Multitasking – How Good Are You At It?

Revisions:
5-4-13: Initial release.

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So here we are 5 months into year 2013, and if there is one thing I know that will continue to be a good skill for any person, that is learning how to multitask.

Why is this such an important skill to know? By knowing how to multitask properly, you will not only save time, but you will become a more efficient person of your time and efforts.

So how do you properly multitask? The best advice I can say is start simple, and then work your way up.

Let’s say that you are busy studying for school. So while you are studying, you could be eating a snack, downloading your latest TV show, backing up the contents of your laptop, and listening to your favorite song. The possibilities of what you can do all at the same time is endless.

But you got to be smart about it. You don’t want to text and drive at the same time, as that is highly dangerous, and could get you into an accident, or even worse, hurt or even killed.

How do I multitask in my busy life? After all, I contribute to two blogs, manage a youtube channel, play videogams, and make video tutorials. Oh yes, I work a full-time job outside of the Internet, and manage a personal life as well. You got to be careful to never let work take over your personal life, or vice versa. There must be an adequate balance among everything.

So what do I do to manage this craziness? I just do it in small steps. If I know there is a new game tutorial I want to do, I make sure to research the methods while I am listening to latest TV show or news on TV. If I am writing a blog article, I do it while I wait for my dinner to cook.

The more tasks you can do simultaneously, the better off you will be in terms of getting more stuff done. The only time you may want to do things sequentially or in order is when you want to devote 100% of your attention at the task at hand.

If you are at work, if you spend 100% of your time during a two hour block to get all your emails done, you will do better than if you take a break and answer a few phone calls.

How about you? What kind of multitasking activities do you normally find yourself doing? How do you manage it all? Tell us, and maybe we too can laern! 🙂

Dear PIPA and ACTA, I Hate You

Piracy is an enormous problem, without a doubt. So I’m just going to jump into things right off the bat and begin by stating something that I haven’t heard anyone say so far regarding PIPA and ACTA: There are numerous other problems that are exponentially worse. Sure, piracy is a crime, but if it gets “omitted,” will that change the world for the better? I can, off of the top of my head, dish out a list of better causes that drops to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

1. Solve world hunger

2. Shelter the homeless

3. Solve global warming issues

4. Stop aids

5. Stop breast cancer

6. Stop any disease

7. Increase literacy rates

8. Stop oil starvation

9. Population control

10. Solve poor/rich distribution of wealth

This, I will not deceive you, is a list conjured from a pile of rubbish I thought up in thirty seconds. Although all of the above can be debated widely, the point is nonetheless clear: THERE ARE NUMEROUS AMOUNTS OF GREATER PROBLEMS THAN PIRACY!

Now, let me begin with the comparisons. There is a vast array of countries that prohibit piracy, and America is one of them (obviously). Now, my question to you, the reader, is “what is the only major country that piracy is not frowned upon?” Allow me to give you a hint or two: It’s a world superpower, it’s located in Asia, and over 95% of the goods sold in America derive from there. That’s right, you’ve guessed it! China!

Amazingly, real copies of things are harder to find than burnt ones! If one were to walk into a video store and attempt to browse their selection, you could find any movie without a doubt. Why? Because everything is burned, my good friend! Every movie you could possibly imagine, burned on a previously blank DVD that is now titled with a sharpie. Same goes for video games, programs, and just about any other form of data. What’s more amazing is that if the price is put into equivalent of the United States economy, the average movie would only cost you a whopping fifty cents! That’s right, the latest and greatest for only half of a dollar. Prices vary depending on how big the file is and how difficult it was to burn; still, the most expensive piece of data (if applied to our economy, once again) would be no more than five dollars.

Now, could you even possibly imagine how excellent it would be if you were only asked to dish out fifty cents for the newest blockbuster hit? Well I’d say that you don’t need to pirate whatsoever, because data doesn’t cost ridiculous amounts. Doesn’t it chafe you at least the tiniest bit knowing that a Chinese citizen only spends eight minutes out of his minimum-wage paycheck to purchase the newest release while you work for three plus hours to buy the “original” copy of that same exact movie? I assume it does. And the list doesn’t end there! Xbox 360 games, PS3 games, PC games, all programs, operating systems, and just about anything else you can imagine, all for under five dollars.

China, considered to be one of the most communist and controlled countries on Earth, condones piracy while America, said to be one of the freest and most prosperous countries in the world, does not? My fellow reader, if there is one thing I ask of you it is that you at least consider the possibility of betrayal by the American system and that you will also consider making a stand for yourself.

Long live free-world.

Saying vs. Doing

When everything is boiled down to its simplest form, there are only two types of personas in this world, the talkers and the doers. The main trait that separates the two is simply, talking vs. doing. A talker is one that uncontrollably works up emotions and says he will do something or go somewhere and never acts upon it. It’s a personal empire systemically built upon lies on top of lies; a non-conclusionary set of mental gears that the user believes in every time, even after failure. The doer is one that takes explorative action upon his dreams and is often spontaneous. The talker fables about what he will do, the does speaks of what he has already done.

Speaking from experience, I know that there are some people that always speak of greatness, and never try to achieve it. It’s something that is probably that is most likely deeply rooted, and goes further than just being called a confidence issue.

There is a girl I know, and she always says what she will do, and how amazing and wonderful it will be when she does this thing. Being as observative as I am, I’ve noticed that every single thing she’s spoken of accomplishing has remained just that: words, and nothing more.

We were all about the same age, and we were all high school graduates heading into college; she said, with complete confidence, that she will be going to Western Michigan University (it’s a very prestigious college, for those of you who don’t know), but she never went. Then she mentioned taking a vacation and going to England, but she could never save her money, even though she makes so much money and has very little expenses. She has been saying she will move out for nearly a year, but never has. There are so many more examples such as these, which come from all sorts of people, not just her.

The point here being that even though it is clearly obvious that with a bit of commitment, she could’ve easily taken a vacation, got her license, moved out, or anything else she desired. All it takes is even the smallest bit of commitment. Why is it so difficult for a person to simply put some time and effort towards something they’ve wanted to accomplish for a long time? Aren’t we all supposed to chase our dreams, not let them sit?

That’s what life is all about, really. We must face the terrible fact that most of us will never be rich, or become movie stars, so we definitely ought to work with what we already wield, what we possess. Sure, something like moving out might not seem like a big deal, neither might taking a vacation. But, for the smaller people, the little things are what count the most. Each little thing, every tiny experience, it all adds up and molds together like pieces of a puzzle to form a complete picture; that picture is one’s life, and each small experience is a piece.

Remember to never take anything for granted; every experience is a treasure. Also, work on being a doer, not a sayer. You can accomplish anything you set your mind on, and you should take any opportunity that comes to you. Love who you are and be thankful for being able to accomplish everything you’ve ever wanted.

There’s Nothing Like The First

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that had a truly deep effect on you? I’m sure everyone has, and I’m also sure that everyone says the same thing to themselves after reading or viewing it: “I wish I could be experiencing this for the first time again.”

We, as people, feel attached to feelings and experiences over anything else. You watch your favorite movie, and the one thing you’d want more than anything is to watch it again for the first time. It’s clearly logical that you can only watch something once for the first time. It’s a sad truth.

My favorite movie is Fight Club, and every single time I watch it, I wish I could be watching it for the first time. If you’ve ever repeated something that you’ve enjoyed, you desperately wish that you were experiencing it from the very beginning. And although there is no possible way to make it like the primaries and remembering it, there are some actions to take so that what you’ve done lasts a lifetime.

Remembrance. Don’t forget what it felt like by making some form of personal goals, beliefs, or life lessons that you’ve set or gained from your specific encounter. With Fight Club, for example, there are many quotes and dogmas that I take into account when I go about my daily routines, my normal life. Let what you have gained from your experience change you for better or for worse, because you might regret it if you don’t.

Let’s not forget about basic life experiences, though. Often times, we observe something that is nature at its most random, and will most likely never occur again before your eyes or ears. It can be anything from a god coming down from the heavens and talking to you, or something as simple as an eagle diving down and snatching a squirrel in your presence.

Although I highly doubt anyone has seen a god, that is of minimal importance. What is relevant is whether the observer truly believes that he was lying in his god’s presence and what sort of impact it had on him. From this, he may gain certain principles and opinions that will most likely shape the rest of his life according to what had happened to him; same goes for the smaller stuff. Just as well with the eagle snatching the squirrel, one may expand this minimal observation and press certain ideologies to his life. He might say, “The world might be more vicious than I thought;” In correlation, it might confirm certain speculations involving previous encounters: “The world is vicious, just like I guessed before.”

Every little thing that one does can have the biggest impact on him. It’s all about perception—the way one sees things. Each thing can simply be defined by how it appears or what it obviously means, or that same thing can have a deep philosophical meaning to which one can learn a life lesson from. It’s a big world, even in its tiniest specs.

What Makes People Unique

Well, to start things off with a little fact: Humans and dolphins are the only two animals that have sex for pleasure. This doesn’t mean that other animals don’t get pleasure from it; it just means they don’t start it for pleasure. It’s for reproduction. And to add to this newfound knowledge, no animal goes and does it after it has experienced it because it’s pleasurable. Just putting it out there.

I think that this one’s pretty obvious; it’s our brains. Put a man and a tiger in a cage together and surely the tiger would win through sheer force. But give a man a knife while he’s in a cage with that tiger and he might win that fight. Now give him a machete. A gun. A tank? You get the point.

Even our knowledge of using basic tools and simple machines is what puts a person at the top of a food chain. What we lack for in strength, speed, vigor, etc, we make up with our minds. Instead of running around chasing a rabbit for six hours a day to get our meal, we invented a car, which lets us go faster than any living creature. Instead of punching the same rabbit to death after all that running, we invented arrows and guns so we can simply shoot it and. And so on and so forth.

It doesn’t matter how far you trace human history back to, because we’ve all evolved the same way, regardless of where we may lie. Thousands of years ago, when continents had no contact with one another, each and every culture evolved some sort of weapon, armor, and trap. The Chinese invented gun powder and other things that went on from that. The Europeans invented the sword, which became the strength of leading armies across the globe. Even Native Americans invented bows.

A long time ago, many ideas became developed as tools to our advantage. Giving someone something for something else became known as trading, or bartering. Bird calls became signals for stealth and human evasion. There’re hundreds, if not thousands, of examples such as these. The possibilities are endless.

But although man may possess an infinite pool of creativity, he also comprises a head filled with negativity, and hands to put it into physical form. For the specifics of the topic- putting that into simpler words: For every weapon that exists, a defense is brought to the table to match, and vice versa. Swords to shields, gun to bulletproof glass/vests; even nuclear warfare has an opposite (nuclear bomb shelters).

The evolution of whatever we were before, to man is the worst thing that could’ve possibly happened to Mother Nature, ever. Why do I make such outlandish statements, you ask? Well, because it’s true. We’ve caused global warming, chopped down too much greenery, completely derailed the natural ecosystem, and worst of all, we were the ones who created nuclear arms. I hope now you see (maybe even a tiny bit) why I think humans are heinous.

To sum this article as a whole in a nutshell, “Man possesses good and bad qualities, but most of them are bad.” But who am I to argue, I’m sure as hell never going to live in the woods and get killed by bears because I believe in natural predatorism and think that the world should be about survival of the fittest. To be honest, I’m the complete opposite of that! But I did feel the need to dish the facts out, make others conscious of whom they may be. So just make sure you know that every day that you drive your car, every day that you work, and every day that you embrace the title of “Human,” you are destroying everything that this earth has and keeping it for yourself. But why would you care, you’re greedy from nature!

Debatable Subjects You Shouldn’t Stick Your Nose In

Abortion

Everyone has their opinions about abortion; it’s a touchy subject. But nonetheless, it is a subject that most people would not like for others to get involved in, speaking of those that are going through with the procedure. If I were a female that was getting the procedure done, I’d already feel bad about it. I wouldn’t need any protesters there, telling me that abortion is bad. My day is a horrid one as it is without you screaming like a lunatic outside of the abortion clinic.

Life’s Possibilities are Endless

What you can do to escape, to look outside of your personal bubble, your BOX.

We all have hopes, dreams; wishes for us to advance onward. It is in our nature to want things, to set goals for the future. So why do we, as a society find it necessary to accept our lives the way they are? Well because we are tricked, the concept of illusion.

We, as people, always feel the immeasurable need to be of use, to have a place, a purpose. We look around at what society has to offer, then at ourselves; we compare the two and see how we can fit in more perfectly than a puzzle piece. No person wants to feel useless, no matter how much he/she says he/she doesn’t care. Knowing this, we might also recognize that most people lie to themselves, so that they can derail from the truth, in search of false existences.

So, to answer the thousand-year-old question, “Why do we accept our lives the way they are?” Well, it’s quite simple, actually. It all has to do with the goals we set. Every person these days has a goal in mind that already has competition – Journalists, authors, college attendants, sports stars, presidents, etc. We are all fooled into believing that there is only one hat in which all of the possibilities already present, and you only get to pick one. In true nature, respectively, the possibilities are endless.

Freedom, especially in this day and age, is an illusion. How so? Life and everyone around it say that you are free to choose, but it isn’t freedom at all if you are stuck with the options only society offers you. Once you put your hand in that hat, you’ve already started stumbling in the wrong direction. The trick here is that there are many hats, and you can mix and match, grab as many as you desire.

Instead of having just one thing to fuel you, have multiple things. You are not limited to one choice. For example, the members of the rock band Disturbed all met in Harvard, they were planning to be lawyers; now, they are one of the most well-recognized rock bands in recent times, but they are still lawyers.

Life sometimes sprouts opportunities right before your very eyes, don’t ignore them, not even the small ones. But I suppose I shouldn’t tell you to wait, because waiting will get you nowhere without luck. You have to individually go out there, against the world, and find what you’re looking for, even if you have no clue as to what it may yet be. Keep an open mind, because the simplest idea, event, or occurrence could land you into life-altering dilemmas.

Things to look out for:

• Randomness
• Interests
• PEOPLE (most important of all)
• Whatever your mind may dream up

Life sometimes presents things in the strangest ways, don’t let them slip by or take them for granted.

Honesty is the Key to Everything

What is honesty? Well here’re the dictionary definitions:

1. The quality or fact of being honest; uprightness and fairness.

2. Truthfulness, sincerity, or frankness.

3. Freedom from deceit or fraud.

Those are the ways we would define it in an essay, or even a speech; but I am not here to BS you and create a false sense of security; I am going to be as blunt as possible.

There is no possible way in HELL that I’m referring to either of those fine definitions; I’m talking about the one that we repel most often: our own. We choose to seclude ourselves form the outside world without actually confining ourselves. It is as if we want to live two lives at once; there’s the honest side, and then there’s the “honest” side. You all know what I’m talking about. Truthfully enough, the only person you’re lying to is yourself.

The kind of person I’m associating to is the one that A) Lies for no apparent reason or B) Lies to him/herself to elude the elementary fact that he/she doesn’t have such a grand life. Although very different, they are both only hurting the individual at hand, and ruining his/her life.

Type A lying is, considered by many, a disorder. For some reason, they spark their own lives with daring adventures and meteoric facts that do nothing but give one measly moment of glory which will be forgotten once that second ticks. There is no benefit gained from it; in the long run, it will probably only cause social disbelief in the subject, and he/she will not be trusted. ‘Side effects may include: Loss of friends, disbelief of everyone around you, and crying. Using just a bit of logic, these “exquisite” liars are easy to spot. When you call him/her a liar right to his/her face, be sure to expect a negative reaction. Hey, it’s not your fault that you don’t believe that trip to the store turned into a dragon slaughtering, or witch burning, or whatever kids do these days! In all seriousness though, lying to oneself is just another way to create a false sphere for people around you; another way of getting pity from others. They just want others to feel sorry for them and their more-than-perfect lives. It’s a sort of transition to a new, falsified life, to relish the audience with majestic stories; nothing more.

I feel like I’m diversifying to blood types, but type B are the ones that lie to themselves to create a false reality. It is a scrutinizing process upon oneself to believe in his/her own lies. A mental battle, in a sense, that is fought down to tears sometimes. It is the brain’s reaction, for some, as an alternative to suicide, or just an excuse for being plain lazy and not WANTING to change the life of oneself. This form of lying is, by far, the most pathetic thing people can do to themselves. I mean, what are we living in alternate realities or something?! ‘Enter… THE MATRIX! Where your whole world is a lie!’ It’s more sad than anything.

Lying to others and lying to oneself are two completely different stories. Type B liars, from my perspective, are much worse than type A. Why so? Well because type A liars can always find new people and start out fresh, while type B lie so frequently that, after a while, those persons actually start believing their false preachments. Either way you look at it though, lying is just awful.

If you’re honest you won’t have any problems, I guarantee it! Sure sometimes it’s difficult to confess, but you will feel amazing about it afterwards. You shouldn’t have to live in a world of lies, and you shouldn’t have to fear what others think. Tell them the god-honest truth, and if they don’t like it, then obviously they’re not your kind of people. Honesty fills a person with pride, knowing that he/she doesn’t have anything to hide. One lie leads to another, and another, and so on and so forth. Even white lies you shouldn’t have to tell, because you still have to live with your guilty conscience. Honesty is the key to everything, no doubt about it!

How to Find Inspiration

Many times, whether it’s writer’s block or just blank thoughts, we can’t find any descent forms of inspiration. Simply, nothing comes to mind and you find yourself unable to put pen to paper, or digits to keyboard, or to click a simple button on a camera. Whatever your artistic interests may be, there are a few key places that a person can look. These places, when searched systematically, have endless pools of fresh ideas; an eternal stream of data, just waiting for someone to transform it into magic.

Family and Friends

When we are depressed, we often go to one (if not both) of the two sources and ask for help and advice. Well, inspiration can work the same way. They don’t have to be noted of it; just behave like you would generally, but examine yourself and the world around you more thoroughly and remember what or how you feel. Normally, you would think nothing of it, because family is SUPPOSED to make you feel safe and secure, and friends are SUPPOSED to make you feel excited and cheerful. In these harsh times though, where the cost of inspiration is skyrocketing through the roof, you can use everyday experiences and people, such as your family and friends, to give you the boost you desire.

Nature

Sun: the natural light bulb. Wind: the natural air conditioner. Earth: the natural home. Without knowing it, we have isolated ourselves from most of the outside world. It might not feel that way because we have the freedom to decide to stay in or go out, but needless to say, we choose the less intelligent one. Writers read much off of the internet and photographers look for photos on the internet for one MAIN reason: to hijack ideas and transform them into their own. A little thesaurus or Photoshop, and half an hour later you have a perfectly “creative and exclusive” piece of work. It’s not a crime to get thoughts from similar thoughts, but it might be better to start somewhere else first. Nature leads us to find amazing landscapes, marvelous creatures, and an infinite amount of inspiration. The trees, the sun, the moon, wildlife, etc. There are unfathomable amounts of dreams just waiting to become reality.

Music

From good to bad, music is in a category all on its own. Without a doubt, music can bring us from the most unearthly hellish slums, to pure enjoyment and ecstasy. The moment you press play, you can feel enlightenment travel through those headphones, through the air. It tweaks your brain, making you take notice to things that seemed unreal or impossible before. It isn’t a scattered form of art, but more a language. It is a form of energy, and you are the converter. It builds up inside you, until you are full, then it seeps through, exiting your body in form of words or images. You are borrowing its power to make power of your own. It has the capability to make a person with a metal leg run a marathon; it can influence a town, city, state, country, or even the world! Its capabilities are limitless, all you have to do is put them together.

Site for photographers: http://www.alphacoders.com/

Positively inspirational artists: AC/DC, Aerosmith, Beatles, Bob Marley, Guns N’ Roses, Heartless Bastards, Joy Division, Interpol, Killers, Led Zeppelin, MGMT, Rolling Stones, Utada Hikaru, White Stripes, etc.

How to Overcome All Fears

Understanding Fear

Clearly put, most fear is created by your own mind, and in most cases is harmless. Understanding is the key to solving life’s problems (such as fear). One way to beat what you’re afraid of is by using this little thing that most of us are gifted with: logic. We use logic to solve our everyday problems, so why can’t it work for this? Use logical knowledge to outsmart your fear. Take the dark for example; many are afraid of the darkness, but we clearly understand that it is simply the daytime without light.

Try to find out why you’re afraid of what you’re afraid of. Your journey could lead you to discover that what you’re afraid of isn’t so frightening after all.

Overcoming Fear

Most of it is just a psychological game; if you can dig deep within your mind, you will surely discover the root of your horrors. It can only scare you as much as you let it. Keep your mentality strong and you will surely overcome the dreadful situation you are in.

The best thing about conquering your fear is that it may eliminate other fears. For example, riding a roller coaster could ultimately erase your fears of roller coasters AND heights. Hit two birds with one stone. There are also questions that can mentally stabilize you such as, “What’s the worst that can happen?” or “Can it really harm me in any way?” More times than others, facing your fears head-on is the most resilient solution, and the quickest.

Don’t Forget:

– Fear stops success

– Face your fears head-on

– Most fear is psychological, and unable to harm you

– Understand your fears before you act upon them

And don’t forget to smile!