When talking about a penthouse in New York, what usually comes to mind is the image of a modern apartment, luxuriously decorated. This apartment, located on Hubert Street in TriBeCa, dates back to 1892 and was remodeled by ODA New York. Although contemporary details have been included in its restoration, certain details of the old building, such as its exposed brick walls, have been preserved to maintain its air of..
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The desert at sunrise seems so peaceful and still, but if you…
The desert at sunrise seems so peaceful and still, but if you look closer, the sights and sounds of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona reveal a remarkable community of plants and animals. Human stories echo throughout this desert preserve, chronicling thousands of years of desert living. A scenic drive, wilderness hike or a night of camping will expose you to a living desert that beautiful and thriving. Photo by National Park Service.
Importance Of Soft Skills: Why Grades Aren’t Enough
When you were in grade school, you probably experienced getting threatened with your permanent record. Most teachers and parents would warn their students to behave properly and get good grades because they will be in their permanent records. Unfortunately, this isn’t really the case.
Unless you are planning to go into the Secret Service, your permanent record starts collecting dust approximately 10 minutes after college graduation. Sure, those grades are important to get you scholarships and into the right clubs and organizations, but outside of that, your boss really doesn’t care what your GPA was in college. Your grades won’t be enough to get you through life.
Most interviewers know within a few minutes of interviewing you whether they would hire you for a position at their company. In most cases, their decision has nothing to do with your college transcript.
Employers are looking for good communication skills. They’ll assess if you can communicate clearly and effectively with the team as well as with clients. They’ll check if you can make a great team player as well as look into your leadership potential. Being able to solve problems and follow directions are things they’ll test, too.
There are plenty of large companies that look for graduates from top colleges and universities. In fact, Facebook, Google, Morgan Stanley and Microsoft all hire a large percentage of their employees from top 200 schools. That doesn’t mean you will never get in the door with a degree from a lesser school, though. You will just have to be able to show that you have the skills and the drive to succeed.
In college, you won’t learn everything you will need to succeed at life. There are still loads of work to do after graduation. You can start by understanding the importance of soft skills.
Do you need to work on being a better team player? Could your written communication skills use a little polish? Should you be fine-tuning your verbal communication skills?
Apart from communication skills, you also have to make sure your resume is a killer. Many companies receive more than 300 resumes for one position and they can only call about a dozen people or so for an interview. Having a resume that stands out from the pack is crucial to getting that call back.
See Also: 16 Worst Resume Mistakes
If you do get that call for an interview, make sure you dazzle them. Make the interview an opportunity to prove that you are a good fit for the company. Practice your nonverbal cues since they can tell an interviewer a lot about you that aren’t going to be on your resume or on your transcript.
A third of interviewers rely on nonverbal cues to determine whether they would hire an applicant within the first 90 seconds of the interview. Do your homework on the company before you go in. Being informed can set you apart from the crowd, especially when tons of applicants don’t really know anything about the company they are applying for.
Asking questions can also be a great way to demonstrate your soft skills during the interview process.
See Also: 6 Interview Hacks That Are Sure To Land You The Job
Once you get the job, your opportunities to continue to develop your soft skills are not over. If you want to be able to take on opportunities for advancement, be sure to take on new projects as a way to develop yourself personally and professionally.
Learn more about the importance of soft skills and why you shouldn’t be leaning on your GPA from this infographic below. Learning doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom!
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Studio Four23’s Self-Designed Office Inside Former Metal Workshop is Inspired by a Toolbox
This studio of exposed brick walls and pipelines, which give it an industrial air, was designed by Studio Four23 to serve as its own headquarters in Clerkenwell, London, England. Its long windows keep the same industrial style across the spaces and fill it with abundant natural light. Although, when natural light is not sufficient, a lighting system has been set in place in the studio to cover each work area…
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annajewelsphotography: Boston – Massachusetts – USA (by…
Boston – Massachusetts – USA (by annajewelsphotography)
Instagram: annajewels
Branch Studio Architects Remodel a 1960s Home in Melbourne, Australia
This house built in the 1960s in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, was recently remodeled by Branch Studio Architects. Its current owners, who participated actively in the remodeling and reconstruction of the house, inherited it from their deceased grandparents about 3 years ago. Inside, the living room décor is composed of retro style furniture done in apple green that fills the space with color and gives it a sense of vibrancy. On..
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Take 7: Seven Tips For A Better Organization Of Your Time
While time management apps help us configure and control our schedules, it is still best to exercise time management skills and create a habit out of them. Maximum productivity, after all, is reached when one is able to produce more results in a shorter period of time.
To help you kickstart that habit, here’s a rundown of seven of the most effective tricks and tips to establish better time management!
Manage your day according to your prime time
Our energy levels differ from one another. Not everyone can wake up before 6 A.M. to be the best and most productive versions of themselves. The same goes for the early birds who are most likely to have low energy levels by the time the clock strikes 9 P.M.
To increase productivity, it is recommended that you take advantage of your biological prime time (BPT). Your BPT is the time of the day when your energy level is at its peak. In essence, it is when you feel most alert and productive.
Once you have determined your BPT, organize your day not by time blocks for each activity, but by the amount of energy you will spend on it. For instance, you can work on proposals and reports in the afternoon, if you’re more focused by then than in the morning.
While this technique may not explicitly be about time management, keep in mind that the end goal of time management is productivity. By taking advantage of your BPT, you’ll be able to achieve exactly that.
Take advantage of your downtimes
“I don’t have time for that.”
Whenever I hear this statement, I always do an imaginary headshake. I regard this statement as an excuse. There is always time for everything. It’s just a matter of effective time management, of course.
People tend to forget that downtime can mean extra time to accomplish things. For example, if you’re an early riser and you can manage to wake up at least 30 minutes before everyone else in your household, you can use this time to visualize how your day will go.
Identify the most crucial tasks of the day and schedule when you need to accomplish them. You can even do this while showering!
For commuters, maximize your commute time for small tasks, such as checking your e-mail, gathering updates on a project you’re working on or following up on a client.
You can also turn your lunch break into a working lunch session, instead of just having lunch at your desk or outside. This way, you’ll be able to cross off client meeting and lunch on your to-do list at the same time. Who knows, you might even close a deal!
It really isn’t about having the time, but more of making time, especially for your day’s important tasks.
Set a time limit for each activity
When I schedule my day, I block off at least 30 minutes for an activity. For example, 7:30-8:00 on Thursday evenings are for yoga; 10:00-11:00 on Tuesday mornings are for project A and the same time slot on Wednesday mornings are for project B.
Setting up an allotted time for each activity can remind you of deadlines and schedules that need to be followed. Time limits can also reduce distractions and drive you to focus more on the task at hand. This way, you ensure not only the completion of a project within its expected timeframe but quality, too.
Group related tasks
A usual office work day includes meetings with clients and business associates, writing reports and presenting project proposals. If you have the same routine at work, you can schedule related activities together.
Say you have two client meetings, a business presentation and three reports scheduled in one day. You can set the client meetings in the morning, do the business presentation during lunch and tackle the reports in the afternoon.
In doing so, you exercise the same mindset for related activities which can help you in working smarter.
Reduce meeting time
I know many would agree when I say that meeting time is one of those most dreadful things in our schedules. Meetings tend to be unproductive and they eat too much of our time, without really accomplishing anything.
The best remedy to this is to cut meeting time by at least 25 percent.
As much as possible, try to inform everyone about what will be discussed during the meeting. Around thirty minutes prior to the scheduled meeting, you can give them an outline of the talking points so that they can have an idea of what will be discussed.
Not only will this help everyone prepare for the meeting and bring up relevant concerns, it will also keep them focused on the subject.
You can also consider the three P’s for effective meeting facilitation: purpose, process, and people.
Determine the purpose of the meeting by knowing what it is for and what needs to be addressed. Then, determine how to go about the meeting. Decide whether it will be a presentation or a discussion. Lastly, get the right people to attend the meeting.
The three P’s will help you accomplish more within a shorter meeting time because they ensure that the meeting is on track and that the topic discussed is heard by the appropriate people involved.
Another trick to keeping meetings short is to conduct it standing up.
Consider interruptions and distractions
Distractions are, most of the time, inevitable. Because of this, it is best if you can take them into account and include them in your schedule.
Set aside fifteen minutes in the morning and in the afternoon to check for e-mail updates and scroll through your social media sites. Give your daily schedule some leeway to accommodate an urgent meeting or an emergency phone call.
Once a colleague knocks on your door, be ready to either tell him to come back in a few minutes or give him spare 5-10 minutes of your time to talk about his concern.
You also need to determine whether an interruption is urgent or not. This way, you’ll be able to identify whether it can be put off for later or not.
Take five
Taking short breaks in between work is as important as scheduling and prioritizing when it comes to productivity. In fact, it keeps you from maxing out your energy and potentially suffering from a burnout.
In the Pomodoro technique, the five-minute break after every 25-minute work session is necessary because it helps lessen anxiety and regain focus.
See Also: 5 Techniques for Increasing your Focus in 5 Minutes
Dr. James Levine of Mayo Clinic recommends that breaks be included in a daily routine to maximize work effectivity. It benefits one’s mental and physical health because it reduces stress, allows your eyes to relax and improve memory retention, concentration and attention span. It also helps one to step back from the task and re-evaluate his or her goal.
So don’t fret too much about taking a much-needed break!
See Also: 5 Quick Fixes To Improve Your Mental Health
The post Take 7: Seven Tips For A Better Organization Of Your Time appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
The Secret To Getting Your Strong Emotions Under Control
You’re reading The Secret To Getting Your Strong Emotions Under Control, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Have you ever felt an emotion so strong, it just wouldn’t go away?
The grief from losing a loved one, the sorrow after a breakup, worrying about your health, anxious of the future…
Every single minute of the day, your mind is occupied by the emotion. You don’t have a choice. It is taking over your life.
You exert so much energy just to get through a day. It is exhausting. You want a break from it so badly, but your mind just wouldn’t stop.
You don’t want this anymore. But you are stuck.
The emotion is too powerful: from mindfulness, observance, breathing, Zen, mantra, you can try everything you know, but it just won’t work.
Yes, even mindfulness is useless against such a fierce emotion.
You even start to think you are never going to get out of it. You think you will stay wounded forever.
The Surprising Cause of Your Strong Emotion
I understand you. I went through the exact same thing when I lost my grandmother, and when I had a panic attack a while ago.
It was hell.
But trust me, you will get out of this emotional vortex. And I am going to show you exactly what to do.
First, I want you to know why your emotion became so strong in the first place.
Understand this: Your emotions operate on the physics principle of momentum.
Surprising?
Let me give you an example.
Let’s say your friend borrowed your car. When he returns, you spot a dent on it. The car is now hideous. You are angry with him.
He explains he didn’t actually do anything wrong. He drove carefully, but someone bumped into him.
You are still angry. You think he should have noticed a bad driver from a mile away, stay away from him.
Then let’s say you find out later your friend literally did nothing wrong. He was probably more careful with your car than with his own car. It was pure bad luck that your car got bumped into.
Now you have no reason to stay angry. Even you would have screwed up your car, perhaps even more.
But still, your anger has so much momentum built up from all the accusation and argument, it refuses to go away.
So you continue to act on it, trying to nitpick the faults of your friend, even though logically you know you should calm down and apologize.
Sounds familiar? I am sure you can relate to this.
When your emotion is so strong, there is no way you can stop like just like that, even if you are aware of it.
So what should you do with this strong emotion? Here are 5 step for you to follow:
1. Acknowledge your emotions
When an emotion is strong, it will totally dominate your thoughts and dictate all your actions.
At this point, even mindfulness can’t help you much. The emotional momentum is so just so powerful it can throw you off your mindful state in seconds.
But without mindfulness, you also can’t act consciously to counter this powerful momentum.
Here is what you do:
First, stay still for a few seconds. Take some time to acknowledge your emotion and your physical sensations right now.
Say to yourself, “I am feeling [your emotion] right now. I feel [sensation] in my body.”
This is what I said to myself in a panic attack: “Okay, I am feeling nervous again. I am starting to panic. My body is getting hot and I am starting to shiver and sweat.”
You will be tempted to talk down your emotion this way, but don’t. Because you will be essentially dwelling on it, which will only amplify its force.
So don’t talk to yourself this way for too long. Don’t do this for more than a minute.
What you need is just a few seconds of consciousness, so instead of being driven by the emotion and chasing your own tail, you can do the right steps I am going to teach you below.
2. Don’t fight the emotion.
When your emotional momentum is so strong, it is impossible to stop it directly. Anything you do will just fuel its power even more.
This is very similar to meditation, actually.
People make the mistake of trying to stop their thoughts all the time, but instead their minds just get nosier and nosier.
What they did not realize, is that you cannot just deicide to quiet your mind like that. You need something else occupy your mind.
Likewise, your emotion is now snowballing. It has become an all-consuming monster, and whatever comes in its way becomes its fuel.
Here’s a shocker: All your mindfulness, meditation, self-talk, and every attempt you make to stop it are now completely useless. Worse, they will make the emotion even stronger.
Scary.
So how to you stop this indestructible monster that is now taking over your life?
The answer: Just don’t fight it. Just don’t do anything to stop it. Just let it be there.
But keep in mind though, this doesn’t mean you just sit there and dwell on it and make yourself feel worse.
Instead, this is what you should do:
3. Do something fun.
Yep, it is that simple. Just go and do something fun.
Let me explain.
Instead of attacking the emotion head on and fueling it even more, you need to slow down its momentum indirectly.
You need to do something completely unrelated, preferably something fun.
You need to direct your flow of thoughts somewhere else, somewhere other than your all-consuming emotion.
Then you stop fueling its momentum with your thoughts. All you have to do now is to wait for your emotion to come to a natural end when its momentum runs out.
This is not necessarily distracting yourself and trying to bury it. Rather, this prevents you from dwelling on the emotion and making it even stronger.
But why something fun? Why not work?
When you are dominated by an emotion, you are paralyzed. Your mind doesn’t want you do anything else other than dwelling on it.
And fun, light-hearted things are easy to get into. It gets you moving.
For example, when I was having a panic attack, I downloaded a mobile game. I hadn’t played games for years.
Whenever I was nervous, I would just bust out my phone and play a few rounds. It calmed me down.
So it doesn’t matter what your activity is, as long as you like it enough to get moving. You just need to do something to redirect your thoughts.
4. Get out of the situation you are in.
Sometimes, you are just stuck with an emotion because everything around you triggers it.
Let’s say you are arguing with someone and you get angry. You want to calm down. What is the most logical thing to do?
Walk away.
It is nearly impossible to just calm down in the middle of a heated argument. Like I said before, even if you came to an agreement, you will still want to argue some more.
When you take yourself away from the argument, the momentum of your anger starts to die down, and you calm down as it comes to a natural end. It is only than you can have a sensible and productive discussion.
Likewise, this applies to all your other problems.
When you get anxious in bed and can’t sleep, just get up and do something else, calm down first, and try again.
When the empty house reminds you of your grief, go on a trip and get away from it for a while, if possible.
This Is What You Will Feel When You Are Free from Your Strong Emotion
The brief minute you realize you got it under control, you will feel ever so grateful to live normally.
The sun is shining. The grass looks so green. The light touch of the breeze feels so good on your skin.
The normal world will look like heaven to you.
But the thing with emotion is that it is not a switch. It’s not like once you are out, you are out for life.
Instead, you will be gradually free from its grasp little by little. There may be setbacks once in a while, but it is part of the healing process, too.
When you are under the grasp of a strong emotion, it will feel like you have entered a tunnel doesn’t have an end.
But this isn’t true.
Look at it this way: Instead of a proverbial endless tunnel, it is just a “normal” tunnel. You know, like the one trains go through.
To bring you where you want to go, the train has to go through mountains. And in the real world, tunnels can only be so deep.
I lost all hope when I was like you. I thought this hellish experience would last forever. I had no one to tell me otherwise.
But now you have my word.
You will be fine. Your strong emotions will pass, and you will be normal again.
I promise you.
—
Blon Lee is a Chinese Buddhist who helps people transform suffering into joy with Buddhist wisdom. Download his free guide: Buddhist Meditation Ultimate Guide: A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding True Inner Peace.
You’ve read The Secret To Getting Your Strong Emotions Under Control, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
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