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Have you ever watched someone try to come up with a creative idea: Postit notes, coffee, laptop, a determined glint in their eye and a solemn expression on their face? If the idea isnt coming, add a few sighs, some squirming, and the magical rearrangement of every object on the desk. Most workplaces still reward this try harder ritual. This is rarely where creative energy actually emerges. We all know the stories. The best ideas come in the shower, on a walk, doing dishes, or even during everyones beloved folding of laundry. Heres the thing: its not a quirk. Movement helps foster creativity. It occupies the body in a repeating pattern that doesnt require the brain to do too many mental pull-ups, which is why it reliably restores access to insight. When the nervous system settles even slightly, the mind widens its search and connects ideas that didnt seem related a few minutes earlier. When employees end up performing creativity instead of accessing it, their attention often tightens around the problem. They start monitoring, judging, checking. That pressure narrows perception and makes it harder to notice new connections. If your team is struggling to find creative solutions, do not ask people to push harder. Instead, try to get your team to move so people can relax enough for their creative ideas to flow without force. Here are three moments when leaders should watch for and what they should do when they happen. 1. Redlight: Reactive Pause Red-light moments are fight or flight situations, with burn it to the ground imagination at play. This looks like: Lets scrap the entire project and start over, fire off an unprofessional email, or make an impulsive, on-the-spot yes commitment. Perception narrows, patience disappears, and rarely does acting or creating from that charge produce a positive, generative outcome. Red-light pauses call for brief, more vigorous movement to discharge the stress response. Build in a quick change of scene: a fast lap around the building, a flight of stairs, or shaking out the arms. The purpose is to burn off adrenaline, widen perception, and step back out of emergency mode so people can return their creative focus to the ideas and projects they should be solving. If your team is up for it, jumping jacks definitely give that destructive charge somewhere to go with some humor added. 2. Yellowlight: Reroute Pause Yellowlight moments are the Ive been staring at this for an hour and its not getting better days. The mind is running the same idea over and over, the idea of the outcome is sabotaging the actual creating of it, instead of building the conditions for imagination to thrive. Normalize small, rhythmic movement that lets the mind drift. Unlike red-light pauses, which are brief and vigorous, yellow-light pauses are slower and sustained. Close the laptops and take a slow 10-minute walk outside, with the main intention of shifting attention to sensory input, like noticing different types of cars, sounds, or colors, or spend a few minutes doodling the same shape. The plan is to give the brain enough repetition to relax its grip so energy can reroute toward new options. Teams quickly learn that this isnt slacking. Its a practical way to refocus creative energy so work can move faster, not slower. When people step away without technology, theyre far more likely to return with a fresh angle instead of the same recycled thought in a slightly different font. 3. Greenlight: Proactive Pause Green-light moments are when you want to generate new ideas and can see the tank is empty: people are exhausted or viewing the unknown like its an uncertain void. This is where move and think brainstorms shine, because moderate movement feels spacious and supports idea generation. Instead of another conferenceroom session, leaders can take a product question, culture question, or whats next for this team question on a slow lap. For strategy days or longer meetings, consider gifting each person a small notebook for doodling or standing while they think. Making movement part of how your team creates Treat movement as a legitimate part of the creative process, not something people squeeze in at lunch. Many employees discover that language for what they think about a project arrives much more easily in motion than it does under fluorescent lights. Add movement time to the projects creative process, especially for undefined work. Recognize and ask, Is it a reachforthesneakers moment? and then give clear permission to do it. Extra-long meeting? Book two conference rooms and switch at the halfway mark. Model it yourself. Take your own red-, yellow-, and green-light pauses and name them so your team sees that movement is part of how you think. When employees arent generating ideas, its rarely because they lack creativity. Its usually because theyre trying to access it under the worst conditions. The most effective leadership move is giving people permission to step away and trusting that their best thinking often happens when they are given the freedom to move.
Category:
E-Commerce
In the months after a 2018 Supreme Court decision opened the door for states to legalize sports betting within their borders, giddy lawmakers across the country couldnt move quickly enough. No one wanted to miss out on the billions of dollars in tax revenue that the high court had suddenly placed within their reachor, worse yet, to watch that easy money go to neighboring states whose leaders had the presence of mind to move first. Within a month of the decision, Delaware Gov. John Carney bet $10 on a Phillies gamethe first legal single-game sports bet outside of Nevada. Many states were more concerned with getting sportsbooks online in time for a big-ticket event (the Super Bowl, March Madness) than building an infrastructure to regulate the multibillion-dollar industrya dynamic that journalist Danny Funt details in his book Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling. Lawmakers in some states even passed laws authorizing sports gambling before the Supreme Court decided Murphy v. NCAA, so theyd be ready to jump after a favorable ruling. Eight years later, its clear that this gold rush has had (and I am being diplomatic here) some negative consequences. Sports media outlets have become hopelessly intertwined with gambling behemoths eager to turn more fans into paying customers. Athletes who do not perform to bettors satisfaction are often subjected to racist abuse, death threats, or some combination thereof. And gambling addiction has spiked, thanks to the proliferation of app-based mobile betting that allows users to get their fixes anytime, anywhere. A 2025 study found that internet searches for help with gambling addiction increased 23% between 2018 and June 2024, and that they surged more with the arrival of online sportsbooks than they did when brick-and-mortar casinos opened. Over the last few years, a series of high-profile scandals have demonstrated the extent to which legalization has warped the actual games on which people are betting all this money. In 2024, the NBA issued a lifetime ban to Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter for his part in a conspiracy in which he pulled himself early from games to ensure that under bets on his performance would hit. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was implicated in a similar scheme last year, as were two Cleveland Guardians pitchers who were charged with rigging ball-or-strike bets on specific pitches in exchange for cash bribes. Then, earlier this month, federal prosecutors named 39 players across 17 teams who were allegedly part of a point-shaving ring that fixed mens college basketball games during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. According to the indictment, bettors offered players bribes in the low five figures to underperform in agreed-upon games, and then wagered heavily on outcomes they had good reason to believe would go their way. Leagues and sportsbooks typically frame corruption as rare and make examples of those who are involved in it. But the mere knowledge that scandals like this exist can throw the entire enterprise into doubt: If you are a gambler who is angry about a bad bet, its very easy to wonder if you were cheated by perpetrators who were just lucky enough not to get caught. A new bill in Tennessee, where residents wagered $1.3 billion on sports over a two-month period last year, is maybe the most significant effort yet to retreat from the status quo. Introduced by a pair of Democratic lawmakers, state Rep. John Ray Clemmons and state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, the proposal would ban state-licensed sportsbooks from taking bets from people who are on the campuses of public colleges and universities, as well as from people at venues where those schools teams are playing games. Sportsbooks use the geolocation capabilities of smartphones to determine app users eligibility, so logistically speaking, rejecting bets from phones that are located within newly designated restricted areas would not be especially complicated. Colleges and universities would also be required to block people from accessing online sportsbooks while connected to campus networks. A handful of states have previously imposed modest limits on betting on college sportsfor example, banning proposition bets on college athletes, or prohibiting wagering on in-state school teams. The scope of Clemmons and Yarbros proposal is broader: It would prevent people on campus from placing any type of sports bet, college or otherwise. The rationales for targeting restrictions at college students are straightforward: Gambling addiction has hit young people hard, and young men the hardest. A Pew Research Center study last year found that 31% of adults between ages 18 and 29 had bet on sports in the previous yearthe most of any age group. A 2023 survey commissioned by the NCAA found that more than a quarter of college-age adults had placed a bet online, and overall, 58% had bet in some form. In 2024, a Pennsylvania addiction therapist told 60 Minutes about a troubling new archetype of patient hed encountered in recent years: college students who gamble away their federal student loan money. Clemmons echoed many of these concerns in an email to me, explaining that he was motivated by rising addiction rates among young people, sportsbooks efforts to target young people with advertising, the ongoing harassment of student-athletes, and a desire to prevent students from losing their parents’ hard-earned money to sportsbooks. If you are a policymaker looking to enact more robust protections for those whom the data shows are most vulnerable, the people who are physically present on a college campus is a pretty good place to start. At the same time, the bills parameters demonstrate the challenges inherent in trying to provide oversight to an industry that has, to date, been allowed to set new land-speed record every year. Bettors have long demonstrated their willingness to move around in order to place bets. In his book, Funt writes that before New York authorized sports betting, New York City residents would simply walk across the George Washington Bridge until their phones registered their presence in New Jersey, where betting was legal. Given what we know about how addiction works and how prevalent it is, Im not sure that requiring college students to cross the street in order to place a wager is going to be, in the scheme of things, a significant deterrent. Its also worth contemplating all the people and behaviors to whom this law would not apply. It doesnt affect private schools, which means that while students at the University of Tennessee might be temporarily locked out of their FanDuel accounts, students at Vanderbilt might not even realize if and when a ban takes effect. It doesnt affect private property, which means that students who live off campus would be free to continue wagering from the comfort of their couches. It doesnt affect access to federally regulated prediction sites like Kalshi, which function as backdoor sportsbooks accessible to anyone 18 and older. Since Tennessee already prohibits anyone under 21 from betting with state-licensed sportsbooks, the people who would be barred from wagering under this law and who are not barred from wagering under existing law are, basically, fans at certain sporting events, and college juniors and seniors at public schools, if they happen to be on school property at that moment. By email, Clemmons noted the legislatures limited jurisdiction over nonpublic property, and he asserted that geo-targeting campuses and sports venues seems the most effective, legal way to accomplish our primary aims. In response to my question about the merits of, for example, raising the minimum betting age or barring college students from betting regardless of their physical location, Clemmons said that if they pass this law and determine that more action is necessary, they will certainly look to have those discussions. I dont mean to suggest that lawmakers considering responses like this one to the various crises before them are falling down on the job. When there is this much evidence over this many years that the post-Murphy free-for-all is ruining this many lives, I would prefer people in power do what they can to mitigate the harm rather than shrug their shoulders and do nothing. I’m simply saying that at this point, eight years after the Supreme Court empowered the gambling industry to begin swallowing sports whole, it is going to be really, really challenging for lawmakers, in Tennessee or anywhere else, to start putting the proverbial toothpaste back in the tube. This is largely the result of the states own choices: They could have proceeded more cautiously after Murphy, by more aggressively limiting the pools of eligible bettors, or imposing more onerous tobacco-style restrictions on sportsbook advertising, or simply deciding to wait a little while before putting virtual casinos in millions of pockets. But they wanted the money that would come with acting fast. Now, theyre paying the true price.
Category:
E-Commerce
Though I long resisted the label, I have been a solopreneur ever since I started working as a freelance writer in 2010. As the owner, manager, and only employee, all decisions about my solo freelancing business are up to mewhich continues to feel simultaneously invigorating and terrifying. But not all daunting solopreneurship decisions are the same. While taking creative risks and pitching big names continue to cause some minor fingernail-chewing even after all these years, investing in my business is the leading cause of second-guessing (and third-guessing, fourth-guessing) my own abilities as an entrepreneur. Many other solopreneurs share my lack of confidence about investing in a solo business. Not only do solo entrepreneurs tend to suffer from a kind money dysmorphia telling them they are one bad month away from everything falling apart, but the kinds of investments you make for a solo business dont typically offer a clear return on investment. While a factory owner can typically draw a straight line from their investment in newer equipment and higher output, a solopreneur generally cant know for sure that the social media ad buys, the coaching, the annual subscription, or the virtual assistant moved the needle for their business. So how do you decide when and whether to invest your money into your solopreneurship when you cant predict the ROIor even necessarily observe it after the fact? Build a firewall between your business and personal finances Reinvesting in your business often tends to be scary because solopreneurs have irregular income. It feels like tempting fate to drop a significant amount of your big payout this month on an investment into your solo businessbecause, our paranoid monkey minds tell us, doing that practically guarantees your clients will dry up next month. And then you will have spent your grocery money on a new business laptop that could have waited six months. This is why part of making solopreneurship sustainable is creating a financial safety net. Specifically, solopreneurs must put a firewall between their business and personal budgets. Though it may take some time to get there, your goal is for your solo business to pay you a salary. Heres how that would work: While youre in feast-or-famine mode, open a business savings account, and transfer any excess cash into it during high-income months. Even if you don’t have “excess cash,” commit to putting something aside, even if it’s just five bucks. This will create a habit that helps you build up a cushion for lean months when you dont have many clients or you have to chase the ones you have for payment. Over time, this savings account will begin to grow large enough that you can start paying yourself a biweekly salary. Once you have reached that point, you can switch to having your payments deposited directly into the savings account rather than the checking account. By then, your biweekly salary payments can be automated, so you can feel confident that your personal budget and expenses are covered. By setting up your business finances this way, you will have a better sense of how your business is doing and what kind of business cash flow you have without getting it confused with your personal cash flow. Earmark some money for business development In Vegas, its a huge mistake to gamble with money you cant afford to lose. The same is true with risking an investment into your solo businessor any business, really. (For every Apple IPO, there are hundreds more pets.com failures.) If youre a risk averse solo business owner (like yours truly), it can feel safer to simply clench your teeth and try to grow without spending a dime. (Trust me, its painful, slow, and kind of boring). But my years of avoiding the risk of investing money in the wrong business opportunity ignored the second half of the advice. Taking a calculated risk on money I can afford to lose is well worth it. Which is why, after eight years of freelancing, I started setting aside 5% to 10% of my income to reinvest in my business. Having this money specifically earmarked for business expenses and investments helped me feel more confident about potential development opportunities that couldnt promise a specific ROI. If these opportunities didnt pan out, I could afford to lose the money. Even if consistently setting aside a percentage of your income isnt possible, you can find potential business investment money in lots of other places, such as your tax refund, a gift or inheritance, or an unexpected bonus from a client. Act slowly and carry a big notebook Even the most decisive solopreneur can get stuck in analysis paralysis when it comes to investing in their business. You may worry that youre missing out on incredible opportunities, but you may also worry that youre throwing money away. Its in this state of indecision that were most vulnerable to the kind of high-pressure sales pitches that were most likely to regret latersince those pitches often come couched in the language of absolute certainty, whether youre talking to the salesperson at the Apple store who is trying to get you to upgrade to a more expensive laptop, or the marketing expert who wants you to commit to 12 months of one-on-one coaching for tens of thousands of dollars. To help you identify investment opportunities that are more likely to benefit you and your small business, follow these steps: Commit to at least a 24-hour period before buying anything. This protects you from your own enthusiasm and gives you a chance to let your cooler head prevail. Write down what you hope the investment can do for your business. There are no guarantees that youll get these returns, but the act of writing down your hopes can help you see if they are realistic or pie-in-the-sky thinking. Its even better if you share your thoughts with a colleague in the same or a similar field. Create a premortem. In business, teams will sometimes conduct a premortem before starting a major project to identify the things that are most likely to go wrong. If youre looking to invest a significant amount of money ito your solo business, create a premortem beforehand to identify what could go wrong with your investment so you can shore up those potential problemsor abandon the investment if the issues seem inevitable. The few, the proud, the solopreneurs Working for yourself as a solo business owner is not for the faint of heart. Not only do you have to deal with all the problems that come with entrepreneurship, but you also have to make all the hard decisionsincluding when to invest money back into the enterprise. While investing in a solo business will never be a clear decision, there are several things you can do to make the process feel less terrifying. To start, creating a firewall between your business and personal finances will help make your business decisions feel less personal. From there, earmarking some money for business development can help you feel more comfortable investing, since the money will be cash you can afford to lose. Finally, youll feel more confident about the opportunities you choose to put money into if you commit to a waiting period before making any purchases, write down what you hope to get from the investment to check that your expectations are realistic, and conduct a premortem to identify likely problems.
Category:
E-Commerce
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