US is growing. That’s a fact. It is a nation of 300 million! It’s madeup of many nations blended together. I think that the most amazing thingabout the US: the ability to mix many nations and races, and still have a safeenvironment. I came across a great article on Yahoo: what US iscomposed of, and what it will look like in the future. A good read –link below.
I extracted some interesting parts from the article:
Reference
Thenext 100 million and the face of America, Yahoo News
Rajesh Setty, author of Beyond Code (book I recommend for programmers), has some good points about blogging. It’s not as easy as it seems. I agree with Rajesh.
1. It’s easy to start but hard to maintain.
In fact, it is VERY hard to maintain. Since most bloggers are not depending on blogging for their living, it is walking an extra mile almost everyday. Plus, how do you motivate yourself to do something that does not have a short-term return?
2. People expect consistently good content or quality readers walk away.
You can write something stupid and get away for a while. People may even link to it and you may see an upsurge in traffic but that traffic is not what you want. Quality readers don’t have time to hunt for stupidity. If you don’t post good content consistently for a LONG time, there is no loyalty from quality readers. Ultimately it is not who reads your blog
Reference
In an ideal environment, you have people that you admire and can learn from. They mentor you. If you have that environment, consider yourself lucky and take advantage of it. It’s one of the best ways to keep learning!
If you don’t have that luxury, and you think people around you are mediocre or just bad, you can learn and keep learning from them as well! How? By observing them and learning what not to do! This was mentioned in How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci book. The author says that he learned the most from bad teachers. He learned what not to do as a teacher.
So here’s how you can keep learning: learn from the best — copy what they do, listen to them; and learn from the worst — avoid doing what they do, or do the opposite.
In essence, put others’ experiences to your own use.
Reference
How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci
The latest issue of ComputerWorld, Oct 2nd issue, has a very good section on leadership, Lessons In Leadership, where five top CIOs share their lessons learned. I am going to extract some great quotes I found. These quotes explain what leadership is in a practical way.
Bette Walker, CIO of Delphi Corp”I remind my direct reports that if they’re not doing a good job of communicating, coaching and preparing materials in advance, change will take even longer.”
David Rice, CIO of Siemens Medical Solutions USA”Sometimes the absolutely worst decision is to not make a decision. Being a leader means having to make tough decisions. If you’re not comfortable with that, you’re probably in the wrong job.”
Bill Spooner, CIO of Sharp HealthCare”You’ve got to do everything you can to make your employees proud to work for you and proud of what they’re doing. They need to sense the importance of what they’re doing.”
Rick Davidson, CIO of Manpower”I believe it’s important to be honest and transparent and to establish trust between management and employees. People follow leaders because the leader can take them places they can’t go on their own. And if you violate that trust, people won’t follow you anymore.”
Noel Tichy, author and former head of GE’s leadership centerQ: “What is the best thing a leader can do?”A: “Be a teacher and develop other leaders while the organization keeps winning. The worst people in the world to do this are consultants, professionals and training stuff. It is up to the leaders of an organization to be the teachers.”
ReferenceLessons In Leadership, CW article
I am just looking over the 2006 Semi-Annual iShares MSCI Series report I received today. I’m thinking, US economy will slow in the next year or two. Looking at the markets outside of US, I might want to invest in other assets.
For instance, iShares Australia Index (EWA). 1 year return: 15.83%; 5 year return: 148%.
Brazil Index (EWZ): 1 year: 70%; 5 years: 187%
Canada Index (EWC): 1 year: 33%; 5 years: 103%
Mexico Index (EWW): 1 year: 45%; 5 years: 194%
Those are some impressive returns. I like Canada and Australia indexes: stable countries with very good results. I should have invested in Brazil when it went down a year or two ago; same with Mexico.
Being humble is hard. Especially in pressure situations. But I think it is one of the most important characteristics of a person.
What does it mean to be humble? The article I found on lifehack.org, Humility in the Workplace, written by Rosa Say, has a great definition of what it means. (It’s so good that I re-posted the whole content.)
‘Humility’ is a widely understood word. It’s not one of those words people will pause to look up the meaning for. Generally, people love the thought of humility. It’s one of those ‘good’ values we strive for; one we admire. Yes, most people feel they know what it means to be humble.Demonstrating it however, is a whole other matter.
For instance, a person distracted by their Blackberry or cell phone, unable to focus on the conversation you are having with them face to face, is so filled with self-importance, they cannot possibly claim to be humble. Humility is the lack of self-importance, is it not?
The person who impatiently shakes their head as you explain a new idea you are presenting to them, finally breaking in to say, “We’ve tried that here before, and it just doesn’t work,” cannot claim to be humble. Humility is being open-minded, and realizing that no matter how long you’ve been around, you couldn’t possibly have experienced everything there is to experience, right?
Then there’s the person who just got a promotion, and the first purchase order they write is for new business cards, despite the fact that the have a box left of the old ones with the same mailing address, email address, and phone numbers. Never mind that they mostly attach v-cards electronically these days, and that’s why the old box lasted so long.
In new product development, there’s a discussion going on about complaints customers have with existing products, and someone says, “Well, they wouldn’t have that problem if they followed the instructions in the first place.” That can’t possibly be humility, when we stop listening to what our customers are asking for, and assume they just don’t ‘get it,’ right?
If some of our common behaviors in workplaces are an indication, we don’t understand humility very much at all.
Those who are humble, feel the rest of us are pretty interesting. Those with humility have a genuine desire to discover what other people can offer. They are intrigued by how others think, and how others feel differently from them.
We can be confident, and we can be self-assured; humility does not call for us to be meek, or consider ourselves lower in stature. We do not require less of ourselves, and we take our role and our responsibilities seriously. However what humility does, is create a sort of receptacle of acceptance in us, so we are open to being filled with the knowledge and opinions of others. Humility is a kind of hunger for more abundance. The greater our humility, the greater our fascination with the world around us, and the more we learn.
To have inner drive, to want to be successful is a good thing. I do believe that part of humility is believing in those possibilities which presently may be larger than life for you. However humility also speaks to the demeanor and attitude we must have as we seek our success, so that our inner drive and desires are in balance with our composure, and our conduct with those who interact with us. After all, they could factor into being a big part of the success we eventually will enjoy.
One of the best definitions I have ever heard for humility came from one of my employees when I was still in corporate management. Short and sweet, it’s one I have never forgotten. He was talking about a new supervisor we’d recently hired into the department, explaining how she listened to everyone on staff in such a great way. Like they mattered. Like everything they did and said mattered. He had said she seemed very humble to him because as she demonstrated it, “Humility is an act of courtesy.”
I like that.
We were not put on this earth alone. Frankly, others have to live with us, and our own practice of open-minded, fill-me-up humility can make it a much more interesting and pleasant experience for all of us.
ReferenceHumility in the Workplace, lifehack.org blog post
How do you grow as a person?
One of the ways is doing new things. We get new ideas (by reading, observing, listening, etc.). We then try to implement them in our own lives. I do this fairly often. For instance, I read that writing your goals everyday (or several times a week) works. I have implemented that and before I go to bed, I try to write (re-write) the list of goals, along with the completion date. This has really helped me focus on the things that I want to do.
A different way of growing is attacking your fears. (This is a more painful way, I must admit.) I have many fears. Even though I try to work on them at a slow pace, I do work on them. However, Scott Young, in his blog entry, A Fear a Day, is trying to work on a single fear every day. That’s very pushy, but I think it might work. I think a fear a week or so might work as well.
The bottom line, continuously working on your fears is a good way to grow yourself. Try it. It’s a lifelong strategy to improve yourself.
ReferenceA Fear a Day, Scott H Young
RelatedScott H Young blog — excellent self-development blog
I read a lot. I love to read. Every chance I get, I try to read. I acquire a lot of knowledge through reading. It’s more a habit now than a hobby. I would probably not be able to live without it. So why not learn how to speed-read?
I am still a skeptical about speed reading. But lately, I think it might work.
I read this article, Speed-Reading Techniques, some time ago. Basically, the guy convinced me that speed reading might actually work. For everyone. I’m not sure if it works for all material types, but it works overall.
The author points out an interesting analogy: speed reading is like speed driving. Everyone can do it, but you need to be fully concentrated and follow some basic reading techniques, like using your finger, getting rid of all distractions, and having a purpose of why you’re reading. Also, the author says, you cannot speed read all the time, and you don’t have to — again the analogy to speed driving (do you always do it?).
I got convinced to at least try it. I’m trying to use a finger when I read. I know I read a lot of faster now but I’m not retaining a lot. I have to do some more research, re-read this excellent article, buy a book, and see if it helps me.
If I can speed read, if I can double my reading speed, then I’m going to benefit greatly.
ResourcesSpeed-Reading Techniques, by Keith Drury
Breakthrough Rapid Reading, book I bought by Peter Kump
A good leader needs to have at least some charisma. What is charisma? I found a great definition of it while reading Win The Crowd.
Charismatic people are:
- enthusiastic
- confident
- comfortable in their own skin
- unconcerned about what others think of them
- masters of their subject matter
- symbols of something others desire
Be Unconcerned About What Others Think of YouThe key to charisma may lie in this advice. Do what seems right to you, and don’t waver when people present differing points of view. Stay true to who you are and what you believe in. People will often test you to see how far you can be pushed. Don’t budge. The firmer you stand, the clearer it is what you stand for.
You can’t please everybody. Not everybody will like you and that’s perfectly okay. There is no need to be liked by every person you meet.
Stop trying to impress everyone. Your presentations will improve, and people will be more attracted to you when you decide to impress no one but yourself.
ReferenceWin The Crowd, Steve Cohen
I learned a lot by listening to these two books. They both contain similar information, but I think they compliment each other.
What did I learn? I used to think that punishment is a good way to discipline kids. I don’t mean hitting, but punishing for the wrong things. I see now that my thinking was wrong.
Punishing does not work! The result of punishment is that kids are just more careful and try not to get caught. There are better ways of making sure that the message gets across.
The most important thing is (I knew this was the key): pay attention to your kid’s feelings. Listen to your kid. Even if he is complaining. Listening is probably the most important thing that you can do to help your kid. Put yourself into his mind, think what he is going/went through, ask him to tell you more. Pay attention. By listening first, you have a chance that your kid will listen to you as well.
If however, you have a kid that misbehaves, there are ways to attack that. You hope you only have to take the first few steps. First, tell him to stop. Second, tell him how you feel and what you expect. Third, give him a choice (“you can either sit in the cart or walk and not run”). Fourth, and this is instead of punishment, take action, make him pay (I guess this is a form of a punishment): if you go to a store, and your kid insists on going, ask him why you’re going alone; offer to take him next time but not this time. Do not give in (this is important to teach him a lesson).
Don’t label your kid. Don’t call him names. Always concentrate on what he did wrong, not on him. Remember that your kid wants to be loved, and if you call him “you’re stupid,” “you’re slow,” etc, he will feel rejected. You don’t want that. Instead. tell him that you’re not happy with his action, and tell him your expectations.
Another good solution to your kids behavioral problem (when you’re running out of options) is to sit down with him and brainstorm for possible solutions. Tell him that you can both try to solve the problem. Ask him what he can do. Brainstorm for ideas. Write it down. You offer solutions as well. Write them down without discussing. After you come up with some solutions, you pick the ones that can work for both of you. The kid feels in charge this way.
Overall, good information contained in these books. I learned some new techniques, confirmed some of the ones that I had. All of the methods discussed in these books are good ones.