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Love what you do..

Posted by in Goals, Management, Personal Branding, Personal Effectiveness

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Courtesy: http://www.savagechickens.com/2005/11/love-your-work.html

This is an oft repeated advise in various personal development courses (and books).   Many a motivational speaker has become richer telling this- and here we are, reading this blog, and wondering, how many more will say this.

And you know what? So it is.

If you don’t love what you are doing, you won’t be happy at it or good at it- and worse, it will show.…and , this is great advice on paper for people who have an option.

For many of you (as it is for me), that option does not exist.

You are doing things which you just have to do because you have very limited choice.

So how do we make work life totally enjoyable?

First find something that you love in your job.  There must be SOMETHING in your job that you love (apart from shutting shop end of the day). Find that.  Focus your energy around that area- and bring in one new thing into that circle (of things you love doing) everyday.  You will be surprised at how your energy levels will start going up post that- and your work will start shining. 

From a job that was “boring”, “not stretching my abilities”, it will become more interesting & the passion will rise every day.

Stardom is just one task away!

Let me know if this works.

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Are you a Cowboy or a Team player? Your future depends on this answer!

Posted by in Leadership, Management

Picture courtesy- http://bearseatpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/cowboy-sunset.jpg

"The man who gets the most satisfactory results is not always the man with the most brilliant single mind, but rather the man who can best coordinate the brains and talents of his associates." Alton Jones, industrialist

Really- there is no other way to succeed.

The cowboy days are long gone.

To succeed, one must, I repeat, one must, work with the broader team. You need to get off the horse and join the crowd.

The more people who share a common purpose, a common goal, and committed to the same outcomes, the better it will be for you to overachieve.

Think about what you are doing today – and how many projects that you are trying to carry on your shoulders!

Shrug off the old sentiments (of sole glory) and work towards team glory.

Success will follow.

Branding will follow as well.

Step back and think… it could change your life!

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Eleven Keys to Increasing your Productivity- Brian Tracy

Posted by in Goals, Leadership, Management, Personal Effectiveness, Time Management

No one can put it better than the guru of productivity- Brian Tracy. This is from one of his newsletters – which is exactly how one should improve their productivity.

Zero value add from my side Thumbs up

  • Develop clear goals and write them down.
    Because higher productivity begins with clear goals, goal setting is a key component of our coaching program. As you know, a goal must be specific and measurable to be effective in guiding your behavior. It must reflect your beliefs and be within your power to achieve.
  • Write a clear action plan.
    Next, if you want to turbo-charge your productivity, make sure you have a clear, written plan of action. Every minute you spend in careful planning will save you as many as ten minutes in execution.
  • Set your priorities.
    The third step is to prioritize your list. Analyze your list before you take action. Identify and start with the high-value tasks on your list.
  • Concentrate and eliminate distractions.
    In this step, choose a high-value activity or task, start on it immediately, and stay with it until it is done. Focusing single-minded attention on one task allows you to complete it far more quickly than starting and stopping.
  • Lengthen your workday but increase your time off.
    By starting your workday a little earlier, working through lunchtime, and staying a little later, you can become one of the most productive people in your field.
  • Work harder at what you do.
    When you are at work, concentrate on work all the time you are there. Don’t squander your time or fall into the habit of treating the workplace as a community where socializing is acceptable.
  • Pick up the pace. At work, develop a sense of urgency and maintain a quicker tempo in all your activities. Get on with the job. Dedicate yourself to moving quickly from task to task.
  • Work smarter.
    Focus on the value of the tasks you complete. While the number of hours you put in is important, what matters most is the quality and quantity of results you achieve.
  • Align your work with your skills.
    Skill and experience count. You achieve more in less time when you work on tasks at which you are especially skilled or experienced.
  • Bunch your tasks.
    Group similar activities and do them all at the same time. Making all your calls, completing all your estimates, or preparing all your presentation slides at the same time allows you to develop speed and skill at each activity.
  • Cut out steps.
    Pull several parts of the job together into a single task and eliminate several steps. Where you can, cut lower-value activities completely.
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Express Case Study- Building a brand- Illy

Posted by in Business, Leadership, Management, Personal Branding

While recently reading about building a brand, I was stuck with the work that Illy does for their coffee.. Not a very fond drinker of these coffees, I have noticed this brand of coffee and machines across the world..

This is what I found very interesting-

  • They are the largest seller of espresso coffee in the world
  • They buy coffee from 18-19 countries
  • But they have only ONE blend… (think about it – so many different coffees but only one blend)
  • They have coffee tasters sitting around for weeks trying to mix this one with the other one and so on, to have the one blend that they figure is the best.
  • They then finalize that blend and then do all kinds of roasting (deep, medium, light and decaffinate as required). 

Why? So that the customer has the same experience everywhere.

That- to me, is what it takes to build a brand.

Something that involves a great vision, complete clarity on how to execute it, and then execute it flawlessly.

No different from what we should do, to build our own “Brand” out there. 

Courtesy Source: DNA News (6 September, 2010).

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In Search of Excellence

Posted by in Leadership, Management, Personal Branding

 

This is a wonderful story I recently read in a mail I received yesterday.

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A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked… The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency.

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The desire to excel and do a great job should be a driving force in each of us.

Every time you do a job, ask yourself-

  1. Is this the best I can do or is there something that could be done better?
  2. Is there something that I can do, that makes it better?
  3. If someone else did this, will they do the same or will it be better? What can I do differently?
  4. Will people be able to recognize it is work done by ME? (what is the unique element in the work done, that is my “signature”).

Starting today, look at leaving your mark in everything you do.

You will leave a legacy that others can only look up to & strive to reach.

One job at a time. One extra “signature” at a time.

 

 

 

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