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simul16 · 3 years

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Low Effort in Their Own Way

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Leo Tolstoy, "Anna Karenina"

I've been watching a fair amount of D&D content on YouTube of late, for varying reasons, and if I may paraphrase Tolstoy's famous quote above, I've learned that all good D&D channels make high-effort content, while each bad D&D channel makes low-effort content in its own way.

Low-effort content tends to be:

Content that is or can be created quickly; it doesn't require a lot of prep time (and the presentation usually allows this limited prep time to show)

Content that copies current trends; while a certain amount of response to significant events in the gaming world is to be expected, low-effort channels regularly feature content that basically boils down to 'here's my reaction to whatever rumor or scandal is currently being talked about among the community'

Content that does not spark or contribute to a discussion; when such channels go beyond simply recapitulating a recent event, they frequently spend very little time explaining their own reaction and seldom spend any time at all explaining or exploring contrary opinions except to make jokes or elicit emotional reactions from an over-simplified or straw-man version of the contrary opinion

Now let's start off by saying that I'm not knocking low-effort content per se; anybody who knows anything about online marketing can tell you that low-effort content has a role to play in any marketing strategy. Ideally, though, your low-effort content, the stuff that you can get out the door quickly and easily and get in front of your potential customers, exists to guide those customers to your higher-quality content that convinces them to buy your product, order your service, or otherwise become someone who believes that you have something of value to say. Because it's cheap and easy to produce, low-effort content can be cast far and wide to serve as a net to capture many potential viewers and guide them to the gold mine of the really important stuff you have to say. Unfortunately, when your low-effort content is what you have to say, it very much begs the question of what exactly it is people should be coming to your channel for.

Here are a few but by no means an exhaustive list of the YouTube channels that to me seem to feature way too much low-effort content.

The Dungeon Dudes

The Dungeon Dudes are two guys (Kelly McLaughlin and Monty Martin) who mainly do scripted back-and-forth style discussions of D&D-related topics. I've talked about the Dungeon Dudes before, when taking apart one of their recent videos, but they also stream a D&D game they play in on Twitch (and frequently post recordings of those sessions on their channel), do product reviews, and generally do whatever they can to maintain a consistent pace of content output, generally a minimum of twice weekly. They've been around for nearly four years now, and have amassed about 273 thousand subscribers on their channel, with over 44 million views for their content, which seem like decent numbers for a niche content channel. (Contract with CinemaSins, which exists as a viral content manufacturer, and has amassed over 9 million subscribers and over 3.3 billion views. I'm not trying to say the Dungeon Dudes are the CinemaSins of D&D; if they were, their numbers would probably look a lot more like those of CinemaSins.)

The big problem with the Dudes as content creators is that, despite being a niche content channel, they are clearly in it to try to eke out some kind of income or living from the work they put into the channel: they've got a Patreon, they use affiliate links in the descriptions of their product review videos to gain some additional referrer income, and they do sponsored content when they can get a sponsor. They started back in the summer of 2017 with a very 2016-era plan on how to succeed at YouTube: put together a bunch of short (5-10 minutes, occasionally longer, but go over 15 minutes at your peril) videos and release them on an iron-clad schedule to get people used to coming back to your channel and looking over your new content, and to their credit, they've kept up their content production schedule very consistently over the past four years.

They've also learned a few things during that time and have adapted the channel in response: their videos explaining rules and reviewing new products tend to be more popular, so they work those topics in on a more regular basis. They've learned that the YouTube algorithm has subtly changed over the past few years to reward channels that can provide longer 'engagement' (which gives YouTube more opportunities to run ads), and have expanded their video length to an average of about a half-hour, with their re-broadcasts from Twitch being extra-long videos (between two and two-and-a-half hours) which, while drawing fewer total views, probably draw as much or more 'engagement' from the algorithm for the views they have.

But the need to spit out so much content on such a rigid, unforgiving schedule means that they have to aim for quick-creation and easy digestion: putting subclasses into a bog-standard tier ranking, making 'top five' and 'top ten' lists that seem like they're being cribbed from a more thoughtful resource, and generally getting stuff out the door (like their 'Powerful Spell Combos Using Teamwork' video) without spending too much time thinking about how valuable or even accurate their advice happens to be. More to the point, it seems to be taking its toll on the guys who serve as the hosts of the show: Kelly McLaughlin has a fairly dour expression in general, but lately he seems to have the countenance of a man who's about to post a 'very special episode' discussing the dangers of YouTuber burnout.

The Dungeon Dudes feature low-effort content because they have to in order to support the publishing frequency they've chosen; if they were to take the time to put together a truly high-effort piece regarding one of their traditional topics, their Patreon subscribers would likely be asking why their release schedule had slowed down before their work was even half-done.

Dungeon Craft

The Dungeon Craft channel is run by a fellow who refers to himself as 'Professor Dungeon Master'; I have not yet found any reference in his channel or elsewhere that identifies who he actually is, so I'll just refer to him as Prof. Prof has been on YouTube a bit longer than the Dungeon Dudes, having launched his channel in October of 2016, and has put out 185 'episodes' (as of the time of this writing), thus averaging between three and four episodes per month. Prof's own 'trailer' video explicitly states his channel's concept: "Some channels focus on running the game, others on building terrain, others on painting minis. I do it all!" You might think, then, that this would be a place to find quite high-quality content, especially related to terrain and miniatures painting tips, but it seems like the main effect of Prof making his channel be about multiple topics (and there are plenty of topics he discusses that don't fit into any of those three categories above) is that he can't successfully communicate what his channel is actually about, other than about his specific opinions. Maybe that's the reason he's sitting at about 65 thousand subscribers and just under 5 million views.

However, being at a slightly lower 'tier' of content production than the Dungeon Dudes is not itself any kind of crime or even indicative of poor quality -- after all, one of my favorite D&D lore channels on YouTube is RavenloftTravelAgent, and she's got just over a thousand subscribers and only about 50 thousand views on her videos. No, Prof could have a very high-quality, high-content channel with the subscriber numbers and views he has, but he doesn't.

Prof's issue is almost exactly the opposite of that of the Dungeon Dudes: instead of cranking out a rapid-fire, breakneck volume of content to keep up with an arbitrary content production schedule because that's how you make a living producing content for YouTube and you have to keep feeding the hungry algorithm, Prof cranks out content that's very easy for him to write because he's been involved in the game for a long time and already knows that the way he learned to play the game is the best way. Any topic that comes up related to D&D, he's got an opinion and can spit out a script explaining his opinion quickly because it's the same opinion he's held for decades. Classic D&D didn't have skills, so the next edition of D&D shouldn't have them either. Classic D&D had slow advancement, so slow advancement is better than fast advancement. This becomes even more obvious in the videos that have very little or nothing to do with running a D&D game, such as where Prof explains why he thought Avengers: Endgame sucked, or why he thought Season 8 of Game of Thrones was 'nearly perfect'.

Some of the oddest episodes of Dungeon Craft have to do when Prof makes admissions that make him out to be, well, the D&D channel for 'that kind' of old-school gamer: the ones who can make comments to each other that they can't make in front of their wives or significant others because the latter find the comments sexist, the kind of guys you can complain to about not being able to tell a Polack joke at work, the guys who treated D&D in the 1980s and 1990s the way that guys in the 1950s and 1960s treated golf where they could build a wall between the world as it existed and the world as they wanted to believe it was (and, if we're being honest, the way that they believed it should actually be). Nowhere is this more evident than in the video where Prof starts by discussing the hot, rich girlfriend he had once who tried but never got into D&D who he just had to break up with, and which by the 3 minute mark has him "calling bullshit" on the idea that relationships are built on compromise and negotiation. (I mean, you saw this coming, right? Right there at the end of the last paragraph about how the ending of Game of Thrones was so good? You knew that's where this was going, right?)

And, of course, he's not immune to just jumping on the latest bandwagon to contribute his drone to the chorus of voices talking about things just to be talking about things. It shouldn't be surprising that Prof jumped on the bandwagon of the lawsuit brought by Hickman and Weis against Wizards of the Coast over the upcoming Dragonlance trilogy, which turned out to be a nothing-burger. Even weirder is the tag in the description of that video which says "Analysis you can't get anywhere else", even though the video doesn't contain anything that hadn't already been discussed over the three weeks between the lawsuit and Prof's video other than Prof's own opinions about it. My favorite howler that Prof makes in this video is his assertion that, because Hickman and Weis got a lawyer to file a lawsuit, that means there's definitely fire under that smoke, because "big law firms do not accept cases they don't think they can win", which both ignores the existence of SLAPP suits as well as the existence of authors who seem to take perverse glee in suing rival authors just to drive them out of the industry. He's also responded with multiple videos in response to Cody at Taking20s controversial 'illusion of choice' essay, and his response to Ginny Di's essay on making online D&D suck less didn't include any of Ginny's solid advice on making online play more compatible with an in-person mentality (recognizing interruptive behavior, or using text chat to maintain side-conversations that would otherwise not be distracting in person), but instead gave these recommendations to players:

Keep your camera turned on

Mute yourself when not talking

Don't distract yourself with technology during the game

Nothing specific on recognizing how online play differs from tabletop play and suggesting ways to bring those two styles closer together, just commands because he's the DM and he says so. Or, in other words, low-effort, opinion-based content.

Nerd Immersion

Nerd Immersion, a channel by Ted that started in May of 2014 and has amassed over 70 thousand subscribers, starts his "channel trailer" video by leafing through a book, then looking up and saying, "Oh, hello" as if he'd just noticed that there was a camera on pointing at him while he's sitting in his orange-trimmed gaming chair. That, sadly, is roughly the level of thought that goes into the actual content contained on this long-tenured but seemingly still super-niche channel.

The weird thing is that at some point, it was obvious that Ted put some real effort into this channel. There are defined sections of the channel that focus on particular things, avoiding the Dungeon Craft problem of 'what topic is our channel about this week?' On Tuesdays, Ted posts a top-10 list. Ted comes up with an idea for a series, like 'Fixing 5E' or 'Reviewing Unearthed Arcana', posts regular articles until he's said what he means to say, then ends the series. (There hasn't been a new Fixing 5E video in roughly a year, meaning that Ted isn't wasting his own time and that of the viewer continually beating horses he's long since killed.) And he comes up with some great ideas for series, such as his series reviewing products on the DMs Guild; that particular series comes out somewhat irregluarly, but not so irregularly that you think he may have stopped doing the series without telling you.

Nerd Immersion's big problem can be summed up by simply looking at the list of videos on his channel and noticing that when he puts his own face on the thumbnail of the video, the startling frequency with which he's shrugging or has a puzzled face or just seems to be presenting himself as if he's not sure what's happening in his own video. I mean, I get it -- that's his image, the personality he wants to present to his audience. He doesn't have all the answers (a refreshing change from Dungeon Craft, honestly), but has some things to share if you're interested, so go ahead and take a peek. But then you take a look at those different sections we spoke about earlier and see that the 'Fixing' series all have the word Fixing at the top of the screen, the Nerd Immersion logo in the top left, two images underneath the text, one on the right side of the page and one on the left, separated right down the middle, and they all have Fix-It Felix on the far right. The Top 10 videos always have Top 10 at the top of the thumbnail. The Unearthed Arcana reviews all have 'Unearthed Arcana' at the top, then 'Review' in an odd off-set to the right beneath 'Unearthed Arcana'.

In other words, Ted has a formula, and he's damn well going to follow it.

Now it's not a bad thing to have a workflow -- if you're going to be cranking out videos at the volume that Ted does (not to mention the others on this list), you'd better have some kind of process for making the video, getting the thumbnail on it, etc.; otherwise each new video is a horrible nightmare of effort as you re-invent the wheel for every project. Nobody wants to do that, and the results would likely be unwatchable. Having a process is a good thing. But the Dungeon Dudes clearly also have a process -- they've put out at least two videos a week for three and a half years, so they damn well have a process or they wouldn't have been able to get out that much content. Looking at their channel, though, shows you that while they have a brand, and one that's evolving over time to boot, they're not just making the same video over and over again, or at least you wouldn't think that from looking at the thumbnails.

Ted's most interesting videos are where he's interviewing another person or even just having another person in the video, because having another person around clearly takes him at least a bit outside his rigid formulaic comfort zone. The problem is that those videos are few and far between -- the review of the infernal tiefling is about eight months separated from his interview with Celeste Conowitch about her Venture Maidens campaign guide. Also interesting are his unboxing videos, because Ted clearly likes minis and takes some degree of joy in cracking open and looking at new minis. His unboxing videos aren't as irregular as his interview videos, but they are fairly recent, with the first appearing just a few months ago, so it's still not clear if this is going to be a new regular part of the channel, or just another series that goes until he says what he wants to say about minis and then stops.

Most of the stuff on the site, though, is just, well, stuff, cranked out on a formula and thrown out into the digital void with the same soft-spoken volume regardless of whether it's major news or a press release. As an example, while pretty much everybody had an opinion on the Dragonlance lawsuit, Ted covered when the suit was announced, when it was dismissed by Weis and Hickman, when the actual trilogy that was the subject of the novels was announced, and the official release date of the first book in the new trilogy. When it came time to get ready to announce the newest campaign book, Ted was on the job, posting a video preparing for the announcement, another video later the same day when his original prediction of a Feywild adventure book seemed to be contradicted by other rumors that the book would be a Ravenloft book, then posted yet another video when the actual book was leaked on Amazon at 11:24pm later that same day confirming Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, posted the video discussing the official announcement of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft the next day, and then the day after that followed up with more details on Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft revealed in Dragon+. That's five videos in three days, for a grand total of just over 100 thousand views combined. The intention seems like Ted wants to be the CNN of the D&D news scene, but with those kind of distribution numbers, the result is more like your local home town's shopping circular that occasionally also features stories about the latest project to fix the potholes on Main Street. Just like nobody's doing 24/7 news coverage of your local town council, nobody is (or probably should strive to) doing 24/7 coverage of the gaming industry and Wizards of the Coast. At some point it just becomes running a script, pressing a button to upload the next video, because it's news, and while you don't have to think about news to quite the same degree you have to think about more opinion-based topics, once you stop thinking about the process and what it is you're making, all you have left is executing the formula, over and over again, and both the input and the output becomes repetitive.

Repetitive videos, in repetitive formats, with repetitive text, to keep the monster fed for another day. I can admire the effort that goes into it, but the overwhelming presence of the formula involved in cranking out this content keeps me from feeling that it's worth engaging with. It's low-effort, because the effort has been meticulously removed from the process.

I could go on, but I think I'll stop here. There's not really any constructive criticism I could provide to these channels because, as I hope I've pointed out, it seems like low-effort content is pretty much the only thing these channels have to offer or in truth can offer, and anything that might cause their owners to re-consider their channels to improve their content would almost certainly lead to a very different if not wholly different channel. With things being as they are online, there's no guarantee that any new, higher-effort channel would be any more successful than the old low-effort one (remember the RavenloftTravelAgent channel with absolutely miniscule numbers; effort doesn't automatically equate with success). I can't even claim that being low-effort channels necessarily makes these channels bad (despite what I said in the intro); after all, they all have at least some good ideas, especially Nerd Immersion, and they each have subscribers and a following. I guess this is just my way of putting some small amount of effort into explaining why I don't feel like doing more to help these channels succeed, because I'd rather put my support toward channels making higher-quality, higher-effort content, especially because its not the content itself, but people engaging with that content that really drives a channel's success.

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ebonyheartnet · 5 years

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How To Make a Psych Appointment (in the USA)

Disclaimer: My tired ass has only done this a few times, and I’m not a medical professional. This is just general advice from someone with a lightly scrambled brain, trying to help folks that need a little support. If you see that I made a major fuck up, lemme know and I will update the original post as needed.

Scheduling the appointment:

Contact insurance about how to get a psychiatrist referral, or else find someone in the area who you can afford

Research doctors you have the option of seeing

Schedule intake appointment

Preparing for the appointment:

Make a list of things that are bothering you, either your own behavior or your response to certain things. Nothing is unimportant, too small, too embarrassing, etc. You have to ignore anyone’s opinion on whether something should upset you, including your own, because all that matters is whether it does upset you .

(Just to make sure the message sinks in: Shame will not fix your problems, only acknowledging and actually addressing them will.)

While making your list, don’t try to match your symptoms to one specific diagnosis. It may be that there are several conditions with significant overlap, and only focusing on the one can mean you wind up accidentally ignoring several key markers of another.

Add to the list whenever something pops up. It’s helpful as hell, both because actively looking for things to write down can create a mental block, and it can also be an indicator of how often it’s bothering you.

At some point, go down your list and start picking out themes. What I mean is, if you notice that you have trouble with several things relating to organization, write down “Struggles with organizing,” and highlight/underline it.

If it’s something you’d be comfortable with, ask someone to make their own list while following the same instructions. Sometimes our brains miss things about ourselves, and other times they just don’t want to acknowledge how damn hard it is to do something, so an outside opinion might be helpful. It’s not a requirement though so much as something to consider.

A few days before your appointment:

Make copies of your list(s)!

Have a digital version saved locally and on the cloud, as well as a physical copy or two, if you can. Backups mean you don’t need to worry about your phone dying/wi-if/data, or losing a piece of paper either.

The appointment itself:

Try to get there at least 40 minutes before your scheduled appointment. That way, you won’t be trying to scramble to finish your intake paperwork, and you’ll also have a cushion in case of traffic.

Unless it’s stated otherwise, answer any intake questions as if you’re alone, without accommodations, on a normal-for-you day. I know you probably have a million tricks to eek out at least some kind of functionality, from peer support up to and including self medicating, but you need to be honest as hell here about what you’d be like without all of that.

Seriously though, answering about how you are with accommodations is like getting measured for clothes while wearing a snow suit: things might fit, but only as long as you have on the snow suit.

Walk your doctor through your list, starting with themes and then moving on to specific examples.

Talk shit through, etc.

Give them a copy of the list if you can. It’ll help you both keep track of what is or isn’t improving over time.

Schedule next appointment.

Anyone who has advice that’s important/helpful, and can give it without being a dick, please send an ask! I will gladly add your contribution to the post, with credit in whatever way you’d prefer. You can check the original post for updates, which I hope to add over time, if this is well circulated.

(Originally posted March 2, 2019)

#medical advice #psychiatry #how to make an appointment #ebony does the thing #signal boost

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superchartisland · 5 years

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Elite (Firebird, Spectrum, 1985)

Gallup all format charts, Your Computer Volume 6 No. 1, January 1986

[content warning: discussion of slavery and colonialism]

Elite was a year old by the time its Spectrum version hit #1, a conversion developed as a result of its massive success on the more expensive and less popular BBC Micro computer. Yet even for 1985 it still feels preposterously ahead of its time. As with many other games I’m writing about here, I first played it in the early 90s, and its wireframe monochrome 3D spaceflight still felt high-tech and futuristic. Like the map in The Crystal Maze! As recently as 2016, one of the year’s most anticipated new games got there essentially on the promise of an updated execution of Elite’s concepts (I’m scheduled to talk about that one in five years’ time). Elite is a game which did the previously unimaginable and it had a lasting impact.

It’s a game about space travel and trading. You start out on the planet Lave with a triangular-ish Cobra Mk III spaceship and some credits to buy some stuff before you set out into the universe. Pick a destination, hyperspace there via a flashy space tunnel visual effect, and see another planet in front of you. Move around it to its geometric space station, line yourself up with an entrance slot, and you can dock into another planet’s market to buy and sell and upgrade and do it over again.

Well, I make that sound simple, but the space station docking is an incredibly difficult stage to get past. Things can get harder yet later on with pirates or police or aggressive aliens, but the required feat of flight technique is a heavy barrier of its own. I have memories of getting deeper into Elite, of being enthralled by its progression, and I know that 7-year-old me was much more patient with games than me now, but I’m not 100% convinced I ever got past that starting point. My happy memories might be of watching my dad play it. I’m not sure it matters all that much.

Just conceptually, Elite offers so much more than the basic actions of its gameplay. What form it takes is subject to an incredible degree of freedom. Go where you like, trade what you want to, attack other ships and salvage from their wrecks, upgrade your ship as you see fit based on your own priorities -- combat, trade, not having to do the docking waltz yourself any more. Everywhere you go you see other ships going about their business, and in the absence of anything telling you what to do, the sense of the game presenting a world and the player just existing as one tiny part of it is the strongest we’ve seen so far. Of course Elite is built for the player’s benefit too, but it doesn’t remind you of that in-world, where you are just one more of many and it’s possible to imagine the universe carrying on without your tiny contribution and not even noticing. It’s not quite the Total Perspective Vortex, but it’s an experience with a very different flavour to a lot of games where you play as the chosen one.

Elite’s world is one rich in detail. It uses procedural generation -- templates filled in with details based on random number generation -- to create a far bigger universe than would otherwise have been possible with the computers of the time. You can browse a huge galactic map of (eventually) accessible places, and a local one of nearby stars and associated planets, each with their own details to read about. The planet Tionisla is notable for its inhabitants’ ingrained shyness, Leesti is known for Zero-G Cricket and Leestian Evil Juice, while for rich industrial corporate state Zaonce the info screen just notes “This planet is a tedious place”. These details make no real difference to any of the choices available to the player, and yet they bring being in the world of Elite to life.

The details also provide some familiar topics for those familiar with similar fictional settings. Elite gets in references to Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy early and often -- you start off rated as “Harmless” and the first progression on your path to the ultimate rank of “Elite” is of course to “Mostly Harmless” -- and has a nod to 2001 in the delightful version of Strauss’s Blue Danube waltz that plays while your expensively bought docking computer does its thing. (Well, the Commodore 64 version I remember had the last one, anyway; the Spectrum’s crap sound strikes again.) It even came packaged with its own sci-fi novella.

The indication is that Elite’s aspiration is to make the player feel like they’re in the kind of sci-fi story they’re hopefully familiar with, the better for them to fill in details that the game doesn’t have. The high level of incidental background detail, copied with the relatively low level of detail on your actions make for the perfect opportunity to do that construction of additional narrative, on your own, or with others, as described in a lovely post on GameTripper. And that narrative outsourcing is a great move. All the filling in, informed by other science fiction or otherwise, or otherwise, comes easily and offers an even bigger range of possibilities than even such a groundbreaking game could on its own.

For all the freedom, though, players work along some lines set by the developers. And the confines of those lines are revealing. You can’t, at least within actions shown directly by the game, operate as a space Robin Hood and give anything you take from the rich away to the poor. You can’t run your ship as a passenger transport. But you can trade in slaves. The possibility is presented every time you look at the list of a planet’s available commodities, quantities chillingly listed in tonnes alongside computers and minerals and “alien items”.

There is an in-game punishment of sorts if you trade in slaves or firearms or narcotics, a strong possibility that the space police will come after you. But they’re lucrative trades, you can fight the police, and that’s also a new set of possibilities to act as an incentive to the player to make those choices. The gameplay consequences of making the choice might actually be more fun. The two Cambridge students who made this game where players aspire to be the Elite decided that as part of their entertainment those players should be facilitated to imagine owning other people as property. Any thoughts on other reasons not to carry out such an atrocity are another thing left completely to the player.

It makes sense to look at those decisions in the context other games of the era we’ve seen, too. There was Frank Bruno’s Boxing and its vintage racism. Sabreman, the character we’ve seen lead three #1 games already, did so in colonial chic headgear. Fantastical worlds are always mirrors of our own, intentionally or otherwise, and in Elite’s time the British Empire (which 44% of British people surveyed were still proud of in 2016) wasn’t far behind us at all. Elite has you as a lone trader, rather than a representative of the East Galactia Company, but the prospect of travelling to far-flung locations and shooting down their defences to foist your narcotics onto their population can’t help but resonate, too.

It’s not just the experience of playing this game that those resonances matter for. Elite was as loved as it was successful and sets the scene for what is to come, its ideas traceable through to very different future games. Championship Manager would go on to turn its perspective vortex and largely player-outsourced narrative into a magical football story machine. And some other Brits would take Elite’s freedom to go anywhere and do anything as the model for the even more successful Grand Theft Auto, with the lack of morality not only built in as a given but made the whole point. The path towards a particular type of power fantasy dominating games doesn’t start here, but it’s a beautifully built trading post along the way.

#elite #zx spectrum #1985 #gif #space trading #computer games #video games #retrogaming #3d graphics #wireframe #1986 #imperialism #british empire

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flipfundingstuff · 3 years

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6 Ways to Support Working Mothers

Mothers are excellent multi-taskers: they can answer the phone, feed the dog, and catch the toppling toddler simultaneously. But that doesn’t mean they don’t need support when balancing parent and work roles.

Lack of support for working mothers during the pandemic contributed to 1 in 4 women exiting the workforce or downshifting their careers. And, while it’s not apparent when those women will return to the workforce, it’s clear that there’s an impact. As the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says, “The pandemic has set women’s labor force participation back more than 30 years.”

Fortunately, as a small business owner, you can take steps to support your working mothers—both today and in the future.

1. Implement Equal Pay

For many working mothers in a 2-parent household, the decision of who quit their job or cut their hours due to pandemic-related caretaker demands was simple math—who earned more? Logically, the person with the higher income should keep working.

On average, women earn less than men for the same work— 82¢ for every $1 men make, according to BLS’s 2019 report. Unfortunately, that number wasn’t much better in 2020.

Source: “Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2019,” BLS.

Equal Pay Days show “how many extra days on average a woman needs to work to reach the same pay as men from the previous year.” The US Department of Labor’s (DOL) calculations show that to “earn what a white, non-Hispanic man earned in 2020”:

The average female worker has to work until March 24, 2021; and

A working mother (compared to a working father) has to work until June 4, 2021.

Thus, implementing equal pay is the first step to support working mothers.

2. Over-Communicate

Communication issues were a major work-related stressor during the heart of the pandemic for many employees. So many questions, so little clarity: What are the rules for remote work? What does workplace flexibility mean? Can PTO be used to handle children’s remote learning demands?

No one wants to weed through vague, conflicting, or inaccurate messages from their employer. But working mothers especially don’t have the time to deal with poor communication. Instead, they need clear guidelines to build the schedule that permits the juggling of work and home duties.

Over-communicate workplace changes via every channel available—written, verbal, and even carrier pigeons if you have to. Don’t force any employee, let alone time-strapped working mothers, to hunt for information on your business’s modified work practices, safety protocols, and leave policies.

3. Work Flexibility

Working mothers need options that include alternative work hours, flexible work locations, or opportunities for picking up additional income when needed. School and daycares reopening may reduce some caretaker duties, but that doesn’t mean all mothers want to—or can—return to their “before” working life.

Some mothers may return to the office full time to have space to focus solely on work (e.g., no more “can I have a cookie” interruptions). However, others may prefer a fully remote work option or even a hybrid work situation, such as working part-time in an employer-sponsored coworking space.

Some working mothers may need your support to earn extra income due to a change in household income or a need to make up the gap from lost 2020 income. For example, we spoke to a nurse working only per-diem shifts during the pandemic who felt supported when “my manager opened up shifts for me to pick up when the hospital closed elective surgeries and cut my hours.” Support means giving employees what they need, when they need it.

4. Train Managers

It’s no secret that a good boss can protect employee well-being and health, so it’s essential to train and empower your managers to support working parents.

Managers need to understand the demands on a mother’s time and offer flexibility when possible. A dental hygienist and mother of 5 shared that “I feel that employers need to recognize that mothers are the main nurturing parent and caregivers; accommodating situations that arise is very helpful.” We can all guess which parent (mom) gets the “take me to ER” phone call after a child’s unsuccessful skateboard jump.

Acknowledgment of a working parent’s dual roles can also help. For example, a contractor working remotely told us that her supervisor “expected a kid cameo of at least 1 per staff meeting.” That reduced her anxiety of trying to keep her child quiet and off camera during work meetings.

5. Fix Hiring Practices and Performance Evaluations

Eliminating biases and unnecessary hurdles in hiring practices can help, too.

McKinsey suggests that businesses can support working mothers by changing hiring practices to “…not question their gap in employment. Ensure that job descriptions and interviews focus on the fundamental capabilities required to do the job well, without added dimensions that could create bias against women and mothers. For example, remove requirements for recent experience or for knowledge of new technology trends that can be learned on the job.”

Similarly, ensure that performance evaluations measure actual work performance. According to the Harvard Business Review, businesses that “define effective criteria before making critical decisions about employees” can eliminate biases. For example, it’s easy to reward the “always-on” employee versus the flexible-hours employee if there aren’t objective metrics to measure work output.

Back to the contractor’s story: her supervisor made it clear that the remote work mandate included new work expectations to “get your work done by the deadlines.” In the words of the contractor, “It helped to know I wouldn’t be judged,” especially when her mom/professional balancing act meant her workday didn’t fit the old norm of 8am–5pm.

6. Support Broader Changes

The workforce may look different now than it did in 2019, but women are still part of the key to a complete economic recovery. As Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said during an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, “We need to make sure if we’re going to have a strong recovery—a strong, equitable recovery—we need to get women back into the workforce.”

Returning women to the workforce will require a shift at the national level. The DOL says, “By creating a national paid family and medical leave program, increasing the size of the country’s care work infrastructure, improving benefits and wages so that the care workforce can support their own families, and implementing tax credits and financial supplements with historic potential for reducing child poverty, these plans will create long-overdue supports so parents won’t have to choose between caring for the families they love and keeping their jobs.”

While significant changes won’t happen overnight, you can—and should—take steps at your small business to support working mothers. Not only is it the right thing to do, but an increase in customer and employee loyalty may pay you back in spades.

The post 6 Ways to Support Working Mothers appeared first on Lendio.

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yourlifeinsurance411 · 3 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.lowestpricetermlifeinsurance.com/index.php/2021/05/20/why-millennials-need-to-start-thinking-about-life-insurance-now/

Why Millennials Need to Start Thinking About Life Insurance Now

Not only is life insurance is far cheaper when you're younger—but it can also be a great way to accumulate wealth for retirement.

By Mia Taylor

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CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES

During my "invincible" young adulthood, life insurance was the furthest thing from my mind. Not only was I confident that the need for such a policy was a long way off, but I was also clueless about the many savings and investment benefits that can often be derived from certain types of policies.

Fast-forward more years than I care to reveal with any specificity, and I've learned the costly error of my earlier thinking the hard way. For a variety of reasons, obtaining a life insurance policy at this point would be a seriously pricey endeavor, one I simply can't afford. This is why I've set out to help others avoid a similar mistake. Millennials, in particular, should take heed.

While COVID-19 has raised awareness about the important role life insurance plays in families' financial security, new research from LIMRA shows that 42 percent of Americans would face financial hardship within six months if the primary wage-earner were to die unexpectedly. The very same study shows that young Americans are most at risk, as more than half of millennials have no life insurance coverage.

Here are five reasons millennials really need to consider getting life insurance sooner rather than later.

When you’re younger, life insurance policies are cheaper

Let’s start with the most obvious point, one you’ll hear like a steady drumbeat from nearly every life insurance expert or financial advisor: The earlier you get a life insurance policy, the more affordable it will be.

“Life insurance is cheaper and easier to get while you are young and healthy,” says Micah Metcalf, owner of Metcalf Financial, a fully digital insurance agency. “As you age, your health tends to age too, potentially bringing a whole host of medical complications that you may have never even thought about in your 20s. Things such as diabetes, depression, or arthritis can all bring about more difficulty with obtaining life insurance, which can make it much more expensive.”

To drive this point home, Metcalf rolls out the following dollars-and-cents example. If a healthy 25-year-old male were to obtain term life insurance right now, the monthly cost would be a mere $30. This is based on quotes from such companies as AIG, Protective, and Banner William Penn. However, if a 45-year-old were to seek coverage, those monthly premium costs are more than five times higher, ranging from $164 to $169 per month from the same insurance companies quoted for the 25-year-old.

While we’re on the topic of policy cost, it’s also cheaper to get larger policies less expensively when you’re younger, which is not an insignificant consideration.

“You can get more coverage for less,” says Jessica Lepore, the millennial founder of the life insurance agency Surevested. “Larger policies are much cheaper to pursue when you are younger. Although you might not think that a $1 million life insurance policy is necessary when you live alone in your New York City studio apartment, think five, 10, 20, and even 30 years down the line. Your needs will for sure change by that point, and by pursuing coverage while you’re young, you will be saving much more money than if you waited until later in life to start coverage.”

Policies are also easier to obtain when you’re younger

Another important point while youth is on your side: When you’re young and healthy, life insurance policies are easier to qualify for (in addition to being a bargain). The flip side of this coin is that when you’re older and saddled with health challenges, you may not qualify at all—or it may cost a small fortune to secure a policy because of any significant health conditions you may have developed. And this is no small concern even among millennials because a recent Harris Poll found that 44 percent of older millennials already have chronic health conditions.

“In many cases, when you’re young, you may be able to get a policy without even having to undergo a medical exam. As you get older, this may no longer be the case. Life insurance companies may require you to undergo an exam, blood work, or even request up to five years of your medical records just to get approved,” says Metcalf.

As a bonus, when you obtain coverage younger, before being hit by any serious health issues, the policy is often guaranteed from that point forward. Meaning, if you develop health conditions later in life, you need not fret about being unable to obtain life insurance, because you already have a policy.

“Some policies are guaranteed to be renewable at the end of the term, so if you get in now you don't have to worry about qualifying later if a medical condition develops,” says Derek Szeto, co-founder of Delaware-based Walnut Insurance.

Student debt galore

Raise your hand if you have student debt. Chances are, that hand is in the air right now, because as of the second quarter of the 2019 fiscal year, for borrowers ages 25 to 34—a significant share of the millennial population—there was 497.6 billion dollars in outstanding student loan debt, according to New America. Furthermore, a recent Harris Poll found that most older millennials (68 percent) are still paying down their student debt a decade or so later. Now, who will be charged with paying off that debt if something were to happen to you?

“Unfortunately, when we pass away, our debts don't always go with us,” says Lepore, of Surevested. “Even if you're not someone with a family or mortgage, you might have other debts like student loans. By taking out even a small life insurance policy when you're young, you can ensure your family won't be left with the burden of paying those debts back if something were to happen to you.”

And while we’re headed down this road, do you happen to have a co-signer on that student debt? All the more reason you should be thinking about these issues.

“If you had a co-signer on your student loans, that person could still be responsible for your debt even if you passed away,” explains Allison Kade, millennial money expert from the digital life insurance company Fabric. “If you want to make sure that your parents or other co-signers aren’t stuck single-handedly paying off your debt in your absence, you could get a life insurance policy that would give them money to pay off your loans.”

Retirement savings

Now put your phone and Slack messages on "do not disturb" and spend some time with this next point, so that you can fully absorb it: One of the least understood and most valuable benefits of life insurance is that it can be used as a lucrative investment vehicle to build significant cash value over the course of your lifetime. This is particularly important if you’re behind on saving for retirement.

Cash-value life insurance also referred to as permanent life, provides a death benefit and can be used to build cash (as opposed to term life insurance, which does not offer the cash value component). The money you put into these policies can be used to develop an investment portfolio that helps you accumulate wealth. And as you age, the cash in the policy can be tapped to cover retirement living expenses.

And here’s perhaps the best part: You’re accumulating wealth tax-free.

“This is the most misunderstood and overlooked benefit of permanent life insurance by the average consumer,” says Brian Carlson, a certified financial professional and vice president of wealth management with GCG Financial. “If utilized properly, a permanent life insurance policy can provide a tremendous value to a person’s long-term savings goals. The concept of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) is hot amongst millennials. The usage of a permanent life insurance policy fits perfectly into the FIRE strategy due to the ability to remove funds without taxes or penalties before age 59 half. Permanent life insurance policies have a tremendous benefit, in the form of cash value.”

A permanent policy provides the ability for the policy owner to grow funds on a tax-advantaged basis and remove funds in the future without incurring any taxes if removed properly, explains Carlson. But, like retirement accounts, the sooner you start contributing, the greater the account value will grow to be as you age.

As independent life insurance agent Susana Zinn explains, most millennials do not have a financial plan that's robust enough to successfully cover their retirement. A life insurance policy can correct that shortfall.

“Seventy-one percent of millennials don’t think they will have saved enough at 65 to meet their retirement needs,” says Zinn. “And according to the National Institute of Retirement Security, 66 percent of working millennials have nothing saved for retirement. Instead, they’re busy paying down debt and covering their general living expenses, while saving for retirement is pushed to the bottom of their priority list.”

At the risk of beating a dead horse, life insurance can help you as a millennial ensure a financially healthy retirement.

“With life insurance, you don’t have to die to use it; you have flexibility with how the money is used, which can help with financial needs for both your planned and your unplanned expenses,” adds Zinn.

OK, you may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Protect your business after you’re gone

Actually, one more point. And it should be a point of pride. Millennials are one of the most entrepreneurial generations America has seen in a long time. A recent GoDaddy survey of 3,000 Americans—including 1,000 millennials, 1,000 Gen Xers, and 1,000 baby boomers, found that millennials lead the pack in entrepreneurial efforts, with nearly one in three millennials (30 percent) reported as having a small business or a side hustle. Securing life insurance can be a way to protect this legacy, making sure your business survives long after you’re gone.

If you share your business with another entrepreneur, for example, "that person could use the cash from your life insurance policy as a transition to keeping business flowing in your absence,” says Kade, from Fabric.

The financial burden you would leave behind

If all of the reasons already stated are not convincing enough, ask yourself this one last question: Would anyone have a financial burden if I passed away? No need to tell us the answer, just be sure to heed this final bit of advice.

“If the answer is yes, then you need life insurance protection now, so you won't leave your family with thousands of dollars in lost income or debt,” says Metcalf.

Mike Sheehan

#term life insurance #whole life insurance #Why Millennials Need to Start Thinking About Life Insurance Now

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redsunsetxiii · 6 years

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**Please do not repost without credit**

[TRANS] 2017.12.25 SONE JAPAN SONE NOTE LIVE vol 13 with Sunny

Staff: You tried out bartending in the last SONE NOTE LIVE, but this time you tried decorating a Christmas bottle that requires creativity. How was it?

Sunny: Today needed some aesthetic work (laughs). However, I’m actually not such a skillful person. I don’t really have confidence in making things... Does it look like I do? (laughs) I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it well, but I received advice from the instructor and fortunately I think it came out cute.

Staff: You made two different types, which was more fun?

Sunny: I like both the Christmas bottle and snow globe. They both were glittery and I really like them!

Staff: What part was difficult?

Sunny: Adding water into the snow globe. There has to be just the right amount of water otherwise air will rise to the top, but it was hard to control because no matter how much water was added, bubbles of air would appear.

Staff: You were really good with using the glue gun!

Sunny: My mother likes to craft things so I’ve made things together with her, and I sometimes help out the stylists when they remake clothes. I was able to use a glue gun because of those experiences.

Staff: Do you usually make cute accessories?

Sunny: I feel a little awkward carrying cute accessories...I feel really embarrassed (laughs) I like cute things, but I’m the type that can’t buy or make them by myself.

Staff: What was the creative point this time?

Sunny: Glitter! I wanted to make it cute with glittery colors and shapes. I added a lot of pink and heart shaped glitter, but since SONE’s color is pink, then their shape are hearts! As expected, I’m getting a little embarrassed (laughs)

Staff: You used a lot of pink today, but what color is in your room the most?

Sunny: Now that you mention it, I do like pink. My bed covers are pink, and so is my sofa! It seems like I choose pink for large furniture.

Staff: From all the parts available, what made you choose those parts when you made the Christmas bottle? Please share if there was an image you had!

Sunny: The image for the Christmas bottle was “Winter”. Winder kind of has a lonely feel to it, right? It’s essentially a cold and lonely season. That’s exactly why I believe you can feel the importance of spending time together with those you love. The little bunny that I put in the Christmas bottle is alone, but it doesn’t look that way since it’s with glitter. I tried selecting and adding in small items that I thought would be cute when matched with each other, but when I was working, for some reason I got a little awkward...I'm kind of embarrassed (laughs)

Staff: Do you like small animals?

Sunny: I live together with a cat so I like cats the most, but I also like animals like ferrets and otters. Aren’t they cute? Since I can’t see them very easily, I think they’re even cuter. I also like to see videos of those animals! Today I thought for a second that it’d be great if there were small figures of ferrets and otters, but once I thought it through, they wouldn’t match with winter (laughs)

Staff: Up until now, have you ever handmade any Christmas decorations before?

Sunny: Not until now. On shows I might have decorated trees once or twice for work. I believe today is my first time, since I don’t really make accessories by myself or decorate my home’s interior.

Staff: Do you have the inclination to make some from now?

Sunny: I don’t think so (laughs) Since I can’t make them well, it might be better if I just buy cute things from stores (laughs) Something that someone made perfectly cute! If I made it like today, then I feel bad for those goods’ materials (laughs)

Staff: But you made them so cute! Do you decorate your home for Christmas?

Sunny: I haven’t done that before. I’ve put out Christmas trees that fans have given me, but I don’t think I’ve ever changed the interior to match the seasons before.

Staff: If you were to give a Christmas bottle to a member, what kind of image would you make it with? Please share if there are certain parts that would specifically fit this member.

Sunny: When you think of Christmas, you think of Santa Claus and Rudolph, right? Rudolph is a reindeer, but he looks like a deer, right? Yoona looks like a deer so it might be nice if I added a deer in the middle of the bottle and give it to her as a present. Christmas bottles and snow globes have the feeling of Christmas, but before Christmas is Halloween. Taeyeon really likes Halloween! It’d be good to give her a Halloween styled one.

Staff: If other members tried making Christmas bottles, who do you think would make them well? Please give a reason, too.

Sunny: Everyone would be bad at it? (laughs) If I have to choose, then Taeyeon? She likes to make things quietly alone at home, so I think she would definitely make it well. Probably 100% in the image of Halloween. Taeyeon just likes Halloween. She would probably make a chilling, scary, and grotesque snow globe (laughs) But, all the members usually see a lot of cute things, so I feel that they’d make Christmas bottles well.

Staff: The Christmas bottle seem like it would contribute greatly to a winter themed interior, but please share if you have a favorite interior item in your room!

Sunny: My sofa! The sofa I mentioned earlier that’s pink. I bought it because I really liked it (laughs) My home is mainly white, so it would feel kind of frivolous to have the sofa also be white. I don’t really like dark colors and I don’t think it would suit my home, so among bright colors I chose pink. I like it because it fortunately really suits my home.

Staff: You handmade interior goods today, but what kind of interior do you have home?

Sunny: This is the first time I ever made an interior good. I don’t really make things by myself, but I receive a lot of presents that fans made by themselves. I have received dolls that look like me or my cat, Sogeum, as well as frames and pictures, etc. I really like them and I decorate my room with them.

Staff: If you were to decorate your finished Christmas bottle in your room, where would you place it?

Sunny: I think it would be cute placed on my bed side table, or placing it on top of my table and illuminating it with the lights off would be very cute! It would completely grasp the Christmas mood.

Staff: What do you usually fuss over when choosing interior items? Also, if there’s anything that you are trying to get, please share it with SONE JAPAN!

Sunny: I really just have what I need in my room, so I don’t have anything that can be called interior goods. I don’t have things like pictures on the walls. It might be because I just moved into my home recently, but my room is still simple and has nothing much in it. If one day I got the ability to decorate rooms wonderfully, I’d want to try a cute unified pink concept. I'd be really embarrassed that it’s cute, but it’s my room! No one else will see it (laughs). I like fluffy things like fur, so it’d be nice to decorate with things like that!

Staff: Have you and the members ever given each other interior goods or gone shopping for them before? If there was an present that made you happy, please share that story.

Sunny: When we are overseas, we go shopping together and look at interior accessories and home goods. I usually buy neck pillows. I love neck pillows (laughs) We ride in cars and planes a lot, so when I see a fluffy cushion and neck pillow I unconsciously buy it. Also, someone gave me a framed puzzle of a picture of me and Sogeum, and I really like it because I love puzzles and I love Sogeum. When I opened the wrapping after getting home, I was so surprised how cute it was! It’s not too big so it’s perfect for decorating my room.

Staff: Please share if there is something that you’ve come to like recently or if there’s something that you’re collecting.

Sunny: I actually like plastic models and puzzles, especially 3D puzzles and peculiar puzzles like those made from metal. When I see them I end up buying them. Even when I don’t have time to work on them immediately, I often make them at home alone when there’s a schedule change and I all of a sudden have time and don’t have to meet anyone. During those times, I open and try to make puzzles that I bought one by one, I’m not bored at all and the time just flies by! I feel love when I see my stack of unopened puzzles (laughs)

Staff: This year is SNSD’s 10th anniversary, but looking back are there any accomplishments that left an impression?

Sunny: As I expected, the first concert was the most memorable. Also, there are a lot of memories with SONE JAPAN, and if I was to choose just one, it would be the Japan debut showcase at Ariake. It was such a wondrous experience that I can’t put it into words. That time is also unforgettable.

Staff: Please share if there’s anything that you feel has changed or developed with the 10th anniversary.

Sunny: That’s from when I was 19 to 29 years old (laughs) Yes, I feel that a lot of things have changed...but I believe that I have achieved reliance. Long ago, everything was uneasy, and I was scared and worried...But even then, I behaved cheerfully so that those feelings wouldn’t show on the surface. Thinking about it now, I think I didn’t have enough confidence in myself. Because of that, I couldn’t really build trusting relationships around me, and I was uneasy about a lot of things. Now, I have enough reliance towards myself that I have trust in those around me, and because I have trusting relationships with the fans, I don’t really have any more uneasiness or worries like before.

Staff: Finally, a message for SONE JAPAN please!

Sunny: SONE JAPAN, seeing you all at SMTOWN already feels like a long time ago. But I believe that I’ll be able to see you all again soon! Until we can see each other again, be careful to not catch a cold and please wait! See you later~!

Translation by RedSunsetXIII source: SONE JAPAN website

**Please do not repost without credit**

#snsd #snsd trans #SNSD Sunny #sone japan #sone note live

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inbonobo · 7 years

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why do regular #workers in North America have to file #income #taxes?!

Results from a new study commissioned by tax preparation behemoth H&R Block show that as of earlier this week, two out of five Canadians still need to file their 2016 tax returns. The poll also indicates that while one in four Canadians actually gets excited about filing and the prospect of receiving a hefty refund, most people associate negative feelings with the filing process, citing reasons ranging from finding tax preparation a complicated process (21 per cent) to the inconvenience factor (19 per cent) of filing a tax return or just the feeling of overall anxiety it evokes (11 per cent).

But have you ever wondered why we even need to file a tax return in the first place?

I pondered this question more closely last week as I sat with my brother in a Tel Aviv restaurant, where he explained to me, nonchalantly, that in Israel, most residents don’t bother to file personal tax returns. That’s because most Israelis are actually exempt from filing, based on the type(s) and/or amount(s) of income they earn. Similar systems exist in other major countries, including Japan, the U.K. and the Netherlands.

The top 5 tax write-offs you don’t want to miss

Putting the finishing touches on your 2016 tax return? That’s great, but it’s not too early to start planning for next year

If you’re procrastinating on your taxes, you are not alone

Each tax season, Canadian taxpayers or their tax preparers, spend millions of hours filling out forms, albeit mostly electronically, to file their tax returns. And it’s not easy stuff for the untrained filer. For example, let’s say you want to claim the $2,000 pension income amount, which translates into a non-refundable federal credit worth 15 per cent or $300. You just need to follow the Canada Revenue Agency’s federal worksheet, which says, “Enter on line 314 of Schedule 1 $2,000 or the amount on line A, whichever is less. However, if you and your spouse or common-law partner are electing to split your eligible pension income, enter the amount from line A on line A of Form T1032, Joint Election to Split Pension Income. Follow the instructions at Step 4 of Form T1032 to calculate the pension income amount to enter on line 314 of your and your spouse’s or common-law partner’s Schedule 1.” All that work for three hundred bucks?

Which begs the question: can’t the CRA do all this math for you? In other words, if you have qualifying pension income, couldn’t the CRA automatically calculate both your eligibility for, as well as the correct amount of, the pension income credit?

Indeed, the CRA already has electronic records of nearly all your income, including pension income which is reported on a T4A slip, a copy of which is electronically transmitted to the CRA. Similarly, employment income is reported on T4 slips, which your employer files electronically. RRSP and RRIF withdrawals are reported on T4RSP and T4RIF slips and investment income is reported on T3 and T5 slips.

A step in the direction of what’s become known in global tax parlance as “pre-populated returns” came in 2016 when the CRA introduced the “Auto-fill” feature. This allows taxpayers who have fully registered for the CRA’s My Account feature and who use a NETFILE-certified software product to use the “Auto-fill my return” service, which will download all your information on the most popular tax slips, avoiding transcription errors. Slips available online for 2016 include: T3, T4, T4A, T4A(OAS), T4A(P), T4E, T4RIF, T4RSP, T5, T5007, T5008, RC62, RC210, RRSP contribution receipts as well as other tax-related information such as your RRSP contribution limit, any Home Buyers’ Plan or Lifelong Learning Plan repayment amounts, non-capital losses carried forward, and federal and provincial tuition, education, and textbook carryover amounts.

One of the hurdles to automatic, pre-populated returns and tax calculations in Canada is the proliferation of the dozens of boutique tax credits inherent in our personal tax system which must be independently claimed on your return, assuming you meet various qualifying conditions. There are credits for volunteer firefighters, search and rescue volunteers as well as first-time home buyers. Last year’s budget saw the elimination of four of them (the children’s fitness and arts credits as well as the education and textbook credits for students) and in this year’s Budget, the popular transit credit was killed as of July 1, 2017. Last year, the government announced a study of these credits, also known as tax expenditures, which is still underway, “(to make) sure they are all consistent with our approach to tax fairness.”

Yet even if the government did away with many of these credits, individuals who make charitable donations would still have to report them on their return to claim the donation credit as charities do not currently submit electronic copies of their issued donation receipts to the CRA. The same holds true for medical expenses, for which you must keep your receipts if you want to claim the medical expense tax credit.

And some individuals, such as those who report rental or self-employment income, would always have to complete a return to take into account various associated deductible expenses. But for the average Canadian who just has employment or investment income, a pre-populated return, with calculations done for you, could be a big help.

In 2008, Revenu Quebec experimented with the use of prefilled tax returns. The program was set to be rolled out in four stages beginning with 100,000 taxpayers who received prefilled tax forms in 2008, and expanding to virtually all Quebec tax filers in 2011.

Of the initial 100,000 Quebec taxpayers selected to receive a prefilled tax return in 2008, 80 per cent were more than 65 years old and of those who received a prefilled return, only 33 per cent used it. After the 2008 test run, Revenu Quebec abandoned plans to expand the program.

In reviewing the Quebec experiment, a 2011 Fraser Institute study concluded that the use of prefilled personal income tax forms “does little to reduce the costs of personal income tax compliance.”

“The idea behind the prefilled personal income tax form is that the government sends the forms to taxpayers with much of their personal tax information already filled in. Individual taxpayers check the information, add whatever is missing, and return the forms to the government,” said Francois Vaillancourt, the study’s editor and an economics professor at the Université de Montréal.

“But since taxpayers with more complex tax returns bear the brunt of compliance costs and governments find it difficult to prepare pre-completed forms for these taxpayers, the opportunities for such programs to reduce total compliance costs are limited.”

The issue is also a hot one south of the border. According to a recent report in the New York Times, attempts by some members of Congress to introduce bills requiring the Internal Revenue Service to move to pre-populated tax returns “never went anywhere because the tax-preparation industry lobbies strenuously against them.”

The report refers to the so-called “Tax Complexity Lobby,” which includes big national preparers like H & R Block. It also cites an earlier report that tax-prep software companies have spent millions over the years to persuade members of Congress to “oppose I.R.S. government tax preparation.”

[email protected]

Jamie Golombek, CPA, CA, CFP, CLU, TEP is the Managing Director, Tax & Estate Planning with CIBC Wealth Strategies Group in Toronto.

(via fp)

#tax #taxation #taxes #cra #revenue canada #cdnpoli

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elizabethcariasa · 4 years

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New for 2019 taxes: revised 1040 & only 3 schedules

Taxpayers got their first experience with new filing forms with last year's 2018 returns. There are more changes to the 1040 for 2019 taxes, too, but the revisions actually could be helpful.

Tax season is about to start in a less than two weeks. Jan. 27, in case you forgot.

Many of us are already working on our 2019 returns, either by working with a tax preparer or filling out our forms on our own.

Doing taxes has never been a fun job for most folks. But filing under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has made that job a bit simpler in one regard.

Now there's just one tax return, Form 1040, instead of the three — 1040EZ, 1040A and the long 1040 — in pre-tax reform days.

One form, but six schedules: True, the TCJA wasn't quite able to get the return down to the promised postcard size. The first 1040 under the new tax laws did, however, cut 56 lines from the old long tax return, ending up with 23 lines.

But they still were spread over two pages (front and back).

And to account for the shortening, the info that used to go on the long 1040 was parceled out over six new schedules. Depending on your tax situation, you had to fill in one or all of the new pieces of paper with the lone Form 1040.

Even though tax software or a paid preparer walked taxpayers through the new paperwork, it still didn't go over well.

So the Internal Revenue Service reworked the Form 1040 for the 2019 tax year.

TCJA 1040 take 2: The 1040 now is a bit longer (yeah, that postcard idea definitely is dead). But the idea is that the form should be easier to understand.

The reason for the added length? Some of the info that had been shifted to some of the new schedules now can be found back directly on the 1040.

So this first Tax Form Tuesday, a new feature this year on the ol' blog, looks at the new, and hopefully from a filer's perspective, improved Form 1040 we'll be filing this year.

Back to the 1040 future: The biggest change upon first glance is that the revised 1040 now looks more like the old 1040 that had been in use for decades before the TCJA overhaul that took effect with the filing 2018's taxes.

You still enter your personal information, along with that of your spouse and any dependents, the same as last year and pre-tax reform.

But now the bottom half of the 2019 Form 1040 has income information instead of last year's signature blocks, which seemed weird to me as it gave the impression of signing something before filling in the form.

Information that was on the back (page 2) of the 1040 last year now is on the front page, including how much you made from:

wages, salaries, tips and other sources;

tax-exempt and taxable interest;

ordinary and qualified dividend earnings; and

IRA, pension, annuity and Social Security distributions and any taxable portions of those retirement funds.

Back on Form 1040 is how much you received in capital gains (or losses). Last year, you reported this on Schedule 1. This filing season it's on line 6 of the 2019 Form 1040.

The most noticeable thing about this latest 1040, however, is that you get a look at the TCJA's expanded standard deduction amounts on the new first page of the tax return.

And while adjusted gross income still isn't the last line on the first page of the post-TCJA 1040, the 2019 revision does give us an even more important figure as page 1's last entry: our taxable income.

I don't know about you, but with this reworking I feel like at this stage of completing the 1040 I've accomplished something.

But wait, there's more: Page 2 of the form again is reminiscent of earlier 1040s.

The top section of this on 2018 returns lumped together income reporting, your withholding (and other tax payments, like estimated ones), your deduction (standard or itemized) choice and some tax credit claims.

That's still there in the 2019 tax year version, but it's got a cleaner look, thanks in large part to fewer boxes, inserted Swiss cheese style in last year's 1040, awaiting info transfer from other forms and schedules.

You'll also notice that the Additional Child and American Opportunity tax credits now get specific mentions (lines 18b and 18c, respectively), along with last year's holdovers of the child tax credit and/or credit for other dependents and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The amount of your refund and direct deposit info is that's what you choose, along with any amount you owe are still on page 2. There is, though, one noticeable change here. The tax owed section title is back to a pre-tax reform larger font, reinforcing one of the IRS' main jobs.

The signature section of Form 1040, as noted earlier, is back on the second page. But there is one interesting addition.

As the IRS continues its digital shift, there's also a block where, if you choose, you can give Uncle Sam your email address.

The IRS elaborates on this electronic communication entry — and the possibility that it could cause some confusion since the long-standing IRS rule is that generally doesn't reach out to taxpayers via email — in the 1040 instructions:

You have the option of entering your phone number and email address in the spaces provided. There will be no effect on the processing of your return if you choose not to enter this information. Note that the IRS initiates most contacts through regular mail delivered by the United States Postal Service.

You can report a phone scam to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting or the FTC using the FTC Complaint Assistant at FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" in the notes. You can report an unsolicited email claiming to be from the IRS, or an IRS-related component like Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, to the IRS at [email protected].

For more information, go to IRS.gov/Phishing and IRS.gov/newsroom/how-to-know-its-really-the-irs-calling-or-knocking-on-your-door.

I'm interested to see future statistics as to how many of us hand over our email address to the IRS.

Finally, while the 2019 tax year version technically is just one more line longer than the 2018 form (now 24 instead of 23), the layout makes it look longer, with the information filling around two-thirds of page instead of just half.

Now about those lost schedules: The IRS has made its Form 1040 schedule system, to borrow from the Jackson Five, "A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3."

All the additions/returns to Form 1040 mean that in filing your 2019 taxes you'll have to deal with just three numbered schedules instead of six.

Schedule 1, Additional Income and Adjustments to Gross Income, is still around.

Basically, you report in part 1 of Schedule 1 any additional income, such as business or farm income or loss, unemployment compensation, prize or award money or gambling winnings.

The schedule's part 2 wants to know if you have any deductions to claim, such as student loan interest deduction, self-employment tax, or educator expenses. These adjustments, based on the layout of the old pre-TCJA 1040 were called above-the-line deductions.

Schedule 1 also now seeks some new info.

There's a line reflecting the IRS' increasing focus on cryptocurrency. If you engaged last year in a transaction involving virtual currency (bitcoin and the like), the tax collector wants details on Schedule 1.

The 2019 Schedule 1 also wants to know about alimony payments, since these amounts are no longer deductible to the payer or reportable income to the receiving ex-spouse for divorces or marital settlement agreements entered into as of Jan. 1, 2019.

Schedule 2, Additional Taxes, remains, but now is a combination of last year's Schedules 2 and 4. As its title notes, it's where you report any additional taxes you may owe.

This could be, in part 1 of this schedule, the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) or any excess advance premium tax credit you got to help pay for health insurance purchased from the Marketplace.

Part 2 of Schedule 2 wants to know about any claims you can make for a nonrefundable credit other than the child tax credit or the credit for other dependents. These tax credits include the foreign tax credit, education credits or the general business credit.

Schedule 3, Additional Credits and Payments, also was consolidated with info that previously went on the now defunct Schedule 5.

Part 1 of Schedule 3 is where you claim nonrefundable tax credits that aren't on Form 1040. This includes such tax breaks as foreign taxes you paid, child and dependent care expenses, contributions to retirement savings, residential energy improvements and the Lifetime Learning credit.

Schedule 3's part 2 wants details on other payments and refundable credits.

Take note of this schedule if you paid estimated taxes or had any of your prior year's tax refund applied to your future tax liability. Those amounts go on line 8 of Schedule 3.

Form for older filers, too: These schedules also are to be used by older taxpayers who opt to file the new Form 1040-SR.

As I noted in my earlier post on the 1040-SR when it was released last year, the appended two letters standing for seniors, as in older taxpayers. In the tax world, that those at least age 65.

If you're like me, getting closer to that birthday than you'd like, don't comment, email or lash out on social media. I agree with you. Mid-60s are the new mid-50s (or younger!). But that's Capitol Hill's and the IRS' evaluation of who counts as a senior citizen.

Eligible 1040-SR filers aren't required to use the form. But if they find it's a good tax fit, then it's available.

Of course, older taxpayers are like the rest of the taxpaying community. They tend to use tax software, too.

So, you're asking, why did I go into such a long post about a form that most of us won't ever actually see as we enter our info by computer or let our tax preparer do the same?

Because, as a wise tax pro told me many years ago when I started writing about taxes, the best way to understand the tax law is to look not at any legislation, but at the tax forms needed to comply with the law.

And thus was born the new Tax Form Tuesday blog feature. I hope this inaugural item and future forms posts help.

You also might find these items of interest:

6 reasons to file your taxes early

IRS Free File now open for the 2020 tax season

2019 tax return filing checklist, including documents itemizers need to complete Schedule A

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foreveraloevera3-blog · 4 years

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Masturbate and Feel Good

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maxwellyjordan · 5 years

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Symposium: Corruption is not a crime

Ellen S. Podgor is the Gary R. Trombley Family White-Collar Crime Research Professor and Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law.

The circumstances surrounding the “Bridgegate” controversy are appalling. The thought that automobile drivers and their passengers were subjected to a “crippling gridlock” in an alleged effort to retaliate against a mayor who failed to endorse then-Governor Chris Christie in his reelection bid is beyond comprehension. Likewise, lying about the purpose of the lane realignment is the height of unethical conduct. It is easy to conclude that the conduct involved is wrong. But conduct that is wrong, unethical or potentially harmful is not necessarily criminal under existing federal laws. This is especially important when the conduct relates to politics.

Many perceive corruption to be a crime. In fact, however, corruption is not a federal crime, unless one is speaking about corruption of seamen and confederating with pirates, activities that are prohibited under the only federal statute in Title 18 of the U.S. Code that actually includes the term “corruption” in the title of the statute. A host of federal statutes beyond the criminal code use the term “corruption” with regard to programs that encourage good governance, such as providing aid to countries in order to combat corruption. And, of course, sentencing provisions reference corruption offenses. One might find the term “corruption” in legislative findings regarding extortionate credit transactions, for example. So too, there is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, but the conduct outlined in these statutes is limited, with certain parties, such as foreign officials, excluded from prosecution. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act includes an entire definition statute that covers terms such as “racketeering activity” and what is meant by the term “enterprise.” But there is nothing to tell us what “corrupt” means because the term is not included in the description of prohibited activities under RICO.

Although some federal statutes do require a corrupt intent or a corrupt act, corruption by itself is not an offense. Corruption is a sociological concept with a long history that sometimes includes discussion of fraud. As with many such terms, like white-collar crime for example, laws have been developed to address conduct that falls within the sociological framework. But to claim that corruption or white-collar crime should by itself be punishable puts us back to a day of common-law criminal concepts and not the statute-based society that we have become. As aptly stated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Mueller report, “collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law.” And just as Mueller limited his review to potential crimes existing in the federal code, so should the Supreme Court focus on the specific language found in the applicable statutes under review in Kelly v. United States.

The statutes involved in Kelly cover “theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds” and “wire fraud.” Both statutes are relatively new to the construct of fraud statutes that emanate from an 1872 mail-fraud statute that came with no legislative history and was a mere single provision (Section 301) of the recodification of the Postal Act. Federal program fraud was added to the criminal code in 1984 and wire fraud was added in 1952. And a congressional committee raised concerns about the breadth of the wire-fraud statute when passing the later bank-fraud statute, explaining that the “Committee believes that while the additional activity that could thus be brought within the purview of the language might well be reprehensible, and probably should be criminal, due process and notice argue for prohibiting such conduct explicitly, rather than through court expansion of coverage.”

Both the federal-program-fraud and wire-fraud statutes have enormous breadth, and in these and similar “corruption-related” statutes, the Supreme Court has appropriately struck down prosecutorial attempts to stretch the statutes using novel theories. We have seen this is in a host of Supreme Court decisions: McNally v. United States, finding that intangible property did not meet the definition of “money or property” in a 1909 statutory amendment; Cleveland v. United States, finding that licenses were not property; Skilling v. United States, requiring that bribery or kickbacks were necessary for honest services fraud; McCormick v. United States, finding that the Hobbs Act requires a quid pro quo when involving campaign contributions; and McDonnell v. United States, finding that holding a meeting or hosting an event does not by itself meet the “official act” requirement of the statute at issue. And, of course, there are other Supreme Court decisions that have reined in prosecutors who decided to prosecute acts that may be deceitful or corrupt, although less convincingly statutorily criminal.

In Kelly, the court will need to decide whether the conduct of Bridget Kelly fits into the elements of these two criminal statutes, and, if the statutes are too expansive, whether to limit them as it did in Skilling, or to use the longstanding rule of lenity, which favors the defense when there are two possible constitutional interpretations of a statute. Hopefully, the court will remember that its role is to interpret the statute and not subject the law to “invention,” as duly noted by the late Justice Antonin Scalia in his Skilling concurrence.

In this case, there are no allegations of bribery or kickbacks, a fact that precluded the government in a post-Skilling environment from using the honest-services-fraud statute. Instead, prosecutors resorted to the generic wire-fraud statute, requiring the government to meet the statutory element of “money or property.” And in a convoluted maneuver that only a trapeze artist could accomplish, the government attempts to show that the cost of extra employees to staff the toll lanes and prepare the traffic-study report that the government argues was a mask for improper political motivation constituted a deprivation of “money or property.” One has to ask whether every study that has proved to be ineffective in state government could suffice for meeting the “money or property” element, and whether the Supreme Court will allow future prosecutors to indict individuals whose true motivation for a decision is political.

It is particularly important to restrict the statute to its express terms in this case. People all know that murder, rape, robbery, arson and burglary are crimes. They know that transgressing the statutes that proscribe these common-law offenses can result in jail time or other criminal punishment.

Less clear and more amorphous is conduct related to politics. After all, would we want to have made then-presidential candidate George H. W. Bush’s statement – “read my lips, no new taxes” – followed by an election and then new taxes – a crime? One could easily claim that Bush’s subjective intent was to get elected. And he did make his promise on national television, so the wires were used. But it would be absurd to find this statement covered by the wire-fraud statute’s language.

And do we want to make the mayor who prioritizes snow removal in one area of a city over another a federal criminal? Whatever the mayor’s stated reason for the plowing schedule, one could easily argue that her constituency in the first-plowed area produces more favorable votes and that therefore she committed fraud in the selection process. And if the selection happened to require additional hours or personnel, would that be sufficient for a claim of a deprivation of “money or property” for purposes of the wire-fraud statute, under which a mere interstate telephone call or email easily triggers federal jurisdiction? The bottom line is that these are regulatory matters, and the Supreme Court in Cleveland clearly precluded the use of a fraud statute to criminalize regulatory activity.

If politicians’ lies are merely a subterfuge for their actual reasons in decision-making, then a ruling for the government in Kelly would put many elected officials at risk of political indictment. The Supreme Court recognized in McCormick the importance of holding the language of the statute to a strict interpretation in the political sphere. It is equally important for the court to do so here. This is a time for the public to weigh in on corrupt politicians through elections, not for the Supreme Court to criminalize potentially political conduct in a way that might give additional power to federal prosecutors.

The post Symposium: Corruption is not a crime appeared first on SCOTUSblog.

from Law https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/09/symposium-corruption-is-not-a-crime/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#law #justice

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perfectzablog · 6 years

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How Passion Projects and Community Partners Create Relevant Learning for Teens in School

When a huge flood devastated Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2008 the community was faced with a host of problems more commonly seen in big cities, like homelessness. But in the midst of this tragedy the residents began to see an opportunity to rethink how they would rebuild the core institutions of the town.

“We’re in Iowa, these are not things you deal with,” said Shawn Cornally, co-founder of Iowa BIG, a project-based school that came into being after the flood. “So the entire city was grappling with these giant questions together.”

The local newspaper, owned by the Gazette Co., wanted to be part of rebuilding the community. As part of a series on reimagining Cedar Rapids, the company tapped Cornally — a high school STEM teacher whose subjects have included calculus, physics and computer science — to spearhead an effort called “The Return to School Project.” Over 100 adults strapped on backpacks and went back to school — walking in the shoes of students. They were asked to report back on what they noticed about the experience.

“They said stuff like, ‘Man, teachers work their butts off and it’s kind of like no one in the building cares, even other teachers,’” said Cornally. They also noticed that students spent a lot of time transitioning, and they talked only about grades, never about what they were learning. But the adults noticed a lot of positives as well. They said it was clear school was a second home to kids and played an important support role for many of them.

Cornally wrote an article about these observations that ended with a call for Cedar Rapids to consider a school without grades or classes as part of its effort to rebuild. Rather than using standardized tests to measure learning, students would be held accountable by community partners with whom they would work on projects.

That article sparked a small experiment at the community college, with just 12 students and one half-time teacher. Over the next 10 years it grew into Iowa BIG, an alternative education offering that now has two sites, 240 students, eight teachers and a huge network of community partners. They even recently won one of the smaller XQ Super School grants for innovative school models.

WHO ATTENDS IOWA BIG?

Cornally said students interested in attending BIG often come in two types: super-high achievers looking for something interesting for their résumé, and kids for whom traditional school does not work. “They come to us because we don’t control their time, just their output,” Cornally said.

Iowa BIG is far from a traditional school, but it is public. According to Cornally, Cedar Rapids doesn’t have private or charter schools almost as a matter of tradition. All kids attend public school, so those schools are well-funded, strong academic institutions. Generations of Cedar Rapids-area families attend the same high schools and there is a lot of pride and identity around them. But the big, comprehensive high school with bells, AP classes and more traditional teaching styles doesn’t suit all learners.

That’s where Iowa BIG comes into the picture. It’s a partnership between the three school districts in the Cedar Rapids area. Students can take classes at Iowa BIG, but they graduate from their home schools and often split time between the two institutions. All three districts contribute full-time employees to BIG, and all get to claim the program as part of what they offer. This arrangement can be both great and hard for students. On the one hand, they have access to different kinds of opportunities at BIG, but some have to travel long distances between schools.

BIG classes are focused around big projects that students care about. Cornally calls them “Saturday projects,” something the student would want to be working on over the weekend, but gets to do for school instead. The projects almost always include an outside partner with whom students collaborate. That real-world home for the product helps make students accountable for their work and to their collaborators. Cornally said this approach to collaborative projects is more palatable to students who have rebelled against traditional homework. Despite all that, the courses that appear on student transcripts sound standard.

“We have a custom-built software system that tracks each kid against the state standards they’re responsible for,” Cornally said. While the classes don’t look like traditional English or chemistry classes, the teachers are aware of the standards they need to hit. They try hard to build those standards into the project in interdisciplinary ways, but when they can’t they are honest about it with the students.

“That honesty is worth a million dollars to a teenager,” Cornally said. Because students come from different schools, are on different schedules and live far apart, most don’t come to the BIG building every day. Students communicate with each other and with teachers through Slack and schedule times to meet up only when necessary.

Kellen Ochs likes BIG because the adults there respect his time. He likes science and thought he wanted to be a chemist until he started taking chemistry classes at his traditional high school. He learned about BIG from a friend who is a year older. Kellen was a disenchanted freshman enviously watching his sophomore friend leave to go to BIG nearly every day.

“He would always talk about how he went to do actual things, with real people where he learned actual things,” Kellen said. That sounded interesting, and when Kellen saw Shawn Cornally’s TED talk he thought to himself, “This guy’s reading my mind. This is exactly what I want.”

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One of Kellen’s favorite projects at BIG is building a biodiesel engine. He and his group have been teaching themselves about how motors work and working out the chemistry to convert used cooking oil into something combustible.

“I think everybody knows what we’re doing and what’s going on at a molecular level now,” Kellen explained about his group’s progress. “The hard part is we had to build a fume hood and that took so long. Now we’re getting back to the fun inorganic chemistry part.”

He said made a batch of oil but didn’t get it hot enough, so only some combusted. It’s all about adding the right amount of ethyl alcohol and other reactants, Kellen explained. He’s been using a lot of YouTube videos and online materials to teach himself the inorganic chemistry he needs, and his group has taught each other a lot through trial and error.

The group meets once a week for an hour and half to check in on progress and divvy up new tasks, but Kellen says the amount of work he puts in varies from week to week. Sometimes he spends hours on it, and other times his part doesn’t take that long. He likes that he’s learning how to manage his time and that his group trusts him to complete his tasks.

Kellen is also taking English literature at BIG, a class he was originally less enthused about, but has found surprisingly enjoyable. “I thought I was going to be really bored because we did poetry in the ninth grade and it was horrible and I hated it,” Kellen said. But at BIG the poems feel more relevant — they’ve been reading poems about the African-American experience in America.

“They are living in my reality whereas when you read Shakespeare I could swear he was living in a different reality,” Kellen said. He stopped and looked up some of the names of the poets he’d enjoyed: Natasha Trethewey, Gregory Pardlo, Claudia Rankine.

But Kellen’s passion project at BIG is pool alarms. The project idea came from a local professor whose nephew drowned when his parents lost sight of him for just a moment. The pool alarm didn’t go off. Now Kellen and his friend are trying to build a better pool alarm, one that can’t fail when it’s needed.

THE PROJECTS

BIG finds projects in three main ways: businesses or organizations come asking to collaborate, teachers develop projects and find partners interested in collaborating, and students initiate projects. “The kids’ ideas are just as good as the adults’ ideas,” Cornally said.

“We are excited when a kid has an idea because half the time they’re good and half the time they’re bad, but it’s the same as the adults.” No matter how the project comes to them, Cornally said teachers work to think it through, flesh it out and make sure it’s a viable project. If it is, it gets added to a custom-built database that students can browse when they shop for projects at the start of the semester.

“We live in that universe of just below your resource line, but well above flippant,” Cornally said. In other words, many businesses come to BIG with projects that would help operations, but aren’t mission critical. That’s a perfect space for high school students to bring their enthusiasm, creativity and energy.

For example, the United States Geological Survey wanted to create an app to streamline the process when citizen scientists send in fossils. That’s an app the agency probably wouldn’t spend limited resources on, but they’re excited to have it if a student can build it.

As students work on their projects they get support from teachers, who also ensure that students are meeting the state standards required for the course. Teachers meet in a daily “scrum” where they talk about projects, individual students, who needs more support, who is avoiding all the math in the project, and who on staff would be most effective at reaching out.

At the end of the semester the school carefully translates all the project work students did into traditional credits that are recognized by traditional high schools and colleges. “You cannot be the person who changes how college does admissions and how they want to see data reported,” Cornally said. “And you can’t screw your students over by doing that.”

While the projects may not neatly fit the criteria colleges expect to see, students often discover passions they want to pursue in college through the projects they do at BIG. Bailey Swartzendruber is a good student at her traditional high school, but began taking BIG classes her senior year because she wanted to use her learning to take more of a leadership role in the community. She’s headed to the University of Iowa for college and plans to major in International Business with a minor in human rights.

“BIG really opened that up for me,” Swartzendruber said. She came into BIG with vague goals of wanting to do something positive for the community that connected to business. She and her adviser started talking about the refugee crisis, which soon became a project writing social studies curriculum around refugee issues. Swartzendruber is excited that her work could soon be used by students around the world.

“Living in the Midwest, living in Iowa, I just never thought I would get this opportunity,” she said.

Swartzendruber also took statistics at BIG, an experience that left her with conflicting emotions. She found the open-ended, self-directed approach to math difficult. She had weekly seminars on the content and then was asked to apply it to her refugee project. For example, her teacher gave her data on the location and number of displaced persons and asked her to use coding software to analyze it. She felt overwhelmed by the task.

“At first I kind of gave up on it and didn’t turn any of my stuff in, which is so not me,” Swartzendruber said. She didn’t feel she had fully grasped the concepts before she was being asked to apply them to a situation where she also didn’t know how to use the coding software. It felt uncomfortable to learn by doing, rather than through rote practice. With hindsight, she can see that learning in a new way was uncomfortable, but that she gained valuable skills she’ll be able to use in the future. She looked at the college coursework she’ll be tackling next year and immediately noticed one class requires the same coding software she now knows how to use.

Ultimately, Swartzendruber is aware that, despite being a good student coming into BIG, she didn’t have a lot of the practical skills required for work. She was terrified to email her partner organization, didn’t know how to manage her time when she wasn’t being told exactly what to do, and had little experience disagreeing with collaborators. These are all skills she knows she has improved while at BIG. They are also skills her teachers explicitly monitor and work to improve in students.

“I feel like at my regular high school I’m just going through the motions. I felt it wasn’t pushing my boundaries,” Swartzendruber said. Now, when she goes into the BIG building, she’s inspired by the work of her fellow students. One girl designed a fashion line, coordinated a fashion show, and took it on the road with real models. Another is interviewing faith groups to find out how welcoming they are to people with alternative lifestyles.

“Whenever you go there you see kids working on crazy things, and so dialed in to what they’re doing,” Swartzendruber said. “When I go to BIG I want to be there.”

That’s one of the most important things to Cornally. He was a successful AP computer science teacher for years before helping to start Iowa BIG. He worked at a high-achieving high school, but when he ran into former students home on break from college and asked them what they learned in AP calculus that was useful in college, they rarely had an answer.

It was a clarifying moment. “Why do I lose sleep over you?” Cornally asked himself. If students didn’t need what he taught them, and didn’t remember it either, why was he working so hard? “I’m just a baby sitter that talks about calculus,” he realized. That’s when he began a journey to transform education. At BIG he’s confident students remember the work they did and can point to how it impacted their development. At Iowa BIG the “rigor” comes from knowing his students really well.

“As a district we’ve been looking for a personalized learning environment for a while,” said Erik Anderson, principal of Prairie High School in the College Community School District outside Cedar Rapids. As the district works towards a 10-year plan that will include changes at all its sites, Anderson said Iowa BIG is offering interested students some of that personalization now. And, his teachers are learning from Iowa BIG, too — some are trying to incorporate community-driven projects into their classes, while others are reimagining class as independent work time with teacher consultations available.

“There’s been flexibility required from everyone,” Anderson said. He’s proud of his staff for understanding that the goal is for students to have a good learning experience. And he sees the effect BIG is having on students in other small ways.

“You can see these young people grow and mature at a different rate, especially in how they interact with adults,” he said.

How Passion Projects and Community Partners Create Relevant Learning for Teens in School published first on https://greatpricecourse.tumblr.com/

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yourtime4 · 7 years

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Just when I was contemplating the need to adjust my multi-tasking oriented schedule to include writing a blog post that would capture the spirit of our most recent Self-Empowering Workshop for College Bound Students and Their Parents, I received an email from one of the parents that our non-profit has served over the years which should help the process along…with her permission, of course! I am actually quite excited at the prospect of sharing the opinions and account of this year’s workshop in the words of participants who are inspired and empowered enough to tell their Your Time For Creative Empowerment story. We are indebted to our parents, community leaders and students, our donors and supporters, and our volunteers who were on hand to render much-needed support. It was indeed, the concerted efforts of all that makes the event worth talking about.

Your Time For Creative Empowerment, Inc. takes the relationship that has been established by guest-writer, Mrs. Sandra Morris Aarons, and that of other repeat participants quite seriously. It is the level of involvement and the reasoning behind their relationship with us that empowers us to navigate challenges in a way that keeps us going and makes us consider them members of the Your Time For Creative Empowerment, Inc. Family. We, of course, extend an open-heart and open arms to our first time participants as we welcome them to the Your Time For Creative Empowerment family.

Before you go on to read what Mrs. Aarons had to say, I would like to extend an invitation to anyone who wishes to join us as a guest blogger on matters that inspire them as a result of their involvement with Your Time For Creative Empowerment, Inc. This blog post also includes a submission by rising high school senior, Michael Desir.

Please contact us through this blog or email us. [email protected]

When community members come together for good, wonderful things happen! This also includes our participants who unfortunately are not pictured here.

Your Time for Creative Empowerment, Inc. Self-Empowering Workshop at Molloy College July 8, 2017 – An account Submitted by Mrs. Sandra Morris-Aarons, a Your Time For Creative Empowerment, Inc. Parent

“This morning I woke up early reflecting on my time spent yesterday at the Self-Empowering Workshop. It was a super fabulous day from beginning to the end. Yesterday, I woke up early to the sound of a text message coming through. When I opened the text, it was a message from my husband saying that he was mandated to work an additional shift. I began to wonder what I was going to do because I had invited quite a few young people to the workshop and was depending on the van my husband drove to work for transportation. I had told students that I would come and pick them up from their house at a certain time. All of a sudden, I heard talking downstairs in my house coming from the living room. I called down to find out who it was. Then a voice answered and said, “It’s me, Mrs. Aarons. I came over late last night because I wanted to make sure I was here on time. Last year was great and I was not going to miss this year for nothing.” I heard other voices, and when I inquired as to whose voices they were, it was all the other young people from my neighborhood that I had invited.

I was so happy that they were eager to attend, and had made their way to my house, so now I didn’t have to worry about picking them up. As I got ready and made my way down the stairs, my son was ready with keys in hand. I didn’t even have to ask him to drive. He was excited and ready to go. “Right quick”, I started doing the math in my head – one car; eight bodies. How were we all going to fit? I really felt bad about turning anyone away. So, I decided to call a cab. I was told it would be $65.00 one way. The cab arrived shortly and took some of us while the others drove with my son. Upon arriving at our destination, the cabdriver said, “that will be $75.00.” I was dumbfounded, but I tell you that was the best $75.00 I have ever spent. IF I had to, I would do it all over again.

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The workshop started out with a continental breakfast and time to mingle. After that we were summoned to attention by Mrs. Madona Cole-Lacy with Sounds of Inspiration by Willie-Joe Hatcher a drummer to which we were invited to “creatively express” ourselves as part of a warm-up exercise. This young man spoke later during the day at the panel discussion about never giving up on your dreams. He expressed how he is only 19 and has had 13 surgeries in his short life, but that does not stop him, and that he is more determined than ever to succeed!

Willie-Joe Hatcher on the Drums!

Founder/CEO, Mrs. Madona Cole-Lacy

Warming Up to Willie-Joe Hatcher on the Drums!

April Montgomery, Esq. Keynote Presenter

After that, a wonderful welcome was given by the phenomenal Mrs. Madona Cole-Lacy who moderated the day. Then she introduced the Keynote, Speaker, April Montgomery, Esq. County Assistant District Attorney. She took us on her journey, and enlightened us with her experience, wisdom and aspirations.

Several speakers spoke throughout the day about their journey and the intricate steps it took to get them to where they are today. Next, we were introduced to Mrs. Joy Spruill, a former NYC Police Officer and Art Therapist. She spoke passionately about her journey and the life of a police officer. She also spoke about the multiple careers that can be pursued in the police department. For example, if you are an artist, you can become a forensic sketch artist. You do not just have to be a police officer who patrols the streets. On top of that, she gave advice about smart police encounters and demonstrated, especially for our young black men and women, what to do when stopped by a police officer too.

She modeled tone of voice and body language that is acceptable to use that does not come off as being confrontational. She reminded us that police officers are human beings too, and that there are so many good ones with good intentions in comparison to the few that are not.

Mrs. Joy Spruill Presenter

Mrs. Joy Spruill Presenter She told us that one of the most important things to keep in mind is that just as we want to get home safely, police officers do too. Every presenter left us amazed, thinking and empowered, especially Steven Vasquez – a young man who spoke to our hearts about overcoming language and cultural barriers. Steven, a 2017 Hicksville High School graduate, made us examine ourselves by taking a closer look at the life we are living. Are we truly doing our best to achieve and be successful? He brought us to moments of tears of sadness and joy, and stirred our souls as he took us on his journey in America as an asylum petitioner at the age of 16. He spoke about what his mother went through having him at the age of 14, and how she had to work for minimum wage to take care of him in her country, but when she came to this country, she was uneducated and didn’t speak the language which became a problem in getting a job. So, at an early age, he would have to work and take care of his family. When most children would go home to play, eat, do homework and watch TV, he would have to go to work and still manage to do homework.

Mr. Steven Vasquez: Youth Keynote Presenter

He spoke relentlessly about how when he came to this country, he had difficulties with the language and in the space of one year, because of his eagerness to learn, he was very successful in learning to speak the English language, and from then till his 2017 High school graduation, he has maintained an A average in school. He spoke about how as an immigrant you are stereotyped and looked upon in a negative way, and that there are various names used to define you. For example; thief, rapist, drug lord etc., which is not the case. He stated, “All immigrants want to do is to come to this country, go to school, work just like anyone else, be a law-abiding citizen, love thy neighbor and have a piece of the American dream by working hard and owning a home.” He spoke about the freedom to get financial aid and go to college, but because of immigration laws that prevent the undocumented immigrants from that freedom, it makes life even harder. He spoke about his plight as an immigrant seeking justice and advocacy for rights of all immigrants. As he cried through his journey we could visualize his experiences, feel his pain and see his determination. He spoke about the golden opportunity we are given as non-immigrants and inspired us to take every opportunity of it.

After going on a journey with some of our presenters we broke out into several workshops. There was something for everyone. The one I attended was the one for parents on Parent Child Relationship facilitated by Dr. Ann C. Eckardt Erlander, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Molloy College. She had a special way about her! She made sure we all got to speak and listen to each other. She shared her area of expertise and gave examples to help us with solutions. We felt so comfortable that everyone wanted to engage in the discussions. We spoke about several things, but mostly about the impact of technology on the family, especially cell phones and how they suck the life out of family time. For example, you sit around the dinner table as a family and most of the family members instead of having meaningful conversation, they’re busy with their head down on their cell phone.

We also spoke about the impact of video games on our young people, and the fact that your child can stay at home and still learn to be extremely violent through these games because when they enter these virtuoso worlds they become thugs, thieves, killers and computerize beings that become addicted to the game. We spoke about setting standards in our homes and being role models for our children.

Dr. Ann Eckardt Erlander: Facilitator

Can you imagine the impact on a child when they see daddy reading a book? We spoke about getting our children out from behind the walls by taking them on trips as a family to the museum or a ride on the train by developing more time for teachable moments.

Parenting Workshop

When it was time to break for lunch some of us were too excited to eat and felt filled with empowerment. However, lunch was from Panera Bread; Baked Ziti, Lemon Chicken and sesame rolls from Gino’s of Rockville Centre; Fried Rice from Island Buffet and Hibachi Grill. Who could refuse that? yummy!! As we ate there was more time to network. During lunch, my daughter shared with me one of her favorite presenters who happens to be the young doctor to be, Mr. Caleb Garard, who is always very inspirational and spoke about medical school: the journey Part 2.

Mr. Caleb Garard Presenter

He attends Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. She also shared with me her notes that she collected from his presentation, and said when she goes home she will compare them to her notes from last year.

She spoke about her Get Set Mind Set workshop, that was led by Mrs. Madona Cole-Lacy and how Mrs. Lacy got them to open up and talk freely about preparing to deal with the obstacles that can affect life at school next year.

One of the young ladies that I had invited to the workshop, who graduated from high school two years ago and had no intentions of going to college, also came over to me during the lunch break and shared with me how empowered she felt, and that now she felt driven to go to college and be more productive.

Get Set Mind-Set Workshop

Ms. Ajana Wilkinson-Financial Aid Presenter

After lunch, we had the youth panel discussion and some more presenters. The presentation on Financial Aid by Ms. Ajana Wilkinson, MBA, Assistant Director of Financial Aid at Kings Borough Community College was well done and extremely informative.

Mr. Marcus Desir, another articulate young man spoke to us about his journey to becoming an engineer and reminded us of the importance of net-working. Ms. Marie Saint-Cyr shared with us her art work and spoke about transitioning through College. The 21st Century Youth panel discussion was engaging.

All the panelists were exciting, articulate, enthusiastic and knowledgeable for their age. I am so proud that they are our future! Panelist were: Ashley Burbano, Briana Gobourne, Michael Desir, Willie-Joe Hatcher and Malaika Foster.

The day came to an end at 6:00 PM, and trust me when I tell you people were not in a hurry to leave. We had more time to network, took pictures, offered up thanks and thanked Mr. and Mrs. Lacy for their vision, insight and an excellent day of empowerment. When I got home in the late evening My son and his friends who attended spoke for hours on ‘how productive this day has been’.

As a parent, I would like to take this time to thank Mr. and Mrs. Lacy. Thank you for taking the time to care about our young people. Thanks for giving them a platform to express themselves and their creativity. Thanks for challenging us as parents to continue what we are doing so we can be our best for our children. Thanks for not leaving our young people alone after a scholarship but for staying in their lives and always inquiring, encouraging and making sure that they stay on the right path. Thanks for teaching them the power of giving back, and that when they are empowered, the importance of them empowering others. Thanks for taking the time to embrace the different forms of art and showcasing that in our multi-talented and gifted young people.” – Sandra Morris-Aarons –

Michael Desir’s Account

“The workshop with Dr. Gebbia was a wonderfully enlightening one; her advice to young people was more than just for those entering college from high school, but applied to anyone going into a new educational or workplace opportunity, teaching us to ‘build our houses’ first and recognize the various resources around us –not only from our college or university’s guidance department, but from personal mentors, prospective professors or department heads & community organizations which help us make it through the transition periods of our lives.” -Michael Desir-

College and Workplace Strategies

Dr. Melissa Gebbia Facilitator

From left to right: Mr. James A. Lacy, Program Director; Mrs. Madona Cole-Lacy, Founder/CEO; Dr. Jeanine Garard, Member, Board of Directors; Ms. Geraldine Gooding, Peer Council Director

We extend a sincere Thank You to Mrs. Sandra Aarons and Mr. Michael Desir for their contributions and to participants who submitted post-event testimonials and letters which will soon be posted on our website’s Testimonial page.

In addition to Ashley Burbano, Briana Gobourne, and Malaika Foster, we would like to acknowledge two other 2017 Creative Empowerment Arts Contest winners, Urooba Abid, the creative expressionist of “Slaves to the System”, and Pierrelande Saint Cyr, author of “I am who I Am”- who were out of town on the day of the workshop. You can read more about our winners and their work here .

Empowered Enough to Tell! Sharing the opinions and account of this year's workshop attendees. Just when I was contemplating the need to adjust my multi-tasking oriented schedule to include writing a blog post that would capture the spirit of our most recent Self-Empowering Workshop for College Bound Students and Their Parents, I received an email from one of the parents that our non-profit has served over the years which should help the process along...with her permission, of course!

#21st Century youth #college preparation #college students #College-Bound #Community #elementary school #high school #junior high school #nonprofit #parents #personal development #personal growth #relationship with children #relationship with parents #Scholarship #Self Empowering Workshop #Volunteers #Your Time For Creative Empowerment #youth empowerment

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ds4design · 7 years

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5 New Productivity Techniques You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

The pursuit of greater productivity is an unending treadmill. No matter how productive we are today, there’s always room to improve, always another system or method out there that can crank us up another notch. The goal, of course, is to waste less time and get things done.

A practical technique that complements your personality and workflow style really can boost your productivity. On the other hand, the search for such a technique can warp into a “grass is greener” mentality that wastes more time than it saves 10 Time-Wasting Habits You Should Quit Today 10 Time-Wasting Habits You Should Quit Today A minute here or there doesn't feel like much, but it all adds up! Could it be that you're wasting time on meaningless habits? We'll show you daily tasks you can quit. Read More . Don’t fall into that trap.

At the end of the day, you have to be content with finding a technique that’s “good enough” The Best Productivity Tool Is The One You Actually Use The Best Productivity Tool Is The One You Actually Use In a world chasing productivity, each new and shiny productivity app promises something new. But do we lose something when we change our productivity apps too often? Read More — if it works, accept that it works and stop looking for something better. But if you haven’t found one yet, then here are a few that you may not know about. Hopefully you won’t have to look any further.

Image Credit: kanchana_koyjai via Shutterstock

1. The Flowtime Technique

I’m a huge fan of the Pomodoro technique and highly recommend trying it. We’ve already covered how it works and why it’s so effective. But even though it works for a lot of people, it doesn’t work for everyone. If you’ve been burned by the Pomodoro technique, then the Flowtime technique may be what you need instead.

What’s wrong with Pomodoro? For some, the constant threat of a timer can prove distracting and the perpetual interruptions can be disruptive, especially when you’re “in the zone.”

The Flowtime Process

Flowtime tries to provide the same benefits as Pomodoro (i.e. time tracking, unitasking, and regular breaks) without the accompanying stress or disruption. This is how you do it:

Pick a task.

Start working, but first record your start time.

Stop when you need a break, and record your stop time. If you want, you can note whether you were interrupted or not.

Set a timer and take a break.

Repeat.

Instead of strictly alternating between, say, 20 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest, the Flowtime technique allows you to work for as long as your brain wants. In the morning, you might be able to pull off 90 minutes of work before your first rest, whereas in the afternoon you might need to switch between 10 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest.

This is also a great way to discover what time of day you’re most productive Discover Your Most Productive Hours with This Simple Method Discover Your Most Productive Hours with This Simple Method Build your perfect workday around your energy levels. This simple Excel spreadsheet and a few seconds of work each day could help you change your habits and get more done. Read More , which is good to know so you can schedule your days in such a way that maximizes your efficiency.

2. The Autofocus Method

Most productivity tips and systems suffer a glaring flaw: they focus too much on getting organized not enough on getting things done. Don’t get me wrong, I think organization is an important part of productivity, but would you rather spend an hour completing your tasks or managing your to-do list?

This is where the Autofocus method shines. It’s designed against the pop-science productivity advice we hear every day — you know, those tips that sound good but are actually detrimental to your workflow and progress. It does away with rigidity and overhead. It promotes real progress.

The Autofocus Lists

Start by creating three separate lists:

New

Recurring

Unfinished

Begin by filling out the New list with all of the tasks you need to complete, then draw a line under the last task. All tasks above this line are “old tasks.” Any time you need to add another task, do it under the line — these are “new tasks.”

Entering Autofocus Mode

Now, go down the list of old tasks one by one. If you can work on the current task now, start working.

Once you finish it, cross it off.

In case it’s a recurring task, write it on the Recurring list.

Should you not finish it, write it on the Unfinished list.

If you get to the end of the old tasks, ignore the new tasks and go back to the top and repeat. Once you reach the point where you can’t complete any of the old tasks right now, you can start on the new tasks. When you can’t complete any of the new tasks, move to the Recurring list in the same way, then the Unfinished list.

It becomes even easier if you use a list-based task manager like Trello A Guide to Trello for Life and Project Management A Guide to Trello for Life and Project Management Trello can help you get organized. It's a free tool to manage any kind of project. Read this guide to understand its basic structure, the navigation, and how Trello can be useful to you. Read More .

The key to the Autofocus method is that you only focus on one task at a time Single- vs. Multitasking: What's Best for Productivity? Single- vs. Multitasking: What's Best for Productivity? Multitasking is a common method to increase productivity. Turns out it's not necessarily the silver bullet for productivity. The key is to know when to multitask. Read More — the system simply makes it easy to know which task is next, hence the name “autofocus.” There is absolutely no prioritization of tasks in this system. You just cycle through and complete tasks.

Image Credit: Rawpixel.com via Shutterstock

3. The Stoplight Method

The Stoplight method has a similar feel to the Autofocus method above, but its greatest benefit is its more simplified process. Whereas the complexity of the Autofocus method makes it useful for big projects with lots of tasks, the Stoplight method is better when you only have a few tasks every day.

The Stoplight Process

All you need are three lists:

Red list for tasks that require immediate attention.

Yellow list for tasks that you need to complete within two days.

Green list for all other less-urgent or macro-oriented tasks.

Only focus on the red list. When the red list is empty, move onto the yellow list. When that’s empty, move onto green. At the start of every day, shift tasks from green to yellow or yellow to red as necessary. This is obviously a lot easier if you use digital lists.

I first found this system on Reddit and haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere else. It’s not an entirely unique or innovative system, mind you, but it can be extremely helpful — especially if you tie it in with a note-taking app that can handle color-coded lists, such as Google Keep (which is awesome for many other reasons too 7 Tips for Taking Better Notes in Google Keep for Android 7 Tips for Taking Better Notes in Google Keep for Android If you use Google Keep for Android, these tips will make your experience a much better one. Read More ).

4. The 10-Minute Rule

If there’s one “rule” that has contributed most to my own productivity, it would have to be the 10-Minute Rule. To be clear, there are actually two different 10-Minute Rules floating around on the internet — I only use one of them, but I’ll cover both of them here for your convenience.

10 Minutes vs. Procrastination

The first variation is for when you’re procrastinating on a task How To Stop Procrastinating: The Only New Year Resolution You Should Set How To Stop Procrastinating: The Only New Year Resolution You Should Set Kick the habit of procrastination and start taking action without waiting for the right time. Stopping procrastination is the only new year resolution you need. Here's why. Read More : you only need to commit 10 minutes of effort to the task, then you can stop if you want. I actually adapted this from my novel-writing days when I used to tell myself that I only had to commit to writing 100 words. If I wanted to stop after that, I could stop without feeling any guilt.

This rule works because 10 minutes is usually enough time for you to get “into the zone.” If you can make it through the initial 10 minutes, chances are you’ll realize the task isn’t as bad as you thought and you’ll be happy to keep going.

10 Minute Tasks

The other variation is for when you have too many tasks and feel overwhelmed: every task on your to-do list should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. If a task doesn’t adhere to this rule, you need to break it down into smaller tasks that do fit the rule.

This rule works because it puts you in the right mindset for proper goal setting. If you know that a task won’t take longer than 10 minutes, you won’t feel overwhelmed by it — it becomes easier to muster up the energy to sit down and tackle it. Psychologically, it’s much easier to tackle six 10-minute tasks than one 60-minute task.

Image Credit: A. and I. Kruk via Shutterstock

5. The Productivity Journal

This last technique is a bit unusual compared to the ones above. Instead of using a carrot or stick to drive you towards greater productivity, it aims to get you thinking about productivity in a different way. It doesn’t demand more of you. Rather, it’s designed to make productivity more enjoyable. I’m talking about maintaining a Productivity Journal.

The Journaling Process

At the end of every day, take five minutes to record all of the things you accomplished. On a good day, maybe you completed 15 tasks. On a bad day, maybe you only finished one or none. All that matters is that you record honestly.

The benefits are two-fold. First, it takes away the stress of deadlines and the guilt of an unchanged to-do list. Second, it provides a history of your productivity. When you feel lost or unmotivated, you can look back and see that productive days are possible for you, which can even boost confidence.

This method is perfect if you’ve tried all kinds of productivity apps, tips, methods, strategies, and found that none of them have been helpful How to Be Productive When Productivity Apps Don't Work for You How to Be Productive When Productivity Apps Don't Work for You You should noticed that the past few years have been about an obsession with productivity. But what if productivity apps don't do it for you? Then what do you do? Read More . Some people just aren’t wired for to-do lists and deadlines. If you feel that way, then a productivity journal could be the perfect alternative.

How Do You Stay Productive?

A productivity system can only do so much. Like a personal trainer, it can help you stay motivated and it can set you up for success, but it can never do the actual work for you. And even after finding a system that works, your productivity could be harmed by other factors.

For example, a bad workstation setup 7 Hacks to Make Your Work Desk More Efficient for Maximum Productivity 7 Hacks to Make Your Work Desk More Efficient for Maximum Productivity Do you feel sore or fatigue? Do your eyes ache or is your neck killing you? An optimized work desk might cure your ailments and boost your productivity. Read More and poor workplace habits 9 Bad Habits That Are Making You Tired at the Office 9 Bad Habits That Are Making You Tired at the Office Do you often feel tired at the office? The problem could be in the few bad habits that you've picked up. Remove exhaustion from your office life with these health building tips. Read More can ruin your energy levels. You really need to use your computer the right way Use Your Computer the Right Way to Increase Productivity Use Your Computer the Right Way to Increase Productivity Given the time we spend with our computers, you'd think we'd all master them like craftspeople masters their tools. The problem is, we rarely commit to learning. Let's change that! Read More to maximize the length and intensity of your productivity, and you can take it one step further by adding multiple monitors to your setup How to Be More Productive with Dual Monitors How to Be More Productive with Dual Monitors You need space for several documents, to get an overview and swiftly shift between tasks. What's true for your desk also applies to your virtual workspace. We show you how it matters. Read More .

Sleep is also a factor you can’t ignore. You don’t necessarily have to sleep early — not everyone is a morning person How to Stay Productive If You Aren't a Morning Person How to Stay Productive If You Aren't a Morning Person Have you realized waking up early sucks and you aren’t doing it anymore? Relax, you are not alone. You don’t need to be an early riser to be successful. Read More — but you do need to sleep well. Use one of these sleep tracking apps 10 Android Apps for Tracking and Improving Your Sleep 10 Android Apps for Tracking and Improving Your Sleep These apps will surely help you get a better night's sleep. Read More to see how much “good sleep” you’re getting and, if lacking, what you can do about it.

How do you feel about your own productivity levels? What tips or tricks have you used to solve procrastination and distractions? Share with us in a comment down below!

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