Sketches, Smetches

I've always been able to make a decent sketch of something, but as all unschooled sketchers (not the shoes, mind you), my drawings have always be askew, awry and a-missing the proper perspective.

Good thing I discovered Mark Kistler's You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less.

And yes, he's awesomely right when he says “drawing is a learned skill.”

There's some myth in the belief that you can't draw good if you're not born with the talent.

Of course, there are those who seem to have been born with their hand holding a pencil, able to sketch intricate, technically correct landscapes and portraits. I certainly had a classmate in grade school who seemed to have a knack of drawing faces and mixing colors attractibely. I remember he once drew a dog—which looked like how dogs looked like in real life—in kindergarten. Precocious, I tell you. Er, prodigious,  too.

Still, drawing is an acquired skill. Which is something Kistler capitalized on when he came up with his 30-day drawing tutorial.

I'm on Lesson 17 now, and I can truly say Mr. Kistler truly knows what he's doing with wannabe sketchers like me who just want to draw things that resembles something that really exists in real life, heh.

As you can see in the baseline pre-test, my sketching technique—and results—are elementary at best.

The Pre-Test. Elementary, my dear Watson. Very elementary.

5 Complete - and Completely Free - Cardio Workout Videos Online

Who doesn't like free, right? We all do! Which is why YouTube is my BFF when it comes to exercise stuff, girl.

And you’re in luck because today, I’m going to lead you to my favorite free cardio workout videos online -- completely gratis and downloadable, too!

What’s best, you can do these cardio exercises indoor, right at home. You won’t need to sweat it out with those nubile young bodies at the gym. All you need is a PC, a cable to connect your PC to your TV, and you’re good to go.

Of course, it’ll be best if you can get your girlfriends to do these aerobics cardio workout with you. Studies show that losing weight with a friend is more effective in achieving weight loss goals than going solo.

A word of caution: Before starting any of the routines in these workout videos, make sure you get your doctor’s go ahead first.

Especially for women who may have heart conditions or other medical issues, it’s always wise to consult your doctor so you're sure your body can bear the stress.

1. Walk at Home for 2 Miles with Leslie Sansone

This cardio workout video from Leslie Sansone is one of the gentlest (and totally free!) cardio workout videos online that I always return to. I love it because I can do an aerobics cardio workout right at home. I use this free workout video as a two-week lead up to more energetic workouts.

What are Your Signature Top Strengths?

I'm a deeply reflective person. Although I can't say that I think long and hard about what I say or do before I open my mouth or do something, you'll always see me picking apart my words and actions afterwards to learn from them.

So most of the time I'm clear about my motivations. As a young kid who had to fight her schoolyard bullies, I learned the art of subtlety. You have to hide where you're coming from so they won't expect a strike...but you always have to know what moves you so you're always right with yourself. Kind of a scary thing for a kid to know, huh?

But I knew my strengths, and I played on them. Pretty soon, the bullies were leaving me alone. Besides, it helped that I had cousins and siblings who taught me how to give as good - or better - as I got, heh.

Procrastination and Productivity: The Twin Devils of the Work-at-Home Life [Video]

Working from home can get quite lonely. Yes, you can dictate your work hours and you don’t have to commute—in 2 seconds flat (for me, at least), you’re in your ‘office’ and ready to start the day. But then, there are two evils that you have to contend with when freelancing from home: procrastination and productivity.

Yep, the two Ps of work-at-home life. And if you can’t conquer one, you can’t have the other.

Here are two videos that may shed light on the science of both and how to master procrastination and improve your productivity...and of course, increase the dollars that you can rake in. :) 

The Science of Procrastination

Indeed, there’s a scientific reason why we put off things that we can do today. It has something to do with rewards and dopamines. Here’s how AsapSCIENCE, one of my favorites on YouTube, explains it:

Takeaways:

1. Temporal discounting has everything to do with our tendency to procrastinate...something about getting rewards nowe—and having that rush of the pleasure hormone dopamine—versus getting our rewards later.
2. The Pomodoro technique...which is simply breaking down your work into 20 minutes then a 5-minute break...definitely helps.
3. Acknowledge that you will procrastinate so best do something about it from the start. Create a deadline. An externally-imposed deadline is more effective.
4. Enjoying the process of doing something will prevent procrastination. Make a list of the reasons why you want to achieve a goal.
5. Work somewhere else if you can't remove the distractions. That way, the things that encourage procrastination is far from you.

The Art of {Business} Blogging

Penny Power, founder of social business network Ecademy, shares some pointers on the art of blogging in this video:

Main takeaways:

Introduction to Psychology: Some Takeaways

As I’m moving more towards a career in copywriting, I’m regaining my earlier fascination with psychology…how the mind works, why we feel what we do, and why we want stuff.

When I stumbled onto this free online course at Udemy, I immediately signed up with my Facebook profile.

Here are some of the takeaways from the introductory session:

4 Things About Perfection That I Learned From Adrian Monk

I have just finished watching Season One of  Monk, a TV show produced by NBC Universal. Despite the “defective detective” label, I totally identified with Monk—his uniqueness, his imperfections, and his humanity.

I learned four valuable lessons from Adrian Monk, obsessive compulsive, that helped me accept myself despite of and in spite of:

1. We all want to be perfect…

Accept it: there really is a reason why Monk and the rest of us sweat the small stuff.  We have been hot-wired since birth to want perfection because we were made for perfection!

Understand Before You Write

Previously, I ranted about writers who--by design or by accident--write articles so obscure they don’t bear reading or editing. This time, I’m ranting about writers who never take the time to understand the intricacies of what their writing about so they come off as witless and clueless.

I had an encounter with just that kind of writer recently. I asked her to re-write articles and turn each into 15 incarnations. The base articles were about chocolate tempering and making homemade chocolate candies, and I do understand that it’ll be Greek to any layman save the chocolate-loving kind.

Imagine my chagrin when she returned 15 articles which were nowhere near publishing standards! As I read the articles, it was clear she was absolutely clueless about what she was writing about.