Mohit Tater's Blog, page 584

Work Stress: How It Affects You, And the Best Way to Handle It

We’ve
all had moments of stress. Stress comes in when you have a deadline to meet, a
presentation to make, or when you are up to your neck in unfinished paperwork.
During these times, you notice an increase in alertness, an increase in your
heart rate and faster breathing. These are all common representations of
stressors. However, we fail to realize that stress comes in many forms.
Something as simple as deciding where to order lunch or what color of shoes to
wear to work are also stressors in their own way.

The construction industry is a highly stressful environment. There are many times that construction does not go as planned, payments can be delayed or the project may be falling behind on the timeline. All of these factors and more you can actually track on a good construction RFI software.

Acute and Chronic Stress

There
are two types of stress that we can encounter: acute and chronic. Acute stress
occurs and resolves quickly. It is your body at work reacting to your
primordial fight or flight response. An example would be pitching a
presentation in front of a crowd or getting in an argument with a co-worker.
This response also occurs when you’re doing something exciting such as
skydiving or simply watching a horror movie. On the other hand, chronic stress
occurs for long periods of time, sometimes spanning weeks or months. Your body
usually finds ways to adapt to chronic stress and helps you adapt. It is during
times that we can no longer respond well that our body goes into a state of disequilibrium,
also known as a state of distress. Here, we break down how chronic stress can
affect you and how you can handle it.

Forgetfulness

The
over secretion of the stress hormone, cortisol, may lead to impairment of some
parts of the brain responsible for long-term memory formation. When you’re
stressed you may find it hard to remember the little things such as where you
placed your keys. At times of extreme stress, you will also find it hard to
recall important information.

What to
do:

If
you find yourself fussing over where you placed your things, make it’s a habit
to keep your work station organized. Working in construction is a highly
stressful occupation in itself, don’t add to the troubles by leaving a
cluttered desk where even the smallest task of finding a stapler can cause you
additional stress.

Fatigue

Chronic
stress can leave you always feeling tired and drained of energy. Fatigue may be
a feeling of physical tiredness or emotional burn-out. Sometimes it can be a
combination of both. Fatigue can also be a sign of a more serious consequence
of stress- depression. Due to the high-stress nature of the construction industry,
there is an increasing rate of suicide related to depression among construction
workers.

What to
do:

Combat fatigue through regular exercise. Try to make time for a short exercise every day. If this is not possible, get some exercise by trying to incorporate exercise in your daily routine. Walk to work, if it’s feasible. Stretch at your desk, or maybe take the stairs instead of taking the lift. Exercise releases endorphins, the happy hormones, and this helps to combat the effects of cortisol in your body.

Irritability

If
you find yourself flinching at the smallest of things in the office, this may
be a sign that you’re under stress. This builds an unwarranted amount of
tension in the office that can also cause stress in other workers. If you find
yourself quick to anger, maybe this is a sign that you have to take a breather.

What to
do:

Don’t
be quick to act on your anger. Sometimes, you may need to remove yourself from
the stressful situation and take time to think so that you can make better
decisions. If you feel that the tension is building up in a situation, excuse
yourself and try to compose your thoughts. Try to always be the better person
in the situation and try not to contribute any additional stress in the
workplace.

Palpitations

Due
to an increase in cortisol levels, your fight or flight response is marked by
an increase in heart rate. This is your body trying to prepare you for a
stressful event. People under stress find themselves experiencing palpitations
even at rest. This may be a sign of a more serious condition that requires
medical attention.

What to
do:

If
you find yourself experiencing palpitations, you should seek to consult with a
medical professional. For the meantime, you should also try to avoid taking
stimulants such as coffee. Also, try to cut back or totally eliminate smoking
if you’re a smoker.

The post Work Stress: How It Affects You, And the Best Way to Handle It appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

3 Tips to Snap Impressive Product Photos for a Startup on a Tight Budget

As a startup you’re definitely going to
need lots of product photos, but you may not have the budget to hire a
professional photographer every time you need new images. However at the same
time trying to snap the photos that you need yourself may not produce results
that are nearly as impressive as you hoped.

If you want to up your game and start
capturing more impressive product photos without stretching your budget, there
are a few tips that could make a significant difference:

Use softened natural light

If you’re on a
budget and don’t want to invest in lighting, you can simply use natural light
instead. However you should take steps to diffuse it so that it is soft and
doesn’t cast any hard shadows.

One option is to
find a large open window and then place a cloth or white paper over it. It
should let light through, but diffuse it so that it doesn’t cast a shadow.

Of course if you want you could use other types of lighting, and for example you could build your own softbox while spending next to nothing.

DIY a chair-mounted sweep

In most cases
you will want to snap your product photos against a plain white background that
looks seamless. That normally requires a sweep – and you can quite easily build
one of your own.

All that you
need is a chair, a roll of craft paper and a few clips or pegs. The craft paper
should be clipped to the top of the chair and then allowed to fall over it
seamlessly.

One of the
advantages of a chair-mounted sweep is that its portable, so you can move it
next to your window if you want to use natural light.

Invest in a tripod

The one piece of
equipment that you should invest in is a tripod. Getting a tripod will let you
fine tune the angle that you are photographing your products, and then capture
multiple images from that same angle while swapping in new products as well.

Overall it will
save you a lot of time and effort – and on top of that it will ensure that your
camera is kept still, which will help improve the quality of your photos as
well.

Keep in mind that you don’t need an expensive tripod, and you should look up ways to choose the right tripod if you aren’t sure what you need.

Needless to say it helps if you know a bit about post production so that you can adjust the white balance, crop, and make other alterations after you’re done. On top of that learning how to watermark photos can help as well, so that they don’t end up being ripped off by others.

It should be noted that even with the tips above it will take some practice for you to capture truly impressive product photos for your startup. That being said you should be off to a great start – with good lighting, a nice seamless background, and the ability to capture multiple high quality photos.

The post 3 Tips to Snap Impressive Product Photos for a Startup on a Tight Budget appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

5 Tips for Setting Up Your First Retail Space

Setting up your first
retail space is an exciting and exhilarating time. There seems to be an endless
list of items on your to-do list, but you know that at the end, there’s a
substantial reward; a commerce place to call your own.

There are several important
decisions that need to be made. When a customer walks into your store, they’ll
look around and make multiple first impression decisions within seconds. This
doesn’t mean you have to pour a substantial amount of money into making things
perfect. It does, however, mean you need to put a substantial amount of thought
into all the pre-grand opening choices. Even with a small budget, you can
fulfill your store’s potential with careful planning and consideration.

Incorporate
Nature

Adding green to your retail space can quite literally breathe life into it. Not only is this a great decor option to consider, but studies have shown that incorporating nature into a retail environment can actually increase value perception. The reason? Biophilia. Biophilia is a human’s innate attraction towards nature. This concept has been studied and recognized for several decades. As a result, biophilic design has been used in retail spaces to showcase commitment to green living and nature. Simply put, biophilic design elements provide healthy returns. According to one study, retail customers believe that businesses that incorporate nature believe the prices are worthy of being up to 25% higher.

Think
About Music

You may not realize it, but most retail locations are playing music in their spaces. Although barely recognizable, there’s a reason for this. Music enhances the retail experience—if you walk into a completely silent store, you might find yourself feeling a bit uncomfortable. One study found that, on average, 4 out of 5 retailers believe that if they stopped playing music in their stores, it would negatively impact them.

There are several
reasons you should curate a playlist. One of the biggest reasons is that it
allows you to show off your brand’s aesthetic. Are you laid-back and care-free?
Upbeat and fun? Mellow and calming? Putting together the right playlist helps
create the mood that you want your brand to convey.

Pay
Attention to the Layout

Every decision you make for your retail location should be a strategic one. Your layout is critical. A well-planned floor plan helps ensure the flow of traffic is manageable, and that you can highlight your most important features. You want all your products to get maximum exposure; hiding them behind decor can make them get lost in the shuffle. And whether you realize it or not, there’s a bit of psychology behind the floorplans at major retail stores, and you can learn plenty from them. Take a careful walk through your nearest Target department store, for example, and pay attention to how items are displayed.

Paint
An Accent Wall

A store’s layout isn’t
the only area that’s backed by psychology. Multiple studies have confirmed the
various roles that color affects our minds and thought processes. Our brains
have become hot-wired to respond to different colors in different ways, as
colors evoke emotions and signals.

“Color psychology perhaps explains why people are allegedly more relaxed in a green room and why weightlifters perform better in blue gyms,” says Retail Customer Experience. “It’s certainly the reason why some paint manufacturers now have color cards setting out the therapeutic aspects of each color, and why some cosmetic companies have introduced ‘color therapy’ ranges.”

One way to hone in on
this is by creating an accent wall that’s painted a specific color. This
colored accent wall will naturally draw eyes towards it. It can also make a
space feel bigger than it actually is. And it doesn’t have to be paint: have
fun with different patterns, textures, and wallpapers.

Don’t
Forget About the Small Details

In retail, the small
details make a huge difference. It’s easy to become a bit wrapped up in the fun
stuff: incorporating funky colors, making playlists, and picking the perfect
plants for a nature wall. But there are other maintenance tasks that matter,
too.

“One area you really don’t want to skimp out on in retail is plumbing,” says Fix It Right Plumbing in Frankston. “While it’s not a glamourous as some other areas of retail development, it’s necessary. A bad plumbing issue can be prevented through early maintenance; if something goes wrong during operating hours, it could force you to temporarily shut down, hurting your revenue and bottom line.

With that in mind, you
should also double check that the wiring and electrical systems are all up to
par and up to code.

The post 5 Tips for Setting Up Your First Retail Space appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

7 Tips in Visual Content Marketing for Maximum Results

Visuals can play
an important role in your content marketing strategy to increase your website’s
visibility. You can use visual content strategies to get more clicks, traffic,
and conversion. Image and video can easily grab and hold the attention of your
potential buyers. In fact, contents with images get more shares, engagements,
and likes than texts on social media platforms. Our brain only takes one to ten
seconds to understand visuals. But if you read 200 words, it will take around
sixty seconds. You can also go through the following statistics to know why
visual content marketing is important for the success of your website.

•  Images can get around 47% higher
click-through rates

•   Visuals can be remembered 6x better than
texts

•  Visual storytelling with relevant images get
94% more views than content

•  Videos are able to generate around 80% more
conversation

•  Tweets with images get 150% more retweets and
18% more clicks than tweets without images

•  Facebook post with visuals receive 3.2x more
engagement than posts without images

•  LinkedIn posts with visuals receive around
98% higher comments

Tips for Visual Content Marketing

Visual elements
have become an integral part of content creation. Every product or service
should create visual contents in their posts to get the desired exposure. You
can consider the following tips for data visualization and create user
generated content by adding visuals with different types of content. Visual
content marketing was popular in 2017 and 2018 and it has started getting more
appreciation in 2019.

1. 
Easy to Understand Visuals

While choosing visuals, make sure these are relevant to your contents. You can create content to complement your videos. Videos should add value to your contents and should convey the message in a simple and impressive manner. Images can be the ideal storyteller if added properly. You can add a funny meme, emotional photo, or documentary to express your contents in the best possible manner.

2. 
Different Image Types & Formats

While adding a
video or image to a piece of content, you should always make sure that it
supports your content and adds value to it. For example:

•  Create photos of your service and use
contents to explain your objective in a simple manner

•  Make graphs of the statistics, and processes

•  Add screenshots to ensure easy understanding
of the process

•  Use a compelling infographic to summarize the
most important points and statistics

•   Create a visual summary

There are many
ways to add videos. You just need to choose the most appropriate way to make
more convincing.

3. 
Understanding Copyright Laws

You should know
that all the visuals are protected by copyrights. If you share them
unknowingly, you will be subjected to copyright infringement. You might have to
pay costly penalties for using illegal images. There is also the possibility of
legal trouble. The principle is simple. If you have made the video, the
copyright will be with you only. If you have taken it from other sources, you
will need writing permission or license to use that video or image.

4. 
SEO Optimization

Visual search has
increased by over 27%. Search engines have a better understanding of visual
contents and that results in better exposure. If you optimize your videos and
images with your keywords, search engines will find your website worth showing
for top visual search results. The description and keywords need to be relevant
to the visual contents to boost internet traffic to your website. Also, you can
consider including ALT attribute to explain your images with suitable keywords
and description.

5. 
Add Social Media Buttons

Make sure that
you are adding social media buttons to your visual media. If you add social
media buttons to your blog post and website, you can easily get the desired
internet traffic with better exposure. This can be very effective for shareable
images, graphics, and infographics. These buttons will enable your followers
and visitors to share your images with one click.

6. 
Share Across Social Media Channels

Social media
cross-promotion can offer better visibility for your contents. When there are
multiple pages for your contents, these images can be shared widely. However,
you need to choose the best image sizes for different networks to get the
desired benefits.

7. 
Use Link Post and Image Post Format

While sharing
blogs and any other content, use the link to the post. If your content contains
a number of images and videos, then use all of them to reshare content. The
combination of link post and image post can create more variation and a
trustworthy environment.

Choose Rapid Essay

These simple visual content strategies can help to boost internet traffic and can secure your place in your industry as well. However, if you find it hard to create the right content for your visuals, you can consider hiring RapidEssay. This online essay writing service is well known for offering high-quality writing when you need service like “write papers for money”. Their professional writers can understand your unique requirements and can produce quality writing depending on your writing demands.

The post 7 Tips in Visual Content Marketing for Maximum Results appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

A Glance at the UK Property Market Post Brexit

With
Brexit now looming just around the corner, the fear of what is going to happen
to the UK’s economy is at the forefront of many people’s minds.

In the midst of the pollical chaos, there is now
much uncertainty about the situation for the UK’s business sector.

Although the political side of Brexit is at an
all-time high for unclarity, it would appear that the UK economy is almost
business as usual, with markets actually seeming to perk up following the
clarity from MPs that the UK would not be leaving the EU without some sort of
trade deal, although it is still unclear as to what this will entail exactly.

As far as property investment is concerned, prices
of property in prime locations such as central London are stabilising but there
are no signs of a property crash.

Property investment
specialist, Jamie Johnson of FJP Investment, says “the Bank of England had been
expected to raise rates and probably would have done if there was more
certainty over Brexit. It has to keep its options open.”

But with China’s falling
GDP, and the continuing battle between China and the US over trade, the UK is
in prime position if and when a deal is secured around Brexit.

Residential
property

There are few concerns currently surrounding the residential property sector. As an island, we have a growing, aging population, with a lack of raw materials and the necessary skills such as bricklayers needed to keep up with the housing demand. This is the driving force in the supply and demand of property investment.

Although we have seen
growth in the residential sector, it is the slowest rate of growth we have seen
for years, partly due to this inherent lack of bricklayers. In January in fact,
house price growth across the UK was 0.1% – the lowest we have seen in six
years.

The reasoning for this, according to the Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors, is the “Brexit dominated new agenda”. Whilst many are shying away from the investing in UK property, amongst new regulations being brought in making HMO property investments particularly challenging, savvy investors are buying up property at a discount.

Commercial
property

We are seeing a ‘levelling off’ in commercial property value, with
Brexit uncertainty dominating the market.

According to estate agent Savills, London’s commercial property
sector received $26.9bn of cross border capital in 2018. However, as the vote
fast approaches, people are shying away from investing in the market.
Investment was down in London 17% year-on-year in the last quarter of 2018 –
with a shallowing pool of investors, the market is suffering.

International investment

Not all investors are viewing Brexit the same way, however. Hong
Kong investors are eyeing the UK market closely, and appear to be making the
move, mostly due to the opportunities currently provided with the UK’s weaker
economy. Total inflows for Q4 2018 were at their highest rate since 2016.

Clearly then, much as we have seen in 2018, the property market is continuing to ‘tread water’. Although there is continued uncertainty in the economy, overseas investors continue to snap up property bargains, helping to maintain some level of demand in the market.

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Five Ways to Enhance Your Brand Image

Image source: PhotoMIX-Company

Is your brand creating a great impression on
your prospective customers?

For a lot of small businesses, the answer to
that is “no”. Maybe your brand is going pretty much unnoticed … or even worse,
it’s putting people off buying from you.

It doesn’t need to cost a lot to put things
right. Here are five simple ways to turn things around:

#1: Use Professional Looking
Signage

If you have premises, however modest, a
professional looking sign will be a great advertisement to prospects … and a
reassuring sign of your competence to existing customers.

Even if you don’t have premises that customers ever visit, signage is still important. When you attend events or trade shows, you’ll want to show your brand to its best effect – which is easy to do on a budget using foam board from nonstopsigns.

#2: Keep Your Website Up to Date

Is the information on your company’s website
outdated or confusing? Perhaps you’ve changed your opening times, for instance,
and they’re listed differently in two different places – or your “About” page
was accurate two years ago but no longer truly reflects what your company does
and who’s involved.

Make sure you update your website with fresh
information regularly – and make sure, too, that everything is working
correctly. If your contact form is broken, or if your site is just hard to
navigate, that’s a lot of potential business you’re missing out on.

#3: Hand Out Promotional Products

Do you have any promotional goodies to hand
out to prospects at events or trade shows? Do you have products that you can
use as a little gift or reward for loyal customers?

Promotional products are an easy-to-overlook form of marketing, but they can really make an impact. You can hand out cheap products like pens at events, and promotional mugs are useful to strengthen relationships with loyal customers (plus they’ll likely get seen by colleagues or family, spreading your brand further).

(If you don’t yet have a website, check out these best practices for creating a website for
your startup.)

#4: Be Responsive on Social Media

Does your brand have social media accounts? Do
you monitor them and respond to customers and prospects – promptly?

Some brands do a great job with social media,
but others tend to have accounts that do nothing but “broadcast”: they promote
the company’s new products or new blog posts, but they don’t respond to
customers who have complaints, or prospects who have questions.

Make sure that you’re available and responsive on social media. This is particularly important if your brand caters to younger users, who’ll expect both a strong social media presence and a high degree of responsiveness.

#5: Create a Google Business
Profile

If your brand doesn’t already have a Business
Profile on Google, you’re definitely missing out. This is especially true if
you’ve got a local business (like a restaurant or estate agent).

It only takes a few minutes to set up a
Business Profile on Google – and it will appear not only in searches but also
on Google Maps. So if you’re a restaurant owner and someone nearby searches for
“restaurants near me”, yours will show up – complete with information about
opening hours, a link to your website, and more.

Enhancing your brand image doesn’t need to
involve spending lots of money on consultants or paying for glossy leaflets
that you’ll never use. Instead, think about the things that would really make
an impact on your prospects and customers. You want to win people’s loyalty,
and that means showcasing a brand that they’ll be glad to buy from.

The post Five Ways to Enhance Your Brand Image appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

7 Points of Consideration when Car Shopping

Are you in the market for a new set of
wheels? Shopping around for cars is incredibly exciting! You click your way
through online inventories and imagine yourself whipping down the highway with
300 horsepower and impressive torque beneath the hood. Or maybe, while you’re
browsing, you try to envision your family of five comfortably buckled in on a
road trip heading towards your family vacation—with all the kids (silently)
enjoying the rear LED screens, rather than fighting for control of the radio
and kicking the back of your chair in the cramped cabin.

Yes, purchasing the right car can dramatically improve your quality of life. The trick is knowing which features you’re looking for in your new vehicle that match up with your lifestyle. High-performance speed and handling might matter more to one shopper while 5-star safety ratings and 3rd row seating might be more important to someone else.

Not sure how to narrow down your search
parameters? We have some advice that can help. You (probably) won’t be able to
find all these features wrapped up into one car unless you have a sky-high
budget, so evaluate what’s at the top of your priority list.

Safety

It doesn’t matter if you’re the Fast and the Furious stunt man or the soccer mom in charge of morning carpool; no matter what, the safety rating on your vehicle should be priority number one. Some makes and models are notoriously dangerous and should never be driven, no matter what (here’s looking at you, Porsche 911 and Ford Pinto). On the other half of the spectrum, are the top safety rated cars equipped with state-of-the-art security features such as:

Adaptive Cruise ControlAutomatic
Emergency BreakingLane Departure WarningBlind Spot DetectionRear-view CameraSide-panel Air Bags



Speed

There’s no denying that many shoppers test
drive a car just to see how it takes turns, shifts gears, and accelerates from
0 to 60 mph.  Drivers looking for a
powerful engine know they’ll probably have to shell out a pretty penny for such
high-speed performance, but that doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy a W16
Bugatti Chiron to experience that sort of white-knuckled adrenaline. You can
find plenty of punch in as little at 2 cylinders, as seen in the 0.9-Liter Fiat
500.

Insurance

Take your car’s safety aspects, compare
them against the car’s make, and you’ll get a small idea how much your insurance
premium might cost. Generally speaking, safer cars are cheaper to
insure than riskier hot rockets, but other factors that will determine your
cost include:

Profession and nature of car usageLocation of car ownerCredit scoreType of Coverage




Economy

When thinking about monthly insurance costs, don’t forget about another automotive expense that’ll rack up every month: fuel consumption. If you commute far for work, great gas economy should be high on your priority list. Only driving your car around town? You can probably spare a few MPGs.

Seating and Comfort

3rd row seating is a critical
consideration for large families (or growing families) that need space for all
the kids, their friends, the sports equipment, and maybe a four-legged
passenger as well! Climb in the back and make sure everyone fits
comfortably—three hours into an interstate road trip is not the time to realize the kids feel overly cooped up.

On the note of space and seating, consider
your all-around comfort needs (especially if you foresee plenty
of long-distance drives). Features like seat warmers, dual climate
control, and ergonomic dashboards are all great selling points.

Entertainment

Rear LED screens for your backseat
passengers? Bluetooth connectivity? Built-in Wi-Fi? Crisp surround sound?
You’ll be spending a ton of time in your car going to and fro; make it a little
less miserable with awesome entertainment features that can elevate any
commuting experience.

Price and Depreciation

Your budget should be the top consideration driving your purchasing choice; you never want your new car to bury you in debt. Do some research on used cars by city because prices will be dramatically different. For example, a used Mercedes for sale in Houston might cost significantly less than the same make in Dallas. Buying used helps you combat car depreciation, but you could also consider leasing a car instead of purchasing it outright.

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Reasons to Not Spend More Time on Your Business Plan

Even the thought of
starting a business is daunting. When you finally muster up the courage to take
the first step, test the waters, it is easy to be weighed down by pieces of
advice from all over the place, most of these from people, who have already done
what you set out to do, is logical and helpful but some can pull you under.

One of these is
having a solid, well-detailed business plan. Having a plan is necessary and one
of the crucial steps, everyone agrees on that. What I have a problem with is
the advice that you need to have a solid plan for everything, a market
strategy, product strategy, competitor analysis, financial projections, and all
that comes with it.

This can discourage
someone before they even begin or worse take up all their initial meager
resources into doing this, leading them to drop their plan altogether.

The market is dynamic, your plan is not

When plans are
created, by people who are starting, they are most of the times created in the
moment – taking into account the present scenario or the near future scenario.
The market for businesses is dynamic and changes occur rapidly, the document
becomes useless after a point of time. Sticking to it can be a cause of
failure, so, micro-details won’t be of significant help anyway.

Business Plans take up a lot of time

It’s easier to get lost in creating the perfect document and have as much detail as possible to show possible investors how serious you are, but it doesn’t work that way. The hefty document is most likely going to bore your investors. Spending a lot of energy also makes you somewhat delusional that completing it brings you closer to starting your business. When you finish it, the bubble bursts that you are still where you were with a lengthy proposal that is primarily for yourself.

Never to see the light

It’s easy to think
that you will be going through your plan each morning as soon as you wake up to
always be on track with your vision and be motivated. Think realistically, is
that going to happen? You will do it for maybe a week or two and then it will
be forgotten. Chances are you won’t even open it after you make the final
edits.

As important as
planning is, it is important to know when to step. It is also necessary to
understand that you do not have to have everything figured out to start
something. You don’t need to have a detailed 5-year plan because that doesn’t
account for much in an ever growing and changing environment. Target the major
areas and work out the details as you go because with the ever-changing time you
need to be flexible and so does your business.

The post Reasons to Not Spend More Time on Your Business Plan appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

How to Beat Cravings

Snacking
is the diet plan’s worst enemy. Beat the cravings with these handy tips.

When
food cravings hit, they can be difficult to ignore, especially if the food
you’re craving is something you particularly enjoy. It doesn’t help that more
often than not, the foods we crave are foods that are bad for us, or high in
sugar or saturated fat.

Giving
in to cravings is one of the primary struggles faced by people trying to stick
to a diet plan, either for weight loss or for their health. Here’s how to beat
the cravings for good.

For
a healthy snack option, try boxed.com/product/664/planters-nuts-24-bags-variety-pack.

Drink lots of water.

Thirst
is easily confused with hunger or food cravings. If you’re suddenly craving a
specific food, try drinking a big glass of water instead and see what happens. If
the craving goes away, you know you were just thirsty. Drinking water is also
great for you in general and can reduce appetite and speed up weight loss.

Up your protein intake.

Eating more protein can help you feel fuller for longer, reduce your appetite, and prevent overeating. Eating a high-protein breakfast, in particular, can help fight food cravings throughout the day and reduce the desire to snack mid-morning by up to 60%.

Plan meals.

When
possible, plan your meals in advance. This can be just for a few days or an
entire week. If you know exactly what you’re going to eat and shop accordingly,
you prevent yourself from being able to grab something that may not be the best
choice spontaneously.

Distract yourself.

When
a food craving hits, try to distract yourself from it by doing something else.
Take a shower, go for a walk, and read a book – whatever it takes to take your
mind off what you’re craving. If that still doesn’t work, distract your mouth
with a piece of gum. This has been proven to reduce appetite and get rid of
cravings.

Don’t get hungry.

To
avoid cravings for bad food, keep yourself topped up with good food options,
and avoid getting to the point where you’re so hungry, and all you can think
about is cheese. Eat regularly and keep good snacks close at hand to stop
yourself reaching the point of extreme hunger.

Stay calm.

Stress
can increase food cravings and influence us to eat bad foods. Studies have
shown that people eat significantly more calories, and experience significantly
more cravings when stressed than when their stress levels are normal. Stress
can also increase the levels of cortisol, a hormone that can increase belly
fat. Increased fat around the organs can increase the risk of developing
several diseases. Minimize stress by planning ahead, being mindful of possible
stress factors, and practicing meditation if needed.

Be mindful.

Mindful
eating teaches you to be more aware of your eating habits, emotions, hunger,
physical sensations, and cravings. It helps you to understand what your
triggers for cravings are, which in turn can help you overcome them, and
distinguish cravings from actual hunger. Studies have shown that eating
mindfully can significantly reduce the risk of binge-eating.

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Why is Metatrader 4 Considered as One of Best Forex Trading Platform Worldwide?

Make no mistake; the forex market remains the single biggest financial entity of its type in the world, with an estimated $5.3 trillion dollars traded every single day through this platform.

Much of this trade is now conducted through online
trading plaforms like Oanda and MetaTrader mobile apps, which enable investors
to access the market in real-time and from any conceivable location.

Despite since being superseded, it’s the MetaTrader 4
platform that continues to dominate the market and hold the attention of forex
investors. But why is this the case, and what advantages does the app hold over
the MetaTrader 4?

The
MetaTrader 4 – A Brief History

Since 2002, MetaTrader developers MetaQuotes Software
have released several versions of their mobile trading platforms, with the
fourth iteration having been launched back in 2005.

It was this release that saw the MetaTrader brand become a household name in the financial marketplace, and between 2007 and 2010 a large number of brokers began to offer the MT4 app as an alternative to their own proprietary software.

This was a seismic development, and one that emerged
from the overwhelming popularity of the MT4 among forex traders across the
globe.

This enduring popularity continued even after the
release of the MetaTrader 5 in September 2010, as the MT4 remained the platform
of choice amongst investors. By 2013, the MQL4 Programming language has also
been upgraded, in order to maintain the functionality of the MT4 and its meet
the needs of users.

Why is the
MetaTrader 4 so Popular?

In simple terms, the MetaTrader 4 remains the world’s
most used and popular mobile trading platforms.

As a result, this software is now licensed regularly
to brokers throughout the world, who provide the software to their clients
alongside various auxiliary services and additional technology.

At the heart of the apps appeal is its analytics, with
the MT4 offering a huge range of tools and functions that enable users to
inform their decisions. From online quotes to interactive charts, traders can
use historical and real-time data to respond to price changes and execute
orders in a matter of moments.

There are 30 built-in technical indicators included
with the MT4, and this is deceptively large range that offers targeted value to
investors.

The MT4 was also one of the first apps to introduce
the concept of social trading, which enables you to automatically copy deals
from other investors.

While this idea has since been evolved by other
trading platforms, the MetaTrader 4 enables users to subscribe to specific
signals and instruct their terminal to copy the relevant transactions.

The Last
Word

These excellent features are not enough to explain the
enduring popularity of the MT4, however, especially as the MetaTrader 5 offers
similar and in many cases enhanced alternatives.

In fact, the key factors are arguably the ease-of-use and the familiarity of the MetaTrader 4, which have removed many barriers to the financial market and built up significant loyalty amongst users.

With every passing year, the MetaTrader 4 has become
increasingly revered by traders, and the simple fact remains that many are
loathe to transition from a platform that they love and trust.

The post Why is Metatrader 4 Considered as One of Best Forex Trading Platform Worldwide? appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.