Author: anwaryusef

Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath. Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics. Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.

Dealing with Tough Times as a Small Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Many businesses face tough times at one point or another. If and when it happens, it’s important to understand how to adjust. The following contributed post is entitled, Dealing with Tough Times as a Small Business.

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Every business owner that has been around for a while knows: you have great years, and you have lean years. The success you might be experiencing right now is not a guarantee for the future. Having a buffer in the finances helps most medium to large companies deal with trialing times, while they either wait or get organized for better fortunes.

Photo by Tim van der Kuip on Unsplash

For smaller businesses, these types of financial buffers are usually non-existent. If the cash flow dries up, there are serious risks to not being able to pay suppliers on time or, even worse, the payroll. Companies do well to have a contingency plan ready to deal with meagre times and, as the saying goes: mend the roof when the sun is shining, perhaps already incorporate into your business to become more agile and responsive. Here are some areas to look into.

Switch Up Your Marketing

There will be no new business without significant marketing in place. That doesn’t mean climbing in the phone to the next media buying agency to get yourself a costly TV campaign. It means, especially in this digital times, to go smarter with the market budget and try to reach audiences you haven’t reached before. Think direct to consumer marketing campaigns, social media campaigns, or pay-per-lead type marketing activity. In the new age, going small for just a leads/new business campaign is possible, but do consider that eventually, you will need brand saliency for real growth. Going full digital marketing and lead/sale based only will work in the short term is no real replacement for the longer term. Also, don’t fall in the trap of only focusing on short term marketing, you will always need a vision in place how your proposition will evolve over time.

Investigate Your Cash Flow

Thinking about cash flow issues, especially in regards to being able to pay suppliers is another challenge business owners will have to get their head around. In some cases, the solution is as simple as coming to an agreement with your suppliers. One the one hand they have no interest in one of their customers going under, on the other hand, they will have to pay their own suppliers and employees as well.

In some cases, there is a good middle that can be reached to alleviate the pressures of paying a full invoice but also respects the relationship you have with your suppliers. Running payroll is more challenging as it will be a large chunk of the finances. Of course, you can try negotiating, but don’t be surprised if employees walk away quite quickly. Ask yourself “what is factoring” for a solution in this area.

Keep Improving

Ensuring a stream of jobs and managing your cash flow are the main life-line for companies in difficult times, but it doesn’t end there. What might seem to be a luxury, thinking about the future 3-5 years down the line, as you are fighting for survival, might seem daft, but it’s precisely what you will need to do. As a business owner, you need to be continuously navigating the challenging waters of threats and opportunities to come out of it stronger, more robust, and on a path of healthy growth.

Making Sense Of Your Website Engagement

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. If you’re using a website as a part of your business, you want to understand its engagement with your customers. An effective website will draw in more customers and increase your profits. The following contributed post is entitled, Making Sense Of Your Website Engagement.

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As a business that runs a large amount of its customer-facing approach online, you will be subject to plenty of data over the years. User visiting time, the visitor’s geography, what ads or social media links have led them to your site are important, and yet barely scratch the surface as to what data is available.

But to an untrained eye, this data can often look completely out of the norm, and sometimes, even random. This means that making sense of your website engagement becomes a vital tool in trying to assess what your customers want, and how your business is performing across all of its web portals.

But more than that, breakthroughs in data analytics consulting have allowed businesses the chance to construct models regarding those they could potentially sell to, ensuring that marketing is more targeted in both its content and delivery methodology. Like any good business leader, you are likely also interested in the metrics that can give you a surer shot when aiming for gold.

So, let us serve as the scope:

Understand Your Promotional Reach

It’s essential to consider how your homepage is structured, and what drives the most attention. Do visitors often click on your promotional bar at the top of the screen? What has driven more traffic? Which social media pages do you often get the most engagement from? Do you find that enabling social media replies and comments is worthwhile, or that they quickly devolve into unrelated arguments (as is the way of the internet?) Furthermore, have your sponsored posts gained the traction you were hoping for, or is simple excellent hash tagging and posting at the right time of day almost comparable in the results they achieve? When you view the data of your promotional reach and branch out to make the correct changes, you have an access of power to this end.

Visitor Time

When a customer visits your website, how long do they stay for? In other words, how much functionality do you offer? For example, do you list all of the specs on your product page, as well as the different payment options, a video demonstrating the product in action, or perhaps discussing how your product differs from comparable items on the market? Do you offer them to talk on ownership forums that allows your community to get together and discuss various impressions they have? All of this can increase visitor time to your website, and every second spent there is another potential second where a purchase or booking can be made.

Feedback Forms

Sometimes, you need to hear directly from your users in the first place. Feedback forms can be a fantastic measure for this in the long run. There you might find that someone using a particular web browser has trouble loading your web pages, or perhaps an intrusive advertising strategy is breaking some of the widgets you use. It can be easy to have blinders on in regards to these issues, and so we would recommend you keep an eye on them ahead of time.

With this advice, you are certain to make sense of your website engagement.

Ways To Improve Your Business Profile

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the most significant pieces of building your business’s reputation is word of mouth. The greater the reputation of your business, the more profit you’ll make. The following contributed post is entitled, Ways To Improve Your Business Profile.

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As a business, we all want to have an influential reach to a wider net as possible. The more you can grow your audience, the better opportunities you have in making more money and having further success too. So here are some ways that you can improve your business profile.

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Make An Impact

Many companies now can often fade into the background because they are often shadowed by companies who’ve made an impact by pulling a stunt or have gone viral. These are often the best ways of getting exposure for your business and to rocket your profile into the limelight. So how could you make an impact with your company? Is there anything right now that could be taken advantage of? To make an impact, you have had an awareness of what’s going on around your business but also the outside world. Something online that’s made news headlines or sparked a significant amount of interest might be an opportunity for your company to piggyback off its success.

Improve The Quality

Quality is certainly important to business, and if you haven’t got quality in your products or services, then you’re not going to make money, and the only place your profile will go is down. How can you expect to provide excellent services without the proper knowledge? If you are an IT company for an example, then IT services for medical offices are going to function differently than other packages you offer. One service doesn’t always fit all, so look at what can be improved.

Focus On Your Current Consumers

To build and improve your business profile, you need to know about your current consumers and what they want from you. Learn more about their interests and how they came about your business in particular. Their interests and their data are going to be very handy for you to find similar consumers that have not yet come across your company. Word of mouth is certainly the most effective advertisement so focus on giving your current consumers the best experience ever. Work out how to improve customer service as this is the one area that tends to be often neglected by other companies. Show that you are wanting to go above and beyond. The more data and research you can gather, the better.

Hire A PR Firm

PR firms can be great for business. They can very much be useful in situations where you need to handle yourselves in the correct manner when perhaps you or your team don’t have the right skills or awareness to do so. But it’s good to be wise when it comes to hiring a PR firm. Not all of them are great, and some will specialize in certain areas, so you want to ensure you’ve got the right one for your specifics. Sit down with these PR firms first to get an idea of what you’d like and what they can offer. Look at their previous work for more of what they have done in the past.

Continue To Network Regularly

Networking can be difficult if you don’t have the skills or confidence to do so. However, it is one of those things that you need to master in order to raise your business profile. Becoming more integrated with your industry is important, and it’s how you find the doors that are needed to be opened. You’ll never know who you might meet at networking events or business events where you’re meeting new people. There could be people or other companies out there that can offer you what you need to gain a lot more success. So don’t dismiss a networking opportunity and if you’re nervous about doing one, then take a friend or have some personal training in socializing in a business environment.

Align Yourself With Bigger Companies

Everyone has to start from somewhere, right? And that means that the bigger companies that you look up to had to start from the bottom. Do you think they got there all by themselves? It’s likely that they aligned themselves with bigger companies in order to raise their profile. Just like celebrities try to hang out with ones that have more influence, having someone with a bigger reach is going to help. Don’t be afraid to reach out and to take advantage of anything that these big corporations can offer you.

Improving your business profile is something that is certainly ongoing. You should never stop trying to raise it because the business world is particularly cut-throat, and being complacent will only spell trouble.

Helping Children Find The Favourite STEM Subject

Two of the focuses of my blog are General Education and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). It’s one thing to encourage participation in the STEMs, but another key is sparking that initial interest and growing it. Another is helping children find STEM subjects in school that they’ll enjoy. The following contributed post is entitled, Helping Children Find The Favourite STEM Subject.

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It goes without saying that one of the most significant advantages you can give your children is a solid foundation in STEM and everything it has to offer. Some careers and hobbies can enrich a child’s life beyond measure if you just have the right tools and knowledge to get them on their way. How exactly do we help our children find a love of STEM subjects? Can we leave it up to the education system of course, but is there more we can do to make sure our children have the best chance at learning everything available to them?

Photo by Alex Kondratiev on Unsplash

Encourage Experiments
The first thing to remember when encouraging children to have an interest in any subject is to start them young. The most fantastic thing you can do is allow small children to experiment with textures and how things react with each other. A fantastic development for STEM in recent years has been the rise of slime and how young people are enthusiastically experimenting and sharing their results via Youtube without even realising they are sharing chemistry lessons without even realising. The best thing about this is that people are having fun with this subject and it’s a proven fact that children will always learn while having fun! Of course, the downside to this is the mess these experiments cause will always be inconvenient, but try not to squash their creativity too much. Science can be messy!

Read Books
There are so many books available now with subjects such as construction, mathematics and a whole range of science subjects. A child that ‘hates’ Maths may have simply not been introduced in the correct way for them. There are easy to follow books with instructions on how to set up your own projects, and these can be fantastic to explore with your children. Why not take a leaf out of one of these books and set yourself a challenge and see what experiments you can come up with for your family to enjoy together? Ultimately if you show a keen interest and help by giving the children the tools, they need to learn you’re giving them a great gift.

Build
There’s an excellent reason Lego is such a massive success, and it seems like nearly every household owns some at least, that’s because it’s simple, educational and fun! There is an incredible amount of choice available, and most children (and adults!) enjoy building these kits from scratch. This helps develop a fantastic sense of achievement and sets children up for a great start in life. As well as Lego there are some great kits available which include motors and electric circuits that show children exactly how things work. There are even Youtubers sharing information about how to run things from homemade lemon batteries, which, as with anything slightly strange, has captured the interest of many children around the world. All it takes is a spark of interest from the right child at the right time, and you’ll have a little scientist on your hands!

Friends
No doubt you will have a friend or family member that works in a STEM profession somewhere, so why not ask them to give your child an insight into what they do, and the many reasons children should study in this field. Sometimes it can be helpful to have an ‘insider’ view of the roles available, and talking to your child about their possible options when they are older, will make way for some potentially great decisions further down the line. Why not get your child to gather their STEM projects to take with them to your friend/ family members house so they can share their fun ideas and what they have learnt so far.

Youtube
Of course, Youtube is full of ‘noise’, and we aren’t likely to get around that fact, but there are some great Youtubers explaining science and using it to entertain us via their videos. It’s not just all unboxing videos, if you look in the right places, there are some informative and fun videos that children will love to watch. It saves them watching adverts and adds something to their life, ultimately that’s education, but the delivery of this education will always make a difference to the children watching, and if you’re looking to avoid the need for
Debt lawyers such as https://www.mccarthylawyer.com/ then finding out exactly which area of study suits your child sooner rather than later will really save you time, effort and money too.
In addition to the entertainment shows surrounding STEM subjects, including swimming pools full of jelly, there are instructional videos that will help with your maths project or your engineering questions too.

Competitions
Children can be quite competitive, and quite often there are competitions at school, online or even via local companies that will capture the imagination of children, a little challenge goes a long way and the prizes awarded are a great motivator. Why not find out what local competitions are available near you and mention them to your child. They may decide it’s a great idea and will enter with little help. It may even lead to a life long interest in STEM if nothing else as well!

Exhibitions
One way in which children usually find an interest in something they love is via exhibitions touring the country or at museums. Find out which exhibits are visiting your area and see if you get early bird tickets. From planetariums to science fairs, there is something for everyone. It’s also quite common for adults to have just as much fun as the children when it comes to events and exhibitions. These also allow for extra family time without distractions too, so not only are parents helping their children’s futures; it also brings the family closer together too!

Remember that helping your child find their interests is a worthwhile endeavour, and you will all be glad when they find their ‘thing’. Some people admittedly never find that one thing they love and that’s ok, but many people find STEM is the most fantastic thing in the world and can be used for so many good reasons. So know that if your child joins the world of STEM and you encouraged them to find that interest, then you’re doing great things in the world!

Finding Better Ways To Use Your Money

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. According to talk show host and writer Dave Ramsey, wise money management is 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior. While the smaller percentage of the two, the 20% is critical though. The following contributed post is entitled, Finding Better Ways To Use Your Money.

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Money management isn’t a talent that comes naturally to everyone. If you feel that you don’t live life in a fiscally responsible manner, however, then there are things you can do about that. It’s never too late to make an improvement to your personal finances. It all comes down to spending and saving your money in a well-balanced way, at the end of the day. You don’t want to save everything – certain expenses are unavoidable, anyway. But you also don’t want to waste your earnings. It’s time to find better ways to use your money, and here are some helpful suggestions.

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Reduce unnecessary expenditures.
The best way to use your money is to cut back on wasteful expenses so you have more available income for the important costs in life. For starters, if you know you’re prone to splurging as the result of certain spending triggers such as feeling bored or stressed out, then it’s important to master the art of self-restraint. You might even want to take out a small sum of money for “non-essential expenditures” on a monthly basis. That way, if you do want to treat yourself to luxuries, you’ll be limited in terms of what you can buy. This will train you to be disciplined, but it’ll also prevent you from being too destructive if a shopping urge overcomes you. You just need to be a conscious consumer.

It might even be a smart idea to keep a small amount of cash on you and leave your credit cards at home when you go shopping. Of course, luxury expenditures are a small part of the problem, but you can reduce unnecessary basic expenditures, too. You need to keep your home heated, for example, but you could reduce your energy bills by insulating your windows with thicker glazing and getting draft excluders for doors. If you want to start finding better ways to use your money, then you need to start by noticing examples of wasteful spending in your life and making the necessary changes.

Make good investments.
As mentioned in the introduction, you don’t want to simply save everything you own. Whilst you should protect your earnings, leaving them in your bank account to collect dust won’t help you in the long-term. You need to start investing some of your money so you can increase your wealth. Your salary might cover your present-day costs, but what about the future? Building up a portfolio of strong investments will help you to make money for your retirement or your children when they go to college or move out and get their own homes. You could consider investing in the property market. You might even want to get real estate training so you can figure out how the industry works. You can make a lot of money from selling or leasing properties. It’s a worthwhile investment opportunity.

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Start paying yourself first.
Thinking about the future is the best way to ensure you use your money wisely. That’s why you need to start paying yourself first. Earlier, we talked about practicing discipline and reducing your monthly spending. Well, one of the easiest ways to achieve this is to remove temptation. In other words, put a portion of your paycheck into your savings on a regular basis. In fact, you should do it on your payday. That way, you don’t have to worry about overcoming the urge to dip into your bank account and take out money for non-essential purchases; you’ll already have moved that money. Start paying yourself first, and you’ll be much wealthier in the long run.

Great Ways to Innovate in Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As business owner, it’s important think about how to create innovative products and services. Doing so will keep you at the forefront of your area and assure continued patronage. The following contributed post is entitled, Great Ways to Innovate in Business.

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When you are a small business owner, then being able to continuously innovate is something that is not easy. But if you don’t keep thinking of new ways to do things, then it can lead to diminishing results, for sure. So think about how and why you find it hard to innovate. Plus, you then need to do it over and over again, which is where the problems can lead to. So how can you make sure that you’re able to repeatedly bring new things into your business, as well as new products and services, that are going to help your customers in new ways? This kind of continuous innovation isn’t something that is easy, and it isn’t something that you can forget about. Quite simply, your business can be impacted if you don’t change and progress how you do things. So try innovating how you innovate, by trying out some of these ideas.

● Copying someone else’s idea isn’t as bad as it sounds. Simply, one of the best ways to innovate is to look at how someone has already done something, and then find a way for it to work for your business. For example, Airbnb and Uber are both businesses that have done really well recently, but they weren’t exactly reinventing the wheel when it comes to a business idea. They took something that worked and just found ways to make it better.

● Asking customers is another thing that you can do if you want to know exactly what they want. You could send out a survey to them, ask them in-store or on social media. But if you’re after some incremental innovations, then this can give you a good indicator of where to go with things. Usually, things from customers will be around how to make something cheaper, or how to make a product simpler to use. So ask them, listen to them, and make steps to change.

● Adapting a product to give it a new use is another way that you could innovate for your business and change how things are done. For example, if you click here then you will find that there are many ways to use certain products; you just need to find out why it will be of use to your business and how it can be used differently. You could quite easily find an entirely different application for an already existing product.

● Is going back in time, something that can make a difference and help? If you look back at different methods and services that have been used in your industry sector a while ago but hasn’t been used since, you could get some idea of how to refresh things or bring things back. Can you do something to bring something back but in a new and updated form? For example, it has been reported that the concept of Speed Dating was a relaunch of a Victorian dance format where, where people had cards with different appointments on for the night.

How To Buy A Data Cabinet

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In our modern digital age, it’s highly likely a major component of your business is its information technology (IT). As such, you’re likely using or will need a Data Cabinet. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Buy A Data Cabinet.

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A data cabinet or a server rack is something which is used to store IT equipment. It is vitally important that any individual or business that has such equipment stores it properly in order to avoid any damage.

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There are a whole host of different server racks and data cabinets available in stores all over the US and on the internet, which companies like Midwest Data Center make the most of. This is great because it means that there is a lot to choose from when it comes to selecting the right one for your business equipment. Nevertheless, this can also make it more difficult to actually know which one is the best option. In order to help those searching for data cabinets narrow down their search this article will help by providing some points people should be considering when looking for such goods.

The first aspect which needs to be thought about is the height of the data cabinet. Most data racks are measured in the ‘U’ measurement. For those that do not know, ‘U’ is the measurement which is usually used for all rack mount equipment and it translates to 44.45mm. This may seem like a random measurement to many. However, one U is used to display how many units the server cabinet in question can hold.

There are a vast range of different size data cabinets available today; typically shops tend to stock anything from 12U cabinets to 47U cabinets. Obviously the height of the server rack required depends on how much equipment a business is intending to store. The individual in question should sit down and come to a number of how many equipment pieces are going to be placed into the cabinets, this will give the person an idea of what they should be going for. However, it is always advisable to buy a rack with a few more added spaces, as you never know what else you may need to accommodate for and it is always better to be prepared for more.

Obviously the size of the cabinet does not just depend on the height; there is the width and depth to take into consideration as well. The size a person opts to go for obviously also depends on the equipment which needs to be stored. In general the two main options with regards to width is 800mm and 600mm and when it comes to depth the three main options are as follows; 800mm, 1000mm and 1200mm.

Remember it is also important to keep in mind the weight of the data cabinet because it needs to substantial enough to carry the equipment which is going to be stored inside of it otherwise it may cave in and thus a new cabinet will be needed altogether.

In addition to this, the price of the cabinets and racks will need to be considered by businesses as well. At the end of the day, each business is different and each business will have their own budget with regards to what they can afford. It is vital to devise a strict plan and stick to it as it can be very easy to get carried away and spend a lot more then was initially intended.

Finally, it is also extremely important to make sure that any data cabinet accessories are considered. These can include things such as; fixings and fans.

Government in the New Age of Disruption

Three focuses of my blog are Current Events, Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In modern times, traditional forms of business have been disrupted by new startups and technologies. What is the government’s role during these paradigm shifts? The following contributed post is entitled, Government in the New Age of Disruption.

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We know of how businesses are being disrupted by start-ups that manage to find a consumer need that has been ignored and neglected by large corporations for years, maybe even decades, and then offering a solution changes the whole paradigm for the entire industry. No longer are the large corporations in charge, deciding on what the consumer gets and at what price he or she can get it. The consumer is now in charge, being able to vote with their wallet who gets their business and who doesn’t.

We’ve seen it in the fall of video-rental services when the consumer decided that streaming is more convenient than the process of getting and returning a VHS cassette. We have seen it in the taxi industry where the consumer decided that hailing a taxi from their phone, have full tracking and no-fuss payment options. Or just look at the banking industry who are on notice with all the waves made by fin-tech (financial tech) start-ups that challenge the way people think about banking. No longer it’s a large organisation with branches and cheque books, it can also be something that sits on your phone and offers your smart integration.

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Governments

This is all good material for trend watchers, and one might ask him or herself, what about governmental organisations? Is there any disruption going on there? Governmental organisations are the poster boy examples of inert organisations that rely on set rules and procedures to operate well. The whole idea of agility and changing business models are, in most cases, the opposite of what you might want from institutions that are depended on and need continuity. That’s not to say that government organisations are not evolving. Actually, putting the citizen, central has been core to a lot of governmental investment, trying to create better processes that make dealing with governmental institutions easier. In some cases the language changes from citizens to consumers, indicating that they are taking a page out of the for-profit playbook.

Picking up the Pieces

The real work for governmental organisations sits actually on the effects of disruptive industry. One can think about the massive protests and pressures the taxi industry has put on national and local government, citing the unfair advantages companies such as Uber and Lyft have. Or the challenges that legislators face with the pros and cons of the gig economy. You can fire up a pretty intense discussion nowadays with people on both sides of the political spectrum when it comes to zero-hours contracts. Governments are even having to deal with smart services that help you get out of a parking or speeding fine, such as a 22350 VC, beating the government at their own game.

The New Norm

As with the disrupted industries, it’s also the consumer that has organised themselves, letting their voices heard as never before. The same goes for citizens. One can be dismissive of the likes, shares and tweet-culture we are seeing nowadays, stating that in earlier decades people would take to the streets. But that’s missing the point, as the world is moving to a place where the online business is as important as the offline business, or maybe even greater, we should start weighing things up correctly and see that an online movement is the core movement.

4 Proven Ways to Reduce Anxiety

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Health/Wellness. A key to successful at life is maintaining your mental health and minimizing/reducing anxiety. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Proven Ways to Reduce Anxiety.

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It was the best of times; it was the worst of times: Charles Dickens wrote these words in the 19th century, but they’re arguably more relevant today than ever before. Never have we been so divided, individually, between good and bad times. On the plus side, we have more or less everything that we could need, we’re safe, our problems are often superficial; on the negative side are the costs of this level of comfort, which has fuelled a dramatic rise in mental health conditions such as anxiety. Left to our own decides, we can end up in stressful states of mind. Fortunately, there are some remedies we can use to limit the feelings of anxiety. We take a look at a few examples below.

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Switch off the Tech

Technology has done a lot of good for humanity, but there’s a chance that we’ve gone a little too far in our question to techify everything. While smartphones, laptops, and tablets are useful for managing life, they’re not exactly relaxing. If you’re actively engaging with your tech (say, by scrolling through your social media channels), then all you’re doing is keeping your mind in a state of stressful alertness. Not so relaxing! If you’re feeling anxious and can’t find a cause, look at switching off your tech for the evening.

Feeding the Body

We think of stress and anxiety as the thing itself — say, getting up to give a talk, but it’s really something that’s happening inside of us. We are all made up of chemicals, and if we’re beginning to see the telltale signs of anxiety, then we should take steps to change our chemical makeup. There are plenty of ways to do this. Medical marijuana has been shown in studies to reduce the symptoms of anxiety; talk with your doctor to get the strain that’s right for you, and also invest in a cannabis waste disposal bin, so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Alternatively, you can look at adding soothing incense or scent diffusers in your property. If you buy some relaxing scents, then they’ll do the magic “under the radar” and help to make you feel more relaxed.

Time Outdoors

Ah, the outdoors. Many of us don’t make as much of it as we could or should. Studies have shown that just a couple of hours of outdoor time — either in one go or spread out — is enough to reduce our anxiety levels and give our happiness a boost. No matter where you live, there will likely be some sort of natural scenery located nearby. Make spending some time there a part of your weekly schedule. Plus, you’re not just doing this for

Meditation and Yoga

Finally, don’t forget that there’s great power in meditation and yoga, two activities that have been scientifically proven to reduce the symptoms of anxiety. For yoga, it’s best that you join a class, but meditation can be done anywhere, by anyone. Learn the basics, and do it once in the morning and once at night.

Eco-Friendliness You Control

A key focus of my blog is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. There are whole sciences that look at maintaining our planet. Something that likewise touches all of us is the health of the planet. Each of us can play a roll in preserving the planet earth. The following contributed post is entitled, Eco-Friendliness You Control.

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You know those situations where you know you’re not doing something 100% correctly, but other people do it, so you do it anyway. Those times when you have a little voice inside your head telling you what you’re doing is wrong, but you choose to ignore it? I think that describes most of our relationship with being environmentally friendly and considering our ecological footprint. One thing that is firmly in the public eye is the effect meat-eating has on the environment. And before you say it, no one is saying not to eat meat.

Photo by Karsten Würth (@karsten.wuerth) on Unsplash

The idea is to eat less of it. As producing cheap meat is exceptionally harmful to the environment, we should try to restrict our intake. And looking at the amounts we consume, that makes a lot of sense. And there will be loads of people who have taken this to heart and started doing meat-free days, or perhaps have gone vegetarian or even vegan, a lot of people would have read up on it and decided that it’s a bridge too far for them. It’s quite the lifestyle change for most, especially as we are bombarded with delicious looking burgers and chicken on pretty much all marketing channels.

Simple Things to Save the Planet

Perhaps the better way to approach is to look at things that don’t affect our lifestyle as much. We can just go about our lives, being more considerate of the environment, but not really giving up on things. A key one would be where you get your electricity from. Obviously, renewable is the way to go.

In most cases, getting your electricity from renewable suppliers isn’t even more expensive. It usually takes a simple application and switches to feel instantly better about your power. Another low-impact way to be better for the world is to recycle correctly. A separate paper, glass, tins and plastics bin. It usually takes up to 10 minutes per week, the same time you might spend longer in bed on a Sunday morning. Then there is avoiding single-use plastics, such as water bottles. Carry a reusable water bottle around, it’s now one of the most common things, and you will not only be creating less waste, but it’s also better for your wallet too!

Sustainability at Work

Then there are things you can do and influence at work. Most companies will have a soapbox-style employee suggestion sessions where you can propose things a company can do. One that makes an immediate impact is asking the company to recycle. Or to use recycled paper for printing, or even suggest an only-print-when-absolutely necessary policy. You could ask for promotional material to be sustainable and eco-friendly, find out more here. You could possibly suggest a stricter sleep-timer on computer screens. You will see that most companies will welcome these type of suggestions and it sometimes really need to come from employees to start something off.

So, no one is asking you to stop eating meat, there are plenty of things you can do to ensure a better planet tomorrow. Sure, not eating meat will get us there so much quicker, but sometimes even an endless journey starts with the first step.