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The Rise of Sleep Technologies

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Photo by Amy Treasure on Unsplash

Photo by Amy Treasure on Unsplash

Guest post by Lucy Wyndham

Studies show that at least 70% of adolescents sleep with at least two electronic items in their bedroom, which is associated with short weekday sleep duration and wake lag on the weekend. The use of screens before bed keeps the mind active by stimulating electrical activity in the brain. Performing physical tasks such as sending texts also tightens the muscles and releases the hormone cortisol, which further prevents sleep. Finally, exposure to the light from screens inhibits the production of melatonin, which is required to regulate sleep-wake cycles.

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6 Ways To Overcome Failure

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Photo by Abbie Bernet on Unsplash

 

I walked into the buzzing workspace with my head down. I paused to stand up a little straighter until I heard the familiar crack in my upper spine. It was time to shift gears into networking mode.

“Act intelligent,” I told myself. “Don’t tell them that your company failed. Don’t tell them any of it. And don’t forget to smile.”

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Life Hacking For The Rest Of Us

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Photo by Haley Phelps on Unsplash

Photo by Haley Phelps on Unsplash

It’s impossible to keep up.

Every day I see self-help articles about life hacking with tips, tricks, and never-ending lists of things to do in order to become a successful human being. According to these articles, If I do these things I’ll run like a machine. I’ll be living life at 500%, 100% of the time.

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The Introvert’s Guide to the Workplace

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Photo: Unsplash

I’ve been working in digital media for most of my career – building websites, doing marketing, graphic design, and even photography. But there came a time that if I wanted to advance in my career, I had to get out from behind my tantalizingly-oversized Apple monitor and lead actual meetings. It became critical for me to be present in the workplace not only as a project manager, but as someone who was able to successfully lead client meetings as well.

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Why Repealing Affordable Health Care Will Hurt The Freelance Economy

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Photo: Aaron Thomas via Unsplash

Photo: Aaron Thomas via Unsplash

The Affordable Care Act has made health insurance accessible for millions of freelance workers, a number that is expected to account for 40% of the workforce by 2020. For various reasons self-employment is also increasingly popular amongst millennials, with nearly 40% of the millennial workforce already describing themselves as self-employed. To put things into perspective, that is 60 million Americans, and the numbers are on the rise.

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Environmental Biohacking & Rumbling With The Unknown

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Sunset at Big Sur taken during week 4 of my bio-hacking experiment

Big Sur, CA – Taken during Week 4 of my experiment.

The following is based on a talk I gave a few weeks back at Twitch HQ for Women’s Catalyst Lightening Talks.

At the end of September I deliberately kicked myself out of my studio apartment.

I sublet to a friend for two months and hit the road.

Now, I didn’t go very far. I drove around California in my trusty Prius C – living with friends, crashing on couches, spending time in nature.

I did this because I needed to get uncomfortable.

Because I believe that curiosity is greater than comfort.

[ Curiosity Zone > Comfort Zone ] *

I didn’t always believe this.

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Becoming Antifragile – How To Gain From Disorder

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Image Credit: Andre Faria Gomes

Image Credit: Andre Faria Gomes via Slideshare: Antifragile: Lessons Learned

“Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos – you want to use them, not hide from them. You want to be the fire and wish for the wind.”

-Nassim Taleb

Last week I gave a talk at the monthly Catalysts Collective event here in San Francisco on the topic of antifragility. The following points are highlights from my talk.

To understand the premise of Antifragile – Things That Gain From Disorder there are three key areas to consider.

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What’s Mamba Mentality? Kobe, Kyrie & The Pursuit Of Greatness

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Kyrie Irving with the series-clinching shot

Source: Complex.com

When describing their comeback at the end of Game 5, LeBron James famously said “It’s all about those two magic words. Game 7.”

In the NBA playoffs, each team battles an opponent from their division bracket-style, playing the best out of 7 games with the winning team advancing to the next round. It’s fairly common that each match up won’t make it all the way to Game 7 – sometimes a team will win four straight games, or they’ll battle it out through five. Making it to seven means that each team has given it their all and have an equal chance to advance. It all comes down to the final game. Or in this case, the final few seconds.

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8 Ways Minimalism Can Increase Your Productivity

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Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

I’ve moved a handful of times in the past few years. In order to make each transition go smoother than silk all efforts were made to donate or sell as much as humanly possible. (The word I used on repeat was “…catharsis!”)

In the end, it felt great to donate all those clothes I’d never wear again. I was initially sad to part with all the books I secretly knew I’d never read, knowing they’d find a better use in the end. The cooking supplies I’d barely use and stacks of house records I was holding onto for reasons only the vinyl gods know why — all of those things I simply didn’t need any more. They were a nice to have, but didn’t define or help me grow in any significant way within the present tense.

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Are Plastic Water Bottles Finished?

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I practice yoga, running, and cycling several times a week (mainly to stay sane). For my yoga practice, I typically visit the TruYoga studios because it’s convenient – they’re downstairs from my office – and the roster of rotating teachers is incredible. Lately, I’ve been branching out a bit by taking advantage of Groupons and other deals in an effort to try new styles and mix it up a bit.

I noticed in tonight’s class over at Core Power Yoga that the studio offered bottled water to drink – but it was in glass containers, not plastic. It’s such a simple idea that makes so much sense. We already know that plastic bottles are not only toxic but wasteful.  It was great to see a little system in place where glass bottles were implemented. There was definitely some style happening there, too!

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