This year is the year of the tiger, the third animal in the zodiac. I did a bit of digging (read: Wikipedia-ing) and found some fascinating facts about the majestic cat and its place in the zodiac.

1. The Tiger’s motto is “I Win”. How awesome is that? This year is DEFINITELY your year to succeed, folks.
2. It’s usually associated with spring, the month of February, the element of wood, and the diamond. And a person can never have too many diamonds.
3. Countries that have a stronger connection to the tiger zodiac are Russia, Romania, Spain, Turkey, El Salvador, and North Korea. I wonder how they calculate that?

Victory Stripes

As you can see, the tiger zodiac is a powerful one that heralds success. So, to help you harness some of that energy, here are some tiger wallpapers for you from some amazingly talented people at Deviantart.

Tiger in the Grass by Benbenhotep

Tiger Splat by thegenome

Tiger by Baddad

Jungle Tiger by owdesigns

Night of the Tiger by BlackHawk00021

Tiger, Black and White by tompot

and a white version as well.

Tiger by tommy999999 

Tiger Funkeh Go by artemiscrow

Tiger Girl Wallpaper by mashi

White Tiger by monkeymagico

Wild Tiger by comradekowalski

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While shaving milliseconds off of your daily routine may not sound like much, there are changes that you can make at home to save minutes and even hours. Read on for some ideas.

1. The night before, prepare some juice or milk in a sealable container, and put it in the fridge. In the morning, instead of running out with a biscuit in your mouth, grab the drink. You’ll get your morning perk, it’s healthy, and it’s cooling.

2. Get a tray by the door for all your keys. If you live with someone, consider a separate tray or maybe a hook for only your key bunches, so you can grab everything in one motion.

3. The standby – You can combine this with the key tray. Get a shelf, rack, or even a corner of the kitchen counter that has plug point access. When you come back home, immediately put your phone, music player, PDA, and any other gadget that you might have, on that counter. You don’t necessarily have to charge it (in fact, overcharging is not good for most gadgets), but it’s important that you make a habit of automatically putting your chargeables on that counter, and only then considering whether to charge them. Also make sure that the standby is in a convenient location on your way out so you’ll remember to grab everything in the morning.

4. Is your bathroom in one corner of the house, your towels in another corner, and your laundry basket in a third? You get where I’m going with this, right?

5. Invest in single-portion containers and no-brainer recipe books. On the weekend, cook up a batch each of two recipes (if you share a living space, this is a great ‘together’ activity, or you could even take turns surprising the others!) and store it in those containers. You now have instant fuss-free dinners that you can just heat up and enjoy. (Extra tip: some recipes can be varied with some herbs, garnishing, or seasoning. Experimenting will make you enjoy your food more.)

6. Take number 5 further by investing in a good rice cooker. I’m not sure how common it is in other parts of the world, but in Southeast Asia it’s a staple for most houses. Although most obviously known for cooking rice, the rice cooker can actually be used for a whole variety of dishes, and the best part is that it requires almost no management from you.

7. Stick a piece of paper to your fridge or pantry door, and jot down items as you notice your need for them. If you can, reduce your shopping to once per week, at off-peak hours, so you can get in and out with minimum delay. Also, before you make that trip, look at your list, and sort them by your aisles in the mall. (Bonus prep: The next trip you make to the mall, take a pen and paper and list down the categories in each aisle. You’ll be zipping through the aisles with a smirk on your face.)

8. Lists. They save time, tension, and temper. A list of things you usually pack on trips, a list of documents you need to makes copies of, or even a list of things your kid needs for his field trip. I usually take one weekend morning and make a list of chores and other tasks I need to do. In fact, I find this to be quite motivating.

9. A dry-erase board, or a whiteboard as it’s sometimes known, may be an odd thing to find around the house, but the advantage of having a space to combine grocery lists, to-do lists, birthdays, memos, and anything else, far outweighs the wall space it may take up. Just be sure to stick it in a place you’ll see.

10. Arrange your office clothing in advance. This tip may seem more geared towards women, but you’ll be surprised by the number of men who really wonder if that shirt and that tie go together. Setting aside even ten minutes on the weekend can really work wonders for those frantic mornings.

But can he walk the walk?

Those of you who know me will be surprised that I’m writing a post about time-management, since my own time management skills are less than impressive. However, I find that the best way to commit myself to these changes is to also spread word about them.

I have managed to practice some of these tips at home. All my keys are in a key holder that I cannot miss on my way down the stairs. Since my phone doubles as my alarm, my gadgets are always beside my bed. I’m naturally a list nazi, so I’ve got that covered. And while I don’t have any particular office clothing (ah, the sweet life of a designer), I do find that packing my gym bag the day before saves me a lot of rushing the next morning.

What time management methods do you practice around the house? Share your ideas in the comments section.

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I was recently reading a very inspiring post by Oscar at Freestyle Mind entitled ‘27 Traits of Successful People‘. I highly recommend everyone who wants to be someone (and that should be all of you reading my blog anyway ) to print out that list and put it in a place that you’ll see it often. Make a pop-up card on your desk, pin it up in your cubicle, or stick it on the fridge.

What really struck me in that list, and what I’d like to talk to everyone about, is No. 7.

They smile.

According to Oscar, successful people “smile often and genuinely to rise positiveness and build strong relationships” and I agree with that 100%. I’ve found that I can always get a better response from people, whether it’s faster service, a cheerier waiter, or even an uplifting conversation in the elevator up to the office, by just smiling. A smile is a way to ease anxiety, discomfort, and worry, and also to build trust.

When the mask cracks.

Let’s face it. It’s not always easy to smile. Sometimes the whole day is just out to get you. Sometimes Bob the Co-Worker takes credit for your work. Sometimes your kids greet you at the front door with complaints about who broke who’s toy. And while you can hope that the sounds coming from the washing machine is your laundry doing itself, you just know it’s little Fido the puppy ripping the paint job to bits with his claws.

So what do you do on days like those? It’s a Catch-22 situation. Things would be better, or at least look it, if you smiled, but you’re not smiling because things don’t look good in the first place. If left alone, the situation will only get spiral even worse.

So here are some quick-fixes for you to smile and make that spiral one that is positive, uplifting, and energetic.

1) See funny shapes, even in storm clouds.
Every situation has a potential for humour. Just think about all the comedies you’ve ever seen. Not all of them are about people having fun. Some people get hurt, some people get bullied, and if you’re a South Park fan, even death can be a humorous thing. Imagine yourself as a character in your favourite show. Your ridiculous deadline, your tough boss, your annoying co-worker, everything, toss it into the scene. And imagine someone watching you. Imagine that person having the time of his life watching you. Imagine him with that great big smile on his face.

You’re smiling now, aren’t you? That’s because smiling is infectious. Once you realised that you’ve made someone else smile, you’ll realise that it’s not very hard to smile about the same scenario. You’re going to have to face all of that anyway, so why not get a few giggles out of it?

2) Fake it until you make it.
Yes, it’s a popular mantra used in psychology. Patients are taught to act brave, or confident, or calm, until that act enforces a more natural counterpart. You’ve definitely felt it before. Acting jolly in front of kids boosts your spirit, while acting polite and gentle with the elderly immediately makes you feel more mild-mannered.

The exact same principle applies to smiling and being happy. While you may think it looks silly to force a smile on your face, the truth is very few people will guess that it’s fake. And once you see the effects of your fake smile, your real smile will come naturally. Bob the Annoying Co-Worker is suddenly less sure of his footing with you, making you feel more powerful. Fido’s running to sit down and nuzzle beside you instead of cowering in terror under the couch. And your kids feel so much more connected to you instead of being afraid to tell you things.

3) Sketch, sway, and sing your way.
I thank my lucky stars every time I draw that I was gifted with not only a way to express myself, but a way to make a living doing so. And as you’ll no doubt agree, not everyone is so lucky.

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t call on some creative drive when you need it. I don’t need to quote studies that relate self-expression to mood, do I? Anyone who has doodled on notepads, sung at karaokes, or simply busted a few moves when no one was watching already knows the effect it has. And really, you don’t need to do it well. In fact, the worse you do it, the more fun you’ll probably have.

If you’re feeling down right now, and need a slight boost to your happiness, or you’re just looking for another reason to smile, try these tips out. You’ll find that the day gets just a little more colourful and a little brighter.

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Don’t I know you?If this post looks a little familiar, you’re not imagining things. I found it only appropriate to take my introduction post from my About page.
If you’re seeing this page, you probably want to know more about me, and as you’ll soon find out, I love talking about myself.

I’m Ash Menon (fully Ashvin Menon) and I’m a graphic and web designer based in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. I graduated from The One Academy in 2008 and I’m now working as a full-time web developer. I also do freelance work in the following categories:

• Graphic design (logos, letterheads, name cards, etc)
• Web design and programming (HTML, CSS, XML, PHP, Flash, plus a few more languages I’m currently learning)
• Copywriting (I also provide translation between English and Malay)

In my spare time I also do some advertising work and illustrations, which you may see from time to time in my portfolio (although I try to limit them to my Deviantart and Artician accounts). I live with my family in PJ, which is just outside the nation’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. Between three people and two cats, it’s a house full of life, love, and inspiration.

My aim with this blog is twofold. First, I want to provide a place that designers and developers can come to for reference, guides, hints, cheatsheets, and anything else that helps them in their work. I believe that if I can share my knowledge and make someone else a better designer/developer, then I’ve done a good day’s work. Also, if that designer/developer takes my codes or guides or reference and creates something even better, and shares it, and I learn from it, then I’ve gotten all the reward I could possibly need.

Secondly, I believe that few people realise how emotional the design process really is. For designers, you can’t separate your work from your heart and soul. They feed each other in a constant cycle. I want to provide ways for designers to boost their productivity, happiness, health, and confidence so we enjoy our work more, and we produce better work.

I’m still new at this blogging thing, so I’m going to be making a lot of mistakes, from which hopefully I’ll learn. I hope you enjoy your time here, dear reader.

Every day is Thanksgiving

I have a million people to credit in the process of getting this blog off the drawing board and actually online, but for sake of brevity I’ll list the top 5. They are, in order of whatever comes to mind first, as follows:

David Airey – An excellent logo designer and blogger, David was actually the catalyst for me to get this blog started, even though he has no idea about it. If you ever want to learn more about the way logos are made, his blog is an awesome place to go to.

Abduzeedo – Fabio Sasso and his teammates at Abduzeedo constantly churn out new posts at an amazing rate. Every day I go to their website, I find something new that inspires me.

Zen Habits – Leo Babauta’s blog on simplicity, happier living, and a generally better lifestyle, was in fact the first blog I started reading. The impact it made on me was mind-blowing. I recommend anyone new to self-improvement to read his blog.

Teh interwebz – The millions of people online that I meet everyday, who come from different walks of life, and who bring different things to the wonderful world of creativity.

And finally,

My friends and family – Countless friends, three family members, and two cats. They provide me with inspiration, motivation, and reminders to actually get out once in a while.

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