Archive for the ‘What can Dr. Doug do for you?’ Category

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson, PhD (©2009, Penguin Books: New York, NY) deals with the point where natural talent meets personal passion. Ken explores the conditions that lead us to live lives filled with passion, confidence, and personal achievement. The stories about people from a wide variety of fields entertain and inspire. The book is a classic. If it’s not on your shelf, click the icon below to get your copy. If you read it a while ago, my summary will be a good review. Also check out Sir Ken’s TED Talks.

Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken is an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to governments, non-profits, education, and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001), and was knighted in 2003 for services to education. Originally from a working-class Liverpool family, Robinson now lives in Los Angeles with his wife Marie-Therese and children James and Kate.

Introduction

We are all born with tremendous natural capacities, and we lose touch with many of them as we spend more time in the world. Ironically, one of the main reasons is education itself. Young children are confident in their own imagination and usually see themselves as being creative when they start school. By the time they finish formal education, most don’t feel that way. Ken uses the stories of people who did find their Element and offers them to help us all do the same. Most of the stories were gathered via direct interviews that often feature twists, turns, and surprises.

Who’s Stories?

Here are some of the people who’s unlikely stories help make this book so special: Matt Groening – Simpsons creator, Gillian Lynne – dancer and founder of company that did Cats and Phantom of the Opera, Paul Samuelson – economist and author, Paul McCartney – Beatle, John Cleese – Monty Python member, Mick Fleetwood – drummer Fleetwood Mac, Bart Conner – Gold Medal Gymnast, Gordon Parks – Founder of Essence Magazine, Buckminster Fuller – architect, Ewa Laurance – woman’s world billiards champion, Aaron Sorken – award winning writer for stage, movies, and television, Meg Ryan – Actress, Arianna Huffington – creator of The Huffington Post, and Richard Branson – Entrepreneur.

The Five Best Tools To Wake Up A Creative Kid In You by Veronica Hunt

Saturday, May 28th, 2016

The Five Best Tools To Wake Up A Creative Kid In You starts with suggestions for parents and teachers who want to foster creativity in their students, their children, or themselves. It then offers five excellent tools that can support the creative process. Be sure to have five people each check out one tool and report back. Thanks Veronica

Creativity

Introduction

Creativity isn’t a science or a formula. It is one of those things you can’t just buy and use. Developing creativity in yourself is a lifespan job. You need to take frequent small steps to surpass your average results. It takes much patience to overcome obstacles, such as lack of time or strength, someone’s critique, or your own doubts in an. You must realize that creativity is something you are born with, and if you do not use it, you may lose a part of yourself. Fostering creativity, however, in someone else is even more difficult. Thus, if you are an educator or a parent and want your students to use their imagination to provide outstanding solutions, you can’t just assign them a task and expect creativity to flourish. Imagine that creativity is under a heap of gravel and to get it out pulling isn’t enough. Piece by piece you need to uncover it and bring to surface.

Stay Passionate About Your Project

Outside the box thinking and imagination without borders are two essential constituents of creativity. I noticed that usually adults try to place children into a certain framework of standard behavior and rules. Of course, it’s a normal phenomenon since society trys to prevent chaos and self-destructive acts resulting from extraordinary behavior and thinking. However, making an obedient citizen of a child can stifle creativity and the desire to produce something unique.
When I hear about “suppressed creativity”, I recollect one example of a family I knew once. The mother had an unaccomplished ambition of becoming a singer. She projected this dream on her daughter who didn’t like being in the spotlight at all. She escaped from her family and their cage of restrictions via her creative drawings. Fortunately, the girl had enough willpower to stand her ground and resign from a signing career. Yet not every person endowed with unique creative mindset can resist their family and school that just do not see it in you. That’s why fostering creativity is so important for every person, teacher, and parent.

Guidelines to Help Foster Creativity in Yourself, Your Students or Children

For those who are teachers:
Use music or ambient sound in the background to help students concentrate and improve performance.
Engage students in brainstorming ideas, which will help them use different approaches to find solutions.
Separate providing students with new information from creative tasks. Do not mingle both educational processes so as to avoid misunderstanding and confusion.
Motivate your students with counterfactual tasks that will allow them to view a problem from multiple perspectives and think outside the box.
For those who are parents:
Provide space and resources to encourage creative expression.
Don’t evaluate your children’s creative ideas, point out mistakes, or underline fails.
Give your kid more freedom to research something new. Let your child try some extraordinary hobbies or even those activities you consider useless.
Allow your kid to disagree but ask to explain why.
Don’t reward your child for expressing his creativity. Your kid should strive doing that for free.
For those who want to be more creative:
Don’t critique yourself every time you make something new. Just keep on doing that and enjoy this amazing process of discovering your new potential.
Protect this creative kid in you to stay passionate and interested in your own thinking process.
Be patient. It can be easier to tolerate someone’s mistakes than your own.
Be brave and curious about yet unexplored areas of your imagination.
Go for a long walk to relax and unleash your mind.
Let yourself be messy at least once in a while. It will help you to relax, forget about your surroundings and your duties.

Raise Your Creativity Kid Via Hot-Shot Tools

Tips may not be enough. You may need some extra tools to express and encourage yourself to develop something worthy. Here are five of the best tools that can wake up a creative kid in everyone.
BrainPlots
It’s not necessarily to have a group of 6 people to brainstorm new ideas. With the help of Brain Plots you’ll be able to find some unexpected solutions as you work and study. When you tab your ideas in this app, you get suggestions which you can either decline or accept. Then you’ll get a full picture in the form of a TED presentation.
Glogster
This interactive service allows you to work with images, videos, graphics, audio and text in one place. It helps you create a multimedia poster using many creative skills along with critical thinking. Also, this platform develops creative hunger to see the final result of your work. Glogster is a good educational app to complete assignments and projects in a new way.
Studentshare
This service has the largest database (1 000 000+) of essay and research papers uploaded by real students who received at least an A- grade. Using StudentShare you’ll be able to find an effective formula for how to write your next essay with inspiration and no procrastination of your deadline. Plus, you can figure out what resources and references are the most appropriate for your writing task.
Storybird
It is a creative room where writers and readers gather to share their ideas and attitudes on a new story, poetry etc. This educational app certainly promotes thoughtful writing and critical analysis.
Mindtools
This service is targeted at boosting your creativity via special understanding, brainstorming and idea-generating tools. Once you choose the Toolkit category, you’ll see even more features such as Decision Making, Leaderships Skills, Problem Solving etc. Thus, you’ll be able to master the 28 skills and discover new opportunities for your creative world. The main goal of this service is to provide assistance in all stages of the creative process.

Make Your Creativity Progress Long-Term

If you are seeking a formula to make your creative ability progress, start by planning and outlining what exactly you expect from a certain process. Write down one reason you need to continue creating something after a break even if it’s only to get rid of boredom. Do not restrict yourself with a fixed timeframe since it can make you feel suffocated with a forced creativity. Creative ideas usually come while you process ideas, so what you need is to start creating something that brings you joy and pleasure. Your progress will turn long-term when finished works incite you to the next creative project.

Veronica Hunt

Veronica is a true edtech expert and a professional blogger with five years work experience. She tries to provide students with up-to-date info on how to improve their study habits. Veronica lives in Delaware, USA..

The Highest Paying Freelance Jobs To Focus on For Maximizing Work From Home Earning by Danielle Ward

Monday, April 24th, 2017

The Highest Paying Freelance Jobs To Focus on For Maximizing Work From Home Earning by Danielle Ward introduces some of the most common and well paid freelance jobs currently available. If you haven’t found a full-time job yet or can only work part-time, some of these jobs might be for you or someone you know.

Introduction

Freelancing is the ‘in’ thing, quite officially. The largest corporations out there are hiring freelance IT developers, website designers, copywriters, and app developers for short term and long term projects. Of course, freelancers also continue to thrive by taking up paid projects from the most recognized global job exchange marketplaces with equal success. The point is, freelancing is no more just an additional little drip of dollars, but a gushing brook of decent income, which is comparable to, and sometimes even exceeds that of people with similar skills employed in corporations. All this notwithstanding, here we focus on telling you more about the highest paid freelance jobs, and the skills that are highly in demand.

Marketing

Do you have experience in marketing? Didn’t land a job after that marketing diploma? Have you acquired some experience in digital marketing? This is the time to hop on the freelance bandwagon, because marketing gigs can pay you anything between $40 and $50 per hour. Freelance engagements in marketing range from anything like brand management efforts, product promotion strategies, and real sales, to niche digital marketing efforts such as social media brand management, email marketing, etc. Even reputed employers are engaging freelancers to provide impetus to their marketing efforts. Some reselling options are there as well where you don’t need to invest something and based on your marketing skills you can start making money for each sales/sign ups.

Voice Over

Did you realize how the advertising winds have been blowing in the direction of video content from the past couple of years? Yes, most advertisers now prefer creating short but catchy videos. If you have a great voice, and have some experience or idea about voice over and dubbing, you can offer your services, and earn up to $70 per hour. People respond well to videos, which has created a large market space for voice over artists and dubbing artists, which means there’s a lot of money to be made for candidates with the right skills.

Recruiting

Freelancers are finding great short term opportunities of being a part of HR operations at growing organizations. They can offer services such as drafting of job descriptions, managing recruitment drives, handling documentation aspects of hiring, and even conducting preliminary interviews to shortlist candidates. Better paying opportunities in HR freelancing can go up to $50 per hour, whereas the ones more restricted to documentation can pay up to $30 per hour. The one downside, however, is that freelancers need to aggressively hunt for newer projects to keep the income stream strong. Another downside is that you probably won’t get access the health care from your freelance employers.

Programming

This is the umbrella mini-market for all kinds of web development, software development, and app development assignments. Programmers who work with conventional technologies such as Java can make up to $40 per hour by developing programs for projects. However, people with knowledge and experience of lesser known and more contemporary programming languages can make almost double the amount every hour. The key to success as a freelance programmer is to give quality work, and let the positive feedback bring in more clients.

Graphics Designing & Animation

Though this is among the oldest vistas of earning via freelancing, skilled graphics designers are in high demand. Experienced Photoshop artists with impressive portfolios can earn up to $40 per hour. Within graphics designing, there’s a niche called ‘info-graphics’ design, which pays as much as $80 per hour. Info-graphics are content heavy designs, with lots of stats and facts organized in the form of a vertically extended graphic. If you have animation skills (2D or 3D) there are many companies in need ot animated content who aren’t big enough to hire full-time animators.

Search Engine Optimization

Because of the frequent updates brought on by Google, search engine optimization continues to be a lucrative field for freelancers, especially those with updated knowledge and skills to get good rankings for client websites. The great part about freelance SEO experts is that they land projects that pay up to $40 per hour, and the number of hours they can bill to the client are on the higher side. That’s because freelance SEO engagements extend over a few weeks. Freelance SEO experts can get repeat business from their clients, and can hence earn significant incomes.

Copywriters

The number of blogs and websites on the web has had an exponential surge in the past decade. In parallel, search engines have aligned themselves to treat websites with great content with good SEO ranking. These factors have enabled copywriters to sustain their incomes from freelance assignments. Mid-level copywriters can make up to $30 per hour, whereas experiences writers can make up to $55-60 per hour. Like SEO, freelance copywriting comes with the advantage of repeat business from clients, which makes it a lucrative freelancing option.

Final Words

So those are some of the most sustainable, highly paying, and in demand freelance skills. If you’re looking to expand the scope of your freelance work, or looking to join millions of people who are already freelancing, you might want to invest effort towards honing skills relevant to these engagements.

Danielle Ward

Danielle is a Blogger by profession and loves sharing my thoughts over wealth and wellness blogs so that people can live a healthy life with a handsome income. She is based out in the UK but planning to move to Malta soon.

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The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel
Saturday, June 28th, 2025

The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel provides the advice we all need if we seek freedom and independence that wealth can bring. The secrets are to be a frugal saver and an investor that just lets his income compound. You can do this too if you follow his advice.

Introduction: The Greatest Show on Earth

Unlike physics that is guided by laws, finance is guided by peoples’ behaviors. It is best understood, therefore, through the lenses of psychology and history, not finance. Ordinary people can be wealthy if they have a handful of behavioral skills that have nothing to do with the formal measures of intelligence. This book will help you understand what they are.

1. No One’s Crazy

We all have our own unique experience with how the world works and that is a big influence on how we deal with money. In theory, people should make investment decisions based on their goals and the characteristics of the investment options available. Unfortunately, that is not what most people do. Willingness to take on risk depends on your personal history and mostly on the conditions when you were born and growing up. Finance is a topic that is more influenced by emotions than facts, which helps explain why we don’t always do what’s best when it comes to money.

2. Luck & Risk

Luck and risk both happen because 100% of your actions will never determine 100% of your outcomes. The world is too complex. We tend to associate bad outcomes with bad luck as opposed to bad decisions. It’s very hard to identify luck, risk, and skill. Not all success is due to hard work. Avoid trying to copy extreme examples. Look instead for broad patterns that occur often. Luck isn’t something that you can emulate.

3. Never Enough

Why would a very wealthy man like Bernie Madoff risk everything by starting a Ponzi scheme? The idea here is that he failed to realize that he had enough. At some point as you pile up money it’s time to realize that you have enough and to stop thinking about how you can take risks to increase your wealth further. (Doug: I have enough.)

4. Confounding Compounding

$81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 net worth came after his 65th birthday. This demonstrates the power of compounding. When something compounds, a little growth serves as the fuel for future growth. The secret is time. To grow your wealth you only need pretty good returns that you can stick with. (Doug: This has worked for me and you can do it too.

5. Getting Wealthy vs. Staying Wealthy

Getting money and keeping money are two different skills. It starts with a frugal lifestyle, which involves spending less than you make. Keeping money requires the opposite of taking risks. Compounding only works if you can give your assets years and years to grow, kind of like an oak tree. Don’t be in a hurry or you are likely to take too many risks.

Warren Buffet has lived through 14 recessions and he never panicked and sold during any of them. You need a financial plan, but few plans survive their first encounter with the real world. Your plan needs room for error or a margin of safety.

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The Science of Rapid Skill Acquisition by Peter Hollins
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024

The Science of Rapid Skill Acquisition: Advanced Methods to Learn, remember, and Master New Skills and Information by Peter Hollins

– This is a self-published book that has no copyright date, citations, or index. It does have a summary guide at the end. The content rings true to me and fits well with other books summarized on this blog. Give it a shot. It’s a easy read.

1. Learn with Rapid Skill Acquisition

Information on almost any topic is almost instantly accessible cheap or even free. We just need to learn how to learn. Traditional schools mostly engage students in passive learning, which is inefficient. You need to start with goals that are important to you. These goals will either help you on the job, gain you a new job, help you with your life outside of work, or give you a new hobby.

2. Strategic Planning

You need to start with a well constructed plan. Most new skills can be broken into sub skills. You need to determine which sub skills are the most important and focus on them first. For example, if you want to learn another language you need to learn the most common words first. As you gather learning resources and weed some out, make sure they follow this idea. It may be easy to find written material, so be sure to also search for videos and ways you can learn actively.

Reading or listening to a lecture may provide 5% TO 10% retention. Audio/visual content can take that up to 20%. Demonstrations are more like 30% and group discussions may take it to 50%. Real-life experience takes it to 75% and teaching others is at the top with 90%.

3. It’s Just Practice

Practice needs to be deliberate. This kind of practice is focused. Try to catch yourself from being mindless or sloppy. Determine the proper amount of time for the skill you are working on. You should interleave the practice of several skills rather than doing just one for a long period of time. Such practice should be repeated over time, perhaps daily. Doing some practice each day is much better than cramming. Try to work on recalling or self-testing rather than rereading if you can.

Problem-based learning is more effective as it deals with the real world. It requires that you determine what you need to know that you don’t know yet and devise a plan to learn it. This lends itself to group work. As you work you need quality feedback from someone who knows more than you do like a mentor or a coach. You also need to learn how to self access. There are 10 questions here that can help with that. Be sure to schedule your learning and Peter recommends five-minute breaks every 25 minutes.

4. Deep Comprehension

One way to deepen your comprehension is to engage in elaborate interrogation. This can be likened to a child asking endless “why” questions. As you interrogate yourself, you can discover gaps or blind spots. One kind of elaborate interrogation described here is the Feynman Technique. The keys to it are to simplify how you explain something and creating analogies.

As your learning progresses, you will go through the six steps of Bloom’s Taxonomy. They are remember, apply, understand, evaluate, analyze, and create. If you fully understand something you can use it to create something brand new. Curiosity isn’t required to learn something, but it makes learning easier. It can be the simple joy of learning something new. It can be apprehension due to lack of knowledge. It can be the stress you feel when you gain knowledge that is stressful. It can be the curiosity you feel while getting to know other people, or it can be the knowledge you gain while engaging in thrill seeking experiences.

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The World Is Open – Curtis Bonk
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

The World Is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education by Curtis Bonk tells the story of the ten openers that allow the Internet to change the face of education. Bonk builds on the work of Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat to explain how anyone can learn anything, anytime, anywhere. He uses abundant stories and examples to make his point. As you read you will want to check out places on the Web he mentions. Any educator, parent, student, or citizen should be familiar with Bonk’s Ten Openers. © 2009, Jossey Bass: San Francisco, CA.

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Three Cornerstones to Consider When Choosing an Essay Writing Company by Lucy Adam
Friday, June 9th, 2017

Three Cornerstones to Consider When Choosing an Essay Writing Company by Lucy Adam from the UK offers a look at an industry that is no doubt much larger than most educators realize. She also gives good advice for choosing and working with these companies. While I don’t recommend passing someone else’s work off as your own for a grade or college admission, I do think that getting feedback from a professional writer is a great way to improve your own writing.

Why Students Pay for Essays

Why Students Pay for Essays: According to statistics, essay writing is one of the most quickly developing niches in the writing business. Let’s face it – the essay writing industry is worth over 128 million dollars or 100 million pounds and is expected to grow further in the future. For example, the two biggest UK essay mills process more than 20,000 orders a year!

This undeniable popularity of essay writing services opens great perspectives for both writers and clients. The latter, however, are always in danger, as they can never know what to expect from the ubiquitous companies on the market. In fact, paying for an essay is basically gambling, as in 90 cases out of 100 you cannot be sure of the reliability of a company that you are using for the first time.

But is buying an essay a worthwhile option? How to make sure that the company provides the best value for money? How to hit the bull’s eye when ordering an essay for the first time?Below are three cornerstones to consider before making your first order.

#1 Type of Agency

The first thing you will encounter is the company’s website. Ideally, it should be neat, understandable and contain detailed information about the service. If you are satisfied with what you see, compare the type of work you need with the services provided by the agency. Some companies sell ready-made papers, while with others you give detailed instructions to writers in order to explain to them what exactly you need. The big advantage is that you can ask the author to adapt his or her writing style to match yours so that the paper will not look like a sudden huge leap from “D” to “A” level work.

Moreover, a reliable writing company must ask you about your class and writing skills, not to mention the paper guidelines. If you are not requested to send a sample of your previous essays, how can you be sure that the future work will suit you? Decide what you need. A custom essay, essay help, research paper, term paper, homework help or proofreading? When it comes to essays, they can be narrative, descriptive, expository, persuasive, argumentative, analytical, etc. The more detailed the guidelines, the easier the essay writing and the less you will be charged.

#2 Reputation

Apart from feedback, the best way to check whether a service is reputable is to test its customer support. It most likely operates via email. If so, make an enquiry and wait for a response. It should come very quickly and contain a detailed explanation of the issue. If that does not happen or is delayed, think twice before ordering an essay from this company. You must be able to get in touch with them whenever you need, 24/7.

As for reviews from previous clients, it is better to check them personally by contacting a few satisfied customers from the list. Unfortunately, many companies pay strangers to write feedback. Another sign of reliability is the amount of personal information requested. If the company asks for data that you think they do not need (for example, your social security number, phone number or birthday), these people may want to make money off your identity.

#3 Rates, or Value for Money

To get the best value for money, pay attention to the following:
Are Ph.D. and MA writers onboard?
Do you have an opportunity to choose the author and communicate with him or her yourself?
Is there a rating system showing the best writers alongside the price?
Is it possible to get a free sample to assess the level of writing and general look of an academic paper?

The price may seem to be crucial, but this is only at first glance. Purchasing based on price alone, you have a high chance of failure, especially when it comes to admission essays. If you need writing help only once, is there really a good reason to save money? Do you care how much you will spend on a ticket to Oxford, Cambridge or any other university that you have been dreaming about for a long time?!

The Conclusion, or Do Ethics Matter?

Being a conscientious student (which I hope you are), you cannot help but consider the ethical side of paying for an essay. The problem is a complex one and everything depends on your personality. Cheating is bad, no doubt, but haven’t you asked yourself how fertile the ground must be to generate hundreds of essay mills all over the world, not just in the UK and USA? Don’t you think that worldwide educational problems are too significant to pretend that there is a level playing field?

How many chances do non-natives have to outperform natives in essay writing? What about students engaged in voluntary activities? What about those who have personal problems? Do they deserve special conditions? Is education personalized enough? Is it fair and capable of providing students with relevant, up-to-date knowledge that will remain in demand for at least the near future? Since these and many other burning questions remain unanswered, don’t blame yourself too much for paying for an essay. Life isn’t fair and only the strongest will survive

Lucy Adam

Lucy is a blogger and aspiring writer. This diligent and responsive author is always ready to bring intriguing topics to life. Lucy covers materials on education, writing, literature, and many other niches. Don’t miss this brilliant chance to start a mutually beneficial collaboration with her. lucyadams@buzzessay.com

Dr. Doug’s Take on Buying Essays

While I generally don’t favor submitting work you have purchased as if it is your own, I think it’s important for my readers to understand that this goes on and how the system works. Here are some questions I suggest you and your students consider in addition to the thoughts offered by Lucy.

1. Rather than leveling the playing field, doesn’t purchasing essays tip it more in favor of students with means and against poor kids?

2. If your purchased admissions essay gets you into a better school where you can’t compete, will you be more likely to drop out than if you went to a school that your real skills can get you in?

3. I would hope that most teachers would have students submit writing samples done entirely in class along with outside assignments. This would allow the teacher to see each student’s skill level, which they could compare to submitted work done outside of class. Would this cause more kids to get caught cheating?

4. It seems that going through the process of selecting an author, providing him or her with a sample of your writing and negotiating topic and price would be a valuable experience that requires critical thinking and problem solving. As a result, the student could be building skill for life in the real world.

5. Would it be possible for a service to help a student edit a piece or writing? This wouldn’t involve any more cheating than kids do when they ask a parent or friend to read what they have written. I know my wife read everything my daughter wrote for submission and gave her suggestions for making it better. She also proof read everything I wrote while I doing working on my doctorate. Getting good feedback from a professional writer is valuable. If you can afford to purchase help, this is what I suggest.

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Three Tips for Opening a Flourishing Business While Caring for Your Baby by Emily Graham
Saturday, August 27th, 2022

Three Tips for Opening a Flourishing Business While Caring for Your Baby by Emily Graham
Welcoming your baby into the world is one of the most exciting and memorable times of your life. However, this amazing yet exhausting time can prove extra stressful when trying to get a company off the ground. If you want to make your business ownership dreams a reality and still bond with your bundle of joy, these tips from Dr. Doug Green’s blog can help.

1. Prep the Night Before
Preparing as much as you can at night for the following day saves you time and helps your professional and personal tasks go much smoother the next day. Make a list of tasks that can be done ahead of time.

Lay out the baby’s outfitbaby’s outfit the night before with a couple of spares in case of accidents. Have clean burp rags handy, and stock diapers and wipes. Make sure bottles are clean and any frozen milk is put in the fridge to defrost.

Be sure your clothes are also ready for the next day. If you have a coffee maker that runs on a timer, load the coffee and set the timer, so your cup of joe is hot and ready when you awake. Prep as much food as possible so that when it is time to eat, your entree is mostly or completely done.

2. Redesign Your Office
Whether your office space is an entire room or the corner of your bedroom, update your workspace to accommodate your little one. There are times throughout the day you pull double duty as a parent and entrepreneur, so a few tweaks to your office can make the adjustment much easier.

Add a rocker or bouncer to the office, such as a baby swing or bassinet. According to What to Expect, babies sleep 12 to 17 hours every 24 hours, depending on their ages. So chances are, your kiddo is going to take some naps throughout the day. This gives the baby a place to snooze while you are hard at work.

Have a mat and box of toys ready to go should your little one want to play. You may need to add a fence once your tike becomes mobile. Finally, be sure to remove any breakable or dangerous objects from the baby’s play zone.

If the office is simply not functioning for the two of you, it may be time to list your home and purchase one that meets your needs. If you are going to own a business, you must be able to work comfortably while keeping your child safe. Make a list of the new office requirements for your real estate agent so he or she knows exactly what you need.

3. Utilize Helpful Services and Tools
Finding help takes a portion of work off your plate. A great example is a formation service that can help you complete and process a limited liability company application. Setting your business up as an LLC has numerous advantages, including less paperwork, limited liability, increased flexibility, and tax advantages.The regulations around forming an LLC vary by state, so know your state’s rules before proceeding. Once you are ready to move forward, hiring a formation service saves you lots of time; plus, you avoid the hefty fees that a law office charges.

Look for ways to make your business more cost and time efficient. Instead of hiring a graphic designer, you can use a logo design tool to create free online logos. This tool offers thousands of professionally designed logos that you can customize. Or you can use images, icons, and other design elements to enhance your current logo. And a PDF joiner may help to organize the multiple documents you and your team are juggling for a client. Instead of searching through dozens of digital documents, you can merge PDFs into one living document during your team’s process. Then, you can formalize the document and it will be ready for your client.

While this momentous time in your life may have more stress than you would like, you can still have a flourishing career as a business owner and be a dedicated parent. Following these three tips can help you achieve success both in the workforce and at home. And you can visit Dr. Doug Green for additional tips for parents and EDUCATORS.

Emily Graham
Emily is the creator of MightyMoms.Net. She believes being a mom is one of the hardest jobs around and wanted to create a support system for moms from all walks of life. On her site, she offers a wide range of info tailored for busy moms — from how to reduce stress to creative ways to spend time together as a family. You can email her at emilygraham@mightymoms.net. She lives in Arizona.

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Tony Blair on Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century
Monday, February 17th, 2025

Tony Blair on Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century summarizes what Tony has learned as prime minister of the UK from 1997 to 2007 and consulting with leaders in many other countries as head of the Tony Blair Institute. Although this book is written for aspiring politicians, I believe that each short chapter contains timeless lessons for leaders and potential leaders in any field.

Introduction

When leaders take over, most listen carefully as they know they have a lot to learn. The second stage occurs when they have become acclimated and start to think they know everything. In the final stage, they realize that what they know is not the sum total of the necessary knowledge associated with their leadership scope.

Tony has concluded that the key attributes of leadership are the same whatever the leadership position. While politics has its place, it isn’t the same as leadership. Giving people what they want is not always what they need. Leaders need to do what is in the best interests of the lives they touch.

Part I: Taking Power – 1. Be the Leader with the Plan

You must have a plan. It needs to contain your destination, milestones, and priorities and accurately describe the essentials of what you want to achieve. Priorities are essential as if you try to do everything, you just might do nothing. Change takes time and you will need to consider mid-course corrections as you move along. Not all of what you plan is likely to work as intended.

2. Make the Center Strong

The skill set you need as a leader is not the same as the skill set that gets you the job. A strong center is needed to initiate and carry though on a change. The most important person is the one who runs your schedule. Leaders are constantly being asked for their time and if they can’t say no, they need someone who can. Meetings and events can be real time suckers. Leave them as soon as you can. Be sure to make time for yourself to recharge and time for your family.

3. Prioritization: Try to Do Everything and You Will Likely Do Nothing

Once you get your leadership position, ask what you would like to accomplish the most. You can work back from these items to set your priorities. Tony sees five as a good number. Your followers will all have their pet projects. While they may not be at the top of your list, they don’t need to know that. Priorities have to be doable. Be sure to perform a feasibility check on each one. This process may not be easy, but it deserves your attention along with all of the uplifting rhetoric of hope you can summon.

4. Good Policy Is (Nearly) Always Good Politics

Always put policy first and politics second. Avoid maters of ideology and convenience when crafting policy. Policy should be evidence-based. Work hard to do research so you know what you are talking about. Always think about a topic as if you were the person most impacted. Good policy strives to make change that will last rather than a quick splash. Be sure to look outside of your organization (country/school) for bright ideas and be sure to think ahead.

5. It’s All About the People

The people Tony refers to here are the people who directly report to you. They need to be smart, hard working, loyal to you and to each other, and able to handle stress. Internal debate is healthy, not disruptive. Don’t reject someone just because they are smarter than you. Be sure to promote your most talented people. They are more likely to challenge you if you don’t. Effort you put in to finding the right people may be the most important thing you do..

6. Curb Your Bureaucracy by Cultivating It

As a leader, you will have a bureaucracy to deal with so you need to get to know what it does and doesn’t do. bureaucracies tend to be permanent while the leader tends to be temporary. They are not known for creativity or innovation. Be clear about results, delivery, and on getting things done and the system will adjust. Look for opportunities to re-skill and retrain it. Don’t expect it to be a substitute for a leader and a team.

Part II: Delivery – 7. Democracy or Not, It’s All About Delivery

As a leader, your success will be judged by what you deliver. The real test of government is making change that works, which is delivery. If you can deliver a higher quality of life with improved health care, education, and security, you should be reelected. Governments turnover due to instability, which is caused by the failure to deliver. People sometimes accept a strong man because the know that something will get done. Corruption is the enemy of delivery.

8. The Supreme Importance of Strategy

Strategy assists in the long-term fulfillment of your overall plan. Without a strategy, failure is likely. Tactics are the smaller decisions that you make on a daily basis. It’s important that they align with your long-term strategy. You have to reconcile your day-to-day tactics to your core strategy. When fundamental facts change, but sure to see if you need to adjust your strategy. You should seldom discard it altogether.

9. Be a Change-Maker, Not a Place-Holder

The world is changing fast. If you are standing still, you get left behind. If you are an elected leader, you probably got elected by promising to make some changes. Appointed leaders may have the same expectations. You need to create a constituency for your change so you have some support. Consider how you can break big changes into a series of smaller ones and take them incrementally. Consider how changes will benefit the consumers rather than the providers.

10. Le Suivi: Delivering

Two things are necessary here. The priorities you choose must be measurable and you must be able to harvest reliable data so you can show that you accomplished your priority. When it comes to delivery, the leader needs to be actively involved. The leader need not do all of the work, but the leader must know what’s happening.

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Top 10 Tips for Test Preparation by Craig Middleton
Saturday, April 4th, 2020

Top 10 Tips for Test Preparation by Craig Middleton offers sound advice for parents so they can help their children do their best on tests given by their teachers and standardized tests like the SAT and the ACT.

Testing scores are an important part of any child’s school experience. These scores allow a regular classroom teacher to evaluate a student’s progress and recognize any areas that may need more attention or improvements. Testing is an effective way to measure progress and to make sure that the child is able to communicate effectively. It can also be a way to recognize and discover learning disabilities in certain situations. Testing is also important when it comes to pursuing higher education as it is a big factor in college admissions. To ensure that your child does his or her best, take measures to ensure that they are adequately prepared for any tests so that they may do their best.

Sleep

Proper sleep is absolutely necessary, especially on the night before a big and important test. If your child is well-rested they are more easily able to focus and concentrate on the test.

Breakfast

Breakfast is another essential part of preparing for a test day. Make sure that your child has had a good breakfast the morning of the test so that they are full and have the energy they need to stay alert. Hunger can be distracting and lead to sub-optimal performance.

Organization

Good organization is another tip in preparing for a test. Make sure that your child has all the necessary testing materials such as pencils, erasers, pens, calculators, and any other equipment that has been recommended. Have all of these things gathered ahead of time and ready to go to avoid last-minute stress and scrambling to find missing items.

Tutoring

A good way to prep for testing is to get additional instruction. Tutoring in addition to regular classroom preparation may help the child achieve greater results. Consider this option for ongoing education but especially for ACT Prep.

Positive Attitude

Stay positive and make sure that you maintain an upbeat attitude for both yourself and your child. Be a good example and show them that the test is necessary and important, but not a reason to become upset and dread what is to come. Help them keep an elevated mood so they’re excited and ready to go.

Teacher Conferences

Consider having regular conferences with a student’s teacher. This will keep you up-to-date on their current academic levels and let you know if any additional instruction would be beneficial. Conferences open communication with the teacher to allow you both to work together more efficiently and will give you an idea of what to expect for future performance.

Relax

t’s also important to make sure that your child is relaxed. Ensure that they are not overly anxious over the upcoming test. Help your child to stay calm and be mentally prepared so the stress doesn’t become overwhelming.

Homework

Make sure the child is current with all of their homework. Having all the work done on time will help them learn to be responsible and prepared and will keep you up-to-date with the materials that may be covered on the tests.

Test Format

Test formats can vary greatly and if your child is already stressed over the thought of taking a test, an unexpected or new format may cause them unnecessary anxiety. Make sure that the student is familiar with the test format so there are no surprises and so that you are sure they understand how to fill out the form and complete all tasks.

Practice Tests

Take advantage of any practice tests that may be available. Many of the larger tests, such as the ACT, offer practice tests, or you can create your own for smaller tests. A practice test will give your child an idea of test format, time limits, and topics that will be covered. This allows the students to be better prepared and comfortable so they can relax and do their best.

The more prepared your child is the more likely they are to do well on their tests. Familiarize yourself with the entire procedure so that you can help your child prepare and reach their full potential.

Craig Middleton

Craig is a New York City-based retired business consultant, who is an expert in education and cultural trends. He has a Masters of Business Administration and a Masters in Education from St. Johns and loves sharing his knowledge on the side through his writing. If you have any questions or comments you can direct them to Craig at craigmiddleton18@gmail.com.

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Archive for the ‘What can Dr. Doug do for you?’ Category

Sir Ken Robinson

Introduction

Who’s Stories?

Introduction

Stay Passionate About Your Project

Guidelines to Help Foster Creativity in Yourself, Your Students or Children

Raise Your Creativity Kid Via Hot-Shot Tools

Make Your Creativity Progress Long-Term

Veronica Hunt

Introduction

Marketing

Voice Over

Recruiting

Programming

Graphics Designing & Animation

Search Engine Optimization

Copywriters

Final Words

Danielle Ward

Introduction: The Greatest Show on Earth

1. No One’s Crazy

2. Luck & Risk

3. Never Enough

4. Confounding Compounding

5. Getting Wealthy vs. Staying Wealthy

The Science of Rapid Skill Acquisition: Advanced Methods to Learn, remember, and Master New Skills and Information by Peter Hollins

1. Learn with Rapid Skill Acquisition

2. Strategic Planning

3. It’s Just Practice

4. Deep Comprehension

#1 Type of Agency

#2 Reputation

#3 Rates, or Value for Money

The Conclusion, or Do Ethics Matter?

Lucy Adam

Dr. Doug’s Take on Buying Essays

Introduction

Part I: Taking Power – 1. Be the Leader with the Plan

2. Make the Center Strong

3. Prioritization: Try to Do Everything and You Will Likely Do Nothing

4. Good Policy Is (Nearly) Always Good Politics

5. It’s All About the People

6. Curb Your Bureaucracy by Cultivating It

Part II: Delivery – 7. Democracy or Not, It’s All About Delivery

8. The Supreme Importance of Strategy

9. Be a Change-Maker, Not a Place-Holder

10. Le Suivi: Delivering

Sleep

Breakfast

Organization

Tutoring

Positive Attitude

Teacher Conferences

Relax

Homework

Test Format

Practice Tests

Craig Middleton

Book Summaries