{"id":9580,"date":"2014-07-31T02:38:54","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T06:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=9580"},"modified":"2014-07-31T00:39:47","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T04:39:47","slug":"10-lessons-learned-arianna-huffington-blogher-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/personal\/10-lessons-learned-arianna-huffington-blogher-conference.html","title":{"rendered":"10 Lessons I Learned From Arianna Huffington At The BlogHer Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0On stage, she was interviewed by Guy Kawasaki<\/strong><\/a> who is very popular. I didn’t know him then, but I certainly know him now.<\/p>\n

Arianna was unexpectedly funny. I don’t know what I expected, but I know I did not expect that<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Sleep your way to the top:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Walk your devices out of the bedroom:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Take care of yourself:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Read real books:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Even God rested on the 7th day:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Disconnect from work and everything and reconnect to yourself:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0Multi-tasking does not exist. It’s actually multi-switching:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

8. \u00a0Stop glamorizing being busy:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

9. \u00a0Make a personal connection with someone that you otherwise wouldn’t:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

10. \u00a0“No” is a complete sentence:<\/strong> This is literally one of my favorites because I couldn’t agree more. It’s okay to say No<\/em>, and no, you don’t have to explain it either.<\/p>\n

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<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n

And of course, I had to buy her book, Thrive<\/em>. 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?<\/p>\n

\"Arianna<\/a>

Arianna Huffington signing my book at BlogHer<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0On stage, she was interviewed by Guy Kawasaki who is very popular. I didn’t know him then, but I certainly knowRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[561],"tags":[1092,1081,1080],"class_list":["post-9580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal","tag-arianna-huffington","tag-blogher","tag-blogher14","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 Lessons I Learned From Arianna Huffington At The BlogHer Conference - 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