7 Morning Habits to Increase Your Productivity For the Day

There is a lot of advice online about being more productive and time management apps are popping up by the day. This is because more people than ever are facing sleep deprivation and often insomnia, due to the ease of access to communication tools and technology. Sleep is one of the most important things in our lives as it can increase our learning speed, helps us remember more information, and allow us to be happier individuals in general.

But… the biggest bottleneck that few of us attempt to improve is our morning habits. If you want to become more productive and effective during your day, then you need to optimize your morning habits. How we structure and spend the first few hours of each day will determine how the rest of our day will play out, and how effective we can be in our lives.

Luckily, there are simple and easy-to-implement habits that you can do today to increase your productivity for the day, and for the rest of your life.

1. Wake up next to sunlight

Studies have shown that those lacking sleep and suffering from insomnia is mostly due to artificial light confusing our internal clocks. When a group of individuals suffering from sleep deprivation went on a camping trip without exposure to artificial light or alarm clocks, their sleep inertia rapidly disappeared within days.

The conclusion from researchers was that the best way to fall sleep sleep and improve the quality of your sleep is to be next to natural sunlight, which is also helpful for waking up in the morning naturally.

2. Meditate

There’s a lot of advice online on how to approach meditation, and it can seem overwhelming to someone who’s never experienced it. The truth is: there’s no one way to meditate. Everyone has a different approach.

While the methods of meditation vary, the benefits are clear. Meditation reduces our anxiety levels, increases our productivity, and even improves our memories. Studies have shown that after a 20-minute meditation session, our brains are more focused and less distracted, which allows us to remove multi-tasking, achieve our goals for the day faster, and become a top performer.

3. Automate your decisions

We only have so much willpower in a typical day. In order to effectively use our willpower towards the tasks that matter, it’s better to minimize the number of decisions we make in the morning. Most of us go through the same routines in the morning, but there are always routines we can automate.

Can you picking out your outfit before bedtime, eat the same breakfast each morning, waking up earlier to avoid route changes, and more? This may seem boring at first, but you’ll be surprised how morning automation can provide you the flexibility to be more productive and spontaneous throughout the rest of your day.

4. The “One Thing”

According to Gary Keller, the author of The One Thing, the best way to prioritize our never ending to-do lists is to pick “the Domino Effect”. The Domino Effect is when a task that you complete or an action you take, will make everything else on your list easier to complete or even unnecessary.

For example, if your goal is to learn Spanish before travelling to South America this year, is it worth paying a $1,000 to go to a language school for 3 months to learn everything about the language? Or is it better to focus your time, energy, and money on learning the common Spanish phrases you’ll use with a native speaking professional teacher from South America for less than $150? The second is the right choice.

Take a look at your to-do list. How necessary or important are each of the tasks in achieving your end goals? Then pick only one from the list that will create a Domino Effect for you, and block out time on your calendar to achieve it.

5. Do the hardest thing first

As we mentioned before, most human beings (unless you’re Elon Musk), have a limited amount of willpower, creativity, and energy in a day. This study done on the human brain shows that our prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for creativity, is the most active when we wake up. This explains why creatives, such as writers or designers, do their best work early in the morning upon waking up.

If this is true, then we must organize our morning schedule to do the hardest, if not the most creative task first thing in the morning. This allows us to most effectively use our brain capabilities and free up brain space to complete tasks that require less creativity or willpower throughout the rest of the day, such as editing, sending emails, phone calls, etc.

6. Prepare the night before

While this is a post about morning habits, how we spend our night has a massive impact on our productivity the following day. The biggest impact is preparation. Before you head off to bed, take 15-20 minutes to pick your most important tasks and schedule them in your calendar. The reason why scheduling is so important is because you can manage for time and how long a single task will take, which is very difficult to do on a typical to-do list.

7. Hot and Cold Hydrotherapy

Although not common in North America, Cold and Hot Hydrotherapy is enjoyed not only as a luxury in Finland, but a necessity. Several studies show that hot and cold hydrotherapy has multiple benefits for our health, including reduced stress, stronger immune system, increased ability to burn fat, and even fighting depression.

The method is rather simple. Simply shower and wash yourself the way you would normally in normal temperature water. Then, crank the nozzle to the coldest possible temperature and wait for 30 seconds. From there, crank the nozzle to the hottest possible temperature you can handle and hold for 30 seconds. And lastly, go back to cold temperature, and hold for 30 seconds.

Fair warning: if you’re not used to shocking your body in the morning, this may be a difficult approach to adopt at first, but it becomes easier and easier over repetition, like most things. This wakes you up quickly and effectively.

Now Your Turn

Which of the morning routines we’ve outlined will you try out?
What were your key takeaways from the morning routines of the successful?
We’d love to hear it in the comments below.

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5 Type Of Tools To Save Money For Your Business

There has never been a better time to conserve your resources than now. We live in a technological age when things are not only meant to be faster and easier, but also cheaper. For entrepreneurs who are forward thinkers, saving money for their businesses should be a priority. Certainly tapping into certain tools to save money for your business will help your business run more smoothly without you always looking over its shoulder in terms of finances. Here are five types of tools to save money for your business.

1. Mobile payment systems

Evolving from the good old days, mobile payment systems have become more reliable for businesses to tap into. Yes, you can find such technology in small boutique shops to restaurant chains. With payment tools like Intuit’s GoPayment, payment has become more flexible for the customer and more cost incentive for the business owner, who can use this cash register system to accept payments through nearly any smartphone. With this payment tool, your business can travel easier and can effortlessly take payments for your goods and services.

2. Cloud-based groupware

If you want to be more enterprise-focused but don’t want to pay for an Exchange server, cloud-based groupware could be the answer for your business. You may also want to go beyond just getting by with the standard Gmail and Drive. For your groupware needs, you could try Zoho and Google. Zoho offers several tools on its platform that can help you expand your business in a number of ways. Cloud-based groupware could be one valuable tool that does not drain your company budget.

3. Website builders

Having capable hands to help build your website could be beneficial to your business. It’s wiser to make use of website builders instead of relying on website design companies. The truth is that you have to consider the ranking of your website, cost, and efficacy when you are thinking of building a website. This is why it is important to be meticulous in your choice of who you hire to take charge of building your website.

4. Crowd sourcing

You may call it amateurish or undependable but you will be amazed at how many individuals and companies are using this tool to achieve their cost effective goals of funding their projects. Crowd funding or crowd sourcing can be a very helpful tool in helping to get your business off the ground and expanding on other projects for your organization. Crowd funding can be achieved through channels like Fundable and Kickstarter. If you are a business owner, you can use this unconventional medium to get your business off the ground and save on using the more traditional approaches to getting funding for your business.

5. Linux and Open Source

What Linux and Open Source have been able to accomplish during the past couple of years is to establish a more concrete business interaction between customers and hardware. It has been able to prove that more can be done with a user interface rather than the traditional process of simply a Start button or a task bar symbol. Linux and open source are actually business-ready platforms that prove that businesses can work with tools like human resource management, customer resource management, and other similar resources. Otherwise, such resources might not be accessible to business owners. By helping businesses attain more and save more money, the Linux server or the desktop has proven to be a valuable tool for businesses.

Although not all these tools can prove beneficial for your business, you should understand that there are many tools out there that are not only applicable to your business but can help you save more money and work more efficiently.

Featured photo credit: PicJumbo via picjumbo.com

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10 Household Luxuries You Appreciate More In Your 30s

Just over two months ago, I moved back to my hometown. Despite having lived on my own since my junior year of college, I quickly discovered that setting up house in my 30s was an entirely different process than setting up house in my early 20s. Weeks before the move, I began stock-piling Bed Bath and Beyond coupons, taking inventory of kitchen items I needed to replace, and daydreaming about stepping out of the shower into a towel that didn’t have holes in it. Apparently, such are the joys of being a real grownup. Here are 10 household luxuries you appreciate more in your 30s.

1. You get really excited about cabinet space

I’ve come to realize in the last two months how much cabinet space increases the pleasure of cooking, and there’s an art to setting up a kitchen. I felt like I deserved a gold star when I took the time to arrange an entire cabinet for oils and cooking wines, and another for spices (organized by ethnic food group. Because that’s not insane at all). Having more room to spread out means having more space to organize your life just the way you like it.

2. Your wall art is actually framed

Gone are the days of poster tape and push-pins. Now you use a hammer and nails. (And, side note, you actually own a hammer. And you know where to find it. Congratulations)! That picture of your favorite actor—not that you still have one—has been upgraded from fan art to conversation piece because he’s been lovingly ensconced in a frame that matches the decor.

3. You own a complete set of dishes

That’s right. You can actually entertain more than two people without having an anxiety attack about what everyone will eat out of and rushing off to purchase a pack of paper plates that will just generate more trash in the environment and, let’s face it, look totally tacky.

4. Your wine glasses match

Not only that, but you actually have a separate set for red and white. Clearly, you’ve come up in the world. Eventually you might even afford to purchase decent wine to fill said glasses. All in good time.

5. You own more than one coffee pot

Living alone means you can probably subsist on a single-cupper and a box of K-cups, but you’re a grownup now, and this means offering people coffee. You may never use the gargantuan 12 cup pot, but it’s best to be prepared. Being a real grownup is all about preparedness and the ability to accommodate guests.

6. Your bed is, well, actually a bed

Not a couch. Not a futon. Not a pile of laundry. I’ts an actual bed. With actual sheets…and maybe, if you’re really grown-up enough, you’ve sprung for a headboard, but let’s not get too fancy.

7. You have intelligent debates about the merits of tile over carpet

You know you’ve grown up when you look at your tile floors and think, “These will be such a pleasure to clean.” Because you’re actually going to clean your floors. Appreciating the difference in the maintenance level of tile versus carpet is just another one of those rites of passage into true (and admittedly boring) adulthood. I’m trying to tell myself it isn’t pathetic to have a really close relationship with my Swiffer mop.

8. You appreciate energy-efficient lightbulbs

The electric bill isn’t going to pay itself. You have to work to pay it, and you’d like to be able to get ready for work in the cold, gray dawn with sufficient light to see that you’re putting on matching shoes. When you can save money and feel sanctimonious about your good stewardship of the earth’s resources, congratulations. You’re a responsible inhabitant of the planet.

9. You own a coffee table

And maybe even matching end tables, if you can afford to splurge. You now have proper glassware and a proper set of dishes, so people need a place to set them that preferably isn’t their knees, or the floor, or a packing crate draped with a Hello Kitty sheet.

10. You have a “guest set” of sheets and towels

If you have the space to entertain, you might as well do it properly. Roll out the red carpet—or the fluffy towels, as it were—for your guests when they visit. Just don’t have anything too luxurious on hand or they’ll expect monogrammed bathrobes, chocolates on their pillows, and complementary breakfast.

Featured photo credit: Girl in her living room via pixabay.com

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Why Articles On How To Manage Millennials Are A Waste Of Your Time

A staple of seemingly useful work-related articles is the “How to Manage Millennials” genre. Such articles are worse than useless — they are positively damaging. Here’s why you should not bother reading them and what you should do instead.

Groups Aren’t Coherent or Cohesive

Millennials, Gen X, Boomers — these are categories defined exclusively by age. This is one of the least-useful predictors of a person’s values, traits, or actions, with the sole exceptions of perhaps predicting whether or not they will have children (and how many), what their major purchases in life will be, and how they will die. For example, the vast majority of kids are born to parents between 20 and 40 years of age. Major purchases, like cars or houses, tend to occur around around certain ages.

If you were marketing to them, you’d be deeply interested in the fact that Millennials are more willing to make purchases on their smart phones, or which cultural references will resonate with them (the 9/11 attack but not the collapse of the Iron Curtain).

Other than that, what do Millennials have in common with each other that’s different enough to be useful as guidance for how you should manage them?

Absolutely nothing.

Bait and Switch

When “How to Manage Millennials” articles do have useful guidance, it’s unrelated to the differences in the generations. Advice to managers like:

• Create diverse teams
• Realize different people are motivated differently
• Celebrate small victories
• Invest in training

These are all good ideas and are in no way connected to what generation someone is part of. Of course, people with more experience will value experience, while newcomers will want their talents to count for more. That’s true for every generation.

And seriously, do you really need to consult the Barclays 6-Generations Map to figure out that a person with less experience needs more training?

You Don’t Manage Groups

Marketing is a one-to-many activity, and we shouldn’t begrudge marketers their Millennial maunderings. For researchers and demographic planners, studying the generations makes sense. However, you do not manage groups. You manage individuals. The variance between individuals vastly outranks the variance between generations, let alone the similarities within a generation.

Remember, as a manager, you are responsible for making each person who reports to you as effective as possible.

So, which of these pieces of information will help you better decide whether to give the task of managing the new SharePoint server to Alice or to Bob?

1. Demographics: Alice is a female and Bob is a male.
2. Generations: Alice is a Gen-Xer (who are supposed to be moderately tech-savvy) and Bob is a Millennial (reported to be “digital natives”).
3. Goals: Alice told you in your last one-on-one that she wants to increase her technical expertise. Bob told you in your last one-on-one that he hopes to move into sales in a few years.
4. Appreciations: Alice values being praised verbally. Bob is more moved by a thoughtful gift.

If you answered anything other than 3, you’re no manager.

Thinking You Manage Groups Distorts Your Thinking

As soon as you start to think you can, or should, manage groups rather than individuals, you’ll give yourself permission to not do the hard work of getting to know each of your direct reports as unique human beings.

When you think of managing groups as a single unit, you’ll start to generalize about motivation, information absorption style, active learning style, and communications style. That thinking will make you a lousy manager. Each of these things varies dramatically from one Millennial to the next, indeed from one human being to the next (also, replacing one set of stereotypes with another isn’t going to help you manage better either).

You don’t have to do appalling things to drive people away — just treat them like indistinguishable demographic entities and your indifference to their individuality will lead them to leave.

What to Think About Instead

Remember that your job as a manager is to maximize the current and future effectiveness of each person reporting to you.

I teach my CEO and senior executive clients to create a Player Lineup Chart to help them look for and remember a wide range of personal attributes about their people.

As a manager, you should make your own Player Lineup Chart. Include these attributes:

Motivation

• Personal Goals – helps you connect their personal goals to the team’s tasks. (Have Alice manage the SharePoint server.)
• Values – helps you help them see how their values are served by the team’s work. (Write Alice a thank-you note, but buy Bob a gift, to show each your appreciation.)

Information Absorption Style

• Listener – give this person more verbal briefings. Expect to spend more time in dialog with them.
• Reader – give this person more background reading. Expect them to read your emails closely.

Active Learning Style

You should be actively managing the growth of each of your directs. Use their innate active learning style to guide you. For example, suppose you’re giving your direct a stretch assignment, and they’ll be working outside their comfort zone. You’ll be checking in with them twice a week to keep them on track and help them succeed. In each case, you’ll get status updates and any open questions. How should you structure that check-in depending on the individual’s approach to learning?

• Writer – They should give you a brief written summary of status and their questions.
• Talker – They should give you a brief verbal update.
• Drawer – They should give you an infographic or concept sketch, or share a one-person Scrum board.
• Mover – You should go for a walk with them and talk about their status.
• Silent Thinker – You should ask them to pick one of the above approaches.

Communications Style

Communications style consists of two variables — Introversion vs Extroversion and focus on People vs Tasks. Popularized by William Moulton Marston as the DISC profile, this gives you a quick guide to some common themes you’ll see in your direct reports. I call them the Dominant (task-focused extrovert), the Influencer (people-focused extrovert), the Steady (people-focused introvert) and the Compliant (task-focused introvert). Pay attention to the default style, and the style under stress, of each of your directs.

Conclusion

Never manage a person based on their generation — it’s absurd, impersonal, and demeaning. Manage each person as a unique human being, whose career you are privileged to influence for the better.

Featured photo credit: VIKTOR HANACEK via picjumbo.com

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3 Ways to Be the Designer of Your Own Life

Jake, was my trusted lieutenant. One of the smartest people I knew. He could crunch numbers like no one else can. A wizard of sorts for all practical purposes. But the one quality I respected, the most, in Jake was his attitude. He was content where he was. He took life as it came. Never overly ambitious about achieving that title or the corner office. If life gave him that, he was happy.

And then there is KT. Dear friend. Since childhood, he had only one dream. To be the captain of a ship. Life was all about sailing. Collecting pictures of ships. Going to movies that dealt with sea adventures. Playing with ship toys. I could go on and on. Guess what he ended up becoming? A captain. Sailing from port to port. Commanding some of the largest ships in the maritime trade. Knew what he wanted. Got what he wanted.

Not to forget Manny. The one guy who you would love to meet again. He had the most charming personality among the people I knew. Genuine love for people. He could laugh and cry with you. His single biggest strength was his ability to relate to people. Manny was the proverbial glue in people’s lives. Manny knew he was a people person.  He could rally a team and get them moving in any direction he wanted. Not surprisingly so he now leads one of the largest corporations on Wall Street.

Three stories. From completely different backgrounds. Stories of individuals who knew exactly what they wanted.

Others stand in awe of people who  know what they want. Know what their strengths and weaknesses are. Know their appetite for risk. Some call this “the designer life”. What is the big difference between people like these who have a designer life and the rest of us who are still finding our way?

Like Jake, there are folks who have made their peace with the present. Money, career, position, advancement all matter to these folks as well. However, you won’t find them losing their sleep on it. They will go after all these at the pace they decide. At a time and place that they feel won’t disrupt their peace and comfort. The important point here is to be at peace with the design you have chosen for your life. 

The beauty of life is that the non-Jakes are not evil people. We are just happy enough to put our best foot forward and live life to its fullest. We live life on our terms – much like the Jakes. For those of us non-Jakes, the struggle always, is to figure out, what to do to get that fancy, designer, glitter-filled life that KT and Manny live.

Here are three ways how you can get your designer life like the heroes I know:

1. Start from where you are: Simple? No. Because most often the dilemma is if it is already too late. We worry if we have missed the boat. Whether by way of age, health or wealth the biggest question is did I forever miss the opportunity by not going for it when I was 20 or when I was in optimal health, and more. The secret is, no matter how old you are or healthy, there is always a way to achieve your goal. You have to trust and put your best foot forward. My all time favorite example is the life of Chris Gardner who went from being homeless to becoming a successful entrepreneur, investor, stock broker and many other things. What a transformation! You can start from where you are. 
2. Know what you want: KT, Manny, and Chris Gardner all knew what they wanted. Chris Gardner’s face-to-face with reality came when he spotted the red Ferrari 308 pull into the parking spot. And the rest is history. The point is, even if you don’t already know what it is you want, its okay. Get cracking. And decide to find that goal, target, purpose, objective today. It’s okay that you did not know it already. But even if you started today, there is every chance you will make it if you know what is it that you want. You are the designer of your life. Design the way you want it.
3. Give it all you got: If you got past the first two and figured out what it is you want, it ain’t gonna happen by magic. As told by Thomas Edison, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”. True. Wanting a Ferrari is not the same as having to work for it. Wanting the CEO title is not as easy as wishing it. You have got to burn the midnight oil. And be ready to work weekends.

Getting a designer life is a lot simpler than getting a designer shoe. Because you have very little control over who or how your shoe is designed. With life – you can design it all by yourself in the way you want it.

Get yourself a designer life.

Will you?

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5 Surprising Ways Common Consumables Are Made

How much do you know about the process of making the products you use and the items you own? Although most people probably don’t go as far as believing that sausages grow on trees, most of us are still pretty clueless about how everyday items are made. Here is a list of five well-known things that are produced in ways you wouldn’t think of.

1. Silk

Today the fact that silk is produced by the larvae of a specific breed of moth will hardly be a revelation for anybody, but most people are unaware of the process that actually creates the silk. What is usually left unsaid is that silk in its initial, liquid form constitutes the cocoon of the silkworm, and in order to use it farmers have to kill most larvae with heat and boil the cocoons afterwards. That is why silk production often becomes the target of animal rights groups like PETA. However, recently a number of producers turned to other approaches, either by using a no-kill method in producing silk bed-clothes or utilizing the wild silk produced by non-domesticated silk moths.

2. Cosmetics

When you rub a cream in your face, do you give think much about just what exactly this thing is? If no, you are probably better off, if yes, here is the answer – many cosmetic products consist of up to 80% petroleum-based products which, in turn, means that if you take a random beauty care product it is more than likely to be made up mostly of decayed mass of living organisms that died millions of years ago.

3. Energy Drinks

If you are a fan of drinks like “Red Bull” and its brethren, you have probably noticed that it has something called Taurine listed among its ingredients – but have you ever wondered what exactly it is? Actually, the energy rush all tired college students and party-goers have gotten used to originally comes from bile mostly found in the large intestine of cows. Although you may find some comfort in the fact that today it is mostly synthetically produced.

4. Kopi Luwak Coffee

An ultimate gift for any coffee connoisseur, Kopi Luwak elite coffee is one of the most expensive and celebrated types of coffee. However, due to an unusual method of production, it has both ardent proponents who believe it enhances or even outright changes the original taste of coffee beans, and sarcastic enemies, who consider it nothing but a clever marketing ploy. Believe it or not, Kopi Luwak is made from coffee beans that were first eaten and excreted by a species of a small animal called Asian palm civet or toddy cat.

5. Vanilla and Raspberry Flavoring

When you think about various additives and flavorings used in food production, you probably think that all of them are nothing but different chemicals with fancy names, produced in some laboratory. In most cases it is true, but what about the so-called ‘natural ingredients?” As it turns out, they often have more than unorthodox origins. For example, vanilla and raspberry flavoring doesn’t come from either vanilla or raspberry but, inexplicably, from the substance called Castoreum, received from beavers’ anal secretions the animals use to scent territory.

As you may see, the next time you get interested in how some everyday stuff is made you will probably be better off if you don’t get inquisitive enough to actually check it… Although if you are not grossed out then it certainly makes for excellent party talk to make your friends happy when they are relishing those vanilla-flavored marshmallows they like so much.

Are there any other surprising facts about how everyday objects are created that you’d like to share? Tell us below!

Featured photo credit: Interest/GotCredit via flickr.com

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How to Gain an Immediate Experience of Mindfulness

Standing up for your Mind

As a way to gain an immediate experience of living and abiding in the moment, I have started to introduce the practice of Mindful standing in the live Meditation classes that I teach.

Mindfulness practice is sometimes seen as having to focus exclusively on mind training exercises that we engage in, when we’re sitting down. Of course this is an important element, however it can be more far reaching than this.

If we are creative we can introduce Mindfulness training to all elements of our life, so our practice starts to become holistic and integrated. One formal practice that can help us to start this process is Mindful Standing. Learning this technique gives us an appreciation that Mindfulness is much more that sitting down and closing our eyes.

If we check our everyday life, much of the time we are standing. Standing up can sometimes seem like a bit of a chore, something that we have to do when we are waiting, or there is no seat available. With this skillful, standing practice we can learn to transform the times that we stand into a Mindfulness training. No longer will we feel the need to immediately look at our mobile phone when we are waiting for a train or bus, no longer will standing and waiting be frustrating or tiring.
The importance of this practice became apparent recently, when I arrived at Manchester train station and stood up from my seat awaiting to leave the train.  There was a delay of around three minutes with the opening of the door. I couldn’t go back to my seat and I couldn’t move forward. I just had to stand there.  It dawned on me that now is the time to practice Mindful standing. Rather than thinking about what I need to be doing in the future or getting frustrated with the situation, just simply take the opportunity to abide in the present moment.
So how did I practice Mindful Standing and how can we practice?

Follow these tips to get started:

• Stand up in a posture with both legs parallel to your shoulders and your feet pointing straight in front of you.
• Bend your legs very slightly.
• Feel the sensation of your feet against the floor.
• Experience the sensation of being rooted like a tree in the floor.
• Allow your back to straighten and your shoulders to relax.
• Put your right hand in your left and place them on your navel (if you have something in one of your hands then simply place one hand on your navel.)
• Spend a few moments, checking in with your body and noticing any sensations.
• Draw your attention fully into your body.
• Enjoy the experience and joy of being a human being, abiding in a human body.
• Notice the movement of your hands – they arise and dissolve in time with your breath.
• Follow this experience for a short time.
• Allow your breath to bring you into the present moment.
• For as long as you feel comfortable abide with this experience.

For me after doing this practice for a few minutes in Manchester while I was waiting for the train door to open, I was left with a feeling of presence, renewed energy and focus. With my mind and body having a recharge in this way, the shape of the rest of my day was altered and improved.

If I am guiding this practice formally then I will usually have the entire session lasting five minutes. However with creative thinking this practice can be shortened to three seconds. Use it, if you have a few moments to wait in a queue. It’s like we’re taking a quick check-in to the present moment.

One brief Mindful standing practice could alter the course of our day, week, month, year, or even life.  Those moments when we get really frustrated or angry with someone, which can affect a relationship, position at work, someone’s faith of confidence in us, can be pacified with a few moments of Mindfulness.

So rather than the times in our life when we are waiting, just being dead time that we fill with nervous energy, they become Mindful moments that bring peace, calm and focus into our world.
Also standing has a very beneficial effect on our physical health, in today’s world where much of the time we are sitting, companies and business are now encouraging their staff to stand, sometimes when working. With an growing increase in desks available that allow us to stand in the office.

So next time we hop on a bus, tram or train, let’s think twice before jumping for that seat or being distracted by our mobile phone, stand up for our mind and try a Mindfulness practice!

Featured photo credit: Ed Gregory via stokpic.com

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