Counseling is one of the most rewarding jobs. By helping others work through their issues and feel better about themselves, counselors can go home after work and feel great about their jobs. Maintaining one's mental health and reducing stress are becoming recognized as crucial component of a happy life, and more people are turning to counselors to help them work through these issues. Competition, however, can make it difficult for some counselors to attract the customer base they need to succeed. Here are three ways to rev up a counseling career in 2013.

Counselors Can Use Social Media

One of the best ways to reach out to potential patients is to form an online presence. The best way to accomplish this is to take advantage of social media. When looking for a counselor, people want to find someone who enjoys helping others; by using social media, counselors can demonstrate their love of helping by offering free advice online. By allowing anonymous questions and posting helpful answers, counselors can use social media to establish themselves as experts. When using the strategy, it will not be necessary to leave posts designed to draw clients. Instead, those looking for a counselor will look up contact information and take the initiative to schedule appointments.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising for Counselors

Another great way to reach out to potential customers is to use pay-per-click advertising. Using PPC advertising, counselors will only be charged when someone clicks on a link. Many people search the Internet for information about their symptoms before scheduling an appointment, so counselors can place ads targeting these keywords to attract those who are looking for help but they do not yet feel comfortable with scheduling an appointment. If these links point to a helpful landing page, many of these visitors may decide to take steps to schedule an appointment. Fortunately, PPC advertising can be done on a local basis, so counselors can ensure that their ads are only seen by those who live nearby. It is important to track the performance of ads over time and remove those which are performing poorly while investing more and those that perform well. Sophisticated analysis tools make this task simple and straightforward, and the time spent learning about PPC is well worth it.

Community Outreach

A common technique people in many industries have relied on the past is reaching out to the community. Car dealers, in particular, make sponsoring events a top priority, and many lawyers use this technique as well. Counselors are not allowed to use television and radio advertisements, so their options for getting their name out may be limited. These community outreach efforts, however, are a great way to interact with others and build a reputation. Fortunately, community outreach does not need to be expensive, and there are a number of ways to interact with attendees of a local event. Hiring a local masseuse and offering the massages as a way of relieving stress may be enough to send the message that one is concerned about helping others and improving the lives of those in the community. In addition, community outreach is fun; most who participate continue to do so in future years.

Over time, counselors build strong client bases that are enough to sustain their businesses. Building this initial client base, however, can be challenging, and new counselors may struggle more than those who have been practicing for years. By taking advantage of recent online trends, counselors can build their brand names and become important parts of their communities.

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Tim Newberg is a career counselor and guest author at Best Masters in Counseling, where he contributed to the guide to The Top 10 Best Online Master's Programs in Counseling.

Are you overtraining? I will guess that your automatic answer will be 'No' but did you even think about the answer before you said it? Overtraining actually affects far more people than is generally realized. In fact, many people aren't getting the maximum benefit from their workout programs because of regular states of semi-overtraining.

Why does this happen?

Overtraining Basics

First of all there are no clear cut boundaries or rules for overtraining. It's not like you can say, "Oh I worked out 5 times this week for a total of 10 hours therefore based on my bodyweight and age I am not overtrained. It is a direct result of everything that your body is currently dealing with along with workouts such as stress, sleep, food, and injury or sickness.

Generally speaking many of us try and do too much. We push as hard as we can and then hit a wall. This happens in many facets of life where we feel we can do anything with the right attitude and overcome any limitations. But in the case of overtraining, you can't.

When you get to a state where your body can't fully recover there is no mental 'pep talk' that you can give yourself to make it better. You body needs one thing and one thing only; rest. The recovery system has been overwhelmed and now can't catch up which creates a vicious cycle. Yes, you see videos of elite athletes pushing themselves continually and saying you have to 'want it' but what you don't see is the chef preparing their food, the 8 hours of sleep they get every night, or the post workout massage and protein shake they enjoy.

Your body needs rest and you can never get around that.

Let's Be Honest

Do you get enough rest? Per numerous studies the majority people either get too little sleep or not restful enough sleep. That means your body probably doesn't have the time to go through a proper rest and recuperation phase (which is also where muscle strength and growth gains come into play). Maybe it was a rough week at work or you had projects to do. Obviously you want to be healthy so you won't skip out on the gym; instead you skip out on some sleep and drink more coffee the next day.
But that only increases the problem.

Avoiding Overtraining


What is the easiest way to always avoid overtraining? Add an extra day of rest to your schedule each week. Many people get overly concerned that they will lose valuable gains in muscle and weight loss from taking a day off. But the body functions better and more efficiently when well rested compared to when stressed. Do you know how you feel after a great vacation where you have a few days of getting full nights of sleep? That is your body responding with a higher level of energy because of the rest.

So take that attitude about your weekly schedule. Give yourself an extra rest day and instead of filling up that time you would spend at the gym with chores give yourself a break. Go to bed earlier or relax and read a book.
Also pay plenty of attention to your diet. Proper fuel is always vital for a body to be able to recuperate and recover. If you train hard then you should expect to also rest hard and recover hard if you truly want the best results.
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What have Simon Cowell, Britney Spears and the Duchess of Cambridge all got in common? One answer would be that they are all the owners of beautiful, straight, dazzling white teeth. No doubt, their personal beauty budgets stretch to the best tooth-whitening products and practitioners out there, not to mention top-notch nutritionists to keep their smiles sparkling.

Step One - Choose The Perfect Song That You Can Play While You Warm-up

Before choosing a great workout play list, you should think a little about your workout routine. Since most people start their exercise regimen with warm up exercises, the first song on your workout play list should be a song that is slow and gradually gets faster. By choosing a song that gradually gets faster, you will have an easier time warming up your body and getting your heart to beat faster.



Step Two - Start Selecting Songs That You Like

After you have selected a song that you will use to start your routine, you have to start choosing songs that will motivate you to do your best. Before adding any songs to your play list, think about what songs will work best at helping you get through your entire workout routine. Since everyone has his or her own personal routine, you need to take the type of exercises you do and the length of your routine into consideration.

Step Three - Select Songs That Compliment The Type of Exercises You Like Doing

After you have compiled the songs that you like, then it is time to start narrowing down your song choices and selecting songs that compliment the types of exercises you will be doing. Whether you start your workout with aerobics, on the treadmill or you prefer to give your muscles a workout, you should choose songs that are upbeat and will help you get through your entire routine.


Step Four - Calculate How Many Minutes of Music You Have

After you have narrowed down your list, you want to estimate how long your play list is. If you workout for an hour, you will need one hour worth of music. If your play list is too short, you will need to go back and add some additional music to your play list. Once you are done, you want to choose a song that you can add to the end of your play list that is perfect for bringing your heart rate down.

Step Five - Put Your Play List to the Test The Next Time You Workout

After you have compiled all the songs you think are perfect for your routine, the fifth and final step is to put your play list to the test and play it the next time you workout. After completing your workout, you will know whether you need to make any additional modifications to make your play list better.



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