Just Say No

With everyone rushing to find what they want out of life, there are far too many people who are eager to please. They are willing to do anything, say Yes to everything. Too many people are falling into Yesomania. But what people have forgotten the most is their right to say No to something. With today's special guest post, Irina Avtsin will show us how to get back on track by just saying No.

Take it away Irnia:

5 ways Yesomania affects your relationships.

A renown confidante to executives and celebrities and author of a how-to learn to say ‘No’ book says there are several often overlooked ways that the desire to please others affects our lives and relationships.

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“Yesomania is a term I use to describe the chronic and widespread desire to please other people and always say “Yes”, often times compromising one’s own health, money or relationships. Spring is the perfect time of the year to start taking measures against this phenomenon.

Take the first step towards having more control over your life. Start taking a closer look at how saying yes to everything affects you and what is the price you pay for it. It will help you to see where you need to change first and take the next step towards making your life easier and less anxiety prone.

Here are five tips to assess the potential pitfalls and the extent of your Yesomania. Making even small improvements in each of those areas could help your life and relationships a lot –:

· Career. It’s hard to say ‘No’ to your boss. However few people realize that if you are the one who always says “yes” you will be given all those tasks that others said “No” to – and for a good reason. Your raises and promotions will likely to get postponed, since there is no reason to make sure that you are happy with your job. You will say “yes” anyway.

· Personal relationships. When you always say “yes” to others request and suggestions you are not allowing other people to really get to know you. All they know is that you are someone with no preferences, who always says “yes”. While it might feel that you are always surrounded by people, you could find yourself alone in the moment of need – since suddenly you will not be able to accommodate everybody. It often happens to those affected by Yesomania, that accommodation might be the only thing people came to them for. Once “yes” is not on the menu they will disappear.

· Money. Your finances are bound to suffer if you can not say “n”o to a small loan, going out to a restaurant that is too expensive for you or buying something you do not need because you can not refuse a salesperson. Do a quick calculation – how much did it cost you over the last month?

· Health. If you can not say ‘No’ to your boss’s request to stay for a few hours longer and skip the gym as a result, you might start piling up those pounds that are so hard to lose later on. When you are on a diet and say “yes” to a friend’s desert part, your waist line is likely to suffer.

· Stress. When you are spread too thin you are stressed. Period. You do not have the time to evaluate your priorities and that in itself leads to additional stress.

MThe book Rediscovering the power of No offers great techniques and exercises for those looking to protect their boundaries and learn to say No. It makes a nice gift under $10 for someone you really care about. “Great book, a must buy for the push over in your life!” says K. Stead, a reviewer from Amazon. For more information and to purchase go to http://amzn.com/B004JU1MJK or visit www.letsdoarealitycheck.com

Kindle 3 Review

Since receiving the Kindle as a Christmas present, I have changed my views. Yep, the kindle made a believer out of me. It was a tense fight whether I would switch over to ebook reading at all. The first ebook I ever read was Elisa Lorello's Faking It.

But I knew, some day, I would be forced to pick one: Kindle vs. Nook.

As it turns out, it picked me. Out of the many conversations I've had with people, I guess I sang more praises for Kindle then I have the Nook. Now, after spending a month with the Kindle, I have read a total of 7 books on it. I guess you could say that it helps you read faster. It's lightweight, easy to use, simple and doesn't cost too much to begin with. I remember when the price was first 399. Anyone would say, yeah, I'll wait until it gets cheaper...or until they come out with another, better version of it. I was one of those people.

Now, priced at 139, it's practically a steal. Reading books on a device that stays charged for a month? You can't beat that. I hear they may even drop the price to 99 dollars in the next two months. I say that's a smart move. Already there are over a million kindle owners. This new price switch is sure to smash the competition beyond repair.

Out of the 14,723 reviews on Amazon devoted to the kindle, there have been pros and cons. But I'd say that the final 4 1/2 stars speaks for itself.

Reading is remarkably easy with this thing. No strain on the eyes at all. The controls are easy, just small enough without being too difficult and I've always put the font size at the smallest setting. The weight does get to your hand after a while but that's only if you are a reading fanatic like me.

In terms of reliability, I've only had one problem with the kindle out of the one month and two weeks that I've had it. It froze on me once. I was baffled, scratched my head for several minutes until I found something online which claimed everything would switch back to normal once I did a reset. Two minutes later, I was back to reading again. That was the biggest, Whew, that was close moment I've had with the thing. I admit I was skeptical about the thing and even made fun of it here on my blog but, after spending some time with it, and uploading my books to it as well, I can see what all the buzz is about and why this thing is so gosh-darn popular.

Plus, you can't beat the price point of books. I've been loading titles to my kindle that range from free classics to 99 cents and up. I think the highest I've ever paid for a kindle book was 7.39. So it really saves you big time bucks as well.

As for this writer, well, I think I'll let this device grow on me for a while. It seems to be holding my attention and making my life a little bit easier when searching for another book to read. But I'll be damned if I didn't bring this thing on a plane with four backup, hard copy paperbacks at my side. You never know. The concept of a book that breaks is still silly to me. I guess it always will be. But for now, Kindle, you've just earned yourself five stars and a satisfied customer.

Titles I currently have on my Kindle:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Anthem - Ayn Rand

The Art of War - Sunzi

The Autobiograpghy of Benjamin Franklin

Bleak House - Dickens

Brian's Hunt - Gary Paulsen

Brian's Return - Gary Paulsen

The Colorado Sequence - Stacey Cochran

Common Sense - Thomas Paine

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

Crack Up - Eric Christopherson

Crime Stories - Jack Kilborn

Darkness Under The Sun - Dean Koontz

David Copperfield - Dickens

Dead Men Kill - L. Ron Hubbard

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Draculas - J.A. Konrath

Dracula's Guest - Bram Stoker

Get Some - Daniel Birch

Great Expectations - Dickens

Gulliver's Travels - Johnathan Swift

Heidegger's Glasses - Thaisa Frank

King James Bible

The Hound of The Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

How to tell a story and other essays - Mark Twain

The Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G. Wells

The Justice Game - Randy Singer

The Last Bookstore In America - Amy Stewart

The Life of Abraham Lincoln - Henry Ketcham

Mercury Falls - Robert Kroese

More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea - Tom Reynolds

The Mysterious Island - Jules Verne

The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Dickens

The Newbie's Guide to Publishing - J.A. Konrath

Oliver Twist - Dickens

Origin - J.A. Konrath

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Real Ghost Stories - William T. Stead

Relentless - Dean Koontz

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Serial - J.A. Konrath

Soul Identity - Dennis Batchelder

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

Truck Stop - Jack Kilborn

Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe

UR - Stephen King

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

Write Good or Die - Scott Nicholson

Origin

1906 - Something is discovered by workers digging the Panama Canal. Something dormant. Sinister. Very much alive.

2009 - Project Samhain. A secret underground government installation begun 103 years ago in New Mexico. The best minds in the world have been recruited to study the most amazing discovery in the history of mankind. But the century of peaceful research is about to end.

BECAUSE IT JUST WOKE UP.

When linguist Andrew Dennison is yanked from his bed by the Secret Service and taken to a top secret facility in the desert , he has no idea he's been brought there to translate the words of an ancient demon.

He joins pretty but cold veterinarian Sun Jones, eccentric molecular biologist Dr. Frank Belgium, and a hodge-podge of religious, military, and science personnel to try and figure out if the creature is, indeed, Satan.

But things quickly go bad, and very soon Andy isn't just fighting for his life, but the lives of everyone on earth...

I just finished reading this title a while back and just had to give it my two cents. My hat goes off to J.A. Konrath, a Chicagoan, and a prolific writer.

I once attempted a story similar to this but there were some differences. One, it took place in the Nevada dessert when two rogue scientists try to dig to hell. Through their digging they find a demon encased in hardened magma. The demon's name is Rage and he is accidentally freed to wreak havoc on Vegas. Trouble is this idea was formed when I was a freshman in high school and, unlike some of my other ideas, this one easily slipped through the cracks. I wrote the summary on a slip of paper, tucked it away and hoped for the best. Now, since this Konrath has beat me to the punch, I'm happy to toss the idea away. Another book I don't have to work on.

Now on to the Review:

You could tell right away that Konrath did research in terms of religious theories and underground military bases. It shows. Although, I did have trouble picturing the facility when everything was laid out in arms. It kind of reminded me of LOST. The characters were believable, likable, and flawed in their own ways but there was one character I could have done without. The Doctor Belgium character had this annoying habit of saying a word three times at the end of a sentence. It was just overdone and added nothing to the story except for a higher word count. The twists and turns with Bub's plotting his escape was a constant tension maker throughout. It definitely had a feel worthy to Crichton's Jurassic Park but the ending, I feel, was a bit lacking. When hoping for a more powerful line, all I was left with was a short line that left me with a huh? At one point I looked at the back of my kindle. An old habit I have. When a book ends unexpectedly I have to look at the back, see if there are any more pages. But, hey, it kept me reading right up until the end so it did the job well. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.