Friday, April 29, 2011

The essential keys to self improvement

The essential keys to self improvement and motivation.



What are the three keys to self improvement and motivation?

1. INSPIRATION.

Inspiration is critical to staying motivated and improving oneself. If you are not interested in your business, your motivation level will never be high and you will not be able to sustain interest for very long.

Take an honest look at your inspiration level. Are you excited about going to work or is it an obligation? You would be surprised at the number of people who choose a business that looks good on paper, but in reality does not interest them in the least.
These individuals will grow weary and uninterested pretty quickly because they have no inspiration or passion to sustain them during the difficult times they will encounter as a small business owner.

If you do not like your work, then think how you can re-focus your small business to better match your needs. Or consider making a change entirely. Without inspiration, there will not be motivated to even try self improvement.

2. SETTING GOALS.

Short and long-term goal setting is vital for any business owner. If you do not set goals, you would have no definite purpose on which path of self improvement to take.
How could you possibly be motivated if you were unsure about the direction of your company?
Take the time to put your goals in writing. A business plan may sound daunting, but it is really nothing more than goals, strategies, implementation and a budget. Write your own business plan and update it at least annually.

Include "mini-goals" that can be accomplished in a matter of hours, days or weeks as well as the more ambitious "grand-goals" that may take years to complete. Refer to this plan throughout the year.

But can a business plan really help motivate you? Of course. Written goals will make you feel more professional and certainly more connected to your business. It will also free you from having to reinvent your business goals every single day.



3. NETWORKING.

Another key factor in getting and staying motivated is networking with other small business owners. No one person knows all the knowledge.

However, when a number of people begin working together, the challenges will just be there waiting to be conquered.

In fact, the isolation of working alone is of one the most difficult parts of being an entrepreneur. You can never be on your way to self improvement without the help of others. Mutual support is motivating.

Make it easier on yourself by connecting with others either in your community or online. Even when businesses are not related, you will often find common ground and ways to work together.
Many successful entrepreneurs report that finding the right networking group was a turning point in the growth of the business. Working together, a networking group can help its members generate more qualified sales leads and solve problems faster and more efficiently.

Sharing ideas, expertise and experience is also an invaluable aspect of motivation and self improvement.

Your own personal team of business owners will help re-energize you when the burdens of running your own business seem too much.

With your networking team to rely on, you can accomplish more in less time and probably have more fun in the process. You will feel motivated to accomplish self improvement when you know you are not alone.

Cooking Software




The globe around us is technologically innovative. In every direction that we search it seems that technology is being employed for some home task or other. That is also accurate with cooking. Now you might inquire how technological innovation can be utilized in cooking. The solution lies with objects like microwaves electronic self cleansing ovens and cooking computer software.

Cooking software program may not be identified to numerous of you however it is gaining recognition daytoday. There are various distinct cooking computer software applications which you can try out. Some of these packages may have a free trial period of about thirty days. You do must be aware that at times specified capabilities will probably be blocked out. These features can be found only if you are acquiring the whole plan. Even so these cooking computer software programs will give you a flavor of what you could find from the CDs.
Cooking software program is in many techniques an electronic cookbook along with a location to shop your new recipes. The services from the software can contain CDs with countless recipes on them. To spot these recipes in your cooking software all which you need to do is usually to download them into your computer. You may also add in new recipes that you simply have located on the net from other cookbooks what you might have created and recipes that your pals have advised you.
A few of these cooking application plans will allow you to change the ingredients to cater for the quantity of people that you is going to be cooking meals for. There are a few computer software plans which will instantly alter the serving dimension substances for you personally as you enter from the quantities that you want.
Aside from looking the cooking computer software for the distinct recipe that you just can use with the substances that you simply have these programs will even offer you the nutritional worth of the meals. You can also consider developing nutritious meals without having compromising the style of your respective food items all at the touch of a button. This feature will allow you to strategy your weeks mealtime menus and your grocery record beforehand of whenever you will need them.

An extremely helpful feature of cooking software program is it is possible to send a recipe to get a good friend to try out through email. Its also possible to print a duplicate of the recipe if you want. Cooking software program plans with this ability are great to view about purchasing.

Whilst a great numerous of us even now prefer to utilize our cookbooks you will find cases wherever owning a cooking software program method can actually make our lives less complicated. These cooking software program programs have every one of the features that you just deem as being essential in a very cook book plus they will even allow you to update your recipes without losing any from the previous recipes.

Friday, April 22, 2011

How to Tell if a Guy Likes you - Five Signs He's Interested




How can you tell if a guy likes you or is interested? You noticed him when you were standing and talking with a friend. You think he noticed you, but maybe it was your imagination or just wishful thinking. He looked at you at about the same time you saw him. Your eyes met for just a few seconds, and then you looked away. When you looked back up, he was talking with some other people. Was he watching you as you mingled? Or were you making that up? How can you tell if a guy likes you? Why are guys so hard to read?

Here are five signs that he is interested in you too. If any of the following happens, he is probably trying to get close enough to ask you out:



1. He tells someone

Is he interested? He likes you if he tells a mutual friend that he wants to know more about you, or he asks other people who you are and where you're from. He is trying to act like he's "just asking" but his questions indicate more than a casual interest. And when he tells someone that he finds you attractive, he probably knows that it will get back to you. He's hoping it does.

2. The look

He gives you a look that betrays his calm exterior. Even though he is across the room, "that look" he has says it all. It is sweeping, from your head to your toes, and then his eyes linger on yours. You think you notice the beginning of a tentative smile.

3. The conversation

Does he like you? When he manages to get close enough to you, to ask you questions, he is interested. He appears to be listening and responds to what you say. He's moving in to the ultimate question, which is: "Are you seeing anyone." He would only ask this question if he wanted to date you, and he hopes the answer is "No." Never ever wear a ring in public. When a guy is across the room, he cannot tell which finger it is on and he may assume incorrectly that you are taken. If he doesn't ask you the question of whether or not you are attached, he may ask someone whom you both know.

4. He appears unexpectedly

He likes you a lot if he shows up out of nowhere. He can only do that if he has been asking people about your schedule, or he has been paying attention to where you are going and at what time. His face may turn red when he sees you. A sudden, "Oh, hi," is his way of saying, "I don't want to seem obvious, but I am interested in you." If you feel the same way, do not act shy. Stop and talk to him.

5. EVERYONE likes you

Is he interested? When you are well liked and a happy person, why wouldn't he like you? Of course he does. If you don't have a great life, however, now is your time to start working on one. Take a look at your career possibilities, body image, future, plans, and resources. You may be naturally talented at something, but it won't matter unless you work on your strengths. Misused or unused talents fade away. School and training do not.


These are the five signs that he is interested and he is on the verge of asking you out. Make it easy for him and be friendly. This is where relationships begin.

Monday, April 11, 2011

'Solar fuel' research mimics photosynthesis




NEW HAVEN, Conn.--In an ambitious attempt to replicate nature, various researchers are seeking to create fuels from water and sunlight, much the way plants do.

California Institute of Technology professor Nate Lewis on Saturday gave a snapshot of the "swing for the fences" research his lab is pursuing to make fuels directly from water and sunlight. Caltech last year was picked as the lead for a newly created Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) to run the Department of Energy's Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub.


The center is one of many so-called solar fuels efforts that seek to bypass the traditional biofuel method of growing plants and then convert biomass to a transportable, liquid fuel. Other researchers and companies are seeking to genetically engineer microbes that secrete fuels or develop cheaper methods for splitting water to make hydrogen fuel.


During a talk at the Yale Climate & Energy Institute's annual conference, Lewis described the concepts driving his research and what form a solar fuel generator could take.

The sun is the largest source of energy, but storing solar energy with conventional means, such as batteries, is very expensive, he said. The notion behind his research is to store solar energy in the chemical bonds of fuels. Light-duty transportation will move toward electric vehicles because they are more efficient than internal combustion engines, but there is still a need for liquid fuels in other forms of transportation or to generate power when there is no sun.


"It's inevitable that we will find a way to efficiently take the biggest energy source we have in the sun and store it in chemical fuels, thereby obviating the storage problem, thereby having a drop-in replacement fuel, and thereby solving the (fuel) infrastructure problem," he said. "We are going to do this. The question is how fast and how soon."

The center's solar fuel generator is designed around tiny wires of silicon placed in a solution. Traditional solar cells also use silicon, which releases a flow of electrons, or electricity, when hit by light. But the work at Lewis' lab diverges from the solar cell form and function in significant ways.

Using nanotechnology, the design calls for rods of silicon "microwires," which allows the material to absorb more light. Rather than only create electricity, these fibers are treated with a catalyst to use the sun's energy for fuel production. A catalyst can react with water to produce hydrogen gas, which can be used as a fuel. A longer-term goal is to discover catalysts that use carbon dioxide from the air in the production of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel such as methanol.


The design intentionally copies the process of photosynthesis, where leaves split water and use carbon dioxide from the air to make sugars. But researchers like Lewis are seeking to greatly increase the efficiency of converting sunlight to stored energy. Plants spend much of the sun's energy on growing.

Lewis said that arrays of these microfibers could be placed on a flexible polymer so that they would resemble a "solar carpet" where the fibers are like tiny trees in a forest. How an entire fuel-producing system would be designed and what fuel is more economical to produce is still not clear, he said.

"We don't actually know whether or not it's cheaper to wick out gas at low pressure or to wick out liquid (fuel). It depends on how we plumb it and the only way to find out is to build a few and cost them," he said.

Research in artificial photosynthesis has been going on for decades. One of the biggest technical challenges is finding materials that are robust enough to sit in the sun for several years, yet are cheap and efficient at converting sunlight to electrical energy, he said. The goal is to be robust, cheap, and efficient, but scientists now can get only two of the three.

The Fuels from Sunlight research is a long-term effort, but Lewis said a prototype solar carpet could be ready in two years and he is confident that the efficiency can ultimately be as good at many of today's solar panels in converting sunlight to usable energy.


Artificial leaf
Outside the Fuels from Sunlight lab are many other research and commercial programs, which could also be called solar fuels.

Notably, there are a number of biotech-oriented efforts to use genetically manipulated microorganisms such as bacteria to make fuels directly from sunlight and water. Joule Unlimited, for example, is a start-up that is designing a bioreactor in the shape of a flat plastic pane that grows cyanobacteria from water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. The cyanobacteria are genetically engineered to make diesel fuel directly.

Another high-profile researcher in artificial photosynthesis is Daniel Nocera from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He co-founded a company called Sun Catalytix that is using a relatively inexpensive catalyst to split water to make hydrogen and oxygen. The company plans to make a system that can make the hydrogen, store it, and then run it through a fuel cell to make electricity or burn it for heat and power. It envisions the technology would first be suited for distributed energy systems in developing countries.

Two weeks ago at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Nocera presented results from an effort to make an "artificial leaf." Sun Catalytix has already made a prototype system where a photovoltaic solar cell, coated with a catalyst and placed in water, can make hydrogen and oxygen.