In the year 2014 I want more time, better results and frankly more joy. Blogging and reading each item before I share has helped me greatly. I truly love to learn and feel me continuing to blog is not productive for my business so thanks for the 125k page views and the comments I appreciate your attention and focus.
Thanks and have a great 2014!
Alan
Saturday, January 4, 2014
The benefits of being alone
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The Gamification of weight loss
TED Blog
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Posted: 02 Jan 2014 09:55 AM PST
Mick
Cornett is the mayor of Oklahoma City. In this talk from TEDMED, he explains
why he challenged his city to lose a million pounds.
In 2007, Mayor Mick Cornett put
Oklahoma City on a diet, after the city made a less-than-flattering
appearance on a list of the most obese cities in the United States. In
today’s talk, Cornett shares the aha moments that led him to create This City Is
Going on a Diet, a somewhat unusual mayoral initiative.
 Mick Cornett: How
an obese town lost a million pounds“On New Year’s Eve of 2007,
I went to the zoo,” Cornett recalls in today’s talk. “I stood in
front of the elephants, and I said, ‘This city is going on a diet, and we’re
going to lose a million pounds.’ That’s when all hell broke loose.” Watch this talk to find out what happened next.
This week, we’re in the midst of
New Year’s resolution mania. And if you’re thinking that a community weight
loss challenge sounds like a smart way to help people stick to fitness and
nutrition goals, you’re in good company. Over the past few years, plenty of
games, challenges and competitions have popped up to promote weight loss and
exercise. Going beyond diet gimmicks, what sets them apart is the tendency to
be public, and communal.
Once considered a private — even
secret — matter, weight loss began to take on a public face with competition
shows like The Biggest Loser and Celebrity Fit Club. Now, workplace
fitness competitions are even getting built into
some insurance policies. Major US insurers like UnitedHealth
and Aetna are exploring apps, social media and Xbox Kinect games to gather
data on fitness habits (the idea being, of course, that fitter, healthier
people are cheaper to insure). Cash incentives are also driving competitive
dieting in the workplace. In a program patented in late 2011 by IBM,
co-workers could submit their eating and exercise data through an app and get
monetary rewards for good habits.
Apps in this space have exploded. DietBet invites
people to lay odds on their weight loss, winning money from friends and
strangers when they meet goals. HealthyWage is similar, boosting
motivation by asking people to place bets on how much weight they’ll lose. Skinnyo creates
friend groups to set up fitness challenges. Similarly, GymPact lets friends
give a digital pinky swear and commit to workout sessions or eating more
vegetables. While some of these apps are controversial, they all turn a
personal journey into something communal and game-based.
An initiative even more closely
resembling This City Is Going on a Diet: Shape Up Rhode Island, a statewide
team-based competition founded by a Brown University medical student in 2005.
Over the past seven years, an estimated 70,000 state residents have signed up
for the program; participants track the number of steps they take daily and
enroll in three eight-week exercise and diet challenges a year. Like
insurance companies, state and local governments stand to gain significantly
from a fitter, healthier population.
So does this work? Do communal
weight loss efforts really trump a more private approach? There have certainly
been promising results. In a study tracking Shape Up Rhode Island,
clustered weight loss among team members suggested that group influence
affected success. In this program it was recognition, rather than rewards,
that seemed to matter. Other studies have looked at the efficacy of cash
rewards. One published in 2013 in the Annals of Internal Medicine
split dieters into three groups — one that got a financial reward for losing
weight solo, one that split a pot of money for reaching collective goals, and
one that did weigh-ins without financial incentive. While the third group
lost about 1 pound, those who’d been given a solo financial reward lost about
4 pounds, and those who’d been part of the team lost about 10 pounds — and
were better at maintaining their weight loss.
Peer influence, it seems, is something
to keep in mind if you’re looking for ways to stick to weight loss goals this
year. While other research shows that digitized and
gamified approaches to fitness can be more hype than help, it’s notable that
many entries on Healthline’s list of the best weight loss apps
include social functions.
As anyone who’s tried to lose
weight (or quit smoking, or start flossing, or …) knows, the most difficult
part is sustaining will-power momentum after the initial excitement. In
Oklahoma City, Cornett focused on infrastructure changes to make a city that
“had built an incredible quality of life if you happen to be a car” more
walkable and fitness-oriented. To him, the key was cultural change — shaping
a city where residents talked about and cared about maintaining healthy
weight.
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How to get motivated when you are out of motivation
Have you ever noticed that sometimes it can be incredibly
difficult to stay positive and motivated?
Perhaps you’re not getting the results you expected for your goals.
Or maybe you’re getting results, just not the celebratory kind or magnitude you expected.
Perhaps you’ve been trying to achieve a certain goal for a while now and everything is simply taking longer than you thought it would.
Under these common circumstances it’s perfectly understandable that your patience might be beginning to wear a bit thin
Perhaps you’re not getting the results you expected for your goals.
Or maybe you’re getting results, just not the celebratory kind or magnitude you expected.
Perhaps you’ve been trying to achieve a certain goal for a while now and everything is simply taking longer than you thought it would.
Under these common circumstances it’s perfectly understandable that your patience might be beginning to wear a bit thin
And surely you won’t give up on your goals (after all, quitters never win). But, again, it’s definitely understandable if the roaring enthusiasm you once had for them is slowly dwindling.
Well, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Because the truth is that almost ALL worthy goals and dreams take longer to bring into fruition than we initially expect (which means everyone experiences dwindling motivation after sustained work, at some point or another).
But, as long as you stick with your plans and goals - and remain true to yourself – your dreams WILL come into fruition.
That’s why it’s so important that you don’t give up. But to actually stick with it you’re going to need to keep yourself motivated.
So, the question becomes: How on earth do you stay motivated after you’ve been working toward your goals for a while, yet still haven’t actually achieved them?
Here are 3 surefire ways to keep your motivation high, even during those dreadful slump periods where you’re ready to call it quits:
1. Be honest with yourself
Now’s the time to take stock of your efforts so far.
Ask yourself:
What has actually worked up until now?
What’s giving good results?
What’s giving no results?
What’s giving results that you’re not really happy with
because you think these results are too small?
What can be done to improve or increase currently working
results?
What are some new methods or approaches for achieving your
desired goals that you haven’t tried yet?
Write down the answers to these questions. Doing so will
give you some much-needed clarity (and some surprising, newly invigorated
motivation).
More importantly, taking stock of your efforts so far will show you what you should do more of, what you should stop doing for now (or do less of), and what new, unchartered approaches are available to you moving forward.
2. Switch it up
If motivation’s dwindling, one thing you can do is step back and take some time away from what you’ve been doing for a while.
Often, the clarity we need is obscured by constant action…meaning that sometimes, the only way to get the clarity you need to move forward is by doing the counterintuitive thing: Taking a break.
And while you’re at it, during your break do something you know you’re really good at and always successful at. This will give you the confidence boost (and motivation boost) you crave when it comes time to revisit your long-term goals.
3. Remember, everything happens for your benefit
Often, when things aren’t going exactly as we planned (meaning our way) we feel frustrated, angry, sad, or hurt and motivation decreases accordingly. That’s why it’s key to remember during these times that everything that happens in our lives usually serves an ultimately positive purpose.
The world is not out to get you…if anything the world is fully supportive of your desire to succeed. And the fact that you have that desire to succeed means something (because a lot of people don’t have it at all).
So, take it easy.
Just because things are panning out differently than we might expect doesn’t mean they’re worse (often they’re actually better).
Keeping this in mind will give you the strength, courage, and creativity you need as you go for your goals and dreams…whatever they may be.
Now it’s your turn: What often deflates your motivation and what do you do to regain it when that happens?
Share in the comments below!
More importantly, taking stock of your efforts so far will show you what you should do more of, what you should stop doing for now (or do less of), and what new, unchartered approaches are available to you moving forward.
2. Switch it up
If motivation’s dwindling, one thing you can do is step back and take some time away from what you’ve been doing for a while.
Often, the clarity we need is obscured by constant action…meaning that sometimes, the only way to get the clarity you need to move forward is by doing the counterintuitive thing: Taking a break.
And while you’re at it, during your break do something you know you’re really good at and always successful at. This will give you the confidence boost (and motivation boost) you crave when it comes time to revisit your long-term goals.
3. Remember, everything happens for your benefit
Often, when things aren’t going exactly as we planned (meaning our way) we feel frustrated, angry, sad, or hurt and motivation decreases accordingly. That’s why it’s key to remember during these times that everything that happens in our lives usually serves an ultimately positive purpose.
The world is not out to get you…if anything the world is fully supportive of your desire to succeed. And the fact that you have that desire to succeed means something (because a lot of people don’t have it at all).
So, take it easy.
Just because things are panning out differently than we might expect doesn’t mean they’re worse (often they’re actually better).
Keeping this in mind will give you the strength, courage, and creativity you need as you go for your goals and dreams…whatever they may be.
Now it’s your turn: What often deflates your motivation and what do you do to regain it when that happens?
Share in the comments below!
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Written on 2/6/2013 Cece Suwal & Mark Brener,
coauthors of the national bestseller, A Guide To Your Supreme Power, and
cofounders of The One World Initiative, where you can discover your path to
money, love, power, success, life purpose, and meaning. Get your free course
on how to be happy and subscribe to their blog
to learn how to become rich.
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protecting your compuer while traveling
Dumb
Little Man: Ways to Protect Your Computer from Hackers While Traveling
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Posted: 03 Jan 2014 09:46 AM PST
Traveling is an occasion for excitement that's second to none.
It's a time where we escape the day-to-day grind and plan for the future. For
the various reasons we travel, business or pleasure, one constant remains
with us -- our laptops and mobile devices.
While we use our devices for different purposes and with varying frequency, we must all be aware of the dangers that exposed to our devices. Hackers understand our computers are vulnerable while traveling. These Internet ninjas are armed with several strategies to disrupt your travel and damage your device. This should serve as a short guide of hacker's tactics and what you need to do to protect your computer. Read more »  |
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California families striggle- Francis Rolland on real estate
Francis'
Silicon Valley Real Estate corner...
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Posted: 03 Jan 2014 03:39 PM PST
To keep things in perspective, which is always nice
when you live in the Bay Area of San Francisco, I thought this article was
worth reading.
According to the California Budget Project, a nonpartisan research group, many California families are struggling from paycheck to paycheck, and expensive housing, high childcare costs and rising healthcare expenses are the main factors. Nearly one-third of households in the state spent at least half their income on rent.  Full article from the LA times, which
also includes links to the richest and poorest cities in the US. Source:
LA Times - by Shan Li.Happy New Year! and thank you for reading, Francis Silicon Valley real estate specialist Detailed, local trends etc... Current mortgage rates
Francis C. ROLLAND - Since 1985 Realtor. HEC 76. MBA - CRS
Coldwell Banker dir: 650-947-2259
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TED Blog
TED Blog
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Posted: 03 Jan 2014 12:17 PM PST
17-year-old Beth Reekles had a
really good year. She published two books; appeared on national TV; sold the
film rights for her first book, The
Kissing Booth; graduated from high school and started college; and
earned a spot on TIME’s list of the most influential teens of 2013,
alongside household names like Malia Obama and Justin Bieber. And still she
found time to watch five seasons of Gossip
Girl.
How did such a young woman get so
far so fast? When Beth was 15, living at home in Wales, she wrote a novel
(“the kind of book I wanted to read”) and put it up on the story-sharing
website Wattpad.
19 million views later, she won a three-book contract with a young adult
division at Random House to publish that first book, The Kissing Booth,
and two more, including the recently published Rolling Dice.
That kind of transition from self-publishing to traditional publishing is
rare — but her true-to-life stories of teen romance, sans vampires and
werewolves, must have tapped a void that needed filling.
This much-in-demand writer has
developed a routine that helps her stay focused. Beth likes to write alone
with her computer and a cup of tea. (She avoids writing with others in the
room, because she hates the idea that someone might be reading over her
shoulder.) If she’s feeling blocked, she turns on background music — such as
the soundtrack to Doctor Who
or Pirates of the Caribbean
— to help her feel more creative. “Something emotive and exciting,” she says.
She experiments with form as well — on her Wattpad page, you can find short
stories, chapters and novellas, including the holiday one-off “Deck the Halls.”
She’s a freshman at the University
of Exeter now and plans to major in physics. She’s busy preparing for January
exams and working on her third book. This summer, when classes end, she’s
excited to spend her summer typing away, possibly working on a sequel to The Kissing Booth.
We talked to Beth via email about
self-publishing, J.K. Rowling, and letting go of bad reviews. Our first
question:
What inspired you to write a
novel at 15? Here’s Beth –
I was looking for a high school
romance that didn’t involve a vampire or werewolf – every teen romance seemed
to have a paranormal element, and I was sick of that. So when I couldn’t find
the kind of book I wanted to read, I decided to write it instead. That’s how
I ended up writing The
Kissing Booth.
What did you think when
Random House called you up and said, “Hey, want to write a few more for us?”
I was thrilled! I’d thought about
traditionally publishing my books, but I didn’t think it would actually ever
happen, and certainly not like that! Sometimes I still can’t believe it.
A lot of people in the
publishing world are wary of self-publishing. What is your take on it?
Self-publishing is making writing
something that a lot more people take seriously now. It gives a lot of new
and younger writers the opportunity to try and put their work out there
quickly and easily, so it’s encouraging more and more people to write.
What are you writing now?
Right now I’m working on my third
book for Random House, which is going to be another young-adult romance,
called Out of Tune.
How do you come up with a new
character or story? What’s your process?
I usually get the ideas for
characters before I come up with a story. My characters seem to have lives of
their own that I have to try and put down on paper. I’ve never been any good at
planning stories; I often go with the flow and don’t know how the story will
turn out until I’ve finished it!
Which authors do you really
admire?
J.K. Rowling has always been one
of my role models. I’ve loved the Harry Potter series since I began reading
it as a child, and when I read about how she persevered despite all the
rejection letters, it’s really encouraging and inspiring to me as a writer.
Are there any responses
you’ve gotten from fans that have really stuck with you?
I get so many messages from young
girls telling me that I’ve inspired them to write, or that they don’t usually
read but tried my book and loved it. Those are the ones that really stick
with me. They’re very humbling messages to receive, and they always make my
day! It’s brilliant to hear that I’ve encouraged other girls to read and
write more.
What is one thing you know
that you wish everyone knew?
One bad piece of criticism can
make you feel like everything you’re doing is a waste of time, but you really
need to put it in perspective. Take note of all the good things people are
saying!
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Posted: 03 Jan 2014 11:29 AM PST
By Asha de Vos,
with photos by Jon Lowenstein
Monterey Bay is a marine
biologist’s dream. It is arguably one of the most dynamic coastlines in the
world and, for someone from the tropics like me, it opens up a whole new world
for learning and adventure.
In recent months, Monterey Bay —
located along the central coast of California — has become even more
enthralling. A proliferation of anchovies has brought pelicans, sea
lions and bottlenose dolphins to the area in droves. These anchovies are also
drawing in humpback whales and making them stay way beyond the usual time. (See The New York Times story
from November, “With extra anchovies, deluxe whale watching.”) By
now, these whales should be at their winter breeding grounds in Mexico, but
it seems they are making the most of this overabundance of fishy treats and
hanging around, much to the delight of whale watchers. Are they
foregoing their breeding opportunities to feed? Or perhaps the pregnant
females have continued on their journey while the males are straggling behind
to gorge? We don’t yet fully understand.
Watching a whale breach leaves you
speechless. You can’t stop thinking about the sheer power and momentum
required to propel such a large creature clean out of the water. Why do they
do it? Again, an unknown. The act of bubble netting with mates and cooperative hunting with sea lions is
testament to how much harmony exists in the natural world. I got a chance to
experience these grand spectacles on the eve of my first Thanksgiving,
walking along the coastal path in Santa Cruz. What really captured my
imagination was how extremely accessible these feeding frenzies were,
happening right along the coastline. I for one understand the powerful draw
of charismatic megafauna, and why the media would choose to focus on the
story of the anchovies and humpback whales. But what about the rest of the
food web?
Along the coastal walking path,
the ephemeral clouds of anchovies draw pelicans, gulls and cormorants by the
thousands. The energy, rush and clamour is palpable and infectious as
strangers excitedly talk to each other about the spectacle occurring in front
of their eyes. Even the locals are thrilled, as a burst of oceanic life of
this kind has never been experienced before. I stand there feeling extremely
lucky. For a person striving to increase interaction between people and
the ocean in an effort to create more awareness, this moment represents the
perfect conversation space.
Anchovy themselves feed on krill,
copepods and decapod larvae, both by random filter-feeding
and by ‘pecking’ at prey. The breeding success of the California brown
pelican has been attributed to the abundance of anchovy in these waters.
Feeding areas vary because of the mobility of the prey but the larger-scale
fluctuations of small pelagics, which include anchovies and sardines, leave
scientists puzzled. It seems that this mystery of abundance is ours to solve.
But where to start? Small pelagics are said to represent the largest source
of wild marine protein worldwide. Not only does the ocean food web depend on
them — so do many of us.
It isn’t just the birds that visit
en masse, but rafts of sea lions — hundreds to thousands strong — cruise
through, capturing the flailing fish in their mouths on synchronised dives
led by a large male. The choreography is impeccable as a single bark from the
leader signals the start of the dive that will, on average, last about three
minutes in these shallow waters. On their return to the surface, they are
mobbed by gulls intending to steal a few bites. What a delightfully dynamic
cycle of gluttony.
I’ve spent a lot of time studying
whales off the coast of Sri Lanka, and I am very thankful for my current
situation as a post-doctoral scholar at the University of California
Santa Cruz. Living here means that I get regular visits from friends
wishing to escape the big city. It gives me great pleasure to take them out
to see this remarkable coast.
On a recent weekend, photographer
and TED Senior Fellow Jon Lowenstein came to visit and his reaction to the
magic was just as I had hoped – that of sheer excitement! While I remain
completely blown away by the wildlife of Monterey Bay, my opinion is biased
as this is my life. Hearing Jon’s reaction to the continuous feeding frenzy
makes me feel like I have successfully connected one more person with the
ocean. I am excited to share some of his photographs with you here, showing
the beauty of the mad smorgasbord at my doorstep.
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
Photo: Jon
Lowenstein / NOOR
TED Senior Fellow Asha de Vos
is a blue whale researcher with the The Sri Lankan Blue Whale Project and The
University of California Santa Cruz. Follow her on Twitter @ashadevos.
And TED Senior Fellow Jon
Lowenstein is a documentary photographer and a part of the photo
agency/foundation NOOR. Follow him on Instagram @jonlowenstein.
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