Category: Life x Culture

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Life x Culture Lifestyle

How To Create A Vision Board To Achieve Your Goals

Having a grand plan for your life is a really good thing. Actually, it’s a great thing! With every goal you work toward, you’re defining your purpose in life for yourself and the world at large.
But a dream without a plan isn’t going to get you anywhere. We (among the likes of Oprah herself) are big fans of using vision boards to focus our aspirations and inspire us to achieve our dreams. Using vision boards may sound a bit like wishful thinking, but they really can help you focus your goals and work your way toward achieving them.

What is a vision board?

A vision board not just a collage. It’s a collage that follows a formula to serve a very specific purpose. Instead of pinning up your favorite images at random, the images used in a vision board are assigned meaning. Vision boards are a collection of images used to help you maintain focus and visualize an explicit goal.
Physical vision boards can include images taken from magazines, newspapers, or otherwise printed materials. They can take many forms, from images stuck into a shadowbox frame and positioned on a desk to a full poster or cork board with images glued or pinned on. Artsy individuals might draw a vision board out by hand, whereas those who are less driven by art and imagery might opt for a vision board dominated by a collection of quotes with fewer images.
When it comes to digital vision boards, many people are unknowingly familiar with them, since many social media websites serve as unintentional vision boards. A digital vision board is a collection of images stored on websites, your computer, or your phone. The top social media platforms for curating vision boards are Pinterest and Tumblr, but you can also get creative and use a document, a folder on your desktop where images are saved, or even the collection feature on Instagram.
Aside from the obvious differences between physical and digital vision boards, digital vision boards generally feature cleanly lined up images. Physical vision boards, on the other hand, usually look like collages. People who prefer a clean-cut look may be drawn to digital vision boards.

The Science Behind Vision Boards

Manifesting your goals in a vision board isn’t just daytime talk show fodder. The science says that the visualization involved in creating a vision board actually works to help you achieve your goals. But, it’s not all in the pretty pictures. You need to actually use the vision board in order for it to work. This means that besides taking the time to create your inspirational piece, you need to spend a few minutes engaging it every day.
Research suggests that visualizing the action steps that will help you achieve your goals works better than just meditating on the end game. A study at the University of California, Los Angeles found that students who pictured studying for an exam got better results than just visualizing acing the exam. And even if you don’t know what your action steps are yet, envisioning either action steps or an end goal were both found to work better than not visualizing anything at all according a 2014 study from the International Journal of Information and Education Technology.
For those of us who are no longer test-taking students, visualization can still be a helpful tool for manifesting our ambition in the world. Let’s say you have a fitness achievement in mind (who doesn’t?). A study published in Neuropsychologia found that doing “mental training,” namely picturing yourself doing a physical exercise, “drives the muscles to a higher activation level and increases strength.” In other words, visualizing yourself exercising helps you get stronger before you even hit the gym.
The mind is a powerful thing!

How to Define Your Goals

Before you can start on your vision board, you need to specify your goals. Defining your exact goals gives you something to work toward. Research suggests that crafting your goals to be as specific and actionable as possible in the short term is your best bet for making them happen.
This means that instead of choosing an intangible goal (like doing your best or being happy), you should articulate something concrete. If your ultimate desire is to be happy, think of the things you do, places you go, or people you interact with that bring you happiness. Use actionable verb phrases like “Take a walk after dinner three times a week” or “Have coffee with a friend every other Sunday” to inspire your vision board. These more clear-cut ambitions are easier to work with and depict visually.
Keeping your objectives reasonable in the short term will also help you accomplish your goals. You can always create another vision board down the line that expands on your shorter-term goals as you realize them. Naturally, definitions of short term are objective, but short-term vision board goals should play out on a timeline that is longer than one month but shorter than a year.
If your goal is to find yourself in the best shape of your life, start with the small steps. Consider researching trainers in your area or sign up for three group fitness classes to attend each week for the next month. Making sure a friend or acquaintance is in at least one of those classes can help keep you accountable and motivated.
If you’re trying start a business or build a brand, instead of agonizing over when you’ll get to celebrate a million dollars in sales or be invited to do a TED talk, finally get some business cards made (so you can stop jotting down your info on scraps of paper) or invest in a freelance web designer to spiff up your site.
If you want to enhance your morning routine, instead of committing to 30 minutes of yoga, a 15-minute meditation, and 15 minutes of journaling, try setting your alarm to get up 20 minutes earlier and add just one of these wellness-enhancing activities to your morning. Once you’ve gotten into the groove, it will be much easier to incorporate other elements. Setting yourself up to win in little ways—like filling a page in your journal before you finish your first cup of coffee or completing a guided meditation before you suit up for the day—will help you build momentum for your bigger, more ambitious goals.
Each step helps you get to where you want to be without getting discouraged along the way.

How to Create a Vision Board

With your goals in mind, it’s time to start crafting! The first thing you need to do is decide if you’re going to keep it digital or get physical with your board. We’re big fans of the digital vision board for ease, but taking the time to create a physical board that you can see daily is extra helpful in solidifying your goals. Out of sight, out of mind, right? A digital vision board may not be seen as often as having a tangible board you see during your day. If you’re creating a physical vision board, make a specific place for it so you’ll see it while doing everyday tasks. The refrigerator, your closet door, or a spot near your desk are all great places to hang a vision board.
You also need to decide whether you want to make your vision board alone, with a friend, or with a larger group. If you’re making big changes that will require your support system, it can be fun to get them involved in creating your board. But if you want to engage in deeply focused self-reflection, it may be best to execute the actual creation of the board alone and share it later. It all comes down to personal preference in this case.
The images you put on your vision board are totally up to you. Look for photos that show off your end goal, whether that’s a job you’d like to get, a physique you’d love to attain, or a big move you want to make.
While you’re selecting pictures that represent your ultimate goals, think about what steps you can take to get yourself there. These action steps are important for helping you achieve your dreams, so find and include images that convey them, like stretches you can do to prepare for meditating in lotus or snaps of beautifully plated healthy food that will help you eat a more nutritious diet.
Also, it wouldn’t be a vision board without an inspirational quote or two. Add quotes that spark your desire to do the hard work to get to your goal; we suggest picking just a couple of shorter quotes so you don’t get too bogged down in the words.
When you are piecing together a physical vision board, it’s a good idea to have different sections mapped out for your different goals. If all the different imagery gets mixed together, it can be hard to focus on a specific goal. You can section off different corners of your board and work inward, or map out different areas for different goals. Affix your images and quotes however you please. You’ll look at it every day, so spend a little time making sure you really love the aesthetic of your vision board, from the background to the thumbtacks (if you decide to use them).
If you’re going the digital route, keep different files (or tags, collections, etc.) for each specific goal. Digital vision boards are particularly susceptible to overload with too many images and themes as space is seemingly unlimited. Keeping your images whittled down to only the most impactful will be helpful in keeping you focused on your goals rather than being overwhelmed by too much visual stimulation.

Accountability Tips

If you don’t put it to good use, a vision board is just a piece of art or collection of data on your computer or up in the cloud.
Research on the power of visualization consistently concludes that visualizing your goal must be followed by taking actionable steps toward achieving it. After creating your vision board and placing it prominently, take just a couple of minutes a day to meditate on your goals and how you’ll get there—a practice that’s so much easier to keep up with if you keep your vision board highly visible! If you do go for the digital vision board route, pencil in a time once a day to take a scroll through your inspirational images. Once the images are sharp in your mind, you can drop into a couple of minutes of reflection.
To keep track of your progress, it can be fun to keep a mini notebook or journal; even a note on your phone would work. Depending on the goal, check in on a regular basis to evaluate whether you’re making progress and what you need to keep up or consider changing. We suggest a bi-weekly or monthly check in, which is just long enough to see changes, especially when it comes to fitness goals that can take longer to achieve.
It’s also a great idea to get your loved ones in on your vision board. Having your partner, family, or a good friend to help keep you on track is helpful. They can encourage you when you need a push and congratulate you when you get there!

Vision Board Success Stories

It isn’t just Oprah who finds that that vision boards really work. Anyone can make their goals a reality with the help of a vision board. All it takes is the inspiration, visualization, and dedication to get it done.
Writer Jeannine Morris says that manifesting goals through a vision board totally works. “Throughout the years, I manifested TV hosting gigs, brand partnerships, and even finding the love of my life. Since I started putting that energy out into the universe, I’ve hosted for E!, had brand partnerships beyond my wildest dreams and yes, even got married.” Her vote is for a physical vision board.
“There’s something about the creative process of cutting up magazines that’s so satisfying.”
Yoga instructor Mia Michelle Marie says she rooted her vision board in a slightly different way. Instead of pasting together images, she hand-drew her vision of living in a tiny home in the woods. The path to her goal involved selling her yoga studio, taking a work-trade job, then getting a promotion that landed her a tiny house in the woods as part of her compensation. Total kismet.
Actor Kellan Lutz told Men’s Fitness that he creates a vision board once a year. “It’s great when you get to check off dreams” like his acting career, fitness goals, and his fashion line collaboration with Abbot + Main.
“Man if I didn’t have no vision board, I’d be in trouble” Steve Harvey told Oprah during a 2014 episode of the show Life Class. Harvey keeps his visions in front of him in a most unusual way: He has them sewn into the hem of his pants.
Taking an hour to create a vision board may turn out to be the best thing you’ve ever done. When you begin to achieve your goals, you can work your way toward your life’s purpose. A vision board isn’t just a collection of pretty pictures, it’s a tool to help you visualize and internalize your own success. Believe in yourself and just watch what can happen.

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Life x Culture Lifestyle

Thank You For Your Service: 5 Ways To Show Gratitude This Veterans Day

I was smitten with my now-husband the minute I saw a picture of him in his dress whites, looking just like Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman. As a naval flight officer, my husband has flown over the Middle East. He’s spent months on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. He has served his country for the past 10 years.
And yet, like most active-duty and military veterans, he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t even want to use his military discount, lest someone thank him for his service. When they do, he gets embarrassed.
When Veterans Day rolls around, he doesn’t feel he deserves the thanks because there are veterans who have given more in service to their country.
And, he contends, Veterans Day isn’t the day to honor active-duty service members. There is a day for recognizing the courage and commitment of active-duty service members: Armed Forces Day. This lesser known holiday is celebrated on the third Saturday in May, usually about a week before Memorial Day (which is a day to honor only those veterans who have died in service of their country).
Still, there are 21.8 million military veterans living in the United States today, and they all deserve our respect and gratitude this Veterans Day.
While posting a heartfelt message on social media is touching, here are five even higher-impact ways you can show gratitude this Veterans Day.

1. Take time to listen.

You might not know anyone currently serving in the military, but odds are you know a veteran who served during World War II, the Korean War, or Vietnam.
A rapidly aging population, these veterans are among the 28 percent of Americans age 65 and older who live alone.
Senior citizens who live alone face higher mortality rates and are more at risk for chronic health issues than those who interact socially.
One way to show gratitude this Veterans Day is to reach out to a veteran and start a conversation.
Not sure how to find a veteran?
One way to start the conversation is to volunteer for the Department of Veterans Affairs. You can drive veterans to doctors’ appointments or plan welcome-home events for service members. Each volunteer event is an opportunity to form a relationship with a veteran, learn more about their time in the military, and thank them for their service.

2. Show up.

The easiest thing you can do to express your thanks this Veterans Day is to simply show up at a Veterans Day parade, ceremony, or other veterans-appreciation event in your area.
Not only are Veterans Day parades and other events family friendly, but they also give veterans a chance to reconnect, meet other veterans, and talk to civilians about their service.
Your local news outlet should have information about upcoming Veterans Day activities in your area, so dust off your lawn chair, wave an American flag, and celebrate veterans as our servicemen and women march down Main Street.

3. Learn about military life.

If you don’t know any veterans personally, one of the most important things you can do is learn more about what it means to serve our country through military service.
Visit a military museum exhibit or war memorial. Check out a history book from your local library. One of my personal favorites is The Things They Carried, a Tim O’Brien novel about young soldiers in Vietnam. Or watch a documentary, like Restrepo, that shows what life in combat zones is like and how hard adjusting to civilian life can be for veterans when they return home.

4. Realize not all veterans wear combat boots.

There are thousands of men and women who have stood alongside their spouses and partners as they served their country. These military spouses, partners, and families have made sacrifices too, even though they never wore a uniform.
Do you know a military family? Reach out to them this Veterans Day with a call or a card. If you don’t, that’s okay. You can adopt a military family through Operation Here We Are, sending them care packages while their service member is deployed or inviting them to your home for the holidays.

5. Give to a good cause.

Gratitude is good for the soul—and your health. Studies have shown that stress levels are 23 percent lower in people who consider themselves to be grateful. People who express their gratitude through service are happier and healthier than those who do not.
This Veterans Day, if you don’t know a veteran personally, you can still show your gratitude, doing good for service members and yourself by donating to or planning time to volunteer for a veterans organization.
Here are four that earned the highest ratings from CharityNavigator.org, a site that helps you donate to trustworthy organizations. And we’re adding one that supports veterans in their pursuit of wellness through mindfulness and meditation.

Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Charitable Service Trust

Disabled American Veterans Trust was founded in 1920 after disabled service members came home from World War I and has continued to provide support for all disabled veterans. DAV helps veterans get to medical appointments, file insurance paperwork, and find meaningful employment. With 1,300 chapters nationwide, you can volunteer or donate here.

Honor Flight Network

The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization that flies World War II veterans to visit World War II memorials in Washington, DC. It may not seem like much, but many of these veterans have never seen the memorials that have been erected to their brothers in arms—and to their own service. It can be a hugely emotional event for veterans as they revisit sometimes painful memories, but ultimately, Honor Flights works to provide veterans with much-needed closure.
After every WWII veteran who is able to travel sees their memorial, Honor Flight Network will move on to Korean War and Vietnam veterans. You can donate here, or if you know a WWII veteran who would like to participate, start the application process.

Homes for our Troops

When you think about veterans, you might think of your grandfather who served in World War II or the Korean War, but post-9/11 veterans make up 18 percent of the total veteran population. More than one in four of those veterans have a service-related disability, which makes coming home extremely difficult. Homes for our Troops builds houses for post-9/11 veterans with severe disabilities. These adapted homes give veterans some of their dignity back. There are several ways to get involved, from running a 5k to donating building materials.

Our Military Kids

Kids often suffer loneliness, anxiety, and fear while their parent is deployed. Our Military Kids supports kids from kindergarten to twelfth grade through grants to pay for activities that help them cope with the stress of having a parent in the military. You can support Our Military Kids by volunteering at events or simply donating financially. 

Veteran’s Path

Many of us are exploring mindfulness and meditation to augment our own well-being. This Veterans Day, we can support veterans in doing the same. Veteran’s Path facilitates a variety of programs that focus on helping veterans cultivate peace, acceptance, transformation, and honor through nature-based experiences that teach mindfulness and meditation techniques. Civilians can donate, or if you know a veteran who is interested in developing a meditation practice, consider sharing Veteran’s Path’s Guided Meditation library.

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Life x Culture Lifestyle

This Is The One Detox Everyone Should Try (Hint: No Crazy Juices Involved)

Are you reading this on your smartphone? Or is it within reach as your eyes move over the computer screen? It takes nothing more than a quick glance around any populated coffee shop, office, or park to see how media frenzied our world has become. From smartphones that badger us with a steady stream of notifications to robotically checking our email every few minutes and scrolling through hypnotic Instagram feeds, we’re flooded.
The issue? Technology dependence has become the new norm. With various studies suggesting how this dependence is linked to myriad negative outcomes (such as insomnia, reduced empathy, heightened anxiety, and struggling relationships), the call for a “break” has become increasingly popular.
We’ve all sat around with our girlfriends and chatted about the latest and greatest detoxes. From fruit fasting to charcoal elixirs, any bodily ailment seems to have a fix. Many of us, though, need the type of detox that goes beyond fruits and veggies (though we love those too!) to shift our relationship with this hectic digital age and cleanse the soul a bit.
So, what exactly does it mean to embark on a digital detox? Well, it’s essentially an escape. Whether it takes the form of a heart-opening, tech-free weekend at Camp Grounded or simply an easy day at home with your phone hiding in a desk drawer, it’s a chance to refrain from using electronic devices and disconnect from the digital chaos.
A detox offers an opportunity to reduce stress and re-center yourself in the present moment. One study has even taken the benefits a step further to demonstrate how parting from our beloved devices can improve posture in a way that opens our chakras to greater energy, deepen friendships with meaningful conversations, encourage childlike creativity and spontaneity, strengthen short- and long-term memory, and enhance the restfulness of sleep.
Yeah, it’s that good.
The key factor behind many individuals’ decision to detox is their diminished presence. Instead of finding joy in the passing moment, our thoughts race to posting pictures, perfecting status updates, and answering texts and emails the moment we receive them. The question then becomes, “Is this good for us, and how can we reset ourselves?”
Enter the digital detox.
This can be done anywhere, any time, and for any length of time. If you’re looking for a true physical escape, perhaps one of Digital Detox’s getaways is just what you need. But if a less extreme option—one that you can commit to this weekend—is more your style, here are a few tips to help us find the middle ground we’re all searching for.
Disable push notifications. Instead of hopping on each social media platform as soon as you see the banner on your phone (and watching a half hour fly by), create scheduled blocks of time to check each app. Think of this as taking some of the power back by deciding when and where to invest your energy.
Buffer your bedtime. Turn your devices off an hour before hitting the sheets, and refrain from checking for the latest posts until 30 minutes after you wake up. The former rests on the concept of proper sleep hygiene and eliminating the negative effects of blue light. This light has been shown to suppress melatonin levels in the body, contributing to greater feelings of restlessness. Instead, opt for reading, candlelit journaling, or restorative yoga in your aromatherapy-filled abode.
Each morning, remind yourself that you are setting the tone for how the rest of your day goes. In a matter of minutes, your subconscious has decided your mood and started directing your flow. Instead of hopping onto the most tempting app, take some time to decide what you want to feel and how you would like your day to look. Stretch, turn on your happy music, drink a tall glass of water, and jot down a quick gratitude list. See what happens.
Build your tolerance. If disconnecting for an entire day sounds impossible, start with an easy 30 minutes. Establish boundaries and leave your phone out of the mix when it’s simply adding unnecessary distraction. Leave it in another room when you’re eating with loved ones, listening to your partner debrief you on their “you-wouldn’t-believe” type of day, or curling up with Brené Brown’s latest book and your favorite glass of red.
When you’ve mastered 30 minutes, set your next intention to a 45-minute break. Pretty soon you may just find yourself blocking off an entire weekend for your next technology-free retreat.
In a world that expects us to be constantly reaching for our phones, be the one who pulls her hand back to her heart.

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Life x Culture Lifestyle

How To Be More Productive Through Self-Care

If there were more than 24 hours in a day, the question of how to be more productive might never come up. More time in the day equals more time to get everything done, after all.
But with the clock insisting on giving us just 24 little 60-minute increments before the day flips over, we’re all facing the struggle to fit working out, seeing our BFFs, and whipping up a batch of cookies for the kids’ bake sale into a day that’s already jam-packed with everyday minutiae.
The solution might not be what you expect. Could taking more time for yourself out of an already tight schedule be the secret to increasing your productivity?
A growing number of experts are screaming for us to take more time for self-care, and it turns out there’s a surprising boost in productivity that comes with taking that much-needed time out.

The Self-Care Solution

Self-care sounds simple enough. The directions are right there in the term: You need to care for yourself. But knowing what self-care is doesn’t mean we’re actually doing it.
Aaron Boster, MD, system medical chief of neuroimmunology at OhioHealth Neuroscience Center, puts the blame on society as a whole. “Within our culture, it’s completely acceptable to go to work, to work late hours,” he says. “What’s not acceptable or embraced is taking time for yourself. Words are used like ‘lazy’ or ‘unmotivated.’ We’ve completely devalued taking care of yourself.”
And yet, Boster points out, everything from taking time to eat healthy meals (instead of scarfing down a bag of M&M’s at your desk) to drinking adequate amounts of water to getting a full night’s rest can fall under the umbrella of self-care. They’re all things that common sense would dictate we need to do, and they’re all things that have an impact on our productivity levels.
A whopping 1 million American workers call in sick to work every day because of stress-related illnesses (from depression to heart issues), and that stress costs businesses an estimated $200 to $300 billion a year in lost productivity. Lack of sleep alone is estimated to cost companies more than $63 billion annually in productivity reduction.
Simply put: When we skimp on self-care, our productivity takes a nosedive.
“We have to take the time to fuel our bodies,” Boster says. “If you don’t fuel the machine, it doesn’t work too hot!”
Caring for your body is essential maintenance in the same way that getting regular oil changes and new tires are essential maintenance for your car. One prevents the engine from blowing up, the other prevents us from getting sick and losing the precious productivity time. But if we’re not taking time for self-care because we’re too stressed to get everything done as it is, how are we supposed to put an end to this vicious cycle?
Here’s how to be more productive at work and home and take care of ourselves at the same time.

Get organized.

At first glance, improving your organization may sound like it’s more about your bosses (or even your house) than it is about yourself. After all, good organization skills and time management are an obvious means to boost productivity.
But what we often forget is how much a messy desk or messy house can affect our own stress levels. As much as 84 percent of Americans admit that they worry that their house isn’t clean enough, and 55 percent say it causes actual stress.
Clutter has been solidly linked to a spike in the stress hormone cortisol, and it can challenge our productivity. As Princeton neuroscientists found when they looked at clutter, the more stuff you have around you, the more each item tries to pull at your attention. A whole lot of stuff everywhere won’t just cost you time and productivity; it can completely overwhelm you.
Taking time to get things neat and tidy might be time away from “getting things done,” but in the long run, it will help you improve not only your workflow but your mental health too.

Get moving.

If you’ve been to the doctor recently, they probably gave you chapter and verse on getting enough exercise, right? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends adults get at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week.
If you’re not meeting that minimum, you’re hardly alone. Just a third of American adults get up and move enough to hit the recommended physical activity benchmarks every week. Exercise is often the first thing that we cut from our day, because it doesn’t seem quite as necessary as everything else. Your boss isn’t paying you to exercise. Your kids can’t eat your exercise.
But working out doesn’t just help the body in terms of making the muscles stronger, preventing obesity, and boosting the strength of your heart. It turns out scientists have found a direct link between physical activity and job burnout. In a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, scientists in Israel posited that people whose physical activity levels were high had virtually no career burnout issues, whereas those who were sedentary had relatively high levels of dissatisfaction on the job.
It’s not just liking our jobs better that comes from exercise, either. Taking time to work out literally helps make you more productive, allowing you to pack more into less time.
In a 2011 study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Swedish scientists linked exercise to an increase in both the quantity of work and work ability and a decrease illness-related job absences. The scientists suggested reducing work hours for “health promotion activities” to increase production levels. While their recommendations were focused on employers, there’s no reason not to take the bull by the horns yourself.
Boster suggests taking a brisk 20-minute walk twice a week to start yourself off on a new and improved exercise regimen. If you can do more, even better!

Meditate on that.

The mindfulness movement has been catching fire in America of late, and it’s not just your yoga buddy who’s pushing meditation anymore. A growing number of companies are adding mindfulness programs to their employee wellness solutions.
The reason? Taking time to meditate can boost your productivity. As Harvard researchers found out when they began to look at mind–body practices, meditation and/or yoga can increase productivity by an estimated $3,000 per employee per year. And the benefits don’t end at the workplace door. In one employer-based mindfulness program, participants reported a 28 percent reduction in stress and 19 percent less pain.
That’s likely because meditation leads to better rest, says Light Watkins, meditation teacher and author of the book Bliss More: How to Succeed in Meditation Without Really Trying. In turn, Watkins says that better rest “leads to a greater ability to focus on the task at hand and prioritize what’s important.”
“I consider meditation to be a ’key’ habit, because it makes you more apt to do the other things that should be a part of any self-care ritual: exercise, healthy diet, rest, philanthropy, and time spent with loving friends and family,” Watkins says. “If stress can diminish our desire to engage in all of those activities, then meditation should increase our desire.”
Like exercise, meditation may seem like something we just can’t fit in our schedules, but you don’t have to take hours out of your day to make it happen. Meditation is often part of yoga practice, which allows you to hit all your exercise and meditative needs in one fell swoop. Even better: Just 25 minutes a day of hatha yoga is considered enough to improve brain function and boost energy levels, which are tied how productive we are.

Sleep on it.

We all need sleep. It’s how the body restores itself. But if you ask a quarter of American women how many mornings they woke up feeling refreshed in the past week, the answer would be a flat zero. A third of us get less than seven hours of sleep every night.
Going to bed late and waking up early can help you steamroll through the six piles of laundry, catch up on bills, and finally fix the broken toilet. But it’s costing you.
“If you’re going to bed already knowing you won’t get a good night’s sleep, you’re doomed from the start,” Boster says. “We have to figure out ways to make time to sleep.”
When we do it, he points out, we feel better, we think more clearly, and we have more energy. And how else do we expect to be more productive?
A study by RAND Europe found that lack of sleep ends up costing the U.S. economy $411 billion a year, while workers are losing 1.2 million working days annually. Scarier still, the study found that getting too little sleep on a regular basis hikes your mortality risk. If you’re routinely getting less than six hours of sleep a night, you have a 13 percent higher mortality risk than someone sleeping the seven to nine hours that the National Sleep Foundation recommends for adults.
The solution is pretty clear on this one: Carve out enough time to get enough sleep, and you’ll be better able to tackle the mountain of projects ahead of you each day. The better able you are to get them done, the faster you can do it, leaving time for well…more sleep!

What about yo’ friends?

Don’t let the number of social media buddies fool you: We’re becoming an increasingly isolated society. The number of people who say they have no close friends has tripled in the last few decades.
One of the major culprits is time. Friends tend to get the shaft when you’re burning the candle at both ends trying to get everything done. Your boss doesn’t pay you to chit chat, right?
Well, maybe they should. Indulging in time with friends has long been considered a crucial part of a healthy self-care regimen. Friends can boost your longevity by as much as seven years. That’s as much of a life expectancy increase as you’d get by avoiding cigarettes! Of course, personal health means fewer work absences and better productivity in and of itself.
It turns out friendship in the workplace also has a particularly positive influence on the amount of work we get done. Being able to turn to our friends on the job provides a safety net and allows us to ask questions without feeling judged, which helps us be more productive at work. Another big benefit to making friends at work: Your mood tends to improve as you feel comfortable, which spills over into positive effects on the work itself.

Waste time.

Can’t imagine sitting around staring at the ceiling tiles and twiddling your thumbs? How about getting up from your desk, walking to the break room and actually taking the entire allotted 15 minutes away from your work?
Try it, Mikey. You won’t just like it…you’ll be re-invigorated and able to get a whole lot more done than you would have if you’d kept your mind hyperfocused on work.
Our brains get a workout when we’re at work, and sometimes they need an old-fashioned break to recharge, according to researchers from Hiroshima University.
Their suggestion is one that’s hard to argue with, especially if you like kittens or puppies. The researchers found that taking a few minutes to watch cute animals on the internet can restore your cognitive functioning, boosting your productivity and helping you get more work done in the long run.
It turns out your mom was wrong: Laughter isn’t the best medicine. Panda cams are!

Just say no.

Can you bake just a dozen cookies for the bake sale? How about coming in the office for just a few hours on Saturday morning? Would you sign up for the office softball team? Come on, they need someone with a strong pitching arm…and it’s just two practices a week!
Saying no to any (or all) of the above is the ultimate in self-care. It’s giving yourself leave to set down boundaries in your life and putting you in the driver’s seat. It’s also a way to reclaim your time. And look at all the things you can now do with that time to amp up your productivity.

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Life x Culture Lifestyle

5 Strategies To Master Work–Life Balance

Ever feel like you’re working furiously to keep a stack of plates spinning high in the air and if you slow down for just a second, each and every one will go smashing to the ground? Behold the eternal struggle of women everywhere.
Whether we’re toiling in office buildings, sticking it out at home, or doing a little bit of both, we are constantly trying to make work and home life balance out. More often than not, we end up feeling like it’s impossible to make that happen. Some 89 percent of workers confessed in one online survey that they struggle with work–life balance.
So that’s the bad news. Ready for the good stuff? Work–life balance exists.
Even in that survey, 11 percent of workers seemed to be able to find it. Consider this your guide to joining the 11 percent.

1. Get moving.

When you barely have enough time to make dinner, fitting in time to exercise might seem like the polar opposite of balancing your juggling act. But consider this: Researchers from Saint Leo University, Saint Louis University, the University of Houston-Victoria, and Illinois State University took a look at how exercise affects our feelings about work and home life. Not only did they find that people who took time to work out reported lower levels of stress, their study determined that people who worked out also had higher confidence in their abilities to handle work–family conflicts.
The researchers concluded that exercise enabled people to detach from work and it was empowering them to feel more in control of their day-to-day struggles. Who couldn’t use a little more faith in themselves?
Whether it’s taking a brisk walk around the block on your lunch break or hitting a quick yoga class in the morning, that kind of boost to your confidence level can help you focus more easily on projects that you might otherwise have pushed off. It can also help you find your voice when your boss pushes you to stay late or work that extra shift that would cause you to miss your kid’s last soccer game.

2. Nip time-wasting in the bud.

Let’s face it, we all waste time. Sometimes that can be good for us, allowing us the chance to think outside the box and be more creative.
But if you routinely find yourself at 5 o’clock wondering where the day went, it might be time to do a quick review of your daily routine. Do you find yourself checking Facebook in the middle of the day? How about sending emails to your BFF?
In one survey conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder, a quarter of workers admitted they spend at least an hour of the workday on personal calls, texts, and emails; another 20 percent fessed up to whiling away work hours on the internet.
Stealing that time back from yourself could be the key to getting out the door at 5 without feeling like you’ve got to bring work home with you.

3. Plan that vacation now.

Signing on with a company that offers paid vacation time is exciting, but Americans finish every year with about 658 million paid vacation days that they didn’t use. Of those, more than 222 million are completely forfeited by employees who work for companies that don’t let them carry paid time off from one year to the next.
Worse? Researchers have found that taking less vacation time can actually hurt your chances of getting a raise, even while that extra time on the job hikes your stress level.
Need a break, but the money is tight? Plan a staycation with a few day trips or stick out your entire time off at home, binge-watching Netflix and puttering around the house. You don’t have to spend big to regain that sense of yourself outside of work, but you do have to do a little advance planning. About 51 percent of people who pre-plan time off actually make use of all of their vacation time, but just 39 percent of non-planners do the same.
So get thee to HR and put in your vacation request!

4. Harness your technical side.

Studies have shown that employees who have power over the technology they use on the job tend to be happier and more productive and have better life balance. Getting in on that action means taking the tech that’s in smartphones, smart cars, and smart homes and using it to make life a little easier.
Prove to your boss that access to Slack and Google Docs is enough of a tether to allow you to work from home a few days a week. Or use Rover to find a dog walker and let Instacart grocery shop for you, taking away some of the stressful daily errands that make it hard to really enjoy your family time.

5. Secure your squad.

People in Denmark have the best work–life balance in the world, so what do they have that we don’t have (aside from the LEGO headquarters, that is)? A whopping 96 percent of Danes say they have friends and/or relatives they count on in times of trouble.
Building a team of friends and family to help us out when we’re swamped means taking the burdens of daily life and spreading them out across a bunch of shoulders so they’re just a little bit less of a burden.
Propose a babysitter swap with the mom on the playground who says she never gets a date night. Ask a friend who works from home to let the cable guy in your house in exchange for grabbing her groceries on your drive home from work. If they can count on you and you can count on them, work–life balance may be possible after all.