The Unproductive Internet

The internet can be super distracting, we get it. Here you are sitting trying to finish the web development project and looking for inspiration and next thing you know, two or three hours goes by. At any given moment there are thousands of videos, Facebook posts, tweet-storms and memes to keep you from getting work done. But Saent, a new productivity startup aims to make its users more productive with a combination of distraction-blocking hardware and software. The desktop application actually blocks apps and sites that are unproductive. It also comes with a reward system where you can start focused sessions and then accumulate points when you finish them. It will also give you reports on the times of the day when you are most productive so that you can tailor your work schedule to actually work smarter. The button that comes with it is about the size of a coaster and will be a visual cue for when your session is over. Would you be interested in something like this? Do you think it will help with the way you work?

Weekend

As business professionals, sometimes it is hard to separate our working lives from our lives at home. We are constantly working with no end in sight. The weekend is there for a reason though. If you use it wisely, you will be able to avoid burnout and just hating your life in general. You should use the time on the weekend to learn new skills or keep up with the news in your field. It will also give you an opportunity to clear your mind. This means that you should not stare at a screen or mobile application the whole time. You need to recharge all of your body and mind. Most of us can't perform our best if we don't get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. So use the weekend to recharge, even if it might seem lame to your friends that you are going to bed around 10 pm on a Saturday. As humans, we are creatures of habit. We want to develop routines so we can save our minds from overthinking. While many of these routines happen naturally, we don't take enough time to analyze and build new habits. You have some time over the weekend to analyze those habits and continue to improve upon them.

How Your Job is Killing

Your job may be killing you, aside from the whole bit of sitting for hours on end working on web development and such. First of all, your commute to work can wreck havoc on your health. Statistically speaking, if you travel more than ten miles to work, you are more likely to have higher blood sugar and blood pressure. It will also mess with your sleep. Once you get to work, you notice that your office has changed and there are much more standing desks than sitting ones. But we actually invented chairs because we're not made to stand for long periods of time, either. Those standing desks are even creating new problems. Your monitor is now in a less ideal position, which pisses off your neck, and you're overextending your wrists, increasing your risk of carpal tunnel syndrome. You might lose a few pounds, but it's actually a worse idea if you're overweight, because it puts too much of a strain on your back, joints, and veins. Bottom line? Move around every 20 minutes or so.

Reasons to Smile

We have learned a lot over the past decade about happiness. I am sure that you have seen plenty of articles about meditation and mindfulness these days. With as much as we have been able to figure out about human happiness, that is still just the surface. Here are a couple facts summarizing what we know so far. First of all, as we age, we get happier. That might be due to learning to love who we are and not trying to be someone else. One of the most amazing things about the human brain is neuroplasticity -- the brain's capacity to rewire itself in response to new experiences. We can actually wire our brains for happiness by focusing our attention on positive experiences and emotions. Another amazing benefit of being happy is that it increases your immunity, improves sleep quality, and protects you from various diseases. Being kind to others is a fast track to happiness. Volunteering makes people happierand boosts their longevity, according to a recent review of studies. Helping others may also be an effective way to combat feelings of disconnection in our increasingly online lives. Too much use of technology and communication services can actually isolate us and make us lonelier.

Dressing for Work

How do you feel about your dress code at work? Is it too relaxed or too uptight? In the software development business and all those silicon valley companies, you see people straight out of college working in jeans and a t-shirt. In a recent study published in the journal Social Psychological & Personality Science, Columbia University and California State University researchers suggested that more formal clothing resulted in more abstract cognitive processing. Of course, this study is nowhere near answering the question of why it happens but we can speculate. Since the more formal way of dressing might symbolize power, it can lead people in thinking along higher-level ideas. It might even improve your mood if you feel good in the formal clothes and think it looks good. It is not so much about knowledge but the attitude towards a problem or question at this point. I think there should be rules about formal dress and everyone should take casual Friday very seriously.

Healthy Workplace Practices

Sitting for long periods of time can be so damaging for your health. If large companies and even small business wish to keep their employees, they need to seriously think about promoting healthy workplace practices. One of the ways that you can change your constant sitting is by creating your own standing workstation. Raise your work surface to the appropriate height for standing and use a stool when you need to sit. You should also try to stand when you are talking to someone either in person or over internet phone systems. This will actually achieve several goals at once. You will get the benefit of standing and also be more productive because when you are standing you tend to get more so to the point. If you are in one posture for too long, get up and stretch it out or do a lap or two around the office. A sure sign that you have been sitting too long is that you are getting tired which is you metabolism slowing down. Lastly, you do not need to do it alone. Have a buddy to stand with you and hold you accountable for standing more.

Addicted to Our Smartphones

How much time do you spend on mobile applications a day? It might be easier to count the hours that you are not staring at a screen. Also, are you one of those people that start feeling a rising panic when you do not know where you trusty sidekick the smartphone might be? According to a recent study, people use their phones over 20 hours a week. That is like a part time job! If you are feeling depressed and pressed for time, I think that this might be the first place to look for extra minutes or even hours. Doesn't it ever feel like life is just going by? We could be working towards our goals and dreams here. We could also be saving the world. Well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but we could at least learn a new skill or even language. I realize that many of us use our phones for work but I am willing to bet that we spend too much time crushing candies and snooping on Facebook. I am not saying that we should go off the grid but it might be important to take a look around and maybe smell the roses....or the pile of crap that you just stepped into since you were texting while on your walk.

Making Your Phone Faster

We do not think about turning off our devices because they can last so long without being charged and then we just plug them in and they are ready to go. It is so simple but it can really make a difference in the speed of your phone. It might also help when it comes to using internet phone services and cloud services. It might also help to manually clear the caches periodically. Also, delete those unused mobile applications that you haven't even thought out in months. Do you really need all those games on your phone? iOS 8 includes many handy features, including the ability for apps to use Background App Refreshes. If you utilize an app sporadically but can't delete it from your device, you can try disabling some of the features surrounding the app -- namely, push notifications and background refreshes.

Memory in Business

Memory goes a long way when it comes to building relationships and relationships are one of the most important aspects of a business. Memory can also build trust and enable you to really connect with the other person. Sometimes a mobile application just will not cut it. One of the things that you can do to help improve your memory is to get more sleep. I know this goes without saying but so many people burn the midnight oil just to get more done. They would be better off sleeping though. Instead of drinking coffee, you should try drinking green tea in the morning as well as fruits and veggies. You should also challenge your brain by breaking routines such as taking a different route home or shopping at a different store. There are any number of challenging things that you can try doing. Lastly, try laughing more. There is some evidence to suggest that laughter can help fight depression and anxiety. So, go ahead, spend some time browsing funny pictures of the grumpy cat.

Tech Rituals That Every Business Should Do

If you are running a business, you need to make sure that you have an online presence. That is how most people will be able to find out about what it is that you do or sell. It is also a great place to advertise and promote your brand. Web development and design are pretty important because first impressions are not something that you can take back. One of the other things that you need to be doing to checking for security threats periodically. You don't want to be in the dark about some new hack related to your e-mail or cloud service provider. If there is a hack and you don't take action, your company can be vulnerable and exposed--or even legally liable. You should also do a quick check of your social media feeds and see if anyone is speaking badly about your brand. Then take action to correct it by dispelling rumors or asking the poster to remove the comment. Lastly, make sure that you visit your own site to make sure that everything is working properly and customer can get to where they want to go on the site.

Music for the Body, Mind, and Soul

Music can have a significant impact on your health and this has been known for a while. There are songs that make us want to get up and sing and dance along (Let It Go, anyone?) and there are some that are great for productivity while working on perfecting the web applications. One of the impacts that it has is that it can reduce stress. This is not just a claim but has been backed up by several studies. In addition to reducing stress is can also reduce the perception of pain, sometime being better than painkillers. It can also boost your immunity. This has been shown in several studies as well where the saliva IgA was measured after listening to different types of tones and silence. It is not prove but support that listing to music can improve your first line of defense. So if you are feeling a cold coming on, browse through your iTunes library while having an orange.

Many Streams of Income

Getting multiple streams of income, whether active or passive, is one of the best ways to get wealthy and stay wealthy. Unfortunately, it is not taught to people and is very often overlooked. The first thing that you need to do is establish financial security. This means that your primary source of income has to be able to support your expenses before you can look into other sources. Only then can you identify your unique talents or skills. You could also increase your knowledge and skills of a certain area, such as web development, so that you will be able to be compensated for it. Next step is to identify your market. Who is going to need your skills and pay the best for them? Then you can ask these people in the market, what it is that they are specifically looking for and from there, go on to creating the solution to their problems. Lastly, to help you with every step of the way, find a mentor because you do not have to be figuring it all out on your own.

Rewire Your Brain

Happiness has to come from within and that is where it needs to be cultivated. If you get your sense of purpose from your job, it is only a matter of time before you will have a sense of hopelessness and desperation set in. As much as you love that web development job, there is a better way to live so that you can rewire the brain to experience more happiness. The mind is much more flexible that you would have ever thought. Positive thoughts will reinforce neuron pathways for the feeling of joy; negative thoughts will reinforce neuron pathways for feelings of sadness. There are benefits to living mindfully, other than happiness. People who try to live more mindfully can focus for longer periods of time. There have also been studies that have evidence for the brain actually changing its physical structure over time with being more mindful and meditation. Just give it a go and you might discover something extraordinary about yourself.

Standing Desk

Standing desks have become the newest thing in software development companies as well as anywhere what requires people to work at their desk for extended periods of time. There is a small desk called StandStand that is three pieces of wood that you can put on your desk so that you can stand up. It weighs less than two pounds and fits into most laptop bags. It started on KickStarter and after earning ten times the money, it is on sale now for $69. Standing desks have shown to be better for your back and overall health. One of the main reasons for back pain is that the muscles are weak and they are not used. With the standing desks, you will be able to strengthen your back as well as build more stamina. Not to mention reduce the risk for many chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Granted, it can probably only fit your lap top but how much room do you usually take up while working at your desk. It also do you some good to bend over.

Freeing Up Space on Your Phone

So you have the new 16 GB phone. Did you know that you cannot actually use all 16 GB of it? First thing you should do in order to free up some space on your phone is to check your usage. You will be able to see which apps are taking up how much space. You will even see those apps that you forgot that you downloaded. Get rid of those mobile applications that you do not use. Also go through your messages and delete the old ones. Do you really need to go back and read those old conversations? You can even set your phone to periodically delete the old messages. Your pictures are probably taking up a lot of room so it might be a good idea to have them back up to a cloud service. You should also stop using photo stream which actually backs up 1000 photos twice. As far as music goes, it is time to start streaming and quit downloading all that music to your phone.

Love Yourself

Here is a radical way of thinking: In the new year, try to appreciate yourself a bit more. If you are running a business, try to let go of the thinking that anyone can do what you are doing. Stop demising your abilities and be thankful for them instead. Use them to the best of your abilities as well. You should also banish the phrase "I can't" from your vocabulary. If it lives in your subconscious, it will almost always come true. In this new year, make a commitment to stop sacrificing to the point of self-neglect. You need to take care of yourself and needs first because it is necessary and not even close to selfish. What would happen if you were to stop waiting for perfection? The world is not going to come to a crashing halt. You will just be wasting time and money trying to getting that one software development project just right. Updates are to be expected to do your best and let fire. Lastly, always know that happiness is within you, so it is important to look deeper, not farther.