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Monthly Archives

March 2020

Common Sense Media Book Reviews by Age – Stories have the power to Calm.

By Engaging Children, Uncategorized No Comments

Book Reviews by Age, by Common Sense Media

Stories have the power to calm us, to entertain us and to take us on journeys for hours at a time. Reading may just be the key to getting some time to focus on your work while you are home with kids. Common Sense Media is a wealth of information about all things kids media, including age appropriate reading. This must-have resource link provides an interactive age selector and book titles with reviews for the age you have selected.

When kids are little it seems like we read the same books over and over again for hours and then magically one day that changes. I’ll never forget the day our then 5 year old walked through the kitchen nose-to-book lost in a Magic Tree House story.

Think about scheduled independent reading time daily, so you can plan important calls or a project that requires more focus during that time. Reading time together before bed or curled up under a blanket on the sofa is still blissfully happy for kids and important. The independent reading time you schedule during the day is a Work-From-Home hack that is very rewarding for kids who are reading and huge help for you.

Book Reviews by Age, by Common Sense Media

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for more Work-From-Home resources to help you during Covid-19.

Helping Dual Career Couples Work Through COVID-19 (from Harvard Biz Review)

By New Normals for Business, Uncategorized No Comments

Full disclosure, I am in a dual career couple marriage and my business partner happens to also be my life partner and husband. We have been at this for 20+ years. We don’t typically lead with that fact because we want our clients to know our brand and culture, not our marital status. Our corporation is more than competent to bring solutions to Fortune 1000 companies who depend on us to manage their brand compliance. What does it matter that we fell into working as business partners and we happen to be married? It doesn’t.

It’s not easy. Most of my friends say they could never do it. Trust me, if you are a dual professional couple right now, managing work and family life under one roof, you can do this temporarily. The fact that you don’t own a business together, removes a ton of complexity. Reading this may even give you a sigh of relief that you do not actually have to “work with” your spouse! Harvard Business Review has published this article (FREE Content) which unpacks the current challenges and gives you some tips for taking action daily as a Dual Professional couple in the time of Covid-19. We sincerely hope this provides some relief from the normal tensions around balancing the priorities of two professions under one roof.

How Dual Career Couples Can Work Through the Corona Virus Crisis.

 

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

 

 

 

Simple Lunch Refueling Ideas from the Tasty Social Platform

By Let's Do Lunch - Refueling, Uncategorized No Comments

I have been working remotely on and off for many years. It so happens that I am in an office currently but have been working at home again during this health crisis. I have gone back to a few bad habits which included skipping lunch. This is a surprisingly common habit among remote workers. For that reason we are sharing simple lunch ideas to refuel for that afternoon Zoom Conference meeting. Our ideas are brought to you by the largest social media food platform on the planet – Buzzfeed’s Tasty Brand.

Beloved by digital natives and Millennials, Tasty provides fast and engaging video recipes that are typically delivered in about one minute with a written recipe posted beside the video. It’s entertaining as well as a pragmatic way to ensure you are refueling for the afternoon ahead.

 

TASTY Lunch Ideas – Refueling Simplicity

This link takes you to 200+ Tasty Lunch ideas filtered by “healthy”. Enjoy!

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

Music Playlists for your Work Day at Home

By Work Playlists for Focus No Comments

Music can calm us while we get through a stressful workday, focus us to help finish a project, propel us to work that extra hour or two when we are less motivated, and perhaps most important, it can filter out the “noise” of your new office where ever it may be. These are playlists along the theme of work focus and productivity from Spotify Music.

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

What Types of Music are Productivity Boosters?

By Work Playlists for Focus No Comments

 

One way to focus and filter out household sounds while you work at home is with music. But how does music influence you. Does it distract? Does it Focus? Does it make you happy/sad? Thrive Global unlocks the science behind music and its ability to boost productivity and focus. Seems like a no-brainer for anyone new to Work-From-Home, so we are featuring it here at BP Home Base. Check out our other post in this category for actual links to premade work playlists.

 

              Music Boosts Productivity – A short Summary of the Science

 

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

Top Five Free Meditation Apps Worthy of Your Attention

By Wellness No Comments

Top Five Free Meditation Apps Worthy of Your Attention

 

Full disclosure, my idea of a meditation is 10 minutes with the “Calm App” ($60/annual fee), in the morning before work and previously at lunch in my car (while parked). I try to be consistent. That’s about all I can do because I find it hard to sit still. However, after that 10 minutes, I feel like I’ve been on a mini-vacay. It’s miraculous. So I’m a fan of the mainstreaming of Meditation. And I love that there are so many top of the line FREE apps.  For me this small meditation works to set my intention for the day, to refocus if the 24 hour news cycle is getting to me or just to feel good, period. Apologies to the real meditating practitioners who read this. This content is for people who may be new to the benefits of a short meditation to ease their new workplace stress.

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

 

Top At Home Streaming Exercise Services – Health is Wealth

By Wellness No Comments

Top At Home Streaming Exercise Services

 

 

In all the work at home reading I’ve been doing, schedules, consistency and exercise are constant themes. Our county parks and beaches were closed as of today. People cannot seem to keep their physical distance while enjoying the great outdoors. Now our local trails are closed as well. What to do?

Streaming services provide a schedule for your workout and a trainer to take you through it on a daily basis. If you cannot work out with your exercise buddy, this is one way to create a commitment you must keep. The world feels a little lighter when I finish my exercise. I hope yours does too.

 

Top At Home Streaming Exercise Services

 

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

A Letter to all Parents from a respected Health Professional

By Engaging Children No Comments

A Letter to All Parents from Dr. Debra Jedeikin

 

 

This is an image of my then 8 year old enjoying a pajama day, under the watchful eye of his Dad. He was building a ball toss machine for impaired Grandparents to use when they want to play catch with their dogs. To me this is an image of a more carefree time when the idea of dangerous Pandemic was not on our radar screen. It’s a Saturday in the backyard working on a 3rd grade Science Project together. In her letter here, Dr. Debra Jedeikin tells us that we can capture some of these gentler more carefree moments while we adjust to being under one roof with our children and our pressing work priorities.

 

A Letter to All Parents from Dr. Debra Jedeikin

 

Dr. Jedeikin (Dr. Deb as many refer to her) is a highly respected professional in our region and someone I’ve known personally as a friend for 20 years. Her insightful support, pragmatic action-steps and empathetic straight talk is refreshingly simple and extremely hopeful for parents who are all at once trying to do their work and providing some childhood magic at home 24/7 right now. From one parent to another, I hope this helps us all think about how to help our kids. Warmly, Leslie Bridges, CXO

 

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

Guide for Parents Working At Home – Harvard Business Review

By Engaging Children, Uncategorized No Comments

work at home mom builder promotions

If you are professional parents working from home for the first time, you are in good hands with this guide from the Harvard Business Review Press. I have found their content to be clear, concise and digestible. They are well researched and understand they are talking to consumers of content who need and want knowledge that can be used. We have a Biology major at home involved in the experiment of online University. But we remember what it would be like if we had to take on home schooling in addition to our jobs. For those of you who have smaller children, this is a really good guide.

HBR Guide for Work-at-Home Parents – Published, March 2020

 

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.

 

A letter from Microsoft’s Female Director of China – A Perspective

By New Normals for Business, Uncategorized No Comments

Here’s a question I posed to my friend the other day:

Would you read a letter from China differently today than you would have 3 weeks ago? I would! That’s why I’m posting this very down to earth letter from the Director or Microsoft China after their outbreak. She talks candidly about what she learned from remote work and most-interestingly, what she learned from her customers. Her letter was published on March 2, 2020. I am grateful to Lily for sharing her perspective. We think it’s a golden nugget of insight that got lost in the plethora of LinkedIn feed articles. We are all in this together.

 

What the Female Director of Microsoft China Learned About Work and Covid-19

 

Visit Brand Central Home Base for other content to help you with the unique challenges of Working-From-Home during Covid-19.