Working online has many advantages, but sitting behind a desk all day can bring a lot of potential dangers.

In this article I am going to share with you some of the tips that have helped me try and avoid getting too stressed from online work. If you know anyone who works online then feel free to send this to them as well.

Ask for help – This is an obvious one, but don’t be afraid of delegating your tasks to other people. If you work from home then ask a friend of relative to help out with things like taking the dog for a walk etc.

Say NO! – Saying no to extra jobs can be a tricky thing to do, but it is something you will need to learn how to do. This is especially true with friends and family. Learn to say no!

Save now send later – if you are stressed and tired then you will make mistakes. So when writing important e-mails simply hit save and go and get a drink, then come back and check it before sending. Nothing adds stress like sending an embarressing e-mail to the boss.

SMILE – I don’t want to sound like a hippy or a pop star, but smiling can make a lot of difference. Next time you are having an important IM chat try smiling whilst you type.

Turn off distractions – Some days you will be able to chat via IM, read e-mails, check the news and still be productive. But some days these will be major distractions. So if you have a busy day then turn off your e-mail and IM programs. One trick I do is to get all my e-mails, IM chats and news reading out of the way in the first hour of the day.

Exercise – This is one piece of advice I need to start following. I am an active person, but I need to start doing more regular daily exercise. Sitting on your ass all day is not healthy, so try and do at least 10-15 mins of exercise per day. I have just bought a swimming pool to help me with this, but running, yoga, or a long walk will also help.

Seperate your work and home life – This is another area I need to improve on. I work from my bedroom, so I watch TV and work in the same room. Often this can lead to staying online until 4am simply because I am in the habit of doing so. If you work from home then try and keep your office strictly for work, and don’t work outside of your office.

1) To improve your native language.

This may sound strange, but this certainly happened to me. I didn’t know my nouns from my adjectives when I started learning Spanish. But now I have a better understanding of the different tenses, how to express myself, and how to be creative in explaining my thoughts and feelings. Many poets and famous writers also studied numerous languages……. coincidence?

2) To travel

Travelling is one of the greatest things you can do in life. But it can also be expensive, so why not make the most of the experience by diving into the local culture and environment. If not, you will be relegated to taking crappy photos for the entire week. Simply learning a few phrases is often enough to get people to open up to you.

3) To be global

Believe it or not the majority of the world does not speak English. We have been isolated so much that not many English speakers even know this. You have a huge advantage in terms of both a business and personal level if you can learn a new language.

4) It is very sexy

Knowing a new language shows education, good taste and refinement. if you want to stand out from your peers then this is a sure fire hit.

By Dean

In life and business you will have to learn how to get along with people. There is only so much you can do from behind a PC.

So it will be essential that you develop the skills to be able to get along with people in general.

The easiest way to do this is to avoid being negative with peoples opinions. I will digress:

There are two basic ways in which you can disagree with someone, one is that you believe the other person is wrong and the other is that you think he/she is right, but you consider it wrong in your own reality. The first method will get you into a lot of trouble, but the latter will help you build social relationships much easier.

Always remember that people generally say what they believe is right, therefore, in general, whether you think or say that they are wrong you are just banging your head against a brick wall. This person will not want to hear any negativity about their opinions, if you say something negative then their ears will start to close up and they will not listen to your point of view.

Let’s say for example that a good friend of yours says that Britney Spears has the greatest voice of all time. This may make you feel weak in the stomach at the mere thought of Britneys voice, but this doesn’t change the fact that this person’s opinion is 100% accurate.

What’s that? 100% accurate? you must be joking?

No I am not joking. In this persons opinion Britney Spears has the best voice on the planet! (re-read this sentence if necessary)

Any attempt to convince otherwise will have two awful consequences:

Firstly, the initial feeling towards you will be negative. This particular example is not very personal, it is not like your friend was discussing his/her religious beliefs, but in essence you are implying that he/she has poor taste and you are attacking his/her judgement skills.

Secondly, you have just increased a psychological barrier between you and your friend. Sub consciously you may start to think that your friend has no other insights of any worth, and that his/her opinions are not worth hearing anymore.

But don’t panic! there is a right way to handle this situation. Simply agree to the statement. This will strengthen your relationship and is the correct way to handle this scenario.

Ideally you should then try and change the subject as quickly as possible, just agree to disagree and move onto something else. After all, this is your friend, why destroy your social bond?

Think of this as a way to improve your social skills. If you find it very hard to agree with someone, then you need to work extra hard on this skill. Don’t elect to take the easy way out and dismiss this persons opinions, this will prevent you from being socially acceptable.

Writers note: I cannot force you to agree to the points in this article, it is your opinion and not mine. Feel free to believe that this article will help your personal development skills, or don’t. Either way, you are 100% correct.

By DeanHunt.com

One thing I have noticed over the past few years is that there is a lot of hate on the Internet.

If you don’t believe me then go and look at the comments on Youtube, Digg, Ebay, Spikedhumor or pretty much any website that is popular.

So what happens if some of this hate is directed to you or your website/blog?

Try not to take it too personally. There is a good chance that the person that is giving you hateful comments has never met you in real life, so they don’t know you as a person. Therefore it would be foolish to take their insults to heart.

Hatred is often just jealousy in disguise. I had a lot of success on my blog in December of 2006, but for every person that gave kind comments there were three people who gave negative comments. Unfortunately negativity and jealousy is the price you pay for being a success, just ask any celebrity. For every person that admires a world class sports person, there are likely to be 10 people who dislike him/her.

Don’t accept the gift of hate. Remember that if someone is angry or filled with hatred then it is THEIR hatred, not yours. It only becomes yours if you accept the gift of hatred.
There is a monk called Brother Thay, who had these wise words to say about hate:

“If your house is on fire, the most urgent thing to do is to go back and try to put out the fire, not to run after the person you believe to be the arsonist. If you run after the person you suspect has burned your house, your house will burn down while you are chasing him or her. That is not wise. You must go back and put the fire out. So when you are angry, if you continue to interact with or argue with the other person, if you try to punish her, you are acting exactly like someone who runs after the arsonist while everything goes up in flames.”

So remember, life is too short to waste your time on the haters.

Dean
(Dean writes at DeanHunt.com)