Power through the people
Have you come across a person who is so naturally friendly that when you put him inside a room of strangers, he’ll be friends with almost everyone in no time? We call such a people-person, someone unbelievably nice and charismatic that he can charm anyone into doing anything.

A socially-empowered person achieves so much greatness, basically because of the people that catapult him to success. He earns the trust and all-out support of the people, whom he had helped before. He never runs out of help. He can do anything with the plethora of people behind him. All because he knows he maximizes his social potential!

See, if you know your social skills and you make use of them, you will reach self-empowerment. Self-empowerment is making a general overhaul in your life and turning yourself into a happier and more successful person.If you can be one of those people-persons, then I can’t see any reason why you will not succeed. You just have to know how to start.

1. Be genuine.
Hypocrisy will just bring you all the way down. Be genuinely nice and interested to people. Once they perceive that you are Mr. Hypocrite with selfish intentions, you might as well say goodbye to self-empowerment.

2. Be the greatest listener that you can be.
To earn the love and trust of the people, listen to their problems and sympathize with them. Do not just hear them out, listen to them with your heart. Make eye contact when the person talks to you. Listen as if every word matters, and it does. Brownie points when they find out that there is a confidante in you.

3. Laugh out loud.
I do not mean that you force yourself to laugh for every joke cracked by someone, albeit you do not find it funny at all.This means finding humor in things and not being too darn serious. A person oozing with an awesome sense of humor attracts crowds and eventually, attracts success.

4. Don’t forget yourself.
In the process of fluttering around like a social butterfly, you might forget yourself, allowing everyone to push you over. Remember, love and value yourself before anyone else. If you deem yourself respectable and worthy of affection, people will flock to you and not trample on you.

5. Do random acts of kindness.
You don’t have to do a John Rockefeller and blow your savings to charity. Little acts of kindness matters the most, and this can be as simple as giving someone a surprise you-take-care card or helping an elderly cross the street. When we were kindergarten students, kindness was taught to us and greatly practiced. Now is the time to revive the good deeds and this time, let them stay for good.

6. Contact your old friends.
Sad how some friendships are destined to goodbye, but thanks to technology, you can do something about it. Relive the good old days by flipping your yearbook and look for the great people whom you want to communicate with again. Adding these old friends to your roster of support peers will surely make you feel good all over.

7. Develop your personality.
Are you grouchy, grumpy and generally morose? Whoa, you can’t go through life with those. Get rid of the bad traits and habits that perpetually hamper your growth. And really, who wants a grouchy friend anyway?

8. Be confident.
Be able to stride to the other corner of the room and introduce yourself to people with that winning smile of yours. Just remember: be confident, not arrogant.

9. Practice control.
When angry, don’t snap at anyone. Never throw a tantrum. Stay calm and collected. Be adult enough to take control of situation and transform your anger into something more productive and passive. As soon as people think your anger goes to volcanic proportions easily, they will find it hard to come to you.

10. Keep nurturing your relationships.
Your relationship with your family, friends and significant others is too precious that you must not neglect it whatever happens. Go out and have fun with them. Do things together. Happiness will never fly from your side as long as the people who matter the most are close to you.

In the end, using people for self-empowerment means becoming a better and more lovable person. It’s a win-win situation: the people know they can turn to you anytime and vice versa.

“Relaxing with a Mental PDA” Your 5 minutes daily program to Stress management

We all have this favorite expression when it comes to being stressed out, and I wouldn’t bother naming all of them since it may also vary in different languages. But when it comes down to it, I think that it is how we work or even relax, for that matter that triggers stress. Ever been stressed even when you’re well relaxed and bored? I know I have.

Since Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. is unavoidable in life, it is important to find ways to decrease and prevent stressful incidents and decrease negative reactions to stress. Here are some of the things that can be done by just remembering it, since life is basically a routine to follow like brushing your teeth or eating breakfast. You can do a few of them in a longer span of time, but as they say– every minute counts.

Managing time
Time management skills can allow you more time with your family and friends and possibly increase your performance and productivity. This will help reduce your stress.

To improve your time management:

• Save time by focusing and concentrating, delegating, and scheduling time for yourself.
• Keep a record of how you spend your time, including work, family, and leisure time.
• Prioritize your time by rating tasks by importance and urgency. Redirect your time to those activities that are important and meaningful to you.
• Manage your commitments by not over- or undercommitting. Don’t commit to what is not important to you.
• Deal with procrastination by using a day planner, breaking large projects into smaller ones, and setting short-term deadlines.
• Examine your beliefs to reduce conflict between what you believe and what your life is like.

Build healthy coping strategies
It is important that you identify your coping strategies. One way to do this is by recording the stressful event, your reaction, and how you cope in a stress journal. With this information, you can work to change unhealthy coping strategies into healthy ones-those that help you focus on the positive and what you can change or control in your life.

Lifestyle
Some behaviors and lifestyle choices affect your stress level. They may not cause stress directly, but they can interfere with the ways your body seeks relief from stress. Try to:

• Balance personal, work, and family needs and obligations.
• Have a sense of purpose in life.
• Get enough sleep, since your body recovers from the stresses of the day while you are sleeping.
• Eat a balanced diet for a nutritional defense against stress.
• Get moderate exercise throughout the week.
• Limit your consumption of alcohol.
• Don’t smoke.

Social support
Social support is a major factor in how we experience stress. Social support is the positive support you receive from family, friends, and the community. It is the knowledge that you are cared for, loved, esteemed, and valued. More and more research indicates a strong relationship between social support and better mental and physical health.

Changing thinking
When an event triggers negative thoughts, you may experience fear, insecurity, anxiety, depression, rage, guilt, and a sense of worthlessness or powerlessness. These emotions trigger the body’s stress, just as an actual threat does. Dealing with your negative thoughts and how you see things can help reduce stress.

• Thought-stopping helps you stop a negative thought to help eliminate stress.
• Disproving irrational thoughts helps you to avoid exaggerating the negative thought, anticipating the worst, and interpreting an event incorrectly.
• Problem solving helps you identify all aspects of a stressful event and find ways to deal with it.
• Changing your communication style helps you communicate in a way that makes your views known without making others feel put down, hostile, or intimidated. This reduces the stress that comes from poor communication. Use the assertiveness ladder to improve your communication style.

Even writers like me can get stressed even though we’re just using our hands to do the talking, but having to sit for 7 or 8 hours is already stressful enough and have our own way to relieve stress. Whether you’re the mail guy, the CEO, or probably the average working parent, stress is one unwanted visitor you would love to boot out of your homes, especially your life.

During the holiday season, we all may make questionable choices, like wearing knitted snowman sweaters, overindulging at the dinner table or serving turducken. But according to administrative staffing firm OfficeTeam, the decisions professionals make before going on vacation can mean the difference between a relaxing respite or a harried holiday.

“Taking time off provides an opportunity for employees to recharge and come back to work refreshed,” said OfficeTeam executive director Robert Hosking. “However, those who don’t lay the proper groundwork before they leave may find themselves constantly connected to the office while on holiday breaks or overloaded when they return.”

OfficeTeam offers eight common vacation missteps and tips for avoiding them:

1. Carving out time at the last minute. Coordinate vacation dates with your team as early as possible to avoid scheduling conflicts or a lack of project coverage. Be sure to let your coworkers and other business contacts know when you’ll be out. If taking on your tasks is a burden to colleagues, bring in temporary professionals to help while you’re gone.
2. Acting like a turkey. Use your out-of-office features wisely by including an alternate contact on your voice-mail or e-mail notices. This ensures people get immediate assistance and assignments stay on track.
3. Ruffling colleagues’ feathers. Forgetting to cancel or reschedule meetings planned during your vacation is discourteous to others who set time aside to talk to you. Also, mark your time off on any group calendars so people know when you are not available.
4. Committing a technical ‘fowl.‘ More than a few employees have returned to work after a vacation only to discover they are unable to log in to their computers. Prevent this from happening to you by changing any soon-to-expire passwords before you leave.
5. Overstuffing your inbox. Examine the storage capacity on your e-mail inbox to ensure you have plenty of space to receive large-size files while you’re away. In addition, clean out your voice-mail box.
6. Letting your vacation be gobbled up by work. If you must check in with the office while on your break, let coworkers know in advance the specific times you will be accessible. Making yourself too available can detract from the benefits of taking a vacation.
7. Forgetting to give thanks. Express your appreciation to colleagues who take over key projects while you’re away. By providing all the information they need to complete tasks ahead of time, you’ll make it easy for them to cover for you. Also offer to return the favor when they’re out.
8. Not clearing your plate. Avoid scheduling meetings for the morning of your return so you can spend the time getting up to speed on assignments and catching up on e-mail.

Hosking noted that creating a pre-vacation checklist can provide peace of mind for employees before their break. “It’s easy to overlook minor details when you’re on your way out of the office,” he said. “Having a written record of tasks that must be completed prior to your departure can help you tie up loose ends and make the transition back to work more manageable.”

Source: OfficeTeam

More than One Way to Skin a Cat: Adventures in Creative Thinking
How many times have you caught yourself saying that there could be no other solution to a problem – and that that problem leads to a dead end? How many times have you felt stumped knowing that the problem laying before you is one you cannot solve. No leads.  No options.  No solutions.

Did it feel like you had exhausted all possible options and yet are still before the mountain – large, unconquerable, and impregnable? When encountering such enormous problems, you may feel like you’re hammering against a steel mountain. The pressure of having to solve such a problem may be overwhelming.

But rejoice! There might be some hope yet!
With some creative problem-solving techniques you may be able to look at your problem in a different light. And that light might just be the end of the tunnel that leads to possible solutions.

First of all, in the light of creative problem-solving, you must be open-minded to the fact that there may be more than just one solution to the problem. And, you must be open to the fact that there may be solutions to problems you thought were unsolvable.

Now, with this optimistic mindset, we can try to be a little bit more creative in solving our problems.
Number one; maybe the reason we cannot solve our problems is that we have not really taken a hard look at what the problem is. Here, trying to understanding the problem and having a concrete understanding of its workings is integral solving the problem. If you know how it works, what the problem is, then you have a better foundation towards solving the problem.

Not trying to make the simple statement of what problem is. Try to identify the participating entities and what their relationships with one another are. Take note of the things you stand to gain any stand to lose from the current problem. Now you have a simple statement of what the problem is.

Number two; try to take note of all of the constraints and assumptions you have the words of problem. Sometimes it is these assumptions that obstruct our view of possible solutions. You have to identify which assumptions are valid, in which assumptions need to be addressed.

Number three; try to solve the problem by parts. Solve it going from general view towards the more detailed parts of the problem. This is called the top-down approach. Write down the question, and then come up with a one-sentence solution to that from them. The solution should be a general statement of what will solve the problem. From here you can develop the solution further, and increase its complexity little by little.

Number four; although it helps to have critical thinking aboard as you solve a problem, you must also keep a creative, analytical voice at the back of your head. When someone comes up with a prospective solution, tried to think how you could make that solution work. Try to be creative. At the same time, look for chinks in the armor of that solution.

Number five; it pays to remember that there may be more than just one solution being developed at one time. Try to keep track of all the solutions and their developments. Remember, there may be more than just one solution to the problem.

Number six; remember that old adage,” two heads are better than one.” That one is truer than it sounds. Always be open to new ideas. You can only benefit from listening to all the ideas each person has. This is especially true when the person you’re talking to has had experience solving problems similar to yours.

You don’t have to be a gung-ho, solo hero to solve the problem. If you can organize collective thought on the subject, it would be much better.

Number seven; be patient. As long as you persevere, there is always a chance that a solution will present itself. Remember that no one was able to create an invention the first time around.

Creative thinking exercises can also help you in your quest be a more creative problems solver.
Here is one example.
Take a piece of paper and write any word that comes to mind at the center. Now look at that word then write the first two words that come to your mind. This can go on until you can build a tree of related words. This helps you build analogical skills, and fortify your creative processes.

So, next time you see a problem you think you can not solve, think again. The solution might just be staring you right in the face. All it takes is just a little creative thinking, some planning, and a whole lot of work.

Guardian Launches Educational Campaign, Website and Enhanced Enrollment Services for the Fall Open Enrollment Season

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), one of the largest mutual life insurance companies and a leading provider of employee benefits to midsize and small companies, offers employees and employers tips for leveraging their employee benefits in one of the worst economic environments since the Great Depression.

Guardian’s employee benefits experts compiled these money saving tips and educational resources just in time for the fall open enrollment season when millions of employees make important decisions about their benefits for the coming year. Additionally, Guardian recently launched an educational campaign including a dedicated Website and enhanced enrollment services to make it easier for employers to manage and employees, to understand and select their benefits.

Open Enrollment Tips

Sign-up for voluntary benefits
1) Consider taking advantage of voluntary benefits (sponsored by the employer, paid by the employee). They give you greater choices and discounted access to benefits to help ensure protection needs meet your specific lifestyle. They are usually more affordable than individual coverage and require limited or no medical underwriting.
2) Sign up for voluntary benefits earlier rather than later. Some voluntary benefits like life insurance plans may automatically increase coverage amounts each year, building up greater coverage than what you initially signed up for. These increases have no impact to premiums so it pays to enroll early.

Look for the freebies or perks
3) Use your health insurance plan to get a discount on your gym membership. Health insurance plans with a wellness focus often offer these discounts to encourage employees to stay fit, keeping your long-term costs of care lower. Need estate planning or will preparation advice? Check your life insurance coverage to see if free or low cost legal services are available. For example, Guardian has WillPrep Services* that give plan members access to online planning documents and professional assistance with advanced health care directives, estate taxes, financial and healthcare power of attorney, guardianship and conservatorship, trusts and wills.

Keep more money in your pockets
4) If a high deductible health plan is one of your medical plan options, consider opening a health savings account if available. Money in HSA funds build tax-free and you keep it even if you change jobs. You can use the money to pay for qualified health expenses if necessary and if no health care needs arise, you are building your money up on a tax-advantaged basis.
5) All high-deductible plans are not created equally. Look for a plan that doesn’t require you to pay out-of-pocket for common preventative screenings. Critical illness insurance can be bundled with your health plan to provide greater coverage when serious illnesses strike. A new industry feature on critical illness insurance is a hospital rider where if you face an extended hospital stay, you can receive a check of up to $500 for each day you’re in the hospital — up to ten days. You can use the money any way you want, but many employees choose to use this extra cash to cover high deductibles, co-payments, or even child care.

Use it, don’t lose it
6) Look for a dental plan that has an annual maximum rollover — these newer plans became popular in the past three years and allow you to roll over a portion of your unused benefits to the next year. These plans are doing for the dental industry what rollover minutes did for the mobile phone industry.
7) Consider signing up for a flexible spending account which allows you to pay for qualified healthcare, dependent care and even transportation expenses with before-tax dollars. It’s a use it, or lose it account so don’t forget to use the money before the year-end
deadline. Qualifying purchases may include: medical and dental deductibles and copayments, over the counter medications, eye glasses, child care, and transportation related to your employment.

Don’t give up on your 401(k)
Open Enrollment is a really good time to take a look at your company retirement plan contributions. With only a few short months left in the year, you have time to make adjustments, if necessary, to ensure you reach your contribution goal.
9) Now is the time to start up contributions again, if you stopped contributing during the market turmoil earlier this year. Saving through your employer-sponsored retirement plan helps you automatically follow one of the wisest investment strategies–dollar- cost averaging, putting the same amount of money in the same investment consistently, regardless of market movement. Over time, this can reduce the overall cost of your investments.

If you lose your job, keep your benefits
10) If you lose your job, some of your benefits may be portable. Make sure you ask your HR executive about the ability to maintain key benefits at affordable group rates in the event of job loss.

Guardian Educational Campaign and More Tips

Guardian’s Web page www.guardianenrollmenttips.com, offers free online tips, an interactive benefits quiz and resources for employers and their employees. The company is also sponsoring a radio awareness campaign this fall to encourage employees to spend more time learning about their benefits.

“In the midst of economic downturn employers are looking to effectively deliver competitive benefits programs that fit their budgets and meet the diverse needs of their employees,” said Elena Wu, Group Marketing Officer, Guardian. “Voluntary benefits and plan designs that offer value for the benefits buck are increasingly becoming important vehicles for helping employers to strike that delicate balance between controlling expenses and keeping their employees motivated and happy with quality employee benefits. Guardian is committed to giving midsize and small employers and their workforce greater access to not only benefits, but also education that will help them to make better decisions and be more competitive with larger companies.”

Guardian’s services designed to relieve the administrative burden for employers and improve employee understanding and management of their benefits include:

– Customized enrollment success plans designed to increase employee participation to help employers communicate benefit offerings through on-site enrollment meetings and turn-key employee communications.
– Bilingual enrollment services including Spanish language enrollment materials as well as in-language phone support.
– Personalized enrollment kits available to plan sponsors that offer voluntary life or disability insurance, where the employees’ names and addresses are already filled in on their enrollment forms and cost information is conveniently displayed and personalized based on employee’s age and salary making the enrollment decision easier.
– Employee online enrollment available to eligible existing Guardian customers after initial enrollment, gives plan sponsors the option of allowing their employees to update and select their benefits directly using the Internet if they are a new hire or re-enrolling.
– Face-to-face enrollment meetings with our nationwide team of benefit advisors at no extra cost.
– Toll-free employee benefits hotline where support is available in over 50 languages.
– 24/7 access to Guardian’s online benefits website, Guardian Anytime, which includes provider locators, health resources, glossaries and plan information.
– Guardian’s WorkLifeMatters Employee Assistance Program that offers support on a range of matters such as elder and child care, retirement planning and stress management.

*WillPrep Services are provided by Integrated Behavioral Health, Inc., and its contractors.

Source: The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Two of the highest costs for any organization are people and real estate. In the current economy it makes sense to maximize the return on your facilities by making sure that your space supports your staff and your long-range goals without incurring substantial costs.

Lois Goodell, IIDA, who heads the largest interior design practice in Boston at CBT, shares seven easy to implement changes that will improve morale, productivity, and position your organization for the post-recession future at little or no cost:

Reconfigure: If cutbacks have emptied workstations and created dead zones in the office plan, reconfigure the space to increase the density. Fill empty seats and arrange workstations to improve workflow and visibility, which improves communication and morale.

Redeploy: Increase the density of workstations to open up other areas on the floor. Use “found” space to create room for collaboration. Keep the furnishings, redeployed from across the office, simple to encourage informal meetings.

Readjust: As individuals take on additional work when staff is reduced, they may require more filing space or different surfaces to support their new responsibilities. See what’s needed to be effective and adjust the workstation components accordingly.

Rethink: Senior staff responsibilities are increasing, too. Configure private office furniture to facilitate communication, mentoring, and accessibility. With travel budgets slashed, it’s time to have IT install a webcam.

Restack: More costly than re-planning a single work area or even an entire floor, the investment in restacking several floors to achieve more effective adjacencies delivers surprising paybacks. Improved communication across business units addresses shifting demands — speed-to-market, new products and services, or streamlined operations.

Reinvigorate: Take advantage of the public spaces to raise visibility. Multi-function rooms, cafes, and conference rooms can be used to bring people together for training, to host events for clients, colleagues, or community.

Refresh: For a small investment paint provides a big return. Used strategically, color can bring a professional polish to the office or just refresh spaces that are showing “wear and tear.”

Whatever changes you make now should anticipate further change. Evaluate your resources holistically — your facilities, your inventories, your requirements, and your budget. As Goodell notes, “Smart moves today provide positive, short-term impact, and the opportunity to position for the long-term.” Focusing on improved efficiencies, flexibility, and cost-effective solutions for your facilities fosters a workplace culture that is agile, collaborative, and sustainable.

Source: Lois Goodell

When you are at work, do you get frustrated because things don’t seem to be happening the way they’re supposed to be? You see people milling around but nothing gets accomplished. And in the daily hustle and bustle, do you feel that your goals remain just that – goals. Then maybe its time for you to stand up and do something about it.

Most people are content just to stand around listening for orders. And it isn’t unusual to adopt a follow-the-leader mentality. But maybe, somewhere inside of you, you feel the desire to make things happen – to be the head, not the tail. Then maybe leadership just suits you fine.

Some people believe that great leaders are made, not born. Yes, it may be true that some people are born with natural talents. However, without practice, without drive, without enthusiasm, and without experience, there can be no true development in leadership.

You must also remember that good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their natural skills. This takes a commitment to constantly improve in whatever endeavor a person chooses.

First of all, let’s define leadership. To be a leader, one must be able to influence others to accomplish a goal, or an objective. He contributes to the organization and cohesion of a group.

Contrary to what most people believe, leadership is not about power. It is not about harassing people or driving them using fear. It is about encouraging others towards the goal of the organization. It is putting everyone on the same page and helping them see the big picture of the organization. You must be a leader not a boss.

First of all, you have to get people to follow you. How is this accomplished?

People follow others when they see a clear sense of purpose. People will only follow you if they see that you know where you are going. Remember that bumper sticker? The one that says, don’t follow me, I’m lost too? The same holds true for leadership. If you yourself do not know where you’re headed to, chances are people will not follow you at all.

You yourself must know the vision of the organization. Having a clear sense of hierarchy, knowing who the bosses are, who to talk to, the organization’s goals and objectives, and how the organization works is the only way to show others you know what you are doing.

Being a leader is not about what you make others do. It’s about who you are, what you know, and what you do. You are a reflection of what you’re subordinates must be.

Studies have shown that one other bases of good leadership is the trust and confidence your subordinates have of you. If they trust you they will go through hell and high water for you and for the organization.

Trust and confidence is built on good relationships, trustworthiness, and high ethics.

The way you deal with your people, and the relationships you build will lay the foundation for the strength of your group. The stronger your relationship, the stronger their trust and confidence is in your capabilities.

Once you have their trust and confidence, you may now proceed to communicate the goals and objectives you are to undertake.

Communication is a very important key to good leadership. Without this you can not be a good leader. The knowledge and technical expertise you have must be clearly imparted to other people.

Also, you can not be a good leader and unless you have good judgment. You must be able to assess situations, weigh the pros and cons of any decision, and actively seek out a solution.

It is this judgment that your subordinates will come to rely upon. Therefore, good decision-making is vital to the success of your organization.

Leaders are not do-it-all heroes. You should not claim to know everything, and you should not rely upon your skills alone.

You should recognize and take advantage of the skills and talents your subordinates have. Only when you come to this realization will you be able to work as one cohesive unit.

Remember being a leader takes a good deal of work and time. It is not learned overnight. Remember, also, that it is not about just you. It is about you and the people around you.

So, do you have the drive and the desire to serve required of leaders? Do you have the desire to work cooperatively with other people? Then start now. Take your stand and be leader today.

Reading books may be a dying art, but you can’t avoid reading all together. With today’s society buzzing along at a rapid pace compared to the yesteryear of the good ole days, reading is a necessary skill to pull yourself ahead of the game. Unfortunately, many cannot read as well as they would like. This list of 100 resources to improve reading speed and comprehension can bring you “up to speed” with top speed readers.

1. Eyercize – A free online tool to help read quicker and absorb the material you scan.
2. The Literacy Web – A web site completely dedicated to literacy tools and reading comprehension strategies from the University of Connecticut.
3. Spreeder – A free tool to increase your reading speed.
4. Reading Programs Locator – Enter your ZIP code to search a database of reading programs across the U.S.
5. Study Guides and Strategies – A nice article database on reading faster and how to improve comprehension while reading difficult texts.
6. Speed Library – An online database of helpful knowledge on reading comprehension and memory improvement for students and adults.
7. Speed Reading Online – Tools and tricks to improve reading speed in adults.
8. Read Read Revolution – Free software to help improve reading speed line by line.
9. Speed Reading Talk – A blog all about speed reading from people who want to improve their readings skills and people who have improved their reading skills.
10. SQ3R: A Reading Technique – College Boards gives poor readers a big tip on how to recall what you’ve read. Read on and find out what it is.
11. Interlink Language Center – Lessons on how to improve reading skills and comprehension for free.
12. ELC Study Zone: Reading Exercises – A pile of reading exercises to improve reading speed and comprehension.
13. Learning Techniques: 10 Tips to Improve Reading Speed and Reading Comprehension – Speed reading expert Richard Feldman, Ph.D. of Columbia University shares ten vital tips on how to speed up your reading.
14. Reach Out Michigan – With an 11 point list to help you eliminate common causes of slower reading, this site will provide you with concrete tips to get your speed up.
15. Providence College – Reading Comprehension Tips and Speed Reading Strategies – Providence College’s Office of Academic Services lists tips on reading comprehension and a link for more assistance on speed reading.
16. Glenndale Community College – Reading Better and Faster – An article from Glenndale Community College by Dennis Doyle on reading faster and stopping bad reading habits.
17. Glenndale Community College – Self-Pacing Methods – Another helpful article by Dennis Doyle on strategic reading methods to help your read faster with more comprehension.
18. Speed Reading Specialist – Tips and activities on speed reading for all ages.
19. How to Improve Reading Comprehension – A handful of articles with tips on reading faster and better plus resourceful links to help your quest for more speed reading material.
20. Family Education – Top 10 Ways to Improve Reading Skills – An article by educators, Peggy Gisler and Marge Eberts, describing ten tips to advance reading skills and comprehension.
21. Speed Reading eBook – A whole free e-book on speed reading. Enough said.
22. About.com – How to Improve Your Reading Speed – Esther Lombardi gives plenty of advice on how to hasten your reading without sacrificing your understanding of the words.
23. Scott Young Blog – An informative article on how to double your reading rate.
24. Scott Young Blog – A follow-up article on speed reading.
25. Pinny Cohen – Read Faster Instantly – An entrepreneur doles out advice on how to read through information quickly.
26. Reading Effectively Map – A graphic map on how to comprehend your reading faster.
27. Reading Soft.com’s Speed Reading Test – Take this speed reading test to see how fast you can currently read and if there’s room for improvement.
28. Magic Speed Reading – An index of speed reading articles, tips and lessons.
29. Neuro Gym – Two speed reading exercises that will put your reading skills to the test.
30. The English Department – A group of reading comprehension exercises for upper intermediate and advanced readers.
31. Study Habits – Speed Reading Test – Another free reading test to analyze your reading speed.
32. Mind Tools – Speed Reading – Speed reading information for career minded people that need the ability to scan through documents at faster speeds than leisure reading mode.
33. Speed Reading – How to Eliminate Subvocalization – Tips by Peter Sturo on how to eliminate subvocalization and improve your reading speed.
34. Study Hall – Tips for Improving Your Reading Speed – An article on building the ability to read faster. This article is based on college reading, but applies to nearly everyone trying to bring their reading skills up to speed.
35. Learning-Tech: Basic Speed Reading Techniques – An article on how to improve memory skills and boosting reading speeds through comprehension.
36. Psych Tests – Mind Tools on Speed Reading – A map and tools to help readers develop speed reading skills.
37. How to Speed Read Tips – Leon Edward writes on how to learn to speed read and overcome a slow reading pace.
38. WikiHow – A simple article on how to increase your reading speed without paying a lot of money for programs to help you.
39. TurboRead – Reading Speed Checks – A group of tests built to determine your level of reading and reading speed.
40. Speed Reading and Information Overload – Adam Harley discusses how to manage information overload and how to scan your way out of a mountain of words.
41. Proportional Reading – Free movies, free course and free tools to help you read faster and better.
42. Insider Reports – Reading Speed: Learn How To Improve Yours With Speed Reading Techniques – An informational article on what speed reading is and how to learn to master the technique.
43. You Tube -  Learn to Speed Read! – Watch and learn as Kris explains the principles of speed reading in this You Tube video.
44. Evaluating Speed Reading Software – If you determine you need speed reading software for practice, Adam Harley tells you how to get the best software for your buck.
45. Speed Reading vs Skimming – Another article by speed reader Adam Harley on the differences between skimming and speed reading.
46. Harper Studio: Students Can Learn To Read Faster – Dr. Martin Kutscher explains how parents can organize their children to read faster and do better in school.
47. Speed Reading Tactics – Does Speed Reading Software Work? – A thoughtful article on the value of speed reading software by Ed Caldwell.
48. Speed Reading Tactics – Taming and Transforming Subvocalization – Ed Caldwell explores how to eliminate the little voice in your head that keeps you from reading at a faster pace.
49. The Study Hall – Tips to improve reading speed complete with a weekly plan to help you practice what you learn.
50. Start With These Tips on How to Learn Speed Reading – William Temple describes some easy ways to learn to speed read without software.
51. Speed Reading Exercises – Some free speed reading exercises and a free subscription link to speed reading discussions.
52. eHow – How to Read Faster – A easy to understand, quick article on how to make yourself read faster.
53. Literacy Connections – A web site for reading teachers and a list of literacy resources on children’s literacy and adult literacy.
54. Literacy Directory – A directory to find literacy programs for adults and children in the U.S.
55. Read, Write, Think – Games and programs for young students to improve literacy and reading comprehension.
56. The Colorado Department of Education – Colorado’s Department of Education provides a directory of children’s literacy resources and libraries.
57. California Literacy Resources – A resource list for struggling adult readers in California to find help throughout the state.
58. Rhode Island Literacy Resources – Adult literacy program tools and news for Rhode Island residents.
59. Literacy Resources, Inc. – A non-profit literacy group aiming to help children improve reading skills throughout the nation. Check the PDF form to see If your child qualifies for literary help.
60. U.S. Department of Education: Reading Resources – Part of the No Child Left Behind program to help children develop better reading comprehension and language skills. A list of articles to help parents and educators assess reading problems in youth.
61. International Reading Association – An organization of literacy educators and promoters. The site has many resources and lesson plans available for parents, teachers and adults.
62. Learn How To Read Faster – A six step article on how to improve your reading speed and get results without extensive training or classes.
63. Business Know How: Improve Your Reading Speed – An article for business people who need to learn how to speed up their reading pace for the suit and tie life.
64. Read Fast Now – A web site full of articles and free resources to beef up your reading skills and comprehension.
65. Readabout’s Speed Reading Program – A nicely organized speed reading program with many featured articles on the subject as well.
66. Dartmouth’s Academic Skill Center – A free database for students as well as those who wish to improve reading and memorization skills. This particular article details how to read textbooks effectively, but it is advice that can be applied to the working world as well.
67. WHAKATE: Read Better, Read Less – A helpful article on achieving higher reading speeds while cutting down on the actual time it takes to read a piece of literature or document.
68. Time Magazine: Read Better & Faster – Trusted source of information, Time brings readers some interesting tips on how to improve life quality by learning to read faster and better.
69. Self Growth: Easy Tips for Faster Reading – Paul Scheele shares a handful of tips that make for faster reading and greater self-improvement.
70. ESL Gold – If you are learning English as a second language this web site is for you. It has content for many areas of English study, but this link takes you directly to an article on how to read faster and use this tool in everyday life.
71. The New York Times: Peripherals; A Program for Reading Faster, Better – This world-wide known newspaper uncovers the good, bad and the ugly in speed reading (and writing) help for consumers.
72. ProductiveElearn.com: Speed Reading Tactics – Check out all the free literature and mini courses on speed reading, but unless you are prepared to pay and need extra help steer clear of the online courses.
73. About.com: Reading Tips and Strategies – A source for college students trying to improve reading efficiency and comprehension of large amounts of information. While this article is directed at students, the techniques will work for anyone with a lot of material to read and remember in a short period.
74. About.com: English as a Second Language – Kenneth Beare unloads heaps of helpful information on reading English as a second language. This article will uncover your reading style to make reading more natural.
75. About.com: Reading – Identifying Skill Requirement – Kenneth Beare identifies reading skills like skimming, scanning, extensive and intensive reading and how to reach intermediate reading skill levels.
76. About.com – Reading: Improve Your Comprehension and Efficiency – Take advice from a Ph.D. on how to how to survive reading long books for college, but you never know when these students reading tips can make your life easier outside of school.
77. About.com English as a Second Language – This informational snippet on scanning information can teach you how to narrow your focus to zoom in on information that is vital to your understanding on the information you’re reading.
78. About.com: English as a Second Language – After you’ve learned a conquered skimming and scanning and reading the English language better, try your hand at business English exercises to launch a more powerful career path.
79. About.com: Reading as a Second Language – A fun reading skills quiz to break up all the article reading on how to bump up your reading speed.
80. Top Ten Reviews- A 2009 speed reading software review of ten products to help you decide which product is worth your money to help you learn to read quickly.
81. Ace Reader – Take this free reading test to see where you stand. You can then download and try the free software trial that tracks your reading comprehension progress during reading speed exercises.
82. Top Ten Reviews – This article is helpful because it reviews each learning method of speed reading. See what experts recommend as the most helpful speed reading and comprehension exercises.
83. Daily Blog Tips: The Secret to Lightning-Fast Feed Reading – An article for online feed reading junkies on how to organize the feeds and master time spent reading the articles listed on your feed.
84. Sources of Insight – Experts comment on the truth about speed reading and how to take information and apply it to real life reading.
85. BlockReading.com – Free and online reading exercises to improve your vocabulary and reading speeds.
86. Speed Reading Secrets – Try the free lesson plan to read faster developed by a military pilot that could only read 156 words per minute before he trained himself with this program.
87. Speed Reading 4 Kids – Now that you are flying through the pages yourself, teach your kids how to read and study much faster and overcome reading disorders that can hinder your children’s ability to read.
88. eBooks – The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading – Download this eBook for quick references on how to speed read your way through any book or article. The book costs $16.95 to download. The free part? You get a preview.
89. Speed Reading Software – Try the free trial of Rocket Reader and test your skills with a free reading comprehension test.
90. TurboRead – Another speed reading software program with a free trial and informative articles on reading comprehension.
91. Ace Reader – Another recommended speed reading software kit to help improve reading ability.
92. Two Extremely Effective Speed Reading Exercises – Rin K Otori details two of the most effective reading exercises that will increase your reading speed with practice.
93. Rocket Reader – Try the award-winning software for ten full days without buying. Check out all the free tests and reading help articles too.
94. Literary Resources, Inc. – Michael Heggerty provides useful links and resources for phonetic awareness and advancement.
95. Best Speed Reading Course – A course designed to teach you how to read and comprehend faster. Try the mini-course for free by signing up with your e-mail address.
96. Speed Reader X – An online speed reading course to improve your reading comprehension. You can try the course risk free for 60 days, but payment in required for the courses upfront.
97. The Literacy Company – Speed reading software for all ages. Check out the articles posted at the bottom of the main page for free tips.
98. Nev n Dave – A list of ten tips to effectively read blogs quickly by reorganizing your RSS feed and other easy to fix methods to keep you focused on the important things in life other than blog reading.
99. To Done – If you love to read blogs, this article is for you. It explains how to effectively read blogs without wasting time.
100. The Learning Centre – A two-part article on how to read effectively and improve study and learning skills.

Utilize all the free resources you can to improve your reading speed, but if all else fails there are some good reading programs and software listed to give you help and practice.

It’s a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don’t. The power of innovation. If you’ve ever marvelled at somebody’s creative prowess, guess what, you can create and innovate too. It just takes time. Everyone is born creative. The box of crayons in kindergarten were not limited to those who possessed potential; because the truth is, everybody has potential.

You know how long it took to learn to ride a bike or drive or to never commit the same mistake again? It’s the same with innovation. It takes a  bit of practice and a lot of time before this mind function comes easily  when called. This article will teach you a few tips on how to bring innovation into your life.

Don’t listen to what other people say. Follow the beat of your own drum. Allowing for the input of other people will only bring cacophony to the music you are trying to make. If you have an original idea, don’t waste your time and effort trying to make people understand. They won’t. And the help you will probably get comes in the form of negative feedback. If all those geniuses listened to their peers, we would probably still be living in the middle ages.

Spend time on it. I cannot stress that enough, although, please do not mistake this tip to tell you to quit your day job entirely. Do not. This involves some tricky time management but with a little discipline you’ll be able to squeeze both in.

Exercise. Take a walk. Run a mile or two. Send all those endorphins coursing through your veins. Exercising certainly clears and relaxes your mind and allows for anything to pop up.

Record your dreams. Aren’t some of them just the craziest things that your conscious mind would never have thought of? If you’ve had these dreams before, and I’m sure have, this only shows you the untapped innovative power you have lying within. So jot down those notes. Those dreams may just create an innovative spark in you.

Find your own style. You can always tell a Van Gogh from a Matisse. You’ll know Hemingway wrote something by the choice of words on the paper. So it is the same with you. People will appreciate your innovation more because it is uniquely yours and that no one else would have thought of what you were thinking. That will let people see how valuable an asset you are.

Don’t hide behind nifty gadgets or tools. You don’t need the most expensive set of paints to produce a masterpiece. The same way with writing. You don’t need some expensive fountain pen and really smooth paper for a bestseller. In fact, J.K. Rowling wrote the first book of the Harry Potter Series on bits of tissue. So what if you’ve got an expensive SLR camera if you’re a crappy photographer? Who cares if you’ve got a blinging laptop if you can’t write at all? The artist actually reduces the number of tools he has as he gets better at his craft: he knows what works and what doesn’t.

Nothing will work without passion. What wakes you up in the mornings? What keeps the flame burning? What is the one thing that you’ll die if you don’t do? Sometimes people with talent are overtaken by the people who want it more. Think the hare and the tortoise. Ellen Degeneres once said that if you’re not doing something that you want to do, then you don’t really want to do it. And that’s true. Sometimes you just want something so bad you become a virtual unstoppable. And that is passion. Passion will keep you going.

Don’t worry about inspiration. You can’t force it; inspiration hits when you least expect it to, for those unpredictable yet inevitable moments you should prepare. An idea could strike you on the subway, yet alas, you poor unfortunate soul; you have no sheet of paper to scribble down a thought that could change the world. Avoid these disasters. Have a pen and paper within your arm’s reach at all times.

I hope this article has helped you bring more innovation into your life. Keep in mind that you’re doing these things for your own satisfaction and not anybody else’s. But soon enough they will notice, and everything should snowball from there.

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