Well done is better than well said. -Benjamin Franklin
Getting to Done: Communication – A little design goes a long way – Lifehacker
The word “design†is a hard one to pin down. While it means many things to many people, one of the constants, as it relates to media anyway, is communication. When it comes to presentation, e-mail, your blog, invoices, resumes or anything else you use to communicate with others, a little design can be a big help in getting your message across.
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“If you expect those below to support your leadership and step into the breach when needed, they will need to understand your strategy, your methods, and your rules.”
–Michael Useem, author, “Leading Up”From Fast Company’s recently released book, The Rules of Business: 55 Essential Ideas to Help Smart People (and Organizations) Perform At Their Best
Download of the Day: GanttProject – Lifehacker
GanttProject is a cross platform, open source project management program.GanttProject has all the normal project management features like project mapping, resource charts, etc., but with a price tag that any small business owner can appreciate (free!). Additionally, GanttProject can import and export Microsoft Project files, making it easy to port your project in and out GanttProject as you need.
In today’s fast-paced life, the wins usually go to those with exceptional skills and abilities. The old quote is true, “The race is not always won by the swift and the strong, but that is the way to bet.”
With this in mind, and with your desire to become increasingly successful, here are some ways to accelerate your abilities, thus enabling you to achieve greater and greater things.
Become dissatisfied with your current state. Growth for growth’s sake is good. Those who will achieve much are those who say to themselves, “I want to grow. I want to be better. And I am willing to do what it takes to get there. This current state is not enough!” This dissatisfaction will create for you an insatiable drive to do what it takes to get your abilities to the next level.
Visualize the benefits of increased abilities. Put them at the forefront of your mind. This will saturate your mind with the motivation that it will take for you to do what it takes to increase your abilities. What good will come out of my increased ability? How will I be better off as well as the others around me? The answers to these questions act as the carrot before the horse, moving you forward.
Understand your weaknesses. If you want to improve, one of the best ways is to start with some area that you aren’t particularly good at. This is the “shoring up method.” Sometimes it is easier to improve something you aren’t good at than something you are. And the gains will still look great for your overall situation! Take some time to consider what areas you are weakest in and focus in on them for a while. The results will obviously be much more pronounced than getting better at something you have already somewhat mastered.
Attempt greater levels of what you are already good at. Another tact to take would be to stretch yourself in an area that you already have some skill and ability in. What areas do you excel in? Now understand that when you leave the weaker areas weak and make extraordinary gains in one area, then you will be moving more toward “specialist” rather than “generalist.” That is okay, but needs to fit in with your overall goals.
Commit time each day to improvement. Steady improvement is the way to go. In fact, you may not see improvement for days or weeks. You may feel like you are failing each time. But alas, eventually you will get it and your skill will increase to the next level. The key is day in, day out, spending time working on improving. Even five minutes a day equals a half hour a week, 2 hours a month. That adds up! Remember, Practice, practice, practice.
Seek out and spend time with someone who has greater ability than you. One of the best things to do to increase your ability is hang out with people who are already more skilled than you. Watching, them, studying them, interacting with them, even competing with them will make you better. As in sports, to improve, you play with people better than you, not worse. They will raise you to a new level. Who around you can you get involved with who will help you with your ability?
Take a class or hire a coach. Go to school my friend. Take a course at a local college or vocational institute. Take a class online. Hire one of the many coaches available today. Pick a specific skill you would like to improve upon and find someone who is a specialist in that area. At the very least, pick up some audio or videotapes to help you grow.
Be the tortoise, not the hare. Slow but sure. Take your time, do it right. Keep going in the right direction. Learn your craft correctly. Don’t give up quality for speed. The whole idea of acceleration is this way: Slow start, work up to high speeds, go the distance. Luckily life isn’t a sprint but a marathon!
Hope these ideas help you as you commit to accelerating your abilities!
Chris Widener
Master project management framework fundamentals – TechRepublic
This sample chapter, taken from PMP Exam Cram 2, 2nd Edition, introduces the basic terminology and topics the PMBOK covers and provides a general outline for the PMP exam material.
Lifestyle is style over amount. And style is an art – the art of living. You can’t buy style with money. You can’t buy good taste with money. You can only buy more with money. Lifestyle is culture – the appreciation of good music, dance, art, sculpture, literature, plays and the art of living well. It’s a taste for the fine, the unique, the beautiful.
Lifestyle also means rewarding excellence wherever you find it by not taking the small things of life for granted. With Valentine’s Day approaching I wanted to illustrate this with a personal anecdote:
Many years ago my lady friend and I were on a trip to Carmel, California for some shopping and exploring. On the way we stopped at a service station. As soon as we parked our car in front of the pumps, a young man, about eighteen or nineteen, came bouncing out to the car and with a big smile said, “Can I help you?”
“Yes,” I answered. “A full tank of gas, please.” I wasn’t prepared for what followed. In this day and age of self-service and deteriorating customer treatment, this young man checked every tire, washed every window – even the sunroof – singing and whistling the whole time. We couldn’t believe both the quality of service and his upbeat attitude about his work.
When he brought the bill I said to the young man, “Hey, you really have taken good care of us. I appreciate it.”
He replied, “I really enjoy working. It’s fun for me and I get to meet nice people like you.”
This kid was really something!
I said, “We’re on our way to Carmel and we want to get some milkshakes. Can you tell us where we can find the nearest Baskin-Robbins?”
“Baskin-Robbins is just a few blocks away,” he said as he gave us exact directions. Then he added, “Don’t park out front – park around to the side so your car won’t get sideswiped.”
What a kid!
As we got to the ice cream store we ordered milkshakes, except that instead of two, we ordered three. Then we drove back to the station. Our young friend dashed out to greet us. “Hey, I see you got your milkshakes.”
“Yes, and this one is for you!”
His mouth fell open. “For me?”
“Sure. With all the fantastic service you gave us, I couldn’t leave you out of the milkshake deal.”
“Wow!” was his astonished reply.
As we drove off I could see him in my rear-view mirror just standing there, grinning from ear to ear.
Now, what did this little act of generosity cost me? Only about two dollars – you see, it’s not the money, it’s the style.
Well, I must have been feeling especially creative that day, so on our arrival in Carmel I drove directly to a flower shop. As we walked inside I said to the florist, “I need a long-stemmed rose for my lady to carry while we go shopping in Carmel.”
The florist, a rather unromantic type, replied, “We sell them by the dozen.”
“I don’t need a dozen,” I said, “just one.”
“Well,” he replied haughtily, “it will cost you two dollars.”
“Wonderful,” I exclaimed. “There’s nothing worse than a cheap rose.”
Selecting the rose with some deliberation, I handed it to my friend. She was so impressed! And the cost? Two dollars. Just two dollars. A bit later she looked up and said, “Jim, I must be the only woman in Carmel today carrying a rose.” And I believe she probably was.
Can you imagine the opportunity to create magic with those around you, and all for the cost of a few dollars, some imagination and care. Remember, it is not the amount that matters but the thought and care that often has the greatest impact upon those you love.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
On-the-fly encryption for your USB flash drive – Lifehacker
Windows/Linux only: Free, open source disk encryption software TrueCrypt allows you to secure your thumb drive (among other things) so that you don’t need to worry about losing sensitive information if you lose that little drive.
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