With a little mindfulness, success may not require the trade-offs you think it will.
Of all the narratives about work and life out there, this is the most persistent: Success at work requires harsh trade-offs in the rest of life.
What Happened When I Gave Up My Smartphone For A Week
Shockingly, I survived.
It took me 10 minutes to write this first sentence. Why? Because as I sat down to write this story and while I tried to think of how to open it I checked my iPhone eight times. Some of those times were for simple procrastinations such as checking the news, some were for app notifications, and one was actually for a phone call (one of the less common utilities people use their smartphones for).
We Need A New Social Contract Between Workers, Companies, And Society: Here Are Some Ideas
Having a job used to provide helpful benefits and a path to a stable life. Increasingly, it no longer does. So it’s time to rethink how we support and reward our workforce.
The way we work today would be unrecognizable to the union bosses and corporate leaders of the past. When the United Auto Workers and General Motors signed the “Treaty of Detroit” in 1950—the most influential labor contract of the 20th century—a job was something you did full-time for your whole life for a single company, and the arrangement came with generous health, unemployment, and pension benefits (not to mention guaranteed wage increases). Workers had to give up their independence and turn up at the same place every day at the same hours, but they were rewarded with a ticket to middle-class comfort.
The True Time Cost Of Multitasking
Time-tracking apps are revealing what you’ve probably guessed: Multitasking wastes hours. Knowing that, though, helps solve the problem.
In the interest of knowing where my day really goes, I have been tracking my time for the past 15 months. I use spreadsheets with half-hour blocks. That keeps this project manageable, but this method does have a downside: losing detail. When I write “work” for 30 minutes, was I really working for the entire 30 minutes?
Virtual Reality Is Coming For Weddings
“Imagine you had a grandmother who couldn’t make it to the wedding for some reason—now she could, with 360-degree goggles.”
Destination weddings can be fraught with guest-list politics. Do I have to invite my second cousin’s inappropriate girlfriend? I’m inviting my high school best friend, but only because I’m sure she’ll decline. But now, literally anyone can attend your wedding—virtually, at least.
These Are The Most Optimistic Employees In The U.S.
Good news: Most of us are optimistic about the future of work. Better news: The people in these industries have the most rosy outlook.
In light of the recent tragedies across the U.S. and across the globe, it might be hard to maintain a sense of optimism for the future. However, there is a bright spot.
How Machine Learning Will Help You Make Healthier Choices At Work
One Googler explains how small innovations now are adding up to “smart,” health-boosting workplaces of the future.
It’s not easy to be healthy. And it’s even harder to be healthy at work, where chances are—despite the vogue for standing desks and the like—you’re parked in a chair for most of the day, focused on a screen. The average workweek, by one recent measure, is now 47 hours and counting. By and large, more time spent at the office means more time hunched over a computer, probably eating lunch at a desk. Stress—which has been linked to increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and other health issues—is just about inevitable as a result.
How A Groton Geek Won The Education App Sweepstakes
Using Apple technology, one small publisher figured out how to compete with the big boys who dominate the market for high school texts.
At 3:59 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12, John Conner was fidgeting at his kitchen table. He looked down at his iPhone, then up to the hands of the kitchen clock, then down to his iPhone, and up to the clock again, and down and up again…and you get the picture. Conner, the dean of faculty at Massachusetts’ elite Groton School, is a gentle, slyly ironic man who still dons the occasional seersucker suit and the awkwardly thin tie—the kind of man, in other words, who prefers getting the time from the hands of an old kitchen clock than from the digits on the iPhone in his hand.
How Urban Design Perpetuates Racial Inequality–And What We Can Do About It
Our cities weren’t created equal. But they don’t have to stay that way.
Cities are complex organisms shaped by myriad forces, but their organization bears the fingerprints of planners and policy makers who have shaped them for decades. At the root of many of these practices is racism, and modern cities bear the legacy of that discrimination.
Please Allow Trevor Noah To Reintroduce Himself
How The Daily Show host is finally coming into his own—during one of the most turbulent times in America, no less.
Trevor Noah is fast approaching his one-year anniversary as the host of The Daily Show, and he’s not reticent to admit that it’s been a dicey run at best. Since assuming his new role in September, Noah has been eclipsed by Jon Stewart’s 16-year legacy. His night-to-night viewership has failed to consistently hit the million mark as Stewart’s tenure was wont to do. Critics have been universal in giving praise for Noah’s charm but docking him for not having Stewart’s level of political authority.
