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Three Key Advantages of Online Shopping

three-key-advantages-of-online-shopping

Why Online Shopping is growing rapidly? Why people prefer buying things online instead from the local stores?

To all these questions, below mentioned are some of the key reasons, because of which these online shopping sites have a drastic growth.

 

Price

In most of the cases, buying online is considered to be very cheap compared to buying it offline, hence, this is considered to be one of the best advantage of shopping online. There are various online shopping stores which usually do not charge any special sales taxes, and also provide various discount codes as well as offers for their customers. Not only these, some of the stores also provide free shipping services (for a certain amount of purchase) and some of them offer, monthly or yearly subscription services which offer free shipping for each and every item bought. Apart from all these benefits, it also easy for online buyers to compare the prices of the products from other sites and get the best possible deal for themselves.

Convenience

Jamaican-clothing-store-near-me
Jamaican clothing store near me

There are various people who prefer shopping from local shops as they feel, it is easier than ordering online. But there are also some of the best advantages of shopping online like you don’t have to go to that particular place. As, just to reach that particular store you have to drive, which requires a lot of fuel and time from your busy schedule. At the same time, if in case you are in Jamaica and willing to shop online then you can search for Jamaican clothing store near me and the process of buying is also very easy as you simply have to pick one item on the web, click once, add your address and it is shipped to you within very little time.

Variety

One of the advantages of shopping online is that nearly everything under the sun is sold on the web. Hence, the web likewise makes it less demanding for a claim to fame vendors, since they don’t need to keep up a physical customer facing facade to move their item. In conclusion, universal trade is a major factor on the web. Individuals moving on the web are not contending with neighborhood stores, they are rivaling with the others who are selling similar kind of products on the internet from the whole world. Hence, this helps the consumers to get the variety of products that too at much affordable prices.

Conclusion

Hence, these are some of the key advantages of buying online, hence, check out the latest web-based shopping, and buy the products which you desire to have.

Maxx Markets brings to you the best ways to embrace and admire your financial independence

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MAXX-Markets-brings-to-you-the-best-ways-to-embrace-and-admire-your-financial-independence

Financial independence is very important in life. Whether you are under the obligation of a debt or some kind of loan, the pressure of paying off is always there. The monetary obligations only add up to your stress. This is the reason MAXX Markets is here to help you in achieving the financial independence.

Not everybody dream of owning big things in life, but everybody aims to reach the financial independence to live their life comfortably. So, what should be the plan of action to achieve the financial independence. Do you need to earn more? If you can, then good enough for you, but even then if you are not organized enough, you will not be able to embrace financial independence.

MAXX Markets came up with few ideas to help you achieve the goal of financial independence

Get a real picture

Financial independence can be different for different people as not everybody has the same kind of loan or debt. Therefore, when you are trying to gain a financial independence it is imperative that you have a reality check yourself. The financial independence will have different meaning to a 20 year old and a 50-year-old. Nevertheless, it should not hold you back from analyzing the options you have to acquire the financial independence.

Control your expenditures

 It is not easy to execute. You might come up a plan and a tight budget for a month, but eventually you will realize that you have long crossed the budget. In order to control your expenditure what you can do is keep 10% of your gross income for investment or savings every week or every month.

Get rid of debts

If you have any sort of housing loan, then it is obviously going to take a long time to repay. However, if you have any small debts or loans, then start paying off those loans first. It is always better to get rid of debts, be it of any kind.

Steady income

Passion for something won’t help you earn financial independence if it is not paying you enough at the end of the day. MAXX Markets is not asking you to leave the work that you are passionate about, but you should surely incorporate some sort of changes in your career so that you can have a steady and good income. You can also seek help from financial advisors regarding your career income and they will surely help you out of the situation.

Investing in assets
B-Finance
B-Finance

No investment is a foolproof one and there is no guarantee that they will only fetch you good return. But when you completely understand the market and then make a wise decision in investing, chances are that you will be able to reap benefits. In order to be successful in investing, you can seek help from the experts of MAXX Markets. Apart from this, you can also plan to invest in cryptocurrencies, so check out some of the reliable sites which are available online like, B-Finance.

Discipline is the key in embracing financial independence. You can make fortune even if you are not born with one, only if you follow the steps diligently.

 

Things to Do When Someone Visits Chicago

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Any individual who lives in Chicago is most likely must play have inevitably – that is exactly what happens when you live in a moderate, open, way-cool enormous city. You could positively point your loved ones from away toward The Bean, the Art Institute, a show in the Theater District, one of the enormous perception decks, or any number of other downtown visitor should do’s

However, on the off chance that you need your visitors to truly begin to look all starry eyed at Chicago and feel overly envious you get the chance to live here instead of simply visit, it is savvy to go somewhat more profound in your proposals for activities. Fortunately for you, we’ve accumulated this rundown of activities in the city that both you and your companions visiting can get truly energized for. What’s more, don’t stress: None of them include Navy Pier.

Chill in any of our numerous parks

 

As the most established and one of the biggest park regions in the US, the Chicago Park District works 580 parks that extend crosswise over 8,100 sections of land of metropolitan parkland. It would be a disgrace not to visit no less than one of them for a urban nature escape. Lincoln Park and Grant Park get a large portion of the guest’s consideration, however Humboldt Park and Jackson Park are different less-visited royal gems of the recreation center framework that you would be a ruler to acquaint your group with.

Hang out on Wayne Campbell’s lounge chair and other cool SNL sets

Chicago has a huge amount of cool galleries all worth looking at, yet the Saturday Night Live show at the Museum of Broadcast Communications is unquestionably one not to miss. Regardless of whether you’re not the greatest enthusiast of the show, the display is comprehensive to the point that it’s inconceivable not to be inspired and have an extraordinary time. Watch recordings of the cast and group that walk you through the way toward putting on a scene, hang out on genuine sets, look at credible props, and that’s just the beginning.

Climb the superb 606

Displayed after NYC’s High Line, The 606 urban climbing trail is the most ideal approach to see the city’s neighborhoods with a little nature tossed in with the general mish-mash. The 2.7-mile raised pathway along an old railroad line goes through neighborhoods like Bucktown, Logan Square, and Humboldt Park, with a lot of cool bars and eateries en route to stop off at for a little lift me-up, including Handlebar and Weegee’s Lounge.

Walk the lakefront over a stretch of neighborhoods

You ain’t seen Chicago until the point that you’ve seen Chicago from the lakefront. Get it going (for nothing) by walking any part of the 18-mile lakefront way from Ardmore Street to 71st. You can likewise visit by Divvy bicycle or Segway on the off chance that you’ve just ingested excessively Italian frankfurter.

Go through multi day at Chicago’s shorelines

Chicago shorelines are extraordinary compared to other things about Chicago summer, yours to appreciate at less swarmed yet at the same time halfway found spots like the criminally underestimated Ohio Street Beach. With its on location Caffe Oliva throwing beverages and fish tacos with the downtown structures to the other side and the similarly misjudged Milton Lee Olive Park on the other, there’s not an awful view to be had.

Eat up an Italian meat sandwich

Almost certainly Johnnie’s Beef in rural Elmwood Park absolutely makes a damn fine Italian meat sandwich. In any case, in case you’re in the city without-of-towners and need to demonstrate to them a remarkable cut of life, an excursion to Chicago’s Little Italy/University Village neighborhood ought to be high on your plan. Match your hamburger sandwich from the noteworthy neighborhood Al’s Beef remain with an Italian ice from Mario’s Italian Ice to give your guests an a damn fine taste of outdated Chicago.

Do profound dish – the correct way

No doubt about it most out-of-towners will definitely ask about profound dish pizza sooner or later in the discussion. While you can reveal to them that that Chicagoans by a long shot lean toward thin-outside pizza and that the traveler pressed profound dish joints downtown are much the same as Michael Scott’s visit to the Times Square Sbarro, there are still neighborhood joints doing profound dish the correct way. Pequod’s in Lincoln Park is a fine model inside city limits, with Burt’s Place out in rural Grove is more than deserving of a little excursion.

Comprehend why the Chicago-style sausage is the main style

Finish the heavenly trinity of Chicago nourishment by bringing down a Chicago-style wiener at a nearby foundation like retro drive-in Superdawg, which hasn’t changed much since opening in 1948. Or on the other hand in case you’re especially eager, an outing to The Weiner’s Circle might be in the offing. Simply be readied; it’s one of Chicago’s most profane culinary encounters.

Power lunch at Manny’s Deli

It’s been a last dinner ask. It’s been an aftereffect fix. President Obama feasted there. As did President Clinton. As did pretty much every government official who at any point set foot in Chicago. Thus should you. Power lunch on a Reuben or meat pastrami in this unbelievable cafeteria-style coffee shop where business (and the incidental obscure arrangement, obviously) completes in Chicago.

3 Ways to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind to Reach Your Goals

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The basic answer is on the grounds that individuals are regularly scared of not succeeding. Ordinarily, the dread of disappointment may make some trust that disappointment in their lives will at that point be prominent abandoning them little control all the while.

I need to concede that I experienced this when I went to the United States as an ESL understudy in 1998. When I went to the United States in the late 90’s at age 24, I was unnerved about the possibilities of taking in the English dialect in a half year and going to school in a second dialect directly after and graduate inside four years.

Unmistakably, I needed to reconstruct my cognizant personality and persuade myself to trust that participating in such an overwhelming undertaking was conceivable, fulfilling, and inside my scope.

It has been said that our cognizant personality speaks to just 3% of our cerebrum. The other 97% has a place with the subliminal personality. As per Dr. Collautt, our subliminal personality is one million times more incredible than our cognizant personality which persuades that taking a shot at our intuitive personality is beneficial.

I’m not for prescribing anybody to take part in trance, contemplation or anything new age. I’m in support, in any case, for individuals to understand that they do have the ability to work in agreement with their internal identity from a logical point of view which is the thing that I will exhibit next in this article.

3 Ways to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind

To reinvent your subliminal personality to achieve your objectives, do these following activities for a time of a year and focus on what you feel.

The accompanying activities are actually what I did to vanquish my feelings of trepidation of disappointment in scholastics which lead me to finish a PhD in Instructional Systems from a major ten school in 2008.

1. Be Humble

Try not to accept you know everything

. Tune in to your subliminal resistance.[2]

When I was youthful, I wasn’t exceptionally modest. I accepted that I knew everything. I certainly didn’t tune in to my intuitive which drove me to leaving a nation to discover my place under the sun.

I grew up playing golf in a nation with no history in the game. I was extraordinary at it which made it extremely hard to be modest. I considered life since I knew the complexities of golf however as right on time as 16 years of age, my subliminal used to let me know, “Truly, you are an incredible golfer yet Brazil doesn’t have a sound proficient golf alliance. Shouldn’t you think about as opposed to playing golf?”

Long story short, my intuitive was correct. I spent excessively long longing for being something unattainable in light of the fact that I “knew” what was best for me notwithstanding the way that my inward individual was wary about my prospects of being a star golfer in Brazil. Incidentally, a large portion of my dear companions concurred with my subliminal personality. I opposed and paid the cost.

When I came to Mississippi in 1998, I chose to accomplish something else. I used to take a seat for one hour or so alone per day and tune in to what my intuitive was stating which driven me to be modest and have an a lot higher level of modesty. I grasped my intuitive obstruction and had a significant effect.

Exercise learned. I have been tuning in to my subliminal from that point forward.

2. Tune in to Your Fears and Define What They Are

It is alright to tune in to your feelings of dread and characterize what these apprehensions are.

When I was an understudy of Sports Management at Slippery Rock University, I needed to be a games specialist. In any case, so as to be an extraordinary games operator, individuals need to go to graduate school. I needed to go to graduate school yet the possibilities of scoring high on the LSAT and read law causes broadly made me reevaluate my future scholarly choices in those days.

I feared disappointment. I went to the Duquesne University grounds in Pittsburgh, PA for multi day with a scratch pad so as to confront my apprehensions and characterizing what these feelings of trepidation truly were.

What an extraordinary exercise! Confronting the obscure is a critical exercise that should help to reinvent your subliminal.

I tuned in to my feelings of dread and characterized what they were so as to assist me with maneuvering throughout everyday life. I chose not to go to Duquesne Law School as a result of my dread of not talking the English dialect alright and because of expense.

I thought more earnestly and understood that setting off to another littler school to seek after an experts degree in Communication was a vastly improved thought. Truth be told, it was an incredible thought. After six years, I finished a PHD Summa Cum Laude. I had the ability to reconstruct my subliminal so as to seek after what was the most intelligent.

3. Rehash What You Believe to Your Subconscious

Truly, you heard that right. You have to do attestations or the activity of insisting something — “You can do it!.”

I persuaded myself that I would have been a school teacher all through my lone rangers degree encounter. At Penn State University, where I finished my doctorate, I was examining among the plain best understudies on the planet inspired by innovation in instruction.

I more than once disclosed to myself that I was a best understudy in instructional frameworks in the United States and pictured my vocation being a school educator in an educating college.

Women and man of honor, rehashing my convictions through assertions in doctoral level college have legitimized and today, I’m a mid vocation school educator in a showing college on my approach to senior status.

It’s astonishing what you achieve when you persuade yourself that you can accomplish something on numerous occasions multi day. Certifications work. It worked out for me and it will work out for you too.

How to Brand Yourself and Make Your Business Stand Out

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The strategies you’d actualized for your clients aren’t filling in as they’ve used to. You sense that your business has dropped out of the spotlight and now you’d need to make due with any business you get. It’s how organizations function, isn’t that so?

Actually a few brands will blur off the business world– while others will adjust well and keep on developing. You shouldn’t be excessively hard on yourself for where your business at present stands. All things considered, you’d continued applying strategies that given unsurprising outcomes.

Rather, choose to not agree to average outcomes and invest more energy fabricating your image. To make your business emerge from your opposition, you should be remarkable. In any case, by what means can you?

In this article, I’ll cover ageless strategies that have worked for different organizations. On the off chance that you apply these strategies effectively your opposition won’t have the capacity to duplicate them. Here’s the manner by which to mark yourself and make your business emerge:

1. Win Your Audience’s Hearts with Authenticity

Reality has dependably sparkled.

Indeed, even without the innovation we have today, individuals dependably had a method for seeing whether somebody was lying. Also, with everybody taking part in online networking today, it’s difficult to escape reality. However, this is by all accounts what numerous organizations neglect to do.

For instance, organizations like Listerine have been fined for lying.[1] A snappy buck today won’t be justified, despite all the trouble over the long haul. Rather, work on being genuine to your clients and they’ll in the long run depend on you.

Enable your clients to repurchase your items with a cash ensure – at that point convey on your guarantee. Be predictable with the substance you give and remain consistent with your image.

For instance, in the event that you give training administrations to business people, don’t support insignificant brands. In the event that you quit thinking about your image’s main goal, your gathering of people will take note. They’ll scrutinize your honesty with your business and quit confiding in your image.

Be that as it may, on the off chance that you gain your client’s trust, you’ll begin emerging from your opposition. Your clients will feel safe acquiring from you since they’ll know you’re straightforward.

2. Offer a Story No One Will Be Able to Copy

A couple of decades prior, a brand would’ve escaped without being one of a kind. That is on the grounds that in those days beginning a business was not available to a great many people. You’d either require enough cash to dispatch your business or have the certifications. Also, regardless of whether you had every one of these capabilities, you expected to move beyond the guardians.

Today, innovation has disturbed a considerable lot of the obstructions that were available a couple of decades back. For instance, today an undergrad can dispatch a Podcast inside seven days. He can make a site in a couple of hours and record a couple Podcast scenes. On the off chance that he’s determined, he can fabricate a vast after additional time and get paid by patrons.

This is extraordinary news for hopeful business people however there’s more rivalry than any other time in recent memory. You can just do as such much before different organizations start to duplicate you. Be that as it may, what no business can duplicate is your story.

That is the reason you have to impart your story to your gathering of people.

For instance, in the event that you have a cash blog, share how you’ve defeated your money related battles. On the off chance that you maintain an independent composition business, share how you’ve conquered a temporarily uncooperative mind. The more your crowd can identify with you the better.

Without a story, your business won’t emerge. What’s more, on the off chance that you duplicate what’s working for different organizations, you’ll encounter momentary achievement.

Set aside some opportunity to impart your story to the world, your gathering of people will love you more for it.

3. Quit Reinventing Every Single Thing

You may have heard that being unique is the best approach to emerge. While this is consistent with a degree, you likewise shouldn’t be unique when something is as of now working.

For instance, in the event that your opposition has a fruitful Podcast in your field, so can you. Try not to scan for better options in contrast to a Podcast if it’s now working.

Why?

Since this is an exercise in futility. Rather, duplicate what’s as of now working and make it your own.[2] If your opposition has a Podcast, make sense of which regions you can enhance and tailor it around your image.

Realizing this you would now be able to keep an eye on your opposition and figure out which regions you can move forward. In any case, realize that it additionally works the a different way. Others will see your business and duplicate what’s working for you.

That is the reason it’s vital to remain consistent with your image and be real with your crowd. When you do, your opposition won’t have the capacity to duplicate your one of a kind attributes. Have a plentiful mentality and feel sure for what your business brings to the table.

4. Sparkle Because of Your Uniqueness

Quit attempting to encourage the whole world and spotlight on helping an explicit gathering of individuals.

I get it, you’re willing to help nearly everybody since you need to acquire more business. In any case, truly on the off chance that you reverberate with everybody, you resound with nobody.

Take, for instance, an advertising organization that enables organizations to advance their item. This business doesn’t address anybody however gets intermittent deals consistently.

In any case, consider the possibility that there was a comparable showcasing office devoted to helping land operators. On the off chance that there was a land specialist searching for help in marketing– who do you think they’ll pick? That is the reason niching down is vital on the off chance that you want to emerge from your opposition.

Figure out which clients you appreciate working with the most and figure out which clients get the most income. When you’ve sufficiently accumulated information, center around adjusting your optimal client.

Try not to expect quick outcomes since this won’t be a simple change. In case you’re at present helping a limited group of onlookers, gradually change into a specialty crowd. Niching down is vital to building raving fans.

5. Be the Brand Everyone Can Depend On

Being the brand your clients can rely upon is imperative. How often have you purchased an item that is bombed on its guarantee? Or then again have agreed to a normal administration?

Surpassing your client’s desires is a certain method to make your image emerge. In the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, examines on human brain research demonstrate that when you provide for other people, they’ll respond. Offer your clients free counseling, a free digital book, or free quality substance. In the long run, they’ll be cheerful to respond in the wake of getting an incentive from you.

View what your opposition is doing and outperform their offers. For instance, if your opposition offers a free 15-minute counseling call, offer 30 minutes. When you center around helping other people more, your clients will take note.

Make it your main goal to serve your clients first and after that stress over making a benefit. Different courses for your business to be dependable is by rousing your clients. Truth is stranger than fiction, a business isn’t just about moving, it’s additionally helping clients accomplish their objectives.

For instance, you can compose content that will rouse your gathering of people to make a move. You can talk with visitors that will push your gathering of people to bring an end to unfortunate propensities. Get imaginative and search for more manners by which your group of onlookers can rely upon you with.

Top 10 Life Tips that we Should be Informed About?

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Life is our own, we all walk our own paths and need guidelines to help us. What are the main life tips we should be made aware of,

1. Realize that nobody cares.

and if they do, you shouldn’t care that they care. Got a new car? Nobody cares. You’ll get some gawkers for a couple of weeks—they don’t care. They’re curious. Three weeks in it’ll be just another shiny blob among all the thousands of others crawling down the freeway and sitting in garages and driveways up and down your street. People will care about your car just as much as you care about all of those. Got a new gewgaw? New wardrobe? Went to a swanky restaurant? Exotic vacation? Nobody cares. Don’t base your happiness on people caring, because they won’t. And if they do, they either want your stuff or hate you for it.

2. Some rule-breakers will break rule number one.

Occasionally, people in your life will defy the odds and actually care about you. Still not your stuff, sorry. But if they value you, they’ll value that you value it, and they’ll listen. When you talk about all of those things that nobody else cares about, they will look into your eyes and consume your words, and in that moment you will know that every part of them is there with you.

3. Spend your life with rule-breakers.

Marry them. Befriend them. Work with them. Spend weekends with them. No matter how much power you become possessed of, you’ll never be able to make someone care—so gather close the caring.

4. Money is cheap.

I mean, there’s a lot of it—about forty thousand billion dollars floating around the world, largely made up of cash whose value is made up and ascribed to it, anyway. Don’t engineer your life around getting a slightly less tiny portion of this pile, and make your spirit of generosity reflect this principle. I knew a man who became driven by the desire to amass six figures in savings, so he worked and scrimped and sacrificed to get there. And he did… right before he died of cancer. I’m sure his wife’s new husband appreciated his diligence.

5. Money is expensive.

I mean, it’s difficult to get your hands on sometimes—and you never know when someone’s going to pull the floorboards out from under you—so don’t be stupid with it. Avoid debt on depreciating assets, and never incur debt in order to assuage your vanity (see rule number one). Debt has become normative, but don’t blithely accept it as a rite of passage into adulthood—debt represents imbalance and, in some sense, often a resignation of control. Student loan debt isn’t always unavoidable, but it isn’t a given—my wife and I completed a combined ten years of college with zero debt between us. If you can’t avoid it, though, make sure that your degree is an investment rather than a liability—I mourn a bit for all of the people going tens of thousands of dollars in debt in pursuit of vague liberal arts degrees with no idea of what they want out of life. If you’re just dropping tuition dollars for lack of a better idea at the moment, just withdraw and go wander around Europe for a few weeks—I guarantee you’ll spend less and learn more in the process.

6. Learn the ancient art of rhetoric.

The elements of rhetoric, in all of their forms, are what make the world go around—because they are what prompt the decisions people make. If you develop an understanding of how they work, while everyone else is frightened by flames and booming voices, you will be able to see behind veils of communication and see what levers little men are pulling. Not only will you develop immunity from all manner of commercials, marketing, hucksters and salesmen, to the beautiful speeches of liars and thieves, you’ll also find yourself able to craft your speech in ways that influence people. When you know how to speak in order to change someone’s mind, to instill confidence in someone, to quiet the fears of a child, then you will know this power firsthand. However, bear in mind as you use it that your opponent in any debate is not the other person, but ignorance.

7. You are responsible to everyone, but you’re responsible for yourself.

I believe we’re responsible to everyone for something, even if it’s something as basic as an affirmation of their humanity. However, it should most often go far beyond that and manifest itself in service to others, to being a voice for the voiceless. If you’re reading this, there are those around you who toil under burdens larger than yours, who stand in need of touch and respect and chances. Conversely, though, you’re responsible for yourself. Nobody else is going to find success for you, and nobody else is going to instill happiness into you from the outside. That’s on you.

8. Learn to see reality in terms of systems.

When you understand the world around you as a massive web of interconnected, largely interdependent systems, things get much less mystifying—and the less we either ascribe to magic or allow to exist behind a fog, the less susceptible we’ll be to all manner of being taken advantage of. However:

9. Account for the threat of black swan events.

Sometimes chaos consumes the most meticulous of plans, and if you live life with no margins in a financial, emotional, or any other sense, you will be subject to its whims. Take risks, but backstop them with something—I strongly suspect these people who say having a Plan B is a sign of weak commitment aren’t living hand to mouth. Do what you need to in order to keep your footing.

10. You both need and don’t need other people.

You need others in a sense that you need to be part of a community—there’s a reason we reflexively pity hermits. Regardless of your theory of anthropogenesis, it’s hard to deny that we are built for community, and that ‘we’ is always more than ‘me.’ However, you don’t need another person in order for your life to have meaning—this idea that Disney has shoved through our eyeballs, that there’s someone out there for all of us if we’ll just believe hard enough and never stop searching, is hokum… because of arithmetic, if nothing else. Establish your own life—then, if there’s a particular person that you can’t help but integrate, believe me, you’ll know.

These 5 Productivity Hacks and Tools Can Save You a Bunch of Time in 2019

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Time is becoming an increasingly precious resource causing many of us to consistently seek methods to enhance productivity. Tools for managing complicated schedules, project management, and curating information have accumulated to feed the desire for more time and better efficiency in work life.

From reducing inefficiencies in often redundant and overlooked regular tasks to providing more advanced resources tailored to specific professions and businesses, productivity tools are increasingly prevalent. Conversely, simple methods for managing time more effectively and taking necessary breaks can alleviate stress and reduce instances of wasted time.

Time Boxing & Limiting Technology

Timeboxing has become an essential method for managing overloaded schedules, reducing stress, and increasing productivity. Timeboxing is predicated on the concept of managing tasks through interval time periods of topic-oriented work with small breaks interspersed between them.

 Similar to the Pomodoro Technique–which has been optimized and implemented in a variety of fields and applications–timeboxing aims explicitly to create a more consistent focus and mental clarity that mitigates fatigue. Stress is a byproduct of being overworked, which frequently stems directly from inefficient work and time management. Health concerns around stress are well-documented, and improving time management and productivity is not only good for your career but also your general health.

Timeboxing takes some practice to develop into a habit and requires that you learn more about your attention and energy patterns. Dividing your time into intervals where you focus intensely on work for extended periods followed by shorter small breaks are designed to facilitate concentration. Our brains tend to work the most efficient through small intervals, and short breaks in between these intervals can provide a reprieve from stress and the feeling of work overload.

Limiting technology usage–mainly before bedtime–has also been touted as a practical way to improve efficiency in work, improve sleep, and increasing morning focus. Staring at screens at night or throughout the day can reduce energy and motivation the following morning. Overexposure to blue-screened device light can even throw off your circadian rhythm.

It’s exceptionally challenging to limit technology use in today’s world, especially considering the prevalence of screens everywhere, seemingly endless news feeds, and social media. However, reducing the use of technology–or at least monitoring it better with an app like Forest–can increase focus and even improve mood.

Tools and Tech

Digital tools for enhancing productivity are everywhere nowadays. Many of them provide automated task and project management while others offer more field-specific resources like software libraries. Regardless of how you’re looking to tackle time-saving and improved productivity, the variety of productivity technology and tools available today is seemingly endless.

Evaluating more general day-to-day time-saving tools, Vivid Technologies — led by founder and CEO Omer Khan — distinguishes itself as the company behind their Digital IVR product. The goal is to remove the frustrating customer service experience by transitioning the phone call into an interactive, user-friendly interface. Users can exchange voice, text, and picture messages with agents while concurrently working on other tasks. There is no waiting for a customer service rep to answer as the call service integrates directly with the user’s phone to alert them once an agent is available. Vivid developed out of a Google and Microsoft Accelerator and has now partnered with Telenor–one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world–to offer their products to all customers of Telenor.  Phone customer service is a largely outdated model, and Vivid caters to millennials with a more efficient and interactive approach.

Other platforms like ActiveCollab are comprehensive project management tools for working with clients and teams. The integrated payment and invoicing functionality bridges many of the challenges facing entrepreneurs, small businesses, and freelancers who have to jump back and forth between task management services and payment applications. Users can either select from a self-hosted application option on your own server or through their monthly cloud service plan. Communication tools, project management, and payment are primarily siloed technologies, incorporating them into one platform can ease learning curves for new tools and support business processes within one interface.

Another emerging collaborative tool is LucidChart, designed for working on diagrams and charts with other team members on any device. A diverse template gallery can be used for building diagrams on anything from financial portfolios to software development workflows. Businesses are trending to an increasingly visual medium, with the ability to confer their message easily projected through informative graphics and interactive guides to their products. LucidChart is available to anyone who needs to diagram rapidly and effectively.

The Productive Road Ahead

Increasing productivity to save time is one of the most effective ways to reduce work overload and balance your schedule. Subsequent effects on improved health through reduced stress are profound. For businesses, specific productivity tools and platforms can help reduce inefficiencies by heightening collaboration and providing the fundamental resources to build new products and designs. In a professional world moving faster than ever, sometimes it is vital to slow down and take measure of how to subtly improve productivity and save precious time.

The Most Important Reason You Need to Develop Your Emotional Intelligence Now

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Emotional intelligence–the extent to which we understand and influence our own emotions and those of others–is the very essence of our humanity. At it’s most reductive, it is the ability to not be a jerk. (That’s not the word I want to use, but I’m trying to keep it clean.)

We don’t form it by having it modeled for us or by reading a book. It is informed by a lifetime of our individual experiences. It is a mark of experience, but one we can short-cut by making real-time connections that matter.

Generally speaking, decades of tech innovations have made our lives easier – without a doubt – but they’ve also enabled us to get away with terribly low emotional intelligence. Now the digital age all but demands that every last one of us improve it on purpose, and earlier.

Here’s why–and how you can achieve it.

Case in point: Show some respect to A.I.

As the brainchild of man, A.I. is a reflection of us–for better or worse. Conversational assistants like Siri and Alexa are “learning” from everyone in speaker-shot, not only A.I. developers.

“It is well known in the tech community that people say horrible things to these assistants. You would be appalled,” explains Mary Czerwinski, research manager of the Visualization and Interaction (VIBE) research group at Microsoft.

“What worries us is that children using Alexa, for example, to do their homework or crack jokes–left unchecked–the artificial assistant could model really poor behavior (based on what it learned from adults),” Czerwinski says.

If improved interpersonal dynamics and earning potential aren’t reason enough to develop emotional intelligence, consider this–we have no business teaching machines how to interpret emotion and act accordingly if we can’t get it right for ourselves.

Our collective responsibility to teach artificial assistants how to respond to or demonstrate an emotional response is essentially an act of global parenting. I challenge all of us to model a range of emotions and conversations when engaging with conversational A.I., and to talk to them respectfully, much in the same way we try to do with our children and even our co-workers.

So what does it mean to develop emotional intelligence?

Great question. So glad you asked. The extent of our emotional intelligence informs how we communicate. And how we communicate teaches A.I. what it means to be human(like). It’s worth it that we all do better.

Let’s assume an A.I. visionary leading a team of developers nails the notion of empathy. Does that mean his team–the very people responsible for programming technology to be quasi-empathetic–will automatically nail it, too?

That’s a hard no, simply because the application of empathy and developing our emotional intelligence are deeply personal pursuits. It is illogical to expect a team or individual to reflect the same of their boss.

At its core, emotional intelligence is not learned, it is earned, making it achievable by everyone.

By familiarizing ourselves with the framework of emotional intelligence, and first choosing one area on which to focus our attention, such as empathy, we can make gigantic strides toward improved interpersonal communication and outcomes benefiting everyone – including the A.I. we’re collectively teaching.

Start with empathy.

“Empathy is the next killer app,” offers Mark Edmunds, senior partner and board member at Deloitte. “Learning or improving empathy starts with listening to learn, not to respond.”

Edmunds suggests the practice of pausing for 3-5 seconds before responding. Taking a beat is a tacit signal that you care enough about someone’s contributions to consider them. And, assuming you can rapidly distill what you heard, you are all but guaranteeing an empathetic response. (Side note: this technique calls up another aspect of emotional intelligence–impulse control.)

For us humans practicing it, we’ll be astounded by how much we learn through active listening and a meaningful pause. And for AI developers everywhere, this is a behavior they can program to mimic a human.

As I write this, I ask Alexa how she feels. She quips about feeling bright and loud like her holiday sweater. (Cheeky monkey.) When I ask her if she can tell how I’m feeling, she says, “Hmm. I’m not sure.”

Maybe one day soon that will change.

The 7 Best Pieces of Advice for Living a Happy Life

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If truth is relative to what you believe, then happiness is directly correlated to what you pursue.

Everyone is in search of how to live a happy life–when in reality, the search begins with you. Happiness is not “found.” It is realized.

It is already right here.

(For all of you rolling your eyes, read the above sentence again and take a big deep breath as you read it.)

1. Stay true to yourself.

So much unhappiness stems from making decisions that go against what you know in your core, your gut, to be right. Deep down, you don’t want to do it–but you do it anyway. You listen to your head. You try to convince yourself the raise is worth it, or the risk is too great, or it’s better to just stay put, to keep your head down.

Staying true to yourself is a challenge, yes. But effectively suppressing your true self is even more challenging.

2. Do what you love–not what you’re told to love.

To spend time (especially a considerable amount of time) doing what you love takes work. Hard work. And the truth is, most people give up. They get a job to pay the bills and do what they love “on the side.” Eventually, they lose motivation, fall into the comfort of routine, and give up the very thing they once valued the most. And for years, then, they look back in regret, almost basking in the statement, “I wish I could have…”.

It might take a while for you to realize it, but at some point you will. You will feel an immense sense of loss for not having stuck with the thing that once brought you true joy. Even if you never make it your career. Even if you only do it for yourself, still, do it. The fact that “doing something for yourself” is seen as a waste of time and energy is testament enough to our achievement-based society.

3. Create the environment that’s right for you.

If you are an extrovert, don’t allow yourself to work a job that suppresses that part of you. If you are an introvert, don’t try to contort yourself to an extroverted company culture. Your own happiness is a reflection of your day-to-day, the things you’re doing, and most important, how you are doing them.

Create your own environment. Put yourself in a place that will help you grow, not suppress your growth. Surround yourself with people who understand, or at least make the effort to understand you. There are always options. Do not settle for someplace that does not feed your core.

4. Choose your friends wisely.

You are a reflection of the five people you spend the most time with–choose them wisely. If they complain a lot, you will inevitably complain a lot. If they are lazy, you will become lazy. If they are not actively improving themselves, you will not actively improve yourself–unless you leave the situation and find others who will reflect that part of you.

It is very difficult to remain in a state of happiness when you are surrounded by negativity.

5. Develop positive habits.

We as humans like to believe “happiness” is the destination wherein there is no more challenge. Everything is easy.

In fact, it is quite the opposite. We love challenge. We thrive off challenge. We grow through challenge. We discover ourselves by being challenged. And it is not the thing itself, but your emotional state that decides whether or not that process of growing and being challenged is enjoyable, in the same way a workout can be enjoyable or grueling and painful (in the same way a workout to someone out of shape can be grueling and painful).

The simple act of developing positive habits in itself brings a deeply “earned” happiness. We are happy because we have overcome ourselves.

6. Create certainty and leave room for uncertainty.

If everything in your life is planned out, then it’s boring. If nothing in your life is planned out, then it’s risky and uneasy.

Happiness is found somewhere in the middle. You want just enough certainty in your life to feel like you have ground to stand on, you’re not completely in danger, but you’ve left the window open for spontaneity to sneak in for a sleepover every now and then.

It’s the spontaneous adventures that bring extreme moments of joy. But they are best enjoyed when you know you have something safe to land on as well.

7. Be vulnerable.

Frightening, but there is an unrivaled happiness that comes through acts of vulnerability. These moments confirm we are human. That we are imperfect. We open ourselves and, as if looking in the mirror for the first time, are able to step back and see who we are a bit more clearly–for better or worse. We accept ourselves, and let others do the same.

Vulnerability is the secret. We as a society go to great lengths to hide who we are, and create masks, personas, and images to portray the parts we know will receive approval–while banishing the rest to the shadows. But all our best work comes from being vulnerable. All our happiest moments and saddest realizations come from being vulnerable. All our deepest loves and greatest friendships come from being vulnerable. All our art, all our music, all our creativity comes from being vulnerable.

Vulnerability is the secret to happiness–and that is why I started this article with the breath. Happiness is not out there somewhere, waiting for you. Happiness is hidden within vulnerability, and vulnerability is hidden within you.