The Official Amount Of Free Time You Need To Be Happy

LIFESTYLE

07/06/2013 08:52 BST | Updated 24/10/2017 08:48 BST

The Official Amount Of Free Time You Need To Be Happy

Poorna Bell The Huffington Post UK

Are you getting your seven hours of free time a day? According to new research from Direct Line Insurance, seven hours - or six hours and 59 minutes to be precise - is the minimum we need for a perfect work/life balance.

The reality, of course, is a different matter. On average, we tend to have around four hours and 14 minutes, due to work and home life pressures. Although it seems like an impossible goal, we did have the perfect work/life balance back in 1995, which has steadily been decreasing due to overtime and long hours in the office.

The report also indicates that even if you do work eight hours in the office, over 82% of us are constantly connected through smartphones and check emails outside of work hours. According to a Future Foundation report, we feel that our careers ARE more demanding due to being on email a lot more.

Conversely, even when we are with our loved ones, 47% of us spend time on social media, despite the fact that as a nation, we still clearly love the simple pleasures in life such as having a home-cooked meal (71%) and spending time with our families (75%).

The Huffington Post Founder and Chair Arianna Huffington is very passionate about the subject of work/life balance, having just launched a new HuffPost section called The Third Metric. In her blog, she writes: "...we'll be starting the conversation by asking these questions about how to redefine success. As Mika (Brzezinski) puts it, these are "the questions many women are left with when they achieve financial security, gain power or success -- or all three at once: What about me? When do I sleep? Am I happy? Am I mentally healthy? Am I physically healthy? Am I giving back? Am I remembering where I came from? What about my friendships?"

Realistically, you may not be able to fit seven hours of free time in. But be aware that stress is responsible for 40% of work-related illnesses. If you have a heavy work load, you can make instant adjustments by turning off your phone when you do actually get to spend time with your family. And just as you would schedule in a meeting at work, make sure you do something with your free time. Slouching on the couch is fine, but not if your wandering hands will be checking emails on the sly.

The research also produced a rough guideline of how to squeeze in all that free time. Do you think you'd be able to do it?

Breakfast – 22 minutes

Shower – 21 minutes

Commute – 1 hour 26 minutes

Checking social media – 18 minutes

Work – 8 hours 7 minutes

Reading newspaper/online – 18 minutes

Lunch break – 53 minutes

Spending time with family/friends – 49 minutes

Personal time – 1 hour 6 minutes

Dinner – 1 hour 6 minutes

Life Admin – 45 minutes

Watching TV/Films – 1 hour 3 minutes

Sleep – 7 hours 26 minutes

Poorna Bell The Huffington Post UK

Original Article: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/07/seven-hours-work-life-balance_n_3401624.html

Author who studies millionaires: How to get rich and then stay rich

Author who studies millionaires: How to get rich and then stay rich

Tom Corley, Contributor 

Being rich, or becoming financially independent, boils down to a two-step process:

1. Accumulate wealth
2. Keep the wealth you've accumulated

In my book "Change Your Habits, Change Your Life," I share some of the stories about what self-made millionaires did, first, to get rich and then to make their money work for them.

Getting Rich

Getting rich requires that you focus on:

Daily growth. You must make a daily habit of acquiring knowledge. You must also, on a daily basis, hone your skills, perfecting them until you become an expert.

Rich relationships. Forging relationships with other success-minded people is critical to success. These people open closed doors.

Dream-setting. Building goals around each one of your dreams makes it possible for you to realize each dream. You climb the ladder of success one rung at a time. Every dream realized is a rung on the ladder. Of the self-made millionaires in my study, 80 percent pursued some dream or vision.

Persistence. The rich know that the persistent eventually get lucky.

Developing a niche. Those in my study who had a unique expertise in a particular area were paid the most by their company or were able to charge more to customers or clients than their competition. You can develop your niche on the side, in the mornings, at night or over the weekend through self-study or by taking classes.

Creating multiple streams of income. About 65 percent of the millionaires in my study had at least three streams of income. This creates a hedge against failure and poverty. When one stream suffers, the others come to the rescue.

Being patient. An overwhelming majority, 80 percent, of the rich in my study did not become rich until age 50. It takes a long time to create wealth. You have to learn to be patient.

Taking calculated risks. Success requires calculated risk, which require you do your homework in order to gain working knowledge in some area and then take action on that knowledge. It might be real estate, investing in some private business, starting your own business, etc.

Roughly half, 51 percent, of the self-made millionaires in my study invested their savings in a start-up or private businesses or they made investments in specific areas such as real estate.

Being optimistic and enthusiastic. Almost three-quarters, or 71 percent, of the self-made millionaires in my study were positive about life. They believed in themselves. Their optimism affected those around them and they became magnets for other success-minded people.

This helped them in creating teams that would eventually help lead them to success.

Controlling your thoughts, emotions and words. Over three-quarters, or 81 percent, of the rich made a habit of controlling their thoughts, emotions and the words they used.

Community. No one succeeds on their own. The rich build teams. They find apostles for their cause – individuals devoted to them and who share their vision and purpose.

Staying open-minded. You can't learn anything if you are closed-off to the world. Being open to new ideas, new ways of doing things and the opinions of others is critical to learning and growth.

Giving first and getting later. In order to get, you must first give. You must give value to others to help build your brand.

Finishing what you start. The rich don't quit. They stick to something until they succeed, go bankrupt or die. About 80 percent were focused on achieving some goal and 55 percent spent one year or more on one singular goal. They do not leave projects uncompleted before starting other projects.

Staying healthy. "You can't make money from a hospital bed," is how one millionaire put it to me during my research. The rich exercise every day and they moderate their consumption of junk food and alcohol. A whopping 82 percent of the rich in my study said they had no health issues.

Taking responsibility. The rich believe they are the architects of their lives. They don't make excuses, they don't rationalize failures and they don't blame anyone but themselves for their circumstances in life.

But accumulating wealth is only one part of the equation. In my book "Rich Habits Poor Habits," I share another equally important part of being rich: holding on to the wealth you've accumulated.

Staying Rich

Keeping your wealth requires that you do certain things:

Put your wealth to work. Putting your wealth to work means investing it wisely in stocks, bonds, real estate and other business opportunities. This helps multiply your wealth.

Watch what you spend. Do you know where your money goes? You should. Tracking what you spend opens your eyes so you know exactly where your money goes and allows you to make key adjustments. If you don't track your spending, it can get out of control. Lifestyle creep can cause your wealth to disappear over time.

Avoid spontaneous or emotional purchases. Never buy anything on impulse. It is almost always the wrong thing to do. That spontaneous or emotional purchase will lose its luster after only a few weeks, and then you're stuck with something you don't need and that does not generate any income.

Live below your means. Living below your means keeps you from falling into the trap of lifestyle creep. No matter what good fortune visits you in life, do not change your standard of living. Don't supersize your life by buying things you only want in the moment and you'll find you'll be able to afford everything you need.

Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner and author of "Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life."

Original Post:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/16/financial-planner-tom-corley-how-to-get-rich-and-stay-rich.html

People who make time for this at work are 21% more likely to be happy than those who don't

People who make time for this at work are 21% more likely to be happy than those who don't

Kerri Anne Renzulli 9:00 AM ET Wed, 14 Nov 2018

Taking time at work to focus on mastering a new skill, learning a new software program or tool, or even just reading widely about your industry can do wonders for you mentally — as well as professionally.

New research conducted by LinkedIn found that the best way to ensure that you're happy at your job is to spend more time learning.

Among the professionals surveyed, those who were "heavy" learners — devoting more than five hours a week to things like reading, taking classes and watching online courses — reported being happier, less stressed, more productive and more confident than those who spent less time learning.

For instance, when compared to "light" learners, those who commit an hour or less each week, heavy learners were:

• 74 percent more likely to know where they want to go in their career
• 48 percent more likely to have found purpose in their work
• 47 percent less likely to be stressed at work
• 39 percent more likely to feel productive and successful
• 21 percent more likely to feel confident in their work
• And finally, 21 percent more likely to be happy at work

Heavy learners see almost three times as many positive results as light learners says Josh Bersin, an HR industry analyst who developed the survey with LinkedIn.

Those who said they spent between one and five hours a week on education also had much happier work lives than the light learners (though not as happy as those of heavy learners.) They reported being 14 percent happier than light learners did, 13 percent less stressed, 16 percent more productive and 32 percent more likely to know where they want to go in their career.

"There is a clear relationship between time spent learning and a person's career satisfaction, career prospects and general happiness," says Bersin. "People who either have the time or make the time to educate themselves are performing at higher levels."

The bad news? Few of us are actually heavy learners.

Of the 2,049 workers surveyed, including freelancers and entrepreneurs, in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Australia, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong, only 7 percent said they spent five hours or more a week learning. That number may even skew a little high, admits Bersin, as LinkedIn only queried people who had recently paid for some form of online learning with the company.

Most of people fall into one of the two other learning groups: 47 percent are "medium" learners, spending 1-5 hours a week educating themselves, and 46 percent are "light" learners, spending less than an hour a week.

It's an understandable reality, when you consider that two-thirds of workers already spend more than 40 hours a week at work performing necessary tasks. Bersin says that one key way to free up time in your week for more learning activities is simply to cut back on communications.

"One of the big messages I took out of this research is that people are so distracted at work that they need to force themselves to limit interacting," says Bersin.

Things like email, social media and meetings eat up so much of a person's day that it leaves little extra time for this kind of learning, he adds. More than a quarter of people admit they waste a day a week on emails and messages that don't contribute to their jobs, the survey found.

"This is also a call on leaders and management to recognize that they need to give employees time to improve their core skills," says Bersin. "It will pay off."

original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/13/people-who-learn-at-work-are-21percent-happier-than-those-who-dont.html

20 Things I Learned In My 20s - Frances Bridges

Jul 28, 2017, 08:34pm

20 Things I Learned In My 20s

Frances Bridges

I write life and career advice for twentysomething women.

This is the last six months of my 20s, and as I look out on the horizon of 30, I am running towards it with open arms. I've learned a lot in the past 10 years, but have never been more ready to leave a decade behind than my 20s. I feel more at peace with myself than I have in more than 10 years, and am so ready to begin a more reassured and confident chapter of my life.

I learned cruel and crucial lessons in my 20s, which I know I'll be thankful for once I completely recover from the trauma. I hope you will learn these lessons well before I did, and if someone can avoid some of the pain and failure that I experienced from my mistakes, it makes them worth the trouble.

Here are the 20 most important lessons I learned in my 20s:

Start Taking Good Care Of Yourself Now

I have spent the entirety of my late twenties rehabilitating the damage of my early and mid-twenties. The earlier you start managing your diet and beginning an exercise regimen, the sooner you build the foundation for a healthy mind and body. According to a study by researchers at George Mason University, not only does exercise make our outlook on life more positive, it makes us more likely to engage in positive things — therefore have a better social life and achieve more. It helps prevent depression and manage anxiety. Not to mention it will help lower health care costs later in life. You will thank yourself in your 30s for staying in shape in your 20s.

You're Going To Feel Lost

One thing you discover upon graduation is that no one really has life figured out, people are just doing the best they can, but still harbor doubt, even when they're doing well. After the glow of graduation, adulthood will be a rough transition, harder than you imagine it will be. You feel so invigorated after graduation and you're excited and ready to hit the ground running, only to halted by a variety of road blocks: the economy, being stuck in a low-level position, not getting a job in your desired industry, etc. It will take years and years and years to accomplish your dream, and to be where you want to be in your career. You will wonder if it is worth it, you will wonder if you will ever get there, and just know everyone feels this way, especially in their 20s. You're not alone, and it's completely normal. Try to find healthy ways to manage it, like working out and if you can afford it, go to therapy.

Dreams Require Sacrifice

Nothing in life is handed to you, and if you have big dreams, those big dreams will demand big sacrifices- putting in the time and the work other people are simply unwilling to do. You will have to work through the night, weekends, long weekends, holidays, birthdays, vacations and holidays. You will have to turn down doing things you desperately want to do because you need to work to reach your goal. You will have to work when the last thing in the world you want to do is work. You will consistently have to make short term sacrifices to achieve your long-term goal. It will be lonely, but only the people willing to go the extra mile achieve their goals and realize their dreams.

Stop Caring What People Think

For whatever reason, people will root for you to fail. It's not because of anything you said or did, as a matter of fact, it has nothing to do with you at all. It's not your problem, it's theirs. Their reaction to you is likely not something you said or did, it's their own issue. So don't take their negativity to heart, just keep working. Those people are not worth agonizing over, that's time you'll never get back. Every successful person has been told they can't achieve their goal, so don't listen- just keep working.

Embrace Failure

Everyone fails: Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded, J.K. Rowling lived on welfare for awhile, Oprah was fired from a news anchor position, George Clooney has made quite a few terrible movies and Paul McCartney has written some bad songs. Failing is what success is built on, so embrace it and do not fear it. Failure means you're doing things- the more you take risks and make hard decisions, the closer you are to success.

Don't Give Up

The one thing all successful people have in common is they never, ever give up. You never know how close you are to the next opportunity or the next breakthrough- so keep grinding. The most wildly successful people are not geniuses or prodigies, they're just regular people who work incredibly hard and refuse to give up on what they want even when every odd was against them and to keep going is unbearably difficult. So don't give up.

Don't Compare Yourself To Others

Athletes who swim and and run are instructed by coaches not to look to the side to see the competition because it slows them down- the same is true in life. Someone else's success does not determine your failure, and someone else's stagnation does not determine your success. You should be the only person you're competing with. If you are working as hard as you can every day and improving every day, that is all that matters.

Don't Make Excuses, Apologize

Immature people do not take responsibility for their actions. Professionals take responsibility for their mistakes, do not make excuses and move on. No one wants to hear excuses, people just want to know it won't happen again. Knowing how to make a sincere, heartfelt apology is one of the best personal and professional skills you can develop. Apologies cost you nothing and normally solve everything. People don't want to hold grudges, so don't give them a reason to. Apologize sincerely, make sure not to repeat your mistake so everyone moves on.

Things Don't Work Out For A Reason

Rejection hurts in the moment, but it also means that the right opportunity or person is still out there. Some day you will be so happy this or that job or person did not work out, because then something or someone better can come along.

Invest In Experiences, Not Things

Most young people don't have a whole lot tying them down: no children, maybe a partner, no house purchased yet, etc. You have more time and fewer obligations now than you will ever have. Take advantage of it and travel, pursue hobbies, experience things you want to experience, because this is a time in your life when you can. More demands professionally and personally will come later, so enjoy these years and maximize your experiences.

Start Saving Money ASAP

Erring on the side of saving is the smartest way to manage your money. You can start saving for retirement, a house, a car, etc. and prepare yourself for all of life's emergencies like losing a job, suffering a medical emergency or a car accident, etc. Put as much money as you can in your 401K and your savings account, and live frugally where it's painless for you. If you love to cook, cook as much as you can, it's healthier and cheaper. Only buy housewares and clothes that you need. Try to cut down frivolous spending to the bone. It all adds up.

You And Your Friends Will Change

In your 20s you begin to decide who you want to be, and so do your friends. Sometimes you're going in the same direction, and sometimes you're not- that's just fine. Most relationships are not built to last a lifetime, they're meant to help form who you are during certain stages of your life. It's earthshaking, because you're growing apart from people you thought would play a big role in your future, and making friends is extremely hard after college. It takes a lot more work to see and spend time with friends, and at times you will realize they're not willing to put in the effort. You can not assume people will care for you the way you care for them, but you can adjust your expectations and your level of attachment. You will find your tribe, you just have to make room in your life for them by not prioritizing people who are not prioritizing you.

Eliminate Negative People

Life is too short to let people make you feel like you aren't worthy of what you want. Don't waste your time with people trying to feel better about themselves by tearing you down. If people don't make you feel good about yourself kick them to the curb, and the sooner the better.

Everything Takes Time

Careers, relationships, etc. all take time and require patience. Don't lose heart, keep working. It all takes time- your life isn't ruined because your career has not taken off yet.

Spend Less Time Staring At A Screen

When you are old and gray and look back on your life, you're not going to regret not watching every season of Criminal Minds (great show though), or missing some activity on your social media accounts. You're going to wish you spent more time with people you do and doing things you're passionate about. Get outside and spend time with people you care about, and be present with them. Don't merely record your life, be present to experience it.

Time Is Your Most Precious Resource

It's the only thing you can never get back. Do not waste it on work you don't want to do and people you don't want to be around. Do not aimlessly read the internet and social media for hours and hours, that's so much time that's slipping through your fingers.

The Older You Get, The Faster Life Goes By

This is why you can't waste time, because life goes by quickly. The days are long but the weeks and months are short, so make your life one that you want to remember. Get to work on the life you want, and a life that makes you proud.

Adopt A Dog

No creature will give you unconditional love and simultaneously help regiment your schedule like a dog. A dog makes sure you get outside at least twice a day, and gives the unconditional love and emotional support that is often missing during your 20s. Many dogs need homes, and so many people need a true and constant friend- adopting a dog will be one of the best decisions you make.

Know You're Enough

You spend much of your 20s feeling very alone and insecure and like you're failing at everything; your career, being a good friend, being a good partner, a good person, etc. Just know that you're enough, and as long as you're on a path that will fully realize your potential and your dreams, know you're exactly where you should be, and doing everything you need to be doing.

Love Yourself

No one will love you more than you will love yourself, so love yourself completely because you're the best advocate you have. Life is short, spend it loving who you are. If there is something you want to change, then put in the work and change it, because loving yourself and believing in yourself is the only way you will achieve everything you want to. It will give you the confidence to takes the risks you need to, to keep going when you want to quit, and believe that your ideas are valuable and you can bring them to life.

I’m a twentysomething freelance journalist, writer and blogger in New York City. I write about everything I’ve done wrong as a twentysomething woman here in the trenches. Take my advice at your own risk.

original article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/francesbridges/2017/07/28/20-things-i-learned-in-my-20s/

5 Bad Habits That Are Destroying Your Focus

5 Bad Habits That Are Destroying Your Focus

Our days are filled with activities that sabotage our focus and slow us down. Here are 5 ways you can stop distraction in its tracks.

By Marissa LevinFounder and CEO, Successful Culture@marissalevin

We are bombarded with information and competing priorities, from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep. Technology has permanently turned up the volume and quantity of noise that permeates our lives.

The current political climate has drastically impacted employee focus and productivity. Employees report spending 2 hours a day reading an average of 14-21 political posts online.

This has required us to become much more intentional in how we spend our time, and where we direct our energy.

The ability to focus on our priorities lies in our own hands. The daily choices we make drive our focus - or our distraction.

Harvard Business Review research concludes that digital distractions and unproductive meetings interrupt our attention in the office.

On a personal level, here are the 5 habits you can change today to improve your neurological health.

1: Not Getting Enough Water.

Dehydration is a leading cause of poor focus. It causes low energy, headaches, hormonal imbalance, and fatigue. We need to drink 50-75% of of our body weight in ounces depending on our climate (humid or dry) and our activity level.

2: Not Getting Enough Sleep.

Our ability to focus and recall information is directly related to the quality of our sleep. Without proper brain recovery time, we won't be able to hold our attention for long periods of time.

3: Overloading on Sugar and Carbohydrates.

Our brains become addicted to sugary and processed foods. Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that produces a rush of endorphins which makes us temporarily feel good, and then we crash. We end up on a roller coaster of sugar-induced highs and lows, which causes us to stop what we are doing to seek out more sugar.

Speaking as a former chocoholic, it's tough to break the sugar habit - but totally worth it!

4: Becoming a Slave to Social Media.

Social media is now proven to be linked to depression. There are several reasons for this:

1. The need to manage multiple platforms becomes overwhelming, and people report feeling out of control.
2. Users constantly compare themselves to others, even though they intellectually know that posts only show a part of a person's true story.
3. Users equate their likability with the number of friends/fans/followers, and interactions they receive on posts.
4. Their offline relationships suffer which causes stress in their lives.
5. Their brains are on information overload from being online 24x7x365.
6. Social media notifications push users into a constant state of reaction, which leads to a feeling of little self-control over their own time, and disrupts brain patterns. Personally, I get no notifications for any platform. The constant buzzing and ringing would destroy my ability to get anything done.
7. Their overall world views are impacted by the abundance of negative content in their feeds.
8. There are now social media detox and addiction programs popping up everywhere because of the negative impact social media is having on health.

5: Multitasking

Multitasking literally splits the brain into as many tasks you are trying to simultaneously complete. While the right and left sides of the prefrontal cortex work together when focused on a single task, the sides work independently when people attempt to perform two tasks at once, causing a degradation in performance.

Studies also prove that those who report spending more hours concurrently consuming multiple forms of media (frequent "media multitaskers") perform worse on tests that assess their ability to switch from one task to the next. Frequent media multitaskers also have a harder time ignoring external distractions.

Test results worsen as people age.

Our Control Over Our Focus Rests in Our Hands

It's easy to blame the external factors impacting our focus. The truth is, however, that we have a lot of control over the stimulus that comes into our brains, bodies, and lives. If you want to be more focused and productive, then change your habits.

Good luck!


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The original article can be found here: https://bit.ly/2vKdDfF