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Optimizing Performance, Health and Productivity

Now you have optimized your work/life balance and put systems and parameters in place to define your work hours, you should right away find that you have a lot more time and a lot more energy for working. You should be less stressed, a little less bipolar and a lot less tired.

This is the framework that will now allow you to build a truly healthy and optimal lifestyle. What you need to recognize is that your performance at work and your general health are intimately tied together. The happier and healthier you are during your time off, the better you will perform when you are working. The better you work, the more time you will have to focus on your own health.

And it all starts with sleep...

Optimizing Sleep

By employing a little strict discipline, you will find that you less often allow your work life to ruin your sleep. This is crucial because your output will be significantly neutered if you don't.

At the same time, you also need to make sure that you are doing everything else in your power to make sure your sleep is the best it can be.

For starters, this means going to bed at the same time every night and aiming to get a full 8 hours sleep. Again, this is sacred and it will make all the difference to every other aspect of your life. Going to bed at a strict time is what will help you set your internal rhythms, while waking up at the same time will prevent sleep inertia (and likewise prevent you from sleeping through your working morning).

Make sure that your room is pitch dark and that light is kept to an absolute minimum. Tape over the LEDs in the room and use heavy curtains to block out sunlight. Remember, you want to avoid 'blue light' so don't look at your phone or computer past 8pm. Caffeine should also be avoided after 4pm and note that alcohol can ruin the restorative nature of your rest.

A warm shower just before bed can also make a big difference to your sleep, as can stretching and perhaps practicing a little quiet meditation (meditation is also a great tool for encouraging mental discipline so that you aren't thinking about work). Make sure you get plenty of exercise and fresh air during the day too, so that you will be more tired when it comes to the evening.

Finally, nutrition is also critical for healthy sleep and specifically you need to be consuming enough vitamin D, magnesium, zinc and tryptophan to really maximize your deep sleep.

Exercise

Exercise is also a very important tool for the self-employed. Remember, working from home means you have no commute which means less exercise. At the same time, that means you have at least an hour you can commit to going to the gym in the morning and this will also help to boost your brain power.

Exercise triggers the release of BDNF - brain derived neurotrophic factor -which in turn increases learning, plasticity and attention. It also helps you get more blood to your brain and improves your mood and focus. All these things are great tools for boosting your performance and for combating health complaints.

Particularly important as well is stretching. Stretching also boosts IQ and at the same time it can prevent the mobility issues that come from working at a computer. Yoga is a particularly good practice but you can benefit simply from doing some stretches on a mat prior to lifting weights or doing CV.

Now you might have a desire to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in which case, you need an entirely different book. But for the purposes of optimal productivity and health, you don't need to go mad in the gym. In fact, it's better that you don't. Instead, focus on exercise that will be enjoyable and that you'll be likely to stick to. Your whole aim here is to move regularly and to apply a little bit of positive stress (eustress) to your body to wake it up and strengthen it. Bodyweight training is particularly good for this, as is running.

Ultimately, remember that it's better to have a very easy training regime that you actually stick to, than an intense one that you never do...

And in this vein, it's also pertinent to find a gym that is near to you, or to set up your own home gym. If the gym is 10 miles away and requires driving, then it will eat into your day and your available energy levels.

Nutrition

This is the most important point of all: getting your nutrition right.

Again, our goal here is not to turn you into Superman or to give you gigantic pecs. Instead, the objective is to make you generally healthy, happy and able to work well. Avoiding obesity is part of that, so you do want to cut down on your carbs. Likewise, you want to avoid carbs and sugars because they can make you tired after your blood sugar has spiked.

Instead, focus on filling up with complex carbs, fats and proteins and don't overeat. Working from home means you can eat smaller snacks instead of big meals and this is also advisable.

The most important thing to remember of all though, is that your diet should be nutrient dense. This means that you should focus on getting lots of fruits, lots of vegetables, lots of meats and more. The benefits that zinc, potassium, sodium, vitamin C, B complex vitamins, lutein, calcium, l-tyrosine, l-carnitine, vitamin D, iron, omega 3 fatty acid, CoQ10, MCT oils and more have on your body cannot possibly be overstated. If you are getting your RDA of all these things, you will sleep better, feel happier, be thinner, think faster, be stronger... and the effects are more profound than any 'nootropic' or 'health supplement'. The best way to do this is just to eat lots of berries, fish, fruits, leafy greens, meats, organ meats and more. Don't cut anything out your diet and do everything you can to give your body a varied and comprehensive selection of nutrients.

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Chapter 8: Ensuring Viral Marketing for Your Business

Summary

When you achieve popularity through viral marketing, there is nothing else that you would want. You reach the stage of nirvana, where people are pushing your business of their own voluntary will.

Ensuring Viral Marketing for Your Business

Viral marketing is something that almost all Internet marketers hanker for. This is when people begin recommending their products to their friends. Now, think about it - even if you don't want to buy a particular product, wouldn't you give it a more serious consideration if a friend raved to you about it? This is what happens when you virally market your product. You get people to speak about your products and that increases its prospects manifold.

So, what are the ways in which you can ensure that? The truth is that if you use all of the methods mentioned in this book, you can get an amazing degree of viral marketing, whether it is article marketing or blogging or video marketing or social networking or any other method. You are becoming popular and bowling people over by the quality and freshness of your product. Naturally, those people are going to speak to other people about your product and it is going to become popular.

Somewhere before in this eBook we mentioned how important it is to retain your past clients. One of the reasons why you should do it is because they become your viral marketing mouthpiece. These are the people who have liked your product or service and these are the people who will want to give something back to you because you have pleased them with your business. They will not mind recommending you to their friends and associates and because of the open nature of the Internet, when they comment positively about you on a blog or forum or a social networking site, many other people are going to read it and they will want to check out your stuff too.

If you are active on these sites yourself, you could use these reviews to your advantage. These could be great testimonials for your sales pages and probably they could also be used as quotes in the press releases you write.

Big businesses have no dearth of such positive comments. Even though they do get their share of flak, they know how to highlight their positives and correct their negatives. Since no one and nothing is perfect, this is the way you can move toward achieving that big success you are aiming for.

Chapter 9: Gaining Omnipresence through PPC Advertising

Summary

Apart from helping you make good money, PPC advertising can help you achieve huge visibility on the Internet and bring in a lot of profit. Most online businesses that have achieved success have done it through PPC.

Gaining Omnipresence through PPC Advertising

Very simply described, PPC advertising is when you put up an advertisement of your website somewhere on the Internet and then pay the host according to the number of clicks you get. PPC stands for Pay Per Click, if you haven't figured it out already.

So, who helps you with PPC? That is the best part actually - the very search engines that rank your websites, something that influences your websites' popularities to such a great extent, can help you with PPC. Through PPC, they ensure that your website is always displayed on a search engine result page when someone searches with a keyword that pertains to your website. All search engines, including Google, MSN and Yahoo! have this provision.

Have you checked out any Google results lately? If you haven't, go ahead and do that now. Type in any keyword that you are looking on information for, like 'adventure vacations in Bali', for example. You will see a lot of results, but look attentively at the results on top and on the right side of the page. These are the paid results. Or, you could call them the PPC results.

These results aren't displayed because these websites rank well. They are displayed just because the webmasters will pay Google according to the number of clicks that visitors will make on these websites.

The other results are known as organic results. These are results that appear because of the optimization, such as keyword optimization, that has been done on their pages.

There is understandably a lot of consternation about using PPC in this manner. But it really helps. If you are just starting out with your expansion, you won't mind the extra money you pay to get your results listed here. In return, you are getting traffic. Because of this traffic, your website will begin ranking organically as well and that's when you stop this kind of PPC.

PPC is also present in emails. Check your inbox now and open any mail. You will see some advertisements on the page. These are PPC advertisements. The concept works the same way as with the search engine results.

And who can ignore the guru of all, Google AdWords? This service allows people to buy such ad spaces on websites all over the Internet. Wherever you see Google Ads, note that they are paid ads.

The thing that you have to remember is that PPC is everywhere, and it can take you everywhere. When you are looking for vigorous expansion, you simply have to use this.

Chapter 10: Making Sure You Last on the Internet

Summary

Durability is one of the most important things when you are using the Internet as your business arena.

Making Sure You Last on the Internet

As time passes, you will try to diversify and go on to things that seem better to you. At that time, your existing policies might dwindle. You might not work on your existing strategies anymore. Resultantly, the business already in your hand might start taking a setback. But this is exactly what we spoke about earlier - you don't have to let this happen. Even as you are planning new things, you have to make sure your current things last.

Your visibility helps. If you have made yourself popular already, you can be sure of a long run for yourself. If you keep the links active still, you will be in demand.

But you have to make sure you keep updating stuff too. Don't just vanish from your blogs or from the article directories or from the social networking scene. Keep posting content there. Keep replying to comments.

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The Guy in the Glass by Dale Wimbrow

When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day Just go to the mirror and look at yourself And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your Father or Mother or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass.

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may call you a straight shooting chum And call you a wonderful guy, but the man in the glass says you're only a bum If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest For he's with you clear to the end,

And you have passed your most dangerous test If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may face the whole world down the pathway of life And get pats on the back when you pass,

But your final reward will be heartache and strife If you've cheated the man in the glass.

The Challenge by Jim Rohn

Let others lead small lives,

But not you.

Let others argue over small things, But not you.

Let others cry over small hurts,

But not you.

Let others leave their future In someone else's hands,

But not you.

My Wage by Jessie B. Rittenhouse

I bargained with life for a penny, And life would pay no more, However I begged at evening When I counted my scanty store;

For life is a just employer,

He gives you what you ask,

But once you have set the wages, Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,

Only to learn dismayed,

That any wage I had asked of life,

Life would have paid.

Watch By Frank Outlaw

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Equipment By Edgar A. Guest

Figure it out for yourself, my lad,

You've all that the greatest of men have had,

Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes And a brain to use if you would be wise.

With this equipment they all began,

So start for the top and say, "I can."

Look them over, the wise and great They take their food from a common plate,

And similar knives and forks they use,

With similar laces they tie their shoes.

The world considers them brave and smart,

But you've all they had when they made their start.

You can triumph and come to skill,

You can be great if you only will.

You're well equipped for what fight you choose,

You have legs and arms and a brain to use,

And the man who has risen great deeds to do Began his life with no more than you.

You are the handicap you must face,

You are the one who must choose your place,

You must say where you want to go,

How much you will study the truth to know.

God has equipped you for life, but He Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,

The man must furnish the will to win.

So figure it out for yourself, my lad.

You were born with all that the great have had,

With your equipment they all began,

Get hold of yourself and say: "I can."

Don't Dwell Author Unknown

Don't dwell on what might have been or the chances you have missed.

Or the lonely nights that lie between the last time lovers kissed.

Don't grasp too hard the memory of the things that never came.

The door that did not open or the wind that killed the flame. There is still time enough to live...And time enough to try again.

Be Happy.

Our Deepest Fear By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small Does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,

As children do.

We were born to make manifest The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;

It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we're liberated from our own fear,

Our presence automatically liberates others.

The Invitation By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for,

And if you dare to dream of meeting Your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool For love, for your dream,

For the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,

If you have been opened by life's betrayals,

Or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain,

Mine or your own,

Without moving

To hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,

Mine or your own,

If you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes

Without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself,

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can be faithless and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty Even when it is not pretty every day,

And if you can source your life From its presence.