Every election season, it seems like everybody threatens to move to Canada if their preferred candidate doesn't win.
But, if Google searches are any indication, 2016 could be the year that people actually go through with it.
On Wednesday, Google reported that searches for "Move to Canada" were higher after the Super Tuesday votes than at any point in Google history.
But why limit relocation options to Canada?
If the thought of being on the same continent as a President Trump is
too much to stomach, there are plenty of other countries that also have
a fairly easy immigration process, decent economies and English as a
widely-spoken language.
Pray for a future America you want to live in. But if that doesn't work, start filing for immigration status.
New Zealand
The open road that leads somewhere where Donald Trump is not president (Wanaka, New Zealand).
Image: cameron spencer / Getty Images
For Americans that are considering deserting their country, New Zealand developed an entire webpage to make leaving as easy as possible.
First, wannabe Kiwis register their interest, then sign up on a website that will tailor an easy-to-follow checklist for each visa application process.
Public healthcare in New Zealand is free or almost free for citizens,
residents or those with two-year work visas. Plus, New Zealand's cities
rated less expensive that most major American cities, even though the standard of living was the same.
Ireland
The road to Dingle via the Connor Pass, a narrow, winding road through rocky glaciated mountains.
Image: john greim / LightRocket / Getty Images
Americans
can stay in Ireland for up to three months without a visa. Any time
longer than that will require going through immigrations.
The immigration process for Ireland is fairly easy — for those who can get a job there.
The only other options are marrying an Irish person, having a baby on
Irish soil, claiming refugee stats (Americans are not refugees), or
becoming a student.
A stroll on the moors is the ideal setting for brooding and cursing America.
Or consider becoming an Irish citizen:
It's easier than you might think. Even just having one
great-grandparent who was born in Ireland and then moved to the states
is qualification enough. Why consider Ireland? The Irish are consistently ranked some of the friendliest people in the world — and Americans that are considering relocating will be in desperate need of friendship. Plus, a stroll on the moors is the ideal setting for brooding and cursing America.
The
classic destination for exasperated Americans, the Great White North
has been inundated with attention this week, and for good reason.
Canada has a very open immigration policy, with an express process for skilled workers. And they seem to be welcoming any and all to the country.
Cape Breton, an island in Nova Scotia, built an entire campaign off the fears of many Americans.
Canada's major cities are not that far removed from American cities, in terms of vibes. But
Canada also offers plenty of wilderness for those need to drop off the
grid for an entire four-year term. Also, immigrants to Canada will get a full year of free access to the country's national parks.
And hey, if Trump does get elected, maybe he'll build a wall on the Canadian border as well! Canadians can only hope.
Svalbard
Image: chris jackson / Getty Images
The unforgiving climate of Svalbard — a territory of Norway — may be more tolerable environment for some than Trump's America.
Also, it's probably the easiest place on Earth to relocate to: "No residence permit or visa is needed to settle on Svalbard," according to the government's pamphlet for foreigners.
However, disgruntled Americans that choose to take up in Svalbard are
not entitled to social services. All residents of Svalbard must be able
to provide for themselves financially and those who cannot may be
"expelled or refused entry into Svalbard." You should also be able to defend yourself against polar bears.
Other than that, everybody who can handle living in the Arctic is welcome.
What Is Kief and Why Is It Stronger Than Regular Marijuana?
Close examination of a marijuana nug reveals it to be
coated in teeny tiny hairs that resemble crystals. These are called
trichomes, according to Leafly.
Trichomes protect the plant against predatory animals, but when dried,
it turns into a resin called kief, that can also deliver a stronger
high.
Trichomes are actually the main producers of cannabinoids —
which is what THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) are —
and terpenes,
which gives cannabis its distinct earthy aroma. When collected, kief is
basically a concentrated form of cannabis, which makes for a more
powerful high, according to Leafly.
People can extract kief in large quantities by rubbing the
plant over silk screens or with dry ice. But for the everyday user,
three-chamber grinders where the kief falls into a separate chamber make
for the easiest extraction.
Most people mix kief into their normal methods of
smoking marijuana flowers, whether that's in a joint or bowl, according
to the Stoner's Cookbook.
The site adds that if you're making cannabutter for edibles, "You also
only have to use 1/2 to 1/3 less than the amount of flowers you would
usually use."
Hash, another popular marijuana product, is essentially kief pressurized and darkened with heat, Leaflyreported.
A radical new study has pin pointed the most compelling locations where we could soon discover intelligent aliens
(screengrab) There are two types of aliens that humans could detect within the next century:
Primitive, microbial life forms within our solar system.
An intelligent, advanced alien race that could turn our entire way of life upside down.
NASA, along with other space agencies around the world, are
making impressive strides toward uncovering the first one — life within
our solar system. But until now, the prospects of finding intelligent ET
have been low.
Two astrophysicists have recently developed a radical new approach
in the search for intelligent alien life, and they say it could help us
discover signals from an advanced alien race – if any exist — within
the next 70 years.
Thinking outside the box
(NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center) Instead
of looking at how humans might detect extraterrestrials, the
researchers studied how extraterrestrials might discover us.
It's possible that aliens might already know Earth exists, contains life, and they're attempting to contact us right now.
The big question, then, is how would they find us?
Admittedly,
it's impossible to know what potential alien scientists are thinking,
but when it comes to the search for distant planets, the options are
limited by the geometry of space. Therefore, it's not ridiculous to
imagine that aliens might discover Earth using the same techniques that
astronomers use here on Earth.
With that in mind, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research astrophysicist René Heller and McMaster University astrophysicist Ralph Pudritz mapped out a narrow band in the night sky of the most likely places we could receive signals from intelligent aliens.
Measuring the brightness of stars
The main method astronomers use to look for exoplanets is to measure the brightness of distant stars.
Exoplanets alone are small and dim, but they make themselves known by passing in front of a star.
When
that happens, the planet blocks out some of the light and the overall
brightness decreases, which astronomers then measure to determine the
planet's size, as shown in the animation below:
While this is an effective planet-hunting approach, it can
only detect a plant as long as the star and exoplanet are along Earth's
line of sight.
As a result, while there may be thousands of exoplanets out there, we may never observe or study many of them.
And
although that's somewhat depressing, Heller and Pudritz realized that
this same limitation applies to any extraterrestrials out there who
might be using the same technique.
Narrowing the search
(Axel Quetz (MPIA) / Axel Mellinger, Central Michigan University) Going
from that notion, they reversed the scenario that we use to hunt for
aliens and instead plotted where in the sky distant observers could
witness Earth passing in front of our Sun.
It turns out that it's
a relatively small area (labeled in the diagram above as "Earth's
Transit Zone), about two thousandths the size of the entire sky. That
already narrows the search quite a bit, but Heller and Pudrtiz went one
step farther.
They looked at all of the stars within that area
similar to our Sun — since some think the best chances for the evolution
of intelligent life is around Sun-like stars. They found 82 stars,
which can now serve as a useful catalogue for SETI initiatives.
"The key point of this strategy is that it confines the search area to a very small part of the sky," Heller said in a press release.
"As a consequence, it might take us less than a human life span [about
70 years] to find out whether or not there are extraterrestrial
astronomers who have found the Earth."
NOW WATCH: Scientists just discovered 883 galaxies that have been hiding in plain sight
It looks like the First Family will extend their stay
in the nation’s capital once President Barack Obama ends his historic
term. According to USA TODAY,
the leader of the free world and his family will stay in Washington,
D.C. until their youngest daughter, Sasha Obama, finishes her studies at
Sidwell Friends School.
During a stop in Milwaukee, Mr. Obama said, “We’re
going to have to stay a couple of years so Sasha can finish.
Transferring someone in the middle of high school — tough.”
Dating back to an interview in 2013 with Barbara
Walters, Obama also said that Sasha would solely remain the deciding
factor in where they decide to move following the end of his presidency.
“We gotta make sure that she’s doing well,” he said. “Sasha will have a
big say in where we are.”
We may not have the dynamic family within the
confines of The White House next year, but at least we know they’ll
still be close to their former stomping grounds in case you run into
them walking their dogs on the National Mall or enjoying nature’s gifts
during the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Read the shocking letter sent to the rap mogul and his attorneys.
Splash News
Jay Z‘s legal team has just been delivered a shocking blow in the heated battle over rumors he fathered a love child, RadarOnline.com has learned. Will this be the last straw for his marriage to Beyonce?
Radar has obtained an exclusive letter the President of the Families Civil Liberties Union, Gregory T. Roberts,
wrote to the 46-year-rap mogul’s legal defense team. Roberts slams the
rapper’s attorneys for not forcing him to take a DNA test proving
whether he fathered a secret son, Rymir Satterthwaite.
Roberts wrote, “If Jay Z is innocent, I’m curious why you don’t advise him to take the paternity test
rather than create false battles and artificial conflict with an
upstanding not-for-profit. I have been 100% cooperative with you.”
“In turn, you seem determined to create a frivolous legal blizzard of
subpoenas in a futile attempt to find some hidden treasure trove of
information that we don’t have.”
“This case … appears to involve a politically connected law firm that
leverages the legal system as a sword and, through cozy relations with
judges and politicians, receives a sweetheart deal that denies the legal
rights of others,” Roberts alleged.
As Radar was the first to report, Jay Z has been dodging having to take a paternity test brought on by Satterthwaite, guardian Lillie Collie and the now-22-year-old’s mother Wanda, who is said to have dated the rapper over two decades ago. PHOTOS: Legitimate Son? Jay Z & Alleged Love Child Are Almost ‘Identical,’ Doctor Says — 10 Pics Of Their ‘Similar’ Features
Last week, the FCLU championed the case in hopes of proving that Jay
Z’s legal team not only worked in collusion with the local court system,
but also violated their 14th amendment rights.
Robert concluded, “Like Beyonce, who stands against police officers who overstep their power, we stand against lawyers who seek an unfair advantage
with friendly judges and legally abuse adversaries seeking fairness in
the judicial system. Only you can know if you fall into that category.
If you do think you are in that category, we (of course) would hate to
find Jay-Z falling victim to a predatory lawyer using him for his
money.”
The case – which started in 2010 – is currently in the federal court system and under FBI investigation. Story Developing…
EXPLORE THIS STORY
Do you think that Jay Z is the father of Rymir Satterthwaite? Tell us your thoughts below.
There is intense anticipation in the Catholic Church — and no small
amount of anxiety for traditionalists — over what Pope Francis will say
about Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics in a key document
expected in the coming weeks.
But Francis has already made an
intriguing change in this area, albeit one that only concerns the
Vatican’s arcane diplomatic protocol and a very, very select group:
Catholic heads of state.
As longtime Vatican-watcher Andrea
Tornielli reports, the pontiff has altered the long-standing Vatican
custom that if a Catholic president or prime minister (or dictator) who
is divorced and remarried without an annulment visits the pope with his
or her spouse, the pope will meet with the head of state first and then
later greet the spouse — who is usually waiting ensconced in an
anteroom.
“From now on,” Tornielli writes, “Catholic heads of
state in irregular marital unions will be able to meet the pope along
with their spouse and the latter will also be able to appear in official
group photos when gifts are exchanged.”
Tornielli said Francis
asked for the change — first reported by Argentine journalist Elisabetta
Pique — two years ago when an unnamed Latin American head of state who
had married his wife in a civil ceremony met the pope, who then greeted
the wife in a separate location.
The new protocol was
used for the first time last Saturday (Feb. 27) for another Latin
American head of state, the new president of Francis’ native Argentina,
Mauricio Macri, and his third wife, Juliana Awada.
It’s saddening to see many of my students’ struggle with loved ones
while they themselves experience transformation and joy as a result of
our courses or coaching. Everyone’s on their own journey, it’s just
still hard to watch.
So many people have partners that are not on the same path when it
comes to learning, growing, goals, intentions, etc., and especially
personal development. It’s very tough. This is a huge challenge for
many.
One of the things I say to people about our courses and programs is,
“I know for an absolute 1,000% fact that we can change your life. Let us
teach you, do what we teach, and it’ll work.”
What I can’t control is your environment and who’s around
you; the people that are trying to drag you back down from what we
build. It’s a very hard problem for us in our business. It’s like we’re
throwing you the life preserver and pulling you in, but there’s a
crocodile that keeps on trying to pull you down underneath the water.
Remember, environment is stronger than willpower.
It’s easy for a person that’s not doing what you’re doing–and who
sees some change in you–to try to bring you back down to their level so
that they don’t feel bad about themselves being lower. Instead of being
happy for you, they’re thinking, “It’s easier to bring you back down to
my level than for me to try to get up to yours.” “You know what you’re doing is really useless. I don’t know what
those courses are all about. That doesn’t work anyway. What are you
trying to do, ruin our relationship? Who do you think you are anyhow?
Who do you think you’re going to be, the next Rockefeller?”
They’ve got all these ways of trying to diss you, criticize you and demonize you. All that is one word—fear.
It’s fear that they’re going to lose you; fear that they’re not good
enough anymore; and fear that they don’t feel good about themselves
anymore in comparison to you.
I used to have one student, believe it or not, whose husband got ill
every time there happened to be a course coming up. It was unbelievable.
After three courses, I said, “This is an old story. What’s with your
husband?” She said, “I don’t know. He just happens to be ill.”
I advised her to confront him. She did, telling him that she didn’t
believe for a moment that he was doing this intentionally, and she was
right. He didn’t know why either.
The fourth time, guess what happened? He got sick again, she hired
someone to come over and stay with him, and she came to the course. Lo
and behold, he never got sick again. It was all subconscious.
The bottom line is to not let yourself be taken down. How do you do that? First, do not argue with them. Just say,
“Okay. I understand your point. Thank you for sharing that,” and then
just keep going. Keep participating in programs and keep doing what
you’re doing. Second, invite them, but don’t pressure them. Invite them in a way that makes them want to come. Don’t convince them.
Offer or ask for it as a birthday present! “I want–for my birthday–for you and I to go to a training together. Would you do that for me?”
They’re not going to say no whether you offer it as a present or ask
for it as a present. Works as fantastic gifts for kids too!
Your loved ones will be doing it for you. They’re not even thinking
about what they’re going to learn. They’re just going to negate that,
but then when they get there, they might resonate with it.
Or maybe not, but there’s always a shot.
The point is this kind of conflict comes up all the time among my
students. It can become a tremendous source of anxiety and tension,
especially if the relationship is already tense (quite often around …
you guessed it, money!).
No one wants to have to consider hurting or risking isolation from
their love ones, especially when we know we have to keep on pursuing our
growth no matter what. With these two simple tools in mind, you don’t
have to.
Share your journey with your loved ones and prosper together!
This story is all too familiar. Give us yours. We want to hear from you!
Here’s the perfect program to participate in with a loved one.
It’s simple, doable, NOT time consuming, and A LOT of fun.
You can come as my guest for FREE.
What do you dread at work? Maybe it’s filling out
expense reports. Making a cold call to a sales lead. Giving a
long-delayed performance review to T.J. (aka “the Crier”). You dread it,
you avoid it, you procrastinate. You check out Google News instead.
There’s a way out of this cycle, and it comes from self-help books.
(We read them so you don’t have to.) Start by thinking about
housecleaning, the most unpleasant part of our everyday existence, other
than forwarded kitten emails. Here’s a surefire way to fight chore
inertia. It’s called the 5-Minute Room Rescue, and it
was proposed by the FlyLady, a “home executive” turned organization
guru. You set a kitchen timer to five minutes. Then you rush to the
dirtiest room in your house — the one you’d never let a guest see — and,
as the timer ticks down, you start clearing a path. When the timer
finally buzzes, you can stop with a clear conscience. Doesn’t sound so
bad, does it?
The trick, of course, is that the dread is always worse than the thing that’s dreaded.
So once you start cleaning house, you probably won’t stop at five
minutes, especially when you see progress. You’ll get Big Mo on your
side — or at least Big Mop — and an hour later, things will look great.
By scaling down the goal — just five minutes! — you can overcome your
own inertia.
In One Small Step Can Change Your Life, Dr. Robert Maurer of
UCLA’s School of Medicine writes about his patient Julie, a divorced
mother of two, who was 30 pounds overweight, depressed, and fatigued. He
knew that the solution to her problems was exercise. He also knew that
talking about thrice-weekly aerobics was likely to get him slapped. So
he gave her a challenge: “How about if you just march in place in front
of the television, each day, for one minute?”
That was the kick start she needed. One minute of low-intensity
exercise did nothing to improve her health but everything to improve her
attitude. When she came back for her next visit, she asked, “What else
can I do with a minute a day?” Within a few months, as Dr. Maurer slowly
stepped up Julie’s challenges, her resistance to a serious exercise
program disappeared.
We’re all used to hearing about stretch goals, and when you feel
empowered, stretch goals are useful ambition teasers. But when you feel
overwhelmed, stretch goals are a recipe for paralysis. Michael Phelps
needed a stretch goal. Julie needed a whisker goal, a target that was a
hairsbreadth away from the status quo. We need these more modest steps
because they help us get past the “startup costs” — the apprehension and
fear — that deter us from doing the tasks we hate.
Ken Blanchard, author of the classic The One Minute Manager,
knew that managers hated having to give feedback to employees. So he
gave managers a whisker goal that he called “one-minute praisings.” He
pointed out that most managers put off giving feedback until something
goes very wrong, and then they swoop in with criticism. He called it
“seagull management”: Managers fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on
everyone, and then fly out. He challenged managers to give frequent,
quickie assessments. Concentrate on catching your employees doing
something right, he counseled, and then reinforce it with immediate,
specific praise.
Whisker goals are particularly well suited to our current moment.
Adversity taps our strength. When you’ve just laid off someone, it feels
like too much to bear to offer constructive criticism to another
employee. When you’ve given up your bonus and had your budget cut, it
feels like too much to consider going back for that master’s degree. In
hard times, we retrench. We maintain. We certainly don’t stretch.
But retrenchment is the wrong response to adversity. Adversity calls
for change, and change doesn’t arrive via a miracle: It arrives via a
kick start. During World War II, the government needed to orchestrate a
massive increase in industrial production at the exact same time as its
most talented industrial minds were being called away to fight.
Government officials trained new people to look for tiny steps forward,
not big leaps. A training manual advised workers to “look for hundreds
of small things you can improve. Don’t try to plan a whole new
department layout — or go after a big new installation of new equipment.
There isn’t time for these major items. Look for improvements on
existing jobs with your present equipment.”
Change can start with small measures, and it can be rewarded with
small prizes. Maurer cites a Toyota employee-suggestion program. The
carmaker receives 1.5 million employee suggestions every year, and it
holds an annual awards ceremony to celebrate the single best idea. The
lucky employee gets a fountain pen. (Lehman Brothers handed out
million-dollar bonuses. How’d that work out?)
Dread and inertia are the enemy. But you have a powerful ally: the kitchen timer. Set it for five minutes and get to work clearing a path.
“People don’t
plan to fail, they just fail to plan.” In a survey of 1,100 executives,
more than 80 percent said they were dissatisfied with their career
progress and level of effectiveness. Why? They lacked the planning
skills to aim for and achieve reasonable, attainable goals.
Planning is central to the attainment of all goals. It’s true for
short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals, as well as those of either
a personal or professional development nature. And, needless to say, an
individual’s effectiveness at planning often has great impact on that
individual’s effectiveness at achieving goals.
But despite the importance of planning, many managers shy away from
it, believing it requires too much time. (And yet, somewhat ironically,
these same managers are often the ones called upon to help create
five-year plans for their companies!) Planning does take some time, but
it needn’t be excessive if approached correctly. In fact, when done
effectively, planning represents time well spent in that the “benefits”
well exceed the “costs”. What Planning Is and Isn’t
Perhaps some common misconceptions of what a plan is and what it does
have caused many people to shy away from the planning process. First,
planning is not deciding each step in detail in advance and then blindly
following through. Nor is it taking a leisurely stroll through the mind
in hopes of coming up with a loosely connected stream of thoughts.
Good planning lies somewhere in between these extremes. What’s more, a
good plan should be looked on as a means for achieving goals, not as an
end in itself. As Eisenhower once put it, “Plans are nothing, but
planning is everything”. While it’s impossible to completely avoid
crises and unexpected events either in business or in your personal
life, you should still try to plan as much as you can. Good planning
pays off by creating direction, excitement, and motivation. It also
increases your ability to manage those around you. Turning Goals Into Action
A key consideration in effective planning is learning how to
transform goals into attainable steps (actions). Many businesspeople
have trouble with this; consequently, many of their goals (especially
long-term goals) may never get addressed adequately (or at all).
However, there is hope. By developing effective monthly, weekly and
daily plans, businesspeople can more clearly see the attainable steps
needed to fulfill their goals. And there are several approaches that can
be used for this. One simple four-step method for converting goals into
actions includes:
Pinpoint intermediate “target” to hit.
Decide on tangible measures to identify when each “target” has been reached.
Create a plan to reach those tangible measures.
Break the plan down into daily actions.
A similar way to transform goals into a workable plan of action is
with “planning inventory.” First, list five major goals you’d like to
achieve in your lifetime either regarding your business or personal
life. Select the goal you’d like to achieve first. Next, identify the
steps you must take to reach that goal, moving in chronological order.
Finally, break down the first step into one-day tasks you can
accomplish. Subsequent steps can be used to develop subsequent daily
plans.
What you can realistically hope to attain each day is a matter for
your own judgment. But you can make it easier by regularly referring to
your planning inventory, and carefully assessing the tasks that go into
the steps needed for achieving each goal. In a sense, these steps are
interim targets, and they provide a good measure of your progress. The Planning Process
The more often you plan, the better and more comprehensive those
plans will become. As much as possible, try to integrate your
short-term,, medium-term, and long-term goals. The following process,
which details planning at all levels, can help bring all those goals
together. Step 1: Yearly planning. The best way to find time
for important but easy-to-delay tasks is to include those chores in your
annual “time budget”. Start by making a yearly plan that includes the
long-range projects enough time so that you can make steady progress
toward completing them. Then assign specific dates so you know when to
work on these projects, what you will accomplish each time you work on
them and how much time you’ll need. Mark those target dates in your
calendar, and don’t break them! Keep the plan close at hand so you can
easily check your rate of progress. Step 2: Monthly planning. At the end of each month,
take an hour to decide what you want to accomplish over the next month.
Decide on plans for reaching those goals on a week-to-week basis.
Include items from your list of long-range goals. Step 3: Weekly planning. Every week, decide and list
what tasks you want to accomplish; the priorities for each task; ant
the time, effort and materials required to complete each task. Once a
week (Friday is best), select the goals for the following week, and work
up a plan for reaching those goals. Break the upcoming week’s goals
down into lists of daily objectives, and detail these objectives on
daily “to do” lists. Step 4: Daily planning. Use the same procedure you
used for weekly planning to sketch out each day. Start on the
highest-priority task, working at it until you have finished it or can’t
go any further. Then move on to the task with the next-highest
priority. Be sure to leave 25-50 percent of you day unscheduled.
Unexpected tasks or emergencies may arise that require you immediate
attention. These types of top-priority tasks generally can’t be put off. Planning Aids
Many types of planning aids are available to help keep you on course.
In addition, they can often help you manage an abundance of other
information. Examples include pocket planning books, electronic
planners, computer programs, simple “to do” lists and wall charts.
Rather than going overboard and buying the whole nine yards, you
should examine each of these options carefully. Then choose the one that
best fits your needs. Some people are happy with traditional pocket
diaries, while others swear by the new electronic time management
gadgets. Businesspeople who spend much time in their offices often opt
for time management programs they can use on their computers. In any
event, pick a planner based on your needs, and if it doesn’t work, try
something else.
Whatever method you choose to log tasks, make sure you maintain your
list! Little is gained if you buy a fancy notebook, mark down all of the
next month’s projects and then forget about everything three weeks
later! As the days and weeks pass, add or subtract items according to
your needs and available time. Starting a “To Do” List
A “to do” list, whether kept in a notebook or an electronic planner,
is the key component of any time management planning method. Get in the
habit of writing down what you want to accomplish. The 5 or 10 minutes
you spend making out this list will help you reap enormous time
management and productivity benefits.
First, make up a list of all the tasks you need to complete in the
next week. Then develop priorities for the tasks on this list. As
needed, include notations of calls to make, people to see, letter and
reports to write, deadlines, assignments and priorities.
Of course, the most important items on this list are the tasks that
need to be done that day. Make sure these tasks receive that highest
priority! Include the deadlines for those tasks, as well as the
estimated time it will take to complete the work and notations of any
special requirements (“write a summary memo,” “send by overnight
courier,” etc.).
Write out the list first thing in the morning or at the end of the
previous workday. The latter generally works better, because you can
arrive at work knowing what needs to be done. It’s a great way to help
reduce stress.
The list can be as detailed or simple, as creative or straightforward
as you like, although a certain amount of detail helps avoid confusion
later. If a list merely says “Make follow-up call,” with no further
elaboration, you may wonder hours later who it is you’re suppose to
call! Some list keepers even go so far as to write the phone numbers of
the people they’re supposed to call, to save time on having to look up
the numbers later.
Periodically, consult the week’s master list of things to do, and
update it as needed to reflect any relevant changes, such as that
pressing new project that’s just been handed to you. But keep in mind a
word of caution: Don’t get caught in an “activity trap,” wherein you’re
doing tasks just to keep busy. Schedule some time for some of the
less-tangible tasks that are hard to define – improving your work,
planning for the long-term, developing creative ideas – and may be easy
to put off. Organizing Priorities
The key to managing time is setting, starting and then finishing
high-priority tasks. But how do you determine which tasks fall under
that heading? The trick is to develop a ranking system:
“A” tasks have a high level of importance. They must be completed right away or by day’s end.
“B” tasks are of moderate importance. They should be done sometime, but not necessarily right away.
“C” tasks are of low-level importance. It would be
nice to finish them, but getting them done isn’t essential. They can
often be skipped or delegated.
According to Pareto’s Principle, 80 percent of the value or benefits
will come from 20 percent of the activities you do. That’s why it’s
important to set priorities and tackle the vital projects first. When
setting priorities, determine which activities have the greatest effect
on profits or success, and place them first. Focus on results, not
activities. Don’t become so involved in finishing tasks or “busy work”
that you lose sight of the real priority – completing high-payoff tasks.
One of the benefits of keeping this type of list is the satisfaction
of crossing off each of item. Remember, a simple check mark or line
drawn through each item is better than marking it into oblivion; you may
want to look back at the list to see what you’ve accomplished (this
will help you improve your ability to estimate time requirements for
future projects). But, perhaps most important, ending the day with a
list that is pretty well crossed off provides a great lift – and a great
sense of accomplishment.
I know some people prefer video to workbooks so I have turned the free training on how to set
yourself up to succeed into a free training video for you.
Think
of it almost like doing a mini-workshop together. In the video I guide
you step by step through a process that will set you up to achieve the
goals and results you really want to create.
Click the link below to watch
the free training video:
If
you have any questions at all or want any help implementing this, shoot
me an email and let me know your questions. Happy to help if I can.
Enjoy the free training video.
My very best wishes to
you.
Ali
P.S.
I will be hosting more free training very soon via a webinar on
strategies to clear your path of the things that drain your time, energy
and get in the way of the life and results you really want. Watch out
for the email next week to register for that free online
training event.
Members of the Hausa and Yoruba community in Mile 12 /Ketu area of Lagos state have been fighting since last night.
A school in the area has been razed with unconfirmed reports
indicating that up to six people have been killed and some policemen
have also been injured in the riot.
However police and other law enforcement agents have arrived the area
and are trying to restore law and order. Some arrest have been made.
Members of the Hausa and Yoruba community in Mile 12 /Ketu area of Lagos state have been fighting since last night.
A school in the area has been razed with unconfirmed reports
indicating that up to six people have been killed and some policemen
have also been injured in the riot.
However police and other law enforcement agents have arrived the area
and are trying to restore law and order. Some arrest have been made.
Our correspondent gathered that the riot started as a result of an ethnic clash between the Yoruba and Hausa folks.
Actress Omotola
Jalade-Ekeinde’s beautiful daughter, Meraiah has become a woman and is
fast becoming as pretty as her mom during her teenage years.The mother-daughter stepped out looking radiantly beautiful at a
recent event where they were pictured and they looked totally adorable.
A Illinois mother is speaking out about her 22-year-old transgender
daughter who took her own life two weeks ago ago by ingesting lethal
"pong pong" seeds that she purchased online for $5.
Lucia Anderson, of Calumet City, bought the mysterious
seeds, which come from a native Southeast Asia plant called cerbera
odollam, from an e-commerce website, according to her mother, Natosha
Anderson.
They often go undetected in toxicology reports, so
statistical data on the number of suicides caused by the seeds is hard
to determine.
"[Lucia] had just come out a few months ago as a woman,
she was being bullied online after coming out on the [Internet], and it
wasn't going the way she thought it would," Anderson, 40, tells PEOPLE.
"My last words to her were, 'You're going to be fine,' and then I
watched my kid die."
The killer pods, which are available for purchase on
various wholesale sites, cause a prolonged and painful death by inducing
complete heart block within hours of ingestion – deriving the apt
nickname "suicide seeds," by Internet users.
"[Lucia] was laying on the bathroom floor and vomiting,"
Anderson says. "At first, I thought she was sick, but then she said
that she had taken a pong bean, which I had never heard of."
Anderson was rushed to Franciscan St. Margaret
Health in Hammond, Indiana, on February 15, where she died the same day,
police confirms to PEOPLE.
"I'm still lost and it's just a piece of me, but
I think it's important for people to be aware of this and just be aware
of your kids," says Anderson. "You feel like you're the closest thing –
you think you would see something, but people who are depressed, they
have a good way of hiding things."
This is so hard... I've been in Bernard's life since 4yrs old...
He was 22yrs old and gone too soon. All I can do is sit back and ask
myself is there more I could've done, could I have been there more to
talk to him or something. This spirit of suicide is real and you really
don't know what a person is dealing with or going through... I'm just
looking at these Prom Pictures of him and his sister and their dates
going on Prom.... He was so happy to go on Prom. I love and miss this
dude like crazy. I don't call him stepson, this was my son and it hurts
like hell... I pray for Nana.... No one knows how she really feels to
lose her first born... later today is the funeral and I just want to say
please pray for us.... Love you Bernard McCalip
Posted by
Troy T-faulk Faulkner on Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Experts say they are worried about the accessibility of "suicide seeds" online.
"Something like this has the potential to spread
like wildfire," Indiana Poison Center medical director Dr. Daniel E.
Rusyniak tells PEOPLE. "I get worried, because you get something like
this that has the potential to become an phenomenon."
The latest labor market reckoning out from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics Friday showed stronger than anticipated job growth and signs
that discouraged workers are not only jumping back in the game but also
finding work quickly when they do. Wages proved a weak point in
February, but most economists don’t yet see the dip as cause for
concern.
The new data shows employers in the United States adding 242,000 jobs
last month. The BLS report also shows the unemployment rate at 4.9%,
maintaining the eight-year low it first hit in January. Economists had
been calling for around 200,000 payroll additions in February and for the unemployment rate remain steady.
Revisions to payroll counts from December and January
were also net positive. The gain for January, first recorded at a light
151,000, was revised up to 172,000. Meanwhile the December count was
revised higher to plus 271,000 from the most recent reading of
262,000. Net total job gains in December and January were therefore
30,000 higher than what BLS previously reported. Monthly job gains over
the past three months have averaged 228,000.
“Today’s jobs report revealed strong gains for the U.S. workforce,
but more importantly, the data shows there’s room for this labor market
to grow,” noted Tara Sinclair, chief economist for job site Indeed, in
comments emailed following the report. “Employers added a robust 242,000
jobs, but with essentially zero wage gains amid strong demand. In this
environment, there’s definitely potential to bring more people off the
sidelines if wages increase more.” Average hourly earnings down by 3 cents in February to $25.35,
after gaining 12 cents in January. While the labor force participation
rate was 62.9%, up from 62.7% last month. Since September the measure
has increased by 0.5%, as has the employment-population ratio, which now
stands at 59.8%. At the end of February 7.8 million Americans were
unemployed, the same number as in January but down
831,000 year-over-year. In February there were 599,000 discouraged
workers — people not currently looking for work because they don’t
believe jobs are available for them and therefore are not considered
unemployed — which is down by 133,000 from a year earlier.
Thee U-6 rate, which measures under-employment, came in at 9.7% in February down from 9.9% January and from 11% a year ago.
Investors, at first glance, took the data as good news, maintaining
positive stock momentum from earlier in the morning and week. Futures
pointed higher Friday morning with the S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones
Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite each up between 0.4% and 0.6% in
the first moments after the 8:30 a.m. release.
A Nigerian man is facing federal charges in the U.S for preying on
and targeting hundreds of them including residents of the St. Louis
area, using fake dating profiles in order to extort money from them.
Olayinka Ilumsa Sunmola, 32, on Wednesday, March 2, pleaded guilty to
eight counts of a federal indictment and admitted that he was the
ringleader of a group that successfully wooed hundreds of women online,
then convinced them to send cash to bail him out of phony emergencies.. Sunmola seduced women online by creating fake online profiles
using photos and names of real American men, including claiming to a
former U.S. soldier. He sent flowers, candies, stuffed animals and more
to his victims, conning them into believing that each was his true love.
Once the women were convinced of his love for them, he would request
money from them claiming phony emergencies. Some of the women sent
thousands of dollars.
The victims were not named but lived around the country, including in
Mascoutah and Bond County in Illinois and St. Charles and St. Louis
counties in Missouri.
In one case, Sunmola tricked one woman into cashing counterfeit or
stolen traveler’s checks. She contemplated suicide when arrested. He
lured another into performing sexual acts, which he recorded via webcam,
they said. He then threatened to ruin her life by publishing the
recordings online if she didn’t send him cash, warning that by the time
he was done with her she would want to kill herself. A Bond County woman bought electronics and shipped them to
Sunmola, reshipped items he’d bought using stolen credit card
information and took out cash advances on a credit card, forcing herself
into bankruptcy with debts of at least $98,000, the indictment claims.
The investigation included the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the
Federal Trade Commission, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S.
Secret Service and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, as well as
South African officials, who investigated Sunmola’s activities there and
started forfeiture proceedings for his assets there.
Sunmola was indicted in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis in 2013
on mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and interstate extortion
charges. He was arrested in August 2014 by Scotland Yard as he was about
to board a flight from London to South Africa, then extradited here to
face the charges.
“Basically, the evidence established that Sunmola, a citizen of the
federal Republic of Nigeria, was a ringleader of a criminal organization
operating withing South Africa that targeted and stole from hundreds of
women across the United States,” Acting United States Attorney James
Porter stated.
“Our office will continue to pursue justice for these victims in
Sunmola’s prison sentence and in our never-ending efforts to get
restitution.” Porter added.
Sentencing has been set for June 17, 2016. Sunmola could get up to 127 years and a fine of $250,000 for each counts he faces.
Dear Carolyn: Our wonderful, beautiful daughter is
living at home to save money, studying to be a pharmacist, earning
straight A’s. She also works 30 hours per week as a technician in her
field. She is intelligent and hardworking, a nice person with a great
sense of humor, too. My husband and I could not be happier with her.
Unfortunately,
my mother-in-law (“Milly”) does not feel the same way. She had her
heart set on Daughter following a different career path, and is deeply
disappointed. Even more unfortunate, Milly lacks a filter. So, Milly
introduces Daughter as “my granddaughter, the drug dealer,” with no hint
that it is a joke, makes frequent comments about Daughter being “too
dumb” for Milly’s preferred field, and tells her to just drop out of
school since she is going to get pregnant and have to quit anyway.
My daughter resents it, but is polite toward her grandmother.
Milly
lives a three-hour drive from us. We visit regularly, though not as
often as Milly would like, and sometimes we meet halfway for lunch.
Our
daughter goes along for the short visits but avoids longer trips,
though she goes sometimes out of respect for her father and me. I am
sympathetic: If Milly wants a closer relationship, then it is on her to
learn to shut up. All three of us have talked to Milly about it, and she
knows what the problem is.
My husband, however, is really upset.
He says this is how she always has been, and she is never going to
change (agreed). He says, “The old bag isn’t going to live forever.” He
feels that Daughter needs to be there for every visit. He is applying a
lot of pressure, including threats to cut off financial help toward
schooling.
It is getting uncomfortable around here. How can we handle this? — Mom
Dear Mom: With a nest soon emptying and an exchange
of vows between you, you and your husband have standing to prioritize
your own relationship when facing difficult choices.
However,
Milly’s behavior is so obnoxious and uncalled-for, and your
responsibility as a parent so fundamental, and your daughter’s behavior
so exemplary — she still visits her verbal abuser, in deference to her
parents! — that justice demands standing up for your daughter.
Your
husband’s willingness to withhold tuition suggests he has more Milly in
him than any of you would like to admit. Note the pattern of expecting
people to behave as you want them to, and punishing disobedience
sharply. So, your daughter doesn’t become the doctor (right?) that Milly
expected, then takes Milly’s verbal abuse for it. Your daughter doesn’t
play the attentive granddaughter as her dad expects, then feels Dad’s
wrath for it.
Milly and your husband both need a gifted therapist.
But lacking Jeannie power to blink them there, I can only advise you
to represent sanity and pragmatism. Tell your husband, gently, that his
tuition threat is a page from Milly’s playbook — assuming he’s rational
and kind enough not to punish such truth-telling.
More important:
Tell your daughter she’s entitled to protect herself here, however she
defines this protection; how much she resists Dad, at what cost, is her
call.
Your job is to decide how far you’ll go to protect her, then promise her you’ll do just that.
The Coronation ceremony of the new Olubadan of Ibadan is taking place today and is still on-going, the new Olu, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji has been coronated and the ceremony has several a-list guests in attendance.
Present at the coronation ceremony include Ekiti state governor
Ayo Fayose, Lagos state governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his Oyo state
counterpart Abiola Ajimobi, Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, Ooni of Ife
Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi and APC National leader Bola Tinubu.
Snapchat just picked up more money–and a warning sign along with it. A report on Thursday from The Wall Street Journal
says Snapchat has raised $175 million in new funding from mutual fund
giant Fidelity. Under normal circumstances, such large fundraising would
be heralded. But in this new less-bubbly environment for billion-dollar
“Unicorn” tech startups, it represents a slowdown.
This Fidelity investment, if it is the full funding round, would be
much less than Snapchat has raised in the past–including over $500
million in May 2015. The $175 million injection also apparently comes at
a $16 billion valuation, flat from last year.
Snapchat has been one of the top examples of Silicon Valley startups
exploding into huge valuations despite little in the way of revenue. Its
first seed round was just four years ago, and it only began expanding
advertising options on its video and photo-sharing app recently.
Other startups may feel the pain of Snapchat’s flat round soon
enough. If Snapchat, which has previously raised more than $1 billion
from investors, is now affected by the weak venture markets, other
companies with less sterling reputations will likely be impacted in more
significant ways.
The nanny who allegedly murdered a 4-year-old girl and then paraded
through Moscow with her severed head has said she murdered the child to
avenge the deaths of Muslims in Syria killed by Russian airstrikes. Bobokulova has been in the custody of Russian law enforcement since her
arrest on Monday and appeared in court in Moscow on Wednesday. She is
seen in the video wearing the same black and blue clothes she had during
her court appearance, when she reportedly told a reporter that "Allah
ordered" her to kill.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Monday
that her remarks should be regarded as those of someone who is mentally
unwell, Reuters reported.
"You need to regard anything that such a deranged woman says accordingly," Peskov said.
Russian state TV channels, typically known for broadcasting sensational and often gory stories, have chosen not to report on the killing.
But Russian online news outlets have. In an interview with Gazeta.ru,
the father of the murdered girl, named Nastya, says Bobokulova had
never worked as a nanny before he hired her. He also said he did not
recall her ever being devoutly religious and claimed his daughter was
frightened by her.
The Gazeta.ru report also detailed Bobokulova's history and
painted her as a mentally troubled divorced mother of three sons who had
been in and out of psychiatric hospitals before coming to Moscow.
Bobokulova was wearing all black and waving the little girl's severed
head while shouting in Russian "I'm a terrorist! I want your death!"
before police detained her outside the Oktyabrskoe Pole metro station in
northwest Moscow on Monday.
Police were criticized for taking more than 20 minutes to grab her,
allowing time for several onlookers to film and upload disturbing videos
of the incident.
Russian investigators said Bobokulova used a knife to decapitate the
girl before setting fire to the family's apartment and fleeing the scene
with the child's head.
When Crystal Kelley met the couple she ended up being a surrogate for in 2011, she says she felt an immediate connection.
"They
offered to come and meet me near my home," Kelley, 33, of Vernon,
Connecticut, tells PEOPLE. "It was very nice when we met. I really liked
them." After spending time with the couple and their three kids at a
nearby playground, Kelley says it was obvious that the couple loved
their children. "They were interactive with their kids," says Kelley.
"Their father was playing with them and they were all having a great
time. Their mom and I were just standing to the side watching them and
she couldn't stop smiling." Afterwards, they sat down and talked about why the couple wanted to find a surrogate mother.
"She teared up," says Kelley. "She was very emotional as she talked
about how they only had two embryos left and they were reaching the end
of their five-year storage time and they had to make the decision very
soon whether they were going to keep them or get rid of them." (The
couple had used an anonymous egg donor.) Kelley says she immediately saw "the emotions in her eyes."
Later that night, Kelley sent the agent for her surrogacy an email
saying that she loved the couple and would be more than happy to carry
for them.
An Absolute Nightmare
That blissful vision was short-lived.
While going over the contract, something about the abortion clause didn't sit well with Kelley. "Originally, it said [the parents] could ask for an abortion at any time and for any reason," she says.
Kelley wanted the clause taken out altogether, but settled with abortion
only being an option if the baby had a severe fetal abnormality
determined by 3D ultrasound. "I thought there was such a small chance
that anything was going to happen," she says. "I absolutely regret that.
It's tough to think back on." Kelley learned she was pregnant eight
days after she had the embryo transfer. The mother would call her almost
every day and send her texts and emails. "They would say, 'We're so excited. Do you think it's a boy or girl?' "
At 18 weeks pregnant, Kelley learned the baby was a girl after an
ultrasound. The mother, who already had two boys and one girl, was over
the moon. They were also told that they couldn't see the baby's heart
well enough, and to come back for another ultrasound two weeks later. It was then that "everything started to fall apart," she says.
When the follow-up ultrasound revealed troubling results, Kelley
received a call from the mother, who had already learned that the baby
had a possible heart defect. "She called and said, 'My husband and I
have really thought about this and discussed it. We have had preemies
and we know what challenges preemies face and we really don't want to
bring another disabled baby into the world.' "That was when I started to
get really worried. I'm standing outside in the sun and then all of a
sudden I got cold and clammy," she recalls. "It was all of a sudden,
like everything switched. I told her, 'Let's remember we talked about
this. I'm not willing to terminate a pregnancy for a child with a
disability. I'm not terminating the pregnancy unless the baby is going
to die.' "
On Her Own
Four days later, Kelley had another ultrasound, which confirmed what had been detected the week before.
The
baby not only had a heart defect, but ultrasound technicians couldn't
locate the fetus' stomach and also learned she had a cleft lip. While
Kelley was ready to get further tests, she says the parents made it
clear they didn't want to move forward with the pregnancy. "They said
they didn't think it was the direction they wanted to go and that they
didn't want to continue this knowing this child is going to be born and
is going to suffer," she remembers. Kelley says she told them, "You
don't know that she is going to suffer. You don't know yet what's really
going on. All we have is this ultrasound and the one before, which
doesn't really give us any answers." Kelley already had a daughter of
her own who had fully recovered from heart surgery and wanted to give
this baby the same chance. "My daughter is happy, healthy and absolutely
full of energy. You look at her and you can't tell that there was
anything was ever wrong with her," she says. "So I wasn't just going to
give up on this baby." After that conversation, Kelley never saw or spoke to the parents again. All correspondence was through the agent or a lawyer, who told her she was "obligated to terminate this pregnancy immediately."
At that point, Kelley was just a few weeks away from being 24 weeks
pregnant. After that, she couldn't legally abort the pregnancy. When she sat down with a lawyer who asked her if she would consider having an abortion, she confidently told him, "no."
"I told him that I'm not going to terminate just because they want me
to. If there was something wrong and they could prove it and they could
prove that she was going to die before she was born or right after she
was born, then I might have a different answer. If she's going to live, I
need to give her that chance." Although Kelley decided to go through with the pregnancy, she didn't anticipate what was to come next.
Because she didn't have parental rights for the baby in the state of
Connecticut after the baby girl was born, the baby would most likely
become a warden of the state. "I wasn't going to have a baby knowing
that she would immediately go into foster care," says Kelley. "This baby
was created on purpose. She should not end up in the foster system,
especially being a child of special needs." So she decided to make a
drastic move and pack her kids up and head to Michigan, where under
state law she had legal rights as the child's mother. Soon after, the
baby's father gave up his parental rights under the condition that he
and his wife could keep in touch with the adoptive family about the
baby. They also demanded information about the birth and wanted their
name on the birth certificate. Living in an on-campus apartment at the
University Michigan in Ann Arbor with her two young daughters, Kelley
spent the final two months of her pregnancy thinking about the baby
girl's future. With little money and no job at the time, Kelley knew
that she wasn't in the best situation to raise the baby, so she was
determined to find her a loving and happy home. "My friend had a good
friend who was a mom to three kids with special needs and she had
adopted two of them. She told me she'd be a great resource for me,"
Kelley says. "We became close and when I asked her if she would adopt
her, she said yes." When Baby S – her adoptive parents are comfortable
using her first initial – was born on June 25, 2012, "she did amazing,"
Kelley shares.
"It's
pretty vindicating, I guess, because everyone else wanted to give up on
her," says Kelley. "She's always been a fighter. She was feisty even
when I was pregnant with her." Today, the baby is 3 years old and is an "an outspoken kid in her own little way."
"She doesn't let things hold her back. It makes me feel great, but I
knew she was going to be like this," says Kelley, who sees the little
girl twice a year in Michigan and wrote a book about her experience.
"You
have to listen to your gut and by listening to my gut, I was proven
right," she continues. "Everything that I believed she would be, she is.
She's alive, she's capable, she's growing and learning and doing things
that normal toddlers do."
It looks like the First Family will extend their stay
in the nation’s capital once President Barack Obama ends his historic
term. According to 
Here’s the perfect program to participate in with a loved one.
Actress 
The nanny who allegedly murdered a 4-year-old girl and then paraded
through Moscow with her severed head has said she murdered the child to
avenge the deaths of Muslims in Syria killed by Russian airstrikes. Bobokulova has been in the custody of Russian law enforcement since her
arrest on Monday and appeared in court in Moscow on Wednesday. She is
seen in the video wearing the same black and blue clothes she had during
her court appearance, when she reportedly told a reporter that "Allah
ordered" her to kill.