62 Websites that will make you smarter

Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” — Albert Einstein

Bonjour Mates! I hope you find this article in the best of your health. Winters are here and I am super excited. Every time, I try to share useful apps, websites, thought-provoking ideas and self-development topics as I keep on discovering new and new stuff. This time, it’s a blasting share. A share that will not only ease you in doing your job but will help you learn thousands of new things if you really want to. I really do care about my readers and I really feel excited whenever I find something valuable to share with you all.

Learning should not end after formal education. Lifelong learning, the ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge can enrich your understanding of different topics and make you a better person every day. Your career, personal life, and total well-being will never be the same if you can commit to some of these awesome resources.

1/ BBC — Future — In-depth coverage of science, health and technology

2/ 5-minute Drops: Learn a new language for no more than 5 minutes per day.

3/ Makezine: DIY projects, how-Tos, electronics, crafts and ideas for makers.

4/ Psychology Today is devoted exclusively to everybody’s favorite subject: Ourselves.

5/ Daily Bits Of: Learn anything, anywhere, with daily courses via email.

6/ Skillshare for Mobile: Learn just about anything.

7/ Medium: Don’t miss the amazing pieces here every week.

8/ The School of Life: A place that tries to answer the great questions of life with the help of culture.

9/ Chalk Street: Learn the things that are important to you.

10/ Guides.co: Modern “How To” guides.

11/ University of Reddit: Learn 1,000’s of new things, from reddit.

12/ Highbrow: Expand your knowledge universe in just 5 minutes a day.

13/ InstaNerd: Be smart, instantly.

14/ Degreed: A lifelong learning platform.

15/ Daily Curiosity: Get informed with 5 new amazing topics, delivered daily.

16/ Lrn: Learn to code at your convenience.

17/ Flowkey: The easiest way to learn piano.

18/ Big Think: Articles and videos featuring expert “Big Thinkers.”

19/ Code School: Learn to code by doing

20/ Lookmunk: Find the best websites to learn something new everyday!

21/ Greatist: Real facts and doable steps for your happiest life

22/ 99U (YouTube) — Actionable insights on productivity, organization, and leadership to help creative people push ideas forward.

23/ Youtube EDU — The education videos that unlock knowledge.

24/ WikiWand — A slick new interface for Wikipedia.

25/ The long read (The Guardian) — In-depth reporting, essays and profiles.

26/ TED Ideas— Insighful essays on creativity, ideas and global issues.

27/ iTunes U — Learning on the go, from some of the world’s top universities.

28/ InsightfulQuestions (subreddit) — Intellectual discussions that are not necessarily genre-specific.

29/ Cerego — Cerego helps you build personalized study plans based on your strengths and weaknesses to retain knowledge.

30/ University of the People — Tuition-free online university that offers higher education in multiple course streams.

31/ OpenSesame — Marketplace for online training, now with 22,000+ courses.

32/ CreativeLive — Take free creative classes from the world’s top experts.

33/ Thinkful — 1-on-1 coding mentorship to help advance your career.

34/ Zidbits: Huge collection of fun facts, weird news, and articles on a variety of topics.

35/ Quora — You ask, the net discusses — with top experts and fascinatingback and forth on everything.

16. Digital Photography School — Read through this goldmine of articles to improve your photography skills.

36/ Scientific American: Explores issues that matter including the human mind, earth, and space.

37/ Brain Pickings — Insightful long form posts on life, art, science, design, history, philosophy, and more.

38/ Peer 2 Peer University or P2PU, is an open educational project that helps you learn at your own pace.

39/ MIT Open CourseWare is a catalog of free online courses and learning resources offered by MIT.

40/ Gibbon — This is the ultimate playlist for learning.

41/ Investopedia — Learn everything you need to know about the world of investing, markets, and personal finance.

42/ Udacity offers interactive online classes and courses in higher education.

43/ Mozilla Developer Network offers detailed documentation and learning resources for web developers.

44/ Future learn — enjoy free online courses from top universities and specialist organisations.

45/ Google Scholar — provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles.

47/ Brain Pump — A place to learn something new everyday.

47/ Mental Floss — Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games.

48/ Learnist — Learn from expertly curated web, print and video content.

49/ DataCamp — Learn data science online.

50/ edX — Take online courses from the world’s best universities.

51/ CoffeeStrap: Learn a language by meeting cool people.

52/ Coursmos — Take a micro-course anytime you want, on any device.

53/ Platzi — Live streaming classes on design, marketing and code.

54/ Alison: Free online courses from the world’s top publishers.

55/ Course Buffet: Find and compare hundreds of free online courses.

56/ Now I Know: Learn something new every day, via email.

57/ Curious: Play the game of lifelong learning.

58/ Memrise: Learning, made joyful.

59/ Snapguide: How-to guides on all your favourite topics.

60/ 99U: Actionable insights on productivity and creativity.

61/ Nautilus: A magazine on science, culture, and philosophy for the intellectually curious.

62/ Aeon: A magazine of ideas and culture.

What is your favourite learning website or app that is not on this list?

The Power of Giving

Hello, mates! Long time no see from my side? Yeah! October kept me very busy. Okay then here I am with another useful share for you. This time it’s a very simple yet logical post for my readers. This post is NOT written by me but actually, I have read it somewhere and it is so beautiful and mind-blowing that I just want to share it as it is. So here it goes. Chapter Eight, Point # 10, Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

Both of my dads were teachers. My rich dad taught me a lesson I have carried all my life, and that was the necessity of being charitable or giving. My educated dad gave a lot of his time and knowledge, but almost never gave away money. He usually said   that he would give when he had some extra money but Of course, there was rarely any extra.

My rich dad gave money as well as education. He believed firmly in tithing. "If you want something, you first need to give," he would always say. When he was short of   money, he simply gave money to his church or to his favorite charity.

If I could leave one single idea with you, it is that idea. Whenever you feel "short" or in "need" of something, give what you want first and it will come back in buckets. That is true for money, a smile, love or friendship. I know it is often the last thing a person may want to do, but it has always worked for me. I trust that the principle of reciprocity is true, and I give what I want. I want money, so I give money, and it comes back in multiples. I want sales, so I help someone else sell something, and sales come to me. I want contacts and I help someone else get contact, and like magic, contacts come to me. I heard a saying years ago that went, 

"God does not need to receive, but humans need to give."

My rich dad would often say, "Poor people are greedier than rich people." He would explain that if a person was rich, that person was providing something that other people wanted. In my life, whenever I have felt needy or short of money or short of help, I simply went out or found in my heart what I wanted, and decided to give it first. And when I gave, it always came back.

It reminds me of the story of the guy sitting with firewood in his arms on a cold freezing night, and he is yelling at the pot-bellied stove, "When you give me some   heat, then I'll put some wood in." And when it comes to money, love, happiness, sales and contacts, all one needs to remember is to give first.

Often just the process of thinking of what I want, and how I could give that to someone else breaks free a torrent of bounty. Whenever I feel that people aren't smiling at me, I simply begin smiling and saying hello, and like magic, there are suddenly more smiling people around me. It is true that your world is only a mirror of you.

So that's why I say, "Teach and you shall receive." I have found that the more I teach those who want to learn, the more I learn. If you want to learn about money, teach it to someone else. A torrent of new ideas and finer distinctions will come in.

There are times when I have given and nothing has come back or what I have received  is not what I wanted. But upon closer inspection and soul searching, I was often giving to receive in those instances, instead of giving for the joy that giving itself brings.

My dad taught teachers, and he became a master teacher. My rich dad always taught young people his way of doing business. In retrospect, it was their generosity with what they knew that made them smarter. There are powers in this world that are much smarter than we are. You can get there on your own, but it's easier with the help of the powers that be. All you need to be is generous with what you have, and the powers will be generous with you. 

We Rise by Lifting Others

Hello mates! I hope you all are reading this article in the best of your health. I was badly stuck in some of my bad habits and still trying to recover from it, meanwhile, I am writing this article after a very long time. I feel really glad that some of you asked about the next article which keeps me motivated. I feel like if I am helping a single person in this world changing his lifestyle or habits, or bringing any positive change in any person’s personality or in the society, then I am playing my part and I want to take this to next step to help bring a change in the society/community.

The way we are is the way we see the world.

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?' - Brian Tracy

There always comes a time in our lives when there comes an opportunity and just when the time ran out we get to know about that opportunity and then we ask ourselves why anyone didn’t tell me about this opportunity, whether it be a job opportunity, participation in any competition, registration for any startup, showing up for free course or seminars etc.. But do you know the pity part? Most of the time, a friend of ours, sitting next to us, partying with us whom we consider our BFF buddy, ditch us and don’t let us know that an opportunity came and he/she applied or cashed in the opportunity. I know you must be smiling and remembering those friends and people around you who have habits of this genre. But trust me, in this competitive world, it is so common in our daily lives, everyone is competing against each other for no reason, we are in a race that will take any of us nowhere. We need to believe that we only rise by lifting others. We need to share, share and share whether it be a smile. We are so wicked and hateful people that we can’t see someone taking the success steps. All we love to do is to drag every other person, whom we fear will get ahead of us.

Back in October 2014, I published an article on my LinkedIN profile with the name of IMEI awareness for smartphones because I was quite into gadgets thing at that time and my network used to consult me for that so I thought of writing an article to help people. Now today I got a notification and according to stats, that article has been viewed 141,000 times. And yes! I feel satisfied, obliged and contended. How come any of you not feel it helping others?

When I got to know about Google Local Guide a few months earlier, I started posting pictures and reviews on the google maps, I started adding missing places that were not on the map. Yesterday I got a notification that your pictures have helped over 50,000 times. You start by doing small things that what I believe. You start by helping others

What goes around comes around! Easy peasy rule. Sooner or later, this society gonna pay you back no matter what you have done for it. Whether the good you spread or was a part of conflicting motives, at the end it is coming to you. Certainly, I am not bragging about myself, I am just letting you know how little things can make a difference in other’s life as well as in yours. I want to shift the paradigm and change the lens through which we see and think.

Let’s pick a name, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page. We don’t know them personally, but yet we know them. Do you know why? Because they have done something for us, they have given this society what no one had. We use Skype, Facebook, Amazon, Windows and all the products that they made. Have you ever paid a single penny to them? At least I never did. They are successful, you know why? Because they have done something for the humankind and that is how you leave your impact in this world. I think everyone wants to be remembered. Right? Then, in this case, I would recommend start by changing people lives. Start by small things that make a difference for others, things that matter for others. You will feel satisfied and the best part is you are helping yourself and this world will remember you. J

I am going to share with you some of the opportunities that I get to know about recently and rush towards writing this article to share it with you guys before the time runs out. These opportunities are about fully funded Masters in the UK. Yes, you got me right! I am talking about Full Scholarships for Masters in UK/US.

Following are the scholarships are available and currently open to apply:-

·         Melbourne Human Rights Scholarships

·         Louis Dreyfus-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann Scholarship and Leadership Programme at Oxford University

·         Gates Cambridge Scholarships for International Students

·         Clarendon Fund Scholarships at University of Oxford

·         British Chevening Scholarships for International Students

·         Oxford Pershing Square Graduate Scholarships

You can find all the scholarships details on the website scholars4dev.com. All the new scholarships listing from all the world renowned universities are updated on this site weekly. 

The more you pay gratitude, the more you have

Hola! Dear colleagues, mates, seniors and juniors! How was your Eid? One of the best? Or may be the busiest one. I hope you people spent a wonderful Eid with your families. Today I am going to share one of the habit of ultra-successful people, a habit that is practiced by most of the successful businessmen in the world whether he is Jeff Bezos, Howard Schultz, Larry Page, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or whoever he is, a habit that everyone must need to develop and I am hardly working on it and I cannot do this without sharing with you people.

Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotion that you can practice in your everyday life. But unfortunately, we are quite unaware of the benefits of paying gratitude. We are so taking everything for granted that we have almost totally forgotten to accept what things we actually have. The biggest dilemma is that we keep on crying on the things that we don’t have rather than thanking and showing gratitude to the things we have.

I have been studying about habits of ultra-successful people for few weeks and from many habits, what I found the most common habit among all these people is the habit of showing Gratitude. Showing gratitude is no rocket science. It is so simple as walking in the park, but the urge to show is what matters the most.

Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow - Melody Beattie

We live our life at our fullest, I still remember when I first started my job here at CMPak, and one of my very close and old friend who knows me from childhood, asked a wonderful question which brought tears to my eyes. His question was “How it feels like to see your wallet full?” and I replied him with a beautiful smile. Because when I recall, I didn’t have wallet even and now I hardly see it empty ALHAMDULILLAH. In our everyday life, we have uncountable things to pay gratitude.

Let me recall and remind the things which we are taking for granted from years,

• -          We open our wardrobe and see it full of clothes, even at times we get ourselves confused what to wear
• -          We have sincere friends whom we discuss and share our personals
• -          We wear everything branded (Clothes, shoes, perfumes)
• -          We maintain clothes like formal wear, semi-formal wear, casual wear
• -          We maintain shoes like, for running, for formal wear, for hiking, for sports, casual, semi-casual
• -          We open our refrigerator and find so many things to eat and sometimes few of them goes wasted even
• -          We breathe, we walk, we play, we see, and we have all the senses gifted by ALLAH without even asking
• -          We have electricity, gas, and air to live with
• -          We have fresh clean water to drink, cleanse & wash
• -          We are educated, knows good people, works in a good company
• -          We have flow of cash, we earn, spend, save, invest
• -          We have beautiful relations like (siblings, friends, parents, spouse, children)
• -          We live in big houses, sleep on comfortable beds, eat hygienic breakfast, lunch and dinner, play sports
• -          We own cars in which we travel and go to places whenever & wherever we want to
• -          We have the internet to learn so many things and stay connected to the world
• -          We hangout, we spend on luxuries, we spend on tourism
• -          We see our wallet empty, we go to atm machine and fill it up

I mean I could have made this list as long as I could but it would then be too long for one to read. Observe yourself, and your surroundings and you will feel all the amazing things which we are taking granted for years. We not only have necessities, but we have a rich lifestyle.

How to pay gratitude?

As I told you, every successful person has a habit of paying gratitude daily, some do it by simply reminding themselves, some do it by keeping a journal, some do it by daily spending 5 minutes to think on for what they are grateful today and writing on a notepad. There are also multiple apps available which remind you of daily to write for which you’re grateful. But after reading from different blogs, articles, and other sources, I have developed my own way of paying gratitude. One of its kind. I call it WALL OF GRATITUDE. It is as simple as a wall covered in white paper.

Cover one of your bedroom wall with a white paper fully. And on daily basis, whenever you spare few minutes, write 2 – 3 points for what you are grateful for. This way, every time when you look at your wall, you will have a sense of humility, thankfulness, and you will feel more grateful towards your life. Researchers at Princeton University and UCLA found that those people who write in longhand appear to learn better, retain information longer, and more readily grasp new ideas, according to experiments by other researchers who also compared note-taking techniques. The process of taking hand written notes encoded the information more deeply in memory, experts said. Keeping in mind the research I have developed this way of showing gratitude. Others reason of showing gratitude on WALL OF GRATITUDE is once you write on the wall, it will remain in front of you all the times and will keep you reminding of the things on the daily basis that you have and keep you more focused and energetic. And the lastly, it will be a great addition to your room decor as well. J

Why should you pay gratitude is the question now?

Detailed benefits of gratitude can be found in the link below, highlights of which are following

1. Gratitude makes us happier

2. Gratitude makes people like us

3. Gratitude makes us healthier

4. Gratitude boosts our career

5. Gratitude strengthens our emotions

6. Gratitude develops our personality

7. Gratitude makes us more optimistic

8. Gratitude reduces materialism

9. Gratitude increases spiritualism

10.Gratitude makes us less self-centered

11.Gratitude increases self-esteem

12. Gratitude improves your sleep

13. Gratitude keeps you away from the doctor

14. Gratitude lets you live longer

15.  Gratitude increases your energy levels

16.  Gratitude makes you more likely to exercise

17.  Gratitude helps us bounce back.

18.  Gratitude makes us feel good. 

19.  Gratitude makes our memories happier. 

20.  Gratitude reduces feelings of envy

21.  Gratitude helps us relax

22.  Gratitude makes you friendlier

23.  Gratitude helps your marriage

24.  Gratitude makes you look good

25.  Gratitude helps you make friends.

26. Gratitude deepens friendships

27.  Gratitude makes you a more effective manager

28.  Gratitude helps you network. 

29. Gratitude increases your goal achievement

30. Gratitude improves your decision making

31. Gratitude increases your productivity. 

Source for 31 benefits: http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/