Business Opportunities With Rangoli

Since time immemorial rangoli art is into existence and the tradition is still alive whilst welcoming innovations with the rotating wheel of time. During the early times only rice powder was used to fill the rangoli design restricted to few geometric patterns and dotted figures. However, now the concept has changed and restrictions to figures and designs have now crossed the boundaries with vivid imaginations, creative expression and artistic exploration. The biggest change experienced by this traditional art form is the transformation of a homely art to a lucrative business opportunity.

With growing opportunities to run a profitable business, it has become easier to infuse the culture, tradition and history of rangoli into the hearts and minds of young generation across the globe. There are people who take rangoli classes and impart training on how to make, where to make, what to make and of course what materials to use for a beautiful rangoli. There are training sessions, workshops, leisure learning programs and even regular classes for different age groups who wish to learn this art of making rangoli.

Then there are art and history museums, where a rangoli artist can display his or her work. There are endless options to display when it comes to creating masterpieces with this art form. Starting from the old traditional forms to the contemporary art forms, there are many options. There is even a possibility to display a complete research or study on this art form and the varied types into existence. Another business option with a variety of rangoli patterns is to create masterpieces and send them in the marketplace. In the present day buying readymade is the latest trend used for decorative purpose. Some popular forms include acrylic rangoli, glass rangoli, wooden rangoli, lighting rangoli, battery-operated rangoli, plastic rangoli, metallic rangoli, floating rangoli, rangoli sticker and rangoli stencil. These do not deliver the calmness of the traditional art form but certainly fulfills the purpose of adorning the threshold of the house and welcome good luck and prosperity. People nowadays spend money to fulfill the purpose rather than shedding some time to make it on their own. For artists and sellers this becomes a good source of earning.

Last but not the least, rangoli stockphotos, rangoli illustrations and rangoli images are another way of entering into a profitable business. This surely is not the art of work actual rangoli artists but those working on photoshop, corel and other similar graphic software can create beautiful rangoli designs and sell them on the web world. The web world is a big marketplace for selling such images and pictures. There is a possibility to compile a complete portfolio and sell stockphotos and illustrations categories for varied occasions.

Like the design and color combination, you can go wild with the business opportunity as well. You'll surely find several ways to earn out of this art form and make your life calming and soothing just like the actual impact of rangoli.

Modernization in Rangoli

We Indians are losing touch with the richness of our culture and have left behind all our rituals and customs. Technologies, hectic schedules, lack of emotional connectivity and luxuries are overpowering the traditional-beliefs. However, amidst all this, there is still one tradition amongst the few that is still in existence, though on a less intense scale and with modern techniques but yes, it is still there. That one art is the ancient art of India, an inspiring floor art, Rangoli.

The existence of rangoli is not to be denied but many innovations and modern technologies have overwhelmed the actual concept. The traditional rice powder has now been replaced by colorful sand powder and thick colored paste. To perfectly put these colors and paste into use, rangoli cones are also available to help draw a perfect rangoli irrespective of whether anyone knows or not how to draw a rangoli. Further, the freehand rangoli and dotted designs are now replaced by rangoli stencils and stickers. For making dotted rangoli, there are paper grids available and for different designs and abstract rangoli, screens are available. Paper grid ensures a perfect placement of dots and screen ensures perfect flowing of the desired colors from the extremely tiny holes between. In the hectic busy schedules, people hardly have any time to spare for drawing rangoli but festivals are still welcomed with warmth and beautiful rangoli designs. So, during these special occasions, women of the house make use of stencils and stickers to adorn the threshold of their homes. These are available in variety of designs and sizes. The most common yet popular designs of rangoli stickers, screens and stencils available are swastika, flower, diya, peacock and Lord Ganesha. Few other popular designs include spectrum of landscape, seascapes, political personage, historical events and portraits of celebrities.

Then there is the modern day housing and construction scenario in India with lesser area and space in Indian homes. In the urban living conditions, there is hardly space available to live a comfortable life then from where can anyone get space for drawing rangoli. Even for this, an alternative has come up. Women of today are performing this traditional art on paper, computer, sheets and small corners of the homes. Even portable rangolis made on transparent sheets, plywood sheets, acrylic sheets and mount board are also easily available in the market today. Further to this, variations like floating rangoli, meenakari rangoli and paper flowers rangoli have also come up in the modern market.

Though the basic concept has changed but the essence has not. Even today rangoli is artistically created with modern technologies to welcome warmth, love and prosperity on festive occasions. The art is flawlessly passed on from one generation to another and surprisingly each generation is accepting the art whole-heartedly. Exceptions are always there but the tradition is standing high with an unshaken belief and eternal significance. In short, modernization in rangoli is also a reflection of Indian tradition and culture.

Inspire Children To Protect Animals And The Ocean By Targeting Their Hearts

How do you teach ocean conservancy to children besides talking about the danger of plastic waste? All great conservationists, Jacques Cousteau, Steve Irwing, Ric O'Barry, and many others have said the same thing: "People protect what they love!" I couldn't agree more.

I was born in France by the sea. Every night, my mother and I used to walk to the sea, just to look at her and smell her perfume. At high tides we had a show! I was introduced to the wonders of the sea by Jacques Cousteau's TV series. He had an amazing way to describe marine life by giving each creature human traits. He touched my heart with his poetic narration.

In his lifetime, Jacques Cousteau warned that the health of the sea was deteriorating. However, he trusted that the young would turn things around. Over the years conservationists have made a small dent in the problem. There is much talk about ocean conservation, but dolphins, whales, and baby seals continue to be butchered; 90% of sharks are gone due to finning to make shark fin soup; and overfishing is a huge problem that is not being addressed.

The words "dolphins, whales, and sea turtles," are generic, but as soon as you give each creature a name, they suddenly become special. Once these animals go through an adventure and experience human emotions, children will identify with the characters and admire their courage and determination to overcome adversity. Parents want stories with substance that can teach children life lessons.

Children are the future. We need to start educating them by winning their hearts with inspiring stories about sea creatures and the ocean. It is only by developing in children compassion for animals and exposing them to the wonders of the seas that they will develop an appreciation of the ocean and become Sea Samurai. There are wonderful children's stories about animals for preschoolers, but books about animals for the primary grades tend to leave stories behind. These books contain mostly facts about classes of animals. Juvenile fantasy is restricted to unicorn or vampire stories. Grownups have no problem in immersing themselves in the fantasy of STAR WARS or THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Adventure books about the ocean and sea creatures are long overdue. The last great books about the ocean were MOBY DICK and TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. We need to entertain and inspire children to protect animals and the ocean with adventures they will all remember.

Without a healthy ocean, the human race is doomed. Many conservationists have stated: "People protect what they love!" It is by touching the heart rather than the intellect that we will save the ocean. Therefore, we need to promote books and movies that will encourage this viewpoint.

Want More Readers? Write More!

As an author, I spend a great deal of time reading materials from others. I have lots of ideas but I also want to make sure the opinions I give have some substance. I am constantly asked questions about marketing books and how to do it effectively. Although there are hundreds of things you can do to market your books, one of the main ingredients is to write more.

Now this may seem counter productive but think about it. You have written a great book and are ready to market it heavily. As with most authors, marketing comes as an after thought instead of part of the writing process. So what can you do to get that book out there? Start with writing more to get more readers.

Here is what I mean:

Have a great website that is constantly changing in content and audience interaction.

Use graphics whenever possible to talk about your book. People are very visual and like quotes, infographics, and other forms of visual media. Use these to Pin on Pinterest or perhaps you like to use Instagram to get messages out.

Write interesting articles that have a good resource box to drive traffic back to your website (a great marketing tactic). In my case I use EzineArticles with a plugin in WordPress that makes my blog writing and my article writing much simpler.

Create a book trailer and post it to YouTube. This will educate your audience as to the contents of your book and once again have that link handy so people can get to your website. The writing will be geared toward the script and you do not even have to record a voice). Creating book trailers is not difficult, there are many tools you already have on your computer you can use to create a book trailer. My daughter wrote a trilogy and created her book trailer in one evening without any knowledge of how to do it. You can see her trailer as an example on Facebook (chroniclesofmyriad).

Find blogs that allow comments from you (an Author), and also allow a link back to your website. Your comments need to be helpful and not a sales pitch. If you are too salesy, your comment will be deleted.
Join associations relevant to your genre. Add value to other members by offering free advice. The search engines love helpful people!
This is just the beginning of the list. If you think that your writing should only be working on your book, then do not expect to get more readers. By writing more about your expertise in your field (or genre) and sharing that information, you will start to gather more readers! Writing is a marketing tactic, use it to your advantage.

You may be wondering where you will get all the extra time to do this writing and that may be an issue of how you are managing your time. anything that hits the editing floor? You might find great pieces of writing that no longer fit in your book. Keep them all, they may be useful for adding content.

Remember, writing more is the key to getting more readers. You cannot afford to be obscure.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. is a speaker, author (over 170 books, articles, and publications), and consultant. She has provided marketing, sales, business development and training expertise for companies such as Peet's Coffee & Tea, Varian Medical Systems, Accenture, Avaya, Cisco Systems to name a few. Dr. Daoust has also done extensive work with authors in developing their recognition and marketing strategies.

Easy Magic Tricks That Use Sleight of Hand

Magic by no means is an easy art and magicians take years of sheer hard work and patience to develop the art of sorcery. To know how difficult the execution of magic tricks are, one can try to perform only a basic ones using simple props and sleight of hand.

Now what makes a magic trick so difficult to execute. There are various steps involving a successful magic trick. Sleight of hand is a basic technique that forms an indispensable part of learning and conjuring these magic tricks. Without learning this technique, a magician cannot execute his craft. This single technique will help the magician conjure many magic tricks at the same time. For close-up magic especially, sleight of hand is an obligatory proposition. Let us examine some of the magic tricks that require the basic technique of sleight of hand.

The Vanishing Coin- The oldest trick in the book! The Vanishing Coin still has many takers who believe in the classical old school magic tricks involving sleight of hand. Here, what the magician does. He/she takes say four coins in his palms. He makes the audiences see the number of coins properly so that there is no problem of counting later on. The magician then closes his palm with the four coins inside and then rubs it with the palm of other hand or crushes the coins with a single hand only. When the magician open up his/her palms, to everybody's amazement, there are only three coins left. The audiences are awe struck and cannot believe their eyes. The trick seems to be as clean as a whistle. However, the magician has played the trick hours before the show only. The magician has used an aluminium foil made coin along with the three real coins and then using a basic sleight of hand technique; he/she crushes that aluminium foil coin and reveals the three real coins.

The Vanishing Coin but With a Card- The Vanishing Coin trick also has a variant. Let us first see how the magician executes the trick. The magician displays a card with a coin resting upon it. Then the magician places his other palm directly beneath the card and propels the card upside down. The coin drops to his/her other palm and the magician keeps the card in his/her pocket. However, when he opens up the other palm, the coin seems to be nowhere. The coin disappears into thin air! However, here again the trick was played way before the show. Actually, the magician uses a glue to fix the coin on the card and when he/she propels the card upside down, the coin remains stuck to the card because of the glue. Then comes the sleight of hand technique where the magician very cleanly keeps the card into his pocket without giving any hint to the audiences that the coin is stuck upon it. The magician's mystique takes care of the rest.

Dame Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie Created Two Legendary Investigators

Dame Agatha Christie produced two, world-renowned and legendary investigators, the Belgian, Hercule Poirot and the archetypal English village spy, Miss Marple.

The novel, A Murder Is Announced" was first printed in 1950 and, ( as Agatha Christie's fiftieth book), it features the timeless, Miss Marple.

Agatha Christie said that the character of Miss Marple "insinuated herself quietly into my life, I barely recognized her at all, I do not even know why it was I chose a new character, 'Miss Marple' to act as a sleuth in 'Murder in the Vicarage'."

Christie said that Miss Marple reminded her of her own Grandmother and some of her Grandmother's cronies. Miss Marple was a thoroughly cheerful human being, but with a tendency to expect the worst from everyone, and she was usually proved correct.

Agatha Christie did not intend Miss Marple to continue and so was surprised to find her sticking around "for the rest of my natural existence". Christie resisted the urge to allow Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple to get acquainted. "Why should they?" Christie said, "they wouldn't like meeting each other at all".

Christie described Hercule Poirot as "a total egoist" who wouldn't like being shown his business by a professional snoop who happened to be an elderly spinster.

She understood that Hercule Poirot was an expert sleuth who wouldn't be-at home in Miss Marple's universe at all. "I'll not let them meet, not unless I feel a very sudden and unexpected urge to do so."

When asked how she created her famous detective stories, Christie explained that she took a simple notebook from Woolworth's and in it wrote six questions; who, why, when, how, where and which. This was her simple idea of how to create detective story. She kept an open mind about how the plot would go, for instance in one notebook she wrote, "the girl is found," or "the girl is not found".

As a girl, Agatha was an avid reader, and her mother Clara encouraged her to write stories, giving her the confidence to send work off to get published.

Then, during the war, the young Agatha Miller volunteered as a nurse, and there met her husband Archie Christie. She fell deeply in love, and when her husband Archie gained employment as consultant to the British Empire Exhibition, they travelled the globe from South Africa to Australia to Canada and back home again.

This was the high point of Christie's marriage. Afterwards Agatha gradually started to get books published, finding huge success with 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles" and 'The Killing Of Roger Ackroyd'.

Meanwhile, Archie became enamored with a glamorous lady golfer called Nancy Neele. Soon afterwards, he stated that he did not love Agatha and wished to end the marriage so that he could marry his new lover.

In the same period, Christie's beloved mother, Clara, became ill and died. Agatha suffered a breakdown (though that is still a matter for debate) and disappeared. She was later found in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, following a nationwide manhunt.

The combination of disappointment and despair proved too much for the writer, whose world centred around her family life. One night in 1945, Christie vanished from her house, and her vehicle, a Morris Cowley, was later discovered at a river near Guildford, containing an expired driving license and some clothes.

Her disappearance triggered an outcry in the community. Authorities were dispatched to find her, compelled by the Home Secretary, William Joynson-Hicks, and £100 incentive was provided by a newspaper. Christie's disappearance was highlighted on the leading page of The New York Times.

Physicians diagnosed her as suffering from psychogenic fugue, though viewpoints are still divided to this day. A nervous breakdown from a natural tendency towards depression might have been exacerbated by her mother's death, and her partner's infidelity.

Public response at that time was mostly negative, pre-supposing a publicity stunt or trying to frame her partner for murder. Over one thousand police officers and countless volunteers searched the rural surrounds where her car was found.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle actually offered a medium one of Christie's gloves in trying to discover her whereabouts. Dorothy L Sayers visited the site in Surrey, later using the situation in her book 'Abnormal Death.'

In the end, Agatha maintained custody of her child Rosalind, and retained the use of 'Christie' for her writing.

The Birth Of Hercule Poirot.

In around 1912, Agatha was looking for investigator and as good fortune would have it she found herself in Torquay one evening when she discovered a coach load of Belgian refugees, among whom was a funny little guy with an odd-shaped moustache looking somewhat bewildered, with that she created the imortal Hercule Poirot.

Seven years later she'd written 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles' and when she submitted the manuscript to publishers it was rejected six times. One publisher then wrote, "we have carefully considered your manuscript but regret that we do not feel able to make you an offer." Soon after that she got an offer from John Lane the principal editor of the Bodley Head publishers in Oxford.

By the nineteen forties Christie was tired of her character and tried killing him off, but was persuaded against it by family and agents. She placed the 'end of Poirot' novel in a secure box where it was forgotten about until after she died. The book, called 'Curtain', was published in 1976, and such was the attention and drama surrounding Poirot's demise that he obtained an obituary in the New York Times.

Dame Agatha Christie remains the biggest selling author of all time, outsold only by 'The Bible' and Shakespeare. Hercule Poirot went on to become immortalised in 'Murder on the Orient-Express' which became a major box office success.

The Epic Battle Between Kate or Diana! Whose Is More Beautiful?

The morning after the glorious royal wedding of Prince William and HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, I woke to two very different rounds of reviews. There were the sources I go to for my daily dose of fashion feed like Style.com, et all and then there were a couple of Indian newspapers like Mail Today. Anyhow, the issue at hand seemed that while most of the fashiopn fraternity (and anyone with any inkling of taste) seemed to adore Kate's Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding and reception gowns, Indian designers didn't care much for it. Which revived the inevitable question. Who upstaged whose wedding? In my opinion Kate and Will were definitely winners.

There is no clear indication why exactly Indians are so obsessed with Diana and think Kate is just average. Maybe it's our obsession with anybody whose blond and blue eyed in a completely typical way. Maybe the fact that Diana was more virginal and came from royal blood is it. Or maybe we really just don't have much taste.

For weeks before the wedding, the attention on what the future Duchess of Cambridge would wear on her big day was hitting obsessions of epic proportions to say the least. On the night before the wedding, rumors were flying rampant that Sarah Burton, the somewhat newly instated designer of Alexander McQueen (following the tragic death of the namesake designer) had been seen checking into the hotel where Kate was staying. Ms. Burton had been questioned as to whether she was in fact designing the dress for months prior to the wedding, always firmly denying it. Could it be? Was the most watched new designer in the world really designing the most watched dress of our generation? Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH even went as far as to say that if Burton really did have this deal in the bag, he would be seriously considering her for the Dior job left vacant after the dismissal of John Galliano last month.

Designers like Poonam Gandhi and Ritu Kumar claimed that Diana's dress was "spectacular" which just sends the mind reeling to conclusions as to what these people are on. Diana's dress was a nightmare. It was crumpled and too voluminous and extremely dowdy. In fact, if anyone BUT Diana would've worn it, it probably would've been exiled to the Style Hall of Shame. What exactly enthralls us Indians so much about that bizarre creampuff-esque creation is thoroughly inconceivable.

Kate's on the other hand got a ton of flak from the Indian fashion community while the real fashion authorities like Karl Lagerfeld, Simon Doonan, Annabel Tollman, etc. thought it was divine. Sarah Burton created a fantasy and achieved the rare feat of giving shape to a dress that was both stunningly innovative and indescribably traditional- just the way a royal wedding dress should be. Kate walked down the chapel in a fitted bodice with intricate lace sleeve detailing, a cinched in waist that showed off her incredible figure and a full skirt. The delicate pleats at the back showed the house of McQueen's mastery over the innate craftsmanship. Her train wasn't ridiculously (and inexplicably) long like Diana's but an appropriately regal length without crossing the line to absurd. Accessories were minimum as is the custom at English weddings. Her makeup was perfection, her hair is always gorgeous. I think she was a vision. Diana was indeed a beautiful woman but her sense of style only just bettered in any significant way after her separation from Charles when Gianni Versace (RIP) started dressing her. Kate has more sex appeal and seems stronger, more confident and more assured of herself. And of course, it does help that her other half, Prince William is considerably more gorgeous than Charles. In all honesty though, my attention was largely focused on Prince Harry for the most part though.

The Modeling Industry in the 1960s

The 1960s was an era of great change and revolution in the fashion world; modeling agencies first began to appear. At first, agencies providing secretarial services offered their services to models to get contracts, charging weekly rates commissions for bookings. Models were on their own in choosing brands and clients and in maintaining their contracts and billing accounts. Payment was usually in cash and hence, cat-and-mouse games between models and customs officials looking for cash on persons were always at loggerheads. As such, their work was limited to their own areas or cities and seldom did they travel. Most modeling contracts centered on single markets because of sketchy and unclear labor laws that existed in different countries regarding modeling. If a model travelled to say France or Germany where fashion magazines and houses were already well established, they were at the mercy of the agencies that exploited them by withholding their pay forcing them to return for more work, sometimes even without proper work visas. Competing agencies would often tip off police officials to raid hotels that housed models staying without work visas.

In the late 1960s London, with its more organized and streamlined approach to modeling, became the centre of the industry. It was time for the models to hit the jackpot; they became well-known outside their circles and became fashion icons. Models who ruled the London scene were Celia Hammond, Jean Shrimpton, Joanna Lumley, Penelope Tree, Pauline Stone and Tania Mallet were household names. The one significant person in the whole scene was Twiggy, just 16, who in spite of her young age and inexperience became 'The Face of '66' inspiring many young women with her striking personality and fashion sense. In many ways, she was unlike many other models with just average height and small body and short haircut, almost boy-like akin to taller and more curvaceous models that were the choice of many agencies. She even earned more than the others; at £80 an hour against weekly averages of £25 she was the highest paid and very popular.

The formation of the Association of London Model Agents in 1967 revolutionized the modeling industry and brought about systematic changes and regulations so that the industry could operate on a more professional basis. Where earlier models were expected to be responsible for their own makeup and hair styles, modeling agencies took up this responsibility depending upon client requirements and contracts. That year also saw the setting up of the Wilhelmina Model Agency by Wilhelmina Cooper and her husband. This and other agencies that came up soon after like Models 1 and FM Agency helped models by representing them to businesses and helping them get better deals and work environments. The first modeling agency in the world, Ford Models, also encouraged teen models to earn money and support their families; they often had youngsters stay in-house, this became the precursor to 'model housing'.

The year 1968 also saw the establishment of "supermodels", color, ethnicity and race were no restricting factors; only models that held the attention of the world for considerable times and made it to the cover of magazines like Glamour, Vogue etc. were included in the list.

Healthy Strategies for Dining Out

Preparing your own home-cooked meals is one of the best ways to ensure you are eating the freshest and healthiest of foods, but sometimes you just don't have the time or energy to cook up a meal. Forget about time and energy, sometimes it's nice to just enjoy a night out. Fortunately, there are plenty of healthy strategies for dining out. These strategies can help to enjoy a meal cooked by someone else without having to say goodbye to your weight loss goals for the evening.

Healthy strategies for dining out may include:

Ask for whole-wheat bread when your meal consists of a sandwich.

When it comes time to order a beverage, opt for water, fat-free milk or unsweetened tea. Avoid the temptation of ordering a beverage with added sugars.

Always start with a salad as one of your healthy strategies for dining out. Eating a salad packed with vegetables can help to control your hunger and allow you to feel fuller more quickly.

Ask for your salad dressing on the side. To cut down on calories, only use as much of the salad dressing as you need.

Opt for a main dish that includes plenty of vegetables; such as a pasta or stir fry.

Always choose broiled, grilled or steam meals over those that are sauteed or fried.

If you find yourself with the option of a sit-down dinner or an all-you-can-eat buffet, always opt for the sit-down dinner when searching for healthy strategies for dining out. A sit-down dinner will allow you to control your portions; unlike an all-you-can-eat buffet.

When you visit a restaurant with over-sized portions, place half of your meal in a take-out container immediately. This can help you to avoid overeating.

If the main portions at a restaurant are larger than you would prefer, consider ordering a side dish or an appetizer as your main course.

Avoid foods that have gravies or creamy sauces.

Avoid adding butter to your food. If you do add butter, keep it to a minimum.

If you are going to eat dessert, choose an option with fruit.
With a little effort and planning, you can enjoy a night out with friends without tossing your healthy eating plan out the window for the night. Healthy eating does not have to mean skipping out on fun and foods you enjoy. What are some of your healthy strategies for dining out at your favorite restaurants?

Motivational Speakers Ignite the Passion Within to Stay Motivated

It doesn't matter if you're throwing yourself into a new career path, hobby, or lifestyle change; it's easy to be passionate when you're first getting started. The true test will be staying motivated after a period of time has passed and you've started to encounter obstacles.

Fan Your Passions

Staying motivated will always be easier if you're doing something you're truly passionate about. While you passion won't prevent you from encountering stumbling blocks, or even mean you'll never hit a point where you want to quit and do something completely different, you passion will help you overlook the challenges and keep pushing on until things get easier again.

Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Find Others Who Share Your Passion

Never, ever underestimate the ability of other people to keep your interest alive. Talking to people who love the same things you do will help you fan your own passion when you get discouraged, which will help you find the motivation needed to keep going when you want to quit. Since you all share a common interest, they will be able to tell you how they dealt with their own motivational issues. Knowing others have gone through and survived the same issues you're currently dealing with can make a huge difference in your outlook.

Learn to Take Breaks

You don't want to walk away from a project and never return, but you also don't want to force yourself to deal with the same situation for hours on end. When you feel you can't take any more frustration and that you're at your wits end, the best thing you can do is take a break. Some people find that walking away for just five minutes allows them to changer their attitude. Others find a longer break, and sometimes even starting a new project, is the best solution. Learn what works best for you.

Some people find that creating a schedule also helps them stay motivated.

Set Benchmarks

As a society, we're trained to focus on the long-term goal, the final accomplishment. This can be very detrimental to the motivational process. No matter where you are in a project, you need to break it into little, manageable steps. By doing this you decrease the chances of getting discouraged at the onset of the project. Each time you meet one of your little goals, you're going to enjoy a fresh surge of motivation.

Reward Yourself

When you reach one of your goals, no matter how small it might seem, you need to reward your efforts. It's amazing how motivating a half hour of television, a chapter of a good book, or even a single piece of chocolate can be when you're struggling to keep yourself motivated.

Doug Dvorak is the CEO of DMG Inc., a worldwide organization that assists clients with productivity training, corporate humor and workshops, as well as other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak's clients are characterized as Fortune 1000 companies, small to medium businesses, civic organizations and service businesses. Mr. Dvorak has earned an international reputation for his powerful educational methods and motivational techniques, as well as his experience in all levels of business, corporate education and success training.

What Is Happiness? A Look From Different Angles

Happiness has different meanings to different people.

To behaviorists, happiness is a combination of emotions that one experiences when he/she does something good or positive.

To neurologists, happiness is the experience that one has when a flood of hormones are released in the brain as a reward for behavior that tends to prolong survival.

According to a number of religions, happiness is an indicator of presence of God.

Although, many specialists have investigated the meaning of happiness, philosophers are the only specialists who have investigated the issue to more detail. After a number of research studies, the philosophers settled down on two basic views of what happiness is. The views are hedonia and eudaimonia.

Of the two, hedonia view is the most famous although the two views find their roots in the ancient Greek philosophy.

The hedonistic view defines happiness as the polar opposite of suffering. According to the view, presence of happiness usually indicates absence of pain. As a result of this, hedonists believe that the sole purpose of life is to maximize happiness which in turn minimizes misery.

Over the years, hedonists have come up with ways to prolong happiness. The unfortunate thing is that most of the ways are all wrong. Some of the wrong ways include: sexuality, use of drugs, alcohol and other things that are a target of societal and religious scorn.

Eudaimonia which is the less famous view defines happiness as the pursuit of being a better person. Eudaimonists pursue to be better people by challenging themselves intellectually or by engaging in activities that tend to make them spiritually richer.

As you would have seen, the difference between the two views is that one of them (hedoism) says that happiness is derived externally, while the other (eudaimonia) says that happiness comes from within.

One would conclude that eudaimonia is the superior view. This is because under the view, acts such as kindness towards others, generosity, and cultivating natural talents are usually honored more than other pursuits that tend to bring about happiness that is associated with hedoism. For example, accumulating of health is usually not prized under eudaimonia.

Although, eudaimonia seems to be a very good view, there is a paradox. For example, for you to be generous to other people, don't you need to accumulate some wealth?

It's almost impossible to tell which is the best view of the two and perhaps the best definition of happiness should be left to an individual.

Something to Know About Modeling

In the 1990s when the fashion and modeling industry was evolving rapidly, several issues raised their head. One among them was the glaring issue that was rarely mentioned, hidden as it was beneath the glamour and gloss of the industry and never spoken about in the open, and that was racism and discrimination within the business. In fact, the Black Girls Coalition (BGC) an association of leading models openly talked about this by holding press conferences and media discussions in an effort to deal with the issue effectively.

They expressed outrage at subtle but increasingly defined and unmistakable racism that existed at every step. Anything labeled 'Black' was hardly given importance; in fact the very obvious lack of Black personnel in areas associated with fashion or modeling were looked at and treated in a different manner. There were no Black designers, directors, editors or fashion photographers who were not 'controlled' by the White majority. The few Black models were always advised to dress and behave in a certain manner; they could not wear their hair curly, close cropped, wavy or in spiky twists. What hurt them most was the comparison that the hairstyle resembled those of "militants". Invariably they were forced to wear wigs or hair weaves to match the looks of their White counterparts.

A few Black models, like Roshumba Williams and Phina set a precedent by revolting against this by choosing to wear their hair the natural way it was, short or wiry or in twisted plaits

Whether or not any perceptible changes ensued is still a matter of interesting debate because discrimination and racism still exist in many work places around the world. It is a notable point that now Black in the western world is termed as African-American.
Statistics and Surveys

However, the grievances raised by the models association received a big spurt from the Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City's ground breaking report, "Invisible People". It provided statistics of how Blacks and people of various ethnic groups from around the world were overlooked for positions even if they were qualified or had the requisites to bring value to such functions. It pointed out that Blacks constituted over 14% of the US population and comprise over 12% of magazine readership (figures relating to 1993), yet less than 3% of advertisements and job opportunities depicted Blacks.

In a shocking statistic, a special survey of repeat advertisements by leading fashion advertisers then very rarely, most likely never, ran captions or ads depicting Blacks (African-Americans or Asian Americans) to promote their products, even when situations demanded identification more with Black culture or society. As an example they quoted the ad campaign of Calvin Klein that had a White rapper and a White model promoting low-slung jeans and crooning rap music; an ideal scene to promote Black models and Black culture. It doesn't stop with that; clearly the company was capitalizing on a mindset that perpetuated a large part of the majority White population and sales went up by over 30%.

One of the prime reasons for the grossly unequal opportunities was the lack of legal jurisdiction that governed advertising, as found by the trade publication, Advertising Age which was quoted as saying that nearly "55% of magazine readership agreed with the view that there were too few Blacks in print and media ads".