The conversation Melinda Gates wishes she had before she got married

The conversation Melinda Gates wishes she had before she got marriedThe conversation Melinda Gates wishes she had before she got marriedMelinda Gates has recently been making headlines regarding the publication of her new book, The Moment of Lift. But in addition to being a fountain of knowledge on feminism and the benefits of global access to contraceptives, Gates is also a great surce for relationship advice.From the mouth of Melinda herself, this is the conversation she wishes she had with her husband, Bill Gates, before she danced with him to When I ding In Love at their wedding.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWhile discussing her book with Bren Brown, Gates discussed the topic of shared childcare between two partners. According to Gates, its a good idea for individuals who want to raise children together to set guidelines for childcare before they even get married.The must- have conversationI wish I had been enlightened enough to have that conversation before we got married, Gates said.Creating a system that works for you, your partner, and your child is an ongoing process, not one that is finished after that initial conversation with your significant other.Gates told the story of one couple that did have the conversation of equal childcare before they were married. The couple committed to alternate on an off days in which they were completely responsible for their child. When their first child welches born, the couple found themselves falling into the gendered roles, with more of the care falling on the womans plate.Were so influenced by our past, Gates said. So often we bring forward what we saw from our own parents. Bill and I, even though we believe in equality, both entered the marriage with biased opinions about who was going to do what in the household.Those biases make us oblivious to unfair situations, and Gates argues that we must open our mo uths in order to open each others eyes. A huge part of this, Gates said, is speaking up and make an agreement with your partner, and continue to advocate for ourselves when the plan requires adjustments.Instead of suffering from a task you dont enjoy or cant afford to do, Gates recommends you to talk with your partner and voice your concerns. Many times, Gates reveals, partners want to help each other, but dont know exactly what their partner needs.Gates recalls a story from when her first child was entering school. Her and Bill decided on a school for their daughter to attend, but Gates had second thoughts once she realized it was 45 minutes away. Once she voiced her concerns, Bill agreed to drive their daughter to school two days a week, all while he was still the CEO at Microsoft.Childcare on a global levelThe unequal balance of childcare between couples is a global problem, according to Gates.The US workforce is 47% women, but still, the majority of house and childcare work fall s on them. There are many factors that play a part in this, but a large part is that the conversation about equal childcare isnt being had.We have to have honest, courageous conversations in our homes if were going to change that dynamic, Gates said.In this country, there is an average of a 90-minute per day gap between the amount of work men do in the workplace and the amount women do, according to Gates. Over the average womans lifetime, that hour and a half each day adds up to a seven-year gap between men and women.Our economies are built on the back of this unpaid labor that women do, she said.For those women who are looking to have careers and be productive outside the home, Gates recommends you have a conversation about childcare and housework before getting married.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that wi ll double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Pizza Ovens Power the Future in Canada

Pizza Ovens Power the Future in Canada Pizza Ovens Power the Future in Canada Pizza Ovens Power the Future in CanadaSeveral years ago, James Cotton, professor of mechanical engineering and associate director of the McMaster University Institute for Energy Studies, Hamilton, Ontario, started a project on thermal electric generators. At the time, he never imagined that it would end up involving pepperoni.When you look at this issue of energy recovery, you start thinking about the continuous operator, Cotton says.With this in mind, Cotton came up with the unusual idea of working with the food service industry, which leuchtdiode him to contact the CEO of Pizza Pizza, a company not familiar to many in the U.S., but which provides more hot slices to Canadians than any other, Cotton says.They were interested in the project right off the bat, he says. Pizza ovens basically run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because of the need to maintain a constant temperature of 260 C. They also have a large air-to-fuel ratio because of the constant cooking. But only five to ten percent of the energy content, the fuel, goes into the pizza. Theres obviously an opportunity to potentially do harnessing when it comes to whats lost.Hungry for more energy stories? Dig in here.What Cotton eventually created was a pizza oven waste energy recovery system and generator that attaches to a pizza ovens chimney. Its a heat exchanger that is coupled to a cooling loop that is integrated to components, in particular, thermal storage, he says. We are out to control, monitor, and optimize energy and we want to capture as much as possible without increasing energy consumption.In this case, the system, when attached to the chimney of a pizza oven, recycles the heat and turns it into electricity. It doesnt involve any fouling. Fouling is when grease evaporates and if its cooled too much it can trap particulates and affect the performance of the exchanger, he explains.Youre looking at being able to hea t the store with this system. We can preheat the air going into the oven and we can also run a small-scale DC microgrid to power LEDs, the point-of-sale system, and more, he says.The system includes an energy modeling feature that can tell if things are running properly, he says. On average, a pizza oven uses fifty cubic meters of natural gas a day and thats more than a Canadian home would use in a month in winter time, he says. What we create can get about fiveor sixof the ten kilowattsinto other usage.His system, which was installed in the training center at Pizza Pizza headquarters, could eventually find itself providing energy to many franchises, he says. But the project has already energized the McMaster University students who have contributed. They love the idea partly because they love pizza, he says. It inspires enthusiasm because of the topic but it sneaks in the importance of reducing our environmental footprint. It just shows how everyday things in our life can be overlo oked.Eric Butterman is an independent writer. For Further Discussion On average, a pizza oven uses fifty cubic meters of natural gas a day and thats more than a Canadian home would use in a month in winter time. Prof. James Cotton, McMaster University

Procrastination Tips to Avoid Its Subtle Sabotage

Procrastination Tips to Avoid Its Subtle SabotageProcrastination Tips to Avoid Its Subtle SabotageTips to avoid procrastination and its effects on your job search.People have devised a variety of ways to sabotage themselves on the job search. Few are more destructive or profound than procrastination.Whether you have elevated procrastination to an art form or address it only selectively, the habit can lead to stress, illness and low self-esteem. Combine that with the already compromising position of unemployment, and you have a recipe for full-blown depression.Many people consider the role of procrastinator a black- or-white proposition They either see themselves as one, or they dont.The truth is, there are different degrees of procrastination. Almost everyone procrastinates to some degree in some area of life. Thats called being human. Procrastination becomes a problem, however, when it is so pervasive that it affects our behavior in ways beyond our conscious awareness.Although there are many ways job hunters procrastinate, I m going to focus on two of themHypocritical procrastinationInterruptionsHypocritical procrastinationRita Emmett, author of The Procrastinators Handbook, describes hypocritical procrastination as the game we play when we justify putting off an important project by doing something noble instead. This can be a huge issue for job hunters - especially when there is a spouse or children involved. What often happens is that the unemployed spouse looks for ways to help around the house as a way to procrastinate - without appearing to procrastinate. To the spouse who appreciates not having to pick the kids up at school or mow the lawn,, the extra help is welcome. However, the longer it goes on, the more the spouse is unintentionally enabling procrastination and sabotaging the partners job search.As a job hunter, your top priority is to focus on yourself and do what it takes to secure a new position. Otherwise, you will become a magnet for the er rands and unfinished projects of people who assume you have all the time in the world since you arent working.If you are the kind of person who loves to help others because it makes you feel good, hypocritical procrastination can be difficult to recognize You may not be consciously avoiding the work you need to do. Instead, hypocritical p rocrastination happens gradually when you allow your valuable time to be consumed by others until you have very little time for yourself. When you or your loved ones finally begin to question why you havent made any progress on the job front, it is easy to say, Ive been so busy, I just havent had any time.But guess whose fault that is.Interruptions This might sound strange, but the most common interruptions to productivity are often disguised as multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is not the skill people pretend it is. Multi-tasking is one of the 21st centurys greatest inhibitors of productivity and progress.Think about it. Many of us willingly start our day with interruptions - as a matter of habit.Thanks to the Blackberry and other handheld devices, we can now receive e-mail without turning on our computers. Even if you wait until you get to your desk and turn the computer on, you may still be guilty of allowing your day to be sidetracked by interruptions. After all, if you check e-mail first, whose agenda are you on?Not your own.Responding to email first thing in the morning and continuously throughout the day puts you in reactive mode - continuously. As a result, you have probably had the experience of reaching noon - or, worse yet, early evening - only to discover you didnt do a single project you platzdeckchen out to do when you started your day.So whats the cure?Set aside time where you do not allow yourself to be interrupted. For example, I heard about one author whose publisher gave him a month to write a book. At first, he was traumatized because his last book had taken about nine months to write. But after getting adv ice from a time-management expert, he created a plan and stuck to it.He started the day by turning off his phone and e-mail for an hour and a half. During that time, he shut the door to his office and worked diligently and without interruption. After 90 minutes, he took a 30-minute break and focused on something completely different (like exercise). Then he continued working for another 90 minutes, took another 30 minute break, and ended his day with a final 90-minute writing marathon.If you already added this up, you probably realized if he started writing at 9 a.m., he would finish for the day at 230 p.m. - with more than enough time to check e-mail, answer phone calls or simply take the rest of the afternoon off. While this might not seem like a particularly rigorous schedule, you cant argue with its effectiveness. He started and finished the book in three weeks - one week ahead of schedule. That is whats possible when you break the procrastination habit.