Improve your willpower

Willpower is about more than resisting our bad habits. It's the mental discipline that allows us to cultivate good habits, make better decisions, and control our own behaviours — everything from dieting effectively to powering through difficult problems at work. It's a quality that can separate the most productive businesspeople from the least productive. And it's a trait that many of us lack. Surveys of more than 1 million people show that self-control is the character trait modern men and women recognize least in themselves.

Our environment only exacerbates the problem. The jungle of stimuli that engulfs us each day make it difficult to exercise restraint or focus on the important habits we need to build or tasks we need to accomplish.

Nicholas Carr has argued in his book, ‘The Shallows’, that the internet is destroying our ability to concentrate and read or think deeply; and as John Tierney and Roy Baumeister point out in their book, ‘Willpower’, a typical computer user checks out more than three dozen websites per day. Focusing on an important memo is hampered by the distraction of Facebook and the incessant new email notifications blinking on our smartphones. Our ability to read a book is handicapped by the impatience of our 140-character habits. Even as I write this article, I'm tempted to snack, surf Wikipedia, check Twitter, or switch to another task.

But willpower is an essential quality you'll need for personal effectiveness at work, forcing yourself to prioritize the most important items on your to-do list, powering through an endless day of difficult decisions, or simply resisting the urge to eat that extra bag of chips in the office snack room. Want to grow your business or get that promotion at work? Cultivating willpower may be your quickest route to success.

To combat declining willpower, consider a few of the following approaches, based in part on Tierney and Baumeister's recommendations:

Practice small

Did you know that by reminding yourself to sit up straight at your desk you can train the same mental muscle you need to quit smoking or sustainably shed pounds? Research has indicated (PDF) that even reminding yourself to keep good posture on a regular basis can gradually improve your ability to self-regulate, and maintaining a regular exercise routine may improve self-control. Practice small exercises in self-control, and your overall willpower will benefit.

Take on your greatest challenges one at a time.

How long was your New Year's resolutions list this year? How many points have you already ignored? Even my suggested list for young leaders had five separate points, but if you want to shake a particularly trying habit (or build a good one), you should only focus on one major change at a time. Start, for instance, with your resolution to check Facebook or Twitter only twice per day; then, once you're free of that habit, move on to your new diet and exercise plan. In the short term, the amount of willpower you have is fixed, and overloading yourself with new tasks that require it may diminish your ability to accomplish any goal.

Monitor, monitor, monitor

Want to run a fast mile? Time every run. Want to write the next great American novel? Post the word count you've written every day on Facebook for all your friends to see. The more you monitor something (and ask others to help you monitor) the more likely you are to stay on task. Sites like Quantified Self offer an increasingly diverse array of ways to self-monitor, just as sites like Mint.com offer specific opportunities for self-regulation. If you're distracted by Facebook, Twitter, or other social media at work, keep a log of every time you check those sites and force yourself to introduce small goals to reduce the number of times you visit them every day.

Find time to replenish

In the short term, you only have so much willpower, and once it's depleted, your ability to exercise self-control or make sound decisions diminishes dramatically. If you're in a stressful job, for example, your ability to make decisions is worse in the afternoon than in the morning. However, finding downtime and even eating (replenishing your body's glucose) can help you replenish your willpower before taking on difficult decisions or tasks. Skipping or working through lunch may actually negatively impact both your ability to make decisions and your ability to work productively in the afternoon.

Keep it clean

A simple way to improve willpower is to operate in a neat environment. Tierney and Baumeister note that environmental cues like messy desks or unmade beds can "infect" the rest of your life and habits with disorder, whereas maintaining a neat and clean environment can help you to maintain order and self-control in the other tasks you confront. If your office or cubicle is a mess at work, make your first order of business to organize your space, and you may find your focus and productivity improving at work.

Source: 
Harvard Business Review

Power Traps to Avoid

If your powers bills are going through the roof here are four common traps to avoid when considering changing electricity or gas suppliers.

If you live in the ACT, NSW, Queensland, South Australia or Victoria you can choose who you buy your gas and electricity from.

Unfortunately that choice comes with the need to be vigilant about some of the tricks commonly used by energy providers to trap you in contracts that may not be as good as they look. Here’s what you should look out for when negotiating a better deal on gas, electricity or solar.

1. Pushy sales tactics

Door-to-door and telephone sales are common practices in the energy business but according to the ACCC there are certain things that energy company sales people should not do when they telephone or come to your door.

You shouldn’t have door knockers after 6pm and before 9am on weekdays and not at all on Sundays and public holidays. You shouldn’t get calls from sales people after 8pm and before 9am on weekdays, after 5pm on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays and public holidays.

You are under no obligation to tell sales people about your current energy arrangements, show them bills or tell them how much you currently pay. You shouldn’t have to ever sign something to get more information from them or accept a deal on the spot.

You should be able to ask for confirmation of the deal in writing. There should always be a cooling off period during which you can cancel the contract without penalty. For more information visit www.aer.gov.au. Each state also has an energy or energy and water ombudsman service to deal with complaints.

2. Contract confusion

According to the ACCC there are two types of energy contract. 

• Standard contracts are set by the government or an independent regulator in ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, and in Victoria standard contracts are set by energy retailer or
• Market contracts which are set by the energy retailers

Market contracts can include price discounts, non-price benefits, different billing periods, different payment terms and periods, fixed terms and fees and charges including establishment and exit penalties.

Different retailers may have a series of different market contracts for various durations with various “deals”. This can make it rather difficult to compare deals.

For instance, according to Alan Belkin, founder and CEO of Electricity Wizard, some companies will offer 10% off the price of electricity per kilowatt hour but some also guarantee that they will not raise their rates above CPI within the contract period. If they do increase their prices beyond inflation during your contract period and there is a price guarantee in place you will be free to change providers without penalty.

Other retailers do not offer that price guarantee. They may offer an initial rate that sounds brilliant but once you’ve signed your three-year contract there is nothing stopping them from putting their rate up and there may be heavy exit fees if you want to move to another provider before the end of the three year contract.

The ACCC says it’s essential to shop around for energy deals and compare contracts closely before signing.

3. Direct debits

Belkin says another area consumers need to check carefully is direct debits. Sometimes energy retailers offer additional discounts if you are prepared to enter a direct debit arrangement and have your bill automatically debited from your bank account.

For example, Belkin says one retailer commences the direct debit arrangement by billing you for the first month in advance and the amount they debit is based on your established usage pattern on previous bills.

4. Smart meters

There are several consumer campaigns under way about the roll out of smart meters in Victoria based on their short-comings and reports that they have increased some consumer’s bills by up to 300%.

Smart meters are a digital alternative to the traditional electricity or gas meter that can be read remotely so energy providers can do away with the expense of meter readers. They also allow energy providers to apply different rates at different times of the day. This may mean you are using more energy during periods that have higher charges per kWh without realising.

Sometimes switching to a solar PV system may involve the installation of a smart meter without you knowing, so check with the installation company before going ahead .

Please tell us if you have recently investigated or taken up an electricity offer and what the outcome was.

Source: yourmoneymag.com.au

Do you understand your mortgage?

Knowing what your home loan offers will give you more options when you need them. Here are some common home loan features explained to help you make informed decisions.

There’s more to a home loan than immediately meets the eye. Chances are your loan and lender are more flexible than you think. Just by knowing what you can and can’t do will help you if you want to reduce the life of your loan, save some money on interest or ease the financial pressure at a key stage of your life.

Offset accounts
Offset accounts put your savings to work and help in reducing the overall interest cost on your home loan.

The way offset accounts work is that you only pay intereset on the difference between the full loan amount and savings which are placed against the loan amount. This reduces the amount on which interest is calculated. For instance, on a $100,000 loan with $50,000 in offset savings, interest would only be calculated on $50,000 - the difference.

The money in the offset account earns the same interest as the home loan so in effect 'offsets' the interest cost on the home loan. What this means is that by placing funds into an offset account and making the minimum repayment or more on your home loan, you’re going to bite into the principal amount owing sooner and reduce the term of the loan.

Redraw
Redraw works in a similar fashion to an offset account but in this instance you’re actually making repayments against the home loan above the minimum repayment. The extra repayments can then be withdrawn from the loan account at a later date.

For instance, if your minimum repayment was $2000 a month but you pay $2500 a month, at the end of 12 months you’d have $6000 available in redraw. You would have reduced the principal amount owing by $6000 and would only be paying interest on the reduced amount until you used the redraw facility.

Top-up facility
Top-up facilities allow you to borrow further funds up to the amount you originally borrowed. It is different to a redraw facility which works on extra repayments you’ve made. With top-up you take a further advance on the loan.

This is, in general, a more efficient way of obtaining funds for renovations, debt consolidation, holidays etc.

Switching
Sometimes the original loan you took out with your lender no longer suits your needs, even though it did in the early years.A classic example of this is a borrower who initially took out a basic variable loan but now need a fully featured home loan.

There’s no need to refinance the existing loan to a new lender. Most lenders allow existing borrowers to switch between products for a nominal fee. The switching options will depend on the products but, for example, on a variable home loan most institutions will allow you to switch to a discount variable or fixed product.

Portability
Do you already have a loan that you’re happy with but you want to move to another property? If your answer is yes, there’s no need to pay out your existing loan and apply for a new one because portability can assist you in this circumstance.

Portability allows the loan security to be moved from one asset to another. For instance, if you were to purchase a new property you’d be able to transfer your existing loan over to a new property without having to obtain a new loan.

Split loans
Split facilities allow borrowers to split their total loan across two or more products. Split facilities are used for differing reasons with the two main ones being:

•  to distribute the loan across various properties when secured by the one loan, and  
• to spread interest rate ‘risk’.

The most common split is designating certain percentages of the loan to fixed and variable interest rate products.

Repayment holidays
Expected or unexpected events, such as the impending arrival of a baby come up in life. At such time a mortgage repayment relief may be needed.

In certain circumstances or if you are ahead in your repayments, most institutions will permit some form of repayment holiday. The best course of action, if needed, would be to contact your lender and ask what options you have available to you.

Don't be a scam victim

If you don’t want to be duped or ripped off, stay alert to these latest scam trends.

NSW Minister for Fair Trading, Anthony Roberts, helps identify the biggest scams around at the moment and what you can do to avoid becoming a victim.

Internet and mobile phone scams are the most cost-effective method for con artists. “The days of receiving a dirty old brown envelope with a Nigerian stamp on it are almost gone,” Minister Roberts says.

The most effective SMS scams invite and engage users to respond to a competition or products such as mobile phone ringtones. Such messages may not all represent scams, but these are sophisticated and legal ways to extract money from people (as little as 50 cents). 

As soon as someone responds to the scam once, it’s difficult to end - even if you’re messaging them to stop. Such phishing scams comprise about 35% of all scams. Understandably, new mobile phone users - young kids and teenagers - are most at risk of SMS and Internet scams. 

“If you don’t know who the online or SMS message is from and you haven’t initiated the contact, ignore it,” says Roberts. “Don’t dial 0055 or 1900 numbers unless you know how much you’ll be charged.”

One scam that’s recently popped onto the SCAMwatch radar is a website that pretends to be the Federal government’s Department of Climate Change. The fake government website is fsasshoes.co.cc and may have copied government logos or images of Australian symbols. Don’t be fooled - the site is not the real deal. If you want to visit the real Department of Climate Change website, it’s climatechange.gov.au. 

There are also websites that offer to provide Australians with a birth, death or marriage certificate for a fee, but never deliver. These certificates can only be provided by the Australian government, not a private business (no matter how legitimate it is).

All official Australian government websites will always include “.gov.au”. If you want to find any government website, start your search at australia.gov.au.

Internet romance scams continue to devastate the hearts and finances of Australians, with 1,600 people losing $17 million in online dating last year. The golden rule is to avoid giving your financial details to any person you meet online, regardless of the personal connection that’s developed between the two of you. 

The more traditional phone scams are still around, where someone calls you and claims they are from your bank, or says they’re from the Office of Fair Trading. They then claim you are owed some money and ask for your bank account details to make sure you receive the imaginary funds. 

Another prominent incident involves individuals being asked to send money overseas, often through Western Union. Since Western Union is a business that facilitates legitimate transactions, victims are unable to reclaim that money.

‘Travelling conman’ scams tend to be targeted to more vulnerable or elderly people. This refers to scammers who come to Australia after stints in the UK or US. They pretend to be a domestic cleaner but steal personal belongings.

Minister Roberts also highlights the prevalence of identity theft, commonly linked to criminal gangs. They could be going through the letter-boxes of a certain street to gain access to personal information and steal funds. This can easily be handled by buying a padlock for your letter-box. 

One in 20 Australians have been ripped off by a scam, whether it is from the Internet, mail, phone or in person. However, the actual number is expected to be much higher, since many victims do not know how to report the scam or are too embarrassed to do so.

The SCAMwatch website is one valuable resource for those wanting to improve their awareness of scams. Last November, NSW Fair Trading went mobile and launched the ScamBuster app for Androids and iPhones where people can report if they’ve been duped or ripped off and find out more up-to-date information about scams.

If you think you have been on the receiving end of a scam, you can call NSW Fair Trading at 13 22 20, or report online at the SCAMwatch website. 


Know of a scam? Please post the details on this blog.

Working too hard and need a break?

Sometimes it’s obvious we need a break, but in most cases we figure it out too late. When you work double-digit hours and Sundays are no longer a day of rest, feeling overworked can become the new normal. Even so you’ll eventually hit a wall, and when that happens it can take days and even weeks to recover the enthusiasm, creativity, and motivation you’ve lost.

Fortunately a few of the same techniques endurance athletes use to detect the need for additional recovery can be used to indicate when you need to recharge your work batteries. Where elite athletes are concerned, chronic overtraining can actually defeat the fitness purpose and result in decreased stamina, power, and speed; sometimes the harder they work the slower they get.

The same thing happens to us when we’re overworked. We put in more hours to compensate… and get even less done. So how can you tell the difference between feeling overworked and really overworking yourself?

Jeremiah Bishop offered some simple techniques that anyone can use to avoid hitting a wall. Jeremiah is a professional mountain bike rider for Cannondale Factory Racing. He's a twelve-time member of the U.S. national team and is to mountain bike racing what an NBA All-Star is to basketball .

Here are ways to ensure you stay at your professional best:

Check your resting heart rate. 

Every day, before you get out of bed, take your pulse. (There are plenty of free apps that make it easy. Some even log results.) Most of the time your heart rate will stay within a few beats per minute. But when you’re overworked and stressed your body sends more oxygen to your body and brain by increasing your heart rate. (The same thing happens when athletes overtrain and their bodies struggle to recover.) If your heart rate is up in the morning, do whatever it takes to get a little extra rest or sleep that night.

Check your emotions.

Having a bad day? Feeling irritable and short-tempered? If you can’t put your finger on a specific reason why, chronic stress and fatigue may have triggered a physiological response and sent more cortisol and less dopamine to your brain. Willing yourself to be in a better mood won’t overcome the impact of chemistry, and in extreme cases the only cure is a break.

Check your weight. 

Lose or gain more than a percent of body weight from one day to the next and something’s wrong. Maybe yesterday was incredibly stressful and you failed to notice you didn’t eat and drink enough… or maybe you failed to notice just how much you actually ate. Lack of nourishment and hydration can put the hurt on higher-level mental functions (which may be why when we’re overworked and feeling stressed we instinctively want to perform routine, less complex tasks.) And eating too much food—well, we all know the impact of that.

Check your output. 

Urine colour can indicate a lack of hydration (although sometimes it indicates you created really expensive urine after eating a ton of vitamins your body could not absorb.) The lighter the colour the more hydrated you are. Hydration is a good thing. Proper hydration aids the absorption of nutrients and helps increase energy levels. If your urine is darker than usual the cure is simple: Drink a lot of water.

The key is to monitor each of these over a period of time so you develop a feel for what is normal for you. Pay special attention on weekends and holidays, and if you notice a dramatic change, especially a positive one, that’s a sure sign you need to change your workday routine.

Don’t say this sounds like something only elite athletes need to worry about. We all want to be the best we can possibly be, no matter what our profession, and whenever we slam into the workload wall we are far from our best.

And don’t say you don’t have the time to take a short break or get a little more sleep. You owe it to yourself to find a way.

Eventually your mind and your body will hit a wall and force you, so why not do take care of yourself, and improve your performance, on your terms?

Source : www.inc.com

What do you check to make sure that you are working at your best?

How to get an extra $935 each year towards your first home

Do you know about the government’s First Home Saver Accounts?

First home saver accounts are designed to assist Australians 18 years and older to save for their first home. The accounts are offered by a range of banks and credit unions. The first home saver account is a government initiative designed to compliment the existing First Home Owners Grant scheme.

Features of First Home Saver Accounts:

• The Australian Government contributes 17 per cent on the first $5,500 (indexed) of individual contributions made every year. For example, if you contribute $5,500, the government will contribute $935.
• A minimum of $1,000 per year over four separate financial years must be deposited before funds can be withdrawn for the purpose of buying a property
• Interest earned is taxed at the low rate of 15 per cent
• Withdrawals from the account are tax free when they are used to purchase a first home to live in
• No minimum annual deposit is required to keep the account open
• First Home Saver accounts can remain open until you are 65 at which point they must be closed
• Withdrawals are not allowed from the account except for the purpose of buying a first home.
• Make personal contributions of at least $1,000 for each of four financial years (not necessarily consecutive years) before you can withdraw your money.
• An account balance cap of $85,000 exists (indexed annually), after which interest is still paid to increase the balance but further contributions by the account holder are not accepted

First Home Saver Account Restrictions

In May 2010 the government announced amendments to some of the restrictions on the account. Borrowers who open a FHSA but purchase a property within the first four years will now have their funds credited to their home loan account tax free rather than their super at the end of the four year minimum period. Savings will still be credited to the account holders superannuation account should a property not be purchased for owner-occupation, such as an investment property. These changes have been legislated and were introduced recently.

Compare First Home Saver Accounts

If you are considering opening a FHSA, it pays to do your research beforehand. There are currently 19 institutions in Australia offering FHSAs and their offerings will vary. The main differential is the interest which they apply to the account above the government contribution. At the time of writing the range of interest was 0-5%, which can equate to a difference of $1250 worth of interest earnings on a $25,000 deposit.

Source:  CANSTAR

Your experience with the First Home Saver Account

• What has been your experience with the First Home Saver Account?
• Did you know about it before reading this blog?
• Are you using it?
• Did you know about the different interest rates available?

7 Steps to Incredible Personal Productivity

Here is some practical advice to turn an average workday into an incredibly productive day.

Occasionally you need to go the extra mile. Sometimes you need to complete a major project, tackle a task you’ve put off, or just knock out a ton of work in one day.

Here’s the best way to turn a normal workday into an incredibly productive workday: And then you can apply the successful tricks to your normal day and get more from it every time.

1. Let everyone know. Interruptions destroy focus and kill productivity. So are the guilt trips your family "sometimes unintentionally" lay on you. Let coworkers and family know you’re planning a “project day.” Tell key customers too. Announce you will be tied up on, say, Tuesday, and that you will respond to calls and emails on Thursday. Let people know who to contact in an emergency. Some will get with you before Tuesday, and the rest will make a mental note you’re not available. In either case, you’re covered.

Plus you get the “peer pressure” benefit: When you tell people you plan to finish a project you will be more likely to see the job through. Peer pressure can be positive motivation harness it.

2. Set a target. Don’t plan your project day based on fuzzy parameters like, “I will stay at it as long as possible,” or, “I won’t leave until I no longer feel productive.” Those approaches give you an easy out. Commit to working for as long as you estimate it will take. Pick a number.

There’s a cool benefit to this approach too: The longer the time frame you set the quicker the early hours seem to go by. Something about knowing you will be working for a long time allows you to stop checking the clock. When you know you’re in for a long haul your mind automatically adapts. Try it, it works.

3. Start unusually early or unusually late. When you step outside your norm, your perspective of time shifts as well. Start at 5 a.m. or revisit your student days and start at 6 p.m. and work through the night. Set the stage for an unusually productive day by dramatically changing your normal routine.

4. Delay gratification. Say you like to listen to music while you work. Don’t, at least for the first couple of hours. That way, when your enthusiasm really starts to wane, turning on the music will perk you back up. Hold off on whatever things you use to brighten up your workday, at least for a while. Delayed gratification is always better gratification, and in this case can provide just the spark you need to keep going.

5. Refuel and recharge before you need to. When endurance athletes wait until they are thirsty to drink they’ve waited too long. The same premise applies at work. Have a snack a little earlier than normal. Start drinking water right away. If you normally sit, stand up before you start to feel stiff or cramped. If you normally stand, sit before your back stiffens or your legs ache. Be proactive so discomfort can’t dampen your motivation or weaken your resolve.

And make sure you plan meals wisely. Don’t take an hour for lunch. Plan food ahead of time that you can prepare and eat quickly. The goal is to refuel, re-hydrate, and keep on rolling. Remember, this is an unusual day treat it that way.

6. Don’t take rest breaks. Take productivity breaks. Newton’s Law of Productivity states that a productive person in motion tends to stay in motion. Maintaining momentum is everything. Don’t take a TV or Internet break. Take breaks that reinforce your sense of activity and accomplishment. Take a quick walk and think about what you’re tackling next. Then jump back in. Even a few minutes spent in the land of inactivity make it hard to regain momentum.

7. Don’t stop until it’s done. Stopping simply because you’re tired or bored is habit-forming. (Plus you’re always capable of doing more than you think.) If the only barrier to completion is effort or motivation, stay at it and break through that barrier.

Think about your normal workday; at some point you typically think, “That’s it. That’s all I have in me today.” That limit was set long ago, but it’s an artificial limit based on habit. Pushing through the “pain” is a habit anyone can develop, and when you do, you automatically set your effort limit a little higher making you capable of even more on a regular basis.

 Author Jeff Haden 

Self-employed - can you get a loan?

It doesn’t matter how much you earn or how regular your income is: if you’re self-employed, that’s one more hoop you’ll need to jump through when applying for a home loan.

That’s not to say all self-employed borrowers will struggle getting finance. It just means you might need to work a little bit harder and pay close attention to the details.

No matter what else, to boost your chances of getting an approval, you’ve got to make sure you know your numbers.

Sit down with your broker or lender and establish what taxable income level you need to apply for credit, otherwise you’re flying in the dark and destined to be disappointed.

Once you’ve established your borrowing power and determined eligibility for finance, you’ll need to prove that your income is what you say it is.

Information is king. When assessing a self-employed applicant’s eligibility for a home loan, lenders looks for consistency of income. They want to see that business has been ticking along steadily and maintaining a level of income that is suitable to meet their minimum servicing requirements.

To confirm this, the lender will request the most recent two years’ worth of personal tax returns. If there is a large fluctuation between taxable income for the two financial years, the lender will generally utilise the figures that relate to the lower of the two, even if that is the older statement.

This can often leave the applicant falling short and failing the banks initial servicing check. Not all hope is lost, though. By working closely with your broker and your accountant, you can often unearth pertinent information about your business that can mitigate large deviations.

For example, a start-up business may have a lot of one-off expenses in the early days, which a lender might take as being ongoing or recurring expenses account.

Also, if you renew a certain piece of equipment or attend courses or training one financial year, you won’t necessarily have this same expense every year, so future year’s will see this expense show up in net profits.

Self-employed applicants must tell their broker or lender what’s been going on in the business, as a solution may not be obvious to the applicant, but will be to a trained eye.

Finally, the most common issue for self-employed applicants is that their accountants are too good at reducing their taxable income, which can come back to bite you when it comes to applying for credit.

Without adequate taxable income, most lenders will shy away from doing business with you. In this new age of regulation and responsible lending, there is increased pressure on lenders and indeed brokers to confirm an applicant’s ability to meet minimal servicing requirements.

Ask yourself this – if I am not able to borrow money, how is this going to impact on my ability to make the financial decisions I have planned? Am I saving more by not paying tax, or am I losing more by not being able to invest in a new home or investment property? And go from there.