Jumpstart your day (the night before) – an evening routine | zen habits By Leo Babauta Not long ago, I talked about the importance of a morning routine … it’s a great way to incorporate your goals into each day, at the beginning of the day. This is a beautiful time of day, when all is quiet and the world sleeps. But there’s another part of the day that I love, and that can have great benefits for you at a cost of only 10-30 minutes each day: the time right before you go to sleep. If you’re following my advice on how to become an early riser (and if not, try it out!), then you are going to be earlier, and perhaps reading yourself to sleep, so you won’t be so tired in the morning. Each person’s evening routine will be different, but here’s a sample routine that’s based on something I’ve been trying, with some good ideas that most people can use: Create your evening routine today and get a jump start on tomorrow!
Helping Your Aspergers Teen Cope With Life The teenage years are the most difficult time for children with Aspergers. Most experts do a great job of presenting the problems teens with Aspergers face during their teenage years, but they offer few solutions. Below are 50 tips for parents who want to help their Aspergers teen survive - and thrive - during the tough adolescent years: 1. A regular bed time at a reasonable hour is more important than ever, if you can put/keep it in place. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. My Aspergers Teen: Discipline for Defiant Aspergers Teens
Eat the Love, Sweets for the Mouth and Mind 3 Steps to a Permanently Clear Desk | zen habits By Leo Babauta Once upon a time, my desk was cluttered with all the things I was currently working on — not to mention dozens of things I wasn’t working on: notes, post-its, phone numbers, papers to be filed, stacks of stuff to work on later. I was too busy to organize it, and if I ever did get it cleared, it would pile up soon after. It’s a different story today. These days, my desk is always clear, except for the one thing I’m working on, and perhaps a notebook and pen for jotting down notes, ideas or to-dos as they come up. How did I make the transformation? Much of my current system (as opposed to stuff I’ve been trying along the way) is taken almost completely from “Getting Things Done,” by David Allen (via Lifehacker & 43 Folders). Here’s the system: 1. 2. 3. It’s that simple. Leaving stuff on top of your desk is procrastination (and as a procrastinator, I should know). What I’ve described is a good habit to learn, but it takes time to learn it.
Problems Teens With Asperger Syndrome Often Face Diane Kennedy, in her 2002 book The ADHD Autism Connection, writes that the years from twelve to seventeen are "the saddest and most difficult time" for people with Asperger Syndrome. This is not true of every teen with Asperger Syndrome. Some do extremely well. Their indifference to what others think makes them indifferent to the intense peer pressure of adolescence. Yet, as Kennedy observes, Aspie teens typically become more isolated socially during a period when they crave friendships and inclusion more than ever. Meanwhile, school becomes more demanding in a period when they have to compete for college placements. Social Isolation.In the teenage world where everyone feels insecure, teens that appear different are voted off the island. Many Aspie teens are stiff and rule-oriented and act like little adults, which is a deadly trait in any teenage popularity contest. Inability to "Be a Teen." Sexual Issues. Criminal Activity. School Failures. Depression and Acting Out.
Home Body Fat Test About This Body Fat Test Covert Bailey believes that knowing percent body fat tells you more about your body than any other test. It tells you what your correct weight ought to be, how much fat you have, how much muscle, and what exactly you need to gain or lose. Knowing this one number allows you to design an exercise program to maximize your efforts. How Accurate Is This Body Fat Test? This tape-measure test is used to estimate your percent body fat. For some people, however, the results of the tape measure test may not come so close to their true percent body fat. Conversely, if a person is skinny but not fit, this body fat test may yield a number 3 to 5 percent lower than his or her true percent body fat. So, what's the bottom line? The most valuable aspect is that you can test yourself and you can see change over time. What Is A Healthy Amount Of Body Fat? Depending on your race, recommended percent body fat may vary. Source Bailey, Covert.
Email Zen: Clear Out Your Inbox | zen habits Post written by Leo Babauta. I use Gmail exclusively for email, and it constitutes a major part of my two day jobs. I get a fair amount of email each hour, and I am pretty quick at responding. However, one thing you’ll notice about my Gmail inbox is that it is just about always empty. It gives me a Zen feeling to have a clean inbox, a feeling of peace and calm and satisfaction. I highly recommend it to everyone. But GTD changed that (as well as 43 Folders and others), and for nearly a year now, I’ve been fairly consistent about having a clean inbox. Here are my simple steps to achieving Email Zen: 1) Don’t check email first thing in the morning, or have it constantly on. 2) When you check your email, dispose of each one, one at a time, right away. 2a) Is it junk or some forwarded email? 2b) Is it a long email that you just need to read for information? 2c) If the email requires action, make a note of the action on your to-do or GTD lists to do later. 3) I have only one folder: Archive.
Tips for Parents of Teens with Asperger Syndrome Tips for Parents of Teens with Asperger Syndrome By Stephanie Loo, Director of Teen Services Stephanie.Loo@aane.org I am no expert on parenting a teen with AS—and every teen is different. Keep doing the things that work. Be patient. Possible Shifts & Changes AS can intensify parent/adolescent dynamics—which are challenging enough! Hygiene Instill the essential habit of a daily shower and clean clothes: peers, teachers, and future potential employers are very put off by poor hygiene. Teens’ Mental Health Even for a previously well-adjusted child, multiple stressors during the teen years may bring on anxiety and even depression. Parents’ Mental Health Kids with AS can be difficult to parent and to love even when they are young. Disclosure & Self-Advocacy If you have not talked to your teen about Asperger Syndrome, you or someone else should do so—to the extent that the teen is ready to hear it. School Transition Planning Steps Toward Independence College Resources Acknowledgements Dr. Back to Top
Chocolate Fudge Butterfinger Cookies… Good Thursday morning! I am in Ohio right now freezing my tail off in the middle of a Smuckers Factory tour and a whole bunch of other cool stuff with some other bloggers. Thanks Smuckers Family for sending me!! I’ll be sure to share pictures when I get back I’ll leave you today with one of my all time favorite cookies. Chocolate Fudge Butterfinger Cookies! 1 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 1 3/4 cups flour 1 1/4 cups cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder) 2 tsps. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 2 Full size Butterfinger Bars, crushed 1 1/2 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips 1. 2. 3. 4. 3 dozen cookies Have a wonderful weekend!! Other recipes you may enjoy... Brown Butter Gingersnap Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars | Christmas CookiesChocolate Cake Reeses Peanut Butter Chunk CookiesGiving Oreos a Major Face LiftNo-Bake Stuffed Cookie Dough BitesPeanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Big Rocks First: Double Your Productivity This Week | zen habits Every Monday is Productivity & Organization Day at Zen Habits. If your week is seven buckets, and you go into each bucket without planning ahead, and you fill it up with little pebbles and grains of sand and whatever other debris comes your way … soon there will be no room for the Big Rocks. Your buckets fill up faster than you know it, and once your buckets are full, you’re done. You can’t get bigger buckets. What you can do is put the Big Rocks in first, and fill in the pebbles and sand around them. The Big Rocks are the major things you want to get done this week. Plan your week ahead of time, placing your Big Rocks first. This is a similar concept to MITs, except on a weekly scale instead of a daily scale. Here’s how you do it (with the unavoidable list, of course!) Make a list. How does this simple method make you more productive? This is a way of getting the important stuff done. Note: You probably noticed that this post isn’t really about GTD. See also:
Kop & Hart: Is vandag dalk dié dag? Is vandag dalk die dag wat jy gaan sterf? Daar is ‘n ou Boeddhistiese storie wat die dood se boodskapper as ‘n klein blou voëltjie voorstel. Hierdie voëltjie kom sit elke oggend met sonsopkoms op jou vensterbank, so word vertel, en sing dan vir jou: “Is vandag dalk die dag wat jy gaan sterf?” ‘n Universele vraag wat in ons almal se gemoed leef. Natuurlik doen ons baie moeite om nie te veel aandag hieraan te gee nie. Maar die feit van die saak is dat die blou voëltjie se vraag, deur elkeen van ons uiteindelik beantwoord sal moet word – ongeag ons intelligensie, ons status of ons geloofsoortuigings. En ons sterwe is net so natuurlik soos ons geboorte. Want dit is presies wat ons doen. Toegegee, die dood is nie ‘n maklike saak nie. Ek het dus heelwat simpatie met mense se behoefte tot troos. Maar kom ons wees eerlik met mekaar, die meeste wat ons regtig oor die dood kan sê, is dat niemand hierdie lewe lewendig sal verlaat nie. En so hoop ons om die angstigheid binne ons te besweer. Dr.
The Now Habit In this post, I present a mind map with the full summary of the book The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. Despite a cover that reminds me of the “remarkable” Windows 3.1 ‘Hot Dog Stand’ color scheme, I don’t have much to say about The Now Habit other than it’s one of the most useful books I’ve ever read. Since its publication back in 1988, it has become well-known among chronic procrastinators looking for ways to overcome this crippling condition, and for very good reasons. The Procrastination Habit As the title of the book suggests, procrastination is a habit — it’s not caused by lack of organization or lack of time management skills. Back in 2004, when implementing the David Allen’s Getting Things Done method, I fell exactly in that trap: tweaking my to-do lists, installing the latest software on my PDA and clearing my inboxes all worked as perfect excuses to avoid doing what I knew I was supposed to be doing instead!