Use Your Five Senses to Get More Done

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The five senses (Photo Credit: Onefleshmarriage.com

The five senses (Photo Credit: Onefleshmarriage.com

I’ve recently started meditating using the HeadSpace App and one of the exercises is to really pay attention to everything around you. Close your eyes and tap into what you’re hearing, how you feel, what you’re smelling and what your feet feel like on the floor. It’s a tedious practice at first but this attention can really do wonders in the long run. The same idea goes for your workspace.

We all have our favorite places to work, but have you ever thought about why? Whether you realize it or not, the five senses do more than just provide us with nice smells and pleasant tastes—they actually influence our productivity habits.
Next time you go to sit down in your office, here’s how you can use the five senses to impact your productivity:

1. Sight: Next time you paint your walls, remember that blue is the most productive color. Moredays.com says it stimulates a high work performance, which can keep you plugging along for long periods of time. Blue provides a calming and soothing effect, which helps to improve the mind too.Blue is even the recommended color to wear on a job interview because it symbolizes loyalty!

If you can’t change the color scheme in your office, add a small desk plant. While desk plants help to spruce up a workplace, two recent studies show that plants actually help to improve productivity, as well. Nature helps brighten moods and regain focus, but if you don’t have time in your schedule to go for a walk outside, a desk plant will do the trick.

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Using Social Media To Get Social In Person

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Socializing

(Photo credit: zerok)

This new social media age has made friendships and dating more and more digital. With it being as simple as being able to post a photo for many people to see, to being able to send instagram messages on computer, staying in touch and interacting with followers may not be as tough as some may think. Social media may not be for everyone though.

The “social” aspect of being social is quickly diminishing. Don’t get me wrong I love my technology and apps as you know – but face-to-face communication shouldn’t go out of style. And this is coming from a person who loves alone time. Friendships are so important for your mind, body, and soul. Here are just a few benefits:

1. Great support system: Having friends at your side means you always have someone to lean on. In good times and bad you have someone there for you.

2. Happiness: Good friends equal good company. What is better than having a BFF to gossip with, watch chick flicks, or share a bottle of wine over some laughs? Friends can brighten your day and just make you happier.

3. Good for Your Health: Many studies have shown that having close friends or relationships can help your cardiovascular health and lower levels of cortisol (stress hormones). Check out more health benefits here

Now I’m not saying to throw away social media – in fact, I can give you the best of both worlds! Here are a few social media sites that actually get you to be social outside of online but before looking at them, let’s talk about how to build social platforms up, you can actually build them up using professionals such as a social media accounts manager. They will help you by growing your instagram for instance, and this will bring people to your site by using relevant hashtags, putting up snappy captions and taking amazing photographs, of course this is just the basics of social media marketing and they are there to help with all of the complicated stuff! There are so many interesting sites to look at…

Girlfriend Circles: This site connects like-minded local women with one another to create friendships. This is great for people who have just moved into an area, or are just looking for some girlfriends to get coffee and lunch with! You can search through member profiles and join “connecting circles.” They also post scheduled events to meet up with other women.

Tawify: Online dating can be more social too! This site is like Millionaire Matchmaker but without the “millions”. The new online dating site allows you to skip out on all the profile searching and has a “personal concierge” do all the work for you! Once you sign up, you fill out a short questionnaire and they will set you up with your dating agent who you meet in person. Make sure you fill out the questionnaire as truthfully as you can, it’s important you don’t try and change who you are. Your agent will then find your best matches and set up your dates for you. This is a cool spin on the typical dating site because the agent will be able to get to know you and find the perfect person for you.

Meetup: This is where I first started my “Lists and Libations” group. A group for list lovers who meet at bars in NYC and talk all things productivity. You really can find a group for any interest on this site. From cooking buffs to book lovers — you’ll find “your people” and be able to meetup off line.

How do you think you’d benefit from having more friends and actually meeting up in person more often?

Join National Unplugging Day

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It’s one of the hardest things to do — yet it can have such a huge benefit.  I’m talking about putting your phone down and unplugging.  Just giving yourself a few minutes to relax instead of compulsively checking your Facebook, emails, Twitter, text messages, apps, games, etc. is really scary actually.  I get that!  Just last week when I was forced to unplug because of a cable company snafu I thought I was going to lose my mind.  But there are many benefits to just taking a breath and unplugging like:

1.Relaxation For Your Mind All day long our heads are buzzing with a million different to-do’s. This mental clutter can cause a lot of stress. So giving your brain a break can allow you to unwind, and de-clutter your mind. I think our hectic brains deserve that every once in a while!

2. In-Person Socializing Is that still a thing?! Unplugging will allow some quality face-to-face time with friends and family (and FaceTime doesn’t count.) It’s so easy to text and email people, that I actually find myself sighing when my phone rings. Actually — I never answer my phone if you don’t have an appointment with me (really -I even have a YouTube video about it! ) But it’s nice to let go of the phone and talk in person!

3. Distractions Be Gone Ever find that it takes you three times as long to complete a task because those tweets lighting up your phone were just too funny not to read? I understand! Well, unplugging can help you to focus on tasks and not get distracted by that next level of Candy Crush.

4. Health Benefits Being connected 24/7 can actually have an affect on your health. Our smart phones pump out electromagnetic radiation, which is linked with cancer. This is why you should kick your phone out of bed, and try not to have it on you for extended amount of times. Your eyes could also use a break from staring at screens for so long.

5. Less FOMO (fear of missing out). Out of sight, out of mind, right?  Unplugging can help ease the anxiety of constantly wondering what emails you are getting , or what photos your friends are uploading to Facebook. It’s nice to take a break from what everyone else is doing and focus on yourself! And don’t worry too much, it will all be there when you decide to reconnect.

Even Randi Zuckerberg (former Facebook exec) who built her career around technology says it’s important to detox every once and a while to help you get reconnected with yourself and the ones you love.  She even wrote a book about it called Dot Complicated: Untangling Our Wired Lives and a children’s book called Dot, which is about a little girl obsessed with electronic devices.

So how do you do it?  How do you officially unplug?  Here’s a kickstarter — tonight marks the start of the National Day of Unplugging.  From March 7th at sundown to March 8th at sundown get off your devices!

That means:

No cell phones
No iPads
No iPad Minis
No eReaders
No computers
No social media

You can join the National Day of Unplugging by signing the Unplug Pledge and disconnect.  The campaign encourages you to connect with people in your neighborhood and have interrupted meals with your family.

Happy Unplugging!

5 Reasons To Kick Your Phone Out Of Bed

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David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Smartphones have become our sole source of communication, our daily weather updates, the way we unwind with games, and even our cuddle buddies at night. This is mainly focused on the younger generation though, as the only generation that seems to have got it right is the older generation, by only using their phones for making phone calls. I know that not all the older generation just use their phones for taking calls, but some do. There are even these cell phones for older adults, which can make things a lot easier for them. Going back to what I first started talking about though. I know many of you can’t think of another way but to have your phone next to your head at night. However, this is something I’ve never done and refuse to do. I have to set boundaries or else I’d go insane…checking and rechecking emails, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Since getting a Blackberry for work about seven years ago, I’ve always kept all of my phones in the living room, nice and far out of reach. Being connected 24/7 is not only a distraction but it’s also not good for your health. Sleeping is supposed to be peaceful and sacred. Just ask Arianna Huffington — she worships sleep and thinks you should “Sleep Your Way to the Top” — and you should too! 🙂

Anyway, here is a list of why you should dump your phone and snuggle your pillow (or your honey) instead!

1. Lights. When my Blackberry blinks red, my eyes open right up. This isn’t just your inner-email intuition, as I once believed. Artificial lights will disrupt your body’s natural rhythm and acts as a stimulant that will keep you awake longer. The sense of urgency would cause me to pop out of bed and deal with whatever issue is at hand, right then. No good for sleep or my nerves. (more here)

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Checklist For Pet Owners Before It’s Too Late

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Brody

Losing a pet is one of the most difficult times you’ll ever go through. It’s like losing a member of the family. I lost my dog when I was young and still miss her. I’ve mentioned Brody, my cousin’s beagle, from time to time on this blog and his fear of fireworks and adorable personality.

Sadly, Brody’s kidneys started to fail him and he had to be put to sleep recently. It’s a decision that has affected my entire family. Everyone loves Brody. His owner, my cousin Jen, wanted to share a list of things all pet owners should think about before it’s too late.

Checklist For Pet Owners Before It’s Too Late

by Jennifer Walsh

My recommendation is to think about these things now, while your pet is healthyBrody and his family and you are not overly emotional, as I was. Maybe it’s a good idea to write them down and keep them in a safe place so that when the time comes & you need this list you have all your decisions in writing. I am sure that this will not make these decisions any easier or that you will not change your mind, but maybe you will feel better prepared. When my dog passed, it was a very difficult time. I found myself looking for distractions everywhere and ended up getting a pit border collie mix to keep me company. Getting her really saved me a lot of sadness. I know not all dog owners want to get a new dog straight away but for me, it really helped. A pit and collie mix require a lot of exercise so I was constantly going on walks and it really did take my mind off the situation. Everyone’s situation is different and you have to do what feels right for you, there are no right or wrong decisions.

Think about how you may want to proceed should your vet bring up the topic of euthanasia. For us, we felt that the decision should be left up to the vet, who we trust only wanted the best for Brody and was making a level-headed decision. We didn’t want to let Brody go, but we also didn’t want him to suffer for our selfish reasons. Read more