Have you ever wanted to join a yoga school?

There can be many different reasons why someone would register to a yoga institute. Their reasons may be different and personal in nature but a yoga teacher training should always be thought of as an inward journey.

There are a number of benefits and reasons to take part in a yoga course at a yoga school. I thought I’d write a few down.

* You learn proper alignment of poses

Every person learns differently. Some are more visual and some are more auditory.

In a yoga class, you will learn according to your brain. You will learn proper alignment and do efficiently on your yoga mat.

* You will receive physical assists during your practice

Your teacher will give you hands-on assists while you’re in many of the poses. When you feel uncomfortable, you should tell your teacher and he will assist you.

* You can learn how to modify poses in a way that is unique to your body

When we opt for modifications, our body is better supported. These modifications help you build poses properly. An expert can help with these modifications. These also help if you are injured but still want to practice.

* You can deepen your physical practice

This goes without saying. The longer practice sessions under the supervision of an expert and proper alignment of yoga poses will help take your practice to a whole new level.

You will work on more challenging poses and sequences. You will spend some time delving into different elements of yoga philosophy during your practice sessions. This is also a good chance to try postures you never dreamed you would be able to.

* You learn some skills

When you practice longer than in a regular class, you will able to learn and find new yoga skills. This doesn’t always mean working harder but working smarter.

You learn yoga poses and sequences in an expert manner step by step. You will improve your flexibility and strength with your yoga sessions. You can even become a yoga teacher after certification.

* You will learn challenging poses with one-on-one support

If you want to learn some balances and poses, then you can learn it with the help of your teacher. It can give you the support you need and boost your confidence. When you come with some challenging pose,s you will get a full one-on-one support.

* You can avoid injury and be safe

You will be able to predict the abilities of your body and thus will be able to stay safe. Through your practice, you will be able to move through your life without getting hurt.

* You can learn the art of expressing yourself

You will learn to communicate. The effectiveness of this communication allows you to express what you want to express. You will learn better communication skills that allow you to translate your thoughts and feelings more effectively to others during your course.

* You get to meet some lovely people and find your yoga family

You will find new people and know about them day by day. These include your fellow students, teachers, and your yoga community. These people will most likely become your yoga family with whom you will be connected long even after the finish of your yoga course.

From our experience, the people you meet in the course of yoga training will be your spiritual family who will support you on your journey.

* You can ask your questions

It is a very effective way to learn. You can ask your questions on the spot as you’re in a pose. This is very different from just learning from YouTube or from CDs.

* You become a teacher

You become a teacher and registered in Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) after you finish your yoga training course. You will be eligible to start your own studio, find new students and earn your own money. You can develop your own unique teaching style that is authentic and mindful after certification.

See Also: 13 Yoga Trends To Immerse Yourself In On Your Journey To Health & Happiness

* You can explore your spirituality

Yoga training rooted in a spiritual practice makes people very connected even if we share different beliefs. We live a more conscious lifestyle and focus on what matters most. You improve your awareness and feel connected to the higher power (God or Nature).

* You can take some time out just for you

Taking some time out from your busy schedule can be a guilty pleasure. This will give you a chance to relax, re-energize, and renew so you can be the best partner, parent, and employee.

If you feel that you don’t have enough time with a particular person in your life, you can join a yoga session with that person. You will enjoy your life during this time and feel happy.

* You can connect with your true self in a deeper way

When you learn how your unique body or mind works, you deepen your spiritual and physical practice. As a result, you walk away with a deeper sense of who you are as an individual. This will improve your confidence and help you sit easier in your own skin.

* You can discover your strength

You will test your will, ability to hold postures, your ability to speak in front of people and your ability to focus during your yoga practice. You will strengthen and stretch your abilities and you will feel mentally and emotionally stronger.

* You can try something new with yoga

A YTT gives you a fresh perspective on your practice. It will give you a chance to explore something completely different too. Whether you’re new to yoga or have been practicing for a while, there is always something new to experience.

* You can gain confidence in your abilities

You can learn the art of picking yourself up in a course. You will feel a new sense of how far you can go, how much you can do, and how amazing you are.

* Great food at yoga school

Yoga school offers a culinary experience, whether it’s the shared picnic lunches or the tea and flapjacks. Your yoga schools offer you healthy, fresh and great foods with fun.

Yoga teacher training programs are available in beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. If you want to grow spiritually and physically, give it a try.

See Also: 6 Steps to have a Stress Free Travel including Yoga. 

The post 20 Excellent Reasons To Join A Yoga School appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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It’s that time of the year again. We gaze into our crystal balls and foresee the future marketing trends of the online milieu (relying on the past successful ones, of course) and hope we are not wrong. If we learned anything from Einstein, it was that everything was relative, but some predictions can be made with a comfortable margin of safety.

This year, we witnessed plenty of amazing developments in marketing. While the rise of mobile-oriented strategies cannot surprise anyone endowed with a decent quantity of business wisdom, some strategies were quickly deemed astonishing.

The integration of Snapchat in your marketing campaigns just became mandatory since the “Cinco De Mayo” campaign implemented by Taco Bell. You don’t have to be a genius futurologist to see that everyone rushes over the Snap to milk its endless marketing opportunities.

But Snapchat is just the tip of the iceberg. Taking a look around, one can pinpoint at least five marketing trends that will dominate (and even change) the Internet in 2017.

See Also: Snapchat for Small Business: A Guide for Beginners 

1. Video Kills the Written Star and It Was About Time It Did

This year, video content was the Wolf of Wall Street character we all loved (and others hated). It came out with a bang, was big, flashy, loud, original, funny, snappy, reckless, mind-blowing and money-making. By this time next year, this rainmaker will turn from rock star to club owner, settle, get married with live streaming and have a fulfilling life for at least 3-5 years.

Joking aside, video marketing will continue its ascending path because of two main reasons: people love videos as they feed their (extremely) short attention span and, in all honesty, a picture is still worth a thousand words.

There were some memorable video marketing campaigns this year, and it is likely we will see even more. Of course, written content still accounts for around 80% of all content, but we now must pay attention to how we write blog posts to be read by millennials, and if this isn’t a red flag, then nothing is.

See Also: How to Write a Blog Post That Millennials Will Read 

Looking at trends, let’s not forget that Facebook invests a lot in live streaming and video content, shifting the way we see marketing and advertising altogether. Add Google to the equation (and its ownership of YouTube) and you will witness game-changing in-SERP video advertising like never before.

2. Everlasting Marketing Trends: Business Storytelling

At first, this marketing strategy looked like a glorified “About us” page, but then psychology stepped in and changed the way we communicate with users. In 2014, business storytelling was deemed one of the most important marketing strategies, predicted to become huge in the next five years. The idea is that brands stop trying to sell anything, but humanize their image, voice, and personality to attract customers.

Business storytelling is the new buzzword everyone uses, but the truth is that people are sick and tired of advertising schemes (more or less smart) and the never-ending digital noise they have to live with every day. Business storytelling makes sense in the digital world as it is easier than ever before for people to genuinely engage with a company / brand they favor. A company should truly live under a rock to not understand that direct, honest, emotional and bilateral communication with real people means engagement and leads creation which ultimately translate into sales.

No matter if you choose written content, video, live streaming, pictures, the “About us” page of your website, meet & greet social events, your business story needs to play the card of emotions. There are hundreds of studies on the psychology of emotions, the psychology of business storytelling, the tricks to use, the message to tailor, and the best channels to employ – and you should do your homework vigorously because this is still uncharted territory and comes with endless possibilities.

3. Hear the Deafening Sound of App Explosion

We already hinted that mobile is all the rage right now, and it will probably make its final move on desktop navigation, dethroning it, but you need to look beyond the obvious if you want to stay ahead. If we were to follow in Google’s footsteps, we should all be smart enough to focus on mobile for the year to come, as the huge piles of money will come from this digital environment. But it’s not enough, as it is never enough in digital marketing.

Make room for apps (and in-app messaging, notifications, ads and things we haven’t invented yet), as they will dominate mobile traffic just as mobile dominates desktop traffic. We are not talking about app games but creatively tailored dedicated apps to complete and compliment the brands’ websites. Google started indexing apps, and this sets the tone for a completely new tune: apps can and will do everything a website can but in a more efficient, intuitive and accessible way. Of course, we are still far from the moment when apps will replace desktops, but if you want to stand above the digital noise, you should experiment with dedicated apps and see how your Google rankings and customer engagement behave.

4. So What Is Your Favorite Virtual Reality Playground?

It may still sound like classic science fiction, but don’t hold your breath. The $29 million Pokemon Go disruptive phenomenon again changed the game, together with Google’s Daydream project. They showed that when you mix mobility with lifestyle enhancements, people throw money at you. It will be possible to market and advertise in alternate, virtual realities and you should keep your eyes peeled to see the next big possibility for your company, even if you sell toilet paper.

You should, however, be prudent. VR and AR may prove to be just temporary fads that will fall just as fast as they have risen, but there are millions of dollars in bets placed on the success of Oculus Rift, apps, games and product placement in virtual realities.

5. Wear the Internet and Stalk People into their Homes

Do you already own a smartwatch? Well, you probably should, if not for practical reasons, at least to test its interesting marketing opportunities. Specialists agree that wearable smart devices and the Internet of Things will see a rise next year – if we are to trust the current trends. There is a present 28% users’ adoption of wearable gadgets average. Connect it with a humongous network of “connected, ” and you get the idea. According to estimates, by this time next year, the typical household will use at least five Internet-connected devices.

Now imagine that all these connected devices will give marketers unprecedented access and insights on peoples’ preferences, habits, and behaviors, generating piles of data (that arguably will be hard to manage). Is it an invasion of privacy or tailored marketing messages that specifically target people with what they want to hear, see and buy? Time will certainly tell.

Sometimes, marketing looks like casino gambling. Some strategies prove to be crazy enough to be successful, while others failed miserably and that’s why they’re called marketing trends. Nobody can offer guarantees that if you place your bets on video marketing, app development, business storytelling or VR, you will skyrocket as a business. This is where nonlinear marketing should come in, but that’s another story altogether.

So, which of these trends appeal more to you? Which of them have you already tried and which pushed your marketing efforts a step forward?

 

The post The 5 Internet Marketing Trends That Will Dominate in 2017 appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Do you dream of your children shining in school? Do you want your kids to do better with schoolwork?

You can do your share in helping your children improve their academic performance. Here are some tips you can implement to increase the chances of success in school.

Remember that miracles don’t happen overnight. You have to be patient and wait to get  results after implementing these tips.

• Make them Realize they have to Learn

Children are very likely to learn something new quite easily if it matches their interests. It is totally another story to make your child take a keen interest in a subject he has no liking for.

Let your child know that it is his job to learn everything taught in school — even the uninteresting bits. Share your own experience if that will help.

• Keep Your Expectations High

You don’t have to be super ambitious when it comes to setting targets for your children. However, children tend to perform better at school if parental expectations are reasonably high. In simple words, your child will not do well if you don’t expect him to do well.

• Recognize the Difference between Learning and Studying

There is a stark difference between studying a lesson and learning a lesson. You must be able to recognize this difference if you want better results from your children at school. It is important for children to learn the lesson rather than just studying it.

Test their knowledge by asking questions about a certain lesson on regular occasions. Ask them in such a way that it tests their critical thinking on the lessons at hand. It is important for children to understand that school is merely preparation for real life and real careers in the future.

• Create Proper Learning Environment at Home

A lot has been written about providing your children with a proper learning environment at home. Still, not many parents manage to accomplish this very important task.

You must provide your children with all the necessary facilities to succeed. There should be a study desk, chair and adequate lighting for every child. Similarly, all the school supplies such as pencils, paper, pens, computers, calculators and compasses should be available in abundance. Most importantly, there should be a quiet place in the home for children to study.

• Visit Your Children’s School Often

It is important for you to fully know the physical layout of your child’s school building and the grounds. It will enable you to mentally connect with your children when you ask about their day at school.

Similarly, you must meet their teachers regularly. You should never miss a parent and teachers meeting. It is also imperative to regularly check the school’s website for things like staff’s contact information, school calendar, upcoming events and testing dates.

All these things will help you remain informed about your children’s activities as well as their learning needs and potential.

• Encourage Healthy Habits

The performance of your children at school largely depends on their health as well. Developing good habits at home means they are increasing their chances of excelling.

For instance, your children must have a healthy breakfast in the morning. They should go to bed early so they can have plenty of sleep. Ensure that they don’t spend much time in front of the TV or computer as well.

See Also: Shifting Your Family To The “Real Food” Diet

• Develop a Routine

Helping children organize themselves through a daily routine is also a very good habit to teach. Remember most kids thrive in set routines and structures.

For example, you can ask your children to make their beds, get dressed and take breakfast while you prepare their lunch. You can develop many routines at home but their purpose should be same — helping your children do well in life.

See Also: 7 Tips on How to Improve a Child’s Working Memory 

• Let Your Children Solve their Own Problems

Your children must try their level best to solve their own problems before coming to you for help. You deprive the child of an opportunity to solve a problem every time you resolve issues for him. On the other hand, a child who has made all efforts to find the answer but has not succeeded deserves all of your help.

• Have them Do More than Required

Students will learn and retain more if they practice regularly. Have your children practice more than actually required.

For example, ask them to solve more practice problems in addition to those in the teacher’s assignments. You must inspire them to go above and beyond their normal routine to achieve success at school and in life.

• Learning should Continue in all Seasons

Every year, children enjoy three months of summer vacation. However, they should not take a break from learning during these months.

In fact, summer is a good time to learn something new which schools usually don’t teach their students. It is also a good time to revise what your children have learned in the school.

Similarly, your children have all the time to develop new intellectual skills. They have the time to go to libraries and read good books on different topics.

• Set a Good Example

Last but not the least, you must set a good example for your children. Teach them by example that learning continues throughout life and does not stop when you leave school.

Let your children learn from your behaviors when it comes to performing your job and household duties. If you have bad habits yourself, you cannot expect your children to develop good ones. Children always tend to follow the path of their parents, making it extremely important for you to be a good example for them.

These are some of the many ways you can help your children shine at school. Keep in mind that not all children are equally capable physically as well as mentally. They have different learning requirements and needs and you must meet all these needs to help them give a good account of themselves in studies.

 

The post 11 Ways Parents Can Help Children Do Better In School appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Nowadays, online blogging is one of the most useful strategies for attracting traffic and customers. Most businesses take advantage of their blogs in order to leverage their customers and increase their brand awareness.

Blogging for business is part of the whole “content marketing” concept. Let’s take a look at how blogging has certainly influenced business trends nowadays.

1) Influencers: A New Way of Advertising

Have you ever heard of online influencers? These individuals are very well known and followed by thousands or even millions of people. There are many types of influencers.

For example, a well-known influencer is Snoop Dogg. The rap star and highly successful entrepreneur fits our description. He’s a great influencer for the marijuana niche. If you have a brand that creates marijuana t-shirts, Snoopy would be your best influencer.

You would contact him, try to convince him to wear your brand during his shows, and create a contract. His advertising actions will cost you a lot.

Another example of an influencer would be a YouTube gamer who has a long list of followers. He can shout out your advertising messages while recording his game play.

You get the idea.

See Also: 5 Proven Strategies That Can Massively Increase Blog Traffic

2) Quality Content is a MUST

Back in the day, quality didn’t mean much when it came to content market. Most online blogs were posting crappy 200 word articles with very thin content. The “click-bait” was a great strategy that worked for a while.

A click-bait is typically an interesting article title that makes you very curious. Once you open the article, you instantly realize that it’s a very low quality article. But that doesn’t matter. The webmaster has made his money by making you watch some ads.

Thanks to Google and rankings, it’s a different game altogether nowadays. If you really want to succeed, you need high quality content. By high quality, you need to make it very valuable and useful. It needs to solve problems and fulfill the potential customer’s needs.

That’s the only way to attract your target audience. Write longer articles, get closer, show the way, and your target audience will become a long time loyal customer.

3) Quality Design = Better Performance

As technology evolves, so does the market. There are a lot of services that offer great design solutions for webmasters who have low skills in design.

If you want your blog visitors to stick for a while, you should welcome them with a professional design. While content is King, it is still undeniable that many readers are very visual and can be drawn in by great visuals.

Think about the person who’s looking at your website. Do you think that he likes what he sees? If the answer is no, then you should really start optimizing your blog’s visual performance.

4) Visitor Engagement is the Biggest Factor

Traffic matters. If you have a lot of traffic, you may perceive it as a numbers game and focus less on the details.

Alternatively, you can choose to focus on engaging your followers. By creating engaging content that directly communicates and interacts with them on a personal level, you can easily transform your readers into converting followers.

Engage with your readers on social media channels. Ask them about their problems, tell them to suggest topics for your new articles, and create a connection.

5) Online Blogging + Social Media = PROFIT

If you choose to leverage social media, you can boost your online blog awareness. It can help you widen your brand’s reach big time.

If you have the budget, you can also choose to use advertising tools offered by social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and so on. Otherwise, you can create a social following by constantly sharing your website’s content on your social profiles. If you gather a list of followers, your traffic will automatically increase its volume and so will your profits.

See Also: 4 Good Reasons For Marketing With Facebook 

Conclusion

Online blogging is a very big influencer in today’s business world. Every big company already has a content strategy that constantly brings new customers to their feet. You can choose to do the same and create better results for your business.

 

The post How Online Blogging Is Influencing Business Trends appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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“People ask me how I make music. I tell them I just step into it. It’s like stepping into a river and joining the flow. Every moment in the river has its song.”
― Michael Jackson

Have you ever felt the feeling of being fully present and in the moment where everything just connected? That moment where the mind subsided and the activity felt pure and simply immense?

Flow is simply a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities such as art, play or work. It’s a state of being in which we become fully present, alert, focused, fully charged and ready to perform; those moments where it all simply comes together; that bit of inspiration where all our worries disappear and we become completely immersed in what we are doing.

We have all experienced flow in areas of our life. It can be as simple as playing with your kids, training in a sport, or performing a task at work. It’s an optimal state of consciousness; a peak state where we perform at our highest and feel at our best.

We see flow regularly performed by elite athletes. It’s that bit of magic that takes your breath away, whether it was a Michael Jordan three-pointer, a Tiger Woods hole in one, a Murray backhand, a Conor McGregor knockout or that David Beckham free kick.

Flow enhances the energy in the performer. It’s an encompassing energy that can be picked up by the audience, your teammates or your family. It brings connection, not only through skill and performance but a connection through spirit, dedication, and application.

Rules and triggers

Having a clear framework will really help you build flow into your daily life. If we can begin to create more automation in our life, we can then begin to actively add flow into points in our day. Let’s start with some key factors that help increase flow. Once you nail the basics we can look at adding it to your day-to-day routines.

Psychology

1) You have a clear set of goals
2) The challenge needs to be ‘in the gap’ of boredom and anxiety, therefore the task is not so hard that your fear levels go through the roof, but also is not too dull: as attention falls, your engagement deteriorates
3) You are fully focused on what you doing, completely present
4) You can get some direct feedback, whether through a teacher/coach or the environment
5) You enjoy a sense of control
6) You experience deep involvement in what you are doing: the everyday stress of life seems to vanish
7) Your sense of self disappears, but paradoxically your sense of self emerges stronger
8) Your sense of time disappears
9) Time flies – during the activity, time seems to move quickly as you are enjoying the process

See Also: 4 Sure-Fire Ways to Motivate Yourself to Reach Your Goals

Environmental triggers

1) Engaging environment: an environment that is rich with novelty, complexity and unpredictability can increase flow. You are forced to use your tools and skills in that moment, e.g asking someone on a date, finding the right environment to meet new people, etc
2) Relationships: relationships are so important to any successful endeavour so here are a few key points to optimize flow within them
3) You are the average of the five people you associate with the most, so choose your relationships wisely
4) Listening: a huge skill to cultivate in any team. Creating a flowing culture and having top communication can massively impact confidence and decision making. Seek first to understand others, delegate and build a proactive team/culture
5) Familiarity: keeping everyone on the same page once the goals are set and keeping members engaged and fulfilled is the key to success
6) Equal contribution (skill level): when everyone is on the same page and contributing equally, we create a gateway to flow
7) Group flow: there is no group flow without the risk of failure. Simply changing the group’s relation to risk and fear can increase flow. We can always have a contingency plan in place, but by simply addressing the fact that there is no creativity without failure. Creativity, innovation, failure and risk go hand-in-hand.

See Also: Solving Workplace Problems with a Culture of Creativity – 10 Strategies

High risk/consequence:

If the environment has high-risk consequences, flow can be triggered very quickly as it’s a do-or-die situation. This is at the extreme end of performance and includes activities like skydiving, surfing, motocross etc. This type of environment will drive your focus levels through the roof. There is little time to think and you are forced to focus, as diverting your attention away from the activity could end in injury.

4) Creativity:

We are all creative. Simply put, we all have the ability to unleash our creative endeavours. If we combine both pattern recognition (the ability to link and learn new ideas) and our level of risk, we raise our level of flow.

Taking action and stepping into flow

These rules can be used as a guide to help you get started. Can you apply any of these to a sport you are currently training in, a work role, your workout routine, writing or another daily ritual? Start with one area of your life, then you can begin to add it to other areas.

Remember, always start small. Begin by adding one rule/trigger at a time. This could be simply starting something brand new like learning a language, instrument or martial art; something that allows you to use these rules and triggers.

You could start with a dream you have, a routine, your diary, anything! Take the first step and always remember, it’s taking actionable steps into it which will propel you forward.

4 extra tips to help you get started today

1. Choose one area of your life where you would like more flow

2. Set some clear goals within that activity

3. Find an environment that will enhance this like a new gym or new class

4. Get feedback

Step into flow today and discover the secret to high performance and happiness!

 

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We all know some of the favorite things people like to do on Thanksgiving: watch football, watch The Macy’s Day Parade, and of course taking a nap after gorging on Turkey.

Well the purpose of this article is to inspire everyone who reads it to turn off the TV (web, video games) for part of the day and really spend some quality time with your friends and family. You’ll have have fun doing it and you’ll create fun, fond memories.

1. Take a Walk. Pick an enjoyable destination. All you need to bring are your sneakers and conversation! Or you could join a Thanksgiving road race or road walk.

2. Play Touch Football. Or soccer, tag, hide-n-seek, etc. Just get outside with the gang and do something that involves running around and taking in some nice fresh air.

3. Boardgames! Get out those games you have in the closet since last Christmas and haven’t played yet. Scrabble, Life, Yahtzee, Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Trouble, Chutes & Ladders, whatever! Have some silly fun!

4. Play Charades. This doesn’t take much. Make your own rules as you go. Have fun!

5. Sing-a-Long. Karaoke. Get out the instruments, guitars, piano. Dust off that accordion. Bring out the tambourines, spoons, etc. Put on a holiday radio station and sing along. Make up a contest. You can really have fun with this.

6. Memory Sharing. Share stories. You can pick a theme such as:

• The greatest day of my life. 

• The best thing that happened in my life this year. 

• My favorite memory from childhood. 

• The funniest thing that ever happened to me.

Have someone scribe the stories or videotape the event.

7. Share Thanks. At dinner have everyone share what they are thankful for before eating dinner.

8. Silly Dance Contest. Just like it says. Be silly. Dance. Make up your own rules.

9. Kids Talent Show. There’s usually one grownup at family gatherings who likes to get the kids doing activities. If you’re that person maybe you want to have the kids perform for the whole family after dinner. While everyone is watching football you could throw it together. (Of course adults can join the show too!)

10. I Love My Family because…. Gather round as a family and have each person share what they love about the family.

11. Share the Love. Have the family all in one room and have each person tell why they admire the person next to him/her. And then that person says why they admire the person next to him/her, and so on. “I Admire ___________ because…”

12. Treasure Hunt. Create a simple treasure map and “prizes.” There can be one prize or multiple prizes, like an egg-hunt. Ideas for prizes: chocolate turkeys (is there such a thing?) or a packet of coins or a gift certificate wrapped up in a box. Share your ideas in the comments please!

13. Name That Tune. Play the humming game where each teams or individuals have to name the tune.

14. The Questions Game. Here is a link to a family game with very few rules. You get to make up the rules. The idea is to spark conversations, have fun, and get to know each other better.

15. The Craziest Thing …. (that I saw or experienced this year). As a family tell stories that can be true or made up. It can be a little bit like “To Tell the Truth.” Everyone tells a crazy story that is either true or made up and everyone has to guess if it is true or not. And the story doesn’t have to be something that they actually experienced.

16. Our Family Tree. Have everyone imprint a fingerpaint handprint on a big sheet of paper with their name underneath. You can have it framed or take a picture of it to share with everyone.

17. Start a Thanksgiving Day Banner. Starting this year create a banner that can hang in your living room that will have a picture of the whole family from each year. It can become an heirloom for future generations. You could also create a similar item electronically say with a website.

18. Three Legged Races. Link up kids/grownups. You could also try a sack race or create an obstacle course race too. Have some fun silly prizes or simple privilege prizes like the first place team doesn’t have to help with clean up or they get first dibs on the turkey.

19. Family Thanksgiving Journal. Grab a blank notebook. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Write down everyone’s thanks for this year. And then next year do the same so that over time you build a treasured family book of thanks as well as a sort of family history.

20. Make Me Laugh. Tell jokes. You can make it into a game to see if you can get someone to laugh. Can be done as individuals, round-robin, or as teams.

Happy Thanksgiving all! Enjoy!

Please share your favorite Thanksgiving traditions and family fun activities in the comments! We’d love to hear your ideas!

Originally written for Dumb Little Man by K. Stone in 2007. She is the author of Life Learning Today, a blog about daily life improvements. Photo by Cameron Nordholm

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A co-working space can change a business in profound and positive ways. If you’ve never seen one, it’s a shared office environment that your employees can use for however long is necessary. This concept is really shaking up the corporate world.

Coworking spaces are almost like hotels or rental homes for companies. They can head to one of these facilities to conduct meetings, call clients, and take care of all kinds of other day-to-day operations.

If you’re not sure that such a setup is right for your organization, consider the following benefits of coworking spaces.

1. Coworking spaces are fully equipped

Many of these spaces provide comfortable lounges, spacious conference rooms, mailboxes, and high-quality reception services. Moreover, in most cases, they contain all of the communications technologies and other items that a company would need.

2. You’ll save money

Buying or renting an office building can be prohibitively expensive, especially for new and very small companies. It’s no surprise, then, that half of all coworkers have enjoyed higher incomes.

3. These spaces encourage networking

Among the strongest benefits of collaborative working are the myriad networking opportunities. When your staff members mingle with people from other companies, they can discuss solutions to their mutual challenges. You’re sure to pick up some handy new ideas, and you might even find new business partners and clients as well.

4. People can work at any time of the day

Approximately 70 percent of office professionals prefer to work outside of normal business hours at least some of the time. Of course, coworking spaces allow them to set their own schedules.

5. It’s a way of attracting a youthful workforce

About 78 percent of the people who utilize coworking spaces are younger than 40. The collaborative and innovative nature of these environments seems to attract this demographic. Therefore, if you’re looking to entice younger men and women to work for you, offering them the chance to try coworking could help.

See Also: How Millennials Measure Success At Work 

6. These spaces are scalable

The American workforce is evolving. By 2020, four out of every 10 professionals in the U.S. won’t be connected to any one company. Instead, they’ll be temporary employees, freelancers, or independent in some other way.

Why set up your business in a large office complex when there’s no way to tell how many full-time workers you’ll have in just a few years? By contrast, a shared office space is highly flexible.

See Also: 7 Convincing Reasons for Working as a Freelancer 

7. This type of atmosphere can make you feel good

You might be surprised to find out that 68 percent of coworkers believe they can concentrate more effectively. On top of that, 70 percent feel “healthier” than they would in a typical office setting, and 91 percent say that they communicate better with other people. Perhaps the old-fashioned workplace ― with its small cubicles, petty politics, and occasional fights over parking spaces ― has already outlived its usefulness.

With so many advantages, coworking spaces have a lot to offer to new startups, new businesses, or even businesses that are struggling to stay afloat.

 

 

The post 7 Surprising Benefits of Coworking Spaces appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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