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The Advantages of Being Left-Handed

Only about 10% of the population are left handed, making left-handed people a major minority. With left handedness being so rare people were, and still are in some cases, discriminated against for being left handed. Actually, back in the 18th and 19th century people were often beaten for being left handed and forced to use their right hand. Even today, although it doesn't happen as often as it used to, some children who are left-handed are forced to use their right hand. More often than not when you research facts about left-handed people many blogs and articles list negative statistical facts about left handed people. But what about the advantages of being left-handed? Believe it or not there are a lot of interesting and factual advantages of being left-handed.

    Being left handed gives you an advantage in many sports. It's been proven that people who are left handed have the better chance of succeeding in sports than right handed people. Baseball is one of the biggest sports where being left handed is a major advantage. When at bat, southpaws have the advantage of already facing first base and when pitching can easily keep an eye on first base. Left handed player, when playing in the outfield, can also cover a large amount of the field by having their glove in their right hand. Lefties also have the advantage in sports like fencing, boxing and tennis.

    Lefties have a greater chance of being a genius, or having a high IQ. It isn't known why this is true but it seems that people who favor their left hand make up an extremely large portion of those with high intelligence. Actually, 20 percent of all Mensa members are lefties. Although it is not exactly known why being left handed increases chances of having a high IQ, some people think that genius has a lot to do with being forced to use both sides of the brain more often, allowing the individual to process large amounts of information much easier.
    
Left handed men make more money. Studies show that left handed men who have gone to college make about 13% more than their right handed counterparts. For some reason this does not work the same way with women, because these same studies show that left handed women actually make 5% less than right handed women.
 
    Lefties adjust more easily to seeing under water. Random, yes. Cool, definitely! It's not really known why, but being left handed allows an individual to see more easily under water. Beneficial to those who live by the water or like to swim, scientists believe this ability has something to do with a different part of the brain being dominant in left handed people.
 
    Lefties are better at multitasking. Being left handed forces the brain to think more quickly, allowing lefties to find it easier to multi-task and deal with large, sometimes unorganized streams of information. In left handed people conversations between the left and right sides of the brain happens more quickly, and the stronger the left handedness is the better these abilities.
 
    Some lefties have better memories. Although not applicable to all left handed people, research shows that people who come from families of lefties  tend to have better memories, though only of the episodic kind. But what's really interesting about this fact is that studies show that the individuals don't necessarily have to be left handed themselves, but just comes from a family of lefties. This shows that traits related to handedness may actually be passed down separately.
 
    Left handed people are better at playing video games. Some of the traits that contribute to lefties being better thinkers and multitaskers also contribute to making them better video game players. Since lefties are better at handling large amounts of stimuli, this naturally makes them better at video games, which have large amounts of stimuli in the first place.
 
    Left handed people recover faster from strokes than right handed people. Although not certain, many people believe this is due to left handed people having a stronger left and right brain as a result of functioning in a right handed world. Lefties are better at using than non-dominant hand than right handed people, making it easier for them to recover from a stroke that damages one part of their brain.
 
    Left-handed people are more likely to be more visual-based than language-based. This fact makes lefties more ideal for artistic pursuits. Research shows that university students who are left handed are more likely to major in visually based subjects rather than language based subjects. Another study done showed that out of all the subjects, 47% of art students were left or mixed-handed. For those who are unaware Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Rembrandt, four of the greatest artists in history were either left handed or ambidextrous.
 
    Lefties are better at learning to drive than righties. Oddly enough, even though most cars are designed with right handed drivers in mind, driving normally comes easier to left handed people than right handed people. A poll done at a driving school discovered that 57% of lefties passed their driving test the first time while only 47% of right handed people did.

Despite the fact that being left handed in a right handed world can be a little disadvantage, there are definitely plenty of advantages of being a lefty. As you can tell by reading the list, there are many things about why left handedness has these advantages, but this applies to handedness in general. Understanding handedness would also mean understanding deeper, yet explored parts of the brain that science isn't fully capable of doing yet. Although not all of the advantages listed could be fully determined as to why they occur, everything listed is in fact true. Being left handed is often treated as something wrong and abnormal because it is rare and not fully understood, but as you can see being left handed does have its advantages, very cool ones at that!

   

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

Starting a Business: Advice from the Trenches

If you’re like thousands of other designers, programmers and other creative professionals out there, at one point in time you’ve considered starting your own business. Unlike most, you’ve gone against common sense and decided to open shop for yourself. And not just freelance full-time, mind you, but file for the company name, get some stationery, and wade through the legal mumbo-jumbo. Maybe even get a real office with a water cooler.

This article offers real-world advice from the trenches of a small start-up, and is applicable to designers, web developers, copywriters, usability experts and all manner of service providers. Freelancers take heed: there are several items that are just as pertinent to your profession.
 
Write a Business Plan

The most important thing you can do to prepare for starting and operating your own business. Developing a business plan requires a lot of time and energy, but it’s invaluable for one primary reason — it forces you to come to terms with your business idea. You must decide how you will generate income, what your expenses will be, who your competitors are, and most important, WHAT YOUR BUSINESS DOES. This may seem obvious to you now, but write it down. Think about it. What sets your business apart? What service do you offer that is superior or unique? What’s going to put you ahead of the competition?

Beyond the mental exercises, a good business plan will give you a much better chance of getting a small business loan from a bank than walking in and saying, “I like Photoshop and maybe a can do some websites or something. Gimme money.”

A few years ago, new age business rhetoric said forget the business plan and just run with it. Obviously, that didn't work out so well, so if you go that route, God bless you. The business plan exists for a reason. There are libraries of books written on them and huge websites devoted to developing good ones. Some resources:

• SBA
• Scott Kramer’s articles on A List Apart
• Businessplans.org
• Business Plan Archive

Take a few weeks and develop a strong and thought-out plan. Give it to friends, co-workers, even family to read. Your business will be immeasurably stronger because you took the time for this step.
 
File for a Fictitious Name
A fictitious name (called a doing-business-as or DBA in some states) is the government’s term for your company name. If you choose HyperGlobalMegaSoft as the start-up’s name, it has to be registered with the state to ensure no one else is using it. This will cost about $100, but prevents you from accidentally using someone else’s registered name, or from someone else using YOUR name. Also note that two companies can usually register the same name for different industries. For instance, Luigi’s (design studio) and Luigi’s (pizza joint).

Note the fictitious name is not the same thing as a registered trademark. A trademark involves a whole separate process, more paperwork and additional fees. Unlike a fictitious name, however, a trademark is not required.
 
Funding
This is a pretty involved topic, and enough books and articles have been written about it to make for years of boring bathroom reading. Advice in a nutshell: start the business with your own savings or borrow from a bank. I highly recommend the former or a combination that includes it, since it makes you pinch your pennies a little more. If you go the bank route, make sure the business plan is polished to a high shine. This may be a good time to hire a professional business plan writer/editor.

There is one Golden Rule: Don't borrow money from family or friends. 99% of the time, you won't be able to pay them back, and on the off-chance you are, it won't be for months or years. The amount is irrelevant; $1,000 or $100,000 can quickly create bad blood.
 
Get an Accountant
In starting your business and maintaining its future financial health, there is no greater ally than an accountant. He or she (or they if you go with a firm) will be able to give advice on innumerable aspects of your new venture. They can advise on what type of business entity to start with, setting up bank accounts, a means of invoicing and collecting, and more. Most importantly, they also guide you on paying taxes properly and punctually.

Brief advice on accountants:

1. Go with an accountant or a firm in your state. Each state has different laws.
2. Make sure the accountant knows business taxes. Do not hire a family-oriented accountant.
3. Unless, you are really, really strapped for cash, hire an accountant who is not a family member. While it may be tempting to get a family discount, it is better to have an unbiased viewpoint about your finances, and also better to keep your family’s nose out of your funds in general.
4. Try to trade services! Maybe your accountant wants a new logo, website, or brochure.

Start with a Partner

If you can, start the business with a partner. This person should be another designer or programmer with a level of experience equal to or greater than your own, but with a different skill set. If you’re the God of Annual Reports, your partner can be the Overlord of Identity Design. Having two Annual Report Gods will make for some lacking identity work when the client requests it. And for the record, once again, it will be better if this person isn't family.

“But why a partner?” you ask. “I'm a darn good designer, and I'm really really gonna do this right.”

A partner will keep you on your toes. When you want to buy that $2,000 scanner, he or she should question why. If you want to design a promotional piece, it should be a group effort to get the best results. If you start to slack off, he or she will be there to remind you of business priorities. No one can do everything, and two complementary skill sets create an asset that cannot be reproduced when flying solo.
About Your New Office

When you start a business, the option of setting up an office outside your home has dramatic pros and cons that must be weighed carefully.

Good:

1. You have a place for clients to visit if they are local.
2. Reinforces good image (see below). Proper presentation goes a long way, and making your office appear as if you’ve been in business for years (you didn't tell them you were a start-up, did you?) helps build client trust.
3. You can write off all office expenses (rent, repairs, phone, etc). This will affect your bottom line drastically.
4. Gets you out of the house. Having a real place to go to work makes the business more real, and forces you to take it that more seriously.

Not-So-Good:

1. Money out the window. Renting an office costs $250-$10,000 a month, not including the initial deposit. This is a lot of money if you have a thin or inconsistent client base.
2. Requires additional expense. You will need to get a fire inspection and a certificate of occupancy, not to mention additional phone lines, Internet connection, furniture, etc.
3. Setting up an outside office for a new business is a case-by-case situation, and depends almost entirely on start-up money and cash flow. Some businesses truly require a place to host clients (ad agencies),and for others it’s not as important (web development). Weigh the advantages carefully against capital, because being locked into a lease without a means to pay is no fun.

Retain a Good Paper Trail

Make sure to keep a solid paper trail with clients, and that means a real, physical file with hardcopies of proposals, contracts, invoices, time sheets and anything else you can think of that relates to the project. This also includes all financial records, bank statements, receipts, deposit slips, etc.

Before beginning your business, establish several important things. First, design a consistent and scalable filing system for all the forms. Whether you organize by client or project is irrelevant, but make sure you can find the information when you need it. Second, make sure to have airtight contracts. I advise against writing them yourself. There are many places on the net where you can get generic forms, such as www.creativepro.com. You will also need to look for NDAs (non-disclosure agreements, for contracting work out to other freelancers), RFP (request for proposal) templates for clients to fill out, expense reports, invoices, and time sheets. Every project is different, so be prepared to make changes on these forms.

And please, when you sign a contract with a client, make sure you have a copy with BOTH signatures. Seems like an obvious thing, but you'd be surprised. Don't do any work without one, because legally, you will have a very hard time forcing a delinquent client to pay without one.

Part of maintaining a solid paper trail is having a good invoice system ready to launch at a moment’s notice. Make sure your invoices arrive in the client’s mailbox while the project is still fresh. Every invoice should clearly mark the amount to be paid and terms of payment (30 days, etc.), and clearly indicate any additional fees resulting from delinquent recompense.

If payment is late, don't be afraid to call the client. Sometimes they just misplaced the invoice. Other times they don't have the money and are trying to slink away. Sometimes, “the check is in the mail.” Regardless, the business that does not call to get paid won't get paid!

Start Small, Conserve Loot
Consider working from your house/apartment to start, especially if you have clients that will never visit you, or if you live in an expensive metropolis (NYC, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, etc). Keep your expenses down! Don't buy a new quad Xeon workstation if your current machine can cut it, or a truckload of networking equipment for two computers. Be cheap! Look for sales at OfficeMax, clip coupons, and just shop smart. You’re going to need the start-up capital down the road, so don't drain it on frivolous expenditures. (And yes, the folded die-cut business card with the metallic ink counts as a frivolous expenditure.)
Don't Undercharge, but Be Flexible

If there’s one thing to remember from this article, it should be this point. Proper pricing is the one thing that keeps the business alive, on multiple levels. When you charge appropriate amounts for the work, the client will feel like they hired the right people; when you undercharge, the client will know this and take advantage of you by demanding similar rates in the future.

If you give every client a discount just to get the job (and this will be tempting, especially in the beginning), you'll find yourself working twelve-hour days and not being able to pay the bills. Undercharging hurts the industry in general as well; undercharged clients come to expect and request absurdly low prices.

Legal Software

Make sure all the copies of your software are retail versions. Do not use “educational” or pirated software. This is very important, and should be part of the start-up budget.

Separate Personal and Business Finances

Nothing much else to say about this. It will save you innumerable headaches come tax season.

Marketing
Even the most reliable clients have dry spells, so make sure you are constantly putting your company’s name in the marketplace. Word of mouth is the best, but getting truly fresh work usually requires spending money.
 
The Importance of Image
The importance of maintaining a positive image in the eyes of your clients and potential clients cannot be overstated. Know your firm’s identity so you can project that identity to the customer.

The visual identity is critical. Get business cards, letterhead, and envelopes. Design a good logo or pay someone to do it if you’re not a design firm.

Dress the part. When meeting with a client, look like someone who’s come to do business, not some clichéd black-turtleneck half-shaven graphic designer who’s gracing them with your presence half an hour late. It sounds exaggerated, but it happens all too often.

Make the office welcoming. If you entertain clients, keep the office clean, organized and hospitable. Make good coffee. Purchase comfortable chairs. Make sure they have a place to park.

Use Outside Resources

Running a business takes long hours and a willingness to learn. However, there are many services that exist to help businesses succeed and get work. For instance:

• Your local Chamber of Commerce
• SCORE
• Attend business seminars. You can learn a lot and do some powerful networking. Many are free.
• Elance.com. A cause of dissention among many designers for the ridiculously low rates you have to work for, but a good place to find work when the rest of the world has shut its doors.
• If you still decide to start a business, there’s nothing more I can say except good luck.

You’ve got to have the “fire in your belly,” or you will fail. There are long hours, hard work, and incredibly frustrating and stressful times ahead. But the rewards — being your own boss, being able to work on a variety of projects, feeling that proverbial sense of accomplishment — these are all very real results.
 
A Special Note for Those Still in School

When I was in school, what I wanted more than anything was to start a business creating customized audio solutions for multimedia content creators. I asked my teachers — they said it was a good idea. I asked my classmates — they thought it was a good idea. Then I took a six-month internship at a “new media” company whose focus was streaming audio and met people so poor they slept in the warehouse with the equipment because they didn't have the experience to succeed in what they were doing. (Incidentally, they didn't have a business plan either.)

Before you start a business fresh out of school, wait and get some real world work experience first. I started my design company when I was 23, and the business clearly suffered because of it. Not because I was young and dumb (well, not that young and dumb anyway), but simply because I didn't have enough street smarts to REALLY succeed.

Technical knowledge and raw talent only go so far. When working at a company, you see how established businesses function: how workflow is managed, how clients are dealt with, how managers treat workers, and the absolutely critical nature of deadlines, no matter how tight. These are invaluable lessons that school does not teach.


by Kevin Potts

5 Reasons To Keep A Work Diary

Many historical figures kept work diaries or journals. Ben Franklin, John Adams, Andy Warhol, and countless others have recorded the events of their day in some form. While these historic diaries are incredibly fascinating for us to read today, the benefit they gave to the writers was probably far greater.

Richard Branson has written bestsellers based largely off of his years of recording his daytime thoughts and working experiences into journals. Reading Branson's thoughts motivated me to keep a loose log of work and life experiences as well. The ritual has helped me immensely, probably more than any other work or time management "hack."

My process is pretty simple: At the end of each day I'll recount what worked, what didn't, and some other random things that happened during the day. There isn't a lot of structure, just merely stream of thought that lasts about fifteen minutes. Sometimes I'll vent in wordy prose, other times I'll just make a quick list. I've found that it's not so much what or how I write, but rather that I do it. The results have been profound for me. I'd recommend this practice to anyone. Here's why:

1. The release

If anything, it feels good to unwind and recount the bits of the day. There's something about the finality in writing something down on paper that makes it more real, and makes the memories stronger. I doubt I'd be able to remember half of what I did throughout the day if I didn't recount them. It also helps with answering that recurring question of "Where did the day go?!"

2. An honest overview

If you're like me, you keep lists of stuff that needs to be done throughout the day. I've had days where the morning started with 15 things on the list, and ended with 13 left undone. Ouch. Yet being able to recall the day allows me to see some of the other things I did get done that weren't on the list.

3. See the wins

We often forget the things that we got done during the day for lots of reasons. We're taught at an early age that what we do isn't as important as what we didn't do. After all, what we don't get done often impacts us more in work and other social settings. This causes us to automatically shove the stuff we did accomplish into the back of our minds, and fret about the undone. However, focusing on what we have done—the wins—in our day rejuvenates. Going to bed looking at what was accomplished can be a massive motivator to help start the next day, and can keep us from closing the day on a sour note.

4. Minimize your mistakes

One definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over again, while expecting a different outcome. Similarly, it's easy to plow through each work day like the last, without giving a second thought to the events of the day. This is especially true for our bad days. On our worst days, we simply want to unwind and not have to relive the nightmare that was the previous working day. But it turns out the worst parts of our days are important to remember as well (even though it stings). Reverse engineering what went wrong is helpful to ensure it doesn't happen again, and work journals are perfect for this.

5. A new perspective on your day

The most helpful part of this exercise for me is getting perspective on what my days end up looking like.  After a particularly bad day last month I reflected, stiff drink in hand, on all the events of the day. This helped me to see that my day wasn't as bad as I had remembered it. In fact, it was a really decent day, minus a couple setbacks towards the end. In my mind I had made these setbacks out to be more important than they were. The day wasn't a total loss after all! Perspective is everything.

As our days move by us faster and faster, it becomes that much more important to take a breath, and reflect on what happened during the day. Without the perspective of our days, we can't really take satisfaction in our big wins, nor can we learn from our mistakes.

"Buy Put" Stock Option Investment Strategy"

A stock option is a contract that gives investors the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell 100 shares of stock at a strike price by a set expiration date. A "call option" enables investors to "lock-in" a price for a particular stock (the strike price) for a premium. If the stock price goes above the strike price by enough to cover the premium paid for the "call option" and any commission fees, the investor will make a profit. Should the stock price never reach that strike amount, the investor only loses the premium, and any commissions paid. In other words, "call options" have unlimited potential profit with minimal risk, which make them good investments during bull markets, where returns continue to outperform historical norms.

A "put option", however, is a better investment option during bear markets, when returns are below historical averages. A "put option" gives the holder the right (but not the obligation) to sell 100 shares of stock at the strike price to the writer of the option. In other words, the writer of the option is betting that the stock price will rise above the strike price. Using the "buy put" stock option investment strategy means that you are betting that stock prices will go down---and the lower the better!

The more "bearish" you feel about the market, the better the "buy put" stock option strategy becomes. Thus, for the price of the premium, the investor locks in the right to sell the 100 shares of stock reserved by the option to the writer at strike price.The lower the stock price goes, the more profitable the option becomes. The investor would be acquiring the 100 shares of stock at a cheaper price (if he/she does not already own it), but is guaranteed to sell the option to the writer for the (higher) strike amount. The larger the gap between the actual stock price and the strike amount (at time of expiration or when option is exercised), the greater the profit.

The maximum loss for an investor using the "buy put" stock option investment approach is the premium paid plus commission fees. If the expiration date arrives and the stock price remains above the strike price, then the loss is total, and the option is worthless. The break even point for a "buy put" option is the exercise amount of the stock, minus the premium and commissions.

"Buy put" options are also susceptible to decay, as their value continues to decrease as the expiration date grows nearer. The only variable that affects decay is the overall volatility of stock prices. When the market is more volatile, the rate of decay will slow. However, when prices are steady and consistent, the rate of decay will actually increase, since predictable prices mean that the time decay is also predictable. For investors who believe that they are in a bearish market, however, the "buy put" stock option investment strategy may be a good one with limited downside.

Easy Answers to Tough Interview Questions

If you were invited for an interview, you’ve conquered half the battle; the recruiter already thinks you can do the job based on your resume. The next half, though, is about proving them right. Things like body language or your outfit play a part, but only a supporting role to what really gets the spotlight: how you answer those tough questions. Here are some tips on how to deliver.

Q: “Tell me a little about yourself.”

What they’re really saying: “I’m trying to figure out why you want this job and if you’re a good fit.”
What they’re not saying: “Tell me a funny story from your frat days or what you watched on Hulu last night.”

There’s a way to be honest, express your individuality, and still tailor your answer to their expectations. For example:

A: “I studied social work at the University of Michigan because I knew it would be the best way to apply my passion for people. Since then, I’ve worked as a counselor for refugee agencies, where I became more informed of global, systemic issues. Those experiences paved a specific long-term career path for me, which is why when this position opened up, I knew it would be a good fit.”

Notice that the answer has a chronological, thematic structure. Your answer doesn’t have to be so formulaic, but the interviewer’s takeaway should be that applying for this job was the next natural step.
Q: “What are your weaknesses?”

What they’re really saying: “You’re not perfect, so how do you compensate?”
What they’re not saying: “What are your weaknesses?”

Employers are moving away from asking this question, but if you get it, avoid either extreme, i.e. sounding fake (“I work too much”) or too transparent (“I’m not very punctual, I tend to lose things,” etc.) It’s all in how you spin it:

A: I pay incredible attention to detail, but sometimes it causes me to miss the bigger picture. I’ve been working on that by approaching projects from a bird’s-eye view throughout the process.”
Q: “How do you handle stress?”

What they’re really saying: “Do you have good problem-solving, time-management, and decision-making skills?”
What they’re not saying: “How do you unwind?”

Cite at least one–if not all three–skills in your answer, and use a specific example. Sometimes a personal answer can work (e.g., I exercise three times a week to stay balanced), but it’s safer to answer how you handle stress or pressure on the job.

A: “In stressful situations, I take a step back and analyze the best ways to solve the problem. For example, in my previous position, there were moments of high volume that were stressful. In order to provide quality customer service to each individual, I prioritized their needs, quickly assessed which cases could be handled by colleagues, and addressed the most urgent situations first.”
Q: “What would others say about you?”

What they’re really saying: “Are you a good fit for our team?”
What they’re not saying: “I care what your friends and mom think about you.”

Always answer this question based on what previous colleagues and employers would or have said about you. Include any weaknesses to give a well-rounded answer, too. Don’t be afraid of commenting on relational skills.

A: “I’ve been consistently commended by employers for my initiative and ability to think outside the box. My colleagues would say that I’m willing to go above and beyond to get the job done, and that I value working relationships marked by mutual trust and respect.”
Q: “Where do you see yourself in five (or ten) years?”

What they’re really saying: “Do you know where you’re going in life, and are we a part of it?”
What they’re not saying: “Tell me the truth.”

If the job is an entry or even mid-level position, chances are that they know you won’t be there in five years. They’re testing to see whether you’re stable, reliable, and have clear goals. Start with the big picture, then narrow down to the specific company and/or position.

A: “I see myself at a creative marketing firm that pushes the envelope. My goal is to be a senior copywriter that oversees and ideates multiple projects, and I see this position as the starting point.”

These just scratch the surface, but remember these recurring principles when interviewing : be confident, be specific, and be honest–just not too honest. Looking for more interview tips? This video is full of gems that you can use to ace your next interview:

Useless information

Funny but relatively useless information

1. A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
2. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.
3. The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
5. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
6. A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why. (except in Salford, Manchester. The University of Salford conducted an experiment proving this much quoted internet fact to be a fallacy. So there you go, never believe anything you read on t'internet http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/acoustics_info/duck/
7. A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2 by 3-1/2.
8. During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur", a small red car can be seen in the distance.
9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
10. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
11. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
12. The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.
13. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple, and silver.
14. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan". There was never a recorded Wendy before.
15. The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
16. If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
17. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down so you could see his moves.
18. The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA".
19. The original name for butterfly was flutterby.
20. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
21. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
22. Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.
23. By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.
24. Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.
25. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
26. Chewing gum while peeling onions will help reduce the number of tears.
27. Sherlock Holmes NEVER said "Elementary, my dear Watson".
28. An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.
29. The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.
30. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
31. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them. Not to mention the other drawback to passing gas in such a confined space....
32. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave
33. The Guinness World Record for holding the most Guinness World Records is set by Ashrita Furman , who has broken over 303 official Guinness World records
34. The first British Cyclist to ride 25 miles in under one hour was Ralph Dougherty (1939). Ralph Dougherty was also the first cyclist to be disciplined for failing to wear black socks (which at the time were compulsory because in early time trials, cyclists had to look 'inconspicuous' because initially cycle races were banned in Britain) - Cycling Facts
35. The annual coal carrying world championships is held every year in Gawthorpe, Yorkshire. The ideal weight of the winner is said to be 10st 7lb and the most successful entrants are window cleaners, builders and farmers Yorkshire Facts

Elephants are Best Eaten One Bite at a Time

As far as vices go my compulsive, obsessive fascination with the Civil War is probably one of the least harmful ones on which to waste an unjustifiable amount of time, money and energy.  One observation I made from all of the rooting around old archives and tromping around old battlefields is that, had the people of the north known what they were getting into, it never would have happened.  At the outset, the War was not defined as one aimed at freeing the slaves.  Instead it was a patriotic endeavor with the goal of preserving the union.  And the expectation was that it would be relatively bloodless, lasting a few months or so.  Men joined the army to get in on the glorious adventure, much more so than to sacrifice their lives for a great moral cause.

Had anyone known that the War would last four years and that over 600,000 Americans would be dead before it ended; or had Lincoln defined it up front as he did at Gettysburg in 1863 as an ordeal necessary to put teeth into "the proposition that all men are created equal", few would have signed up for it.  The magnitude of the investment in lives and treasure was enormous, and the benefits of putting an end to slavery and defining United States as a single entity were far too intangible to justify such a price.  The War grew piece-meal, ramping up one battle and one event at a time until the purpose became clear, success became feasible, and the cost seemed worthwhile.

I have come to be convinced the lean journey is similar.  Those of us who are lean purists and lean idealists, especially those of us who have been to the mountaintop and seen the other side - just how comprehensive the successful lean transformation must be - are perhaps too quick to criticize those organizations that initially see lean as the simple deployment of a few lean tools.

In Toyota Kata, Mike Rother compares the lean journey to a long flight of stairs, with problems lying on each step.  From the bottom of the staircase it is impossible to see all of the problems or even how may steps there are.  But as the problems are solved at each step, we rise and can see a little bit further up the staircase and we learn what the next problem is to address.

When we tell the organization right from the get-go that the flight of stairs is endless, and that to climb it a complete overhaul of how everyone thinks, and replacing every system in place will be necessary, all for benefits that are not easy to explain - largely because no one can really understand the benefits when they try to do so through the dysfunctional accounting and metrics lens we are looking to replace - we are met with resistance and skepticism, if not outright rejection.

An article in the Albany Times Union sings the praises of the lean commitment made by the governor and the state of Iowa, and urges the state of New York to do the same.  It would be easy to scoff at the lean approach in Iowa:  "Iowa has an Internal Office of Lean Enterprise that has completed 142 lean events ... a law was signed requiring all executive agencies to undertake lean events."  We know that no one can become lean simply by leaving the culture, systems and basic organization intact and simply running a bunch of lean events, then sending the participants back to the same old organization that created all of the problems the kaizen events aimed at fixing.  This 'Kaizen Kowboy' approach to lean never accomplishes much.

Better to withhold judgment, however.  What matters is that all of those events enable the folks in Iowa to climb another step, and see the next batch of problems.  They still can't see the obstacles to excellence or the necessary solutions in their entirety, but they should now be seeing a little more than they could before.  What matters is not whether they see and begin gorging on the whole elephant, but whether they see and commit to the need for taking the next bite.  So long as they keep climbing the stairs one step at a time, they will be fine.
The problem with companies like GM and Delphi was not that they started off with a similar tools-based view of lean, but that they used those tools to climb and see deeper problems - then ignored them - rationalized their way out of addressing hem - opted to never climb higher than the tools took them.  In fact, just about every organization begins with tools.  There is no shame in that.  The key is whether they use those tools to climb, or quit when they encounter the next obstacle.

By Bill Waddell 

WKUK Bad Employee

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: Book Review

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life. This inspirational tale provides a step by step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance and joy. Julian Mantle whose life drastically changed after a major heart attack found life changing odyssey when he tried discovering the ancient culture in the Himalayas. He discovered powerful, wise and practical lessons. These odessies brought in a drastic change in his life. He not only looked divine and wise than before but his physical appearance also changed drastically. He now looked a better human being. There was a glow in his face, his skin looked fairer than ever and his body trimmed the extra fats that he had gained in his professional life. Once he discovers the ancient culture and thoughts from the sages he returns back to his country land. He meets his fellow being John who use to help him during his professional life. John is doing well in his professional career but he too is not happy about the way he's spending his life doing nothing graceful. At this time Julian comes back and meets John. There’s a long conversation between Julian and John. And Julian imparts all his knowledge to John teaching him how to develop joyful thoughts, follow our life's mission and calling, cultivate self-discipline and act courageously, Value time as our most important commodity, Nourish our relationships, and live fully one day at a time. This book is a wonderfully crafted fable giving us Julian's wisdom in a nutshell and the basic mantra to lead a happy and wonderful life.

How to Commit to a Goal

Psychological experiments demonstrate the power of a simple technique for committing to goals.

Here's a brief story about why we all sometimes get distracted from the most important goals in our lives. Perhaps you recognise it?

You are thinking about changing your job because your boss is a pain and you're stagnating. As the weeks pass you think about how good it would feel to work for an organisation that really valued you. You think this might be a good goal to commit to but...

Work is busy at the moment, the money is OK and your home-life is also packed. And don't even mention the economy. When do you have time to update your CV and start exploring the options?

Apart from anything else you've been thinking about learning a musical instrument. With the lessons and hours of practice there wouldn't be any time for interviews.

A few months pass. You forget about changing your job and start to fantasise about learning the piano. Wouldn't it be wonderful after a hard day's work to immerse yourself in music?

Unfortunately everyday life intervenes again and you do little more than search online for the price of electric pianos. Then you wonder if what your life needs is...and so on.

After six months you come back full circle to changing your job, still without having made a real start towards any of these goals.

Written like this, with six months compressed into a few paragraphs, it's obvious the problem is a lack of goal commitment; although in reality, with everyday life to cope with, the pattern can be more difficult to spot.

One major reason we don't achieve our life's goals is a lack of commitment. This article describes psychology experiments that suggest how we can encourage ourselves to commit to beneficial goals that could change our lives.

Reality check

Here, in a series of experiments by Gabriele Oettingen and colleagues, fantasy is involved again, but this time combined with a sobering dose of reality (Oettingen et al., 2001).

The researchers divided 136 participants into three groups and gave them each a different way of thinking about how they wanted to solve a problem, in this case it was an interpersonal one.

1. Indulge: imagine a positive vision of the problem solved.
2. Dwell: think about the negative aspects of the current situation.
3. Contrast: first imagine a positive vision of the problem solved then think about the negative aspects of reality. With both in mind, participants were asked to carry out a 'reality check', comparing their fantasy with reality.

Crucially, participants were also asked about their expectations of success in reaching their goal.

The researchers found that the contrast technique was the most effective in encouraging people to make plans of action and in taking responsibility but only when expectations of success were high. When expectations of solving their interpersonal problem were low, those in the mental contrast condition made fewer plans and took less responsibility.

The contrast condition appeared to be forcing people to decide whether their goal was really achievable or not. Then, if they expected to succeed, they committed to the goal; if not, they let it go.

Using this technique, the same thing happens to emotions as well as thoughts. In a second experiment the mental contrasting had the effect of committing people emotionally to the goal if they thought they could succeed, or letting the goal go if they didn't. Both those who indulged or dwelled made no such emotional investment.

A third experiment found that people in a mental contrast condition were more energised and took action sooner than those who only entertained positive or negative fantasies on their own. Once again people didn't commit themselves to goals they didn't expect to achieve.

Why mental contrasting is hard
Carrying out a kind of reality check sounds like a straightforward technique, but from other research we know that it's easy to get wrong.

The positive fantasies about the future must come first, followed by the negative aspects of reality. Then it's also vital that we think carefully about the difference between fantasy and reality. A study has found that if people don't contrast fantasy with reality then the technique doesn't work (Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2001).

There's a good reason why we need to rub our noses in the difference between fantasy and reality. It's because we hate to have inconsistencies pointed out to us and will attempt all kinds of mental contortions to avoid them. Psychologists call this cognitive dissonance: our mind's discomfort with thoughts and actions which are incompatible with each other.

Our natural reaction is to avoid bringing fantasy and reality together because it's uncomfortable. Suddenly it becomes obvious what needs to be done and these realisations can be depressing—we might have a lot of work to do. Worse, we might have to face the fact that our goal is unworkable.

Another reason the technique is difficult is that people dislike moving from happy to depressing thoughts. We want to keep thinking about happy things. Or if we're thinking negative thoughts, it's difficult to change to positive.

Hearts and minds
When done right, the strength of this technique is it forces us to decide. People have a natural tendency to avoid decisions, preferring to stay in a fantasy land where the chance of failure is zero.

Mental contrasting makes us ask ourselves if this is really a goal we want to pursue. If not we should forget about it and move on to something else. If we expect to succeed then it forces us to commit our hearts and minds to it, making us act now with energy and focus.

And if we imagine failing then we should anticipate regret. A vague goal you don't care about is a goal to which you're not committed. Deciding to do one thing, rather than another is always a kind of risk, both cognitive and emotional. The time we expend pursing one goal is time that can't be spent pursuing others.

By contrast, if we never fully commit then it's difficult to achieve anything. What the mental contrasting technique forces you to do is choose. Making a choice—a committed choice—is the first step along the journey to realising your goals.

Top 30 Open-ended Questions

Open-ended questions are one of the most important tools for those who sell (as long as you listen).

They help you gather information, qualify sales opportunities, and establish rapport, trust and credibility.

If you consider yourself a professional, own (absolutely know) a repertoire of powerful open-ended questions… questions that are answered by more than a simple yes or no… questions where the prospect/ customer gets directly involved in the sales discussion.

READ MORE


Written by Sam Parker of JustSell.com

Tom Sawyer at Work: The Art of Delegation

Managers can learn a lot about how to successfully delegate work by reading Mark Twain's classic story about Tom Sawyer whitewashing a fence. The story tells how Tom delegates his work to the other boys in town, and how work that is delegated can be completed joyfully and efficiently.

Tom completed his survey of all the whitewashing Aunt Polly had assigned him, and he felt a deep melancholy feeling that made existence but a burden. As the boys in town passed by, Tom thought about paying a boy or two to complete the project, but he did not have enough to buy an afternoon's worth of freedom. Then an inspiration struck Tom as he went back to work, but instead of grumbling he went back to work in a calm and serene manner.

Soon a boy by the name of Ben Rogers came by and told Tom it was a shame he could not go swimming because he had to work. Tom replied, "Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain't. All I know is it suits Tom Sawyer." After a few minutes of watching Tom enjoying his work, Ben asked if he could try a bit of whitewashing. Tom told Ben that perhaps only one boy in a thousand or even in two thousand could paint the fence in the way Aunt Polly wanted it done.

Reluctantly Tom surrendered his brush to Ben in exchange for an apple core. Soon more and more boys came to join Ben in whitewashing the fence. Tom sat back under a shade tree and directed the activity, and it wasn't long before the fence had three coats of whitewash on it. Tom learned an important lesson that day about human behavior without knowing it. In order to get a man to covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.

As managers, what can we learn from Tom Sawyer?

1. Remember that delegating work is not the same as assigning work. When you delegate work, you are sharing YOUR work. When you assign work, you are not sharing your work but simply handing out tasks that employees are already responsible to complete. The overall goal of delegating work is to free you up for other endeavors, and to teach job skills to your employees.
2. Make the work you want to delegate inviting. No one will want to accept a task or project if you are grumbling about it. Tom would have never been able to interest other boys in whitewashing if he had been complaining and grumbling.
3. Risk delegation when an employee asks to help you with your work. Oh, sure you can pretend to hold back, as Tom did, but do allow the employee to help you in the end.
4. Assign worth to the work delegated to the employee. Tom told Ben that only a rare individual could paint the fence the way Aunt Polly wanted it done. When you either ask an employee to take on part of your work, or when they ask to complete it, assign worth to the work and assign importance to the person who will complete it.
5. Remember to monitor the individual who receives the delegated work. Delegation should be challenging enough to the employee so it stretches him or her to gain new skills. Therefore, the employee may need coaching and encouragement in order to complete the task or project up to your standards.
6. Following your delegation of work, do not sit back under a shade tree as Tom did. If you delegate successfully, you should start to see a multiplying effect. Delegation should free you to be more creative and it should give you time to consider new tasks to complete, which will help the company meet its goals.

Red Marbles, Blue Marbles

Problem: you have two jars, 50 red marbles, 50 blue marbles. you need to place all the marbles into the jars such that when you blindly pick one marble out of one jar, you maximize the chances that it will be red. (when picking, you’ll first randomly pick a jar, and then randomly pick a marble out of that jar) you can arrange the marbles however you like, but each marble must be in a jar.

Solution
Chance! chance is easy if you know how to do the formula. we know that we have two choices to make. first we’ll pick a jar, and each jar will have a 1/2 chance of being picked. then we’ll pick a marble, and depending how we stack the marbles, we’ll have a (# of red marbles in jar)/(# of total marbles in jar) chance of getting a red one.

for example, say we put all the red marbles into jar A and all the blue ones into jar B. then our chances for picking a red one are:

1/2 chance we pick jar A * 50/50 chance we pick a red marble
1/2 chance we pick jar B * 0/50 chance we pick a red marble

do the math and you get 1/2 chance for a red marble from jar A and a 0/2 chance for a red marble from jar B. add ‘em up and you get the result = 1/2 chance for picking a red marble.

think about it for awhile and see if you can figure out the right combination. we had a 50/50 (guaranteed) chance in picking a red marble from jar A, but we didn’t have to have 50 red marbles in there to guarantee those fantastic odds, did we? we could’ve just left 1 red marble in there and the odds are still 1/1. then we can take all those other marbles and throw them in jar B to help the odds out there.

let’s look at those chances:

1/2 we pick jar A * 1/1 we pick a red marble
1/2 we pick jar B * 49/99 we pick a red marble

do the math and add them up to get 1/2 + 49/198 = 148/198, which is almost 3/4.

we can prove these are the best odds in a somewhat non-formal way as follows. our goal is to maximize the odds of picking a red marble. therefore we can subdivide this goal into maximizing the odds of picking a red marble in jar A and maximizing the odds of picking a red marble in jar B. if we do that, then we will have achieved our goal. it is true that by placing more red marbles into a jar we will increase the chances of picking a red marble. it is also true that by reducing the number of blue marbles in a jar we will increase the odds also. we’ve maximized the odds in jar A since 1/1 is the maximum odds by reducing the number of blue marbles to 0 (the minimum). we’ve also maximized the number of red marbles in jar B. if we added any more red marbles to jar B we would have to take them out of jar A which reduce the odds there to 0 (very bad). if we took any more blue ones out of jar B we would have to put them in jar A which reduce the odds there by 50% (very bad).

it wasn’t really a good proof, but QED anyway :-P

The Business Vision and Company Mission Statement

While a business must continually adapt to its competitive environment, there are certain core ideals that remain relatively steady and provide guidance in the process of strategic decision-making. These unchanging ideals form the business vision and are expressed in the company mission statement.

In their 1996 article entitled Building Your Company's Vision, James Collins and Jerry Porras provided a framework for understanding business vision and articulating it in a mission statement.
 

The mission statement communicates the firm's core ideology and visionary goals, generally consisting of the following three components:

1. Core values to which the firm is committed
2. Core purpose of the firm
3. Visionary goals the firm will pursue to fulfill its mission

The firm's core values and purpose constitute its core ideology and remain relatively constant. They are independent of industry structure and the product life cycle.

The core ideology is not created in a mission statement; rather, the mission statement is simply an expression of what already exists. The specific phrasing of the ideology may change with the times, but the underlying ideology remains constant.

The three components of the business vision can be portrayed as follows:
 

Core Values

 
The core values are a few values (no more than five or so) that are central to the firm. Core values reflect the deeply held values of the organization and are independent of the current industry environment and management fads.

One way to determine whether a value is a core value to ask whether it would continue to be supported if circumstances changed and caused it to be seen as a liability. If the answer is that it would be kept, then it is core value. Another way to determine which values are core is to imagine the firm moving into a totally different industry. The values that would be carried with it into the new industry are the core values of the firm.
Core values will not change even if the industry in which the company operates changes. If the industry changes such that the core values are not appreciated, then the firm should seek new markets where its core values are viewed as an asset.

For example, if innovation is a core value but then 10 years down the road innovation is no longer valued by the current customers, rather than change its values the firm should seek new markets where innovation is advantageous.

The following are a few examples of values that some firms has chosen to be in their core:

• excellent customer service
• pioneering technology
• creativity
• integrity
• social responsibility

Core Purpose

The core purpose is the reason that the firm exists. This core purpose is expressed in a carefully formulated mission statement. Like the core values, the core purpose is relatively unchanging and for many firms endures for decades or even centuries. This purpose sets the firm apart from other firms in its industry and sets the direction in which the firm will proceed.

The core purpose is an idealistic reason for being. While firms exist to earn a profit, the profit motive should not be highlighted in the mission statement since it provides little direction to the firm's employees. What is more important is how the firm will earn its profit since the "how" is what defines the firm.

Initial attempts at stating a core purpose often result in too specific of a statement that focuses on a product or service. To isolate the core purpose, it is useful to ask "why" in response to first-pass, product-oriented mission statements. For example, if a market research firm initially states that its purpose is to provide market research data to its customers, asking "why" leads to the fact that the data is to help customers better understand their markets. Continuing to ask "why" may lead to the revelation that the firm's core purpose is to assist its clients in reaching their objectives by helping them to better understand their markets.

The core purpose and values of the firm are not selected - they are discovered. The stated ideology should not be a goal or aspiration but rather, it should portray the firm as it really is. Any attempt to state a value that is not already held by the firm's employees is likely to not be taken seriously.

Visionary Goals

The visionary goals are the lofty objectives that the firm's management decides to pursue. This vision describes some milestone that the firm will reach in the future and may require a decade or more to achieve. In contrast to the core ideology that the firm discovers, visionary goals are selected.

These visionary goals are longer term and more challenging than strategic or tactical goals. There may be only a 50% chance of realizing the vision, but the firm must believe that it can do so. Collins and Porras describe these lofty objectives as "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals." These goals should be challenging enough so that people nearly gasp when they learn of them and realize the effort that will be required to reach them.

Most visionary goals fall into one of the following categories:

• Target - quantitative or qualitative goals such as a sales target or Ford's goal to "democratize the automobile."
• Common enemy - centered on overtaking a specific firm such as the 1950's goal of Philip-Morris to displace RJR.
• Role model - to become like another firm in a different industry or market. For example, a cycling accessories firm might strive to become "the Nike of the cycling industry."
• Internal transformation - especially appropriate for very large corporations. For example, GE set the goal of becoming number one or number two in every market it serves.

While visionary goals may require significant stretching to achieve, many visionary companies have succeeded in reaching them. Once such a goal is reached, it needs to be replaced; otherwise, it is unlikely that the organization will continue to be successful. For example, Ford succeeded in placing the automobile within the reach of everyday people, but did not replace this goal with a better one and General Motors overtook Ford in the 1930's.

100 Doors in a Row

Problem: You have 100 doors in a row that are all initially closed. you make 100 passes by the doors starting with the first door every time. the first time through you visit every door and toggle the door (if the door is closed, you open it, if its open, you close it). the second time you only visit every 2nd door (door #2, #4, #6). the third time, every 3rd door (door #3, #6, #9), etc, until you only visit the 100th door.

Question: What state are the doors in after the last pass? Which are open which are closed?

Solution: For example, after the first pass every door is open. on the second pass you only visit the even doors (2,4,6,8…) so now the even doors are closed and the odd ones are opened. the third time through you will close door 3 (opened from the first pass), open door 6 (closed from the second pass), etc..

Question: What state are the doors in after the last pass? Which are open which are closed?

Solution: You can figure out that for any given door, say door #42, you will visit it for every divisor it has. so 42 has 1 & 42, 2 & 21, 3 & 14, 6 & 7. so on pass 1 i will open the door, pass 2 i will close it, pass 3 open, pass 6 close, pass 7 open, pass 14 close, pass 21 open, pass 42 close. for every pair of divisors the door will just end up back in its initial state. so you might think that every door will end up closed? well what about door #9. 9 has the divisors 1 & 9, 3 & 3. but 3 is repeated because 9 is a perfect square, so you will only visit door #9, on pass 1, 3, and 9… leaving it open at the end. only perfect square doors will be open at the end.

Undoing the Worrying Habit

Once acquired, the habit of worrying seems hard to stop. We're raised to worry and aren't considered "grown up" until we perfect the art. Teenagers are told: "you'd better start worrying about your future". If your worries aren't at least as frequent as your bowel movements, you're seen as irresponsible, childish, aimless. That's a "responsible adult" game rule.

To the extent that worrying is learned/conditioned behaviour, it can be undone. There are psychological gimmicks for undoing the worry habit. There are also obstacles.

Obstacle 1: Happiness Negation

Centuries-old cultural conditioning has given us a nasty neurosis: the belief that happiness must be "earned". It can be "earned" only by enduring unpleasantness (eg work, pain, misery). But how do you know if you've endured enough unpleasantness to deserve happiness? Another unspoken game rule: "responsible adults" can never endure enough unpleasantness to truly deserve happiness.

Laid on top of the first neurosis is the idea that spending money will make you happy. This is toffee coating on a bad puritan apple. If you spend enough money to give you the (advertised) conditions for happiness, the neurosis emerges in the form of apparently random worries, guilt, "feeling shitty", etc. Worrying is the easiest and most popular way to negate happiness. (See sidebar interlude).

So: we never stop working, we never stop spending money, we're never really happy – ideal conditions, coincidentally, for a certain type of slave economy.

Obstacle 2: The Idea that Worrying Serves a "Purpose"

You won't stop worrying if you think it serves you. So it's a good idea to distinguish the fight-or-flight response (a healthy bodily reaction to immediate danger) from worry (a psychological problem). By making this distinction, you're less likely to overrate the value of worrying.

The fight-or-flight response (FOF) is useful on rare occasions of real danger. In animals, the FOF responds to "external" stimuli; in humans it responds also to worries about imagined dangers, and to socially-conditioned psychological stimuli: "what will people think about me?", etc.

Worrying is never useful. It handicaps and diminishes us. The more it triggers the FOF with imagined threats, the more it prevents clear thinking (which is probably our greatest survival asset).
Rearranging the mental furniture

There's a useful gimmick to help stop worrying , you simply cultivate the habit of postponing worrying. Your mind becomes (re-)conditioned to not dwell on worries in the present.

The trick is that whenever you feel plagued by a worrying thought, note it down on a "worry sheet" (a piece of paper set aside for the purpose) – you can then forget about it, knowing that you plan to worry later.

This deceptively simple technique is effective because it bypasses the psychological obstacles mentioned above. Your mind is "fooled" into thinking that you haven't given up worrying. Meanwhile, you lose the habit of worrying in the present moment.

You can plan to revisit noted worries at a time when you're worry-free. Or you can postpone worries indefinitely. That might sound bizarre, but then so is the notion that you must experience endless unhappiness (eg worrying) before you're allowed to be happy.

More likely is that when using this technique you will simply forget your original worries – they will never have bothered you.

Accelerator-Brake analogy

What follows is slightly more esoteric than above. Feel free to ignore...

Strange as it may seem, you want what you worry about. Or at least that's what you inadvertently tell your brain when you worry. On one level, your brain can't process "negatives". If you tell it: "don't think about crashing the car", it can't help being "attracted" to the thought/image of crashing.

Consciously, worrying is about preventing/resisting/avoiding X. Subconsciously, it's a reinforcement of wanting X (at least to the extent of wanting the experience of X in your mind). Consciously, you're pressing on the brake; subconsciously you're pressing on the accelerator.

The difficulty is that your "feet" (to continue with the analogy) are tied together. So, to stop accelerating, you must also lift your foot from the brake. But you refuse to do this (which might be sensible in a car; but your brain isn't a car).

You somehow have to persuade (or con) your brain into thinking it's safe to lift both feet from the worry pedals. For serious anxiety disorders, phobias, etc, many people go into therapy. The end result, if successful, is equivalent to learning to lift both feet (ie to "let go" of the worry/fear).

For relatively "minor" worry problems, you can use psychological gimmicks to "con" your brain into letting go of the worry – eg the worry postponement and "focused punishment" techniques described above (both have the effect of getting you to "lift both feet" from the accelerator-brake).

Word of Inspiration

    “Just because something is easy to measure doesn't mean it's important.”

Seth Godin

    “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

citizens can change the world. Indeed, It is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

    “People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust.”

E. B. White

    “Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don't.”

Seth Godin

    “Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory.”

Andrew Carnegie 

Writing Skills

Getting Your Written Message Across Clearly

A colleague has just sent you an email relating to a meeting you're having in one hour's time. The email is supposed to contain key information that you need to present, as part of the business case for an important project.

But there's a problem: The email is so badly written that you can't find the data you need. There are misspellings and incomplete sentences, and the paragraphs are so long and confusing that it takes you three times more than it should to find the information you want.

As a result, you're under-prepared for the meeting, and it doesn't go as well as you want it to.

Have you ever faced a situation similar to this? In today's information overload world, it's vital to communicate clearly, concisely and effectively. People don't have time to read book-length emails, and they don't have the patience to scour badly-constructed emails for "buried" points.

The better your writing skills are, the better the impression you'll make on the people around you – including your boss, your colleagues, and your clients. You never know how far these good impressions will take you!

In this article, we'll look at how you can improve your writing skills and avoid common mistakes.

Audience and Format

The first step to writing clearly is choosing the appropriate format. Do you need to send an informal email? Write a detailed report? Create advertising copy? Or write a formal letter?

The format, as well as your audience, will define your "writing voice" – that is, how formal or relaxed the tone should be. For instance, if you write an email to a prospective client, should it have the same tone as an email to a friend?
 
Definitely not.
 
Start by identifying who will read your message. Is it targeted at senior managers, the entire human resources team, or a small group of engineers? With everything you write, your readers, or recipients, should define your tone as well as aspects of the content.


Composition and Style

Once you know what you're writing, and for whom you're writing, you actually have to start writing.

A blank, white computer screen is often intimidating. And it's easy to get stuck because you don't know how to start. Try these tips for composing and styling your document:

• Start with your audience – Remember, your readers may know nothing about what you're telling them. What do they need to know first?
• Create an outline – This is especially helpful if you're writing a longer document such as a report, presentation, or speech. Outlines help you identify which steps to take in which order, and they help you break the task up into manageable pieces of information.
• Use AIDA – If you're writing something that must inspire action in the reader, follow the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action (AIDA) formula. These four steps can help guide you through the writing process.
• Try some empathy – For instance, if you're writing a sales letter for prospective clients, why should they care about your product or sales pitch? What's the benefit for them? Remember your audience's needs at all times.
• Use the Rhetorical Triangle – If you're trying to persuade someone to do something, make sure that you communicate why people should listen to you, pitch your message in a way that engages your audience, and present information rationally and coherently. Our article on the Rhetorical Triangle can help you make your case in the most effective way.
• Identify your main theme – If you're having trouble defining the main theme of your message, pretend that you have 15 seconds to explain your position. What do you say? This is likely to be your main theme.
• Use simple language – Unless you're writing a scholarly article, it's usually best to use simple, direct language. Don't use long words just to impress people.

Structure

Your document should be as "reader friendly" as possible. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbering whenever possible to break up the text.

After all, what's easier to read – a page full of long paragraphs, or a page that's broken up into short paragraphs, with section headings and bullet points? A document that's easy to scan will get read more often than a document with long, dense paragraphs of text.

Headers should grab the reader's attention. Using questions is often a good idea, especially in advertising copy or reports, because questions help keep the reader engaged and curious.

In emails and proposals, use short, factual headings and subheadings, like the ones in this article.

Adding graphs and charts is also a smart way to break up your text. These visual aids not only keep the reader's eye engaged, but they can communicate important information much more quickly than text.



Grammatical Errors

You probably don't need us to tell you that errors in your document will make you look unprofessional. It's essential to learn grammar properly, and to avoid common mistakes that your spell checker won't find.

Here are some examples of commonly misused words:

• Affect/effect

1. "Affect" is a verb meaning to influence. (Example: The economic forecast will affect our projected income.)
2. "Effect" is a noun meaning the result or outcome. (Example: What is the effect of the proposal?)

• Then/than

1. "Then" is typically an adverb indicating a sequence in time. (Example: We went to dinner, then we saw a movie.)
2. "Than" is a conjunction used for comparison. (Example: The dinner was more expensive than the movie.)

• Your/you're

1. "Your" is a possessive. (Example: Is that your file?)
2. You're" is a contraction of "you are." (Example: You're the new manager.)
3. Note: Also watch out for other common homophones (words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings) – such as their/they're/there, to/too/two, and so on.

•  Its/it's

1.  "Its" is a possessive. (Example: Is that its motor?)
2.  "It's" is a contraction of "It is." (Example: It's often that heavy.) (Yes, it is this way around!)

• Company's/companies (and other possessives versus plurals)

1. "Company's" indicates possession. (Example: The company's trucks hadn't been maintained properly.)
2. "Companies" is plural. (Example: The companies in this industry are suffering.)

Tip:
Some of your readers – arguably an increasing number – won't be perfect at spelling and grammar. They may not notice if you make these errors. But don't use this as an excuse: there will usually be people, senior managers in particular, who WILL notice!
Because of this, everything you write should be of a quality that every reader will find acceptable.




Proofing

The enemy of good proofreading is speed. Many people rush through their documents, but this is how you miss mistakes. Follow these guidelines to check what you've written:

• Proof your headers and subheaders – People often skip these and focus on the text alone. Just because headers are big and bold doesn't mean they're error free!
• Read the document out loud – This forces you to go more slowly, so that you're more likely to catch mistakes.
• Use your finger to follow text as you read – This is another trick that helps you slow down.
• Start at the end of your document – Proofread one sentence at a time, working your way from the end to the beginning. This helps you focus on errors, not on content.

Key Points

More than ever, it's important to know how to communicate your point quickly and professionally. Many people spend a lot of time writing and reading, so the better you are at this form of communication, the more successful you're likely to be.

Identify your audience before you start creating your document. And if you feel that there's too much information to include, create an outline to help organize your thoughts. Learning grammatical and stylistic techniques will also help you write more clearly; and be sure to proof the final document. Like most things, the more you write, the better you're going to be!