The LuxMob Info Tags

If you’ve reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep up with
answering the mountain of emails that threatens to bury you
alive every single day, you’re ready to learn about
autoresponders.

The bad news is that people expect prompt replies to their email
inquiries. However, unless you can figure out how to work
continual twenty-four hour shifts, or hire enough people to
constantly monitor incoming emails (while they’re eating up your
revenue), you have a problem. The good news is an autoresponder
is an inexpensive - or even free - method of quickly responding
to emails. What these programs do is automatically respond to
incoming emails as soon as they are received.

Emails are essential to your business for many different
reasons. Most importantly, these invisible email voices give you
their feedback about your website - for free! However, if you
spend all your working hours answering these emails, how are you
supposed to run your business? The answer is simple: use
autoresponders. Autoresponders are programs that automatically
respond to your emails without you so much as having to click on
your mouse.

There are a number of good reasons why you need an autoresponder
besides just answering your email. For example, autoresponders
can be used if you need a way to send information about your
services or products, price lists, or if there are repeated
questions asked across large numbers of emails. Maybe you want
to offer your site visitors a special bonus of some kind, such
as advice or relevant articles. All of this can be handled by an
autoresponder. Additionally, you can advertise your business and
then build stable relationships with your customers by using
autoresponders.

Autoresponder programs vary from software that runs with your
email program to a specialized script that runs on your web
hosting company’s server. This kind of script may use a web page
form or simply operate with your email account. This kind of
script is programmed to send out a standardized message whenever
an email is received. The message is sent to a particular script
or email address.

Some autoresponders can do more than simply send out
standardized messages. They can send out an unlimited number of
follow-up messages sent at predetermined interval of time. For
example, you can set your autoresponder to send out a new
message every day for as long a period as you desire.

There are numerous companies who offer autoresponders free of
charge. Your website hosting company often provides
autoresponders as a free service. If this is not the case with
your web hosting company, there are numerous companies who offer
this service for a small fee, or free of charge, providing you
attach an advertisement for their company to your emails.

To personalize your autoresponder messages, you can attach a
signature. Signatures in this case are much like business cards.
You can include your name, company, all your contact numbers and
addresses, and a brief message.

It’s a good idea to attach a signature to every email that is
sent out. This works as a repeated reminder of your business
identity every time a customer sees it. The more they look at
your signature, the more likely your company will spring to mind
when your particular service or product is needed.

You can create a standardized signature that every employee in
your business uses, or you can go wild, and let every staff
member create their own personal signature. Of course, like
everything in life, there are some rules and guidelines to
creating a personal signature.

Keep the length of your signature between four to six lines of
text, with no more than 70 characters in a single line. Make
sure that your email program does not cut off your text! The
content should include your name, your company name, your email
address, fax number, and any other contact details, such as 800
numbers. Lastly, always include a short personal message about
your company. It should be a subtle sell of your services or
your products, and possibly your company’s reliability and
longevity.

Another specialized use of autoresponders is to create courses
that you can then offer your site visitors for free. You must
choose a topic in which you are an expert and that precisely
targets your potential customers.

Once you have carefully chosen your subject, divide it into a
number of different sub-topics. Then offer your site visitor a
free 10 or 15 day course, each day offering a different
sub-topic. The first topic should always be a welcome message to
your site visitor and an explanation about what is to follow.
Your explanation should be enticing, getting the point across
that you are offering free, quality information that your target
audience will find of great value.

With every lesson, include the number of the lesson, the topic
title, information about your company and its services or
products. At the end, include a few blurbs about the next lesson
to entice the subscriber to continue on.

Make sure each topic is packed with essential and valuable
information, and leaves the visitor lusting to know more.
Otherwise, you may lose them in the very beginning.

Of course, you have to write up your course before you can offer
it. Once you have done this, and gone over the material
carefully, employing a professional writer or editor if
necessary, you must transfer your text to your autoresponder.

There are a number of free autoresponders you can use. Try
http:/www.getresponse.com, or http://www.fastfacts.net. Or go
onto Google and you will find a long list of free autoresponder
companies. Then sign-up for your chosen autoresponder. Once you
do, you will receive instructions as to how to set it up and
transfer your text.

Email is an excellent marketing tool; it is inexpensive and it
is fast. Use it to advertise your business by choosing your
email address carefully. Your website should contain different
email addresses for different contact requests. For example, use
info@yourdomain.com for information requests, or
sales@yourdomain.com for questions about sales. It’s a good idea
to set up one for the owner, such as president@yourdomain.com.
This presents your company in a personal, approachable light and
insures that direct contact is provided.

Autoresponders are an effective and powerful marketing tool,
allowing you to make contact with thousands of potential
customers. This is an invaluable asset considering how many
potential customers you usually have contact with before you
make an actual sale. Essentially, an autoresponser allows you to
automate part of your marketing campaign.

For her traumatic wounds to heal, the victim of abuse requires closure - one final interaction with her tormentor in which he, hopefully, acknowledges his misbehaviour and even tenders an apology. Fat chance. Few abusers - especially if they are narcissistic - are amenable to such weakling pleasantries. More often, the abused are left to wallow in a poisonous stew of misery, self-pity, and self-recrimination.

Depending on the severity, duration, and nature of the abuse, there are three forms of effective closure.

Conceptual Closure

This most common variant involves a frank dissection of the abusive relationship. The parties meet to analyze what went wrong, to allocate blame and guilt, to derive lessons, and to part ways cathartically cleansed. In such an exchange, a compassionate offender (quite the oxymoron, admittedly) offers his prey the chance to rid herself of cumulating resentment.

He also disabuses her of the notion that she, in any way, was guilty or responsible for her maltreatment, that it was all her fault, that she deserved to be punished, and that she could have saved the relationship (malignant optimism). With this burden gone, the victim is ready to resume her life and to seek companionship and love elsewhere.

Retributive Closure

When the abuse has been “gratuitous” (sadistic), repeated, and protracted, conceptual closure is not enough. Retribution is called for, an element of vengeance, of restorative justice and a restored balance. Recuperation hinges on punishing the delinquent and merciless party. The penal intervention of the Law is often therapeutic to the abused.

Regrettably, the victim’s understandable emotions often lead to abusive (and illegal) acts. Many of the tormented stalk their erstwhile abusers and take the law into their own hands. Abuse tends to breed abuse all around, in both prey and predator.

Dissociative Closure

Absent the other two forms of closure, victims of egregious and prolonged mistreatment tend to repress their painful memories. In extremis, they dissociate. The Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) - formerly known as “Multiple Personality Disorder” - is thought to be such a reaction. The harrowing experiences are “sliced off”, tucked away, and attributed to “another personality”.

Sometimes, the victim “assimilates” his or her tormentor, and even openly and consciously identifies with him. This is the narcissistic defence. In his own anguished mind, the victim becomes omnipotent and, therefore, invulnerable. He or she develops a False Self. The True Self is, thus, shielded from further harm and injury.

According to psychodynamic theories of psychopathology, repressed content rendered unconscious is the cause of all manner of mental health disorders. The victim thus pays a hefty price for avoiding and evading his or her predicament.

Sam Vaknin ( samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician, Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam’s Web site at samvak.tripod.com

Copyright 2006 Joe McVoy

Everyone wants “organic” or “free” traffic, but it’s a full time
job to try to keep on top of the search engines changing rules.
Instead, if you build a good content-rich site and do the things
on this list, you’ll get traffic and help your ranking at the
same time.

1. Use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) - Get traffic in an hour with PPC.
Google and Overture (now Yahoo). Don’t bother with others until
you make these two work. The key to this is to know your visitor
value, bid on hundreds of key words and phrases and split test
your ads and track each key word, phrase or ad separately.

2. Distribute Your Content - write articles of value to your
target market. Distribute that content for other webmasters to
use on their sites as long as they keep the link back to you in
a “resource box” at the end of each article. Distribute your
articles through article directories, ezines, and distribution
services. The key to make this work is valuable content.

3. Submit Press Releases - submit electronic press releases
frequently with news of interest to the media and your target
market. Since press releases are news, if they get picked up, it
will be quickly and you may get hundreds of links back to your
site this way. Key to make this work: write 300 - 500 word
releases, include a link back to you, and have them written and
distributed by experts who know how to optimize each release for
key words (not typical PR firms).

4. Set Up a Blog with RSS - to be effective, blogs must have
frequently updated content. Base yours on information helpful to
your customers, not sales pitches. Don’t do it unless you can
commit some ongoing time to it. Seth Godin says the keys to a
successful blog are: Candor, Urgency, Timeliness, Pithiness
(short & to the point), and Controversy. The key to making this
work is to make it interesting to your visitors, submit to blog
directories, ping the search engines when you post and
distribute your content with RSS.

5. Get One-Way Incoming Links - All the previous tips will
create incoming, one-way links but you can also buy links from
other sites from text link brokers. Don’t do reciprocal linking,
it’s dead. Make sure you get links from pages with a Google Page
Rank higher than “0″. A site Google rates as “0″ may be because
they are penalizing it for some reason. If you link to it,
you’ll get penalized too.

The key to making this work: Make sure links have your key words
in the anchor text and make sure they are text, not graphical
links. Make sure they are from other relevant sites, not link
farms or FFA (Free for All) sites. The ideal is links from
relevant pages without many other links.

6. Give Other Sites Your Testimonial - let them publish it on
their web site as long as they link back to you. This can get
you a one-way link from a site that would otherwise not give it
to you. The key to make this work: keep it short and to the
point.

7. Email Promotions - Advertise in Ezines, place ads in someone
else’s email newsletters that reach your target market. The key
to make this work: track everything carefully

8. Joint Ventures - Get promoted to your JV partner’s customer
database by your JV partner. John Reese sold over $1 Million of
his information product in 24 hours exclusively by using joint
venture promotions from his partners sending his offer to their
customer lists. He paid his partners commissions on sales. The
key to make this work: know your visitor value and have a tested
and proven sales page that converts well BEFORE you contact JV
prospects.

9. Get Affiliates - If selling a product, offer a commission to
affiliates to sell for you. Each affiliate’s link to your sales
letter conversion page will bring you traffic and a better
search engine rank too. The key to making this work is to make
it financially attractive to your affiliates and give them
everything they need to promote your product or service. Make it
brain dead easy for them to do.

10. Buy Other Web Sites - Find web sites that already rank high
on your keywords and verify their traffic with the site owner
and independent tools. Make sure you get ownership of the domain
- you can let them still use their content elsewhere. Check
deleteddomains.com to see what domains you can register for a
few dollars that their owners have let expire. The key to making
this work: Check Google page rank, Alexa rank and the number of
back links for any site before you buy a web site.

One marketer I know challenged some SEO experts to see who could
get ranked highest on a given term in 24 hours. He won, the
techies did a lot of slick things, but the marketer just bought
the site that was already # 1.

Why is it that oats are associated with sex?

Getting your oats. Sew your wild oats.

I’ve read somewhere that eating oats increases the amount of testosterone in the blood thus raising your libido. I don’t know about that, but one thing is for sure; the reason why many people experience a low libido is simply because they are knackered!

Being tired all the time is one of the most common wellbeing complaints of our age. No matter how much sleep you get, you just can’t seem to make it through the day without a struggle. So you reach for an additive-laden, sugar-packed snack or drink which actually makes the situation worse in the medium to long term. And come bedtime, you are irritable, possibly bloated from a heavy dinner eaten too late and exhausted. Is it really any wonder you don’t feel that amorous?! And never mind your sex life; your work, relationships and general health and wellbeing will all be feeling the effects of constant tiredness and the situation could well lead to depression.

To break the cycle, rather than going for the quick fix sugar snack, you’d be a whole lot better off simply eating more foods which boost metabolism and sustain energy levels. Metabolism boosting nutrients include vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, iron and co-enzyme Q10. The most important nutrients required for energy levels are the B Complex group of vitamins. Energy slumps may be a symptom of weak adrenal gland function which is often caused by a deficiency in B vitamins.

So what foods offer all of the above?

Unrefined grains are a good source of complex carbohydrate, fibre, B vitamins, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper and selenium. As a result, they fit the Energy Food bill perfectly.

It’s very important to make the distinction between processed/refined and unrefined grains.

White rice, white bread, white pasta, processed cereals etc have been stripped of most of their nutrients during the refining process. The sugar rush into the blood system that they cause is not good for maintaining blood sugar levels or for preventing sugar cravings, mood swings and weight gain!

There are many unrefined grains that you could include in your diet to make it healthy; brown rice, millet, quinoa, pot barley, buckwheat groats, rye, spelt, teff and good ‘old fashioned’ oats.

Oats contain more good fats (EFAs) than other grains. Remember, these help you lose weight not gain it. They are packed with energy nutrients and will keep your blood sugar at a more constant level which will aid concentration and alertness. In G is for Ginger, I explained what the Spleen does and how to strengthen it; oats was one of the foods on the list.

Oats are one of the oldest breakfast foods going. There is evidence of porridge-like dishes going back to prehistoric times and Anglo Saxons apparently ate a dish of rye and barley meal with oats which they sometimes added vegetables to. Hannah Glasse’s “The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy” from 1747 gives a recipe for ‘Water Gruel’ which was basically oatmeal and water with butter and pepper.

These days, many people skip breakfast altogether (a big ‘no-no’) or simply grab a slice of toast or a bowl of processed cereal and then wonder why they are hungry or tired by mid-morning. If you are one of those who skip breakfast because you feel sick first thing in the morning, please believe me when I say that the nausea will pass quickly if you eat! And an oats-based ‘brekky’ is one of the best options. (If you need to avoid gluten, choose buckwheat groats which also makes a delicious ‘porridge’.)

There is a misconception that porridge takes ages to cook. It doesn’t, it takes just 6-7 minutes. But if washing up an entire saucepan is the problem, then eat your oats raw in a muesli. I alternate between porridge and my own blend of muesli.

I make my porridge with water only (no milk) and flavour it with cinnamon, nutmeg and raisin syrup which I make by blending some raisins in a little warm water. For my muesli I place organic jumbo oats, sunflower, flax and pumpkin seeds, a handful of almonds and some raisins in the food processer and blend until its broken down a little. Again instead of milk I just use water, but you could leave the almonds out at the blending stage and use them instead to make almond milk or cream. And how about adding fresh berries too?

You’ll be nicely set up for the day and who knows what might happen at night? More oats anyone?
___________________________________________________________________________________

Claire Raikes is a Wellbeing Coach, Speaker and Writer who ‘cured’ herself of a chronic, disabling and potentially life-threatening bowel condition without the use of steroids, surgery or any other traditional medical intervention. She shares her passion for natural and vibrant health by working with individuals and companies to educate, encourage and inspire people to increase energy levels, boost immunity and lead happier lives as a result.

See how much happier and healthier you could be; get your FREE Wellbeing Checklist by visiting: http://www.liveinessence.com/free.htm

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 was supposed to eliminate spam email.
This federal spam law that became effective January 1, 2004, was
passed by Congress to get rid of junk email.

So why didn’t the law eliminate spam and why is it so difficult
to stop it? Still today, more than 40% of all e-mail is still
unsolicited sent to you by spammers even though that law passed.

The truth is email spammers make so much money they can afford
to outsmart The Federal Trade Commission with sophisticated
technology.

It is almost impossible to enforce this law although a few do
get caught and pay the huge price.

Spam is not likely to go away anytime soon, and it’s difficult
to eliminate spam email altogether. But there are some simple
ways to significantly reduce spam from getting into your inbox.

Here are Four Fighting Spam Tips:

Protect Your Email Address

Don’t display your email address in newsgroup postings, chat
rooms or in an online service’s membership directory. Sometimes
email spammers use these sources to harvest email addresses.

Create Two Email Addresses

Another good tip is create two email addresses. Create one for
personal messages and the other for public use, such as in
newsgroups or chat rooms.

You can create an account with a disposable email address
service. Have those emails forwarded to your permanent email
address. If the disposable address begins to get spam, just shut
if off and get another one.

Create A Unique Email Address

Create a unique email address because email spammers often use
dictionary attacks to sort through possible name combinations at
some Internet Service Providers. A common name, like johnsmith
or thewilliams may get more spam than a unique name like
37xi6OWt8.

Use Email Tools

Most email accounts provide tools to filter out potential spam
or ways to channel spam into a bulk email folder. When you’re
choosing which Internet Service Provider to use consider their
email options.

Although these simple methods might seem obvious, most people
do not utilize them. You may be surprised how much junk email
you can get rid of just by using these simple tips.

If you decide to eliminate spam altogether all it takes is
installing an anti spam filter. Most are reasonably priced
between $25 and $40 depending on where you get it. A good anti
spam filter will block 100% of unwanted spam and will eliminate
spam forever.

Copyright © 2005 Spyware Information.com All Rights Reserved.

River Birsch Trees are fairly easy to plant because they are
fairly rugged and durable. Yet to plant or transplant them you
do need to follow some basic guidelines. Two of the best
cultivars or River Birch trees are Dura Heat and Heritage River
Birches. These are the best cultivars that are available.

All people handling seedlings and small trees need to help with
the life support of your plants. Seedlings are like fish out of
water and need care which is often overlooked between the time
the seedlings are lifted and transplanted. Improper care means
higher mortality. Do not try and reinvent the wheel. You must
protect seedling from moisture and temperature extremes, as well
as physical damage. Seedlings are living and should be handled
carefully. For a higher survival rate, treat trees carefully and
plant them immediately. I like to have a backup plan for
planting if the weather turns bad. I will sometimes switch from
lining out the seedlings to potting them up if I realize that
the soil conditions will not be right for an extended lenght of
time. If planting must be delayed a few days, keep the plants in
a cold, protected place with air circulation between the trees.
Keep the trees out of the rain and wind. To check if the trees
need water, feel the media at the roots.. If it isn’t damp,
water the trees and allow the excess water to drain. In cool,
damp weather, the biggest threat to these trees is from mold.
Try to keep out of soil seedlings moist by either restricting
water loss with a water vapor barrier or by wetting the roots at
regular intervals. While handling or planting try to reduce
temperature and air movement around the seedlings. Windy days
can dry out seedlings so consider waiting for calmer weather.
Once your soil conditions are correct OUR FREE USE PLANTERS will
make planting a snap so its will be worth waiting for good
planting conditions.

HOW TO PLANT

Ideal planting days are cool and cloudy with little or no wind.
If possible, avoid planting on warm, windy days. The soil should
be moist not wet. Care in planting is more important than speed.
Make sure the roots are never allowed to become dry. Bare root
seedlings should be carried in a waterproof bag or bucket with
plenty of moist material packed around the roots to keep them
damp. Ideally, bare root boxes should be kept refrigerated or
packed in ice or snow. Don’t freeze the trees. Competition from
weeds, grass, brush or other trees is very detrimental to
survival and growth of seedlings. Choose areas free from this
competition or clear at least a three-foot square bare spot
before planting. Seedlings should not be planted under the crown
of existing trees, or closer than 6 feet to existing brush.
Avoid areas near walnut trees. Brush aside loose organic
material such as leaves, grass, etc., from the planting spot to
expose mineral soil. If organic matter gets into the planting
hole, it can decompose and leave air spaces. Roots will dry out
when they grow into these spaces. Open up the hole, making sure
the hole is deep enough for the roots to be fully extended. If
roots are curled or bunched up, the tree will not be able to
take up water correctly, will often weaken and die, or may blow
down later due to poor root structure. Take a tree out of your
planting bag or bucket only after a hole is ready. When exposed,
the fine roots can dry out in as little as 30 seconds. Seedling
shoots and roots lose water to air, roots require more
protecting.Unlike leaves ,they do not have stomata (closeable
openings on the surface of the leaves) or any waxy coatings to
help reduce water loss. If the roots apear dry they are probably
dead. Now I know you are thinking,”I will place them in a
buckect of water and store them there until planting”. This will
not work. Submerge plants for no longer that a couple of
minutes. Placing them in water cuts them off from oxygen.
Remember to remove the container before planting a containerized
tree. A helpful hint to all those new gardeners just starting is
to remember to always plant green side up. Hold the seedling in
place in the hole, making sure the roots are straight, fully
extended and that the tree is neither too shallow or too deep in
the hole. Fill hole, allowing soil to fall in around the roots.
Tamp with hands or with your heel. Don’t crush the roots by
jumping up and down around the seedling like there is a snake
curled up around the seedling. It is delicate. Fill with more
soil, if necessary, and tamp. Tamping is important. If soil is
not firmly packed around the roots, there will be air pockets
that can dry out the roots, and the seedlings may be weakly
anchored. It is far easier to plant the tree strait up then have
the tree leaning and have to adjust the tree later. (Addition of
fertilizer and plant vitamins at the time of planting is not
generally necessary.) Take your time in planting. Proper spacing
will help you grow a more valuable crop. I have tried to get
more production from a limited area by over planting and then
thinning, but I always have had trouble in harvesting ….
digging is slower and poor quality usually results for a portion
of the crop. Avoid these tree planting errors:

Tangled roots Planting too shallow Planting too deep Air pockets
Turned up roots (this is called J rooting) Planting trees that
are not tolerant of wet soils in poorly drained areas Planting
over rocks, septic tanks and leach fields, on sand mounds

CARE OF TREES FOLLOWING PLANTING Check periodically to be sure
that brush, grass and other vegetation is kept under control by
mowing, mulching, spraying or a combination of these treatments.
Always obtain advice from a licensed pest control advisor before
using chemicals. You ag extension agency may offer courses in
application of chemicals. Monitoring the appearance of your
trees will help you to detect signs of insects, diseases or
other problems. Apperances also help sell your product. Look for
foliage turning yellow, new foliage drooping or other signs of
poor health. It is easier to take successful corrective action
if the problem is detected early.

Over watering is a common problem in irrigated plantations. You
probably won’t need to water more frequently than every 7-10
days. Give your trees a thorough, deep soak and then let the
soil dry out before the next watering. This encourages the roots
to grow down in search of water. Frequent, shallow watering
encourages root growth near the surface and the trees are more
dependent on irrigation and are less windfirm. Animals can be a
major cause of damage to young trees. Porcupines, gophers, mice,
rabbits, deer and cattle are the most frequent source of damage.
In many states you may have to call your game commission and get
their recomendations on legal methods to protect your crop. In
our state, you can get help from the Pa. Game Commission to kill
deer that are a threat to your seedlings or obtain a free fence
to keep deer away from your seedlings. Over the years we have
lost more trees to mice than any other animal. Put rat baits out
on a regular basis. Over the years we have lost more seedlings
and plants to mice than any other culprit including deer and
rabbitts combined. You an see more articles about the care of
trees plants and nursery stock at our web site;
http://www.seedlingsrus.com and http://www.highlandhillfarm.com

Have you ever wondered why that girl from the bar never called
you back? The conversation came easy, the drinks were flowing,
you could feel the chemistry, and you were dressed to kill?or
were you?

Your mother always told you that you only get one chance to make
a first impression and first impressions can make or break you.
Women look at every last detail, from your tasseled shoes to the
amount of goop you have in your hair. Be honest guys, women
aren?t the only ones who try on ten different outfits before
deciding what to wear for a night out on the town. And it is
perfectly normal. But how do you know which outfit is the right
one to impress the girl on your first date?

Let me take you through it step by step. Clothes aren?t the only
thing a woman looks at when you?re dressing to impress; it?s the
whole package. Fortunately or not, the outside is what she sees
first. What you see is sometimes what you get. So what do you
wear?

Out with the Old?

Rule number one is: don?t under dress. Guys have a tendency to
pull on a pair of pants and the first shirt they find and head
out the door. You have to look put-together, like some sort of
effort was made for her. So take those ratty, old tennis shoes
and toss ?em! Take your t-shirts with big, loud prints and
forget about them! And yes, women think carpenters are sexy but
that doesn?t give you the green light to wear your paint-stained
jeans. The solution is simple. Ask a friend (male or female)
over the day of your big date. Not only will they help calm your
nerves but they?ll also give you their honest opinion on your
chosen outfit. Second, an iron can also be a man?s best friend.
You?d be surprised what a little pressing can do to change your
look. Finally, don?t rush! There?s nothing wrong with taking an
extra half hour to prepare. If you take the time to get ready,
your date will take the time to notice.

?in with the New

So while the first rule might seem simple enough, some guys
might take it too far, which brings us to rule number two: don?t
overdress. We don?t expect you to know all the latest fashion
trends of the day and we don?t expect you to follow them either.
This second rule doesn?t only deal with being a label whore but
also with men going overboard; that is to say those men don?t
know when enough is enough. While some guys take a shirt, smell
it and decide whether or not it is clean, others think their
shirt has to say Hugo Boss, Armani, or Ralph Lauren to look
good. So let?s make your sweater selection. Stay away from
Grandma?s knitted birthday gift and nipple shirts. The former
screams little kid while the latter leaves nothing to the
imagination. The tight shirt may not be an option if you?re not
comfortable enough with your body, but if you are physically
fit, why not let the woman imagine what?s under there to
maintain an element of mystery. You can?t go wrong with a button
shirt, leaving the first couple of buttons at the top undone.
It?s casual, comfortable, and classic.

A Dab Will Do You

Do you remember the last time you were walking down the street
and almost got whiplash because someone passed by you with an
overwhelming smell? Our sense of smell is one of our most
powerful senses, which leads us to rule number three: always
remember to smell good. Some smells take us back to childhood
and others remind us of something very specific. The same
applies to your cologne. But why is cologne used in the first
place? Its purpose is twofold: it becomes your ?signature? and
the sense of smell is heightened when things start getting hot
and heavy. Again, less is more. No need to drown yourself with
the stuff, keep in mind that when it comes to cologne, a little
goes a long way. The best places to apply your signature are the
inside of your wrists, your neck, and even your chest. Attention
to Detail

Sometimes it?s the little things that make a difference and rule
number four reminds you to pay attention to detail. We all know
women have an eye for the minute and the slightest thing can
turn us off. So the solution is simple boys, don?t overlook the
small stuff. Just like women like carpenters, some women also
think scruffy is sexy, but on your first date, go with the clean
shaven look to be safe. And not only are you going to brush your
teeth, you?re also going to break out the dental floss for this
one just to be extra safe. Make sure your hair is neat and
doesn?t hold an entire bottle of product in it. Remember to
clean those nails. You may look like a man?s man with dirty
nails, but it?s a turn off for women. Finally, keep the
accessories to a minimum. You can wear your watch and necklace
or a ring but that?s it. If you?re wearing more jewelry than
your date then we could have a problem!

Of course, not all women are the same but most will agree that
less is more when making a good first impression. So remember
the four simple rules: don?t dress like you?re going to watch
the game at a buddy?s house or like you?re about to walk down
the runway; smell great and put in the effort to care of the
details. You?re sure to have plenty of second, third, and fourth
dates!

If you let it, email can take over your life. Or, you can choose
to be in charge by taking control of the volume, content, and
importance of your email.

1. Filter it! To limit the time you waste reading junk emails
and spam, you could use a filter program. This is a system that
weeds out emails based on subject lines and content. They can be
effective, but use caution. They can filter out too much. Some
filter programs will put the questionable messages in a separate
folder, which you can review. Of course, that will take some
discipline on your part to view the messages periodically and
ensure that nothing important was trapped.

2. Determine when to unsubscribe. If you subscribe to numerous
newsletters, quotes-of-the-day, etc., take the “consistent” and
“significant” test. When the item appears, do you “consistently”
read it? That is, do you read most of the issues? Secondly, does
it past the “significant” test? Do you read quite a bit of the
information and find it useful? If you answered yes to both
questions, stay on the mailing list. Otherwise, remove yourself.

3. Prioritize! Make a conscious choice regarding when you’ll
review email. Once per day may be sufficient for some, while
others may need to check for messages several times. Does your
job really require you to be glued to the computer screen? In
the six years I’ve been speaking and writing about email
communication, I’ve never found anyone who had to be as
connected as he/she thought! Email is an invaluable tool that
helps you in conducting the communication portion of your job.
You control this tool. Don’t stop what you’re doing every time a
new email arrives. That’s inefficient. If you can’t resist the
mystery shrouding the new message, turn off the tone that tells
you a new message has arrived.

4. Make a time management plan. When drafting your plan,
remember to include not only the time you spend reading
messages, but also the time you spend responding to messages.
Personally, when I check email in the morning, I catch myself
reading junk mail and typing lengthy responses to friends or
colleagues. The next thing I know, the most productive part of
my day is wasted. To avoid this, I review my email in the
morning and wait to respond to “non-essential” messages until
mid-afternoon, which is my unproductive (i.e., “sleepy”) time.

5. Implementation. Once you’ve created a plan for reading email
messages, implement it. Any time management plan will be
effective if you’ll simply use it.