Articles on Writing Your Success Guide

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Advanced technology has changed the entire working system in every sphere of life, which has led to the increased demand of article writing, as today most of the people prefer to surf the internet for gathering all types of information. Therefore, many people have taken up the work of article writing, which not only gives them an added income but also the platform for sharing their knowledge with people all around the world. However, most of the new writers search for articles on writing before beginning their work as they can get an idea about the writing style that they should adopt for establishing themselves as reputed and professional writers.

If you are thinking of starting the work of article writing then you should keep in mind few basic points while formatting your articles as this will help you to draw more targets towards your site and help you to gain the desired goodwill and reputation. You will find many articles on writing while surfing on the net for gathering information about the art of writing articles. However, the initial guideline that you have to follow for beginning your endeavor is to lay the foundation of your article writing with topics of your interest. This will help you to put forth your knowledge along with getting the practice of adopting the method and style of writing for directories, website or blogs.

However, if you want to gain success in the field of article writing then all the articles on writing will give you the guidance that you have to continue writing articles because writing a few articles and posting them will not help you to attain the required perfection that will help you to establish yourself as a professional writer. Moreover, you have to take out time from your busy schedule and read the articles of the established writers. This will help you to get a clear idea about the style that you should adopt for writing your articles, which will not only arouse the interest of the readers but also supply them with the required information, which will make them read your article until the end.

Another important point that you will come across in most of the articles on writing is about the importance of the title that you provide for your article. The title is important because it not only draws attention of the readers but also helps the search engine spider to locate and categorize your article according to the topic and also decide the ranking hierarchy in the search engine sites. Therefore, it is essential that you should use the keyword in the title of your article besides providing an interesting and eye-catching title for your article. However, you should use the keyword only once in the title as using it more than once will increase the density of the keyword and make the search engine spider discard your article.

According to most of the articles on writing that you will read, you will find that most of the reputed writers will emphasize the point that no matter what topic you write, your articles should always maintain the quality. It means that you should provide authentic information about the topic on which you are writing and be free from every type of grammatical, spelling or syntax errors. Besides this, you should develop your own unique style of presenting your ideas without breaking the flow of thoughts as putting the information in haphazard manner will drive away the readers, as it will create confusion and spoil all your efforts of passing on the required information to the readers.

While reading the articles on writing you will also come across the important point of formatting your article and providing subheadings, bullets or other types of marking points, which will help the readers to browse easily through your article and collect the relevant information that they require. This will not only help in sustaining their interest but will also draw more readers towards your article as they will be convinced that they will get authentic and relevant information according to their needs. Therefore, while writing an article you should keep three basic points in mind and that is, the title, keyword density, fluency, and the most important factor, which is maintaining the interest of the readers until the end of your article.

Tips on Training Puppy Tricks

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The main secret to training puppy tricks is to make the training sessions short and fun for him. Just like most young children, a puppy’s attention span is short and fleeting. You will have to find ways to make it interesting for a puppy as you keep repeating a command that you are asking him to do. Puppy training is not easy. But it is definitely a rewarding experience when he starts to perform well when asked.

Puppy Training Schedule

Set up a specific training schedule. You can train your puppy three times a day for about 10 – 15 minutes at a time. It may be less if she is very young or easily bored. You can also have longer training schedules when you see that the doggy is an eager learner. Once he or she starts showing boredom or disinterest, it is better to cut the training short. Training can be scheduled after breakfast, early in the afternoon and sometime after dinner.

Rewards

Giving the pup a reward for performing a trick or command will hasten his grasp of that command. Rewards can be in the form of edible treats, lavish praise, tummy rubs, pats on the head, extended play time with him or getting his favorite toy.

Puppies, much like humans, learn by association. A doggy will work harder at learning something when he knows that there is a prize at the end. At the beginning, you can give a reward each time your pup does a command. As he progresses, only give a reward when he does a command well. Make sure the reward is given immediately after the action. Prolonging the reward would break the association between doing the command and receiving a prize.

Never reward bad behavior. If he jumps up on you to greet you at the door, ignore him totally. When your puppy is dragging your shoe across the hall, don’t say anything to encourage him like ‘awww, how cute.’ This will only reinforce the bad behavior. He will misconstrue the attention you give him as your approval of his action.

One action, one command word

Consistency is important in training puppy tricks. If you are training your doggy at home, make an agreement with other family members on which command words to use. Your pup may become confused when another family member tells him to ‘wait’ while you use the word ‘stay’ whenever your puppy is expected not to move from a spot. In teaching him to sit, use the word ‘sit.’ Tell your other home companions not to use ‘sit down.’ Just be consistent. Keep a list of command words on the refrigerator for everyone to see.

Tricks and Commands

On top of teaching your puppy how to wear a collar, walk on a leash, and go potty, you can teach him fun tricks and commands. Shake hands, sit, stay, and come here should be some of the first commands he should learn. As he grows older, add more tricks like roll over, jump up or speak.

For commands that require more than one action like roll over, it is best to start by breaking up the command in parts. Start with asking him to go down on all fours. When he has mastered this, teach him to turn over on his back. Finish off with teaching him how to roll on his tummy. When he has mastered all three parts, then you can start teaching him to do the whole command in one go. This increases his level of confidence in doing the command and lessening yours and his level of frustration. Complex tricks take a long time to master so do not expect too much at the start.

Remember never to punish the puppy verbally or physically when he doesn’t do well. Apart from this being a cruel act, punishing a puppy has negative effects on his little psyche. You want your puppy to trust and love you and not be afraid of you.

By making training time fun for your puppy, he will learn faster and your bond will grow stronger. There are different levels of commands and tricks that your puppy can master. But this can be done through consistent training and proper application of rewards. As the puppy’s new parent, it is you job to ensure that he receives the proper training so he can be a well-adjusted, well-mannered and highly skilled member of the family.

Safety Precautions to Take Prior to a School Trip

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A school trip is one of the events of the academic year that young students really look forward to. These are the times when teachers can combine the natural curiosity of youngsters with a real opportunity to expand their educational horizons. These excursions, however, must be as free from danger as possible – especially since teachers and school administrators will be held responsible for anything that happens to the children. These tips ought to help make that task easier.

Conduct a school trip assessment

Scrutinizing the route and stopover points for risks and potential hazards is the first and most important precaution that must be taken. This is a research-intensive phase as teachers and/or administrators must spend a lot of time studying the intended destination, the weather patterns of the area, the condition of the roads, crime rates and other factors that could lead to harm. It is at this stage is is extremely useful to secure the services of a specialised travel company well versed in these aspects.

Plan out logistics

Once a destination has been selected, the next step in assessing the viability of an educational trip should be to list the needs of both teacher and student and drafting letters of permission for parents to review. These letters of permission must contain forms that inform teachers and trip planners of any medical and personal conditions that could pose a concern. Prescribed medication, allergies and disorders (ADHD, social anxiety disorder, claustrophobia, etc.) are some examples.

Pick a proven school trip service

Choose an established and reputable company for providing tried and proven itineraries and safe transportation for students. These companies not only utilize dedicated service vehicles but they also bring along trained personnel to help manage the journey. They can also book safer accommodations and are better prepared against potential hazards. It is important, however, to pick one with a track record of completing educational tours without incident. Asking for referrals from other teachers or school administrators for their opinions will help as well.

Set a group or buddy system

Children will be much safer when they move in groups of two to four at a time, so it is well worth the effort to group them up prior leaving. This grouping encourages students to watch out for each other and makes it easier for students to alert their teachers should something go wrong with their buddy or group mates.

Brief students on emergency procedures

Students must be told what to do and how to react in an emergency, as this will let them move faster and avoid panicking if something does go wrong. A few of the more important emergency situations to take into consideration include injuries, getting lost, being approached by strangers and figuring into an auto accident. This is a good opportunity to brief teachers as well.

While it is true that no school trip will ever be completely free from risk, it is certainly up to teachers and school administrators to minimize those risks and to better deal with emergency situations as they occur.

Learning Guitar Chords – Top 10 Mistakes

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Learning guitar chords does not have to be difficult, but there are some mistakes that many beginners make that can be avoided.

The Top 10 Mistakes

1. Giving up too soon

No matter what you decide to learn, you will not get it right on the first try. This is especially true of guitar. When you learn the guitar chords, chances are that you will have some trouble, but you must stick with it. Many beginners give up on a chord at the worst possible time. They learn the finger position, and they can occasionally strum it cleanly, but they see no improvement from this point. Once you get to this point, it’s only a matter of time. You have the basics, you just need to keep practicing.

2. Lack of visualization

When you are forming a chord, visualization is very important. You have to “see” where each finger is going to move to before it happens. The best way to speed up your chord changes is to look at where your fingers currently are, and think about where they need to be. Then, you visualize the shortest route they need to take to get there. There are times when you won’t need to move much, because some of the basic chords use common notes.

3. Challenging yourself too much

Chord changes, or progressions, are the best way to master guitar chords. The problem is that many beginners choose difficult progressions, and get discouraged when they can’t get it right. Make sure you choose easier progressions, like G to A, E to A, or D to G. They might seem easy, but repetition will train you for the more advanced chord changes.

4. Lack of finger strength

Beginning guitarists do not understand the value of finger strength. This should be obvious, since the fingers are used to play the guitar. To build up your finger strength, a great thing to try is wide scale exercises. Also, there are other exercises involving pushing down hard on the string of your guitar, finger press-ups, or even finger weights.

5. Looking at your hands too often

Once you learn to play guitar chords, you should be able to do so without looking at your hands. The finger position should become second nature. You don’t see professionals looking down all the time while they’re playing, do you? You should be able to switch between open chords without looking at your hands.

6. Practicing one chord at a time

Through the use of books, videos, or even instructors, beginning guitarists have gotten into the habit of practicing only one guitar chord at a time. This is a huge mistake, and will actually take longer to learn. The best and fastest way to learn chords is in groups of three. When you give your brain a varying pattern of three chords to learn, this is more likely to solidify the information. It will help you remember the fingering, and it will help you learn chord progressions.

7. Hiding your pinky

It seems a little odd, but a great deal of beginners tend to move their pinky out of the way when it is not in use. All of your fingers should be hovering over the fretboard at all times. Getting into this habit will help you learn more advanced chords later.

8. Not understanding the root note

Many people do not know what the root note of a chord is. The root note is a chord’s bass note. It determines what string you begin strumming from. For example, the root note of an E chord is an E, played by strumming an open low E string, or your thickest string. What this means is that you begin strumming from the E string when you are playing an E chord.

9. Not picking the chord

When beginners are playing guitar chords, they will often notice dead notes within the chord. Usually, this is caused by a fingering problem. Many beginners will simply keep strumming the chord until they get it right. This is a brute force method of learning, and a great deal of wasted practice time. To avoid this, try picking the chord instead. By picking each individual string, you can isolate the problem area more efficiently. Then, you can apply more pressure on that string or fix your finger position to get a better note.

10. Not using all your senses

To make it easy to learn guitar chords, you should look at every angle. You should look at pictures of someone playing the chord, look at a chord chart, and even watch a video of someone playing the chord. This will help you learn where your fingers should be, and how to get them there. Of course, you can’t play a chord correctly until you have heard the way it is supposed to sound, as well. Processing all of this information will help you visualize the correct technique.

What it Takes to Pass the 640-822 Tests

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The 640-822 exams’ main focus is on generating expert network engineers for the world. Hence the test is designed strict enough to filter out incompetent technicians. Candidates should pass this test so as to be eligible for the CCNA certifications. The test covers a wide range of topics to check the skills of the candidate. Let us have a glance at what it takes to pass the 640-822 exams.

The main topics covered by the test include:

o Fundamentals of Switching & Routing
o Working knowledge on OSI & TCP/IP
o Networks such as VLANs
o Frame Relay and WAN connections
o IP addressing
o N/W security

Apart from these, the 640-822 exams also cover several other topics. So it is important that the candidates build up their knowledge and skills in the subsequent areas before appearing for the exams.
The candidates should have a theoretical as well as practical knowledge of the various network devices. They should also be aware of: web applications, the components needed for particular networks, networking, TCP/IP models, OSI models and protocols.

Other stuffs to know include: troubleshooting of common network problems, traffic management and network segmentation, network diagrams, verification of network status, the use of utilities like ping, telnet, SSH, traceroute, ipconfig, debugging commands, NAT and its uses, CLI basics, routing concepts, security and security applications, wireless networks, and a good acquaintance with VLANs, VTP, LAN, WAN, RSTP, VLSM etc.

As the syllabus appears rather vast, it is better to get assistance from someone who has already passed this exam. Or you can also go for e-learning programs offered on the web that comes with exam simulations. Taking part in such training courses allows you to be one step ahead of the thousands preparing for this exam. All the best!

What Has Education Lost?

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Do you remember when you were little? We eagerly anticipated being “big enough” to attend school. Sometimes it was because there were few other children around, but mostly because we wanted to learn, to be like those who were older and knew the mysteries of reading, writing and math. In the days before preschools being for everyone, we entered kindergarten for half days. We played house or store or with blocks, slathered paint on paper to create out masterpieces, mashed clay into ropes and blobs that became something to us, listened to music and danced if there was space, had a “rest” (but I think that was for the teacher instead of us), and the teacher read to us. Eventually, we began to learn to read toward the end of the year.

Schools still offer the magnet to the young of being able to be with others their own ages, to play in safe areas, and to learn. They still play with others, but most of their days are sitting at desks. They begin to learn to read and write at the beginning of kindergarten which they often attend for full days. But what has been lost?

I no longer see the “magic” of what schools could offer: using their creativity and imagination in play or art. To some extent, there is joy of learning, but the pressures of test scores makes it more work than joy because many students are not developmentally ready for what is presented to them. We used to desire to achieve, but now the expectations are so high that many give up before the end of third grade.

This push for educational “excellence” is supposedly to develop opportunities for individuals’ futures in the workforce. The actual result is that many are averse to and resist any form of school. Their poor grades and/or drop-out status make them ineligible for advanced training or higher education. In the logic of legislators who control education, everyone should go to college. The result is “watered-down” college preparation classes (which are actually useless in preparing students for college) and an absence of vocational exploration opportunities. Everyone used to take shop and/or home economics courses in high school where we prepared for independent living (taking care of feeding and clothing the family and learning how to safely use tools to repair things around the house). Those classes are rapidly disappearing, only to resurface in different forms at the vocational or technical college level. That is where many attend because they are forced to because they can get government assistance as long as they are in school.

The problem with the current goals for education is that it has lots a humanness that allowed everyone to be successful in areas of their interests, talents and skills. What is there for the artistically or musically inclined individuals? What is there for those who think multi-dimensionally and can create or envision structures, packaging, or machines?

Education teaches to the “average” – do you know anyone who is consistently “average” in anything? Education is not a product on an assembly line, so the quality control measures cannot be the same for everyone. The raw materials (student entering school) at any given point are not uniform and “perfect”, because we all develop at different rates and at different times.

Know More About the Best Classical Guitar Courses

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If you have always been enamored by a guitar, it might be great to know a little bit about its history. A guitar can be played in various styles, classical guitar being the pioneering one. There are also various classical guitar courses available in the market, which can help you to fulfill your dream of playing the guitar in a classical style.

The history of guitar goes back to the 17th century. The baroque guitar had five strings and was in vogue from the 17th to the middle of the 18th century. After that came the early romantic guitars with six strings and they were widely used through out the 19th century. The modern classical guitar derives heavily from these earlier models and is still popular till date. It can be distinguished from the other varieties of acoustic guitar by the use of the nylon strings as opposed to the steel strings

The modern classical guitar is said to evolve from the far sighted designs of Antonio Torres Jurado, who was Spanish by origin. And so, it is also called the Spanish guitar. You can use the classical guitar to play a wide range of music from flamenco to folk and jazz. However, it is most commonly used for playing classical music. The repertoire of the classical music can also vary widely. It might include music solely written for the guitar, or can include music written for other musical instruments like the piano, lute or an earlier musical instrument called vihuela.

Learning classical acoustic guitar can be quite easy and exciting if you can get hold of a good teacher and a competent course structure. Good guitar courses should include all the relevant information about the history, the style of playing and the techniques of classical guitar. They should also include competent tablature, music sheets and information about the composers, chords etc. In short, they should cover every aspect of playing guitar so that even a beginner can learn playing it with relative ease and confidence.

So, if you really want to play guitar like Andres Segovia, you would first need to know the classical techniques. And a good guitar course can help you a lot in this regard.

How to Go About Choosing the Best Online College

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Congratulations on making the decision to go back to school. If you have been out of school for a while, it is a difficult decision to make and one that you know will take up an awful lot of your time in the future. Finding the best online college can be a challenge, so here are a few thoughts to help you evaluate your choices.

The first thing that you must know is that there are accredited colleges and there are those that are not. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to discern the difference, but suffice to say that you have to go to an accredited college. Although it may be tempting to get a degree from an unaccredited institution – primarily because it is cheaper and usually takes very little time – your degree won’t be worth the paper it is printed on.

Some people believe that online classes are easy and don’t take up much of your time, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you are going to a quality school, you will certainly be putting in the time at the computer. Make sure, when you choose the best online college for you, that you have the ability to set aside the time to take your classes or you may end up dropping classes, and wasting money late in the semester.

Finally, put some time into really thinking about your major. Although you may think of only applying at the best online college you can find, if they don’t have a major that interests you, then you may want to look elsewhere. Because school can be so expensive, even wasting the money on one course can be pricey. So, put the thought into your educational choices before you commit all your time and energy to one school.

Get Coached!

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Coaching is a hot trend at a growing number of companies, from IBM and Dow Chemical to entrepreneurial start ups. According to a recent survey by The Hay Group, an international human resources consultancy, between 25 percent and 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use executive coaches. A coach is defined as being “part advisory, part sounding board, part cheerleader, part manager and part strategist (Business Journal).”

Coaching can occur in one-on-one face-to-face meetings between the coach and the business person, over the telephone, in small groups, and even in group conference calls. Recently, a client of mine, who owns an acoustical tile cleaning franchise, was so pleased with the results of our coaching sessions, that she organized group telephone coaching sessions for her and other franchise owners. The benefits are enormous. Not only do the franchise owners save time and money conferring in a group telephone session, they all receive the same information at the same time, there are networking and sharing opportunities, and a spirit of teamwork has evolved.

Coaching does not only occur in the one hour session each week. I give my clients reading assignments and “homework” to do in between sessions. One exercise that I use frequently with clients is to have them look at their entire business and pick two things that would impact their business the most. Then, we determine one or two things in each area that would give them the biggest bang for their buck. After doing this exercise, one client picked getting back in touch with old clients and telling them all of the services her company offers. In one week, she had three new proposals to bid on.

John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd, says, “I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable.”

Coaching has not only helped my clients – it has also given me great satisfaction. I enjoy taking my experience working for organizations and owning my own business and helping others grow their businesses. You can almost hear people breathing a sigh of relief. It can absolutely make the difference between where a business person is now and where he/she truly wants to be.

How To Start An Acting Career

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Step 1: Find out what it really means to pursue the career in acting you say you want to pursue. Talk to both working actors as well as those who have been struggling to get work or who have been working sporadically. You can learn what to do and what not to do from both groups. Learn what a typical day could look like, especially at the beginning of your career.

Step 2:Start reading up on acting techniques. Read books like Sanford Meisner on Acting or The Art Of Acting by Stella Adler. They will help you to understand that there are different techniques that, first of all you will need to fall back on time and time again in order to be able to deliver consistently compelling performances and also how acting classes are conducted. You’ll know what to expect and also have some basis on which to choose a school.

Step 3:Choose an acting school. If you have choices, don’t just try and get in the first school you come to. Shop around, know what you exepct from your training, interview teachers and ask lots of questions before choosing. Once you start studying the craft, count on continuing to do it for a good portion of your career.

Step 4:Study the industry. Learn how it works. Learn what agents and casting directors do and what they expect from actors and actresses. Learn why they are in the business they are in. Learn who casts the different projects there are. For example if you are in New York, you will want to know who casts for certain Broadway shows, for Law & Order, Guiding Light, as well as other even smaller projects. Learn about the different ways that actors can ensure their work gets seen.

Step 5:Study the industry. Learn how it works. Learn what agents and casting directors do and what they expect from actors and actresses. Learn why they are in the business they are in. Learn who casts the different projects there are. For example if you are in New York, you will want to know who casts for certain Broadway shows, for Law & Order, Guiding Light, as well as other even smaller projects. Learn about the different ways that actors can ensure their work gets seen.

Step 6:Learn some basic business skills. On my site for new and aspiring actors, I have listed and described only 10 of the 21 I wrote about in my book. However many you study, you need to know that first of all as an actor, you are a free-lance professional and as such, you must sell yourself in a positive way to your ‘customers’ (casting directors, agents, directors, producers, etc.)

Step 7:Start putting together some of your basic marketing materials: Headshot (commercial & legit (dramatic), Acting Résumé, Acting Cover Letter, Monologues (at least two: comical and dramatic), but you will probably need more. Now the concept of type begins to be more important, because you want all of these things I mentioned here to all communicate the same message about who you are as an actress/actor.

Step 8:Make sure you have a financial base! Many aspiring actors don’t make it, because they don’t think about this step at all before they throw themselves into the mix. An acting career can be a full-time or part-time thing. If you want it to be full-time, you MUST have the time to dedicate to it, because chances are in the first couple of years at least, you might not be making enough money to support yourself, so you will need either a base of money to fall back on or you will need to have streams of residual or passive income coming in so that you don’t have to worry about how you will pay the rent.

Step 9:Try and get some experience: community theatre, low-budget theatre projects, student films, indie films, background work on tv or in film. Background work is a great education in the beginning of your career AND you make a little money at the same time. The more you perform, the more comfortable you will feel.

Step 10:Now use your research of agents and of the industry to find the right agent for you. There are different ways to do that. You can meet agents (and casting directors generally) in a few different ways:

1. do a mass TARGETED mailing with regular follow ups. When you do that though, start to understand and learn what the interview/meeting with the agent will be like so you know what to expect!

2. Meets and greets or Schools that hold seminars in which they let you audition. They do charge a fee, however.

3. Forums with casting diretors and agents. Usually last a few hours and give you the chance to audition for and/or have a one to one meeting.

4. Showcases in which you perform. Industry professionals are usually invited to check out the talent.

5. Invite them to a show you are in, to see a televison program or a movie you are in.

Step 11:Continue to study! Other than continuing to hone your technique, you will want to start boning up on your audition skills, monologue performance, cold reading skills, improv skills, etc.

Step 12:Now your business skills will come in handy, because now you must realize that you are the CEO of your own company, of your own brand. Your ability to market it or not, will have an effect on how successful your acting career turns out to be.

* Acting is a tough business! You must have thick skin, because you will be hearing the word NO a lot. You must be prepared for that and know that is not to be taken personally. It’s part of the game.

* There are a lot of scam artists out there. Beware of them. They will sometimes pose as agents and then tell you everything you want to hear about how they will launch your career, but that you FIRST have to pay $XXX! Don’t do it, no matter what they tell you! Talent agents don’t cost money. They take usually 10% of whatever the job pays AFTER you have actually done it!