【推荐1】The Powerful Ways to Never Lose Hope

No matter how confident and strong you are, you will have to deal with rough times at some point in your life. Hope is not about who is strong and who is weak—it’s easy to lose it without noticing it.     1     If you are going through a rough time and think that hope doesn’t exist, here’s how to never lose hope and live a positive life no matter what happens.

There’s no perfect life. Your life can be happy, sad or boring, but not perfect.     2     Learn how to turn your failures and disappointment into success and try to surround yourself with positive people only.

You should have a plan. You probably have many goals and dreams, but do you have an actual plan? Your plan inspires you to work hard and never give up. It shows you the right direction and helps you be successful.     3    

Don’t let others take you for granted. Your boss asks you to work overtime each day and you are afraid to say no because you love your job. Your partner tells you should change your plans today and you change them because you don’t want to upset him.     4     Learn how to say no when you don’t feel like doing something. People will respect you more than ever.

    5    If you can’t drop weight, develop healthy habits, or reach any career goal, find someone who has a similar goal or dream as you. This way, you won't let each other lose hope and surely achieve that goal.

【推荐3】These four good habits will improve some aspects of your life.

    1    . In truth, it’s not the best way to get things done. Instead of jumping from one thing to the next like a ping-pong ball, stick with one task as long as you can. That concentrated time you spend on one thing will be far more productive.     2    .

Imagine all things in your home have a place where they live. For example, toys go into a basket when they’re not in use.     3    . If you regularly (定期的) have lots of things that have nowhere to go, it may be time to make some hard choices about what you really want to keep.

Get up at the same time every day, preferably all seven days a week. A consistent (一致的) sleep schedule helps form your body’s circadian rhythm (昼夜节律). Sleeping late on the weekends is not bad. But it feels better to get regular rests every day.

Saying yes to everything can be a difficult habit to break for most of us. But learning how to draw a line is one of the best things you can do for yourself. You have the power not to agree to help everyone else with their problems.     5    . Your time is just as valuable as everyone else’s.

【推荐1】My life as a tax-paying employed person began in middle school, when, for three whole days, I worked on an assembly (装配) line. My best friend Betsy’s father was an executive (管理者) at Hough Bakeries, which, at special festivals, made little rabbit-shaped cakes for all its stores. The plant downtown needed eight kids for temporary help, and the shift (轮班) fell over spring break, during which I had no plans. Cake? I loved cake-icing especially. I’d earn minimum wage. I’d see how a factory worked. My parents thought all of this was a grand idea for a girl like me and called Betsy’s dad with their permission.

Our roles on the line were simple: Place cakes on conveyor belt. Attach icing ears. Apply icing eyes and nose. Remove the cakes from belt; place onto trays. This was harder than it sounds. With your mind wandering, the cakes pile up. As I told my parents that first night, it was all a little more high-pressure than I’d expected. Dad smiled. This was the sort of work that made you appreciate the money you earned, he told me. And if your feet hurt or the minutes felt like hours, well then that was just motivation to keep those grades up and get that college education.

And the icing? We kids were allowed to eat as much as we wanted. By noon the first day, I could barely look at the stuff. To borrow a favorite phrase from my father: The executives weren’t born yesterday.