Author: Nam

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Two Easy Ways To Be More Mindful Even If You’re Short on Time

What is mindfulness? And how can you be more mindful throughout the day?

Did you know that an estimated 8.3 million American adults suffer from psychological distress?

According to an evaluation of federal health data, 3.4 percent of the U.S. population has issues with stress.

And when stress is not managed properly, it can lead to more mental health problems.

The University of Ottawa’s Heart Institute says that when stress is not managed, it can cause you to develop anxiety and depression, which can increase your chances of getting cardiovascular disease.

So how can you lower your stress levels? Continue reading “Two Easy Ways To Be More Mindful Even If You’re Short on Time”

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Why You Should Use Einstein’s Thought Experiments to Problem Solve

Thought experiments are quick methods of problem-solving that requires logic and critical thinking to come up with reasonable conclusions/solutions.

Have you ever been faced with a problem that you just can’t seem to solve? Or at least can’t solve at that moment in time?

For instance, a teacher wants you to find solutions for a social problem on an exam, but she doesn’t give you enough time or resources to come up with an elaborate plan.

Or you are faced with making a decision between one opportunity and another.

If you have, then you probably understand the stress (or at the very least annoyance) of not being able to solve the problem.

I know I have.

However, there is something you could try to ease the strain of decision-making -thought experiments.

What Are Thought Experiments?

Thought experiments are, according to the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, “devices of the imagination used to investigate the nature of things.”

Though they are mainly used to solve scientific and philosophical problems, if you modify them a little bit, you can use them to solve non-academic problems as well.

Albert Einstein was notorious for using visual thought experiments to solve scientific problems.

One of his most famous thought experiments was the Elevator Thought Experiment, where he essentially imagined himself using a falling elevator as a physics lab. Continue reading “Why You Should Use Einstein’s Thought Experiments to Problem Solve”

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How to Pick a Hobby (And The Importance of Having One)

Here are some tips on how to pick a hobby because hobbies are great for relieving stress and promoting happiness.

Hobbies. Many people think that hobbies are just for children or grown immature adults who wear silly hats as they play with trains.

But these activities have a lot of positive benefits for adults.

It relieves stress, promotes happiness, and provides a social outlet, to name a few.

However, having a hobby can also give you something that drives you to master (yes, there is mastery in building train sets); it gives you an activity that you want to constantly improve at.

And this is important because it gives you purpose. And it’s really fun.

Yes, you could have a fulfilling career and a family that you love.

But what happens when you are retired and your family no longer needs you to support them? What are you going to do?

Are you going to sit around and watch 90’s sitcoms?

No, you need to do something productive. And your hobby can be that activity as it will be something that forces you to solve problems and try to get good at.

Take, for example, my mom.

When she was still working, she worked hard.

She rarely took vacations and pretty much devoted her life to work and taking care of her family. But when she retired, she didn’t have any activities that excited her or that she really wanted to do.

She had no hobbies.

So she would spend the majority of her time watching TV. And as time went by, her ability to think critically decreased.

She also got lazier. Continue reading “How to Pick a Hobby (And The Importance of Having One)”

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How to Build a Daily Learning Routine

Bill Gates once said, “you don’t really start getting old until you stop learning.” This is true and you should continue to learn with a learning routine.

Learning is one of those activities that many people feel is unnecessary once you graduate from school (either high school or college).

But learning is very important for self-growth and many successful people continue to learn until the day they die.

But learning a new skill or subject can be difficult if you have a job that you have to attend to and/or children you have to take care of.

That’s why when you are picking a subject, you have to pick something that you’ll be excited to learn because you are going to dedicate your free time to mastering this new skill or topic.

Now here’s the hard question: How can you figure out what you should be learning?

Well, what do you like to do? What is something productive that you enjoy doing and would want to continually improve at? What activity do you want to master?

This is the thing that you need to learn, but I’ll talk more about how to find your passion in detail another time. Continue reading “How to Build a Daily Learning Routine”

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‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight Book Review

“Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight is an honest account of the ups and downs of following your dreams.

[Full disclosure: Some of the following links are affiliated links as I participate in the Amazon Associates program. What this means is that if you follow the link and purchase something, I will get a commission, at no extra cost to you.]

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is, by far, my favourite book this year.

It is a captivating story that tells the tale of the juggernaut company Nike.

Knight goes through the entire beginnings of the company, not leaving out any details that would make him look bad.

The story starts off with Knight having a “crazy idea” of wanting to start a sneaker company and going to a foreign land with the sole purpose of making this idea come to fruition. Continue reading “‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight Book Review”

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The History Behind Labour Day in North America

Have you ever wondered how Labour Day came about? Well, here’s the history behind it.

For many of us, Labour Day is the holiday before we have to head back to school (or work for some); it is the long weekend that ends summer vacation.

The History of Labour Day in Canada

But do you know the history of Labour Day? Do you know why it is a holiday and how it came about?

Well, in the late 1800s, workers were treated horribly.

They had to work long days in bad work conditions and were paid very little. And to add salt to injury, they had no benefits.

Additionally, they weren’t allowed to form unions, so their employers were able to treat them however they pleased.

And with the rise of machines that did labour work, workers were afraid to speak out because they feared they would lose their jobs (the majority of them didn’t have any other skills to do anything else).

Continue reading “The History Behind Labour Day in North America”

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History Time: The Cuban Migration to the U.S.

After decades of Cubans migrating to Florida, Bill Clinton and his administration developed a controversial policy (called the “wet foot/dry foot” policy) to curb migration.
So I just got back from a two-and-a-half-week vacation in the States. It was a pretty long one, but I did travel to both Miami and Orange County.

During my vacation in Miami, I took a Duck Tour.

If you have never been on one of these or have never heard about it, it’s not what you think, unless what you’re thinking isn’t the same as what I first thought when I heard about it.

The tour, which has nothing to do with ducks, is a tour of Miami.

At first, I thought it was literally a duck tour, where a vehicle drives you around natural duck habitats so that you can learn about them.

But to my surprise, it was not that.

The Duck Tour was pretty cool and again, to my surprise, quite informational.

At the beginning of the tour, I thought it was just going to be a tour of the cool spots in the city and celebrity homes/hangouts.

But the tour guide talked quite a bit about the history and politics in the city too, and this right here is my jam.

I love this kind of stuff!

He talked about many things, such as deals that John D. Rockefeller made with politicians for ownership of public land, the consequences of construction companies not following building regulations when building buildings, and the Cuban migration.

What caught my attention the most was the Cuban migration.

Continue reading “History Time: The Cuban Migration to the U.S.”

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Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Learn History

History is one of those subjects that some students just hate to learn. They find it boring and useless, and often wonder why they have to learn it.

A while back, I had this one student I was tutoring ask me why he had to learn history.

He said that the stuff he was learning in that class was useless because the events had already happened and don’t affect him.

I really didn’t know how to answer him.

All I said was history class is important because it shows you what works and what doesn’t work, based on the past.

And I also told him that he should go ask his social studies teacher in school that question because I’m his English tutor.

But regardless, that question was stuck in my head because I like history.

I like reading and learning about the events that happened in the past, but I didn’t know what the importance of that information was.

Continue reading “Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Learn History”

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