This apartment, located in Prague, Czech Republic, was designed by Klára Valová of SMLXL studio. Predominantly white, this apartment welcomes us with a long corridor with dark wood floors that leads to the area where the living room, kitchen, and dining room converge. A gray sofa with lamps hanging over it and accompanied by a TV area make up the living room. In the kitchen, we find a swing that serves..
The post Apartment designed by Klára Valová of SMLXL Studio in Prague appeared first on HomeDSGN.
Check out this peaceful scene at Table Rock Wilderness in Oregon…
Check out this peaceful scene at Table Rock Wilderness in Oregon for International Day of Forests. See old growth Douglas fir and western hemlock along four terrific trails as you hike up to the “fortress” of Table Rock. Breathe in the rich, forest air and remember the poem by Robert Frost, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.” Photo by Bureau of Land Management, @mypubliclands.
3 Reasons Why Taking Rest Breaks At Work Is Important
You wake up early morning and decide that you are going to work your ass off today. You glue yourself to your desk, put your mind to the task, and manage to squeeze 16 hours without taking rest breaks at work! You do that for three days at a stretch.
What happens the next day? Your productivity level drops.
Taking wise, pre-planned breaks is one of the least harnessed (but the most essential) tools inside an entrepreneur’s productivity toolbox. If you are still not buying the idea, here are 3 good reasons why taking rest breaks at work is more important than the actual tasks.
Breaks trigger your brain’s diffuse mode
Studies show that your brain works in two complementary but contrasting modes: the focused and the diffused.
From a layman’s perspective, the focused mode is when concentrated thinking takes place. It happens when a person gives his full attention to the task at hand. The diffused mode, on the other hand, is more of a relaxing state where you just work with the flow.
Interestingly, your brain can never be in both states at the same time.
When you take a break, your mind enters into a diffuse mode. This mode tends to create a room for creativity and is usually where most of the revolutionary ideas pop.
Studies show that being in the focused mode for excessive periods often leads to “Einstellung effect”. It’s a phenomenon where you find yourself stuck in a problem because your mind is pre-programmed to solve it in a pre-defined manner.
Imagine this:
Your car has to pass through an under-bridge that is an inch shorter than your car’s height. How do you solve the problem? While most intellectual engineers crack their heads to get it done, a child might simply point out that puncturing the tires would do the job.
Is the child smarter than those professionals?
The smartest of the engineers would probably restrict themselves into thinking about the mechanics of the car or the construction of the bridge simply because their brains are wired into thinking that way.
The above illustration is a perfect example of how Einstellung tremendously impacts our ability to produce innovative thoughts.
So how do you avoid this deadly effect?
Avoid staying in the focused mode for too long. Whenever you feel drowned in your thoughts, go outside for a few minutes to take a break.
It helps free your working memory
Your brain has a “working memory” constituting of everything you’re thinking of at the moment. Most of us have roughly four slots of that memory available while some people can have as many as nine.
When you think of something, it occupies your working memory before moving to the long-term space. It is pretty obvious that your working space can get filled easily if you always do deep work.
Have you ever felt frustrated after working for long hours at a stretch? Overloaded working memory is the culprit.
Taking rest breaks at work helps your mind assimilate these thoughts and move them to the long term space, thereby freeing up your valuable slots.
Tip: Consider writing down pending tasks at hand before taking a break. This would take away the pain of having to recall the tasks.
See Also: 5 Top Weird Brain Facts
You feed yourself some love
When you take a break, you stand a chance to open yourself up to the world. You get to observe the scenic, innate beauty of nature as you take a walk in the park.
You get to realize how blessed you are to have a loving family and a friends’ circle. More importantly, it will help you realize how beautiful life is.
Recent studies reveal that emotional intelligence (EQ) might be more important than your IQ for your success. And how do you develop your EQ? Simple, you just have to steal some of your working hours to interact with the world.
I hope this article helped you in understanding the importance of taking regular rest breaks at work and not overworking yourself.
What do you do while taking breaks? What is your favorite recreation activity?
See Also: 10 Brain Damaging Activities You Need To Stop Doing Now
The post 3 Reasons Why Taking Rest Breaks At Work Is Important appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
House in Challex, France designed by Zoomfactor Architects
This house, built in Challex, a small residential area in France, was designed by Zoomfactor Architects in 2016 and boasts a total of 190 meters squared of space. Its concrete exterior gives it a cold aspect, but it is a small detail that we seem to forget once we arrive at the terrace, with its wood floors and glass railing, the incredible views of the extensive and green landscape before..
The post House in Challex, France designed by Zoomfactor Architects appeared first on HomeDSGN.
7 Life-Enhancing Reasons To Start A Blog
There are people who hate writing while others have no interest in selling their skills or products. Despite these differences, I still believe everyone can benefit from having a blog.
Here are seven good reasons to start a blog today.
It’s the easiest way to market yourself
A blog is a brilliant marketing tool for both business owners looking to attract customers and employees hoping to impress future employers.
It provides a simple way to demonstrate your knowledge of a certain subject. It’s a fantastic platform to show off your passions.
Passionate people are attractive. So, as personal brands become increasingly important in the business world, a blog can really make you stand out from the crowd.
See Also: How Online Blogging Is Influencing Business Trends
It’s a great way to channel your creative desires
Everyone has a natural desire to be creative. Some turn this into a career while others channel it as a casual hobby.
Writing is much of an art as it is a means of communication. It’s a great outlet for self-expression.
It brings satisfaction of building something from scratch
When you start blogging, you’ll be terrible. You’ll have no audience and you’ll feel like it’s a waste of time.
Stick at it though and continue writing meaningful content. Market it relentlessly and you’ll soon be celebrating all sorts of milestones.
Once your writing improves, traffic will slowly build. Before you know it, you’re already an established blogger.
There’s nothing more satisfying than slowly improving at a skill, especially when you’re building from scratch. It’s one of the reasons why so many people practice sports and musical instruments.
It ensures flow state
Flow state is the sensation that occurs when you’re so absorbed in a task that nothing else seems to matter.
Your sense of self disappears and time seems to pass quicker. When your performance levels improve, you’ll find it as an addictive feeling.
This type of flow state is commonly associated with sports, like when athletes train for hours at a time. You can also reach this flow state when reading a good book, painting, knitting and, in my case, writing.
Whenever I compose a blog post, I become so immersed in trying to express my ideas and attempting to construct the sharpest sentences and metaphors. I often find myself typing into the early hours of the morning.
This isn’t because I’m desperately chasing a deadline, but because being in this flow state feels so good. When you are writing about something you are passionate about, you may find yourself in the same situation.
It forces you out of your comfort zone
There are approximately 2 million blog posts published online every day. And if you want to keep people’s attention to your post, you need to write content that will truly shock them.
This can be uncomfortable since fantastic contents typically ruffle a few feathers. It might offend people and you run the risk of getting laughed off the internet.
This necessity to push the boundaries is a positive thing. It drives you to dig deeper into certain issues and forces you to create content that truly stirs emotions.
If you write a personal blog, it can push you to live a more exciting life so embrace the awkwardness. Everything that’s truly incredible begins outside of your comfort zone.
See Also: How To Find The Best Topic For Your Blog
It can create great relationships
Blogging is a fantastic way to attract people with similar passions and beliefs. Many bloggers make lifelong friends as a result of their writing.
I first got in touch with Las Vegas club promoter Drew Schroeder because he also wrote a dating blog. We wrote a couple of guest posts for each other and kept in touch on social media.
Last year, I went to party with him in Sin City’s biggest nightclubs. That holiday remains one of the best weeks of my life.
It’s a source of passive income
Many successful bloggers make a passive income through their posts and this is one of people’s most common reasons to start a blog. This can be done either through ad networks, affiliate sales, or selling their own products.
If you’re a business owner, a popular blog can boost leads by attracting more people to your website through search engines and social media. Your leads will also be more likely to convert to customers if your blog represents a likeable brand with a superior knowledge of your niche.
Many business owners say they don’t have time to maintain a blog. I’d argue they can’t afford not to.
The post 7 Life-Enhancing Reasons To Start A Blog appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Pedro Ferreira Architecture Studio has completed the rehabilitation of a 19th century building in Porto, Portugal
Pedro Ferreira Architecture Studio has completed the rehabilitation of a 19th century building located in Porto, Portugal. Despite having originally been practically in ruins, the resulting building looks totally renovated. With its clear and modern spaces, we would never imagine its age nor its original condition. The property has spectacular wooden floors that, in contrast with its white walls and ceiling, stand out in a unique way. The vertical space..
Statue of Liberty – New York – USA (by b k)
Statue of Liberty – New York – USA (by b k)
The Science of Behavioral Change: 3 Critical Steps to Make New Habits Stick for Years
You’re reading The Science of Behavioral Change: 3 Critical Steps to Make New Habits Stick for Years, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” – Warren Buffet
It’s incredibly frustrating, isn’t it?
You’ve invested time and energy into building this new habit. You’ve kept it up for weeks now, maybe even months. Slowly but surely, changes are beginning to happen in your life, and you start to wonder just how good things could get if you kept this up all year. What if you kept it up for five years? Or ten?
And then it happens again.
Life gets in the way. You skip a gym session, you eat a piece of chocolate, you forget to journal in the morning or do your Spanish homework. Either way, one slip turns into two, which turns into three, and suddenly…you’re back where you started.
Which reveals an uncomfortable truth, the kind of truth that most people don’t like to admit.
Habit change is hard, really hard. And most people are simply not going to keep up with our new habits for longer than a couple of months.
To be honest, that used to be the case with me all the time. I’d be great at starting new habits, but three months in I would let the ball slip. And this happened over, and over, and over again.
Fortunately, over the years I’ve learned a few tricks that allowed me to keep these new habits until they became unconscious and stuck. While I still slip up from time to time, I’m far more effective than I used to be. In fact, by keeping the following principles in mind, in 2016 I was able to both journal and meditate for 180 days straight.
So without further ado, here are 3 critical steps to make sure that your habits stick for years!
- Know when it’s appropriate to set unrealistic goals
When you are setting goals based on your new habits there are two things to keep in mind.
Make your short-term goals realistic. These need to be broken down into bite-sized chunks that are manageable every day. For example, don’t start off by attempting to meditate for an hour a day, you’ll just burn out – start with ten minutes and add 30 seconds a day till you reach an hour.
Make your long-term goals unrealistic. If your long-term goals aren’t big enough, they’re not going to motivate you. And even if you don’t get there, you’ll make huge improvements you can be proud of anyway.
- Make sure a relevant reminder is always available
You can’t rely on your memory to keep your habits going!
Let me say that again, so you remember it.
You can’t rely on your memory to keep your habits going!
If you have a reminder that is inconsistent or that is only available to you at certain times, it’s not going to be good enough. Use a digital calendar or ‘triggers’ to keep yourself on track every day.
- Ask the tough questions
Even if you’ve already started to implement a new behavior, it’s important to know why the habit hasn’t stuck in the past in the first place. If you don’t address the root cause, the issue can be lying in the background just waiting for you to be tired or hungry or jet lagged, and then it’ll pounce.
Go through a process of self-inquiry to get to the bottom of your behaviors.
Why don’t I exercise in the morning?
Because I’m tired.
Why are you tired?
Because I didn’t sleep enough the night before.
Why didn’t you sleep enough the night before?
Because I stayed up late and had a couple of glasses of wine.
Why did you stay up late and drink wine?
Because I’m stressed from work and feel like I need to unwind.
For example, in this situation, you originally thought that you had an issue with motivation to exercise, but really your issue was with stress at work. This is where keystone habits come into place, as something like meditation may reduce workplace stress, which leads to more morning exercise!
As I said before, habit change is hard. However, small consistent changes almost always lead to huge results in the long run. Make sure that you keep these three tips in mind next time you try to adopt a new habit.
Attention Pick the Brain Readers!
Are you ready to ignite change in your own life?
If so then grab a copy of my free eBook:
Ben is a freelance writer, and the creator of Project Monkey Mind—a blog that delves deep into psychology, spirituality and the mind, and offers practical wisdom for the digital age.
You’ve read The Science of Behavioral Change: 3 Critical Steps to Make New Habits Stick for Years, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
The largest company headquartered in each state
San Diego – California – USA (by Phil Price)
San Diego – California – USA (by Phil Price)
Sig Nordal 