11 Worst Body Language Mistakes Professionals make

Language determines how people perceive you.

Excellent nonverbal communication skills tell your audience that you're confident, energetic, engaged, and honest, says Tonya Reiman, author of "The Power of Body Language.”

Someone with poor nonverbal skills, however, may give off an impression of low self-esteem and a lack of interest, she says. “Is this 100% fair? Not necessarily. But it is how humans are programmed.”

When dealing with the business world, it’s especially important that you’re aware of your body language. Your nonverbal cues and gestures can make or break relationships, and may have a significant impact on your success.

Here are 11 common body language mistakes employees make:

Poor posture. How we feel affects how we stand. In order to be perceived as confident, you must stand tall, with your neck elongated, ears and shoulders aligned, chest slightly protruding, and legs slightly apart, distributing weight evenly, Reiman says. “This does several things. It changes the chemicals in our brain to make us feel stronger and more confident, and it gives the outward appearance of credibility, strength, and vitality.”

People often slump their shoulders either due to bad backs, fatigue, lack of confidence, or general disregard. “This will give others the impression of insecurity, laziness, and a general sense of unhappiness.”

Not being in sync. When we like someone, we naturally match and mirror their voice, tone, tempo, body posture, and movements, says Patti Wood, a body language expert and author of “SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions Body Language and Charisma.” “If you were to watch the conversation on a video, it might look like you’re dancing with the other person. If you don’t ‘dance’ with your teammates it can make you look you're not interested in what they are saying, you are not a good team player, or, in the extreme cases, that you are lying.” 

Fidgeting and “big” hand movements. In business, small gestures tend to demonstrate the biggest points. “It is rare to see the alpha of the group wildly flailing about,” Reiman says. “Powerful business people tend to use smaller, more subtle hand gestures to demonstrate their point with authority.”

However, so many people in the workplace today make big hand gestures or fidget with their hands, phone, or hair. “This demonstrates weakness and a lack of confidence.”

Giving no physical feedback or facial expression. A big mistake a lot of employees make that can be detrimental to their success: They show no empathy or interest in what their colleagues are saying. “We often express interest through raised eyebrows, smiles, head nods, vocal utterances (like ‘uh-huh’), and leaning forward,” Wood says. “If you don’t give feedback physically, people think you don’t care, that you’re stuck up, and host of other negative attributes.”

No eye contact. "Cultural respective eye contact is one of the main components of nonverbal communication," Reiman explains. The ability to gaze at another while speaking denotes authority, confidence, and presence. “Studies suggest that holding eye contact while speaking has an enormous impact on your ability to persuade. Lack of eye contact often implies deception,” she says. When breaking eye contact, it is better to break off to the left or to the right, as looking down suggests insecurity.

Bad handshake. Ideally, your handshake should be firm, but not overbearing. “The secret to a great handshake is palm-to-palm contact,” Wood says. You want to slide your hand down into the web of theirs, and make palm-to-palm contact. Lock thumbs, and apply an equal amount of pressure. 

Mismatching verbal and nonverbal messages. Making facial expressions that appear to show the opposite emotional reaction to what you are saying is another common mistake, Wood says. For example: You say, “that sounds great” in a monotone voice, while you cross your arms and roll your eyes. “I believe this is the worst mistake any communicator can make,” she says. “Some people do it as a passive aggressive way of getting their message across.”

Failing to smile. “The smile is accompanied by increased activity in the left pre-frontal cortex — the seat of positive emotions,” Reiman says. Smiling demonstrates confidence, openness, warmth, and energy. It also sets off the mirror neurons in your listener instructing them to smile back, she says. Without the smile, an individual is often seen as grim or aloof. 

“Of course, worse than the ‘non-smiler’ is the ‘permagrinner,’ who smiles too often and is perceived as insincere and misleading,” Reiman adds.

Eye rolling. Eye rolling is a sign of contempt, frustration, exasperation, and aggression, Reiman says. "While for some it's a habit, it is a completely conscious act that can be avoided with self-awareness." Eye rolling signals to your listener that you don’t appreciate or respect them or what they are saying. "This is such a strong signal that researchers have proven that rolling your eyes after a spouse has spoken is a strong predictor of divorce," she says.

Keeping a cell phone out. Employees sometimes place their cell phone between themselves and the person they’re speaking to. “It says, symbolically, that this object is more important than they are, and that the phone is what you’d prefer to interact with.”

Crossing their arms defensively. Look around in a meeting and you’ll likely notice a few colleagues crossing their arms. “You should always keep your hands in view when you are talking,” Wood explains. “When a listener can’t see your hands, they wonder what you are hiding.” To look honest and credible, show your hands.

A Norwegian Town's Dark Days...sun behind hills for 6 months!!

Yearning for sunlight has been a part of life in this quaint old factory town in central Norway for as long as anyone can remember. Here, the sun disappears behind a mountain for six months of the year.

It is worse for newcomers, of course, like Martin Andersen, a conceptual artist who arrived here 12 years ago and would find himself walking and walking, searching for any last puddle of sunshine to stand in. It was on one of these walks that he had the idea of slapping some huge mirrors up against the mountain to the north of town and bouncing some rays down on Rjukan.

The town eventually agreed to try, and last fall, three solar- and wind-powered mirrors that move in concert with the sun started training a beam of sunlight into the town square. Thousands of people turned out for the opening event, wearing sunglasses and dragging out their beach chairs. And afterward, many residents say, life changed.

The town became more social. Leaving church on Sundays, people would linger in the square, talking, laughing and drinking in the sun, trying not to look up directly into the mountain mirrors. On a recent morning, Anette Oien had taken a seat on newly installed benches in the square, her eyes closed, her face turned up. She was waiting for her partner to run an errand, and sitting in the light seemed much nicer than sitting in a car. “It’s been a great contribution to life here,” she said.

But the sun, pale and weak, did not last long. In fact, during the almost three months from Dec. 25 to March 15, the skies were so cloudy that the mirrors produced just 17 hours of sunlight on the square, bolstering the arguments of those who call the project a waste of money.

Most days, in fact, the square just looks like the parking lot it once was. A bone-chilling wind sweeps through it, and there is often the sting of swirling sand that was once put down on snowy roads, but which now drifts over the dreary blacktop.

There has been so little sunlight, in fact, that the solar mechanisms that power the mirror stopped working and the beam disappeared completely for a while. A generator and fuel had to be hauled up the mountain by snowmobile to get things going again.

But most residents do not seem to dwell on such setbacks. Certainly, the mayor, Steinar Bergsland, is not much concerned. Refusing to accept life in the shadows, he said, has brought all kinds of attention to Rjukan, a town built by an industrialist who opened the world’s first large-scale fertilizer plant here between 1905 and 1916.

In the decades that followed, the industrialist, Samuel Eyde, known here as Uncle Sam, built just about everything that stands in Rjukan today. Managers got the houses with the most sunlight. Workers got apartments deeper in the valley. But all the housing was cutting edge for its day. There was indoor plumbing for everyone.

Mr. Eyde understood the yearning for sun, too. Back in 1913, one of his bookkeepers wrote to the local paper suggesting that a giant mirror might work. But instead, Mr. Eyde, who settled here because a waterfall nearby provided an easy means of generating electricity, built a cable car so his employees could go up the mountain to get some sunshine in the winter. The cable car still exists.

But the mirror enthusiasts wanted more. “We were a high-tech town 100 years ago,” Mr. Bergsland said, “and now we are using high tech to get some sun into our valley.

“Of course there were people here who said this is crazy,” he continued, “but a lot of people really liked the idea.”

And tourists have begun to trickle in, including from Oslo, about a three-hour drive away. Many of the businesses here report an uptick in income. If Rjukan becomes one of Unesco’s World Heritage sites next year, as it hopes, that should help, too.

And tourists have begun to trickle in, including from Oslo, about a three-hour drive away. Many of the businesses here report an uptick in income. If Rjukan becomes one of Unesco’s World Heritage sites next year, as it hopes, that should help,                                                           too.

Still, not everyone has embraced the mirrors. In this town of about 6,000 people, some 1,300 signed a petition to block the project. Some opponents, like Robert Jenbergsen, who is studying to become a teacher, have changed their minds. “I thought it would be a waste because we have a lot of bad weather here,” he said. “But when we got the sun, you could see the happiness it brought. We had never seen anything like that before. So, now I think it is great.”

Others, however, have not been impressed. Annar Torresvold, 77, and his wife, Anne-Lise Odegaard, 70, still think that the 5 million kroner, or roughly $840,000, spent on the mirrors might have been better spent elsewhere. They worry about a possible closing of the hospital, the quality of the schools and health care for seniors.

When they want sunshine, they drive to the next town. Or up the mountain to the ski resorts.

“It’s a very costly little spot of sun,” said Mr. Torresvold, who moved to Rjukan after he retired from working in a paper producing plant. “It was very clear what common people thought, and they thought it was a waste of money.”

And Mr. Torresvold thinks the town will end up spending more to keep the mirrors working. “I can’t see this having a long-term effect on things here,” he said. “It’s just a flash in the pan.”

It took nearly a decade for the mirrors to go up. Mr. Andersen began the project, researching the technical aspects and drawing up projects that included rounded mirrors. But once he assured town officials that it could be done, they turned it over to engineers.

Eventually, the mirrors, each measuring 17 square meters, or about 183 square feet, were flown in by helicopter and installed 450 meters, or about 492 yards, above the town square, where their movements are controlled by computers.

These days Rjukan is focused on fixing up the town square. Perhaps a fountain is needed. “You can’t just have a sun mirror shining on a parking lot,” said Mr. Bergsland, the mayor.

Mr. Andersen, who has generally made a living off odd jobs (he is currently a lifeguard at the municipal pool) grumbles a bit that the mirrors are square and that little was done to make the site aesthetically pleasing if someone were to walk into the area on the mountain, as he would have done.

For his next project, he would like to paint a Jules Verne quote — “Look with all your eyes, look!” — in giant letters across the road leading into town. Mr. Verne once visited Rjukan in 1861, Mr. Andersen said. But he is not optimistic.

“It is a simple project, cheap,” he said, sounding a bit annoyed. “But the town has already turned me down. They would not consider it.”

In India... If u Want your rights? Repeal the laws

India’s obsession with passing new laws to get rights really annoys me. Is it really tough to understand that we as humans already have rights? We don’t need state’s approval to have food or education. We don’t need a new law to practice our rights as long as we’re not hurting some other person’s rights. If I want to get educated or get food without hurting some other person’s rights, I can just go ahead and do it! Every time a new law is enacted, it is projected as if it is giving Indians some new “right to food” or “right to education” or “right to sell stuff on streets”. However, in reality it only takes away the rights of others in some manner. Let me discuss two recent laws which annoy me the most.

1.   “Right to Food Act”

Really? Do you see the name used to popularize the act among people? It is actually named “National Food Security Act, 2013”. In reality, neither does this bill give you a “right to food” nor does it “secure food for the nation”. If we read the bill we will see clearly that it subsidizes food for 75% of rural and 50% of urban population. Who comprises that is left for the government to decide. Nevertheless, let us remind ourselves that government does not have any money of its own which it uses to subsidize things. It acquires most of its funds through indirect taxes. Indirect taxes suck up a higher percentage of an economically poorer person’s income when compared to an economically richer person. So in short, this law taxes the poorer and subsidizes the food for the richer. It is increasing the income disparity among the rich and poor under the pretext of the famous “reducing the gap between rich and poor”. Also, the cost at which rice, wheat and millet is being promised under the act is far less than the actual market cost of these foods. So, producing these costs more than what selling them costs and the whole country is bearing the loss. Oh! And do not say its subsidized, coz as mentioned above; you now know how subsidy works. With proposed reforms in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and formation of the State Food Commissions to ensure that the act is implemented, the cost of implementation of this act on paper is estimated to be $22 Billion (1.25 lac crore rupees). Well, that’s what is ‘on paper’. We all know how things work in India. There is one system which is intended to be and then there is another which actually is.

2.  “Right to Education Act”

“Yay! So now we have a ‘right’ to education.” Period! This act is actually named “The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act”. Firstly, what can be ‘free’ and ‘compulsory’? By ‘free’ it surely does not mean that children are free to opt or not opt for it, it means without money. If you continue to believe in the word ‘free’ education, ‘free’ health care etc. after reading above how subsidies work in India, please spare me and do not read this article any further. The education under this act is not only ‘subsidized’ but also ‘compulsory’! So you might be put behind bars if you opt out of it! You have to get your children educated. This reminds me of a case I heard from a friend where a Russian who was detained by the Soviet Union was released years later when he grew old and the reason for his release was that he no longer can work and contribute to the country so he is no more the property of Soviet Union. I see the same principle applied here. So, people are the property of the state? A state who can force compulsory education on them on the pretext that they cannot decide what is good for them. We all know a government is not made of some super intelligent experienced people who have all the good intentions to work for people. They’re rather people like you and me who desire a living and have a family to feed. The only difference being that those men are power hungry. And does that make them eligible enough so that they can leave no room for choice by poor people and impose what they feel is right? As far as child labor is concerned, it is worthy to note how child labor came to an end in America. It is a flawed analogy that if we force children to go to school, they won’t be able to work and thus we reduce child labor. Rather, children who have to work will anyways work, now, in poorer conditions in hiding with threat to their and their parent’s lives and with bribing for survival. Conditions for them are now worse! Well, that was my rant over just the title of the bill. Now let’s look within. The act makes it mandatory for the private schools to reserve 25% seats for ‘disadvantaged’ children. Although constitutionality of this clause is being debated in the Supreme Court but I have little faith on it being removed as the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitor general argue in favor of this clause saying that this is in line with the basic structure of the socialist scheme of the constitution. When lawyers advocate socialism in courts, how much of individual freedom can we expect from the system? I don’t understand how lawyers employed by the government are expected to fight for justice even though it maybe against the government. Will you fight a case against your employer? Or, if you want to, will you continue to be in employment? Isn’t this simple logic? Anyway, why is 25% reservation is private schools a problem? They have such high fee after all! For people who don’t know, in India you can’t run a school or a College ‘for profit’. At least, legally! Also of course if a class which had 100 students paying for the education, now has only 75 students paying with rest 25 free loader students. So who do you think is going to pay for those 25 kids’ education? Charity is good but is it moral enough to mandate charity on people even if they don’t wish to do it? Let me make one more thing really very clear here and now. Since I’m against forcing people paying for some unknown kids’ education, it does not mean that I want those kids to remain uneducated for life. Please see the difference here, I only mean that this is not the right way to get them education. Most people who are ‘for’ such education welfare schemes are actually ‘for’ it because they think the poorer children should also have an opportunity to get educated. I too think so. But the “Right to Education” Bill closes other doors of such opportunity for these kids. When I say “private school”, most people imagine the big expensive private schools with huge fields and classrooms equipped with the most modern technologies. Very few would know that there are “small budget private schools” in our country and under our “right to education” laws these schools are illegal. These schools are illegal because they cannot meet the standards which a private school should have under government laws. So, our fantastic education laws first prohibit small budget schools from operating, then mandate big expensive private schools to have 25% reservation or the poorer kids. Not only that, most poorer kids who want to get educated can avail education only in the Government schools of their locality which might be having the standard playing grounds, numbers of tables and chairs but definitely not so good teachers, in fact, let me say that clearly, bad teachers. What I don’t get is people’s obsession with passing new laws. New laws are not the solution. Repealing the old ones is. If you want a right, see what is prohibiting it and just get rid of it. I think almost every Bollywood fan would have hummed this song from Rockstar but did you ever actually get into the ] lyrics where it says:

“Marzi se jeene ki bhi main
Kya tum sabko arzi dun
Matab ki tum sabka mujhpe
Mujhse bhi zada haq hai”

Come on people, you can’t deny the fact that you own yourselves coz you do and you know it. As long as you are peacefully living your life, no one has the right to decide things for you and similarly you do not have the right to decide things for others. As far as making mistakes in life is concerned, everyone does that. When you or I make a wrong decision if affects our lives. But when a politician or a policy makes a wrong decision and imposes it on others, it ruins many lives. People in the government are like you and me and they too make mistakes. It’d be smarter to let individuals take decisions for themselves and make mistakes which affect them rather than trying to protect them and giving power to one person (who we call representative) to make mistake on all of us’ behalf. Remember your teenage and remind yourselves.

“There is no freedom if you do not have the freedom to make mistakes.”

the Pre election effects on Indian market

Since early February, the BSE Sensex has risen by more than 11 per cent level, taking an already inflated index to record highs. The Bombay Stock Exchange that experienced one rally between August-end last year and January-end this year (which delivered a 19 per cent rise in the Sensex), has witnessed another bull run (Chart 1). Given the nature of this market, it does not taken rocket science to establish that the surge in the index is because of a spike in investor demand for the limited amount of actively traded stocks.

If financial investors are seen as even vaguely rational, this would be surprising. Rising equity values imply that investors are expecting the returns from the underlying assets to rise sharply. But all other indicators point to flagging demand, a deceleration in growth and a profit squeeze. Once again, with a vengeance, the stock market seems to be daring the real economy to go against its predictions and take a turn for the worse from its already sagging levels.

As is normal, in search of explanations for these contrary trends in the “markets”, on the one hand, and the real economy, on the other, analysts have been grabbing at straws. The weakest of them is the argument that expectations that a stable government with a business friendly Prime Minister will be delivered by the elections in April and May, is driving investors to grab stocks of firms that would profit from the coming boom.

Underlying even this explanation is the presumption that the bull run the market is experiencing is driven by speculation. Speculation about the outcome of the election. Speculation about the nature of the next government. And speculation that when that government does what it is expected to do, profits would rise enough to warrant the high valuations. Despite these extremely tenuous grounds, the explanation of why the ‘market’ is behaving as it is implicitly justifies its irrational exuberance.

There are many reasons why the final outcome, let alone the sequence of events leading up to it, may not coincide with expectations. To start with, though the psephologists are near unanimous in predicting a one-sided result, the election outcome may be more divided, throwing up another government that cannot wantonly reward Indian business as markets expect it to do. Second, even if a government with a comfortable majority is formed, the task of addressing the current stagflationary tendencies in the economy is unlikely to prove easy. Pushing growth with government spending and transfers to the private sector could aggravate inflation. On the other hand, attempts to rein in inflation may dampen growth further. Finally, there is no evidence that any government that is likely to come to power will deviate from the UPA’s neoliberal economic agenda, which does seem to have generated the current growth slow down and the associated cost-push inflation. So reversing the downturn would require more than just ‘any’ change in government.

If expectations are belied, a collapse of the current bubble is inevitable. As noted earlier, the current spike in markets began from index levels that were already high, which is why it took just a few days for the index to cross its previous record high. Clearly there are many investors rushing into the market believing that the boom would last long enough for the to book profits. That could prove true for some time. But, when the euphoria is shown to be what it is, the market can experience a sudden and sharp downturn as it has often in the past.

What then is the real cause for the current irrational rally. One is that India is a beneficiary of a continuing search for speculative profits on the part of international finance. In the month of March 2014, for example, net FII inflows totalled more than Rs.20,000 crore, which was close to the Rs.22,168 crore in May 2013, and well above the previous peak of Rs.15,706 crore in October 2013. But it was clearly not just FIIs who were rushing into the market, and driving the index. The band of domestic investors too included a fair share of speculators. The herd instinct keeps them all going.

However, there is one difference between the current trend and what was witnessed during much of the period when “Quantitative easing” in the US and elsewhere was injecting large volumes of cheap liquidity into internal markets. During those years, most emerging markets (barring those with special problems) were recipients of cross-border capital flows and experienced buoyancy in their equity markets. This time around, with the Federal Reserve’s decision to taper its easy money policy having reduced liquidity injection and threatening to raise interest rates, investors seem more selective. In Asia, Thailand and South Korea (besides India) are experiencing buoyancy in markets (Chart 2), whereas Malaysia is not. Elsewhere, the US S&P 500 has gained more than 25 per cent since December, whereas Brazil’s Bovespa and Russia’s Micex have experienced large losses. With less liquidity around investors are targeting particular countries, but can shift attention on the flimsiest grounds. That makes the speculative bubble fragile.

It needs noting that gains in India’s markets have been significantly larger than in other “successful” emerging markets. This may not be unrelated to the elections. Not because the hope of a stable government the election holds enthuses investors. Rather, funds for financing elections could indeed be transferred to some recipients through purchases of shares at inflated prices. It could be possible that “illicit” money being brought back to the country to fund election expenses is being routed through the market. There is no evidence or proof of this. But if true, it imparts some rationality to market behaviour. 

Now the banking goes social with Kotak Jifi. sign up using facebook

                                        

Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched Jifi, a fully-integrated social bank account with youth as the target segment. Jifi transcends digital banking by seamlessly incorporating social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook with mainstream banking, the bank said.

Jifi is a zero-interest current account with no minimum balance conditions, and can be opened with an initial payment of Rs 5,000. All balances over Rs 25,000 automatically move into term deposits at applicable interest rates.

top 5 ways for balancing your career and your relationship.

No one ever said managing a career was easy. Throw a relationship into the mix and you've got career suicide, right? Wrong. While we'd all love to forgo a day of work in exchange for a fun-filled day with our significant other, having a strong relationship doesn't mean your occupational goals have to suffer. It's quite the opposite!

The different flavors of KISS

 Ah, kissing! Who doesn't love to kiss? The feel of someone else's lips on your mouth, your neck, your ear… A kiss can be dirty, interrogative, or chaste; it can be placed anywhere on your body; it can last for less than a second or several hundred seconds. Kissing is one of the most universal acts of love—almost everyone does it at some point .But you would not be knowing about the various flavors of kiss that one can do.

Why is young generation always tired and sleepy?

Trouble getting up on school days, dozing off in class, marathon lie-ins at weekends ... You’d be forgiven for thinking teenagers sleep their lives away.

In fact, the opposite is true. Sleep experts say teens today are sleeping less than they ever have. This is a worry, as there's a link between sleep deprivation and accidents, obesity and cardiovascular disorders.

Physiological changes, social pressures and external factors such as TVs and other stimulating gadgets in the bedroom contribute to late nights and mood swings.

Lack of sleep also affects teenagers' education, as it can leave them too tired to concentrate in class and perform to their best ability in exams.

Teen sleep thieves

Our sleep patterns are dictated by light and hormones. When light dims in the evening, we produce a chemical called melatonin, which gives the body clock its cue, telling us it’s time to sleep.

“The problem is that society has changed,” says Dr Paul Gringras,

consultant paediatrician and director of the Evelina Paediatric Sleep Disorder Service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

“Artificial light has disrupted our sleep patterns. Bright room lighting, TVs, games consoles and PCs can all emit enough light to stop the natural production of melatonin.”

Other distractions include mobile phones and instant messaging, which teens may use well into the night.

These all worsen the usual changes taking place in the body during adolescence, which means teenagers fall asleep later in the evening.

“That wouldn’t be a problem if there was no need to get up early in the morning for school,” says Dr Gringras.

“The early-morning wake-ups mean they’re not getting the average eight to nine hours of sleep. The result is a tired and cranky teenager.”

Several school districts in the US have introduced later start times for pupils in an effort to improve their performance, although results have been mixed.

How the body clock affects sleep

"Catching up on sleep at weekends isn’t ideal. Late nights and long lie-ins further disrupt the body clock," says Dr Gringras.

In severe cases, an individual’s body clock can be so different to everyone else's that they can’t fall asleep until late at night. This condition is called delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). It's similar to the feeling of jet lag and is a disorder of the body’s timing system.

Treatment for DSPS includes bright light therapy – such as exposure to a bright light for about half an hour every morning – and chronotherapy, which involves restoring the individual’s natural sleep phase.

“Sometimes we give a small dose of melatonin in the evening, about an hour or so before bedtime,” says Dr Gringras. “Over the long term, this helps to reset the body clock.”

“However tired they feel, they should avoid lie-ins at the weekend. They should get exposure to outdoor light,” he says.

Best exercises for a flat stomach

A bulging stomach is a problem area for most mortals. Even those who are naturally thin tend to develop a paunch as they step into their 30s.

Our stomachs store fat for a number of reasons; these reasons range from the genetic to plain abuse of food and drink, with little to no exercise. Often, those who invest heavily in exercise and diet to banish the bulging stomach, do so with a vague and incorrect idea of what is needed for a flat stomach. Today, we give you a few exercises that will strengthen and create lean abdominal muscles, help you eliminate a flabby belly and give you a flat stomach that helps you fight disease and ill-health.

The key to a flat stomach is combination

To kick that tummy fat, simply belting away crunches or pushups is not enough. A solo act can't lead to a flat tummy or fat loss. Fitness expert, Sophia Yasmin says, "In my opinion spot reduction is not possible, there is no way to target a particular part of the body for fat loss."

Your goal should be to build muscle, and focus on fat loss. Whether you are able to drop weight before attempting muscle toning, or tone muscle and then cut fat, depends entirely on how overweight you are, and how many inches you need to lose.

Follow patterned full body exercises like skipping and running to burn energy at an elevated heartrate. The kind of food you eat also helps to cut down that visible and visceral fat. A balanced healthy diet is essential for stomach fat loss.

Drink plenty of water and stay off from stress and anxiety and limit your salt intake. Besides get enough sleep to kick your belly fat.

Mentioned ahead are exercises that will help get a flat stomach.

Note: These exercises will only help you get rid of stomach fat if you practise them in combination with a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet.

Funky standing abs

This is one of the best and easiest exercises to begin with. Stand with your feet below your shoulders, and then tighten your abs slowly bending your knees.

Tilt your pelvis forward, so that your back is curved. Come back to the centre and tilt pelvis backward. Perform this exercise 15 times on either side, or as your workout permits.

Chair leg lifts

Perform this exercise using any kind of chair.

All you have to do is, sit straight with your back flat against the chair, place your hands on the seat of your chair, then slowly lift your knees towards your chest and slowly restore them back.

Carry out slow breathing while doing this. Perform this 2 set exercise at least 10-15 times.

Crunches

This is a good exercise for upper, lower and oblique abdominal muscles. Begin by lying flat on the ground, with your feet placed firmly on the ground, clasp your hands behind your head.

Raise your upper body by squeezing your abdominal muscles and when you are halfway through, hold on for 3 seconds.

Then bring back your body back to floor, slowly. Do at least 30 crunches per set.

Perpendicular exercise

Lie flat on your back, with your hands behind your back. Breathe out, as you lift your legs over your hips so they are perpendicular to the floor; slightly extend the distance between your legs.

Breathe in as you lower down your legs. Start up with 4 to 5 sets, and then increase it to 10.

Dumbbell bends

This exercise is useful for your oblique muscles. Start with grabbing a dumbbell, holding it in your right hand; see to it that your palm is facing your body.

Your feet should be at a shoulder-width distance. Slowly place your left hand on your hip and bend your upper body towards the right, while keeping your head and body facing forward.

Bring back your body to normal position and then repeat the same movement on the left side. Practice 20 repetitions.

Bicycle exercise

Bicycle is the best exercise for toning your stomach. It helps by keeping your stomach stable, along with movements, which burns fat.

Perform this exercise by lying on the floor, place your hands behind your head and bring your knees off the floor.

Bring your right elbow towards your left knee while performing cycling motion, and then switch your elbow position.

Side exercise

This exercise targets your oblique, core muscles and shoulders. Stand straight, with your feet at approximately the width of your hips. Slowly bend your knees and hold dumbbells in each hand.

Lift your hands up, so that the dumbbells are above your head and relax. Then lean your arms, head and torso to the right till 2 counts, then come back to the original position and then repeat it to the left side.

Carry out at least 10 repetitions.

Planks

Lie on the floor, with your face down, upper body supported on your forearms. Raise your entire body off the floor, with the support of your forearms and toes form a straight line.

Carry out 3 repetitions, with 15 to 20 seconds hold.

Clock exercise

To carry out this exercise, you may need an exercise ball. Rest your back on the ball with your feet aligned with your hips.

Stretch your arms over your head, contracting your abdominal muscles, and then rotate your body like a clock. Carry out 10 rotations in each side.

10 Ways To Win his Heart

A lot of women find it pretty easy to figure out if the guy they are seeing is The One. Some of us know by the middle of the first date. He wants kids. Check. He loves his career but says family comes first. Check. He has all of his teeth. Check. But for guys, figuring out if a woman has long-term potential can be a complicated process. Sure, there are red flags that send them running (like the lady who tattooed a guy's name to her face hours after meeting him), but for the most part, it's subtle behaviors that help you evolve from Miss Right Now to Mrs. Right. Take a look at the 10 surefire ways to make a guy fall in love with you.

1.    Maintain a little bit of mystery. 

He doesn't need to know you wear Spanx and he definitely doesn't need to see you struggle pulling them on. It's like looking behind the curtain in Oz. Some things they just don't want or need to know.

2.    Be an independent woman.

 Just because you are in a relationship now doesn't mean you have to spend every minute with him. In fact, being a clinger is a real turn-off. Make sure to maintain your own life and do things without him. Allowing him to miss you once in awhile will make getting together that much more exciting.

3.    Make him feel like he's needed. 

Nothing feels better than being wanted or needed -- and not just in the bedroom. Let him do things for you and feel that he is taking care of you sometimes. This can be as simple as helping you fix something around the apartment or picking you up from the airport.

4.   Kiss chemistry. 

From a gentle, sensual peck to full on make-out session, there should be sparks. He should crave your lips and vice versa.

5.    Give him an eyeful. 

A sexy, come-hither look can send shivers down a guy's spine. It also lets him know how much he turns you on, which is a great ego boost.

6.   Ask how his day was and really listen to his answer. 

Let him know it's not always about you. Give him a chance to vent when he needs it. Don't interrupt or interject, just let him talk. He'll love the fact that you really listen to him.

7.    Be confident. 

Men love a woman who loves herself. That doesn't mean be vain or self-centered, but rather walk with your head tall and carry yourself as though you know you are a gorgeous, great catch.

8.   Exercise your funny bone. 

Just as important as sex appeal is a sense of humor. Nothing is cooler than a girl who can crack a joke -- and better yet, take one.

9.   Show your friend potential. 

Does he feel like he can open up to you? A smart guy knows that a keeper is someone he can confide in and trust with his thoughts and feelings.

10. Don't overreact to small things. 

Nothing sends a guy running faster than a drama queen.