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Improving your work life doesnt always require sweeping changes. Sometimes, the most effective strategies are the simplest ones, whether thats protecting time for personal care, restructuring your day for better focus, or carving out moments with family. These small adjustments can reduce stress, restore balance, and promote better productivity and focus. Here, Fast Company Executive Board members share the simple changes theyve made that have significantly improved the quality of their work lives and why these shifts are worth considering. 1. DESIGNATING ‘OFF-LIMITS’ HOURS I protect my time, headspace, and energy. I have designated hours every day that are “off limits,” dedicated to my workout, personal matters, and focus time. I do not allow myself to take any “urgent” calls or meetings, unless there’s an absolute emergency during those dedicated hours. I treat those daily hours just as vital as I treat my meeting hours. – Slma Shelbayah, Shelbayah Consulting 2. TURNING OFF PUSH NOTIFICATIONS I turn off notifications on all devices for email and Slack to avoid the temptation to check messages when they come in and instead batch-read and respond. Doing so helps avoid context switching, which is far more costly than we like to admit. Also, when on vacation, I actually remove the email and Slack icons from my phone’s home screen to add a slight extra hurdle to checking messages too frequently. – Kurt Donnell, Freestar 3. BLOCKING TIME FOR STRATEGIC IDEATION I block time on my calendar for strategic ideation, review of decisions made during the week, and reflection on whether I am making decisions and engaging in work consistent with my values. I also work the calendar rather than it working me. – Jay Bhatt, Deloitte 4. WALKING AND BRAINSTORMING IN THE MORNINGS In the mornings, when it’s not too hot or too cold, I go for a walk and I talk with Perplexity voice mode, organizing my day, brainstorming my challenges, thoughts, and more. This way, I get my steps in and don’t waste the precious morning alertness on useless things. – Al Sefati, Clarity Digital, LLC 5. HITTING A DAILY STEP GOAL Hitting 9,000 steps a day was a game-changer. Even with 14 hours behind a desk, walking eased my hip and back pain. One day, a man I always passed waved and thanked me. Hed started walking too. A small change not only improved my life, but also inspired someone elses. – Louis Camassa, Rithum 6. SUNDAY JOURNALING I struggle to turn off my “productivity” brain. One Sunday, I sat down and wrote. Not a to-do list, not an emailjust a journal entry. Messy, unfiltered, just for me. It felt like exhaling. Now, I make it a practice. Sunday journaling is my pause button, my moment to get all the stuff out of my head and onto paper so I can start the week with a little more clarityand a little less noise. – Irina Soriano, Seismic 7. PROTECTING DAILY FOCUS TIME One simple change I made was setting boundaries around focus time. I protect a few hours each day where Im fully present with my workno emails, no noise. It works because it restores clarity, reduces stress, and turns tasks into creative flow. Protecting your energy is the greatest upgrade to your work life. – Sudhir Gupta, FACTICERIE 8. DEDICATING WEEKENDS TO NATURE I have dedicated my weekends to being outdoors in nature, hiking, and totally disconnecting from work. This time away from work allows me to recharge, think clearly, and come to work on Monday not feeling burned out. Making this change was slight. As well as taking this time for myself, I am also more focused, energized, and satisfied with work. – Gianluca Ferruggia, DesignRush 9. SETTING ASIDE TIME FOR FAMILY One simple change Ive made is to block out several times during the day to spend with my toddler son. Those moments reenergize me, give me perspective, and actually make me more productive when I return to work. Its a reminder that recharging doesnt always mean stepping away completelyit can mean leaning into the things that bring you joy outside of business. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC 10. SAYING NO TO THE WRONG PROJECTS I decided to stop accepting new projects unless they were genuinely committed to safety excellence. Many organizations claim to prioritize safety or that it is a corporate value, but often, their actions tell a different story. By saying no to clients lacking a true commitment to safety, I preserve my focus and energy for work that genuinely resonates with me and aligns with my core values. – Shawn Galloway, ProAct Safety, Inc. 11. OPTIMIZING MY WORK ENVIRONMENT I have optimized my work environment for productivity. I run my company from a home office in a high-rise apartment. I chose this property purposefully because of the cityscape view. I have the latest MacBook Pro, use Ethernet, and have everything organized. I also have inspiring artwork in the property, as well as home plants, and an external monitor. My office is “epic,” so to speak. – Leon Sylvester, Soberclear 12. GOING TO THE GYM DAILY I go to th gym every single day. It’s like making my bed. I feel like I’ve accomplished something by just showing up. It doesn’t have to be intense. Maybe I’ll make a phone call while walking on the treadmill or maybe I’ll just ride the bike and scroll through my emails. Other times, I will push myself on the weight machines and grow my overall confidence, seeing my strength increase over time. – John William Patton, ProVention Health Foundation 13. LIMITING PRIORITIES TO TACKLE EACH WEEK Ive stopped trying to solve everything at once. Instead, I focus on three to four priorities each week that will truly move the business forward. While its not always easy to let go of smaller tasks, this approach has made me a stronger leader and colleagueand its also given me back valuable time. – Martin Pedersen, Stellar Agency 14. CHOOSING A WORK LOCATION BASED ON TASKS Here’s a simple change thats improved my work life. Ive started to work for my day. I head into the office for the moments that truly mattercollaboration, connection, big conversationsand I work from home when I need quiet focus to knock out thoughtful tasks without interruptions. Its been a game-changer for both productivity and balance. – Britton Bloch, Navy Federal Credit Union 15. CLEANING UP MY DIGITAL WORKSPACE The change I made was cleaning up my digital workspace. Every week, I clean folders and files, and even unsubscribe from unnecessary emails. Clutter in the digital world creates hidden stress. By simplifying my digital environment, I cut the friction, save time hunting for information, and reduce the overall mental overload. Its like decluttering an office, but the one I carry in my pocket. – Volen Vulkov, Enhancv
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E-Commerce
Every single day, the average working person plays many roles: sassy coworker, office comedian, and deadline stickler, to name a few. The labor doesnt stop when one gets home, with new job titles coming into play, such as mom, brother, pet parent, and more. On Halloween, you get to choose which character you want to inhabit instead of having society dictate your role. This frivolity requires forward thinking and planning. If you find yourself running out of time, popular culture and a few easy-to-obtain items can come to the rescue. Here are nine easy costume ideas that range from classic to timely. The Louvre museum robbers This one is perfect for last-minute Halloween planners, as the true-life events surrounding the costume happened a little over a week ago. On Sunday, October 19, four robbers dressed up as maintenance workers and stole the French Crown Jewels from the Apollo Gallery at the world famous Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The internet had a field day with this. The heist only took about seven minutes, security at the museum was severely lacking, and it occurred during regular business hours. To pull off this current event costume, all you need is a reflective maintenance vest, fake costume jewelry, and a tiara. You can wear these accessories on an all-black outfit base. Labubu These furry collectible toys really took off in 2024 despite being around for almost a decade. Artist Kasing Lung created the creepy-yet-cute characters in 2015 and introduced them in the book series The Monsters. Celebrity endorsements helped move the creatures into the culture zeitgeist, with K-pop star Lisa from BLACKPINK leading the way. The easiest way to dress up as this popular key-chain is starting with a onesie base. From there, you can get creative, with pre-made bunny ears and makeup. Between your local Spirit Halloween store and Amazon, you should be able to obtain everything you need. Jake from State Farm This is one of the easiest looks on this list. You may even have all the costume pieces in your closet already. State Farm Insurance first introduced a real-life employee in its commercials in 2011. His name was Jake Stone. In 2020, actor Kevin Miles began playing the character in an effort to modernize the advertising campaign. All you need to pull off this look is a red polo and khakis. Bonus points if you have a name tag that introduces your character as well. Glinda and Elphaba Wicked: For Good will be released in movie theaters in the United States on November 21, ending the longest intermission in musical theater history. To celebrate all things witchy, consider dressing up as one of the movies leading ladies. You can even keep it minimal by simply wearing a green or pink outfit. If you want to bust out the green makeup and body paint, though, more power to you. Joel Goodsen from ‘Risky Business’ This costume will take some guts to pull off and might get a bit chilly, but it’s an easy one. In the 1983 film Risky Business, Tom Cruise plays a straight-laced high school senior named Joel Goodsen who cuts loose when his over-protective parents leave town for a couple days. His first act of rebellion is dancing around the house in a pink Oxford shirt, white socks, and briefs to Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger. This scene is so iconic that most will recognize the dance moves if you commit by sliding around in your socks. Plus you dont even need pantsalthough that could make for an awkward Uber ride. Mark and Helly from ‘Severance’ This Apple TV-inspired couple costume is more office friendly than the pantless option. Severance is of course the hit science fiction series that puts a whole new spin on the term work-life balance. Employees of Lumon Industries have undergone a process that creates two personalities living in the same body: a work personality called an innie and a personal life persona called an outie. The two are not aware of each other. At the center of this story are the couple Mark, played by Adam Scott, and Helly, played by Britt Lower. To dress up as Marks innie, all you need is a blue suit and Lumon Industries ID badge. To go as Hellys innie, all you need is a pencil skirt, blue turtle neck sweater, and a Lumon Industries ID badge. Damian from ‘Mean Girls’ While this costume idea has been around since the hit 2004 movie Mean Girls came out, the classics endure for a reason. It is also so simple to pull off. Damian Leigh is the sassy gay best friend who feels more comfortable with the girls than the boys. This is one of the reasons he sneaks into the girls’ assembly with his masterful disguise of a blue hoodie and sunglasses. Make sure to tell people throughout the night that she doesnt even go here, for maximum costume effect. 6-7 If you have been around any group of young people lately, you have probably heard the term 6-7. These same youths will not be able to tell you exactly what that even is, but rest assured they are obsessed with it. A quick Google search will tell you it came from rapper Skrillas song Doot Doot, but then turned into a TikTok sensation and took on a life of its own. You can be a hit at the costume party with the young people and thoroughly confuse everyone else by wearing a t-shirt with the two numbers. You could even turn this into a couples costume and both wear just one number.
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E-Commerce
The market for obesity and diabetes treatments remains scorching hot, funneling billions in sales to Eli Lilly and fueling a bidding war over another drugmaker. Lilly said Thursday that its top-selling drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound, brought in more than $10 billion combined during the recently completed third quarter. That made up over half of the drugmakers $17.6 billion in total sales. Separately, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk announced plans to buy Metsera Inc. in a deal that could be worth up to $9 billion. That came more than a month after U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. made a nearly $5 billion bid for Metsera, which has no drugs on the market but is developing several potential oral and injectable treatments. Popular treatments labeled GLP-1 receptor agonists are fueling the soaring sales and deal interest. They work by mimicking hormones in the gut and the brain to regulate appetite and feelings of fullness. But they dont work for everyone and can produce side effects that include nausea and stomach pain. Supplies of the drugs have improved this year, and some insurance coverage is growing. That helps improve access to drugs that can cost around $500 a month without coverage. That can put them out of reach for many patients. The treatments are injectable drugs, but Novo and Lilly also are developing easier-to-take pill versions. U.S. sales of Lillys weight-loss treatment Zepbound nearly tripled to $3.57 billion in the third quarter. Meanwhile, revenue from the diabetes drug Mounjaro, which has been on the market longer, doubled to $6.52 billion thanks to growth outside the U.S. Combined, the drugs have brought in nearly $25 billion in sales so far this year for Indianapolis-based Lilly. That surpasses the entire companys revenue total from 2020. The drugs helped Eli Lilly and Co. record a $5.58 billion profit in the third quarter and deliver a better performance than Wall Street expected. Novo Nordisk said it will pay $56.50 in cash for each Metsera share and could pay an extra $21.25 if the company meets some drug development milestones. The drugmaker already has the obesity and diabetes treatments Wegovy and Ozempic on the market. That combined total of $77.75 more than doubles the closing price of Metsera shares on Sept. 19, the last trading day before Pfizer made its offer. Metsera said Thursday that its board has determined that the new, unsolicited offer from Novo was superior, and Pfizer has four business days to negotiate adjustments to its offer. Pfizer called Novos offer reckless and unprecedented and an attempt by a drugmaker with a dominant market position to suppress competition in violation of law by taking over an emerging American challenger. Pfizer Inc. is known for the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and the treatment Paxlovid, among other drugs. But the New York drugmaker decided to take another stab at obesity treatments months after ending development of its own drug. Tom Murphy, AP health writer AP Health Writer JoNel Aleccia contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
Two prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill want the Supreme Court to allow a lawsuit to proceed against tech giant Cisco over allegations that the companys technology was used to persecute members of the Falun Gong religious sect in China. In a Wednesday letter to the Trump administrations top Supreme Court litigator, D. John Sauer, Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey and John Moolenaar of Michigan urged the administration to side with the Falun Gong plaintiffs and press the court to allow the lawsuit to go to trial. Smith co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, while Moolenaar is the chairman of a special China committee set up in the House of Representatives and both are prominent critics of Beijing’s human rights record. The letter cited an AP investigation last month that showed American tech companies to a large degree designed and built Chinas surveillance state, saying it underscore(s) the need to deter American firms from supplying technology to facilitate the CCPs human rights abuses. The decision ultimately rests with the Supreme Court whether to hear the challenge brought by Cisco arguing that U.S. law does not permit such a suit. But as part of considering the case the court sought the views of the solicitor general, who represents the U.S. government’s position in oral arguments and proceedings. The Trump administration’s view on the case will also be of interest to the court because Cisco has argued that the case involves U.S. foreign relations and should be dismissed on those grounds. The solicitor general is expected to file a brief later this year or early next year. The allegation that an American tech company custom-designed a tool to facilitate the violent persecution of a religious minority by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a serious one, the two lawmakers wrote in a letter to Sauer. We believe the Plaintiffs deserve the chance to prove their claims. We have a longstanding commitment to uphold and respect human rights for all people and if the 2023 ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court stands, it opens the floodgates for suits against U.S. corporations merely for legal exports of off-the-shelf goods and services, said a spokesperson for Cisco. The case has a long and winding history dating back more than a decade. In 2008, documents leaked to the press showed Cisco saw the Golden Shield as a sales opportunity, quoting a Chinese official calling the Falun Gong an evil cult. A Cisco presentation reviewed by AP from the same year said its products could identify over 90% of Falun Gong material on the web. Other presentations reviewed by AP show that Cisco represented Falun Gong material as a threat and built out a national information system to track Falun Gong believers. In 2011, Falun Gong members sued Cisco, alleging the company tailored technology for Beijing that they knew would be used to track, detain and torture believers. The issue before the Supreme Court is whether an American company can be held liable under two separate laws for aiding and abetting human rights violations. Cisco argues it isnt liable under those laws, the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) or the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), but a federal appeals court rejected the company’s arguments in 2023, allowing the case to continue. Now Cisco is asking the Supreme Court to throw out that ruling and stop the lawsuit. In recent years, the Supreme Court and presidential administrations of both parties have been skeptical of lawsuits seeking to use U.S. courts as a venue to seek justice over the acts of foreign governments, especially those that took place abroad. In the case of Cisco, the Falun Gong members have argued that a substantial portion of Ciscos activities involving China took place in the United States. An AP investigation this week found that the U.S. government across five Republican and Democratic administrations repeatedly allowed and even actively helped American firms to sell technology to Chinese police and surveillance companies, even as activists warned such tools were being used to quash dissent, persecute religious sects and target minorities. Going into the long-heralded meeting Thursday between leaders Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the sale of U.S. technology to China has been among the thorniest issues the U.S. faces, with billions of dollars and the future of tech dominance at stake. Trump said after the meeting that China will speak with Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia about purchasing their computer chips. Debate over the sale of technology to China has grown heated, with some arguing for a harder stance. American companies have pushed back against restrictions, arguing it will push China to develop its own domestic supply and strengthen its position in the global race for leadership in artificial intelligence. But many national security experts say selling such technology could assist Chinas military and intelligence services. The plaintiffs lawyers make a similar case, citing Cisco marketing materials in China that promoted routers for use in tanks. If the Cisco suit is successful, it would signal that American companies can be held liable in some circumstances for abuse of their technologies overseas. Dake Kang and Byron Tau, Associated Press AP writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report from Washington.
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E-Commerce
Stablecoins might not send your digital wallet to the moon, but the less speculative side of cryptocurrency is definitely enjoying its moment in the sun. According to a new report from Fortune, credit card stalwart Mastercard wants to make a massive bet on infrastructure that links digital currencies to the normal financial world. Mastercard is in advanced talks to buy the stablecoin startup Zerohash for between $1.5 and $2 billion, Fortune reports. Zerohash, founded in 2017, provides banking companies a toolkit for providing their own cryptocurrency and stablecoin products. If the deal goes through, it would represent a major investment in cryptocurrency infrastructure from a traditional banking company. When reached by Fast Company, Mastercard and Zerohash declined to comment. The report comes weeks after Mastercard was reportedly competing to buy BVNK, a startup that helps businesses integrate transactions using stablecoins, which are digital currencies pegged to the value of traditional currencies. According to the same report by Fortune, Coinbase made it further in those acquisition talks, hence Mastercard turning to Zerohash for a parallel deal. BVNK didnt immediately respond to Fast Companys request for comment. Cryptos unsexy side Stablecoins serve as a bridge between the volatile world of cryptocurrencies, where massive price swings are the norm, and stable national currencies like the U.S. dollar. Because they arent really used for speculation or investment, stablecoins provide many of the perks promised by the crypto revolution like instant transactions and a digital ledger without the downside of assets that tend to spike and plunge. The less flashy side of crypto has come into the spotlight lately. Circles flashy IPO in June saw the stablecoin companys share price almost triple overnight. Earlier this year, fintech giant Stripe bought the crypto payments platform Bridge, paying $1.1 billion to build out its own stablecoin infrastructure. Chase also recently announced its own stablecoin play, connecting its credit card rewards program with the stablecoin USDC through Coinbase. Mastercard has signaled its interest in crypto, and specifically stablecoins, previously. Over the summer, it joined the Global Dollar Network, a consortium of companies boosting stablecoin adoption, alongside Robinhood and other companies from the crypto side of things. In 2021, Mastercard acquired the crypto analytics company CipherTrace, though it later shuttered most of the products it obtained through the deal. Traditional financial giants arent the only ones getting in on the stablecoin frenzy. Walmart and Amazon are both exploring the possibility of issuing or otherwise leaning on stablecoins, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Enabling payments through stable cryptocurrencies could allow retail giants to duck the billions they pay in transaction fees an existential threat to banks and credit card companies that make a sliver of every sale. Era of deregulation The explosion of stablecoin deals and soaring crypto values arent happening in a vacuum. Trumps second term has ushered in an era of dramatic deregulation in the U.S., and buzzy crypto startups and normie finance giants alike are racing to cash in. The president himself is pouring gasoline on the crypto wildfire, as his media company bets big on Bitcoin and his policies boost the Trump familys latest crypto venture strokes of self dealing that would have been a historic scandal in any other presidency. If 2025s spate of deals connecting the traditional finance world and stablecoin startups pans out, the least sexy side of cryptocurrency might have the most staying power and an actual everyday use case beyond sending your bank account to the moon.
Category:
E-Commerce
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