mindspill

24 ways to improve your vision

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:07:45 GMT

Reader's digest have an article outlining several ways to improve your vision. Most of the tips mention foods you can eat. Here is a summary of the tips:-

Food

fresh blueberries + yogurt or bilberry (blueberry) jam
spinach
red onions instead of yellow ones
multivitamin
sweet potatoes
beets
southern greens

Tips

aim car vents at your feet not eyes
move computer screen to just below eye level
turn down the heat in the house
sniff jasmine, peppermint or vanilla
use eye makeup remover every night
replace mascara every three months

Creative Thinking Rules

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 03:42:40 GMT

Motivational reading to start the day

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:51:51 GMT

After reading the paypal mafia article (via GeekBaazar) and the biography of John Finkel Jonny Magic and the card shark kids I realised how positively influenced I am when reading about high achieving people. After reading these articles my mind starts rushing, ideas flow and I feel an urge to create something and achieve greatness.

In light of this observation I've got a resolution for this week:-

Start the day by reading something about a star performer, maybe an enterprenuer, a best-selling author or an influential programmer.

If anybody has any such articles please feel free to suggest. I will try to post the list of articles I read during the week on the blog.

Finally a hiccup remedy that works

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:04:00 GMT

I've tried tens of hiccup remedies which never really worked but today someone pointed out one that work immediately. Here's what you should do:

Bend your upper body down as far as possible (as if you were going to touch your toes) and drink a glass of water in this funny position.

It worked perfectly on my first attempt for me. If you try it and it works (or even if it doesn't) leave a reply to this post.

Quick Fix your body

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:33:05 GMT

Felling a bit sick today so it's the perfect day to share some body hacks:-

If your throat tickles, scratch your ear
Cough during an injection to feel less pain
Reduce toothache pain by rubbing ice on the v-shaped area between your thumb and index finger.
Rock your head from side to side if your hand falls asleep

For more body hacks and explanations for the ones above check out Jimmy's site

10 ways to learn faster and be more creative

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:10:03 GMT

How to learn difficult subjects quickly

1. Bombard yourself with information. Don't try to slowly digest material, but immerse yourself in as many sources as possible. Drown yourself in information from different sources like books, internet, professionals, organizations and magazines
2. Grasp the big picture. Get a good general idea of the big picture, a broad general overview of the subject, and how the different topics link together. Don’t get numbed by the details, exceptions and special cases. You'll get to these when you’re specializing in the subject at a greater depth.
3. Identify key concepts and make them yours. Identify with what is being said and make it as if you own the ideas. Talk about the ideas to others, try to explain what you learnt to people who aren't familiar with the subject. This will help you crystallize the ideas in your head, help you retain the information and evaluate your comprehension of the material.
4. Mingle with knowledgeable people in the subject. Mother used to say make friends with people who are better than you. This principle is important to learning quickly.

How to deal with too much information

5. Search don't browse. If you're looking for something try to look up exactly what you want and not browse through sites to get to the information. Refining your search criteria and looking for the right source is usually quicker than following links. Start with a hypothesis and try to find evidence to prove it or refute it. This helps you target your searches better and refine the purpose of your search.
6. Link the new information to what you already know. Relate the new information with previous information on the topic, and draw concept maps or mind maps to build a visual knowledge tree of the topic you’re learning about.
7. Choose what to read. Overview the material, read table of contents, scan diagrams, look for keywords, introductions, conclusions and summaries, then decide whether it's worth reading or not.
8. Read with a question in mind. "How can I use this?" "Does this really do what the author claims?" "What if...?" Most of the understanding is in figuring out the motivations, the choices the authors made. Reading AI

How to be creative

9. Creative ideas are usually a combination of other separate ideas, for example a car is an engine + wheels, a coffee machine is a heating element + water dripper. Creativity is like cooking. Getting a number of ingredients and mixing them together in the hope that something useful comes out. Like cooking you should know the rules and then carefully bend them to create something better.
10. Be fearless. Being creative has more to do with being fearless than intelligent. That's one of the reasons why getting a bit tipsy can help you be more creative. (This is the second time I mentioned alcohol as a benefit in a learning context ... mmm interesting).

Help make this article more popular by clicking here to digg it.

Video Jug - Life explained

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:00:07 GMT

When you start living alone all the things that you took foregranted when you were still living with your parents suddenly dawn upon you. How am I going to iron my shirt, how do I use the washing machine, and how am I supposed to store goods in the fridge? Well now with video jug you don't need to embarrass yourself and ask your mum to hear her classic "I told you so".

VideoJug: How To Iron A Shirt

There are all sorts of videos in Video Jug from, how to eat sushi, to how to read wine labels, to how to care for your new ferret, lizard, snake or whatever. The next time you're unsure how to tie your tie to look posh, or how to setup that DIY shelf, take a look at video jug the solution might be a few minutes away, clearly explained and demonstrated on video.

5 diet tips to improve your concentration

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:33:41 GMT

Drink water, loads of water - No don't stop reading I'm going to tell you why and how. If you're dehydrated you're more likely to get tired and lose concentration. My trick to drink more water is to keep a big pint glass (nick one from a pub if you don't have one) on the table. If you see it in front of you during the day you're likely to drink it. On your next trip to the toilet, and believe me there will be many, fill it up again.

Don't overeat - Don't you get that siesta feeling after a good filling meal? That's great, but not if you've got things to do after. After a good meal, the body goes into pause mode to digest the food leaving your feel lethargic and sleepy. Eat short regular meals every 2 - 3hrs instead of a huge filling meal.

Relax your eyes - If you work on a computer you can relax your eyes by focusing at a distance. Look out of the window or warm the palms of your hands and cover your eyes with your warm hands.

Take a shot - (my tip ... highly unscientific but works sometimes) If you're feeling hyperactive and cannot concentrate because you've got too much energy, a shot of whisky, wine, beer, martini etc. can help you calm down a bit. Otherwise make use of this energy rush to thrash the little things that have been sitting on your todo list, and you never got around to do them. A run in the park is probably healthier than drinking alcohol, but not always practical especially in the rain. I find that exercise energizes me when I'm feeling tired and exhausted.

Have breakfast and eat a balanced diet - A breakfast helps you avoid hunger bursts when you're half way through your day. I was a coffee only breakfast person until I realised that there's a direct relationship between my breakfast intake, and around mid-day productivity and hunger. I tend to eat less during lunch if I have breakfast.

Extra Tip: Avoid exciting activities just before you start to study.

For a wealth of tips about Concentration (not only diet tips) check out the University of Kent Concentration Tips page

Foods for better concentration from web Md

Vince Lombardi for motivation

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:37:45 GMT

You immediately know that somebody is very influential when he's got a trophy named after him. Vince Lombardi has the NFL Super bowl named after him, so he must be a pretty influencial person. This is a short video with some of his most famous quotes. Don't need to be a football fan to get something out of this.

A quick run through for reference:

Commitment - Winning is not a some time thing, it is an all time thing. You don't do things right once in a while ... you do them right all the time.

Truth - Truth is knowing that your character is shaped by your every day choices.

Results - Winning is not everything - but mkaing the effort to win is.

Passion - there's only one way to succeed in anything, and that is it to give it everything.

Habit - The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.

Metal toughness - if you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of hart, he's never going to come off the field second.

16 ways to eat healthy while keeping it cheap

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:38:00 GMT

I've already voiced my opinion about eating, ranting that eating is expensive and time consuming. Yesterday I came across this article in Get Rich Slowly that attempts to propose a solution for eating.

My favourite tip is tip nr. 14, take food to work. I throw away loads of food because I'm not at home often, so things rot after a while in the fridge. On the other hand I spend half of my day at work and often finding nothing to eat in the fridge. This tip will probably help me waste less food.