Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire. - William Butler Yeats

I am still learning. - Michelangelo

Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand. - Native American Saying

Enlightenment must come little by little - otherwise it would overwhelm. - Idries Shah

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. - Joseph Campbell

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. - Malcolm S. Forbes

Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see the shadow. - Helen Keller

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. - Sydney J. Harris

When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear. - Unknown

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves. - Abbe Dimnet, Art of Thinking, 1928

It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time - for we are bound by that - but from intellectual and emotional limitations of our time. - T. S. Eliot

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to human soul. - Joseph Addison

It is a greater work to educate a child, in the true and larger sense of the world, than to rule a sate. - William Ellery Channing

Last half decade was a great story to tell for real-estate industry in Patna, the price of land and flats touched new heights. In 2005 apartments were available at around Rs. 300 per sq. Feet now it has touched around 10 times higher value of Rs. 3,000 per sq. feet. I can remember a plot of around 2000 sq. feet which was offered at a consolidated price of Rs. 50,000 near Baur Jail area, the same land is again available for sale after going through many owners since then now it is being offered at a price of Rs. 28,00,000.


No other investment can yield such profit for an investor. The period of 2000-05 was an ideal time for investment in land and buildings in Patna, today the jungle of concrete is standing tall all around but now it is looking for potential buyers unlike previous years when the queue of buyers was always 10 times longer than the availability. Big size advertisements can be seen in newspapers with reduced price of new offerings. Few years back the scene was different, no such advertisement was really needed to sell the project; in fact the the builders had enjoied the sale of whole project even before the bhoomi pujan. And untill completion, the flats were sold many times and everytime at a higher price.

The decade has also witnessed the ressession in real estate market in other parts of the country but Patna never felt it in fact it was enjoying its golden period at the same time.

Investment came through many channels, but most of money invested in projects in its early days ware from the bahubali and political families. Undoubtedly it was a perfect destination for investment as it was producing extremely higher return on investment in a short period of time and also it was risk free.

Now the bubble is about to brust. As the demand has fallen and still many mega size real estate projects is looking for its buyers. The trend of rising price on weekly and monthly basis is now vanished. In Bihar, specially in Patna and nearby area the real estate industry has grown rapidly, thousands of construction, supplier, and marketing compnay has been registered and started its operations. Many of these companies are now an inspiring story to tell. I am not expecting a fall in price but neither a steap rise anymore.

From the raw understanding of a business idea, this is the process for structuring your idea into a well explained business idea that has enough information for you to decide whether it has commercial potential and whether or not you should pursue it any further.

• Ideation is the process for clearly stating an idea by answering the following questions in writing:
  
  • What is the opportunity (premise)?
  • What are you offering (solution)?
  • Who will buy it (market)?
  • Why will I win (Advantage)?
  • How do I make money (Business)?
• You will have the opportunity to present your idea to your peers and to seasoned businesses mentors.
• The feedback as well as the mentors summary will be geared towards helping the entrepreneur achieving the following:
  
  • Clearly defining the idea so it is understandable and soundly rooted in a great opportunity
  • Shaping the idea so that there is a good chance it will have significant commercial value
  • Judging were the idea fits well into the implied industry
  • Determining if the idea has commercial merit
• After the idea has been refined, the entrepreneur has a discussion with the mentor, and answers certain business and personal questions pertaining to the viability of the idea and the entrepreneurs readiness to pursue it.
• Based on the answers, the entrepreneurs decides whether or not to proceed to Conceptualization.

• “Everything started as nothing.” – Ben Weissenstein
• “To any entrepreneur: if you want to do it, do it now. If you don’t, you’re going to regret it.” – Catherine Cook
• “If you’re not doing the things that you love, then your life is not worth living. What are you here for?” – King Sidharth
• “Manual labor sucks, dude.” – Alex Fraiser
• “A lot of people have said that the internet is a teenager. Guess who understands a teenager best: a teenager.” – Syed Balkhi
• “Start today, not tomorrow. If anything, you should have started yesterday. The earlier you start, the more time you have to mess up.” – Emil Motycka
• “There’s no committee that says, ‘This is the type of person who can change the world – and you can’t.’ Realizing that anyone can do it is the first step. The next step is figuring out how you’re going to do it.” – Adora Svitak
• “Every single person I know who is successful at what they do is successful because they love doing it.” – Joe Penna
• “Over-deliver every time.” – Alex Maroko
• “There is no reason to be hesitant… becoming an entrepreneur is a learning experience.” – Savannah Britt
• “I could never learn what I’m learning at college. They don’t teach it there, because it can’t be learned in that way.” – Philip Hartman
• “You’ve got to stop doing all the things that people have tried, tested, and found out don’t work.” – Michael Dunlop
• “I think what teenagers lack is the belief that they can be unique and extraordinary in life. Make the most of your age because you’re not going to be a teenager forever!” – Sabirul Islam
• “You could have a million ideas, but they’re all worthless if you don’t get them done.” – Lauren Amarante
• “Success comes down to hard work plus passion, over time. If you work really, really hard over a long period of time, it will pay off.” – Stanley Tang
• “If you have a goal, be relentless in your pursuit.” – Keith J. Davis Jr.
• “I just try to think of myself as an entrepreneur who happens to be a teen.” – Mark Bao
• “I’m going to reinvent the wheel. My vision of the wheel is unique.” – King Sidharth
• “I would like to be the messed-up child of Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Tim Ferriss – morphed into super-genius entrepreneur.” – Marshall Haas
• “It’s not about how many years of experience you have. It’s about the quality of your years of experience.” – Jacob Cass
• “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.” – Catherine Cook
• “If you pursued something that you felt strongly about, then I call that success.” – Adora Svitak
• “I like the idea of working hard now, so you can earn big later.” – Alex Fraiser
• “Failures are the stepping stones to success.” – Farrhad Acidwalla
• “I hope my companies will help create value and make people happier in the long run. That’s what I’m in it for.” – Mark Bao
• “All of my friends were doing babysitting jobs. I wanted money without the job.” – Adam Horwitz
• “The hardest part about being an entrepreneur is that you’ll fail ten times for every success.” – Adam Horwitz
• “It was just one year ago that I realized that what I was doing was entrepreneurship. Just two weeks ago, I learned how to spell it [laughs].” – King Sidharth
• “You always want to surround yourself with people who are rooting for you and who want you to succeed. Stay away from the naysayers who couldn’t do it themselves.” – Arjun Rai
• “You should always stay hungry. Stay hungry, so you can eat.” – Syed Balkhi
• “If you can’t communicate, you’re going to find yourself a lonely businessperson.” – Keith J. Davis Jr.
• “I don’t want to look too far ahead. The journey is what’s happening right now, not what’s on the finishing line.” – Sabirul Islam
• “Starting your own business is like riding a roller coaster. There are highs and lows and every turn you take is another twist. The lows are really low, but the highs can be really high. You have to be strong, keep your stomach tight, and ride along with the roller coaster that you started.” – Lindsay Manseau
• “If you start with nothing and end up with nothing, there’s nothing lost.” – Michael Dunlop
• “The biggest failure you can have in life is not trying at all.” – Emil Motycka
• “If you’re not in an uncomfortable situation every single day, then you’re doing something wrong.” – Lauren Amarante
• “If you can find people who think that what you’re doing is great, they’re going to do everything in their power to make it a success.” – Juliette Brindak
• “All that you need to become an entrepreneur and change the world is a working brain – and pretty much nothing else.” – Adora Svitak
• “Make it happen now, not tomorrow. Tomorrow is a loser’s excuse.” – Andrew Fashion
• “I like computer games and I treat business a bit like a computer game. I count money as points. I’m doing really well: making lots of money and lots of points.” – Michael Dunlop

“I’ve never had a humble opinion. If you’ve got an opinion, why be humble about it?”—Joan Baez, folksinger.

“I have noticed that as soon as you have soldiers the story is called history. Before their arrival it is called myth, folktale, legend, fairy tale, oral poetry, ethnography. After the soldiers arrive, it is called history.”—Paula Gunn Allen, Native American scholar and poet.

“Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to ‘jump at de sun.’ We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.”—Zora Neale Hurston, author and anthropologist.

“God, make me so uncomfortable that I will do the very thing I fear.”—Ruby Dee, actress and civil rights activist.

“The IWW [Industrial Workers of the World] has been accused of pushing women to the front. This is not true. Rather, the women have not been kept in back, and so they have naturally moved to the front.”—Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, radical activist for worker’s and women’s rights.

“I’ve been married to one Marxist and one Fascist, and neither one would take the garbage out.”—Lee Grant, actress and director.

1. “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him” – David Brinkley
Too many people when coming under attack crumble when instead they could view that attack/criticism as a way to grow and mature and come back stronger. Brinkley nails this aspect.

2. “Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure” – George Edward Woodberry
You know that, right? Trying and failing sucks, but never trying because you were scared of failure sucks about a gazillion times more. Don’t fear failure.

3. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it” – W. C. Fields
This may almost seem anti-motivational, but it really isn’t. Sometimes we have to accept that we are on the wrong path and no amount of forging forward will help. Sometimes we just have bad ideas that need dumping.

3b. “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts” – Arnold Bennett
Yes, yes and thrice I say yes. That’s why this blog was originally called The Discomfort Zone, because it’s almost impossible to change without going through some discomfort. Embrace change, embrace discomfort because if you don’t, you’re screwed.

4. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude” – Maya Angelou
Sheer brilliance because when you think about it, those are the only two sensible options open to you. Sulking is not a sensible option.

5. “All men of action are dreamers” – James Huneker
I suspect things have changed somewhat these days, but this quote is aimed directly at parents and teachers who tell thier kids to stop day dreaming. Don’t! In fact encourage them to let their imaginations run wild.

6. “If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present” – Franz Boas
Amazing huh? I was under the impression from media and the like that there were entire countries of slack-jawed morons unable to tie their shoe laces without falling over. Nice to know that’s not the case.

7. “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are” – John Wooden.
I think this quote is more relevant now than it’s ever been with the explosion of Social Media. It seems to me that too many people spend too long, trying to live up to, or create a reputation, rather than being themselves.

8. “You grow up the day you have your first real laugh–at yourself ” — Ethel Barrymore
If you can’t laugh (without being snide) at yourself, then don’t laugh at others.

10. “There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness” – Han Suyin
Reminds me somewhat of the Dalia Lama quote “Be kind whenever possible. It’s always possible” And guess what? It is, so be kind!

11. “Truth becomes untruth if uttered by your enemy” – George Orwell
One of my literary heroes and it perfectly sums up the us and them mentality that so many people adopt, especially cross-culturally. Listen with an open-mind.

12. “I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate” – George Burns
I was successful in sales and I pretty much hated it. Financially speaking I am nothing like as successful as a Life Coach, but I love it. George was right.

13. “Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference” – Nolan Bushnell
How cool is this? What did you do with your last great idea?

14. “The purpose of life is a life of purpose” – Robert Byrne
Dare I mention values? Yes I dare, and this quote is rooted in the importance of you knowing your own values and then acting on them.

15. “Unbeing dead isn’t being alive” – E. E. Cummings
I just had a flashback to Bauhaus singing Bela Lugosis’s dead, but maybe that’s just me. Existing is not the same as living and you were put here to live, not exist.

16. “Our entire life – consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are” – Jean Anouilh
Any other approach to life is going to fail. There is only one you and you have to accept yourself with all your human frailties if you want to be happy.

17. “No man is a failure who is enjoying life” -William Feather
I had to use this one seeing as my definition of success is somebody who is happy. What better yardstick can there be?

18. “A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts” – Harold MacMillan
I have had a few opportunities to become cynical with people and I refuse to accept them and so should you.

19. “I always trust my gut reaction; it’s always right” – Kiana Tom
Not sure if anybody can say their gut is always right, but I like the general idea and you’re gut is way smarter than you think.

20. “I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business” – Harvey S. Firestone
If only every business adopted that policy, how amazing would things be? Fortunately a few new companies are getting the idea that being honest and treating their customers with respect is actually good business as well as the right thing to do.

21. “I have to trust what I do and then do it” – Ednita Nazario
Yes! Even if you’re not sure what you’re doing, even if the plan is hazy, you can still trust yourself (and your intuition) and things will by and large turn out for the best.

22. “Don’t look any further than your own reflection for a hero” – Allyson Partridge
Tis true. You are the hero of your life’s story, so start acting like it!

My strength did not come from lifting weights. My strength came from lifting myself up when I was knocked down” – Bob Moore Weightlifting Champion

23. ” The ‘good life’ begins when you stop wanting a better one” – Nkosiphambili E. Molapis
I think it’s called being content with life.

24. “I am not in this world to live up to other people’s expectations, nor do l feel that the world must live up to mine” – Fritz Perl
Fritz was definitely a bit on the edge at times with his Gestalt Therapy, but he nails this one.

25. I will come again & conquer you because as a mountain you can’t grow, but as a human, I can”- Sir Edmund Hillary
Great quote from the first man to lead a team that conquered Everest. Of course he could have given up after the first attempt, but fortunately he didn’t and neither should you.

PLANT A NOTION "Going green" doesn't have to be a daunting task that means sweeping life changes. Simple things can make a difference. The contents of this list might not be new, but they bear repeating. Sometimes it takes a few reminders for things take root.

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
   If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.
   Don't like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won't irk you as much.
   
2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
   By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. If you don't want to wait for your computer to start up, set it to turn on automatically a few minutes before you get to work, or boot up while you're pouring your morning cup 'o joe.
   
3. DON'T RINSE
   Skip rinsing dishes before using your dishwasher and save up to 20 gallons of water each load. Plus, you're saving time and the energy used to heat the additional water.
   
4. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN
   Unless you are making bread or pastries of some sort, don't pre-heat the oven. Just turn it on when you put the dish in. Also, when checking on your food, look through the oven window instead of opening the door.
   
5. RECYCLE GLASS
   Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn't recycled it can take a million years to decompose.
   
6. DIAPER WITH A CONSCIENCE
   By the time a child is toilet trained, a parent will change between 5,000 and 8,000 diapers, adding up to approximately 3.5 million tons of waste in U.S. landfills each year. Whether you choose cloth or a more environmentally-friendly disposable, you're making a choice that has a much gentler impact on our planet.
   
7. HANG DRY
   Get a clothesline or rack to dry your clothes by the air. Your wardrobe will maintain color and fit, and you'll save money.
   Your favorite t-shirt will last longer too.
   
8. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
   One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.
   
9. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
   If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
   Only launder when you have a full load.
   
10. USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN
    During an average year, an American uses approximately 2,200 napkins—around six each day. If everyone in the U.S. used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year.
    
11. USE BOTH SIDES OF PAPER
    American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker. For a quick and easy way to halve this, set your printer's default option to print double-sided (duplex printing). And when you're finished with your documents, don't forget to take them to the recycling bin.
    
12. RECYCLE NEWSPAPER
    There are 63 million newspapers printed each day in the U.S. Of these, 44 million, or about 69%, of them will be thrown away. Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.
    
13. WRAP CREATIVELY
    You can reuse gift bags, bows and event paper, but you can also make something unique by using old maps, cloth or even newspaper. Flip a paper grocery bag inside out and give your child stamps or markers to create their own wrapping paper that's environmentally friendly and extra special for the recipient.
    
14. RETHINK BOTTLED WATER
    Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. The EPA's standards for tap water are more stringent than the FDA's standards for bottled water.
    
15. BATHTIME!
    Have a no-bath week, and take showers instead. Baths require almost twice as much water. Not only will you reduce water consumption, but the energy costs associated with heating the water.
    
16. BRUSH WITHOUT RUNNING
    You've heard this one before, but maybe you still do it. You'll conserve up to five gallons per day if you stop. Daily savings in the U.S. alone could add up to 1.5 billion gallons--more water than folks use in the Big Apple.
    
17. SHOWER WITH YOUR PARTNER
    Sneak in a shower with your loved one to start the day with some zest that doesn't come in a bar. Not only have you made a wise choice for the environment, but you may notice some other added...um...benefits.
    
18. TAKE A SHORTER SHOWER
    Every two minutes you save on your shower can conserve more than ten gallons of water. If everyone in the country saved just one gallon from their daily shower, over the course of the year it would equal twice the amount of freshwater withdrawn from the Great Lakes every day.
    
19. PLANT A TREE
    It's good for the air, the land, can shade your house and save on cooling (plant on the west side of your home), and they can also improve the value of your property.
    Make it meaningful for the whole family and plant a tree every year for each member.
    
20. USE YOUR CRUISE CONTROL
    You paid for those extra buttons in your car, so put them to work! When using cruise control your vehicle could get up to 15% better mileage. Considering today's gasoline prices, this is a boon not only for the environment but your budget as well.
    
21. SECOND-HAND DOESN'T MEAN SECOND-BEST
    Consider buying items from a second-hand store. Toys, bicycles, roller blades, and other age and size-specific items are quickly outgrown. Second hand stores often sell these items in excellent condition since they are used for such a short period of time, and will generally buy them back when you no longer need them.
    
22. BUY LOCAL
    Consider the amount of pollution created to get your food from the farm to your table. Whenever possible, buy from local farmers or farmers' markets, supporting your local economy and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas created when products are flown or trucked in.
    
23. ADJUST YOUR THERMOSTAT
    Adjust your thermostat one degree higher in the summer and one degree cooler in the winter. Each degree celsius less will save about 10% on your energy use! In addition, invest in a programmable thermostat which allows you to regulate temperature based on the times you are at home or away.
    
24. INVEST IN YOUR OWN COFFEE CUP
    If you start every morning with a steamy cup, a quick tabulation can show you that the waste is piling up. Invest in a reusable cup, which not only cuts down on waste, but keeps your beverage hot for a much longer time. Most coffee shops will happily fill your own cup, and many even offer you a discount in exchange!
    
25. BATCH ERRANDS
    Feel like you spend your whole week trying to catch up with the errands? Take a few moments once a week to make a list of all the errands that need to get done, and see if you can batch them into one trip. Not only will you be saving gasoline, but you might find yourself with much better time-management skills.
    
26. GREENER LAWN CARE
    If you must water your lawn, do it early in the morning before any moisture is lost to evaporation. Have a few weeds? Spot treat them with vinegar. Not sure if you should rake? Normal clippings act as a natural fertilizer, let them be. If you've waited too long, rake by hand — it's excellent exercise.
    
27. TURN OFF LIGHTS
    Always turn off incandescent bulbs when you leave a room. Fluorescent bulbs are more affected by the number of times it is switched on and off, so turn them off when you leave a room for 15 minutes or more. You'll save energy on the bulb itself, but also on cooling costs, as lights contribute heat to a room.
    
28. PICNIC WITH A MARKER
    Some time in between the artichoke dip and the coleslaw, you lost track of your cup, and now there are a sea of matching cups on the table, one of which might be yours. The next time you picnic, set out permanent marker next to disposable dinnerware so guests can mark their cup and everyone will only use one.
    
29. RECYCLE OLD CELL PHONES
    The average cell phone lasts around 18 months, which means 130 million phones will be retired each year. If they go into landfills, the phones and their batteries introduce toxic substances into our environment. There are plenty of reputable programs where you can recycle your phone, many which benefit noble causes.
    
30. MAINTAIN YOUR VEHICLE
    Not only are you extending the life of your vehicle, but you are creating less pollution and saving gas. A properly maintained vehicle, clean air filters, and inflated tires can greatly improve your vehicle's performance. And it might not hurt to clean out the trunk—all that extra weight could be costing you at the pump.
    
31. RECYCLE UNWANTED WIRE HANGERS
    Wire hangers are generally made of steel, which is often not accepted by some recycling programs. So what do you do with them? Most dry cleaners will accept them back to reuse or recycle. (Cue Joan Crawford.)
    
32. RECYCLE ALUMINUM AND GLASS
    Twenty recycled aluminium cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one.
    Every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.
    
33. TELECOMMUTE
    See if you can work out an arrangement with your employer that you work from home for some portion of the week. Not only will you save money and gasoline, and you get to work in your pajamas!
    
34. KEEP YOUR FIREPLACE DAMPER CLOSED
    Keeping the damper open (when you're not using your fireplace) is like keeping a 48-inch window wide open during the winter; it allows warm air to go right up the chimney. This can add up to hundreds of dollars each winter in energy loss.
    
35. CUT DOWN ON JUNK MAIL
    Feel like you need to lose a few pounds? It might be your junk mail that's weighing you down. The average American receives 40 pounds of junk mail each year, destroying 100 millions trees. There are many services that can help reduce the clutter in your mailbox, saving trees and the precious space on your countertops.
    
36. CHOOSE MATCHES OVER LIGHTERS
    Most lighters are made out of plastic and filled with butane fuel, both petroleum products. Since most lighters are considered "disposable," over 1.5 billion end up in landfills each year. When choosing matches, pick cardboard over wood. Wood matches come from trees, whereas most cardboard matches are made from recycled paper.
    
37. LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE WALKING—ONLINE
    Consider if you really need a paper phone book. If not, call to stop phone book delivery and use an online directory instead. Some estimate that telephone books make up almost ten percent of waste at dump sites. And if you still receive the book, don't forget to recycle your old volumes.
    
38. GIVE IT AWAY
    Before you throw something away, think about if someone else might need it. Either donate to a charitable organization or post it on a web site designed to connect people and things, such as Freecycle.org.
    
39. GO TO A CAR WASH
    Professional car washes are often more efficient with water consumption. If everyone in the U.S. who washes their car themselves took just one visit to the car wash we could save nearly 8.7 billion gallons of water.
    
40. PLASTIC BAGS SUCK
    Each year the U.S. uses 84 billion plastic bags, a significant portion of the 500 billion used worldwide. They are not biodegradable, and are making their way into our oceans, and subsequently, the food chain. Stronger, reusable bags are an inexpensive and readily available option.
    
41. FLY WITH AN E-TICKET
    The cost of processing a paper ticket is approximately $10, while processing an e-ticket costs only $1. In the near future, e-tickets will be the only option, saving the airline industry $3 billion a year. In addition to financial savings, the sheer amount of paper eliminated by this process is commendable.
    
42. DOWNLOAD YOUR SOFTWARE
    Most software comes on a compact disc, and more than thirty billion compact discs of all types are sold annually. That's a huge amount of waste, not to mention the associated packaging. Another bonus to downloading your software is that it's often available for download at a later date when you upgrade to a new computer or are attempting to recover from a crash.
    
43. STOP YOUR ANSWERING MACHINE
    Answering machines use energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And when they break, they're just one more thing that goes into the landfill. If all answering machines in U.S. homes were eventually replaced by voice mail services, the annual energy savings would total nearly two billion kilowatt-hours.
    
44. SKIP THE COFFEE STIRRER
    Each year, Americans throw away 138 billion straws and stirrers. But skipping the stirrer doesn't mean drinking your coffee black. Simply put your sugar and cream in first, and then pour in the coffee, and it should be well mixed.
    Determined to stir? Break off a piece of pasta from the cupboard. You can nibble after using it, compost, or throw away with less guilt.
    
45. FIND A BETTER WAY TO BREAK THE ICE
    When a big winter storm heads our way, most of us use some sort of ice melter to treat steps and sidewalks. While this makes the sidewalks safer for people, it may pose a hazard for pets who might ingest these products. Rock salt and salt-based ice-melting products can cause health problems as well as contaminate wells and drinking water. Look for a pet-safe deicer, readily available in many stores.
    
46. USE COTTON SWABS WITH A PAPERBOARD SPINDLE
    Some brands of cotton swabs have a paperboard spindle while others are made of plastic. If 10% of U.S. households switched to a paperboard spindle, the petroleum energy saved per year would be equivalent to over 150,000 gallons of gasoline.
    
47. PAY BILLS ONLINE
    By some estimates, if all households in the U.S. paid their bills online and received electronic statements instead of paper, we'd save 18.5 million trees every year, 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and 1.7 billion pounds of solid waste.
    
48. STOP PAPER BANK STATEMENTS
    Some banks will pay you a dollar or donate money on your behalf when you cancel the monthly paper statements you get in the mail. If every household took advantage of online bank statements, the money saved could send more than seventeen thousand recent high school graduates to a public university for a year.
    
49. USE RECHARGABLE BATTERIES
    Each year 15 billion batteries produced and sold and most of them are disposable alkaline batteries. Only a fraction of those are recycled. Buy a charger and a few sets of rechargeable batteries. Although it requires an upfront investment, it is one that should pay off in no time. And on Christmas morning when all the stores are closed? You'll be fully stocked.
    
50. SHARE!
    Take what you've learned, and pass the knowledge on to others. If every person you know could take one small step toward being greener, the collective effort could be phenomenal.

Credit: 50waystohelp

"You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however"

" Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."

"Your ideas are like diamonds, without the refining process, they are just a dirty rock. But by cutting away the impurities, they become priceless."

" Don't wait for others to write the end of the story that you started from the beginning."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

"There are no Extraordinary men, Just Extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with."

"Take care of your character and your reputation will take care of itself."