Losing fat by changing your diet

Today we are going to discuss the Slow-Carb Diet. A method popularized by Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Body.

Essentially it breaks down to this:

• Avoid "white" carbohydrates (or anything that can be white).
• Eat the same few meals over and over again.
• Don't drink calories.
• Don't eat fruit.
• Take one day off per week and go nuts eating anything you can.

I will start testing this as soon as i have the motivation since i went on the scale yesterday and i saw that i had gained 4kg and i miss the fat free body i had 6 months ago. I will maybe take some pictures to monitor my progress. My biggest challenge is that this diet involves eating big amounts of eggs, beans and vegetables like spinach, broccoli, radish. I really don't like these after my army days, but i guess i can adapt. I am not sure i will follow the no-fruit protocol since i live in a meditteranean country where fruits are aplenty. I am pretty excited about the go-nuts day, which is probably going to be Saturday for me.

Why am i choosing this diet? Because i want to lose weight and most importantly fat. I don't have the time or the finances to go to the gym right now, so i am relying on food and the work out i do lifting things at work. Also from what i saw people felt transformed at the end. Plus i want to go to Sweden in the best possible shape.

IS THIS DIET HEALTHY?

Well studies from LIFT (a great source for food and habits), showed that from a sample of 3500 people trying the diet 84% lost weight, with an average weight loss of 8.6 pounds (around 4.1-4.2kg). 14% lost more than 14 pounds (around 6.7kg) which is pretty impressive. Only 16% did not notice a change with a margin error of 5%. You can read about the full research here.

This diet promotes avoiding food that promote fat storage. It also uses methods like eating within 30 minutes of waking up and having "cheat-days" where you can eat your heart's desire to balance your metabolism. Source will be the book 4-Hour Body.

APPROVED FOODS

 Protein:

• *Egg whites with 1–2 whole eggs for flavor (or, if organic, 2–5 whole eggs, including yolks)
• *Chicken breast or thigh
• *Black beans
• *Beef (preferably grass-fed)
• Pork
• *Fish

Legumes:

•  *Lentils (also called “dal” or “daal”)
• Pinto beans
• Red beans
• Soybeans

Vegetables:

•  *Spinach
• *Mixed vegetables (including broccoli, cauliflower, or any other cruciferous vegetables)
• *Sauerkraut, kimchee
• Asparagus
• Peas
• Broccoli
• Green beans

Food in italics and * have provided the greatest success ratio for the author.

Now let's break it down daily. Ideally you should eat 5-6 small meals per day. Adjust your meals to your schedule, for example i wake up daily at 5am. Below are some meal ideas.

1) Breakfast - 5am: Smoothie with 30g of protein powder, 2-3 egg whites and one whole egg.
The ideal breakfast is 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. Eggs are an easy way to do this (and boost success rate by 10%).

2) Lunch - 14:00-17:00: Roasted chicken breast with mixed vegetables and salad, meat, beef and even more vegetables.

My lunch hour varies greatly since sometimes i come home early from work, sometimes really late. It helps to have some peanuts or an apple to eat during that time to keep your system ticking and not starve.

3) Dinner 21:00-23:00: More of the same, mostly vegetables though and maybe a low fat yogurt because i am a fan. Smaller portions though and always eat 1-2 hours before sleeping.

Between these main meals i will always try to carry some nuts and maybe a fruit if i use them after all. Drink loads of water and avoid beverages like fizzy drinks, beer, white wine and alcohol. Red wine is acceptable and does not compromise weight loss. Be sure to drink red dry wine though. If you can't skip the drinks get something with 0 calories.

I will monitor my progress as i prepare mentally to enter this diet gradually. It will probably take me 4-7 days to incorporate these meals to my diet completely as it marks a great difference in my life-style. I will maybe tweak it as i want to lose 12 pounds and mostly belly fat.

Remember, what you believe, you can do!

Breaking the habit

There has been a hiatus of posts lately, mostly because i am too busy studying russian, working all day long. I am therefore too tired to type walls of text. So i am taking a short break until the weekend to clear my head and think of something worth writing.

This is a short post.

The only thing that i can think off, is that i am satistfied with how this blog is cultivating. It has finally found an identity, at least on my mind. I have 4 major topics i can tackle, to keep it fresh and interesting:

1. All things Swedish. More to come after i finally move there!
2. Pursuing success and attaining it. Laws of success and self-improvement.
3. Tips for college students.
4. My daily life, activities, film reviews etc. More on that in 2 months!

So that's it for now, take care as i enjoy my short sabbatical!

Welcome to Uppsala Universitet!

Sometimes in a man's life, comes the time when he is about to do something life-changing and a tiny little thing occurs that reminds him that it is actually happening.

I had just returned on Sunday from a trip to Athens with my friend (hence my 3 day hiatus of posts) when i saw a nice tidy looking fat letter on my desk. Talk about excitement!

Welcome to Uppsala University Mr. Mandilaris!

I carefully opened the envelop to find a map, a sticker, a personal letter from the Vice-Chancellor and an International Student Guide for next season. Standard procedure that shows the fantastic organization of this country.

The letter was printed on slick, high quality paper and had my address and name on it. There was also a sticker that made you easily identifiable from the welcome group when you arrive in Arlanda Airport. This year they will wait for students in August (Dates: 22/08 and 23/08).

A little sticker to put on your suitcase!

The map is folded and has a detailed map in the centre with red numbers on the important buildings of the university, dividing it into each faculty. Mine is the Geocentrum, the faculty of earth sciences.

Trying to absorb every ounce of information!

Last is the Student Guide. I am still reading it while i am typing looking for interesting things that i may research and blog about in future posts. It has the smell of a freshly printed book, like freshly baked bread coming out of the oven. It begins with a personal statement and goes on to tell the reader about the history of this great institution. It talks about Uppsala and Campus Gotland, the climate and the language. It has a short text on Vikings (!) and a cool timeline of the history of the university since it's inception.

Swedish traditions follow, divided by season and follows up with the educational system in Sweden, the grading, the syllabus, the teaching methods and the different kinds of diplomas. Basically this booklet is a compilation-collection of all the information found in the University website. And all that into 63 pages.

They care about their students.

So this is it for tonight, just some random thoughts to keep the flow going. Plus i wanted to express my enthusiasm about the letter. I am beginning to realize that in less than 3 months i will be in a new country, a new culture, a new life. So for YOU, the person that maybe stumbles upon my blog, or the future student that considers Sweden and Uppsala as his destination, give it a read along with my previous material. After all one of the Laws of Success is the Habit of Doing More Than Paid For.

Goodnight and have a great new week! May is almost over and the summer is upon us!

X-Men - Days of The Future CRAP (2014) Review

Get in the van, because we are going for a ride. A bumpy ride. A tirade of frustration, anger and money well spent.

""Days of Future Past" is, in itself, as intoxicating as a shot of adrenaline. It's what summer movies are meant to be!" (Washington Post).

" A mind-bending thrill ride with great special effects!" (Richard Roeper).

"This is a fantastic movie. It looks great, has very good performances from a whole bunch of actors who I like a lot, and stages action sequences that are both coherent and impressive. The screenplay might be the best part of all" (Entertainment Tell).

As usual, our hard-working critics let the world know why they should watch the new X-Men movie. I expected this movie for a year? I even mentioned that i am counting backwards until the premiere. Well, opinions of others in this world are usually heard and we humans tend to form opinions before we face the facts, watch something, see someone. I was reading some reviews today and i said "What the hell! Let's go and watch it!".

Ok, it's not worse than that, but right now...

It's the shittiest movie i have seen for the past year. Hopeless. Relentlessly bad. There was no mercy for like 2 hours. The best part was the break that i could stretch my legs for 10 minutes and do some sexting, the popcorn, when bad things happened to the lead supportive characters, iconic characters that i loved pushed aside. Oh, and when the film ended. I went home and removed all my clothes, because i felt DIRTY. I started hammering our food with a spatula.

Why me mommy?

And then all the reviews and the nice, carefully picked lines of the so called Top Critics just started a cataclysm in my head. It felt like the poor professor X trying to stop the pain from the million voices of the mutants people that had probably seen the movie and cried for their money refund in pain and agony.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaargh

You need a drug, most likely extacy or LCD to enjoy this movie. It is dull. Boring. Lacks action, character, script. The idea is nice, but the execution is horrible. This is a movie maybe for the die hard fans that do not want to miss a thing. Yet the only thing they will get is more questions. Oh, and how this abomination was released to the public. This is a personal opinion of course. I am demanding and a tough grader. But i do need to curve my enthusiasm about future releases.

Let's get to the point now. "SPOILERS AHEAD"!!

Jesus christ.

Soooooo. The script. The movie starts somewhere with a lot of snow. In the present, giant robots known as sentinels have been developed to destroy every mutant by tracking their X-gene. They can adapt to any power and they can shift forms and matter to destroy them. Oh, and they look a bit like Hammer's robots in Iron Man 2. Iconic X-Men are there to make their last stand (pun intended) and they decide that they have to send Wolverine back in time to prevent the man that designed them from being killed by Mystique/Raven who has gone rogue. If this man called Trask dies, then the sentinels will be made and kill them all in the present and erase their history.

So Kitty Pryde, who can now send people's conciousness back in time and not drain the life out of everything she touches, sends Wolfie back in time! Yay!

Wolverine has a big task ahead of him. He has to find Professor X's younger self, convince him that he was sent by himself from the future, make him ally with Magneto again, stop Mystique from killing Trask, save the mutants and wake up feeling all warm and cozy in his bed. The future is still going on, so he also has to be quick.

He finds Professor-X, who is a human wreck, a drunken mess that can walk but not retain his brain powers due to a serum made by beast, his own drug-addicted hiding furry drug supplier. Dope. Logan convinces him, they find Quicksilver and break Magneto out of a prison beneath the pentagon. He was there for killing JFK. Niiiiice.

They go on a quest to find Mystique, Magneto shoots her in the foot, chaos starts and the US president orders Trask to release the first 8 robot prototypes. Magneto wires them with metal, lifts a baseball stadium in the air and tries to kill all of them trying to achieve world domination and submission from the human race. Raven makes the right choice, Wolverine is drowing somewhere while the X-Men in the present are dying and the movie ends in the School for Gifted Children. Everything is great and everyone is alive. Oh i didn't even bother to stay for the post-credits scene. To hell with that.

This movie is for the hardcore fans. There are glimpses of what it could have been. But noooo, it had to suck. What exactly is wrong with this movie? I know! Let's make a list!

• The movie sucks.
• The most iconic X-Men are present but have a very limited role.
• How can Kitty Pryde send people back.....never mind....
• Aparently Wolverine loses his sense of humor when he goes back in time.
• How on earth is Professor-X still alive after the events of the Last Stand? Who cares!
• What's up with Mystique turning into a terrorist/freedom fighter?
• I like the part where they infiltrate the pentagon with an amazing plan. And nobody cares.
• Well the final battle in the White House is terrible and short, it has no flow or momentum.
• In the same fight, the US president is about to die and nobody cares. There is no security, no military, nothing.
• Did i mention that the movie SUCKS?

Wow! It has more negatives than the 1998 Godzilla movie! That makes for a great achievement! Get in the van! Flock to the cinema's and IMAX theaters and see this movie in 3D! Because i was lucky unlucky to see it only in 2D!

No need for words.

I think i will crawl back to my cave now, spend 3 days away from civilization and come back stronger with a calmer presense of mind. Because this was money well spent.

Movie Ratings
Script: 4/10 (It had potential though)
Audio: 8/10 (I should have given it a 1/10 because for 3 minutes we had no sound..)
Voice Acting: 7/10 (I find the young professor-X a terrible actor but Magneto is great)
Characters: 3/10 (Weak. the X-men we loved from the previous films are great, but absent)
Action Scenes: 2/10 (Do not see this if you expect to see loads of action)
Overall: 3/10

This movie was a dud for me. I do not recommend to go and watch it in the Cinema. It could be less painful and more enjoyable at home.

Please don't. Donate your hard earned money to me instead.

 

The 7 Deadly Horsemen - Banish them

The worst enemy (or the best ally!) a man can have is himself.

If you could see yourself from another viewpoint, a 3rd person, or how others perceive and see you, you might discover weaknesses or some frailties that you would not otherwise notice.

There are 7 enemies of success, 7 deadly horsemen that ride unseen, making them harder to spot and even harder to defeat. But they stand between you and your success. They can drive you to insanity.

In quick succession they are:

• Intolerance
• Greed
• Revenge
• Egotism
• Suspicion
• Jealousy
• ?

1) Intolerance: lack of toleration; unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect contrary opinions or beliefs, persons of different races or backgrounds, incapacity or indisposition to bear or endure.

Intolerance is one of the biggest banes of mankind. It has caused more pain than suffering than any of the other sins, and that says a lot. This conflicts with you being an accurate and logical thinker, acting rationally and closes your mind and envelops it into darkness. If you find yourself hating other religions, groups of people, judge by skin color....then i am sorry to have to break it to you but the most dangerous rider is in your brain pushing reason, logic and facts aside. Do NOT be that man.

Well said...

2) Revenge and Greed:

• Revenge: to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit. The act of revenging; retaliation for injuries or wrongs; vengeance.
• Greed: Excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions.

The riders are like the Nazgul in LoTR. They ride alone or together. These two travel side by side. If you find one the other is omnipresent. Greed drives a man in a burning crusade to accumulate wealth and fame, to gather resources that he does not need. It is a very well known fact that a greedy and revengful person wants to bleed dry a poorer man and put the final nail in his coffin.

What's for dinner?...

Revenge is close. How many times you see people slander others or badmouth them in order to gain an advantage? Usually this happens for a silly reason, like "She stole my boyfriend", "she said my hair is ugly", "he said he has bigger biceps than me". Ignorant baboons. Wake up. These are swords with no sheathe or handle, they hurt both people.

Sounds familiar huh?

3) Egotism and Suspicion:

• Egotism: Excessive and objectionable reference to oneself in conversation or writing; conceit; boastfulness.
•  Suspicion: the state of mind or feeling of one who suspects. Imagination of anything to be the case or to be likely; a vague notion of something.

These also ride side by side. You will be unsuccessful if you have massive self-love or you do not have confidence in your fellow man. Have faith to others, even if they let you down. This is how i felt but i kept going. I uncovered some rare gems that are now my best friends.

Just like an onion.

Suspicion is a virus. It spreads very fast. It can overtake you and consume you. It has a very close tie with the next horseman, jealousy. How many times have you caught yourself judging others before you even know them just because you heard rumors? Observe people that begin their phrases with "I", and they are most likely suspicious of others and with a massive ego. Banish those two fast.

Don't worry, he is just silently judging you..

4) Jealousy: resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself. Mental uneasiness from suspicion or fear of rivalry, unfaithfulness, etc., as in love or aims.

This was my destruction and my redemption. I lost everything in 2012 because i jealousy. It's a form of insanity. In the medical society it is know as "Dementia Praecox". It is the divorce lawyer's best buddy, for it breaks and completely annihilates the bonds between people and couples in a matter of seconds. It creeps into your mind and completely takes over. You lose track of time, any sense of reality and logic and you act by impulse. Kick it out of your system and close the door or it will slit your throat while you are asleep.

So much pain and suffering.

 5) ?

This is blank. It could be dishonesty, procrastination, uncontrolled sexual desire. Name it as you wish. Give it an appropriate name, as it rides along jealousy. Also kick it out of your system, please.

What you believe, you CAN do. Stop and think for a moment. Which of these unwanted "traits" you could have? Think about their meaning and how they have affected your lives. It is never too late as long as you try! It is your obstacle towards success, wealth, financial independance and most importantly, happiness and prosperity.

  

YOU are responsible.

Flicka - Story of a boy and his dog

July 27th 2012.

They had been waiting for that call for one month now. He had a hunch that today was the day. Just came back from work, gave her a massive hug, a kiss on the cheeks and they laid down together on the bed daydreaming.

Phone rings, hearts racing, feet trembling with anticipation. He checks his phone. The number ends at 007. It was him. The man that was trusted to bring them their puppy one month ago.

"Hey Kostas! Why don't you come over at my place today at 15:00 so i can give you a present?", he said cool as a cucumber.

"Right on Mr. Panagiwths, be right there!", he replied.

She didn't hear him, for he had escaped in the kitchen to make it a surprise.

"Get dressed Alyx, we are going somewhere to pick up something!", he said assertively.

She wears her jeans and a shirt and they get in the little red KIA picanto. He reverses and starts climbing up the hill. The house was only 500 meters from their's. The little car struggling to climb, the coughing engine a sign of the miles it had devoured over the years. But they did not care. She starts to understand where they are going and grips firmly her seat and his hand.

They park outside the big steel gate. He pulls the handbreak, closes the doors and they hit the doorbell. The house is massive. It is beautiful and has a massive garden, green with trees and a little shed at the right. Next to the house is a big fence with at least 20 dogs inside. Guard dogs, ready to protect their property.

The house door opens and they see a big man coming towards us. He is holding something in his hands but they cannot see, for he has it behind his back. She holds his hand so tight it has turned red and ready to burst. But they don't care. This is the moment they have been waiting for, the last seed of their love, sown. It would seal their happiness, or spell their doom, as it turned out. The aftermath reminds me stories of prodigy, of people destined for great success, only to turn out bad, bringing death and destruction. But they also bring the need for rebuild.

The man lets them in the garden. They hear a squeek, a tiny little bark.

"I have something for you!", Mr. Panagiwths says.

And he leaves on the ground the cutest little puppy in the whole world. The living, breathing organism that would be both his happiness and bane, the thing he would love and loathe the most in the world after a few months time.

Naming her Flicka 2 years before i knew i would move to Sweden..coincidence? Or Fate?

She just hobbles around the dirt, trying to walk. She was only 8 weeks old. The feeling was indescribable. Alyx picks her up and the tree of them move to the pier on the left of the house. They sit on a bench made of rock, and a servant brings little Flicka a plate with rice and chicken. She is not leaving our side. She has big fluffly ears for her size and they soak with chicken as she dives hungrily in the plate of food. She is golden, shining bright like the sun, with a silky pink tongue, big round puppy eyes and skin so soft to the touch. They were in for a rollercoaster of emotions.

The breeder tells them the details, solves all of their early questions and they sign the contract. He pays him the rest of the money and put little Flicka in her transport cage. Hands holding, they walk calmly towards the car into their new home. The cutest bark, if you can call that a bark, shatters the silence of the mountain air. They were so happy.

And this was the beginning of the end...

Godzilla (2014) review

It's film review day, and it's the King of the Monsters!

He is back with a bang, 10 years after the last Toho video release and 16 years after the abysmal 1998 film. But how does the big lizard fare this time?

He certainly looks intimidating and cool.

I was anticipating this movie for ages along with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of the Future Past and i must say i have mixed feelings from last night's screening.

Let's start with what was wrong in the previous movie.

• Terrible script. French secret service saves the day!
• Abysmal acting (save jean reno).
• Inept military (well that is not that far from the truth actually...at least from greek army standards).
• He can reproduce asexually, lay 2000 eggs, wreck havoc, hide into sewers, in buildings.
• He can dodge bullets, missiles, choppers, fish, idiots, photographers, his spawns like cheeto's and yet he can't escape the Golden Bridge.
• So pretty much everything.

So how does the new movie do?

You can either say that the bar was set high or low this time. High because of the previous film was so terrible that a good remake had to be done to wash this mediocrite off our mouths and low at the same time because you had to REALLY try to make a worse film than that.

Basic script goes like this without giving up many spoilers.

Giant creature was awakened, they used nukes to kill it, it was dormant untill 1999. It fed from the radiation and then it destroyed a nice nuclear plant in Japan, killing the protagonist's mother and leaving father crazy. Kid becomes a bomb defuser, follows his father 15 years later in the quarantine zone, the MUTO (massively unidentified terrestrial organism or something) awakes and wrecks havoc killing his father. Godzilla shows up, they destroy Hawai and then destroy San Fransisco, he kills stuff and then jumps back in the ocean.

It does leave a mechanic feeling doesn't it?

The film does well enough to build anticipation and cover the basics and set up a basic background for the monsters. However the characters portrayed are week. I have no lasting impression of them really.

Joe, the protagonist's father, is a man obsessed with finding the truth behind the alledged cover up of the military that caused his wife's death. At least he cries when she dies.

Ford, the protagonist, is a bomb specialist that returns home after 14 months of...ehm i do not remember where he was. He is shallow, cold, faceless, never cries, yet he has the leading role. Sounds like Kristen Stewart.

His wife. Not much to tell. I think her name is Elle, she is a nurse, she cries a lot and she cannot catch a break.

That mad leading scientist. Played by Ken Watanabe, i do not remember his name for the love of god. He looks constantly intoxicated saying his philosofical stuff every now and then at key moments. Oh and he is one of the reasons the MUTO is alive. I like the actor but the character lacks....character and drive and purpose.

Godzilla, the protag...oh wait. A movie about Godzilla and he feels like the peripheral figure or the supporting cast. He is great looking thanks to the CGI, making him believable and ferocious, a perfect anti-hero. He also has his amazing atomic breath back and it's pretty impressive! He is a bit fat though!

MUTO's,  the main antagonists. Bad monsters, they want to mate, reproduce and consume radiation. They put up a decent fight. I liked them as monsters, but i do think they looked a bit fake in the face. Sort of...metalic, mechanic.

The rest...nah i do not remember. There was the admiral and some soldiers, a Halo jump and a Megaton Bomb, some kid lost in the subway called Akio or something.

This is how Ford looks throughout the film.

It was a nice change to bring more massive Kaiju's to the party instead of Godzilla relentlessly destroying building after building in Manhatan. However as i said the film limits Godzilla to a supporting role, with more emphasis in the human drama, only there is none...Well there is, but the leading actor is meh... The director tries to present Godzilla gradually, a glimpse here and there, but he also reveals the MUTO's very fast.

What is the bottom line?

This is a step in the right direction definately. The CGI effects are great, the monsters are ferocious and believable, the script is basic but way better than the old one. Godzilla has a mission instead of destroying everything mindlessly. Though it's not all rosy, the cast is weak and Godzilla feels like the second actor.

Even if you are not a fan of the series and you want to go to the movies, i recommend this movie. It is not bad, though don't expect many 3d effects! I would love to hear your opinion!

Ratings:

Audio: 9/10

Script: 6/10

Acting: 4/10

Monsters: 8/10

Movie: 7/10

Only one week left for Days of the Future Past!

The world's worst salesman

When i walk into a store i know what am i looking for. Even when i am just randomly browsing i know the type of clothing or equipment that i am interested in. But when someone comes and tries to sell me the products he wants, or clothes that are in a stark contrast with what i wear, it angers and offends me. I mostly meet salesmen that have no clue how to sell themselves, let alone sell a product.

Being creative and with good attention to detail is crucial in an era where everyone tries to sell or dublicate already successful products or products with a million other copies. Alas, they mostly have no clue how to market an item. It is why me, an environmental engineer, is a much better salesman in a big yogurt and milk company than people that have 2 MSc's or 3 degree's or have finished the best business college.

I remember back when i broke up with my longterm girlfriend i wanted to make a change. I therefore went on a shopping spree with a budget of 600 Euros to buy new clothes, change my style a bit and feel refreshed.

Right accross the bank where i made my withdrawal is a big cobblestone road only for pedestrials full of stores on the left and right. I knew i needed dress shoes, a coat, a sweater, a shirt and a new pair of formal black jeans.

So i started walking on that road looking at the various clothes on offer on the face of each store untill i saw something that i wanted. Note that i was wearing jeans, blue casual shoes, a black rock shirt and a purple jacket. I go in the first store on my left. I see a cold-faced employee dragging his feet towards me. Before he opened his mouth i knew i was not going to buy anything. He wouldn't be able to sell me a Ferrari for 50$.

Would you trust this man to sell you anything?

 "Are you looking for something?", he asks. He sounded sad, like he was beaten by a dwarf in the corner of an alley. Everyone has problems, but if he did, he shouldn't carry them at work, because it hinders his sales and jeopardises the well-being of the store.

Of course i am looking for something. This is a shoe store. A dress shoe store. I am obviously looking for dress shoes. Way to go, best piece of marketing ever.

I am always polite so i tell him i am looking for dress shoes - black. Leather, not too sparkly. There are a few colours i dislike. Yellow and brown is not really my style on shoes. He brought me 3 pairs of shoes, 2 of them had a shade of atrocious brown color and the other one was black with 2 yellow stripes.

At start i giggled inside. I thought a comedian would wear these and appear into the SNL show. Then i got angry because he got my style wrong. Did he maybe thing i was a comedian too? And i was dressed from top to bottom on black. Yet he still did not get the cue.

I was growing increasingly frustrated when he brought me a really glossy black shoe to try on, to which i politely declined and i told him "No thank you i don't think you can help me" and made my glorious escape like Steve Mcqueen.

I walked a bit more and on the right hand was a smaller shoe store with similar wares. I get in and a slick, well-dressed lady starts walking towards me with a beaming smile and a confidence unrivaled by her peers.

"Good morning sir! Follow me and we will find something that suits you".

I was practically sold from the moment i walked in. She knew her business, she did not ask me a question, she did not diminish my status due to my age. And she brought me 6 pair of shoes. The 2 of them were dark brown and the other 4 were black.

"Judging by the clothes you are wearing now and your shift of interest you are interested in black shoes", she said while she was repacking the brown ones. 

The rest of the shoes were exactly what i was looking for. And she picked for me the nicest looking ones that fitted me without even asking my size.

The same happened on the other stores. Sadly it was more a repeat of the first situation. Luckily i walked in a store that had some great looking coats. The manager greets me warmly and asks me what type of clothing i want (it had various types). I tell him i like this coat and he takes me upstairs to take a look. Sadly the size was too big, but he took the Initiative and with good judgement he got me an amazing grey coat that has become my favorite. And on top of that he brought me a fantastic dark purple tie that looked nice with my jacket and shirt. It even had some sort of templar's cross on it and i love history and medieval stuff. I ended up buying both and have visited this store many times since.

See the difference we discussed also on the previous articles? People selling the same products with varying prices, yet with so many differences. 95% of the salesmen had no clue of my style, which was blatantly obvious and you could see it with a glass eye, or wanted to sell overpriced crap just because according to them "But it's in fashion right now". Same things, better presented, with enthusiasm and enough self-confidence. Ingredients essential to make the sale.

Whatever you do, inject enthusiasm and imagination into your work. It will show and it will attract more customers, while it will also spread to the people around you like a virus. 75% of people that walk into a store end up buying nothing because the salesmen cannot make the sale. Or the presentation is bad.

People also complain about high prices. The thing is according to statistics, people are willing and WILL buy more expensive things, as long as they get value and the satisfaction that it was worth it. Compare the same pair of shoes:

• In the first store the shoes cost 50$, they are out of the box, they look dusty and are thrown next to a pair of ugly mustard-yellow boots. The manager is absent and the salesman looks like the Zodiac killer.
• In the second store the same shoes costs 75$, are well packed neatly in a great open box in their own stand. The salesman has greeted you on the way in with a smile and he has knowledge about the size, the fabric, the comfort.

Which one would you buy?

The same principles can be applied to any business. It is about marketing and selling your products, as well as yourself. Think about how you could improve your products, sometimes a cheap decorative touch is enough to appeal more to the customer and even make it sell for a higher price. Take the initiative, or consult someone with that power. It is in your hands.

Some other time i will also talk about essays and those abominable CV/resumes people send and wonder why they are not even considered for the job.

Learn from Mike, the world's worst salesman. Don't be Mike.

The power of imagination - Shape your reality

There are 15 Laws of Success. If you omit one of them from your agenda and your personality, you remove a big proportion of your potential. Because each of these laws is made to work harmoniously with the others. One of the most fundamental of all those laws is the Law of Imagination.

What is the definition of imagination? There are many, but let's quote ol'little Albert here:

There is so much to create, discover and reshape.

"You can do it if you BELIEVE you can"

This is my new motto. Essentially, it is a workshop for us. It is our shelter, our only thing that nobody can ever take away from us, even if we are in a prison or a remote island, that we can freely use to harness old ideas, facts, tools, and make something new out of them, put them to new uses, create something magnifiscent, genious, life-changing. It is the creative power of our souls.

Why is Imagination so important? Because everything revolves around it. If you develop every one of the Laws of Success but lack the vision and imagination, you will not get far. What good is it to have leadership, initiative, self-confidence, or an aim in life if you cannot flesh it into reality?

True, not all people have the necessary imagination, a tool so powerful that we could solve many problems that form the bane of mankind. But if you harmonize your thoughts, be positive and attract with your thoughts and acts people of similar mindsets (you attract what you project), you can form a Master Mind of people that compliment each other and are more efficient and powerful than anything. Equally, if you have the leadership qualities and self-confidence and decision making but you lack the imagination, you can surround yourself or ally with someone that has that trait. Together you can conquer the world!

So, you have your Definite Chief Aim. You know exactly what you want to do and your mind starts projecting the possible paths to make it happen. But you need the self-confidence and perceverance to turn it into reality. You need to approach a problem or a goal with a bird's eye view, from the right angle and then act accordingly, with calm and composure. You need to see what most people don't and treat the obstacle like a friend that will help you grow and cultivate your mind.

A real leader, a successful man, visions that. He has already formulated a plan into his head that will deal with all potential obstacles and lead to the completion of the project. He will use his imagination to reshape the world and re-arrange those old ideas into something new but simple.

Ordinary people have done that, it's all over the history books. I can supply countless examples.

Thomas Edison wanted to bring electricity to the world in every home. He already knew how to do that by heating a wire with electricity to produce light. His first issue was that the wire was burned and became useless. So he had to find a way to produce light via a material that could withstand those massive amounts of heat. His next problem was the need to find a way to produce light and switch it on and of at his will. In simple words a way to control the heat. After tons of experiments he remembered from a study of physics that combustion cannot be done without the presence of oxygen. Therefore he surrounded the wire inside a glass globe (bulb), removed the oxygen and he made the lightning bulb.

Uncle Fester can do it, why not you?

What another man might ignore or think of it as useless or impossible, another man can see an opportunity mapped in his mind, a mental picture of what can be done with these old tools. Tools that existed from the start of time and the creation of the universe. They were not created overnight.

Co-operation between people can be a blessing, sadly they usually "lock horns" like male animals do when they fight for a female. It all ends into a bloodbath with no clear victor. People antagonize each other so much that they fail to see what they can do if they help each other, a collaboration that can blossom into something really powerful.

Impossible is nothing, open your mind and see the bigger picture, embrace your fears and welcome obstacles, they will be the ones that will help you overcome the next problem. Set up a Chief Aim, do not procrastinate, act, decide, believe in yourself. You can do it, so many people have done it and continue to do so. Do you think they are so much smarter than you are? They are not, they were creative and found an opportunity whereas you saw a pile of rubble, dust, dirt and stone.

Do that and you are on your way to greatness, one step at a time.

The habit of saving money

Today i was travelling by bus back to Kalamata from Athens and i was reading my new favorite life-changing book, The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill. I have mentioned it before in my post about the DCA, or Definite Chief Aim, which is the foundation for achieving a goal. The book is pretty massive, on my ipad mini i am on 900/2900 pages and i am reading it really slowly trying to digest each chapter.

Each chapter then covers one of the 15 steps to success. This post may or may not start a mini-series like my previous one, getting ready for the move to Sweden. As i sat here typing my last post i wondered about the direction of this blog and if the topics that i discuss frequently blend harmoniously with the subject it discusses, Right now i don't have the energy to make a separate blog and write quality posts here too.

But then i thought: "Hey, i am writing this 3 months before i move to Sweden, while i will also talk about everyday things that occupy my thoughts and trouble me or other people".

So for now i will keep writing constructive posts along with my target goal, which is providing useful information for people that are thinking or are about to move to Sweden. When i get there and i have more to say, i will consider making a new additional blog, a new blog-within-the-blog or just a poll to see the popular opinion.

"Man is a combination of flesh, bone, blood, hair and brain cells. These are the building materials out of which he shapes, through the Law of Habit, his own personality"

That is deep. But so simple. We could have had a massive fortune if we did things differently here. But we are all victims of overspending, useless spending, moneytization, fear of criticism, fear of social pressure, lack of self-confidence and countless other things. Travelling today i remembered a story from when i was young, like 15 years ago. I wanted the new Nintendo Gameboy Advance. it costed around 150 euros at the time, which was substantial for a little boy like me who had a measly 5 euros for pocket money each week. But without me knowing i laid down the foundations for my future success. I wanted it badly. And i would get it, alone.

I saved every week, every day, every penny or dime i could. I taught myself to live with one less coca cola can, one less hour at the local internet cafe. And it started to pile up. Soon i had enough money to buy it plus a brand new game. I remember it, it was Rayman Advance. Yay!

When once fixed in the mind, a habit becomes second nature, and propels a man into action voluntarily. Think of it as your daily routine route to work, or your return home. You don't think about it, you just proceed to do it. It is implanted into your brain, hardwired. This is how a habit is achieved, be it bad or good, you just do it repeatedly. Through repetition any act indulged in a few times becomes a habit.

So the question is not what is the Habit of Saving. Most people that have no clue how to save money would ask:

"How can i do it? How can i save money?"

This is indeed true and similar to drawing a picuter of a horse and writing under it "This is a horse". It's blatantly obvious, but that is like telling someone to save money and not describing how to do it. That is fundamental to someone's success and quest for financial freedom.

Through the Law of Habit you can keep building blocks for the atainment of your DCA. Keep those two combined and you will destroy any subconconsious poverty thoughts and you will DEMAND prosperity, health, advancement, development, vitality and you will mentally prepare to receive it, while in the process you will increase your earning capacity.

Reverse this powerful Law and you instill in your mind the Fear of Poverty which combined with spending and the bane of humanity, debt, and you will not only reduce your potential income, you will barely scrape out your living costs and will not escape this black hole that sucks any man's soul (Napoleon Hill, The Law of Success cp.4).

"YOU are a human magnet and you are constantly attracting to you people whose characters harmonize with yours", Napoleon Hill.

Hang something like that in your mirror so you can see it every day. Be positive. Start now. It is never too late. Free yourself from the slavery of debt and you will feel like a new man. Debt the most merciless master and the deadly opposite and enemy of the Habit of Saving.

We talked about how poverty can destroy a man's confidence, life, hope, marriage. Add debt to the mix. Reminds me of the card "Cruel Taskmaster" in Hearthstone. You lose life and you are doomed to fail.

So how can you beat the Fear of Poverty, defeat debt and become financially free?

Every day we let dimes, pennies, nickels, euros, dollars to slip between our fingers without even knowing. If saved, they could accumulate into substantial savings that can make or break a situation. Imagine having a brilliant idea that you cannot materialize because you lack the funds for it.

When we receive our paycheck or some unexpected money, our first thought is how we are going to SPEND it. Hell, we have already spent it in our mind, buying that video game, that car, that computer part to satisty our ego. Less than 5% thinks about saving some of it.

The perfect allocation of one's gross income should be along these lines:

50-30-20.

• 50% on essential costs. That includes housing and mandatory costs.
• 30% on education, clothing, food, recreational activities.
• 20% in a savings account to accumulate interest. If unavailable, simply put it in a piggy safe.

So let's say someone has a salary of 1000$ after tax. He should use no more than those 500$ for rent and things that need to be paid, including debt (if you have any), no more than 300$ in recreational activities, food, clothing, education (usually split by 2) and the rest 200$ should be saved.

Let's make it more simple to understand how easily money can turn into a decent amount of cash. You get 100$ every week. Take a worst case scenario and you save 5$ per week or 10$ in two plausible cases (you should try to save 15-20$).

4 Weeks/month * 5$ = 20$

12 Months/year * 20$ = 240$ from saving 5$ per week.

Likewise:

• 10$ saved equals to 480$ per year.
• 15$ saved equals to 720$ per year.
• 20$ saved equals to 960$ per year.

Check your weekly expenditures. You buy so much stuff that is useless and you can live without it. And those money can be preserved in the long run to yield a substantial amount of money simply from saving. People live one whole year with less than 4000$ in Greece. Buy one less cigarette pack, one less soda, one less alcoholic beverage in the local bar, use a bike.

I am glad that i was born poor/with a modest living and that i did not come in this world burdened by the whims of super-wealthy parents and a bag of gold around my neck, because i would most likely fail.

Enough for tonight as this was a long post already. But i think it is extremely useful. Please leave me feedback if you want. I will close this with a picture and one last phrase from the same book.

"I am thankful for the adversities which have crossed my pathway, for the have taught me tolerance, sympathy, self-control, perseverance and some other virtues i might never have known."

Free yourselves from the chains of debt and poverty.

Break them and fly free.

Talking to sheep and random stuff

"Buy me 5 euros worth of phone credit so i can talk to my sheep", he said.

Picture it. 57 years old man, big white beard, unshaved from World War 2, massive beer belly, ludicrously dressed talking to his son (?) calm like talking to sheep is the most natural thing in the world.

Yup, just keep calm. Darwin would be proud.

This sums up Greece. People living in a different dimension, oblivious. Let's all shag a sheep. It will help. Or you maybe have loads of $$ in a country with 300 euro salaries.

Let's move on. I made a promise and i will keep it. I met a cherry-picking, cute young lady with fire-red hair. We can call her Marilena. Or maybe Tanya Fluffytails.

Aw, such a cutie you are Marilena <3.

I like her so much that actually makes me sad i am leaving for Sweden. Sadface :-(((( She is a wonderful person that deserves to be loved and needs someone to be by her side to support her and shower her with passion and hugs. We will be huggy buddies soon!

I will be your huggy buddy my love.

So, i found a roommate. She is from Estonia and her name is Madle. She is very cool and soon will take the boat to Sweden to find us a place to stay. Otherwise we will stay in a caravan, drink water from a bucket, i will hunt wild bunnies and we will die soon.

I also played a lot of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft lately. I am bored of traditional games and this is fast and easy to play so time passes if you have nothing to do. I also found an old WoW pal that lives in Sweden through my battlenet.eu account which is pretty cool knowing i can have someone to meet and talk there. Thanks Chris, enjoy your new home!

Yesterday there was a misunderstanding with my fluffy-tailed girlfriend and i was feeling bad. However we sorted everything out, i got a haircut evolving to a human from the man of Kro-Manion, went to work today and now i am in Athens @ my sister's house.

Which also reminds me of a tv-game show we watched today. Two people needed to hit the buzzer as quick as possible and reply to the following question:

"Name an Asian Country".

Well he said Tynisia. The other team had a Hagrid-like looking man with a nice silver Sylvestro tie from the looney toons, all dressed in black. Tsirkoliki.

I took a break from writing because i was bored. And because i love Ms. Fluffytails and i talk about her all the time, i talk with her all the time, i think about her all the time. And i also needed a break from my Swedish preparations. That recent barrage of posts drained me along with work. And Eva Mitsou and her incredible amount of spamming with videos and Nigerians/Pakistani people adding her. Oh she also won a lot of food from a competition too. Spam her some more <3.

You can clearly see Eva on the left and her 3 recent husbands.

That's it for today. Depending on my adventures and experiences in the jungle of Athens i will maybe write tomorrow or on Sunday. Most likely it will be something ridiculous, over the top and funny.

Take care!

Smartphone time - Preparing for the move to Sweden

Quick links to my previous posts about preparing to move to Sweden:

Moving to Sweden - Swedish Weather Extravaganza
Moving to Sweden - Things to Bring
Moving to Sweden - Housing and Financing

Moving to Sweden - Learning swedish

So, you arrived. Maybe your house is furnished, maybe you already have internet, but you need a cellphone ti contact your friends and family. You can't always rely on Skype.

Scandinavian countries seem to have on of the best mobile networks on the planet and Sweden is no exception. Unlike Greece where you have coverage of 99.7% and you can't call anyone even on the train. Yippy yeah! They also have surprisingly good wi-fi on the trains.

First tip, go apply for your personnummer fast, filling the form. It will take you approximately 6 weeks to get it, something that limits your choices in the beginning. Credit for this info goes to my beautiful friend Andrea (and #loveshila).

You can have a normal phone contract (abonnemang) with a duration of 12-18-24 months. However Andrea told me that untill you receive your personnummer you cannot get a subscription based phone. So that limits you to the kontaktkort or simply phones that work with credit (pay as you talk). Common credit is cards that cost 100 or 200 SEK, fairly comparable to Greek prices.

Regardless of your choice you will need a service provider. I have not researched them yet about the cost but i found that some of the more common companies are Tre/ Telia/Tele2/Telenor.

You can use any old device or buy a used one, unless you are one of those geeks that fancy new tech like the newest iPhones or Samsung Galaxy, where you can feel free to break the bank to feel special.

Sooo, phone, carrier, type of connection taken care of. Wow i already feel integrated in Sweden.

Really short post but it had to be done. Take care!