I used to hate waking up for work. Three alarms, two cups of coffee, and one commute later, I'd still feel groggy and unproductive a few hours into my day. My solution: Stop waking up for work and start waking up for myself. Now I get up earlier, but to head to the gym — not the office. Rethinking mornings as time for myself made getting up so much easier and, yep, now I count myself firmly in the morning person camp.

Waking up earlier isn't for everyone, despite the Silicon Valley techies who prescribe "sleep hacking" and subsisting on five hours per night.

"Our sleep needs are biologically determined," says Pradeep Bollu, M.D., a board-certified sleep specialist and neurologist with MU Health Care. "In order to feel refreshed in the morning, we need to pay off our sleep debt i.e., the biological sleep requirement every night. "Most adults require about 7-8 hours of shuteye per a 24-hour period. Less than 5% need less than 6 hours, and another 5% should actually get more than 8 hours.

In other words, in order to wake up earlier, you'll have to go to bed earlier too. Short-changing yourself on sleep can affect your judgment, mood, ability to learn, and in the long run can lead to health problems like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, according to Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine.

The key to becoming a morning person is going to bed and waking up at relatively the same time every day — even weekends. "This will help our brain understand when to go to sleep and wake up," Dr. Bollu says. "By doing this, we are letting our internal or circadian clock run during specific hours during the daytime and letting it be inactive during the nighttime." Try gradually moving your schedule back 15 or so minutes at a time to help your body to adjust.

Coffee and other stimulants like tea and chocolate can mess with this internal clock when you have them later in the day. Opting for decaf at least 5 hours before bedtime will make following the same schedule easier instead of tossing and turning at night. Stick to about 300-400 mg caffeine (about three 8-ounce cups of coffee) daily if you're having trouble sleeping, says Jaclyn London, MS, RD, CDN, Nutrition Director at the Good Housekeeping Institute.

Everything begins in the heart and mind. Every great achievement began in the mind of one person. They dared to dream, to believe that it was possible. Take some time to allow yourself to ask “What if?” Think big. Don’t let negative thinking discourage you. You want to be a “dreamer.” Dream of the possibilities for yourself, your family and for others. If you had a dream that you let grow cold, re-ignite the dream! Fan the flames. Life is too short to let it go.

Yes, your dream needs to be big. It needs to be something that is seemingly beyond your capabilities. But it also must be believable. You must be able to say that if certain things take place, if others help, if you work hard enough, though it is a big dream, it can still be done. Good example: A person with no college education can dream that he will build a $50 million-a-year company. That is big, but believable. Bad example: That a 90-year-old woman with arthritis will someday run a marathon in under three hours. It is big all right, but also impossible. She should instead focus on building a $50 million-a-year business! And she better get a move on!

The great achievers have a habit. They “see” things. They picture themselves walking around their CEO office in their new $25 million corporate headquarters, even while they are sitting on a folding chair in their garage “headquarters.” Great free-throw shooters in the NBA picture the ball going through the basket. PGA golfers picture the ball going straight down the fairway. World-class speakers picture themselves speaking with energy and emotion. All of this grooms the mind to control the body to carry out the dream.

One reason many dreams never go anywhere is that the dreamer keeps it all to himself. It is a quiet dream that only lives inside of his mind. The one who wants to achieve their dream must tell that dream to many people. One reason: As we continually say it, we begin to believe it more and more. If we are talking about it then it must be possible. Another reason: It holds us accountable. When we have told others, it spurs us on to actually doing it so we don’t look foolish.

Every dream must take the form of a plan. The old saying that you “get what you plan for” is so true. Your dream won’t just happen. You need to sit down, on a regular basis, and plan out your strategy for achieving the dream. Think through all of the details. Break the whole plan down into small, workable parts. Then set a time frame for accomplishing each task on your “dream plan.”

Boy, wouldn’t life be grand if we could quit before this one! Unfortunately the successful are usually the hardest workers. While the rest of the world is sitting on their sofas watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island, achievers are working on their goal—achieving their dream. I have an equation that I work with: Your short-term tasks, multiplied by time, equal your long-term accomplishments. If you work on it each day, eventually you will achieve your dream. War and Peace  was written, in longhand, page by page.

He added that it would be implemented soon after approval of the Sindh Assembly, but in the meantime, online bus transport services could continue to run.

“Legislation for the online transport companies will be business-friendly so as to encourage more investment in the sector,” he said.

FIA arrests four in fraudulent taxi service case in Lahore

Clarifying the government’s stance, the provincial minister said online ride-hailing services were not being discontinued and the Sindh government was keen to provide better travel facilities for the people. “We assure the private companies, which provide this service in Karachi or other cities, that they will receive all possible support from our government,” he said. “These companies are doing our duty as comfortable and accessible transport is the government’s responsibility.”

Quashing rumours that the provincial government had plans to discontinue the online transport service, he said, “We encourage these transport companies so that they can bring maximum facilities to the public.”

In 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan promised that the federal government would buy and operate buses on the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route. “We are waiting for the federal government to fulfil its promise and start the BRT route,” he added.

Responding to the criticism on his party’s performance, the minister said, “There is an impression that the Sindh government is not doing anything in Karachi, which is not correct as many mega projects of mass transit are in the planning phase.”

He acknowledged that the projects should have been planned 10 years ago, however, it was being done now. “In collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), next year we will begin construction work on the Red Line bus project, which is the world’s first bus project to be operated through environment-friendly biogas.”

Moreover, the government was working with the World Bank to launch the Yellow Line bus project, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2019.

Reference: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2110619/8-online-ride-hailing-services-enter-karachi/

Are you on the lookout for a home in a different city? Imagine taking a tour of all your options without having to travel at all. This is possible with 3D modelling, which has made its mark in the real estate market all over the world.

The best part is that these 3D models are not just marketing gimmicks, they actually have numerous benefits for all parties involved. Agents and developers can greatly improve their business models if they use 3D modelling technologies as it puts them in a leading market position. In addition to that, it also has the potential to attract numerous customers.

Instead of showing customers a few properties over a number of days, agents can now present them with a wide range of options right in their office. In doing so, they can save significant amounts of resources by making visual 3D models of the listings available online. This in return will also help save on the cost and manpower of property tours for prospective buyers.

Usage of 3D models can assist agents as well as developers in making more informed and customised decisions. If an apartment or house is incomplete, customers can get an idea of the finished product, along with 3D rendered customisations. One of the local companies that has implemented this new-age technology is the eminent real estate portal Zameen.com

Zameen.com is the only Pakistani brand that offers exclusive virtual 3D tours of various projects online for people to explore from all over the world. This is beneficial for both, the developers and the buyers, and helps improve customer satisfaction.

The practical aspects of 3D modelling are quite vast, and this technology can be helpful with legal matters as well. In the planning stages, developers can create 3D models to ensure that they meet all legal parameters set by the authorities for the property type they are developing. The 3D model can be kept as a record that can be used for future reference as well.

Not just for developers, this technology makes things much easier for customers as well. Whether someone wants to purchase or sell their house, a 3D model can make the process very convenient. Anyone who has sold their house knows how much of a hassle it can be to have people come in and see it. The place has to be kept clean at all times, and not everyone is comfortable having strangers inspect their rooms. But now, with 3D model technology, prospective buyers can explore the property as many times as they want, and can take all the time they need without having to worry about social concerns.

Buyers have to look over a plethora of houses by taking extensive time out of their schedules. With such 3D tools, both buyers and sellers go through the whole process much more easily by saving time and unnecessary hassles. They can explore as many properties as they want, while sellers can get one comprehensive 3D model made, and then wait for customers to snap up their houses.

If someone is purchasing a property in an under-construction project, 3D models can assist them envisioning what the end product might look like. They can customise their units accordingly, and communicate their ideas to the architects and designers involved.

President Arif Alvi launched the Presidential Initiative for Artificial Intelligence & Computing (PIAIC) a few days ago.

As per the details, “PIAIC is an interdisciplinary hub for mass education, research, and business in artificial intelligence (AI), data science, cloud computing, edge computing, blockchain, and the internet of things (IoT) related fields.”

The initiative comes in a bid to enable Pakistan in making an imprint on the world’s path towards the fourth industrial revolution. It aims to transform the fields of education, research, and business in Pakistan.

One-year programs available under the PIAIC include Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Native Computing, and Blockchain.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a one-year, four-quarter program that has been designed for absolute beginners. The AI program is divided into four quarters, i.e., AI Foundations, Introduction to Data Science and Deep Learning, Deploying AI Solutions, and AI in Practice.

The second program is the Cloud Native Computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Specialist. This one-year program is also split into four parts, i.e., Cloud Native Computing Foundations, Developing Cloud Native Microservices, Kubernetes in Practice, and AWS Application Development.

The third program, Blockchain, includes Foundations of Blockchain, Smart Contract Development, Dapp Development, and Advanced Blockchain Topics.

The registration for the programs starting tomorrow. More details regarding PIAIC can be reached here.

Reference: https://propakistani.pk/2018/12/11/president-alvi-launches-artificial-computing-initiative-piaic/