4 Tips for a Productive 2021

(Family Features) This year has taught many workers a thing or two about being productive when offices and homes blend into one.

As the calendar turns to 2021, consider these key products and processes to stay productive next year.

Find a system (and stick to it): Creating an organizing system is an easy way to ensure your at-home workspace is ready for optimal productivity. Designate space to house all your work items – a drawer, cabinet or box – and keep work items organized by type (pens, papers, computer gear, etc.) At the end of each day, transitioning to “offline hours” can be easier when you have a place to stow your work items.

Start your day clean: Studies have shown cleanliness has a direct impact on productivity. Yet, many people struggle to find the time and energy to clean, especially at the end of a busy day at home. An option like The DEEBOT T8 from Ecovacs provides a hands-free cleaning experience, complete with the time-saving benefits of an all-in-one robot vacuum and floor mop, along with TrueDetect technology to avoid tangling in small objects. Easily controlled via an app, just set it to clean before bed and wake up to a tidy workspace.

Break up your day: With so many hours at home in front of a computer, workdays can get a little monotonous. Break up the day to make working from home feel as “normal” as possible – shower in the morning, take a walk or drive to coffee then make time for at least two breaks throughout the day. Some people have found success with the Pomodoro Technique, which is breaking your day up into 25-minute chunks of work, with 5-minute rest periods. If you continue to work until you feellike taking a break, odds are you’ll overwork yourself until it’s too late to take the “big break” you had in mind.

Bookend your days with mindfulness: At the beginning and end of each workday, do a 3-5-minute mindfulness meditation. Before signing on to work for the day, allow your mind to fully focus on the day’s tasks at-hand. Signoff by doing another mediation to end the day and let go of any worries or stresses you might have. Incorporating this tactic into your daily routine can help create a natural boundary from work and home while also restoring peace of mind.

Find more solutions to help maintain productivity at ecovacs.com/us/blog/productivity-tips.

 

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

SOURCE:
Ecovacs

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I would like to extend my warmest wishes to you and your family at this wonderful holiday season!  I truly hope that you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

THE TRADITION OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE - HOW IT ALL STARTED

Christmas Trees - Decorated trees date back to Germany in the Middle Ages, with German and other European settlers popularizing Christmas trees in America by the early 19th century. 

A New York woodsman named Mark Carr is credited with opening the first U.S. Christmas tree lot in 1851. A 2019 survey by the American Christmas Tree Association, predicted that 77 percent of U.S. households displayed a Christmas tree in their home. Among the trees on display, an estimated 81 percent were artificial and 19 percent were real.

Source: www.history.com

"YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS"

 "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" is a line from an editorial called "Is There a Santa Claus?" The editorial appeared in the September 21, 1897, edition of The (New York) Sun, and has since become part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States. It is the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language.

In 1897, Dr. Philip O'Hanlon, a coroner's assistant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia O'Hanlon (1889–1971), whether Santa Claus, a legendary character, really existed. O'Hanlon suggested she write to The Sun, a then prominent New York City newspaper, assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." 

Virginia O’Hanlon’s original letter to the Sun

In so doing, Dr. O'Hanlon had unwittingly given one of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, an opportunity to rise above the simple question and address the philosophical issues behind it.

Here is veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church's reply to Virginia's letter: 

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Church was a war correspondent during the American Civil War, a time that saw great suffering and a corresponding lack of hope and faith in much of society. Although the paper ran the editorial in the seventh place on the page, below even one on the newly invented "chainless bicycle", it was both noticed and well received by readers. 

According to an anecdote on the radio program The Rest of the Story, Church was a hardened cynic and an atheist who had little patience for superstitious beliefs, did not want to write the editorial, and refused to allow his name to be attached to the piece. More than a century later it is the most reprinted editorial in any newspaper in the English language. 

Every year, Virginia's letter and Church's response are read at the Yule log ceremony at Church's alma mater, Columbia College of Columbia University.

Virginia's letter is today is a reminder to us all that there is still a little magic and a bit of childhood within all of our hearts. So, in the spirit of Christmas, I would like to extend my warmest wishes to you and your family during this wonderful holiday season!  I truly hope that you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.

5 LESSONS IN LIFE FROM DR. SEUSS

 

A PRAYER FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Dear Friends,

 

As we enjoy the holiday season, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the season when family and friends gather, and the big picture in terms of how we're all expected to get along on this increasingly crowded planet of ours.

 

The holidays often put people around the table who may not normally see one another throughout the year. Far flung relatives, cousins, in-laws, and other guests-of-guests may come from all walks of life. Their political, religious, and social viewpoints may differ widely from our own. Yet when we see them during the holidays, we do our best to tolerate differences. Ideally, we look for ways to connect rather than provoke arguments.

 

Tolerance is not always the easiest value to embrace. Now, especially, we can find ourselves thrust into polemic arguments driven by political and media forces which command enormous attention and influence. Social media and a profound lack of face-to-face interaction makes it easier to distance ourselves from our mutual, essential humanity if we let it. It is easy to be intolerant. Easy to erect high walls. Easier than ever to segment and align ourselves with only those who agree with our values and sense of our role the world.

 

I would gently urge everyone to see the holidays as more than a time to buy gifts, give thanks for our blessings, and eat sweet treats. Let us remember to practice tolerance, acceptance, and recognize the importance of diversity in this world.

 

With hope and gratitude,

 

Valerie McConville 

 

DECEMBER'S HOME MAINTENANCE TIPS