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Presidents’ Day always falls on the third Monday of February, which, this year, is February 17. At the federal government level, the holiday is called Washington’s Birthday, which was its original name and which used to be celebrated on February 22, George Washington’s actual birthday. But in 1971, Congress enacted the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, providing federal workers and others with three-day weekends, and Washington’s Bday observance got swept up with that. The idea behind the holiday’s new name was to create a day that paid tribute to the office of the presidency. For many Americans, Presidents’ Day is a long weekend and an opportunity for holiday shopping dealsthis year, however, massive nationwide demonstrations are scheduled under the rubric, “Not My President’s Day” in protest of the Trump administration’s alarming power grab and attempts to overhaul the federal government. The demonstrations are organized by the #50501 Movement50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement”fighting to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach” and protest “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies” (Elon Musk, anyone?). The idea for the movement’s name came from the subreddit community, Reddit r/50501, and spread rapidly across social media. So far, #50501 has already pulled off more than 80 peaceful protests in all 50 states since Trump took office, according to the movement’s website. Information about where the nationwide protests and street marches are planned can be found here upon entering your city or state. Now, heres a look at whats open and closed on Monday, from the stock market to banks, supermarkets, and stores. Are financial markets open on Presidents’ Day? The Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange, and U.S. bond markets are all closed. Will mail be delivered on Presidents’ Day? The U.S. Postal Service post offices will be closed and won’t be delivering regular mail or packages, though USPS priority mail will. However, UPS will be open for business as usual, while FedEx has modified service, so check for availability in your area. Are banks open on Presidents’ Day? Banks will be closed, but you should still be able to access your bank’s service online and via your local ATMs. Are schools open on Presidents’ Day? Public schools and most private schools will be closed for the federal holiday. Are restaurants and fast-food chains open on Presidents’ Day? Most major casual-dining and fast-food chains are open plus most sit-down restaurantsit’s a great shopping day, after all. That said, their hours may be reduced, so it’s always a good idea to call ahead or check individual websites. Are grocery stores open on Presidents’ Day? Most regional supermarket chains should be open, though some with reduced hours; ditto, your local grocery stores. Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Costco are all open. Are stores open on Presidents’ Day? This is a big day for retailers, with many having weekend-long sales. Looking for a little retail therapy? Walmart, Macy’s, West Elm, Nordstrom, Walmart, and Best Buy are having major sales, while Amazon has an entire section on its home page dedicated to its Presidents’ Day bargains. Are pharmacies open on Presidents’ Day? CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid are all open, although they may have reduced hours of operation. Check your pharmacy’s website for more information.
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E-Commerce
Youve probably heard that people don’t leave their job, they leave their manager. Its a popular saying because its often true. Having a toxic boss, however, is different than having one you simply dont like. If your boss is toxic, you need to take steps to protect yourself. But if its simply a matter of personalities not jiving, slow your job-search roll, suggests Stephanie Chung, author of Ally Leadership, How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You. There are people in your family you probably don’t like, she says. But if you like your company, you like your colleagues, you like how much money you’re making, you like your benefits, and the only thing you don’t like is your boss, then you really shouldn’t just jump to another role or another job. . . . Look at the entire totality of your situation and then decide if you should stay or not. Fortunately, you dont have to like your boss to grow in your career. Start by getting to the bottom of your dislike. You don’t just naturally not like somebody, says Chung. Go a little bit deeper to figure out why you don’t like them. Maybe there’s something about them that reminds you of something or someone else. Usually, it’s that you come from different perspectives, different backgrounds, different upbringings, and therefore have different viewpoints. If youre bothered by everybody that’s different than you, you’re going to spend too much time hopping around. Focus on Whats Important Even if you dont like your boss, you still need to perform well at work. Is this person hindering you from being able to do your job? asks Chung. If the answer is no, and you just have different personalities or different communication styles, you can still get the job done. When you dont like someone, the common response is to ignore them and talk to everyone but them. Chung says this is a mistake. Employees have a responsibility in creating a positive work environment. People find comfort in complaining to their colleagues, she says. It’s easy to point fingers. To say, The boss doesn’t know what they’re doing. This is a stupid process. I’m looking for the worker who says, I don’t think this makes sense, but instead of talking to April, May, and June about it, I’m going to actually go to the boss and say, I am not sure that I agree with the thought process here. From my perspective, it doesn’t look like it makes a lot of sense. Am I missing something? Often the root cause of not liking someone is lack of communication, miscommunication, or different styles of communication, says Chung, and the only way to fix that is to engage in more communication with them. If you want to move up in your career, you dont have to wait for your boss to make the first effort, she says. It is possible that there’s something that you are not doing correctly or as good as you may think. If you want to be that person who’s constantly moving up in their career, who has a brand that stands for itself in a powerful way, you’re going to have to own your stuff. Part of that in the workforce is being able to own the fact that maybe it is them and maybe its not. You play a part in your relationship, as well. By going to your boss to work out your differences or to clarify what could be misunderstandings, you demonstrate that you care about the company and want to take ownership for your career. Its managing up. Employees who want to move up, want to be seen as people who are productive and can add value to the company, says Chung. How you do that is not being the person who’s sitting around complaining. Its being the person who’s trying to help leadership and your colleagues solve the problem. An ability to work with people you dont likepeople who are not like youis an important skill to develop. Chung likens it to being on a sports team. If everybody on the soccer team was a forward, you’d never win, she says. In the workplace, the same rules apply. There are different positions, different talents, different strengths, different weaknesses. Different perspectives ask different questions. When everybody gets along because we don’t have any disagreements, we’re all cookie cutters of each other. But that doesn’t help in business. Leading diverse teamspeople who don’t think alike, act alike, have a back same backgroundis quite challenging, says Chung. The results are great, but there is a challenge to it because they’re so different. Real leaders [know] how to harness those differences in a powerful way that allows the team to be unstoppable and sets the company up to win. The key is knowing that the leader doesnt always have to be the one higher up on the org chart.
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E-Commerce
Whether you’re setting up a new Windows PC or looking to enhance your current setup, there are some life-changing apps you can grab for free that will transform how you use your computer. From screen grabbing to file searching to quick launching and more, these essential apps will supercharge your productivityall for the low, low price of nothing. ShareX: Screen captures and then some Windows includes a basic screen-capture tool. Dont settle for it, though: Get ShareX, which rivals even paid screen-grabbers. You can create custom-capture regions that remember your preferences, set up automatic uploads with instant-link copying, and configure workflows that process and organize your captures. While the capturing features work great on their own, its the mind-boggling number of post-capture features that set this gem apart. If youre looking for a capture tool that does it all for nothing at all, this is it. Everything: File search that just works If Windows Search feels to you like it hasnt evolved since the Clinton administration, Everything wont leave you hanging. Instead of laboriously indexing entire files, Everything indexes just file and folder names, which means it can wrap its head around a clean Windows installation in about a second. Its powerful search syntax then helps you quickly find recent documents, filter by size to free up storage space, and create bookmarks for frequently searched folders. PowerToys: Microsoft’s best-kept secret Microsofts free PowerToys is a productivity suite that packs features that arguably should’ve been built into Windows from the start. FancyZones lets you create custom window layouts that snap into place. PowerRename handles bulk-file operations. Text Extractor grabs text from images or non-selectable. Mouse Without Borders lets you use a single mouse and keyboard on up to four computers. Those are just a few of the cavalcade of time-savers included with this excellent utility. If you havent already, get it installed and start reaping its benefits. AutoHotkey: Automate anything If you invest the time to learn how to use it, AutoHotkey will become the digital assistant you cant believe you ever lived without. Create custom keyboard shortcuts for just about anything, auto-fill forms with frequently used text, or launch multiple programs with a single command. The real power lies in its ability to chain commands together. With a bit of creativity, you can automate entire workflows that used to take dozens of clicks. Flow Launcher: Get there faster Flow Launcher is a little window that delivers huge time savings. Open it with a customizable key combination, start typing, and let it handle the rest. Use it to quickly launch apps, control music, search the web, run system commands, and moreall without having to click your way through a bunch of menus and windows. Its also got an excellent community-driven plugin ecosystem that lets you add features like password management, weather checking, and smart-home-device control.
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E-Commerce
Steven Heine is a professor of social and cultural psychology at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Cultural Psychology, the top-selling book in the field. His research has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Newsweek, and New Scientist, among other publications. Whats the big idea? A lot of people right now feel lost, anxious, and despaired. During these dark times, preserving a sense of meaning in our lives is vital. Fortunately, meaning can be cultivated and ground us when life feels turbulent. The emerging field of existential psychology is refining practices for tuning in to the worth, purpose, and importance of your life. Below, Steven shares five key insights from his new book, Start Making Sense: How Existential Psychology Can Help Us Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times. Listen to the audio versionread by Steven himselfin the Next Big Idea App. 1. Meaning in life helps protect against anxiety. Everyone seems on edge these days. The world is going through somewhat of a mental health crisis as rates of anxiety, depression, and deaths of despair have jumped sharply in many countries. How can we cope with these dark times? The sense of leading a meaningful life protects us from anxiety and uncertainty. When people feel that their lives are meaningful, a sense of purpose guides them, and their life makes sense. They feel that what they do matters and can make a difference in the world. People who feel their lives are meaningful can stand strong in the face of the slings and arrows thrown at them by these uncertain times. They enjoy greater well-being and fare better in coping with their anxieties. The emerging field of existential psychology has provided evidence-based answers to what makes a life meaningful. Ultimately, meaning is about connections, and a meaningful life is richly connected. For example, interpersonal connections play a key role because people feel that their lives are more meaningful when they spend time with their closest relationships, especially when taking on a caretaker role. People also feel more meaningful when they are part of a community because it gives them a sense of belongingness and identity. Peoples connections to their work can also provide a sense of purpose and mastery. And people feel meaningful when their lives are connected to the transcendent realm, feeling that they are part of something much larger than the material world. When peoples lives are sufficiently connected in these domains, they are existentially grounded. Their lives make sense, they feel a sense of purpose in what they do, and they feel that their lives matter in the grand scheme of things. This mindset helps people thrive during trying times. 2. We tell stories to make sense of life. Our lives only feel meaningful when they seem to make sense. But the key challenge is that life often doesnt seem coherent. For example, we may seem like quite different people in different situations. We might act silly with friends, but on our daily commute, we may be short-tempered, and then at work, we become ambitious and responsible. Which persona is the real self? Or we might struggle to identify a common thread connecting the different chapters of our lives. We might realize that the person we were in high school shares little in common with how we now think of ourselves. How can we weave all the different threads of our self together? We accomplish this by telling stories. We create stories with our self as the central character, going on a journey where we confront all the experiences and challenges in our lives. These stories help us organize our understanding of who we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. It lays the foundation of self. Stories integrate those inconsistent facets of ourselves because they allow us to focus on particular episodes and edit out parts that dont quite fit. Importantly, the stories we tell are not typically literal accounts of what happened but improvised tellings that make our lives feel sensible. Stories integrate those inconsistent facets of ourselves because they allow us to focus on particular episodes and edit out parts that dont quite fit. When we tell our stories well, we feel that our lives make sense. While each story we tell about ourselves is unique in certain respects, it often shares features in common with stories told by others. Many of our stories share common themes, such as redemption, when our story highlights how we conquered a challenge, or a theme of contamination, when our story explains how our life suddenly went off a cliff. Also, our stories rest upon simple but extremely important premises that guide how we experience the events in our lives. Our stories might be built around key premises such as I am good or People get what they deserve. These premises serve as a lens through which we see how our life unfolds. Part of leading a meaningful life is learning how to narrate the events in our lives through a compelling and sensible story. 3. When meaning is threatened, we seek to rebuild it. A key challenge with leading a meaningful life is that things often dont feel meaningful. Feelings of meaning ebb and flow like the tide. But we have a psychological need to feel that things are meaningful. When things feel meaningless, we become especially motivated to make things seem meaningful again. Its akin to feeling hungry when we havent had enough food. Likewise, our brains signal to us when our lives arent sufficiently meaningful. Research points to our brains having a sense-making system that strives to keep things feeling meaningful. When things feel meaningless, our brains detect a signal indicating a lack of sufficient meaning, and we are prepared to try to regain a sense of meaning. Its a homeostatic system, much like your thermostat at home, that only becomes triggered when meaning is insufficient. This is all occurring beneath our awareness. There are different ways to rebuild a sense of meaning. Much research finds that people feel more meaningful after engaging in nostalgic reflections. Remembering how we were in past chapters of our life stories provides us with a better appreciation for how we became the person we are now, boosting our sense of meaning. We are most likely to drift off in a nostalgic reverie precisely when we feel that life is unsatisfyingly low in meaning. For example, our lives feel more meaningless when we are lonely or bored. When a sense of meaning is hard to come by, we make unconscious efforts to boost meaning. So, we often turn to memories in an effort to regain an existential footing. We may play songs from the soundtrack of our youth or flip through a photo album. Our sense-making system was tripped, and nostalgic reflections are one way to regain a sense of meaning. I dont think its a coincidence that since the 2010s, the world has undergone a nostalgia boom. Movie theatres are playing remakes of films that were created decades earlier. New television series set in previous decdes are discussed as much for their plots as they are for how they nailed the décor, fashion, and music of those times. During this anxious period, weve felt a collective need for meaning, and the world has been turning to the past to gain the meaning-boosting effects of nostalgia. 4. Life struggles can provide greater meaning. Feeling meaningful and feeling happy share much in common. However, there is more to meaning in life than positive feelings. We can learn a lot by focusing on how meaning is distinct from happiness. Jean-Paul Sartre perceptively observed that human life begins on the far side of despair, and much research supports this contention. One study explored the characteristics of people with more meaningful lives and found that they reported more negative life experiences, even though these experiences came with a cost to happiness. Our struggles can often feel meaningful. Likewise, we can see this relation when considering where meaningful lives are commonly found. Curiously, you are more likely to find them where life is harder. On average, the poorer a country, the more meaningful its citizens report their lives to be. The comfort and ease that people living in wealthier countries can enjoy appear to come at an existential cost: it often doesnt provide the struggles that people rely on to build resilience and meaning. Peoples spiritual lives often become deeper after a trauma. Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed, That which does not kill me makes me stronger. Research finds that people often do rise to the challenges that life throws at them. The most common reaction to trauma is post-traumatic growth. People make more meaning in the aftermath of trauma because their relationships often become closer, as they usually receive a great deal of social support. It is also common for people to develop a new sense of purpose as they re-evaluate their lives, and they often become more altruistic toward others who have experienced tragedies. People also tend to grow because they discover that they had inner strengths that they hadnt realized. In addition, peoples spiritual lives often become deeper after a trauma. And last, the realization that so much can be lost in an instant makes survivors of trauma more appreciative of what they still have. They no longer take their lives for granted. We can never lead a life without suffering, and our struggles certainly come with a cost to happiness. But it is reassuring that difficult times can help make our lives more meaningful. 5. Meaning in life can be cultivated. Meaning in our lives can be nurtured. We are not born with a certain amount of meaning; meaning can be cultivated, just like any other ability. First, there are existential exercises that provide temporary boosts to feelings of meaning, which can be invaluable for helping us get out of a rut. I think of these as the existential equivalent of a shot of espresso. One simple exercise helps people feel existentially groundeda clear understanding of who they are and what they stand for. People will feel more grounded after reflecting upon their most important values. Simply writing a brief paragraph about your most important values puts you in a better position to respond with greater resilience to challenges. A second way to cultivate a more meaningful life is to examine your lifes foundations for meaning: our connections, especially with closest relationships, with communities, with work, and with a transcendent realm. I encourage you to conduct an existential audit of yourself to evaluate how deeply connected you are in these domains and identify where you have the most room for growth. Hardly anyone is richly connected in all these domains, but meaning is fungible. That is, the meaning you derive from one domain of connections can make up for a shortfall of meaning in another domain. Its as though we can pay for the meaning in our lives from different accounts. Remember that our life stories tie together the threads of our lives and provide a sense of coherence, purpose, and importance. We cannot change the past, but this doesnt mean that our life stories are carved in stone. As the author Gabriel García Márquez put it, What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it. Some ways of telling a life story provide more meaning than other ways, and you would likely benefit from reflecting on your own life story in a different way. One of the most successful templates for stories, which the mythologist Joseph Campbell calls the Heros Journey, focuses on an individual conquering difficult challenges with a band of allies. When people are instructed to think of their own lives in terms of the individual elements from the Heros Journey template, they come to feel that their lives are more meaningful. If you try to identify your transformations, allies youve relied on, or seemingly insurmountable quests, you too can likely learn how to reflect on your life in a more constructive, meaningful way. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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E-Commerce
Theres one scarce resource that nearly everyone wishes they had more of: time. It always seems like there are more things to do than hours in the day. Many ways to squeeze more productivity out of your workday may leave you feeling burned out. But there are ways to trim the time spent on many aspects of life that will leave you with at least a little more wiggle room. Here are a few strategies: Create a guide to reduce interruptions If you often lose hours responding to emails and Slack messages asking different versions of the same questions, create an FAQ document with the answers all in one place. If you want to take it one step further, you can follow the lead of former Google vice president and Stripe COO Claire Hughes-Johnson, who created a Working with Claire guide. Its basically a reference manual to instruct people you work with. Fast Company writer Stephanie Vozza, explains: In her guide, Hughes-Johnson sets expectations, such as how to share information with her, and the amount of time she needs to send a response. It also includes her preferences, styles, and approaches, as well as alternative sources for help when employees are in a pinch and cant move forward. Trim all your meetings by at least 10 minutes Yes, many people think all meetings are a waste of time. And while some companies have taken the extreme approach of eliminating all recurring meetings, many meetings are necessary and help build and maintain relationships. However, very few of us fully pay attention for the entire length of a meetingespecially remote meetings. In fact, LiveCareer found that 9% of people start losing focus in less than 10 minutes into a meeting, while 43% said they lasted 20 to 30 minutes. Only 4% of people said they stayed focused for an hour or more.Knowing that attention (and therefore usefulness) drops off after 20 minutes, trim the meetings you have control over. Half-hour meetings become 20 minutes, hour-long meetings become 40 minutes, and by the end of the week youve reclaimed several hours. Do it now or delegate it To-do lists are a great productivity and organization tool, but we all waste a lot of time accumulating and then coming back to small tasks that end up eating up more time than they’re worth. Vladislav Podolyako, founder and CEO of Folderly, uses what he calls the Touch it Once (TIO) principle. Heres how it works for him: If I can do a task in 10 minutes or less, I do it right away. If not, I either delegate it to someone else or set it aside for at least a week.” Podolyako uses emails as a perfect example, explaining that many of the emails he receives require quick decisions. “If Im just bcc-ed, usually my action is no action at all. If I know someone who knows an answer better, I forward [the] email.” He adds that he saves time by focusing on “being helpful instead of crafting a beautiful-looking but useless email.”
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E-Commerce
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