Like most people with a brain and a pulse, my life can feel pretty stressful. We may be lying to ourselves about how busy we really are, but the stress we feel from our always-on lives is real. And while "mindfulness" has become more of a cliché than a real call to action in the business world, the core message to quiet your mind and focus on the present sounds like the perfect solution for a more productive workday.

It seems like everywhere we turn we’re being told to “embrace failure.”. From social media to countless business books and articles and the global failure conference FailCon, the importance of mistakes is lauded as a key stepping-stone for success. Even advertisers are realizing the power of bragging about getting it wrong.

From telling women they’re too fat to fit into their yoga pants to equating women’s body hair with “dudeness,” there have been some pretty misguided messages sent to women recently. How can the leaders of companies with so many women customers be so out of touch with how to market to them? Is there a secret formula for striking the right note with female customers?

Last week I challenged readers, and myself, to wake up what they considered to be “insanely early”--a time earlier than when they would normally wake up, whether it be 6:30 a.m. or 4:30 a.m. The idea is that having a time in the day where there is no pressure and no expectations from other people would result in better focus and more creative thinking.

Over the years we’ve seen some shining examples of notorious brutes pretty much killing it. From examining their managerial style and their success, one might correlate the two and conclude that being a jerk is the best way to get stuff done. The likes of Gordon Ramsay and Steve Jobs built their empires by bullying their employees.

At the White House Summit on Working Families this past June, the first ever national summit of its kind, a number of influential women, and some pretty important men, too, got together to talk about how working families can succeed today. Setting the tone for the Summit, President Barack Obama penned a blog for the Huffington Post in which he wrote, “Family leave, childcare, flexibility and a decent wage aren’t frills.

There is no secret formula for innovation, and a lot of great minds arrive at their creativity in many different ways. Though we’d all like to crack the code for reaching our creative breakthrough, it’s likely that emulating the habits prescribed by one famous person or another won’t be the cure-all to your stagnated creativity.

When I got on the Path Train this morning, I saw -- miracle of miracles -- an empty seat between two riders. Naturally, since there was no one else competing for the seat, I went to take it. I sat down as I usually do when it's a middle seat: I positioned my butt on the edge of the seat and gingerly slid back as far as I could without infringing too much on the space of the riders beside me, keeping my legs locked and my shoulders squeezed in as close as possible.

Before you hit send on that email you just drafted, consider this first: you are probably not coming off as witty or sarcastic as you think you are. Studies from almost a decade ago have proven that without the body language cues that exist in face-to-face communication, emails are not as effective at conveying tone and emotion.

If you were to make a list of all the things you consider when taking a job, what would be on there? Would you include maternity leave policies, amount of vacation days, or average pay rates? Every person is different when it comes to what they value in a job, so there really is no definitive way to say what is the best work environment.

More than 16 billion photos have been shared on Instagram. With an average of 55 million uploaded each day, that's a lot of selfies. But it also means a lot of money for brands who figure out how to use the fast-growing social network. According to a recent report released by research firm L2 Instagram touts the most engagement and the highest conversion from browser to shopper.

Arianna Huffington believes we are living in a brave new world--today's work environment is somewhere between the dark ages and the renaissance. The dark ages, she says, include environments and a culture fueled by stress, but she maintains that in order for businesses and individuals to thrive we must transition to a "renaissance" time of mindful living and working.

Two every second: That's how many people join LinkedIn as new members, many of whom hope to exploit the platform's rich resource for industry contacts. That means that by the time you finish reading this article, you’ll have on average 250 people and counting to compete with for the professional world’s attention.

When it comes to identifying your brand, your logo is probably the first thing your customers will think of. While honing the narrative and message behind your logo should of course be your primary concern, research suggests that your logo’s design--and specifically its colors--have more bearing on your customers’ opinions than you might think.

We’ve all heard of a rainy day project, but how about a windy day project? A few strong gusts on a blustery day and you’re looking at significantly more yard work – but you’re also looking at an opportunity to get a little crafty. Making your own wooden buttons from fallen branches is easy, inexpensive, and a great way to turn a chore into a fun project.

Supplement your professional photographer with some fun and interactive ideas you can implement yourself.