IN today’s busy life we often miss out on opportunities to perform simple acts of kindness. Here are a few ideas that can inspire. - Before going to school, spend a few minutes to hug your parents and tell them how much you love them. And during recess, write a short note to tell your parents how much they mean to you.

- When you are at a mall, hold the doors for others, even if you do not know them.

- Buy a few gifts and donate them to an orphanage or charity home.

- Organise a car wash in your neighbourhood and donate the collection to welfare.

- If you see an elderly person, help the person carry the grocery bags.

- Buy a Thank You card and write a note to your teacher. Tell your teacher how much you appreciate his/her efforts in teaching everyone.

- Help your friend with a school project or assignment.

- Volunteer at a homeless shelter or animal shelter and help out with the chores.

- Mow the grass of your neighbour and spend some time with them.

- If you are at a hospital, pick up an extra bouquet of flowers and give it to someone who is without a visitor.

- Give a slice or two of pizza to the delivery guy. You can also give them an extra tip.

- Donate blood. This is the greatest act of kindness.

- Buy a meal for the poor person on the street.

- Allow someone to queue infront of you.

- Give your seat to the elderly or needy person in the bus or LRT.

- Help carry the rubbish bags for your mum and neighbours.

- Say Thank You to the waiter/waitress who serves you.

- Dedicate a song to your friend on the local radio and inform them about it, so they can hear your message.

- Teach the elderly how to create a Facebook/Twitter/Blog account. Help them upload pictures, songs or even to write a blog.

- Give a smile to everyone you see and greet them.

There you go. These are the simplest ideas that can make a big difference in someone’s life and yours.

-Adopted from NST newspaper.

Quotations

For 'FEAR' :

"It's a realistic wish of God for everyone to live as conquerors,not freaked out by the stormy circumstances and trials."

For 'Self-confidence' :

“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.”

What you think of me is none of my business. What is most important is what I think of myself. — Robert Kiyosaki

Keep your thoughts positive, because thoughts become your words.

Time Management

  Due to the overload of school works which fully filled most of my time,I've stopped signing in my Facebook account for a whole 5 days long.It seems to be an amazing 'breaking' record as people could not live without Facebook nowadays.

  As a Form 6 student,my school works are getting more and more difficult to handle.No matter what,I should always try my best to do well in my studies.Although sometimes I did feel extremely stressful and overworked,but I just could not find a reason to quit.There's no such word in my brain's dictionary:'impossible'.I must tell myself that:'I can do it'.Whenever I feel overwhelmed or exhausted,I'd find as many solutions as I could to overcome the problems.

  As I have mentioned earlier,I'm a big busy-body now.In these few weeks,I couldn't go shopping as often as I used to be.My school works and my to-do list are too crowded and tight.I could not pick up even a single excuse to escape from all the works I need to do or complete.

  I've sacrificed the happy times and leisure activities,except one leisure activity which I won't give up for any reasons,it is reading.Call me a Bookworm,please! haha~

  In an hour or two,I'll sit down and study again for hours.Every now and then,I felt like I could hardly breathe due to the mountains of school works.So,I've found some good information emphasize on 'Time Management'.

What Are the 3 Rules for Effective Time Management?

1. Don't create impossible situations.
   
2. Define priorities.
   
3. Avoid distractions and lack of focus. 

Define Your Priorities Using the 3-List Method.

Plan your work, then work your plan

All time management begins with planning. Use lists to set priorities, plan activities and measure progress. One approach is the 3-list method.

List #1 - The weekly calendar.
Create a weekly calendar. Make it your basic time budgeting guide. List your courses, work, study time, recreation, meals, TV, relaxation, etc.

Plan to study first priority classes when you work best. Be flexible, adapt your schedule to changing needs. Keep your schedule handy and refer to it often. If it doesn't work, change it.

List #2 - The daily "Things to Do".
Write down all the things that you want to do today. Note homework due or tests or subjects you want to emphasize. Include shopping and personal calls, etc.

This list is a reminder. Use it to set daily priorities and to reduce decision-making and worry. If time is tight, move items to your long-term list.

Rewrite this list each morning. Use visualization to help you focus on what to do. This list is also a measure of your day-to-day success. Check off items as you finish them and praise yourself for each accomplishment.

List #3 - Goals and other things.
This can be one or two lists, a monthly list and or a long-term list. Put down your goals and things you have to do. What do you want to accomplish over the next month or year? What do you need to buy?

Use this list to keep track of all your commitments. If you're worried about something, put it on this list. The purpose of this list is to develop long-term goals and to free your mind to concentrate on today.



Avoid Distractions and Lack of Focus.

Time is precious. Yet many people waste time by getting stuck in one or more of the following habits.

Procrastination - putting off important jobs.

Crises management - being overwhelmed by the current crisis. No time for routine matters.

Switching and floundering - lack of concentration and focus on one job.

Television, telephones and friends - these are all ways of avoiding work.

Emotional blocks - boredom, daydreaming, stress, guilt, anger and frustration reduce concentration. 

Confidence

'Success comes in cans, not cant's.' 

Today I'd like to talk about the topic on 'Confidence'.

Firstly,we need to understand clearly what's the definition of the word - confidence.

Definition of Confidence:

The feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something.

So,what's the ways to boost the level of confidence in oneself?

Here's some research which I've found from this topic:

1. Smile
2. Be grateful
3. Work on small things
4. Do something you've been procrastinating on
5. Stand tall
6. Speak slowly
7. Be kind and generous
8. Act positive
9. Get to know yourself
10. Build a positive self-image
11. Recognize your insecurities
12. Identify your successes
13. Accept compliments gracefully 
14. Be honest 
15. Act confidently            

 “Who has confidence in himself will gain the confidence of others.”

 

'No Man Is An Island',do you agree?Discuss. (STPM essay)

  Every human being needs other human being to survive and get through obstacles and challenges in life.We could hardly live as happy as we are if we have no other people to support us in our lives.We all need family,friends,teachers or mentors to guide,love and cheer us up during the ups and downs in life.No one could live all by himself or herself as life is not a bed of roses.In another words,no one could live as lonely as an island.I entirely agree with the proverb which stated that 'No Man Is An Island' by John Donne.

  As we have mentioned earlier,family members played the most important rule in our lives.That is because family members are always there for us from the moment we have born into this world and the day we died or passed away.Parents are the ones who love us the most and stay closest to us.They sacrifice almost everything to bring us up.For example,they give us sufficient foods,clothes,educations,undivided loves and so on.They support us financially,physically and mentally without asking for their children to pay in return.At the meantime,they sacrifice their precious times and energy on raising us to become an useful person.Furthermore,parents are the first persons who inculcated the moral values and religion beliefs that make us a fully human being.When we have done something that is sinful or incorrect,parents would guide and rectify our mistakes by setting the positive examples as action speaks louder than words.Moreover,our siblings influence our lives as well.Siblings are the ones who are at the similar or slightly elder or younger than we are.At homes,we spent most of our times talking,playing and even arguing with our siblings since we were young.When our parents get older and ill one day,then it is our responsibility to look after them well and live harmonically with our siblings.It proves that we could not live without the presence of family as they are always willing to support us unconditionally forever.

  In addition,friends are also one of the most essential elements in our lives.If you ask anyone around you if they have friends,surely their response will be one of the shocked incredulity due to the ignorance of a universal truth:everyone has friends.Even so,only sincere or genuine friends would provide us the emotional support and companionship which family could not give to us.During the teenage stage of our lives,we would feel that family especially parents could not understand our opinions or thoughts.In that case,we need friends who we could talk to without any intervals so that we would not feel lonely or abandoned.We would share our feelings,sadness,happiness,loneliness,successes,experiences and problems with our peers.In the process of exchanging ideas and thoughts,we could gain more knowledge and experiences from them which helps us to broaden our minds and horizons.Nevertheless,fair-weathered friends would take advantage of us and leave us alone during the hard times.even so,that could make us a stronger and maturer person emotionally.In short,friendship is one of the most indispensable experiences of life.

  Last but not least,teachers are one of the most important persons who show the significant impacts in our lives.Teachers are as if the soul of the civilized world and the ones who impart education to make our planet a better world.In my opinion,students not only needed teachers' guidance on their studies but also support them emotionally.Most of the teachers I have known are friendly,cheerful,warm,optimistic and knowledgeable.When we face difficult times,teachers are the best person to consult in.They are more thoughtful and experienced in solving problems than our peers or ourselves.Therefore,they could give us many useful advises and comments which enable us to deal with the problems effectively.For an instance,teachers give us the encouragement to cope up with our studies and score well in the examinations.Besides,they are also helpful in giving motherly of fatherly advices  and motivations to us when we are facing hardships such like relationship,financial,academic problems and many more.In summary,teachers are the individuals who are worthy of our respects and they are influential in shaping good personalities in ourselves.

  Hence,it is crucial to have family,friends and teachers to stand by our sides when the difficulties and setbacks make incursions into our lives.Since a very long time ago,our ancestors lived in a gregarious society. Till now,we still need to rely on each other in order to survive and enjoy life.After all,if we live without the presence of other people,can we feel happy or contented?

(733 Words)

Originally Written By WINKY LAU

 

How To Overcome The Fear Of Writing

Yesterday,my MUET teacher asked my whole class to write an essay titled as 'No Man Is An Island' and what all we need to do was to think and discussed about it in the class before we start to write it at home.

I feel overwhelmed by the fear of putting down all of my ideas into writing form.I noticed that I kept on telling myself that I could not write well.An evil in my mind is discouraging me to sit down and write.That is the reason why writing seems to be like a burden rather than a form of pleasure or delight to the students in primary,secondary,college or even university levels.

I realize that it is a MUST to overcome the fear of writing in order to score MUET writing part with flying colors.Maybe I should not have underestimated my own ability and skills in writing.I admit that most of my friends told me that I have a talent or natural ability in writing.Even so,I am still lack of confidence in writing.I read a lots of books or compositions.Apart from reading widely,I also used to write numbers of narrative essays or short stories.I LOVE reading,but that does not mean that the ones who reads can write well.

I am being in a dilemma.I know that no one could help me except myself.I could not and must not give up writing,no matter what.Last week I have written a composition emphasize on the issue of obesity.I am quite satisfied with that composition which I have spent hours to finish it.

I used to learn and memorize at least 30 new vocabularies or words per day.Read and read and read for hours.I still could not figured out why I still doubt it.My dear God,please give me the sacred power to help myself get out of the space of fear.

To complete the writing work,I have no choice but to find the way out.I have read and searched some information on 'How To Overcome Fear Of Writing'.Here's the tips to let go of the fear of writing:

1)Pen down your goals – It is better that you get imaginative ( if you are not ) as being imaginative encourages you write better and you are able to get the best out of you which will help you in writing effective posts.

2)Never underestimate yourself- Don’t get nervous think that you are the BEST.If you start trusting yourself then you are bound to give your best shot. Remember one thing your intuitions will be always better than others as you know your business well.

3)Plan your content - Start brainstorming yourself for ideas.If you are writing about making money from your blog then write about the various money making strategies stating with benefits,facts and figures.It is always advisable to include your own tips along with the facts.In short do try to give a personal touch.

4)Invite guest writers - You can always invite others to write for your blog choose the writers effectively, who know their business well.Your readers will appreciate as they will get varieties.


5)Write anything but do write – If you are running short of ideas or simply feel blank then write anything whatever going on your mind.Just let the ideas go flowing.You can also upload a pic or a video which is worth sharing with your readers.

6)Out source your work- If you feel that you will be unable to do the work yourself then it is best to hire services of others to your work who are the best in their field. But you need to know one thing that you need to know the work which you are outsourcing as it will then only bring the desired results.

Fear has no evidence its just your imagination!

Hopefully it could help me to write an essay.
I wish I could complete the essay tomorrow.

Today's Quotes

- Obesity - (STPM MUET essay)

  What is obesity?According to the dictionary,obesity is a medical condition in which body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health,leading to reduced life expectancy and increased health problems.The National Health and Morbidity Survey indicated that 43% of the adults were obese in 2006.The surveys carried out by the scientists in America shown that obesity would cause other serious illnesses such as hypertension,high cholesterol level,stroke,diabetes and so on.There are many factors which caused obesity to spread continuously in all countries and the corrective actions should be taken to overcome the problem.

  First and foremost,developing an unhealthy diet is the main cause of obesity.As all people living in hectic lifestyles,they do not have sufficient time to prepare proper meals.Many mothers chose to eat-out instead of cooking at home.Many families are now been able to afford the high expense of having meals at outside.Some of the children are given a generous amount of money from their parents to eat.When they are given such freedom to choose food,they would naturally prefer to eat and fast foods like burgers,pizzas,french-fries,nuggets and fried chickens.This situation would lead to obesity as the little importance is placed on serving a balanced diet.

  Secondly,the lack of participation in sports and outdoor games are closely linked to the rising level of obesity nowadays.As we could noticed that children are not interested in sport and outdoor activities.For example,jogging,yoga,riding bicycle,swimming,gym,aerobics and so forth.They would rather playing computer games and watching television when they have spare times.Apart from children,many of the adults who lead busy lives did not exercise more than twice in a month because they think that exercising is a waste of time.The sedentary nature of exercising in both adults and children us the major cause of obesity.

  Furthermore,exercise regularly is the most effective way to keep obesity at bay.This is because physical exercises or body work-outs could help us to release the toxins or harmful chemicals in our bodies by sweating.In order to keep our body fit and slim,we have to exercise at least twice in a week,each time for 30 minutes.In spite of that,media mass and government should play their roles to draw communities' attentions and encouraged them to participate in sports or outdoor activities.For an instance,awareness campaigns should be carried out in every districts to inculcate the knowledge of maintaining healthy lifestyle among the people.Meanwhile,parents have the responsibility to ensure their children leads a healthy lifestyle by exercising regularly.

  To prevent the problem of obesity from escalating,having balanced diets should be practised to keep our bodies in shapes.As an saying goes:'Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.'It is obvious that our eating habits does affect our state of health directly.As a smart consumer,we should always refer to the food pyramid so that we would not make any insensible choose of foods.As we all knew that eating greasy foods such as burger,pizzas,nuggets,fried chickens and crisps are as if taking risks on our health.So,we should eat a lot of vegetables and fruits as well as the source of protein - fishes,as they are high in fiber and good for our health.

  In a nutshell,obesity is one of the diseases which is caused by the carelessness of human being.However,it could be cured if we look into it wisely so that we could take some thoughtful actions on rectifying it.As the proverb says:'Prevention is better than cure'.In short,all parties should be concerned about the spread of this problem for this problem can be solved to create the future of harmony and healthy.

          (600 words)

Originally Written By Winky Lau