5 Tips to Stay On-Task When Working from Home

9130a702-5b04-4d65-be87-5dc8ebbed16aBy: SpeakSpace.com

Work from home jobs are becoming more and more prevalent, with nearly one in five Americans not setting foot in an office at all. The notion of a work-life balance is an idea that many millennials enjoy and prefer. But with so many possible distractions, do you have the tools it takes to be productive when working from home? Follow these easy tips to stay motivated and on-task

Get (actually) dressed

No, sweatpants don’t count! While hanging out in pajamas all day sounds fun, it’s a great idea to get dressed in casual, yet real clothes to help you get motivated.

Listen to your brain to determine breaks

Believe it or not, science proves that our brain has ways of telling us that it’s time for a break from work. Do you find yourself distracted, scrolling through mindless internet pages, or grabbing your phone to play a game? Listen to these signals and take a few minutes to refresh yourself so you’re better able to focus.

Create a workspace you enjoy

Put forth some real time and energy to create a work area that not only helps you stay productive, but that you actually enjoy! Target and IKEA have great, inexpensive home office furniture and super cute supplies to make your home office your new favorite place to be.

Use a reliable internet provider and conference calling solution

There’s nothing more stressful than not being able to communicate with your clients and colleagues while working from home. Upgrade your monthly internet bandwidth to guarantee your connection and leverage a reliable conference calling solution that has best-in-class technology and customer service to ensure you’ll never miss a meeting.

Take it easy on yourself

Although working from home has its benefits, no one is saying it’s easy! Cut yourself some slack if you have an ‘off day’ or were met with more distractions than you would have liked. Create a schedule, write a checklist and jump right back in business tomorrow!

Get started with a reliable conference calling solution!
Contact us today to gain insight on how your business can gain efficiencies and increase productivity from our Reservationless-Plus services.

Written by: https://blog.speakspace.com/2017/08/13/5-tips-to-stay-on-task-when-working-from-home/

 

10 Ways to Get Out of a Funk in 15 Minutes

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It’s all about mind over matter. Here’s how to take an off-day and turn it into a productive one.

This article was originally published by Inc.com (link below) 

We all have off days from time to time. It’s human nature. But barring the occasional disaster or tragedy, a bad day is really only bad if you decide to stay in that frame of mind. As Martha Washington put it, “The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances.”

In reality, there are some simple actions that can put a positive spin on things and flip your switch from “ugh” to “awesome.” Here are a few things that can help you turn your day around.

1. Create Your Own Talisman

I have an electric guitar in my office. I’ll slap my headphones on and play my guitar to snap out of lethargy or bad moods–or to simply help my brain start solving problems. Find a physical object that you puts you in a happy, energized state. In A Few Good Men, Lt. Daniel Kaffee needed his baseball bat to think best. You likely have something similar, and it’s not only OK but essential to use props like these to get out of a funk. If you’re stumped, consider Play-Doh, a doodling pad, or a toy you loved as a child.

2. Make Connections

Instead of glancing over your News Feed, try making a connection with someone real. Even chatting with the barista at your local coffee shop can help put you in a good mood. (Here are a few conversation starters.) At my company, we make it a habit to touch base with one another before getting down to business. Sharing something that’s inspired us or that we’re grateful for during the day not only helps form human connections and build a positive atmosphere, but also makes our meetings shorter, more productive, and action-oriented.

3. Make Someone Else’s Day

Choose a person–whether you know him or not–and decide to make his day with a random act of kindness. Leave a note to brighten someone’s day, pay for someone’s coffee in line, or buy extra muffins and distribute them to your team members. Ask a co-worker if you can help her with something. Giving to others and appreciating what we’ve been given are two of the shortest paths to shaking yourself out of a bad mood. On that note:

4. Express Gratitude

Whether you do it in person, over the phone, via social media, or just in your own head, taking a moment to express gratitude leads to improved health, happiness, relationships, and income. A popular restaurant in Los Angeles, Café Gratitude, has its staff practice this every day, and it has one of the highest levels of customer and worker satisfaction in the business.

5. Daydream

Imagine what you might be doing if you were six, 10, or 15 years old. Draw it or write it down, then take a moment to find a photo online that captures its essence. By accessing part of yourself that’s younger, you tap into a time before your aspirations and dreams were reshaped by society. Better yet, spend time with a child. Just watching and spending time around a child opens you up to the freedom and carefree feeling of being young.

6. Breathe

As one of my yoga teachers says, shallow breathing results in shallow experiences. Deep breathing, on the other hand, helps clear your mind, reduce stress, and reset your mood. An easy way to get started is by downloading The Mindfulness App, which Healthline called “straightforward and simple.” The quiet alerts, regular reminders, and customization options can make breathing such a routine part of your day that you may even find yourself needing to take mood-calibrating breaths less often.

7. Avoid the 4 Cs

There are four things you need to avoid to stay out a funk (not to mention office drama) in the first place: comparing, competing, criticizing, and complaining. If you catch yourself engaging in one of these unhealthy behaviors, redirect your attention to something happy, like a funny video, for an instant mood booster. (Just make sure the funny video doesn’t lead you to the latest dark headline or celebrity drama.)

8. Find a Quiet Space

Even if it means taking refuge in a bathroom stall, find a place where you can have a moment of quiet or move around and shake off the negative thoughts and feelings.

9. Listen to Music

Everyone has a few tunes that never fail to lighten their spirits. Put on some headphones, and crank it up. Better yet, play it out loud in your car, and sing along.

10. Take a Walk

Go for a walk, or try having a walking meeting. In addition to the health benefits, walking has shown to have amazing mood-boosting powers. Sometimes you just need a quick change of scenery to improve your state of mind.

There are a variety of other techniques that can help you shift your day from bad to better. Sometimes escaping a bad mood is all about remembering that, as author Regina Brett put it, “No one really has a bad life. Not even a bad day. Just bad moments.”

A bad moment is just a tiny fraction of your entire day, and a bad day is just one out of your entire life. The more good moments you create, the fewer bad days you’ll have, and the less glaring the bad ones will seem.

So the next time you feel like your day is going south, put these tips into practice, and let the good days commence.

Read the article here: https://www.inc.com/the-muse/10-ways-to-get-out-of-a-funk-in-15-minutes.html

Health-centric hotel, where guests can work out in their rooms, is no place for slackers

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Disclaimer: This is not my original content, rather is being shared from HERE

I have personally had the pleasure of working with Dr. GANGAHAR on these projects and wholeheartedly believe in his focus and goals with this new hotel concept! 

A high-profile Nebraska heart surgeon may be retired from the operating room, but he’s now taking his push for fitness and heart-healthy living to another industry: hotels.

Dr. Deepak Gangahar, whose patient lineup included Tom Osborne and Husker quarterback Tommie Frazier, is a driving force behind a new InterContinental Hotels Group model set to open in April at 24th and Farnam Streets.

Called Even, the 132-suite structure that Gangahar is developing with business partner Kirti Trivedi is rising six stories in a transitioning downtown pocket infused recently with some new apartments and a few renovated storefronts. But the hotel, designed by Parekh Architects, based in Houston and Oklahoma City, stands out mostly because of its obsession with wellness.

Let’s just say it’s no place for slackers.

Each guest room will have its own exercise equipment, and extra-thick floors and walls to contain any noise or bounce. Staff members will double as yoga or spin instructors: The front area host, for instance, may check in a business group and later guide them on a bike ride.

The hotel’s Cork & Kale restaurant, also open to the public, will offer items like egg quinoa wraps, power granola and kale miso ginger salads. Even the cocktails and desserts have a fitness bent — try the low-calorie TY KU Soju or Deconstructed Yogurt Bar S’mors.

“It creates a culture where everybody is health-conscious,” said Gangahar of Anant Enterprises. “I wanted something that didn’t exist in Nebraska, and I wanted whatever we did to make a difference.”

The $17.8 million, 105,000-square-foot project is among five Even models in the pipeline. Three others are being built in New York City, and another will be in Miami. Earlier, IHG opened two Even lifestyle hotels in Norwalk, Connecticut, and Rockville, Maryland. IHG, which is based in the United Kingdom, owns the brands Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, along with Even and others.

Deborah Ward, spokeswoman for the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau, welcomed what she described as a new and different product to the local market that currently offers a total of about 2,700 downtown hotel rooms.

“It’s also a great option for locals who want a mini-vacation or a quick getaway,” she said.

While this will be the first fitness-centric hotel of its kind in Nebraska, Gangahar is no stranger to the hospitality industry in general — and neither is he a novice to pace-setting moves.

He and Trivedi are developing a five-story apartment and retail building at 16th and Nicholas Streets, on an industrial corner not yet reached by north downtown’s emerging entertainment and business district. The duo viewed that $9.2 million Nichols Flats project as a way to spur more activity around yet another of their investments, the Holiday Inn Downtown near 15th and Cuming Streets.

Likewise, Trivedi anticipates the firm’s Even Hotel to attract more commercial activity to its downtown intersection, which is two blocks south of the Dodge Street corridor’s Joslyn Museum, Central High School and NuStyle Development’s Highline apartments.

“Watch, in two years, this area will be very different,” Trivedi said. “When we broke ground in north downtown, everyone thought we were crazy, too.”

Of the 5,000 square feet of retail space that will wrap around the ground level of the Even Hotel, about 60 percent probably will be filled with hotel-related banquet and party space for the first two years, or until the area becomes established enough to draw more retail services, Trivedi said.

Ground-level retail bays are intended to engage pedestrians and enliven street activity. Gangahar said the hotel’s exterior also will feature a lot of glass to promote more connection to the neighborhood.

NuStyle co-owner Todd Heistand — who is adding on to the existing 194-unit Highline apartments — sold Gangahar’s firm some of the Farnam Street land upon which the Even Hotel is being built.

Heistand said he is looking forward to the hotel bringing more visitors and commercial bustle, which he expects will positively affect his tenants. The Highline’s new wing that is under construction will front Douglas Street and add 114 apartments, a swimming pool and two commercial bays to the existing complex.

“Hotels bring that 24-7 atmosphere,” Heistand said. “They bring visitors, they’re a great addition to a neighborhood.”

The hotel was originally slated to open this summer, but construction has taken longer than anticipated. The brand’s wellness features, including sound-proofing and built-in poles for exercise resistance bands, will increase typical hotel development costs by about 15 percent, Trivedi said.

He and Gangahar said they’re building the Even to own for the long run.

Gangahar’s entry into the hospitality industry dates back a dozen years, while he was still performing surgeries.

He started out building a small economy hotel in west Omaha, which provided a place for his brother to manage and to avoid a commute to Kansas. The business tapped many of the same principles that the doctor used during his health care profession. Now 67, Gangahar’s career highlights include helping to create Lincoln’s Nebraska Heart Institute and Nebraska Heart Hospital, and a stint at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Omaha-based heart transplant program.

“Treat each patient as if they were part of our family,” Gangahar said. “Mediocrity is not good enough.”

The tie with Trivedi came as Trivedi worked on a hotel project near Gangahar’s hospital. A mutual friend introduced them. Gangahar invited Trivedi to his first Husker game. Gangahar said he appreciated Trivedi’s hotel know-how and values, and they’ve since joined forces on about 10 finished projects and have a half-dozen in the works.

Their latest, the Even, allows a setting for Gangahar to instill his careerlong message: “Prevention is times better and cheaper than treatment.”

Among the hotel’s amenities: big windows and room sizes; no beds smaller than king-sized (except for kid bunk beds); a spacious lobby designed for socializing; a signature staircase to encourage climbing. Guests have a common 3,000-square-foot fitness area as well as their room exercise equipment.

Elevators, to be sure, will be available, as will choices for the not-so-energetic or not-so-calorie-conscious consumer.

Business travelers will have plenty of high-tech meeting space, and Gangahar said the Even is to be the first area hotel to offer one-gig Internet.

While Gangahar no longer performs surgery, he stays active with family, hobbies and Anant Enterprises, and mentors youth and volunteers consulting services to patients. His Even Hotel promotes his aim to continue to help “build healthy communities.”

“I may have left the practice of medicine,” Gangahar said. “But medicine has not left me.”

Contact the writer: 402-444-1224, cindy.gonzalez@owh.com

Being Productive & Organized

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Working from a home or remote office can have it perks, however, it provides a steep learning curve for many. I hope you will share your tried-and-true methods to keeping on track.

I will share my first hand experiences and those of others who have been-there-done-that, and accomplished greatness from a home office, or remote work environment!

I see no reason to re-create the wheel so let’s start with this fantastic guide for setting up your home office for productivity: CLICK HERE written by SJ Scott.

 

Travel

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Business Travel deserves a page all to itself! Having traveled professionally for many years, I have learned many tried and true tips to ensure that corporate travel is as painless as possible. I was lucky to be mentored by my sister and partner for the first year, and I quickly realized that there are many Do’s and Don’ts when traveling for business. This page will provide articles, links and a vast resources of travel tips and guides to help you navigate the work of corporate travel!

Fitness

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Whether you are a home-body, a traveler, or choose to hit the gym on a daily basis…here are some pointers for staying fit and fabulous when you work from home and/or travel extensively!
I will also share cutting edge resources such as new hotels targeting traveling professionals and fitness, to airport options and hotel room workouts!

Healthy Eating

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Remote Professionals, and work travelers know that a healthy lifestyle has a huge impact on our effectiveness, energy levels and overall well-being. We will share healthy eating tips for meal plans, as well as tips for staying healthy on the road!

Top 15 Mistakes When Flying

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This article from Forbes hits the nail on the head. I have experienced every single one of these mistakes firsthand! Here is a recap, plus a little added commentary from yours truly: (for the full article click here)

  1. Not booking your seat when you book your plane ticket! (yup, you will only do this once until you get stuck in the VERY LAST row by the bathrooms, with no reclining seat).
  2. Dressing down for the flight. (It’s never a good day when you end up behind schedule and you have to attend a meeting in lululemon pants, and bed head…or having to get dressed in an airport bathroom. However, I NEVER check a bag for this reason as well)
  3. Trusting that your flight will have WiFi. (I learned this the hard way when leaving the country for an extended vacation. I figured a 5 hour flight would be perfect for catching up on last-minute emails and setting my auto-responder. And then….you find out they have no wi-fi on the flight!) 
  4. Wearing uncomfortable shoes(There is a balance here! I am horrified when I end up sitting next to a man in flip-flops how takes his shoes off in-flight. Gag!)
  5. Forgetting to check you plans before you land. (Use a travel app to stay organized, and double and triple check accommodations and travel times before hand or in-flight. As much as I hate to admit it, I have flown to the wrong city, I have forgotten to book a hotel, I have forgotten to book a car, and I have miscalculated travel time. Be prepared and double-check!)
  6. Not bringing back-up cosmetics in your carry on. (If nothing else….deodorant?)
  7. Not planning ahead to accommodate travel time from the airport. (see item 5 above)
  8. Forgetting to bring an extra tote. (When traveling, if I have down time…I inevitably end up shopping. It seems the only reasonable thing to do, shop or eat! Throw in a little reusable bag or tote so you can carry extra items. You won’t believe how handy it is!)
  9. Booking an aisle seat. (the article says it perfectly! must read!) 
  10. Booking a window seat. (the article says it perfectly! must read!) 
  11. Assuming you’ll get food on the plane. (There is nothing worse than running to catch a 3+ hour flight, and realizing that you are starving and your only food options is a small token bag of peanuts (delta now offers almonds), bring food with you!)
  12. Not getting a jump on jet lag. (Think about how your flight times will correlate with meetings and time zone changes. Sometimes a little extra cash for a better flight time offers enough productivity to make it worth the extra spend!)
  13. Suffering through coach. (Luckily if you travel extensively, and have status upgrades are truly a blessing. Once you have the chance to sit in Economy Comfort, Business Class or First Class, it’s tough to go back. Another justification is that more often than not you will be seated by other business travelers which offers a great networking opportunity!)
  14. Not planning ahead if you want to bring wine home. (Great point! See #8 above, or leave room in your bag.  Utah has very strict laws regarding shipped wine, however, you CAN either put it in a checked bag, or many airports have wonderful wine stores where you can purchase it  in the terminal to carry on!) 
  15. Thinking the gate agent will of assistance. (Basically, you are stuck with using your airline’s app, or call customer service. Anymore, the app is better to work with! )

Happy and Safe Travels!

 

 

 

The Perfect Work-Life Balance

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Did you know that 43 percent of employed Americans said they spent at least some time working remotely? And 3.7 million employees work from home at least 50% of the time! A Gallup Poll report shows staggering increases in the number of people working from home either full-time or part-time. (Read the article here)

I have created this blog as a resource site, and a place to share your experiences, both good and bad with a remote work environment. And I hope that the tools provided will help you be more efficient than ever to reach both your personal and professional goals!

The remote environment provides the opportunity to achieve the perfect work-life balance. Cheers to your success!

Heidi