How to wake up earlier & do more stuff

. At the core of being able to get up early in the morning and actually connect before you have your first cup of coffee is the desire to be awake. Have you ever been so excited about the events of the following day that you had no problems waking up before your alarm and feeling fresh and alert despite being short of sleep?  Basically, being excited about life is what makes your brain switch on faster after a long time of idleness, having something to look forward to is what does it.

Getting a great job to look forward to every single day is probably a dream of every and each one of us but, in reality, a job is a job. The majority of us have jobs we definitely do not look  forward to so the treasured sleep is something we don’t want to end prematurely, not even five minutes before we absolutely have to. There are others way to get that spark and the extra time in the beginning of your day, though, like starting a routine that will get you excited and make you want to get up. Going for an early morning run or playing a game before work can be that routine, for example. It’s up to you what this exciting activity will be but it has to be something you really enjoy and want to do.

Even if you are an owl and go to bed late it’ll still work – you’ll be cutting back on sleep and reclaiming the most and the best time for living. Sleep is such a waste of time.

Why start your day earlier than you have to? Because that’s life – having time for yourself and things you enjoy doing apart from work, chores and other responsibilities that tend to just pile up on top of you throughout the entire day/week/year. If you haven’t got the time to do things you love – make time, cut back on things you can cut back on. Starting a day doing something you truly enjoy is starting your day on a high and being more satisfied with yourself by the end of it even if short of sleep.

Some people can sleep over eight hours a day and still feel tired. This well may be the disconnect of the brain from the reality you live in. If you make your life exciting enough there will be no time or need for that much sleep.

You’ll want to be awake for the life you design for yourself. You might be short of sleep but you’ll surely feel more alive, more with it and more satisfied with your life overall.

More than 20,000 people apply for one-way ticket to Mars

You probably have heard about Mars One, the combination space mission/reality TV show project that aims to send four lucky space travelers to the Red Planet... forever. Interest in the project had been quite high, with the company's latest press release noting that it had received "10,000 messages from prospective applicants from over 100 countries." But that was before it started taking actual, formal, paid applications from would-be astronauts.

Turns out that in the week since, at least 20,000 people have paid $38 to formally apply for Mars One. Various sources around the Internet, including China Daily, are reporting that the world is full of people who wouldn't mind living out the remainder of their days in a questionable camera-stuffed habitat on Mars. Around 600 of the applicants are Chinese citizens, and it's arguable that some might not understand what they're getting into. According to China Daily, some of the prospective astronauts are a little optimistic about what they might find waiting for them once they reach their destination:

Ma Qing, a 39-year-old bookseller, said, "I think the chance to be part of the project is a cool way for me to change a dull daily life. Besides, the air on Mars must be much cleaner and easier to breathe."

Glass Beach

Nature can change junk to jewels. In the early 20th century, residents of a remote coastal town of Fort Bragg in California dumped their trash over the cliffs onto the beach (don't worry, this was banned in 1967). In the decades since, the sea tumbled and polished the bits of glass and junk into smooth, shiny pebbles that glint like jewels in the sunshine.

It's a dog's life.

Automatic for the People: Dodo, Boulot, Metro

Each morning, like clockwork, they board the subway, off to begin their daily routine amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

But these aren't just any daily commuters. These are stray dogs who live in the outskirts of Moscow Russia and commute on the underground trains to and from the city centre in search of food scraps.

Then after a hard day scavenging and begging on the streets, they hop back on the train and return to the suburbs where they spend the night.

Experts studying the dogs, who usually choose the quietest carriages at the front and back of the train, say they even work together to make sure they get off at the right stop – after learning to judge the length of time they need to spend on the train.

Scientists believe this phenomenon began after the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, and Russia’s new capitalists moved industrial complexes from the city centre to the suburbs.

Dr Andrei Poiarkov, of the Moscow Ecology and Evolution Institute, said: “These complexes were used by homeless dogs as shelters, so the dogs had to move together with their houses. Because the best scavenging for food is in the city centre, the dogs had to learn how to travel on the subway – to get to the centre in the morning, then back home in the evening, just like people.”

Dr Poiarkov told how the dogs like to play during their daily commute. He said: “They jump on the train seconds before the doors shut, risking their tails getting jammed. They do it for fun. And sometimes they fall asleep and get off at the wrong stop.”

The dogs have also amazingly learned to use traffic lights to cross the road safely, said Dr Poiarkov. And they use cunning tactics to obtain tasty morsels of shawarma, a kebab-like snack popular in Moscow.

With children the dogs “play cute” by putting their heads on youngsters’ knees and staring pleadingly into their eyes to win sympathy – and scraps.

 

Happier today: 10 things you should stop doing right now

1.Wait for a better time. There is never a good time to do anything especially if that’s something you have been putting off for a while. There is never a good time to start exercising or learning a new language… You make the time for these things if they are important to you - make them important enough for the good time to be now.

2.Hate people. It’s such a negative emotion and it really doesn’t lead anywhere. In most cases, hating someone directly affects you and you alone, making your mood and your day that much worse. By talking behind someone’s back and spreading negative energy you’ll just push people you actually care about away. Let go of it and make room for good and positive things.

3.Constantly look back. What has happened in the past is now in the past – you have learned, hopefully, from your mistakes and it’s time to move on. Until you can let go of the past you cannot live in the present, plan for the future and grow as a person. After all, your life from before doesn’t define who you are today, your present actions do.

4.Think about people who make no difference in your life. Whether they are people from your past or your present if they don’t affect you directly why waste your precious time on them? This also applies to spreading and listening to rumors, reading celebrity columns and checking people’s statuses online. You only have one lifetime why should you give people you don’t really care about any of it?

5.Whine about life, the Universe and everything. Yes, there are days that it’s just impossible to smile and take things as they come but what does whining achieve, exactly? What is the point of complaining about the weather, politics or prices – what would that change? Unless you have a clear plan on what to do and how to make things better why spread the misery and the negative vibes? If you see a problem - do something, do anything! The light doesn’t work in your block of flats - fix it or find someone who will. Things that are not under your control and you cannot in any way influence them – learn to live with them and accept them as they are.

6.Play social games. No one really cares about your clothes or your level of intelligence, not really. It’s way better to just be authentic and show people who you really are, with all your flaws and true character rather than waste energy on superficial interactions - they don’t lead to anything but superficial relationships. Be yourself and be real, let others love you and accept you the way you are. Genuine relationships will make you happier, and you'll only form these relationships once you stop trying to impress everyone you meet and start being yourself.

7.Spend money on things you don’t need. We often mistake the “I want” for “I need” when buying stuff just because it seems cool to own it. Things don’t make you happy for very long - the moment you get it you experience joy but shortly after that joy is gone and the newly acquired item joins the rest in your house. Think very carefully whether you absolutely in need of something or you just want to own it.  Invest in experiences instead – experiences that will stay with you in your memory for the rest of your life.

8.Compare yourself to others. Very often we look around and we see people who are doing a lot better than we are and we don’t really notice those who are doing a lot worse. At times we look around and all we can see is everyone else having it easier and having it better and we feel bad about our own life. The fact is, it’s not easy for anyone and everyone has their own problems. What you see on the outside is what others let you see, always. Someone else is looking at you and thinking just about the same thing: “you are the lucky one” and they have their own reasons to say that. By thinking that having someone else’s life or someone else’s problems will make you happier than you make yourself in the now you rob yourself of the chance to take joy in what you have for yourself already. We can be happy with very little and immensely unhappy with having it all – sometimes, it’s just a matter of perspective.

9.Take no chances. Sometimes we wait for a sure thing to come along for us to follow and then, when it never comes, we wonder why nothing wonderful and exciting ever happens to us. It’s true not just in regard of opportunities but also people. Sometimes people also need to be given a chance to prove you wrong. We often overthink, overanalyze and create possible scenarios in our head – then come up with the most negative outcome, and end up never trying anything at the end of the day. If you are truly afraid of something going wrong, ask yourself: “What is the worst thing that can happen?” and if you can live with that worst case scenario – maybe you should give it a try.

10.Set no goals. If we set no goals how do we expect to get anywhere at all? Life has the tendency to decide for us and take us down routes we never thought we would ever consider for ourselves - don’t let it dictate it all, reclaim some of the control back and influence your future. If you have a plan, a good or a bad one, at least you have one and you can guide yourself to a better tomorrow, want a better tomorrow at any rate. We often give up and just let events take over, but reacting all the time is not the same as acting of your own free will. Take control back, set targets and get a strategy for life because just living the same Groundhog day over and over again just isn’t living. Life only has a meaning when you give it one.