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Reasons Why People Try New Products

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by Amanda Green

The market continuously produces new products that come with better features. Customers always want to experience the latest developments in the market. There are different reasons why consumers always want to try new products in the market. Their reasons vary with their tastes and preferences. Some of these reasons include the following.

Targeting Better Prices and Offers

Some of the new products in the market come with added advantages. Some of the benefits included discounted prices and gifts. The added advantage are meant to attract new customers who are always ready to try the latest products. For example, if the market dealing with bathroom products like a bathroom sink had a new dealer who offers free installation for every purchase, consumers would generally go for them.

Acquiring More Information

However much customers can get information about products from the internet, they still crave more information. Customers always refer to getting first-hand knowledge from the retailers. They always believe that such information is accurate than that acquired from print media or the internet. Whenever there is a new product in the market, customers will always try to purchase some part of it and learn the latest information it offers.

Testing the Difference in Quality

Products of the same design always come in different qualities. Consumers tend to believe that a new product in the market has some added advantage to the previous version released in the market. Their urge to have a taste of the new product drives them to needs. For example, cleaning products brands announce new developments in their markets occasionally. Consumers always believe that the newly announced product is superior to the current one in the market. They will end up chasing the new product to try out its level of quality.

Replacement

You will get over your old products at home and will develop the urge to replace them. In the process, some consumers prefer trying out new products with their unique experiences. Some will try the new products that they feel fit them. For example, when your clothes no longer fit or become out of date, you will try new options that work. Another example is moving from a VCR to a DVD player.

Prestige

Whenever there is a new exciting product in the market, consumers rush to acquire it for different reasons. Some consumers receive new products for an esteem-related reason or personal enrichment.

Brand Recognition

Branding plays a significant role when purchasing products from a category that you are not familiar with. Some consumers try out new products because of the brand. Big brands that are widely recognized attract new customers daily. For example, if you had to buy body lotion for yourself for the first time, you may pick a widely recognized brand. Brands also attract customers who are curious to know what the company offers and the level of their services.

Ego Stroking

Sometimes you purchase a new product to impress someone or to have something bigger and better than others. The desire to meet a standard of social status or the desire to make it seem like you’re operating on a higher level may influence you to try new products.

Addiction

Sometimes you may end up buying a product without a good reason. This habit contributes to our love for new products. Some consumers love trying out new developments in the market. The continuous act has made them get used to new products to the point that they will go for it whenever there is one available in the market. By doing this, they get some form of satisfaction.

Peer Pressure

The people you associate with can influence you to try out new products. You may find yourself trying out new products because the people around you do the same. For example, if your peers love trying on new clothing, you will get used to new clothing brands.

Different reasons make us fall in love with trying out new products. Some of them are personal reasons, while the people around us influence others. These reasons will always vary with the product in hand. But before you decide to change a product, try to find the purpose for switching.

Finding Joy After the Pandemic

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Meditation Graphic

by Amanda Green

The pandemic was tough for everyone, and many are still feeling its effects. With the global death toll reaching beyond 4 million, you may be among many who are struggling to find joy after the pandemic.

If you do find yourself down in the dumps, don’t worry, you are in good company. Sometimes pulling yourself out of whatever funk you’ve ended up in can feel daunting. But, there is a way to be happy and find joy each day.

Learn Something New

Maybe during the pandemic, you were among the millions of people who picked up a new hobby. No matter. If you were or weren’t learning something new is a great way to find joy daily. Sometimes the best way to feel good about yourself is to accept a new challenge and crush it.

A perfect example is learning basic carpentry skills. Maybe you’ve been dreaming of sliding barn doors for a while. There is no better time than the present, especially when it comes to finding joy.

If you aren’t handy with power tools, or tools in general, try something else. Cooking, languages, painting, or drawing are a few popular choices.

Meditate

Meditation is an ancient practice that has survived the test of time for good reason. The effects of practicing meditation, which is not always spiritual, can help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. To practice meditation, there are several options from which to choose.

For example, there is guided meditation.  It usually has a recording or person instructing you on what to do next. Next, and personal favorite among millions, is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is the practice of remaining rooted in the present moment.

If you intend on practicing meditation, remember to be patient with yourself. Do not compare one session of meditation to another. Not every session will be the same experience, and that’s a good thing.

Prioritize Health

After the past year, you may be reluctant to make the trip to the doctor’s office. But, if the past year has taught us anything, everyone should prioritize their health. In other words, do not take for granted the moments where you feel great.

Take a few moments and exercise, get the wart on your back looked at, or make a trip to the dentist’s office. By ensuring that you are healthy and strong, it can help you keep focused on the future. In other words, hope for the future can make the present moment, even if miserable, more enjoyable.

Prioritizing your health is not only going to see a professional, it is an everyday choice. Try establishing a new habit that adds to your quality of life. For example, make a point to include more veggies in your dinner rotations. You could also try replacing junk food with fresh fruit.

Don’t Sabotage Yourself

The past year has been difficult, no doubt, but that is made perfectly clear by a recent New York Times article. Sometimes the answer is as simple as telling yourself that it’s okay to feel joy right now.

It may sound silly, but some people need to know it’s okay to have survived the past year. Looking back, most people are discovering joy by rekindling old relationships. The extreme loneliness that came with social distancing had created a mental health bubble that’s still waiting to pop.

Don’t be a part of the problem, and know that it’s okay to enjoy yourself. Be happy, and know that the sadness you may feel is only temporary, no need to stay in it.

Master the Routine

Sometimes, joy and happiness can seem scarce because your brain is so focused on everything else. If you feel like there is not enough time during the day to breathe and stretch, maybe a routine can help.

Learning to master a routine is not just a good way to be productive, but it can make everyday problems easier to manage. In other words, try putting most of your life on cruise control with detailed lists, so your brain can spend more time doing the things it finds enjoyable.

It doesn’t matter if you enjoy reading or lawn bowling, find time for those things. Sometimes, finding that time is the hardest part, but in the end, it’s well worth the effort

What Is the COMPTIA NETWORK+ Exam About? Can a Practice Test Help You Anticipate Your Results?

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Introduction

For law students, there are inherent aspects of their profession that they have to fulfill. Many of them decide to do this by going to a law school after college. And in some countries like the USA and Canada, they have to be assessed through the Law School Assessment Test (COMPTIA NETWORK+) before enrolling.

In this post, we take a critical look at this test by covering its important details. Let’s see what you should prepare yourself for if you’re considering taking the COMPTIA NETWORK+.

About COMPTIA NETWORK+

This exam started back in 1948 when there was a need for a uniform way to test students wishing to go to law schools. However, its current version began in 1991. Now, it’s managed and offered by the LSAC (Law School Admission Council).

The CompTIA Network+ Practice Test intends to check candidates’ analytical, logical, and critical thinking. All these are core skills that you need to make your education be a success. So, before you can be accepted to any law school accredited by the ABA (American Bar Association) or the common-law schools in Canada, you have to show your scores for the COMPTIA NETWORK+.

Of course, there are institutions that accept other tests too. But it’s important for every student to take this exam so that they’re on the safe side. This will help them maximize the available chances to get enrolled.

But, just sitting for this assessment is not an achievement itself — you need to pass it with a high mark to show you are ready for the next stage. And the first step you need to take in your preparation is to find out what skills you’re required to develop and how the test is built.

Overview of the COMPTIA NETWORK+ Structure

The COMPTIA NETWORK+ is divided into two parts. The first one consists of five 35-minute sections with multiple-choice questions. To complete it, candidates will get tablets to use in the testing center. Here, you’ll have two modules for logical reasoning, one for the analytical reasoning, and one for reading comprehension. Speaking of the fifth one, it will not bring you any scores as it is administered only for the purposes of pretesting new tasks. However, you won’t know which module is unscored, so pay attention to each of them.

The second part of the exam is known as Network+ Practice Test Writing. It is proctored online and a student needs to have special software installed on their computer. For this task, you’ll also be given 35 minutes to make a decision on a given issue and provide reasons for your choice. Checking this essay, law schools will gauge your reasoning, language usage, clarity, organization as well as writing mechanics.

Do You Need a Practice Test?

To master each of the COMPTIA NETWORK+ sections well, students need to use various preparation approaches. One of the most helpful methods is taking a practice test provided by LSAC or other reliable platforms. With these materials, it’s highly possible for you to understand how the main assessment will be going. Moreover, they will show your level of readiness, so you’ll have time to identify your weak areas and improve them beforehand.

Conclusion

This crucial information about the COMPTIA NETWORK+ should guide you to develop the right attitude for the test. If your dream is to enter a law school, don’t ignore the importance of this assessment as well as the preparation phase which should involve training with practice tests. And to win a battle, you first begin with the right mindset. So, make sure you’re ready to ace the COMPTIA NETWORK+!

Positive Feedback vs. Negative Feedback and the Effect Each Has on Our Lives

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Quote About Being Yourself

I’m about halfway through a wonderful book, How to Think Like a Millionaire (I hope to have the review up soon!).  It’s one of those books where you find yourself, not only taking notes, but closing the book every now and again just to let everything soak in.  After this morning’s reading, I was basically a sponge.

I just finished a section on Positive Feedback vs Negative Feedback and the impact they have upon our subconscious mind and the absolute power our subconscious mind has over our lives.  Everything rises and falls according to the strength of our subconscious mind, so keeping positive and life-affirming thoughts therein could make ALL the difference.

The Live-Changing Power of Positive Feedback

When I got up from reading to make my husband breakfast, I was still thinking about what I had read.  I realized how, in my own life, positive feedback had a huge impact on me.  My mom and dad were forever telling me what a “good” child I was, how they never had to worry about me getting into trouble, and so on.  That early reinforcement, I’m sure, had a great deal to do with the fact that I never DID get into any trouble.  When I was in my 30’s, a few months before I lost my father – my dad told one of his nurses that the only trouble I ever gave him or my mom was one solitary speeding ticket.

I told him at the time that it was because I was perfect – but I’m absolutely sure that’s not completely honest!

I believe that the same scenario plays out for kids who are constantly told that they’re “bad,” “difficult,” or “spoiled.”  They live down to those words the way the lucky kids live up to the ones they hear.

As I kept thinking, I realized another area where positive feedback affected me greatly.  I believe that one of the reasons I ever fancied myself a writer had to do with things my aunt told me years and years ago.  Penny (my mom’s sister and an aunt I’ve always been VERY close to) and her husband (Bobby – LOVE him too!) had to move to another state when I was really young.  It was really hard on all of us, but Bobby had an amazing offer in Ohio that he would have been a fool to say no to.  He’s the master of corny jokes, but a fool he’s not.

When they left, I missed them terribly, so we started writing a lot of letters to one another – oh, to have had e-mail and social media back then!  When they came home for Christmas, she went on and on about how much my letters meant to her and Bobby.  She said she always looked forward to them and saved each one.  When she said they “made her smile” because they were like visiting with me, I began to associate true, beautiful power with words.

Many years later, when I got married and we had to move to Kansas, I had a lot more letters to write.  I still wrote to Penny, but I also wrote to my parents and my grandmother.  Each one of them always told me how much they loved reading my letters, how they kept them and often re-read them.  My grandmother even told me how she read them to her friends, and that they enjoyed my “way with words.”

Positive Feedback, friends.

Somewhere along the way, I came to believe that all of my loved ones were right and I’ve had a fascination with words and writing since.

When I handed my smiling husband his breakfast, I thought of yet another area of positive feedback touching my life. Early in my marriage, I fell head over heels in love with cooking.  I started collecting cookbooks and even began coming up with my own recipes.  He’d often have his single friends over to our house for supper.  I often overheard him talking about my “wonderful” cooking and it made me believe I was the greatest cook in the world.  The fact that he and our daughters are always so complimentary about my meals, desserts, bread, etc. only makes me love cooking more and more.

I am very, very blessed that the people I love most in this world have always made me feel like I could do anything. It makes me very sad to think there are others out there who don’t have this positive feedback in their life.

A Lack of Positive Feedback

I wonder if one of the main reasons people become discouraged and give up is because they don’t get enough positive feedback. Think about the stereotypical scenario of the couple who has been together for several years. She begins to feel he doesn’t love her or think she’s pretty simply because he has stopped saying the words. The positive feedback, early in the relationship, built her confidence up SO high that when the words stopped, she came crashing down, bewildered and even wondering what she’s doing wrong.

The same could be said of children, co-workers, and just about anyone you could name. Children often give up because they don’t feel appreciated. Co-workers and friends get to the point that they quit trying because nothing they do is ever good enough.

The Pitfalls of Negative Feedback

The only thing more dangerous than a lack of positive feedback is a steady stream of negative feedback. When a spouse, daughter, son, friend, co-worker, etc. only hears negative comments – they begin to believe the words and come to believe that they are as worthless as the comments say they are. Many even tune the negativity out to a certain degree, after all, who wants to constantly hear how worthless, stupid, wrong, irresponsible, or bad they are?!?! But it goes much deeper than them tuning it out. They begin to believe it. When someone believes the worst about themselves, they stop even trying.

However, if they get positive feedback – even if it’s for the smallest possible thing – their confidence and self worth begin to grow. After they’ve gotten enough positive feedback, they begin to give themselves MORE of the same feedback, then… look out!

The Most Important Feedback of All

As important as the feedback we get from others is, it’s not the most vital feedback. That feedback is the one we feed ourselves. The words we say to ourselves, usually inside our own minds, determine how successful we will or will not be. We are, basically, what we think we are.

The words below are just some of the words we use to cripple ourselves:

  • I’m too old
  • I’m too fat
  • I’m not smart enough
  • I never catch any breaks
  • I don’t have enough money
  • Nobody loves me
  • I’m lonely
  • I can’t do anything
  • I’m so depressed
  • I am so sick and tired of…
  • My live sucks!

When we feed ourselves words like this, we’re feeding ourselves a type of poison. Anyone who feeds these words to another person (especially someone they supposedly love) should be even more ashamed.

Start thinking more about the feedback you give to others and to yourself.  The words you say to and about the people around you makes them better or makes them worse.  If you beat them down, that’s where they’ll stay.  If you build them up, that’s the direction in which they’ll grow.

Now let’s change the pronouns a little:  If you beat yourself down, that’s where you’ll stay.  If you build yourself up, that’s the direction in which you’ll grow.  How far can you and I grow?  As far as we want to!

How to Think Like a Millionaire

The book below, How to Think Like a Millionaire is a must-read as far as I’m concerned. It’s all about altering your mindset – the millionaire part has absolutely nothing to do with it. What matters is believing that you deserved the best from life… because you absolutely do.


3 Simple Ways to Gain Get a Healthier Perspective on Life

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Our Lives Move in the Direction of Our Strongest Thought

What are YOUR Strongest Thoughts??

Stress and anxiety are realities of life and, quite frankly they always have been! I think we tend to think of them as new discoveries when, if we’re being honest, they’ve been around as long as humans have.

One of the worst things about feeling stressed and anxious is the fact that the feeling robs you of the beauty of the here and now. But, it goes even beyond this. Feeling stressed and anxious causes you to feel so overwhelmed that you lose, to a certain degree, any interest in tomorrow. It’s as though the overly-taxed mind says, “If today feels this bad, I sure hate to see what tomorrow feels like!”

This is why it is so vitally important to be proactive about dealing with stress. One of the first steps you can take is to decide… “Today is the day!” I will (not may) bring perspective back to my life and into my world. I will (not may) focus more on the people and things that truly matter in my life. My well-being and their well-being are too important to lose sight of!”

When you make up your mind to gain more perspective in your life and bring more focus into your own personal world, even the sun will look a little brighter!

Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you bring everything into perspective:

What are My Strongest Thoughts?

See the polar bear at the top of the page? He carries with him a wonderful quote by Craig Groeschel: Our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts.

This is so incredibly true – it sort of fleshes out another great quote – You are what you think you are. Many people believe that, to a very real extent, we create our own destinies within our minds. While there are millions of other contributing factors, our tomorrows are absolutely touched by the things we think about and focus on today.

What thoughts do you return to again and again? If you’re quiet for 5 minutes, in which direction do your thoughts run? Before falling asleep at night, what (generally speaking) are your last thoughts? These are usually your strongest thoughts because you give them strength each time you entertain them.

If these litlte Hercules thoughts are negative or worrisome, they’re feeding negativity in your life and causing small problems to loom large. When you’re able to recognize these toxic thoughts for what they are, you can replace them with productive, positive thoughts. Try focusing on things you are thankful for, happy memories, things you like about yourself, or even things you’re planning to do that give you happiness, purpose, and peace of mind.

Are You Taking Care of Your Health?

When we’re feeling stressed or anxious, we often tend to lean toward unhealthy lifestyles and meals. Ask yourself if you’re making your health a priority. Are you eating too much junk food? Do you get fresh air daily? Do you enjoy nature and rekindle the wonders of feeling sunshine on your skin?

Are you eating plenty of vegetables, fruits, and proteins?

How about your vitamin levels? When is the last time you had a complete checkup from your doctor? Very often, when our vitamins and minerals are off (even just a little off!), it affects every single corner of our life. If you haven’t had bloodwork done in over a year, please consider seeing your doctor. Your stress and anxiety may be attributed more to your body than to your circumstances.

We handle things better when we are better ABLE to handle them.

A nutritious diet is also vital to good health and to feeling like yourself. You need the nutrients that come from eating a healthy diet to fuel your brain and body to do great things.

Also, it’s easy to overlook but be sure you’re getting enough water too. Being even a little dehydrated can make you feel miserable physically and mentally.

Fresh air, daily activity, a balanced and healthy diet, and (when needed) daily supplements can help you more than you could ever realize.

Are You Staying in Contact with Loved Ones?

Stress and anxiety are relationship busters. Not because others avoid the person suffering from them but because, more times than not, the one feeling stressed avoids others. There is a tendency to hide away from others when one feels stressed out. Many people offer up reasons and they may or may not be spot on… but, personally, I think people tend to avoid others when they feel down simply because they feel like they can’t handle “anything else.”

When you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, you don’t want to put on a happy face or try to make your voice sound like you’re on top of the world when you feel like it’s on top of you.

While it’s easier to hide when you feel this way, it is of the utmost importance NOT to. You need your family and friends more than you may realize. Let them know how you feel – that you’re having a “bad day” (or week or month!). They want to help and, I’ll let you in on a secret, they may be feeling the same way! If that’s the case, you can help them by showing that it’s okay to admit when you need a lift.

Is Your Stress Controlling Your Life or Are You Controlling It?

This last question may seem overly simple but it is so vital. In fact, I want you to ask yourself these three questions routinely for a while until you’re able to HONESTLY give the answers you know you need to be able to give.

Please be proactive and take control of your stress and anxiety. Life is a big, beautiful place and I do not want you to miss a single moment. You deserve happiness and peace of mind and you deserve a healthy perspective on life. I hope and pray you will begin right this very minute creating everything in your world that you deserve. Don’t let stress or anxiety rob you of any more happiness and peace.