Shopping Tips

Introduction

Link building means having other websites link to your website. This will bring in more traffic to your website. It is a great marketing technique that you can use to build an audience. This is because those who click on the link are interested in your website and would like to see your website’s content to offer more in-depth. It is a great marketing tool that is used. It attracts consumers from different websites to you. This is highly beneficial and is used by most big companies. Regardless of whether you are a big firm or a small business starting, link building will benefit you.

Ten Benefits of Link Building:

Google requires links for ranking your site: Link building makes the presence of your company seen. Google needs links to trace you and to find more about your existence. Even if you possess the best website ever made but have no link building to go with it, Google will not rank your site.
It provides you with credibility: The publishers of other websites who link to your account will have gained the trust of its audience and Google. This will make the customers of the publisher trust you as well, which will bring in more traffic to your website. Google will also begin trusting you and deeming you as a credible site. The more websites you have linking to you, the more trustworthy your website becomes.
Helps you increase the traffic to your website: This is the main advantage that link building provides. You will get the target audience you require since you will only advertise to companies who link your website according to your relevance. Only the interested customers will click on your link.
It helps in having greater site metrics which will make your website benefit through exposure. It will also help increase the visibility of your website.
More traffic will also help increase sales. This will help your business earn more profit.
As you will have to find the right people to advertise with, you will find more people in the same category and befriend your competitors. This can help you gain collaborations and also learn about the workings.
Once you are seen as trustworthy, and you have returning customers and viewers, you can slowly begin to grow the page. This can help you be a trusted figure and gain more authority in the field.
You will always get traffic from the sites you use to link your website. These links will remain there permanently, unlike advertising.
You also get increased visibility because you can reach out to people who are not confined to any geographical bounds. This can help you promote your website worldwide.
You will also find several people who want to say on your website, which will prevent bounce rate i.e., people who browse your website without paying attention.

CoolTool is a unique automated neuromarketing platform expanding the opportunities of neuromarketing research to a previously unimaginable extent. Recently the company has developed and launched the beta version of unique webcam-based eye tracking running on Artificial Intelligence technology. It ensures a high precision of results and opens new opportunities for marketing research.

Recently the company has introduced the Emotion Measurement neuromarketing online tool. Respondents may complete surveys not in neuro-laboratories but in the more comfortable places where they usually come across advertising. Clients can collect data by just sending the link via different digital channels that is much more easier.

Surprises webcam-based eye tracking brings

First of all, the considerably high accuracy of results, followed by the unprecedented speed of the tool adjustment and usage, as well as wider possibilities now available for everyone.

Gaze movement tracking tool is perfectly suitable for testing of communication materials – videos, static advertising, product visibility on a shelf, and website mockups. From now on it will be accessible not only for digital and professional research agencies, but for mass usage by marketers, advertisers, designers, as well as all other actors who need consumer insights fast and affordable in terms of time and resources.

Ultimate advantages of webcam-based eye tracking

● The possibility to cover a wide audience immediately (you, as well as the respondents, don’t need any hardware as it’s an online solution).

● There is no need to equip a lab and invite people into one room to participate in the test as it always used to be.

● Respondents can take these tests regardless of their location – from the computer, laptop or from a smartphone.

● Respondents don’t have to install any kind of software.

● With the turned on webcam, you can conduct eye tracking and emotion measurement tests simultaneously, which is very important for the comprehensive testing of video advertising.

● You can use any webcam (inbuilt or external, though the better the resolution of the webcam, the more accurate the results).

● In case you don’t have respondents, you can use the CoolTool service to gain direct access to respondents from all over the world (online panels).

The CoolTool team continues to work on the improvement of its technology and strives to launch the most high-precision eye-tracking technology in the world in the nearest possible future. The company would appreciate hearing any feedback from users and calls to test their automated neuromarketing platform with a free account.

It is essential for a business of any scale to undertake a digital marketing campaign. With smartphone users growing by the hundreds of thousands per day, having your respective website and a presence in all populated digital networks is essential to grow your leads and create conversions.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential aspect of digital marketing. The use of voice-recognition software in smartphones use search engines to answer your queries. In fact, most mobile browsers use Google and other engines to find the answers to their queries.

Social media’s continuous growth had convinced many digital marketers that SEO is dead. The truth is, it is still alive. Borrell Associates, an industry think tank, found that US companies with digital campaigns have spent about $65 billion on SEM campaigns in 2017. In fact, it believes that the SEO services industry can grow to $72 billion in 2018 alone.

SEO services from companies will help you rank for search engines and become the preliminary audience choice when searching particular topics using keywords. The growing industry has made SEO companies numerous with competitive prices.

It can be difficult to choose the best one for your company. However, we understand that a quality company is one that has the following traits.

Observe Their Analysis (And Answers All Your Questions)

Free consultation or recommendations might seem like a sales strategy for these businesses, but if you try their free SEO services once, then you haven’t anything to lose in the process.

However, when you do use their free service, pay attention to the information they ask from you. They will ask about your traffic’s demographic, the brand’s products and services, and your website URL for starters.

A good company will not have an instant answer within a single day. A good SEO service provider may take 3-4 days before they can give you their consultation results. However, the best ones will accommodate questions you might have.

Feel free to ask the SEO service provider about the milestones and objectives they recommend to you if you take them up on their offer. Also, ask them why they are confident with the presented methods and how they measured the possible outcomes of the project.

A good SEO service will answer your questions without fail.

Sets Realistic and Achievable Milestones

A good SEO service provider doesn’t want to profit from their old customers. They want to create partnerships. Therefore, they will do their utmost to help.

They also know the right stepping stones to achieve even the grandest objectives you can have when it comes to your marketing campaign. They will create their initial timeframe. However, they are willing to adjust it to meet your deadline.

These reliable companies will talk to you about the right digital marketing channels you can use. In their plan drafts, you might see plans to use organic SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) tandem campaigns to raise awareness regarding your brand.

Lastly, if all the timeframes and milestones are finalized, a reliable SEO company will provide a contract that guarantees they will deliver all the promised results by the end of the project.

Experience in the Industry

Experience is the best teacher. Even the most bookish companies become better when they have had years in their respective industries.

However, for the SEO service industry, experience is a must.

This is because every few months, digital marketing shifts. Old strategies need updates to work effectively. Experienced companies have the know-how to improve ineffective strategies within the quickest time possible. But still, make sure to check their methods; a top SEO agency, Singapore or worldwide, is updated with the newest services to keep their clients’ sites ranking.

A Good Project Record

With experience comes a great number of happy clients. An SEO company expert, Singapore, Asia, or in the US, can refer to their case studies when making crucial campaign decisions. They may choose to publish these case studies in their website’s blog or they can refer it to you upon request.

Their portfolio speaks plenty about their methods and services. Data-packed portfolios are excellent and informative especially if they mention the brands they have worked with. However, make sure to observe the solutions they provided for clients in similar situations such as yours.

Excellent Feedback

Lastly, never underestimate the value of client feedback. Businesses who have found them to be positive will have plenty to say about their time working with the particular SEO agency. If you wish to know more about their feedback, you can ask the company to talk to references in industries that is similar with yours.

Discuss with these previous clients the methods the SEO companies used and the efficacy of their solutions. Ask about the handling of data and contracts. The more informative their answers, the easier

Conclusion

It is not difficult to find a company specializing in internet marketing in any countries because of the competitive markets nowadays. However, to avoid ending up with a company that won’t give you the optimal SEO campaign results you need, make sure to take note of these five qualities. SEO campaigns are an investment, so make sure you’re working with a reliable company.

Tons of SEO Professionals and Webmastars nearly collapsed at their keyboards in the wake of Google’s Penguin and Panda updates. SEO professionals believed that – “link building was dead… ” and this was an immense concern – to put it lightly. However, as time passed and Webmasters and SEO Professionals alike adapted to the shift, the fear wore off regarding link building for (SEO) Search Engine Optimization. In fact, the initial reaction was a bit of an exaggeration.

Building links continues and should/must continue, as it is an essential aspect of Search Engine Optimization. All search engines are driven by links.

With that said, we shall move forward with further information about link building, which you might find exceptionally useful and informative.

Misconceptions About Link Building That Should Be Disregarded Immediately

- Don’t build links and make sure your content is amazing. This is far from the truth… In fact, even Matt Cutts of Google said “Links are still the best way that we’ve found to discover how relevant or important somebody is… ”

This statement came from the head of Google’s web spam team. The guy who released the Penguin and Panda updates to begin with. So, maybe now we can all just relax and try breathing again? Maybe…

You see, although backlinks remains as a vital aspect of SEO and it’s also, one of the best methods that search engines utilize to rank and index content – the old fashion way of linking is now in the past. Those days are gone!

Google is now targeting particular types of link building methods/strategies. These particular strategies are the ones that should be avoided by Webmasters and SEO Professionals or risk the algorithm and manual penalties, which Google has the power to uphold at any given time.

Things You Should Avoid When Backlinking

Google’s goals and hopes with the implementation of Penguin and Panda were to get rid of spammy and suspicious link building shenanigans.That was all. In a nutshell, stay away and do not use “quick fix” link building tricks. For a very long time, website owners and webmasters invested a lot of time and money in exchanging links with other websites to boost page ranks.

However, these link building methods didn’t offer anything of value to users. Their mere existence was to develop as many links humanly possible and tricking search engine algorithms to advance a website’s page ranking. These are the kinds of link building methods that Google discourages and now with Penguin’s implementation if these unethical link building strategies are utilized by anyone, you will be given quite a hefty penalty for such practices.

Do Not Use The Following Link Building Tactics:

1. Cross Linking or Link Exchanges with other web pages with the singular purpose of creating a link tree to increase page rank… This is the type of tactic that should be put under lethal injection. DO NOT DO THIS!

2. Placing links to a website on low value directories is not recommended, as the majority of these online directories are not good. You’ll be able to tell the difference between low value online directories and the truly good ones. Make sure that they are applicable and relevant to your business, industry and/or niche.

3. Guest Blogging or Guest Posting with the only purpose being the insertion of keyword, stuffed links within the body of the content is also, a big NO, NO! As mentioned above, you will know which are high valued blogs based upon domain authority or social shares.

Below find some invaluable Link Building tips…

4 Tips on Safe & Effective Link Building Strategies

Now that we’ve established unethical, link building tactics and that they are indeed being targeted by Google – we are ready to move forward on what we all should be really focusing on – which are four, basic building principles, which will make your link building efforts invaluable and your SEO campaigns an utter success!

Stellar, Quality Content. It’s been said many times, but one more time won’t hurt a bit… Creating content that’s high in quality is vital! High quality content provides value to online users. Therefore, you will naturally/organically gain quality, Google friendly and approved links. Moreover, this will also, develop “Link Earning.” If you follow through with high quality, engaging content – eventually, your website will be recognized and your link building will go onto autopilot mode.

Keep Links Applicable/Relevant. Google counts on your inbound and outbound links to remain relevant. For instance, links should be connected with other web pages that have an organic and direct connection to your business, industry and/or niche in your business. Example: If you have a website that offers professional, cleaning services and it links to a website with professional cleaning equipment – this would make perfect sense to Google rather than linking back to a fly by night, medical equipment company.

Less Is MORE. With the new ways of link building – less is most definitely more! Using just a few links from a small amount of high quality websites is a lot more valuable than utilizing a large amount of links from low quality, spammy and suspicious websites. Quality over quantity will be triumphant in the link building journey. Concentrate on deep links when in search for high quality websites.

Social Media Investment. Social Media Networks and/or Platforms are more important than ever before. Although, Facebook shares or likes are not perceived as links – they do however, provide an excellent avenue to spread your message. Furthermore, it will boost your brand’s visibility and bring users to your website. Content, which is shared via Social Media platforms will organically boost and enhance a website’s visibility. It is recommended that you use tools, such as – HootSuite or Buffer, so that you may schedule Social Media posts in advance.

As you know, the SEO world is ever changing and although, sometimes it may become overwhelming – it is up to SEO Professionals to adapt to these changes, so that your website remains current and becomes even more successful and fruitful. So, when you hear people saying that link building is dead – know that this is an utter misconception and that link building continues to be a valuable aspect in SEO practices.

Our businesses also differ in terms of interface with clients. If you do “business to business” transactions, the number of people you interact with on a daily basis may differ from someone whose business relies on interacting with consumers. Appointments may be more practical in some instances than others. You have to tailor-make how you manage access to your particular situation if you are to eliminate distractions. Having said that it is important to note that some people do not mind spending the whole day at the office entertaining friends, visitors, and casual acquaintances dropping into the office whenever they feel like it. Do not be that kind of person. It sets the wrong kind of example to junior staff and can harm one’s productivity because these people take up time that you do not have and besides you want to cultivate a professional environment.

The demands of the day are enough to fill the eight working hours available unless if you tend to stay back and play catch up. How do you stay competitive in the market if there is no separation between work and play? Anybody serious about success and achieving effective results will put boundaries that are clear so that there is no confusion. Entrepreneurs are more susceptible to this especially when the workplace is easily accessible. The fact that you are your own boss even puts more responsibility on you to maintain self-discipline and self – management. I have written a whole book called, “Achieve More through Self – Leadership. In it I walk you through the practicalities of how you can get better results through managing self.

Appointments are an important way of not only managing time but managing life. They help you become more structured and productive. Some people seem not to be able to honour their appointments. I once attended a job interview that was supposed to start at 10:30am. By 11:30am there had been no communication about what was happening or when the supposed job interview was going to take place. I decided at the point that this company was probably not good enough for me to join because if you don’t respect people’s time you probably do not respect them.

You may be saying appointments are just not for me yet you never rock up at the doctor, dentist, lawyer or hairstylist without an appointment. Why is that the case? Because you simply won’t see the dentist without an appointment. They have given you conditions acceptable to them. We tell the world around us how to treat us by what we allow.

Some people are always available when you want to see them. If you are always free to see people at short notice, you are probably not that organized. The one who owns a diary will manage the one who doesn’t own one. Why? Because the one without the diary is always available, even though he is very likely to forget important meetings, dates and engagements because of a lack of organization. I used to have a boss who kept a diary and whatever you promised to do in the line of work, he would write down, including the day and time you said he would have it by. You would of-course forget because you didn’t record it like he did and when the time to deliver comes, guess who would be found wanting. It was then that I decided that I do not commit to an action that I am not willing to write down because, what’s written gets done!

You may be saying, “what if my business feeds off the “walk-ins? The fact that your business relies on walk – in customers should not be an excuse for disorder. Sometimes those who drop in unannounced may indeed be potential customers, suppliers, cold-calling salespeople, and even worthwhile business contacts. There is nothing wrong if the call is beneficial to you and your business but I believe there must be a structure and way of doing things that follows certain pre-set principles. I remember seeing a poster in an office that said “if you don’t have anything to do please don’t do it here”. It’s humorous yes, but true. Appointments help to structure your day and helps you allocate time to what’s important. This means you can focus on your most important asset: the paying customer. There is nothing as bad as walking into a place wanting to do business and staff are inattentive because there is just a demand on their time. I am more understanding if the personnel are not busy entertaining social visits at work.

In conclusion, you know your business situation better than any of us. All we can do is make recommendations that will enable efficiency that leads to growth. Some of you may actually need a personal assistant who will put order in your office and focus on the things you are not willing to do that will enable to focus on the highly value things you ought to do such as running a business.

Do you think successful people are just plain lucky?

Successful people did not become successful because they were lucky.

They did not achieve success by accident. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting relevant people, reading the appropriate book, did not come about accidentally or by luck.

Luck is brought about by Labour Under Correct Knowledge.

Successful people prepared themselves. Instead of giving up on anything they started and wanted to achieve they got stronger by learning more.

Success is a methodical, orderly and deliberate process of deciding what you want to do with your life, what are the steps that you need to undertake to get you there, and lastly what you will do once you get there.

One of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect to success, is the ability to visualise your successful outcome and stay focused on it until you achieve it.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited.” – Albert Einstein

Successful people understood the potential power behind knowledge, yet they also understood that, for them to close the gap between where they are and where they wanted to be, they would have to piece together the enigma that is most often referred to as “life”.

They had to build a picture, a vision, of success in their mind, and then go about taking action on creating that envisioned life.

In much the same way, you have to be serious about your present and future, you need to have the knowledge that is required so you, too, may close the gap: you need to be and remain determined to devote yourself to taking massive action to build your business of succeeding in life.

You, too, will need to see the end, your dream and destiny that you desire in your mind’s eye. It is up to you to take the necessary and relevant action to make it all happen. It’s just like going to the doctor with a particular health problem.

The doctor may prescribe a medication for you to take four times a day, yet he cannot be there with you to ensure that you are taking the medication.

It comes back to deciding to be responsible for your life.

Have you noticed how it all stems from that one attitude? Being responsible for your own life.

Your success, your being responsible 100% for you to live your dream life starts here.

When you accept 100% responsibility for yourself and your current life situation, you will have the power to move towards those things you truly desire in life: which is success in all areas of your life.

This life-changing article is about possibilities and opportunities, knowledge and tools. It will help expose your unique course in life.

It will inspire, support and motivate you to excel, to do what successful people do, to have all that successful people have, and to become a shining example of a successful person.

Here, you’re not being told what you couldn’t do, instead you are being told to shoot for the stars. And above all, you are being shown how to shoot for those stars.

“A person is what he thinks about all day long.” – Emerson

Interesting thought, wouldn’t you think? So much so, it’s worth repeating: “A person is what he thinks about all day long.”

Success and happiness cannot happen if you possess the same old thoughts and beliefs.

If you do not change your mind, if you do not get rid of the unsupportive thoughts and beliefs, you will inevitably remain stuck in your old ways. Not much, if anything, will change.

Let’s give you a quick overview on how change comes about:

Your BEHAVIOUR, how you act (or perhaps do not act), controls your success or failure. Your ability to attain high levels of success is dependent upon your actions and behaviours. Your results are the outcome of your behaviour. Now let’s consider where your behaviours come from and what controls them?

Your FEELINGS command your behaviour. Every action that you take is first filtered through your feelings that reside in your subconscious mind. How you feel about something determines what you do and how well you do it. So where do your feelings come from?

Your ATTITUDES create and influence your feelings. Your attitude is your perspective from which you view life. Whatever attitude you have about anything will affect how you feel, which, in turn, affects how you act. Where do your attitudes come from?

Your BELIEFS create, control and influence your attitudes. What you believe about anything will determine your attitude about it, which will create your feelings, and then which will direct your behaviour and action. Belief patterns are so powerful that two people who are in the same situation could perceive things completely differently. It only requires us to believe what we see and how we see it. We all have thousands of beliefs – big and small. And where do your beliefs come from?

Your THOUGHTS create, control and influence your beliefs. Your thoughts are real and are immensely powerful. Everything you accept from the outside world and everything you feed yourself from within is a product of your thoughts. Everything starts as a thought.

So, it goes without saying you need to learn to control your thoughts. And when you do, you will automatically control your beliefs, your attitudes, your feelings and, consequently, your behaviour and actions.

The big secret to success:

Learn to control your thoughts and you will influence your behaviours and actions. It’s all a mind-set. That’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Success is predictable and is not achieved by accident.

Have the mind-set of the successful people and you will achieve success. Believe and it is yours!

“There is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.” – Joel Osteen

Science of success experts have concluded that the brain is a goal-setting organism.

That is fantastic news for us: for whatever goal we give to our subconscious mind, it will work for us day and night, 24/7, to achieve it for us; to make it a reality.

The principal breakthrough that scientists made was that we do not need to waste our precious time and effort trying to change old thoughts and behaviours: we just simply create new ones.

And the other discovery they made was that we can continue to create new thoughts, new memories, new behaviours, new skills, and learn new things for as long as we are alive on this earth.

Now, with the new discoveries in recent years, it has been scientifically proven that our capacity to achieve and succeed literally has no limits.

Our brain has the capacity to continually learn during our entire lifetime.

Our brain can form new thoughts, can have new memories, and can learn new things by the millions, no matter what your age is. By the millions.

That’s how many new things we can learn, that’s how many new skills we can learn, that’s how many new thoughts we can have, that’s how many new behaviours we can adopt.

This is encouraging because there is no limit on your capacity to achieve new things.

No limits whatsoever for the human brain to learn, memorise, develop, achieve and perform at higher levels than ever imagined. It makes no difference what your age is: you are capable of learning anything new that you want to learn.

That adds to what we spoke of earlier: no more excuses.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Your brain has the capacity to achieve way beyond what was ever thought possible. So now is the time to break out of your limited thinking and start dreaming big and imagining unlimited possibilities.

Becoming successful is not impossible.

It is a choice you make through a decision. Every day, step-by-step, you may climb the mountain of success if you’ve decided to do so, if you’re committed to accomplish what the others think impossible.

Design your future now.

Prepare to receive what you desire.

Thanks to the phenomenal advances made in cognitive science and the development of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), personal change, personal transformation, has come a very long way.

In fact, personal growth is no longer a mystery.

NLP has brought to light that change, transformation and growth can be fast, reliable, and even fun. It has shown us that we do not need to spend thousands of hours slaving away to increase our creative-thinking abilities.

By practicing a few simple exercises and applications, you can start your creative juices flowing, and you may even amaze yourself at the quality and quantity of good ideas that you can come up with to expedite your success.

It can allow you to achieve something you seek within days and months as opposed to years and decades. That’s the power of the progress science has made on how the brain works, and also how you can have your mind to be your best ally in achieving anything you want.

Learn to live as you like by no longer living as you dislike.

Are you ready to get on the road to success and fulfilment?

Bear in mind, much like everything else in life, success requires practice and massive, consistent action.

“Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle.” – Edwin C Bliss

Do you feel as if you’ve outgrown your circle of friends? Perhaps you do not feel safe or understood any longer. There may be fewer and fewer things you can share with people in your habitual circle, and it leaves you feeling lonely or isolated. If so, you are not alone. Welcome to one of the core dynamics of continuous growth!

As we continue to evolve, many of us struggle with a sense of not quite fitting in with our traditional community or tribe: we may have expanded or changed beyond the borders of tribal norms, and no longer find the same sense of belonging there. Other members may have tightened the tribal rules to foster a sense of security. As a result, we may feel a sense of disconnection or alienation.

In truth, each one of us belongs to many tribes simultaneously: there is your original tribe – the family you were born into – and then there are all the communities of choice you have joined: your work tribe, your social circles, your faith-based community, your neighborhood, and more. These communities are not static; they are in continuous flux because they consist of individuals who are in continuous states of change. When there is a lot of change happening in either the individual or the community, a sense of dissonance results.

How are we to deal with this? First, it is important to recognize that tribal allegiances were historically forged for survival. They were adapted over the course of centuries to ensure the safety and survival of the group. Survival required that individuation be sacrificed for the trade-off of security.

In modern society, the tables are flipped. Whether we enjoy it or not, change is essential for survival at every level of being. The pace of change is driven by technological advances and happens with increasing rapidity: sociologists estimate that more change has taken place in society over the course of the past 100 years, than in the totality of the previous 6,000 years. Individual adaptation now is a requirement for survival, and the pace of individual change does not always match the pace at which our various tribal communities evolve. The resulting dissonance can cause intense friction and pain.

Dissonance also results from confusion between the concepts of ‘connection’ and ‘community.’ We tend to equate one with the other, when they really relate to different qualities. Connection relates to connectivity: the objective physical technology or media that enables us to build community, but which does not represent the quality of that community. Connectivity simply offers the opportunity to connect with others through internet, texting, phone calls, or any other social networking options.

Community is the result of building relationship through meaningful interaction over time. There is no shortcut; it is a process that develops when bonds of trust and intimacy are nurtured and honored.

And here lies a caveat: When we confuse connectivity with community, we depersonalize the sacred nature of true community and start relating to people as objects. Instead of developing intimacy over time, we collect friends on social network sites or try to buy people’s allegiance. Yet friending is simply an act of connecting; it does not create intimacy.

In fact, social experiments indicate that technologically dominated connectivity results in alienation and social collapse over time. In a groundbreaking social experiment conducted by Josh Harris, one of the founders of social networking on the internet, he found that the more people’s private lives were exposed by 24/7 technology, the more their sense of intimacy and relationship deteriorated until the community collapsed in violence and self-destructive behavior.

It is time to revisit our concepts of community so we can create tribes that offer a true sense of intimacy and belonging.

In his 1987 book, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, psychologist M. Scott Peck described several core characteristics of true community. Beyond the obvious components of inclusivity, commitment and participatory consensus, Peck pointed out the quality of embracing diversity through realism. When each member contributes their unique viewpoint from a place of humility and goodwill, the community benefits from a broader perspective in which to better grasp the full context of a situation. In other words, mutual tolerance helps members to embrace one another’s different viewpoints as an integral part of the whole, instead of imposing a forced compliance to groupthink or cohesion.

In an environment like this, members experience and express compassion and respect for one another. They allow others to share their vulnerability, to learn and grow, and to express who they truly are. When conflict arises, they learn to resolve it with wisdom and grace. Members listen to and respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, and commit to find solutions together rather than to fight against each other. Indeed, the true spirit of community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom and power. The source of this spirit may be seen as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.

Does this description of community sound spiritual to you? It is indeed, because Spirit is the common denominator among all of us, regardless of how separate we feel from others.

As human beings, we often experience a socio-economic sense of separation from others because of different opinions, beliefs, expectations, language, culture, or interests, since each one of us expresses these in a way uniquely different from anyone else. And still, we continue to differentiate! In this ongoing process, we continue to evolve or devolve in response to life. A community that felt like a good fit last year may no longer work today; the places where we felt embraced, now may suffocate us. Over the course of a lifetime, we can expect to outgrow and change allegiances to many of the tribal communities we once belonged to.

And yet, when we transcend the layers of physical appearance, mental beliefs and socio-economic conditioning, we find in the presence of Spirit a common denominator in everyone around us. Perhaps it is time to expand our tribal definitions to embrace a spiritual community that includes all of mankind as children of God.

Mother Teresa admonished her nuns to see Jesus in every leper they encountered, to find His presence as they looked into the eyes of the homeless. When we can look past the issues that divide us to find omnipresent Divinity in each other, we will uncover the foundations of true community.

Spiritual community transcends all socio-economic borders, beliefs and backgrounds. It is inclusive because it operates on voluntary self-responsibility and mutual compassion, and its doors are open to everyone.

Building this type of community takes time: time to listen, to hear, to respond and to participate. Take a few moments to read the description of spiritual community again. Then, make time in your life to foster that type of connection with people who matter to you. You are one of the architects of community in your life, and you can participate in building a tribe where you belong.

What would happen to you if your home life was more organized than it is right now? Can work-life balance be achieved? What are the tools at our disposal? Could scheduling appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize?

What is the challenge we face? I sometimes find that time spent at home can be the busiest time, especially in the times we live in. Imagine someone working from home, home-schooling children, and sometimes even doing a side hustle. Imagine also the full-time home-based entrepreneur. How do they manage to do all they need to do in a day?. We are living in a time when many entrepreneurs and even company employees have adopted work- at – home culture. This comes with its challenges as the lines become blurred between home and work. These blurred lines and constraints on the limited resource called time result in over-worked, under-rested, burnt-out individuals. Whilst good time management has been encouraged and indeed, embraced in the workplace, I believe more needs to be done in changing the mindset for the elusive work-life balance to be achieved.

What are the tools at our disposal? To manage time effectively at home, there are many interventions one can employ including setting goals for the day, prioritizing wisely, setting a time limit for every task, organizing oneself, and instituting the discipline of appointments. Yes, an appointment at home! We can spend time pontificating on the pros and cons of each intervention, however, I believe we need to focus on appointments and see how this can powerfully change the course of one’s day regardless of whether it’s a workday or weekend. Life is busy as it is without any intrusions. The question is how do you handle the one who announces that they are at the gate. These can be friends, neighbors, a salesman of some product you do not even need. I am not promoting regimentation here but rather a culture of filling your day with what’s important. Everything that we succeed at is because we carefully plan and execute it. I am a firm believer that you cannot manage time if you do not manage yourself thus I implore you to incorporate planning and appointments into your repertoire. I am not talking about something I do not do. I have to achieve many things in a day therefore I set appointments with my work, others, and myself.

Could scheduling appointments and keeping them on the home front help us save time and prioritize? Whereas we have established that it is a normal business practice to set appointments and keep them, we need to abandon the liberal open-door policy of allowing all and sundry to have access to us as and when they please on the home front. Please understand where I am coming from. We each have greatness within us but for us to achieve it we need to culture great habits. Employing the use of appointments at home and seeing only those people you had agreed to see removes non-essential encounters especially during the most productive hours. I know this will vary with culture, geographical region, or even level of affluence, whether you live in a low density or high-density residential area, but doesn’t negate the need to be organized and effective. Controlling access determines how organized you are and how well you will work and rest when the time for scheduled rest comes.

What do we need to do differently? We need to be disciplined and diligent, learn to say no, now is not a good time, let’s make an appointment for next week. What are the benefits of this approach? You are not always fire-fighting to meet deadlines, You are not always tired because you have not taken time out to rest. You have set aside enough time to spend with your loved ones or a loved one. If you are a busy person, I am sure you appreciate what I am saying. Whether it’s time to work uninterrupted, family time, or “me-time”, it takes some kind of order to enjoy it.

I am not saying that those that come unannounced are bad people. No, not at all, they probably are people you enjoy spending time with. Nevertheless, there must be prior communication so that you can attend to your visitor(s) when it is convenient for both you and them. It can be quite disrupting and a whole day can just pass by without achieving anything that you had planned to do.

As we grow older we begin to appreciate that rest and recovery need to be scheduled. The fact that I am relaxing doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to do. One therefore cannot assume that just because you are at home you are available. Maybe you have scheduled that time to rest. That is important. You need to make an appointment with yourself, spouses need to also set aside time for each other. Parents need to schedule a time to spend with their children. When you have some sort of order in your life you determine who sees you and who you see. It also means that your relationships will be healthy and that makes you a happier person.

In conclusion, I believe that the work-life balance can be achieved. There are many tools at our disposal just like it is in the workplace.I believe we could do more and be happier if we are disciplined enough to make only the commitments we can keep.I am certain that setting appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize.