General Knowledge

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

8 Things I Know For Sure That Can Catapult You Towards An Unstoppable Life

Meeting with someone who has an unstoppable life makes you think twice about yours. I meet people like this every day, and I use their strategies to help all of you with your own lives. The advice I am about to share is not the sort of advice you may have heard before, but I have tried each strategy.

What I’ve learned and what you will see is that life can be so much easier when you simplify things down and take the time to pick up a few quick tips along the way. As you add more tools to your toolbox, you become a master of your own trade.

None of you reading this require motivation: what you require is basic tips and advice that can allow you to become just a little bit better each day. That said, advice and tips are not enough. You need to unlock something within you that makes you look and feel unstoppable.

Below are the eight things that I know for sure which will catapult you towards having an unstoppable life:

1. Passion trumps all

If you watch a reality TV show about cooking or singing you will notice one thing about all the winners; they have this look about them that pours out of their eyes. Every activity they engage in and every song they sing, there is something driving them that the other contestants don’t have.

There is an inner tragedy or an emotional event that is creating a drive of motivation that the other contestants are lacking. Their reason for being there is part of a much bigger vision. The winners of these shows have visualised themselves standing on the stage at the finale.

These contestants believe in themselves even though they have no reason to do so. They’re the underdogs and the one’s who will keep going when everybody else doesn’t see the point. They’re the ones that care about the other contestants and go to bed before everyone else.

So I ask you, are you one of these contestants in your own life? Do you believe that your passion is fundamental for everything you achieve? If you didn’t answer yes then that’s okay; it just means you’re not at that level yet, and now you have something to strive for.

The truth is, you have to be that contestant, and you have to find a level of passion that is going to outweigh everyone else. If you don’t, you will just be second best and unfortunately, as hard as this is to say, no one remembers second best. Second best is just not good enough.

2. Give 30% of something

Whatever resources you have, you must give at least 30% of them away. Whether that’s your own time, your own money or even your knowledge, this is crucial to having an unstoppable life. It’s not the resources themselves, but the habit of giving that is the message you need to get.

You don’t give stuff away because you want anything in return, or you want people to think you’re cool, you do it because this Earth relies on sustainability to regenerate everything that we love. Your act of giving is a way for our human existence to carry on long after you have left this world.

You must find a way to give because it’s in your human nature – it’s who you are. Giving is what got you here in the first place, and it’s what will create the generations that supersede you. It’s not about you it’s about something much bigger than that.

I believe you have the power to be a magnet for everything you have ever wanted. I believe you can be a New York Times Best Selling Author or an Olympic Champion – but, it doesn’t start with what you must do, it starts with what you must give.

You must inspire people to find their true passion and to find belief, and their own dreams in what you do. There are so many ways you can give so find the one that works for you and allows you to give the most. That’s just another way you can live an unstoppable life.

3. Reframe from one negative thought per day

Your life will start to transform when you experience more positive thoughts than negative thoughts each day. Moving the scales in favour of the positive thoughts is challenging. Like any challenge, though, you have to start small.

When I first started trying to achieve this goal I consistently failed because I got mad at how many negative thoughts I had per day. The good news was that at least I was noticing now how many negative thoughts I was having.

The goal for you is to start by stopping yourself from having or executing on one negative thought per day. It’s so easy for you to shoot your mouth off and then think about it or be upset by your actions later on. Developing self-control is where you need to be at.

So let’s not over complicate this. Aim to catch one negative thought per day and then do this very easy trick: decide not to take action and focus on the next thing. If you find this hard initially then try this more advanced tip: tell yourself that you will act on this negative thought tomorrow.

Smile to the people you meet, you will find that smiling is contagious. :)

It’s the best lie ever because this thought will hold nowhere near as much power tomorrow. If the thought does still exist even after all of that, and you still want to take action, then talk with a rational colleague or friend and tell them what you are going to do.

There’s a good chance they will talk you out of it. Positive thoughts are what have the power to catapult you towards having an unstoppable life. There’s nothing hard about it.

One tip: go for one thought a day and no more otherwise you will do what I did and consistently lose. Losing hurts and losing will probably make you give up.

“By taking the power out of your negative thoughts and using procrastination in your favor, you can start to have more positive thoughts”

4. Sacrifice nothing to be you

Set a new standard in your life that no matter what events transpire and who you spend time with, you will be happy and proud to always be you. I found in my life that I stopped being me for a while and tried to be the person I thought everyone else wanted me to be.

The more I became like other people, the less I stood out and the more boring I became. What’s great about each of us is we are so very different, yet our human blueprint is the same. When faced with a decision to be anything but you, you have to take drastic action and sacrifice everything you have to maintain the luxury of being you.

That’s right; it’s a luxury to be you! Take all the fear about what you have done and the flaws of your family, and just let it all out. Tell people your story and don’t be embarrassed by it.

“Your weaknesses are what draw others closer to you. Your story is what is compelling about you nothing else”

5. Celebrate fear

As Joel Brown would say “take your fear and punch it in the face.” Celebrate every fear you have because fear represents progress. You know what your fears are and so do I. They are the things you avoid or try to put off.

Don’t. Celebrate them because they are the inevitable life challenges that you have to face one day. You cannot catapult your life in the direction you want without them. Understand them, be passionate about them, and tell others about them.

6. Freakin’ smile man

We don’t smile enough. That includes me. See, when we smile we create a positive energy that helps break the pattern of our day and the things that may have gone against us. Unless you start giving off good vibes to other people, it’s going to be very hard to master your life.

“You need other people to succeed at your mission, and you’ll need some fishing line to reel these people in. Smiling is something we can all do to attract the soldiers we need for our battle”

7. Be happy when others succeed

Jealousy is pathetic and you know it is – so do I. What I know for sure is that you have to celebrate when others succeed. If you do this enough, you will find that these successful celebrators will want you around more, and they may even give you reasons to celebrate yourself.

The act of celebrating helps you see the world in a different way, and while you are technically giving a piece of yourself to that moment of celebration, you are in a way, aligning yourself with the same path that the victor is on.

There is nothing I want more for everyone reading this than to enjoy celebrating other people’s victories. Hell, do a victory dance too while you’re at it. Why not? What have you got to lose pal?

8. Set up the game so you can win

Life is a game, and you create the rules. So given the power you have, why not make the rules so easy that you can always win? Let me demonstrate what I mean by this. I created a habit that said I can only be happy if I meditate using an app every single day for twenty minutes.

Guess what? I failed man, badly. The reason is that I tried to go from nothing to something because I am the sort of person that wants massive results quickly. So, what happened was I was not able to maintain the habit and had extended periods of time where I did zero meditation.

The way I solved the issue is I changed the rules of the game. I made the new rule that I have to meditate for five minutes a day no matter what and anything more is a bonus. The result, I am now meditating again every day.

This very clear example should demonstrate to you that you have to start small and make a goal that is achievable. Trying to go too fast can often be a curse. What I know for sure is that you can setup the rules of any game (goal) in your life to be smaller.

My advice to you would be to make brand new goals much smaller. If you aim to write 2000 words per week, change it to 200 words. If you aim to post on social media every day, then make it once a week. If you aim to lose 100kgs, make it 1kg.

The reason why this strategy will help you master your life is that once you achieve just a small bit of success, you feel good. When you feel good, it becomes like a drug that you want more of. Smaller, bite-sized challenges create intrinsic motivation without you even trying.

Next time you’re trying to achieve something make the start of the goal so easy that even an idiot can win the game. The rest of what is required to win the game will take care of itself.

A Letter to a Conservative Mother From a Transgender Woman

By vannak 6:43 PM No comments:

Dear xxxxx

Thank you for your letter. Thank you for taking the time to write me. And thank you for speaking to your son. He is young and certainly this subject deserves clarification. You spoke about God and you spoke about retribution and you spoke about choices. Here is my attempt at what I know and what I believe to be true.

Here it is, to the best of my ability.

Choice and God are certainly intertwined. I do not believe, without equivocation, that everything happens for a reason. Nor do I believe we are spinning through space randomly, hitching rides on passing history. I believe we are a combination and a chaotic reminder of what we were that crashed head first into who we are becoming. All of us transition from one thing to the other, some of us with great sorrow and some of us with great freedom. But The Divine is always in the equation somewhere. It’s a question of degree for me. How much am I willing to notice and how much am I needing to ignore?

God is a question, not an answer.

Through my life, I have ignored plenty. I try not to do that anymore. I try to pay attention. But being born transgender was not of my making. Truly, if I had a choice of life paths, I would have picked something far less complicated. Wouldn’t you? I don’t know anyone who’s life has been one big fabulous theme party. Most of us have a time of it. But for me, the great gifts have always come wrapped in the most tattered wrapping. Change has been difficult for most of us. You see, I know how hard it is navigating through this newness in the world. I remember very well, sitting with my mother when I told her I was transitioning, holding her and feeling swallowed by shame and covered in a blanket of guilt as she wept openly into the palms of her hands.

I had murdered her son. That’s what I believed to be true.

And then, later on, when I was in my 20s, I was told by my doctor that I had contracted this new AIDS virus and that my time was limited and that the friends I had already buried were the lucky ones. The worst was yet to come.

And you are right. I assumed it was punishment. I had made a choice and death was the punishment.

But then I kept living. And around me was the thick smell of guts and death and I kept on living. The insides of me eaten up by the shame of this decision I had made to mutilate myself and to destroy what God had designed. And funnily, as members of my Trans Tribe disintegrated one by one, and as I kept breathing and changing and finding my voice, I found a glimmer of light in a vast darkness riddled with history and terror. As others went away, the war they fought became the story I lived. I began to see myself not as a victim, but as a student. That what I was going through was my greatest teacher and that what they died for, my strongest ally.

And so I have come to the conclusion, at 54 years old, that where I am now; married to my wife since 1996, sober from cocaine, heroin, pills and booze, living with AIDS and thriving in a transgender community that is founded in humanity and grace, that my past is my gift. And I believe God had a hand in that.

So you see, contrary to what you may believe to be true about me, I am not an abomination. Praying for my demise won’t hurry the process. I am not a freak nor am I a predator. I am in no way attempting recruitment for your seven-year-old son. Children are wonderful humans, and they are more than welcome in our home, as soon as they are old enough to dust.

So you see, I am asking you to be kinder. I am asking you to be gentler when faced with things you do not understand. To go out of your way to find the sameness between you and I. You don’t have to like what I am, you only have to honor it. I am asking you to find compassion for others as you would for your own son. You worry for his safety around trans people, I can see that fear is deep and profound. So instill in him an ability to reach out and ask questions, not run into judgment. Isn’t that what some do to people who believe in religions different from their own? I am asking you to be kinder. I believe that within the center of the divine lives a prayer for us to be cared for better in Heaven, than was done on earth. We must remind each other that there has always been Heaven on earth; it is simply up to us to guide each other toward it.

You see, we are responsible for each other. I am simply asking you to be kinder than you believe you ever have been or think you can be. What an example for your beautiful son. What an example for your church. For therein lives the heart of God.

I thank you again for your letter. I hope you are able to read at least part of my story to your son, perhaps both he and you, might be less fearful of me. Please know that I am here and I am not going anywhere any time soon. I love this planet and I have always believed in the hope and grace of the spirits that inhabit it, and I am in no hurry to leave it. Besides, I learned decades ago that my staying power isn’t really up to me anyway.

Joking Aside, Sarcasm May Enhance Creativity

By vannak 12:13 AM No comments:

Derived from the Greek word “to tear flesh, bite the lips in rage, sneer,” it’s no surprise that sarcasm or the “use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say” is often presented as dark comic relief. Think Dennis Leary, Bill Maher, Tina Fey. Delivered late-night and enjoyed while sitting back with a drink in hand, we often can’t help but laugh at the quips delivered, the unexpected turn of words, and the mocking of the ignorant and ridiculous.

Beyond the cutting edge of sarcasm, however, lies a bright spot. It may actually promote creativity and serve as an indicator of intelligence.

While sarcasm has long been associated with higher-level cognitive thinking, science is just now giving it proper recognition and consideration. One study illustrated the complexity of processing sarcasm using a simple storytelling task. Scientists recruited 17 healthy volunteers and 41 additional subjects suffering from mild brain damage following an illness or accident. Participants listened to 8 prerecorded stories, each one presented twice. One version included a character making a sarcastic comment and the other did not. Researchers then assessed whether participants could identify the sarcasm when present.

Results were striking. The 25 participants with damage to the prefrontal cortex — which is responsible for a variety of complex behaviors including planning, decision-making, and personality expression — did not process the sarcastic remarks as quickly as the others. This study was in line with others showing the need for critical thinking functions, or what some term “mental gymnastics,” in processing sarcasm.

Simply put, sarcasm requires complex thinking.

This work was followed up later by another project that encompassed 4 different studies. In each, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: sarcastic, sincere, or neutral. Then, as part of a simulated conversation, they either expressed something sarcastically or sincerely, received a sarcastic or sincere reply, or remained neutral in their exchange. These exchanges were then followed up with an assessment designed to measure creativity.

Interestingly, several findings emerged. First, expressing and receiving sarcasm was associated with enhanced creativity. Second, the conflict between the people involved was only increased if the other person in the exchange was not a trusted other — so sarcasm between friends may benefit creativity without raising conflict. Finally, sarcasm worked to enhance creativity through its effects on abstract thinking on both the speaker and the listener.

So, that sarcastic remark your friend just uttered? Both you and your friend are getting a cognitive boost from it.

How does this work exactly? It’s believed that the left hemisphere of our brain decodes the literal meaning of a phrase while the right uncovers the implied meaning. That prefrontal cortex mentioned earlier then connects the two, which is why those with an injury to the prefrontal cortex described in the first study presented had such trouble “getting” the sarcasm.

As the authors of this last study stated in The Harvard Gazette, ““Not only did we demonstrate the causal effect of expressing sarcasm on creativity… we also demonstrated, for the first time, the cognitive benefit sarcasm recipients could reap.”

This benefit makes sense given that to either create or decode a sarcastic remark, your brain needs to reconcile the contradiction between the literal meaning of the words and the meaning that the speaker intends. This contradiction is one reason why language-processing systems have such difficulty picking up sarcasm in social media (although some are getting close). It’s hard to recognize and takes work. Abstract thinking facilitates this process, which in turn results in increased creative thought.

However, since there is a “relational cost” of sarcasm in the form of conflict, it’s best among friends.

Sarcasm is complicated, and research suggests there might be sub-types of it, some more harsh and others more jocular. Research will continue to uncover how our brains work to create and process sarcasm, but it’s looking as if there are some benefits. So next time you’re listening to a comic dishing out the sarcasm, you can rest assured that your brain is getting a bit of a workout, and you may just come away a little bit brighter in the process.

Study Shows That ‘Dynamic Lighting Systems’ Can Boost Brainpower Of Children

By vannak 12:11 AM No comments:

Every parent, teacher, or education professional, seems to be concerned with how to make their children happier, more creative, and smarter these days. Research into how the brains of children and adolescents develop is commonplace. The recent research into how the brains of children are affected by the lighting they study and perform under is just one of the latest efforts into understanding.

The Study

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea investigated the effect that various forms of lighting can have upon studying skills and general exam performance. They found that one kind of lighting in particular had a significantly positive effect in improving exam performance and memory, as reported in the journal Optics Express.

The team investigated the effect that having ‘color temperatures’ in the separate lighting conditions has in performance between the two groups. One ‘temperature colour’ was 3500 K (a warm yellow-white colour), while another was a much cooler 6500 K (blue-white, akin to natural sunlight), and another was a standard fluorescent light set up to serve as the control group for the experiment.

The Results

When researchers examined the three test groups, they found that students performed the best in terms of academic performance under the 6500 K lighting condition. However, the 3500 K lighting condition also proved to be useful and helped facilitate the encouragement of relaxation and recess activities, suggesting that dynamic lighting systems could have a multitude of benefits for students. “The preliminary study and the field experiment fully supported a positive effect of 6500 K lighting on academic performance and 3500 K lighting on encouraging recess activities,” Kyungah Choi, a PhD candidate at the institute (as well as the lead author and researcher on the study), reported in a statement.

Dr Hyeon-Jeong Suk, an associate professor at the university and co-author of the research study, commented that, “We were surprised by the fact that besides observing the performance improvement during the mathematical test, the interview results with young children — who have almost no background knowledge on lighting — were also in line with our empirical results. This shows that the effect of lighting was direct and intuitive and that anyone, regardless of age or level of knowledge, could experience and be aware.”

The Implications

The implications for this study have a significant field of interest – not only for teaching classrooms, but also for offices and other spaces where a boost in concentration could be beneficial, and where the 6500 K lighting condition could be implemented. Alternatively, Suk expanded upon the implications and potential applications of the results of the study, “Although the current research has mainly focused on the educational sector, dynamic lighting, as previously mentioned, can be employed to positively enhance users’ mood, well-being, and their health,”

The idea of using lighting as a way to enhance and promote positive behaviors ties in strongly to years of previous research indicating that changing the variables inside a subject’s physical environment can bring about positive well-being changes. The most famous example of this is research which found that painting the walls of jail cells and prisons (areas with a higher than average rate of violence) the exact shade of pink that matches Pepto-Bismol, significantly calmed down inmates and cut down on rates of violent activity.

Whether or not this research could be rolled out across a larger scale, or with a larger study remains to be seen, but the implications are positive, particularly in a culture that is extolling the virtues of a healthy physical and emotional well-being. The results also indicate the possibility of boosting brainpower and productivity. As Sun aptly commented, “Lighting, compared to numerous other facility investments to enhance such physical and mental states of humans, is highly effective in a sense that it could produce a dramatic effect with slight change.”

How To Develop Your Full Potential: Bias And Strategies

By vannak 12:08 AM No comments:

Life presents limitless possibilities and we are all filled with exciting potential. Exploring your fullest potential will lead you on a path towards the greatest fulfillment life can offer. Yet, it is never easily achieved and, in many cases, not pursued at all.

The first challenge you must face is realizing where your true potential lies. Once discovered, you must cultivate your skills using effective strategies. For those setting out on this path of self-discovery, the following guidance will serve you well.

Discovering Where Your True Potential Lies

First and foremost, you’ve got uncover exactly where your potential lies. It’s going to be a deeply personal search and you must be completely honest with yourself.

It doesn’t necessarily have to align with your current skills or qualifications, but it must resonate with you. Watch out for these 3 common potential blockers!

Convention And Social Proof

You shouldn’t allow others to influence your search, and social-proof tendency may force you to play it safe. But simply following the mainstream may cut you off from your true area of potential.

As an example, let’s say your potential lies in writing. You feel energized as your thoughts transform into words and sentences. Yet, if you were persuaded into an unrelated (and uninteresting) career, it’s likely your writing potential would be left to starve.

Comfort Zones And Exploration

Don’t let your comfort zone stop you from exploring. A nagging curiosity could be the whisper of your potential. Remember: the more things you try, the closer you’ll be to finding your true calling.

As a potential writer, you might need to take a leap of faith. It could be a financial risk to pursue your interests. Yet, sticking with what you know could be holding you back from an astonishing writing career!

Inconsistency And Distractions

In order to develop full potential, it must be cultivated consistently. Misalignment with your mind or actions will hinder or halt progress. If your potential is neglected for too long, you may lose sight of it completely.

As a budding writer, working a demanding job could zap you of the physical and creative energy needed to pursue your true potential. If the other job always takes priority, you may eventually stop writing altogether.

Develop Full Potential Through Effective Strategies

Even with true potential uncovered, simply setting goals does not guarantee it will reach maturity. Lack of action, smart planning, and negative environments are the most common pitfalls.

These two powerful strategies will support you in developing your full potential.

Aligning Goals With Dreams

If you can see yourself inching towards your dream, you’ll be compelled to continue through hardship. Setting achievable goals keeps us motivated and moving in the right direction.

Developing your full potential certainly won’t happen overnight, so you’ll need smart goals to keep you on track.

As a writer, your dream could be to write for a famous publication or earn a fortune from your words. This may seem ambitious, but look at how aligning actionable goals can quickly grow your potential:

Launch a personal blog and write about subjects that interest you.
Publish articles at least 3 articles per week.
Contact websites you admire and offer to write for free.
Build a portfolio of your writing experience.
Negotiate terms for paid writing jobs.

Continue with the following milestones:

Earn X amount of money monthly from writing
Contact X number of prospects

As you work through this list, you will feel the momentum building and potential awakening. You can easily create a similar list to help you develop full potential in any field you choose.

Building a Supportive Network

Surrounding yourself with individuals that energize, inspire, and encourage you works wonders. Similarly, cutting negative influences from your life allows you to develop full potential unhindered.

It’s amazing how much faster you can explore your potential in a positive environment. Choose the right people and you will receive support, motivation, and guidance.

Interacting with those you aspire to be is rocket fuel to your potential. Most importantly, it compels you to take real action.

As a growing writer, meeting with other professional writers could be an excellent experience. There’s so much to gain: tips for honing your style, advice on landing clients, and possibly invitations to exciting opportunities.

Here’s a great strategy for building yourself a supportive community:

Cut out negative influences, possibly including social media.
Register and become active in relevant online communities.
Attend scheduled meet-ups and network with other attendees.
Find an accountability partner with whom to share progress and reflect ideas.
Build a following or mentor someone starting out.

Remember, you only live once. There’s no greater duty you have to yourself than exploring and developing your full potential!

3 Ways To Make Your Small Business Seem Like A Big Business

By vannak 12:06 AM No comments:

Inside every small business owner is a corporate giant just waiting to get out. Just because you own a small business, it doesn’t mean that it has to seem like a small business. There are so many things you can do to make your business look much larger than it actually is, which is going to give you more credibility to the public. Giving off the impression of being a big business is also going to scare the competition, which is exactly what you want to do. Here are three ways that you can make your small business seem like a big business.

Addresses and Phone Systems

The first thing we need to discuss here is your location. In order to give the appearance of being a larger company, you should have more than one physical address. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to actually get mail sent to these addresses. They could be the addresses of businesses where your friends or family members work. But, they are going to make your listing look a lot more important. After all, if there are numerous offices, it must be a huge and successful company, right? While you are at it, you should also update your telephone system. Instead of having a receptionist (which may seem weird to customers and clients if you list multiple addresses), get an 800 number. This shows that yours is an established business, and it gives callers options so they can be navigated to the right department. Again, this is going to make your business seem a lot larger than it really is. Use three-digit extensions instead of single-digit, to make it look like there are more departments and more employees.

Get a Great Website and Use Online Sales Tools

You may be tempted to use a web host that lets you create your own website in a matter of minutes. Don’t do it! No matter how small your business is, the website should be designed by a professional who knows what they are doing. In fact, it is even more important for small businesses, because the more professional you look in the public eye, the more confident the public is going to be with your business. It is also going to make your business look bigger, because having a website designed is expensive, and not everyone can afford it. If you sell to businesses, you better skip the “web designer” altogether and go with someone who can architect the entire customer experience for you, web design, strategic content and all. You may hire inbound sales training and sales enablement from a company like SalesHub to acquire new customers from your website – “it only hurts once” as they say!

The internet has enabled businesses of all sizes to sell to both consumers and companies alike. You should take the time to research what’s possible, and find expert vendors and partners you can trust.

Don’t Put Your Title on Business Cards

You probably have your title listed on your business cards, just like millions of other small business owners do. While this is not necessarily a mistake, it is something that you should not do. There are actually several reason to not do this. For starters, if you have “president” or another impressive-sounding title, and you run a small business, people aren’t going to take you seriously. After all, it is just big companies that have presidents, right? Also, you do a lot of different jobs, so one job title is not going to accurately describe what you do. It is best to simply leave your title off the cards completely. If someone wants to know what you do, they will ask, and you can tell them at that time. You can also introduce yourself with any title, and it isn’t going to contradict what is on your business card.a

6 Fitness Myths Every Gym Goer Should Know

By vannak 11:55 PM No comments:

Gym popularity has been growing at a steady rate in recent times. Many go to improve their physique, some to increase athletic performance and others just to keep their bodies healthy.

With modern cultural pressures, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype. Seeing others with attractive beach bodies beckon us to head down the gym and sweat it out. Yet, if we are not careful, hitting the gym purely for aesthetic reasons can be detrimental to our health.

Re-evaluate why you are going to the gym in the first place. You want to look and feel healthier right? You certainly don’t want to end up worse off in both departments!

These dangers occur by following bogus fitness myths, depriving you of the health benefits of going to the gym. So let’s debunk the most common ones, setting you on the right path to reach your fitness goals!

1. You Can’t Target or Localize Fat Loss

The body is genetically predisposed to store more fat in certain areas. For many, it clings around the midsection and stomach area, giving us an unsightly belly and “love handles”. For others, it’s the buttocks and legs or even shoulders and arms.

Unfortunately, these areas of stubborn fat are exactly that, they are the first place to gain and the last to lose it. Many of us have also been fooled into believing we can target fat loss. But sadly, there are no fancy exercises that can override your body’s genetics.

The best approach is to focus on reducing your overall body fat, using full-body exercise routines and a healthy weight loss diet. You’ve got to be patient, these afflicted areas are often the last to leave!

2. You Can’t Crunch Your Way to a 6-Pack

Performing hundreds of crunches is not going suddenly reveal a glorious 6-pack! In fact, it’s more likely to cause spine and neck problems since this exercise is often performed incorrectly.

Crunches are never going to burn stomach fat. Unless your stomach is already flat, the first step would be to reduce your overall body fat.

When you are ready to build washboard abs, use static hold exercises such as planks and bridges. They engage a larger portion of the abs and core, training the muscles more naturally through stabilization.

Used in conjunction with a reputable full-body workout routine, you can build a mighty 6-pack and improve your posture without injuring yourself!

3. You Shouldn’t Ever Focus Purely on Size

For those lacking chest definition, focusing primarily on chest exercises may seem like a good idea. After all, a large chest will improve your physique and even improve the respiratory system.

However, tunnel vision can soon lead to a detrimental muscle imbalance. Without back exercises to compensate, you could end up with rounded shoulders, chest pains and even breathing problems. Worse yet, you could end up looking too far out of proportion!

Always focus on building a well-rounded physique, only adding a little emphasis on lacking areas. Training purely for muscle size can be a recipe for disaster. Be sure to mix up your training by pushing for strength and endurance too.

4. Lifting Weights Doesn’t Nessarilarly Build Bulky Muscles

This is often a misconception among many female gym goers, who cling to their favorite cardio machines. Yet, lifting heavy weights does not cause explosive muscle growth, for men and especially not for women!

In truth, large muscles are simply not grown by accident. It requires consistent progression in weight, coupled with caloric surplus diet to support muscle growth. Many men struggle to achieve this balance even when they are trying.

Genetically, it’s far more difficult for women to build bulky muscles.
Since their natural testosterone levels are far lower, adding muscle mass is challenging.

Now you can enter the weight room without the fear of turning into the She-Hulk anytime soon!

5. Pain is Not Proportional to Gains

The key to making physical progress in the gym is to push your limits over time. It’s going to be tough, you’re going to sweat and feel uncomfortably sore at times. Yet, you should never feel pain during any exercise!

Pain is an indicator of an injury, pushing through is almost certainly going to make it worse. Even lifting to failure should be used sparingly since it is very taxing on the body. Muscle soreness post workout may come and go, especially if you’re new to an exercise. But don’t ever assume your workout is worthless without it.

Aim to work harder and push further week-by-week, but do so in a slow, progressive and safe manner. If you feel pain during an exercise, you need to back off and let yourself recover. Otherwise, it could take you out of the game completely.

6. More Gym Time is Not Always Better

Always remember, your body only has a certain capacity for recovery and growth. Pushing beyond the boundaries will only affect your recovery and stall your progress. You need to workout hard strain your muscles, then allow them enough time to recover and regrow stronger.

Rather than spending hours in the gym, focus on intense 45min to 1-hour gym sessions. Otherwise, you are either not using your time effectively or are training too hard. When it comes to frequency, 3 gym sessions per week with a day between for recovery is ideal for most.

Unless you’re an advanced lifter who is using specialist routines, it’s not wise to hit the gym more than 5 times per week!