Jimmy Sturr, Walter Ostanek and his band, and the Brave Combo are three names to try on your ears, but any good Internet radio site will have a polka station that is bound to bring up some catchy beats. Alternatively, most country music has a good beat for polka, too. The accordion is only recommended, not necessary. The man's left hand and lady's right hand should be extended out at an angle so that the hands are at the same height as the lady's shoulders.  The man's right hand should then go on the lady's left shoulder blade and the lady's left hand should rest lightly on the man's shoulder.  You should feel a solid connection, neither too delicate nor too heavy. This is the position you will maintain for the entirety of the dance. Make sure to always keep your back straight and your clasped hands strong. The polka is confident and carefree and your stance should reflect that. There are few dances that can be as basic as the polka. Bare bones, it's just three steps: right, left, right. Then you repeat it on the other side: left, right, left. That's it! Here's the basics:  Step forward with your left foot Meet your left foot with your right Go forward with the left foot again Step forward with the right foot (passing the left foot) Meet your right foot with your left Step forward with your right foot again. Voila! Think of it as full step, half step, half step. Full step, half step, half step. That first step is longer, followed by two shorter steps. The lady's steps are the same as the man's, but starting with the right foot going backwards: back, together, back. Back, together, back. Here's a few more details:  Step back with your right foot Meet your right foot with your left Go back with your left foot Step back with your left foot (passing the right foot) Meet your left foot with your right Step back with your left foot again. Boom! Finished. Again, remember that the first step is the largest, followed by two smaller steps. So it's full step, half, half. Full step, half, half. Polka music usually has a marching rhythm of 2 beats per measure.  Right, left, right matches 1 and 2. Left, right, left matches 3 and 4. That is, you should be taking three steps for every two beats. If you don't have any polka music, most country standards will suffice. Polka is about having fun. Imagine those Eastern Europeans in their beer halls having the time of their lives doing it and let loose! Add your own flair however the music takes you.

Summary: Throw on some polka music. Hold your partner in a classic ballroom position. Learn the lead's steps. Learn the follower's steps. Do the steps in time with the music.


Focus is how we stay on task with a given object, goal, or activity for a long amount of time. Focus can be easy when it comes to short-term goal, which have a quick pay-off. For long-term goals, however, it can be harder to sustain your motivation. Try to keep your focus sharp.  Practicing good work habits, reviewing goals, celebrating progress – all of these should help you to maintain your focus. Remind yourself of what you are doing in moments of doubt. Think about why you want to achieve your goal in the first place. Keep your long-term vision in the forefront. Use the people around you to advantage. Surround yourself with friends, relatives, co-workers, and peers whose option you trust and who bring out the best in you. They can provide an invaluable support network or even give you a needed critique. Ask the people that you trust for advice, if need be. Listen to them. Try to be humble enough to recognize any mistakes that they point out. Highly motivated people are usually realistic thinkers. That is, they understand that success might take a long time or even years. They also recognize that progress will come slowly and that, even after all of their work, there is a chance of failure.  Owning that there is a chance of failure is not admitting defeat. Instead, it allows you to temper your ambitions with reasonable expectations. A budding professor should know that many people never reach this goal. Most never finish school. Others complete a Ph.D. to find that positions are very competitive and never land a job. Knowing this ahead of time is good – it will help you to cope in case of failure. You will probably encounter setbacks or perhaps even small or large failures in pursuing your dream. Don't let a setback derail your carefully laid plans. Rather, learn to deal with failure in productive ways – this is another trait of highly-motivated people.  Avoid catastrophic thinking. Someone who thinks catastrophically about failure probably does not have reasonable expectations. A failure does not close all doors. It may close some, but others are still open. In a way, coping with failure is about finding these other open doors. Have a backup plan. So, your plan to become an opera singer fizzled. That doesn't mean that a career in music is out for you. Perhaps you are better suited to sing in a chorus? Or, perhaps you can use your real skills in music to become a voice teacher? Make adjustments as necessary. Say that you planned to go to medical school. You did a pre-med degree, volunteered in hospitals, and did everything the right way. But you couldn't get into a program. You have options: you can either apply again or come up with a new plan, like going to nursing school. Most of all, use your failures to grow and to continue to improve. Rather than becoming depressed about a setback, take stock of what happened. Study why you failed. Understand your failure and make sure that you do not repeat the same mistakes.  Highly-motivated people are constant learners. They read, they analyze, they find new and more efficient ways of doing things. They know that growing as a person is linked to learning. Cultivate these habits.  Look closely and carefully at yourself. Be honest. Why did you fail to get accepted to any of your medical school choices? Was it your B- in biology? Maybe you could have written a better admissions essay? Locate the possible problem and plan a solution. For example, decide to retake biology and study harder to get a better grade. Or, rewrite your admissions essay and have other people read it. Then, plan to reapply to the same programs next year.

Summary: Keep focused on your goals. Surround yourself with motivators. Think realistically. Cope with failure. Use setbacks as ways to learn.


Instead, mix ingredients in a bowl and put in the freezer. Fill glass half full with slush and fill rest of way with 7-Up (fizzy lemonade).
Summary: Pour mixed ingredients into an ice cream maker. Stir occasionally until slushed. Skip step one if you don't have an ice cream maker. Serve.