WHY YOU SHOULDN’T GIVE UP

Everyone hits certain points in their lives where they are faced with the option of either battling on, or giving up. It could be that you were running a marathon and all you wanted to do is stop running and sit down by the side of the road, or it could be that you have been chasing a dream that you seem to have been chasing forever. It’s at times that like that, that people have to find a reserve that they never knew they had and find the motivation to struggle on to the finish line. If you ever felt like quitting and you needed a reason to carry on, here are ten very good reasons why you should never give up.

1. The best things in life don’t come easy

The easiest thing in the world would be to sit around and be lazy and not even try to achieve anything, but we all know that the very best things in life are the ones that are difficult to achieve. Whether it’s fighting your way to the top of the ladder in your career, or sticking it out with a long distance relationship; it may not easy, but the rewards will be worth it in the end.

2. You’ll always wonder what could have happened if you’d carried on

If you quit early, you will never know for sure whether or not you could have made it and that will play on your mind for the rest of life. Some things that we set out to achieve, we only get one chance at, so, if you don’t see it through to the end, you may not even get another chance to try.

3. There is no such thing as an instant success

For most people, success in any field of endeavour takes time and perseverance and there will be setbacks along the way. Sportsmen and women have to train hard and they don’t win every race, movie stars have to start at the bottom and sometimes their films flop at the box office. The ones who are at the top of their game are the ones who never gave up.

4. If you quit now, you could be setting a precedent for the future

The problem with quitting is that giving up can become a habit, because you start to believe that you will never be able to succeed at anything. Conversely, that’s also why some people seem to be able to win at everything they put their minds to.  It’s not that they are good at everything; it’s that they never give up and they have got into the habit of winning.

5. Because you may not have quite found the right approach yet

Succeeding is usually a process of trial and error. A chef might change his recipe many times before they hit just the right flavour combination, and as we all know, a politician, might change his point of view many times, before they get enough votes! The trick is that they don’t give up the first time, they change their approach, and then they try again.

6. Just doing “OK” never changes anything

People strive to achieve things because they want to make changes, either to own lives or for the benefit of other people. Giving up may be the easiest option to take and, for a while, you may feel relieved that you quit, but, in the end, you will probably regret that decision because your quitting will mean that all the effort you put in was wasted and you changed nothing.

7. Because the only failure will be that you gave up

If you give everything you have to achieve something and you still don’t quite get the result that you hoped for, you are not a loser, because you did your best. A tiny country might have only one competitor entered in the Olympics with no chance of winning at all, but the world will celebrate that person as a winner, because they persevered and they didn’t quit.

8. The last few miles are always the worst

At the beginning of a race or a project, people are usually all fired up and ready to go, it’s towards the end that they run out of steam, lose interest and they want to give up. The final stretch is always the hardest, but that’s exactly the time that you shouldn’t give up, because you have come so far. See it through to the end and, win or lose, you will be proud that you didn’t quit.

9. You will inspire other people

If not for yourself, then think about the people you could inspire by your not giving up. By carrying on, against the odds, you could inspire your children, your family and friends, and even complete strangers, not to give up on their own struggles.

10. Because you may well regret giving up

One of the biggest incentives not to give up is that you probably regret it if you do. You only get one shot at life, and many chances only come along once, so face the challenges head-on and see them through to the end. If you don’t, you will be forever wondering what could have been had you not given up.

REASONS TO LISTEN TO YOUR INNER VOICE

No doubt you’ve heard people talk to you about an inner voice. But what is it?

There are two voices inside us – one which works for us and one which works against us. The voice which works against us doesn’t have our best interests at heart. It tells us not to do something and keeps us stuck in the same spot. It reminds us that we’re not good enough, and that we have plenty of reasons to be fearful – and not cheerful. It’s loud, brash and super demanding.

Your inner voice is quite different. It’s more restrained and composed. It’s peaceful but has purpose and conviction. And it knows what is best for you. It never doubts, nor does it harness negativity. Instead, it wants to inspire you to be the best you can, pushing you onto greatness and happiness. It doesn’t order but encourages.

For whatever reason, though, many of us choose to ignore our inner voice. This is a big mistake that could be preventing you from unleashing your true potential. Let’s take a closer look at 10 important reasons to listen to your inner voice.

Your Inner Voice Cuts Out The Filler

Your inner voice can help you get straight to the point. What this means is that instead of overthinking things, or over-analysing something, your inner voice is able to cut through the noise and capture exactly how you truly feel about a situation.

The more you listen to your inner voice, the better it will get at cutting out the filler and getting right to the point. In turn, you feel also feel much about about yourself and your ability to make decisions.

Your Inner Voice Protects You

Dangers are everywhere. Whether a stranger has asked to buy you a drink or a storm is starting to brew, we all face choices whether we should stay or run.

Animals listen to their inner voice when it tells them to run out of town before a tsunami strikes. This is because they know their inner voice protects them, and it would be folly to ignore it.

Yours protects you – but only if you listen to it.

Your Inner Voice Eliminates Anxiety

Everyone faces challenges and obstacles in life. Listening to your inner voice will not remove these. What it will eliminate, however, is the anxiety and angst that often accompanies a challenge.

People who listen to their inner voice and let it guide them no longer fret about decisions. They trust that tomorrow will get sorted tomorrow. What happens right now is today.

Your inner voice leads and you follow – not the other way around. Once you start to realise this, anxiety will become a thing of the past.

Your Inner Voice Gets You Out Of Trouble

We’ve all been in situations where something doesn’t feel quite right. Such a situation makes our brain go into overdrive as it begins to wrestle with the problem, trying hard to work out a solution. It tries to get a feel for the reaction it feels you should be having, and tries to find a positive way out of it.

Our inner voice is what we rely on to get ourselves out of these tricky situations, and it can even prevent us from finding ourselves in such positions in the first place. Don’t worry about missing out on something, especially if you felt it was a potentially fishy situation in the first place. Listen to your inner voice and avoid the situation.

Your Inner Voice Shows You Your True Purpose

Fortune really does favour the brave, and the brave are those who listen to their inner voice.

There are other voices talking to you, but they don’t have your best interests at heart. They want you to hang back, stay within your comfort zone and fear life. It doesn’t reveal to you your true purpose in life because the voice itself doesn’t have a purpose.

Your inner voice, however, wants what is best for you. Moreover, it always reveals to you your true purpose – as well as which paths to walk along.

It Will Help You To Learn More About Yourself 

Your inner voice really knows you better than you know yourself. Indeed, how many of us truly know ourselves? When you keep listening to the wrong voice and keep making the wrong decisions, you’ll struggle to ever really know yourself.

The more you listen to your inner voice, the more you will know about yourself. You will discover how to instantly make a key decision without hesitation, as well as smaller decisions without wasting time. You will also grow in confidence and learn to trust yourself more.

Your Inner Voice Is Moral

Remember when you were a kid and did something wrong? You knew you’d messed up and your gut instinct made you confess to your parents and teachers.

This is because your inner voice is moral and will always tell you to do the right thing.

It Will Help You To Be More Comfortable With Yourself

Not all of us will admit to being comfortable with who we are. When we leave the house, we wear masks so that we don’t have to put our true selves on display.

This is often because we are ignoring our inner voice. By engaging and listening to your inner voice on a daily basis, you will find out more about yourself – and will subsequently grow more comfortable in your own skin.

Remember that practice makes perfect, and only by repeatedly listening to your inner voice can you get a better feel for what makes you happy. Listening to the wrong voice constantly leads to wrong decisions which take you further away from yourself, and consequently knock your confidence.

Tune into your inner voice each day and let it guide you. Put your trust in it that it’s going to show you a successful and prosperous life.

Your Inner Voice Saves You Time

Picture the scene: You’ve got a big decision to make, one which is potentially life changing. Your friend has given you the chance to co-found a startup with them, but despite how attractive this is, you’re not sure. So you ask your friend for a bit of time to come to a decision.

Days lapse into weeks and you still can’t make up your mind. This is because you aren’t letting your inner voice be heard.

Your inner voice always know what is right for you. By listening to it and accepting its advice, you save yourself a lot of time.

Your Inner Voice Is Always Right

Put simply, your intuition is never wrong. It might not feel right at the time, but it has your long-term interests at heart.

PREVENT NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUR LIFE AND SELF-ESTEEM

Many of us have been where you are right now, and many of us have struggled to get out of the rabbit hole. Trapped in someone else’s Facebook or Instagram profile, we find ourselves comparing our “petty” lives to their “brilliant” ones. We can get jealous of their partners, their looks, the attention they get from others. To us, they have the perfect life. And it’s ruining our self-esteem.

I know what it’s like. I’ve been there. You beat yourself up when you see a fresh status from someone or a photo that shows them having an amazing time in the sunshine. But it’s important to remember that everything which gets posted on social media is just a snapshot of someone’s life. It isn’t the whole story. It’s an edited version that removes all the worse bits and keeps all the good stuff.

Let’s take a look at how to prevent negative side effects of social media on your life and self-esteem.

Follow Someone Inspiring

There are a lot of fan pages on the Internet. But before you go and follow Afrocandy and Davido compare your life to theirs too, you should instead consider following motivational people whose job is to inspire you.

There are plenty of these types of great people on social media. Each day, they post blogs, videos, photos and even live streams of inspiring, motivating things. Their job is not to make you feel lousy about your own life, but to inspire you to take action and do better.

Remember That You’re Not Seeing The Whole Picture

Granted, your friend might be super happy. But so what? There is enough happiness to go around for everyone!

But remember that you don’t see the full story on social media. Nobody is crazy enough to give away every single detail of their lives on Facebook, and very few will admit when things are going wrong. They want you to see only the good stuff.

It’s important to remember that everyone is human, and that we often display our best moments on Facebook while leaving out the rest. Remember that there is a story away from the statuses and the photos too, and that there is more than meets the eye. You’re watching the highlights really, and you have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes.

Remember That This Is A Waste Of Time

I had a friend who once got addicted to chat rooms. She wasn’t a teenager with low self-esteem – she was thirty-years-old. After a bad break-up, she found herself enjoying the attention from guys in chat rooms.

Eventually, she got jealous of the guys in there once they started diverting their attention to other women. She spent so much of her time and wasted so much of her energy in these rooms, that her life practically went on hold for six months.

Obsessing over other people is detrimental to your precious time. It’s a waste of your energy. It’s time to start using your time more constructively again, so that you can look forward and be happy.

Disable Your Friends

You still want to use Facebook, but you don’t want to keep getting all those updates from friends who are making you feel bad abut your self-esteem. So why not disable status updates from friends but keep updates from inspirational pages?

Be Grateful

I know it’s easy to be jealous of people’s amazing lives on social media. Maybe you’ve got a friend who lives in Lekki phase 1 or Banana Island where it’s always happening. Perhaps they drive big cars and live the good life. Maybe you don’t have the big or fast car, the eternal sunshine and the beach. But you’ve still got plenty of great stuff in your life that you need to be more thankful of.

Take a moment to write down a list of all the things you’re grateful for. This could include anything, from your health to the fact that you’ve got a roof over your head. It might also include intangible things, such as your sense of humour or your compassionate nature.

Be Proactive

When we compare ourselves to others, we’re reacting to a situation. This is utterly unproductive. All we can do is shake our heads, before curling up on the sofa in a ball and watching Netflix.

Instead of reacting like this, try being positive by actually taking action. Pick a goal that will help to remedy your situation and then make smaller goals that will help you to achieve this long-term goal.

Taking action is the only way to solve a problem. Indeed, the only thing that separates successful people from unsuccessful people is that the former took action while the latter did not.

Remember That There Is No Such Thing As A Perfect Life

Not to sound all downbeat or anything, but there really is no such thing as a perfect life. What might appear to be a perfect life to you is a good life, but one that is far from being the very best that life has to offer.

Everyone faces personal challenges, and everyone faces their own troubles. Don’t judge a book by its cover, and actually show some respect to the other person. They might be facing more tribulations than you realise.

Send The Other Person Good Vibes!

Hey, here’s an idea. Instead of beating yourself up about someone because their life is apparently so much more amazing than yours, and instead of being negative, catty and cynical towards them, turn things around by being positive towards them!

Send them over some love and good vibes. Be happy for them. Praise them and their achievements. Although you might think this is counterproductive, it actually works a treat because you’re exhausting all your negative energy and replacing it with positive energy. It will put you in a better place, and arm you with the motivation to improve your own life.

Money Saving Tips You Need To Know About

Saving money isn’t easy. I know this from experience. Two years ago, I quit a good job to start my own business. The consequence of this was that myself and my family no longer had the securities we once had. We were no longer well-off. In fact, we had very little money.

Do I regret the decision? Not at all. I’m very happy, as is my family. We won’t have a lot of money for a while yet, but over the long-term the security that I can create with this business will be well worth it.

“Don’t save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.”

     – Warren Buffet

Two of the biggest things I had to learn after making the transition from secure job to owning my own business was living on a budget and saving money. This is something I had never done before, and neither had my family. All of a sudden, we had to be very careful about what we spent. I made mistakes along the way, but I learned from them. And I can safely say that I now know the art of saving money inside out. So let’s take a look at 10 effective money saving tips you need to know about.

Always Buy Online

You could be forgiven for thinking that shopping online is counterproductive, and that you would easily end up over-spending. After all, you’re faced with an abundance of choice. Moreover, you can buy anything with just a few clicks.

But when you buy online, you get to compare prices. And for money savers, this is essential. As you scan the products on the screen, you can easily see which ones are available for the cheapest price. You can also check your basket before buying, which means that you can remove items to keep costs down.

Ask Friends And Family

Need a new microwave or fridge? Maybe you could do with a new pair of jeans? Or perhaps you need a few light bulbs?

Your first idea is to probably head to the shops and make a few purchases. Naturally. It’s what you’ve always done. But how about asking friends and family if they have the items you need?

Cook!

When my family and I first had to start saving money, we thought it would make more sense to eat lots of TV dinners. Surely that would be cheaper than buying lots of ingredients and cooking fresh meals from scratch each night?

Not exactly.

While some TV dinners are dirt cheap, they’re the kind which are really unhealthy. The “decent” TV dinners, meanwhile, are actually really expensive. And stocking up on them each week will cost you an arm and a leg.

It’s much easier to buy lots of fresh produce each week. Remember that so many ingredients can be used in a few different dishes. For example, a box of eggs stretches a long way, as does garlic, spinach, onions, peppers and so on!

Sleep On It

There are two types of shoppers:

• Logical shoppers
• Emotional shoppers

If you’re an emotional shopper, you’re more inclined to impulse buying. This means you see something that catches your eye, and instead of reasoning that you probably shouldn’t buy it, you go ahead and purchase it anyway.

And then usually regret it a few hours later.

When trying to save, it’s a good idea to always wait a day before making a big purchase. Sleep on things to see how you feel in the morning. The chances are that you’ll wake up happy that you didn’t splash out yesterday.

Pay Your Bills

You’re trying to save money, so you’re probably looking for ways of making cutbacks. Maybe not paying your bills this month is the way to go?

Nope! As tempting as it is, skipping your bills is only going to cause hassle in the long-run. Always pay them on time.

Reward Yourself

It’s nigh on impossible to save if you’re literally spending nothing on treats. You’ll become miserable and resentful, and eventually you’ll start splashing the cash again.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to treat yourself every now and then. After a month or two of solid saving, reward yourself with a small present that makes you feel good. This sort of motivation is important if you’re going to stringently stick to your saving goals.

Stop Caring About What Other People Think

One thing I noticed when I first started living on a budget and making serious efforts to save money was that I was obsessed with what other’s were thinking about me. I wanted to go out with the girls and stick to the cheapest drink possible (water!), but I couldn’t do it. I was so scared that they would judge me.

I quickly realised, though, that I had to stop caring what other people thought of me. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have saved anything. So I started ordering the cheapest drinks in bars. I began ordering small dishes at restaurant and I stopped going out shopping with my friends altogether.

And you know what? They totally supported me, because that’s what friends do.

Do It Yourself

Before you ask that window cleaner across the street if he can clean your panes, consider doing the task yourself first. Likewise, what’s stopping you from mowing your own lawn or researching how to fix a leaky faucet?

Always Use Cash

Another one of good money saving tips is to always use cash. Credit cards might seem like a good idea at the time because you’re not parting with any physical cash, which means that you’re able to put some money aside. In the long run, however, credit cards are going to avenge you for all that spending.

It’s much better to just use cash to make your purchases. When you buy with cash, your subconscious is stung more because it can see the money you’re losing. As such, you’re less likely to overspend.

Get Store Cards

I was always one of those people who constantly turned down store cards because I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of filling in a form. Moreover, I didn’t think it would save me much money.

Store cards can save you a small fortune in the long term and make a lot of sense.

After The Nigerian Health Care System Failed Her Friend This Entrepreneur’s Innovative Creation is Saving Other Lives

A depeju Jaiyeoba is the founder and CEO ofMother’s Delivery Kit (MDK), a Lagos-based social enterprise established to promote and enhance safe births, instigate behavioral change and economically empower women in Nigeria. Her enterprise supplies birthing kits to health centres, hospitals, traditional birth attendants as well as maternal and child health organisations across the country.

Prior to the establishment of MDK, the death of a friend from birthing complications in 2011, inspired Jaiyeoba to set up a non-governmental, non-profit organisation called the Brown Button Foundation. “Her death put a face on every maternal and child death statistic I had heard,” Jaiyeoba saidon the loss of her friend. “She was educated and brilliant, and she sought out health care services during her pregnancy. Yet she became one of the 13 women who die daily during childbirth in Nigeria. The health care system had failed her and her unborn baby.”

Maternal and child mortality has always been an issue in developing countries around the world. Many pregnant women are exposed to several risks and complications because they lack easy access to healthcare facilities, skilled doctors, or even an ambulance or vehicle to transport them when in labour. This is why each year, reducing infant and maternal mortality is a major part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in many countries.

I’ve witnessed what happens when women don’t have access to sterile supplies at childbirth. I’ve seen umbilical cords severed with rusty blades, increasing the chances of neonatal tetanus. I’ve seen mothers giving birth on bare floors, risking deadly sepsis infections. And I’ve seen how the odds are transformed when women have access to the right health tools and technologies.

One of Nigeria’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for last year, was to ensure that the country’s under-five mortality rate reduces to 70 deaths per 1,000 live births and that the rate of mothers dying while giving birth decreases to 250 per every 100,000 live births. However, statistics from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), show that maternal mortality in Nigeria is at 128 deaths per 1,000 live births for under-five mortality and 576 deaths per 100,000 live births for maternal mortality, indicating that the country was unable to achieve its goal.

The Brown Button Foundation mainly trains and builds the capacity of birth attendants in remote communities in Nigeria where births are often carried out by unprofessional, and traditional birth attendants resulting in both infant and maternal death. Although skilled care during delivery did help to alleviate birthing complications in rural communities, Jaiyeoba soon realised that the “challenges of preventing maternal and child deaths is multifaceted and also demands the right medicines, tools and supplies at the right time to prevent deaths.”

With hospitals or health centres far away and the common practice of delivering babies at home, these supplies are hard to come by in rural communities. Hence, Jaiyeoba thought of a way to provide women in rural communities with low cost essential supplies for child delivery. With support from the government of the United States, Jaiyeoba received critical business education and global health experience to grow her business through the US Young African Leaders Initiative’s Mandela Washington Fellowship exchange program.

She also received a $25,000 grant from the US African Development Foundation to set up storage facilities and strengthen supply chain lines for delivery, so more kits can get into the hands of more moms faster. Today, her innovative kits containing affordable, sterile supplies are in 30 out of 36 states in Nigeria and has reached more than 50,000 women and babies.

source:- atlantablackstar