Listen to the new song "Mixed By 40" by Pvrx. This young man has a very bright future ahead of him.

Meal prepping isn't just for bodybuilders, figure competitors or athletes. It's a simple way to get control of the way you eat and the way you feel.

​I stumbled upon meal prepping by necessity as a high schooler.

With swim practices before and after school, it meant that I had to pack meals and snacks for the full day, including a second breakfast, a couple lunches and enough snacks to fuel a growing and active body.

Later in life, once the rabid commitment of sport had tapered off, I found myself still meal prepping without really understanding why.

A good credit score is important for anyone to have. Loans are a necessary part of life for most of us. Building a solid credit history and maintaining a high credit score can have a dramatic impact on your quality of life now and in the future when you're considering applying for a loan or even a prepaid debit card.

Buying a House

Purchasing a house is one of the greatest investments you can make in your own future. It s also one of the most difficult ones to achieve if you don t have a good credit score. The recession caused foreclosures and short sales aplenty. Even though the housing market has rebounded, banks are still cautious about lending, with more stringent requirements than ever to qualify for a loan. 

​If you re not ready to buy a home, it is important to know that renting a home involves a credit check for most people now. If you show delinquent credit, you may not be able to rent a house or apartment, or you may have to pay a larger deposit.

With few exceptions, everything you’ve ever read in your entire life was written by somebody. It’s an obvious observation but becomes an impressive fact the more you think about it. Writers are far more prevalent than most people think, in that many key responsibilities and duties in life require good writing from folks who are not “writers” in the archetypal sense of the word. Be it lawyers, salespeople, teachers, or even zookeepers - strong writing skills are critical for success throughout the many branches of society.

​In fact, the importance of writing has perhaps increased in the last decade or so, thanks to trends in technology. Most folks communicate via email, text, or social media, and hence many millions of pieces of information are flowing between us through the written word every day. In matters of business, when every second counts, strong writing makes the difference between smooth operations and clumsy footing.

Although you’ve been breathing since the moment you were born, you’ve probably been doing it all wrong. [Tweet this fact!]

“We’re all born knowing how to inhale and exhale correctly, but with today’s technology, hurried schedules, and everyday stress, most of us have lost that ability,” says Belisa Vranich, Psy.D., author of the new book, Breathe: 14 Days to Oxygenating, Recharging, and Fueling Your Body & Brain. “As a result, most of us ‘under-breathe’ in a dysfunctional way.”

​And this dysfunctional breathing can make you feel winded during CrossFit or after climbing a few flights of stairs, no matter how fit you are. Oxygen is fuel, and part of feeling fatigued during exercise has to do with not fueling our cells well enough through our breath. “You can have the heart and cardiovascular system of an elite athlete but the lungs and breathing muscles of a total couch potato,” Vranich says.

In every success story, the longest chapter is the one about determination.

While success demands many things from us, willpower and determination always come up at the top of the list. Many people believe that we are born with determination and those that succeed are simply the fortunate ones who are born with an abundant supply. But if you ask any successful person they will tell you they were not born with more determination; they always found a way to harness and use what they have more effectively.

​Here are five ways to harness your determination and stay focused:

Some years after my decision to divorce, I thanked my parents for not pressuring me one way or the other on the “stay-or-go” issue. Making that hard decision myself really forced me to grow, I told them.
My dad replied, “We knew there would be pain whether you got divorced or didn’t. And we knew you had to choose that pain for yourself.”
That was the best advice I ever got—and it wasn’t exactly advice.

I think about this incident often, particularly when another adult asks me to give advice or when I’m nervy enough to butt in even without being asked. As fellow PT blogger Thomas Plante points out in a funny and insightful blog, giving advice can be fraught with peril. Some people react rebelliously and do the very thing you advised against. Others get defensive and attack you, leading to the bewildered reply, "I was only trying to help!” Still others ask for advice, but then tell you a million reasons why your suggestions won't work. Why the negative reactions? Plante points out that many people view advice as an infringement on their personal freedom or an attack on their competence.

Too many entrepreneurs I know still believe that their great idea will carry their startup. Yet most investors agree that the "idea" is worth nothing alone, and it's the entrepreneur's execution that counts. That means that selling yourself is more important than selling your idea.

In the corporate world, experts have recognized for a long time that the way people perceive you at work is vital to your career success. No matter how talented you are, it doesn't matter unless managers can see those talents and think of you as an invaluable employee, a game-changing manager or the person whose name is synonymous with success.

​In the entrepreneur world, your perception is equally critical, except the "managers" in this world are your investors, customers, vendors, business partners and team members. I just finished a book by Dan Schawbel, Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success, which will help you maximize these perceptions.

Many people assume that creativity is an inborn talent that their kids either do or do not have: just as all children are not equally intelligent, all children are not equally creative. But actually, creativity is more skill than inborn talent, and it is a skill parents can help their kids develop.
Because it is a key to success in nearly everything we do, creativity is a key component of health and happiness and a core skill to practice with kids. Creativity is not limited to artistic and musical expression—it is also essential for science, math, and even social and emotional intelligence. Creative people are more flexible and better problem solvers, which makes them more able to adapt to technological advances and deal with change—as well as take advantage of new opportunities.

​Many researchers believe we have fundamentally changed the experience of childhood in such a way that impairs creative development. Toy and entertainment companies feed kids an endless stream of prefab characters, images, props and plot-lines that allow children to put their imaginations to rest. Children no longer need to imagine a stick is a sword in a game or story they've imagined: they can play Star Wars with a specific light-saber in costumes designed for the specific role they are playing.

How you approach your body is important, because you'll probably approach the rest of your life in the same way. Want freedom? Practice moving free. Want to do hard things without a struggle? Practice moving easily, even when things get hard. The same goes for flexibility. If you’re looking to become more flexible in your body and your life, here are eight tips that will make it easier than you ever thought possible.

1. Let go of the idea that stretching makes you flexible.
 
Most people assume that stretching — in a way that uses muscle to force other muscles to lengthen — leads to flexibility. It doesn’t! The old-fashioned approach of static stretching (holding still while pushing hard into a stretch) has been part of most athletic training regimes for decades.