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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ABOUT HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

A healthier, happier and more successful you

You can become a healthier, happier and more successful person by making a few simple changes to your lifestyle. You will have to make changes to the overall you, not just change the amount of exercise you do or your diet. The secret to achieving happiness and a healthier you is to balance your body and mind in harmony, it is only when we are balanced in physical health, mental and spiritual that we are truly healthy.

If we are healthy then we are happier and can reach success more easily in life, here are some ways you can bring back harmony and balance to your life. Exercise is an essential part, it helps to tone our body, keep our heart and lungs healthy and detoxifies.

Exercise can be anything from more vigorous routines such as aerobics to simply walking, pick your favorite activity and set aside a specific time of day and commit yourself to devoting a half-hour per day towards getting your body back into shape.

Eating right is the next essential step to maintaining a well-balanced life; our bodies need the right amount of vitamins, nutrients and minerals to work at its best. Making changes to our diet is easy, keep away from fast foods which contain a lot of saturated fats and sugar and start including more whole grains, chicken, fish, plenty of green vegetables and try to eat fresh fruit instead of juice when available.

Along with making changes to your diet you should include supplements such as vitamins, nutrients and minerals. Modern farming methods strip many of our foods of the minerals our bodies require and now just provide us with the basic nutrients.

Due to this we might be lacking in certain minerals and vitamins, by supplementing your diet with vitamin and mineral supplements we can ensure we still get all the vital minerals, nutrients and vitamins we need in our daily diet. Reducing the amount of stress we have in our life plays an important part in how we are able to cope with it.

Stress can do much damage to our body and mind and has been linked with “burnout”, fatigue, sleep problems, depression and it lowers our immune system. Learning techniques on how to cope with stress and worry are essential to keeping yourself balanced and full of energy.

There are a wide variety of techniques from simple breathing exercises which can be done anywhere, at anytime, to yoga which is a full system for relaxation and de-stressing to meditation.

There are many books, DVDS and CDS available on the subject or there are courses you can attend. Lastly but by no means the least important is keeping life fun, doing something which you enjoy doing and makes you feel relaxed and happy each day.

No you are not being selfish by taking time out each day just for yourself, this time is essential. It is just as important as exercising, eating right and reducing stress, your time could be spent doing a hobby or pastime that you enjoy, sitting quietly and reading, taking a hot bubble bath while listening to your favorite music or spending quality time with your family or friends. It can be anything as long as it’s something you like to do and enjoying doing.

12 Tips for better health

The biggest step to aiming towards better health is admitting the fact that you need to make changes towards becoming healthier and fitter. Here are some tips to help you improve your health and help you to reach a new and improved you.

1. Make it a life goal to obtain a healthier outlook on life which will undoubtedly lead to a healthier you, if you are determined to reach a better state of health, making it a reality will be so much easier.

2. Support your new way of thinking by learning everything you can about ways of reaching better health and living a healthier lifestyle. You can use the internet, books, DVDS, clubs, gyms and support groups to your benefit, knowing all you can about healthy living gives you a great base to work from.

3. You have to start somewhere so start by taking a look at your kitchen and reorganizing in preparation for your new way of life. Reorganize your kitchen cabinets, cupboards and refrigerator to ensure that there are no signs of the old you and all the signs of the things that will help you in your new lifestyle.

4. Replace old food with your new healthier choice and don’t forget to purchase any small appliances which you will need to support your healthier way of eating, such as blenders and food weighing scales.

5. Get a large planner calendar, pin it up in your kitchen and mark the day when you choose to begin your new lifestyle and stick to it no matter what.
6. From day one keep a journal, this can either be a traditional one or use your computer.

You should include all thoughts and feelings about your new ways along with all the changes you see about yourself. This is essential to look back on to see the positive changes that are occurring due to your positive outlook and changes you have made.

7. Positive thoughts and self talk or affirmations are a necessity; they will give you confidence at the beginning and will continue to take you through the tough times which will often occur during the early changes.

8. Along with changes to your diet you will also have to make changes to the amount of exercise you do per day, while good healthy food is essential, exercise is also just as important to help ward off the onset of diseases such as heart disease, as well as helping us to firm up our body or lose a few pounds.

9. Give up any bad habits such as smoking or drinking, you will never reach your optimal peak of health while you are puffing away on cigarettes or drinking on a regular basis.

10. Make sure that you get the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veggies per day on your new regime, fruit and veggies are packed full of essential vitamins.

11. Make sure you learn ways to eliminate as much stress from your lifestyle as you possibly can, there are many ways to do this with one of them sure to be suitable for your situation.

12. Cut out excess salt, sugar and fatty foods from your diet, this will effectively lower your cholesterol and blood pressure.

Notes on Nutrition

The best place to begin taking notes about nutrition is with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA offers recommendations about what they find to be healthy eating-related habits for the general public. And their information covers these main areas of focus: nutrition pyramid, needed nutrients, weight management, physical fitness and food safety.

Nutrition Pyramid

The USDA has revised dietary guidelines and lists a food pyramid with color scheme to help people eat in a healthy manner.

Needed Nutrients

The USDA advises people to drink and eat a wide variety of nutrient-dense beverages and foods from the basic food groups they note in their nutrition pyramid.
They also suggest limiting alcohol, salt, added sugars, cholesterol, saturated and trans fats. And they recommend following plans like the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Eating Plan or their USDA Food Guide. Weight Management

The general weight focus of the USDA stresses that people strive to maintain body weight in a healthy range, balancing calories from beverages and foods with those expended. And to help manage weight control as aging occurs, people are to gradually decrease the amounts of foods and beverages consumed and increase physical fitness.

Physical Fitness

The USDA desires people to regularly partake in physical activity while decreasing sedentary activities in order to promote not only healthy bodies but overall general health and psychological well-being. Optimum activity is targeted at around 30 -90 minutes minimum a day of moderate to intense physical, depending upon weight status, age and eating habits. For even more health benefits, a combination of either more intense activity and / or longer periods of activity is advised for most persons instead of just 30 minutes, checking with healthcare providers first for approval.

Key areas of focus for physical fitness are stretching exercises for increased flexibility, cardiovascular conditioning and calisthenics or resistance exercises to improve endurance and muscles.

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Introduction

Let’s start this beginner’s guide on the TLC diet with a little mental exercise. When you go out, look around you and tell me what you see. I bet you will see an abundance of fast food restaurants and guess what’s in front of them? You guessed it…A never-ending line of people.

Fast food joints are known for serving up a dish of unhealthy food – unhealthy food that people continue to consume. Why? Because they can! People choose fast food because they live a busy life and are under the impression that they can’t go home and cook a healthy meal, because it will take hours to do.

This unhealthy lifestyle leads to obesity.

The health risks of being obese include:

* Heart disease
* Type 2 diabetes
* Osteoarthritis
* Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
* High blood pressure
* Stroke

Reasons People Are Unhealthy

* Most work available is white-collar
* Children now spend more time playing digital games instead of playing outside
* The foods low-income families can afford are unhealthy
* The serving sizes of unhealthy drinks have increased
* People buy more fast food and prepare fewer meals in their kitchen

This list could go on and on …

There’s an old Chinese proverb that does a good job at explaining why we need to watch what we put in our mouths. “When you’re thirsty, it’s too late to dig a well.” What this is saying is that you should not wait until you have an illness to start a diet, because by then, it may be too late.

The Need For Health In The Modern Age

There are many important reasons as to why you should get in shape today. What “getting in shape” means to me is you have strength, a baseline cardiovascular capacity, muscular endurance and flexibility, which all leads to a healthier life.

Believe it or not, the 21st century conditions could be damaging your health and you don’t even realize it. Let’s have a look at some of these modern-day health conditions being experienced …

Toasted Skin Syndrome

Have you ever heard of this? Have you ever balanced your laptop on your knees for a long period of time? Believe it or not, It can leave you with discolored skin!
The heat is generated by your laptop, it causes a rash that is similar to someone that has huddled to close to a heater in order to stay warm. Mind you, this has nothing to do with dieting or exercise – this is just showing you how our health is being affected in the modern age by technology.

Time Poverty

Oh yes, good old time poverty – so many of us are a victim of this. With family, work, running a home, and trying to take care of everything, we hardly find time to sit down and pause for a nice breath of fresh air. The more we rush, the further we struggle to meet deadlines we have imposed. The result? Our health. We deal with everything from insomnia, stress, depression and poor diet, which leads to obesity and many other health related issues. Many of us are simply doing too much and in return, this is taking a major toll on our health and well-being.

Living in Fear

Many will refer to this as “the 21st century fear.” Here we are, constantly staring at the threat of floods, disease, crime, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, toxic chemicals in food and so much more. We’re constantly focusing on those fears. We have become so worried about the things that “might” happen to the point that we have stopped enjoying life that is taking place in front of us. As you may already know, too much worry isn’t good for your health.

We may not be able to help you with toasted skin syndrome, other than tell you not to place your laptop on your lap for a prolonged time, but we may be able to help you with time poverty. This is where the TLC diet is going to come into play.

You see, in the modern day scenario, everything comes at a price. Our days and nights are filled with hectic schedules, unavoidable deadlines and innumerable hours of stress and excessive workload. With so much already on our plate, we cease to care about the food what we consume at the end of a long tiring day.

Most often, we are too tired to cook a healthy, nutritious meal post work and end up opting for the easier option: fast food and processed items. With the blooming technology, everything is just a click or a phone call away.

As we previously stated, most people settle for a comforting double cheese burger, pizza or fries to hush their roaring stomach every day. Although these food choices offer oodles of contentment and comfort, eventually they bring forth drastic side effects. Overtime, with continuous consumption, unhealthy food choices lead to several modern day ailments, such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, depression, anxiety, high cholesterol and other related concerns.

Most of these complaints start out small but gradually turn into unavoidable chronic conditions. The best idea is to wake up, take action and prevent such ailments from deteriorating your health and fitness further.

For all those facing similar conditions, this short beginners guide brings a suitable solution to combat most of our modern day problems. It introduces the concept of the TLC Diet or the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes program.

Are you ready? Let’s get started…

Chapter - 1 Everything about TLC Diet.

This diet focuses mainly on modifying the increasing or already hyped levels of cholesterol.

When the body contains an excessive level of cholesterol, over time it weakens the heart and causes several fatal conditions, like a sudden heart attack and stroke among other serious cardio vascular conditions.

It is highly recommended to take charge of your body and health before it worsens beyond repair.

This diet encourages healthy measures to lower cholesterol levels by means of diet, exercise and other related methods. It also brings successful weight loss in its wake. For all those struggling with weight loss or health conditions, the TLC diet is a great way to kick start your way to good health and wellbeing.

The Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet was initially coined by the NATIONAL Heart, lung and blood institute in the year 2001. Due to its beneficial nature, the diet has also been approved and encouraged by the American Heart Association.

The diet aims at reducing the LDL levels of cholesterol, also known as the bad cholesterol, which is held responsible for triggering cardio vascular complications.
The diet focuses mainly on healthy food options that have been coupled with suitable exercise and required lifestyle changes to help speed the process of recovery without any medications.

It not just keeps the LDL levels in control but also works towards providing the body the right level of HDL or the good healthy cholesterol that is required by the body for proper functioning, induced growth and development.

Although the diet does bring about some weight loss in its process, the goal is improved health by controlling cholesterol more than focusing solely on losing weight.
Well that’s a quick overview of what the TLC diet is, over the next few chapters we will cover exactly what cholesterol is, the benefits of starting a TLC diet program and what foods you need to include in your everyday diet.

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Introduction

Over the last decade, the idea of emotional intelligence, or EQ, has become more popular throughout the world. Unfortunately, not many people understand what EQ the term is really about or why it has become so popular over the last several years. Many scientific studies have been conducted over the years and have discovered that emotional intelligence is more important in life than the average intelligence that is measured by the IQ scale.

These studies, which have been conducted by both American and European universities, have proven that the common intelligence responses account for less than 20 percent of our achievements and successes in life, while the other 80 percent depends solely on our emotional intelligence.

Everyone, from students to CEOs, is confronted by not only their own emotions but the emotions of everyone around them. How you manage these emotions has a significant impact on how other people perceive us, as well as our effectiveness to get things done. When you can increase your emotional intelligence, you can become better equipped to respond to stressful situations around you with a high degree of maturity. John Mayer, Peter Salovey, and Konstantin Vasily Peterides are renowned researchers that discovered people who have high emotional intelligence tend to become better leaders and are excellent in everything they set out to accomplish.

The first person to use the term emotional intelligence was Wayne Payne in his doctoral thesis, A Study of Emotion: Developing Emotional Intelligence. In his thesis, he compared the IQ and emotional intelligence and determined that EQ was superior because it covers a wide range of faculties and aspects of a person’s behavior. Studying your emotional intelligence will help you to understand the source and impact of your emotions better. This is important because it helps to enhance one’s self- awareness. Studying your EQ will also provide you with the opportunity to understand better the behavior of others and the underlying reasons why they act the way they do.

Emotionally intelligent people can harmoniously reconcile what their mind and reason tell them with the voice of their feelings and emotions. Thanks to this skill, emotionally smart people are self- confident, self-aware, creative, and energetic. They are also much

more capable of handling stress and knowing how to get along with others. They are more optimistically approaching their life and don’t fear change. They are the people of success.

Chapter 1 - What is Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence, or EQ, refers to one’s ability to identify, understand, use, and manage emotions in a positive manner in order to enhance communication, overcome challenges, relieve stress, empathize with others and defuse conflict. The scope of emotional intelligence is extensive and covers a variety of aspects in our daily lives, like how we behave and interact with others.

When you are emotionally intelligent, you are better able to recognize your own emotional state as well as the emotional state of others. Having a clear understanding of the emotional states of those around you can help you to better relate with them, achieve greater success, form healthier relationships, and lead a more satisfying life overall.

Compared to what we know as intelligence quotient or IQ, emotional intelligence is considered more important in attaining success and happiness in both your career and your life. Your ability to read and interpret other people’s signals and respond to those signals appropriately will ultimately determine how far you will go in both your personal and professional pursuits of success. This is why it is essential that you develop a high emotional intelligence that will help you understand, negotiate, and empathize with others.

Categories of Emotional Intelligence

Researchers in the area of emotional intelligence has determined that there are five major classes of skills that are associated with emotional intelligence.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is your ability to recognize your emotions and the impact that they have on not only your thoughts but your behavior as well. Through self-awareness, you will start to understand your strengths and weaknesses and is a critical part of your emotional intelligence. Having self-awareness will also help you to build your self-confidence.

Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is your ability to put impulsive behaviors and feelings under control and is another critical part of emotional intelligence. While self-management doesn’t prevent you from feeling emotions, it enables you to have a say in how long a feeling lasts. Learning how to manage emotions in a healthy manner, adapting to changing circumstances, and following through on commitments are just some of the critical aspects of self-regulation.

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Introduction

There comes a time in every person’s life when they stop to wonder, “Am I doing enough?”

Sure, working a regular 9 to 5 job and spending your time working your way up in your career can be satisfying, but are sometimes the process of paying the bills can become tiresome and tedious, and you may find yourself wondering if you’ve lost sight of what is really important.

All of us have great talents and inspirations that drive us forward in life, but if we aren’t taking steps every day to help us to achieve our goals, our passion for life begins to dwindle. It can be defeating to spend our lives working toward essentially nothing, stuck in the same monotonous routine while the things we really want to do with our lives are stuck on the back burner.

That’s no way to live, and many of us begin to feel stuck and confined as we wonder about the things that might have been, were we offered better opportunities, or had been able to make more time to work on the things that we find the most important to us.

Well there is no reason to wonder “what if?” any longer. Using this book as a guide, you will begin to see that it is not only possible, but essential, to master your destiny. Every one of us has a special purpose on this planet, and a singular life that belongs to us and us alone. Each of us has a duty to honor the purpose that we were meant to serve, and we are allowed to continue to create the changes that need made in order to make those dreams a reality.

What most of us are lacking is the basic structure to get to where we want to be. Accomplishing our goals may seem obscure and idealistic, but there are steps that we can take every single day to get to where we want to be. It has never been more possible to become the best version of yourself you can possibly be, and by following the simple key steps in this book, before you know it you will be well on your way to mastering your destiny!

Let’s get started.

Chapter 1: Know Yourself

The advice may seem tired, but the fact of the matter is that knowing yourself is a tried and true way of mastering your destiny. A person who doesn’t know themselves, inside and out, will not be capable of growing and changing in the ways that will help them to evolve as a person, because that person will likely be a slave to their vices without even knowing it!

Most of us have a hard time admitting our flaws and faults, even to ourselves. That gives them free reign over our lives, and a season pass to sabotage anything that we are working on. It is a sneaky way for us to get in our own ways without really being able to see the problem for what it is; an act of self-sabotage!

The most effective strategy in combating self-sabotage is to get to know yourself inside and out. This may seem simple, but it is probably going to be a lot more complex than you might think. It’s more than just sitting down and listing the things you think you know about yourself, which is a good start. This is a time-intensive process that you will need to do with the help of friends and family whom you can trust to tell you the truth, whether it hurts your feelings or not.

But before we involve anyone else in the process of getting to know yourself, first you have to figure out just what it is that you already have covered. One thing that may really help you is to take the Meyers-Briggs Personality test. Upon taking this test, you will find yourself placed in one of sixteen categories, and these categories each have a detailed profile that can help you understand more about yourself and the way you respond to certain situations and stimuli. This can also be useful in learning more about how you conduct yourself in relationships and as a part of a peer group, without having to rely on the feedback of your trusted friends and family.

These types of personality tests are also very insightful when it comes to the way one approaches their goals and whether or not they are realistic in the manner in which they attempt to achieve their dreams. Knowing your personality type may provide you with the insight you have been waiting for when it comes to which approach might work best for you in furthering your career or tackling the to-do list that has been put on the back burner for far too long.

Once you have a basic understanding of your personality type, you can begin to narrow your focus down onto what it is that you truly believe in. Each of us have core values that provide us with the drive that spurns us onward. If we don’t know what it is that we truly believe in, then it can be hard for us to feel fulfilled and our lives can lack in passion and motivation. But once we latch onto a core value that we truly feel passionate about, everything then begins to change. We can begin building a foundation for our lives and experiences based on these values; in a way that makes even the most mundane task begin to feel rewarding.

How might that be? Because we know that even the smallest task can accumulate to a major accomplishment. And when you are living a life that is true to your core values and beliefs, these major accomplishments are sure to be things that truly serve your life’s purpose. It is one of the most effective ways to make yourself feel like the master of your own destiny!

Many people simply don’t know themselves well enough to live a satisfying life, and this can be very sad. Whether it is a traumatic past that keeps you stuck, or it is simply a lack of self-knowledge or discipline, we all have to know who we are at the most fundamental level. Many people are so disconnected from themselves that they don’t even know what it is they like or don’t like. Now is the time to find these things out.

If you have a hard time with this, now is the time to trust your friends and family to help you see yourself objectively. Ask them what they think your biggest pet peeves are, what you truly care about, and what it is you enjoy doing the most. Consider their opinions on your flaws and weaknesses, and vices that you might need to keep in check. Remember that the fastest way to empowerment is in knowing your own weaknesses. Honesty about these weaknesses helps you to develop them so that they are no longer holding you back. Keep it up until you have been able to build them into strengths!

Goal: Start a journal. In this journal, outline the things that make you who you are. Write down your self-perception in as much detail as possible. Take a test online to find out your Meyers-Briggs Personality type, and journal about any insights you might have learned from taking this test.

Every day, write about a strength in yourself you have used recently and how it is positively impacting your life. Also, write about a weakness in yourself that you have pinpointed, and what you are doing to address it and balance it out so that you are taking control over your vices and turning them into strengths! A person with power over their own faults is a true master of their own destiny.

Chapter 2 – Do Not Break, Just Bend Up to Your Capacity

One thing that most people use as an excuse in giving up the control they need in their lives is other people. Other people get in the way. Other people make demands on their time so that they aren’t able to achieve the things that they want to accomplish. Other people are responsible for the fact that they aren’t able to get their lives organized and really take the reins.

While it can be true that other people may pose interesting challenges when it comes to achieving our goals, the fact is that there is a difference between accommodating others and having healthy relationships versus bending over backwards to be a people pleaser and spending way too much time in doing so. People who master their destinies don’t do it by kissing ass. They do it by putting their goals as their top priority and achieving them by any means necessary!

This doesn’t necessarily mean putting other people on the back burner. The fact of the matter is that humans are social animals, and we survive and thrive in communities where we help each other to evolve and learn. We work with people who rely on us, and if they find that we are willing to compromise ourselves for them, they will put us to work until we reach our limits.

But many of us have a tendency to want to make everybody around us happy, and sometimes that means putting our own happiness on the line. It can seem impossible at times to please everybody around us, and the person who wants to focus on mastering their own destiny should take this as a lesson. It is impossible to make everybody happy. That is why it is most important to make sure that we are focusing on ourselves.

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Introduction

“One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”-- Maya Angelou

Not all people have the courage to face every challenge in life. Lucky are those who surpass all the obstacles by taking risks bravely. Courage, as others said, is not innate. But, everyone is equipped with a certain amount of this, which allows them to face their fears and take risks without losing faith and try to continue living even if it is tough.

Courage is what everybody wants. It is an attribute of good character that makes anyone worthy of respect. In this book, you will learn everything about developing courage and how you can use it to face challenges in life. So, grab this chance to know more about courage and discover the perks of developing enough courage to win any battle.

Chapter 1:

An Overview of Courage

Synopsis

Everyone is afraid of something. But, being courageous can let you face or overcome your fears in life even if it means you should sacrifice or take risks. If you think you don’t have the courage to surpass all the challenges in life, well you are wrong. Life will never run out of challenges. They are already part of anyone’s lives. That is the reason why each one of you is equipped with courage to win any battles in life. You may know about the existence of courage in your system, but think about how you face every fear in your life since you were just a little- Isn’t it courage or just your instinct?

Courage Defined

Courage is one’s ability to confront pain, fear, uncertainty, intimidation or danger. There are different types of courage, which may range from endurance and physical strength to mental stamina and innovation. Some of the types of courage are:

- Physical Courage

This is the courage when facing hardship, physical pain, threat of death or death.

- Moral Courage

This is the ability of a person to act rightly when facing popular opposition, scandal, discouragement or shame.

In several traditions, courage has the same meaning as fortitude. In Western tradition, the notable thoughts on courage came from philosophers including Aquinas, Aristotle, and Kierkegaard. In Eastern tradition, several thoughts on courage were provided by Tao Te Ching. Recently, courage was explored by the psychology’s discipline.

6 Attributes of Courage

Courage is what everybody wants. Most of you have heard or seen it in numerous stories or even movies. In fact, history books have taught everyone how to be brave and courageous. There may different types of courage. But, you should develop more of it as this can give you an edge and may lead you to success. If you think you don’t have enough courage, then spend some time knowing the different attributes of courage. These include:

Feeling Fear Yet You Choose to Act

Many people are afraid of something yet most of you choose to act instead of letting fear eat you. Courage is not actually the absence of fear. But, it is overcoming your fears. Keep in mind that true courage facing danger whenever you are afraid.

- Following Your Heart

Achieving all of your dreams may be impossible. But, in this world, your time is limited and you need to follow your heart and this is what you call courage.
- Standing Up For What Is Right

Not all have the courage to speak against injustice. That is why it takes a lot of courage to stand up and speak for what is right. Courage will also taught you when is the right time to sit and listen.

There are other attributes of courage. If you want to be more courageous, then you start today. Everyone has the power to level up their courage. You too can develop courage, which you can use as your greatest tool when beating your enemies and other things that block your way.

Chapter 2:

Identify Your Strengths

Synopsis

For you to accomplish or succeed at anything, you need to have strengths. If you don’t know your strengths, you might not be able to have courage to face the challenges in this life. Strengths are not the things you think you are good at. Just because you are good at a particular think, this does not mean that it is your strength. For it to be your strength, it should your passion too. This is what qualifies for it to be considered as your strength. But, what are the ways to know your strengths?

Ways to Know Your Strengths

Your strengths will serve as your fuel to develop courage. Strength will let you feel strong. If you are confused between your strengths and weaknesses, then here are some of the ways you may consider:

- List Down What You Think You Are Good At

Listing down the things you think you are good at can help you determine your strengths. Even if you hate doing it yet you excel at it, this can be your strength. So, make sure to list down everything that you are good at because this will help you in the long run.

- When Knowing Your Strengths, Don’t Ask Opinions from Other People

When knowing your strengths, it is not a good idea to ask opinions from other people. Even if others have clues about your strengths, you are the one who knows yourself better. Therefore, don’t let others influenced you when you are discovering your strengths because your real strength lies deep in you. That’s why you should be the one to know your strengths not others.

There are many reasons why you should not ask opinions from other people. One of these is that others may just see that you are good at something physically. But, they don’t have any clue about what you feel when you are doing it.

- What Makes You Excited

Everyone has his or her excitements in life. So, what makes you excited- Being excited at something you plan to do can be your strengths. You have to take note that you should have passion with what you do for it to be a strength. If you like what you are doing and you excel at it, then it is your strength.

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Introduction

Did you know that you can easily generate a 6-figure income without ever having to create a product of your own, and without a well-known name or brand?

It’s true! Every day, thousands of affiliates are earning a full-time income from affiliate campaigns that drive sales from both small and wide-scale product launches.

They also make money in many other ways, apart from direct promotion. Affiliates focus on building their own list so that later, if they decide to create their own product, they already have a built-in customer base!

With nearly a zero-startup cost involved, and no risks, there are absolutely no downsides to becoming an affiliate marketer.

Let's take a closer look at just a few of the many advantages of becoming an affiliate marketer:

You don’t need a product of your own.

You don’t need a website of your own.

No customer support is required on your end.

No shipping, inventory or overhead involved.

You can work at your own pace.

You can venture into multiple niche markets easily.

It's easy to see why affiliate marketing is such a viable, and popular method for building a successful online business!

In fact, whether you are a complete beginner with little experience, or you’re a seasoned marketer looking to maximize your income, affiliate marketing is an incredible source for passive income and unstoppable profits.

In this special report, we’ll work through the terminology associated to affiliate marketing so you can gain a better understanding before you dive into this million-dollar marketplace.

Are you ready?

Let’s begin!

Affiliate Marketing 101

Before we dive into the terminology associated with the affiliate marketing space, let’s take a quick look at what affiliate marketing is.

Affiliate marketing is often considered by many to be the "gateway" into the world of online business. One of the reasons why affiliate marketing is so popular is because of just how easy it is to get started.

Regardless of your experience, or your skillset, you can make money as an affiliate in just a matter of a few days.

In fact, one of the most lucrative aspects of affiliate marketing is just how fast and easy it is to begin building profitable campaigns that will generate non-stop profits very quickly.

In affiliate marketing, there are three main players:

1: The Creator
2: The Affiliate
3: The Customer

It's the creators job to develop the product, build the website and sales funnel and to provide affiliates with the tools and information they need to order to effectively promote the website.

Affiliates form the bridge between the merchant and the customer, by developing targeted campaigns that recruit leads, and funneling that traffic directly to the offer via an affiliate link.

Affiliates are then paid a commission on every referred sale, most often, a 50/50 split, meaning that you’d earn 50% commission for every sale made.

If you want to jumpstart your affiliate marketing career so you’re able to start making money quickly, you should grab a copy of Super Affiliate Secrets, a world-class coaching program, available at: https://promotelabs.com/sas

This all-inclusive course will teach you everything you need to know to generate a steady income in affiliate marketing, and best of all, it was created by super affiliates with many years of experience, so you’re learning from the pros.

Here are a just a few of the many actionable strategies shared inside this premium course:

The secrets to positioning yourself as an expert authority in any niche market.
Top strategies for getting more affiliate sales by adding value to an offer.
Discover a little-known tactic for making money when delivering a free bonus gift.
Get three keys to creating big commission checks.
Learn four secrets to choosing profitable products.
Get four tips for boosting your affiliate income.
Find out which tool you can start using today to level the playing field between you and the super affiliates – and start crushing the competition!

I highly recommend signing up for the course if you want to minimize the learning curve so you can start making money faster.

Here’s the link again: https://promotelabs.com/sas
Affiliate Marketing Terminology

If affiliate marketing sounds like something you’d like to get involved in, you’ll want to brush up on the most commonly-used terms associated with this multi-million-dollar industry.

Here are some of the terms you should know:

Affiliate Program:

An arrangement in which the advertiser pays a commission to an affiliate for each sale captured via their website or advertising link.

The commission model is based on actions performed by users, usually involving lead generation, subscription to a service, a direct one-time purchase, or other actions.

The advertiser will utilize performance-tracking software to track the users’ actions and the affiliates who have assisted in that process.

Many service providers run their own affiliate program, which means they buy traffic for themselves to increase their own profit.

Affiliate Manager

An Affiliate Manager is any person who communicates with the affiliates. They often create offers and take care of maximizing performance of the affiliate program.

Advertiser

This is a person or organization that owns a business and offers services or products to customers.

Advertisers are willing to pay affiliates for each new lead or customer they bring. This helps them promote their brand and acquire new customers.

Affiliate Network

An affiliate network acts as an intermediary between affiliates and advertisers. Affiliate networks allow affiliates to easily find and participate in affiliate programs suitable for their inventory.

Advertisers who offer affiliate programs work with affiliate networks to reach larger audiences (i.e. all affiliates participating in the network).

If you’re looking for a top affiliate program that not only provides instant access to top performing creatives and done-for-you email swipes, but also offers a free affiliate newsletter that provides powerful training tips and strategies that will help you maximize your income, you’ll want to join https://promotelabs.com/affiliates

Bonus Offers

In affiliate marketing, you are competing against other affiliates, who quite often, may be advertising to the same group of customers.

This is where the power of bonus offers comes into play.

Affiliates will often offer bonuses to persuade a customer to purchase through their link rather than someone else’s. Typically, the bonus adds additional value to the product that is being promoted. In other words, it is relevant, in the same niche/topic, and serves as an auxiliary component.

The greater the perceived value, the easier it will be to convince people to purchase through your affiliate link. Therefore, it’s very important to learn how to create high-quality bonuses that stand out and capture the attention of your target audience.

Building your bonus offer doesn’t have to be a difficult process, but does require some knowledge of design and/or content creation.

One way around this is to use a program like Commission Gorilla, which simplifies the entire process of creating affiliate bonus pages. They’ve essentially done the heavy-lifting for you.

Commission Gorilla is available at https://www.CommissionGorilla.com

Cookies

In affiliate marketing, cookies are used to identify a visitor who has clicked on an affiliate link. It’s simply a form of tracking.

Cookies are usually assigned for a specific period of time. If the visitor returns within that timeframe, the affiliate marketer will be paid for the sale, whether or not the visitor uses the affiliate link to complete the purchase.

CTR

Your Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of website clicks for the number of advertising impressions displayed to visitors or bought from other networks.

CPA, CPS, CPL & CPC

Cost Per Action, or CPA, is the cost of an action carried out by a visitor. An action is almost always a form of conversion (see below).

A visitor either purchases the product or shows an interest in it. This is also referred to as Cost Per Sale (CPS) or Cost Per Lead (CPL), respectively.

Cost Per Click (CPC) is a payment model for online advertisements. Each time the ad is clicked, an amount will be paid to the advertiser.

Cost Per Action (CPA) is a payment plan where advertisers pay their affiliates for conversions only. If a sale is not made, the affiliate is not paid.

Campaign or Offer

This is the promotion of a product or service. Offers are created by affiliate managers or product owners, and usually contain all relevant information about the payout model, commission offer, and best marketing practices.

An Offer URL is the final URL where the visitor will land after clicking the promotion link or banner. This is your landing page where they will find your offer or campaign.

Conversion

This is usually a target action of the end user, defined by the advertiser. It can be a subscription to a service, lead generation, sale of a product, or installation of a mobile application.

Conversion is the final goal of advertising and is the event the affiliates will be paid for. In other words, the consumer has now been converted into a paying customer.

The Conversion Rate is the percentage of website clicks that converted (turned, changed) into a lead or a sale.

For example, if one in every hundred visitors to your site makes a purchase, then your conversion rate would be 0.1%.

Data Feed

This is a file containing lists of all the products an advertiser sells, including prices, images of products, descriptions, and affiliate links for the products.

Disclosure

This is a notice on an affiliate’s website or blog, notifying visitors that the affiliate is being compensated or paid for sales, recommendations, endorsements, and advertisements of a product and/or service on their website or landing page.

This is an important part of your marketing campaign because it’s required to comply with FTC laws. You should place this statement towards the top of your landing pages before you mention the affiliate offer.

Tracking Link

This is a unique URL to which an affiliate sends an audience for a particular offer. It can also be called a click tracking link or affiliate link.

Third-Party Tracking

This is the principle of notifying affiliates in real-time for every conversion. When a new conversion (or sale) is received, affiliate software automatically sends a conversion notification to tracking systems at the affiliate site or other third-party systems.

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Introduction

The technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin could revolutionize the way business is conducted.

This technology is called blockchain—and it’s the backbone technology of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Blockchains have mostly been used to underpin cryptocurrencies, but there are many other possible uses emerging.

In fact, this powerful technology can add new layers of speed, security and can even lower costs associated with payment processing, but that’s only scratching the surface.

In this special report, we’ll take a closer look at some of the ways blockchain could be integrated into your current business, or help you launch a new one.

Let’s begin!

Blockchain 101

Before we consider the different ways blockchain can help your business, it’s important you understand exactly what blockchain really is.

“Simply put,” says BDC senior economist Gillian Ellas, “blockchain is a continuously updated digital record of who holds what.”

Records of each transaction—the date and time, dollar value of the transaction, and the participants involved—are all encrypted into a “block” that is linked to other blocks, forming that blockchain.

So, you first have information, like a deal between people, which is then added to other records to make a block. The final product is all the blocks linked together in one long “chain.”

Let’s look at it more simply, with examples.

Suppose Mr. A is selling three coins to Mrs. B for $75. The computer record will list all these details, including digital signatures from both Mr. A and Mrs. B. The record is then checked by the computer network.

The computers in that network (called “nodes”) check the details of the transaction record to ensure that it’s valid.

Records that are accepted by the nodes are added to a block. Each block also contains a unique code called a hash, as well as the hash of the previous block in the chain.

These hash codes allow the blocks to be linked together in order on the chain.

This hash code is created by a mathematical function that takes digital information and creates a string of letters and numbers from it.

No matter what size the original file may be, a hash function will always generate a code that is the same length as all the other codes.

For example, a tweet message is far shorter than a novel like The Lord of the Rings, yet they both would have a hash code of the same length.

A blockchain database is shared across a network of computers, so no one computer contains the information. That network is constantly checking the information to ensure that all the copies of the database are correct.

Once a record has been added to the blockchain, it’s very hard to change it. Any changes to the record will generate a new hash code.

So, if someone decided to edit The Lord of the Rings and removed a single comma, the resulting edit would have a whole new hash code.

This is why it’s so hard to hack a blockchain. The blockchain will still have the original hash code embedded in it, so for a hacker to restore the chain, he or she would have to recalculate that—and the next hash code, and the next, and so on.

Recalculating all those hash codes would take a hacker an enormous amount of computing power (not to mention the time).

One of the reasons cryptocurrencies are so fascinating is that there’s no central authority controlling the blockchain. Each person in a blockchain has the capability to access the same information. This provides transparency and continual reconciliation.

And, since the blockchain exists on many different computers without a centralized version of the information, there’s no central database a hacker can attack.

This means you no longer need a trusted third party to verify your information and process your transactions. You do, however, need some way to trust the other parties.

Members of a blockchain are anonymous and there’s no real way to tell if they’re trustworthy or not. To resolve this issue, blockchains set tests for the computers who try to join the network. These tests are called consensus models.

The consensus model tests require a computer to “prove” themselves in one of two ways.

Proof of work requires a computer to “work” an increasingly difficult computational puzzle in order to add a block to the chain.

This process, which is called mining, takes a lot of computer power. In return for this work, members may receive rewards like tokens or bitcoins.

With proof of stake, on the other hand, participants buy tokens that allow them to join the network. The more tokens they have, the more they can mine.

Real-World Examples

The financial services industry is one of the areas beginning to utilize blockchain technology to save on cost and develop new services.

Financial institutions have been investing in blockchains to simplify their record-keeping for payments and other transactions.

One recent example is the Australian stock market, which announced they’d be using blockchain to settle transactions. “This technology,” says Gillian Ellas, “will be used to record shareholdings and manage the clearing and settlement of equity transactions.”

Another financial example is a company called Abra, a money transfer platform that lets people working abroad send money home in 54 different currencies.

The money transfers are fast and cheaper than a traditional service like Western Union, which charges an average of 7% of the amount of money sent, according to the World Bank.

A third blockchain project involves the World Wildlife Fund and three other companies that are working together to sustainably source tuna in the Pacific Ocean.

These companies are ConsenSys, a blockchain company, TraSeable, an information technology firm, and SeaQuest Fiji, a tuna fishing and processing company. The four together are utilizing blockchain to track where, when, and how the tuna are caught and sold.

Blockchains are also the basis for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which can be bought and traded like traditional assets. And recording trades on a blockchain offers a way to check the history of a product.

An additional example would be jewelry companies, which hope to assure customers that their diamonds are not from a place where their purchase might finance war.

“Several major companies are investing in blockchain,” says Ellas, “including Microsoft, IBM (with more than 400 blockchain projects around the world), Unilever, and Toyota.”

Blockchain could also be useful in property records. Storing land records on a blockchain might cut way down on costly title research and insurance, and in politically unstable areas, it could prove ownership.

The healthcare field is another area where blockchain records would prove useful. Your medical history could be securely stored and controlled by you rather than by your doctor.

Finally, blockchain technology could create tamper-proof election returns. The advantages of this should be fairly obvious, especially in the United States.

How Blockchain Can Benefit Your Business

As small businesses seek better and more efficient ways to serve their clients, blockchain can be especially useful as a way to conduct transactions and even to raise capital.

The cost to incorporate this technology is far less than you might assume.

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Chapter 1:

What to expect as an Affiliate Marketer – The Lifestyle

If you’re looking to make a ton of money online, then the best option for the widest selection of people is undoubtedly affiliate marketing. This is the online business model with the lowest barriers to entry that anyone can learn and anyone can master. At the same time, it is potentially one of the most profitable business models you can use online and certainly much more profitable than blogging for AdSense revenue or similar.

And this is a point that advertisers on Facebook often like to labour. Chances are that you’ll have seen plenty of adverts for online money making schemes and ‘programs’. And no doubt 9/10 times, they’ll be based around affiliate marketing.

You’ll know these ads if you see them. They’re the ones where people talk to you from their private yacht and tell you how they make a 6-figure salary in just a few hours of work each week.

Likewise, you’ll have probably have seen the videos of online ‘billionaires’ talking about their money-making systems while wearing smart suits in very pimped-out offices. They’ve created a ‘digital empire’ all their own using affiliate marketing techniques and now they’re rich and powerful and you probably want to be them… But is this all true? Can you really accomplish all that through affiliate marketing? Is it really that easy? Or is there more to it than that?
How Much Does an Affiliate Marketer Make?

First of all, let’s assess the claims about earnings. We don’t have to guess at this. During the Affiliate Summit over 1,800 affiliate marketers answered a survey describing everything from their methods to their earnings.

How much were they bringing in?

Well, only 46% earned less than $20K while 8% earned $50K-$100K and 12% earned $100K+. At the very least, this shows it’s certainly very possible to earn big money. (The rest were around the middle, but note that 19% elected not to answer at all.)

What’s also interesting here though is the sheer spread of earnings. Affiliate marketing is bringing in from $20K to $100K and beyond, which you just don’t find in traditional careers.

So what’s making the big difference here?

It’s the skill of the individual.

As an affiliate marketer, you’re self-employed and working alone. There’s no need to ‘climb the corporate ladder’ or to compete for promotions. You can get to the top overnight if you have the right skills because it’s all on you.

And in this book, we’ll be looking at the secrets you need to really start earning the big bucks as an affiliate marketer.

The Affiliate Marketing Lifestyle: What Does Affiliate Marketing Involve?

Perhaps the biggest draw of affiliate marketing though is not the money. Instead, for many people the appeal lies in the fact that this is a completely ‘passive’ business model. Once you’ve set everything up such as your sales funnel, your affiliate network account and your blog/sales page, then you can literally be earning money while you’re sleeping or while you’re on holiday.

But again this can get twisted. This lifestyle is what you can achieve once you’re at the top of your game as an affiliate marketer – it doesn’t come overnight.

In fact, affiliate marketing is likely to initially involve a lot of work. The idea here is that you put in the work up front so that you can sew the seeds of your labor further down the line. To begin with, you need to be willing to put in a lot of hours for very little reward.

Specifically then, what does affiliate marketing involve?

If you’re reading this book, then there’s a good chance you have a general idea but we’ll recap in a little more detail for those who do not.

Essentially, as an affiliate marketer, you sell products for commission. This means you’ll be finding products online and promoting them using your own affiliate link. If someone clicks on your link and then buys the product, you’ll get a cut of the profit. Often, affiliate marketing involves selling digital products and you can expect your cut to be as much as 50% all the way up to 75% of the RRP.

There’s no risk involved for you because you’re not creating the product and there’s nothing for you to ship or for you to store. All you have to do is sell but you earn more than the creator.

The hard part though is in doing that selling. This is where the ‘marketing’ part comes in and your job from here is to find yourself a large audience through a blog, through an e-mail campaign, through advertising or through social media; whichever tool you find the most effective.

This is why there’s no steep learning curve or barrier for entry for beginners. All you’re literally doing is making sure people see your affiliate link. There’s no product creation and no investment. You can get started tomorrow in minutes and it won’t cost you a penny.

If you’re a big blogger and you already have an audience of 10,000 readers a day then you’re going to find this very easy. All you need to do is put some very persuasive text on your website along with the link and you’ll start driving traffic. If this is your first attempt at affiliate marketing though, then you may well find this process a little more complex and little more hard going.

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Things To Avoid When Trading Crypto

Top 50 Common Mistakes Newbies Make That Can Be Avoided!

1. You Don’t Know the Basics

If you’re beginning, you’re likely eager to trade. I get it, really.

But don’t rush it. Take a little bit of time to develop a basic cryptocurrency trading strategy and to educate yourself.

Do you know the basics of blockchain technology and Bitcoin? Do you know what circulating vs total supply means? Do you understand what inflation is? Do you know about exchanges, wallets, private keys, and public keys?

If you can’t answer these basic questions, you’ll be in trouble quick enough. Take some time to prepare yourself, it’s essential.

To learn the basics, navigate our website - there are tons of cool resources to get started.

2. You Don’t Take Action

Every day, potential investors miss out on cryptocurrency investing because they aren’t confident about how to get started.

Even experienced investors miss on new tools or cryptocurrencies that could bring significant profits simply from not staying active.

Why? Because they’re afraid to make mistakes. The first step is taking action, so don’t hesitate to dive right in.

Action will result in experience, and experience will result in better decision making. In fact, the experience is all about learning from the mistakes you make.

If you feel ready to make your first investment, then go for it. Even only $10, on any exchange you want, with any payment method you like.

You can’t imagine the difference a small step will make versus not taking action.

This is where your experience will start, and you will feel the highs and lows of investing - it’s a wild ride.

You Don’t Understand the Technology

What makes Bitcoin and many cryptocurrencies innovative is their underlying technology. But if you don’t understand the foundations of the technology, the road will be risky.

You don’t want to rely on others’ ‘knowledge’ to make your investment decisions. Until you can judge these projects for yourself, you will be missing out on big opportunities.

After all, the creators of Bitcoin and its first adopters were all techies.

To avoid this, find educational sources you trust, take the time to learn, and most importantly, enjoy the journey of learning.

Once you understand block rewards, consensus algorithms, premining, and all the fancy jargon, you will be an improved, independent investor.

Blockchain technology is continuously advancing, so keep up with it the best you can.

4. You Ignore Fees

Now that you’ve taken action, take your time and find the right exchange with the best fees.

When people start trading, they make lots of trades a day hoping to earn small profits. While this is nice in theory, fees are killing them. Even if they are low, it all adds up.

Do your research before you trade. To become a successful investor, you need to start taking good habits right now.

5. You Overtrade

Some investors, mostly beginners, want to make 20 trades a day. This is dangerous.

Ultimately, many of them lose from fees or because they make bad trades a mistake and then trade more to recover their losses. Only to dig a deeper and deeper hole for themselves.

The reality is that there aren’t 20 good trading opportunities in a day. Trading too much leads to poor decision making.

6. You Don’t Understand Tax Implications

Overtrading also increases your tax liabilities.

At least in the United States and Canada. Most people think that they only owe taxes on profits that were sold back to USD/CAD, when in fact, you owe taxes on every single trade you make - even crypto to crypto.

The IRS and CRA view every trade as a realized gain or loss. Put simply, if you buy Ether with Bitcoin, they consider this a taxable event on a realized gain or loss.