Amid all the annoyances of modern air travel — shrinking seats, rising baggage fees, long lines — it can be easy to forget how remarkable travel can be. Our trailblazing ancestors couldn’t comprehend crossing the country in six months, let alone six hours. 

With great power, however, comes great headaches. While our bodies weren’t designed to travel across time zones at high speeds, we can and we do. But it comes at a cost, and that cost is fatigue, drowsiness, nausea, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and confusion. In other words, jet lag.

According to the American Sleep Association, jet lag affects about 93 percent of travelers and can last up to several days. The body needs one day of recovery for each time zone shifted to fully adjust, which is enough to ruin an entire trip. While the symptoms can’t be entirely avoided, its effects can be managed with some clever tips and tricks.

We asked nine of our frequent flying friends for their go-to jet-lag cures. Take note and use them to downgrade the hurt.

1. Exercise at your end destination

Traveler: Jayne Appel, center for the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver Stars

Frequency of Travel: “During the season, I travel almost every three days — it all depends on my game schedule. It’s brutal trying to fit my six-foot-four frame into those sardine cans in the air. 

Top tip: “Force yourself to workout when you land —it will help your body adjust to the correct time zone.”

Why it works: According to some studies, physical activity helps people adjust to new schedules because it strengthens the circadian rhythm, helping you fall asleep or stay awake according to your new location.

2. Consider the clock

Traveler: Jeremy Jauncey, founder of Beautiful Destinations 

Frequency of Travel:: At least once a week

Top tip: Jeremy sets all his clocks to the time zone of his destination. This way, when he checks his computer or phone mid-flight he is already mentally adjusting for a new schedule.

Why it works: Psyching out your subconscious can help your mind regulate when it “should” perform certain behaviors — waking, eating, sleeping and so on. A similar tactic that works for more ambitious travelers? In the days leading up to a big trip, they’ll slowly change their clocks and bedtime so their sleep schedules are aligned to that of their final destination.

3. Chug water

Traveler: Erin Carney, global internal auditor

Frequency of Travel:: Twice a week for business meetings and operational reviews

Top tip: “I hydrate like a mad woman. As a rule of thumb, for every three hours of flying time I drink a minimum of one liter of water. For more than six hours, I buy two-liter bottles of still, one of sparking and fill my huge Nalgene prior to boarding.” 

Why it works: Proper hydration before, during and after is critical to staying in good health while traveling, as flying dehydrates the body, draining it of energy and amplifying existing jet lag symptoms. 

Getting rich isn't reserved for a select few.

Almost anyone can make it happen — and people who have done it say wealth often begins with your mentality.

Read on for a healthy dose of inspiration from self-made millionaires, authors, entrepreneurs, and investing gurus:

SEE ALSO: 14 insights about getting rich, from a 90-year-old book on wealth that's still relevant today

"How much you earn has almost no bearing on whether or not you can and will build wealth. Regardless of the size of your paycheck, you probably already make enough money to become rich."— David Bach

Source: "The Automatic Millionaire" by David Bach

"The number one reason most people don't get what they want is that they don't know what they want. Rich people are totally clear that they want wealth."— T. Harv Eker

Source: "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T. Harv Eker

"The fastest way to make money is to solve a problem. The bigger the problem you solve, the more money you make."— Steve Siebold

Source: Steve Siebold via Business Insider

Now that new music comes out every Friday — but not always on every streaming service — it can be hard to know where to find the next great song. 

To help you out, Business Insider has compiled this rundown of the best new music you can stream right now.

Note: Some songs contain NSFW language.

Francis and the Lights — "Friends (feat. Bon Iver and Kanye West)"

The latest single from Francis and the Lights — a group that appeared on Chance the Rapper's critically acclaimed "Coloring Book" mixtape in May — features Kanye West and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon singing through a vocoder over bright, pulsating production.

The video for "Friends" opens with a shot of Kanye wearing a bizarre Japanese biker jacket and standing in an all-white room, and it only gets stranger from there. 

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Jay Z — "spiritual"

Jay Z's first single in three years is a poignant response to the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. The Tidal-exclusive track features an evocative, piano-led beat and sharp lyrics from Jay Z regarding police brutality and gun violence. 

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The Avalanches — "Subways"

"Subways" is one of the many highlights from "Wildflower," the first album in 16 years from Australian producers The Avalanches. The single samples The Bee Gees and a 1980 song by an obscure singer-songwriter called Chandra to form a pleasantly entrancing groove.

We've given you a glimpse into the fabulous lives of the super rich— and noted some of the outrageous things they can buy with their billions — but perhaps more representative of their extravagant lives are their lavish homes.

Thanks to CNBC's show "Secret Lives of the Super Rich,"and Luxury Listing's new Instagram account, we get a peek into how the super rich live. 

We sorted through CNBC's Instagram account, @cnbcsuperrich and @luxlistingsnyc, and gathered pictures of some of the poshest homes out there.

Dare to dream!

This is an update of a post originally published by Kathleen Elkins.

SEE ALSO: The 15 countries with the most billionaires

Their penthouses look like something from the future.

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There's no need to travel to the real Arc de Triomphe when your patio looks like this.

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If the infinity pool or Jacuzzi get boring, the Atlantic is just a few strides away.

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The older you get, the harder it is to change your habits.

But in your 30s, you're still pretty moldable, and there's time to adopt new, positive behaviors.

To help you pinpoint the changes you'll want to make, we consulted recent Quorathreads on this critical decade and highlighted the most compelling responses.

Read on for the best ideas.

SEE ALSO: 10 changes to make in your 30s that will set you up for lifelong success

1. Start laughing at yourself

"Laugh at yourself, laugh at the absurdity of life, laugh at the goodness and the badness of every situation,"writes Quora user Cyndi Perlman Fink.

Being able to find humor in your own struggles may be important for your overall health and happiness. Research suggests that people who are able to laugh at themselves are generally more cheerful.

2. Start appreciating your family and friends

In your 20s, you may be so busy getting an education and launching your career that family and friends fall by the wayside. Your 30s are a good time to get back in touch and remember how much you love spending time with them.

As for family, "if you can find a way to make a connection with them, you may find some things in common with them, more than you expect,"says Robert Walker.

And as for friends, Nan Waldman says: "Nurture them. Laugh with them. Be silly too. Contribute to their survival and enjoyment of life. Take the time every week to be in touch."

3. Start keeping a journal

"Journal your life! Your written records will entertain and endear in your future,"writes Mark Crawley.

You don't necessarily have to keep a secret notebook under your bed — a digital photo album with captions works just as well.

Visiting the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room is an experience unlike any other — and it's key to understanding the future of the coffee giant.

The 15,000-square-foot location combines coffee production, menu testing, and architectural whimsy in a way that can't be found anywhere else in the world.

Serving up drinks like the $10 Nitro Cold Brew Float, made with coffee roasted on location, it's a testament to the coffee giant's willingness to innovate in a constantly changing coffee culture.

The Roastery opened in December 2014, and has been described by the company as the future of Starbucks. Currently, Starbucks is in the process of opening two more Roasteries, in New York City and Shanghai.

In an effort to get a glimpse at the next era of Starbucks, Business Insider visited the Roastery in Seattle.

The Roastery, just nine blocks from the first Starbucks shop, is immediately eye-catching. Notably, the location uses the first iteration of the chain's mermaid logo — the ubiquitous green mermaid is nowhere to be found at the upscale location.

Walking inside, it becomes clear this isn't the average Starbucks. Freshly roasted beans sit in gleaming containers, ready to be ground and brewed.

The beans were roasted just a few feet away, in a small-batch roaster.

When Steve Jobs presented his proposal for a new Apple campus to the Cupertino City Council back in 2011, he had one aim: to create the best office building in the world. 

A little over four years later, Apple is well on its way to completing its new campus in Cupertino, California and from the looks of it, Jobs' wishes will come true. 

While the main spaceship-like building won't be open until 2017, we have already learned quite a bit about what the building and the campus as a whole will be like. We also know more now about how the building came to be. 

Here's a look at the most impressive facts about the new campus. 

Steve Jobs was very involved in the planning process.

In the Summer of 2009 Steve Jobs called up Norman Foster, the lead architect at the firm Foster + Partners, and asked for help.

In a video that aired at a joint study session of the Cupertino City Council meeting and the Cupertino Planning Commission in 2013, Foster said Jobs insisted on being included in how the plans came together. 

“One of the most memorable, and perhaps vital to the project, was Steve saying ‘Don’t think of me as the client, think of me as part of your team,’” Foster said. 

It was inspired partly by the idea of a London Square, where houses surround a park and by the Main Quad on Stanford University's campus.

The signature ring-shaped building was not the plan in the beginning, nor was the site of the campus always where Apple planned to build.  

“It didn’t start as a circular building, it really grew into that,” Foster told Architectural Record in 2014. “So the idea of one building with a great park was really born out of a very intensive process, with many models and many presentations,” Foster said. 

Foster also said that initially Apple had planned to build on a different site. 

"It's interesting how it all evolved. First, of all, there was a smaller site. Then, as the project developed, and the Hewlett-Packard site became available, the scale of the project changed."

The spaceship building will house more than 12,000 employees.

The main structure has 2.8 million square feet of floor space and a circumference of about one mile, according to Architectural Record . 

The ringed, glass building is designed to encourage collaboration with plenty of open seating areas for employees to meet. 

In total, there will be about 83,000 square feet of space dedicated to meeting and breakout spaces in the building, according to Apple's project description. 

Sales is one of the most competitive fields when it comes to business software.

From apps that simply store sales data to the more sophisticated ones that can predict certain purchasing behavior, sales-related apps are completely reinventing the industry.

Apttus, a $1 billion software maker that simplifies the contract signing process, has recently published the "Top Sales Trends of 2016" report, and included a list of "Top 10 Sales Tools of 2016," based on their own conversations with sales experts, authors, and executives.

You can read more about it by downloading the Apttus "Top Sales Trends of 2016" report here. From the report, we've pulled the top 10 best apps that will help you close more deals:

SEE ALSO: How to build a killer sales team, according to a $1.7 billion marketing-software maker

LinkedIn

What it does: Most people know LinkedIn as a place to upload resumes, but it's actually one of the most used apps by sales people to find prospects. Especially, there's a paid service called "Sales Navigator" that gives custom lead recommendations and lets sales people save or follow up with leads easily.

Market Cap: $25.2 billion (Sold to Microsoft for $26.2 billion)

Insidesales

What it does: Insidesales is a software that provides predictive analytics for sales people. For example, it can tell you when's the best time to make a follow-up call to certain leads.

Funding to date: $201.2 million

Clearslide

What it does: Clearslide helps sales people connect with customers faster and easily through its platform, and provides real-time analytics to make better decisions.

Funding to date: $89 million

Getting birth control pills is no easy task. 

But a handful of apps is hoping to change that. They're designed to let you order birth control from your smartphone or computer in just a few minutes — no doctor's visit required.

Having been on birth control for a decade, I decided to try out one of the apps, called Nurx, for myself. 

Here's how it went.

SEE ALSO: I got my dog’s DNA tested and what I learned shocked me

DON'T MISS: We asked a dietitian what you should — ​and shouldn't​ — do if you want to look and feel healthier in a week

I've been taking "the pill" for a decade. This popular type of birth control, which involves a daily pill, works by keeping eggs (or "ova") from leaving the ovaries.

Birth control is important for many reasons — first and foremost for preventing unwanted pregnancies — but I was prescribed it for a slightly atypical reason: Shortly after starting my period for the first time, I stopped menstruating for five months.

This phenomenon, known as amenorrhea, has a variety of causes, but my doctors chalked it up to the fact that I was (and still am) highly physically active and below-average weight.

Sources: University of Southern California Fertility Institute; Mayo Clinic

Old habits die hard.

Still, some of them definitely should be laid to rest. Certain habits project a pretty bad image.

In fact, bad habits may even cause others to view you as unsuccessful. 

Obviously, having one of these bad habits doesn't necessarily make you a failure. In some cases, however, these habits might be indicative of a larger problem in your career — and life. 

Here are the top 12 habits of unsuccessful people: 

SEE ALSO: 9 things very successful people never do

You keep your mouth shut

You keep your head down. You don't speak out. You don't get out of line.

Your aversion to putting yourself out there professionally may seem like a good protective measure, but it's holding you back.

If you feel like your current work environment actively discourages people from sticking their necks out for fear of reprisal, you may be dealing with a toxic work environment. If you're just psyching yourself out, though, you've fallen into a terrible habit. 

You fidget

Fidgeting might actually be good for you, in certain cases.

Still, try to limit the squirming around other people. It makes you look anxious and antsy, which in turn might make your colleagues nervous and uncomfortable. It's a bad habit that might drive others away. 

You're always tardy

We all have that one friend who is constantly late. Or maybe you're that friend who is constantly late (I know I am). 

In your career, though, tardiness can't be excused by a few desperate, emoji-ridden messages to your friends' group text. Showing up late makes you look careless and unreliable. 

Still haven't found an email app replacement for Mailbox after its devastating death last December?

Well, there is some good news: there are enough good mail apps out there to assure you won't have to settle for Apple Mail, Gmail, or Outlook. 

Here are some of the best options. 

Spark

Why it's good: Spark, which was built by Ukranian development company Readdle, is a good choice for those stressed out over an unruly inbox. Spark's killer app is its smart inbox, which automatically groups emails into categories (i.e. newsletters or personal) that are all viewable on one screen. The app also has a handful of other helpful features, including the ability to "snooze" emails until a later date and customize email signatures for different recipients. 

Available for: iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch

Price: Free

EasilyDo

Why it's good: EasilyDo isn't purely an email app. It markets itself as "a smart assistant," and it is helpful for getting your affairs in order. The super fast app links up to your email account, and the landing page shows your calendar, archives your receipts, and tracks packages. But its email functioning is invaluable. The app shows you emails that requires immediate attention in the dashboard, automatically add meetings confirmed within emails to your calendar, and automatically sends follow-up emails to confirm next-day meetings. 

Available for: Android, iPhone, and iPad

Price: Free

CloudMagic

Why it's good: CloudMagic is simple and tends to eat up less data than other mail apps. The app allows you to sync up all of your email accounts so you can sift through them on one screen. CloudMagic also allows you to add important or relevant emails to third party accounts like Evernote, Trello, and Asana with a single tap. It's also really secure, allowing users to protect their email with a passcode and remotely wipe their account should someone steak their phone. 

Available for: Android, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac

Price: Free for Androids and iPhones, $19.99 for Macs

Millennials have a reputation for delaying adulthood. Many of them graduated during an economic downturn and are struggling to build their careers, pay down debt, and save up for long-term financial goals.

As a result, they put off buying a home and car, they’re more likely to live with their parents than with a significant other, and they’re waiting longer to get married and have kids.

But despite the stereotypes, millennials don’t refuse to grow up. With the oldest members of Generation Y approaching their mid-30s, many have reached those traditional markers of adulthood. And quite a few have found financial success! It takes more than a combination of hard work and luck. To be a financially successful millennial is to adhere to a certain mindset and set of values.

What do they do differently? I work with some pretty successful Millennial clients, and here are the patterns I see.

SEE ALSO: 20 things you should know about saving money in your 20s

They go their own way

The American Dream used to mean marriage, kids, a home in the suburbs with two cars in the garage, and a gold watch after 30 years at the same company. In today’s economic climate, the traditional American Dream is out of reach for many millennials — but they don’t really want that for themselves, anyway!

It’s easy to give in to pressure from family and friends to stick to a certain life script. You buy a home because you’ve been taught that renting is throwing money away. You buy a nicer car than you can afford to project a certain image to your friends. You take on even more student loans to get a master’s degree because you’re convinced a bachelor’s isn’t enough.

But you can write your own life script — one where you determine what’s important to you. Financially successful millennials don’t make money decisions because their friends are all buying condos or their parents want to brag. They take the time to think about what matters to them, and that’s where their hard-earned dollars go.

It takes a healthy dose of chutzpah to follow your own path, but the rewards are sweet.

They live within their means

Following your own life path also means the simple step of spending less than you earn. Budget your money and make cuts as needed. If you don’t love setting a budget an easy way to live within your means is this:

• Know your monthly take-home pay.
• Add up the total you need to pay for fixed needed monthly costs (rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, groceries, transportation, medical expenses, or loan payments).
• Set up automatic savings to funnel money into your retirement, savings, and investment accounts before you get a chance to see it and spend it.
• Whatever money is left after you pay your bills and set aside savings is yours to spend as you please!

This easy method of budgeting allows you to cover your bills and pay yourself first, but still leaves some wiggle room for variable costs like entertainment, dining out, shopping, travel, and more.

They aim to earn more

Two ways to increase your net worth are saving more and earning more. Financially successful Millennials definitely prioritize saving money, but they also know that one of their biggest assets is their earning potential.

That means they develop new skill sets by constantly seeking out learning opportunities. They work hard for promotions at their jobs — and they don’t neglect to negotiate their salaries on a regular basis, especially if they take on new responsibilities.

And should the chance for a side hustle present itself, they go for it. A second job, if your schedule allows it, can be a great way to boost your income while learning new things. It’s also a low-risk way to see if a career change would be right for you. If you like the work, you steer your career in that direction. If you don’t, lesson learned — and you still have your full-time job to fall back on.

When you’re young, establishing your career is really important. You’re creating your future earning potential today, and increasing your odds of being able to afford a higher standard of living as your career progresses.

One more thing — remember to protect your ability to work by getting disability insurance, which can come in handy should you ever suffer an illness or injury that prevents you from working for a time. Your job might already build coverage into your benefits package so make sure you elect coverage for short-term and long-term disability insurance during open enrollment.

McLaren builds supercars for people who love technology. Ferrari builds them for people who are into a sexy, screaming engine and breathtaking styling, and Lamborghini builds them for people who had Lamborghini posters on their bedroom walls as teenagers. Pagani builds them for artists. Porsche builds them people who ... I guess like Porsches a whole lot and need Porsche to have a supercar. Ford builds them when it wants to remind everyone that it has beaten Ferrari at what Ferrari does best. And Corvette builds them because Corvette wants us to be happy and not have to spend $300,000 for the privilege.

But McLaren has the tech angle down. This provokes some criticism: McLarens aren't visceral. They lack soul. They look as if they were spit out of 3D printers or sculpted from blocks of plastic. Maybe they take a little too seriously the notion that racing is a laboratory for the street, and they channel their namesake, New Zealander Bruce McLaren, to bond on-track performance with perhaps the finest engineering in the car world. McLaren — the supercar for technocrats. Elon Musk owned a F1 hypercar, don't you know. Kind of says it all.

Of course it's all just the obsessively fine, blathering distinction-making of folks who want to debate the thises and thats of supercars. The real test of what a McLaren is all about takes place when you swing up the doors and slip into the driver's seat, as we did for a day in Los Angeles.

Here's what we thought of the 675LT coupe — "LT" for "Longtail," an extended version of McLaren 650S — a supercar that the mad scientists in Woking, England, created specifically for track days and sold (in the case of our vehicle) for $400,000. (Unfortunately, you can't buy a new one any longer — McLaren sold them all!)

We didn't have the pleasure of tracking the 675LT, but we did hit the canyon roads above Malibu last year. AND we also recently checked out the car on Facebook Live. Different color, same spectacular looks. And you still can't have one!

The 675LT was bathed in glorious Southern California sunshine for the entire time we enjoyed it — a whopping day and a half. It was an aggressive study in carbon fiber and neon green or, as McLaren calls it, "Napier Green."

... with those exotic upswinging doors of course.

The carbon fiber is literally everywhere.

Most people learn time management the hard way: by trial and error.

Étienne Garbugli, a Montreal-based product and marketing consultant and the author of "Lean B2B: Build Products Businesses Want," distilled the lessons he wishes he'd known when he was 20.

He created the following presentation, posted to SlideShare, which we've shared here with his permission.

This is an update of an article originally posted by Max Nisen and Jenna Goudreau.

SEE ALSO: 6 subtle things highly productive people do every day

DON'T MISS: 25 daily habits that will make you smarter

When email first emerged as a productivity tool, the hope was that it would make communication more efficient, allowing us to spend less time getting our point across.

However, we underestimated humankind's ability to fill up time saved with the very activities that technology was supposed to streamline.

In short, email often allows us to communicate more — not better. As a result, the internet is littered with tips for checking it less, and lists of reasons to avoid emailing at certain times, or advice about how quickly we should respond, etc.

However, the best way to save time and confusion might just be to take some conversations offline entirely.

Here are a few instances in which you should consider stepping away from the computer rather than hitting send.

SEE ALSO: France is pushing a law to cut down on work email — here's why the US probably won't follow suit

1. When you’re delivering bad news

It's not easy to pass on bad news, especially when you need to deliver it to your boss or manager. But, there are some ways to minimize the difficulty. First of all, don't put it off or shrink away — you need to take responsibility here and explain the situation thoroughly.

Delivering bad news by email isn't a good idea because it suggests that you're actually doing the opposite of "owning it." It reads as if you're avoiding the conversation, and that you're too fearful, embarrassed, or even too immature, to belly up to the difficult chat.

So, when you've got bad news to deliver, do it in person.

2. When you're not totally sure what you want to say

In general, it's good to strive to be proactive rather than reactive . Unfortunately, email lends itself to the latter. We feel pressured to clear our inboxes, and most emails necessitate responses.

So, sometimes, even when we aren't fully sure how we'd like to respond, our fingers start typing anyway. Instead, take a beat when you need to take one. Seek out more information about the topic at hand, in person, rather than responding before you really know what you think and what you'd like to say.

3. If you find yourself agonizing about tone

Most of us can think back on a time when we've leaned on email in order to avoid having a difficult conversation. The idea is that this medium affords us the opportunity to write an email that will hit the other person just exactly the way we're hoping it will.

But, too often that's actually not what happens.

The first thing that suffers is our efficiency crafting a perfectly worded email takes so much time! Then, the other person often doesn't read our email the way we intended anyway.

So, if you find yourself agonizing about tone when constructing an email, ask yourself if it might make more sense to handle this conversation face-to-face.

Most bosses are caught off guard when facing a mass employee exodus, and the same can happen when just one valued employee resigns.

"As the boss, it's important to watch for the symptoms of an impending departure so you can address the issues before it's too late," says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job.""Losing even one valued employee can disrupt your business, not to mention losing several team members. And if you're running a small company or startup, these losses can destroy your business."

Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage," agrees. "Losing employees can create a substantial impact on everything from service delivery to scheduling. It can impact the culture in a team in a negative way. And there's a substantial cost and time commitment involved in replacing and training new employees, so the more time a manager has to prepare for the changes, the better."

Taylor and Kerr shared 19 signs that your employees are about to quit. They say these are the ones you should watch out for so you can act before it's too late:

SEE ALSO: 14 signs your employees secretly hate you

There's a change in their appearance

If they start dressing unusually sharply, it may be because they are slipping out to job interviews during or after work, says Kerr.

"Also, if someone is unhappy in their job, they may begin to dress down because they feel that no one is really paying attention anyway — or because they just don't really care anymore," adds Taylor.

They start taking more time off

They begin calling in sick more often, or using up their vacation days sporadically, which may mean they are feeling very disengaged at work, possibly even to the point of using the time off to search for other employment, says Kerr.

"And using up their sick days and vacation time (and even getting a lot of dental work done suddenly) might be a red flag that they are getting ready to jump ship and want to make sure they max out any benefits they feel owed to them."

They show a drop off in any interest in work

Have you noticed that some of your employees have stopped offering suggestions or ideas at meetings, they offer little input into new projects, or seem suddenly disinterested in any of the broader details related to work? 

"This can be a sign they've lost their mojo and no longer really care what happens down the road because they know they won't be there in the future," Kerr says.

The night sky is an amazing thing. It's like a map, showing us our place in this vast, ever-expanding universe. And it's like a time machine, allowing us to see billions of years back in time — the amount of time it takes light from some of the most distant cosmic objects to reach us.

But when it comes to observing the night sky, not all places are equal. If you were to step out on the street in, say, New York City, you might be able to see a tiny speckling of stars across a hazy sky, at best. 

There are a lot of factors that work together to create optimal stargazing conditions. The higher the altitude of a site, the drier the air, and the further it is from the light pollution of cities, the more stars you can see in the night sky.

If you're ever in the mood for a night of stargazing (and have access to a jet plane), here are a few spots you should check out.

SEE ALSO: 6 amazing photos of human-made structures that you can see from space

DON'T MISS: These stunning photos of summer lightning strikes will take your breath away

The NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia was the first reserve to achieve Gold Tier dark-sky status from the International Dark-Sky Association, which means its sky quality is ideal for stargazing.

Kruger National Park in South Africa, the largest game reserve in South Africa, is far from pollution and artificial lights of towns and cities.

The summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii is nearly 14,000 feet. It's so high that as you climb the mountain you rise above the clouds. If you can power through the cold and the altitude sickness, you'll be rewarded with a clear view of the Milky Way.

There are many fast-food breakfast sandwiches.

There's the McDonald's Egg McMuffin, Dunkin' Donuts' many bagel-clad options, and Taco Bell's breakfast-biscuit creation.

Yet none of those catch my discerning eye — not like the McGriddle.

Simply put, it's the perfect breakfast sandwich out there. And now it's ascending to its rightful place on the all-day breakfast menu.

The McGriddle was released in 2003, predating the sweet and savory craze by nearly a decade. It was expertly crafted by the same fast-food genius behind the Meat Lover's Pizza and Smashburger.

It's a perfectly balanced breakfast harbinger of sweet and salty flavors.

Here's why it's the perfect sandwich:

SEE ALSO: We tried breakfast from McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King, and Wendy's — here's who does it best

The exalted McGriddle comes in three varieties: sausage, egg, and cheese; bacon, egg, and cheese; and plain sausage. But we're clearly focusing on the best of the best here: the sausage, egg, and cheese.

The McGriddle comes humbly wrapped — not much to look at. But just you wait.

When its inconspicuous shroud unfurls, you can see the McGriddle in all its golden, sweet splendor.

I recently got back from a short trip to France.

It was far from the first time that I've been there, but it was the first I'd ever driven in the land of the Gauls.

Intellectually, I knew it would both the same and different from driving in the US. For starters, in France, you drive on the right side of the road.

And I also knew that parking in Paris would be challenging, but that along the autoroutes outside the city, there would be convenient places to stop for snacks, coffee, or even a nice dinner.

I knew that the mix of vehicles on the roads would be different. As in: no big SUVs or pickups.

But wow, was I ever ill prepared for one major difference.

SEE ALSO: We checked out the Indian alternative to Harley-Davidson that's fueling a new American motorcycle rivalry

Hatchbacks!

Hatchbacks to the left of me ...

... and hatchbacks to the right!

Caring about what other people think of you is part of being a normal human being.

In fact, scientists in one study found that the reward center in people's brains was active when they were told that someone approved their taste in music.

It's only a problem when you're consumed by worries about your reputation — when every decision about what to wear, who to hang out with, and even what career to pursue are based on the fear of looking stupid.

Unfortunately, this habit is hard to shake. To help you out, we consulted the Quora thread, "How can I stop worrying about what other people think?" and highlighted the most compelling responses.

Read on to embrace the full experience of being yourself.

SEE ALSO: 7 ways to stop over-thinking everything in your life

1. Remember that people aren't that interested in you

Several Quora users mentioned that people generally don't care about you as much as you think they do.

Sibell Loitz, for example, prompts readers to consider how much time they spend thinking about others and their behavior: "not that much time."

Psychologists call the tendency to overestimate how much other people pay attention to you the "spotlight effect." In a 2000 study, highlighted on Tech Insider, people were asked to attend a party wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Barry Manilow on it (it was supposed to be embarrassing).

Sure enough, those people significantly overestimated how much the other people at the party noticed their t-shirt.

2. Tell yourself a different story

No one can make you think or feel a certain way — it's all about the way you interpret their behavior. So by changing that interpretation, you might be able to make yourself think and feel more positively.

Karen Renee gives an example. Maybe you habitually tell yourself: "Today I [action] and everyone laughed. They must think I'm stupid. I'm stupid. Everyone knows I'm stupid. I can't face them again!"

Instead, Renee says you might tell yourself: "Today I [action] and everyone laughed. I think I cheered up a couple people who were having a bad day, even if it was by accident …"

Renee cites Brene Brown's research on getting over shame, and worrying what other people think of you. Brown recently told Tech Insider that her No. 1 "life hack” for lasting relationships is to recognize that your perception of your partner's behavior is "the story I'm making up."

"Basically," she said, "you're telling the other person your reading of the situation — and simultaneously admitting that you know it can't be 100% accurate."

3. Meet more people

Marie Stein recommends diluting someone's strong negative opinion of you by getting lots of other perspectives.

"The more people you meet, the more you will realize that every one has a different opinion," she writes. "The only opinion about you that matters, that sticks with you for your whole life, and that you can control, is your own."