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thesffcorner · 5 years

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We Are the Ants

We Are the Ants is YA contemporary sci-fi novel written by Shaun David Hutchinson. It follows Henry, a high school student who gets abducted by aliens. The aliens pose Henry with a problem: the whole world is going to end on January 29th, 2016, and he’s the only one that can stop it; he just has to push a button. I’m slowly working my way through the really popular queer authors in YA, and Shaun David Hutchinson had been on my list for a while. I had been avoiding reading his books because I knew they dealt with heavy topics and a lot of abuse, and boy was I right about that. This is one of the most glib and sad books I’ve read in a while, and though that is mitigated by lot’s of humor and a hopeful ending, if you are at all sensitive to topics such as suicide, assault, and bullying, I’d suggest you stay clear of this book. First thing I’ll say is that Hutchinson’s writing style, is an acquired taste. You really have to enjoy this type of sardonic humor in order to get through this book, because especially for the first 100 pages, it’s relentless. We get the story in the form of Henry’s diary, and Henry is a very difficult character to like. He’s mean, he’s locked in a loop of self-loathing, depression, and hatred, and his entire outlook on life is justifiably bleak. As such, so is his humor; he spends a good chunk of the book calling his brother’s unborn child a ‘parasite’, and a lot of his internal monologue is the definition of the ‘too edgy for you’ variety. To give you an example: ”Turn on the news; read some blogs. The world is a shithole, and I have to consider whether it might be better to wipe the slate clean, and give the civilization that evolves from the ashes of our bones a chance to get it right” pg. 18 Personally, I was hooked. A few books have taken me back to what it felt like being a teenager so effectively, and this brought me straight back to the dark days, the endless drudge of school, confusion, hopelessness, feeling small and isolated, and like saying the world is shit and humans are idiots was the smartest thing anyone had ever said. Like Henry I too spent a lot of time pontificating on the futility of life and the universe, on being alone or dying, on the meaninglessness of existence. I did it for very different reasons that Henry, but the memory and effect were still the same. The fact of life is, when you’re a teenager you feel like you have all the answers, and all the adults are just too stupid or too ‘bought’ to see what is obvious to you, and this book really captured that feeling. The plot was not what I thought it would be, considering the premise. The book does revolve around the aliens and the end of the world, but it’s not an active part of the plot. Most of it comes down to Henry thinking about pressing the button, coming up with increasingly insane doomsday scenarios, and asking the characters around him if they’d push the the button if they were him. I found the various answers interesting, mostly in how they were all really unconvincing. I think that’s an intentional choice by Hutchinson, because really when you are in such a state as Henry is, what would be a convincing answer? Maybe you could make the most reasoned, researched argument, but at the end of the day, if you feel like you have nothing to wake up for, nothing will sound convincing. The alien are in reality are just a speculative element that Hutchinson uses as a way to externalize Henry’s internal conflict and mental state. Henry is dealing with a lot throughout the book; he’s dealing with the devastating suicide of someone close to him, with his father leaving him, his bad family situation, and the constant and relentless bullying at school and at home. The sluggers have a lot to do with that, and the abductions seem to be happening to Henry whenever he feels like he’s at an impasse or in a situation in which he needs to make a difficult choice. The main focus is dealing with loss, grief and depression, all of which I thought were presented extremely well, and believable. People deal with loss in different ways, and when it comes to suicide, especially the kind where the person leaves behind no explanation, no note, no last words, it’s almost impossible to conceive of a future where that specter wouldn’t haunt you for the rest of your life. Henry, his friend Audrey, and the person’s mother all blame themselves for the suicide, and the book in a way agrees with them; it was everyone’s fault and no one’s and the lack of concrete blame is infuriating and insurmountable. Henry especially tends to blame himself for pushing people away, and he feels like he wasn’t enough to keep the person alive. He’s obsessed with finding out why they’d done it; for someone who spends paragraphs talking about how nothing happens for a reason, how patterns are just in the human mind, and how life is meaningless and nothing matters, he is determined to find the reason behind the suicide, ignoring everyone who keeps telling him that the reason won’t bring the person back. It’s easy to see why Henry would blame himself; he’s someone who’s been dealt a really bad hand in life. I too was pretty badly bullied, especially in middle school, but it was nothing compared to what Henry goes through. Some of the scenes were so unsettling and so brutal I genuinely was sick reading them. What the characters in this book do to Henry goes beyond mere bullying and crosses into criminal assault, and I was glad that the adults and the police got involved, even if ultimately they were useless. It was at least a little comforting to know that though Henry felt like he was alone, there were people there for him, even if he didn’t see it. However, while I was glad the adults were present in the book, I don’t think they handled the situation appropriately. For example, Henry’s brother Charlie says and does some awful things to Henry, and there wasn’t ever a point where he’s called out on what he’s done, or a moment where he’s faced with the consequences of what he’s been doing to Henry for his entire life. It’s clear that Charlie loves Henry, but the way he treats him is not healthy or right, and he should have been held accountable, especially for the part where he blames Henry’s assault on Henry. The bullies too, don’t quite get what they deserved. Though it’s in a way realistic that they’d get away with things, the fact that Henry so easily forgives, especially one of them really didn’t sit right with me. Sure, there are always reasons for why people act the way they do, but what that character does to Henry is unforgivable, and goes way beyond simple growing disagreements. I’m not sure the message of forget about the people who made your life a living hell for years is necessarily the best one. The only other thing that annoyed me in the book, was how perfect the ending was. I think, especially considering how sharp and unflinching the story had been up until that point having the romance work out, and having no consequences come to Diego after what he does was a bit unrealistic. I am grateful that this book had a hopeful ending, but I just think it was too easy. Let’s talk about the characters. Everyone in this book felt and read like a fully realized person, and I loved that. We don’t have many characters, but the ones we do, especially Henry’s family were well developed. I loved how close Henry was to his Nana, and she was probably my favorite character. She has dementia, but she’s never used as a ‘burden’ or obstacle for the other characters; she’s a fully fleshed out person, and the surprise Henry throws her was so touching, it made me tear up. Audrey was a welcome presence in the story, and I liked her a lot, though she does suffer a bit from only girl who is Henry’s peer in the book. I liked that she had a lot of personal struggles, outside of Henry, but I found that they weren’t handled very well. She has a lot of backstory, but none of it plays a part in her relationship with Henry once they make up, and I found that she was unrealistically patient and wise for a teenager. I can absolutely say the same thing for Diego; there were many scenes where I was shocked to see him act so maturely around Henry, which just isn’s something I think teenagers would do. I’m also not gonna lie; Diego reminded me too much of Andrew from All For the Game. Not only do they have very similar backstories, his relationship with Henry was pretty reflective of that between Neil and Andrew. I thought he was fine as a character, but he did suffer a bit from manic pixie dream love interest. Finally we have Henry. I both loved and loathed Henry. He was one of the best written characters I’ve read from, which also entails all his flaws. He reminded me a bit of Mila from Undead Girl Gang; he’s confrontational and mean to everyone around him, in an attempt to deal with and hide the pain he’s still processing. The bullying that Henry endures in this book was beyond something I thought people experience, but I absolutely believed it would happen. It was both weird and nice that at least it didn’t revolve around his sexuality, not that what it does revolve around is any better. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to lose someone the way he has, and I though the dull, ever present grief he feels fully through every page of the book. It’s not about saving the world really; it’s about Henry finding the strength to save himself from his own depression, and I really, really appreciated that Hutchinson has Henry get on medication and go to a hospital. The state he’s in isn’t anything he can handle himself, and I’m really glad that he was allowed to seek out help. Overall, I really loved this book. It’s a difficult read, in spite of the sardonic tone and humor. If you think you can handle the subject matter I think you should give it a read; I can definitely see why people love it so much, even though it isn’t perfect.

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#we are the ants #we are the ants review #moni talks #book review

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earaercircular · 3 years

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Elephant grass stores four times as much CO2 as a forest. This company therefore wants to plant it on all wasteland.

A little-known grass may be the answer to the problems with CO2 compensation: applicable locally and everywhere. The company Vibers therefore wants to plant it on all pieces of waste ground in the Netherlands.

Farmers, citizens and builders can use elephant grass [1] to become more sustainable. The plant absorbs four times as much CO2as trees. It also contains cellulose and therefore can be used as a filler in all kinds of products. The Dutch company Vibers[2] wants to expand the planting of this elephant grass on waste ground and thus remove CO2from the air.

It all started on a piece of land in Charlois, a neighbourhood of the Dutch city of Rotterdam that is located on the south bank of the Meuse River. There was a piece of land belonging to a housing corporation, where there used to be houses, but now nothing happened with it. Jan Govert van Gilst, founder of Vibers, planted its first hectare of elephant grass there. For research and development, to see what could be done with it. But also to show that we can make much better use of waste ground in the Netherlands.

Rainforest and palm oil

Van Gilst said goodbye to his well-paid ICT job in 2010. His goal? Making the world a little better. This wish arose after he saw the impact of humans on the environment in Borneo. “Everywhere vast areas of rainforest were being demolished for palm oil plantations. The beaches were awash in a sea of plastic waste. I realized that the damage was due to the demand for stuff we have in the west.”

At that time, sustainability did not really exist, but Van Gilst was already working on it. In 2011, the province of South Holland organized a competition: what can we do with the vacant industrial estates? Van Gilst had the idea to grow raw materials on those empty areas. At first he thought of growing bamboo on building sites, for co-firing in coal plants, but that required too many special machines for the harvest. The agricultural experts at Wageningen[3], whom Van Gilst contacted at the time, had a perfect alternative: elephant grass.

What is Elephant Grass?

Elephant grass is an old plant that has been used in many places and ways. It is a crop of several meters high, with leaves around a thick stem. It ensures good water management of the soil. Therefore (Dutch) farmers used to and still use it on their land. Not only does it retain a lot of water in the soil, it is also good for biodiversity, because insects find shelter under the leaves. And it has unexpected applications: at Schiphol, for example, there is elephant grass to keep the geese away from the aircraft engines. And it is used as biomass: raw material for combustion, generating electricity with its heat.

But Vibers does something different. The company first produced paper, then bio-concrete and finally bioplastics. As the name suggests, Van Gilst and his five colleagues make fibres from the grass. Fibres that can be as large and above all as small as necessary. The fibres of the grass can be made up to fifty micrometres through a process for which Van Gilst has a patent. With those small fibres, the material can serve as a filler in all kinds of products.

As in paper, which means fewer freshly felled trees are needed. Vibers had that paper made at the oldest paper factory in the Netherlands. “When I first started, I immediately ordered two tons of the elephant grass paper. I had to keep that at home. My wife was less happy about that," he says with a smile. Van Gilst started a web shop, Urgenda[4]boss Marjan Minnesma tweeted about this environmentally friendly paper and that's how the ball started rolling.

Bioplastic and concrete

Paper and cardboard are still an important market for elephant grass fibres. But now it is also in (bio) plastic, and in concrete. As a means of filling the empty space, elephant grass is well suited. The company delivers bioplastic granulate and film. Although it is impossible to make plastic entirely from elephant grass, one needs less expensive and environmentally polluting raw materials by replacing part of it with elephant grass. Vibers bio-concrete is available as a mix for outdoor applications in the public space like street furniture, tiles, architectural designs and bases for various uses. Additionally, those products then become 'carbon sinks': material in which CO2 is stored.

Because that's where the grass excels: according to Van Gilst, it stores four times more CO2 per hectare than a forest. Every year, 30 tons of CO2 per hectare disappears from the air in the plant. And that makes it an excellent way to offset CO2 emissions. Such compensation is popular[5], but much is unclear. Many projects to plant trees for compensation take place around the equator, where the growth rate is faster. But there is often no real control that the planted trees remain for decades to really retain the CO2.

In contrast, the elephant grass is grown in the Netherlands, where Vibers strictly monitors its management. Incidentally, they do not always do this themselves; Vibers focuses on waste ground, mostly with farmers. By using this unused land for CO2storage, everyone wins: the farmer can earn money from CO2compensation and from the sale of the grass. Vibers wins by supplying the fibres to (local) companies. And those companies are more environmentally friendly because they use elephant grass as a filler.

Local and responsible

It is no coincidence that the entire chain fits so beautifully. “Local is important to us. And the grass must always be on wasteland, there is no discussion about that. I do not want to lose agricultural land to CO2 compensation.” By arranging everything locally, Van Gilst had an advantage in corona time. “While ships from Asia delayed, we were able to continue. This proves the advantage of local chains.” This also means that he will not soon be exporting the grass fibres to cheap factories in China to make bioplastic there. “That would be easier, but I don't want that. Of course one can copy this local idea and introduce it in other countries.”

Actually, there is still a missing link in the entire chain: the party that needs CO2 compensation. If the farmer grows elephant grass as a CO2 bank, then there must also be a party that emits the CO2 and wants to compensate. “We hope that the Dutch industry will become increasingly interested in this. And the consumer too, by the way: they can then compensate for their own behaviour locally.” Van Gilst expects that compensation will become more popular if new rules and taxes for CO2 emissions are introduced. The farmer can of course also compensate the emissions of his own farm - something that is topical again after the latest advice from the PBL[6].

Vibers already has access to about 100 hectares of grass throughout the Netherlands. That should quickly become 1000 hectares. “That is ambitious, but achievable. The value of CO2 is increasing, so it will become an attractive choice for more and more farmers and companies.”If that is the case, a large part of the Netherlands will soon be full of elephant grass. That wouldn't be a bad thing for the climate.

Source

Marc Seijlhouwer, Olifantsgras slaat vier keer zoveel CO2 op als een bos. Dit bedrijf wil het daarom op alle braakliggende stukken land planten. in: ChangeInc, 8-7-2021, https://www.change.inc/circulaire-economie/olifantsgras-vier-keer-zoveel-co2-als-bos-36737

[1] Cenchrus purpureus, synonym Pennisetum purpureum, also known as Napier grass, elephant grass or Uganda grass [2] English (vibersinside.com) [3] University - WUR The university is part of Wageningen University & Research and is the only university in the Netherlands to focus specifically on the theme ‘healthy food and living environment’. [4] Home NL - Urgenda Urgenda is the organization for innovation and sustainability that aims to make the Netherlands more sustainable quicker, together with companies, governments, social organizations and private individuals. [5] think of the possibility to compensate for your business flight [6] PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency |PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency is the national institute for strategic policy analysis in the fields of the environment, nature and spatial planning.

#circular economy #co2 compensation

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jennielim · 4 years

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news-monda · 4 years

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avecorviidae · 5 years

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Fic: Aubade - Chapter Five

Fandom: Mob Psycho 100 Rating: M Relationship(s): Kageyama Ritsu/Suzuki Shou Word Count: 4703

Ao3 Link

There were six trains leaving Seasoning Station on the day they set off: two in the morning, and four in the afternoon.

Ritsu had immediately and vehemently vetoed the 6 AM train, whereas Shou had objected to taking another night train, on the grounds that he couldn’t sleep on trains at all, and he needed Ritsu awake to keep him company, so that had ruled out the two trains leaving after 6 PM. They’d both been kind of iffy about the early-afternoonish trains, knowing they were the most likely to have families and tourists and the like.

So, their little group had ended up huddled together on the platform, waiting sleepily for the 9 AM train to pull in.

Ritsu’s parents had said their goodbyes the night before at the house, so it’s just Mob, Teru, and Reigen who’ve shown up to send them off at the station. As usual, their group is receiving some odd looks from the sparse groups of people scattered around the station, although every employee they’ve met has recognized Reigen and Mob on sight.

Shou is, Ritsu thinks, not actually awake. Oh, sure, he’s standing, and he’d showered and gotten dressed and dragged luggage behind him on the walk, but he hasn’t actually formed a coherent sentence yet, and he’s been leaning on Ritsu more and more heavily for about the past five minutes. He has no less than three times flipped off Teru, who actually had the nerve to jog ahead of them to the station, is wearing neon pink running shorts, and is drinking something that looks like shit and smells like the ghost of bananas past.

Reigen, for what feels like the thousandth time, starts to drill Ritsu. “You have your phone? Your wallet?” “Yes, of course.” “Your chargers?” “Yeah, we-- wait.” It’s always worth double-checking the chargers. He leans down and partially unzips one of the pockets of the suitcase at his feet, and finding a horrifically tangled ball of two phone chargers and two laptop chargers exactly where they’d been when he’d last checked three minutes ago, nods. “Got the chargers.” Reigen still looks dissatisfied. Between his supply checks and Mob’s constant drifting back and forth from where the train schedule is posted, Ritsu thinks that the two of them are going to worrywart each other into a full blown panic. “Do you have your passport?” Ritsu blinks in confusion. “My passpo– Dad, we’re not fleeing the country!”

“Not yet!” Reigen replies, waving his arms frantically as if this is a legitimate possibility that Ritsu should’ve prepared for. He snorts and doesn’t reply, instead opting to mull over what’s more likely to get someone from his family deported from the country: Reigen’s scam business, or Teru’s fashion choices. While, sure, aspects of Reigen’s business are technically illegal, Teru’s outfits are simply in bad taste.

They hear the train before they see it, a distant chugging that breaks through the annoying bird noises and the vague chatter of the other people at the station. Around them, Ritsu sees most of the other people waiting on the platform straighten up, readjust their backpacks and jackets, start shifting around in anticipation. Surprisingly, Shou’s the same, pulling himself away from Ritsu’s side and blinking around them, looking fully awake for the first time that morning. Ritsu pushes down the handle on his little wheely case and hefts it onto his back, reaching out to take the larger suitcase from Mob. He’s not sure how he ended up carrying the most stuff, considering that out of the three bags they’ve brought, most of the stuff inside of them belongs to Shou. While Ritsu had only grabbed the bare necessities and a few jackets and shirts from his room, packing up Shou’s belongings had been a goddamn ordeal, including doing three loads of laundry from his already packed suitcase, and a two-hour long argument about whether or not it was appropriate to bring an entire desk lamp on a new move.

(“It’s my oldest friend!” Shou had argued, trying to wrestle it from Ritsu’s hands. “Six years I have known you, Suzuki, and never once has there been a working bulb in this lamp.”) Ritsu is eternally grateful that he doesn’t have a family that sobs as they send him off somewhere. The sadness he’s feeling is familiar, a pre-emptive homesickness that sinks into his stomach, makes him want to look around and take everything in so that he’ll remember the exact details of Seasoning City forever, makes him want to call the whole thing off and just stay home. Mob is smiling though, just a little, when he pulls him in for a hug, and all he feels from the aura that envelops him is warmth. “Be safe,” he murmurs into Ritsu’s shoulder. “Text me when you get there.” He receives quick but back-breaking hugs from Teru and Reigen that leave him gasping for air, but he finds that Shou got the short end of the Farewell Stick, because he looks over to see Mob giving him a hug that has him flailing with his feet a good few inches off the ground.

Reigen ushers them onto the train before they can be idiots and miss it, and Shou half climbs over Ritsu in the seats to wave out of the windows as the train starts to move. A quick jolt sends Shou sprawling, and it’s only bracing himself between the table and Ritsu’s shoulder that stops him from whacking his head on the window. Ritsu’s laughing even as he pushes Shou out of his lap, trying to get him to sit in his own goddamn seat for, oh, two minutes? Admittedly, there’s been an odd feeling of dread tinging his excitement, keeping him subdued over the past few days as they planned. It was the lingering worry that even though their plans, their situation, was becoming more and more concrete, that it wouldn’t actually happen. That some intangible, nonexistent problem would suddenly pop up and stop everything. He feels it settle, dissipate. He watches Shou move into the seats on the other side of the table, settling with his back against the window and his legs stretched out in front of him, and thinks, We’re actually doing this. It sounds almost stupidly awed to his own mind, and it’s threatening to put a giddy sort of smile on his face, and he manages to tamp down on it only because he knows that if Shou notices, he’ll ask about it, which will eventually lead to Ritsu being forced to admit that he’s feeling things, which, well, no.

Shou, for his part, manages to stay quiet and relatively still for all of three minutes before he starts fidgeting. He pulls out his phone, but seems to think better of it, because he puts it down in favour of looking over at Ritsu. “Can I borrow your phone?” On autopilot, he reaches into his pocket to hand it over, but stops himself. “Why…?” He asks, squinting, knowing he probably doesn’t want to know the answer. Shou leans over the table, making grabby hands at the phone, pouting when Ritsu moves his hand so that it’s just out of his reach. “Please? It’ll be funnier if I do it on yours!” On one hand, Shou’s desperation is kind of hilarious, and Ritsu isn’t sure he wants to know exactly what he’s planning. On the other hand, he’s got another ten hours on this train, and if he doesn’t give in now, Shou will literally carry on at him the entire time until he does. With a resigned sigh, he hands his phone over, and then groans when Shou immediately points it at him, obviously taking pictures. Instinctively, he flips Shou off, sending him a death glare, before looking at the camera and throwing up a peace sign with dead eyes. He relaxes when Shou finally puts the phone down and starts tapping away at the screen, and contents himself with staring out the window until Shou breaks the silence. “What the fuck is a Shigeo?” He asks, incredulous. Ritsu reaches out to try and snatch the phone back from Shou. “It’s my brother, you fuck, what are you sending to him?” Shou holds the phone out of his reach, contorting himself so that he can keep typing with it held above his head. Finally, he finishes and hands it back to Ritsu with a self-satisfied grin. Like the cat that got the cream, he thinks, and then two moments later, Oh god, what did he do. He taps in his passcode and finds his messaging app already open. TO: SHIGEO, TERUKI, DAD, YOUR FAVOURITE ;) [Picture Attached] [Picture Attached] we r. on the fuckin train.

FROM: DAD Language.

FROM: SHIGEO Be safe!!! <33

FROM: TERUKI Don’t look up anything inappropriate on his phone or he might kill you ;p

TO: SHIGEO, TERUKI, DAD, YOUR FAVOURITE ;) wow r00d TO: SHIGEO, TERUKI, DAD, YOUR FAVOURITE ;) I have my phone back. ignore him entirely.

FROM: YOUR FAVOURITE ;) WOW R00D

Shou, when he’s jetlagged at least, is a little like a windup toy.

He’ll run around at the speed of sound for a while, and talk your ear off given half the chance, but after a while he starts to grow noticeably… slower. Of course, he’ll protest the fact, still make a decent imitation of a hyperactive kitten, but all in all, it grows more sluggish until finally, inevitably, he keels over.

On the train? He doesn’t even last an hour. It’s easy to get drawn into a conversation with Shou, even easier to let him jump from topic to topic as something new strikes his fancy, and so Ritsu learns about Shou’s year overseas in a patchwork of unrelated information, one minute hearing about the godawful coffee served by this one particular Korean hotel, and the next about some strange western kids’ cartoon he’d seen at some ungodly hour of the morning. It’s always a fun little game with this, trying to piece together the snippets of information like puzzle pieces, except he’s working with about three different puzzles, and he can’t find any edge pieces. In this state, waving his arms around wildly to emphasize his points and cutting himself off every other sentence, Ritsu thinks it’s basically impossible to get a coherent story out of Shou. The probability goes even further down when Shou pauses mid-sentence to yawn. Ritsu finds himself yawning in response, but he manages to ask around it, “You tired?” Shou snorts. “Pff, nah. I’m great. I slept for like, seven hours yesterday.” Now, Ritsu, because he actually wanted to be awake in time to, oh, catch the train, had gone to bed at a half-decent time the previous night. He had, however, woken up for the bathroom at some point, and he knows for a fact that Shou is rather generously rounding up from not much more than three. While Shou looks awake, it’s a bad sort of awake, an ‘I really should be sleeping now oh god’ sort of awake, an ‘I am awake out of sheer determination not to be asleep’ sort of awake, the type of slow-blinking, faux-happy sort of awake that Ritsu forces after he’s just pulled an all-nighter for an essay. God, at least he’s usually had coffee or cereal or something. Shou, with a bad tendency to get nauseous in the mornings, hadn’t so much as been able to touch the water Ritsu had offered, let alone the leftover smoothie Teru had tried to shove in his face.

He tugs a jacket out of his bag and hands it over wordlessly. Shou eyes it for a moment, like a deer liable to be spooked, before reaching out and snatching it from him. There are a few moments of adjustments before he settles, arms folded on the table and the hoodie bundled on top of it as a pillow. Ritsu sees him blink heavily for a little before his eyes fall closed, and then he’s out like a light. He’s vaguely disturbed by how quickly Shou manages to fall asleep, especially in a weird position like that. Sure, he’d managed it back in high school, when his only options for quick naps had been to rest his head on the desk or risk it falling out of his cupped hands when he nodded off. Still, it had always left him stiff and vaguely sick, his stomach protesting being bent over in the single laziest yoga position in existence for any length of time. So, he doesn’t really understand why it’s Shou’s first choice, when there’s a perfectly good window right there. For his part, Ritsu isn’t quite drowsy enough to sleep, so he messes around on his phone for a while, switching from app to app until it buzzes with an email. FROM: [email protected] TO: [email protected]

Mr. Kageyama,

This email is to inform you that we have received your notification of residence change.

You will be required to vacate your dormitory at least one (1) week prior to the beginning of the new academic year, on June 30th. You must notify the University’s department of Student Housing within three (3) days of your vacating your dormitory. The department of Student Housing can be reached at +81-429-884915 .

Ritsu leans back and pulls one knee to his chest, sighing.

This was what it came down to, really, actually finding a place to live. Somewhere within walking distance of the university, with four walls, a roof, and a floor, two bedrooms, working plumbing, and included appliances. It seemed impossible. This, he had thought, this is where it will all come crashing down. And yet. They’d spent most of yesterday looking at online listings, emailing and calling landlords, setting up viewings. The less time spent in Ritsu’s dorm, the better, after all. They’d actually had to narrow down their choices, from ten to seven to about four or five places that they both agreed looked promising. He decides he might as well get something productive done while he’s here, and starts to tap out an email. FROM: [email protected] TO: [email protected]

Mr. Nishigori, My name is Kageyama Ritsu; we spoke a few days ago on the phone, about a possible tour of your apartment on Amaranth Street. My friend and I will be in town later tonight, and were hoping to set up a time as soon as possible. We would greatly appreciate if you could give us a set of times that work for your schedule over the next couple of days. Thank you for your time,

Kageyama Ritsu +81-9064625949

He sends a couple more emails along those lines, even gets a couple of replies, before it suddenly hits him again, this light, giddy feeling, like his heart is filled with helium and it’s trying to float into his throat. We’re actually doing this, he thinks, and stifles a vaguely hysterical giggle.

On instinct, he gives a cursory sweep of the train to make sure that nobody actually noticed the weirdo laughing to himself. Thankfully, the only other people in the compartment with them are a small family that seem to be occupying themselves with some travel game, the kind of “what can you see out of the window” tactic that his parents employed on him and Mob when they were kids in the car, and then a few more people scattered around in individual seats, either occupied by their own phones or fast asleep.

He’d shrugged on a thin hoodie this morning, to face the early morning chill as they walked to the station, but now that the sun has properly risen he finds himself uncomfortably warm and vaguely sweaty. He pulls it off, leaving it bunched at his back, and notes with absent interest that they’re driving through a forest of some sort. For the most part, the sun only manages to break through the foliage in bits and pieces, painting the compartment in shadowed, dappled greens. Occasionally though, there’ll be a gap in the trees allowing the sun to hit him. Right in the eyes. Inevitably, they chug past the forest, and Ritsu is left completely defenseless against the ball of burning hellfire in the sky. He tries holding his hand in the exact position needed to block it out, but, well, his arm gets tired pretty quickly. He tries draping his hoodie over his head, but the cavern of black fabric gets too hot to breathe in pretty quickly, and Ritsu has little-to-no interest in becoming a baked potato. He’s pretty sure this is a decent argument as to why they should’ve taken the night train, but whatever, he can’t really be bothered to wake Shou up to make a point.

Heaving a greatly put-upon sigh, he stands, steadying himself on the table. He grabs Shou’s backpack from the spare seat and chucks it unceremoniously across to where he was just sitting, and plops down beside Shou. Now that the sun isn’t making a concerted effort at blinding him, he can see the light glinting off of Shou’s hair, lighting it up like some sort of precious metal. There are a lot of dust motes floating around his head.

Shou only wakes up once in the next six or so hours, and then only briefly. By the three and a half hour mark, Ritsu has done everything he can think of to keep himself occupied, including looking for shapes in the clouds, doing terrible little stick figure doodles in his notebook, doing what little he can without wifi on his laptop (about fifty seven games of solitare, not that he’s keeping track,) and a short-lived and incredibly uncomfortable nap. He feels like he should be able to sleep, given the easy, lazy warmth of the train, given how easily Shou has been able to slip into it, the soft lines of his shoulders in his white shirt rising and falling as he breathes, blending seamlessly with the almost ethereal summer light.

He’d managed to entertain himself with his phone, for a little while, but once it had hit less than half battery he’d decided to turn it off and definitely not think about it at all, in case he needed to use it for something actually important.

So, he half jumps out of his skin when it starts vibrating like mad in his back pocket. He fumbles with it until he can see that Matsuo is calling him.

“Hey! Kageyama! My bro! Rumor around here is that you’re ditching us, bro!” Ritsu forces himself to bite back ‘I’m not your bro, bro,’ instead deciding on a polite, “Hello, Matsuo. Yes, I’m moving out.” “Ha, dude, nice! Did you score with some chick? Are you actually moving in with your girl? You always seemed like a player, bro!” Ritsu squints. How in the fuck would I strike anyone as a player? A movement to his left draws his attention, and he looks over to see Shou stirring, propping himself up on one elbow to blink blearily at Ritsu. There are red lines in the pattern of the hoodie fabric all over his cheek, and Ritsu has to hold back a laugh at the knockoff Two-Face vibes. He waves dismissively at Shou’s questioning look, a sort of ‘tell you in a minute’ kind of gesture that he hopes Shou understands. “Yeah, about that,” he starts, unsure how to breach the topic. “I’m actually moving in with a friend of mine, but he just got back from overseas, so neither of us actually have a place yet. Is it cool if he sleeps on the couch for the next couple of days, until we’re good?”

“Ha, I can do you one better, bro! Daichi’s still chillin’ with his girlfriend until the end of break, so your dude can just crash in his bed instead!” A pause, and then, “...Yo, Kageyama, is this buddy of yours the one that drank five Red Bulls when you were skyping him, like, to prove that he could?” Ritsu sighs. Naturally, Matsuo has his priorities straight. “Yes. Yes it is.” “Tell him I said hi, yo. He’s hardcore.” A hardcore dumbass, Ritsu thinks, but what manages to come out of his mouth is, “Will do. Thanks, Matsuo.” “Anytime, bro!” As soon as he hangs up he turns to Shou, who’s back at it with the questioning eyes in full force. He’s not quite upright anymore, having slipped downwards so that his head is half-pillowed between the crook of his elbow and the hoodie. Ritsu shakes his head, summarizing. “Just my roommate. He wanted to know if I was actually leaving. Also, Daichi’s gone, so you can take his bed until we get a place.” Shou nods, which is an action really more to the effect of rubbing his face against the jacket, but Ritsu gets the general idea.

“Daichi’s the one you sleep with, right?” He murmurs. “Again, phrasing, but yeah, he’s in my room. I emailed a few of the landlords for the places we were looking at, so hopefully we can decide within a couple days what we’re–” He interrupts himself, in favour of asking the real questions. “Are you… alright? Shou has buried his face entirely in the hoodie. Ritsu isn’t sure exactly how he can be breathing. After a few moments of complete silence, Shou turns his head back to face him. “Not to be creepy, but this jacket smells like your house. It’s. It’s good.”

Ritsu blinks, raises one eyebrow. He feels like he maybe should find that creepy, but it’s not the weirdest thing Shou has ever said to him, and in this state, delirious and actually nuzzling his jacket, it’s almost… is cute the right word for it? Flattering, maybe. Endearing. Something like that, some word he can’t name for the fond exasperation colouring his smile and his voice as he says, “Oh? And what does my house smell like?” “Hmmmmmmmmmn.” Shou makes a long noise of consideration, burrowing his nose into the fabric again. “Smells like you.”

He’s asleep again before Ritsu can even try to think of a response to that one.

He’d had to physically drag Shou away from Matsuo, who had a six pack of some godawful energy drink and some very, very bad ideas which were right up Shou’s avenue.

It feels oddly intimate, having Shou sitting across from him in a pair of faded Sonic boxer shorts on his tiny, creaky bed in his tiny, creaky dorm room. He’s cross-legged, coveting a pile of snacks he’d pillaged from the communal pantry in his lap, but he doesn’t complain when Ritsu snatches a chip from his hand every now and again. Ritsu’s been trying to keep them on-topic, but it’s difficult, when Shou’s been wound up again, and he’s bouncing off the walls. He chews thoughtfully for a moment, then asks, “Do you guys have any soda?” Ritsu sighs. “The last thing you need is more sugar.”

At that, Shou perks up, and then he’s gone, bouncing off of the bed and running to the other side of the room with a force that Ritsu thinks must’ve woken up everyone in the next three floors below them. Somehow, his pile of snacks is still on the bed, looking relatively undisturbed. He rummages around in the pockets of his backpack, dumped on top of his suitcase at the foot of Daichi’s bed, until he eventually comes up with– “Shou, no.”

Shou jumps back onto the bed, and this time, a granola bar goes flying. Shou doesn’t seem to notice, because all of his attention is on the bag of melted chocolate and broken dreams that used to be his mother’s cookies. “No, nonononono no,” Ritsu says as Shou starts to open the bag, and leans back so that he can dig his heels into Shou’s back and forcefully push him to the floor. Shou goes willingly, rolling onto his back with the cookies curled close to his chest, and giggling like a maniac. It makes him laugh in return, despite himself. “No. You eat that on Daichi’s bed, you little shit, or you get nothing.”

Shou already somehow covered in melted chocolate, scurries over to Daichi’s bed and hops on with an evil sort of grin that almost makes Ritsu feel sorry for Daichi, the poor ass. Ritsu dumps the rest of the snacks onto the floor and stretches out on his newly free bed.

“As I was saying,” he begins, as if it hadn’t been twenty minutes since he’d last been derailed, “We’re looking at three apartments tomorrow, so we’ll need to leave here kind of early. I know a place we can get lunch. Most of the ones we’re looking at are pretty much fully furnished, so if we do decide on a place tomorrow, we might be able to talk the landlord into letting us sleep there tomorrow night. Especially if we can wave some money around, or whatever. If we can’t…” he sighs. “I can’t say I want to spend much more time here, but it won’t be the end of the world.” He turns his head to look at Shou. “Sound alright?” The look on Shou’s face is something Ritsu doesn’t get to see much out of him: awe. He’s staring, wide eyed and blank for a few beats before he seems to shake himself. “Yeah,” he says, firmly, and then, “Yeah, that’s…” this time, much less so. The silence hangs in the air, pensive and waiting to be filled, so Ritsu waits. Eventually, Shou rolls onto his back, staring resolutely at the ceiling. He starts. “You’re so… on top of this.” Ritsu bites back his immediate retort of ‘well, one of us has to be.’ It’s a joke, but from the vulnerable, almost reticent tone of Shou’s voice, he has the feeling it might hit a little too close to home. At a lack of response, Shou keeps going. “I guess I thought… I, I don’t know what I thought! I didn’t think I’d get this far, I didn’t think you’d agree to this in the first place! It was just some… some dumb idea I had that seemed fun in my head and you’re…” he waves his hands around in some gesture that could mean anything, that sends panic deep into Ritsu’s mind, because he’s sure that Shou is about to finish that sentence with “You’re actually taking this seriously.” What he says instead, is “...You’re actually making this work!” And then he puts voice to what Ritsu’s been thinking for almost a week now, spoken softly, like if one of them finally says it aloud, then, then is when it becomes real. “We’re really doing this.”

Ritsu breathes, “Yeah, we are.” It’s a stupid worry, really, but he can’t help but pray that this isn’t the moment Shou decides he regrets it.

“Thank you,” he says, and it’s almost painfully earnest. “I seriously don’t know how any of this stuff works, and I was just sort of going to, I don’t know, wing it? When I thought I was doing this on my own. But you’re just sort of… doing it. We’re actually looking at apartments tomorrow. And I’m…” And this time, Ritsu can’t resist the jab. “Lying on my roommate’s bed covered in chocolate?” Luckily, neither can Shou. “At least I’ll always bring the sex appeal to our duo,” he says, glancing quickly over at him with a barely veiled grin. “Hm. Debatable.” “Hey!” Ritsu makes himself turn towards Shou, after a while, propping himself up on his elbow. “It’s fine, you know. That you’re not really doing the organizing stuff.” Before he can tell himself not to, he more or less blurts, “I wouldn’t want to do it half as much if it were anyone other than you.” Shou hasn’t moved, hasn’t looked away from the ceiling above him, and Ritsu doesn’t think Shou knows he’s watching him, because the smile that spreads across his face, slowly, and then like a flashbang, like a grenade, God, it could’ve outshone the sun. Shou laughs, a small, shaky thing. “Well, someone has to provide the comic relief.”

#/#//#///#////#/////#robin fic #mp100 fic #fic: aubade

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williamjharwick · 7 years

Text

Build Your Own Brand 5-Day Challenge Begins Today!

Today, I’m excited to announce that my new online course, Build Your Own Brand (BYOB), is now permanently open for enrollment. I created the course to help people who have no online branding develop a website and online brand that they can be proud of—all within five days.

And the best part: it’s 100 percent free to join!

Click here now to begin the 5-Day BYOB Challenge!

I’ve been helping people make their mark online since 2009 when I started teaching this stuff, primarily through blog posts and a popular YouTube video about starting a blog. That information was helpful, but it wasn’t the best and most convenient experience to learn by, not to mention it was nearly impossible to keep things all in one place and up-to-date.

That’s why I created BYOB, to give you the easiest way to get the information you need to build a website all in one place, which also makes it easy for me personally to keep things up-to-date for you.

This course is for you if you’re just starting out, you have no website at all, and you’re not quite sure what you’re doing. You know you need to launch a website, you want to make sure it’s done right, and you also want someone to hold your hand step-by-step along the way.

This course is also unique because it’s built as a five-day challenge.

You’ll see five modules (one for each day), and every day you’ll go through the lessons and follow the instructions. Each day will build on the next, and after the five days are over, if you stick with the plan, you’ll have a great looking website you can be proud of, and a solid understanding of your brand and purpose, which are the foundational pieces you need to have in order to build your audience, earn trust, and potentially launch your online business.

Why Is There a Challenge Component?

Two reasons:

Motivation

Planning

Structuring content within a challenge motivates people to take massive action. I’ve run several challenges in the past (like my 72-hour 100 email challenge), and it’s incredible how framing content in a specific way and with an end goal in mind can drive people to finally get off their butts and take action.

Additionally, knowing how many days this is going to take gives you an understanding of just how much time you’ll be spending on this. Build a website—yes that’s a concrete goal, but when is it going to happen? How long will it take?

Framed within a challenge like this, I can tell you what those answers are:

You’re going to start as soon as you choose to begin, and after five days you will have this thing you’ve been aiming to accomplish for a very long time.

Why is This a Free Course?

I’ve actually been building an email list of thousands of people who have told me they’ve been looking forward to an upcoming paid course on building a blog and getting their website up and running.

Earlier in the year, I launched a premium course about business idea validation (Smart From Scratch), and another paid course teaching people to how launch and market their podcast (Power-Up Podcasting). Both have performed very well.

I thought it was the right time, and the right topic, to offer something of massive value for free. For those of you who have participated in one of my existing paid courses, this is the perfect next step.

If you have already validated your business idea, the next obvious step is to create a website to house your new business and begin to collect interest in the product or service you will offer.

If you have created a podcast, but have yet to build your own website, you should. And now you have a free resource to help you!

But even if you haven’t taken my existing courses, but just want to do something to get started and have no idea how, I’ve solved a problem for you too. It’s all here, it’s easy to follow, and it works! I wanted to make the course free in order to remove any financial hurdles that may prevent you from getting started. You will need to invest a little bit of money upfront anyway (for a domain name and hosting plan), so I don’t want to add any other expenses that may trip you up.

I earn an affiliate commission from some of the products I recommend (at no extra cost to you). But my main goal for this course is to show you how to do this right, allow you to experience small wins up front, and hopefully encourage you to learn more about how to scale and grow your brand afterward—whether that’s through all of the free and existing (and upcoming) content on SPI, or in a premium course that might make sense for you later.

More Free Stuff to Celebrate Build Your Own Brand

For this next week and the next week only (through Monday, October 23, 2017 ending at midnight Pacific time), if you sign up to take the BYOB challenge, a couple of things will happen:

You’ll get access to a free LIVE Website Launch Strategy Training that will take place on Wednesday, November 1 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. For an hour and a half, I’m going to give you my best strategies for launching a new website, so after you get the website up and running, you’ll have an understanding of how to make sure it gets in front of as many people as possible.

You will be automatically enrolled in that webinar, and a replay will be sent to you after, whether you can make the live call or not.

If you have been waiting to get your website up—if that’s been the one thing holding you back—don’t let that hold you back any longer. You’re seeing this challenge now for a reason, and I look forward to seeing you progress through it! Just click the link below to get started now:

Click this link to start the BYOB course and challenge!

Build Your Own Brand 5-Day Challenge Begins Today! shared from David Homer’s Blog

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andrewmrudd79 · 7 years

Text

Build Your Own Brand 5-Day Challenge Begins Today!

And the best part: it’s 100 percent free to join!

Click here now to begin the 5-Day BYOB Challenge!

This course is also unique because it’s built as a five-day challenge.

Why Is There a Challenge Component?

Two reasons:

Motivation

Planning

Framed within a challenge like this, I can tell you what those answers are:

You’re going to start as soon as you choose to begin, and after five days you will have this thing you’ve been aiming to accomplish for a very long time.

Why is This a Free Course?

If you have already validated your business idea, the next obvious step is to create a website to house your new business and begin to collect interest in the product or service you will offer.

If you have created a podcast, but have yet to build your own website, you should. And now you have a free resource to help you!

More Free Stuff to Celebrate Build Your Own Brand

For this next week and the next week only (through Monday, October 23, 2017 ending at midnight Pacific time), if you sign up to take the BYOB challenge, a couple of things will happen:

You will be automatically enrolled in that webinar, and a replay will be sent to you after, whether you can make the live call or not.

Click this link to start the BYOB course and challenge!

Build Your Own Brand 5-Day Challenge Begins Today! originally posted at Homer’s Blog

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judithghernandez87 · 7 years

Text

Build Your Own Brand 5-Day Challenge Begins Today!

And the best part: it’s 100 percent free to join!

Click here now to begin the 5-Day BYOB Challenge!

This course is also unique because it’s built as a five-day challenge.

Why Is There a Challenge Component?

Two reasons:

Motivation

Planning

Framed within a challenge like this, I can tell you what those answers are:

You’re going to start as soon as you choose to begin, and after five days you will have this thing you’ve been aiming to accomplish for a very long time.

Why is This a Free Course?

If you have already validated your business idea, the next obvious step is to create a website to house your new business and begin to collect interest in the product or service you will offer.

If you have created a podcast, but have yet to build your own website, you should. And now you have a free resource to help you!

More Free Stuff to Celebrate Build Your Own Brand

For this next week and the next week only (through Monday, October 23, 2017 ending at midnight Pacific time), if you sign up to take the BYOB challenge, a couple of things will happen:

You will be automatically enrolled in that webinar, and a replay will be sent to you after, whether you can make the live call or not.

Click this link to start the BYOB course and challenge!

Build Your Own Brand 5-Day Challenge Begins Today! originally posted at Dave’s Blog

0 notes

davidmhomerjr · 7 years

Text

Build Your Own Brand 5-Day Challenge Begins Today!

And the best part: it’s 100 percent free to join!

Click here now to begin the 5-Day BYOB Challenge!

This course is also unique because it’s built as a five-day challenge.

Why Is There a Challenge Component?

Two reasons:

Motivation

Planning

Framed within a challenge like this, I can tell you what those answers are:

You’re going to start as soon as you choose to begin, and after five days you will have this thing you’ve been aiming to accomplish for a very long time.

Why is This a Free Course?

If you have already validated your business idea, the next obvious step is to create a website to house your new business and begin to collect interest in the product or service you will offer.

If you have created a podcast, but have yet to build your own website, you should. And now you have a free resource to help you!

More Free Stuff to Celebrate Build Your Own Brand

For this next week and the next week only (through Monday, October 23, 2017 ending at midnight Pacific time), if you sign up to take the BYOB challenge, a couple of things will happen:

You will be automatically enrolled in that webinar, and a replay will be sent to you after, whether you can make the live call or not.

Click this link to start the BYOB course and challenge!

0 notes

junker-town · 7 years

Text

Colin Kaepernick rally in New York shows NFL can't hide from this movement

NEW YORK — Four days before an evening filled with protest, when 1,000 people gathered in front of NFL headquarters in New York City to show their support for Colin Kaepernick, their voices rising over the screams of “commies” coming from counter-protestors, one man, just 20 miles south, wanted to deliver a message from God.

As Pastor Stephen Greene addressed his congregation in tiny Roselle, New Jersey, on Sunday, he traded his typical religious garments for a scarlet No. 7 jersey.

In speaking about Kaepernick, whose protest, which began a year ago, has led to the quarterback being exiled from the NFL, Greene read from the Book of Luke.

“Out of the abundance of the heart,” Greene said, “the mouth speaks.”

The NFL’s silence showed their heart, Greene said. It showed they valued compliance above all else. It showed they would allow one man’s advocacy to result in his unemployment. Something had to change so that Kaepernick’s plight didn’t go unnoticed, but also so that this never happened again.

Then, Greene crescendoed.

“God has called on the church to renew the heart of this nation,” he said. “Because a nation that God has given so much to ought not be able to treat God’s people like this.”

Between the hums of the organ and baps of tambourines, Greene roared for much of the 17-minute sermon, his body, at times, writhing and twitching to match the homily. He spoke passionately about Kaepernick, and what was to come later that week: the gathering of hundreds to rally and protest the quarterback’s unemployment in front of the NFL.

Kaepernick’s first kneel, one year ago this week, has aged since then. On Wednesday, Greene and others gathered across from the NFL’s headquarters to send a clear message to the league: these people, these protests, are not going away.

What it also showed was a possible look at the future of the NFL. It has been a year since Kaepernick’s protest, and things are only ramping up. Every week there are more protests. There will be no normalcy, no apolitical football. In all the ways that Wednesday’s protest was about Kaepernick, it was also bigger than him. He’s now a symbol. What he started is sweeping the field.

“The NFL must understand that they cannot put a stop to this movement,” Greene said. “There is something very powerful about players from every ethnicity joining this moment. Despite the blackballing that Kaepernick is facing, other players are willing to risk their livelihoods to exert their moral consciousness.

“This is only the beginning.”

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Before 4 p.m., police had swarmed nearly two blocks around the rally zone on 51st Street and Park Avenue. The demonstration wasn’t scheduled to start until 5:30 pm, but even then it was a zoo.

There were Kappa fraternity boys strolling in Kaepernick jerseys and gear. Folks wore shirts honoring Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, Ramarley Graham, and Anthony Baez: all victims of police violence.

Moments before it began, protesters famed and unknown huddled in this section of Midtown, spilling out over the sidewalks. Kurtis Blow breezed by in big chains and white Air Forces. Choirs harmonized next to bicycles and Beamers. Colorful dashikis were in stark contrast with the “Make America Great Again” caps and scowls from white bystanders, angry at what they saw. They held their own signs, some of which read “Colin the Commie.”

Kevin Livingston, the man who organized the first protest for Kaepernick at NFL Headquarters in May, couldn’t believe his eyes.

“This is beautiful,” he said. “When we started this back in May, we had about 100 people. To see the size of it now? Celebrities have caught on. NFL players are catching on. They are showing by example that we need to end systemic racism in the NFL.”

New York councilman Jumaane Williams felt similarly.

“Ah shit! We woke now,” he said into a microphone from the stage. “We been trying to tell people about this for a long time and they’re just now listening.”

Willie Colon, a Super Bowl-winning offensive lineman with the Steelers and nine-year veteran who started 100 NFL games, explained how this moment has become bigger than football.

Yes, the NFL is a business, he said. They can run it however they see fit. But because this isn’t going away anytime soon, he said the league needs to approach this as “a society issue.”

“It’s tough,” he said, about each NFL’s player decision to make a stand. “Some people are down for themselves. Some people are down for the cause. You have to have a conscious decision on where you stand. I can’t answer that for every man.”

Organizers from the Women’s March, Justice League New York, Rainbow Push Coalition, the NAACP and many more flooded the stage. A rumor spread through the crowd that this was the biggest demonstration ever in front of the NFL’s property. Police were consistently pushing people back, trying to keep the street clear. It was impossible.

“Brothers and sisters!” Tamika Mallory, a co-chair of the Women’s March said. “I didn’t come today to play with the NFL.” Mallory has met with Kaepernick since his stand like many of those that organized the day. However, the point of the moment was made clearer as she spoke.

“I didn’t come out here today for one man,” she said. “Even Colin Kaepernick will tell you that he didn’t [take a] knee just for himself or his family but that he kneed for all of us.”

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Weeks ago, when Spike Lee tweeted out a flyer about this “United We Stand” rally, it wasn’t just the excitement of one man. It was Symone Sanders’ intention. Sanders, a commentator for CNN and strategist for a Washington-based political action committee, wanted to create a policy plan that changed the way we see protest in football.

Sanders and the United We Stand Coalition formed over the past month. They wrote a letter and sent it to the NFL this week. But the NFL denied their request to meet and discuss the policy plan, which called for several actionable, concrete changes for the NFL to make. These included demanding a rule to protect players’ freedom of speech, especially in terms of advocacy, the establishment of a review board to examine issues of social justice, and for the formation of a group to develop programming for the NFL to re-invest into the community.

The Coalition says that the NFL denied their request for a meeting, though the league did offer to have the group join a larger meeting with several other groups in the coming weeks. The group declined that offer. Sanders said the letter did reach commissioner Roger Goodell, however.

“We are living in a moment where America is going to decide who we want to be across the board,” Sanders told SB Nation last week. “We’ve seen that from the boardroom to the field to the White House. So, the people who want to take issue with protest, I’d remind them we got this country via protest. One could argue there’s nothing more American than football and folks that suit up everyday are real people. They have real families. And they are dealing with the real things that hit people across the country everyday.”

Combining with Sanders’ initiative, the Congressional Black Caucus, the federal government’s black arm of lawmakers, is hosting a forum next month examining the topics of race and sports. Hakeem Jeffries, a black Democratic congressman from New York on the caucus, said that seeing Kaepernick out of the league and what that means for football is “disappointing.”

He agreed with Sanders’ call. Players, he said, should be able to embrace their First Amendment right regardless of how controversial their statements could be to some.

“These are challenging times in America,” Jeffries said. “It’s an important moment for people of goodwill including high profile sports athletes to use their platform to elevate issues of importance to historically disenfranchised communities.”

Michael Skolnik, an organizer that has made social impact campaigns all over the world, stood with Sanders’ coalition that Wednesday. He, like many, understood the need for a policy change in the league.

The NFL is heading into another season where protest is going to mix with football. Skolnik, a white man, said what the NFL doesn’t understand is that there are fans on the side of players. And if they ignore these people, they will lose a part of their constituency.

“The NFL has to recognize that this isn’t just about football. This is about human lives. This is about black lives,” he said. “I would love to see the NFL take more of a proactive position on the reality of this country. Not trying to silence players or blacklist players. As a league, take this issue head on and address it.”

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Sitting on a fence as the rally neared its end, Ibtihaj Muhammad — an Olympic fencer who was the first American to compete in the games wearing a hijab — spoke about the role of athletes at this moment of immense protest. As she spoke, she held on to a sign which read “Olympians for Kaep.”

“Oh definitely,” she said when asked if she would ever kneel like Kaepernick. She explained that since she was in a smaller sport, her paycheck isn’t affected if she was to do so. But for the athletes putting their financial security on the line, she said it was commendable.

“Who better to do that than athletes and public figures who hold such large platforms?” she said. “This is how we create change. We are proponents of change by not just by starting the movement but making it a global movement.”

Kaepernick’s moment inspired part of the nation to begin holding challenging conversations about progress. It’s led to white players slowly standing with their black teammates and rationalizing the role of the white athlete at this moment in America.

“It’s not a secret anymore. It’s not a farce,” Sanders said. “This is another test for our country. If you’re silent on Kaepernick’s ostracism by the NFL or the continued protest of these players, you are sending a message that black bodies do not matter. You are sending a message that they are not worth fighting for.”

As afternoon crawled to evening and the bulk of the rally fled into the dark New York night, nearly 100 rallygoers were still partying on the NFL’s steps. It was a natural look: a scene encompassing the NFL’s changing landscape.

Walking from the zone, if one thing was made clear this day it was that the NFL is unable to keep ignoring these people and their call. Organizers are unwilling to let Kaepernick’s message fade. Protest is back in prime time for another season.

“I’ll tell you, hell is breaking loose. We’ve been sick and tired for a long time,” Hazel Dukes, President of the NAACP’s New York state branch said. “We will be here until hell freezes over. And even then, we skate across the ice.”

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edgysocial · 7 years

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New Post has been published on http://edgysocial.com/40-common-interview-questions-to-make-you-90-prepared-before-the-interview/

40 Common Interview Questions to Make You 90% Prepared Before the Interview

Interviewing for a new job can be stressful. Especially if you’re asked questions that you haven’t prepared for.

Fortunately, most interviews follow a standard format, and are likely to include common interview questions.

While it’s impossible to cover all questions that you may be asked, we’ve picked out 40 of the most common interview questions. If you learn responses for these, you’ll find yourself 90% prepared for any interview.

Imagine how much more relaxed you’ll be going into an interview, knowing that you have answers prepared for the vast majority of questions you may be asked.

Let’s dive straight into the questions…

Focus on These 10 Most Common Interview Questions First

To help you get started, we’ve chosen 10 most common interview questions that could make or break your interview.

1. What can you tell us about yourself?

Employers often ask this open-ended question as a way to break the ice. It also gives them an early opportunity to view your personality, as well as an insight into whether you would be a good match for the company and job.

Tips:

Summarize your career highlights and goals.

Talk about personal interests or accomplishments that could create a positive impression in the minds of the interviewers.

Avoid rambling.

Good Example:

“After my graduation with honors, I immediately found work with a blue-chip company. I’ve spent the last five years helping them to grow their B2B market by more than 75%. I’m now ready for a new challenge and a new company.”

Bad Example:

“I wouldn’t describe myself as lazy, but I do like to sleep in late and go home early!”

2. What motivates you?

Depending on the role you are applying for, it’s likely the company will ask this question to determine if your motivations match what they are looking for. If it’s a sales role, then they’ll be expecting you to say money. For a caring or nursing role, then they’ll expect you to say you’re motivated by helping others.

Tips:

There are no right or wrong answers to this question.

It’s best to be open and honest about your motivations.

Good Example:

“I’m driven by a desire to have a successful career.”

Bad Example:

“I’ve got loads of credit card debts so I really need the money!”

3. Why should we consider hiring you?

Employers ask this question to see whether you’ll be a good fit for their company. They’ll also be looking to see if you understand the duties of the role they are hiring for.

Tips:

Reply with a concise sales pitch.

Show that you’ve researched their company.

Talk about how you can fill the duties of the role successfully.

Avoid talking negatively about your current (or past) employer.

Good Example:

“I believe I have the necessary skills and experience to be a genuine asset to your company.”

Bad Example:

“It’s a good question. Let me see… I live locally, and I’m happy to start anytime after 10 a.m.”

4. Why do you want to work here?

This is similar to the two questions above. Namely, employers are looking to ascertain if you’ve researched their company and the role you are applying for.

Tips:

Research the company thoroughly. (For example, their history, ethos and market sector.)

Demonstrate your career goals.

Explain why you believe you’ll be a good match for the company.

Good Example:

“I was tremendously excited when I saw your advertised position. I know your company well, as I already use some of the great services you offer. I believe that I can contribute significantly to the continuing growth and success of your company.”

Bad Example:

“My friend used to work here, and he told me that you have some great staff benefits. To be honest, I think your early finish on a Friday afternoon would suit me perfectly!”

5. Can you list your strengths?

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this question. Employers are looking to see if your strengths include suitable qualifications for the specific role as well as personality traits that match the needs of the company.

Tips:

Avoid cliches such as: capable, enthusiastic and hard-working.

Give concrete examples of things you do well.

Talk about attributes that might set you apart from other applicants.

Good Example:

“I am a skilled public relations expert with over ten years of experience. I have represented and protected my current employer for the last five years. This has included several ‘damage limitation’ exercises, all of which ended positively for the company. My contribution to the company was rewarded recently with an ‘Employee of the Year’ award.”

Bad Example:

“By strengths, do you mean my force of personality? If yes, then I’m great at telling people what to do and getting my own way!”

6. What weaknesses do you have?

Let’s be honest, this question appears to be designed to catch you. In reality, however, employers will most likely ask this question simply as a contrast to the one about your strengths.

Tips:

Don’t say that you have no weaknesses. (Looks arrogant!)

Talk about a weakness that would not affect the job you are applying for.

Identify a weakness that you’re now in the process of eliminating.

Turn a perceived negative into a positive. (For instance, your obsessive attention to detail.)

Good Example:

“Organization was never my strongest point, but I’ve recently learned and implemented a time management system that has massively boosted my organizational skills.”

Bad Example:

“I have lots of weaknesses. The worst of these being my tendency to drift off to sleep at inopportune moments…”

7. What makes a good team player?

If an employer is considering you for a team leader or department management position, then they’ll want to be 100% sure that you can work well in a team environment. They’ll also want to hear that you understand team dynamics.

Tips:

Talk about examples from your past that demonstrate your team-building prowess.

As well as work examples, you could mention clubs and organisations that you are an active member of.

Teams rely on harmony to be successful, so show that you know how to get on with people.

Good Example:

“Being a good team player means being able to understand the goals of the team and to be an active participant in reaching these goals. I have some experience of this, as I play weekly for my local basketball team. This has taught me the power of a harmonious team as well as how to deal with difficult people.”

Bad Example:

“Being in a team is great. There’s always someone who can fill in for you. And plenty of space to hide behind the more productive team members.”

8. Where do you see yourself five years from now?

As you can probably imagine, this question is usually asked to determine if you’re likely to move on quickly from the role you’re interviewing for. Hiring new members of staff is expensive. For this reason, companies will try to avoid hiring anyone who appears to be drawn to constant change.

Tips:

Use this question as an opportunity to state your career goals and why they are a good fit for the company.

Be sure to focus your answer on the specific role and company that you are being interviewed for.

It’s okay to say that in five years time you’d like to have progressed from the role on offer.

Don’t be afraid to sound ambitious or success-driven.

Good Example:

“Once I’ve gained sufficient experience, I’d love to move on to a management position.”

Bad Example:

“Hmm, I haven’t really thought about it before. Five years is a long time. Maybe I could switch from full-time hours to part-time?”

9. What is your salary expectation?

Employers will ask you this question to determine whether you’ve researched the average pay for the role, and to ensure that you’re not expecting a salary higher than what can be offered. Although it’s definitely an awkward question, employers will be impressed if you’re prepared with an answer.

Tips:

Make sure you’re aware of the pay rate for similar jobs.

Don’t feel pressured to provide a specific number. (Instead, offer a salary range that you would be happy with.)

As well as stating your salary expectations, ask questions about company benefits (such as healthcare and pensions).

Good Example:

“I’m glad you asked me that question. I’ve taken a look around at similar roles, and I’d be happy to accept a salary in the range of $ 30,000 to $ 35,000.”

Bad Example:

“Well, I really need a lot more money than my current role, so what’s your best offer?”

10. Is there anything that you would like to ask us?

This question will be asked at the end of the vast majority of all interviews. It gives you a chance to ask questions about topics that may not have been covered in the interview. It also gives employers a chance to see how curious and enthusiastic you are about the role and their company.

Tips:

Always have a least one question prepared in advance. (Preferably more!)

Ask inquisitive questions about the job and company.

Ask the interviewers to expand on points they may have only touched on.

Good Example:

“You mentioned earlier that there would be opportunities for relevant professional training. Could you give me more information on this please?”

Bad Example:

“Err, when will I get my first payment?”

30 More Common Interview Questions

While the below questions aren’t as common as the 10 above, you should still read through them and make sure you know how to answer them.

11. What do you think we could do better or differently?

12. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?

13. How do you handle stress and pressure?

14. Why do you want this job?

15. How do you deal with failure?

16. How do you deal with success?

17. What are your hobbies?

18. What separates you from the other applicants?

19. What’s the low-point of your career?

20. What’s the high-point of your career?

21. What would your first month look like in this role?

22. Can you tell us why you changed career paths?

23. Why is there a gap in your employment history?

24. How would your colleagues describe you?

25. Why should we hire you?

26. If you had the opportunity, what would be your dream job?

27. Why do you want to leave your current job?

28. What are your expectations for this role?

29. What’s your ideal working environment?

30. Can you describe a time you disagreed with your manager?

31. What do you regard as your greatest contribution to your current employer?

32. Do you have a specific management style?

33. Where else have you applied to?

34. What do you think of our competitors?

35. Are you a leader?

36. How do you go about solving problems?

37. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

38. What do you do when you are late for work?

39. Would you describe yourself as competitive?

40. What’s the most fascinating thing about you?

Being prepared for interviews will not only help you relax ahead of them, but it will also give you an edge over most other applicants.

Of course, there will always be unexpected questions. However, your preparedness will boost your confidence and enable you to answer even the most difficult of questions.

Good luck with your next interview!

The post 40 Common Interview Questions to Make You 90% Prepared Before the Interview appeared first on Lifehack.

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#before #common #interview #Prepared #questions #Personal Development

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trendingnewsb · 7 years

Text

40 Common Interview Questions to Make You 90% Prepared Before the Interview

Interviewing for a new job can be stressful. Especially if you’re asked questions that you haven’t prepared for.

Fortunately, most interviews follow a standard format, and are likely to include common interview questions.

Imagine how much more relaxed you’ll be going into an interview, knowing that you have answers prepared for the vast majority of questions you may be asked.

Let’s dive straight into the questions…

Focus on These 10 Most Common Interview Questions First

To help you get started, we’ve chosen 10 most common interview questions that could make or break your interview.

1. What can you tell us about yourself?

Tips:

Summarize your career highlights and goals.

Talk about personal interests or accomplishments that could create a positive impression in the minds of the interviewers.

Avoid rambling.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“I wouldn’t describe myself as lazy, but I do like to sleep in late and go home early!”

2. What motivates you?

Tips:

There are no right or wrong answers to this question.

It’s best to be open and honest about your motivations.

Good Example:

“I’m driven by a desire to have a successful career.”

Bad Example:

“I’ve got loads of credit card debts so I really need the money!”

3. Why should we consider hiring you?

Employers ask this question to see whether you’ll be a good fit for their company. They’ll also be looking to see if you understand the duties of the role they are hiring for.

Tips:

Reply with a concise sales pitch.

Show that you’ve researched their company.

Talk about how you can fill the duties of the role successfully.

Avoid talking negatively about your current (or past) employer.

Good Example:

“I believe I have the necessary skills and experience to be a genuine asset to your company.”

Bad Example:

“It’s a good question. Let me see… I live locally, and I’m happy to start anytime after 10 a.m.”

4. Why do you want to work here?

This is similar to the two questions above. Namely, employers are looking to ascertain if you’ve researched their company and the role you are applying for.

Tips:

Research the company thoroughly. (For example, their history, ethos and market sector.)

Demonstrate your career goals.

Explain why you believe you’ll be a good match for the company.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“My friend used to work here, and he told me that you have some great staff benefits. To be honest, I think your early finish on a Friday afternoon would suit me perfectly!”

5. Can you list your strengths?

Tips:

Avoid cliches such as: capable, enthusiastic and hard-working.

Give concrete examples of things you do well.

Talk about attributes that might set you apart from other applicants.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“By strengths, do you mean my force of personality? If yes, then I’m great at telling people what to do and getting my own way!”

6. What weaknesses do you have?

Let’s be honest, this question appears to be designed to catch you. In reality, however, employers will most likely ask this question simply as a contrast to the one about your strengths.

Tips:

Don’t say that you have no weaknesses. (Looks arrogant!)

Talk about a weakness that would not affect the job you are applying for.

Identify a weakness that you’re now in the process of eliminating.

Turn a perceived negative into a positive. (For instance, your obsessive attention to detail.)

Good Example:

“Organization was never my strongest point, but I’ve recently learned and implemented a time management system that has massively boosted my organizational skills.”

Bad Example:

“I have lots of weaknesses. The worst of these being my tendency to drift off to sleep at inopportune moments…”

7. What makes a good team player?

Tips:

Talk about examples from your past that demonstrate your team-building prowess.

As well as work examples, you could mention clubs and organisations that you are an active member of.

Teams rely on harmony to be successful, so show that you know how to get on with people.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“Being in a team is great. There’s always someone who can fill in for you. And plenty of space to hide behind the more productive team members.”

8. Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Tips:

Use this question as an opportunity to state your career goals and why they are a good fit for the company.

Be sure to focus your answer on the specific role and company that you are being interviewed for.

It’s okay to say that in five years time you’d like to have progressed from the role on offer.

Don’t be afraid to sound ambitious or success-driven.

Good Example:

“Once I’ve gained sufficient experience, I’d love to move on to a management position.”

Bad Example:

“Hmm, I haven’t really thought about it before. Five years is a long time. Maybe I could switch from full-time hours to part-time?”

9. What is your salary expectation?

Tips:

Make sure you’re aware of the pay rate for similar jobs.

Don’t feel pressured to provide a specific number. (Instead, offer a salary range that you would be happy with.)

As well as stating your salary expectations, ask questions about company benefits (such as healthcare and pensions).

Good Example:

“I’m glad you asked me that question. I’ve taken a look around at similar roles, and I’d be happy to accept a salary in the range of $30,000 to $35,000.”

Bad Example:

“Well, I really need a lot more money than my current role, so what’s your best offer?”

10. Is there anything that you would like to ask us?

Tips:

Always have a least one question prepared in advance. (Preferably more!)

Ask inquisitive questions about the job and company.

Ask the interviewers to expand on points they may have only touched on.

Good Example:

“You mentioned earlier that there would be opportunities for relevant professional training. Could you give me more information on this please?”

Bad Example:

“Err, when will I get my first payment?”

30 More Common Interview Questions

While the below questions aren’t as common as the 10 above, you should still read through them and make sure you know how to answer them.

11. What do you think we could do better or differently?

12. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?

13. How do you handle stress and pressure?

14. Why do you want this job?

15. How do you deal with failure?

16. How do you deal with success?

17. What are your hobbies?

18. What separates you from the other applicants?

19. What’s the low-point of your career?

20. What’s the high-point of your career?

21. What would your first month look like in this role?

22. Can you tell us why you changed career paths?

23. Why is there a gap in your employment history?

24. How would your colleagues describe you?

25. Why should we hire you?

26. If you had the opportunity, what would be your dream job?

27. Why do you want to leave your current job?

28. What are your expectations for this role?

29. What’s your ideal working environment?

30. Can you describe a time you disagreed with your manager?

31. What do you regard as your greatest contribution to your current employer?

32. Do you have a specific management style?

33. Where else have you applied to?

34. What do you think of our competitors?

35. Are you a leader?

36. How do you go about solving problems?

37. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

38. What do you do when you are late for work?

39. Would you describe yourself as competitive?

40. What’s the most fascinating thing about you?

Being prepared for interviews will not only help you relax ahead of them, but it will also give you an edge over most other applicants.

Of course, there will always be unexpected questions. However, your preparedness will boost your confidence and enable you to answer even the most difficult of questions.

Good luck with your next interview!

The post 40 Common Interview Questions to Make You 90% Prepared Before the Interview appeared first on Lifehack.

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2o7xsow via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

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5millionfriends · 7 years

Text

New Post has been published on Planet Market

101 Ways To Mold Your Mind

If you’ve ever tried to break a bad habit, chances are you know that it can be frustrating and seem near impossible to change something about yourself. The problem typically resides within your mindset – your subconscious belief structure that automatically governs everything you think and do.

I have struggled with personal development for years, and have the benefit of hindsight when it comes to analyzing what has worked and what hasn’t. For those of you new to the idea of molding your mind, I sat down and hammered out this list of effective tactics to help create yourself in your own best image. Enjoy!

Conscious Change – For some people, the best way to initiate a major change is to start consciously – focusing on actively guiding your thoughts and controlling your beliefs until they become automatic.

When nobody is around – shout out what you want to change about yourself, as if you’ve already done it. Be forceful and emphatic and make yourself believe it. The more powerful you say something, the more you will believe it. In time, you’ll truly feel like you have the power to create anything you want in your life.

Do affirmations right before bed – your mind is receptive and sleeping will help you internalize the information you just fed yourself.

To-do list with a twist – keep a to-do checklist with important tasks you need to get done for the day, but add a twist to the list by including how you want to do them. Incorporate personality dimensions you wish to instill in yourself and emulate them until they become a part of you.

Do affirmations when you first wake up – again, be forceful and emphatic and soon enough you will want to hop out of bed to do them because you will feel great afterwards, and invigorated to start the day.

Tell others about your goals and aspirations. It helps to be accountable for your successes and failures.

Think of someone you care deeply about who you would like to improve for. A significant other or important family member who you feel deserves the best from you. Strive to be the best you can for yourself and for them.

Think of someone who you can’t stand… who is always outperforming you or rubbing their successes in your face. Strive to be better than them in every way you feel is important. Sometimes competition can be an incredibly potent driving factor..

Internalize your successes by focusing on completing small goals whenever possible. Giving yourself the occasional easy-to-do task and thinking about it like a real accomplishment can boost your perceived self efficacy and give you the added will power to tackle those hard to reach goals.

Reward all progress in some way – no matter how small. Be smart about it (don’t binge eat to reward a successful diet week) but indulge in something you otherwise wouldn’t take the time out for. Whatever suits you best – just to have something mentally to look forward to the next round.

Enter a competition when you’re clearly not ready. Train for something. Enter a marathon or triathlon, structure a competition with a friend or coworker – do whatever it takes to give yourself a concrete reason to succeed.

Learn something new every day or week. Pick a random book on a topic unrelated to your education experience or work background. Encouraging the development of new mental models will help diversify your knowledge and expand your capacity for thought all around.

Take a free online course in something you know nothing about. Expand your horizons. Check out MIT OpenCourseWare

Write your affirmations out before or after you do them. It helps internalize them!

Record your affirmations and play them back on your iPod whenever you can for background noise.

Keep a “scrapbook” of images and stories related to people you look up to, things you want to accomplish or traits you want to develop in yourself. The simple act of thumbing through it every day for a minute or two can work wonders for your motivation.

Read success stories. Learn what successful people go through to achieve their success. Internalize it. Look forward to writing your own success story (or if you’re really ambitious, look forward to having someone write it about you..!)

Make a “quote board” with motivational quotes. A big poster will do – read them in your downtime for inspiration.

Turn off the TV – do everything you can to phase out mind-numbing programming from your lifestyle.

Ask “Did I make the most of this day?” every night before you go to sleep. Strive to answer a resounding YES to that question – but always be honest, or it is meaningless.

Blog about your progress. Try to get a few readers – just having someone to be accountable to can help you keep your eye on the ball.

Give yourself a big reward at the end of the tunnel – something like a trip or vacation to really excite you and keep you on the path to success.

Try your best to stop yourself from using self defeating language or thoughts. Whenever something pops into mind, question it and extinguish it, and move onto something more positive.

Meditate. Even 15 minutes a day can work wonders for your mind, and prevent frustration with the minutia of everyday life.

Take periodic breaks from studying/working. Give yourself a five minute break every 18-20 minutes, and a 15 minute break every hour for longer sessions.

Remind yourself that only you are in control of your destiny in life. Nobody else. You are more than powerful enough to handle everything that comes your way. Believe it and success is yours for the taking.

Take action right now – stop yourself whenever you start using the “tomorrow” or “next week I will..” self-talk. Today is the deed.

Model your behavior after someone. I have written about this at length on my blog. It can be a powerful tool for instilling positive traits within.

Concentration – Learning to master your ability to concentrate and focus on the task at hand can provide wonderful benefits in all aspects of life. These tips should help you accomplish just that, and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed or frustrated with your daily tasks or larger goals.

The best time to concentrate is after reading something that is inspiring – as you’re filled with desire afterwards. Make this a habit before doing something you know needs to be done (but you don’t really want to do).

Watch yourself during the day and make sure your muscles don’t get overly relaxed or strained.

Get in the habit of taking deep, steady breaths instead of short, rapid ones. Think internally about how meaningful each breath is. Your steadier breathing will make for a more relaxing and productive disposition.

When you decide to do something, eliminate all other tasks from your mind while you’re working. Thinking about other things while you’re working on something will only lead to frustration and poor quality of work. And by thinking about other things you could be doing, you prevent yourself from ever having the chance at achieving “flow” state.

Turn off distractions when you work or study – no TV, cell phones, iPods, etc… The only truly effective distraction (don’t lie to yourself and tell yourself you need TV) is not really a distraction at all – classical music from the baroque period has been shown to facilitate concentration and learning, due to its 60 bpm tempo.

Research shows that concentration works best in spans of about 18 minutes. Every 18 minutes, make sure to give yourself a little break (4-5 minutes) and return fresh and ready to push on when the break has passed. You’ll notice the differences right away.

Exercising and eating right can work wonders for your ability to concentrate – more on this below…

Prime your mind with the help of subliminal messages

Get in the habit of “practicing concentration.” Like anything else, it is a skill which can be learned over time. Do a concentration exercise every day for five minutes or so and soon (be patient) you will see promising results. We’ve included some helpful exercises, courtesy of SuccessConsciousness.com below –

Ex1: Take a book and count the words in any one paragraph. Count them again to be sure that you have counted them correctly. Start with one paragraph and when it becomes easier, count the words in a whole page. Perform the counting mentally and only with your eyes, without pointing your finger at each word.

Ex2: Count backwards in your mind, from one hundred to one.

Ex3: Count in your mind from one hundred to one, skipping each three numbers, that is 100, 97, 94, etc.

Ex4: Choose an inspiring word, or just a simple sound, and repeat it silently in your mind for five minutes. When your mind can concentrate more easily, try to reach ten minutes of uninterrupted concentration.

Ex5: Take a fruit, an apple for example, and look at it from all sides. Concentrate your attention on it and examine it from all sides. Devote the whole session to concentrating on it. Do not be carried away by irrelevant thoughts that arise. Stay with the apple. It could be any other fruit. Look at it and do not think about the shop where you bought it, about the way it is grown, its nutritive value etc, only about the object in front of you. Just look at it, see it, smell it and touch it.

Ex6: This is the same as exercise number 5, only that this time you visualize the fruit with your eyes closed. Start by performing again exercise number 5 for five minutes, and then do this one. Try to see, feel, taste, smell the fruit in you imagination. Try to see a clear and well defined image. If difficulties arise open your eyes, look at the fruit, close them again and continue the exercise.

Ex7: Take a small simple object such as a spoon, a fork, or a glass. Concentrate on one of these objects. Watch the object from all sides without any verbalization, that is, with no words in your mind. Just watch the object without thinking with words about it.

Ex8: After becoming proficient in the above exercises, you can come to this exercise. Draw a small geometrical figure, about three inches in size, such as a triangle, a rectangular or a circle, paint it with any color you wish, and concentrate on it. You should see only the figure, nothing else. Only the figure exists for you now, with no unrelated thoughts or any distractions. Try not to think with words during the exercise. Watch the figure in front of you and that’s it. Try not to strain your eyes.

Ex9: The same as number 8, only this time visualize the figure with the eyes closed. As before, if you forget how the figure looks like, open your eyes for a few seconds and watch the figure and then close your eyes and continue with the exercise.

Ex10: The same as above in number 9 but the eyes open.

Ex11: Try for at least five minutes, to stay without thoughts. This exercise is to be attempted only after all the previous ones have been performed successfully. The previous exercises, if practiced correctly, will endow you with the ability to impose silence on your thoughts. In time it will become easier and easier.

Read “The Power of Concentration” by Theron Q. Dumont for inspiring prose and great additional exercises.

Subconscious Change – Sometimes accessing the power of your subconscious mind gives you the added boost you need to reach your goals and attain lasting personal change. These tips I have found most helpful and tend to make for interesting conversation as well!

Record affirmations on your iPod (as in the previous tip) but play them back very quietly as you drift off to sleep. Use headphones if you are comfortable enough to fall asleep with them on. Leave the affirmations on repeat for the duration of your sleep.

If you use your computer primarily for web browsing and don’t need to run memory intense programs, then subliminal messaging software might work for you. The programs flash your selected phrases on screen quickly to be absorbed by your subconscious but not your conscious mind.

Select three to four videos from the Intelligent Warrior subliminal video series and watch them each in sequence, twice daily, for thirty days. You can find these powerful subliminal message videos available for download on my blog.

Download free self-hypnosis software online and try it out until you find something that works for you.

Google & YouTube often have interesting Self-Hypnosis videos. Find one you like. Bookmark it, and watch it until you see results in yourself.

Select one video from the Intelligent Warrior series, and watch it 5 times daily for thirty days.

Watch all seven videos in the Intelligent Warrior series back to back, once through each day, for thirty days.

Use free audio editing software to insert your affirmations in the background of some of your favorite music. It works best with instrumentals, but can be applied elsewhere as well.

Environment – For some, it’s not so obvious that your environment can have profound effects on your mood and mentality. These quick tips can help you master your environment and master your mind in the process.

De-clutter. de-clutter, de-clutter. I can’t say this one enough. Clutter in your environment leads subconsciously, and sometimes consciously, to clutter in your mind. It ignites frustration and prevents you from feeling free enough to work effectively at accomplishing your tasks.

Use color in your workspace. Sure, lots of bright color may not always appear “professional,” but if you’re working at home, that’s no excuse. Use a variety of bright, bold colors to give your workspace a flare. Color is inspiring to the mind and will awaken your creative faculties without you even being aware of it. It works unexpected wonders – try it and see for yourself!

Curves and circles are more inspiring and are more effective at activating the mind than are straight lines and squares. Where possible, incorporate curvilinear lines and odd organic shapes in your workspace – whether it be in actual design, the layout of your things, or something as simple as your schedules and to-do lists. Oddly enough, you’ll find that by doing this, and incorporating color, you will begin to naturally remember more of what goes on when you’re working.

Leave yourself sticky-notes all over the place. Remind yourself not only of what you want to do, but how you want to do it. Remind yourself to be helpful and enthusiastic – sometimes just seeing the note will be all it takes to flip your bad mood on its side.

Use natural light as much as possible. If you don’t have windows in your workspace, buy light bulbs that mimic the daylight spectrum. It provides less strain on your eyes, so you’ll be able to focus better without the frustration.

Try out some feng shui.

Put plants in your home office or workspace. Including plants will increase the oxygen levels of the room naturally, and provide a calming, organic feel to aid in relaxation when frustration starts to bubble up.

Play background music – calming background music. Try classical music from the baroque period, that naturally facilitates learning and concentration.

Use mirrors liberally – constantly “look in” on yourself to make sure you’re doing what you truly want to be doing, to guide yourself towards your goals.

Include a LOT of motivational pictures or quotes around your workspace. Framed photos are not only a nice touch aesthetically, but they can be used to constantly remind yourself of what you’re working so hard to attain!

Give your room a light color – don’t paint it anything dark or imposing. Dark colors will make the room feel small and bounded, and you’ll find yourself often frustrated quickly and easily, or slipping often into bad moods.

Fitness & Nutrition – While many people understand that good health is important, sometimes the additional benefits are overlooked. Maintaining good habits here can have profound effects on your self esteem and your overall mindset. Don’t believe me? Give it a 40 day test run and you’ll never look back…

If you love something that’s bad for you – don’t eliminate it totally – just make sure to practice moderation. McDonald’s once or twice a month isn’t going to kill you. McDonald’s every day is.

Work out, work out, work out! No matter where you are in life – thin/fat, young/old, depressed/happy – working out will elevate you to the next level. It’s no mystery. Try it and see for yourself. Don’t start and overwhelm yourself, but rather introduce a level of fitness that’s appropriate for where you’re starting off from. Gradually build on this base, and enjoy as you become healthier and happier.

Eat chocolate! No, not Snickers bars or Reeses Pieces… but dark chocolate. Try Lindt’s 85% cocoa dark chocolate for a satisfying indulgence. Natural chocolate is actually good for you. It is filled with anandamides – chemical compounds found naturally in the body that elevate your mood. Great for a quick energy boost as well.

Drink plenty of water – make sure you’re getting MORE than 8 cups a day if you want to truly see some results. If you’re not drinking enough now, it may be hard to adjust at first. But within a few days to a week, you’ll feel more energetic, less bloated, and ready to take on the world.

Get your fruits and vegetables – MORE than five servings a day is optimal if you really want to see some effects. You’ll be loading up on good sugar (natural energy) and giving yourself the vitamins and nutrients you should have been getting all along. Remember – we didn’t get to where we are now by eating jelly donuts and breakfast-in-a-box. Eating natural is the right way to eat, and incorporating as much natural food into your diet as possible will provide enormous rewards in the short and long run.

Get up and go running in the morning. If you can’t run, walk. Do something that gets your heart pumping and the blood flowing early on. It will be great for your mood throughout the day (thanks to the natural release of endorphins), and chances are you’ll find yourself better able to concentrate and focus right from the start.

Take fish oil pills to provide your body with good fats. Take more than the recommended dosage to get the best effect. Remember – they’re just fatty oils, and good fats at that, so you can’t go wrong by loading up. Your heart, and your brain, will thank you day after day (by working better for you!).

Have sex. Lots of it. If you have no one to have sex with, practice the other 100 tips. You’ll likely then be irresistible to the opposite sex and have no problem with this one.

Take a Gingko Biloba supplement to boost your memory naturally and effectively.

Stretch in the morning – stretching will help you naturally feel good and feeling comfortable in your skin will work wonders for your mindset.

Eat lots of fish. Fish oil is great for your brain and your heart. You’ll feel better and be able to concentrate better in no time.

Work out by lifting weights. Give yourself at least 6 weeks to see any results at all – but once your body begins to take shape you’ll start to love the way you look and feel. Your confidence will shoot through the roof and before you know it you’ll be itching to head to the gym. It’s tough at first to overcome the soreness and “out of place” feeling, but it passes quickly – I promise!

Appearance – Not surprisingly, changing your appearance can work wonders on your mentality as well. If you aren’t 100% comfortable in your skin, ask yourself “why?” Be honest. Work through it – the rewards are invaluable… self esteem is priceless.

Get your hair done. Not just girls, but guys too. Make sure you’re well groomed and looking your best. Clean, well styled hair is one of the first things people notice about others.

Be nice to your skin – take care to eliminate cuts, bruises, acne, etc… The products that help for skin are countless, but the best start is proper nutrition.

Keep your body hair well groomed – shave and keep trimmed. Even if nobody else notices, you will – and you’ll feel better about yourself for it.

Maintain a healthy complexion – a nice, healthy tan. If you’re uncomfortable with tanning beds or being in the sun too long, try a Dove “Natural Glow” product. They work well and don’t give you the orange look, but rather the healthy, natural complexion you want. Proper nutrition will give you a natural glow over time, as well.

Dress to impress.

Pay attention to detail in your wardrobe and your grooming. Your attention will get noticed, people will be impressed.

Buy at least one REALLY nice suit or business outfit to wear when meeting potential clients or partners for the first time. You deserve to feel as good and as confident as you’ll look.

Get a manicure – yes, guys too. When your hands are well groomed you will feel more confident about yourself around others – guaranteed.

Work on your posture – stand up straight and tall (just like your mother told you). You’ll look more confident, and soon enough you’ll feel more confident too.

When in doubt, overdress. Dressing up helps you feel good, especially when you take the tips in the Fitness/Nutrition topic to heart and develop an attractive, physically fit body as well.

Practice projecting your voice. Whenever you find yourself home alone, read things aloud as if you were delivering a speech. Focus on annunciation and emphasis where appropriate. Soon you’ll be naturally more charismatic and attention-grabbing around others.

Record Keeping/Journals – While for some people this can be a nuisance, it really can lead to profound effects in your overall personal development, especially if you’re the type of person to have trouble “sticking” to something.

Keep a daily journal for everything – all of your random thoughts. Don’t spend all day writing – that defeats the purpose. Instead, sit down every once in a while for five minutes or so and jot down your thoughts. Don’t structure them or worry about appearance – just write.

If you want to develop a healthier mindset, keep a nutrition journal. Microsoft Excel can help with this one. Simply by paying attention to what goes in your body, you will be more inclined to control what you are eating. The result? A healthier, happier you (with the records to show others how you got there!).

If you’re trying to get in better shape, keep a photo journal. This can be as private as you want it to be. Stand in front of the mirror with your digital camera once a week. Take a head on, and a profile picture, both flexed and un-flexed. At first, it can be intimidating and embarrassing – but within a month or two, you will be looking forward to the next picture… and maybe even showing them off to your friends and family.

Keep a nightly journal where you answer the question “Did I make the most of this day?” If yes, why, if not, why not? Striving for more “yes” entries and understanding what went wrong in your “no” days will help you stay on the right track to achieving the mindset you want and attaining all of your goals.

Write down one thing you learned each day, and review it at the end of the week. Commit everything to long term memory by internalizing it with contemplative thought and repetition.

Write down one thing you want to learn, each morning. Learn it that day.

Keep a brief time-log. Seeing how much time you spend on different tasks throughout the day can help you understand where you’re going wrong (or right). Make sure you’re not wasting too much time on activities that have no return!

If you’re striving to attain any goal at all – find something in that goal that is measurable. Measure the hell out of it. Seek to improve… all the time.

If you’re trying to mold your mind, chances are you’re trying to overcome at least one or two bad habits. Every time you encounter one of those bad habits in your day, step aside and write it down. Do your best to steer yourself in the right direction, no matter what it takes. Reflect on this later, and pride yourself on overcoming your old, bad self!

If you’re close to someone, have them jot down thoughts about you during the day as well. Sometimes, seeing yourself through someone else’s point of view can help you figure out what you’re doing wrong, or right, or open your eyes to things you didn’t even know you should be working on improving. Make sure you choose someone who cares about you and who will not pass judgment, but rather give you an honest view of yourself when you ask for it.

Last but not least, read my Blog daily! This one speaks for itself 🙂

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totallymotorbikes · 7 years

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American Flat Track Safety: Interviews With Michael Lock And Chris Carr A month ago, we published an interview with AMA Pro Racing CEO Michael Lock about the future of the American Flat Track Series. While the topics covered were wide-ranging, we felt that, given the two fatalities at the season-closing event at Santa Rosa, the section on the series’ safety should be broken out into its own section. Ironically, neither of the Santa Rosa incidents involved the elephant in the flat track room: the barriers at the edge of the track. Still, when the immediate reaction is to think of the barriers, namely the horse rails at the edge of many tracks, upon learning of a major incident at a flat-track race, the series has a safety problem that warrants a serious look. American Flat Track Series: Interview With AMA Pro Racing CEO Michael Lock Pro Flat Track Racer Charlotte Kainz Dies In Santa Rosa Crash Fortunately, the two American Flat Track representatives we talked to are looking seriously at how these issues can be resolved. While no quick fix is immediately available, both Michael Lock and Chief Competition Officer, Chris Carr (who most readers will know for his seven Grand National Championships), say that change is in the works for the series. MO: You’ve also said that you’re planning on trying to move the events closer to metropolitan areas to entice people who may not have experienced flat track racing before. That seems to make a lot of sense. My question is that you’ve specifically mentioned horse tracks. Those haven’t been typically set up for motorsports the way motorsports-specific facilities are. How are you planning to address the concerns about safety? Close racing and the ever-present railing are two of the hallmarks of flat track racing. ML: For sure, safety is an issue, but our two most successful – long-term successful – mile tracks are the Sacramento Mile and Springfield. They are horse tracks. So, it’s not inherently whether it’s a horse track or not that’s the issue. It’s the specifics of it. We’re looking now at venues for the future, and I’m sending Chris Carr and Steve Morehead, who are our two most experienced technical guys, as an advanced party to do an analysis for any potential venue and to do a technical report and say either it’s great or it’s impossible or with these modifications and this addition that we could go there. One of the things we changed between 2015 and 2017, and experimented with in 2016, is a more comprehensive deployment of Air Fence. 2012 AMA Flat Track Season Finale – Video Traditionally, we’ve been running more Air Fence on miles the half-miles, but we’ve been running somewhere in the region of about 50 to 52 pieces through corners 1 to 4. What we did was we progressively stepped that up during the year, and we’re up to about 64 pieces that we deploy on some miles, particularly Springfield, which has got long, continuous corners. It’s almost impossible to see where the corner starts and ends. We’ve been building up the Air Fence deployment, which means that you push further and further away from the apexes, the hay bales. The hay bales are much more effective when they’re not on the apex of the corner where the Air Fence is much more effective. MO: I know that the angle of impact is important for Air Fences. They are better at direct impacts than glancing blows. I’ve been told that sections have been developed that can handle the oblique impacts better. ML: There is an Air Fence that we have had a look at. I’m going to be asking my team to evaluate over the rest of this off season. It’s not an deflatable fence. The Air Fence that we deploy at the moment, all these pieces, are filled with air and then deflated for travel. There is a second type that is basically permanently inflated, which we’re looking at for potential future deployments. The issue of it is a logistics one. If they don’t deflate, man, you need a big truck. Or you need a bunch of trucks. We’re looking at how we could make that happen. Certainly, that’s an innovation for the future that we’re taking seriously. Racing at the Sacramento Mile. Photo courtesy American Flat Track MO: In these horse tracks you’ve got these epic photos of the guys in a freight train right up against the rail with the field trailing into the background, but attached to the other side of the rail are these exposed posts. Do you have any plans for addressing that. Is that going to limit your new tracks? ML: I don’t think so. I think there’s always a solution we can plan in for that, whether it be some kind of board you put in front or whether you use some of these sleeper installations they use in highway repair. So, we’ve got a number of things we’re looking at. Because safety is ever-evolving. You never get to 100%. You just keep trying to raise the bar. MO: For me, since I come from the roadracing side, seeing riders in close proximity to the barriers is difficult to wrap my head around. I know that we don’t want to have things like what happened at Santa Rosa, which was terrible. One seems like it was just a freak racing accident where a bike got airborne, but the other one, I believe, he collided with a post. ML: No, he collided with the ground. MO: It was not a post at the edge of the track? ML: Yeah, he came off the bike and hit the ground fairly hard. I don’t know that there was anything we could’ve done proactively. Obviously, that is something that we’ve been looking at. MO: I had friends that were there when it happened, and they said they thought he hit the post. ML: I think he hit the ground first, but either way, the bike certainly hit the post and took the post out. MO: So, that’s probably where the perspective I was given came from. ML: We’ve obviously reflected long and hard on Santa Rosa. It’s not the kind of thing you ever want to happen. One of the first calls I got was from Wayne Rainey because they had a double accident at Laguna Seca the year before. And it’s devastating when this happens. The first thing that you do is you go back through all your processes and say, “Okay, with the benefit of seeing what’s happened, what could we have done differently?” You do that all the time. The horse railing at the edge of many tracks presents the biggest safety concern. Photo by Brian J. Nelson A Brief Interview with American Flat Track Chief Competition Officer Chris Carr Although Michael Lock was quite forthcoming with his information concerning the safety of riders in American Flat Track, we thought it would be good to hear from a life-long flat-track racer who now has the formidable task of helping to make the sport safer while continuing to grow the series. So, we got him on the phone to talk about safety. Indian Scout FTR750 Ride Review MO: How do you go about protecting the riders at facilities that were designed for horse racing and not motorsports? CC: Let’s use the Sacramento Mile as an example. That’s been a mainstay on the circuit for the better part of 30 years, with the exception of a several year hiatus in the early 2000s. Typically, a track like it and some other horse tracks like it have a horse rail fence that lines the straightaways and corners. If there is an issue coming off a corner, those have typically been an area that has been unprotected. But if you put Air Fence in those locations, it can cause problems for more than one rider. On a glancing blow where you’re coming at a very shallow angle, you tend to have a bunch of deflection. That can deflect the bike and rider out into the racing line. It’s a good situation for the rider who goes down originally to have something along those lines, but for those that are behind him and have this rider deflect out in front of them, it becomes a problem. So, we are in ongoing research on coming up with a way to address both sides of that issue in a responsible fashion. We certainly want to protect the downed rider but not at the expense of those traveling behind him. That is a serious challenge on our part, and it can be looked at from multiple perspectives. MO: So, what do you do to address this situation? We are researching it, and we’re doing everything we can to make intelligent decisions for the future, not only of American Flat Track, but more importantly for our American Flat Track racers. The Springfield Mile features a concrete wall which is less dangerous than a horse rail. When you have another track, in the case of the Springfield Mile. It was around in the ‘60s and took a break for the better part of 20 years then returned in the early ‘80s. Springfield, Illinois is a multi-purpose mile. It’s not just a trotter track. It’s also a race-car track and a motorcycle track. It’s lined with concrete all the way around it. So, we do the best that we can, and that’s the type of track where on rare occasions that there have been crashes at the exits of corners. As a rider, myself, I have seen and personally glanced off the concrete. I had a chance, whereas a horse rail fence can actually bring you in further. A concrete wall you can bounce off of. I recall riding a berm coming off of Turn 2 at the Indy Mile because it was concrete. Had that been a horse fence, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. These are areas that are being looked into. We don’t have a permanent solution, but we’re getting closer to being able to address the problem responsibly. MO: So, do you think the solution lies somewhere between the Air Fence , which you say can bounce people back onto the track, and something harder – maybe not concrete – but… CC: I’d love to be able to tell you that I have an answer to your question, today, but I don’t. We can’t snap our fingers and come up with a solution. We are investigating it. It’s going to be an ongoing process. I know that over time the types of barriers that can be adaptable to our environment are going to change. I think that if there’s any one thing that we’ve seen a lot of with flat-track that people within our paddock are going to have to get used to is change. It’s here, and we’re going to have to adapt to that change in order to continue to hang on to the growth that we’ve seen of late. American Flat Track Safety: Interviews With Michael Lock And Chris Carr appeared first on Motorcycle.com.

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trendingnewsb · 7 years

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40 Common Interview Questions to Make You 90% Prepared Before the Interview

Interviewing for a new job can be stressful. Especially if you’re asked questions that you haven’t prepared for.

Fortunately, most interviews follow a standard format, and are likely to include common interview questions.

Imagine how much more relaxed you’ll be going into an interview, knowing that you have answers prepared for the vast majority of questions you may be asked.

Let’s dive straight into the questions…

Focus on These 10 Most Common Interview Questions First

To help you get started, we’ve chosen 10 most common interview questions that could make or break your interview.

1. What can you tell us about yourself?

Tips:

Summarize your career highlights and goals.

Talk about personal interests or accomplishments that could create a positive impression in the minds of the interviewers.

Avoid rambling.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“I wouldn’t describe myself as lazy, but I do like to sleep in late and go home early!”

2. What motivates you?

Tips:

There are no right or wrong answers to this question.

It’s best to be open and honest about your motivations.

Good Example:

“I’m driven by a desire to have a successful career.”

Bad Example:

“I’ve got loads of credit card debts so I really need the money!”

3. Why should we consider hiring you?

Employers ask this question to see whether you’ll be a good fit for their company. They’ll also be looking to see if you understand the duties of the role they are hiring for.

Tips:

Reply with a concise sales pitch.

Show that you’ve researched their company.

Talk about how you can fill the duties of the role successfully.

Avoid talking negatively about your current (or past) employer.

Good Example:

“I believe I have the necessary skills and experience to be a genuine asset to your company.”

Bad Example:

“It’s a good question. Let me see… I live locally, and I’m happy to start anytime after 10 a.m.”

4. Why do you want to work here?

This is similar to the two questions above. Namely, employers are looking to ascertain if you’ve researched their company and the role you are applying for.

Tips:

Research the company thoroughly. (For example, their history, ethos and market sector.)

Demonstrate your career goals.

Explain why you believe you’ll be a good match for the company.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“My friend used to work here, and he told me that you have some great staff benefits. To be honest, I think your early finish on a Friday afternoon would suit me perfectly!”

5. Can you list your strengths?

Tips:

Avoid cliches such as: capable, enthusiastic and hard-working.

Give concrete examples of things you do well.

Talk about attributes that might set you apart from other applicants.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“By strengths, do you mean my force of personality? If yes, then I’m great at telling people what to do and getting my own way!”

6. What weaknesses do you have?

Let’s be honest, this question appears to be designed to catch you. In reality, however, employers will most likely ask this question simply as a contrast to the one about your strengths.

Tips:

Don’t say that you have no weaknesses. (Looks arrogant!)

Talk about a weakness that would not affect the job you are applying for.

Identify a weakness that you’re now in the process of eliminating.

Turn a perceived negative into a positive. (For instance, your obsessive attention to detail.)

Good Example:

“Organization was never my strongest point, but I’ve recently learned and implemented a time management system that has massively boosted my organizational skills.”

Bad Example:

“I have lots of weaknesses. The worst of these being my tendency to drift off to sleep at inopportune moments…”

7. What makes a good team player?

Tips:

Talk about examples from your past that demonstrate your team-building prowess.

As well as work examples, you could mention clubs and organisations that you are an active member of.

Teams rely on harmony to be successful, so show that you know how to get on with people.

Good Example:

Bad Example:

“Being in a team is great. There’s always someone who can fill in for you. And plenty of space to hide behind the more productive team members.”

8. Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Tips:

Use this question as an opportunity to state your career goals and why they are a good fit for the company.

Be sure to focus your answer on the specific role and company that you are being interviewed for.

It’s okay to say that in five years time you’d like to have progressed from the role on offer.

Don’t be afraid to sound ambitious or success-driven.

Good Example:

“Once I’ve gained sufficient experience, I’d love to move on to a management position.”

Bad Example:

“Hmm, I haven’t really thought about it before. Five years is a long time. Maybe I could switch from full-time hours to part-time?”

9. What is your salary expectation?

Tips:

Make sure you’re aware of the pay rate for similar jobs.

Don’t feel pressured to provide a specific number. (Instead, offer a salary range that you would be happy with.)

As well as stating your salary expectations, ask questions about company benefits (such as healthcare and pensions).

Good Example:

“I’m glad you asked me that question. I’ve taken a look around at similar roles, and I’d be happy to accept a salary in the range of $30,000 to $35,000.”

Bad Example:

“Well, I really need a lot more money than my current role, so what’s your best offer?”

10. Is there anything that you would like to ask us?

Tips:

Always have a least one question prepared in advance. (Preferably more!)

Ask inquisitive questions about the job and company.

Ask the interviewers to expand on points they may have only touched on.

Good Example:

“You mentioned earlier that there would be opportunities for relevant professional training. Could you give me more information on this please?”

Bad Example:

“Err, when will I get my first payment?”

30 More Common Interview Questions

While the below questions aren’t as common as the 10 above, you should still read through them and make sure you know how to answer them.

11. What do you think we could do better or differently?

12. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?

13. How do you handle stress and pressure?

14. Why do you want this job?

15. How do you deal with failure?

16. How do you deal with success?

17. What are your hobbies?

18. What separates you from the other applicants?

19. What’s the low-point of your career?

20. What’s the high-point of your career?

21. What would your first month look like in this role?

22. Can you tell us why you changed career paths?

23. Why is there a gap in your employment history?

24. How would your colleagues describe you?

25. Why should we hire you?

26. If you had the opportunity, what would be your dream job?

27. Why do you want to leave your current job?

28. What are your expectations for this role?

29. What’s your ideal working environment?

30. Can you describe a time you disagreed with your manager?

31. What do you regard as your greatest contribution to your current employer?

32. Do you have a specific management style?

33. Where else have you applied to?

34. What do you think of our competitors?

35. Are you a leader?

36. How do you go about solving problems?

37. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

38. What do you do when you are late for work?

39. Would you describe yourself as competitive?

40. What’s the most fascinating thing about you?

Being prepared for interviews will not only help you relax ahead of them, but it will also give you an edge over most other applicants.

Of course, there will always be unexpected questions. However, your preparedness will boost your confidence and enable you to answer even the most difficult of questions.

Good luck with your next interview!

The post 40 Common Interview Questions to Make You 90% Prepared Before the Interview appeared first on Lifehack.

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