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Four Ways To Make Self-Care Happen While The World Is A Mess

1. Just unplug Easier said than done, it may seem, but absolutely necessary. It's okay to walk away from your Facebook feed, from your Twitter stream, from reposting on Instagram, and from replying to texts, phone calls, and emails. The constant intake of news can be too much to process and you need to give yourself appropriate boundaries to preserve your sanity, stress level, and help you feel fit to engage meaningfully. It may seem like unplugging looks like you don't care, but it sends a very different message--that you care enough to give your best support on social media. Your friends and family seeing you intentionally take breaks is going to empower them to do the same. We should always think before we share, research before we pass on news, and fact check before we spread information, and all of that requires more energy than most of us have when we're feeling emotionally compromised already. Make some simple rules, such as no screens during meals, no screens a couple hours before bed, and at no screens for a quick walk around the block. Restoring balance to our lives and giving our brains and hearts a rest is going to help us stay focused on spreading the right information and supporting our community. 2. Take a luxurious bath or shower Nothing calms me down quite like a soak in my tub, even though it's small and cramped. The feeling of being surrounded by warm water, even in less than spa-like circumstances, works some kind of magic on my weary body. Water is soothing and cleansing, both metaphorically and literally. Why not take twenty minutes to wash the day away and pamper your senses? If you have a tub, add a handful of Epsom salts, a few drops of essential oil,…
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Entrepreneur Daily Deals: Pre-Orders on Oculus Rift VR, Xbox One S and More

Entrepreneur has affiliate partnership with TechBargains so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.Thanks to our friends at TechBargains[1], we've rounded up three can't-miss deals on stuff you won't want to miss. Check it out:Oculus Rift VR $599.99 Pre-order[2]The Oculus Rift is difficult to find in-stock anywhere but you can pre-order it now from Amazon for only $599.99. On eBay the next best price to get it now is more than $700. FitDesk Under Desk Ellipitcal $99.99[3]This highly rated ellipitical is perfect to get a few minutes of exercise while you sit at your desk. It's whisper quiet, operates in a smooth motion and so solid that it won't budge when you use it.Xbox One S Gaming Console w/ 4K Blu-ray $299.99[4]Rumor is that these new Xbox One S consoles will start releasing in early August. This not only plays some of the best games it also serves as a 4K Blu-ray player that supports HDR. Many dedicated 4K Blu-ray players with HDR support cost more than $300 so you are getting a pretty nice value. The newest Xbox One S is sleek and an attractive addition to any home theater.Disclosure: This is brought to you by the Entrepreneur Partner Studio. Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you'll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. References^ TechBargains (www.techbargains.com)^ Oculus Rift VR $599.99 Pre-order (r.zdbb.net)^ FitDesk Under Desk Ellipitcal $99.99 (r.zdbb.net)^ Xbox One S Gaming Console w/ 4K Blu-ray $299.99 (r.zdbb.net)...
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Getting Fired Was Step 1 to Increasing My Pay 1,000% in 3 Months

"Gulp."My boss had just told me the company was going in a different direction when that embarrassing sound squelched from my throat. Though I had under $3,000 in savings and no immediate prospects, I wasn’t devastated. I was relieved.I’d been blogging for a premium men’s site for nearly a year. After writing four 800-word articles a day for months, I was burned out, bleary eyed and begging for the end. My heart had abandoned the work. I knew I wasn’t growing as a writer because my only challenge was to eek through the day without going cross-eyed.I needed a wake-up call.Luckily, I got canned. My newfound joblessness made me evaluate what I was doing. It forced me into action. Having stashed $3,000 in the bank, I had two months to plan and execute something better than churning out bad articles for peanuts, or I’d be homeless.Here are three factors that shaped my plan.I knew I couldn’t skimp out on quality to make a living because it had just gotten me fired. It also caused me to hate writing.I refused to work with one-dimensional clients, who would sooner fire me than help me grow as a writer.And I needed to work with real people in real life. The faceless business relationships had gotten me quick cash, but I still hadn’t found the security I needed to flourish as a writer. I wanted to be needed on a team where my growth was valued as much as my contributions.Considering all this, I put a massive effort into getting the right clients and being the right writer. Here’s what I did.I looked for the right clients.I spent four hours a day researching the best companies within 100 miles of my home in Albuquerque. I poured through different companies’ websites and marketing materials to…
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Be the wedding guest with the best: A gifting guide

It's June, which means wedding season is swiftly descending upon us. If your calendars aren't chock full of out of town destination invites, casual beach nuptials, or quirky backyard ceremony, you're one of the few. There are approximately two million weddings each year in the United States alone, making it one of the largest and most profitable industries. Odds are, you'll be attending at least three weddings in the next year, and guess what that means? Gifts! No matter how casual the ceremony is, most wedding guests want to give the couple a token of their affections. While in the past, this meant toasters, blenders, and hideous china, these days gifting has a much more personal, organic approach. Considerate couples choose to register for small, necessary items, or open funding accounts for honeymoons, houses, or children, ensuring everyone supporting their union knows their generosity goes to a needed place. This is fantastic when it happens, but many couples skip this step, deeming it too traditional. So what do you do if you're terrible at coming up with gift ideas? Well, you look no further than this compilation of ideas. As someone who has attended fourteen weddings in the last three years, I have this locked down. 1. Put the "Art" in "Heart" Do you assume that purchasing original art is too expensive? It's not! Thanks to places like Etsy, purchasing beautiful, original works of art is more affordable than ever. There are very few people who won't appreciate a thoughtful piece for their home or office, and a wedding is a fantastic occasion to take what you know about your marrying friends and parlay it into a purchase. Do they have a dog they love? Consider hiring an artist to do a commissioned piece of your pals with their beloved…
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Instagram's User Base Grows to More Than 500 Million

Instagram now boasts more than 500 million users, more than 80 percent of whom are outside the United States, the company said on Tuesday, in a sign of the photo-sharing app's rapidly growing global reach.The company owned by Facebook Inc. had 400 million users last September. It has seen its user base more than double over the past two years. Instagram added that 300 million people used the app every day.Instagram has quickly eclipsed its rivals, notably Twitter Inc., which has seen its user base stall at just above 300 million. Facebook has about 1.6 billion users.Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, its first large acquisition, a deal initially met with skepticism.Instagram has grown into one of the most popular social media apps worldwide and is expected to contribute significantly to Facebook's revenue, with research firm eMarketer predicting the company will generate $1.5 billion in ad revenue this year.It is able to leverage Facebook's popular advertising technology and resources to target highly specific audiences.Instagram said users shared on average more than 95 million photos and videos every day, with posts garnering 4.2 billion "likes" each day.(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Peter Cooney)...
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Is Google Trying to Kill SEO?

Google is getting ready for a day in court, after a precedent-setting move by a Florida judge who denied the search engine giant’s motion to dismiss a case that could redefine how businesses engage in search engine optimization. The case is especially noteworthy, as most previous challenges based on Google’s search results have resulted in immediate dismissal.Google claims the plaintiff, e-ventures Worldwide[1] LLC, engaged in “search engine manipulation” in order to cause its websites to be ranked higher in Google’s search results, stating that doing so was “bad behavior” that had to be deterred. Consequently, Google summarily de-indexed hundreds of the plaintiff’s websites without review or redress. The de-indexing was not based on algorithmic rules or webmaster guidelines, but rather, subjectively applied based on an anonymous tip from an unnamed third party. Related: These 9 SEO Tips Are All You'll Ever Need to Rank in Google[2]The larger question here is chilling to virtually any small business which seeks a higher ranking, since Google’s own definition of search engine manipulation is vague and unpredictable. According to a brief filed by e-ventures’ attorney Alexis Arena at Flaster Greenberg PC, “Under Google’s definition, any website owner that attempts to cause its website to rank higher, in any manner, could be guilty of ‘pure spam’ and blocked from Google’s search results, without explanation or redress.”“It seemed as though I was personally targeted by Google,” said Jeev Trika, CEO of e-ventures Worldwide. “I would purchase a brand new domain and post nothing more than ‘bye bye world’ and within minutes, Google would de-index that domain too. So, Google’s argument that it was removing websites because they were violating Google webmaster guidelines falls flat. It was not about the website content, it was about targeting the website owner. The fact that Google targets people like this…
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