Monthly Archives: August 2010

Cheap Airfare Tips: 9 Pieces of Advice to Get You Flights for Less

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Zhou Renjian

“How can I get the best price on my flight from point A to point B ?” Bad news is, there is no good answer.  Bood news is, with a little patience, perseverance and these 9 tips, you can scoring a good air ticket deal is feasible.

1. Make Lots of Research

There are general prices for any flight. You should know it. And if general price is 700$, and you find a 450$ ticket. That is a very good deal. Go for it. So you need to make some research to learn the price range and its relationship with time. Usually, the price of any flight is higher in July - August.

2. Technology is Your Friends

As the Internet is well developed, there are lots of airfare aggregator website. So you should search those websites regularly to find the best ticket. Two of the best are Bing and Yapta. You can sign up for flight alert.

3. Be Thorough

You need time to compare different flights. So be thorough.

4. Think Unique

Besides flight aggregator websites, you should also check some less known airlines websites. Sometimes, those official website will make some special offers.

5. Go One-Way

It used to be that a one-way ticket cost even more than the round trip. Well, not anymore.  So many times your best bet for a good fare lies in flying with a different airline each way.

6. Be Flexible

If you’re not tied to a specific time or day to fly, you can sometimes save tens, maybe even hundreds of dollars by adjusting your flight time.

7. Explore Alternatives

Sometimes, you can search a nearby airport from your destination. You can reach your destination by bus or car. BTW: Airport parking usually costs less at these smaller airports also.

8. Be Sneaky When it Comes to Ticket-Extras

Airlines is always adding additional fees for everything from baggage to seat selection. Be sneaky on this ticket-extras.

9. Be Social

Some airlines will also have their accounts on social networking websites, like Facebook or Twitter. Following them, they may announce some 24-hour promotion via these social websites.

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How to Dress Like Adults

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Zhou Renjian

If you are just graduated from schools, you may still dress like a student. If you are going to work dressing like that, you may look a little boyish or girlish. So that would be a problem.

There was a hot discussion about "How to dress like a man" on MetaFilter. And someone commented that to dress like a professional needs a lot of work:

1. Nice shoes. This is probably the biggest thing.
2. Jeans are fine, so long as they're nice jeans. Go to nice stores, go to vintage places, try stuff on - there are some very nice, very classy, very attractive jeans out there. There are also things like chinos that can look great in a more casual style.
3. In general, things that fit and that aren't threadbare.
4. For tops, honestly? You just have to shop. Again, try things on. Stores will have a huge variety of shirts that don't fit into the standard work vs. t-shirt vs. club shirt trifecta, so you'll just have to go looking. Sportcoats are great if the weather allows (spring/autumn).
5. Questions like this are why publications like GQ exist. They are, in many ways, noxious, but you can definitely look through the pictures for looks that you like. Try to figure out what's going on in those pictures.
6. Accessories. For men this principally means "a nice watch that matches the outfit", but things like hats, belts, other wrist accessories, etc. can and do all help. And honestly, the confidence to pick out and wear a masculine necklace for yourself is kind of rare, and I feel like it makes an impact for that reason.

The more money you have to spend on this project, the easier it is. It's possible to look great on a budget, I've seen others do it, but I've personally never really managed it.

Someone suggested peeking at the Put This On blog and podcast. As for their own advice, many can't go far enough to recommend that a man pick up a nice pair of shoes—not your average sneakers, boots, or sandals, but actual shoes. There's a link proffered for this guide to matching shoes and jeans.

Handy stuff, especially for someone just getting out of school without a lot of guidance on how to dress. Women's clothing that "looks adult" is a lot more complex and varied, we've heard, but if you know of a good, simplified resource guide, please give us comments.

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Steps to Remove TV

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Zhou Renjian

Every modern man has watched TV. But it seems that we are watching too much TV. Lots of meaningless programs has filled the TV. So for an effective person, it is better to stop watching TV or reduce watching it.

So how to remove TV from your life? Well, you can just kick the TV off your house and smash it on a rock. OK, that is kidding. Here are a few steps for your to remove TV.

First, you need to have some replacement activities. Here is a list of such activities:

  • Start a business you like.
  • Hang out with your friends.
  • Exercise.
  • Go out and meet new people.
  • Take up a class.

Second, if the above activities do not help, why not remove your cable subscription? Well, if you are alone and you are serious about stop watching TV, it is the best way.

Third, limit your viewing day by day. So if you are watching TV for 2 hours, you can try to watch TV for one and a half hour the other day, and try to watch TV for one hour another day, ... And if you are watching 3 TV programs today, you can try to watch only 2 programs the other day, and try to watch only one programs another, ... By limiting your views day by day, you can earn your time back without too much fights.

Fourth, work on your goal. In the above, you have goals to limit your viewing day by day. You need hold yourself to achieve these goals. So if you reach a goal, you can celebrate yourself and confine yourself to reach the next goal.

Fifth, stop catching new TV shows. If you stop catching new shows, you will lose interests in watching TV if the old shows are over.

The last one, in fact, it is the one in our previous joke, put your TV away! I think you know how to do. Just wrap it up, or sell it other, or sending it to your friends or else.

So removing TV from your life will save you a lot of time. You will earn a lot of productivity from this. Take your try and give us feedback.

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Build a Stronger Ego

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Zhou Renjian

Today, I read a long article about ego: "How to build a stronger ego". Here is my digest. Things in fewer words and shorter sentences.

First, one question: "Do you really want to kill your ego?"

Many spiritual seekers claim it’s wise to weaken the ego as much as possible. Without ego, you may give away your possessions, shave your head, spend all day meditating and doing chores, burn away any last bits of attachments to your previous identity.

So you do need your ego!

Second question: "Do you need a strong ego?"

Your ego is your character, an important part of your human avatar. And if the whole life is a game. You need to play this game with a specific role. So do you want a weak role or a strong role. Obviously, owning a ego and playing with a strong role will bring you more fun in the game of life.

Third question: "How to build a stronger ego?"

Here are some ideas for get you thinking.

Character-building ideas

Honesty – See how honest and open you can make your character. Be honest in your dealings with others. Stop pretending and hiding who you are. Share yourself openly with the world.

Courage – Continually push yourself to face your fears instead of shrinking from them. This will give your character more options.

Exploration – Experiment. Learn by trial and error. Step into the unknown and learn by doing. Develop an ego that loves to dive in and explore new things.

Service – Tune your ego in the direction of serving others, such that the stronger your ego becomes, the more you push yourself to help people. Make service to others part of your identity.

Acceptance – When you accept yourself as having a strong ego, you’ll be more willing to accept other strong people into your life as well instead of feeling you need to attack the strong in order to justify your own weakness.

Discipline – Develop an ego that identifies itself with good habits like regular exercise and solid productivity.

Connection – Develop your social skills, so you can connect with others easily. Learn how to surround your ego with social support that helps to refine your positive character qualities while chipping away at your unwanted attributes.

Living based on Intelligence, not enlightenment

  • Developing a progressively more accurate model of reality and living in accordance with it.
  • Deliberately engineering your social environment to actively support you in fulfilling your desires.
  • Getting stronger. Intelligence seeks its own improvement. You should see yourself growing stronger and stronger.

Engage with life

  • Checking out from life and trying to pursue ego-less enlightenment may be popular in certain spiritual circles are recommended.
  • Ego destruction is slow suicide. It’s yet another version of giving your power away.
  • Having a strong ego is not in conflict with inner peace. Inner peace doesn’t mean being passive. You can be quite active and engaged with life and still feel very peaceful and centered on your path.
  • Part of the reason ego-less living has so many people pushing it is that it’s a control strategy.

Own your character

Having a strong ego doesn’t mean putting yourself above others. But it’s perfectly fine to take complete ownership of your character and express your pleasure with what you’ve developed so far.

A underdeveloped ego won’t do your consciousness much good anyway; a weak ego will only limit the range of experiences that are possible for you, thereby stunting your conscious growth.

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Tips for Time Management

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Zhou Renjian

Have a good time management will help you to have your good day. Here are some quick tips for you to become a good time manager.

  1. Create a daily plan.
  2. Peg a time limit to each task.
  3. Use a calendar.
  4. Use an organizer.
  5. Know your deadlines.
  6. Learn to say “No”.
  7. Target to be early.
  8. Time box your activities.
  9. Have a clock visibly placed before you.
  10. Set reminders 15 minutes before.
  11. Focus.
  12. Block out distractions.
  13. Track your time spent.
  14. Don’t fuss about unimportant details.
  15. Prioritize.
  16. Delegate.
  17. Batch similar tasks together.
  18. Eliminate your time wasters.
  19. Cut off when you need to.
  20. Leave buffer time in-between.

You will control your time. And good days are coming. :)

Reference:

Stepcase Lifehack: 20 Quick Tips for Better Time Management

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