lifehack.org recent publications

Worldwide, reports of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article under consideration is devoted to the problem of depression which every 2 out of 5 Russian people have during the winter season. The author considers the reasons for it to be a long winter, lack of daylight and bad weather that we usually have in Russia. In the following text the author gives pieces of practical advice about how to avoid blue mood and depression.

emotionally drained over worrying if a particular friend or family member is okay and then trying to think of ways to help? This may be a sign you are going through compassion fatigue.It is natural to worry about the well-being of someone you care for. However, when you cannot focus on anything else and feel the need to constantly text or call that person to check in, it is best to take a step back.It can be easy to fixate on trying to help someone else through a tough time, but when their problems are always on your mind, this leads to compassion fatigue, and you will feel a sense of heaviness. The next time you find yourself feeling anxious about this other person’s pain and pondering what you can do to make their day better, consider these suggestions:

information overload is and how to overcome it.You will no longer be stuck staring at your computer screen in frustration when you need to write that proposal for work, put off your workout so you can scroll through “just one more” article on your smartphone, or let social media distract you from all of your household tasks!So, without further ado, here is an overview of what to know about information overload and surefire ways to overcome it. Information overload is the act of learning so much that it hinders you from taking action.For example, maybe you just read countless news articles, white papers, and other sources of information on a certain subject. Or, you listened to a lot of informational podcasts or radio shows and then felt completely inundated with varying perspectives and opinions.The most common manifestation of information overload is “analysis paralysis” in which we get so much information about something that we can’t decide which decision is the best one to make. There are simply too many options brought forth by all of the information you just consumed, so you just think about all of the different avenues without moving forward. Information overload can cause us to become so stressed out that we decide not to make any decision at all (which is in and of itself a decision). Also, according to Psychology Today, “Information overload can lead to real feelings of anxiety, feeling overwhelmed and powerless, and mental fatigue. It can also lead to cognitive issues such as difficulty making decisions or making hasty (often bad) decisions.” Therefore, information overload can be extremely detrimental to our psychological well-being.

Strength training is key if you want to build muscle fast while also burning off some of the fat that can hide those lean gains.A meta-analysis uncovered that resistance training not only helps build muscle but can also “reduce body fat percentage, body fat mass and visceral fat in healthy adults.”The fitness world can be confusing. It seems like everyone has big claims, and they often don’t lineup.

meditation could help you out, yet on some level, you repeatedly tell yourself you don’t have the time or don’t know how to meditate? Well, you’re going to get to know all about meditation and the best meditation apps to help you out.By the end of this article, you will know how to get started and have the best apps in your possession to start feeling like your best self.As you begin to transcend your ego, you won’t want to turn back once you’ve experienced a taster of selflessness and all the bundle of positive emotions it comes with.So, let’s dive into the seven best meditation apps out there to help you unlock all these benefits.This app is among the most popular out there, mainly because it has a kids section with meditations for children between ages three and 17. Whether you’re on the go, at work, or in a quiet place, Calm has a range of features and a mix of voice artists guiding you among the likes of Matthew McConaughey.Calm releases new original meditations daily and offers users a seven-day free trial to truly get the feel of the experience.You may have heard of or seen this meditation app on Shark Tank in 2017.

resilient, but we’re also resistant to change. We’re wired that way, which is why change can be so intimidating, scary, and challenging.Our brains are plastic, malleable, and fertile for quickly learning vast amounts of information when we’re young.

Stress is a normal part of the human condition—a part that most of us would rather eliminate. Some people are more prone to feeling stress than others, and stress impacts people differently due to temperament, inborn personality traits, and how we’ve been taught (directly and indirectly) how to respond to challenging situations.

grieving, processing, and dreaming of the future, your heart and life will heal.Everyone handles grief differently, and no two timelines are the same. While you may feel tempted to compare yourself to other divorcés and how they’re navigating their newly single lives, try to refrain from doing so.

reasons why you want to quit your job to start a businesses. However, there are massive hazards that can damage the early years.There are 31.7 million small businesses in America, making up 99.9% of all U.S.

Great Resignation, there are many opportunities for career professionals to get a raise or a promotion or find a better job. According to Statista, there were over 11.26 million open jobs in January of 2022.Leaders are no longer limited to working at jobs that don’t fulfill them. You can find work that aligns with your life goals and provides financial security.It’s vital to find fulfilling work because a majority of your time in life will be spent working in some form or another.

Most of us juggle between work and life, and learning how to balance all aspects of life is no easy task.Maybe you’re overwhelmed by daily demands. Maybe you don’t feel like you have enough time and energy.

parenting style. Some of it might work in certain circumstances but prove useless in others.So, how can you spark your child’s interest in doing vital activities without pushing them away? There are quite a few strategies involving nurturing internal motivation and changing priorities and perspectives.This article will talk about major factors that inhibit a child’s motivation and some mistakes to avoid while helping return it. You’ll also learn seven practical approaches to motivate kids to excel in life.

advance their careers.Forward-thinking leaders see an opportunity to leverage the interconnected social media platforms for the purposes of learning, adding value, demonstrating thought-leadership, and strategically networking with other entrepreneurial-minded leaders.The world is experiencing a great reset. Employees are deciding how they want to work, and they want work and careers that fulfill them. They want more from their jobs.

The Distracting Draw Of Smartphonesshowed that having a cell phone within view, even while not being used, creates a mental distraction for people. In order to communicate with our undivided attention, we need to put the cell phones and other distractions out of view, and out of mind.When you speak with young children, it is important to get on their level, both physically and metaphorically.If you are going to talk to a two year old, then crouch down on their level so you are face to face, on the same eye level. Then use words that a two year old would understand.

American workers describing themselves as digital nomads alone has gone up by 49%. Even I did it in 2021!So, what is a digital nomad? And can it now be a real lifestyle option for you to explore? Digital nomads are people who live their life in a nomadic manner, traveling to or staying in different places while engaging in remote work using digital technology. In short, they are remote workers or have the flexibility to work anywhere around the world as long as they have access to digital telecommunication technology.

While people consume coffee to get energized, few are aware of how to drink it for the optimal energy boost.In this article, I will discuss the benefits and downsides of coffee, the connection between coffee and energy, and the best time to drink coffee for energy and productivity. Coffee has several health benefits, such as boosting your mood, focus, physical performance, and weight loss. It contains nutrients like potassium, magnesium, niacin, and antioxidants like polyphenols, which help improves your brain health, heart health, digestive health, and support muscle function.But the benefits of drinking coffee are dose-dependent. Drinking around 400mg or three to five cups of coffee is considered safe as per the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. If you’re a pregnant or a nursing mom, then the recommended daily dose is up to 200mg.An overdose of coffee can be detrimental to your health with adverse side effects, such as the following:

sleep mask, white noise machines, or have a sleep routine, all of that won’t do you much good if the pillow you have is uncomfortable.All pillows are not created equal these days as there are many designed now to handle specific issues that people have while sleeping. Regardless, the ones I have picked out are designed to offer the best sleep possible depending on your situation.Before getting into the list of best pillows I selected, here are the criteria that went into selecting the ideal pillows for sleeping:In addition to the above criteria, most of the pillow companies here are USA-based companies.

parental skills are often taught in a supposed “one-size-fits-all” paradigm. How can parents figure out how to guide their children with special needs when so much of what they’re taught or shown either doesn’t work or is just plain ridiculous in the context of neurodivergence?How can parents help kids with special needs thrive in a world that often refuses to see, understand, and value them? How will children know how to see themselves differently than others and love themselves, not in spite of the difference but because of it?In this article, I propose five tips on how to help kids with special needs thrive, not just survive.I hope that, through implementing these strategies, parents can help their children to cherish the diversity and beauty they bring to the world. In doing so, someday, the world will cherish them, too.Change your mind about what it means to be a great parent.

boost your productivity for a better balance?”, the answer is a definite yes.I think you would agree with me that everything seems to work a little better when done in moderation, whether that is sleep, body movement, diet, or other things. If we sleep too much, we are more tired and less motivated. So, I think you see now how important it is to create and maintain balance in all areas. This also includes our work. We all have seven days a week. It would make sense to work three or five days to have a balance between work and rest. So, why it has been standardized to work five and only rest for two? And what does that have to do with our productivity?If we’re looking at the countries that according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are the most productive and those that are not, we can see a direct correlation between working hours. While Norway, Denmark, and Germany, on average, work around 27 hours a week, Japan and Mexico, nations that are known for overworked employees, rank as least productive while filling longer hours.The fundamental goal of a 4-day workweek is to improve workers’ quality of life. By working fewer hours overall and having three full days off, people have more time for personal priorities like:

prioritize in your life. This could range from work-life balance to corporate cultures where employees take ethics and accountability seriously. Maybe you value time or collaboration, or an organization that prioritizes caring for the environment and giving back to the community.

long-term success and sustainability.Here are five of the best strategies you can use to grow your business continuously.If you were to examine some of the world’s most successful businesses, you’ll notice that most of them have something in common. It’s that they go to great lengths to attract the best available talent and to help their employees continually enhance their skills.The reason for that is simple: businesses will only go as far as their employees can carry them.

open to learning and growing, you will gain something from every experience.This is the mindset I had way back then, even though I didn’t realize it. It wasn’t until I looked back at the various life experiences that I saw how each played a role in my success as a coach. One of my favorite quotes is from the late, great Steve Jobs. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” This quote embodies what I have learned along my journey to get to where I am today. It wasn’t always easy, but it was always educational. There were plenty of ups, downs, successes, and most significantly, failures because this is where the majority of my growth came from.Failure is the greatest teacher we have in life, so when it teaches us something, we owe it to our future selves to pay attention and learn. This life journey is also where I acquired numerous stories, lessons, and wisdom that would benefit myself and every other individual I have coached over the years.

get the best sleep possible.While some may not be big fans of faux fur blankets, the Snow Leopard Faux Fur Throw Blanket has made a good impression on many.Faux fur blankets are a great winter addition. This product is made with 100% lush poly microfiber. You can easily add it on top of your bedding to turn your bedroom into an arctic wonderland.While they’re not the warmest blankets you can get, they’re a great choice for cozying up on chilly nights and will add a fun, attractive element to your bedroom.ProsCons Looking for the best blankets to fit your entire family while you watch Netflix on your bed? Look no further.

ore and more jobs are calling for remote workers and becoming home-based. While that may be a dream for some, switching from a structured office environment to the comfort of your own home can be challenging in surprising ways.

It all seemed to happen so fast. As far as I can recall, I first began to truly get a sense of the potential gravity of the real-world, nightmare-to-come when all of the schools and universities started shutting down.

over 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November of 2021, which represented a continued trend from earlier months and indicates a seismic shift in the labor market, where young professionals are leaving companies in droves for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to better pay, improved culture, flexibility and options to work from home.The most impacted group of people are young professionals aged 30 to 45 years old, who are in the middle of their careers, according to the Harvard Business Review. The resignation rate in this group jumped over 20% from 2020 to 2021.The Work Institute, an industry leading workforce research firm, published a comprehensive study on employee retention and estimates that the cost of turnover is about 33% of an employee’s annual salary.

communication with our children can make or break our relationship with them, and that affects how they engage with the world.As parents, talking to your children can be intimidating. Knowing you talked to them in a way that preserves your relationship can go a long way, even if your child isn’t happy with you at the time.Here are four things to keep in mind when you talk to your child as a parent.

growth mindset, and what growth mindset in business means.Author and Stanford University professor Carol Dweck coined the term in her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. As she writes for Harvard Business Review,“[P]opularity has a price: people sometimes distort ideas, and therefore fail to reap their benefits.”But when properly understood and effectively cultivated, a growth mindset has demonstrable benefits in business, including more trust between colleagues, boosted morale, and increased innovation.

work from home efficiently.Make sure you’re up to speed with your handling of the platform before the day of your interview. Think through any glitches that could get in the way of a stellar interview and have a backup plan, such as having a headset handy in case you have microphone issues. And don’t mute your audio so that the interviewer has to ask you to unmute it first. Then, set the stage to nail your job interview remotely.

back issues, in fact, are the most common complaints people have that trigger them to seek how to fix a bad posture. Luckily, whether you sit for long hours at a stretch or not, becoming mindful of how you sit can heal, prevent, and provide you with the tools to sustain a strong, pain-free back and alignment.Below are four simple ways to fix a bad posture. These techniques can help you remain on top of your posture only if you allow yourself to dedicate a few minutes a day of awareness and self-care.Most lower back pains, believe it or not, originate from your hamstrings.

insecurities you may have struggled with and ignored in order to focus on another person. Work through those insecurities.Maybe you’ve been dealing with trust in other areas of your life, such as having trust in yourself and your decisions. Work on making informed decisions and not doubting yourself afterward. Put your energy into the people who have always had your best interest at heart and the activities that mean the most to you, like a special hobby or exercising.When you listen to your body and build trust in yourself, you’ll feel more in tune with your thoughts and feelings.

approach to solving problems along the way.You can’t anticipate every zig or zag, of course. But you can foster some habits and responses that will allow you to feel more balanced, focused, and confident—even when things go awry.Discover your approach to solving problems.

busy entrepreneur. That’s why according to Statista, “there were an estimated 120 million podcast listeners in the country in 2021.

bad posture or too much strain and pressure on our muscles, we feel pain around our necks and shoulders. Depending on the cause, the pain may be dull and steady or may only appear when we make certain movements.

ADHD, many obstacles can ruin our children’s focus and concentration.Children who are gifted, neurodivergent, or neurotypical all struggle with focus-related issues from time to time. Knowing how to improve children’s concentration and focus is a challenge.

innovations have changed the world in the past 100 years, including the scientific method, technology, and Wheel Potential. It was Albert Einstein who said, “Imagination is life’s coming attraction.”How do books on coaching and mentoring differ from other books? You would be interested in How-To guides with action steps or books that offer guidance with action steps.

strong leaders, everything crumbles. Leaders can create structure and organization and directly contribute to productivity.Good leaders inspire teams to thrive and ultimately affect a company’s bottom line. Strong entrepreneurial leaders manage remote teams in a way that leads to the growth of that entrepreneur’s business.

working from home doesn’t need to be painful or take a toll on your spine.When you’re spending every day sitting in the same seat, you want to invest in an ergonomic work chair to make sure you’re treating your back and all your organs as kindly as possible. This is why we’ve collated our top seven best work from home chairs.It’s worth investing now in a supportive work from home office chair to save your back in later years. While ergonomic computer chairs tend to be a little pricier, your daily use combats the initial expense.

According to a study, 90% of people with depression have reported experiencing poor sleep quality. Depression can also affect your circadian rhythms.

Team morale is enhanced by close physical contact. You mostly feel in control of your environment.Unfortunately, that time machine doesn’t exist just yet. However, managers can use the current situation to find new and innovative ways to increase employee engagement and performance through the much-underutilized skill of talent development.In this article, I will discuss five simple talent development hacks for managers to improve employee performance, improve retention rates, and reduce stress. The Association Of Talent Development defines talent development as: “Efforts that foster learning, employee engagement, talent management, and employee development to drive organisational performance, productivity, and results. To some, talent development is an important tool for unleashing human potential. To others, it is a set of practical capabilities for driving organisational results by creating the processes, systems, and frameworks that advance training and development strategies, succession planning, and learning opportunities.” This article focuses on what managers can do to unleash human potential. Most managers are unaware of the power they have to unleash human potential within their employees. It is such an untapped leadership skill. This is in part because talent development traditionally sits within the human resources systems and frameworks.

leadership that team members want to work for.Here are some tips on how to inspire your team to do well and achieve better results.Learning how to inspire your team to achieve better results starts with knowing their “why?” Certainly, every leader on this planet is familiar with Simon Sinek’s book, “Start With Why?” so you, too, understand the value of getting clear on what motivates your team.Begin your plan with exploration meetings. Gather the group together and using open-ended questions, brainstorming sessions, or team-building activities, drive an outcome list of motivational and engagement strategies.

consistent hard work from their athletes every night during practices.John Wooden, the iconic UCLA basketball coach preached that “There is no substitute for hard work.” His players bought into his teaching are validated by the fact that they won seven NCAA basketball championships in a row and ten in the last twelve years he coached.Why will individual players and teams work so hard for their coaches? There may be multiple reasons, but I believe the most important one is because they know the coaches care for them beyond the narrow confines of a court or a field.Rick Majerus, the outstanding University of Utah and St. Louis University basketball coach, would share with fellow coaches the famous John Maxwell quote:“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”I attended many of Rick’s practices, and the work ethic of his players was exemplary because the young men knew how much he cared for them.

Heather Odendaal, the head of the WNORTH organization that unites female leaders in corporate, notes that pandemic years brought us a new reality where women had to navigate another layer of complexity in drawing lines between their work and home life to avoid burnout.So, let’s look for solutions. But all solutions must come with a caveat. You have a lot going on.

your motivations for turning up every day. Your personality traits will dictate how they communicate with you.Need the details? Tell them. Just want an overview? Tell them.

make self-care a priority. It is as fundamental as breathing or eating. But it can feel like since you can survive without it, it can be sidelined in lieu of goals and the endless to-do list, which means we have to be clever about it.Do you know the quote “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”? What you have been doing so far isn’t working.

office gossip. Who gathers around the proverbial water cooler to talk? Who stands off in the corner chit-chatting about what happened in the office?When you become aware of who is having these conversations, you will become aware of who you should avoid.Backstabbers are at the center of office gossip. They need to be in control. To them, knowledge is power. And if they can be at the center of the flow of knowledge, they can control what happens within the office.

seeking feedback is essential if you want to succeed in your career, and there are numerous tips and tricks to help you seek constructive feedback.But before I tell you how to seek out constructive feedback, let’s start by defining constructive feedback. Constructive feedback is a type of feedback designed to help employees improve their performance, reach their goals, and become more successful. It’s not about criticizing someone or finding fault with their work but about helping them to see where they can make changes or improve.Constructive feedback is also about allowing employees to learn, grow, and develop into stronger employees over time. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process, which is why it’s broken down into four essential parts: