Business & Money
All right, we get it… Gas prices are high; the real estate market isn’t good, stocks are down, and many banks are in a mess. The media keeps drilling it into our heads like we had no idea.
Despite their negativity this may actually be an excellent time to better your life and the lives of those around you. Tough times are some of the best times for people to become resourceful, innovative, and make positive changes.
Here are 9 ways you can take advantage of this “terrible” economy.
1. Buy foreclosures and invest in real estate
It’s a buyer’s market for sure. You don’t want to look back in ten years from now and have a “shoulda, coulda, woulda” moment. Even if prices aren’t low in your area, explore different towns and states for commercial locations and empty lots. Even if you don’t have the resources and funds to develop right now, stake your claim while you can.
2. Invest in green technology
High oil prices are igniting interest in alternative fuels and green technology. If you’re active in the stock markets, perhaps you should consider doing some research on emerging green companies. If you’re not an active trader, another way to invest is to explore purchasing a hybrid or electric car. It might be costly now, but in a few years you’ll be happy.
3. Start a company
Sure, there are a lot of companies shutting down but this maybe the right time to start a company up. Here are some tips to think about if you want to launch a start up:
- Look for an industry or market with a large number of businesses closing. Are the big competitors shutting down? If so, you’ll have less competition.
- Research the reason why they closed.
- Find a solution and an opportunity in what they did wrong.
- Many of the companies shutting down are large corporations. So one of the best things going for you is being small but thinking big.
4. Switch careers
I know exactly what you’re thinking or even saying right now, “well there are no jobs, and my job’s safe.” Is it really though? Do you like what you do? Is there a long commute? And many expenses? You must ask yourself questions like these. Wouldn’t you rather be your own boss? Or have a job that you enjoy so much you don’t care what you get paid or what it costs you to get there?
5. Move somewhere you’ve always wanted to
A location or town you’ve dreamed about living in might be at its most affordable right now. Seize this window of opportunity to make a big change.
6. Learn
During times like these there is plenty that you can learn. Such facts as:
- Where the US gets most of its foreign oil from.
- How much gasoline the US uses.
- How big of a role the media plays in driving up fuel prices and striking fear in the public about their finances.
Become aware and educate yourself. You can prevent yourself from letting any future economic troubles giving you trouble.
7. Go on vacation!
Many people are skipping vacations because prices aren’t affordable for them. But you shouldn’t let that hold you back. While everyone else is staying home you can live it up and enjoy yourself with smaller crowds.
8. Get your voice out there
If increasing prices, the bad economy, and politicians are making you frustrated, then take action. Harness the power of new and old media to voice your opinions. Offer new ideas and solutions, be controversial, and be a leader.
9. Break bad habits & modify your lifestyle
Old habits die hard, but they might die quickly in a tough economy. Think about walking or riding a bike instead of driving everywhere. You’ll stay fit, save cash, and help out the environment. It’s a win-win-win situation.
*Note: These are views and opinions expressed in this post. Not concrete financial advice guaranteeing success. Lyved is not responsible for your actions.
This is a guest post by Jacob Gube of Six Revisions, a web development and design blog. Six Revisions is rapidly becoming successful by publishing positive and very useful articles.
Having a full time job, running a web development and design blog, and being a co-founding member of a small group of freelancing web professionals, I tend to have a lot of things that need to be done right now. Naturally, I’ve come to develop a handful of habits that helps me manage such a busy lifestyle while living a balanced life that allows me to give enough attention to my personal well-being.
Here, I’d like to share the 9 simple strategies that I use to stay productive, motivated, and happy.
1.) Start with the hard stuff first.
We often tend to put the difficult tasks as a late entry on our to-do list because we just don’t want to deal with it right now. Moreover, we are attracted to the smaller and easier tasks because it gives us a false impression that we’re doing more.
“Saving the worst for last” can prove to be detrimental in our ability to get things done because we’ve already used up our initial energy on non-critical tasks. You’ll also end up constantly thinking and worrying about that dreaded task ahead, causing stress and distraction throughout the workday. Finishing the hard stuff first will give you an early boost in morale and a sense of real accomplishment earlier in the day.
2.) Write down just five tasks to do today.
Often, we measure our productiveness by the length of our task list. The more items we have on the list, the more impressive we appear to be. On the contrary, trimming down your list provides the benefit of you being able to focus on your current tasks and allowing you to easily manage your timeline on these endeavors. You should measure your efficiency and productivity with the quality of the work you’ve done, factored into the equation. A responsibility that’s rushed and poorly finished (read: “half-assed“) can actually be less efficient in the long run because you might have to commit additional time to fix issues and provide additional support and maintenance. In addition, if you’re not overwhelmed with a myriad of things to do, you won’t risk simply giving up and leaving them for another day.
3.) Take a breather regularly.
Give yourself a few minutes at different points of the day to temporarily “power down” and relax. You can take a brisk walk around your office building or you can spend some time catching up with a colleague – just don’t stray off too much. A simple thing I do when I’m stuck on an issue that’s preventing me from progressing is to take a five-minute break away from my work area. When I come back from my mini-break — more often than not – I’ve already figured out the solution without even thinking about it.
4.) Cut down on non-work activities.
The oldest trick in the book when it comes to getting stuff done is to limit activities that don’t relate to the job at hand, yet it’s something we often don’t think about seriously. If you find that you’re constantly running out of time at work, take a day or two to consciously keep tabs on activities that you indulge in but aren’t pertinent to your daily responsibilities. You might be surprised to find that you’ve been checking your favorite websites a tad bit too much or chatting up your co-workers a little too excessively.
5.) Keep a work journal.
A work journal comes in many forms. It can be a simple steno pad, a Word document, your PDA, and you can even use web services such as HiTask. A work journal serves many purposes towards getting stuff done. First, it allows you to better organize your work which leads to a more effective way of planning out your work schedule and prioritizing tasks.
Second, it catalogs the things you’ve done and the problems you’ve solved so that when you encounter the same situation at a later date, you can just look back on your journal entries, saving you time and effort trying to figure out how you addressed a similar task.
Third, it’ll keep you motivated and focused on your daily tasks; I find that when my journal’s light on content, I step it up a notch and get things rolling. Lastly, it’s a way to show yourself that you’ve done a good job.
6.) Work fewer hours.
Again, when we think of productivity, we think putting more hours into our work day yields higher productivity. Less work hours generally means more time to spend on your personal affairs, which leads to better health and a reduction in stress levels – two major variables that cuts back productivity. Sure, staying late at work is good for appearance-sake (showing the boss your dedication), but if it leads to things not getting done, they’ll eventually catch on to your “I’m working hard” bluff.
Working too much can be a never-ending feedback cycle where: you work long hours, which leads to less personal time…which leads to less sleep and time for your personal activities… which leads to tiredness in the morning and less energy to complete tasks at work… which leads to even more work hours… and you see where I’m going with this. If you’re able to control your workday, try to adjust your schedule so that you’re able to enjoy your life outside of work more fully.
7.) Disconnect yourself momentarily.
The modern worker is faced with an ever-growing method of staying connected to other people. Cell phones, emails, social networking sites like Facebook, and web services like twitter that let’s everyone know what you’re doing right now, allow us unprecedented ability to communicate with everyone around the planet (well, minus those few dead-zones on the poles and some shady coordinates in the Bermuda Triangle). This is good for our social life but can lead to distractions at work. When you’ve got to get things done, disconnect for a moment; set a “Busy” status on your instant-messaging client, stop checking your emails every minute and opt to check it once every one or two hours, you’ll find that disconnecting provides you an uninterrupted period of time where you can really focus on the tasks at hand.
8.) Mix it up.
Monotony is a key factor that leads to a work slump. When you’ve been looking at the same Excel spreadsheet for the past few days or working on the same project for months, the reason that might be holding you back from finally delivering is that you’re stuck in a rut. Volunteer to help a co-worker on his project and step away from yours for a short period of time; it might help you break the monotony and it’s a good way to improve your karma at work.
9.) Keep motivating thoughts in mind.
Figure out what motivates you to excel, finish, and progress. Are you a competitive spirit who doesn’t like to be outdone by others? Do you find satisfaction in impressing others with the speed and quality of your methods? Or maybe you have family and loved ones that depend on you to advance in your career. It doesn’t matter what the reason is — find it — and use it as a constant reminder as to why you’re doing what you’re doing
I haven’t made a billion dollars or even anything close to a million, yet. But I know I will. Why would I want this much money? It’s not for the material possessions it can buy you, though they’re a nice treat, but the time and freedom that it buys. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want.
So how am I going to make a billion dollars and how can you do it too? Here is what you need, the recipe for a billion dollars.
Action
Action is the first step on the staircase to a billion dollars. You aren’t going to make a billion by laying around all day.
Passion
This is one of the most important factors in success and making a billion dollars. You have to have passion for what you do or you’re just going to give up. If you don’t like it, don’t do it.
Persistence
No matter what life throws at you, you can never give up. Even if a venture doesn’t work out move onto something else. As long as you continue down your road to success, you’ll make it.
Ideas
To become a self-made billionaire you almost always need ideas. Whether it’s a new way to do something or a new invention, you have to think outside the box. However, you also need to execute your ideas correctly. A million people may come up with the same idea but it’s that one person who executes it correctly who succeeds.
Help
You can’t make a billion dollars without the assistance from numerous people. They don’t need to be partners in your business but you will need people to give you their time and give you a chance. Make friends and contacts, you’ll need them at some point. On the other end, you also need to help people. Whether it’s donating money or helping people you know, you’ll get back what you put out. If you can’t help others you can’t help yourself.
Have fun
This goes along with passion, if you’re not having fun then don’t do it, you won’t succeed. When you’re an entrepreneur work shouldn’t feel like work.
Learn
The old saying goes “you learn something new everyday”. But if you want to make a billion dollars, you need to learn much more than that, every single day. Have an open mind so that you can learn new things and spot opportunities.
Care
You have to care about people to succeed. Take care of your employees, customers, friends, family and yourself.
Dedication
Unfortunately there’s going to be times when you have to give up something you love so that you can dedicate your time to your business.
Be an entrepreneur or think like one
Most millionaires and billionaires are entrepreneurs. It’s rare to work for someone else and earn a billion dollars. Even if you aren’t an entrepreneur, it’s good to think like one. Think outside the box, think of the future, and think of what needs to be done better.
There’s no guarantee that you’ll make a billion dollars but these tips will set you on the right path. It’s best if you set your goals far because you’ll go far.
The world’s first rotating boat wheel has been completed in Scotland. It’s an amazing design that solved a major problem by simple thinking outside the box. Check out the video and read more about it on the TechEBlog.
Photo from TechEBlog
