With so much tech out there these days, the learning curve for what different devices can do can be quick and easy. However, not everyone knows about some of these handy capabilities to help make your life easier.
For instance, iPhones — a device most use every day — can do anything to sending tweets, identify planes overhead or have self-destructing messages.
If you’d like to tap into the true potential of your iPhone, check out the below cool features. Before you get started, it is important to note, not all may work with your current model or operating system.
1. SEE WHAT PLANES ARE OVERHEAD.
It’s really as easy as just asking Siri “What flights are overhead?”
A list will pop up with detailed information about different flights currently right above you high in the skies.
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2. HAVE SIRI READ YOUR TEXTS OUT LOUD.
This is a great tool to use if your hands aren’t free or you’re on the road. It’s a simple process, too.
Press the “Home” button and hold it.
When you hear a beep, tell Siri a command, like “Read my texts.”
After she has finished reading you her texts, Siri will ask what she should do with the messages. You can either have her reply to a text, or if you need her to read them again, you can ask her to do so.
3. USE YOUR IPHONE AS A LEVEL.
You know that compass app everyone always forgets about and hardly uses? Well, just swipe left and you’ll discover your iPhone comes complete with a functioning level, too. Who knows when that might come in handy!
4. TAKE A PHOTO WITH THE VOLUME BUTTON OR YOUR HEADPHONES.
This tip could be what you needed and finally get the ultimate selfie, especially since taking a photo with one hand can get a bit tricky.
Make it easier by holding your iPhone with two hands horizontally and opening the camera app. To take a picture, press down on the “+” button for volume on the side of your phone. The same trick works for your headphones, too. Just hit the volume up button on the Apple Remote Earphones to snap a pic.
5. OMIT LIGHTS RATHER THAN NOISE
Tired of annoying ringtones or vibrations? Why not use the built in LED on your iPhone, instead?
Go to Settings, General and then Accessibility and turn on the slider for LED Flash for Alerts, and the next time something comes in, the LED will flash whenever you have a corresponding notification.
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6. RESPOND TO TEXTS WITHOUT UNLOCKING IPHONE
Sometimes you’re just on the go and don’t want to have to go through the flak of dealing with the lock screen to respond to a message. Luckily, there’s a way you don’t have to.
When you get a notification, just swipe left on the message and blue “Reply” button will appear. Tap it, and then you’re free to type your message and send it on its way.
7. SEND AUDIO MESSAGES THAT SELF DESTRUCT.
Turns out you don’t exactly need Snapchat to send a photo or video that would disappear after a set amount of time. You can actually just use your own iPhone and a handy settings shortcut.
Once in settings, press the green messages icon and go to the audio messages section. There, you’ll see an option to set messages to expire after two minutes.
8. LEAVE A GROUP CONVERSATION.
Sometimes, group conversations can more annoying than they are useful. But unlike Facebook chats, there’s an easy way to escape the clutches of group messages on your iPhone.
It’s simply a three step process:
In your Messages app, select the group message you don’t want to be a part of anymore
Hit the word “Details” in the top right corner
You will be taken to a page with information pertaining to the conversation (e.g. who is taking part in it). At the bottom, in red lettering, you will see, “Leave this Conversation.” Tap it, and you are out.
9. READ ARTICLES, WITHOUT DISTRACTING ADS
If you’d like to streamline the process of making a reading list free of advertisements, Reader may be the way to go. The tool itself is built into Safari. All you have to do is click on the small “Reader” button located to the left of the URL and the article will appear without any other distractions, with just the text.
10.. LOCATION-BASED REMINDERS
We’ve got reminders and alarms set for time, but what about tapping into that phone GPS for reminders sent by location?
All you have to do is go into the Reminders app on your iPhone, make a reminder and then select the option “remind me at a location.” You are then taken to a page, where you can choose your current location, or a specific address. Once you insert the information, it will ask if you want the reminder to come up for when you leave or when you arrive. Be warned, however, since the app would constantly access the GPS, it would eat up your battery.
Entrepreneur.com| June 2016 | Lindsay Friedman
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“Among men who rise to fame and leadership two types are recognizable—those who are born with a belief in themselves and those in whom it is a slow growth dependent on actual achievement. To the men of the last type their own success is a constant surprise, and its fruits the more delicious, yet to be tested cautiously with a haunting sense of doubt whether it is not all a dream. In that doubt lies true modesty, not the sham of insincere self depreciation but the modesty of “moderation,” in the Greek sense. It is poise, not pose.” – B.H. Liddell Hart
When we’re young and just setting out in our careers we tend to assume that the greatest impediments to our progress and success are external to us. We blame our bosses and “the system” but we rarely think that we might be our own worst enemies, sabotaging ourselves right when we are beginning on our path.
Too often the obstacle that impedes our progress the most is internal — our own ego.
Yes, all of us, with all our talent and promise and potential, if we don’t control our ego, risk blowing up before we start. Talent, as Irving Berlin put it, is only the starting point. What we also need is self-management, self-control and humility.
Here are three ways that ego is the enemy of those important traits.
1. Talk, talk, talk.
At the beginning of any path, we’re excited and nervous. So we seek to comfort ourselves externally instead of inwardly. There’s a weak side to each of us, that — like a trade union — isn’t exactly malicious but at the end of the day still wants to get as much public credit and attention as it can for doing the least. That side we call ego.
The writer and former Gawker blogger Emily Gould — essentially a real-life Hannah Horvath — realized this during her two-year struggle to get a novel published. Though she had a six-figure book deal, she was stuck. Why? She was too busy “spending a lot of time on the Internet,” that’s why.
“In fact, I can’t really remember anything else I did in 2010. I tumbld, I tweeted and I scrolled. This didn’t earn me any money but it felt like work… It was also the only creative thing I was doing.”
She did what a lot of us do when we’re scared or overwhelmed by a project — she did everything but focus on it. In fact, many valuable endeavors we undertake are painfully difficult, whether it’s coding a new startup or mastering a craft. But talking, talking is always easy. So we do that instead.
It’s a temptation that exists for everyone — for talk and hype to replace action.
Doing great work is a struggle. It’s draining, it’s demoralizing, it’s frightening — not always, but it can feel that way when we’re deep in the middle of it. We talk to fill the void and the uncertainty.
The question is, when faced with your particular challenge — whether it is researching in a new field, starting a business, producing a film, securing a mentor, advancing an important cause — do you seek the respite of talk or do you face the struggle head-on?
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2. Early pride.
At 18, a rather triumphant Benjamin Franklin returned to visit Boston, the city he’d run away from. Full of pride, he had a new suit, a watch and a pocketful of coins that he showed to everyone he ran into. All posturing by a boy who was not much more than an employee in a print shop in Philadelphia.
In a meeting with Cotton Mather, one of the town’s most respected figures, Franklin quickly illustrated just how ridiculously inflated his young ego had become. As they walked down a hallway, Mather suddenly admonished him, “Stoop! Stoop!” Too caught up in his performance, Franklin walked right into a low ceiling beam.
Mather’s response was perfect: “Let this be a caution to you not always to hold your head so high,” he said wryly. “Stoop, young man, stoop — as you go through this world — and you’ll miss many hard thumps.”
The problem with pride is that it blunts the instrument we need to succeed — our mind. Our ability to learn, to adapt, to be flexible, to build relationships, all of this is dulled by pride. Most dangerously, this tends to happen either early in life or in the process — when we’re flushed with beginner’s conceit. Only later do you realize that that bump on the head was the least of what was risked.
The question to ask, when you feel pride, then, is this: What am I missing right now that a more humble person might see? What am I avoiding, or running from, with my bluster, franticness, and embellishments?
It is far better to ask and answer these questions now, with the stakes still low, than it will be later.
Early on in her ascendant political career, a visitor once spoke of Eleanor Roosevelt’s “passionate interest” in a piece of social legislation. The person had meant it as a compliment. But Eleanor’s response is illustrative. “Yes,” she did support the cause, she said. “But I hardly think the word ‘passionate’ applies to me.” As a genteel, accomplished, and patient woman born while the embers of the quiet Victorian virtues were still warm, Roosevelt was above passion. She had purpose and direction.
Today it’s all about passion. Find your passion. Live passionately. Inspire the world with your passion.
People go to Burning Man to find passion, to be around passion, to rekindle their passion. Same goes for TED and the now enormous SXSW and a thousand other events, retreats and summits, all fueled by what they claim to be life’s most important force.
Here’s what those same people haven’t told you: your passion may be the very thing holding you back from power or influence or accomplishment. Because just as often, we fail with — no, because of — passion. To be clear, this is not about caring. This is passion of a different sort — unbridled enthusiasm, our willingness to pounce on what’s in front of us with the full measure of our zeal, the “bundle of energy” that our teachers and gurus have assured us is our most important asset.
Instead, what we require in our ascent is purpose. Purpose, you could say, is like passion with boundaries. Passion is form over function. Purpose is function, function, function. The critical work that you want to do will require your deliberation and consideration. Not passion.
Passion is about. (I am so passionate about ______.) Purpose is to and for. (I must do ______. I was put here to accomplish ______. I am willing to endure ______ for the sake of this.) Actually, purpose deemphasizes the I.
Purpose is about pursuing something outside yourself as opposed to pleasuring yourself. “Great passions are maladies without hope,” as Goethe said. Which is why a deliberate, purposeful person operates on a different level, beyond the sway or the sickness.
It’d be far better if you were intimidated by what lies ahead– humbled by its magnitude and determined to see it through regardless. Leave passion for the amateurs. Make it about your purpose: what you feel you must do and say, not what you care about and wish to be. Then you will do great things. Then you will stop being your old, good-intentioned, but ineffective self.
Early on in our careers we are setting out to do something. We have a goal, a calling, a new beginning. Every great journey begins here — yet far too many of us never reach our intended destination. Ego more often than not is the culprit.
We build ourselves up with fantastical stories and talk, we pretend we have it all figured out, we let our star burn bright and hot only to fizzle out, and we have no idea why. These are symptoms of ego, for which humility and reality are the cure.
Do not let ego derail your career — before it even begins.
This piece is adapted from Ryan Holiday’s book Ego is the Enemy, published by Penguin Portfolio
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Business is full of challenge. There are going to be losses, heartbreaks, bad days, slow months and less-than-stellar years. For this reason, business always brings with it a certain amount of pressure. There is the pressure to succeed, the pressure to keep up with your competitors and the pressure to grow the business.
Like any great athlete under this type of stress, you must manage yourself well and show grace under fire. You must be able to manage your emotions well enough to stay calm, mature and rational amidst stressful or problematic circumstances. When under intense stress it is natural to feel panicky, but to have poise under pressure you must learn to harness fear and panic through training yourself to possess self-control.
1. Take a moment.
It’s incredibly effective to take a step back when feeling stressed and just breathe. Oxygen helps the brain process emotion. When you are in fight or flight, your brain receives less oxygen, as you tend to take shorter and more shallow breaths when under stress. When you force yourself to take a moment to take a few deep breathes before reacting, you counteract your body’s natural reaction to your stressful situation. When you inhale deeply and exhale slowly it grounds you to this very moment allowing you to slow your thinking down. As increased oxygen floods the brain your thoughts become more rational. Breathing calms your heart rate, which becomes naturally accelerated by the flood of adrenaline into your bloodstream. As you allow your breath to slow things down, you will feel more calm, collected and graceful. You are lift out of feeling like the current situation is a threatening emergency and are able begin thinking about resolutions.
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2. Choose your thoughts.
In order to establish a sense of self-control you have to force yourself to think positively about your situation. Learn to focus on solutions, not problems. This helps you not to react negatively in high-pressure situations. Self-talk is a great way to get yourself to calm down and to start thinking rationally. The brain responds immediately to solution-focused thinking. The natural reaction to challenge is to feel defeated or distressed. Tell yourself there are solutions for every problem and begin the process of thinking of what those could be, or even better take a minute and jot some thoughts down. Tell yourself that you have the experience, skill and instincts to handle the issue you’re dealing with. Be mindful to stay away from using negative words like; “can’t,” “won’t,” or “impossible. Train yourself to look at the positive perspective of; this situation is not happening to me it’s happening for me, to keep yourself cool under the pressure of uncertainty.
Whenever you are in a leadership position, one way to stay composed is to remember you always have an audience. Your team members and other colleagues expect a certain level of integrity and grit from you as their leader. You are their example. Train yourself to keep in mind that you are being looked at as an example for how to behave in all situations, but especially high-pressured circumstances which call for your resiliency, intelligence and the ability to stay calm. Knowing you have an audience acts to anchor your chaotic emotions and also serves as a strong motivator to practice self-management under stressful circumstances. Your colleagues, friends, and family members can all draw positive perspectives from you when you handle high-pressure situations with maturity and self-control.
If you cannot figure out a solution, look to the mentors you have in your life and generate what you think they would do in your current dilemma, or imagine what they would advise you to do. Every great leader should have a leader who has led them. In generating the idea of what this role model would do or how your role model would handle your current challenge you naturally begin to get out of your own reactive emotions and into the mind of another and solutions will begin to generate. Emulate how you think they would react and respond. Taking these types of cues has an instant calming effect on a chaotic mind. It also puts you in a place to want to impress and do well. We never work harder for anything than for the admiration of our uppers, peers, coaches, or mentors.
5. Brainstorm.
When you’re feeling stressed, be proactive. Train your mind to ask questions out loud. As you hear yourself ask yourself the best way to fix or overcome your problem you start the natural process of brainstorming and quick solutions begin to surface. It’s even better to brainstorm with your team. As all of you put your minds together and share input, suggestions and ideas, things begin to calm down because the focus has moved to finding ways through or around the problem from being stuck in the problem. Brainstorming takes your focus off the pressure and allows you to be graceful in your efforts to make things better.
6. Focus on the big picture.
The hardest thing not to do when you’re feeling pressured is to catastrophize your situation and imagine every possible horrible outcome that could possibly come from a failure right now. Train yourself to view the current high-stress situation as an individual or isolated issue. This will help you control your urge to project your thoughts onto what could happen going forward. This helps you stay focused on the dilemma at hand. Keep in perspective that this one issue, in the realm of all possibility for your future, is not that big of a deal. This is simply a time of reinvention, reorganization, recalculating, adjusting and starting again. When you can look at the bigger picture and feel its vastness it brings a calming quality to your mind as you realize that where you are at and the pressure you are currently under is not the end of the world, but the beginning of a new solution to a temporary problem.
7. Visualize the positive.
When pressures are intense it is easy to only visualize all the negative that is happening or could happen if this problem isn’t solved. To stop this type of doubt and emotional chaos take a moment and close your eyes. Focus on the mental image of what you would like the outcome to be. Imagine the problem has already been solved and you have moved through this situation in the best way possible. Visualize and experience the emotional satisfaction and success you feel as you see yourself succeeding and moving past this issue. It is well worth it to take time in this way to direct your thoughts towards a successful resolution. When you can visualize yourself at the finish line and see the success, you will naturally feel calmer. You will have more faith and feel better prepared to take on the adversity at hand.
The reality is business isn’t always in the flow of success. Heartbreak, hardship and challenge occur that are largely out of your control. It’s the nature of the beast. This makes it important to know what to do during the more challenging times, as well as the good times. It’s easy to celebrate and pop the champagne when your numbers are climbing, but it also needs to be as easy to react deliberately and calmly when the obstacles come.
Entrepreneur.com | June 16, 2016 | SHERRIE CAMPBELL
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Chances are, your boss is keeping an eye on you. Forty-three percent of companies actively monitor employee emails, according to the American Management Association (AMA), and roughly the same number track the time you spend on the phone and who you call (16% go so far as to record those calls). Nearly half of companies say they use video to reduce theft and workplace sabotage.
Workplace monitoring is nothing new, of course. Bosses have been spying on employees for as long as they’ve been hiring people to work for them. But new technologies have made it easier for companies to track their employees’ every move while at the same time making it harder for workers to tell if they’re being watched.
From GPS tracking to snooping on your social media profiles, it’s not hard for a company to keep tabs on you, and unless your boss tells you’re he’s spying, you may never know. (To be fair, many companies do inform employees that they may be subject to monitoring, the AMA says.) This stealthy on-the-job surveillance is perfectly legal in most cases, which may come as a surprise to many people.
“Privacy in today’s workplace is largely illusory,” the AMA’s Ellen Bayer told The Week.
Not sure if your boss is using sneaky techniques to keep tabs on you? Here are four signs that you’re being watched at work.
1. You’re secretly planning to quit – and your boss already knows
More companies, including Credit Suisse and AOL, are mining big data to make predictions about which employees are likely to leave their job in the near future. VoloMetrix, Inc., an analytics firm, examined employee emails and calendar data and discovered that it could predict up to a year in advance who would be putting in their notice, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company says the data it gathers for its clients is anonymized, but it’s not hard to imagine a savvy boss getting a report that there’s a flight risk in a certain team and quickly picking out the squeaky wheel.
And then there’s social media. If you’re connected to your boss on LinkedIn or have a public profile, he may get suspicious if your network suddenly starts to grow or you link up with recruiters or industry competitors. If your company is tracking the website you visit or logging keystrokes, you may also alert your boss to your on-the-clock job search.
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2. You’re called out for a conversation that you thought was private
If your boss reprimands you for a less-than-professional conversation or email exchange that you thought was private, there’s a chance you have a tattletale co-worker. Or your supervisor may be spying on you, perhaps by scanning your email, monitoring your phone conversations, or even looking at the text messages you send on your work-issued device. If they’re using a key-logging program or other monitoring software, they may even know what you’re saying in your personal emails.
Don’t make the mistake that your boss doesn’t care about your idle workplace gossip, either. Thoughtless emails can come back to haunt you, as a newspaper reporter in England discovered after he was reprimanded and eventually fired for sending an email to a colleague about two other coworkers who were having an affair.
“Employers own the content on their own internal email systems and have the right to monitor what you write and to whom,” Jennifer Lee Magas, an employment law attorney and vice president of Magas Media Consultants, LLC, told MainStreet.com.
3. Your boss knows what you did this weekend before you tell him
Does your boss seem to know an awful lot about your personal life? He or she could be checking out your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media profiles, even if you haven’t added him to your network or given him your password (something that some employers really do ask for, though laws about that are changing). Stalking your public profiles is a bit creepy, but it’s not all that unusual. Many people have been disciplined or fired after their employers stumbled upon inappropriate posts, photos, and comments online.
In 2014, an Ohio teacher was fired for comments he made that were critical of factory farming. A Maryland prison guard lost his job after making a tasteless crack about prison rape and then tagging his boss in the post. And then there’s Ethan Czahor, the Jeb Bush staffer who only lasted a day before resigning after some offensive tweets he’d posted came to light. Czahor, at least, saw an opportunity in his career misstep – he created Clear, an app thatscans your social media for posts that you get you in trouble.
4. There’s some suspicious software on your devices
If your company’s IT department is monitoring your computer use, it’s not always going to be immediately obvious. However, you can poke around on your desktop to see if there are any telltale signs of monitoring software (Online Tech Tips has some advice on how to do that, if you’re so inclined). The same goes for unusual apps installed on smartphones. But don’t be too quick to uninstall something that looks suspicious or your boss may fight back.
Myrna Arias, who worked for a California money transfer firm, was told by her boss to install a tracking app on her phone. The app allowed the company, Intermex, to track the movements of its workers so closely that her boss allegedly told her that “he knew how fast she was driving.” Not only that, but the company wanted her to keep her phone on all the time. Arias objected to the 24-7 monitoring and uninstalled the app; she was later fired and is now suing her former employer.
https://www.firstsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/free-man-thinking.jpg24563680First Sun Teamhttps://www.firstsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/logo-min-300x123.jpgFirst Sun Team2016-06-15 21:05:462020-09-30 20:51:51Your #Career : 4 Signs Your Boss Is Spying on You…Bosses have Been Spying on Employees for as Long as They’ve been Hiring People to Work for Them. But New Technologies have Made it Easier for Companies to Track their Employees’ every Move While at the same Time making it Harder for Workers to Tell If they’re Being Watched.
In other words, don’t put your ladder on someone else’s wall. Pursue your own dreams. Not those of your parents, teachers, or some other significant influence in your life.
In order to make that ideal life a reality, you need to follow a process:
1. Define each specific dreamthat is part of your collage of your ideal life.
2. Build individual goals around each dream. In order to realize a given dream, it may, for example, require that you accomplish numerous goals.
3. Forge daily habits (I call them “goal habits”) that, when accomplished each day, bring you closer to achieving each individual goal.
As I learned from my five-year Rich Habits Study of people at both ends of the income spectrum, good habits are like snowflakes on the mountainside. You hardly notice the cumulative positive effects these habits have on your life on a daily basis, but over time, they create an avalanche of success.
When success hits, it appears to the untrained observer that the person became an overnight success. Of course, what the untrained observer does not realize is the fact that success was the byproduct of years and years of doing certain things every day.
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Building new daily habits isn’t difficult if you know what to do. It simply takes time and persistence. Consistency is the key. There is an easy trick that you can use in order to forge new goal habits to help you accomplish the goals behind the dreams that make up your ideal life: It’s called the 20 Minute Rule.The 20 Minute Rule is a simple three-step process.
Here’s how it works:
1. Define any new goal habit you wish to adopt.
2. Devote 20 minutes a day to that new goal habit.
3. Repeat that daily goal habit for a minimum of 30 days.
The new goal habit could be:
• 20 minutes a day of reading to expand your knowledge in a particular area that you need to become more proficient in, in order accomplish an individual goal (i.e. getting some license or certification).
• 20 minutes a day of networking to develop relationships with other successful individuals doing what you want to do. These relationships will open the door to opportunities that will help you accomplish your goals and realize your dreams.
• 20 minutes oflistening to a podcast related to one or more of your goals to gather knowledge and insight you didn’t have before.
• 20 minutes of watching a TED talk in an area you need to become more knowledgeable in, in order for you to realize your individual goals.
In 30 days, your brain cells start talking to one another, forming a synapse. Once the synapse is formed, the tracks are laid for habit formation to occur. Over time, it becomes easier and easier to engage in the habit. At some point, between 66 and 256 days, according to the latest science on habits change, the habit becomes an automatic, unconscious behavior.
The brain loves habits. Habits conserve brain fuel and save the brain from work. But it does take repetition and time in order to get brain cells talking to each other. Thirty days gets the conversation going inside the brain.
Once the new goal habit sticks, then you can move on to the next new goal habit, following the same three-step process. In the course of a year, it is possible to add three or more new goal habits using this three-step process. In a few years you will have created dozens of new habits and your life will begin to improve as you accomplish one goal after another, and realize one dream after another.
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Today some of the most popular and successful franchise categories — such as children’s services, food and fitness — offer businesses that can be started for less than $50,000.
So if you’d like to be your own boss without breaking the bank, look no further than the 225 budget-friendly franchises. Opportunity awaits.
Startup cost: $19.7K-$39.3K Total franchises/co.-owned: 0/1
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Startup cost: $45.3K-$92K Total franchises/co.-owned: 63/1
entrepreneur.com | June 13, 2016 | This story appears in the June 2016 issue of Startups.
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Last year, after her company went through a merger, Judith Meritz decided the time was right to walk away from her 30+year career as a senior corporate counsel. After doing some traveling, she turned to Your Encore, a firm that places seasoned experts into short-term work assignments. As a result, Meritz now enjoys a satisfying blend of periodic consulting assignments, volunteer work and a host of other leisure activities.
Meritz is one of a growing number of Americans thriving in the gig economy. Unfortunately, while the interest in flexible work is stronger than ever, the process of finding flexible jobs remains challenging. That’s why I’m using this post to update a very popular one I wrote two years ago, 10 Great Sites to Find Gigs and Part-Time Work, (1 million+ views on our partner Forbes.com and counting).
Since I last wrote that post, numerous other options have come online or to my attention. Choosing which sites to feature this time was no easy task, but I aimed for a list that addresses a wide range of situations.
Freelancer.com It’s a gigantic freelance job board with over 9 million postings. Many of them are tech-related, but you’ll also find listings for graphic designers, tutors, sales and marketing jobs and many others. Following in Craigslist’s footsteps, the site now includes a Freelancer Local section, featuring posts for things like pickup and delivery, photography and maintenance gigs.
After creating a free account, you can browse and bid on a limited number of jobs per month (a maximum of eight per month initially). There are a variety of fees that apply to upgraded services (such as if you want to be a featured bidder on the site) so be sure to check them out here.
LocalSolo.com As the name suggests, LocalSolo.com was created to help companies and freelancers who prefer to work face-to-face, but there are now remote job listings as well for tech professionals, content providers, designers, marketers and many others.
The site is free for freelancers and includes access to LocalSolo’s collaboration and networking communities. Once you make a connection with an employer, you work directly with the client — the site does not get involved with setting rates, contracts or payments.
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Upwork.com This site resulted from the merger of two large platforms for freelancers (Elance, which is mentioned in my original post, and Odesk). Upwork hosts an enormous variety of positions, including web developers, designers, sales and marketing pros, although you can’t access the listings until you create a profile and it is approved.
Basic membership is free, but you can upgrade to a Plus plan for additional privileges, such as greater visibility into competitors bids. In addition, Upwork deducts a 10% fee before you receive payment for work completed (so for example, you’ll receive $18/hour if you bill $20/hour).
Virtual Jobs
Virtual Vocations.com It’s a site solely for telecommuting jobs, to the tune of about 10,000 jobs per month in more than 40 categories. Since the work-from-home space is notorious for scams, Virtual Vocations employs three teams to screen each job before it is approved and doesn’t post fee-based, solely commission-based or “start your own business” opportunities.
The site offers free and paid memberships. The free version gives you limited access to its jobs; the $15.99/month version (with discounts for multi-month plans) offers full access to the listings, plus other extras, such as courses and industry guides.
Sites For Professionals
HourlyNerd.com This marketplace connects businesses to top-tier MBA alumni for short-term business consulting projects. So if you’re a graduate of a top-40 B-school who likes consulting on topics like competitive analysis, fundraising presentation or company valuation, HourlyNerd might be a good fit.
The site says its “nerds” include stay-at-home parents with strong industry expertise, former management consultants looking for greater flexibility and retired professionals eager to use their expertise in a more flexible way. Experts generally earn from $75 to $200 an hour.
Inkwell This staffing agency site (it’s URL is Inkwellteam.com; don’t confuse the site with Inkwell.com, which sells office supplies) specializes in placing high-level professionals, many of whom are moms, in positions with flexible or part-time schedules. Inkwell, founded by Manon DeFelice, who describes herself on the site as “a Mom, an attorney, and the former executive director and general counsel for a women’s rights foundation, says it has a “special focus on extraordinary women.”
In addition to serving as a matchmaker between people and jobs, Inkwell provides a support system for flexible workers, noting events and lectures in select locations. Inkwell is highly selective about who it works with; only graduates from top universities and MBA, Ph.D or JD programs are encouraged to apply (Application details can be found here.) After being vetted and approved, candidates can choose a position from a wide range of industries, function specialties and scheduling options.
Seasonal Work
Workamper.com This is a subscription-based magazine, website and jobs-listing service for “working campers” — people who embrace a lifestyle combining part-time or full-time work with RV camping. So whether you’re looking to work at an RV park, dude ranch, amusement park or wildlife preserve, Workamper offers options.
Some of its most common positions are camp hosts, park managers and grounds keepers, but Workamper also get requests for artists, musicians and even actors for wild west shows. There are a variety of paid subscription options ($27 to $67 a year) with access to job listings.
Sites for Encore Talent
If you’re 50+, you might be interested in these services that link retirees and seasoned workers with employers and nonprofits in need of temporary, encore career help. Three examples:
PatinaSolutions.com This site offers project-based and interim employment to professionals with 25 or more years of experience in a wide variety of functions and industries. Registration is free.
YourEncore.com This site matches seasoned talent with top companies in the life sciences, medical devices, and consumer goods industries. Assignments can last from a few days to over a year and compensation is determined by factors including project type, skills required and marketplace standards. To be considered as an expert, visit YourEncore to create a profile and upload your resumé.
ReServe This site (a tricky URL here, too; it’s reserveinc.org) helps find people age 55+ part-time work at nonprofits and public institutions in seven locations: New York City, Boston, the Mid-Atlantic, South Florida, Northern New Jersey, Southeast Wisconsin and Westchester County, N.Y. Assignments average 15 to 20 hours per week, pay a small stipend of $10 an hour and can be ongoing or time-limited. Currently, the average placement lasts 13 months.
Not everyone who applies is accepted. To become a ReServist candidate, you must fill out the site’s “First Impressions Registration” and then attend an orientation session to learn about the program and meet with ReServe staff. If your application is approved, you can then search ReServe’s Opportunity Board for positions that match your skills and interests.
https://www.firstsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Free-Laptop-Cellphone-at-home.jpg11001650First Sun Teamhttps://www.firstsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/logo-min-300x123.jpgFirst Sun Team2016-06-14 15:16:222020-09-30 20:51:53Your #Career : 10 More Great Sites To Find Gigs & Part-Time Work…Growing Number of Americans Thriving in the Gig Economy. Unfortunately, while the Interest in Flexible Work is Stronger than Ever, the Process of Finding Flexible Jobs Remains Challenging. That’s why I’m using this Post to Update a Very Popular One I wrote 2 Years Ago (over 1 Million Hits).
Working from home sounds like an idyllic situation, in theory: You can roll out of bed each morning (or afternoon, even) and get started on your day without having to dress up, brave traffic, or engage in mindless chit-chat around the communal coffee machine.
However, not going into an office every day presents its own set of challenges, like determining how to separate your home life from your work life, and making sure you’re feeling connected to your colleagues and clients, among other things.
To help ensure that you’re on the right track while working remotely, we consulted seasoned work-from-home veterans who shared their top tips for staying productive—and thriving—in their careers.
OUTFITTING YOUR OFFICE
Whether you have a whole room dedicated to a home office or prefer working from the couch in your living room, having the right setup can keep you productive while on the clock.
1. They make sure they have the equipment they need.
It’s important to invest in the quality of your workspace by getting equipment that helps you do the best work you can. When I transitioned to an at-home employee, I went out and bought a similar version of the computer I was used to working on so that my productivity levels wouldn’t suffer from an inferior, slower setup.
—Brit Casady, 24, Lehi, UT, graphic designer
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2. They invest in ways to stay active at home.
My favorite part of working from home is the fact that I can work on my treadmill desk. I can kill two birds with one stone by exercising while I work. I’ve found that being able to walk helps keep me focused and because of that, I’m able to succumb less to the distractions that come from working at home. On the days I work on the treadmill, I typically spend two to four hours on it—that adds up to about 10 to 15 hours per week. I pretty much do any kind of work on my treadmill, from writing posts to sending emails to creating social media content and so on. At a two mile-per-hour pace, it’s not so fast that certain tasks are difficult to do because I’m walking.
—Brent Hale, 30, Sparks, NV, online entrepreneur and owner of IncomeAddon.com
MANAGING DISTRACTIONS
Let’s face it—distractions run rampant wherever you work, whether it’s in an office with coworkers or in your own kitchen. Keep productivity zappers at bay with these strategies.
3. They get organized with the “three-minute rule.”
I allow three minutes to tend to anything I feel I need to respond to immediately that is not on my to-do list. Give yourself three minutes every hour of your official ‘work hours’ to scan and respond to important emails, put shoes that accumulate around the doorway in the closet, etc.—if it takes no more than three minutes. It puts your mind at ease and reduces at-home work distractions without derailing your day. It also helps you spend less time cleaning the house and dealing with administrative tasks when the workday ends.
—Stephanie Taylor Christensen, 38, Columbus, OH, freelance writer, yoga instructor, and mother to a 6-year-old
4. They don’t let socializing get in the way of working.
Notify friends that you do have work hours, even if you are at home. For the longest time, I had friends popping over at all times of the day whenever they were free! Make sure you are assertive and tell them what your hours of work are and that you stick to a no-visit schedule during these times.
—Laura Fredrick, 28, Marlton, NJ, public relations professional and owner of Laur PR
5. They let their kids visit their home offices occasionally.
With a home office and three kids, it’s not easy. My advice? Get a white board. When the door is closed, do not disturb. But if it’s open—and leave it open as much as possible—my kids can come in and draw on it and leave me little notes. It’s magnetic, so they can put stuff on there for me to display. Everyone is happy.
—Gregory Pavliv, 38, Bloomfield, NJ, music teacher and owner of Music Teaching Guru
6. They minimize online distractions.
One of my favorite productivity hacks comes with the help of an app called StayFocusd. When working from home, Facebook and Twitter can be a major distraction. StayFocusd helps you avoid these distractions by restricting the amount of time you can spend on them. The Google Chrome extension lets you set specific time restrictions on certain websites with a 10-minute default option. Once your time has been used up, the sites you have selected to block can’t be accessed for the remainder of the day.
—Lori Cheek, 43, New York City, founder and CEO of Cheekd.com, an online dating app
7. They time-delay their email responses in order to manage expectations.
I time-delay every single email I send. I have gotten people out of the habit of thinking that they control my workday and that they will get an immediate response. I time-delay up to a full day if I feel it’s necessary. Inbox by Gmail has been critical in helping me maintain my inbox. I love it because I can simply save messages for later, create my own bundles (like per project or sender) and remind myself to do things. It has been tremendously helpful as far as keeping my mailbox from getting out of hand.
—Ashley Sharie, 27, Washington, DC, CEO and founder or Aspire Business, a business consulting firm
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Related: Distraction Overload: 7 Ways To Get Back On Track At Work]
CONNECTING WITH CLIENTS
Checking in with colleagues and customers can be challenging when you don’t see them every day. This is why it’s important to put your best foot forward in all of the interactions you do have.
8. They build in prep time for client meetings.
When you work from home, your schedule can be all over the place—workout classes whenever, meetings at different places and different times. Plus, I don’t know about you, but if I don’t need to get dressed in professional clothes, I won’t. My calendar helps me in that regard. Each time I schedule a meeting with someone outside of my home, I set my alert for 30 minutes or an hour before, depending on how long it will take me to get there. Then I set another alert for two hours before. This is my “Go take a shower and make yourself presentable” alarm. Without it, I would show up to many of my meetings looking and feeling frazzled.
—Alden Wicker, 29, New York City, freelance writer and founder of EcoCult.com
9. They err on the side of over-communication (sometimes).
We’ve found that most workplace tension is caused by inadequate communication—particularly when you are unable to speak with colleagues in person due to remote work situations. When you are unable to speak to clients or colleagues in person, make sure they know you are on the case by always being crystal clear. Frequent communication with your supervisor and co-workers can help reinforce bonds of friendship and trust, making collaboration easier throughout your time at a company.
But when it comes to email, remember that less is more: Try to communicate your message using as few words as possible to save time for your reader. When crafting a written message, it’s easy to get lost in long blocks of text and drift off on tangents—particularly when you need to explain a complicated concept to a coworker. To keep yourself focused and on-message, consider using bulleted lists to help structure and explain your thinking. The natural segmentation of bullets and ability to indent can help you keep your thoughts logical, organized, and succinct.
—Sam McIntire, 26, San Francisco, founder of Deskbright, an online learning platform designed to help people thrive at work
In a remote environment, it’s often easier to sit quietly during conference calls. But it’s really important to go into a conference call with at least a few specific talking points to discuss. It not only shows that you’re prepared, but it also helps to move the conversation forward in a productive way, rather than hemming and hawing while you think of something to talk about.
Also, challenge yourself to ask two questions during a meeting. This really forces you to pay attention to what’s being discussed. Even if a topic of discussion isn’t directly related to your job, it’s a nice idea to ask questions, both to learn more about the company and your coworkers and to show that you’re paying attention and engaged.
—Brie Weiler Reynolds, 34, Dallas, director of online content at FlexJobs
STAYING ON A SUCCESS TRACK
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut managing your daily to-dos, but periodically taking a step back to evaluate your overall performance can help make your work-from-home experience a success.
11. They give themselves yearly reviews.
In December or January, I conduct a yearly review. This is partially to reconcile my numbers and partially to see which of the services I offer pay the most on both an hourly and total-dollars basis. In my year-end review I note items such as gross annual income, average hourly rate, average rate per word, average days from invoice to payment, total hours worked (plus average hours per week), total number of words edited or written (this is more for personal curiosity than anything), most lucrative service by total dollars and finally, most lucrative service by hourly rate.
—Anitra Budd, 37, Minneapolis, freelance writer and editor
12. They block off time for professional development.
Leave open space [in your schedule] for planning and networking meetings, as well as time to reflect on what is working and what is not working. Perhaps Friday afternoons or Monday mornings where you block off time in your calendar to set up your week and revisit your goals.
—Cara Maksimow, 43, Chatham, NJ, clinical therapist and owner of Maximize Wellness Counseling and Coaching
13. They keep their schedules flexible.
Know your schedule—your actual schedule, not a clone of the in-office working model. If you know your home or parenting responsibilities will make working in the morning tough but you’ll be uninterrupted at night, you’ll be more productive by planning your day that way rather than attempting to mix home and work. Be realistic about it so you can build boundaries based on efficiency. The end result is an enormous increase in both your productivity and your sanity!
—Monica Reccoppa, 42, Totowa, NJ, financial manager at Cardwell Beach, a creative marketing agency
14. They write a goal list.
I have my personal and professional goals written down and posted at my desk. This allows me to see them every day—it’s easy to get caught up in task-mode and only focus on checking off items from your to-do list. Having written goals displayed openly forces you to remember the larger reason why you are performing these tasks and take a step back to examine whether you’re on track to meeting the goals you set for yourself.
—Casey Bond, 29, Manhattan Beach, CA, editor of StudentLoanHero.com
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Finishing college is a big accomplishment, and for many people, a big relief. College can be a lot of fun, but some people are just ready to start their careers and start the next phase of their lives. Whether you’re ready or not, you will need to move forward after college. If you are still attending, then you need to be sure to stay on budget while you are in school. Once you graduate though, making wise choices in your job search and at your first job, and smart financial decisions, will help set you up for a successful life and career.
On the other hand, spending money like you will never run out, or failing to appreciate your first job and learn as much as possible, can set you down a bad path that can be hard to come back from. Here are five mistakes you want to avoid.
1. Failing to take your job search seriously
Ideally, you will have a job set up before you graduate. If you don’t, you will want to make finding one your top priority. According to USA Today, you can get a job coach, and also network and reach out to people at a company that you want to work for. Don’t make the mistake of assuming a job will simply fall into your lap; you need to get out there and apply.
Also, be careful of taking just any job. While you have to pay your bills, you will be in a much better place career-wise if you can find a job in your field. This is another reason why you should start searching early.
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2. Coasting at your first job
Landing a job is a big deal, but don’t assume that just because you get a job, you will keep it. It’s important to work hard and prove that you deserve to be at the company. Particularly when you are working at your first job, you want to establish yourself as an asset to the company. Being lazy or doing the bare minimum will only hurt you later.
Even if your first job isn’t ideal, you can still make the most of it: learn as much as you can, grow professionally, and network. You never know how your hard work will pay off. Even if your first job isn’t as interesting as you want, or isn’t at the level that you want, working hard and showing that you are a loyal and innovative team member may lead to just the job you do want.
3. Spending money impulsively
Once you have a job, it can be exciting to spend the money you make. Having a lot of money for the first time can be exhilarating and it can be very dangerous as well. As tempting as it is to go out and buy a new car, new furniture, and splurge on many dinners out, try to limit your extravagant spending. You probably have some time before you need to start saving for retirement, but spending wildly just because you have a job won’t pay off in the long run.
According to U.S. News & World Report, you should consider the benefits your employer offers and take advantage of them; also, think about your fixed costs and about your future savings.
4. Ignoring debt
If you took out student loans, you probably have a grace period before you need to start repaying them. If you have other debt you need to pay off, then it’s reasonable to wait to pay off your student loans, especially if you have other debt with higher interest rates. However, it’s a good idea to pay off as much debt as you can now. You don’t need to pay the minimum due for your student loans, and if you have credit card debt, the same is true. The more you can pay off now, the more available funds you will have to save for traveling, a house, or retirement.
When you graduate college, you will most likely have as few responsibilities as you ever will. Now is the time to pay your debt if you can.
5.Forgetting about your health
Yes, you’re young, and it can be tempting to spend money on the things you want instead of investing in health insurance. However, if you are no longer on your parents’ plan (which you usually can be until you are 26 ifdependents are covered), you do need to think about coverage. Even if you are still on your parents’ plan, you won’t be forever and you need to look at what plans your company offers and the cost of those plans. Also, it’s important to consider how many years you have before you need to pay for the insurance, or how it will affect your budget.
If your parents can’t cover you, then be sure that you do sign up for coverage. Without health insurance, you risk a serious financial hardship if an expensive health surprise comes your way (this is also a good reason to have an emergency fund).
Also, when you are working full-time, it can be easy to neglect other aspects of your health, such as exercise or diet. Maintaining a healthy diet, and finding time for exercise, will help you save money on expensive health carecosts later.
The years after graduating college should be exciting, and you can learn a lot and advance professionally and financially if you avoid financial and career mistakes.
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“Television mesmerizes people and turns them into intellectual spectators. It feeds passivity and makes you less engaged.”
I’ve never seen Game of Thrones, I don’t know what the Scandal is, and I couldn’t name a single “real” housewife. I thought I didn’t watch much television and that taking a 30-day break would be a piece of cake. I was wrong.
The average adult watches 2.8 hours per day of television, according to the American Time Use survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another studyputs this number higher, at four hours and 15 minutes each day. I added up all of the viewing at my house, and we were definitely on the high side.
A one-hour standing date with Judge Judy, marking the official end of my workday
An hour of news
Thirty minutes of Jeopardy (because it’s educational)
And an hour-plus of mindless shows before bed
Nielsen, we have a problem.
THE DANGERS OF TV
A lot of research has been done around TV viewing and children, and Adam Lipson, a neurosurgeon with IGEA Brain & Spine, says one of the best studies is from Tohoku University in Japan. “They noted thickening of the frontopolar cortex, which is related to verbal reasoning ability, and also correlated with a drop in IQ in proportion to the number of hours of television watching,” he says. “In addition, they noted thickening in the visual cortex in the occipital lobe, and in the hypothalamus, which may correlate with aggression.”
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Studies involving adults have tied television watching to Type 2 diabetes, depression, and even crime, adds Lipson. “Many of the studies report adverse effects with television watching greater than one hour per day,” he says. “There have been EEG studies that demonstrate that television watching converts the brain from beta wave activity to alpha waves, which are associated with a daydreaming state, and a reduced use of critical thinking skills.”
Eric Braverman, founder and president of Path Foundation NY, a nonprofit research organization devoted to brain health, is a little more blunt: “The boob tube turns you into a boob,” he says. “Television mesmerizes people and turns them into intellectual spectators. It feeds passivity and makes you less engaged.”
Ouch. But he’s right. Once the blue glow fills a room, I often find it hard to break away. Television watching is a habit my husband and I started as kids; we both grew up spending “family time” around programs like Love Boat and Fantasy Island. He agreed to take the challenge with me. No TV. No Netflix. No live streaming anything. “How hard could it be?” we thought.
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WHAT HAPPENED
During the first few days we were at a loss for what to do. It had been our routine to watch whatever is on TV after dinner, and suddenly we were both dumbstruck for ideas. So we went to sleep at 8:30 p.m. Then a new routine kicked in. We started cooking together, took the dogs on longer walks, completed tasks around the house that had been on the to-do list for too long, and had great conversations over a glass of wine. On Friday and Saturday nights when we didn’t have plans with friends, we listened to CBS Radio Mystery Theater on YouTube, a radio program we had both loved as kids.
While week one was filled with fighting the urge to turn on the TV and brainstorming other activities, weeks two and three were when things started to change for me physically and mentally. Most notably, I felt less stressed. A lot of the programs we used to watch, like Dateline or 48 Hours Mystery, had elements of suspense, drama, and violence. Had this stuff been rubbing off on me?
“TV increasingly traffics in violent programming to keep the viewer in a state of constant fear,” says Wheeler Winston Dixon, Ryan professor of film studies at the University of Nebraska. “TV also acts as a pacifier, a sort of virtual escape, but it is one that never satisfies, and only leaves the viewer wanting more of the same emptiness.”
Another side effect was that I felt less rushed when we were out. There was no reason to run home to catch a show. Whether I was in line at the grocery store or shopping for a suit with my son, I didn’t worry about time. And I seemed to have more patience.
By the end of the TV-free month, I finished the stacks of magazines that were sitting on my nightstand and end table, cleaned out my closet, started the capsule wardrobe I always wanted to have, donated 10 bags of household items we no longer needed, went to a viewing of a documentary about minimalism, and took my son to New York with me when I attended a writer’s conference, spending time with him being a tourist.
I’ve never seen Game of Thrones, I don’t know what the Scandal is, and I couldn’t name a single “real” housewife. I thought I didn’t watch much television and that taking a 30-day break would be a piece of cake. I was wrong.
The average adult watches 2.8 hours per day of television, according to the American Time Use survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another studyputs this number higher, at four hours and 15 minutes each day. I added up all of the viewing at my house, and we were definitely on the high side.
A one-hour standing date with Judge Judy, marking the official end of my workday
An hour of news
Thirty minutes of Jeopardy (because it’s educational)
And an hour-plus of mindless shows before bed
Nielsen, we have a problem.
THE DANGERS OF TV
A lot of research has been done around TV viewing and children, and Adam Lipson, a neurosurgeon with IGEA Brain & Spine, says one of the best studies is from Tohoku University in Japan. “They noted thickening of the frontopolar cortex, which is related to verbal reasoning ability, and also correlated with a drop in IQ in proportion to the number of hours of television watching,” he says. “In addition, they noted thickening in the visual cortex in the occipital lobe, and in the hypothalamus, which may correlate with aggression.”
Studies involving adults have tied television watching to Type 2 diabetes, depression, and even crime, adds Lipson. “Many of the studies report adverse effects with television watching greater than one hour per day,” he says. “There have been EEG studies that demonstrate that television watching converts the brain from beta wave activity to alpha waves, which are associated with a daydreaming state, and a reduced use of critical thinking skills.”
Eric Braverman, founder and president of Path Foundation NY, a nonprofit research organization devoted to brain health, is a little more blunt: “The boob tube turns you into a boob,” he says. “Television mesmerizes people and turns them into intellectual spectators. It feeds passivity and makes you less engaged.”
Ouch. But he’s right. Once the blue glow fills a room, I often find it hard to break away. Television watching is a habit my husband and I started as kids; we both grew up spending “family time” around programs like Love Boat and Fantasy Island. He agreed to take the challenge with me. No TV. No Netflix. No live streaming anything. “How hard could it be?” we thought.
“Happiness comes from the interaction between inspiration and perspiration,” says Braverman. “Anything that stops humans from perspiring to achieve something inspiring gives a false fantasy and an endless distraction from reaching your full potential.”
WHAT HAPPENED
During the first few days we were at a loss for what to do. It had been our routine to watch whatever is on TV after dinner, and suddenly we were both dumbstruck for ideas. So we went to sleep at 8:30 p.m. Then a new routine kicked in. We started cooking together, took the dogs on longer walks, completed tasks around the house that had been on the to-do list for too long, and had great conversations over a glass of wine. On Friday and Saturday nights when we didn’t have plans with friends, we listened to CBS Radio Mystery Theater on YouTube, a radio program we had both loved as kids.
While week one was filled with fighting the urge to turn on the TV and brainstorming other activities, weeks two and three were when things started to change for me physically and mentally. Most notably, I felt less stressed. A lot of the programs we used to watch, like Dateline or 48 Hours Mystery, had elements of suspense, drama, and violence. Had this stuff been rubbing off on me?
“TV increasingly traffics in violent programming to keep the viewer in a state of constant fear,” says Wheeler Winston Dixon, Ryan professor of film studies at the University of Nebraska. “TV also acts as a pacifier, a sort of virtual escape, but it is one that never satisfies, and only leaves the viewer wanting more of the same emptiness.”
Another side effect was that I felt less rushed when we were out. There was no reason to run home to catch a show. Whether I was in line at the grocery store or shopping for a suit with my son, I didn’t worry about time. And I seemed to have more patience.
By the end of the TV-free month, I finished the stacks of magazines that were sitting on my nightstand and end table, cleaned out my closet, started the capsule wardrobe I always wanted to have, donated 10 bags of household items we no longer needed, went to a viewing of a documentary about minimalism, and took my son to New York with me when I attended a writer’s conference, spending time with him being a tourist.
I also read three books and enjoyed one so much I’m reading it again. Reading is a much better substitute for your brain and creativity, says Braverman. “The greatest thing is reading fiction and nonfiction, it stimulates both sides of the brain,” he says.
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
Yet, TV isn’t all bad, says Braverman. “There are tons of programs that challenge brain, such as shows about history,” he says. “Life is not about learning every second. TV is a tremendous potential source if properly handled. The problem is that it’s a difficult instrument to control. Some things have more destructive qualities, and TV is one of them. Just like sugar is a deceitful food, TV is a deceitful presentation of life.”
Braverman has a formula for how much is okay: “Everybody needs an hour of aerobic exercise every day,” he says. “If you work out for an hour, you can watch TV for an hour. Work out for two hours, and you can watch for two hours. Never watch more television than the amount of time you exercise.”
DID WE TURN THE TV ON?
I didn’t. (My husband has gone back to watching the Golf Channel at night.) As I write this, it’s day 33, and I have not watched a single television show. Not even the final episode of The Good Wife, which I recorded and was so sad to miss. That’s because the best result of this experiment was the sense of calm that has seemed to set in, and the waves of contentment that come out of nowhere. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. I don’t want to go back. At least not yet.
“Happiness comes from the interaction between inspiration and perspiration,” says Braverman. “Anything that stops humans from perspiring to achieve something inspiring gives a false fantasy and an endless distraction from reaching your full potential.”
https://www.firstsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Free-Man-at-Desktop-at-Night.jpg11001650First Sun Teamhttps://www.firstsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/logo-min-300x123.jpgFirst Sun Team2016-06-11 13:10:292020-09-30 20:51:55#Leadership : How Giving Up TV For A Month Changed My Brain & My Life…Watching a Couple Hours of TV a Day can have Major Effects on your Brain. So What would Happen if you Quit Cold Turkey?
