【推荐1】“We regret to inform you...” These are the words that every writer is afraid of receiving. When the response from a publisher comes back, the writers’ hearts drop. You may have spent years giving up your weekends to write your work, yet still this is often not enough. Everyone knows that success rarely happens overnight, but perhaps not many know that a lot of highly successful writers have been rejected before.

Take for example J. K. Rowling. Rowling had spent years surviving on little money, spending all her time writing. When she finally finished her first book, she received comments from publishers along the lines of “too difficult for children”. However, she kept going. “I wasn’t going to give up until every single publisher turned me down,” she later posted. After a total of twelve rejections, one publisher eventually agreed to print 500 copies of her first book, and as we know, Harry Potter became a global success, with over 400 million books sold and translated into more than seventy different languages.

Another example about persistence was the three sisters from Victorian England. At that time women were not encouraged to become writers. As a famous writer wrote to one of them: “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be.” However, the sisters didn’t stop trying. Their response was to write a book of poems under male names. Even when the book sold only two copies, the sisters still didn’t give up. They started writing novels, and today Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey are regarded as classics of world literature.

So, it seems that talent alone isn’t enough to ensure success. While a lot of hard work and a touch of luck play a part, persistence is the key. Keep trying and eventually you will read the words “We are delighted to inform you...”

【推荐3】One day a philosophy professor stood before his class and picked up a large empty glass bottle and filled it with rocks, He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. He then added a box of pebbles (鹅卵石)to the jar, shaking it lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. "Is the jar filled now?" The students said yes.

But then he poured a bag of sand into the bottle. The sand filled in everything else. Once more he asked if it was full and after some thinking they said that it was.

The professor then opened two cans of beer and poured them into the jar. The students roared at this demonstration .

The professor spoke again: "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things in your life: your family, your partner, your health, your children... things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks,"

"The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take care of the rocks first. The else is just sand."

Then one of the students asked what the beer represented.

"It just goes to prove that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers ".

【推荐2】Last night at work, a girl came in and sat at the bar. She asked for a cup of water and a menu and eventually ordered a bacon cheeseburger which costs roughly $12 at my restaurant.

After eating for a few minutes, she asked me for a napkin(餐巾) and a pen. I saw her writing on the napkin but didn’t think anything of it. When I turned around, she was gone. As I went to clear her plate, I noticed that she had left a $100 bill along with a note that read, “Today marks my 14th day of chemo(化疗) along with my 26th birthday. Life’s been good to me so far, and I think I will pass my luck on to someone else. Have a great night!”

I have never been so touched by a stranger in my entire life. About 3 months ago, my own mother was diagnosed with lung cancer, so this hit very close to home. Having just witnessed my mother completed her first 5-week cycle of chemo, I know the pain and exhaustion this young woman is feeling. On top of the chemo, she was selfless enough on her own birthday that she gave a stranger a gift.

This young woman has completely touched my soul and has affected my life in a way that I will never forget. I hope to see her again one day, so I can tell her how much her random act of kindness has touched me and finally changed my life.

Thank you for being such a beautiful person and I pray that you get well.

Thank you for making the world a better place.

【推荐1】One question has fascinated me my entire adult life: What causes some people to become world-class leaders, performers, and change-makers, while most others remain ordinary? After reading thousands of biographies and academic ordinary? After reading thousands of biographies and academic studies, I’ve noticed they share a common practice — time management.    1    

Stop Wasting Time on Unimportant Things.

Make a detailed time list of your entire day from the minute you wake up till the time you go to bed. You have to really see what your time is being spent on in order to see where you can cut back and reallocate. Assign the amount of time you spent on each of those activities (including time spent on watching TV on social media and any extracurricular activities).     2    Add up the total time, then reallocate that time to your goal(s).

Cut Your Time Spent on Social Media.

The time you spend scrolling and liking should be limited unless you’re using social media to increase your business reach. It is a huge time killer and provides no real substantial benefits.    3    

    4    

It’s always easy to list the reasons for not doing something. What should we do about that? For every excuse you give yourself, find an equally compelling reason to push forward. The chances to do it than excuses not to.

Make a Daily “To Do” List.

Sometimes you’re not going to get to everything on your list. And that’s fine. Tomorrow is another day and let what you didn’t finish the day before be the first thing you work on the next day. So, keep your daily to-do lists short and focus on the activities that will have the greatest impact.    5     It’s important to work hard, but it’s also important to work smart. So focus on each day, one day at a time.

【推荐3】Students from Oceanside High School in Rockland will be able to sleep a little longer from this autumn.

The director of Regional School Lew Collins said during the school’s Thursday night meeting that the schedule(时刻表) for the schools will be changed. Oceanside East and West will start half an hour later, at 8 a.m. for the new school year.

Research has shown that teenagers’ brains are often not fully awake at 6:30 a.m. Collins said the schedule, which is used to get students to go to school for classes that begin at 7:30 a.m., calls for some to get on buses before 6 a.m. to get to school on time. Teachers are having meetings at 6:40 a.m., which is too early, he thinks.

Collins visited the high schools in Rockland and asked students when they would like classes to begin. Most of them said 8 a.m. “I was surprised. I thought they would have said 9:00 or 10:00,” he said.

The National Sleep Foundation says on its website that teenagers’ biological clocks are designed to stay up later and get up later. The Foundation calls for schools to change their schedules, which means a later start for elementary students(小学生) as well.

“We do not have enough buses to run, because all the high school and elementary school buses run almost at the same time,” Collins said. He suggested, “We should buy six more buses and get six more drivers to keep the new schedule working.”

Elementary school classes in Rockland now start at 8:30 a.m., but they will be moved to 8:45 a.m., starting in the autumn. “I know this is a problem for working parents, but we will see what we can come up with,” said Jane Brown, a teacher at Bardonia Elementary School. “Anyway, I believe if students get more sleep they’ll be more ready to learn when classes start,” she added.