TIME  is the greatest asset for anyone who wants to invest. The earlier you invest, the greater is the return on the value of your money. This is due to the concept of compound interest where you will earn interest on your original investment and the interest earned. That’s the power of compounding. With compound interest, you earn interest on the money you save and, on the interest, that money earns. Over time, even a small amount saved can add up to big money. Even one percentage point can make a difference in the long run.

BUT of course, you have to remember you must NOT borrow to invest. You should not take other people’s money to invest or take out cash from your credit card. If you do not have money, do not invest. You must NOT invest just to get a quick and high return. Remember quick returns always carry high risks. Always be cautious of illegal get-rich-quick-schemes that promise quick money for your investments. They make false promises and may run away with your money. DO NOT invest in high-risk investments unless you are ready for it. I know you’ve heard this over and over. You must value the value of these reminders. You should NOT invest on the basis of ‘hot’ tips and rumors. You should not enter into any investment decision in a hasty manner. You must be a smart investor and proactively seek information on the various investment options available. You must protect your money against risk by spreading your money among various investments, hoping that if one investment loses money, the other investments will more than makeup for those losses. This strategy called A ROADMAP TO YOUR JOURNEY TO FINANCIAL SECURITY. This is called “diversification,” or the famous saying, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You must always remember to exercise prudence when it comes to making an investment choice and decision. You must know how to secure your financial well-being. You must remember it is one of the most important things you’ll ever need in life.

You don’t have to be a genius to do it. You just need to know a few basics, form a plan, and be ready to stick to it.

Quick Tip:

YES, you should go out and get that whole experience, education, freedom, and personal growth from your travels. You must travel to create a worthwhile experience.

Quench that thirst for CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL knowledge and seek for activities that will last long after the endeavor is over .

Set some GOALS.

SET  some goals for yourself. Write them down because the written goals happen more successfully at a significantly larger rate than the goals that aren’t written down because people can say a lot about something, but writing helps you make these goals come alive. You must create a good goal structure. Then you must take responsibility and ownership of your goals. Having a goal-­directed behavior means you are goal setting is empowering and proactive. You must have a self-­determined behavior of goal setting.

Setting goals is a great help for the 20’s age-old that you are especially important for students with low achievement motivation.

For citation purposes*The sense of competence resulting from successful goal, achievement encourages students to set more challenging goals and eventually adopt goal-directed mindsets. According to meta­ motivational Self-­Determination Theory (SDT), goal choice and sense of competence in a classroom learning community will motivate students to continue on their learning trajectories (Deci & Ryan, 1987). Therefore, it is important to set achievable and self ­and task-­relevant goals. Although setting goals improves performance robustly across various settings, it is nevertheless a skill: one must learn how to effectively set goals. In this respect, it is amenable to intervention (e.g., Barron & Harackiewicz, 2001). You must continue evaluating yourself and reflecting on your experiences. You must learn how to give constructive and specific feedback to yourself in line for your goal setting process. You must learn how to self­-evaluate and self­-regulate in the process.  You must set goals to help you organize, prioritize and manage your motives. You must be able to describe your goals for yourself, the challenges students may face, and how to overcome those challenges. You must learn how to set achievable and productive goals.

You must be actively involved in setting your life goals. You must take responsibility and ownership of your goals. You should write ‘why’ and ‘how’ you will achieve a goal. You must learn the different strategies of setting goals and problem-solving strategies. You must learn how to handle the procedure and the outcome as well. You must teach yourself how to set smart goals.

You must keep track of your own progress. You must remember there is no ‘one­ size ­fits ­all’ way of utilizing goal setting. You can divide long-­term goals into short-­term subgoals. You can establish your own timeline. You can assess your own progress toward your goals and come up with methods to visualize the progress. You must understand your own cycle of goal setting in regulating and attaining. You must evaluate your capabilities in trying to engage in these tasks and develop self­-regulatory competencies.

Be yourself.

SELF- awareness is having a clear and realistic perception of who you are. Self-awareness is not about uncovering a deep dark secret about yourself, but understanding who you are, why you do what you do, how you do it, and the impact this has on others.

Self-awareness is directly related to both emotional intelligence and success. · It helps you create achievable goals because you can consider your strengths, weaknesses, and what drives you when goal-setting. · It allows you to guide yourself down the right path by choosing to pursue the opportunities that are the best fit for your skill-set, preferences, and tendencies. · It makes identifying situations and people that hit our triggers and anticipating our own reactions easier. · It allows us to make positive behavioral changes that can lead to greater personal and interpersonal success

It takes far more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than to improve from first-rate performance to excellence. The key to living with change is retaining a sense of who you are and what you value. Read Stephen Covey’s explanation of the character ethic vs the personality ethic. Understand the importance of knowing who you really are, what you are trying to be and why you’re trying to be.

Take better care of your health.

Health Fact:

developed countries like the USA, where the literacy rate is more than 95%, people know that adopting a healthy lifestyle eliminates the risk of chronic health problems to a large extent. However, they do not follow a healthy lifestyle. Why? The answer is that people are addicted to an unhealthy lifestyle. For example- people are addicted to sleeping in the couch and that is why they do not exercise. People are addicted to eating high calories food that makes them obese and prone to heart problems. Addiction is a condition in which the desire/craving to repeat an addicted behavior consistently exceeds the ability to stop doing so [3]. When the more you have, the more you need to achieve the same effect. This effect can be modeled as a positive feedback loop where the desire keeps increasing in a loop.

Abstinence from unhealthy lifestyle.

The diagram below shows the cybernetic approach to controlling health problems by motivating people for following a healthy lifestyle (exercise, yoga, healthy food etc.), that is abstinence from the unhealthy lifestyle.

Cybernetics, called “self-regulation”

But it is yourself who project this effect into the future, not something that exists in the future and affects the present.

first order cybernetics was primarily concerned with the analysis and engineering implementation of goal-directed behavior. – Cybernetics is formally defined as the science of control and communication in animals, men and machines.

Ask more questions. Stay being curious

PEOPLE have asked us everything and it’s just up to us to ask and I find that when I ask people are waiting and are willing to ask so why aren’t you. Why aren’t you asking for help for what it is that you desire to do.In today’s world of social connections challenged by technology and an overabundance of information, learning how to ask better questions and rekindle our curiosity is vital to learning to reconnect with other and build deeper relationships. And if you’re seeking better answers and better comprehension among the overwhelming flow of information, learning to ask better questions will help. Having interviewed hundreds of history-making names from Robert DeNiro to Quincy Jones, today’s guest Cal Fussman has spent a lifetime cultivating the art of asking great questions and listening and living with deep curiosity.

When was the last time you’ve been truly curious?

In today’s conversation, we hear a little about Cal’s origin story and the events that first got him interested in the power of questions and the discipline of journalism. We talk about the relentless curiosity we possess in childhood, how that curiosity can get lost over time, and the need for all of us to rekindle that curiosity in our lives. Finally, we’ll hear Cal’s reflections on his interview with Mikhail Gorbachev and the power of asking questions that aim straight for the heart.

Floss not just brush.

IN earlier times, transmission of cooking skills was a family affair, mostly concerning women. Today is a very different story. Intense pace, little or no time devoted to preparing family meals, demons of food that is “ready-made”, or “ready to cook”. These pressures occur at a time we know that a balanced healthy diet is a key to well being. The proof is in rising rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease as well as much other health concern

They have to relearn the obvious: to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, to vary and diversify foods, right from a very early age. When will we see cooking classes in elementary schools? We could then teach children good habits right from the start. Children would then be in a position to be the best teachers for their parents.

Culinary education should integrate all modern media (internet, videos…). Our favorite chefs must also replace our grandmothers and visit elementary, middle and high schools, as well as universities to remind us of the basics.

Importance of cooking skills:

Balanced food choices

Food guidelines simply inform people about healthy food choices and good eating practices, and a translation of food guidelines into actual daily meal preparation needs more than nutrition knowledge alone. Other important aspects that affect food choices are household characteristics, such as financial resources, available means of transportation, kitchen equipment, and household members’ skills in food acquisition, transportation, storage, and preparation1.

People who are able to cook make better food choices

Accordingly, the higher the cooking skills are, the higher is the vegetable consumption. In fact, cooking skills enable the preparation of different food items and dishes and therefore may increase food choice opportunities, as well as food variety. It is well known that food variety is one factor among others that may increase food intake, which is preferable in the case of vegetable consumption4,5. Moreover, people with high cooking skills less frequently consume convenience food (e.g. pizza, a meal in a can, meals-ready-to-eat), sweets (e.g. chocolate, sweet pastries) and savory snacks (e.g. chips) as well as sugar-sweetened beverages (e.g. Fanta, Cola).

Cooking classes in schools provide a great opportunity to raise awareness of fresh foods, food ingredients, and health-promoting diets. These classes could also provide students with the skills on how to economically and quickly prepare healthy dishes. Additionally, children and young adults, especially from low-income families, might benefit most from cooking classes in schools because they have limited access to other resources of information.

The Obama administration has heartedly endorsed cooking, mainly through the First Lady and a program called Cooking Matters, to address the obesity problem in the United States (http://cookingmatters.org/).

Allows young people/adults to prepare, experiment, taste and try new foods in a safe environment.

Take your time before getting married.

ONE problem that can detour a marriage that seems to be headed in the right direction is the introduction of unexpected new knowledge about a partner. Do you know, for example, how your partner thinks about and values money, or how he or she would approach being a parent? Learning more about your partner now could ward off some common sources of conflict later (Stanley, Markham, & Whitton, 2002).

Appreciate Failure.