Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness)
These six factors can erode the grandest of plans and the noblest of intentions. They can turn visionaries into paper-pushers and wide-eyed dreamers into shivering, weeping balls of regret. Beware!

 1) Availability

We often settle for what’s available, and what’s available isn’t always great. “Because it was there,” is an okay reason to climb a mountain, but not a very good reason to take a job or a free sample at the supermarket.

2) Ignorance

If we don’t know how to make something great, we simply won’t. If we don’t know that greatness is possible, we won’t bother attempting it. All too often, we literally do not know any better than good enough.

3) Committees

Nothing destroys a good idea faster than a mandatory consensus. The lowest common denominator is never a high standard.

4) Comfort

Why pursue greatness when you’ve already got 324 channels and a recliner? Pass the dip and forget about your grand designs.

5) Momentum

If you’ve been doing what you’re doing for years and it’s not-so-great, you are in a rut. Many people refer to these ruts as careers.

6) Passivity

There’s a difference between being agreeable and agreeing to everything. Trust the little internal voice that tells you, “this is a bad idea.”

The transformation of bad habits into productive ones isn’t an easy process – it’s a simple one.

The post discusses a recent study that suggests 40 per cent of what we believe to be “decisions” are actually habits and, as a result, are quite possibly unproductive actions.

To help break the cycle the following tips on habit change are offered:

• Redefine “must” – by evaluating the decisions we take for granted, we’re in a position to reconsider if actions must be performed in a particular way
• Understand the process – it’s claimed every habit follows a cue, routine and reward trajectory; understanding on the cue or trigger is the first step towards changing the routine
• Rethink your reward system – many habits are based on achieving the reward rather than the habit itself; if the reward is a positive one keep it and change the routine
• Document the process – writing down the habit and how you intend to change it reinforces the desire to change; if you document a good new habit enough times and it will become automatic

In the last few years, psychologists and researchers have been digging up hard data on a question previously left to philosophers: What makes us happy? Researchers like the father-son team Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, Stanford psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky, and ethicist Stephen Post have studied people all over the world to find out how things like money, attitude, culture, memory, health, altruism, and our day-to-day habits affect our well-being. The emerging field of positive psychology is bursting with new findings that suggest your actions can have a significant effect on your happiness and satisfaction with life. Here are 10 scientifically proven strategies for getting happy.

Savor Everyday Moments

Pause now and then to smell a rose or watch children at play. Study participants who took time to “savor” ordinary events that they normally hurried through, or to think back on pleasant moments from their day, “showed significant increases in happiness and reductions in depression,” says psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky.

Avoid Comparisons

While keeping up with the Joneses is part of American culture, comparing ourselves with others can be damaging to happiness and self-esteem. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, focusing on our own personal achievement leads to greater satisfaction, according to Lyubomirsky.

Put Money Low on the List

People who put money high on their priority list are more at risk for depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, according to researchers Tim Kasser and Richard Ryan. Their findings hold true across nations and cultures. “The more we seek satisfactions in material goods, the less we find them there,” Ryan says. “The satisfaction has a short half-life—it’s very fleeting.” Money-seekers also score lower on tests of vitality and self-actualization.

Have Meaningful Goals

“People who strive for something significant, whether it’s learning a new craft or raising moral children, are far happier than those who don’t have strong dreams or aspirations,” say Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener. “As humans, we actually require a sense of meaning to thrive.” Harvard’s resident happiness professor, Tal Ben-Shahar, agrees, “Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning. Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable.”

Take Initiative at Work

How happy you are at work depends in part on how much initiative you take. Researcher Amy Wrzesniewski says that when we express creativity, help others, suggest improvements, or do additional tasks on the job, we make our work more rewarding and feel more in control.

Make Friends, Treasure Family

Happier people tend to have good families, friends, and supportive relationships, say Diener and Biswas-Diener. But it’s not enough to be the life of the party if you’re surrounded by shallow acquaintances. “We don’t just need relationships, we need close ones” that involve understanding and caring.

Smile Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

It sounds simple, but it works. “Happy people…see possibilities, opportunities, and success. When they think of the future, they are optimistic, and when they review the past, they tend to savor the high points,” say Diener and Biswas-Diener. Even if you weren’t born looking at the glass as half-full, with practice, a positive outlook can become a habit.

Say Thank You Like You Mean It

People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis are healthier, more optimistic, and more likely to make progress toward achieving personal goals, according to author Robert Emmons. Research by Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, revealed that people who write “gratitude letters” to someone who made a difference in their lives score higher on happiness, and lower on depression—and the effect lasts for weeks.

Get Out and Exercise

A Duke University study shows that exercise may be just as effective as drugs in treating depression, without all the side effects and expense. Other research shows that in addition to health benefits, regular exercise offers a sense of accomplishment and opportunity for social interaction, releases feel-good endorphins, and boosts self-esteem.

Give It Away, Give It Away Now!

Make altruism and giving part of your life, and be purposeful about it. Researcher Stephen Post says helping a neighbor, volunteering, or donating goods and services results in a “helper’s high,” and you get more health benefits than you would from exercise or quitting smoking. Listening to a friend, passing on your skills, celebrating others’ successes, and forgiveness also contribute to happiness, he says. Researcher Elizabeth Dunn found that those who spend money on others reported much greater happiness than those who spend it on themselves.

During my last review I asked my manager, who is a senior vice president, about a promotion. He indicated that he would begin to think about what a promotion for me would look like and discuss it with HR. At the end of our conversation he stated that due to a possible acquisition, I might expect a promotion in the next 6-9 months. Well the acquisition has not taken place, yet but I still want something to happen. It has been over six months; should I bring the promotion conversation up again? If so, what should I say?

The first rule of promotions it that you want one more than anyone else wants you to have one. So, yes, you need to bring this up again. But, before you do, you need to do the work your boss said needed to be done: Figure out what a promotion for you would look like.

The acquisition sounds like a delay tactic. It’s true that when big things are going on, companies sometimes set policies about not moving people around until things are resolved. But, if that were the case, it’s likely your boss would have mentioned it directly. A senior VP should know these things.

So, let’s figure out what a promotion looks like. This is not a case of a true or bona fide promotion, where there is a vacant job one level up and you get moved to that job and your current position is now vacant. This is a case where you take on new responsibilities, and to go along with them, you get a new title and a salary increase. (Hopefully. Plenty of us have taken on more responsibilities with no salary increase or title change. We’re hoping to avoid that here.)

Ask yourself, “What responsibilities would it make sense for you to take on?” Look around at what needs to be done, or who is completely overworked. Does it make sense for you to take on part of Jane’s work, or to take on a new client group, or a new function, or develop a new training program? Do you have the skills to do that new task?

If you do have the skills, then write up a proposed job description and then present it to your boss. He can, of course, reject it or change it, but it’s much more likely that you’ll be given the promotion if you’ve explained how doing so will benefit the company.

If you don’t have the skills but are confident you can acquire them, then write up a proposed job description and a proposed method for gaining those skills (classes/seminars, shadowing, being mentored). Then present both of those to your boss.

The key things here are 1. make sure you are doing the work to figure out “what a promotion looks like,” and 2. make sure you are demonstrating how this promotion can benefit the department/division/company.

When you’re writing this up, be aware of political missteps. It may make sense, logically, for you to take on part of Jane’s responsibilities (since she’s over worked), but understand that Jane may balk at giving some of those things up. Don’t expect your boss to instantly embrace your proposal and hand you a big fat increase that moment. Everything will still have to go through proper channels and your boss (and HR, including the compensation team that will determine if your proposed job description really is worth more money), and may or may not get approved. But, what you’ve just done is given yourself a huge step forward in the process by showing your boss why and how you should be promoted.

Franklin P. Jones “Originality is the art of concealing your source.”

Originality is a source gifted to mankind by infinite inteligence. Of course, Bill Gates says,” creating perfection at the first attempt is a stupidity.”First preference of genius is originality not perfection. Yes! I do agree, Thomas Alva Edison was able to invent electronic bulb after 1000 efforts.
Originality is founded in the world, it is visualize by his inventor or founder. Originality is an art of concealing your sources .Originality and solitude lives to gather. Obsession quality of mind helps the genius to make it happened. Originality is not a one word or single sentence but It is a man as a whole, not some part of man.

The way face book came to the world by young but that’s not the only impressive part of the bio- data of this 26- year old. Together with his Harvard roommates Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, Hughes co- founded Face book, and the extent of the site’s popularity was evident from the houseful turnout at his session on ‘The Power of Social Networking’
Originality is unexplored territory; we can get there by regularity and discipline. Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide.
John Donn very profoundly affricated “No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. ”
Start with original instead of copying and accepting. If everyone starts copying, what will be left for the world? I will prefer to fail on the path of originality instead of winning on the way of imitation. Are we doing what we want to do? We most of the time live with imitation and afraid of end results of originality.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” Said by Edward Everett.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT WAY FOR DECISION MAKING?

A recent Harvard Working Knowledge blog post ( What is the right mix between intuition and analysis? Several clear themes characterized responses to this month’s column. Dominant among these was that the best way to reach a decision depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the decision, the nature of the decider, the information available, history, experience, the number of deciders, and so forth.

Nevertheless, several comments reflected an uneasy fondness for a good dose of intuition in the mix. Guy Gould-Davies’ comment was particularly insightful: “The idea of using feeling in the context of decision making makes many people highly uncomfortable which is why intuition gets a bad rap. (It implies) … emotion … a lack of discipline and robustness in analysis … the lack of control (replicability).” Pallavi Marathe put it this way: “‘Careful Decisions’ is a paradox …. If there is past data available to help predict the future, it may be a good idea to refer to it. But in most cases, the decision maker is posed with a unique challenge.” Vanitha Rangganathan, arguing for the role of intuition in the creative process, commented that “Experience makes us personally wiser …. ‘Wisdom of crowds’ breeds convenient conformity and creativity is often lost in the process.”

At the other end of the intuition-analysis spectrum, R. C. Saxena opined, “I believe intuition ought not to play any part …. Sincere effort to harness all the collective wisdom coupled with a commitment to deliver the Complete Solution ought to be the key.”

Most argued for a process involving intuition based on analysis and experience. Rowland Freeman commented, “A great deal depends on the magnitude of the decision…. The lesser the impact, go with experience and intuition.” As Marlis K. put it, “… the question should not be rational decision making OR intuition, but rather … how to combine both.” David Kendall said, “In the most difficult case of no-time and high-risk, reliance on ‘rational intuition’ may be a preferred way to minimize direct and/or collateral damage if the decision goes wrong.” Luis X. B. Mourao opined that “… while (a model) helps to diligently collect and analyze relevant data, it only gets you so far. Add experience and it will get you a step further.”

Some of the most interesting comments raised questions about whether we should instead concentrate on ways to make our own decision-making processes more transparent to others and to ourselves. Edward Hare put it this way: “Openness and honesty are the sunlight that’s needed to make … decision making as effective and efficient as it ought to be ….” This may require a certain amount of self-awareness. Maree Conway said that “Our worldview conditions what we accept and don’t accept as real, and this conditions how we make decisions. Being aware of your worldview and biases is the first step to wise decision making ….” Jeremy Stunt commented that “I have learned that it is helpful to host a ‘conversation’ between my rational/analytical side and my intuitive side.” Phil Clark’s advice provides a useful close: “If you are seeking the perfect solution, you likely are making no decisions and letting life pass you by. That may be the saddest decision anyone makes.” What do you think?)

suggests there is a compelling argument for decision-making processes that incorporate both gut feelings and analysis.

Blogger Jim Heskett says achieving this mix involves weighing up a range of factors including the nature of the decision, the nature of the decider, available information, history and experience.

But that’s not to say all leaders are completely comfortable with intuition. After inviting comment on his post, Heskett found many professionals are uneasy with their gut feelings.

One of the main issues raised was transparency with many suggesting it is difficult for leaders to make their decision-making processes transparent to others and themselves.

What do you think – does intuition play a leading role in your decisions making process? And how do you explain this process to others?

We all have our opinions of Tiger Woods’ reading his typed, 14-minute apology. I know I do, but I wanted to hear what a professional crisis manager had to say. So, here goes, both an earful and an education in what not to do if you ever feel compelled to face the media for sexual indiscretions.

“First of all, he looked like a deer in head lights. I tell people if you can’t read with a great deal of sincerity, you’re crazy to do it that way,” counsels Richard Auletta, president of R.C. Auletta and Co. His Manhattan public relations firm has carved out a highly regarded niche for crisis management; mainly for cases so high profile you never know he did them.

“It was a badly staged effort that clearly had taken a lot of thought, but he might as well have sent out a press release,” remarks Auletta. He goes on to say Woods should have made a statement early in the scandal, that would have been about three months ago, admit he had liaisons with numerous women, say he was trying to repair his marriage and family life and ask for his privacy to be respected.

He goes on to say he counsels his clients in difficult circumstances to come clean to the crisis team from the very beginning to get a handle on what might be coming broadside, in this case that was 12 alleged broadsides. “I usually tell them ‘take a breath and think of this as a kidney stone, it’s gonna’ hurt a lot but as soon as it passes it’s over.”

Having your mother there is good, but not as good as having your wife by your side is the usual wisdom. That being said, just how wise was it to have best friend Byron Bell present? Bell, who is president of Tiger Woods Design, bought Rachel Uchitel, one of the 12, her ticket to hook up with Tiger in Australia. “What was the thought process that allowed people who had enabled him for years to be there?” questions Auletta.

“The classic Harvard Business School case is the 1982 Tylenol scare and that teaches you to get in front of the story, but that doesn’t always apply,” explains Auletta. “In that situation, Tylenol was not at fault, someone tampered with the product and the CEO had great communication skills, so Tylenol bounced back,” he points out.

Can Tiger bounce back if many aren’t buying the sincerity of his apology? “LA Laker Kobe Bryant rebounded, points out Auletta. The NBA player has become a bigger star than ever after a 2004 sex scandal and rape charges that were eventually dismissed.
If Tiger starts playing golf and winning again, the scandal will slowly fade into the past according to Auletta. “If he’s sincere about what he read, at the end of the day he’ll change,” and on that note we ended our conversation.

When it comes to how much pleasure we get out of life, it’s the women who talk away smiling. But the difference between women’s happiness and men’s happiness is only 15 minutes a day, reprots the courier mail.

Accroding to social policy research Centre fellow Roger Pattulny , from the university of New South Wales, both men and women enjoying televisionand hanging around the house – however, men have more ” negative” time during their day.

” I fyou add up all the times to gether – the good times and the bad times – men have about 10 minutes less that they enjoy than women in a day six minutesmore that they dislikes,” he said, both sexes like their leisure – looking after children and voluntary work – but women did it more pleasureable actvities .” Women try to enjoy the things that they do  with their time more than men do.”

Thew biggest negative for owmen is house work of 90 minutes of it everyday.

The difference may be that men tend to be more socially disconnected because they sp[end less time with families and friends and are more likely to see themsleves as lonely, he said.

Sasha Kahan , 28, agreeed that it all came doen to socialising, adding  ” girls like tochat with each otehr….it si very comforting when you do have that net work and can of fload.”Her husbank has listed three top activities for happiness were going out, sex, and workin

Idea_bulb Convincing someone that an idea – perhaps your idea – is the best one can sometimes be more difficult than actually developing the idea itself.

From my experience, there’s five rules to follow (more or less in order) to make sure your ideas are given the proper attention they deserve as you move from brainstorming to implementation.

1. Link the idea to its purpose.

Show or demonstrate why this specific idea will help to achieve the goal and/or address or eliminate the problem. This rule grows in exponential importance to the ‘unusualness’ of the idea. In other words, the more bizarre the idea, the more you need to anchor it in reality.

2. Make influential friends.

Involve key internal/external people throughout the creative process, if possible, sooner than later. Get a clear agreement on the goal or purpose of the idea. What do they expect? What criteria will they use to the judge the best ideas? Do they have any initial ideas (even if bad) which might suggest a tone or style? Can they help contribute to the creative brief? Can they join the brainstorm, or stop by after it’s finished? Can they help select or judge the ideas?

3. Sell the sizzle, not the meat.

Some ideas simply can’t be conveyed in words, no matter how eloquent the writer. The very best ideas need to experienced just as the intended audience might see it. Most of us can’t avoid using PowerPoint altogether (and no reason to, if you use it properly), but follow this guideline: use more pictures than words. Use mood boards or hire an artist or cartoonist to show the idea ‘in action.’ Make samples or hand-outs to put the idea in the hands of the person buying it.

4. Give it time.

Some ideas need to rise, like yeast in bread. Most ideas are rarely form perfectly from the start, and given the urgency of the situation or the passion of the brainstormer, many ideas are sold too early. They might need (more) research, or an expert needs to be engaged to help adapt an idea to a situation without homogenizing it. Often it’s better to sell an idea to one trusted and influential friend to get an initial reaction than to sell it too early to the widest possible audience.

5. Protect it.

From what? Criticism, politics, internal or personal agendas, inflexibility and assumptions.

Or, in a word, negativity. This is an entire topic unto itself, one that I’ll tackle here.

“A Picture Is Worth …”

But, before I go … I can’t speak enough about how important it is to sell ideas visually. In his book Memory Techniques, James Manktelow says 65% of people learn visually, 30% learn through hearing, and 5% through simulation (kinaesthetic). If you agree, then your best presentation should have elements of all styles to engage all members of your audience.

I also see an extraordinary amount of PowerPoint documents in my workshops on “How to Write in PowerPoint,” and it’s amazing to me still that so many documents are in black & white. If you still use colour only as a template element in PowerPoint, you’re removing the single most important element to draw the eye to your key messages. But key tip: don’t put the words in colour. Put the words in white in a darkly coloured box. Much easier to read, and will work no matter the quality of the data projector.

Management Training on Analysis of 3 Idiots Movie

http://www.drshaileshthaker.co.in/blog/index.php/management-lessons-from-3-idiots-movies/