Entries from October 2009 ↓

Do you know contagiously joyful people that charge you with positive energy only with their presence?

In case you don’t, it’s about time you met one or even became one yourself. Try giving others a smile when they don’t seem to have one and the results will be magical. You’ll instantly become the person to be with in any situation.

How to make others happier using 8 simple tricks

1. Listen. Everyone wants to be heard much more than they want to hear.
2. Compliment. It’s the details that matter. If your girl has bought a new blouse, say that the color really suits her.
3. Smile. The good thing about smiling is that it’s always welcomed and often contagious.
4. Remember. Ask your colleague if he or she has fixed her car problem. It means you really listened the last time the two of you talked.
5. Give help. But only when you’re asked for it.
6. Be serious. From time to time, people need serious conversations without gossip or fun jokes. Be that guy or gal when necessary.
7. Do what is needful. Give hugs, kisses, pats on the shoulder or simple “you’ll do fine” messages, depending on the person you’re talking to.
8. Be honest. Most people know when you’re lying, so just be frank with them.

The skills mentioned need time and will to be mastered. But a combination of at least three of them can make you a great communicator. Thanks for taking the time to read this article!

Image by Danny Perez

Have you ever tried taking your laptop, leaving your usual workspace and going to your favorite coffee shop or park with a wireless internet service? Simple changes in your environment can inspire new thoughts, angles and ideas, as well as make you productive.

Eventually, work becomes a boring routine, just like kindergarten, school and college becomes dull with the time you spend there. One of the simple and effective ways to stimulate your creativity is by finding new places, scenes and people to draw aspiration from. That’s called change.

Kindergartens have a great method of inspiring kids: they change environments. They teach your kids to paint different things with the same crayons each day. They take them to walks, parks, lakes, new places. Things don’t change much since then. It’s just that at work you’re responsible for finding motivation to be productive. And there’s no nanny to tell you how.

Written by CBSE Sample Papers

Here is a task for all you readers for today. Think about the person you dislike the most, preferably someone related to your profession. Take a notepad and write ten reasons why you dislike him.

Do not get carried away and write reasons like “I just don’t like him”. Be honest and impartial.

Done? What are you waiting for?

Done now?

Good!

Now look at the reasons again keeping you in the mind. Yes, think it like this way – If someone else was to write such a list about you, will these reasons appear in that list? Put a check mark beside every reason that you think people will say about you. Again, be honest and impartial because you won’t again anything by lying to yourself.

Now you know what your shortcomings are. Take another sheet of paper and write the solution to each shortcoming. Solution may be one time, or something to follow daily, but make sure you write it down.

Now keep this paper in your drawer. And every morning go through it. When you have done every solution (for daily ones, keep a 30 day limit), redo the exercise.

This will help you find your own mistakes and solve them yourself without embarrassment.

Hope each one of you find this useful. If you have any similar self-improvement tasks in mind, leave it in the comments on mail it to me.

I’d like you to stop and think over this for a second: Are you waisting your time on the wrong stuff?

Success means knowing when to quit and what to stick to. Yet so often we spend precious efforts on actions that don’t directly benefit our lives. Most people are afraid to quit simply because they don’t want to admit their failure.

But who said that failure is a bad thing?

Here’s a list of eight signs that you’ve failed and that you need to move on to something else:

1. There’s no reason to keep on going.
2. You don’t have the time required to succeed.
3. You don’t know enough on the topic (so start learning).
4. The project milestone is simply unachievable.
5. You’ve run out of money.
6. You just can’t get serious about it.
7. Enthusiasm or interest have gone away.
8. It sounds too good to be true (hidden risks).

Just remember: quitting something is the beginning of starting another thing. Even if you’ve failed, that doesn’t mean that you can’t to your best somewhere else.

Image by Ali Farid

Let’s be straight and honest here. Successful people who’ve realized everything by themselves have no secret stories and keys. Work hard, believe in yourself and have fun while doing it. The tough part, however, is finding the balance and it’s here that most people simply fail and give up.

So screw secrets and ultimate guides, as there are virtually no rules on how to live your life. Instead, concentrate on finding your passion and combining it with making money. Reading inspirational books is one thing, but true personal development requires action.

Richard Branson started out his billion dollar business by creating a magazine from nothing, working amazingly hard. It’s this passionate commitment that has been pushing him throughout the years to create world-known chain stores and even the first commercial flight in space.