#especially since you’re lucky enough to have an office job with flexible hours

[chayacat]

Devil’s Sweet Star (16)

Fandom: Dead by Daylight

Ghostface x Female Reader  

Rated M for Violence, Language and Smut  

***

Yesterday was a day full of revelation. And that night was a long night's work for Danny. You think that being a murderer, especially Ghostface is as easy as stealing a lollipop from a baby?  Well, you're wrong. It’s not enough to kill someone in cold blood or just for fun without worrying about the small details to be a murderer. You have to be smart; you have to calculate each of your moves, study every potential victim, neglect no details. That's always how Danny did it, and he never changed.  

He had spent the whole night watching McKellan and his guards. 4 guards were watching the house, all as chubby as the gorillas. But the raw strength and muscles are worthless in face of Danny's flexibility and agility. He'll be able to avoid them without any problems. McKellan spends three-fourths of his time in his office, studying statistics and turnover. In case he earns less money. As if he didn't have enough already... What a miser.

But soon he will no longer have to worry about his fortune, earned dirty by lying and cheating. For soon he will become a true masterpiece of bloody art. Which unfortunately will not be appreciated by anyone. What an indignity. But good news came to Danny’s ears during the night: someone finally found Mike's body. The police are on the spot and obviously two officers, surely new ones, have obviously vomited their guts. An image that made Danny smile a lot: that's exactly the reaction he wanted. Wilhelm is going to have a job, and it's deserved. Danny couldn't stand him and it was reciprocal.

“Have a good day, my bastard... I hope you're going to have nightmares about it in addition to the other cases you have to deal with.” He said with a smirk, thinking of Wilhelm’s face.  

He looked at your picture and landed on his bed, remembering what you told him yesterday. So that's why you refused to talk about your parents. And in a sense, it's normal: Who would want to remember such a tragic day? You had a good life, you had great parents and suddenly.... everything falls apart. You're alone. That's also why you came to Roseville: To escape all this. Making a clean slate of the past. Move forward without looking back. Start a new life. For Danny, of course, he left Florida for reasons you know, since he told you everything too. Why did he do it? He himself didn't really know. Maybe because he felt obligated because you had done it? Or. Because he needed to empty that weight that weighs so much on his heart? And that you are strangely, the only person who can comfort him and with whom he feels comfortable?

He took out a picture of his bedside table, a little worn out by time and bent but still as beautiful in his eyes. It was just Carla and him, kissing her on the cheek as he takes the picture and she smile. They had been dating for a year at that time, but for him, it meant a lot to him. All these years spent together... that go up in smoke because of a man.

“I’m really sorry Mr Johnson...she passed away. We were not able to resuscitate her in time.” That’s what that bastard said to him.  

It took four nurses to master and comfort Danny. And it didn't work. And the worst happened when he learned that that bastard had let her die. What for? To justify his requests for a budget increase. Because inevitably, who says dead, says lack of staff and suitable equipment and therefore a larger budget to "fill" these gaps. But of course, the money he received... it was for his personal well-being.

His blood only done one lap. So, one night, he went to see him in his office. Without being spotted. By the window, a knife in his hand. He remembers the rage with which he had struck him until he fell to the ground, moaning in pain. He was begging him to leave him alive! Seriously?? After what he had just done? Did he dare ask him to let him live? It's a good joke.

“You took the only thing that mattered to me, and now you're going to pay for it.” Danny said before slaughtering him like a pig.  

The adrenaline he had, the satisfaction and even the pleasure he experienced, he never wanted to forget. That's how Ghostface was born. And since that day, he has improved a lot in his way of doing things. He is attacking everyone, without mercy. You're the only exception. Danny looked at the photo with a smile, melancholy before kissing her. he folded the photo where a small inscription was: I will never forget you, always in my mind.  

He put the picture in the drawer of the bedside table and got up to take a shower. He said he'd come and get you, so he might as well be a presentable minimum. There's something else that perturbated him: your reaction when "Ghostface" came to see you. Certainly, he expected it to happen one day but not so quickly. What game are you playing? Unfortunately for him, you're the only one who knows. But sooner or later he finds out. Like he always does. But McKellan is the priority for now. For real.  

The article to bring down Hoggins and Mckellan was making its way, but they were not going to publish it first. Since a journalist from Georgia had tried his move, we will give him the opportunity of exclusivity. And so, if Hoggins go after someone, it will be them and not the Roseville gazette. A clever little change of plan, proposed by the boss Hembrook himself. Having worked in the middle for years, he knew all the tricks. After all, it's not the old monkey you're learning to make grimacing, is it?

And when tensions rise between Hoggins and McKellan... That's when Ghostface will come on stage. All this promises to be wildly fun. The wait is worth it. Danny already imagines this "poor detective" heading for a false trail, who will feel humiliated when he realizes that Ghostface is making fun of him. His face will twist in unimaginable anger. He took his keys and left the apartment before driving to Zanesville Hospital. He received a message from you, telling him that you will be ready to go out soon, time for the doctors to make one last check-up before letting you go. It's better to be careful.

As he was about to start, his phone rang. It was his boss, Mr. Hembrook.

“Ah Jed! I’m glad you're answering! How are you? Ready to go back to work son?” He said on the other line.

“Hello Sir. I’m fine, I needed that break. I’m ready to track any information that Roseville needs to know. Do you need something?”

“... I guess you know... Or maybe not. But the police discovered Mike's body last night. Ghostface struck again. Apparently, he is in such a state... that two young rookies threw up their guts.”

“Goddamn... He was a big jerk, narcissistic and horrible with everyone but... He didn't deserve that. What happened?” replied Jed while Danny's holding back from smiling. Of course, he deserved it, he was just one too many bastards on this earth.

“The autopsy has not yet been performed. But in view of the initial findings, this Ghostface massacred him. and not just a little bit. since you are usually in charge of these cases... I was wondering if you'd like to go to Mike's house to write an article about this new murder. If you don't want to, I'd understand, after all you just...” said Hembrook.

“Don't worry, sir. I’ll take care of that. I just have to pick up my friend from the hospital. She's going out today. I dropped her off at her house and set off for Mike's house right after.” interrupts Danny trying to stay as neutral as possible.

“Say hello to her from me! This little girl is a lucky girl. I hope I can taste her pastries! I would like her to do it from time to time for the newspaper... she will be paid for, of course.”

“Promised. And for your proposal, I will talk to her about it, but it seems to me that she would be happy. I have to go. Good day to you Mr. Hembrook.” said Danny before hanging up.  

He started his van, and took the road. He turned on the radio to make the journey less boring and less time-consuming. It still takes about 20 minutes to get to Zanesville. It's still a long way off. Count the time he parks, picks you up at the hospital and you both leave and you arrive at a little half an hour.

He was planning to spend some time with you, but unfortunately, he just told his boss that he'll go to Mike's house once he drops you off at your house.  If he doesn't, his boss is very likely not to appreciate this. When you promise something to Johann Hembrook, it's better for you to keep your word. How many noses had he broken since the beginning of his long career? A lot too much. He often had problems because of his temperament... Explosive. Too often even. But at least he got what he wanted... In a way.

Danny couldn't help but smile as he thought of his boss in front of his boss explaining why an informant ended up in the hospital. He would have wanted to see it with his own eyes. He finally arrived at the Zanesville hospital and parked, then put his glasses back in place on his nose before descending. He looked at the façade with a lump in his stomach. Until he can turn the page, those bad memories will resurface. But how can you forget, the reason you became a murderer?

He took a deep breath before entering and heading towards the reception. The young woman told him that you were going to be able to leave your room in a dozen minutes and that she was going to inform you of his arrival. All he had to do was sit on the benches in the waiting room and wait for you to arrive.

And he didn't have to wait very long. He saw you coming from afar, talking to the doctor who had taken care of you, and when your eyes crossed, he got up and you trotted towards him, hugging him. He could not help but smile and put a kiss on your forehead, even if the urge burned him to taste your lips again.

“Well...I see that you’re really happy to see me.” He said with his angelic smile.

“And you don't push me away, so I conclude that you're glad to see me too.” you answer, smiling at him too.  

“That’s true. Did the wounds heal well?” he replied, looking at the doctor.

“Faster and better than I thought. She still needs a rest but she can go back to work without overworking herself. If you ever feel bad pain, I've prescribed medication and if it doesn't work, come back to me urgently. My professional phone number is on the prescription. I'm counting on you, young man, to watch her and take care of her.” respond the man, clearing his throat.

“Oh, don’t worry about it... I'm not going to take my eyes off her for a second. Ready? We've got a little way to go.”

You nod and you both get out of the hospital. The return journey was livelier between your laughter and the music, the few anecdotes you heard from the nurses making Danny smile. Once in front of your building you both head to your apartment, Danny smirks as he looks at you, lying behind you. And he can say that the view... is superb. You had to do a lot of sports, to have such a firm buttock. That's another part of the body he'd like to touch, plus, the rest.

“Well, this is where we separate. Unfortunately, I have work to do, my boss wants me to deal with the new murder committed by Ghostface. But if you want, we could make a little restaurant one night. I'll pay for it this time.” Said Jed with a little smile.  

“Sure! I missed it a lot... a new murder? I pity the poor victim of this sick man. Jed... Take care of yourself. You never know who his next victim might be.” You answer before kissing him, hugging tightly. Then you released him and enter into your appartement, Saying goodbye with a wave of the hand.

Danny smiled and left for his apartment. Once inside his smile disappeared, vexed to see that you like "Jed" more than he does. But it's only a matter of time before the trend reverses. Once you've passed into the expert hands of Danny... I mean Ghostface, Jed Olsen will gradually begin to fade. It's high time for Danny Johnson to take his place. One way or another. He took his work bag and left for Mike's house where he stays the rest of the day. He held back a smile, thinking back to the massacre that had taken place there and imagining these two poor policemen who vomited their guts as his boss told him.

The evening came and it's time for you to have your daily one-on-one with Ghostface. But this time he won't come empty-handed! he has a little gift for you! You were showering when he walked into your apartment through the window. Hearing the sound of the shower, the idea of entering to join you made him smile. But he's not silly he knows you surely lock the bathroom door. So, he waited for you to come out of the bathroom, in a towel, and into your room. The little start he caused in you made him smile even more.

“Goddamnit ! You can't leave me alone even one night!?” You said hiding as much visible skin as you can with your towel.

“No. And I'm especially excited to be here tonight. I have a very nice view. But it would be better if you took that towel off. But let's move on. I've got a little something for you. A small gift for... show you that sometimes I can be nice.” Danny said, handing a packet to you.

“If it's a cut limb or a knife you can keep it. I'm not a fan of the massacre like you.”

“Hahaha...very funny my little angel. But it’s none of that. I made an effort... you could do the same and accept my gift. For once.”

You took the package from Danny's hands and opened it. He smiled slyly when he saw you pulled out a black dress... very, very sexy. Short and quite open at the chest.

“The dress that your little nerd offered you is pretty good I have to admit ... But this one makes your shapes more valuable to me. I hope you like it.” He replied approaching you, taking your face in his hands. “I know he and you kissed... and not just once. I am vexed that you chose him instead of me. He's so annoying... You'll get tired of him very soon believe me.”

“What do you know about that? At least he is not a mentally ill man who kills for simple pleasure.”

“It's been a long time since you've broken my heart. It’s clear that he only thinks about his work. Me on the other hand... I will treat you like a queen, in exchange for keeping silent on my.... Activities. Which, by the way, will fix you when McKellan will be dead. I haven’t forgotten that you’ll owe me a favor when it’s done. And this dress... will be a part of what you owe me. I hope you'll wear it that day.”

“Don't even think about it. Creep...”

“Oh, I gonna think about it every single time my sweet little star. And it’s better for you...” He starts pushing you on your bed, pulling on the towel to get you naked. Then he passed the plate of his knife on your belly rising little by little. “It’s better for you to obey. It would be a pity for you and for me to damage this sublime body. Don't you think so?”

“Get...get off of me...” you said hardly, biting your lips by feeling the cold blade touch your breasts.

Danny chuckled as he gradually raising his blade. He could enjoy it so much now but... He knows that sooner or later he'll have his reward. He took his camera and took a picture of you before backing away and laughing as he saw you hastily looking for something to dress.

“I keep it as a little memory. Until I can touch the real merchandise, I'll just look at your curves in pictures. I still have work to do. McKellan's death must be perfect and spectacular. I have to plan everything in every detail, you understand? Until we meet again... take care of that nice body for me, will you? Have beautiful dreams... hoping I'm in it.”  

Danny sends a kiss to you and his smile grows wilder when his saw your disgust and your anger. Then he disappeared. Is there just an emotion that doesn't make you so cute? Danny would have liked to spend more time... intimate with you, explore your body to make you vibrate with pleasure but as he told you …

He still has some preparations to do. And this murder will be the most spectacular Roseville has ever known.

You can count on that.

***

(Well, it’s done! I started the code to get my driver's license and for now I'm doing pretty well! (yes at 22 it might be time for me to have it I know! U.u) But I have an excuse! (or not) I've always been afraid of driving and seeing some of my generation driving like sick didn't reassure me either. But I know I'm going to make it! In the meantime, I hope you will like this chapter as much as the others! See ya!)

[dariusfrasier]

Interviewing @LisanneYu

I ordered a sweet tea and grabbed a small table in the back corner at the coffee house. I hoped it didn’t make my prospective employee too uncomfortable. Since Leo and I both worked from home, we didn’t really have an office to meet in. I chose an off-hour, so it wasn’t crowded. I opened my laptop and reviewed the applicant’s resume while I waited for her to arrive. 

——————

Leaving Dai with Doc and her son might be the easiest part of today. I couldn’t remember the last time I went to an interview. At least the long drive would give me time to psych myself up for it. Almost three hours was a long drive for a job interview, but I really needed a fresh start, and I needed to see the person I was going to work for in person. Not just online. 

------------------

Her resume was impressive but brief. She had worked almost exclusively freelance for a long time. I was impressed by some of the sites she had worked on like the Hope House nonprofit and Cherry Chic retail clothing site. I was very curious about why she was interested in this job right now—another question to add to my list. I checked my watch. It was still a few minutes until the interview. I sent Macy a quick text to tell her I loved her, then sat back to people watch.

——————-

I found the coffee shop easily enough and made good time on the drive. After parking, I smoothed my hair and checked my lip gloss in the rear view mirror before texting Doc to let her know I arrived. She sent me a picture of the boys playing and wished me luck. I sighed softly and smiled as I put my phone in my bag and got out of the car. “Here we go,” I whispered to myself as I headed inside scanning the room for Mr. Frasier.

———————

When I saw the lovely statuesque woman walk in, I knew it was my interview. I gave her a moment to look around before I stood up with a smile and gestured to my table. She met my smile with a reserved one of her own before walking over. ”Ms. Yu?” I asked as I offered my hand. She slipped her hand into mine. ”Pleased to meet you, Mr. Frasier.” ”Please have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”

----------------------- 

He had kind eyes. That's the first thing I noticed about him. His hand was warm and welcoming. We held hands a moment longer than most. Both of us sensed that we were alike. Darius was a shifter as I was. I took a seat across from him, setting my bag between my feet. “Can I get you something to drink?” I glanced at his drink. “An iced green tea would be great. Thank you.” He nodded and motioned a waiter over. I took a moment to look around as he ordered for me. The coffee shop was cute and not too busy. We had plenty of privacy, not that we needed it really. 

----------------------

In just a few moments her tea was brought over. We thanked the waiter and waited until he stepped away. “Thank you for coming to meet me, Ms. Yu. I appreciate how far you drove to be here.” She smiled briefly and took a sip of her tea. “I actually enjoyed the drive.” “Your resume was quite impressive. Especially your work on the Hope House and retail clothing sites. Your freelance work is quite extensive. It makes me curious as to why this job interests you now.”

————————

“That’s a really good question.” I had to laugh a little as Darius reached for his glass. “I have been very lucky in my projects. But freelance isn’t always the best choice for everyone. I’m sure you understand that being a solo worker is not always fun when there is no one to bounce ideas off of or share the decision making.” I reached for my tea. “It seems like it would be great, and sometimes it is, but it’s also tiring.” I took a drink and then brushed my hair over my shoulder. “That’s not the only reason though.”

———————

As she spoke, her voice got stronger. She was reserved and soft-spoken at first. Almost hard to hear. When she talked about working on your own, her words rang true. “I can’t argue with you about working on your own. That’s how Leo and I became partners. You said there was another reason.” She nodded and seemed to withdraw briefly. I had a feeling that whatever this reason was, it wouldn’t be easy for her to discuss.

—————-

“Have you ever just needed a fresh start? A change of scenery?” My eyes locked on his as he nodded almost immediately. “That’s what I need. I need a new perspective and a new challenge, but I also need more flexible time to be with my son. He just turned 5 last month and will be starting school in the fall. When you’re in charge of everything, like with freelance work, you don’t always have much control over your time.” I took another sip and looked out the window. “Please don’t misunderstand me. If we had a tight deadline or were under some kind of crunch, I would absolutely put in the work. I just don’t want to do that 24/7 anymore.”

------------------

How could I argue with her reasoning? I really couldn’t. Taking Leo on as a partner and splitting the responsibilities with him had been a lifesaver. “I’m curious about something you said. If your son will be starting school in the fall, how will this give you more time with him?” Maybe I had missed something but it seems like the time to spend more time with him was before school. Not having kids of my own, I could be completely wrong. Looking over at Lisanne, it seemed like my question might have hit a nerve. She seemed like she couldn’t sit still all of a sudden. “Ms. Yu, I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to answer that.”

------------------

I shook my head with a slight smile. “You weren’t. Please call me Lisanne or Lisi. I don’t mind answering.” He nodded and sat back, closing his laptop as he gave me space to think about what I wanted to say. “My partner had to relocate indefinitely to Texas. Something high security. Even if we went with her, we would be apart. I thought it would be better for my son to stay in the only home he’s ever known. But the house is...it’s so big. Without her and our daughter, it’s not what I expected.” Nothing had been what I expected after she left. I felt separate from the rest of the pack. Even more so now than before. As much as I loved Paul, he had his own family. Doc was the only one who understood how I felt. She was the one who encouraged me to find my way to a new happy.

------------------

I wasn’t sure how to respond. Her partner and their daughter? I couldn’t begin to understand what that might be like. “That sounds like a situation… ,” I shook my head and took a drink. “I’m sorry, Lisanne. I can’t even begin to understand what that must be like. I appreciate you opening up like that though. That must have been equally difficult.” She smiled a little and smoothed her hand along her leg before answering. “I’ve only discussed it… out loud with one other person.” I had to smile. “I’m flattered. Do you have any questions for me?”

--------------------

He was as kind as his eyes. This felt like a good fit. I felt almost hopeful. Something I had not felt in a long time. “I do actually.” I looked around and lowered my voice slightly. “Your partner. Leo?” Darius smiled and nodded. “Is he… like us?” I had a feeling I knew the answer before he even shook his head. “I see. Has that ever been a problem for you? As you can understand, I need to know that I can trust those I’m working with.” I drew my finger through the condensation on the bottom of my glass as I waited for his response.

---------------

It was a good question and one I hadn’t expected. “Leo is a great guy. Personable and easygoing. He’s very accepting of others no matter their differences.” I finished my tea. “He recently got married, and I was his best man. I’ve known him and his new bride for a few years now. They have a little boy who’s about 3 I think. If you decide to settle here or in New Orleans, I bet your little guy would become fast friends with his.” I laughed a little. “Um, I don’t know much about kids but 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds are pretty similar, right?”

--------------

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Somewhat. Luckily, my son gets along with all ages.” He really did. I was incredibly lucky. Becoming a mother had been something I never planned on until I met Marisol, but I had no regrets. My son was my whole world.  “The only thing he has given me a fight on is his name. He’s insisting on being called Danny even though his name is Dai.” I laughed and spelled it for Darius. “Apparently his name isn’t cool enough or something.” 

--------------

“Wow. That’s harsh.” We laughed for a few more minutes about it. “Anyway, Leo has been great from the start. When we first met in person, I told him about myself. He was curious and respectful when he asked questions. His wife Sam has been the same way. I didn’t want him to feel like he needed to hide anything from her. I don’t anticipate that you would have any problems with him if you worked with us.”  I gave Lisanne what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Was there anything else?”

--------------

Darius’ response had definitely reassured me that this was something I could do and was starting to really want to do. “I’ve really liked the projects you highlighted on your website. That’s what initially drew me to your job posting. Now that we’ve met, I feel like this could be a great move for me. I think we’d work well together. Being able to work remotely most of the time is a huge plus. But, after this meeting, I think I’d enjoy any meetings we had in person as well.” I spent the next few minutes talking with him about the projects I’d done and what obstacles I’d found and how I moved past them while working on them.

----------------

I wished Leo was here to meet Lisanne and compare notes with. I had a good feeling about her and wanted to offer her the job. Hopefully he’d agree with me when I touched base with him later. “This has been a pleasure, Lisanne. I’m not sure I ever said that about a job interview before.” She laughed and agreed. “I need to talk things over with my partner but I hope to let you know what we decide within the week if that’s okay. If you think of anything you want to ask, you have my email and cell phone number. Feel free to contact me.”

---------------

“Thank you. I couldn’t agree more. You put me at ease immediately. I really appreciate that.” I picked up my purse and got to my feet offering my hand. “I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully getting to know Leo as well.” After he stood up, we shook hands and said our goodbyes. I gave him a slight wave as I headed out to my car feeling so much lighter than when I began this journey. The drive home would fly by as I made my way back to my little boy.

[musicvsms-blog]

This week has been MS awareness week, so I have decided to bite to the bullet, and open up about my experience of living with MS – which, for a number of reasons, is something I have never really spoken about. However, having had some time to reflect while in lockdown, I believe that living with MS for the past 10 years has stood me in good stead for staying positive in more difficult times.

I was originally diagnosed in 2010 after a year of tests. I was 25, had just moved to London in a time of recession, and finally got a dream job working as a concert promoter. Just a few months into the new job, I started suffering from headaches, and then numbness in my arms and legs. I knew something wasn’t right but didn’t want to let it get in the way of my new career. While I waited to be put through the NHS system, I looked at alternative ways of managing the uncomfortable sensations, and would go for acupuncture in my lunch break, which alleviated the symptoms. I think the first time that I felt scared was when I went to see a neuro-physio who knew my Dad. She asked me to close my eyes, and put a set of keys in my hand. She then asked me what it was but I couldn’t tell her. I had lost all fine sensations in my hands.

After numerous appointments at Moorfields, and Queens Square – eye tests, scans and a lumbar puncture – I was told I had Multiple Sclerosis. It was incredibly hard to get my head around as no one in my family had ever had it: so why me? The causes are still unknown. The consultant at the time suggested I started treatment, which would be a daily injection, but I decided that I would try to manage it without. I was young, had caught it early, and didn’t want to be on medication for the rest of my life.

I told a few people at work and my close friends at the time, because they knew I was going for tests, but I kept it pretty quiet. I needed to get my head around it, and, in hindsight, I was probably in shock for a long while. The only thing I knew of MS was that some good friends had lost their mum to the disease when they were teenagers so was worried about how best to tell them. Perhaps I didn’t want to be a burden. I definitely didn't want the disease to define me or get in the way of my dreams, or for people to think I wasn't capable. Something I felt I needed to especially prove, being a (young) woman in a very male dominated industry!

For years I lived symptom free (or maybe I had just become so accustomed to certain strange sensations that I could ignore them) and wondered whether I had been misdiagnosed. I went on to achieve more than I could have ever dreamed of in my career, working with some amazing artists, and seeing them go from playing their first shows in the back room of a pub to selling out arenas. The day after my 30th birthday I had an interview with AEG Live, one of the world’s leading companies in live entertainment, and was offered a job and the title of Vice President of Live Music. Having spent years working all hours for no money, and almost giving up on numerous occasions along the way, I was finally appreciated. I launched Goldenvoice in the UK and promoted tours for artists including Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, The xx and alt J amongst others. An incredible job but since my diagnosis I always knew it wasn’t sustainable. Fatigue is a common symptom but I would just put being tired down to the late nights and busy lifestyle!

Then, two years ago, I suffered a relapse that could only be as a result of the MS. I couldn’t feel my feet which also affected my concentration at work. It was a particularly busy time, as we had just launched a new festival – All Points East – which I was booking, alongside promoting tours, being out at shows most nights and dealing with personal issues. I went for more scans and was told that they were showing more lesions in my brain and spine than the last scans eight years prior. I didn’t take any time off at the time though; it’s hard to explain that ‘I can’t come to work because I’ve got numb legs!’. Booking a festival had been my ultimate dream and I had booked a lot of my favourite artists to play, so I wanted to see it through, but knew things needed to change after that.

Although I may have been living in denial for all those years, I do believe that the diagnosis spurred me on to achieve more in my career. However, at this point, I felt ready for the first time, to put my career on hold and look after my health. I finally accepted that I was living with a disease and that I needed to take control of it or it would take control of me.

Having worked in the music industry since the age of 18, working my way up from putting on mate’s bands in pubs in Brighton, I left my job not knowing what was going to be next. Some people thought that was a brave decision (maybe stupid) but I am used to taking risks, not knowing what’s next, and going with my gut had gotten me this far. Although I loved parts of the job, I knew I couldn’t keep working at the same pace and my workplace wasn't able to offer me the flexibility I felt I needed at that time. I had been working in a basement office with no windows, and when reminded by the consultant how important it is to take a high dose of Vitamin D, I thought: why not get the real thing, so headed for sunnier climes.

I had never travelled, as I had started working straight from school. I had an A-level in Spanish and always loved the language and culture, but not spent much time in Spain since. I decided to use the time to improve my Spanish, and headed to Barcelona where I had friends, and where the skies are always blue.

I had only recently passed my driving test, and had heard that you need to drive 10,000 miles before you’re a competent driver, so I picked up my car from London and then drove around Spain and Portugal. My oldest friend was working on a retreat in Portugal, so drove to her via Barcelona, Valencia and Andalusia, and then back up to northern Spain. I met my mum in Santiago De Compostela and walked a bit of the Camino – something I’ve always wanted to do and I plan to do the whole thing one day. I caught the ferry back, just in time for All Points East at the end of May, with 9,988 miles on the clock and only a few bumps and scratches!

During my time off, I realised that music is still my passion but I need to do things differently. I am back working for AEG, but on my own terms, working across the festivals. My old boss was hugely supportive and offered to bring me back in as a consultant so I can work from anywhere. I am back in London for now, but try to get away for some sunshine during the winter months. I hope to one day be living in the hills in Spain but for now London is my home, and I am feeling hugely grateful for this amazing weather we’ve had recently. I am back doing Spanish lessons with my teacher from Barcelona which wouldn’t be possible had Zoom not become the ‘new normal’.

I am not currently on treatment, despite being advised to by the consultant. It’s hard to seriously consider taking drugs when you feel perfectly healthy. I am always learning about diet and alternative therapies, and feel lucky enough to have a support network of amazing people, and the funds to do it my own way. Who knows what the future holds, but all I know is what I can do on a daily basis to stay healthy and keep my body and immune system strong for now.

I have learned so much from living with MS. It has taught me how to cope in times of uncertainty, as we all are now, and I feel grateful for that. It’s not easy, and there are challenging days, but all you can do is focus on what is within your control and take each day as it comes. I feel positive that I will get through this and beat MS. We will all get through these difficult times and I believe it will only make us stronger.

#livingwithms #multiplesclerosis #msawarenessweek

[esthersnippe]

Becoming a Digital Nomad: A quick and dirty guide to UpWork

(My “office” on the Isla of Flores in Guatemala)

Freelancing is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. 

Although now I have moved off of freelancing and am more of an independent contractor, I still pick up a few freelancing projects ever quarter.

Because it is simply a great way to make money. Loads of people are leaving their office and opting for something more flexible: according to the FreshBooks Self-Employment Report, potentially 27 million Americans will leave the traditional work in favor of self-employment by 2020. This shift would triple the current population of full-time self-employed professionals bringing the total number of workers to 42 million.

And that’s just in the US, imagine what these figures look like globally.

I’m guessing if you are here reading this, we’ve talked about it already and I have sent you the link, so you are pretty sold: but let’s review:

You choose your hours. No bosses saying “You’re ten minutes late!” or having to suffer through another 8-hour shift that just never seems to end. You pick when you work. If you are hungover and can’t bring it to the table: that’s your call. (But warning: you will not get the money if you don’t work.) 

You choose your projects. After the first couple projects (which is a bit of a mad and dirty dash, I am afraid) you get to start to get choices. Storytime! Once I was working for this American Museum Tour company. At first, they were loads of fun, and they even flew me to New York City multiple times, and I got a paid trip to Switzerland. Things were great, until the point they weren’t. Then I began to hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. So one day, I just quit. The next day, I found another project, and they paid me more money, and were a better company. It was bloody easy. Stop suffering. Pick a project you like and only stick with it until/if you stop liking them.  (Note: I have been with the new client for 3 years, and they are still a dream to work with.) 

You get paid real money. There is this idea that if it happens on the internet, maybe there is something sketchy about it. This could be true in some cases: but in this case, you get actual money (ok, sometimes it is in a different currency then the country you are living in, but you can turn it into your currency) that goes into your actual bank account and you can actually buy and pay for things. For sitting at home.  Doing stuff on your laptop. 

You can learn new stuff on the job. I definitely didn’t start out with all the skills I have now. I started off as a modest internet researcher, and through time, worked my way up to having this whole jetpack of skills that clients not only want, but need. Don’t feel daunted about not being able to do everything right away. Start with a good project, and be a sponge. Learn as much as you can, because these skills are valuable (remember the part about making real money?) 

You can go anywhere in the world. As long as they have wifi, and your clients are ok with you being in a different timezone? You can go anywhere. Since working as a freelancer, I have travelled to, get this, 30 countries. Screw waiting around for a two-week vacation. Go see the world. And make some money while you do it.

Now, here comes the part where I bring that excitement down to a reasonable level.

There are some hard truths about freelancing I am going to be frank about.

The first is that it is real work. You’ve got to be dedicated and you absolutely have to have a rock-solid work ethic. If you don’t, you will not get very far, because this is not the kind of job you can “float by” on. People will drop you like a hot potato the second you stop performing. And there is no safety net. You will have to hustle your own projects for the first bit: people will not be chomping at the bit to get you. In fact, they will probably, most like, almost definitely ignore you for the most part. There are literally 12 million users on UpWork: if you aren’t hustling, you aren’t going anywhere. Apply for ten positions a day. Get up at 4am for a Skype interview. Be charming af. Follow up, then follow up again. Don’t let them forget you, and if they don’t hire you, ask why and then get better. You’ve got to get your own work. Lastly, you are probably not going to make mad money right away. The money is there, and you can have some of it, but you are probably going to have to do a bit of grunt work first, and I am talking up to 2-3 months at a low rate. But keep at it. There is a bunch of money and magic at the top of the mountain.

Still with me?

Ok. Let’s get into it.

Why UpWork?

So, when I first started freelancing, I signed up for a few different Freelancing websites that were around at the time: oDesk, Elance and Freelancer.   There were others I looked at, like Toptal and Fivrr. But I couldn’t see how people could make actual money to pay bills on Fivrr, but didn’t have high enough skills or experience for Toptal.   I got work within a few weeks of signing up for oDesk, and after seeing the cut that Freelancer was taking after one project, stuck with oDesk. oDesk merged with Elance, they changed their name to UpWork, and here we are.  

That being said: I love UpWork. At one point, one of my clients asked me if we could leave UpWork, and he would pay me directly. I agreed. That is $1000 I will never get back. He was a nice guy, but at that moment, I was screwed over, and there was nothing I could do. UpWork protects you from that happening. 

Secondly, with the sheer amount of freelancers on the site: clients are simply drawn to UpWork. They aren’t just looking for the cheapest: they are looking for the variety.

Note: I am not longer using UpWork, and work 100% on my regular clients and referrals. But there is no way I would have gotten there, or gotten so many skills, without UpWork, so I still think it is the best place to start.

Setting up your profile

Here are three great articles on how to set up a great profile:

Enhance Your Upwork Freelancer Profile for Greater Success

How to Create an Upwork Profile That Gets You Clients, FAST

Sample: Profile

I am not going to rewrite what they’ve said. Because that is a waste of time (hurray for understanding time management!)

But here are my top 6 tips:

Upload a profile picture where you look good. I mean real good. Don’t be an a** about it either. Clean, professional, and hot. That’s all. No party hats or dogs or sunglasses or duck-facey, off camera looks.

Pick 5 skills. Even though they let you have 10: be clear about what you can and want to do. Now, on the topic of skills: you do not need a journalism degree to be a writer. Or a photography degree to manage an Instagram account. Think about the kinds of things you like. Are you a grammar nut? Put those skills to work as an editor. Do you speak multiple langauges fluently? Become a translator. Do you love spreadsheets? That is a freaking skill, (wo)man! Are you generally a happy-go-lucky, I-can-get-shit-done kind of person? Be someone’s personal virtual assistant. You do not have to be defined by what you’ve already done, focus on what you like to do.  

Watch out for typos. I was hiring for this client once, and found a woman who was amazing. We had a skype interview and I was ready to sign on the dotting line, but at the last minute, my client looked at her profile and found a typo and said “No.” Simple as that. I was gutted, because she was really fantastic. Have someone proofread your profile, because it’s that easy for potential clients to move on to the next person.

Don’t worry about tests. Very few clients look at them. Or care. Even if you are in the top 5%. They are nice, but also, kind of a waste of time. 

Fill in your profile so that your bar goes up to 100%. Just do it. I know it’s work, but you’ll get more clients.

Set a reasonable rate for how long you’ve been on the site. Yes, I know you’d love to be paid $50 and hour, but if you’ve got zero experience or hours, you are not going to get clients. Honestly, start at $7-$10 an hour. Then after your first 100 hours, you can bump your rate up to what you think you should be getting. Why 100 hours? Because it puts you in a different search category: a better one. Wait...what are these search categories? Well, when a client is looking for someone, this is what it looks like:

See that massive jump in the number of  Freelancers (the bracket number) on the “Hours Billed” section? That means your competition decreases by more than half, and you can start to get more choosy about your gigs. 

On getting hired

Remember that thing I said about hustling? Yep. You’ve got to do that.

But here are some more tips.

Apply, apply, apply. Then apply some more. I don’t even know how many proposals I wrote in those first few weeks, but it was a lot. And here’s the thing, you can’t cheat. You’ve got to read the position, and write to them personally. All the low-end people cut and paste and never move ahead. Put some soul into it, especially at first.

Start small (I mean cheap): Although your insides might be screaming “I AM BETTER THAN THAT.” take 1-3 low paid one-off projects. Get a five-star rating and use it to propel yourself to the next freelancer level.

In the interview process: be as attentive as possible. This means responding right away to messages, and being available for interviews even if the hours are weird (remember the 4am comment? Yeah, I did that once). Follow up with them, and then follow up again. Be impressive.

On working as a freelancer

Wow! Have you gotten a gig? Good job! You rock! From here on in you are kind of a free agent, and it is between you and your client, but here are some tips.

Get really good at online communication. This means responding to emails quickly, and being clear. This means if at any point you don’t understand what your client wants: you ask them before charging them for work they didn’t need or want or is incorrect. Give them your email, Facebook and Skype, and ask them how their team communicates (Google Hangouts? Slack? Basecamp *gulp*) then be there.

Download the time tracker and stick to working when you are working. It takes three seconds to turn off the tracker, check your Facebook, and then turn it on again. But once you get a screen grab of you hanging out on Facebook, it looks bad. Also, I have come to suspect (from being caught more than once) that UpWork automatically looks for you slacking off, ie. Facebook.

Get your hours in. If they have given you hours, they expect the work to be done. Coming back without the work done with excuses and worse, not having filled up your hours? Bad. Remember the thing I said about them dropping you like you’re hot? Get the work done in the hours they’ve given you, or talk with them and discuss with them why you need fewer hours. That is far better than simply coming up short.

Getting good feedback is important. Even if this means swallowing your pride from time to time. Here is what they are going to rate you on: 

But wait: why is there public feedback and private feedback? Well, you know how you’ve got that job success thing on the side of your profile?  Over time, you get secret points. Those secret points work up to you being featured higher when the clients use the search tool. Also, you’ll get some cool perks in the future, like the Premium Freelancer program.

Lastly, and most importantly: GETTING PAID So, I have to be honest here. I have never fully figured out the timing of the payments. It goes through my PayPal, and whenever it hits a $1000 of earning, it goes into my bank account. There is a bunch of information here though. If you’d like to talk to me privately about payments (ie. Taxes and other trickier areas) feel free to message me.

I hope this gives you enough to get started. As I said before, freelancing is an amazing option if you are done with the office and dream about doing something slightly more, slightly different and have the gumption to do it. If you have any questions, want me to review your profile, or just want to talk more about freelancing— shoot me off a message, I love helping people get one step closer to freedom, be that fiscal or philosophical.

PS. Here is the list of countries I’ve been to while working as a freelancer: Austria, Belarus, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, Faroe Islands, France, Guatemala, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.

[hippoland]

11 Things I've learned from running a micro VC in the last year

It's been about a year since I started working on Hustle Fund with my business partner Eric Bahn.  People often ask me what it's like to start a micro VC and whether they should do one too.  (Hunter Walk just wrote his perspectives here) 

Here are some of my learnings from the last year.  

1) It is absolutely the best job in the world for me.  

I enjoy learning about new technologies and ideas -- and you get to see a lot of them in this business especially in early stage investing.  And I enjoy working with founders immensely.  But most importantly, I love fundraising.  I know -- that isn't what you thought I was going to say.  (more on this later)

Much like running a product-startup, you're your own boss, so you sometimes end up working really hard and at all hours depending on where you are in your fund life cycle.  But, if it's work you enjoy, then it doesn't feel like work.  And, there's also a lot of flexibility, and I've definitely taken advantage of that.  You can whimsically pick the most powdery day of the winter and go up to Tahoe to ski.  Or go to the beach or lake mid week in the summer and no one will be there.  It's great.  

2) Starting a micro VC is just like starting a product company.  Except harder. 

Probably 10x harder.  If you go in knowing that with eyes-wide-open, then it's totally fine, but most people don't do enough homework before deciding to start their funds.  I would talk with at least 10 micro VCs before deciding to do this.

3) In particular, there is no money in micro VC!

Hah - this seems ironic, but I'll explain.  

Most people think VCs have a lot of money.  That's if you work for an existing large established VC.  But if you are starting a VC, this is definitely not true.  I'll break this down across a few points, but the gist is that you have to be willing to make no money for 5-10 years.

If you are not in a solid financial situation to do that, this business can be terrible for your personal life.  

3b) Micro VC's have no budgets.  

This is surprising to a lot of people.  Even if you have say, a $10m fund, most of that money needs to be used for investing -- not for your livelihood or for other things.  

In fact, the standard annual budget that VC funds have is 2% of the fund size for the life of the fund (typically 10 years).  If your fund is say $10m, then that means you have a yearly budget of $200k.  To be clear, this isn't your salary -- this is your budget to run your company.  Your salary does come from this number, but you also need to cover salaries of everyone else on your team (if there are others on your team).  And, if you travel, those costs come from this number too.  If you have an office, that cost fits in here too.  Health care and benefits also fit under this.  Marketing -- if you have t-shirts / watches / swag, parties -- all of this fits under this budget.  There are also fund ops costs that need to be factored into this number too.  As it would turn out when you factor in all these costs, $200k actually doesn't go far.  To give you some perspective, my salary today is less than what I made at my first job out of college...in 2004. 

You need to be willing to bootstrap for about 5-10 years.  In contrast to building a product company, where most people bootstrap for maybe 2-3 years and then either raise some money or build off of profits or throw in the towel, when you sign up to do your own VC, you are committed for 10 years (the standard life of a fund).  You can't throw in the towel.  And if your fund does well -- i.e. your companies either raise more money or they grow their revenues a lot -- you also don't make more money, because your salary is based on a percentage of your fund size.  So your salary (or lack of salary) is stuck for years -- until you raise your next fund when you will have new budget from that fund.  

Some Micro VCs write into their legal docs that they will frontload all of their budget in the first few years.  Under this model, instead of taking say a $200k budget per year for 10 years, some funds will do something like frontload the budget -- say $400k per year for 5 years.  This can help increase your budget, though there are still fund ops costs every year for 10 years, so I'm not sure how these funds end up paying for those costs in years 6-10 if they are taking the full budget up front.  This is not something we do at Hustle Fund.  

Other micro VCs will try to make money in other ways by selling event tickets or whatnot.  In many cases, depending on how your legal docs are written, consulting is discouraged.  So it actually is very hard to bootstrap a micro VC, because on one hand, you get virtually no salary but are also mostly prohibited from making money outside of your work.  

3c) You also will make General Partner contributions to your fund.

At most funds, you will also invest in your fund as well.  This allows you to align with your investors and have skin in the game, and this is standard practice.  In many cases, fund managers invest 1-5% of the fund size.  So if you have a $10m fund, you'd be expected to invest at least $100k to the fund.  

So, not only are you not making money on salary, you are also expected to contribute your own money to the fund.  

There are some funds that don't write this requirement into their legal docs, but it's something that a number of would-be investors always ask about (in my experience).  They want you as a fund manager to be incentivized to make good investments, because you are staking your own cash too.  And this makes sense.

3d) Sometimes you need to loan money to your fund.  

There have been several cases over the course of the last year, where either Eric or myself have had to loan Hustle Fund money interest-free to do a deal that needed to be done now (before we had the fund fully together).  

One thing that is different about raising money for a fund (vs a product-company) is that when investors sign their commitment, they don't actually send you the money right away.  So, let's say we raise $10m, we don't actually have the $10m sitting around in a bank account.  This surprises a lot of people -- VCs don't actually have cash on hand!  

The way investors invest in a fund is they sign a paper committing to invest in the fund.  And then later, when the fund needs money, the fund does a capital call.  Typically, capital calls are done over the course of 3 years.  So, if let's say an investor commits to investing $300k into a fund, then on average, that fund will call 1/3 of the money each year over the course of 3 years.  In this case, that would be roughly a $100k investment each year from this individual.  The capital calls are not done on a perfectly regular cadence, because sometimes a fund will need money sooner than later.  But most funds try as best as they can to do regular capital calls.

But, this also means that there's a lot of strategy and thinking that needs to go into capital calls.  For example, when you're first starting out to raise money and have very little money committed -- say $1m, it can be tempting to call 50% of the money right away to start investing $500k into a couple of deals.  However, as you continue to raise, subsequent investors, will be required to catch up to that 50% called amount.  And let's say you round up another $6m in capital, this means that all of a sudden you have $3m that you're automatically calling to catch up to the proportionate amount that the first set of investors contributed.  And if you're writing small checks out of your fund, much of that $3m will then just sit around in your bank account not earning interest and will negatively affect your rate of return.  So instead of doing a capital call, loaning your fund money is a way to ensure that you don't have capital just sitting around in your bank counting against your rate of return.  

There are bank loans you can get once you are fully closed and up and running, but very few banks will loan you money in the very beginning when you have raised nothing - hah.  

3e) And even if your fund does well, you still make very little money at the end of 10 years!

First, most VC funds are failures.  In fact, much like startups, I've heard that 9 in 10 VCs will not even get to 1x returns!  

But, if you happen to be in the lucky 10%, there's even a range here.  The "gold standard" for profitable VCs is a "3x return" benchmark.  If you're above it, you're considered excellent.  And this is very hard to do.  Just getting into the profitable category is an accomplishment in itself.  But, let's suppose for a moment that your fund is excellent (because we all believe that our funds are excellent). And let's say that we return 5x on our fund.  

On a $10m fund, a 5x fund return means the fund will return $50m.  Using a standard 20% carry formula, and after returning most of the gains to the fund's investors, it means that the team will receive $8m.  If you have 2 managing partners, that's $4m per person -- but 10 years later.  Considering that you'll make no salary for much of that time, there are many other professional / tech / established VC jobs at big Sand Hill firms that will make you more money or the same amount of money on salary alone (not including benefits or stock) with greater certainty.  You don't have to be a 90%+ performer as a Director of Product at Google to accomplish the same outcome as an exceptional micro VC manager.  Think about that -- you risk so much, much like a startup, but your upside is equivalent to working a steady job at Google for 10 years!  

For all of these reasons, this is why microfund managers who are able to raise more money on subsequent funds end up doing so, because for the same amount of work and risk, you'd much rather be paid more in salary and in carried interest later.

4) You should love fundraising.

I think most people think that as a VC you spend most of your time looking at deals.  The breakdown of a given week for me is something like:

50% fundraising-related (preparation of materials / meeting potential future investors / networking / etc)

20% marketing-related (content / speaking / etc)

5% ops (legal / audit / accounting / deal docs / etc)

15% looking at deals (talking w/ co-investors & referrers / emailing with founders / looking at decks / talking with founders)

10% working with portfolio companies

Of course, it varies a bit depending on if you're at the beginning of a raise or if you have closed your fund.  But, the point is, you will spend a solid chunk of your time as a micro VC on fundraising activities.  Even if your fund is closed and you don't have a deck to pitch, you are always in fundraise-mode.  

If you have never fundraised for anything before, you will probably think that this process is horrible.  Having raised money before for my startup and having coached a lot founders on fundraising over the last few years, I've grown to love it.  And part of that is just lots of practice -- the more you practice, the better you get, the more you like something.  

5) Fundraising for a micro vc is exactly like fundraising as a product-startup.  Except more involved.  

Prior to raising a fund, it never occurred to me where fund managers raise their funds.  That was just not something I had thought about before.  For the big Sand Hill VCs, most of them raise money from institutionals.  These are retirement / pension funds at goverment entities.  Or endowments at universities.  Etc.  But as you can imagine, these entities are pretty conservative.  And rightly so, the pension check that granny is counting on for her retirement shouldn't be frivalously thrown away on a fund that invests in virtual hippos recorded on some blockchain.  

So as a first time manager, often it can be difficult to convince these types of institutional funds to invest.  It can be done if you have a strong brand already.  But even if you are an experienced angel investor or worked at a well-known VC fund, you're still starting a new fund with a new brand, and there are still questions about whether you can repeat your past success on this new brand.  

This means that much like product-startups, you end up raising from individuals, family offices, and corporates primarily.  But much like with raising money from angels and corporates for a product-startup, angels and corporates don't have website announcing that they are funding vc funds.  You have to hunt for these folks.  Often these "angels" whom you can access are folks you know or folks who are 2-3 degrees away from you whom you don't know yet (see my post on raising from friends and family).  

And much like a product-startup, the check sizes are going to be smaller if they are from individuals (unless you know lots of very very wealthy individuals).  When we first started fund 1, our minimum check size was $25k -- much like the minimum investment amount for a typical product-startup.  Except that we were raising tens of millions of dollars not $1m.  So, $25k doesn't go far on say a $10m fund.  

This means you need to be doing lots of meetings.  And this takes time.  The average time for a microfund manager to raise a fund is ~2 years.  We felt fortunate and incredibly thankful to our investors to be able to raise our fund in < 1 year.  But, when you think about it, that's still months of actively fundraising.  (see point #4)

6) And you have a limited number of investors you can accept.

Per SEC rules, you can only accept 99 accredited investors into your fund.  This means that if you want to raise a $10m fund, you need the average check size to be above $100k.  

When product-startups set a minimum check size, it's usually arbitrary.  If you're raising $1m for your product-startup, it won't hurt you to take some investors at $1k or $5k checks here and there, especially if they are value-add.  With a fund, every slot counts.  

So when we started with $25k as a minimum check size for some friends, we knew we needed to quickly raise that bar in order to raise a significant enough fund and still maintain 99 investors.  We ended up having to turn away a lot of great value-add would-be investors who could not do a higher investment.  I would have absolutely loved to have brought in more investors if I didn't have this restriction.  

In other words, you cannot just accept $5k here and there from friends and claw your way to momentum.  

To get around this, some funds set up a “1b” fund.  E.g. Hustle Fund 1a and Hustle Fund 1b and split startup investments equally between the two.  That would be one way to get bring in more investors, but the costs of this setup start to go up, so we decided not to do this.  

7) Ok, so there's no money.  You also cannot change the world on fund 1.  

If you can get past all of the above, and you're still "yay yay yay -- I want a life of making no money and want to fundraise all day and night for whatever cause I am trying to support," the last piece is that you should know that you cannot change the world overnight.  

I know so many aspiring micro VCs who go into this, because they want to fund more women or minorities or geographies or some vertical that is underfunded.  And I think those are all awesome worthy causes.  And me too -- the reason I'm doing this is that I don't believe the early stage fundraising landscape is a meritocracy, and I want the future of funding to be much more about speed of execution rather than about what you look like or how you talk.  

But you absolutely need to go into this with a 20-30 year plan.  And the reason is that you're a small little microfund with say $5m, you won't be able to change the numbers in any of these demographics, because impact happens at the late stages when VCs pour tens of millions of dollars into companies -- not $100k here and there.  What does effect change is having lots of money under management.  And that happens by knocking fund 1 out of the park.  And then fund 2.  And then fund 3.  And growing your fund each step of the way.  And growing your believers who start to hop onboard your strategy -- not only your investor base but other VCs.  And that is a 20+ year plan.  

Moreover, you need to be contrarian to have a good fund.  But at the same time, you cannot be too contrarian either on fund 1, because you need to work with other VCs in the ecosystem.  You need your founders to get downstream capital.  So to a good extent, I do care a lot about what downstream investors think and how they think about things.  You can only start to be very contrarian once you have more money under management (i.e. have proven out the last couple of funds) and follow on into your companies yourself.  

So in short, you will not make any money on fund 1.  You might need to loan money to your fund.  You will need to have money to invest into your fund.  You will constantly be selling your fund as an awesome investment opportunity for this fund and the next fund and the fund after that, etc...  And you will not change the world on fund 1.  But, if you still love all of this and go in with eyes-wide-open on all of these things, and if you believe you want to do this for the next 20-30 years, then I would highly encourage you to go for it.  I think it is the best job in the world.  

Fundraising is a nebulous process that I aim to make more transparent.  To learn more secrets and tips, subscribe to my newsletter.

[itsguillia]

Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle While Working a 9 to five

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle are often difficult to realize in and of itself, so no doubt staying healthy is even tougher when you’re working a full-time job. For those folks that are fortunate enough to be working a 9-5 (insert descriptor you are feeling is most appropriate); it is often hard making it to the gym post-rush-hour traffic on your way home, or trying to cook a healthy dinner after an extended sluggish day.

But it doesn’t need to be that way.

If we reverse engineer our current methods of postponing “the healthy stuff” until after work; and instead incorporate it in our actual workday – staying healthy could be a touch more attainable than you think that. a couple of small habits go an extended way and may initiate to not just “getting fit”, but creating a healthy lifestyle that keeps you balanced.

 1.  PACK YOUR LUNCH

Rule no 1 for all of my fellow corporate: Pack. Your. Lunch.

You’ve heard it before and I’ll gladly say it again: the simplest thanks to staying healthy while working full-time, is to bring your own, nutritious lunch. Let’s rehearse a number of the pros and cons of bringing your lunch to work:

Pros:

•** Pack the healthy food you would like, consistent with your preferences**

• Eat a properly portioned and healthy meal

• Save money… tons of cash.

In other words: win-win-win.

Con’s:

• You don’t get to travel out for lunch thereupon one co-worker you don’t like that much anyway.

** **

(Sounds more sort of a pro, if you inquire from me .)

What people often struggle with the foremost, however, is finding the time to pack their lunch. After an extended day at work, no, you’re not getting to want to return home and scrummage through your Tupperware to pack a lunch for the subsequent day. So don’t. Leave the work (aka lunch-packing) for a time you’re filled with energy: Sunday’s.

How to: Allocate a couple of hours on a Sunday (and/or Wednesday) to urge a few lunches packed up and prepared for your workweek. Or, as I prefer to call it: get down and dirty together with your #mealprepsundays.

Not only does this get you to eat healthily for the week – but you save a big amount of your time, rather than trying to try to all of tonight after night during the workweek.

 2.  BRING YOUR BOTTLE WITH YOU, EVERYWHERE

 We should all be consuming a minimum of 8 cups of fluids each day. Now since I’m sure we’ve all got a touch of “overachiever-fever” in us, why not down a couple of more cups? We need to remain hydrated even while we’re sitting at our desks all day.

How to: be a careful cellphone, we’ve got a replacement important thang we’re taking everywhere with us: our water bottles. Everywhere we go, our bottle comes too. This includes meetings, coffee breaks, subway commutes – everywhere. You’ll gradually get into the habit of sipping throughout the day and refilling, and you’ll begin to note yourself drinking more and more water over time. Want to stay it interesting? Set yourself up for a challenge. Tell yourself you’re getting to consume X bottles of water before 5 pm, and track it. That'll keep you motivated and encouraged, but most significantly, hydrated.

** be prepared. You’ll be making a couple of more runs to the women room than expected, so make certain to go away some buffer time as you run from meeting to meeting. 😉**

 3.  SUIT YOUR WORKOUT IN

Calling all commuters! This one’s for you. Fitting a workout into your day is often tough, especially when you’ve got a 45+ minute commute every day to the office. except for those of you that don’t have an extended commute, you would possibly still struggle with finding the right combination of timing x high energy to urge a workout in. Commuter or not, we’ve got your covered.

How to: Find the simplest time that works for you to suit during a gym session, and stick with it. I’m highlighting a number of the simplest ways below to sneak a workout into your oh-so-busy day:

 (1) very first thing within the morning. We’re talking pre-breakfast, pre-work, and pre-anything! Hit the gym very first thing within the morning and obtain it out of the way. Now if you’re already struggling to awaken within the morning’s, this one’s getting to take some practice. If you’ve got an extended commute -this one’s likely not for you (Refer to #2 or #3)

 (2) During lunch. If you’re lucky enough to possess a gym right near your office, take a lunch break and go get your sweat on. It’s a simple thanks to confirming you get to the gym as long as it allows you to urge out of the office for a touch too. an excessive amount of work and can’t leave the office? We’ve got a couple of other options that’ll work for you.

 (3) Immediately after work. No, this doesn’t mean head home, eat dinner, relax, then if you are feeling like going you go. We’re talking straight from the office to the gym. Have your bag packed (along with some additional snacks) and convey it with you. Make this a part of your routine. For those of you that commute by driving and sometimes grind to a halt in rush-hour traffic – this is often an ideal thanks to getting your workout in while avoiding the push. Join a gym right near your office and go straight after your workday. Once you’re done your workout, you’ve beaten the rush hour traffic, and you’ll get home with no time wasted and a workout complete!

 (4) Sweat reception. Now for this one: proceed with caution. There are several great workouts guides nowadays that show you ways to urge an honest workout in right from the comfort of your house. understanding reception provides you with more flexibility when it involves timing. the sole issue with this though is that sometimes home is often a touch too comfortable, which puts you back within the place you started. It’s easy to skip a workout here and there when there’s not an actual outside-of-the-home-routine related to it. I might suggest getting an honest rhythm and routine on your workouts before you are opt-in to “at-home” workouts only.

 4. PUT YOURSELF FIRST

By now, you’ve got your lunches packed, your water-bottle filled, and your gym bag ready for tomorrow’s sweaty workout. But there’s only one other thing you would like to assist maintain that healthy lifestyle while working full-time, and that’s a mindset.

Your psychological state is vital. Throughout your workday, you need to concentrate on how and what you’re feeling, and put yourself first. Remember that employment is a figure, and your health always trumps any major deadline or big deliverable you’ve got happening. If you push yourself past your limits, you'll burnout as a result. Stress, fatigue, and anxiety are all signs that you simply might just need an opportunity. Observe yourself, be aware, and hear your body, because nothing is as important as your well-being.

 Just remember: caring for your mind is simply as important as caring for your body – one can’t be healthy without the opposite.

[howellrichard]

How to Adapt to Working from Home

Hiya Gorgeous!

People often assume I’m an extrovert. I can’t blame them, given my penchant for speaking in front of thousands of people and connecting online every day. But the truth is, I love being alone. Solitude is my happy place, and working from home has always come naturally to me.

That doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. Many find it easier to focus at an office. But as we practice social distancing to flatten the coronavirus curve, many of you have suddenly found yourselves with remote jobs… whether you like it or not.

If you’re feeling the whiplash, you’re not alone.

Folks all over the world are dealing with sudden, unexpected life changes, myself included! But since I have been doing the work-from-home thing successfully for a long time, I’m hoping I can help make this transition a little easier. So today I’m sharing what I’ve learned about what it takes to stay happy and productive while working remotely.

We’ll also talk about ways to create and maintain BOUNDARIES. Full disclosure: This is the area I struggle with most. I love what I do—it’s my life’s work! And if I’m not careful, that line between work and life gets pretty darn blurry.

When our world is turned upside down, it’s easy to bury ourselves in work or lose sight of what’s best for us. But I know that I’m happiest, healthiest and best-equipped to lead when I prioritize self-care and keep my boundaries strong. I think you’ll find that to be true for you, too!

Pulling back the curtain on common work-from-home pitfalls.

So, practically overnight you may have gone from commuting to the office to commuting to the… kitchen table (or home office if you’re lucky enough to have one!). That’s big, and on the surface it might sound like a dream come true. No more sitting in traffic or putting on real pants, right?

But with the need for social distancing accelerating at lighting speed, you probably didn’t have much time to prepare. That means you may be missing out on some of the best practices that can make working from home a win.

Whether you’re brand new or a seasoned pro at working from home, these symptoms indicate that remote work isn’t working for you. (No worries, though. Tips on how to make it work coming soon!)

Look out for these common pitfalls:

Breaking frequently because you’re distracted by household chores like laundry.

Not taking ANY breaks and sitting at your computer for hours at time.

Eating meals at your desk.

Rolling out of bed with only a few minutes to spare before work.

Working into the evenings instead of shutting down at day’s end.

Being constantly distracted by the people and pets you live with.

Difficulty balancing work with caring for your kids.

Having more anxious thoughts or dreams about work than usual.

Feeling isolated and disconnected from your coworkers.

Feeling like you can’t disconnect and transition into “home mode” at the end of the day.

I didn’t write this list just to stress you out. But if any of those sound familiar, there are some proven practices you can engage to protect your productivity (and your mental health!) while working from home. Now, ready to talk solutions?

How to Quickly Adapt to Working from Home

These practices have been essential for cultivating my balanced work-from-home life. I hope they help you stay happy and productive, whether you’re working from home or just staying home more than usual. And it doesn’t end when you go back to the office—you can keep using these ideas to improve your work/life balance, no matter where you are!

1. Create a consistent schedule with start-up and wind-down times.

Establishing start and stop times for your work day helps you maintain boundaries. I encourage you to try this out, even if you normally keep a flexible schedule! Your day is no longer bookended by getting to and leaving the office, so this gives you back that definition. Plus, establishing routines can provide a sense of normalcy in uncertain times.

Take it a step further by creating start-up and wind-down rituals. That means that the first hour of your day is dedicated to getting grounded and set up for success with the work ahead—and the last hour is dedicated to wrapping up that work so that you can “clock out” on time. My team and I started doing this recently and it has been a game changer!

2. Set clear objectives for each day.

This might be something you do during your start-up ritual! Pick two or three top priorities and keep them visible all day long. (I write mine in my Results Journal, but do whatever works for you!) Whenever possible, batch activities like meetings, inbox time, etc. together on your calendar. That way, you’ll have long periods of dedicated focus to work toward your top objectives.

3. When it comes to hygiene, act like you’re going to leave the house.

Take a shower, put on clothes… you know the drill! I’m not saying you have to do full hair and makeup—if yoga pants are your jam, go for it. But good hygiene is part of taking care of yourself and maintaining your routine. Plus, it can make you feel more centered and motivated.

4. Establish a dedicated workspace.

All of a sudden, work is home and home is work. Whaaat? When the two share a space, it can be pretty hard to maintain boundaries. Don’t worry if you don’t have an office, just be intentional about creating separate spaces for work and the rest of your life (aka don’t work in your bed!). Also, tidy up your space. Chaos in your workspace creates chaos in your mind.

5. Take real breaks.

When you go to the office, you automatically get a little fresh air and movement, even if it’s just walking from your front door to the car. You’re also more likely to walk to meetings and water cooler chats throughout the day. Fear not if you feel a bit stagnant or sluggish when you first start working from home—it’s totally fixable.

The key is to take real, mindful breaks. Take a few minutes for deep breathing in the morning or for stretching in the afternoon. Avoid the eat-at-your-desk trap and give yourself recess! Eat lunch outside if you can or do a quick yoga session in your living room. Just make simple self-care breaks a part of your day.

Need a dose of calm on your break? Grab my free Instant Stress Reduction guided meditation below!

6. Connect virtually.

If you’re new to working from home, you might feel disconnected at first. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to connect virtually. Have video meetings whenever you can using a tool like Zoom. Use Slack to check-in with your coworkers about work-related topics as well as fun stuff like photos of your at-home workspace and wins for the day. Just don’t keep chat notifications on all day. I’ve been there and it’s a recipe for getting nothing done!

7. Have kids? Read this.

I know that many of you aren’t just dealing with a surprise work-from-home scenario. You’re dealing with a whole new paradigm of parenting during the day, too. (You deserve a medal for this, by the way!) Trying to work while your kids are home can be really tough—and that’s especially true if you’re suddenly having to homeschool them. One of my amazing colleagues is a pro in this department (she homeschools and works from home on the reg!), so I asked her for a few tips…

Keep a routine, but it doesn’t have to be rigid. Set clear boundaries between school and play time, and make sure everyone knows what to expect.

Plan for together AND alone time each day so you can all stay connected while still having your space.

Make a list of activities to choose from and get your kids’ input. If they’re bored during free time, they’ll have a resource to go to.

Be gentle with yourself and seek support. If your partner is home, work out a schedule to trade shifts with the kids. Lean on your loved ones and fellow parents, too. They can’t be with you in person right now, but they can still be there for you from afar. (There may even be a loving aunt or grandparent who’d love to read your child a story on Facetime if you need a quick break.)

These are just a few of the ideas my friend shared to help those working from home with kids. Would you be interested in a blog post dedicated to this topic? Let me know in the comments!

And here’s my final tip…

Remember, you are a whole person who is likely going through a lot of stress right now. Please be kind to yourself. There aren’t hard and fast dividing lines between the many roles in your life. You’re a friend, parent, employee, boss, lover, artist, patient, thriver… all of these beautiful parts of you are intertwined. Try seeing this as an opportunity to explore those connections and to plug into the activities that give you energy and comfort. With a few simple boundaries, working from home can be a powerful way to bring all the parts of yourself together.

And as you adapt to this new reality, spread kindness around to those who can’t work from home. From medical and emergency workers, to the hospitality industry, to those who are keeping our supply chains running (farmers, factory workers, truck drivers, etc.)—many are braving traditional work climates because remote work isn’t an option. Recognize those who may be losing income or risking their safety to help others—and look for ways to help them in return. They’re looking out for us, so let’s make sure we have their backs, too!

Your turn: Are you working from home right now? If so, how’s it going? And if you have tips to share, please do!

Peace & boundaries,

The post How to Adapt to Working from Home appeared first on KrisCarr.com.

[wolfypuppypiles]

Love, Hope, and Misery: Chapter 8

“Magnus, I’m fine; it’s been three weeks.”

The warlock wouldn’t let go of his boyfriend, arms tightly wrapped around his middle, as Alec tried to walk to the door.

“I don’t want you to go! What if you get hurt again?”

Alec peeled Magnus off him and took his pouting face in his hands. Those eyes were so sad but the shadowhunter had been at home for so long he thought he’d start going mad if he were kept in bed any longer.

“I’ll be fine, I promise to be careful. Come here, give me a kiss.”

Magnus obliged, kissing Alec more passionately than a morning goodbye might usually require. It had been a rough couple of weeks, with Alec having more nightmares, and needing sleep spells in the first week. Magnus didn’t have the nicest dreams either, but Alec’s wounds were healed and he hadn’t had any bad dreams in four days, and so the angel insisted he was fit for duty once more.

Alec broke off the kiss and walked to the door, not noticing the way his boyfriend’s hands were glowing.

“I’ll see you for dinner, love you.”

Magnus laid the protective charm over Alec before he turned around, and hid his hands behind his back as he smiled and said goodbye.

“Love you, too!”

Alec had been coddled and kept in bed for three weeks, making him more than eager to get back to work. He walked into the institute and breathed in the sweet scent of freedom and leather, smiling, and shaking the hands of a few people that welcomed him back.

He was headed to the main room in search of his siblings, when someone bumped into him. They weren’t watching where they were going, and it wouldn’t have been a big deal if a bubble of magic hadn’t exploded around Alec.

The protective barrier enveloped the Lightwood in magic and prevented anyone from coming close. The force of the spell so great that the man that had bumped into Alec had been sent soaring across the room.

Heads turned to watch the poor, unsuspecting victim, crash into a holo-table.

“By the angel, are you okay?” Alec felt terrible, but the man got up and brushed himself off, merely making a comment about being the first half-angel to fly.

Alec waved at him in apology and took out his phone.

“Hello, my love. Do you miss me already? You haven’t even been gone an hour.” Magnus’ voice was bright and cheerful, making Alec close his eyes and breathe in an attempt to be patient. He wasn’t really mad; especially since he should have known something like this would happen.

“Magnus, darling, did you put a protective charm on me?”

There was a guilty pause, and then a small laugh as Magnus tried to sound innocent.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why? Did you get into trouble already?”

Alec sighed, and leant a hand on the solid, protective bubble around him. “You don’t have to worry about me, I can take care of myself. Someone just got thrown across the room for bumping into me. You’re lucky he was okay or I’d have a lot of explaining to do.”

Magnus began mumbling, talking under his breath like a reprimanded, four hundred year old, child. “Well, he must have hit you pretty hard for the charm to be activated.”

“Magnus!”

“Okay, okay, I’ll take it down. I’m sorry. Call me at lunch so I know you’re still alive, please?” The bubble dissipated and a photo of Magnus blowing a kiss appeared in Alec’s hand, with a note in the warlocks handwriting.

“Please, don’t be mad, I love you!!! XOXO”

Alec smiled at the note and shook his head as he laughed. “Okay, I’ll talk to you then. I love you, now leave me alone and have a good day.”

Alec hadn’t been in his office in weeks, and he’d missed the quiet, organised, space. He found a frame for Magnus’ photo and set it on his desk before Jace and Izzy walked in.

“Hey guys.”

“Hey, quite the performance out there.”

Jace took a seat in front of his brother’s desk, lounging in the chair as Izzy came and sat on the edge of the table.

Alec ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, Magnus is a little overprotective at the moment, He didn’t even want me to go back to work.”

Izzy crossed her legs daintily, as if she weren’t sitting on top of her brothers work space. “Well, that’s understandable, given what happened. Jace wanted me to ban you from work a little longer, but you’re fully healed, so there really isn’t any reason to keep you from working.”

Jace lightly kicked at her boot with his as he frowned and whispered to her grumpily. “Tattle tale.”

Alec smiled and activated a holo-screen, tapping away at it before spinning it to face his siblings.

“Good, because we have a mission.”

Jace’s mouth fell open, as he read the mission statement.

“A forsaken! You want to take on a forsaken after almost dying? Absolutely not!”

Alec laughed. “Forsaken’s aren’t that bad, and there’s three of us.”

Jace stood, getting upset, as he waved his hands around. “The last time you took on one of those, it hit you with a mace! Your arm was torn to shreds!”

Izzy was still reading the screen carefully, as Alec rolled his eyes and tried to reason with his Parabatai.

“That one had been experimented on by Valentine, this one is just a mundane that messed with something they shouldn’t have. Besides, Izzy is the Doctor and she said I’m fine.”

Isabelle hummed in disagreement, flicking through files on the screen. “Well, to be clear, I said you were okay to go back to work, I didn’t say anything about active duty. Your iratze rune doesn’t work anymore, I don’t think you should be racing into battle before we know how to fix it.”

Jace smiled and crossed his arms in triumph. “Ha ha, Izzy said you can’t come.”

Alec made a face at brother’s childishness, and stood, squaring his shoulders as he walked out of the room. “Too bad, we’re all going.”

Jace and Izzy followed, as he led them to the armoury and began strapping on his thigh holster.

“Alec, did you not hear what Izzy just said?”

The older boy was getting very tired of not being trusted or listened to. He just wanted to go back to how things were, he wanted to go back to being the protective older brother, because that was his job. Ever since Izzy had been born, Alec had been trusted to take care of her, and then of Jace and Max too. And he liked it that way.

Although his parents had often put too much responsibility on his shoulders, he’d grown to carry that weight and he liked being able to take care of those he loved. That was his job and he loved it. But now they wouldn’t let him.

Alec turned to his younger brother, with a glare, tone impatient. “Jace, I am your boss, and I gave you an order. We are going on this mission, and we will all be fine because forsaken’s are easy.”

Jace was breathing hard, chest heaving as he tried to contain his anger. His eyes were hard and his lips pressed into a hard line as Izzy carefully placed her hand on his shoulder to try calm the two boys.

“Jace? I’m sure he’ll be fine, he’s –“ The blond stormed away, gathering bits of body armor from a chest across the room, and coming back to throw them at his brother.

“I’m not going unless you wear this, Mr-I’m-in-charge. Because I’ve had enough of watching you almost die.” He stormed off, leaving the scattered pieces of leather on the floor around Alec.

He was so mad, and didn’t look back as he muttered, loud enough for Alec to hear the bitter word he spat out.

“Asshole.”

Alec sighed as Jace left, and looked to Izzy for help. “You think I can do this, right? I’m still a good fighter, it’s not like I can’t take care of myself.”

Izzy helped him pick up the pieces of armor from the floor and handed them to him. “I know you can, because I checked over your last x-rays a dozen times. I still worry about you and so will Jace and Magnus for a while because we love you, and we don’t want to see you hurt again. I know you want to get back into work and I know you’re all better now but you aren’t the only one that’s been having nightmares; Jace and I have kind of been sharing a room for the past few weeks.”

Alec’s expression softened. He’d had no idea. “Izzy, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

She nodded, looking sullen. “It’s okay, he didn’t really want you to find out. Just be patient with him, he felt everything that you did, and feeling you almost slip away… he can’t let it go and he can’t bear the thought of losing you again.”

She gave him a pointed look, one that meant he needed to be the big brother and take care of Jace, even if that meant letting Jace take care of him.

…………

Jace was sulking, and talking quietly with Izzy when Alec came to meet them at the door of the institute. The blonde looked so upset, face lowered, and shoulders slumped as Izzy brushed his hair back in a comforting gesture.

They turned as they saw Alec, and all tension melted from Jace’s face, as he broke out in a smile.

Alec didn’t often care about how he dressed, unless he was trying to impress Magnus, but even he was embarrassed by his unusual attire.

Shadowhunters only wore armor when going into heavy battle, and even then, the armor was light and flexible. But a forsaken was not classed as heavy battle and the armor Jace had given him was anything but light. It was bulky and restrictive, made out of thick, hardened leather. Alec could barely move while wearing it, and had to waddle over to his two siblings.

No credible shadowhunter would wear such ridiculous armor, but the smile on Jace’s face was worth it.

“I know I was the one who told you to wear that, but you still look like an idiot.”

Alec smiled back, seeing the relief in Jace’s eyes when he knocked on the chest plate and found it to be solid.

“Yeah, whatever, let’s get going you worry wart.”

The forsaken had been spotted a few blocks from the institute, which wasn’t a long walk except Alec had to lug around the stupid armor. He was grateful when they finally spotted the poor, mutilated thing, but found he couldn’t even raise his bow to fight, let alone notch an arrow.

Jace and Izzy surged forward, as Alec hung back, resigning himself to just watch as they took on the monster themselves. The forsaken was pretty large, and very strong, and Jace and Izzy were taking it down together.

 Izzy would attract its attention so that it would attack her and Jace could stab at it from behind, until it turned on him and Izzy would attack it instead. The plan would have worked, if the forsaken hadn’t found a new target and charged right at it.

It let out a guttural yell of rage as it lumbered towards Alec, who couldn’t manage to pull out his seraph blade before it tackled him to the ground. Alec let out a grunt as he hit the concrete, all the air being pushed out of his chest as the thing landed on top of him.

Jace and Izzy screamed in terror as they watched, sprinting over to try and help. 

Jace watched his brother go down, hitting the pavement, hard, and disappearing under the mass of the forsaken. He was trained for battle, to concentrate on what needed to be done, and he knew he had to focus on killing the beast if he wanted to save his brother. But all his training was thrown out the window and at that moment, he couldn’t think like a soldier. Because he wasn’t just a shadowhunter, he was also a little brother and the constant nightmares about losing his Parabatai were coming true before his eyes. Again.

His seraph blade fell from his hands as he stumbled, yelling for his best friend, and his heart leapt inside his chest at the thought that Alec might be hurt again.

Izzy took down the forsaken herself, stabbing it through the heart and kicking the carcass off the Nephilim on the ground.

Alec groaned as he scooted away from the body, one arm wrapped protectively around his chest as he heaved in labored breaths.

Jace fell to his knees beside him and frantically pressed his hands to the others chest, searching for injuries or breaks in the armor.

“Oh, my god, Alec. Are you okay? God, I’m so sorry.”

His hands were shaking as he pulled at the straps, tearing off the armor and pressing careful fingers to Alec’s ribs to check for breaks. But he couldn’t concentrate enough to check properly, getting himself into a panic as his eyes blurred with tears.

Alec took Jace’s hands in his and tried to calm him down, but the blonde pulled his hands free and tried again to check the other boy over.

“Jace, I’m okay, it just winded me. Stop, I’m all right.”

Jace shook his head, hands clenching in his big brother’s shirt as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breathe through his choppy breaths.

“No, it’s not. It’s not okay, I shouldn’t have ignored the way our rune felt, I should have found you right away.”

Alec didn’t know what he was talking about, he shook his head and tried to get Jace to look at him.

“Ignored what? Jace, calm down, take a deep breath.”

The blonde sucked in a shuddering breath, looking at Alec with so much guilt, he didn’t know how he held it all.

“The day you got taken by that seelie, I could feel something was wrong. You were scared and in pain but it wasn’t that bad so I just thought you were having a fight with Magnus or something. I didn’t find you fast enough, Alec, it’s my fault she hurt you and I’m so sorry.”  

He sat back on his haunches and cried, all the guilt he’d been holding spilling out at once.

Alec shook his head. “Jace, I don’t blame you, and it wasn’t your fault. She’s the one that hurt me, not you. Hey, look at me.”

Those bright eyes turned to him, begging for forgiveness, and Alec carefully wiped a stray tear away with a curled finger.

“Our job is dangerous, and we get hurt all the time, if we listened to our runes every time they said something was mildly wrong, we’d never leave each other’s side. I never once thought you abandoned or forgot about me, Jace. I was actually hoping you wouldn’t come, so that she couldn’t hurt you too.

“But you came and you saved me because that’s what we do, we protect each other. I’m sorry, I worried you and I’m sorry that I didn’t think about how you’d be feeling about all of this. But I promise that I’m okay, and that I’m not mad at you.”

Jace sniffed, nodding as he wiped a hand over his face. He’d been holding in his feelings ever since they rescued Alec, and it felt good to have finally talked about it. Alec offered his brother a smile and pulled him in for a hug.

“Come here, I love you brother.”

Jace held on tight, feeling better than he had in weeks. “I love you, too.”

Izzy smiled behind them. “I know you two are having a nice moment, but I did stop the forsaken by myself.”

Jace laughed and dried his face, reaching up to take her hand and pull her into the family hug.

“Come here, Izzy dizzy.”

Alec pulled the two into his arms and squeezed them tight. “You know I won’t ever leave you guys.”

Izzy and Jace answered at the same time. “We know.”

“Good because, even though this armor saved my life, I still hate it and I never want to wear it again.”

(Thank you to everyone that liked reblogged followed or left feedback for this fic I hope you enjoyed it! I am taking prompts for shadowhunters, voltron(klance), and macgyver including, but not limited to whump! So just go into my inbox or messages i love talking to people. You can find this and all my other fics and chapters on ff.net and ao3 in the links below.)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12544803/8/Love-hope-and-misery

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11294259/chapters/25268385

[ralphlayton]

Day 4,777: Remote Work Tips From 13+ Years As A Distance Marketer

Today is day 4,777. Not days quarantined, but days working remotely. On Monday, March 23, 2007 I started working remotely, and 4,777 days later I still do. A staple aspect of my daily work life that had been the exception for most marketers is now — at least temporarily — the rule, with most people working from home due to the global health crisis. Having been a remote worker for a long time, I wanted to share the helpful practices that I wish I’d known when first starting out, and expand on my previous article “Remote Communication Opportunities For B2B Marketers.” Many have been working remotely much longer than me, and each one will have their own stories of remote work successes and snafus. According to my “days-since” calculator, my 4,777 days of remote work has been comprised of:

412,732,800 seconds

6,878,880 minutes

114,648 hours

4777 days

682 weeks and 3 days

13.08 years

That’s a lot of remote work time, yet for me I wouldn’t want it any other way, as I’ve found that the many advantages of working remotely outnumber those of traditional business office work settings.

Remote Work Has Changed Forever

How cataclysmic have the changes brought about by the pandemic collectively affected perceptions surrounding remote work, and what lasting changes will forever alter how — and especially where — we work? Survey data has begun to show that people are increasingly seeing remote work as being at least as efficient and in some cases even more effective than traditional pre-pandemic office-based work. 65 percent of B2B decision makers now view their new work model as being as effective or more effective than pre-pandemic models, an increase of 5 percent over just one month, as shown in the following chart from McKinsey. Even with dismal unemployment rates, new remote work job opportunities have begun to expand, as Entrepreneur recently explored in “These 50 Companies Are Growing and Hiring Remotely Right Now.” Let’s take a look at five helpful practices I’ve learned during my 13-plus year stint of remote work, including a third option that sits squarely between traditional work-spaces and the work-from-home model.

1 — Create Your Own Separate & Pleasant Physical Workspace

It's helpful to create your own separate physical workspace that's both pleasant and conductive to productive remote work. Whether it’s a dedicated room in your home where you’ll be doing the bulk of your work, a makeshift office set up in a garage or attic space, or a co-working space in another location, having a physical place — no matter how small — that you can leave at the end of the workday is a helpful way to separate your personal and professional life. When it comes to where you physically work, another option to consider is leasing your own private office space. This can be an ideal way to work remotely while also keeping home life separated from business, although depending on your location office space can be expensive. I’m lucky enough to live in a city with inexpensive office space where I’ve kept a private office for over 13 years, and I highly recommend this approach when possible. It combines most of the advantages of traditional offices in a corporate environment with the benefits of working remotely.

2 — Implement and Stick To a Firm Schedule

I’ve always found it helpful to build a regular schedule into each remote workday, starting and ending at predetermined times as much as possible. At the other end of the remote work spectrum are situations where you can take advantage of the flexibility of certain remote schedules, and work as needed throughout each 24-hour period. This will depend on your particular company, duties, and the value you place on either regular work hours or the freedom of work-time flexibility. Whichever method you choose, during that first year of remote work it’s helpful to devise your own personalized schedule that pulls in some of the best elements from your previous office location in order to bring a sense of familiarity and organization to your new working environment.

3 — Gain Energy By Embracing Remote Work’s Advantages

Although they may be difficult to find early on while you’re adjusting to remote work, it can be helpful to take the time to learn and savor the advantages of working remotely, especially for those working from a home office. Particularly if your remote work situation isn’t a permanent one, it's beneficial to take the time to appreciate the little things that working remotely provides — whether it’s sharing a lunch with your partner or children, taking a break-time walk in a new nearby area, or simply enjoying some extra time you’ve saved by not having to contend with a lengthy work commute. Once stay-at-home safety measures are a thing of the past, another advantage of remote work to explore will be the ability to work from a variety of locations, which can help keep your B2B marketing work fresh and provide extra energy as you bring your laptop office to different spots in your city — an eventually as the pandemic subsides — state, country, and internationally. Remote work situations will likely become permanent for many in the months and years ago, while a variety of hybrid scenarios may also proliferate, such as splitting the work-week between remote and time at the company office.

3 — Creatively Insulate Yourself From Distraction

Just as in a traditional office environment, it’s smart to minimize distractions as much as possible, so that you can use remote work to find a newfound focus on your projects. If working from home, be sure the people in your home know your working schedule, and encourage them to connect with you only during set times such as over lunch or breaks. Some remote workers like to get outside when possible, especially if distractions threaten to interfere with important meetings or projects. Other remote workers chose to wear noise-cancelling headphones or to listen to music while working if noisy distractions are otherwise unavoidable.

4 — Utilize Powerful Remote Collaboration Software

During the Internet’s amazing 50-year history we’ve never had such powerful remote collaboration software available as we do now, and during the pandemic more people than ever have learned to use tools such as Zoom and Slack. Marketers typically use a vast number of tools daily, and thankfully nearly all can be used successfully in remote work settings, as our senior operations strategist Anne Leuman recently explored in “5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis,” also showing how marketers are adjusting messaging during the pandemic. Offering a complete remote work operating system, our client monday.com has been sharing the fascinating stories of how its team has been finding success during the pandemic in a series of team member portraits called #MyRemoteLife, and publishing helpful information such as “19 WFH Stats That Might Surprise You.” Whatever tools you work with, in a remote work setting it’s just as important as in a traditional office environment to make sure that all your hardware and software are fully set up and ready for marketing action.

5 — Implement Remote-Friendly Tech Gadgets

As with a traditional business office, remote workers should set up the technology hardware necessary for doing your best work, whether it’s a second, third, or fourth monitor, or a WiFi signal extender. The size and number of monitors you work with is a personal preference, and may be limited by your laptop or desktop’s graphic cards. For me, I found the jump in productivity of going from two monitors to three was much more noticeable than the move long ago from one to two. I first worked with a multiple-monitor setup all the way back in the 1980s, when I used three monitors in a multiple Commodore Amiga computer system. Technology and marketing have both changed significantly during the intervening years, yet thankfully much also still remains the same, such as the importance of trust in marketing and the power of telling a good story.

Get Closer To Your Projects Than Ever Through Remote Work

A properly set up remote work environment can provide a positive and distraction-free place to focus intensely on your projects, and research continues to emerge showing that this is a very real advantage of working outside of a traditional office environment. Every successful remote worker has their own favorite productivity and well-being tips, and our team at TopRank Marketing has penned the following recent remote work articles offering additional insight:

5 Project Management Tips for Adrift Remote Marketing Teams

6 Tips to Keep B2B Marketing Teams in Rhythm While Working Remotely

5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis

Best SEO Tips for Marketing During the Pandemic Plus 9 Top SEO Platforms

There’s never been a better time to tackle remote work, and the challenges and opportunities created by a workforce that will likely continue to make this switch in numbers the world has never seen, will combine to make this an era unlike any other. As B2B marketers, even if we continue to work from the traditional office building, we’ll be working with a new era of clients, associates, and business partners featuring more remote workers than ever — a grand experiment with outcomes and possibly unforeseen consequences. Looking for help with your B2B marketing? Contact us today and find out why clients such as LinkedIn, Adobe, Dell, 3M, Slack, and Oracle have chosen TopRank Marketing, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and our YouTube channel.

Day 4,777: Remote Work Tips From 13+ Years As A Distance Marketer published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

[samuelpboswell]

Day 4,777: Remote Work Tips From 13+ Years As A Distance Marketer

Today is day 4,777. Not days quarantined, but days working remotely. On Monday, March 23, 2007 I started working remotely, and 4,777 days later I still do. A staple aspect of my daily work life that had been the exception for most marketers is now — at least temporarily — the rule, with most people working from home due to the global health crisis. Having been a remote worker for a long time, I wanted to share the helpful practices that I wish I’d known when first starting out, and expand on my previous article “Remote Communication Opportunities For B2B Marketers.” Many have been working remotely much longer than me, and each one will have their own stories of remote work successes and snafus. According to my “days-since” calculator, my 4,777 days of remote work has been comprised of:

412,732,800 seconds

6,878,880 minutes

114,648 hours

4777 days

682 weeks and 3 days

13.08 years

That’s a lot of remote work time, yet for me I wouldn’t want it any other way, as I’ve found that the many advantages of working remotely outnumber those of traditional business office work settings.

Remote Work Has Changed Forever

How cataclysmic have the changes brought about by the pandemic collectively affected perceptions surrounding remote work, and what lasting changes will forever alter how — and especially where — we work? Survey data has begun to show that people are increasingly seeing remote work as being at least as efficient and in some cases even more effective than traditional pre-pandemic office-based work. 65 percent of B2B decision makers now view their new work model as being as effective or more effective than pre-pandemic models, an increase of 5 percent over just one month, as shown in the following chart from McKinsey. Even with dismal unemployment rates, new remote work job opportunities have begun to expand, as Entrepreneur recently explored in “These 50 Companies Are Growing and Hiring Remotely Right Now.” Let’s take a look at five helpful practices I’ve learned during my 13-plus year stint of remote work, including a third option that sits squarely between traditional work-spaces and the work-from-home model.

1 — Create Your Own Separate & Pleasant Physical Workspace

It's helpful to create your own separate physical workspace that's both pleasant and conductive to productive remote work. Whether it’s a dedicated room in your home where you’ll be doing the bulk of your work, a makeshift office set up in a garage or attic space, or a co-working space in another location, having a physical place — no matter how small — that you can leave at the end of the workday is a helpful way to separate your personal and professional life. When it comes to where you physically work, another option to consider is leasing your own private office space. This can be an ideal way to work remotely while also keeping home life separated from business, although depending on your location office space can be expensive. I’m lucky enough to live in a city with inexpensive office space where I’ve kept a private office for over 13 years, and I highly recommend this approach when possible. It combines most of the advantages of traditional offices in a corporate environment with the benefits of working remotely.

2 — Implement and Stick To a Firm Schedule

I’ve always found it helpful to build a regular schedule into each remote workday, starting and ending at predetermined times as much as possible. At the other end of the remote work spectrum are situations where you can take advantage of the flexibility of certain remote schedules, and work as needed throughout each 24-hour period. This will depend on your particular company, duties, and the value you place on either regular work hours or the freedom of work-time flexibility. Whichever method you choose, during that first year of remote work it’s helpful to devise your own personalized schedule that pulls in some of the best elements from your previous office location in order to bring a sense of familiarity and organization to your new working environment.

3 — Gain Energy By Embracing Remote Work’s Advantages

Although they may be difficult to find early on while you’re adjusting to remote work, it can be helpful to take the time to learn and savor the advantages of working remotely, especially for those working from a home office. Particularly if your remote work situation isn’t a permanent one, it's beneficial to take the time to appreciate the little things that working remotely provides — whether it’s sharing a lunch with your partner or children, taking a break-time walk in a new nearby area, or simply enjoying some extra time you’ve saved by not having to contend with a lengthy work commute. Once stay-at-home safety measures are a thing of the past, another advantage of remote work to explore will be the ability to work from a variety of locations, which can help keep your B2B marketing work fresh and provide extra energy as you bring your laptop office to different spots in your city — an eventually as the pandemic subsides — state, country, and internationally. Remote work situations will likely become permanent for many in the months and years ago, while a variety of hybrid scenarios may also proliferate, such as splitting the work-week between remote and time at the company office.

3 — Creatively Insulate Yourself From Distraction

Just as in a traditional office environment, it’s smart to minimize distractions as much as possible, so that you can use remote work to find a newfound focus on your projects. If working from home, be sure the people in your home know your working schedule, and encourage them to connect with you only during set times such as over lunch or breaks. Some remote workers like to get outside when possible, especially if distractions threaten to interfere with important meetings or projects. Other remote workers chose to wear noise-cancelling headphones or to listen to music while working if noisy distractions are otherwise unavoidable.

4 — Utilize Powerful Remote Collaboration Software

During the Internet’s amazing 50-year history we’ve never had such powerful remote collaboration software available as we do now, and during the pandemic more people than ever have learned to use tools such as Zoom and Slack. Marketers typically use a vast number of tools daily, and thankfully nearly all can be used successfully in remote work settings, as our senior operations strategist Anne Leuman recently explored in “5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis,” also showing how marketers are adjusting messaging during the pandemic. Offering a complete remote work operating system, our client monday.com has been sharing the fascinating stories of how its team has been finding success during the pandemic in a series of team member portraits called #MyRemoteLife, and publishing helpful information such as “19 WFH Stats That Might Surprise You.” Whatever tools you work with, in a remote work setting it’s just as important as in a traditional office environment to make sure that all your hardware and software are fully set up and ready for marketing action.

5 — Implement Remote-Friendly Tech Gadgets

As with a traditional business office, remote workers should set up the technology hardware necessary for doing your best work, whether it’s a second, third, or fourth monitor, or a WiFi signal extender. The size and number of monitors you work with is a personal preference, and may be limited by your laptop or desktop’s graphic cards. For me, I found the jump in productivity of going from two monitors to three was much more noticeable than the move long ago from one to two. I first worked with a multiple-monitor setup all the way back in the 1980s, when I used three monitors in a multiple Commodore Amiga computer system. Technology and marketing have both changed significantly during the intervening years, yet thankfully much also still remains the same, such as the importance of trust in marketing and the power of telling a good story.

Get Closer To Your Projects Than Ever Through Remote Work

A properly set up remote work environment can provide a positive and distraction-free place to focus intensely on your projects, and research continues to emerge showing that this is a very real advantage of working outside of a traditional office environment. Every successful remote worker has their own favorite productivity and well-being tips, and our team at TopRank Marketing has penned the following recent remote work articles offering additional insight:

5 Project Management Tips for Adrift Remote Marketing Teams

6 Tips to Keep B2B Marketing Teams in Rhythm While Working Remotely

5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis

Best SEO Tips for Marketing During the Pandemic Plus 9 Top SEO Platforms

There’s never been a better time to tackle remote work, and the challenges and opportunities created by a workforce that will likely continue to make this switch in numbers the world has never seen, will combine to make this an era unlike any other. As B2B marketers, even if we continue to work from the traditional office building, we’ll be working with a new era of clients, associates, and business partners featuring more remote workers than ever — a grand experiment with outcomes and possibly unforeseen consequences. Looking for help with your B2B marketing? Contact us today and find out why clients such as LinkedIn, Adobe, Dell, 3M, Slack, and Oracle have chosen TopRank Marketing, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and our YouTube channel.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2020/05/remote-work-tips-for-distance-marketers/

[anthonykrierion]

Self-Care Strategies for the Workplace

Rest & Productivity Go Hand in Hand

In an ever competitive workforce, the pressure to be constantly available and online is at an all time high. Even in companies like Distilled that offer flexible working and champion a 35 hour work week, the pressure to yield huge results and increase productivity is greater than ever. And if you’re like me, in order to produce those results, your self-care is often the first thing to go. 

Few people know how to optimize for productivity like CEOs and entrepreneurs. We asked startup founder and business owner Rand Fishkin, “what’s the one service you find extremely useful that most people don’t know about?” He answered, “Sleep. How have people not heard of this? It's amazing. You get 8 hours of it, and then you can suddenly work smarter and faster than people who brag about working 80 hours weeks. Amazing.”  

While you can’t always get all the rest you need at night, it is possible to fit more rest and self-care into your day. You can control how you manage your workday stress and productivity with one simple hack: take more breaks. And commit to taking them. 

There are plenty of good, scientifically-backed articles out there explaining why breaks are good for you (like this one from Psychology Today and this one from Business Insider) if you’re curious or still need convincing. There’s even a great article about how to stay positive at work by taking breaks from my colleague Chris Lewis. But I’m going to get right into the good stuff: which types of breaks will work best for you and how to make sure you actually take them. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Find the Type of Break That Works For YOU

Whether you work from home and can wear pajamas all day or need to wear a suit in a formal organization, you can find a self-care strategy that works for you. It should pair well with your job and environment, but be different enough from your work that your brain and body can relax. If you take a break just because you “know it’s good for you,” you’ll quickly stop making time for them, so bias yourself towards things you actually enjoy doing. 

I’ve broken down break-types into three simple buckets. You can mix and match or scale up or scale down depending on your individual job needs and how much time you have on a given day.  

Self-Care Strategies

1.Get Moving

If you have a mostly sedentary job, the best type of break you can take is simply one that involves you getting up from your desk. Even if you have a standing desk, something that moves your body will improve your circulation, decrease health issues linked to long-term sitting, and minimize eye strain if you allow yourself to look at objects in the distance while moving about. 

If you have 15 minutes or less, even walking to get water or taking a lap around the office can be hugely beneficial. If you have more time, trying to fit in mid-day fitness classes or short stretching or yoga sessions can boost your energy levels. Walking meetings are all the rage and if you can convince your colleagues to do a stand-up meeting literally standing up, your body will thank you for it. 

2. Get Outside

Getting outside is especially beneficial for folks who look at a screen all day. Even if you work in an urban area, some time with the sky is great for your eyes. This is also easy to add to your routine if your work attire is formal or uniformed and you struggle with trying to exercise during the workday. It works well for both introverts and extroverts as it’s easy to invite a colleague for a walk around the block with you, or just take some time to enjoy whatever nature is near you in privacy. As a bonus, studies show that time in nature is truly de-stressing for your heart. 

If it’s raining or you can’t leave the office, you can still make this break strategy work by changing your environment. If you have space, explore a different part of the building or if you work in a flexible co-working space, try changing desks. 

Pro Tip: While coffee-runs and snack breaks are a good excuse to get out of the office, try to avoid spending your whole break just purchasing food and eating it mindlessly, while you obsess about all the things you need to be doing when you’re back from “lunch.” That’s not so much a break as a food-fueled mental-planning session. 

3. Switch Gears

Say you’re pressed for time, you can’t leave the office, and you can’t get sweaty. Another way to take a break at work is simply switching gears. If you have a more active job or one that requires you to work with a lot of people in a lot of meetings, you can take mental breaks by switching to a new content area. Ideally, switch to something pleasurable and not just another type of work. Switching to a personal project, reading a book for pleasure, a craft like knitting, or even a short Netflix binge can greatly boost your morale. 

This type of break works especially well if your job requires high levels of dedicated concentration for long periods of time, such as with programming, accounting, rehearsing music, or other hard-focus activities. I love the oldie but good article which demonstrates that the most elite achievers are the most deliberate with their work periods and their leisure time. Switching gears can be a very deliberate way of organizing your day. 

Pro Tip: Unless you’re diligent about not getting distracted or procrastinating, this is probably not the best type of break if you work from home or are self-employed. 

Make the Right Break Fit in Your Schedule

Okay, now that you have some types of breaks that might work for you, how do you actually plug them into your busy day? 

Figure out which times of the day work best to take a break (and for how long)

Whether you have strict meal or rest breaks from your employer or state, or have a ton of flexibility in setting your schedule and working hours, you still need to think about what type of self-care works best for your schedule. 

Think about when you typically feel the most productive and when you feel the most bogged down. The next time you’re between activities or feeling fatigued, try one of these break ideas based on how much time you have. It’s okay to start small! 

5-30 Minute Break Ideas

Go for a short walk

Have a (healthy) snack

Listen to a podcast

Meditate and breathe (the Headspace app has sessions ranging from 3 minutes to two hours)

Short exercise or stretching (here’s a good article of stretches you can do at your desk)

Watch a video or TED talk

Use that craft or hobby: knit, journal, draw, doodle, design, Pinterest, play puzzles or games

Catch up with a friend or colleague

30-60 Minute Break Ideas

Sneak in a session at the gym or a class (many places are offering shorter lunch-time classes)

Walk to a destination - a new coffee place or lunch spot

Have your lunch in a nearby scenic area

Invite a colleague for a walk to play a board game / card game

Watch some longer videos

Make more time for your craft or hobby

Make plans with someone from another office or outside-of-work friend

*Some of these are may replace a lunch-break if you have a job where you can eat while working at other times.

Protect Your Break Time at Work

Congrats, you’ve figured out what type of break you want to try and when you’ll do it! But how do you prevent that time you carved out for yourself from being overridden?

Create the Habit

It’s so tempting if you’re “in the groove” or if a last-minute meeting pops up to immediately throw your break plans aside and just tough it out. That’s where creating the habit comes in. A good break is a self-care commitment that you make to yourself and just like riding a bike or learning any new skill, practice makes perfect. 

Yes, absolutely there will be times where other tasks have to be prioritized over your self-care at work. Breaks, by their very nature, need to be flexible. Unless you’re very lucky (or have a highly regulated schedule) you likely can’t take the exact same break at the same time of day every day. Things come up, life happens, priorities change. But don’t let your breaks always fall last in your priority list. Here are a few ideas on how to start keeping some time for you at work. 

Set a Calendar Reminder

Pencil in your breaks and help to indicate to others when you expect to be unavailable. Calendar events typically work for larger breaks or lunches, or if I’ve made plans to take my break with other people who can hold me accountable. 

This might work well for you if your work schedule has a great deal of routine so people start to know when you’ll likely be unavailable. Alternatively, you can toss in breaks on your schedule but adjust as the day moves on. I’ve been guilty of pushing a big break around three or four times as the morning evolves. Simply keeping breaks present on your calendar is a great place to start. 

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This method uses a timer (like the one on your phone) to organize your work. The semi-classic technique of breaking your work up into 25 minute increments is especially useful if you have a lot to slog through and need help maintaining your focus. 

Since this time management method naturally creates short breaks between increments of work (and a longer break of 20-30 minutes after four “pomodoros” or increments of 25 minutes), this is a super-fast way to pepper lots of breaks throughout your day. Not surprisingly, the motto of this time management method (like one of Distilled’s core values) is “work smarter, not harder” since its goal is to keep you from falling into the trap of multi-tasking. 

Structure Your Day to Protect Your Time

There are plenty of great articles to help you organize your day for optimal performance. But have you considered structuring your time to keep time for yourself? Whether you group similar tasks together or keep all your meetings in a certain part of the day, remember to structure your day in a way that protects your most productive hours. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Key Takeaways

Recently, our VP of London, Jess Champion, in a generous act of vulnerability, sent an all-company email to remind us about self-care: “I’ve been feeling burnt out of late. A bit sleep deprived. Pretty stressed.  ... I’ve noticed recently that my personal coping mechanism in these situations is to DO ALL THE THINGS. Because then I’m totally in control...right?! … I thought that if I shipped all the frogs, nailed the to-do-list, made a bunch of spreadsheets and organised ALL THE THINGS, then I was looking after myself. I reckon it’s probably a classic lie that many of us tell ourselves in times of stress but, for me at least, it certainly ain’t effective.” 

If you’re like me, Jess, and many others, make time for self-care at work and take your breaks. These are the key self-care strategies to remember when preparing to take breaks at work.

Figure out what type of break works best for you

Determine how much time you typically have/what times of the day you can take breaks

Create the habit by planning your break times

Are you a manager trying to protect your team’s time? Or just great at keeping time for yourself? Comment below to share your break-challenges or best tips for in-office self-care!

Self-Care Strategies for the Workplace was originally posted by Video And Blog Marketing

[ronijashworth]

Self-Care Strategies for the Workplace

Rest & Productivity Go Hand in Hand

In an ever competitive workforce, the pressure to be constantly available and online is at an all time high. Even in companies like Distilled that offer flexible working and champion a 35 hour work week, the pressure to yield huge results and increase productivity is greater than ever. And if you’re like me, in order to produce those results, your self-care is often the first thing to go. 

Few people know how to optimize for productivity like CEOs and entrepreneurs. We asked startup founder and business owner Rand Fishkin, “what’s the one service you find extremely useful that most people don’t know about?” He answered, “Sleep. How have people not heard of this? It's amazing. You get 8 hours of it, and then you can suddenly work smarter and faster than people who brag about working 80 hours weeks. Amazing.”  

While you can’t always get all the rest you need at night, it is possible to fit more rest and self-care into your day. You can control how you manage your workday stress and productivity with one simple hack: take more breaks. And commit to taking them. 

There are plenty of good, scientifically-backed articles out there explaining why breaks are good for you (like this one from Psychology Today and this one from Business Insider) if you’re curious or still need convincing. There’s even a great article about how to stay positive at work by taking breaks from my colleague Chris Lewis. But I’m going to get right into the good stuff: which types of breaks will work best for you and how to make sure you actually take them. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Find the Type of Break That Works For YOU

Whether you work from home and can wear pajamas all day or need to wear a suit in a formal organization, you can find a self-care strategy that works for you. It should pair well with your job and environment, but be different enough from your work that your brain and body can relax. If you take a break just because you “know it’s good for you,” you’ll quickly stop making time for them, so bias yourself towards things you actually enjoy doing. 

I’ve broken down break-types into three simple buckets. You can mix and match or scale up or scale down depending on your individual job needs and how much time you have on a given day.  

Self-Care Strategies

1.Get Moving

If you have a mostly sedentary job, the best type of break you can take is simply one that involves you getting up from your desk. Even if you have a standing desk, something that moves your body will improve your circulation, decrease health issues linked to long-term sitting, and minimize eye strain if you allow yourself to look at objects in the distance while moving about. 

If you have 15 minutes or less, even walking to get water or taking a lap around the office can be hugely beneficial. If you have more time, trying to fit in mid-day fitness classes or short stretching or yoga sessions can boost your energy levels. Walking meetings are all the rage and if you can convince your colleagues to do a stand-up meeting literally standing up, your body will thank you for it. 

2. Get Outside

Getting outside is especially beneficial for folks who look at a screen all day. Even if you work in an urban area, some time with the sky is great for your eyes. This is also easy to add to your routine if your work attire is formal or uniformed and you struggle with trying to exercise during the workday. It works well for both introverts and extroverts as it’s easy to invite a colleague for a walk around the block with you, or just take some time to enjoy whatever nature is near you in privacy. As a bonus, studies show that time in nature is truly de-stressing for your heart. 

If it’s raining or you can’t leave the office, you can still make this break strategy work by changing your environment. If you have space, explore a different part of the building or if you work in a flexible co-working space, try changing desks. 

Pro Tip: While coffee-runs and snack breaks are a good excuse to get out of the office, try to avoid spending your whole break just purchasing food and eating it mindlessly, while you obsess about all the things you need to be doing when you’re back from “lunch.” That’s not so much a break as a food-fueled mental-planning session. 

3. Switch Gears

Say you’re pressed for time, you can’t leave the office, and you can’t get sweaty. Another way to take a break at work is simply switching gears. If you have a more active job or one that requires you to work with a lot of people in a lot of meetings, you can take mental breaks by switching to a new content area. Ideally, switch to something pleasurable and not just another type of work. Switching to a personal project, reading a book for pleasure, a craft like knitting, or even a short Netflix binge can greatly boost your morale. 

This type of break works especially well if your job requires high levels of dedicated concentration for long periods of time, such as with programming, accounting, rehearsing music, or other hard-focus activities. I love the oldie but good article which demonstrates that the most elite achievers are the most deliberate with their work periods and their leisure time. Switching gears can be a very deliberate way of organizing your day. 

Pro Tip: Unless you’re diligent about not getting distracted or procrastinating, this is probably not the best type of break if you work from home or are self-employed. 

Make the Right Break Fit in Your Schedule

Okay, now that you have some types of breaks that might work for you, how do you actually plug them into your busy day? 

Figure out which times of the day work best to take a break (and for how long)

Whether you have strict meal or rest breaks from your employer or state, or have a ton of flexibility in setting your schedule and working hours, you still need to think about what type of self-care works best for your schedule. 

Think about when you typically feel the most productive and when you feel the most bogged down. The next time you’re between activities or feeling fatigued, try one of these break ideas based on how much time you have. It’s okay to start small! 

5-30 Minute Break Ideas

Go for a short walk

Have a (healthy) snack

Listen to a podcast

Meditate and breathe (the Headspace app has sessions ranging from 3 minutes to two hours)

Short exercise or stretching (here’s a good article of stretches you can do at your desk)

Watch a video or TED talk

Use that craft or hobby: knit, journal, draw, doodle, design, Pinterest, play puzzles or games

Catch up with a friend or colleague

30-60 Minute Break Ideas

Sneak in a session at the gym or a class (many places are offering shorter lunch-time classes)

Walk to a destination - a new coffee place or lunch spot

Have your lunch in a nearby scenic area

Invite a colleague for a walk to play a board game / card game

Watch some longer videos

Make more time for your craft or hobby

Make plans with someone from another office or outside-of-work friend

*Some of these are may replace a lunch-break if you have a job where you can eat while working at other times.

Protect Your Break Time at Work

Congrats, you’ve figured out what type of break you want to try and when you’ll do it! But how do you prevent that time you carved out for yourself from being overridden?

Create the Habit

It’s so tempting if you’re “in the groove” or if a last-minute meeting pops up to immediately throw your break plans aside and just tough it out. That’s where creating the habit comes in. A good break is a self-care commitment that you make to yourself and just like riding a bike or learning any new skill, practice makes perfect. 

Yes, absolutely there will be times where other tasks have to be prioritized over your self-care at work. Breaks, by their very nature, need to be flexible. Unless you’re very lucky (or have a highly regulated schedule) you likely can’t take the exact same break at the same time of day every day. Things come up, life happens, priorities change. But don’t let your breaks always fall last in your priority list. Here are a few ideas on how to start keeping some time for you at work. 

Set a Calendar Reminder

Pencil in your breaks and help to indicate to others when you expect to be unavailable. Calendar events typically work for larger breaks or lunches, or if I’ve made plans to take my break with other people who can hold me accountable. 

This might work well for you if your work schedule has a great deal of routine so people start to know when you’ll likely be unavailable. Alternatively, you can toss in breaks on your schedule but adjust as the day moves on. I’ve been guilty of pushing a big break around three or four times as the morning evolves. Simply keeping breaks present on your calendar is a great place to start. 

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This method uses a timer (like the one on your phone) to organize your work. The semi-classic technique of breaking your work up into 25 minute increments is especially useful if you have a lot to slog through and need help maintaining your focus. 

Since this time management method naturally creates short breaks between increments of work (and a longer break of 20-30 minutes after four “pomodoros” or increments of 25 minutes), this is a super-fast way to pepper lots of breaks throughout your day. Not surprisingly, the motto of this time management method (like one of Distilled’s core values) is “work smarter, not harder” since its goal is to keep you from falling into the trap of multi-tasking. 

Structure Your Day to Protect Your Time

There are plenty of great articles to help you organize your day for optimal performance. But have you considered structuring your time to keep time for yourself? Whether you group similar tasks together or keep all your meetings in a certain part of the day, remember to structure your day in a way that protects your most productive hours. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Key Takeaways

Recently, our VP of London, Jess Champion, in a generous act of vulnerability, sent an all-company email to remind us about self-care: “I’ve been feeling burnt out of late. A bit sleep deprived. Pretty stressed.  ... I’ve noticed recently that my personal coping mechanism in these situations is to DO ALL THE THINGS. Because then I’m totally in control...right?! … I thought that if I shipped all the frogs, nailed the to-do-list, made a bunch of spreadsheets and organised ALL THE THINGS, then I was looking after myself. I reckon it’s probably a classic lie that many of us tell ourselves in times of stress but, for me at least, it certainly ain’t effective.” 

If you’re like me, Jess, and many others, make time for self-care at work and take your breaks. These are the key self-care strategies to remember when preparing to take breaks at work.

Figure out what type of break works best for you

Determine how much time you typically have/what times of the day you can take breaks

Create the habit by planning your break times

Are you a manager trying to protect your team’s time? Or just great at keeping time for yourself? Comment below to share your break-challenges or best tips for in-office self-care!

from Digital Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/self-care-strategies-for-the-workplace/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[dillenwaeraa]

Self-Care Strategies for the Workplace

Rest & Productivity Go Hand in Hand

In an ever competitive workforce, the pressure to be constantly available and online is at an all time high. Even in companies like Distilled that offer flexible working and champion a 35 hour work week, the pressure to yield huge results and increase productivity is greater than ever. And if you’re like me, in order to produce those results, your self-care is often the first thing to go. 

Few people know how to optimize for productivity like CEOs and entrepreneurs. We asked startup founder and business owner Rand Fishkin, “what’s the one service you find extremely useful that most people don’t know about?” He answered, “Sleep. How have people not heard of this? It's amazing. You get 8 hours of it, and then you can suddenly work smarter and faster than people who brag about working 80 hours weeks. Amazing.”  

While you can’t always get all the rest you need at night, it is possible to fit more rest and self-care into your day. You can control how you manage your workday stress and productivity with one simple hack: take more breaks. And commit to taking them. 

There are plenty of good, scientifically-backed articles out there explaining why breaks are good for you (like this one from Psychology Today and this one from Business Insider) if you’re curious or still need convincing. There’s even a great article about how to stay positive at work by taking breaks from my colleague Chris Lewis. But I’m going to get right into the good stuff: which types of breaks will work best for you and how to make sure you actually take them. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Find the Type of Break That Works For YOU

Whether you work from home and can wear pajamas all day or need to wear a suit in a formal organization, you can find a self-care strategy that works for you. It should pair well with your job and environment, but be different enough from your work that your brain and body can relax. If you take a break just because you “know it’s good for you,” you’ll quickly stop making time for them, so bias yourself towards things you actually enjoy doing. 

I’ve broken down break-types into three simple buckets. You can mix and match or scale up or scale down depending on your individual job needs and how much time you have on a given day.  

Self-Care Strategies

1.Get Moving

If you have a mostly sedentary job, the best type of break you can take is simply one that involves you getting up from your desk. Even if you have a standing desk, something that moves your body will improve your circulation, decrease health issues linked to long-term sitting, and minimize eye strain if you allow yourself to look at objects in the distance while moving about. 

If you have 15 minutes or less, even walking to get water or taking a lap around the office can be hugely beneficial. If you have more time, trying to fit in mid-day fitness classes or short stretching or yoga sessions can boost your energy levels. Walking meetings are all the rage and if you can convince your colleagues to do a stand-up meeting literally standing up, your body will thank you for it. 

2. Get Outside

Getting outside is especially beneficial for folks who look at a screen all day. Even if you work in an urban area, some time with the sky is great for your eyes. This is also easy to add to your routine if your work attire is formal or uniformed and you struggle with trying to exercise during the workday. It works well for both introverts and extroverts as it’s easy to invite a colleague for a walk around the block with you, or just take some time to enjoy whatever nature is near you in privacy. As a bonus, studies show that time in nature is truly de-stressing for your heart. 

If it’s raining or you can’t leave the office, you can still make this break strategy work by changing your environment. If you have space, explore a different part of the building or if you work in a flexible co-working space, try changing desks. 

Pro Tip: While coffee-runs and snack breaks are a good excuse to get out of the office, try to avoid spending your whole break just purchasing food and eating it mindlessly, while you obsess about all the things you need to be doing when you’re back from “lunch.” That’s not so much a break as a food-fueled mental-planning session. 

3. Switch Gears

Say you’re pressed for time, you can’t leave the office, and you can’t get sweaty. Another way to take a break at work is simply switching gears. If you have a more active job or one that requires you to work with a lot of people in a lot of meetings, you can take mental breaks by switching to a new content area. Ideally, switch to something pleasurable and not just another type of work. Switching to a personal project, reading a book for pleasure, a craft like knitting, or even a short Netflix binge can greatly boost your morale. 

This type of break works especially well if your job requires high levels of dedicated concentration for long periods of time, such as with programming, accounting, rehearsing music, or other hard-focus activities. I love the oldie but good article which demonstrates that the most elite achievers are the most deliberate with their work periods and their leisure time. Switching gears can be a very deliberate way of organizing your day. 

Pro Tip: Unless you’re diligent about not getting distracted or procrastinating, this is probably not the best type of break if you work from home or are self-employed. 

Make the Right Break Fit in Your Schedule

Okay, now that you have some types of breaks that might work for you, how do you actually plug them into your busy day? 

Figure out which times of the day work best to take a break (and for how long)

Whether you have strict meal or rest breaks from your employer or state, or have a ton of flexibility in setting your schedule and working hours, you still need to think about what type of self-care works best for your schedule. 

Think about when you typically feel the most productive and when you feel the most bogged down. The next time you’re between activities or feeling fatigued, try one of these break ideas based on how much time you have. It’s okay to start small! 

5-30 Minute Break Ideas

Go for a short walk

Have a (healthy) snack

Listen to a podcast

Meditate and breathe (the Headspace app has sessions ranging from 3 minutes to two hours)

Short exercise or stretching (here’s a good article of stretches you can do at your desk)

Watch a video or TED talk

Use that craft or hobby: knit, journal, draw, doodle, design, Pinterest, play puzzles or games

Catch up with a friend or colleague

30-60 Minute Break Ideas

Sneak in a session at the gym or a class (many places are offering shorter lunch-time classes)

Walk to a destination - a new coffee place or lunch spot

Have your lunch in a nearby scenic area

Invite a colleague for a walk to play a board game / card game

Watch some longer videos

Make more time for your craft or hobby

Make plans with someone from another office or outside-of-work friend

*Some of these are may replace a lunch-break if you have a job where you can eat while working at other times.

Protect Your Break Time at Work

Congrats, you’ve figured out what type of break you want to try and when you’ll do it! But how do you prevent that time you carved out for yourself from being overridden?

Create the Habit

It’s so tempting if you’re “in the groove” or if a last-minute meeting pops up to immediately throw your break plans aside and just tough it out. That’s where creating the habit comes in. A good break is a self-care commitment that you make to yourself and just like riding a bike or learning any new skill, practice makes perfect. 

Yes, absolutely there will be times where other tasks have to be prioritized over your self-care at work. Breaks, by their very nature, need to be flexible. Unless you’re very lucky (or have a highly regulated schedule) you likely can’t take the exact same break at the same time of day every day. Things come up, life happens, priorities change. But don’t let your breaks always fall last in your priority list. Here are a few ideas on how to start keeping some time for you at work. 

Set a Calendar Reminder

Pencil in your breaks and help to indicate to others when you expect to be unavailable. Calendar events typically work for larger breaks or lunches, or if I’ve made plans to take my break with other people who can hold me accountable. 

This might work well for you if your work schedule has a great deal of routine so people start to know when you’ll likely be unavailable. Alternatively, you can toss in breaks on your schedule but adjust as the day moves on. I’ve been guilty of pushing a big break around three or four times as the morning evolves. Simply keeping breaks present on your calendar is a great place to start. 

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This method uses a timer (like the one on your phone) to organize your work. The semi-classic technique of breaking your work up into 25 minute increments is especially useful if you have a lot to slog through and need help maintaining your focus. 

Since this time management method naturally creates short breaks between increments of work (and a longer break of 20-30 minutes after four “pomodoros” or increments of 25 minutes), this is a super-fast way to pepper lots of breaks throughout your day. Not surprisingly, the motto of this time management method (like one of Distilled’s core values) is “work smarter, not harder” since its goal is to keep you from falling into the trap of multi-tasking. 

Structure Your Day to Protect Your Time

There are plenty of great articles to help you organize your day for optimal performance. But have you considered structuring your time to keep time for yourself? Whether you group similar tasks together or keep all your meetings in a certain part of the day, remember to structure your day in a way that protects your most productive hours. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Key Takeaways

Recently, our VP of London, Jess Champion, in a generous act of vulnerability, sent an all-company email to remind us about self-care: “I’ve been feeling burnt out of late. A bit sleep deprived. Pretty stressed.  ... I’ve noticed recently that my personal coping mechanism in these situations is to DO ALL THE THINGS. Because then I’m totally in control...right?! … I thought that if I shipped all the frogs, nailed the to-do-list, made a bunch of spreadsheets and organised ALL THE THINGS, then I was looking after myself. I reckon it’s probably a classic lie that many of us tell ourselves in times of stress but, for me at least, it certainly ain’t effective.” 

If you’re like me, Jess, and many others, make time for self-care at work and take your breaks. These are the key self-care strategies to remember when preparing to take breaks at work.

Figure out what type of break works best for you

Determine how much time you typically have/what times of the day you can take breaks

Create the habit by planning your break times

Are you a manager trying to protect your team’s time? Or just great at keeping time for yourself? Comment below to share your break-challenges or best tips for in-office self-care!

from Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/self-care-strategies-for-the-workplace/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[heavenwheel]

Self-Care Strategies for the Workplace

Rest & Productivity Go Hand in Hand

In an ever competitive workforce, the pressure to be constantly available and online is at an all time high. Even in companies like Distilled that offer flexible working and champion a 35 hour work week, the pressure to yield huge results and increase productivity is greater than ever. And if you’re like me, in order to produce those results, your self-care is often the first thing to go. 

Few people know how to optimize for productivity like CEOs and entrepreneurs. We asked startup founder and business owner Rand Fishkin, “what’s the one service you find extremely useful that most people don’t know about?” He answered, “Sleep. How have people not heard of this? It's amazing. You get 8 hours of it, and then you can suddenly work smarter and faster than people who brag about working 80 hours weeks. Amazing.”  

While you can’t always get all the rest you need at night, it is possible to fit more rest and self-care into your day. You can control how you manage your workday stress and productivity with one simple hack: take more breaks. And commit to taking them. 

There are plenty of good, scientifically-backed articles out there explaining why breaks are good for you (like this one from Psychology Today and this one from Business Insider) if you’re curious or still need convincing. There’s even a great article about how to stay positive at work by taking breaks from my colleague Chris Lewis. But I’m going to get right into the good stuff: which types of breaks will work best for you and how to make sure you actually take them. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Find the Type of Break That Works For YOU

Whether you work from home and can wear pajamas all day or need to wear a suit in a formal organization, you can find a self-care strategy that works for you. It should pair well with your job and environment, but be different enough from your work that your brain and body can relax. If you take a break just because you “know it’s good for you,” you’ll quickly stop making time for them, so bias yourself towards things you actually enjoy doing. 

I’ve broken down break-types into three simple buckets. You can mix and match or scale up or scale down depending on your individual job needs and how much time you have on a given day.  

Self-Care Strategies

1.Get Moving

If you have a mostly sedentary job, the best type of break you can take is simply one that involves you getting up from your desk. Even if you have a standing desk, something that moves your body will improve your circulation, decrease health issues linked to long-term sitting, and minimize eye strain if you allow yourself to look at objects in the distance while moving about. 

If you have 15 minutes or less, even walking to get water or taking a lap around the office can be hugely beneficial. If you have more time, trying to fit in mid-day fitness classes or short stretching or yoga sessions can boost your energy levels. Walking meetings are all the rage and if you can convince your colleagues to do a stand-up meeting literally standing up, your body will thank you for it. 

2. Get Outside

Getting outside is especially beneficial for folks who look at a screen all day. Even if you work in an urban area, some time with the sky is great for your eyes. This is also easy to add to your routine if your work attire is formal or uniformed and you struggle with trying to exercise during the workday. It works well for both introverts and extroverts as it’s easy to invite a colleague for a walk around the block with you, or just take some time to enjoy whatever nature is near you in privacy. As a bonus, studies show that time in nature is truly de-stressing for your heart. 

If it’s raining or you can’t leave the office, you can still make this break strategy work by changing your environment. If you have space, explore a different part of the building or if you work in a flexible co-working space, try changing desks. 

Pro Tip: While coffee-runs and snack breaks are a good excuse to get out of the office, try to avoid spending your whole break just purchasing food and eating it mindlessly, while you obsess about all the things you need to be doing when you’re back from “lunch.” That’s not so much a break as a food-fueled mental-planning session. 

3. Switch Gears

Say you’re pressed for time, you can’t leave the office, and you can’t get sweaty. Another way to take a break at work is simply switching gears. If you have a more active job or one that requires you to work with a lot of people in a lot of meetings, you can take mental breaks by switching to a new content area. Ideally, switch to something pleasurable and not just another type of work. Switching to a personal project, reading a book for pleasure, a craft like knitting, or even a short Netflix binge can greatly boost your morale. 

This type of break works especially well if your job requires high levels of dedicated concentration for long periods of time, such as with programming, accounting, rehearsing music, or other hard-focus activities. I love the oldie but good article which demonstrates that the most elite achievers are the most deliberate with their work periods and their leisure time. Switching gears can be a very deliberate way of organizing your day. 

Pro Tip: Unless you’re diligent about not getting distracted or procrastinating, this is probably not the best type of break if you work from home or are self-employed. 

Make the Right Break Fit in Your Schedule

Okay, now that you have some types of breaks that might work for you, how do you actually plug them into your busy day? 

Figure out which times of the day work best to take a break (and for how long)

Whether you have strict meal or rest breaks from your employer or state, or have a ton of flexibility in setting your schedule and working hours, you still need to think about what type of self-care works best for your schedule. 

Think about when you typically feel the most productive and when you feel the most bogged down. The next time you’re between activities or feeling fatigued, try one of these break ideas based on how much time you have. It’s okay to start small! 

5-30 Minute Break Ideas

Go for a short walk

Have a (healthy) snack

Listen to a podcast

Meditate and breathe (the Headspace app has sessions ranging from 3 minutes to two hours)

Short exercise or stretching (here’s a good article of stretches you can do at your desk)

Watch a video or TED talk

Use that craft or hobby: knit, journal, draw, doodle, design, Pinterest, play puzzles or games

Catch up with a friend or colleague

30-60 Minute Break Ideas

Sneak in a session at the gym or a class (many places are offering shorter lunch-time classes)

Walk to a destination - a new coffee place or lunch spot

Have your lunch in a nearby scenic area

Invite a colleague for a walk to play a board game / card game

Watch some longer videos

Make more time for your craft or hobby

Make plans with someone from another office or outside-of-work friend

*Some of these are may replace a lunch-break if you have a job where you can eat while working at other times.

Protect Your Break Time at Work

Congrats, you’ve figured out what type of break you want to try and when you’ll do it! But how do you prevent that time you carved out for yourself from being overridden?

Create the Habit

It’s so tempting if you’re “in the groove” or if a last-minute meeting pops up to immediately throw your break plans aside and just tough it out. That’s where creating the habit comes in. A good break is a self-care commitment that you make to yourself and just like riding a bike or learning any new skill, practice makes perfect. 

Yes, absolutely there will be times where other tasks have to be prioritized over your self-care at work. Breaks, by their very nature, need to be flexible. Unless you’re very lucky (or have a highly regulated schedule) you likely can’t take the exact same break at the same time of day every day. Things come up, life happens, priorities change. But don’t let your breaks always fall last in your priority list. Here are a few ideas on how to start keeping some time for you at work. 

Set a Calendar Reminder

Pencil in your breaks and help to indicate to others when you expect to be unavailable. Calendar events typically work for larger breaks or lunches, or if I’ve made plans to take my break with other people who can hold me accountable. 

This might work well for you if your work schedule has a great deal of routine so people start to know when you’ll likely be unavailable. Alternatively, you can toss in breaks on your schedule but adjust as the day moves on. I’ve been guilty of pushing a big break around three or four times as the morning evolves. Simply keeping breaks present on your calendar is a great place to start. 

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This method uses a timer (like the one on your phone) to organize your work. The semi-classic technique of breaking your work up into 25 minute increments is especially useful if you have a lot to slog through and need help maintaining your focus. 

Since this time management method naturally creates short breaks between increments of work (and a longer break of 20-30 minutes after four “pomodoros” or increments of 25 minutes), this is a super-fast way to pepper lots of breaks throughout your day. Not surprisingly, the motto of this time management method (like one of Distilled’s core values) is “work smarter, not harder” since its goal is to keep you from falling into the trap of multi-tasking. 

Structure Your Day to Protect Your Time

There are plenty of great articles to help you organize your day for optimal performance. But have you considered structuring your time to keep time for yourself? Whether you group similar tasks together or keep all your meetings in a certain part of the day, remember to structure your day in a way that protects your most productive hours. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Key Takeaways

Recently, our VP of London, Jess Champion, in a generous act of vulnerability, sent an all-company email to remind us about self-care: “I’ve been feeling burnt out of late. A bit sleep deprived. Pretty stressed.  ... I’ve noticed recently that my personal coping mechanism in these situations is to DO ALL THE THINGS. Because then I’m totally in control...right?! … I thought that if I shipped all the frogs, nailed the to-do-list, made a bunch of spreadsheets and organised ALL THE THINGS, then I was looking after myself. I reckon it’s probably a classic lie that many of us tell ourselves in times of stress but, for me at least, it certainly ain’t effective.” 

If you’re like me, Jess, and many others, make time for self-care at work and take your breaks. These are the key self-care strategies to remember when preparing to take breaks at work.

Figure out what type of break works best for you

Determine how much time you typically have/what times of the day you can take breaks

Create the habit by planning your break times

Are you a manager trying to protect your team’s time? Or just great at keeping time for yourself? Comment below to share your break-challenges or best tips for in-office self-care!

from Digital https://www.distilled.net/resources/self-care-strategies-for-the-workplace/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[davidrsmithlove]

Self-Care Strategies for the Workplace

Rest & Productivity Go Hand in Hand

In an ever competitive workforce, the pressure to be constantly available and online is at an all time high. Even in companies like Distilled that offer flexible working and champion a 35 hour work week, the pressure to yield huge results and increase productivity is greater than ever. And if you’re like me, in order to produce those results, your self-care is often the first thing to go. 

Few people know how to optimize for productivity like CEOs and entrepreneurs. We asked startup founder and business owner Rand Fishkin, “what’s the one service you find extremely useful that most people don’t know about?” He answered, “Sleep. How have people not heard of this? It's amazing. You get 8 hours of it, and then you can suddenly work smarter and faster than people who brag about working 80 hours weeks. Amazing.”  

While you can’t always get all the rest you need at night, it is possible to fit more rest and self-care into your day. You can control how you manage your workday stress and productivity with one simple hack: take more breaks. And commit to taking them. 

There are plenty of good, scientifically-backed articles out there explaining why breaks are good for you (like this one from Psychology Today and this one from Business Insider) if you’re curious or still need convincing. There’s even a great article about how to stay positive at work by taking breaks from my colleague Chris Lewis. But I’m going to get right into the good stuff: which types of breaks will work best for you and how to make sure you actually take them. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Find the Type of Break That Works For YOU

Whether you work from home and can wear pajamas all day or need to wear a suit in a formal organization, you can find a self-care strategy that works for you. It should pair well with your job and environment, but be different enough from your work that your brain and body can relax. If you take a break just because you “know it’s good for you,” you’ll quickly stop making time for them, so bias yourself towards things you actually enjoy doing. 

I’ve broken down break-types into three simple buckets. You can mix and match or scale up or scale down depending on your individual job needs and how much time you have on a given day.  

Self-Care Strategies

1.Get Moving

If you have a mostly sedentary job, the best type of break you can take is simply one that involves you getting up from your desk. Even if you have a standing desk, something that moves your body will improve your circulation, decrease health issues linked to long-term sitting, and minimize eye strain if you allow yourself to look at objects in the distance while moving about. 

If you have 15 minutes or less, even walking to get water or taking a lap around the office can be hugely beneficial. If you have more time, trying to fit in mid-day fitness classes or short stretching or yoga sessions can boost your energy levels. Walking meetings are all the rage and if you can convince your colleagues to do a stand-up meeting literally standing up, your body will thank you for it. 

2. Get Outside

Getting outside is especially beneficial for folks who look at a screen all day. Even if you work in an urban area, some time with the sky is great for your eyes. This is also easy to add to your routine if your work attire is formal or uniformed and you struggle with trying to exercise during the workday. It works well for both introverts and extroverts as it’s easy to invite a colleague for a walk around the block with you, or just take some time to enjoy whatever nature is near you in privacy. As a bonus, studies show that time in nature is truly de-stressing for your heart. 

If it’s raining or you can’t leave the office, you can still make this break strategy work by changing your environment. If you have space, explore a different part of the building or if you work in a flexible co-working space, try changing desks. 

Pro Tip: While coffee-runs and snack breaks are a good excuse to get out of the office, try to avoid spending your whole break just purchasing food and eating it mindlessly, while you obsess about all the things you need to be doing when you’re back from “lunch.” That’s not so much a break as a food-fueled mental-planning session. 

3. Switch Gears

Say you’re pressed for time, you can’t leave the office, and you can’t get sweaty. Another way to take a break at work is simply switching gears. If you have a more active job or one that requires you to work with a lot of people in a lot of meetings, you can take mental breaks by switching to a new content area. Ideally, switch to something pleasurable and not just another type of work. Switching to a personal project, reading a book for pleasure, a craft like knitting, or even a short Netflix binge can greatly boost your morale. 

This type of break works especially well if your job requires high levels of dedicated concentration for long periods of time, such as with programming, accounting, rehearsing music, or other hard-focus activities. I love the oldie but good article which demonstrates that the most elite achievers are the most deliberate with their work periods and their leisure time. Switching gears can be a very deliberate way of organizing your day. 

Pro Tip: Unless you’re diligent about not getting distracted or procrastinating, this is probably not the best type of break if you work from home or are self-employed. 

Make the Right Break Fit in Your Schedule

Okay, now that you have some types of breaks that might work for you, how do you actually plug them into your busy day? 

Figure out which times of the day work best to take a break (and for how long)

Whether you have strict meal or rest breaks from your employer or state, or have a ton of flexibility in setting your schedule and working hours, you still need to think about what type of self-care works best for your schedule. 

Think about when you typically feel the most productive and when you feel the most bogged down. The next time you’re between activities or feeling fatigued, try one of these break ideas based on how much time you have. It’s okay to start small! 

5-30 Minute Break Ideas

Go for a short walk

Have a (healthy) snack

Listen to a podcast

Meditate and breathe (the Headspace app has sessions ranging from 3 minutes to two hours)

Short exercise or stretching (here’s a good article of stretches you can do at your desk)

Watch a video or TED talk

Use that craft or hobby: knit, journal, draw, doodle, design, Pinterest, play puzzles or games

Catch up with a friend or colleague

30-60 Minute Break Ideas

Sneak in a session at the gym or a class (many places are offering shorter lunch-time classes)

Walk to a destination - a new coffee place or lunch spot

Have your lunch in a nearby scenic area

Invite a colleague for a walk to play a board game / card game

Watch some longer videos

Make more time for your craft or hobby

Make plans with someone from another office or outside-of-work friend

*Some of these are may replace a lunch-break if you have a job where you can eat while working at other times.

Protect Your Break Time at Work

Congrats, you’ve figured out what type of break you want to try and when you’ll do it! But how do you prevent that time you carved out for yourself from being overridden?

Create the Habit

It’s so tempting if you’re “in the groove” or if a last-minute meeting pops up to immediately throw your break plans aside and just tough it out. That’s where creating the habit comes in. A good break is a self-care commitment that you make to yourself and just like riding a bike or learning any new skill, practice makes perfect. 

Yes, absolutely there will be times where other tasks have to be prioritized over your self-care at work. Breaks, by their very nature, need to be flexible. Unless you’re very lucky (or have a highly regulated schedule) you likely can’t take the exact same break at the same time of day every day. Things come up, life happens, priorities change. But don’t let your breaks always fall last in your priority list. Here are a few ideas on how to start keeping some time for you at work. 

Set a Calendar Reminder

Pencil in your breaks and help to indicate to others when you expect to be unavailable. Calendar events typically work for larger breaks or lunches, or if I’ve made plans to take my break with other people who can hold me accountable. 

This might work well for you if your work schedule has a great deal of routine so people start to know when you’ll likely be unavailable. Alternatively, you can toss in breaks on your schedule but adjust as the day moves on. I’ve been guilty of pushing a big break around three or four times as the morning evolves. Simply keeping breaks present on your calendar is a great place to start. 

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This method uses a timer (like the one on your phone) to organize your work. The semi-classic technique of breaking your work up into 25 minute increments is especially useful if you have a lot to slog through and need help maintaining your focus. 

Since this time management method naturally creates short breaks between increments of work (and a longer break of 20-30 minutes after four “pomodoros” or increments of 25 minutes), this is a super-fast way to pepper lots of breaks throughout your day. Not surprisingly, the motto of this time management method (like one of Distilled’s core values) is “work smarter, not harder” since its goal is to keep you from falling into the trap of multi-tasking. 

Structure Your Day to Protect Your Time

There are plenty of great articles to help you organize your day for optimal performance. But have you considered structuring your time to keep time for yourself? Whether you group similar tasks together or keep all your meetings in a certain part of the day, remember to structure your day in a way that protects your most productive hours. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Key Takeaways

Recently, our VP of London, Jess Champion, in a generous act of vulnerability, sent an all-company email to remind us about self-care: “I’ve been feeling burnt out of late. A bit sleep deprived. Pretty stressed.  ... I’ve noticed recently that my personal coping mechanism in these situations is to DO ALL THE THINGS. Because then I’m totally in control...right?! … I thought that if I shipped all the frogs, nailed the to-do-list, made a bunch of spreadsheets and organised ALL THE THINGS, then I was looking after myself. I reckon it’s probably a classic lie that many of us tell ourselves in times of stress but, for me at least, it certainly ain’t effective.” 

If you’re like me, Jess, and many others, make time for self-care at work and take your breaks. These are the key self-care strategies to remember when preparing to take breaks at work.

Figure out what type of break works best for you

Determine how much time you typically have/what times of the day you can take breaks

Create the habit by planning your break times

Are you a manager trying to protect your team’s time? Or just great at keeping time for yourself? Comment below to share your break-challenges or best tips for in-office self-care!

[donnafmae]

Self-Care Strategies for the Workplace

Rest & Productivity Go Hand in Hand

In an ever competitive workforce, the pressure to be constantly available and online is at an all time high. Even in companies like Distilled that offer flexible working and champion a 35 hour work week, the pressure to yield huge results and increase productivity is greater than ever. And if you’re like me, in order to produce those results, your self-care is often the first thing to go. 

Few people know how to optimize for productivity like CEOs and entrepreneurs. We asked startup founder and business owner Rand Fishkin, “what’s the one service you find extremely useful that most people don’t know about?” He answered, “Sleep. How have people not heard of this? It's amazing. You get 8 hours of it, and then you can suddenly work smarter and faster than people who brag about working 80 hours weeks. Amazing.”  

While you can’t always get all the rest you need at night, it is possible to fit more rest and self-care into your day. You can control how you manage your workday stress and productivity with one simple hack: take more breaks. And commit to taking them. 

There are plenty of good, scientifically-backed articles out there explaining why breaks are good for you (like this one from Psychology Today and this one from Business Insider) if you’re curious or still need convincing. There’s even a great article about how to stay positive at work by taking breaks from my colleague Chris Lewis. But I’m going to get right into the good stuff: which types of breaks will work best for you and how to make sure you actually take them. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Find the Type of Break That Works For YOU

Whether you work from home and can wear pajamas all day or need to wear a suit in a formal organization, you can find a self-care strategy that works for you. It should pair well with your job and environment, but be different enough from your work that your brain and body can relax. If you take a break just because you “know it’s good for you,” you’ll quickly stop making time for them, so bias yourself towards things you actually enjoy doing. 

I’ve broken down break-types into three simple buckets. You can mix and match or scale up or scale down depending on your individual job needs and how much time you have on a given day.  

Self-Care Strategies

1.Get Moving

If you have a mostly sedentary job, the best type of break you can take is simply one that involves you getting up from your desk. Even if you have a standing desk, something that moves your body will improve your circulation, decrease health issues linked to long-term sitting, and minimize eye strain if you allow yourself to look at objects in the distance while moving about. 

If you have 15 minutes or less, even walking to get water or taking a lap around the office can be hugely beneficial. If you have more time, trying to fit in mid-day fitness classes or short stretching or yoga sessions can boost your energy levels. Walking meetings are all the rage and if you can convince your colleagues to do a stand-up meeting literally standing up, your body will thank you for it. 

2. Get Outside

Getting outside is especially beneficial for folks who look at a screen all day. Even if you work in an urban area, some time with the sky is great for your eyes. This is also easy to add to your routine if your work attire is formal or uniformed and you struggle with trying to exercise during the workday. It works well for both introverts and extroverts as it’s easy to invite a colleague for a walk around the block with you, or just take some time to enjoy whatever nature is near you in privacy. As a bonus, studies show that time in nature is truly de-stressing for your heart. 

If it’s raining or you can’t leave the office, you can still make this break strategy work by changing your environment. If you have space, explore a different part of the building or if you work in a flexible co-working space, try changing desks. 

Pro Tip: While coffee-runs and snack breaks are a good excuse to get out of the office, try to avoid spending your whole break just purchasing food and eating it mindlessly, while you obsess about all the things you need to be doing when you’re back from “lunch.” That’s not so much a break as a food-fueled mental-planning session. 

3. Switch Gears

Say you’re pressed for time, you can’t leave the office, and you can’t get sweaty. Another way to take a break at work is simply switching gears. If you have a more active job or one that requires you to work with a lot of people in a lot of meetings, you can take mental breaks by switching to a new content area. Ideally, switch to something pleasurable and not just another type of work. Switching to a personal project, reading a book for pleasure, a craft like knitting, or even a short Netflix binge can greatly boost your morale. 

This type of break works especially well if your job requires high levels of dedicated concentration for long periods of time, such as with programming, accounting, rehearsing music, or other hard-focus activities. I love the oldie but good article which demonstrates that the most elite achievers are the most deliberate with their work periods and their leisure time. Switching gears can be a very deliberate way of organizing your day. 

Pro Tip: Unless you’re diligent about not getting distracted or procrastinating, this is probably not the best type of break if you work from home or are self-employed. 

Make the Right Break Fit in Your Schedule

Okay, now that you have some types of breaks that might work for you, how do you actually plug them into your busy day? 

Figure out which times of the day work best to take a break (and for how long)

Whether you have strict meal or rest breaks from your employer or state, or have a ton of flexibility in setting your schedule and working hours, you still need to think about what type of self-care works best for your schedule. 

Think about when you typically feel the most productive and when you feel the most bogged down. The next time you’re between activities or feeling fatigued, try one of these break ideas based on how much time you have. It’s okay to start small! 

5-30 Minute Break Ideas

Go for a short walk

Have a (healthy) snack

Listen to a podcast

Meditate and breathe (the Headspace app has sessions ranging from 3 minutes to two hours)

Short exercise or stretching (here’s a good article of stretches you can do at your desk)

Watch a video or TED talk

Use that craft or hobby: knit, journal, draw, doodle, design, Pinterest, play puzzles or games

Catch up with a friend or colleague

30-60 Minute Break Ideas

Sneak in a session at the gym or a class (many places are offering shorter lunch-time classes)

Walk to a destination - a new coffee place or lunch spot

Have your lunch in a nearby scenic area

Invite a colleague for a walk to play a board game / card game

Watch some longer videos

Make more time for your craft or hobby

Make plans with someone from another office or outside-of-work friend

*Some of these are may replace a lunch-break if you have a job where you can eat while working at other times.

Protect Your Break Time at Work

Congrats, you’ve figured out what type of break you want to try and when you’ll do it! But how do you prevent that time you carved out for yourself from being overridden?

Create the Habit

It’s so tempting if you’re “in the groove” or if a last-minute meeting pops up to immediately throw your break plans aside and just tough it out. That’s where creating the habit comes in. A good break is a self-care commitment that you make to yourself and just like riding a bike or learning any new skill, practice makes perfect. 

Yes, absolutely there will be times where other tasks have to be prioritized over your self-care at work. Breaks, by their very nature, need to be flexible. Unless you’re very lucky (or have a highly regulated schedule) you likely can’t take the exact same break at the same time of day every day. Things come up, life happens, priorities change. But don’t let your breaks always fall last in your priority list. Here are a few ideas on how to start keeping some time for you at work. 

Set a Calendar Reminder

Pencil in your breaks and help to indicate to others when you expect to be unavailable. Calendar events typically work for larger breaks or lunches, or if I’ve made plans to take my break with other people who can hold me accountable. 

This might work well for you if your work schedule has a great deal of routine so people start to know when you’ll likely be unavailable. Alternatively, you can toss in breaks on your schedule but adjust as the day moves on. I’ve been guilty of pushing a big break around three or four times as the morning evolves. Simply keeping breaks present on your calendar is a great place to start. 

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This method uses a timer (like the one on your phone) to organize your work. The semi-classic technique of breaking your work up into 25 minute increments is especially useful if you have a lot to slog through and need help maintaining your focus. 

Since this time management method naturally creates short breaks between increments of work (and a longer break of 20-30 minutes after four “pomodoros” or increments of 25 minutes), this is a super-fast way to pepper lots of breaks throughout your day. Not surprisingly, the motto of this time management method (like one of Distilled’s core values) is “work smarter, not harder” since its goal is to keep you from falling into the trap of multi-tasking. 

Structure Your Day to Protect Your Time

There are plenty of great articles to help you organize your day for optimal performance. But have you considered structuring your time to keep time for yourself? Whether you group similar tasks together or keep all your meetings in a certain part of the day, remember to structure your day in a way that protects your most productive hours. 

Taking Breaks at Work: Key Takeaways

Recently, our VP of London, Jess Champion, in a generous act of vulnerability, sent an all-company email to remind us about self-care: “I’ve been feeling burnt out of late. A bit sleep deprived. Pretty stressed.  ... I’ve noticed recently that my personal coping mechanism in these situations is to DO ALL THE THINGS. Because then I’m totally in control...right?! … I thought that if I shipped all the frogs, nailed the to-do-list, made a bunch of spreadsheets and organised ALL THE THINGS, then I was looking after myself. I reckon it’s probably a classic lie that many of us tell ourselves in times of stress but, for me at least, it certainly ain’t effective.” 

If you’re like me, Jess, and many others, make time for self-care at work and take your breaks. These are the key self-care strategies to remember when preparing to take breaks at work.

Figure out what type of break works best for you

Determine how much time you typically have/what times of the day you can take breaks

Create the habit by planning your break times

Are you a manager trying to protect your team’s time? Or just great at keeping time for yourself? Comment below to share your break-challenges or best tips for in-office self-care!

from Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/self-care-strategies-for-the-workplace/ via http://www.rssmix.com/