Author: Mike Mabrouk

When It Comes to Advice, Everybody Is Wrong…or Right?

by Mike Mabrouk

I love reading. I love meeting new people. I love traveling. I love watching educational YouTube videos. Every source of learning even the traditional form of schooling, provides you information for what you should know and what the recommended ways are to go about it. I believe it is very important to observe, listen and take note for what all the mediums have to say so you have a well-rounded knowledge foundation of what is going on and why it is the case. Now having said all of this, do you ever focus on a topic, try to learn more, and realize there is conflicting advice? Yeah that is why I created this blog post title. Who is right? Who is wrong? The answer is……. well everyone.

Why Everyone Is Wrong and Right

I am going to use an example topic to talk about with this dilemma. Let’s talk about personal finance, one of my favorites. When it comes to learning about personal finance, I love to read on the topic and watch YouTube videos that talk about investment strategies. Usually when talking about the topic, the person(s) goes over their own investment strategies and their own thoughts based on what has worked for them currently and in the past. The problem with this is each time I learn more through someone new, they have conflicting opinions on what is right and what is wrong. An example being investing in the stock market. Some would argue majority of your eggs so to speak need to be put in the stock market basket. Some say through index fund investing. Some say through picking out a personal stock. Those not in favor of putting all your eggs into the stock market basket, may be in favor of instead putting some of your money into real estate. Some would argue put it in bonds and be more conservative especially with this next recession coming up which by the way, everyone has conflicting thoughts on when it could happen too. So which advice and perspective should you follow? The answer really and one of my MBA professors used to always say…. well it depends.

Everyone Is Dealt a Different Hand and Has Played Different Cards to Win

It is important to understand when listening/learning about different perspectives and viewpoints, why they are different. A large part of that is due to their own personal history. Everyone has their own unique life experiences and it is human nature within us to share those perspectives of what has worked for us and what has not. Staying on the topic of personal finance, an example could be investing in a house to flip that totally failed and therefore their viewpoint is never try this since you will fail like me. Another example being investing in the stock market. With the economic crash around 2007-2008, many had large investments in the stock market and saw their investment portfolio start to vanish. Therefore, from their experiences, they will tell you not to invest in the stock market. That is why it is important to take in as many perspectives and form your own opinion for what will work best with you. This is where the whole everyone is deal a different hand comes into play. When trying to learn about a topic or take in advice, everyone will speak about that said topic from the hand that they were dealt with and how they played the cards. You as someone who is trying to learn more needs to apply the knowledge with the hand you have and what works best for you. That is how people become successful. With personal finance, if you have the ability to me more aggressive, investing in the stock market could make more sense. If you live in a neighborhood that is up an coming and you know of some properties for sale, maybe the real estate route would make sense and from there you can focus in on that topic more in depth instead of learning at a broad high level perspective.

How Do I know What My Hand Dealt Is?

This metaphor or analogy (one of the two…clearly didn’t pay attention in school for this) signifies that every individual has their own unique circumstances in life just as if you were playing a game with a deck of cards, everyone would have a unique combination cards in their hand. While playing the game, you can easily tell what cards you are holding since they are physically there and you can see them (if you are blind, just have someone else read them off). In life, we are dealt a hand but have no idea what it is until we live life and experience it. Unfortunately, that is the reality. Life is about experiencing what works and does not work for you individually while learning from others that can help your own personal experiences be enhanced. When you are able to create knowledge from your own experiences and learn more from others that can help develop and improve the learning, then that is a recipe for success.

Thanks everyone,

Mike M.

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How YouTube Can Help Your Health and Personal Finances

by Mike Mabrouk

YouTube is probably where I put most of my time at when it comes to boredom entertainment. And it’s definitely for a good reason. This platform has everything that can both entertain you and be educational. The whole framework of everyday random people posting content trying to teach you from their learnings or simply even just exploding stuff is awesome to me. Endless hours of content are online for you to watch basically free. This is why I wanted to write a blog post on this. I want to make sure everyone capitalizes their time with this platform for improving themselves at no investment whatsoever.

What I like about YouTube

So, I like learning and I like learning in an easy digestible fashion. And that is the power of YouTube. Screw the I have to read a textbook to get familiar with a topic. What I love about this platform is the freedom to watch whatever videos you want in the topic you are interested in from different perspectives too. The traditional textbook is written by an author who updates publications with new “lingo” just to pocket more money. The best is when a professor themselves has written a textbook that you have to buy for three hundred dollars. Now while I do have some jokingly not jokingly comparisons with the traditional form of schooling in this writing, I am not by any means saying you should substitute school with YouTube. The platform of YouTube though does provide an outlet of content that can assist with your schooling efforts along with learning about what life has to offer that a classroom will never teach you.

What topics I like to watch

There are many subscriptions I have that align with topics I love to watch videos on. Everyone is unique with what they are interested in and what they would like to learn more about and explore with. For me, there have been some topics especially of recent that I love to focus on and learn more about. I am a huge sucker for personal finance videos on YouTube. Personal finance is a category that is not really talked about or brought up a lot with daily conversations and learning efforts. I believe it to be very important to know what the heck to do with my own money, the money I owe, and the money I will earn. There are a plentiful number of channels that have their own tips, tricks and strategies for personal finance, what they recommend and how to go about it in a quick and easy fashion.

Two other topics that I also enjoy binge watching are success stories with personal health & entrepreneurial efforts, along with traveling abroad videos. The success story videos show you people who have actually took action in their lives to improve themselves and make a success out of their situation. The two categories that fall into this topic that I enjoy watching are weight loss stories and people who have started up their own business from scratch whether that is an online business or even running a franchise. Both of these topics directly and indirectly motivate me to push myself as well since I am literally watching people who have pulled it off and are doing it as we speak. I think it is good to have this kind of content in your life to spark some motivation in you and to push yourself even further with whatever goals you have in mind.

Now the traveling abroad videos are simply awesome. You can learn so much on YouTube from peoples’ personal travels whether it being a country that you have always had on your bucket list to visit some day or even tips and tricks for the best ways to handle expectations and preparations for visiting a country. I love love love watching travelers visit countries that are not so common travel destinations and may even be considered dangerous to the everyday person living in a westernized country. These videos show the true insights of how the media does spin things to make it seem everything is awful but in truth, we are all human and while there is bad everywhere there is good everywhere as well. These travelers and documenters show the insights of how the locals live, the traditions they have and even the cuisines they indulge in. It is a real fun category to spend hours on learning more about what is truly going on with the rest of the world and how the media never focuses on the good sides with some of these “unpopular” countries.

The real danger of YouTube

Recommended videos can lead to binge watching YouTube. And I am talking worse than Netflix. At least with Netflix you to a certain degree know what you are getting yourself into, but not YouTube. Two hours can pass by in a blink of an eye and before you know it, you just absorbed so much good learning content that makes you think why the heck is this not the traditional form of learning compared to sitting in a school classroom for two hours.

Conclusion

Yeah YouTube is just awesome. I myself spend a lot of time on it and I believe it is a better form of entertainment to learn from and improve yourself than many other mediums including television. While I did list some of the topics that I love to watch, keep in mind YouTube has everything and anything that you may have an interest in and want to learn more about. I definitely recommend taking advantage of this platform. With that being said, thanking you for reading this post and check out some of my other previous blogs posts I have written on topics dealing with health and wealth.

Thanks everyone,

Mike M.

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How To Kick and Punch Your Way To Health

by Mike Mabrouk

Jab…Jab…kick…kick, something like that the instructors are shouting out to the class making everyone sweat their behinds off. I like to think that I have had especially of recent a decent workout ethic and I wasn’t too out of shape but let me tell you, this class I signed up for has kicked my butt to the moon. It has been a while since I have seen a puddle of sweat on the ground from a workout and we are not even talking 50 min. It’s so strange after the workout though that I am sweating like crazy, everyone has the same pain in their eyes but yet we all walk out feeling great. I mean after these classes you can tell everyone (after a few minutes of wanting to punch the instructors) walks out of the building with a smile on their face feeling pretty darn good. So, what is this type workout routine and class I am talking about?

If you couldn’t guess from the 500 hints, I am talking about boxing. Well actually I have been doing a kickboxing class, but I’ll combine the two since they are generally the same idea.

What entails kickboxing?

So, there are many franchises that have opened and have become popular it seems to be in recent years that focus on kickboxing and boxing. Now when I refer to this I am not necessarily talking about learning how to box or kickbox to become an amateur and start doing actual amateur fighting. I’m referring to the group fitness classes that give you a pair of gloves and focus the workout around punching and kicking bags. These classes are led by an instructor for less than an hour (typically) and focus on burning calories while providing an all body workout experience. For the kickboxing classes I have signed up for, our classes have an instructor shout out an action for you to do whether it be a certain punch or a kick and everyone in the group finds their own bag to perform the action called out. It’s a nice way to hold yourself accountable since the instructor is giving you the workout usually running up and down motivating everyone and you are watching everyone around you which helps when the energy level is high in the class. The workouts revolve around the punches and kicks (for my classes probably split half and half) and you have other body workouts sprinkled in as well. We have jumping jacks thrown in, a lot of abdominal workouts like planks and crunches, even some more leg thrown in with air squats etc. Overall, the workout itself is a quick 45 min or so of high intense level all body movements that can give you a solid complete workout.

What is the Learning Curve?

Ok real talk for a second. Since I always experience it and I am absolutely sure I am not the only one, these classes are very comfortable to show up for your first time and not feel out of place. Sure you may look like the new person in the group, but that is going to be the case with anything you try out for the first time. I would absolutely NOT be intimidated walking in, watching a class and potentially be thinking what the heck am I about to sign up for. These are designed to be fun, high intense workout classes that you get to work at your own pace. I need to repeat this because I think this is key. These classes are designed for you to work at your own pace. You can control how much you want to get out of each workout with the effort you provide. Honestly, I think that may be one of the best parts with these types of classes. Some days I just don’t have it and some days I am ready to take on every villain out there. Your output determines your result and each person in the class can individually determine that themselves.

Also, I want to mention how the expectation when starting out is you have no idea what you are doing which is everyone when they start out. So, don’t worry about not knowing what the class is doing since the instructors are helpful and they will help teach you the proper ways. I am talking from my experiences from both my current gym and the other gyms I have stopped in to checkout.

Who is this class really for?

These types of classes are really for all ages, sizes, fitness levels you name it. Like I have mentioned, with the classes really allowing you to control how much effort and output you want to use, it allows for all people to jump right in and join the group. From my experiences, I have seen older gentlemen, older women, young kids, people trying to lose weight, people trying to get tone, in shape and out of shape people. Literally everyone. I have seen people walk in with friends to try the classes and I have seen individuals say screw it and come in by themselves to check the classes out. And they all have survived.

Free trials

Most of these types of classes and gyms provide free trials where you get to check out the class and participate in it before you actually sign the dotted line saying, “add it to the card”. I think this is another great perk where you get to see not only if this is the right type of workout for you but if the gym is the right fit for you as well. Everyone is in their own unique situation, so even if a friend really likes this one gym do not be afraid to say it’s not a great fit for me and check other places.

Hopefully you got something out of this blog post with me talking about my experiences at a kickboxing gym and why I think it can be a really good option for you to checkout. I would absolutely 100% recommend at least checking them out and seeing if they are a fit for you. Thanks everyone for reading and check out my other blog posts as well.

Mike M.

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Reasons Why Credit Cards Are Good

by Mike Mabrouk

It seems like the talk of town from everyone is that credit cards are evil, and everyone should stay away from them. Heck, if you really did some basic research online, there are some “financial gurus” that make this point that you should never open up a credit card and you are doomed if you dare to. So, I can understand where everyone is coming from with the statement of staying from credit cards. First of all, if you really do not have any self-control, then it probably would be best to stay away since the freedom you have with a decent credit limit and just telling yourself I can pay it off sometime later is dangerous. Also, if your spending habits in general are out of control, you really should try to get some good habits in place to correct those issues before you have that credit limit to spend on everything useless. One of my personal favorite dangers too is throwing the monthly subscriptions on the card and not even realizing what you are actually spending on all that stuff (i.e. Hulu, Netflix, Gym).

With all of this said, there are some very good reasons why having at least one credit card is a very good thing. And disclaimer of course, I am not a personal financial advisor or anything and everyone has their own unique situation, so please do some research for what makes the most sense with you but I find these reasons very appealing and they are why I have two credit cards to my name.

1. Build up Credit

Basic I know right? But it is true. Credit cards are a great way to build up your credit score and provide a track record of you paying your bills on time which will help with future larger purchases down the road to have lower interest rates and qualify for higher loans. Also, if you are on the younger side, credit cards are a great way to start your credit history as well as get in the habit of paying your bills and most importantly paying them on time.

2. Helps Budget and Keep Track of Spending

There are really two sides to how best to keep track of spending. One is to withdraw cash or use your debit card straight from your checking or savings account so that way you are not induced to spend a lot and you can control yourself with spending due to how much you actually have available or how much cash you actually withdrew.  I actually agree that this is a good idea. I will say though from my experiences using a credit card is a lot easier (as long as you can control your spending habits). Credit card companies’ interfaces are really advanced now, and they can breakdown for you the category of each payment you had of spending (i.e. gas, food).  You can start to track how much you spend in each category either through a spreadsheet or an online personal finance tracking software like Mint.com. Now I haven’t used Mint myself, but I do know friends that use the platform and swear by it. But anyways the main point here is credit cards provide you a history of what the heck you actually are spending your money on and not just a withdrawal of cash and asking yourself later where did my cash go.

3. Rewards Points

The hidden not so hidden anymore perk to credit cards. REWARDS. Credit card companies provide incentives to sign up and use their cards through multiple avenues but a main one is the reward perks of their own individual card. These can be from cash back rewards, travel points, flight mileage points etc. My personal card (Capital One) has a 1.5% cash back rewards meaning as an example for every one hundred dollars I spend, I get one and a half dollars cash back in my account. That does not sound like a lot initially, but it adds up over time. And it is a simple click to redeem the cash in my account. There is no crazy process to redeem it at all. And not only with the cash back cards, but the travel cards as mentioned are great as well since you can collect points either through actual travel or spending habits and use those points for flight discounts or even hotel discounts. Reward points are essentially just an extra bonus to you spending money that you already will be spending anyways.

I am sure there are a lot more perks to using credit cards than the one’s mentioned above but my main goal with the post is for you and other readers to start doing your research on why credit cards are not bad and start to investigate it more.

Thank you for reading my post and please give a like and follow the blog if you enjoyed. I like the idea of going more in depth with this kind of stuff or health related stuff I am not quite sure. I want to see what the people like.

Anyways thanks for checking this out!

Mike M.

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How To Make The Most of A Sick Day

by Mike Mabrouk

Not feeling well?

You made the right choice to lay low and check out this blog. I like to write about stuff that can hopefully help others either through the tips I am suggesting or at least to start thinking about the subject being discussed and researching it more. A topic that I think fits quite well in my lifestyle blog is how do you make the most of a sick day? This in my mind could mean from taking a day off of work for not feeling well or even just simply not feeling well and laying in bed all day. In fact, I am currently not feeling too hot and am laying down in my bed so as you can tell this is about as authentic blog post as you can get.

When sick, I do not know about you, but I just want to sit and not move and either watch the new Netflix special and eat some chicken soup. Maybe give me one of those bags of Goldfish crackers and now we are talking. Reality though, life is passing by and we need to get some s**t done. This is where my favorite method of accomplishing stuff for the day comes into play and that is the TO DO LIST. It is definitely all caps time.

The TO DO LIST is a collection of your thoughts for what you like to get done in a specific measure of time and in this case for the time period you are sick. The way I like to go about TO DO LISTs is by making the steps on the list easily attainable to be accomplished. A typical list examples can include grocery shopping, paying your bills, walking the dog, reading a chapter of your favorite book, and walking a mile outside. But when we are sick, if you think you (and I) are getting out of bed or the couch, well you are crazy. This means that the best way to handle your sick day (time period) is to create a TO DO LIST for tasks you are able to accomplish that won’t physically drain you from moving a step or mentally drain you from the fever you have.

Actionable steps to do this are:

  1. Either find a note pad and pen or bring out your laptop to create the list. (Side Note: I always recommend writing in hand since it becomes more engraved in your mind)
  2. Write 3 or more easy attainable goals for the day that you know you can get done even in your present mood. (Example: Still can read a book before popping the Nyquil.)
  3. Accomplish the first task right away (even if it’s the smallest one). What this will allow for is for you to have confidence you can still check off the whole list as well as getting the ball rolling.
  4. Finish the rest of the tasks in no rush needed mode so that way you can still embrace the Netflix specials or the beauty of sleep.

Now as far as what kind of tasks are best to do in a day like this, I would recommend what I call the lap tasks. These are the things you can get done that can rest on your lap as you complete them. Examples of this are reading a book casually and just barely lifting your arms doing so from your lap (ish) and doing anything that can be accomplished via a laptop. Laptop tasks can be anything from writing a blog post (of course) or even online shopping for the holidays. This way it involves not too much physical work and you can control the mental work side of things as well.

In the grand scheme of things being sick stinks. But there are still ways where you do not have to feel terrible about yourself for getting nothing done and you were able to accomplish tasks that make you feel the day was not wasted.

If you enjoyed this read please give it a like and check out the rest of my blog posts and if you would like to follow the blog, that would mean a lot. Thanks everyone.

Mike M.

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Don’t Let Eating Like Crap Make You Feel Guilty

by Mike Mabrouk
Photo by Ja San Miguel on Unsplash

Your watching the football game with a bunch of friends and all of a sudden, it’s half time and everyone starts to feel a little hungry. You of course are used to eating your salads for lunch and can not wait to have the one you meal prepped for the week but then realize that…well everyone is in your living room and you will end up being that person who just eats in front of everyone while everyone just stares at you starving out of their minds. I am sure you know what I mean and may have experienced it with being the person eating and the friends staring. That’s a tough situation. First of all, you are eating in front of everyone when you know everyone is dying to have a bite of anything healthy or not. And the worst part is you have the audacity to whip out a salad. Everyone is currently mentally judging especially since we all know football season equates to football food. And I am talking pizza, wings, buffalo chicken dip, all the goodies.

This is a scenario I would say definitely applies to the situation of eating like crap but not having to feel guilty. I am a believer in situational treat yourself days. These are the type of days where you get to create memories and enjoy the little things in life. In the scenario above, this is enjoying the football game with you best friends and the best food on this planet. It is important to understand and have the mentality that it is okay to take a break from healthy eating to live in the moment. Mentally, you need to be able to teach yourself that no one is meant to be eating healthy every single moment of their life. There is a reason why all this delicious horrible food has been invented and is consumed on the regular.

Scenarios like these are unique to everyone as each individual has their own fun days and own unique ways of having fun too. This includes being social which tends to entail having some drinks or a nice meal put together. And when I mean nice meal, I mean order every appetizer imaginable. 

The way through my weight loss experiences of justifying and not feeling guilty for having a day like this goes back to my favorite concept of the numbers game. By some freaky universal law, luck and results are created through more opportunity and mindset (aka energy from you but that’s a little too out there for me and this blog). And opportunity to maintain your healthy status or even lose weight is created from having a lot of days where you move towards that goal you set with eating healthy and/or exercising. So, if you have a routine of eating healthy normally, the every now and then occasional day of being social to live life and have fun will not truly haunt you. To give a number to this, if out of the seven days of the week, you decide to have one bad day of eating and let’s throw in a half day for the after-work party of course, then the law of numbers still has you at five and a half good days of eating. This overall, is excellent when trying to achieve your health goals. The majority of your time is focusing on being healthy and it will show good results for you. And it is up to you to realize this and not feel guilty when you (everyone) has those days where we just simply let it go to enjoy life.

PS: When talking football, I am a big Cleveland Browns fans so when its time to eat during gameday, I tend to indulge out of frustration. So, plenty of experience from my end.

Thank you for checking out this blog post and please give it a like and follow the blog. Much more content on here with everyday issues we face. Trying to provide a perspective of how best to overcome these obstacles and use them to our advantage.

Mike M.

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How to limit your anxiety from work projects

by Mike Mabrouk

Photo by Daniel Mingook Kim on Unsplash

I don’t care what profession you are in. It could be your dream job. It could also be the stepping stone job that you are counting the days down before you get the heck out. When it comes to work, we never truly always work on projects that we feel comfortable taking over right away. There’s some anxiety that gets created with what you have to get done, how to go about it, and when you have to get it done by.

The beauty of work ladies & gentlemen.

I want to spin the scenario of the anxiety being built up in you as being a really good thing.

First of all, we get anxiety from the unknowns in the world since we do not at the moment have the answer to the unknown and start to think about what will happen when the unknown reaches us.  When it comes to work related projects, this is a good thing. A very good thing actually. The reason why I say this is with us not knowing what to expect, that means we get the chance to learn and grow from it. This ties into one’s personal development. An example being a presentation in front of customers. You may not know what their reaction will be, how it will go for you, if there will be any issues during it, what the questions will be but when it happens, you will learn from it and add it to your arsenal of experiences.

The only way we can grow is from the act of DOING and/or MESSING UP. Yes, I felt obligated to capitalize those two to really get the message across. When we face the unknown, we instinctively have it in us to figure it out and get the job done. Pretty sure our human species has always had that in us with discovering new land, hunting, inventing stuff like the wheel (original example I know). With projects that we don’t have the answer to, we will force ourselves to figure out a way to get it done and it may not always be pretty. Heck, the result may not always be pretty, but we still manage to find a way. And think about it, worst case scenario we don’t find a way to get it done, we learn from the mistake and move forward. And honestly, if it’s even that big of a mistake and it leads to a bad consequence like getting fired, I am a believer you will learn more from that and find a way to better position yourself for your career than if you just stayed cruising in the good old comfort zone.

Even better if you manage to do well and find a solution to the previous unknown, then shoot, you just learned a heck of a lot from the process. Not only specifically with what you accomplished, but having experience with facing the unknown and knowing that you have gone through it before and it has worked out so why shouldn’t it now.

So how do you truly deal with the anxiety with work related projects?

Great question.

Have the mindset in place that the project itself will be a fun challenge you will learn and grow from. I mean like I mentioned before, there is a chance the project totally explodes on you and you lose your job, but this is the smallest of small chances. And if it does, you will learn so much from it. That is why entrepreneurs do well in their careers after having a company they started go bankrupt cause they learn so much in the process. Even if you think worst case scenario with your mentality, you will indirectly be on the winning end and have a competitive edge over others with your experience. So bottom line, don’t worry so much with the project and get amped up you are one of the lucky few that gets to have a chance to challenge themselves and learn from it.

Thank you for checking out my blog and learning about how to limit anxiety with work related projects. If you like this blog, please give it a like and follow my blog for more content.

Mike M.

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How to find a job (the unpopular opinion)

by Mike Mabrouk

Photo by Milo McDowell on Unsplash

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Actually do and create a lemonade stand because the margins you have with what you can make and compared with how much it costs is pretty nice. Hence why the children are taking advantage of it. What also is pretty nice is having a good paying job to pay off those everyday expenses you have including the lemonade you just brought from the young child.

Many argue when it comes to searching for a job to network, network, network and find that right connection. First of all, I absolutely agree. You should be building up your network from day one and many jobs are found through a connection they have developed whether in person, online through LinkedIn, or even through a mutual friend. But I believe the good old-fashioned way of searching job posting website is still a great way to go. Why so you may ask?

Great question.

First of all, do you even know what you are looking for job wise with who you want to work for and where?

If so, perfect. I recommend applying directly online through their website and I hope you have a LinkedIn account. If you do, apply directly on there website and try to follow recruiters from that company and ask them some basic questions about your interest in the specific job you applied for. It shows well that you know specifically what you are looking for and you can ask more about specifically what they are looking for.

If you don’t know what you are looking for and just want a good paying job with career advancing opportunities, then I recommend going through the job posting pages to learn more about what is out there and see what the qualifications are for the jobs you want. The old-fashioned way of searching through job postings either online or even the newspaper (gross) allows you to build up your knowledge of what’s our there and how you best fit in the job market. It’s basically indirect market research being conducted from your end that will pay off even if you do not realize it initially.

Another benefit of searching job posting websites is…. well there are a lot of jobs being posted. I am a big fan of the game of numbers. While I believe it is important to know what numbers to look at, the law of numbers basically states that the more chances available (the more jobs you apply to or scratch offs tickets you bought of course) the better chance you have of hitting the lottery or landing an awesome job. These job posting websites offer the chance to apply to many different jobs and with that you have a greater chance of landing the perfect job due to you applying for more. And the trick here is with what can separate job hunters apart is not to just apply to one job and play the waiting game, but to keep applying. The one thing that really is not on anyone’s side in life is time. The better you utilize it (in this case applying for jobs), the better off you will be able to capitalize on it.

May I add too that this method of applying for jobs did work for me.

Hope you enjoyed the quick read of my take on how to apply to jobs through the unpopular and “outdated” opinion. Please when you have a chance to like and follow as well as check out my other blog posts dealing with everything of lifestyle and personal development.

Thanks everyone,

Mike M.

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Tips on How to Adult Properly Right Out of College

by Mike Mabrouk
Photo by Mantas Hesthaven on Unsplash

So, I am kinda sorta relatively out of college and have learned A LOT when it comes to being thrown into the “real world”. I mean I left home to live at my university in an apartment, but for some reason leaving away from both parents’ house and college for good really makes you feel some type of way. It hits you hard with what to really do and how to go about everything. Through experiencing it, reading about it, and watching YouTube videos on it, I feel somewhat seasoned dealing with how to best set yourself up for the transition and smooth sailing for your life. There’s a lot to leaving college, everything from finding a good job, a location to move to (obviously job can force that), how to handle personal finances, you name it. I am by no means a financial advisor, but I think I am currently starting to get a hang with adulting and leaving the college world. Here are some tips that you should take advantage of to start off rolling.

  1. Open up credit cards. I am a huge believer in credit cards and the fact that everyone should have one. I can talk more about this topic in another blog post but the main benefit of having at least one credit card is it is an easy way to help build up your credit which is very important for you moving forward. The sooner you can open one the better. The main knock on credit cards is that if you don’t pay your bills on time, you can build up some serious debt issues. My response to that is you are either going to be good with paying your bills on time or bad no matter what method you use to pay for things. The habit overall isn’t going to change and if you do trust yourself to pay your bills on time, then there is no reason to not have a credit card and start building up your credit score.
  2. Figure out your transportation situation. Find out for wherever you are moving too if they have reliable public transportation, if your work is walkable or if you need a reliable car for those longer commutes. You need to have a plan in place for what will work best for your mode of transportation, especially for to and from work. This allows you to know if you need to get a car if you already don’t have one and maybe a newer car that is more reliable so you don’t have to worry about it breaking down weekly. Or if you plan to live in the city, it may be best to sell off your car and use that money elsewhere.
  3. Have a Budget system that works for you. Everyone has their own preference for what works best for them, which is how life should be in most aspects, but it is very important to have a method in place to keep track of your money and your expenses. For example, I currently have an updated list with when my bills are do and track my overall expenses to make sure they net out to a number I like from my income. It is very basic but allows for me to see the overall picture if I am overspending. Personal recommendation too is to keep track of your paychecks from work in a spreadsheet to see what you actually make after taxes and to ensure the payments look correct just in case there are any mishaps from the company you work for. Budget wise though, you can create whatever format you want from categorizing every category of spending (if you love numbers) or even just noting your bill payments to see what these fun utility companies are actually charging you yearly. Search in Google for good budgeting templates and there are many free ones that you can download and use.
  4. If you still don’t have a job, apply literally everywhere. What worked well for me to find my current job was applying everywhere and through a lot of different job posting websites. This includes sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, Company Websites, etc. It really is a full-time job to apply for jobs and takes a while to find a good fit but many argue against applying all over and through websites like Indeed where there seems to be a lot of other people applying. My argument why you should, is that it worked for me and it allows you to build up your market research knowledge of what jobs are out there and what the qualifications are. This allows you to tailor your resume to these jobs knowing what they are looking for (since you have gone through a lot of postings of course) and other companies that are similar that you may not have even thought of applying to. If you don’t have the direct connections, best way to find a new job is to play the numbers game where the more times you apply, the more chances you have of finding a good job that fits you.
  5. Don’t be afraid to stay at your parents’ house for a little while. This point really hits home to me (pun intended). I started off living from home right after college while having an internship near by (I was doing my MBA at the time) and this saved me a ton of money from rent to even food if your parents are kind enough to still provide that for free. This allows you to have a mini transition and more preparation time to find your job and what location best fits for you. It also allows for you to better prepare when you do leave with your finances. My advice with this too is do not plan to stay too long since you will have to leave sooner than later and you don’t want to be that person that stays until you are 35 (of course if you are taking care of your parents, that is a completely different story).

Hope you enjoyed the quick read of some helpful tips to help prepare to adult right out of college. Please when you have a chance to like and follow as well as check out my other blog posts.

Thanks everyone,

Mike M.

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How To Travel and Come Back Well…Less Larger

by Mike Mabrouk

Wow is traveling a whole lot of fun. I mean the beaches, new cities, the scenery and the FOOD, just wow. Traveling is a passion to many including myself and we all know that when are traveling, we have to try the local cuisine and well sit on the beach and be lazy. But that moment we step on the scale after we get back to our good old sweet home, we see the scale not looking quite right. Naturally, we try to shake it and smack the darn thing to ensure that it is actually working properly. We soon find out that nope, it’s just yourself that put on a good number of pounds and now we are wondering what the heck do I do now.

Well the plan is for us to not have to experience that through eating healthy when visiting newer cities and countries. Here are some helpful tips that can be used to leave the extra baggage (and I mean our additional weight) behind.

  1. Plan excursions with physical activity. Talk about killing two birds with one stone (not literally of course). Planning a cool mini trip within your vacation for sight seeing and exploring fun activities while burning a lot of calories is a win-win situation. Look for swimming, hiking, biking you name it adventures that allow you to enjoy your stay while staying physically active.
  2. Set camp on the beach……….far……….away. A little hack I like to do is not set camp on the beach right by your place you are staying but make it a decent walk away. This forces you to walk that healthy distance back and forth plus there is a good chance the further you go, the more private the beach is.
  3. Limit yourself with the breakfast buffet. They say it is the most important meal of the day but there are two other meals in the day (at least), so how the heck do they know? But breakfast buffets are the moments in all of our lives where we go internally “momma, I made it”. All the options and choices with local cuisines tied into it, how can you pass it up. You don’t. But, eat a light meal during the buffet and make it on the healthier side. One because who knows what you will be consuming or drinking for the rest of the day and you really don’t want to feel guilty the rest of the day too. Also, you want to feel ready and energized for the day on hand and the physical activities you have in mind of course. A heavy meal in the morning will make you want to take a giant nap in your room instead.
  4. Drink a lot of water. What is basically the second most filling thing you can consumer besides food? The answer is water. Many argue including myself that water is a great way to re-hydrate yourself of course and to always feel full. It is good for you and it can trick your mind to think you are fuller than you really are. Drink plenty of water throughout the day and this will help you avoid the snacks you start secretly losing track of.
  5. Have fun. This sounds cheesy but think about it. If you are having fun, you more than likely don’t have to be feeling like crap from not moving and eating poorly. If you are having fun, you will not be thinking about snacking or eating the deep fried local cuisine. And if you are having fun while eating, even better. Just don’t go that crazy of course.

Hope you enjoyed the quick read of some helpful tips to travel lighter (pun intended). Please when you have a chance to like and follow as well as check out my other blog posts.

Thanks everyone,

Mike M.

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