What an erudite person should know is a list of knowledge. Everything an educated person needs to know

Our ancestors thought that the world stands on four elephants, and those on a tortoise. But today you can hardly afford such a level of knowledge about the world without being branded as an uneducated person. The site has prepared answers to questions that everyone should know.

Why is the sky blue?

When the sun's rays come through the atmosphere, they encounter barriers in the air - molecules and dust particles. The blue sky is most often due to the fact that the air more scatters light with a short wavelength. This is the wavelength of this color.

Why do women live longer than men?

As scientists from the University of Uppsala found out, this is due to the fact that men lose Y chromosomes in white blood cells with age (women do not have them).

Why is hair electrified?

It's all about static electricity. Objects around us interacting receive an electric charge. The same happens with hair. The more often they rub against each other, the more electrified.

Why does England drive on the left?

The English have been driving on the left side of the road since the 18th century. There are two versions of why this happened. The first is Roman. According to her, in ancient Rome there was a left-hand traffic. Due to the fact that they conquered the British Isles in 45, the way of traveling on the roads may have changed. The second is sea, based on which the ships had to bypass other ships on the left side.

Where does the rainbow come from?

Colored stripes appear in the sky after rain. Drops act as a kind of prism and break the light.

Why does hair turn gray?

According to research by scientists from the New York University Medical Center, the cause of gray hair is a lack of Wnt protein. But soon people will be able to avoid and prevent graying. This will be possible if the Wnt protein is subjected to genetic changes.

Dictionary of an educated person:

Authentic- real, real.

Eclecticism- mixing, combining heterogeneous styles, ideas, views. Most often used to describe clothing and interior design.

Assimilation- the fusion of the language, culture and national identity of the two peoples.

Profanation- Distortion of something by abusive treatment or attitude.

frustration- a depressed state of a person. It happens due to failure and lack of self-confidence.

Seditious- one that contains something illegal, forbidden.

Euphemism- a neutral word that is used in speech to replace words and expressions that are considered rude or obscene.

plot- the content of a literary work and the events depicted in it.

A priori- knowledge obtained independently of experience and the study of facts.

Ephemeral- something fleeting, temporary or ghostly.

20 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW: 1. The world wants you to stay dumb. The dumber you are, the easier it is for you to sell products and services. The diagonal size of the TV is inversely proportional to the IQ. 2. Do not blindly believe in the educational system. The curriculum is outdated on the first day you start your studies. (An exception is fundamental programs, but only in the exact sciences; the question of applying fundamental knowledge in everyday life remains open.) 3. Read without stopping, read as much as possible. You never know when new knowledge and concepts will come in handy, but you will be much better prepared for life's surprises. 4. Learn to communicate with others. Avoiding people, considering them unworthy of your communication, means not finding clients, friends, or work in the future. 5. Being shy is a waste of time. Don't let emotions rule your decision-making processes. 6. If you don’t like something in a relationship with another person, in the event of your breakup, this “something” will be the reason. 7. As much as possible communicate with people older than you. Try to understand their value system, their outlook and the logical connections between the situation and the decisions made. 8. Find people to admire and try to outdo them. 9. Over time, people become more conservative. If you want to do risky things, do them while you are young. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that reformism is the result of a lack of knowledge, not a focus. 10. Don't spend money on nonsense: save it for something serious (including your startup). It will also teach you how to spend money in business: wisely and for a purpose. 11. When choosing between spending money on things or experiences, choose experiences. The joy of impressions and memories is higher. 12. After you have learned how to save, learn how to earn. 13. Learn to program. It is easier to make a prototype yourself than to spend time and money explaining it to someone else. If you don't want to code, learn how to do something with your hands so that you can produce something useful. 14. Don't gain weight when you're young. This will shorten your active life by 10-20 years. 15. Learn how to cook food. The best time to think about something is when you're cutting up the ingredients for a salad or soup. 16. Get enough sleep at night. Lack of sleep greatly affects the quality of decision making. 17. Write down your activities. Memory is not enough, no matter how fantastic it may be. 18. Have a big dream. Being flexible is great, but without dreams it can turn into running in circles. 19. Become an expert in your field before changing the field of activity. The point here is the 10,000 hour rule, and the fact that a good generalist must have been a good specialist in the past. 20. Don't try to fix people. Look for those who are not yet corrupted. Bonuses Learn 2-3 foreign languages. Knowing a language also provides an understanding of culture and an understanding of diverse points of view and values. Learn to speak culturally and write without mistakes. The ability to speak fluently and to the point will come in handy when you convey the company's point of view to consumers, as well as manage people. Learn to compete ethically in the areas of life you need. Life is a very competitive thing, and the inability to compete reduces your chances of changing your position or social status.

Cover design Rezko I.V.

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1. Ten commandments according to the Synodal translation of the Bible:

"one. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, punishing the children for the guilt of the fathers to the third and fourth generations that hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

3. Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; work for six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: do not do any work on it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger who is in your dwellings; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

6. Don't kill.

7. Do not commit adultery.

8. Don't steal.

9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

2. One of the seven wonders of the world - the pyramid of Cheops. It is considered the oldest miracle on the list - its construction is estimated around the XXVI century. BC e. Despite its antiquity, this is the only building of the seven old wonders of the world that has come down to our times. Its height is 137.2 m (originally - 146.6 m), the length of each side at the base is 230.38 m, it is composed of 2,340,000 limestone blocks, each of which weighs more than 50 centners and is supported by its own gravity, without any fasteners. During the construction, primitive tools were used (diorite hammers, copper saws and axes, tools made of polished stone), but the blocks were so skillfully processed that the gaps between them did not exceed 0.5 mm.

Location: Egypt, the city of Giza, the cemetery of ancient Memphis on the left bank of the Nile. Today it is part of Greater Cairo.

3. The Nobel Prizes are awarded according to the will of Alfred Nobel, drawn up on November 27, 1895, which provided for the allocation of capital for the award of prizes in five areas: physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature and contribution to world peace.

For this purpose, in 1900, the Nobel Foundation was created - a private, independent, non-governmental organization with an initial capital of 31 million Swedish kronor. The first prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901. Since 1969, on the initiative of the Swedish Bank, a prize in economics has also been awarded (the official name is the Alfred Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded by the decision of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences).

4. Cyrillic (Cyrillic script) - the alphabet used to write the words of the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian languages, as well as many languages \u200b\u200bof non-Slavic peoples inhabiting Russia and neighboring states. In the Middle Ages, it was also used to write numbers. The Cyrillic alphabet is named after Cyril, the creator of the Glagolitic alphabet, the first Slavic alphabet. The authorship of the Cyrillic alphabet belongs to missionaries - followers of Cyril and Methodius. The oldest monuments of Cyrillic writing date back to the turn of the 9th–10th centuries. Most likely, this letter was invented in Bulgaria. At first, it was the Greek alphabet, to the 24 letters of which 19 letters were added to indicate the sounds of the Slavic languages that were absent in the Greek language. From the 10th century Cyrillic began to write in Russia.

5. Anthem of the Russian Federation

Music by A. Alexandrov. Words by S. Mikhalkov.

Russia is our sacred power,
Russia is our beloved country.
Mighty will, great glory -
Yours forever!

From the southern seas to the polar region
Our forests and fields are spread out.
You are the only one in the world! One you are -
Protected by God native land!
Hail, our free Fatherland,
Fraternal peoples age-old union,
Ancestors given the wisdom of the people!
Hail country! We proud of you!
Wide scope for dreams and for life
The coming years open up to us.
Our loyalty to the Motherland gives us strength.
So it was, so it is, and so it will always be!
Hail, our free Fatherland,
Fraternal peoples age-old union,
Ancestors given the wisdom of the people!
Hail country! We proud of you!

6. Researchers are sure that the cosmos was formed after the so-called Big Bang, before which nothing existed: neither time, nor matter, nor light. And then an inexplicable expansion of energy (an explosion) happened, and the greatest mystery was formed - the Universe. This explosion occurred in a matter of seconds, after which the Universe, which at first was a fireball, began to rapidly grow and cool. Since the Universe came into being as a result of an explosion, the most likely demise for it is the Big Freeze, scientists believe. And it will happen as a result of the fact that due to the constant movement and expansion of many galaxies, the Universe will eventually lose heat, that is, useful energy.

7. The most widespread of the world's religions is Christianity, whose followers are considered to be 1.6 billion people. It retains the strongest positions in Europe, America and Australia.

Christianity appeared at the beginning of our era as a development of biblical wisdom that had been built up over the previous 2000 years. The Bible teaches us to understand and fulfill the meaning of life. Biblical thinking gives decisive importance to the issue of life and death, the end of the world. Jesus Christ preached the ideas of brotherhood, diligence, non-acquisitiveness and peacefulness. The service to wealth was condemned and the superiority of spiritual values over material ones was proclaimed. The First Ecumenical Council, which met in Nicaea in 325, laid the dogmatic foundations of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church for many centuries to come.

8. The human body consists of various chemical elements, and the amount of these elements produced over a lifetime is amazing. So, the chlorine in our bodies is enough to disinfect six huge pools, and more than 200 matchboxes can be made from phosphorus. The strongest part of the human body is hair, it takes the longest time to break down. Archaeologists have found mummies buried millennia before the beginning of our era, and the only thing that has survived from living tissues, in addition to the skeleton, is hair. The human body produces a lot of thermal energy every day: for example, the heat generated by our body in a day is enough to boil 30 liters of cold water.

In an adult of average build, the skin is about 2 m 2. The skin is constantly renewed throughout life, our body sheds about 18 kg of skin in a lifetime in the form of keratinized and dead cells, which are replaced by new cells.

9. The first feat of Heracles was accomplished by strangling the huge Nemean lion, which was born by the monsters Typhon and Echidna and devastated Argolis. The arrows of Hercules bounced off the thick skin of a lion, but the hero stunned the beast with a club and strangled it with his hands. In memory of his first feat, Hercules established the Nemean Games, which were held in the ancient Peloponnese every two years.

10. Countries of the world and their capitals

11. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - the great German composer and organist, a representative of the Baroque era. One of the greatest composers in the history of music. During his life, Bach wrote more than 1000 works. All significant genres of that time, except for opera, are represented in his work. He summarized the achievements of the musical art of the Baroque period. He is the ancestor of the most famous musical dynasty.

12. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. e. It is believed that Egyptian astronomers developed it. And it was named after the Roman emperor. It acquired its final form in 8 AD. e.

The year began on January 1, since it was on this day that the elected consuls took office, and consisted of 12 months or 365 days, sometimes 366. It is this “sometimes” that distinguishes it from the Gregorian calendar.

The problem was that a full revolution around the Sun - a tropical year - the Earth makes in 365.24219878 days. The calendar has an integer number of days. It turns out that if there are 365 days in a year, then every year the calendar will go astray - go ahead by almost a quarter of a day. In the Julian calendar, they acted simply - to correct the discrepancy, it was assumed that every fourth year would become a leap year (annus bissextus) and would have 366 days. Thus, the average length of the year in the Julian calendar is 365.25 days, which is already much closer to the real tropical year. However, the calendar began to lag behind every year by 11 minutes 14 seconds. For 128 years, it will be a day. This led to the fact that some dates associated with astronomical phenomena began to shift. As a result, there was a need for calendar reform.

13. Ten masterpieces of world cinema (according to directors):

1. "Tokyo Tale" - Yasujiro Ozu, 1953

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick, 1968

3. "Citizen Kane" - Orson Welles, 1941

4. "8 and a half" - Federico Fellini, 1963

5. "Taxi Driver" - Martin Scorsese, 1976

6. Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola, 1979

7. The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola, 1972

8 Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock, 1958

9. "Mirror" - Andrei Tarkovsky, 1974

10 Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio De Sica, 1948

14. Darwinism is criticized by a number of representatives of religion, who believe that it contradicts the divine creation of man. The fact is that Darwinism explains the origin of man by a long evolution, and this, according to the literal reading of the sacred texts, runs counter to the relatively recent formation of the world. At the same time, the Catholic Church, in a special papal encyclical - Humani generis - recognized that the theory of evolution does not contradict the teachings of the Church and "can be considered as a hypothesis in the question of the origin of the human body."

15. Tsars and emperors of Russia:

Mikhail Fedorovich Krotkiy (1613–1645)

Alexey Mikhailovich the Quietest (1645–1676)

Fedor Alekseevich (1676–1682)

Sofia Alekseevna (1682–1689)

Peter I Alekseevich the Great (1689–1725)

Catherine I Alekseevna (1725–1727)

Peter II Alekseevich (1727–1730)

Anna Ioannovna (1730–1740)

Ivan VI Antonovich (1740–1741)

Elizaveta Petrovna (1741–1761)

Peter III Fedorovich (1761–1762)

Catherine II Alekseevna the Great (1762–1796)

Pavel I Petrovich (1796–1801)

Alexander I Pavlovich the Blessed (1801–1825)

Konstantin Pavlovich (1825)

Nicholas I Pavlovich (1825–1855)

Alexander II Nikolaevich (1855–1881)

Alexander III Alexandrovich (1881–1894)

Nicholas II Alexandrovich (1894–1917)

16. The Vatican is a dwarf state, the smallest in the world, located in Rome, the capital of Italy. In international law, the Vatican itself is only the territory on which the Holy See is currently located - the collective name of the Pope and the Roman Curia, one of the main administrative bodies of the Catholic Church. Thus, the embassies of other countries are not accredited to the Vatican, but to the Holy See. A significant part of the territory is occupied by St. Peter's Cathedral and the square of the same name, which are the center of worship for Catholics around the world. Almost the entire perimeter of the country (about 3,200 m) is limited by a wall preventing illegal entry. As befits a real state, the Vatican has everything: a railway and a telegraph, a telephone and television, a radio station and a treasury, rulers and subjects, a border guarded by guards.

17. Abstractionism (Latin abstractio - “removal, distraction”) is a direction of art that has abandoned the depiction of forms close to reality in painting and sculpture. By creating certain color combinations and geometric shapes, the viewer evokes a variety of associations. The main representatives of abstract art were: V. V. Kandinsky (1866-1944), P. Picasso (1881-1973).

18. A continent (mainland, part of the world) is a large piece of land or the earth's crust. Much of it is above sea level.

There are seven continents on Earth - Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica. However, one can often find other opinions about the number, because in different traditions a different number of continents is accepted, hence the periodic confusion with numbers. For example, sometimes North and South America are considered to be the single continent of America, since they are not, in fact, separated by water (the artificial Panama Canal is not taken into account). This interpretation is popular in Spanish-speaking countries. There is also an opinion that Europe, Asia and Africa are one continent - Afro-Eurasia - because they occupy an undivided landmass. Europe and Asia, which have an extremely implicit distinction, are often called Eurasia. Hence the results of the calculation, when there are from four to seven continents on Earth.

Asia is the largest continent. This applies both to the area (29 %), as well as the population (60 %). The smallest continent is Australia (5.14% and 0.54% respectively). Antarctica is not on the list because this icy continent is unsuitable for a comfortable life and is practically uninhabited.

19. Atlantis, according to the ancient Greeks, is a continent that allegedly occupied part of the Atlantic Ocean to the west of the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar), and later sank into the sea without a trace.

The idea of the legendary Atlantis most likely developed from the stories of Phoenician and Carthaginian merchants who sailed far to the west, but numerous attempts to geographically fix Atlantis have so far been unsuccessful. If we collect all the data on where Atlantis could be located, we would get a fascinating book in which we would have to tell about South America, with which the famous philosopher Francis Bacon identified Atlantis in the utopia "New Atlantis", and about the North Sea, where not far from Helgoland Island, according to the German pastor Jürgen Spanut, was a mysterious continent, and about the search for it at the beginning of the 19th century. from Yucatan to Mongolia and from Svalbard to Saint Helena. Atlantis was "prescribed" in Brazil, Scandinavia, Palestine, in the Pas de Calais, etc.

20. American astronauts July 20, 1969 landed on the surface of the moon. The first person to walk on the moon was Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong.

6 hours after the "landing" astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin put on spacesuits with a knapsack system, opened the hatch and descended to the lunar surface. Television broadcasts about landing a man on the moon were carried out by all countries except the USSR and China.

The first people on the moon paid tribute to all American and Soviet fallen colleagues: their medals, as well as a capsule with messages from the heads of 74 states (the USSR was not among them) were left on the moon. Attached to the landing stage was a map of the Earth and a sign that read: “Here, people from planet Earth first set foot on the moon. We come in peace from all mankind." These words were signed by the astronauts and the President of the United States.

After the flight, the crew members and samples of lunar rock underwent strict quarantine, which did not reveal any lunar microorganisms.

The successful completion of the Apollo 11 flight program meant the achievement of the national goal set by US President John F. Kennedy in May 1961 - to land on the moon before the end of the decade, and marked the victory of the United States in the "moon race" with the USSR.

21. The Gregorian calendar was the result of the reform of the Julian calendar by Pope Gregory XIII. The project was developed by Luigi Lilio, and according to this project, in the future, only those century years were to be considered leap years, the number of hundreds of years of which is divisible by 4 (1600, 2000, 2400), while others will be considered simple. Also, the accumulated from 8 AD was eliminated. e. an error of 10 days, and according to the papal decree of February 24, 1582, it was established that for October 4, 1582, October 15 should immediately come.

In the new Gregorian calendar, the average length of the year was 365.2425 days. The error was only 26 s, and the discrepancy per day accumulated over about 3300 years. In the future, it will be possible to declare every year divisible by 4000 without a remainder as non-leap years, and then the average value of the year will be 365.24225 days, with an even smaller error.

22. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are included in the list of seven wonders of the world. Created in the VI century. BC e. by order of the king of the desert Babylon Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife, these gardens were supposed to console her and remind her of her distant homeland. The name of Semiramis, the Assyrian queen, appeared here by mistake, but nevertheless firmly entrenched in history.

The tiers of gardens rose in ledges and were interconnected by staircases lined with slabs of pink and white stone. For watering the plants, water was pumped from the Euphrates all day long. Plants of near and far countries, trees, palm trees, flowers raised to great heights by complex structures - all this made an indelible impression on the people of that time, gardens in dusty, arid Babylon seemed a miracle. Location: Babylon, Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia), approximately 50 km south of modern Baghdad.

23. UNESCO World Heritage - natural or man-made sites, the priority tasks in relation to which, according to UNESCO, are their preservation and promotion due to their special cultural, historical or environmental significance. As of 2016, there are 1,031 properties on the World Heritage List, of which 802 are cultural, 197 are natural and 32 are mixed.

24. The most ancient of the world religions is Buddhism, which arose in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. in India. After more than 15 centuries of dominance in India, Buddhism gave way to Hinduism. However, Buddhism spread widely throughout the countries of Southeast Asia, penetrated into Sri Lanka, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Mongolia. The number of its adherents is estimated at about 500 million people.

In Buddhism, all the social and moral tenets of Hinduism are preserved, but the requirements of caste and asceticism are weakened. Buddhism pays more attention to the current life.

25. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) - the great Austrian composer, instrumentalist and conductor, representative of the Viennese classical school, virtuoso violinist, harpsichordist, organist, conductor. He had a phenomenal musical ear, memory and ability to improvise. As a composer who excelled in every genre, Mozart is rightfully considered one of the greatest composers in the history of classical music.

26. Avant-gardism (French avant-garde - "vanguard") - a set of experimental, emphatically unusual, exploratory undertakings in the art of the 20th century. The avant-garde areas of painting include fauvism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, abstractionism, surrealism, actionism, pop art, and conceptual art.

27. The second feat of Hercules is the destruction of the Lernean hydra. This monster with the body of a snake and nine heads of a dragon crawled out of the swamp near the city of Lerna, killed people and destroyed entire herds. Hercules found the hydra in a cave and fought with her. In place of each hydra's head cut off by the hero, two new ones grew, until Hercules' assistant, Iolaus, began to burn the necks of the hydra with burning tree trunks. He also killed a giant cancer that crawled out of the swamp to help the hydra. In the poisonous bile of the Lernean hydra, Hercules soaked his arrows, making them deadly.

28. The holy book of Christians - the Bible - consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was borrowed from Judaism and compiled over several centuries. He describes those events and facts that, in fact, led to the appearance of Jesus Christ. The texts of the New Testament tell about his life. They were combined into one book only at the beginning of the II century. The authorship of portions of the Testament is currently a moot point. The texts of the Bible differ depending on the branches of Christianity, for example, the Protestant Bible contains several additional books of the Old Testament.

29. The statue of Zeus at Olympia is one of the seven wonders of the world. It was created for the temple in the large religious center of Ancient Greece - Olympia. The giant Zeus by the sculptor Phidias amazed the locals so much that they decided that the god himself personally posed for the master. Time of creation - 440-435 years. BC e. Location: Greece, the ancient city of Olympia on the western coast of the Peloponnese, about 300 km west of Athens.

30. Cubism (fr. cube - “cube”) is a modernist trend in painting of the early 20th century, which highlighted the formal task of constructing a three-dimensional form on a plane, minimizing the figurative and cognitive functions of art. The name "Cubists" was first used in 1908 and 1909. by the French critic L. Vossel as a derisive nickname for a group of artists who depicted objects as a combination of geometric bodies or figures. The most famous artist of this trend is P. Picasso (1881–1973).

Life is a funny thing. No one will hand you a textbook for adulthood with a set of rules and a list of all the necessary skills that you will have to master in life.

In some mysterious way, you yourself must understand that you need to earn more than you spend, and it is better not to wear a fluffy mohair sweater to a job interview.

Therefore, we have compiled our own instructions for survival in the modern world and listed the skills that no adult can do without.

1. Accept criticism with gratitude

Most people can't stand being pointed out wrong or being told they could have done better. However, being able to suppress emotions and focus on the information that they are trying to convey to you is a truly unique talent. Criticism can be fair or unfair, but let your mind decide, not your wounded ego.

2. Sincerely ask for forgiveness

All people make mistakes, but not everyone knows the art of sincerely asking for forgiveness.

Apologies are not measured by quantity and cannot be good or bad - they must be sincere. And besides, when you apologize, you must explain exactly how you are going to avoid repeating an unpleasant situation in the future.

Here is a six-step algorithm to help you ask for forgiveness the right way:

Don't put off apologizing.
Apologize only in person.
Explain what happened.
Show that you will make every effort to ensure that what happened does not happen again.
Sorry.
If possible, try to make amends with real deeds.

3. Manage your time well

It is unlikely that such a happy moment will come in your life when you do not have to balance between a bunch of problems at work and in your personal life. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for you to master time management - otherwise you will constantly feel at the limit of your strength.

Perhaps the most important rule of time management is that you should only do one thing at a time. Research shows that the habit of multitasking is highly unproductive because your brain wastes energy in the process of switching from one task to another.

Also, it would be wise of you to limit your hours of work. Decades ago, Henry Ford came to the conclusion that labor productivity begins to decline when employees work more than 40 hours a week. Other studies show that the productivity of those who work about 60 hours a week decreases after only three weeks of such a regimen.

4. Know how to say "no"

Most of us are afraid to say “no” for fear of letting other people down. But if you are already swamped with work and a colleague asks for an hour to help with a project report, then the answer “Yes, of course” is far from the best option.

It may sound like a cliché, but the ability to say “no” at the right time can save you a lot of time and save you from feelings of guilt, confusion, unnecessary obligations and promises, stress, and other troubles of human communication.

5. Put yourself in someone else's shoes

Empathy is at the core of every human interaction. People who are not able to empathize and show interest in others - that is, listen to the interlocutor and put themselves in his place - often suffer from narcissism.

6. Communicate in body language

Your body can tell you everything it needs to know about you before you even open your mouth.

Experts identify special techniques that will help you win the sympathy of others with the help of body language. For example, do not break eye contact with your interlocutor even after he finishes talking. And be careful not to touch your face too much - it will look like you're lying or very nervous.

You can also read other people's body language to understand what they are thinking or feeling. For example, if during a conversation they copy your facial expressions, then most likely they enjoy talking with you. If they smile, but there are no wrinkles around the eyes, then the smile may be fake.

7. Make Friends Wherever You Go

A good way to make a friend in the adult world is to be the first to trust so the other can open up to you. Research shows that such a “first step” evokes sympathy, affection, and helps build close and friendly relationships. Another surprisingly easy way to make friends is to spend more time with the people you want to be friends with. According to the "mere exposure effect", we often like people or things we've encountered before.

8. Repair clothes yourself

You should learn how to sew buttons to the shirt collar and darn holes that can be easily planted on the sleeve by catching on the edge of the table. Knowing how to handle a needle will save you a lot of money.

9. Speak at least one foreign language

Learning a foreign language will open up a completely different way of thinking for you. You will be able to see and appreciate the riches of those corners of our planet that you did not even know about before.

10. Remember that money loves an account.

Make sure your income exceeds expenses.

It would also be wise to set aside part of your income for a rainy day so that in case of unforeseen circumstances you have enough money for several months.

11. Master the Basics of Photoshop

You don't need to hire a professional to retouch the photo you want to put on your site - you can do it yourself with a few simple basic functions of the program.

12. Enjoy being alone

You will not frighten an adult with loneliness - he can spend at least a whole day alone with himself and not go crazy from a lack of communication.

13. Learn to speak in public

Speaking confidently in front of a large audience is a skill worth acquiring. This will help you attract the attention of a wide range of people and leave a lasting impression about yourself.

14. Master the Art of Negotiation

If you're negotiating a salary - which you can and should do - then the best way to get what you want and still leave a good impression of yourself is to ask for a salary in the range of the desired rate and a little higher. For example, if you want to receive 70 thousand rubles, then you should ask for a salary of 70 to 80 thousand rubles.

15. Cook your own simple meals

Master at least five simple dishes. Learn how to cook them without a cookbook and you'll look like a culinary genius wherever you go.

16. Know how to keep up small talk

The ability to strike up an interesting conversation has never stopped anyone - whether it's a frivolous flirtation with a beauty from a bar or expanding business ties at a conference.

One of the main rules of a casual conversation is to show interest in the interlocutor and allow him to tell as much as possible about himself. Another good tactic is to emphasize the dignity of the interlocutor so that after talking with you, he grows in his own eyes.

17. Don't be afraid to ask for help

There is no shame in asking for advice or help, especially at work.

Many studies even claim that you can grow in the eyes of colleagues as an expert if you ask them for advice. And this seems to be true, since people are flattered that you turned to them in the first place.

18. Meet the opposite sex without fear

Perhaps, any normal person is horrified by the need to approach the person they like and just start a conversation.

But there are ways to manage your anxiety and reduce the risk of you making a complete idiot of yourself.

One study suggests that men prefer to take direct action, such as announcing at the door, "You're really cute - can I buy you a cocktail?" Women, on the contrary, are more fond of questions that require a detailed answer, for example: “What do you think about this group?”.

Only a few of the respondents admitted that they prefer the standard "tackles" - so they are best avoided, no matter how witty they may seem to you.

19. Wake up early in the morning

Pull yourself together and develop your own plan of action in order to force yourself to wake up on time in the morning and leave the house.

In fact, the secret to a good morning is how you spend the evening before bed, so try to relax before bed, such as taking a hot shower or meditating.

In the morning, experts, as a rule, advise that after the first alarm call, press the "repeat" and sleep a little more. We advise you to press "repeat", but instead of sleeping, turn on the light and use the time before the second alarm for a short gymnastics.

20. Get a driver's license

If you live in a big city, then you probably enjoy all the benefits of public transport.

But when you leave the city, the ability to drive a car well becomes a vital skill. It can open up a whole world for you.

If you have not yet received the right, stop relying on the fact that your loved ones or relatives will always drop you to the right place. Take this decisive step towards adulthood and pass on the rights.

Endlessly biting yourself over your own failures is a road to nowhere.

Instead, treat them the way you would treat a friend or colleague failing. For example, you can remind yourself that it's okay to make mistakes and that it doesn't make you a bad person at all.

With the evolution of generations, the experience of a person “grows”. For example, the generation during the Great Depression is fundamentally different from the generation during the baby boom, which is certainly different from the current one. No offense, who today is young and young, and believes that he knows everything in the world. Every generation is a little different. It depends on many factors, including gender and upbringing. In compiling this list, we took all this into account.

So, what are these 40 things that everyone who crosses the 40-year mark should know?

In other words, many of the 40-year-olds do know something about "how our world works." If you are one of them, it will be very useful for you to read and understand that there is definitely something in this. So…

Don't treat the list like a math formula. Something will do, something is the other way around ... But read on. Wow - fit!

We wanted to amuse you, make you think, and maybe something else. You decide…

In any case - here they are - these 40 things that everyone who has already celebrated their 40th birthday should know:

1. Hanging out all weekend is definitely not the best idea.

2. There is nothing better than a good night's sleep.

3. A career is a whole bunch of rakes that you step on and step on and step on.

4. Remember that there are no irreplaceable people. And you are no exception.

5. Your social circle will be narrower and narrower. And that's even better.

6. You need to sleep either alone or with someone you truly love. No options.

7. You already had at least one big love that you had to endure.

8. Have children or not? Now you know the answer to this question for sure.

9. Should I get a cat or a dog? The same. It's either yours or it's not.

10. You have already experienced at least one tragedy. Unfortunately…

11. You are definitely a little weird. And you start to like it!

12. You fought like a lion to get better... sacrificing money, time... and how?

13. Singing karaoke while sober is the fastest way to trigger a panic attack.

14. And singing karaoke when you've had a few drinks is something. This is amazing. This is an explosion.

15. Fashion means nothing more to you than the color of your toilet lid.

16. You already know for sure (I hope) that we will all die, and therefore live to the fullest.

17. If you are not a “public person”, then most likely you will never become one.

18. Fatty foods are still harmful. From them puffs.

19. Exercise is the perfect antidote to just about anything.

20. Good reading is also a great antidote to just about anything.

21. The word "success" takes on a completely different meaning for you.

22. Intimacy (i.e. "sex life") is wonderful in moderation...and when you're in love.

23. Young people are increasingly turning to you for advice - good or bad.

24. Dancing is either amazing (if you know how to dance), or - never and under no circumstances.

25. 99% of what you were taught at the university has never been useful to you and will not be useful.

26. Slippers, bathrobe, cardigan - you have some or all of these and / or you like crossword puzzles.

27. Marijuana ... you either know what it is, or you will never know.

28. You have your own internal "counter", and only you know the score ...

29. Communication on the phone with people takes you no more than 1% of the time, the remaining 99 are colleagues and family.

30. If you were not invited somewhere, this is really real luck.

31. Meetings and briefings at work invariably make you bored.

32. Playing computer games, other games... it's so cool. Or not…

33. If you don't have a plan, that's fine. If there is, it's no less good.

34. When you call, write or other types of communication - oh, there is nothing worse!

35. If you are learning something new, then only if you really want it with all your heart. There are no other motivations.

36. Arguing with someone is: 1. Waste of time. 2. Deprived of any meaning. 3. Not my favorite show, that's for sure.

37. You still want to travel the world. And it doesn't matter if you have a passport.

38. Is drinking and partying worth a heavy hangover? Definitely not.

39. The snooze button looks pretty nice Monday through Friday… maybe Saturday and Sunday too.

40. Understand that 40 is very little. And you still have a lot of gunpowder in the powder flasks. Be thankful for this.

Forward! At 40, life is just beginning!