can schedule your posts to be seen as much as possible to ensure more interactions and responses.

• Circloscope- Google+ can be one of the trickiest social media platforms to navigate and manage as you try and find the perfect balance of people you follow compared to who is following you. With Circloscope, you can easily manage your circles according to a wide range of different factors so you can ensure your circles are as efficient and effective as possible.

• WriteRack- Are you live covering an event, or need to send out a large series of tweets? With WriteRack, you can quickly and easily tweetstorm as a new paragraph starts after 130 characters, allowing you to type away instead of having to pause to send the tweet before starting to type up again.

• Click to Tweet- Do you have a post or message you want shared by your followers with as many people as possible? With Click to Tweet, you can easily set your posts for easy sharing by your followers so they can tweet out the link with one click of a button and grow the overall reach of your original post.

• Bitly- When it comes to posting on Twitter, character count is essential to creating the best post possible. With links, however, you can easily hit 140 characters in no time. With Bitly, you can quickly shorten up links to leave room for more important things in your tweet such as images, your content, and more.

• Spruce- Do you want to create stunning images that have text overlayed on them? These posts have been proven to gain great responses on Twitter, and with Spruce, you can upload your images, type out your text, and the software will quickly create the quality image and make it perfectly optimized to be tweeted out to your followers.

• Social Analytics Chrome Extension- Don’t want to bother with tricky websites to figure out what is going on with the social analytics of a website? With the Social Analytics Chrome Extension, you can go to any URL and quickly get the social data from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more so you can see what is performing well and what is struggling.

• Klout- When you are sharing content with your audience, you want it to be as refreshing and original as it possibly can. With Klout, you receive suggestions for world class, shareable content that your audience more than likely hasn’t seen yet. Content that they have shown interest in and are more likely to share once they see it.

Stock images / Design

• Canva- Creating images and aesthetics that your audience will gravitate to is essential to social media success. Whether it is memes or motivational quotes, these images with text have proven to perform well with audiences. With Canva, you can easily create top of the line images with either their stock images, or by uploading your own for free and be on your way to creating professional quality content.

• Pixabay- As a freelance writer, finding images for your posts can be incredibly difficult at times. With Pixabay, you can finally find an excellent library of quality images, all for free with zero attribution required. While the keyword searching can be tricky at times, this is an excellent source for quality images for your blog posts.

• Meme Generator- Arguably the best performing images on social media, memes have practically become their own culture. With Meme Generator, you can easily create your own memes by utilizing one of the many famous photos typically used, or even upload your own for a more original design.

• Kraken Image Optimizer- In order for your images to perform well and become suited for SEO, they need to be properly optimized. With Kraken Image Optimizer, this software will perfectly optimize your photos so best ensure fast website loading times so you can keep visitors on your site for as long as you possibly can.

• Pixlr- Take your images for your social media and blog posts to the next level with Pixlr. This magnificent software works on both desktop and mobile to allow you to replace color, transform objects, and much more to create the most customized look possible for a completely unique look your visitors won’t find anywhere else.

• Awesome Screenshot Chrome Extension- When it comes to blog posts, screenshots are one of the most valuable visual tools you can have when proving a point or explaining certain elements. With Awesome Screenshot Chrome Extension, you can easily screenshot an entire web page, or just a little section of it. With the ability to draw lines, circle different items, and more, this is one of the best overall tools for images around.

• Flickr- Finding quality images for your blog posts can be difficult at times with so many sites charging for they stock images and more. With Flickr, you can access a host of top of the line photos uploaded by users, and utilize them in your posts with little or even no attribution needed in some cases.

• Stock Up- Stock images are one of the valuable tools available to a freelancer who is creating blog posts on a regular basis. While so many sites will charge for you to use high quality stock images, Stock Up connects users to thousands of top of the line stock images without any payment or attribution needed.

• Unsplash- Finding stock images can be a challenge at times, but finding high-quality stock images for free can be nearly impossible. With Unsplash, you have instant access to a plethora of fantastic, free, stock photos, even sorted into easy to use and navigate collections so you can find exactly what you are looking for.

• Pexels- No matter what image material you are looking for, there is an excellent chance you will find it at Pexels. This outstanding site offers a wide array of top of the line stock images for you to choose from, all for free. If you are a freelance writer looking for images for your blog posts, Pexels is a must go-to site.

• Splashbase- Finding high-resolution stock images and videos for free doesn’t have to be an impossible task anymore. With sites like splashbase, you can sift through a huge library of top of the line content, all available to you without any attribution or payment needed.

• Mazwai- At Mazwai, you can find a plethora of free, high-quality, one of a kind videos from some of the best independent photographers and videographers around the world. From setting videos to one of a kind flyovers of different regions, you are sure to find a video that will make your audience’s jaw drop when they see it.

• New Old Stock- Not many photos create inspiration and nostalgia quite like a vintage, historic, black and white photograph. With New Old Stock, you can search through a plethora of one of a kind, vintage photos which are all free of any attribution required, making them ideal for whatever historic or nostalgic piece you happen to be working on.

Productivity / Focus

• Glip- Whether you are working by yourself, or with a group of people, productivity and communication is essential as a freelancer. With Glip, you can communicate with everyone involved in real time with integrated task management, adjustable calendars, and even video conferencing to take your communication to the next level.

• Toggl- Do you feel as if you aren’t accomplishing as much work as you possibly could be? Then Toggl may be the answer for you. This one of a kind site allows you to track exactly how much time you are spending on certain sites and see how long it is actually taking you to accomplish specific tasks throughout the day so you can better see what your productivity levels are and find ways to improve.

• Evernote- Whether it is keeping track of basic notes, or more in depth research, Evernote is the best all-around information tracker out there. With the ability to access your notes across all of your devices and update in real time, you can always stay on top of things and make sure you never forget an important piece of information.

• Rescue Time- Wondering how much time you are actually spending on time wasting sites compared to your actual work-related sites? With Rescue Time, this software runs quietly and securely in the background, tracking the amount of time you spend viewing pages so you can accurately see where your time is going and learn where you can improve to become more efficient in your work.

• StayFocusd Chrome Extension- With a simple chrome extension, the StayFocusd app is one of the best out there for helping you realize how much time you are spending on time wasting websites. With customizable plans, you can see where you need to improve so you can take the necessary steps to become a more efficient and focused employee or employer with your time.

• Self Control- These days, it is easier than ever to simply log in to your favorite time wasting site and spend more time than you should be at the office. With SelfControl, this simple yet effective free Mac app helps you avoid these distracting sites by allowing you to block the URLs of your choice so you can’t access them during certain hours of the day, helping you to become a better worker in the long run.

• Noizio- Do you become easily distracted by the noises in and around the office? With Noizio, you can receive calming and peaceful sound right from your computer that helps you block out the distracting noise and focus on your work. Whether you want the sound of a crackling fireplace, or to be whisked away to a peaceful waterfall, Noizio can help you hear only the sounds you want to hear.

• Defonic- The noise in the office and around your place of employment can easily be very distracting and damage your ability to work quickly and efficiently. With Defonic, you can block out these sounds and listen to the simple, peaceful noises of nature right on your computer to create a more calming setting to help you focus and be more productive during the work day.

• Cold Turkey- Do you find it too difficult to keep yourself away from distracting, time wasting sites on your computer? With Cold Turkey, you can block the websites you don’t want to go near permanently, or for just a certain amount of time to help yourself focus on the work you need to do and build better habits for the time you spend at work.

• Focus Booster- Do you find yourself wondering where you time has gone throughout the day? With Focus Booster, you can find out exactly what you are spending your time working on, and what amount of time you are wasting on distracting sites or not working at all. Find out what you are being successful with and where you can improve with Focus Booster.

Inspiration

• SiteInspire- As a freelancer, your website needs to be as top notch as it possibly can be. With SiteInspire, you can browse a wide variety of different sites for a variety of quality freelancers and designers around the world to help with your design block and take your website to the next level with fresh ideas.

• One Page Love- Are your web pages lacking creativity and originality? At One Page Love, you can browse the best and brightest web pages around the world. Discover the most unique and one of a kind designs of web pages being used today and take the inspiration to make your web pages even more stellar for your visitors to enjoy.

• UI Parade- These days, you website has to do much more than wow your audience with its overall visuals. Your web pages need to be interactive and truly engage with your visitors to keep them hooked and coming back for more. With UI Parade, you can view some of the best interactive web pages in design today to help you find the inspiration for creating your next top of the line look.

• Agile Designers- Whether it is graphic design, UX design, web development, or any other web design features, as Agile Designers, you can research all of the best resources in one place and find your next inspiration for your website, specific web page, or whatever it is you are working on next.

Project Management

• Wunderlist- As a freelancer, properly managing your projects is arguably the most important part of your job. With Wunderlist, you can make sure you stay on top of everything you need. From communication, updating your to-do lists, calendars, reminders and more, Wunderlist has everything you need to properly manage everything for your freelance career.

• Podio- No matter what kind of job you are working on, each freelancer has a different way they go about their schedule and project management on a job. With podio, you can create a completely customized project management schedule and solution that both you and your clients can trust to make sure everyone on your team is accomplishing everything they need to be doing in the time it needs to be done.

• Redbooth- From communication, project management, time sensitive collaboration and more, all of these things come together in the overall process of accomplishing a task as a freelancer. With Redbooth, you get a distraction-free, collaborative workspace that allows everyone to see what is being worked on and communicate when necessary to ensure everyone stays as focused as possible on the task at hand.

• Quire- Working on any project no matter how big it is, can be an overwhelming and stressful task. With Quire, you can break down your entire project into bite-sized, easy to work through steps that help you produce better quality work in the long run and ensure each step is taken care of completely and in the best way possible before moving on to the next one.

• Trello- Arguably one of the best, if not the best project management tool around, Trello provides you with everything you need to accomplish your tasks as they come either by yourself or with your team. With a unique board system that allows you to pin each one of your tasks to different to-do lists and eliminate lengthy email threads, spreadsheets, and any other inefficient materials you use to communicate and accomplish tasks.

• Solo- “Freelancing’s touch. Luckily you’ve just found your wingman.” This quote dons the top of the Solo website, and it couldn’t be a better representation of what they have to offer freelancers. This top of the line software helps you to better organize and analyze your projects so you can better track what you have done and what you still need to accomplish in an orderly fashion to allow for more efficient work along the way.

• Projecturf- As a freelancer, making sure your projects are being accomplished in a timely and orderly fashion is crucial to your overall success. One of the keys to this is real-time collaboration which allows you to see what is being accomplished at any given time. With Projecturf, you get exactly this resource, along with file sharing and many other features that help you to be as successful as you can be.

• Project Bubble- When it comes to dealing with projects with both your clients and your team, you need things to be as simple and efficient as possible. With Project Bubble, you get just that. From task dependency lists, time tracking sheets, and even simple to use payment options, Project Bubble is the best all-around tool for your freelance project management.

• Zoho- Have you been looking for a quality, all-in-one tool to help handle your entire freelancing set up? Then look no further than Zoho. Whether you need assistance with your sales and marketing, your client communication and team collaboration, or handling the finances of your company, Zoho provides you with every element you need to successfully run your business and keep it thriving.

• Wrike- Online project management takes a huge step forward for you and your team when you begin utilizing Wrike as your go-to freelancing tool. With a combination of project management, real-time collaboration, and safe and secure file sharing, you can make sure everyone is on the same page and working together as efficiently as they possibly can to make accomplishing your jobs easier and more efficient.

• Viewpath- Working on your projects online and successfully collaborating with your team is essential to the overall success of your work as a freelancer. With Viewpath, you get a simple, easy to navigate project workflow so you can make sure everyone is on the same page through each individual step of the project itself.

• Asana- Do you have trouble tracking your results and tasks when working on a bigger project? With Asana, you don’t have to deal with this problem anymore. This top of the line tool helps you track projects step by step, from the very start and view how things are being accomplished in real time along with the all-important real-time communication for the most successful set up ever.

• MindMeister- When working on a project, mapping everything from start to finish is crucial to the overall success of a project and ensuring everything is completed on time. With MindMeister, you can easily track each element of your projects from start to finish no matter what system you are operating on to make sure you don’t miss a single step in the project.

• OnlyOffice- As a freelancer, having access to all of your important documents in one place is essential to accomplishing your projects as efficiently as you possibly can. With OnlyOffice, you can access all of your marketing solutions, utilize simple CRM tools, and more all in one cloud based office solution.

• Toodledo- Do you find yourself getting lost in an endless to-do list when you are working on a project? With Toodledo, you never have to have this feeling ever again. This top of the line software helps you stay on top of all your important tasks and stay as productive as possible as you go from job to job.

• EasyProjects- Don’t rely on endless email threads, spreadsheets, and other outdated tools of communication and collaboration. With EasyProjects, you can utilize a collaborative, real-time workplace to allow for more efficient communication as everyone can see how work is accomplished to make sure each task is accomplished smoothly and efficiently whenever possible.

Learning

• Skillshare – As a freelancer, it is important for you to stay on top of your game and continue to learn new skills. With tools such as Skillshare, you can easily learn a plethora of new creative skills to help take your overall work performance ability to the next level and land even more freelancing jobs than ever before.

• Coursera – Couldn’t get into Stanford, Penn, Johns Hopkins, or any other of the highly demanding schools when you came out of high school? No problem, you can still take one of a kind, top level courses from the best universities in America with Coursera. This fantastic tool gives you free access to a handful of the best courses from the best colleges to help better your skills and become a more well-rounded freelancer.

• Khan Academy – Are you wanting to learn a plethora of new skills, but can’t do them in a quick amount of time? With Khan Academy, you can learn a handful of helpful skills with some of the best resources available, all on your own schedule. No rush to hurry through a class. As a freelancer, Khan Academy is one of the best tools available to you for outstanding flexibility.

• TED Talks – As a freelance worker, you typically do not have a ladder of people directly above you to go to in order to find help from those who have been there before. Fortunately, TED Talks can fill the void. This library of video talks from all around the world are from the best and brightest minds around. With thousands of talks readily available for free, you can quickly learn a plethora of new skills and tips to become a better freelancer.

• Startup Talks – Wondering what the brightest minds in the startup world are talking about? Want to learn some of the best tips available to make your freelance work even more efficient and effective? With Startup Talks, you can watch video talks from the best in design, business, engineering, marketing, and investors. If you want to learn helpful new tips, these are the talks to watch.

Organization

• Remember the Milk – Do you find yourself struggling to remember what task you need to do before anything else? Organization is crucial to being successful as a freelancer, and Remember the Milk is one of the best to-do lists around. This magnificent tool also allows you to access and edit everything across all of your devices so you can better stay on top of everything.

• Freedcamp – Need to better communicate with the members of your team? As a freelancer, successful communication and organization is key to success on any job. With Freedcamp, you can easily stay informed on everything your team is working on in real time for unlimited users for unlimited projects, for as long as you possibly need it for zero cost. For team organization, Freedcamp is ideal for any freelancer.

• NowDoThis – With any project, there are always tasks that have higher priority than others, and if you want to be successful as a freelancer, you need to stay on top of everything to successfully complete your projects. With NowDoThis, you can quickly and easily set your to-do list to a list of priorities and work your way through each project step by step.

• Time to Note – Keeping open communication and proper organization is crucial to being a successful freelancer. With Time To Note, you can easily collaborate with everyone on your team, coordinate emails, tasks, projects, and everything else you need. Complete with Google Calendar integration, this resource allows you to accomplish everything you need to take care of your job smoothly and efficiently.

• Netvibes – When managing a brand, making sure everything is running smoothly and orderly is crucial to both short term and long term success. For those doing this kind of management, Netvibes is the ideal tool to use. This one of a kind tool allows you stay on top of your brand, your competition, watch your ROI, and even track your marketing campaign results.

• Bitrix – Do you have everything for a brand you are running all across a wide variety of different platforms and tools? Bitrix is the ideal resource to combine them all together and run everything efficiently. From social media platforms, Google Drive, email, documents, CRM, calendars, and much more. For a large project, this is the best all-around tool to have at your disposal.

• Mozy – There is truly nothing more frightening than losing all the work you have done on any given project. In order to be successful as a freelancer, backing up all of your work whenever you can is absolutely essential. With Mozy, you can backup all of the important files you need at any time, and make sure you don’t lose all of the hard work you have done on a project.

Featured photo credit: Markus Spiske / Flickr via flickr.com

The post 99 Tools to Enhance Your Freelance Lifestyle appeared first on Lifehack.

from Lifehack http://ift.tt/20J2ill

10 Foods You Should Never Eat

If you want to turn your life around by taking care of your health, a good place to start is with your diet. You can exercise all you want, but if you don’t pay attention to what you eat, you will still suffer certain health issues. A lot of people don’t have any awareness when it comes to what they eat. They know that junk food is bad, but they don’t really care until related health problems arise.

The problem is that the health consequences of eating bad food take time to accumulate. Only after many years will you start to feel the consequences of bad nutrition, and by then, it’s too late. Eating bad food over a long period of time can cause many severe diseases and conditions that can be fatal. That being said, overdoing it with healthy foods and even drinking way too much water every day can also be detrimental to your health. Moderation is a key component of a healthy diet.

So pay attention to what you eat and how much you eat. It doesn’t take a lot of effort and it helps you to practice self-control, which is a valuable virtue. If you still aren’t sure where to start, here is a list of foods you should avoid.

1. Shark meat

Getting bitten by a shark is bad, but eating its meat is bad as well. Shark meat contains high levels of mercury and, when a person eats it, the high mercury concentration can cause blindness, loss of coordination and, in rare cases, even death. Scientists believe this meat has such high levels of mercury because sharks feast on huge quantities of smaller fish.

If you want to eat similar meats, but without so much mercury, try light canned tuna, shrimp, catfish, pollock, or salmon instead. Just to be safe, you should avoid eating tile fish, king mackerel, and swordfish, since their meat also has a lot of mercury.

2. Baked sweets

Muffins, cookies, cakes, and doughnuts are all delicious and tempting sweets people find hard to resist. But, all of these baked sweets are pure sugar bombs. One typical doughnut has between 250 to 500 calories and can have over 60 grams of sugar. These are a great example of foods that people know are bad for their health, but they eat them just because they’re tasty, and in the end, their health suffers.

These kind of goods can cause a lot of digestive problems, obesity, and excessive amounts of sugar can lead to many cardiovascular diseases, as well as teeth problems. To satisfy your cravings, you can eat dark chocolate or protein bars — in moderation, of course.

3. Cereal with lots of sugar

A lot of people like to eat cereal for breakfast because cereals are supposed to be light and healthy — but are they? Even cereals that aren’t packed with marshmallows have a lot of sugar. If you add up the high gluten concentration, eating a lot of this food will guarantee inflammation within your stomach lining. It’s better to go for oatmeal, while making sure that you choose steel-cut oats. Prepackaged packets of oatmeal are almost as unhealthy as sugary cereals.

As an added benefit, oats are also sodium-free. Sure, they have a dull taste, but they absorb anything you mix them with, so choose something healthy and tasty.

4. White chocolate

Not all chocolate is the same. The health effects of white and black chocolate are quite different. For example, dark chocolate is a very good antioxidant and it is one of the healthiest chocolates out there. Still, this doesn’t mean that you should eat a bar every day. On the other hand, its cousin, white chocolate, is quite unhealthy — three-ounces worth has over 45 grams of sugar.

Eating too much white chocolate can lead to serious obesity issues and tooth decay. In most cases, you should avoid eating chocolate, but if you must, eat only one ounce of dark chocolate per day. Chocolate is also one of the foods that causes constipation, so don’t overeat it.

5. French fries

You’ve probably heard this one before, but it is important to know just how bad french fries really are. Their high levels of trans-fats and oils can lead to hearth disease and hearth attacks.

Potatoes also have a high glycemic index that can lead to increased insulin levels in your body, and I can’t stress enough how bad this really is. Fries also have a lot of acrylamide, which is a carcinogen substance that forms at very high temperatures.

6. Margarine

On seemingly every margarine package, you can read about how it’s cholesterol-free, and because of that, people assume that this is a healthy alternative to butter. There might be no cholesterol, but margarine contains tons of trans-fats. What is ironic is the fact that trans-fats damage blood vessel walls and cause cholesterol levels to skyrocket. This leads to an increased risks of heart attacks and cardiovascular diseases.

If you want to find healthy fats for cooking with, you should stick with omega-3 fatty acids and stay away from trans-fats.

7. Fish sticks

Just because they’re called fish sticks, people automatically assume they’re healthy — this is wrong! Fish sticks are fried in oil and are almost as bad as fries, especially because they are covered in fried bread. Fresh fish is very good and healthy, but fried fish sticks are very unhealthy and should be avoided.

8. Flavored yogurts

All of those so-called “healthy” small cups of fruit yogurts are in fact rich with sugar and far from good for your wellbeing. Basically, you are eating a desert in a small cup, and eating yogurt for breakfast or a snack is quite bad. By doing this, you raise your blood sugar and dehydrate your body. If you like yogurt, buy the good old original yogurt or plain Greek and add a little flavor with a small amount of honey or some chunks of fresh fruit.

9. Fruit juice

Yes, fruit juice. You might think that sodas are unhealthy, and they are, but fruit juice is almost as bad. These drinks are full of sugar — even those that are “100 % fruit” have a lot of sugar in them. Avoid drinking any kind of juice you can buy at your local store and instead get a blender. Buy fresh fruit and make your own juice. This is the only real healthy way of drinking fruit juice.

10. Gluten-free food

Gluten-free products are becoming more and more popular each day and they are promoted as healthy. A lot of shops, and customers as well, think that they are a better option for a healthy diet. The truth is that these products are no healthier than the rest. On the contrary, most of these gluten-free goods are usually filled with extra calories and salt.

Furthermore, manufacturers like to add a lot of fat so that their products can look springy and tasty. Avoiding one problem by creating a new one is not a solution, but rather a substitution.

Basically, what you need to remember is to avoid all food that has artificial sweeteners, highly processed foods, and to create a healthy diet that has all the nutrients that your body needs each day, without excessive calories. If you sometimes eat too many calories, make sure that you burn them with regular exercise.

Featured photo credit: Karolina Grabowska.STAFFAGE via pexels.com

The post 10 Foods You Should Never Eat appeared first on Lifehack.

from Lifehack http://ift.tt/1TXcp55

6 Positive Things That Came with Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a recently adopted investment concept that creates great opportunities for numerous companies around the world. The rise in popularity occurred back in 2009, with the development of the Kickstarter website. The website made it possible for people to raise money for their awesome ideas on all kinds of services and products.

People are able to see what the project is in complete detail, before giving money to the cause. Back in 2012 the government realized the investment crowdfunding potential and enacted the JOBS act, to make the whole crowdfunding process easier for everybody. The crowdfunding trend created numerous other positive trends in the world of business.

A variety of capital acquisition options

In the past, any company that wanted to grow their business in a shorter period of time had to look for accredited investors and depend on their good will, whether they personally found the idea good and whether they thought it was profitable or not. This made the whole company growth process even more complicated, and many creative and incredible ideas went on to become nothing due to the impossibility of find the right funding.

With the expansion of crowdfunding platforms, people who want to start a small or big business, have a lot more options open to them. It is now possible to raise money from a much higher number of people. The success lies in the fact that people are not donating for free, but for a reward. This reward-based investment brought many new companies into existence, making it an awesome way of collecting funds from the crowd.

Lower risks

Creating and running a company is quite a challenging task. No matter how well you predict the financial expenses, there are always some things that require more funds, making the whole venture riskier. At some point people have to rely on a loan, which further increases risks. The investors ask for equity in the company, which can complicate things as the company grows and affect the ideas of the company’s initial creator.

All of these risks can now be avoided with reward-based crowdfunding, as all these problems are automatically solved. It is possible to make precise costs and ask for a little bit more just in case, to cover unexpected expenses. The options are endless. There is no loan taking procedure and, most importantly, the owner of the idea and the company doesn’t lose any equity in his or her company, making it go in a safe direction without the interference of other people.

It is a great marketing campaign

Crowdfunding platforms are very popular and are visited by millions of people due to a wide variety of interesting ideas. This much organic traffic is very important when someone is starting a company and there are even brands that realize the marketing potential of crowdfunding platforms. The initial boost can not only increase the amount of funds, but also incredibly improve brand awareness. Additionally, numerous online blogs follow these websites and love to spread the word about interesting concepts, which can additionally drive more traffic to your campaign. This is a perfect way that enables businesses to attract loyal customers from the very moment the company is founded. The internet is a wonderful place where information travels fast, which is why these platforms create incredible results.

The crowd’s idea support

Just as all ideas in the world have flaws, so do the campaigns presented on crowdfunding platforms. This makes these platforms even more important, as a vast number of people involved in a campaign can share their opinions and ideas that are important for the whole campaign. This kind of free advice is very hard to get and it can be very effective.

Various solutions to problems an entrepreneur couldn’t foresee can be presented among the ideas coming from the crowd. This kind of help is something you cannot lean on, even if you have an incredible team of several people, as more minds working together can always create the most optimal solution to any type of problem.

It is simply easier than the old funding ways

Applying for a loan is a procedure which most businesses have to go through, but the whole process is quite long and preparing all the paperwork is long and tiresome. Additionally, finding an “angel” investor is practically impossible without putting immense effort into it. This is where crowdfunding offers incredible improvement, as registering on any crowdfunding platform is a much easier and faster process. Once registered, all a company needs is an attractive promotional video, and detailed instructions for all the interested visitors.

Incredible growth of ideas

All the crowdfunding possibilities have made people want to pursue their ideas. The crowdfunding platforms also present a perfect funnel for interesting ideas. Every fruitful idea will easily become recognized by the crowd, turning it into a success story. This is very motivating for numerous people around the world, as these platforms are there to give a chance to anyone from around the globe. With the right idea, impossible is nothing.

These are only some of the positive things associated with the crowdfunding trend. We can sit and watch further growth of investment crowdfunding. The most important things is that now, anyone with a great plan and a good idea has much better chances of reaching the sky. Crowdfunding is probably the best possible thing that happened to the business world and the whole world in general.

Featured photo credit: Ed Gregory via pexels.com

The post 6 Positive Things That Came with Crowdfunding appeared first on Lifehack.

from Lifehack http://ift.tt/1qNfiKc