IMAGINE two people of equal skill applying for a job. Would you pick the person who is less confident? Ever? Quite simply, a positive sense of self can transform your life.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of the bestselling book Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End, has honed the definition down to its essence: “Confidence is the expectation of a positive outcome,” says Kanter. A professor at Harvard Business School, Kanter helps translate textbook concepts about success and attitude into practical results. “The fact is,” she says, “confidence makes you willing to try harder and attracts the kind of support from others that makes ‘winning’ possible.”

In marriage, it makes you more capable of hearing the feelings and criticisms your partner really needs you to hear. In the business world, confidence bridges the chasm between the person who’ll ask for and receive a rise and the employee who accepts the status quo; between the salesperson who gets discouraged by rejection and stops cold-calling and the one who forges ahead and scores the mega sale.

If, like most people, your confidence could use a boost, here are strategies on how to develop it quickly - and keep it working for you the rest of your life.

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Scientists are cooking up new devices to make your kitchen more efficient - and more fun

Matt Mason has seen the future - and it’s fun. As director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in the US, Mason likes thinking about how machines could make our lives easier by doing the tasks we hate, such as cleaning. When it comes to kitchen, he’s confident that within a few decades, robots will be doing most of the boring work, freeing us to relax.

“We think of the kitchen as a place for chores,” says Mason. “But we’re in the process of discovering it as a place we can enjoy.”

So unless you really love to clean, you won’t have to. And the revolution has already begun: the iRobot company has given us the Roomba robotic vacuum, and recently unveiled the Scooba, which vacuums, wet-scrubs and dries hard floors all at once.

Robotic floor cleaners of the future could take different forms, says Dan Kara of Robotics Trends, which tracks developments in automation. He envisions a hard-floor cleaning system that’s built into the wall; it would blow debris to a part of a room where it would be sucked up by a vacuum. Then the system would spray the floor with cleaner, and an arm would mop it up. “This is sheer speculations, of course,” Kara explains, “but you could program it to come on at 3 a.m., and it would just wet-mop the floor for you.”

Ecokitchens

More than just fun, future kitchens will be environmentally friendly. Bruce Beihoff, director of Corporate Innovation and Technology at Whirlpool, foresees appliance systems that recycle energy lost from your oven to heat the kitchen, your water, even the entire room. “We have things like this running in our labs today,” he says.

Your dirty dishwater could also be reused. “It could be sanitise and recycled through a filter.”

The Joy of Cooking

New culinary technologies will also make you look smarter in the kitchen. The best cooks know that an evenly heated skillet is crucial to the perfect sauté: enter Whirlpool’s experiment stovetop, the “powdered bed”. Using microwave-heated ceramic chips instead of an electric element or gas, the system heats pans with near-perfect balance and temperature control. “It gives you extremely even heating,” says Bruce Beihoff. “Maybe ten or 20 times better than the best pan you can buy today.”

Researchers at Whirlpool are also testing an oven that will let you roast a skinless chicken to crispy perfection. “You’d still get the beautiful aesthetics in taste and appearance,” says Beihoff, “but you’d be able to cut back on fat.”

Paul Leuthe of Wolf Appliance Company believes that induction stovetops will be de riguer. They use a magnetic field to heat up pans, bringing water to the boil in half the time it takes now, and also allowing for slow cooking.
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IN PRISON

You spend the majority of your time in an 8′ x 10′ cell.

AT WORK

You spend most of your time in an 6′ x 8′ cubicle!!

IN PRISON

You get three meals a day. (FREE)

AT WORK

You only get a break for one meal and probably have to pay for it yourself.

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You risk the relationship by saying no,
but you are taking a big risk by saying yes

Lend MONEY to a friend, and you’re liable to lose both. But when someone close hits you up for a loan, it can be tough to say no. The first consideration, say financial experts, is whether you can afford it. If you can’t afford to give the money away, you can’t afford to lend it. Next, get it in writing. For big amounts, a repayment schedule helps to legitimise the loan. “It protects the lender, and can make the recipient more comfortable, so they don’t see the loan as charity,” says Howard Levine, a charactered accountant. Should you charge interest? It’s not mandatory, and may have tax implications. But if your money would be earning 5% on a term deposit, charge the same 5%. Or structure it as a loan but forgo the interest on repayment. And if a pal defaults?

For lenders, it’s not just the amount that can cause a rift, but the feeling that you’re being taken advantage of.

Levine advises borrowers not to avoid the topic: “Pay back what you can, even if it’s just a bit. If you can’t pay it back, be up-front. Don’t just ignore it.”

Quick Note:

“I’m very motivated by money. The only thing that would make me happier is more money.”

Simon Cowell

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