Will you be looking to friends and family to help fund your startup? Be sure you do these four things if you accept their investment in your business.
Month: August 2016
How to Sell Yourself
In very small businesses, when you’re marketing your business, you’re really marketing yourself. Here’s advice for getting better at selling yourself and your business.
5 Holiday Marketing Tips to Capture Last Minute Shoppers
Don’t ignore last minute holiday shoppers. Use these 5 tips to get the attention of late shoppers and boost your store’s holiday sales.
Reiulf Ramstad and Dualchas design cliffside visitor centre for Scottish island
Norwegian firm Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter has teamed up with Scottish studio Dualchas Architects to design a seafront visitor centre for an island in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. (more…)
Today, President Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine…
Today, President Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to a total protected area of 582,578 square miles – making it the largest marine protected area on Earth. Part of the most remote island archipelago on Earth, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument supports a reef ecosystem with more than 7,000 marine species and is home to many species of coral, fish, birds and marine mammals. This includes the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, the endangered leatherback and hawksbill sea turtles. Top and bottom photos courtesy of James Watt, middle photo by Lindsey Kramer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Get “In the Zone” on Command with a Focus Song
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The Power of Focus
I have a friend, Matt, who listens to the same song on repeat every time he works on his computer. The exact same song. On repeat. All the time. Yes, he’s a little crazy. When I asked him about it, he said it helps him focus.
Turns out, he’s been listening to this same song since college. That’s four years of undergrad, five years of graduate school, and several more years working in college ministry. I was flabbergasted.
“You’ve listened to the same song on repeat for almost two decades?!” I asked in disbelief.
He just shrugged and said, “Man, I don’t even hear it anymore. I just immediately get in the zone.”
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Now, that stayed with me. He had found a way to summon at will that elusive and prized aspect of productivity – focus, so he can get into the invaluable deep work mode.
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Music as White Noise
There are programs like Focus at Will designed to offer music stations tailored to aid your focus. The idea is to open their site or app, plug into the ambient music, and the focus is automatic.
I love this idea, but it has a few drawbacks:
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1) There is a monthly subscription fee. It may be worthwhile, but I’d like to see if I can do the same thing on my own for free.
2) It requires the Internet. I prefer to be entirely unplugged when I write or study. Any connectivity seems counter to the goal of focus.
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3) The music is always changing. With music designed for focus, I find variety distracting. The switch from song to song is something my brain naturally pays attention to, even if just for a moment. Monotony, however, is easy to block out.
That’s why I have a “focus” song, just like Matt.
When it’s time to get zeroed in on a task, I cue up my focus song and BAM! Just like that, I am in the zone.
Other White Noises
I actually have a few focus songs at different tempos, based on the kind of work I’m trying to get done. Sometimes, when I’m reflecting, I want ambient classical. Other times, I’m pounding out the words and I prefer electronic or rock.
That handful of songs alone accounts for more than half the playback time on my iTunes account.
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It doesn’t have to be a single song, and it doesn’t have to be instrumental. It could be a whole album you know by heart. But try a single instrumental song first since the more monotonous it is, the more focused you can be.
I also really like white noise services like the “Rain, Rain” mobile app. It has beautiful soundscapes of thunderstorms, crackling fire, waves crashing on the beach and even household appliances. Each sound is designed to block out everything around you and help you get in the zone right away.
So, the next time you have trouble focusing, put a focus song on repeat.
Pretty soon you won’t even hear it anymore.
See Also: 5 Techniques for Increasing your Focus in 5 Minutes
Alright, I’ll tell you! Matt’s focus song is “Down Around You,” a guitar instrumental by Derek Webb.
That is my low-tempo choice, while my up-tempo is the album “Superpowers” by the Polish Ambassador.
What about you, what’s your focus song?
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The post Get “In the Zone” on Command with a Focus Song appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Could Development Hoardings Be the New “Canvas for London”?
Courtesy of Primebuild
Walking next to a construction site is anything but enjoyable. Unavoidable noise (and sometimes air) pollution is partly responsible, but development hoardings also contribute to the unpleasant feeling. In most cases you walk alongside blank canvases, made from OSB or poorly built plywood boxes, and covered with a concrete grey or navy blue Dulux paint. If you’re lucky enough to pass by a development for luxury apartments, you’ll find some lavish advertising for the homes which, of course, you couldn’t afford anyway. With her blog “Development Aesthetics,” Crystal Bennes gives credit to the visual importance of hoardings, showcasing London’s latest construction sites and commentating on the inadequacy and often absurdity of the advertising on their hoardings. As apartment blocks mushroom around the British capital, the issue increasingly affects inhabitants’ use and understanding of public spaces.
Hoping to turn this trend around, the UK-based construction, architectural and engineering firm Primebuild has launched its “Canvas for London” Initiative, using construction site hoardings as platforms for artists to display their work.
Courtesy of Primebuild
According to Primebuild’s director Tom Tighe, “We believe in not just the end product, but the beauty of the process along the way. We see hoardings as temporary structures, which are the only connection with the public during works–a huge opportunity and one which we should give to the creatives of our cities who need the chance to promote their work on some of the biggest canvas sizes around.”
Courtesy of Primebuild
Hoardings could also meet educational goals, as exemplified by local artist Joshua Richardson with his “Project Plural.” The drawings–currently displayed on Primebuild’s construction sites–aim to “bring to life the ongoing importance of animal conservation, to educate children and adults through humorous illustrations and unearth all of the forgotten collective nouns.”
Courtesy of Primebuild
But the initiative’s primary goal is to raise awareness within the building industry. Architects and construction firms are not only responsible for the completion of their design, but also for the quality of “temporary” living environments during construction works. This approach needn’t even be an expensive added construction cost, as young artists looking for recognition could offer low-cost, compelling solutions to the design of suitable hoardings. In fact, only one question remains: why isn’t Primebuild’s approach more widespread?
Courtesy of Primebuild
Daan Roosegaarde creates illusion of depth in cloud-filled Beyond installation
Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has covered a wall at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in a realistic, cloud-studded sky (+ movie). (more…)
Time Box – Temporary Exhibition Pavilions / Gergely Sági
© Zsolt Vasáros
- Architects: Gergely Sági
- Location: Călugăreni 547211, Romania
- Area: 78.0 sqm
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Zsolt Vasáros, Gergely Sági
- Design Team: Sándor Ambrus, Ferencz Andrási, János Antal, István Balla, Lehel Balla, Zsigmond Balla, Zsolt Balla, József Bálint, Botond Csiki, Szilárd Dósa, Szilárd Kacsó, Nándor Laczkó, Regő László, Norbert Moldován, Botond Siklódi, László Siklódi, József Szabó, Hunor Szász, Zsolt Szilveszter
- Chief Consultant: Zsolt Vasáros
- Consultant: Cicelle Gaul
- Local Partner: Zsolt Tövissi
- Structural Designer: Péter Dénes
- Chief Curators: Szilamér Péter Pánczél, Silvia Mustață, Koppány Bulcsú Ötvös
- Curators: Alpár Dobos, István Karácsony, Nicoleta Man, Dávid Petruț, Katalin Sidó
- Chief Site Manager: Koppány Bulcsú Ötvös
© Gergely Sági
From the architect. It is a great challenge in an architectural sense, a great question whether contemporary architecture can be present in a village where the largest architectural intervention of the past 100 years has been some change of windows and doors; where the idea of the most modern materials is the red and blue metal rooftops and the idea of „form” remains the archetypical shape of the house. What tools does contemporary architecture have in such a conservative village sticking so much to traditions? Where could we start? Which values are we reflecting on, trying to save them from the current decay that will obviously disappeare soon and forever without intervention? How can something fit into this environment having a function that has never been seen there before, something that has no ancestors, no past, no natural location in the village? Being in connection with the environment is not a cliché here coming from the vibes of „genius loci” creating nice forms and transcendent content,it is rather a very practical need that could secure the long-lasting future of the pavilion: having connection is means of survival here. In a situation where the house is left alone for 11 months of the year (the 12th one being the time of the excavation) in the cornfield by the village the only chance for survivor is to have owner.
© Gergely Sági
Elevations
© Zsolt Vasáros
And there can be owner only if locals become owners. If locals can relate to the small constructions by their village, if they are able to accept them, and the community is able to look at them as its own and feel responsibility for them – in this case the pavilions can last the time they were constructed for. In any other case their inevitable future is decay and destruction. Considering these having connection is not only a purpose-it’s the only chance for the existance of the pavilions.
© Gergely Sági
Sketch
© Zsolt Vasáros
Detail
Is Your Brain More Female or Male?
Every one of us has a masculine and a feminine side. Both of them are equally important. But do we really know how our brain is wired and which one is the dominant one?
Of course, in most cases the one corresponding to our gender is the one that defines us, but there are some cases where a perfect balance is attained, or one of the sides is completely missing.
Take just now this quick, fun and easy quiz and find out if your brain is more female or male!
Is Your Brain More Female or Male?
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Leave a comment below to tell us what you’ve got!
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Sig Nordal 