How to increase the efficiency of virtual business meetings?

The advent of health crisis has drastically changed the work culture for brands across the globe. The traditional well-structured boardroom meetings are now replaced by chaotic virtual meetings. To top it off, constant delays, technical issues, low productivity, and lack of result-driven meetings have adversely impacted the business operations of various brands.
While there seems to be no end to this health crisis, the only way out is to develop an efficient virtual business meeting framework. Such an efficient virtual meeting framework will not just pace up your business operations but rather it will also help you to optimize on the resources.
Having said that, let’s have a look at some strategies to foster an efficient virtual business meeting work culture.

Setting Virtual Meeting Agenda: Instead of wasting time on pointless interactions, it’s always better to have a well-set business meeting agenda. A well-defined meeting agenda helps employees to figure out the main objective of the meeting. With a clear objective, it becomes relatively easy to avoid aimless discussions in virtual meetings.
Takeaway: Before your virtual business meeting, share a meeting agenda with your employees to increase a business meeting productivity.

Virtual Meeting Duration: Unlike traditional boardroom meetings, you cannot have a closed and distraction-free set-up in virtual meetings. The difference in the set-up is bound to hamper the attention span of meeting attendees. Hence, ensure that your virtual business meetings are short and to the point.
Takeaway: Focus on organizing virtual meetings of about 15-30 minutes rather than opting for hour-long time-consuming meetings.

Meeting Structure: Structured virtual business meetings are directly proportional to the level of your work efficiency. Thus, before you organize a virtual meeting, plan out some aspects like meeting goals, the meeting flow, key pointers to discuss, and time allocations for each task. This structured framework will ensure that all the important issues are being analyzed and discussed.
Takeaway: Organizing a well structured virtual meeting will help your brand to speed up the decision-making processes.

Virtual Software Usage Training: An organization consists of employees from diverse age groups. At such times, every employee may not be techno-savvy. Therefore, it becomes imperative for an organization to support these employees by guiding them on online meeting software usage. Perhaps, you can assign this task to the IT department of your organization.
Takeaway: Train your employees in virtual business meeting software used to save your business meetings from aimless co-ordination and confusion.

Likewise, there are many other tricks like smart time management and the use of technology-driven resources for improving efficiency. However, one thing that you need to incorporate in your virtual meetings is discipline.
Be strict and professional when it comes to dealing with lazy or inefficient employees in virtual meetings. If possible, try to limit the number of participants in your virtual meeting. In case if you have many participants, then you can break them in small groups to avoid confusion.
Thus, by practicing these tricks, we are sure soon you will start noticing the positive change of increased efficiency in your virtual business meetings.

Easy at-home exercises to increase your endurance

You may often hear out people who could not stop emphasizing the virtues of exercising. There are so many instances when we feel like taking a step towards exercising yet, some excuses like not enough time or lack of gym facility in the vicinity crawl in!
But, we all know the importance that exercise holds in keeping ourselves healthy and fit. Therefore, if you are keen on availing a fit body but excuses like the gym is far keeps coming to you – we have got you covered, read and thank us later!

Here is the list of exercises that you can try at home –

  1. The stairs – In order to increase your stamina taking stairs instead of life is important. Not just that, you should also incorporate mornings jogging and cycling in your regime. It truly helps you build your stamina and stay fit.
  2. The Boat Pose – Ditch the gym and opt for this exercise. It is simple! Just sit on the floor and your legs should be straight as you balance on your hips. Now life your leg and stretch your arms outwards, you will notice that it looks similar to a boat. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat it at least 5 times.
  3. Side Planks – Lie down on your side and take the support of your elbow, lift your body, and hold that position for at least 10 seconds. The longer you hold, the better it is! This can truly help you build your stamina and bring out the abs that you have been drooling over.
  4. Chair dips – This is especially for the ones who work sitting in the chair for long hours. All you have to do is, Sit in a chair with armrests. Further, keep your back straight and both your feet steady on the floor, shoulder-width apart. You may need to bend a little forward and with the support of the armrests. Then move your body off the chair slowly while breathing out. Hold the position for 5 counts and come back to the original position while breathing in slowly. You can do this as many times depending on your comfort level.
  5. Push-ups – Probably the most common ones, and indeed one of the effective ones. Push-ups are tough but you get a hand of it gradually. It helps you build your core strength and that is why it plays a pivotal role in fitness.
  6. Squats – Squats don’t just put stretch your muscles but also put them in good use. Keep your spine relaxed and straight. Then stand on the floor with your legs wide apart. Go down on the floor with your hips slightly going backward. Make sure that throughout this set your spine is super relaxed.

We hope that in the lockdown, your goal of fitness remains intact! With these easy home exercises and the right diet, you can remain perfectly fit and healthy. Go ahead and give it a shot on a regular basis. Do let us know what you think about it in the comment section below.

6 Vital Life Skills which prove helpful for your Child’s All-Round Development

Life skills play a crucial role in fostering a child’s all-round development. While parents often prioritize education and co-curricular activities for their kid’s development, they often tend to underestimate the importance of teaching life skills to their kids.

Alternatively, kids who are taught life skills right from their childhood, grow up to be responsible, independent, and compassionate human beings.
Thus, if as a parent, you wish to encourage your child’s all-round development, then you must focus on imparting basic life skills to your children. 

Having said that, here’s a checklist of some essential life skills that you need to teach your kids.

Communication Skills: The ability to express your opinions with clarity and confidence goes a long way in developing an impressive persona. Therefore, to hone your child’s verbal and oral communication skills, it’s advisable to incorporate simple communication exercises like listening to audio stories or reading books and newspapers.

Direction Skills: Navigation skills are among the essential life skills. Without proper navigation skills, your children are bound to be dependent upon others for directions. To avoid this, try to develop their sense of direction by teaching them the basics of google maps operation and map reading.

Cooking Skills: You need not teach them Masterchef level cooking, but learning basic cooking skills is necessary. Such skills come in handy when your kids shift out of the house for their further education. Perhaps, you can start with non-fire cooking activities for preschoolers and gradually shift to more complex recipes.

Time Management Skills: Surviving in the world of cut-throat competition, your kid is certainly going to need efficient time management skills. Thus, you can start early by teaching them to prioritize their assignments and projects. Additionally, you can always motivate them by adding a twist of reward for effective time management.

Basic Medical Skills: Basic medical skills like cleaning a wound, applying a band-aid, or checking the expiry of medicines before consuming can prove useful at the time of unfortunate events. Likewise, ensure that you make your kids aware of emergency contacts that can be reached out for in the times of need.

Financial Literacy Skills: While you may consider your children to be too young for this, but kids these days are way smarter than what we think. Introducing basic financial concepts around savings and investment can help your kids to develop a strong financial IQ in the near future. If your kids are too young, then you can start by teaching them the significance of saving.

Thus, this is not an exhaustive list as there are many more life skills that contribute to a child’s all-round development. However, by teaching them these skills, you will start noticing a positive change in their personality.
Similarly, if you have any interesting parenting insights on teaching life skills, then share those insights with us through your comments.

5 Clever Hacks to Beat the Business Travel Blues

The mere idea of getting a business travel opportunity rings the bell of excitement for all of us. Perhaps, at some point, we all have envied our colleagues who get these privileges of sponsored air travel, luxurious hotels, fancy boardroom meetings, and an opportunity to network with C-suite executives.


However, there’s a stark difference in the reality of business travels. The stress of packing, repacking, jet lags, long business meetings, and a pressure of work deadlines are just some of the business travels issues that are experienced in reality. Owing to these issues, frequent business travelers look forward to solutions to beat these business travel blues.


Thus, to make it easier for them, here’s a list of some clever hacks that will save you the trouble of experiencing the business travel blues.


Travel Checklist Preparation: Travel checklist preparation often seems to be a daunting task. Writing every minute element can turn out to be a time-consuming activity. Hence, to solve this issue, you can make use of various travel list maker apps that cut down on the time consumed for travel checklist preparation. However, refrain from packing without a checklist as that will only add up to a disorganized travel packing.


Confusing Clothes Selection: The confusion of what to clothes to carry and how many sets to carry can often seem to be confusing. At such times, plan a smart move by going through your program schedule. This will give you a rough idea of the clothes that you will be needing for the trip. Likewise, opt for statement blazers or jackets which can be mixed and matched with a majority of your clothes.


Dealing with Packing/Unpacking: Packing and repacking can be a time-taking task. To avoid the hassle, prepare a set of the entire suite and pack it up. By creating such small sets of clothes and their accessories, it will become relatively easier for you to find your things without having to unpack your entire bag.


Tackling Boredom: Long flights or train journeys can seem to be boring. To tackle this boredom, try to stock up on music, movies and audiobooks which can keep you engaged during your travel period. Furthermore, remember to fully charge your laptops and mobile phones. As a backup, you can even carry your power banks.


Struggling with Jet Lags: Jet lags are quite common in international business travel trips. As you enter a new time zone, your body requires some time to get familiar with this zone. Therefore, the best way to deal with jet lag is to cut down on your alcohol or caffeine intake in flight. Similarly, keep yourself hydrated with a steady intake of water as that will eliminate the risk of dehydration. Also, avoid taking power naps in the day time.
In conclusion, we hope these tricks shall certainly prove helpful for you to beat those business travel blues.
Moreover, if you have any secret hacks, then feel free to mention them in our comment section.

5 Easy techniques to strengthen your kid’s communication skills

Parents are the very first teachers of their child even before they are admitted to the school. Kids begin to communicate with their parents before everyone else and that is why they play a key role in developing the communication skills of your kid.

Acquiring good communication skills is important because kids with good communication skills tend to become confident adults by all means. If parents work at stretching the basic foundation of communication at an early stage, they don’t struggle much on that sphere as a young adult.

Here are several easy techniques that parents can use in order to enhance the communication skills of their children.

  1. Habit of reading
    It is pivotal for kids to have an ingrained habit of reading. Whether its a novel, storybook, or anything else – make sure that they read more. Reading enhances language skills such as vocabulary which stands to be a strong point in communication.
  2. Let them socialize
    It is important for kids to socialize as much as they can. Find their friends or let them find on their own but don’t stop them. Make them share their toys and indulge in as much playtime as they can. Socialising will build their communication skills further without a doubt.
  3. Talk more
    Your kids cannot develop good communication skills if you don’t talk to them. The more they talk to you, the better they would get at communication. Therefore setting up a healthy debate and discussion with them on the topic they might have read or heard about shapes their speech.
  4. Time to think
    A major part of communication is thinking and correctly organizing thoughts. So, while your emphasis on reading and talking it is also pivotal that kids get time to think on a variety of subjects. Let them form opinions & let them take stands. It is important for a good communicator to think better than everyone else.
  5. Write it out
    Every kid cannot be a writer and that’s a fact but you can always encourage them to write. Remember, communication skills is consist of verbal as well as write communication therefore exploring writing as a hobby with them from an early age is not at all a bad move. You can always motivate them to read a story and they write it down in their own words. This exercise helps in the overall development of the kid’s communication skills.

These were the few tips that you as a parent can incorporate at an early age for your child to learn and have a good hang on communication.

Simple tips on managing anger

Did someone overtake you on a busy street? Or the person walking in front of you is slow? Did your boss disapprove of your leave or your dad said “no” to the fancy dinner – if you have an anger issue, you would never know what can possibly trigger the aggression? Anger is a healthy emotion and a common one however some of us find it tough to manage. If you are one that kind of a person who finds it difficult to manage the anger then here are the simple tips to help you out!

  1. Count 1 to 10
    Every time the anger hits you hard take a momentarily pause and count 1 to 10. Often diverting the mind for a moment from the triggering point can help in a lot in many ways. So keep calm and start counting, it will help you.
  2. Drink water
    Water definitely has a soothing effect on the body. In the moments of anger drink as much water as you can. It helps you calm down and think straight before acting on anything.
  3. Go to humor
    Nothing beats anger better than a few doses of laughter. When it seems like you are not able to control your temper, watch an episode of your favorite show or think about an incident that makes your laugh always.
  4. Music therapy
    Music works wonderfully well especially when there is an outburst of emotion. Whether you are feeling angry or sad, turn on to a happy beat & you will enjoy gradually forget the anger. So switch on to the song you absolutely enjoy and maybe dance a little too!
  5. Do some self-talk
    Self-talk is underrated and at times at can be therapeutical. Call yourself out for being angry and address why exactly are you angry. Describe how is it making you feel & what are the things that can make you feel good at the moment.
  6. Think of solutions
    A lot of time anger arises because we keep on thinking about the issue instead of inducing solution-oriented thinking. Try to shift your focus from problem to solution. You will certainly find yourself thinking straight & constructive within a minute.
  7. Just pause
    Often any action done in anger comes with repercussions. Therefore, the moment you know that you are angry at something to think and pause a little before reacting. Remember, an immediate reaction to anything in anger may leave long term effects on the person you are dealing with.
  8. Exercise
    One of the best ways to deal with anger is to get going with physical activity like exercise. Run or jump, just put all your anger together at that physical activity. If you find that it is still now helping, go for a walk. Strolling past nature helps in calming down.

If you think these tips are not that helpful, then certainly visiting an expert and taking his. her help is a solution to your anger.

8 Questions To Definitely Ask At A Job Interview

An interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of a company who is looking to hire is called a job interview. It is conducted to evaluate whether the job applicant should be hired or not. The job interview process is the most important process used for the selection of employees. Job interviews are of two types. Structured Interviews and Unstructured Interviews. Structured Interviews are the one where the applicant is asked multiple predetermined list of questions. Unstructured Interviews are the ones where the applicant is asked free-wheeling questions and is more breezy.


Job interviews are one of the most crucial parts of our lives. It increases our speaking ability and capacity in front of other people. Job interviews are usually very intimidating. Everyone has a specific way of handling an interview. Some people are better at handling interviews because they are generally more confident within themselves. Others usually lose their calm during an interview and end up blowing it. That is the reason why you should be prepared for the interview beforehand by having an idea about the questions that might be asked. There are certain questions that are always asked in interviews. Before attending an interview, we should form an idea about those.

8 questions to definitely ask at a job interview are :

  1. So Tell Me A Little About Yourself.
    This question seems really simple and easy but often most people fail to answer this question with ease even though this is one of the very crucial questions. When answering this question, we shouldn’t give out our total employment history or personal history. Instead, we should give a little summary of your skills and talents which shows them why we are the right pick for the job.
  2. What Do You Know About The Company?
    Any applicant is capable of knowing and learning about the company on it’s about page. So when interviewers ask us this, they are not trying to understand whether we understand the work or mission of the company, but they are trying to understand whether we care enough to work for the company or not. So we should say things accordingly which makes us look like we are really passionate about working at the company.
  3. How Did You Hear About This Position?
    This is again one of the very crucial questions that need to be answered properly. Through this question, we should be able to show our passion and interest in the company. If we found out about the company through a billboard or their website or article then share that with the interviewers to show them your interest in the company.
  4. Why Do You Want This Job?
    Companies want to hire employees who are passionate about the job and the company so we should be able to answer this question with ease and skills to make them feel like we are interested in. This again is one of the most important questions asked at a job interview. We should be able to show the interviewers that we are the perfect choice for the job.
  5. Why Should We Hire You?
    This is a very forward yet intimidating question at the same time. This is the go-to question for interviewees to showcase their skills to sell themselves to the interviewers. If your answer to this question is perfect and to the point, this question might end up getting you employed.
  6. What Are Your Greatest Professional Strengths?
    While answering this question we should be accurate, specific, and relevant. We should share with the interviewers the fields we are strong in, the things we are capable of doing, and what we will be able to give to the company. We should be able to showcase ourselves as talented and skilled in certain fields.
  7. What Are Your Weaknesses?
    This is one of the very tricky questions. Through this question, the interviewers are trying to understand what and what not we are capable of doing. We should be truthful while answering this question but at the same time we need to assure them about the fact that we are working on our weaknesses to get better. This, in turn, will make the company feel safe.
  8. What Are Your Ways To Deal With Challenges?
    The interviewers ask us this question to acquire an idea about how we deal with problems, challenges, or conflicts. We should be very careful while answering this question. We should be able to explain to the company how good we are with challenges and how we handle them. We should be able to make them feel safe with us on board.

Reasons Why Meditation Helps

The practice where a person uses the technique of focusing on a particular object, person, or situation to achieve a clear mentality and an emotionally calm and stable state is called meditation. Meditation is used to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and several other mental illnesses and is recommended by doctors on a daily basis. The earliest mentions of meditation can be found in the Hindu traditions of Vedantism. Meditation is being practiced since the beginning of time to achieve enlightenment, self-evaluation, and peace of mind. And since then, meditation has been used as a trusted technique for self-development.

Today meditation is recommended by doctors all over the world the patients get better. There are practically thousands of normally experienced and scientifically assured reasons why meditation helps. Meditation helps different people in a different way based on what they are looking to achieve with meditation. It might be physical or mental. Meditation has both physical health benefits and psychological health benefits.

Some of them are :

  • The human brain needs steady and strong blood flow to function well and properly. Meditation increases the blood flow to our brain making it easier for the brain to work well and process properly.
  • Meditation helps in the growth of the brain. Not only in size but also in thickness. Which in turn makes us smarter, self-aware, increases our memory capacity, self-control, and various other desirable mental qualities.
  • Cortisol is our body’s main stress hormone which suppresses the immune system and makes us feel anxious, nervous, depressed, stressed, and that too without any particular or valid reason. Meditation helps in the reduction of cortisol production and helps us stay sane.
  • Meditation calms and settles us down which in turn helps in reducing blood pressure and the heart rate and reduces the chances of a heart attack.
  • The ability of the brain to change continuously throughout the life of an individual to adapt to various situations is known as neuroplasticity. Meditation helps in increasing the production of neuroplasticity.
  • Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that are secreted by the brain. These endogenous chemicals play a huge role in controlling our moods.  The most important neurotransmitters are serotonin and dopamine. Low secretion of serotonin causes depression. Meditation helps in increasing the production of these two chemicals.
  • Meditation is highly recommended to reduce brain-related illnesses such as depression, anxiety, etc. When we meditate the brain undergoes a drastic change that causes the reduction and prevention of these illnesses. Hence, it helps in improving our nervous system.
  • The cerebral cortex which covers the front part of the frontal lobe is called the prefrontal cortex. Itis is responsible for personality expression, decision making, focus, social behavior,etc. Meditation stimulates the prefrontal cortex which in turn increases the focus and present moment awareness.
  • Meditation helps in increasing the volume of the brain which provides us with more brainpower. And with the stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, the brain learning center is awakened which in turn increases our capacity to learn.


Things to do as soon as you get up to generate happy hormones

You might have heard that happiness creates success. Your mental health plays a major role when it comes to the accomplishment and contentedness in all the aspects of life. We are lucky as our brain is always on our side when we aim to succeed. If we have a bit of knowledge about the good brain chemicals, we will know how to trigger them in order to complete and accomplish our goals with greater ease. They are not as complicated as one might think and in fact, they all create logical connections that can easily be supported by simply making few changes in our daily habit.

  1. Start exercising
    One of the most effective and the best way is to boost the serotonin level with daily exercise. 20 to 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day is actually enough to receive all the benefits. One of the other advantages of exercise is good sleep. With regular and proper exercise, one can have a clear thought process, it keeps the heart and other muscles strong and keeps us away from obesity. Exercise also helps to produce and also increase the levels of endorphin and serotonin which in return helps in improving our mood and energy level. So the next time you are agitated or you are feeling low, go out for a short walk outside, dance or you may join a group exercise class.
  2. Spend some time in the sunshine
    Most people only need short and proper sunlight exposure to help up our body create vitamin D which is very much needed for the production of brain chemicals such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine. Vitamin D is also synthesized by the body whenever the skin comes in the sun’s exposure.
  3. Try having some chocolates
    Have you ever seen a chocolate lover sad? Good quality dark chocolate has one of the most amazing health benefits which includes synthesis of endorphin. It also helps in reducing inflammation, reduces the blood pressure level to normal, and also protects the arteries. A little bit of chocolate helps, in the long run, to stick to having small serving per week.
  4. Eat enough carbs
    Recent research has found that the food that contains carbohydrates increases our serotonin level and also improves the mood by increasing the happy hormones.
  5. Have a pet dog or a cat
    Research has proved that petting a dog or a cat only for 15 minutes releases happy hormones such as serotonin, prolactin, and oxytocin that lowers the stress hormone cortisol. Pets can also help to lower the blood pressure, reduce stress, improving loneliness, and reduces negativity.
  6. Meditation
    Meditation or mindfulness is quite beneficial to our happiness and improves mental health. Meditation triggers the hypothalamus to release endorphins, thus promoting relaxation, self-healing, and the total well being. Yoga can also help in improving anxiety, depression, focus, pain, and the other side effects of stress.

7 Best Exercise for Heart Patients

Aerobic exercises are one of the best ways to maintain good heart health. You can also try some of these exercises to add an element of fun in your daily fitness routine. For optimum heart health, the World Heart Associationusually recommends 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercises every day. If at the very beginning you cannot get 30 minutes all at once, you can easily divide your entire exercise routine into 10 to 15-minute different segments. Aerobic exercises help to improve heart and lung fitness and can also reduce the risk factors for heart diseases.

  1. Walkout for a healthy heart
    One of the most exercise for the heart is walking. Walking daily is peaceful, safe, inexpensive and it is quite easy to fit into your daily routine. You can start walking by walking to work, the grocery store, and also walking around in your neighborhood.
  2. Vigorous exercise at home by climbing the stairs instead of using the lift
    To get the maximum benefit from aerobic exercises, try to reach 50 to 85% of your maximum heart rate. Climbing the stairs is one of the easiest ways to achieve this simple target whether you do it at home or office or at the gym.
  3. Go out for cycling
    The pumping motion of the large muscles in your leg is one of the best aerobic exercises for your heart. Either a road bike or a stationary bike at the gym will help you achieve in this exercise. The position of the seat and the pedals are quite important so to prevent yourself from injuries and misbalancing.
  4. Take a swim
    Swimming is considered to be the best aerobic exercise for your heart and is the third most popular sport activity in the whole world. Two and a half hours of swimming for the whole week will give you enough benefits to keeping your heart safe. One of the major advantages of swimming as that it puts less pressure on the bones and joints and thus the risk of injury or cramps is less.
  5. Go for a spin on the elliptical machine in the gym
    Elliptical training machines are on the most popular and well-preferred aerobic exercise options. These machines are widely available in most of the fitness centers or gyms and are being increasingly purchased for exercise at home. The main advantage is that it provides both upper and lower body workouts at once.
  6. Dancing to your heart’s content
    Dancing is one of the most entertaining and rhythmic aerobic exercises for your heart. All you need is good footwear, the music of your preference and some space. You can also join the Zumba classes which are getting popular day by day.
  7. Chill out with martial art such as Tai chi
    According to a recent survey, 20% of the entire population preferred using martial arts as a low impact aerobic exercise routine for the heart. Among them, type Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese form of exercise which is based on martial arts.