But to Let Portfolio

The number of buy-to-let loans being taken out is at its highest level in four years. Around £1 in every £7 lent on mortgages last year went to landlords - a total of £16.4 billion. This just goes to ...

The number of buy-to-let loans being taken out is at its highest level in four years. Around £1 in every £7 lent on mortgages last year went to landlords - a total of £16.4 billion. This just goes to show the scale of the market and the degree to which people are looking to invest in buy to let property in this day and age. There are also no end of agents able to help private portfolio managers in running their properties.

Falling house prices in many parts of the country have prompted existing landlords to snap up more properties. This has been very much the case for landlords with money in the bank, ready to invest. They are blessed as they are able invest now and wait for the market to recover and the value of property to increase hand in hand. Banks and building societies, who are worried about lending to ordinary homebuyers, are happy to lend to landlords, who are viewed as less of a risk. To add to this also, hundreds of existing homeowners are dipping their toe in to buy-to-let for the first time. There are some people in this who are also quitting their careers to get into rental property as a means of an income.

It needs to for sure be remembered, with the dire savings rates on offer at banks, the returns on buy-to-let look appealing. This can also be helped by the fact there is a high demand at present for rental houses and flats. The latter has come as a result of the fact that property for sale in the UK has been through a boom and house prices have been seen to out price the chances of first time buyers being able to buy. High property prices and tough deposit requirements mean first-time buyers are struggling to get on the property ladder. As a result, they are being forced to rent for longer than originally planned.

Before you get carried away building your property empire, you need to be sure it is right for you. It is a huge commitment, and though you could make a big profit on your property, it needs to be thought of as a business, not an investment. You need to work out what you need to make to make the business side feasible and you need to work out how you can make property right and ideal for you.

Creative Gifts

"Just because a diagnosis [of ADHD] can be made does not take away from the great traits we love about Calvin and his imaginary tiger friend, Hobbes. In fact, we actually love Calvin BECAUSE of his ADHD traits. Calvin’s imagination, creativity, energy, lack of attention, and view of the world are the gifts that Mr. Watterson gave to this character." -- The Dragonfly Forest
In his 2004 book "Creativity is Forever", Gary Davis reviewed the creativity literature from 1961 to 2003 and identified 22 reoccurring personality traits of creative people. This included 16 "positive" traits (e.g., independent, risk-taking, high energy, curiosity, humor, artistic, emotional) and 6 "negative" traits (e.g., impulsive, hyperactive, argumentative). In her own review of the creativity literature, Bonnie Cramond found that many of these same traits overlap to a substantial degree with behavioral descriptions of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)-- including higher levels of spontaneous idea generation, mind wandering, daydreaming, sensation seeking, energy, and impulsivity.

Research since then has supported the notion that people with ADHD characteristics are more likely to reach higher levels of creative thought and achievement than people without these characteristics  Recent research by Darya Zabelina and colleagues have found that real-life creative achievement is associated with the ability to broaden attention and have a “leaky” mental filter-- something in which people with ADHD excel.
Recent work in cognitive neuroscience also suggests a connection between ADHD and creativity (see here and here). Both creative thinkers and people with ADHD show difficulty suppressing brain activity coming from the "Imagination Network":

THE IMAGINATION NETWORK
Of course, whether this is a positive thing or a negative thing depends on the context. The ability to control your attention is most certainly a valuable asset; difficulty inhibiting your inner mind can get in the way of paying attention to a boring classroom lecture or concentrating on a challenging problem. But the ability to keep your inner stream of fantasies, imagination, and daydreams on call can be immensely conducive to creativity. By automatically treating ADHD characteristics as a disability-- as we so often do in an educational context-- we are unnecessarily letting too many competent and creative kids fall through the cracks.

Nine percent of children aged 5-17 years old are labeled ADHD on average per year, and placed in special education programs. However, new data from The National Center for Learning Disabilities shows that only 1% of students who receive IDEA (Individuals With Disabilities Act) services are in gifted and talented programs, and only 2% are enrolled in an AP course. The report concludes that "students with learning and attention issues are shut out of gifted and AP programs, held back in grade level and suspended from school at higher rates than other students."

Why does this matter? Consider a new study conducted by C. Matthew Fugate and colleagues. They selected a population of students with ADHD characteristics who were part of a summer residential camp for gifted, creative, and talented students. The large majority of the students were selected for the program because they either scored in the 90th percentile or above on a standardized test, or had a GPA of 3.5 or greater in specific areas (e.g., mathematics, chemistry).

The researchers then compared this ADHD group of students with a non-ADHD group of students who were participating in the same gifted program. They gave all the students tests of fluid reasoning, working memory, and creative cognition. Fluid reasoning involves the ability to infer relations and spot novel and complex patterns that draw on minimal prior knowledge and expertise. Working memory involves the ability to control attention and hold multiple streams of information in mind at once. They measured creative cognition by having the students come up with novel drawings that included one of the following elements: an oval shape, incomplete figures, and two straight lines.
The researchers found that students with ADHD characteristics (especially those who scored high in "inattention") had lower working memory scores than the non-ADHD students, even though they did not differ in their fluid reasoning ability. This is consistent with past research showing that people with ADHD tend to score lower on tests of working memory (see here and here), but these findings also suggest that people with ADHD can still be quite smart despite their reduced ability to hold multiple pieces of information in memory. Also, despite their reduced working memory, 53% of the academically advanced students with ADHD characteristics scored at or above the 70th percentile on the creativity index. In fact, for both the ADHD and the non-ADHD group of students, the poorer the working memory, the higher the creativity!

This obviously has some important educational implications. To be sure, ADHD can make it difficult for students to pay attention in class and organize their lives. The importance of learning key attentional control skills should not be undervalued. But let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. As the researchers note, "in the school setting, the challenge becomes how to create an environment in which creativity is emphasized as a pathway to learning as well as an outcome of learning."

One issue involves the identification of "twice exceptional" students and their appropriate educational programming. Assessments of creativity are notably absent from most gifted and talented programs in this country. Instead of automatically putting children with ADHD characteristics in special education, a broader assessment should be conducted. For one, IQ tests could be administered that focus less on working memory and memorization, and allows for a fairer assessment of fluid reasoning and non-sequential thought among this population of students.

A broader assessment could also allow students with ADHD characteristics to display their creative strengths, including divergent thinking, imagination, and hyperfocus (when interested). People with ADHD often are able to focus better than others when they are deeply engaged in an activity that is personally meaningful to them. Recent research suggests that the brain network that people with ADHD have difficulty suppressing (the "Imagination Network") is the same brain network that is conducive to flow and engagement among musicians, including jazz musicians and rappers!

In terms of programming, problem-based learning (PBL) approaches may enable ADHD students to engage more with the material, and become active learners, rather than passive observers (see here). Additionally, learning can be assessed through project-based learning (PBL), in which students demonstrate their knowledge of the course material through the creation of different products (e.g., cartoons, role-playing, blogs, videos, newspaper articles), and the constant revision of these products.
Of course, these same possibilities should extent to all students in the classroom, academically advanced or not. Because we never really know whether an ADHD characteristic is a learning impediment or a creative gift.

Consider the case of John, who in 1949 attended Eton College and dreamed of becoming a scientist. However, last in his class, he received the following comment on his report card:
"His work has been far from satisfactory... he will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way... I believe he has ideas about becoming a Scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous, if he can't learn simple Biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a Specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time on his part, and of those who have to teach him."
This was Sir John B. Gurdon, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his revolutionary research on stem cells. Like so many other highly creative, competent individuals, he might have been referred for testing and given the label "attention deficit hyperactive disorder".

Get Started Doing Meaningful Work

Based on my years of experience of working with professionals, I encourage you to map out your goals based on what you want to contribute and what you value.

Some people confuse money with success and miss the opportunity to define success. Money is something you will have as a result of your actions and contributions. Money typically doesn't ensure personal contentment and success.

You can work on your job for the next three years, but will you be content working from project to project just to make ends meet? That's a question only you can answer.

For me, doing work that I was meant to do, work where I can add value to my career and contribute value to my client is fulfilling. So if you can identify with doing work that is fulfilling to you, I challenge you to ask and answer the three following questions.

What type of work would you do if you were 100% sure that you would not fail?

What are three experiences that you want to have in your professional role over the next three years?

As a result of the professional role you desire, what are two things that want to have?

Be specific and clear, if your answer is a successful business, state exactly the kind of business. Who do you want to reach, and how do you intend to reach them? Or for example if it's helping people, who are the people you want to help and what the impact will be?

By taking time to address these three questions, you are on your way to defining or refining what you want based on what you value, and your passion.

Have you ever thought about creating an online business while working your full-time job or working as a consultant? You're not alone! Countless people make the decision to start an online business every year, and it doesn't look like this trend is stopping anytime soon.

As technology gets better, more and more jobs can be done just as well without leaving the house. It's no wonder most people are interested in it, as there are many advantages to working from home:

You set your own hours

You'll no longer be limited to working when someone else tells you to. Nothing is stopping you from pulling a 16 hour day on Monday and taking Tuesday off, or taking a few hours off in the middle of the day to go grocery shopping.

If you're the type of person who works best in the evening/night, you'll no longer have to drag yourself up at 7 AM just because someone else tells you to. You can work from anywhere It's usually referred to as "working from home", but a better term might actually be "working from anywhere".

So define or refining what you want based on what you value, and your passion, and consider starting an online business and working from. it may be the best decision you ever made You can work just as well in a hotel room in any state, or from your favorite café, there's no need to limit yourself to your home office. You'll save time and money. Working from home completely does away with the daily commute, meaning you'll save both time and gas money.

For some people who are used to commuting for 2 ­to 3 hours per day, this is huge. Use the money you save to improve your home office instead, or take an extra vacation every year! You'll be able to work uninterrupted. When you work in a regular office you'll often have people interrupting you as soon as you get into "the zone". It can be very frustrating, especially if you're in a rush to complete an assignment. This is another huge advantage of working from home; unless you have household members who like to bother you (tell them not to!), you'll be able to enjoy completely focused work with no interruptions.

Success Led By Concentration

Concentration is one of the most important powers one should have, as said by Haruki Murakami, to complete any task. Without any kind of concentration, we would be frantically switching between a number of tasks and not achieve anything successfully. If we learn to concentrate we would not only finish our work, but we would finish it with precision.

Imagine having to do seven things before midday. They are all equally important and need an equal attention from you. You could do either of the two things-

(a) Do everything little by little, but together such that everything is spread across the room and when you are nearing your deadline you'll find it very difficult to assemble everything and you might miss something out.

(b) You could do everything one by one such that you concentrate on everything properly. After you finish one task you quickly assemble everything before moving on to the next task. This way you can finish all your work without making any mess.

Wouldn't you prefer option (b) over option (a)?

Let's look at a few benefits you could enjoy if you taught yourself the power of concentration.

• You get to have a control over what you think; when you can concentrate well, you can keep your mind from\http://steveclarck.blogfree.net/?t=5355268\ drifting away and losing chains of thought.
• When your concentration power is strong, you can organize your thoughts the way you find best and can make quick decisions for yourself.
• You might not realise this immediately, but over time, your memory both short and long term will improve, thanks to being able to concentrate.
• You can focus on things a lot better. Today, with so much information being constantly thrown our way it is important that we learn how to focus on the task at hand.

So how can you improve your power of concentration?

• Fix gaze on fingers - raise your hand to shoulder level pointing right, such that you can see your fingers. Keep your hand steady for a minute to begin with and eventually increase it to five minutes. Through this exercise you will be able to block out other distractions and concentrate better.

• Candle flame - flickering flames are a very good object to practice your concentration on. Keep a candle at the other end of the room and sit comfortably on chair. Try to not shake your gaze off the candle flame for as long as you can.

• Meditate - meditation, other than being great for relaxation, works wonders for concentration. Close your eyes and concentrate on the different sounds around you. During this exercise it would help to have a lot of stimuli around you, so you could play a video of a forest where nature can be heard at its best. You have to quickly jump between different sounds. This will keep your mind off a lot of things and help you organize mentally and concentrate quickly.

• Take breaks - when you're doing too many things together or even one after another, your mind might find it difficult to jump between tasks too quickly. So when you finish one thing, take a short break that will let your mind rejuvenate itself and then you can tackle your next job.

• Stay calm - you could get overwhelmed when you have too many deadlines to meet, but keep your head about yourself; stay calm. By being calm you can think smartly about how to bring everything together and concentrate.

Concentration is important today when we're moving in this fast pace world. If we let ourselves get buried under the stress and disorganization of things around us, we could lose our way. So think of concentration as the torch that lights the right way for you.


What to do for Brain Fitness

I'm smarter now than I was as a kid and young adult. And I'm more youthful now than before too. Are you?

There were times along the way I knew I was going to be in trouble as a senior, that age "everybody" seems to agree where your brain quits working so well. Have you ever spent time looking for something that you were holding in your hand, or wearing on your head, before someone helped you by finding it for you? Yeah, not fun. My first time at that was as a 16 year old. Oops!

There are some interesting steps you can take to improve your mental function, your brain fitness. The first trick I learned was the importance of doing exercises that have you crossing your vertical mid-line. That means, for example, as you move your left leg up and over to the right, you move your right arm across to the left - both limbs crossing your mid-line (the imaginary line that runs the length of your body from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet). Take the same actions with your right leg and left arm. Repeat this cycle several times (5- 20, as you see fit).

Another trick is to use your non-dominate hand daily - brush your teeth, write, eat, open doors,... - or let your non-dominate foot start your steps as you take a walk or climb stairs. This trick, as with the first trick I mentioned, builds or strengthens the connections between your right and left brain hemispheres.

You know that your right hemisphere is used for creativity and the left hemisphere is used for math efforts, right? Well, think how much smarter you would be if you used both hemispheres for both activities! That's what these first two tricks aid - building and strengthening that connection so both hemispheres work together.

The next set of tricks involve stretching and challenging your brain - daily. Learn something new like a word or dance step, work a puzzle or find the animal shapes in the clouds, or tackle a new language or musical instrument.

This next trick is something I've done for entertainment value for years; I didn't know it had brain-strengthening qualities. Avoid ruts. Take a different route to work or the grocery store, do your morning routine backwards (do your morning stretches, brush your teeth, then floss), turn left in the theater instead of right to get to your seat, don't dress down on "Casual Friday" and instead dress up, if you always travel by train fly or take the bus instead; you get the idea. Do things differently so your brain has to pay attention.

Eating healthy food - whole, unprocessed foods (organic and locally grown, if possible) - is good for your brain fitness too. The brain burns more calories than any other organ in your body, so give it good fuel. You wouldn't think of putting "junk food" into your car and expect it to be useful. Treat your brain with the same respect. Avoid junk food with all its sugars, chemicals, and empty calories.

Water is also good for your mental agility. Hydrate so that your blood can move through your circulatory system agilely enough to transport food and oxygen to where they do you the most good. You need water to help flush your system of the waste byproducts of living, otherwise all of your organs get junked up and get sluggish. We are about 65% water and it's your job to keep that level. Hydration is the key.

The other trick I'm thinking of today for keeping your mind working in top-notch order is getting abundant oxygen. To do that you need to move hourly, you need to get outdoors, you need to exercise, and you need to sleep 7-8 hours each night. Most of us move a lot less than we think we do.

With my standing desk and habit of moving throughout the hour (I jog in place while watching YouTube videos or attending webinars) and taking hourly breaks I was surprised to learn I have to push myself to exceed 5,000 steps/day. And a healthy goal, one I'm working towards, is 10,000 steps/day. If you have the habit of walking 1-2 miles/day, as I do in the non-winter months, you have a leg-up on getting your 10,000 steps in each day. If you are moving your lungs have to pump harder to get more oxygen going through your system, and that fuels your mind in wonderful ways.

Ha! I snuck another trick in on you - movement. And to add more value to that trick, walk with a friend so you get social interaction in at the same time.

Keeping a youthful, agile mind is important in keeping your brain from aging and pulling silly tricks on you, tricks like forgetfulness and crankiness. By getting and staying smarter you make it easier to get even more smart - and more youthful. Brain fitness is up to you.

Kit Cassingham is the Chief Energizing Officer at LIFE (Live In Focused Energy). She's been coaching professionals in energizing their lives for productivity, alertness, and satisfaction since 1989. She lives an energized life, and continuously looks for ways to help improve that lifestyle for herself and others.