Medical Info

Good results will come from doing your job well in the process. Don’t set yourself up for failure by projecting outcomes or final results.
In my work in sports psychology, I talk a lot about focusing on the process instead of end results. Good results will come from doing your job well in the process. Don’t set yourself up for failure by projecting outcomes or final results. Thinking about outcomes won’t help you execute the current play or shot right now. An outcome focus is only a distraction that takes the mind away from what is relevant and makes you afraid of negative consequences. In order to perform your best, stay focused on playing one throw at a time, one play at a time, or one pitch at a time. If you start to think ahead or get distracted, catch yourself immediately and refocus on the next shot. This is a basic skill in sports psychology that athletes must master.

I use a simple method to help athletes get back on track when off-task. This is called the “Three R’s”: RecognizeRegroupRefocus.

1. The first step to changing behavior is to recognize faulty thinking. Here you recognize that you are thinking ahead about future outcomes (”What if I miss this shot and the team loses?”).

2. The next step is to interrupt the faulting thinking. Regroup by distracting yourself to stop the chain of thought (”Stop thinking about the final score or if we win or lose! That won’t help you execute.”).

3. The last and most important step is to refocus on the task in front of you. You can do this by asking yourself a simple question: “What do I need to focus on right now to hit this shot and execute successfully?”

The goal of using the three R’s is to help you refocus on the process of execution when you get sidetracked. It’s OK to lose your focus momentarily, and most athletes do at one time, but good athletes recognize when they are off task and get back to playing in the here and now. Next time you notice you are not off-task, try the three R’s.

About the Author

Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is a leading mental game coach who consults with professional and amatuer athletes. He is the author of Going Low, Peak Performance Golf, The Mental Game of Golf and The Mental Art of Putting. For more information call (888) 742-7225. Or sign up for free mental game tips newsletter at: www.peaksports.com.

Filed by admin at 8:18 pm under Life Of Technology
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In this form of treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder the subject learns to pay attention to his own brain wave activity, and then apparently learns to change and control his brain wave activity. The subject is given immediate feedback on just what his brain’s activity is like at any given moment through the use of high-speed computers which provide both auditory and visual feedback.

This is a very good technology when combined with a good clinician and a motivated subject. We provided EEG Biofeedback training in our practice for over ten years. The variety of people that we saw in our office was amazing, from head injured people, to ADHD kids, to professional athletes and business executives (for peak performance training or stress management).

Lots of studies are being published even as we speak. The intervention has been around for about 25 years, but mostly in the “ivory towers” of the universities and labs until just the past ten years. There are about 1000 providers in USA at present time. The intervention works for about 70%-75% of kids who come for treatment for ADHD, depending on factors such as what exactly the cause of the problem is, the severity of their problem, their IQ, motivation levels, and the number of sessions provided.

Double-blind studies vs. Clinical studies

Here are my thoughts about research studies for this intervention, and about the criticism of these studies from the pharmaceutical industry. There has been a lot of bad mouthing about the supposed “lack of research” from the medical community and from psychologists who receive their funding from pharmaceutical companies regarding EEG Biofeedback. Yet, there really is quite a bit of published research out there. The critics just don’t like what’s out there because they are “clinical studies” rather than “double blind” studies.

Double blind studies are great for pills, where you can fool the subjects into thinking that they are taking some medication when they are really only taking a sugar pill placebo. But there are a lot of things worth studying in life that you simply can’t do double blind studies with.

For example, weight lifting.

Could you do a study with a placebo in weight lifting? No you could not.

What would you do if you wanted to know if weight lifting made people stronger? You would test them at the beginning of the study to see how strong they were, then you would have them lift for a couple of months, and then you would retest them. In simple, that’s what you’d do. In the health field that type of study is called a “clinical study.”

Most of the studies on EEG biofeedback training want to know, “Is the patient better or worse after having done X number of EEG biofeedback sessions?” Three out of four times the subjects are better off having done the training.

We personally provided EEG biofeedback training in our practice for ten years. Most of our patients liked it very much. As we mentioned earlier, we have worked with a wide assortment of patients from head injured, autistic spectrum disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder — ADHD, up to professional athletes who wanted “peak performance training.” Just think of it as weight lifting for the brain.

Might it help your child?

EEG biofeedback training works best with subjects who have average to high IQ, are seven years old or older, can sit still for a few minutes if interested in what he’s doing, and are motivated people. It works much less well for those with low IQ, or are very young, or who couldn’t sit still under any circumstances, or those who “don’t want to be here.” The worst results are with 14 to 17 year olds who have been dragged to treatment by their mothers and don’t want to be there.

The “Dark Side” of the intervention is the cost. Treatment sessions range from $50/session up to $150/session, depending on the provider and the part of the country you live in. The usual course of treatment is two to four treatment sessions per week, for a total of about 25 to 40 sessions. However, we have seen some people do very well in as few as five sessions.

Our experience is that 65% to 75% of Attention Deficit Disorder - ADD ADHD individuals receive benefit from this intervention. Results are usually slow but steady. Realistically plan on needing about 30 to 40 sessions (30-40 minutes each session). We believe that the results of EEG biofeedback training can be enhanced significantly by using the Nutraceutical ATTEND while undergoing the neurofeedback training. We cannot prove this with research, but that has been our experience.

You can learn more about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and various treatment options for ADHD at the ADHD Information Library.

Douglas Cowan, Psy.D., is a family therapist who has been working with ADHD children and their families since 1986. He is the clinical director of the ADHD Information Library’s family of seven web sites, including http://www.newideas.net, helping over 350,000 parents and teachers learn more about ADHD each year. Dr. Cowan also serves on the Medical Advisory Board of VAXA International of Tampa, FL., is President of the Board of Directors for KAXL 88.3 FM in central California, and is President of NewIdeas.net Incorporated.

Filed by admin at 7:25 pm under Kids Stuff
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The most powerful word in the marketing dictionary is made up of just four letters: F-R-E-E.

It doesn’t matter what kind of product or service you’re promoting, if you can use the word FREE in your advertising and marketing, then your response rates will shoot up.

People like FREE stuff. In fact, many people simply can’t resist the word FREE!

The problem is, you can’t use the word FREE unless you actually have something FREE to give, for example:

Click Here To Download The FREE Demo!

Contact Us For A Price Quotation - It’s FREE!

Take The FREE Tour Of The Member’s Area

Order Now And Get ***** For FREE!

Subscribe To Our FREE Newsletter!

These are all effective ways of introducing the magic word. However, the best FREE idea of all is the FREE ebook.

It doesn’t matter what kind of product or service you sell, you can use FREE ebooks as a promotional tool to carry your advertising AND build your reputation.

By creating an ebook that is related to your product or service, and by giving that ebook away for FREE, you achieve three things in one go:

You give yourself a legitimate reason to use the word FREE in your advertising and promotion.

You generate FREE publicity for yourself by promoting your product or service from inside your FREE ebook,

You build your credibility by making your book useful and relevant to your target market.

To get the most out of this great FREE promotional tool, keep these points in mind:

The ebook must be more than just a blatant ad for your product or service. This could damage your reputation rather than enhance it. Keep your self-promotion present without being ‘in your face’.

The content of your book must be useful and relevant to your target market. There’s no point in giving away a FREE ebook that contains Internet marketing articles written by other people, if you’re promoting guitar lessons. You’d be much better off doing a bit of research online and creating a short ebook on the history of guitar playing. After all, the primary aim of the FREE ebook is to build your reputation in the eyes of potential customers.

Encourage other webmasters/e-zine publishers to freely distribute your book to their visitors/readers. Be sure to state this clearly inside the book and anywhere you make the book available for download.

Offer to create customized versions of the ebook for those webmasters who want it. For example, you could place an ad for the webmaster’s site on the cover page. This will encourage him/her to work harder at giving it away, thus spreading your message to more people.

Promote your FREE ebook by listing it on shareware sites and in ebook directories as well as on your own website and e-zine.

So, get busy. Ask yourself what it is that your target market is interested in. Make a book that feeds that interest and then start giving it away!

About The Author

Michael Hopkins is owner of BizzyDays eBook Publications.

Download Brand New Original eBooks for FREE at:

http://www.bizzydays.com

Download The eBook Publishing Success Package at:

http://selfpublishing-ebooks.htm

contact@bizzydays.com

Filed by admin at 2:32 am under House Of Marketing
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Situations may arise from time to time when you need a little extra money, and the faster that you can get it the better off you’ll be. Usually, the money that you need will come in the form of a loan… unfortunately, not all loans are even remotely quick. While waiting on the loan to be approved and the payment to be processed, you might end up getting into even more financial trouble.

Luckily, there are a few things that you can do in order to help speed up the process and get yourself the money that you need as quickly as you can get it.

Secured loans

One way to potentially speed up the lending process is to apply for a secured loan and use high-value collateral to guarantee the loan. Since secured loans have something to guarantee the repayment of the loan, they are generally much easier to come to a loan decision on… and each day that you can cut off of the decision process can help immensely. Additionally, the higher the value of the collateral is in comparison to the amount that you’re borrowing then the more likely you are to be approved with a lower interest rate. This can help you to save money in addition to time, and make repayment that much easier.

Choosing potential lenders

When considering lenders for a quick secured loan, you should look into alternative lenders such as finance companies and online lenders. Finance companies are often able to make loan decisions within a matter of hours because lending is usually their only business, and online lenders are often able to offer quick loan decisions due to the nature of their business and their automated loan applications. This doesn’t mean that you should just pick the first lender that you find, however… after all, a faster loan isn’t necessarily worth paying a much higher interest rate for.

Requesting loan quotes

As with any loan, you should take a little time to request loan quotes from a variety of lenders. You might want to limit your quote-seeking slightly depending upon how much time you have before you absolutely must have the money that you need, but at the very least you should request several loan quotes from lenders in your area and inquire about at least one or two loans online.

Comparing loans

Depending upon how much time you have, the process of comparing loan quotes might have to be expedited as well. This shouldn’t be too difficult, especially if you have fewer loan quotes than you would normally have when searching for a loan. Sort the quotes in order of interest rates, and then compare the best quotes to each other… you can come back to the others if you absolutely need to later, but since you’re trying to save time you can focus only on the best loans for this comparison.

Pre-approval

One other thing that might speed up the process is requesting loan pre-approval from some or all of the lenders that you request quotes from. This means that they will go ahead and check your information and credit history so that they can tell you whether or not you’ll be able to get the loan when you apply. Pre-approvals can greatly speed up the process of getting a loan, but you should keep in mind that not all lenders will be able to give you a pre-approval. It’s definitely worth looking into, however.

You may freely reprint this article provided the following author’s biography (including the live URL link) remains intact:

About The Author

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

Filed by admin at 3:37 pm under Payday Loans
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Direct Answers - Column for the week of June 16, 2003

I enjoy reading your column every week. I want to tell you about a family problem I am having at present. Recently our youngest daughter divorced after 22 years of marriage and two teenagers. This was a great shock to all the family as she never told anyone of her unhappy situation.

Now she is living with her high school sweetheart, who is also divorced. She says she is very, very happy. My big problem is that my husband of 54 years will not accept the situation and refuses to speak to this daughter.

I am not happy either, but have accepted it as I want to keep communication open with my daughter. How should I handle this problem with my husband?

Adelle

Adelle, we live in tornado country, and a few weeks ago several small towns near us were almost totally destroyed. Many people lost their home, their possessions, and their livelihood. The next morning some people were clearing rubble and rebuilding their lives, while others were wandering around stunned by their loss.

We vary enormously in our responses. Some people heal faster than others, and some adjust to change faster than others. Your husband lost a part of his life, and a son-in-law, he never expected to lose. Perhaps he is like the tough old oak not easily bent. You are more like the willow which is flexible and bends in a storm without breaking.

For now, you need to give your husband the time he needs to adapt to the change and be the flexible connection between father and daughter. You are like the old-style telephone operator making connections between two people. As long as you are in touch with both, keeping each aware of the other, you keep the distance between them from getting too great.

That is a positive, not a negative. There needs to be a little time for healing all around for everyone in this situation. Perhaps in time, or in a crisis, the connection can be made more direct. Your husband and your daughter may only be one incident, or one holiday, away from coming together.

Wayne and Tamara

Opportunity

My boyfriend and I have always had our differences, and though we are both strong-headed, we have learned to appreciate each other. We’ve been talking about marriage, but there is one issue I cannot get past. He is so selfish!

He contributes little to the household duties and financial obligations such as food and cleaning supplies. He spends large amounts of money on weekends and vacations with the boys, but can only rarely take me out to dinner. He shops the Wal-Mart clearance racks for holiday gifts. Christmas was a toothbrush and bath mats.

I strongly dislike the area we live in and would like to relocate. He says he grew up here and will never live anywhere else. I was recently laid off, and the only positions in my field are in other cities. I want to work so I can fulfill my half of the financial obligations, but he says he cannot leave and I should just keep looking.

Prudence

Prudence, opportunity knocks all the time, but the problem is we usually can’t recognize it for what it is. We expect the Prize Patrol to show up with balloons and a check for a million dollars. That isn’t going to happen. Usually opportunity shows up as something mundane, like getting laid off from our job and thinking about where our life is headed.

You are thinking about marriage, but you should be thinking about 50 years of bath mats and toothbrushes from a selfish man. You want to keep up your half, but where is his half?

You’ve been given an opportunity to live where you choose. When you go there, you may find a man who doesn’t have differences you can’t live with.

Wayne and Tamara

About The Author

Authors and columnists Wayne and Tamara Mitchell can be reached at www.WayneAndTamara.com.

Send letters to: Direct Answers, PO Box 964, Springfield, MO 65801 or email: DirectAnswers@WayneAndTamara.com.

Filed by admin at 12:26 pm under New Age Infos
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Stress. Everyone experiences it, but not everyone understands how devastating stress can be to the mind and body. The modern world expects human beings to run like machines, without rest, recreation, or relaxation, and although modern conveniences have removed many forms of physical labor from our daily tasks, the number of tasks we perform each day has increased exponentially. Many people get fewer than six hours of sleep a night, eat poorly while “on the go,” and compensate for sleep deprivation, irritability, anxiety, and other maladies of stress with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs.

Stress is detrimental to the body as well as the mind, and can manifest in physical symptoms even in people who seem to have it together. Stress can cause a person to catch colds and other illnesses more than they usually would. It can even cause the symptoms of sickness–sometimes serious sickness–that have no viral or bacterial basis. Stress is hard on the skin. It is a cause of acne as well as other skin problems. Stress is also an obvious source of emotional instability, and can lead to feelings of resentment, anger, tears, anxiety, giddiness, and burnout. Stress can be an aggregate of more serious health problems.

The solution to stress is to become conscious of our happiness, our limits, and pay attention to daily health. The average person requires seven or eight hours of sleep a night. It is also important to eat healthily, not just cutting down on fat, cholesterol, and sugar, but to get the proper nutrients, water, and fiber from dietary sources. Exercise is extremely important to body health, and of course, drugs that are not prescribed by a physician are generally unhealthy.

Learn more how Ken Mehlman and KKR have formed a Partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund to help companies reduce emissions and waste.

Bloomberg also reported on Ken Mehlman and KKR’s partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Ken Mehlman is the Head of Global Affairs for Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts.

Filed by admin at 3:56 pm under Lifestyle Tips, The Healthy Way, Web Of Self Improvement
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Are you ready to get closer to God?

Are you ready to start listening to his words of wisdom?

Are you ready to discover the magic of faith?

If you are like me there have been periods in your life when you
wished you had more faith to help you cope with the troubles of
our time. It doesn’t matter whether you have personal problems
to overcome or are worried about acts of terrorism or natural
disasters; we all need to find more faith.

Sometimes it takes a little fantasy to help us believe in what
we cannot see or understand, that’s where the magic comes in.
Sometimes it takes more effort to accomplish an impossible
dream, that’s where faith comes in.

I believe you will find it is only natural for you to want to
have more faith. We are all predisposed to want to have more
faith. It’s a hidden gene that God instilled us with from the
beginning of mankind.

Don’t you want to do what comes naturally?

Don’t you want to feel better about yourself?

Don’t you want to become a Person of Faith?

When you start to believe that you are a good and worthwhile
person, you will come to realize that you are entitled to be a
Person of Faith. You will begin to understand that it is
preordained. You will find peace of mind. You will begin to feel
wonderful.

In order to find more faith so that you can cope with the
troubles of our time, you need to strip away your inhibitions
and start to use your imagination.

Can you imagine how wonderful you will feel when you become a
Person of Faith? Can you imagine the state of euphoria you will
experience when you discover that you are a good and worthwhile
person? It may seem like a miracle, but it will only be you
finding your faith.

Are you ready to start feeling good about yourself?

Are you ready to experience the joy of having peace of mind?

Are you ready to get closer to God?

You may be asking yourself why would God be interested in me?
You may be wondering if he will hear your prayers. God is always
listening and offering us his Grace. We just have to have enough
faith to learn how to listen for his words of kindness and
caring.

Can you open your heart to God?

Are you ready to become a Person of Faith?

Are you ready to start using your imagination?

Are you ready to strip away your inhibitions?

Are you ready to start listening for the words of God?

Are you ready to have God hear your prayers?

Hurry, God may be waiting to hear from you!

Filed by admin at 2:47 pm under Living With Religion
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We can find many beneficial uses for natural herbs and their essential oils in our lives. The essential oils contain the concentrated part of the herb. Using the herb in its purest oil form can allow us to store it for longer periods of time. We can use less of it this way due to the concentration in the oils. A little goes a long way.

One common theme that you might hear again and again has to do with energy and the effect it has on healing. It actually affects all areas of our lives. Since we exist in a world of energy and we inhabit both a physical body and an energy body (sometimes called an aura), we can begin to understand how certain energies or frequencies can cause beneficial shifts in our environment and in our bodies.

Herbs and oils are embodied with these frequencies or vibrations. Each herb carries its own energy. Since herbs tend to be fragrant, we can often induce change through smelling or breathing in the herb. That is how the use of incense, perfumes, teas and spices can affect us. Aromatherapy is also based on this premise.

When you light a lovely scented candle and allow it to fill your home with its aroma, you may begin to feel uplifted, peaceful, invigorated, dreamy, soothed, intuitive, loving, etc., depending on the vibration of the fragrance and, of course, the quality of the candle and the herbs used in making it.

When you have prepared a wonderful homemade soup that you have seasoned just right with herbs, someone coming home can smell it immediately upon entering, and it can generally produce a change in their demeanor rather quickly. Just as baking cookies made with cinnamon or some other fragrant herb readily brings a smile to the face of anyone who enters your home.

The medicines that we use today can be traced back to their roots in the herbal remedies that the wise folk used in days long ago. And many of those very same remedies will work just as well today as they did then to bring relief from physical ailments.

Many people actually prefer to use an herbal remedy rather than using a processed medicine made in a laboratory. In many cases the herbal remedies are extremely effective, and obviously cost much less than their laboratory produced counter-parts.

Always listen to your own body. Never discount your own power to observe any changes in your physical condition, and to respond to those changes appropriately. Discussing your options with your doctor as well as becoming informed by researching and reading are the suggested path.

Copyright © 2005 Sherry Sims

Sherry Sims has spent the last 20 years assisting people as a professional psychic, intuitive counselor, energy healer and teacher. Helping people to resolve personal and relationship issues has been at the core of her work. She gently assists her clients to accept their true power which allows them to begin taking control of their lives through healing, awareness, and self-love.

To learn more about creating happiness and fulfillment in your life you will want to sign up for her free newsletter: SIMPLE MAGIC - Creating the Life You Want.

For more articles by Sherry Sims please visit http://Mystic-Hearts.com

Filed by admin at 2:14 pm under Medical Info
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Despite the title of this article, the purpose of it is actually to HELP new emcees AVOID some common traps on their journey to learning how to rap better. You can come up with a million reasons why new rappers fail…or why any artist fails for that matter, but we’ve boiled the list down to three specific to new emcees.

The three reasons simply put are:

1) The Hobby Factor
2) The Experience Factor
3) The Focus Problem

Through dealing with countless aspiring rappers, we at The State of Hip Hop have noticed that most problems emcees face can in one way or another be traced to these three root troubles.

Simply stating the problems is of use, but of more use is what I’m sure you all are looking for…a solution.

So let’s begin…

1) The Hobby Factor:

Millions of people around the world play poker. Of those, only a few thousand are professional. The remainder would probably like to be…they sincerely like the game, yet they don’t have a passion for it…for them, poker remains simply a hobby.

This is the case with a good many aspiring emcees. They love rap, they have favorite rappers, know all the words to their songs…but in reality, hip-hop is simply their hobby - enjoyable entertainment. Even so, there is nothing wrong with this.

There are a good many rappers who are successful and yet don’t take rap very seriously. For every KRS-One and Common Sense, you have a pair of Ying Yang Twins or a Master P.

The idea of “not taking rap seriously” does not necessarily refer to the art of rhyme, but instead to rap as a career or business opportunity. So while Master P may not rack his brain trying to craft the most amazing rhyme, he does seriously analyze marketing strategies, distribution outlets, promotional events, etc…all part of the rap game.

But I’m jumping ahead. You may not think this pertains to you. You may think, “I’ll worry about that if and when I get that far.” But therein lies the problem…a mind that is not preparing itself for the big picture. It goes back to the old “thinking ten steps ahead” philosophy.

Some common signs that a new rapper is stuck in this rut are that they try and come up with good ideas, have writer’s block, and stop. Or come up with a few bars or verses, think they’re no good, get upset, give up for a while, and pick the pen up again in a couple of days or weeks. For these people rap is a hobby.

Rap is made a hobby by others because they are afraid to fail at it…Remember this! And it applies to everything you do; Success is achieved only after many failures. If you can’t handle failure, you’re not ready for success.

The Hobby Factor - Solution:

Make rap a priority, set some time aside to dedicate to it. This doesn’t mean “forget all your other responsibilities, but do write every day. Writing every day sounds very simple, agreed, but it is rarely practiced. The practice becomes understood to be “write a hot verse/song every day”…which it is not.

“Write every day” simply means that. Write down your freestyles, a poem, the opening page of a short story, ideas for a song, literally anything! You’ll be amazed at how drastically this will speed up your learning curve.

Another good idea is to change your entire frame of mind. Let’s say you’re living at home with your parents. Things are pretty straight, you’re not starving. You plan on being a mechanical engineer…What then is motivating you to improve your raps?

Now let’s say you got your girlfriend pregnant, are living partially on the streets, working two jobs to eek out a living…and you see rap as your way out. Well now you got some fire under your ass don’t you?

The point is not that you need to be in any particular circumstance to be a good rapper…but that if your situation isn’t motivating you, you need to force that motivation on you by some other means.

Rap with a hunger…like you literally need it to eat! Don’t treat it like a pastime. Whether you end up becoming a successful musician or not, the time you dedicated is never wasted. Good rap skills and song writing skills are amazingly beneficial to developing a good ability to express yourself in any field.

2) The Experience Factor:

This problem is very common among new rappers.

In the hood you might hear a 12-year-old kid spitting a raw 16 bars. That’s because 12 in the hood is like 21 anywhere else.

A lot of new emcees are hesitant about what to actually write about because of a lack of experience. They haven’t really seen the world first hand. It’s hard to write good raps when you don’t really know yourself yet…because part of what a rap does is communicate to the listener the personality and character of the rapper. Still, not knowing who you are is nothing to be ashamed of.

So while the 21 year old from the outskirts of New Zealand may be intelligent, he may not be quite sure he knows who he is, what he stands for and what really matters to him, perhaps precisely because he thinks too much.

On the other hand, the 12 year old from the slums of Tokyo may be illiterate, irrational, and arrogant, but he has already come to understand himself…he’s comfortable in knowing who he is (regardless of whether he is wrong or has limited his growth).

The Experience Factor - Solution:

Have fun, live, read, and think about who you are.

The best way around this obstacle, really, is just to put yourself into various situations, open your ears to knew ideas, learn your history, etc…All the while asking questions, analyzing things, finding out what in this world matters to you…

Everyone gets around this problem eventually, but for many it’s too late. Try to understand who you are at any given time, and spit your rhymes in that image…amped up a few notches…that’s what makes it art

3) The Focus Problem:

We’ve realized that a lot of people who are interested in rapping are simply naturally artistic and expressive. I personally have always enjoyed drawing since I was a child and could always appreciate a well-written book as well as various types of music.

Being as I grew up in the “hip-hop generation” I naturally gravitated towards the art form of rapping. I loved it, the rhyme, the rhythm, the meaning and wordplay…

However, I actually dove into my obsession with rap before I fully developed any of my previous interests.

There is a negative side effect or problem that comes about here.

An aspiring rapper, for example, might be naturally more skilled at or inclined to being a poet, novelist, journalist, public speaker or other type of musician. He or she might then decide to pursue an interest in rap, essentially ignoring their other talents. This is not fundamentally problematic, however…

Rap is NOT (contrary to some beliefs) the same as poetry. It is poetry and more. There are innumerous factors involved in making good rap music. One factor is the fact that it is a form of music…which separates it from other forms of literature on a number of levels.

Furthermore the skills necessary to writing well, speaking well, etc…are all forgone if one decides to skip these optional outlets for expression. This is a HUGE mistake.

The Focus Problem - Solution:

Stay on track and stick to what you’re good at.

This not only applies to the above-mentioned outlets of expression but ANY outlet of expression. Dance, art, ANYTHING. You will learn tremendously from these. I can’t even begin to explain how much you’ll be missing out on if you decide to forgo these means of expression.

Everything that you learn about being a good public speaker, for example, can be effectively applied to rap…whatever you learn about developing a good storyline…can be used in rap, non-verbal communication techniques you might subconsciously pick up in dance class…they help in rap…the list goes on and on.

So there you have it, 3 of the biggest reasons why new rappers fail or quit…

Another additional reason why rappers fail to succeed is that they don’t fully understand the business of music. Our section www.thestateofhiphop.com/rap-industry.html can begin to help you understand the workings of the music business. We’ll refrain from further detail until a future article.

Until next time, stay on the grind and you should be fine…

See you around!

-prof

TheStateofHipHop.com was created out of the tremendous worldwide demand for practical advice, pointers, rap tips, and more that aspiring musicians need on their journey to learn to rap.
Visit http://www.TheStateofHipHop.com for more great articles, tips and information on the music business all 100% free!

Hip Hop fans, don’t forget to sign up for our FREE E-Zine where you’ll get free hot new and classic rap songs sent to you, rap tips, hip hop news, rapper and producer interviews and more!
Check it out at http://www.TheStateofHipHop.com

Copyright © 2005 TheStateofHipHop.com All Rights Reserved

Filed by admin at 12:39 pm under Music Management
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I have heard a number of radio ads and have seen many newspaper ads offering “no closing cost” home mortgages. These ads will tell you that you can get a new mortgage or refinance your existing mortgage at absolutely with absolutely no closing costs.. There are no points, no charges for an appraisal, no charge for title insurance, no costs, period.

On the face of it, this sounds like a great deal and no-cost mortgages are especially popular with people who are refinancing an existing mortgage.

How does this work? Normally, a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, would have closing costs in the neighborhood of $2,000 to $3,000 or even more, depending on whether or not you pay points upfront. In fact, we talked to one mortgage broker two weeks ago about a mortgage on an investment property we own in another state and the closing costs were quoted as $7,000 - outrageous but at least not typical.

You’ve probably heard the old adage, “there is no such thing as a free lunch,” and these no-cost mortgages are yet another testimonial to the truth of this.

The way that no closing cost mortgages work is the lender gives the mortgage broker a rebate at closing which the broker then uses to to pay the settlement costs. The way the lender gets its money back is by charging a higher interest rate. For example, for a $230,000, 30-year fixed rate mortgage with no upfront fees, your interest rate would most likely be a least 0.35% higher that if you paid one point and the customary closing costs.

Here’s an example of what this means. As of this writing, there were mortgages available at 5.250 %, plus one point. As you probably know, one point equals one percent of the mortgage so one point on a $150,000 mortgage would be $1,500.

The monthly payment fo this loan, excluding taxes and insurance is $826.00. The closing costs would be $1,500 plus the normal settlement costs of, say, $1,500,A for a total of $3,000.

Let’s compare this with a no-cost mortgage. Assuming the interest rate is 0.35% higher as quoted earlier, the interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage would be 5.725%, yielding a monthly payment of $872.98 or about $46.00 per month vs. the loan where you would pay one point and the normal settlement costs.

Given a savings of $46.00 per month, it would take you about 65 months - or 5.5 years to make up for the $3,000 you paid in closing costs. This means that you need to determine how long you will stay in that house before deciding on a mortgage loan or a refi. If you intend to stay in that home and not refinance your mortgage for more than six years, it might make sense for you to pay the point and the normal settlement costs. On the other hand, if you believe you will sell that house or refinance it in less than five years, a no-cost mortgage might be better.

Just make sure you look at all the various alternatives and their long-term costs before you leap into a new mortgage.

Have you heard about HD radio technology? It makes AM sound as good as FM and FM sound almost like you were listening to a CD … and its free! To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio and family finances.

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