Category: Blog

Many people believe that creativity will come to you, and that inspiration is something you must wait patiently for — and that’s simply not true. If you have a creative job, you’ll know that waiting around for your muse is impractical and unproductive. Thankfully, making a few small changes to your daily life can mean the difference between feeling despondent and feeling inspired. Here are five tips to improve your creativity and concentration using exercise and diet:

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Drink more water

Sitting at a desk all day can be thirsty work, but most of us reach for the coffee, which dehydrates us even further. A glass of cold water can wake up your brain just as efficiently — without the crash that comes with caffeine consumption. Rather than setting yourself a target amount of water to drink, just make sure you’ve always got a glass on your desk, and refill it whenever it gets empty.

Take short walks

It doesn’t matter how cold it is outside — you’ll definitely feel the benefits of a brisk walk when you return to your desk. Some people find that it helps to think about creative problems whilst walking, whereas others find it best to let their mind wander. Taking a shower has the same effect, but is somewhat less practical!

Have a smaller lunch

Struggling to keep your eyes open after your lunch break? You might be eating too much. It’s almost impossible to concentrate when you’re drowsy, so prevent this by avoiding carb-heavy food like bread and pasta. Instead, opt for something lighter like a tuna salad. Fish is excellent brain-food, and can help you feel more energised and inspired for longer.

Try yoga

Yoga exercises your mind as much as your body, and can dramatically increase focus and concentration. Mindfulness, better posture and deeper breathing can prevent work-based frustration from building up and blocking your creativity. Even if you work better under pressure, stress can still be bad for mental well-being and creative thinking.

Go swimming

Swimming is an excellent form of exercise, and isn’t too strenuous — and this is exactly what you want when trying to solve a creative problem. If you swim too fast, you’ll be too focused on the activity to think of anything else, but a calm and leisurely swim can really free your thoughts and help you make difficult decisions.

Snack

Nuts and seeds are the perfect work-day snack: they improve cognitive function, boost your brain power and can even help stabilise your mood. Walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and pumpkin seeds are best for this, and are delicious mixed with energy-boosting dried fruit.

Of course, food can only do so much to alter your mood. If you’re constantly finding yourself down and unmotivated when at work, it might just be that you’re doing the wrong job. Many people find that their creativity returns upon finding a more rewarding profession. There’s no such thing as the perfect job, so don’t feel that there’s something wrong with you if you don’t enjoy work as much as your colleagues. What suits one person won’t necessarily suit the next, so don’t be afraid to find a career that works for you!

Featured images:

•  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1126222/?forcedownload=1

By Sam Wright

Sam Wright is a freelance writer working for Brand Republic. He’s been freelancing for six years, and faces a constant battle to keep focused.

Finding out that the infamous Adobe suite costs thousands of pounds can be quite depressing to the newly qualified or budding designer, being able to afford these packages, even with the new monthly £50 cloud platform is still too expensive for many. Alas, there are several programmers in the world that realise how big a problem it is for the creatives with limited funds and thus several free programs to download have been born!

If you know of any others please do share them by commenting in the box below and if I find any others I also will comment too!

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Photo/Graphic Manipulation

Gimp

GIMP is a photo manipulation program that is totally free but has quite a different layout to Photoshop. If you have used Photoshop before it can be a bit of a learning  curve, learning how things are placed differently and what tools are and aren’t available..for me it doesn’t seem to flow as well as Photoshop but then if you can’t afford Adobe this is the best alternative!

Download GIMP

Audio

Audacity

Audacity is a great free audio recording program. It can be really useful if you want to create podcasts or even record sounds on your computer. A great little tool for all your sound needs.

Download Audacity Link

3D Modelling

Blender

Blender is a free 3d modelling program that can be used for animation or still 3D imagery. It has a very similar feel to that of the infamous 3ds max program and can really produce some stunning results if mastered.

Please click here to download the program

Game Making

Game Maker: Studio

Fancy yourself as a bit of a games producer? Always had games ideas? Then download this free program…admittedly…it does also have the feature of upgrading to more advanced versions for a small fee but if you have the next mario world idea it could well be worth your time!

Please click here to download GameMaker

Fonts

Dafont.com

dafont.com is a great little website that regularly updates with free fonts that can be used for free.

Check it out now

Font Squirrel
Font Squirrel is a great little website that regularly updates with free fonts that can be used for free.
Check it out now

Email

Thunderbird email

Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize – and it’s loaded with great features!

Check it out now

Please bookmark this page as I will be updating this page regularly with free software the more I come across…if you have any software you know of please contact me and I will review it and add it to this section of the website.

Photo Dater Stamper

This program is used to add dates to digital photographs. You can use the properties of the photograph to make sure the correct date is added. This can be useful for you if you want to not only remember the fun you had but also remember when it took place.

Download it here

Recently I had a message from a young Graphic Communication students about to graduate in need of some current designer’s viewpoints on her dissertation topic. Being someone who likes to help people whenever possible I answered her questions. This is the conversation that unfolded : –

Hi there! I was wondering if you would be able to answer 4 quick questions for me if you have a spare moment? I’m a third year Graphic Communication student and would really benefit from designers like yourself answering a few short questions to help me with my Dissertation!!Hope you can help! Thank you

Can you describe what ‘persuasion‘ means to you in terms of design?

Sure, persuasion for me is a subconscious effort when it comes to design, you don’t necessarily persuade people consciously through design you simply create a desire that is so immense that it becomes so unavoidably attractive that you are persuaded to act on the design whether it is a new product, a message or an interesting new architectural design. Persuasion is about tapping into our human emotions of desire and/or the hunger to improve our lives :).

 Can you describe what ‘manipulation’ means to you in terms of design?

Manipulation is similar to persuasion as every time we design something we are trying to manipulate people to act, we want to almost control the actions and thoughts of the viewer with our designs. Designers want to convince consumers through their own emotional experiences in life that they simply cannot live without our design, knowing it may correct a problem they have or have had,make them become more desirable or simple make them feel happier with their life. As designers we try to manipulate the customers to buy our product or service to enhance their experiences of life, albeit sometimes artificially.

 Describe a situation where you think you have been persuaded & manipulated by design

I am not sure when or if I have been persuaded by design. Being trained to think creatively, artistically and analytically you are constantly aware of design so it is difficult as a designer to be persuaded by ‘concious’ persuasion as we know that we are trying to be convinced to buy. Saying that, if a product is well designed ergonomically and I can see it is manufactured well then I am drawn to it more rather than through clever branding such as apple.

Maybe I have been persuaded or manipulated by design but without actually knowing about it because the best graphic design will only subtly persuade you without the viewer actually realising it is doing so. An example of this subtle manipulation is the marketing message in the Budweiser advert.

Example of subconcious manipulation in advertising

Budweiser used to sell mainly to white middle class Americans but they wanted to expand their market to include the young ethnic market so they released the wassup advert.

In this video every actor has a funny conversation where each friend says wassssuuuup and every one of these people are from the new market group targeted. The fact the advert is funny attracts everyone regardless of race and subconsciously makes it acceptable for people other than the white middle classes to drink Budweiser, a clever design by the advertisers of Budweiser.

Conclusion

There are many times when I look around and can see many manipulations and persuasive messages on billboards and shop windows that are so consciously trying to persuade that they have no effect on those who are creatively trained but like the advert above I found it fun and remember saying wassup to my friends yet didn’t realise the subliminal message that the company wanted to portray that their beverage was for everyone.

Therefore it is possible to suggest that we are being manipulated and persuaded to every day, whether a small advert on a website or a poster on the tube or told a believable marketing messages such as ‘Apple is the best in creating technological advances’, all things that we have been persuaded or manipulated into believing by advertisers and marketing firms.

So next time you are out and about just take a moment to study what you are looking at and be more prepared to analysis what the message is that is trying to be communicated to you to make you act in a certain way.

What are your views on persuasion and manipulation in design? Please comment in the box below.

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Freelance designer work in different roles depending on the skill set they possess. These days most of the designing jobs are advertised for freelance work. In this competitive industry it is not only your skills that matter. You should be alert to other aspects of the business. Although you can hire other people for help but it will take a heavy toll on your budget. Generally freelancers commit many mistakes when they are relatively new in this field. Some of these mistakes can be devastating for your career and reputation. To follow are some of those mistakes and ways of avoiding them.

Dealing Blunders

Freelancers have to deal with clients in acquiring the project, contracting and payment collections. It is suggested to bid around the average value. While contracting make sure the paper work is done. In contract deed ask for running payments from the employer i.e. paying after each phase of completion of the project. Asking for down payment is not a bad ploy provided that you have a good standing in the industry, no matter you are new in the freelancing mould.

Ignoring the Audience

This mistake is mostly committed by amateurs in this field. It is easy to forget about the target audience when you are concentrating on other design aspects. Whether you are designing for the website or a logo for a certain company the paramount factor for your success is the viewer. Take into consideration the age, gender, culture and in some cases the geography of your audience.

Not Updating Yourself

One of the dilemmas of freelance jobs which generally are home based is the lack of learning opportunities. It is very important to keep yourself updated with the latest trends in the industry. Join discussion boards, subscribe to technology newsletter and read e-magazines to keep in touch with the latest trends and practices in the industry.

In effective Communication

In freelancing the main hurdle is lack of communication. If your client can’t understand your demands and see the output then your relation can deteriorate. So don’t shy away or presume yourself to be perfect in whatever you are doing.

Absence of Planning

The basic skeleton of website design is pretty important in deciding the course of your work. You should have a clear mind about the needs of the client and how they fit into the design you made. Don’t allow for excessive information on a single page, especially on the main page. Use links to direct the user to such information.

Compatibility Issues

Another problem the cyber world faces is compatibility between hardware and software. You might have designed a website which runs perfectly in one browser but poses problems in another. Similarly it is better to work with vector format that .png or .JPEG in graphics designing.

Wrong Color and Font Combination

Choosing the wrong color mix or format will affect your design badly. Use non irritating colors to eye. Similarly use simple fonts which are easily readable. Most of the websites allow for a lot of white spaces just to improve readability.
Freelance designers who are new in the field commit certain errors in dealings and working. With the passage of time they learn from such mistakes but it is better to know them beforehand to ward off any losses.

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Anne has studied Graphic Design and she loves sharing awesome graphic designing and logo designing tips with her readers. She enjoys playing with colors and thinks learning about latest technology trends is very useful these days.

Some may say that getting your business’ content out across social media channels is the job of the marketing team but in fact I believe if your sales team or even your general staff aren’t on social media every moment they are in work, then your business are missing a trick.

Whilst doing my usual job, sitting at my in house mac computer it came to me something my boss had said during the weekly business update call.

‘please share our articles,news and content with everyone socially, whether on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other platforms it really helps’

I knew I was already reposting the business message out on all my main social media platforms but then I thought to myself, ‘I wonder how many social media platforms are the sales team on.’ Luckily, my work table was sat at the foot of the kitchen in an open plan office so when a sales member entered the door I questioned  the poor unwitting soul.

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Interrogation of how much social media do my colleagues use

Being nosey and generally wanting to help improve the company’s brand awareness I asked a team member of the sales team ‘do you have a Twitter account?’ and to my surprise he replied ‘no’.

I feel like this was a missed opportunity for any would be sales team member as I believe by your business’ employees building networks on as many social media platforms as possible ‘can’ increase your networks & ‘can’ generate leads. For example, just a week ago I received three enquiries for freelance work, I have found a possible lead by speaking to a cloud computing provider as well as speaking directly with a radio DJ (based in the locality of the service the company I work for provides ) about advertising the product on their radio show. All this was done by building a genuine network on social media, the potential of digital networking is huge AND global!

Not only sales, but everyone should be more social

I mustn’t make our team sound anti-digital social media as they are definitely not, they tend to use LinkedIn and they have quite a good success rate with this platform but its more helpful if you have a large network of various people with varying skills and interests on different platforms in different formats ( video, text , sound and infographics ) to draw interest to the product being sold it is of greater benefit to the sales team and also means the potential for more commission.

To be frank, a lot of people don’t really understand how to use each social media platform effectively as a sales tool ( even I am still learning day to day! ) and just how much potential benefits of learning how to use them correctly and the opportunity it can bring by taking the time to learn.

Common thought from a novice user of social media

Why would you tweet 140 characters, who is going to bother to read it?

This is a common misconception that crosses the minds of many a novice tweep. When you start developing an effective network you will find conversation, mutual respect, RTs, FF and more are common place, as well as the slightly pointless ‘thanks for following’ which do sometimes become quite tiresome.

Your business’ social network : Twitter Example

I imagine a lot of business owners now realise that you should be on social media regardless of your industry and having a genuine network that is 2000+ strong per social media platform is of equal importance but it doesn’t end there! Your business is the first stepping stone in the equation but if you have 20 members of staff all with 2000 followers and who regularly tweet out your information your are increasing your reach by 40,000 as well as your business account!

Helping your team build their Twitter network

I hope you have found this blog post useful. If you already allow your employees to use social media how are you using it? Or are you afraid to embrace and risk the change of direct communication with potential customers and partners through social media incase you say the wrong thing? Please share the post and leave a comment in the box below.

Graphic designers are always looking for new and interesting apps to help with their work, and Canva is the latest cloud tool to fit the bill. Canva is designed for people who have no interest in Photoshop yet need attrative graphic design and illustration for their work. If you can work in Canva, you can sell your services to a whole new audience.

Here’s a quick guide to the brand new Canva site. It’s still in beta at the time of writing this review, but it’s slowly bring opened up to new members.

What Is Canva?

Canva is essentially a graphic design toolkit boiled down to its simplest components. Users can combine text, images, layouts and more into quick graphics for practically any purpose. It’s of particular interest to marketers because its presets support sites like Facebook and Twitter, so you can quickly knock up a header image that will fit.

Canva is built on presets, but you can expand the library of images for a small fee. You’re not limited to the Canva selection; you can upload your own graphic design work and play around with it on the Canva site. Canva supports your creativity with layouts that can be adapted, or you can start from a blank canvas and build your design from the ground up. There are thousands of fonts available for designers to use, and Canva says that its images are compatible with popular graphic design software. (We assume that this comment refers to Photoshop).

Sharing Graphic Design Work

Need to get approval on your design or show off your ideas before they’re developed? Canva makes sharing simple. Just send your ideas to the client before paying for the content you need from the Canva library.

The really clever thing is the fee system on Canva; it’s free to share and create, but you have to pay to download the finished image. That means graphic designers can protect themselves; their clients could be asked to sign off a creation before its paid for to ensure they’re 100 per cent happy with the work. Only then can they use it on the web or in print. If they don’t like a font or a component image, you can swap it out before you’ve paid for it, keeping your client happy in the proces.

Going One Step Futher: Making Money With Canva Content

Graphic designers can also make money from Canva by uploading their own design work. Every time a Canva user chooses their uploaded content for a graphic, the original designer gets a cut of the licensing fee.

If you want to join Canva’s rapidly growing designer network, it’s easy to get started. But remember: your content will be jostling for attention among more than a million other library items. In order to make serious cash, you’ll need to spend time developing quality content.

Canva is prioritising access to professional graphic designers; the information is on its Designers page. There’s also a page for illustrators and photographers. Get started now.

Featured images:

•  Photo provided by: Guest blogging community

By Sam Wright

Sam Wright is a creative writer with an interest in new gadgets and apps. He writes on behalf of Brand Republic.

1. Follow them – Pat my back and I will pat yours, Following others who are interested in the same things as you, maybe in the same industry is a good start on Twitter but also think about who might buy your service/product is there a type of Twitter user that might benefit most from your presence on the platform?

I personally believe most people that like what you say will continue to follow you regardless if they are your ‘typical’ market or not and you don’t know who they know and what their needs are so don’t stress too much about who is following you, just try to share useful or fun content.

2. Retweet them – finding others tweets useful and fun? Retweet them, it’ll be seen by the Twitter use favourably and is a positive act for your followers too as they can see that useful information too and also see if what you tweet is to their liking or not.

4. Favourite them – favourting tweets is a useful tool for recording things to refer to later and will also notify the twitter account that you liked what they had to say, this will in turn make the Twitter user feel they have worthy content as well as build a relationship between you and the tweeter.

4. Discuss them – Commenting on others tweets can create conversation and interest in each other as well as awareness amongst the other persons following.

You may even find through appreciation mutual respect is born that may result in the other Twitter user replicating your appreciation and promoting your tweets on their own feed to their followers in the future.

5. List them – Everyone has a speciality that they follow as a career path and the Twitter profile description is usually used to describe what their interests and profession is.

By creating lists specifically for different interests it will firstly make finding specialists on certain topics easier and secondly make the Twitter user feel they have something of value to add to your experience of Twitter making the bond between you and  the follower closer than just another follower.

6. Be useful for them – Tweet things that are useful to your followers, if you are a marketer, of course, regular tweets and retweets about marketing will be useful where as if you are a building maintenance company it may be worth tweeting things that a potential customer might need like ‘how to spot a cowboy builder’.

7. Be visual – not so long  ago Twitter made it possible to include images to appear in others Twitter Feeds. Images are attention grabbing as well as having high viral capability compared to the link or informative tweet and if they are humorous then expect exponential sharing, retweeting and favouriting to ensue.

WARNING : Don’t go overboard with images though, maybe consider an occassional video or blog post. Basically , mix up your content!

8. Talk to them – Start conversations. Don’t just provide a tweet, comment on others tweets and provide the opportunity to build online relationships. Social media is meant to be social so take time to appreciate others whether in your chosen industry or not, don’t just talk to them for selfish reasons like boosting your own sales do it because you genuinely like what they do/say.

9. Send unique DMs – Private messages are more personalised than @messages and if you create a unique/humorous tweet you are more likely get a response. Don’t get disheartened if you don’t get a message back not everyone will.

10. Ask them…nicely! – If you ask people to share, watch or comment on your tweet most people will on occasions. Its important to interact on social media rather than be a dormant thought provider life is more fun and more interesting when we collaborate.

11. Show your personality – whether you are a business or a individual you have a personality and a sense of humour. Don’t be scared of showing your personality, it will make the experience of your social media presence more fun to those who are interested in your topic and increase the likeliness that you will continued to be followed.

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Whatever you do on Twitter just have fun with it without hurting anyone in the process and try your up most to add value to people who follow you and you will soon become a highly influential Twitter Account in your chosen industry.

Before you begin reading this post I am having a grumpy old man moment and pointing out all the things that I have found to be quite irritating whilst using Twitter for my first year and I imagine must annoy others. I share my moaning moments with you in the hope that you won’t make the mistakes and instead make your Twitter account a highly influential social media account that will work for you and your business.

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Moaning Negative Statements – In day to day life no one likes a moaner or someone who puts others down and when on Twitter its the same ball game so avoid sharing your negative thinking on your social media platform at all costs otherwise you may find people start unfollowing you.

Political messages – likewise, everyone has their own idea of how the world should be run and what is right and wrong. It is best to have followers that agree with your way of thinking but to avoid upsetting anyone its best not to put any of your extreme political views on Twitter unless of course you are a politician! Its a risky tweet to tweet.

Validate you are a REAL Twitter user – Ever so often I get a DM ( direct message ) that says, please validate you are not a robot by following this link . It may only take around 20 to 30 seconds to validate but can I really be bothered and is there really a problem if a fake account follows you that happens to be a bot? Not really, you simply just dont follow them back. Its definitely a roll of the eyes moment.

The Egg – The first thing you should do when you start using Twitter is to create a profile and if possible design a good twitter background and profile picture in a clever and imaginative way that expresses your personality. If you remain an egg you are looked at as untrustworthy and not really worthy of following. If you have trouble designing a good profile then contact me and I will help you design a profile that reflects your personality or brand.

Hashtag junkie – #today #i #went #the #supermaket #and # bought #a #cabbage. When nearly every single word in a tweet is hash tagged it is seen by other users as spam. Hashtags do help get your content seen by more users but limit it to just a maximum of three hashtags.

Selfishness – me me meeeeeee! Yes we all want to be noticed and we all want to do more deals but to create relationships you need to help each other. Don’t just promote your own thoughts and products but be actively RT ( retweeting ) the tweets of others, the ones you find interesting and if you have used twitter lists maybe diversify how you share your tweets. For instance, monday could be ‘graphics’ day, tuesday could be ‘marketing’ and so fourth.

One good form of practice that is recommended by Twitter experts is for every one of your own pieces of content share 5 of others.

Tweeting like its going out of fashion – spending every waking moment on Twitter is not healthy and neither is tweeting 10 times in one minute. If people see your profile picture directly after each other in their feed they are likely to get fed up and unfollow you. Instead spread out your tweets throughout the day and put your most influential ones on your account when Twitter is at its most active ( around 2PM GMT).

Having few tweets compared to number of followers – 100,000 followers? Well done! That must have taken some time to build that kind of recognition especially with only 300 tweets, tell me how much you paid for that following. Twitter users aren’t stupid and if you are trying to deceive people into following you then its not a good start in building trust is it?

Tweets that add no value – informing the world you had cornflakes and orange juice for breakfast is not going to add value to your followers. What information do they really want? What do they want to feed on? Think a little before you tweet and try to provide things that you know others will benefit from.

Was it something I said? – people who follow you only to unfollow you a couple of weeks later to try and build their following/follower ratio will irritate the heck out of the users. Why add someone to your network only to unfollow them later? Doesn’t really make sense does it? If you want to keep track of who is unfollowing you use justunfollow.com.

Thanks for following! @myunclebob @davidthegnome @catsgroup  – When you follow tweeps some users thank you for it. and tag you in a tweet with several other users. I understand its a form of trying to build a larger network but it doesn’t add anything to the majority of followers and will become irritating to see ‘thankyous’ regularly in your feed. The best way to say thank you is in a direct message in private rather than on the main feed.

In the next post I will discuss 11 ways to build appreciation for your tweets on Twitter.

What do you know about some of the most famous paintings in history?

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From Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper to Pablo Picasso’s The Dream, each work of art has its own backstory and legacy that not everyone is familiar with. As you learn more about the paintings that you see on display in galleries, you may decide to purchase reprints to hang in your own home. It can be tough to find just the right painting, but when you see something you like that speaks to you it is that much harder to say no. The top ten most popular fine art reprints that people purchase include The Mona Lisa, Starry Night, and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. You can learn more about each as well as the rest of the paintings on the list by reading through the infographic below. This way you can get a glimpse of pieces that you can add to your personal collection.

Created by Coastal Printworks, provider of provides Museum Quality T-Shirt Screen-Printing, Digital T-Shirt Printing and embroidery.

Everyone who is anyone dreams of winning the lottery, what must it be like to have millions of pounds at your disposal, removing your money worries from your life forever but what if money was no object? What if it didn’t exist and you didn’t need it to live? What would you really want to do with your life?

We all say in our mind ‘ I want to do what I want to do with my life ‘

We all say this in our mind and a few of us are lucky enough to fulfill our dreams and pursue a career that we actually want to be doing. It is in my belief that the reason people don’t do what they want is that they let their situation and surroundings stop them.

Be determined, be focused, be present

You have to stay determined in your efforts to pursue a ‘dream career’ whilst not hurting anyone along the way. You have to be focused on your idea and imagine what it is like to have the job you want to drive you to make hard decisions and sometimes life changes ( such as relocating or leaving unproductive relationships) and finally you need to be present in the moment, another words don’t let the experience of others influence your own thoughts. People will tell you are a disillusioned dreamer and some people will see you as stupid but stupid people make change happen and normal people…well…they are just normal.

Nothing wrong with normal, its perfect for some, its comfortable, but what if money was no object?

If Money was no object

I came across a video by a man called Alan Watts, its quite an inspirational video where he discusses if you had unlimited money what would you really be doing with your life? Would you be doing your job or would you be pursuing something different? What is it your desire from life?

Before we know it we will hit 80 years old and we can look back on life and say I had a fulfilling life and I tried my hardest to make my dreams a reality or we can look back on life and regret we didn’t do more.

Family also important

I think what we must remember when watching the video below is that career is only one part of our human life and we also must not regret not doing more for those we love as much as creating a career we love. So next time you think I want to do what I want with my life ask yourself what if money was no object then plan to make your dream a reality.