Change your narrative, change your life
Good marketing talks about the buyer. Bad marketing talks about the seller.
What do the homeless and Microsoft have in common?
Why we struggle learning languages
Why we struggle learning languages
Why we struggle learning languages, the only barrier to learning a language is memory.
The process of language learning is the process of forming memories. Nothing more, nothing less. If you understand that, and you understand how memories are formed, then you can make progress in a way you’ve never dreamed possible before.
Gabriel Wyner is an author, opera singer and polyglot based in Chicago. After reaching fluency in German in 14 weeks with the help of the immersive Middlebury Language Schools, he fell in love with the process of language learning, going on to spend two months in intensive Italian courses in Perugia, Italy.
Searching for ways to bring the immersion experience into the home, he began to develop a system that rapidly builds fluency in short, daily sessions. In 2010, his efforts paid off. He learned French to fluency in 5 months, and then Russian in 10 months.
Born in Los Angeles, he graduated summa cum laude in 2007 from the University of Southern California with dual degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Vocal Arts Performance, and was awarded the Renaissance Scholar’s prize for excellence in unrelated disciplines. He then moved to Vienna to pursue triple Master’s degrees at the Konservatorium Wien in Opera, Lieder and Voice, and graduated with honors in 2011.
Currently learning Japanese, he’s learned Hungarian and Spanish over the last few years.
His book on language learning – Fluent Forever: How to learn any language fast and never forget it – was published on August 5, 2014 (Harmony/Random House). His most recent project has been the development of a new language learning tool, which became the most successful Kickstarter for an app in history in September of 2017.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBMfg4WkKL8[/embedyt]
Experiences of being on stage
Experiences of being on stage
Experiences of being on stage can be both a very exciting or a very stressful experience, especially if you suffer from Stage fright or performance anxiety.
Susan asks Andy, a somewhat seasoned performer, and Chris who is just staring out, about their experiences of being on stage.
Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially (for example, when performing before a camera).
In the context of public speaking, or performing on stage, this may precede or accompany participation in any activity involving public self-presentation.
In some cases stage fright may be a part of a larger pattern of social phobia (social anxiety disorder), but many people experience stage fright without any wider problems.
Quite often, stage fright arises in a mere anticipation of a performance, often a long time ahead.
It has numerous manifestations: stuttering, tachycardia, tremor in the hands and legs, sweaty hands, facial nerve tics, dry mouth, and dizziness.
Stage fright can occur in people of all experiences and backgrounds, from those who are completely new to being in front of an audience to those who have done so for years.
Stage fright may, for example, have a negative impact on the individual’s performance, such that it affects their confidence during job interviews, being on stage or during presentations.
It affects actors, comedians, musicians, and politicians. Many people with no other problems in communication can experience stage fright, but some people with chronic stage fright also have social anxiety or social phobia which are chronic feelings of high anxiety in any social situation. Stage fright can also be seen in other situations, like stand up projects and class speeches.
The Top 10 Healthiest Foods you can eat
The Top 10 Healthiest Foods you can eat
The Top 10 Healthiest Foods you can eat, health food is food marketed to provide human health effects beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition.
Foods marketed as health foods may be part of one or more categories, such as natural foods, organic foods, whole foods, vegetarian foods or dietary supplements.
These products may be sold in health food stores or in the health food or organic sections of grocery stores, but some healthy foods are not what is commonly regarded as health foods.
The consequences of an unhealthy diet
The consequences of an unhealthy diet
The consequences of an unhealthy diet – researchers at Virginia Tech have found that veering away from your healthy eating habits for just 5-days could have negative effects on your metabolism and lead to long-term problems like obesity.
The study was particularly small but could be the first step in determining how vacations or family holidays effect the body’s ability to process glucose.
Unhealthy eating is responsible for a plethora of health problems that plague today’s society, and an unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for obesity, nutritional deficiencies and several chronic diseases.
Many people in the developped countries are overfed but undernourished. This means that they eat plenty of food, but the food is often convenience and packaged foods that have been stripped of their nutrients. While this may help keep you full in the short term, it doesn’t provide the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Most vitamins and minerals are found in whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables and lean meats. Neglecting to include these foods in your diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies.
It should come as no surprise that obesity is a major consequence of not eating healthy. With the increasing availability of unhealthy foods and convenience foods also came a rise in both adult and childhood obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7 percent of adults and 17 percent of children are obese. Obesity puts stress on every part of your body and increases your risk of developing major health problems, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, liver disease, infertility and sleep apnea.
Obesity is one cause of Type 2 diabetes, but another is unstable blood sugar levels. When you consume a lot of refined grains and sugar-rich foods, your glucose levels spike and drop repeatedly. Over time, these dramatic changes in your blood sugar levels can lead to insulin resistance, which is characterized by a decreased sensitivity to insulin. If this condition is not corrected, it can advance to Type 2 diabetes.
Unhealthy foods are often high in sodium, fat, cholesterol and sugar. Eating these unhealthy foods on a regular basis can increase your blood pressure as well as your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Over time, high blood pressure and high lipid levels can put a great deal of stress on your heart, increasing your risk for heart attack, stroke and coronary artery disease.
What is assertive communication?
What is assertive communication?
What is assertive communication you may be asking yourself, but wht is assertive communication?
Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive. In the field of psychology and psychotherapy, it is a learnable skill and mode of communication.
Dorland’s Medical Dictionary defines assertiveness as:
- a form of behavior characterized by a confident declaration or affirmation of a statement without need of proof; this affirms the person’s rights or point of view without either aggressively threatening the rights of another (assuming a position of dominance) or submissively permitting another to ignore or deny one’s rights or point of view.
During the second half of the 20th century, assertiveness was increasingly singled out as a behavioral skill taught by many personal development experts, behavior therapists, and cognitive behavioral therapists.
Assertiveness is often linked to self-esteem. The term and concept was popularized to the general public by books such as Your Perfect Right: A Guide to Assertive Behavior (1970) by Robert E. Alberti and Michael L. Emmons and When I Say No, I Feel Guilty: How To Cope Using the Skills of Systematic Assertiveness Therapy (1975) by Manuel J. Smith.
The goals of assertiveness training include:
- increased awareness of personal rights
- differentiation between non-assertiveness and assertiveness
- differentiation between passive–aggressiveness and aggressiveness
- learning both verbal and non-verbal assertiveness skills.
As a communication style and strategy, assertiveness is thus distinguished from both aggression and passivity.
How people deal with personal boundaries, their own and those of other people, helps to distinguish between these three concepts.
Passive communicators do not defend their own personal boundaries and thus allow aggressive people to abuse or manipulate them through fear.
Passive communicators are also typically not likely to risk trying to influence anyone else.
Aggressive people do not respect the personal boundaries of others and thus are liable to harm others while trying to influence them.
A person communicates assertively by overcoming fear of speaking his or her mind or trying to influence others, but doing so in a way that respects the personal boundaries of others.
Assertive people are also willing to defend themselves against aggressive people.
See the full Wiki entry here