TALENTEDLY THE SCIENCE + ART + INSPIRATION FOR LIVING THE ULTIMATE WORK/LIFE
MEDITATION AND THE CEO All the bigwigs do it. Do you?
Sleep + You Why a good night's sleep may be all that stands between you and greatness. FEBRUARY 2016
PLUS Inspirational messages about love, the soul and the ultimate dream.
Editor's Note
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Stop being 'that' person, please
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We all do it, ignore the signs of fatigue and frustration. We are conditioned at a young age to ‘power through’ and earn badges of honor that include pulling all-nighters or working 18 hour days. We get conflicting messages – sleep more, work less says the media - all that work is killing you. Tell that to the person you work for who wanted 'it' done yesterday and you’re still catching up on work that needed to be done last week. At Talentedly I made a vow when we started: practice what we preach. We shut down for the holidays and it is rare that you’ll get an email from a colleague at 8 pm asking for something to get done or for a status update. I won’t lie to you, I was ‘that’ person in spades and it took a long time to break those bad work habits. Looking back, I would like to say sorry to everyone that got ‘that’ email that interrupted their work/life. My bad.
Mind on page 4 explores the benefits of meditation for calming your work/mind. Body on page 6 lays show you must-dos of getting a good night's sleep. Soul profiles Sara O'Grady and how she's pursuing her life's work.
Lydia LYDIA LOIZIDES Editor-in-Chief
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Our Team Editor in Chief Lydia Loizides Staff Writer Shannon Pesek Fashion Editor Chandra Keyser Contributor Jennifer Ouyang Researcher Clory Jackson
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TALENTEDLY The science, art and inspiration for living the ultimate work/life.
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MIND
Beyond the 'OM'
How CEOs and corporations are using meditation to benefit the bottom line By Shannon Pesek
Twitter when he tweeted out his intentions to begin transcendental meditation.
MURDOCH IS IN GOOD COMPANY Oprah Winfrey, a big believer in transcendental meditation, sits in silence for 20 minutes, twice a day, and encourages her employees at Harpo Productions Inc. to do the same. In 2013, Winfrey brought in transcendental meditation coaches for those wishing to learn more about the practice. While Robert Stiller, CEO Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, had a meditation room installed in the Vermont headquarters of the coffee emporium. The benefits of meditation expand beyond the boardroom. The 2014 Superbowl champs, the Seattle Seahawks, took time before their huge, underdog win to meditate as a group. Coach Pete Carroll has encouraged meditation during his tenure, beginning in 2011, hiring a sports psychologist to work with his players alongside their athletic trainers. Since 2005, Sara Lazar, a Harvard neuroscientist and leading researcher in the field, has shown the long-term effects of meditation on the mind and body. Her research was one of the first to associate long-term meditation practice with cortical thickening in the areas of attention, sensory processing and awareness. In 2011, Lazar published findings on the immediate effects of meditation on the brain. She found that those who learned meditation for the first time had increased "learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing and perspective taking."
THE DEFINITION Though the origins of meditation can be traced back to the 5th or 6th centuries (BC), scientists have just recently gathered data on the positive effects the practice may have on our health. According to a National Institute of Health 2012 study, around 8 percent of the US population, approximately 18 million people, have meditated. The NIT also explains how there are several different kinds of meditation:
mantra, mindfulness and spiritual meditation. Practices involving meditation, such as yoga and tai chi, are categorized separately. Within the past few years, the mindfulness trend penetrated the walls of the biggest names in business, with the most successful people in the world turning to meditation to improve their way of life, and in turn, their profits.
Such changes in brain structure have a major impact on your mental activity. "You're less likely to make a rash decision," Lazar told Tech Insider, "You're less stressed...I think that's important regardless of what you do, it plays into quality of life." For meditation newbies, Lazar suggests picking one object and focusing on breathing sensations. When you start to feel your mind wander, bring it back to breathing.
In 2013, Newscorp CEO Rupert Murdoch caused a commotion on TALENTEDLY MAGAZINE | 4
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2016 WE MEDITATE
After installing daily meditation into their work day, Aetna saw quantifiable evidence of their employee’s improvement. According to a profile in The New York Times, by David Gelles, Aetna saved on average $2,000 per employee in healthcare costs and realized $3,000 in increased employee productivity. This experiment by the insurance company, implemented over several years, has seen participation from a quarter of the company’s 50,000 employees. You can easily integrate meditation into your business practices, whether you are a work-from-home entrepreneur, starting your first job or managing a large team of employees.
Launch a meditation program in your office. An option for anyone with an interest in mindfulness, starting a program is an excellent way to develop a leadership role in your company. Golbie Kamarei of BlackRock Meditation Group suggests starting with a clear why and how plan: sending out a survey to gauge interest and speak with a superior about available resources. For long term success, Kamarei stresses the need to have senior-level leadership support the effort, so start with research and data from an organization who successfully adapted meditation into their daily practices. Start with a process called “micromeditation.” The most common excuse for not meditating is a lack-of time. Harvard Business Review suggests taking one-to-three minute meditation breaks throughout the day scheduled at certain times, or just when you feel stressed. For the biggest skeptics, HBR encourages an “ad hoc” approach: use those minute long breaks right before a big meeting or presentation. Find a technique that will work for you. Lordo Rinzler, author of “The Buddha Walks Into a Bar,” suggests finding a specific technique to help you feel comfortable with the practice of meditation. Rinzler finds present day success with the “ding method”: each hour a reminder on his phone sounds, he corrects his posture, focuses his breathing and meditates for just one minute. When he was young, and couldn’t sit still for meditation, he used the “red dot method” where he placed small, inconspicuous red dots throughout his office and home. Every time he passed one, he would focus on the dot and his breathing for just one minute and move on. Anything new takes time and practice so it is important to stick with it. All together now say, "Om."
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BODY
Work Hard. Sleep Harder. Why a better night’s sleep may be the best way to love your work and yourself in 2016
By Shannon Pesek
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Bagging Zs According to a 2012 Harvard Medical study, sleep deprivation can be attributed to national tragedies like the Challenger explosion and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. And did you know that exhausted workers deplete an estimated $63 billion annually from the US economy? Yet, the biggest consequence lies in the enormous health impact that sleep deprivation has on everyday Americans. This same study, conducted by Ronald Kessler, PhD, explained a phenomenon called “presenteeism,” where one arrives at work but is too tired to adequately perform their duties. Though we have been studying sleep and sleep disorders since as early as 1810, an Economic Policy Institute report explains how a shift in values in the 1980s may have contributed to our current culture of working more and sleeping less. This report notes that during that decade, Americans added approximately 140 hours to their annual work/commute time and decreased their paid time off by 15 percent. Big names in business, lead by the Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington, are trying to reverse this mentality, instead stressing sleep as a secret to success. After Huffington collapsed from exhaustion in 2007, she decided she needed to start taking better care of herself, her employees and the entire American workforce. Since then, she’s written two books focusing on sleep, Thrive, 2014, and The Sleep Revolution, 2016, installed nap rooms in the offices at HuffPost, and launched a salubrious online course on Oprah.com. Workers are no longer being congratulated for working “24/7,” as Huffington told Parade Magazine this year, “that’s the mental equivalent of congratulating someone for coming to work drunk.”
For athletes, who need to monitor their performance even after they leave “the office,” it’s easy to ignore the importance of sleep. Sleep is the time for our daily recovery, when our body repairs the physical and emotional damages we inflict on it during the day. Athletes put massive physical stress on their bodies and sleep specialist W. Christopher Winter says there is no room for the old-school sleep martyr mentality. “If you don’t get your nutrition and sleep together, you’ll be a guy who comes and goes and no one remembers you,” Winter told Furthermore from Equinox. Follow these four simple steps that will put you on the path to a better night's sleep and increased daytime performance: Stick to a consistent sleep schedule - even on the weekends According to an experiment by the University of Pennsylvania, the effects of consistently getting too little sleep (think six hours or less per night) are equal to staying up for 48 hours straight. Making up for sleep on the weekends, by sleeping between 8-10 hours for one or two days, does not compensate for five days of limited sleep. Go to bed at the same time every night to allow for the optimal 7.7 hours of sleep an average adult needs to function the next day. If it becomes a habit, it’ll be easier to fall asleep during your wind-down time. Have a set nighttime ritual This can be as complex or simple as your schedule allows. By doing the same routine at the same time, every night (see number one), you will prep your brain to go to bed. The Sleep Foundation recommends incorporating a relaxing activity, such as reading, journaling, meditating or listening to music. Since research has proven 50 percent of insomnia is related to stress and emotional imbalances,
finding a technique to limit your stress before bed can improve your sleep. For Arianna Huffington, this includes a hot bath and a good book before bed. Manage your circadian rhythms You’ve heard it before, but staring at bright blue electronic screens (checking social media, answering emails, watching Netflix etc.) before bed may be the worst thing for your sleep schedule. Staring into a bright light for thirty minutes, or an episode of Parks and Recreation, at any time of the day but especially after 9 p.m. when your natural melatonin is produced, can offset your circadian rhythms. The Sleep Foundation recommends complete darkness right before and during sleep, and then waking to bright, natural light. We recommend charging your phones in the kitchen where you won't be tempted to check email one last time. There are products like FitBit that claim they can help you manage your circadian rhythms. Other products like Jawbone Up and SleepBot monitor how long it takes you to fall asleep and how many times you wake up in the middle of the night. By paying attention to these vitals and tracking your sleep patterns using technology, you could see a vast improvement in your overall sleep health. Exercise daily Even a light amount of activity, such as yoga or a short walk will dramatically improve your ability to fall sleep. According to a Sleep Foundation poll, 67 percent of exercisers (those who participated in light and vigorous activity), reported having a very good night’s sleep, compared to 39 percent of non-exercisers who reported having a very good sleep. Those who participated in vigorous exercise stated they rarely or never experience insomnia characteristics. The poet, William Blake, got it right over 250 years ago when he wrote, "Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night."
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WATCHING
“There are no simple answers,” says Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, the 16th, and first woman, President of the historic Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She appeared on Charlie Rose and talked about the state of our nation, the rhetoric of fear that is gripping our political landscape and how we need to remember there is no 'us' and 'them'. She concludes with a simple message, “Our job is to go and love each other. That’s it.” The most profound sixteen minutes you’ll spend this month. Her interview begins at 36:17
LISTENING
Side Stretch February is Black History month and in honor of one of the most influential orators in history, we've been listing to Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It's easy to forget that over a quarter of a million people showed up on the same day and time, without Twitter to guide them, to listen and imagine a different future.
Photo by Robert Adamo via The New York Times
WHAT WE'RE READING “Shop Class as Soulcraft brings alive an experience that was once quite common but now seems to be receding from society ― the experience of making and fixing things with our hands. Those of us who sit in an office often feel a lack of connection to the material world, a sense of loss, and find it difficult to say exactly what we do all day. For those who felt hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, Shop Class as Soulcraft seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a life worth choosing. On both economic and psychological grounds, Matthew Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a “knowledge worker,” based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing, the work of the hand from that of the mind. Crawford shows us how such a partition, which began a century ago with the assembly line, degrades work for those on both sides of the divide. But Crawford offers good news as well: The manual trades are very different from the assembly line and from dumbed-down white collar work as well. They require careful thinking and are punctuated by moments of genuine pleasure. Based on his own experience as an electrician and mechanic, Crawford makes a case for the intrinsic satisfactions and cognitive challenges of manual work. The work of builders and mechanics is secure; it cannot be outsourced, and it cannot be made obsolete. Such work ties us to the local communities in which we live and instills the pride that comes from doing work that is genuinely useful. A wholly original debut, Shop Class as Soulcraft offers a passionate call for self-reliance and a moving reflection on how we can live concretely in an ever more abstract world.” -- Amazon Review TALENTEDLY MAGAZINE | 8
SOUL
Feed Your Soul To Fuel Your Work. Meet Sara O'Grady By Jennifer Ouyang
Or reading magazines, I’d be dreaming up different headlines. I’m always dreaming up lines in my head; the words I’d use to make something sound more interesting than it is. That, and I LOVE a game of Scrabble! I figured, if I could turn that love into a career, I’d be set! TLY: Sometimes copy writing can be interpreted as only the writing of copy, but it sounds like your work is multifaceted around brand, PR, marketing, events, and more. What’s your role as a consultant and what aspect of your job do you like the most? SO: My career progression has not been typical. I started as a junior copywriter for an ad agency, and transitioned into a copywriter-slash-trend researcher-slashclothing stylist for L’Oreal. I know. Unusual, to say the least. But I had a bohemian spirit and so I just let the creative opportunities I was presented with chart my course. This approach has allowed me to work in different creative capacities for brands like Ethan Allen, Target, Cigna, Sony Playstation, Carolina Ballet and UNC, among others. Different verticals, different roles, but one thing remained constant: I brought a unique flavor of creative thinking to each brand I worked with, and a comprehensive understanding of how all sides of the table operate in business, and I think that’s why I continued to land great opportunities. Now, I’m in charge of creative, social and content for Lenovo and I’m having a lot of fun in my new, full time role! At this stage of my career, I’m truly the sum of all of my parts. TLY: You got your BA in journalism — were you ever interested in becoming an author?
As a kid, when you’re watching television commercials and your instinct is to start rewriting the messaging instead of singing along, you know there’s a future in editorial. That’s exactly what happened to Sarah O’Grady. Since then, her unusual career path has been driven by her bohemian spirit to follow the opportunities that present themselves. In the process, she has gained experience across different verticals and roles, but one thing has remained constant —
the creativity she brings to the brands she works with. Since, even the most mundane things can be made interesting with the right creative mind behind them. Talentedly: What inspired your passion for copy writing? Sarah O’Grady: I’ve always been drawn to words. When I was young, I remember watching commercials and thinking about how I would have written the payoff differently.
SO: Absolutely – I’m still interested! I’ve probably started 25 books over the course of my life. I never finished any of them, however. I think that’s the hardest part. But I’d love to write (and finish!) a children’s book at some point. I have a few ideas up my sleeve… TLY: Was there an event or person that helped shape your career? Continued on next page TALENTEDLY MAGAZINE | 9
SO: There have been a few, but the one that stands out most for me was my first boss at the NYC ad agency where I worked right out of college – a brilliant creative man named Gustavo Asensi – he was a huge source of inspiration for me. He encouraged me to do more than my job description dictated; a job description he wrote, no less. He encouraged me to color outside of the lines, always, and to challenge the norm. He helped me realize that even mundane things can be interesting with the right creative behind it. And that has remained with me always. It’s easy to make booze or candy sound fun. The challenge is often in working with brands or businesses that don’t have that built in intrigue.
TLY: How has your industry most significantly changed over the last 10 years?
TLY: What skill has helped you most in your career?
SO: Have a hook – whether it’s that you know how to really push the envelope in the B2B space, or you have the secret to getting people to read beyond a headline (because honestly, people don’t read anymore… I know that’s not a promising fact coming from someone who writes for a living, but it’s the truth!) Be more than just a good copywriter or content marketer or social media person. Be enthusiastic about the world, about uncovering things to help not just inspire you but those around you. Because again, you’re the sum of all of your parts, and that includes the team of people you work with. You never know where your next idea will come from; so nurture and feed your soul, which will in turn fuel your work.
SO: Learning to not take things personally. Creative work can be so passionate – you really feel a connection and a strong sense of ownership to creative ideas. But it’s also subjective, and I think it took me a while to really understand how to reconcile that and not consider it a personal dig at my talent when someone didn’t like my ideas. TLY: What do you think is the most underrated skill in the workplace? SO: The art of killing with kindness. And it is an art! TLY: What social media mistake do you see the most that makes you cringe? SO: It makes me crazy when big brands put kids at the helm of their social media accounts. Social media is a legitimate business. It’s not just the free cocktail party everyone touted years ago. There are metrics and KPIs, and an incredible amount of money involved in the business of social and engagement marketing. But some brands put inexperienced drivers behind the wheel of their luxury “social” cars and then wonder how they end up on “Social Gone Wrong” lists. The people running your social accounts need to be strategic; they need to have the right mix of marketing and street savvy that comes with a few years of experience.
SO: Everything these days is about numbers – about showing results – when for a long time, it was about being experimental and just seeing what worked. Social accountability – being able to analyze dashboards of data and make sure you’re spending your budgets wisely, achieving your KPIs strategically, is a heavy (but necessary) part of the social job for someone who’s creativenot data minded.
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TLY: Advice for anyone wanting to go into the copywriting or branding industry?
TLY: Quote or mantra to live by? SO: “Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think is still the secret of great creative people.” – Leo Burnett
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