Bullet-Points Tips: December 2011

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Reduce Burden. Live Happier.

Living in a meaningful way involves developing your own potentials in the best possible way. And opening up a new path in every following area of your life leads to reduce your burden and live happier:-

On an average, we each own over 10000 things in our mind and activities. Make a start at your desk and then move to your closets, rest of your house, garage & your car. Think how to simplify/shorten your activities in them. Remove unwanted/irrevant/unimportant thoughts from your mind.
Managing finances are more difficult than cleaning up the mess in your house. Find out how to get free from financial blockages, and work out your own concept of wealth.
Every person has 24 hours each day. The real issue is how much of your time is free at your disposal. Manage your time by setting clear priorities for your personal and professsional tasks and by keeping yourself free for important things.
Delegate consistently and simplify your communication with others.
Your body is your most personal possession. But most of us pay atention to it only when it does not work properly. Keep yourself fit by always doing some physical exercises, eating happily and keeping yourself engaged.
Concentrating on one activity at a time is the best way to relax adequately.
The social network in your environment can become the source of terribly complicated life. Simplify your relationship to free you up. Make your life more meaningful to move forward.
Balance your work and private life relatoinship to simplify your life.
Learn to understand yourself better and move toward the purpose of your life by developing your strengths.
Less is more. Simplify your life.

Qualities of a Good Leader

Good Leaders are made not born. Good leaders develop themselves through a never ending process of education, self-study, training, and experience. A Good Leader is one who:-

Accepts change and let his employees know that change never ends.
Has the courage to face reality and acts on it quickly.
Teaches his managers to manage less and lets them to come up with new ideas.
Places right people in the right job. Involves everybody and allow them to speak freely.
Brings up the employees who live up to company values.
Reviews expenses and head counts even in good times.
Emphasizes idea sharing & implement best ones. Rewards employees for sharing knowledge.
Starts communication (verbal / non-verbal) with a simple message. Most effective communications are those which are easy to understand.
Motivates employees to go beyond ordinary goals.
Maximises employee participation by linking financial/non-financial incentives to quality performance.
Adapts to changing environment by promoting simplicity and self-confidence.
Monitors customer/employee reactions to the initiative on a continuing basis.

Basics for Graphic Designing

To Become a Graphic Designer one needs to have interest, practice and understandig the world around. If you want to become a good graphic designer, you should know the following pre-requisites:-

Your client wants to convey a message to its customers. You have to express your client' message by a Logo/Logotype. To understand what your client wants to express, go through client's profile and understand all aspects of his business.

Client wants to convey his message also by words. You, as a graphic designer should know how to design the words/slogans for your client's product/service, called 'typography'. Typography simply means 'an art and a technique of arranging words/slogans to make them visible.

Now you have to decide, how to engage your viewer (customer) to your design. Contrasting your design directs him where to look first and what to notice next. Contrasting simply means making difference in color and light between parts of any image/logo/logotype/words.

Next step is layout of your design. Assume you are good driver who knows a destination i.e. layout is the map that makes that you know the road. A good layout provides specific directions to the viewer. Programmes like Dreamweaver, Coffeecup and Adobe GoLive allow you to convert designs done in familiar layout programmes.

If you are designing for books, brochures, magazines and newspapers, you have to decide about the requirements of columns for text, space for illustrations, photographs etc. You should be able to successfully crisp all the information called 'grid'. 'Grid' simply means Layout/Information Organising Technique.

You have to keep page after page very interesting for the viewers (customers) to scan and read.

Logos/Logotypes are the recognitions of what your client wants. To prepare good logo, consider all passible images with maximum number of options to select the best one from them.

You, as a graphic designer, should analyse how and what other designs communicate the viewers.

Women! Protect Lips In Winter

Lips - a sensitive body organ - might get affected by different seasons as they are exposed to the elements. During harsh winters, they appear cracked, bleed, and may also become unnaturally red. Protect your lips by folowing these tips, either or the others of which you can apply:-

Like you prefer applying eye cream at night, apply specialist lip products at night.
To protect your lips against sun, cold and wind, use Opaque Lipsticks.
Gently moisturize your lips with a light toothbrush, topped with lip cream to remove fine cracked particles.
If your lips are sensitive during winter, check out Alpha-Hydroxy-Acids, Vitamin A & E Moisturizers to maintain your lips on daily basis.
Use SPF to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines on the surface of the lips.
Papaya hleps to soften and improve the attractiveness of your lips.
Prepare juicy papaya paste. Lie down and apply the papaya paste to your lips and skin around. Leave it on for 20 minutes, then wash lightly with water and apply lip balm.
Use oil based lubricating lip balm two to three times a day to maintain moisture level of your lips.
It is more ideal to use Natural Lip Balms than the lip products that have chemicals.
You can even apply butter of milk cream before going to bed and wash it off in the morning.
Applying Vasline or Aquaphor will help moisturize the lips and keep them soft.
Try to follow the above tips to add to your faces's attraction.

Tips for Students

There are some many years in a life span, so many days in any given year, and so many hours in any given day. It depends upon how you, as a student of School, College & Professional School, use them. Here are some tips and techniques for you:-

Chart your schedule for a week and maintain an accurate record of how you use your time.
Know which common foods interfere with your sleep. Sleep well at nights to get up fresh next day.
Never go to sleep with TV or your bedroom lights on. Use your last hour before sleep by reading General Knowledge Books or your career planning books.
Reward yourself for time spent studying by watching your favourite good TV shows, by reading good magazines / ebooks, by listening to your favourite songs etc.
If you spend more time for your study, let your parents know. If you study less, your parents let you know.
Use your time in your institution by organising your note-book, recording your assignments, and finding the the materials you will need.
Be punctual and arrive too early to your School/College. Take advantage of free time by hitting Library/Computer Center/interacting with your teachers/professors.
Make due advantage of hi-tech planning devices (Electronic Organiser/Cellphones) for your study purposes to schedule and plan your programs.
Rate your daily performance on a typical day in your classroom. Rate your punctuality, attention and classroom discussion.
Have a list of contact numbers of a few responsible classsmates to help you in your study.
Seeking help from your parents/elderly family members might not be a good option as they would have studied many years ago and as curricula change over time.
Your reading skill/concentration power will be good when you are fresh. If you feel difficult in reading technical passages or primary sources, read it again or break it down into small sections to understand well.
Don't fear from exams. Instead, try to analyse what kind of anxiety you experience. Analyse, is it usually the same or differs from subject to subject? Find out alternative honest ways and means to overcome it.
Carefully choose your friends who are as serious, responsible & approachable as your are.
Follow this blog for more useful tips and techniques for you.

How to Overcome Anxiety?

Anxiety is a psychological disorder causing a feeling of nervousness, fear, worry & unease with no obvious reasons. Anxiety is more common in women than men. Why it happens?

Our brain is a network of 10 billion brain cells, connected with each other. Brain cells sends messengers, called neuro-transmitters to communicate with each other to create our thoughts, behaviours and emotions. If these neuro-transmittors are out of balance, messages are not passed through the brain properly. Or environmental factors like abuse, death of a loved one, changing jobs or schools may lead to anxiety. Following are some useful tips to overcome anxiety:-

Bring change in your intake (food) habits. Limit or avoid alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and sugar.
Limit your availability to answer phones, email messages and meeting people.
At your workplace, every one and a half hour, take 2-minute breaks.
Breathe well whenever you feel panicked, tensed or frightened.
Stay loose and relax. Staying physically calm helps the brain cool down.
Calming the anxious mind and stopping anxious thoughts takes time and practice. Turn aside anxious thoughts and replace them with positive ones.
Worry is one of the reasons for anxiety. Everybody worries. Some develop normal worries into extraordinary ones.
Plan well, identify any problem, brainstorm alternative solutions available if you come across the problem and select a best solution. Do not forget to evaluate the plan.
Clear your worried thoughts for selected positive thoughts to take place.
Do positive self-talk exercise. Self-talk is an ongoing internal conversation with you to influence how you feel and behave.
Develop competence and confidence for managing anxiety by planning anything well-in-advance.
Avoid too many activities and expectations. Find practical ways to reduce too many activities to avoid anxiety.

Dress Code For Interview

Nowadays, job applicants - young and old alike - have lost touch with what dress is suitable for attending interviews. Often they forget that although everyday dress may be casual, the interview is a test to evaluate candidate's professionalism and their seriousness about the job. In the first ten seconds of meeting a candidate, the interviewer makes a mental decision on whether you are the right person for the job. If you are not sure of the proper dress code, here are some guidelines:-

Combination of your Pants/Shirt's color play an important role in presenting yourself. The color you choose for your shirt/pants tells what type of person you are? Know what each color represents.
Men! Carefully select your Pants/Shirt for interview purposes to present yourself in a professional way.
Ensure, clothes you wear for intereview are cleaned, pressed and fit well.
Shine your shoes. Your Shoes should match your shirt/pants/belt or blend with outfit well.
Men - comb hair well. Clean and trim your nails well. Well-fit watch and one ring work best.
Women needs a professional hairstyle & nails evenly and closedly trimmed.
Women should wear simple jewelery that does not distract. Less make up is better.
Men or Women! Some interviewers may be allergic of perfumes. Apply less as far as possible.
Carry a briefcase with your certificates or laptop or leather notebook.
Avoid wearing T-Shirts, Jeans, Slippers, Micro mini-skirts and Night club clothes.
Make sure, your electronic devices like Cellphones do not disturb you and the interview at the time of interview.
Your dress and your image presentation reflects in a positive or negative way.

HR Audit

'Audit' means an examination of records or financial accounts to check their accuracy. Simply put, 'an official examination of records'. HR Audit means, examination of current human resource policies, procedures & systems of any organisation.

Human Resource valuation system cannot be considered to be complete system till it is followed by a system of HR auditing.
HR Audit recognises strengths and identifies needs for human resource function.
HR Audit analyses how effective an organisation is at maximising human capital's contribution.
HR Audit involves systematic reviews of all aspects of HR Functions like Wage & Salary Administration, Recruitment Training, Termination, Job Description, Performance Appraisal, Payroll, Employee Relations, Legal Compliance & Communications.
HR Audit helps to evaluate whether specific practice areas are adequate, legal & effective or needs any improvement?
HR Audit can be conducted at the departmental or at organisational level.
HR Audit gradually conveys a sense of confidence in management and in HR Function that is well managed and prepared to meet any potential challenges.
HR Audit helps in improving the efficiency of human resources in the changing business scenario.
The object of HR Audit is to seek answers to What happened? Why did it happen? Why did it not happen? while implementing Policies, Practices & Directives in managing Human Resources.

PERT

PERT (Programme or Project Evalution and Review Technique), developed US Navy in 50's is a statistical tool and a management tool, for definining and integrating events.

PERT is a manager's tool which defines and co-ordinates what must be done to accomplish project objectives on time.
PERT identifies uncertainties associated with completing different activities involved in the project.
The process of PERT begins with identifying the specific activities and ends with preparation of charts.
PERT provides information about expected project completion time and activity start and end dates.
There are differences between PERT & CPM (Critical Path Method). CPM is a schedule network analysis to identify schedule flexibility of a project.
PERT facilitates identification of critical path.
PERT is basically a tool for planning and control of time whereas CPM can control both time and costs.
PERT is suitable for Research & Development (R&D) related projects and CPM is best suited for routine & those projects where time and cost estimates can be accurately calculated.
PERT is used in Project Management & CPM for Production Management.
PERT is very complex. It is expensive to develop, update and maintain.
PERT is not ideal for smaller projects.

Who Are Demographers?

'Demography' is a social science that organises population facts into a statistical analysis. What demographers do?

Demographers are population specialists. They collect and analyse vital statistics related to human population changes such as births, marriages and deaths.
Demographers conduct research surveys to study population trends and assess effects of population movements.
Demographer works to establish ways in which numbers are organised to produce new and useful information. For example, demographer may study data collected on the frequency of diseases in certain areas.
Some demographers work on the basis of a 'sample technique' in which the characteristics whole population are judged by taking a sample of it.
Demographers also work with statistics, gathered from demographic information like age, gender, occupation, educational level. He analyses it and then uses to forecast population growth or economic needs.
They may also investigate and analyse in variety of social science questions for the government such as rates of illness, availability of health & police services.
Private organisations like Hotel Industries may use the demographers' information to make business decisions such as where to open new outlets to get more customers?
Local, State & National Government Agencies use demographers' statistical forecasts to provide best possible transport, education and other services to the people.
Take breaks. A short walk or quick lunch away from the office will increase your overall productivity for the rest of the day.
Much of the demographers' time is spent doing Library Research, Analysing Demographic Information of various population groups.