Successful Blog

Technology, the Future, and You

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by Amy Blankson

For those of us born before 2005, I’m sure you can think back to a time in your life that was not lived side by side with technology. When you had to go down to the library to look something up instead of searching for it on Google. When you had to make plans with your friends in advance of showing up somewhere. When you had no idea how many steps you had taken that day or how many times you asked a girl named Alexa a question.

The younger generation, on the other hand, spends an average of six-plus hours per day on their phones, literally changing a quarter of their life experiences from what we have known in the past.

With technology living in tandem with human beings, supporting nearly every function of our busy lives, the question now being asked is, are we happier? Would we be better without technology? Where are we heading?

These are some of the questions I ask in my new book, The Future of Happiness (April 2017, BenBella Books), which outlines several strategies for balancing productivity and well-being in the Digital Era. When people ask me these questions, I respond with some of these ideas:

Is technology making us happier?

Knowing that technology is here to stay, we need to learn how to live with the complexity of technology, not escape from it, but that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice our well-being. That is not the price we pay for having access to information.

That being said, in order to live in harmony with technology, we must make a conscious effort to focus on what’s most important in our lives and to not get distracted.

Consider this: when you’re flipping through Facebook, posting pictures on Instagram or using any of the apps on your phone, stop and ask yourself, ‘is this making me happy?’ If you don’t know the answer to that question, create a trial period for the app that you’re using. If you feel happier or more productive after a month of using the app, make a mental note of your progress and continue to use the app.

If the opposite is true, you know what to do. Toss it out like yesterday’s newspaper. Life is too short to be wasted on apps that are not contributing to our overall well-being.

When it comes right down to it, technology is merely a tool to help us, not the answer to all of our problems. It is up to us whether or not we will allow technology to control our lives and our happiness. We all have the innate power to control technology so we can continue to live positively and productively.

What can we do to maintain a well-balanced technology diet?

In order to maintain a satisfying level of happiness and well-being in the Digital Era, it is important to consciously curate the amount and quality of technology consumed every day.

There are several strategies you can implement to find the right level of technology consumption that does not affect relationships or productivity in other areas of your life.

Establish tech-free brain breaks throughout your day to help your brain recharge, whether it’s right before bed, taking a phoneless walk on your lunch break, or playing with your kids. When interacting with others, close your laptop, and take your earbuds out to say hello when someone walks into the room.

Establish hard-and-fast rules for your use of technology and model digital citizenship in a way that makes sense for you. Not only will your life become more productive, but as you start to form good tech habits, it will create a ripple effect for those around you, especially your kids.

Beyond these ideas, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you have the ability to change your mindset. Just like Dorothy had the power inside of her all along to go back home to Kansas, you have the innate power to shape the future of technology and your happiness. You are welcome to let technology run your life, but just as simply, you are allowed to take control of your technology. Our devices can have a positive effect in our lives, but only if we allow it. As Shakespeare once said, “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

To learn more about strategies that can help you be more productive and happier with technology, click here to order The Future of Happiness.

 

AUTHOR BIO:

Amy Blankson is a happiness expert on the forefront of testing new technologies to foster well-being.  Amy’s upcoming book, The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity and Well-Being in the Digital Era, (BenBella, April, 2017), brings her years of experience in happiness research and consulting to deliver a roadmap for those feeling overwhelmed by the wave of technology. She has a BA from Harvard and a MBA from Yale School of Management. She has been called upon by the likes of Google, NASA, the US Army, and the Xprize Foundation to consult on positive psychology strategies.

 

 

Invest In Your Health For Business Success

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By Deb Bixler

Home business owners rarely think about business assets, and when they do, there is one asset they often overlook.

When you work for yourself it is not unusual to become engulfed in the pursuit of income and forget to invest in your most important asset.

Your Most Important Business Asset

Your health is your greatest business asset and you should treat it as such.

With all the activities that need attention in a home business combined with the busy lifestyle of the 21st century, it is easy for a business owner to put their health aside for future consideration, but this is a big mistake.

When your life is balanced between personal and business time, you can prioritize your health and be a more productive employee working for yourself.

Working with a schedule is often the best way to go. Create a schedule that matches the results you want in your business.

If you want a full-time income then plan to work full-time hours. Schedule 40 hours a week for business activities.

For those who want a part-time work-at-home commission schedule, your work hours need to be between 20-30 per week.

While the desired income won’t immediately start flowing, a consistent, steady and balanced schedule that you consistently and steadily work year-round will create the income you desire.

When you take personal time off, you will be more productive and focused in the office. Many major corporations are switching their work ethics to a balanced approach as science shows that fewer work hours and more personal time makes for better employees.

Less work means less stress and a more productive worker.

There is nothing more important than your health because without it, you have no life.

Take the time to exercise! You don’t have to go to the gym, just incorporate everyday activities such as a simple walk to make a big impact on your long-term health.

Health Is Your Best Business Asset

Rarely do we equate the food we eat to our work performance, but what we eat affects us more than we think!

Did you ever notice how difficult it is to concentrate when you are hungry?

Food has a direct impact on our cognitive performance, which is why a poor decision at lunch can derail an entire afternoon.

When you make poor food choices you can have a tough time staying focused and performance drops.

Make a plan to eat three small balanced meals a day and three healthy snacks in between to satisfy between-meal cravings and prioritize your health!

Your Best Business Asset

Your health is the best business asset you have. Invest in it regularly and it will pay off handsomely.

If you work hard and make a fortune it will mean nothing if you don’t protect your greatest business asset… your health.

About the Author:
Deb Bixler is a trained chef turned passionate speaker who focuses on sales education and healthy living. As a party plan trainer she focuses on systems for direct sellers at the CashFlowShowRadio.com and her healthy food website can be found at WowFoodTips.com.

Shifting your mind from consumption to reflection

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Yesterday I had the great pleasure of participating in a Periscope with my friend Paul O’Mahoney, one of our SOBCon/GeniusShared tribe.

It was a light-hearted, general conversation among a global group of acquaintances. (If you don’t follow Paul on Periscope, you really should; he reads Walt Whitman and shares his witty perspectives from Cork, Ireland.)

At one point, Paul asked if anyone was a reader, and we all started sharing our favorite topics and authors. Then someone (forgive me, I can’t remember who it was) asked, “does reading make you clever?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Paul responded, “no, reflection makes you clever.”

That insight has simmered in my consciousness all day.

You can read every novel, every blog post, every textbook, and not gain a thing if you don’t take time to meditate on and consider the art you’re consuming.

Yes, read. Read whatever sparks your imagination. Read voraciously and with abandon.

But take the time to reflect as well.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

The Value of Words

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The Value of Words

When I was a small child my mother had a simple cardboard box in which she kept toys in closet. She believed that we would value our toys more if we didn’t always have all of them all around us to play with. So every few months she would take the toys that she felt we had grown tired of and put them in the box in the closet. Then she’d replace them with some of the toys from the box we hadn’t see for a long while.

It would be as if those old, forgotten toys were new when she brought them out again!

It doesn’t take much to make me think of that old cardboard box. I often wish we had a box like that for words that we’ve used too much — words we’ve grown so familiar with that they’ve lost meaning.

Imagine if we could make some words new again … restore them back to their original meaning.

Words like . . .

peace

joy

wonder

good will

wishes

awesome

irresistible

Take a moment to savor the words you use to define yourself, to describe the people you value, and to share your feelings about the people you value with them.

Stop to value what’s dear and delight in the familiar.

Be irresistible,

Liz

Put Your Mind to It

The words we choose are like the stories we tell. Without realizing their effect, choosing and using them changes us — how we see ourselves and how others see us. Consider the phrases you use without thinking, like answering, “I’m fine,” when people ask how you are. Try saying, “I’m fabulous.” Watch how that changes your day.

More from Liz . . . about the Value of Words

Images & Words: Are You Ready to Make Opportunity and Change the World?

How Do Get You People to Stop Listening to Words and Start Hearing Ideas?

Add This One Crucial Thing to Your Goal Tracker for 2017

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Today’s post is going to be brief, but may just change the way you approach 2017.

We’re all sitting down in the next few weeks, reviewing the past year and setting up a goal tracker for next year.

Part of that process is looking back at projects that may not have panned out, numbers we didn’t hit, or (ahem) pounds we didn’t lose.

  • What about your successes?
  • What about things that made you laugh/smile?
  • What about accomplishments?

Wouldn’t it be valuable to see a consolidated list of those things too?

Here’s how you set yourself up so that in December 2017, you actually have that information.

In whatever time management system you use (I’m a Moleskine + paper weekly planner kinda gal), create a space to track weekly successes and wins.

Then at the end of the year, you can look back through your weekly items and pull together a big list that catapults you into the next year.

Your “wins” don’t have to be new multi-million dollar clients. It could be your daughter mastering the cartwheel.

Those little day-to-day successes get lost in the noise.

  • Did you guest blog for a big website?
  • Did you move to a new accounting software?
  • Did you run a half-marathon?
  • Did you get asked to speak at a local event?

Capture those moments throughout the year and you’re set up for more successes down the road.

You can still take five minutes to beat yourself up if you need to (those last 5 pounds are a killer), but then stand up, shake it off like Taylor Swift, and head into 2017 with a smile on your face.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Make Room for Wonder

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This is the time of year when it’s easy to envision wonder. The holiday season lets everyone lower their defenses.

  • The slack jawed two year old walking up to Santa in the Mall.
  • Waking up in the morning to a fresh blanket of snow and silence.
  • Videos of Hallelujah Chorus flash mobs.

It’s time to allow wonder to trespass into the rest of the year.

Being in a state of wonder leaves you vulnerable. It exposes you and makes you feel like a child, because children aren’t self-conscious. Children are experiencing everything for the first time, and they aren’t afraid to show their excitement.

Wonder puts the pause to our analytical, logical, data-driven minds.

We let ourselves feel wonder every once in a while, on special occasions:

  • The birth of a child
  • Visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time
  • Watching the Monarch butterflies migrate through Pacific Grove, CA

I’m proposing that we intentionally go to that innocent mind-space on a more regular basis.

Wonder-Generators for Your Daily Life – Some Ideas

Appreciate the wonder of space – remember when you wanted to be an astronaut as a kid? Did you know that NASA has some amazing social accounts you can follow? Feed your inner astronaut and subscribe to NASA’s Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/nasa/.

Dream about technological innovations – I’ve attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas many times over the years. It is one of the places where you can get hands-on with technology and inventions that are several years from reality. If you can’t be there in person, you can follow their Twitter feed to see some of the latest goodies: https://twitter.com/ces.

Add some scientific exploration to your diet – visit the Scientific American website and find out whether Michelangelo encoded messages in the Sistine Chapel. Add National Geographic’s photo of the day to your routine, and marvel at the beauty that surrounds all of us.

Weather inspires awe – many of us are amateur tornado chasers, or become glued to the Weather Channel when a hurricane approaches. One element of wonder is the idea that you are not necessarily in control of everything. Weather watching reminds us of our place in the natural order. I’m currently obsessed with the Dark Sky weather app, which includes an amazing global weather tool. In case you need to know the temperature in Antarctica.

OK, you’re up. Where do you go when you want to put yourself in a state of wonder?

 

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Featured image via Flickr CC: Tom Hall