Meeting-free days are a great way to improve your productivity, writes Elizabeth Grace Saunders. After making the commitment to establish a meeting-free day, plan which tasks you'll focus on and avoid routine work.

Becoming more likable can be as simple as using your listener's name during conversations and exuding positive energy. Confident body language will also make others like you more, says Dale Carnegie CEO Joe Hart.

Deeper responses during conversations with others can help you avoid lengthy, uncomfortable pauses during small talk, writes Kat Boogaard. This is because people will naturally follow your lead and provide more detailed responses as well, giving you more opportunities to continue the conversation naturally.

Canadian officials see US President Donald Trump's efforts to restrict immigration as a potential boost for Canada's tech sector, which could benefit from an influx of highly skilled tech workers and startup founders barred from seeking opportunities in the US. This has sparked talk of a possible tech boom in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is only a three-hour drive from Seattle and roughly two hours by air from San Francisco.

It usually takes almost 28 days for a person to get hired for a position after applying for the job, according to data from Jobvite. More than three quarters of recruiters said that enthusiasm is most likely to help job seekers get hired after interviews, while roughly a quarter said cover letters are important.

Researchers studying fossils found in New Zealand believe the ancient bones point toward a penguin's ancestors being larger than modern-day species. The findings suggest penguins' ancestors date to the time of dinosaurs, rather than the later evolutionary period argued by some scientists.