Less is more. This is why we say: reduce things by half instead of doubling them, relax instead of stressing, and slow down instead of speeding up. Apply these principles(原则) in your everyday life. You will then find yourself well along on your journey to simplification.

Separate Your Actions

    When you concentrate on one task, you find you have energy that you didn't even know you had. Just imagine: you have to carry two heavy pigs over 100 yards. If you carry two, it will take forever. But if you tie one pig in a place, pick up the other, gather all your strength and make a dash for the finish line, pause for a moment, run back and get the other one, and carry the second pig to the finish line, then you can be sure of success.

Say “No” Firmly

    If you have the feeling that 24 hours per day are not enough for all the things you need to do, then it's not because the day has too few hours, but because you have too many activities. The solution is equally simple: say no to accept so much work in your private life or your working life.

Allow Yourself to Be Weak

     “I can deal with stress” is regarded as a positive statement in the world of work. People who can deal with stress are given more and more to — until one day they break.

Pay careful attention to the signs that tell you that you are under more stress than you can deal with. If you become ill, or your work efficiency decreases, change your life goals. Say quite openly, “I can't manage that.”

Stop Expecting Everything to Be Perfect

     “If only I were slimmer, more beautiful, richer, more clever, then I would be happier.” This is a dream that makes a lot of people ill, and unhappy. Life is imperfect. Only those who accept this reality can lead a really full life.

    Of course there are activities in which errors are dangerous: driving a car; crossing the road. But life doesn't entirely have these things. In among them there is possibility that you may make small and large mistakes.

Escape Now and Then

    Successful people all have their own places where they can be left alone in order to work. Find out which places improve your creativity. For me it's the train. When I know that I'm going to be traveling for four hours without phone calls or people knocking on my door, I find my mind is free and I can read or write articles.

    Have you used “um…” “like…” “you know…” in your speech? Catch words(口头禅) are unnecessary words used to fill up dead paces while you speak. Speaking too many catch words is like a bad habit that we are unaware of. While most people tend to ignore it in everyday conversation, in a formal speech or an interview, too many catch words can make even the best presentation look bad.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Stop when we are in doubt. Catch words are used more often when a person is unsure about the sentence to use next.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}If you are lost or in doubt over what to say next, just stop speaking, take a long pause, breathe in , figure out what to say and start again.

    Speak consciously and slowly. If the speech is too long and you talk continuously without thinking, then you might also be pushing in a few catch words in between.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It is best to memorize the tricky parts of the speech, like the introduction and the conclusion where a majority of the catch words are used.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Preparing for the speech is very important when trying to remove catch words. Make it a point to pause when there is a comma or give two pauses at the end of the sentence. If certain words in the speech need to be emphasized then underline them and practice them as they need to be said.

    Avoid catch words in conversations. Get a friend or your partner to help you out when rehearsing a conversation.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Although it can be an unpleasant and often embarrassing process, but in the long run it helps in cutting down on catch words.

A. Practise your speech when you can.

B. Remember the saying that silence is golden.

C. Therefore we can find out best friends to guide us well.

D. Anytime you use a catch word, the friend can point it out.

E. So we should learn some ways to avoid speaking such words.

F. Structure the speech well to include as much information as is needed.

G. The mind is so busy trying to figure out what to say that there is a strong urge to speak such words.

    Winter is a really fun time of the year—it's great to have snowball fights and build snowmen{#blank#}1{#/blank#} When it's cold outside and you're not prepared, you can feel uncomfortable. Lucky for you, learning how to stay safe is not difficult.

    ●{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Wearing thick clothes is the best way to stay warm in the cold. Depending on where you live and how cold it is, some kids may need more clothes, some less.

    ●Take that hat. You maybe wear a large overcoat and ready to go, but are you forgetting something?{#blank#}3{#/blank#} You'll stay much warmer with a hat than without one—tons of body heat escapes right from your head.

    ●Drink up. Sounds like advice for hot weather, not cold weather, right?{#blank#}4{#/blank#} When you're outside in the cold and breathing hard, your body loses a lot of water through your breath. And the best way to get that water back is to drink up!

    ●Take it easy. Sometimes if you're out having fun, it's easy to forget to pay attention to your body. But if your body temperature drops even 4 or 5 degrees while you're out side, it can make you feel terrible{#blank#}5{#/blank#} And if you ever feel weak, those are signs that you have to take it easy indoors for a while.

A.Love those clothes.

B.Have a snowball fight.

C. Pull a hat onto your head.

D. That's why you need to be careful with your body s signals.

E. Well, the truth is that it's good advice for both kinds of weather.

F. but you have to know how to be safe while you're out having fun.

G. You can stay outside as long as possible to fully enjoy your snow days.

Five ways to improve creativity

    Creativity is the ability to go beyond traditionally rules, ideas or relationships and create something new through imagination or progressiveness. There are many ways to improve your creative mind.

    Exercise the mind. Exercising your mind is an ideal way to boost creativity. Like the body, the mind needs exercise to work the creative muscles and make them stronger. Exercise your brain by learning new subjects, getting into a debate about politics and talking to other creative and intelligent people. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Be Passionate. One aspect of creativity is passion. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Find you internal motivation and follow your passion to improve your creativity.

    Change your routine. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} To boost your creativity, consider changing one to two elements of your daily routine. If you are working on a certain project, consider stopping one project to work on another project at regular interval throughout the day or week.

    Read. While reading provides many intellectual benefits, reading is also beneficial for boosting creativity, exercising your brain and provide creative inspiration. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Consider reading about subjects that were previously uninteresting to you. This change in the norm might spark your creative interest.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Our packed schedules have no room for creative thinking. Take a certain amount of time every day to quiet, refresh and clear the mind while relaxing the body. This quiet .time can consist of a yoga workout, meditation or simply sitting still in a dark and quiet room, in a peaceful garden or on a beautiful beach.

A. Schedule quiet time.

B. It can become weak due to stresses.

C. Creativity is a natural quality.

D. Often, creativity is blocked due to a too-familiar routine.

E. These activities will encourage a flow of creativity.

F. Read as much as possible about several different subjects

G. Typically, students will do well in subjects they are interested in.

    If you said you were suffering from "burnout" in the early 1970s, you might have raised some eyebrows.

    At the time, the term was informally to describe the side effects that heavy drug users experienced.

    However, in 1974, a German-American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger found the volunteers at his clinic were struggling, too: their work was tough, and many were lacking in motivation. Freudenberger defined this condition as a state of extreme tiredness caused by constant overwork－and borrowed the term "burnout" to describe it.

    Late last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the problem will be recognized as a syndrome (综合征) "resulting from workplace stress that has not been successfully managed."

    Feeling the burn so how can you tell if you're almost burned out?

    "A lot of the signs and symptoms of pre-burnout would be very similar to depression," says Siobhan Murray, a psychotherapist. She suggests looking out for bad habits, such as increased alcohol consumption and relying on sugar to get you through the day. Also watch out for feelings of tiredness that won't go away or not having the energy to exercise or go for a walk. As soon as you begin to feel this way, Murray advises going to see your doctor. "Depression and pre-burnout are very similar. But it is still classified as an occupational phenomenon which is still best tackled by making lifestyle changes."

    And how do you know if you're really on the edge of burnout? "Stress is really important, and anxiety is what motivates us to do well," says Murray. "It's when we're continually exposed to stress and anxiety that it starts to turn into burnout."

    You're pre-burnout: What's next?

    "Sometimes they feel the need to be too perfect so they're having to work very hard to cover up that they're not quite as good as everyone thinks." Another therapist Walker says.

    However, sometimes the work environment is the problem. According to a 2018 study of 7,500 US workers, burnout comes from unfair treatment at work, an unmanageable workload and not knowing what a person's role should involve. Workers were also stressed out by a lack of support from their manager and punreasonable time pressure.

    Whatever the cause of your burnout, Murray's top tip is to be kind to yourself.

    In Murray's experience, a key driver of burnout is today's culture of wanting it all. Often it's just not possible to have a healthy social life and complete a big project at the same time. She says it's vital to prioritize and not expect too much of yourself; when others seem like the perfect boss, parent and friend all at the same time, they're probably misleading us.

    If you feel that you might be close to joining the burnout club, take a step back, figure out what's going wrong－and let yourself off the hook.