Sample Content Preview Analyzing the results the report further highlighted the comments of David Silverman, a partner at Price Water House Cooper (PWC) maintained that despite an adverse impact of recession, the double-digit growth in both online search and display clearly suggests that the prospects for online advertising continue to be strong and it clearly indicates long-term growth in the future.” Visualizing the importance of online marketing and advertising, businesses are engaging into an incessant war to improve their visi-bility, drawing more and more traffic to their web sites. Online marketers and advertisers are constantly incorporating various tactics and strategies to attract the attention of the masses of visitors and stand out to their competitors. Hence there are several forms of online marketing through which companies can maximize search engine rankings online, one of which is Video Marketing. VIDEO MARKETING Video marketing is defined as a marketing strategy use by companies to promote their products and services by using short, attractive and informative videos. The basic objective of developing and using such videos is to induce product or brand awareness in the prospective customers and entice them into purchasing the promoted products and services. It is also essential to note that video marketing is basically a strategy of marketing products through video as people sometimes confuse it with marketing the videos. Communication through videos has always been the most efficient means of conveying your message successfully to your audience. As it is a well-known phrase that “A picture is worth a thousand words”, video communication is a potential mode of communication to reach thousands of people. A visual presentation instead of textual material is not only attractive and visually appealing but also remains in the minds of the visitor for a long time. This is why today video communication is getting more and more important and companies are trying to improve their marketing efficiency through video marketing and giving its importance this book is dedicated to give you, an in depth information about Video Marketing. If you want to become a successful online marketer and want to stand out of your competitors through incorporating effective marketing tactics by incorporating videos in your websites and other online sources than this book is essential for you and will help you explore not only the importance and the scope of video marketing but also it will help you to explore how to create and develop an effective, and ways to embed it in your websites. Further we will discuss several tips and tactics that can improve the efficiency of your videos. Hence this book presents a complete outlook on video marketing. SCOPE OF USING VIDEOS Afamous Russian story writer and dramatist, Anton Chekhov once said that; “DON'T TELL me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass”. IT IS WELL-KNOWN fact that human brain always tends to visualize things whenever they read or see something, hence in order to communicate your message it is always important to remember that showing is better than telling. This quote is practiced well by expert marketers as effective marketing is also an art of showing not telling. As mentioned in the previous chapter that a picture message is worth more than a textual message. In an advertisement that is composed of text only, an online visitor has to go through the text, which consumes extra time and effort, in order to figure out the message conveyed. However, visual demonstration captures a viewer's atten-tion quickly and has the potential to create an impact on the minds of a viewer. This is the reason why many marketers either conventional marketers and/ or the online marketers prefer to use video clips in order to advertise and promotes their products well. Also as it is a common knowledge that nowadays people enjoy searching the internet rather than to watch TV or to read newspapers, there is an emerging trend of increasing number of people turning to the internet in search of information. Even one of the major online icons Google recognized the importance of video marketing and recently bought out YouTube, the top video site on the Internet, which is one of the first sites that comes to mind when you want to do a video search for something. So bringing video into your campaigns is important to give your site a big boost. As internet is becoming a globally preferred medium of communication and videos being the most efficient and attracting modes of communication, online marketers are extensively using internet marketing videos to attract high number of visitors towards their websites. Statistics reveals that there is an emerging scope of online video marketing as online video helps the businesses to reach to a wide range of best prospects instantly. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and The Price Water House Coopers (PWC) report, ad spending on digital video enjoyed its best quarter ever, jumping 31 percent vs. the first half of '09. Another report indicated that the year 2009, was definitely a year when online video boomed, as in the United States the total time spent watching online video grew up by 34.9 percent. Hence, online videos are getting popular as it does not only enable you to reach the targeted customers across geographical boundaries and fetch maximum number of customers but also the associated costs are significantly lower. This expands the customer base of a company. Online marketing is therefore more cost effective than regular TV ads, simply because, it is not only the less expensive source to produce and disseminate your message, but also it makes customer targeting a lot easier too. MARKETING THROUGH VIDEOS & ITS TYPES By now you must be aware of the fact that effective video marketing is essentially important to get traffic to your web site and increase your bottom line profits. With the ever growing rate at which companies are getting online and introducing themselves on the web pages it is essential to do something extra to beat your competitors and stand out of competition. By adding an effective and attractive video can help you to grab the attention of the web surfer towards your web site. Now before getting into further details about how a video can help you optimize the search engine rankings of your web site and attract traffic, let’s first explore a few common forms of video marketing that will help online marketers to improve the efficiency of their online marketing campaign and multiply their bottom lines. FORMS OF VIDEO Marketing Video marketing can take a variety of forms. Especially in the today’s world of digital age and increased technology an online marketers have so many opportunities to take the advantage of video marketing. A few of the various ways through which a marketer can utilize videos to improve their profitability are listed below as follows: • INCORPORATE VIDEO on your own website The most popular and the most efficient source of video marketing is to add a quality video to your website. An informative and eye catching video will make you stand out of your customers and also help you to generate web traffic towards your own site. Videos on websites can vary for example a video testimonial can be uploaded, or an informative video on how to use a product, or videos on customer reviews can be uploaded to increase consumer aware-ness and your company can be viewed as more reliable company. • VIDEO BLOGGING Video blogging is similar to blogging with incorporating video messages instead of text posts. Constantly uploading numerous informative and interactive videos at regular time intervals on your blogs can help you generate potential customer towards your website. • ADD VIDEOS on Popular video web sites or social media websites Business Online marketers can add videos to increase their webbase and broaden their reach on various social web sites like Face book, Google video, to get your message viral. Also in olden days, usually television was considered the only possible option by business marketers when they think of video marketing; but today video sharing sites like YouTube have gained enormous popularity and have made it possible for business owners to reach a broad audience without incurring huge costs. Posting videos to Youtube is

Sample Content Preview So, perhaps in a backlash to this, we got behaviorism. Behaviorism looked at the subjective human experience as being an entirely learned one, accomplished through conditioning. Conditioning and reinforcement meant that the brain would learn to associate two things if they consistently occurred together. So, if you consistently experienced being punched every time someone gave you a grape, you’d learn to cringe at the sight of grapes. The most famous experiment demonstrating how classical conditioning could work, was Pavlov’s dog experiment. Here, he managed to train dogs to drool at the sound of a bell. So how might complex human behavior arise from such a basic premise? It would occur through layering these different experiences on top of each other. As infants, we might reach blindly and find that something gets passed to us. In doing so, we learn to associate reaching with reward and learn the basis for communication. Further interactions with caregivers and others might help us to develop more complex patterns of behavior and communication. Likewise, we could learn to walk simply by repeatedly stumbling and falling. We thereby learn to fear certain sensations and to gravitate toward others. Behaviorists admitted that a particularly traumatic single event could much more rapidly increase this learning process. So, a phobia might be learned either by repeat reinforcement to create an association between a stimulus and a negative consequence, or it might be learned through one traumatic event. But the fact remains that it was learned and the behaviorist approach to treating this condition would be to help the patient ‘unlearn’ that link through ‘re-association’ or ‘disassociation’. Behaviorism is an appealing theory because it is simple (satisfying the rules of ‘Occam’s Razor’) and because it provides tangible results that are easy to repeat. But there is a fair bit missing. Behaviorism boils all of the human experience to simple learned behaviors, learned through nothing but repetition. This suggests that there is nothing more to a human than the ability to simply rote learn skills and behaviors. That our awareness is an illusion or a mere emergent property. And that our personalities are completely malleable. Most of us would object and say that we have some kind of internal experience. And behaviorism would need something to that effect if it was going to explain why someone might have a phobia of a snake without ever seeing a snake, or how factors like our memories or context would impact on our behavior. Enter cognitive psychology, or to use its full title, cognitive behavioral psychology. This school of thought takes behaviorism and then it layers on top a ‘cognitive’ element – an inner experience. In other words, it explains that our thoughts and that our emotions can actually end up influencing our perception of events and also creating new associations of their own. So, if you continually tell yourself you are going to get laughed at if you try speaking in public, then you can actually cause yourself to learn to fear public speaking… even without actually having a bad experience of any kind! CBT might approach a phobia by using reassociation methods then, but it would also look at the cognitive element – by looking at how someone might think about a stimulus or a situation (using mindfulness) and then teaching them to deconstruct those beliefs and to assume more constructive and helpful narratives. This can also be useful for addressing things like depression, low confidence and more. CBT is incredibly powerful because it has been shown to get tangible results without even requiring one-to-one meetings between a therapist and a patient. They can accomplish wonders themselves simply by following written instructions! The Biological Element Alongside all of this development was increasing understanding of the human brain and how it operated in a physical sense. With Darwin’s theory of evolution came an evolutionary perspective on psychology – the understanding that all behavior must have evolved and must therefore be adaptive to our survival. This is very apparent when it comes to our motivation and our desire for food, sex and shelter but even more complex behaviors can be seen as directly aiding our survival or being a by-product of an adaptive trait. If you’ve read the full book then you will know by now about neurons and neurotransmitters. The connectome (web of neurons) and brain plasticity can be seen as perfect physical representations of behaviorism in action. Neurons that fire together, wire together. So when Pavlov repeatedly rang that bell while serving up food, the dogs learned to associate the bell with food because they created new neuronal connections. And we can even explain how some interactions might more rapidly lead to those connections forming – because highly traumatic, exciting or subjectively important events will trigger the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine and cortisol and these strengthen new connections and increase their likelihood of forming in the first place. We can also explain how you might learn by watching (called vicarious reinforcement) – thanks to the role of ‘mirror neurons’ which fire when we see something else happening. But what is the biological basis of cognitive psychology? What is actually happening in the brain when you visualize? Or when you ruminate? The fascinating thing that we now know, is that you actually cause areas of your brain to light up as though you were engaging in that activity. If you visualize going running, then your brain lights up as though you are running. Thus you can actually trigger reinforcement through your ruminations and your thoughts. You can thereby learn and even alter your personality, simply by changing the course and the nature of your thoughts. And therein lies our power to heal ourselves and to hack our brains for even greater cognition. An even more exciting theory that explains this further is something called ‘embodied cognition’. Embodied cognition effectively explains how we think, how we understand language and what makes us human. So, let’s imagine you’re reading something in English. Of course, you understand this text, but what does it mean to understand text? What does it mean to interpret information? Psychologists once explained this away by making the assumption that language or thought would be translated into some kind of ‘base’ code for the brain, some kind of innate language that the brain understood. They gave this the name mentalese, but made no attempt to explain what this might look like or how it might work.

Table of Contents Introduction ....... 6 Chapter 1: What is Visualization? ....... 9 What Visualization isn’t ..... 9 Visualization or Meditation? .... 12 Visualization in the Modern World .. 14 Chapter 2: Does Visualization Really Work? ...... 17 The Science behind Visualization ..... 17 Mental Practices are as Effective as Physical Practices .... 19 Evidence from Virtual Workouts ..... 20 Evidence from Stroke Patients . 21 Chapter 3: How Visualization Affects the Brain 24 The Brain Thinks in Images ..... 24 Imagination or Reality ..... 25 Visualization and the Reticular Activating System .. 26 Safety and Interest ... 27 Chapter 4: Perks of Visualization ...... 30 Stress Reduction ...... 30 Harmony with yourself .... 31 Clarity ....... 32 Mastery of New Skills ....... 32 Enhanced Motivation ....... 33 Generation of Creative Ideas .... 34 Improved Performance .... 34 Chapter 5: Common Inhibitions of the Power of Visualization . 37 Ambiguous Goals ..... 37 Short-Term or Long-Term? ..... 38 Pessimism 39 Lack of Ambition ...... 39 Low Commitment .... 40 Lack of Training ....... 41 Inactivity .. 41 Lack of Perseverance 42 Chapter 6: Visualization Techniques . 45 Mental Rehearsal ..... 45 Triggered Visuals ..... 46 Issue yourself Cheque ...... 46 Leverage a Vision Board ... 47 Make your Goals Physical with a Notecard ...... 48 Turn your Wants into Beliefs ... 48 Locate your Happy Place .. 49 Rehearse Challenging Situations ..... 49 Plan for Multiple Outcomes ..... 50 Choose a Role Model 50 Wade off Negative Emotions .....51 Chapter 7: How to Use the Power of Visualization to Achieve your Dreams ..... 53 Choose a SMART Goal ..... 53 Envision it in Detail .. 54 Employ all your Senses .... 54 Be a Storyteller . 55 Be Flexible 56 Identify Inner Obstacles ... 56 Identify External Obstacles ...... 57 Implement Intentions ...... 58 Chapter 8: Habits that Optimize Visualization Power ....... 60 Living in the Moment ....... 60 Expectation of Positive Results 61 Positive Affirmations 62 Gratitude .. 63 Realism ..... 64 Contentment .... 64 Proactive Actions ...... 65 Conclusion 67 Sample Content Preview The modern world offers us endless resources on the internet to evaluate the veracity of any claim. So, you’ll be doing yourself a lot of good by checking your facts before you agree with any popular opinion. In the subsequent chapters, we will explore the scientific evidence that validates the effectiveness of visualization. Myth #3: Visualization is for Lazy Dreamers This claim comes from the assumption that visualization is all about sitting on a couch dreaming about buying up Microsoft. Nonetheless, as mentioned earlier, this is far from the truth. World-beaters such as Jim Carey, Oprah Winfrey, and Will Smith have openly discussed how they were able to achieve their dreams by leveraging visualization. If you know these people, you’ll know that they aren’t lazy people. Rather, their thought process fueled their desire to move from where they were to where they are. So, visualization isn’t for lazy people who live in the realm of fantasy. Instead, it’s for people who are deliberate about what they want in life and will go all out to accomplish it. Myth #4: Visualization is Only Effective for Long-Term Targets What you intend to accomplish doesn’t have to be in fifteen or twenty years before you can employ visualization. As long as the target you intend to achieve is in the future, you can leverage this practice. Therefore, even if your target is something that can be achieved within a week or a month, visualization remains relevant. In fact, it’s more likely you achieve success with visualization when working on a short-term goal than a long-term one. A lot of things happen when you have long-term targets that can make you distracted. In some cases, you stop seeing the goal as important as when you first thought about it. So, you might abandon a long-term target along the line. Visualization or Meditation? One of the questions people ask is whether they should choose visualization over meditation. This question ought not to be perplexing or complicated. Just like visualization, many studies have established the benefits of practicing meditation. These two techniques are interwoven, and they share some similarities. However, they aren’t the same. Visualization focuses on the mind more, while meditation involves both the mind and body. Meditation is broader and more complex than visualization and offers more benefits. So, choosing between the two depends on what you want. If all you want to do is set your mind right and keep yourself motivated to achieve your dream, visualization is what you need. However, if you desire to achieve inner peace by shutting down the noise in your head and drown the voice of your inner critic, you need meditation. The beautiful thing about this choice is that you don’t have to choose one. You can practice both meditation and visualization without any issue. In fact, you can incorporate visualization during your mediation. So, while practicing your breathing techniques, you can take advantage of that period to think about your dreams and how you can achieve them. So, instead of using a mantra or object as your focal point, you can focus on your targets and your action plan to achieve them. The inner tranquility that meditation brings can make your visualization more effective. Visualization in the Modern World Elite athletes are known for employing visualization-based techniques such as guided imagery and scripting in their training. They use these methods to overcome fear and stimulate practice. They even leverage these techniques to recover from injuries. Sports and medical experts understand that the fact that two people are suffering from the same type of injury doesn’t mean that they will recover at the same time. There have situations where a particular athlete is expected to return to action in six months. However, to the surprise of the coaches and medical team, the person will recover in four months! Many people would claim that the differences in immune systems are the reason for it. Indeed, we cannot rule that out. Nonetheless, it’s not that simple. Scientists have discovered that mind-based practices such as meditation and visualization affect our immune system. Studies have been able to establish a link between these practices and the functioning of the body’s defense system. These techniques boost the immune system. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that people who leverage visualization recover faster than people who don’t. In a report published by New York Times, Olympic freestyle skier, Emily Cook, detailed her experience after practicing visualization. According to her, she was able to recover after two years of missing in action due to injuries. In her own words, “I would say into the recorder: ‘I’m standing on the top of the hill. I can feel the wind on the back of my neck. I can hear the crowd…” She also explained that she takes advantage of this practice to develop a new trick. According to her, visualization has played a key role in her success and journey as an athlete. Note that you don’t have to be an athlete to enjoy the benefits of practicing this technique. You can leverage this practice in any field to reach the apex of your career. Chapter 2: Does Visualization Really Work? If visualization doesn’t work, there’s no point in practicing it. There are many arguments for and against the use of imageries to catapult you to your destination. This chapter will explore the arguments that support the effectiveness of this practice. We will approach it by highlighting the scientific proofs that back up visualization. The Science behind Visualization In simple terms, visualization is a training of your mind to stimulate you to achieve your targets. The more you set your gaze on something, the higher your chances of achieving it. In other words, if you’re not expecting much from life, it is not likely that you will ever amount to anything substantial. A recurrent theme in the story of celebrities is how they had envisaged a better future for themselves and work hard towards making it a reality. So, it is certain that the success people have had from visualization couldn’t have been by coincidence. Does science offer an explanation? Certainly! The science behind visualization revolves around the activities of neurochemicals in the brain. Your thoughts create neural patterns in your brain. The motor cortex connects visualization and actions. The motor cortex is activated when you think about doing something, such as raising your arm or taking a few steps forward. So, imaginations help you to remember and have a mental rehearsal of your planned movement. The neural pattern your brain creates makes those events feel real to you. Basketball players have a strange practice that many people find weird. They train to improve their accuracy without actually shooting a ball! Interestingly, they get the desired result. How is that possible? They train their brain to succeed in shooting. So, they end up being able to replicate their imaginations with the ball. Your imaginations stimulate your nervous system, and the result of that stimulation can be mind-blowing in many cases. So, you can change the course of your life by designing your future with your thoughts. Your nervous system responds by linking your thoughts to your actions. Therefore, you are closer to your dreams when you leverage visualization techniques. You are envisaging positive events, and you will be driven to your destination by those thoughts in the long run. Mental Practices are as Effective as Physical Practices One of the reasons visualization is effective is that mental practices are as crucial as physical practices, according to scientists. In a study, investigators examined the possibility of gaining muscle strength by using mental power. The study involved thirty young participants. The first group was trained to perform mental contractions of the little finger, while the second group performed mental contractions of elbow flexion.

Sample Content Preview The Basics I mentioned that there are people out there to whom this comes naturally. Perhaps you know someone. I personally have a friend who I’ve known since university and who was just as goofy as me during those years. That’s to say that he spent a whole ton of evenings watching YouTube, wasn’t particularly ‘cool’ in the traditional sense and wasn’t exactly thriving on his course. Suffice to say, he was just a regular guy. But despite not being anywhere near the top of his class, he got the placement job that everyone on his course wanted. This was simply due to how well he interviewed. When he left Uni, he went to work with Simon Cowell but shortly after decided he wasn't interested in that career anymore. So he chose a completely different path and in months he had changed career and is now on a six figure salary. He took a year long sabbatical recently and his work were happy to pay him while he was away. He’s always being given development opportunities, women love him and he recently got offered a spot on a massive YouTube channel. So why does all this great stuff happen to him? Simple: he’s highly charismatic and charming and attractive in the magnetic sense. He just has that X factor and this means that people want to work with him, despite the fact that if you knew him at uni, you’d know he was actually just a regular guy. So where does something like this come from? Well, it actually comes down to our evolutionary history. Our evolution dictated the development of our hormones and emotions which in turn serve one basic directive: ensure our survival and ensure the survival of our offspring. That’s why we’re driven to find food, it’s why we look for mates that seem to offer good genetic material and it’s why we like people who have resources. Something very similar plays out when it comes to deciding who you want to associate with. Often, we choose people to associate with because we think they can help us to survive. Someone very confident will appear to have a higher social status (even if that is not true) and so spending time with them might help us to elevate our own social status. Someone who seems to know what they’re doing might be able to help us with access to foods or potential mates. This is a big part of why we gravitate toward some people and not others: they are sending a signal that they are highly capable and that they are a good genetic ‘pick’. The Game For Life This is a concept that pickup artists realized some time ago. They realized that women don’t like men who dote on them or who pay them compliments all day because they don’t offer any challenge. If you’re infatuated friend who has been friendzoned and you spend a lot of time comforting her and telling her she’s beautiful, then guess what: you’re going to look needy and desperate. And unconsciously this says to her that you think she is out of your league. And if she’s out of your league, then what would you have to offer or her or her DNA? Meanwhile, the ‘jerks’ are more aloof and indifferent which makes them appeal more desirable. It’s the simple logic that you want what you can’t have but with some added evolutionary incentive. So pickup artists used this ‘negging’ technique among others in order to subtly undermine a woman’s confidence and thereby make themselves look like a catch. Another technique is peacocking where they will wear something stupid to a bar that’s loud and colorful and the hope is that women will think he must be very confident or very successful… otherwise how would he be so bald as to wear something so stupid? But yes, these techniques are indeed cynical and they are indeed goofy. And the good news is that you don’t have to be an ass to get the girl. Likewise the idea that girls need to turn themselves into Barbies to be attractive is similarly mistaken. As is the idea that you need to be cutthroat in order to get ahead in business… Making an Incredible First Impression All these ‘nice guys’ that are blaming their niceness on not having a girl are likely missing the point that they could be nice and fun and confident. It is likely not their niceness at all that is the problem! Likewise, Derren Brown believes that in order to make friends and influence people, the single most important thing you should do is just be a nice person. Do nice things, speak to people and they will want to spend time with you! There’s no secret trick to it. But that niceness needs to be backed up with confidence. To demonstrate how this might work let’s look at what would be a much more successful pickup strategy for making yourself more attractive and magnetic. Note that a similar technique can work just as well for women and that we’re going to see how this applies to business as well in a moment. So instead of peacocking and negging, instead, head to a bar and just smile at someone you like the looks of. This is already a smart strategy as if that person is at all interested, they will normally smile back. If they look away, you know to look elsewhere. If that person then smiles at you and seems to be interested, you head over but you don’t corner them as normal. Instead, you chat to them and ask their name and then introduce yourself to the rest of the group. This instantly sets you apart as highly social, very nice and very confident. You’ve demonstrated the ability to get on with her friends and that you are a hit with them. You can still be teasing and edgy if that’s your thing but the key is just to be good fun and to speak to everyone – not just the person you originally went over to see. This makes you seem thoughtful and considerate and suddenly you don’t seem motivated by just one thing. Furthermore, it will also now cause that first person to question whether you’re really interested in them or in their friends. And this can bring out a competitive spirit between them. Having fun with everyone makes you seem in demand and from a social standpoint and an evolutionary standpoint that makes you highly more attractive. From here though, when the time is ready you can ask the person you’re interested in if they’d like a drink. If they say yes, you can ask them to the bar with you and make your move from there. Try this one, it is highly effective. So you’re still being nice, you’re just being highly confident and likeable with it. You have all the coolness of the jerks but you’re someone who can get on with their friends and be introduced to the parents – that’s really what women are looking for. The same goes for women: you don’t have to be the nerdy librarian or the Barbie doll. If you exhibit brains and sweetness but you also know how to dress and you’re not afraid to be a bit flirtatious, then any guy would prefer that combination. The clothes here are not just about showing off your best assets but also about showing off your confidence – your willingness to put yourself out there.

Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. Learning More About Plastics 01 2. Top 10 Materials For Your Sustainable Home 04 3. 10 Ways To Make Your Living Room More Sustainable 08 4. 11 Ways to Make Your Kitchen More Sustainable 11 5. 12 Ideas for a Sustainable Living 14 6. 9 Easy Interior Decoration Tips 18 7. 9 Tips to Achieve Your Zero Waste Target 22 8. Top 8 Lighting Tips 26 9. Top 9 Upcycling Home Decoration Tips 29 10. Top 8 Benefits of Plants 33 Sample Content Preview Recycled Steel When you can find recycled steel, it might cost a little more right now, but the fact that you’re using something again makes your home even more eco-friendly than if you just used new steel. Consider using something like a steel cargo container to build a house with. Sheep’s Wool When it comes to using fibers, sheep’s wool is very sustainable. Sheep are not harmed when they are sheared, and they can be sheared repeatedly throughout the life of the sheep. Straw Bales Did you know that you can build a house with straw? Well, you can, and it usually costs about 10 to 15 percent less if you build it yourself. The labor is intense so that it can add to the building cost, but the cost to the environment is far less than traditional building. Precast Concrete This sustainable green product is durable, uses less water, and is a primary material used in most LEED-certified buildings today. But it will cost you a little more for your build due to the process it takes. A ZERO WASTE LIFE You can expect to spend about 8 percent more using precast concrete. Reclaimed or Recycled Wood While this type of material is an excellent choice for your building needs, you will end up spending more on it than traditional wood choices. However, the overall cost isn’t that much more when you consider other benefits of using reclaimed or recycled wood, such as using something already made and giving it a new life. Cork You can build an amazing house with recycled cork blocks. Cork comes from trees, but if you can reuse it, then you’re doing something very sustainable. In fact, it’s already sustainable due to the way they harvest it. They can harvest one tree up to twenty times compared to one time if you use wood. Cork works excellent for floor tiles, insulation, and more. Hemp Using hemp such as hempcrete is a very sustainable product to build with. Right now, you will spend more building your home using hemp, but it’s a fantastic building material that holds up and is environmentally friendly because hemp is carbon negative. As more people use it, it will get cheaper. Soybean Fabric Soy protein makes an amazing fabric and amazing milk too. The great thing about this material is that it’s antibacterial, biodegradable, and it can be light and soft, which is great for curtains, blankets, and fabric coverings for your furniture. It is essential to source only organic soy products to ensure environmentally-friendly growing practices are used. These materials, in addition to other natural materials like organic cotton, especially if it’s recycled, are all excellent choices for building or redesigning your sustainable home. CHAPTER 3 10 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR LIVING ROOM MORE SUSTAINABLE Due to the issues the earth is having with climate change and the increase in pollution the world over, most people are trying to reuse, recycle, and repurpose when they can. Even when it comes to decorating, you’ll want to be as sustainable as possible to avoid adding more pollution to your environment. 1. Don’t Buy New Furniture – One of the most significant pollutants around in manufacturing is furniture and clothing. The chemicals used on the fabrics, the materials used, and more are almost always bad for the environment, except for some natural fibers (although you still can do better by buying used). 2. Buy Used Furniture Made from Natural Materials – When you start furniture shopping, look for good solid furniture made from natural materials that are easy to redo and repurpose. 3. Increase Natural Lighting – If you can, one way to save energy is to use as much natural lighting as possible. If that means adding a window to your living room or a skylight, you should strongly consider it. 4. Pay Attention to the Adhesives Used in Flooring – Many of the adhesives used in all types of flooring, even natural hemp fibers, use petroleum-based adhesives that are not environmentally friendly. 5. Use Natural Floor Covering – If you can avoid any unnatural fibers in the materials in your home, you’ll be much better off, especially when it comes to flooring. It’s nice to have carpet for kids but research the options to ensure it’s as natural as possible. 6. Consider Adding Solar Power to Your Home – Many communities are offering inexpensive solar options now. If you can get in early on the plans and add solar power to your home, you’ll be glad you did. 7. Use Zero or Low VOC Paint – When you paint, make sure that you use low VOC or no VOC paint. This is going to improve the air quality of your home immensely. Houses today are very tight, and it’s best not to introduce these chemicals at all as they will get trapped. 8. Create Activity Zones for Your Living Room – When you set up your living room décor, you can cut down on the need for lighting and cords if you zone the areas for a particular use. 9. Use Specialized Task Lighting – Once you create zones, consider how much lighting you’ll need, and other factors, you can add specialized task lighting to ensure that you can see well without having to light up the entire living room.

Sample Content Preview Many, many people go through life feeling the pressure to look a certain way in order to feel confident and be accepted by their peers. We want to be attractive, youthful, and confident, and a lot of people find that one of the aesthetics they thrive for is to be tan. Tanning is a natural process that a lot of people in the Western world have succumbed to encouraging. Sitting out in the sun, rubbing oils on the body so that the sun’s rays are attracted to our skin to give it that pleasing, darkened glow, is something so common that it’s almost bizarre to consider that it could be harmful. Unfortunately, the UV rays from the sun’s rays can actually cause damage to the skin and cause wrinkles. It can also, over time, cause skin cancer. The negative effects are enhanced greatly if you end up getting sunburnt frequently. This can dry out your skin and cause untold damage to it that can present itself as you age in the form of wrinkles and other blemishes. When you do get sunburnt, it is important to deal with it immediately. Using things like aloe-vera cream will help you to heal your skin and keep it hydrated despite the damage that has already been done. It will help to do some damage control and provide some relief from the pain of the sunburn as well. Overall, it is incredibly important to make sure that you are smart about your sun exposure. You want to keep your skin hydrated whether you are in the sun a lot or not, but to prevent wrinkles and dryness, making sure to moisturize becomes even more important. When you go outside, you could try to make sure that you only do so during hours when the suns rays are not as extreme in temperature. Another thing that you can do is to wear clothing that will protect your body from the harmful U rays of the sun. Wearing hats, long sleeve shirts, sunglasses, and even carrying a parasol, can be good ways to keep your skin smooth and pristine and prevent yourself from having to suffer from the consequences of negative UV ray exposure. UV rays are a threat to anybody who gets sun exposure. It is difficult to predict when or how one might get cancer, but skin cancer is more prevalent in those who spend a lot of time out in the sun. Don’t make the mistake of using suntanning oil over sunscreen. Don’t purposefully expose yourself to tanning beds or natural UV rays for a temporary attempt at glowing and beautiful skin. Instead, do everything that you can to keep your body safe from the harmful rays. Even if you don’t get skin cancer, it will still damage and dry out your skin and could ultimately cause wrinkles and contribute to age spots. Our society has a tendency to glorify the people who look vibrant and tanned without really getting into the details about how damaging the sun can be for our skin. It is a dangerous industry and we will have more long-term beauty if we are able to avoid overexposing ourselves to the sun’s rays. Instead of spending money on trying to heal the damage caused by years of sun overexposure, do yourself a favor and prevent it, starting now! A lot of us have habits that we perform daily without even thinking twice about it. We may not even think of them as bad habits and simply functions that we perform in order to go about our days. However, did you know that rubbing your eyes is actually considered dangerous to your skin, especially for those who are concerned about the effects that aging can have on their appearance? Well, it’s true! When we rub our eyes regularly, it can actually cause the damage to the skin around our eyes. This is because it is so thin there that when we rub it, we can easily damage the blood vessels surrounding it. This can lead to decreased blood flow in one of the most sensitive areas on our body and a place that is highly prone to showing the effects of aging on the body. It can have several different consequences, including a darkened effect around the eyes, or the thickening of the skin around the eyes as it works to consistently repair itself after our thoughtless habits. It can even lead to a lackluster effect that decreases the vibrancy of one of the most captivating parts of our bodies! It’s best to avoid rubbing our eyes if at all possible because we don’t want to help our bodies age faster than it is necessary! If you have been prone to rubbing your eyes in the past, have no fear. While it can be true that our past habits can affect us in the present moment, the sooner we address our bad habits and do away with them, the faster we can begin preventing any further damage from occurring. Knowledge truly is power! Especially when we use it wisely. Another bad habit to try and kick is smoking. Smoking has been known for its negative health effects, but one thing that you aren’t necessarily going to hear much about is the way that smoking can age the body prematurely. When we smoke, it takes oxygen away from our cells and can even cause wrinkles around the mouth where we begin to habitually inhale. It causes nicotine stains on the teeth, and sometimes fingers, and it can cause heart and lung problems as well. It can even affect your bones. All things that we want to try and strengthen as we age because of how naturally they become difficult to maintain over time! Because of the lack of circulation in the body, smokers tend to have colder extremities, such as hands and feet, and may tend to appear to be more pale, or have odd coloring in the skin because the blood isn’t circulating properly. Smokers also tend to suffer with baggy and droopy eyes far more so than non-smokers. The skin in general can begin to sag because the chemicals in cigarette smoke are very destructive to the skin and can break down collagen cells and damage our skin’s natural elasticity. This can affect everything from our arms to our chests. Smoking can even affect our eyes themselves, causing a higher likelihood of the development of cataracts. These can impair the vision, and can generally be dealt with surgically. Smokers also tend to have more age spots than non smokers. Age spots aren’t the worst thing in the world, but they can certainly make us look a little bit older than we may truly be. Smokers and people who spend a lot of time exposed to the sun are the most likely to develop age spots. Something else that isn’t mentioned very frequently when it comes to the ways that smoking can make us appear older and decrease our appearance of youthfulness is the fact that people who smoke a lot are far more likely to begin experiencing hair loss. Smoking can thin the hair and excel people predispositions toward balding to experience it at a higher rate. However, when you quit smoking, your body begins to heal. The nicotine stains on your teeth and fingers will slowly go away, and your lungs will begin to repair themselves. You may still have other health effects from smoking, but your blood will begin to circulate better and you will have a much healthier complexion overall. Quitting smoking is one of the best things that you can do to stay youthful, so if this happens to be one of your vices, start your journey to quitting smoking today! It is no secret that the key to a healthy lifestyle is a good diet and exercise, but are there specific foods that can help us to maintain our most youthful appearance? Yes! Looking and feeling great starts with eating the right foods, and there are some superfoods that specifically target the skin and help to enhance its elasticity and build collagen, allowing us to combat wrinkles and look exuberant! For example, the phytonutrients that are contained in spinach can actually help us to prevent damage to the skin, particularly the type of damage that can be caused through too much exposure to the sun. Spinach contains lutein and beta-carotene, which are essential in helping our bodies to keep our skin flexible and improve elasticity. It’s best to eat spinach fresh, rather than from the can, and to get the best benefits from it do your best not to overcook it, or simply enjoy it raw in your salads with other delicious garnishes that can also be great for the skin. Integrating kale into your salads also wouldn’t hurt. Kale is chock full of vitamin C, which can help us to boost our immune systems and make the processes in our bodies work well and synthesize collagen. Dark, leafy green vegetables also provide our bodies with vitamin A, which is also useful in boosting collagen levels. Foods that are helpful in producing collagen production are particularly helpful in anti-aging practices. Collagen is a protein that our bodies naturally produce to maintain the elasticity and strength of our skin. When we are eating collagen boosting foods, it can have a positive impact on our bodies and help us to look as radiant as possible. Focusing on foods that are collagen boosters can be a great way to reinforce the elasticity of our skin and prevent wrinkles before they even begin! Foods that are high in collagen are generally fresh fruits and vegetables. However, you can also get boosted collagen from fish as well. Foods like red bell peppers and roasted tomatoes are high in something called lycopene, which is important in helping to boost collagen production and vitamin C, which actually helps to make the process of collagen building smoother within the body. This means that citrus fruits are also beneficial in preventing aging. Consider waking up in the morning and drinking some water with a little bit of lemon juice! It can be a great way to start the day and help you to stay focused on your hydration. Sweet potatoes are considered something of a superfood because of their abundance of vitamins and minerals. They are full of vitamin A, which we mentioined earlier is something that helps our bodies to produce collagen and keep our skin youthful and improves elasticity. Carrots are beneficial for the same reason, and the rumors of carrots helping with eyesight are actually true, which is helpful as you age as things like our muscle and our sight begin to suffer over time.

Table of Contents Introduction 6 Chapter 1: The Psychology of Staying Focused 9 How the Brain Chooses What to Focus On ........ 10 What’s the Problem Here? .......... 11 Notifications are Just as Distracting as Phone Calls ....... 12 Chapter 2: Find Your Willpower . 15 The Pareto Principle ....... 15 Goal Setting and Objectives ....... 16 Chapter 3: Create a Focus Haven .......... 20 Turn Off Social Media and Email 21 Turn Off Your Phone ....... 21 Close the Door .... 22 Turn on Some Classical Music ... 22 Organize . 23 Chapter 4: Staying Focused In a Digital Age .... 26 The Distraction of Our Phones .... 26 Digital Minimalism ........... 27 Chapter 5: You’re In Control of Your Time ........ 31 Parkinson’s Law .. 31 Pomodoro Technique ...... 32 Eat the Frog ........ 34 Single Tasking vs. Multitasking :Which Is Better? .......... 36 Chapter 6: Don’t Forget to Take a Break ........... 39 Increases Your Productivity ........ 39 Can Be Your Creative Fuel ......... 40 Physical Movement Keeps the Brain Sharp ........ 40 Chapter 7: Fuel Up ........... 43 How Sleep Improves Focus ........ 43 Getting the Right Diet ...... 44 Chapter 8: Make It a Habit ........... 48 What is a Habit? .. 49 How to Create a Habit ..... 50 Conclusion ........... 53 Sample Content Preview How the Brain Chooses What to Focus On During the day, your brain is always on and trying to gather and take in important information. This means that it has to sort through the noise and decide what it wants to focus on. This is called selective attention and there are two main forms that come with it: Top-Down This is also known as voluntary focus and it is one of the best types. With this focus, you pay attention to your goals. You look at the bigger picture and come up with a plan that helps you get there. You know that your phone and emails keep you from reaching these goals so you ignore them. You get stuff done on time, if not ahead of time. Bottom-Up This is more of a stimulus-driven focus. When a thought starts to creep up to you or a notification shows up on the phone and you get distracted, this is a sign that you work with bottom-up focus. You have to pay attention to what is going on around you, rather than the thing that deserves the most attention for you. What’s the Problem Here? The ultimate goal is to become a top-down thinker. This allows us to focus on what is important and avoid all the rest. Unfortunately, because of our natural instincts, we are often bottom-up focusers instead. Willpower and focus are finite resources, which means that the more you are distracted, the harder it is to get back on track. And since we are bottom-up focusers, every little thing is enough to distract us from our goals. Since most of us can be easily distracted by little things like emails and notifications on our phones, we need to prepare for this. We need to be aware of it and limit the amount of distractions that we have during the day. Turning your phone off and staying away from social media, for example, can help keep the distractions down so your brain will not even realize they are there and you can focus on your work. There is just too much that is adding to our focus problem and trying to draw our attention away from what is important. Those notifications, those emails, and those little things have a way of drawing us in, even if they are not that important at all. We think we just give them a few moments of our attention, but it does not take long for them to take over and then we get nothing done during the day. Notifications are Just as Distracting as Phone Calls In the past, we would not know anyone was trying to contact us on our phones unless it rang. This was less frequent because most people had to have something important to talk about before they would go through the effort because it took some time for a phone conversation. Today, our phones often do not ring as much. But we may here a single beep or a vibration for a text or a Facebook message. And since these take the sender just a few moments, we may get a lot of them during the day. A study from three researchers at Florida State University suggest that getting one of these notifications, no matter how small they may be, could distract us as much as responding to a text message or a phone call, even if we do not respond to it. During this study, there were about 150 students who had to complete a test of sustained attentional performance. During this test, the subjects are given a series of single digits on a screen and a new digit will show up every second. During this, the students are meant to tap on the keyboard each time the digit changes, unless the new digit is a 3. Each person did the test two times. The first time they did it without their devices there to interrupt them. The second time, they could have their phone and assistants to the test would text or place phone calls to these phones. Through this, researchers found that the performance for that assessment suffered if the student receive audible notification on their phone of any kind. Each type of phone distraction, whether it was a phone call or a text, was destructive to how well they did. It didn’t seem to matter if the student didn’t answer the phone or ignored the text. If they got the notification, they still knew they had that notification and their performance suffered. This is telling to our focus and it is an example of how bottom-up thinking works. Something as small as a text notification is enough to send our focus out the window and can make our performance suffer. Recognizing this and finding methods to limit the impact it has on our work can be critical if you want to improve how well you do at work. Chapter 2: Find Your Willpower Even if you get easily distracted and you have bottom-up focus, there are steps that you can take to limit the effect of this. If you are tired of having your time eaten up by looking on social media or checking your phone each time it dings, and you do not want to work overtime in order to get the work done, then there are steps that you can take. This will not always be easy, but finding your willpower and what motivates you can make a difference. Before we dive into some of the specifics on how to manage your focus, we need to look at how to find your willpower. Understanding the Pareto Principle, and learning how to set clear goals for yourself can help make this happen. The Pareto Principle The Pareto Principle specifies that about 80% of the consequences in any situation will come from about 20% of the causes. This shows that there is an unequal relationship between the inputs and outputs. It often referred to as the 80/20 principle. While this principle was originally applied to the relationship between wealth and population, it can be applied to many other areas including human resources, management, and manufacturing. It can also be applied on a more personal level. Time management is a common use of the Pareto Principle. Many people tend to spread out their time rather than focusing on the tasks that are the most important. In this case, about 80% of your work-related output may come from 20% of your time at work. Goal Setting and Objectives To help you get more out of your time at work, you should set goals. This helps you to stay focused better and gives you something more to work towards. Your goal should not be, get more done. It needs to be more focused and specific to help you get results. The best way to set a goal is to have. SMART Goal. These stand for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. These can give you the specifics that you need for goals that will get you ahead. They can also be motivational so you keep working on them rather than giving up halfway. You can set goals based on what works the best for you. Do you want to make it a goal to stop getting distracted at work? Then decide how much time you will allow yourself to check emails and phone calls and set that as the goal. If you have a big project at work, then use the SMART Goals idea to help you stay on track. Let’s say you have a major project to get done at work and you are often getting things done at the last minute. This time we are going to use SMART goals. List out exactly what you want to get done in the goal. For this one, we want to get the project completely done by the deadline. Then we will split it up into more manageable parts that are measurable, giving each part a due date that is attainable for our needs. The way that you split this up will depend on the exact project that you need to get done but having it in smaller and more manageable chunks can make life easier and gives you something to check off as you go. This along can be motivational for many people. Always remember to put a time-limit on any of the goals that you would like to reach. It is easy to just list out the items that you want to finish and then do nothing else with them. This is the fastest way for to get in trouble because you will keep putting them off. Set the goal with a time limit that is reasonable for that part of the project and stick with it so you no longer need to leave the work until the last minute. Goal setting can help you use the Pareto Principle to its full advantage. When you are organized and can keep on track, it is amazing how quickly you can get work done and move on to something more important. No more wasting time at work or home, no more waiting until the last minute to get things done; you have clear goals that will help you succeed.

Table of Contents Introduction 5 Creating a Compelling USP 12 Things to Avoid 19 Targeting Your Audience 22 Creating Your USP: Competitive Edge 28 Testing Your USP 32 Communicating Your USP 36 Conclusion 40 Resources 42 Sample Content Preview Because no one else is like you. Your story, the reason behind creating your brand, your goals and why/how you plan to help your market are all part of the foundation behind a successful USP. Weave your own unique story into your notes when coming up with ideas for your USP. But make sure others will relate to it. Your USP will and always should focus on how your products or services benefit your customer – not how it benefits you – but your own story is often an easy starting point when evaluating your business and how it’s different. So, start by jotting down notes about your business. Cover all angles, including why you decided to start your business and how you will help others. You must believe in yourself and your business if you want to create a convincing USP. Without confidence and enthusiasm, you’re not going to be able to stand out. You need to be as excited about your products and services as you want your customers to be. Are you ready to create your own winning USP? Let’s begin! Creating a Compelling USP A good USP answers the customer’s first question when they discover your product or service: What makes your product or service different from the competitors? And why should I choose you? You’ll need to do some serious brainstorming to come up with a winning USP. Forming a deliberate USP helps you to focus your marketing strategies. It influences your branding, messaging, copywriting, and other marketing decisions. Your USP also plays to your own unique strengths and must differentiate between some aspect your target audience actually cares about, otherwise your message won’t be nearly as effective. A compelling USP should offer: More than just a slogan. Of course, a slogan or jingle is one way your USP can be communicated and become memorable. However, your USP should go beyond that. Tiffany & Company use their USP to sell jewelry – but is that all they’re selling? Their USP is “The Right One is Worth Waiting For.” Are they selling the diamond ring – or are they selling the idea of a happily ever after? They’re clearly using emotional triggers within their USP to set themselves apart as being special, the go-to company for quality jewelry for that special someone. Assertive statements that are defensible. Your USP will be more memorable if it forces customers to make a case against competing products. Just saying “My products are high-quality” isn’t going to cut it. You’ll have to come up with something you can prove they can’t get anywhere else. For example, if you create online courses, how does your course stand apart from others? Are you the only one offering a certain number of video-based content? Are you updating more frequently? Are you offering bonus auxiliary components not typically found in competitor’s courses? Look for a way to be unique, even if it’s in a small way. What makes you stand out in the market could come down to the smallest detail so spend time closely analyzing your products and services to determine all of the many ways you could stand out. What your customers need and want. If your customers don’t care about your product, being “unique” won’t count for much, right? It’s your job to understand what your customers’ values and offer them a solution to a problem. Fulfill their needs and wants and they’ll keep coming back for more. This comes down to thoroughly knowing your market. You should spend time researching your niche or industry inside and out, long before you create your own product or service – and long before you decide on a USP. The more you know your market, the easier it will be to create a USP that resonates with them, speaks to them and motivates them. HubSpot, one of the leading companies of Inbound Marketing and Sales solutions, has a great USP when it comes to branding and communicating their marketing messages. “There’s a better way to grow” is an excellent selling point because it outlines their unique proposition. You start with their free tools and, as your business grows, HubSpot grows with you (at a price, of course!). This is an assertive statement – our company offers you a better way – that they can defend and support this with their services, which start out free and increase in price as your company grows and needs more done. It’s what their target audience wants. After all, when you’re just starting out, you don’t want to pay a lot of money for marketing services. Their USP demonstrates that anyone can get started, regardless of where they are in their career or business development and upgrade to gain access to additional resources as they grow and only when they need them.

Table of Contents Introduction 5 Meat Substitute #1: Tofu 9 Meat Substitute #2: TVP 13 Meat Substitute #3: Tempeh 15 Meat Substitute #4: Seitan 18 Meat Substitute #5: Lupin Protein 21 Meat Substitute #6: Oat Flakes 24 Meat Substitute #7: Black Beans 26 Meat Substitute #8: Chickpeas 28 Meat Substitute #9: Pea Protein 30 Meat Substitute #10: Jackfruit 32 Top Substitution Brands 34 Conclusion 37 Resources 39 Sample Content Preview Meat Substitute #1: Tofu Most meat substitutes are typically made of legumes like soy or peas, vegetables, and cereals. Those plants produce nearly as much protein as your body needs and can be combined to equal as much as you’d get from eating meat. Tofu is the classic and most well-known meat substitute. It’s made from soybeans and has been used in Asia for centuries as an inexpensive, but healthy source of dietary protein. It’s also low in calories and easily absorbs aromas and flavors from the spices and marinades you may use. This makes it a versatile part of your diet. It’s meant to be eaten more like cheese – as a flavorful meal component all its own – though you can make some nice alt-meat products from it. You make tofu by soaking soybeans, then mashing them with more water to make a puree. The next step is to filter the puree to separate the fibrous solids from the liquid part. Heat the liquids to just below boiling points so it curdles, making the solid tofu in much the same way as cheese is made. You then press the tofu into slabs and cut it into whatever shape you wish – usually simple rectangles. The fibrous solid part of the puree, called okara, can be dehydrated and used as alt-meat chunks or mince. Tofu comes in extra-firm, firm, soft, or silken. You can also press even more water from it before cooking for a crispier product. Some recipes call for it to be patted dry before cooking. Make sure you follow your recipe to get the most flavor from your tofu. Silken tofu is great for smoothies, while extra-firm can be fried or grilled like regular meat. One cup of tofu usually contains about 188 calories, 20 grams of protein, 12 grams of fat, 868 milligrams of calcium, 13 milligrams of iron, and 0.7 grams of fiber. One thing to look for is a non-GMO product or certified organic. According to a 2016 study, about 82 percent of the world’s soybean farms grow genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Many consumers are leery of GMOs since we haven’t been eating them for very long and don’t know the long-term consequences of such products. Soy is what’s called a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine needed amino acids. It’s usually fortified with Vitamin B12, which isn’t found in plant-based proteins. Note that soy does contain natural phytoestrogens, so you shouldn’t eat it more than once or twice a week. If you’re pregnant or have had a hormone-related cancer, talk to your doctor before eating tofu because the natural hormone might cause severe problems. Meat Substitute #2: TVP Soy Protein or Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) – Dehydrated soybeans can be mixed with water to make an inexpensive, healthy meat substitute. Soy protein is usually sold as mince, chunks, cutlets, or balls. Like tofu, it easily absorbs odor and flavor from the other ingredients you’re cooking with it. This protein is ideal as replacement for meat patties, meatballs, cutlets, and meat sauces like chili or bolognese. Soy protein is low in sodium and does have some fiber. It also contains magnesium, iron, phosphorous, and calcium. This product is usually more highly processed than some of the other meat substitutes, so read the nutrition label carefully before you buy. Make sure you’re getting only soy in your substitute. A one-cup (dry) serving of TVP or soy protein contains about 222 calories, 35 grams of protein, 0.83 grams of fat, 164 milligrams of calcium, 6.3 milligrams of iron, and 12 grams of fiber. It’s also a good source of magnesium and some of the B vitamins. Soy is a high-protein plant, however the isolating factor in making the protein isolate strips away many of its natural nutrients. Be sure to look for organic or non-GMO products to avoid pesticide concentration from the extraction process. Also find out where your soy product is coming from. Soy farming is responsible for most of the deforestation in Brazil, for example, and we should set an example that we don’t want that occurring.

Table of Contents Introduction 5 See a Doctor Regularly 7 Spend More Time Outside 10 Sleep More (but not too much) 12 Spend Time with Friends 14 You Are What You Eat 17 Exercise your Body & Brain 21 Drink More Water 25 Final Thoughts 28 Resources 31 Sample Content Preview It’s far too common for people to Google their symptoms in an attempt to figure things out for themselves. Keyword searches for “home remedies” have been growing in popularity every year with people trying to resolve their issues and improve their health on their own. Don’t make this mistake. See your doctor regularly and especially if you aren’t feeling well. The earlier possible issues are caught and diagnosed, the better your chances at overcoming whatever is ailing you. In addition, many insurance plans will pay for a yearly physical so be sure to take advantage of any coverage you have, keeping in mind that plans typically reset every year. You can also get intensive check-ups, with MRI scans, EKGs, x-rays, and other modern scanning techniques. Sometimes those scans will catch conditions like an aneurism, or undetected coronary artery disease, two of the top killers of them all. These are more expensive than a typical physical exam, but if you have a family history of certain disorders, it’s worth asking your doctor about. Spend More Time Outside It’s time to get outside and into the sunlight. Not only will this make you feel better overall but it has been proven to increase longevity. Here’s why: When you expose your skin to sunlight, it produces vitamin D. Doctors estimate that as many as 50% of modern humans don’t get enough sunlight to produce the proper levels of vitamin D. This is an easy fix for any of us. Just go outside for 15 minutes a day and expose your face and hands (at least) to sunlight. Remember not to overdo it, because the ultraviolet light will also cause burns and skin cancer if you stay out too long. Fifteen minutes is plenty of time to get that vitamin D into your skin. Vitamin D isn’t just important for healthy bones, but it’s also helpful with heart disease, diabetes, depression, and other conditions. It’s becoming more and more apparent that this “vitamin” is an essential part of your health. So, open the door and step outside! Sleep More (but not too much) Chances are, you’ve heard this one before. Today, the average person is almost always chronically sleep-deprived. We just can’t seem to put down what we’re working on and relax. A recent study shows that a regular sleeping habit—going to bed and getting up at around the same time daily—is essential for health and longevity. Sleep is when your body restores its cells and heals. It’s not something you can skip without it catching up to you and wreaking havoc on your health. Kids and teens need around ten solid hours of sleep to function at their best. Adults need at least six, with seven to eight being ideal. Too little sleep is linked with a 12% greater risk of early death. It may also cause chronic inflammation because your cells cannot repair themselves, and has been linked with heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. And, all of these conditions are linked with a shorter lifespan. On the other hand, you don’t want to stay in bed too long, either. It’s all about striking a balance. That’s because excessive sleep (over 8 or 9 hours a night) could also lower your lifespan by around 38%. It’s also associated with depression and low physical activity, both of which can reduce your lifespan in the same way that too little sleep does. Spend Time with Friends The simple fact is: the more connected you are, the better your overall health. Just spending time with friends and/or family can prolong your years. Scientists aren’t sure exactly why positive relationships with a spouse, family, and/or friends can extend your life, but perhaps it’s because having such relationships reduces your levels of stress. It could also be that people in close relationships are more likely to take care of themselves and less likely to take dangerous risks, thus shortening their lives. Scientists report that keeping a healthy social circle can help you live up to 50% longer. In fact, having just three positive social ties could lower your risk of an early death by up to 200%. Studies also find that healthy social networks are linked to positive changes in your heart, brain, hormones, and immune system—all of which can reduce your risk of chronic diseases.