E-jected

E-jectedE-jectedFor those in the industry who misguidedly consider Microsoft as the embodiment of Corporate Evil, this could be just the support they need to add to their ranks. Do keep in mind, though, that CEO Steve Ballmer did issue a carefully-composed (and non-protected) email beforehand, lamenting the need for layoffs on such a large scale and their destructive effect on its employees. And when youre talking huge job cut figures, perhaps there isnt a better way. (We may find out when the recent tidal wave of layoffs takes effect.) What do you think? Feel free to comment below, or send your own email to PinkSlippedVault.com. Posted by Todd Obolsky, Vault Staff Writer

Employment Options for New Actors

Employment Options for New ActorsEmployment Options for New ActorsOne of the more popular questions we get from new actors is what type of job you can take that will allow you to remain free during the day to be available for auditions? Believe it or not, there are a number of great employment options out there for budding young actors. And no, not all involve serving food. Here are some potential positions to consider. Waiter Okay, not a surprise that waiting tables are an excellent way that newbie actor can earn their rent money while waiting for their starring role. But, the reason waiting tables is so popular is that you often have a flexible schedule that allows you to trade shifts with your co-workers should an audition suddenly come up. Additionally, especially in frischauf Angeles, a number of the more trendy restaurants are hangouts for the Hollywood elite. So, it will give you an opportunity to mingle amongst the in-crowd. And by the way, its extremely rare, but there a re still people who get discovered by working in a restaurant and coming across the right person at the right time. Bartender Assuming youre of age, bartending is a great way to earn a full-time income working part-time hours. Many bartenders who work at trendy clubs in Los Angeles and New York have been known to pull down over 100K per year. Seriously. Office Temp There are a number of companies in Los Angeles and New York City that work with entertainment companies to place temporary administrative workers. You will typically earn about $15-$20 per hour working as an assistant or secretary. These jobs can be quite valuable in that you may get to work directly (or very close to) some of the bigger decision makers in the fields of film and television. Considering that unterstellung are sometimes a day, week or month-long assignments, they allow you the freedom to do the things you need to do with regard to your acting career. Script Reader Agencies, film companies, and p roduction companies are bombarded with massive amounts of material. The executives running these companies cant possibly read the volume of stuff that crosses their desks, so they hire people to do it for them. It is often referred to as coverage. It consists of a plot summary of the material and your overall opinion and whether or not you feel its something the company that hired you should consider pursuing. The amount you can charge for these services depends a lot on what youre reading (script, screenplay, novel, etc.). But the amounts are typically anywhere from $50-$500 $50 for a TV script and possibly as much as $500 for a large novel. There are a number of classes and books available on how to write good coverage, so they might be worth it if this sounds like something you might be interested in. Considering you pick your hours, its a popular choice. Telemarketing Hey, its an ugly job, but believe it or not, it can pay the bills. You might even consider role-playing on one of the 1-900 phone companies. Its not the most respectable acting gig, but hey, theres money to be made if you need it. Process Server Lawyers and law firms are constantly in need of people that can provide delivery of a court summons. After all, unless a lawyer can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that a summons to appear has been properly served (in person), then their whole case can fall apart. Lawyers pay anywhere from $150-$1500 for this service depending on how difficult they anticipate the service is going to be. Often its nothing more than simply confirming that the person named on the document is the person youre speaking with and then handing them a copy of the summons and then collecting your check. Again, considering you make your hours, this might be a road to consider. Web Writer If you have a way with words, you might look for opportunities for someone to pay you to write web related content. These jobs arent as difficult to find as you think. You simply need to do a little research for the opportunity that feels right for you. Provide a Service From dog walker to pet sitting, to personal concierge, there are a number of unique services you can provide that people in New York and Los Angeles would be willing to pay top dollar for. You simply need to find a way to market yourself appropriately and then set up shop. If you do start your service, be sure to protect yourself with all appropriate insurances, tax filings and by setting up a corporation (so none of your personal assets are at stake should something go awry). Acting is a difficult skill to master and trying to find work in the field is even more difficult. So, you need to find work that will allow you the time you need to work on your craft to take advantage of any last minute auditions. The list above has just a few of the options out there.

A Look at Pixlr, the Free Photo and Image Editing Tool

A Look at Pixlr, the Free Photo and Image Editing ToolA Look at Pixlr, the Free Photo and Image Editing ToolPixlr is an online photo editing tool thats fast and simple and has enough features to make it a good option for low- to moderate-level photo editing. You can create a new image with Pixlr, upload an image, or grab an image directly from a URL location. Its compatible with a variety of computers. Perhaps best of all, its free. Pixlrs Main Features If youre already familiar with Photoshop, youll find that the Pixlr Editor menu options are similar, both in terms of layout and in how the various options work. Youll need a basic understanding of how image edit tools work to use them, such as fill, crop, blur, and smudge. Pixlr has an Express tool that offers a variety of one-click changes that are fun, fast, and a very good choice for beginning editors. Hewlett Packard dropped a few features from its editing tool when the company redesigned its image software and this made it h arder to work with. Pixlr Express came to the rescue. Its much easier to use and offers former HP image editing features plus more. It also has one-click manipulation for size, rotation, and inversion, as well as the ability to add instant photo effects, changing saturation, and different hues. Added Features and Perks Pixlr offers Grabber for Firefox, a free download that enables you to right-click on any image in a web page and load it into Pixlr for editing. This Firefox add-on also lets you capture the whole- or parts- of browser content such as the print screen. Theres also a Grabber version that you can download if youre a Windows benutzer. Perhaps the best part is that the Grabber feature is free. Ease of Use / Pixlr User Interface The Pixlr Express tool is so simple that just about anyone can master it in seconds, although the Pixlr Editor requires some knowledge of photo imaging software. It has some nice features but theres a good mglichkeit youll get lost if you d ont have some experience with this type of software. Pixlrs user interface is extremely easy to navigate and user-friendly. Unlike Photoshop, which can be intimidating for beginners because of the intense learning curve, Pixlrs tutorials show examples and present information and instructions in easy-to-understand lay terms. Unfortunately, there arent enoughPixlr tutorialsout there. Youll want to read their blog before diving in to get a better feel for Pixlr and to learn how you can get the most out of its features. Norwegian publisher KT Forlaget / ICT Publish? has produced video tutorials that should help you quickly master all the important basic features and tools that Pixlr offers. This can come in handy if youre new to image editing and youre not patient enough to just play around with the program. You can access all these videos online for free. Drawbacks The Pixlr Help section is not very helpful. For example, you wont find any answers if you have trouble downloading Pix lrs Grabber and you click on Help. Unfortunately, there are no support or user groups either, if youre the type who needs a lot of help. But you can read over the Pixlr blog. Youll find additional information there about how to get the most out of Pixlr. And theres always a price to pay for any program thats free. Youll be peppered with a fair number of ads while youre working in Pixlr. Some users have complained that Pixlrs features are more limited than theyre used to and that its a bit short on quickie tricks. Some of the features require that you set up an account before you can use them. Its still free. Finally, Pixlr requires that you install Flash. Other Options Of course, you can always stick with Photoshop. It also offers an Express Editor option if you really dont need a full range of tools, and the full-deal version has just about any tool you could imagine or ever need. But if youre looking for a new editor, Pixlr might be it. As for Fotor, the basic editor is free b ut youll have to upgrade to Fotor Pro for all the bells and whistles. PiZap is also respectable and quite handy. But why look further? TechRadar ranks Pixlr Editor above them all.

10 ways to improve your sleep and increase your productivity

10 ways to improve your sleep and increase your productivity10 ways to improve your sleep and increase your productivityThe next time you tell yourself that youll sleep when youre dead, realize that youre making a decision that can make that day come much sooner. Pushing late into the night is a health and productivity killer.According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly welcheshed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.Why you need adequate sleep to performWeve always known that sleep is good for your brain, but new research from the University of Rochester provides the first direct evidence for why your brain cells need you to sleep (and sleep the right way- mora on that later). The study found that when you sleep your brain removes toxic proteins from its neurons that are by-products of neural activity when youre awake.Unfortunately, your brain can remove them adequately only while youre asleep. So when you dont get enough sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc by impairing your ability to think- something no amount of caffeine can fix.Skipping sleep impairs your brain function across the board. It slows your ability to process information and dicke bretter bohren mssen solve, kills your creativity, and catapults your stress levels and emotional reactivity.What sleep deprivation does to your healthSleep deprivation is linked to a variety of serious health schwierigkeits, including heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It stresses you out because your body overproduces the stress hormone cortisol when its sleep deprived.While excess cortisol has a host of negative health effects that come from the ha voc it wreaks on your immune system, it also makes you look older, because cortisol breaks down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic. In men specifically, bedrngnis sleeping enough reduces testosterone levels and lowers sperm count.Too many studies to list have shown that people who get enough sleep live longer, healthier lives, but I understand that sometimes this isnt motivation enough. So consider this- bedrngnis sleeping enough makes you fat. Sleep deprivation compromises your bodys ability to metabolize carbohydrates and control food intake.When you sleep less you eat mora and have more difficulty burning the calories you consume. Sleep deprivation makes you hungrier by increasing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and makes it harder for you to get full by reducing levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin. People who sleep less than 6 hours a night are 30% more likely to become obese than those who sleep seven to nine hours a night.How much sleep is enough?Most people need seven to nine hours of sleep a night to feel sufficiently rested. Few people are at their best with less than seven hours, and few require more than nine without an underlying health condition. And thats a major problem, since more than half of Americans get less than the necessary seven hours of sleep each night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.For go-getters, its even worse.A recent survey of Inc. 500 CEOs found that half of them are sleeping less than 6 hours a night. And the problem doesnt stop at the top. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of U.S. workers get less than six hours of sleep each night, and sleep deprivation costs U.S. businesses more than $63 billion annually in lost productivity.Doing something about itBeyond the obvious sleep benefits of thinking clearly and staying healthy, the ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance.TalentS marthas conducted research with more than a million people, and weve found that 90% of top performers are high in emotional intelligence (EQ). These individuals are skilled at understanding and using emotions to their benefit, and good sleep hygiene is one of the greatest tools at their disposal.High-EQ individuals know its not just how much you sleep that matters, but also how you sleep. When life gets in the way of getting the amount of sleep you need, its absolutely essential that you increase the quality of your sleep through good sleep hygiene. There are many hidden killers of quality sleep.The 10 strategies that follow will help you identify these killers and clean up your sleep hygiene. Follow them, and youll reap the performance and health benefits that come with getting the right quantity and quality of sleep.1. Stay away from sleeping pillsWhen I say sleeping pills, I mean anything you take that sedates you so that you can sleep. Whether its alcohol, Nyquil, Benadryl, Vali um, Ambien, or what have you, these substances greatly disrupt your brains natural sleep process. Have you ever noticed that sedatives can give you some really strange dreams?As you sleep and your brain removes harmful toxins, it cycles through an elaborate series of stages, at times shuffling through the days memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams). Sedation interferes with these cycles, altering the brains natural process.Anything that interferes with the brains natural sleep process has dire consequences for the quality of your sleep. Many of the strategies that follow eliminate factors that disrupt this recovery process. If getting off sleeping pills proves difficult, make certain you try some of the other strategies (such as cutting down on caffeine) that will make it easier for you to fall asleep naturally and reduce your dependence upon sedatives.2. Stop drinking caffeine (at least after lunch)You can sleep more and vastly improve the quality of the slee p you get by reducing your caffeine intake. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant that interferes with sleep by increasing adrenaline production and blocking sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain. Caffeine has a 6-hour half-life, which means it takes a full 24 hours to work its way out of your system.Have a cup of joe at 8 a.m., and youll still have 25% of the caffeine in your body at 8 p.m. Anything you drink after noon will still be near 50% strength at bedtime. Any caffeine in your bloodstream- the negative effects increasing with the dose- makes it harder to fall and stay asleep.When you do finally fall asleep, the worst is yet to come. Caffeine disrupts the quality of your sleep by reducing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the deep sleep when your body recuperates most. When caffeine disrupts your sleep, you wake up the next day with a cognitive and emotional handicap. Youll be naturally inclined to grab a cup of coffee or an energy drink to try to make yourself feel more alert, whic h very quickly creates a vicious cycle.3. Avoid blue light at nightThis is a big one - most people dont even realize it impacts their sleep. Short-wavelength blue light plays an important role in your mood, energy level, and sleep quality. In the morning, sunlight contains high concentrations of this blue light.When your eyes are exposed to it directly (not through a window or while wearing sunglasses), the blue light halts production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and makes you feel more alert. This is great, and exposure to a.m. sunlight can improve your mood and energy levels. If the sun isnt an option for you, try ablue light device.In the afternoon, the suns rays lose their blue light, which allows your body to produce melatonin and start making you sleepy. By the evening, your brain does not expect any blue light exposure and is very sensitive to it. The problem this creates for sleep is that most of our favorite evening devices- laptops, tablets, televisions, and mo bile phones- emit short-wavelength blue light. And in the case of your laptop, tablet, and phone, they do so brightly and right in your face.This exposure impairs melatonin production and interferes with your ability to fall asleep as well as with the quality of your sleep once you do nod off. Remember, the sleep cycle is a daylong process for your brain. When you confuse your brain by exposing it in the evening to what it thinks is a.m. sunlight, this derails the entire process with effects that linger long after you power down.The best thing you can do is avoid these devices after dinner (television is okay for most people as long as they sit far enough away from the set). If you must use one of these devices in the evening, you can limit your exposure with afilterorprotective eye wear.4. Wake up at the saatkorn time every dayConsistency is key to a good nights sleep, especially when it comes to waking up. Waking up at the saatkorn time every day improves your mood and sleep quali ty by regulating your circadian rhythm. When you have a consistent wake-up time, your brain acclimates to this and moves through the sleep cycle in preparation for you to feel rested and alert at your wake-up time.Roughly an hour before you wake, hormone levels increase gradually (along with your body temperature and blood pressure), causing you to become more alert. This is why youll often find yourself waking up right before your alarm goes off.When you dont wake up at the same time every day, your brain doesnt know when to complete the sleep process and when it should prepare you to be awake. Long ago, sunlight ensured a consistent wake-up time. These days, an alarm is the only way most people can pull this off, and doing this successfully requires resisting the temptation to sleep in when youre feeling tired because you know youll actually feel better by keeping your wake-up time in tact.5. No binge sleeping (in) on the weekendSleeping in on the weekend is a counterproductive wa y to catch up on your sleep. It messes with your circadian rhythm by giving you an inconsistent wake-up time. When you wake up at the same time during the work week but sleep past this time on the weekend, you end up feeling groggy and tired because your brain hasnt prepared your body to be awake.This isnt a big deal on your day off, but it makes you less productive on Monday because it throws your cycle off and makes it hard to get going again on your regular schedule.6. Learn how much sleep you really needThe amount of sleep you need is something that you cant control, and scientists are beginning to discover the genes that dictate it. The problem is, most people sleep much less than they really need and are under-performing because they think theyre getting enough.Some discover this the hard way. Ariana Huffington welches one of those frantic types who underslept and overworked, until she collapsed unexpectedly from exhaustion one afternoon. She credits her success and well-being since then to the changes shes made to her sleep habits.I began getting 30 minutes more sleep a night, until gradually I got to seven to eight hours. The result has been transformational, Huffington says, adding that, all the science now demonstrates unequivocally that when we get enough sleep, everything is better our health our mental capacity and clarity our joy at life and our ability to live life without reacting to every bad thing that happens.Huffington isnt the only one. Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Sheryl Sandberg have all touted the virtues of getting enough sleep. Even Bill Gates, an infamous night owl, has affirmed the benefits of figuring out how much sleep you really need I like to get 7 hours of sleep a night because thats what I need to stay sharp and creative and upbeat. Its time to bite the bullet and start going to bed earlier until you find the magic number that enables you to perform at your best.7. Stop workingWhen you work in the evening, it puts you into a stimulated, alert state when you should be winding down and relaxing in preparation for sleep. Recent surveys show that roughly 60% of people monitor their smartphones for work emails until they go to sleep.Staying off blue light-emitting devices (discussed above) after a certain time each evening is also a great way to avoid working so you can relax and prepare for sleep, but any type of work before bed should be avoided if you want quality sleep.8.Eliminate interruptionsUnfortunately for those with small children, the quality of your sleep does suffer when it is interrupted. The key here is to eliminate all the interruptions that are under your control. If you have loud neighbors, wear earplugs to bed. If your mother likes to call at all hours of the night, make certain you silence your ringer before you go to bed.If you had to wake up extra early in the morning, make sure your alarm clock is back on its regular time when you go to bed. Dont drink too much water in the evening to avoid a bathroom trip in the middle of the night. If your partner snores . . . well, you get the idea. If you think hard enough, there are lots of little things you can do to eliminate unnecessary interruptions to your sleep.9. Learn to meditateMany people who learn to meditate report that it improves the quality of their sleep and that they can get the rest they need even if they arent able to significantly increase the number of hours they sleep.At the Stanford Medical Center, insomniacs participated in a six-week mindfulness meditation and cognitive-behavioral therapy course. At the end of the study, participants average time to fall asleep was cut in half (from 40 to 20 minutes), and 60% of subjects no longer qualified as insomniacs. The subjects retained these gains upon follow-up a full year later.A similar study at the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that 91% of participants either reduced the amount of medication they needed to sleep or stopped taking medic ation entirely after a mindfulness and sleep therapy course.Give mindfulness a try. At minimum, youll fall asleep faster, as it will teach you how to relax and quiet your mind once you hit the pillow.10. When all else fails, take napsOne of the biggest peaks in melatonin production happens during the 100 to 300 p.m. time frame, which explains why most people feel sleepy in the afternoon. Companies like Google and Zappos are capitalizing on this need by giving employees the opportunity to take short afternoon naps.If you arent getting enough sleep at night, youre likely going to feel an overwhelming desire to sleep in the afternoon. When this happens, youre better off taking a short nap (even as short as 15 minutes) than resorting to caffeine to keep you awake. A short nap will give you the rest you need to get through the rest of the afternoon, and youll sleep much better in the evening than if you drink caffeine or take a long afternoon nap.Bringing it all togetherI know many of yo u reading this piece are thinking something along the lines of but I know a guy (or gal) who is always up at all hours of the night working or socializing, and hes the number one performer at our branch. My answer for you is simple this guy is underperforming. We all have innate abilities that we must maximize to reach our full potential.My job is to help people do that - to help the good become great by removing unseen performance barriers. Being number one in your branch is an accomplishment, but I guarantee that this guy has his sights set on bigger things that he isnt achieving because sleep deprivation has him performing at a fraction of his full potential. You should send him this article. It just might shake something loose.Travis Bradberry is the coauthor ofEmotional Intelligence 2.0and the cofounder ofTalentSmart.This article originally appeared onLinkedIn.10 ways to improve your sleep and increase your productivityThe next time you tell yourself that youll sleep when your e dead, realize that youre making a decision that can make that day come much sooner. Pushing late into the night is a health and productivity killer.According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly washed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.Why you need adequate sleep to performWeve always known that sleep is good for your brain, but new research from the University of Rochester provides the first direct evidence for why your brain cells need you to sleep (and sleep the right way- more on that later). The study found that when you sleep your brain removes toxic proteins from its neurons that are by-products of neural activity when youre awake.Unfortunately, your bra in can remove them adequately only while youre asleep. So when you dont get enough sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc by impairing your ability to think- something no amount of caffeine can fix.Skipping sleep impairs your brain function across the board. It slows your ability to process information and problem solve, kills your creativity, and catapults your stress levels and emotional reactivity.What sleep deprivation does to your healthSleep deprivation is linked to a variety of serious health problems, including heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It stresses you out because your body overproduces the stress hormone cortisol when its sleep deprived.While excess cortisol has a host of negative health effects that come from the havoc it wreaks on your immune system, it also makes you look older, because cortisol breaks down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic. In men specifically, not sleeping enough reduce s testosterone levels and lowers sperm count.Too many studies to list have shown that people who get enough sleep live longer, healthier lives, but I understand that sometimes this isnt motivation enough. So consider this- not sleeping enough makes you fat. Sleep deprivation compromises your bodys ability to metabolize carbohydrates and control food intake.When you sleep less you eat more and have more difficulty burning the calories you consume. Sleep deprivation makes you hungrier by increasing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and makes it harder for you to get full by reducing levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin. People who sleep less than 6 hours a night are 30% more likely to become obese than those who sleep seven to nine hours a night.How much sleep is enough?Most people need seven to nine hours of sleep a night to feel sufficiently rested. Few people are at their best with less than seven hours, and few require more than nine without an underlying health co ndition. And thats a major problem, since more than half of Americans get less than the necessary seven hours of sleep each night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.For go-getters, its even worse.A recent survey of Inc. 500 CEOs found that half of them are sleeping less than 6 hours a night. And the problem doesnt stop at the top. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of U.S. workers get less than six hours of sleep each night, and sleep deprivation costs U.S. businesses more than $63 billion annually in lost productivity.Doing something about itBeyond the obvious sleep benefits of thinking clearly and staying healthy, the ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance.TalentSmarthas conducted research with more than a million people, and weve found that 90% of top performers are high in emotional intelligence (EQ). These individuals are skilled at understanding and using emotions to their benefit, and good sleep hygiene is one of the greatest tools at their disposal.High-EQ individuals know its not just how much you sleep that matters, but also how you sleep. When life gets in the way of getting the amount of sleep you need, its absolutely essential that you increase the quality of your sleep through good sleep hygiene. There are many hidden killers of quality sleep.The 10 strategies that follow will help you identify these killers and clean up your sleep hygiene. Follow them, and youll reap the performance and health benefits that come with getting the right quantity and quality of sleep.1. Stay away from sleeping pillsWhen I say sleeping pills, I mean anything you take that sedates you so that you can sleep. Whether its alcohol, Nyquil, Benadryl, Valium, Ambien, or what have you, these substances greatly disrupt your brains natural sleep process. Have you ever noticed that sedatives can give you some really strange dreams?As you sleep and your brain removes harmful toxins, it cycles through an elaborate series of stages, at times shuffling through the days memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams). Sedation interferes with these cycles, altering the brains natural process.Anything that interferes with the brains natural sleep process has dire consequences for the quality of your sleep. Many of the strategies that follow eliminate factors that disrupt this recovery process. If getting off sleeping pills proves difficult, make certain you try some of the other strategies (such as cutting down on caffeine) that will make it easier for you to fall asleep naturally and reduce your dependence upon sedatives.2. Stop drinking caffeine (at least after lunch)You can sleep more and vastly improve the quality of the sleep you get by reducing your caffeine intake. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant that interferes with sleep by increasing adrenaline production and blocking sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain. Caffeine has a 6-hour half -life, which means it takes a full 24 hours to work its way out of your system.Have a cup of joe at 8 a.m., and youll still have 25% of the caffeine in your body at 8 p.m. Anything you drink after noon will still be near 50% strength at bedtime. Any caffeine in your bloodstream- the negative effects increasing with the dose- makes it harder to fall and stay asleep.When you do finally fall asleep, the worst is yet to come. Caffeine disrupts the quality of your sleep by reducing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the deep sleep when your body recuperates most. When caffeine disrupts your sleep, you wake up the next day with a cognitive and emotional handicap. Youll be naturally inclined to grab a cup of coffee or an energy drink to try to make yourself feel more alert, which very quickly creates a vicious cycle.3. Avoid blue light at nightThis is a big one - most people dont even realize it impacts their sleep. Short-wavelength blue light plays an important role in your mood, energy lev el, and sleep quality. In the morning, sunlight contains high concentrations of this blue light.When your eyes are exposed to it directly (not through a window or while wearing sunglasses), the blue light halts production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and makes you feel more alert. This is great, and exposure to a.m. sunlight can improve your mood and energy levels. If the sun isnt an option for you, try ablue light device.In the afternoon, the suns rays lose their blue light, which allows your body to produce melatonin and start making you sleepy. By the evening, your brain does not expect any blue light exposure and is very sensitive to it. The problem this creates for sleep is that most of our favorite evening devices- laptops, tablets, televisions, and mobile phones- emit short-wavelength blue light. And in the case of your laptop, tablet, and phone, they do so brightly and right in your face.This exposure impairs melatonin production and interferes with your ability t o fall asleep as well as with the quality of your sleep once you do nod off. Remember, the sleep cycle is a daylong process for your brain. When you confuse your brain by exposing it in the evening to what it thinks is a.m. sunlight, this derails the entire process with effects that linger long after you power down.The best thing you can do is avoid these devices after dinner (television is okay for most people as long as they sit far enough away from the set). If you must use one of these devices in the evening, you can limit your exposure with afilterorprotective eye wear.4. Wake up at the same time every dayConsistency is key to a good nights sleep, especially when it comes to waking up. Waking up at the same time every day improves your mood and sleep quality by regulating your circadian rhythm. When you have a consistent wake-up time, your brain acclimates to this and moves through the sleep cycle in preparation for you to feel rested and alert at your wake-up time.Roughly an h our before you wake, hormone levels increase gradually (along with your body temperature and blood pressure), causing you to become more alert. This is why youll often find yourself waking up right before your alarm goes off.When you dont wake up at the same time every day, your brain doesnt know when to complete the sleep process and when it should prepare you to be awake. Long ago, sunlight ensured a consistent wake-up time. These days, an alarm is the only way most people can pull this off, and doing this successfully requires resisting the temptation to sleep in when youre feeling tired because you know youll actually feel better by keeping your wake-up time in tact.5. No binge sleeping (in) on the weekendSleeping in on the weekend is a counterproductive way to catch up on your sleep. It messes with your circadian rhythm by giving you an inconsistent wake-up time. When you wake up at the same time during the work week but sleep past this time on the weekend, you end up feeling g roggy and tired because your brain hasnt prepared your body to be awake.This isnt a big deal on your day off, but it makes you less productive on Monday because it throws your cycle off and makes it hard to get going again on your regular schedule.6. Learn how much sleep you really needThe amount of sleep you need is something that you cant control, and scientists are beginning to discover the genes that dictate it. The problem is, most people sleep much less than they really need and are under-performing because they think theyre getting enough.Some discover this the hard way. Ariana Huffington was one of those frantic types who underslept and overworked, until she collapsed unexpectedly from exhaustion one afternoon. She credits her success and well-being since then to the changes shes made to her sleep habits.I began getting 30 minutes more sleep a night, until gradually I got to seven to eight hours. The result has been transformational, Huffington says, adding that, all the sci ence now demonstrates unequivocally that when we get enough sleep, everything is better our health our mental capacity and clarity our joy at life and our ability to live life without reacting to every bad thing that happens.Huffington isnt the only one. Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Sheryl Sandberg have all touted the virtues of getting enough sleep. Even Bill Gates, an infamous night owl, has affirmed the benefits of figuring out how much sleep you really need I like to get 7 hours of sleep a night because thats what I need to stay sharp and creative and upbeat. Its time to bite the bullet and start going to bed earlier until you find the magic number that enables you to perform at your best.7. Stop workingWhen you work in the evening, it puts you into a stimulated, alert state when you should be winding down and relaxing in preparation for sleep. Recent surveys show that roughly 60% of people monitor their smartphones for work emails until they go to sleep.Staying off blue light -emitting devices (discussed above) after a certain time each evening is also a great way to avoid working so you can relax and prepare for sleep, but any type of work before bed should be avoided if you want quality sleep.8.Eliminate interruptionsUnfortunately for those with small children, the quality of your sleep does suffer when it is interrupted. The key here is to eliminate all the interruptions that are under your control. If you have loud neighbors, wear earplugs to bed. If your mother likes to call at all hours of the night, make certain you silence your ringer before you go to bed.If you had to wake up extra early in the morning, make sure your alarm clock is back on its regular time when you go to bed. Dont drink too much water in the evening to avoid a bathroom trip in the middle of the night. If your partner snores . . . well, you get the idea. If you think hard enough, there are lots of little things you can do to eliminate unnecessary interruptions to your sleep.9. L earn to meditateMany people who learn to meditate report that it improves the quality of their sleep and that they can get the rest they need even if they arent able to significantly increase the number of hours they sleep.At the Stanford Medical Center, insomniacs participated in a six-week mindfulness meditation and cognitive-behavioral therapy course. At the end of the study, participants average time to fall asleep was cut in half (from 40 to 20 minutes), and 60% of subjects no longer qualified as insomniacs. The subjects retained these gains upon follow-up a full year later.A similar study at the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that 91% of participants either reduced the amount of medication they needed to sleep or stopped taking medication entirely after a mindfulness and sleep therapy course.Give mindfulness a try. At minimum, youll fall asleep faster, as it will teach you how to relax and quiet your mind once you hit the pillow.10. When all else fails, take napsOne of the biggest peaks in melatonin production happens during the 100 to 300 p.m. time frame, which explains why most people feel sleepy in the afternoon. Companies like Google and Zappos are capitalizing on this need by giving employees the opportunity to take short afternoon naps.If you arent getting enough sleep at night, youre likely going to feel an overwhelming desire to sleep in the afternoon. When this happens, youre better off taking a short nap (even as short as 15 minutes) than resorting to caffeine to keep you awake. A short nap will give you the rest you need to get through the rest of the afternoon, and youll sleep much better in the evening than if you drink caffeine or take a long afternoon nap.Bringing it all togetherI know many of you reading this piece are thinking something along the lines of but I know a guy (or gal) who is always up at all hours of the night working or socializing, and hes the number one performer at our branch. My answer for you is simpl e this guy is underperforming. We all have innate abilities that we must maximize to reach our full potential.My job is to help people do that - to help the good become great by removing unseen performance barriers. Being number one in your branch is an accomplishment, but I guarantee that this guy has his sights set on bigger things that he isnt achieving because sleep deprivation has him performing at a fraction of his full potential. You should send him this article. It just might shake something loose.Travis Bradberry is the coauthor ofEmotional Intelligence 2.0and the cofounder ofTalentSmart.This article originally appeared onLinkedIn.

The Low Down on Xfinity Smart Resume Exposed

The Low Down on Xfinity Smart Resume Exposed If youre utilizing another smartphone platform (such as Windows Phone), your best option is to locate a faxgert service which lets you fax by email, which is generally the simplest and best method to send faxes anyway. It is possible to alter the frequency and options pertaining to a particular backup set for an account. Alfruchtwein every one of the providers allow you to send faxes by emailing a document to the number youre attempting to fax to, along with a custom ending. If you would like to just send a fast fax, MyFax is fruchtwein likely your very best bet. Most businesses decide to go for in-direct engagement such as FAQs. In terms of the general grade of the world wide web and phone assistance, both businesses continue to get mixed reviews based on location. Unfortunately, many businesses feel that if their sales people arrive in, they ought to have each of the training and capacity to do things, says Lombardo. Small busine sses are notoriously impatient. There are dozens and dozens of customer testimonials in support of their merchandise and assistance. You have to realize the general atmosphere. The better you know your clients, the simpler it is to contact them with a prospective offer. Fiber optic technology has become the backbone of the web for a very long time, but residential customers have only had an opportunity to use it for a couple decades. Forums are the ideal place to get to learn your customers more intimately. Its also best to remember that Smart Resume permits you to automatically fast forward through ad breaks. The Echo might be muted without your knowing. Have a look at the Logitech Harmony Elite, the most recent schwimmbadass remote to rule all of them. In addition, the platform is really rigid and not so customizable apart from being in a position to pick your wallpaper and the arrangement of your app icons, youre left with precisely the same experience which everyone el se with an iPhone gets. Deciding upon an operating system may be the absolute most important decision you make in regards to really buying your smartphone its what you will be interacting with for hours daily. Start the programming process Turn on the device that you want to program. Its true, you can watch the position of your scheduled backups utilizing the IDrive Status option thats active in your system tray as soon as you install IDrive. That sort of hardware choice is unmatched by other platforms, so if youre searching for every one of the bells and whistles youll be able to get in a modern smartphone, you are most likely likely to see them in an Android device. When compared to other social media platforms, all the posts remain there for a lengthy moment. All you need to do is connect the 2 apps on your smartphone. Needless to say, the AirPlay streaming feature isnt limited to mirroring, and the exact technology can likewise be utilised to stream music and a whole lot more. Although each credit score bureau uses slightly different techniques of crunching business fico scores, all of these consider your history of paying creditors. If youve been denied a small-business loan, it may be because youve got bad personal or company credit. Building good small business credit can enable you to get lower-interest small-business loans, business charge cards and better terms from your suppliers. Your business enterprise credit rating will receive a boost provided that you adhere to the conditions of the trade agreement. The Xfinity Smart Resume Trap YouTube isnt just a video hosting service, it is a huge search engine. In addition, the ability to automatically pause, then resume access a day later, seems convenient. You should have internet service through Xfinity to register for the mobile thing. If you do have to send more pages every month, you can upgrade to a normal plan. All of these are valid factors. Choosing the most suitable time to loo k at your connection is just as vital as knowing the best way to do it. Before you get anything smart, check to make certain its Alexa-compatible. But your only voice-powered choice is to hear the most recent one. Twitter is not just a social media website, but in addition a source of possible leads for your organization. Theres an absolutely free tool named QuickBox that helps you make a quiz in a couple of easy steps and publish it on your blog. Apps for writers have a tendency to be less costly than other sorts of software. This can be rather a costly adventure particularly if you are providing the app for free. however, it will surely add a distinctive element to your marketing and advertising efforts. The Fundamentals of Xfinity Smart Resume Revealed If you dont have the manual for your remote, find it on the companys website. In case the sound is distorted in another way, consider replacing the power and speaker driver board, as it might be malfunctioning. Hall say s he has found Polaroid, particularly, is tough to handle. Installing the Frontpoint home security process is quite simple.

How to Combine Your Virtual Interview and Employer Branding Strategies

How to Combine Your Virtual Interview and Employer Branding StrategiesPut yourself in a job seekers shoes. You follow a company on social media and love the content they share. Wanting to learn mora about the organization, you check out their website and career page. You watch employee testimonial videos explaining everything they love about the company. By this point, youre excited and could see yourself joining the kollektiv. Luckily, theres an open ort thats a great fit for you and you apply.But once you enter into the hiring process, the companys energy completely disappears. You receive generic, automated emailles. The questions in the virtual interview are dull and you learn nothing new about the organization. You begin to question whether the company is truly as wonderful as you thought.This is a common issue with employer branding. Showcasing what the workplace is about is a priority when companies look for talent. But as soon as the job seeker has applied, employer branding takes the back seat. As a result, candidates lose interest in the role and move on to different opportunities.If you want to keep talent engaged throughout your virtual interview process, you need to keep employer branding incorporated in every step.Scheduling a virtual interviewWhen you invite a candidate to conduct a virtual interview, its tempting to just focus on scheduling. You send qualified job seekers a link to your calendar and thats it. But this is a missed opportunity to give candidates more information about your company.Start including employer branding information with your virtual interview invitations. Use your company logo as well as branding colors and fonts. Also, read your invitation email with the eyes of a job candidate. Look at the word choices in the communication templates and change anything that doesnt match your company culture and messaging.The virtual interview invitation is also your chance to build a relationship with candidates. Show them you care an d want them to succeed. Since the hiring process can be stressful, focus on resources that will put their mind at ease. One good option is a video message from a company leader. Record them welcoming the candidate and explaining the main values of the organization. They can also list what types of qualities the company is looking for. This will help the candidate better picture themselves as a potential employee.Use virtual interview invitations as a chance to introduce company leadership. employerbranding candidateexperienceClick To TweetConducting a virtual interviewThe virtual interview allows hiring professionals to get a better understanding of each candidate. But its also a chance to share more about the company culture. By asking the right interview questions, the candidate will see what matters most to the organization.Start by writing a list of the characteristics that define your culture. From there, craft questions that will provide insights into whether a candidate exemp lifies what youre looking for. Be clear with the phrasing so theres no confusion about what the company stands for and expects from candidates.It can also be helpful to include real situations that occurred in your workplace. For example, many companies value transparency and honesty. In the virtual interview, explain a situation where an employee did not act with transparency. Then ask how the candidate wouldve reacted. This will give both you and the candidate an idea of whether your values mesh.Following up after a virtual interviewAutomated communications have saved hiring professionals an immeasurable amount of time. Instead of having to compose each email, there are multiple tools that will send out the necessary communications. But from a candidates perspective, these communications seem impersonal.After a candidate completes a virtual interview, dont leave them hanging. While youre deciding whether to move forward with an individual, give them more employer branding informat ion to digest. For example, you can include a list of articles from your blog that provide deeper insights into what the team does every day.It can also help to share photos or videos of company events. Let candidates know what organizations employees volunteer for. Or show them what the office holiday party is like. This will ensure that they are more likely to continue with the hiring process.Make sure your automated communications dont take away from your employerbranding.Click To TweetYour employer branding determines whether your company will attract great talent. But once a candidate has applied, its important to keep introducing them to different aspects of the organization. By making employer branding a part of each step of the virtual interview process, you can reassure candidates that your company is a great place to work.What are some other ways to include your employer branding in the virtual interview process? Let us know in the comments