Friday, December 31, 2010

9 PROVEN WAYS TO CHARGE UP YOUR MOTIVATION

Ever felt unmotivated and simply not in the mood to do anything? Yeah, me too. Our productivity plummets to an all-time personal low as we drag our feet around on things we should be doing. It can be frustrating. When left unchecked, this lack of motivation can get out of hand. Rather than let your productivity yo-yo based on your mood, you should learn to get in control of the situation and counteract with self-motivation strategies. Below are 9 strategies to deal with situations of low motivation.

  1. Design your vision

    One of the biggest reasons why we are not motivated is because we are not connected with our vision. Specifically, the vision of what we are trying to achieve. What are you working so hard for every day? What do you want to get out of this? What is your dream outcome? What are your end goals? What will excite and spur you to move forward?

  2. Get clear on the 'WHY'

    Lack of motivation can come from losing sight of the "WHY" - why we do the things we do. We are so busy with work and managing different areas of our life that every day turns into a routine of activities. It becomes a race to get as much done, without consciously evaluating why we are doing all these things. Why do you live? Why do you do the things you do? Why do you slough away at work? What is it for? What do you want to get out of it? These are all important questions to ask ourselves, and important questions to have answers to. If you don't have the answers, perhaps it's time to seek them out.

  3. Have deadlines

    Your goals should come with deadlines so that you will be spurred into action. After all, by Parkinson's Law, work takes as long as the amount of time we give to it. Not setting a date can cause us to slack off and dwindle on the task. If we set deadlines, we will be triggered to get things done by that date. Specifically when do you want to achieve this? What is your cut-off date? Subsequently, set the deadlines for your weekly and daily tasks too.

  4. Take a rest

    Sometimes when we feel unmotivated, it's cue for a rest. Just like a car with no fuel needs to be refueled, if we run out of energy, we need rest. I was in a slump before and it took me a couple of months to realize it was because I wasn't resting at all. I was just working day-after-day and my mind and soul rebelled by taking a hiatus. I couldn't get new ideas for my writing and some items on my task list became chores rather than enjoyments. So, stop doing whatever you are doing and take a breather. What are some of your hobbies? Spend some time doing them. Get away from your computer too. Engage yourself in things that interest you. Go take a walk in the park, hang out with friends, listen to music, rest, watch a movie, etc. Simply relax. It'll give you renewed focus and energy.

  5. Do things you love

    Sometimes, lack of motivation is a sign from our subconscious that we're not doing things we love. Do you spend a good portion of your time doing things you don't like? This applies to anything, from hanging out with people you don't like, or doing work you are passionless towards. You don't need to do things you don't like to do. If you feel dead towards something, then stop doing it. There's no point doing things you don't love. Life is too short to be spending it that way. Create an action plan to get out of things you don't like and move towards things you love. As long as you keep yourself stuck with things you feel dead towards, you will forever be held back by them.

  6. Soak yourself in motivational materials

    Surround yourself in inspirational materials, such as self help books, podcasts, inspirational stories of people, inspirational speeches, motivational quotes and personal development blogs. 

  7. Surround yourself with competition

    One of the best ways to motivate yourself into action is through competition. When you are in lone man's island, it's easy to descend into a mode of stagnancy. However, when in the face of competition, you will push yourself to do better and better. Look at your goals, and see how you can spice things up with competition. Trying to lose weight? Get friends with similar goals to join in and see who can reach the goal the fastest. Want to grow your business? Benchmark yourself with some of the top people in the industry.

  8. Hang out with motivated people

    As Jim Rohn says, you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Do you notice that when you are around positive people, you become more positive afterward, even when you are by yourself? Similarly, when you hang around motivated people, their vibes will rub off you naturally too. It's kind of like diffusion. You will get motivated and be triggered to take action.

  9. Remind yourself of things you are grateful for

    What are the things you are grateful for in your life? Your family? Your friends? Your health? Your life? What are the things that make you happy to be alive and motivate you to live? List down all the things that you feel grateful for in a document somewhere. Feel the gratitude and love for those things that you have. Chances are, there is at least someone in this world who wants this but is unable to get it. Whenever you feel unmotivated, look at this list. It'll remind you of things worth living for.

    Article: Credit to Dumb Little Man

SECURE YOUR SAVED PASSWORDS IN FIREFOX


One of Firefox's most convenient features is its ability to save the passwords you use to log on to web sites - like your webmail and online banking - so you don't have to type them in every time. Those saved passwords appear as asterisks in the password field, but did you know how easy it is to see what they are? In Firefox, from the Tools menu, choose Options, and in the Passwords tab hit the "View Saved Passwords" button. Then hit "Show Passwords." Yup, there they are, all your high security passwords in plain text and full sight. I kid you not.
Try it. Right now. I'll wait.
Now consider how easy it would be for your Firefox-lovin' housemate to log onto your Gmail, or the computer-sharing temp at the office to get into your checking account or your other half to discover all your pr0n site logins. (Ok, we're just kidding about the porn. Maybe.) Not such a great feature anymore, eh? Today we'll go over a lesser-known feature in Firefox which secures your saved passwords without requiring you to give up the convenience of those autofilled login details.
Back in that password dialog (Tools menu, Options, Passwords) there's a "Change Master Password" button. This master password is a SINGLE password that will unlock the rest of your saved passwords from prying eyes. It's a password you'll have to enter once a session - so each time you restart Firefox. (Click to enlarge.)
When setting the master password, the fox has a neat "Password quality meter" which displays how difficult your password is to crack. Try different combinations of words and numbers and symbols to get this secure-o-meter as high as possible. For example the passwordlifehacker scored very low on the quality meter, but *l1f3h4ck3r* was about 90% hard to crack. (Click to enlarge image.)
Now, the trick here is to pick something you will NEVER FORGET. In the words of the venerable Firefox, "If you forget your Master Password, you will be unable to access any of the information protected by it." 'Nuff said.
Once your Master Password is set, close Firefox. When you reopen and go to a page where you've saved a password - like Gmail - you'll get a security prompt like so:
This prompt is a bit of an inconvenience, but it buys you the peace of mind that no one else is logging onto your sites without explicit authorization. Plus you only have to enter it once a session, a great alternative to "type every password in every time" for paranoids who never save passwords in the browser (like, um, me.)
Article: Credit to lifehacker

Thursday, December 30, 2010

10 SICKNESSES OF THE HEART


Ibrahim Bin Adham ( May Allah S.W.T have mercy on him) told these sicknesses of the spiritual heart to a group of people who asked him why their doa’s weren’t getting answered. In other words, if you want your doa’s to get answered, reflect on the conditions below:


1.
You believe in the existence of Allah S.W.T, but you do not fulfill Allah Commands.

2. You say you love the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W, but you do not follow his Sunnah.

3. You read the Al-Quran but you do not put it into practice.

4. You enjoy all the benefits from Allah S.W.T, but you are not grateful to Allah.

5. You acknowledge Syaitan as your enemy but you do not go against him.

6. You want to enter Paradise but you do not work for it.

7. You do not want to be thrown into Hell-Fire but you do not try to run away from it.

8. You believe that every living thing will face death but you do not prepare for it.

9. You gossip and find faults in others but you forget your own faults and habits.

10. You bury the dead but you do not take a lesson from it.

Article: Credit to IloveAllah.com


THE ETIQUETTE FOR SOLAT AL-JUMUAH



"O believers, when the call is proclaimed for the prayer on Friday, come to the remembrance of Allah and leave off business, that is better for you if you but did know." [Al-Jumuah, 62:9]

Purifying and cleaning oneself

The person intending to perform Solat al-Jumuah is highly encouraged to have ghusl (full bath or shower). The majority of the scholars are of the opinion that the ghusl for Solat a-Jumuah is recommended (sunnah) but not obligatory. The ghusl is performed starting from the time of Fajr Prayer. Also, if a person performs ghusl and then later invalidates his ablution, he need not repeat the ghusl. Making ablution (wudhu) suffices.

Going early to the masjid

There is a great reward in going early to Solat al-Jumuah, beginning after sunrise. By leaving for Solat al-Jumuah, one gets the reward of waiting for the Prayer, making dhikr (remembering Allah) and voluntary prayers during that time. Abu Umamah narrated that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) said, "The angels sit at the doors to the Masjids and with them are scrolls in which they record the people [who come]. When the Imam appears, the scrolls are rolled up." Abu Umamah was asked, "Does the one who comes after the Imam still have a Friday Prayer?" he said, "Certainly, but he is not one of those who is recorded [as coming early]." [Ahmad and al-Tabarani]

Dressing well for Solat al-Jumuah

This is a special time that requires Muslims to appear in the best manner possible. One should therefore put on his best attire for Solat al-Jumuah.
The Prophet (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) said, "If one has the means, he should buy two pieces of clothing, other than his work clothes or [everyday clothing], to wear on Friday." [Abu Dawud]

Performing tahiyyat al-Masjid

If a person comes late to the Friday Prayer while the Imam is delivering the khutbah, should he pray the two rak`ahs of tahiyyat al-Masjid (prayer of greeting the mosque) and the sit or should he simply skip them? The strongest opinion is to perform the tahiyyat al-Masjid based on the Hadith of the Prophet (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam): "If one of you comes to the Masjid, he should pray two rak`ahs before he sits" [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. However, tahiyyat al-Masjid is not required of the person giving the khutbah. Also, this requirement is limited only to prayers offered in a Masjid.
  1. Walking to the Masjid whenever feasible as there is a reward for every step taken to the Masjid.
  2. Avoiding stepping over people to get to a particular spot in the Masjid.
  3. Avoiding dividing two people who are sitting together.
  4. Not making someone stand and taking his place.
  5. Sitting in the front rows and close to the Imam whenever possible.
  6. Remaining quiet while the Imam is delivering the khutbah. This actually includes listening to the Imam and not playing with anything while the Imam is speaking.
  7. Going to the Masjid in a state of calmness and not being hurried.
  8. Reciting surah al-Kahf (surah 18) as an authentic Hadith states: "For whoever recites surah al-Kahf on Friday, it will be a light for him from that Friday to the next." [Al-Bayahaqi and Al-Hakim] The surah could be read any time of the day.
Indeed, Solat al-Jumuah is one of the most important acts of worship in Islam. The Prophet (S.A.W) has described the wonderful blessings and benefits that Allah has vouchsafed upon Muslims through this magnificent act. Knowing how important this prayer is in Allah sight, Muslims must do their best to perform it in the best way possible. They should strive and sacrifice for the sake of this Prayer.

Article: Credit to IloveAllah.com

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

5 SIGNS OF MALE BODY LANGUAGE FLIRTING

Body language flirting actually reveals all the answers you will ever want to know. All you have to do is look for the following six signs. They are very clear, subconscious indications of male attraction, which most men have no control over, so they are very accurate. One on its own will be a hint in the right direction, but if you see three or more then you should definitely take note!

The first sign is something that seems to be very obvious, but it will give you a good idea of his attraction towards you:

1. Is he smiling at you?

If the answer is yes then he is clearly interested in you. If a man has no interest in you whatsoever he won’t smile or try and engage you in this way. This sign of male body language flirting shows you that he is aware of you and wants to get to know you better. So if you like him, the best thing to do is – of course – make sure you smile back!

2. How much preening is he doing?

This is another classic sign of body language flirting. If he likes you he will want to make sure he looks his best and makes that clear to you. By smoothing his hair down and paying more attention to his appearance, he is unknowingly sending a clear signal to you.

3. Is he trying to assert his masculinity?

Men who do this by standing with their feet apart and striking a macho pose are trying to look better than every other man in the room. Even if you only have eyes for him, he will still strike this pose in order to appear as the best choice of the men who are available in the room. It might sound strange but this is very similar to how things work in the animal kingdom too. If he is doing everything he can to stand out from the crowd you can be sure that he likes you.

4. Where do his feet point?

When a woman sees a man and wonders whether he is attracted to her, the last thing she will probably be looking at are his feet! But in fact that is exactly where you should look, because they can tell you a lot about the feelings of the man they belong to. If they are pointing towards you, this is a good sign of body language flirting because they tell you he is interested. If they are pointing away from you then you should start looking elsewhere because he has no interest at all. This is a little known fact.

5. Is he making good eye contact?

Most people know about eye contact, but it is very important to understand exactly how this works. If a man is not attracted to you then he will have no reason to look at you. This much makes sense. If he is attracted to you however, he will make more eye contact because of that attraction. But he may also keep looking away if you catch him looking at you. Don’t take that as a sign he isn’t interested though; in fact it is a very good sign because he feels self conscious that you caught him peeking! Body language flirting is easier to spot in eye contact than in some of the other signs at times. So watch out for it.

Article: Credit to Loveagame