To do this, shake the towel out and spread it evenly over a flat surface. A table is better than the floor as it's easier on your back and arms. A large towel is ideal, such as a beach towel or bed sheet. If necessary you could use a closed-weave blanket of a similar size. Open weave blankets offer little protection and are not suitable because the cat will catch her claws in the fabric. A regular-sized towel has a longer length and narrower width. You will want to place the cat centrally on the towel, at a right-angle to the length, with her nose touching one edge. Let the cat rest on her belly in a natural crouching position, with her paws underneath. There should be an equal length of towel on either side of the cat's body. If you are right handed, use your left hand to grip her scruff and vice versa. This area of loose skin over the shoulders is where a mother cat holds her kittens to trigger a passive reaction. Although you may feel reticent about gripping your pet firmly, be assured you are not hurting, or harming her in any way. To make the first fold: With your right hand, grasp the towel edge 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) from the cat. Apply firm tension to the fabric and fold it right-over-left across the cat's back, and include the hand restraining the cat in the wrap. You will remove your hand after the next step. Gently lift the cat by the scruff, such that her body is raised at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal, with her bottom resting on the floor and her forequarters elevated. Feed the fold of towel lying across her back, under her left front paw. Then lower her paws back to the table top so that her body weight anchors this first wrap in place. To make the second fold, do the following: With your left hand still encased, grasp the towel on the left side of the cat. As before, apply firm tension as you cross the fabric left-to-right over the cat's back. The cat is now enclosed in a towel cocoon with just her head sticking out. Now free your left hand. Let go of her scruff and wriggle your fingers free of the wrap. If you applied the correct tension to the towel, the cat's limbs will remain firmly held against her body. Place your newly freed hand under her chest. Lift her front end up off the flat surface so that her body is angled at about 45 degrees horizontally. Now use your right hand to grasp the trailing edge of the second wrap. Feed it under the cat and pull it firmly so she is tightly swaddled. Continue to wrap the remaining length of towel around the cat until the free length is used up. The cat is now rolled in a towel but, if she is determined, she could wriggle out backwards. The final, or "burrito" fold, involves tucking the width of the towel dangling behind her, under the body. This is as simple as it sounds: Simply lift up her wrapped rear end and tuck the dangling tail of fabric beneath her. Now when you lower her back end down, her body weight pins the towel beneath her and there is no backwards escape route. After wrapping your cat, you can immediately give her medicine. Or you can examine a leg or paw by slowly pulling the desired body part out for examination, through the opening end of the towel or blanket. wikiHow's How to Give a Cat a Pill might come in handy right about now!

Summary: Before disturbing the cat, get a towel ready. Speak calmly to the cat and pick her up with both hands, cradling her weight in your arms. Make the first fold. Make the second fold. Make the final fold. Examine your cat or give her medicine.

If you have defined success as having achieved a specific outcome, you need to know what that outcome is. Think about your school work, or job or whatever aspect of life you're looking to succeed in. Do you want success to be measured at regular intervals or do you want success to be measured at the end of a project? For example, is success to you achieving 80+% on all of your assignments throughout the school year or straight A's in all of your exams at the end of the year? You decide your definition of success. Be sure that your outcome measures are attainable and realistic, if they are not you might end up feeling exhausted and fatigued as you will always be fighting a large uphill battle. Ask others for strategies on how to achieve your desired outcome. You should have a plan for achieving your goals. A benchmark is an ideal or standard that you set for yourself; it is essentially the best outcome that you would like to get for yourself. Make a calendar of your expected performance as indicated by the benchmarks you have chosen. For example, if you're trying to lose 16 pounds in two months, break it apart so that you have smaller benchmarks. Using the same example, you might put on your calendar benchmarks of two pounds per week over eight weeks. As another example, imagine that you're trying to obtain the outcome of becoming a top student in your class. Performance benchmarks you might set for yourself could be receiving an A at least two out of your exams and an A on at least four out of five of the class assignments. Leave space to add details of your actual performance. Mark your actual performance on your calendar under your benchmarks. Reward yourself if you met your target. It's okay to feel upset if you didn't manage to meet your benchmarks at any one particular time. Make sure your reward is in line with your performance. For example, if your benchmarks are set weekly, don't reward yourself with a shopping spree at the end of each week that you meet your goals. Keep things in perspective and save big rewards like this for when you succeed at the final overarching goal. Sometimes things happen that are out of your control. If this is the reason that you don't meet your target performance, know that you have not failed. If there is something that you are doing that is keeping you from achieving your goals, think of solutions to the issue. For example, if you are sleeping in and that's preventing you from studying as much as you would like to, ask someone you live with to make sure you wake up at a certain time. Given any setbacks that may have happened, reset your benchmarks for success if you need to. This will more likely happen if your benchmarks are set at regular intervals. If you have a major outcome as your definition of success (e.g., run 10k in 1 hour at the marathon in June) then you can easily change your outcomes along the way. You will need to change the amount of effort it takes to achieve your outcome but it is still likely that you will achieve your goal. Reset your benchmarks for performance outcome and carry on.

Summary: Define your outcome. Outline performance benchmarks. Compare actual performance with benchmarks. Take setbacks into account. Reset benchmarks.

Even if you have a covered play area in your yard, never leave your small dog alone outside. Your dog may find a way out of its enclosure and wander out into full view of a bird of prey. Retractable leashes allow your dog to get too far away from you. Purchase a standard leash that is no more than 6 feet (1.8 m) long. And never let your dog off the leash while outside of your yard, even if you've never seen predators near your home. Be on the lookout for trees, both near your home and along your walk route, where birds of prey have nested. These nests may be up in the branches or inside tree cavities. Don't allow your dog off its leash, even in your yard, if a bird of prey has nested nearby. Wait until the eggs have hatched and the birds have left the nest before you let your dog off the leash outside. In the U.S., birds of prey are federally protected, so do not attempt to disturb or remove an active nest. A Raptor Shield is like a dog coat that you sling over your dog's back and clip under its stomach. The canvas material makes it impossible for a bird's talons to latch onto your dog's skin and carry it away. Put this on your dog whenever it's outside, particularly if it will be off leash.
Summary: Supervise your dog whenever it's outside. Keep your dog on a non-retractable leash during walks. Keep your dog away from any trees with nests. Purchase a Raptor Shield for your dog to wear outside.