Ten tips to boost your self esteem

Acknowledge your strengths

We are all good at something or the other. Sit down and write about all the strengths you think you have. Do not over-analyse! Next, try to do things that bring out this quality into the open. This will help hone your strengths further, and also gain outside recognition. Also, do not forget to appreciate yourself for all your strong points and talents – it goes a long way in improving your self esteem.

Do not put up with crap!

Do not put up with people who are mean to you, even those who tell you they love you. Draw clear boundaries. Tell them you don’t like to be talked to that way. Ask them to talk to you nicely, and be assertive when you do so.

Lose those negative friends.

It’s time you lose friends who are constantly bitching or putting another down. Such people are likely to do the same behind your back, and they can leave you feeling critical and judgmental of others. Instead surround yourself with loving, positive people who are supportive and kind.

Take in compliments

Many have a difficulty in accepting compliments. There are numerous nice things people might say each day, which your mind wouldn’t have even registered. Many other times, people refuse to take a compliment saying something like “Oh, I didn’t do much.” or simply shrugging it off. From now on, when someone pays you compliment, breathe, accept it, and say thank you!

When you begin to do this, you’ll see your self esteem rise to new levels.

Do not berate yourself

Nobody achieves anything by berating oneself. You’ve made a mistake, OK – acknowledge it. There is no need to beat yourself up for it. Even the world’s greatest have made umpteen mistakes, and continue to make them. Give yourself permission for goof ups and even those BIG mistakes. This permission can be very liberating.

Accept yourself

Accept the good, bad and ugly sides to you, everybody has them. All of these aspects make you who you are. When there is complete acceptance of self, one experiences a feeling of centeredness within and that will naturally bring out a person brimming with self confidence and self esteem.

Here are some self acceptance exercises that experts suggest. The mirror exercise: Look really deep, and see the person that is you in the mirror with love. Experts warn that some people might find it hard to look at themselves in the mirror that way. Give it time, allow the feelings to swell up. Experience the grief, the pain and keep trying to look at yourself. Another suggestion is to start off with positive affirmations, as they are fairly easy. Keep telling yourself, “I accept myself just the way I am”. Positive affirmations are known to have a great effect.

Keep a gratitude diary

When you focus too much on all things going wrong, it can pull you down.

Every night, before you go to bed, write down 10 things you are thankful for. Many times one goes through without recognising all that’s going right. This exercise helps you focus on all the good things in your life. Making you feel worthy.

Respect yourself 

Eat healthy and well, exercise, sleep well. When you respect yourself, you’ll notice how others too will begin to reflect that, lifting your spirits and your self esteem.

Dress smart!

Yes, clothes don’t maketh the man, but they do affect the way one feels about himself/herself. When you don’t look good, it affects the way you walk, sit and interact with people. So use this to your advantage and invest in looking good. This doesn’t mean you have to spend tonnes of money on grooming. Small things like bathing, washing your hair and wearing neat, pressed clothes can make a difference.

Smile

You have heard the phrase: “Smile and the whole world smiles with you, frown and you frown alone.” It’s amazing what a simple smile can do to enhance a person’s appearance. It has the power to alter the mood of a place you walk into. So carry your smile with you wherever you go.

4 Common Sales Techniques People Fall For

"That color really brings out your eyes."

"We don't know when we'll have them in your size again."

"They only made this specific model of laptop in a limited run to test the market."

In some ways, sales representatives are the masters of consumer psychology. Tasked with turning window shoppers into paying customers, they employ a series of techniques that can persuade even the most grizzled consumer into making a purchase he or she hadn't planned on. From our vanity to our fear of missing out, sales reps have figured out how to key off on the driving forces that lead us to commit to a purchase. The scary part is, many times they're so good at persuading us to purchase that we don't even know we've been had until it's too late. For example, here are four common sales techniques that most people keep on falling for without realizing it.

Pouring on the Honey

The most commonly used technique in any sales representative's arsenal of tactics is flattery. Consumers, by nature, want to be validated for their purchases and no one is more willing to pour on the compliments than the attending salesman. They're always the first to tell you that the dress you're trying on is stunningly slimming or the car you're test-driving makes you look like an executive.

The surprising thing is that, even when customers know the flattery they're receiving is insincere, they still fall for it. Last year, a study at the Hong Kong University of Science revealed that all forms of flattery, sincere or otherwise, create a positive image of the flatterer in the mind of a customer. As a result, we unconsciously begin to trust the sales representatives more and make ourselves easier to push into making a purchase.

Perceived Scarcity

Nothing motivates a consumer to commit to a purchase like perceived scarcity. For example, I was recently in a shoe store where a customer was trying on a pair of designer high heels that were about $100 over her budget. After about 20 minutes of pacing through the store in the top-shelf shoes, the customer was still reluctant to buy them. The sales representative then told her that she should purchase the heels even if it meant returning them the next day, because they were the last pair the store would get in her size for the foreseeable future. Then a second representative came over and told the young woman that she passed over a pair of similar heels by the same designer in the past and it took her six months to locate the same shoes again.

If the young woman was thinking objectively, she might have realized that she could very well have found the same pair of shoes online for less than the store was charging. However, since she was already flirting with the purchase, the sudden manufactured fear of missing out on the shoes forever was enough to make her commit to the purchase. A study by Stanford University has shown that a fear of being "jilted" decreases our overall satisfaction with a piece of merchandise, but dramatically increases our desire to buy it. Stores know this, so they run "limited supply" sales to generate that kind of fear that drives people to buy. Even when you book a hotel online, you'll see the "only two rooms left" tag attached to some reservation links. So, the next time you're tempted to buy something stop and ask yourself if you'll really never see the product again, or if you just think you won't.

The Discounted Markup

Many times, a store will dramatically mark up the price of its merchandise just so it can offer a convincing discount when it comes time to make a sale. This occurs most commonly at car dealerships, where the sticker price on some vehicles can be more than $2,000 above the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). This way, the dealership can allow customers to talk down the price of the car to the MSRP so that they think they're getting a good deal when really they're just paying exactly what the dealership had hoped for all along.

Obligation Through Reciprocity

Our feelings of guilt and obligation can be powerful motivators when it comes to buying a product. Studies have shown that people naturally have a sense of reciprocity that leads them to believe that after something nice is done for them, they should do something nice for the benevolent party in return.

To capitalize on this, sales reps will often create a "give and take" scenario where they make you feel that they've done you a favor. For instance, if you can't find a pair of jeans in your size a sales representative will search through the stock room for multiple alternatives that you might find appealing. It's a simple gesture, but as a result, you'll feel more obligated to make a purchase from them.

The Bottom Line

If you want to control the amount of money you spend on shopping trips, you need to learn how to recognize these common sales techniques. Once you're able to see through a sales representative's pitch, it will be easier for you to make an objective decision about the worthiness of any potential purchase. As a result, you'll be able to buy less of the things you don't need and save more money on the things you do. It might not be rocket science, but it's certainly smart shopping.

How to Fall Asleep Instantly

Sleeping problems  is among the most common of contemporary healthcare issues.

It seems that nearly everybody, from teenagers to the aged, tends to suffer from sleep-related problems. While there are plenty of sleeping aids in the form of prescription medicines, it is always better to seek natural, safer alternatives. This means using simple techniques to fall asleep instantly without undertaking risk of addiction caused by common, sleep-inducing chemical formulations.

Understand Why Counting Sheep Makes Sense

Among the oldest and perhaps, the most controversial and debated of natural sleeping aids is the theory of Counting Sheep. There is nothing special about sheep and visualizing or counting them doesn’t turn you into a freak of any sorts. The idea behind this theory is highly rational.

When psychologists started advocating the principle of Counting Sheep to sleep better what they meant was using it as a tool to disengage your mind. When you are lying in bed, concentrating upon counting sheep, you are essentially diverting your mind from other worldly worries.

This allows your mind to achieve a sense of superficial relaxation. Though this kind of relaxation is short-lived, it helps in falling asleep quicker. You can count any animal or anything that appeals to you. Just do the counting slowly and give at least a week for this method to work.

Declutter Your Mind with Writing

Most people struggle to fall asleep because their mind is overwhelmed with thoughts about how their day went or their ongoing struggles. To vent such feelings before going to bed, try to write them in a diary. This can be your nightly journal that you can maintain like a personal, summarized version of your daily life.

Calm Your Mind by Boring It

Rather than listening to loud music or watching provocative TV programs, it is better to do something boring. This includes reading the newspaper. This idea is to engage your mind with something that doesn’t stimulate it much. The more bored your mind gets as the night approaches, better are your chances of falling asleep faster.

Stick to a Routine to Fall Asleep Quickly

Our body follows an inherent day-night mechanism. This is often referred to as the Body Clock. In accordance with this regimen, our hormones are released and our energy levels are regulated throughout the day. To ensure that your body clock is well attuned towards helping you fall asleep, stick to daily routine. This includes a fixed time to sleep and wake-up with a variation of not more than 45 minutes for each.

Relax Psychologically with Yoga

Contrary to popular belief, meditation and yoga can be done at night too. Breathing exercises that help you be calmer are recommended when seated on your bed. Try to learn some yoga poses that help to reduce your anxiety levels. The less anxious your mind, greater are the chances of you falling asleep quickly.

Relax Physically with Warm Baths

Apart from psychological relaxation, you need to combine some form of physical relaxation. For this, taking bath with lukewarm is recommended. This helps to soothe the tired muscles, inducing a sense of relief. Our muscles get tense when we are stressed. As the muscles relax, our body re-discovers its unstressed, normal mode that helps to sleep faster. If taking warm baths doesn’t interest you, try to invest in a massage chair. A few minutes spent on the chair will help your muscles detangle themselves, helping you relax better.

Avoid Lazing in Daytime to Sleep Better at Night

To ensure that your body clock is not disturbed and you are not using your quota of daily sleep before night-time, don’t laze around during the daytime. Don’t take naps and stay away from habits that induce a sense of sleepiness. This includes boozing. If your brain gets to rest during the daytime, it re-balances the hormones, ensuring that the bloodstream is occupied with balancing hormones during the night-time. While this balance keeps your bodily functions in good shape, it tends to disturb the critical, night-time sleep.

Don’t Exercise Late-night

Heavy exercising increases our heart rate and blood pressure. It raises concentrations of hormones that increase our thirst and hunger—these are anti sleeping factors. Thus, don’t exercise after 9 pm. Even if you go for a night-time stroll, after dinner, keep the pace slow.

Dietary Recommendations to Fall Asleep Faster:

1. Try to reduce your intake of tea or coffee after 6 pm.

2. Stay away from sweetened desserts or beverages after dinner.

3. Drink relaxing, herbal beverages like Chamomile tea after dinner.

4. Eat more of whole grain foods that help to regulate blood sugar levels. This helps to avoid sugar spikes that often prevent us from falling asleep.

It is Not Warmness of Milk but its Ingredients that Help to Fall Sleep

Another typical remedy for falling asleep faster that has been misunderstood by many is drinking warm milk before going to bed. It is not the temperature of the milk that makes it a sleeping aid. Milk contains a very precious biochemical called Tryptophan. This is a sleep-inducing compound. Drinking milk, at least a couple of hours before going to bed, is recommended to benefit from its sleep-inducing benefits.

Develop Better Sleeping Posture

To fall asleep faster, you need to adopt a better sleeping position. This includes not using very thick pillows. Don’t sleep on your stomach. Try to position a pillow between or below your knees if you suffer from restless legs during the night. The mattress shouldn’t be too soft or hard. It should provide sufficient support to your spine.