Being productive can be hard. Perhaps you've fallen into a routine of getting up at a certain time, getting into work and slumping down at your desk or place of work with no energy and motivation. Research has found there is an ideal structure to your day that creates best results and also the flexibility you wish for. The problem with your current tradition of working is that it forces you to work when your brain isn't motivated. Traditionally you Have a long day to get your work done and your brain needs to be in the relaxation mode all day. but more often it's hard for you to focus on one thing all the way.

According to the research, the best way to achieve best work productivity is to focus on the first 3 hours of your day. This is the best time straight after sleep when your will power and self-control is at the maximum.

How often have you dragged yourself to work and headed straight for the coffee machine because you can't possibly function until you drink up at least your third cup of coffee? This is where you're potentially going wrong the first 3 hours of your day will eventually make you or break you. It's during this period that you can make the most of your clay. Creating a routine where the first 3 hours of your day are the intense periods of work will actually cause you to complete the majority of your work at a best level, leaving the rest of the day for your brain to relax and deal with fewer laborious projects.

To carry out the 3-hour morning, you should try and start a routine of getting up early because the more hours you have in the morning, the more time you have to be productive for the rest of the day. It's also essential that you start the day with a protein-rich breakfast, which means the right kind of fuel for your brain and the rest of your body so you can work at your best level. After getting up, you should ensure that there are fewer people to distract you or cause you stress. To be exact, make sure you put away your phone and make a conscious effort not to check social media for the first 3 hours. Besides? listening to music such as sounds of nature is a good way to help stop outside noises from interrupting your concentration.

【推荐3】Time for a Brainstorm

A brainstorm is a session where a small group of people come together to solve a problem. People voice spontaneous ideas, sometimes just shouting, and a note-taker writes them all down.    1    By getting different ideas out there, ideas are said to bounce off each other and even can help solve the problem at hand. Brainstorming is often a group exercise but individuals can also conduct personal brainstorms.

Brainstorming has become one of the most popular ways to solve problems and hold discussion in schools and businesses. Many students brainstorm for a group assignment or even for a personal essay. Sarah Grace, 24, is an Australian marketing analyst and uses brainstorming during all her creative duties. She thinks brainstorming is the best way to work as a team. The sessions get everyone on the same page, everyone moving together and with a clear understanding about the foundations of an event or idea.    3    .

However, a big problem with brainstorming is creating a mess that leads people further away from a solution.     4     If you don’t have a strong moderator or leader of the brainstorm, can go really off track, and people just start discussing something totally different. Brainstorming can sometimes confuse the human brain.    5     If you brainstorm too much and your page is filled up with all the messy links, you can paint yourself into a bit of comer and get trapped with ideas.

You need to move past brainstorming as soon as you have something workable.

【推荐1】Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci ... the art world has never lacked talent. And now, a new painter is ready to join the list, although this one isn’t even human.

Next month, auction house(拍卖行) Christie’s Prints and Multiples will make history by offering the first piece of art created by artificial intelligence for sale. The painting is a portrait of a man called Edmond De Belamy, and is expected to be sold for up to $10,000 (69,000 yuan).

The work, which features a man with a mysterious look on his face, was created by software developed by the French art group Obvious. Laugero-Lasserre, an art collector from France, called the work “ridiculous and amazing at the same time”. This isn’t the first example of AI-produced artwork, as AI has already been used to write poems and compose songs. However, many people doubt whether it should be called art at all.

According to Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, art is about creating emotion. It’s “a means of … joining people together in the same feelings”, he once said.

So, if the emotion behind art is what makes the art, the ability to create and use tools is what makes human beings different from other species. And as a tool itself, the AI technology used to create the portrait is the result of a lot of effort made by several designers. Together, they “fed” the AI a huge collection of paintings from the 14th to the 18th centuries, until it was able to work out how to make similar paintings of its own.

The introduction of AI art could be the beginning of a new artistic movement. However, not everyone is ready to welcome these high-tech artists just yet.

【推荐2】Running is often tiring and a lot of hard work, but nothing beats the feeling you get after finishing a long workout around the track.

But while it’s long been believed that endorphins (脑内啡)—chemicals in the body that cause happiness — are behind the so-called “runner’s high”, a study suggested that there may be more to this phenomenon than we previously knew.

According to a recent study published by a group of scientists from several German universities, a group of chemicals called endocannabinoids (内源性大麻素) may actually be responsible for this familiar great feeling.

To test this theory, the scientists turned to mice.

Both mice and humans release high levels of endorphins and endocannabinoids after exercise along with many other chemicals. After exercising on running wheel, the mice seemed happy and relaxed and displayed no signs of anxiety.

But after being given a drug to block their endorphins, the mice’s behavior didn’t seem to change. However, when their endocannabinoids were blocked with a different drug, their runner’s change.

“The long-held notion of endorphins being responsible for the runner’s high is false. Endorphins are effective pain relievers, but only when it comes to the pain in your body and muscle high symptoms seemed to fade you feel after taking exercise,” Patrick Lucas Austin wrote on science blog Lifehacker.

Similar studies are yet to be carried out on humans, but it’s already well known that exercise is a highly effective way to get rid of stress or anxiety.

The UK’s National Health Service even prescribes (开药方) exercise to patients who are suffering from depression.

“Being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put you off being more active. Regular exercise can cheer you up if you have depression, and it’s especially useful for people with mild to moderate (中等的) depression,” it wrote on its website.

It seems like nothing can beat that feeling we get after a good workout, even if we don’t fully understand where it comes from. At least if we’re feeling down, we know that all we have to do is put on our running shoes.

【推荐1】For people, many other animals, family matters. Consider how many jobs go to relatives. Or how an ant will cruelly attack intruder (入侵的) ants but rescue injured, closely related nest-mates. There are good evolutionary reasons to aid relatives, after all. Now, it seems, family feelings may stir in plants as well.

A Canadian biologist planted the seed of the idea more than a decade ago, but many plant biologists regarded it as heretical-plants lack the nervous systems that enable animals to recognize kin (家族), so how can they know their relatives? But with a series of recent findings, the belief that plants really do care for their most genetically close peers-in a quiet, planty way-is taking root. Some species control how far their roots spread, others change how many flowers they produce, and a few tilt (倾斜) or shift their leaves to minimize shading of neighboring plants, favoring related individuals.

“We need to recognize that plants not only sense whether it’s light or dark or if they’ve been touched, but also whom they are interacting with,” says Susan Dudley, a plant evolutionary ecologist, whose early plant kin recognition studies sparked the interest of many scientists.

Beyond broadening views of plant behavior, the new work may have a practical side. In September 2018, a team in China reported that rice planted with kin grows better, a finding that suggested family ties can be used to improve crop yields. “It seems anytime anyone looks for it, they find a kin effect,” says Andre Kessler, a chemical ecologist at Cornell University.

【推荐2】Kids spend a lot of time looking at screens, and some parents worry, but a new study argues against the fears parents may feel.

“The danger is that they’re hearing a message that social media, digital technology use is causing very serious and harmful problems like depression（抑郁症) and suicide-related(与自杀有关的) behaviors. And the idea is that if you shut off social media, which lots of kids use to connect with each other, their friends, find out information about health, you could be making a situation worse. Parents are really being sent a message that is not supported by anything scientifically.” Candice Odgers, professor of psychological science at the University of California, said.

Odgers and her colleagues looked at the screen-related behavior of 400 public-school students in North Carolina aged 10 to 14. This group was picked as a representative sample of race and socioeconomic status for the entire U.S. The researchers found that the kids spent between almost five hours to seven hours per day on their devices, with the older kids online the most. That’s a lot of hours, but:

“Overall, what we find is no connection between the amount of time that young people spend online using digital technologies and mental health symptoms like depression and anxiety. When we do find associations, they were actually quite surprising to us. We found that young people who sent more text messages actually reported better mental health.

Now, again, this was a small association, but it reflects what other people have found: that people who are very connected offline and who use technology in the positive ways to stay connected often, are more connected online as well and experiencing better mental health.”

So why the fears about screen time? Odgers argues that the methodologies for older studies may have led to false conclusions.

“One of the issues with the research that’s been done to date has been that youths are, you know, in school.... They have a survey put in front of them, and they’re asked to recall(想), over the past six months, ‘How often are you online?’and ‘Have you ever felt depressed?’And the correlation (相互关系) between those two things has been used to spread a lot of fear around this connection between social media use and things like depression—99.5 percent of the reasons that kids differ in their depression are due to something other than the time they spend online.”

【推荐3】A brand is a name, word, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of a company or a group of companies. Another purpose of a brand is to contrast one company from another. The most important skill of professional marketers is the ability to create, maintain, protect, and enhance the brands of their products and services. Branding has become so important that today hardly any company or product is without one. Therefore, brand management is an increasingly important element in marketing.

Brand power refers to the relative strength of a company’s brand in the minds of consumers, and can influence consumers’ choice of products. Brands are powerful to the extent that they give high brand loyalty and strong brand associations, name recognition, perceived quality and other assets to a company. A strong brand can be one of a company’s most important assets.

High brand power provides a company with many competitive advantages. A powerful brand enjoys a high level of consumer brand awareness and loyalty. Because consumers expect stores to carry the brand, the company has more bargaining power when negotiating with retailers (零售商). And because the brand name brings high credibility, a company with a strong brand can more easily launch new products with the same brand name.

Many companies use the advantage of a strong brand power strategically to expand their business. When a company introduces an additional item with a new flavour, form, colour or package size in a given product category and under the same brand name, it is called a line extension. Another strategy is called brand extension. This involves the use of a successful brand name to launch new or modified products in a new category, thereby employing brand recognition in order to increase sales of new products.

Brand recognition is certainly important. Because consumers often hold long-standing perceptions about brands, high brand power ensure a company continued sales of its products.

【推荐1】The artificial lighting which lines the world’s coastlines could be having a significant impact on species that rely on the moon and stars to find food, new research suggests.

Creatures such as the sand hopper(沙蚤) orientate(确定方位)their nightly migrations based on the moon’s position and brightness of the natural night sky. However, a study by Bangor University and the University of Plymouth shows the presence of artificial light originating from cities several kilometres away (also known as artificial sky glow) disrupts the lunar compass they use when covering long distances.

In some cases, this can lead to animals travelling towards the sea and away from food, while in others it reduces the chance of them venturing out for food at all. Writing in Current Biology, researchers say this could pose a distinct threat not just to the health of sand hopper populations but also the wider ecosystem, since they play an important role in breaking down and recycling algae washed up on coastlines.

Dr. Thomas Davies, Lecturer in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth (UK), said, “Artificial sky glow is the most geographically widespread form of light pollution. Surveys have shown it can currently be detected above 23% of the world’s coasts nightly, and with coastal human populations set to at least double by 2060, its effects are only going to increase. Our results show it is already having obvious impacts on biological processes that are guided by celestial(天上的)light signals.”

Through the study, researchers find increasing evidence that light pollution from coastal cities can influence marine species inhabiting nearby beaches, rocky shores and even the seafloor. These results highlight how pervasive(遍布的)city lighting could be in shaping the ecology of coastlines kilometres distant from their nearest urban centres. They also highlight the potential for artificial sky glow to impact other species that undergo migrations using the moon as a compass.

“While our understanding of the impacts of street lights on nature has improved dramatically, artificial sky glow has been largely overlooked. More work is urgently needed to fully understand the extent to which it is shaping the natural environment.” Dr. Thomas Davies added.

【推荐2】New data presented this week at the annual Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) suggest that a student's preferred sleeping schedule has a lot to do with his or her grade-point average in school. In one study, researchers at the University of Pittsburg revealed that poor sleep habits among high schoolers led to lower grades, particularly in math.

It's no surprise that poor sleep habits may negatively impact academic performance. And dozens of studies have linked an increase in nightly sleep to better cognition and alertness. The new research, however, goes a step further, quantifying the impact of erratic or inadequate sleep on grades. These findings are more convincing than saying that if you get more sleep, you'll feel better," says Jennifer Cousins, a lead researcher of the study.

The study involved data from 56 adolescents (34 female) between the ages of 14 and 18 years. They were asked to fill out sleep diaries for one week and wear a special activity monitor on their wrists, which recorded when the students were asleep or awake. Overall, teens with poor sleep habits received lower grades than students who stuck with a more regular sleep routine.

Interestingly, Cousins also found that different sleep habits had different effects on the students' school performance：those who woke up more often during the night did worse in math, for example, while those who slept peacefully through the night tended to get better grades in English.

These findings bring up new questions about teasing out（探讨）the details of what is important about sleep that impacts learning," says Cousins. "Does more sleep improve our ability to deal with abstract concepts found in math, or does sleep quality increase creativity? We don't know the answers, and don't want to draw those conclusions yet. But this helps us understand more about how sleep helps the things we do in daily life. "

Authors of the study point out that the results provide overwhelming evidence of the importance of sleep during a period of development that is critical for adolescents and recommend sleep education as a prevention tool to help increase awareness of the importance of sleep and of the negative consequences of poor sleep.

【推荐3】The Good Gym was created by Ivo Gormley, 29, who discovered that combining a weekly run with a visit to a housebound（足不出户的）friend of the family was just the inspiration he needed to keep him exercising. It helped that his elderly friend was a former boxer who could offer training tips. As Gormley did his suggested sit-ups, he thought about this: how few people have the time or energy to volunteer and yet use gyms to burn off energy, and how little dialogue there is between working people and the elderly.

Through working with charities and local community centers, the Good Gym matches runners with an individual（个人的）coach 一 a housebound elderly person who would like a regular visitor. They are encouraged to take a newspaper or a modest gift to the value of £1.

Cawley, 38, a hairdresser, heard about the Good Gym through Twitter. "It seemed such a great idea," she said. It took four months for her to be checked by the Criminal Records Bureau・ Then she got Mulcahy to run to, based on the distance she requested.

Having a break in her running works well from a training point of view: she does a speed run to Mulcahy's house, rests there, then does a more gentle, warm-down jog on the way home. Cawley is from Stockport and has no grandparents in London, so she enjoys chatting to her elderly coach. While the Good Gym advises runners to stay for about 10 minutes, Cawley sometimes chats to Mulcahy for an hour. Although he has family, and regular visits from professional carers, Cawley thinks he enjoys a visit from someone who does not worry like relatives and is not there out of professional duty. She didn't really know what he thought of "this person turning up and chatting to him” until she told him she was going away on holiday. He said, "I'll really miss you."