Our Top Pick: How To Improve the Quality of Your Sleep

It’s not a secret that improving the quality of your sleep can yield tremendous results for you.  

Chris Davidson reveals the best tips on how to sleep better after conducting sleep experiments for six months.

Here are the things that he discovered:

To increase your sleep time:

• Avoid eating sugary foods or anything a few hours before bedtime.
• Skip the TV or stop using your phone hours before bedtime. Try reading a book or doing something that dull instead.
• Exercise a few times each week. But don’t do it before bedtime.
• Try using sleep aids (like nasal strips and eye masks).

To increase restorative sleep

• Avoid drinking caffeinated drinks after lunchtime.
• Don’t have more than one alcoholic drink before bedtime.
• Try taking ZMA supplements for a few weeks.
• Have more sex.

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Pick #2: How to Lead, Even When You Have No Authority

You don’t need to be a leader in order to lead. You only need influence. Leadership coach Matt Russell shows you how to expand your influence at work and in life.

In a nutshell, these are Russell’s four pillars of influence:

1. Build trust. Because trust the bridge that connects you to others.
2. Leverage communication. If trust is a bridge, then communication is a vehicle.
3. Take action. You’ll soon gather momentum, which is the engine that rallies other people behind your back.
4. Inspire belief by helping others find their greater purpose or their “why.”

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Pick #3: How to Really Overcome the Fear of Failure

Have you ever experienced failure? It’s painful, right? And so you develop this fear of failure.

The fear of failure is the gripping feeling of knowing that something bad is about to happen.

Interestingly, the fear of failure is more painful than pain itself. Gustavo Razzetti gives us 5 ways to overcome the fear of failure today.

1. Recognize real versus imagined fears. The truth is many fears are imagined.
2. Stop being so idealistic. Life isn’t perfect.
3. Focus on experiences, not on outcomes.
4. It’s more dangerous to do nothing. Experiment. Try something new.
5. Failure is temporary. Don’t confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

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Pick #4: How to Become a More Adaptable Leader

The legendary boxer Mike Tyson said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. This simply means that things will not always go as planned.

As a leader, you need to be ready to get punched. Veteran Chris Duprey teaches you how to become a more adaptable leader.

Here are Duprey’s 3 keys to becoming a more adaptable leader:

1. Be intent-based and outcome-based. In other words, begin with the end in mind.
2. Realize that you’re not the smartest person in the room. Learn from your team. Be open to suggestions.
3. Ask more questions. Constantly find solutions. Cultivate an environment that loves to solve problems.

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Pick #5: How to Hack Gratitude in Your Life

Julia Clavien talks about the benefits of the Hedonic Reset, a hack that promises to unlock gratitude in your life by reversing the poisonous effects of Hedonic adaptation — our tendency as humans to become obsessed with pleasure and wealth.

The Hedonic Reset resets gratitude in your life by intentionally losing something delightful for a short time, so when you get it back, you’ll feel grateful again.

Here’s how to unlock gratitude in your life:

1. Identify your personal reset target. What pleasures have you become accustomed to? What used to bring you joy, but now you take for granted?
2. Define an achievable reset duration. Start small. Maybe park your car at home and walk to work.
3. Have fun and saver the experience of deprivation.
4. Evaluate how the experience was for you.

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