Before I knew anything about who would be at BlogHer, I had already made the decision to attend it. But when I found out that Arianna Huffington would be there, I couldn’t wait to attend. On stage, she was interviewed by Guy Kawasaki who is very popular. I didn’t know him then, but I certainly know him now.
Arianna was unexpectedly funny. I don’t know what I expected, but I know I did not expect that. Like Guy had already warned us, when you ask Arianna a question, she tells you what she wants to tell you, whether or not it answers the question. He asked her some serious questions and some light-hearted either-or questions, like “Mac or Windows?” (She said both), and “Burberry or Versace?” (She said Burberry), and “Harvard or Stanford?” (She said Yale), and “E-book or print?” (She said Print.) I like print better, too. Always.
But ultimately, I took many things away from what she said, and I’m sharing them here. Maybe they’ll touch something in you, too.
1. Sleep your way to the top: This was my biggest lesson from Arianna. She was speaking about literally sleeping, taking the time to sleep. She gets at least 7 hours of sleep a day and you wouldn’t expect that from someone so famous and important and influential. And important. No matter what, she said, she always gets her sleep, a lesson that I need. I don’t get enough sleep.
2. Walk your devices out of the bedroom: Since I came back, my cell phone and I have slept apart for two days, and would you believe, it has not killed me. Years ago, I started sleeping with my phone on complete silence, instead of on vibrate. And my body has thanked me.
3. Take care of yourself: It’s easy, especially as women, to take care of everyone else while we suffer. But you can’t adequately be of help to someone else when you cannot be of help to yourself.
4. Read real books: Sometimes I feel guilty for reading because I feel like I should be writing my book instead of reading others, but ironically, reading makes me want to write more, and reading has a certain calmness over me. And just like Arianna, I don’t like e-books. I like flipping my pages and highlighting and underlining and writing.
5. Even God rested on the 7th day: Rest. You’re human. If God Himself needed rest, then certainly, my mortal self needs it more. I’m trying to keep Sundays strictly for rest. No blogging. No commenting. No emailing. Just rest. It’s a little difficult right now because I still have a 9-5 job, so blogging on Sunday might be my only choice, but I’m trying.
6. Disconnect from work and everything and reconnect to yourself: With all the gadgets we have on us these days, it’s almost impossible to be disconnected from the world, but you have to try. Consciously try.
7. Multi-tasking does not exist. It’s actually multi-switching: According to Arianna, there’s no such thing as multi-tasking. We like to think there is, but really, are you actually doing several things at once? Or are you just switching between several things at once? I think it’s the latter.
8. Stop glamorizing being busy: Yes, having something to do is good (instead of being idle all the time), but always being busy isn’t a badge of honor, and we shouldn’t wear it as one.
9. Make a personal connection with someone that you otherwise wouldn’t: Like, when was the last time you said hello to the cashier at Walmart and asked her how her day was — and meant it? What about the postman? And what about your dry cleaner? Make a connection with them. Sometimes a hello here and a hug there might be the difference in their life. You just might make their day.
10. “No” is a complete sentence: This is literally one of my favorites because I couldn’t agree more. It’s okay to say No, and no, you don’t have to explain it either.
Arianna was such an inspiration to me. I cannot speak for the other bloggers, but for me, I wanted to double-tap her several times to show my Like. It’s always a big deal to me when I meet a woman who is living her dream and not afraid to do so. And while I may not be Greek like Arianna, I was still comforted by seeing and hearing a woman with an accent at the top. I was inspired. And I cannot lie, I saw myself sitting up there.
And of course, I had to buy her book, Thrive. I have not started reading it yet, but she autographed it, and I’ll love it forever. For a brief moment, Arianna stood in front of me to sign my book and we breathed the same air. Would you believe, she breathes in oxygen, just like me?
Arianna Huffington signing my book at BlogHer
“No” is a complete sentence…that touched something in me!
Good. I hope you remember it 🙂
Stop glamorizing being busy. ….. that’s mine!!!
Fufu, that’s the only one you think is yours? What about numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10???
“Make a personal connection with someone that you otherwise wouldn’t” -definitely touched me!
Good!
Very important lessons here Vera. As a little side note though, Arianna is able to get enough rest because she’s invested in relationships.
She has a team that’s working while she’s taking a much deserved rest. That’s one of the benefit of teamwork. It frees you of some “me” time without compromising the quality of service rendered.
It seems like you really had a great time at the conference. Your Instagram posts say it all. I’m glad you were able to attend this year.
Well, she said that she was doing everything before until she fell ill and passed out. I don’t think that someone who does it alone (like me) should not sleep well. For one thing, I am way more productive when I’m well rested, so I’ll try to do it more often.
I remember watching her interview on The Wendy Williams show and feeling so inspired. The “Sleep Your Way To The Top” point is so apt. Especially in a world where people brag about how they sleep for just three or four hours a day. It’s calming and refreshing to hear different especially from a highly successful woman. Way to go!
I completely agree. Sometimes I don’t sleep enough and I pat myself on the back when that happens as if I’m doing myself any good. That was before anyway. These days, I sleep.
This is amazing, Vera. One day I will watch you on TV, smile to myself and say, “Yes, she made it.” Thank you for the reminder that there is nothing wrong in saying “No.”
Thanks for the recap! There were so many choices ot make about what to do at any given moment and I missed this keynote.
I have always been a fan of Ms. Huffington since last year when I just started following her on twitter. The one thing that resonated the most with me is the one on sleep. Last year on twitter, she had tweeted about this quote that I since munched on my phone and I quote ” Sleep deprivation is for losers. Sleep deprived people make the wrong decisions. They miss the whispers and the signs and red flags”. Why on earth do I ever want to brag about the hour I go to sleep? like making it seem like early sleepers are no good. And how can one think that staying up late automatically translates to them being a hard worker? literally makes me cold.. When I read about how Ms. Huffington had installed nap rooms at her online newspaper office to encourage her workers to nap/ take a rest when they needed to, I just loved her more. Not only did she know that this was good for her body, she also does the same for her workers… Vera, I am happy you attended the conference, and you made all of the necessary connections. Godspeed all the way.
“No is a complete sentence”
Words to live by
#Gbam
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